Monday, October 30, 2006

Very Quick Blog Tonight

I have this program that goes online to something called an FTP site--which seems to be kind of like the Internet equivalent of a storage room full of files--and lets me download the files I need for different projects. Each company has its own FTP site and I get a user name and a password and plug that into my program and the program sends out its little Librarian codes or something and brings me back the file.

The point is to avoid inadvertantly emailing someone a confidential file or having a massive file bounce back because their mail box is full or whatever. You put these files on the FTP site and tell them they're there and then when they get a chance they go there and get the file you left for them.

There are a bunch of these types of programs and I gather that "Fetch" is a fairly popular one. I don't have that. I have Ipswitch WS_FTP Professional. I don't know why or how I got that one--I think I googled up some reviews or something and it got good reviews from someone--for all I know it was someone paid to give them a good review. But I paid for the thing and so far it's worked very well. I really have little clue as to how or what it does what it does, and yet it lets me do my job. I like that in a program. A high degree of "doesn't take much to figure it out"-ness.

I also like, and this is my only point in chatting about all this, the goofy noises it makes. I've had to download a gargantuan load of files in the last ten days as all the little (and big) projects I'm working on right now required me to get on an FTP site and download like 700 files each. Okay, maybe only 70--but a lot. When it first logs on to an FTP site it makes a noise like a Locamotive honking. "CHONG"--I can practically see its little train headlights. When something goes wrong (i.e., the FTP server is down and I can't log on) it makes a high-pitched little "uh-oh!" This is soooooo *not* professional that it makes me laugh every. single. time. and that's a better reaction than swearing--which is what I would normally do in a situation like that. Finally, every time it's done downloading a file it makes a noise that comes straight out of Space Invaders--if you're old enough to remember that sound. Sigh. I am their target market.

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In this moment, and I have no idea how long this feeling will last, I'm actually feeling a little less guilty about having taken on too much work. 7 days into things and I haven't lost my mind yet. There's hope. But it's definitely a moment-to-moment thing. Part of the reason I'm feeling good today is because today was MONDAY. There is little to conflict with work on Monday. There are no music classes, no piano lessons, no football practices, no vet appointments. I avoid scheduling anything at all on a Monday. The twins were too sick to go to school and they missed the Halloween parade--but it's a snot-gushing cold--not a stomach virus or anything else that requires that I drop everything and just play Mother-Nurse all day. They were cheerful and played well together all day. They just weren't hungry and they went through a box of Puffs together. (Ben in particular produced copious amounts of snot. It was pretty dramatic first thing in the morning. Less so as the day went on.) They should be well enough tomorrow to go to music class and trick or treat. Which was the point of keeping them home today.

Alright, the document I was printing has printed and it's time to get back to work. Happy Halloween everyone. Tomorrow is a big and busy day.

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