The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Friday, July 27, 2007

I never did handle stress well

It pretty much took all week.

Well, at least until Thursday o'dark-thirty.

From what we can tell, there was a lightning strike at or near the customer site, which took out all four of their T1s (two data, which terminate at our Data Center, and two voice, which I suppose terminate somewhere within the bowels of The Monopolistic Phone Company). The Monopolistic Phone Company did eventually come out and replace all four smart jacks at the customer location (as well as the container box). Then I spent a few days playing Musical Equipment trying to get everything back up and running (let's see, we replaced nearly all the cables, one CSU/DSU, a router and a firewall).

It was a very frustrating week, let me tell you.

Lessons learned this time:

  1. The problem is not what you think it is.
  2. It never hurts to double check what you think is correct.
  3. It ain't over until the fat server hums.
  4. Thank God I wasn't drunk.

I then called in sick yesterday and spent the entire day sleeping.

Our customer wasn't the only thing down this week …

Now, about that last lesson …

I don't get drunk, but I do tend to get rather agitated when under pressure [that statement alone should win “Understatement of the Year” Award. —Editor], and I'm surprised there wasn't more collateral damage [where ever you got those racks from, Smirk, keep them. They take a lot of abuse. —Editor].

There's also no real evidence that was a drunk employee took down 1/3 of the Internet earlier this week. Apparently, it was major power outtage in San Fransciso coupled with a massive backup generator failure that took out 1/3 of the Internet earlier this week (link via Flutterby).

Coca Cola and jam butties

Londoner Luke Bream, 33, sporting a pink and white jersey, is attacking a punishing mountain leg of the world's most famous cycle race, the Tour de France. It is clearly hard going.

…

At least he is well in front of the 152 remaining riders (189 set off from London) in the three-week long Tour. In fact, he is 24 hours ahead as he has been along the entire route so far.

…

And amid the backdrop of accusations of cheating among official Tour de France riders, [his mother] assures the Guardian Luke is on nothing but his own adrenaline.

“Oh no, Luke doesn't take drugs at the best of times, not even an aspirin if he has a headache. He does take some cod liver oil tablets, but apart from that he's doing this largely on Coca Cola and jam butties.”

Via Flutterby, The Englishman who is leading the Tour de France

For Wlofie, who might get a kick out of this …

Update on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

The Englishman won (link via Flutterby).

Life at Casa New Jersey via snippits of email

From
Spring Dew <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To
<sean@conman.org>
Subject
news and stuff
Date
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:11:18 -0400

Electrical repairs this weekend whenever we can coordinate to have the machines down. On the list:

I think that's it. Questions, ideas, comments, complaints?

From
Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
To
Spring Dew <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
Subject
Re: news and stuff
Date
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:16:58 -0400

I think that's it. Questions, ideas, comments, complaints?

  1. Why is the sky blue?
  2. How about we feed mayonnaise to tuna fish?
  3. I have a red pencil.
  4. I hate our customers.
From
Spring Dew <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To
<sean@conman.org>
Subject
Re: news and stuff
Date
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:23:35 -0400
  1. Refraction.
  2. It won't help. It'll just become mayo-poop in the bottom of the ocean.
  3. Congratulations.
  4. Me too.

Email woes II

Bunny spent the past few days berating The Monopolistic Phone Company about their little email problem. It seems to be cleared up for the most part, except for the occasional:

Final-Recipient
rfc822;XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Action
failed
Status
5.0.0 (permanent failure)
Diagnostic-Code
smtp; 5.1.0 - Unknown address error 502-'Command not implemented' (delivery attempts: 0)
Reporting-MTA
dns; mx00.mail.bellsouth.net

And in checking the MX record for The Monopolistic Phone Company, I have a 1 in 3 chance of hitting the bad server there.

Lovely.

Why yes, I am making up for lost entries this week. Why do you ask?

I just came across two computers, one rather silly, and one rather cool.

My Life, not with the Thrill Kill Kult, but with the Monopolistic Phone Company

Lovely.

Wlofie reported that some thing (animal or mechanical) knocked the phone cable leading to Casa New Jersey right down, and that the Monopolistic Phone Company said it may be as late as Monday before the new shipments of round toits come in.

Sigh.

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

Obligatory Contact Info

Obligatory Feeds

Obligatory Links

Obligatory Miscellaneous

You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

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