Tsunami – Banda Aceh Shore, Indonesia
This is an excellent site showing before and after aerial shots of places struck by the tsunamis. These images provide the best perspective of the destruction I’ve seen.
It’s snowing!
Connor was urging me to open the front door this morning so he could look outside. What do ya know? It’s snowing. And just three days ago it was 70 degrees here. Amy was dressed first so she got Connor together and took him outside for his first walk in the snowflakes. She couldn’t find our digital camera so she got his pic with the camera on her phone. I’m pretty impressed with the quality of the images we can download off the Audiovox 8910‘s.
Camera phones are a must have with kids. It makes it so easy to collect pics that our parents missed (or never got developed). Later this afternoon I’m going to burn our entire photo directory to CD and back up the mySQL database running this blog to an excel file or something I can import later if necessary.
Who’s cruzin?
Today Connor entered the world of full blown walkin! He made it from my office all the way down the hall to the living room where his toys are. That’s where I caught this pic just ten minutes ago. We don’t have a baby anymore. We have a toddler!
Now his plan is starting to become obvious…. mommy and daddy will never rest again.
Apple – Mac mini
Gotta have one. I’ve always wanted to run OS-X v.10 Panther at home but never could afford a Powerbook or an expensive apple display for their desktops (which start at $999.00).
The technology gods have spoken and I see a Mac mini in my future. This Mac hooks to standard VGA and USB components. Right now it’s more important to me than a plasma TV, new laptop or anything else electronic.
HP DL380 and MSA30 Array
Here’s what I’ll be installing if I can find time between interviewing four potential contractors tomorrow. This file server’s about a week overdue in the rack. It’s been built for days, I just haven’t had time to get it to the Inflow data center. It’s a pretty good file server including an HP Smart Array 6i internal controller with four 36GB drives configured at RAID 1+0. The memory is at 4GB with two 3.6GHz. Xeon Processors. Overkill? Hefty for file storage to say the least.
The MSA30 has seven 72GB drives configured RAID 5 for a usable capacity of 407GB which can be expanded by the Smart Array 642 controller. Since it’s a file server this controller’s only got 64MB of battery backed cache. For SQL etc. I would only use 256MB of cache on the card and RAID 1+0 regardless of the loss of usable disk space. After this is in I’ve got an SQL server and another Citrix box to get installed for a P21 Commerce Center test environment. It all needs to be done by Monday morning.
Where do you put the kid?
Connor’s bathtub is so full of toys I’m not sure where the heck Amy puts him in it. We’ve got toys all over the house (except my office) and Amy doesn’t like the way it feels “cluttered”. Solution: bigger house. Do I move us soon or wait for her to start working again after she finishes school?
Personally I think we can live in what we’re in for a while. Connor’s outgrown half the toys he has anyway. It’s time to clean out his bedroom – hint, hint Amy. Speakin of tubs I gotta get in the shower – it’s already 7 am. I’ve got meetings all day starting at 8:00.
WRAL.com – News – Duke Health Trims Hospital Bill; Woman’s House Still Vulnerable To Pay Debt
WRAL.com – News – Duke Health Trims Hospital Bill; Woman’s House Still Vulnerable To Pay Debt
Duke will cut you up with Hydraulic Fluid (see below) and then take your house. This reminds me, I just got a follow up card sent by Duke to review my care during my stay. It sucked quite a lot. I’m starting to feel glad I survived it. Is Grandma Johnson the only thing good from Durham?
WRAL.com – News – Surgical Tools Washed In Hydraulic Fluid At Duke Hospitals
WRAL.com – News – Surgical Tools Washed In Hydraulic Fluid At Duke Hospitals
I sure am glad I didn’t have any surgery while I was at Duke Healthcare in Raleigh. Next time I’m going to Rex or Wake Med… hopefully there won’t be a next time.
So it’s 2005…
And today we finished the last of our Christmas celebrations. Once again we gave and received. But this time it seemed like we did a little more receiving. Our gifts weren’t the best we’ve given but we had an impactful December with hospitalizations and car wrecks. My new years resolution is to pay off the Mustang. I’m tired of having two car payments. Not that we can’t afford it but I just don’t like it.
Amy and I also came up with two other ways to save money in 2005. We’re cutting off the lousy, useless DirecTV and since we both have cell phones we’re getting rid of the home phone (we mostly get calls on it for someone named Karen Westbrook anyway – bill collectors are looking for her and we don’t know her but it seems she used to have our phone number). That’s $110 a month saved that can go towards getting rid of the Mustang payment. So if you want to reach us call our cells in Y2K5. Fewer car payments, less TV and more cell phones? Sounds kinda European. I think it sounds overdue.
The Santa Fe is repairable.
I got word from the Geico insurance adjuster the other day that the Santa Fe is not totaled. Seems that if the airbags deploy in any wreck it gets pretty expensive. My next step will be gap insurance to make sure we don’t come this close to being a one car family again.