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We installed a SonicWall 5060 at work last week. We had some trouble at first, due to miscommunication. We wanted a transparent bridging firewall -- something that the 5060 can do. Transparent bridging is a new feature of the SonicWall firmware, though, so the installation engineer wasn't familiar with it. When we spoke about "transparent bridging", he thought we were talking about SonicWall's "layer 3 transparent firewall" configuration.

The installation engineer used his cellular phone to call his senior technician, while I called OSU's main network guy. The argument that ensued -- using my phone as the medium -- was interesting, and not entirely pleasant. We ultimately un-did what we had done so far, reverting back to our original configuration without the SonicWall. That evening, the installation engineer educated himself on the layer 2 bridge capability of the SonicWall. By lunch time the following day, the firewall was up and running without incident.

Yesterday a systems engineer in another college, with whom I sometimes eat lunch, asked if he could see the firewall and its management interface. I was only too happy to oblige. After a quick inspection of the physical box, we sat down in my office to walk through the web-based administrative tool. I showed the basics of how to configure the firewall interfaces, how to create groups of objects, and how to apply firewall rules to those groups.

Trying to show off a little, I said "And here's where we can see a snapshot of current Internet usage... See, we can see all traffic by protocol, or all traffic by destination address to see which sites are super popular, or even all traffic by source address. For example, this computer has ... wow ... 104 open connections to other systems on the Internet..." I shifted gears and identified that the system in question was busily serving BitTorrent streams. Additional investigation revealed that the machine had enough open ports as to cause alarm, and to merit investigation.

My colleague followed along as my boss and I set out to evaluate the situation, after identifying the location of this system. It turned out to be (mostly) uninteresting, and was dealt with quickly. The offender wasn't likely to attract the attention of the MPAA or RIAA given what was being shared, but nonetheless it wasn't an appropriate use of the department network.

My colleague remarked "It looks like this firewall is causing you work, not alleviating it!" And while that's true to a degree, prior to the installation of this firewall we had no meaningful way to identify this sort of thing until the University's security group would alert us to a problem. By then, of course, it was usually too late.

Amy and Craig tied the knot this weekend.

The love they have for one another, and the joy they bring into each other's lives, is obvious. I've known Craig since high school, and I've never seen him happier.

It was a real privilege to be able to share the day with them.

The Ubuntu Ohio Team was recognized as an official Local Community team this evening! LoCos (Local Communities) "work together in regional teams to help advocate, promote, translate, develop and otherwise improve Ubuntu"

The Ubuntu Ohio team has been extremely active, and there are a lot of great plans being developed. Of particular interest to me is the New User Team, and the Face2Face support initiative. I don't know that I'll have the free time to participate as much as I want, but it's definitely something on which I'll be keeping an eye.

Many thanks to all the members of the Ubuntu Ohio team for their energy and commitment to the group. Special kudos to vorian for his passion and dedication.

One year ago today my mom died.

It's weird to say that; and it's weirder still to think about. It's been a year since I've been able to share my joy with my mom. It's been a year since I've been able to seek my mom's advice. I'm deeply saddened to this day by my mom's passing. There have been so many things in the past year that I would have loved to have shared with her.

All this week I've been thinking of the last time I saw mom. Carina, the twins, and I joined mom, dad, and mom's friend Dilya at the El Vacquero Mexican restaurant to celebrate our new jobs at OSU. Mom was so happy for both Carina and I for our new jobs. The meal was a happy, loving celebration of the future to come. Mom was always so supportive of both Carina and I; and I'm glad that our last dinner together was a positive one. I'm truly thankful that mom didn't suffer or linger.

For many years my mom was heavily involved with Central Community House, serving on the Board, as well as being President of the Board. This weekend CCH hosted a reception of friends and family to honor the dedication of their "Gathering Place" community room in mom's name. It was a very nice ceremony, and mom would have been proud to have received the honor. Dad, Ann and I accepted the honor in her name.

Prior to the dedication there was an informal gathering. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances were in attendance. A married couple -- long time friends with my parents -- were present with their son, who was a childhood friend of mine. He asked me how my mom got into her line of work. As I summarized my mom's life, I realized just how much she had done. I was literally speechless for a moment as the enormity of my mom's work struck me.

After the formal dedication of the meeting room, there was an opportunity to share memories of mom. I shared my observation of just how much mom had done, and that if I can accomplish even a quarter of what my mom did it will be a wonderful achievement. Tyler observed, sagely, that mom made friends wherever she went. Tyler's comment really hit home for me, and reminded me that I need to take a page from mom not only in terms of her relationships with peers and colleagues, but also as a parent.

Growing up, I never felt like I had to compete for mom's attention. I knew that Ann and I always came first. I knew that I could always rely on mom's help and support. Mom was always there to help with schoolwork. She was always there with a sympathetic ear. She was always there with wise -- even if unappreciated -- advice. It pains me to this day to realize what a void there is in my life now that mom isn't here.

Mom was involved with the Volunteer Administrators' Network. She was the first recipient of their Award of Excellence, many years ago. This year, in honor of her commitment to the profession, VAN Columbus renamed their award to the Mary Merrill Award of Excellence. I can think of no greater testament to her passion for volunteer administration. Dad, Ann, and I attended this year's award ceremony. It was an emotionally challenging experience, but it was also deeply satisfying to see mom's legacy being recognized, and institutionalized, for her peers.

Tonight, on the one year anniversary of mom's passing, Dad, Ann and I went back to Club Diversity for chocolate martinis. We invited Dale to join us. Dale and mom worked together on many occasions, and it was a real treat to have him with us tonight. It was great to have Dale's perspective of mom's life and work, and to share his love for mom.

Carina purchased a Nintendo Wii as a late Christmas / early birthday present for the twins. As they enthusiastically jumped for joy I thought they were going to break the floorboards! The Wii is, in my opinion, a brilliant device. It supports our investment in the GameCube by playing all the games, as well as having inputs for GameCube controllers and memory cards.

The Internet connection on the Wii was supremely easy, and within minutes of having plugged the thing in it was downloading an updated firmware. I found the weather map to be extremely interesting. I haven't yet tried the "News Channel" or any general Internet browsing, but I'm looking forward to it.

The Wii comes with Wii Sports, which provides bowling, tennis, baseball, boxing, and golf. I watched the girls play an energetic game of bowling. Halfway through, Tayler remarked "We'll never need to pay to go bowling again!" Indeed, the game was remarkably satisfying, and the ambiance provided by the bowling alley sounds made it very hard for me not to start talking like The Dude. After bowling we tried a round of golf. Overall the controls are quite sensitive, but we all found putting to be a real challenge. I'm chalking this up as a learning experience, since we haven't yet mastered the art of the Wiimote.

I tried boxing, which was entertaining but not the kind of thing I see myself playing with any regularity. I'm really looking forward to Metroid. Carina picked up Zelda for herself, and started playing that. It looks fun, though I must admit that my enthusiasm for the game was quickly cooled as I watched Carina attempt to go fishing in the game.

The Wii Wario game is high on my list of titles to acquire, as is Wii Play. I'm very excited to see what game developers can do with the Wii. It'll be nice to see some real innovation in game play, and a departure from button smashing.