Saturday in Jalan Ampang

So, we got home in one piece last night and now, my tech and I were ready to handle this customer. At first, I was a bit worried because there were so many things to do and not only that, the system refused my remote access. This would mean I need to restart the system. And being on a Saturday, I had counted on the fact that none of the staff would be working. I was right.

However, because my customer was in maintenance, they were working full swing. Anyway, the job was simple. I had my tech lay the groundwork on Thursday and so, today, it would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, we were not expecting concrete cake.....

A very simple thing, this. On the left was the original cable which
the cable guy pulled from the PABX in the office. On the right are
the cables to both sides of the office, connected from the fifth floor.
You getting this so far?Good.
The job is to relocated the massive thirty pair cable on the right to
the junction box on the left while maintaining the Direct Lines. So,
after about two hours work, my tech finished it and proceeded to
the cabling inside before relocating the actual phones. And he
finished this by 1430 or so.

Right about this time, the customer told me that the office on the
left needs to be done too. And so, with nothing else to do, I got on
the job. Unfortunately, the cable guy has not installed the Box for
me, just the cables only. I had to wait for him to complete it. And
so, while waiting, I mapped out the cables to the tables.....

I must say, this cable guy is loaded. Many cable guys just pull the
cables and leave about a metre extra. But here, we're talking of
about a minimum of three metres!

Two and a half hours later, the job is done. By this time, my hand is
sore from all those cable cutting, peeling, punching, etc. Then my
tech finished he work and took over from me, relocating all the actual
telephone extensions.

No one, and I am enforcing this to my techs, no one is allowed
to waste cables. During the dreadful 2007/8 metal crisis, the
prices of cabling has risen through the roof. And so, I wrapped
these cables and will take them back to the office so we can
"recycle" them since they are of the "correct"lengths.

By six in the evening, my customer told me there are more work to do, to swap between fifth and sixth floor extensions. By this time, it was already raining heavily and the break was enough for us to get to our cars and bikes. So told him, we would come back on Monday (if its possible, as we have a sudden workload piling up again).

The Trip up North . . . Prai

Today, we were rushing. Rushing because we need to be on the road by 12 noon. And rushing because our 1030 stretched to 1330. Rushing because I went to the wrong place to pick my Boss up. And rushing because wee need to be in Prai way before 5PM so that while I worked in Prai, my Boss can hop over to Penang to do a site inspection for another customer.

In the end, we could only reach Prai. Since both of us have experienced these snafus before, there is no point in arguing or pointing fingers but to go on. I was half expecting to pack the Sitiawan trip together too but alas, the customer was still too busy to entertain us for their repair bills. But one good thing is that we do not need to stay overnight. The priginal trip was to go to Penang first, do the site inspection and then, if there is time, work on the Prai customer, stay the night and continue the next day.

"Oh no, you don't. My tech and I have a big customer tomorrow and I would like to go back tonight (If that's alright with you. Ha ha ha)", I told him.

Still, after the job, we stopped by Bkt. Tambun for a seafood dinner (which I would hazard to guess, contributed greatly to the pain on my leg and now, the right thumb). The dinner was so-so, as if the standard had dropped. Also, they have this Ceremony for the God, and there were some Dell people holding a Sony Alpha, I did not have the mood to stop and take photos of anything and everything since it was already a bother walking about with the pain in my leg.

Still, my Boss got some sotong for me and my Wife. Its one of those dried sotongs where they grill it, then put under the rollers to stretch it into long crispy wafers. Unfortunately, despite all the protections of the plastic food cover, the cat snatched it in the night and left traces on the floor the next morning.

And so, we reached Prai 5 minutes after 5, saw the Penang
Bridge jam and turned back. The Penang customer goes
home at 1730 sharp. We went to the Prai customer instead.

A simple job, really. Find all the seven new Telekom numbers.
Then find all the seven tables. And then, find the big cable to
connect all the Seven Telekom numbers to the Seven cables
that leads to the Seven Tables for the Seven Credit Card
machines. And it took us sev...er one and a half hours.

There bad effect of wearing a dark T-shirt when you're
sweating. The white stuff are the things that come out
from your sweat and dried on the shirt. But you can
just "rub" with off after wetting the palm of your hand
and wiping off.

Then, horrors of horrors, my right foot became very
painful by the time I came back about one in the
morning. Yeah, I was either walking too much in Prai
as there were seven tables to go back and fro to, or
this is another Gout attack, the first for this year.

Oh, while we were in Damansara Uptown for the meeting, I
popped by the 100yes store hoping to get another of those
mini containers like the one I had (orange, on the right) but
since they did not have it anymore, I opted for the bigger one.
But I was disappointed when I came back and opened it s the
lid is too loose. So, I hope to "bend" it back with hot water.

I also got another container, which is to keep all the wires in
the bag. But because of the foam, I would need to cut the ears
off if I want to place it another 90º direction. The foam's OK but
my Boss is trying to get me some of the black "air-con" foams
which he claims can still retain shape despite my heavy
Tecra Notebook in there.