Shane Holden » Work

Next Best? No Such Thing.

Shane — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:47:18 +0000

I know politics at work is supposed to be a no-no, but I’ve really enjoyed educating everyone at my work about how the system really works and what freedom and liberty really are.

Co-worker: If Ron Paul doesn’t get the nomination, who would you suggest I vote for then?
Me: Well, honestly, if he doesn’t get the nomination, and you don’t write his name in, it doesn’t matter who you vote for.
Co-worker: Really though, there’s got to be a next best?
Me: Nope. All of the other candidates are the exact same. Out of all them, just pick the one that has the prettier face to you, and vote for him.

Nature Park Outside of Ringgold

Shane — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:12:50 +0000

I’m not sure that the weather could have been much better for a day of field work at the end of January. Chase and I GPS’d the trail system in Elsie A. Holmes Nature Park just outside of Ringgold, GA. They’ve created a really nice system of trails for a nice walk that takes you down alongside the South Chickamauga Creek, and has a super nice parking area with bathrooms and a pavilion.

South Chickamauga Creek

Completed a Decade

Shane — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:38:39 +0000

It’s hard to believe that after leaving work today at 5PM, I will have completed 10 years of service here. I started as a Junior in High School, at 16, by choosing to take a class that allowed me to spend the time that would be spent for that class at school, at work. Over those years my job title has changed a number of times, responsibilities have increased, efficiency has grown incredibly, as well creativity in design. I’ve gone from feeling completely awkward in meetings, to feeling comfortable—unless I’m put on the spot unexpectedly (some things will never change). It’s been a great 10 years at my first job.

Lots of Fencing Finished

Shane — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:39:53 +0000

We’ve been done for about a week now with this section, and a section that wrapped around our air conditioning units. Over all, we put up about 90ft worth over the last couple of months, while just working on it for a few hours here and a few hours there. These pictures are of the section at the end of our lot/subdivision and block the view of the carpet plant that’s to the south side of the subdivision.

Our plans are to completely replace the chain-link fence around the backyard with this same cedar fence, for added privacy and much better looks. There’s just something about a chain-link fence that’s taken a few hits from fallen trees over the years that just doesn’t look very nice anymore.

Saturday Yard Work

Shane — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:56:05 +0000

I’m spending my Saturday raking and mowing up a bazillion leaves in both our yard and my grandma’s.

Eurozone Humor

Shane — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:47:23 +0000

I don’t post jokes often, but during our political talk at work, a co-worker told me this and I found it quite funny.

Q: An Irishman, a Portuguese, and a Greek go into a bar and have a round of drinks. Who pays?

A: The German.

Stability

Shane — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:12:07 +0000

Co-worker: How long have y’all been here now?
Me: Going on 10 years. Too long, haha.
Co-worker: That’s not so bad. It shows you have some stability.

Unnecessary Email CC

Shane — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:34:44 +0000

I can’t help but see this scenario as a trust issue. If I send you an email, and in your reply, you CC my supervisor, your supervisor, and multiple other people, I actually find that offensive. If I wanted my original message to be sent to those people, I would have done it myself. I see the original contacts as being the only people the message is intended to be for. It’s not that I send anything that shouldn’t be seen by someone else, it’s just that when I’ve been doing my job efficiently for nearly 10 years, I don’t need someone above me to keep tabs on me and hold my hand to make sure that I will continue to do the job I’m paid for.

New Fence

Shane — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:54:44 +0000

We’ve managed to talk Dad into letting us build a cedar fence on the side of the garage where it’s been needed for years. It turned out so well, that we’re going to build an 80ft long fence up the end of our lot (also the end of the subdivision) to block the view of the carpet plan at the south end, as well as replace the 5ft chain-link fence around the back yard with a new 6ft cedar. It’s going to take a while, but if it turns out as well as this first section has, it’s going to be a huge improvement.

New section of cedar fence

Microsoft Security Essentials, Chrome & Zbot

Shane — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:20:15 +0000

After wrestling with trying to get Google Chrome to reinstall for me after a spontaneous MSE notification caused it to close out and be removed from my system, I happen to run across the following:

On September 30th, 2011, an incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified and as a result, Google Chrome was inadvertently blocked and in some cases removed from customers’ PCs. We have already fixed the issue — we released an updated signature (1.113.672.0) at 9:57 a.m. PDT — but approximately 3,000 customers were impacted. Affected customers should manually update Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) with the latest signatures. To do this, simply launch MSE, go to the update tab and click the Update button, and then reinstall Google Chrome. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused our customers.Microsoft

What do you know, we were one of the 3,000 here at work. The update did the trick, so now I can close out Firefox and IE again and get back to Chrome.