Land of the free... Homer of the Jaye.

Guilty Pleasures

homerjaye — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:14:12 +0000

Yes, everyone has a few. For some its food, others, its maybe a cold beer… Mine is not really a true “guilty pleasure”, but is one that others think is stupid. Anyways, when I was in Germany some time back for business, I remember watching a show called “Takeshi’s Castle” on German TV. Basically it was a show entirely in Japanese, with Deustch subtitles… Basically from an english standpoint, unwatchable from a communication perspective… But the show was hysterically funny. I found myself staying up late nights just to watch all the episodes, as they were doing some kind of ‘marathon’ of showings.Anyways, that was the last I saw of that show for some years..

Then a few years back on Spike TV, I see the show yet again, but named “MXC”. Basically they took the best clips from the show, and dubbed scriped comedy over the scenes… which I absolutely think is hysterical. I love this show. Always have. There is just something totally funny about Japanese people falling to their dooms on a crazy amount of obstacle courses…

I dont’ know what it is about the show… but its really funny. I have the first two season on DVD, and plan to get subsequent releases when they are made available.

If you haven’t watched it, give it a try at least.

My grass does not need new SOD.

homerjaye — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:09:49 +0000

I know it’s a strange title for my rant this week, but my work life is in such chaos right now, I can’t imagine a better title. Let me give you a little background on what I do for a living. Bottom line, I work for a company who is publically traded on Wall Street. Yes, I do own stock of my own company, and buy as much as I can at a discount until they wise up and decide to fire my stupid ass. Anyways, my job is the keep the auditors happy that review our financial statements that we release to the SEC on a quarterly and yearly schedule. How do I make them happy do you ask? Well, I’m sure someone could think of some snide comment or sexual favor quip, but I digress. My job is to secure our system that runs our business. All of our books are in there, customers, bank records, taxes… pretty much everything that hackers, criminals, and low-lifes would love to get their hands on.

How do I do this is your inquiry? Very carefully, and covering my butt all time. I obtain signatures, approvals, and basically test the crap out of any changes I make in the system to make it more secure. I use tools of course to help me accomplish this, and rely on them heavily to avoid me having to do a lot of manual processes that would have me in the office for 18 hours a day and little time for my family let alone gaming.

Ever heard of an SOD? Is this stuff you lie down where dead grass is to help it grow back? No, SOD is short for Segregation Of Duties. In a nutshell, it’s basically two incompatible business transactions in a computer system that introduces a risk. What is a risk mind you? An example is ability to buy something, and the ability to also receive it. In personal transactions, sure that’s normal. From a business perspective… it’s not. You could buy 10 PCs.. but only receive 9… to take one home for yourself.. and it will take weeks for the company to find out… And you’d be long gone. Another example is having the ability to create a “Vendor” or “Payee” in the corporations’ accounting program.. And also the ability to pay that vendor. So you could make yourself and your home address as the “Payee”, and then cut a check to yourself for thousands of dollars…. Long before the company even finds it at the end of the month or worse… a year later.

Don’t think that these things can’t happen in your company. It happens at MOST of them. It’s just that alot of companies are keeping an eye on this (Thank you Enron, and the SOX act), and are stopping these thieves in their tracks.. I know what you’re thinking… why should I care? Welll, for one if you work for that company, it costs you raises, bonuses, better benefits… and for other companies it results in higher prices, fees, expenses….

Why am I ranting on this? Well, I keep trying to set up security in our system to avoid these types of issues, and they keep changing things… constantly. We are implementing this new system in a month, and we’re still changing stuff… Think of it as changing the blueprint for a house constantly as they are trying to build it. Move this room there, that pipe there, outlet there.. put central vacuuming in… take it out… and so on.

What is to be learned in all of this? When somebody mentions ‘audit’ or ‘SOX’… run in the other direction.

Stay the hell out of a career in IT.

My Sanctuary

homerjaye — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:19:07 +0000

Boy do I work a lot. Most nights I logon to my company’s VPN and start sifting through emails I haven’t had time to get to during the day. If not emails, then I’m working on finishing up configuration on yet another half arsed product from SAP. Anyways, on nights when I do decide to take time for myself, I reteat to a little corner of paradise I’d like to call my “family room”. I have a split level house; granted most houses in this area are split levels… But of course, mine is the nicest. Well, at least I think so. Anyways, my lower area of the house is not really a basement, nor is it a full floor. Let’s just say its a sunken room, for lack of a better description. Anyways, here are a few shots of what I consider my little slice of paradise:

Up for starters is my TV. It’s a 61″ Samsung 1080p DLP rear projection TV. It’s got a great picture, but is one of the first generation 1080p models and suffers from a little bit of display lag, which I’m sure makes my gaming a little more challenging… But who cares.. it’s just a game.

Here is a quick view of what I normally see when I play (with controller in hand for effect!)

Here is the brawn behind the sound and picture, an XBox 360 console, PS3 console, HDMI capable HD-DVR, 1080i upscaling Sony DVD Player, and a 100 watt per-channel 5.1 Dolby/DTS digital surround sound Sony receiver (with Klipsch 100 watt center channel speaker on 2nd shelf in center).

Throwing the sound around are Klipsch satellite speakers:

From this vantage point in the room, you can see in the far left corner hidden behind the couch is the massive 600 watt Klipsch Sub. This thing puts out bass that shakes the floor above. =)

What better to keep you warm during cold winters in Lancaster county, but a propane fireplace!

Next to the fireplace is a vintage mint condition 1987 Williams F-14 Tomcat Pinball machine. Complete with lighting beacons, multiball, and stool seat for relaxing play. Also is the latest videos and games in my collection…

But the true finishing mark, what family room would be complete without a fully stocked fridge just a short walk in the garage…

Well, I hope this gives you a little insight into my gaming arena. Hope you enjoyed my little tour of this corner of the world that I hold dear… Peace out!

NHL - Code Blue.

homerjaye — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:33:27 +0000

As most people know, I am a very passionate hockey fanatic. Only for one team of course, the Philadelphia Flyers. They are actually playing this afternoon, and I plan to DVR the entire game and watch it later tonight, at the expense of removing a bunch of recorded movies I haven’t watched yet to make room to for the game. At least you know where my priorities are.

Anyways, I got a chance today to check the NHL standings and was surprised to see that the team that sits in the basement of the league sits only 5 games under .500. Are you kidding me? All the games an individual team in the NHL plays during the year, and the standings are THAT tight? I usully expect to see at least a few teams at this point in the season with such a bad record, that they start allowing the zamboni driver and the ice girls to play a few shifts to keep fans in the seats. But what is really sad about all of this is that hockey still sits in the basement of professional sports here in the United States, even though this season has had the closest playoff race in league history.

Why? Most say its due to the commissioner (That will be another blog topic for a later rant), some say it is due to the recent changes in the game to make it more ‘exciting’ for the casual fan, which has pissed off the people really keeping the game alive. I honestly don’t know what it is. When you truly love something, you do in spite of their faults. Such is the same with this game for me. Granted, I absolutely HATE the shootouts. Hate I don’t think is a strong enough word. I loathe them. What a way to destroy an already exciting game.

In no other sport today do you have the level of athleticism that is found in the NHL today. On top of all that, these guys play on a sheet of ICE! ICE! Bottom line, I see a sport that is in a lot of trouble. Soccer is slowly making inroads in the US, and will start taking away those fans from hockey. The NHL continues to alienate its “true” fans, those who had no issues with ties, those who thought a penalty shot was the most exciting event in sports, and those that still think fighting is a part of hockey. It’s a violent game, and people get pissed off once in a while.

There are little gleaming beams of light from professional hockey every now and then, one of them being the outdoor game on new year’s day… But sadly these highlights are few and far in between. Last year’s Stanley Cup finals was one of the best series I have ever watched, but attained the high honor of the least watched finals in the history of the game.

Maybe the NHL can hire Tagliabue. Hell, I’d even take David Stern… Yes, the real one.

Guffaw!

In the beginning…

homerjaye — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:51:26 +0000

Well, this is my first official blog for the Weasels. I shall not go into the reasons behind such a short entry, but will in future posts… Actually we just were “required” by my work to watch yet another “Workplace Ethics” video. Funny how it talked about blogging on company time… yet here I am. By the way, did I mention now is a good time to buy West stock? We are opening up a new facility, new product line, the stock will soar through the roof… lol

I will write an update this weekend.

You can call me Jaye…

Hello world!

homerjaye — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:46:59 +0000

Welcome to Steam Weasel. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!