Texas Snow 2010

So, the weather outlook for the past day or so has stated that south Texas is supposed to get some snow.   Now, usually those who predict the weather in are area are wrong…until today.   I got a text message from my wife around noon stating that she saw snow in the area where we lived.   I told my colleagues about the news and well, they didn’t believe her until she sent pictures.   What’s really cool is that when I got home at the end of the day there was snow still on the roof of the house. Granted, it’s not much but it is still snow.

-Tim

Routing

I was playing with EIGRP in one of our labs a while back and noticed a command that I figured would come in handy at some point.   The purpose of the command under router configuration mode is to control candidate default routes within EIGRP.   Now, there are many ways to do this and I’m more than happy to learn about a few more.   When I figured out exactly how this command works, I was a tad disappointed.   For those of you, who aren’t sure of what I’m talking about, have a look at the output:

Router(config-router)#default-information ?
 allowed   Allow default information
 in             Accept default routing information
 out           Output default routing information

When I first stumbled upon it, I immediately thought of how useful “no default-information out” might be.   Eventually, I got around to setting up a small lab with three routers to see just exactly how this command operated.     The command is not as straight forward as one might think.   After some tinkering, I was finally able to find a working configuration.   The router in the middle had this configuration:

R2#sh run | b router
router eigrp 10
 network 10.0.0.0
 network 192.168.0.0
 no default-information out
 no auto-summary
!
!
!
!
ip default-network 192.168.0.0
!

Here is router three’s configuration:

R3#sh run | b router
router eigrp 10
 network 10.0.0.0
 network 192.168.3.1 0.0.0.0
 no auto-summary
!

The only way I was able to get this command to filter default information from R3 was to identify a major classful network using “ip default-network.”   That is it.   If you are looking to have more granular control over default routes, you may be better off using a route-map or distribute-list.

-Tim

Fryderyk Chopin

I’ve been playing piano for about 5 months now and it has been a lot of fun as well as rewarding even though I’m not taking formal lessons.   I really enjoy classical music, especially works by Chopin.   My goal is to be able to play some or all of his nocturnes,  but I still have a ways to go.   That being said, I still wanted to play at least something he wrote.   So, I decide to try Prelude in E minor No. 4, Op. 28.   The first time I heard it, I thought it was a piece I could learn relatively quickly and I was right.     However, I will say that it is much more difficult to play than it sounds.   While I can play the entire piece, which isn’t long, I still need to practice.   There are a couple complex cords in the left hand I’m still not able to form as quickly as I would like, but I’ve got all the right hand parts down pretty well.   Eventually, I want to record my playing, but until I get the equipment I want to record my piano with, I’ll keep practicing.

-Tim

Kawai GM-10K

Since I posted about the favorite of all my guitars a couple of months back, I figured now would be a good time to write something about the newest edition to my arsenal of instruments.   Pictured is my first piano: a baby grand K. Kawai GM-10K.   I bought this piano roughly 4 months ago.   Now, I didn’t decide one day that it was time for me to learn piano.   I took a few piano lessons when I was about 6 years old, but eventually chose the guitar as my instrument of choice.

The main justification for the purchase of a piano is that I wanted to start my children’s music education in the very near future and decided a piano would be a good start.   So, my wife and I began looking at pianos.   The first place we started was the Steinway Piano Gallery here in San Antonio.   The gallery was a nice place filled with many pianos from many different manufacturers.   While there I became somewhat frustrated about selecting a piano.   Aside from the unique timbre of each instrument, I couldn’t play anything to tell them apart.   Pianos have different “action” as well.   Sure I could press the keys on each but that would provide little help.

Baby Grand Kawai

Of all the pianos in our price range I listened to, the GM-10K had the best sound in my opinion.   So I did a little research about the manufacturer and gathered all the opinions I could regarding this piano line.   I found nothing negative, so decided to purchase the GM-10K.   We got the piano home the same day and it looks wonderful in our sitting room, but there was still one more problem.   No one in the house could play it!!   This problem was also frustrating to me, so I took it upon myself to learn how to play something.   Since I am a fan of classical music (Chopin is my favorite composer), I decided to learn Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27 popularly known as the “Moonlight Sonata.”   It took me about a month to learn and in doing so I realized how much I enjoyed play the piano.   So much so, I decided to learn other songs.   I’m currently working on Debussy’s “Clair de lune” from the Suite Bergamasque, Chopin’s Prelude in E minor No. 4, Op. 28 and Nocturne in E-flat major No. 2, Op. 9.

-Tim