Grand Central Encounter

There are certain people you meet along the way in this life, that when you do meet them, you think to yourself: "that was pretty cool".  My wife and I met a train conductor from Queens tonight. We talked to him for about ten minutes or so. It was just a neat encounter to me.  But I think, somehow, it may have been good for him also.  Below is inside Grand Central Station. It's called the whispering hall. It's where the encounter happened.

Inside Saint Patrick's Cathedral

The Tree

Such an awesome Christmas Tree.

Small Trip...

Decided to come to the best city in the USA...

Quote For The Day: 37

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin

Merry Christmas!

Let us not forget, that a Savior was born of a virgin, lived sinless on the Earth, took our place and took the punishment for our sins, died on that cross, and rose from the dead three days later. And He lives today. Merry Christmas!

The Silence Of Christmas Eve...

In the midst of Christmas parties and family gatherings, I experienced a moment tonight that I won't soon forget. As my wife and I were at home, I walked outside to the back yard and down my back steps, only to notice the sound of literally nothing. No neighborhood dogs barking. No constant sound of traffic on the larger streets. No one coming or going into the neighborhood. Literally nothing. It actually seemed quite eerie. I don't recall ever hearing that before here in Birmingham this year. It was actually nice when I think about it.

It's Christmas Eve!

Cisco Oldie

Haven't seen this model in a while...

Good-bye Brocade

In case you don't know, I've recently just left working for Brocade (Broadcom, or whoever is going to be on the IP side). Even though it was a short time, I have to say it was mostly a good experience.

Pic Of The Week: Montgomery Christmas Tree

Coming in 2017... White Rhino Security

I'm going to refer you to my new page on this blog. White Rhino Security

Neighborhood Watch

Wednesday night at 10 pm, my wife and I went on a self scheduled neighborhood watch in our area. I've been so fed up with all the crime where I live, we decided to do this tonight. Within two hours of driving around our Birmingham neighborhood, we actually caught someone. They ran and I'm hoping they won't be back, now that they know we in this neighborhood, are watching.
If you are fed up with crime in your area, take part in something like this. Its worth it.

Time Out For Desert...

A BRC (Brocade resident consultant) and I came across a Venezuean restaurant yesterday at lunch. I'm really not one for trying new foods, but this below was really good.  Plums and cream cheese together.

Home Projects: Kreg Jig

My sales guy was taking me about this tool called a kreg jig. I have to admit, I had never heard of such a thing. Basically, this tool helps you put screws in wood so that 1. they can be hidden and 2. it can help your projects come out stronger built. What's not to like about that?
So I'm no pro when it comes to making stuff. I do the best I can and it's a long shot from looking like something that comes out of a catalog. However, I'm doing better now that I bought this kreg jig tool. This was my first project:

So this is going to hold my TV, among a free other decorative things. We wanted our TV up higher, so I built this. It's study and after staining or painting it, should do the job.
Here is what the kreg jig looks like and a few pictures of the "during" the build, to give you an idea on how it works.

Sunday Thought: 2 Peter 3:10-11

IoT

I went to discuss Brocade gear with a customer today (the new 7150s).  We ended up talking about IoT. This technology stuff is getting way out of hand. When thinking about security in the home, I'll probably be a "last adopter" of IoT. Hacking is already an issue. Now security to the home environment is going to be a thought to contend with.

Brocade Switch: ICX6610 POE Upgrade

I know I have posted on this at some point, but I wanted to cover it again.  Here is how you upgrade the POE firmware on an ICX switch.  10.10.10.1 is my tftp server where my firmware is located.

ICX6610-24P Switch#inlin power install-firmware stack 1 tftp 10.10.10.1 fcx_poeplus_02.1.0.b004.fw
ICX6610-24P Switch#Flash Memory Write (8192 bytes per dot)
....................
 tftp download successful stackId = 1 file name = poe-fw
Sending PoE Firmware to Stack Unit 1.
PoE Warning: Upgrading firmware in slot 1....DO NOT SWITCH OVER OR POWER DOWN THE UNIT.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...sending download command...
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...TPE response received.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...sending erase command...
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...erase command...accepted.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...erasing firmware memory...
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...erasing firmware memory...completed
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...sending program command...
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...sending program command...accepted.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...programming firmware...takes around 6 minutes....
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....10 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....20 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....30 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....40 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....50 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....60 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....70 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....80 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....90 percent completed.
U1-MSG: PoE Info: Firmware Download on slot 1.....100 percent completed.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...programming firmware...completed.
PoE Info: FW Download on slot 1...upgrading firmware...completed. Module will be reset.
PoE Info: Resetting in slot 1....
PoE Info: Resetting module in slot 1....completed.
PoE Info: Programming Brocade defaults.....
PoE Info: Programming Brocade defaults. Step 1: Writing port defaults on module in slot 1....
PoE Info: Programming Brocade Defaults: Step 2: Writing PM defaults on module in slot 1.
PoE Info: Programming Brocade defaults. Step 3: Writing user byte 0xf0 on module in slot 1.
PoE Info: Programming Brocade defaults. Step 4: Saving settings on module in slot 1.
PoE Info: Programming Brocade defaults....completed.

People Are People

I love this video. People are people man.

How To Reboot A Juniper Firewall Remotely With SSH Access

Real quick.  I had to reboot a Juniper firewall not long ago (because of some VPN issues).  Here is how to reboot the Juniper Firwall when you are remote, and you have SSH access into it.

Remote Management Console
juniperfirewall-> reset
System reset, are you sure? y/[n] y
In reset ...

Sunday Thought: 2 Peter 3:10-11

Home Projects: Pantry Shelves

In the old '35 house, I needed to add some pantry shelves. I wanted to add something with a wood look, since the countertops are butcher block. This was simple and serves the purpose.

Cisco Config: Router Being Used For Remote-Access VPN

I've done this config already in the past, but I think its worth mentioning again for those who will grab whatever they have on a shelf to make a VPN work.  I did grab a Cisco 2801 off of a shelf, simply because I needed something to change out a Juniper VPN router that was giving me problems.  Here is the config for adding a remote-access config in for VPN in back into a site.

access-list 111 deny ip 10.250.251.0 0.0.0.255 10.0.0.0 0.255.255.255
access-list 111 permit ip any any
access-list 101 permit ip 10.250.251.0 0.0.0.255 10.0.0.0 0.255.255.255
ip local pool ippool 10.250.251.50 10.215.251.250

ip nat inside source list 111 interface FastEthernet0/1 overload

username cisco password anyoldpassword
aaa new-model
aaa authentication login userauthen local
aaa authorization network groupauthor local

crypto isakmp policy 3
 encr aes 256
hash sha
 authentication pre-share
 group 2

crypto ipsec transform-set myset esp-aes 256 esp-sha-hmac

crypto isakmp client configuration group vpncl1ent
 key myvpnkey
domain cisco.com
pool ippool
 acl 101

crypto dynamic-map dynmap 10
 set transform-set myset
 reverse-route

crypto map clientmap client authentication list userauthen
crypto map clientmap isakmp authorization list groupauthor
crypto map clientmap client configuration address respond
crypto map clientmap 10 ipsec-isakmp dynamic dynmap

interface FastEthernet0/0
ip add 10.250.250.2 255.255.255.224
no shut
interface FastEthernet1/0
ip add 12.12.12.222 255.255.255.224
no shut
 crypto map clientmap

Qoute For The Day: 36 Again

As Mehul so kindly pointed out (thank you Mehul), 31 and 36 are the same. So, here is a "redo" of 36:
"Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace." ~~ Unknown

Quote For The Day: 36

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."   ~~ Ronald Reagan