My Holiday rush is officially over as of today (now all I need is about a week of sleep), but sadly the Mrs' year end close rush starts Tuesday (luckily she's had a week of sleep ;) ).
The van is back, and seems to be running well with the new engine, getting better gas mileage too!
My work partner decided not to retire yet, but my boss is likely going in February, it could still be a nail biter.
I was miraculously able to get the nastiest portion of the "system/software/hardware/infrastructure/database migration upgrade" done by last night just before work (the absolutely most insane portion of my Holiday Rush). Dell was the only vendor that could get the computers there in time (actually they did end up having the most bang for the buck of everyone I called). Tangent: If you have to buy more than one computer, always, ALWAYS call Dell and get a quote from a business sales rep, they can seriously undercut the web site price. It also helps to have your other quotes for equipment handy, Dell business is BIG on price/feature matching. The database migration was a slow process. the software had to be upgraded through 5 versions before the SQL conversion could take place. I'm a tad irked at the software vendor as they claimed that digital imaging information was stored IN the SQL database (not just pointers to external directories). This prompted me to upgrade the "free" version of SQL (4 gig max database size) to Workgroup edition.....well it turns out you can store the images in the db, but you don't have to. I specifically asked to talk to a tech and not a salesman, but I'm figuring since it's such a small software company, that everyone does double duty. I asked the questions about imaging very specifically, but even their "Tier 1" person had to "get back to me", and then still gave me the wrong answer. It's not a total lo$$ on the licence as it will allow him to scan in years of paper records and go as paperless as possible. (scanned documents are stored in the SQL db). Just to get him upgraded and able to do year end wrap up, I only completed the server, network printer, and one workstation (but he can use the server as a workstation for now temporarily). After his year end stuff is done, it'll be back to the grindstone to get his other 3 stations in and the digital imaging all set up....and then inservice/training of course. Biggest time saver of the project.....We had the computers/router/software/UPS all shipped to my house so I had it all ready to go before I took it over there....big BIG help (well....the Mrs. didn't think so when half the basement was taken over). No pay for this job....it's a barter deal....Daughter #1 needs braces (at least on the bottom) and my ins doesn't cover them.
At least I'll have a couple weeks to slow down (hopefully).
Daughter #1 takes her H.S. entrance exam in two weeks, and then goes to the regional science fair the following week.
Daughter #2 is becoming quite the piano player, besides daily practice, she been noodling on the piano for hours a day during the holiday break.
They are SUCH good girls.
The Mrs. is getting the school bug again, she'd like to take the GMAT and start taking courses slowly.
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