Author: weed

So John McCain, whom I will now refer to as the “Greater Of Two Evils”, launched an attack ad at Barrack Obama…Huh? Wassat? No, Ms Coulter, I will NOT address him as B. Hussein Osama. Go hang out at Fox News or something…

Anyway, here’s a link to the ad:

***Note to Blog Daddy Barnson( usually, I would put one of those <break> thingies here, but I can never remember the syntax. Can you put that in the bullets below the textarea here so I can be lazy and not have to keep looking it up? Please?***

I know politics are harsh and brutal, with everything in your closet becoming fair play, but comparing your opponent to Britney and Paris? That’s low. That’s mud-slinging in its most evil form. Especially considering the Hiltons are one of McCain’s campaign contributors.

For Obama, this election is really similar to ending up on a blind date with a nymphomaniac. All he has to do is not screw it up, and he’s in. Don’t make premature victory trips to Europe or waffle on your energy plan, and you’ll be President Obama in three short months. The country is so sick of the war, the economy, and Republican stupidity, and when you couple that with McCain’s campaign ineptness, it would take a monumental gaffe for Obama to lose.

Perhaps he should look to SNL for campaign guidance. They got Paris to shoot this rebuttal ad:

If Obama would have made something tongue-in-cheek like this, the conservatives would have made a stink (“I said SHUT UP Ann!!! Back to your rock!”) but it would have been a massive hit with the populace. But like I said before, Obama’s best plan is to do nothing that might jeopardize his sure thing

My $.02 Weed

EDIT by matthew: As requested, try "<!–break–>". Also added this information to the blurb when you submit a blog (at the top, not the bottom).

Matthew,

I have a process on Fedora 8, let’s call it sslexplorer (namely because that’s what it is.) I want to run a cron job every five minutes to make sure it’s running.

I type in crontab -e */5 * * * * “/etc/init.d/sslexplorer start” >/dev/null 2>&1

Is this correct? Are my quotes needed? Should I write a script that queries sslexplorer status and only starts it if it’s stopped?

If so, how much would it cost to have you write such a script for me? I’ll swap names with you on Sam’s baby, so he can name it Matthew Stephen Graber…

Thanks Weed

So we finished the basement recently. One big family room, a gym, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Carpet in all but the bathroom and half the big family room, where we had linoleum and laminate, respectively.

In the family room, we put a kitchenette, replete with granite countertops, refrigerator, sink, cabinets, etc. Everything but a range.

The refrigerator is the catalyst for this post, as it is where we store the extra milk. With three boys 5 and under, we go through gallons of milk quickly. As was the case tonight.

As I went into the basement (which we don’t use much, for all the work we did in it. Summer is spent by the pool), I stepped onto the carpet from the steps, and hear a wonderful “SQUISH”. Uh-oh.

My basement is now #$^&$^*%^*@^$#& FLOODED because my water heater is leaking!!! AIGGHHH-EEEEE-IIIII-AIIIIIII!!!!

So I unplugged everything, turned off the hot water heater breaker, and called the insurance company. The on-call adjuster called, said the local adjuster will be contacting me in the morning.

Now I’m off to video the basement, just in case.

And earlier? My 1.5 year old, Weed Version 2.3, decided to dump a cup of water on ye ole’ laptop. So now I have to take it apart and clean it and hope IT fires back up.

I love H2O.

My $.02 Weed

I really, really hope Matt’s days are like this: http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

My $.02 Weed

Why did our house get picked to be the local Animal Shelter? Seriously, did one of our friends play a trick on us and put a “Drop Unwanted Pets Here” sign outside?

In the past year, we have had:

-> Two cats show up at our house. Not kittens, but people-friendly cats. Luckily, we found a home for them with one of my friends from work. He was real happy with me when one of the cats delivered three weeks later 😉

-> Two more kittens showed up later. We fed them one night, then they never showed up again…

-> A baby pit bull. We found him a home with one of the wifey’s friends

-> And tonight…THREE kittens show up at the door. People-friendly, because while they were skittish around us, they allowed us to pet them.

I admit we live in a wooded area where now that the trees have greened up I can’t see any of my neighbors (and can only see a small glimpse in the winter). But how does that translate into becoming the local SPCA?

We’ll have to see if anyone wants them. Our cat peed on the wife unit the last time she tried to introduce another cat into the equation, so that precludes us keeping it. I know, my wife should suck it up, but hey, I can’t make her cowgirl up 😉

My $.02 Weed

So our company sprung and purchased IT a copy of VMWare Infrastructure Foundation so we can get on the virtualization bandwagon. The VI Server software fairly rocks. Setting it up is a breeze, networking is all virtualized, and setting up virtual servers is a piece of cake.

The idea is to set up a new accounting timesheet server and Exchange test server on the VMWare boxes. The accounting timesheet server will be easy. However, Exchange might be a bear. So I look up the requirements: There must be a Windows 2003 SP1 domain contoller somewhere for Exchange to muck up with it’s schema changes and such.

We have such a server, but it’s in out Dayton, OH office. Everything else is a Windows 2000 DC. Not good to have your Exchange server talking to a remote DC over a DSL link, so the plan is to install a DC here at the local office. Normally that would involve new hardware and software, and you gotta justify it and order it and have it shipped and install it in the rack and hook it up and install the software.

That’s why VMWare rocks. I download the 2008 install iso from Microsoft, create a new virtual machine, configure it to be a 2008 server, virtually attach the CD-Drive to the iso, configure the vm to boot to the iso, and away we go. No hardware, no justifications, just make sure you have a license!

I set up a Server 2008 core vm in a matter of minutes. It’s sweet.

So I wanted to make my new Server 2008 a domain controller. TO do that, you have to run some preparation scripts against your existing Active Directory domain to prepare it to have a Windows 2008 server join. There were some snafus there due to some experimentation with MS Services for Unix and AD4Unix back in the day (note: do NOT extend your AD schema unless you absolutely have to and know what you’re doing), but they were fairly easy to work out.

Another note: I decided to go with Windows Server 2008 core, which is MS’ way of being all Unixsy by neglecting a GUI and making all configuration done via command prompt (although some programs still pop up a dialog box when looking at the help…huh?). So I had to find a reference on the command-line commands to do things like set up the networking, change computer name, join a domain, etc. Luckily, they have this nice thing called the internet with a fancy search interface called Google which finds me anything I could possibly want, provided I know how to ask (and please just ain’t the answer sometimes 😉

So Google enlightened me how to make my spiffy virtual Windows Server 2008 Core machine a domain contoller (hint: DCPromo and an answer file stripped down from an unattend.txt file).

Now to be a domain controller in an Active Directory environment, you must also be a DNS Server. Again, Google was the way and the truth and the light by finding me the OCSetup command, which adds “roles” to a Server 2008 installation. Wanna be a DNS server? BAM! Wanna be a DHCP server? WHAM!

Now here’s where the fun begins. I figured I could continue my command-prompt configuration education, but sometimes life is short and you just wanna use a damn GUI. Microsoft has traditionally offered AdminPaks for the client OS to manage MS server OSes. Google showed me that Microsoft thought RSAT would be a better name (Remote System Administration Tools). Of course, MS also though that it would be awesome to only have the remote admin tools for Server 2008 run on Vista w/SP1.

Luckily, I have me a Vista machine I’m testing out right here to my left. Alas, after downloading the RSATPak, it tells me this update is not for my machine. A lil’ bit or research (log files this time, not Google) tells me my machine doesn’t have SP1 installed.

Since Vista’s SP1 came out ages and eons ago, I wonder why my machine didn’t install it.

The first place to check is our WSUS 3.0 SP1 machine. I look, and it has downloaded Vista’s SP1 (and is even impatiently waiting for me to approve the EULA for XP SP3.) So it’s not the WSUS machine’s fault.

Back to my machine to look at the WindowsUpdate.log file. I find that it seems the updates, and it likes the updates, but some regulation is denying it from downloading the updates.

I swear to GodAllahYahwehBuddahHughHeffner! The error is: Update X us “PerUpdate” regulated and can NOT be downloaded.

So Google came up with some answers to this one, but I though that the first step would be to download Vista SP1 (tardily) and install it, to see if it would help.

Cause then with Vista SP1, I can install the RSAT. So I can be lazy and configure the DNS of my new virtual 2008 core server via a GUI So I can make sure it’s ready to interface with my new Exchange 2007 test server. And I still need to go back and make sure Vista SP1 fixes my Automatic Download problems on Vista…

And this doesn’t take into account the loads of other stuff I need to be doing. The joy of being IT at a small company is that I get to learn all kinds of new things and play with lots of new toys.

The bad thing about being IT at a small company is that I have to learn all kinds of new things across many different technologies. Alongside my computer and network IT duties, I am also Lord and Master of a vintage 1990’s era Nortel Modular ICS system, the alarm system for the building, the card access system, a third-party accounting system based on VB apps written around a COBOL database, and a fleet of new Crackberries used by people who reside at remote offices (and I don’t even have a Crackberry!).

Luckily I have my idiot savant relationship with anything IT, so I can figure it out. I don’t know why I get it, I just get it. KMart sucks…

My $.02 Weed

Have any of you ever read the comics at XKCD?

Hilarious…this one made me laugh out loud:

this one too:

90’s Flowchart

Weed

So I’ve heard that Murphy of MurphyMania has a kick ass AV setup in his house. Well, the time has come to finish my basement, and I could use some suggestions on how to work the AV side of it.

Here’s what I’ll have:

1) Main family room. Will have the home theater in this room as well as a second TV in the kitchenette. 2) Bedroom, want to be able to watch TV 3) Gym, want to watch TY and/or listen to music 4) I also want to be able to throw music outside on the deck.

Now, that’s 4 TVs to add. I have no desire to have to add 4 cable boxes to get video to all 4 of them. That’s where I’d like to know the abilities of the Slingbox. Or Alienware has some cool MediaPC offerings. Do these allow you to take one signal and power 4 different TVs. I know it would work for basic cable, but what about the HD cable you need a box for? If that doesn’t exist, I might as well just split my cable and save money.

I was looking at getting a higher-end receiver to do the audio to 3 rooms, Any suggestions there?

Thanks in advance Weed

Matt, I leave it up to you to censor this if you deem it necessary. I feel it works in the context, but this is your blog and you can play FCC if you see fit.

On no, here she comes, the Drama Queen Bet she says something mean Bet she says something nasty Bet she says something quite obscene I hate the feeling she brings with her Awkward, uncomfortable are words to describe her vibe Lazy and useless just a few more Don’t care to hear about your latest score Don’t want to hear your proud comments About your incompetence Or your latest offence It doesn’t make sense why I have to feel so tense In your presence Just my $.02 Would it be so hard to try a little bit Not throw a little fit, be a little snit When the answer isn’t explicit Give up, throw your hands in the air I’m here to cover your derriere Even though I got work from here to there You’re perfecting your lazziez-faire EVEN THOUGH THE ANSWER IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE! You rub everyone quite the wrong way And your personal life is in disarray And you’re never, ever, ever, ever wrong Even so, we could get along If you just picked up your share Carried your load, but beware If it don’t change, and don’t change soon If you don’t buck up, change your tune That house in the neighborhood you abbhor That car you bought you can’t afford Will be gone, bye-bye, out the door Oops, did I strike a chord? Do you feel floored? Or is this something you’ll just ignore? Like other signs from before Well let me reiterate, underscore The situation you’re spiraling towards Pull your weight, carry your load Or find yourself hitting the road

Some background: I have a co-worker who I’m just a little fed up with right now. Just a little 😉

So I’m kicking Winamp at work today, and CSNY’s “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” comes on. It’s a nice song, with 4 distinct parts and Stephen Still’s distinctive alternate guitar tunings and all*. But in the end, I suffer through the first 8 minutes to get to the end, where Steve kicks some Spanish about Cuba while the others since the infamous refrain/chant/whatever. I don’t really care about the sparrow or Friday evening, but I get geeked for that ending.

Are there other songs out there you suffer through just to get to the end, or certain parts? Or parts you just look forward too? I know most of you have musical ability and know what’s going on in the song much better than I, so you might appreciate the “down” parts of songs more than I.

Here’s a quickly compiled list of songs which fit my bill, starting with the most obvious: 1) Free Bird – Lynrd Skynrd ( a song written just to give the solo a place to live) 2) It’s the End of the World… – REM ( Leonard Bernstein!! ) 3) Good Thing We’re Rapping – Digital Underground (They call it ho’ po’…) 4) Crazy Game Of Poker – OAR (I love my hunny bunny!) 5) In The Air Tonight – Phil Collins ( You know what part) 6) Rocket Queen – G’N’R (I see you standing)

I know that you can have the good parts of songs without having not good parts to contrast against, but some songs I just find myself waiting more than others for the “good part”.

My $.02 Weed

**Like I have any clue about alternate guitar tunings. I read it in Wikipedia! 😉