So, where did we leave off.  This year certainly has been one for travel for me. I spent a week in Halifax in September, doing some quality control stuff with presses and newspapers.  It was very interesting trip, nice place out there.  Visited Peggy’s Cove, ate some fish, drank and ate well.  Oh wait, I did a lot of work too.  I was doing some work with a great guy from Vancouver, and a gal from the Toronto area.  We spent the entire week together working, and then supper, and sight-seeing.  All around – great trip.

In a few weeks I am off to Vancouver for some more work related stuff.  Fly out on a Sunday, fly in on the following Saturday.  I know it seems like it will be a quick trip, but due to the time change, I may not have the ability to talk with Jamie or Sydney before Sydney goes to bed.  In Halifax and Toronto this year, I was still able to see them, wave etc.  Its going to be a very long week if I cant do that.

Otherwise, we have been working hard on finishing our basement.  I have a good number of pictures to put up, but there are simply too many to go through, so you will have to wait a bit more.  We finished the basement framing, got it spray-foamed, and gyproced.  The carpet is being laid today, which is why I am home from work typing on my blog.  Hoping to get baseboards and doors in by weekend-end, but we will see how we make out.  I am excited.  Soon, I will be able to turn my xbox back on and have a functioning projector downstairs!  Its gonna be great!

Hrm…what else.  My work is progressing, we started printing the Globe and Mail for the October 1st paper, and since then it has been levelling out somewhat.  I am still working some late nights, and some longer days, but the paper is looking better and better.  Its only going to go up from here.  The best part of my job right now?  Me NOT being in retail over the Christmas season.  I have a brand-new outlook on Christmas.  The hours, the work, the apprehension and hate for the season because you were right in the middle of it.  Its great now.   The people that I work with are great people.  My boss is such a caring person, it makes everything worthwhile when she cares.  The pressmen, sometimes crude, but great bunch of guys (when they are not harassing me )

So that said Christmas will be great this year, really looking forward to spending time with family, and Sydney being even more conscious of what is actually happening.

The last peice of news that I want to share with you is in regards to a new addition.  I would like you to meet baby Lainton #2:

Our due date is March 26th, and everything is going great thus far.  We did have a bumpy first few months, but they are behind us now, and all is good.

That said, I should get some stuff done while I have a day off.  More to come soon!

Late last year, I had made a decision to leave Tech Solutions Canada Ltd., the company I helped start, owned shares in, etc.  I will not go into details on that.  I dont want to be ‘that’ guy.  Long and short of it, it was time to move on.  As of beginning of February, all my shares were successfully sold, and have no ties to the company at all.

I accepted a position with Glacier Media Group based out of Vancouver.  More specifically, the Prairie Newspaper Group (PNG), the group that looks after the Saskatchewan/Manitoba region.  Even more specifically, Estevan Web Printing. I have taken up the position of IT manager for the PNG, where I am dealing with all the locations’ computers/networking/software/servers, etc..  Estevan Web Printing is the local company that runs the printing press that prints all the newspapers in Estevan, Weyburn, and about 30+ more per week.  This is a very large, busy, yet very organized operation.

On top of that, there has been some recent news in regards to Estevan Web Printing that I have known about, but is finally public.  This is from this article.

The Globe and Mail newspaper has hired a new company to print its Manitoba and Saskatchewan edition.

Glacier Media Inc. will begin printing the Globe starting this fall out of its printing plant in Estevan, Sask., the Globe said Wednesday in a news release.

For decades, the Manitoba and Saskatchewan edition has been printed in Brandon, Man. by the Brandon Sun, then trucked to various points in the two provinces.

The Sun is owned by FP Canadian Newspapers which also owns the Winnipeg Free Press and other publications.

According to the Sun, its contract to print the Globe expires at the end of September.

The Globe said the move to Estevan — 311 kilometres southwest of Brandon — takes place as the paper prepares for a “significant redesign” to take advantage of advanced printing technology.

It’s a multi-year agreement, the company said.

Yes, that right, Estevan Web Printing will be the location where the Globe and Mail for Sask/Man region’s paper will be printed, 6 days a week.  In order to accommodate this, Estevan Web Printing is going through a 10.2 million dollar expansion of its current facility.  My job is also to take care of the press’s electronics side.  With new press technology, the press is very automated, and where there is automation, there is a computer part of some kind.  From the servers, to the cabling, to the plate machines, right to the press, there is a lot of electronics that I will deal with on a day to day basis.

I am currently sitting in a hotel in Toronto, where we are for meetings with the Globe and Mail in regards to quality control and implementation details for the new equipment (and the ‘significant redesign’ details).  This is the second trip I have been on, with my new position.  I was sent to Vancouver the week after I started to meet with head office, and get to know some of the people and procedures.

Let me just say…its a whole new world.  So far, I have enjoyed EVERY waking minute of it.  I love to be in a position where I am learning something new 5 to 10 times a day – at least.    I am honoured to be put in this position, and to be part of such a large, yet local, operation.  The company that I am now with, has been GREAT to me, and I have no doubt that this will continue for a very long time.

Anyhow..thats the update.  People keep asking me what I am doing, what happened at the last place, etc.  So now that the Globe and Mail stuff is public, I figure now is as good time as any to let people know what I’m up to, other than taking pictures of my daughter.

That said, I figured once I replaced the drive, I would be good to go.  But since its a NAS, it needs a mini operating system on the drive in order for it to work.  Loaded up Acronis Trueimage, I see this as the partition table:

What a mess!  Luckily, I put the drive in the freezer for a day, and was able to acronis the drive to a new one, popped it in, and was able to get a working drive.  Had the drive failed completely, I wouldnt have been forced to throw the entire thing in the garbage.  Case in point:  NAS’s are not the best situation unless it comes with its OS on a secondary chip.

Most of the sites around the net state that the drive is a IDE (PATA) laptop (2.5) drive.  Sure enough it is.  The largest drive that is available is a 320GB unit.  Not easy to find.  I was able to find it through my supplier at the office, so I got one in.  I fought with it for many a night, backing up the existing 160GB drive, and restoring it to the 320GB unit.  I did it about 8 times, and finally on Saturday afternoon it took!  The drive is wiped at the end of this, which is fine, since it sync’s to my Itunes server anyhow.  I set it to sync overnight and everything is working great.

Inside the AppleTV:

Final Result:

Upgraded AppleTV Drive

Both Clint and I are to the point that we need to carry a laptop around on the calls, working on networks, troubleshooting wireless networks or dialing into servers. That said, we have both decided that we need a subnotebook…also known as a netbook. Clint settled on an Asus EEEpc which has a 9inch screen and he is currently running linux/windows dual boot (I beleive). I settled for a MSI Wind notebook. the machine comes preloaded with Windows XP Home edition. Gross. The reason I went to this netbook is because I can install Mac OS Leopard into it. The machine is 99% compatible with it (only thing I cant do is use the webcam….someone call the doctor). Its all loaded, works with MobileMe and is small and light enough to take pretty much anywhere. The best thing…did I mention I install the Mac OS on it? Its the full retail version (legal too!)  All updates and everything…works great!

Here she is: