response 465 of 561:

Sep 30 23:34 UTC 1996

Is this west Huron site a nice place?? I mean warm and comfy..like..I guess
one GREX will like???     :)

response 467 of 561:

Oct 1 04:55 UTC 1996

Arnold, I wish I had the skill to paint Charlie Brown et all around the 
roots <g>.  Ditto horses.  Hmmm.
Valerie, will next Monday be too late?  Can you hold a ladder for me?  I'm
kind of jumpy about ladders.
I hope the move is easy, too.

response 469 of 561:

Oct 1 12:17 UTC 1996

We'll be down while the phone lines are being switched over, which
*should* be enough time to move the hardware and get things set
up.  Downtime should be well under a day.

response 473 of 561:

Oct 1 19:07 UTC 1996

Re 470 - Yes, but it won't be a Saturday this time, so we can
call them up and yell when whatever it is goes wrong.  >8)

response 475 of 561:

Oct 2 08:28 UTC 1996

we *could* have them fire up the new place without killing the dungeon
wires. 

response 477 of 561:

Oct 2 16:10 UTC 1996

This whole situation is a credit to the Grex community. Very nice work.
HVCN will take lessons, as usual, from you all. Teaching without a classroom.

response 479 of 561:

Oct 2 17:44 UTC 1996

I don't mind the cost of the paint, it's not that much, but I won't have time
to go buy it.  Pay you back?  Of course, wouldn't mind hsaring costs, things
*are* a bit tight.  Hm, be glad to share the job with another creative 
spirit, too.

response 481 of 561:

Oct 4 02:00 UTC 1996

What time on Monday?  I'd love to help, and will certainly be happy to share
the cost.

response 483 of 561:

Oct 4 20:33 UTC 1996

10:AM?  It's a long project.  TSTY might come help, too.

response 487 of 561:

Oct 6 19:15 UTC 1996

   It would help if I didn't have to read 300 responses at a time
when dealing with Grex's moving. ;-)  Sigh.

   OK: we've signed the contract with Ameritech too, and that was
the last part that we had to do, setup wise.

   We're going to get a Centrex system, and its going to cost us
about the same as the current system we have, but with lots of
advantages with the new system.

   First, we've locked the price of the phons for seven years.
The total monthly bill is going to be $283.55; the installation
charges + Centrex inisitalization ($630 and $200) are going to
be paid by us over a one year period.  Phones cost $17.57 each;
there os $20/mo Centrex account charge added to that.

   We got a price break with going for the seven year contract,
so we'll not have an increae in phone rates for some time.  Next
year, probably by March a "1MB" business phone will go up $8 a
month.  We'll be able to avoid that...

   We also have control over the phones, too.  I'll be taking
an Ameritech course somewhere, that will show me how to call
up an Ameritech computer such that we can change the truck 
hunt ourselves, disable phones, disable outgoing dialing, and
other things, ourselves.  I'm looking forward to that one.

   The only downside here, is that we're looking at about
15 days to get the lines changed over.  When this happens,
Grex is going to be off the air.  For a little while 761-3000
won't even exist, and then a little later it will again, but
as the start of the hunt group for us.  Ameritech *wisely*
decided to let us keep *all* the phone lines we currently
have: at one point I said that I only really wanted 761-3000
kept, but did remind them that all our other numbers would
be rather useless for a long time to come, given that they
are all known.  They thought about it a little, and came to
the conclusion that it would be a Good Thing for us to keep
the numbers.  Also, we have a block of another 20 numbers
reserves for us, for expansion.

   We can add new phone lines under the terms of the current
contract, too.

   Should we move during the contract, no problem.  We'll just
have to pay the standard $42/line install charge and we can move
anywhere within the range of our Central Office.  I'm working
on getting a *map* os that, such that in the future we'll know
exactly what our boundaries are.

   I'm going to be in close range with the Ameritech people
during the switch over.  I've pounded my pager number into a
number of people's heads, along with the statement that they
(Ameritech) have screwed up ever single order except the
first (moving to the Dungeon went OK) one.  I think there might
be some attempt here to try and beat that record on this one.

   There is a 25 pair phone cable coming just to the Pumpkin;
with any luck at all we can get that other end of the cable
activated, such that we have a 25 pair cable installed for us.
That will take some more talking with Ameritech, but I think
it can be done.

   The building is really pretty interesting.  There have to
be 500 lines coming into that building, handling either a
telemarketing or alarm company.

   The exernal ventilation system works; we checked that.  There
is a duct blowing air in at the top, and another that can suck
air out.  I don't know if the top blower motor is strong enough
for us, but I did talk to the landlord, and he said that we could
install a more powerful motor (which he has) if we need to.

   The celing is not false; people can't get into the room by
breaking into another room and crawling over the walls.  I have
seen no signs of water damage anywhere, which I've been looking
for.

   All in all, I'm very pleased with things.

   Given how Ameritech works, I think we'll very likely be down for
a full day, as the changeover won't be as easy as it was moving
to the Dungeon.  I'm going to try and have the changeover done
no later in the week than Thursday, becuase basically I'm planning
on their being some wonderful screwup that causes the install to
not go well.