Yep, I agree re: John. He has come a long way since his early days when he had a willing spirit, but was still trying to gain traction. Beth sure got him whipped into shape! He is a very refined field tech now, no doubt. Actually, I am glad it was John, as it is a mark of how far he has come. With Beth it would not have surprised me. With John it ought not surprise me, but I am pleased he got to be The Hero - if for but a brief moment (cursed by the Frontier techs I bet).
Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of David Smith > Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 10:10 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [NF] Humor: hopefully today will be better than yesterday > > > Beth is the bomb, but it was John Taylor. John was at Chevy fixing a 3410e > with a blown power supply and came down immediately when I called > him. Love > that guy. > > Thanks, > Dave > > David Smith > Systems Administrator > Doan Family of Dealerships > (585) 352-6600 ext.1730 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.upstatedigitools.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Gil Hale > Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:47 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [NF] Humor: hopefully today will be better than yesterday > > Gawd! I have had similar situations, and in one case a tech cut > some wires > for a building that was being ripped apart for refurb. He grounded a > speaker hot wire for a PA system, after I told the techs to not cut any PA > wires as we were keeping that system for the refurbed building. Not only > did it destroy the PA amp, I was in the computer room where the > PA tube amp > was located and heard the amp sizzle and saw it catch fire. I > unplugged the > amp, managed to get the fire out (good thing I was in there at the time), > and went into the showroom just as the tech was cutting a 2nd set of wires > for the PA speakers. I told him what just happened. He denied being > responsible. I had him lower the power lift, then asked which > wires he just > cut. He pointed to the various wires, then announced it was 5:00 > and he was > now off duty. I raised the lift to each of the speakers where he had cut > and found a power lead wire laying bare against the same metal framing as > the PA ground. These are externally powered speakers, with the > power coming > from the PA amp. The foreman was on site, so I fetched him, > advised of what > happened, had him look at the cut wire that was grounded, then > the amp where > the surrounding area was burnt. "Must have failed by > coincidence", came the > response. > > I could have spit nails. I priced out a new PA system, nobody had the old > 1970 era system we had (which was a real work horse unit), so it > meant a new > system for the entire building. $15k was the price, with installation. I > made certain to document what happened, sent copies to ownership, legal > counsel and the construction firm. I also made certain to deduct the $15k > from their final payment. There was some bitching and griping, > claims that > I did not tell them when it happened, they could not have > possibly done it, > etc. Too bad, I knew they would burn another $15k in legal fees to try to > collect, so we were in a good spot. Their final shot was they would never > do any more work for us again. They were right about that! Oooo, that > really hurt me... > > As for the ADP field tech who noticed the cause of the problem at Dave > Smith's dealership, my guess is that must have been our own dear Beth > Baransky-Bulkley who saw the Frontier problem card. She is one > sharp cookie > (Dave and I are both based in Rochester, NY, and are good friends who know > the same techie folks in our area). You were lucky to have had her there. > What I need to know is how it is you (Dave Smith) managed to > break things so > well, because we just know it was not the folks from Frontier <g>... I > wonder if they will ever admit it... > > I am, in fact, in the midst of a fire-storm of sorts myself with > a client in > Puerto Rico. They wanted to create a CSI enhancement app, using my VFP > table data to populate their SQL Server. I suggested a simple ODBC > connection so they could use my source data in live cursors, or even to > populate and update their native tables by accessing my tables via ODBC. > No, they wanted me to produce csv files with newly edited and appended > records, with updates every few minutes. No problem, but some of their > fields contained nested double-quote characters (parts > descriptions, such as > [PIPE,8",STAINLESS STEEL]). To prevent problems I converted all nested > double-quotes to single-quotes, and all backslash characters to forward > slash, to prevent any potential SQL Server Escape issues. > > Well they decided to code their own csv import routine instead of > using the > slow SQL Server tools (I have had other clients do the same thing who use > SQL Server). They ran into problems. I ended up connecting to their > machinery remotely to look at their import routine and found a few logic > errors, and proved a standard SQL Server csv import routine worked > perfectly. They corrected the problems 3 months ago. Since then I have > changed nothing, but 3 weeks ago they began to have problems > again. I asked > for the record # for the place their import was failing, but they > could tell > me only a record range. I could find no nested double-quote > characters (the > error stated there was a delimiter error) or other cause of > problems. I was > able to import the CSV data into VFP, Excel, PostgreSQL & Access > error free. > I advise of such and suggested there may have been a change to > their custom > import routine. Nope, no changes were made... > > Suddenly the other day I am told I have nested single-quote > characters that > are causing the problem! I advise I intentionally did the conversion to > change double to single quotes months ago, that I had previously > advised of > the translation I had performed via eMail, and it was functioning > fine until > 3 weeks ago. But I also said I was willing to simply strip any quote > characters entirely when I build out the .csv files if they wished. They > wished. So for each CURSOR I used to create the output .csv > files I am now > using temporary tables. Then I place the table structure into an > array, and > cycle through each field. For any character field in the output table I > perform a REPLACE &mFieldName WITH > STRTRAN(STRTRAN(STRTRAN(STRTRAN(&mFieldName, [']), ["], [,], [\], [/])))) > for .T. to strip all nested double/single quotes & commas, and convert "\" > to "/" (even though that is already done in prior translations, I just > wanted to make certain...). I use that table to then produce the target > .csv file. I now have an eMail from their IT Director advising > she needs to > speak with me. Gawd, I love working with these folks, but what > else could I > have done? It may have been a spanish-english language issue, but I am > preparing to take a beating for the sake of preserving an excellent 8 year > relationship. They have always been reasonable, and I have always been > highly responsive to their every need. Oh well, perhaps cool minds and > rational thinking will win the day for all involved. I am trying to not > fret too much about it. Oh, I never charged a dime for the work > I have done > as they are on a recurring license based billing with me, and I promised 8 > years ago they were welcome to use my database tables for impending > projects, and I would help them do so. No good deed goes unpunished.... > > Gil > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of David Smith > > Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 7:53 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: [NF] Humor: hopefully today will be better than yesterday > > > > > > . it wasn't Monday, but it sure felt like one yesterday as our company > > experienced a five hour long phone and internet outage right in the > > middle of the day. My initial suspicion was our notoriously ham-handed > > Frontier techs ( Frontier is a local ISP vendor that companies like > > Paetec lease T1's from for resale to companies like ours ) who were > > installing a new smart jack and fiber line for some new bandwidth we > > had purchased. Seeing as we dropped offline about five minutes after > > they arrived, it seemed like a good bet they may have had a hand in it > > somehow. As I interrupted their ham sandwich and coffee break in the > > server room to politely enquire what happened, I was met with a not > > entirely unexpected round of denials and indignant looks. So, I > > dialed up Paetec to have them take a look and talk with the Frontier > > guys directly. As the next hour and a half went by they did loop back > > tests and assured me everything on their respective ends was fine, so > > it must be my router. Hmmm. okay. So while they were doing their > > diagnostics ( this is after they returned from their 45 minutes to > > have lunch ) I had called ADP ( the folks who administer out Cisco > > gear ) and had them dial in to take a look. They saw nothing wrong on > > their end, but sent a local tech out to take a look. We're now three + > > hours in and there we were in the server room, which is about the size > > of a decent walk-in closet. two Frontier techs, the ADP tech, Paetec > > on the phone, ADP on the phone. I'm 6 feet tall and 280 pounds but was > > still the smallest guy in the room. I think the temperature was at > > least 90 in there. Frontier, ADP and Paetec engaged in a somewhat > > hilarious round of finger pointing and then the ADP tech made noticed > > something important. The Frontier card was in the wrong slot. Silence > > in the room for a solid 10 seconds as everyone stared at the card as > > if there were unicorns jumping out of it. the Frontier guys cursed, > > pulled out the card. nothing happened. Fast forward another 15 minutes > > of pointless finger pointing and posturing until I thought to ask if > > the circuit was still in loop mode for testing.. More silence. > > Paetec takes > > the circuit out of mode. internet and phone service is restored. > > > > > > > > The punch line: Frontier is returning today to complete their work, as > > their card failed to work once it was properly slotted. I'm looking > > forward to hanging out with them the entire time they are on site. J > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Dave > > > > > > > > David Smith > > > > Systems Administrator > > > > Doan Family of Dealerships > > > > (585) 352-6600 ext.1730 > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > www.upstatedigitools.com > > > > > > > > > > > > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative > > text/plain (text body -- kept) > > text/html > > --- > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. 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