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From the ashes...

This week, I found myself in one of the most unique and challenging situations of my life. And now that it’s all over, I find myself in tears. Not because of sadness, but because I now know myself as someone who can actually make a difference is this world, despite the circumstances. Now for a little backstory. It should be no surprise that I love to build. I found my best friend, Lee Gibson, when a LEGO set came up at a White Elephant party and we both schemed on how to win it. I’ve created a non-profit called “The Trebuchet Society”, with the primary goal of hosting SlingFest, a (mostly) annual event designed to gather builders from around the area to create trebuchets and toss pumpkins hundreds of feet. It’s a blast and fuels my desire to build and be around other builders. In 2014, I discovered TheLab.ms via a tweet. A budding Makerspace/Hackerspace. Its mission is to foster a collaborative environment wherein people can explore and create intersections between technology, science, art, and culture. I found my people. Their guiding principles were more focused on education and ethical hacking instead of building trebuchets, but that’s cool. My mom was a librarian, so education is in my blood. I just wanted to be around like-minded people. I watched Shawn Porter, Roxy Dehart and Richard Gowen pour their heart out into it and build it from scratch. TheLab even got an article in the Plano Magazine. As with all non-profits, you want awareness, engagement and members. These usually bring in new ideas and fresh blood. Sometimes in alignment with your own ideas, sometimes not. And as a father, I can tell you, there is no rage in the world like watching something happen to your baby. Fast forward a few years and after some leadership changes, the last of the founders resigned as a board member, and a number of positions were either vacant or MIA. Then the Education Coordinator resigned. Then the President resigned. Then the Floating Board Member. And the Vice President. And the Secretary. Their reasons were their own. And I support them 100%. I was now in one of the most unique and confronted situations of my life. The sole Board Member of TheLab.ms. A community that I’ve been with from almost the very start and loved so dearly was fighting amongst itself. Anger and frustration was evident on a daily basis. People were burnt out. Thankfully, I had an ace in my pocket. For the last 6 months, I’ve been registered in a course called “Team Management and Leadership Program” from Landmark Worldwide. It is a course designed around creating teams and teamwork in any situation that produce powerful results in many areas of life with freedom and ease. I called my coach and the classroom leader in tears that day. I felt completely broken down and had no idea how to make this work. Through an insightful and “tough love” conversation, I started to see a path forward. I organized a last-minute event and invited people to create the future of TheLab. I expected about 6 people to show up. I had to hold back my emotions when the room completely filled up, including members I hadn’t seen in years. These were people who, despite the burn-out, despite the anger, despite the frustration, deeply wanted TheLab to not just survive, but to thrive. It was showtime. In an hour and a half, we dug deep, asked some good questions and had some fun. We had some deep, meaningful conversations about the future and not the past. And most importantly, people stepped up to the plate to take on some big leadership positions. Elections are next week and I invite all of you to learn what we’re about. I have never been more proud to be part of an organization than I am right now. I have found my people. Again.

projects events personal
· 4 min read

Tinkering with Oracle DB in a container.

TL;DR: Size matters. After Oracle's surprise announcement of their containerization of Oracle DB, Oracle WebLogic and a few of their other core technologies, I decided to test it out for myself. (Speaking authentically, I'm leery of their commitment; however, I recognize that I work on Open Source at Microsoft, so who am I to judge?) My end-goal is to get Oracle DB 12.2 running in a container on Kubernetes inside Azure Container Service. This is Part 1 of my walkthrough from 0 to operational. Build and Verify the Container Unlike most Docker projects, Oracle does not have a public image on Docker Hub. To get started, you'll need to: Clone their Github repo Download the Oracle DB instance Run their buildDockerImage.sh from the Github Repo Start the container Clone the github repo `git clone git@github.com:oracle/docker-images.git ... Receiving objects: 100% (5643/5643), 425.77 MiB | 5.41 MiB/s, done. ` Wait...what?! 425MB?! After some sleuthing, it appears they once included the OracleLinux binaries in the git repo but have not purged them. Poor Github. I have a tremendous amount of appreciation for their architects and support engineers. Below is the SHA1 of the blob, the # of bytes of each file and the path. `git clone git@github.com:oracle/docker-images.git Cloning into 'docker-images'... remote: Counting objects: 5643, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (35/35), done. remote: Total 5643 (delta 12), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 5607 Receiving objects: 100% (5643/5643), 425.77 MiB | 5.41 MiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (3164/3164), done. git:(master) git rev-list --objects --all \ | git cat-file --batch-check='%(objecttype) %(objectname) %(objectsize) %(rest)' \ | awk '/^blob/ {print substr($0,6)}' \ | sort --numeric-sort --key=2 | tail -7 35eda80405d711ae557905633d9f9b8d756afb94 42358832 OracleLinux/7.0/oraclelinux-7.0.tar.xz e359def3dde981199ea692bbb26c24bd37e6fd68 42765288 OracleLinux/7.1/oraclelinux-7.1.tar.xz 0956d25bcb27f804cfc37f2a519a5cfb35af0955 43951872 OracleLinux/6.8/oraclelinux-6.8-rootfs.tar.xz 6de0b5011f509e53623ab0170fbc72e8bb53b501 43953520 OracleLinux/6.9/oraclelinux-6.9-rootfs.tar.xz b05b9f4971b6d28330545fadc234eb423815dd59 47275816 OracleLinux/7.2/oraclelinux-7.2-rootfs.tar.xz 9b07a976e61ed2cf3a02173bf8c2d829977f2406 49130232 OracleLinux/7.3/oraclelinux-7.3-rootfs.tar.xz 3b7610a3df4892e9cf4f5d01eb3d55bcd3f2ad54 50369896 OracleLinux/6.7/oraclelinux-6.7-rootfs.tar.xz ` Moving right along... Download the Oracle DB instance from their website Since Oracle does not allow anyone else to distribute their software, you must go to their site, register (Larry Ellison now has my email), and download. Unfortunately, the login process does not allow me to "wget" the file and put on a remote machine, so I must download locally via browser. I chose "Oracle Database 12c Release 2" `-rw-r--r--@ 1 thfalgou staff 3.2G Apr 27 10:07 linuxx64_12201_database.zip ` Another 3.2GB. I now have an alternate version of Sir Mix A Lot's infamous song going in my head: I LIKE BIG BINARIES AND I CANNOT LIE... Moving right along... Run their buildDockerImage.sh from the Github Repo The documentation isn't explicit about where to store the downloaded image. (in my case the 'OracleDatabase/dockerfiles/12.2.0.1' directory) Now the moment of truth. From the "OracleDatabase/dockerfiles" directory, run buildDockerImage.sh `dockerfiles git:(master) time ./buildDockerImage.sh -v 12.2.0.1 -s ... Building image 'oracle/database:12.2.0.1-se2' ... Sending build context to Docker daemon 3.454 GB^M^M Step 1/16 : FROM oraclelinux:7-slim ---> 442ebf722584 ... Pages and pages of output. So much text that my iTerm buffer no longer had the initial command. ... Oracle Database Docker Image for 'se2' version 12.2.0.1 is ready to be extended: --> oracle/database:12.2.0.1-se2 Build completed in 658 seconds. ./buildDockerImage.sh -v 12.2.0.1 -s 3.68s user 8.15s system 1% cpu 10:57.49 total ` 10 Minutes later, the container is finally built. 10 minutes. 10! Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic; however, the Docker Ecosystem has lots of high expectations and one of those is rapid development and deployment through small, composable artifacts. Granted, building and deploying a new version of database is not a common occurrence; however, the process it not conducive to DevOps. That said, this is their first foray into this, so I'm still excited to see the change. `dockerfiles git:(master) docker images oracle/database 12.2.0.1-se2 f788cd5b4b9d 4 minutes ago 14.8 GB oraclelinux 7-slim 442ebf722584 6 days ago 114 MB fedora latest 15895ef0b3b2 7 days ago 231 MB microsoft/mssql-server-linux latest 7b1c26822d97 7 days ago 1.35 GB nginx latest 5766334bdaa0 3 weeks ago 183 MB ubuntu latest 0ef2e08ed3fa 8 weeks ago 130 MB ... ` 14GB? I take that back. Start the container Let's get the party started... `dockerfiles git:(master) docker run --name oracledb -p 1521:1521 -p 5500:5500 oracle/database:12.2.0.1-se2 ORACLE PASSWORD FOR SYS, SYSTEM AND PDBADMIN: LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 12.2.0.1.0 - Production on 28-APR-2017 03:21:48 Copyright (c) 1991, 2016, Oracle. All rights reserved. Starting /opt/oracle/product/12.2.0.1/dbhome_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait... TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 12.2.0.1.0 - Production System parameter file is /opt/oracle/product/12.2.0.1/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora Log messages written to /opt/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/91c68ac2b2bf/listener/alert/log.xml Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1))) Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521))) ... Copying database files 1% complete ... ` Huzzah! After about 9 minutes, it's finally started! Let's test it! `~ docker exec -ti oracledb sqlplus pdbadmin@ORCLPDB1 SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Apr 28 03:58:10 2017 Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle. All rights reserved. Enter password: Connected to: Oracle Database 12c Standard Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production SQL> ` We're in!!! It worked! It is at this point that I realize I've already gone through 2 drams of Aberlour and I should probably stop for the night. Provided there is enough interest (and whiskey), I'll write-up Step 2 of getting this running on Kubernetes in ACS. As for now, I should stop while the world is only mildly spinning. NOTE 1: If the database auto-generates a password with a "/" in it, I've found it doesn't work. You can change that by running: docker exec ./setPassword.sh NOTE 2: If you run this multiple times, make sure to run "docker system prune" as it fills up your disk fast. On my 3rd try, I hit the following error, even with lots of space on my disk. ` The location specified for 'Fast Recovery Area Location' has insufficient free space. CAUSE: Only (9,793MB) free space is available on the location (/opt/oracle/oradata/fast_recovery_area/ORCLCDB/). ACTION: Choose a 'Fast Recovery Area Location' that has enough space (minimum of (12,780MB)) or free up space on the specified location. ` NOTE 3: It looks like everyone uses Docker now...

engineering containers projects
· 5 min read

I work for Microsoft?!

Laziness, Impatience, Hubris The great Larry Wall claims that these are the three great virtues of a great programmer. And I whole heartedly agree. However, If I were to propose three virtues, they’d be: Inquisitiveness, Acceptance, and Stubbornness. My name is Tommy Falgout, I’m a new employee at Microsoft and I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know .NET. Or Azure. I don’t own a Windows Phone. Heck, the last Windows OS I “owned” was XP. What I do have is ~20 years of experience in *nix and Open Source software development. I helped develop the original SMS implementation for GSM, back when phones were only meant for voice. I wrote telecom automation systems in Perl, PHP and MySQL 3.x. I then worked at Yahoo for 9 years where I expanded my brain to build their live events engine to broadcast Obama’s Inauguration, the Royal Wedding and the NFL games (Yahoo used to own NFL streaming rights in the 2000’s) I migrated to Yahoo’s Infrastructure database which was the duct tape keeping everything together and integrated. As a Technical Evangelist, I’m building upon all that experience as a foundation for this new opportunity. To take Azure to the next level. The thing is...I don’t know how to Azure yet. But that’s the point of this blog. To detail my findings and explore the union of Open Source and Azure. This will be a dumping ground and lesson’s learned. I’m a big fan of transparency and learning from other people’s mistakes. My hope is that you can learn from mine. Now to go learn how not to mangle my ARM.

engineering azure projects
· 2 min read

LEGO Star Destroyer Hanging

A long, long time ago, LEGO announced their new Collectors Star Destroyer. It was their largest set at the time and I being a long time LEGO maniac, I had to have it. It took many weeks to build, and has been one of my prize possessions which I've flaunted even more than my hot tub. Friends, relationships and other toys have come and gone, but ol'Desty has always been around. Now that I have a wife and kid, space has become constrained, and I've had to become creative in my toy storage. After mulling it around, I realized the best for Ol'Desty was to prominently display her, hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately, after some researching the only useful bit of information I found was "use fishing wire". I could do better than that. To all my friends who have gotten this far, you can stop reading as the rest will bore you to tiny little brick pieces. To all of the LEGO enthusiasts, on with the gory details! One of the most fascinating parts of trying to hang the LEGO Star Destroyer (LSD) was taking it apart and seeing how 9 years of being on display has affected the structure. If you've built an LSD before, you know that the fuselage is made of four attached triangles and most of the weight settles on the last two-thirds of the structure. You also probably also know that it's an extremely fragile set, held together by magnets. Great idea, but for me, the bottom panels kept falling off all too often. In the pictures, you can see how the center beams have warped over time, bowing up to 4 3/4" from the ground (between the two stands) and sagging to 4" from the ground (at the tip). On my first attempt, I tried to cradle the LSD by wrapping fishing wire around the entire structure, but that caused it to pinch the panels some places and bow out in others. After a few other experiments with the LSD over a generous glass of whiskey and coke, I found my solution. I removed all 4 pieces of panelling and tied one long piece of fishing wire into strategic weight points on the triangle frame, using the peg holes of the middle long bricks to wrap the fishing wire around. I then re-attached the panels and fed the fishing wire between the horizontal center crevice. This approach caused the least amount of structural and functional disruption and allowed it to balance right on it's widthwise center of gravity. I played around with different locations along the frame and finally found a proper equilibrium (see pics). When hanging, my intent was to tilt the LSD slightly forward so that as you enter the room, a clear view of all of the beautiful deals LEGO put into the model are visible. Along with some more adjustments to the weight distribution, I was able to get the angle I wanted. Google Sketchup was a great way to plan out exactly where to drill for the ceiling hooks. It also allows me to make some planned adjustments for upcoming LEGO Goodness It required two people to hoist the LSD up, adjust the tension on the wires and tie off the ends. Once it was all settled and angled properly, the rear wires were significantly tighter than the front, but I believe that this is unavoidable due to the LSD's weight distribution. For the rest of the evening, I just sat there, basking at it's beauty and glowing as it was inspiring to see it hovering ever so menacingly there, and proud of my accomplishment and DIY prowess. Materials: Fishing Wire (Sporting goods store) 3 ceiling plant hooks Whiskey, or libation of choice if so desired. (For focusing your LEGO and Engineering Chi) Electric Drill (for pre-drilling the holes in the ceiling) patience Pics: Example of LSD bowing after 9 years Rear support with fishing wire Mid support with fishing wire Front Support Supports w/o bottom panel Google Sketchup

engineering projects
· 4 min read

Busted Dreams

I love Legos. I've never stopped loving Legos. On the hypothetical deserted island, I'd have a crate full of Legos. In fact, it's pretty disappointing for me that on this trip yet, I haven't been to LegoLand yet. But this story isn't about Legos. It's about how playing with Legos all the time inspired me to grow up into an Architect. But with one careful sentence, that dream bubble was popped as I was told, "You need to know how to draw." Trust me when I say that my camels resembled a bowl of asparagus more than any creature, that even might have ever lived. It was from this moment, that I gave up on becoming an architect. Besides, a software architect has just as much fun and it pays better. However, my burning flame to create was never completely put out. Recently, with the help of Kathy, I've discovered my passion for food. I've even gone far enough to create dishes that have their own names like "Coonass Chicken and Taters". So, when I found out that a cousin of mine, living in Stuttgart, Germany is opening up his own restaurant, I jumped on the opportunity to be put to work and learn some of the trade. My cousin, Bill Butler is an outstanding person. While his presence can be intimidating at first (he served in Afghanistan, taller than me and strong build), he's takes care of his employees and has earned the respect of everyone there. It's a sizable kitchen on a military base. All of the customers are in the Service, or family of someone who is. So, of course, all of the bartenders are young, cute, buxom girls. I tell ya, the guy knows how to run a business. He's also supported by his great wife Lydia and his childhood buddy Brian who all live together in the same place who all put in a lot of effort into the business. In the kitchen, I listened to about 50 different stories from the 76 year old black man, who's only answers to 2 names. T and Mr. T. In the few hours I got to spend next to him, I learned enough about cooking to keep my brain full for days. I worked for about 12 hours and loved it. I learned a lot, assembled a grill, made a Thai peanut sauce for 150 people, chatted with some great people, was in the company of Americans, and got paid with alcohol. Which made getting up the next morning all the harder to leave for Cinque Terra. I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking of coming back here once my rail pass ends. Although, the thought of working harder during my vacation, than I do back home does make it a tough decision. And the fact that you come home from the restaurant hungry, makes it even more confusing. I think my friend's Greg's shirt sums it up the best: Indecision is the key to flexibility. Back to Legos. As I matured and cooked more, I entertained the thought of opening my own restaurant. But after seeing everything that goes into it, I believe that bubble has popped once again. But that's ok. I love what I do, and I now have developed an strong respect for those who chose that path. And the path I choose for myself now leads me to Cinque Terra. And a Panini. April 27th, on a train from Zurich, Switzerland to Milano, Italy.

projects travel personal
· 3 min read

The Man, European

Even though it can seem expensive, there's something to be said for the Eurorail Pass. Rick Steves calls it "Forced Luxury", as you can only get it in 1st class. My backpack, unkempt hair, cargo pants and tennis shoe carrying self feels somewhat out of place in these wide seats next to business men, all in their fancy blue shirts and ties, Blackberries, clean haircuts, newspapers and proper accents. There's even an LED system that shows people's reservations with their names. There's no names in my spot, so I'll just wait till they ask me to move. I hope that Mr. Redmond Carrol is grateful that I did laundry yesterday. There's a place for me to plug in my electronics and our stewardess is even a cute girl with a nice French accent. I'm definitely hanging out with Whitey now. April 12th, 2007 - On a Train from Cork to Dublin

projects personal
· 1 min read
His Name Be Borat

His Name Be Borat

iBorat Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. And he likes the Sexy time. My 3 foot LEGO Star Destroyer met it's match yesterday as it fell from on top of the…

projects personal
· 1 min read

Mrrreee of the Dead

After a 3-4 week Movie Night hiatus, we started the holiday season off right with Amityville last week and then Dawn of the Dead this week. This post is mostly about Dawn of the Dead, because it was a fine movie, and it also led to an extremely horrifying experience. I was impressed with the movie because it wasted no time jumping right to the action. And then it didn't let go. Thankfully, we waited to watch the movie until all of the Trick-o-Treaters who apparently drove in from other suburbs were done. (We ended up cutting the front porch light off so that they would leave us alone, but they were relentless.) But no plan of mine ever goes w/o a hitch, and my doorbell acted up again. It is known to go off on it's own and then is left in this buzzing state. Half dead, half alive. I pause the movie, go downstairs and then have the very sophmoric thought, "It would be awesome if I yelled out, 'Ah! Zombie!' to scare them...Nah, that would be too childish. I'm beyond that." I get to the bottom of the stairs, and then open the door. With my feet firmly planted on the ground and with every intention of just putting my arm outside to slap at the doorbell, I feel my weight shift forward and there in front of me, inches from my face is this dark figure, just a silouette. Scared for my life, I jump back on the stairs and start screaming. Either it talked to me, or I somehow figured out who it was (Marie), but all I remember was cursing for about a minute straight. Of course, everyone got a good laugh, including Mrree who had a very puzzled look on her face before explaining the situation. --SnoopyKiss just wants to retreat into the safety of his own home and play GTA: SA for a few days.

projects personal
· 2 min read

Exchanges...I THINK they're healthy.

Long time...no post. Yeah. I know. This is me being concerned. So, when life seems to hit you all at once, what do you do? Take a weekend vacation to Austin for dancing and then take another weekend vacation to St. Louis for dancing! Sounds like a good idea to me. No? Ok. Well, I went and did it anyway. And then what should I do when I get back? I know! Build a dance floor! But don't forget to take a picture of your floor. Oh yeah, I forgot. I broke my camera trying to take an extreme closeup of my friend Rob projectiling out of a 2 story slide. Bugger. I think his kneecap is healed. --SnoopyKiss is all about turning his logs from mono to dia. Even if you DO have to have a "ue" at the end of them. uuuuueeeee....

projects dance personal
· 1 min read

Best Quotes (Updated 2/27/04)

My friends say the darndest things. Thankfully, I usually have enough sense to capture them down and the put them on the internet. Now the latest quotes are updated at the top: Only funny if you live in Dallas: "there seem to be a lot of accidents...especially on the freeways that end in 5" When's your birthday? St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Oh really? Are you Irish? I feel like the life is being sucked out of me from my feet. Your boobs needs manual intervention Is that a Heather in your pocket? Wake up, ass! I'm going to use your hat as the armrest condom Project for this afternoon: I think I'm going to use this nice rare day and stain a bed. Y'know, paint. She runs like a woman. I swear, if that's a Yoga position, then I'm going join Yoga tomorrow! Ah No! The ugly sock of Christ! It was so hot, I felt like Frodo in the 3rd Matrix Movie. What the Hell's eating him? I bet you it's not his girlfriend. You had to put up with a lot while dating xxx. Was it the challenge, or was there anything else? Well, some people climb Mt. Everest. And others date xxx. I've got an empthy thing. If you're sad, I'm sad. If you're crying, I cry too. I'm horny... Mistletoe is always a good idea. Better watch it, or you're gonna get cream sauce all over your hoo-has... Now with more God. So how is it that God creates us both, man and woman, in his image? He's a hermaphrodite? Shallownees is only skin deep. I don't go on dates because I'm po' Our people don't make the difference. Our customers that buy our shit makes the difference. She's a Catherine with a C. Can't you tell? F*ck the cow. I wanna be a boy. I have a full license to operate the cookie. I'm just a lesbian with a built in strap on. Now with more tongue. "You know you're drunk when you can't feel what you're eating anymore." "They go together like Oreos and mayonnaise." "I never realized you were white until I saw you dressed like this." I have a customer on the line who's pissing me off! I'm about to be a faggot on a rampage! Let the a$$ slapping begin! Our food is really great, which is surprizing considering the crappy service. "Carbonated yogart with Seltzer. It tasted like goat." "Wow, it's like Valley girl meets caveman: Dude...ugg...dude!!...ugg.." "So, you're a fish snob?""I prefer to call myself an fish-anadio" "I hope that's blood.", After slopily eating a steak. "You're going to like what I'm wearing tonight. Bring your Extra brain." "What?! You ate her danish and you didn't even know her name?!" "What makes you think I'm wearing underwear." "We need to start the rumor that all Jews are good dancers.""So, when a girl says 'Good Dance.', I should say, 'Thanks, I'm Jewish.'?" "I don't need a push-up bra. I need a push-in." "Which one is Solomon?""He's the one that looks like Harry Potter grown up about 10 years." "Swing dancing is great. There you are listening to great Jazz and grooving with hot women....some of which ride motorcycles." "He just gives women the look and they come dance with him.""A little big of tongue helps too." Smirnoff Ice? I haven't sold that to a guy before. "Well, you know 10% of people are gay.""No No No No No. Only 5-7% are..." "Sounds like someone's in the 8 percentile." Is this corn starch or cocaine? Dude, I'm going to find out. I gotta go. My Depends are riding up on me. On dancing connection: "We've gotta give equal forces...like our friend Issan Newton said." This bar is very secure in it's masculinity. You know it's a good blues dance when you have to adjust your clothing afterwards. Somewhere, there's a trailer park that's empty, and a tornado that's looking for something to do. Whatever you do, you can do it better with more women. You know you're drunk when you don't know whose navel you sucked it out of. You've been a bad girl! Go to Tommy's room! Were you supposed to ravage me, or was I supposed to ravage you? You were supposed to get me drunk. Oh, should I drink you more? Put the jailbait down. Don't make me bitchslap you where it counts. I have a nine inch tongue and I can breathe through my ears. Rod, what are you doing back there?" I often have my head in the clouds...when it's not up my ass." Is he your boy?""Tonight he is." It's called foreplay! You damn men. That's what's wrong with you. You don't take your time. Would it hurt you to heat up the pan before you put the meat in it?" At least I'm a nice whore." Oh, I thought you were a lesbian." On movies: "He seems to only play black people." Vegetables are what food eats." Your hair is so silken. It's like the rope they bound Gollum with." The more you eat...the more you drink...the more you throw up...the more you can eat." Wiskey always makes me butch." The water fountain doesn't work and someone bit me!" I just got sucker punched by a 6 foot 2 blonde amazon. I'm supposed to be embarrased, but I actually like it!" Everything's fine. Better than "Cats". I wanna see it over and over again." Jesus loves everybody. But I'm his favorite." His Lindy hurts me. I got a grey hair last year. That'll never happen again. All I need is a psychologically damaged man with good abs. I look foward to dancing West Coast...when I get old enough. I'm a musician. I play the radio. Any party that lasts 20 hours, is a good party. You know it's a good party when there's an octopus in the sink. I have to remember to shave when I come to Tommy's parties. I forgot about all of the man-handling. This little piggy's hung over, this little piggy's hung over, this little piggy's half in the bag, this little piggy had LOTS and this little piggy went WHHHEEEEEE!!! Testostorne...We're helpless under it's power! Mmmm...Mormons You don't know whose fault it is? It's the fault of the wang. Don't blame the wang. If there's a white girl telling you to shut up, you better SHUT UP! Your mom said, "woot." When Luby's starts closing down, you know the economy's going down. Damn, that was the part of my brain that did long division. That was a double combo of happiness. And what do they think happens to the placentas in the wild?! My new instrument is my voice; because it's, like, so portable.

projects dance events
· 6 min read

Those Special Words that Mean So Much

In this society of uncertainty and insecurity of ones future, there are always those little things that managers can say to you that have you realize that they're not going to lay you off anytime soon. Today, I heard those special words... Working in Nortel's 3rd Generation Wireless Department (3G/UMTS/Wireless Data), I'm developing this script which will be able to configure their servers automatically in a matter of minutes. You see this, is a big deal, because many times, it takes people hours if not days to configure their switch properly. So, needless to say, this is a BIG deal. And I'm the brains behind the operation there. Anywho, I'm doing all of my development on this separate workstation I have in my cube. And everything pretty much resides on it. I was talking to my manager today about future roles for me and he said that he wanted documentation of everything, because "If you were to die tomorrow, we'd be screwed." (If you haven't caught on by now, those are the Special Words I was referring to earlier.) Some people might think that's morbid. Some people might think that means I've got more work to do. Some people might get a power trip from that...but Me...I think that's AWESOME! (Ok, maybe I enjoy the power trip a tad, but that's ok.) You see, I have now proven my value to the company, and future productivity now is vested in my staying with Nortel. Now yes, I know that once I'm done with this project, that I can be canned, but I've also got a few ideas up my sleeve that I can prevent to management for future job security. :) Feeling good about myself and looking forward to the Studio 54 party on Friday-Me.

projects travel events
· 2 min read

Dating.

It's been a while since I've updated this place. Not much has happened, except for an occasional date. Which brings me up to an topic: Dating... Growing up, I always hated dating. I would say that it was nothing than a bunch of horny guys chasing after girls that just want to play with you. Thus, all of the relationships I had started not out of dating, but because we instantly connected and found ourself in a new relationship. No courting, no working up to it, no sexual tension. We would meet, we would have one night together, and then poof. We're together. So, I'm now exploring this new idea of dating. (i.e. I'm now one of those horny guys.. :) Thankfully, I'm not out to just bed every girl I meet.) Anyway, I digress. These past few weeks have been chock full with dating and other women meeting opprotunities. A 3rd date with Snoopy Kiss Girl, a blind date with one of my friend's fiancee's sister...and tomorrow...TOGA PARTY!!! Yeah babye! Now I know that people say that they're just dating and that they don't want to get serious. And for some people, I believe that, but for the most part, I think that's total BS. We're all looking for someone. We're built for partnership. Call me a romantic, but I'm looking forward to the day that I find my special someone that I say to myself, "Ok. I've found her. I'm now ready to dedicate myself to you." And I think that one thing that is really cool is that I've learned a VERY valuable lesson in life, dating and relationships. The job of the guy is to make sure his woman is happy. Yeah, yeah yeah, some of you might argue with that; however, I know that I am really satisfied and fulfilled knowing that I'm doing the right thing which pleases her. Now to find a woman willing to communicate what she wants. :) Before I get too far off track and forget why I started writing this at 3:15AM, I will let you know why the circle is now complete. On Thursday, I called one of my X-girlfriends, Jenny to wish her happy birthday. Everyone has "Their X". The one that broke their heart more so than anyone else. Well, this is Jenny for me. The conversation went remarkably well and I can say that I am now friends with every one of my X-girlfriends. That's something not many people can say. I wish there was something really profound that I could tell you about that, but I can't think of anything at 3AM. Maybe something will come to me tomorrow. Till then...good night...err...good morning.

projects events personal
· 3 min read

God Bless Technology

I keep telling people that I haven't been up to much lately; however, as I've just finished writing an email to a good old friend of mine, Tino Dai, I realized that I've got a lot to talk about, but I keep forgetting.  So, I'll list it out here so that I've got a point of reference.  It's mostly small victories, but ones that really please me. I love my plastic car.  I think that Saturn did themselves well when making my car.  I've put it through so much tortue and tight turns that when I took it to the dealership to get it aligned, they said that they've never seen a car that askew before.  Anyway, the point I want to make is that I got something for it that has me back in love with it.  A CD-MP3 player.  Now, on 1 CD, I can store 12 hours of music, all at CD-quality.  I'm not sure if I can easily convey how joyous it is to be able to carry almost your entire CD collection in about 5 CD's.  God Bless Technology I am currently transistioning roommates.  I'm looking forward to rooming with "Mr. Sushi Matt", who has gained this title after professing his love for Sushi on a cruise we went on a while back.  I also think that with Mr Sushi Matt, (and soon George) we will turn my house into the ultimate bachelor/gaming pad.  We will have a PS2, Dreamcast, X-Box and GameCube.  And after I've built up some extra funding, HOT TUUUUBBB!!!! (And maybe tommystubcam.com for those in waiting. :)  ) I've taken up a really cool hobby of Disc Golf.  This is a sport which I had seen before, but never played.  Thankfully to my good friends at the Nejdl and Gibson house, I have been properly introduced to this new sport and quite enjoy it.  I even went out and bought myself 3 discs.  One of which "migrated" to the river on the first shot on the first hole of it's existance in my hands...never to be seen again.  The other went into the river, rescued...later to be found nesting in the highest branches of a really tall tree.  My putting disc has been faithful and fairly accurate in homing in on the "hole".  Good Disc.  I'm still a bit bitter about the course, but the last time I was there, I did much better and didn't sink a single disc, and in fact came out one ahead after picking one out of the river.  That first time must have been some bad juju.  An amusing story:  Every Friday night, a bunch of us geeks get together and play Role Playing Games and partake in some light drinking and an occassional movie. This is the same that group. I have become known to the group as the "Nelly Froo-Froo" drinker.  I always bring the Smirnoff Ice, Strawberry Daiquari's, and other fruity drinks.  At first the group resisted.  Then, little by little, I sucked them into drinking these tasty malt beverages.  This Friday night, the last one gave in.  John took one from my fridge and said in a very masculine tone, "Ok, I'm having one.  Now don't make fun of me because I'm having a Nelly Froo-Froo drink, ok?"  "Dude!!  It's all good.  We've been drinking them for a while."  At which point John goes to open the Smirnoff Ice with his hands, and pulls back his left hand wincing and whining in a very distinctly girly voice, "ooouuuuWWW!!!"  He hurt his hand opening the bottle.  At that point, Lee and I turned right to each other and pointed, and prompted fell to the ground, laughing until we couldn't contain it anymore.  John and his ego were not amused.  We sure were.

projects personal
· 4 min read

Belgium

Once again, I decided to make game of this crazy world and venture off into the unknown by myself.  I had the best time going by myself to a hostel, so I should have just as much fun same this time, right?  Nope. My trip to Brugges was almost cancelled because there was an accident at Gare du Nord (my take off station).  Luckily, an old Frenchman took me under his wings and helped me get to another Metro where I was able to make it to my train with only 5 minutes to spare.  When I got to Brugges, I went to the "Johnny Rockets" hostel, because the description and name seemed fun enough.  I took the taxi and walked inside the bar and asked the bartender for a room.  It seemed pretty noisy, but I'm sure that I would enjoy myself.  After the paperwork and credit card, I hear the words that will forever ring in my ear as The signal that you're getting a bad room.  "You're in Room...1."  Not knowing better at that time, I took the key and walked upstairs to the unlit, stair hallway and blindly felt myself though the door way.  I finally opened up a door and the motion detector lights came on.  And true enough, I was the ONLY soul there.  I found my room, opened it up and plopped my stuff down and went off for a restaurant.  Dinner was pretty good.  I then explored Brugges and found that it's a really romantic city at night with the nicely lit buildings and waterways.  Tired and full, I went back "home" and crawled in bed...going to sleep took a lot longer because I could hear the music downstairs going strong. The next day, (Unfortunately, a rainy day, but that did not douse any spirits.)  I packed everything up and took a bus tour of Brugges and was quite impressed.  Regrettably, I did not see it; however, in one of their buildings, they have in a metal container, the "Blood of Christ."  They also have a beautiful area with a statue of Neptune in the middle.  The city is surrounded by many canals, which split up the city wonderfully.  Points of interests in Brugges:  The main attraction is the Tower.  (I forget the name.)  Every 4th store is a Lace store since it is a huge tradition in their town.  And inside every other lace store is a tapestry store.  If I remember correctly, there are 20 tapestry factories in Europe and 9 are in Brugges.  So, if you're going to get lace and tapestries, go to Brugges. After enough touring, I decided to make a change in plans and go to Brussles.  Home of the EU (European Union) and my favorite tourist place so far:  Mini Europe!  (The leaning tower IS leaning, but the picture was taken the wrong way.)  When I got into Brussles, I was completely lost (AGAIN!).  I quickly found an Ibis hotel (4 stars and in the Nortel travel recommended hotels list) and plopped my weary arms and legs in bed. The next morning, I had some Belgium Waffles (very good with some chocolate syrup.); visited the Grand Market; did some window shopping; and enjoyed some of the local artwork.  Afterwards, I took a bus tour to the Atomium (A 100+ meter monument built for the 1950 Olympics) and then the neatest place so far:  Mini Europe.  As it's name suggests, all of the monuments of Europe are shrunked and placed in this decent sized area.  There's the Eiffel Tower, Sienna, off shore rigs, Brugges, Brussles, Arc du Triumph, Venice, The Berlin Wall, Greece (?), an oil repository on fire, and a lot of other places I have not been to yet.  It was; however, a really great feeling to see some of the places which I have already been to and places I have yet to see.  I then hopped on the tour bus again and went to see some Chinese houses which were imported to Brussles as monuments.  (Most impressive.)  It made me realize that Asia is the next place I want to visit. No journey to Brussles can be complete without seeing the "Manneken Pis".  Legend has it that when Brussles was under attack, the king's son releaved himself on one of the attacking cannons, thus saving Belgium.  A statue was created of the boy, of course...peeing.  Who knew that urine could also be used to save lives?  Also, the boy is dressed up in various costumes throughtout the year.  (Long live the King.) At first, I thought that I would not enjoy myself as much in Belgium, since I had this thought that it was a boring country.  However, Europe has not let me down yet.  I continue to explore new places and enjoy myself each time I venture out into the unknown.  Next weekend will be great because "Father Falgout" (aka Dad) is coming to visit for 2 weeks and we shall paint Europe red! Cheers! P.S.  Here's the link to the entire album.  There are lots more pictures from Mini Europe.

engineering containers projects
· 5 min read

The strangest thing

It has taken me a while to get over the homesickness, frustration over how to handle life and all of it's issues; however, I think that I'm over the big hump.  Thanks a lot Mary, for the wonderful coaching. Saturday was the first day for me to go out and fully explore Paris in all of it's beauty.  And, as luck would have it, it rained.  However, I was not going to let that bring me down.  I donned my coat and umbrella and strided on our of the Hotel Mecure and to the Arc de Triumph via the Metro.  Standing in front of it, gives the impression that the entire city of Paris was built to accompany the Arc.  Outside of the huge circle, where the Arc lives, is a driving area  where the streets which are perfectly symmetrical, aligned and beam from the middle like a perfectly cut pizza.  I did not go up, because I knew that I would rather wait until I could see it on a sunny day.  Strolling down the Champs d'Ellises, I bought a French shirt, and some CD's  (One from my favorite French rapper, MC Solaar.  Yes, I have picked up even the music here.)  I then trotted over to the Eiffel Tower, where I decided again to wait until it was a clear day to visit the top of.  I then walked around aimlessly, trying to get lost and find some more beautiful sights until I grew tired and headed home. Here is where the loss of being alone really hit me.  I walked into my hotel room, delighted that I had seen all of these amazing sites, but sad that I had noone to share it with.  I had also been contemplating the relationship with Terri quite a bit during my walk and I realized what I really wanted.  I wanted Terri walking with me, arm in arm, as we toured the Eiffel Tower.  I wanted to kiss the woman I'm tell everyone about in the "Jewel of Europe".  I wanted to spend time in one of the world's most romantic city with "My bandcamp girl".  However, I had hurt her earlier in the relationship, and the wounds were still fresh, so there was nothing I could do.  After getting on the phones and talking to my mom and Mary (Thanks girls!), I was reinvigorated and decided to do something I had never done before.  Go to a caberet!  Moulin Rouge already had their last show, so I opted for the one in the brochure, Crazy Horse. What threw me for a loop was the number of Asian couples and women that were there.  George told me that he went to Moulin Rouge with his family, so I figured it wasn't too raunchy.  The experience was somewhat erotic, but I actually enjoyed the magician the most.  Overall, if you're looking for an interesting experience, check one out, but it's not meant as a "peep show" or anything of the such. Since I took the last show, the Metro was closed so I had to either walk home or take a taxi.  "It's Paris!  Go walk!", I told myself.  So, I popped in a CD in my player, and trotted down the Parisian roads at 2AM.  That's when it hit me: I'm in Paris. I've got friends and family supporting me here. The hotel and food is paid for! I'm listening to Daft Punk, a great dance band. Life is good. At that point, life looked different.  Rather than trying to rush home because it was 2AM and I was in a foreign city at night, I took my good ol' time.  First, I walked to the Eiffel Tower and saw it at night.  (The lights were off.)  Then I moseyed on home, not caring if I was going the right way sometimes, and many times I wasn't. Along the way, I walked by a homeless person sleeping in the doorstop of a restaurant.  Being that I was feeling like I was on top of the world, I figured that my heart couldn't go by ignoring that.  And the more I walked away from him, the louder the thoughts in my head got.  So, I turned around and gave him the change in my pocket.  I then walked back home some more and realized that for as good as life has been treating me, about $2 was not enough of a gift to "pay it forward".  So, after trying to push those thoughts for a few minutes that I should just keep on walking, I turned around again and gave him everything I had.  This life has been too generous for me to not give SOMETHING back everywhere I go.  I then walked away with a clear conscience, knowing that he would use that money more preciously than I. I arrived near home around 3AM and since I was hungry, I stopped by the Hippopatamus, a jive open till 5AM.  I definitely wasn't prepared for what was inside. Inside the Hippo, you can tell it's a busy place.  And at 3AM, the line was long.  I waited around, trying to keep myself busy and trying not to pay too much attention to the punk kids that were occassionally yelling at each other.  However, I couldn't tell if they were doing so jokingly or not.  (They're speaking in French.)  It wasn't until an older lady who was behind me told one of them something and then he went up to her right in her face and I swear he was cursing her out.  The 6' black bouncer didn't pay much mind to them until they started duking it out.  At first it was fairly contained until one of them kicked the other into some of the other tables and shattered the light fixture.  They kept going at it to the point where they threw treys and glasses at each other.  One even tried breaking a glass bottle to hit another with.  Me and the old lady ran to the back of the restaurant, hiding, but still watching with a curious eye.  Well, the bouncer threw them out and the police came.  The manager told us that were waiting in line to leave because it was closed.  Still hungry, but not wanting to completely leave the action, I went across the street to a windowed area. Inside, they were playing "Bohemian Rhaposody".  Amused that they were playing American music, I started mouthing the words, "Scatamoosh!  Scatamoosh!  Will you do the Van Damn Go!"  I looked around and saw a guy mouthing the words too.  We smiled and I thought it was funny and then sat down.  I then turned around and he made a motion for me to come sit down by him.  I figured, "What the heck." I walked over to him and asked, "Tu parle englais?"  shakes his hand "A little"  So, I sat down and had a really interesting conversation with him.  Apparently, he has been all over the world, Pakistan, US, London, etc and is a teacher.  (A very social one too.)  He spoke to me in the English he knew and I spoke to him in the French I knew.  The only thing that bothered me was that the cautious part of my brain was working overtime.  "When will he stiff me with the bill?"  "What if he puts something in my drink?"  "How do I know that he's not a psycho-killer?"  However, I kept giving up those thoughts so that I could enjoy myself in this new position I found myself in.  After a while, said he was leaving and got up and paid his share of the bill.  I said goodbye and thought to myself, "Wow.  That was definitely interesting." So, there you have it folks.  Life for me is never boring.  Nor will I allow it to be.  It's too precious.  It's too short.  Live it up.

projects dance travel
· 7 min read