Checking In!

What's up Everyone:

Just writing a checkup on this blog. This past week was really slow. I had worked on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday but it was dead. It was cool because I got a chance to sleep in a bit and left early. No one was here at the center. Spent too much time chillin. It's driving me crazy. However this is about to change in 2008. I got a lot of plans. I'm going to do different things and go other places. First thing, I want to go to DC in a next month. One of my unit members is leaving to another country and I want to visit her before she goes. Not sure if she is going to make the retreat in March so I would like to visit her. I plan on loosing a few lbs. When I come to retreat I want to fill different. When I head back home sometime next year, I want to look different. My mom is coming out here in May. That will be great to see year. I think the next two months are going to be very critical for me because I will spend that time deciding if I want to stay here in New Windsor or not for another year in BVS. The ideal thing for me to do is stay. I am leaning on staying, however there are a lot of thing that need to happen before I make that decision. I love being here. No question. Fact of the matter is I spend too much time here chillin and not being to kick it with people around my age. Thats takes a big toll. Now I wouldn't mind it so much as if I was a regular employee here making money that will allow me to go to DC anytime or New York or wherever. But this is not the case. When I get $60 a month as a stipend, its hard to go anywhere. However I believe 2008 is going to change because I'm trying to work on that issue there. Anyway I guess I will talk later on. Peace!

JCI
BVSer, Unit 275
Informtion Services
COB General Board

Pic of the Day!

Me, Mara Huber (left), and her sister Lydia (right)

One Snowy Day

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE!

Hey Everyone:

Sorry it’s been a while since the last time I wrote. I guess I just haven’t been feeling up to writing in more than a couple of weeks. But that’s all going to change in ’08 because I am going to come up with something big and unusual for everyone back home. You’ll know about that the starting of January. Anyway, lets get you all caught up with what’s going on. First of all, the last couple of weeks of work have been interesting. Some days were good and some were just draining. The draining days consist of working on the same dam issue for two or three days straight. I am the type of tech that likes to get things done as soon as possible so I can move on to another issue. My goal was to have just about everything on my list done before the Christmas and New Year’s break because I don’t want to have to think about what I didn’t do or should do. I believed I did just that. I have been here at my project of Information Services at the Brethren Service Center for 4 months now and to me it has been great up to this point. I look forward to the next 8 months because I will get to do more things and learn a lot more tech things.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a specific day that I should have written in my blog. This was the day it snowed here in New Windsor. To me this was a special day because I have never seen it snowed before. This was a first for me. I have been to the snow, but not when it was snowing. I loved it 100%. I wished it snowed here all winter long but I might have to go to other areas to see that. People here say that my love for snow is that I don’t have to drive in it. Perhaps their right but that doesn’t take away my love for snow. This past summer here in New Windsor, because of the humidity was so high, everyday I was like, “I wished it would snow.” Got my wish and it was great. We got a few inches of show. Visiting kids here would take out their snow boards and go snow boarding. That was cool. Anyway, I am glad it snowed at least one day and I am hoping for more days of snow this winter.
Well it is Christmas today and this is the first Christmas that I spent time away from my family. It was interesting to think that I would actually have a good day. Yesterday for Christmas Eve, I spent time with Joan McGrath our Human Resources lady, and her husband. We went to dinner at the Olive Garden and after that we went to her church. This was a Lutheran church and was a long service than I am used to. Brethren services are usually an hour. This was an hour and 45 minutes. They had communion with bread and wine. Brethren usually drink grapefruit juice but they served up real wine which surprised me. After the service, we went to a local hospital and served up some food to people that had to work or were waiting in the waiting room on Christmas Eve. We did that for about an hour and a half. Wasn't many people so we left early. Got home to around midnight. Today, I just watched a couple of DVD's and watched two basketball games. It was the first basketball games I have seen all season since I only get a few channels and not the normal basketball channels. It was cool. I personally want to thank each and everybody that sent cards to me. I have never received this many Christmas cards before. What can I say, people got love for BVSers. And I got love for each and everyone who sent one to me. I thought that was great and I am touched.
The new year is upon us and 2008 I believe is going to be busy year and also an interesting year for me. I got a lot going on and its going to be a lot to write about. Look forward to it. Keep a look out for the 2007 Year in Review coming up in a week. The best year for me in a long long time. One Love; Peace!

JCI
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services

Week without Francie!

This week in IS, Francie decided to go on vacation for a week and Wolfgang and I held down the post. I thought that this is an interesting week because it made me realize that I can someday run my own IS department. However as long as I am posted here in New Windsor working in the Blue Ridge building with Francie, I wouldn't want to to this job without her. In the mean time, this week went pretty smooth. I worked on the Director of the BSC's new laptop, the fastest laptop I have ever worked on. I started it on Monday and finished on Tuesday. Then a new PC came in for the director of Hospitality and Public Information. I am still working on this PC because there were issues that came up and I need to see if Francie can help me out. There were a few calls that I had to take care of. A employee's printer keeps getting paper jams and other times were because the Internet was slow. Man, the Internet was so slow this week, it seemed slower than dial-up. I had to call Michael, our ISP administrator to come in and see what seemed to be the problem. As of matter of fact, I had to call him not once but twice. Once on Monday and the other time on Thursday. Then on Friday, Francie called me up during the evening and let me know that she was in the office and couldn't log on to the network at what so ever. Michael had to come out Friday and stayed a couple of hours to see if he can fix the issue. The issue is still not solved yet because he had to take down the Becker building wireless Internet down. He decided to leave it down all weekend to see what is going on and see if he can find the issue that we are having. So for the first time since I have arrived in the Becker building, I have no Internet for the whole weekend. It sucks a little bit, however if I really needed to get on I can always go to another building and log on. Which makes it not really that bad. Other than the Internet going up and down, not much else has been going on this week, I burned a few more movies this week and started to write a lot more. I have a couple more blogs up so I can organize my thoughts throughout the whole time in BVS and even after I leave BVS, I will still continue to write. For some reason, now I have a passion of writing. It really does help me out, and I also enjoy hearing that my friends and family back home are enjoying reading my blog. Makes me feel really good and that people haven't forgotten that I moved over here on the east coast for the time being. A big “Thank You” to the people that logged online and read it.

Anyway, check me out on other blogs to come. Peace!

JCI
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services
Church of the Brethren General Board

THANKSGIVING RECAP: The Day After

Hey People

Well its Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and this is a kickback kind of day. This post is a recap of yesterday. Woke up in the morning and had to go to my office for a second. I needed to go over changing the server tapes with Francie because I was going to change them today. After that I got a call from my Mom. Talk to her for a few minutes. Seemed like she was going to have another good Thanksgiving, letting me know what Dale is taking over Wiley's crib. That hurt (the first year I haven't had Dale's Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner). So once again I was feeling home sick. Luckly for me, the Hubers called me over for Thanksgiving. I got to meet their daughter Valerie, son in-law Ben, and grandson. Dave, Val, Ben and I went for a drive up to this park where we learned a little Maryland history. It was beautiful up there. After that we came back and had a good Thanksgiving dinner. Now this was special to me because I didn't think I was going to have a Thanksgiving dinner this year. After the dinner we played a game called Sequence. This is a game Maria, Dave and I play all the time. We played two games and my team won both games of course, LOL. Then I got a call from my cousin Tony and talked to him, my Dad, my Uncle Balvino, my Aunt Cathy, my Grandma, and my cousin Dave for a little while. It seemed like their having a great and normal Irizarry Thanksgiving, once again feeling more homesick. Now, I loved being with the Huber's on Thanksgiving, but to me, there's nothing like being home for the holidays. Nothing like it. After talking to the family and hanging out with the Hubers, I went back to the crib and had a couple drinks with a neighbor and friend of mine (The shot was for the Irizarry's back home). Overall, to me it was a great day, which the good Lord paved the way for me to have and I Thank HIM so much for. But next year, I'll be back to kick it. Peace!

*Special shout out to the BVS Unit 275, Keep it cracken always!

JCI,
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 2007

Happy Turkey-Day ya'll!

I hope everyone stuffs their faces, enjoys watching the football games, gets their drink on (not to drunk of course, LOL) and just have a great f-n day. For me, this is the first thanksgiving I am not going to be with my family. Its really tough but I think I can make it through though (might not be sober though, LOL). Not much going around here today, maybe going to the Hubers (older BVSers) apartment to hang out and then Im not sure after that. I just look forward to next year for sure. Peace!

JCI AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services

Quote of the Day! #1

"Keep the good LORD in your life, ALWAYS, because HE is good."

JCI

Busy Days!

What up Ya'll:

Its been a few days, but its been a very busy few days at work. This has been the most productive week at work to date and it feels good. Although there are some things that I'm not crazy about but I am happy to just be busy. Been spending a lot of time with David and Maria Huber around here. David and Maria are an older BVS couple serving as hosts to the Zigler building here at the center. They have become my closest friends here next to Francie. Lately, I have been burning more movies lately. By the time I finish my first year here in BVS, I will probably have more movies then I do back home. That saying a lot because I spent over two years building my collection back home. This past Sunday, the Hubers invited me to the Westminster COB. This was my first time going to this COB. It was a good service. Seemed like Union Bridge COB to me. Thanksgiving is upon is in a couple of days. This is real tough for me because this is my first Thanksgiving away from home and Thanksgiving is one of my two favorite holidays of the year. I was back at home, we probably be at my Uncle Domingo's getting our grub on and watching the game. Tradition for the great holiday of course. Next year, we hope to have it at our house and hopefully I will make it back home then so I don't have to feel so depressed about not being home at Thanksgiving. I talk to my good buddy Glenn on Sunday night. Everything is still good at the church. I am thankful that they still continue to think of me and they haven't forgotten me yet. I have been out in my project for three months now. A total of four months altogether including orientation, but I reached the three month mark and I feel great about it. Usually, when I am at a job for three months I have good luck in the job. Most of my jobs after three months last at least or over year. I may be in a different situation from my previous employment but I still think that the three month period is important to me. Next week is going to be interesting because Francie is taking a vacation for the whole week. That means that I will be running the show with a little help from Wolfgang, who helps us at least 10 hours a week. He'll be helping with more of the administrative duties where I will be taking care of all the technical duties. This will give me a good chance to see what I know and how I do by myself and if I can run an IS department for a short time. Well I guess I will see ya when I see ya. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services

What a work week!

Whats up Everyone!

The last few days here have been pretty exciting for me as regards to work over here. My normal day would include having accomplished between one to three tasks a day, spending most of the time in my office. Not complaining though. Techs and Admin's that work in an IS department know what I am talking about. On Friday, I started to do the fixed assets on the computer that took most of the day. Fixed assets are records of all the inventory that we have from New Windsor to Elgin. For the last couple of weeks, I had recorded all the hardware inventory here at the center. Now I just had to make sure there is a record of it in the fixed assets system. Then on Monday, it was more of the same on the fixed assets. That took another day. On Tuesday, Francie and I set up 4 PC's for the Brethren Disaster meeting that are taking place today and tomorrow. Today we setup 3 laptops for them. Todays was an interesting day though because it was the first time Francie was in a bad mood but still had a lot of fun working with her anyway. We had to install a printer in the warehouse for the Material Resources crew. That was really fun (yeah right!). We spent all dam morning trying to feed paper into this printer and made sure it printed right. That really sucked but it was a job. Like I told one of my friends here at the center, "even though a job may suck and irritate me, I still still love it". I gives me something to do. Better to be pissed off at something, then not have anything to be pissed off about. LOL. The rest of the week is going to be pretty busy and I can't wait either.
This past weekend I got a chance to watch the movie "Transformers". What can I say but it was freakin Awesome. That movie kicked ass and I can't remember a movie I cheered through the whole movie. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it to all your friends and family to check it out. You won't be disappointed.
Anyway, I feel that there are a lot more things ahead to talk about. There is more work to talk about and inform you all in what actually goes on in the best department to work for: Information Services. Peace!

Jay, AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services
Church of the Brethren General Board

Spiderman 3!

Whats cracken people:

Last night after work, I watched Spiderman 3 from a DVD I rented. I'm writing this post to let people know that I recommend to watch Spiderman 3 they haven't seen it. It was a very cool movie. I look forward to more movies I haven't seen yet. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"

BVSer, Unit 275

Information Services

Church of the Brethren General Board

Jay & The Saylers

(L TO R) Elaine Sayler, Jay, Adrian Sayler

IM BACK!

What up Everybody!

Sorry its been a while since I last wrote. I at least try to write once a week but I have been lacking lately. I will jump back on it though. Let’s see, last Sunday (28 October) I said goodbye to two of the older volunteers here, Adrian and Elaine Sayler. The Sayler’s are from Kansas are not sure if they are going to be returning back to New Windsor. They have become one of my closest friends here. Adrian always gave me a lift into town if I needed to hang out at Target or Wallmart. They are the sweetest couple in the world. I’m going to miss them very much. But they will be doing their thang back home.
Work as been going pretty good lately. Still trying to stay on top of the technology world here. Just recently finished up the hardware inventory around the campus. Then I worked on a couple of laptops to clean them up. Also had to install a couple of old Dell Optiplex’s to replace one last Dell Dimension. I got most, if not all the old Dimensions laying in my office. I will send a photo of my office to one of the staff IS people there in Elgin, Ill just for the heck of it (She’ll know what I am talking about.) I just came back from a three day weekend. The last of my comp days from my Elgin trip. This is a new week so I plan on coming up with different things for the IS department for me to do.
The weather has gotten colder lately, which I am happy to say. The people here say that we had one of the warmest October’s here in a real long time. I was wishing for cold weather to come a lot sooner, but you know what they say, be careful what you wish for because you just may get it. Today it is really windy and cold.
This past weekend I took a trip to Pennsylvania. I went on a bus tour with the Westminster COB members and we went to Germantown, PA for a visit. Then we went to Harleysville and spent an hour visiting this cemetery and an old church building. This was part of the Church of the Brethren’s 300 Anniversary. Most of the trip we were on the bus. We came back and ate at the Old Country Buffet, which is the same as the Hometown Buffet in Turlock or Modesto, just different names. The trip was ok, but it was cold. The cold I remember when I first came to the east coast back in 1995. I came back and called my Mom up talking about send me another jacket because the cold is coming to New Windsor soon.
Everybody at the center is good and still doing there thang. I have a couple of more friends that are leaving sometime next week to head back home, but they are coming back in March so its cool. Probably not going to miss them to much like I am going to miss the Saylers. We got a new BVSer here name Alex. He is 20 years old and just finished his orientation in October. His project is in SERVE, International, here at the center. Alex is also my next door neighbor so its cool having him around. Thanksgiving is coming soon and for the first time in my life I am not having dinner with my family. Its going to be a tough time for me, but at the same time, I am hoping to go to DC and visit some of my unit members there. Their like family to me as well so that will be cool. Well I guess that’s it until next blog. Peace Ya’ll!

Jay, AKA “The Kid
BVSer Unit 275
Information Services

COB Information Services Team

(L to R) Jay Irizarry (BVSer), Tim Staffer (BVSer), Tom Birdzell (BVSer), Mark Hartwig (Director of I.S)

The weekend in Elgin, Illinois!

What up Ya’ll:

It’s been a while since I last wrote but now I am back. I recently made a trip out to Elgin, Illinois for the Church of the Brethren General Board meeting. However, I was sent there not to participate in the meetings, but to work on field staffs laptops. I left New Windsor on Thursday morning around 7:00am. I had a limo give me a lift the Baltimore airport. That was really cool because I never been in a limo before. I remember asking Francie “is that how we roll?” The limo drive over there was real cool. Then I went on United to get to Chicago. When I got to Chicago, it was 11:30am their time. Another limo picked me up and off to Elgin I went. It was only like a 25-30 minutes. When I got there, the limo dropped me off in the back. It was strange to me because I thought there would be someone to greet me coming in, but I figured everyone was busy trying to set up for the board meeting. I got inside and the first person to greet me was Karin Krog. I didn’t recognize her at first but later on that day or two I realize I had seen her here in New Windsor before. I said hello to her and then I ran into Mark, who got me squared away with my bags in the IS room. The IS room was a big room that Tim and Tom shared, and plenty big enough for couple of other workers there if they wanted. After I dropped my bags off in the office, I started seeing the rest of the crew. First person of the crew I ran into was Beth Merrill. Then I ran into Dan McFadden. Then Bekka Houff, Tom Birdzell, Genelle & LeeAnne Wine. Then I finally got a chance to meet Kim Bickler, BVS secretary. Kim was the first person I had a chance to talk to in BVS so it was finally great to meet her in person. Then I met Rose Ingold. Rose works with us in the IS Dept. She is Mark’s assistant. After I met everyone, it was lunch time. Everyone had their lunches already and I was hungry. Mark gave me a lift to Subway and I got a sandwich. When I came back we all ate in the BVS office. Dan wanted to introduce everyone to me, for the people I didn’t know. Then he wanted me to tell the story about how I got lost somewhere in Baltimore county. Evidently this is a classic BVS story now because Dan seems to enjoy it as much as Francie did. After that we had an IS meeting just to go over what’s going on this weekend. Tim and Tom had to be at the meetings in case anything went wrong with the projector. I had the best job of all. Sit in the IS room and work on laptops all weekend long. There were about 12 laptops through the whole weekend. So I didn’t get a chance to be at any of the meetings which I am thankful for because it just seemed really boring. On Friday morning, I did however have to go to the introduction and that lasted about over an hour and I was almost falling asleep in that. Then when they took a break, Mark was like “you can go back to work now”. I was like “Finally, get me outta here”. I stayed in the BVS house with the other BVSer’s. There were like 7 BVSer’s living in the old two-story house. On Thursday when I first got there, me and Bekka went to the store to get groceries. Beth cooked dinner. After that we pretty much just chilled. Work was pretty cool over there. Working on the laptops was pretty easy. On that Friday, I ran into two other people I recognized. One being the pastor at Union Bridge COB and the other was Roland Johnson. Roland is a member of my church but is attending the Bethany Seminary in Indiana. It was really great to see Roland once again. Friday seemed like the longest day though. After work, the BVSers helped Bekkah stuff envelopes for her project. She is the National Young Adult Conference coordinator and she was sending out flyers for this next years NYAC. During that time we had pizza so that was pretty cool. We got back to the BVS house about 8:00pm and I was tired. Tim, Bekka, Dana, and I kicked back and had a beer while just hanging out with each other. The next day, Saturday seemed like an average day, nothing to exciting for me. Mark picked the IS crew up for breakfast and after breakfast went to work. Saturday went pretty fast. I finished up the laptops around 1pm and chilled in the IS room the rest of the day. Everyone else had to be in the meetings. After coming back to the house on Saturday not much happened after that. Sunday, there was a worship service there in the Chapel in the General Offices. I thought it was a nice service. I finished up my last three laptops in the morning and I didn’t do anything else after that. When I came back to the house, some of the BVSers went to a friends house. The rest of us, including myself, went to Target. I got two new hats and a deck of Uno cards. After that, we came back to the house and watched game 7 of the ALCS between Red Sox and Indians which Red Sox won. After the game, I started packing up because I was leaving the next day. The next day arrives and I got a chance to see Genelle’s citation speech for her going away. I seen that just minutes before the limo picked 6 of us up to head to the airport. It was Ed, Kathleen. Zack. Loretta, Judy and myself that came back together. Overall it was a real cool trip and I would do it again if I had to.

Jay AKA The Kid

BVSer, Unit 275

Information Services

THE LAST FEW DAYS

Hey people:

At work right now getting ready for my photo presentation for the employee recognition event that is happening today. I have been working on this presentation for at least three weeks and it has been a trip each day. The number one thing is that the recognized people will love it. If they do, I know I did my job. If not, then I will do better next time around.
Anyway, two things: 1) this past Monday was a great day in sports for me. The Cowboys have came back and beat the Bills in the final minute of the game. After QB Tony Romo throws 5 pics, I didn't think that Cowboys stood a chance of winning the game. Thankfully they proved me wrong in what turned out to be an instant classic game, and keeps Dallas record to 5-0. Congrats Dallas, but next week should be the game of the year when they take on New England, who is also 5-0. Also on Monday, the Cleavland Indians beat the New York Yankees in the division series of the playoffs. To me, that made my day because I can't stand the Yankees that much, and anytime they loose, its great for me. Now the Indian's will play the Red Sox in the next round (ALCS).
2.) My good buddy Steve Van Lewen gave me a surprise phone call last night. He and his family are planning to come to Virginia at the end of the week and are staying a week. It was great to hear from them and if it is possible, I can't wait to see them while they are on the East Coast.
So far so good. "Peace"


Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Another Day, Another Week!

Whats up everybody!

Back once again for another blog. Still not much going on this week as well. This last week at work, I have been working on setting up a photo presentation for the Brethren Service Center's employee recognition event. This is an event where the center shows appreciation for employees who have been here a lot of years. 5, 10, 15, 20, and so on. My job is to collect past and present photos of the recognized employees and put them in a slide show so they can be displayed during the event. Also, had another computer that I had to install in the Disaster ministries. That took a couple of days to finish because there where things that Francie and I had to go over. I went to Fredrick COB yesterday. It was another good service. Next week I'll go to Union Bridge COB. Everyone here has been cool as usual. Still hanging out with the old folks as always. I just cleaned my computer a couple of days ago so I am happy about that. I haven't done a clean install for about a year now. I really didn't need to, but I wanted to so I can increase some of my hard drive space. Last week, we said "See Ya, later" to Ric and Jan, who are volunteers here. They were here for a couple of months and they we'll be returning right before I leave here in two years. They are also from California. Dam, California, where the weather is real nice over there right now. Over here it sucks. Been really warm 85-90. That is high for the month of October. People here tell me that normally it supposed to be getting cold in October. Its not happening yet. It will, but I sound like I'm a little impatient about it. That is because I come from a place where in October, this is a place to where a sweatshirt during Friday night high school football games. Speaking of HS football, I heard Waterford finally beat Riverbank last week. Congrats on the victory, but we will see you next year for sure, you can bet on that. Good luck on the rest of the season anyway, Waterford. Anyway, I want to give a shot out to everybody back home: my Mom, my Pops, Dale and family, my Brothers, Courtney, Katie, Priscilla, Tony, Luia, Dave (still lovin the tat), Melissa, Grandma Minnie, Grandma Love, Nana, Glenn & Donna, the Waterford COB congregation family (hope we get a pastor soon, Glenn is getting tired), Uncle Domingo and Aunt Charo, Uncle Balvino & Aunt Cathy, Lonnie, and everyone else I missed but still love. Oh yeah last but not least for sure, my BVS unit members from 275, hope you are all doing your thang at your projects and I will see ya'll soon. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Another week goes by in "The Kid's" life

What up Everyone!

I wanted to drop by once again to let everyone know whats cracken as usual. This past week has been pretty quiet so not much to write about. There were some new shows on TV that debut that I like so during the week, I should be entertained. Last Sunday and yesterday were really good days for football. Can you believe the Raiders are 2-2 right now. I belive they should be 3-1 because they had that game against the Broncos won. But Coach Shanahan did something stupid, which we had learned to do the next week against the Browns. I am really excited about the Raiders right now because so far we are doing a lot better then last year. Then the Cowboys are starting off great. The Cowboys (4-0) under QB Tony Romo, who is the best young QB in the league is showing they got something to prove since what happen to them last year. Romo is not looking to make that same mistake he made ind the playoffs last year. I am really excited to Dallas chances right now but I am not holding my breath untill they clinched the division. However, I will say that the last two weeks in football have been off the chain. Go "Raiders" and "Cowboys".

This weekend was definitely another kick back weekend. I went to Union Bridge church yesterday and I played cards with the older folks like I normally do on Sunday evenings. I talked to my parents over the weekend and everything is going good with them. Pops just ended his long summer season at work and now he will go back to the 7am-3pm work schedule, with weekends off. So now I can give him a call on normal schedule. My Mom is still doing ok with her new job and location there in Selma, CA. Can't complain yet. I talk to one of my friends back home on Saturday and she is doing the same as when I left.

Well I got a lot of plans this week. I hope to get started today and hope that I have a cool week like I did last week. "Peace"

Jay AKA "The Kid"

BVSer, Unit 275

One Long Week!

Whats up Everyone!

After a short break of blogging, I am back. A lot of things have gone on since I last wrote but hopefully I can fit everything in without being too long. First off, last Sunday I attended Sam's Creak COB. One of the workers here at the center, the one who invited me for Bible study, invited me to come along to Sam's Creak. Her parents picked me up and the service was a good service. Afterwards, they had a homecoming that served lots of food. As you can see, I came at the right time LOL. On Tuesday evening, I was invited to dinner from my friends here at the center. We ate at this Chinese restaurant which was pretty good, yet I don't think I should have finished my plate. Then on Friday, I was invited to this banquet to support the Westminster Rescue Mission program. This was pretty cool because the banquet in a fancy place. I felt out of place because I just got off work and started to rest a little bit and I thought we were just going out to a restaurant. That's how I was dressed LOL. Everyone else was dressed up though. The meal was good. They served the best looking chicken I had ever seen. Like the chicken that you see on TV. It was tasted pretty good too. I didn't have a whole lot of the chicken because I had a good lunch. Usually during the week when I have a good lunch, I don't like to have a big dinner. Its not good on my stomach.
Anyway, I heard from Glenn this week and he informed me that our pastorial candidate would not be coming to Waterford to do ministry for our congregation. Financial reasons once again hold us back. Very disappointed on the news but it just means that there is someone else out there for us and we continue to pray and talk to our Lord and Savior to help us find someone soon.
At work here in the IS, I had a pretty busy week. This was a long and tired week for me and that is a great thing because I like to be busy. I spent most of the week trying to make a drive image for these two new Dell Optiplex GX745's. I finally finished one on Friday, ready to be installed for one of the new employee's here. I started to work on another project that Joan, our HR person here at the center wanted me to do. I look forward to finishing up here in the next two weeks. The last couple of days, I seen another fine, beautiful woman here. I didn't talk to her but she was the best looking woman I have seen up close in a long time. I think she was just here a meeting that had taken place over the weekend, but I hope to see her again in the near future. Everybody has been great around here. Older folks been showing me lots of love and support, keeping me sane, that away I don't get too home sick. I have been out here in New Windsor for 2 months now, including orientation. Been thinking of everyone back home everyday. Been thinking of my BVS unit members. I hope each and every one of them are having a great time at their projects. Speaking of my unit, this week I also heard from Beth, one of the Staff volunteers at orientation. It was real cool getting to talk to her for a little while. Can't wait to here from her again, as well as everyone else. Anyway that is my week. Talk to ya'll again in the next couple of days. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Pic of the Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM
SORRY ITS A FEW DAYS LATE, BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.

PEACE!

Its been a few days!

Whats up Everyone!

Its been a few days since I last wrote. On Wednesday, I did a few things at work. I had to write an article that is going into the "Simply News" newsletter that is distributed to the General Board regarding "why it is important to shut off your computer when not being used". It started off with being a page but I needed to shorten down to two paragraphs. Then after that I started to troubleshoot my thumbdrive on my PC. For some reason XP wouldn't recognized that is was plugged in. On Tuesday I couldn't of gotten it to work because I had a bad day. I slept on it, found out the problem, came back and fixed my issue and Corri's issue with her thumbdrive. Of our major projects while I am here is to clean out and reorganize the computer room. I started boxing some of the old junk that we don't need. That finished up the rest of the day. On Wednesday was a friend from my BVS unit Tom Birdzell's birthday.I want to give a shot out to him and hope that his birthday went real well and hope that he had a few drinks, but not to drunk then, LOL. On Thursday, was a real cool day. I found out we had a new copy of Photoshop CS3 and I got to install it on one of the employees computer. Just knowing that we got a copy of that was cool. However I think I may just use CS2 because so far I haven't been too impressed with it. Then after that I started to work on the Waterford Church of the Brethren's website. One of our members emailed me and wanted to upload some pics to our site. I was thrilled to here that there are some of us out there in Waterford still thinking of our website. Anytime someone from our congregation mentions to add anything to the site makes me feel good. So I was more than happy to do that. On Friday, wasn't much to do. I spent the first half of the day trying to install the correct driver on a laptop that needed a wireless card to work. What took me a half a day, should have taken me like 5 minutes. But I wasn't feeling good in the morning so I wasn't thinking clearly. While assisting one of the employees, the lady that invited me to Bible study this past Tuesday, invited me to go to Sam's Creek COB this Sunday for service. There are having a homecoming over there. Not sure what that means yet but I will know when I get over there. After I was invited to that, I got a surprise call from the pastor at Union Bridge COB. I attended the service there on Sunday and told him I am BVSer and serving at the Brethren Service Center. I am not sure why he got a hold of me but I am glad he did. He invited me to spend an evening at the Friday night movie at the church. I was like, yeah that sounds great. Before we went to the church, he and his wife invited me for some pizza at their home. After that we got to the church and watched the movie "Night of the Museum" with Ben Stiller. That was the first time I had seen it and it was good. I like to personally that Paster Jim and his wife for inviting me along and they will see me at future services at Union Bridge. Today was a kick back day. After I shaved my head, I went walking around the center to see if anyone was around. Ran into one of my good friends here and he took me into town to Target and Walmart. Now I again didn't buy anything at Target but anytime to get into town is good. Then I came back and had a good chat with Corri. Corri is real cool. Her and I are starting to become good friends. Which is good because now I can relate with somebody my age around here. I was excited about that. So now I am looking forward to next week, hoping to have even a better week.

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

The Slow Days!

Hey people:

Its been slow the past couple of days for me. Not much going on at work at the moment. However, I am planning on doing some big things pretty soon. As soon as I can get the big things going, you know I am going to write about it because that is what I love to do. Today, however, I was invited to join a bible study group with one of the residents and employees here at the Brethren Service Center. I thought that was really nice and I look forward to future bible study nights (I know that will make Glenn happy to hear about that, LOL). Anyway, just thought I would check in. More exciting days are to come for sure. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Out the room weekend!

Hey everyone:

This weekend I spent some time outside of my room. Anytime I can do something around here or go somewhere it is always good. Starting off on Saturday, I looked outside and noticed a few guys playing some b-ball. Anytime there are people playing ball, I have to go out and see if I can get in the game. So I played a couple of games with the guys. That was real cool because we played a full court game and I can't remember the last time I played a full-court basketball game. My good buddy Glenn would be interested in that. Anyway, after the game, I went out to Westminster and got some groceries. Anytime I can get into Westminster, it is always enjoyable. To me, its like being home. I live in a little town called Waterford and the next big town about 15 miles away is Modesto, CA. Of course Westminster is closer. Came back and watched a movie I rented from Blockbuster. On Sunday, for the first time in 5 Sunday's, I found a ride to one of the local churches around this area. I attended the Union Bridge Church of the Brethren. I seem like a good congregation, a little bit like my church back home, except a few more people attended. After that I went to lunch with some of the older folks that I hang out with here at the Brethren Service Center. Had a good lunch. Went back to my apartment to chill until 6pm where I got back together with the old folks and played some card games we do this every Sunday evening. All together, it was an enjoyable weekend that most of the time I spent out of my room.

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Cool Friday!

Hey everyone:

Whats up? Hope everyone is doing great so far. I'm doing great so far. Today was a good day at work. Got some things done. Finished up cleaning up an old Dell Dimension. After that I continued to work on the Health Fair banner. I got it printed out, I just need to go over with a pencil. This morning I had the pleasure of installing two software programs on the HR's computer. The cool thing about this was one of the programs is Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro. I love Acrobat and this was the first time I actually got to use it. I am going to run a trial on my test PC in my office next week because there are some features that I really liked. After I got done doing that, I installed printers on Francie's new PC. That took me to lunch where Francie, Barbara, and I went to this place called Leo's Pizza. This was more of a restaurant then a pizza joint because I ordered a turkey-bacon sub. It was pretty good. From there we had to pick up a few things at Staples right next door. After that we came back and the rest of the day was kind of slow. Oh yeah, I got another DVD in and went home to burn it.
As of late, been kind of missing everyone back home and everyone in BVS unit 275. I want to give a shout out to everyone. I miss everyone back home but I am doing my thang over here in New Windsor. I am hoping to go to Ellgin, ll next month. I am looking forward to that because I will get to hang out with Tom, Todd, Tim, Dan, Beth, and everyone else I might know over there. While I am over there, it would be nice to catch up with Willem, since he is in Chi-Town (we'll be going to the Jordan statue, LOL). Anyway, just been thinking of ya'll and I look forward to hearing from you. Peace & Love Always.

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Oh another great day on a Thrursday!

Hey People:

Today started off real well. Woke up around 6:30am feelin pretty good and not tired. I normally get up at 7:00 but today I felt awake for some reason. I get to work and I started out trying to figure out how to set up a FTP server on my PC in my office. I did it once before a while ago, but I had forgot a few things and now I was trying to do it again. In the morning, my DVD movies came in the mail from Blockbuster which I thought there coming tomorrow but I guess I got them a day early. I am excited about my new Blockbuster account because my mom got me on this two month trial for my birthday but I wasn't about to use it until now. Now I am trying to get the DVD's that I couldn't get when I was in Waterford. I got my second check today. I was kind of happy about that. Francie wanted me to write a little article for the "Simply News" newsletter that the General Board publishes so I worked on that for a couple of hours today. The article is on why it is good to turn off the computer when at the end of the day when a person is done. I got most of it done, but I have to shorten it up a bit. Then after that I continued to work on the Health Fair banner for next week. I think I am just about done with the layout. Tomorrow I am going to print it out. Towards the end of the day, I got to clean out another old Dell Dimension 4100 PC. That was my day at work. A well productive day I would say. After I left work, two of my friends around here took me into Westminster to check out where some of the places I might be interested in doing while I am over here. First, they showed me where the Target store is, because I know I am going to go over there for a few things. Then they showed me where the library was. I always enjoy checking out books. This was the most interesting library I've been in. More interesting then the Modesto area for sure. After the library, I went back to the apartment and just chilled. A good day with no problems at what so ever. Peace!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit #275

Pic of the Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETH! I HOPE EVERYTHING WAS ALL GOOD TODAY FOR YOU!


JAY

One Cool Day!

Hey people:

I would call this day a very interesting day. My day started off by having the Dell Tech come down and replace every major part of my Optiplex GX520. After I done replaced every big part of that PC at least twice, Dell thought they would send their tech and make sure it for themselves that it isn't the user ---- messing it up. Actually I really don't mind it because as long as that PC or laptop is under warranty, I am just going to let them do what ever they think is right. Had that been me, I would have done things different. I've been in this industry of computer repair to know what I am doing, and one of things that I know is if something is under warranty, the company can replace parts or the whole computer. If it is not under warranty, then I feel pretty good about myself to fix it myself. Anyway, after the tech came, I spent at least two hours loading software on my new replaced PC. During that time, I get an email from a couple of friends of mine. One friend is from my BVS unit. She was one of the leaders and her birthday is today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETH if your reading this. My other friend added me to his facebook account. This is a friend from high school who I haven't seen or talk to since high school. I was thrilled about that. That was very cool. Another thing I did today was continue making a layout for this banner I am printing out for the "Health Fair" we are having at the Brethren Service Center next week. Been having fun doing that. Francie wanted me to finish installing software on her new PC she ordered. It is the same type of PC that I worked on for our Finance lady, so as you can imagine, I was happy to work on that. Dam I wish I had that PC in my office. Just joking, that replace parts every week PC is fine with me. LOL. I think the one thing that set the cool day off was I got a chance to talk to this woman I met yesterday again. She seems really cool and I know we're going to be friends. Anyway, this was my interesting day. I'm signing out till tomorrow. Peace!!

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Slow Tuesday!

Whats up everyone?

Today was a very slow day. At first, I thought it was going to be a very exciting day for me because there were some big things going on. My Dell PC project will be put on hold until tomorrow. Then I was supposed to be working on this Citrix box with guy that know a bit about Citrix. I will learn that some time this week. But on an upside of things, I finally met a beautiful girl here. She is a new employee and so I look forward into knowing her a little bit more. That's the wrap.

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Labor Day Monday! - "The Kid" is here

Hey People:

Today was a real kick back kind of day. A beautiful day outside once again, still in the 80's. I did some laundry this afternoon. Before that I called and talked to my Grandma Minnie a little bit. Just seeing how she is doing. Later on this evening, I went over Ed's house for his picnic that he was throwing. Most of the older adults came. There was about 15 of us and it was real cool. It was clear I was the only single and youngest person there, that is why my new nickname is "The Kid" or "TK" for short because everybody around me are senior citizens and I feel real young once again. Anyway, it was a real cool picnic. Lots of good conversations and we played this game where we throw these color 1 pound ball around, trying to get close to this softball. Who ever gets closest to the softball gets a point. We played in teams, where there were two of each of the four color balls. It was a good game. After the game, we talked for a few minutes more and then we all left back to our apartments. This was a great evening in my book.

Jay, AKA "The Kid"
BVSer - Unit 275

Labor Day weekend 2007

What's up Ya'll:

Not really a whole lot going on this weekend. I am just relaxing and enjoying the weekend. I started to play ball in the gym for the first time since orientation. The weather is real nice out her now, in the 80's. Can't wait for Fall. This weekend I had the opportunity to come up with ideas for my project. I want to make Information Services here at the Brethren Service Center fun. I hope my ideas can come through. I played cards with two of my senior friends over here on Sunday night in Old Main building. We played for three hours. I am really starting to enjoy my time with the people here. I was invited to a picnic tomorrow which I am going to attend, by one of my co-workers and the building manager, Ed. I think right now I happy to get this holiday off so I can come up with some crazy ideas. When I get back to work on Tuesday, hopefully I can implement them. See Ya

Jay, AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, Unit 275

Kick Back Friday!

Well People:

This was the easiest, quite possibly to quietest Friday I had in three weeks. There's probably nothing wrong with that because I know I am going get busy in weeks to come. I love to stay busy. Anyway, I finished up labeling the network cables in the warehouse. Something I wanted to do all week long but wasn't able to do it. Then after that I decided to type up my written documentation. After I done that, I talk to Francie for a couple of hours until the day finished. Didn't even seem like it took that long, but when I'm having a good conversation time can go by quick. Went home, chilled like I normally do and then around 10:15pm, I hit the gym and played basketball for the first time since the beginning of orientation. That was real cool shooting around at night. I look forward to more evenings like that. After I got back, I heard from Angela again through email. Always good to hear from her. And that was the day.

Jay AKA "The Kid"
BVSer - Unit 275

One Disappointing Day!

Hey People:

After yesterday being a great day, today definitely wasn't like yesterday. It started off me talking to a Dell tech support rep for like an hour trying to convince him to send us a new PC in place of the one GX520 I've been working on for the past two and half weeks. Its going to to take just a little bit more time before he replaces the whole dam thing. Then I replaced my regular sized monitor with a Dell flat-screen for my office. Its nice to finally have a flat screen. The most disturbing thing of the day was when this guy Curtis by and did a few things around the office. Curtis is a tech who has been working at the Brethren Service Center for over 20 years. He seemed real cool. It was that he found a video card that works with Dana's PC so she can use two monitors at one time. Now I have been working on that problem for a while and yesterday I told her, after three video card, a Dell rep telling me that her PC is incompatible with another video card, and other documentation on other websites, that her PC is just not compatible with another video card. Here he comes in with another video card and it works. Now I don't have a problem with that. I am very happy that he got her video card that works and she is running a duo monitor setup. But I am just disappointed in myself that I had told her that her PC wasn't compatible with another video card and now someone else found one that does work. Nothing against Curtis because I think he is a cool guy, but I feel like Dana and who ever else won't take me seriously as a I.S technician. That makes me feel like what the ___am I doing here. But like I said, there are going to be good days, and there are going to be days like today. I live to make tomorrow much better for me. Talk to you later, ya'll. Peace!

Jay, AKA "The Kid"
BVSer, unit 275

Pic of the Day...

Me, Rianna and Simon.. on our great Drop off Day: work day in the community

Accomplishment & a Visitor

What up people from back home and all over:

Today is a very cool blog because this to me was a great day. First off, I had taken care of the Finance lady's PC and she is good to go with her fast Duo Core PC. I have been working on her issues for a few days now and I finally got her set up. Dam that feels good. But that is what it supposed to feel like when I get something done. Then Francie and I worked on installing the printers on the PC right next to my office. That was an interesting job because it wasn't like I threw any disc in the Cd-Rom and installed the drivers. I had to do a few things that I haven't done before and that was a good thing to learn for future references. Had a great lunch. After lunch I said goodbye to some of the people from BVS/BRFers that stayed here for a week and a half. I really enjoyed their visit. It is good to have BVSers here to visit. I look forward to other units coming out next year. Speaking of BVSers. I had a special visit from Rianna, one of my members in my 275 unit come out here from Washington D.C. Rianna and her boss, Phil Jones came by to talk to Francie about a tech issue. I had a great conversation with Rianna while she was over here. Found out a little bit what was going on with her project. I know its only been two and a half weeks, but I miss everyone so far. I like to hang out and talk to our group. Any time I get a chance to talk to and visit with anybody from our unit, it is always special to me. Anyway, my goal is to make each day better. But I know some days are going to be not that great, so I have to make it up the next day. But today was a great day none the less!!!!

Jay,
BVSer - 275

The video card day!

Whats Up:
Today was an interesting day. I was going into today, thinking it was going to be a better day than yesterday. In a way it was because I at least got something accomplished. Two PC's I am working on for our Finance lady are still in my office. One of them is done. The old machine just needed a powers supply and we finally got that part in today. I was able to install the P.S in just a few minutes. The other machine, which is the new one, is just about done. I need to install one more printer driver and then I will hook it up with in our Finance lady's office. This morning I hooked up a PC in the warehouse. Then after that, the whole IS dept (including Elgin General Office) had our weekly conference meeting over the phone. I enjoy those meetings because I get to talk to other people about whats going on other than Francie. Then after lunch, I spent the rest of the day trying to install this video card for a Optiplex GX520. Come to find out, that PC is not made to have another video card, which is interesting because it couldn't be more than a year old. That was the whole day for me.

Jay, BVSer
Unit 275

Picture of the Day...

BVS Unit 275
Last day from a 4 day trip in Baltimore, MD

Monday...Ahh

Well people:

It's a Monday and well.. you know, a Monday. Woke up great today. But not much going on at work today. I continued to work on a couple of PC's and so on. But today I was working on this new PC that came in. It was a Dell Optiplex 745. This had a Intel Duo Core 2 processor, with 4 GB of RAM. Another words a fast machine. As of matter of fact, I haven't worked on a machine this fast yet. So that was something new today. The only thing I did on the PC was add some of the software that needed to be on there. This PC is for the Finance lady. Had a big lunch, and after work, talked to my Dad for a few minutes. Then I went to hang out with the BRFers for a session. I would say that this was a decent day for me. I'll try to get a little bit more hyped up for tomorrow.

Jay,
BVSer #275

23-26 August 07

Hey Ya'll

The Thursday and Friday seemed to fine. On Thursday, I got my first check from my project. Now it was just for one week because of the pay period. My next check will have a two week check. I just been working on these two Dell Dimension's and cleaned them up. One is complete and the other I am about to re-install the OS and make sure that everything is cleaned up. These two PC's aren't that important because they are like a few years old and we are not going to use them. Also, there was this Dell Optiplex in the Finance office that wasn't booting up. The PC worked fine a couple of days ago before the problem occurred, but after the Finance lady came back, there was an issue. I suspected the PC's power supply, popped a new power supply in her machine and the computer booted up fine. Now I am awaiting a new power supply for her Optiplex. As far as that Optiplex GX520 PC that I have been working on since the first day I got there, I replace two more parts. It seems to be running fine, but the time seems to be off. Not sure what the issue is there. On Thursday, I got to test drive the company van. Ed and I took it out to Westminster and it seemed to drive fine. I'm just not used to driving anything that big. I also had dinner with the BVS/BRF unit. Earl, the orientation unit leader, invited me to have dinner with them and join them for their evening session. That was an enjoyable evening. On Friday, still continued to stay busy in the office. I checked out the UPS (uninterruptible power supply) that we are going to install in our offices. Then I did some more cable labeling in the warehouse. After that, Francie took me to the New Windsor bank so I can open an account there and cash my check. I just decided to throw my check in my checking account rather than cash the whole thing. On Saturday, the biggest thing I did was go grocery shopping at Safeway. I met another cool person named KJ, who now lives directly across from me, and he is also a tech. Actually, he is more of a programmer. On Sunday, I decided to go hang out with the older people in Old Main. Sunday is there game night and we played this card game where you have to come up with different types of words with the number of cards you have. Then some of us played domino's, and the others played this golf card game. It was a real enjoyable evening and it makes me look forward to it next week. That was my last four days.

Jay,
BVSer, Unit 275

My Tattoo, for those who haven't seen it yet!

My Cousin Dave does great work!

Lost In Space....On the East Coast this time

What up People:
My title of this blog is called "Lost In Space..On the East Coast this Time" because of what happen to me on Tuesday afternoon. But before I get to that, I wanted to start off by talking about what happen before lunch time. I am still working on that dam PC that I have been working on since I started. Not knowing that what the ___ is going on with it. The Dell technician came out to bring me another hard drive and another CPU for the motherboard. I already installed a new motherboard and hard drive, he brought another hard drive just to make sure. Anyway, he came 15 minutes before lunch and installed the CPU and hard drive. He tried to install the OS this time and still wasn't successful. I went to lunch while he was still working on this PC. After I finished lunch, I ran into Francie, who was on her way to lunch, informed me that he had gotten the PC to start loading the OS. I was like really, thats cool. She said that all he did was unplug the network cable and it started to work. Now, I knew it was going to be the stupidest little problem that I wouldn't of ever think of, because I learned at IT that when you think you done everything you can to a PC and it still doesn't work, it is always the littlest thing that you wouldn't think of and that is what happen here. I never thought about the network cable because that never happen to me before. They say you learn things everyday and that was my thing that I learned.
The next part of my day...Francie wanted me to drop her off at this car rental place so she can get a car for the next day. We were headed to Westminster and I was driving her car. She wanted me to follow her back to New Windsor and that was the original plan. When she got her car and we started to take off, it took a few seconds for me to loose her. I started freaking out because I don't know my way over here at all. I've been to Westminster a couple of times but I guess not enough to remember how to get to places. One of the things was we took the back roads to get where we were going. That didn't help much. When I lost her, I tried to get on the same road that would take me back to the center. I thought I was on the road but evidentially, I was on another road that led me to Baltimore. I was really freaking out then, I went on different interstates, not knowing where I was and if I was going to get home. The reason I went so far was because there was no place to make a u-turn or stop to make a phone call for like 30 miles. I finally ended up at this place called "Dollar General", a store that sold everything one-dollar. I finally made a couple of phone calls and got a hold of Francie. She gave me the directions to make it back to the center. The directions were good because I didn't have any type of problems on the way back. I got lost around 4pm and didnt make it back until 5:30pm. I praying to my Lord and Savior big time, and He came through for me, once again. This was a story I wont forget. I say "On the East Coast THIS TIME because I had gotten lost before, coming back from Sonora, going into Angels Camp in California. Then there was another time when I was going the wrong direction on the freeway 99 after working on a clients computer a few years back. This time wasn't the first time I had gotten myself lost. The only difference between this time and the other times was that the only thing I had to do was make a u-turn and go the opposite direction from where I was going. This time, the interstate and taken me to other interstates and I was going North to West to wherever. I didn't know if I was going to make it back or not. I was more freaked out and scared this time around because I was in a new zone where I had never been before and had absolutely no knowledge of getting back home. My only hope was to get a hold of Francie and that is the reason why I am here writing this blog tonight. After I got back, I called Glenn and told him about it. I feel I can laugh about it now, but definitely not then. Well I will check back in with you all in a bit.....Peace!

Jay,
BVS #275

New Week, New Experiences

What up ya'll
Lets start off by saying this was a very kick back weekend for me. I wanted to just take a little time to myself. I know that seems kind of funny because I have too much time by myself. Well I should say I didn't have the Van yet, but I will have it this weekend. I am very blessed so far because since Friday I had heard from familiar faces that I haven't heard from in while. I talked to my Dad for while and hopefully I can get my hair clippers because my hair is getting long LOL. Thought that was funny. Anyway, then I heard from my Grandma. She called me up and talked to me a while and Laura was there and I got to talk to her. I really enjoy talking to Laura, but I am so happy that my Grandma called me. I always worry about her. And now I find out I can use my phone in my room to call everyone because it will be less than what my cell phone will be. I can use my cell for emergencies and when I'm out. Then, I got a email from my best friend from I.T, Jessica. I haven't heard from her in a year and out of the blue I get an email from her. That made my night on Thursday. So after that I was feeling pretty good over the weekend.
I had a interesting day today. First I ate breakfast at the cafeteria, which I always have lunch but I haven't had breakfast yet. Then I get into work and work was cool. This was more of a relax day for me because I just continued my updates on the two Dell Optiplex PC's that were still in my office. After I got done doing that, I went out to the Warehouse and checked on their printer that the Warehouse office ladies were having issues with. Printer seemed OK after I left. Came back and got a post office message that my good buddy Glenn sent me something but the mail didn't make it to the office because the piece of mail needed to have another stamp, and I will go pick it up tomorrow. After a long day of work, I went home and then I realized that I lost my black hat. I think I left it in the cafeteria so I'm really not worried about, someone must of picked it up and did something with it and I will find that tomorrow as well. Then in the evening, there is another BVS unit out here right now, but this is the BVS/BRF unit. A little bit different from us. There more conservative about thing in the Brethren history, but they asked me if I can show up at the session. I thought that was great. I get to learn about the BRFers and it gets me out of my apartment for a couple of hours. When I got back, I emailed one of my unit members, Jillian because she sent me an email earlier today. I was real happy to hear from her and I am going to email everyone else in the next couple of days to see how everyone else is doing at their projects. Then I receive another email from Glenn & Donna, letting me know that they checked out my news article that was in the Baltimore Sun last Sunday. We did some work at this local home that did some work with schools and students. That was a great day during our orientation. Glenn also informed me that we now have a new Pastor at our church. I cant me more happy for everyone. They waited patiently to get a new pastor and I believe God is blessing them with everything that is going on so far. I can't wait to introduce myself to the new pastor, Jim Eikenberry (I saw his picture on the brethren.org website). Then I receive another email from another old friend, Angela Daniels. That made my night once again. She said that she checked out the website and checked out this Blog that I am writing and thinks its great that I am here in New Windsor. I was happy that she emailed me and I am in return going to send her an email. Anyway, that was my weekend and Monday. I wanted to write something; Thank you to all who have contacted me the last few days. I love you all and I hope to continue the communication throughout my stay in Brethren Volunteer Service, no matter where God takes me.

With Love

Jay, BVSer #275

The Real I.S Dept.

Whats Happenin?
For the past couple of days at work, it starting to feel more like an Information Service (IS) department to me. Like when I was attending and working at the Institute of Technology in Modesto, CA and Aaron and Eric would be doing a lot around campus. The type of work that made me want to be in an IS department. Just to let ya'll know, that I am still working on that PC that seemed to have a bad hard drive in the first place. But I replaced it with a new hard drive and I am still running into the same issue. Dell, the company that we use, sent us another motherboard. I had to spend about an hour with Dell's tech support to go through the steps of troubleshooting because the PC was still under warranty. After installing the new motherboard, the PC still would not load Windows XP. Can you believe it? Because I can't. That was the frustrating part about Wednesday. I haven't had a day like that since I was working at Technical Connections in Oakdale, CA. It was a long and hard day, but yet it was still fun. On Friday, the first thing I did in the morning was call "Dell" once again for the same dam problem, and they went through more diagnostics with me and still the same result. So they are going to send out a couple of more parts either Monday or Tuesday. I gave myself until about 9:30am to work on this PC, then I wanted to move to another project. I don't like to work on anything else until I fix this box because I want to concentrate getting this machine up and going but I guess I just have to wait. In the mean time, there are two other Dell PC's that needed to be cleaned up and that is what I did for the rest of the day of Friday. I got one of the PC's cleaned out and the other is about done, will be done first thing Monday morning. I at least got something accomplished on Friday rather than Thursday, where I was going crazy. But that is Ok, because I know that I am going to have a hell of a lot more that that. That is part of being in the tech field, that half the time I feel like computers are going to give me a heart attack. Stess level rises up, and I believe mine rose up on Thursday. Anyway, thats the last couple of days. Time to chill this weekend.

Jay,
BVSer 275

3rd day at work

What's up, everyone:

This was the third day at work for me. When I woke up this morning I expected to work on this computer desktop that needed a new drive. It turns out that it needed a motherboard. I spend an hour to an hour and half talking to the Dell rep online and to discuss what was going on. The computer was still under warranty so I decided to check up with them to see what was going on. Before I talk to him, I decided to test the new hard drive to make sure they sent a good one. It passed the test. Then I tested the memory. Memory passed as well. So the guy told me to do a couple of reinstalls with some of the memory out but that didn't fix the issue. Then he told me that he was going to ship out a new motherboard, which was what I expected in the first place, but being that this was still under warranty, I wanted to test it anyway. After that, I went ahead and made labels for the cable wiring the the network so we can distinguish the cables a lot easier in case we have to troubleshoot any of the wires. I did that most of the day. After that Francie showed me where all our switches are around the whole Brethren Service Center. A switch is a box that connects the network cables to allow PC's or laptops to connect to the network. After I got a tour of where everything is, that was the end of the day for me. I know I will have my hands full tomorrow so check me out to see if I have survived the "replace the motherboard" day.

Jay - BVSer, Unit 275
Information Services

14 August 2007

Whats up Ya'll
Well today was the second day of work for me in New Windsor. When I first got in, I had to find out why one of the laptops in my office wasn't connecting to the Netware Network. I uninstalled the network card driver and then reinstalled it and I was able to log on. Then at 10am, the IS department including those that are in Elgin, Illinois had a conference meeting, which lasted an hour on the phone. After that Francie and I went into town to have lunch and went to Staples to pick up some office supplies for my office. She also showed me where the mall was and where the movie theatre inside the mall was. After we got back, I started working on this computer tower I was working on yesterday. I had to replace the hard drive and reinstall the OS. However, I am having some issues with the reinstallation of the OS. I will work on it tomorrow. Anyway, today was a good day for me. Makes me look forward in tomorrows work. I'm hoping I can do these blogs daily. I will be back tomorrow

Jay - BVSer 275
Information Services

Brethren Volunteer Service Unit #275

This is my BVS blog to my friends and family back Home

Hey everyone

First day at the project went great. I am here at New Windsor, Maryland working at the Brethren Service Center. The department I am working in is the Information Services. Basically, I am the computer guy around BSC and anywhere else. My supervisor's name is Francie and she is really nice so far. On my first day, I tested this hard drive from a computer, which was bad. I will have to replace it tomorrow. Then I moved this other person's things from my new office to her's. This was a real cool 1st day. Check back with me later on to see how things are.

JCI
BVS Unit 275