The Inovation Bug October 2, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentSo last Friday I had a sore throat and felt crappy. I was coming down with something. And while at that moment I might have been able to make it to work, I realized that before long, I wouldn’t be getting anything done, and I’d be spreading what I had around (turn out, it seems others did that for me). Before the day was out, I was realizing what a wise decision I had made. I felt awful.
Saturday, I wake up and the sore throat is gone. Completely. Instead, I had an all-day sinus headache and fever. I tried to spend a lot of time unconscious. Not a runny nose, but lots of sinus pressure. Awesome.
Sunday, sinus pressure is mostly gone, most of the pain is gone. Except now it’s migrated to my lungs. Chest congestion. Awesome. Lots of fever still. At some point between Saturdays and Sundays fever adventures, I thought of myself as Captain Water Balloon. I’d spend a while bundling as tightly as I could (head covered and all) trying to be as warm as possible… and then *bloosh*, my bed is sweat soaked when my fever breaks. I actually started paying more attention at one point so I could flip the covers off as soon as it broke. 
Monday, the fever seems mostly gone, but I’m just rundown and feeling poorly. So I figure this day is toast, call in, and figure I can rest and be back Tuesday. Ha.
Tuesday, I take out the trash, get in the shower. When I get out, before I get dressed, I am trembling and feeling awful, and my stomach is unhappy. Of course. I realize that if I’m trembling before I even get dressed, the commute is going to totally do me in, and there is no point. I call in for Tuesday.
Wednesday, finally back to work. I won’t say I’m totally over it, I’m figuring I’m going to have some minor congestion for the next week or so as my body finishes shaking it off, but I fell so much better than I did. Although by the end of the day, I usually end up feeling sicker and worn down. Which is not that unusual for any time I get something that moves into my chest.
It was interesting though, for most of the weekend, I had no interest in touching a computer. Not for anything. No looking stuff up, no games, nothing. I just wanted to be unconscious and bundled up. I actually knew I was starting to be on the mend, when I started looking things up on the internet out of idle curiosity.
Dear Software Vendors October 2, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Computers , add a commentPlease do not make it hard for me to make your software available to my faculty and students.
As awful as I find the whole flexlm license server thing to be, it is much better than other methods. Dongles are bad for client systems. In a university, you are just asking for the helpful little bit to be stolen. And if some idiot suggests I glue the dongle in, then your software will just never make it onto my systems.
What brings this on? This quarter, faculty requested getting some new software on the lab image. No problem, I think. It installed fine. However, the licensing is butt stupid. It is MAC address locked. I know it is considered clever, but it’s not. MAC addresses really aren’t immutable. And what it really means, is that my normal proces of cloning machines doesn’t work for this software. So I can clone it in a non-functional state. But to make it work, I have to gather MAC addresses for 80-something lab machines (and no, not enough licenses for all of our machines anyway), and get 80-something licenses issued. I then have to wrangle 80-something licenses onto each machine individually (And that’s assuming when I get these licenses issued, I don’t have to do them one at a time, which I am afraid I will have to do so, instead of some sort of sane thing where I can paste them all in at once).
Seriously, system administrators work hard, and are the key to getting your software out to the users. ESPECIALLY in an academic environment. Why would you make it hard for me? Because someone might steal it? I’m sorry. I know you think your software is super-special in the area it addresses, but really, I don’t think that my students will bother stealing it. And honestly, if they did somehow, the students in my department are software engineers, going to all sorts of influential companies. Oh no! One lost sale! Except our graduates are more likely to get your software used in the real world. So, to keep a student from having the software (who was *not* going to shell out money on your tool, let’s be honest), you’ve sacrificed many potential sales at their big future employer. Good job.
Kurt, age 3. May 30, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : guest blagging , add a comment
Hi! My name is Kurt. I have the most amazing wife in the whole wide world and I haven’t updated my blog since February. Luckily, my fantastic wife is also the moderator of this blog and was able to open up a window for me to be able to write about my life over the past few months.
First our parakeet, Lenny, died suddenly. It was sad and we miss him, but his brother Squiggy has been hanging out with us in our bedroom and he seems pretty happy.
We’ve decided not to get another parakeet, so we have to keep Squiggy company pretty often. We think he secretly plotted Lenny’s demise. He’s started wearing these hats like he’s up to something.
Mordecai has been doing pretty well. He got a new tank heater in March and he likes to cuddle up with that instead of basking like he should. Lately he’s been suffering from insomnia and he spends a lot of time scratching at the edges of his tank while everyone else is sleeping. He has been sharing a bedroom with everyone except Squiggy, so he might be thinking it’s time for him to get his own space.
Tisha and Raven mostly just sleep a lot. Sometimes they try to eat the Squiggins, particularly when he is relaxed and “one-footin’ it” (it’s a technical term). Recently their mom knitted them each a catnip-filled mouse, which has resulted in many bizarre late-night hijinks and is also a great way to use up spare yarn.
I’ve been up to some exciting things as well.
This week I threw my back out! I work during the week and sometimes in the evenings, I go to the dairy every Saturday for tasty milk and eggs and recently I’ve been playing a lot of games, including a borrowed Ratchet and Clank game that doesn’t make my wife as motion-sick to watch as the last one did. I’ve been perfecting my Dot and the Kangaroo impersonations, and even successfully ad-libbed “Season Two? Come back, Season Two… season two. :(” to the great amusement of my wife. Last weekend I got to help out with the commencement of the University where I work and wear an awesome blue shirt that my wife likes a lot. Some of the students who have worked for me graduated, and I was very proud of all of them.
Next week I’m taking a week off. I’ve been pretty busy and have gotten worn out, but I’m looking forward to a week of doing a bunch of nothing and relaxing and catching up on sleep and maybe having a little fun. My wife will make cold drinks and give me a place to stretch out in the sun so I’ll keep her company while she digs in the backyard. I’m also going to finish running ethernet through the house, hack down the brush in the front yard and help set up the heavy bag downstairs if my back starts doing better.
I hope you liked my pictures. If I ever let my blog lapse like this again, you’ll probably see more of them. I’ve got to go now. Bye!
Recovering from the plague February 18, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentSo, I was out on Friday and sick all weekend. I was back at work today, although if you had asked me Sunday night whether I would be at work Monday morning, I would’ve told you there wasn’t a chance. (although in less polite, and more whiny, terms).
But, after my fever breaking last night (it was like I was ambushed with water baloons) I felt decently better this morning. Good? No. Enough to go to work? Sure. Although by late afternoon my brainpower had come and gone. It seems that Pamela has gotten a cold, possibly some form of what I had/have, but seemingly less severe (my cold moved down into my chest for a little party).
Interesting spam trend February 18, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , 3commentsNot that any of this stuff gets through, but I’ve noticed lately that the spammy attempts coming to my mailserver at work often have the pattern of dw[domain]m@[domain].[tld]
Such as dwrenfem@renfe.es, dwstnm@stn.nu, etc.
Now, I’ve already got greyscanner running on that host looking at spammy behavior, but I think I want to tweak it a little to look for this telltale.
Oh, and never attempt to email me at kurt@decoy.se.rit.edu, or any address at decoy.se.rit.edu, such as root@decoy.se.rit.edu, postmaster@decoy.se.rit.edu, etc. It’s purely a (as the name says) decoy that will get your IP blocked for 24 hours
Medic! February 15, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentSo, yeah. I stayed home sick today. Wednesday I felt like I might be coming down with something… maybe. Just an irritated throat. Thursday, same deal. But not sick enough to stay home, especially with lab that night. By yesterday night though, I just stopped by lab and let the professor know I felt awful and would be heading home. He told me to sign in (to get credit for showing up) and to go home and try and feel better. With how I felt I was pretty positive, that unless I miraculously felt better this morning, I wouldn’t be going to work. Lo and behold, I was still feeling awful. So, today has been me trying to feel better.
I do, kindof. But it mainly seems to be because I’ve been taking it easy. Tomorrow my lab partner will be doing a review for the practical in System Admin 1. We’ll see if I’m up for it. I also need to help get the site book done by next Friday. And I have my final practical in Routing and Switching next week too. Whee. What a time to get a cold. Could be worse I suppose, it could’ve waited until next week.
A great start to the day January 30, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentI’m thinking maybe I should’ve just stayed home. High winds today. Fortunately, unlike last time, we didn’t seem to lose any of our roof. Driving to work was entertaining. Not so much with slipping. But, very high winds.
Finally, I get to work and as I get out of the car, the wind grabs my bag from me. Dumps the powerbook out (Which is fortunately okay). And scatters my papers for my two classes to the wind. Fantastic.
Ring Found - Wife Happy Again January 20, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentIf you read Pamela’s blog you will have read about the fact that her engagement ring went missing this week. She was miserable about this, and we did a fair bit of searching the house for it to no avail. What upset me most about the loss was about how upset she was about it. I mean yes, I’d prefer it not lost, but on the scale of things, I feel she’s way more important than the ring…
In any case, this morning she was folding some laundry and found her ring inside of one of my clean black socks. Not really sure how it got there, but YAY! Ring Found!
Classes and Milk January 20, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes, food , 1 comment so farSo I had my midterm practical in Routing and Switching and my midterm exam in System Admin 1. No grades back yet, but I think I did well on both. I actually finished the practical with time to spare, something I didn’t think I was going to manage.
Today Pamela and I went to Pittsford Farms Dairy. You know, I’ve meant to there for some time. I’ve had their egg nog from the grocery store before. Java Wally’s steams their chocolate milk for hot chocolate, and it’s delicious. We picked up creamtop milk, whole milk, free range eggs (darn cheap considering they are free range) and some Fiz Birch Beer and Cola. It was so good, that Pamela sent me back and I picked up another Creamtop, a 2% milk and the chocolate milk we forgot. I also grabbed some Tupelo honey, maple walnut ice cream (from Corn Hill Ice Cream), some more birch beer (having finished the first quart) and a couple cookies. Amazing stuff. Oh, and did I mention the milk is all in glass bottles? I think we’ll be going back every week from now on. If you haven’t tried them out, I’d suggest you do.
An update on classes, houses and cars January 15, 2008
Posted by Kurt in : Classes , add a commentI’ve definitely been remiss in updating my blag.
In my defense, I’m taking two classes and dealing with the crush of requests not only from the normal work stuff, but the senrior projects that have started this quarter.
The classes are going well, I just took my midterm in one class a short while ago (I’m actually writing this in lecture, naughty me, while we go over crontab entries which not only do I know, but we went over last class). I have my midterm practical tomorrow night in Routing and Switching. And I’ll have an online midterm in RnS soon too. But, things are going well, and at least moderately interesting.
We just experienced the joy of owning a home last week when part of our roof blew away. Sounds a little more dramatic than it is… A bunch of shingles blew off a patch of the roof. We had it fixed (and if you need a roofer in the Rochester area, I’ve got a good one). Should be done, right? Eh. It seems that the former owner used a… suboptimal roofer to put on the shingles. You can screw up a roof by putting the nails in the shingle in the wrong place. Which they did. The solution? Basically, you do a tearoff and re-shingle. *sigh*. What are the symptoms of this nail misplacement? Shingles blowing off more easily. Ugh.
And I finally got the car door fixed recently. The outside driver’s door handle hadn’t been working. The part should have been a fiddly little 25 cent plastic clip. However, no one will sell you the damn clip. Hyundai makes you buy a whole door handle assembly. Yeah, thanks Hyundai. So the door handle assembly costs $50. Gah. While the car was in, we had it inspected, oil changed, and put the snow tires on the car. So you can’t blame the snow on me. My snow tires are helping to keep the snow away
On the subject of the roofer, we didn’t have one before, and had no idea who to use. So then I had an idea. We really like the plumber we used to put in our disposal. Very honest, no bullshit. So I called him up and asked him who he would use for a roofing job.
Him: Charlie Howell. 25 years in the business. I just had him put a new roof on my Mom’s house.
Me: Do you like your mom?
Got a good laugh.