SSD Server, fair fun

I have become a big adopter of SSD “hard drives”.  The IO performance increase they offer is pretty incredible versus a conventional platter hard drive.  I have now installed a total of 5 of them, including the one I did last night.  Last night’s install was the most risky as I installed it in my Windows 2008R2 home server which serves my home network and houses my email.

The server has been slow for a long time, I figured a SSD drive would be a good way to give it a shot in the arm.  However I was also nervous installing a SSD drive in a server environment since drive activity is quite high and the system is on 24/7.  I opted for a Samsung 840 Pro SSD drive which offers some of the best reliability out there.  Plus I LOVE the Samsung data migration utility that makes moving to a SSD drive extremely easy.

I took a few steps before starting the transfer like shutting down all MS Exchange services and any other services not needed to keep the OS running.  After that I connected the new SSD externally via USB and started the transfer process.  Once it completed all that remained was to crack the case and mount the SSD in the old HDD tray using some velcro.   The system booted up in less than 15 seconds, it was pretty amazing.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I fired up email on my computer and saw incoming mail start to flow, mission accomplished.  If you don’t have a SSD drive in your computer you really should consider getting one.

Last night Cindy and I headed for the fair.  It was quite warm yesterday but past experience made me throw on a long sleeve t-shirt, I always seem to wind up being cold at the fair.  Well I was glad I donned the long sleeves, as soon as the sun went down the temps felt like they dropped like a rock. This was Cindy’s first time fair visit, being a decade+ fair veteran I was happy to show her the ropes.

The first thing we checked out was the jousting show.  The show was intentionally very cheesy with a bunch of guys doing fake accents but entertaining nonetheless.

We were both hungry afterward so we started our fair food experience by splitting an arepa and a basket of maduros (plaintains).  The arepa was awesome, the maduros didn’t do much for me.

We then headed for the animal exhibits.  We really took our time looking at and interacting with them.  Some of the chickens were for sale, as cheap as $10.  Cindy said we should get a chicken.  I told her she was welcome to get one if she was the one to take care of it.  I am not interested in chicken maintenance.  She had similar ideas when we saw the cute rabbits but I squashed that be relaying stories of how Sadie killed a baby bunny years ago.

We then headed over to the larger farm animals, the goats, sheep, pigs and cows.  Cindy immediately was drawn to a cow that was laying down.  She was surprised that it seemed quite open to being rubbed/petted.  She sat down there with it for a long time.

I was interacting the most with a relatively small pig, about the same size as Sadie.  He looked like he was really sick of being stuck in the pen and was jamming his nose out the crack in the gate.

I knelt down and started rubbing his snout and side of his face. He seemed to like it.  I stood up to walk away and he stuck his nose into the grid of the gate and tried to lift it with his head, like he was saying “don’t go…”

Well of course this broke my heart and I went back to him and rubbed him some more.   Cindy suggested a pet pig would be awesome too.

As we walked around the pig area we saw tons of them sleeping back to back, an indication of how they like to be near each other as it offers them comfort and assurance.  Personality and intelligence-wise pigs are right there with dogs.  One of them was laying in a pose I see Sadie do all the time with her chin down in between her two outstretched paws.

As has been the case for a long time, seeing these animals was bittersweet.  I love interacting with them but feel very sad that the majority of them will wind up being on somebody’s dinner plate.  I just can’t imagine looking into the face of an innocent animal and pulling the trigger. I just don’t have it in me to view them as a thing instead of just another being sharing the planet that has feelings and emotion.

Cindy and I also went into two other animal areas, one was the petting zoo and another housed more exotic animals including lemurs, kangaroo, a small tiger and more.  Again Cindy was not shy about interacting with the animals.

She was particularly fond of some Scottish cattle.  They seemed to love to have their necks rubbed.  Both of them leaned against the fence so Cindy could scratch them.  It was very cute.

We wandered upon a female escape artist act, she went by the name Lady Houdini.  She did the famous water cell escape trick.  Her husband, who was also the announcer claims she is the only person in the world doing the escape in full view instead of being only partially viewable behind a curtain that is pulled open and shut during the stunt.

In total she had to release somewhere around 6 locks to get out of the water filled tube.   Seeing the trick in plain view made the technique used to escape crystal clear, she pulled a pin from her hair to pick the handcuffs and various locks.  However it did not really minimize the tension and anxiety since it still took a LONG time for her to get them all undone.

Being able to remain calm and steady while holding your breath that long was pretty impressive.  I didn’t look at my watch but I would estimate she was underwater for over two minutes getting herself free.   When she popped out the top it was pretty exciting, an impressive act for a county fair if you ask me.

Cindy and I grabbed some more fair food before heading out, a not so great “vegetarian pita” from some barbeque stand and a chocolate dipped vanilla cone, both of which we split.   It was getting colder and I had to finish up my SSD migration so we headed out.  We didn’t even bother wandering into the carnie filled ride area.

We both had a good time, fairs are fun.  All of the pictures I took can be seen here.