Leroy KelleyUS Software, Systems Engineer |
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Monday Dec 01, 2008
Winner: Sun Microsystems VirtualBox 2.0.4
Well this evening I sat down to read the January 09 issue of CPU magazine. Being a build it myself PC person I have always loved this magazine. I have never thought I would see Sun Microsystems win any category in a PC based magazine. But there it is on page 70. Sun Microsystems VirtualBox 2.0.4 has won the Miscellaneous Software category. Way to go Sun and the VirtualBox team. Posted at 10:28PM Dec 01, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Wednesday Nov 26, 2008
Use the "T" button Luke....
This past week my trusting Macbook Pro would not come out of the sleep function when I opened the LCD. Well I maybe should have waited but it seemed like 30 seconds or more went past. So I decided to power the laptop down using the power switch. Well the power down did not do a proper shutdown. On the next boot the ole Macbook Pro could not get past the login screen. It kept looping. I could boot the machine in "single user mode". The check disk found nothing. So I decided to recover on my own. Well my DVD finally died thus I could not boot off the installation dvd. So I bought an USB dvd drive. Turns out the laptop will not boot off an USB dvd. It needs a firewire drive. Which are impossible to find in a pinch. So I decided it was time to exercise my "Apple Care" policy. More on this later. The Apple folks gave me this valuable bit of info. The Macbook Pro will, if use the hold the "T" key down while booting will enable you to connect your laptop via Firewire to another Mac. This will let you copy files from one Mac to another Mac. Yes. Apple Care just rocks. No fuss at all. I dropped the MBP off on Sunday once I got back from travel. It was repaired by Monday evening. Picked her up on Tuesday. The new drive works. New OS is good. One pleasant side note was the original files on my MBP where saved off in a "Previous" directory. Wow even better. After using Apple Care I am thinking of finally getting rid of that last PC. I would love a Mac Pro. Oh baby. But my needs vs. desires are slightly misaligned. Those iMacs look nice. Same problem. The 20 inch iMac is nice. But that 24 inch iMac just screams you want me. Well we will see. Posted at 09:25AM Nov 26, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Tuesday Nov 18, 2008
OpenStorage, User Interface, I want this...
I am totally blown away. Sun has always made great hardware but the CLI has ruled for years. It is so refreshing. No refreshing is wrong. I am totally blown away by the user interface that Sun engineers have put together for the new Amber Road/OpenStorage servers. I am so excited to see this software. So excited, I would do anything to download it and run it on my home server in the house. The user interface is great and very easy to use. Lots of features. More than I would ever need but for an enterprise, it is spot on. Hint. Hint. CEO boss man. How about finding a way for us enthusiasts to get a taste of this. Posted at 11:37AM Nov 18, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[1]
Monday Nov 17, 2008
Cloud Computing = ASP = VAN
All the sudden I feel like I am back in the year 1985. It was before the Internet made it big. I was at GE Information Services. We hosted corporate applications. The corporations could dial up any where on the planet before the Internet and broadband made dial up obsolete. We hosted email, EDI and other large applications. VAN - Value added network. Fast forward to the year 2003 the year of the ASP. And further fast forward to the year 2008. We got Cloud Computing. I cannot help but see the VAN model the GEIS and other providers invented has come full circle. We went form hosting to not hosting and back to hosting applications. No need to worry about providing dial up. Just need an Internet connection. Back to the future. Maybe GEIS can be revived. Long live GEIS. Posted at 12:45PM Nov 17, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Monday Nov 10, 2008
Oh Florida why can't I leave. Smoked plane...
Ok my travel adventures are just bad this year. Lost luggage. No "delayed luggage". Destroyed luggage. Oh make that normal wear and tear. We board the plane. Push back 10 minutes early. Pilot says we will arrive early. How cool is this ? I can be home by midnight. Flight attendants do their thing. Check the overheads. Check the seat belts. Tell us the locations of the emergency exits. I note as usual. I am sitting 2 rows in front of the over wing exit. Engines are now starting. Then a terrible grinding noise. Sulfur smell and smoke now are entering the cabin. Pilot now spins the plane around and our 500 ft taxi has now ended. We are now heading back to the terminal. Flight attendants are trying to ring pilot over intercom. They are a little busy. Park at jetbridge. Ordered to get off the plane and leave everything. Oh my this is now starting to feel a bit more serious. Everyone is still calm. Which is good with the young ones returning from the land of the mouse. The crew did a great job of making a call to return to the terminal vs. have us use the emergency slides. Although part of me feels that would a have been an interesting experience. But the pilot tells us that a lot of leg injuries happen when they do that. No doubt I would have been the one going to the hospital. So now we are waiting on our next plane for DC. Stay tuned.... Boss man, I will be late starting work tomorrow. Posted at 10:29PM Nov 10, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0] Move over New Jersey, Florida is now the king. Of tollbooths that is...
Ok, I have said it. When did Florida become the tollbooth state ? I mean I knew New Jersey was bad with a tollbooth every 5 miles but come on Florida. Today I traveled down to the wonderful state of Florida. It was a welcome relief to the cool weather back in Maryland. I have been here before and knew about the tolls on the "BeeLine". But I had to travel to a customer site today. Tolls on the BeeLine (528), 417 an 408. I got hit with 2 tollbooths on each road. Count em, 6 all together. On direction. Now if I had travel hundreds of miles I would not have been shocked. But I traveled 14 miles. One tollbooth every 2-3 miles. 6 each way or 12 tollbooths today period. Some day I could envision myself moving here. But I am going to have to keep Fastpass. At a minimum get my social security paid in quarters. So Florida you are now crowned the tollbooth state. Wear it well. Posted at 08:29PM Nov 10, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Wednesday Nov 05, 2008
An election to remember...
So we all now know the results of the election for the big ticket items. I was an election judge again this year and was amazed by the turnout. When I arrived at 6 am, there was a line. It started at 4:45 am. Like sitting outside a Best Buy the day after Thanksgiving. But with a different importance. My precinct handled over 2400 people. Most before noon. We had an hour and a half wait. Lots of young and older folks. People that had not voted in years turned out for this one. I was particular taken back by a lady wise in her years. When I was checking her in I noticed something out of the ordinary. Her birth year was 1909. She was just one year shy of her 100th birthday. She mustered everything she had to get out and vote. Just incredible. So I will remember this day for the remainder of my life. Today I am extra proud of America. Posted at 03:27PM Nov 05, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Monday Oct 20, 2008
Sun Ray @ Westin
Well I am now begining vacation. I decided to bring the Gobi 8 thin client Sun Ray my boss so graciously got me along. While this is vacation there are a few things that did not get wrapped up before I left. In all fairness they did not start until I left for the airport. Hmmmm. But I am using the thin client laptop here to do email and browse the sun internal network. All over VPN from the Westin hotel room. Very nice. Nothing to lose should the maid start Christmas shopping early since all the data is somewhere on the Sun network. I like this :) Posted at 10:08PM Oct 20, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0] Socks missing socks...
Well it has been a while since I posted. I have one of those questions. I now have 5 socks that are missing their respective partners. How does this happen ? I mean I take them off at the same time. The washer and dryer are not eating them. The only thing I can think of is that I am leaving them in hotel rooms every time I travel. Think of it as a calling card. Maybe the hotel staff is stealing them ! Or TSA is filing them somewhere as evidence ! All I know is each week I am missing another sock. Maybe it is old age. First the eyes. Next my socks. Then my hearing. Oh no ! The one thing is certain, I cannot throw the singles out. You never know when their counterpart will return. It is probably safe to say they will not show up. But you never know.... Posted at 09:11AM Oct 20, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[3]
Thursday Sep 25, 2008
What service, 5 stars to Tumi...
I week ago, I wrote about how my bankrupt airline of choice ruined my luggage. You know it was wear and tear. Well I stopped by the Tumi store since I paid quite a bit for this piece of luggage. They toke my bag, repaired and shipped it back to me in 7 days. All for 25.00 which covered shipping two directions. Now that is service. Fast, did what they promised. I would pay for another Tumi bag any day. Posted at 06:32PM Sep 25, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Sunday Sep 21, 2008
It fall and time to crank up the jogging...
Well it has been forever since I posted any fitness progress here. Well it has been a while since there has been. I have gotten back in the swing of things. I made my goal of losing weight before I turned the big 45. Did I meet my exact goals. Heck no. But I lost 55 pounds. So that is good. I still have another 80-90 to go. Back I can feel a change. I used to hate exercise. In the past year I actually enjoy it. It gives my that hour of the day that is mine. Well I have graduated to the next step. I have found that I actually like getting outdoors for my cardio. I have seasonal allergies and kind of wrote off the outdoors. But I found that getting outside seems to help. Love the cool crisp mornings. I have even cranked my 2 mile brisk walk up to a nice jogging pace. Not jogging the complete time but do a interval type course. I have even cranked a 6-7 minutes off my times. Who would ever thought that I would try to improve my jogging times. Let along jog. Not I, that is for sure. I also spent this weekend training as an election judge for the Maryland general election. It is amazing the amount of work that "community volunteers" put into making this happen. Lots of rule. Lots of security training. Yes, we need to learn how the devices are secured (physical) and what to look for. Just in case someone tries to enhance a candidates potential. Well until my next blog. Also register to vote. People died for that right. Posted at 12:05PM Sep 21, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Friday Sep 12, 2008
The Sun EBC !
Today was my first visit to the Executive Briefing Center at Sun headquarters. Wow what an experience. I have been at Sun for 5 years and it seems that many folk have made the trip before me. Waiting is not a bad thing. Especially when you get a chance to spend 2 hours of your day with Scott McNealy and Jonathan Schwartz. What an experience I must say. Working for a company that truly gets beat up more than deserved it was great to sit in a small group and hear the Sun vision from them. Naysayers be prepared to eat your words. We are not done yet ! Posted at 06:22PM Sep 12, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Wednesday Sep 10, 2008
Like 2 dear in my headlights...
Well today I had to travel to the west coast. So my day started at 4:30 am. I left the house around 4:00 AM to get to BWI. On my way up through the country side I noticed this furry thing hop into my path. Half awake I start my extreme breaking. Deer #1 hops out of the way and I start to relax. Still not at a complete stop Deer #2 follows the in the footsteps of Deer #1. Ok now I have to bring the car to a complete stop. Anti-Lock brakes working. Tires slightly squealing. Deer #2 has that oh crap look. As do I. Deer typically leave a lasting effect on ones car. Both deer and Leroy avoid collision. Thank you Munchen engineers for not skipping Brakes 301. So now on to the airport. Although I think Deer #2 and I may need clothing change. So I get to the airport. Things seem to be smooth. Ha. Should have known better. So my favorite bankrupt airline needs to fix plane # 1. Luckily it is only 15 minutes and my 2 hour delay in Denver is not in jeopardy. Now it gets even better. When I check in I notice my seat assignment had changed. No problem still a leave me alone so I can sleep window position. When I get to Denver a whole bunch get called to the podium. Plane change. They now have a first class section. My seat is still good but the counter rep asks me if I want to get upgraded. Sweet. I got upgraded and board the plane. Even get me complimentary cran-apple juice. Do not ask me but I love cran-apple on planes. Never but the stuff at home. But I like it when I fly. Weird. Before we take off, we are asked to deplane because plane number 2 is broken. So they send us to the other side of the terminal to board the same type of plane we should have had 45 minutes ago. So now we have to get re-ticketed again since the seating has changed. My word. We finally push back and are on our way. Now 1 hour late. I am thinking I can still make this 3pm meeting. Just barely. Now I have to wait for my luggage. Which is taking its time. When it arrives I start rolling it and notice that a wheel is missing. No it is not missing it was sheared off. So now I have to make a claim on my bag. But it is not covered since "breaking a wheel off ones bag" is considered normal wear ad tear. Bull S*&(. The bag is less than 6 months old. They said they would send me a 50.00 voucher. That will fix a 300.00 bag. So lets see, they have cost me money for "delaying a bag" early in the year. Forcing me to shop for new clothes to attend a meeting. Then they destroy my brand new bag. Do they really think I will give them any more money ? H&^( no. So I curiously call the bag company when I get to the hotel. For a nominal shipping charge they will fix the bag no problems. Wait customer service. It does still exist. Maybe the airline industry can figure this out before they go out of business. Maybe on the trip home they can shear the other wheel off. At least the suite case will be balanced. Posted at 10:31PM Sep 10, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Tuesday Sep 02, 2008
Free your mind...
No, not a reference to the Democratic and Republican conferences these past few weeks. Although I think... Wait, off topic. So I have found that people are reluctant to change. No news there. Not talking politics but it still applies. I have a customer whose wife was unknowingly using OpenOffice for a while. When reminded she grabbed for what she knew. I can only use MS Office. But do you really MS Office ? Maybe not. What follows is an excerpt from the email sent to me... I came home last night and my wife was doing class work, and I asked her if she was having any problems and how the program was working for her. She said she wasn't having any problems. Then I let her know that when I rebuilt her PC I couldn't find her MS Office CDs, so I installed Open Office instead. With a little shocked and exhaspirated voice she said, "Whaaat? I have to have Microsoft Office...." I responded "Have you noticed that you weren't using it?"... she said "Oh, Shut up." and she went back to work. Maybe not. Free your mind, try something new. You may like it. Posted at 10:04AM Sep 02, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0]
Thursday Aug 21, 2008
Spring time in sales fades to ....
In sales I have found there are maybe two periods during the year where you have quality quiet time. Mainly in December at year end. And the first of the new fiscal year. For Sun that is July. It is a time to do those things on the list that are overdue. Like new technology immersion. It is a lot like Spring/Fall in Washington. The temperature is great for all of two weeks. I can now say that spring time has ended. The reps have their goals and they are marching forward. Email will not stop. Heck I cannot even keep up. I have 8 million voice mail messages all marked urgent. Well lets make some money and sell some gear this year. Oh the bliss. Summer has arrived. Let the sweating begin ! Posted at 05:48PM Aug 21, 2008 by leroyk in Personal | Comments[0] |
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