8×10Gallery.com

Archive for March, 2007

I just realized there is a blog entry missing so that last comment really doesn’t make any sense. Well, ok, it makes less sense than normal since it’s completely out of content. I wrote about the server having some issues which made it unavailable the other day. I made a backup of the blogs but apparently I changed drives before I got a backup which contained that post. So anyway, here’s a recap of what happened.

Two days ago I ran into a slight issue with the server. I woke up in the morning as I always do. As part of my routine, I checked email and did a quick check on my other computers to make sure they are happy and ready to face the day.

The server gave me the impression it wasn’t ready to handle another day. This was confirmed by the fact the computer was locked up and I couldn’t click on anything. I tapped on the monitor to let the computer know it was time to wake up and face the day. None of us wanted to do it, but we had to. It was just one of those things.

The server wanted no part of this and remained locked up. Realizing I had ultimate power in the tip of my finger, I used this destructive weapon to turn the machine off. It went dark. “Ha!” I chided, “We’ll see whose Uber Powerful in this house my friend!”

Since the computer was off it was unable to make any sort of reply which really deflated my feeling of superiority.

I turned the computer back on. It still wasn’t ready to work.

Off it went again.

Perhaps the server had been engaged in a long night of partying with the other machines in the house behind my back and just wasn’t sober enough to get things moving today. I let it sit some more.

I ignored the server with impunity for a good 10 minutes until I felt it was time to go back to work. The server realized I was a force to be reckoned with and started back up.

That’s when things really got bad. And not Michael Jackson Bad. More of a Britney Spears Bad, where you really have to wonder just what the heck’s going on.

A quick trip to the Event Viewer showed signs of red. Red stop signs everywhere and just like in real they were annoying. Errors with the drive all over the place. I sprung into action like some half dressed super hero and made a back up of the data. Obviously since I lost the blog entry I didn’t get it all. I didn’t have time to be all caring and Doogie Howser with the server so I gave it the Greg House once over and salvaged what I could. Then I brought in the bug guns. Not literally big guns, shooting the server would be rather dangerous and I could hit by flying plastic shards. I cloned the boot drive.

Unbeknownst to me, this would take 4 hours. Had I read the manual I may have realized this little nugget of information before I started, but this is war Peacock, and sacrifices have to be made!

After I cloned the drive I restarted the server to see if the drive really was bad. I mean it could have been just a simple glitch or software snafu. We all know that Windows Server is fool proof so blaming the software would be a foolish long shot, but sometimes these things happen.

I didn’t get any errors with the chkdsk or another other drive analysis tool so I thought everything was OK and that Windows had just had a moment of insanity but had cleared its thoughts and was now going to get back to the business at hand of serving up my web pages.

And it did, for about a day. And that’s when we hit the iceberg.

At around 8:30pm the server completely went downhill and got itself into such a state I had no choice but to swap drives. With its innards splayed about the floor I removed the drive and popped in the new ones. I didn’t have time to scrub up; I just went in there to save the patient.

5 minutes later a new drive was in and the server was back online. Who knew you could clone Windows Server 2003 like that?

So now the server is back online with a new boot drive in place ready to face the world. Hopefully we won’t have anymore nights like that, especially since I’ve run out of replacement drives.

Here’s to wishful thinking!

Well that didn’t last very long now did it? The drive went spiraling out of control last night and got the server into such a state I had no choice but to pull the drive. The cloned drive was pulled from the bench and put into action. Since the server seemed to be running correctly after the reboot I didn’t swap out the drive since I wasn’t sure that was the problem.

I’m not taking any more chances and like a celebrity being kicked off the stage at the awards ceremony, the drive has been taken out and replaced. The swap took about 5 minutes but I have no idea how long the server was down when I finally found it. It was in quite the state of confusion so I just shut it down.

Once again, all is well for now. We’ll see if this drive can keep the server running without causing a scene. If this doesn’t work, I’m going to need an old priest and a young priest.

Daylight Savings Time kicks in and the weather changes almost immediately. From a snow blast a month ago to 70 degree temperatures today, the weather is basically perfect. I’ve been working the BBQ like a madman setting food ablaze at every opportunity.

The change in the weather also means it’s time to get out there and get pictures of the new budding flowers. The trees are white with blossoms and the flowers are coming through in spectacular colors. I made the most of the wonder weather and headed down to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens on Monday and Tuesday to see what I could find. The first day was filled with lots of keepers and for those that didn’t come out, I made my corrections when I took the same picture on the second day.

I went back later in the day the second time which helped with the shadows and not having the sun directly overhead. Taking pictures of white flowers in the bright sun is tricky business and I forgot to adjust my settings. I was reminded to check the histogram and to underexpose to keep the details of the white flowers. I guess I was caught up in the moment and forgot the basics. Thanks Randy!

Despite the technical snafus, it was a treat to be out shooting the flowers. No, not that kind of shooting – with a camera! The fragrance of the flowers was everywhere and it’s great to go on a weekday since there are very few people there. There were several other guys taking pictures and we all milled about quickly keenly observing what would make the best shot. A few renegade visitors made their way in. I’m not sure what group they were with, but they didn’t seem to have the correct botanical garden attire. Leather boots with stiletto heels just doesn’t seem to blend. It was a good look mind you…

I’ve posted two sets of photos in:

http://www.8×10gallery.com/photo_gallery/DSBG_3-20-2007/index.html
http://www.8×10gallery.com/photo_gallery/DSBG_3-19-2007/index.html

Some of the shots are probably pretty similar and overlap, but that’s ok I guess. They’re all gonna be slightly different

I used the Sigma 105mm lens for these and it worked very well! I’m really able to get close and focus on a single thing or pull back and get more of the scene. I’m very pleased with how it worked.

I’m really tempted to try the 70-200mm lens just to see what kind of pictures I get. It seems like it might be overkill and I’ll just get a big patch of a red petal across the lens, but it could be worth the experiment though. Of course if it’s a horrible disaster, we shall never speak of this again.