Category: The Life Quotient

Real Life outside the computer. Personal issues and events.

Long time coming

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For the last few days I have been living most of the day in the office. Just today I closed 13 hours inside. The Active Directory has b0rked and I have been trying to fix it with the help of Microsoft and various other so called experts. Unfortunately nothing has worked and today things took a turn for the worse.
In a try to restore our previous configuration we decided to restore a previous version of the system using the Legato Networker program. In hindsight, it was a big mistake, especially the part where we started it at 6pm. At around 9:15pm and after reinstalling the 2000 Server for the second time we decided to call it a night.
This was the third day I had stayed at work late and it’s getting ridiculous. I’ve been trying to go to the post office for two days now and I can’t find the time.
Tomorrow promises to be even better. We’ll go to the office at 6:30am which means I need to get up at 5:45 and there’s no promise at all that I’m going to leave early enough to manage to GM the Evernight campaign.

At least I know it’s not my fault and even if it were, all traces have been wiped out by now 🙂

Sigh Going to sleep any time now. Military wake-up tomorrow…

Τζαμπέ

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I met with Panos today after leaving work. He was at a Διαχρονικό having a cup of cofee with a friend of his. I had informed him earlier that I had his free PC ready as he was about to leave for his home town, Αγρίνιο but he decided to stay to set up a meeting in order to get the PC.

We worked out the logistic details but I got the impression that he wasn’t all that happy with the choice. The computer is one of the older ones we have for donations at my workplace and its graphics card and cpu power leave something to be desired. The important thing however, the thing that should make any such defect unimportant, is that the damn thing is completely free for him. I mean, FFS, I had to convince my supervisor on the worthiness of donating such a machine to a pennyless student and we had to lie and tell it was for my sister in order to approve it and I was waiting for more enthusiasm.
I did tell him that I may not be able to secure a monitor for him but, heck, a CRT 15” monitor can be found dirt cheap.
We also had the necessary talk about upgrades for DVD playback (Not easy) and gaming (where I mentioned that the new system would be linux equipped, heh) and the discussions went on to other matters.

After we left Panos kept pressuring me to go after a monitor as well. It was a bit irritating. I mean, come on, you get a P3 for free, keyboard/mouse and everything.

At least be a little more excited damnit! I had to call in favors (however small) for this shit.

3 Days of twirling

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Since my new [tag]firestaff[/tag] arrived I haven’t had time to really try it out. Only once when I initially got it did I attempt it but it was a failure due to weather.

Well the last two days I’ve been going out to Navarinou square to remember my skills. I stopped going to Alexander’s statue because the port gets kind of windy and throws my aim off.
Anyway, while at Navarinou I see lots of familiar faces and a lot of people come to talk to me. Others want to try out the staff while others just chat with me. It is a new experience for me (being this popular) and I can’t say I don’t like it. The attention I am getting is invigorating. For my part I don’t act (and I hope I don’t in the future either) like a self-important egomaniac and strike up conversations with the ones that approach, especially if they are cute girls grin, but I’ve been talking to the occasional junkie as well.

Sunday was my first afternoon (or rather night) out, I saw a girl, Δήμητρα, that possibly likes me and I also met some new people, like a young girl just now getting into staffs, her cousin and a fat girl that challenged my skills vs her chains. I, unfortunately, also saw Αννα and her boyfriend as they came around to see the rest of the group that was around at the time. I met her boyfriend’s friend who seems a nice enough chap but her boyfriend seems reluctant to acknowledge me, even if we’re in the same group of people. Αννα of course pretends she doesn’t see me at all :/

I didn’t get to do much of training of Sunday because people kept talking to me, but I did do some serious mingling and meeting. I can’t say it came out badly.

On Monday I once again went to Navarinou square, this time a little earlier so as to have some time to practice alone. Later some acquaintances showed up and once again I couldn’t focus (what with them constantly wanting to grab my staff). The new girl was also there and she seemed extremely “friendly” as well. Δήμητρα also appeared after a while but she was waiting to go for a date with a guy she met over the internet. After a while she left to meet him and later came back with him and was wondering how to get rid of him (“he just doesn’t click”), at around 23:00 people dispersed and I learned that some had gone to Carpe Diem (A Cafeteria/Live Stage) and I decided to head over there as well. I was lucky and I bumped into Μαρία and Αναστασία, two girls I met at the X Club one time and I decided to hang out with them.

We chatted for a while until the Live begun (A progressive violin/guitar duet with very strange and loud sound) and we had to shout. Later Δημητρα arrived as well, she had decided to bring the dude to Carpe Diem where her friends were in order to make him uncomfortable enough to leave. He found an excuse to leave (obviously getting the hint) and she was happy.
After a while she, quite unexpectedly, came to our table, introduced herself and sat down because she was bored with the other guys.

The night went on wand at some point the girls left and Δημητρα pressured me to take her for a walk at Navarinou. There we found the guy that initially showed me the Fire Staff and he had taken some leaps in his skills. I know I need to get in touch with him at some point to learn some new stuff. Obviously he is training at the fokas park.
We hanged around for half an hour or so where I met Χρήστος (a guy I saw all the time at the X Club but never got around to meeting him) and had to endure Δημητρα’s attempts to play with the staff or the flower stick of some other guys. In the end we went to get her bag from Carpe Diem only to find the others had left. Fortunately her bag was still there.

Yesterday was more interesting. I had set up with the young girl to gather at Navarinou again but this time use live fire. I went over there at around 7:45 pm (after buying a long-sleeved shirt I really liked, one with claw like rips in the middle) and started warming up. Βιολετιά apparently had come downtown to see me and she sent me an SMS to go and see her. I had already told her I was indisposed at this time and did so again. I told her to come see me instead, and she did eventually.
Another friend also passed by on his way to private lessons and he decided to stick around for a while to play with chains and also another girl (The fat one that challenged me) came around. So we all lighted our things and had a three person show 😉

After the show, I saw that Βιολετιά had appeared along with a friend and we chatted a bit. I also did a small show for her but she didn’t seem impressed.
Me and Βιολετιά have a habit of teasing each other with mild insults and I think I may have gone too far this time. A while after the show ended I told her to “Bugger off because I was bored of you”. Now obviously I was joking but it seems she took it a bit too seriously. She left immediately and although the obvious choice at that point would be to run after her and apologize, I didn’t realize how she took it and so I left her leave. Later I settled it through SMS and cell phone but it was another chance to hang out together lost.

Anyway, the rest of the night proved interesting as well. I ended up making out with a girl and agreeing to keep tings light, and I also went to the supposed “Nevermore night” at Silver Dollar with Μαρία (The last and only person that could come with me). The music sucked however and after 1.5 beers and no winning lottery tickets we left. Apparently the DJ thought that Nevermore is a hard as Slayer, Sepultura and Cradle of Filth groan.

There is just one small sour thing in this whole story, the replacement staff had bended way too much. I tried to bring it back but first I am afraid of stressing it too much and secondly it never works right. Damnit, I’m seriously let down by this purchase. Although I like the fact that its flame lasts for a long time, this bending and breaking business is very annoying. I’m thinking of taking it to an Iron Worker shop to see if he can straighten it.
I swear to Bob, if this one breaks as well there will be hell to pay!

Finally

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My replacement [tag]firestaff[/tag] arrived yesterday. I was a bit disappointed by the silicon grip however. Where the old one fit snugly and had nice ends, this one seems to have space between it and the shaft and its ends are fixed with fed duct tape. The whole item seems a bit hastily done but I guess I can’t complain. Things could have been a lot worse (namely not getting my staff back). At least now I have the old shaft as well and can at least try to fix it someway.

Anyway, after I received it my first order of business was to go out and practice some because I have almost a month to touch the skill. Unfortunately it was raining lightly but I hoped it would abate until I reached my training grounds. On the way I bumped into an old friend of mine, Χρύσα (Translates as Goldie) who was taking a walk. After the necessary greetings I told her to come with me and we went towards the Alexander statue.

I always had a soft spot for her, I always hopes something happened between us at some point but I don’t hold much hope for it nowadays. She seems so preoccupied with other stuff all the time and does not seem to be interested the same way. Pity.

Anyway, on the road we talked about the summer and stuff like that and after I mentioned my Poseidi experiences she was dying to find out more. I ended up storytelling the entire trip to her mounting joy. Glad to be of help 🙂

She also caught me by surprise by telling me that my current haircut was the best she’s seen on me. I did not expect that comment from her and that says a lot.

I did not manage to do any serious practice unfortunately. The port area was even more windy and rainy than downtown and I could barely practice my moves between chatting and the constant wind. In the end I took her to the bus stop where she decided to walk (!) so we said goodbye (without kisses) and parted ways. I headed for home and saw some Samurai Champloo before going to sleep.
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Staff Update

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I have been in contact with the guys from Firetoys for the last day, trying to see what will happen with my staff break.
It seems it was from an external manufacturer and that may be the cause of its bad quality. I don’t really know, the could also be bullshitting me in order not to look bad. I did make a post in their forums about my mishap.

Anyway, the original plan was for me to send it and they would send me a replacement. However the postal costs are a bit high for such a large item and as such they told me to email them pictures of the break which they will forward to the manufacturer as proof in order to send me a new one.
Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comFor anyone interested, here’s what the break looks like

I took those with a friend’s camera. Mmmm, I need to get me one of those…

Lets hope everything works out alright…

I don't fucking believe this!

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My Fire Staff just broke.

For FUCK’S sake, the fuckin’ aluminum shaft broke! How fuckin’ unlucky can I get? I don’t even have it for a month and it broke! AAARGH!

I am so GOD DAMN PISSED OFF right now I could punch someone!

This ruined my whole night (and it looked promising as well 🙁 ) and probably tomorrow as well.

I just sent a mail to the company that I bought it from Firetoys and I hope for a quick response. I hope as hell they take it back and I also hope they don’t make me pay the postal cost. They’ll cost as much as the actual thing for fuck’s sake.

GOD DAMNIT! FUCKIN’ GOD DAMNIT!

Jesus Loves You

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Man, these religious fanatics are so amusing at times.

Yesterday I was at the docks practicing my fire staff skills and I decided to move away from the Alexander the Great’s statue and to a more dark area. The lights around there glare at my eyes and I cannot catch the staff correctly.
Anyway, right next to the statue some people were gathering and were making sound checks, I decided to move further down so as to not be near the noise.

Then the fun started.

It seems those people were religious zealots and they believed in “Our Saviour Christ” with an astounding fervor.

They started with a silly little song about how much “Jesus loves us” and I could hear people clapping (not many though) and then they started shouting.
It reminded me of times of past when people would stand in the town square and advertise the religion of their choice to anyone who cared to stand and listen (think The Life of Brian)

‘Jesus Loves Youuu’
‘He gave his life for Youuu’
‘Don’t look awaaay’
‘Jesus is your saviooor’

etc. which went on for quite while.
I mean, not even one convincing argument? Just that Jesus loves us and that’s that? Shouldn’t they be trying to convince us heathens with their facts and depth of knowledge?

They were also giving away pamphlets and new testaments for free. I guess reading the new testament once more after school (as if they didn’t perform a big enough proselytism there) is supposed to be all the proof we need.

At one point I was passing next to them and a fat man wearing a purple shirt came and gave me the pamphlet and the book. I was too tired to argue with him so I just took them among blessings and shit and then threw them in the garbage.

Since that whole charade was supposed to be for the teenagers and young adults, they brought forward some converted young men to talk about their experiences.
They were talking about how they were saved and it seems they only thing they were saved from were generic “sins” and booze and drugs. Well I’m not into drugs or excess booze so I can safely say that I was “saved” as well. Although in my case I’m pretty certain “God” had nothing to do with it.

Anyway I was minding my own business and hoping that they would go away soon and then along comes an old lady along with yet another fat man (I wonder how those pious men seem to be fed so well) and wanted to give me the pamphlet and the book. Only I didn’t want them this time.
As soon as they heard that, they were on me like vultures.

‘Just take the pamphlet and all will be explained’
‘I’d rather not’
‘Look, here’s the new testament, it’s free’
‘I don’t want it’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t have anywhere to put it’
‘Aren’t you a Christian’
‘No’
‘What are you then’
‘I have no religion’
‘Then take the book, you need it’
‘No I don’t’
‘Look, there’s more important things than playing with that stick of yours’
‘Don’t tell him that, he’s a good kid’
‘But I like my stick’
‘Yes and it must be good excercise, but aren’t you afraid for your immortal soul?’
‘I don’t know if I do have one’
‘Sure you do’
‘How do you know?’
‘God tells us’
‘He didn’t tell it to me’
‘What are those numbers on your shirt’(reading them aloud in case they magically turn into 666)‘9-8-6’
‘Look, I don’t need the book or the pamphlet, I’ve made my choices’
‘But what about your spirit…?’

This conversation continued for a while until another lady (ugly as hell) came and took them because they were “late” (for what?)

Then after a while two little girls came, with pamphlets again.
After staring at me for a while they made their move

‘Hey mister, take a pamphlet’
‘No let me, it my turn’ the other girl would say
‘I don’t wanna’
‘You don’t? But it’s free’
‘Yes I know, but I don’t need it’

I don’t remember that conversation very well, but I do know that those girls didn’t try to convince me and I regretted not telling them to think about things a bit more.

Damn Proselytizers.

Anyway after two hours or so of yelling and preaching and whatnot, they finally left. Unfortunately at that point I was too tired as well, and had to go to the Navarinou street to mingle with the rest of the heathens 🙂
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Argh! Panic!

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I’m metaphorically running around like a headless chicken.
I’m saying metaphorically because I’m not actually running around but I’ve been switching through support tasks so quickly that it sure feels that way.

Today I’ve fixed the damn DFS replication of the primary file server and what I gained for my trouble is a loss or user rights in the dfs and me frantically scrabbling around to see what happened. I reset the system, took the opportunity to update the AV engine as well and between two reboots I’ve had about a million fuckin calls, and that was after I sent a notification that users should get out of the shared folders.

‘Kosta, some people got a message to close their files on shared folders but I didn’t’
‘Did you have open files on shared folders?’
‘No’
‘Then it’s logical not to get messaged isn’t it?’

‘Kosta, my shared folders are not opening’
‘I’m still working on it. I didn’t give the OK to get in yet. Why are you trying?’
‘Uh OK, when will they be up again?’
‘I dunno, probably as soon as I can get off the phone and keep working on it.’

(Well, OK. I didn’t say that last part, but I really wanted to)

‘KOSTA OMG I NEED THE SHARED FOLDERS OPEN FOR ME BECAUSE I NEED TO DO SOMETHING FOR THE IRS. IS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!1!’
(Trying to keep calm) ‘Uh, I can’t do that. I’m still in the middle of it’
‘OPEN THEM JUST FOR ME, STOP WORKING I DON’T CARE. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? WHY DIDN’T YOU CONTACT ME!’
‘Look, I cannot just “open” them for you. I’m trying to fix the system and I’m in the middle of it and I…’
‘CLICK’

and on top of that the ERP server started failing and even more calls started pouring in.
So I was trying to fix a server while answering stupid questions about two servers.
Finally we got things in line and I found out the real cause of the problem and I hope it stays fixed.

Then I tried to update the antivirus of the primary domain controller. Only he didn’t have IE6, but for some reason it thought it needed a reboot. So I do that, and the backup domain controller does not take control, so everybody is unauthenticated, which means out of the exchange server, until the primary is back up.
It comes up, I install the explorer, reboot and the same again, only now I’m also in fear because the IE6 setup has a tendency to crash the system in some cases and if that happened now…well, I’m just happy it didn’t.
Anyway it comes back up, and I install the new AV, and now I’m waiting for the inevitable reboot request, which won’t happen.

Then a remote router failed because the technicians trying to fix the network between two small stores were careless and took out one small cable, bringing down approximately 100 users. Then the systems are too slow, then the programs are not working, then…ARGH. As soon as one problem appears everyone thinks that everything is broken.

Oh and my “good mood” is not alleviated at all by my near sickness, which means a runny nose and a constant cough.

Left out again

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Yeah, OK, once more I get ignored by my so-called friends.

It seems the company had a welcoming party for Yo!Master’s return from the army, going out to eat and stuff and who wasn’t invited? Yeah you guessed it.

I found out they had something planned when I called Master’s house on Saturday to see what’s new, after getting his mail about coming home.
His grandmother told me he was staying at a common friend’s house and he was going to eat out that day with the rest of the crew. They had “forgotten” once more to tell me about it. I called Psymon to see what’s up and he validated it. They were going out that night.

So much for 6 years of friendship. As soon as you stop gaming you might as well not exist.

Screw that.