» Next Entries
Category
Me
-
Me
Perfect! (Updated)
As I was driving home today – at exactly five miles per hour above the posted limit – I realized that, despite my best efforts, my perfectionism is only getting worse. I still keep fiddling with stuff that works until I have it working perfectly. But I don’t get frustrated or pissed off like I used to. Why is that?, I wondered to myself.
Then I realized it’s because I’m now competent at perfection.
That’s one reason why I was drawn to computers, and why I’m good at working with them: it’s theoretically possible to do something absolutely, positively perfectly, down to the last bit. And when it’s not I’ve learned to live with my limitations.
I still tend to take apart perfectly functional operations because there’s something that’s not… quite… right. For lack of a better term, it offends me aesthetically. For example, I built a job in the Altiris Deployment Server – a tool for installing software and running scripts – which installs Microsoft Windows and then carries out a bunch of custom configurations. Things like turning off the firewall, disabling hibernation, installing the antivirus, etc.
Unfortunately, this led to scripts that contained 25 or 30 steps. Altiris slows waaaaaaay down when you’re dealing with that many steps, making it tough to edit them. And we had different scripts based on hardware vendor (3), Windows version (2), and platform (32- or 64-bit). So that’s 3x2x2 = 12 different scripts for each configuration. And if you want to change just one step, you have to do it 12 times.
So it was difficult to maintain, and as the person charged with maintaining it, I didn’t like that. So today I found that there was a tool you could use to schedule Altiris jobs from the command line. And you could run this inside other Altiris jobs.
So, problem solved. I created one “launching pad” job for each configuration, which then schedules each of the dozen or so other required jobs. And I can change any of those jobs at any point without changing the launcher. Woohoo!
Once again, stubborn perfectionism saves the day, and for one brief moment, I was perfect.
(No, Alice, not as perfect as you.)
UPDATE: I picked a bad day to declare myself perfect, because this guy, he really WAS perfect. Shoot, I can’t even spell Burely.
-
Me, Progress
New Look, Same Crappy Feel
I got tired of the butt-ugly WordPress theme I was using, so I dug up a snappy new one – what do you think? I’m now like 50% sexier.
Of course, there were… issues. To get the Search function to work, I had to upgrade WordPress, and that turned out to be a MAJOR headache, resulting in the site going down for a couple of hours. But now there’s an automatic “upgrade” feature, which if it works as well as the automatic plugin installer, well, then it works like crap.
Incidentally, I took the header picture (“Barber’s Books”) this afternoon. That building is on the corner of 8th Street and Throckmorton in Fort Worth – across the street from my office. There really is a bookstore there, but it’s down from the corner, and it’s basically a foyer, a staircase, and an attic – but it is, after all, a bookstore, so I go there about once a month.
The picture came out juuuust the way I wanted, and the clouds sure cooperated, didn’t they?
Here’s a different view:
-
Me, Memes, Music
Soundtrack to My Life
A new meme. So here’s how it works… (via Dave W.):
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…just type it in man!
7. Tag 10 people, and they have to do it too
IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE
Opening Credits:
“Motherless Child” – Eric ClaptonWaking Up:
“Centerfold” -J. Geils BandFirst Day at School:
“Cherub Rock” – Smashing PumpkinsFalling in Love:
“Take A Chance on Me” – ABBA (Oh, the shame!)Losing Virginity:
“Low” – CrackerFight Song:
“Come See About Me” – The Supremes (Yeah, I dig Motown.)Breaking Up:
“Wild Honey” – U2Prom:
“Who Do You Love?” – George Thorogood & The DestroyersLife:
“Mother” – The Police (This should be for the next question!)Mental Breakdown:
“Uneasy Rider” – Charlie Daniels Band (This should ALSO be for the next question!)Driving:
“No Matter What” – BadfingerFlashback:
“I’m Losing You” – Rod StewartGetting Back Together:
“Bandages” – Hot Hot HeatWedding:
“Sound+Vision” – David BowieBirth of Child:
“Every Breath You Take” – The PoliceFinal Battle:
“Even It Up” – HeartDeath Scene:
“The Tide Is High” – BlondieFuneral Song:
“Angel Of The Morning” – Juice NewtonEnd Credits:
“Shake It Up” – The CarsA bizarre playlist, no matter how you slice it.
-
Me, Writing
Smug Alert
In The Economists’ fine obituary of Harold Pinter, they mention how he raged against the “bourgeois smugness of the London theatre scene”, among other things. And I have to say that’s exactly what I feel when I write.
Er, not rage. Bourgeois smugness. Is that wrong? Should I not feel that?
-
Me
Official Twit
Yeah, so I’m on board the Twitter bandwagon*. If you want to stalk me, just follow graham_powell. You’ll thank me, someday.
* I accidentally type this “bangwagon”, which is something TOTALLY different. And I’m not really on board with it.
» Next Entries
My Boog Pages
I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.feeds
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by My Boog Pages. All rights reserved.Designed by Upstart Blogger.