Home Graffiti About Sitemap Visual DevWork Email Brian GPG Key

GRAFFITI -- January 31, 2005 thru February 06, 2005 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable.     About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.

MONDAY    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
January 31, 2005

0822 - Good morning. A short post from the place of work. I stayed in bed too long to compose a post from home this morning. That's partly because we stayed up watching Pompeii on the Discovery channel last night. Well done, within reasonable limits. In the first hour and a half, they constructed some stories from known historical facts and the remains that were found both in Pompeii and Herculaneum. So, historical fiction was followed by perhaps half an hour of some pretty vulcanologist wandering around Pompeii today, talking about the likelihood of another Plinian eruption (so named after Pliny the Elder, who died in the eruption of Vesuvius, and Pliny the Younger, who documented the event). In such a circumstance, 3.5 million people are at risk. Yowza!

In addition, I chipped the ice off of our driveway and sidewalks yesterday, so I was pretty whacked and decided to bang the snooze-button a few extra times this morning. That meant the morning routine confined itself to shower -> clothes -> car. So, here we are, last day of January, and a Monday. Lovely. Have a great day!

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    TUESDAY    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
February 1, 2005

1133 - Good morning. Another busy start to another busy day. Traffic sucked this morning, after getting home well past 7 last night. I was finishing up an eval box that was picked up between 8 and 9 yesterday evening. It got done, but it made for a long bloody day. THen when I got home, Niven and Pournelle's Burning Tower was waiting for me, so I read that until bedtime. There's little else to report ATM, so I'll leave you to get on with your day. Have a good one.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    WEDNESDAY    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
February 2, 2005

0934 - Hullo. I hate computers. Have a nice day.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    THURSDAY    Fri    Sat    Sun   
February 3, 2005

0652 - Good morning. I still hate computers, but with less vigour, and tinged with a little ... not remorse. Hmmm, a word like that ... remora? No, good thought though. Um, well, tinged with a little humour. Perhaps that's it. After all, when three add-in cards, four 1U server chassis, and 5 sets of disks completely fail to make one working system, it's been a very bad couple of days. However, Adaptec SCSI to the rescue, the box that needed to be built was built, configured, and ready for final checkout before shipping today. ATA RAID is an orphan stepchild, to be avoided like the plague. That's my pronouncement on the topic.

It didn't help that Garcia, the home storage and print server, was in the final throes of death when I got home last night. I'm not sure what is going on. Power supply wasn't it, memory tests good, and now it's been up for nearly 12 hours again. But not much longer. I've rebuilt Rust, the box that houses a Sempron 3100+, into Vroomfondel, the new home print and file server. Running Debian Sid, Bind9, Samba, Cyrus, and Cups, he's rockin' right along. I've more configuration to do to get things where I want them, but progress is. I'll take Garcia, give him the once-over, and repurpose him as an OpenBSD test platform, where he can't do any harm if his hardware goes astable.

It's Marcia's last day at Mercury today. The going-away party was last night, and she got a ride home from Chevy's afterward (a good thing, as she was pretty toasty). However, they sang to her, and gave her the Chevy's hat, so I guess she's in the In-crowd now... Sunday Marcia flies back to California to get her week's work of indoctrination training in at the new firm, Wily Technologies.

Now to work with me, before the clatter of keyboards and fingertips wakes Marcia up. Have a great day!

1216 - And then there's this:

[forwarded]

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on a Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started." So I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, so, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's, a package of Oreos, the remainder of both Prozac and Valium prescriptions, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel. Please pass this on to those you feel are in need of inner peace.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    FRIDAY    Sat    Sun   
February 4, 2005

0915 - Good morning, and Happy Friday to you. Today is Marcia's one day of "unemployment" between gigs. I'm just glad to have made it through the week. The machines definitely held the edge this week, so I'm going to have to rest up and hit the ground running next week to make up lost ground. But the trend is already upwards, so I'm optimistic.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis is going to get stomped for telling the truth. "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." What, you disagree? Okay, that's your right. But why doesn't the General have freedom of speech, you know, part of that Constitution thingy that we pay him to protect? Eeeesh. Besides, how many good soldiers are you going to make out of men that *don't* want to shoot people? Maybe we can send Mattis to Harvard for some sensitivity training? Give me a break.

Okay, back to work. Have a great day ... oh, and check this out, Linux users: Karsten's System Info script.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    SATURDAY    Sun   
February 5, 2005

1652 - Good afternoon. My, where has the day gotten to. Much of yesterday at work was spent auditing machines and transmogrifying the backup systems to provide deeper, more recoverable data with less effort (I'm a huge fan of less effort). Then the evening was spent setting up some things for Jerry Pournelle.

Speaking of Jerry, I'm reading Burning Tower now. I've had it for a few days, and barely gotten into Chapter Two yet, as this week has just been a bear. Speaking well for the series, it's been a long time since I read Burning City, and already I'm dropping back into the story, remembering something of the characters from that first tale. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have some reading time. Last weekend I started and finished Niven's Ringworld's Children. That was a fun read, but too quick. Other books that are recent reads include: Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, it's about physics and string theory, very little math but very well written; David Brin's Kiln People, a good yarn, a detective story wrapped in a science fiction milieu. I also read Psychohistorical Crisis, a much-later tale set in Asimov's Foundation universe, by Donald Kingsbury. All three of those I recommend highly.

You've heard of Red Hat's training and certification programs, right? Did I ever mention that I took their online assessment tests? Yeah, that link requires (as Slashdot sometimes puts it) Soul-Stealing registration. Heh. Here's how I did, cold, without having done a lot of RH admin stuff in the last few years:

Thanks for using Red Hat's pre-assessment system.  The pre-assessments
are designed to help map your existing skill level to the appropriate
course, and ensure that you get the most out of Red Hat training.

Your score(s) were as follows:
RH033 Red Hat Linux Essentials          	46/48	
You have mastered the topics at this skill level.
RH133 Red Hat Linux System Administration	41/48	
You have sufficient knowledge of the topics at this skill level.
RH253 Red Hat Linux Networking And Security Administration	41/48	
You have sufficient knowledge of the topics at this skill level.

I feel pretty good about that. It may not pay to get "certification" for something I already actually know ... but???

Mike Mills recently recommended that I go look at Kanotix, a Knoppix-based live CD distro that rocks harder than the parent, according to this DistroWatch article. I'll admit I haven't taken the time, yet. But I'll put this out here, and look for feedback from y'all.

Oooo! Fun .signature alert:

What appears to be sloppy or meaningless use of words may well be a
completely correct use of words to express sloppy or meaningless ideas.
  -- Anon.

Okay, time to go. We're out for supper tonight, as I put Marcia on another plane to California tomorrow at 0730. Catch you later tomorrow.

Top  /  Email Brian

Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    SUNDAY  
February 6, 2005

1221 - Good morning. Here's the week's cost of operations to our fine service folk, as announced on the DOD website:

• Sgt. Andrew K. Farrar Jr., 31, of Weymouth, Mass., died Jan. 28 due to a non-hostile related incident in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
• Cpl. Timothy A. Knight, 22, of Brooklyn, Ohio, died Jan. 26 when the CH-53E helicopter he was in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq.
• Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Stevens, 26, of Sacramento, Calif. died Jan. 24 in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle overturned.
• Sgt. Michael C. Carlson, 22, of St. Paul, Minn. died Jan. 24 in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle overturned.
• Sgt. Javier Marin Jr., 29, of Mission, Texas died Jan. 24 in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle overturned.
• Spc. Viktar V. Yolkin, 24, of Spring Branch, Texas died Jan. 24 in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle overturned.
• Pfc. Jesus A. Leon-Perez, 20, of Houston, Texas died Jan. 24 in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle overturned.
• Lt. Cmdr Keith E. Taylor, 47, of Irvine, Calif., died Jan. 29, in a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
• Sgt. 1st Class Mickey E. Zaun, 27, of Brooklyn Park, Minn., died Jan. 28 in Mosul, Iraq, from injuries sustained in a collision between two armored vehicles.
• Capt. Orlando A. Bonilla, 27, of Killeen, Texas died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, in a helicopter accident.
• Chief Warrant Officer Charles S. Jones, 34, of Lawtey, Fla. died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, in a helicopter accident.
• Lt. Cmdr. Edward E. Jack, 51, of Detroit, Mich., died Jan. 29, of a non-combat related incident aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard.
• Lance Cpl. Nazario Serrano, 20, of Irving, Texas, died Jan. 30 as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
• Pfc. James H. Miller IV, 22, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died Jan. 30 in Ramadi, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Pfc. Stephen A. Castellano, 21, of Long Beach, Calif., died Jan. 28 in Mosul, Iraq, from a non-combat related injury.
• Sgt. Lindsey T. James, 23, of Urbana, Mo., died Jan. 29 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol.
• Staff Sgt. Jonathan R. Reed, 25, of Opelousas, La. died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device struck a nearby vehicle.
• Spc. Michael S. Evans II, 22, Marrero, La. died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device struck a nearby vehicle.
• Spc. Christopher J. Ramsey, 20, of Batchelor, La. died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device struck a nearby vehicle.
• Lance Cpl. Jason C. Redifer, 19, of Stuarts Draft, Va. died Jan. 31 as a result of hostile action in Babil Province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Harry R. Swain IV, 21, of Cumberland, N.J. died Jan. 31 as a result of hostile action in Babil Province, Iraq.
• Cpl. Christopher E. Zimny, 27, of Cook, Ill. died Jan. 31 as a result of hostile action in Babil Province, Iraq.
• Staff Sgt. Joseph E.Rodriguez, 25 of Las Cruces, N.M., died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device struck his armored vehicle.
• Spc. Lyle W. Rymer II, 24, of Fort Smith, Ark., died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when he was shot by enemy forces.
• Barbara Heald, 60, of Stamford, Conn., died Jan.29 in Baghdad, Iraq, when the Republic National Palace was hit by a mortar round. Ms. Heald was a civilian contractor to the Dept. of the Army.
• Lance Cpl. Sean P. Maher, 19, of Grays Lake, Ill., died Feb. 2 as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
• Spc. Robert T. Hendrickson, 24, from Broken Bow, Okla., died Feb. 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his military vehicle overturned.
• Sgt. Stephen R. Sherman, 27, from Neptune, N.J., died Feb. 3 in Mosul, Iraq, from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Sgt. 1st Class Mark C. Warren, 44, from LaGrande, Ore., died January 31 at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq from non-combat related injuries.
• Sgt. 1st Class Sean M. Cooley, 35, from Ocean Springs, Miss., died February 3 in Northern Babil Province, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

I put Marcia on the plane this morning. So we'll be watching that Tom Brady fellow play football with some other guys on TV later today, on opposite coasts. Also our condolences to Tom, as Aunt Peggy (his grandmother) passed away the other day, at a relatively young (by our genetic lights) 94 years. I hadn't seen it in the news, since I don't really follow sports, but picked up the news when Marcia and I were talking to my mom yesterday. It's not too many grandmothers that get national news notices on their passing, but being grandma to a celebrated quarterback about to see his third Super Bowl in four years makes a difference.

Oh, thanks to Dave Markowitz for pointing me at this Krautboy post of the worst Star Wars fanaticism. I laughed until my leg fell off. Don't give up early. Look at all the pictures, and all the wonderfully insulting captions. If Don Rickles had decided to heckle a SW-Con, he couldn't do any better.

Okay. I'm going to ... um, do something useful with my time. Have a great day, see you next week. Go Patriots!

Top  /  Email Brian

Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week

Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.

All Content Copyright © 1999-2011 Brian P. Bilbrey.


Except where otherwise noted, this site is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.