What's Been Going On...
Ok, I've been lagging on posting new news. So, let me see if I can catch you all up on the goings on in my world. If interested, click the read more link!As some of you may have known, on June 20th the company I work for moved buildings for those of us working in the Chico office. The move had been much anticipated since it had to be rescheduled 3 times that I can rememeber. I now realize construction is on par with software development where as deadlines mean nothing. The builder first promised we would be able to move in on March 31st, then mid April, and then again in May or June. See, it was moved around so much I can't even remember the chain of events. Either way, we are here now and the building is still not 100% complete and when they came to do the touch up on the interior paint, they used a color which was a shade off and it looks pretty bad. I imagine they'll be back to redo the work.
So, on top of issues with the building we have had issues with SBC and our internet provider. SBC failed to move two of our phone numbers, one of which was the 800 line for the Breast Cancer Early Detection program which allow doctors to call in to resolve billing issues with patients covered by the program. Not sure when that will be resolved. The major issue, in my mind, since it's my responsibility is the internet connection. One would assume that 60 days lead time would be sufficient when moving an internet connection from one location to another, but in our situation it wasn't. I called our provider 60 days in advance to inform them of the situation. The situation was that we would be moving and that we wanted the connection installed in the new building on June 17th. But, because there were now phone connections installed in the building at the time I placed the order they couldn't confirm the install. I attempted to explain to them the lines would be installed the morning of June 17th where as they could do their portion of the work shortly thereafter. Given there were no phone lines into our building, the ISP requested I get the number of a nearby business so that they could check the availablity in the area, which I did.
Caveat, getting the phone number of the business two doors down was an interesting endevor. Upon walking into their office, I noticed a couple of networking type guys installing computers and other networking equipment. I began to explain my situation with our internet connection and one of the guys began to explain the services they could provide for us. I played along trying to gain their trust so that I could get the phone number of the business. Now realize that their business phone number is public knowledge if you know the business name, which I didn't. But once they told me the business name, I should have just left and looked it up myself, but with efficiency in mind, I thought I'd just ask. Upon asking for the phone number to the location from the installer guy, the business owner, who had been lurking in a back office overheard us and chimed in. She stated she wasn't sure she agreed and didn't want to provide the number. The installer guy and myself gave each other a funny look as we realized the number was public information and attempted to sway her, which we finally did. I'm not sure why the lady had an issue giving out her business phone number, but one would think you would want people to have it. As well, I'm not sure of the security ramafications which caused her concern, but they were misfounded.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed that little off shoot of the actual story... So, after providing the number to the ISP, they told me it shouldn't be a problem to get the connection installed and I figured we were in the clear at that point. Two weeks later when I called to confirm the connection would get installed the day I asked, I was told our order had been placed on HOLD. It seems that our provider had purchased the service from another upstream provider and this company didn't have the available infrastruction in place and were working on getting it installed but didn't have a date in which the work would be complete. Meaning no one knew when we would actually get our internet connection installed. Lucky for us, about the same time all this was occuring, the state cancer registry offered to provide us with funds for 2 years of service with a top tier provider, Broadband.com, which we took them up on. So the long and short of it is this other connection is currently in the works, getting approved and can be installed in about 2 or so weeks. Not bad given the situation, but still highly unsatisfactory (not on Broadband.com's part, but in general) due to the long period with out a connection.
So, I'm sure I'll mention the outcome in a future entry.
Being that work has been overly stressful, it's made me more tired than usual, so the training on the bike has been a little off target. But, I did go out to Genoa, NV to participate in the Comstock Century. Riding in the high desert and over a 9000 foot pass was spectacular. One issue I did have with the ride was the traffic. From what I hear about riding in the Tahoe area, much of the cycling roads are fairly congested and the shoulder is sometimes nonexistent. I had been planning to do the ride for a while now since my friend Rob, from Provo was going to be driving out to ride too. Another friend, Carlos, also came up from Sacramento.
The weekend began with me driving out to South Lake Tahoe to stay at a funky little lodge at stateline. It was an older place but more than adaquate for my needs. I spend Friday walking around the casinos by myself and playing some blackjack and some quarter video poker games. Of course, I lost and became quickly uninterested in gambling, which took all of maybe an hour or two. At that point I decided to talk a walking tour of the casino area and chat on the phone with my friend Rob as he drove in from Utah.
Saturday was an early start because I was going to drive out to Gardnerville to meet Rob and visit his sisters and their families and go to breakfast. I hadn't seen Rob since the early 90's and we had kind of lost contact with each other so it was really great to see him again. The visiting was fun and Rob's nieces and nephews were great kids. After breakfast, it was time to go out to the local bike store, which is owned by Rob's brother-in-law, Keith. It's called Big Daddy's and is in Gardnerville, so if you're out that way, pop in and say hi. The bike store showroom was really nice and loaded with some high end cycles and equipment, but we focused most of our attention to the mechanics area since we were there to work on Rob's rim and change some tires. As well, in the mad rush, Rob had left his cycling shoes in Provo, but lucky for him, Keith had a pair of limited edition bright yellow Nike Lance shoes for him.
We then went for a ride which took us from his sister's house into California to HWY 89 to HWY 4 and around an indian reservation and back. I was quite amused that his sister lived about 100 yards from the state line, which was depicted with a line across the road. Another thing I noticed which wasn't as amusing was riding at 6000 feet elevation took a little more effort and that even though the assents don't seem steep compared to the surrounding mountains, they are! Anyway, the ride and the scenery were beautiful and below I'll post some pictures to prove it. The day ended with a large pasta dinner at a local Italian restaurant and me driving back to South Lake.
Next post will be the actual bike ride post...
Rob and the Markleeville road sign.
West Fork of the Carson river, where Rob fished as a kid.
Carson river, again.
The long road, actually called Carson River Rd. on the outskirts of the indian reservation.
The actual pony express road
Emigrant Trail, heading from California back towards Nevada.
So, on top of issues with the building we have had issues with SBC and our internet provider. SBC failed to move two of our phone numbers, one of which was the 800 line for the Breast Cancer Early Detection program which allow doctors to call in to resolve billing issues with patients covered by the program. Not sure when that will be resolved. The major issue, in my mind, since it's my responsibility is the internet connection. One would assume that 60 days lead time would be sufficient when moving an internet connection from one location to another, but in our situation it wasn't. I called our provider 60 days in advance to inform them of the situation. The situation was that we would be moving and that we wanted the connection installed in the new building on June 17th. But, because there were now phone connections installed in the building at the time I placed the order they couldn't confirm the install. I attempted to explain to them the lines would be installed the morning of June 17th where as they could do their portion of the work shortly thereafter. Given there were no phone lines into our building, the ISP requested I get the number of a nearby business so that they could check the availablity in the area, which I did.
Caveat, getting the phone number of the business two doors down was an interesting endevor. Upon walking into their office, I noticed a couple of networking type guys installing computers and other networking equipment. I began to explain my situation with our internet connection and one of the guys began to explain the services they could provide for us. I played along trying to gain their trust so that I could get the phone number of the business. Now realize that their business phone number is public knowledge if you know the business name, which I didn't. But once they told me the business name, I should have just left and looked it up myself, but with efficiency in mind, I thought I'd just ask. Upon asking for the phone number to the location from the installer guy, the business owner, who had been lurking in a back office overheard us and chimed in. She stated she wasn't sure she agreed and didn't want to provide the number. The installer guy and myself gave each other a funny look as we realized the number was public information and attempted to sway her, which we finally did. I'm not sure why the lady had an issue giving out her business phone number, but one would think you would want people to have it. As well, I'm not sure of the security ramafications which caused her concern, but they were misfounded.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed that little off shoot of the actual story... So, after providing the number to the ISP, they told me it shouldn't be a problem to get the connection installed and I figured we were in the clear at that point. Two weeks later when I called to confirm the connection would get installed the day I asked, I was told our order had been placed on HOLD. It seems that our provider had purchased the service from another upstream provider and this company didn't have the available infrastruction in place and were working on getting it installed but didn't have a date in which the work would be complete. Meaning no one knew when we would actually get our internet connection installed. Lucky for us, about the same time all this was occuring, the state cancer registry offered to provide us with funds for 2 years of service with a top tier provider, Broadband.com, which we took them up on. So the long and short of it is this other connection is currently in the works, getting approved and can be installed in about 2 or so weeks. Not bad given the situation, but still highly unsatisfactory (not on Broadband.com's part, but in general) due to the long period with out a connection.
So, I'm sure I'll mention the outcome in a future entry.
Being that work has been overly stressful, it's made me more tired than usual, so the training on the bike has been a little off target. But, I did go out to Genoa, NV to participate in the Comstock Century. Riding in the high desert and over a 9000 foot pass was spectacular. One issue I did have with the ride was the traffic. From what I hear about riding in the Tahoe area, much of the cycling roads are fairly congested and the shoulder is sometimes nonexistent. I had been planning to do the ride for a while now since my friend Rob, from Provo was going to be driving out to ride too. Another friend, Carlos, also came up from Sacramento.
The weekend began with me driving out to South Lake Tahoe to stay at a funky little lodge at stateline. It was an older place but more than adaquate for my needs. I spend Friday walking around the casinos by myself and playing some blackjack and some quarter video poker games. Of course, I lost and became quickly uninterested in gambling, which took all of maybe an hour or two. At that point I decided to talk a walking tour of the casino area and chat on the phone with my friend Rob as he drove in from Utah.
Saturday was an early start because I was going to drive out to Gardnerville to meet Rob and visit his sisters and their families and go to breakfast. I hadn't seen Rob since the early 90's and we had kind of lost contact with each other so it was really great to see him again. The visiting was fun and Rob's nieces and nephews were great kids. After breakfast, it was time to go out to the local bike store, which is owned by Rob's brother-in-law, Keith. It's called Big Daddy's and is in Gardnerville, so if you're out that way, pop in and say hi. The bike store showroom was really nice and loaded with some high end cycles and equipment, but we focused most of our attention to the mechanics area since we were there to work on Rob's rim and change some tires. As well, in the mad rush, Rob had left his cycling shoes in Provo, but lucky for him, Keith had a pair of limited edition bright yellow Nike Lance shoes for him.
We then went for a ride which took us from his sister's house into California to HWY 89 to HWY 4 and around an indian reservation and back. I was quite amused that his sister lived about 100 yards from the state line, which was depicted with a line across the road. Another thing I noticed which wasn't as amusing was riding at 6000 feet elevation took a little more effort and that even though the assents don't seem steep compared to the surrounding mountains, they are! Anyway, the ride and the scenery were beautiful and below I'll post some pictures to prove it. The day ended with a large pasta dinner at a local Italian restaurant and me driving back to South Lake.
Next post will be the actual bike ride post...
Rob and the Markleeville road sign.
West Fork of the Carson river, where Rob fished as a kid.
Carson river, again.
The long road, actually called Carson River Rd. on the outskirts of the indian reservation.
The actual pony express road
Emigrant Trail, heading from California back towards Nevada.
posted by Tony Rocha at
6/29/2005
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