Archive for May, 2011

19 May

The Move Is Finally Finished

Posted by Douglas in Hardware. Tagged: , , , , .

Approximately eleven months ago we shut down operations in the old building at work and moved to a new facility. The biggest part of the move (for the IT Office) was relocating all of our servers. We had to schedule a significant maintenance window, shut down all of the servers, unbolt them from the old racks, move them across the county and install them in the new server room.

The first part of the move was the smoothest. On the other side we had to battle power issues, cabling issues, uncooperative backbone switches, a dead phone system and lots of co-workers who needed help getting set up. The new server racks weren’t deep enough for our rail systems and used incompatible screws from the old racks. Throw all of that into a pot, add boiling water and you’ll get a very long weekend implementation.

So in this situation what would any self respecting IT guy do? They would stack the servers in the floor, run cables everywhere and get the websites and e-mail back online!

Servers stacked beside the racks.

It looks like our server room exploded!

Fast forward eleven months and three abortive attempts to clean up the server room. I finally scheduled another maintenance window that we could deliver on. We have reduced our hardware footprint somewhat with server virtualization and e-mail system consolidation in the intervening months. My friend David Wehrle stopped by on a Saturday to help me break everything down and bolt it into the racks. Fortunately the rail adapters and new screws all worked well from the start. Remembering to bring my electric screwdriver with freshly charged batteries wound up being a big advantage over the initial moving weekend. I didn’t care for the four post racks that startedwarping once w added servers, making successive servers harder to mount. If I could go back and do it all over I would have probably purchased racks that had more substantial support around the four posts. Ah well, live and learn. After several hours of work we finally had everything squared away!

Now we can actually walk around behind the servers!

Who knew there was this much storage space?

David Reid, our systems administrator, helped me clean up the mess after we finished mounting the servers. We were sweeping up construction debris that had been there from when we moved in! Without the help of the two Davids this project would not have been completed. I really appreciate their help. It’s nice to finally have everything unpacked from the move, even if it was almost a year later!

18 May

Am I Really Worse Than A Software Pirate?

Posted by Douglas in Software, Video Games. Tagged: , , , , .

I found out today that I am worse than a software pirate:

“For us it’s probably a no-lose even with piracy as it is,” shrugged West. “But, as I say, second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days.”

Most of today’s key video game outlets – Game, HMV, Amazon – and even some supermarkets (Tesco) buy and then resell used games from customers. Game publishers have developed a number of initiatives to counter-attack this, the most popular being EA’s Online Pass, which bundles a free code with new games that can be redeemed to enable multiplayer or receive downloadable content. Whoever buys the game second hand won’t get a free code, which means they’ll have to buy a replica online for around $10.

Why do game publishers and developers not like second-hand game sales? Because they don’t get any money for the transaction – the shop reaps all the rewards.

I must be the worst video game customer they have. I remember playing my first video games on an Atari 2600 A LONG time ago. I’ve owned virtually all of the Nintendo, Playstation and X-Box systems that have been created. You could call me an old school gamer. When I am playing multiplayer games online I have to remember that I’ve been playing games longer than some of my opponents have been alive (so why are they so much better than me?). I am passing the tradition to my children with our Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS systems. They play the Nintendo games while I keep the X-Box 360 for myself.

This habit can get to be expensive, considering how long I have been buying video games. When I got out of college, found a job and started paying for these systems and games myself I realized just how expensive it could be. I decided then to stop chasing the latest and greatest video game. I wait now for the prices to drop significantly in the used market before I buy a title (except for Gears of War 2 and 3 – I’ve gotta have those now!).

This keeps me significantly behind the curve for new video games. I don’t mind so much when I’m paying a lot less for the game than others do. I keep all of the games that I buy after I have finished playing them. When the next X-Box or Nintendo system comes out I have plenty of hardware to trade for a system upgrade and a few games. Then the clock starts again on buying new games. When I am fortunate enough to receive a Christmas bonus from work I take advantage of the holiday deals and buy enough games to last me for most of the next year. With a full time job, a loving wife and three kids, a fierce Geocaching habit and a strenuous work out schedule I don’t have the time to keep up with the pace of video game development.

When a hot new title hits the market and comes back used a few days later the used price isn’t that much different from the new price. When there is a five dollar difference I go ahead and buy the new game (if I truly can’t wait for the price to come down). The extra few dollars buys me an unblemished copy with no scratches. Have you ever seen how scratched up a used game can become? Of course, the developers don’t see any of the dollars from a resale but they have already made their money on the initial sale of that product. You can be sure that the person that brings the game back takes a heavy loss on the trade in value. I know I have at times.

I bet I am more typical than you would think. All of the kids that played Atari with me are surely still gamers now, right? To call us worse than software pirates is nothing short of insulting. I almost felt bad for Lionhead (almost) until I read this:

Fortunately, Lionhead has already managed to cover development costs with first-hand Xbox 360 sales, which are “in their millions”.

Wait a minute, you have already covered your development costs and have turned a tidy profit? Why are you complaining about this? When I studied economics in college we called this rent seeking behavior. As such, it should be dismissed out of hand. To the developers I say “meh, I will continue buying your games used.” Create something as good as Gears of War 2 and 3 and I will buy it at the midnight release party. Otherwise, please take  your profits, shelve the atrocious behavior and get busy developing the next profitable title.

17 May

It Could Be Worse

Posted by Douglas in Church. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Today I had the opportunity to visit our Disaster Recovery warehouse in Rosewood. The purpose of my visit was to scout the computer equipment stored there and perform a quick inventory. I was meeting a co-worker who was performing a similar function so that we could discuss the equipment together. After finishing up I noticed that everyone was gathered in the back chatting with a man who had driven up in a dump truck pulling a big trailer. I walked up to say hello and finish up my trip. This is the story that I heard:

Mr. Jones (name changed to protect the innocent) owned his own construction business. One day his son stopped by for a visit. As he (the son) stepped out of his car he saw a large tornado coming towards the house. He ran towards the house to warn his parents to take shelter. The tornado was moving so fast that, unfortunately, the house collapsed as he was trying to enter. The roof of the house landed on Mr. Jones’ son, breaking his neck. Mr. Jones and his wife were upstairs at the time and were standing at the top of the stairs when the roof was ripped off. They stood together while they watched nearly everything in the house get sucked out of the hole ripped in the roof. Somehow, they weren’t moved from their spot (or injured). After the tornado passed Mr. Jones ran downstairs to find his son pinned underneath the debris. He picked up the section of roof while his son was pulled out. His face was blue and they were convinced he was dead. Help quickly arrived to resuscitate his son and he is recovering now. Mr. Jones lost everything in his house and nearby business. Nearly all of the heavy construction equipment he owned was destroyed. A heavy lifting crane was picked up and thrown hundreds of feet like it was a piece of discarded trash. The dump truck that he drove up in was blown over on its side. It had to be righted before he could drive it to the warehouse, looking for any spare building materials. He needed them to help rebuild his shattered life. Mr. Jones’ daughter is on a list waiting for a heart transplant. His mother died a few weeks after the tornado. He has no insurance.

Thank you, Jesus, for the ability to offer him some critically needed building supplies. Thank you for the smile that it brought to his face. Thank you for being with him during this time of tremendous suffering. Thank you for the people of The United Methodist Church who helped provide the assistance he so desperately needed. Thank you for my friend, Steve Taylor, who is always there without fail when someone needs him. Thank you for protecting my family from our own tornado. Please forgive me for not doing more to help during this desperate hour. There are families all over North Carolina whose lives were shattered by this violent storm. Until now all I have done is driven by and felt sorry for them. That changes today.

I hope everyone who reads this story will donate to this worthy cause like I just did. The money is desperately needed. I think we could all sacrifice something to help these people that have had their lives literally blown apart in a single day. Please consider helping, no matter how small the gift may be. I believe Jesus would appreciate your help. I know my friend Steve and I sure would.

10 May

Race of Grace

Posted by Douglas in Church, Exercising. Tagged: , , , , , .

At work we are all wearing pedometers this year and competing to see who can get the most steps. I’ve only ever really exercised in fits and starts before so getting up and moving doesn’t really come naturally to me. I figured it would help me gain more steps if I actually got off the couch and started doing something. I had also been watching my wife work really hard in boot camp classes and a daily walk/jog with her friends. In short, it was time for me to start moving. I started up an exercise program back in late January. At first it was tough to get motivated but I soon started jogging and walking almost every weekday. After a few months of jogging I had built myself up to a five mile jog.

One of the ministries that I hear a lot about at work is the Race of Grace and I knew that the 5k race was coming up soon. I checked the website and found out that it was in the next four days! I’m in pretty good decent shape so after talking about it with my wife I decided to go for it! There wasn’t much time to train but with the last few months of jogging I was as ready as I’d ever be. I decided to rest up my legs for a few days before the start of the race. That turned out to be an excellent decision.

Can we really trust Windows for something this important?

This was my first real race so I was a bit nervous. I was used to running 5.25 miles or so at home so I figured this would be no problem. Turns out it was a bit harder than I had planned for. I ran a much faster pace for a lot farther. The hills were a lot bigger too! I survived the race though in fine fashion. My family was waiting for me at the finish line to cheer me on the last few hundred feet. I think they were more excited than I was!

My official time came in at 32:09. That’s by far the best time I have run in the four (now five) months I have been exercising. It really was a lot of fun to go out and run with a big group of people. The water stations and live music along the race route was a particularly nice touch. It was obvious that this was a painstakingly planned and organized event.

Official Time For The Race of Grace

The end of the event was the best part. My daughters held up a sign and cheered me on for the last few hundred feet. I could see them jumping up and down with excitement from a distance. It really helped motivate me to finish up a difficult race. I can’t wait for the next one!

Go Daddy Go!

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