Crackers
I was down in the cafe getting some soup (split-pea - I almost always get it when they have it, because it is one of my favorites), and I was picking through the packs of crackers, making sure I got ones that weren't crumbled at all.
This later struck me as rather odd, as I sat at my desk and crumbled them into little pieces before dropping them in my soup.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Monday, October 06, 2003
Girls, turning into women
After practice Saturday, Jaime, Erika and I went and grabbed food at Subway before youth started. I'm for the most part not a very observant guy. But as I was waiting for them I noticed that Erika looked different. (That's the way changes in hair, makeup, whatever hit me... Just a general - hmm... something is different.)
So, we are sitting at subway and I said, "You look very nice" or something to that extent. She had dyed her hair "red" (Ok... probably not red, but I have a very limited color vocabulary), it was straigthend some as well. And she was wearing this black turtleneck with a light suede coat. "Very eurpopean looking", to which she struck one of her "Erika the model" poses. Very elegant... at which point she took a bite of her sandwhich and dropped a black olive covered in oil and vinegar onto her coat.
Some times they (her and Jaime) look so grown up that it breaks my father's heart... but they they usually do something that they would have done when they were 2, and it reminds me that as grown up as they are... they are still "girls"... at least for a little while longer.
After practice Saturday, Jaime, Erika and I went and grabbed food at Subway before youth started. I'm for the most part not a very observant guy. But as I was waiting for them I noticed that Erika looked different. (That's the way changes in hair, makeup, whatever hit me... Just a general - hmm... something is different.)
So, we are sitting at subway and I said, "You look very nice" or something to that extent. She had dyed her hair "red" (Ok... probably not red, but I have a very limited color vocabulary), it was straigthend some as well. And she was wearing this black turtleneck with a light suede coat. "Very eurpopean looking", to which she struck one of her "Erika the model" poses. Very elegant... at which point she took a bite of her sandwhich and dropped a black olive covered in oil and vinegar onto her coat.
Some times they (her and Jaime) look so grown up that it breaks my father's heart... but they they usually do something that they would have done when they were 2, and it reminds me that as grown up as they are... they are still "girls"... at least for a little while longer.
Thanks!
And here is a beautiful note from Erika on worship and me stepping down. I love you girl. You are my third daughter. Thanks. It really touched me. (and now I'll wipe the tears from my eyes and get back to work...)
Oh... and I'll still be around to encourage and lift you guys up. I just won't be there all the time, or "in charge". But you guys rock so much. God is just taking you to a new level and letting you have a little more control over your team. And as in everything you do, you'll excell.
And here is a beautiful note from Erika on worship and me stepping down. I love you girl. You are my third daughter. Thanks. It really touched me. (and now I'll wipe the tears from my eyes and get back to work...)
Oh... and I'll still be around to encourage and lift you guys up. I just won't be there all the time, or "in charge". But you guys rock so much. God is just taking you to a new level and letting you have a little more control over your team. And as in everything you do, you'll excell.
The end of an era...
Well for me anyway.
I stepped down as the FusionWorship director. Stepped down is Christian slang for "quit"... but not because of any troubles or anything. There are quite a few entries (starting with this one) about it on the FusionWorship blog. Basically I've been working 7 days a week for close to 2 years and I just couldn't do it any longer. Plus the team is well able to lead themselves, which is an extremely cool fullfillment of the whole "student led" idea.
Well for me anyway.
I stepped down as the FusionWorship director. Stepped down is Christian slang for "quit"... but not because of any troubles or anything. There are quite a few entries (starting with this one) about it on the FusionWorship blog. Basically I've been working 7 days a week for close to 2 years and I just couldn't do it any longer. Plus the team is well able to lead themselves, which is an extremely cool fullfillment of the whole "student led" idea.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
CNN.com: And that's how the cookie crumbles
Scientists have discovered why some cookies crumble in the box.
Scientists have discovered why some cookies crumble in the box.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Jim Richards
Pastor/Dr. Jim Richards from Impact Ministries is here at church this week. He is an awesome Pastor, person, speaker. He always has an awesome message. We would be there tonight if it wasn't for getting the Cher tickets before we knew when he was coming. But we'll definately be there tomorrow.
Pastor/Dr. Jim Richards from Impact Ministries is here at church this week. He is an awesome Pastor, person, speaker. He always has an awesome message. We would be there tonight if it wasn't for getting the Cher tickets before we knew when he was coming. But we'll definately be there tomorrow.
When is it fast enough?
Still trying to handle 100 million events a day. First we backed up the data source, then we handled the data in the initial stages, but would eventually drop some of the day.
(Part of the system is a queue that holds data until other parts are ready for it. For the non-geeks that care... think of it as a clothes basket. Someone is throwing stuff into it and another person it taking stuff out. If you take it out fast enough, then it is almost always empty. Thats a good thing. You are "processing" the stuff right away. If you start falling behind (it takes you longer to take it out and do something with it than it takes the person to put stuff into it), then you start falling behind. The basket starts filling up. If the person putting clothes in stops, then eventually you'll catch up.)
Tweaked the system some more and got it to where it never dropped data (the basket was never full), but we still weren't keeping up. Looked at what was going on in the code, and for about 150 thousand processed object, we would do 6 BILLION operations. The operations were very fast, but still... you do 6 billion and it adds up.
We figured out a way to perhaps significanly reduce that. I put in the code, we tested it out, and now the system is purring along. Running at about 50%. (In other words, 1/2 the time it is working and the other 1/2 it is just wating). And now we are never getting behind.
It was a cool think. Like I said last month, I love this kind of stuff. So now are system is up and running and we are ready to handle even larger amounts of data. And there are still other ways we could have tweaked the system. But at 50%, we are probably good enough for now... so on to other things.
Still trying to handle 100 million events a day. First we backed up the data source, then we handled the data in the initial stages, but would eventually drop some of the day.
(Part of the system is a queue that holds data until other parts are ready for it. For the non-geeks that care... think of it as a clothes basket. Someone is throwing stuff into it and another person it taking stuff out. If you take it out fast enough, then it is almost always empty. Thats a good thing. You are "processing" the stuff right away. If you start falling behind (it takes you longer to take it out and do something with it than it takes the person to put stuff into it), then you start falling behind. The basket starts filling up. If the person putting clothes in stops, then eventually you'll catch up.)
Tweaked the system some more and got it to where it never dropped data (the basket was never full), but we still weren't keeping up. Looked at what was going on in the code, and for about 150 thousand processed object, we would do 6 BILLION operations. The operations were very fast, but still... you do 6 billion and it adds up.
We figured out a way to perhaps significanly reduce that. I put in the code, we tested it out, and now the system is purring along. Running at about 50%. (In other words, 1/2 the time it is working and the other 1/2 it is just wating). And now we are never getting behind.
It was a cool think. Like I said last month, I love this kind of stuff. So now are system is up and running and we are ready to handle even larger amounts of data. And there are still other ways we could have tweaked the system. But at 50%, we are probably good enough for now... so on to other things.
Cher
Going to see Cher's "Farewell Tour" tonight. I've liked Cher at certain points in my life... Haven't really listened to her much lately. I think the best was when she was with Black Rose... However, Tina loves her. When Tina's hair was long (back in the day), people were always telling her she looked like Cher. And she can do a really good Cher impersonation. She was coming to town, so I figured, "What the heck" and got tickets. Should be cool.
Going to see Cher's "Farewell Tour" tonight. I've liked Cher at certain points in my life... Haven't really listened to her much lately. I think the best was when she was with Black Rose... However, Tina loves her. When Tina's hair was long (back in the day), people were always telling her she looked like Cher. And she can do a really good Cher impersonation. She was coming to town, so I figured, "What the heck" and got tickets. Should be cool.
A new toy for Jaime
Just because she wanted it so much, and because she is sooo cute, and because she is my baby... We got Jaime a Korg SP500. It is set up in her room and she has been playing it. Quite the cool keyboard.
Love ya kid!
Just because she wanted it so much, and because she is sooo cute, and because she is my baby... We got Jaime a Korg SP500. It is set up in her room and she has been playing it. Quite the cool keyboard.
Love ya kid!
Friday, September 26, 2003
CIO.com: Don't Trust Your Code to Strangers
A good case for XP and against out-sourcing your development.
A good case for XP and against out-sourcing your development.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Never to old to be the hero
Tif called the other night. Brian wasn't at home and... THERE WAS A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE. Tif was totally freaked. She had trapped it under a shoe box (how in the world she did that I have no idea), but she didn't know how to get rid of it. I calmed her down (some), and talked her through it.
Slip something under the box (she used a folder), flip it over, hold the "lid" on tight, and throw it out into the field. (It might come back into the house). Ok, through it into the garbage bins... it probably won't climb out.
After we talked for about 10 minutes, she hung up to go take care of it, and then called me back in about 5 minutes to say it was done. Very tramatic experience, but at least it was out of the house.
"Tell Mom when she calls me to not laugh. This was serious."
I was the compasionate one and saved the day, so to say.
Even when your kid is 22, its still fun to be the hero. :-)
LOVE YA TIF!
Tif called the other night. Brian wasn't at home and... THERE WAS A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE. Tif was totally freaked. She had trapped it under a shoe box (how in the world she did that I have no idea), but she didn't know how to get rid of it. I calmed her down (some), and talked her through it.
Slip something under the box (she used a folder), flip it over, hold the "lid" on tight, and throw it out into the field. (It might come back into the house). Ok, through it into the garbage bins... it probably won't climb out.
After we talked for about 10 minutes, she hung up to go take care of it, and then called me back in about 5 minutes to say it was done. Very tramatic experience, but at least it was out of the house.
"Tell Mom when she calls me to not laugh. This was serious."
I was the compasionate one and saved the day, so to say.
Even when your kid is 22, its still fun to be the hero. :-)
LOVE YA TIF!
Monday, September 15, 2003
Tomatoes
I am very much the procrastinator, which doesn't work well with tomatoes and the first frost of the year. Usually what happens is that the forcast says it is going to get below freezing, I think "I should cover the tomatoes", I put it off, and the next morning they are all frozen and dead. Which is followed by a month of nice weather and me thinking, "If I had only covered the tomatoes."
Well this year I actually figured I would do it, got caught in some late meetings on Saturday and called Tina. She covered them for me. Sunday morning I checked them before they were in the sun, and they looked kind of frozen, but maybe not too bad. Covered them again last night and checked them this morning.
The ends of some of the branches look dead, but the rest of the plant and the fruit look great! Woo hoo! Maybe they'll actually ripen for me. :-)
I am very much the procrastinator, which doesn't work well with tomatoes and the first frost of the year. Usually what happens is that the forcast says it is going to get below freezing, I think "I should cover the tomatoes", I put it off, and the next morning they are all frozen and dead. Which is followed by a month of nice weather and me thinking, "If I had only covered the tomatoes."
Well this year I actually figured I would do it, got caught in some late meetings on Saturday and called Tina. She covered them for me. Sunday morning I checked them before they were in the sun, and they looked kind of frozen, but maybe not too bad. Covered them again last night and checked them this morning.
The ends of some of the branches look dead, but the rest of the plant and the fruit look great! Woo hoo! Maybe they'll actually ripen for me. :-)
Blogger
Blogger just added some new features. Don't have time to mess with them, but some look pretty nice.
Blogger just added some new features. Don't have time to mess with them, but some look pretty nice.
Friday, September 12, 2003
ETonline.com: John Ritter Dies of a Heart Problem
Wow. He was one of my favorites. I'll never forget the time I saw him doing ad-lib with Robin Williams on a Robin Williams special.
Wow. He was one of my favorites. I'll never forget the time I saw him doing ad-lib with Robin Williams on a Robin Williams special.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Almost ready to go
Sitting in the hotel in Denver, checking flight times, fighting over the computer with Jaime. "Dad, you can't work, so let me chat with my friends." Turns out no one is on yet. They are probably all at SHOC or doing something afterwards. Did a little work, but mostly just checking stuff. And blogging.
Woo hoo, plane leaves at 7:30, not 6:00... so we can sleep in until 4:30 instead of 3:00! Good thing Steve double checked the documents!
Should have done the "advance flight information" ahead of time. Didn't think about it. Next time we will. Enter it all on the computer and don't have to mess with it the next day.
Well... this is probably it. We're out of here. I'll probably do some blogging from Cancun.
Later!
Sitting in the hotel in Denver, checking flight times, fighting over the computer with Jaime. "Dad, you can't work, so let me chat with my friends." Turns out no one is on yet. They are probably all at SHOC or doing something afterwards. Did a little work, but mostly just checking stuff. And blogging.
Woo hoo, plane leaves at 7:30, not 6:00... so we can sleep in until 4:30 instead of 3:00! Good thing Steve double checked the documents!
Should have done the "advance flight information" ahead of time. Didn't think about it. Next time we will. Enter it all on the computer and don't have to mess with it the next day.
Well... this is probably it. We're out of here. I'll probably do some blogging from Cancun.
Later!
Whirlwind
The last few weeks have been very hectic. I'm finishing up two projects. One that is going into integration soon to build, and the other that we are bringing up on a production box.
The production system is brand new and we are trying to see how lean we can run it and still process the data. Last week we were processing 160 events a second throw one of N processes. I spent the week seeing what could be tweaked, configured, etc. We are now up over 400 events, which is enough for us to process the 100 million call records we need to process a day.
I love this kind of stuff. It is so cool. Its like being a detective (or what I imagine that to be like). Seeing a problem, looking for clues, trying to find a way to fix it. Its a blast... but it tends to be all consuming. I had a meeting at church yesterday at 4:00PM, and at 4:45PM I realized that a) it was Thursday, and b) it was after 4:00PM. Until then I wasn't really sure what day it was.
In to work at 4:45AM to try and get some last minute stuff done. I'm out 3 days next week, so need to get more than 3 days work done, 'cuz I won't be here to work things.
Leaving this afternoon for Cancun with Tina AND Jaime, were I won't be thinking about 400 events a second... I'll probably be thinking about a handful of events a day: breakfast, sleep by the pool, mid-morning snorkeling, lunch, sleep by the pool, mid-afternoon snorkeling, nap, dinner, after-dinner hanging out, bed.
The last few weeks have been very hectic. I'm finishing up two projects. One that is going into integration soon to build, and the other that we are bringing up on a production box.
The production system is brand new and we are trying to see how lean we can run it and still process the data. Last week we were processing 160 events a second throw one of N processes. I spent the week seeing what could be tweaked, configured, etc. We are now up over 400 events, which is enough for us to process the 100 million call records we need to process a day.
I love this kind of stuff. It is so cool. Its like being a detective (or what I imagine that to be like). Seeing a problem, looking for clues, trying to find a way to fix it. Its a blast... but it tends to be all consuming. I had a meeting at church yesterday at 4:00PM, and at 4:45PM I realized that a) it was Thursday, and b) it was after 4:00PM. Until then I wasn't really sure what day it was.
In to work at 4:45AM to try and get some last minute stuff done. I'm out 3 days next week, so need to get more than 3 days work done, 'cuz I won't be here to work things.
Leaving this afternoon for Cancun with Tina AND Jaime, were I won't be thinking about 400 events a second... I'll probably be thinking about a handful of events a day: breakfast, sleep by the pool, mid-morning snorkeling, lunch, sleep by the pool, mid-afternoon snorkeling, nap, dinner, after-dinner hanging out, bed.
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