An actual update!
Yep, it's been a while since I've updated this thing. So, um... here goes...
First off, not much has changed over the last couple of months; Life goes on for Teeka and I; And all in all, things are great, eh. :)
In the Information Technology industry (as well as probably other industries), if you graph the number of failures of a given type or piece of technological equipment over time, you end up with what a previous coworker of mine (I think it was Geoff, from the UI) called the "Bathtub Curve." That is, shortly after a random piece of equipment is deployed, there will usually be several failures at first (due to flaws in the manufacturing process). After a while, the failures stop happening, and the equipment functions flawlessly for a while (months to years, typically), then, as the equipment ages, the failures start happening again at an ever increasing rate (due to parts finally wearing out). What you end up with is a curve that looks kind of like a bathtub.
Well, over the last few weeks, it seems about half of the computers I have at home or at work have decided to simultaneously reach that point where the failures start rising dramatically again...
A kitten decided to puke into my wife's computer case, nailing the ueber-expensive video card within... (Managed to catch it immediately, and a half-hour with warm water and q-tips seems to have fixed things for now. But, oh yes, this will come back to haunt us. :P )
Wrath, my Big server at home, with several redundant features, decided to have a critical failure in one of the few non-redundant parts.
My main work firewall machine decided to give up the ghost today. Everthing except one damned part within it was redundant. Guess what failed? (But Hah! Fates-- I had an entirely redundant external server too, so there! pbpbpbpbpbp!)
Most everything is back up and running again for now, however I do anticipate that those systems with problems are going to keep having them until they're totally replaced.
...
In summary, computers suck.
And... well, about the only other thing of significance to report is that my cousing died last weekend. He was a type 1 diabetic. His wife apparently came home last Friday to find him in a coma, and his breathing and heart stopped. Parametics were able to get his heart and lungs pumping again, but on Saturday two doctors confirmed from independent analysis that he was brain-dead. His family decided to keep his body on life support until his organs could be donated. (Apparently this happens very quickly-- from between 12 and 24 hours after the time of death.) Anyway, that's been taken care of, and tomorrow Teeka and I will be flying to San Diego for a funeral on Thursday.
I'm still somewhat in disbelief over this news; He's the first of my generation in my family to pass on. In fact, I guess you could say he's the first person I've been close to in any meaningful way who has died.
To be honest, I was not as close to Travis as I am to some of my other cousins, or certainly my siblings. But I have many fond memories of spending summer days in the woods behind my grandparents' house in Olympia, or swimming in the lake at my Uncle's house with him. We used to declare war on every hornet's nest we'd find in the woods, and pelt it with rocks and sticks until the swarm found somewhere else to move to. My grandfather had a huge burn pile near the edge of the woods, and we were allowed to cut down and burn any of the smaller alder trees we wanted (but none of the cedars!)... We'd have contests seeing how quickly we could cut down the trees with axes or saws. We'd see how far we could climb up some of the larger trees... and get sometimes 40 or 50 feet up, swaying in the breeze and dreading the bumpy trip back down. We'd hunt for huckleberries and blackberries in the woods and sometimes find enough to eat our fill...
I seem to recall that he had a very rocky life during his early years-- I guess you could say he was angry at the world or god or whatever about being diabetic; He so wanted to deny the fact that he had this disease that there were times he would go for long periods without taking his insulin shots, or without watching his diet closely enough. When a diabetic goes to an extreme of blood sugar (either way too high or low), it's common for them to become very emotionally unbalanced; This happened with Travis a lot in his youth.
I remember waking up one night when his family was visiting and he was sleeping in a sleeping-bag on the floor of my room, and hearing him making very strange sounds in his nostrils. I nudged and poked my other cousin in the room, asking him what Travis was doing. And when the light came on, there he was-- eyes wide open and shaking in a siezure. Travis had a lot of siezures as a kid...
Over the last 10 years or so, we've had little contact. (And I suppose that makes his departure from this Earth a little easier to bear for me.) After high school Travis (who had never been very religious or spiritual) went through kind of an epiphany with the Church, and decided to serve a mission. I think he was assigned to Houston, Texas. After returning home, he met and married his wonderful wife and had (I think) two kids.
I think Travis was 31 when he died.
For those of you who pray... if you want to pray for anyone, pray for Travis' wife and children who must now continue their lives without him.
I am very thankful that I was able to both see and go fishing with Travis this summer. And I do miss him.
Treasure your loved ones whenever you can, friends. Because we do not control our own fates.
First off, not much has changed over the last couple of months; Life goes on for Teeka and I; And all in all, things are great, eh. :)
In the Information Technology industry (as well as probably other industries), if you graph the number of failures of a given type or piece of technological equipment over time, you end up with what a previous coworker of mine (I think it was Geoff, from the UI) called the "Bathtub Curve." That is, shortly after a random piece of equipment is deployed, there will usually be several failures at first (due to flaws in the manufacturing process). After a while, the failures stop happening, and the equipment functions flawlessly for a while (months to years, typically), then, as the equipment ages, the failures start happening again at an ever increasing rate (due to parts finally wearing out). What you end up with is a curve that looks kind of like a bathtub.
Well, over the last few weeks, it seems about half of the computers I have at home or at work have decided to simultaneously reach that point where the failures start rising dramatically again...
A kitten decided to puke into my wife's computer case, nailing the ueber-expensive video card within... (Managed to catch it immediately, and a half-hour with warm water and q-tips seems to have fixed things for now. But, oh yes, this will come back to haunt us. :P )
Wrath, my Big server at home, with several redundant features, decided to have a critical failure in one of the few non-redundant parts.
My main work firewall machine decided to give up the ghost today. Everthing except one damned part within it was redundant. Guess what failed? (But Hah! Fates-- I had an entirely redundant external server too, so there! pbpbpbpbpbp!)
Most everything is back up and running again for now, however I do anticipate that those systems with problems are going to keep having them until they're totally replaced.
...
In summary, computers suck.
And... well, about the only other thing of significance to report is that my cousing died last weekend. He was a type 1 diabetic. His wife apparently came home last Friday to find him in a coma, and his breathing and heart stopped. Parametics were able to get his heart and lungs pumping again, but on Saturday two doctors confirmed from independent analysis that he was brain-dead. His family decided to keep his body on life support until his organs could be donated. (Apparently this happens very quickly-- from between 12 and 24 hours after the time of death.) Anyway, that's been taken care of, and tomorrow Teeka and I will be flying to San Diego for a funeral on Thursday.
I'm still somewhat in disbelief over this news; He's the first of my generation in my family to pass on. In fact, I guess you could say he's the first person I've been close to in any meaningful way who has died.
To be honest, I was not as close to Travis as I am to some of my other cousins, or certainly my siblings. But I have many fond memories of spending summer days in the woods behind my grandparents' house in Olympia, or swimming in the lake at my Uncle's house with him. We used to declare war on every hornet's nest we'd find in the woods, and pelt it with rocks and sticks until the swarm found somewhere else to move to. My grandfather had a huge burn pile near the edge of the woods, and we were allowed to cut down and burn any of the smaller alder trees we wanted (but none of the cedars!)... We'd have contests seeing how quickly we could cut down the trees with axes or saws. We'd see how far we could climb up some of the larger trees... and get sometimes 40 or 50 feet up, swaying in the breeze and dreading the bumpy trip back down. We'd hunt for huckleberries and blackberries in the woods and sometimes find enough to eat our fill...
I seem to recall that he had a very rocky life during his early years-- I guess you could say he was angry at the world or god or whatever about being diabetic; He so wanted to deny the fact that he had this disease that there were times he would go for long periods without taking his insulin shots, or without watching his diet closely enough. When a diabetic goes to an extreme of blood sugar (either way too high or low), it's common for them to become very emotionally unbalanced; This happened with Travis a lot in his youth.
I remember waking up one night when his family was visiting and he was sleeping in a sleeping-bag on the floor of my room, and hearing him making very strange sounds in his nostrils. I nudged and poked my other cousin in the room, asking him what Travis was doing. And when the light came on, there he was-- eyes wide open and shaking in a siezure. Travis had a lot of siezures as a kid...
Over the last 10 years or so, we've had little contact. (And I suppose that makes his departure from this Earth a little easier to bear for me.) After high school Travis (who had never been very religious or spiritual) went through kind of an epiphany with the Church, and decided to serve a mission. I think he was assigned to Houston, Texas. After returning home, he met and married his wonderful wife and had (I think) two kids.
I think Travis was 31 when he died.
For those of you who pray... if you want to pray for anyone, pray for Travis' wife and children who must now continue their lives without him.
I am very thankful that I was able to both see and go fishing with Travis this summer. And I do miss him.
Treasure your loved ones whenever you can, friends. Because we do not control our own fates.