Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

On My Blog Menu:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue

« ? Blogging Brians # »

Book Plug:

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money. I think.
BSD Mall

10/6/2003 -  10/8/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Wednesday, April 16, 2003
22:52 - There's nothing good on	(top)
The past couple of nights, I've been up way too late performing unnatural operations on my backup server. What should have been a simple addition-of-a-disk turned into a protracted odyssey whose details are too stupid and boring to even mention here. (Not like that's ever stopped me before.) I noticed that my offsite backup server, which does a nightly CVSup mirror of my main server, and whose single 40GB disk is clearly inadequate to serve the main machine's pair of disks at 80GB and 20GB respectively, was full. Yeah, yeah. I knew I shoulda seen it coming. More to the point, I should have done something about it back in February, at which point the disk stopped having enough space for the system to generate an e-mail to tell me it was out of space. Ahem. So I went to Fry's and got me a nice modest 60GB disk, which I planned to add to the 40GB disk already in the machine. I'd partition it for /home or something-- it'd be easy. I'd done it a hundred times before. So then I went to the co-lo facility (e.g. a friend's garage), dug the 1U machine out from the slot in the cabinet in which it had been buried, peeled off the top, blew away about three epochs' worth of compacted dust and shale deposits with a can of compressed fluorine or whatever it is, and discovered... that the machine only supports one disk. Razzam frazzam! Well, that's what I get for using a cheapo $600 1U server from one of our more economical lab rigs. Okay, so let's see... Back to Fry's to trade in the 60 for a bigger disk to make the new single, hitting 95 on the freeway so as to get there before closing time, reaching the doors at 9:55-- only to discover that they close at 9:00. Bah! So no 120GB disk for me. I guess I'll make do with replacing the 40GB with the 60GB; it doesn't buy me that much time, but it's still the cheapest solution I have to hand. And until my home equity line of credit checks get here, I don't have much in the way of disposable income to blow on unneeded gigabytes. Thus began the trudge through putting a fresh clean install of the OS on the new drive, partitioning it the way it should be (like maybe with a / partition big enough to hold two kernels, and a /var big enough to hold a log file or two), and transfusing the 38GB of /usr sludge from one IDE chain to the other. This took two days. Well, actually it took about four hours, but I had to do it twice. (No, Brian, you can't create a bootable installation of FreeBSD just by copying the files over and hoping the BIOS recognizes that useless "Make Bootable" flag in fdisk.) And I wasn't exactly keen on becoming a fixture at said friend's house, or a lurking grue in their garage, hunched on a ratty old office chair squinting at a sidelong-mounted scratched-up cabinet monitor. And once it was all copied over, the old config files moved to temporary directories, and the machine buttoned up and slotted back into the cabinet, it was still an image of the server as it was in late February-- so it was time for a day's worth of CVSupping to sync that last few gigabytes. By the time I had that running to my satisfaction, it was almost 5:00AM last night. But it's all happy now. But I'd rather not write anything tonight; I'd rather sleep. Wait. I guess I did write stuff. Damn. And that war show has really gone downhill since the episode with the statues.