Jeez I'm bored!!!

**BigMcLarge** · 11-20-2008, 04:46 PM

Thanks to a bit of a slow time in the construction industry and thus the electrical engineering aspect of the industry, my workload has all but evaporated for the time being. I think we've got plenty of work coming down the line thanks to several large school district's approving their bond/mill levy issues on election day. But right now, I'm almost completely out of things to do. I think if it wasn't for the internet, I might actually be twidding my thumbs right now, or curled up under my desk taking a nap. LOL If I had 2142 installed here at work, I'd be set, but alas, no gaming allowed at work.

So what do you do during slow times at the office? Trolling around the internet starts to get a little boring, and doesn't really help to speed up the clock either.

Ho hum.......

**Catman1975** · 11-20-2008, 04:48 PM

www.addictinggames.com (great time waster

)

**Spur** · 11-20-2008, 04:57 PM

At work we have websense blocking anything worthwhile, including this site. I have a kindle. On it I have a document with a variety of queries and code I use rarely enough to forget but frequently enough to need handy. I keep it up when the boss is around and a good book when he isn't.

Spulat · 11-20-2008, 05:01 PM

I try to find myself something to do. Things have slowed down for me, too, and now that I work remotely at the job and the first pick of the work goes to the new guy in the office, it's left me with more free time than I'm comfortable with (and my wallet is suffering...)

So far I've built a room in the basement, with some help from dad, did some work on dad's, brother's, and one of my sister's cars, polished up the resume (just in case) and tried to work on getting some of my own local clients.

If work doesn't pick up then I'm going to try and find a part time job to supplement. Otherwise in my downtime, I keep busy with just reading tech news, playing with the cat, reading.... I reserve gaming for the evening hours.

I'm not the kind of guy who's comfortable with downtime. Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, bodies at rest tend to stay at rest... and idle hands are the devil's workshop (LOL)... in my own personal way.... so I either keep busy, or I lapse into daydreaming lala-land and nothing gets done.

**Arithea** · 11-20-2008, 05:02 PM

I feel you. It takes almost ten minutes to bring down and restart the server I'm working with at the moment. Let me know if you find anything interesting!

**Vortex421** · 11-20-2008, 06:11 PM

Well, I hate to say it but my job by and large keeps me busy most of the time. When I have a spare moment I stop in to check the forums and check my e-mail, but the temporary (hoping to make it permanent) promotion I received has eaten into most of my free time in the office.

**BigMcLarge** · 11-20-2008, 06:18 PM

Yeah, my job keeps my hoppin' most of the year. This time of year is traditionally a little slower, but this year is BAD! We were starting to get a little concerned about what we'd do if the bond issues didn't pass, because a lot of our private sector work, office buildings, hospitals, airports, etc. has dried up for right now. Without the new school work on the horizon, I might of had to fall back on selling stolen stereo equipment out of the back of my van or something.

Mech__Warrior · 11-21-2008, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catman1975

www.addictinggames.com (great time waster

)

Don't play it too much otherwise it will get blocked. Also I thought the ending for The Last Stand 2 sucked a lot, even though it was typical. It's a hard game that's incredibly broken and has an unsatisfactory ending.

/endrant

**Catman1975** · 11-21-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mech__Warrior

Don't play it too much otherwise it will get blocked. Also I thought the ending for The Last Stand 2 sucked a lot, even though it was typical. It's a hard game that's incredibly broken and has an unsatisfactory ending.

/endrant

Well we have no internet monitoring in my office so I don't have to worry about it being blocked

I don't remember the ending of Last Stand 2, but I really enjoyed playing that game. I died trying to do the game once or twice, but then I figured out the methodology and which places to avoid (the farm *shudders*) and I didn't have any problems.

For some reason I feel compelled to play the "naughty" games, they're just amusing and the sniper games, they are fun.

Spulat · 11-21-2008, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arithea

I feel you. It takes almost ten minutes to bring down and restart the server I'm working with at the moment. Let me know if you find anything interesting!

For a split second I had forgotten that you do IT work as well

Well I had a throwdown with my boss yesterday, and we hashed out a few things. So I now have a guaranteed minimum of weekly hours, and we're working out some other things like them paying for my internet, and then keeping communication open. Slowly but surely things are getting sorted out, but the interesting thing about this job is that it was always somewhat like the "Wild West" in the office since there's so few of us. We just play loosie-goosie and we're used it and striving to batten the hatches. Working remotely has unique challenges that I CAN meet, it's just a bit of extra work here and there.

I mean, aside from liking my job and them liking me, I've been a very integral part of that office for nearly 2 years now, and I HAVE become quite indispensable. So.

I AM working on getting a few of my own local clients to work on (I DO work for myself and I'm contracted to these people) so either way it looks like I DON'T have to get a second job, or at least not as long as I'm having to fix my own goof ups. Accidentally re-installing Trend Worry-Free and messing up all the existing install's settings, then installing BackupExec for SMB instead of "for Servers", even though that's what my boss wrote in the ticket and they have Small Business Server

(they only have the standard license).

That's what happens when you've only had 5 hours of sleep the night before.

**Arithea** · 11-21-2008, 11:32 AM

Sleep gooooood.

And yes, I work in the hit-the-moving-target field of IT.

And FIX YOUR TGU RIBBONS, Spulat!

Spulat · 11-21-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arithea

Sleep gooooood.

And yes, I work in the hit-the-moving-target field of IT.

And FIX YOUR TGU RIBBONS, Spulat!

Crap I only have until tomorrow to fix them thanks for the reminder

**Zhohar** · 11-21-2008, 04:10 PM

When work gets slow around here, I write scripts to automate the boring parts of my job.
Then (since my degreee is in Software Engineer), I obsess about every little detail and I try to make the script as perfect as possible. I test it and polish it to make sure nothing dumb happens with the wrong user input.
Then I try to simplify the code as much as possible.

And then I start missing working in a Linux environment because all of this would be so much faster and easier. And then I check myself to not become a linux elitist jerk, sigh, and keep chuggin away at it.

**fredgwynne** · 11-21-2008, 04:14 PM

Ain't none better than http://www.pogo.com, obvs.

**Arithea** · 11-21-2008, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zhohar

When work gets slow around here, I write scripts to automate the boring parts of my job.
Then (since my degreee is in Software Engineer), I obsess about every little detail and I try to make the script as perfect as possible. I test it and polish it to make sure nothing dumb happens with the wrong user input.
Then I try to simplify the code as much as possible.

And then I start missing working in a Linux environment because all of this would be so much faster and easier. And then I check myself to not become a linux elitist jerk, sigh, and keep chuggin away at it.

Ahem.

NERD.

*goes back to configuring Apache*