You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.â€
―   William W. Purkey
Quote I saw today that made me smile.
FollowSum it up!
I have never been overly cautious about checking the integrity of files that I download, unless the file is a critical file to the operating system, like drivers and such. In years, I have not seen an error and yet I still check. But, today! I downloaded the Smart Array controller driver for my ESXi 5.1 server. As usual I checked the file and was surprised to see that the SUMs did NOT match. So, I downloaded it again and the SUM Matched the SUM on the other file and not the website.
Being ultra cautious I contacted HP to have them verify that the SUM listed on the Page was correct for the file. I do not want to have a driver on my server that will cause a PSOD (Purple Screen of Death, like a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), only a prettier color). To my surprise, the technician downloaded the file and it was the same as on the website.
I left my office and went to a coffee shop to download the file and it was correct. So, my recommendation to you is if you see an MD5Sum on a website, you check it before you run it.
How do you do that you ask? In linux you simply use the command sum or md5sum and the name of the file. It is usually installed on the operating system.
In windows, you need to get a tool to do this simple task for you. There are many for sale windows tools to check the sum.  These are not required (unless you are afraid of the command line for some reason). In my opinion the best choice is to just goto Microsoft’s website and download Microsoft’s MD5Sum tool, called “Microsoft (R) File Checksum Integrity Verifier“.
This comes as a self extracting zip file with two files in it. The readme.txt will give you all the direction you need to verify that you have actually downloaded the file you thought you were getting.
The usage is simple
C:\>fciv.exe c:\mydir\myfile.dll
//
// File Checksum Integrity Verifier version 2.05.
//
f7668e5f069ffc621a2d9ddd4aa60ec0Â myfile.dll
I like to pipe that through to a find so that I do not have to check that against the sum manually.
C:\>fciv.exe c:\mydir\myfile.dll | find “f7668e5f069ffc621a2d9ddd4aa60ec0”
f7668e5f069ffc621a2d9ddd4aa60ec0 scsi-hpsa-5.0.0-28oem.500.0.0.472560.x86_64.vib
Moving In Less than 7 Days!!
Hello Everyone. Our move is less than 7 days away. Thank you everyone who has been supporting us through the changes we are so rapidly undergoing at this point. We look forward to your help on Saturday of Next week. I am very nervous about all of this today. I know we are setup well, but… alas it is still never racking.
Exercise Induced Anaphlaxis?
On Sunday, I ran about 45 minutes and became very very hot and I felt like I was going to pass out. I drank some Power Ade and felt a bit better. Kari and then I went to a Mongolian Barbecue and had lunch. Who knows what I ate, I mean those places are so yummy and have just about every food you might be allergic to and the chance for cross contamination is pretty high even if you are being careful, which I had not known to be. We finished lunch and left. As we were leaving Kari said I looked sunburned. We went to the mall and I was very irritable.  about 10 minutes after that, my face became purplish and I had hives from head to toe, and it was difficult to breath. On Monday, I found myself extremely sleepy and with a very difficult time not falling asleep, even while driving.
I am hoping this is not caused by the exercise, but is a symptom of an unknown food allergy. I have not had any allergic reaction to anything for years. I have eaten at this Mongolian Barbecue several times in the past and had never had any reactions. I guess it is time to have an allergy test? Or Maybe it is time to give up on running a marathon this year. Nope, not going to do that. I will run this year. So, I guess it is time to seek an allergist. After a bit of reading though it appears that one of the most common forms of allergies that are exacerbated by exercise are wheat/gluten. I have suspected wheat issues for quite  a while and had even stopped eating wheat entirely for about six months. Kari wants me to see a doctor this week. My schedule is not allowing that at this moment. I will schedule an appointment next week Tuesday.
With a ring at the end of his nose.
I have walked long enough with these shoes.
When I was in third grade. My teacher had us all dress up in these really cool outfits like people from Dutchland. We were all given wooden shoes and we burned our names in the bottom of them. We did clog dancing and performed poems. We had a few skits including the boy who put his finger in the dike to keep the water from flooding the town.  I was given the poem “The Owl and the Pussy Cat” by Edward Lear to perform, I memorized it and was the only one to memorize their poem.  The teacher (who was a new teacher for me since we had just moved a couple weeks before hand) told me I was the smartest student ever. I have struggled to keep that fascade all these years. Today as I am preparing to move and clearing out the past, I ran into these shoes in a box that I have been carrying around for over 30 years. I find myself realizing how much that one event has shaped the person I am at this moment. I have a gigantic collection of owls and even of shoes. Today I am letting go of my shoes. I am letting go of the pain I felt being made fun of by the older children for our costumes. I am letting go of needing to be the smartest one in the class. I am letting go of hoarding things that are no longer of any use to me. So here is the Edward Lear Poem and a picture of the shoes I can no longer fill.
| The Owl and the Pussycat poem | |
| The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, “O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are, What a beautiful Pussy you are.” Pussy said to the Owl “You elegant fowl, How charmingly sweet you sing. O let us be married, too long we have tarried; But what shall we do for a ring?” They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows, And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose, With a ring at the end of his nose. “Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will” So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon. And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand. They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon, They danced by the light of the moon |
Our new home in White Bear Lake.
This gallery contains 4 photo.
As many of you know we usually look for a new place to live for about two months.  This is just too long for us. We just got the best new home in less than one day from the time we agreed we were moving. Kari and I decided on Saturday 4/3 at 7:45 during my SELP class that we would be… (more…)
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- April 4, 2011, Author:
- 3 comments
- Categories: Uncategorized
Globulation
Globulation is an RTS with the twist that you do not micromanage the workers, etc. The items work to do what they want. It is much more like running a city or community. People do what they want based on their own intelligence. Thre is swimming, racing, barracks and the like. All Actions are based on a request for items to happen in a particular area. One needs to build sleeping quarters, etc.
Commitment
I do not know why, but sometimes it seems very difficult indeed to get commitment from people on the things that need to be accomplished. I frequently find myself struggling with too many small things to get done and not enough resources to make them happen.
I am as I stated before having difficulty with the changes in the retail market which have happened not too long ago and am trying to find out what can be done without having to lose my house. I have tried to get another loan and it does not look like it is going to be possible due to many different factors. I have worked very hard to find enough work to keep myself in money and that seems to be not working out the way that I would have hoped. So, I started working on a different plan. One that will have me get a more steady stream of revenue from my clients and have them spending less in the long run. The problem is that none of them seem to want to make the commitment to their business to make it happen. I wish that I knew what they were really thinking. All of them seem to want to have my services, but when I ask for them to help me level out the amount that they are spending, it doesn’t seem to happen.
So, what I want to do is simply make the promise that I will take care of all of your technology needs for a fixed cost per month. The fixed cost is looking very reasonable for what many of my customers are using.  They will get a higher level of service from their systems and will be better able to make money from their systems than they are now. I just don’t get it. Is there something wron with my approcah or is it the offer or what? I feel like maybe it really is just me being afraid to ask the right questions. I don’t know.
I need to make a permanent commitment to this business and then make it happen. So here is what I want to have happen.
1.
Multiple Exchange Server Mailboxes…
Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 only support connecting one Exchange Account per profile. I have a client who supports multiple companies as an Admin to those companies. Currently because of the limitations set by Outlook her day looks like:
Open outlook profile. Read Email, Write responses, add something to the calendar, close outlook, open new outlook profile, repeat.
She currently supports ~20 different clients like this and is attempting to increase her client coverage.  Many of these companies currently have >50 employees who she accesses through the profile for that company. I am considering pressing for either a terminal server connection to each client that she can just select when she gets the new phone call or other items. But if that is not possible the only current ways to support her and increase her efficiency that I can see are:
20 Virtual Machines Running on her desktop.
20 Terminal Sessions open to a terminal server of her own.
20 Computers with a Giant KVM.
What other options are there?
Force All of her clients to buy Hosted Exchange from her?
A third party application that will allow for Multiple Exchange Server Connections?
Open Outlook xxxx times a day? Well she is already doing that and it is only getting worse.
Third Party Calendaring Solution that can Replace the Exchange portion of the Calendar for her clients?
Outlook Web Access (prior to 2007) cannot open other peoples calendars EASILY. And definately cannot show calendars side by side, like in outlook client.
I am open to any suggestions. This has always been a pain for me personally, but one that I have been able to work around, since I am only ever needing to connect to a maximum of 3 different exchange servers: My Home Exchange Server, My Employer’s Exchange Server, My Churche’s Exchange server. (Daily Export and Import of Calendar Items from Employer to home & The reverse, duplication… sucks when it happens.)
Do others have problems with this? How do you deal with the problem? Although using a web calendar such a google can deal with this to a greater extent, it is really not the solution I am looking for here. I am looking for a solution that leverages Exchange, and preferably Outlook.
Email Archival is a pig.
There has always been a battle between IT and users about keeping email forever. Small Email Boxes keep the Email Servers healthy and fast and avoid disk crunches and backup problems. Users want information available forever. IT believes that the content of an email should go to a database that is available to others who need the information, and can be stored with other information that is pertinent to the email. However, laws in the United States, have finally given many users a legal reason to keep email forever. Ok. Five years really is not forever, but many people are fighting compliance issues, and many of the current mail systems are not really setup to support this in a meaningful way. I mean do we really need to keep all of the email that comes from unsolicited email from all over the world? That said. Here is the direction that mail archiving seems to fall into.
- Manual Archiving.
- Redirecting all email to an archival mailbox on the server.
- Redirecting all email through an archival system (hosted or not).
Each of these options has different advantages and disadvantages for your small business. (more…)
Anthony J Julian II
- Servers are Mountains, File Systems are Rivers
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