The Time Sink

Hello and a happy Monday to you all... Have I mentioned the default screen savers in Red Hat kick serious tail? No? Well, when I popped back over there just now, this little white pixel thing was being chased by some other pixel things that changed colors during the chase. One of those times I am glad I missed one aspect of the sixties...

Lots of plans this week. Yeah, right. There were a bunch of plans last week too. Maybe. ...but I find myself getting ready to drop into summer mode. That's when I come home and cool off in the pool; then decide to do some outside work; then cool off in the pool; then decide to maybe come inside too late to do anything much.

...and there's much to be done inside. I have the school stuff to clean up and out, the bench to access, and a bunch of parts to catalog. Tux is pretty stable on Red Hat 7.1 and will stay there for at least a while; the next time I open the box will be to stick a USB adapter inside (no reason; I saw one in a parts box). Wolf is getting a replacement motherboard or at least a new HDD or two before a YANTI. I find I'm on the Win95 box less and less lately; that probably means I should take it down and turn it into a true gaming box. ...if I had a life <g>. ...and I scored a newish OnStream DI30 and some new media from work the other day; that would fit nicely into the box that serves up the intranet. ...which is due for the motherboard from Wolf. Hmmm... Miller time?

No, I don't know why the <most recent> tag was still sitting on Sunday's header... Actually, I do: I was way tired Sunday evening. ...just like last night. A little too much going on and not quite enough sleep. No possum sightings though...

Another one bites the dust Al Hedstrom is following the lead of several others over on the Weblogs circuit and going on hiatus. Recharge time...

Although... Hey Al, you could always try the 'shotgun approach' to upgrades.

...and for those who have a difficult time remembering which witch is the one with the brass---Oh, another left turn at the wrong light. <sigh> For those of you who have trouble remembering whether to weather the withering onslaught---Oh, heck. <one more time> For those of you who cannot remember your lie from your lay from your lei, check out this lady's diatribe on the proper, or should I say 'improper', use of the English language in written communications. Bookmarked at home and at work! Sample:

"Irregardless" is not a word. You mean "irrespective." Yes, you do. No, trust me -- that's what you mean. Okay, perhaps you mean "regardless." But you don't mean "irregardless," because "irregardless" isn't a word.

Not a fun day yesterday: when Shelley paged me to let me know about Kaycee, I was at the college telling the lady who runs program development for the medical side that I was not planning to take the lead instructor position this fall.

Wow, two stressors in one very short time frame. ...somewhat salved by the knowledge that Kaycee is in Good Hands. ...and by the lady who runs program development for the computer side almost swooning when she heard that I'd be available to assist her.

So the wheel turns once again. ...and our lives move on. I think I covered things well enough on the alternate site a few weeks back. Yeah, I'll miss those "Hi, Dad-Dan" emails. ...and the silly string stories. ...and the tigger "/pounces" But I'll keep some cool memories.

Ya' know, some of us on Daynotes take certain things we do or special tweaks or particular procedures as something very matter of fact around the lab, home or shop. ...and we sometimes don't realize that some of those shortcuts (or expanded idiosyncrasies) could possibly be of use to someone else.

Case in point: what we've come to call The Warlock's Mirror, two big ol' HDDs and a procedure for backing the main drive in toto to the secondary drive. Details here (second paragraph); JHR uses this system to recover from the most catastrophic crashes imaginable. I think, so far, he's lost one font file. ...and that only because he hadn't mirrored yet.

So we were chatting the other day about something and I mentioned one of my systems that works well for me. He suggested I share it with you. Forthwith:

One solution that works extremely well for me as long as I follow my own rules:

• A very basic NT4sp5 install on a P-100 box with two HDDs (and I do need to get the backup software installed; it's only been three years or so).
• Install Apache on it (not too much trouble; you edit ini files). Tell you why in a moment.
• Install ZipMagic on it; all files viewed from elsewhere appear as real files (the machine handles the translation on the fly).
• All downloads from any machine go to that box and live there forever.
• Pull anything from there; heck I run the IRC program for Moshe's chat server from there (I goofed and didn't realize I was running it from the server as a zipped file; I thought I was installing it!)
• If you cannot manage a network connection from a new box (like I cannot from Tux 'cause I don't know Samba from Shineola!) then copy the file to an Apache directory and serve it up from there. Tux and Kitfox can connect with their browsers and download anything I've put there.
• Store full versions of all web sites on the server. ...and view them over a browser as served-up Apache files just like the real deal. The household Intranet is just a bonus.
• Perl is seeming to have a place also. ...as soon as I have time for Wiki-ing around!
• Do not install anything else on that box other than perhaps printsharing (I use it to handle the inkjet and label printers for the household.

So far, so good...

...and yeah, there's some room for improvement. ...and that box will go Linux in the future (likely on the next rebuild). ...and I really shouldn't run programs from that box. But, you know...

Oh, man... I spend the evening working on the laptop testing out various reject HDDs from work to see which are good and which are shot... And I come up with one heck of a game plan for Friday night (vacation is coming and I need a dual person machine RSN)...

Only to hit Matt's site and discover I have a new project all lined out. With circles and arrows... (You can leave work five minutes early today if you get the song reference correct. ...and your boss agrees to it!)

Well, that plan didn't well work at all... I ended up falling in the pool. Unplanned.

I'm okay, but my right ankle is swollen up impressively. ...and there are scrapes running from just below my knee all the way to my toenails. Sheesh...

I was watching Bradley do a cannonball ("Hey Dad, watch this!", when I missed the coping with my left foot and fell over holding the pool broom. I guess I twisted and dragged my right foot over the edge of the pool on the way down.

The one bonus: hydro therapy was immediately available; I alternated cool pool water with elevation for the rest of the afternoon. ...and fell back <g> on plan "B": work on dinner.

Before Bradley and I had headed off to pick up the sand for the pathway base, I'd thrown a pair of tri-tips in The Beast; so I devoted the rest of the afternoon to caring for them in the fashion passed along to me by JHR: I fed mesquite and wood chips into one end of the thing and enjoyed the smell of the smoke coming out of the other end.

After about four more hours (the tri-tip went on at around 1000; I went down around 1200), the internal temp was fine on both chunks of meat and I declared the work day to be at an end.

...and the meat turned out just fine, probably do to all the attention lavished upon it. For those of you who grill, this involved putting a rub (seasonings) on the steaks before putting them in the smoker and maintaining a 275 temp for about six hours. Yep, lots of work there; that's why I love that method of cooking. Oh, and I get conservation points also...

I make a terrible invalid. ...especially on a day when I have things to do. ...and need/want to be at the computer. Time to pull the laptop out and start using it.

The swelling went down well enough last night while I slept. ...and it's not too bad while I'm reading in a recliner. ...but I am not a recliner person by nature (except for naps). So the 'trapped like a rat' feeling keeps kicking in.

...and I have Things To Do! One way or another, those bags of sand and decorative rock have to come out of the car before the morning commute. ...and I'd planned to give Shelley back that chunk of the hallway that always seems to be encroached upon at the end of every semester. ...and the usual list of computer-related stuff. But after about fifteen minutes, the swelling drives me back toward the couch.