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So this morning I got up around 6am to get ready for my morning tennis match. As I always do I checked my email for anything urgent (fixed a problem with the UDP deployment) and then brought up www.FamilyPlanIt.com which is my test to make sure all the websites and the emails are working. I see an error that the server is down. Upon a quick check I find that the server cannot boot – ohhh noooo!! That’s not good; that usually means the hard drive is dead or at best the operating system must be re-installed. Unfortunately, at 6:30am there is no way to cancel tennis and one cannot no-show as that is considered quite rude. So off to tennis I went even though all of our websites are down.
It’s at this time on the way to tennis that I ask God to
- Help me get through tennis quickly and
- Please don’t let it be a bad Hard Drive
Well he answered me with more clarity than I have ever before felt.
- Tennis is two out of three sets or 1 ½ hours whichever comes first. Normally it takes 1 ¼ hours to play two sets, but today I beat my opponent 6-2, 6-0. We’ve played before and I lost the first match and barely won the second time we played. In addition, I was done in 40 minutes and on my way home to fix the server.
- When I got home I was dreading the likelihood that the hard drive was dead and the fact that a backup probably hadn’t been done for almost 6 weeks. I had let everything else be a priority and while I had only a month ago made the uploaded files redundant I was waiting for the next beta of SQL Server (any day now) to make the database redundant. With all the pressures of the UDP project this was a back burner item since FamilyPlanIt pays no bills. Bad planning, Negligence, stupid – no doubt! Let alone the fact that there was several hundred hours of work from Intrastar Inc. websites that would have to be re-created. Here’s the good part… Not only was the hard drive OK, but I used the Windows repair feature and for the first time ever it actually worked in restoring windows to a functional state. Now that might not seem like too big a deal except for the fact that in 5-6 previous attempts it has never worked – I have always had to re-install everything. Around 12:30 all the websites were back online; getting us back up in just a couple of hours, well shy of the 6-8 hours it probably would have taken to re-install and re-configure everything from scratch.
- And finally in the midst of all of this we were trying to get furniture for our office and the big Union Pacific auction that was starting at 9am. Yesterday, Melody and I checked on it and were astounded by the insane amounts that a company will spend to equip their office. Upon checking the manufacturer’s websites we could see that for UP $10,000-$20,000 for an executive’s desk is no big deal. They had lots of these – Apparently the executives needed the latest model. Sure it’s good quality stuff but even at auction prices you would be spending lots. So this itself led to a crises of faith, is Intrastar Inc. what God wants me to be doing? How can we be sure? Do we take a risk and assume we will be successful even though we may not have a replacement contract come March? Anyway, in the midst of all the above we got some of the most incredible deals ever. Sorry, I didn’t get a $20,000 desk, but God provided us just about everything else that we need to complete our office for around $1000. Given that these items would retail for $15,000+ I am truly amazed at what he has provided for us. To this you might also say, but that’s how auctions work – nay nay I tell you. We got two of the best deals of the auctions.
- Most of the typical reception stations were selling for $400-$600, we got (2) huge Mahogany wood executive reception stations for $150.
- The $3,000 desks were selling for around $600, we got mine for $275
I just wanted to share this with everyone as it has been one incredible day.
Thanks be to God.
Jeff Glenn
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