SysAdmin Day 2010

Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do.

Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

It’s July 30th again, so Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day! I guess if I used Twitter I would tweet this, but I don’t, so I won’t. 😛 I’m sure someone else did anyway …

“More” means less

I just discovered the “More” tag in WordPress. Since some of my posts tend to be long and contain a lot of images, using the “More” tag will a) make me focus on writing better and more interesting introductory paragraphs to my posts and b) provide a cleaner, shorter home page that loads faster with less inline images.

I’ve gone back and updated my last few posts to include the tag. Going forward, please bear with me as I try to find a good balance of when using “More” makes browsing the home page easier vs. it just being annoying because you can’t see the entire post without clicking another link.

Night out at Tropicana Field

We went out to Tropicana Field tonight to see the Cleveland Indians take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Wow, parking at the Trop is now $20! I miss the good old days (i.e., before the 2008 World Series season) when parking was free! Anyway …

My daughter was in need of a new Rays t-shirt and wanted a “jersey” so we hit the team shop first thing. I wasn’t about to drop $90 on a “real” jersey so I ended up getting her a t-shirt instead with Ben Zobrist’s name and number (#18) on the back. Apparently she didn’t want to jump on the Evan Longoria bandwagon. 😉 It turned out to be a good choice: Zobrist walked three out of his four times at the plate and scored two of the Rays four runs. The Indians unfortunately (for me) lost the game 4-0.

Usually when I go to the Indians/Rays there are quite a few Cleveland fans in the stands with me. Not so this time. While I did see a lot of Cleveland shirts and jerseys (including myself of course), I was the only Indians fan in section 121.

We were supposed to see the Go-Go’s after the game as part of the Rays Summer Concert Series, but unfortunately the band cancelled their tour last month. That was a shame as my daughter was really looking forward to jamming to “We Got the Beat.”

Overall, though, we had a great time at the ballpark. I almost totally forgot about LeBron.

Good luck in Miami, I guess

According to Dan Gilbert’s open letter to the fans, the Cavs will be champions before LeBron. I’m not sure I believe that, but I do kinda agree with this part:

“As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several-day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.”

There are some harsh portions of that letter (at least, harsh coming from a team owner), but there are some good points as well.

Art Modell seems confident that he will ultimately hold onto his title of the Most Hated Man in Cleveland. He may be right, but “King” James gets to wear that crown for quite a while.

Good luck in Miami, LeBron, I guess. Whatever. Meh. The Q will be a totally different place the first time the Heat come to play in Cleveland.

Let’s add “The King’s Elbow” to Cleveland’s list Championship Frustrations and move on as we always do. And oh yeah: Go Cavs!!

Toy Story 3

Over the weekend we went to see “Toy Story 3” in 3D at our local theater which I had been looking forward to since seeing the first two original films in their 3D double-feature last fall. As usual, Pixar has delivered another smash hit. TS3 is an amazing, beautifully animated film with a ton of touching and emotional scenes (much like “Up!“).

The “Day & Night” short at the beginning was also very well done, a cool combination of traditional and 3D digital animation. Great storytelling without a single line of dialog.

Some random thoughts (without spoilers):

  • I immediately noticed the “95” on the train in the opening sequence (this appears in every Pixar film and is a reference to the year “Toy Story” was released
  • I felt there was a Darth Vader/Emperor nod between Baby and Lotso at the end
  • did you see the Pizza Planet truck?
  • the scene in the incinerator … wow, powerful imagery (and more great storytelling without actual dialog)
  • Spanish Buzz: ¡muy bueno!
  • want more easter eggs?

I’ve read that some people enjoyed the movie more in 2D rather than 3D, saying that the glasses make the overall film darker and not as vibrant. The glasses didn’t really bother me though, and the 3D is not meant to be “in your face” 3D but instead adds depth to the scenes which I thought was cool. Even my daughter, who is wary of 3D films (after a bad experience at MuppetVision 3D when she was little) kept the glasses on the entire time.

Will there be a TS4? There are no plans for one right now, but it sounds like there will be a TS short in front of “Cars 2” next summer. Personally, I felt TS3 was a perfect ending to the trilogy and should left to stand on its own.