brianfending.com

So there are four connection speed test scenarios I'd like to portray for you, each with worse results:

1. Test served from server wired to my router, client computer wired to my router [result: SUPERFAST, obviously]

2. Test served remotely, client computer wired to router [16Mb Down / 3.5Mb Up]

3. Test served remotely, wireless client 18 inches from wireless router. [1.6Mb / 635Kb]

4. Test served remotely, wireless client four rooms away from wireless router. [really slow, quite unpredictable]

Now, if you're support rep "Ken", do you isolate and hammer on how #1 and #4 differ? No, you should focus on #2 and #3, since I have 20Mb/5Mb service and there's obviously an issue with the router. Instead, I posted 12 angry tweets tonight and told him to go to hell.

WHY is it so hard to believe that a cheap wireless router, after four years in the On position, is going down the crapper and needs replacement?

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I went to a dotnet user group last week to hear a speaker on the subject of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), the next-gen replacement for Data Transformation Services (DTS), which is to say: "Moving data between points A and B." I'll set substantive comments about the presentation itself aside, giving benefit of the doubt to the youngish presenter trying to squeeze a lot of fundamentals PLUS an overview of the technology. That's kind of a lot of stuff, so suffice it to say the intro probably wasn't all it could be. I've been working with SSIS a bit, and I don't think it's actually possible to cover what he wanted to in that amount of time. Anyway. Kudos on the attempt.

So, my initial reaction is still my strongest gut reaction: WHYYYYYYYYY did you make DTS legacy, Bill??? I swear, I really don't need to wrap a lot around pull from Database1.Table1 to Database2.TableZ. I just don't. Very nice to have exception handling, etc, but what happened to the quick & dirty? Create a package, define some additional actions, and schedule a job that uses it... Perfect! And all from within Enterprise Manager! Gosh, how I miss SQL 2000... Of course, Enterprise Manager and the accompanying suite of tools was replaced by Management Studio - nice bundling, I have to admit - but you now also need to run a flavor of Visual Studio 2005 ("BI Development Studio" = VS2005 + different toolbars) to do basic data transformations in the preferred way.

Just when MS had the stroke of genius to consolidate the database management interface, they split off key functionality - nay, made it LEGACY - to usher in a new era of "no simple stuff! everything is Business Intelligence! Have some BI Cheerios! They're good for you!"

Silliness aside, I think this kind of efficiency (some call it "thought leadership") is too much - there was probably a way to keep both. Just throwing it out there. Get your fancy, exception-handling BI package to the serious people - and I'm only sometimes a serious person - and leave your stinking, procedural DTS in place for the masses. The result is NOT going to be, "More BI! Cha-CHING!!!," rather less reliance on SQL Server for moving data.

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Quite some time ago, around the time we realized there would be at least a little travel involved in my line of work, Rachel picked up When Daddy Travels to read to Norah in preparation for these occasions. Ramping up for a 3-day trip, about half length of my last work adventure, I got her set up with a Skype account & client, a webcam, lots of aspirations about having scenes from the book, etc, etc.

And I left. Then Rachel's computer went kablooey. In sum, I got the phone call while waiting for my luggage at my destination airport Wednesday morning, and the prognosis was not good. The laptop's keyboard was typing away as if possessed. All When Daddy Travels aspirations aside, she had to work - and she required XP Pro, Office 2003, and a few other choice apps to do so. And there was no way I could go home.

Step 1: Have a local computer guy have a hand at it.

I was pretty sure this guy would be able to disable the keyboard for her, and she'd be up & running. All very handily. Well, the signals got crossed somewhere in this guy's brain, and he advised NOT doing that for this laptop because it would just revert back to an active state the next it started up. But she could have kept it on for two days and finished her work, geekwad... Anyway, she returned home and I talked to her much later in the day.

Step 2: Just order another Dell.

Did it that night, had an acceptable delivery timeframe (Friday), all was going to be well. By the next morning, that timeframe was updated by email to an unacceptable one... order debooked, back to square one.

Step 3: Thursday morning, it was. Enter CDW.

The computer needed to be there Friday to allow setup when I got home on Saturday. I ordered at CDW - with a 3-year next business day replacement plan - and threw in some better memory that I would install on Saturday. A guy from CDW CALLED ME. Lots of voicemails back & forth, but he installed my RAM for me, followed up on the shipment going out because it appeared to be an important rush, and was quite possibly the most competent customer care rep I've ever encountered. Granted, this weren't rocket science, but it was important. CDW is - because of this guy's actions - awesome. His name was Mike. He might be on the Christmas card list this year.

"So," you very well might ask, "if not a Dell, then..." It's a Sony VAIO. I was a little reluctant, but Rachel REALLY doesn't like the HP trackpads and 3-button configuration on the 8100 series that I had recently, and that was the only business-grade laptop I have liked. So. Sony it is. The best feature? That *^$&%#^# NBD replacement plan...

The NEXT time Daddy travels, he's going to have his little webcam time and out-do that dude in the book who can only email and call his kids. The punk.

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On Sunday, our friends Jen and Mark took us to the symphony. The bill:

Wagner - Overture to Faust
Brahms - Symphony No.3
Adams - Harmonium

Obviously, I went for the second half. On the way to that, I was pleasantly surprised by their performances of the Wagner and Brahms - really sensitive in the adagio and tight in the allegretto. In a word: Nice. Maybe that should be a given, but the last time I took in a BPO performance was less than this stellar. My hopes were held high for part deux.

Now, for a matinee performance, I didn't expect high energy. A local college choir was singing the vocal score. There were a lot of youngish-looking extras in the percussion section. I didn't expect much except to hear a rendition of the Adams classic, and that was going to be good enough.

First, the bitchy part: Some really strange and avoidable stuff stuck out - deadened almglocken, too-big suspended cymbals that didn't match the orchestral timbre, "unison" timpani and bass drum hits that had 0.7% chance of being together (the odds prevailed), and some balance issues - whoooo some balance issues. All in all, this was a lot of score and a lot of orchestra, with a lot of the conductor stooping into said score and hanging onto his baton for dear life. I don't blame him - there's a lot to lose when you get a couple hundred people on a stage.

There were definitely some inspiring moments, the usual in the minimalist repertoire with quasi-unison and "oh my GOD I'm inside an organ right now I must be don't let it stop" events. However, the absolute best was Rachel turning to me at the conclusion and saying, "that... was really cool." Ah-HA! You DO like something composed last century!

I think I may actually get to see more BPO concerts, though there is a dearth of 20th (let alone 21st!) century programming in Buffalo.

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