Life Of A SysAdmin

I just got home from work at 3AM after hopefully saving the servers from themselves. The AC unit has quit again, and the server room got up to just under 120 degrees F before I realized what was up thanks to E-mail and SMS messages not being sent (I will be looking into that Sunday afternoon or Monday morning). I have spent most of the day catching up on MS updates on 1/3 the servers, with a short break to install shelving and a longer break to rearrange the bedroom. Server admin is taxing, but I love working with the servers and the 2AM drives to work to set up box fans in the server room are down to once a year.

Regarding the room reworking.... Reba wants to move Summer into her own room, which means moving my half of the office room into a corner of the master bedroom. I'm keeping the Linux gaming server and the primary desktop I built early last year, but almost everything else needs to go for lack of space. On the up side, I can play Minecraft in bed now.

Summer is growing like a weed and getting cuter every day! Speaking of, she just woke up, so I will write more some other time.

My Wonderful Daughter

Last night, Summer was awake every couple of hours demanding food. She wasn't sleepy and wanted to play. Her mother and I did not want to play. We fed her and did what we could to make her happy, and this morning I watch Summer for a while so Reba could get some more sleep.

This afternoon, Summer had finally had enough. She was not happy and wouldn't stop screaming. The only thing we could do was walk around and bounce her until she finally gave up. I think I walked the circular walk in front of my apartment that goes around the stairs for about an hour before she finally got sleepy enough for us to lay her down.

Some people say parenthood is not worth the trouble, but I disagree. To see how happy she is to see me when I come home from work is amazing, even though she doesn't have a clue who I am yet. And when she gives me the cutest smile in the world every time I walk into the room, I melt a little inside. Summer is amazing. We love her.

Happy 4th of July!

Reba and I celebrated Summer's four month birthday on Saturday by taking Victory to the dog park. Victory has been needing more exercise this summer and is feeling a little neglected with how much attention Summer requires. He also needs a close eye to watch his feet when he goes to the park as he has been ripping the pads on his feet with how rough the gravel at the park is. He seems to be doing ok and healing up fine this time. We left as soon as he got a little hole in one pad, and it isn't bad enough to hurt him any. Summer slept the entire time we were there.

We also attended the annual DOSUG (Denver Open Source User Group) bbq/cookout at Plumb (something) Park. Good food and good talking with the active members. I want to start attending the regular meetings the group holds monthly. Reba enjoyed talking with some of the ladies that came. Good family event.

Sunday we slept in as Summer didn't sleep much Saturday night or Sunday morning. Lunch at Nate and Jos's was good as always and I helped nate with a wiring problem in his new truck. It now has a working radio! All the cousins had great fun, and all four are growing like weeds; especially Summer.

Today we took Summer and Victory to Cheesman Park to watch Nate's family bike/ride/walk in the 5th annual bike parade. Very hot out, but lots of shade to be had made it survivable. This evening was a cookout with Chris and Marie. Vic had to stay home, and was very good! He didn't get into anything this time! Chris grilled up some good buffalo burgers and a perfect t-bone steak. We swam for a bit and watched fireworks on TV. Twas a good day.

Potentate of the Rose

This morning, I became a "Potentate of the Rose". If you don't know what that is, check out the link, or search for "Petals Around the Rose". I figured it out and am sticking to my guns of not revealing the secret, but I would be more than happy to prove to any other members that I know it. And I will say one thing, having a very analytical mind helped. I saw three rolls and had the secret figured out.

If you want to try figuring it out, use this puzzle page from Lloyd Borrett.

More Minecraft Videos

For those who didn't know, I'm shooting minecraft videos on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/arigornstrider. I finally got around to editing all the footage I've recorded (all the way back to the first of the year), but it took several days to upload as well. I was coming home for lunch some days this week just to get more videos started uploading, and I think Comcast has been throttling and even stopping some of my uploads completely (it could have been browser issues, but if I waited an hour or two, without closing the page I could restart the upload and it would work).

I'll throw up another post in a bit to talk about work and other life stuff. Hope all my readers are doing wonderful!

New Blog

Hey all,

It's been a while since I've last kept a blog, and as I've shut down that webhost and the blog running on it, I may be starting over from scratch. But I wanted to start writing some thoughts down and keeping a "brain" log as thoughts and memories come up.

Speaking of memories, My wife Reba and I are currently taking Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University", from which I have graduated once already before getting married. I am happy to have no debt and have a decent emergency fund saved up to take care of the unexpected expenses. We're going through a budget and savings plan, and are making good progress and agreeing on how we want to do things. Since we are expecting our first child in March (2011), we have started talking through how to teach her financial responsibility.

Growing up, I was paid for some chores that I did, and not others. I had to keep my room clean or I would get spanked (or some other punishment as age appropriate). I got paid for helping with some family chores like doing the dishes (and actually getting them cleaned). I had summer jobs all three years before I started college at Trevecca, and put that money into savings. I had a deal with my parents to go to one of three schools for college if I wanted financial assistance, and if I kept up my grades, we would split the bill half and half (they had been given money by my grandparents for us kids to go to school and additional gifts when each of us got married to put aside for a house), with any scholarships I earned counting toward my half of the bill. I was able to graduate debt free and with a modest care in my name (I had saved up while working 20-30 hours a week when not in classes).

My grandparents were very smart with money, and they passed that on to my parents. My parents then passed that on to me. Thanks to the planning and generosity of my grandparents who had passed away before I was old enough to get to know them, I have a much better start in life and when I moved away from home, had a reserve saved up instead of starting deep in the red with lots of loans and car payments. I thank God for His providence in my life.

Abnormal Grief (Wordpress Import)

Ok, here's the setup: a great friend from Florida (the guy who got me the job I have now) moved into an apartment out here today and I am exhausted getting home around 1AM after carrying boxes for 13 hours. Also, I got word that one of the longest employees at our company passed away today unexpectedly of what seems to be heart failure. I don't have any info on what all happened, but am just lost about what to say. He was in better shape than anyone else I know. He leaves a large family behind, and I grieve for them more than him, because I know I'll see him again in Heaven. What do you say when this happens? I just can't come up with anything. My heart goes out to the wife, mother, father, and nine children he leaves behind. It was so sudden.

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. (Book of Common Prayer, the order for Compline)