Category Archives: Ed

It’s Here, It’s Here!

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The new bed is here! Nothing like coming home from work and finding a brand new bed all set up in my bedroom just waiting for me! Gardner White delivered our new bed today, and thankfully Melissa had the day off so she could stay home to accept the delivery. They took down the old bed and took it away (except the frame) and put up the new bed in its place. I didn’t realize just how big this bed was going to be nor how high; i can sit on the edge and my feet don’t touch the floor! I can’t wait to go to bed tonight! I really hope this bed helps my back.

[Update 12/01/2009]
Oh man, that was a great night sleep. After laying in bed for a few minutes last night and allowing the new pillow top to conform to my lower back and support it properly, my back pain went away. This morning was the first one in a very long time that I woke up without back pain! I really hope this continues!

The Battle Continues

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Tiffany called me today and asked if I wanted to start doing the weight watchers program with her. We would be each others group support and we can talk to each other about how we are doing and hopefully lose some weight without having to pay for the classes. So starting today I am restarting my weekly weigh ins and hopefully some weight loss. I weighed in this morning at a disappointing 290.2 pounds. Let’s hope I can do some good and lose some pounds!

A Long Overdue Checkup

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Went to the doctor today for my first physical in over two years, all in all it went surprisingly well. As usual I need to lose some weight, but I guess now it is starting to show in ways other than just my weight. My blood pressure is a little high, not high enough to warrant medication, but high enough to mention that I should lose a few pounds. In addition I need to go have some blood drawn as the doctor wants to have my cholesterol checked, as he thinks that might be high too (makes me wonder about eating that burger at Heart Attack Grill, but it sure was good). I guess I will have to wait and see what the results actually are.

[Update: 11/25/09]
Got a letter from my doctor with the results of my lab work. Turns out everything but my cholesterol is fine. Here’s what the numbers look like (and the notes from the doctor):

  • Cholesterol     183 (Up from 148)
  • HDL Chol        45
  • Triglycerid      143
  • LDL Chol        109 (Up from 69)

Doctor wants me to continue trying to lose weight and getting exercise to try to correct these issues. Guess I need to regain focus and really try to lose weight.

Posted in Ed

Last Day of Class

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Finished the NetApp Fundamentals class today, all in all it was a good class. We covered a lot of information but not with a lot of depth. Knowing what I have lined up at work I think it would be great if I could take the CIFS class, however that is another three day class and I am not sure if work will pay for that. I’ll keep it in mind as the Healthcare filers will be doing some tricky work with CIFS and I know it would be beneficial.  We finished class early today (around noon) so I thought about going to the Grand Canyon, but with it being 240 miles away the time doesn’t work out to make it worth trying. I thought about trying to catch an earlier flight out, but sitting stand by potentially until my scheduled flight tomorrow doesn’t sound to appealing either. It was nice being out here though, the weather was perfect and from what I have been told it’s like this eight months out of the year, the other four are really hot, but I think I could handle it, after all that’s what air conditioning is for right?

java netapp.cmds.jsh

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One of the problems I have with the NetApp filers is the inability to use simple UNIX commands like cp (copy) and mv (move) even though their base OS is Linux. Often times I have needed to use these commands to make backup copies of files I need to modify but have not been able to. There are a number of ways to get around this problem:

  • export and mount /vol/vol0 to a UNIX host and use native UNIX commands
  • CIFS share /vol/vol0 to a Windows host and use Native windows commands
  • create a snapshot of /vol/vol0 and use the Data ONTAP native rdfile and wrfile command

Of course there are problems with these as well.

  • In order to make use of exporting and mounting the volume I would require access to a UNIX host with the appropriate permissions to perform these actions; which often enough I do not have access to.
  • In order to use a CIFS share the filer needs to have a CIFS license in place and have access to a windows system that has access to the filer; and at least one of my filers does not have a CIFS license, and on the ones that do I may not have access to a system that can map the CIFS share on the given network.
  • the Data ONTAP rdfile and wrfile commands are useful, but dangerous. wrfile, which allows you to write to a file, first destroys the file (removes all data from it) then opens it for you to add to. This means if you forget to use rdfile first to see the contents of the file, then you have just erased the file. Correcting this can be as simple as pulling the original file from a snapshot (if you remembered to take one) or as complicated as needing to create the file from scratch.

The solution to all these problems is to use an undocumented java shell on the filer which grants the ability to use cp, mv and other commands.

Here is an example of the command to drop to the java shell and a list of the commands available:

filer01>java netapp.cmds.jsh
jsh> ?
Java Shell commands:
cd [directory]
pwd
ls [-l]
cat file
rm file [file2 …]
cp src dest
mv src dest
ps [-l]
kill <-1|-9> threadName
gc
classpath [pathname]
syspath [pathname]
Debug on|off
threads
monitors
heap
version
syncdb
du [-sk] [files or directories]
java_class [&]
ONTAP_cmd
jsh> exit
filer01>

This command alone has made this class worth it for me, this will come in very handy in the future.

First Day Results

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Looks like I worried about my driving route to class for nothing. When I went out this morning to head to class I found the road had been re-opened, apparently they only close it off on the weekend. I got to the training center early, as is my habit, and got registered and signed in. Turns out there only four of us in the class and three of us have some NetApp experience. Should be interesting, this is just the Data ONTAP 7.3 Fundamentals class, so hopefully I will get some good information out of the class. The instructor seems pretty knowledgeable and easy to talk to, should be a fun and quick paced class due to both the small class size and the people here. The first day went by pretty quick and so far the knowledge was pretty basic and stuff I already knew, but some of it I had never used so the labs were pretty useful. Looking forward to what the rest of the week brings.

Arrived in Phoenix

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Landed in Phoenix earlier today and made my way to my hotel. I actually managed to take a wrong turn on the way to the hotel even with having a GPS unit in the car (a Toyota Corolla) so I am not to thrilled about the potential of me getting lost over the next week. To top it off the main road is closed right outside my hotel in the direction I need to go to get to class. I was able to find a different route to class already, but I have to do it by driving the opposite direction than the GPS says to go, thus forcing it to calculate a new route. The area is nice, though I am already tired of the dessert colors, all of the houses are painted a muted yellowish color or a kind of sand gray, on the bright side the temperature is in the low 70s and the sky is a brilliant blue. I wouldn’t mind having this kind of temperature year round! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Training, finally.

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For the past year I have been trying to get training approved to help me in my day to day work of supporting a number of NetApp filers, today I was informed that this training has finally been approved. While this is a good thing and I am happy to finally be getting some formal training, I am a little disappointed in the timing. Seems that my manager wants to make certain this training falls on the 2009 budget, so I have pretty much two choices in regards to when I can take this 5 day training class; I can either go to Phoenix AZ next week (11/15/2009  – 11/21/2009) or I can go to NYC the week of Christmas. I really don’t want to be out on training during Christmas, so it looks like I am going to Phoenix next week. I’ve never been to AZ, in fact this will be the furthest west I have ever been, so that is cool. However, I was supposed to be on vacation next week so I could go hunting, so I will miss hunting season for the second year in a row and will need to reschedule my vacation. Well, at least I will be getting my training, I just hope it is worth it in the end due to how much I have already learned from dealing with this hardware on a day to day basis.

One Down, One To Go

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Today, while I was at work, Joe Richmond from Auto Electronics & Accessories came by and installed my remote starter. I was really satisfied with the work that Joe performed and I loved the fact that he came to me to perform the work. I was able to go out and show him where the truck was parked and hand him the keys and go back in to work while he installed it. When he was done he called me and I went back out and got my new key fob (that controls my locks and the remote starter and replaces the factory key fob, plus the new fob is smaller than the factory one) and he showed me how it works. The distance seems to be pretty good too, so I shouldn’t have any issue starting the truck in the morning at my apartment. I would recommend Joe to anyone looking to have a remote starter installed in their vehicle. Now all I have to do is save up some money and pick out the iPod dock I want to get.

The Envoy Has Arrived

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I turned in my 2006 Dodge Dakota today. The lease is up the first of December, but I have already made my last payment and have already found the new used vehicle I am going to purchase so  rather than missing the opportunity to purchase the vehicle I want I decided to turn the Dakota in early. In order to make sure the turn it went well I had the dealer (Cueter Chrysler Jeep) look at it the other day. They found some scrapes and scratches on the front bumper (looks like someone scrapped up against my bumper at one point in time) that could have cost me a penalty to turn it in. So I decided to have my insurance company look at it today and they found me not to be at fault for the damage, and seeing as I have broad form collision coverage on the vehicle, I do not have to pay my deductible to have it fixed. Turns out that there was about $300 worth of damage to the bumper, I am just happy that I do not have to pay anything for it. I do, however, need to make one final payment of $450.50 to Chrysler just to turn the Dakota back in to them, which is more than my truck payment was ($330.00) for the lease.

After spending the afternoon at the insurance companies adjustment office to get the quote and check for the damage to the bumper I went to Cueter to turn in the Dakota, sign off on the ending mileage (27, 622) and present the repair quote and check to their body shop. While this was going on Melissa was nice enough to remove my plate from the truck and then we were able to go get my new truck.

I now own (am buying) a Silver 2006 GMC Envoy 4×4 from Jim Bradley in Ann Arbor. This vehicle has everything I was looking for in an SUV:

  • 4 wheel drive
  • step ups for Kylie
  • tow package with trailer wiring
  • remote key-less entry

In addition I still have everything the Dakota had (including adjustable lumbar support, and fog lights), plus I got a few additional features that are just an added bonus:

  • Moon roof
  • Roof rack
  • Auto rearview mirror dimming
  • Heated sideview mirrors

I am also having them install one of the other two things I was really looking for; a remote starter. The only other thing I want to eventually add is an iPod dock so I can directly attach my iPod to the stereo. The starting mileage (24,204) is even lower than what I had on the Dakota.

All in all I am really happy with my decision to purchase this vehicle. Even with the added things that I got with it, my monthly payment only went up by $6.88 a month (total purchase price of $19,300), not to bad I think. I am hoping to be able to pay it off sooner than the 6 years I have financed it for as well.  The one down side is that I couldn’t get the extended warranty, hopefully nothing goes terribly wrong with it. 🙂