Song of the Day - "The Pretender"

Absolute Greatness from the Foo Fighters. As Grant pointed out when we were listening to it, Zeppelin was a big influence for Dave Grohl and you can clearly hear some stairway in the intro.



Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began

Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones come marching in... again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole... defense

Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

In time or so I'm told
I'm just another soul for sale... oh, well
The page is out of print
We are not permanent
We're temporary, temporary
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

I'm the voice inside your head
You refuse to hear
I'm the face that you have to face
Mirrored in your stare
I'm what's left, I'm what's right
I'm the enemy
I'm the hand that will take you down
Bring you to your knees

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

Random Acronym - from MRV

MPLS - Multiprotocol Label Switching - "data-carrying mechanism that belongs to the family of packet-switched networks"

Believe it or not, this explanation is more complicated than the previous client acronym of the day but is pertinent, as I am scheduling briefings for our optical transport expert at the MPLS & Ethernet World Congress. (Please try to contain your excitement, loyal readers). Information is sent across a data network in little chunks known as packets. The size and complexity of these packets varies with the type and magnitude of the information being transferred. Thus, the transfer of information across networks is modeled as a "stack" with layers 1-7. Typical data transmissions from computer to computer go up to layer four.

This is the "transport" layer that houses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is central to Internet Protocol (IP). (You've probably seen TCP/IP on your computer and wondered what the hell it was...now you know it's the name for the mechanism by which information is transmitted and received.)

In order to get through the various networks and to the correct destination, packets must have headers (or labels) embedded so network equipment knows where to send them. Think of them as the various components of the address for the letter (state, city, ZIP, etc.). However, at each layer, the headers become increasingly complex in order to ensure packets go to the right place in the right order.

Everything goes anywhere other than across a room, goes to at least L3, so some consortium of network geniuses came up with this MPLS format for headers that can be read by L2 (data link layer) and seamlessly passed on to L3 (network layer). Thus, there is no holdup or lengthy queueing process in getting a packet up to IP (which lies at layer three) and TCP. It's like aggregating the ZIP and state into one thing that can be read and routed instantaneously. Get it up to the next layer, and it can figure out how to deal with the city before passing it along to the street and number layers.

It should be clarified that MRV isn't my only client in this space. All communications technology companies deal with this. That means Fulcrum and Alcatel-Lucent for my purposes. The differences are that Fulcrum is at the chip level in the enterprise/data center arena and the part of ALU that is my account deals in servicing solutions for optimizing this type of transfer--not in the hardware itself (although its carrier product division does).

Week Three

I'm now in the second day of the third week of my Qdoba protest, and i REALLY want my chicken burrito. Not gonna lie...I've considered caving in a couple times, but I can't. I'm too stubborn and hard headed. Also, I think as a tribute to my friends that were swimming in the pool last night (completely baffling me to the point at which I was looking around for a hidden camera as though it was some kind of practical joke), I'm going to avoid poultry today. Some derivation of beef, it is. Hmmm...the lunch decision...

Ducks

There were ducks swimming in the pool at my apartment complex when I got home. I am extremely puzzled by this and thought my mind might be playing tricks on me, so I closed my eyes for a second to make sure I wasn't imagining things. When I opened them, there were still ducks...swimming around...chasing each other. This place just keeps getting more and more interesting...

Winner Winner...

Chicken Dinner

Nice effort put forth by the Cards, but the better team won this game (despite its best effort to cough it up).