Scott.Buffington.me

I am sure there are lots of interesting mugs out there, but in recent years I reserve these postings for the more unique variety, or perhaps the geekier variety.  In the early days I had some rather run of the mill mugs, but over the last few years I would say only the more rare and interesting mugs make the cut.  So when I stumbled upon the Chalk Board Mug, I deemed it worthy as I had never come across such a mug.  Sure I have seen mugs that you write or draw on and use some method to make the writing or drawing permanent, but never one that you could write on repeatedly with chalk.  

The website recommends some good uses for such a mug, such as identifying whose mug is who's when you have guests over.  I think this would be a fun mug for just about anyone and I can imagine myself writing a different saying on the mug each morning, perhaps something like "Nectar of the Gods" or for the geekier types, "Mana".  

The Chalk Board Mug measures in at 11 ounces and seems like a cool gift for the coffee drinker who has everything.  Best of all, the stick of chalk is included!  Feel free to include your ideas for a morning message.  While I know I opened the door for creative comments, keep it relatively clean please.

I have been an OpenDNS user for a few years now and I have been very happy using OpenDNS instead of Comcast's default DNS servers.  While I noticed a improvement with how quickly pages loaded when switching to OpenDNS; some folks likely will not as mostly the change would be within a few milliseconds.  However when I switched Comcast's DNS seemed to be having some problems with name resolution and it was well documented that Comcast's DNS servers were unpatched and vulnerable to a well known hack.  I also liked the anit-phishing, malware and botnet protection.  I recall at least one instance where the anti-phishing features saved a family member after clicking on a link in an email.  There are numerous other features to like about OpenDNS as well, including web content filtering that  will likely come in handy as the kids get older.  

A few months ago Google announced that they were also providing public DNS, though they were skipping some of the extra features OpenDNS provides and opting instead to go with DNS that followed the standards exactly.  This is still generally a nice alternative to what your ISP is likely providing and Google Public DNS does protect from malware.  So while Google chooses not to offer any filtering they still have a secure and for many, faster DNS service.  

I also use a number of Google services and I generally feel pretty comfortable with what Google offers.  Although I do not have one complaint with OpenDNS and certainly have had no issues with my DNS experience.  I decided that it might be worth looking at how fast Google Public DNS is compared to OpenDNS.  I used this bash script which uses dig to test the speed of both DNS services.  If you run from Linux, be sure dig is installed, dig ships installed by default on Mac OS X and BSD.  The script will also provide results for your current DNS settings, so you will know if your ISP DNS settings beat either Google or OpenDNS.

#!/bin/bash
isp=$(dig +noall +stats 2>&1 | awk '$2~/^SERVER:$/{split($3,dnsip,"#");print dnsip[1]}');
m="-------------------------------------------------------------------------------";
s="                                                                               ";
h="+${m:0:25}+${m:0:12}+${m:0:12}+${m:0:12}+";
header=("Domain${s:0:23}" "My ISP${s:0:10}" "Google${s:0:10}" "OpenDNS${s:0:10}");
echo "${h}";
echo "| ${header[0]:0:23} | ${header[1]:0:10} | ${header[2]:0:10} | ${header[3]:0:10} |";
echo "${h}";
for i in "yahoo.com" "identi.ca" "twitter.com"  "brutaldeluxe.us" "google.com" "bbc.co.uk" "scott.buffington.me";
do
  ii="${i}${s:23}";
  echo -n "| ${ii:0:23} |";
  for j in "${isp}"  "8.8.8.8"  "208.67.222.222";
  do
    r="${s:10}$(dig +noall +stats +time=9 @${j} ${i} 2>&1 | awk '$2~/^Query$/{print $4" "$5}')";
    echo -n " ${r:${#r}-10} |";
  done
  echo -ne "\n${h}\n";
done 

While this probably is not an optimal test, I have to believe it gives a pretty accurate result for the speed of each lookup service.  It appears that here in Lower Swatara Township, Pennsylvania that OpenDNS is faster.  

+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| Domain | Google | OpenDNS |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| lifehacker.com | 27 msec | 19 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| identi.ca | 27 msec | 18 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| twitter.com | 30 msec | 19 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| brutaldeluxe.us | 28 msec | 18 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| google.com | 48 msec | 17 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| bbc.co.uk | 27 msec | 20 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+
| scott.buffington.me | 28 msec | 17 msec |
+-------------------------+------------+------------+

 If there is one application that I did not expect but I have totally fallen in love with it is Stanza on the iPhone.  My goal when purchasing an iPhone almost two years ago was to eliminate carrying an iPod and a cell phone.  These were two devices that I used daily that were requiring me not only to grab them in the morning but also to charge.  The elimination of carrying two devices was the lone reason why the iPhone was for me.  I was somewhat interested in the applications, but most of them I did not see being extremely useful.  In particular one area that I never imagined using the iPhone for was for ebooks.  Mainly because I never enjoyed ebooks on my personal computer, I felt a hand held device I would like even less.  It turns out that I not only enjoy reading books on my iPhone but that the application I chose is also a free application.  

I received a Visa gift card over the holidays and decided that I would use it for some type of new coffee maker. Both my Senseo, purchased in June 2004, and my Mr. Coffee, purchased in October 2005, are still functioning, but both Julie and I have some further features we would like. I must confess that over the past year we have rarely used the Senseo. I used to purchase individually wrapped pods through the mail so that I could enjoy fresh coffee with the Senseo. I can be a bit of a coffee snob and the Senseo sold packets always taste somewhat stale to me. We have also been toying with the idea of trying a carafe coffee maker because it is just the best way to keep coffee fresh tasting for several hours. I decided to read the reviews for both Keurig single serve coffee makers and all the carafe coffee makers available. What I learned is, Keurig makes a shoddy product and the reviews for carafe coffee makers are not at all helpful.

I had been considering the Keurig as a replacement for my Senseo because I had heard it was easy to brew single cups with your own coffee. This is not easy to do with the Senseo and I gave up trying, instead opting for my French Press or Aerobie AeroPress. What I found out from reading the reviews was that this can be a mess with the Keurig and grounds ended up in your coffee or the Keurig clogged. From experience I know the Keurig coffee is mostly very weak. I was still considering it, until almost universally every model has been flagged to only last a year or two, in some cases much less. My Senseo is nearly six years old and still works! I think I will skip the Keurig and perhaps instead take some time to order some individually wrapped pods again.

I generally avoid making New Year's resolutions; mainly because I think it is silly waiting for the first of the year to resolve to change something.  If you seriously want to make a resolution, just do it, do not wait until the New Year.  In some cases it will just lead to procrastination.  I have always been a big fan of setting goals.  That being said, I have one particularly big goal I am working toward this year, finding a new job that may or may not mean a slight change in my career path.

During 2009 I continued working toward completing my degree and I am going to continue that effort in 2010.  I have been unhappy with my current employer for some time, but decided to wait it out while the final steps of the merger went through.  The last year was one of the toughest of my professional career, as it has been for many of us.  The poor economy and many other factors caused the loss of a great many jobs and due to this I have found it difficult to complain about a job that is paying relatively well.  While I did incur a pay cut during the last year, one I did not expect and one that came the week my fourth child was born, I did have a job. 

I felt and still feel there are a lot of risks involved with changing employers during such an economy.  I am less than positive about the amount of positions that used to be available ever coming back.  At the same time I cannot say I feel entirely secure with my current employer.  My employer has invested nothing in me, if not for my own personal initiative to continue to educate myself the last few years have mostly been a wash.  I have learned more and grown more following my personal interests on my own time than I have performing my daily duties for my employer. 

The bottom line is I do not enjoy my current job, more to the point I hate it.  The only opportunity to reclaim lost salary is a year or more away and I am not optimistic.  So the only motivation left is that it is a job that is supporting my family.  I intend to and likely will be working for many, many more years and as a result feel that taking the chance of ending up in a different or worse situation is probably worth the risk. 

I do not know what finding the right job will fully entail; I do not see many system administrator jobs out there that are non-Microsoft in this area.  This might mean that I make the transition to Microsoft by taking a break from my college curriculum to acquire some Microsoft certifications; I would certainly be open to feedback on this course of action. 

I have been an Information Technology professional for 20 years, starting on the mainframe running MVS and during the last 10 years working on various UNIX and Linux servers as well as some Microsoft.  I still think Information Technology is the place to be, but right now finding the right place within Information Technology seems more difficult than it has been during my entire career.  I am hoping to find something in the Harrisburg or Lancaster area and hopefully with an employer where I can feel at home for a long time.  While I am open to a career change, I am not certain what career that would be.  Assessing my interests or passions, those that I feel I can make a career of all revolve around Information Technology. 

A crisis?  Not really, but some disappointment definitely was prevented.  Every year since my son's first Christmas in 2001 I have purchased my son a Hess Truck, only this year for what I think is the fourth time it is not a truck but a race car.  Pretty much since October every illness my kids have gotten I have also picked up in some way shape or form, easily this is a record for cold and flu for me.  For roughly a week and a half since October 20th or so I have been healthy, it is really quite frustrating.  To make a long story short, I kept putting off stopping in at a Hess station to buy this years Hess Toy Truck, err vehicle.  

Finally today I decided was the day, I had intended to go and do this last week, but sinus pressure and a serious headache kept me from venturing out.  I had this belief that these things rarely if ever sold out and I was wrong.  I visited my normal stop and a sign on the door read that the Hess Toy Race Car was sold out.  I asked inside if they knew of other stations that still had this years Hess toy.  They said they had just sold out and that they believed all the stations were sold out.  I knew of a small Hess station that I figured would not get the amount of traffic this station does.  On my way I passed another Hess station that still had the signs up.  I went inside and was informed they had sold out last week.  My last chance was the small out of the way station I knew of, otherwise that meant I would pay double the price on Ebay and the gift would not arrive until the New Year.  Checking the final station I was told they were sold out, but that a Hess station in Marysville still had some.  I was out on lunch and if I was going to make the trip to Marysville it would be after work.  The lady behind the counter then asked me how many I needed.  I said one would be fine, but I usually purchased two as we kept one in the box.  She sent the other guy in the back and he came back with two.  I do not know what the story was with that, but I was thankful I found the one item that my son looks forward to each year.  

In the future this will not be an item that I put off purchasing.  If by chance Hess would stumble upon any of the numerous mentions I have given them over the years.  I love the creativity of the various vehicles.  But you guys have not done a tanker truck since 1990, I think a tanker truck once every 20 years is okay without you being repetitive.  You have repeated some of your other themes during the past 20 years, for example I see numerous fire trucks.  I think we are ready for a tanker truck of some type again.   

UPDATE 12/2/09 - Reprieve earned, I decided to try some quick trouble shooting on my son's computer.  I used the Pulseaudio configuration tool to select the SoundBlaster on my computer and sound now works.  Actually sound works better now that my card is properly selected than it has on any of the recent releases of Ubuntu that I have tried.  I still feel that the installer needs to do a better job at properly identifying sound cards and selecting the correct card.  Especially when your audio and video section of your support forum is loaded with unanswered inquiries as to how to fix sound.  

UPDATE 11/09/09 - Hey look the exact same reaction from another person that just wishes Ubuntu would stop breaking sound and blaming the user.

I have gone on record in the past criticizing and praising releases of Ubuntu Linux.  The Ubuntu Server edition has worked flawlessly for me for a number of years and I still use it to host my websites.  I have administered Red Hat and SUSE flavors from a Server perspective and I find Ubuntu's Server to be right up there with those other enterprise flavors.  It is with the desktop and Ubuntu that I have had a love hate relationship.  The latest release is no different and it is totally because of the same issues I have been fighting with for the last year and a half.  I had swore to a friend of mine that after I got the last version working that I would not upgrade ever again on that computer.  The technology geek in me could not resist though, so I clicked the button to upgrade Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10 and as expected I am sorry I did it.  

Over the last year and a half every upgrade of Ubuntu meant that I spent a week trying to get sound to work.  In the more distant past I had issues with wide screen resolutions, but I have not had those types of issues in over 2 years.  But sound has been a thorn in my side for over a year on all my Dell desktops and I swore after getting sound working on Ubuntu 9.04 that I would never upgrade the computer again.  Well, obviously I did and again the sound is gone on the computer, everything else works flawlessly.  I am usually fine with trouble shooting these matters but the sound settings look to have changed a whole lot from the last version and some of the quick fixes I tried did not work at all.  I think I am officially done with Linux on the desktop until I have a newer computer to put it on, and that is no guarantee sound will work.  The same old replies in the support forums show up every time this occurs, either your hardware is too old or too new and you have to perform step 1 through 15 which may or may not work (usually does not work).  I heard the same exact thing when I had issues with Windows 7 and I am sorry but a computer from 2005-2006 is not obsolete and Dell is one of the most widely used brands all telling me that it should be among the first to have supported hardware.

The computer I was running Ubuntu desktop on is the computer in my son's bedroom and the web browser with Flash is just about the most important application needed on that computer.  Flash of course works, just no sound, which is sort of the same as Flash not working.  It is just not Flash that has no sound, the computer plays no sound period.  My son is now running OpenSolaris, and trust me OpenSolaris has it's problems as well, but once something is working or hardware is supported, that support is not removed the way it is with Linux.  I have upgraded to the latest builds of OpenSolaris almost as soon as they were released over the last six months and so far have not been left with a non-working desktop even once. 

About six or seven months back I tested a list of five or six different Linux distributions and every one of them left me with a desktop with no sound.  I have had it, at least for now.  Perhaps when the time comes where I replace a desktop and I do not do so with a Mac I will buy a machine with Linux installed.  I hesitate to even try to build a desktop from this juncture because I cannot say with confidence from my experience I would know which sound cards are fully supported by Linux.  I keep hearing that Pulseaudio is not the problem, well what is?  I see the long list of people saying they have no sound with every release but there seems to be no fix, just a recurring problem.  I understand getting an operating system to work on the variety of hardware that Linux does can be a challenge, I suppose I have grown tired of trouble shooting the no sound issue and quite frankly I have never been clear on what I did to fix sound  on the prior releases.  In most cases after trying a whole slew of different suggestions and rebooting 10 times it would suddenly just work.  That never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.  As of now this is a OpenSolaris and Mac OS X household, I hope to welcome you back someday Linux.

UPDATE - I have to say, after upgrading I was less than excited.

 If you would like to try Google Wave, comment or use the contact link to let me know.  The email address you use when posting a comment or you use on my contact form will be the email address I send the invitation to.  I have 20, so I have more than a few.

As November approaches I am again considering participating in NaNoWriMo.  I last gave National Novel Writing Month a tenth hearted attempt in 2007.  By far the 2007 effort was my worst and I attributed it to having scratched the itch of wanting to write a novel.  I successfully finished novels in both 2004 and 2006, even going so far as to have my 2006 novel, Danger is Awesome printed and bound.  The renewed interest stems from my recent educational pursuits and a feeling that I can do better, perhaps not much better, but better never the less.

My last attempt at NaNoWriMo was a sequel to Danger is Awesome, and while I am considering a reprise of the character Ryan "Danger" Awesome, I want to go in a slightly different direction.  Rather than the horror comedy genre I want to try the techno-thriller genre with some comedy thrown in.  I think I emptied myself of all the zombie apocalyptic material I had in me and if you knew anything about the Ryan Awesome character, you would understand why I cannot leave out the attempts at comedy.  My intention was always to take the Ryan Awesome character with me to other stories when I first imagined him, based loosely off a former co-worker.  So I think my 2009 attempt is going to be a technical thrill ride with hackers, doomsday machines and just maybe an appearance by some Beer Ninjas.  My working title at this point is Danger is Awesomer, Dead Hand Rising.  Yes I know Awesomer is not a word, see above where I mention comedy, and I know that might sound zombie related, but trust me, it is not.

Before I am asked, it is doubtful anyone will ever know anything about the Ryan Awesome character unless I blog about him.  I am not Stephen King, I am some hack who has found enjoyment in writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, imagine the quality.  I could just do what Dan Brown does though and write the same book three different times with three different titles.  I would imagine by the third try I might have something approaching quality, probably not.

I know more than a handful of you have thought about giving NaNoWriMo a shot.  If you have ever considered it, I urge you to just do it.  You will never find the time that you claim you do not have.  There is absolutely no way I have time to do this, but I am going to give it a shot anyway.