Glotzbecker.com

Hi there. I’m still here, just have not gotten around to posting anything lately. Work has been going well, yet busier than ever. As with any organization or household, we are being forced to do more with less. I’m in the midst of upgrading our timekeeping system, Kronos, and implementing a few other systems as well. I find myself doing more client/desktop support than before, so keeping projects on track is more difficult than ever.

Our garden in Oxford is bigger and better than ever. This year we have Zucchini, Peppers, Tomatoes, Carrots, Lettuce, and some Pumpkins. I’m attempting to grow the largest pumpkin in Butler County. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve taken up fishing this summer. I picked up a decent rod at walmart and found it to be quite therapeutic. Still learning the ins and outs of bait and tackle.

I’m getting ready to replace the brakes and rotors on my car; they are due for replacement and I figure it will be fun to do on my own. I have my brother’s floor jack and stands, so access to the brakes should be easy.

No vacation plans yet for the summer, but I’m sure I’ll end up in New Orleans and Florida at least once, and maybe somewhere else. I’m thinking a short Caribbean cruise sounds nice. Last minute fares are insanely cheap right now, and would be crazy not to take advantage of them. Ideally I could find a cruise out of New Orleans and hang out there before and after. We’ll see how that works out.

Well, I’m beat. That’s all for tonight. Looking forward to the Fourth of July this week, my favorite holiday. Plan to blow some stuff up and watch the Patriot. Starting the week off by watching the History of our Founding Fathers on the History Channel ;-).

Last Saturday Josh and I caught a flight down to New Orleans to vacation and visit my brother. Our flight got into New Orleans around 10am, so we had almost a full day to enjoy. We started off by grabbing a bite to eat at La Madeline French Cafe.

After lunch, we headed down to Jean Lafitte, LA to the Jean Lafitte Airboat Tours. These boats were a lot of fun, but we didn’t get to go as fast as I hoped. They mount Chevy 454 engines on the back of the boats and put a propeller on them, with essentially no muffler. These things were loud. We got to see remote swamp areas, and saw a few small alligators and one large 9 foot one, approximately 35 years old. I was able to hold one of the small alligators!

Later that night we went to dinner in the Garden District at a place called Cannon’s. We then caught a trolley down to the French Quarter and took in the scenery. We ended up at Pat O’Brien’s and tried one of their famous Hurricanes. By that point we were pretty worn out, and headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately, all 3 of us got sick during the night. We think it was the spinach and artichoke dip we shared. Luckily our symptoms were gone in the morning.

On Sunday we went to Petunia’s for breakfast, a restraunt featuered on “Weekend Getaways” with Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel. While famous for their crepes, i enjoyed my favorite breakfast dish, eggs benedict. The restaurant was small, and very pink inside. It was quintessential New Orleans dining. After that we walked around the different shops and antique stores. We then headed back to Greg’s apartment for a power nap before dinner.

Dinner was at Muriel’s on Jackson Square, followed by jazz at Preservation Hall. Everyone enjoyed their dinner, but didn’t hear much from Josh about his alligator appetizer. We then walked up a block to visit my brother’s friend who lives in the quarter. We were able to get up on a private balcony and do some people watching- was very cool. As we looked up St Peter street, we saw the line for Preservation hall was growing, so we decided to get in line.

While in line we made friends with a mother and daughter visiting for the weekend. We exchanged information and now I have two new preservation hall facebook friends ;-). People are always in a good mood and happy in New Orleans; I love meeting and talking to people there. Aside from the socializing, the music was spectacular. We sat in the front row, and were able to stay for 2 sets.

On Monday, Greg had class so Josh and I hopped on a trolley and had breakfast at a place called the trolley stop. We then got back on the trolley and walked around the Audubon park. Josh decided to climb one of the huge live oak trees in the park. We then had to get to the airport for our flight home. The weekend went too fast, and I’m ready to go back again! Check out photos from the weekend here!

The other day I checked on my website and McAfee detected a JS / Downloader Agent Virus. I first attempted to upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress (2.7.1) hoping to resolve the issue. However, somehow the file permissions got messed up as well, and was unable to create or delete anything in my root directory, even though the file permissions were set to 765. This left my website in a state of limbo for a couple days. I contacted tech support at GoDaddy, and they were able to reset my file permissions and resolve the issue.

My next task was then to perform the upgrade and see if the virus issue had been resolved. Unfortunately, the had not. After scanning through my code, I found that somehow a hacker gained access to my WordPress Theme header.php file and appended a bunch of JavaScript. I removed the code from my header file and all is well now. Make sure to keep your virus software definitions up to date, and I’ll keep my eye out for those internet pirates!

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness–are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open–are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world–stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death–and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

I spent the last 6 days at Disney World. I was sent there with a co-worker for training and a conference. Kronos, the vendor for our time keeping system, holds a two day technology training session, followed by a 3 day conference. I gained lots of valuable information this year, partially due to improved course subject material, and now that I actually have used/supported this software for 3 years. The last conference I went to in 2005 I had never touched the software. I went to learn about the software, which I have learned is a horrible way to introduce someone to a technology they have never used. Conferences != training!

I really don’t have anything against Disney World. It’s a fun, happy place with something for everyone, regardless of age. However, I have been there every year for a week for the past 3 years. I’m getting kind of tired of the place. Hopefully I wont have to go there for another couple years.

After working late Thursday, I went home, packed, and got up at 5am to catch my flight on Friday. We got down there with no trouble and almost immediately hit the Magical Kingdom. Got back to the hotel about 9pm and crashed.

Day 2 training started at 8am. I was pumped after this course, because this was the type of information I needed 3 years ago when I started working with this software suite. Its such a hybrid system with many disparate components and technologies residing in many locations. That training ended at 5pm, and we then met up with my buddy Matt and his wife who live in Melbourne. They drove into Orlando and we had dinner, and then went outlet mall shopping. I got back to the hotel at 11pm that night.

Day 3 training started at 8am. This class was good, but not as useful as I hoped. It was on troubleshooting and tuning the suite. Parts of the session deviated from the course description, but others were useful. I was hoping for a more hands-on approach to the topic. Perhaps they could have setup a poorly performing system on each VM (we each had virtual machines to do our training on) and have us resolve the issue. However, I picked up some good tips. That night we had dinner in Paris at Epcot. Excellent meal… Excellent.

Day 4 the conference kicked off with the keynote speech delivered by Malcolm Gladwell. He is the author of “Blink!” (which I am currently reading and is excellent), and “The Tipping Point.” The keynote was on his book, “Blink,” which deals with decision making with too much information, and its negative impact on our ability to make accurate, quick decisions. Fascinating. I was fortunate enough to meet him and get my book autographed. The sessions for this day were mediocre, in my opinion. Later that night we went to Epcot for dinner. I enjoyed a well-deserved Spaten in Germany, then we headed over to Mexico for dinner.
After that we watched the big fireworks show and then called it a day.

Day 5 consisted of more sessions, mostly useful. went to Epcot again for dinner, and ate at the German Bier Garden. We were seated at a table with German family. They were here visiting from Bremen, Germany. It really added to the experience. The lady sitting next to me explained many differences of the regions of Germany and the food. We talked about the origins of my family, and she noted that people from Baden-Württemberg were very smart and hard working. What a funny way to describe a region and its people, but nonetheless, I thought it was cool. We got a good seat for the fireworks that night, and I took some really cool photos which I will post later.

Day 6 started off with a few sessions, lunch at the ESPN Zone, and then caught a flight home. We got home about 9pm last night and then crashed and went to bed.

I actually got to see/do very little at the parks. my park pass was actually a waste, in my opinion. Almost every free moment I had, with the exceptions of dinner, I found myself working remotely. We’ve been working diligently to get a new system ready for our International office, and we ran into issues of course, right before I leave for a trip. So I got up early every morning and worked until the conference started, during breaks, and each night up until the time I went to bed. The internet connection there made this even more of a challenge. I had a wired ethernet connection in my room, which was as fast as dial up, and no wireless connection in the lobby of the hotel or anywhere. However, I believe we were able to keep things moving along and not slow down the process. Work has been crazy busy lately. I’m being pulled in so many directions I’m not sure which end is up anymore. We are stretched thin as a group, and I am on 3 high profile projects at once. I need a break.

Anyways, look for some photos to be posted in the next few days.