Last day of work!

Kathee and I vacation almost every October. October is a great time to travel: gas prices are lower, venues are less crowded, highways are less busy.

We are traveling to Helen Georgia (a nephew's wedding) and then to Tunica MS (S of Memphis TN).

When we return it is: colder, darker, and trees are bare of leaves (except perhaps the willows.)

It felt good to shut down email (with the "out of office reply" and put the "extended absence greeting" on my voice!

Today up to 34006 desktops on release 2.23. Beginning next Tuesday and through 10/29, we are distributing our upgrade (800 MB! it takes a while) to approx 17,000 desktops. Not all of the upgrades "take": sometimes workstations (as we call them) are turned off, locked in a cabinet, etc. sometimes the SMS client is corrupted on the workstations (not frequent) and the upgrade does not run successfully. If I have 80% success, 82% of my workstations will be current by October 31st. With a 90% success rate, I will be at 87%.

Workstations: They really are personal computers but we call them workstations to emphasize they are for business use and not personal use. Also we limit "rights" to the workstations (administration rights are not easily granted) so that the user cannot mess up the workstation. And if the workstation gets "hosed" and the phone support cannot fix it remotely, an engineer is dispatched to "reimage" the workstation (so it is not personal!)

We have reporting tools that detail all applications on each workstation. Last year we detected that someone had a poker game on his workstation. Let's just say it wasn't "nice" for him!

Also while I am gone, we will be distributing our internally developed secure WIFI utility. I've had it for 4 months and it really is slick! If one connects to a WIFI hotspot, they are programmatically prompted to connect to the company network via VPN (virtual private network with a key fob) or WIFI is disabled. It is a security solution for privacy.

We are going low tech on vacation. I am not taking my laptop. No email, no Internet, no work for 11 days.

I walked outside (instead of through the skyway) back to the parking garage after work. Without a coat, it was cold. This is perhaps the last time this year I walk outside without a coat! Its getting cold!

So long!