You probably knew that already, though.

Thanks to Carenath donating space on his server, the forums are back online.

Now, I will preemptively answer some questions.

• This wasn't done earlier because I didn't have the data off the old forum server until late, late Sunday night.
• No, we can't use Carenath's server to bring the mainsite up. The main site is about a thousand times larger than the forums. (Both in terms of disk space and bandwidth requirements.)
• We have everything we need to install the servers at the new facility. The only concern now is weather related, but that shouldn't be a problem. (Incidentally, did you know that studded tires are illegal in Maryland? This is highly relevant.)

Good News: We're all ready to go on our end. We have the IPs, we've got the rack setup at our new colo. All we need to do is move our servers into the facility, update the IPs and config the DNS. That'll take maybe 30 to 45 minutes.

Bad News: Switch and Data (hey, remember them?) were not able to process our badges in time, so we're not able to get into the colo. Yet. Fuck. You may proceed to queue the "BADGES?! WE DON'T NEED NO STEENKIN' BADGES!" quotes, because... that's the only thing holding us up. THE ONLY THING. Only thing. Yep. That. That thing? That's the only thing. THE. ONLY. THING.

Only thing.

Good News: Net-cat and myself (and maybe Dax) will be meeting at the colo at 5:00PM EST tomorrow to setup, install, configure and bring Fur Affinity online. We had hoped to do this today, but Murphy's Law is a fickle bitch unfortunately the paperwork pushers didn't pushpushpush.

Bad News: I'm out of Cherry Bawls. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Tags: being offline sucks, carrier lost, fuck mondays, is that a bee?, oh god its eating my face, we don't need no steenking badgers, wtf
The sights: Robot Hell
The Mood: annoyed
The Sounds: Little Big Planet Soundtrack - Horny Old Man

Just a note:
Net-Cat drove over to my place tonight and we did pre-maintenance on FA's servers (Tiamat, Bahamut, Trogdor and Novastorm) and all systems are good to go. We updated some of the software on Novastorm (VMWare) to the latest version.

As of right now, everything is solid on our end. We are currently waiting for the colo facility to process our paperwork and get the billing process started. That's our only hold up right now. :) No, we do not have an ETA at this time, but we're still on track for our original forecasts. Again, everything is good to go on our side.

At this point it's all paperwork.

Hi, SF.

My name is Lauren, but I go by "Lady" or "Ouka" due to most of my online handles.
I am a twenty year old high school graduate, currently working in grocery retail to support my freelance art business. I would like to seek a degree in children's early education to become a kindergarten-gradeschool teacher, or to pursue a career in criminal justice. I know those fields don't correlate at all. Haha.

I love to spend my time drawing, baking, painting, sculpting, listening to music and collecting my little ponies. I love bold, bright colors, and I really am a girly girl at times.

I like to dabble in making fursuits, since it's another art form.

I absolutely adore 80's rock, and my favorite band is Whitesnake. My favorite current band is Blue October.

I am pretty laid back and really easy to get along with as long as you smell okay, and have respect for me. I am intelligent, and love to have THOUGHTFUL conversations. Seriously-- make me think.. it's awesome.


I have been in the fandom without knowing what it was called, since I was 10. I finally took on the furry label at the age of 13. My beliefs lean toward therian, since I have some Cherokee native American blood in me. I hold pagan beliefs, and I appear to be agnostic-- though I don't really have a fixed religion.


:B I guess that's about all I have to say about me. Feel free to chat away.

My AIM: wngdwlf
My MSN: artsywolf@gmail.com
E-Mail: wolfwings@insightbb.com


Thanks!

The Mood: contemplative

I just came back from being at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) yesterday. Some of what happened I expected, somethings I didn't and a few things just seemed flat out ridiculous.

Things that happened to me at MEPS your experience may differ.

My first day there taking the ASVAB test went great I was very happy with the test results pretty much open to any job. Man and this was the thing I was sweating bullets over. Then they have you take a personality test on a computer. Yeah after taking this test I am afraid they will think I am racist or an emo depressed person. It asks you a question like. A. I do not like to learn about new cultures and don't make friends with people from different cultures. B. I am easily depressed and sad most of the time. And those are your only two options on some questions and you have to pick one. I am thinking what? I am neither of these things and you don't get many options here.


Then came the second day were we went through physical testing.
Let see what happened oh yeah I got breathalyzed first thing there. I have never in my life been breathalyzed before, but I guess there is a first time for everything. I don't drink that much anyways so this wasn't a problem for me. But I am sure they have had idiots come to this thing drunk before. Then of course we got a full physical exam by a doctor and got blood drawn and took a hearing test. Then came the drug test now this is nothing new to me I have taken them before for pre-employment jobs, but this is the first time I have ever taken one with 5 other dudes standing shoulder to shoulder and with a doctor standing right in front of me. I was trying to see how well the doc enjoyed this part of his job. He just kinda seemed to be staring at the wall behind me or maybe he was mentally undressing me with his eyes and enjoying it too who knows. But I have to say there is nothing that I whipped out of my pants that should have come to any great surprise I mean I am a dude and he is a doctor so yeah.

Then came the eye test and yes this is the part I FAILED. Apparently I learned yesterday I have crappy depth perception. On top of my already not so great vision. Doc did give me a little encuragement well he said I did once have someone with slightly worse vision then you and after a while we got him in. He said hey otherwise if you didn't have such crappy eyes you would be more then qualified. I will try and get a waiver from the surgeon general as we speak on this issue. Yeah I admit I was disappointed and really let down I didn't get to stand with the rest of my group and do the swearing in ceremony.

Oh yeah did I mention the "duck walk"? Yeah I understand what most of this physical test was to see your balance and things but some of this just seemed ridicluous. One part is you have to "walk" on your knees with your feet up for like 10 steps. Oh man did my knees hurt after that yeah.

Things I found interesting-

Over and over again they tell you how it is a violation of federal law to with hold or provide false information in order to gain enlistment in the military. And of course they tell you how many years in prison you will spend and how big the fine will be and just basicly how the federal government will come down on you with the force of a 1,000 suns if you falsify information.

One part on the health form said knowingly with holding health information can lead to serious injury or death during boot camp. Then it goes on to say with holding personal health information that could later disqualify you during boot camp would be a "great waste at taxpayer expense". And yes they say this many times. I am thinking really what about all the money that is wasted at "great taxpayer expense" by the U.S. congress every year? Why don't they give congress men this talk? They waste our taxpayer money all the time and still get to keep their jobs!

You also get this briefing on safety and security while your at the MEPS center. One of the things in the brief went something like should our threat posture be elevated while you are here seek your liaision or staff member immediatly. Really our "threat posture"? What is this place going to be attacked by terrorists? I am sure I have a better chance of dying in a tragic vacuum cleaner accident after my Hoover upright decided to strangle me then dying at the MEPS center.
Then the commander guy shows us a schematic of the building on his power point and points out all the emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and first aid kits. Oh yes the first aid kits may come in handy he tells us as the threat of massive bleeding is high from paper cuts after all the paper work you have to fill out today. YES! I thought, I am actualy in a death proof building I feel so safe now.

Irony-

I have heard stories from my dad a Vietnam vet and others about some of the drastic measuers "draft evaders" took during the 1960s early 1970's era to avoid military service. Like people slamming their hand in car doors purposely breaking bones and even illegally immigrating to Canada. I am thinking what the hell were these people thinking? Hell if you don't want to be in the military just tell the doc you can't see past the third line on the dam eye chart and there then your done.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
'SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY! COUNTRY, MY CORPS.'

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, 'CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.'

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
'MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.'

This poem was written by a Marine.

It looks like we're planning to bring the site up Monday night. While we were originally aiming for this weekend, we're currently waiting on the paperwork to process at our new colo facility. While the tech team works 24/7 the back office team is a 9-5 crew. This may turn out to be a good thing as they are expecting snow, and the first snow of the season can usually be kind of hazardous road condition wise. =P

We'll keep you updated as usual.

On the plus side here's the good news: we're upgrading to a 100Mbit dedicated line, which is roughly 25% more bandwidth. In addition, our new deal allows Fur Affinity to operate its main data center at roughly 40% cheaper costs. This will allow us to further invest money into better hardware, upgrades and permit us to do off-site backups.

(Note: With all due respect to Canada, our new colo facility shall remain in Virginia.)

Fur Affinity will be returning [this space intentionally left blank]*.

* Update shall be later tomorrow to fill in the gap

---------------------

I was able to down to the root of things. The entire outage goes down to a hardware problem on XO Communications. XO Communications did not have replacement hardware for the fiber lines that went down, and had to order it. Much like Comcast, when they say "we'll have a technician there at 2pm" and by the time 6pm rolls around he hasn't shown up, XO Communications dropped by ball.

The entire issue was supposed to have been fixed by Tuesday night. This entire outage can, should and will be blamed on them. I'm not going to excuse the total lack of communication on our host's part, but that's another story altogether.

I sincerely apologize for the outage, the inconvenience and frustration this has caused. This is not how we want FA to be known, and we've been striving to improve everything, and we'll be doing just that in the coming months.

I have more I could say, and say venomously, but I'm going to hold my tongue. I've been working on FA and pulling servers up until midnight. I'm tired, and shall retire to bed. For now, adieu.

Just as an FYI - as I posted to the FA Twitter, we have put out a few quotes and bids on alternative hosting for other colos. We find the current situation to be unacceptable, and do not approve of how things are being handled.

While we we do not have new information at this time, we're checking into and examining all available options.

Update 1 - 02DEC@12:01 EST
We've found a solid co-location facility in Montreal, Canada. I am waiting to hear back from some other quotes at this time.

Update 2 - 02DEC@13:55 EST
Talking to two other colos - one of which is in walking distance from my apartment. They local one is offering a deal that may be "too good to be true" due to recent expansion (they're trying to fill space ASAP, so the deal may be legit) but we're investigating it. It *is* from a legit company that's been in business for 10+ years, so... we'll check it out.

More detail as follows. We're not rushing into this, and we want to do things right.

Update 3 - 02DEC@18:41 EST
I have a scheduled tour of a new colo tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. If it's as good as everything appears to be be, this will not only be a professional colo/hosting solution (with a promised 99.9% uptime backed by an SLA) but will save Fur Affinity quite a bit of money annually.

We will keep you informed.

NOTE: I know we're even not three days into this outage (Outagegate), but I would like to re-iterate one thing: this will NOT be an issue like last August. We will not need donations, nor ask for them. If anybody tells you otherwise you have our permission to slap them.