The Bar 2014 Edition

[AntiM]

Yeah, our fascia need work. The roof will need replacing eventually. I would not be a landlord for this place, and it is in good shape. Yeah, and carpenter ants are in the garden shed, which means they will be looking at my tasty home soon. Good thing it is mostly cinderblock under the brick veneer.

I thought about just renting out dad's place after he died, but it had so many problems it was simpler to sell it for cheap. My relatives think I ripped them off for taking a low price, but I had already spent a bunch of money getting rid of black mold, and the foundation had four major cracks, the wiring was bad, the furnace a hazard, and the plaster walls were a mess. Good riddance.

[^Rhino!]

"I disagree with your thinking on No Comment, Rhino... if a person is sticking to a policy of not making comments, then it fucking means no comment. Thinking it means anything else is newsy-rumorblogosphere bullshit and reading into the tea leaves. And if it's a person who makes the kind of habit of arbitrarily not sticking to a no comment policy, their incompetence is a strong indicator that whatever they say/don't say should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm constantly getting hit up by the newsy-rumorblogosphere types trying to fish for details on projects. No comment means no comment."

Trilo, the world of government and science may be a little different from your world.

I'm stuck in the middle of two opposing forces that sometimes pull everywhich way on my innards, and sometimes I feel like Gumby. I've had a division head from another Department entirely call me for information, and tell me not to say anything to the press (or anyone else) regarding the subject matter. The information was to cover a Governor's misspeak in a press conference. I'll tell you more about it in BRC, but it was the kind of things that elections are lost and won over, and there was absolutely no skullduggery going on. I come into contact with proprietary trade secrets all the time, and have not said word one to anyone about it. Do I say, 'No comment' then, when BY LAW I'm supposed to be fully open to the sunshine requests of the press? I fade into the background a lot, and ride unnoticed by the powers-that-be. Thankfully. Let them deal with their own miscues.

In science, everything is supposed to be open, and usually is. That's what I like about it.

[VultureChow]

So I'll weigh in, since this has been an interesting two days.

A good public relations person knows how to say absolutely nothing while talking non-stop. Politicians are great at it too. A yes or no question turns into a different topic altogether.

No comment can backfire. Simply saying that over and over and over again can make you look very bad to the public. Selective talking points and a joking "Oh come on Dave, you know I can't say anything about that now." sounds less combative.

This partner loves being the center of attention and seeing his name in print. He knew he was overstepping his bounds and doesn't care. If he cared, he would have left the interview with the reporter and called us. What he doesn't realize is that he sounded like an amateur to those in the know.

[theCryptofishist]

Playa Events Directory Opens for Submissions June 12


Are you planning on throwing a Tantric Unicorn Henna Tattoo Contest & Spank-a-Thon at your Burning Man camp this year?

Great! The form to submit your playa events to the Playa Events Directory (part of the Playa Info Directory) will be open for business starting on June 12, so get 'em ready!

The submission form will be available up to the Burning Man event, but only events submitted before July 1 (or the first 960 received, whichever comes first) will also be included in the What Where When guide, the printed playa events listing that's handed out at the Greeters' Station.

[trilobyte]

From the situations and frustrations you're describing, it doesn't sound like it's very open. And prohibited by law from responding with no comment, I guess that probably makes you the ruiner of elections and careers (seeing as lying would be perjury and against the law too). I'd suggest perhaps getting in touch with the legal department at your employer, they should be able to give guidance on those sorts of situations. And if you're coming into contact with third party trade secrets, you should take the time to review the NDA's, and may need to get them cleared by your employer's legal department, not just for guidance but to make sure you're not entering into agreements they'd have an issue with. Trust me, cases involving trade secrets can get really ugly, and have millions and even billions of dollars at stake. If any of those people are playing a game of musical chairs you don't want to get caught without a seat when the music stops. I know the feeling of opposing forces, working with multiple companies and developers on overlapping projects has more than its fair share of potential conflicts, as well as outsiders constantly fishing for any information they can get. It gets hairy sometimes, but "no comment" all the way as far as I'm concerned.

In other news, my day's been pretty zany. Getting lots done, but not getting time to try and get to personal projects (especially the old playa videos I'm trying to get through). Maybe things will look up in a bit.

[trilobyte]

Yeah, only 960 this year, that's a big drop. Expect it to fill up in less than two days.

[magicmarty]

No comment.

Well not really. However, as an officer or director of a public company, you've got to be very careful of what you say and write. The rules are pretty clear as to what types of utterances can be misleading and thus against the law. VC, you might want to give that partner a sit down with a Securities Attorney because he or she could give your company some real heartburn.

Otherwise, kids, Carpe Diem, it is FRIDAY!!!

(((LF)))

[FIGJAM]

SNORT!!!!

Did you make the list?

http://e-playa.blogspot.com/2011/08/my- ... playa.html

[goathead]

Why Yes I did, would I make it now though? Made me realize I have been slacking the last couple of years.

[Elorrum]

Where you'd dig that up, Figjam? a silly list, and I don't remember the poster... but really, plonking Swampdog, and Lucky and some of the other sweetest people here, wonder what happened.

[FIGJAM]

Got it off fb by a certain Simon.

Can't avoid them at the M&G!

I remember Here and There.......barely!

[Elorrum]

Got it off fb by a certain Simon.

I remember Here and There.......barely!

I remember the avatar gif, but don't remember having a bad or lasting impression. eh.

[unjonharley]

Well, I'm happy..Is there anyone else I can piss off

[gaminwench]

I made the list!
YAY!
I'm not even snarky, so I must be stupid or weird ...
and I'm definitely in good company!

[GreyCoyote]

Rats. I didnt make the list.

Must. Try. Harder!!!

[AntiM]

I'm surprised I am not on it, we went around often. But the list is three years old, and why are we caring?

Lovely day. I should go pet the neighbor kitties.

[trilobyte]

I'm sure he tried, and it pained him to realize he couldn't mute a moderator.

Up and at 'em, I've got to get ready... heading to Reno for Monsters & Elves tonight. Looking forward to seeing Killbuck, Nilasnake, Lucky420, Pinemom, and any other ePlayans I can. W00t!

[Rice]

Good morning ePlayans!!

finally, shorts & T-shirt weather. OMFL it was a long winter. Happily we have gone from -50 with the wind to 23C (73F) before the humidex. The dog loves it.

Ramble about my last 3 days at work: If you like computers, enjoy - if not - just skip to the end

Had an interesting week. Our client file server went down on Wed. Had the server guys coax it back up in less than 2 hrs. Then on Thursday this same server went down for the count... (Well, fuck ) We had a new, replacement server partly configured and waiting for the slow season in July for its transition. So, after a couple hrs of trying to get the old server up again, it was decided to we were going live with the new server ASAP. Now, we had started the planning to make this transition anyhow. But, had expected to spend about a month planning. It is not as simple as just copying the stuff and turning it on. Server names, and file locations were being changed (bringing the setup up to the expected organization that the global policy dictated). The data was not a problem, new locations could be conveyed. It was the programs that ran as network apps that we were concerned over - they might work, but would probably blow up. So, the server team (after working a full normal day), stayed at their office all night getting our new system configured, attempting to coax the old server up long enough to get that day's file changes backed up, etc. Since I had a team of awesome, knowledgeable people working on it - I actually got a few hours sleep. When I got in to the office the next morning, We had all the file shares set up, the previous day's data was recovered - and all the policies were in place to push the changes onto my staff's computers. We have some special software that runs on the network, and that was hosted on the old server (4 different programs, each one has a separate install for each year - going back 5 years). When I tried to run each version I realized that for some reason the program was hard-coded to use the old server name... well, Fuck. So, I called the people that wrote it. They told me "sorry dude, you have to re-install each server instance, and then reinstall on each workstation. This would have been cool - but (yes, of course there is a BUT) you cannot just uninstall the workstation client because it needs to see the server to uninstall... ya, I needed to see the server so that i can uninstall so that I can see the server... Weee - IT Catch-22. (I was also told that I "could" uninstall each program, but needed a special program that I had to find myself. There are about 16 different programs on each workstation, and 150+ affected workstations, so .. yah) At this point I had been in the office for about 3 hrs. I started the process of re-installing stuff. I realized that the most critical version/year of this software had new. So, I downloaded it, and tried to install. (I started there a year ago, as the 2nd local IT guy. last month, I became _the_ IT guy.) I looked through the "documentation" on how everything was set up - which took 1 minute, since the only info I had was what I had figured out over the last year. - So, I called the mfg again. this time, they at least explained how to do the type of install I needed. Once again I tried the install - questions, details (information I did not know). So, I started to poke around the server. It turns out that there are about 5 different components of the software on 3 different file volumes. After 5 aborted install attempts, I had the now - slightly rested - server team on the phone. After I explained what I was up against, they gave me a few tips and they started on getting a path-chart for my staff (folder A has moved from spot 1 to spot 2, etc). The sixth attempt was gold. I had deduced where the install should go, where the templates lived, where the configuration file should go, etc... It worked and I was in. The next challenge was getting all the custom settings, templates, folder paths, etc into the new program (usually I did an "upgrade" and it was just there). It was now 2pm. We had been down 25 hours in total so far. Users were able to work on some things, but desperately needed the program I was trying to get going - as our deadline was the upcoming Monday (yes, the next business day) - I was starting to feel some pressure. (there are about 155 people in my office, almost all of them were trying to get help from me. I lost patience after the 1st hour and had my regional boss tell my staff how they could report issues [and not bother me], the phone kept ringing and I stopped answering it. We have a IT Call desk, I had all issues go there - so that I could work the serious, "affecting everyone", I am sorry your mouse does not work problem {twitch}) I made my 4th call to the software company and the Import old settings was explained. It took about 10 tries to actually find the old settings, and YAY - they worked. All that was left was getting the letter templates visible. 20 minutes of poking around eventually bore fruit. Yes, everything was there - Maybe - I hoped. So, I wandered around to one of my more capable users and asked her to try the new program - I installed the client on her computer and she started to use it. - It asked a couple new questions, and had the wrong template name but amazingly, it worked!! It was about 1.5 hrs before close and we were back up. At this point, I found out which versions/years I needed to get going next and made a list. In the mean time, the server team were working their magic in the background (my office is about 3000Km from where the server guys are located, and they were working remotely). As we talked, my boss, and 2 server guru's they decided to try some DNS voodoo, after fiddling with the new server for a while - the old versions of the software started working - no errors WOOOHOOO!! We were up. I spent some time testing all the versions of the software I had - after all 12 versions were tested I was comfortable saying we were up. The only thing that needed to be tested was the Terminal Servers ( which allow users to remote in from home and work with no internet lag). I have 2 terminal servers (legacy and new), the new one worked from the go-get - the legacy one took about a hour to get set up right. Everything was tested again on both servers (I had 7 years of software, which worked out to about 28 different programs to test on 2 servers). It was now 30 hours after we went down, and we were up. Emails were written explaining we were up, where stuff moved to, and some possible quirks users might encounter - sent out and we were back up... So we did a emergency, unplanned (ok, barely planned), server replacement in 30 hours with complete functionality restored with only a couple documents corrupted over-all. I cannot convey how happy that made/makes me!!

<end of computer-related ramble>

So, after an interesting 12 hour day at the office I went home. Took my dog out for a long walk and then had some well-deserved pizza.

I am still buzzing today.

I do not have any of my Burning Man plans made yet, no flights booked or anything. All I know for sure is that I will be on the Playa this year. I probably will go on-playa shortly after the Golden Spike is placed and help with setup - staying for the 1st couple days of the burn and then head home. I have a major project at work that I will need to do over the Labour Day weekend, so no seeing the Man burn in person this year {sigh}

I hope everyone is frantically getting their BM projects ready and that you get to have a full burn...

I think I am going to go get my dog, and let her run around in the off-leash park for an hour or two - only to leave when she wants to.

Hugs!

[Aurelia]

Good Morning All !

Dear Rice, for a while I worked within U.S.national world of forest,ag, and health..using totally obsolete servers that we sometimes had to bypass in favor of smoke signals , to endure
so yes, I enjoyed your post !

This year I was unable to get a tx the regular way, and I am considering it to be a retirement plan..maybe.

Meanwhile off to volunteer .Yesterday I was also working for the same group and the new to me young leader turned out to be a burner.
Instantly we were in trust with one another. Very cool.

xoA.

[MyDearFriend]

Rice!!! Sorry about your snafu, good to hear you are committed to appearing in BRC this year.

Graidawg sent word this morning that he has got his airplane ticket finally and is all set to join us.

Now where is my

[Elorrum]

Graidawg sent word this morning that he has got his airplane ticket finally and is all set to join us.
Now where is my

yay! I tried a new larger coffee maker this morning. I need some french press instructions. It came out pretty dark! zoom!

[MyDearFriend]

When it comes to coffee, I think pretty dark= pretty much perfect, so, maybe someone else should give instructions?

My trick for the french press is a tiny 5-minute hour-glass-thingy. Which I found in my sunglasses case when I got home from BRC last year.

[sadie]

Hello Bar People!
Hooray for Saturday.... It's hot and humid, but who cares...I am on my own schedule today AND tomorrow.
Rice...ugh!!! Way to hang in there and get all of that figured out. Makes my head kind of hurt just thinking about it..
*waves at MDF, Elorrum, aserendipity, Trilo, AnitM, GreyCoyote, gaminwench, Unjon *

I am putting the final touches on a Jack Frost costume for my grandson today. There is a Childrens Art and Literacy Festival in a couple of weeks featuring William Joyce. The kid loved it last year - so here we go again!

THEN maybe I can concentrate on burney stuff.

[MyDearFriend]

THEN maybe I can concentrate on burney stuff.

Hahahahahahahahaha......... yeah.

Wait till you have that dream where you show up with no water, no shoes or no ticket...

THEN you will be able to concentrate on burney stuff.

[msj2u]

Morning Bar,

Happy June 1!! Working on swag today, after a pot of coffee.

MSJ

[littleflower]

Good morning,

just wanted to pop in and say hi and bring some muffins. hope everyone has a happy sunday!



(((((marty)))))

[Aurelia]

Good Morning All !

Thank you for the muffins LF

I am going to have brunch and see SOL perform at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley.

enjoy the day .
xoA.

[MyDearFriend]

Hello all!!! Thanks (((LittleFlower))) for the muffins!

I was working on schwag last night, too! And making reservations for sleep-breaks on our cross-country drive. Ha, it's becoming real again!!!

[theCryptofishist]

[Aurelia]

Wow !
Thanks Fishy