Where Chester Lives

Do you smell that? That's the smell of a composite material orange sphere filled with air. In other words, Basketball.

I love this time of year. College basketball at its finest, and Opening Day is just around the corner. And, this year is extra special.

For the first time ever I predicted every team in the Final Four. And I have proof! I will have to link it later because of our content filter at work.

So, let's talk basketball for a few. First and foremost, I hate the NBA as much as I love college hoops. The travelling, carrying, un-called fouls...it really bugs the tar out of me. More emphasis is placed on individual talent than team play and the league is populated by thugs and arrogant jerks. I know that every sport has their share of thugs and arrogant jerks...it just seems to me that the NBA is the most prominent. There have been some recent rule changes to try and foster team play, like allowing zone defense and actually calling carries and walks...but it isn't enough. And there are statements made by influential coaches saying that players should never foul out of a game. Huh? Exactly how is that going to make things better?

Oh, I'm not naive enough to think that college basketball is the purest form of the sport...but it is strikingly dissimilar to the NBA. For example, take the Southern Illinois University Salukis. This team was a handful of points away from knocking off one of the hottest teams in the country (Kansas), and I bet you can't name a single player on that team. You see, schools like SIU can't afford to recruit the stars coming out of high school, so they have to rely on a system. SIU relied on tough defense and an offensive system that was greater than any one piece. They recruit players based on their ability to play unselfishly within that system. And they are successful. It's true that their likelihood of winning a championship is still slim because of the money differential between them and say...Duke (Duke Stinks!). But how far did Duke go this year? Hmm? Can you say, "Defeated in the first round?" You can? Fantastic! THAT'S why I love college ball, and a single elimination tournament. You better be ready to play every night, or you can join Duke, Kansas, Kentucky (sadly), and North Carolina at home watching.

So, this year's Final Four is Florida, UCLA, Georgetown, and Ohio State. My pick to win it all is Georgetown. We'll see how I do.

Oh...can't forget Opening Day. Go A's!

I can barely stand it.

Okay, I'll admit it. Blogging can be toilsome, which is part of why I'm not updating as much as I once was.

This is not news to anyone.

Allso, life is busy. But that's why you blog in the first place. To capture those bits of time, like the mosquito stuck in amber.

After the SSL VPN debacle, my laptop decided it was done playing and checked out for a week. It took me that long to get it back into a usable state. Sometimes I really hate computers.

I am continuing to practice guitar...I have told a couple of friends that I have played long enough to realize that I am not a prodigy. I know it takes time to get good at anything, but I was secretly hoping that I was a natural at this. Oh well, it's fun to practice and therapeutic as well. I know that music is therapy, but we need to be perfectly clear about something: the sounds I can currently make on my guitar cannot be classified as music. I can play a few chords...but not in succession. I can play a couple of scales, but not quickly. Oh, and I can play the Smoke on the Water riff, but so can most sub-reasoning life forms. I practice about an hour a day, sometimes more.

Anne had her thirteenth birthday on March 11th. I have started a blog entry about that and saved it. I will post it when it is complete. I want it to sound right.

I've been riding again as well. I rode 60 miles last week, and 35 so far this week. I am working up to 100 mile weeks, then more. I can't go too much simply because there are only so many hours in a day and I have to hold down a job as well. A friend from church loaned me a wheelset for my bike, with the intent that if I like them, I might purchase them. I've ridden them twice this week, and my initial read on them is...I LOVE them. I didn't realize how much difference a set of hoops would make, but it's like a whole new bike. The bike just pops when I sprint, and I can climb a wee bit faster. I sacrifice some comfort because they are stiffer...I think it's because the superior wheels are now letting the deficiencies in my frame shine through. I had a local bike shop check them out and they said that they are in great shape from hub to rim wall. I'm going to do some price research and buy these things. My friend said to pay him what I thought they were worth...I can't say I'm enamored at setting my own price, so I will pay him what he would get if he sold them on e-bay, or something. The only problem is that they are anodized red, and my bike is dark blue, silver, and black. So they don't really match. One more reason to get that nude carbon calfee... Ah, someday. I hear you have to play the lottery to win......

So, I created a whole new category just for this post. That's how irritated I am.

WARNING: Technical Jargon Ahead.

So, a few years ago I installed a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution from a company called NetScaler. This solution uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) in order to enact the VPN tunnel, instead of the traditional IPSec or PPTP technologies before this. the benefits included a client-less user interface and the ability to launch a vpn from a machine that wasn't necessarily yours (Internet kiosk, etc.). All they needed was an Internet browser.

We have had problems with this technology, especially since we were early adopters. Those problems included lack of support for certain applications in the beginning, and continued issues with Micrsoft Outlook connections.

About a year ago, NetScaler was purchased by Citrix. This hasn't been good for us. Technical support for the product has taken a turn for the worse, with some queries going completely ignored. The Outlook client issue was never resolved, no matter what version of code we were running. The only way to fix the error when it occurred was to reboot the NetScaler device.

Having said all of that, I remain, as ever, the optimist. Yesterday, I upgraded to the latest version of code on the NetScalers. Prior to doing this, I had been having discussions with technical support about expectations, if there were any gotchas, etc. I was assured that this was a very straightforward upgrade.

The upgrade on the appliances went very smoothly. I upgraded the backup device first, then the primary. I installed the new license files. No error messages, no burps. The documentation was clear and concise: my favorite kind.

So, imagine my surprise when I launched the client to test a connection and everything had changed. The user interface was different, and the connection now requires the user to install an agent that runs in the system tray all the time now. Frantically, I cobbled together a document that outlined the new user experience and made sure I could connect to SSL VPN from the Internet, just like a normal user. It worked, but it worked very differently. I sent off the doc I wrote up, I talked to our Helpdesk and other key colleagues and hoped for the best. I needed to leave the office since Teresa had a Partylite meeting and I needed to get home and play Dad.

As I was driving home, I felt mostly okay. Sure it was different, but maybe different = good. Maybe this will finally resolve the Outlook issue that has plagued us for months. If that's the case, I can live with these changes.

As I approached Fairfield, my cell phone rang. Fantastic. It was my friend and coworker, Mr. David Mostardi (known affectionately in irc as D-dog). Our Helpdesk personnel could not connect to the service from outside. I pulled over at the next available parking stop (this happened to be a McDonalds parking lot), got out my laptop and my cell card and began to test. I was able to connect without a problem, but I only saw 4-5 people connected. This seemed low to me, as most times there are 20+ users connected at any given moment. I immediately thought there were problems with the license file, so I called Citrix.

While I was on hold for 35 minutes, I re-installed the license files and reconnected without problem. I still saw only 4-5 users online, so I waited. Just as I was about to pack it in and head home, Citrix answered the phone. I have to say, the tech I talked to was very helpful and knowledgable (a rarity, in my experience). He re-issued new license files, just in case mine were bad. We went through a battery of tests to check our current license and could find no issue. While I was on the phone with him, I saw a couple of more users connect, pushing us past that 5 user mark, so my initial summation about a bad license proved to be incorrect. I then packed it up and headed home.

That was one and a half very pleasant hours in a McDonalds parking lot...

So, when I did get home, I spent another hour or so trying to duplicate user experiences. I could not duplicate failure, no matter how hard I tried. Sure, it was different, but it didn't outright break.

So here I am this morning. I am connected to work via SSL VPN and working fine. I see six other users online with me currently, that number creeping as high as ten. I am anxiously awaiting the onslaught of user calls from the helpdesk. Currently I have one user who reports he can connect but cannot do anything. I have another user who says he can read email, but cannot access a windows file share. I can't duplicate either of these problems, and it is frustrating.

This should JUST WORK. I have had it up to eyeball level with this, and am ready to replace these devices with another vendor. If only MDL would spend the money...

For those of you wondering, My mother is doing well. The surgery she underwent is called a vitrectomy. Her retina was detached and the vitreous fluid inside of her eye was cloudy. Follow the link for more information, if you want. Her doctor said that her eye would dramatically improve its sightfulness over the next 4 weeks, and would take 6 months to completely stabilize. Thanks to all for their thoughts, concerns, and prayers. I just hope she is patient through all of this.

When I got back from Kentucky, I was exhausted. I slept so hard Wednesday and Thursday night. I feel like I'm finally starting to even out, but I don't recover from lack of sleep like I used to.

While I'm on the subject of surgeries, etc., I thought I would mention the Anderson family. Mike is the minister at our congregation in Placerville, and he and his wife have twin girls, Taylor and Tessa, age 5. Taylor underwent a fairly intensive procedure on Wednesday to fix a birth defect in her hip. Evidently, the surgery went well and they did not have to do all of the steps that they had anticipated, which means that her recovery will be shorter. Even with that, she will be in a cast that completely immobilizes her lower body for six weeks or so. That's a significant amount of time for such a young person. The fam and I are going to go to the hospital this afternoon to visit her and her family. I know this is tough on the rest of the family, too. So, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, if you would.

In Other News...

I took receipt of my new guitar yesterday! It is a beautiful instrument, if I do say so myself. And I just did. I practiced yesterday for ~ 1.5 hours, and spent about 30 minutes practicing at lunch. The amp is really cool, too. Lots of neato-burrito digital effects and styles. I haven't cranked it up yet...I'm waiting for a time when I'm home alone. So far I can play Ode to Joy, Jingle Bells, Skip to My Lou, and When the Saints Go Marching In. For those that know, that's strictly B, C, D, E, F, and G notes. I am using Anne's first guitar book while I await my rock guitar instruction book to arrive. It is currently on backorder.

That's all I have for now. Stay tuned for further updates!