Is Mercury in retrograde?

I feel like Mercury is in retrograde or maybe there is a full moon that I am not aware of.  I have had nothing but computer issues at work today.  I am trying to get a new person setup with a laptop and I have been fighting the system since yesterday.  The process we use to image should take an hour, but for some strange reason it takes a 1/2 hour and when that happens the drive isn’t encrypted and it’s totally an uphill battle to fix.  I am on my 5th attempt in imaging and I am on the 2nd laptop for this person.  I’ve tried everything that I can think of and had one final thought before I ask for help, so hopefully that works.

I’ve got a chronic complainer coming in this afternoon, the issues are usually simple to resolve but based on the type of day that I am having I am no so confident that is the case.  I am going to try to resolve some long standing issues while this person is here, so that I can hopefully close a few open tickets that I have. 

The morning phone shift was pretty rough in that it was very slow.  I like slow but when it gets to the point where it’s boring well that is when I kind of wish for a call from a kind person with a simple issue.  Doesn’t mean I always get my wish.  Today is one of those days where it would be a good idea to go home early and pull the covers over my head and hide from the world.  I am so ready to scream!  Hopefully it will get better.

So after watching Citizen Four and seeing how easy it was for the government to spy on the average American, I thought it might be prudent to check out an e-mail encryption system.  A long standing product that I have heard of is ZIXMail.  They have a standalone client, meaning you don’t have to buy any hardware.  They have a plug-in for Outlook.  The service sounds complex but they have done a great job of providing training material and instructions.  I signed up for a free 30 day trial.  Then downloaded and installed the software, opened Outlook and followed the instructions for creating my signature, which is your unique thumbprint – just setting up a username and password.  Once it was installed I composed a message to myself at work and clicked a button that said Encrypt & Send.  I was asked to confirm the e-mail address I was sending to and then asked to enter in my password.  I did that and presto the message was sent.  At work I received a message that I had a secure message waiting for me.  I had to login to a web portal and create an account for my work email address.  Then I was able to read the e-mail as well as view the attachment.  This is a pretty awesome service and for $140 per year I think it’s quite worth it.  While I don’t have anything to hide, it nice to know that the e-mail message you send is only viewed by the person(s) your sending it to.  As well, they can reply from right in the portal so their response is sent to you encrypted as well.  If you pay more money you can customize things, like your logo in your own custom portal.  Since this is for personal I don’t want to spend anymore money than I have to.  This is not a sponsored post, meaning I am not getting any money to try to sell you something.  I am just mentioning it for what it’s worth.  I can see if you use this service and send e-mail to an older person where they could get confused.  The other disadvantage is I can’t view responses from my mobile device, so that kind of takes away from a convenience factor.  Right now I will enjoy my 30 day free trial and then we will see if I buy it or pass.  This would have come in handy when I was working on my late partners affairs, because there was privileged and confidential information that I had to e-mail in plain text and anyone who would have intercepted the email could have read it.  In fact the government probably has a copy of all of the correspondence.  I guess when I can’t find an e-mail I can always ask the NSA for a copy, right?  :-)

Last night Bear (aka Big Boy) came to sleep with me.  He hasn’t been in my room in quite sometime.  I gave him a bath, which he was in desperate need of.  He also got a nice belly and arm pit rub.  Then while I was watching TV I was able to pet him and he just drifted into sleep, that is until I stopped and then he was wide awake and it was like peeling him off the ceiling.  Marv decided not to sleep with me for the first part of the night and when I woke up in the middle of the night he came to join me.  My arm is all clawed up and itching so tonight a certain little boy will get his nails trimmed.  He isn’t a big fan but I am sure he will cooperate.

No weather issues this morning as was predicted, so that was a nice change.  However, there were traffic problems but I made it in with plenty of time to spare.  As usual I am anxious to go home.  It’s comedy Wednesday which translates to lots of TV to watch!  I picked up a couple of Chipotle Flavored Frozen Burritos at the grocery store (note this isn’t from Chipotle the restaurant) and I plan on having them tonight.  I also just remembered that I forgot to double back in the grocery store so I don’t have any sour cream.  Ah, well I will survive. 

They put the signup sheet out a few minutes ago for the massage therapist and I was the first one to sign up.  I am getting my 1/2 hour tomorrow and I will be looking forward to it.  I like the lotion followed by a nice warm rock working over my back, it just feels great.  Plus after I am done my back is moisturized so it won’t itch.  Between my back and my hands they are the worst for dry skin.  Yet another reason to long for Spring.  Not to mention shirtless guys mowing the grass and being able to drive around with the sunroof open. 

I got the machine issues I was having resolved, finally only took me 5 tries.  Then I had to take care of things manually because the automated process just didn’t work for encryption.  So my only stop tonight is at the ATM for cash, then it’s on to home.  I suppose I should get back to it.  Take care, be well and we will talk again.