Ramblings

I just got a call from the apartment complex. They approved my application and have me set to be able to move in some time Friday, but they don’t know an exact time yet. They called about half an hour ago and wanted to talk to my supervisor, apparently to verify my employment. The downside was both Mike and Gary (going up the food chain) were in a meeting in Gary’s office. I stuck my head in and asked them about it and they eagerly had me transfer the call in there. I have no idea what happened after that, nor do I think I want to know. Well, back to work.

I’m officially done with Apt13C … finally. Got checked-out about two hours early. Apparently TC was happy to do it early since it seems that all of his other evening check-outs were already done and he liked the idea of being rid of it all.

It was kind of amusing that my staying in 13C completed my tour of Apt13. That finished up all four parts of the building that I’ve lived in. The Quad is still very empty, although the lounge is full of everyone else’s stuff … stuff that I drug over against my better judgement. I just hope none of the neighborhood kids get the bright idea of stopping by. We have only had one problem like that in the history of the building that we know about. We did, however, stop that kid. I’m only concerned because there are so few people around and the building is permanently unlocked right now since no one knows the door combo. I’ve also rigged many of the interior doors to remain open … just so things aren’t all closed up around me.

I can’t wait to get Frodo up here with me and serving sites again. It’s hard to comprehend just how much I have come to rely upon him. I have always had chase.quad4.org point to the IP for my computer on campus so that I didn’t have to remember an IP address, and with the DNS server down … it sucks.

Once I move off campus things are going to change a bit. I normally use my computer here in the room extensively from work. I store everything here and run several programs remotely. Once the computer is off the network I don’t know what I will do. Maybe I can set up some sort of tunnel to John’s computer or something so I can still access my stuff like it was on the network. IT may not like that though, and working for them would only complicate things if they did discover it and didn’t like it.

I keep forgetting to stop by Physical Plant to pick up another key for work. Supposedly it is for the Data Center … probably so they can stick me in the rotation for server backups. :) The Data Center is interesting, but not for the reasons you probably think. I like to consider myself a bit of a networking guy in addition to a programmer. I actually thought in high school that it might be that direction that my career would go. Alas, it wasn’t … but I don’t regret the direction it has taken me. So the Data Center is what most people would expect; where the servers and hub (meaning “center”, not a reference to switch vs. hub) of a star topology network resides. The interesting part is the mix of equipment present. There are very high end servers, ones that the university obviously paid good money for. Then there are boxes that were home-built and can’t run any faster than about 400MHz.

Obviously the mission-critical servers are the high end ones, but even a few of the home-built boxes provide important services to the campus. Now, to be fair, many of those important services do not need anything special to run on. Some times having a fancy-dancy server can be a hindrance. Now, in addition to the server differences, there is an aditional layer of fun. The campus is slowly transitioning to IP phones. These things are really cool and can help keep costs down. However, we still have analog service to the dorms and many offices … although there are plans in both areas. The funny thing, at least to me, is all the mess of cables in the data center for the analog service … and the neat, clean, efficient server for the IP phones. The disparity can be amusing at times.

Well, I’ve got laundry going and I’m tired. So I’m out of here for now.

Never again! I’m not taking care of your junk ever again. You know who you are. 5000lb boxes that take two people to even move. I moved all my stuff over yesterday, except for some kitchen stuff, in about three hours. I’ve spent four hours already just getting “most” of the rest of your junk into the Quad. Three mini-fridges, three TVs, fifty boxes of varying sizes, shapes, and weights. No more!

On a lighter note, all that is really left to do in the apartment is clean. That alone will be hard, but at least it will be indoors. There is still alot of junk that I was “holding onto” for the summer for others in the attic over there, but I’m not moving it. They can go get it when they get here.

I slept in the Q4 for the first time in what feels like years. Although, I’ve never really enjoyed sleeping in this building when I’m the only one here. It feels … so empty. Ok, it IS empty, but you know what I mean. Every little noise catches my attention, while I would normally ignore them when others are around. Well, I should probably start cleaning up … I check-out at 8:30.

Wow! I got most of my stuff moved over very fast. I still haven’t bothered to bring anything that isn’t mine except for a few very fragile items. I don’t check-out till tomorrow night, so I figure I have plenty of time to get things moved over here. Right now I’m staying in Quad4 room 404, where I was signed up for the fall. David and I have been talking about room layouts to accomidate the couch that we picked up, and I experimented with close to two dozen different layouts once I got in today. However, I really couldn’t find an acceptable layout that wasn’t going to leave up cramped like we were in a cage.

Several of the guys from the Quad start returning mid next week, David included, so I figure major layout decisions can wait a few days … not like I plan on being here too long anyways. I think I am going to go figure something out for dinner now, so I bid you farewell.

Well, today I’m moving from the apartments on campus to the Quad. The move is only temporary, as I plan on moving out of the Quad next weekend. However, I have everyone else’s junk to move, which more than doubles the amount of junk, not to mention weight, that has to go with me. At least this will be the last move for all that stuff. I don’t plan to unpack anything more than the bare essentials, but we’ll see how that goes. OK, I should probably get back to packing …

Today wasn’t so bad after all. I sat through that CMS training session, and was able to offer a bit of help. The group that was attending, four people, really needed the help, but Becky’s teaching style went over real well with them. We had a scheduled Tomcat restart right in the middle of the class, so we were able to explain that it will restart every two hours … on the even hours.

After the seesion I headed back to the office, mainly stalling until lunch (a mere half-an-hour). I did, however, make a phone call over to the apartment complex I’ve been looking at. They said they could let me into a unit like the one I’m interested in, but it hadn’t been cleaned yet since the previous occupant left yesterday. It wasn’t a problem for me and I said I’d be by right around five.

After lunch I contacted the new RD on campus who happens to be what would have been my RD if I were staying. I asked if it was OK for me to check-in for about a week to a week-and-a-half then check-out when I moved off campus. We shot a few emails backs and forth and eventually settled on “Yes”. Ah, very comforting. I was beginning to worry what I would do if he had said no. But it all worked out ok. He asked that I let him know the exact day that I planned on moving out and I told him that I would let him know as soon as I knew a firm date I could move into the apartment. Again, this guy is great, he replied with a “No problem” statement.

So, off to the apartment complex after work. Not the fanciest place in town, but not bad either. The rent is fairly cheap, and for that there are always trade-offs. I dropped in and they were expecting me. After waiting a minute for my guide to show up, off I went towards the apartment. I must say that for 697 square feet, it was planned fairly well. The bedroom and living room are more than large enough for the amount of junk that I have. Overall, I was satisfied enough to decide on that place. I head back tomorrow to apply and all that jazz because they are running a Sat sign-up deal where my “move in” costs are way reduced.

I came back from the complex and went to see the new RD to get my key and check-in form. Since we have to be out of the apartments this weekend, it was time to get the ball rolling. I found him in his office and we chatted for a few minutes about the history of our dorm. He didn’t know why we call it Quad4 instead if the “official” school name of “McKinnley House”. It’s simple … the school waited too long to name the building, so we went with what we had and it stuck. Anyways, I got my key and headed over to the building armed with the code to the front door. Ha! I had two numbers that he had given me to try. He wasn’t sure which one it was. I must have tried twenty-five different combinations and variations before I gave up. Ran back over to his place and tried again … got three new numbers. This time though, he came along because he was worried. The new numbers didn’t work either, so he just unlocked it manually and locked it open.

So, I have my key, have returned the check-in form, and need to move. I really need to pack smart this time since I won’t really be able to unpack for about a week. The things I need must be easily accessible, but that isn’t going to be easy. I suppose it’s better than not having a place to go at all. Tomorrow is another moving day and check-out of this place happens at 8:30 Sun.

I thought I might add a quick entry before I run off and do something really boring. I’ve been on this major reading binge lately. If my website were up right now, I’d simply point you to the page listing my reading list for the summer, but since it isn’t …

I’ve plowed through the entire Dune series. That doesn’t include any of the prequels. I’m working on those now though. I discovered the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. I’ve read the first six of that series, but haven’t read the last one because, well, I don’t have it. Hopefully I can pick it up somewhere soon and finish off the series. I plowed through the entire Space Odyessy series a while back. And last but not least, I’ve read most of the Lord of the Rings stuff again. I haven’t quite finished Return of the King, but I’ll get there.

Just thought that a little “classic” sci-fi/fantasy would be nice. I never got around to reading some of the books that I’ve heard talked about for so long, and I had the time this summer to do it …

Being a ham radio operator myself (KC5MPK), this article, well mostly the comments, made my blood boil:“Hams Complain about Powerline Broadband”

People just don’t get what ham radio is about. Some of them take the same viewpoint we have, but point it at, oh I don’t know … say WiFi. They don’t understand that the hobby is just that, a hobby. It’s more than the simple concept of communicating across the airwaves or into other countries. They think that the Internet makes Hams obsolete. Think again. I read a comment somewhere in there that said that ham radio wasn’t needed in an emergency like it was before the Internet. Their reasoning? That the Internet was designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Are they nuts!?! Sure a few servers might survive, at least those that are properly protected, but what about the thousands and thousands of miles of cable and hundreds of routers, switches, firewalls, and computers. What is the Internet without those? Certainly not a technology capable of doing much after such an attack.

Errrr …. I’ve got to stop or I’ll hurt myself.

I’m sitting in a training class for the CMS that we are using here @ LU. I’m only here for tech support … this group needs it! Nothing really interesting is happening, but that’s how things go with classes like this. Time to go …

Well, we took off about noon to head for Tyler for lunch and a bookstore. We hit up TGI Fridays for lunch, which went well. Of course the usual LU ratio applied even on this trip. There were five guys and one girl, which is bad even for LU. So the waiter wasn’t the fastest or most helpful I’ve encountered, but overall it was fine.

After lunch, which started about two and ended somewhere around two thirty to two fourty five, we headed over to this bookstore called "75% off Books". It turns out that many of the books they had were marked down much more than 75%. I grabbed three books, all of which were marked down atleast 80%. I figured that even if these books aren’t the latest editions, they still have good concepts and general information in them.

I grabbed a book on DNS administration. It’s a bit old as it refers to BIND 8, but there is a ton of information on stuff other than the actual config files and format. I also grabbed a book on Apache 2.0, and again it is already aging a bit, but it does explain the concept behind many of the new features the were implemented. I haven’t really taken the time to figure out Apache 2.x as well as I had 1.3.x, but that was mainly because I haven’t used it much at all. All of my domains are hosted on Apache 1.3.x. I grabbed a third book, mostly because it was only $1, discussing game design. I really don’t plan to do any game programming, but it looked cool and it was cheap.

So we made it back to campus around three thirty and that brings us up to now.