As part of our monthly profile of each Lunarpages team member, this month we chat with Terri Carver.  She has been working with us for quite some time and receives so many compliments from our clients, we decided it was time to find out more about this dynamic and interesting woman.

So tell us, what is your official job title here at LP?

Terri: JSA III

How did you come to join Lunarpages?

Terri: Aw… I love the story of the day I interviewed with LP! I had responded to a job posting and was invited to the Riverside office for an interview, only the scheduled day for Riverside interviews was Thursday, and Thursday was booked for me. LP’s management team was awesome and found a way to squeeze me in Friday morning, when the CTO would be available for a 10am interview, so I drove to La Habra (LP’s HQ at the time) Friday morning. Wrapping up the interview, I was told decisions would be made the following week and they’d notify me either way. So I left and was probably about 4 blocks away when the phone rang they wanted me to join their team! Exciting not only because I had gained employment, but I had actually left LP’s corporate office *wanting* to be a member of their team.

Fill us in on your day to day tasks.

Terri: A typical day officially begins bright & early 6am at the Corona office. I always start by catching up on updates and new news since my last shift and following up on the previous day’s projects/activities as necessary. Most of the rest of the day I’m assisting Dedicated and VPS customers with anything from answering a single question (“what version of [insert server component here] is running on my server?”)  to helping configure backup solutions, to figuring out why a website isn’t loading or an email isn’t sending, to teaching how to utilize the various tools available to them as Lunarpages account holders, to troubleshooting common (..and not so common..) quirks, an inevitability in any computing environment. I also spend a good deal of time interacting with and assisting other Sysadmins.  We all learn from each other. Daily.

We always see phenomenal feedback about you, especially from our Dedicated clients.  What do you do that makes them so happy with your support?

Terri: Lol… thank you, Amy. That’s a good question. I guess it’s a combination of things. Maybe it’s an ability to express our Sysadmin team’s dedication to our clients’ success toward reaching their goals, and to providing a pleasant hosting experience for them. Much of my success in being able to help clients solve uncommon or unusually difficult matters is because of the awesome team surrounding me. Notably the senior admins (AJ & Josh, this includes you guys!) and the whole remote team. Those guys rock!

Have you worked in any other departments at Lunarpages?

Terri: No

Who is the most fun to work with of all the LP crew?

“Alex makes me laugh every day” I know some at the Corona office have actually heard me say that, lol! Truth is that the entire IT group is fun to work with, and that definitely includes the remote guys!

Do you prefer the company of technology or people?

Terri: Hmm… that would depend on my mood at any given moment, lol. Sometimes nature is preferred over both!

What did you do before Lunarpages?

Terri: I was with Greyhound Lines for about 10 years before moving out west. I worked in their corporate data center in downtown Dallas. Most of my primary responsibilities with them involved disaster recovery, change management and production control.

Do you host any websites with Lunarpages? If yes, what are they?

Terri: Not at the moment, my server is used for testing and learning purposes only right now.

What do you like to do in any other spare time you find?

Terri: On any weekend you’d likely find me working on computer projects for friends and/or family (there’s ALWAYS a to-do list), or sometimes non-tech projects like helping a friend with a home improvement/remodeling  task or maybe odd-jobs for a neighbor. Or I might just be out somewhere hiking :p  I do love outdoor activities! Camping, mountain biking, etc. Or I might be found somewhere playing pool. I also really enjoy doing anything that involves working with wood.

I also love love LOVE football season and have a tendency to spend crazy amounts of time in front of the TV between August and February, and running a fantasy league. We should have a Lunarpages FF league this year! That is IF there is a 2011 NFL season. I guess I may just find out what it’s like to be outdoors on Sundays in the fall :p

If you weren’t working here, where do you think you’d be?

Terri: Hard to say, but I’m sure I’d be doing something IT related.

What do you see as the future of hosting technology in 2011 and beyond?

Terri: Definitely both security and energy efficiency will continue to be big tech trends.  Energy efficient trends include things like solid state technology (less power consumption + less space) and cloud computing & virtualization (less power consumption + less space, among other benefits). Smaller data center footprints are a good thing for our environment AND our bottom lines

And now for some usual LP Fun, what (or who) is your favorite and why…

Phone App?

Terri: lol… my phone isn’t really very smart. It’s only used for phone calls, texting and the gps. Oh and occasionally to take a picture. That’s really all I need it to do.

Cartoon character?

Terri: Scooby-Doo! Can I say the whole Scooby gang?

Movie?

Terri: That’s a tough one! A favorite movie is one that continues to entertain me no matter how many times I’ve seen it. There are several that fall into that category like True Romance, Raising Arizona, Ladyhawke, Blue Velvet, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Serenity (/Firefly), Chicago, Fright Night, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 50 First Dates, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown, The Sticky Fingers of Time, American History X, The 10^th Kingdom… this could go on for a while J

Place to vacation?

Terri: I think I might be living there! Although I certainly have not visited all the places I’d love to visit – for now, I’m just in love with southern California. Deserts, mountains, beaches, forests. I can snorkel, snow ski, ATV in the desert sands, camp on the beach, hike in beautiful national forests and wildlife preserves, right here close to home. What else could a girl want?

Season of the year?

Terri: They all have their own special, lovable qualities. I guess I’d have to say spring, to see everything turning green & coming to life and the wildflowers starting to bloom always puts me in a happy place.

Website?

Terri: A few of my long-standing favorites would include: mtsanjacinto.info, nfl.com, wikipedia.org,  npr.org, mountainbikebill.com, woot.com, oddtodd.com, imdb.com, summitpost.org, and howstuffworks.com.

Video Game?

Terri: Haven’t played any games at all recently, but – Legends of Kesmai – the 2D GUI descendent of a text based MUD from the 80s, Islands of Kesmai.

I played during open beta in the mid 90s until it went live on AOL. Then played again when Kesmai finally launched LOK on their own gaming network, gamestorm. Played there for a few years until EA bought out Kesmai in ’99 and shelved the game completely. I did enjoy playing EA’s new MMORPG at the time, Ultima Online, for about a year, and then sold that account.

I hear LOK has been resurrected in recent years and again has attracted new and old fans alike

If you had one chance to travel back in time, which time period (and in which country) would you want to visit?

Terri: Hmmm… well, I’m fascinated by all things ancient Egyptian. I’d probably choose the time of Hatshepsut’s rule, it was apparently a peaceful and prosperous era.