So our main server, Diakonos (aka Big Daddy) got a nice new piece of hardware this week. As Matt pointed out, we have been in need of a UPS for a bit now and we finally have one! The APC SmartUPS 1500 RM (Rack Mount) 120V. This server houses our virtual servers so all of our data is at stake here if that thing fails. Now I can have the piece of mind to sleep at night knowing that when the next PGE sub station gets hit with falling debris and an outage occurs, I will be quickly awaken by the email and SMS message sent to my phone about 1ft away alerting me.
Great. Another thing to keep me awake.
In other news, my friends and I had a GREAT time last night playing video games. Haven’t gamed with these guys since forever and major kudos to my wife for putting up with it! We started it off at the coffee shop for about 4 hours…and then moved back to my place for another 5! We were a bit disappointed with the fact that Vista doesn’t have IPX/SPX drivers so we couldn’t play most of the Command & Conquer games, but oh well. Total Annihilation is such a blast it’s sick. Who knew a game made in 1997 could be so addicting. What am I saying??? I still play games older then that….
Jason over at GCC recently blogged about VMWare and their new product, Fusion. He comments on the idea of if Apple wants to get more market penetration then they need to allow OSX be able to run on standard hardware…or at least virtual machines. The way is through IT people, they control the money in companies and that is where you will first get serious adoption. The iPod is great for them, but it’s not bringing people to the Mac as much as it needs to.
I’ve had to settle down from my earlier days regarding the Mac vs. PC debate, I used to loath Mac’s. Now I have to be neutral and just accept the fact that they are a technology company and just do things differently. If it works, great! If not, simply move along. I do believe they have their place, but as stated above, Apple is not helping themselves to more market share as they could be doing. They look pretty, but that doesn’t mean much to corporations.
Oh my goodness, Santa brought Zaeda so many things. She got a new play kitchen where she LOVES to make pretend tea! It was an amazing Christmas time for us. Really, it hasnt even ended yet, my cousins from Boise, Idaho, New York City, and Tacoma, Washington are JUST coming into town today!
Here’s a rundown of the last couple of days. We got to see our good pals, Dan and Terri, Seth, Isaac,and Dave Havens at our house and all the guys played some video games. That was fun. I got tired out and went to bed before anyone left, ah well! Christmas eve was at my grandparents house. We have a little smorgasbord and then we open up gifties. Zaeda opened up her first cabbage patch kid ( by the time gift giving was over the next day she would have THREE cabbage patch kids- but she loves them all!) I got gifted with a gift certificate to Craft Warehouse! WOO! I will be scrapbooking!
I am still the kind of person- even at 24 years old… that can NOT sleep on Christmas Eve. I woke up every couple of hours and wanted to check the clock to see if it was an appropriate time to get up and open presents. I just wanted everyone awake and happy. Finally it was 5:00 am or so, and my Dad was a awake. He and I grabbed a cups of coffee and sat in the parlor where the tree was ( ill have to put up a pic later!) and we just talked. I love being able to just talk to my Dad, when it is all quiet and when I dont feel rushed. I love that my dad will sit and talk with me. So- then at about 6:00 or so I go and wake EVERYONE UP! WOOOOOOO! we started opening presents by 6:30 and we werent done opening until 10:00am!!!!! We always go one by one, so it takes awhile! I got great gifts! An office chair, a lot of clothes, books, gift cards, AND A LITTLE BOX FROM TIFFANY &CO! That box really is something special, my heart jumped when I saw it. WOOOOO MIKE! MAJOR POINTS! My husband got me the nicest necklace. It is so so so pretty and I love it. Other things that I was very interested in this year that I got… a martha stewart housekeeping book and a scumbuster from black and Decker. That’s pretty tight.
After all of that gift giving we were on to My Mother in laws house! It was very nice there, as always! We had some good foods, opened gifties, Zaeda got a wonderful art easel that she will ADORE. She is completely into drawing! My mother in law made me an awesome spa day set- with a great towel set and homemade lavendar bath salts! I LOVE IT! She also got us a GREAT knife set which I really needed!
Then on again to my parents house, where we had our second Christmas dinner. Whew. Ok. Lots of food and people. Zaeda made people laugh, she showed folks how she likes to spin in her holiday dress. It was amazingly cute. My Grandpa read from my family’s Bible to say Grace. Those are moments that I will always remember- Graces at family meals said by Grandpa.
By that time Mike and I were SO TIRED. So, we decided to head home, where I had Mike lug up all the Christmas presents from the car and I sorted and distributed them to their rightful rooms in the apartment! I felt accomplished.
I think that the overall BEST thing about this year’s Christmas is that I feel so HAPPY
Oh yeah- I want to give a shout out to all of the team at Sunset !!!! Christmas Eve service rocked. Especially the story by Macy and the duet. Thanks to everyone who gave so much of their time to bless others!
Ξ December 25th, 2006 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
So I’m laying here in bed at my in-laws house. We do this every Christmas since well…before Melanie and I got married. They like to wake up at 5am and open presents, and then promptly pass out due to the adrenaline and have great dreams of our presents (they do, I still have yet to dream). Today was busy, and I owe it all to my wife for keeping us together. From the planning of the day, to the wrapping of the presents it was Melanie that kept us (Zade and I) in line and in place.
This morning Melanie volunteered at childrens ministries our church, Sunset, and well since I work there I kinda just float around. Today though is special because of the 5 services we put on. Not only was I up the night before making sure the server wouldn’t go down, but I was preparing for work that I’m excited about. Some big stuff changing at the network there and I look forward to deploying them. It’s all about assisting the other departments and getting the Word out.
It’s people like Janet who deserve the real thanks though. She is a trooper! From the planning to the execution, she has to deal with all 5 services (9am, 11am, 3pm, 5pm, 10pm). Talk about a load! She is in charge of the presentation of the service in which thousands of people will view and many of them on Christmas Eve service will be the first impression of Sunset. Again Janet, Grade A work today! And a shout to Jay and his killer talent, his voice. That duet that he did was just amazing. I am continually reminded just how bad at singing I really am! It also doesn’t hurt that Macy was just too cute in the video, her laugh is awesome.
Good night people, and thanks for viewing our blog. I really didn’t think we had this many people interested in us.
So it’s been a couple days since I got back, but just to update people on the last day there…it wasn’t very much to tell…except the admission!
So people have been asking me how my boss took it when I told him that I worked at Sunset. I had been trying to tell him the entire time I was there, but of course it ends up being at the last possible minute before my plane leaves to Chicago for home. So we’re at the airport but we are on separate airlines. I’m on Continental, and he is on Alaskan, this means different concourses. I should be on terminal C and he should be on terminal A. Well I think the Lord was helping me out because for some reason all continental flights to Chicago are on terminal A! Hurray! But he had some phone calls to make (we just got another big sale, hurray!) so he was on the phone up till like 30 minutes before I needed to board…and I hadn’t passed security yet.
We finally sit down and I break the news fully expecting to be put on some sort of administrative leave soon to be fired, but he took it surprisingly well! I’m so glad that I was able to tell him, it had been weighing on my heart for quiet some time now. We had a great conversation while walking around NYC and he told me some of his background (which was real impressive and glad he is at the top of the company now), truly a heart to heart conversation. So you can imagine that after we had this conversation, I break this news to him, I was not looking forward to his response.
Other then the lay-over in Chicago, everything went great!
Ξ December 19th, 2006 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
Well as the title suggests, I finally get to see the Big Apple. I really didn’t get how big it was till tonight. Not only could you see all the buildings and lights, but the fact that it just seemed endless. And this was at night! My boss and I decided on stopping near Rockerfeller Center (I believe the exact location was a parking lot on 56th & Broadway…it was like $80 to park!!!) and move on to the Empire State Building. Then we just started walking around and that was work. There were so many people there it was crazy! You can tell how crazy by the pictures below. I got to see Grand Central Station and also the Toys R’ Us store…which was actually a bit fun. When its just one floor is boring, but you put moving stairs, mad shoppers, and 3 levels…you have CHAOS! It’s a beautiful thing. One of the best moments though was Times Square. I turned the corner and it was like fricken day light! So many screens, so many ads, it was a marketing managers dream. That is one thing that I notice here, there is so much advertising it makes you wonder how much can you take.
I must admit that I do find a certain facination of what it would be like to live here. Other then the fact though that it’s just way to expensive to live here, it just wouldn’t be right for little Zaeda to live like this. I believe that there are certain things that take it’s toll on you and I can see it in the way people interact here. But if I was single and a bit braver, I would give it some serious though. I’m happy though where I am, I love Oregon…well…most of it.
Oh yea…Roxy’s Cheesecake is excellent!
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Well…today is turning out to be rather quiet. Instead of helping my boss do some cabling work (I’m not a fan of it, but I am here for a reason…to work), I have the privilege of turning our hotel room in to computer lab! So I did that for most of the day, worked on a brand new HP ML350 G5 server and accessories. The HP servers have a nice utility that installs the operating system for you, very cool! Hopefully we get to go into “The City” tonight, I want to get some coffee and then just spill everything to my boss regarding my work at Sunset.
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So I got the privilege to head to New York City & New Jersey to implement an SBS installation for a new client. This was on short notice and the integration of the new technology is on a compressed time schedule. I knew about a week before, which is not a whole lot of time to prepare but oh well. I had to ask Matt if I could get the time off while he was on vacation in Cancun! I do love business trips (well…this is kind of my second involving an airplane *grin*) but travel is always bitter sweet.[photopress:Airport.jpg,full,alignleft]
My plane was supposed to be leaving 8:00am on Friday morning, but due to the slight wind we got in the northwest, my ticket got “protected” and rescheduled to 7:00pm. I’m thinking to myself “great…I have the privilege of sleeping on a plane”. I was supposed to go to Chicago and then Newark from Portland, but instead they had me going to the city of San Francisco and then a 5 hour flight to Newark. When I got to the counter to claim my ticket, I was told that the flight didn’t exist. When I gave the nice lady my paper work, she worked some magic but told me instead of my flight leaving at 7:50pm, it was leaving at 6:00pm. The current time at that point was 5:45pm. Fortunately I didn’t have to suffer through a body cavity search and when I got to the gate, the lady at the counter was wrong, the plane was on schedule for a 7:50pm departure.
While on the plane to San Fran, I sat next to someone who I swore looked like one of the employee’s from my old consulting job at Ischus Networks. The clients name was The Generator Group, and although I don’t remember her name she looked striking similar. And then I looked down at what she was reading and I chuckled inside. It was a book named Are Men Necessary? By Mauren Dowd. The book fit the profile of the women I remember perfectly. So I have a woman, looks very like the person I remember, reading a book that is along the topics she always talked to me while I fixed her computer, and to hit the nail in the coffin, we were heading to San Francisco.
God does have humor, He knows me too well.
On the flight from San Francisco to Newark, I got absolutely no sleep at all…and I’m supposed to “go to work” when I get there. The things I do to get my fix of technology. Oh yea…another thing. Hopefully another update tonight!
-Michael
* Kids and teenagers are my most valuable teachers.
* Holidays are some of my favorite times to just SMILE at people ( even if they might think im crazy)
* I am totally in love with rural areas. Quiet places are awesome. They allow you to think so much better than in the city/and or in an apartment.
*Music from Jars of Clay can make me cry.
* I miss my cousins who live all over the USA and abroad. I miss them deeply. I have a very strong connection to family and I hope that it ALWAYS stays that way.
* My Kiddo is learning new words every day. It is awe-insipiring and joyful and awfully depressing at the same time. She is getting older every day.
* I am sort of envious of people who can be instantaneously social with people. I need time to warm up and even then my connections with people are most commonly deeply thought out. It is sometimes very frustrating. That’s just who I am.
* One of my very favorite occurances happened last week. My parents received a package from West Virginia. Inside the package…. my Aunt Doris’s ( my great aunt) FAMOUS PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE! EEK! I wait for this all year.
* I want to take my daughter and my husband to meet all of my family in West Virginia. It is a part of me that I really want to share with them. It is so beautiful there.
* This coming weekend is going to be FILLED with Christmas-y things. Mike is going to be away so Zaeda and I will stay at my parents house. My mom and Zaeda and I are going to make a gingerbread house! WoohoO!
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Photos taken by our ever-talented Sister– Ari Sainz
Ξ December 7th, 2006 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Kids |
OOOOH boy. I am excited. This year Zaeda is excited by the tree (which we bought and put up on Tuesday evening) she LOVES to un-decorate it and then Re-decorate it. Currently our tree has LOTS of decorations up at the top and NO decorations at the bottom. She giggles as she takes ornaments down. She also is very crafty about how she uses decorations. She took one long skinny decoration and promptly shoved it into the wall where there was a small hole from the screws that used to hold the baby gate into the wall. She looked around to see if I had seen her do it, and quickly snapped part of the ornament off in the wall! EEK! We talked about that for a minute, and decided that she should no longer put ornaments on the wall- but rather only on the tree. She nodded in agreement. She is also excited by all of the lights on houses outside, and she says “pretty.” She dances to Christmas music and if we look at a Nativity set she will tell you “baby Jesus.” It is ULTRA cute.
I have been taking time to really start explaining to Zaeda why we celebrate Christmas. We read the passages in the Bible about the Christmas story. She listened and sat on my lap. It was very sweet. When we passed a Salvation Army kettle the other day I spent time pulling some moolah out of my wallet so that Zaeda could put it in to the kettle. Then we talked about it going to people who needed it, and that we want and need to help other people. I know she can’t understand all of it yet, but hey.. she will grow up understanding more and more each year, and that is the best feeling ever.
I love watching Zaeda interact with people, because it brings out my heart. If she can interact with everyone with a huge smile on her face, so can I. When she makes other people smile her smile grows ten times brighter. That is the best feeling in the world.
-Melanie
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