Tomicles' Blog » Rants

You got me. Tomicles gets owned on April 1st.

Tomicles — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 23:06:30 +0000

So I am sitting here talking to a few people online after a really long day at work, and I get this email from the [colo] mailing list. This list is a discussion with the people who host their servers with Online Policy Group, including myself. To make this post a little more relevant, over the past 2 weeks or so, this group has been discussing the direction and future of the orginization with a big emphasis on going towards some form of virtualized hosting. Anyways, needless to say I believed the message that I got at 1am from the president of the orginization. It reads:

Folks,

As you know, we’ve been exploring options for CCCP/OPG to expand and
begin offering our clients space to grow again. Well, I’m proud to
announce today that we’re being acquired by Equinix! We’ll be moving
your servers soon from HE Fremont to the hosting facility in Foster
City in the next few days; don’t worry, your server will only be
offline for an hour or two.

Now you can sleep soundly at night, knowing your servers will be
backed with the full security of a publicly traded corporation. We’ll
have the resources to bring thousands of clients, for-profit and
non-profit alike, in alongside us.

Now, I should probably be clear that this transition is going to come
with some changes. Unfortunately, the new arrangement is not going to
be free; it does cost money to run these facilities, and power
certainly is not getting any cheaper. So starting tomorrow, we’ll be
levying a $10/day/server fee on machines hosted with us. That’s less
than a penny a minute! Cell phones are much more expensive than that.
CCCP is still a good deal.

But such a good deal doesn’t come without strings. A publicly traded
company wants to make sure it can take pride in its clients. So we’ll
be needing folks to please make sure that your content is something
Equinix would be proud to announce in their press releases. If it’s
not, we might ask you to delete it. To help ensure compliance, we’ll
be asking box owners to please give us copies of their logfiles and
root accounts. It’s a small price to pay for getting hosting at a
quality location.

We’re looking forward to serving you in this new way!

Yours,
David Weekly
EVP of Marketing & Sales, CCCP-Equinix

I immediatly sent an IM to david askig what was up, as well as did some quick math in my head to see that the new service would cost $300/month, way more than I currently pay. For the rest of this post, you can read my conversation with david on Aim. It wasnt until near the very end that I actually caught on that it was a prank.

tomh: DAVID!
david: tomhhHHHHHHHH!
tomh:
david: ?
tomh: cccp
david: what?
tomh: did u just sent a message to the colo list?
david: yeah.
tomh: yeah.
tomh: =(
david: …
tomh: they want root access?
david: yeah, pretty much.
tomh: =(
tomh: part of what I liked about cccp was the ability to host somewhat questionable free speech content
tomh: without question
tomh: not saying im doing anything illigal
tomh: but if someone else is to have root access to a server of mine
tomh: that means that I cant store personal backup iso’s and such
tomh: does it hoever mean that I can sell hosting?
tomh: however*
david: yes.
tomh: hmm.
tomh: i guess you gotta do what you gotta do
tomh: what sort of bandwidth will we have access to use?
david: they’ve got a lot there.
tomh: how much does it actually cost for space at he?
tomh: for 1 rack
david: $300/mo/cabinet
tomh: and then bandwidth on top of that right?
david: yep
tomh: whats the going rate for bw there?
david: ranges from $1000/mbps to $20
tomh: huh
tomh: so what does ‘acquired by Equinix!’ mean as far as your role in the org?
david: well, i’m going to be an EVP at Equinix, helping manage CCCP but now getting paid big bucks for it.
tomh: ah nice
tomh: so it is becoming a job for you then.. in conjunction with pbwiki?
david: yeah, actually it pays much better than pbwiki.
david: i think i might just drop pbwiki and go fulltime with equinix.
david: better benefits
tomh: wow
tomh: big news
tomh: so by me giving cccp my root password for the server at equinix, that really means giving YOU the password?
david: pretty much.
tomh: interesting
tomh: do you think they will object to sites like
tomh: http://tvrss.net
david: maybe, maybe not. i’ll have to check with management to get approval.
tomh: do you think this might clear out a number of cccp clients?
david: it’s possible. but the show must go on.
tomh: yeah
tomh: it sounds like a really great plan actually
tomh: i dont really know how i actually feel about it for my personal needs.. but it will really allow the org to expand a lot
tomh: so does this rule out the option for you living in the south bay?
david: hm, not neccessarily
tomh:
tomh: what sort of timeframe are we looking at for the server move?
david: oh, maybe tomorrow afternoon.
tomh: wow.
david: anyhow, bed time.
david: and hey, happy april!
tomh: oh
tomh: hmm
tomh: this isnt april fools is it?
david: [cough] oh, i guess it is april 1st, isn’t it?
tomh: yeah
tomh: hmm
tomh: fuck.
tomh: so is it true or no? i wont tell i swear
david: let’s just say this transcript is going up on my homepage.
tomh: EXCELLENT>
tomh: <3
david: kisses
david: can’t believe your sorry ass thinks i’d sell out that quick
tomh: yeah
david: and btw YOU CAN’T SELL A NON-PROFIT
tomh: it really caught me by surprise actually
david: hehehe
tomh: fkn april 1
tomh: lol
david: FOOLED YOU
tomh: yeah
tomh: .
david: [hugs]
tomh: brian’s going to freak
tomh: lol
david: i was biting my hand the whole chat
david: so bad!
david: and giggling

And so thats that. Tomicles got owned.

Creepy phone calls that show up as from ” 1 ” on caller ID

tomicles — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:24:06 +0000

This afternoon I got my fourth phonecall from a strange number. The caller ID says the call is from ‘ 1 ‘ and when I answer, I can hear someone hang up the phone. The four calls have been coming in at random times during the past two weeks or so. I had a few entries in my phonebook that started with the number 1 as the contact name, and ive since changed them to something else, but I dont think they were in anyway related. I called Verizon to see if they could tell me that the phone number was actually ’1′, but their systems are very lagged, and I have to check it on my next statement. The guy proceeded to tell me that I could ‘change my number’ if the problem persists. Like thats going to happen. Ive had my number since highschool and I’m not about to change it.

Digg.com –>Slut-o-meter.com –> Server==Dead

Tomicles — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 12:13:15 +0000

Today slut-o-meter.com got posted on Digg.com. It took a couple of hours to get upgraded to the front page, but once it did, mysql on my server couldn’t handle it. Adam Smith quickly jumped in and limited the type of statistics that were being reported and offloaded a few static parts of the site to another server but it was not enough. Eventually all of the system’s RAM as well as its SWAP were completely full and after traveling to HE.net to check it out, I found the server’s console with the image seen at the bottom of this post. It was not possible to login via SSH or from the console itself so my server lost its 319 days of uptime. Because I had to reboot the server to fix these memory issues, I also upgraded to the current legacy kernel once it rebooted to take care of any potential security flaws. It now appears to be working just fine, but the load has also gone down quite a bit. In the morning when I get up, I’ll be installing some Linux OS on my Dell SC420 to place at the colo as a backup system. I’ll also configure this box to do secondary DNS, and be a box usable for offloading sites in the event of a flash flood like today.

Fantasy of Lights in Los Gatos

Tomicles — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 05:45:40 +0000

Once again the town of Los Gatos has failed. Every year now since I graduated from LGHS they have held this ‘fantasy of lights’ thing at Vassona on Blossom Hill, and every year, they block all traffic in every direction anywhere near the event. It took me 20 mins to get to starbucks tonight and an hour has passed and I am still LIVID. Ive sent emails to the City of Los Gatos, LGPD, and to two event organizers that I found on the Fantasy of Lights webpage. What is a citizen to do? I’d guess most of the people at the event are tourists from nearby places, not residents of Los Gatos.

Update:
I drove to the LGPD to file a complaint and they said that the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department is the one in charge of the event, and that the LGPD assists them with the traffic management, but it is entirely the Sheriff’s deal. The money collected at the gate benefits the Sheriff, not the park. To me this is entirely jacked, because the Sheriffs don’t even have jurisdiction to manage traffic in Los Gatos, they only have jurisdiction within the park. The nice LGPD dispatch lady that I talked to told me I would have to contact them to file a complaint.

How to solve traffic issues

Verizon EVDO Terms of Service…. LOL

Tomicles — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 02:01:55 +0000

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/08/verizons_evdo_servic.html

I thought this was quite funny, as their terms of service contradict itself and basically state that you cant use it for anything. “Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1)… (2) with server devices…”

every web connection of any kind talks to a server device.

too bad this post came from my verizon evdo connection. I guess this violates my terms of service since I am using a connection to a server… my service will be terminated, and will be forced to pay the termination fee for my contract because I USE IT.

Astronomy 4 at De Anza

Tomicles — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 06:20:13 +0000

Last night was my first real Astronomy class, and it was quite interesting. First off the planetarium is the second largest community college planitarium in the US, and was the first until just recently. The teacher said it was built in 1971, and was state of the art at that time. Star projector was donated at that time by a large corporation and had a working life of 15 years. 34 years later, it is still there and barely working with duct tape and glue, but it still appears new. I have yet to see it work as we just had a discussion and watched part of a really bad old film that was about the history of our solar system and how we know what we know today. I cant believe that until 1962 people actually thought there might have been people on mars. I guess that just shows how fast we have evolved technically as a society in the past 40 years or so.

Togos in Los Gatos: Out of Bread

Tomicles — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 04:23:14 +0000

So I went to Togo’s to pickup a sandwich for dinner tonite, and on the door was a sign that said ‘out of bread’. C’mon guys, you make sandwiches, you are not supposed to run out of bread. I mean, KFC doesn’t run out of chicken do they? or how about Starbucks, you don’t see them running out of coffee. This isn’t the first time either. I was waiting at San Jose Airport for a flight for the 4th of July weekend this year, and the Togo’s in there also ran out, and it was the only place to eat in the terminal.

what a day

Tomicles — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 07:05:17 +0000

So today I went on a bike ride with my brother for the first time, it was fun, but he slowed me down a lot, and all my new bike wants to do is go downhill really fast. Before we left I was cleaning up the chain on my old bike for my brother, and he was trying out my new bike, and just about kills himself and breaks my new bike. Luckily neither happened, but he was riding about 5mph just trying it out, decides to pull the front break, and flips over the handlebars. He was lucky because he wasn’t wearing a helmet, and he didn’t land on his head. He got a few scratches on his elbow, but was alright. The bike was OK too, it needed a little tune up as the gear shifters got hit out of wack a little bit, but that was an easy fix. Tomorrow I think I’ll ride in Santa Cruz, at wilder ranch, since I may have to go work on some stuff at the beach house :(. I wish I had someone to ride with that was at my skill level. Riding with a beginner kinda sucks because i don’t really get a workout, but hell, everyone has to start somewhere.

My comcrap (comcast) is still broken at home. It usually goes out at night and I get about 50% packet loss for several hours, then randomly it works again. Also while the internet is broken, i also cant get any HD or high number digital channels either. Comcast needs to fix their shit on my street and give me free service. I think they have already credited my account more than $80 for the month, its free until they fix their shit and I stop calling. It being broken is also costing them a lot, since I’ve had a service call every other day for the past 2 weeks or so. I’m also pissed that my dsl is not going to work, they came back after 4 weeks of figuring shit out and said that my line is 17,000+ feet away from the CO, which i actually already knew, but they convinced me otherwise when I ordered it. We’ll see how long it takes for them to ask for the modem back.

I need to move out of the house now so i can finally have good internet again. I’m at Starbucks right now because my crap is broken at home and its pissing me off. Hopefully when I get kicked out of here at 12 I can go hang out with Jenn for a while.

Running on the Tredmill

tomicles — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 21:06:53 +0000

Yesterday I came home from work and wanted to go to the gym to do my spin class, but I had nothing clean to wear, so I decided to run on the treadmill at home instead. I ran 3.6 miles in 45 mins which isn’t that impressive since I walked at least a 3rd of it. But I did manage to run my 3rd mile at 7-8mph the whole way, which is like just under an 8 minute mile, and now I’m just dead. Apparently running uses different muscles than mountain biking, who’da thought? lol. This little running bit that i did would have been impossible if i hadn’t been riding my bike, I’m discovering that I’m actually in decent shape for the first time in like 6 years. :)

New Bike

Tomicles — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 21:03:22 +0000

So Friday I took the day off work since I’ve been so busy. It was nice to have the time off, but I still had to answer my phone and help out clients if they needed it. Friday was also Payday, and it was my first paycheck with my raise, but what do ya know… my raise didn’t show up on the direct deposit. Luckily my boss rules and they were able to cut me an advance for my next paycheck which was the difference that I was supposed to get paid on this paycheck. It was finally time to go to the bike shop with intent to buy. After visiting many bike shops over the past few months, I decided that Summit Bicycles was the best place to buy because they offer free service and a lifetime warranty for any bike you buy from them. They are a Trek dealer so thats the type of bike I ended up getting. There were two bikes I was choosing from, and the main differences were that the nicer one had lockable shocks, and it had ball barrings instead of bushings on the rear shocks joints. The price tag was about $400 more, but it will be worth it in the long run to have a bike that will last longer, and the lockable shocks help out a lot while climbing up the hill, since you want to put your energy into climbing up the hill instead of making the shocks compress. It also had hydraulic disc breaks instead of mechanical ones. When all was said and done, I walked out of there empty handed, because they didn’t have what I purchased in stock, they had to order it. Next weekend I should be riding on my new bike, a Trek Fuel EX7 seen below. I cant wait. In the mean time, they are letting me use one of their rental bikes, since I couldn’t walk out of there with the bike I have purchased.