90F and 70%RH this fine morning… sure got hot yesterday. I suppose we have more of the same coming today.
This is the first day in a while that I slept until I woke naturally. Feels good. Hungry though!
Kid is already bugging me about a play date out of the house. Jeez, she’s only been home a day.
I’m going to eat, and figure out what I need to do today, then do some of it. We’ll see how that goes.
n
Kid is already bugging me about a play date out of the house. Jeez, she’s only been home a day.
Ours couldn’t wait to get home from Girl Scout camp and hit the iPhone.
Next week, it will be *two* weeks of horse camp plus band camp.
Texlake (Girl Scout camp) is beautiful but hot this time of year. Nice place, but I think the Boy Scouts get more out of their facility across the river. Our child was in the “Glamping” camp week.
The last time I attended a Boy Scout meeting with my son, the discussion topic for the night was how investing worked. An Eagle Scout presented on his project building a down-to-the-last-detail restaurant quality BBQ pit for the church. No wonder girls want to join Boy Scouts — those activities aren’t exactly for everyone, but interest in doing them isn’t just tied to Y chromosomes.
“Good Omens” hasn’t even run on BBC in the UK yet, and it looks like my prediction about “Doctor Who” being in trouble might just come true.
The subtitle of “Good Omens” might as well be, “Remember when ‘Doctor Who’ was fun?”
https://www.fathomevents.com/events/doctor-who-the-end-of-time-10th-anniversary
10 years. Really? Still, it strikes me as damage control.
I hadn’t watched any Dr Who in decades, when we somehow became aware of the spin off (Rift in Wales, etc) which I can’t remember the name, but we enjoyed it despite “teh ghay”.
we watched a bit of the Dr after that but it never clicked for us.
Warehouse 13 had the charm and warmth that is missing from Dr Who, and was a lot of fun to watch.
n
I guess we can reset the countdown clock for islamic murder…
“At least nine people are killed and 30 injured after female suicide bomber wearing a burka blows herself up outside hospital in Pakistan
Today’s attack in Dera Ismail Khan has been claimed by the ‘Pakistani Taliban’
Gunmen opened fire and killed two policemen before the suicide bomber struck
The attacker set off 15lbs of explosives packed with nails and ball bearings ”
–note the evolution of tactics. From the poorly written article, it looks like “gunmen” on motorcycle shot some cops, then after they were taken to the hospital, the murdering female attacked the visitors and cops at the hospital.
n
@Greg
“Good Omens” was delicious. Watched it after you’d mentioned it here. Enjoyed it so much, I binge watched it again with husband a few days later.
Haven’t watched Dr Who for years. I tried. But oh the SJW agenda sucks all of the delight and humor out of everything it infects.
We really enjoyed Doctor Who – from Christopher Eccleston up to Matt Smith. When they made Clara his companion it statutes to go downhill. There wasn’t any chemistry there, she was just bad, and I don’t think Moffat knew how to write for her. The first year of Capaldi was horrible, while a few later episodes were ok, with one or two good ones. The only one I go back and watch is the Christmas special “The Husbands of River Song.” Their chemistry is real and it shows how bad Clara really was.
Jodie Whittaker was ok as the Doctor. Writing was beyond bad, with the SJW dialed up to 11. Horrible companions too. We stopped watching midway through last season.
The first year of Capaldi was horrible, while a few later episodes were ok, with one or two good ones. The only one I go back and watch is the Christmas special “The Husbands of River Song.” Their chemistry is real and it shows how bad Clara really was.
Go back and watch the last few episodes with Clara, starting with “Face the Raven” and running through “Hell Bent”. Possibly the best writing of the Capaldi era, especially “Hell Bent” — every line out of The Doctor’s mouth is quotable.
The Christmas Special “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” is also fun and Clara-free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-7H6u5v7Lc
“… though I find the political bias in your paper’s editorial not entirely to my taste.”
Clara was a tribute to Elizabeth Clara Sladen which I’m not entirely sure Moffat knew what to do with beyond the name. Jenna Coleman was the BBC’s choice since they wanted her name out there for later projects like “Victoria”.
The actor portraying the homeless person in Capaldi’s first episode is Liz Sladen’s husband.
I’m still looking forward to Moffatt’s “Dracula”. We watched “Sherlock” via torrent on a lark the first night, and we immediately rewound it to watch again.
“Good Omens” was delicious. Watched it after you’d mentioned it here. Enjoyed it so much, I binge watched it again with husband a few days later.
Go find “Going Postal” on Netflix if you liked “Good Omens”. Same bent humor, and the clever performances go beyond the two leads — and yes, it is Manuel from “Fawlty Towers”. That miniseries was sadly overlooked both in the UK and the US.
Sir Terry himself closes out “Going Postal” with a line that will teary your heart out if you are a fan. Consider yourself warned.
Haven’t watched Dr Who for years. I tried. But oh the SJW agenda sucks all of the delight and humor out of everything it infects.
I wouldn’t have argued about a female Doctor, but casting was suspect. They should have seen what Laura Pulver was up to. Or any of the three principal women from “The Musketeers”.
Oh, the recent reboot of “The Musketeers” is on Netflix. Loads of fun. Just realize that they were not going for accuracy as much as making a entertaining series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDWE8Jy9EE
Maime McCoy (Milady) topped my list of women I wanted to see as a female Doctor.
She also would have been awesome as 007, but the SJW agenda insisted on going black and female.
Watched Going Postal a couple of months ago. Pretty much all of the BBC adaptations of Pratchett’s books are worth watching. I haven’t been seriously disappointed yet.
Moist is a great character.
n
Further evidence of collapse, China is apparently using street gangs to attack protesters.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-21/hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-violent-protests-return-triad-members-attack
Although calling the Triads ‘street gangs’ is a bit like calling the Godfather a ‘crook’.
n
Hey Greg, don’t you have a Moto phone recommendation?
I need to replace my Samsung 7 with something similar, but NOT $600+.
I could replace it with the same phone for $129, so that is my baseline. I use the camera all the time, video recording less, browsing infrequently, and maps and directions all the time. The camera for whatever I get needs to keep straight lines straight (the 7 does not, it ‘pinches’ everything in the middle, no matter what the settings.)
n
Interesting power outages map site:
Nationwide:
https://poweroutage.us/area/regions
By state (California here):
https://poweroutage.us/area/state/california
FWIW, my wife just replaced her phone. She got a Nokia 8.1 and it looks pretty good so far. There are no Nokia apps (unlike Samsung, that fills the phone with unremovable crap). The only problem so far are a couple of games that – oddly – don’t detect the screen size correctly. Everything else is fine, including all of the “serious” apps.
Just had a quick look on US Amazon – oddly, the Nokia 8.1 isn’t listed. However, they have the Nokia 8 Scirocco for $350, and I think it is the next step up in capability.
@Nick: Regarding Motorola phones, the family is currently using Moto G6 (Amazon Prime version, unlocked). They recently updated to Android 9.0. Very happy all around.
Previous to the Moto G6 we all had G5 (also Amason Prime version) and before that Moto X Pure (bought directly from Motorola).
We had been loyal to Samsung for too many years. Never again. And never again will we buy a phone locked to a carrier or “sold” by a carrier.
In my area, T-Mobile is the best provider. We have been with them for 15-years after we dropped AT&T that we had been with for 10 years. The carrier of choice is very dependent on your location and needs. T-Mobile has served us well around the country and in Europe.
I am a longtime ATT user and don’t want to change my service, but my Galaxy S7 is getting very finicky with wear on the USB port. And the screen is cracked on two corners, and the rear is cracked also. Touch is off about 1/8 inch. I broke the headphone jack. It’s time to replace it.
I don’t want to get any bigger, and I hate the displays with the curved edges. I’d pay some extra for a rugged version, but I’m not sure how much.
I’m looking online at the S8 Active, but all the listings on ebay have “shadows” or “screen burn in” so that must be an issue with that model.
What does the Amazon prime version have that the plain vanilla versions don’t? and is it intrusive?
n
added- I like the samsung ‘ecosystem’ where I can ‘cast my phone up to my tv, etc.
From @Greg yesterday:
Of course, MSDOS shipped with edlin and the stock VMS editor was really awful well into the early 90s so AT&T lacked motivation to do anything about it in light of the competition.
Hey, I used to love good old edit.com that came with MSDOS. Ctrl-Y to delete a line of code is ingrained in my fingers for life.
From @Greg yesterday:
I hope that I never have to work in a real company again.
Good luck.
I put out the fire and took care of the customer while the award winner sat on her hands for a day playing politics. What happens after that happens.
I have never understood the “playing politics” thing. And I hope that I never do.
Haven’t watched Dr Who for years. I tried. But oh the SJW agenda sucks all of the delight and humor out of everything it infects.
Man, does it ever ! SJW is trying to ruin SF/F books also. Most of what I read now is old or self published.
When I left BigCorp I didn’t even get an exit interview… and my boss’s boss is now president and ceo. At the time, he ran our division and didn’t see any value in me or my work. He got angry when customers would insist on me solving their problems. He was willing to lose the 2nd or 3rd biggest oil company as a client to placate an office drone who used to be my boss (and who worked there despite being completely incompetent, offensive, and a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen.)
Within six months (or a year, I can’t remember) of my departure, the whole department was shut down for lack of customers. They just didn’t trust BigCorp without me to keep them honest and went with our biggest competitor. The other customers weren’t enough to keep the department open.
n
Hey Greg, don’t you have a Moto phone recommendation?
I have a Moto E4 (not Plus) which is my unmolested daily carry Android (if I carry Android).
$129. Still available at Motorola.com, but only in Fine Gold.
The caveat is that the manufacturer won’t upgrade the device beyond the current revision level, and security upgrades only happen when severe problems pop up. Sooner or later, the security upgrades will stop; I’m guessing sooner.
The upside is a 5″ (increasingly rare) screen and a removable/replaceable battery in a device which should work on all the major carriers. I carried it daily for a year until I switched to iPhone SE.
The iPhone SE has fewer privacy concerns, and it is a serious tool. Apple would be stupid if they let too much more time pass without a new phone in the same form factor. Of course, it was $399, but I’ve more than wrung my money’s worth out of the phone.
If I had to replace the Android phone today, I’d take a serious look at the Nokia 2.2 which just popped up at Best Buy and other places online. Same price range, bigger screen (grrr), but still a removable/replaceable battery.
If I splurged — Pixel 3a. I had an offer for $299 in my mailbox this weekend.
UPDATE: I almost forgot my other Android device running LineageOS, a Moto G4 Play. It was a lousy device with the Motorola firmware, but it makes a passable “corporate free” phone.
It is a project, however, requiring me to compile the OS myself once a month.
When I left BigCorp I didn’t even get an exit interview… and my boss’s boss is now president and ceo.
I asked for and received an exit interview at CGI. I unloaded on my direct “member manager” for legitimate complaints, and I swear he now stocks shelves at Temple Buc-ee’s.
I didn’t expect it to go that far, but my guess is that he had other complaints. Ex-military, ex-cop, trying to triple-dip for the CGI stock ownership and 401(k) plans.
The downside of hiring vets is that sometimes, they can’t turn it off and adjust to civilian life
I have a professional goal of bathroom attendant at Buc-ee’s, but we have two kids to get through school.
Hey, I used to love good old edit.com that came with MSDOS. Ctrl-Y to delete a line of code is ingrained in my fingers for life.
IIRC, the edit command still works. Sadly, Windows doesn’t still ship with QBasic.
Some kind of language should ship with Windows. QBasic had the advantage of excellent serial port control, and I used that feature several times for automating equipment on the assembly line at Jabil.
@Nick asked:
Best price and no bloatware with the exception of Amazon links, but the Amazon links are totally unobtrusive. Also, more control over what your carrier and Motorola installs (at least with T-Mobile, with AT&T who knows).
We have found the Motorola phones very reliable with good battery life. Have stood up to drops and wetness.
Watched Going Postal a couple of months ago. Pretty much all of the BBC adaptations of Pratchett’s books are worth watching. I haven’t been seriously disappointed yet.
The same production company, The Mob, did all of the live action Pratchett adaptations made to date.
No, I’m not kidding about the name.
Sadly, “Unseen Academicals”, The Mob’s last adaptation attempt never made it out of pre-production hell, probably for budget-related reasons, before Sir Terry passed. Hopefully, the estate decides on new adaptation rights before too much time passes.
All of The Mob’s adaptations are excellent, but I think “Hogfather” was a little too true to the book for a casual fan. Pity, since *everything* about the adaptation is perfect if you are a fan — Death, Albert, Susan, Binky (Death’s horse, of course), Death of Rats, and even Quoth the Raven.
The Death of Rats was awesome!
The tooth fairy, and her castle, way too creepy.
n
I have a professional goal of bathroom attendant at Buc-ee’s, but we have two kids to get through school.
My buddy, the EE analog board designer at a local engineering company, is hoping for a Home Depot red apron if his company shuts down. They have been moving into the digital world lately but still build a few analog boards certified for 350 F in down hole situations.
IIRC, the edit command still works. Sadly, Windows doesn’t still ship with QBasic.
Some kind of language should ship with Windows. QBasic had the advantage of excellent serial port control, and I used that feature several times for automating equipment on the assembly line at Jabil.
Nope, there is no edit command for the x64 versions of Windows. You gotta use notepad with that fresh out of the box experience.
Microsoft is not very developer friendly anymore. I would like to see versions of C, C++, and Fortran ship natively with Windows. And Basic of course.
But they are not computers anymore, they are appliances running a service that you don’t need to understand.
anyone else find it bothersome that phones cost several times more than decent computers?
n
Microsoft is not very developer friendly anymore. I would like to see versions of C, C++, and Fortran ship natively with Windows. And Basic of course.
I don’t think it impossible that we will see Python ship with Windows before too long.
As far as serial port control goes, I’ve discovered Tcl does a pretty good job on Linux, but just about everything has an ethernet or USB port anymore.
My Friday project was figuring out the new high density Snap/Opto output boards’ control protocol, sniffing ethernet with Wireshark and parroting the bytes from Tcl. Thankfully, the protocol is deterministic and only a minor change from talking to the 4 point boards.
But they are not computers anymore, they are appliances running a service that you don’t need to understand.
If it wasn’t for Corporate America’s need to run in house applications, general purpose computers would have disappeared already except for in the hands of hobbyists.
Windows will have to support Win32 and Visual Basic for at least another decade, and no IT department is going to buy machines that can’t be dual booted into Linux using a USB thumb drive … for now.
Linux knows better than to fool with application level. The benevolent dictator’s own dive log application runs an AppImage built on CentOS 6.
@Nick – The Linux version of NetClient, which I last built for IBM on CentOS 4 in 2007 *STILL* runs on just about any Linux with the proper 32 bit library support. The problem is that IBM changed SSL keys a few years ago, breaking the crypto unless you pull a new CA key from Windows NetClient.
Try running a VPN app for Windows from 12 years ago, even NetClient.
anyone else find it bothersome that phones cost several times more than decent computers?
I figure you’re paying for portability.
I think I would be happy with a phone I can drop into a dock that has hard drives, DVD, lan, etc. Oh, and a big monitor and a mouse. And a keyboard…. Swiping to type is a pita.
But when I leave the house I take my computer with me.
My Friday project was figuring out the new high density Snap/Opto output boards’ control protocol, sniffing ethernet with Wireshark and parroting the bytes from Tcl. Thankfully, the protocol is deterministic and only a minor change from talking to the 4 point boards.
This is a job description of a Senior Systems Analyst.
Unfortunately, lately people think that they can outsource this job description to India or Bangladesh. I have heard many horror stories of people continuing to do this though.
Ok currently looking at the moto g7 play.
Only 6mm longer than my S7, same camera res,
samesimilar memory, 8 cores, newer OS. $200 direct from Moto. Has SD slot, unlocked, fully compatible with ATT. Ah, just noticed that the screen rez is one quarter of the S7.Maybe I’m best with another S7…
n
“I think I would be happy with a phone I can drop into a dock that has hard drives, DVD, lan, etc.”
— moto did this and it bombed. the dock was STUPIDLY expensive. More than a lappy iirc.
n
If it wasn’t for Corporate America’s need to run in house applications, general purpose computers would have disappeared already except for in the hands of hobbyists.
Windows will have to support Win32 and Visual Basic for at least another decade, and no IT department is going to buy machines that can’t be dual booted into Linux using a USB thumb drive … for now.
I have been involved in quite a few of these inhouse applications. They are extremely technical and require engineering knowledge to convert from VB to C# or the cloud. So far every project that I have seen has failed the port unless I was driving it.
I estimate that Win32 and VB apps will still be here in 2050. Maybe 2100. When I first saw WOW64, I thought it was a mistake. Now I realize that WOW64 was an awesome way to the future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoW64
Ok currently looking at the moto g7 play.
Only 6mm longer than my S7, same camera res, same similar memory, 8 cores, newer OS. $200 direct from Moto. Has SD slot, unlocked, fully compatible with ATT. Ah, just noticed that the screen rez is one quarter of the S7.
Maybe I’m best with another S7…
Those 300 dpi OLED screens are expensive …
We are getting the a/c condenser replaced on the 2005 Honda as it has a hole in it that blows all of the freon straight to atmosphere. $450. I figure that the car is worth $500 without a/c and $2,500 with a/c. Besides that, it is our backup car for now until I buy a new truck in the next five years or so. It is a bright red Civic EX coupe with 130K miles, 5 speed manual, factory spoilers, and aluminum wheels. Looks just like this car except has a sunroof wind blocker and chrome exhaust pipe:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-2005-Honda-Civic-Coupe-EX-Special-Edition-t53642#listing=231582315
And at 130k miles, it’s just now broken in.
Hmm, for a few bucks more I can get an S7 Active. Same phone, tougher case. I see almost all of the ebay ones have the same damage, either a pink line in the display from top to bottom in line with a button, or busted camera glass. New open box still available though.
I don’t know if it’s worth giving up the hi rez screen to get 8 cores vs 4… I know I don’t like the camera on the S7.
n
Another “Picard” trailer dropped today. One surprising cameo (?) is a sure sign Obama has left the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbXy0f0aCN0
I think canon says she is an Admiral.
Ooooo
n
Cowboy Slim,
First, sorry to take so long for a detailed reply. Saturday and today were unusually busy.
My cousin lives just about a half mile East of you, across the drainage channel. The neighborhoods look similar on Google Maps.
Thanks for the generous offer of the PBR. Mother’s looks like a nice place. Don’t think my cousin would take you up, because she has preschool twins and a baby less than a year old. Her husband works in the medical imaging sales field, and travels all over the LA area. They are a busy family. Instead, I might arrange to meet you somewhere in the neighborhood. We only get nearby about once a year, but who knows? Meantime, I have always enjoyed your comments here. Small world, isn’t it?
I also enjoy our local brewery’s products. The guy who started it is really nice, and can often be found at the brewery. He or another employee will give tours any time. The brewery also makes soft drinks. The web site is mojaveredDOTcom. I haven’t stopped by in a few years, but the restaurant next door has a good history.
If you are ever in our area, please let me know well in advance if possible. I just might meet you somewhere. Mojave Red or coffee is on me. You have been warned 🙂
We are getting the a/c condenser replaced on the 2005 Honda as it has a hole in it that blows all of the freon straight to atmosphere. $450. I figure that the car is worth $500 without a/c and $2,500 with a/c.
Definitely worth it at $450 for the repair.
Keep an eye on the transmission. If that isn’t a problem, you’ll probably get another 100k miles out of it with just regular maintenance.
I estimate that Win32 and VB apps will still be here in 2050. Maybe 2100.
Dropping Win32 apps will mean ceding the corporate application space to Wine, and a lot of companies will have serious incentive to devote either money or personnel to that project.
Wine just put the boots to Ubuntu to maintain 32 bit Linux library support in 19.10 and probably beyond.
Grumpy kids. Wife juggling flight delays, short layovers, canceled flights. She hopes to be home at 1am. LONG travel day for her.
n
Listening to the shortwave tonight while waiting for my wife to get home. WTWW on 5.085 is coming in tolerably. Music night. They are a christian outreach station, but at night mostly play music. And it’s a WIDE selection, with emphasis on rock and roll, rock, and some country. Usually it mixes in stuff you haven’t heard in decades, with classics and stuff from your childhood. In fact, it sounds a lot like AM radio did in the 70s. None of this narrow format nonsense.
On Tuesday night? they have a ham radio show with a guest.
They are out of TN, so not far, but when people say there is nothing to listen to on shortwave, this and Alex Jones on 4.840 put the lie to that. There is a cuban station does a ham show weekly too. Radio Romania usually has music too, if you can hear them.
n
Definitely worth it at $450 for the repair.
Keep an eye on the transmission. If that isn’t a problem, you’ll probably get another 100k miles out of it with just regular maintenance.
Yup, it is a cheap backup car.
I had to have the bearings in the manual transmission replaced at 90K miles since they were grinding. I also had to have the head gasket replaced at the same time since it was blown (me thinks too many 7,000 rpm shifts).
Another “Picard” trailer dropped today. One surprising cameo (?) is a sure sign Obama has left the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbXy0f0aCN0
Huh ???
Looks like some of the gang is getting back together. This has potential with Picard, Data, and Seven-of-Nine.
Grumpy kids. Wife juggling flight delays, short layovers, canceled flights. She hopes to be home at 1am. LONG travel day for her.
Not the Mama !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNR4hKbSH7I
WTWW hasn’t faded out yet, and they have a cool feature- you can request a song on their web page and it gets automatically added to the play list. You have to select something they have but they’ve got a lot.
Automating the program director, whoda thunkit?
n
http://wtww.us/pages/requests.php
whoops, they just went off the air….
Went to our local Walgreens to pickup my drugs tonight (yes they are prescription). The front doorway is covered by two by fours and sheets of plywood. They told me somebody drove a truck through it the other night at three am. The pharmacy is now closed at 11pm to 7am and has a huge rolldown chain link fence around it. I suspect that the pharmacists are no longer willing to work after midnight.
That’s why we can’t have nice things and how civilizations fall….
n
Wife is safely home, and I’m off to bed.
n
Looks like some of the gang is getting back together. This has potential with Picard, Data, and Seven-of-Nine.
Also, Riker and Troi will pop up (the USS Titan!), and the Comicon panel included Johnathan Del Arco, who played “Hugh”, another freed Borg — things than make you say hmm — who appeared on the old show.
I’d be surprised if you didn’t see an update from all the surviving cast members of the TNG era shows in cameos. There is talk that the back story of JJ Abrams “Star Trek” time splinter will be explored.
As for your puzzlement, Jeri Ryan is on Obama’s enemies list.
Obama’s Senate seat victory in 2006 is the end result of two questionably legal court actions in Illinois unsealing nasty divorce details of both his primary opponent and the Republican nominee, Jack Ryan. When the media pushed the ex Mrs. Ryan to throw her ex- under the bus and talk about their time in S&M clubs and other unsavory details from the opened divorce records, Jeri stayed classy and declined. She’s paid a tremendous career price ever since.
I have a long memory for this cr*p. I’ve written before in exchanges with Bob about the real Arianna Huffington.
Fortunately, to a certain extent, CBS doesn’t care. Heck, we might even see Dwight Shultz appear as Barkley in one of the Frakes-directed episodes.
Schultz appears as Barkley in “First Contact” — a movie which has aged extremely well and merits another look if you haven’t seen it in a while.
Schultz appears as Barkley in “First Contact”
Mr. Broccoli
She’s paid a tremendous career price ever since.
She also guested on Warehouse 13 as the male leads Marine ex-wife.
@Greg Norton figuring out the new high density Snap/Opto output boards
Coincidence. How often does Snap/Opto pop up for the average guy twice in one week?
Wednesday morning I got a call from were I was laid off 5 months ago. They couldn’t get a piece of equipment (a lyophilizer) to work and needed my help. I went in and determined that the controlling computer wasn’t talking to the lyo. Diagnosing as to why the communication wasn’t happening led me to the Snap/Opto controller brains (that’s what they have printed on them “B3000 Brain”) on the lyo. The brains had amnesia and had completely lost their memory. Not being turned on in 5 months probably allowed the old motherboard battery backup to die. It took me a little while but I manage to find the proper configuration files and upload them to the brains and everything was working again.
Before anybody asks, I didn’t get paid for this (they did take me out for lunch, though). I left on good terms with the few people left in my department and felt a desire to help them out. I worked with them for 11 years and we have all kept in touch since the layoff. The way things are going at that company some of them might be my colleagues again at my new company a little while.
It’s OK to be a nice guy once in a while. Good karma.
It’s great to remind them that you are a helpful and effective guy too…
n
“Before anybody asks, I didn’t get paid for this…”
JLP, I fear you are a bigger man than I. I probably would have insisted on a non-refundable cash retainer up front, and on a cash rate for each hour or part thereof.
@JLP – good man. I’ve done similar in the past for folks I used to work for/with. It may have cost me a bit of time & effort, but has always paid off in good will and good karma.
Had my departure from those places been less than amicable, it might have been different. But business decisions are not grounds for me to be less than nice.
The fact that they may be your cow-orkers in the future adds a little to it, I think.
Diagnosing as to why the communication wasn’t happening led me to the Snap/Opto controller brains (that’s what they have printed on them “B3000 Brain”) on the lyo. The brains had amnesia and had completely lost their memory.
With Snap, you have to hit the “Save” button on the flash write a couple of times to make sure it takes. I’ve had brand new units lose config with the first power cycle test on our hardware.
At my old place of work I have been called back twice. I told them before I left that I charged $100.00 an hour, portal to portal, no fractional hours. Since it is an hour each way even 10 minutes on site is a minimum of $300.00. They agreed. And that is exactly what I charged and they paid. I told them I am retiring, I really don’t want to go back. I will help, for a fee, such fee designed to discourage callbacks.