The Record Setting Continues

 We are still a couple weeks away from Memorial Day weekend and the price of gas continues to increase.

Gas Prices - Another Record

 Congratulations to the Biden Administration for another record set for gas prices.

Can't wait to see what the Memorial Day Holiday increase will be like!

Still thinking here at Doe Valley, only with less discretionary funds.

Stuck VM with XenServer 6.5

Stuck VM with XenServer 6.5

Recently one of our VM's would not shut down and would get "stuck" rendering it inoperable. The XenServer has been up for over 700 days and probably needs to be rebooted, but until we can schedule the downtime we needed to find a way to get the VM "unstuck." Below is what seemed to work.

From the Xenserver console command line:

 

xe task-list

xe task-cancel force=true uuid= <UUID from list above>

 

If that fails, restart the toolstack. (Highlight the Server then Server – Restart Toolstack)

The sever will disappear from Xencenter temporarily and will refresh automatically within 5 minutes. This can be done while other VM’s are running, no need to shut them down. (You can also use the command xe-toolstack-restart from the Xenserver console command line.)

As a last resort, shut down all VM’s and reboot the physical server. This may take hours as the server will probably enter a maintenance mode and scan the storage devices.

Hopefully this information will help someone with their stuck VM.

The Quest for the Perfect Shave Continues

Ten years after I started the quest for the perfect shave, it continues. Over the past few years I have focused on mainly using the Gillette Fusion 5 or ProGlide razors. They seemed to work the best and I get them on sale for about $2.00 a cartridge.

I did try out the Personna EasyFit 5 blade that is supposed to be comparable to the Gillette Fusion 5. It is not. The head is larger and does not give as close of a shave as the Gillette, nor does it last as long. The Fusion 5 is much better than the Personna EasyFit 5.

I also took a year to test out a variety of Double Edge Razor blades. Most of them were good and gave a close shave. A few blades really stood out like the Wilkinson Sword and the Astra Superior Platinum. 

While the Double Edge razor blades gave a close, cheap shave, they don't give you a quick shave. You need to take your time while shaving with a double edge blade. I realize many people will disagree with this statement and say that the double edge is actually faster than other razors. I guess that is a matter of opinion, but I found it took longer with a double edge razor.

I have decided to move, at least temporarily, to the "darkside" and try out an electric shaver. Look for a review of the Braun Series 7 shaver soon.

Still shaving here at Doe Valley

Gas Prices

May 4th, 2011 was the day that I paid $3.99 a gallon for 87 octane gasoline. This was the most I had ever paid for a gallon of gasoline. The president of the United States was Barack Obama and the Vice-President was Joe Biden.

After this the price of gas declined a little, but then about 10 months later in March of 2012, the price increased to $3.99 a gallon again, but didn't break the $4.00 mark (at least in my area).

Here we are about 10 years later in March of 2022, after relatively low inflation and stable gas prices for at least 4 years, the price of 87 octane shoots up to a new record of $4.29 a gallon.

For those of you who don't pay attention to the news, the current president is none other than Joe Biden who basically campaigned on no more drilling on federal lands, including offshore drilling. So there you have it, in the words of the Vice-President Kamala Harris the voters "got what they asked for."