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The Time Sink

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Most Recent (Last update: 1215 01/28/01)
Well, the experiment with the laptop routing through the test bed was a resounding success. I was able to surf and email from the relative comfort of the couch and coffee table while I waited for the All Madden team broadcast. It was a relatively short wait as Brian called up to let me know the answer to my Saturday night question on the alternate site...

So, things are working. What to do; what to do? Probably tear down one or both of the installations and rebuild them from the ground up to confirm the steps and document the process a little better. Although I may hold on to things the way they are now for another day or two... It just feels good to have accomplished this one. My forte is connectivity and this is one I'm happy with.

...although I will mention that I've locked myself out of Tux again! The good news: it's a problem that Brian was familiar with and he was able to give me the fix. No biggie right now as all Tux is tasked to do is provide masquerade services for KitFox, the laptop...

Still, better to get it correct...

Tuesday
Man, I just love spammers... Oh, not for the spam; I ignore most of it with a quick flip into the real or virtual bit bucket. ...and I Just Simply Will Not Reply. ...to anything. ...even the telephone spammers: ''Hey, you called on my line; I can say what I want.'' (...within my own limits of propriety. ...with two small children listening in. ...and Shelley.)

...and I do not subscribe to Shelley's reasoning that these are just people doing a job. They know they're calling during the dinner hour; they know they're reading from a prepared presentation designed to sell something; and they know darned well I didn't call them and request a callback during my quality family time. Want to yank my chain? Just call around 1800 PST... I've been putting up with the same crud on the phone at the office. ...only there, they often call them surveys. ...and they're not for sales purposes. So why did I used to get sales calls shortly after a ''Survey''? You know what? Mail me the flipping thing; that way I can fold it up so it has lots of pointy edges and... What? Okay. Take... my... medication...

Better... So anyway, every so often I take a look to see what's behind the facade. Oh, I don't even open Door Number One, but I'll often look at the lead or the 'opt-out' (yeah right) just to see what new silliness they've come up with. Today's prize is from the 'Three-in-a-row club', so called because they send me three seemingly unrelated offers around the same time late at night. I'd link their 'remove' page, as it's a winner; but I doubt you'd want to even accidently have your name added to their list of 'known suckers', I mean, 'known good email addresses'; so I'll save you the trouble and just quote from that page:

Please do not waste your time entering anything other than your email address. This form will not be read by any human, the use of profanity or expressions will not have any function or purpose.

Oh, so, so tempting...

Wednesday
Wanna' know how to hose a network? Just leave a copy of Netscape Messenger (set to automatically check for mail) running on an NT box while you fire up another copy on a laptop on another network segment. Oh, my...

...and 'Oh, my' did I stir up things with my comments about spammers. A sampling:

From: Gary M. Berg

Actually, what I've done for the last 5-6 years is to tell them that "company policy is to not participate in surveys." And I continue with "It's a security issue" if they keep sputtering. Usually this works really great - it's out of my hands, so they might as well give up. They meekly say thank you and hang up.

He he! Of course, it's my policy for the IT department. So it's my decision. But it ought to be company policy. I especially hate the toner sales critters with a passion.

Hmmm, that's pretty much the same line I use. ...and on the toner-toters: ''Hey folks!'' If someone calls in to your department and asks what brand and model number of copier/printer/fax machine you use, just pass the call along to IT or Purchasing; an all to common scam is to ship you some disposables for your machine and then bill your firm at an inflated rate. My policy is simple; ''No PO, No Money.'' ...and thanks for the free toner; I'm sure the extremely high quality of the ground up coal in that cracked housing wouldn't have messed things up too much.

I do like Will's answer to things (I'll leave out his address for obvious reasons):

Dan,

Sounds like you are almost as fed up with spammers as I am. For a little return spam, try this recipe. Make a 300 page presentation in your favorite graphics presentation program. Add lots & lots of dark pictures that love to suck up toner. I've attached a VERY abbreviated version of the 200 page original. Check the spam message to see if there is a local fax number for sending orders. Schedule to send ~2300hrs on a Friday night.

Smile & enjoy the turn of events.

Will

Then again, if you send me money (either fax me a blank check with your bank numbers clearly visible; email me your credit card number; or just send lots of cash), I'll give you Will's email address and a carefully prepared list of Known Good Phone Numbers and Email Addresses.

Oh, and for your entertainment this morning, I give you this link to a Washington Post article about the political goings on in a Britney Spears chat room. No really, go read it. It'll take more than a minute; but, if you are as warped as John or me, it's a rip. Thanks, Jeffery.

...and now to enjoy the rain!

Thursday
Yep, time to tear things down... It's going all too well. Last night I was posting while I was watching TV. No power cord... No phone cord... No Cat5...

I get about two hours from this old P-120 Sager laptop under Linux; that compares with about an hour from NT4 and about three minutes from Win95. I haven't tried Win98 or Me as I just don't see the point in that.

The wireless gig is working fine. I can post and mail reasonably well; my only hitch: some of the sites I visit code their font size in pixels and that doesn't work very well on this screen. Still, things are working well enough. I think I'll play with some software installation a little (nothing like a free hand when you know you're going to bare-metal a box) and then see what Mandrake 7.2 does for me.

Mandrake is working well enough on the testbed. ...as well as a locked box can<g>. Both Brian and I have found out (the hard way) that PMFirewall puts it's code a little too early in the boot sequence: you can boot, but things hang right after the firewall is set. That's no problem to me right now; but I have one of those Soyo boards Dave mentioned a few weeks back sitting next to me (and the Celeron for it enroute). That means that there'll be a for-real Linux box sitting on the main KVM and Tux can go back to being a test bed...

...and the cure for the firewall issue will come from this place; I can either rewrite the code I'm using now, or let this guy's script generator work up some super-code for me.

But either way, it's tear down time<g>...

1430 +/- Since I work both sides of the street, I figured I'd post a notice here to the effect that the EditThisPage server is hosed. Plans at this point call for a restore-from-tape backup. This takes Dave, Frank, Al, and my alternate site off line for the moment. Details as things change.

Friday
Happy Friday... Yeah, right. Although... Just a few more hours to go and I can declare the end of the traditional work week. ...and the start of the second one. BTaC folks, BTaC...

On the bright side, the EditThisPage server or its reincarnation came back up last night around 2200. That means all the happy campers listed at the end of yesterday's update should once again be available for your dining and reading pleasure...

...and guess who else is back? Why, Mr. No Connectivity But I've Still Figured Out A Way To Post Beland! Whoo hoo. ...and having made the Bellingham to Fresno trip non-stop once, I can only admire their fortitude.

Maybe I can borrow some...

Saturday
...and I'm off to teach my lucky students the many ways you can die when bad things happen to your cardiovascular system. John will have less of a problem than others, partly because of the exercise he gets and partly because he won't be able to afford high fat foods after buying that bike...

I managed to get my exercise in last night, but it was close: on the way home I noticed virga falling just to the north. Shortly after that, the winds changed and the temperature dropped about five degrees in about as many minutes... I went out anyway and watched the storm move along the edge of the foothills about two miles away. I sure was an interesting skate. ...except for the wind.

Well, have a good Saturday. ...and remember a tip from The Purchasing Guy: the stores will be real empty tomorrow starting about 1500 PST.

Catch ya' later...

Sunday
...and it's a late start to the day. ...and a later start to this post. But, even worse, it'll be short shrift here! Saturday left me wrung out (and hung out to dry), so I just packed it in after Shelley's shot and went to bed.

I did make it to church, but even that was a near thing (Shelley didn't plan on waking me up)... Soooo, I have a light breakfast on board and some household "gottas" to take care of. Even more important though are the bearings for my blades that need a good cleaning and relubing before I blade today. ...then there's that football game.

Short version: I won't be back this way today. ...but I'd guess I'll bop on over to my alternate site later this afternoon.

Enjoy the game if it's on where you are...