"You Fell Just Right"

I saw and heard one of the most interesting displays of human "people skills" today I ever have. This just happened about 3 minutes ago too, so this is hot off the press.

Sitting at gate 31 at the Greensboro, NC airport, I watched as a flight to Cincinnati prepared finally close the gate door and push away. Suddenly, I heard a loud "thump!" I looked, and a woman that had been running simply fell. Everyone was off their feet to help her, and she quickly got up. She joked, "I'm too old to be running" and acted like she was able to brush it off, but a look at her face revealed that she was truly embarrassed, and maybe even ashamed. A flight attendant came and helped her to the gate. As the lady took her ticket to scan it, she said in a very genuine and admiring voice, "You fell JUST right! When we go through training for this job, falling is one of the things they teach us, but I've never seen anyone fall as safely as you did!" That's not verbatim... but I saw the faller flash a quick appreciative smile. Then, she came out of the little ball she had curled up into with a radical posture change, and began to strut down the ramp and out of view.

Very interesting. I hope I'm able to encourage people in moments of embarrassment.

As Company Grows, My Brain Grows and Blows Up

I'm studying the different versions of Server 2003 so that I can figure out what will work best for my company as we grow and add my network devices (and employees to work those network devices.

From my understanding there is a difference between 2003 SP2 and 2003 R2...

I need to be able to:

* Have users log onto my domain and be able to hop around from desktop to desktop. They won't do this OFTEN, just in case of their system crashing or me needing to work on their station.
* Manage my print services and quickly add print capabilities to new systems without crazy driver issues.
* Serve an access database to select users
* Serve our sales database (ACT!) to every computer
* Allow me to set permissions and security for every folder
* Easily implement VPN so I can get on this puppy now... from the airport, fishing, whereever
* allow to to remotely reboot
* Work with my 32 bit processor on the "server" that now has xp pro on it.
* Connect to 10 computers (now, will be adding more over time)
* Manage internet speeds going to each computer to insure everyone but me has slow, junky speeds (just kidding about the last few words there)
* Assign permanent IP addresses to systems based on their MAC address.



So.... can I do this with SP2? On server do they make you pay to download sp's? Or do I need R2?

And am I being stupid thinking I need Enterprise Edition?

Shooting: Fun

This weekend I had the chance to shoot with a fellow member of TrekBBS. It was a blast to meet someone that likes Star Trek, Scifi, and shares my love of safe firearm useage.

I put about 200 rounds through my XD40, 25 rounds through his 1911, and 100 rounds through his AR-15. It was a blast shooting his 1911 as he just got it back from the custom shop. It makes me want one. It "prints" better than my xd40, meaning it doesn't bulge when you carry as much. It was... great fun!

Great Weekend with The Girlfriend

This past weekend was a great time. Nervousness passed to a great feeling of "yes!" as my girlfriend met my family. We had a great time!

Sarah was able to arrive about 8 hours early on Saturday as she found out at the last minute her job was closed for the holiday and was able to change her flight.

She and my family were able to dine at the Tower Room
which is on the 33rd floor of Clark Towers. For Memphis, that is way high in the sky. For everyone else, please, no makey fun of me.

On Sunday, Sarah and I went to Life Church of Memphis (the church I attend in Memphis) and then had a great time just lazing around.

Monday was the culmination of a great weekend though, as we spent a great portion of the day at the Memphis Zoo and then went to the Mississippi River to watch the sunset.