So, what did your NOC get for Christmas?

So, it's Christmas here in the SUL, and of course I'm playing Christmas music. The SUL is home to our very modest- meaning there is a sparse amount of equipment, and not shy- NOC (network operations center). As is the case most, if indeed not all years, our NOC is on the "NICE" list rather than the "other" list. So, because a couple of PCs were on the "other" list because of hard drive failures, I resolved that I would be a better SOHO I.T. manager in 2017.

It is now the 2nd of January. I'm happy (but slightly drained) as I report that I've been a very good giver of gifts to the network in general and the NOC in particular. It all started out with our family Christmas present. I should note that over the years, we've scaled back our Christmas celebrations to a few Christmas cards, a nice dinner and Christmas music. Much less stress, much less expense (commercialism), and with a few cats, no destroyed decorations to clean up.

The family Christmas present this year was a Steam Link and a Steam Controller. What is Steam? Check it out here. By the way, this is also the simplest way to explain the Cloud to folks. In a nutshell, the Steam Link is a device that is on your network. It will automatically detect any computer that is running that has Steam, and then let you play your Steam-hosted games on your TV. So, I tasked Mr. T with installing the device. Valve (the makers of the Link) have provided everything one needs to get the Link operational quickly. They included several electrical adapters, an HDMI cable and a flat CAT 6 cable.

And this is where the dominoes started to fall.

The ethernet cable was about 2 meters short. Not a problem- I had a spare in the SUL that was going to be replaced by another, longer cable that we had received that same day. I gave Mr. T the cable from the SUL and it was 1 meter short. We searched a bit for a dimly remembered cache of ethernet cables, but it proved to be as real as the city of El Dorado. So, I traded the flat cable for my shiny new purple cable. All was good with the Link.

Mr. T then gave the Link a functional test, discovering the computers on our network. Unsurprisingly, all three of my PCs had huge lag issues- I had observed this before. However, over the network, my Steam games were unplayable. So, I went back down to the NOC, and after a few simple tests I was reminded that the NOC's primary (8 port) switch had a dead port. I looked at my other (5 port) switch. I noted at least one CAT 5e cable was in use, so I went beck and ordered more CAT 6 cables and another 8 port switch.

 


Its now Monday night, and I've done all that I can. The 5 port switch has been replaced by an 8 port switch. I was about to say all was up to date on the new switch, when I decided to take one more look at the cabling.

FRACK! One more CAT 5e cable to replace!

Well, that's done. There's actually one more CAT 5e cable, but its attached to a printer that has a 10/100 NIC, so it can stay. In another few days the other switch will arrive, and after its installation  our NOC will be up to date. I still need to complete the configuration of our NAS (network atttached storage) device, but there's no rush on that.

My brain is officially on overtime- that's all for now from the SUL.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas or whatever you might say in your neighborhood. Or not.

Those of us here in the United States have a way of assuming that folks everywhere do things in the same fashion that we do. And then we beat ourselves up for this notion. However, I'm thinking that this might just be simply human nature rather than American stupidity, because I think as a rule, we probably believe that everyone is going through the same stuff that we are.

For example, I have a couple of coworkers that (obviously) live in the same area that I do, except that they live to the south of me. We generally experience the same weather.

Last year, though.... One of our coworkers is originally from Russia. North of the Arctic Circle. Bloody ******* cold Russia.  Chicago had experienced one of the worst cold winters on record. So cold, in fact, that it was warmer north of the Arctic Circle- where our coworker hails from.

Perceptions and your reality are not universal truth.

As John Lennon said, "So this is Christmas".

Christmas is most likely unknown in some parts of the world, and misunderstood or maligned where it is known. In the United States, which is probably the "Christmas Capitol of the World" (I just made that up, but it's probably accurate), Christmas has become so secularized and commercialized that, like Halloween and Easter, not much seems to be left of its real meaning.

Therefore, I've decided to make a sort of peace with the two versions of Christmas:  the secular and the sacred.

The secular: I enjoy this simply because it is so joyful and peaceful on a number of levels. For starters, it's about winter in the northern hemisphere- something that is quite familiar to me. The scent of pine has always been pleasant to me, and the effect is compounded in the brisk, wintry air. I also love the music of Christmas- a great deal of it. There have been some real stinkers that have come out (Santa Baby, and The Most Wonderful Time of the Year come to mind immediately).

Folks tend to be a bit more divided about movies, though, because although its generally pretty easy to tell that a song is a Christmas song, the criteria for Christmas movies is pretty much a grey area. For example, apart from movies which actually feature the story of the birth of Jesus, we're left with a pretty large collection of movies which either deal with the secular version of Christmas, or merely occur around Christmas. I'm not a real movie fan, but two of my favorite movies fit into the latter category- they occur around Christmas: Die Hard, and Lethal Weapon. And for the record, I do NOT like Elf.

As for the real "reason for the season," I think the Bible explains it better than I can.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

Christmas in the Boot

Happy/Merry Christmas to all.

In an historically unprecedented move, I'm writing a second Christmas blog. There's a few reasons for this. First, it's been a really busy month for me at work- this will be the first week out of three where I'll have less than eight hours of overtime. Mind you, I don't mind the overtime at all- it really helps with bills and such, but it does cut into time that could be used for other things- blogging, for example. Second, I've only penned (typed) a few blogs this month, so I figured I'd write one. Lastly, I had a thought that made me smile, something of a pun which would require a bit of explanation- a teaser title.

Stay with me now.

Every so often, I like to remind my kind readers that the unifying theme of this blog is data. Now, to be fair, I don't always get around to "real" data, and often the data is somewhat forced. The past few weeks, though, have seen an interesting trend: I've seen a very large rise in Chinese readers. So, before I forget, thanks to all of you Chinese folks who are visiting my blog!

So, what's with the boot? Intentional (international) confusion, punning I suppose.

We've had an extremely mild autumn and winter in the Chicago area so far this year. In fact, there was a blizzard warning for Hawai'i's big island, and the forecast high temperature for Chicago was 43F (5C). That's normally pretty good news (our high temperature, that is)-after all, we can get some pretty serious snowfalls. It had been much cooler a few weeks ago, but then suddenly the temperature rose. This is bad for me. I don't know for certain, but when there is a sudden rise in temperature in winter, I get this pain and inflammation in my foot which I attribute to arthritis.

I do have an interesting device, though, that helps me out with this. And here's the explanation of the pun and the additional Chinese connection.

In any version of the English language, a "boot" is a piece of footwear. Like many words, though, it has several other meanings. For example, in American English, a boot can be a person entering basic military training, also known as boot camp. One can also be given "the boot"; that is, thrown out of an establishment.  The meaning I was aiming to make a bit of a pun out of, though, is found in the Queen's (or British) English, which I believe is what is normally taught outside of the United States. In the Queen's English, "the boot" refers to the part of the car we Americans refer to as the "trunk". So, the joke ended up being this: I didn't really spend Christmas in the back of a car, but rather by wearing my orthopedic device- a boot made in China. See? Full circle!

The idea of the boot is to immobilize the wearer's foot. The entire top and front of the boot is open, as is the toe area. My boot is one of the short variety designed primarily for the foot- there are taller ones designed to support the entire lower leg. The boot has two major subassemblies- an inner soft "shoe" and an outer rigid frame. The shoe has two fabric flaps- one at the toe and one at the calf- which are secured by velcro after you place your foot in the boot. These primarily function to keep the boot in place as the three straps are secured. Two of the straps are visible in the photo- these go across the top of the foot and provide bit of compression- wearing an extra or thicker sock, or adding a bit of padding, can also augment compression. The strap at the top is probably the most important one: while the lower ones provide a bit of compression, the top one secures the boot to the wearer's leg. I always tuck my pant leg into the boot.

The outer rigid frame of the boot is simultaneously brilliant and simple. The sole has a rubberized, weather resistant finish, and and has a slight arc which promotes a natural gait whilst the wearer is walking. The sole is rigid, and has a metal riser which parallels the wearer's leg. The most important effects here are that the foot and ankle are totally immobilized: in fact, as I write this, my legs are crossed under my desk, and my ankle and heel don't really sense this position.

Lastly... Christmas!

We've simplified and downsized our Christmas celebration over the years. When the kids were little and there were no cats, we did lights and the tree and ornaments (we have some beautiful handmade ornaments we got in Germany). Lately, though... our youngest is legally an adult, and we have four cats. The high point of our Christmas celebration is dinner. This year we had a wonderful turkey accompanied by broccoli, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and rolls.  As far as gifts go, we don't really exchange gifts like one might see in the movies. Generally, if someone needs something or really wants something, we'll get it. Christmas has become more of a time of gathering for us. This year was a lot of fun, as we swapped a good number of "was stories".

War stories are closely related to fairy tales. The main difference is how they are told. A fairy tale starts out with, "Once upon a time,..." while a war story starts out with, "There I was, ..."

After all of the stories that were passed around the table on Christmas, I've gotta wonder how the U.S. won the Cold War.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

12.24.14 or 24.12.14

Before I write anything else, I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to all of my followers who celebrate either version (secular or religious) of Christmas.

I felt it was important to start out with this introduction for a couple of reasons. For starters, in the United States, Christmas seems to be a religious holiday that has taken a good deal of secular baggage. In some circles, the "secular baggage" has overshadowed what many to believe is the real "message" behind Christmas. For those who are not fans of Christmas, Halloween is also a holiday steeped in religious tradition, but which has also been usurped (or maybe just watered down).

In any event, I'm writing this primarily for my readers in Asia, who probably have NO understanding of what Christmas means. As you all should know by now, this blog's first mission is data and data analysis. Fully 10% of my readership is now in China, so I have to do a GREAT deal of thinking about this audience. I'm sorry to say that I don't have any Chinese friends; the closest I come to an Asian friend is an off-the-boat Japanese friend, and we rarely talk these days.

However, I know that the Christian Church is very strong in China, and I assume it is hard to share the Good News of Jesus Christ on a street corner in China. So, because I have a strong Chinese following (who may NOT know what Christmas is all about), I'm going to take a few paragraphs to try to communicate what "Christmas" means to a "Christian'; that is, a believer in Jesus Christ.

For starters, we don't believe in reincarnation. Some outside the faith have said that Christmas and Easter are examples of reincarnation.

Nope- do you celebrate your birthday or anniversary?  In the Christian faith, it's fairly similar. We celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Jesus.  Christmas- to a Christian- is nothing more than acknowledging (celebrating) the arrival of Jesus on Earth. To the rest of the world, there are all sorts of things which have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus- like Santa, Rudolph and shopping. If you have an understanding of a birthday celebration, then you should be able to see what Christmas is all about: it's merely our way of commemorating and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Speaking of which, much has been made recently of the fact that Jesus' birth was not in December, but probably in a much warmer month. I think most Believers have little problem with this, as the Catholic Church is famous for doing all sorts of things to assimilate nonbelievers.

I guess that's all for now. Have a joy-joy Christmas!

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

Happy Christmas... war is not over

Growing up in the United States during the Sixties, idiosyncrasies and undiagnosed A.D.D. notwhithstanding, I still was a bit odd. I grew up in Chicago. And the music I listened to through my formative years was Country and Western. Now, before any hardcore fans get their feathers ruffled, I understand that there is a difference between Country, and Western. It was best explained in a sort of truism I once heard: "Country" is sung by a group, bragging about stealin' a cowboy's horse and kissin' his girl. "Western" is sung by a guy who had his horse stolen and his girl kissed by a group of singing guys.

So, I came onto the rock and roll scene a bit late, but embraced it. (In some circles, it is suggested that to really reach someone, you must speak in the language of their soul...I sometimes think my soul's native language is music).

Flash forward to the late 70's, and college. I had been listening to all sorts of music at this point, but my best friend Mark was a huge Beatles fan, and we formed a Beatles parody group, "performing" at a college coffeehouse or two and suffering the ultimate ignominy at a Gong Show at Chicago's Tuddi Toots (a fern bar of questionable spelling!)

Amid all of this, I immersed myself in the Beatles, and particularly John Lennon, who for no good reason to think of I identified with. I wasn't particularly crazy about his music (or that of Yoko Ono or the Plastic Ono Band), but I did listen to it from time to time. This all comes about as I've recently heard one or two remakes of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" from forgettable pop diva(ettes).

And to all who have recorded this song, or wish to: DON'T. You're not John Lennon, you're not a Beatle, and more than likely, your collective body of work is not art- it stinks. So don't drag this song down to your particular level of mediocrity. Next: its an okay song, having very little to do with Christmas.

Which brings me to the final point of this post, and that is Christmas. Our church has had a sermon series about Christmas which has gotten me to do some thinking about Christmas.

For those not familiar with Western traditions, Christmas is a pretty powerful one. As I've matured, I've come to realize that there is a peculiar American secular view of Christmas which, although it does not necessarily have much to do with Jesus Christ, does have some value in our culture. In this secular view, it is a time where we reconnect with family, give gifts, perform acts of charity, and are generally nice.It occurs in winter, and there are all sorts of winter-themed songs about Christmas. Its a huge party.

In reality, though....

Jesus Christ is THE most misunderstood person in history. We, who claim Jesus Christ to be our  Lord and Savior, see Christmas as anyone else might see a birthday (as an example)- Dec 25th is the date which we commemorate his birth. It is not an annual rebirth (if you don't get this- check out the last birthday party you went to). It's a birthday party! And even if you don't get Jesus, you're welcome to the party.

No data tonight, no programming updates, just a merry Christmas, from our home to yours. If you're wondering about Christianity or Jesus Christ, here's a neat site I found.

Peace, Love and TQM- as always, I am hochspeyer, blogging database management and analysis so you don't have to.