Congestion and Instability

The other morning I was on EVE Online, mining away while on an early conference call I was taking from home, when a message I had not seen before in EVE popped up.

Traffic Advisory, eh?  Well, maybe there is some fleet action in progress through a normally quiet sector.

Less than a minute later I saw another.

Hrmm.

Then another popped up about 20 seconds after that.

Now I began to think, “There is a problem here.”  If this were a MUD, I would be typing “save” quite often at this point.  This morning, I decided it was time to get more mined ore out of the jet can, into my hauler, and back to the station ASAP.

The traffic advisories kept popping up at the rate of 2 or 3 a minute as I logged on Wilhelm and warped the Mammoth out to the asteroid belt.  I had visions of a cascading failure rippling across the EVE universe like a virtual tsunami.

My call was wrapped up shortly after that point.  I hauled my last load to the station, parked my miner, and logged off.

As I walked around the house getting myself set, I noticed EVE Mon had put up the “Tranquility Down” alert.  I missed it by less than five minutes.

Well, CCP says they are working on the issue.  The problem with a single server universe is that, when it is down, you customers have nothing else to do… except go play the forum game I suppose.

The Power of Four

Brent, who was tagged by Cuppy who was tagged by Grimwell who was tagged by Rhyssa who lives in the house that Jack built… or some such… has tagged me with yet another blog infecting meme.  Still, as I always say, the only thing worse than being tagged is not being tagged.

Of course, I cannot contain myself to just listing four things.  I have to go on about them all for a bit.

Four jobs I have had in my life (not including current job):

1. Accounting and Payroll Clerk – My parents are both accountants.  Somehow I escaped.
2. Attendant in an Art Gallery – With Potshot.  I got to witness self-possessed pretension AND do my homework.
3. Night Manager at a grocery store – I actually worked with a guy named Jack Vader, who was a cousin to Chad and Darth I think.
4. Service Tech at a Mac only computer store – I only broke one Mac while I was there.

Four Movies I have watched over and over: (Tough call, as I love movies)

1. Catch-22 – Best cinematography ever.  Seriously, this is one movie I want to see on HD or BluRay on a giant plasma screen.  Plus the director’s commentary, which is just a conversation between Mike Nichols (the director) and Steven Soderbergh, is a great insight into making such a brilliantly filmed movie.  Mike Nichols had never done an action film before, so didn’t think about special effects.  When he needed to blow up the HQ build at the air base, he had his people actually blow the building up with the actors in the foreground.  Plus Alan Arkin was perfect as Yossarian.
2. Full Metal Jacket – The movie that made R. Lee Emory a legend.  Really three movies in one.  If you have the DVD, change the language settings to French with French subtitles.  Even if you only understand a little French, it is hilarious.  They made the cadences rhyme in French, and the jelly donut scene… priceless.
3. Live and Let Die – Best. Bond. Ever.  Screw you if you think differently on this one, because you won’t change my mind.  I’m all for Sean or Pierce over every other Roger Moore film, but Live and Let Die… well… I sure hope you make friends easy!
4. School of Rock – Jack Black unleashed.  In High Fidelity he was great, and here he hits his music fanatic peak.  Silly movie.  Great music.  I dearly want to take the Rock History class Jack Black gives to his students.  Plus I am in love with both Joan Cusak and Sarah Silverman.

Four places I have lived: (I have never lived further than 22 miles from the place of my birth.  Beyond five locations I would have to start listing specific addresses.)

1. San Jose, CA
2. Mountain View, CA
3. Cupertino, CA
4. Campbell, CA

Four Shows I love to watch:

1. Law & Order – The original, not the spin-offs.
2. The Simpsons – Homer was 12 years older than me when the show started, now I’m four years older than him.  How did that happen?
3. …
4. Uh… we only have one TV and three viewers.  I go to my computer or read for entertainment.

Four Places I have been on vacation:

1. Maui – Many times.  My mother lives there.  My 5 year old daughter has been to Maui more times (6) than most people.
2. Las Vegas – A cheap, one hour flight away.  Good for a three day get-away with the wife… and then we had a baby….
3. Southern California – We have a child.  That is where the best amusement parks (Disneyland, LEGOLand, Sea World) on the west coast are.
4. Lake Tahoe – Wife loves it.  Daughter loves it.  I was dragged there every summer as a child to spend seeming endless hours bored looking at trees or sitting on a beach where the water was close to freezing.  I don’t love it.

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Pizza – Simply nature’s most perfect food.  And like sex, even bad pizza is pretty good.
2. Pigs in a Blanket – Little Smokies wrapped up in Pilsbury crescent roll dough and baked to perfection!
3. Saurbraten – with spatzel and red cabbage… and a Spaten Oktoberfest, bitte!
4. Chow Fun – With beef and bok choy.

Four favorite drinks:

1. Vanilla Coke – That extra bit of flavor makes all the difference
2. Regular Coke – Because Coca-Cola only puts out Vanilla Coke every so often
3. Beer – Anchor Steam, Spaten Oktoberfest, Newcastle Brown Ale, or Shiner Bock preferred.
4. Water – I spent a lot of time on a farm with a well, so no tap water please.

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Playing a game on the computer
2. Playing the Wii with my daughter
3. Watching the latest Battlestar Galactica DVD from NetFlix with my wife.
4. Having a pint at Brittania Arms

Four People I Command to do This:

1. Gaff – To annoy him, and to give him something to post when he isn’t three boxing
2. Kilanna – To hear what she’s having for dinner when I’m getting up in the morning (not Vegemite I hope!)
3. Bildo – To punish him for that duck joke
4. Elf – Because he can be so reasonable