February Update (eesh!)

I just read over the last blog I wrote. Funny how 3 weeks have passed and things are still basically the same. The sub-company websites had a lot of delays but are finally coming together. My goal is to have them both online by the time I leave for IBI at the end of the month.

We put a GigE connection online at Simpli, which should dramatically improve our service. The addition of the GigE means that we now have two redundant connections to AboveNet, which isolates us from router reboots on their end. It also means it will take a lot more to DoS us out of existence.

Brandon and C have been working well together. C was out here for a week this month. He and Brandon accomplished a lot. It really is a good fit and I’m glad I trusted my instincts and hired him.

Our new office is being put together as we speak. We officially moved in on February 1, but there was a lot of cleanup to do. All of that office furniture we got for $1500 (which, by the way, was a sweet deal — it’s worth $7-8K) had a lot of personal items in it, and we’ve been piling the personal items up in a corner for the previous owner to come pick up. There is also a wide assortment of junk — everything from crappy computer speakers to dead plants to kids’ VHS videos (?!). Brandon is sorting through it.

They had a router and a wireless access point set up there, but we can’t figure out how to reset the password on the router, so it’s being trashed and we’re buying a new one. It’s probably just as well anyway, as I’d like to have 802.11g instead of 802.11b there.

Relationship-wise, things are going pretty well. The problem with dating someone a lot like me is that we both know exactly how to push each other’s buttons, which means we end up fighting more than I have in previous relationships. I have trust issues (I don’t generally trust anyone but myself) and that’s making it difficult from my end, as N sees this and is frustrated by it. He’s also frustrated by the fact that I can’t ever seem to be on time to anything. This I can truthfully blame on my mother…oh, okay, it’s really my fault, but I know exactly why I’m like this. I’m like this because when I was younger, my mother always wanted me to be on time.

The problem that my mother and I most often had was that she’d tell me something she wanted me to do, like be on time, but she’d never tell me why it was important. In fact, it wasn’t until I went to Landmark last month that I learned why it was so important to be on time. My mother always thought that I’d do it just because it was the right thing to do, but I don’t work like that. I don’t do something unless I know exactly what the benefits are. What are the benefits? Well, according to Landmark (and according to N, who somehow picked this up without Landmark) it’s all about keeping your word. Your word is all you have in this life, and if you don’t keep it, people have a harder time trusting you in other areas.

I am 23 years old and that’s the first time anyone has explained that me being late equates to people being less likely to trust me. Now, from there, I can figure out why I need to be on time. And I’m honestly shocked that (since the “why” was relatively easy) my mother couldn’t explain it to me. Maybe I just wasn’t listening (heh), but I really never made that connection.

So I’m working on being on time. Not that it’s easy. When you’ve been late your whole life, suddenly being on time is scary. Even worse is the fact that I hate being early. I am actually scared to be early because I won’t know what to do with myself. With the Treo, that’s less of a worry, but it’s still foreign to me to ever be early for anything.

I have the Landmark advanced forum this week on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That means I will be completely exhausted come Monday. N is also doing Landmark that weekend in Sacramento. I am worried that he won’t get as much out of it as I did, since they focus a lot on honor and trust and he already knows most of that. He will still benefit from the discussions about rackets, and I think that he’ll be able to sleep better and have fewer nightmares after it. For those of you asking what Landmark is, I’ll try to write another blog about it at some point. Suffice it to say that it’s good stuff and worth going to. They do forums all over the country, so if you’re interested, there is probably one near you.

I have a lot more to add, but this is good enough for one blog entry. I’m going to make a more specific blog entry now and then call it a night.