slowly I turn, step by step

Lately it seems all I'm doing is whining and complaining about a series of escalating events that began last December. It's not what I really want to do. In a way, this whole series of events seems like a comedy - a 3 Stooges extravaganza, if you will. But then, I LIKE the Stooges, so maybe the comparison disparages them. It IS gradually getting to the point of resolution. I wish I could share all of the issues and their resolutions with you. I wish I could tell you just what I've been dealing with, but it is complicated and in some ways defies description.

When you build and deploy systems that are a combination of hardware and several layers of software, try as you might to assure stability in that system, it is, in the end, a house of cards. Houses of cards collapse. Period.

Rebuilding that house, while providing service in the meantime, is what I like to call "Dancin' with the Bear". When the dance is over, the Bear goes back into hibernation and we wait until he wakes up again, for the next dance. It can be grueling, it can leave scars, but if you're not willing to do the dance, then you shouldn't be doing the job. Like my Gramps used to say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Me? I'm a chef. And I'll dance that Bear right back into hibernation.

How's that for mixed metaphors?

Ndinombethe.