Well, busy day. Went to get steel for small welding project. Got hooked on welding doing the frame for the solar panels. Anyway, I digress.

At the steel place I am qued up for paying. There are about 10 customers, truck drivers (recycling trucks) and workers. In walks Joe (known truck driver) who says "Ya all here about that computer problem that jammed up the airplanes over the east coast like a log jam at the falls in spring melt?"

Then, like it was scripted for a sitcom, *everyone* in the room other than me, said "BUT it isn't Y2k realted!". Then they all broke out laughing. Scared the hair on the back of my neck into "Twilight Zone" stance.

But the real thing is that the steel place now works on handwritten tickets. They used to have automatic scales that weighed, calc'ed and printed your purchase order. Not any more. "Gave out on Monday" said the owner. "Think I'll wait a spell 'fore replacing it. Turned out to be a bad purchase after all."

Well. Then went to our company receiving center. While there met and talked with a USPS letter carrier. His thing was that the patterns of the mail have changed dramatically. What he meant was that some of the stuff he expected to be deliverying (sp?), he wasn't. No big deal to me. Scared this guy seriously. He says he is making after work costco runs for a few things.

Then get back and unload the steel (breaking the truck door in the process - oh what an ass I am when hurry I pursue). Then a well deserved lunch. And during which I receive a call from a relative. This relative works at a major hmo/hospital. The thing is there that on monday they got a data load from some an outside insurance company. THis data was from another insurance company, now defunct. Anyway....this data was NOT fixed. Came in in old style format, got sucked in to a date indexed field in a bulk copy process with errors on (didn't generate any as the date passed the old style rules which were never remediated), and completely corrupted the db and its client programs. As this relative knows my skillset (i do data scrubbing on very, very large databases as one of my skills), I was called for a prognosis. "They be hosed." was my considered opinion on hearing more of the facts. They could dry out with a major system flush and they could apply some data scrubbing routines to the original imput file, but they won't. They are in political choas over this thing as they were supposed 'ready'. So first heads must roll before the fix could even be attempted. But by then they will probably be out of biz. Right now they can't even retrieve client records as the relational tables for patient to records got hosed.

Anyway....busy day. Had vege stroganoff with fresh mushrooms and homemade noodles. Lots of garlic and onions. Now for some more reading.....

Oh. In spite of no weather problems....lost power last night. For only about 18 minutes...some sort of a trip incident one supposes...but like the guys said "Not y2k related!"

-- pliney the younger (pliney@old.bald.guy), January 06, 2000

Answers

I've turned down offers of cleaning databases in the past. That sort of work is a nightmare that any sane person can do without. (No reflection, Pliney:-)

I went in to the post office this morning to post a letter, and the lady behind the counter says her barcode scanner software is broken, and she has to type all the codes in. "Do you think it's the bug?" she asks me.

-- Dzog (dzog@plasticine.com), January 06, 2000.

Hey, an interesting thread. I was about to call it a night and go listen to some good music, when I saw this one come up, and I recognised the name. Are you the same Pliney that wrote about the sewage spill?; I don't know How that train of thought got sidetracked - into soybeans...(but hey, it's one of My favorite subjects).

So the Post Office guy is buying stuff from costco? Supplies type stuff?

Definitely sounds like more than the average amount of problems.

I ran into a problem myself, wanting to order some more fruit trees today, but the company can't take online orders due to technical problems with their servers. But I'm sure it's not Y2K.

Now that vege stroganoff sounds good. Well, take care. Guess I'll go listen to some good music.

-- DB (tomG@h.com), January 06, 2000.

yes. Pliney of the tofu recipe. It turned out to be a hellova purchase. Got the soybeans in 25 pound sacks from local mega-food- store at 69 cents a pound back last April. And two cups of beans makes about a pound of the tofu. Different from the store bought tofu like homemade bread is to store bread.

btw: a programmer friend, a real chatty b***rd, hasn't been heard from since rollover. He is a programmer in the oil biz.

-- pliney the younger (pliney@old.bald.guy), January 06, 2000.

Thanks, Pliney, good data.

I just take a handful of those soy beans and throw 'em in the chili.

Godspeed

-- Pinkrock (aphotonboy@aol.com), January 07, 2000.