# Donation Totals Since 01JUL08 - 25JUL08



## Dragoneer (Jul 25, 2008)

*Total Donations Received: *$16,335.03
*After Fees: *$15,366.73
*Total Spent:* $13,403.51
*Total Left from Donation Drive Since 01JUL08:* $1,963.22

*List of Current Expenditures:*
*"Novastorm"* Web Server
 -- Sun Fire X4150: $4,661.20
*"Trogdor"* Data Server
-- Dell 2970 PowerEdge: $4,095.00
-- Drive Sleds: $254.95
-- 14X 1TB Storage Media: $2,979.85
*"Tiamat" *DB Server
-- 24GB Add'l RAM: $872.57
*"Bahamut"* Data Server
-- Tyan Thunder h2000m MB: $454.95
*General Expenses*
-- Cable Ties, 100 x 8" : $4.99
-- Misc (Gas, Travel, Tolls): $80
-- My Eternal Love For You: Free.


----------



## StainMcGorver (Jul 26, 2008)

Wow. Amazing.


----------



## AlexInsane (Jul 26, 2008)

And are donations still coming in, or has it pretty much ground to a halt?


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 26, 2008)

AlexInsane said:


> And are donations still coming in, or has it pretty much ground to a halt?


As you can see from the chart, donations ground to a halt a while ago. Still, the number is beyond mighty.


----------



## DarkTalbain64 (Jul 26, 2008)

Aww, he loves us.


----------



## KMakato (Jul 26, 2008)

Good name for the sun server :3


----------



## LuckyM (Jul 26, 2008)

awsomeness, im glad everone helped out so much


----------



## jd345 (Jul 26, 2008)

when's Novastorm gonna get here, it's been 3 days


----------



## nemoralis (Jul 26, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> . . . stuff . . .
> -- My Eternal Love For You: Free.



Dragoneer's eternal love for us: Priceless.


----------



## Backdraftwolf (Jul 26, 2008)

Boy I still can't belive we raised that much money for the site, and if I recall now I may be wrong, but did everyone who donated raise over the 15K mark within 3 days? Well anyway glad that FA is getting the upgrades it deserves.


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 26, 2008)

jd345 said:


> when's Novastorm gonna get here, it's been 3 days


I have Novastorm in the back of my car, but there are some issues with it. We are more than likely sending it back to CDW because we do not agree with how they handled (read: how they botched) our order.


----------



## Daniel Kay (Jul 26, 2008)

Cool that means with everything bought we even have enough cash to run the page fo 2 month without worry


----------



## marmelmm (Jul 26, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> *Total Donations Received: *$16,335.03
> *After Fees: *$15,366.73
> *Total Spent:* $13,403.51
> *Total Left from Donation Drive Since 01JUL08:* $1,963.22



Yours truly,

Johnny Dollar

;D

(I just wanna see if anyone gets the joke)


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 26, 2008)

marmelmm said:


> Yours truly,
> 
> Johnny Dollar
> 
> ...



I do- But that should be no surprise to you. 

d.m.f.


----------



## KaiserVadin (Jul 26, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> *Total Donations Received: *$16,335.03
> *After Fees: *$15,366.73
> *Total Spent:* $13,403.51
> *Total Left from Donation Drive Since 01JUL08:* $1,963.22
> ...



Split the left over so the staff can pay house bills ?



Dragoneer said:


> I have Novastorm in the back of my car, but there are some issues with it. We are more than likely sending it back to CDW because we do not agree with how they handled (read: how they botched) our order.



Make sure to hire a armed guard for you database XD


----------



## marmelmm (Jul 26, 2008)

dmfalk said:


> I do- But that should be no surprise to you.
> 
> d.m.f.



Heh.  I'm working through an ep of YTJD a day at work...

If you want a real surrealist experience, listen to the five-parters and intermix 'em with a Frank Zappa album.  

-MMM-


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 26, 2008)

KaiserVadin said:


> Split the left over so the staff can pay house bills ?


I was thinking of taking a small chunk of what's left (about $250) and donating it to the FA: United charity this year. Given we have to pay taxes on the donations, if we donate a little chunk to the animal rescue team of the NJSPCA (who are trying to buy bullet proof vests to defend themselves and rescue endangered animals) we'd both be doing ourselves a favor, our fellow man a favor and benefiting abused animals and helping unfortunate animals find new homes.

Everybody wins.


----------



## Rhainor (Jul 26, 2008)

KaiserVadin said:


> Make sure to hire a armed guard for you database XD


Novastorm is the new app. server, not the DB server.

Besides, the way CDW f'd up the order, even if someone were to steal it, CDW would just about owe FA a replacement anyway.



/okay, that may be a *bit* of an exaggeration...


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 26, 2008)

marmelmm said:


> Heh.  I'm working through an ep of YTJD a day at work...
> 
> If you want a real surrealist experience, listen to the five-parters and intermix 'em with a Frank Zappa album.
> 
> -MMM-



I've been listening to YTJD on XM in the mornings, as they play out the the entire 5-part stories. Cracking good detective drama with the man with the action-packed expense account. 

I love OTR. 

d.m.f.


----------



## marmelmm (Jul 26, 2008)

dmfalk said:


> I've been listening to YTJD on XM in the mornings, as they play out the the entire 5-part stories. Cracking good detective drama with the man with the action-packed expense account.
> 
> I love OTR.



Me, too.  Check out archive.org; they have a good YTJD collection...

-MMM-


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 26, 2008)

marmelmm said:


> Me, too.  Check out archive.org; they have a good YTJD collection...
> 
> -MMM-



Been there, done that- GREAT place for free OTR! 

d.m.f.


----------



## Kiala Tiagra (Jul 26, 2008)

wow its truly amazing how fast it goes


----------



## fx1 (Jul 27, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> I was thinking of taking a small chunk of what's left (about $250) and donating it to the FA: United charity this year. Given we have to pay taxes on the donations, if we donate a little chunk to the animal rescue team of the NJSPCA (who are trying to buy bullet proof vests to defend themselves and rescue endangered animals) we'd both be doing ourselves a favor, our fellow man a favor and benefiting abused animals and helping unfortunate animals find new homes.
> 
> Everybody wins.


I'm cool with that, seems like a good cause.  That is not something I donated for, but if it really benefits everyone, and it's such a small percentage of the donations.


----------



## markwhitewolf (Jul 27, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> I have Novastorm in the back of my car, but there are some issues with it. We are more than likely sending it back to CDW because we do not agree with how they handled (read: how they botched) our order.




......

Ok, what the hell has CDW done now?  I swear, they dumped a ton of money into slick, monkey-based advertising and none of it into employee training and customer retention.

Is this a situation where one would send a server back overnight with a grimace and be short with a phone tech, or a situation where one would drive to the CDW central warehousing facility and launch said server through the bay doors, hopefully hitting the jockey who boxed the botched order square in the facemeats...


----------



## Rhainor (Jul 27, 2008)

markwhitewolf said:


> Is this a situation where one would send a server back overnight with a grimace and be short with a phone tech, or a situation where one would drive to the CDW central warehousing facility and launch said server through the bay doors, hopefully hitting the jockey who boxed the botched order square in the facemeats...


At the moment, they're partway through the former.  The call has been made (at least once), and the server will be sent back to CDW soon.

If it's not done right after this, then the latter procedure may have to be enacted.


----------



## markwhitewolf (Jul 27, 2008)

Rhainor said:


> At the moment, they're partway through the former.  The call has been made (at least once), and the server will be sent back to CDW soon.
> 
> If it's not done right after this, then the latter procedure may have to be enacted.




Ooooh....ooooooohhhhhh.....c'mon....can we do the latter just this one time?  Someone _somewhere_ has to have earned a good facemeat bricking...

Besides, when you spend that kind of money on hardware, you _earn_ the right to beat someone with it if it doesn't work right.


----------



## Rhainor (Jul 27, 2008)

The thing is, if you hit someone upside th'ead with the replacement server equipment you bought, you might damage the equipment, and then you'd need to spend even more money to replace the replacement.


----------



## markwhitewolf (Jul 27, 2008)

Rhainor said:


> The thing is, if you hit someone upside th'ead with the replacement server equipment you bought, you might damage the equipment, and then you'd need to spend even more money to replace the replacement.



That's how they get you ya know.  They send you a bunch of crud that you wanted, but not how you needed it, just in the hopes that you'd get so upset you'd break it and have to replace it...thus earning them double on your order.  Oh CDW, you're crafty...


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 27, 2008)

markwhitewolf said:


> Ok, what the hell has CDW done now?  I swear, they dumped a ton of money into slick, monkey-based advertising and none of it into employee training and customer retention.


CDW sent the server in parts. We could build the server ourselves, but you don't plunk down that kind of money and not even get the server build, let alone not tested by the company. They didn't do anything at all. Just grabbed the parts, shipped them.

The general concern is that if there were a problem, we'd rather point the finger at CDW and go "Look, you put it together, you build it, your fault."


----------



## net-cat (Jul 27, 2008)

I bet that by "extensively tested," it means that some technician that's paid $10/hour will put it together, see if it posts, stamp it OK and send it out.


----------



## marmelmm (Jul 27, 2008)

net-cat said:


> I bet that by "extensively tested," it means that some technician that's paid $10/hour will put it together, see if it posts, stamp it OK and send it out.



(shrug) At least it's CDW holding the bag in that case if it grenades.  

-MMM-


----------



## markwhitewolf (Jul 27, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> CDW sent the server in parts. We could build the server ourselves, but you don't plunk down that kind of money and not even get the server build, let alone not tested by the company. They didn't do anything at all. Just grabbed the parts, shipped them.
> 
> The general concern is that if there were a problem, we'd rather point the finger at CDW and go "Look, you put it together, you build it, your fault."



In complete agreement with your view on this.  That would be like HP sending me all the parts to put my laptop together, but expecting me to install my drives, RAM and cards.  For a company that's selling such a brand name server, you'd figure it'd either come pre-built in a billion configs, or that they'd go about installing everything on their end.  

Please tell me that for all of the inconvenience, they're at least going to pay for overnight to/from and place the server at the top of the to do list....


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 27, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> CDW sent the server in parts. We could build the server ourselves, but you don't plunk down that kind of money and not even get the server build, let alone not tested by the company. They didn't do anything at all. Just grabbed the parts, shipped them.
> 
> The general concern is that if there were a problem, we'd rather point the finger at CDW and go "Look, you put it together, you build it, your fault."



Keep in mind what CDW stands for: Computer Discount Warehouse. That's all they do, and that's all they are- Just a warehouse.

d.m.f.


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 27, 2008)

marmelmm said:


> (shrug) At least it's CDW holding the bag in that case if it grenades.
> 
> -MMM-



Not like they don't deserve it...  (That is, if CDW actually HAS technicians!)

d.m.f.


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 27, 2008)

markwhitewolf said:


> In complete agreement with your view on this.  That would be like HP sending me all the parts to put my laptop together, but expecting me to install my drives, RAM and cards.  For a company that's selling such a brand name server, you'd figure it'd either come pre-built in a billion configs, or that they'd go about installing everything on their end.
> 
> Please tell me that for all of the inconvenience, they're at least going to pay for overnight to/from and place the server at the top of the to do list....


I'd wanted to just put it together ourselves, but I agree with the rest of the team on sending it back. I'm sort of torn on it. On one hand, I REALLY want to just build it and be done... but on the other I recognize CDW's retarded fuck up.

And yes, they are paying overnight shipping to/from. But it will still take a minimum of a week +. With FA: United, it'll probably be a minimum of two weeks before we can even do anything with it.





dmfalk said:


> Keep in mind what CDW stands for: Computer Discount Warehouse. That's all they do, and that's all they are- Just a warehouse.


Perhaps, but they're the ones who quoted us that they'd install and test it. The invoice itself shows all the parts under "installation" and then some tech just put an "X" over the "install" portion of the invoice. As if a magical X from a #2 pencil suddenly negates CDW from what they said they'd do.


----------



## dmfalk (Jul 28, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> Perhaps, but they're the ones who quoted us that they'd install and test it. The invoice itself shows all the parts under "installation" and then some tech just put an "X" over the "install" portion of the invoice. As if a magical X from a #2 pencil suddenly negates CDW from what they said they'd do.



To which I think you'd have a case if you decide to pursue it. If not a breach of (verbal) contract, then at least a bait-and-switch. Either way, they're on the losing end.

I still think you should apprise Sun about what happened, even if they can't help. They deserve to know what happened to one of their servers.

d.m.f.


----------



## markwhitewolf (Jul 28, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> I'd wanted to just put it together ourselves, but I agree with the rest of the team on sending it back. I'm sort of torn on it. On one hand, I REALLY want to just build it and be done... but on the other I recognize CDW's retarded fuck up.
> 
> And yes, they are paying overnight shipping to/from. But it will still take a minimum of a week +. With FA: United, it'll probably be a minimum of two weeks before we can even do anything with it.
> Perhaps, but they're the ones who quoted us that they'd install and test it. The invoice itself shows all the parts under "installation" and then some tech just put an "X" over the "install" portion of the invoice. As if a magical X from a #2 pencil suddenly negates CDW from what they said they'd do.



Well, ultimately it's just deeply saddening that it turned out that way.  The fact that CDW thought that they could do away with the install and test portion by X'ing over it is really rather sickening.  While it is sad that you folks aren't going to be able to do anything with the server until after FA: United, I'd rather you go there and not worry about it until you get back.  Everyone who is going (and those who aren't) certainly deserve a little breather and some time to relax and unwind around friends.  

I certainly wish that I was able to go, but I'm plum out of vacation time at work at the moment.  Make sure you post lots of fun pictures for those of us folks who can't break away from our oppressive government jobs and don a tail for a couple of days...

I may don a tail in absentia and freak out my coworkers... >: D


----------



## Tamarik (Jul 28, 2008)

dmfalk said:


> I still think you should apprise Sun about what happened, even if they can't help. They deserve to know what happened to one of their servers.
> 
> d.m.f.


 
++ to this. If you're as irate as you say, Dragoneer, you'd really do yourself good by bringing this to Sun's attention.


----------



## Daddy Ducky BE (Jul 30, 2008)

Are those $16k by July 25th via Amazon alone? Otherwise I'd be kinda critical of those figures, as by July 7th (three weeks before July 25th!) already, we were being told that the totals were about $16-$18k here, here and here. Did people suddenly stop donating on or after July 7th?

To clarify:



Artie on July 6th 2008 said:


> $10,477.15 via Amazon, plus over $6,000 via PayPal. So, *over $16,477.15 total* so far.





Seppel on July 7th 2008 said:


> I checked the budget Dragoneer posted. $18,000 is more than twice FA has ever had. _[...] _$18,000 will go far. Very far.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jul 30, 2008)

Well here's a calculation left for you, the money left from the *previous* donation drive were up there too.

Also, there may have been cancellations or ones that didn't go through.


----------



## Dragoneer (Jul 30, 2008)

Daddy Ducky BE said:


> Are those $16k by July 25th via Amazon alone?


No, they're Amazon and Paypal combined. I posted full logs that show all payments and dates.

The original estimates showed some other funding from the Backup Server donation drive, but were not included in the final figure to show an accurate level of awesomeness as to how much people donated to the site during our time of need.


----------



## LizardKing (Jul 31, 2008)

Some of those donations are incredible.



> 7/4/2008	13:16:59	PDT	Name Removed	Payment Received	Completed	USD	* $1,000.00 *	$(39.30)	$960.70
> 7/4/2008	7:13:15		PDT	Name Removed	Payment Received	Completed	USD	* $400.00* 	$(11.90)	$388.10
> 7/3/2008	6:55:56		PDT	Name Removed	Payment Received	Completed	USD	 *$400.00* 	$(11.90)	$388.10
> 7/2/2008	15:03:01	PDT	Name Removed	Payment Received	Completed	USD	 *$500.00 *	$(14.80)	$485.20



D:


----------



## Rhainor (Aug 1, 2008)

Who the hell donated a thousand dollars?  Whoever you are, you are made of awesome.


----------



## falderal (Aug 1, 2008)

Dragoneer said:


> As you can see from the chart, donations ground to a halt a while ago. Still, the number is beyond mighty.





Dragoneer said:


> I have Novastorm in the back of my car, but there are some issues with it. We are more than likely sending it back to CDW because we do not agree with how they handled (read: how they botched) our order.



Well, that's not nice to think about, how the donations just stopped. I'll have to donate more when I get the money.

So much for CDW being a Fortune 500 company. They make the 500 in gold coins while you are stuck with an oversized paperweight.


----------



## Baby Giraffe (Aug 1, 2008)

That is amazuzing! O.=.o I still can't say more than *this* is what happens whenwe all pull to gether? D8 Amazing! Plus! All the servers are named after dragons ^.=.^ Dragons are awsome sauce >8U YAH! U8< *Insert Silent Bob from my sig*


----------



## greenmonkey (Aug 3, 2008)

Those truly are some godlike pieces of hardware.


----------



## KAKAROTO- (Aug 4, 2008)

Those are small servers...altough they are quite big according to its use

You should make a RAID Disk Array for that TB, otherwise you are risking the data
or get a Tape Drive to backup the data

Tape is cheaper but slower to recover, spending more on the disks to make a "RAID 5" is more expensive but it ensures 24/7 functionality if you have a spare disk in case of failure


----------



## Tamarik (Aug 4, 2008)

KAKAROTO- said:


> Those are small servers...altough they are quite big according to its use
> 
> You should make a RAID Disk Array for that TB, otherwise you are risking the data
> or get a Tape Drive to backup the data
> ...


 
RAID is not a backup solution. It is fault tolerance.


----------



## Firehazard (Aug 5, 2008)

KAKAROTO- said:


> Those are small servers...altough they are quite big according to its use
> 
> You should make a RAID Disk Array for that TB, otherwise you are risking the data
> or get a Tape Drive to backup the data



DUDE.  Do you think they'd have gone all this time and never think to do that?  They've had RAID since the last pair of servers, man!  Keep up wit' da timez, dawg. :lol:


----------

