The tragic part about this week's blog is that I'm still in the middle of transferring things on my domain/website, so unless someone is really persistent and knows a few tricks about navigating here, they won't see this post. But then again, I naturally do ask myself the question at large- does anyone actually read these posts? I mean, I've told a few family members about this blog, and a friend or two, I think... but more than likely, I feel that, as of so far, at least, my words are but wisps of wind floating out of the internet, untouched, unseen (save by my wife), and unknown.
But, then yet again, I ask myself the other question- what about it? I don't particularly consider myself a poet, artists or any such; and yet, I feel that perhaps, if there is a chance that my words can do some small good in the world- if there is even the slightest chance that just posting some random thought or happening one week could change someone's life for the better- then that alone is worthy of a great quest, no matter how lonely the road. By heavens, it may be decades later- perhaps even well after I've passed on- and the world I know, where people browse to webpages and read content like this has long since become an antiquity among society and social groups. Even the very words I type may appear as "old fashioned' and nigh unreadable, due to language having shifted so greatly. And yet, if one person in some quiet room somewhere reaches these words and thoughts, and their life is made better by it, then how much more rewarding it would be, for such an unlikely outcome.
Though, as I ramble on, I realize my words may, in fact, never really go on to have any real significant impact, and perhaps no life will be influenced for the better by reading them. Even still, as long as I have hope that such a things could yet happen, I continue my thoughts here. And believe me, as hopeless a man as I can be, I have more hope, than is possibly good for me. After all, if a knight were given the errand to slay some foul fiend, and search all the lands his whole life over, but could never find it, though his quest may have ended in vain, his honor and his valor would be held in the highest regard. And I, for one, am all about honor and valor.
So, this week has gone on. After last Saturday's attempts at separating my home network into subnets, I finally succeeded one night after initially retiring to bed and then being sparked with an idea. It was one of those late-night flashes of brilliance you both hate and love. I also had fun with another new server, yesterday. It was an older model of PowerEdge (T610), but I decided to use it as a backup SAN for all my data. I don't recall if I've mentioned on this blog, but I'm kind of nuts- in terms of networking. I have two servers, a 48-port-POE switch, battery backup and two laptops all running on my "server rack". But I live in an apartment. Where is this "rack"? It's my linen closet. Before some of you facepalm (or before some of you tech-savvy folk almost scream in alarm at such a stupid prospect), I leave that door ajar, so airflow keeps things relatively not hot.
But then I introduced this new server onto another shelf in there. I started it building a new array of RAID, while I worked on other tasks. But it was LOUD. And I knew my poor wife was bothered by it all the more than I was. But I thought, perhaps it would quiet down after it was done initializing those disks. So, I closed the door to the point only a centimeter gap remained, and let it run over night. When I awoke the next morning, I was pleased to hear it had quieted down quite a good deal. I was also surprised to imagine it was already done initializing the disks. Indeed, it was quiet. Too quiet. Turns out, when I opened the closet door, it was an honest-to-God sauna in there. The server had overheated and shut off. After letting it cool for about a minute, I had to carefully move it off the shelf without pulling up any paint, as it had started to melt to it. Thereafter, I introduced it to a much kinder area, where it could stay more temperate. If ever you have the misfortune of coming over and wanting to see my physical network setup, I'll gladly give you a tour. Just... lower you expectations.
And that's it for this week. Let's hope I get this blog up and running by next. Also, I will eventually spruce this up with imagery and the like- but alas, one thing at a time.