I haven't written in mu journal in a while - haven't had much reason to, or time to, or will to, or something. Oh yeah, and I procrastinate like crazy. Sorry :)

Well here's the deal. My new boss and I did not really see eye-to-eye on some core issues. I was fairly troubled about some of the decisions being made and, incidentally, the feeling like I was being treated like I was five. Rather than make waves, I took a colleague up on an offer to join the Vulnerability Assessment team. I've been a member for 8 months now and I really enjoy it. I figure I've been fixing stuff for so long now, by God I now deserve to break some shit! I hack and find where all the cracks are and let the appropriate parties know the impact, severity, and how they should fix it. Great fun! Who know where this may lead?

My daughter and I were watching "The Matrix" the other night and when the hackish nature of what Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus was explained, my daughter exclaimed "Daddy, you do that! You are a hacker too, right?" Damn right.

Well 11 months on the job and I somehow am now the service lead for the Unix team. Not too bad :) I have really ramped up to meet the challenge. Heck, I even started admining HPUX boxen - I always made fun of HPUX, but hey it isn't that bad. Runs NFS service like crazy, better than even Solaris. Not bad. I still like AIX better though :)

Funny thing happened this summer. A friend of mine who works at Google was recruiting me. I figured I'd give it a shot. I forgot though that they would do phone screens, at which I infamously suck. It's something about not seeing my interviewer that prevents me from attacking a phone interview. 5 interviews, all were fairly detailed and of depth. I discussed DNS, TCP/IP, bash, apache, OSI, Linux processes,and so forth. I am satisfied with my technical performance, but as you may well guess, I did not get a plane ticket. And I am fairly certain that it is because I did not attack my interview. I did not teach them anything, I merely demonstrated some core knowlege. If Google is looking for anything, it is looking for bright, resourceful, inventive and authoritative individuals. I may have demonstrated 3 out of 4 of those traits, but the authoritative quality may well be the one thing one needs to demonstrate most. Oh well - I still have my kernel and embedded projects and my LUG to lead here. I cannot lose sight of the good things I can accomplish right here (and so I will). Perhaps I can have another shot at Google later :)

In other news, I have gotten a little out of shape, so I purchased a rowing machine. I will row until I tighten up a bit.

I am also upgrading my building power so I can run more power to my network. I have recently moved all my production servers to a temporary closet and will be shutting down the remaining routers and switches tomorrow morning. Once the power upgrade is done, I can then run my new K9000 PA-RISC box without browning out the house :)

Next project - keyboard synthesizer!

Well, I'm a jobless bum this weekend, since I left my job and haven't started my new one yet. My wife said I can just hang around and be a bum. How utterly nice :)

I start my new job tomorrow - I am nervous, excited, apprehensive, and exhilerated all at once. I liken it to the first day at a new school - you hope that you make some friends. You also hope nobody stuffs you in a locker LOL.

Well - here's to not getting stuffed, and here's to hundreds of 64-way rs6000's at my command, and to weekends where you can bum around and play GTA III without recourse.

Well I have had it with my job. I love the library but the people running the show seem content to screw me, not advance me, pay me 1/2 what my colleagues make, etc. I really can't wait to get my business off the ground - but a very large corp here in town who happens to use AIX (one o' my specialties) just shot me a very attractive offer. I promised that I'd never, ever go to work for this company, but what the hell - they may not have as noble a mission, but the actual people there are giving me a solid career opportunity at equitable pay and benefits. My family must take precedence in this matter I'm afraid. So here I go - gonna work for the man :)

There are a million loose ends that I need to tie up before I eject eject eject. I still haven't given notice, and cannot until my background check is complete, so that leaves me some extra time to finish coding their website, wiring their new data center's kvm solution, and documenting, well shit - *everything* before I go. The evil part of me will take satisafction in experiencing the look on their faces when I give em the news. The human part will feel bad for taking off 2.5 weeks before their new site was to go beta. They'll be sorta screwed, but I cannot help the situation.

I am going to miss my library.

ya know - weirdest thing: shortly after writing my last entry I found that my dining room table could not in fact hold 2 monitors, 3 workstations, printer, network switch, boxes of software, peripherals and books. After coming home from work one day, I hauled myself out of my easy chair to see why my daughter was going on and on about something being "all broken." What I saw was horrifying: my table, purchased new for Christmas in 1999 and meant to be a family heirloom, was in pieces on the floor. Computer gear was in a tangled mess all over. Apparently my very expensive heirloom couldn't be extended to hold all 3 leaves and not cave under all my stuff. The autopsy on my table revealed that the sliding hardwood supports were not solid. Instead they were several pieces connected with sawtooth-type splice joinery. They were also channeled. So between the joinery coming apart and the wood splitting along the fault line of the channel cut, my shit ended up strewn across the top of my crashed table.

So anyway, I just got fininshed building a new computer desk and got all my stuff back on line. Feels good! Now back to work on planning my business - Dfu's dad analyzed the problem and told me that my biggest concern is adequate parking!?!. Hmmm interesting :)

At first, I was just researching pricing. I wanted to know what the "norm" is for charging customers, and for what services. But collaterally, I discovered some equally useful, if not disturbing, information.

First discovery was that Valve (company that sells CS, HL, and HL2 if it ever comes out) has a uber-expensive commercial pricing model for its games. I mean, this thing looks like there is no way in hell a LAN store could ever make any money from their product. And that's totally Valve's choice, but if LAN stores stop installing Valve products in favor of similar and more profitable games like Battlefield 1942 or Halo, then who loses? Ultimately, I believe it would be Valve. Puzzling, really. Getting their games in a LAN store seems like it would one of the best marketing tools for thier stuff. So, looks like my store won't be offering Counterstrike, Half Life, or HL2. I know there will be minor confusion over this, but Valve's policy really leaves me no choice.

Discovery #2 was in a forums thread following the story of a guy who had just received a threatening legal letter from Valve (see above) over commercial licensing. I read the comments and picked out some intersting tidbits, totally unrelated, but relevant to my reseacrh on this business:

ONe guy spent $100K on his business to start it. I dont know if that normal, but since it's the only estimate I have seen written down, it was worthy of note.

Another guy exhorted that he pretty much breaks even on the gaming; his profits come solely from the snack bar. Noted. I hope this is not my case, but my snacks idea had basis from that possibility anyway. So this was a bit of affirmation.

Oh wait - One more thing. I have a name. Or at least part of a name. Or something :) I finally found a cool Romaji-to-Kanji-to-English translator. The name? Kijo, or Kijo's Dungeon, or someting like that. Kijo is the japanese word for "demoness." So the demoness it is. Hottttttt! *tssssss* =)

Anyway, that's all I have until now - I'll keep on plugging away - 11 months and 20 days to go!

CG

Since I have committed myself to opening up a LAN/RPG/console/etc gaming esatblishment, and I have my wife's support, I thought it might be fun to chronicle our progress. So here is the first installment.

In the last 2 weeks, I have done some preliminary research on the business in general.

1) To start, I had to scratch an itch at the back of my mind. There had been a LAN gaming store in this town when I was an undergrad back in '95. I thought that the guy who owned it had the greatest idea, and wished that I had thought of it first. But in 2002 he unexpectedly disappeared - out of business. All that remained was an empty building and the burning question: "What happened?"
Well, to investigate in the here and now, I went to my friend Jim who owns the comic book store down the block and asked him what he knew about the LAN gaming store. Jim told me an epic story, a story of a store owner who leased his equipment, apyed techs to service it, took out loans to buy out the competition, and who then moved into a building that had insanely high rent, thinking that since the competition was now gone he would be rolling in dough. That turned out to be a pretty good recipe for bankruptcy. What I learned from the story was this: Focus on your business, not the guy across the street, don't count your chickens before they're hatched, and you can make a LAN gaming business work if you heed those first 2 lessons (and work hard)!

2) My wife and I started by thinking of names. (mongoose's/chux0r's)(dungeon/lair/den)? Nope, not meaningful enough, we both agreed. 2zen2 liked the dungeon idea though. How about Zen's or Sen's? Mmmmm - Sen? I liked the idea of the "Spirited Away" theme. How about "Kamajii's Dungeon?" As much as I liked the idea, I could probably get away with the name "Kamajii," which is just japanese for "boiler man," but I couldn't use any of the imagery - all copyrighted and unusable without mucho licensing. And I really want the visuals as much as I want the name. 2zen2 had the idea though - this place targets gamers, mostly boys, from the ages of probably 12-37. She had the wonderful idea of giving the business a decidedly female visage! She explained further, "Do you remember what you were like when you were, say, 14?" "I've tried to repress it but yeah, I do. I was a dork," I said. "Were you getting any?" , she giggled. "Sheesh! Take a guess," I said. "Exactly! See where I'm at?" "Whoa - when you're a 14 year old geek, gaming is your girlfriend! Brilliant!" I agreed. Better make the girlfriend enticing and exotic. Twins. Anime twins. Twin anime sisters? What's the japanese translation for "Twin warrior chix?" ahhh, still not really arrived at the name, but we left it right there. 2zen2 also intimated that it might be a good idea to use the kanjii script for whatever we end up with as part of the logo. Now I remember why I keep her on the payroll :)

3) I brainstormed about what I envisioned the layout to be like, what I really wanted the place to be.

a)I envision LAN gaming, of course: 20+ gaming stations, at least half Linux, with Gigabit copper backbone and monstrous monitors. The stations must be better than what 95% of the kids are using at home, or they won't come, I rationalized. I will need to tinker with a common hardware build to standardize my process, but I will be customizing each case to look different; different colors, neon, case mods, etc. I figured that there is only 1 place in town that will build funky modded gaming computers - I could put a pricetag on each machine and if a kid likes the one he's using - he can take it home. Might work. Anyway, back to the LAN - there will be game servers and whatnot too - I need to flesh that out more - and get a preliminary games list, check on licensing from Blizzard, Id, Valve, Activision et al.

b) I also envision console gaming. I see big couches in front of enormous TV sets. PS2, N64, Xbox. Kids can check out games at the front desk.

c) I see tables and chairs for RPG'ing. Not sure if I would charge for this, or how I would charge. I don't see a real need to because...

d) I will be setting up vending machines, a glass case freezer, a fridge, and a microwave. I will sell juices and c a f f e i n e (!) The freezer will have food that you can buy and heat up in the microwave - like a burrito or something. I figure that I may not even need to consider the logistics of charging for the tables, etc., if I am making ends meet on snacks and vending.

e) I also see tv's mounted up high, playing movies and such, with couches and chairs around to hang out in. Again, I really need to get people used to hanging out there.

f) I plan on getting a fat pipe (DSL?T1?DS3?) and offering cohosting for members and colocation for others.

4) Talked to some trusted compadres at the Unix Club about the idea - man I think they are as excited as me. I think that I will have no problem getting help at the store. I am also excited about the idea for another reason: I can use the store to support my local LUG. They need a mailing address and steady meeting place with network access, and this could be it.

5) Checked on commercial real estate around town. I wrote an agent - we'll see what he advises when I get with him. I saw a building that used to be a veterinary clinic that might work. Aw hell it's waaaay too early to consider buying or leasing a building, but I do need to test the waters to see what to expect.

6) 2zen2 looked at the VA website (we're looking at VA business opps/financing) and found that it's all done though the Small Business Administration. Looks like they will be requiring a business plan, so this journal should be useful.

Well, that's all the research I've done so far - the business is slated to open a mere 12 months from now - and that's not a heck of a lot of time when you consider everything we have to do. Heck, 2zen2 asked me what my policy on smoking will be. "I don't want to think about that now." I said.
What I do want to think about is a tentative layout concept and a preliminary equipment list. That's next I s'pose. Stay tuned.

I have been burning the candle at both ends trying to distinguish myself at the University Library. I took the initiative on several high-profile projects. I designed and built them a new state-of-the-art data center (which was a wonderful experience), I took the design lead on the web site redesign, and now sit on many technology advisory committees. Only problem is that I still see my career going nowhere.

The administration let me know that on the one hand, they are mortified of losing me, but on the other, they couldn't afford me unless they were screwing me salary-wise (my wording, not theirs).

I really have mixed feelings about this.
I really *LIKE* working for the library - it fulfills my sense of altruism because I know that the mission of the library - any library - is for the betterment of mankind. I am part of that; Makes me feel sorta "super". I am certain that none of the Unix admins at State Farm across town get the feeling like I do when I'm at work. It comes down to the supreme sense of satisfaction one gets when one agrees with the product of his labor as completely as I do. Of course the State Farm guys make 2.5X my salary, drive nice cars and probably don't worry about their bills as much as I do. So there is a tradeoff.

The question is, is the money worth giving up the sense of fulfillment , pride and benevolence? I mean, I really don't think that insurance is a benefit to society - more like a racket, huh. No, actually now that I think about it, working for the 'Farm would be selling out in a major way.

I still have a problem though. My library doesn't seem to love me as much as I love it. I can see no prospect of advancement for my career, and I do have a family to feed.

I think that it's time to wrest the reigns of my destiny from those forces that are yanking them towards mediocrity and submission. I have discussed with my wife the idea of opening my own LAN gaming store in Bloomington. Interestingly enough, she is so down with it that I was amazed! A VA business loan, some ramp up time, and I think I can make this work well. Sure, it probably does not contribute as much to society as a Library (and what does? it's as noble an institution as a church or a homeless shelter or the Red Cross, that's tough to top), but I think that it will provide recreation to many, and be a hangout for high school and college kids. Heck I can proselytize Linux and Open Source, donate meeting space to my beloved LUG/club, UHACC.

So there it is - I can't believe that I would willingly leave the library, but I feel I have no choice. I am excited and scared out of my frigging mind all at the same time - and I wouldn't miss the opportunity for the world.

Well I have been a /. member for a long while now but have never used the journal. I thought that might change now that I actually have interesting stuff to write about. Or maybe I always did, who knows. Well lets get this first entry going with some particulars.

My name is Chuck. I am 34 years old, a 1998 Summa Cum Laude graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in Technology, Industrial Computer Systems.

I married my sweetie JoAnne in 1997 and then did some grad work in the late 90's where I taught 6-7 sections of freshman Applied Computer Science. My mentor Dr. Nelsen was totally cool, but I brushed up on my CPR just in case he had a coronary right on front of me, being that he had a terrible ticker. I ended up designing the curriculum, designing and proctoring quizzes midterms, finals and all other tests. I taught all of the lab sessions. I kept the grades. I held all of the office hours. I did it out of respect for my ailing mentor. But having totally burned the candle at both ends for a year, I decided to leave grad school and make a living. My buddy Chuck (the *other* Chuck) and I started a small technology firm named Io Network Solutions, Inc., which specializes in ISP support and small business computing and documentation support. I also secured a job at the University as an AIX/Linux support specialist. Dr Nelsen died the next year of a massive heart attack right in front of his new grad assistant. Man that sucked. I felt kind of bad, but I found out at the wake from Jim the sysadmin that he died while stringing 1000 base fiber to a new data node, so I know he died happy. He didn't get to take his Rolls with him though, and that may have bothered him, since he lived for that car. Well, so much for grad school - I planned on going back, but even as big a load as Nelsen piled on me, I couldn't imagine being anyone else's gradass. So screw it, I just plowed forward with my business of running enterprise Linux systems by night and quitely plodding along at my mild-mannered day desk job at the University.

Io was running pretty good and my job was OK, but something was missing though. Something bothersome. It was community - the community of geeks I used to bum around with had all but disappeared. Some of us that used to be in the old ISU Unix hobbyists group were really bummed about not having the club anymore. You see, all of us graduated or left all at once, which pretty much killed the student organization. What did we do? We devised a plan to start a community based club that allows anyone who wants to come. The name, I cooked up: Unix Hobbyists' Administrators' & Coders' Club - UHACC. The year was 2000 and we started plastering flyers everywhere, chalking the sidewalk at the University, spreading the word. We wrote a constitution, registered a site (uhacc.org). UHACC grew. It continues to grow.
Now we've had some dissent and the inevitable management upheaval with growing pains and everything, but UHACC has evolved into a pretty neat group of geeks. Now at the beginning we really only wanted to just get together, talk tech and do the occasional project. But something quite unexpected is occuring right now as I type. My little local club is starting to be known outside the confines of our area. At first I didn't know what to think but now I think the extra attention is nice, and very good for the guys. We've met with open source luminaries and well-known players in our field. They are all as nice as we imagined they would be. My hope for the future is that we can use our exposure to increase the effectiveness of the club toward accomplishing our mission of increasing awareness of OSS.

So here's hoping my little company stays afloat, since it pretty much bankrolls the club (along with dues and such). I now have a little 2.5 year old daughter who likes to play with daddy's 'puter. I'd like to ince day bring her in for her UHACC debut. So to alt_phil, dfu, elfstones, joer, arit93, opie, nname, joejaz, pat and all the rest of the UHACC, I say thanks for helping to build one heckuva wonderful computer club. With any luck it will just continue to grow and evolve.

Well that's everything until now I imagine.
BTW thanks to Hemos, CmdrTaco and Kathleen for hanging out with me and the rest of the UHACC crew at Penguicon 2, you guys rock!