Author: Karel Kerezman

  • Timeline Of A Debacle, A Situation Report

    Let’s recap the story so far.

    Almost exactly a year ago, pressed for network storage space, we evaluated two solutions. One involved expanding the existing server’s capacity, the other involved putting our faith in new, unproven technology. Naturally we went with the unproven technology.

    July of last year, we suffered the first crash of the Snap! server. Considering it a fluke, we soldiered on blithely.

    Fall of last year, the monthly crashes began. Stress mounted.

    Two months ago, the decision to go with the original “other” plan is reached, and we order the replacement drives only to find that we can’t upgrade the original server without also destroying the operating system partition in the process, thus losing us several days of productivity.

    A month ago, we came up with the final possible option, replacement of the main server. The clever part was that we’d use the drives that couldn’t be safely used in the old server, thus getting our money’s worth out of ’em.

    Today, the new server showed up.

    Guess what? We’re still not out of the woods. You see, we can’t use the drives we purchased for the other server. Turns out, upon investigation, that you have to buy special “Hot Plug” drives for this kind of server. Lovely. That’s just effing wonderful.

    My greatest fear right now is two-fold: One, that someone is going to wake up and realize what a mess I’ve caused and boot my ass out the door; two, that it’s not over yet, and even after we get the new drives in and the machine is running, something else will go horribly awry.

    It’s a gift I have, this knack for calamity. Too bad I haven’t figured out how to turn my talent for disaster to my actual benefit, eh?

  • Monday, Much Like Friday

    Bad news: Just like on Friday, the Snap! server crashed this morning, costing me an entire productive day of work. The symptoms were identical to Friday’s, which were atypical for the monthly crashes we’ve grown used to.

    Of course, when I say “grown used to” I mean “grown increasingly fearful of each and every month, to the point where jaws clench and stomach acids churn and tempers fray like cheap twine.” Or something to that effect.

    Good news: We’ve finally ordered the parts for what will become the new central office server, replacing Tokimi (the Snap! server was named after the “evil” goddess from the Tenchi Muyo OAVs, yes) and Arthur (our current main Netware server, named according to Ben’s “Holy Grail” theme). It’ll only take me three solid days and nights of work to make the transition… if nothing goes wrong.

    Starting either tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll probably be living at the office for a few days. Anybody have a cot I can borrow?

  • Why I read the sites I read.

    There are all sorts of reasons why a person will read any given online journal. Sometimes it’s friendship, sometimes it’s for the topical commentary. A fair number of my favorite sites are such simply because of the chance to read something clever and pleasantly snarky. For instance, Emily recently wrote:

    Then I did some calculations and figured out that my being bitter and angry at the world was probably the result of PMS. That made me madder. I want a better excuse for being pissed off. For example, some confirmation that everyone who isn’t me is actually a moron.

    Sarah shares,

    … and all I’d like to do is vacuum. Really. There is nothing more satisfying than grabbing some overly-loud machine and picking up itty bitty pieces of paper on carpet. … And that would be the janitor in me speaking. Crap.

    The good Captain Rooba warns,

    If you have a girlfriend that is from another culture and has never used a garbage disposal before. Make sure you are very specific about what can go in said garbage disposal. Don’t just say, “food”. “Food” is a very, very vague term.

    If you fail to heed my warning… you may find yourself praying that you can fix a garbage disposal that was used to grind up duck. Not just duck meat… no… the whole duck… bones and all.

    I can’t even properly excerpt the next one, since Doyce‘s entire entry is priceless:

    A swarm of bees attacked and killed a 400-pound llama standing in a pasture.

    That’s it. There doesn’t really have to be much more to the story than that, does there? Hell, the phrase “400-pound llama” is really enough all by itself.

    Try it out. Just say that out loud, really slow.

    “Four hundred pound… llllllllllama.”

    Seriously, just try not to giggle. I bet you can’t do it.

    Throw in “stung to death by bees while standing in a pasture” and you’ve got yourself a mental image that will keep you going for the rest of the day.

    I picture this one ne’er-do-well llama out in a pasture, maybe leaning against a tree having a smoke. He’s looking bored. Suddenly his eyes widen at something he sees off screen.

    The rest of the scene looks like a weird Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Rodney King tape.

    And before this gets completely out of hand, I’ll close with some slang silliness from Karen:

    “I’ll just walk over there and shag her,” he said.

    “Excuse me??? You mean, ‘snag her,’ right?”

    “No, shag. It’s a baseball term. You know, ‘Go out to center field and I’ll shag you a few balls.’”

    “Have you ever seen any of the Austin Powers movies?”

    (Obviously he hadn’t.) I then explained, in the most delicate of terms, what ‘shag’ means in the current pop culture vernacular. I think I may have saved him from a potential lawsuit down the road. And I get extra credit for not laughing at the phrase, “shagging a few balls.”

    You know what? I think I’ve discovered what one of my goals for this site should be.

    Quoteworthiness.

    What do you think? Do I have what it takes? Let’s find out.

  • Past, Present, Future – Round Twelve

    Twelve. A dozen. Which makes me think of eggs. Which makes me think of chickens. Both of which make me hungry…

    PAST: I can’t resist. It’s just too damned easy: which came first, chicken or egg?

    PRESENT: Let’s push this week’s theme to greater levels of absurdity. Are you easily egged on, or are you fundamentally chicken?

    FUTURE: And now for the ultimate in eggcitement. You have the technology. You have financial backing. You have a diabolical plan to improve chickens everywhere… what will you do? And does it involve world conquest? (Hey, can you imagine anything more diabolical than achieving global domination through the use of mutant chickens?)

    Flames, puns, your answers or a link thereto should appear in the comments. (Be nice, folks. It’s been a fowl week for me.) Should you decide to link back, the most-current entry is always at http://greyduck.net/ppf/.

  • So geeky, yet so true.

    Found at Sengoku Jidai, a premiere InuYasha fansite:

    ‘Women are like Voltron- the more you can hook up the better it gets’

    Yes, as a matter of fact that is going directly into my taglines file.

  • Wish-fulfillment Ain’t Cheap

    Hear ye, hear ye. My Amazon Dot Com Wishlist has been expanded and edited. That will be all.

    What, you wanted a real journal entry? Believe me, there’s been nothing worth writing about today. And the PPF won’t be available until midnight…