This week, for me, has been a LOT of work. Some of our clients are charter schools, and with it being mid-August now, you can guess what that implies.
One of the dumbest troubleshooting hijinx went down the other day. I showed up that day, with way more than a day's worth of things to accomplish... and I would end up getting none of those things done. Within minutes of me showing up, their networks all went down. I was amused by the timing, but the timing would truly end up being nothing but coincidence. I spent hours. HOURS. Trying to figure out what the problem was. I would reboot the switches, watch them come online, and then they'd go offline. Again, this was hours spent- going down the RSTP rabbit hole (which I now know a lot better than I did), trying to find the source of the problem, and finally tracing down the issue to a closet, a bank of switches, a single switch, and finally a single port. And the offender? Some well-meaning teacher who didn't know they were supposed to plug one of the two cords coming out of their phone into their laptop plugged it back into the wall, causing a strange loopback. When I finally found that phone, I wasn't sure whether to be happy or upset. But I was relieved I had finally solved the case. So yes, a telephone that wasn't even mine stole 6 hours of my life this week.
And then I got home the next day, pleased to be done with work, only to have that school call me and ask me to come out to solve an urgent issue on overtime- and they're almost an hour's drive away! But to combat that frustrations that naturally come about, I had the opportunity this weekend to do something I haven't done for over ten years. I was invited, by my coworker, who is the leader of a local blues band, to do a song with them- Van Morrison's Moondance. For those unaware, I enjoy both singing and playing the sax. First of all, pulling out my old tenor saxophone this week was like uncovering an old relic from my memory I had left behind. Thankfully, despite not having played it in years, I found my fingerings remembered well, and it only took so long for my embouchure to come back to me.
And then Saturday, we did a practice rehearsal. A few other of my coworkers are also in on this gig, so we practice several numbers; but boy howdy was it fun! There was the guitar, bass, drums all leading me in, and then me at the mic, singing my soul, and rocking the sax! I'll be the first to admit, the blues aren't my number one genre on my playlist- though, now they're ranked a good deal higher- but MAN is it fun to sing with some soul!
So there's my fun stories from this week. Tomorrow and they day after are going to be honest hell for me, probably, as I have A LOT of catch-up to do with that same school before they start school Wednesday. To those reading, wish me luck. In the meantime, see ya!