The email server had been having issues. It started about 1 week ago Thursday. The server just decided that it wouldn’t work any more. I didn’t know why. The boss rebooted the server and all started working again. Friday it did the same thing. So I spent most of last weekend work on the server. Though loss of sleep I foobared it.

So Monday-Thursday we let Scalix Support have a wak at it. On Thursday they finally told me that the fastest way to get the server back up and running would be to rebuild it. So that is what I set off to do on Thursday night.

I started working right when I got home from work, which is about 6:30. I started gathering all of the information that it would take to put it all back together and building scripts that would aid in the process. Around 1 am Friday I started the backup script for all the mail and went to Waffle House with the wife.

I got back home to find out that someone had logged onto the server. This messed up the back up script. Okay, lesson learned. Turn off all connection services and restart the backup script. 4 hours later it was done. In this time I caught a nap for about 1 or 2 hours.

So I worked on getting everything done until 5 pm the following day. That was a lot of hours and time put in. You know what I got for that? A thank you. My boss really is thankful that I’m dedicated employee. I’m not dedicated to my company though. I’m dedicated to the work that I do. I know that the company can fuck me over at any time they wish. That is one thing that the job can’t do. It can make life hard, a sleep little. It really can’t just tell me to get lost like the company can.

So the server work is done. I’m done working on the server. My ability to learn on the fly and keep going and having my ass kicked by the server earlier in the week, forced me to complete this task at any cost to myself. I can’t say that there are many people that will work like that anymore. It was a personal challenge at that point. I really, really hate it when computers kick my ass. Most of the time I can find the answers. This time I was given a list of programs from the Scalix Support staff and was told what they did. Then it was my job to do the rest.

It is great when you have to tools you need to do your job. It is even better when you are able to come back for round #2 and kick ass. Even if it was a 24 hour battle.

I can’t really seem to think of very much to write about and I really want to update Mouse Clone. It is the closing of another day. Well, almost. I haven’t written anything in a few days. I can’t really say that I have an excuse.

I have been working on the email server for work almost all weekend. It is driving me crazy. I’m about ready to give up on IT or computers altogether. I do not like being beat by a computer and I’m about ready to throw in the towel. I know, it is taking things to extremes. I have never had any formal training in IT and I have never worked for a company that wants to keep their people up to date. I have flown by the seat of my pants for about 12 years now. I think that I am at the end of my ropes.

Aside from that the weekend was just like any other weekend. Peace.

I plague myself often with trying to figure out how to get more people helping to support the Amie Street Artist. I know it is not really my job to do it. I just don’t believe in the Big 4 ruling all of the music out there. The artist really should have more of a choice.

The thing with the Big 4, that is see, is that most of the artist promoted by these companies do not even write their own music. They have a group of people sitting around a table coming up with stuff. This is then passed on to an artist, along with a number of other songs. Some times the artist gets to choose what they sing or play, other times it is a do what your told, we are going to make you famous.

What the Big 4 do not tell these people is that they are just another pretty face and that 5 years from now people will not even remember them. The music that they sing or play has zero depth to it. Just something that is poppy for now, and will fade with time.

They will never become legends like: Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Lynard Skynard, and some others. Britney Spears will go down in history as a bad mother, a whore, and many other things (not saying that she is any of them). She will not go down as a god/goddess of music. Everything that she has done has just been churned out to please the masses.

I guess that is why I try my best to promote the artist on Amie Street. It is not that I wanted a free T-shirt (Thanks Amie Street), or the fact that Amie street will some times give you random credits based on what you are buying so that you can buy more of it. I have a simple love of music. That is why each week I try to promote one artist out of the thousands on Amie Street.

It doesn’t matter if you like the song. It is the fact that someone is taking there time to share their experience with others. Bringing people together. Sure, they are making some money in the process, but artist are not going to make money from the albums that they sell, well not their main income. They are going to make it based on how many tickets that people buy. By getting the word out, by promoting artist that you enjoy listening to, you are helping these artist eat and produce more music and have bigger better concerts.

Look at it this way. The Big 4 promote their contract artist. They take in over 50% of all money to help promote and do marketing for these people/bands. Who suffers? The artist/band, if they are not just pop culture. Otherwise, they are in it for the spot light. The Big 4 formed the RIAA to prevent people from sharing music, based on lawsuits, under handed uses of the law, strong arming, and to top it off, they will not allow your music to be put onto any device that you see fit. Sure it might cut down a little bit on copyright infringement, but I no longer buy artist that are signed with these companies. I don’t buy music from any source other than Amie Street now.

What I do, and others that participate in ASMW, is promote someone we like to listen to. Often time I buy the full album, even if I only like one song. I might end up liking more than one song later. I have the ability to download my music any where, from any computer. I can burn CDs, MP3 CDs, put them on my mp3 player or Xbox. I’m not held to a platform or someone else’s standards. In return for the ability to have all of this freedom, I do what I can to promote the artist of Amie Street.

You may think that all of this is crazy. You may feel that because you can’t find the latest Britney Spears, or Justin Timberlake album on the site, that the site is just not worth your time. My wife, and a few friends have accounts with Amie Street, after they gave it more than a few minutes of their time. Sometimes you will find what you are looking for, or discover something entirely new. Amie Street to me is about experiences, artist experiences, and audience experiences.

So I challenge every blogger out there that enjoys music to give Amie Street, and their artist a try. Take a trip and discover new music. I don’t think that you will regret it.

You know there are the rare occasions where being a techie pays off. I’m not talking about in the form of money.

My friend Will called me up last night. I had given him my old gaming rig in parts. he used to be big into computers, something took him away though. So he is trying to get up to date. Well he called and needed some help. So I went over to help him out.

When I got there he had the rig put together and needed a little help connection everything up. So we got everything hooked up and ready to go. Turn it on and Windows crashed. More than likely because sysprep was not run on the drive and we changed everything out, except the harddrive.

The good thing was that I plugged in my USb thumb drive, which I have DSL loaded on and booted to it. The computer ran like a champ. Maybe I should have kept my old gaming rig? Na, he was ecstatic, and I was happy to help. I have never minded helping someone that wants to learn.

In time like to day you need a good budget. If you have the right budget software, things could be easier on your planning. A budget will also help you track where your money goes.

In my house the wife handles the money. It is not a bad thing either, not from my point of view. There are times I wish I still did the money. I know how I manage money though. If there is some left at the end of the week, I’m spending it. You can’t really run a budget that way. The wife has the ability to save, as were I do not. Thank god for good women.