Yes, it's true.  I'm posting again.  Don't get too comfortable, I don't know when it'll happen again.  In fact I reserve the right to completely disappear at any time.  Based on the last post, you know that I'm contemplating possibly taking this bitch down, but if there's ONE THING I cannot do it's make a decision.

Anyway...to the point.  I hate computers today...well that's not fair...I hate software today.  We in IT say a computer doesn't do anything that you don't ask it to.  That's why when you say you have a problem...in some way...you're obviously to blame. 

   What did you do NOW??  lol

I know, I know, you don't ask for viruses but you ALLOW them by not taking the necessary precautions and tempering your curiosity...your computer fries during a lightening storm because you can't get your ass off of eBay when it makes sense to just unplug for the safety of your hardware.

Well...OK, so I asked a bit of software to do something for me this weekend while I was home weathering the storm and let's just say there were unexpected, undesired effects.  In short, I had to do something that we in IT hate:  RESTORE FROM BACKUP.

And, no pun intended...there was a "Perfect Storm" of failures with the backups...specifically I was too damned busy last week to realize that the space I use for backing shit up ran out of room on Wednesday.

In other words, I'm pretty fucked. 

Worse still is that this event is isolated to perhaps the least reasonable (but getting better) person in the whole group.  Crap.  Shit.  Damn it, this ain't gonna be good. 

If you take a deep breath and sit back with a rational view of the overall, it really ain't that bad...and no one would challenge that I gave my all and then some last week...and then I took a day off to recover from the craziness of the past few weeks.  If only I'd pushed on instead of taking a break I would have SEEN that!

Let's face it, a ball dropped...a BAD ball, if I were perfect, or better yet a workaholic...I wouldn't be in this prediciment.  But I'm not and the whole day has sucked as a result.  Notice how the ME in team is feeling this blow like a muthafucka?

No one "came down on me" but the pressure was there and the accountable part of my personality took a big hit, the dread I felt was mostly self induced.  The restore is still going on, there will be a damage report in the morning, and I have an educated estimate of what that report will be but until the process completes there really isn't a way to know for sure.  Perhaps the gremlins will find a way to save my ass on this one (crossed fingers), but I'm prepared for a bit of a shit storm tomorrow.

Fuck.

Dear YOU:  Late today when you said "What can you do?" on a completely unrelated topic and I said "Bury your head in the sand and wake up to another day." that was more about my crisis than yours...sorry. 

Every story is supposed to have a happy ending, and this one does...at least for today.  Here goes:

So I get home and Mav is fully engaged in Moppin' Monday which was really needed after last weekend.  I don't know why it is but every time something doesn't go right and I pull into the driveway feeling like shit that man has a way of making it OK again.  No, it wasn't a brilliant idea on how I could make a failed backup materialize out of nowhere, but it was good enough to make the stress dissolve, at least until tomorrow.

I walked into that same scene I never wanted to leave in the first place:  That man who loves me despite all of my failures in our little oasis out here in the sticks, he's been blasting those tunes we love and he's been waiting with a nice long hug and a kiss.  And he's not even going to get mad that I REALLY need to bury my head in the sand tonight and I can't bring myself to do something productive.  I don't even have to make a dinner that my anxiety won't let me eat, he'll survive on Frosted Flakes tonight.  I'm free to treat my anxiety with a few Miller Lites and way too many cigarettes.

Jesus, does it get better than that?  Probably not, I don't think so and I'm not even going to waste my time thinking of it. 

For those who don't know our state took a BIG hit this weekend in the form of storms, lots of people with bigger problems than mine today.  A LOT of water, tornados, the whole nine.  Shit, four people's houses floated away, gone forever, people are HOMELESS because God decided it to be so...I keep that in mind, if I'm nothing else I AM aware that my suffering is usually less significant than that of others.  All things being equal, my concerns are pretty fucking weak and easily remedied with sacrifice. 

We got a little water in our basement, water running down the walls because a window well filled up, but it was OK because it probably destroyed some wood paneling that we planned to take out anyway and the water didn't stand because it ran right into the sump pump with a little help from Mav.

I had my beak just barely into the sand on the way home when I noticed a billboard to tour Michigan that showed a nice waterfall.  How unfortunate for Michigan I thought....the LAST thing people around here want to see for a while is water. 

This is equilibrium...kind of like how "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" played on the radio last week just after I was the meat in a car accident sandwich (rear ender and rear-ended) but me and every one else and our cars were OK.  The universe has a way of making things funny and if you listen you'll hear it. 

Here's my contribution to the universe:

In defense of that problem I faced today and will continue to face tomorrow:

But don't cry for me.

The truth is...I'm a little Milton.  In all of my 14 years of work in IT...I've fucked up more than once and I've survived both of them.  Just kidding...were you paying attention? 

I'll survive this one too, I will.  The problem is, everytime I get caught with my pants down I expect to be fucked, so I worry.  In a week it may be a small blemish on an otherwise impressive record...if a tornado woulda took us out I coulda got us back to Wednesday afterall, and that's pretty fucking good, right?  Yes...it is.

...and the one I'll probably need to get to work in the morning...  just click it, for me, I don't ask for much.  Embedding was disabled.