nethope @nethope@octodon.social

My new experience today: I checked the md5sum on an ISO ... and it didn't match!

I've never had this check fail before! I transfered the md5sum file again (not the ISO), and then the check passed. The first character of the checksum had changed from '8' to '9' the first time.

On the topic of sunburn, I would like to give a general shout-out of appreciation to @nivex for letting me know when I started to roast at the hamfest yesterday. Shade (and a breeze!) and people looking out for me FTW!

... especially since I appear to be incapable of noticing in time.

What I remember from Thermodynamics: entropy increases (arrow of time).

And also that my feet in winter violate the laws of thermodynamics by being colder than absolute zero.

I present today's UX fail.

I logged in to the Aetna website to check my health insurance coverage. On a page with an omission, it said "if you feel this in error, please _contact us_." I clicked on "contact us" and was logged out.

I went back to verify what just happened, clicked on "contact us" and was logged out.

I took a different route to that information, clicked on "contact us" and was logged out.

My only explanation is that Aetna is telling me to FUCK OFF, but without the language.

If you wonder how someone ends up in an abusive situation, the answer is usually "boiling frogs." (The parable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog not the reality.)

If you find yourself wanting to say, "Oh, that [abuser] seems too nice to do this!" I want you to KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. The most skilled abuser knows exactly how to seem like the nicest person ... in public and during courtship.

Offer moral support if you can, and please don't say "Oh, I can't believe that!" Please.

I always knew I enjoyed network monitoring (and SNMP, not always the same), but I notice that I really enjoy troubleshooting with packet captures as well.

Mmm, packet capture!

(It's just that I've been at the mowing ALL DAY! I had breakfast, then went out to mow. Neighbor wanted to chat, gave me yellow irises to plant, so I took that planting detour for a couple hours. And now I can't even finish mowing, so I don't feel like I've been successful today.)

picnic = lunch replacement

Also, I have a lot of fluids to replenish.

But I remembered sunscreen (I often don't), and I even re-applied (I usually forget)! So it must be cookie time.

My riding mower just threw a belt, so the blades won't engage any more.

The last time I mowed, one blade kept striking the housing, so it was down while I got tools (and a plan). Blade was bent, got new pair. The grass grew a lot while I figured it out.

So (a) it's really obvious I didn't finish mowing, and (b) the grass was so tall that the clippings piled up enough to remove the belt (!!!).

It's hot, and I want a shower before the neighborhood picnic in less than a hour; mowing can wait.

I wish this place didn't make loud creaking sounds when I want to fall asleep. It's settling, right? In theory, I'm settling down too, but spiking awake doesn't help.

I appear to be the only person still in the office, and it's https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/leave-the-office-early-day ... so I'm outta here!

No, you really don't have to twist my arm to get me to take on a project that starts with packet capture and will probably involve SNMP!

$co-worker says it's not urgent, but it is keeping him from making progress on a low-priority (for now!) task.

I will wait until Monday, but this is going to be fun! (and probably over all too soon)

I started on a work project, backups of network devices. I see proof (one backup configuration file) that I knew how to do this once, but I don't remember what I did.

Fingers crossed that I took good notes that day! Otherwise I know it's possible, and I don't know where to start!

The servers that won't let me connect today aren't work-related. I think the Internet is telling me to get back to work!

So now I'm thinking about lunch. Maybe I should go for a walk to look for my motivation?

PSA for DNS admins: if you run BIND, a new root hints file came out yesterday.

*Twice* this week, I have gone about fixing things (one hardware, one software) the wrong way because I read the documentation first.

Why should I RTFM when it's wrong?

Reading used to be the right place to start.

To be fair, I should have suspected Cisco's documentation of flaws long before today - when I found contradictory documentation that worked!