Archive for November, 2005

Where did we go wrong?

Monday, November 7th, 2005
 

I sitting on a train whipping along at over 200 km per house and it feels smoother and quieter then any plain I have been on. I wish I had some idea how fast we where going because the trees sure are whipping past us fast! I am riding the ICE and uploading photos to my web, this train has a T-Mobile hot spot in it. I should note this is the third train I have been on in two days in Germany and I have to ask my self, where the heck did the US go wrong. Every time I am in Europe I am always amazed how great their transportation system is. I do not know any German yet I easily got from the airport to my hotel with great ease. Then the next day it was a snap to head into downtown Frankfurt. I think the people that put together the maps and schedules but have a few PhDs. How else could someone with no language knowledge figure all this out. I like to think that I am fluent in English yet most cities I travel to in the US have transportation maps that I thing where written by Martians. I think they just have lot of practice dealing with people that speak several different languages. While I was waiting for my train I was able to identify people talking in 5 different languages. At any rate I think we need to send some folks over from Amtrak to see how a modern rail system should be run!

Now that I have that out of my system my first few days in Germany have been a real blast. It turns out that the World PHP and Open Source Database conference started today in Frankfurt. So I did what any tourist would do faced with going to an amazing exotics city, stayed in doors and geeked it up with some cool people. It least for the first part of my day in Frankfurt. I got to see Markus again and some other great people from OSCON. I also met a few new friends that I went partying with in downtown Frankfurt. It was a fun night and we did not get back to the Hotel until two in the morning. It all it was a great day, got to see an amazing city, meet cool new friends, say hi to old friends, and learn some things about Pear. Unfortunately I could only hang around for the first few hours of the convention but maybe I can attend next year or even give a talk about PostgreSQL. Tonight Donnie is picking me up at the train station in Cologne and we are going out to dinner. I have to say I just love going to a city where I have a friend to remind me that home is any place I am. If you get a few take a peek at the pictures of my first few days in Germany. I could go on but I am going to turn my attention to the nice visits going past the window. The train is sure a nice way to see the country side.

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments »

ARIN is about to make me postal!

Thursday, November 3rd, 2005

So a few weeks back I decide I need to update my ARIN Handle information. I knew some info was out of date and decided that was a bad idea. I went over to their site and took a look at what they had for my handle.

Name: THUL, AARON
Handle: AT357-ARIN
Company:
Address: E-MOL, INC
Address: 997 ROCHESTER RD UNIT C
City: TROY
StateProv: MI
PostalCode: 48083
Country: US
Comment:
RegDate: 2001-07-16
Updated: 2001-07-16
Phone: +1-906-483-7486 (Office)
Email: APTHUL@e-mol.co

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2005-11-02 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN’s WHOIS database.

No that is not a typo in the Email field, they somehow do not have my e-mail address correct. I figure well lets e-mail them an and correctmy e-mail in an attempt to get this all fixed.
This is where the fun begins :-)
First I get this back and am very hopeful they they will figure things out.

This is an automatic reply to acknowledge that your message
has been received by hostmaster@arin.net.

ARIN will make every effort to process your request in an
expeditious manner. Please note, however, that due to the
high volume of requests we receive regularly, it may take up
to three business days for you to receive a response from us.

If you need to correspond with us regarding this request,
it is imperative that you include the ticket number
[ARIN-20051025.2275] in the subject line. The easiest way
to do this is to simply reply to this message.

Regards,

Registration Services Department
American Registry for Internet Numbers

Then things take a turn for the worse a few hours later when I get this :-(

Hello,

ARIN was unable to process your request.

*Fatal: aaron@mtu.net is not an authorized POC to modify this record.

*Please submit a fax authorization on corporate letterhead including a
copy of a business card to 703-227-0676. Your fax should be sent to the
attention of Doreen and include your ticket number on the fax.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional
questions, comments, or concerns. ARIN’s Registration Services
Help Desk can be reached Monday through Friday between 7 a.m.
and 7 p.m. Eastern U.S. time via phone at +1 (703) 227-0660 or
via e-mail at hostmaster@arin.net.

Regards,

Registration Services Department
American Registry for Internet Numbers

I little background here I only recently started working at Autoweb and have no business cards yet. I get some company letter head and write a letter explaining the situation and fax it in. Then I even call over to thier number and talked to a nice person who when I explained what I did assured me that my signed letter on company letterhead was received and that they should be able to review it and get things all fixed for me.

Now maybe I should not have but I hang up the phone thinking that all is well. :-)

This positive feeling last a few days untill I get this e-mail from the folks over at ARIN.

Hello,

I received your faxed letter of authorization. Thank you, however as
mentioned below I need a business card or some other form of
identification as well.

Regards,

Doreen D. Marraffa
Registration Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers

So now I sit very agitated with hours and hours of time and over a week into trying to get some simple information updated. I responded to the e-mail asking what other form of identification could work but have not herd back.
I guess I should take this as a lesson to make DAMN sure any e-mail associated with you over at ARIN is right!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »