DLand - Hey Baby, Nice Rack

Well, we are almost done installing the new rack system in our server room. It's been a long road, full of lots of purchases we didn't think of, but it's looking pretty kick ass now. Last Friday was the big circus. We had to try and move all of this stuff during the day but yet keep everything up and running as much as possible. The rack cabinet itself weighs about 250 lbs. and then there was the rack mounted UPS and the 1u rack mounted servers (the pizza boxes) and the conversion kit for our original tower model server to become rack mountable. I got to work at 7am and we left at 9pm. And we were only about half-way done at that point.

We ordered new network cables in one of every color. The lines coming out of the wall look like something from \"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor LAN\". And then the phone system....

That's when things were starting to get fun. We have this way cool phone system here. But it's all a nest of phone wires. And all of this is crucial to us even receiving a phone call in the office. No biggie. Well, needless to say a very proprietary cable got bent and had to be put back together so that we could function. Bah.

And then we built the whole rack system only to find out that the last item to go in wouldn't fit. That meant taking everything out of the rack system and moving to vertical posts back about three inches and then putting it all back together again.

So we then go to put the last server in but somebody decided to not listen to the instructions and wanted to try some new way of mounting it. Needless to say the new way didn't work and we had to take more stuff apart to put it back together. At that point I think we were ready to kick each other.

But now it's looking pretty groovy. All our little machines are in a stack and humming along. It's like a real honest to goodness server room. And I get to show off my rack to folks who come in the office.

I shouldn't complain about our server situation too much, though. I got a phone call today from a guy in Alabama who said they were recovering from a \"squirrel attack\" in the main server room where the little guy had gotten in and pulled wires and chewed through cables. Amazing.

DLand - So How Was New Orleans?

Hours spent in New Orleans this weekend: 67Hours spent in Harrah's Casino this weekend: ~24 Hours spent in the French Quarter: 0 Hours I slept last night: 3 Dollars won at video poker because not in bed: $200 Dollars lost at the craps table because not in bed: $100

So Thursday, I'm at Best Buy picking up some music during lunch. I open my wallet to hand the cashier my debit card and realized that I didn't have my driver's license. My first thought.

"Fuck. Must use another credit card."

All of my debit cards have "Ask for photo id" written on the back. And wouldn't that have been embarrassing for the one time the cashier actually asks for it, I can't produce. So I quickly switched cards. My second thought.

"Fuck! How am I going to get into Harrah's tomorrow?!"

No, not "How am I going to get on a plane in the airport" or "Should I really be driving around today with no driver's license". It was all about Harrah's. I have my priorities straight, as you can see. Needless to say, I had left it in the back seat of my car when I had gone to the credit union to stock my bankroll for the weekend. We were reunited that afternoon and I obviously got on the plane and went to my conference and my casino.

We ate beignets. Mmm, fried dough. That and Harrah's and the gumbo are about all that I need from New Orleans. It's really not a town that calls to me. I would take Las Vegas over it any day. But I did have a pretty good time and winning in the casino didn't hurt that overall assessment at all.

Too tired to update much more than that. But if you need some help with video poker or craps strategy, let me know.

DLand - Talk To Me While I'm Listening

I talk to myself. I have done it all my life. In my room as a little girl. In the car. When I'm out walking the dogs. In the grocery store. In the office when Bossman is not around. Sometimes I get embarrassed. I pretend that I'm singing a song. I kind of bop my head back and forth like it's some rant in a pop music anthology. I speak softly and look around so people won't hear me.

But there is something to be said for voicing what's in your head. To hear the words come out of your mouth. I replay conversations that I've had. I talk to those who aren't there with me. I tell them all the things I've never said and never may.

Sometimes I can just write it all down. I look back on it, digesting the words and moving them around 'til they scratch the itch in my brain. But other times I have to hear them. I have to know what my voice sounds like when I stammer out the words. I have to hear myself suck my teeth in irritation or sigh in anticipation, biting my lip.

This time of year is the best for talking to oneself. My warm breath carries the words out in front of me into the cold and I watch them float over to the person who isn't there - the kind listener who I can't see.

My father told me when he was a child on the farm that they could pick up radio stations from far off cities at night. The air was thinner then and the sound waves could travel farther. I always thought it was because there was less clutter at night in the air and therefore more capacity for sounds that would normally get congested and lost during the day. I imagine that the things I say carry better at night as well. There is more space in the atmosphere for a few thoughts from Genie to float away. Perhaps like radio waves, they continue on forever. They can be heard in far off cities or outer space or even other worlds. Perhaps it only matters that I can hear them.

Hey, it's me. Can you hear me?