Matt D's Blog

I’m over at Viewpoint temporarily to oversee a project. My boss’s boss, who is managing me until my boss moves over here, has assigned for me to trek over to Secaucus, NJ, where I will watch over, and learn from two consultants who will be installing IBM Tivoli at the datacenter. My experience from this week has been that IBM had made Tivoli one of the most complicated pieces of software to install, and it only works on certain platforms - but even if you have that platform, it’s not certain that things are going to work without serious tweaking. Needless to say, I’m not very impressed. We’re supposed to be using Tivoli to monitor and manage our servers. It’s not easy to control what happens when an alarm goes off - ie, someone should get emailed/paged..but the problem is that the emails don’t go out as they should. Or, the opposite problem is that there are a lot events floddding the log, making it useless.

It’s offical - 2004 is over. I’m still enjoying my time off from work, Judy was up from Florida until the 3rd. I hope everyone had a good new year, and i hope everyone stays healthy…this time of year is terrible for getting sick.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope everyone had a good holiday and got what they wanted. My grandmother is happy with her present - her Lincoln LS. I got a few things, even though I wasn’t expecting anything at all. I got a few nice shirts,
some socks, and a couple of little things – I bought myself an ice cream maker, and I got a RadioShack ZipZap model of a Mustang Mach 1, which is cool. Jay and I spent time at each other’s family get-togethers and we had a good time.

Centralia was a definately strange place. The roads in PA are strange looking, they have a reddish color to them. In Centralia everything seemed fine until you got to a particular part of the town…then things took a detour - literally.
In this one particular place in town, a landfill existed, with all sorts of trash there. One day, someone got the bright idea to start burning all of the trash. Problem was, they didn’t realize that underneath the landfill was coal. Now, there’s been an underground fire burning since 1960 that’s still burning today. It was an interesting experience to say the least. There were just holes that opened up that vented out gasses and smoke. Roadways started to collapse. It became so bad that they had to close off this road that went through the center of town. Below you’ll see some pictures of what I mentioned (courtesy of Rory,
who brought his camera.) (Sorry, still catching up on things…way behind.)

The hotel, a Holiday Inn at Clarion, was pretty nice overall. Didn’t really do much, as we got into the area around 10:30 or so, and because we worried about the state of the battery, we went to a Wall Mart to see if they had a battery available. Unfortunately it turned out that the battery is different from any other battery Ford uses. So I didn’t get a replacement. So we checked in, and went to bed shortly after getting there. The next day, the car started fine. So onward we went to Centralia.

We get on the road, and start driving…I am driving at this point, the weather is nice, it’s daylight, no problems. The car is pretty nice, drives really well. It’s pretty peppy too considering it’s weight and a 3.9L V8, producing 252 HP and 267 ft-lb of TQ. So I’m driving along the roads trying to get to I-80, which is what we’ll be on for most of the journey home. We finally get on the highway, and we’re driving along, so I’m like, ok, stretch of road with nobody here, time to test this baby out …Shift the car into D4 (it’s a 5 speed auto!), then downshift to third…Revs rise to like 4,000 and this thing’s ready to go! Mash on the pedal, and the engine loudly announces that you’re commanding 250 horses to go, go, go lol. Revs are at about 6700 now, shift…the car shifts JUST in time at it’s (looking at the programming) 6800 RPM rev limiter..and go a little through fourth..and we’re doing 110 MPH. Yet one feels like they’re doing 40. This thing is STABLE. Ford / Lincoln really got the chasis right on this one…I think the 05 Mustang owners will be pleased – it’s loosely based off the LS platform, no matter what you may read. At this point, just coasting back down to 70 will keep us in pace with everyone else…I drive for about 170 miles, and we stop somewhere to get some food, as it’s starting to get kinda dark.
After we eat dinner, Rory takes over driving. Car starts right up. Everything’s fine for about a hundred miles or so. Remember those clouds I mentioned? Well, they’re back again. Except this time, we’re under them…and it’s snowing…Fortunately, the snow isn’t THAT bad, but it’s getting colder and colder out, so to avoid black ice we slow down from everyone else’s pace of 70 to 50 or so…We eventually make it to the area of the hotel, in PA, at around 10:30 PM.

Here’s a quick pic of the front of the car (from Ebay, will replace later…)

Let me tell you…I’ve never seen such a place…Dave’s wife picked us up at the airport, and we drove down to our destination - Allegan, MI. This was about a 40 minute ride, during which time we all talked in the car. I found out that the used car business was basically supplemental income for them, and that they started out because they couldn’t find a car for their son without some dealer trying to rip them off. So we finally make it to the office…and don’t blink, or you’d miss it. There were 4 or 5 cars parked outside, a small building, and a small garage. That’s it. Once you got inside, there was a desk, and 2 tables. One table held the fax machine, one table held the coffee maker. I think there was a filing cabinet as well. Smallest place I’ve ever seen that actually conducts business as a car dealer. Both Dave and his wife were very nice though. Went out to look over the car, and it’s not bad…car needs some detailing, but not that bad. Then I try and connect my laptop. Turn the key into the “on” position, and try to start the software…No go. Then all of a sudden, the car beeps at me, and says there’s a problem with Traction Control…Hmm, that doesn’t sound good. Well, lets try and start…CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK…Hmm…that’s definately not good. Daaave! He says “Thats strange, I just had it running”…He jumps it with this little battery jumper thing-a-ma-bob, and the car turns over…We let it run while we do paperwork. This takes about 20 - 30 mins, afterward we get in the car, and go. Worst case scenario, we get a new battery. Or I thought. It turns out the LS uses a different sized battery than any of the other Lincolns, or Fords for that matter. Nobody except the dealer carries it. As I found out later, you CAN put in a standard one by removing a plastic piece that keeps the battery in place. I digress.

Today we flew from New York’s JFK airport into Michigan. Unfortunately there was no direct flight, but at the prices I got tickets for, I gladly accepted 1 stop. We got up around 6:15 AM, got ready, and headed out for the airport. We got there around 8 AM, which was perfect timing because the flight was scheduled for 9:05 AM. The airport was pretty empty when we got there. We went through security without a hitch, even though I had my laptop with some of the SCT equipment with me (car tuning stuff, I wanted to datalog the car for a few minutes…). Got onto the flight, and we found our seats pretty easily; the flight was not very crowded. This wasn’t surprising given the time of day…Once we got into the air, one thing we both noticed were how thick the clouds looked. Unfortunately, this was a glimpse into the future…
Our first stop was Detroit, MI. We landed, and walked around the airport for a few minutes. Everything there was named after, or themed after cars. There was this indoor transportation that brought you from one end of the terminal to the other. We used this to get to our gate. We then waited for a short while, and we proceeded to board the next plane. The destination for this flight was Grand Rapids, MI.
This was a short flight, but we encountered some issues…Once everyone was boarded, we just sat there for a few minutes, then the captain announced that he was sorry for the delay, he wanted to clarify something in the logbook, and that the explination was satisfactory to him. Great. So the plane’s gonna crash. Thanks for letting us know, LOL. Then, which makes things worse, he announces that we’re “going over to the de-icing station, where they’ll inspect us and de-ice us if necessary.” This is becuase it was snowing lightly for about 15 minutes. I’ve never been on a flight in weather like this before, so this instills even more confidence in me.
After the de-icing, we take off without a hitch. The flight was so short, that we literally got up to cruising altitude - which was only 14,000 feet, and the captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. It was off for approximately 4 minutes, after which he said we we’re beginning our decent so we could land. Wow. Short flight.

Tomorrow is the big trip…Trip to where, you ask? I purchased a 2000 Lincoln LS from my favorite spot on the net - EBay. One problem - it’s in Michigan. So tonight my friend Rory picked me up from my house, and we drove to his house. I asked him to come along so we could share responsibilities driving the car back to New York. After getting up to his house, we had food at a place called Madden’s, and it was pretty good. The staff was friendly, it was fast, and the portions were very large. So that was good. Then we went back to his house and got ready to go to sleep, because we have a 9 AM flight from JFK. So we should get up around 6-6:30 to be there by 8 AM.

On Wednesday I went to a 10 PM showing of Christmas with the Kranks at the local UA / Regal Cinema…Apparently Wednesday isn’t the busiest time of the week for that particular theater…Because, for the $19 it cost for myself and Jay, we got a private showing of the movie lol…There was NOBODY else in the theater watching the movie, and I’m not even sure if anyone was in any of the other theaters in the place…So that was pretty fun.

The movie itself was hilarious, though at points predictable and unrealistic. But it’s a movie, so thats to be expected. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.

Today our CEO, Richard Hopple held aa company-wide meeting. Everyone knew something big was happening, because there had not been a company meeting in a long time. Unfortunately the announcement was that we were being bought by another company, Viewpoint Corporation. We were kept in the dark because Viewpoint is a publicly traded company, so we could not be told until it became public knowledge. Some people actually read about it in the NY Times before they made the announcement. They came over from their office to meet us today, in the afternoon. We’re going to be moving uptown, up to 37th Street, but staying on 7th Avenue. The commute will
be a bit shorter, but not by that much.

Kohls: Things are fixed…Which is nice to hear (or it seems they are…)…
The business is coming along well, I’m glad to say. We have our bank account, and are working on our merchant account..once we get that, we’re ready to go. At work, the next software release has been pushed to next Tuesday, in the evening..but I will be running a test tomorrow against a setup which is just like the real one, so we can work out bugs.
Mom’s car: The genius mechanic that one of my uncles had us using decided it was a good idea to unplug that part I mentioned…basically because that part had failed..anyway, don’t know what I’m gonna do..will have to buy a new part eventually. I did clean her car eventually.
My Nissan: I have no idea….The brakes are GONE now. After my uncle borrowed it (last time he borrows anything from me), at which point he got cigarette ashes all over the interior, left me with near zero gas, and oh yeah, got a parking ticket…I went to put gas in it…and had a VERY hard time stopping…I had to use the emergency brake to stop the car.
I’m thinking of getting another car, and junking the Nissan..something in the $5-6k range with all wheel drive..Most likely a Subaru, VW, or Volvo. Gonna give it to mom, as long as she lets me use it in the winter.

I don’t get it. Everything seems so slow, yet I don’t have time to do anything.
Last week I spent a lot of time working with my friend Ben, who happens to also be my business partner. You see, we’ve setup a company Force Performance which specializes in parts for 96+ Mustangs (and most other V8 Fords). We also can tune the car using the computer on all the Mustangs from 1988 to 2004…Gonna get 2005 stuff soon. So designing the site, and getting everything to work together took a bit of time - which includes getting the inventory in the catalog..which isn’t done yet .
Work has been pretty slow during the day for me, but the pressure is building to the next release of our software - which puts me center stage again, so it’s a bit nerve racking.
My credit is still not so great because of Kohl’s…Who said “We fixed it already” to me, but would put in a request again..Uh huh, sure. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, and give it a few days, then I’m calling up TransUnion again, and if they don’t tell me anything I want to hear, I will call up Kohl’s again, and tell them to escalate it…if they don’t, they’ll be hearing from my lawyer .
Yesterday my cousin made his Confirmation. I was his sponsor - he asked me, so I agreed to it. That was a nice ceremony, but we had to leave by 7:30 AM in order to make it up to my aunt’s house by 9 AM. We had to be at the church by 9:30, which we just made, because we had to wait for them to finish getting ready (they didn’t get up on time, unlike myself and my grandmother). We then had lunch / dinner at a Japanese place which did the cooking in front of you, which is always fun.
Things are doing well with Jay, which is good because we hadn’t spent much time with each other because of the above mentioned items LOL. We spent some time together last night, and had a good time.
So that brings us to today. I had planned on getting my car washed (it was dirty as anything), putting gas in the Nissan, cleaning the inside of my grandmother’s car, and doing some errands for my gramdother, like bringing down our Thanksgiving decorations. Well, My uncle has my Nissan, cause the alternator went on his truck. Oh well, he’ll have to put gas (he did once already). Never got to clean the inside of my grandmother’s car becuase I was busy trying to fix the surging idle she had (as you slowed down to a stop, the idle would drop really low like it was going to die, then go too high, then finally settle after two or three times)..well, I couldnt move the set screw which would fix it (why didnt Ford put a normal Phillips head on top of the screw??), but I found something really bad…The main thing which the Ford computer uses to determine how much air is coming in, was disconnected…Which would explain a lot of issues we’ve been having. Now, the problem is, once you connect it, the car runs worse than it does without it…which is DEFINATELY not a good thing. I will have to look into that sometime this week. Also her low oil pressure light came on, which in Ford cars basically means - “Hey moron, you have no oil, go get some NOW.” Which is bad, considering it’s only about 1000 miles past due oil change, which it should NOT have burned through 3+ qts of oil. I bought 4 qts, and put in 3.5, and it was full again. Aye. Cars.
In any case, I’m going to try updating this more often again, as I seem to have fallen out of the habit of doing so.

Well the good was that I had a good time hanging out at home with my aunt from Florida and the rest of the family. We had birthday cake for her, which was an ice cream cake. The bad was that I didn’t go to Rich’s Halloween party, and it turned out that he didn’t feel well that day anyway. The pain in the ass part of the weekenend was a result of two things:
1) Pain in the ass kids on Friday night…Didn’t even see who did it…As I was driving home from dinner, at around 9:30…I was less than a mile from my house, and stopped at a red light. Right after the light changed, I started to go, and a few seconds later I heard this big thud…I thought for sure I hit something…It turned out someone threw an egg at my car…and chipped the paint pretty bad…I have a shot of it, but I have to put it on the computer.
2) To top this off, when I got home, after I washed the car, I was bringing it up into the driveway…I usually turn the car into our car port, but then have to back up a little to clear the other cars…Well I backed up too much, and hit the wall (it’s made of wood). I scratched my bumper, and took some paint off of that too..

So needless to say, my weekend kinda sucked. I’m gonna get some touch-up paint, and see what I can do about the side of my car, but as for the bumper it’s not the biggest deal..that can always be fixed later.