Journal Entries
Still Alive
Posted Aug 2, 2006
Last year I submitted an entry into the official guide which was approved. I had full intentions to follow it up with another, on a related subject... but life happened.
I do still intend to do so, and will be working on it in coming weeks (hopefully). In the meantime, check out my other sites...
http://arkansawyer.deviantart.com/gallery
http://arkansawyer.blogspot.com
http://armadillocreek.blogspot.com
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Latest reply: Aug 2, 2006
"interesting lives"?
Posted Oct 22, 2005
The heading over this page says, "we all lead interesting lives, and your journal is the place to tell everyone exactly what makes your days buzz by."
I am not sure that we all lead interesting lives. I suppose, I do. Or, maybe, I don't. It all depends on how exciting your life is in comparison.
I work for a computer company, Unisys. The various companies which formed the roots of Unisys have been around for over a hundred years. Most recently, in terms of large mergers and the like, Sperry and Burroughs merged in the eighties to form Unisys.
I am of the "Sperry" persuasion... Or, Univac, if you prefer. But, for a "mainframer", I am pretty young, comparitively. I graduated high school in 1989, and went into the Air Force in 1990. At that time, I could almost, almost turn a computer (pc) on and off.
My time in the Air Force was spent working on - Unisys mainframes. Most of the early ones still had peripherals with the Sperry Univac logos on them. When my contemporaries started moving into networking or Windows-based support, I couldn't help but yawn.
I had grown to like my customer base, and I enjoyed working with the systems I had been trained on. I am, by all accounts, a "jack-of-all-trades" when it comes to computers - or, well, I guess... anything. I can change the oil or the muffler or anything short of major on my vehicle, or use a tablesaw or bandsaw to create something with wood. I can use and administer basic Unix systems, and Windows seems a little like a no-brainer... I do it, but don't particularly enjoy it. I have trained - computer-based, at least, in various other environments.
But, at heart, I am a mainframer. The mainframes of today are not the ones of old. We now have all the old style security (for most systems, 3 strikes you're out!), and the 99.9% and higher uptimes, plus "open" systems, file access, web-based access to legacy data. My job is to keep all that stuff up and running..........
So, that's what I do... What do you do?
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Latest reply: Oct 22, 2005
Vacation or not?
Posted Aug 26, 2005
Someone at work said recently that he was taking time off. Another person asked him where he was going on vacation. He corrected them, he said he was 'taking time off to visit relatives' which, most certainly, by his standards, was NOT a vacation.
By that definition, I have never had a vacation. From the point where I became an adult, to the present time (15 or 16 years later), I have lived at least a few hundred miles away from my family. So in all that time, my "vacation" time was spent going to see "family".
Speaking of which, we just got back from such a trip. At this point, I live around 1200 miles from family... a long, long day's drive by any standard. I get 3 weeks per year of "vacation" time from my employer, and tend to use it all in one shot... to see family, of course. That's not to say that we don't detour and go smell the roses along the way... because we must do that, as well.
It was a good "vacation" .... or not....
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Latest reply: Aug 26, 2005
Still Alive
Posted Jul 16, 2005
I am still alive... I have 'ignored' my h2g2 account for a week or so.. Just getting busy with work and life and haven't had the time and energy to write here... but .. i will be back........
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Latest reply: Jul 16, 2005
First journal entry from a newbie
Posted Jun 24, 2005
I am still a newbie on h2g2, but it's a very interesting place.. Of course, I started reading the book h2g2 back quite a few years ago as a teenager... and I've never been quite the same since.
I must say... I never read the last two books, until a few months ago. I decided then to 'catch up'... I started over from book one and read all the way through the last ... and at the ending of it, I threw the book down in disgust! =)
Well, in retrospect, and having since read 'The salmon of doubt', I can see that Mr. Adams was being pestered to no end to produce more of the same, and this was, decidedly, different....
I still think the 'answer' is really 15. I do not have a good reason for thinking this, except that it sounds right (better than 42 anyhow). now, if only i knew the question.... maybe i would find some kinda of peace and be able to sleep at nights....
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Latest reply: Jun 24, 2005
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James "Geekahilbility" Arkansawyer
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