Meet the new boss same as the old boss…
So the Madrid City Council punted the public safety building down the road yet again, again citing funds. (While somehow having $7 MILLION for Public Works?) Guess instead of a new and improved mayor & city council we got the same mayor & council we had just with different bodies in the seats. Seriously, how many years does it take to build ONE BUILDING. The mayor and council need to just come clean and admit they never had any intention of building the new public safety building because they keep letting the Public Works Director go on spending sprees every year. Save everyone the trouble, quit making empty promises you have no intention of ever keeping.
2020? Projects
(If you’re wondering about the title it’s that I doubt I’ll have the budget for any of this in the coming year so maybe next year..maybe.)
I think going forward I’m going to go back to building my PCs instead of buying machines, except obviously for if I replace my going on 10 year old laptop. Maybe buy a refurbished machine for a server depending on the use case but otherwise probably just go back to custom build – I could probably use the practice anyway since I think my last build was my NAS and that was in 2015. In the mean time I’ve been slowly adding/upgrading the PC I use as my primary what I can, which I’m still needing to add more memory and an upgraded network card since for some strange reason the onboard from HP is only 10/100 despite being on a new enough board to support an AMD Phenom II X4 840T. At some point though I’d like to build a new machine so I can support better graphics cards and more memory. (HP shipped with Intel graphics I think and I added a 1GB Radeon 5570 PCI Express card to be able to handle my 3 monitor setup.)
NAS Upgrades / FreeNAS Mk II
So in 2015 I built a new storage box to handle all my file storage and to be a central storage for my home lab virtual machines instead of chunks of storage spread out all over the place. However I did this more on a “how fast/cheap can I get this done?” method than planning for expandability/performance. I’m considering building a second one to use just for my XenServer VMs and leaving the first unit for file storage. I’m not sure how much I can upgrade to increase performance other than maybe additional memory – I’m currently only running 16 GB while the board supports 64 GB. I currently have all 12 bays filled, 7 3TB WD Red, 4 1TB Seagate Enterprise (migrated from old fileserver) and a 400 GB drive I threw in as it was laying around. I don’t have any SSDs installed, and none of the drives are assigned to L2ARC or ZIL so maybe replacing 1-2 of the 1TB drives with SSDs for those could help maybe. Any capacity increase would have to come from swapping out drives with larger capacity drives. I’ve debated about building a second unit to handle just the VM storage but I’m not sure if I will do that yet. I should note I’m not saturating the NICs yet so any bottleneck is likely in the storage itself (short of something in the switch – Cisco 2948G-GE-TX – preventing use of the full gigabit links).
Additional VM Host(s)
I currently have 2 Dell PowerEdge servers being used to run VMs however due to time between purchases they are far from matched.. one is a 2950 and the other is a R900. At some point I’d like to maybe build (or maybe buy) some closer to the R900 to give some room and allow for fail-overs as the R900 occasionally reboots itself. The 2950 doesn’t have the memory to handle all of the VMs failing over from the R900 (32 GB vs 128 GB). The reboots might just be a bad memory module but I haven’t torn the machine apart to try and diagnose this. Perhaps also adding some higher speed (10/40Gbit) network cards for future use (ie storage)
I’m sure I will probably come up with more going down the road but thought this would work for a post since the weather has not been noteworthy outside of being unusually warm for January.
(EDIT 1/6/19 12:55 AM – I realized I forgot a build)
VMWare/Hyper-V Host
I should probably build a small-ish host to try out running Hyper-V and/or VMWare that I can blow up if need be just to get some hands-on time since my main environment is built on XenServer. I think I have some parts towards this I can use so mainly probably just finding a motherboard that fits.
Gutenberg
This is a test post with the new ‘Gutenberg’ editor in WordPress. The last time I tried to use it was about a month ago and couldn’t even attach the image to the post I was trying to make, I ended up starting again with the regular editor just to be able to complete the post.
After some initial trials I seemed to have discovered at least partial cause to the image upload issues.. now why I was not seeing the issue in the classic editor last time I have no idea, as the cause (configuration on my nginx load balancer) should have resulted in the same error.
All The Rain
So how much rain has fallen? Short answer: a lot. The image below is a radar estimate from the NWS radar (KDMX) in Des Moines that I grabbed this morning.
(I tried to post it then but had issues getting the image to upload into WordPress, apparently something to do with Gutenberg since I’m writing now in the classic editor.)
July 31, 2018
Warning: Political post incoming.
Having been reading/listenting to the goings-on at city hall since April’s shitstorm has left me rather.. disappointed? disturbed? I’m not sure how to put it, but whatever it is – it is not good. People have been asking for the city council to be more transparent about things, but rather than making efforts to do so council members have balked or even seem offended that their word alone isn’t sufficient. Personally, why should I believe someone who has given me no reason to trust them? You say one thing but then fail to back it up through your actions. The council says they’re going to build a new public safety building, yet over 10 years later – no building, not even dirt work done.
At the council meeting on June 18th it was revealed that the Mayor/IT Director (yes, you read that right) disclosed the passwords to the police department’s email accounts to the county attorney and county sheriff. When asked why this was done he seemed to try to dodge the question, only to finally answer “because I have personal reasons”. If I as an IT person did that in any job I would be subject to disciplinary action, likely up to and including termination. What he did was inexcusable. Second, his explanation makes me question his ability as Mayor to do what’s right for the community instead of simply pursuing his personal wishes.
Also on the June 18th the Mayor and several city council members insisted on revisiting the idea of putting a computer in the police vehicles “to improve officer safety”. Now I can understand proposing the idea, but when the officers say it won’t do what the council thinks it will do, why keep insisting? Also it was revealed that apparently nobody can seem to find the chief’s contract. How do you lose a department head’s employment contract? Or is the city’s record keeping just that pathetically poor?
And then there was the Facebook post on the “Madrid Mayor” page on June 30th. I’d link to it, but the page has since been largely deleted. However someone grabbed a screenshot so I will quote from it:
"Saturday's educational information for those that feel strongly sitting behind a computer screen clamoring for live feeds
from the council meetings via from what I understand a YouTube channel."
I really do not care if it’s just recorded and uploaded later versus live streamed, as long as it is posted. Since I work in Des Moines and the council insists on meeting in the middle of the afternoon it makes it impossible for me to attend a meeting in person. But apparently the interim-Mayor thinks that since I work outside the city I do not have a right to know what is going on in city hall.
"Right now we are averaging only about 10 views per council meeting."
How can any one watch them when as far as I can tell they either a) do not exist, or b) are not published anywhere that they can be readily found.
Frankly at this point, as far as I’m concerned any claims about transparency from the current mayor & council are empty and meaningless. I don’t know who I’m voting for on the 31st, but at this point it won’t be either of the two current individuals.
I am tired of the empty promises. Don’t tell me you are going to do something, or that you support something, show me by your actions. Shut up and do it, maybe then I will start to believe you.
Tornado Watch 195 06/20/2018
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Tornado Watch Number 195
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
305 PM CDT Wed Jun 20 2018
The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a
* Tornado Watch for portions of
central and eastern Iowa
* Effective this Wednesday afternoon and evening from 305 PM
until 700 PM CDT.
* Primary threats include…
A couple tornadoes possible
Isolated damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible
Isolated large hail events to 1.5 inches in diameter possible
SUMMARY…Storms interacting with a warm front over central Iowa
will pose a risk for a few tornadoes this afternoon.
The tornado watch area is approximately along and 60 statute miles
north and south of a line from 35 miles southwest of Fort Dodge IA
to 45 miles east southeast of Cedar Rapids IA. For a complete
depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU5).
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
REMEMBER…A Tornado Watch means conditions are favorable for
tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch
area. Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for
threatening weather conditions and listen for later statements
and possible warnings.
&&
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 157
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 157
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
320 PM CDT Wed Jun 6 2018
The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
Western and Central Iowa
Extreme Northeast Kansas
Extreme Northwest Missouri
Eastern Nebraska
* Effective this Wednesday afternoon and evening from 320 PM
until 1000 PM CDT.
* Primary threats include…
Scattered large hail likely with isolated very large hail events
to 2 inches in diameter possible
Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph likely
SUMMARY…Storms developing along several diffuse boundaries are
expected intensify this afternoon and spread eastward and
southeastward through the evening hours. They will pose a threat
for large hail and damaging wind gusts as they expand in area over
the next few hours.
The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 65
statute miles north and south of a line from 60 miles southwest of
Columbus NE to 15 miles northeast of Des Moines IA. For a complete
depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.
Communication & Transparency
I was meaning to write this post last month after the city council meeting on April 16th, but between leaving for Kansas City later that week and end-of-semester projects at work I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and do it. I was rather disappointed by some of the posts on Facebook ahead of that meeting, namely those by city council members including one questioning “why people were posting about a topic on Facebook instead of coming to the council meeting.” For starters, the post in question started out specifically saying to go to the upcoming council meeting on the 16th. Second, people are going to talk things the mayor & council do because they can wherever and whenever they wish, be it on Facebook or at the cafe, whether you like it or not. Second, you complain about people “spreading rumors” yet you insisted people had to come to the council meeting, where you read a canned statement that could have been posted online days earlier instead of leaving things open to speculation over an entire weekend.
I still question if the claims about the mayor were truly a rumor, since two years ago I was at a meeting in Boone and was asked afterwards by an attendee (who lives clear across the county from me) “if I had met Madrid’s new Public Safety Director”. I responded “No, we don’t have a public safety director, we have a new Fire Chief..” He then proceeded to tell me about what then-Mayor Ringgenberg had told him. No mention of the city creating this position had been made in the Madrid paper. Why am I finding out things that the mayor & council are doing from somebody on the other side of Boone County before it ever comes up in a council meeting?
Council members also talk about residents not having information, yet make no effort to make information available to residents. Council meeting agendas aren’t posted to the city’s website until hours before the meeting, or in some cases after the meeting is over. The council meetings are held at 5:30 PM, which while convenient for the council who have maybe 5 minute commutes from their workplaces, not so much for residents who work in Des Moines and are still working or in their cars at 5:30. Woodward has their council meetings at 7:00, as do Granger and Ogden. Slater has their meetings at 7:30. Polk City and Boone have their council meetings at 6:00, both of which also their meetings and post them on YouTube. Most of them also include more information in their minutes than Madrid’s, then again so does about every other city in the state. I checked the city’s website on April 15th for the council agenda for the meeting the following night, nothing. Meanwhile I downloaded the entire public council packet for West Des Moines (who, along with Des Moines, broadcast their meetings on a city cable TV channel and stream it live on their websites.)
It’s 2018, time for the mayor & council to catch up with the rest of the world.
Hello..Summer?
I haven’t dug into the forecast real far today but it looks to be a hot one this weekend. Highs this weekend into the holiday are forecast right around 90 so drink plenty of water if you’re planning to be outside, especially on the trail or the river.