I put together a quick SQL query this morning that can be run against an SQL database to retrieve the list of database names and thier recovery models. I only tested against an Microsoft SQL 2005 server but it should work against any SQL server.
The blog will wrap the text incorrectly, of course. when you copy and paste, the commands should work correctly.
USE master
GO
-- Declare a variable to store the value [database name] returned by FETCH.
DECLARE @dbname sysname, @mode varchar(1000)
-- Declare a cursor to iterate through the list of databases
DECLARE db_recovery_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT name from sysdatabases
-- Open the cursor
OPEN db_recovery_cursor
-- Perform the first fetch and store the value in a variable.
FETCH NEXT FROM db_recovery_cursor INTO @dbname
-- loop through cursor until no more records fetched
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
Set @mode = CONVERT (varchar, DATABASEPROPERTYEX(@dbname,'RECOVERY') )
PRINT 'Database Name: ' + @dbname + ' Recovery Model: ' + @mode
FETCH NEXT FROM db_recovery_cursor INTO @dbname
END
-- close the cursor and deallocate memory used by cursor
CLOSE db_recovery_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_recovery_cursor
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Mimi
A little bit of bad news from Japan today, Mimi, our lop-eared rabbit, passed away last night. Mimi had started to not eat and drink much in the last couple of days ad we had brought him to the vet to make sure it wasn’t an infection, abscessed tooth, or something that could be fixed. He seemed to have good energy and was cheerful all the time. According to the vet, it looks like it was just age. While she was packing, Chiho found the receipt from Jones & Co. pets and it showed that we bought Mimi in the summer of 1997 so that made him about 11 years old. That was really, really old for a typical rabbit so we just have to console ourselves that he lived a long life. We’re still going to miss him, though..JPG)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Groove Project going well
The Groove project that I've been working on is going well but it is really sucking up a lot of time and energy. The software itself it only medium complicated and the infrastructure was all rolled out weeks ago. I've been writing up documentation, an absolute ton of documentation, really. I've been writing deployment plans, backup and recovery plans, data retention plans, security policies, installation instructions, help manuals, FAQs, and more. I feel like I'm writing a damn novel or something. I've gotten some assistance in writing up this stuff but only one person seems to be actually completing things on a schedule. I try to coordinate and delegate but I'm not really thier boss so I don't have much control over thier work.
Honestly, the only really silly part of the whole software is how it forces the local workstation to put everything on the C:\ drive. I wrote about this before and I found a manual fix for it, but now I'm trying to come up with an automated solution for a 7,000+ desktop roll out. Really, what other software published in 2007/2008 requires you you create a VBScript hack to change where the data is stored? At a minimum, couldn't they have made it a sub-folder under My Documents so that if you already pointed My Documents somewhere with more room, Groove would just go with that?
Honestly, the only really silly part of the whole software is how it forces the local workstation to put everything on the C:\ drive. I wrote about this before and I found a manual fix for it, but now I'm trying to come up with an automated solution for a 7,000+ desktop roll out. Really, what other software published in 2007/2008 requires you you create a VBScript hack to change where the data is stored? At a minimum, couldn't they have made it a sub-folder under My Documents so that if you already pointed My Documents somewhere with more room, Groove would just go with that?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Microsoft support is kind of clueless on Groove
During the run up to this big Groove project, I've had to open two different Microsoft support cases. Since we are a big Microsoft shop with a global contract, we have fairly easy access to high-level technical support.
Even though I'm dealing with developers right out of Microsoft HQ on these issues, people who really should know the software, the actually fix came from a Paris-based consultant that my boss found. These guys were able to get better answers and get back to us faster than Microsoft critical product support. It was kind of annoying that the peole who make the software couldn't troubleshoot the software correctly.
Of course, they did buy the software rather than build it in house but they bought it almost three years ago. Shouldn't they have learned it by now?
Even though I'm dealing with developers right out of Microsoft HQ on these issues, people who really should know the software, the actually fix came from a Paris-based consultant that my boss found. These guys were able to get better answers and get back to us faster than Microsoft critical product support. It was kind of annoying that the peole who make the software couldn't troubleshoot the software correctly.
Of course, they did buy the software rather than build it in house but they bought it almost three years ago. Shouldn't they have learned it by now?
E-mail is really up, this time
I finally got my e-mail situation finalized and I have e-mail to my @SBWorks.com accounts up and running again. I have the @thedamps.com e-mails available, too, for those interested. I'm using e-mail hosting through Fat Cow and they are pretty cheap and simple. I haven't set up a website just yet. I have configured the website to redirect to this blog for a while. Maybe I'll use it for something else, soon.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Not entirely in love with Groove 2007
I've been working on this Groove Server 2007 project and work and there are alot of things I like but I'm not sure it is worth the hassle. The server side for large companies seems a little complicated but it isn't that bad, it's just that the client side software isn't that really that good.
Groove lets you keep things in sync no matter where you are or how you're connected to the internet. The synchronization works transparently across firewalls exactly as advertised. Considering how technically complicated that can be, that is a pretty slick software. But there are some usability things that are odd:
Groove lets you keep things in sync no matter where you are or how you're connected to the internet. The synchronization works transparently across firewalls exactly as advertised. Considering how technically complicated that can be, that is a pretty slick software. But there are some usability things that are odd:
- If you want to use the most secure method to share files, you need to drag and drop them into the workspace. There's no right-click >> send to workspace option and your workspaces don't show up in any file save dialog box.
- Files that are in the workspace are not accessible from any "open file" dialog box. You have to access the file by double clicking it from the workspace.
- You can link to a document in a workspace (hyperlink or OLE embeddd object)
- You get a lot of pop ups when saving documents asking for confirmation and overwrite that you don't get from just storing it on the disk.
There were a lot of cool features in Groove 3.5 that offered all kinds of customization opportunities that are missing from the new version. Since this is the first Microsoft version after purchasing the company so I guess they had to cut things out to get things integrated.
Overall, the software is a relatively small niche product. It works well for highly mobile people with high security requirements. They can accept the oddities of the user interface.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
SBworks e-mail delayed a bit
Since my credit card info and contact info are not identical, it looks like my order for hosting services was flagged for additional information. My SBWorks e-mail is still down for the moment. I thought it would be up by now.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Convenience
There are a lot of different ways to describe Japan but one thing that I have seen lately is the convenience of things. There is a well-engineered, user-oriented outlook to everyday things. Let's take something really boring: ATMs. Here's a picture of one I pulled off of the Internet:
The phone to call the bank and the calculator on the right is kind of useful but I'm pointing out to the place were you put the ATM card into. It's hard to see but there is a small slot underneath the card. That is were the receipt prints out. Why is that useful? The card and the receipt are ejected right next each other and you can pick up both with a single motion.
That level of engineering is hardly of life-shattering importance but that is fairly common throughout Japan. Prepaid train pass cards that you don't even have to take out of your wallet, vending machines that lift the drinks to waist height you don't have to bend down, advanced barcodes that can be scanned by a cell phone camera - all of these things are really nice to use.
I'm not sure why these types of devices are so common in Japan and so rare in the states. Maybe it's an engineering attitude...
The phone to call the bank and the calculator on the right is kind of useful but I'm pointing out to the place were you put the ATM card into. It's hard to see but there is a small slot underneath the card. That is were the receipt prints out. Why is that useful? The card and the receipt are ejected right next each other and you can pick up both with a single motion.
That level of engineering is hardly of life-shattering importance but that is fairly common throughout Japan. Prepaid train pass cards that you don't even have to take out of your wallet, vending machines that lift the drinks to waist height you don't have to bend down, advanced barcodes that can be scanned by a cell phone camera - all of these things are really nice to use.
I'm not sure why these types of devices are so common in Japan and so rare in the states. Maybe it's an engineering attitude...
SBWorks e-mail should be back up soon
I signed up with an external hosting service so e-mail should be back up and running in about 12 hours.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sloppy...
I screwed up and managed to loose the small wallet that contains my two train passes. I have two different passes, one for the JR line and one for the Yurikamome line and I had them in a separate mini-wallet since you have to pull them out at each train gate. Somehow, I had it when I left the last train station and headed to the office and I didn't have it at the end of the day when I started to head back home. I have no idea how, or where, I managed to loose it. Since I had only bought the three month passes on June 2nd, it was pretty irritating to loose something that costs 81,000 yen (~$800 US).
Chiho called the train station offices and filed the paperwork I needed to cancel and reissue the pass. The JR pass was on the new Suica system and I could get that reissued for 1,000 yen (~$10 US). I had purchased the classic style commuter pass (ていきけん) instead of the new PASMO cards so I couldn't get that reissued. That pass cost 31,800 yen so I'm out over $300 US thanks to me being sloppy.
Painful - I better not do that again.
Chiho called the train station offices and filed the paperwork I needed to cancel and reissue the pass. The JR pass was on the new Suica system and I could get that reissued for 1,000 yen (~$10 US). I had purchased the classic style commuter pass (ていきけん) instead of the new PASMO cards so I couldn't get that reissued. That pass cost 31,800 yen so I'm out over $300 US thanks to me being sloppy.
Painful - I better not do that again.
Been a bit busy
As you've noticed, I've been a bit behind in updating this blog. I've been buried in this roll out of Groove at work and haven't had much time. My SBWorks server in Seattle died, too, and I haven't even had a chance to move my mail to alternate web host.
I'll try to fix that in the next couple of days...
I'll try to fix that in the next couple of days...
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Lucky 13...
It is our 13th anniversary today - measuring from the ceremony we had in Tokyo, anyway. Our Seattle anniversary is in July. I'm celebrating by working late on a phone call to the rest of the team in Paris and America. Oh what fun...
By the way, my mail server in Seattle went on the fritz and I hope to have an alternate set up shortly.
By the way, my mail server in Seattle went on the fritz and I hope to have an alternate set up shortly.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Actually, the security check was worse than I thought
Leaving the Bangalore airport actually had more silliness then I expected. Security checked my ticket, passport, and the stamps that were put on my luggage tags at the top of the jet way. And then, for some weird reason, there was a security guy at the bottom of the ramp that checked my ticket stub.
What possible security risk could occur between the top of the jet way and the bottom? Or is this just a jobs program for security companies?
What possible security risk could occur between the top of the jet way and the bottom? Or is this just a jobs program for security companies?
Microsoft Junction v1.05
While I was getting Groove training, they mentioned that the Groove client puts all of the files on the C:\ drive by default. What the Hommes et Process guess recommended was an old SysInternals application that Microsoft maintains called Junction. The software allows you create a virtual folder or mount point that points the C:\...\Groove directory to another drive. Since Groove can’t let you change it, you can have the OS point all requests for the default directory into a different location. Windows Vista has this as a native option but you need the additional software for XP.
To use this on Groove, you need to:
To use this on Groove, you need to:
- Logon to Groove and configure it for the current user
- Exit from all Groove applications, including the systems tray icon
- Move the %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Groove folder to a different location
- Download Junction
- Create a virtual folder called Groove at the Office level that points to the new locations
- The command will look like this: junction "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Groove" "D:\Groove"
- Junction does not currently support UNC paths
- Restart Groove
Flying out of Bangalore
The trip to Bangalore is wrapped up and I’m sitting at the new airport here. It looks pretty nice but the airport is a long way out from downtown (and that is just the start of the problems). I left at 6pm (pretty much rush hour) and it took just over two hours to get here. Even when I arrived at midnight, it took over an hour to get here. One of the business people who talked at the regional meeting summed it up as “organized enough to build a new airport but not organized to build a good road to the airport”. It seems to be pretty accurate to me. There is a nice, broad highway that goes from the airport to the main highway out of Bangalore but they didn’t make any improvements to the highway for the airport traffic. For a Seattle comparison, it would be the same as if you put a new airport near Carnation and built a nice freeway to Monroe to hook up with Highway 2, don’t bother to do anything to any of the highways that feed Monroe, and assume that the Seattle-bound traffic will be fine.
As hard as it might be to believe, but the security check at the airport is worse than the TSA.
Here’s the flow:
Bangalore is an odd place - reminds me of parts of the Philippines and Malaysia in the dust, unruly traffic, and the odd combination of old and new buildings. Bangalore is high-tech boom town that rivals Silicon Valley for creativity and energy but the living conditions are no different than any other part of India or Southeast Asia. The regional office is in a really nice building that is only a couple of years old but it is immediately adjacent to building that could have been there since ‘50s and haven’t had and repairs since the ‘70s.
I didn’t have much of chance to look around but I did get to sample some good food. For the meals that we had earlier in the week with the large groups, they toned down the spiciness a little but later in the week I talked them into turning up the spice when it was just a couple of us. There was some good stuff to be had. Only one person out of the group of 12 visitors managed to get sick so it looks like the food was fairly trustworthy. They did take us out to some of the fancier restaurants, though, so I can’t say for sure that the food is completely safe. It tasted great, though.
As hard as it might be to believe, but the security check at the airport is worse than the TSA.
Here’s the flow:
- They check your ticket and passport to let you into the building.
- At check in, they check your passport.
- After you check in, you go through an outgoing immigration where they check your passport and collect an outgoing passenger form. They stamp the passport and the boarding pass
- After you leave the immigration, they check it again to make sure both were stamped
- At security, they check your boarding pass and passport again
- They let people through one at a time and perform an individual search for every person going though the hand pat-down and wand treatment
- The security people stamp your boarding pass
Bangalore is an odd place - reminds me of parts of the Philippines and Malaysia in the dust, unruly traffic, and the odd combination of old and new buildings. Bangalore is high-tech boom town that rivals Silicon Valley for creativity and energy but the living conditions are no different than any other part of India or Southeast Asia. The regional office is in a really nice building that is only a couple of years old but it is immediately adjacent to building that could have been there since ‘50s and haven’t had and repairs since the ‘70s.
I didn’t have much of chance to look around but I did get to sample some good food. For the meals that we had earlier in the week with the large groups, they toned down the spiciness a little but later in the week I talked them into turning up the spice when it was just a couple of us. There was some good stuff to be had. Only one person out of the group of 12 visitors managed to get sick so it looks like the food was fairly trustworthy. They did take us out to some of the fancier restaurants, though, so I can’t say for sure that the food is completely safe. It tasted great, though.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
On the ground in Bangalore
I did finally get to Bangalore (at midnight, local). I've been in the meeting all day so didn't get out and look around but it seems pretty chaotic around the city. Bangalore is definately a boom town - roads always underconstruction, every other building seems to be underconstruction, and everyone seems to be in a hurry.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
In Bangkok for a couple hours
I've landed in Bangkok for a couple hours and I think I've found the real advantage of traveling business class. Sure, the seats are wider and the food is better but I think the real advantage is the business class lounges. Here I am, stuck on the ground with nothing to do for 5 hours and instead of hanging out at a coffee shop or those little uncomfortable chairs at the gate, I can sit on a sofa with a near by juice and snack bar and get free internet.
The Bangkok airport is seriously confusing. It's a sprawling building that really needs an outside archictect or interior desginer to overhaul the signage. I started down a long consourse base on one sign that said "international transfers" and didn't see another sign for 10 minutes or so of walking. I was starting to wonder if I'd gone the wrong way. At least I have plenty of time to get lost.
I'll have even more time in Bangkok on my way back from India. The flight with the best connection (2 hours in Bangkok) is full so I'm on standby. I have a confirmed seat on the next flight but that is 10 hours later. If I get the standby seat, I will land in Tokyo at 4pm Saturday but the other flight gets me there at 6am sunday so the difference is acceptable. I don't get much sightseeing time but that's okay. I'm traveling for a specific business meeting, not for pleasure, after all.
The Bangkok airport is seriously confusing. It's a sprawling building that really needs an outside archictect or interior desginer to overhaul the signage. I started down a long consourse base on one sign that said "international transfers" and didn't see another sign for 10 minutes or so of walking. I was starting to wonder if I'd gone the wrong way. At least I have plenty of time to get lost.
I'll have even more time in Bangkok on my way back from India. The flight with the best connection (2 hours in Bangkok) is full so I'm on standby. I have a confirmed seat on the next flight but that is 10 hours later. If I get the standby seat, I will land in Tokyo at 4pm Saturday but the other flight gets me there at 6am sunday so the difference is acceptable. I don't get much sightseeing time but that's okay. I'm traveling for a specific business meeting, not for pleasure, after all.
95% Unpacked and Moved-in
Chiho's been busy unpacking things while I've been out of town and it looks like most of our stuff in unpacked and usable. My office stuff and computer stuff is only partially set up and I think that is all that is left. Chiho found out that the basic internet access service is free (included in the rent, I assume) so we don't actually have to pay a seperate bill for 100Mbs internet access. Sure, the internet is shared amongst the whole building but that is still 60-70 times faster than Comcast's real throughput back in Seattle and they charge about $50 a month for that.
I am going to India after all
After some last minute heroics by our travel agency, I finally got my visa to India at 5:00pm last night. I'm sitting at the airport now, waiting for my flight to board. I guess it's good news from a business perspective but now I have to go give 8+ hours of training lectures over the next three days. Somehow, I think I'm going to be drinking a lot of coffee...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Visa silliness continues
Well, my trip to Bangalore is hanging the breeze again. The Indian embassy has outsourced their visa process and it's pretty obvious that they really don't want people to visit the country.
- Two weeks ago, I dropped off my application.
- The paperwork says to return in a week
- One part of the paperwork says to come by in the morning, another says to stop by in the afternoon.
- I went to the visa processing office for India this morning
- They sent me to the main embassy to drop off my passport
- I got to the office to find it closed. (It was about 11:50 so I am hoping it is just closed for lunch)
- I called the visa processing center to find out the hours but they only accept phone calls between 3pm and 4pm
So, I am sitting at a Tullys having a coffee and I'll go check on the embassy office at 1pm and see if it is open again. If it isn't open, then I guess I'm not going. I love this kind of back and forth - doesn't everyone? I'm supposed to fly out tomorrow at 11am and we haven't been able to buy my tickets yet. I bet all of this screwing around is going to cost the company a couple thousand in extra airfare at this rate.
Also, I'm supposed to be giving about 8 hours of technical training over the next three days. I guess everyone is going to just sit around and waste time. And DS flew people from all over the world to Bangalore to get this training, too...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I was In Paris this week
The business trip for Paris finally went through and got scheduled and I am just wrapping up a 5-day training seminar for Groove. Things were pretty busy while I was here so I wasn’t able to update this blog or even really sightsee. The trip was tied tightly to my work week – arriving late on Sunday and leaving Friday afternoon. After this Paris trip, I have to fly to Bangalore for an IT regional summit. I was originally planning of flying straight from Paris to India but there was a delay in getting my visa for India. I have to fly back to Tokyo instead of flying straight to India so I couldn’t stay in Paris like I originally planned. I couldn’t come early, either, because our household goods shipment arrived on the Friday before and I needed to be there for the unpacking. So, I got out to a couple of Paris restaurants but absolutely no other side trips at all.
The Dassault Systemes HQ is located in Suresnes near La Defense and it seems to be a pretty nice area. My jet lag woke me up a little early the first day so I decided to walk around the area a bit before I went to work. The area is full of classic, two story row houses and single homes that are in excellent shape. A lot of them have very nice yards, nice cars parked out front, and other hints that you’re in a very well to do area.
The hotel I’m staying, however, is not so nice. It’s not that bad but it really isn’t that good, either. I’m staying in the Best Western Atrium Hotel Suresnes and it is a reasonably priced business hotel but it seems to have some issues. The biggest drawback as a business hotel is that the wireless internet access doesn’t cover the entire building. You need to go to the atrium area to get a reliable connection. At least they have plenty of couches and tables to work at.
The smaller annoyances are the fact that that it doesn’t have air conditioning, the elevator is amazingly slow, and the rooms are pretty noisy. Since May isn’t that warm, I guess I don’t care about the a/c but Paris can get pretty uncomfortable in summer. And, the hotel fronts a busy street so you can’t leave the windows open.
I’m writing this on my way back but I won’t be able to post it until I get back. I’m at Charles de Gaul airport right now and the price for wireless access is a little high for just a blog post. I’m at Terminal 2E at CDG airport and it looks like they are 2/3rds of the way through a very nice looking remodel. However, that also meant that the security lines were incredibly long because they only had a couple of scanning machines running and all of the stores are closed up. There is one little coffee stand open but that is it.
For this trip, I flew business class on Korean Air from CDG to the new(ish) Inchon airport near Seoul to Narita. They are flying a fairly old 747 type but they have done some recent upgrades so it fairly comfortable. The business class seats are definitely a better way to travel then coach but they aren’t that comfortable. I still had trouble sleeping and it is still a 16 hour flight. However, the short check in lines, nicer food, first off the plane, first through immigration, and first at baggage pick up is definitely worth it. My trip to India will be by coach, thanks to the last minute change of schedule, so I guess I should enjoy my trip now as much as possible.
The Dassault Systemes HQ is located in Suresnes near La Defense and it seems to be a pretty nice area. My jet lag woke me up a little early the first day so I decided to walk around the area a bit before I went to work. The area is full of classic, two story row houses and single homes that are in excellent shape. A lot of them have very nice yards, nice cars parked out front, and other hints that you’re in a very well to do area.
The hotel I’m staying, however, is not so nice. It’s not that bad but it really isn’t that good, either. I’m staying in the Best Western Atrium Hotel Suresnes and it is a reasonably priced business hotel but it seems to have some issues. The biggest drawback as a business hotel is that the wireless internet access doesn’t cover the entire building. You need to go to the atrium area to get a reliable connection. At least they have plenty of couches and tables to work at.
The smaller annoyances are the fact that that it doesn’t have air conditioning, the elevator is amazingly slow, and the rooms are pretty noisy. Since May isn’t that warm, I guess I don’t care about the a/c but Paris can get pretty uncomfortable in summer. And, the hotel fronts a busy street so you can’t leave the windows open.
I’m writing this on my way back but I won’t be able to post it until I get back. I’m at Charles de Gaul airport right now and the price for wireless access is a little high for just a blog post. I’m at Terminal 2E at CDG airport and it looks like they are 2/3rds of the way through a very nice looking remodel. However, that also meant that the security lines were incredibly long because they only had a couple of scanning machines running and all of the stores are closed up. There is one little coffee stand open but that is it.
For this trip, I flew business class on Korean Air from CDG to the new(ish) Inchon airport near Seoul to Narita. They are flying a fairly old 747 type but they have done some recent upgrades so it fairly comfortable. The business class seats are definitely a better way to travel then coach but they aren’t that comfortable. I still had trouble sleeping and it is still a 16 hour flight. However, the short check in lines, nicer food, first off the plane, first through immigration, and first at baggage pick up is definitely worth it. My trip to India will be by coach, thanks to the last minute change of schedule, so I guess I should enjoy my trip now as much as possible.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Default behavior of Outlook Auto Archive might be different than users expect
If you are relying on Auto Archive to help our users stay below the a mailbox limit, there is something important that all end users need to be aware of:
If you create new folders in your mailbox, those new folders are not automatically archived. This may cause problems for people who think that all folders in their mailbox are covered. Any new folder will need to have the archiving option set manually during creation by selecting the properties of the subfolder. You can also reset the folders for the entire current mailbox from the Tools >> Options >> Other >> Auto Archive >> Apply these settings to all folders now.
There appears to be no way for us to change this default behavior without creating a custom Outlook plug in from scratch. Programming for Outlook is incredibly difficult so it is highly unlikely to be worth the effort. If you know of any existing plug in, please let me know.
If you create new folders in your mailbox, those new folders are not automatically archived. This may cause problems for people who think that all folders in their mailbox are covered. Any new folder will need to have the archiving option set manually during creation by selecting the properties of the subfolder. You can also reset the folders for the entire current mailbox from the Tools >> Options >> Other >> Auto Archive >> Apply these settings to all folders now.
There appears to be no way for us to change this default behavior without creating a custom Outlook plug in from scratch. Programming for Outlook is incredibly difficult so it is highly unlikely to be worth the effort. If you know of any existing plug in, please let me know.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Getting settled
We’ve got keys for the new condo and have started to get appliances and stuff. We had refrigerator a combo washer/dryer delivered on Thursday. Almost no one uses a real dryer in Japan because the cost of electricity is so high. The vast majority of people line-dry their clothes so as you travel around Japan you will see a lot of clotheslines – even in the fancy parts of town.
Japanese retail stores have a different spin on the “90-days same as cash” financing scheme that American retailers do. The majority of salaried positions in Japan have a twice-a-year bonus, one in summer and one at new-years, so the retailers offer delayed billing. They will not charge your bank account or credit card until your bonus is scheduled to arrive. It’s a lot simpler than the “open an account” process that you get at American retailers.
The major appliance stores are willing to negotiate a little, too. The one that we finally bought from was willing to go lower in price after Chiho found some advertised prices online for the same products. It’s not quite a match-or-beat-the-price guarantee but it functions in a similar fashion. Chiho shaved about $150 (USD) off the price of everything with a half-hour worth of online searching.
Japanese retail stores have a different spin on the “90-days same as cash” financing scheme that American retailers do. The majority of salaried positions in Japan have a twice-a-year bonus, one in summer and one at new-years, so the retailers offer delayed billing. They will not charge your bank account or credit card until your bonus is scheduled to arrive. It’s a lot simpler than the “open an account” process that you get at American retailers.
The major appliance stores are willing to negotiate a little, too. The one that we finally bought from was willing to go lower in price after Chiho found some advertised prices online for the same products. It’s not quite a match-or-beat-the-price guarantee but it functions in a similar fashion. Chiho shaved about $150 (USD) off the price of everything with a half-hour worth of online searching.
Paris and Bangalore
It looks like I’ve got a business trip coming up at the end of May that could get kind of long. There is a training session for the Groove software in Paris the week of May 19th and it will be followed by an IT Regional Meeting in Bangalore from the 25th to the 29th. I might actually end up flying direct from Paris to Bangalore. Not all of the details have been worked out, yet. I sure hope all of our household goods arrive before I have to leave. I think Chiho would kill me if I wasn’t in town when it came time to unpack.
I’ll try to take pictures and send gifts if I do go on these trips. I’ve been to Paris but I’ve never been to India at all so this should be interesting.
I’ll try to take pictures and send gifts if I do go on these trips. I’ve been to Paris but I’ve never been to India at all so this should be interesting.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Major typo in SQL article
In my SQL 2005 article for changing the model database, I made a big typo: second section, step #4. The real settings are:
4. Enter ;-c;-T 3608 at the end of the current string. As a side note, the Microsoft documentation for this does not mention the semi-colons
The space is really important and placing at the end of the string is more likely to work (post SP2). You will need the semi-colon in front of the -c, too.
4. Enter ;-c;-T 3608 at the end of the current string. As a side note, the Microsoft documentation for this does not mention the semi-colons
The space is really important and placing at the end of the string is more likely to work (post SP2). You will need the semi-colon in front of the -c, too.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Default location for SQL Backups
In an earlier post, I showed how to change the "model" database to have new databases created in the correct location. In tandem with that, I've found out how to change the default backup location. This one is a little easier:
- The setting is contained in the registry on a per-instance basis. First, find the MSSQL.[Number] directory for the instance you are working with. 95% of the time, it will be MSSQL.1
- Open REGEDIT and find the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQLServer
- Change the DefaultBackupLocation key to whatever path you would prefer.
This change effects the wizards related to the maintenance plans and the one-off special backups.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Removing Groove Indentities from a workstation
I've been learning a lot about the Groove software over the last couple of weeks and one of things I've learned is that Microsoft's documentation is HORRIBLE.
I know, that's not very surprising but this has been worse that usual. Even the client-side help documentation is bad and Microsoft does a better job than most at client-facing documenation. From an end-user prespective there is acouple of important items to note
Because of this tight binding, you have to remove the identity from the local workstation. You have to options:
I know, that's not very surprising but this has been worse that usual. Even the client-side help documentation is bad and Microsoft does a better job than most at client-facing documenation. From an end-user prespective there is acouple of important items to note
Groove Identities
Groove ties very hard to be network OS neutral so it uses special terminology for itself. Instead of a Groove user account, the logon process is through a Groove identity. These identities are very tightly bound to the management server and have a fairly paranoid built-in security system. Each identity is tightly bound to a workstation and you allow or deny privledges based on that identity. The logon process is sepereate from any other logon process and the username and password are unique.Because of this tight binding, you have to remove the identity from the local workstation. You have to options:
If I can still login to this identity:
- Logon to the Groove client software.
- From the toolbar, select Tool >> Preferences
- Select the Identity tab
- Select Delete
There will be a couple of prompts to warn you that you can't undo this action and that all data will be deleted.
If you can no longer logon to an identity
If you can't logon to this identity, you will get annoying pop ups about how it can't logon and will will always see the user name in the list. There is no real way to delete the identity from inside the Groove software. The only way to do it is to purge all the identities from your computer.
- Backup, archive, or export any existing workspaces that you want to keep. Remember, this process will delete all Groove data from the local workstation so you have to backup anything you want to keep.
- Close out of all Groove software (including the system tray icon)
- Run the following command: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12\GrooveClean.exe -all. This will delete all of the cached data.
- Go to the current user's profile at %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Groove\User and delete all files and all sub-folders
- Restart Groove. You should be presented with the first time user wizard.
- Configure the user account and import the workspaces that you archived.
Major Japanese Holiday
Over the next two weeks, there are four national holidays in a tight grouping, normally referred to as Golden Week. The vast majority of offices are closed during this week and most Japanese take a major vacation. This year, several of the days occur over the weekend so it kind of warps the traditional tight cluster of days. It looks like about half of my office took this week off and half will take next week off. I'm actually going to come in for a couple of these holidays so that I can take comp-time for whenever our household goods arrive from the states.
Speaking of that, the moving company seemed to get us on a pretty fast boat. The truck was packed on April 18th (in about 4" of snow, too) and it looks like the container ship is expected to dock on May 1st (as scheduled). We don't know how long the customs process will take and the Golden Week holiday will probably slow it down a bit. I'm guessing that the move-in date will be the week of May 12th. We'll see...
Speaking of that, the moving company seemed to get us on a pretty fast boat. The truck was packed on April 18th (in about 4" of snow, too) and it looks like the container ship is expected to dock on May 1st (as scheduled). We don't know how long the customs process will take and the Golden Week holiday will probably slow it down a bit. I'm guessing that the move-in date will be the week of May 12th. We'll see...
Friday, April 25, 2008
Fully packed out of Seattle
Chiho wrapped up the house move, the moving company stopped by last week, and Chiho arrived in Tokyo yesterday. That wraps up the first half of the home move... well, except for all the stuff my mom and dad are taking care of for us this weekend.
The flight over for Chiho was pretty uneventful. The plane was almost completely empty which seemed pretty surprising. We've flown at this time of year before and it was normally pretty full. However, we normally flew on Thursday or Friday so maybe it's the day of the week. So if you have to fly to Japan, try to do it on Wednesday.
Mimi (our lop-eared rabbit) seemed to survive the flight without too much trouble. He seemed to be in a very grumpy mood when Chiho dropped him off at the airport quarantine. We'll be picking him up on Saturday from the airport.
The flight over for Chiho was pretty uneventful. The plane was almost completely empty which seemed pretty surprising. We've flown at this time of year before and it was normally pretty full. However, we normally flew on Thursday or Friday so maybe it's the day of the week. So if you have to fly to Japan, try to do it on Wednesday.
Mimi (our lop-eared rabbit) seemed to survive the flight without too much trouble. He seemed to be in a very grumpy mood when Chiho dropped him off at the airport quarantine. We'll be picking him up on Saturday from the airport.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Hardcore flashback time
I saw an advertisement on the train today that really, really, shocked me. It was for a live concert from these guys. What the heck are these guys doing staging a global reunion tour - they weren't that good in the '80s...
Monday, April 21, 2008
Found a new domain-naming wrinkle
Several of my clients in the past had not followed Microsoft's domain naming recommendations and made thier internal domain name match thier external domain name. This always caused problems connecting from the outside, screwing up routing, and other irritations but I've actually found something that is worse - incredibly worse, actually - the Single Label Domain (SLD)
In a single label domain, instead of domain.local or something.domain.com, you actually make your domain without a dot-anything like INT or LOCAL. This makes your internal domain names kind of simple, server.int, web.int, or whatever but you be amazed as to how much breaks when you do you this:
- Live Communicator breaks
- Kerberos authentication between Active Directory and any other kerberos based service brakes
- Windows authentication to an SQL server breaks
- Domain trust become extremely difficult
- Groove Server Active Directory Integration breaks
Trust me on this one, you never want to do a single label domain. And, guess what we have at my new company....
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Address in Japan
We've picked our preferred place and have it pretty much locked in. The new address will be:
Beach Terrace #111
3-1-1 Mihama-ku Utase
Chiba-shi 261-0013
Japan
〒261-0013
千葉市美浜区打瀬３－１－１
幕張ビーチテラス１１１号
JAPAN
We will get keys on the 26th or 27th of April. I got a chance to look at it last weekend and here are some pictures:
Beach Terrace #111
3-1-1 Mihama-ku Utase
Chiba-shi 261-0013
Japan
〒261-0013
千葉市美浜区打瀬３－１－１
幕張ビーチテラス１１１号
JAPAN
We will get keys on the 26th or 27th of April. I got a chance to look at it last weekend and here are some pictures:
- From the front entry way
- The big windows out the back yard area (note how tall the windows are - we had no idea the condo had such high ceilings)
- The back patio and fence
- Kitchen (with dishwasher, very important)
- Looking from the main living area towards the kitchen
Configuring SQL 2005 so new database put files on different drives
Microsoft's SQL 2005 best practice recommendations include splitting binary, database files, and transaction logs onto different drives. When you install SQL 2005, you can used the advanced options to change the default data directory but this will put the MDF and LDF files in on the same drive. This really doesn't matter for the system databases but you don't want that to be true for all database that get created later. You actually need to do two different processes to ensure that new databases get configured correctly:
Change the defaults for manually created databases
- Use SQL Management Studio and connect to the database
- Right click the server name at the top of the hierarchy and select options
- Go to Database Settings
- Change the Default Database location
Change the model database
Databases that are created by scripts or software installers do not grab the settings we just changed. They copy the settings from the model database. Since the model database defaults to putting the MDF and LDF files in the same folder you need to modify it. This gets a little tricky, though:
- Open SQL Configuration Manager
- Find the service that defines you database, right click it, and select properties
- Go to Advanced and find the start up parameters section
- Enter ;-c;-T 3608 at the end of the current string. As a side note, the Microsoft documentation for this does not mention the semi-colons
- Restart the SQL service. The parameters that we put in will let you modify the temp database. Without those tags, the database is "locked".
- Use SQL Management Studio to connect to the database
- Open a new query and make sure the current database is set to master
- Run the following query: sp_detach_db 'model'
- Move the modellog.ldf file to the path you want logs to be
- Run the following query:sp_attach_db 'model','[Path to Data Files]\model.mdf','[Path to log files]\modellog.ldf'
- Use SQL Configuration Manager to remove the parameters we added.
- Restart the SQL service
That should make your SQL server create new databases the way you want them to.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Groove Server 2007
I've been placed in charge of world wide roll out of the Groove Server 2007 infrastructure. I've played with the software and a couple of Seattle clients had asked me to look into it so I'm kind of familiar with the concept. Now that I've had a chance to really dig into it, the system is kind of fascinating.
The main core of the software is amazingly simple - (1) create a way for end-users to setup their own shared storage systems, (2) copy the files to whoever is working on it, and (3) keep the various copies up to date wherever someone happens to be working. Simple in concept but tricky to actually pull off. SharePoint's web-accessible document front end can make the files easy to share and ensure that people have access to the latest version but it only works while you're connected to the Internet.
Groove is kind of confusing because there is a client software and server software and you don't always need the server versions. The software needs access to a management server but your company doesn't need to have one of its own. For small offices, Microsoft has a free, public support infrastructure that you can register your client software with. You can be set up and running within a minute or two of starting the software. The Groove Server infrastructure is really only needed if you want more control. In Microsoft's documentation, offices with fewer than 100 users shouldn't even bother setting up an Groove Server installation at all.
From all of my reading and research, it looks like it should be an easy setup. I'm going to be creating a test network over the next couple of weeks and I'll try to write about what I find out. Well, I have a budget of only 40,000 euros to pull this off so I guess I'll just have to make do... :-)
...Did I mention that I'm still having difficulty with the scale of my new company? 40,000 euros is over $60,000 US and that was one of the smallest budget items on the list this year...
The main core of the software is amazingly simple - (1) create a way for end-users to setup their own shared storage systems, (2) copy the files to whoever is working on it, and (3) keep the various copies up to date wherever someone happens to be working. Simple in concept but tricky to actually pull off. SharePoint's web-accessible document front end can make the files easy to share and ensure that people have access to the latest version but it only works while you're connected to the Internet.
Groove is kind of confusing because there is a client software and server software and you don't always need the server versions. The software needs access to a management server but your company doesn't need to have one of its own. For small offices, Microsoft has a free, public support infrastructure that you can register your client software with. You can be set up and running within a minute or two of starting the software. The Groove Server infrastructure is really only needed if you want more control. In Microsoft's documentation, offices with fewer than 100 users shouldn't even bother setting up an Groove Server installation at all.
From all of my reading and research, it looks like it should be an easy setup. I'm going to be creating a test network over the next couple of weeks and I'll try to write about what I find out. Well, I have a budget of only 40,000 euros to pull this off so I guess I'll just have to make do... :-)
...Did I mention that I'm still having difficulty with the scale of my new company? 40,000 euros is over $60,000 US and that was one of the smallest budget items on the list this year...
Gold’s Gym Makuhari幕張
When Chiho was back in
Rented out the Mukilteo house
We decided to take our house off of the market and rent it out. As it turns out, one of Chiho’s ex-coworkers was looking for a new rental so we rented it to them for a year. We’ll test the waters for a sale next year. Of course, since the dollar took its big plunge against the yen, maybe waiting is a good idea.
Furniture for sale (3)
One more time, here's another list of what we have for sale:
- Glass angel table - $125
Vanity table with mirror- $150 SOLD- White bench with storage - $135
- Blue china hutch or curio cabinet - $135
- Off-white end table/cabinet - $50
- 48" round center post table - $500
- Magnavox 27" TV - $25
- Black oval free-standing mirror - $40
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Our spot in Japan
We’re 99% sure that we’re going to take the rental condo that is the same building as Chiho’s parents. It’s a different floor plan than theirs and is slightly bigger. The apartment will be 100 square meters (or about 1,000 sq. ft.). That’s less than half the size of the Mukilteo house which is why we’re trying to sell so much of it. Here's the floor plan:
Standalone image: http://www.sbworks.com/images/apartment.jpg. I color coded and labeled the floor plan if you follow the link. The rooms that are "missing" doors actually have sliding doors.
One month in...
I’ve now been living in
As another plus, the office is a business-casual office so I don’t have to wear a suit and tie. That was the one thing from my
I guess I’m still in the early part of “cultural adjustment”, though. I’ll have to write again in a couple of months to be sure.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
EMC SAN - Nice hardware but...
At the new office, we have several really big EMC fiber channel SANs. We have it configured in a fairly complicated, high-availability way. Each server has two HBA controller cards and each HBA is connected to redundant storage controllers over Cisco fiber channel switch. This installation is expensive but the performance is excellent. The hardware is top notch and it's automated failover features are really solid. The EMC hardware engineers seem to to have their head screwed on straight.
But... but... but... What moron wrote their software?
To run an EMC SAN, you need to configure settings on the storage controller, use a client side software to mount the volumes, and then manage the backups with another software suite. That doesn't sound to bad, right?
The storage manager software is a Java based website that using LDAP authentication (yea... you don't need another password). To use the SAN, you create RAID groups by selecting the disks that should be included, then you define LUNs inside the RAID group, then assign the RAID group to a storage group, and then assign the storage group to a client. Then you turn clockwise three times, throw salt over shoulder, and (if all goes well) the LUN is available to the client.
I've actually simplified the steps, believe it or not. At the end of this, you get a LUN that acts like a disk to the server side operating system. It has a really useful name like LUN138 but you can assign something more human readable like "ExchangeServer01-StorageGroup1" or whatever. That will make your SAN Management easier (you would assume).
Now, let's more the client side. On the HBA fiber card, there is a world wide name (similar to the MAC address) and there is a way to assign a human-readable name like ExhchangeServer01-HBA1 instead of long hexadecimal string (which should make things easier, you assume). Once you have everything set there you flip back the the SAN manager to register the HBA card. And, of course, you can't read the human-readable name. All you get is the world wide name and you have to flip back and forth to figure out which 20+ character hexadecimal number belongs to which card.
After you get registered on the SAN, you load software on the client to mount the volumes. This client side software does not use LDAP. Instead, it uses a locally controlled password. Once you find out the password and load the software, it scans the storage groups available to the client and displays the LUN "ExchangeServer01-StorageGroup1"...... Well, no - it displays this long 20+ character hexadecimal number that you've never seen before. If you're only mounting one ore two that's not a big deal, but if you are putting in five or six that can be kind of annoying. To make it worse, these LUNs show up in Computer Management as Disk1, Disk2, Disk3, etc. and there is no other useful information as to which disk is which LUN.
So here's a scenario: you create four LUNS for four Exchange storage groups on one Enterprise server and you would like to mount the LUNs in a particular pattern. To make the LUNs match a pattern, you will need to flip between three different windows comparing hexadecimal strings to decide which disk in the computer management window belongs to which LUN. Wouldn't it be nice if the EMC software could read the EMC created human readable tags in the EMC storage system?
We haven't even gotten to the backup system. If your are rolling out a couple of servers with 5 or 6 mounted LUNs per server, you head is already hurting so make sure you take a long break before starting the next step.
Coffee would probably be a good idea.
EMC Replication manager uses cluster-by-cluster snapshotting to create a backup very quickly. You can snapshot a dozen 200 gigabyte LUNs simultaneously and it will take about a hour / hour and a half. Pretty slick, I suppose but (again) the software experience leaves something to be desired.
But, before you frustrate yourself with Replication Manager, you have to dive back into the storage manager. To make a replica, you need a backup LUN that has an identical cluster count and cluster size. And, of course, there is no "Create new LUN with these settings" or "Make replication LUN" option so you have to do it manually. If you are one cluster off, the replication will fail so you better write and type carefully. Go ahead, make a human readable name for the LUN - it won't do any good but it will make you feel better.
After you put the LUN in the storage group assigned to the Replication manager, you can then move to the Replication Manager software. You'll need another password for this, too. Another local password, of course. Oh, and you might as well make a service account with domain administrator access now, you'll need it later. Also, don't ever (never, ever) change the password on that account.
So, you logon the Replication manager, add the new LUNs to a storage group (no, not the storage manager storage group, a replication storage group) , assign it at name (no, it won't pick up the other name you already gave it), create an application group that defines the source LUN and give it a name (no, of course it won't pick up the name you already gave it), and then create a job (and, yes, you need to give the job a name). After you jump through all these hoops, it will create a Windows Scheduled Task to run the replication job.
Yep, you read that right. This expensive, complicated, high end software uses the incredibly unreliable Windows task service.
Believe it or not, it gets worse. The replication service uses a high-numbered TCP port (up around 65000) to manage the service. Ports in that range are not reserved and get dynamically assigned by a variety of programs on temporary basis. Since these high numbered ports are a free-for-all, most programmers make allowances conflicts. You saw this coming, didn't you - EMC's programmers did not make allowances for conflict. For example, an MMC console open in one session of one server that gathers information from another server (Exchange System Manager, for example) and that MMC decided to use the EMC replication manager port. This will make the snapshot fail completely. To top it off, failed snapshots are not written over so if you have some sort of overwrite pattern going, that pattern will probably fail the next time it's run, too.
And, you'll love EMC's fix - make a registry edit on every single server that blocks other programs from using that port. They aren't even offering us a script to make the change.
Are all of the EMC programs written by their summer interns or something? It's amazingly bad. These guys need to read The Inmates are Running the Asylum or Joel on Software to learn how to program useful stuff....
But... but... but... What moron wrote their software?
To run an EMC SAN, you need to configure settings on the storage controller, use a client side software to mount the volumes, and then manage the backups with another software suite. That doesn't sound to bad, right?
The storage manager software is a Java based website that using LDAP authentication (yea... you don't need another password). To use the SAN, you create RAID groups by selecting the disks that should be included, then you define LUNs inside the RAID group, then assign the RAID group to a storage group, and then assign the storage group to a client. Then you turn clockwise three times, throw salt over shoulder, and (if all goes well) the LUN is available to the client.
I've actually simplified the steps, believe it or not. At the end of this, you get a LUN that acts like a disk to the server side operating system. It has a really useful name like LUN138 but you can assign something more human readable like "ExchangeServer01-StorageGroup1" or whatever. That will make your SAN Management easier (you would assume).
Now, let's more the client side. On the HBA fiber card, there is a world wide name (similar to the MAC address) and there is a way to assign a human-readable name like ExhchangeServer01-HBA1 instead of long hexadecimal string (which should make things easier, you assume). Once you have everything set there you flip back the the SAN manager to register the HBA card. And, of course, you can't read the human-readable name. All you get is the world wide name and you have to flip back and forth to figure out which 20+ character hexadecimal number belongs to which card.
After you get registered on the SAN, you load software on the client to mount the volumes. This client side software does not use LDAP. Instead, it uses a locally controlled password. Once you find out the password and load the software, it scans the storage groups available to the client and displays the LUN "ExchangeServer01-StorageGroup1"...... Well, no - it displays this long 20+ character hexadecimal number that you've never seen before. If you're only mounting one ore two that's not a big deal, but if you are putting in five or six that can be kind of annoying. To make it worse, these LUNs show up in Computer Management as Disk1, Disk2, Disk3, etc. and there is no other useful information as to which disk is which LUN.
So here's a scenario: you create four LUNS for four Exchange storage groups on one Enterprise server and you would like to mount the LUNs in a particular pattern. To make the LUNs match a pattern, you will need to flip between three different windows comparing hexadecimal strings to decide which disk in the computer management window belongs to which LUN. Wouldn't it be nice if the EMC software could read the EMC created human readable tags in the EMC storage system?
We haven't even gotten to the backup system. If your are rolling out a couple of servers with 5 or 6 mounted LUNs per server, you head is already hurting so make sure you take a long break before starting the next step.
Coffee would probably be a good idea.
EMC Replication manager uses cluster-by-cluster snapshotting to create a backup very quickly. You can snapshot a dozen 200 gigabyte LUNs simultaneously and it will take about a hour / hour and a half. Pretty slick, I suppose but (again) the software experience leaves something to be desired.
But, before you frustrate yourself with Replication Manager, you have to dive back into the storage manager. To make a replica, you need a backup LUN that has an identical cluster count and cluster size. And, of course, there is no "Create new LUN with these settings" or "Make replication LUN" option so you have to do it manually. If you are one cluster off, the replication will fail so you better write and type carefully. Go ahead, make a human readable name for the LUN - it won't do any good but it will make you feel better.
After you put the LUN in the storage group assigned to the Replication manager, you can then move to the Replication Manager software. You'll need another password for this, too. Another local password, of course. Oh, and you might as well make a service account with domain administrator access now, you'll need it later. Also, don't ever (never, ever) change the password on that account.
So, you logon the Replication manager, add the new LUNs to a storage group (no, not the storage manager storage group, a replication storage group) , assign it at name (no, it won't pick up the other name you already gave it), create an application group that defines the source LUN and give it a name (no, of course it won't pick up the name you already gave it), and then create a job (and, yes, you need to give the job a name). After you jump through all these hoops, it will create a Windows Scheduled Task to run the replication job.
Yep, you read that right. This expensive, complicated, high end software uses the incredibly unreliable Windows task service.
Believe it or not, it gets worse. The replication service uses a high-numbered TCP port (up around 65000) to manage the service. Ports in that range are not reserved and get dynamically assigned by a variety of programs on temporary basis. Since these high numbered ports are a free-for-all, most programmers make allowances conflicts. You saw this coming, didn't you - EMC's programmers did not make allowances for conflict. For example, an MMC console open in one session of one server that gathers information from another server (Exchange System Manager, for example) and that MMC decided to use the EMC replication manager port. This will make the snapshot fail completely. To top it off, failed snapshots are not written over so if you have some sort of overwrite pattern going, that pattern will probably fail the next time it's run, too.
And, you'll love EMC's fix - make a registry edit on every single server that blocks other programs from using that port. They aren't even offering us a script to make the change.
Are all of the EMC programs written by their summer interns or something? It's amazingly bad. These guys need to read The Inmates are Running the Asylum or Joel on Software to learn how to program useful stuff....
Friday, March 28, 2008
Finally sold the PT Cruiser
My brother-in-law Clay managed to sell the PT Cruiser for me just yesterday and got a good price. That took way longer than I thought it would considering how popular PT Cruisers are in general. I figured that would only take a couple of weeks but it took almost two months to sell.
I hope it's easier to sell the Jetta...
I hope it's easier to sell the Jetta...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Noise pollution in Tokyo
On thing I've noticed in the Tokyo area, there seems to be a LOT of unnecessary noise. There are pre-recorded warnings, beeping trucks, and even silly recorded bird song at rail stations. Every escalator has a "please watch your step" warning and many trucks have "Be careful, this truck is turning right(or left)" messages that play when they turn on their turn signal. I don't remember as much of it when I was in Japan in the '90s. It must have come later.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Furniture for sale (2)
We've reposted the items we didn't sell
- Daipason 6ft baby grand - $5900
- Angel Table - $135
- Vanity Table with Mirror - $150
- White wood bench with storage - $135
- Blue china hutch - $135
- Very large black mirror - $200
- Magnavox 27" TV - $40
- Antique-finished white cabinet - $60
- Aluminum outdoor furniture set (tables, four padded chairs, and umbrella) - $175
- 48" round, center-post table - $500
Lost some weight
I managed to loose four kilos (nine pounds) since I arrived in Japan. It's kind of surprising since Chiho's parents seem intent on stuffing me full of food every day. I think it's all of the walking you just have to do in Tokyo.
... of course, I still need to loose another fifteen kilos or so to get even vaguely close to the weight I was when I got out of the Navy. Wish me luck...
... of course, I still need to loose another fifteen kilos or so to get even vaguely close to the weight I was when I got out of the Navy. Wish me luck...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Packout date: April 17th
We've picked the pack-out date for the move. The moving company will show up on April 17th to pack all of our stuff and then load it on to the containers on the 18th. Chiho will need some help the week before but probably more the weekend after. We'll have lots of things that we aren't bringing that will need to be organized and taken care of. Volunteers welcome...
Friday, March 21, 2008
Train delayed this morning
On my way into work this morning the train was delayed about 15 minutes because a big tarp from a construction site blew onto the tracks. Since the express trains are about 10 minutes apart and there are locals scattered in between, that 15 minute delay is going to cause a lot of pain for the train company.
I bet there are some irritated JR officials that are going to have a harsh word with the construction company this morning.
I bet there are some irritated JR officials that are going to have a harsh word with the construction company this morning.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Japanese class at work
There is a nice benefit at the new office - free Japanese classes. There are five levels of the classes and each of them is one hour/twice a week. I'm taking an fairly advanced class (4th level out of 5) and it is really tough. The teach thought I was too advanced for the level below so I'm taking the next one up.
I hope I can keep up...
I hope I can keep up...
外人は日本語を話すできない?
I've been finding an interesting gai-jin (foreigner) effect today. It seems that Japanese people automatically assume that foreigners don't speak much Japanese. At restaurants or stores, when I start to speak in Japanese, they seem to have a lot of trouble understanding me, even though I am quite sure that I'm pronoucing things correctly. It seems that they are expecting me speak English or something.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Forging a global team
Now that I've been working for a couple of weeks, it's interesting to see the group dynamics of a global team. Since the key players in my group are on Tokyo time, Paris time, and East Coast US time, the communication problems are interesting. We currently have a weekly telephone meeting on Wednesdays and the only time that works is 9:30pm Tokyo which ends up late in the afternoon in Paris, and early in the morning in America. That's kind of annoying for us, especially since these staff meeting run about two and half hours.
But the time zones aren't really that bad. We seem to have the usual collection of highly-opinionated techie types that gather in any large IT group, though. There seems to be "territories" of responsibilities (i.e. "my data center is mine", "all the MOM servers are his problem", etc.). That was a bit of problem at ISOutsource, I suppose, but it seemed to be pretty minor. Unfortunately, it seems to be interfering with smooth operations. We have enough people in enough places to do a true follow-the-sun model (I can work on things at 10am that is the middle of the night in Paris) but we can't pull that off if people don't want others working on "their" servers.
It will be interesting to see how things will work out. The managers have been kind of disconnected from things because they have been working on a big reorganization. That process is pretty much done so we'll see what changes in the next couple of weeks.
But the time zones aren't really that bad. We seem to have the usual collection of highly-opinionated techie types that gather in any large IT group, though. There seems to be "territories" of responsibilities (i.e. "my data center is mine", "all the MOM servers are his problem", etc.). That was a bit of problem at ISOutsource, I suppose, but it seemed to be pretty minor. Unfortunately, it seems to be interfering with smooth operations. We have enough people in enough places to do a true follow-the-sun model (I can work on things at 10am that is the middle of the night in Paris) but we can't pull that off if people don't want others working on "their" servers.
It will be interesting to see how things will work out. The managers have been kind of disconnected from things because they have been working on a big reorganization. That process is pretty much done so we'll see what changes in the next couple of weeks.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
VMWare limitations
The new office uses VMWare's ESX infrastructure for the vast majority of their servers and there are a lot of cool features about the product. We have a fiber channel SAN at the data center and all four VMWare ESX host computers can view and see the same volumes. This allows you to move the VMs on the fly from host to host if one of the VMs needs more processor power or something. you can use the same trick, called VMotion, for maintenance. You can slide the VMs off of one host, patch and reboot, and the move them back without any downtime.
However, I am firmly convinced that there are a couple of limitations:
However, I am firmly convinced that there are a couple of limitations:
- Domain Controllers do not work well as virtual machines. All DCs should be actual servers.
- SQL 2000, SQL 2005, and other databases should only be run on actual servers.
The company a whole has also decided that all back-end Exchange servers should be actual servers instead of virtual ones. I haven't experimented with that to decide if I agree.
We have two Microsoft MOM 2005 database servers and a couple of other databases for web-apps, all of which are virtual servers. They have been nothing but trouble. We have been adjusting virtual CPU and RAM settings, changing the ESX host settings, and have been trying every trick that VMWare recommends to us and they all run like crap. At low loads, everything is fine but as soon as the SQL load increases, the performance gets very bad, very quickly.
So, save yourself some pain and make sure every DC and every database server is running on real hardware.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
No crackberries at the office
At ISOutsource, we all had Blackberries as our primary e-mail tool and that always-on, always-ready access to e-mail got really addicting. My new company does not use Blackberries but they do support Windows Mobile devices. I was curious about why they only did Windows Mobile and it turns out the Blackberry support in Asia is pretty limited. The low-pixel count screens that the Blackberry uses (which give it such a good battery life) do such a horrible job of displaying Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters that they just aren't popular. Also, the company wants to only have one set of infrastructure.
But Windows Mobile hasn't caught on much in Japan and was only really just available last year. The various cell phone providers don't seem very interested in them and the phones are kind of expensive. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent to the Blackjack that is available in the states. The phone they gave me is from a hardware manufacturer called HTC. It's a slider style where the keyboard slides out the side. I snagged this picture from the HTC site:
But Windows Mobile hasn't caught on much in Japan and was only really just available last year. The various cell phone providers don't seem very interested in them and the phones are kind of expensive. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent to the Blackjack that is available in the states. The phone they gave me is from a hardware manufacturer called HTC. It's a slider style where the keyboard slides out the side. I snagged this picture from the HTC site:
It works fairly well but there is one irritation that you can't tell from the photo. The brick is amost 3/4" of inch thick. So the face plate is quit a bit narrower than a blackberry but that thickness makes it really awkward to carry around. for all intents and purposes, you can't put it in a coat pocket. The belt clip/pouch thing that comes with it is pretty bad, too - almost unusable. I leave it by my laptop bag, instead, but that doesn't work for the weekend.
The screen is really good, though. I've installed Microsoft Reader and copied over a bunch of free e-books from the Baen Free Library and read them on the way to work. That nice, bright screen comes with a price, though. I rarely can go more than 24 hours on a battery charge. I do have a spare battery but that is something else to carry.
Access to e-mail is pretty smooth, though. The screen is wide enough to read and write a reasonable e-mail. The full access to the company e-mail is pretty nice, of course, so that satisfies my crackberry addiction.
What I actually do
Both Chiho and Chiho's mom have been asking for some sort of short description of what it is I actually do at work. When someone asks them "so, what kind of job did Matt take in Tokyo" they can't actually answer. All technology workers have probably come across this problem because it doesn't distill into a single word like "lawyer" or "architect". I suppose if I was a programmer, I could come a lot closer to a single word description.
My group is called the Collaboration Engineering Group (CEG) and we make sure that e-mail, chat, and SharePoint systems are up and running. What I do is broken into these parts:
My group is called the Collaboration Engineering Group (CEG) and we make sure that e-mail, chat, and SharePoint systems are up and running. What I do is broken into these parts:
- Respond to problems that people are having with e-mail, chat, or SharePoint
- Maintain, backup, test, and patch the 30+ servers that run those systems
- Plan for improvements and major changes in these systems
Friday, March 14, 2008
I thought I would be able to write more often...
I am definately not posting enough on this thing. I'll try to get better at posting but I'm still not completely adjusted to the fact that I don't get home from work until 7:30 or 8:00pm and basically go immediately to sleep. It's odd how long it takes for your body and mind to get back in rythm.
Chiho's flying out to Japan today and will be staying for about ten days. We should be able to finalize the apartment arrangements on this trip and she's already scheduled a couple of evenings out with old friends. There is also a national holiday in Japan next Thursday so we can goof off somewhere then, too. She annouced to the office that she's leaving the company on April 4th and we've picked April 17th as the day to start the official pack-out. Still lots of stuff to deal with before the pack out. After the pack out, too. I have a feeling that we'll still have things left after the final move that we'll need help dealing with.
We haven't got much traffic on selling the house so it's out on the rental market now. We're using the RPM/RPA guys and if you know anyone who wants to rent, pass around this website address: http://www.rentseattle.com/RentDetail.aspx?ID=1009
I'll try to write more in the morning about the job and other stuff but I'm starting to zone out for now...
Chiho's flying out to Japan today and will be staying for about ten days. We should be able to finalize the apartment arrangements on this trip and she's already scheduled a couple of evenings out with old friends. There is also a national holiday in Japan next Thursday so we can goof off somewhere then, too. She annouced to the office that she's leaving the company on April 4th and we've picked April 17th as the day to start the official pack-out. Still lots of stuff to deal with before the pack out. After the pack out, too. I have a feeling that we'll still have things left after the final move that we'll need help dealing with.
We haven't got much traffic on selling the house so it's out on the rental market now. We're using the RPM/RPA guys and if you know anyone who wants to rent, pass around this website address: http://www.rentseattle.com/RentDetail.aspx?ID=1009
I'll try to write more in the morning about the job and other stuff but I'm starting to zone out for now...
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Furniture for sale
Prior to leaving Seattle, we have a bunch of stuff to sell. Most of it is posted on Craig's List and I'll be putting the rest up when I get pictures:
- Angel table $135
- Small angel side table $15
- Small vanity table with mirror $150
- White storage Bench $135
- Blue china hutch $135
- Blue, tall, skinny chest of drawer $175
- Very large black mirror $200
- Dark wood hall table/sofa-table $70
- Green padded bench $40 - we sold this one
- Magnavox 27" TV $40
- Stereo Sony $60
- Antique-finished white cabinet $60
- Aluminum outdoor furniture set (tables, four padded chairs, and umbrella) $175
- Outdoor chaise lounge $150
- 48" round, center-post table $500
- White curio cabinet $175 - we sold this one
Two weeks in and things are going well
I just wrapped up the second week of the new job and things are going well. I'm pretty much up to speed on current systems and procedures and am starting to get going on things. They are doing a really big Microsoft Office SharePoint Server roll out for the organization and I think I can help out there the soonest. I'm still getting use to the differences in size, though. Also, the office tends to be start-late/run-late kind of office where most of the work happens late into the evening and I've been an early morning person for a while. It seems unusual to get to the office 9am and only 10% of the office is in. I think it's a natural reaction to coordinating things with the Paris HQ since they only overlap Tokyo in the late afternoon.
The commute to work isn't bad. I experimented with a couple of different routes and I picked the one that is a little slower but less crowded. Part of the trip is on the Yurikamome ゆりかもめ line that most people think of as a "toy" train to get to the Odaiba お台場 area. It's a little slow but I can sit the whole time. Door to door, the trip takes about an hour if I hurry, but most of time I sit at Toyosu 豊洲 for coffee and take some time to study Japanese.
The company offers free Japanese lessons so I've started taking a Tuesday & Thursday class at lunch time. My current skill is in between their current classes so I'm taking the higher level one which is really, really, tough.
The commute to work isn't bad. I experimented with a couple of different routes and I picked the one that is a little slower but less crowded. Part of the trip is on the Yurikamome ゆりかもめ line that most people think of as a "toy" train to get to the Odaiba お台場 area. It's a little slow but I can sit the whole time. Door to door, the trip takes about an hour if I hurry, but most of time I sit at Toyosu 豊洲 for coffee and take some time to study Japanese.
The company offers free Japanese lessons so I've started taking a Tuesday & Thursday class at lunch time. My current skill is in between their current classes so I'm taking the higher level one which is really, really, tough.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Simple photo that describes the limit of the Mac AIR
Check on the picture at http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/03/airlegance.html. That is probably the simplest description of the one big limitation of the Air...
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Train shut down to wind? That's new...
We made a trip to Roppongi Hills and Ginza and there was a strong enough wind to close the trian line we take back to Makuhari. We had to take an alternate train line (along with thousands of others) and get as close as possible. Since the station wasn't in walking distance, we had to wait for a taxi home.
Having it be closed for wind is a new one for me. I have train lines interupted for snow or accidents on the tracks but this is a first.
Having it be closed for wind is a new one for me. I have train lines interupted for snow or accidents on the tracks but this is a first.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Immigration and arrival in Japan
Now that we’re living in Japan and have worked through a lot of the immigration process, I figured that I should summarize what we did. Prior to starting the process, we did a lot of research and all the websites outlined a lot of difficulties that we simply didn’t have.
We came to Japan on a spouse visa from the United States and the process was very simple.
There appears to be two main ways to obtain the visa:
We came to Japan on a spouse visa from the United States and the process was very simple.
There appears to be two main ways to obtain the visa:
- Obtain a Certificate of Eligibility first: It seems that the Japanese government really wants you use this centrally controlled process for applying for a visa. You fill out a fairly lengthy, highly detailed description of you, your job, and your marriage and then apply at one of the immigration bureaus in Japan. If you call and ask, the immigration service will tell you that you have to use this method.
- Apply via the Consulate: There is an alternate method available at most of the Consulate General offices in America. You apply for a spouse visa with a much simpler application form and they have the discretion to approve or deny your application at the consular level without a full Certificate of Eligibility.
Using a spouse visa, the big stuff that you need to provide are the following items:
- Proof of Marriage: We provided a certified copy of the American marriage certificate and proof that the marriage was registered in Japan. My wife did not take my last name but my name is mentioned on her passport and other documents and it seems to help the process.
- Family Register (Kanseki Tohon): You’ll need to get a copy from Japan as proof of the spouse’s Japanese citizenship. It will also show that the marriage is registered.
- Letter of Sponsorship: You will need a letter from someone from Japan that is going to support you once you get there. In addition to being on the hook for you, they have to promise that they will represent you in legal action and can afford to send you home if needed. They will need to provide a statement that shows that they are wealthy enough for that, too.
In addition to that, you will need some photos that are sized for a Japanese passport and some other minor things.
We applied at the consulate and were asked to provide a statement of personal income after the first couple of days they were reviewing it. Right at the two-week mark, we received our visa. This is significantly faster than any of our research hinted it would take. All of the horror stories we read online were talking about four or five months of waiting. It appears that coming from America is easier than coming from other countries. Or, the fact that we had been married for over 12 years could have been a factor in making our visa process easier.
We're Here
We landed in Japan yesterday and I am now permanently stuck here in Japan. The flight was pretty empty and a little early so there was no line at immigration. It was shocking how quick we got through everything - 45 minutes from touch down to out the airport. There was no hang ups with the immigration paperwork or anything, which was nice.
This now makes the title of this blog pretty ironic...
This now makes the title of this blog pretty ironic...
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Address in Japan
Until we get our place settled, if you need to send anything to us, here's the address:
Tsutao Maekawa
Beach Terrace #606
3-1-1 Mihama-ku Utase
Chiba-shi 261-0013
Japan
or
Tsutao Maekawa
Beach Terrace #606
3-1-1 Mihama-ku Utase
Chiba-shi 261-0013
Japan
or
〒261-0013
千葉市美浜区打瀬３－１－１
幕張ビーチテラス６０６号
JAPAN
前川美紀子
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Recommendations for the design of the physical plant
Consultants are often placed in a position to provide advice to a client that is moving into a new space or planning major changes to their facilities. Architects, mechanical engineers, and telecom providers do not provide enough guidance to steer our clients in the best way. Whenever you find out that one of your clients is planning a move or major redesign, you must get involved as quickly as possible. We must provide advice that will keep the long term goals of our clients in mind.
Wiring the office this way turns every wall jack in the office into a multi-purpose jack. Also, desk moves require a simple swap of patch cables.
All servers require 24x7x365 cooling of some sort. During the design and planning stages, we should always push for dedicated air conditioning for any self contained server room. Cost of installation prior to people moving in is always going to be cheaper than after the office is up and running. Only if the client can truly not afford cooling, should we accept a dedicated, always on, direct vent to the outside extraction fan.
Each server puts out about 1.5 to 1.75 the amount of heat as one person so if the client has two servers in a small closet, it can get quite toasty in a very short period of time. If the client has more than three servers in an enclosed room, we should insist on dedicated air conditioning. Even the best extraction fan will move enough air for three servers in an enclosed room.
Please note the word DEDICATED. Typical office air conditioning will turn off over night and on the weekends and will often be programmed to provide heat during the winter. A dedicated zone programmed to always provide cooling is the only way to adequately support servers.
I have an Excel spreadsheet with a heat load calculator that uses the wattage of the power supplies to estimate the BTU usage. That BTU figure can be used by a mechanical engineer or HVAC contractor to design the correctly sized system.
Panasonic produces a line of very efficient, very quiet extractor fans that work well in a typical office environment.
Earthquake Protection: Racks can be bolted down or otherwise “corralled” to prevent them from tipping over in an earthquake. It also provides protection from items falling on top of the rack.
Only the APC Smart-UPS 1500 and smaller can use a regular socket. Every UPS larger than that will have some sort of special connection. Make sure that you provide those detailed specifications to the electrician early in the planning process.
Cabling
In Cabling: The Complete Guide to Network Wiring, 3rd Edition (ISBN-10: 0782143318 and ISBN-13: 978-0782143317), the authors outline some of the “Golden Rules” of network design. The ones that are most important when advising our clients are:- Networks will never become smaller and less complicated
- Build one cabling system that will accommodate voice and data
- Always install more cabling than you currently require
Installation of cable during the initial build out of an office space is always going to be the cheapest time to install cable. If the installation is taking place before drywall is installed, the cost of cable runs is even cheaper. Prior to moving into a space, the cable installers have full run of the space, meaning that they can take down tiles, drill holes, and string cable very quickly and easily. After the space is in use, they have to work on the weekends, move furniture, cover equipment, and work around other inconveniences and that doubles, triples, or quadruples the cost of stringing cables during the build out.
This makes the cost of changing your mind later extremely expensive compared to running additional cable. It may be wise to use a rough rule of “you need 2 so install 3” for all wall jacks and cabling runs.
Make sure that every cable drop – phone or data – is a CAT-5e or CAT-6 cable terminated to a female RJ-45 jack at the wall and a female RJ-45 jack in an industry standard, rack mounted patch panel.
You must stringently resist any deviation from this standard arrangement. The only exception you should allow is using smaller patch panels or patch panels mounted in small swing out wall mounts. In no case should allow CAT-3 cable to be run to workstations.
Note: the cabling book referenced here is an excellent source of information about cabling systems.
PBX systems
At one point in time, the installation of a PBX was almost completely irrelevant to the most consultants. However, there have been too many situations where the company specifying, supplying, and installing the PBX has interfered with networks.
Traditional digital PBXs run off of CAT-3 cable and RJ-11 plugs and have done so since the first PBXs were manufactured. In a traditional installation, the PBX is installed on the wall, cables are run into nearby W blocks, and those W blocks are hard wired to a CAT-3 line that runs to the office floor. That hardwires a particular place on the floor to the PBX system. If you want to change the extension, you go into the PBX software and change it.
It works fine that way but there are some problems. That CAT-3 line running out into the office cannot be used for anything else. There is no modern network protocol that can run on CAT-3 so you can’t hook up a phone. Also, the software for modifying a PBX is normally a proprietary, hard to install, and hard to learn software so any changes normally require a PBX technician. At one client, each desk move or extension change requires a $150 PBX support call.
There is so much history and industry inertia built up that installation model that you will practically have to threaten force to handle it differently. For all of our clients going forward, you should ensure that the PBX “output” is connected to a patch panel. Then you can patch the extensions to the floor just like any other patch panel. RJ-11 male connectors will fit in RJ-45 female connections so that the cable running to the office is irrelevant to the phone system.Wiring the office this way turns every wall jack in the office into a multi-purpose jack. Also, desk moves require a simple swap of patch cables.
Cooling
Servers are very sensitive to heat problems but the upfront cost for dedicated cooling can often be daunting for our clients to pay for. However, we have several clients where overheating has lead to thousands in troubleshooting costs because problems caused by heat are intermittent, hard to diagnose, and are often camouflaged by other issues. The long, drawn-out, multi-crash server failure I dealt with was probably related to heat issues but that can’t be proven – even after spending over ten thousand dollars trying to figure out the failure and recover from it.All servers require 24x7x365 cooling of some sort. During the design and planning stages, we should always push for dedicated air conditioning for any self contained server room. Cost of installation prior to people moving in is always going to be cheaper than after the office is up and running. Only if the client can truly not afford cooling, should we accept a dedicated, always on, direct vent to the outside extraction fan.
Each server puts out about 1.5 to 1.75 the amount of heat as one person so if the client has two servers in a small closet, it can get quite toasty in a very short period of time. If the client has more than three servers in an enclosed room, we should insist on dedicated air conditioning. Even the best extraction fan will move enough air for three servers in an enclosed room.
Please note the word DEDICATED. Typical office air conditioning will turn off over night and on the weekends and will often be programmed to provide heat during the winter. A dedicated zone programmed to always provide cooling is the only way to adequately support servers.
I have an Excel spreadsheet with a heat load calculator that uses the wattage of the power supplies to estimate the BTU usage. That BTU figure can be used by a mechanical engineer or HVAC contractor to design the correctly sized system.
Panasonic produces a line of very efficient, very quiet extractor fans that work well in a typical office environment.
Racks
We should always recommend rack enclosures to clients with more than three servers or clients that are planning growth. The primary benefits are:Earthquake Protection: Racks can be bolted down or otherwise “corralled” to prevent them from tipping over in an earthquake. It also provides protection from items falling on top of the rack.
- Theft Protection: The majority of theft from offices will be laptops and other items that are easy to grab quickly. Any item screwed into a rack will take several minutes to unscrew and pull out and will definitely limit the chances of someone taking things. Rack enclosures can also be locked.
- Standardized Equipment: There is a wide variety of equipment that is designed to fit into racks which gives you great flexibility in the future
- Ease of Maintenance: A rack or enclosure can have slide out shelves and other equipment that makes routine maintenance easier.
Power
Servers do not consume as much power as they used to but there needs to be some care taken when a client moves into a new space or plans a remodel. All server rooms will require at least one dedicated circuit and perhaps several for larger installations. Actual size of the circuit will depend on the APC UPS you are trying to install. APC’s website has detailed descriptions of the power connections that the APC is expecting. It provides both a NEMA code and a shows a small picture of the exact connection.Only the APC Smart-UPS 1500 and smaller can use a regular socket. Every UPS larger than that will have some sort of special connection. Make sure that you provide those detailed specifications to the electrician early in the planning process.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
What a weekend
Getting a house prepped for it to be professionally photographed is very, very tiring. I can't believe how long it took just to pressure wash the moss off the patio. That stuff really grips. Well, time for my last two days at ISOutsource. Still feels kind of weird.
10 days...
10 days...
Friday, February 01, 2008
We are selling the house
We talked to the CPA firm and a local realator and we have decided to sell the house. We're going to give it a couple of months and see what we can get for it. We're listing it almost right at our minimum sales floor so who knows if we'll get any takers.
Let me know if anyone wants a home in Mukilteo.
Let me know if anyone wants a home in Mukilteo.
Time to go back to bed....
The way my day started, I think I should go back to bed. We got downtown nice and early (about an hour earlier than usual) and I stopped into a Starbucks to get a coffee and start working. After all, I didn't have an appointment until 9:30 so I figured I should get some work done. So, I got my coffee, sat down, and spilled the damn thing all over the laptop. First time I have ever done that - four days before I give the laptop back to ISO. I was able to clean everything up after I drove to ISO but it looks like I fried the battery. What a start to the day...
14 days until the flight out.
14 days until the flight out.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Last week at ISOutsource
This is my last full week at ISOutsource and it feels a little odd. Of course, starting it out with three inches of snow on the ground makes just about any day a little wierder. I've only been as ISO for about three and half years but in a lot of ways, it seems longer. I guess it's because I've been so busy that seems longer. I'm going to working this week to write down some of the SOP and normal things I have running around in my head. Hopefully, it will help the guys who are hanging around.
17 days and counting...
17 days and counting...
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Crunch time
My wife and I have been plowing through the list of all of the things we need to do over the next three weeks and it's kind of daunting. Even though she will be coming back to Seattle and staying for a couple of months, there is still so much to do. I'm below the two week mark at ISOutsource, too so there's even more to do at there. I really want to make the transition as easy as possible for everyone involved and that's kind of tough.
No one called on the PT Cruiser. There is a guy at ISOutsource that is interested, though so hopefully I can sell this quickly. Something else to worry about....
22 days until the flight out...
No one called on the PT Cruiser. There is a guy at ISOutsource that is interested, though so hopefully I can sell this quickly. Something else to worry about....
22 days until the flight out...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Anyone need a car?
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/car/546994381.html
I have my 2003 PT Cruiser up for sale and I need to find a buyer soon. If you know anyone looking, have them call or e-mail me at matthew.damp@sbworks.com.
23 days... and counting...
I have my 2003 PT Cruiser up for sale and I need to find a buyer soon. If you know anyone looking, have them call or e-mail me at matthew.damp@sbworks.com.
23 days... and counting...
Saturday, January 19, 2008
It's official - I got the visa
I picked up the visa from the Japanese consultate this afternoon. Everything is on track for my departure on February 14th. I've got to say that when I picked "late February" back in November, it felt a lot farther away. Now I've got a ton of stuff to do in the next three weeks.
27 days...
27 days...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Visa is being a little slow
Assuming that the visa clears... 31 days to flight out.
Unfortunately, I haven't heard from the consulate yet and I was supposed to today. It's always unsettling when a governmental organization doesn't call you back when they were supposed to. Makes you wonder what's broken...
Unfortunately, I haven't heard from the consulate yet and I was supposed to today. It's always unsettling when a governmental organization doesn't call you back when they were supposed to. Makes you wonder what's broken...
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Is SharePoint really ready for prime time?
Assuming that the visa clears... 34 days to flight out.
I spent a lot of time today arm wrestling with a SharePoint installation today and it struck me again how main pieces seem to have to work together to have the site function correctly. The site was running on a domain controller and the system was having AD problems so I had to demote the box and move the site. Even before I could move the site I had to change:
I spent a lot of time today arm wrestling with a SharePoint installation today and it struck me again how main pieces seem to have to work together to have the site function correctly. The site was running on a domain controller and the system was having AD problems so I had to demote the box and move the site. Even before I could move the site I had to change:
- Modify the local security policies to allow the SharePoint service account to logon as a service and batch job
- Re-enter the passwords for the applications pools in IIS
- Re-assign the SSL certs (Why? What does that have to do with being a DC?)
- Logon to the administration website and re-designate the search server for the site
That's a lot of moving parts that can break. A lot of this was not really covered in Microsoft articles or Microsoft KBs. I had to dig through a lot of generic ASP and .NET 2.0 articles and try to figure out if they would actually apply to SharePoint.
I hope that there isn't a radical difference between the current v3.0 SharePoint and whatever comes with Windows 2008 so that 3rd party documentation can keep up with it.
Friday, January 11, 2008
The countdown starts
I have 35 calendar days to go until I hop on a flight to Japan. Boy, I've got a lot to do.
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