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New PC added to the fold...

Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew

Golden Member
I just finished upgrading the kids' PIII-550 to a Sempron 3100+. She's set up and folding right now. Might help to stop some of the recent "General Mayhem" slippage we've had of late...

On a more depressing note, I might lose my two Xeon servers sometime this summer. Some re-org at work, and the servers might get taken out of my control. It's not definite, but maybe only a 60% chance of me keeping the reigns...
 
Sorry Hurricane, I know that having those xeons is sweet, and i hope you get to keep them, Its more fun when you can see a good amount of work being churned out lol

Congrats on the upgrade. 😛

You are a great asset to this team, The numbers are just the frosting on the cake 🙂
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone. Since joining the TeAm nearly a year an a half ago, it's been a wonderful release from the everyday stress we all have to deal with. Knowing that you're doing something good is the real icing on the cake 🙂.

Even in a worst case scenario though, I'll still have at least two A64's, two older P4's, and the new Sempron. Plus, the tellers are due for upgrades (they're only P4's, but with HT, and there are 9 of them 😀). I just need to start looking at the bright side.

Then again, after this past 2 weeks, it's a bit harder to do. We had an FDIC exam (for you non USA folks, that's one of our primary banking regulatory agencies) and it was brutal. After I brought our Bank's information technology area from a poor rating (a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best) to a 1 on the last two exams, they decide to institute a new methodology. Essentially, they compared my small, 2 branch bank to a large national bank, and they kept drilling me on why we didn't have the controls and risk management infrastructure in place that the large national banks have. Kind of like asking why the local computer shop guy doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Dell has. We still got a 2, which is above average, but I'm a perfectionist.

On top of that, my "real" job is as a commercial lender, and I've had customers screaming for stuff during this whole process. Then, yesterday, I had a potential new customer call. He was buying some land that he was going to have approved for a housing development and then sell to a builder for a nice profit. He was paying $800,000 for the land, and had spent about $100,000 more in engineering and other costs. The property is under contract for over $2.6 million. The person he's buying the land from was trying to force him to go to settlement sooner than he wanted, and he was scrambling to not lose the property. The big bank's couldn't help him, so he came to us. We saved his arse by approving the loan in record time, and getting him a committment letter to stall the seller and delay the forced settlement. Then he shopped the deal to the big banks, who now had time and left us high and dry for a total difference of about $2,000.

I just pray that he comes to us again in the future in a similar situation so I can tell him to go....... And people wonder why some Bank's charge an application fee. I wasted nearly 4 days of my time for nothing. My only regret is that WE didn't charge an application fee.

It's just not what I needed to hear this week.

Thanks for allowing me to vent...

[/rant]
 
That s...s - is really sad. A lot of work, and all goes wrong. 🙁
I am sure that next time you can make the losses back again ... maybe even from him. Just keep a sharp eye - but that is what you do anyhow. 🙂
 
Nice upgrade! 🙂

let's hope the XEONs stay there! 🙂

Essentially, they compared my small, 2 branch bank to a large national bank, and they kept drilling me on why we didn't have the controls and risk management infrastructure in place that the large national banks have
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I feel your pain. I work for a small mental health agency, and we have health care audits, and they want all these controls and procedures in place like a large hospital network. There's no way we could afford the staff to support some of their ideas. Sheesh.

Bummer about the lost customer/work. It all seems to hit at once, doesn't it? :Q

Hang in there, it'll get better! 🙂

And thanks for all you do for the TeAm! 😀
 
Originally posted by: RustyNale
Dude, win or lose, your effort for the TeAm has been greatly appreciated!

And, upgrades are good!! :laugh:
Click to expand...

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
You are a great asset to this team, The numbers are just the frosting on the cake 🙂
Click to expand...

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be
Hang in there, it'll get better! 🙂

And thanks for all you do for the TeAm! 😀
Click to expand...

😀 😀 😀 😉
 
Originally posted by: Hurricane Andrew
I just finished upgrading the kids' PIII-550 to a Sempron 3100+. She's set up and folding right now. Might help to stop some of the recent "General Mayhem" slippage we've had of late...

On a more depressing note, I might lose my two Xeon servers sometime this summer. Some re-org at work, and the servers might get taken out of my control. It's not definite, but maybe only a 60% chance of me keeping the reigns...
Click to expand...

Don't fret. The Xeon at work running at 2Ghz is getting PWNED by my home ~3Ghz Celeron in integer calculations. Floating point isn't quite the same stretch, but they're still far apart. It's even better than the 50% gain you might expect from clock differences. My home computer has 512MB RAM, but the server has 4GB! (Both are set to only run when the computer isn't in use, and this server doesn't do a single thing when I'm out of the lab. It's not being used as a server at all.)
 
For scientific computing, I don't understand why more people don't use fixed-point calculations. If you write the code properly, fixed-point can be a lot more efficient, and since most engineering applications only need three significant figures in the final answer, numerical stability isn't quite as important as it might be in a pure math application.

(I do know from experience that error can propogate in nasty ways when you start manipulating the same variable many times, such as the case with less-than-optimal matrix inversion routines.)
 
Ouch, man that sucks. But I respect you man, trying to save a man that doesn't deserve it and working for the people in the community is a very noble thing, you just get some arseholes that don't realize or appreciate it.

I am amazed when compared to a bank that can afford all the "extras" that you are 1 notch below, man that says a lot about your standards. Most are all about the money they can save, not looking out for their customers.

Props man, You know you tried your best, thats all anyone can ever ask of themselves, we are always hardest on ourselves, take a day or hour, what ever you can give yourself and celebrate your accomplishments. even a walk on the beach barefoot, sipping a beer (if its legal), watching the sun set or rise, can do wonders for our hearts.

I'll toast a drink to you and yours tonight and wish you the "Best of luck".

:beer:
Mike
 
Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
Ouch, man that sucks. But I respect you man, trying to save a man that doesn't deserve it and working for the people in the community is a very noble thing, you just get some arseholes that don't realize or appreciate it.

I am amazed when compared to a bank that can afford all the "extras" that you are 1 notch below, man that says a lot about your standards. Most are all about the money they can save, not looking out for their customers.

Props man, You know you tried your best, thats all anyone can ever ask of themselves, we are always hardest on ourselves, take a day or hour, what ever you can give yourself and celebrate your accomplishments. even a walk on the beach barefoot, sipping a beer (if its legal), watching the sun set or rise, can do wonders for our hearts.

I'll toast a drink to you and yours tonight and wish you the "Best of luck".

:beer:
Mike
Click to expand...

I just got home and I'm doing my best to help Mike out with the toasting.
😛
 
Hurricane
I have felt the same frustration with customers not appreciating hard work and then having no loyalty. I worked prviously as a CMA ( Corporate accountant in Canada) and left the profession due to not enjoying a sense of fulfilment or job satisfaction after customers not seeing the value I provided. Thankfully now as a computer technician at a school division, I am appreciated and enjoy working for a caring organization.

I want to echo the other folders and say how much your efforts are appreciated. The important thing to enjoy your pursuit of perfection in your job and know that sooner or later a customer will recognize your hard work and more importantly tell you so. Appreciate yourself as much as we appreciate you.
 
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