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Blog

  • Drupal Catastrophe

    The stuff I wrote while I was trying Drupal follows.  I still get people trying to get to the direct links, which don’t work anymore.  Enjoy or whatever;  my blog sucks.

    —–

    22 Feb. 2013

    Something

    Well, the job search is over.  Yesterday, I received, and accepted, a new job.  Still lots of paperwork to do, but it’s nice to be out of the “job-seeker” category.

    Mastars of the Universe

    Submitted by sean on Sat, 02/16/2013 – 14:57

    This presentation was the first one that spurred me to write something longer than a derisive tweet. I really wanted to like this, because I’d done some strategizing about how to effectively do this in my last job. (That the speaker works for the same organization as my little brother also perked me up a bit. Not enough to stop noticing the every other sentence terminated with, “right?,” or “alright,” but I tried to keep an open mind, at least).

    My major takeaways from this speech:
    1. You’re sekurity mastars. You need your own shit.
    I can understand why people feel this way, but it’s less and less practical these days. There was some back-and-forth aobout how to keep the operators of these systems from being treated like run-of-the-mill DBAs. Guess what! The guys actually running those systems, unless they’re doing analysis work, are run-of-the-mill sysadmins. Tony Stewart, even if he’s capable of doing it safely, has to obey the 70 MPH speed limit on I-95. Similarly, you sekurity mastars can’t just do and use whatever the hell you want. You can’t.
    And there’s regs that say you can’t. Whether you think those regs are wise is a different story, altogether. You have to obey them. Fucking deal.
    2. We don’t do metrics.
    Lots of discussion about cross-training team members, team size, etc. But no way of evaluating team effectiveness or performance. I admit that my view on IA weenies setting these sorts of things is flavored by my own recent experiences, but….. Define your measures before you begin, and don’t change them. Actually take data.

    —–

    Shmoocon Reax

    Submitted by sean on Mon, 02/18/2013 – 12:30

    Comments:

    Eric Gearhart (not verified)

    Tue, 02/19/2013 – 07:58

    Thanks for the quick Shmoocon recap… I’ve been to HOPE and DEFCON but I’ve never scored a ticket to Shmoo. Your post gives me some ideas on getting up there if I do score a ticket… taking the Amtrak from Norfolk into DC and walking from Union Station over to the con hotel would be awesome.

    sean Tue, 02/19/2013 – 20:24

    My wife walked over a couple of times to catch the Metro while I was conning. A healthier person than I wouldn’t have an issue walking it. Hell, I had trouble going three blocks to get dinner Friday night. :-p

    But I did enjoy it this year; first one in a long time where I haven’t come home saying, “Fuck it. I’m skipping next year.” I guess the orgs. weren’t happy, though I didn’t care enough to find out why. Needed moar thermite drive destruction, I suppose.

    —–

    Amped

    Submitted by sean on Thu, 02/14/2013 – 10:51
    Getting psyched about Shmoocon starting tomorrow. Think I have my presentation schedule laid out, although it seems like I’ll be spending way too much time in the “Bring It On” room. That includes Michael Schearer‘s presentation Sunday. (As an aside, hat top to him for alerting me to the location change; would have sucked royally having to cab in to the Hyatt from Dupont. I really don’t know if, physically, I can handle walking+metro that far. If the Metro stop was right outside the Washington Hilton, it’d be a different story. But the stop is a bit of a walk. The walk from Union Station to the Hyatt looks like two blocks, which I should be able to handle.)

    I will be circulating resumes while I’m there since I haven’t landed anything yet. (Geek note: I created a QR code to get to my resume posted here. I am a nerd.) Although moving will suck, I think it’s probably something we’re going to have to do. So, DC, or somewhere farther north, I suppose. Why? The ability to get around. I can’t drive anymore. Just can’t. Yes, I could make my arms and legs work well enough to move a car, but I don’t see well enough to feel safe doing it. What’s that mean, public transportation. Bus/rail in the city, Amtrak or air between cities. *yawn*

    Time to pack, and go to my meeting this afternoon.

  • On Permanence and Perfection

    The more I think about it, the more illusory both seem.

    Kind of in a pensive mood again after reading several Pilot stories, various tweets, seeing things on TV last couple of weeks…..

    Both political parties ultimately seek to conserve different unsustainable priorities.

    —-

    **EDIT 1**

    Yes, I do this sort of thing in my diary, too.  One of my acquaintances, being outraged, posted a story about the BorC execs being convicted during the plot that caused the bank to fail.

    As I said on Facebook, the real story won’t come out for awhile, because it doesn’t reinforce the city’s ruling party’s lines.  Yes, the bank execs are criminals.  Yes, so were a lot of others like them.  Yes, there were local, state, and Federal politicians and bureaucrats who made it all possible.

    But prosecuting the last group, even directing blame their way, doesn’t jibe with the ruling party’s line.

    If it makes me a bad person to say that, I’m okay with that.

    As I’ve aged, I’ve come to find some of my preconceived notions weren’t wise.  If that makes me to be “not a team player,” oh well.

  • More Lesions, Less Leisure

    Maybe.

    I got my MRI results back this afternoon.  One new active lesion, but barely any progression in the existing ones.  Some brain volume decrease, but that’s expected.

    Brain stem looks normal, as does blood flow in the brain.

    Still sort of tracking for the Tecfidera, but Tysabri is still an option.  I will let EVMS and Dr. Rice argue it out.  Kind that whole practicing medicine thing.

    I have gotten worse since I went off the Copaxone (and on to the Rebif).

    Not enjoying being in an office, again, every day.  But it is what it is.

    Anybody wanna buy a Mustang?

  • Don't think of a purple 800 lb. gorilla

    Mixing colloquialisms?  Yes.  Reading this.  Republicans refuse to do math, and have managed to keep tax rates artifically low for more than 20 years now.  The power behind the Virginia Democrats get upset that money gets spent south of Quantico.
    Go read Blue Virginia, and see the staunch opposition to the 460 project.
    What was the first thing Jim Gilmore canned after revenues started drying up?  Adding another lane to I-64 from Bad Newz to 295.
    Mark Warner spent nearly all of the Federal money in NoVA.  Timmay kept it up.

  • Don’t think of a purple 800 lb. gorilla

    Mixing colloquialisms?  Yes.  Reading this.  Republicans refuse to do math, and have managed to keep tax rates artifically low for more than 20 years now.  The power behind the Virginia Democrats get upset that money gets spent south of Quantico.

    Go read Blue Virginia, and see the staunch opposition to the 460 project.

    What was the first thing Jim Gilmore canned after revenues started drying up?  Adding another lane to I-64 from Bad Newz to 295.

    Mark Warner spent nearly all of the Federal money in NoVA.  Timmay kept it up.

  • Delusions of adequacy

    I find that’s what I’m dealing with all too often these days.

    I’m still trying to do good work while my body is failing, and getting paid less for it.

    Good stuff, no?

  • Technique

    Part of what I’m dealing with at work is that it’s difficult explaining to people that  just because there’s been upheaval, doesn’t mean that you have to revamp everything.  Watch a TV show about food, and you’ll hear one of the judges/critics chime in about someone using “good French technique.”  When a new chef comes in to a restaurant, he doesn’t need to retrain his cooks on how to chop onions.

    Just because the old chef sucked doesn’t make the techniques wrong.  Maybe his ingredients did.  Maybe the recipes he’d chosen just weren’t that good.  And so on…

    It’s frustrating to sit in a meeting, and hear people just pulling things out of thin air to do something different.  In my situation, “French technique” is codification of ITILv3.  Whether or not I really like it is unimportant;  we’ve been told to use it.  Someone spent copious amounts of time developing processes and procedures with its principles in mind.  Use it.

    Maybe I’m worng.   If I am, cite something to show why you’re right.

    In somewhat-related news, two shootings and a stabbing at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach last night.  You want an example of a model that’s no longer working?  I’ll cite Virginia Beach.  For both the gangland that is the “tourist-friendly” Oceanfront, and for the suburban sprawl with incredible traffic.

  • Accessibility

    I’ve enabled the plugin Albert told me about, but it doesn’t seem to help much with the editor, here.

    So, what else is going on?  I’m settling in to my job.  More of the same, but some of the persistent ideas are gone.  Maybe, just maybe, it’ll be possible to deliver a good product again.  (Unlike my blog, which does suck, Dana, even if I took the 58 to the 95 to the 10, and all the way across….)

    Physically, I suppose I’m doing okay, despite being in the office again.  I don’t miss driving to one at all.  It’s a little of a pain actually being in a building, but……  (I’m sure whoever reads the access logs is a little surprised by my entry logs, but it is what it is.)

    But, back to the work thought (and, no, this isn’t “brain fog” kicking in), been thinking a lot lately about what it means to change.  I find it interesting to listen to politicians profess change, but there’s things that are always off the table.  “Reform the tax code,” means preserve treasured breaks for many people, and soak the well-to-do.

    Sometimes you do have to start from scratch.  Maybe everyone won’t be happy with having to make some sacrifices.  Maybe the outcome is completely different than anyone could have ever imagined.  But if the choices made are the ones that make the most sense, you can sleep at night.

    But maybe you don’t get re-elected.

  • Whatcha got?

    See what it is, then use it.

    Trying to convey that sentiment at work;  it’s not working as well as I’d like, but I’ll keep trying.

    It’s important to use what’s there;  maybe what you create isn’t exactly what you were expecting to make, but….

    Reminds me of watching Anthony Bourdain in his travels.  How many of the amazing cuisines throughout the world are the result of colonists using their native techniques with the ingredients they find wherever they end up?

    Would Vietnamese food be as interesting if the French hadn’t been there?  How about Brazilian without the Portuguese?

    Disjointed pondering, perhaps.

    In somewhat related news, Cure is back open.  Glad to see them again.  Glad Sarah enjoyed her sandwich.  Glad there weren’t any panini press marks….  Wish I could have had a beer, but Rebif night.

  • Lessons in etiquette

    To a half-blind guy, who doesn’t anticipate the actions of sitting passengers.

    After a trying day at work, I waited probably twenty minutes for the seventeen bus, then waddled my half-disabled butt over to the Monticello Station, to catch the Tide home.  Today, unlike my other recent waits at the station, it was hot.  My diaphragm and legs aren’t working well, because of that.

    Since I need to cross the tracks to get to the sidewalk at my stop, I sit near the front of the train, so I can cross the tracks before the train departs my station.

    I saw the train coming, waddled to where the door would be, held the button to enter for a good ten seconds, the door opened, and I got on.  As I waddled into the car, up the aisle to the door I’d opened, comes someone with a very large stroller, who got off.  I went left to avoid the parent, and went up the stair to one of the higher seats up front.  Our paths didn’t really cross.

    The train departs, and I hear from the back of the car, “should have let the stroller get off first!”

    Then one of Tidewater’s finest environmentally-minded cyclists, complete with long, unkempt hair, and a sleeveless shirt, walks up the stairs to lecture me about not letting the stroller off first.

    Really.  You can’t make this stuff up.  What’s the polietest way I can tell this guy to go …?  I know, Mr. Eastwood, he can’t do that to himself, but I appreciate the sentiment.

    Stay awesome, sleeveless biker.  Public transportation would be a much worse place without you.