ColdFusion Muse

Why My Wire Cutters Have Been Retired (and My Servers Are Grateful)

I've never fried a server yet. I've had drives fail, motherboards crash, bad memory (computer memory... I think) and all kinds of hardware issues, but I have never personally been responsible for killing a server. That unbroken record was given a little scare today. One of our production CF 7 servers was making a noise. In fact it was the same CF 7 server that hosts this very blog. Not to be indiscreet, but the sound was a bit like... well... squeaky bed springs. For a moment I had this vision of our Windows server meeting a pretty young Apple X-serve with it's own rack and.... anyway we went to investigate.

Best of the Firefox Ads

Since my readership is strictly a geek crowd you probably already know about the "firefoxflicks.com" site. I was viewing some of the ads. This ad, Whee! is the best of the lot in my humble opinion. I'm going to go around saying "wheee... he he" the rest of the day now :)

It's My 41rst Birthday

It's my 41rst birthday today. When I went out to my car today my wife and kids had decorated it with streamers and balloons, and painted “happy birthday” on both sides. I was delighted. I went through the Starbucks drive through and because I had the window down on the drivers side it read “py Birthday”. “Py birthday” she said, “what does that mean?”

My wife and kids are buying me a recliner for my birthday. When I was 30 they bought me a treadmill. That pretty much sums it up - a treadmill at 30, a recliner at 40, probably a new mattress at 50, and when I hit 60... back to the treadmill - only this time with larger side rails and a much slower speed.

I've learned a few things in my 41 years, and since it's my birthday I feel I have every right to impose this wisdom on my readers - so here goes.

New Artist of the Month - Sean Keith

I'd like to take a moment to give an endorsement to my good friend Sean Keith. Check out his newest singles on mySpace. Sean writes all original music and he has a clean compelling voice that's sooo easy to listen to. One of my college degrees is in music, but Sean makes me feel like a no-talent hack. He's a huge American Idol fan and he tells me he likes the "spastic grey haired guy". I have never seen America's number one show, because I assume that a show that popular must be mindless, inane or focused on humiliated poor desperate people (plus Simon is an insufferable turd... not that I've ever seen it... so how would I know). When Sean says "spastic grey haired guy" I think of an old man trying to polka - and I wonder how that can be popular.

Anyway, if you are a myspace user (written in Fusebox on Bluedragon servers by the way - you're welcome Charlie and Vince) drop Sean a note and tell him you like his stuff. Be nice - he thinks all my readers are charming and sophisticated like me (ha). If you are not a myspace user check out his personal site at Seankeith.com. Show some love people.

Ode to Ick-claying (By Ed Sensebegger)

Coldfusion Muse takes no responsibility for the the statements, comments, and especially bad poetry written therein. Contents of said poetry is the sole responsibility of the author. Bad poetry has been known to cause heart failure, liver problems diahrea, upset stomach, notes from you mother, sterility, vomiting and overindulgence of your children (see "Dr. Suess"). In some rare cases really bad poetry has been known to result in marraige when read by insipid young men under a sprawling oak tree to a girl on a warm summer day. Read on at your own risk. This is Coldfusion Muse.

Listen Here

Ode to Ick-Claying

By Ed Sensebegger (from Leakey TX)

I've tried and tried to understand how it could be so hard
I know my readers have more energy than tubs of lard
It's not as if I'm asking you to sign your life away
So why oh why can't you remember... ick-clay on the onsorspay

Ode to the Phone - the Digital Alpha Device

Ah... the telephone. These days folks think "rotary dial" is some kind of communal soap - but in the old days the phone was a true information revolution. It was a wonderful thing. If your house was on fire you could get there in time to see the roof cave in. Your empty nest parents could "reach out and touch you" at dinner time or in the movie theater. In college it was a life line to your dad's wallet. My how things have changed...

Social Tech Support and Those Three Little Words

On the campy, quirky, absurdly funny "Red Green Show" (It's a PBS comedy with Canadian accents), there's a bit they do called "The Experts". The host says "Welcome to the Expert portion of the show where we explore those 3 words men find so hard to say...I don't know". Geeks of all stripe also have trouble with this phrase. Imagine this scenario. You are at a social gathering sitting around and someone asks you what you do for a living. Now, before I learned my lesson I always used to say "I'm a computer programmer" or "I develop software" or "I work on Websites". Ah ah ah.... mistake. Now I tell them I study the social habits of microbes or something.

A Life Worth Living - New Years 2006

Like many people I pursue my carreer with enthusiasm. I'm proud of the small business I own and the fact that I employ a few hard-working people and I'm able to bless them with finances. I'm proud of my income. It makes me feel better somehow about myself - what I do. Some elements of my identity are wrapped up in my role as a developer and technologist. This is the seductive call of status. You can say it's wealth or power or advancement - but these are all synonyms for status. They are what our society uses as a gague to determine the importance of a man - at least in relation to other men.

Listen Here