Compaq makes racks for their servers - but you can put other stuff in them. For this, they make shelves. Recently, we inherited a gaggle of racks (5) and one shelf. The shelf did not have a part number, but we wanted more. So, I called Compaq. I talked w/Tech support, Customer Service, the routing center, the sales team, and a variety of other people. I estimate that I spoke with 10 different people - 4 of which claimed to be actually able to help me. After a variety of dead-end calls, part numbers that did not exist, part numbers that are not in the sales' teams systems (yes, multiple sales teams..), and 4 hours all told on the phone, I called Dell.
Dell makes server racks and shelves for their racks. They're compatible with the racks I have. Their shelves fit fine - how do I know? They sent me one to test out. It fits just fine. Total time on phone with Dell representative (reached on first phone call, I might add) - 20 minutes TOPS. Guess who's getting my vote for ordering these shelves?

Found another collection of O. Henry's works in a used book store today. Book was c. 1957 or so, and contains some publications that I had never read before. Included were some letters of his, written to friends and colleagues. Some of them were very amusing, and his writing style was even consistent in his humorous asides to his friends. For those of you who are not aware, O. Henry has always been my favorite writer. His most famous stories are the staples of high school English teachers, "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Gift of the Magi" having been force-feed literature in more than one of my own educational endeavours. If anyone could inspire me to write, this short-story author would certainly be the man. Again, one of those things that I can say 'someday' to, like so many other desires cut off by the expectation of the Grim Reaper's edged blade. There is never enough time....

Why Matrix: Reloaded was a bad movie - let me count the ways:

1. Fight Scenes: Boring, trite, rehashed - In the first movie, Neo learns how to 'see' the matrix and change it. Yet, he continues to use kung-fu moves from the 60s and 70s to beat up the bad guys. In one fight scene, he's taking on what appears to be a hundred bad guys, and instead of using his 'superpowers', he's relying on moves that even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wouldn't use in their movies. The fight scenes are contrived. Some of them happen for no reason. In one part of the movie, they use a fight to 'make sure' that Neo is who he says he is - what was that?
   
2. Laurence Fishburne:Sigh - sorry, dude - your career is over after this one. Between the too-obvious hamming up of his lines, metre and tone, and the extremely POOR speaking abilities demonstrated at the 'Sermon on the Mount', Larry has lost his cool. Literally. By the end of the movie, you'll think of him as just a whiny hanger-on for Neo - just extra baggage to carry around. His acting was sub-par, and he really could have used some of those 'special' effects to beef up his voice for his pre-orgy-party speech.
   
3. Sex:Does anyone remember Quantum Leap? It was a great concept - could have been a Sci-Fi KILLER show - then they added sex, and the show became BAD - really bad. In a sci-fi flick, sexual tension is expected and desired. Sex itself ruins the show, always. Let me repeat myself - If you are making a science fiction movie or TV show - do not, under any circumstance, allow the director to show people having sex. And, if you do have to, make it short, very short. It seemed like a half hour before the scene was over. And make sure it doesn't look like a kid making love to his mother....speaking of which....
   
4. Carrie-Ann Moss:Did I get that spelling right? Boy did she get old fast. Love interest? My god, she looks old enough to have birthed Neo. She's not sexy. Even the leather outfit didn't help. Not one bit. ewww, take it off...
   
5. Discovery:This is what makes a science fiction film great. Unfortunately, Matrix:Reloaded didn't have any. Nothing new - sorry, but it's just same ole, same ole. We wanted to see Neo using all of his superpowers in this flick, but all he could do was fly real fast. Total lack of imagination on the writer's part. I blame them completely for the letdown.
   

That's just my opinion. I was disappointed. The Matrix was a great movie. Should have just loaded it once, though.

My blog has hit a bit of a dry spell. I haven't been writing because I've been busy, or because I've forgotten about my blog. Seems fear is a factor, the more I realize that people may read. I've not wanted to put anything in my blog that might seem off-color, or any part of the 'evil Rich'. Nobody reads the blog anyway, so I don't know what that's all about. I've given some thought to whether the blog is about me, or about the things that I do or find interesting, and that question brings about a weird answer. Are these two things not one and the same? I am what I do. We all are what we do. That is what makes each of us unique, our perspectives, our experiences. Some of the stuff that's UP, first.
Just finished Term 2 at Limestone College. Signed up for 6 more credits on Term 3 - I am on a ROLL.
Jon Davis, a prior associate of mine, has just had a BEAUTIFUL baby. Congratulations, man, and welcome to fatherhood, responsibility and all that.
People continue to send me forwarded emails of emotional or uplifting emails.....sigh. If you were going to write someone a letter, would you open the envelope, stuff in a newpaper clipping, and then just mail it, without adding any personal comment? I can understand wanting to share something with someone, but it seems that that is all some people do is forward stuff all day. Between the corn and the horrible net jokes that I've seen countless times over the years, please note that your FORWARDED sentimental/crap joke email will not be read. It will follow the Spam into the Spam folder.
Cloudmark's SpamNet BETA is over, and now they're charging for their software. We beta testers get to keep our beta copies forever, though. It's a shame they couldn't find a free business model. Their software works great.
I went and purchased a few small toys this past month. First of which was a Lexar JumpDrive - the USB memory stick that holds 128MB of files. The great thing about this is how Windows XP Pro handles it. I put a CD or two of my music on it, and just plug it in to whichever computer I'm at. Windows XP just pops up Media Player and starts playing all the songs stored on it.
I also purchased MIDI cables for hooking up my keyboard. I've recorded a few MIDIs, but I'm not quite used to performing yet. I get nervous and flub all over the place. I'll put a few on the site when I get better at it.
ttfn

Second semester is out at Limestone. New semester begins on Monday. I signed up for two classes again - but they may not have processed one of them. Will have to follow up on Monday. We've been doing preparation work for moving out to Merrifield. We got a Meridian One phone system, and I've been learning that system. Trying to make sure that everyone has a good game plan and target job when we get there. We'll be merging IT people with other departments, including acquisitions from last year, and I want to make sure that I can get everyone assigned duties, and take care of stuff from a supervisorial standpoint (target job objectives with measurable results..etc..). Anyways, just have had a lot on my mind lately, and have been working hard, so I haven't had time to write.
Bought a USB memory stick, the Lexmark 128MB one - it's nice. I've already used it to copy my homework folders for next semester to, so I'll be able to have my work with me at the library, or even at the office at lunch.

In CNET News article: Mitnick: You can trust a hacker:

While some security experts learned their craft in the government sector or through school, many of today's consultants and researchers were yesterday's hackers. In many cases, the person may not have done anything illegal, but in other instances, it was a matter of not having been caught, Mitnick said.

Of course, the missing irony here is: Are you sure you want to hire a hacker that got caught? Obviously, if you hacked computers, and got caught, you must have overlooked something while you were doing your thing, no? Industry pundits may have it right when they say that convicted hackers have nothing to add to the security mix, but for the wrong reason. Saying that the hacker community has nothing to add to the 'security posture' of the network as a whole may be wrong, but it turns out that this can be a completely different statement than saying "We don't hire ex-con hackers".

In the New Scientist today,

Snail mail attack could be launched online

I remember LONG ago, when I were a young lad....ok, not that long ago, when waging a junk mail war on someone seemed like a fun practical joke, like calling up the Army and telling them maybe you wanted to enlist, giving off your friend/enemies mailing address and phone number...then subscribing them to all kinds of catalogs. But, with the Internet, you can take practical joking to a new level.

In fact, there are dozens of practical joke sites on the Internet, like The Gag Works, and The Prank Place. There have been lists of Practical Jokes since the dawn of the net, like on alt.shenanigans. The Internet is a great place to merge technology with things that you could only do by hand years ago, and automating things with no morally redeeming value seems to be what drives technology. Some of these are pretty funny, folks, like >the fake lottery tickets...

Did the timing belt (and water pump while we were in there) on the van. Next thing I 'may' do is some body work - but I'm waiting for my paint to come in that I ordered from Mopar. Once it does, I'm going to hit a few rusted/peeled spots and see whether it's something I want to spend my time on. In other news, I've got to paint the front of my house this year. Not something I'm looking forward to, but it really should be done. The cheap-ass paint job they did initially is already peeling where it rained hard on it. Last year I did the front of my garage, but this time I'll be up on the ladder...ugh.

Took a long scenic drive on the Shenandoh Skyline drive today - it was clear and good weather, but the trees haven't regained their leaves yet. They have a stable at the 51 mile marker that you can go horseback riding, provided you knew enough to reserve in advance (that's one day early) - Skyline Stables...540-999-2210. On the way back, a strange odor starting coming out of the right side of the van. It smelled like something burning, but it wasn't quite as acrid as rubber burning, although it had a rubber 'flavor' about the smell. I stopped the car, and it seemed to be coming more from the exhaust than anywhere else. We let the van cool down, and I looked for the source, but couldn't find it. Then we drove home without recurrence...:sigh: - buying a used vehicle is one big crap shoot...but I'm going to stick with this van...put enough money into it to keep it running - not so much good money after bad (if the engine blows, forget it), but in standard maintenance items the last owner didn't bother with, like changing the serpentine belt, the PVC valve, the spark plugs, various filters, radiator cap, trans fluid, fuel filter, etc, etc. Buying the parts myself seems to be saving me some money - I just need to find a fairly inexpensive mechanic who will do reliable cheap labor.

Why does it take men an average of 10 minutes to get ready to leave the house, while it takes a woman an average of 687576327362876397 years? Just curious...