It’s been a little bit since I last wrote, but I felt a need to update this blog a bit.
For starters the part-time job I was doing (hated how much of their system was manual, but loved the hours) is now over. I finally decided this past Tuesday, that I was tired of how backward their system was. You’d hand write the same information 2 or 3 different places, ever week, and I’d had enough. So Wednesday morning I called Manpower (the agency I was temping through) and let the know the fit just was not right. I’d tried for four weeks to make it work, and it just wasn’t working! I am again on their books looking for something, but in the mean time I working with Shane and Digital Pulse.
I have always always wanted to work from home, and now we’re trying to make use of that. I worked at Torrance on Wednesday, but Manpower called them on Wednesday and there was no need for me to go back on Thursday. So instead on Thursday, Shane and I ran a number of errands . And then on Friday, I started with out list of emailed invoices that had bounced and started tracking down ways of contacting these people. Out of about a dozen problem children invoices, I was able to track down alternate email address for all but two. The first one I was unable to track down, was the first individual I had called. We had a phone number in the system, which I called and left him a voice mail, which was never returned on Friday. For the other, it’s a doctor’s office, and they closed early on Friday. Therefore I will have to give them a call on Monday.
With how things are set up for the hosting, I have been handling most of the trouble tickets and other inquiries already. None of the tickets were ever so urgent that they couldn’t wait a few hours (or so) for me to be able to arrive home and at a computer. Currently anyone actually calling us, (we have an 800#), their calls are directed to Shane’s cell, but most likely some of the extensions will soon be directed to mine. I also handle server issues, for example when we had a problem with a server on Wednesday night, I’m the one who stayed up until 4 when it was finally back up and running. (Which is why not as much was done on Thursday but errands. I had to sleep sometime.)
Shane and I have also been talking about what’s going to happen to the consulting and repair division of Digital Pulse. He has absolutely positively no interest in it any more. In some ways we’re lucky it’s interested in programming again. The real question came up on Tuesday though when he went to BNI for Dave (a friend of his), and they all asked him there if he was going to continue to offer computer repair. I’m interested in it, but not necessarily interested in actively pursuing it. Part of the reason the discussing came up was because the new Area Chamber book will be coming out soon, and whether or not to keep the ad he had intended on placing in it. Basically when he joined he was too late for their book that had just been issued, but it’s now time for their new one. After some thought, and finding out that he has no interest at all, and will not even assist with trouble shooting (better to know now than later), I have decided that it makes sense to continue with the computer repair, but not to actively seek it. Since we don’t want the customers bringing their computers to our home, it does mean going to them either to work there, or to pick it up. That will once again mean I’m not working exactly in the home, but I think it will be alright since we’re not going to actively seek or advertise. It will be listed in the Area Chamber book, and we don’t know what kind of business that will bring us, it could be a lot, but it could just as easily be little or none. Since we still need the hosting business to grow before it easily support us both, having the extra source of potential income will help. Shane is going to take on some programming which will also help.
Thinking of that, I have a laptop, I need to go and look at. And since I’ve hit most of the highlights of what’s new here I go do that in a moment.
The other things that are continuing are: GMIL is still living, but now in hospice care. We are looking at moving still, and most likely still with MIL (unfortunately in my opinion), but MIL is waiting for GMIL’s money from the sale of her Montana home to come in before looking more seriously. I still think it will be difficult to find a place that fits all our requirements (this includes rental costs) but we’ll look. I say that if we have a garage it had better be a 2 car since MIL is NOT the only one who is going to have a place to park her vehicle if there is one. I am sick and tired of parking it on the street, and in the winter with alternate side parking it’s a royal pain, so I vote for either no garage or a 2 car garage or more. I guess we’ll have to see what we can find. Part of the difficulty is looking for a rental, but we don’t have the credit to purchase.
Ok, it’s time to go and look at that laptop. We’ve had it since Wednesday, but she was out of town until today, so we’re suppose to call her on it tomorrow, anyway. TTFN.