Monthly Archives: July 2009

SysAdmin Day, 2009

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SysAdminDay

It’s the 10th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. My company is taking us to lunch tomorrow at Famous Dave’s, who is celebrating their 15th year of Smokin’ Hot Ribs & Ice Cold Beer. My company is nice like that.

Unfortunately, this being a lunch and all, the Smokin’ Hot Ribs will have to suffice for tomorrow’s event. My company is also pretty savvy; with our current crew, they realize the cost savings of ribs over beer.

Still, I’m looking forward to an afternoon of in-cubicle loginess tomorrow afternoon. Pork Fat Rules!

-k-

Runaway Mule

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One of my co-workers1 is evidently on his annual two-week sabbatical to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. I say this, based on a careful analysis of my server access logs and my Sitemeter reports2, which reveal a sharp downturn in accesses from his home 20, and an elevation in hits from around the OBX.

And I hope he has a blast. My only regret was that I didn’t get in my order for him to mule me back some Pigmans Bar-B-Que sauce. MLB just checked the larder, and we’re well-stocked. While the Pigman’s online store still consists of a call us for orders page, we can still keep our sauce supply intact.

So everything is right with the world. When my boss arrives back one week hence, I need to put on my Chief Morale Officer hat, and welcome him back in the proper manner.

-k-

1 My boss, actually. Bosses who are actually co-workers are rare; if you are so fortunate to be in such a situation, be thankful.

2 This analysis takes about a minute a day; having a low/no traffic site like this place makes analysis easy. I prefer to think that I take a deep, personal interest in my readers; they are, after all, a discerning lot, with impeccable taste in blogs.

Memorable Potables, #1098234

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A co-worker dropped a couple of bottles of Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout by my cube a couple of weeks ago. This is a stout, aged for 60 days in Jefferson Reserve Bourbon barrels. I’d waxed semi-poetic about Jefferson Reserve small batch bourbon previously. Based on my fondness for the bourbon, my co-worker suggested I try out the stout.

Firstly, I am not a beer snob by any means. The industrial, US big name beers, cold and within reach, have brought much joy to watching sporting events, grilling food, and listening to country music.

Secondly, I rarely drink stouts. When I’m in the proper frame of mind, I’ve been known to enjoy some of the finer products of the brewer’s art.

So, last night being steak night and all, I opened the first bottle, and carefully poured the dark nectar into a pint glass1 to enjoy a pre-dinner libation. And what a treat. The bitterness and heaviness I’d previously associated with stouts was nowhere in evidence. While more robust than the common lagers I’ve been knocking back for decades, this stuff was creamy and aromatic. The hint of the bourbon was unmistakeable, and there was a subtle hint of chocolate in the finish. MLB had a little sip and pronounced it to be primo.

I wouldn’t kill a twelver of this watching NASCAR races, but man, for pure enjoyment, it was excellent. One reason one doesn’t swill this is that it has ABV 8%. Stout, indeed. It needs to be savored at the proper time, and in the proper manner.

It’s hard to find around here, apparently. But, in case my coworker makes any more excursions in search of it, I’ll have a few bucks to pay him for whatever he’s willing to mule back for me.

Oh, and I slept like a baby last night. ABV 8% has its advantages.

-k-

1 Said glass being etched with the Red Hat Shadowman logo added a nice touch.

Higher calibre

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calibre, the real deal in e-book management software, has been updated to version 0.6.0. In addition to support for the Kindle DX, there are numerous other enhancements, as detailed in the changelog.

Before you can explore the new shininess, you must build calibre. I’m running Fedora 11 currently; the instructions I posted here still pretty much apply.. A couple of nuances:

To get full PDF functionality, PoDoFo must be installed. These can be had from the Fedora 11 repository, just yum install them:

  1. podofo-libs-0.7.0-2.fc11.i586
  2. podofo-0.7.0-2.fc11.i586
  3. podofo-devel-0.7.0-2.fc11.i586

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I think only the podofo-devel is a calibre requirement. The versions available from Fedora 11 were sufficiently current for calibre’s needs.

Next, you’ll need some later versions of sip, PyQt, and qt4; these are sufficiently current, and are available from the Fedora Rawhide repo:

  1. sip-4.8.1-1.fc12.i586
  2. sip-devel-4.8.1-1.fc12.i586
  3. qt-4.5.2-3.fc12.i586
  4. qt-x11-4.5.2-3.fc12.i586
  5. qt-devel-4.5.2-3.fc12.i586
  6. phonon-backend-xine-4.3.1-11.fc12.i586
  7. PyQt4-4.5.2-1.fc12.i586
  8. PyQt4-devel-4.5.2-1.fc12.i586

Now, calibre should build and install, on F11 anyhow.

I haven’t had time to explore the shiny newness yet; more details to follow, as the quest begins.

-k-

, ,

Point and Drool

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I’ve just spent a little time in the Fedora IRC channel. Someone there was asking about tools for managing large numbers of systems; some type of dead simple system, which would require minimal configuration and maintenance, and would also naturally come equipped with a webified interface.

One of the chat participants then offered this piece of sage advice:

I think “point and drool” by “junior admins” and good systems management practices are mutually exclusive.

Indeed. I must use that line in $DAYJOB at my earliest opportunity. Maybe even on Monday.

-k-

Truckzilla

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A truck, and truck is an understatement, has left Norfolk VA, enroute to Martinsville VA. A big deal? Yep, here’s a link to the picture1. These trucks are delivering a forging press to the RTI Manufacturing Company facilities outside Martinsville. Three trips will be required to deliver the whole press.

According to this article from the Henry County Economic Development Commission:

The tractor-trailers are 225 feet long and 16 feet, 5 inches wide, according to Heath and VDOT. They are about the size of three normal tractor-trailers and have a combined gross weight of up to 551,000 pounds, they said.

Man, that’s 2/3 football field length. It’s also very good news for the Martinsville community, a beautiful area which has taken its share of economic lumps, most of which predate the recent general economic upheaval. RTI Manufacturing will employ around 150 at the Martinsville facility. This is great news for a part of Virginia that I really love.

Still, I’m glad I’m not stuck in traffic behind that truck.

-k-

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1 Not sure how long the link will last, being from a newspaper and all.

When you have nothing to say, you upgrade

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My blogging output is sagging a bit, partially because of the required filing of a daily status report at $DAYJOB. The requirements were to submit it via either:

  1. Microsoft Word1
  2. email2

Instead, I submit mine via TicklerWiki, outfitted with a snapshot plugin. I take the daily report, export it from the wiki to HTML, and forward that via e-mail to the Status Report Overlords. The wiki is semi bloglike input-wise, and some of my best writing and pathos has been spent there over the last few days. I wish I could share some of the pithier commentary, but that would violate even the loosest blogging Rules of the Road, and consists mainly of insider stuff anyhow.

So, in order to have something to say, I upgraded tbbs to WordPress 2.8.1 tonight. No pain, no strain. And another successful upgrade post, masquerading as content.

Thanks, WordPress!

-k-

1 Unthinkable, for me.

2 Microsoft Exchange sucks only slightly less than Word.

Appealing

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I’ve documented MLB’s recent frightening, successful surgery. The recap can mostly be found in this tbbs archive link. MLB and I aren’t ones to either grouse about our ailments, nor to recount the details of our medical history to the world, but it’s mainly all there anyhow.

My employer-provided Blue Cross/Blue Shield has come up shining in terms of coverage; hospital bills1 have been settled, the miscellaneous charges for pharmacies, specialists, et.al., have all been settled and paid in full. Net cost to us: $0.00.

Until last Thursday. The BCBS settlement for the surgeon arrived, a tad north of $14K. Attached was a check, for around $1500.00, which the surgeon gets. MLB will deliver that check tomorrow. BCBS codes indicated that the charges presented were over their allowed amount for the procedure. Bottom line is, that we are potentially on the hook for around $12K for the surgeon’s services.

MLB called BCBS earlier today, and explained the situation. The BCBS lady was helpful, and explained how we file an appeal on a claim. We’ve drafted the appeal letter, and those papers go out via snail-mail2 tomorrow. My employer’s HR was very helpful; I’ve filled them in on the details; to the extent they can, they offered their support in getting this claim paid.

We can pay the $12K or so, if that’s how it sugars off3. I wanted to get this on the record, though. And for the record:

  1. Repairing a duodenal rupture is not elective surgery.
  2. Under emergency conditions, treatment for the above affliction can not be shopped around.
  3. Probably, the treatment for the affliction would not arise in other than an emergency condition.

I’m not railing at my employer, BCBS, Reston Hospital, nor the surgeon. I’m simply documenting. While I’m documenting, I pointed out to MLB that the surgeon’s fees were enough for two funerals.4 . I then quickly mentioned that if we wind up owing the $12K, we’ll pay it. And be thankful we can.

I’ll keep y’all posted.

-k-

1 To the tune of nearly $45K

2 Tough to imagine, eh?

3 That would jam up a few projects; we’ll deal with that.

4 My gallows humor stays with me at all times