Time to go back to that darn Co-lo, I knew I should have brought the drives home last time.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Change
At least it's one I have control of and know I'll be happy with the results. :)
Time to go back to that darn Co-lo, I knew I should have brought the drives home last time.
Time to go back to that darn Co-lo, I knew I should have brought the drives home last time.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Where am I driving home from?
Scene one: Shakey is at his friends house chilling on a Sunday night while on call for work.
Beep Beep Beep!
Shakey: Crap first page of the weekend, I knew I couldn't get off Scott free.
Shakey calls the resolution center to acknowledge the page
Bid's the Vierik's goodnight, heads out to drive hoe and call the customer
Dials phone:
Shakey: Hello is nurse X there?
Customer: This is she, can I help you.
Shakey: Hi I'm Glen with the System Wide Desktop and Network Services department and you called in a P2 about a screen saver that blocking out your stat board. I just want to find out if it runs on a PC at your location or out of the primary data center.
Nurse: I don't know, they logged into it and tired to fix it twice but it still goes on. If a doc needs to push meds or anything critical it's on the board but it's not working.
Shakey: I understand it's important and I want to do everything I can help you get it working again. I'm driving home right not but I'll be home in ten to fifteen minutes where I can look at the issue on a computer and get more background on it.
Nurse: Where are you driving home from?
Shakey: (Scratches head) (Scratches head again) Just from a friends house. (WTF does that have to do with this?) Sigh.......
Nurse: Oh.
Shakey: I'm on call, not at the office.
Nurse: Ooooh. (Sounds snarky)
Shakey: I'll pull up what I can as soon as possible and get this routed properly, but I have a hunch that it's not my system that's doing it.
Nurse: (Sounding less snarky) Ok, it's being doing this for three days and we need to get it fixed.
Shakey: Three days is far too long for something like this, I'll see what I can do to help. If you don't hear from me you should hear from another tech at your site soon. Thanks! Click!
Strange, I've never been asked where I was before while on call. I guess you are supposed to be sitting at home just watching that pager. :)
Beep Beep Beep!
Shakey: Crap first page of the weekend, I knew I couldn't get off Scott free.
Shakey calls the resolution center to acknowledge the page
Bid's the Vierik's goodnight, heads out to drive hoe and call the customer
Dials phone:
Shakey: Hello is nurse X there?
Customer: This is she, can I help you.
Shakey: Hi I'm Glen with the System Wide Desktop and Network Services department and you called in a P2 about a screen saver that blocking out your stat board. I just want to find out if it runs on a PC at your location or out of the primary data center.
Nurse: I don't know, they logged into it and tired to fix it twice but it still goes on. If a doc needs to push meds or anything critical it's on the board but it's not working.
Shakey: I understand it's important and I want to do everything I can help you get it working again. I'm driving home right not but I'll be home in ten to fifteen minutes where I can look at the issue on a computer and get more background on it.
Nurse: Where are you driving home from?
Shakey: (Scratches head) (Scratches head again) Just from a friends house. (WTF does that have to do with this?) Sigh.......
Nurse: Oh.
Shakey: I'm on call, not at the office.
Nurse: Ooooh. (Sounds snarky)
Shakey: I'll pull up what I can as soon as possible and get this routed properly, but I have a hunch that it's not my system that's doing it.
Nurse: (Sounding less snarky) Ok, it's being doing this for three days and we need to get it fixed.
Shakey: Three days is far too long for something like this, I'll see what I can do to help. If you don't hear from me you should hear from another tech at your site soon. Thanks! Click!
Strange, I've never been asked where I was before while on call. I guess you are supposed to be sitting at home just watching that pager. :)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Co-lo's and UFO's?
What a day it's been so far. The first part, relaxing, get some stuff down around the house, shake off the mild hangover from last night, take a nap and plan out what is next after the co-lo visit. Co-lo is short for co-location, it's a data center where my friend Brian keeps his servers for The Linux Fix, a hosting business he runs. The co-lo visit was supposed to be short, like a hour to swap drives, copy data, toss new drives in and rebuild a server. Brian would be doing this himself if he were local to the area and not in California being covered in a smoky shroud from all the forest fires.
So the downtime starts at 3:00, I find the new drives that got shipped to the co-lo and the box feels like it has loose bricks in it. Crap, I know that at least one of these is going to have a problem with the terrible packing job. Next the data copy takes two hours, double crap. Hit a Chinese grocery store while waiting and find some good eats, along with a terrible smell and raw shrimp for sale, uncovered right on the check out counter! Go back to the co-lo, get a call that it's taking forever so I take a nap in the back of my car. While waking up I see a spot floating toward a cloud, strange. Ten minutes later I see another spot floating along in the distance, but this one is reflective. Area 51 or a mylar balloon? My guess, there is a three year old crying that his balloons are gone. :)
The copy is now done, but only one out of three of the new drives work. Triple crap. Next, I didn't mark what drive came from what slot and server. Quadruple crap! Figure out which drive is Slot 0 for each server, cool we are rolling. Bleep bleep, cell phone battery dies. Crap to the eighth power! One array is now rebuilding fine, the other server is however not happy. I arrive home at 7:30, grab my phone charger, toss a spare battery in it and call Brian. His power is flashing on and off now, probably due to the fires that are starting to surround hi town in Northern Cali.
So now I await the call to drive back to Troy, hopefully Brian has power and isn't a crispy piece of bacon. My prayers go out to everyone in Northern California, 40,000 acres just burning away as I type.
So the downtime starts at 3:00, I find the new drives that got shipped to the co-lo and the box feels like it has loose bricks in it. Crap, I know that at least one of these is going to have a problem with the terrible packing job. Next the data copy takes two hours, double crap. Hit a Chinese grocery store while waiting and find some good eats, along with a terrible smell and raw shrimp for sale, uncovered right on the check out counter! Go back to the co-lo, get a call that it's taking forever so I take a nap in the back of my car. While waking up I see a spot floating toward a cloud, strange. Ten minutes later I see another spot floating along in the distance, but this one is reflective. Area 51 or a mylar balloon? My guess, there is a three year old crying that his balloons are gone. :)
The copy is now done, but only one out of three of the new drives work. Triple crap. Next, I didn't mark what drive came from what slot and server. Quadruple crap! Figure out which drive is Slot 0 for each server, cool we are rolling. Bleep bleep, cell phone battery dies. Crap to the eighth power! One array is now rebuilding fine, the other server is however not happy. I arrive home at 7:30, grab my phone charger, toss a spare battery in it and call Brian. His power is flashing on and off now, probably due to the fires that are starting to surround hi town in Northern Cali.
So now I await the call to drive back to Troy, hopefully Brian has power and isn't a crispy piece of bacon. My prayers go out to everyone in Northern California, 40,000 acres just burning away as I type.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Behind
Two major fun events and no posts about them, that will change tomorrow. But for now it's time to pack the commuter bag and get some sleep after a hell of an exciting, fun yet some how still relaxing weekend.
Tomorows post will include a little swim, bike and run action on Belle Isle, elk, 25 miles of rugged single track, various turtles, coyotes, whippoorwills, campfires, new friends, good stories, a 911 call and a early morning downpour. It's been an interesting past couple weekends. :)
Tomorows post will include a little swim, bike and run action on Belle Isle, elk, 25 miles of rugged single track, various turtles, coyotes, whippoorwills, campfires, new friends, good stories, a 911 call and a early morning downpour. It's been an interesting past couple weekends. :)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ready!
For Sunday's Motor City Triathlon on Belle Isle. Today I did a 1400m swim with ease since I didn't ride my bike first. I ran all the way back to the parking lot and got 30 miles in on the bike. Those swims after a 12 mile bike ride were hard as I had used up too much gas, today it just felt natural.
Bring it on!
Bring it on!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Satisfaction
Satisfaction perfectly sums up what I was feeling on my ride home from work today. There I was zipping along the I275 bike path at 19+ MPH watching the same cars drive next to me or fall behind. That's right, today I was beating traffic on the freeway. While on any other day you know they are going to be flying by like I'm standing still, I love moments like this because when people see a bike going faster than they are on the freeway, it may make something click in their heads that it may be worth trying to ride to work. Well that and the fact it's just cool to ride faster than cars on the expressway. :) As a added bonus, I blew away my best commute time ever by over a minute. Next up, a 29 minute commute. :)
Upon arriving home I quickly tossed on the running shorts and shoes and headed out the door for a quick two miles to get at least one brick workout in before my first tri of the season which is on Sunday. You know, I'd probably do a lot better at these things if I ran more, just wish my body would let me do it.
On a sad note, my Zipps are all ready to go, but carbon brake pads are something I was not able to aquire. :( No aero wheels for me at Belle Isle, but I'll still take a high rank in the bike even if I look like an invalid on the run. :)
Two more days to train, a day of rest, then show time!
Upon arriving home I quickly tossed on the running shorts and shoes and headed out the door for a quick two miles to get at least one brick workout in before my first tri of the season which is on Sunday. You know, I'd probably do a lot better at these things if I ran more, just wish my body would let me do it.
On a sad note, my Zipps are all ready to go, but carbon brake pads are something I was not able to aquire. :( No aero wheels for me at Belle Isle, but I'll still take a high rank in the bike even if I look like an invalid on the run. :)
Two more days to train, a day of rest, then show time!
Monday, June 2, 2008
A win and a win!
What a great first race back to the cross country race scene this weekend. Hanson Hills and Fun Promotions were hosting the third race in the MMBA CPS series, since Ali was planing on racing it I figured I may as well show up and block for a team mate or two. Since I wasn't really in the series for points I didn't plan on racing it hard, but that plan changed when we all toed the line.
I took a nice easy spin for 15 minutes or so along with a couple hard pumping sprints for a warm up and then it was off down a quarter mile of two track until we hit the single track and first climb. In my previous season of cross country racing I'd go for the hole shot and just beat myself to a pulp the entire race, it didn't always work and got me lots of second place finishes. This time since I was still not out for blood I decided to let the leaders settle in and battle for a while and get them after a climb or two if I felt up to it.
Soon we were off, I took my place near the back of the pack and just kept the leaders in sight at about 20 mike lengths. Once we were a mile or two in I could see them start to open up a bit, so I started to grind out a little harder to keep them from getting away. I don't even remember passing the first couple guys, but they were behind me now and I was slowly shaving away at the guys in front. I could hear people getting closer and I took a peek back to see the next age group getting close, so I picked off another right after a climb and got on the tail of the final two guys. After another quarter mile I made it past rider #2, but the Flying Rhino in front was not letting me catch him. I was getting closer and closer staying about four to six bikes back just keeping pressure on The pressure finally worked and he slid wide on a sharp right hander and I slipped by. I could hear the fast guys from the next age group approaching so I let a couple by and just worked at getting that purple and white jersey further and further behind me.
For the next two miles I was still breathing hard, my legs were not really burning, but my lungs needed help. Every time I'd look back the purple jersey was getting further into the distance. I was passing the slower guys from the group ahead and every time a guy behind me would approach I'd ask their age before making it easy to pass. Finally I had some reprieve from the Rhino so I could grab my bottle and get some nutrition in my body. I had a lap and a half to go and I knew I needed to start getting the calories in quickly.
The rest of the ride was just trying to pace off the faster older guys and keep any 30 to 34 year olds from sprinting past. I had some fun riding with Tom from Fraiser bike and Chris Torrance from my team. We went back and fourth a couple times, but eventually they wheeled away again. All the focus on hanging with them on lap two let me forget about my carbs and calories and I was starting to crash. I gulped down the last quarter of my Cytomax bottle along with some water and I was perking up again a couple minutes later. I decided to grab my emergency gel and suck down half of it as I had not seen the bridge yet and wanted to keep it going though my whole body was telling my it wanted to be done at this point.
Some time around the bridge I passed Chris again, he was looking pretty rough, this is the only time I've ever been able to hang close to his times.
Finally, the two track lead out to gravity hill, or back to today's new challenge up the back side of the ski hill. While it's rough and bumpy right now, I LOVE this section of trail. I bombed it pretty well, missed the first board walk again, but hit the second and granny geared it to the top of the climb to be rewarded with the most fun finishing chute ever!
Soon my team mate Phil was rolling in after me, he snuck by everyone on his single speed, way to go Phil! I was pretty sure that I had a first or second, but some guys that passed me never gave and age so I was worried. I ignored the results for a while.
A few minutes after I finished Ali came bombing down the last hill into the chute, a first place finish for her! (her write up here)
The final results? First place in my first sport race, and a first for Ali as well. Talk about a nice way to come back to cross country after deciding to hang out in the endurance and tri world for a season.
The second win of the weekend? No more coon! Apparently the light in the crawlspace was the last straw. I have been coon free for four days now and I'm actually sleeping pat 6:00 again. :) It's going to be a good week!
I took a nice easy spin for 15 minutes or so along with a couple hard pumping sprints for a warm up and then it was off down a quarter mile of two track until we hit the single track and first climb. In my previous season of cross country racing I'd go for the hole shot and just beat myself to a pulp the entire race, it didn't always work and got me lots of second place finishes. This time since I was still not out for blood I decided to let the leaders settle in and battle for a while and get them after a climb or two if I felt up to it.
Soon we were off, I took my place near the back of the pack and just kept the leaders in sight at about 20 mike lengths. Once we were a mile or two in I could see them start to open up a bit, so I started to grind out a little harder to keep them from getting away. I don't even remember passing the first couple guys, but they were behind me now and I was slowly shaving away at the guys in front. I could hear people getting closer and I took a peek back to see the next age group getting close, so I picked off another right after a climb and got on the tail of the final two guys. After another quarter mile I made it past rider #2, but the Flying Rhino in front was not letting me catch him. I was getting closer and closer staying about four to six bikes back just keeping pressure on The pressure finally worked and he slid wide on a sharp right hander and I slipped by. I could hear the fast guys from the next age group approaching so I let a couple by and just worked at getting that purple and white jersey further and further behind me.
For the next two miles I was still breathing hard, my legs were not really burning, but my lungs needed help. Every time I'd look back the purple jersey was getting further into the distance. I was passing the slower guys from the group ahead and every time a guy behind me would approach I'd ask their age before making it easy to pass. Finally I had some reprieve from the Rhino so I could grab my bottle and get some nutrition in my body. I had a lap and a half to go and I knew I needed to start getting the calories in quickly.
The rest of the ride was just trying to pace off the faster older guys and keep any 30 to 34 year olds from sprinting past. I had some fun riding with Tom from Fraiser bike and Chris Torrance from my team. We went back and fourth a couple times, but eventually they wheeled away again. All the focus on hanging with them on lap two let me forget about my carbs and calories and I was starting to crash. I gulped down the last quarter of my Cytomax bottle along with some water and I was perking up again a couple minutes later. I decided to grab my emergency gel and suck down half of it as I had not seen the bridge yet and wanted to keep it going though my whole body was telling my it wanted to be done at this point.
Some time around the bridge I passed Chris again, he was looking pretty rough, this is the only time I've ever been able to hang close to his times.
Finally, the two track lead out to gravity hill, or back to today's new challenge up the back side of the ski hill. While it's rough and bumpy right now, I LOVE this section of trail. I bombed it pretty well, missed the first board walk again, but hit the second and granny geared it to the top of the climb to be rewarded with the most fun finishing chute ever!
Soon my team mate Phil was rolling in after me, he snuck by everyone on his single speed, way to go Phil! I was pretty sure that I had a first or second, but some guys that passed me never gave and age so I was worried. I ignored the results for a while.
A few minutes after I finished Ali came bombing down the last hill into the chute, a first place finish for her! (her write up here)
The final results? First place in my first sport race, and a first for Ali as well. Talk about a nice way to come back to cross country after deciding to hang out in the endurance and tri world for a season.
The second win of the weekend? No more coon! Apparently the light in the crawlspace was the last straw. I have been coon free for four days now and I'm actually sleeping pat 6:00 again. :) It's going to be a good week!
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