So what have I been doing this past week? Last Sunday, the 12th, was a little nerve-irritating. One of the systems I support at work, LIMS, runs a backup every Sunday night starting at 5 pm and ending with a system reboot so that the system can be back up and running by 11 pm. For the prior two weeks, the backup has been running longer and longer, which means the 11 pm deadline has not been met -- which means lost production time since the system can't be used. My supervisor asked me to check on the backup, which I did. It was running at 5. It was still running at 10. It was still running at 11. And it was still, still running when I got to work at 7 am Monday morning.

Obviously, the fix that was put in to prevent this last week wasn't working. I contacted the regional offices, told them of the situation, and kept them informed of the system status until the backup and reboot finished -- at noon. The regional offices were understanding, the guy whose fix didn't work now claims to have a new fix in place, and I got praised for handling the situation.

But wait -- there's more! On that same Monday, another system I do backup support for, Hyperion, was also having problems. With some help from my predecessor in support (the primary support person was out that day), the problem was figured out: the archive files had run out of space, so the system refused to work. Long story short: files have been enlarged, problem has been averted, I get more praise for handling the situation.

Normally I don't pay attention to praise -- it's sorta "here today, gone tomorrow" as far as I'm concerned -- but this time it counts. Why? Because up until now I've been seen as "the mainframe support guy". But Ethicon is, glacially, weaning itself off mainframe processing, and these two systems (LIMS and Hyperion) are not mainframe systems. So I'm broadening my skills, making myself more useful to Ethicon -- which translates into extensions of my consulting contract into the indefinite future.

Valentine's Day: nothing special to report. Stayed home, exchanged gifts with Bill-the-honeybear, rested. Actually not a bad way to spend an evening with someone you love, no?

I go to court. No, I didn't get sued. I took Wednesday the 15th off to drive down to Trenton to the state Supreme Court. It was the day arguments were being heard in the case of seven same-sex couples seeking the right to marry under the state constitution's equal rights clause. So I haul my shapely butt out of bed at 5 a.m. to drive to Trenton for an 8:30 rally outside the court building. For our side, there were about 100-150 people there -- gay and straight, including clergypeople, a sizeable contingent from NOW, a PFLAG group from South Jersey/Philly -- plus TV coverage from New York, Philly, and New Jersey (for the record: NYC - ABC, CBS, NBC; Philly - ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC; NJ - New Jersey Network (PBS), News 12 (cable), CN8 (cable)). We stood in the shadow of the court building in freezing weather, but it was fun! Lots of cars and trucks going by, honking in support; and the camaraderie forged when a group of people are doing something for a cause they believe in. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Oh, the other side? Maybe 50 people, no more, holding a prayer vigil for the cameras, their leaders wailing about the sacred and unchanging nature of marriage (conveniently ignoring several thousands of years of changing attitudes), and of the expense of having same-sex marriages that will be borne by the taxpayers -- as if the monetary cost of something permits negation of human and civil rights; and anyway, is there any taxpayer anywhere who is totally satisfied with where their money goes?

Yesterday... I put Challenge together. The March issue had fewer articles than previous ones, mainly because we ran the first of two full-page ads (the other next issue) for Equality Forum in Philadelphia, which takes place the first week in May. This was a swap for their waving the rental fees for two movies GAAMC will be showing, one in May, the other in the fall. It took 5 1/2 hours from start to finish, but it's done. This morning it went to the printers, and tomorrow it will be collated, stuffed in envelopes, labeled, and stamped. Tuesday morning it will be in the mail. Wednesday morning I start all over again for April.

"We never closed": Speaking of tomorrow, Bill-the-Honeybear and I are taking in a matinee of the movie "Mrs. Henderson Presents". It's the story of a wealthy widow who, between the wars, finds she's inherited a West End (London, for those who don't know) theatre, the Windmill. She comes up with the idea of presenting -- gasp! -- naked young women on stage in artistic tableaux. The government, in the person of the Lord Chamberlain (who had to approve all stage shows), tried to shut it down; but they didn't, and all through the Blitz (and the rest of WWII as well) the Windmill Theatre stayed open, giving all those young soldiers and sailors a glimpse of what they were fighting for. Judi Dench plays Mrs. Henderson, and Bob Hoskins is Vivian Van Dam, her theatre manager. This is gonna be a corker, mate!