Sometimes you update applications older than you are...

Today I did an update for a client for an app that was super ancient. I won't even say much about it, just check it out:

So yeah, that was fun...it's crazy to think that there are still developers whose job it is to patch these dinosaurs up. But then again my job (today at least) is to apply the patches to these apps so that's weird too.

Sometimes you script...

Today I had a lunch date with Geli, it was really awesome. We don't do that often, but we should. We had some fantastic DC Vegetarian sandwiches and ate and talked by the river :)

On another note, I had been blowing off a project assigned to me for like a week(in the sense that I did other projects and tasks first, not that I was just doing nothing haha). And to be honest, I was afraid of it because of how tedious it seemed. The request was to grant this one user, access to print to all of the printers on this one print server(110 printers). Sounds simple in principle, but the groups are broken down per facility, that grant access to these printers. And as usual, there is more than one way to do this. I didn't want to add all the facility groups to her account because that would over permission it, since she that also grants access to the shared facility drives. I also didn't want to add her to the printers directly because that's not good practice, you want to add her to to a group that has access to that, not her directly to the object being permissioned. Anyway, so I was dreading it because I didn't want to add this group manually to 110 printer objects. So I decided that I wasn't going to do that and looked into it. Using subinacl(a command line tool that allows you to modify permissions) I was able to do it with just one line of code :D And that feels like a mega win!

I don't know that any of you would be able to use this, since it's kind of a one off, but here is what I used:

 C:\Windows\system32>subinacl /printer \\PrintServerNameHere\* /grant=YOURDOMAIN\theADgroupYouAreUsing=P

So more of a command than a script, but I can modify that to no end to suit any future en masse permission requests. Anyway, this was way cool to me :) And it's Friday!

Pics! (these are all phone pics, the S5 takes decent pictures as long as there's enough light)

Biking across the river on the Hawthorne bridge

The Hawthorne bridge from the Riverfront park

Downtown PDX! 

Philly "Cheese Steak" sandwich! 

"Chicken Salad" sandwich! 

The building Geli works at :) 

Such an awesome food cart! :D 

Sometimes you work a lot...

Work, work, work...too much of it. I have such a large workload right now, that I could work 12 hour shifts every day  for two weeks and I would still not be be caught up. It sucks...It's midnight. I get off at 9pm. I am still working. I took a break here and there, and I am mainly doing this cuz Geli is staying up working on her release as well. But still...not cool. Although to be honest, I don't mind the work, I like it for the most part. I keep learning, I keep seeing new things. I just wish I didn't feel so obliged to get things done on time. They keep me working with the deadlines...sneaky.

Random pics:

"Wiggles" hanging out with me on our lawn :) 

"Wiggles" hiding her shy sister "Speedy"

Soaking in the fleeting September sun! 

Sophie's new camera. Super tiny! 

Sophie's desk! clean! 

Because of this, I added a bar/tube to the closet to hang all her pants. 

Wiggles says hello, but don't touch me, or nose bump! (Not bad for a phone pic)

Speedy is too shy to acknowledge the camera

Yes, you will see lots of guinea pig pics. Just cuz I can :) And we like them.

Sometimes you waste time...

Not on purpose though...Today I worked an update for one of the applications we host and I had a list of 11 clients and about 25 DBs between all of them that needed updating. And one of the things I needed to do was make sure the tlog and full backups were running and we had a recent backup of both. In SQL Management Studio, which I am not all that familiar with I was used to just going to the Job Monitor and checking from there. Turns out the Database guys changed that and didn't tell me. Now we just check the DB properties for the last backup, which I was not aware you could do. So I held off on the update till the 3rd shift guy came in to see what he thought about that. He's the one that told me about the new way to check the backups...so yeah. Now I am working a bit late cuz I am behind on the update -_- Not cool...

Random pics:

Guess what this is!

Why someone felt the need to tag about canine flatulence is strange. But there you have it. 

Sometimes you carry things on your head for miles...

Today was nuts...I biked with the trailer to sign shop 2.5 miles away to pick up something we needed to line the guinea pig cage. The sheets were 4 feet by 8 feet. Huge...

So I biked there, with the trailer, which was useless. These things were huge! I had to walk them home. So I locked the bike and trailer there, then walked the 2.5 miles home with the giant boards on my head, too big even to use my hands really. I will be mega sore tomorrow. Then, I biked back with our spare/guest bike to leave that one locked there instead of the main awesome white one and the trailer and biked back. So twice the trips. But we got the playpen/cage built! Happy piggies! 

Sometimes you fail at your tasks...

Today I had one task...to gather all the supplies for the piggies playpen....I failed at that. I needed to go get 8x4 feet sheets of corrugated plastic to line the playpen. I did not. I tried, but alas time was insufficient.The fleece was difficult to get. I ended up going all the way out to 82nd street for it and that killed the schedule.

Ignore the 11.95, that's the price of the sheets of plastic we needed from the sign place

So I almost completed everything...but alas I did not. Failure still. Tomorrow I will complete this and the piggie playpen will be completed!

Sometimes you get some guinea pigs...

After much deliberating, we decided that guinea pigs were a friend for Sophie that Geli could deal with and that wouldn't derail vacation plans and was also completely vegan. We re-homed some guinea pigs that were neglected by their previous owners. Here are a few phone pics and a vid:

We made a playpen outside for them. Here they are munching on some grass.

"Wiggles" as Sophie named this one. Hanging out with her in the playpen. 

"Speedy" as she is tentatively named by Sophie, for now. She's the shy one. But she's quick...to run away when you try to hold her haha.

Sophie in the playpen with them. 

They were super scared of everyone and everything when we got them. They were living in the hay that is their food(so there was poop and pee all over their food -_- ). We've since changed their bedding to fleece and placed their hay just in a little box for eating. But their demeanor has improved in just a couple days of proper attention. The previous owner had them both in a cage that is less than 3 square feet!!! For over 6 months!! They need at least 10 square feet. And that's the minimum. The play pen we have for them outside is over 32 square feet. They loved playing outside :) Unfortunately, we have to put them back in the tiny cage, but we are hoping this is the last night. We bought some supplies, and tomorrow I will find the last of what we need to make them a cage that will be 24.5 square feet. All in all, we've enjoyed their company so far. Sophie is super thrilled and in disbelief at her new little furry friends. She told me this morning "I really hope this isn't a dream!"

Sometimes they have issues printing...

So today I was asked by the service desk to look at a client issue where "the same document kept coming out over and over!"

I wonder why? haha
"It printed?"
"Oh, Okay, let's send it to the printer 1200 more times!"
"Then, let's call IT to see why the same thing keeps coming out!"

And just because:

Sophie waiting for the green light :) Coming back from school

Portland <3 Went out of my way slightly on my way to buy pants today to take this in. Not bad for a phone pic. 

Sometimes you're late...

I got out of work like an hour late yesterday. I was updating an ancient application that is needlessly complicated. I would begin to explain the process, but it's futile, it makes no sense. I worked on it like 4 hrs, and left it running overnight and it was still not done this morning. It was my first time running this update, so it took me a bit longer than it should have to get the overnight update going. So it caused some minor issues this morning since the update didn't finish by the scheduled 7am finish time. Oops. Next time I will be quicker, in like 3 months...hope I don't forget by then.

Anyway, for dinner, I made some chili and cornbread :D

red and green peppers, red onion, sizzling up

Corn bread baked on a skillet!

Served :) 

And I did run today. In the rain. It was cool, literally. I enjoyed it. So rain will not be stopping me from running this fall/winter :)

Sometimes not all apples are apples....

I know this is something many of you think I am crazy for. But every fall I look forward to these babies:

Sorry for the crappy phone picture, but I just found out we got some in our weekly bin and no time for dSLR pic! 

I know it doesn't look like much, but that's the least important quality in an apple. These things pack a crunch like no other apple, and a tart juicy sweetness that is just perfect! I didn't care much for apples really, and I still don't. Unless they happen to be honey crisps!!! They're expensive, and I don't care. Because they are truly a work of a god if there ever was one. All other apples bow down in servitude to this superior apple that deserves a class of its own! I found out about these in Milwaukee from a coworker like 4 years ago and have been a huge fan ever since! Only available in the fall! Now I sound like commercial...haha

Sometimes you run...

Very rarely though. And that's what I am trying to change. I went running today. Started off easy, so I am not super sore tomorrow and then don't want to go back "to rest it off" haha. I only ran 5 laps(1.25 miles). But I feel good after running. I plan on doing that every day. At least 3 times a week(Monday, Wednesday, Friday), with a day of biking just for fun in between maybe. Let's see how quickly this falls apart!

The track where I run. It's a few blocks from the house. 

My bike! Just because :D 

Sometimes there is no time...

Today work was ridiculously busy...I could have easily stayed late working another 3 hours and not finished. So I didn't. I'll get on all that tomorrow.

I had a cat hang out with me most of the morning. Ended up being the neighbors cat. I would have fed him something since he seemed hungry, but I have no idea what I could even feed a cat that we actually have.

Sometime you don't blog...

On the weekends, I will most likely be missing posts. They're my time to not be at a computer. And we're either out and about or doing absolutely nothing at home. Neither of which is conducive to blogging. So there it is in advance.

Random pic:

The mexican TARDIS!! w00t! Spotted it at a Superette in Juarez! Pretty awesome really. 

Sometimes you run some errands and it's fun...

I love biking...especially now that I don't have to tow Sophie along. It's way too enjoyable. I feel like I am just gliding, piercing the air, it's great. Anyway, today I had some errands to run, so I biked this:

Not bad for something I enjoy anyway

I have to stop to take this in of course :) 

Much to Geli's dismay, this had to be done! 

I could have taken a shorter route, but biking along the river rules so much that I don't mind biking longer just to enjoy that. Also, I am just getting out of work(48 minutes late), and it's crap. It's Friday and you're not supposed to work extra on a Friday.

Sometimes work correspondence looks like a prayer to me...

I find it funny that when people reply to my emails, in my head, I hear a prayer. I guess I don't consider Jesus to be my name really. An odd thing to say really, because it is! And when I read it in work emails, I also pronounce it in the English way in my head, which doesn't help. Anyway, here's an example from today:

So yeah, every time I read my name in an email, it makes me chuckle. Especially when they're thanking me for something. This all happened today, and because I messed up. Really I was just not aware that when they mean they want an update for one variety of this application, they still wanted all the other flavors of it online(there's like 10 varieties of the same app for this client). Now, I know. 

Sometimes you grow some tomatoes...

I have been trying my hand at gardening this year. I got a bit of a late start, but it's been going rather well. Or better than I expected anyway. Right now, we got some  small cherry tomatoes that are doing pretty well. We got this one small vine with a tomato at every stage of growth:

From fully ripe, to almost not even there yet.

This year, we got tons of raspberries. A handful of strawberries, kale, a red lettuce variety, yellow squash, garlic, and a few plums(not sure why only a few this year, the tree is pretty big). Here are some pics: 

The yellow peppers, our first pickings! 

A yellow squash about to be picked :D 

Hungarian black pepper, not black yet, so not ripe yet. 

Baby watermelon. Much bigger now, but still not big enough. 

First Kale pickings :) 

First Red Lettuce pickings :) 

Chile flower. That little green thing in the center, will grow to be the pepper. 

Squash flowers! you can eat the male ones. 

So we did! 

The strawberry plants get stronger as the years go by, so our baby plants didn't give that many strawberries, but the few we got were amazing! 

Garlic! So mild and sweet! Amazing roasted! 

The entire garlic plant. Bulbs on the left, flowers on the right. 

This was the squash when I first planted it. It's massive now. 

We would get one or two of these a day at peak season! It was awesome! 

Raspberries! 

And squirrels had their share of raspberries of course haha

An unripe raspberry

Cilantro! 

Baby strawberries! 

Baby kale! 

Seedlings! This is how most of it started. 

Growing these few things has helped me realize how fragile everything is. How connected to the earth we are. How badly we depend on it. I know it sounds corny and hippie. But it's true. I've also first hand seen how important bees are. None of this would be without bees. Every raspberry we ate, every squash we get, they all need to be pollinated...by bees. All in all, I really like gardening. It's relaxing. It's work, but it also clears my mind. I don't know why, I find it relaxing. Next year I plan to get an earlier start and get some compost for the soil as well.