Thanksgiving reminder... everything is about perspective!

Lesson learned today... everything is about perspective... even a holiday you've never really thought twice about. Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday of mine. My family on occasion has spent the holiday donating time at shelters, but more often the last several years it's been about enjoying time with my Dad, eating a lot, and watching my beloved Cowboys. Sure the volunteering was more productive, but the memories of time with Dad were worth the lazing around watching football instead of doing something meaningful with my time. However, that's not what today's post is about, it's more about completely forgetting the actual history of Thanksgiving that was taught to me as a child. The simple version of the story being Thanksgiving is the celebration of the Pilgrims and Indians first harvest and new friendships.

I was talking to a dear friend today as everyone in the office was wishing each other well as we get ready to depart for Holidays and vacations. I was snapped back to reality as I casually tossed out comments for everyone to have a "Happy Thanksgiving!!" and added some comment about Pilgrims Day. Of course I didn't mean anything by my comment and all knew I was cutting up. However, as I casually tossed out my comment I was quickly taught a good lesson. See, my dear friend is Indian. American Indian. 

He reminded me quickly that Thanksgiving was more than just the story of the Pilgrims. Yes, I'm inconsiderate at times and wasn't thinking that Thanksgiving probably does have a different meaning for him and his childhood memories. And while he was teasing me initially, we had a really good comparison of his Fall Festival and my Thanksgiving. It was very interesting and very enlightening. So everyone out there please have a wonderful next few days, no matter what those days mean for you or your culture. And remember....

...it's called Maize :-)

Blogging is the best thing that's happened to me...

As you all know, I'm still fairly new to Notes Administration and given the honor of rolling Notes 8.0.2 out to my company. I can't tell you how many times this has made me both proud and wanting to cry at various times. I also can't even begin to count the number of times that I googled things and found wonderful answers on all the blogs. Sure sometimes an IBM page will have a little tidbit of good information, but I don't think it's an exaggeration to say 90% of the time I find my answers from all of you or from wonderful souls that comment on my blog. Thank you so much everyone!! I'm still a lowly junior admin but I promise to buy at least one round in January!!

Lotus 8.0.2 issues

Forever ago, I promised to post the issues we're having with our Lotus Notes 8 roll out to let everyone know how it was going. All in all the feedback I hear from users is positive. The main comment I hear is about the appearance of 8. They can't say enough nice things about how nice it looks now, so kudos to MaryBeth and team for that huge leap forward!! However, we're still having other issues with 8 that are preventing us from rolling it out to the rest of the company. I was a little leery of posting because what if these were all solved and I, as a Jr Admin, just didn't know where to look to solve all of these. However, I've given up trying to protect my ego!! Feel free to comment and explain how easy it would be to fix all of this!! Here goes... 

My top three issues with Lotus Notes 8.0.2...

#1 and the biggest issue is with a horrible error screen that appears when closing Notes 8. After researching and dealing with IBM Support, I know the message is is actually eclipse failing but try explaining that to 4,000 users. Until we can pinpoint what's causing it and make it stop I'm not allowed to roll 8 out to anyone else. We thought it had to do with our Roaming profile users but I wasn't able to narrow it to only them.

#2 and a bigger issue in my eyes is that on about 50% of the workstations the inbox doesn't automatically refresh. IMO, that will be even more devastating to users than an error on closing. I have this particular problem with my client as well. I get my messages on my blackberry and then can wait and wait and my inbox just doesn't refresh. I've worked with IBM Support on this for awhile and no one is able to figure it out. And on a random side note, this particular issue introduced me to the first IBM Support person that I hope to never have to talk to again. Wow... rude doesn't begin to cover his arrogance, which I would have overlooked if he had actually solved the issue.

#3 had to do with synchronizing the PAB and Blackberry. This was solved by figuring out that contact preferences had to be changed, but it shocked me to find out that the default setting wasn't to enable this new feature. It's one of the bigger selling points to my users that they wouldn't have to manually do this anymore. Anyway, we're trying to get policy in place to update this so we don't have to do it on every workstation.

Double right click anyone?

Maybe this is just me but I've recently become very addicted to the double right click to close Lotus Notes tabs. Unfortunately, this feature only works in Lotus Notes although I think I've unintentionally tried it about a million times in other apps over the last week. I'm looking for a "Double Right Clickers Annonymous" group now!

Lotusphere 2009 back on...

Well something very strange has happened....

I was very disappointed at the thought of not attending Lotusphere so much so that I immediately vowed to attend no matter the personal cost. Meanwhile I secretly hoped something could be worked out with my company, as the early deadline fast approaches!! Well, they decided not only could only one of us attend... the other is not going to be authorized vacation time. They want one of us on site here. Makes sense, we've grown quite a bit since last year. So, as I've heard my whole life, be careful "what you wish for because sometimes it really does come true". I will be the one attending Lotusphere from my company.

Now for the even stranger/disappointing/sad part...

My Sr. Admin will not be attending. I think this will be the first time in like 8 or 9 years he has not attended. I feel really horrible. The professional side of me is really excited but the personal side is watching his yellow tears being cried on the inside. However, he was the one that decided I should go instead of him. His logic was that potentially I'm in a better position to get more out of the conference because of being a newbie still. Not that he "knows it all"!!! He's just looking out for my growth as a Notes professional too. He's always taking care of me :'(

For those of you that know who I'm talking about, don't worry! The weekend is still his and he's planning on at least coming down to say hi to everyone. So when you see me walking the halls all by myself or hanging out in Jellyrolls minus the nicest guy ever, know that I wish he was there more than anyone else.

Did I vote wrong or just a sign of the times? Or just rambling...

I think this is going to be a lot of rambling. It's late but my mind and body think it's at least an hour later. Except I still can't fall asleep because I'm procrastinating on some work I needed to finish this weekend. Basically, hang on because I have no idea where this is going to take us. I've missed you guys though and thought I should catch you up on where I've been and what fun and exciting times you've missed out on by me not blogging.

So last Thursday I decided to cut out of work a little early and run some errands. I work plenty that on occasion when I need to do this my boss is fairly understanding. My car registration was about to expire and I was in desperate need of an oil change. I ran downtown to the Southlake courthouse to renew my registration and saw that early voting was happening on the third floor. I decided that if the line wasn't too bad maybe I could squeeze that in too so I won't have to take time off on Tuesday. Sure enough there was no line at the tax office and only a short line for voting. I officially did what I consider one of my highest duties as a citizen. Since turning 18, I've never missed a single election... except one and that's an entirely different story for a different time. I won't tell you who I voted for because I find nothing polarizes a situation more than politics. Ok, maybe religion. Anyway, it's late and I'm trying to get everything I can out of this extra hour so back to my story. I voted and was feeling really good about my final decision considering I really couldn't figure out which candidate I want to run the country. My next stop was the car dealer to get my 10,000 mile checkup and oil change. After sitting for an hour, patiently wasting my time a rerun of "That 70's Show" and wondering how I managed to leave my blackberry on the day I would need Brick the most, my car was finally done. The coolest part of the story is that out of sheer coincidence my Mom happened to be picking her car up at the same time mine was ready. The metroplex is rather large so I don't say coincidence lightly. Mom and I talked a little bit and decided to run over and grab dinner together. My Mom is the coolest Mom ever. I know everyone says that about their mothers, but my Mom really is pretty cool. That said, I took my super cool Mom to Arby's for dinner. Really, it's what she wanted! So a couple of roast beef sandwiches and cherry turnovers later and we decided it was time to head our separate ways for the night. It's been a rough last 6 months for Mom and I, so we took our time saying goodbye in the parking lot before following each other out. On a side note, my Mom and I see or talk to each other every day, it was just exciting to run into each other and catch up on the 23 hours since the last time we talked. Anyway, I naturally let Mom back out of the parking lot first and I followed. Luckily I did because this is where the story gets exciting for me and luckily, even though she was right in front of me, my Mom was spared. I was sitting at the stop light after leaving Arby's and I just happened to look up in time to see a1989 Dodge pickup truck coming at me very fast. I had a split second to hear his squeeling tires and think... "oh crap". Then he hit me. After an hour of listening to the 17 year old beg me not to call insurance, and listening to him tell me he would buff out all the damage, while I explained you can't buff out dents and a bumper now bent down, and listening to how his parents just won't understand and please and please. I was wondering if this is the youth that is ruining our country? I've lost track of what they call this new generation. I know when I was his age and it was my generation ruining our country, I think we were the "me" generation. Is that how you know you're old? When young kids seem totally irresponsible and you think how they're going to destroy your country? It all just left me wondering... did I cast the wrong vote? I hate that even after my vote is cast I'm still undecided. I liked one of the candidates more than the other but was that a good reason for trusting him with our country? Sheesh... I hope this car accident isn't a sign of what's to come. I really was hoping for a better year in 2009. In the end, I called his insurance and he sadly told them how it was his fault. I'm sure it's just the beginning of my fun in dealing with quotes and getting all the damage fixed, but I was really happy it was me and not my Mom.

I've decided in writing it all out that my vote was cast correctly and the car accident was just 2008 going out on a bang (sorry couldn't resist the pun). I've decided 2009 is going to be what I make of it and I'm opting for a great year. Sure it's only November, but if we all decide together maybe we can get a headstart and 2009 will be one of those years no one ever forgets. Who's with me!!!! If nothing else we should all have lots to drink at Lotusphere and remember the good ol' times. Eek... now I KNOW I'm old!! Good night people and have a great week :)