Rantings Diversified

A good friend passed away last night.

Paul Harvey

He was the first and the last of the old time commentators.
He told things the way he saw them.
I liked that about him.

Good Day!

I seem to be slipping on my duties to keep up with writing posts so please accept this ramblings as a real post.

This has been a long week.  You see I volunteered to help out in a different division at the company where I work.  I have been working the graveyard shift and alternateingly working my regular day shift.  Ugh!  Last night I worked 8pm to 8am and I have to be back at midnight tonight.  The crazy hours are, well, just that…crazy.
This comes on the heels of my network deployment.  Somehow I pulled that off.  After setting up an entirely new Server 2008 based network there were very few if any problems.  Huh?  I guess my pre-planning worked because I go in every morning expecting the worst and find NO problem reports! Scroll down and read the post, “Servers, Networks and a few long hours”.
The Irish Blog Awards were held yesterday and some of my favorite Irish blogs won awards.
Firstly K8 the Gr8 won for the Best Blog Post.  She deserved it.
Then The Swearing Lady won the award for Best Humor Blog.  She is too too funny and anyways how can you not love a blog with the tagline, “Sex, Drugs and Ceili Music”.
A few of the other Irish blogs I like were finalists but didn’t take home the gold.
BocktheRobber was shortlisted in the Current Affairs catagory.  He should have won.  He’s good.
Grannymar was up for the Best Personal Blog.  She won last year.  She should have won this year too.
Then there is Grandad.  He should have won the Best Blog Award.  He wrote a book and had it published.  I haven’t made enough time to finish reading it but so far it is very well written and really funny.  Everyone should go buy it.  You can buy it online HERE.
Lastly, the other day I got a copy of a software program called Rosetta Stone.  It is a language learning software.  I also got the Irish language pack to go along with it.  We’ll see how it goes.

I found this over at Absolute Vanilla .
She’s just way too cool!

It’s the 100 Things I Have Done meme – the things I’ve done are in blue. Those which I have not are in black.

I HAVE…

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. I have played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5.Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb Killed it, Butchered it and Ate it too
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (both)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community Geez! I live in Amish country
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie (does it count that I scripted and directed it and shot it?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen Every Sunday!
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62.Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. Nope can’t! I only have one kidney
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check/cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle Hehehehe 130mph
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby Sort of, I have a son.
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Everyone is welcome to do this meme but the one person I want to pass this on to is
K8 the Gr8.
Go on girlfrien you can do it!

I have to brag.
You see, my dear readers, the past month or so I have been planning and scheming to replace our company’s network with a new and shiney Server 2008 domain and a SECURE presence.   We installed and tested and deployed the whole thing in three days.  Yes we did!
In three days the entire network was replaced and deployed almost without error.  Please note I said almost.    You see we have a Linux based firewall that I decided to keep for awhile because it works very well.  I had to balance this with an Active Directory Domain Controller.  The DC connected all the users with the hard work of the two kids I work with and they busted ass to make sure everyone got on the domain fast and well.  Meanwhile I was working on the back end to make sure that the load was balanced and the servers worked as I wanted them to do.  Monday, day three, was way tense as we had a small (HA!) DNS/DHCP problem.  Through the afternoon we all banged our heads on this problem and then one of the kids I work with made a huge breakthrough reconfiguring the Linux based firewall and, “Poof!, all was well.
As the rest of the day went on I became a bit more concerned because noone was bitching nor complaining and noone was telling us of any problems.  Last night I was very worried.
Well this morning I went to the office and to my amazement all the logs and reports told me there were NO problems.  I walked out back to check and make sure I was in the right office.  I was!
OK, so it took awhile for this to sink in but … Holy Shite!  It worked!
First and foremost I have to thank Mitch and Joe who gave up their weekend to make this work and they are the ones who worked like dogs to get all the users hooked up on Monday.  Kudos to Joe who figured out the problem with our firewall.
The best affirmation of this was the response to an email I sent to a couple of friends who are also Network Engineers detailing what we did this past weekend.  Their response was, “Bullshit.  It takes more than three days to implement a network like that”.
Ha!

Ever since this past August I have been doing my best at going downtown on Sunday afternoons and helping out with the preperation and serving of a dinner for the homeless and indigent at St. Patricks Cathedral.  This is something I REALLY enjoy doing.  You see I was in hospital for a bit last July and when I got home my cousins Jacquie and Barry, who have run this dinner for more than five years, sent two HUGE boxes of staples to my house to help me get on.  This dropped my jaw.  I didn’t know how to say thank you so I instead told them I would come and help out.  Now don’t get me wrong, as much as I love doing this there are times I can’t.  A couple of weeks ago the EAGLES played at 3pm and the STEELERS were on at 7pm so that particular Sunday I wasn’t there.    There has been a few more like that too.  Ok, so I’m not an angel but I try and try some more.
We all show up at 1500 and get to work.  I find it fun because it’s just kitchen work.  Geez!  It’s only one day a week!  The main meal comes from the local food bank and usually needs only a bit of preparation.  My cuz Jacquie sometimes does alot of the prep ahead of time.  She’s too cool!  So we cook the meal, prepare coffee, tea and 10 gallons of, “Beverages”,.  That’s what I’m in charge of.  We’ve got some killer Iced Tea and a mess of either Lemonade or Orange drink.  We can change up the drinks each week because of donations from people and companies.  One of the coolest parts of the setup is setting out the bread that is donated by local bakeries and resaurants.
My Dear Readers… this is some GREAT bread!!!
Alright so at 1700 we open the doors and most days we get busy right off.  Folks come streaming in for the next hour.  sometimes I have to wonder if this is their best meal of the week.  There are characters and normal folks as well as those you would expect.  I keep the beverages flowing and others keep the food going.  Sometimes it gets hectic but the folks helping out are banging good and things always run smoothly.
This is the kinda’ thing that even after I win the lottery for a gidzillion bucks I shall still go and help out with.   Why?
I really do enjoy it and anyways it’s my way of giving back.
We have all had hard times in one way or another as I have so I would like to think we all do this kinda’ thing.
Do you?

Server 2008
Domain controller
domain certificate services (Pretty cool stuff)
file and print server
Windows firewall, advanced security
Router based firewalls
complex passwords
user groups, security
teaching technopeasants how to log in to the network
watching 24
not liking Janeane Garofolo being on 24
bummed that we elected an avowed socialist as President
bummed that the EAGLES lost the NFC Championship
Happy the Steelers won the Super Bowl
Baseball season.  Pitchers and Catchers report on Feb. 14
really diggin’ my job
Did I mention Server 2008?
Did I mention stress?
did I mention I’m implementing all these servers on Saturday?
Going over to one of my sisters home and hanging with her and her kids
I’ve got skype again, yea!
It’s winter and I have a fireplace
Talking or chatting with my friends in Ireland
Eating Pizza

These are a few of my favorite things
OK, now you’re all caught up with me.
What’s news in your life?

Yes it’s true.  My beloved Eagles lost to the Cardinals in the NFC Championship but my favorite AFC team, The Steelers, beat up the Cardinals last night to win Super Bowl 43, so I’m happy.
Oh and by the way… I’m back on-line.  I have lots to rant about but that will have to wait until next time because things are a bit hectic here today.  See ya’ later tonight or tomorrow.