best blog this so i don't forget.
the day: thursday, march 17, 2005.
under the influence of the off-season typhoon auring, rains sweep into our corner of the metro. now, in our old building, such rain was cause for concern, as the electrical grid there seemed unusually reactive to wet weather. it would rain, and then the power would go out. not good for computers in general, and servers in particular, to have power outages whilst in the middle of extensive hard-disk activity (moreso for servers).
couldn't possibly happen in the new building. we're state of the art, so i've been told.
somewhere about an hour to going-home-time, lights flicker -- it rained just a while before. building's uninterruptible power supply kicks in -- computers all stay on as the building lights go dark. outside, the generator starts up -- and all the computers die. odd, but at the time no one was really concerned...
...until it was discovered that in the course of the outage, the main server had been impacted. seems that in the process of writing to the raid, the power outage had scrambled a file somewhere in the vastness of the array's terabytes of storage with the end result that the raid could no longer be accessed by the host computer.
odd, also, that such a seeming inconsequence as a single file system error would bring the whole server down like a pack of cards. small wonder that other hardware/software solutions make up the bulk of the internet hardware backbone.
for heaven's sake, not even the os-supplied raid administration or disk repair tools can seem to fix the error, and we're now approaching 24 hours since the event. for a fix, even the support line (so i've been told) could only offer that we ought to use a third-party disk repair tool -- and be prepared to wait three days to see whether we've lost anything.
so here we wait.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Saturday, March 12, 2005
plumbing
interesting, in an odd sort of way. in fact hadn't considered the matter at all -- the matter of the upstairs bathroom leaking into the nearby room on the same floor.
landperson said that it was because there had been no grout used in the shower floor drain installation. okay, took him at his word, and waited the requisite day or so for the grout to dry up prior to use.
the day of testing dawned, and there was another puddle of water in the other room.
hmm.
okay, now this doesn't make any sense. the shower floor is about an inch or two lower than the rest of the bathroom floor -- which is level with the rest of the second floor. so how is drainwater going up so as to puddle on the other side of the wall?
so, experiment time.
took a bath, this time though, in the old tried-and-true 'tabo and bucket' fashion.
end result, no puddle -- so far. from the indications, then, is that it may not have been the floor drain non-grouting that was the culprit, it may be that the piping to the shower head is leaking under pressure from the pressurized water tank.
we'll just have to see later, when we get back from work.
landperson said that it was because there had been no grout used in the shower floor drain installation. okay, took him at his word, and waited the requisite day or so for the grout to dry up prior to use.
the day of testing dawned, and there was another puddle of water in the other room.
hmm.
okay, now this doesn't make any sense. the shower floor is about an inch or two lower than the rest of the bathroom floor -- which is level with the rest of the second floor. so how is drainwater going up so as to puddle on the other side of the wall?
so, experiment time.
took a bath, this time though, in the old tried-and-true 'tabo and bucket' fashion.
end result, no puddle -- so far. from the indications, then, is that it may not have been the floor drain non-grouting that was the culprit, it may be that the piping to the shower head is leaking under pressure from the pressurized water tank.
we'll just have to see later, when we get back from work.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
blogworthy: part 2
missing event
jose, who was an integral part of that blogworthy day mentioned that i had overlooked an event that truly did cap the day off. on reflection, yes indeed i had.
on the way back to the office from the alabang town center, and while discussing what would have happened had our car-driving officemate not looked over to see the awaited one -- the discussion evolved into a song. as in literally, someone began to sing. bad pun applicable here.
but that was all right, in the context of the day. quite normal, in fact.
building blocks
every once in a while in my line of work (whatever that is) i am confronted by the spectre of the new. and, as with all apparitions, such things demand a response: either a gut-feel-knee-jerk reaction or a slow and measured pseudo-scientific approach.
much as the latter would interfere with my spasmodic compositing schedule, i resolved to check this new the slow and sure way.
what is this new of which i speak? essentially, its a computer/raid (redundant array of inexpensive disks) combination -- an all-in-one solution were one to host, say, a web portal business.
for the needs of our 3-D production, however, it would necessarily have to cut the mustard under the duress imposed by the ravenous data requirements of a sizable render farm.
...if it worked.
which, sad to say, it hasn't.
perhaps its just the way our system grew by leaps and bounds, with random elements falling by chance into some sort of workable whole. note: workable, not ideal.
but ideal might be the fruit of years, even decades in the business (think pixar), and we're barely a year old.
back to the building block. turns out it works by making some assumptions about how a web-based business would be configured. a requires b to get to c, and so on. except that in our case, we go straight to c from a -- do not pass "go", do not collect x sum of cash (monopoly speak).
so the poor building block cannot make sense of our network and the way its put together, the assumptions on which the block was built do not hold true in our reality field.
...sometimes the bleeding edge of technology can be quite painful.
jose, who was an integral part of that blogworthy day mentioned that i had overlooked an event that truly did cap the day off. on reflection, yes indeed i had.
on the way back to the office from the alabang town center, and while discussing what would have happened had our car-driving officemate not looked over to see the awaited one -- the discussion evolved into a song. as in literally, someone began to sing. bad pun applicable here.
but that was all right, in the context of the day. quite normal, in fact.
building blocks
every once in a while in my line of work (whatever that is) i am confronted by the spectre of the new. and, as with all apparitions, such things demand a response: either a gut-feel-knee-jerk reaction or a slow and measured pseudo-scientific approach.
much as the latter would interfere with my spasmodic compositing schedule, i resolved to check this new the slow and sure way.
what is this new of which i speak? essentially, its a computer/raid (redundant array of inexpensive disks) combination -- an all-in-one solution were one to host, say, a web portal business.
for the needs of our 3-D production, however, it would necessarily have to cut the mustard under the duress imposed by the ravenous data requirements of a sizable render farm.
...if it worked.
which, sad to say, it hasn't.
perhaps its just the way our system grew by leaps and bounds, with random elements falling by chance into some sort of workable whole. note: workable, not ideal.
but ideal might be the fruit of years, even decades in the business (think pixar), and we're barely a year old.
back to the building block. turns out it works by making some assumptions about how a web-based business would be configured. a requires b to get to c, and so on. except that in our case, we go straight to c from a -- do not pass "go", do not collect x sum of cash (monopoly speak).
so the poor building block cannot make sense of our network and the way its put together, the assumptions on which the block was built do not hold true in our reality field.
...sometimes the bleeding edge of technology can be quite painful.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
blogworthy
of late, the impulse to blog has been notably absent (there's that work/blog equation at work again) and i figure it would bore anyone who read this to tears if there were nothing on this page but a full-on rant about rampant incompetences...
...therefore i choose to say little if i feel that urge to vent venomously.
however, yesterday was definitely a rather unusual day by any standards.
lunch out, probably due to another old saw (be not the first on whom the new is tried -- or something to that effect). lately, the office has been trying out the lunch wares of a new addition to the constellation of companies that we're a part of.
...problem being that some have been stung by the attempt to consume dishes with meat of, shall we say, durable consistency.
so off to the alabang town center, and thence to bizu.
they didn't have the roasted mushroom sandwich i had a craving for at the moment, nor their excellent strawberry shortcake -- so i made do with a cheese and steak sandwich and no dessert.
what was unusual about lunch? well, nothing really. short of the service time that could safely be measured in glacial terms. so a one-hour lunch turned into one of twice that duration (can't wait to see how the undertime deductions turn out).
and then we come to a real turning point in the day. ah. to backtrack, the online (naturally - this being a rather tech-oriented set of companies) ordering system for the bespoke food service relied on information in the human resource database. imagine the collective surprise when i.d. numbers and birthday information entered in the system gave back 'cannot be identified' errors. fun!
then it transpires later that other than for some unfortunate few where the data in the records was patently incorrect, there were those whose digital information had been inadvertently trashed -- no reason given, no culprit to lynch.
so, midafternoon, troop the deleted to the hr office for picture taking and scribble on tablet signature example. easiest thing in the world, no?
no.
wait for name to be called. sit in chair, smile for webcam. wait as operator goes hither and yon with program interface to locate employee record. sign on the tablet. wait, you're signing out of the digitizing region. there are no markings on the tablet, not even a little piece of paper under the acetate sheet to define a 'scribbling' zone. all right sir, right over there, write small. scribble with no visual feedback. that's not my signature but what the hell. close enough.
and then no word is given that we can leave.
for two hours.
so, literally, shoot the breeze. outside. conversations with others take turns from movies to religious matters like the revelation, old and new testaments, the deuterocanonicals/apocrypha, etc. lucky we didn't veer of into classifications of angels, their names and somesuch.
oh, there were some toy-gun-related interjections, but that's something i can ill afford, so i paid little attention.
get back to the office by 5pm. end of workday at 6pm.
so, what's for dinner? before that, go to the park part of the madrigal business park and resident photographer takes some long-exposure shots of things and us, the recent skyway patrol. end up after a while at -- for a moment there, the name escapes me -- hang on, um, fridays.
where, for some strange reason, the size of the servings still serve to surprise. the mexican nachos were quite good. didn't try the salad that was the other order. the seafood platter was also quite decent. as was the mud pie (i think that's what it was called) -- decided on getting that instead after learning that friday's version of strawberry shortcake was also hors de combat.
naturally, fridays and the plethora of choices on the menu means time to decide, order and serve; and eat; and bill. by that time, we had missed the crepe place that an officemate had wanted us to buy a food item from.
so we scattered as the mall closing time rushed upon us, gathering at the covered parking, where all six of us sat in the car, waiting.
...
until the our car-driving officemate looked over, and discovered that the person she was waiting for was already on board.
so, off we went, back to the office to deliver a crepe from pancake house instead.
jeep, tricycle, apartment. day is done.
...not quite. in the night, it turns out, apparently the upstairs bathroom, when used (for showering, it is hoped), leaks onto the master bedroom floor.
thus was the day.
amen.
...therefore i choose to say little if i feel that urge to vent venomously.
however, yesterday was definitely a rather unusual day by any standards.
lunch out, probably due to another old saw (be not the first on whom the new is tried -- or something to that effect). lately, the office has been trying out the lunch wares of a new addition to the constellation of companies that we're a part of.
...problem being that some have been stung by the attempt to consume dishes with meat of, shall we say, durable consistency.
so off to the alabang town center, and thence to bizu.
they didn't have the roasted mushroom sandwich i had a craving for at the moment, nor their excellent strawberry shortcake -- so i made do with a cheese and steak sandwich and no dessert.
what was unusual about lunch? well, nothing really. short of the service time that could safely be measured in glacial terms. so a one-hour lunch turned into one of twice that duration (can't wait to see how the undertime deductions turn out).
and then we come to a real turning point in the day. ah. to backtrack, the online (naturally - this being a rather tech-oriented set of companies) ordering system for the bespoke food service relied on information in the human resource database. imagine the collective surprise when i.d. numbers and birthday information entered in the system gave back 'cannot be identified' errors. fun!
then it transpires later that other than for some unfortunate few where the data in the records was patently incorrect, there were those whose digital information had been inadvertently trashed -- no reason given, no culprit to lynch.
so, midafternoon, troop the deleted to the hr office for picture taking and scribble on tablet signature example. easiest thing in the world, no?
no.
wait for name to be called. sit in chair, smile for webcam. wait as operator goes hither and yon with program interface to locate employee record. sign on the tablet. wait, you're signing out of the digitizing region. there are no markings on the tablet, not even a little piece of paper under the acetate sheet to define a 'scribbling' zone. all right sir, right over there, write small. scribble with no visual feedback. that's not my signature but what the hell. close enough.
and then no word is given that we can leave.
for two hours.
so, literally, shoot the breeze. outside. conversations with others take turns from movies to religious matters like the revelation, old and new testaments, the deuterocanonicals/apocrypha, etc. lucky we didn't veer of into classifications of angels, their names and somesuch.
oh, there were some toy-gun-related interjections, but that's something i can ill afford, so i paid little attention.
get back to the office by 5pm. end of workday at 6pm.
so, what's for dinner? before that, go to the park part of the madrigal business park and resident photographer takes some long-exposure shots of things and us, the recent skyway patrol. end up after a while at -- for a moment there, the name escapes me -- hang on, um, fridays.
where, for some strange reason, the size of the servings still serve to surprise. the mexican nachos were quite good. didn't try the salad that was the other order. the seafood platter was also quite decent. as was the mud pie (i think that's what it was called) -- decided on getting that instead after learning that friday's version of strawberry shortcake was also hors de combat.
naturally, fridays and the plethora of choices on the menu means time to decide, order and serve; and eat; and bill. by that time, we had missed the crepe place that an officemate had wanted us to buy a food item from.
so we scattered as the mall closing time rushed upon us, gathering at the covered parking, where all six of us sat in the car, waiting.
...
until the our car-driving officemate looked over, and discovered that the person she was waiting for was already on board.
so, off we went, back to the office to deliver a crepe from pancake house instead.
jeep, tricycle, apartment. day is done.
...not quite. in the night, it turns out, apparently the upstairs bathroom, when used (for showering, it is hoped), leaks onto the master bedroom floor.
thus was the day.
amen.
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