Springtime in Alaska

No, not 40 below. That old Johnny Horton song is about the interior of the state.

 

It's a typical Spring here in southcentral Alaska. By yesterday, all the roads were 90% clear of ice & snow (except for those which get no sun at all).

 

So this morning, it's snowing with several inches on the way. Lots of black ice, and lots of accidents. I'm glad I come in early, and avoided the worst of it. Even at that, I passed several ditch-divers - or, as we call it, "free-style highway parking" - a couple of fender-benders, and one roll-over.

 

Captured from the Book O' Faces this morning.

 

The people heading into Anchorage now report that traffic is backed up for 25 or 30 miles, moving at speeds between 5 and 25 mph. See what happens when there's only one road in/out of the big city?

 

Ditto.

 

And again I say, ditto.

Blogger Strikes Again - Updated

I made the mistake of looking at some of the new themes Blogger offers, this morning, and applied one. Briefly.

 

But Blogger, in its wisdom or lack thereof, ate my entire blogroll. Many of my readers have blogs which I proudly listed on the margin here. But they're gone now, and I could only remember the URL for a few.

 

So please, if you've been listed here, please send me your URL and I'll cheerfully add you again.

 

Thank you.

 

UPDATE:

 

Using the "add to list" command for Blog's I'm Following, it restored much of what was lost. But there are still a few missing.

 

Anyone else out there want to be on the list?

Taking a Short Break

... this morning, that is.

I've been shoving the same six inches of a pair of wires into an overhead wire chase for the last 20 minutes. You know the kind of chase I mean, a flexible plastic channel with a slit on the side for the wires to be shoved into place. In theory, the slit is so narrow that the wires, once forced in, won't fall back out again.

This pair of wires, however, seems intent on proving the theory to be so much balderdash.

So, 15 feet from the end of the run, I've walked away before I start using a much more destructive tool on the whole assembly. :)


Update: after stopping for lunch, the rest went ... well, reasonably well. All is complete, and now we're going to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors.

Pass the popcorn, wouldja? Thanks.

Pulling What's Left of My Hair Out

Computers are wonderful things. They enable so much to be done automatically; they monitor and protect (sometimes); they offer us the world at our fingertips.

Or not. When they don't work, it can be ulcerating.

I've mentioned that my new PC at home was preventing the router from passing the bandwidth from the modem to said PC. It has taken over a week, but I think it's sussed. The internet security suite was blocking part of the router's program, and Windows firewall was blocking the other half. And yes, the Windows firewall was supposed to be deactivated by the security software.

On the other hand, Older Daughter just texted to say that the 'net speed is "funky" again this morning.
Of course, there's nothing I can do about it until after work, and can only hope that the router simply needs to be reset.

Again.

On a whole different level, the PC which acts as the user interface for the HVAC software in the fully-automated building that I manage ... sigh.

The HVAC control software uses a couple different subordinate programs to "see" thermostats, room temps, and fan speeds throughout the facility. When all works as programmed, I can control the entire building from my desk. Then three and a half months ago, the program which reports all those thermostat settings to the controller stopped communicating.

No worries. I called the installer, who has always fixed such glitches when they occur. No answer.

I sent e-mails to the two addresses I had for him. I left voicemails at his office. No response.

I finally found a new listing for his company, and those folks told me that he left Alaska some 20 months ago. Skeedaddled, he did, and absconded with all the software and manuals with him. The folks in the local office?

"Uh ... he was the only one who knew about that stuff. We're just electricians."

Okay, fine. Where'd he go?

"He moved to Denver to join a new company, but it went out of business a few weeks later. We don't know where he is, now."

I spent quite awhile trying to find out who might be able to help. A month ago, that finally happened. The new company sent reps to look things over. They made a proposal.

More investigations; more site visits. Software is the issue, they said. "There's a corrupt license file on the subordinate software, so the parent program ignores it."

"Can you fix it?"

"We don't know. Do you have the original installation disks?"

"Nope. The other guy took everything with him."

More investigations. More site visits. They finally came up with a plan to use a year-old image of the hard drive to build another hard drive. Two weeks later, they showed up to install it.

It didn't work.

Much fussing and cussing ensued. On their part, not mine, although I have to admit the provocation was sufficient to make it tempting.

Yesterday, they tried again, and it worked. I can see the whole building again! Huzzah!

Except ...

Except the antivirus/firewall protection is expired. I tried to update the e-mail address so I could update things, but no. No, it wants the original installer's address and password, to enable the address change.

So I deleted the old package, bought a new package out of pocket, and downloaded it. It's installed, and clearly it's working. How do I know? Because now I can't log in remotely, and have to go to the mechanical room to sign in and enable remote access.

I need a day off.

Ain't Computers Wonderful?

Computers and software can make life easier. They can also make things ... difficult. Challenging, even.

I've spent most of this morning wrestling with a new (to me) accounting program, trying to get it to do the same things that the last program did. My needs are reasonably simple: generate recurring monthly rent invoices, receive payments, and enter bills to be paid.

You wouldn't think it would take three hours for two professionals to accomplish those tasks, but somewhere between entering dozens of "repeating invoices" and asking it to print them, it lost all but three of them.

And Speaking of Taxes

Not that we were, and I rarely mention brand-names, but ...

There are a few choices of software with which regular folks can do their taxes each year. I'm sure you know: H&R Block, Quicken, TurboTax, and a few others.

I'd been hearing some bookkeepers mumbling about how Quicken's entry-level version had been stripped of features, requiring an expensive upgrade to get those back.

The parent company, Intuit, has done the same thing to its 2014 TurboTax. The basic package, which costs only $13 here, essentially provides only a 1040A or 1040EZ. If you need anything else - for example, a 1099 to report other income - you have to buy the $49 "deluxe" version.

$36 more ... for one piece of paper.

I have absolutely no issue with any company earning a fair profit on its products. That's the marketplace, and it's how company stay in business. But to charge nearly 4 times as much because the "deluxe" version includes more federal tax forms?

TurboTax just lost a customer. They won't notice or care.

But I do, and what I can do about is to tell you ... and so you've been told.

I Need a Vacation

Actual photo

I've spent a couple of hours on the phone today with tech support gurus logged remotely into my PC.

All part of the unsurprisingly arduous process of rebuilding my hard drive. Some files, alas, are gone forever. Turns out my back-up of the whole PC ... wasn't/didn't/isn't. Spent hours doing that all over again, yesterday.

This is all after hours of rebuilding and recovering files, restoring lost links and shortcuts, and in some cases creating new files from scratch. The half-dozen items which were saved to the desktop disappeared and are just ... gone.

This is looking like a good alternative right now:

A really, really good idea!

Budget Season

I'm up to my elbows in spreadsheets & projections, rent calculations and P&L numbers.

Help yourself to the cookies & milk in the back of the room (okay, the blogs listed on the sidebar) ... more later.

And oh yes, there's this:

Or is he "eye candy"?  Having trouble keeping that straight...

Grrrrrrrrr

I have been dealing for several years with computerized HVAC controls in the buildings I manage - both here & at my last job.

The system is an excellent one, allowing me to do everything from controlling individual thermostats to turning lights on and off from my desktop. I can even control the temperature of the heated sidewalks outside without leaving my office.

An excellent one, that is, until something doesn't work right. This particular manufacturer's product is serviced by exactly one guy here in Alaska, and he has always been a bit, let's say, hit-or-miss in the reliability and promptness categories. For example, I have been waiting over a year for a written proposal from this gentleman regarding a service/maintenance contract. Today, he e-mails that he still intends to get that to me.

Apparently, it's never occurred to the guy to wonder what possible reason I would have to recommend putting him on retainer if he can't even produce a proposal in less than a year?



Pardon me while I grind my teeth.

By the Way,

to explain why Alaska's gas costs so much at the pump - it's currently $3.91+ per gallon in Anchorage:

The refineries here (we have two) say, "This is what it would cost if we had to ship the crude to California to get it refined, and then ship the gasoline back here for sale" (my emphasis). I'm not kidding. Our gutless legislators investigate this every other year, and routinely intone, "It's not illegal, so there's nothing we can do."

I'm going to stop typing right here before I say something I shouldn't.