The Time Sink

I'm settling in well enough on the Linux box that it's starting to take over the duties I was used to having on that side of the street. KOrganizer has helped with the weekend bits and bytes and KMail and I just get along fine. kscd handles anything I put in the cupholder and the ZIP drive is doing it's job. ...and there are enough distractions to keep me busy any time I have a moment to spare. I still need to dial in the problem with the update system (Yeah, I know "apt-get" <g>; I'll try Debian in a bit, likely when I start dual booting the Win2k box).

Now to start working on the interconnectivity with the rest of the network: I want to bring the second spindle up as the mirror of all the network elements (or take them over) and back it up to the OnStream drive. I have to think things through a bit: my camera use has changed how I load the server, so I feel I need a bit of a long term plan. ...and more space than I had laid out last year!

...and another piece of the network is in place: I broke out the Linksys print server I picked up for a song on clearance last year and it's now happily serving up the HP inkjet in the garage. I'll probably hang the laser off it; but there isn't any rush, since we haven't had a call for it for over a year. ...and I may tell the story of connecting that print server later in the week; I managed to puzzle myself into a corner for a while.

Whew! What a two day stretch! Okay, here's the scoop on the show last night: we headed about forty-five miles down the road to see four bands in concert in a medium venue, say 3000 +/-. The show got started at seven with The Swift, who had just a good old time firing up the audience and getting them ready for some serious noise levels. If you follow contemporary Christian music, these guys are a group to watch for. This concert got them some decent exposure and it can't hurt that the headliner let the bassman hang with them during their set.

Next up, Kutless, my personal favorite. If you're into Creed, these guys will float your boat rather nicely, only they're not playing games making you guess where they come from. Great lyrics and a hard-driven metal sound that worked perfectly for me and the rest of the teens in the audience <g>!

...and then we were on to one of the headliners, and the one pushed in the local market: Mercy Me. These guys started out as a worship band and they still have those chops dialed in perfectly. ...but we didn't hear just the mellow stuff off the albums; they cut things loose rather nicely during their set. Way cool. ...and all the ladies in the audience who dragged their husbands along were happy (but hey, the teens were cool 'cause they'd allowed themselves to be dragged along knowing Kutless and AudioA would be there).

Which brings us to the other heavy act: Audio Adrenaline! These guys have been around long enough to be able to bring a bag of tricks to any venue. ...and they did. Smoke pots, full light bars, out into the audience and across the seats and just having a great time. ...and yes, they did sing Big House and very early in the set.

As things slowed down for message time, the bands mixed members up a bit which really showed off some people's talents. Some clean worship songs and a missions call worked very well. Things didn't break up until sometime after ten, way past Shelley and Brad's bedtimes. Way past...

...but we wandered down to a local Denny's on the way out of town for dinner/breakfast/whatever and still managed to make it home by twelve-thirty. Talk about your long evenings. ...but this was cool, since it showed us the boys are big enough now to handle this sort of thing. Brad had a good time, but I think it was a bit much for him: he really didn't like having his chest rattled by the bass notes! ...but Daniel? Yeah, in his element; all sorts of high energy stuff going on and no way was he going to let it overload him!

Busy, busy, busy... That's me lately in the blogosphere <g>! As if I didn't have enough projects cooking at home (and a sick Optimist), the server move at the Surreallys is in full swing with all sorts of interesting (read: WT???) things going on over there. ...and sure, that's a great time to start working on getting a new user up and going with Moveable Type on a Windows server. Heck, no! I'm leaving the installation to the Man himself (Ben Trott) to handle; it's the twiddly bits after the installation that have given us grief in the past...

Not to worry; we'll get this lady's site up one way or another: there's too much good stuff for her to showcase. ...and I may have to put up a b2 installation locally here; I think that will be a good fallback if MT won't 'stick' on that server. ...and man, why do hosting services run Windows boxes anyway? Sheesh...

Oh, yeah, that story about the print server from Monday... Well, I wanted(needed) to print out the spreadsheet for the taxes. ...and then I remembered I'd rebuilt the Win2k machine. Oh, bother... Okay, I can connect to the Lexmark that's hanging off Shelley's machine, but that's a temporary solution at best (and I can't print at night at all).

Well, the inkjet somehow ended up sitting on a shelf about three feet from the server. ...and they've already been introduced. ...but that config trick I use for "non-networkable" printers involves a little work. K'... Lookin' for Easy Street here...

...and I remembered that printer server I'd picked up last year. Hey! I've been wanting to play with it anyway. Cool. So I pulled it down from the attic and took a look. Still cool. ...and there are Win2k drivers available on their website. Way cool. So I wander out to the garage and power the thing up and go looking for a chunk of Cat5 to connect it to the hub. Ah, no need: here's the length I used to link up to the kitchen workstation while the wireless was down during the Win2k rebuild. Easy. Ummm... Okay, power the printer and connect it. Hey, there be leds here, Captain!

So, inside I go and load up the software. ...and re-read the manual. ...and hit the website. ...and scratch my head. 'Cause the software says I don't have a print server on my network. WT?. Out to the server and install things there; after all, that's on the same segment of the network, -right?. No joy.

Dip switch time: the on line info contradicts the manual. Heck there are only so many permutations of three two-position switches... Flippity, flippity... No go... K'. I have power. It resets, even though there is no mention of a reset switch in the manual or online. Wait... Next to the reset switch... Is that another LED? ...and next to the RJ-45 connector? ...and it's not lit? Oh, man; this things DOA...

Got it yet? Hang on for some self-flagellation... Nah, here you go: Remember that length of Cat5? Yeah, the one I used to link to the kitchen hub? ...to Uplink to the kitchen hub? Yes, yes I did. Wrong port... That cable was plugged into the uplink port; as soon as I moved it to a regular port, that LED came on and all sorts of good things began to happen. ...and I had a functioning system. Which was a Good Thing, since Shelley was in bed asleep and I don't think turning on her computer and printer would have gone over all that well...

Hmmm... It sounds like we're going to have an "inside weekend" for a change; the weather people are still saying we're going to have a series of storms blow through here on their way inland. ...but they're starting to waffle a bit on just what is going to hit here. Like that's news...

...but that's okay, I could use a break from the pace of the last few weeks. Actually, I think the whole gang could. ...and it's not like we don't have a few things inside to do; Shelley can start up her routine for the next yard sale and I have at least two web-related projects to work on.

...and one of those will be playing around with is a CMS called b2. Dave uses it over at his place, as does Sara and they seem to be doing well with it. b2 has been at a distance on my radar since most of my CMS work is with Moveable Type users. ...but yesterday, I had a chance to get under the hood of a b2 installation that had recently undergone a server move and ended up partially hosed. That was darned interesting: I ended up having to dig through quite a few files looking for the errant path settings, and it gave me a nice feel for the system. Sooner or later, I'd like to move to a database driven CMS for the blog, if only to handle placing the photos in the galleries. I think this weekend may be a good time to set b2 up locally and see what I can see...

All sorts of stuff happening here today; here's hoping I can capture some of it!

Ha! I wrote that around ten this morning <g>. ...and this happened and that happened and then the other thing happened. So, yeah, it's been a bit busy here. The first storm blew over us last night, leaving no rain at all. ...but that let me get out and blade when I came home from work. Cool enough. ...but then the next one raised all sorts of problems with winds and rain and such and then blew through by mid-day, leaving us with clear skies once again. So I went blading again this evening...

...and now the weather guessers have given up and are saying to just wait and see what is going to happen with the one due in tomorrow.

The temperature has dropped about ten degrees in the last half hour. ...and the next storm is heading our way (about thirty-five miles out from what the radar says). This could be a good time to batten down the hatches: they're updating the radar image every ten minutes; the norm is thirty to sixty. ...and there is one of those pretty yellow, orange and red areas in the section that's barreling down the pike at us! Nope, it may bypass us, but this one doesn't look like it's breaking up...

...and the way the wind is picking up, I'm wondering why Brad and I spent the morning cleaning the pool and the deck <g>. ...sunshine through the windows one moment and deep darkness the next; yep, this could be a fun evening!

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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