Well, its been awhile since I last wrote a blog. I have made some changes to my life recently. The biggest change I have made is that I quit smoking. Life without a cigarette sure isn’t easy at all. Let me tell ya, I thought it would be easy just quitting but it hasn’t been at all. Deborah quit smoking too. I woke up this morning wanting a cigarette. I always had routines that I would go through and cigarettes were always involved in that routine. Bear called this morning and wanted me to pick him up from Bank of America and wanted me to take him to run some errands. So that kept me busy for most of the day. I picked Bear up from Bank of America and then he wanted me to take him to the cab company that he used to work for because he had to pay his cab tab. Then he was hungry but I wanted to go get has before we got something to eat so he put in 10 bucks into my gas tank and then I told him he should try Kathy’s restaurant because he had never eaten there before. Well, since we were eating at Kathy’s I didn’t want to exclude Deborah. Deborah loves eating at Kathy’s and it was always our thing to eat there. So we went and hurried up and got Deborah. Deborah had I’m guessing just mowed the lawn or been working in the yard because she was all hot and sweaty and her face was red. She changed her shirt and hopped in the car with us and we headed to Kathy’s restaurant to eat. We got to Kathy’s and Bear was impressed by the menu. He was really hungry. He had sounded like he was hungry from the beginning. I had two eggs, some home fried potatoes, some bacon and of course had it all with ranch dressing. I love the ranch dressing they have there. Its really good. Deborah ate pancakes as usual. She loves the pancakes at Kathy’s. Bear had an omelet and pancakes. He was very impressed by the food. I didn’t eat all mine so I had to take a carry out. That’s me though, always taking a carry out. I like to enjoy my food and don’t like to waste any, I like taking it home and eating the rest of it. After we ate at Kathy’s Bear had more errands he had to run. We had seen a yard sale which was near our house and we went and took him to the yard sale. They had lots of books for sale so Bear bought a bunch of good books to read. Then after the yard sale we went to Walmart. We dropped Bear off at Walmart and we went to Woodrow because Deborah needed to go talk to Joe Fangman. We went to Woodrow but Joe had taken a lunch break so we were unable to see him but she did stop to Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Brown is cool, she is one of the best teachers there at Woodrow. Deborah was telling Mrs. Brown how I was taking a math class and Mrs. Brown suggested asking Mrs. Gold if she had something that could teach me how to do fractions so we went and saw Mrs. Gold. Mrs. Gold printed off some stuff for me to learn and then we left Woodrow and went back to Walmart. Bear wasn’t outside waiting for us so we parked and went inside and I called him. He said he was getting laundry bags so I assumed he was in the laundry aisle. I had to explain to Deborah what Bear said so she could figure out where he was at. I don’t always feel so smart. I felt kind of dumb not knowing where he was. Walmart is a big store though. We eventually found him and he was getting ready to check out. After Walmart we took Bear to the bank so he could get some money. Then after the bank we took him home. Deborah and I came home and decided to go take a nap. We slept for a little bit then we woke up and I called dad to ask him if he wanted to go to the park which he did, which was cool and I was glad. We both took a shower then headed over to mom and dads house. We picked dad up and then we headed to Staunton. I stopped at Burger King to get me something to eat then I went to Taco Bell so Deborah could get something to eat and then we stopped at Hardees to get dad something to eat and then we headed to the park. We ate our food at the park and then went back to mom and dads. I let Zeus out to go pee and poop and to play in the yard and we waited for mom to get home. Deborah raked the driveway, mind you the driveway is pavement but there were leaves on the driveway. Deborah tried to install a screen window into the window in my living room but the thing wouldn’t go in. She eventually gave up and I let Zeus go pee and poop outside again and then I said goodbye to mom and dad and we left. We came home and we decided to watch the movie Dear John. That was a good movie. It was a great love story. It had a lot of surprises in the movie yet it was still a good movie. I can’t wait to see the new Twilight movie. I think it comes out June 30th. I wonder if we will be able to go see it in theaters. Hum. I think we can get up the money for that lol. Now I’m just laying in bed with Deborah and she is playing on her laptop. She is playing on Facebook of course and I am sitting here typing this blog. I’m going to bed in a little bit though. I think we are going to get up and go walking in the morning. We are trying to get in shape and be healthier so we are going to start exercising. Well this is the end of the blog. I’m out for the night. Goodnight all and to all a good night.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tipsy
I’m a little bit tipsy. I had a mixed drink and it had rum in it. I’m feeling really good. Hell yeah
Virginia Beach Photos
Me looking for seashells
Melissa & Mike kissing in our hotel
Melissa & Mike posing
Mike giving the peace up
Melissa posing
Melissa being silly
Headed to VA Beach strip
The haunted house
Sunsations store
A store on the strip
NY Pizza on the strip yum
Upper Deck Restaurant
Amusement Park
Us on the beach
Melissa on the beach
Va Beach ocean
Melissa & Mike
VA Beach ocean
VA Beach
Mike on the beach
VA Beach
Me on the beach
Mike on the beach
Virginia Beach Trip
Deborah and I sitting on the beach at night. We have had a good trip so far. We definitely needed a vacation for sure. We had been stuck in the house forever. We get cabin fever badly. It was nice to be able to get away from the house. The only thing I miss is the animals. I hope Mollee and the cats are doing alright. We took lots of photos and videos and there are more to come. I posted most of the photos on my Facebook profile under my photos.
Melissa and Mike
Seashells I collected
Mike caught off guard
Melissa chilling
We have had lots of fun. We have gone to the beach and we are in a nice hotel that has a kitchenette in it. We have had mixed drinks and I drank Budweiser and we’ve just had a really great time. We’ve gone shopping and I got a new hemp necklace and only paid 2 bucks for it. Nice. Deb got a new ring and Melissa got a new necklace. We got to see some hot rides too. Deborah and I went on the Ferris wheel which was nice. The seat we were in moved and I freaked out lol. It was fun. The beach is so nice at night. We didn’t see any crabs which is a good thing. We are in our hotel room and we are on the 6th floor. We can see the beach from our balcony. Its so nice. I’m about to drink a mixed drink, it has rum in it. Deb got sun burnt really badly. I got sunburn real bad on the back of my legs. We are having a good time. The fun will come to an end tomorrow but we have had a good time. I have enjoyed it. This was a good vacation.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Road Trip
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Lots Going On
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Gmail Gadget on Igoogle
Tell me why all of a sudden the Gmail gadget on Igoogle stopped working all of a sudden. I’m not able to see my emails anymore. It came up with some kind of message but I don’t know what the message means because I didn’t change anything in my email settings. I wonder who else is having this problem with their Gmail app on Igoogle.
Thoughts
I have so many things to do yet time goes by so fast and I feel as sometimes there’s just not enough time to get everything done. I feel like my brain has shut down sometimes. As if it stops me from thinking the way I used to do. I used to feel so smart, I don’t know what happened to me. I’ve let a lot go and just became lazy. I used to work hard for my money. Then I left Woodrow and everything fell apart. I wish I could make Deborah proud but I don’t think I do anymore. I don’t know what I’m saying really. I’m just rambling really. I have to get my brain back to where it used to be. Of course when I was in Woodrow I used to take my Adderall three times a day instead of just once a day. I think the Adderall helped my brain focus a lot more then it does now. Maybe that is why my brain doesn’t think like it used to. I don’t know.
Today So Far
My brain is going a mile a minute right now. And yet I’m just sitting here thinking what to do. I’m supposed to be working right now I’m sure. It is very hot outside and I do not feel like going out in the heat. Everyone in the house is stressed because we have inspection tomorrow and we are trying to get the house together. I hope it goes good. I’m sure it will. I just have to think positive for once in my life. I’ve lived around negativity most of my life. Its so much easier to be negative it seems. Deborah steam cleaned the carpet in the bedroom and we moved the mattress and boxsprings outside on the deck. Now we are letting it dry, we have the fan running in the bedroom to help it dry. I got a job working for the US Census Bureau. I’ve only knocked on a few doors, I should be knocking on more but I can’t seem to get my butt out and knock on more doors but I am going tomorrow and try to get some of these knocked out. I let my fear get in the way most of the time. I was fine when I went to WWRC but now that I’m not there anymore its like I have a fear of getting out and doing things for some reason. I don’t know what has happened to me since I left Woodrow. Who knows. I hope things get better. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. We shall see.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Iron Mountain
The best known Iron Mountain storage facility is a high-security storage facility in a former limestone mine at Boyers, Pennsylvania near the city of Butlerin the United States. It began storing records in 1954 and was purchased by Iron Mountain in 1998. It is here that Bill Gates stores his Corbisphotographic collection in a refrigerated cave 220 feet (67 m) underground.[1]
Iron Mountain has additional underground storage facilities in the United States and the rest of the world. Most of the company's over 1,000 storage locations are in above-ground leased warehouse space located near customers.
The company was started by Herman Knaust, who had made his fortune growing and marketing mushrooms.[2] In 1936, needing more space to grow his product, he purchased a depleted iron ore mine and 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land in Livingston, New York for $9,000.[2] By 1950, the mushroom market had shifted and Knaust was looking for alternative uses for his mine, which he had named "Iron Mountain".
Amid widespread Cold War fears, Knaust saw a business opportunity in protecting corporate information from nuclear attack and other disasters. In 1951 the company, now named "Iron Mountain Atomic Storage Corporation", opened its first underground "vaults" and its first sales office in the Empire State Building, about 125 miles (201 km) south.[3] Iron Mountain's first customer was East River Savings Bank, who brought microfilm copies of deposit records and duplicate signature cards in armored cars for storage in the mountain facility. In 1978, the company opened its first above-ground records-storage facility.
During the 1980s, the company expanded beyond New York, opening facilities in New Jersey and throughout New England. In 1988, Iron Mountain extended its reach into 12 more U.S. markets by acquiring Bell & Howell Records Management, Inc.[4] Since 1980, Iron Mountain has acquired more than 200 companies, growing both the company's geographic footprint and its service offerings. Revenue over this period increased nearly 1,000 fold from $3 million in 1981 to $2.7 billion at the end of 2007.
In 2004, Iron Mountain formed Iron Mountain Digital, following the acquisition of Connected Corporation,[5] a maker of online PC backup software. A year later, Iron Mountain Digital added LiveVault,[6] a provider of online backup software for server data. In 2007 Iron Mountain acquired Stratify Inc.,[7] one of the larger e-discovery service providers at the production end of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).[8]
In June 2008, Bob Brennan,[9] 48, became the company's president and chief executive officer, following Richard Reese,[10] who served 27 years as CEO. Brennan joined Iron Mountain in 2004 as president of North America after the company acquired Connected Corporation, where he was chairman and chief executive officer.
Security magazine recently named Iron Mountain to its Security 500 survey, an annual ranking of the nation’s most secure companies. Iron Mountain was its industry’s sole representative in the category of business services. Published in the magazine’s November issue, the Security 500[11] ranks companies using several metrics such as the percentage of a company’s revenue spent on security. The survey tracks 16 vertical markets to serve as a benchmarking tool for companies.
For the fifth consecutive year, Fortune magazine named Iron Mountain to its list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies,” the definitive report card on corporate reputation. Iron Mountain ranked second in its industry category of Diversified Outsourcing Services.[12] The industry rankings reflect feedback from executives, directors and analysts who rated Iron Mountain among its industry peers on nine key attributes of reputation, from investment value to quality of management.[citation needed]
In April 2009, Iron Mountain's Digital Record Center for Images was honored as a Product of the Year by the Massachusetts Network Communications Council in the category Cloud Computing, Virtualization and Data Warehousing/Storage.[13]
he company has received media attention for losing or misplacing customer files and data, particularly tapes containing private information such as home addresses and Social Security numbers. In May 2005, Time Warner disclosed that a container of 40 unencrypted backup tapes containing the personal information of 600,000 current and former employees had disappeared while being transported in an Iron Mountain van that made 18 other stops in Manhattan that day. After the loss, Time Warner began encrypting its tapes, and Iron Mountain advised its other clients to do the same.[14][15] A year later, tapes containing personal information for about 17,000 Long Island Railroad employees were lost while in transit to the railroad's office, along with tapes belonging to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs being shipped in the same vehicle.[16]
In August 2007, the company began retrofitting its unmarked vans and trucks with a new security and alarm system using chain of custody technology to reduce the exposure of customer data to possible loss. Among other security features, the system uses radio frequency authentication and real-time tracking capabilities to help prevent "mysterious disappearances" of tapes, or their actual removal from the vehicle, during transit.[17]
In July 2006, a fire completely destroyed a leased six-story company warehouse in London.[18] The paper records of 600 customers,[19] including client files stored by several prominent London law firms, were lost.[20] Also destroyed were the medical records of up to 240,000 patients of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.[19] The London Fire Brigade later concluded that the fire was caused by arson.[21]One day earlier, a smaller fire believed to have been caused by contractors making roof repairs damaged a company warehouse in Ottawa, Canada.[22]
References
- ^ "Under Iron Mountain". National Press Photographers' Association. June 4, 2005.
- ^ a b Iron Mountain's peak performance makes it BBJ's Company of the Year
- ^ Iron Mountain Corporate History
- ^ C. Richard Reese: Iron Man
- ^ Iron Mountain to Acquire Connected Corporation
- ^ Consolidation Reshapes Online Backup Market
- ^ Iron Mountain acquires Stratify for $158M
- ^ Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM)
- ^ Bob Brennan
- ^ Richard Reese profile
- ^ Additional details on the Security 500, along with the full ranking
- ^ World’s Most Admired Companies, Fortune 2009
- ^ MassNetComms honors Kamen, Miner, Markey, among others
- ^ "Time Warner Says Data on Employees Is Lost". The New York Times. May 3, 2005.
- ^ "Whoops! We Seem to Have Misplaced Your Identity". The New York Times. May 8, 2005.
- ^ "Personal data of NY transit employees lost". MSNBC. April 27, 2006.
- ^ "Iron Mountain retrofits truck fleet with self-designed security system". Computerworld. August 6, 2007.
- ^ "Paper warehouse destroyed in fire". BBC. July 13, 2006.
- ^ a b "Alarm as NHS files go up in smoke". TheLatest.com. January 17, 2007.
- ^ "Iron Mountain fires prompt users to hasten hunt for backup options". Techworld. August 7, 2006.
- ^ "Iron Mountain 2007 Annual Report".
- ^ "Two Iron Mountain facilities hit by fire". Computerworld. July 25, 2006.
Further reading
- Network World, “Iron Mountain Talks Off-Site Storage Including in Caves,” 07/24/08)
- Boston Globe, “Ascent to the top of Iron Mountain”, 06/29/08
- Mass High Tech, “Iron Mountain Digital Doubles its R&D Plant,” 05/30/08
- CSO Magazine, “The Paper Chain,” 02/27/08
