What a past few weeks by SigmaNunki

SIGMANUNKI'S BLOG

SigmaNunki

What a past few weeks
Friday, August 26, 2005

It hasn't exactly been fun. To those of you who replied to my posts before the madness, I have left the emails unread (I'm reminded of that fact every time I check my mail) and will get to them when I can. Also, before you read the below, just know that everything's turned out fine.

So, first I'm having to deal with incompetence for some university stuff. Not going to get into it, but it is related to prior blogs.

Storm cuts out power and after 100 mins (UPS) my internet connection. Something funky happens and I can't log back in. I diagnose the problem as not mine and call tech support to tell them. The guy actually raised his voice to me! You'd think that when I start telling him what I'm seeing in my logs and netstat -rn and route and ... that he'd know that he's not talking to someone who's clueless, yet...

The only reason why I had someone out to fix it so fast was because I have a business account (they apparently suck up to us

). The problem was (educated guess) that the server thought I was logged in and because everything is static on a business account, it thought I was trying to log in again from the same place; denied. After about 45 min with the techie, she logged in fine; then I logged in fine. So, what I think happened is that when she logged in, the server cleared whatever was in memory for my specific node and viola.

Then I start packing to move when my Grandma falls and breaks her hip.

When I was first told (by my sister) I wasn't made aware of how serious the break was. I was just told she was in good/bad spirits (happy or pissy still means she's got energy, livelyness, etc) and was in the hospital. So, I thought that it was probably just a hair-line fracture and that they were setting it and were watching her because of her age; late nineties. She's escaped without harm from worse falls.

Then I get told by my Dad that she was going to have to have surgery. The "ball" at the top of the femur had basically snapped off. Not a great thing for someone as old as she is. So, we went to see her for what was presumedly the last time.

The surgery lasted about 4.5 hrs which is well beyond the 45 mins they said it would take. So, we think that something probably went wrong during that they had to deal with. After she came out of it she was talking to everyone fine and then had a heart attack (we assume; clutching the chest is rather telling).

Then the next day she could say where she was but couldn't speak when asked someones name. So, we think that that was probably a mini-stroke (she's had them before). After that it was a downward spiral till she just stared at the ceiling. The nurse said it was like she just gave up.

At this point, I think they had gone over in detail my Grandma's DNR two or three times.

So, that next day, my parents helped us move (we changed cities) and they filled us in on the above. Also, they said that they phoned the hospital before they came to our (now) old apartment and that the hospital gave them a special number to call for my Grandma's status at any time (normally you can only call during the day). They said that she wasn't doing well.

After getting into our new place, my Dad for the umpteenth time told me/us that if Grandma did die that we didn't have to come in to the funeral. I/We said for the umpteenth time, that we would come in (we're only 2-3 hrs away). He tried to re-iterate when I finally got pissed. I just said, "If she passes, we will come in; period. Accept it, deal with it." and that ended that nonsense.

My parents stayed in a hotel in town that night.

So, the next day my parents come over and say that they had news about Grandma. My sister had gone to see her the previous day and when she walked in her hospital room, Grandma was sitting up in bed chatting with my Uncle and his girlfriend! My Uncle's girlfriend said, she's like the energizer bunny. And it's rather true

They wanted to get my Grandma up and about straight away but they didn't because of the complications. But, since that is (apparently) all done with they have started something.

I would think that since she was in bed for too long after that that is the reason why they are starting her slower than normal. She's now sitting in a chair for a couple hours a day and is only taking the meds that she took before the fall.

All is looking up.

So, if the last time she was in the hospital is any indication, she'll be grumpy and wanting to get home in about a week

Now onto less important things.

Then my internet connection wasn't working, again. When we called, we again got some little prick that clearly didn't want to be there. We told him that we called and got it all moved over and that they said that someone would be out that day to do whatever was needed to be done.

He said that there was nothing scheduled, hold. He comes back with, you wanted TV right? No! I want my internet connection working! Hold. Someone will do it tommorow 3 - 6pm. Not happy.

A couple hours later my dsl light goes on on the modem, I can connect, but nothing happens. Tired, I leave it for tommorow; maybe something still needs doing.

I diagnose the problem as there's. The data passes through my network and gets dropped on the wire, nothing comes back. I even have the logs to prove it.

Called tech, got it sorted fairly quickly. What was happening here is that since it is a business account everything is static. I mean everything. The route to my ip is static on the hardware. So, I could log in, but when the packets got routed back to me, they went to the old location (my old apartment) and not the new one. They had enabled dsl for my new line, but didn't fix the routing, grrrr. The only bad thing (and it isn't that bad) was that my static ip changed (certain batches of ips for certain areas), whatever.

Also, I found out from the last techie that business support is only there 8 - 6, mon - fri. Outside that, we get forwarded to the residential support. Also, if the lines are very busy, to prevent wait times, the overflow is forwarded to residential support. Let me tell you, the difference in attitude and competence is astounding! Next time, I'll call back if I get one of those incompetent idiots from residential support

So, I'm here and I go see my wifes office and see about getting a used text for one of my classes. I meet one of the other people in the department (there local techie) talk shop for a bit and apparently I impressed him. I find this out latter as my wife passed on a message that they are having problems with one of there systems and would like me to take a look (we'll see, I've only heard of that type of system before. Hopefully it's a generic programming related problem and not sysadmin related one. Better chance that I could help them that way.). There is apparently another thing that they had in mind but the wife could remember that one, so I'll just have to find out myself when I talk with them.

So, in summery, I may have a job, or at least something to put on my CV (hopefully), internet connection broken fixed, broken fixed, dealing with incompetence (aren't we always), changed cities and most importantly, Grandma better (and hopefully staying that way for a good chunk of time).

And now I'm tired and need sleep. I'll just have to leave all those spelling/gammar mistakes there

COMMENTS

Saturday, August 27, 2005 3:56 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Thanks guys, appreciated :)

Yah, she a tough one.

Hey PurplePenguin91, our grandparents are pin buddies ;) And I wish the best for you and your family as well.

Saturday, August 27, 2005 1:32 PM

PURPLEPENGUIN91

That sounds like my gradfather. He has had several strokes, and a few days ago fell outside of a grocery store and broke his hip. They had to do surgery and put a pin in it I think. Luckily there weren't any complications, that I know of, but he is still in the hostipal and has to do physical therapy stuff.

I hope everything turns out of for you and your family. :)

Saturday, August 27, 2005 6:22 AM

STARRBABY

I'll be praying for your g-ma. She sounds tough.

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