Archive for July, 2003

Virus Hell

Wednesday, July 30th, 2003

So at about 3:20 PM EST I am sitting at my desk finding some way to occupy my time till it hits 4 o’clock when I get an IM. I look and it is my old boss Casey looking to see if I am sitting at my desk. I tell him I am there and he comes back with the message, “your data machine has a virus”. I am thinking that he is joking because I had just sent out a message threatening people that if they don’t stop locking me out of my databases in the morning when I am trying to update them then I will be forced to revoke there access. Unfortunately he is not joking.

Casey has been transferred out of our group, but we haven’t had the oppurtunity to move the machine from his id to my id, so he is viewed as the central contact. Fortunately for us he has it in with the IBM tech support people in our building. There were half a dozen machines involved in the problem and the IBM people had called security on all but ours and was having them go and confiscate the machines because they weren’t technically being supported by IBM anymore. I give our tech guy a call and ask him how they would go about fixing the problem, and his response to me is “Format C:”.

This response was not what I was hoping for. The machine in question supports our database because it is the only machine I have with the proper Oracle version and ODBC conncetions I need for several of my databases. He then tells me to call in a ticket for repair and bring the machine back to him. So I do as I am told.

So I have been uneasy ever since I dropped the machine off thinking of all the work I am going to have to do to get the databases on there back up and running. I am looking at weeks worth of effort. I just now called back to the office and luckily the IBM tech people were able to save the day. The found the virus on my machine, which incidently was able to turn off the anti-virus on its own to run itself, and were able to wipe it off the machine.

So tomorrow morning I just need to go pick up my machine and I am back in service, which makes me very happy. And starting tomorrow my plans are to work out a back-up plan so that in case this happens again I don’t have to worry about being without my data!

Ozymoron or just a moron?

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

I was driving to school one day last week and was passed by a pick-up truck. On one side of the back window was a bumper sticker reading “Question Authority” and on the other was a Fraternal Order of Police sticker. Is this not an oxymoron?

Search Results…huh?

Tuesday, July 29th, 2003

I went to sears.com today and did a search on “Iced Tea” and the only product it returned was the Twin Peaks Season 1 DVD Collection. Interesting…

Koozebane

Monday, July 28th, 2003

Over the past few weeks I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Koozebane Kermit toy at my local Target. It is a store exclusive, which means it is going to be a little tough to come by. Rumors that it has started to hit the shelves start spreading like wildfire this weekend, so I pass to word to Tyrant that I need to hit our local Target. Being the wonderful boyfriend that he is he stops off at the White Marsh Target on the way to my house in hopes of surprising me with the toy, but unfortunately they did not have it. We then travelled together to the Towson Target and yet again we were left wanting. Finally today during my lunch break I make my way to the Timmonium Target and manage to get my hand on one.

These items are going for good prices on Ebay right now, so I decide to take my chance and buy an extra one to auciton off. I get inline with my prize in hand and wait for the cashier. She takes my toy and tries to scan it. Nothing. She tries to scan the other one. Nothing. After several more tries she picks up the phone and calls for help from the toy department. In the meantime she has put my transaction on hold and I step out of line to wait. 5 minutes goes by and the phone has not rang so she calls them again. I wait another 5 minutes and she suggests that I try to grab another one and see if it will scan. I run back and grab the last toy off of the shelf. I bring it up and she tries to scan it but again it does not work.

A manager comes over and tries calling someone from the toy department over her walkie-talkie, but again no one answers. The cashier asks me if I need a gift receipt, and I tell her no, then she asks me the price. I tell her they should be $8.99. She finally goes ahead and rings in 3 anonymous items at $8.99 so that I can finally get out of the store after having waited about 30 minutes. All is well though because I finally got my Koozebane Kermit and 2 to auction off on EBay. Yes I did end up buying the one I went back to get off the shelf because I made the effort and knew I could resell it.

Keywords

Friday, July 25th, 2003

Just for fun, here are some of the keywords people have searched on that has brought them to K80K.com:
2: labradoodle
2: sqwee
1: i am donating my hair
1: winterraven
1: is tae bo a goo weight loss program?
1: pic of man injured + sternum
1: lumps+in+abdomen+of+dog
1: katier
1: how+long+does+my+hair+have+to+be+to+donate+to+cancer+society+for+a+wig
1: penny-arcade pic
1: coswell productions
1: katie blog
1: hotbutteredfunk
1: katie ebm
1: +”entry” +ideas +sidewalk
1: marine gyst war crime charges
1: neighbor’s daughter
1: “her heart attack”
1: phone cam blog
1: acs hockey blog
1: poney tails
1: urinary tract infection with back bruising
1: dog+vomit+cleaning
1: ritz smores commercial
1: something that says melissa and katie
1: girl fall down hole in backyard
1: “heart mummer” and “dog”
1: muumuu coloring pages
1: deep fried smores
1: katie king hoax
1: “hermit crab cage”
1: mice terds
1: meet and greet pass to summer sanitarium 2003
Interesting aren’t they?