Spent my last week in Lebanon PA

[wecsoger]

Fortunately, not in the county jail

And, I'm bragging on myself a little here.

See below the before and after pictures of part of my work. Gave my folks at the facility there a new phone system, from an old Intertel Axxess to new Cisco phones. Upgraded the network boxen in the background. Wireless in the main facility and the truck shop. Fixed a paging issue. Fiber optic cabling to the shop, replacing old network LAN modem. And a lot of other minor technology issues.

Cleaned up an embarrassing mess down in the basement from a lot of previous technicians.

Western PA and along the turnpike is very...scenic. And unexpected fog in the mornings.

Lebanon is in central PA, just east of Hershey, yes, that Hershey. I didn't get a chance to visit as I was in to my facility about 8 - 830 (I'm not a morning person!) and left every day about 530 - 630

Lebanon looks very much a blue collar town, lots of little brick row houses downtown, beautiful old brick and stone houses and business buildings. In other words, my kind of place. My rule of thumb, if I see more faded Carhartts than dress shirts, it's my kind of people. Didn't seem as decayed as I've seen in a lot of other towns.

Heard there was a big Amish complement there but only saw a couple when I was out on a parts run to Lowes. And they weren't that orthodox, I saw no buggies and one guy had a cell on his belt.

Oh, yeah, levergun content. Stopped at Cabelas in Wheeling on the way back. Marveled at the prices. $499 for a bottom end Win 94. Srsly? They did have a huge assortment on the used rack.

[Grizz]

good work and what a testimony of the worth of doing something useful.

in sharp contrast to the rioter-looter-whiner-beheader class.

KUDOS

[wecsoger]

(laughing)

Thanks. And I'm sure you caught my comment about faded Carhartts.

This was at a truck/transportation facility, and there are plenty of people there who are willing to work - I saw them at it every morning and evening. I know they had just hired one guy and was looking at some more. (that's good, means we have good business in that area!)

Saw a bunch of hard working guys (and gals!) gettin' 'er dun. Doesn't matter how someone else may categorize you, forklift, pallet jack or broom doesn't care.

[Griff]

A truck stop? In Lebanon

[Old Ironsights]

That's the kind of work they always made me do between 7pm and 6am. People don't take kindly to having their D-Mark disconnected...

[6pt-sika]

One of our distributers is in Lebannon PA . I go up there about 4-6 times a year .

[rjohns94]

Lebanon, well north of it, is where my cottage is. Nice work.

[Grizz]

That's the kind of work they always made me do between 7pm and 6am. People don't take kindly to having their D-Mark disconnected...

looks good but the copy writer described the "true left hand model" as having a port side op rod.

uh, seriously? someone should mention to them that the standard right hand model has a port side op rod, and always has. a true left hander should have a starboard side op rod and port side ejection.

other than that it's big and cute and it's 40 cal so what's not to like?

it's starting to look like I might have to make my own pistol. maybe an exotic titanium sheet metal receiver built to the published plans of a homemade blowback repeater.... nah, not enough time for that one

P.S. I wonder if a hydraulic system could be used to replace the recoil spring, reducing the profile considerably by eliminating the huge buffer group.....

[wecsoger]

For comments from all, thanks.

Truck _terminal_, think it's 60 some doors.

Did all my work during the day, but did have a couple minor outages. Came in 10p Sunday night and swapped out the network switch, that's always a mess with patch cables flying everywhere. I put the wall rack up in pieces and I didn't have mounting brackets on the switch, router, etc., so I was able to rack them up one at a time powered on.

Only accidental outage I did have during the day was when the power cord worked its way out of the switch - Cisco doesn't have any positive locking or twist locks on their gear. Users and terminal manger took it in good humor.

On the good side of things, it's all going to be easier for the next guy. I may never be there again.

Lebanon, I thought was an interesting community. Very little subdivisions, when you go out of town, you're in farm country immediately. Rolling hills and some beautiful old stone barns.

Big Hispanic population, a lot more than I expected.

Don't know what the winters would be like there. I know it's far enough north they've got the truck parking spots wired up for the engine block heaters. I just got back last month from our facility in Minneapolis, and after hearing about the winter they had, I'm still looking at heading south to KY or TN.

Other than winters, I would love to have 20 -30 acres or more and a cabin. I suspect with the corn and soybean field there would be some good deer hunting about.

[EdinCT]

Is that near Shydas gun store ? I used to get down that way years ago. It has changed a lot though.
I did layer 1 networking for Phizer for a few years and really enjoyed it.

[wecsoger]

Well, darn. I didn't know about that store or I may have made the time to stop by.

This guy is on the south end, my facility is on the far east end of town, about a mile past where 422 joins back up together.

[Sixgun]

Is that near Shydas gun store ? I used to get down that way years ago. It has changed a lot though.
I did layer 1 networking for Phizer for a few years and really enjoyed it.

Yep, That's exactly where it is. As Shydas is practically next to Shirk distributers, they carry large amounts of powder. We make runs up there a couple of times a year to stock up on the 8 pounders. About 75 miles from me.

Had you got off the main drags and hit the small roads, you would have seen lots of Amish.------------6

[6pt-sika]

Is that near Shydas gun store ? I used to get down that way years ago. It has changed a lot though.
I did layer 1 networking for Phizer for a few years and really enjoyed it.

Yep, That's exactly where it is. As Shydas is practically next to Shirk distributers, they carry large amounts of powder. We make runs up there a couple of times a year to stock up on the 8 pounders. About 75 miles from me.

Had you got off the main drags and hit the small roads, you would have seen lots of Amish.------------6

Shirks is who I pick up from a few times a year !

Used to use Bonitz in Harrisburg also but they were a touch harder to deal with or so it seemed .

[piller]

My employer is upgrading to Cisco phones in our stores, and I love them. The playback for the voicemail has a feature that you can slow the Nurses or Doctors down. When they leave a message that sounds like ThisisNurseRatchedfromDoctorZhivago'sofficeandpatientJohnDoespelledDeeOhEedateofbirth1/1/1950needsarefillonhismetoprolol50mg1bidnumber60plus5refillscallusbackat5555555555ifyouhaveanyquestions, you can slow it down to half speed and they stop sounding like the guy in the micro machines commercial and sound almost normal. That feature has probably saved a thousand lives in the last year. I also like the way that the installers are contractors who are paid to do it right and not some one who knows only the same as what I do.

By the way, Lebanon, PA is where that machete called The Woodsman's Pal is made.

[Mossyoak1957]

By the way, Lebanon, PA is where that machete called The Woodsman's Pal is made.[/quote]

They are made in Pottstown,Pa

[piller]

You're right. I looked up the website.