Today during Tok Pisin devotions I took the opportunity to read, because I can read tok pisin fast, although my weakest place is praying, because I don't practice praying in tok pisin, typically you like to pray in your heart language.
A major difference between English and Tok Pisin is that the "i" is pronounced "EEE"
so when I was reading the story of Josep(h) I got to the word "pilim" which I mistakenly pronounced "pile em" instead of 'peal eem'.
"pile em" means - to make a pile of something and would be spelled "pailim"
"peal eem" means - to feel.
so Joseph cried and hugged Benjamin, in tok pisin is more like "Joseph felt tears and hugged Benjamin" what I apparently said more more like "Joseph piled water and hugged Benjamin"
I read tok pisin rather quickly, and when it comes to Tok Pisin, so long as I am not originating the thoughts, I can hear, read and understand quickly. So as soon as I said this I knew... some folks around me politely and quietly corrected me in murmurs. Out of all of Genesis 45 (in tok pisin it is called Stat (as in Start) 45), I made one pronunciation error, but it was a funny one.
At the end of the reading, I actually got a compliment. I wasn't expecting that.
The reason I chose to read this time was because I saw the chapter was long, Joseph is one of my favorite people in the Bible, and because I know that even though I'm not fluent in Tok Pisin, I can read faster, and I selfishly didn't want to be there for an hour, because we do devotions before work can begin.
It draws for me the ironic difference. They are native speakers, and yet I can read their language better than many of them can. It is because their language is a spoken one and the illiteracy rate is high and the education level is low. It is almost like a switch when we read the Scripture.
A friend of mine can read the Word very slowly and choppily sounding like a fourth grader from the U.S. when reading, but when he puts down the book and speaks on what he read, then the switch flips and he talks fluidly and rapidly. It is the opposite for me. I read fluidly and rapidly and speak more slowly.
2/05/2009
2/04/2009
Rare find
There are many rare birds in this country, but this, truly is a rare find.
a friend sent this to me in an email and I got such a kick out of it. At the same time my niece emailed to ask what do some animals look like here, and I thought seeing this photo might surprise her a bit.
It would be a very loyal and talkative pet.
2/02/2009
Some Photos
>
This is our new puppy. Did you know female dogs could have multiple sires? Well this puppy is the giant of the litter of 4. His brothers and sisters are black and look more like german shepherds. He is 1/2 German Shepherd, and a mix of retriever of some kind. We're hoping he'll be a good guard dog and good family dog. We pick him up on valentine's day. He's gonna be a BIG dog. Name possibilities are: (guess who chose which ones)
Bruno, Shredder, Princess, Woz (for wasman which means guardian, and of course.. the Woz)
This is a rhinoceros beetle, found very commonly here. They like damp areas and are very fun to play with as they HISS as loudly as a cat if bothered. They cling tenaciously to almost anything.
This is a mobile bakery. You don't see this very often, "fast" food here is called a "kai bar" and it sells rolls and snacks and meat pies and such. You take your chances. This one however, is a mobile unit obviously run by some motivated entrepenours.
HEY!!! There's a baby in that bilum! Yes, kids are carried around in many ways, not the most uncommon of which is inside a sack called a "bilum" attached to a head.
This is our new puppy. Did you know female dogs could have multiple sires? Well this puppy is the giant of the litter of 4. His brothers and sisters are black and look more like german shepherds. He is 1/2 German Shepherd, and a mix of retriever of some kind. We're hoping he'll be a good guard dog and good family dog. We pick him up on valentine's day. He's gonna be a BIG dog. Name possibilities are: (guess who chose which ones)
Bruno, Shredder, Princess, Woz (for wasman which means guardian, and of course.. the Woz)
This is a rhinoceros beetle, found very commonly here. They like damp areas and are very fun to play with as they HISS as loudly as a cat if bothered. They cling tenaciously to almost anything.
This is a mobile bakery. You don't see this very often, "fast" food here is called a "kai bar" and it sells rolls and snacks and meat pies and such. You take your chances. This one however, is a mobile unit obviously run by some motivated entrepenours.
HEY!!! There's a baby in that bilum! Yes, kids are carried around in many ways, not the most uncommon of which is inside a sack called a "bilum" attached to a head.
Anniversary
When life gets a bit busier my blogging slows a tad. Although busy life here isn't what busy life used to be back in the U.S. still you adjust to your definition of normalcy. Well this past 2 weeks have been very busy for us at work. I briefly touched on it, we made a network change and at the same time of that change, a LOT of things broke at the same time.
So we've been working nights, and weekends and such like that trying to stabilize, and we have.
I had the pleasure of spending 8 hours troubleshooting one translator's laptop and getting to know him a bit in the process. I should have followed my instinct and solved the problem in 5 minutes but I wanted to be VERY thorough before I did. It turns out my initial instinct solved the problem (note to self.. always always always uninstall ZoneAlarm).
Last night was our 13th wedding anniversary. For a gift I hand made a rosewood picture frame and put a photo of the place I proposed and gave it to my wife. It was my first (wood) router project I'd ever done, and I'm not completely satisfied with how it turned out. Thirteen is lace, and so I bordered the picture with lace. (thanks to a friend in the states who provide me the picture about a year ago).
I'd been holding onto the photo for a long time, waiting to use it at the right moment.
My wife gave me a very thoughtful gift, a few bags of sunflower seeds. I think it was the first time the store had them and she thought of me when she saw them. (aaawwwwww!).
She made a very tasty dinner and we ate it by candlelight after the kids went to bed. We decided to have a quiet dinner inside, and not try to do anything fancy. We don't have a great track record for anniversaries the last few years, so we laughed about locking the doors and not going outside.
For our 10th, we were in training in Florida, and we found about an hour to ourselves to enjoy some quiet time near the pool, alone, until an older couple joined us for an odd conversation
For our 11th we were in Waxhaw, NC, and we tried to go out to a dinner show which was so awful we left half way through.
For our 12th we were in Papua New Guinea, and we tried to go into town and get a meal, but we had to share it with an injured tree kangaroo, geckos and flies. It was surreal.
So for our 13th, we decided to play it safe and stay indoors, and it was very enjoyable and quiet... completely unmemorable. And when you've had VERY memorable anniversaries for 3 years in a row, unmemorable is a good thing.
We read through some questions we try to discuss annually. Goals, parenting ideals, spiritual aims, etc. One question was "what can you do as a couple to improve the world?" And we decided,... we were finally doing it.
The picture above is of a Matsumaru man at a New Testament dedication we had recently.
1/20/2009
IT in missions
http://www.checkitout.org/
This site is dedicated to helping I.T. professionals find out how their talents can be used in missions, or simply connecting them with other like-minded folks already in the mission field.
They hold multiple conferences throughout the year to accomplish this connection. And while it is still a conference, and who can really get excited about too many of these?....
the thing I enjoy about it is that they have IT professionals talking from experience and education about missions, TO I.T. professionals.
I remember going to conferences when searching out missions and asking "how can you use a unix admin with a network background?" and I'd get glazed stares.
It is nice to hear "oh, well, there are several places we have deployed servers and several people I could put you in contact with."
For that purpose, it's a decent conference, and I'll tote it.
This site is dedicated to helping I.T. professionals find out how their talents can be used in missions, or simply connecting them with other like-minded folks already in the mission field.
They hold multiple conferences throughout the year to accomplish this connection. And while it is still a conference, and who can really get excited about too many of these?....
the thing I enjoy about it is that they have IT professionals talking from experience and education about missions, TO I.T. professionals.
I remember going to conferences when searching out missions and asking "how can you use a unix admin with a network background?" and I'd get glazed stares.
It is nice to hear "oh, well, there are several places we have deployed servers and several people I could put you in contact with."
For that purpose, it's a decent conference, and I'll tote it.
1/19/2009
1/18/2009
Chicken
If you drive across 2 bridges, and 20 minutes from here, and you arrive without incident, you could go into a new place called "Highlands Chicken" where the sign reads "Higland's Chicken" and the menu offers meals numbered from 1-20 but usually they only have 2 of those numbers at any time.
If you order a 3, don't have it, a 2, no? A five? Okay a five, and wait 30 minutes you might get some food.
This is our fast food, and we're actually very happy to have this option, although in it's 1 year of being open, I've been there three times, because the trek isn't worth the meal.
But it's an option to us, and we like options (-; Rarely do we have an option to eat food we didn't prepare ourselves.
While you're waiting your 30 minutes, you can read this sign:
If you order a 3, don't have it, a 2, no? A five? Okay a five, and wait 30 minutes you might get some food.
This is our fast food, and we're actually very happy to have this option, although in it's 1 year of being open, I've been there three times, because the trek isn't worth the meal.
But it's an option to us, and we like options (-; Rarely do we have an option to eat food we didn't prepare ourselves.
While you're waiting your 30 minutes, you can read this sign:
1/15/2009
Bimin
pronounced "bih mihn"
our neighbors and friends pictured above (I'll not use their names), have been working here with the Bimin people since 1990 to bring them the Word of God, or as they call it "The Wedding Invitation of the Lamb". Standing in the front are 5 of the men what helped the man far left back, to translate the Word into their language. You can see they are holding the book, it is completed!
The Bible is now in the hands of the Bimin people, and we pray it revolutionizes their lives.
It is a joy to be a part of this, with you.
Whatta Day
You know "one of those days" ?
Last night at 11pm it started to rain and our power did a really funky thing I've never seen before, sort of a flashy, strobe effect. So I went around turning off everything. Soon my wife says "I heard a pop and now my lamp isn't working". So looked at our fuse box. Our fuse box is an old ceramic style box, and I had never changed a fuse like that.
After looking for a bit I realized I needed a wire, probably special wire. Even though the paperclip is an incredibly useful invention, I decided that electricity wasn't something to be toyed with. So I thought through who I could call that would be awake at 11pm. Aha!! Soon I had new fuse wire.. POP.. POP blew them both.
So it's midnight now, our fridge is off, we have no fuse wire, our security lights outside are off, running water is off and I've got to find a way to keep food from spoiling overnight.
We go to sleep. I figured anything I would do at midnight would not be wise, and the food usually can keep for that long.
Kendal was a bit concerned since we are having dinner guests tonight at at 8am, people were showing up to do work that required power. Not to mention, no running water since we require a water pump.
So at 7am I do it again. "who do I know that is awake at 7am...aha" and soon I put in more fuse wire.. POP.
So I call the electricians in, and they say "can't find a problem." well that is after they say "you have a short". but they misread the short because of the heating element in our water tank on the roof.
Our Haus Meri arrived and was told she couldn't do laundry because the water was out and the machine was off. A few minutes later I find her in the kitchen with the fridge and freezer doors wide open.
"Yu makim wanem wok?" (what are you doing?) I asked
"Mi klinim friza" (I'm cleaning the freezer).
I had to explain that we needed the fridge closed as the power was off and the food needed to stay cold as long as possible. I admired her motivation, and it turns out it wasn't an issue as the power came back on in about 10 minutes.
Long story short, we have 2 possibilities, guess which one I'm hoping:
1. the fuse wire I was using was too low amperage and the fuse was popping.
2. there is a short in our cable to the house, that is only affected when it rains.
The electricians told me if it happens again, when it rains, to let them know. Then they walked around the house banging the roof with a stick hoping to see sparks.
I'm honestly hoping for #1. If it was a fuse that blew, it did it's job during that odd electrical issue.
And me, being naive in the way of ancient electrical technology, used whatever my neighbors who were awake at the hour had to give.
So now I know this. There are 2 gauges we use here. 10amp and 15 amp. 10amp is for the lighting. I may have been using 10amp. Someone gave me some really old rusty wire, that may have been 8amp.
It was all solved I think... because the electricians used their own fuse wire and not that which I had borrowed.
But wait... there's more.
I began to have an allergy attack because my allergy pills went missing and I wasn't taking them. I got into work only 1 hour late (that's not bad) although I'm not showered or anything, hey, I'm a missionary! I can handle the grime (-;
As I walk in I find that our servers are overheating because the airconditioning unit froze over this morning... and I wasn't here to handle the crisis... so my manager had to.
It was a comedy of errors for certain.
And then finally... all is calmed down and I got to check email and outlook 2003, crashes with an error.
Now, normally when outlook crashes, I shrug, but today it was nothing less than a really mean slap in the face...
Microsoft's way of saying "life can get worse man."
But if I'm honest, no matter how bad all of this seems, there is a big part of me that gets a kick out of the adventure of trying to solve it all.
We all have one of those days. And the thing I'm fond of saying is "it's okay, today can be full of problems because that means tomorrow is full of solutions."
I find this is true, life has ups n downs, but I also find it very comforting to know that the solution is within reach, I only have to wait.
The other day we were splicing fibre optic cable, and each mistake costs us a new connector which is $22. After making 3 mistakes we thought "wow, this is going horribly wrong, let's take a break and come back tomorrow"
Sure enough the next day, we got it all spliced and working. Sometimes you simply have those days where something isn't quite working out.
I personally think the trick is, to recognize that with enough time and patience it'll be resolved, and to remain calm even if your temper wants to flare. Otherwise you turn a bad day into a horrible day because of your reaction.
Chuck Swindoll once said "the only thing we can control, is our attitude." Boy isn't THAT the truth.
Last night at 11pm it started to rain and our power did a really funky thing I've never seen before, sort of a flashy, strobe effect. So I went around turning off everything. Soon my wife says "I heard a pop and now my lamp isn't working". So looked at our fuse box. Our fuse box is an old ceramic style box, and I had never changed a fuse like that.
After looking for a bit I realized I needed a wire, probably special wire. Even though the paperclip is an incredibly useful invention, I decided that electricity wasn't something to be toyed with. So I thought through who I could call that would be awake at 11pm. Aha!! Soon I had new fuse wire.. POP.. POP blew them both.
So it's midnight now, our fridge is off, we have no fuse wire, our security lights outside are off, running water is off and I've got to find a way to keep food from spoiling overnight.
We go to sleep. I figured anything I would do at midnight would not be wise, and the food usually can keep for that long.
Kendal was a bit concerned since we are having dinner guests tonight at at 8am, people were showing up to do work that required power. Not to mention, no running water since we require a water pump.
So at 7am I do it again. "who do I know that is awake at 7am...aha" and soon I put in more fuse wire.. POP.
So I call the electricians in, and they say "can't find a problem." well that is after they say "you have a short". but they misread the short because of the heating element in our water tank on the roof.
Our Haus Meri arrived and was told she couldn't do laundry because the water was out and the machine was off. A few minutes later I find her in the kitchen with the fridge and freezer doors wide open.
"Yu makim wanem wok?" (what are you doing?) I asked
"Mi klinim friza" (I'm cleaning the freezer).
I had to explain that we needed the fridge closed as the power was off and the food needed to stay cold as long as possible. I admired her motivation, and it turns out it wasn't an issue as the power came back on in about 10 minutes.
Long story short, we have 2 possibilities, guess which one I'm hoping:
1. the fuse wire I was using was too low amperage and the fuse was popping.
2. there is a short in our cable to the house, that is only affected when it rains.
The electricians told me if it happens again, when it rains, to let them know. Then they walked around the house banging the roof with a stick hoping to see sparks.
I'm honestly hoping for #1. If it was a fuse that blew, it did it's job during that odd electrical issue.
And me, being naive in the way of ancient electrical technology, used whatever my neighbors who were awake at the hour had to give.
So now I know this. There are 2 gauges we use here. 10amp and 15 amp. 10amp is for the lighting. I may have been using 10amp. Someone gave me some really old rusty wire, that may have been 8amp.
It was all solved I think... because the electricians used their own fuse wire and not that which I had borrowed.
But wait... there's more.
I began to have an allergy attack because my allergy pills went missing and I wasn't taking them. I got into work only 1 hour late (that's not bad) although I'm not showered or anything, hey, I'm a missionary! I can handle the grime (-;
As I walk in I find that our servers are overheating because the airconditioning unit froze over this morning... and I wasn't here to handle the crisis... so my manager had to.
It was a comedy of errors for certain.
And then finally... all is calmed down and I got to check email and outlook 2003, crashes with an error.
Now, normally when outlook crashes, I shrug, but today it was nothing less than a really mean slap in the face...
Microsoft's way of saying "life can get worse man."
But if I'm honest, no matter how bad all of this seems, there is a big part of me that gets a kick out of the adventure of trying to solve it all.
We all have one of those days. And the thing I'm fond of saying is "it's okay, today can be full of problems because that means tomorrow is full of solutions."
I find this is true, life has ups n downs, but I also find it very comforting to know that the solution is within reach, I only have to wait.
The other day we were splicing fibre optic cable, and each mistake costs us a new connector which is $22. After making 3 mistakes we thought "wow, this is going horribly wrong, let's take a break and come back tomorrow"
Sure enough the next day, we got it all spliced and working. Sometimes you simply have those days where something isn't quite working out.
I personally think the trick is, to recognize that with enough time and patience it'll be resolved, and to remain calm even if your temper wants to flare. Otherwise you turn a bad day into a horrible day because of your reaction.
Chuck Swindoll once said "the only thing we can control, is our attitude." Boy isn't THAT the truth.
1/13/2009
Knowing Syd
Last night my daughter told me "I prayed in front of the whole VBS today dad, it was kind of weird to pray in front of that many people."
"what language kiddo?"
"Tok Pisin." she replied confused as to why it might be something else.
My kids have recently been encouraged by me to take their faith more seriously, to talk to people about what they believe, to pray for their friends, to "show off Jesus" more than showing off themselves.
I was proud of her.
Today I came home from work for lunch and saw my daughter sitting in a chair putting on "play makeup" that she got for Christmas.
She was playing with her friend Natalie, who is a Papua New Guinea girl from down the road.
She faced Natalie holding a glitter glue pen and said "Natalie, close your eyes"
to which Natalie quickly replied, "no", very matter of factly. It was the kind of "no" that said "I know you too well you're going to do something you shouldn't".
I laughed pretty hard. You know their good friends when the girl knows my daughter so well that she knows, closing your eyes in front of Syd while she's holding pen, glue or both of the above is a very UNWISE thing to do.
I think Natalie knew Sydney was plotting "new sparkly eyebrows" or something.
a lot of her friendships with the PNG boys and girls revolve around her being the ring leader. She says "let's do this" and they comply, usually watching to see what the crazy white girl is going to propose. Add to that, that our children (or should I say "my" honey?) have exceptional imaginations and are often doing very odd things.
So to have this little girl say "no" was not only humorous, it showed me a healthy friendship that was beyond the ... do-as-I-say-or-I-won't-be-your-friend-anymore stage.
The thought occurred to me that my kids are and will be making lifetime friendships with people it'll be hard to stay in touch with during adulthood.
"what language kiddo?"
"Tok Pisin." she replied confused as to why it might be something else.
My kids have recently been encouraged by me to take their faith more seriously, to talk to people about what they believe, to pray for their friends, to "show off Jesus" more than showing off themselves.
I was proud of her.
Today I came home from work for lunch and saw my daughter sitting in a chair putting on "play makeup" that she got for Christmas.
She was playing with her friend Natalie, who is a Papua New Guinea girl from down the road.
She faced Natalie holding a glitter glue pen and said "Natalie, close your eyes"
to which Natalie quickly replied, "no", very matter of factly. It was the kind of "no" that said "I know you too well you're going to do something you shouldn't".
I laughed pretty hard. You know their good friends when the girl knows my daughter so well that she knows, closing your eyes in front of Syd while she's holding pen, glue or both of the above is a very UNWISE thing to do.
I think Natalie knew Sydney was plotting "new sparkly eyebrows" or something.
a lot of her friendships with the PNG boys and girls revolve around her being the ring leader. She says "let's do this" and they comply, usually watching to see what the crazy white girl is going to propose. Add to that, that our children (or should I say "my" honey?) have exceptional imaginations and are often doing very odd things.
So to have this little girl say "no" was not only humorous, it showed me a healthy friendship that was beyond the ... do-as-I-say-or-I-won't-be-your-friend-anymore stage.
The thought occurred to me that my kids are and will be making lifetime friendships with people it'll be hard to stay in touch with during adulthood.
1/08/2009
Quote of the week
Sydney (daughter): "Dad I don't like that you're big, because when you shake your leg at the dinner table I think it's an earthquake."
pause...
Sydney : "Well I like that you're big when it comes to protectin' us n stuff though."
pause...
Sydney : "Well I like that you're big when it comes to protectin' us n stuff though."
What's up
Hello, being the holidays I assumed folks might not feel like reading very log blog entries so I've taken a break.
For Christmas, the entire center here was closed on break.
Since then, we've been rather busy. So the break was well enjoyed.
Kendal is back preparing the preschool for another school term,
I've been managing many technical projects:
-moving programming into a new building (construction supervisor.. me?)
-project lead for conference (big 2 week board meeting)
-project lead for upgrading satellite/internet connection (hopefully reducing our cost)
-normal networking needs
-several new pieces of equipment reviews
It's been a nice kind of busy, making important decisions, doing big work. Some of these projects will be around here a long time, which is odd for technology.
Most of what I work on seems urgent. And yet, in technology fields you recognize that the fruit of your labor won't live long. It has a very short life span. Working in computers is not like working in wood or stone, what I build won't be here for very long.
This is why, I am so thankful that what I work on has an impact that outlasts the technology, working for God's glory and kingdom to be expanded.
From time to time as I'm thinking about my job prior to coming here, I realize that being involved in giving was a way to make my labor extend into that same realm. We are so thankful for you all who labor to support us here, and in that way your work also is going towards God's kingdom as we labor together.
It's a pretty neat system God set up!
For Christmas, the entire center here was closed on break.
Since then, we've been rather busy. So the break was well enjoyed.
Kendal is back preparing the preschool for another school term,
I've been managing many technical projects:
-moving programming into a new building (construction supervisor.. me?)
-project lead for conference (big 2 week board meeting)
-project lead for upgrading satellite/internet connection (hopefully reducing our cost)
-normal networking needs
-several new pieces of equipment reviews
It's been a nice kind of busy, making important decisions, doing big work. Some of these projects will be around here a long time, which is odd for technology.
Most of what I work on seems urgent. And yet, in technology fields you recognize that the fruit of your labor won't live long. It has a very short life span. Working in computers is not like working in wood or stone, what I build won't be here for very long.
This is why, I am so thankful that what I work on has an impact that outlasts the technology, working for God's glory and kingdom to be expanded.
From time to time as I'm thinking about my job prior to coming here, I realize that being involved in giving was a way to make my labor extend into that same realm. We are so thankful for you all who labor to support us here, and in that way your work also is going towards God's kingdom as we labor together.
It's a pretty neat system God set up!
12/23/2008
Lost in Translation
Some things simply do not translate.
Today I stepped outside my office, it being Christmas eve, I was leaving early.
A friend of mine, (born in PNG) was placing a box marked "FRAGILE" in his truck.
I quoted one of my favorite Christmas movies and said without thinking,
"Frah jee lay ... ooh that must be Italian!"
he paused and looked at me with a look that said "this is your mother tongue, and you can't even read that?" and replied verbally, "Fragile... it's Fragile"
I lacked the desire to explain my joke, I regretted having quoted the film to a man who had obviously never seen it... and nodded a polite "yes, thank you."
Hehe... still couldn't resist the perfect opportunity.
Merry Christmas.
Today I stepped outside my office, it being Christmas eve, I was leaving early.
A friend of mine, (born in PNG) was placing a box marked "FRAGILE" in his truck.
I quoted one of my favorite Christmas movies and said without thinking,
"Frah jee lay ... ooh that must be Italian!"
he paused and looked at me with a look that said "this is your mother tongue, and you can't even read that?" and replied verbally, "Fragile... it's Fragile"
I lacked the desire to explain my joke, I regretted having quoted the film to a man who had obviously never seen it... and nodded a polite "yes, thank you."
Hehe... still couldn't resist the perfect opportunity.
Merry Christmas.
12/22/2008
PNG missionary history through the eyes of the Mape
The Mape New Testament was recently dedicated in a ceremony. During which, the Mape people played out an "early missionary experience". Can you guess in this photo who the missionary is?
Things are MUCH better now (-;
12/21/2008
My Day
So here's what I did today, having NO idea I might do these things when I left the house:
-an idea I had saved 15-20 hours of work, did it in 1 hour (duplicated a firewall rule set by converting a text configuration into html using a ns2html script provided online.)
-saved a translator couple $939.99 by troubleshooting an HF-radio modem and upgrading it's firmware, thus they didn't need to buy a new one for their village visit in January.
-converted a dvd produced by our video department into .m4v so that a translator can sync it to his ipod. (teaches on the Old Testament - Christ's sacrifice in Kamano-Kafe language)
This is the interesting one.
He's heading into the village with a battery pack, a low power projector, speakers, and an ipod. He wishes to prove this will work, so he needed to get a dvd (non copyrighted) onto his ipod. I simply taught him how to use handbrake, very simple to me, but to him, saved him hours of head scratching and now he should be able to travel into the jungle with minimal equipment in his backpack... which is good since he has Cerebral Palsy.
I tell you, being here, sometimes the things I think are so simple and come naturally, save other people a LOT of work and time, and are very appreciated.
Vice Versa as well there are others here that help me in this way.
I am constantly amazed at how God has prepared our skills for being here. I thank Him for any good ideas I get. And I wonder at the practical application of some of these gadgets that are out there.
Honestly, this weekend was full of stuff breaking at home for me. It is really nice to get a few wins under the belt after one of those "Home Improvement" weekends when you get a few projects that don't go exactly right.
12/18/2008
Killin Modems
For those who enjoy the more geeky side of my job:
Today the temperature in our server room began to climb, our air conditioner is dying and although we've had one on order for 6 months, it hasn't come yet. Well because of this situation we decided to start powering off non-essential servers. For the past 2 years we've been migrating dialup users to dsl users. So the quick decision was made to power off our Dialup users to save the heat, and convert the 24 modems to 8 since we seem to still have modem users.
Mind you this is completely impromptu, no planning at all.
problem 1 - the modem card inside the old Dell desktop running w2k3 server is disabled because it is incompatible with the external modem/serial bank.
problem 2 - after enabling all the OLD modems we go to patch the phone lines and find that the cable terminated are the wrong type of cable.... we need an Rj4 cable on one end and an rj11 on the other. Where are they? So I began to bring up the server hardware while the others scoured boxes for these OLD cables. Woops.
problem 3 - after they all searched for a few hours, I lucked out and found them within 15 minutes of looking, we patched them... all should work right? ... nay... no dial tone on the patch panel... SO we call the telephony guy over;
"sorry about this but we schedule a server maintenance that was supposed to be very very simple and in fact is turning very bad on us very quickly, could you drop everything and come help us?.. please?" he did, nice bloke that he is, and soon we discover that no dial tone means that the pairs weren't patched properly.
Mind you this entire project is reverting back to what we used 8 years ago, because since then they upgraded the modem capabilities.
We're now 10 minutes over our 2 hour window, and are manually repatching 8 telephone lines. Which means we're still not sure that our dialup server is functional.
THIS is exactly the kind of thing you want to do on a Friday. It's sort of the old nightmare project, the only thing is, there is very little stress because most of our customers are on DSL now.
Q: How many technicians does it take to revert a dial up server from 24 modems to 8 modems, thus reclaiming 6 rack units of space and about 1 degree of cooler room temp?
A: 4. One to start the project, one to run around asking questions and grab tools while the other guy scratches his head and says "remind me why we started this project again", one to know exactly how it all fit together 8 years ago, and one to patch the telephony jacks.
All that to say, it is working now. I blog this so that you know not all our projects go super smooth and professionally, but hey, we got it done. (-;
Today the temperature in our server room began to climb, our air conditioner is dying and although we've had one on order for 6 months, it hasn't come yet. Well because of this situation we decided to start powering off non-essential servers. For the past 2 years we've been migrating dialup users to dsl users. So the quick decision was made to power off our Dialup users to save the heat, and convert the 24 modems to 8 since we seem to still have modem users.
Mind you this is completely impromptu, no planning at all.
problem 1 - the modem card inside the old Dell desktop running w2k3 server is disabled because it is incompatible with the external modem/serial bank.
problem 2 - after enabling all the OLD modems we go to patch the phone lines and find that the cable terminated are the wrong type of cable.... we need an Rj4 cable on one end and an rj11 on the other. Where are they? So I began to bring up the server hardware while the others scoured boxes for these OLD cables. Woops.
problem 3 - after they all searched for a few hours, I lucked out and found them within 15 minutes of looking, we patched them... all should work right? ... nay... no dial tone on the patch panel... SO we call the telephony guy over;
"sorry about this but we schedule a server maintenance that was supposed to be very very simple and in fact is turning very bad on us very quickly, could you drop everything and come help us?.. please?" he did, nice bloke that he is, and soon we discover that no dial tone means that the pairs weren't patched properly.
Mind you this entire project is reverting back to what we used 8 years ago, because since then they upgraded the modem capabilities.
We're now 10 minutes over our 2 hour window, and are manually repatching 8 telephone lines. Which means we're still not sure that our dialup server is functional.
THIS is exactly the kind of thing you want to do on a Friday. It's sort of the old nightmare project, the only thing is, there is very little stress because most of our customers are on DSL now.
Q: How many technicians does it take to revert a dial up server from 24 modems to 8 modems, thus reclaiming 6 rack units of space and about 1 degree of cooler room temp?
A: 4. One to start the project, one to run around asking questions and grab tools while the other guy scratches his head and says "remind me why we started this project again", one to know exactly how it all fit together 8 years ago, and one to patch the telephony jacks.
All that to say, it is working now. I blog this so that you know not all our projects go super smooth and professionally, but hey, we got it done. (-;
Dog Sitting
don't worry, I'm not actually sitting on dogs.
This won't become a blog about cute little dog antics.
I enjoy dogs, but would not call myself a dog lover. So when a friend of ours (a translator couple) asked if we could watch their dog for a month, I said yes.
This dog is pretty smart, a 1 yr old German Shepherd mix. Well behaved, fun loving, good guard dog.
I made a dog run for her, and put her collar on a caribiner connected to the leash. This morning she figured out how to bite it, to clip it open and get loose.
I was pretty impressed.
Neighbors mated their dog with another neighbor and last night they had puppies, so we're hoping to soon have a new puppy, and we'll teach it to be a good guard dog for the house and a good friend for the kids.
The kids are getting over their fear of dogs (some stray dogs attacked Calvin a year ago, didn't harm him but scared him), through the dogsitting, although the dog is still too powerful and can knock them over easily.
I'm putting time into research on how to train dogs, etc... so that this experience will turn out very positive for us.
This won't become a blog about cute little dog antics.
I enjoy dogs, but would not call myself a dog lover. So when a friend of ours (a translator couple) asked if we could watch their dog for a month, I said yes.
This dog is pretty smart, a 1 yr old German Shepherd mix. Well behaved, fun loving, good guard dog.
I made a dog run for her, and put her collar on a caribiner connected to the leash. This morning she figured out how to bite it, to clip it open and get loose.
I was pretty impressed.
Neighbors mated their dog with another neighbor and last night they had puppies, so we're hoping to soon have a new puppy, and we'll teach it to be a good guard dog for the house and a good friend for the kids.
The kids are getting over their fear of dogs (some stray dogs attacked Calvin a year ago, didn't harm him but scared him), through the dogsitting, although the dog is still too powerful and can knock them over easily.
I'm putting time into research on how to train dogs, etc... so that this experience will turn out very positive for us.
12/13/2008
Sunday Scare
This morning I woke up, readied for church, and checked my email. Our #1 main server was down. This server is a dell 1950 with 2 dual core processors, running a virtual machine, our intranet, and our ftp server.
It has a powervault md on it, hosting 11 TB of data. That's 11 terabytes!
So to wake up to the thought of this server being down, meant a LOT of data loss.
Scenarios of disaster run through my head as I begin the trek to work. I start praying. "God please help me, I'm a month out of the seat, a little rusty, please guide me and heal this machine."
I went into work, and the disk controller was complaining of losing it's configuration.
GREAT... but .. um.. which controller is it? There are two, and if it's the big one, we've lost all data, if it's the small one, the server and all virtual machines, won't boot.
So...
A year and a half ago, we implemented a service called OCS, which inventories all our systems on the network. We very rarely need to refer to it, but this morning I did.
The database showed me quickly that the complaining controller was our "C" drive not our "D" drive and I was relieved.
Now... comes the scary process of pushing the right buttons.
When you're skirting the line of total data loss you hate to have warnings like "all disks are missing press C.. if you press C this action can not be reversed... are you SURE?"
and then "erasing configuration... this action will remove all data."
ugh... several scary steps later, I see the familiar "Windows 2003 server" splash screen and I stand up, triumphantly pumping both fists into the air..
"THANK YOU GOD!" I holler right as my co-worker walks in...
WOW... that was adrenaline. I went from being certain we had lost 11 terabytes of data to having not lost a single drop, and it only took 1.5 hours. Wow.
On top of that, I was able to discover root cause which is hard to do in these situations, and hopefully we can order spare parts to avoid such a scary scenario again.
Thank you GOD for answered prayer!!!
It has a powervault md on it, hosting 11 TB of data. That's 11 terabytes!
So to wake up to the thought of this server being down, meant a LOT of data loss.
Scenarios of disaster run through my head as I begin the trek to work. I start praying. "God please help me, I'm a month out of the seat, a little rusty, please guide me and heal this machine."
I went into work, and the disk controller was complaining of losing it's configuration.
GREAT... but .. um.. which controller is it? There are two, and if it's the big one, we've lost all data, if it's the small one, the server and all virtual machines, won't boot.
So...
A year and a half ago, we implemented a service called OCS, which inventories all our systems on the network. We very rarely need to refer to it, but this morning I did.
The database showed me quickly that the complaining controller was our "C" drive not our "D" drive and I was relieved.
Now... comes the scary process of pushing the right buttons.
When you're skirting the line of total data loss you hate to have warnings like "all disks are missing press C.. if you press C this action can not be reversed... are you SURE?"
and then "erasing configuration... this action will remove all data."
ugh... several scary steps later, I see the familiar "Windows 2003 server" splash screen and I stand up, triumphantly pumping both fists into the air..
"THANK YOU GOD!" I holler right as my co-worker walks in...
WOW... that was adrenaline. I went from being certain we had lost 11 terabytes of data to having not lost a single drop, and it only took 1.5 hours. Wow.
On top of that, I was able to discover root cause which is hard to do in these situations, and hopefully we can order spare parts to avoid such a scary scenario again.
Thank you GOD for answered prayer!!!
12/12/2008
Under Water
(kids at the Sydney Aquarium on the way back from the U.S.)
Water Tank Miracle
2 months ago our water tank began to rust out, water pouring from little holes. We blogged about it. We got an Instant Message from one lovely couple saying they were going to give us a one time gift. However the amount wasn't mentioned for various reasons.
Well the water tank began to pour and I couldn't wait, so we prayed and a number popped into my head, and I began to search out the best deal I could for that amount, hoping it might match the donation. After several choices and variables (between types of tanks, shipping, assembly, installation... do I do it myself, how much do I do? etc.) We came up with what we figured was the most sensible solution.
A tank that held a little more than the old tank, but was made more sturdy and would last longer. To offset the cost from a cheaper tank I would install it myself.
Well the tank was ordered, and shipped and the bill came. After a few weeks we saw what the amount of the donation was... wouldn't you believe it... the numbers matched exactly. I mean to the penny.
Purchase price, + discount + shipping + fittings for plumbing = exact amount of donation.
So we returned from the U.S. with a new tank ready for pickup. All I had to do was figure out how to assemble and plumb it myself. Well, 4 days later, and several back breaking hours of shoveling in the heavy rain, and we today turned the valve on our new water tank!!!!! AND IT WORKS!!!
Thank you to friends like you who sustain us and encourage us, and bless us!
God constantly is using you to show us miracles time after time!
12/10/2008
Funny Quote
Tonight was the primary school Christmas concert.
The primary school beginner band played for an hour and the pc singers (sydney is one but missed this concert's practice last month) sang for about 30 minutes.
Calvin had to go to the bathroom, so Kendal escorted him. It was one of those "I'm bored I want to go do something, moments."
While walking back he said "mom, I'm bored."
she replied "well we're here as a family I'm sorry you're bored, but you need to use your manners."
so he replied, and this cracked Kendal up to the point of coughing....
"Let me give it to you straight mom, I'm sweatin' like a donkey in a haystack."
we couldn't decide which part of that quote was funnier, the first bit or the second bit.
Almost all of us, enjoyed the concert.
The primary school beginner band played for an hour and the pc singers (sydney is one but missed this concert's practice last month) sang for about 30 minutes.
Calvin had to go to the bathroom, so Kendal escorted him. It was one of those "I'm bored I want to go do something, moments."
While walking back he said "mom, I'm bored."
she replied "well we're here as a family I'm sorry you're bored, but you need to use your manners."
so he replied, and this cracked Kendal up to the point of coughing....
"Let me give it to you straight mom, I'm sweatin' like a donkey in a haystack."
we couldn't decide which part of that quote was funnier, the first bit or the second bit.
Almost all of us, enjoyed the concert.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)