So, here is the first stab at a “wish list” parts list:

• Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 $59.99
• Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II SS-500GM 500W $94.99
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R $114.99
• Processor: Intel C2Q Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz/12MB 95W $219.99
• Memory: G.Skill (2 x 2GB) 240-pin DDR2 1066 $59.99
• HDD: <TBD>

Total: TBD, currently @ $549.95

I am uncertain what I want out of a HDD at this point. I almost debate going for something like a 10k raptor drive, just because I will be using this for VM’s, so I would like to have a level of performance. Potentially a WD 150GB ($179.99) or a WD 300GB ($229.99), putting my total at $729.94 - $779.94. However, I also realize I will not be throttling the machine by any means, so it is probably unnecessary — in which case I could use one of my old 500GB’s from my current WHS.

Additionally, I do not plan on a video card for this server, being as it is pointless. I would either temporarily borrow a video card during setup, or if a motherboard happens to have onboard video, well that’s fine too — but still not required.

I originally decided to go with this configuration so that I could finally retire my previous virtual server, a PowerEdge 2800, which is a very noisy, power-hungry monster. However, due to the stability issues I am having, I feel I should default back to the PE2800 as my main virtual server in the home, and put dedicated resources back to the WHS. This means reinstalling Server 2008 and Hyper-V on the PE2800. Luckily, I did my research in advance and found my Intel Xeon 7030 chip and verified that it supports Intel VT.

However, a few minutes prior to reinstalling, I had a drive in my RAID5 configuration fail. So I spent several hours this evening rebuilding this array. During this time, I had popped open the Dell Open Manage software, and I saw that “Virtual Technology” was listed as “NO.”

I thought to myself, “this is no good,”  but obviously since my processor supports IntelVT, everything will be fine, right? Wrong. Apparently Dell didn’t think about Virtualization back when they were making the 18xx/28xx series, even after the most current BIOS update. So basically Server 2008 with Hyper-V is out of the question.

So where does this leave me? Honestly? I have no idea. I have a few options, none of which I like:

1. Leave the unstable Server 2008 box in production, and turn off the PE2800.
2. Remove 2008 on the WHS, and use the PE2800 w/ VS2k5 to run VM’s
3. Build a new low-budget Virtual Server machine

Obviously option #1 is cheapest, but also the biggest pain to live with. #3 is my ideal scenario, but this is a major set back for some other budgetary goals I have currently. Which, sadly, leaves me with option #2, which sucks. I will be losing my Hyper-V test-bed for the sake of stability. While I do not do a lot with it, Hyper-V has been fun to play with and I would like to continue, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen.

This has been a particularly bad week for myself. We have some large projects to complete, and I am getting a lot of what feels like push back and/or uncooperativeness from co-workers and vendors. Without going into too much detail, I will let you in on a little secret… I am not magical. Shocking. I know.

Completely unrelated, I would like to pick up Illustrater and After Effects and learn to make Typography videos. It sounds like it would be a fun time-waster that is a project that has next to do with the type of things I do at work. However, I have a feeling it takes more time than I would be able to dedicate to it, not to mention those tools are expensive. Maybe someday.

Oh how time goes by so fast…

I tend to like most vampire-related movies, so naturally I like this show. However, it suffers from the standard TV-show routine of end on a cliff-hanger so every one wants to watch next week. While this works, I hate it. I like conclusiveness.

The bad news, there won’t be a new episode next Sunday (probably because of the Holiday weekend). So next Sunday’s True Blood Sunday event is canceled. Lame. I need to go back to watching shows that already done, so I can simply watch them back-to-back on a weekend and get my closure.

Oh, I also mowed that jungle I call a backyard today. Hooray.

This actually worked out well since Mr. Overby stopped in Sioux Falls late last night to hang out and then do his own house-thing earlier this morning, which meant he was also in town and able to come hang out.

We managed to stick around for the afternoon grill-out, as well as an early round of drinks. Kwon and a few of this other friends ended up going to a concert, and my penny-pincherness stepped in and we decided to split ways there and get back together afterward.

However, this did not happen.

First, Jeff was in town, so we ended up sticking around the bar for another hour or so drinking a bit more. This was fun, we don’t get to see Lazy much anymore since he only seems to come to town for big events… and our movie gatherings usually are not good enough for him. Lame. Oh, yeah. He was only in town for the mini-Kiss concert. Scary.

When we got back to the house to take a breather from celebrating, we found our block party in our neighborhood was still going on. Well, we couldn’t just be “those” neighbors and not go. So we went out to make an appearance, say hello, etc.

We ended up sticking around until 2 or 3am, quite honestly — I don’t remember how late it was. What I do remember, is there was a huge bouncy-castle type-thing that was more of a American Gladiators course. Jump through a hole, squeeze through the fence, jump the wall, climb the higher wall, slide to victory!

This was great and all, except a night of drinking plus an obstacle course was not the best decision one could make. Ultimately, we had to go sit down around the fire and relax and chit-chat with the neighborlings. This turned out to be quite enjoyable as this served us this concoction of beer, vodka and lemonade. Everything gets fuzzy after that.

However, lately I have been gathering more shoes. I’m not quite to the point where I feel like J.T. with a wall of shoes, but I actually have options now. Holy crap.

In other news, Mr. Seth was in town today and swung by the office. It worked out pretty well, we got to hang out in the later afternoon, and grabbed some supper at The Ref. Marshall should be relocated to Brandon. That would simplify things greatly… and also give Seth no state income tax, which I am sure he would like to have.

[cry] I just made a post mainly about shoes. [/cry]

In fact, I believe pretty much the entire group enjoyed the movie. It probably helped that we heard the poor reviews, so our expectations were low, which meant it could only go up from there.

I believe my favourite review was something the long the lines of “It’s like watching a blender for two hours while someone shouts at you.”

While this was fairly accurate, I was still thoroughly  entertained. The movie had Megan Fox, robots, Megan Fox, explosions, Megan Fox, robots fighting. I really fail to see a downfall?

“Riggs!”

In all seriousness though, the movie was actually pretty good. Plus, it was a good excuse to get 6 or 7 of us out together — so no complaints here.

In Dell’s ten days of deals, one of the deals is a new Seagate 1.5 TB hard drive for $99.99, with free shipping. Compared to NewEgg’s price of $129.99, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Amazingly, I am a little low on hard drive space, and could use another hard drive in my Home Server. I must admit that I am temped to pick one up… but I think I have spent enough money on frivolous things for awhile, sad-boosh.

Today we went out to supper for Father’s day, it was a good time. We had good family conversation, and lots of laughs, and no one killed anyone. It was a good day.