SPARTA News October 2007

October 2007

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

It's October and the heat is still on and we are getting ready for Halloween at home and a vacation toward the end of the month. Still haven't gotten much rain at all around here and now we can't even wash our cars at home anymore. Last month we had a visit from Mary Rees of IBM to talk to us about available CICS online documentation and information. I thought it was a good presentation and found some new places to find CICS information on the web.

We've been very busy at LabCorp, our billing software release didn't disappoint us. We had a few issues that took about a week to iron out. One was a bad SQL statement in a CICS subroutine that was causing MAJOR locking issues in DB2. Lots of "fun" for our group and the DBA's. Well so much for having good code reviews before moving anything to production. We have also been moving forward with MQ V6 upgrades on our
system. We have completed all queue managers except production. MQ V5 has an end of service date of March 31st, 2008 so that was our driving force for this conversion.

Now we are getting ready to migrate to a completely new DASD platform. LabCorp has signed a new deal with EMC to replace all of our old technology DASD with newer (i.e. current) equipment. We will be moving both the IBM mainframes to new DMX-4 devices and then getting into replicating the RTP environment to Burlington for DR. More to come of this as we move down the installation road.

I have been interviewing DB2 candidates for my open position at LabCorp and hope to be making an offer to someone soon. I'll be glad when we get someone hired for this. That DB2 V7 end of service date is getting closer and closer.

This month our presentation will be by Jerry Seefeldt from NewERA Software, on their Image Focus product and how to capture PARMLIB errors before an IPL. I look forward to seeing you all on the 30th at LabCorp in RTP.


September 2007 President’s Corner
(delayed from the previous newsletter)

A very hot September is here and I believe that the new state color of North Carolina should be a brown lawn. My whole lawn would be brown, but I have one neighbor (up hill from me) who has automatic sprinklers that run once a week. So about a third of my yard needs to be kept cut since it is still growing.

I hope everyone enjoyed the presentations by Ed, Duane and I last month on our visit to SHARE. I found San Diego to be a great place for the conference.

At LabCorp we are working on a number of projects. The first is getting ready for a new release of our billing software. This always gives us pause, as it is how we keep things running here. Every release also brings its own headaches with system performance. Our QA environment can't run a large CICS workload so we have to see what the first week does to CICS performance. We also keep an eye on the batch window (which is always shrinking) to look for changes in the critical path jobs.

I haven't been doing much for DDA lately. With all the FLEX customers up in the air over what to do, there isn't much for me to do there. One of these days IBM and Fundamental will come to terms and the small FLEX customers will have some direction and support again.

I want to state again that LabCorp is looking for a Senior DB2 Systems Programmer. So if any of you know of someone who would fit this position please contact me at LabCorp.

This month our presentation will be from Mary Rees, an IBM CICS Knowledge Engineer. I look forward to seeing you all on the 25th at SAS in Cary.

Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Oct. 30 - Image Focus from NewEra Software
Nov. 27 - TBA

We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.

2007-2008 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 336-436-8294
3060 S. Church St.
Burlington, NC 27215

Ron Pimblett - Vice President
Dignus, LLC 919-676-0847
8354 Six Forks Road
Raleigh, NC 27615

Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-641-6235
201 N. Eugene St.
Greensboro, NC 27401

Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
231 Maple Ave, Koury Ctr 3rd Fl. 919-361-7267
Burlington, NC 27215

Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive
Cary, NC 27513

Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in December), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Tommy Thomas. Tommy will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter e-Mailings

The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-L Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-L Group is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 641-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Mike.

February 2006 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V471 (dated February 28, 2006) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Brad Carson at LabCorp or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the September 25, 2007 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.

•The meeting was held at SAS Institute in Cary, NC.

•Fifteen (15) people were present; twelve (12) were members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function and recent happenings at work.

•The minutes of August 2007 meeting were accepted as published in the September 2007 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of September 15, 2007, the balance is $1304.75. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the September 2007 newsletter.

OLD BUSINESS

•Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article; it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.

•The SPARTA Web site is available. To access the SPARTA Web site, point your Web browser to this URL: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web site to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the site every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

•Brad Carson reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean.


NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)

October 2007 Rocket Software’s Mainstar product
November 2007 TBA
December 2007 No meeting

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

•The October 30th SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the October meeting will be fried chicken, drinks, and dessert.

•There was a brief discussion on whether paperless presentations at SHARE was a good idea.

•Thanks to Ed Webb of SAS for hosting the meeting.

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:50 p.m.

•Mary Rees a CICS Knowledge Engineer with IBM presented an IBM Software Support Online Resources Overview. Mary will make her presentation available to SPARTA in electronic form.

Agenda

Software product support sites
Find answers with content (document types), navigation, and search
Stay current with My Support weekly e-mail updates, RSS feeds

Educational resources and tools
Support Technical Exchange webcasts
developerWorks

Support Terminology
http://ibm.com/support/us/searchtip_glossary.html

Finding IBM Software Web Support sites
http://ibm.com/software/support

Self-help on product support pages

Self-help on z/OS product support pages

APARs and PTFs

Other helpful documents
Featured Documents
MustGather/Read first
Fixes by version
Recommended fixes
Detailed system requirements

Search with up to five IBM software products
http://ibm.com/software/support

Search on product support pages

Search is enabled through Google

RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication)

Registering on IBM sites

My Support with access

Site tour of My Support:
http://ibm.com/software/support/viewlet/My_Support_viewlet_swf.html

My Support - creating a profile

Choosing products and document types

Feedback - send us your comments

Document level feedback - closed loop process

Accessing and using IBMLink
http://ibm.com/ibmlink

Support Technical Exchange webcasts

WebSphere Support Technical Exchange (WSTE)
http://ibm.com/software/websphere/support/supp_tech.html

IBM developerWorks:
http://ibm.com/developerworks

IBM Software Online Resources

•The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for October 2007

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1304.75 as of October 20, 2007.

Financial Report
3/01/2007 through 10/20/2007

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2007

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Oct. 30 - Chicken
Nov. 27- Subs


TRSMAIN Now Supported on z/OS 1.6 - 1.9

contributed by Ed Webb

With z/OS 1.9 availability, IBM has supplied its well-known compress tool, TRSMAIN (now also known as AMATERSE) as a fully supported part of the Operating System. Even better, it has made AMATERSE available for all supported z/OS releases (see APAR OA19194 and PTFs UA36927 (z/OS 1.6) and UA36928 (z/OS 1.7). Easy to install and brings your TRSMAIN tool up-to-date.


IBM Mainframes Trounce x86 Servers on Energy Efficiency

contributed by Ed Webb

IBM claims that its z Mainframes handily beat x86 Servers in energy efficiency. Check out this article. How does your datacenter rate?.


IBM’s Next Mainframe CPU - The z6

contributed by Ed Webb

The future IBM mainframe microprocessor was discussed recently by Charles Webb of IBM-Hursley. See his presentation here at http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/IBM-z6-mainframe-microprocessor-Webb.pdf.



Humor


A Little Courthouse Wit

contributed by Chris Blackshire

I was told these are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his Sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you (kiddin’) me?

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was getting laid!

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Are you (kiddin’) me? Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like to rephrase that?

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh....are you qualified to ask that question?

And the best for last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.


Thinking About Things You Never Think About

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'.. but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.

Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
7 p.m.

Location: LabCorp in the RTP

Free Food: Fried Chicken, Drink, Dessert

Program:

Image Focus product

Speaker:

Jerry Seefeldt of NewEra Software

SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194



First Class Postage