From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #201 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Thursday, July 22 1999 Volume 04 : Number 201 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Alloy: (Un)Employment ["Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: (Un)Employment Hi Jamac, What rotten luck,...so sorry to hear about this,...but hang in there,...you IT guys are in demand, and it sounds as if you were lucky to put this department/boss behind you,...still it's a rotten way to get the boot. Come to Europe,...if you know network stuff, or just plain IT support, you'd get a job tommorow in Europe's Telecom Valley,...and they can't fire you over here like that! I only wish you could sue their @sses off for this. Damn them all. Robin, was so sorry to hear about the way you were being messed about too. How can these people live with themselves? I'm going to by a violin from you someday, and although god knows it'll probably be a long time before I'd be able to afford it, I only wish I could order one now to boost your sales! So anyway,...I'm back at work, the plaster is off, I can hobble,...(sorta ....:-) ) and I'm currently in the process of moving my entire life to France (Hey John! here comes France's second alloyite!,) where I finally managed to get myself a job. Needless to say, a month isn't long to do this in. I must be mad! Well,...gotta go,...I still haven't caught up on the alloy backlog (guess who go into trouble for going over their mailbox limit again!!) and there's a million things to do. Oh, and Slarv,...I'm very jealous of your new telescope. Green with envy. And it looks like I won't even see the eclipse. Dammit. (sigh!) bye 4 now, Lissu :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: dalexander@juno.com [SMTP:dalexander@juno.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 8:06 AM > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: (Un)Employment > > > Sorry, but this isn't really Dolby related but I had to rant. And if > anyone knows of a Systems Admin job in my area, I'm looking... > > Well, here I go again... Robin, I'm in your boat now, though it looks > like you're leaving the boat (congratulations!) > > I got fired last Friday. While it's true that some of our most critical > servers were not getting backed up for the last two weeks, it was not my > fault that I didn't have time to check the logs to make sure they were > getting backed up. > > The company was great, the boss was pretty good too. Except that he > forgot nearly everything I told or emailed him, took credit for all my > ideas, interrupted every time I tried to tell him something important and > ignored my pleas for help. I told him a month ago that I needed some > assistance for only a month or two so that I could bring everything > around to a somewhat stable condition. You see, he was hired a week > before I was and the rest of the staff came a week or two later; a whole, > brand new department. That was two and a half months ago. And the > company had not had anything remotely similar to an IT department in at > least the last two years! There were huge security holes everywhere... > Servers were installed on desktop computers with insufficient memory and > no hardware redundancy... No antivirus software (they lost 50 PC's to > Chernobyl the week before I was brought on)... It was just a huge mess. > > My boss, said he would bring in a temp. The day before I got fired he > finally explained to me that he felt *guilty* hiring a temp. Why? > Because he didn't think it was fair to bring someone in that we might > have to let go of if there was no work for them once the projects we > would hire them for were done. Excuse me?!? Why do you think they call > them temps? Why do people volunteer to be hired on as a temp if that > were such a terrible thing?!? For crying out loud!!!! > > He made me sign a memo two weeks before showing areas of improvement that > I needed to work on or he would have to let me go. At the end of the > memo, I reminded him of the 'Temp' he said he would hire. Still, he > demanded that I put in more overtime. So for the last two weeks I did > not have a minute to myself and I had to cancel all my obligations as > well! Worse yet, three systems crashed, big time during that two weeks. > Exchange (our email) had it's one and only hard drive crash and the > backup was corrupt but recoverable. (not my fault) One of our databases > got repeatedly corrupted by the exact same employees 4 days in a row! > (not my fault) Users down in Colorado Springs could not log on if they > went on vacation (WINS had been corrupt for some time and we were now > forced to fix it). (again, not my fault.) And while I fixed all these > things, I never got a chance to make sure the tape backups were getting > everything. Well, my boss found out that our database servers were not > getting backed up, (something that went wrong when we restored Exchange > (I hate ArcServe!!!!)) and he told the president. > > Actually, the president fired me, not my boss. Now I know why they've > not had any decent computer support in years! DUH!!! > > I talked with my co-workers the week before and they were already looking > for jobs as they couldn't stand the place either and suggested that I do > the same. > > He lied to me about the wage he could hire me at, about giving me "comp > time" for overtime spent and about getting some temporary assistance for > me. > > Sorry to rant so much but I hate employers who screw you over!!! I > understand exactly how you feel, Robin. > > ___________ > JAMac (Dennis S. Alexander) > www.dennisa.com - Nutrition/Income Opportunities > "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" - > Eleanor Roosevelt > > ___________________________________________________________________ > Get the Internet just the way you want it. > Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! > Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:21:57 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: more good news :) I've just found out I've been recommended as the new preservation assistant at the university library!! I was offered the position over the phone twenty minutes ago & have officially accepted. My training begins in early August. Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who's kept their fingers crossed for me on this!! I think Thomas Dolby and George Clinton must be my 'lucky men'. It seems that every time I've worked on their section of my webpage, something good happens :) Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 14:25:26 -0600 From: dalexander@juno.com Subject: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V4 #200 Tim wrote... >Well, our best IT Support guy left yesterday, giving 1 days' notice, so if you fancy a relocate to London I'm sure we could fit you in. That's especially if you play guitar of course! I'm in a real spot at the moment... Hmmmm..... London, eh.... Well, if your company can pay me the salary I require for my particular set of debts and pay to move me out there... Hmmmm... Actually, I'm not that great at guitar. More of an amateur. Keyboards are more my flavor and skill. However, I can play bass OK enough. And I can sing harmonies no problem. Yet, I think my relocating to London probably won't happen for a number of reasons; including my fiance. By the way, I was watching one of the bands at the LoDo festival Keith and I've been chatting about and saw this woman wailing on the drums. And being black, she reminded me of my fiance. Then I thought, 'Teresa can't really sing, but she's built for it (a large, buff woman, you might say. Our kids will definitely be stalky) and has mentioned drums a number of times... I know who could be my drummer!' Her two brothers are top notch singers so we could have really good harmonies. Of course, Teresa also wants to play guitar. She has an electric but hasn't really played it enough. Hmmmm.... I'll figure out this band of mine one of these days. But, touring London... Hmmmm..... (10-digit local dialing) "MCI WorldComm. May I help you" "How about London?" "London? Hmmmm...." ...... Well that settles it. Teresa said she would do it in a heartbeat! She found a position she could transfer to there in the UK. We'll be there Monday. - ------ But really, I know you're just *probably* kidding but... that would be cool! ___________ JAMac (Dennis S. Alexander) www.dennisa.com - Nutrition/Income Opportunities "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" - Eleanor Roosevelt ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 17:38:33 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: (not just) Another Alloy Gathering Dear Alloids, Last week, on our return journey from a visit with Mary's family in Illinois, Mary and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting E(lipse and Turquoise (Julia and Lucas)! E(lipse did a great job as entertainment director, selecting a wonderful cafe in a charming district of St. Louis where we all had breakfast together on Sunday morning. Accompanying Luke and Julia was their friend and driver, Jacob, who synchronistically enough was wearing a white lab coat! I inquired about the coat in relation to AllThingsDolby, but he denied any connection, instead claiming it as part of his personal style. . . Uh huh. Jake threatens to become an Alloy member soon. He has a fine sense of humor, and is just quirky enough to fit right in. We chatted up things Dolby (and Keith take note: TMBG, too), enjoyed a fine breakfast, were put in danger by Julia's breathtaking smile, and had some time left over to stroll about and take a few pictures before Mary and I had to beat feet to Lambert Field and our flight back to San Francisco. Notwithstanding the early hour, everyone was in fine form - jokes and laughs from all. We were honored to make their acquaintance, and by the fact they drove 60 miles at Oh-Dark-Hundred on Sunday morning just to meet us! Be seeing you, /\/\iles PS Fwiw, I believe Mary now holds the record for "Most Alloy Members Met". Over the past 3 years she has met with Paul, Beth, Brian, Steven McDonald, Philip Louie, Lem, JAMac, Monya, E(lipse, Turquoise, Thomas, and of course, myself! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 00:13:26 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: aarghh... links... links! I've finally completed my very first hyperlinks! This hyperlink thing may seem like childs play to the computer-oriented folk out there, but I hit some snags you probably never even had nightmares about. Like, why is my link two different shades of #9900FF?? physically impossible... or so we all thought... Please visit the newly linked up site at: http://members.aol.com/RThurF/ThomasDolbyTitlePage.html I'd _really_ appreciate any word back on whether my lovely hyperlinks all work, now that they're all the same shade of blue after much fussing about... Thanks! Robin T ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #201 ***************************