Chris Meller

I think all these California / Silicon Valley blogs are starting to become detrimental to my mental health. You heard me right… Mark Jen, you’re destroying my sanity! Scoble, you’re ruining my life!

You’re probably wondering what the hell I’m doped up on right about now, right? Well, the answer is: nothing.

OK, so maybe they’re not really ruining my life or single-handedly destroying my sanity, but all these blogs are starting to become a little depressing. As much as I love reading them every day (multiple times a day for the addicts like Scoble), I’m starting to compare these perceived / portrayed wonderful lives against my own, and coming up sorely lacking when I’m done.

It seems like everyone’s making such a difference in the world, changing the software and tech industries for the better, and I’m just plodding along day after day doing nothing of significance in the grand scheme of things.

Reality Check!

• I’ve single-handedly converted an entire company (nearly 100 workstations) from Windows 98 and 98 SE on sub-gigahertz machines to Windows XP Professional on brand new Dell hardware in 18 months while constantly fighting those resisting the change.
• The leverage for converting these workstations came when I single-handedly setup, installed, and implemented a Microsoft Exchange 2000 email server and Windows 2000 Domain Controller with no prior knowledge of the systems or infrastructures invovled.
• I single-handedly converted the entire company from POP3 Eudora email accounts to the new Microsoft Outlook 2000 client running accounts off our new Exchange server.
• I deployed the Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition server and clients company-wide, replacing the Computer Associates eTrust stand-alone client installations previously used.
• I deployed the Microsoft Systems Update Server and configured appropriate Group Policies to deploy client configurations company-wide.
• I facilitated the move from an unrealiabile Wireless ISP to a dedicated T1 line from BellSouth by not only purchasing, but configuring from the ground up a Cisco 2514 router (including hacking up an extra serial cable to create an equivalent of the Cisco RJ-45 -> RS232 console management cable), again without any prior knowledge of the systems or infrastructures involved.
• I totally re-wired our entire building pre-move, and managed the moving and re-installation of all existing servers.
• I was one of the first people to emphasize the importance of quality security and personnel policies in preventing the infection by and spread of malicious software commonly referred to as spyware, as well as the costs to business operations if these threats are not taken seriously.

OK, so maybe I really haven’t made any earth-shattering changes to an entire industry and maybe I haven’t revolutionized much of anything, and just maybe no one will really remember me for anything I’ve done, but I’ve made some major changes in the way our company operates on a daily basis. In my life, I’ve made a difference, and I suppose that’ll have to do.

One of the WordPress gurus posted a blog entry about server problems he’s been having, relating to huge SPAM load. Looks like the same problems I was having that generated load averages in the 50’s, and I was only getting about 500 SPAM messages a day. How do so many people (including SourceForge) use SpamAssassin if it causes all these problems for what is really nominal email load?

I started reading Electric Universe by David Bodanis last night, just as I said I would. Even though I only got through the book’s Introduction (which was quite long for a typical introduction), I can already tell this is going to be one of those you have to force yourself to put down.

Not only was the writing easy to read and understand, but the author keeps you interested by slipping in little-known and sometimes random facts just when you least expect it. I haven’t even started what you’d call the actual content of the book yet, but already I’m hooked.

I plan to at least start the first chapter tonight, so stay tuned for more about the book in the coming days.

I posted a while back about playing around with various themes I’d found for WordPress. Well, it turns out I don’t really like any of them for one reason or another (this one f’s up the blogroll, this one f’s up the search, this one displays incorrectly, this one displays too much, etc.).

Since I’m so picky, I think it’s about time that I start making some modifications to my favorite theme (the default one that you see right now!) to give Incoherent Babble a unique look and feel. Unfortunately, I don’t really have any ideas… All of my creative talent is being poured out in the entries I drone out day after day for you guys to read. Got any suggestions? Please, drop me a comment and let me know what you think would look kick ass!

Well, I thought I’d let everyone know that I had really intended to get at least something blogged about today (I’m trying to get on a regular schedule of at least 30 minutes a day of writing time).

Unfortunately, after the week I’ve had thus far, I decided leave work about 4:30 and come home to relax and do absolutely nothing all evening. You’d be amazed at the wonders it did for me in just the one day. I wish it would last, but I know as soon as I get back to work tomorrow morning, it’ll start all over again.

In any case, not only was I not committing myself to anything tonight, but I also just didn’t have a topic I felt particularly passionate about. I think the Writer inside me has been overwhelmed with work, and only able to think about it for the past couple of days. I did, however, want to let everyone know that I received my copy of “Electric Universe” by David Bodanis from Amazon yesterday, and I’m planning on starting in on it as soon as I finish writing this.

BTW, thanks to Jason Kottke for recommending it.