Monday one of the Websphere server applications I’m responsible for stopped accepting input from EPA. I found this odd because nothing had been changed on the server or the application. I check it out. Find nothing wrong with the app. Time passes as I go through everything over and over again. Eventually I figure out the problem is with Websphere and not the application itself. The ‘problem’ was that two of the certificates in the Websphere trust store had expired. I refresh them and everything should be cool. But it wasn’t. Spent the next 2 days trying to figure this out finally going to Staten for help. In ONE HOUR he noticed that some comments in one of the config  files was no longer commented. A quick reboot of Websphere and everything works normally. Most likely I altered the config file myself, before finding the cert. problem, and had been looking at it so much afterward it just blended into the background but still it made me feel like an idiot.

Thanks Staten.

PS: I really do mean thanks to Staten. The rest is just me being an idiot.

After all the excitement of losing (then finding) my wallet all other things pale in comparison, however that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time. If you ever find yourself up Boston way I suggest you take the Freedom Trail. It’s cheap and fun, if you enjoy history even a little bit. I always get a kick out of seeing ‘Old Ironsides‘ though it was closed for repairs this time around. Instead we spent a little time exploring the “USS Cassin Young” a WWII destroyer that sits nearby free for all to explore.

We spent some time in Portsmouth looking at all the nice homes. Had an excellent ‘Dreamsicle’ shake there. On another day we did some hiking at ‘the flume‘ in New Hampshire which I think the Missus really enjoyed. Was a nice fun hike. But after doing so much walking and traveling we decided it was time to chill out, so we enjoyed a couple of ‘stay at home’ days and just played the hell out of some board/party games. My good friends had just purchased ‘Small World‘ and we played the hell out of that game. We must have played at least 4-6 games during our visit. I believe that it and it’s expansions will make for many a fun game night in the future as well. We played around an hours worth of ‘Tomb‘ before deciding we hated it and simply quit. Note to AEG, “INSTRUCTIONS ARE IMPORTANT!!!! If your instructions suck ass your game will suck ass as well”. Do I need to mention that we felt quite sure the game SUCKED ASS after two party wipes and my party down from 5 to 1 from just one room.  Other older games that we’ve played forever were enjoyed as usual, “Qwirkle” plus it’s derivative “Qwirkle Cubes” (I like the original better), some “Pandemic” which hallelujah we finally beat and “Carcassonne Hunters/Gatherers“.

After a lot of gaming we decided we needed to get out, so we got tickets to see ‘oVo‘. If you are a Cirque fan, and I definitely am, then you go and see any new show when you can. OVO was expensive, as all Cirque shows are, and we paid a premium to be in the front row. My friend is 6’7″ he NEEDS his leg room, but all of us felt it was well worth it. I really enjoyed the show, even though they had to stall the program for around 10 minutes because of a sound system failure. Personally the Diabolos guy is my hero for performing with the entire sound system squelching an ear piercing feedback loop at 11. Plus because it happened toward the beginning of his routine we were able to watch his whole act a second time. Good job dude!

The traffic during the trip back home after oVo must be discussed in this entry. IT.WAS.HORRIBLE! We got out of the show around 11 took a walk and then took over 2 hours to get well out of Boston because of all the traffic caused by construction. One of the MAJOR freeways was down to one lane (THE BREAKDOWN LANE at that). We were all overjoyed to find a 24hr McDonald’s on the way home for something, anything, to eat. It’s amazing how good a McNugget can taste, when you haven’t had anything to eat since 7 and it’s now 2 AM.

All in all I must put a HUGE shout out and thank you to my good friend for putting me up and putting up with me and the wife for this trip. THANK YOU!

If there is ever anything you need down here in the land of the burning sky (its HOT out there folks) just let me know and I’ll do my very best to make sure you have as comfortable and fun a trip as we did.

This was a GREAT vacation. Work is gonna suck after this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lGTfK4PmPw

Yesterday, we decided to see the matinee showing of ‘Inception’ at the local Imax. We swug by early to get the tickets then to Wendy’s for a quick lunch. Turns out Wendy’s has been replaced by a combo KFC/Taco Hell Bell. I had to try out the double down, what with living dangerously and all. It was an interesting ‘sandwich’, but nobody cares about that get to the ‘exciting’!

After our tasty lunch we watched the movie, which we all enjoyed greatly. Good movie! Glad to see the ‘kid’ from “3rd Rock from the Sun” getting a good part. Good for him! hmm? What? oh..yeah..the point. the point.

Anyway, after the movie we headed out for some mini-golf so the Wife and I can show all these Yankees hows it’s done. I reach back to pay our share and ….I freak the HELL OUT!!! Why? My wallet is NOT on my person! We quickly go back to the KFC/TB to see if it’s there. I have visions of having to go dumpster diving looking for my wallet. It’s.NOT.THERE!

We go back to the theater which is now starting to let patrons into the theater for the next viewing. The cleaning crew had found nothing but I still saw cups and shit under the seats so we asked for a flashlight. We went strait to the correct seat and HALLELUJAH my wallet sat safe under my seat in a nice sticky spot. I could kiss it!

Losing my wallet then finding it is about as exciting a vacation as I can handle. Let’s get back to just zip-lining down a mountain or something more relaxing please!

I do expect to check the blog, my email and such so if anyone needs us we’ll be in touch.

Here’s to hoping it’s at least a couple degrees cooler up north.

Oh. And today is my birthday. Happy birthday me.

If you can’t even fulfill your own freaking HANDBOOK; “MAET will not censor or edit material for broadcast solely out of fear of complaint.” Then what the hell good are you? I mean are you going to at least amend your handbook to be more honest; “MAET will not censor or edit material for broadcast solely out of fear of complaint, but we will if there is even one complaint.”

Also, I know I’m not some fancy PR person or high intellectual or even a program manager but maybe, just MAYBE the better solution to this was to change what is played on your ‘hold’ channel? You know, just an idea. If I’m not mistaken you actually have a music only station; play that on your hold service instead of THINK RADIO.  Good grief, people of the country already have a low opinion of Mississippians must you make decisions that make us look even WORSE?

PS: I don’t watch or care about basketball so I have to ask. Do you basketball fans really care about the current story? I mean this whole thing just looks like an ego trip to me. Why would you go along with it? And SHAME on ESPN for giving this guy an HOUR to say “Miami”. See that took just 1 second. I don’t think anyone can drag that out to make it last an hour. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Nope. Not even that way.

The wife enjoyed her tacos and I had enough chicken fajitas left over that I had to take some back in a doggie bag. They were good for lunch Saturday too! The entire meal was less than $30 so we’ll be going to Pepito’s again. If you are in the area it’s not like you lack for choice of Mexican but I’m thinking this place will do alright. The food is as good as the other two and it may even be the cheapest of the three.

Later days.

Update:  I have been informed that one of the differences between Pepito’s and the others is that Pepito’s doesn’t do Rita’ specials. So if that is important to you consider this your ‘heads up’.