Blah Blah Blah Lunch

Went to a luncheon hosted by LPS and presented by Symantec. The Symantec guy was a truly, utterly horrible presenter. I can't believe they chose him to be the face of their company. We already own the product he was shilling so basically just went for swag and free food, and it's a good thing too. I seriously doubt he won anybody there over. However the award for worst attendee goes to "guy that brought his wife and screaming baby to a professional presentation." Congratulations.

Slick Shirts

From my folks, reflecting a donation in the Greer family name to the conservation efforts.

The Classics

Water, pizza, a good book.

Having A Breakdown

IT isn't all fame and glory, someone has to clean up the styrofoam inserts and cardboard boxes when the install is through.

Spaghetti

And now we run cables. Lots and lots and lots of cables. While trying to keep them as neat as possible. Ah, the magic of Velcro. Time consuming but worth it later.

Soft Serve

Today's task, installation of servers and switches.

SANsational

 

This is what the first day spent working on the SAN install project gets you.

A Three Hour Tour

 

 This is what a three hour SAN install project kick off meeting gets you.

Dad's Day

Here's to all fathers of all kinds. Love to my "kids" of both the human and puppy persuasion, and my Dad.

Cheap And Easy

Trying out DDO online, mostly because it's now free to play. Of course if they hook you they have a whole store of things you can buy for real money. But unlike most free-to-plays, there isn't a lot of pay-restricted content. I also like that, unlike any other MMO I've seen, you can choose a difficulty level so if you're just looking to have a little casual fun, there's less frustration.

Nice Rack

Most of today was spent moving heavy racks to different buildings in the intense heat. Not fun. At least I still got to take a break in the middle and have a nice La Ha lunch with Brent, Julie, Elizabeth, and Amanda. Got me through the day.

Old Brick Walls Are Photogenic

Especially in sepia.

Disc O' Music

The DRM Demolition Project goes on. Media Monkey was not able to covert the DRM'd files as I had hoped so it's going to have be the old school solution. Burn them to a CD, then covert them back.

The Budding System

Sandis has a friend now, Marleau. Yes, we name our plants.

Hot Under The Collar

Sucky weekend aside from the 1,00th post and the ensuing congratulatory call from the President (OK, maybe not.) Spent mid-Saturday doing an IP swap on two servers then trouble shooting a third. A power supply went out on a key server around 10pm that night, so I had to drive back downtown and work on that until 1 in the morning or so. Then the air conditioner started acting up so we had to shut it off. Then waited all day today until the tech finally made it out to us after 10 in the evening. I couldn't be annoyed at the poor guy though, he'd been crawling around people's burning attics all day and you could tell he was exhausted. Anyway the AC turned out to be OK thankfully, because we sure couldn't afford a major fix there, however the vent fan that sucks the hot air out of our attic had seized up. We'll see how much that'll cost tomorrow when he can get a parts estimate. Bleh.

1000

My 1,000th post. Commemorated by art from Mari.

Better Than A Walmart Greeter

Given out on Friday to anyone who worked in a business downtown, government or not.

Go Go Gadget

Gratuitous gizmo graphic.

Under Cover

Protection for Mr. Kindle arrived today. Beyond Mark Twain's stern gaze that is.

More Country For Old Men

...and others of various ages and genders. The line runs around the block as CMA Fest once again descends on Nashville.

Sky

Awesome picture of the day, an F-15 guarding the sky for Atlantis' recent launch. Stolen from Bad Astronomy.

Keep This Under Your Hat

Finally got around to putting the suitcase away and found these still in it, purchased at the scene of the crime to protect us from the sun. Figured I should commemorate them now, because they most likely will never see the outside of the closet again.

La Ha Dos

Dinner at Dos Margaritas. It doesn't have the ambiance of La Hacienda, but the food is really good.

Rekindling

What I am told is my early Father's Day gift, my very own Kindle. Been wanting one of these for a very long time. Of course I kind of ruined the moment, I downloaded one book then immediately spent the rest of the evening researching how to convert the Kindle's proprietary, DRM laden .azw files to DRM free and device neutral .mobi files. Mission accomplished. I want to own my books, not just rent them.

I Wish I Could Quit You

I've never been thrilled with iTunes. They charge more than 99 cents for most new songs now. They use their proprietary format. They use DRM. Unfortunately the iPod was really the only game in town back in the day. Today I'd get a Zune HD, but why bother? My Droid does everything a Zune can do and more. So I have officially started a project to wean myself off iTunes. Step one, use MediaMonkey to convert all my iTunes songs to equal fidelity MP3s, whilst stripping them of DRM. Also use MediaMonkey to imbed album art so I can still see it on my Droid. Step 2, download the just released PC/Android app doubleTwist, which is supposed to sync your library just like iTunes and links into the Amazon MP3 store. It also does pictures, movies, and lets you browse the Android Market from your computer. doubleTwist is in Beta right now so I'm not expecting this to be painless, but down with the oppressors! Or something like that.

All Your Biscuits Are Belong To Us

I wasn't going to do another dog post (this week) but the unintentional cyborg effect must be preserved.

Hallway Home

The pups are home and all is well.