Nice Start

After a restful nights sleep I was ready to face the day and all the challenges it would offer. After getting up and going through the normal routine, I headed off to work to see what came in to our work queue overnight.

I was alarmed to see two Sev 1 tickets in our queue with only 3 hours left on SLO. I then read them and breathed a sigh of relief...they were entered incorrectly. It was a formal request to install some monitoring software on 2 dozen servers (only 12 of those were ours, the other 12 were for Canada). The task is not a hard one, just download the software to each server and install it. There are a couple of config files that need tweaking, but all you have to do is fire up vi, add the lines, and save. The software is a little finicky, so you have to kill all the agents and do a clean start of them...then check the status to make sure they are running. We have about 6-8 of them that won't run the software completely...only about 2/3 of the agents run. I have not figured out how to fix those yet.

I was actually asked to start this yesterday, but I didn't because a large number of them are servers that have either been removed from production (but still running) or will be shortly. Once I got the correct list (which was this morning), I started installing. It took a few hours, but I got the most of it done.

I had to send the tickets back and have the agent correct them before I started working. You have to be careful not to go beyond what is required or things get ugly.

I also had a little admin stuff to do (kill accounts, add users to groups, change default shells, etc) but not much. I also had some workstation imaging to start for an R&D guy in one of the other buildings. He sends me the requests a couple at a time and I knock them out for him.

About lunch time or so the pace slowed a bit, so I poked a bit on the message board I am a member of. The "War Stories" and "Useful Info" sections are my favorites. "General Discussion" is the most popular and for the secular crowd, I can see why. It has a lot to offer in the way of humor. My only gripe is the occasional Christian bashing. While there are few Christians on that board, they do not defend the faith. They will explain it, but not defend it. I had hoped that our faith is the single biggest thing in our Christian life. I can understand not wanting to"shove it down someone's throat", but why is it okay to bash and ridicule my faith?

But, I digress.

Lunch was leftovers (Stroganoff, green peas, granola bar, Fresca, banana) but it hit the spot. I am sure I will not get hungry before dinner time. Sometimes I do not pack enough and I feel like I am going to starve by dinner time. At 190 lbs, I doubt I will starve.


This morning on Christian Talk Radio, they had part two of a discussion regarding Christians and sexual temptation. It was rather frank and in your face but it was also uplifting...even Christians can struggle with sexual issues. The speaker, Bob Reccord was very good. He and his wife told stories of people they knew...in the church, who strayed. Some were able to reconcile with family and God, while others were unable to come to grips with the sin. It reminded me of a pastor I know who went to start his own church and his wife of 25+ years had an affair. The scenario is common. A man is successful/busy and does not give the attention to his wife that she needs and deserves. Along comes a man who fills the need emotionally and in a blink of an eye, the woman has given herself over to desire. She has an affair with another man. The scary thing about this is that the man usually does not know until the wife tells him.

I would like to encourage all men, even if you are not a practicing Christian, to honor and cherish your wife. Pay attention to her and treat her well.

Wives, if you fell you are being ignored or are lonely, then let you husband know. If he does not get the hint, be more assertive. Do not become statistic.

My wife and I work very hard at this...but it is not easy. We been going to seminars, reading Christian marriage books, and listening to CD's to help strengthen our marriage. It is stronger today than it was 12 years ago when we wed.

Thank you God.