Bend in the Weather

I'm eagerly awaiting large amounts of presents for all those demanding users out there that think sleep is a value-added extra for Sysadmins, or that weekends/public holidays/holidays in general are something that don't apply to us.

Today is System Administration Appreciation Day.

So before you ring me up today to fix your urgent problem, ensure to have that present sent over first.
Any calls raised without the appropriate attached gift will be ignored today.

Geek presents earn additional bonus points. Caffeine and chocolate substances are also welcome.

It's now approaching 3:00am...

It's almost 7 days since I had 5 teeth surgically removed, yet the pain seems to be increasing not decreasing.

Two nights this week has seen me head in to the emergency department looking for some form of pain relief.

Currently the Panadeine Forte only manages to take the tip of the edge off the pain. I now have pain from my lower jaw that heads right up to my temple on the left side.

I've gone back to the surgeon twice already, yet I'm told that 'all looks good'. However, from speaking to others the pain normally subsides by now or at least is on the decrease. The pain itself doesn't appear to be in the gum, it appears more in the jaw bone itself.

So I'm back to see the surgeon again tomorrow. I'm wondering if x-rays should be looked at now (could my jaw have been fractured in the process of the tooth removal?). Do I have an infection in the bone?! Do pain killers no-longer have any effect on me?!?!

Something is seriously amiss... I'm going to perch at the surgeon's office and not leave until some further investigation is done. It's crazy, this pain is about 3 times that of the pain I had pre-surgery.

I can't even knock myself out with some heavy shots of alcohol due to the large amounts of codeine I've taken; for fear of the possibility of respiratory failure. (Hence why you should never drink and take heavy pain killers). I'm wondering if it's prudent to come off them (the drugs) and soley use alcohol for pain relief?!? At least I could pass out and get some sleep.

I haven't had a decent night's sleep for over 3 weeks now, and tonight appears it's going to be one more night that I either sit killing some time in front of the computer, or lie awake in bed watching the digits on the clock tick past.

I originally intended on heading back to work on Wednesday (that boat has already sailed). I am hoping I can get back on Monday, though some serious head-way is going to need to be made if that has any likelihood of happening.

Dear lazyweb, if any of you out there have some ideas how to relieve some serious pain I'm all open to suggestions. To be honest, I'm pretty desperate.... feel free to leave a comment. As the topic states... I'm at my wits end.

Yesterday I had surgery under a General Anesthesia to remove 5 teeth (4 wisdom teeth, and a baby pre-molar that never got a secondary tooth; but had decided it had hung around long enough ).

The day surgery saw us arrive at 12:30pm to 'sign-in' though I didn't actually get the pre-med until just after 5:00pm. So a mind numbing wait of 4.5 hours was undertaken. (Even worse was the fact that my last food and any form of liquid was 7:30am, and it seemed the only thing showing on the blaring waiting room TV was food shows. ). That resulted in a nice headache by mid-afternoon as my blood sugar levels dropped.

The surgery itself was a success, I left the operating theatre just after 7pm, and it took just over an hour in the recovery room. There I was treated to food that makes everything better (icecream and jelly), as well as a glass of apple juice and another of water.

Pauline took good care of me, and kept me company during the long wait before hand (though she ignored my pleads to head off and not blow her whole afternoon waiting around in the waiting room). Whilst I was in surgery she headed home (only 5 mins down the road) to attempt a bite to eat (that didn't happen as they called her back as she was about to commence eating), but she did have time to wash some bed sheets, feed the dogs and get ready for my return (buying/making some additional yummy goodies that I could eat/drink).

Swelling is well down (I expected to look like a bullfrog this morning, but it's quite minimal). I'll continue using ice-packs on either side of my face every few hours, to lessen it further.

It appears that besides the general, that the surgeons also applied a local to my bottom jaw, to aid in pain relief. The local worked extremely well, although it gave the sensation I had a bear's tongue and not my own for most of last night.

Since waking this morning, the local has long worn off, and I'm in relatively good spirits. I'm using the Panadine Forte for pain relief (in fact the pain is minimal at this stage -- which is brilliant!).

I came home brandishing a swag of mouth rinses, painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the next few days; I should be hopefully back to full steam in a short time.

This will be a weekend of rest and time to re-assess early next week. I'll potter online a little, but it's more from boredom than a burning desire to be on the computer (I'm not much value above useless at present!).

A big thanks to all the well-wishes I've received over the past few weeks... it's great to know others are thinking of you. Thankfully this saga appears to be quickly drawing to a near and I'll be my annoying, harassing and cheeky self in no-time (so beware!).

Responding to Sandra's Post on the top 25 IMDB movies...

(Bold the ones you saw in theater, italicize the ones you saw some other way instead, and leave the unseen ones alone.)

Here's my scores:

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $423,032,628
7. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
8. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) $380,262,555
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $377,019,252
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $373,377,893
11. The Passion of the Christ (2004) $370,270,943
12. Jurassic Park (1993) $356,784,000
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $340,478,898
14. Finding Nemo (2003) $339,714,367
15. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $336,530,303
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $329,691,196
17. The Lion King (1994) $328,423,001
18. Shrek the Third (2007) $320,706,665
19. Transformers (2007) $318,759,914
20. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $317,557,891
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $313,837,577
22. Iron Man (2008) $311,708,133
23. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $310,675,583
24. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) $309,404,152
25. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $309,125,40.

I knew I was a movie whore, but 23 outta 25... wow. (I'm planning on seeing Iron Man, and never really was interested in the The Passion of the Christ).

It seems I do enjoy the big screen... there's nothing like cuddling up with a loved one and watching something fly out and hit you whilst you both jump and cluth each other. Having said that, it's mainly the 'big titles' I go to the movies to watch, I probably see a ratio of 50:1 (Home:Cinema).

Well... that filled in 5 minutes of boredom as I wait to head to the hospital...

I will be out of action for just under week as I go in to have 5 teeth removed.

I must say a big thanks to Pauline for pampering me leading up to it. (and the big slushy cook-up she's undertaking!) I think I've got soup for a year!
She's also pureed up a roast, so that will be an exciting 'experience' through a straw.
With those and jellies, and tinned fruit on the ready it should be a pleasant culinary experience. I guess I can probably throw in some warm custard as well.

I go in tomorrow, so I'll be drugged up heavily over the weekend (I am going to attempt to sleep through the weekend), but hope to make a speedy recovery (fingers crossed). I'm hoping I can be back to work on Wednesday if all goes well... though I'll see how we go.

It will be great to get off the painkillers after this all... sucking heavy painkillers every few hours hasn't been fun over the past fortnight.

I have learnt some great tips on dealing with mouth/teeth pain along the way:

• Use regular salt mouth washes every few hours. Directions: One tablespoon of table salt, to a glass of warm water. Rinse your mouth with it, and spit. Repeat until the glass is empty.
  (Believe it or not, after the 3^rd time -- you get used to it.)
• Applying either two whole cloves (place between gum and cheek above the tooth in question), or clove oil onto the affected tooth/gum is a great natural painkiller. It works extremely well!
• Keep out of wind or any chilly air. This also includes whilst sleeping, you may need to warm the room you are sleeping in to avoid a painful night sleep.
• Cold drinks nuked for 10-20 seconds in the microwave ensures a pleasant experience, works with water and fruit juices especially well.
• Use a dental mouth wash like Listerine or the like after eating if painful, as it will numb the area.

It's been a revelation to me, as I have only ever had one filling in my life, and never suffered toothache before. Hopefully some of these remedies/tips I've discovered over the past couple of weeks will be of benefit to someone else.

Ask any small business owner in Australia what drives them craziest running their business.
More often then not the answer will be their accounting software.

Why? It's not because they are unable to understand the principles of double-entry accounting or even the tax system imposed on them.

No, its the lack of a decent, flexible and affordable solution.

The two most popular business accounting packages for the SME is either MYOB and QuickBooks. Both have huge hurdles, and it's not uncommon for users to find that they spend more time attempting to work the software than the software working for them.

I have previously blogged about the issue when talking about how Linux is difficult for many Aussie SMEs to take up. (Mainly due to their critical accounting software only available under Windows, though it is possible to run them under WINE if required). Though getting these Windows programs running under Linux doesn't actually solve the problem, it just migrates it. You are still stuck attempting to drive these frustrating accounting packages.

The Australian market is crying out for an alternative! It's something I've pondered over for some time.

An OSS based accounting and payroll system that put the source code directly in the hands of the users would be appealing to many.

I like the idea of a browser-based accounting system. It means end-users aren't restricted to one operating system platform, and in theory it doesn't need to be restricted to just a computer. (3G Accounting anyone?).

Accounting isn't fun, in fact it's dead-pan boring. It is however a required evil if you wish to be paid and be compliant with the taxation law. (Particularly GST, BAS reporting and PAYG).

I've looked at programs like SQL-Ledger and LedgerSMB, though both didn't 'fit right' for an Australian environment.

SYMBOL was promising. But unfortunately has been abandoned. fiveDASH, I played with for several hours, though I found it quite primitive and in it's infancy... it's one that at least has some promise, but it will need to progress quite some way to make it in any real production system for a business.

As such, I've decided to look at writing my own. This is purely selfish, as I would like to ditch MYOB come the 2009-2010 financial year. That gives me just under a year to get something up and running. I'll run a dummy book up til the time, by running MYOB in parallel to ensure all is working as required. The ATO also has some excellent test suites/scenarios to assist in testing an application.

The big choice now is from what components should I build it?

I think PostgreSQL is probably the most solid OSS database to use, though writing something that can also talk to MySQL (due to it's popularity) is probably also wise. End-users can then elect to run whichever they feel most comfortable for their backend.

I considered many languages, but I'm leaning towards PHP for a few reasons:

• Most SMB that have a Linux server for File and Print serving also have a LAMP environment already setup.
• Writing the system using say the Zend Framework ensures a lot of the ground work is already done. Working within their coding standards also ensures the code is reasonably clean and readable (and thus maintainable).
• Python was also considered, but it's more likely a SMB has a Apache/PHP environment over an Apache/Python setup
• I already have quite a number of generic PHP libraries that will mean I can get moving much faster. My Python libraries are no-where as extensive.
• A Java-based web app would be an overkill and likely to confuse many small business owners. (ie: Install a Java Application Server, etc.)
• SugarCRM is already popular in many SMBs. It would be quite easy to have an Accounting + Payroll package integrate into SugarCRM. Sugar is written in PHP, so it would make the job much easier if they both spoke the same language.

I haven't commenced any coding to date, and am still in the embryo stage of getting something up off the ground.

I'm interested to hear people's feedback with their thoughts. Do you think a PHP application (backended by your choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL) for your business accounts is feasible? (Obviously if 'approved' by the ATO as compliant).

Do SMB owners prefer the option of paid software with support packs? (like offered by MYOB and Quicken) they can fall back on? Would you not trust your business books to an OSS based accounting package? What other hurdles do you envisage if you used OSS accounting software?

We met with our builder out on site today. The last week didn't see much happen on the block as it's been raining on and off, however it's given the slab time to settle now, so that's a nice bonus.

The builder wanted to walk us through a few things.
Due to having brickwork in all the in fills (above the windows) it now means in order to finish the external brick work so it's flush with the eve; we need a ceiling height of 2610mm instead of 2570mm (as were originally in the plans). As a result we'll end up with 40mm higher ceilings for no extra cost! I'm happy with that outcome!

This weekend was the only chance for a while we've been able to get down to the block (between sick doggies - both came down with kennel cough, and being crook myself (a dose of bronchitis), and next week-end I'll be out of action as I'll just be out from surgery).

We noted the meter box has gone in, as well as we've got delivery of all the timber, windows, doors and bricks.


The builder has mapped out everything on the slab (where walls, doors, braces, etc. are to all go). It makes it a lot easier now as we can walk around on the slab and see how it will all look and have the right sizes. Things do look different from going from a plan to actually seeing it at the real 1:1 ratio.

It will only be a matter of a few weeks and we should be at "lock-up" stage.

From there things will move inside and we'll start seeing the internal work commence. It will also mean that any bad/wet weather won't delay us further.

All in all, we're on about schedule and we should hopefully be able to move in come mid-October/start of November.

I recently posted a subtle article in relation to microblogging. It may have been a little too subtle for many.

It seems a few other Linux Australia Planet readers also feel the same way about microbloggings from sites like twitter, delicio.us and the like.

I like reading the posts of what others are upto in the Linux community, even when not directly related to Linux per say. (it's a great way to discover new gadgets, general thoughts/opinions, and general useful information). We truly are a diverse community!
I find that microbloggings offer no substance of value to anyone but the author. That said, they are best left not syndicated. It appears that both Tim Connors and Andrew Pollock share my view.

Mary Gardiner has an interesting spin on the concept particularly when it comes to syndicating in a blog, actually her idea does have merits.

It's good to see that Michael Still has recognised it is an issue for people and provided a non-microblogged version of his feed. Though that didn't come without a retort.

Let's hope that PLA picks up this version... others that want the microblogged version can still then get it directly from him.

People that know me realise I'm not overly fond of the so called 'social' websites. Why?

Not because I'm anti-social (I'm far from it). I personally however find my time on the web is used more as a tool for research and my personal enjoyment. You won't find me Linked In, Facebooked, Twittered or MySpaced. I don't even have a delicio.us account (I have used a system very similar to delicious on our internal LAN for years prior to delicio.us so I have no need). I also don't feel the need for web-based group hug sessions which these so called 'social' websites appear to be all about. I'm also not in it for the popularity contest.
If someone wants to contact me, there are plenty of avenues available to do so. (I sit multiple IM and IRC networks and find these much more personal anyway) I keep in contact regularly with those that matter and really aren't that interested in chatting aimlessly to someone three-friends removed.

Personally, I feel microblogging has it's place. However it's best confined to the bounds it was created for (on twitter, facebook, etc). Microblogging needs context to make sense to the outside reader, and as such doesn't make sense to have it syndicated to planets. If I feel the need to pick up such microbloggings I can go directly to those sites.

Sure I can skip or filter it, but should I really need to?

The mobile connectivity we're starting to see now 3G is starting to become more widespread, will ensure microblogging will become more popular. I still see it in it's infancy and not too advanced. I suspect that future microblogging generations will allow people to use it to automate tasks (microblogging -> Home automation anyone?!). I suspect a microblog to a bank may in future also give me my account balance and other useful things (Microblogging -> street directions returned, etc). However, we're not there yet.

All in all, if you are happy with microblogging, more power to you. Ditto goes for social websites. For me, it doesn't meet my needs and something I choose to exclude myself from. I don't feel I'm missing out, in fact I feel empowered not being caught up in the hype that surrounds them all. I also find I can better use my time.

Anyway that's my $0.05 on the topic.

</rant>

Some of you have probably noticed I haven't been around as much as usual in the recent week.

Last Saturday night I discovered a large painful lump in my mouth, just under my eye tooth facing towards my tongue. To say it scared the life outta me is probably is an understatement.

I headed off to the doctor to get it checked out on Sunday, and he immediately referred me off to an Oral and maxillofacial Surgeon on the Monday.

She examined me and all my tooth and diagnosed it as a Tori (Lingual) Mandibularis which is basically a bone growth that attaches to your gum. It unfortunately can get quite inflamed and sore if bumped or eating hard food. This is probably what caused the initial pain. The thing isn't small either, and is probably about the size of a peanut M&M (for comparison).

Whilst there she gave me my entire mouth a good once over. She noted that I was in immediate need to remove my two left wisdom teeth, and wanted me to go off for an xray. (The xray is to confirm how close the facial nerve is to the roots of the wisdom teeth.) Something you don't want to hit!

So off for x-rays on Wednesday and back to see her for the results on Friday.

It appears that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, in addition the upper left maxillary first pre-molar. The pre-molar is still my baby tooth (I didn't get any secondary tooth -- and it's long past it's expiry and it's root systems have long given way.) This is also the cause of the severe tooth/gum pain I've been experience (but first put down to the tori). A closer inspection of the x-ray has revealed that 3 out of the 4 first pre-molars are baby teeth! One I've already had removed as a teen (upper right), so that probably leaves one in my bottom that will need attention in the future.

I've been scheduled in for surgery under a General Anesthesia for the removal of all 5 teeth on Friday (11^th July). The surgeon explained that having my wisdoms out latter in life normally ensures the gum bone is much tougher and the root systems much more advanced than that of a late-teen (when many people have them removed). This is why she recommends a general over doing them with a local in the chair. (I'm all for knocking me out for the procedure!) Luckily for me the facial nerve is quite a distance away from the tooth so it shouldn't pose any problem.

So at present -- it's been a week of heavy painkillers to take the edge off the pain, that with salt mouth washes and only luke-warm drinks to avoid aggravating it further.

Pauline's also grabbing some full cloves as we've been told that placing them on the tooth also works well for pain relief. At this stage, I'll try anything. Dosing up on codiene based pain killers for any length of time is never the best solution.

So whilst I'll be out of it for a little while, I am hoping after the operation I'll be back to my normal self shortly there after. I've been advised that it will take about 5 days to recover post-op, but I'll pay it by ear. I've already missed a fair bit of work this week. Luckily it falls on a Friday so I'll at least have the weekend to help in the recovery.

So it looks like soups, pureed meals, tinned fruit and jelly will be on the menu later this week! I wonder what a steak and 3 vegies are like through a straw?!

Update: The tori will stay in place. It's apparently extremely painful to remove (they have to drill/chip it away from the bone of the gum), and something they only wish to do as a last resort. The hole created is normally quite large and requires weeks to heal. So this will stay in place. As such I'll have to just be more careful with a toothbrush (so I don't crash into it when brushing) and when eating hard food. It basically just feels like stubbing your toe badly when hitting the tori...besides the unpleasant pain, it's not much to worry about.