Coomey.net

1903 - 2003
This time it's for real. Bob Hope has died at the age of 100. A pretty nice run in my opinion. I'll never forget hearing his incredible D-Day radio broadcast. Amazing.

Editor's note: this is a total geek article that probably will only interest Scoomey, Ralman and Haplopeart. You've been warned.

While looking into upgrading the coomey.net MySQL database server software, I stumbled on this article from the Wall Street Journal. Basically, it talks a whole lot about the commoditization of database server software, and how open source software (like MySQL) are threatening the Kingdom of Oracle, much like how Linux is beginning to do to Windows. It mentions the IT department of Cox Communications, and how they use MySQL:

One user of an open-source database is Cox Communications Inc. The Atlanta-based cable-TV operator is using the software to monitor the performance of more than 1.5 million cable modems providing customers with high-speed Internet access. Mark Cotner, manager of network application development, originally got the system up and running on spare hardware and free software he downloaded from the Web site of MySQL AB, based in Sweden. The database now has 2.4 billion rows of information, totaling about 600 gigabytes of data.

Once Cox management was sold on the idea, some executives suggested transferring the operation to an Oracle system, Mr. Cotner says. For Cox's system, the price for licensing Oracle's system would have totaled about $300,000, not including a service contract. But even after Cox upgraded to the commercial version of the MySQL database, the company's licensing costs were under $1,000. Mr. Cotner also pays $12,000 a year for support services.

2.4 Billion rows. That's a bit of data. Now Oracle is really in no real danger, mind you. They still are the kings at real enterprise level transaction management (among a host of other things they are great at), but it is nice to see the underdog slugger MySQL shaking things up.

Go MySQL!

I took my first tentative steps into the seedy underground activity known as Wardriving. I am a changed man. Altered. Warped. Criminal?

What is Wardiving? To make a long story painfully short, it's the act of taking a laptop and wireless card and hopping into your car, with the express aim of using software to find other people's wireless access points. Some folks like to engage in Warchalking which takes wardriving a step further. You find someone's wireless network and then mark the territory with a symbol on or near the signal, so other wardrivers will know that there is free 'Net acess to be had at that spot. There is a lot of "discussion" going on right now as to the legality of wardriving. I'm not sure if it's legal or not, but unless you use that network, technically you are just istening to radio signals... which can never be illegal.

So, back to my point. I hopped in the car this morning, my Powerbook and wireless card in hand. I expected to stumble on one or possibly two networks on my way to Framingham.

Nope.

I hit about fifty WIDE OPEN wireless networks on my way. There were 5 seperate access points on Richmond Ave alone. I practically had an unbroken chain of wireless access in the town of Framingham. Totally different than I had thought.

Moral of the story: If you have a wireless network, lock it down or you may find me hanging out in front of your house for a few hours.

Greetings from Savannah.

Today is really the only day we've had access to the internet, which is okay really. Here's a quick rundown of where we've been:

Gettysburg, PA- Oh man, it ruled. Hard.Kind of a creepy place, but in a good way. We have some totally kick ass pics to show from this place.

Williamsburg, VA- A bit disappointed with this one. That's not to say it was bad. It was just less exciting I guess.

Charleston, SC- Great, except for the fact that we camped both nights. The bugs at home are no match for these beasts. Oh, and it was 85 degrees and about 95% humidity at night. Balls. Oh, and we went to Fort Sumter. How rad is that?

Savannah, GA- Everything good you may have heard about this place is true. Very cool city, if you can really call it a city. This seems to be Jill's favorite so far. There's a lot of Civil War related stuff everywhere down here. I'm still looking for my "Lee Surrendered...I Didn't!" t-shirt.

Okay time to let other people use the public computer here.

Later.

C$

Well, not much important to say here, but I am thrilled that the majority of the pain is gone from my dental "incident". I feel like I can laugh again, and I sure did. To celebrate, I give you this:

Enjoy.

I hate dentistry and all it stands for.

$700 and counting.

That's how much a 2-session root canal I just had has run me so far. I got finished with the root canal and was then told by the dentist that I'll now need to get a little procedure called a "post and crown done" to finish it all off. Any guesses on the cost of that little number? No? Well, it's $1200. Life sucks when you have no dental insurance.

$1200 to jam a piece of metal into my tooth and glue a phony tooth on it. I am in the wrong damned racket.

Now, let's discuss pain. After my root canal was finished, I was OK. Sometime in the late afternoon yesterday, I began to feel pain in the general area of the tooth, and immediately thought "Not a good sign, Everything within a 1 foot radius is completely numb. What is this gonna feel like when the novacaine really runs out?"

I found out exactly what that pain was like soon after. It was like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, only much, much worse. This was the worst pain that I have ever been in. All very odd considering a root canal is supposed to remove all the nerves going to the tooth. I knew something had gone terribly wrong. The doctor prescribed me some Tylenol III's for the pain ("You may have a little soreness in the area"... good one, Doc.), but they didn't dent the pain. After several calls last night, the doctor told me this little giveaway:"Well, Shawn, sometimes when doing the root canal procedure, we go a bit past the apex of the tooth and that will cause pain."

Allow me to translate: "Sorry guy, but we just drilled holes into your jawbone!" After several phone calls, the dentist prescribed me Vicadin for the pain. Vicadin had NO effect. This was some serious pain here. Finally, at about 4:00AM I fell asleep. Care to guess the final concoction that helped with the pain? Here it is:

2 Percoset
2 Vicadin
4 over the counter Motrin

...And these only 'took the edge off' of the pain as they say. Enough to fall asleep. Here's the strange part: I woke up this morning at 7:00AM completely pain free. Talk about 0 to 60 then back to 0 in no time. Strange. Anyhow, all that medication worked, at the cost of my stomach lining, and I've been sick as a dog since I woke up.

I don't care too much about that, as long as that pain isn't there.