Total Conversion

So my day job includes doing some work on MS Exchange 2010.  I'm a stats guy and like digging in the log files to get details on the systems I work with. I was asked to pull some stats out of Exchange and went straight into the Message Tracking logs. By the unwritten laws of loggiles you will get a ton of information, some of which you don't need.  I identified the fields important to me and wrote this python script to parse a folder full of log files into a summarised set of .csv files that you can process further. In my test case, I copy the log files from 4 production servers into a dev box and then run the script there.  This way there is a minimal performance / disk impact to the production users. I am *NOT* a python programmer so make fun of the code if you wish, I won't be offended.  This script is basically a product of much googling and reading of docs.python.org. # parse Exchange 2010 MessageTracker Log Files # (c) Ian Stoffberg # 0) make fo...

Picked up a cherished cd from my high school years. The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. About $5 at a local flea market. I hope my brother still has his. I see it selling for $129 on Amazon. I have the dvd set as well. I can highly recommend it. Acoustic Sting, Phil Collins, Donovan, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton & Bob Geldof. 11 tracks at just over 40 minutes. Interesting history linked to the cd. Highly recommended. http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Policemans-Other-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032V3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Policeman's_Other_Ball http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GP5TMM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000032V3&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0FZPV75N0R4PKM2BPBYG Also picked up Prodigy's Fat of the Land and Portishead's Dummy for similar prices. Come to Cape Town people and I hope you're just as lucky! http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Policemans-Other-Various-A...

How did I get to 43 years old without realising that "Moon over Bourbon Street" by Sting is about a vampire? Confession and realisation documented on my blog if you are bored. http://istoff.blogspot.com

Long winded titles aside, it was quite a humbling and interesting little moment from my day that lead to this post.              I am not sure if I need to engage the tag at this point, but I've decided to blog this without getting all my thoughts in order.  A little brainstorm is in order as I really don't think I should spend any more time thinking about this without committing some of my thoughts to the web. Probably about 23 years ago, by my reckoning, Sting released his second solo album "Nothing like the Sun".  An evolution of his previous "Dream of the Blue Turtles" and an album I thoroughly enjoyed listening to many times over.  Some of the songs had really interesting lyrics and easily had me reading them over and over trying to "get" the message behind them.  Songs about Pinochet & Noah & human emotion were easily decoded and understood while some you just appreciated them because you enjoyed listening and singi...

Not a big believer in the whole Groupon type system before. I joined Dealify here in South Africa and bought a pair of sunglasses at a good discount. I got the voucher a few days ago and I was wondering what the hell to do with it? Do I present it at the store or mail to somebody or what? I was still pondering the question today when the sunglasses were delivered by overnight courier. I guess that answers the question.

Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Forza 4, FIFA12. I'm going to get serious carpal tunnel.