First of all, the email screams fake. If this indeed was sent on ebay's behalf, the images would have shown up. Second, the FBI does not handle ebay disputes. Third,  we never sold PSPs on ebay. The listing number is fake, the email is fake and last but not least, we never click links in emails, we just hover over the URL and the actual URL shows up and it didnt even match the visual url.

SO what did we do? Ryan reported this to paypal, and ebay. I print this out and break out the trusty "Fail Stamp" andofficially failed the document. It is now posted up on the door between the IT Department and the back warehouse for all of the company to laugh at that failure.

Last night I saw Defiance with Nelly and Chris. One word: wow.

Although it moved a bit slow, the story line was excellent and it made up for the slow parts.
I love WWII era movies, I have a pretty extensive list of  movies from this genre that I love and this one has now found its place on that list.

This is a definite must see movie =)

Big Brother is Watching you part II
One of our new servers came into work today and I spent a few hours installing updates and closing security holes. This project is starting to look pretty fun, it's a good break from all the code I've been writing lately. Diving back into system administration was a bit of a challenge this time. I've gotten so used to working with linux clusters that I almost forgot how to administer Windows servers. The basics of system administration is still the same regardless of what platform you are working with. It's just the way  you accomplish the same tasks are different. For instance, in the unix/linux environment you set up users via this command: useradd. Well the newer versions of linux use a Gui that streamlines this who process but true hardcore linux clusters deal with command lines and I have a arsenal of scripts I wrote to help speed up the set up process. In the windows server environment, you add users via the Active directory. Its a Gui based tool but then you can also do this through the command line. So the new server that came in that I've been setting up is a windows based server. Setting this thing up has pretty fun but there have been so many changes since windows 2000 server. I had to learn alot of new things to get this server up and runing with our system at work. Its only a file server but it will be used extensively for projects and account management with the other workstations in the office. So one of the reasons this server is up is to monitor and analyze how employees are using company equipment, another tool for big brother to help the company find out where they need to make improvements. Some of the employees aren't too happy about it going up. This is going to be interesting.... stay tuned.

Good Stuff ... now Im exhausted. Till next time!

Ever get the feeling that someone is watching your every move? Someone probably is. It seems like cameras are just about everywhere nowadays. You cant walk more than 10 feet without coming into frame of another camera, scary isnt it? Currently, Britain isthe leader in the number of Cameras per square mile, I think we are next.  According to an article written for Wired magazine in 2003, the city of Manhattan had about 129.3 cameras per square mile, fast forward 6 years later and the number of cameras nearly trippled. Here in the greater Los Angeles area, the number of cameras per square mile are starting to grow.

So what kind of cameras are there? Well of course survellance cameras. You can't walk into a place of business without seeing a black half dome coming out of the ceiling. Walk outside and you see those weather proof cameras mounted on the wall of the building. Drive down the freeway and you see the same type of camera mounted somewhere. In more recent months, the number of redlight cameras at intersections are starting to increase... more cameras to watch your every move. Yippie! not. I think the number of cameras per square mile are actually higher now. How many desktop computers and laptops with web cameras were sold in the last 6 months? Almost all of of these things were sold with intergrated or free external web cameras allowing others with web cameras to connect and network with other people around the world in near real time.

Many social networking sites like stickam.com are starting to pop up with the main focus on video networking in near real time (bandwith and distance affect the latancy of the video and audio stream). Last year my friends and I started an online radio station based in southern california : Global DJs Radio We quickly expanded to include a global staff broadcasting live from different places around the world. I quickly saw the potential in where this technology is going. Being connected to the world via technology... awesome. But what's stopping people from watching you? Do we really have privacy? Sure, we can shut off the web cams and stay out of view from known cameras. But there are hundreds of cameras that are difficult to hide from unless you are underground or in a cave or something....

What is it? uhmmm how about the stuff orbiting our planet? yep satellites ! have you visited Google Maps lately? Have you seen their street view feature? Uh, yea... big brother is definitely watching you. Although not in real time, there are satellites with the capability to follow a person around.

Freaky.

Big Brother's helper...
Not too long ago, the CEO of my company called me into his office for a meeting.  At first I thought i was going to get laid off but he asked me about security and monitoring software for the workstations at work. Well to make a long story short, he wanted me to implement a solution to monitor employees at work and determine where productivity is being lost and if any sensitive information has been compromised. Eeep! I became big brother's helping hand, but then again it's part of my job description as a programmer and system administrator. (No Im not a power hungry whore lol). I can see why it was needed at my company. We deal with a lot of sensitive information. So this week i'll be implementing a solution that will "monitor" employee computer useage. But before I can flip the switch, we need to agree on a new acceptable use policy for our work stations. I don't know how my fellow coworkers feel about this yet but It's something thats going to be brought up at the company wide meeting on Thursday... that should be an interesting forum.

More on this later...

... Summer weather in January... gotta love southern cali.

24 season Premier
Im sitting here watching part two of the 4 hour 24 season Premier and the story is starting to get a little more twisted. This is going to be good... more on this later.

Economic hardships ... You're fired!
Two of my friends were laid off of their jobs last week , and for one of them it hit her hard coz there were things that she was counting on her job to help with. Unfortunately, they decided to cut out her department and outsource so now her plans were shattered. Things have been going down hill for her. I wish I could help out but i feel so helpless . Im feeling the crunch too, Jason and I had to take pay cuts at our DJ residency on fridays, there goes my spending money. I've been forced to watch my spending again, even though the money from my day job is enough for me, i still need to prepare for the worst so im saving hard core, especially if my plans to go to London in 2012 with my cousin Sherri were to happen. If you guys read my previous post about my 360 taking a dump on me, I still havent gone out and bought a new 360 becuase of this, gaming will have to wait a little longer.

Movie watcher club
So i went and saw a few movies on my list of movies to watch. I was supposed to watch The Spirit and 7 pounds with friends but they all flaked out. I ended up watching the movies with out them haha. Here's my opinion

--The Spirit
   Honestly, wait till it comes out on blu-ray. Good story but it would be best suited at home so you can pause it and continue later when you're not so bored with the movie.

-- Seven pounds
  I understand the reason why the movie is called 7 pounds. Awesome movie, AWESOME! but again, wait till it comes out on blu-ray.

Movies I have yet to see:
-- B.I.G. :: the story of the Notorious BIG. this looks really good.

--Valkyrie :: I love world war II movies and this looks good, although it does seem like a political thriller, aka all talk.

-- Defiance :: another old war era movie , this one actually looks good.

NAMM Show 2009
The NAMM Show 2009 is almost here, 2 days! I can't wait! Check out who is gonna be there: click for the schedule and guide
whoo hoo!!!!!!

Oh well, since I wasnt going to be playing any games I decided to head out early and pick up some items at Target like snacks for my drawer at work, A case of vitamin water and a box of tazo zen green tea. I walked out the door and noticed a package on the floor. Hmm stupid me forgot to chek the mail when i got home from work. I looked at where it came from and it was from LOLMart.... SCORE! my Fail/Win stamps arrived from IcanHasCheezburger.