Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The last morning at the cottage
The morning's agenda:
-watched the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics
-had breakfast
-did dishes while the old man vacuumed
-packed up and headed home
When we got to the Penetanguishene exit on the 400, we could see traffic backed up for miles. We felt our way through Barrie along with hundreds of other motorists. We finally made to Essa Rd which turns into Hwy 27 and the back way home. It took 45 minutes longer but gave us a chance to stop at a homemade chip truck rather than McDonald's. The evening news told us that a bunch of young guys had rolled an SUV over the centre guardrail. The police blamed it on driver inexperience, not drinking or speed. No one was wearing seat belts.
D.
-watched the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics
-had breakfast
-did dishes while the old man vacuumed
-packed up and headed home
When we got to the Penetanguishene exit on the 400, we could see traffic backed up for miles. We felt our way through Barrie along with hundreds of other motorists. We finally made to Essa Rd which turns into Hwy 27 and the back way home. It took 45 minutes longer but gave us a chance to stop at a homemade chip truck rather than McDonald's. The evening news told us that a bunch of young guys had rolled an SUV over the centre guardrail. The police blamed it on driver inexperience, not drinking or speed. No one was wearing seat belts.
D.
Labels: Personal
Monday, August 25, 2008
Third day at the cottage
The morning's agenda:
-slept in to make up for first night (husband's snoring, loud radio)
-chatted with the old man who didn't head out fishing at the crack of dawn
-had breakfast (English muffins again)
-caught up on the previous day's dishes
The afternoon agenda:
-tried to get caught up on my personal email inboxes (Yahoo OK, hotmail no go)
-had lunch (smoked turkey on a panini bun with tomato, red onion, mayo & mustard)
-tried to read another magazine (UCC Observer)
-researched a company close to home on LinkedIn (no luck)
-got budget spreadsheet caught up for July spending
-made supper (BBQ'd3/4 inch pork chops, corn on the cob)
-ate supper alone while the old man fished between brief periods of rain
The evening's agenda:
-reconciled previous quarter's transfers to mutual fund and savings accounts
-watched a bit of TV (satellite cut out for a bit due to heavy rain)
-slept in to make up for first night (husband's snoring, loud radio)
-chatted with the old man who didn't head out fishing at the crack of dawn
-had breakfast (English muffins again)
-caught up on the previous day's dishes
The afternoon agenda:
-tried to get caught up on my personal email inboxes (Yahoo OK, hotmail no go)
-had lunch (smoked turkey on a panini bun with tomato, red onion, mayo & mustard)
-tried to read another magazine (UCC Observer)
-researched a company close to home on LinkedIn (no luck)
-got budget spreadsheet caught up for July spending
-made supper (BBQ'd3/4 inch pork chops, corn on the cob)
-ate supper alone while the old man fished between brief periods of rain
The evening's agenda:
-reconciled previous quarter's transfers to mutual fund and savings accounts
-watched a bit of TV (satellite cut out for a bit due to heavy rain)
Labels: Personal
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Second day at the cottage
The morning's agenda:
-checked email, both personal and work
-had breakfast (cinnamon raisin English muffin)
-showered
-picked up 1 1b. ribeye steak and 2 porkchops at local butcher
-picked up 12 Carling tallboys for the old man
The afternoon's agenda:
-had lunch (leftover KFC and my daughter's pumpkin shrimp soup)
-checked email at work (my old man caught me and accused me of working but I was just watching)
-updated resume and sent to a recruiter
-caught up on magazine reading (More, CAA)
-listened to boats and PWCs roaring around on the lake
-made potato salad and fried mushrooms to go with the steak which the old man BBQ'd
-opened a bottle of Eco Trail Cabernet Franc
-had supper
The evening's agenda:
-bought Super 7 ticket at local corner store
-watched a bit of TV
-listened to the loud music, splashing and screaming from a couple of cottages down
D.
-checked email, both personal and work
-had breakfast (cinnamon raisin English muffin)
-showered
-picked up 1 1b. ribeye steak and 2 porkchops at local butcher
-picked up 12 Carling tallboys for the old man
The afternoon's agenda:
-had lunch (leftover KFC and my daughter's pumpkin shrimp soup)
-checked email at work (my old man caught me and accused me of working but I was just watching)
-updated resume and sent to a recruiter
-caught up on magazine reading (More, CAA)
-listened to boats and PWCs roaring around on the lake
-made potato salad and fried mushrooms to go with the steak which the old man BBQ'd
-opened a bottle of Eco Trail Cabernet Franc
-had supper
The evening's agenda:
-bought Super 7 ticket at local corner store
-watched a bit of TV
-listened to the loud music, splashing and screaming from a couple of cottages down
D.
Labels: Personal
Friday, August 22, 2008
First night at the cottage
I decided I needed another weekend at the cottage. Unfortunately, the old man agreed with me so he had to tag along, too.
I was able to get away from work early after screwing the pooch on a change I made. After spending the morning testing and trying to make the test environment work properly, we ended up exactly where we started with nothing working.
When I got home, we quickly packed the truck. Too quickly as I forgot a few things I wanted to bring with me to work on/return to the cottage from last time. We got to the cottage in a little less than two hours. The old man was booting it up the 400.
The boat was the second thing to get unlocked. He went fishing and I went into town to pick up a few groceries, sweetener for my morning coffee (Panama Jack cream liquor) and Kentucky Fried for supper (no Mr. Sub thanks to the listeria outbreak). I rushed back to the cottage. It was getting dark, and I just beat the old man back.
D.
I was able to get away from work early after screwing the pooch on a change I made. After spending the morning testing and trying to make the test environment work properly, we ended up exactly where we started with nothing working.
When I got home, we quickly packed the truck. Too quickly as I forgot a few things I wanted to bring with me to work on/return to the cottage from last time. We got to the cottage in a little less than two hours. The old man was booting it up the 400.
The boat was the second thing to get unlocked. He went fishing and I went into town to pick up a few groceries, sweetener for my morning coffee (Panama Jack cream liquor) and Kentucky Fried for supper (no Mr. Sub thanks to the listeria outbreak). I rushed back to the cottage. It was getting dark, and I just beat the old man back.
D.
Labels: Personal
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
"You're not the boss of me"
I'm losing all my patience with how things are done in IT. So much so that I am looking forward to the outsourcing which should make some positive changes (I could be delusional here).
The Claims application went through an audit last year. There was a finding that the MQ client connection needed to be authenticated. MQ native client connections are basically point & shoot. If you know where you're going, you can get there. It also means that someone with sufficient knowledge and access could spoof a production connection. Not sure if they could submit a legitimate claim, but they definitely could connect from a desktop or a sub-production server since there is no firewall protection in this regard.
I figured we would use a client certificate for authentication. This required SSL encryption being turned on. A proof-of-concept was done in the acceptance environment. I figured that it would be implemented in one other environment before production. Since SSL adds overhead, it made sense to do it in the performance testing environment. My apprentice has gotten it working, no thanks to me.
I expected that the next step would be a performance test. Wrong! The application system manager is absolutely adamant that we implement in all five testing environments starting with development. His argument is consistency and adherence to process. I'm not used to working in a shop where development requires the same security as production. We could do all this work to have it be completely throwaway if it doesn't perform sufficiently. In fact, he's saying that it has to be turned off now in the performance environment to avoid interfering with performance testing for new application. He says that he has an audit requirement that his environments be built consistently. Except that they aren't. Most are virtual except production which is physical. Most have their own configuration manager but not all (two environments share another's). I left this morning's meeting just livid. A definitely career limiting activity on my part.
D.
The Claims application went through an audit last year. There was a finding that the MQ client connection needed to be authenticated. MQ native client connections are basically point & shoot. If you know where you're going, you can get there. It also means that someone with sufficient knowledge and access could spoof a production connection. Not sure if they could submit a legitimate claim, but they definitely could connect from a desktop or a sub-production server since there is no firewall protection in this regard.
I figured we would use a client certificate for authentication. This required SSL encryption being turned on. A proof-of-concept was done in the acceptance environment. I figured that it would be implemented in one other environment before production. Since SSL adds overhead, it made sense to do it in the performance testing environment. My apprentice has gotten it working, no thanks to me.
I expected that the next step would be a performance test. Wrong! The application system manager is absolutely adamant that we implement in all five testing environments starting with development. His argument is consistency and adherence to process. I'm not used to working in a shop where development requires the same security as production. We could do all this work to have it be completely throwaway if it doesn't perform sufficiently. In fact, he's saying that it has to be turned off now in the performance environment to avoid interfering with performance testing for new application. He says that he has an audit requirement that his environments be built consistently. Except that they aren't. Most are virtual except production which is physical. Most have their own configuration manager but not all (two environments share another's). I left this morning's meeting just livid. A definitely career limiting activity on my part.
D.
Labels: Work
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Happy birthday!
My daughter's birthday seems to always catch me by surprise, but she hasn't been celebrating it at home the last few years. This year she did. I think she wanted to wait a couple of days until her day off. I didn`t agree so when my husband went ahead with plans for the actual day I didn`t say anything.
The day before, I went shopping for her present. She wanted a white gold necklace. I found a 16" chain on sale at the second store I shopped at. I picked out one I didn`t particularly like because she is always complaining about my taste. It was a little more money than I wanted to spend, but I owed her something for university graduation.
My husband made spaghetti with meat sauce with meatballs on the side, garlic bread and green salad. It was pretty tasty (lots of garlic). This was followed by a game of croquet, a family favourite, then dessert and presents. At her request, I had picked up a Skor ice cream cake from Dairy Queen on the way home from work. Her brother gave her Cloverfield on DVD which we watched afterwards. Her father gave her money and a couple of Crossword tickets (her favourite). I suggested that she use the money for a pendant and that worked for her. The chain could have been a little longer. Someone made a joke about it being a weight gain monitor.
All on all, it was a very pleasant family evening.
D.
The day before, I went shopping for her present. She wanted a white gold necklace. I found a 16" chain on sale at the second store I shopped at. I picked out one I didn`t particularly like because she is always complaining about my taste. It was a little more money than I wanted to spend, but I owed her something for university graduation.
My husband made spaghetti with meat sauce with meatballs on the side, garlic bread and green salad. It was pretty tasty (lots of garlic). This was followed by a game of croquet, a family favourite, then dessert and presents. At her request, I had picked up a Skor ice cream cake from Dairy Queen on the way home from work. Her brother gave her Cloverfield on DVD which we watched afterwards. Her father gave her money and a couple of Crossword tickets (her favourite). I suggested that she use the money for a pendant and that worked for her. The chain could have been a little longer. Someone made a joke about it being a weight gain monitor.
All on all, it was a very pleasant family evening.
D.
Labels: Family
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Who's the DNS admin?
Earlier this week, my team got a email request to update the external DNS for a test site. Both of the usual admins are away. There was a third but he left the team. Today, we talked to him about showing us how to do the admin. He told us that the requestor had access to the DNS admin site/mailbox and was able to generate the update request for himself. Quoi?
Yesterday, I got called on the way home by the server team leader. I returned the call from the side of the 401. The big project needed a last minute external DNS change. I called back to the office to see if there was any documentation on our team site. I head back to the office as I don't have wireless access from my car (that's a joke). When I get there, there is no doc, the requester and the third admin had left the office (it was almost 6 p.m.). So I left too. The next day, I heard that the requester got access to the DNS admin mailbox. The Lotus team leader broke into the mailbox so they could submit the request. They don't need us.
D.
Yesterday, I got called on the way home by the server team leader. I returned the call from the side of the 401. The big project needed a last minute external DNS change. I called back to the office to see if there was any documentation on our team site. I head back to the office as I don't have wireless access from my car (that's a joke). When I get there, there is no doc, the requester and the third admin had left the office (it was almost 6 p.m.). So I left too. The next day, I heard that the requester got access to the DNS admin mailbox. The Lotus team leader broke into the mailbox so they could submit the request. They don't need us.
D.
Labels: Work
