We make ourselves patch our Unix and Linux servers twice a year. Otherwise it just wouldn't happen. It seems to take a long time to get ready to for patching, gathering what needs to be applied, downloading the patches, testing things, doing the patching. Last night I patched the stage servers. Every time we patch and reboot, we seem to find some server that has a problem booting up. Last night, with about 16 stage servers, I had one that developed a fan problem and keeps shutting down, one that took over an hour to boot up because of memory errors, and one that simply would not boot at all.
I was on the phone with HP for quite a while last night, the offline diagnostics were not conclusive about the reason for crashing, they decided to send down a field engineer. This usually takes at least 2 hours for them to get down there, so I went in to try to get the server running. I eventually isolated the problem, and got the server booted up. I sent the online diagnostics to HP, about an hour later they figured out that the system needed a backplane replacement. This is a really big machine, a backplane replacement is a 2 hour minimum task. (It's currently scheduled for Sunday morning since I got the box running.)
None of that would have happened had I not patched. Hopefully all the problems for this patch cycle are taken care of now, and we won't have any problems when we go to patch production on the 21th...
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Restaurant Review
Tonight Tara wanted to go to dinner and some thing at the library. I was really hungry, and agreed to go, although I wasn't too sure about the library thing, I figured at worst, I could bring a book and read it.
We went to La Carreta, which is a local Peruvian restaurant here in town. They used to be in this little hole in the wall, a couple of years ago they built a new bigger place closer to the mall. We hadn't been since they built the new place. The new place is really nice.
The food there is still good, wee both had the plate that's a thin steak, rice, fries, a fried egg, and a fried plantain. I gave my banana to Tara, she gave me her fries. I think she regretted giving me the fries just as I was finishing them up, she got a taste and liked it. I have to say that my food (Item #22 on the menu) was quite good, and after missing lunch, the dinner filled me up.
We went to the library, walked in a few minutes late, and were the only people that had showed up. The 4 librarians that had prepared some book reviews looked excited to have us there and barreled into their presentations. 2 other people showed up about 10 minutes later. I have to say, I don't think I will be reading any of the books they recommended. I took the time during their presentations to act attentive while feeding Adam. I have to say, I think I pulled the act off.
The library had planned to give away book to select attendees, but since there were only 4 of us, we were all selected. There was maybe one book I might consider reading, but not necessarily, so I let Tara pick two books.
Go check out La Carreta. The food was good, the employees were friendly.
We went to La Carreta, which is a local Peruvian restaurant here in town. They used to be in this little hole in the wall, a couple of years ago they built a new bigger place closer to the mall. We hadn't been since they built the new place. The new place is really nice.
The food there is still good, wee both had the plate that's a thin steak, rice, fries, a fried egg, and a fried plantain. I gave my banana to Tara, she gave me her fries. I think she regretted giving me the fries just as I was finishing them up, she got a taste and liked it. I have to say that my food (Item #22 on the menu) was quite good, and after missing lunch, the dinner filled me up.
We went to the library, walked in a few minutes late, and were the only people that had showed up. The 4 librarians that had prepared some book reviews looked excited to have us there and barreled into their presentations. 2 other people showed up about 10 minutes later. I have to say, I don't think I will be reading any of the books they recommended. I took the time during their presentations to act attentive while feeding Adam. I have to say, I think I pulled the act off.
The library had planned to give away book to select attendees, but since there were only 4 of us, we were all selected. There was maybe one book I might consider reading, but not necessarily, so I let Tara pick two books.
Go check out La Carreta. The food was good, the employees were friendly.
Wii Decathalon
Tonight I took back the 3 of the 4 first place entries I was missing in the decathlon by setting world record times in the single sculls, 110m hurdles, and javelin throw. This gives me a nearly a perfect score. I just have the 4x100 meter race to work on. Tara believes I should be disqualified in the competition, that I somehow have an artificial advantage over my competitors.
We'll see what happens when the drug tests come back. I need to start recruiting people to come over and play again, we only have about 5 or 6 weeks left in the competition, still plenty of time to play.
We'll see what happens when the drug tests come back. I need to start recruiting people to come over and play again, we only have about 5 or 6 weeks left in the competition, still plenty of time to play.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Puzzles
Ruth wouldn't go to bed this evening, Tara brought her out to do some puzzles on the hope that Emma would go to sleep. (This didn't work, by the way...) After a few puzzles, I got out a 500 piece puzzle we hadn't done yet thinking maybe Ruth would get bored.
Ruth helped for a little while, then went back to her puzzles. Kate showed up, and helped out until she got tired. After 4 or 5 hours, I finally finished, and found I was missing a piece. I think one of the helpers walked off with one. That's not so bad, but on a puzzle like this, the last hour is a colorblind sieve of Eratosthenes, while I try to figure out where all the blue pieces are supposed to go. It wasn't as bad on this puzzle as it is on some of the ones I have done.
Ruth helped for a little while, then went back to her puzzles. Kate showed up, and helped out until she got tired. After 4 or 5 hours, I finally finished, and found I was missing a piece. I think one of the helpers walked off with one. That's not so bad, but on a puzzle like this, the last hour is a colorblind sieve of Eratosthenes, while I try to figure out where all the blue pieces are supposed to go. It wasn't as bad on this puzzle as it is on some of the ones I have done.
Lilly
When Lily was born, Tara asked that we plant some lillies. We got them this year and planted them in the front of the house. A couple of weeks ago, I nicked one of them with the weed whip. I stuck it in a vase of water, and it finally bloomed today.
We have a bunch of them in front of the house, they should be out in full force fairly sonn. Tara thinks they will eventually take over the entire front area.
We have a bunch of them in front of the house, they should be out in full force fairly sonn. Tara thinks they will eventually take over the entire front area.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
July 4th Festivities
I woke up at 6 this morning to get up to go see the balloon festival with the girls, but the load of clothes I had in the dryer was not quite done, so I restarted the dryer and went back to bed. When I woke up at 8am, it was time to get ready to go to the parade.
It's been a few years since we went to the parade, it is always hot out for the parade, and the thing gets really crowded. Tara was tired, I ended up taking Ruth, Emma, Mary, and Kate over there, the Stake President had saved us a space.
We were going to drive over, but I was thwarted by the footrace that always blocks off our side of town. (I used to try to get doughnuts from the store on July 4th, but always got stuck because of the race.) We ended up turning around and walking to the parade. (It was only a mile.)
The girls liked the parade ok, Mary had a princess float she really liked, Emma really liked the horses, and Ruth went nuts when the giant Curious George balloon went by.
We could have gone to the little festival they have downtown, but everyone was tired. We will have to see if the balloons and festival makes it in our plans for tomorrow.
In the afternoon, I drove the truck over to my office. My office has a large parking lot that is an "anytime" lot, and has a portion with an unrestricted view of the stadium where the fireworks are at. (We usually go to the church up from us, but thought we would try this on for a change.) I parked the truck in the best spot of the lot, there was a spot right next to it that had a tree in the way of it's view. I parked poorly in the hopes that no one would park there and we would be able to drive right up to the truck at night.
When we got there tonight, the spot next to the truck was empty. I just had to straighten the truck out to get the van into the spot. The girls sat in the back of the truck to watch the fireworks. It turned out to be a fantastic view of the fireworks. We were a quarter mile or less away from where they were lighting them off, and they looked huge. Tara figures they are the same size as always, we are just lots closer to them there. We've been that close before, but it was an obstructed view over at the TGI Fridays, you can't see all the fireworks. From where we were, you could see them all. I wanted to take a picture, but forgot the camera, the camera on my cell phone really didn't do it justice. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves. As expected, Ruth thought they were too loud, I put her in the cab of the truck, and she had a good old time.
When they finish our new building, the fantastic view of the fireworks might turn into a spectacular view. We will have to see.
Afterwards, Tara got stuck in traffic coming home. Really stuck. It may not have been worth it to her.
It's been a few years since we went to the parade, it is always hot out for the parade, and the thing gets really crowded. Tara was tired, I ended up taking Ruth, Emma, Mary, and Kate over there, the Stake President had saved us a space.
We were going to drive over, but I was thwarted by the footrace that always blocks off our side of town. (I used to try to get doughnuts from the store on July 4th, but always got stuck because of the race.) We ended up turning around and walking to the parade. (It was only a mile.)
The girls liked the parade ok, Mary had a princess float she really liked, Emma really liked the horses, and Ruth went nuts when the giant Curious George balloon went by.
We could have gone to the little festival they have downtown, but everyone was tired. We will have to see if the balloons and festival makes it in our plans for tomorrow.
In the afternoon, I drove the truck over to my office. My office has a large parking lot that is an "anytime" lot, and has a portion with an unrestricted view of the stadium where the fireworks are at. (We usually go to the church up from us, but thought we would try this on for a change.) I parked the truck in the best spot of the lot, there was a spot right next to it that had a tree in the way of it's view. I parked poorly in the hopes that no one would park there and we would be able to drive right up to the truck at night.
When we got there tonight, the spot next to the truck was empty. I just had to straighten the truck out to get the van into the spot. The girls sat in the back of the truck to watch the fireworks. It turned out to be a fantastic view of the fireworks. We were a quarter mile or less away from where they were lighting them off, and they looked huge. Tara figures they are the same size as always, we are just lots closer to them there. We've been that close before, but it was an obstructed view over at the TGI Fridays, you can't see all the fireworks. From where we were, you could see them all. I wanted to take a picture, but forgot the camera, the camera on my cell phone really didn't do it justice. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves. As expected, Ruth thought they were too loud, I put her in the cab of the truck, and she had a good old time.
When they finish our new building, the fantastic view of the fireworks might turn into a spectacular view. We will have to see.
Afterwards, Tara got stuck in traffic coming home. Really stuck. It may not have been worth it to her.
Wet shoes
My sneakers are soaking wet right now, this afternoon Lily was pouring milk from her bottle into each of the shoes. I washed them in the washing machine, but we didn't think it was such a good idea to dry them in the dryer, so they are currently air drying. I'm not sure what Lily was thinking...
Garden Swing
A couple of days ago, we ordered this garden swing from Sears. It was nearly $200 off. It came in today, I put it up. (Thanks to Tom, who showed up at just the right time to help me carry the box to the back yard.
The swing is over where the old stump used to be on the West side of the yard. It's nice. I know the grass needs water, I am getting around to it...
The swing is over where the old stump used to be on the West side of the yard. It's nice. I know the grass needs water, I am getting around to it...
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Restaurant Review
Last night, Tara and I went to a ballgame with Kirk and Midge, before the game we went to McGrath's Fish House for dinner. Tara got the sampler plate, I got fish tacos.
I thought the fish in the tacos would come out crispy, but it turned out that they baked it in a ton of butter. On top of the fish, they had coleslaw with something else in it. (It may just have been fancy pants coleslaw.) The taco ended up being very buttery and a little bit hard to eat. I don't recommend them. Tara's favorite on the sampler platter was the crab cakes.
I've been to this restaurant before, I have had several different fishes, they were good, but just wasn't impressed with the fish tacos. Back in the day, I used to enjoy the Marionberry pie there, but I couldn't talk Tara into it last night...
I thought the fish in the tacos would come out crispy, but it turned out that they baked it in a ton of butter. On top of the fish, they had coleslaw with something else in it. (It may just have been fancy pants coleslaw.) The taco ended up being very buttery and a little bit hard to eat. I don't recommend them. Tara's favorite on the sampler platter was the crab cakes.
I've been to this restaurant before, I have had several different fishes, they were good, but just wasn't impressed with the fish tacos. Back in the day, I used to enjoy the Marionberry pie there, but I couldn't talk Tara into it last night...
Fireworks
Fireworks are banned in our neighborhood, we are too close to the mountains and it makes the city nervous. We really haven't had a big fire on the mountains near us since the city has banned fireworks over here, so maybe it is working out ok...
Anyway, tonight the kids that live behind us were shooting off fireworks, and one or two of them shot into our yard. I was out there when one came over, the girls back there were saying "Where did it go? Where did it go?", at least until I picked the cartridge up and tossed it back over the fence. It got quiet after that for a few minutes.
After they started firing things off again, I turned the sprinklers on, and turned it up so just a little bit of water would go over the fence. This seems to have gotten the desired response, after a minute or two, a girl poked her head over the fence, saw me standing there, and ducked back down. We didn't hear any more fireworks after that...
Anyway, tonight the kids that live behind us were shooting off fireworks, and one or two of them shot into our yard. I was out there when one came over, the girls back there were saying "Where did it go? Where did it go?", at least until I picked the cartridge up and tossed it back over the fence. It got quiet after that for a few minutes.
After they started firing things off again, I turned the sprinklers on, and turned it up so just a little bit of water would go over the fence. This seems to have gotten the desired response, after a minute or two, a girl poked her head over the fence, saw me standing there, and ducked back down. We didn't hear any more fireworks after that...
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Practicing her alphabet
It looks like Emma ran out of paper this evening. Tara found that she had practiced her letters on her leg, then autographed the work. I think this is especially good work when you consider that it goes quite far up her leg, and she was clearly writing sideways for at least part of the job.
(We waited for her to be asleep, like always, before taking the picture to avoid encouraging her...)
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