Posts from — September 2005

I returned to work this morning after a full week off. It’s been over 2 years since I have been gone that long. Usually we take long weekends here and there but never a full week. I really needed to get away to decompress and the time off did me a lot of good.

I stayed around the house all week and had a long list of things I wanted to get done. I finished my home-built computer, watched a ton of movies, washed the cars and basically piddled around doing a lot of nothing. It was a very relaxing, lazy week for me and I loved it.

But after 5 minutes back into work this morning, it was like I never left. People were waiting at my desk as I walked in. I literally had 15 users with life or death issues that needed help immediately. It’s nice to feel needed but SHEESH.

The worse part is I didn’t get to read the paper, have coffee or take my morning nap. Aren’t there union rules about this kind of treatment? Ha.

Maybe I could start doing yoga or something to de-stress after work. Remind me to ask my therapist at my appointment tomorrow.

The parts for my new computer should arrive tomorrow. I’ll have it up and running in no time. This unit will be used to replace the mp3/backup/file server I use on the home network.

We’re moving to Active Directory at work so I decided to use Windows Server 2003 to run the operation at home. I’m more of a Novell guy and it will be good to learn all I can about AD at work and soon, while I am at home.

Here are the specs of the new system:

Raidmax Mustang ATX 420W case
received good ratings, plenty of power and 3 fans to keep it cool.
Asus K8V-X motherboard
Uses the 734 chipset for Athlon processors. Not top-of-the-line but perfect for what I need.
AMD Sempron 3000+ processor
My first Athlon chip, wish me luck.
512MB Kingston PC 3200 RAM
got the cheapest I could find.

I’ll reuse the CD/DVD player, two hard drives (300GB total) and monitor from the old computer in the new one. This kept the costs down considerably so it was easy to clear the expense with the boss.

Now I’ll have an old Dell 8100 desktop that will probably get stuck in a corner in the basement. Computers are pretty much disposable nowadays and if you get 4-5 years out of them, I think you’re doing well. I should just recycle and get rid of it. But that’s hard, they’re like my children and hard to give up.

Yes, I do need to get out more.

After watching the horrible events with the hurricane for the past week, I have a few thoughts:

Why did it take so long for federal aid to arrive on the scene of the disaster? In an interview with the mayor of New Orleans, he said help did not come for 48 hours or more. “Now get off your asses and do something, and let’s fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.” said Nagin.

The president should have cut another one of his vacations shorter to deal with the mess. Bush should have immediately assigned a cabinet level officer to take charge and help all the victims with an immediate response, using all the resources of the entire country - whatever it takes. He should have called a “Code 12.”

The storm exposed a huge flaw in the federal disaster response system put in place after the 911 attacks. After tens of billions of dollars to implement this plan, it fell tragically short of actually helping these hurricane victims in a timely manner. First the storm’s intensity wasn’t taken seriously, then offers for aid from the military and other cities were rejected by a slow and ineffective bureaucracy. Maybe they’ll learn from their mistakes and finally get it right.

I’m having trouble understanding why so many people choose to stay in their homes when a hurricane hits. I know they didn’t expect it be so devasting and most have weathered many hurricane’s in the past. Should there have been a mandatory evacuation much earlier?

I hate to think the money I donated will somehow get to the looters, rapists and criminals down there. Too many innocent people lost their lives, and these assholes are going to be fine. Hopefully the National Guard is dealing with these people with extreme force. I watched an interview with Gov. Kathleen Blanco and I saw the total disgust she had for these criminals. It was a very disturbing image for me.

Of course I’m not down there and couldn’t possibly understand what all these people are experiencing. One thing I can do is give them my very best wishes.