They finally had a new guy start yesterday. It's actually refreshing to work with somebody that is smarter than me (I know...I didn't think someone like that existed either). Anyways it LOOKS like we're going to rebuild the network from the ground up and it LOOKS like things will be running smooth in 3-6 months. That being said, when I started it LOOKED like things were going to get done. Basically I'm not going to get too excited about anything until it's done, because for all I know his work ethic could be non-existent just like mine!

I never thought it would come to this, but unless people see me die, I'm not dead. I don't care if I nobody has seen me in 10 years (hey...I'm sure there are plenty of guys that haven't seen their penis' in 10 years but that doesn't mean its dead). This is the second time this week that somebody who was thought to be dead has come back. That is all. Oh yes, and as a final wish, my funeral must be big (don't buy an expensive coffin), 21 gun salute and I'm to be buried with my head pointing north. Yes those are my funeral plans, anything else I don't care about go with whatever is cheaper.

I've been put on an MRP committee and we had a meeting today (and how convienent was it that I didn't get an e-mail about it?!?). Well meeting went fine and they were discussing how to better use the MRP systems and how we should send people out for training and have those people train the rest of the in house workers. That's when I posed a question to the group "What do we actually use our MRP systems for right now"

Naturally I got vauge answers and blank looks followed by "Alright, so next week we're going to review training procedures and evaluate the support contract and possibly look at other vendors for support". Wow what a waste of time and money that will be! Good thing my name is attached to the comittee (not that I care because before any training starts, I'm probably #1 on the list of people to get trained which means free lunches and less work for Stu!)

Well I'm full time now at work. The only difference I'll see is more money (in addition I'm getting a 3% raise in January), my phone is paid for, in a month I get full benefits (they wanted me to wait 3 months, but I put up a fuss) and I get to take part in profit sharing next year. Work wise, I'll be doing the same, but they are hiring a new boss for me next week so I should have some of the workload taken off my shoulders (as well as somebody to cover for me and I don't have to answer any questions about purchasing anymore because it won't be my responsibility).

End Of Week One -- Wrapup

Well the first week of being in the boss finished with an interesting Friday to say the least. I find myself in a job interview for a position I already have (but was not originally interviewed for). I get a suprise visit (well I thought it was a suprise...I should have read the invitee list for the ERP meeting first) from the ERP admin. Now after the ERP meeting (where I was sheltered from any sort of blame...odd because usually they take it out on IT) I figure it's time to take a nice drive to Staples to get some toner (we were out...now that's a shocker). Anyways I spark up the rental Corolla (which I had to give back at the end of the day) and notice the tank is on empty. WTF, get some gas since I'm on company time. Fill the tank, head to staples pick up toner when I get a call. Seems like our e-mail server has locked up on us. Ain't that grand?!? And not just a regular lock...we're talking hard lock where you can't do anything. D'oh! Ahh well...head on back to the office hold down the power button and 5 minutes later we've got e-mail! So, that's probably the last time I get gas during work hours (pause for laughter).

In Charge: Day 2

I have settled into a nice groove here. The inital onslaught of work yesterday was taken and things have settled down a bit. Sure the e-mail server nearly died on us today (yay for hardboots!) but so far so good. Nothing noteworthy really happend, I weasled my way out of coming in to work early tomorrow. Somebody seemed to have it in their head that I'm a database programmer. Well regardless of what they think, I've changed 2 lines of code on a database, user is happy and now I've offically added something to my title of IT Support/developer. Still no sign of a boss for me. I think this is going to be an ongoing thing for at least the next 2 weeks. But at least I can bitch at corporate if I need help.

Day One of being in charge:

They already asked me if I wanna stay fulltime but I got to go through an interview, which is complete bullshit because when I started working at that place I didn't need an interview. In fact, HR didn't know I was starting until 3 hours into my shift -- no joke either!

Morning was busy, I had to arrive 1/2 an hour early to setup a laptop and projector. I promptly wrote up instructions on how to do it yourself so this is the last time I'm coming in early mark my words!

Afternoon wasn't bad...got some quality MSNing in as well as message board posting. Oh yeah, I also did some work. I'm hateing having a non IT guy in the office across from me, because he keeps bugging me about buying him stuff. Little does he know I'm one cheap S.O.B. even with someone elses money...ok not really because I am getting a 17inch LCD for myself as well as my new boss/assistant but you get the idea...I'm not buying shit for anybody, not without a good fight at least. And these people better know it within my first month.

When you're lucky, you're lucky. Simple as that. Last night, I had an incridble run playing 2/5 holdem in Brantford. To show you how lucky I got the follow hand came out, I had

A/9 and the other guy had K/10 (or something like that). Flop comes out 99K. So me and other guy start betting in. Turn comes out and it's another K. So we're both holding full houses, and it's not clicking in to me that I'm beat. River card comes out, and what do I get? Another 9 naturally. So we're showing

9KK99 and I've got the fourth 9. Knowing I've got him beat I start betting in. Finally he calls. I've never seen a guy turn so white before as this guy when he saw the 4th 9. Sure dude looked like Stone Cold before the he saw my cards...but when he saw that...man. Even the dealer was shocked...she had to call the room manager to see what just happend, that's when I knew it was my night.

I also saw a royal flush for the first time in my life. Dude next to me got it on a small pot (he had a flush draw going into the river, and the then Queen of Clubs comes out. He didn't even realize he had it until the guy next to him spoke up. Needless to say, the table was shocked more than anything else.

Just for the record, I don't always win when I go to casinos. I've been to a few this year to play poker, here's a short recap:

June 9th, Casino Rama -- Down $26 my first time out.
July 3rd, some casino 3 hours north of LA -- Down $20 USD
July 6th, Luxor -- Down $40 USD
Mid July, Brantford -- Down $80 but won $88 playing Sic Bo
Early August, Brantford -- Up $70 and up another $20 playing video poker
September 4th, Brantford -- Up $150

So when all is said and done I'm up $37 for the summer. If you include the total casino numbers yeah I'm up $17 (that includes a few casino niagara trips that evened me out). I know, stick to my day job.

If you don't believe me that this company is fucked up consider this: 7 weeks and I go from new kid to acting IT head. Also consider that in January they had a 3 person IT staff. Now, they have Stu as their IT staff. Yes I'm doing the job of 3 people. Scary isn't it? All I can say is there are certain cars with balance shafts and flexplates that I never want drive.

Something is fishy around here. My boss is being transferred to another division on Monday and that leaves nobody to check up on me. I guess Stu is in charge now...for a few weeks at least. Cue up creepy music....my contract is up October 11th, I've got to talk to the controller about an extension/definition of duties/severe pay raise. This situation doesn't seem right.

Also I tried watching the world cup of hockey last night. It was a good first period and all...when Canada scored I had absolutely zero emotion. Maybe I need to get into the tournament a bit more, but as it stands, I was pretty impartial to the whole situation.