This ... http://slashdot.org/~ncc74656/journal/153344 ... is just too odd and off the wall to let pass by.

Tip O' the hat to ncc74656

Are any of you planning on braving the Black Friday chaos tomorrow?

While I'm a big bargain hunter I just can't stand huge crowds for the most part so I tend to avoid shopping on Thanksgiving weekend (and indeed Thanksgiving through New Year's) if I possibly can.

I may brave the crowds some as I have to pass through the main shopping area of Downtown Seattle if I want to go anywhere. Also there is an item I've been considering purchasing at a local store on closeout and I want to pick one up before they run out.

Otherwise I plan on shopping for everything except food and gas online until next year.

So any tips on windows anti-virus/anti-spyware software? My freebie subscription for Norton 2005 just ran out.

Reading over the online reviews it seems all of the major vendors have some serious problems with the latest versions of their software and are engaging in some very sleazy and deceptive business practices as well.[1]

Should I just say "to heck with it" and rely on freeware/shareware products?

[1]Reviews on the latest versions of Norton, McAfee, and Trend are running anywhere from 80-95% negative which is pretty rare unless the software is really a steaming pile.

Oh bother ... It ssems I wasn't payig attention to my checking account balance and overdrafted a few days ago. Unfortunately a certain large savings bank decided to take a $30 overdraft fee for each transaction rather than take the money out of my savings account or block the transaction.

$150 down the tubes all because I've been too busy to keep a close eye on my checking account. What makes it all the more annoying is I have several thousand dollars in a savings account as well as a well under the limit credit card, both with the same large

I'm going to try talking to them tomorrow and at least see if I can set up some sort of automatic overdraft protection that won't cost me so much money if I manage to drain it again. Hopefully I can get them to waive the overdraft fees as well but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Sigh, this is the first time in nearly 15 years I've managed to overdraft my checking account.

I seem to be filled with a sense of impending doom today for some reason.

I'm hoping this is just a silly thing having to do with a lack of sleep and the change in weather.

On the other hand there could be something to it as:
1. My boss returns from vacation next Monday and I have to deal with how I performed (or didn't) as acting lead.
2. We had an outage at our co-lo early Monday morning and I wasn't reachable due to a dead cell phone battery. I will point out that I wasn't on-call and I have both Sunday and Monday off so I don't feel I _need_ to be reachable. However others may not see it that way due to my acting lead status and because I'm the IT person who can most easily reach the co-lo after hours. Thankfully the server in question was behind a load ballancer so no services were impacted.
3. Much of the project work hasn't gotten done over 2 of the last 3 weeks. However this is due to in one case the developers not being ready for deployment and in the other my boss' boss asking us to slow the schedule way down and limit work to low-impact servers for now. Also firefighting and production work has taken much more time than anticipated.
4. I've been mostly useless at work the past 2 weeks and dragging in late because of a really bad cold I couldn't shake. I probably would have called in sick for much of this period but I felt I had an obligation to be present.
5. There have been 4 major outages over the past 3 weeks. One was due to an old server with no redundancy that wasn't even backed up crapping out. One was due to an OS upgrade that went horribly wrong and took our main web sites down for 1 hour during the middle of the day. One was because of a Denial of Service attack against another customer in our co-lo. The last was the hung server I mentioned above. Now I don't feel like I (or the rest of the staff) handled any of these incidents poorly, however management may feel like it needs a scapegoat and they happened on my watch.
6. Our department hasn't seen the staff reductions that have hit the rest of the company and I'm the least-senior member of the staff. Also I haven't had time to become irreplacable in regard to one or more aspects of our systems.

It doesn't help that I've gotten almost no feedback other than self-critique since my old boss left in late August.

Perhaps I'm worring over nothing and perhaps I'm sensing the way the wind is blowing on a subconscious level. (and perhaps it is a bit of both)

In any case I take this as a sign I really should start looking for another job ASAP.[1]

[1]I'd really rather leave of my own accord than be laid off or fired for one. For another if I'm worried about being fired or laid off there is probably something wrong even if those worries turn out to be unfounded.

Victim fatally shoots downtown assailant

Sounds like a case of adding some chlorine to the gene pool ...

God I absolutely hate apartment hunting. It seems every time I do it it just gets more annoying.

Calling people who don't answer their phone and don't return messages. Overly rude managers. Overpriced shoeboxes and dumps. Calling ads or for rent signs for properties that have already been rented. Credit check fees. Unscrupulious landlords who don't bother to tell you there is an application pending before taking your money and application fee. Managers who can only show units 9-5 Monday-Friday[1].

Even more fun is trying to find leads on availible units in the first place. First of all many units are only advertised with a "For Rent" sign out front. On the other hand some units are advertised only on craigslist, or only on one of the various internet rental search sites, or sometimes only at the property management company's web site. Which is yet another problem, there is really no one place to go look for available rentals. The last time I really had to do this[2] the newspaper was still the primary way to find what was for rent. Sure you might miss some of the better deals out there as those tended to pass on by word of mouth or be the sort of places with a waiting list.

Ah the joys of a tight rental market.

I just really wish there was someone I could pay to find places that hadn't rented yet and more or less met my critera then do the legwork of scheduling showings and what not. Someone with the time to really get to know the ins and outs of the local rental market. I've heard there are such people in other cities who go by the name of "apartment brokers" but apparently this concept hasn't made it to the relative backwater of Seattle yet.

[1]Great hours for those of us who have to work for a living.
[2]Supprisingly its been almost 9 years since I've really done an apartment hunt. I lucked out in finding a duplex and then a couple of house shares the last few times I've had to move. Otherwise I've been in a position[] where I haven't had a lot of time to look around and had to take the first marginally acceptable place I found.
[]Like the one that landed me my current overpriced shoebox studio.

So today I found out I've been selected to be my department lead while our current lead goes on sabbatical for the next two months.

This is kind of odd because I don't really see myself as a 'leader' and because I've been at this company the shortest time of any of my co-workers.

I suppose it isn't too supprising as I seem to be the only one other than our lead who ends up running large projects requiring inter-departmental co-ordination and a lot of up-front planning.

Then again this might be one of those 'short-straw' sort of things as I think my other co-workers are actively allergic to being in any sort of management or lead position.

What is further puzzling is I was also mildly reprimanded[1] for missing a series of outage pages during my last on-call[2] and for my recent attendance[3].

No extra pay for the next two months or anything, but formal lead/supervisory experience is still experience no matter how limited.

Another thing I find somewhat funny is I've just kicked my search for another job into high-gear. While my personal sense of honor would have prevented me from resigning until my lead returned from his sabbatical anyway, I'm really stuck now.

[1] Not a formal verbal reprimand as best as I can tell but I plan on treating it as such.
[2] The pager was in the livingroom when I was asleep in the bedroom.
[3] While we're technically on flex time to some extent, for the past couple of months I've been coming in anywhere from 2 to 3 hours past what I've established as my "usual" start time.

Mmmmm .... I just had lunch at Salumi. A wonderful braised oxtail sandwitch, a plate of cured meats with cheese and olives, and a glass of wine.

This has to rank among the best meals I've ever eaten and it was only about $22 a person with the wine.

Unfortunately their storefront is only open 11-4 Tuesday thru Friday and there is typically a fairly long line stretching out the door (though things slow down a bit after 2 PM)

Well worth the wait and a stop if you happen to find yourself in Seattle on a weekday (other than a Monday) afternoon.

This was dinner last night:
Lemon cucumbers with yoghurt dill sauce
Pan-Seared Salmon with Braised Lentils and Chard
Cut Cantaloupe
Estecillo Calatayud 2004 (Spanish Rose)

A nice late-Summer dinner. It would have been somewhat better had I used fresh salmon fillets of uniform thickness rather than the cheap frozen fillets that have been in the back of my freezer forever.

The wine was cheap and wonderful. I'm going to have to experiment with rose wines some more.

Holy fucking shit ... terrorist attack in Seattle!

BTW this is about 2 blocks from my current apartment.

I have to say my first reaction was "Why don't you keep that shit in the Middle East?"

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/279302_shooting28ww.html

At least one killed during shooting at Seattle Jewish federation

Five hurt; One person in custody

Friday, July 28, 2006

By PHUONG CAT LE, BRAD WONG, JOHN IWASAKI AND AMY ROLPH
P-I REPORTERs

Six people were shot - one fatally - this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man who told a witness he was upset about "what was going on in Israel."

Police spokesman Rich Pruitt said there was one shooter, who was apprehended without incident outside the Jewish Federation building at the corner of Third Avenue and Virginia Street.

"We believe it's a lone individual acting out his antagonism," said David Gomez, who heads the FBI's counterterrorism efforts in Seattle.

Authorities did not release any details about the gunman and would not discuss possible motives.

"There's nothing to indicate that it's terrorism related," Gomez said. "But we're monitoring the entire situation."

Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick confirmed one person had died.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Pamela Steele said five victims were taken to the hospital, all women ranging in age from the 20s to the 40s. Each suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen, knee, groin or arm. Three were in critical condition. Two were in satisfactory condition.

One of the women in satisfactory condition is 20 weeks pregnant and was shot in the arm. Doctors believe she will be OK.

The gunman forced his way through the security door at the federation after an employee had punched in her security code, Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a database coordinator for the center, told The Associated Press. "He said 'I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,' before opening fire on everyone," Meislin-Dietrich said. "He was randomly shooting at everyone."

Authorities received a 911 call at 4:03 p.m. with reports of shots fired at the Jewish Federation and a possible hostage situation, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Nick Metz said at an early evening news conference.

Officers converged on the scene and took a man into custody. At one point, the alleged gunman had been talking to a police dispatcher, Metz said.

There were more than 10 people in the Jewish Federation building at the time, Metz said.

Fighting has raged in the Middle East since Hezbollah, a Shiite group based in Lebanon, went into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. Israel retaliated by striking targets in Lebanon and has sent troops into the southern part of the country. Since the conflict began, more than 400 have been killed in Lebanon and more than 50 soldiers and civilians have been killed in Israel.

Witnesses to the afternoon shooting and people who work at the Jewish Federation described a chaotic, terrifying scene.

Kami Knatt works at the federation's Holocaust center. As she exited the building, she saw a wounded coworker fall down. Knatt took her sweater off and tried to stop the bleeding.

"I asked her 'Are you OK?'. She said, 'No, I've been shot.' I kept saying it's going to be OK."

The victim told Knatt: "I'm going to black out, I'm going to black out." Knatt replied: "You're going to be alright."

Several workers and victims ran toward a nearby Starbucks. There was a small pool of blood outside the coffee shop.

Nathaniel Mullins, 43, was turning onto Lenora Street with his 19-year-old daughter when he heard police say, "Get back! Get back!"

Mullins said he saw two shooting victims. "They were covered in blood," he said.

"We were scared, heck yeah. It shook me for a moment."

Zach Carstensen, who is the director of government relations for the Jewish Federation, said he heard shots and screams.

"People started running and I started running with them," Carstensen said.

Asked whether he thought his office had been targeted because of the conflict in the Mideast, Carstensen said he wasn't sure. "We're all a little shaken," he said.

Sam Peterson, 18, who lives in an apartment on Third and Blanchard, said she was walking to the Lenora Apartment Building when she heard at least one gunshot.

She saw a blond woman "drop to the ground. She screamed."

Immediately after the shooting, a SWAT team searched the federation building, looking for any other victims, anyone hiding or any other possible shooters, Pruitt said.

Police blocked off several city blocks to investigate. The suspect's vehicle was recovered near the shooting scene, Metz said.

Metz said police officers throughout the city were being asked to step up patrols of Jewish synagogues and Jewish organizations.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle was established 1926. According to its Web site, its mission is to "ensure Jewish survival and to enhance the quality of Jewish life locally, in Israel and worldwide."

Rabbi Daniel Weiner at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle, said his congregation was planning to meet in Bellevue this evening anyway, but was waiting for police to advise them on whether to go ahead with the services.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is a fund raising and fund allocation organization.

"It is the Jewish version of the United Way," Weiner said. He said he is at a loss to understand why people in that building would be attacked.

"To delve into the mind of a clearly troubled and disturbed person is impossible," Weiner said. "It is heartbreaking to think of what is transpiring."

The Jewish Federation building has tight security, with gates and buzzers, puzzling many who go there as to how the gunman entered.

"The whole thing is an incredibly terrifying thing," said Vicki Robbins-Silverman, a member of Seattle's Jewish community and retired military wife. "It's unbelievable."

Silverman had visited the Jewish Federatoin only on Wednesday to pick up a friend, and found it "creepy" watching the building known for its community services surrounded by turmoil. The Jewish Federation houses a community Jewish newspaper and various member agencies, including the Washington Holocaust Educational Resource Center, the Jewish Education Council and other community services.

Word of the shooting quickly ricocheted around the world. Silverman heard from a relative in Los Angeles who saw it on television. In Israel, Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post newspapers had the story on their online front pages, just below stories about the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iantha Sidell, past board chair of Seattle's Jewish federation, went to Harborview after the shooting.

"This is just a disaster," she said. "We value every life. I don't know what we're going to do about it. We believe in life."

We have a need to archive a craptonne of data at work, after much discussion of our various options it was decided that some form of tape-based solution was probably best.

Thus the following questions:
1. Autoloader/library or single drive?
2. What format would you pick? (SDLT, LTO, something else)
3. Highest density in that format or maximum total storage? (density * slots)

Any other thoughts?

FWIW I'm leaning very strongly toward the Overland Data Powerloader LTO 2 17 slot autochanger.

Ok, I've had it with Cingular and I'm ready to switch. What generally has been your experience with any of the following carriers?
1. T-Mobile
2. Sprint
3. Verizon

Any ideas on how to do sane patch management on a large number of linux servers?

Novell's ZenWorks looks nifty but it is a bit spendy for my current organization.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy.