IUTLGTI - Union dues

I Used To Love Going To Ikea.....

Yesterday we planned a trip to the Coquitlam Ikea. But a jack-knived semi on an off-ramp from the Second Narrows made us decide to try the Richmond Ikea instead. Probably one of the less clever decisions of the week.

Driving through rush-hour traffic, Lions Gate, downtown, Granville, Oak street bridge, Richmond... an hour and a half.

As we drive up to Ikea, it is unsettlingly quiet. No pickup trucks driving off with Ikea marked boxes in the back, precariously tied to the moving vehicle by ropes and land-lubbers knots. And most puzzling, a small group of people ambling about with large pieces of paper on their front and back.

A serious looking man informs me that they are on strike for better working conditions.
"Teamsters Union on Strike at Ikea" the pieces of paper say. The serious-faced man, obviously above such decorations, is wearing a collared shirt and no sandwich board.
"The Coquitlam store is still open" he informs me. He shows no sympathy for my hour-and-a-half drive from the North Shore with a small child.


I think I'll start a Union for Shoppers' rights. :-)

Lament for a SPARC

This was sent to the mailing list of network administrators (SNAG)... Personal info removed.

**********
From: Joseph
Sent: Sat 8/18/2007 1:01 AM
To: Systems and Network Administrators Group
Subject: XXX.YY.36.1, I hardly knew you ...


Although I'm not usually sentimental, this week marks the end of an era as
the longest surviving server during my position here was finally powered off,
probably for the last time.

The Sun SparcServer was already several years old when I got here in
1999, and even then, was in a state of obsolescence. It had modest specs,
having just 128Mb of memory and a single processor that barely ticked over
at 50Mhz and a 10Mb/s NIC card. Video output was sent through a strange
13W3 interface to a monitor that yellowed with age.

What it lacked in performance, it made up for in grit. It kept working in an
uncooled room that reached over 50C during summer while newer servers alongside
heat prostrated. It survived being showered with water from a burst pipe.
It went through uncounted many power failures without battery backup only
to boot up and serve. It survived being dropped a few times, because even
though it was the size of pizza box, it would have weighed the same if the
dough was made of lead and the cheese out of depleted uranium. Part of the
weight came from the thick shag-pile of dust accumulating in its innards.

The OS went from Solaris 2.5.1->2.6->(2.)7->(2.)8->(2.)9, roughly proportional
to log(RedHat_version), before Sun finally stopped supporting its processor
and new wine couldn't be poured into this old bottle.

It supplied core network services during its lifetime, being at various
times the main file server, mail server, backup server, license server and
print server. Up to the point of decommission, it was still doing critical
services like syslog+DHCP+DNS+AuthInfo serving.

It deserves a glorious death. Even though environmentalist would not condone
this, it should either be burned on a wooden bier, or perhaps sailed out
into English Bay on a raft during sunset, with all the other equipment it
has outlived piled about it as tribute on its journey to IT Valhalla.

Private service held at undisclosed location. Please donate to a charity
of your choice in lieu of flowers. I'm kidding about the environmentally
unfriendly disposal. Maybe.

-- Joseph

Decisions Decisions....

Today's Dilbert made me laugh... Taking responsibility for any decision is such a dangerous thing in an organization :-)

Gamely Addictions

OK, whoever gave me this game (YVES!!!!!) owes UBC an afternoon's worth of productivity :-)

It is absolutely fabulous and very addictive. Oh - Mannoroth is back online. Never mind :-)

Details...

One thing I love is the details in the new house. The door handles are fantastically ornate with floral swirls. Granted, not all of them operate smoothly any more, and the keyhole has no matching key, but but but... look at it! :-)

The front door has a proper knocker such as one that could change into Old Marley, you know?

"Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to."
-- Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol

The light fixtures, too, are ornate, though suffering from paint overload and lack of ... shouldn't there be something hanging down to shield us from the light bulb? :-)










The window style is ancient, with cords holding up the wooden panes. It works much better than you would think :-)


I love and cherish all these details, every time my hand touches a door handle, every time I sit down and look at the enormous chestnut tree through the windows. I am so blessed.

Invisibility

So despite what Kev says that one shouldn't be surprised when, after offering Horde tea and hugs they still decide to mistrust my intentions and blast me right back to the Spirit Healer....
:-)

I am still continually surprised by how much goodness I run into. Just now, Larry (Yes! Larry!) stuck his head through the door and alerted me that there is icecream in the lunch room again - after noting that I had missed out on yesterday's offering. Isn't that sweet?

Today I passed a long-coated sleeping figure stretched out on a patch of grass along the North side of 4th Avenue, right next to a shopping cart full of bulging plastic Safeway bags. I often wonder what treasures these bulging plastic bags hold. Whether there is a story for the items so tenuously attached to the constant migration of presence.

And I wondered if these peoples' stories are ever told. "Hobos", my kids have learned to say, and I discuss with them the sadness of lack of choice of such a life. Shoppers on 4th Ave stepped over the sleeper as if he was no more than a slightly misplaced pavement stone.

What are we, other than our stories? And where are we, if our stories are untold? I wondered whether I could possibly do some telling. Sandra?

The crazy guy in the alley behind the Cambie street appartment declared to the world that "the Anti-Christ is here in our midst" and that he "is ashamed of Christians chopping down trees in celebration of a pagan feast" to nobody in particular while staring sideways here and there and shaking his fists. We pretend he's not there. All these people. And we only feel safe when we pretend they aren't there. Isn't that the biggest sign of disrespect?

TGIF :-)

A Day in the Life....

Here's what we did today:

• 6:45am: get up
  
• 7:45am leave Kelowna for Vancouver
  
• stop in Merritt to get gas
  
• stop off a little side road to... take in the sights
  
• 11:45am arrive in Vancouver
  
• feed & water the furries
  
• make & eat peanutbutter/honey rollup
  
• Pride Parade! With a million other people, lined up along Pacific watch the beautiful bodies go by
  
• Say hi to Jeanne
  
• back to North Vancouver
  
• make & eat scrambled eggs, salami, green onions, pepperoni
  
• while watching the rest of the movie "300"
  
• naptime and, well, some reading :-)
  
• WarCraft -- died some 7 times, 6.5g worth of damage, thanks Cathris and Avens for the help!
  
• read chapters from Harry Potter book 3 and Neill Gaiman's "Fragile Things"
  
• gardening and some home repairs
  
• harvest lettuce, peas and carrots from our garden
  
• bike ride, found new trail in the neighbourhood
  
• pick container full of blackberries
  
• bike to Safeway, get groceries, while we hear the 9 o'clock cannon
  
• 2 loads of laundry
  
• make dinner: BBQ chicken, lettuce from the garden with dates, apple, carrot
  
• blog about the day
  
• watch Casino Royal. Again.
  
• while eating Breyers' vanilla icecream and fresh blackberries
  

Just another day in the life. What a great day.

Facebook

So we all know that I am not at all the compulsive addictive personality, and would never dedicate hours and hours to keyboard-driven pursuits :-)
OK so maybe I spend the odd hour or two on facebook.... Jeanne sent me this spoof on facebook, hilarious, and well sung!