Others putting themselves in my old shoes

I am not as stressed out at work, mainly because I don't lead our software release work these days. It's a nice change.

However, I am the one who troubleshoots and makes decisions on my team that either no one has thought about or can't come to a conclusion. It's one many reason why I did everything seamlessly.

I also find that my colleagues whine and complain about minor things that I never did. Perhaps I need to join in and see how that feels.

I still feel that they took what I did for granted. Now that they are enduring what I used to do, I feel like there's a quieter respect that they have for me.

Back at work and being with oddballs

My first day back at work was busy, but it went well. I got the work that I needed to catch up on completed. I helped troubleshoot an issue that resulted in having three happy people being able to access a site.

It's not a revelation, but the day made me realize how my colleagues in my department are not exactly leaders:

• The oldest guy on our team talks a lot. He spent twenty minutes talking about an office chair. He also can't figure out how to add a software application on his laptop if his life depended on it.
• The diva injures herself often. She fell on the weekend and has tore a thigh muscle. She has been away on sick leave for the last two days.
• My friend can't read for beans. She sent me a screenshot saying that she has the application installed. The message had the exact application name mentioned three times, which wasn't what she had.

More than half the team does not have this application installed. Had I not stepped in, everyone wouldn't have properly ordered this application. I sometimes wonder why I care so much when my colleague seem indifferent. It's because that's who I am. They need a ton of guidance.

Because my intern has moved over to being under the direct supervision of diva, he is now doing all her work while she recovers. I feel for him. However, I have trained him well that I know that he can doing this work with flying colours.

It's such an odd setup on our team. On the plus side, some people are now realizing how much value and skills I bring to this team when I am either away or don't handle these tasks that I once did.

Aging Mac mini

My Mac mini is acting up again. I haven't been able to boot it up for a couple of days. It is a decade old.

Luckily, I have a MacBook Air that still works. Frankly, both device are getting up there in years. I just don't feel like shelling out money to replace the Mac mini. My MacBook Air functions just fine that I still think it has a few years of good use.

I'll probably spend the the weekend troubleshooting. Right now, I need sleep.

My Mac mini is back

Last night, I unplugged the power cable on my Mac mini. After nearly a day, I plugged it back in and started my Mac mini up. All is well.

It's odd having such an old computer. I really should consider getting a new one. The thing is that I'm not in any rush.

I'm be back to regular posts soon. I'm off to bed!

Troubleshooting is my forte

I have been using an app on my phone to upload photos and write about my experiences for a while. Earlier this week, I upgraded the app to the latest version. It caused the upload photos feature to die.

I used to work in technical support. I was good at it. I ended up in second-level support. I'm not bragging. I look back at who I was back then and I was great.

These days, I often do troubleshooting at work. I am good at it, too. I am proud that I have this knack.

I reported this app issue to the software company. The woman insisted that I use the e-mail address associated with my account with this app. I had to explain that my messages get forward to my current account and provided my actual e-mail address on file. It is never a requirement to log into the account and write from it, although it is helpful. Just ask me for the e-mail address that I have registered with would have been sufficient.

The woman asked for screenshots and steps on what was going on. I write for a living, so that was easy for me to put together. I also pointed out that I have a Google Pixel 2XL phone running Android 10.

As expected, support couldn't reproduce this issue. It went to the engineering department.

I fixed the issue by myself a couple of hours ago. I could strengthen this support department if they offered a job to me.

I basically removed the faulty app. I went and downloaded an old app version that was released in March. I then installed it.

I proceeded to upgrade the app to the current version. The upload photo functionality works again. Go, me!

I wrote back to support and said that I fixed the issue myself. I didn't bother thanking the woman, as I did all the work. I did end the message cordially, though.

Thank goodness I enjoy solving issues. Otherwise, this app would be useless on my phone without this functionality restore.

Dead Mac mini... again!

My Mac mini is dead again. I will need to use my MacBook Air for blogging. Right now, I'm on my phone as I continue troubleshooting.

Oh, what fun! It's likely a sign that I need to replace my Mac mini.

My Mac is back, Jack!

Good news! My Mac mini works again.

I texted with an Apple support person last night, who asked me to reset my Mac mini's non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) system settings. After my system tried restarting, it still got stuck at a grey status bar.

I had it running overnight. I turned off my computer in the morning. After work, I powered it back on and it magically booted up. Yay!

I'll off to bed. I was up so late last night troubleshooting that I'm exhausted and sleepy.

Technology has my attention as of late

All is well. Various distractions have caused me to steer away from blogging momentarily. They are technology-related distractions.

All this troubleshooting has been a bit of a pain. It seems that syncing photos to my iPhone works if I complete this procedure:

1. Upload my photos to the Photos application on my Mac mini.
2. Reboot my iPhone.
3. Close the Photos application.
4. Close (if it is open) and open iTunes.
5. Connect my iPhone and sync it with iTunes.

It actually might be best to leave my photos off my phone. I will see how I feel, but at least I have resolved the issue.

Then, my Skype account got hacked on Thursday. I couldn't log into my account. I ended up resetting my password and then finding out that I have Russian contacts. 

It's scary, as my password was a decent mix of characters and numbers to begin with. The hacker managed to use half my Skype credits, which only amounted to $3 CAD. I am asking Microsoft to consider reimbursing me for the amount that I did not use.

On a good note, I have officially changed cell phone providers. I have a new Google Pixel phone, which gives me unlimited space to upload my photos to Google's Photos app.

The Pixel phone is wonderful thus far. My guy listened to me talk about it. I am his geeky gadget girl, after all.

I may ditch my iPhone at this rate! Stay tuned.

I will return to regular blog posts soon.