Last Updated : Sunday, 24 February, 2002 at 9:12 PM -0600
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| Daynotes On a Budget Last Updated : Sunday, 24 February, 2002 at 9:12 PM -0600 |
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Monday, February 18, 2002
Yup. More packing and futzing.
Mr.
Bilbrey the other day wanted new ideas on how to skin a cat. I've tried a
method which seems to be failing. I figured I'd overfeed one and see what
happened. Other than a really fat cat, not much.
Should I mention that when I brushed the fellow off today, I got nearly a baseball-sized lump of cat hair from him? Probably not.
Well, anyway. Today I was home, as some genius at their daycare decided that the day the schools are closed would be an ideal day to shut down the daycare for an in-service day. Right.
So I used the day to my advantage. Nine loads of laundry (I cannot wait until a "big" laundry day is five loads) and I emptied out and re-filled the kid's closet with packed boxes.
And, in the process, encountered a couple of treasures. Anyone interested in a genuine IBM PC (dual 5 1/4" floppy drive) case, let me know. I've still got the keyboard as well... The same goes, regrettably, for my Amiga 500 with monitor and programming manuals. And any software I run across.
Other than that, not much going on here. Just packing and all the rest. What fun.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
See Wednesday
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Hey there.
No, I didn't get the chance to post yesterday. Seems there's this thing called "conversation" that people occasionally use the telephone for. Since we're still in the land of the dial-up, when the line is in use, the line is in use. And last night was one hopping evening for phone calls. I'd no sooner than gotten home when people started calling. Some friends, some politicians (Ann might call them friends, I dunno - I'm still thinking they're vermin in the abstract, though the few I've actually met have been nice folk, strangely enough, which bears out my point that it's the rest of you who elect the assholes - my guys are pretty good (and yes, we're 100% represented by males, from local representation to the state house all the way up to the senate). But I digress...). And some calls which were expected which I wasn't allowed to take... ahem. ;-)
Anyway, I'm beginning to see the desperate need for either a second phone line, or, perhaps more realistically, a cable modem... And, dare I say it, an instant-messaging-type-of-tool, as well...
So, we'll cover that which is covered elsewhere - Seems Mr. Vogt is a grandfather twice over. Although the size of the wee bambino who came out is nothing to snicker at... We had a local comedian some years ago who did a routine I found funny...
"I love telling people how big my kids were and watching their reactions. I tell them 'Yup. Ten Pound Baby.' (rocks on his heels, hands on hips) Men will say things like 'Oh sure. Once caught a fish that big.' Women, on the other hand, do things like 'OMIGAWD' (crosses legs, eyes bulge out, he falls to the floor)."
Yup. The difference between the sexes. Us males, we look at a ten pound baby, and say "heck, my bowling ball's heavier than that." The womenfolk, on the other hand, hear about a ten pound baby and then purchase new cutlery and books about Lorena Bobbit. Though, truth be told, when I'm in trouble, my wife would much rather perform any life-altering surgery on my humble carcass using a rusty spoon, rather than actual implements of destruction.
With that pleasant little mental picture out of the way (my wife keeps asking me "why do you think people fear me?" Gee, I dunno honey - could be that Irish Viking Kraut demeanor you pull off. Gregarious, bloodthirsty, and efficient. And sober as a church mouse, I'm certain), we'll barrel into today's travails.
My office plans are a wreck - the fine folks who drew the original plans had neither the office dimensions, nor the furniture dimensions. Uh, scuse me, but don't you need at least one to make a semi-educated guess at the space? Oh, I'm sorry, you've played with blocks since you were two, and have a good grasp of space. Well, I suppose that and your eleven years of watching every "This Old House" show that comes up should qualify you for professional office planner designation. POP is exactly what I'd like to do to the fellow...
Of course, the fault is partially mine. I received the plans from the leasing office, and made the mistake of expecting they were accurate... Gee. Funny how the advertised space dropped significantly from the actual, legal space somehow... Figures all of my "2-3 inches of slack" turn into "gee, there's about an extra 18" of furniture in that space." Lovely.
Oh well, this, too, shall pass, much like Mr. Beland's stone... Though mine is liable to take a whole lot longer...
Moving on to more or less pleasant things, I've been in the possession now of a number of older Toshiba computers. Someone, in their infinite wisdom, has seen fit to "borrow" the power supplies from most of them, rendering them mostly useless. Of course, you would think "hey, $30 and I am outta here" but it's never that simple. I'm looking at a minimum of $70 for the 4010CDTs (one of which is a give-away to someone else - my mechanic buddy, actually), and more or less the same for the others. Lovely. More research is called for, which is my way of saying "damnit, they've got to be available elsewhere for cheaper...".
Speaking of, we're also seeking intelligent life in our local government. Due to the burgeoning budget battle, three of the four caucuses (and three of the six interested parties - the four caucuses are the State House Democrats and Republicans, and the State Senate Dems and Reproba - er, Republicans - the heretofore unmentioned interested parties are the Governor and the people - voiceless but for those times every two years when we have the opportunity to throw the other fellow's bums out - ours, of course, are good bums...) have reached agreement on a budget.
Seems they're also in agreement regarding the fact that they'd like a new baseball stadium; though I heard one wag say "let's not get an edifice complex about this stadium". Oh, ouch. I'd've whacked the perpetrator of the remark, but the radio identified him before, rather than after, the quote. Lucky for that idiot. Of course, the governor this morning was grouching about the budget compromise that's being hammered out, complaining it used "smoking mirrors". Yup. Never elect an actor to do an idiot's work, as you'll put two idiots out of work in doing so...
I suppose, though, that this form of government is what we get when we don't have a real winter. If these people had snow to shovel instead of bovine byproduct, we'd all be safer at home, I suppose...
Speaking of idiots, the fellow in the white mustang, EMM 220 I believe the license plate read, this morning - the bottom line of driving is that it doesn't matter whether or not you're in the lane and WANT to come over - if you're being merged out of existence, you need to YIELD. Flipping me off will do no good when I've got a large panel van up my tailpipe concerned I haven't burned out the proper amount of carbon...
What is it about schmucks in sports cars? They get a vehicle which is alleged to move (though if I can beat a mustang who was ready for it off the blocks with my nearly 10-year-old Eagle, I shudder to think what Ford has done to the old "muscle" car), and think they own the road.
They should know it really belongs to me ... after all, I'm paying for it... Anyway, that's another one for the record books...
As is my sudden "inspiration" the other day on the way home. Short version - we've got what we call our "art deco" lamp. It's about 5' high, and was a rather putrid shade of green/black. It had this sort of tear-drop shape at one time, until it fell in the moving truck, and we were left with about 40% of an artsy-looking lamp, and about 60% of exposed ceramic.
The decision was made, however, to get Jack a lamp for his room. I've long thought of removing the excess ceramic stuff that's left and replacing it with something like a wooden box or something else fun.
Yesterday, however, the ideas (or something) flowed, and I thought "well, rather than unfinished wood, I could do something fancy." Ann and I discussed it, and I think she came up with the idea for making of the lamp "post" a "tall building" motif.
I, on the other hand, losing complete control of my faculties, came up with the idea for ... a Lego lamp. Purchase some colors in "bulk" as it were, and spell Jack's name on the sides of the lamp. Great idea, but we'll see. My "rough" calculations based on using 2x4 blocks on end for solid structure 6" x 6" x 36" high indicates I'll need something like 4600 blocks. When ordering colors in "bulk" I can get 50 blocks (not quite half-way around as originally designed) for a whole $6.99. Ouch. I'm looking at something like $600 lamp. And the idea's already been revealed to himself, so we're not going to be able to retract... Gee, that was pretty stupid...
Of course, now that we're getting towards spring, most of us are looking forward to the end of the winter that never was. Not so fast, caution the ... well, weather-guessers is the kindest comment I could make. Seems this weekend we'll be in the teens for highs, and near zero for the low.
Speaking of nuts, rats, phooey, and darn, I've apparently built quite a powerful load of e-mail over the years. Back when I shifted the burden of this site's contact from Hotmail to an account on Usa.net, things were in the bloom of health, web-wise. Unfortunately, the folk at USA.NET took away the free web-mail accounts, and stomped that wee bit o'fun.
So I switched from there to the folks at Altavista. Who, yesterday, decided they'd much rather focus on being a search engine (gee, they still do that?) than an e-mail provider. Got some news for you folks at Altavista - I never did use your search engine after the first few times in 1996-1997 - when I got 32,000,000 hits (back then, remember) from a search phrase, I knew I was going to be spending a whole lot of time separating wheat from chaff. So I've got to move my e-mail for this site from John_Dominik@hotmail.com to something else. If the before doesn't say John_Dominik at Altavista.com, then it's been changed to the new one (say what you will about Frontpage, they just don't have decent winders-based search-and-replace on multiple folders/files like they do on *Nix... Frontpage at least will hunt it down and replace it for me...).
Speaking of wheat from chaff, I've got to do some research. The wife has given tentative approval to the acquisition of a new motherboard (that being the piece I need to get my moribund PC back up and waddling. Well, it's a 550 Mhz PIII/256 MB RAM, with 19" monitor - which is a damned sight better than a PII 366 with 96 MB RAM, I suppose). Now back in the good old days (he mumbled, throwing flour into his beard to make him look like he really knew what he was doing), when I picked up a 386 or 486 or even Pentium motherboard, it was simple. RAM here, Processor there, and you cards line up in back or I'll shoot. Now, life is much more complex.
Anyway - I've got an intel mobo right now, and if anyone's got $0.02 worth of input they're willing to part with, advice on which to get (with an eye towards CHEAP, as in I'm a _____ Bastard), please let me know - your input is much appreciated.
There. That load should last for a while - I'm going out to a bar tomorrow night to watch a buddy's band play, so likely as not there won't be another post up here until Friday-ish...
Thursday, February 21, 2002
You know, some day I'm going to make a sign...
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No Solicitations No Sales Calls FINE PRINT : We're very happy with our long distance, water service, local phone service provider, networking services provider, carpet cleaner, office supply service, computer servicer, computer reseller, coffee and tea service, and just about every other service or product you can think of. And since we're managed by people several hundred miles away, who pay the bills and approve the invoices, we don't have much say in any of those, we let our corporate office concentrate on those things, because that's their job. We're going to concentrate on ours, which doesn't pay us for dealing with you. It's not that we don't buy things. It's not that we're rude or nasty people. The truth is we concentrate, an awful lot, on what we're being paid to do. Your interruptions cost us a great deal of time and effort. It's not something we can get back - we have to start all over again, in most cases. Therefore, if you're selling something and you'd like to talk to us about it, send us something in the mail. Rest assured that if we're interested in your product or service, we'll find you. Rest assured that if you ignore this and choose to interrupt us, we will be most unhappy. We also will most likely not be using your products or services, even if you're selling exactly what we need, even though you're certain we don't even know it exists - though we probably do know all about it. Our memories aren't perfect, but we remember those who annoy us a lot longer and much better than those whom we like. So please, go away. Don't bother us, and we won't be nasty to you. On the other hand, if you really want to get abused, come on in. We're good at it. It's not a challenge, mind you - just some free advice. So go away and use your time wisely, or come on in and waste both yours and ours. We're nearly certain you won't make a sale, and there's a good chance we could make you cry just by observing your mismatched socks or your ancestor's capabilities, so do us all a favor and leave. |
It's been a rough, rough day. I'm going to a bar. G'nite.
Friday, February 22, 2002
First up, if you can spare a good thought or three, send them the Beland's way. Matt's still holding doggedly to a 2x2 kidney stone (and I don't know about you, but if that's not millimeters or smaller, I don't want to know about it). Keri's running all over heck, trying to keep him going. Hopefully this will be over with good results soon...
Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm seriously looking into the possibility that I, as a citizen of the state of Minnesota, can sue my governor for dereliction of duty.
Yes, that's right. You know how to play with anagrams, right? Make words of the letters of other words? Well, I'm not at all surprised that Jesse Ventura includes the letters for ASS - which is what our governor is.
Let's put it in simple terms.
The state legislature, house and senate, worked together to deliver a budget compromise - it doesn't raise taxes, which the governor wants to do. It doesn't take inflation into account, which isn't very smart. It does cut education and other things, so there's definitely a down side. It also uses much, or all (depending on whom you talk to) of the budget reserves for the "just in case" stuff.
It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing. Ventura locked his office door early last night, and then hid - yes, hid like a coward, like a little child who knew he'd done something wrong, just as expected. Of course, we shouldn't have been surprised. This is a man who has claimed SEAL Combat experience - during the time he served "in Viet Nam", he never saw actual combat, and he reportedly wasn't even a SEAL, but only a member of the Underwater Demolition Teams, or UDT, which later became the basis for the SEALs.
Anyway, this craven coward of a governor went to ground, and wouldn't even let his security detail admit where he was, for fear of accepting the legislation, because he wanted to avoid some pretty sneaky political points. By hiding his yellow backside for yesterday evening, he didn't "officially" accept the legislation until today. By doing so, he now has three days to sign, or more likely, veto the legislation.
What difference does a day make? Normally, not much. This one day, however, is huge. Ventura's three days are business days, so he has Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. If he waits until end-of-day Tuesday to issue his veto, the next thing that happens is that next Wednesday, the state releases the next economic forecast. And this is the point where Ventura can start hacking away without the permission, support, or input of the legislature. Any actions he takes are not subject to legislative approval, and the legislature could override Ventura's veto, but it would be too late.
Isn't that special? An elected official, who hasn't yet decided if he wants to run again (given the election's only 255 days away from today), hiding from the job he's been elected to do.
I suppose we get the government we deserve. In this case, we apparently deserved a craven ass. And we got one.
I followed, at a distance, the news of Daniel Pearl. And I was saddened a bit by his loss, until I hit CNN this morning and saw his picture, the name "Daniel Pearl" and the years - 1963-2002. We were born in the same year.
Suddenly, sickeningly, the whole thing went up another level. He was doing a job, but also awaiting the birth of his first child. He wasn't looking for trouble, he was following a story. And the fine folks from the Pakistani underground, or whatever, decided to take offense at it, and silence a voice that was attempting to explain their concerns to us here in the United States.
And it occurred to me that perhaps we're doing this the wrong way. Instead of just sending off foreign aid like we do, we should take a little time and deliver it personally. I've nothing personal against Pakistan, you understand - I think that any country that supports a regime in another country, fosters terroristic rebellion in regions of other nations, flip-flops upon seeing a profit, and has some serious questions about which side they're really on should get our foreign aid with a little extra support - say a couple of armored divisions, a few heavy bombers, and several other methods of delivery which are probably going to reduce the land values for a while.
Let's face it - in the last century it was "cool" to be American. It was "cool" to be from the land of the Red White and Blue. Look at all of the flags now which fly those same colors in some variation.
This century seems to be the one of the downtrodden, pissed-off, violent masses from somewhere else. It seems to be a case of "well, that's fine, you take our money and kill our citizens, we understand that it's not the Government of that country, it's the armed thuggery, who view themselves as patriots to their cause, which is at fault here."
I'm tired of the "fine distinctions". I'm tired of the "well, we'll take one on the chin and then feed your kids anyway" bullshit. I'm tired of the "big country/big target" business.
Let's face it - the United States and it's citizens are targets of terror because these people aren't getting their messages across at home. The lunatics who regularly blow up buses in the Middle East for Palestinian Statehood are a problem. Then again, so are the Israelis who insist that the only good Palestinian is a dead one. We can't dome the whole region in and turn it into a giant glass bowl, but I wish we could.
There are some who will insist that it's the fault of the United States for supporting unjust, cruel, evil regimes in the face of the desire of the people of that land. And you know what? They're probably right. But they're also blaming the wrong people. Those politicians from the fifties and sixties and seventies and eighties have mostly moved on and aren't doing the job any more. Those people like Danny Pearl didn't formulate the policy that pissed off these terrorists from Pakistan.
I just can't tell if it's more mature to say "it's not the people we're fighting, it's the government" or "kill 'em all, let God decide." I suspect a middle-of-the-road approach is better, but not as satisfying in the short-term...
It's not the Great Pyramid, it's not even the Hoover dam, but it is the great Dominik construction project of 2002. After we move, I've got something like 30 days to complete eight or so major projects. Well, I'm lying a wee bit.
What I'm doing is I'm building Rhiannon a loft - a bunk bed without the lower bed. Under her bed will be a desk (3' deep x 4' wide), and shelving will run around the remaining area. The loft will also include a ladder. This is four "independent" projects in my head to keep the design straight.
That's four down. The next two are my computer desk and tower. The Desk will be an "L" shaped affair, and if you're facing it, the short-side will be dead ahead of you and the longer portion will run down your right side. 5' x 8', or thereabouts. There's room to adjust.
The "tower" will not be an official "rack" type of rack. It will be built to hold (or hide, as my wife sees it) at least four computers - three servers and a firewall. One NT, one Linux, and one - well, I dunno what the other one will be. We'll see when we get there. The firewall, obviously, will also be Linux (and behind a Linksys router, when we get the broadband thing going). This is because when I want to "play" with Linux, I also want to be secure - and I want that behind at least TWO layers of firewalls - and I want a box to use for monitoring the network (aside from the firewall) as well.
Anyway, that's the six major projects. The remaining "projects" are "scrap-lumber serendipity" as far as I'm concerned. I've official approval to use the old table-top as a workbench, and by using some scrap lumber from these other projects, I should be able to make a nice 36-42" high table-top. I'm also building a couple of sawhorses, as well. So there's eight.
What's the freaky part, you're asking? Well, I've done a lot of woodworking projects. I even had a business doing it years ago in college. But for the first time in my woodworking life, I had to resort to a part-numbering system to help me keep this all straight. Yes, I've had to dip into labeling my parts.
Before you scoff, I've got 318 parts to make/cut just in lumber alone. The most of one size/type are 12 for shelving braces I'm making. Everything else is quantity one, two, three, or sometimes four. Occasionally I've got some quantity 6 stuff. Granted, aside from assorted screws, some carriage bolts, and some paint and fabric, Rhiannon's Loft, Desk, Shelves, and Ladder are all lumber.
My computer desk is a bit more complex, but not much - Eventually, I'm hoping to add a cabinet with drawers under the long side to store that stuff you need to keep in drawers (maybe even two of those, if I'm lucky).
But the real piece of work will be the tower. It's going to have three shelves - top and bottom will be at least 3' high - the middle shelf height will be dependent on ceiling height - that's where I make up the "Squeeze". The doors, by order of she who must be obeyed, will be doors that don't show what's going on. I'm going to vent it somewhat - leave some room near the bottom for a filtered intake vent, and put some fans blowing out at the top - should keep it cool. I'm also going to go looking for some plexiglass pieces for the doors - smoked, preferably, and then I can get one of those rope lights for inside the cabinet for those "special" occasions... hehe.
The good news is that I've found out what kind of motherboard I have. It is (or was) an Intel SE440BX-2. If you know of a good replacement for it, let me know - Thanks!
Saturday, February 23, 2002
First up, we heard from Mrs. Beland - Matthew went into surgery this afternoon to remove that damned stone - everything went fine. We exchanged a couple of messages back and forth today, and he's apparently doing much better. Now, there's the whole detox thing, but that will be a piece of cake compared to the alternative...
Well, you know all those saying about planning? Fuggetaboudit.
My friend Todd came over today, and we looked over the Tempo. And the verdict is that it's at a crossroads. I can put some money into it, and it will run - for how long, we just don't know. Or I can look for another vehicle. Isn't that special...
Before we go shopping for a new vehicle, we're going to move. We're going to take our time and get something that will last 2-3 years, rather than a 12-15 year vehicle. But we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, I'm pooped, so I'm going to bed. G'nite.
Sunday, February 24, 2002
Well, the move is getting closer. We move four weeks from yesterday. And we've reserved the 26' Truck from U-Haul for the day, so that portion's taken care of.
The day didn't start out that good. Went to the optician's to order my glasses, and a gentleman who apparently no longer works there quoted me the price for my glasses - which was wrong. Very, very wrong. He quoted me $139 - the truth was that it was much closer to $239. I suppose, given that, the fact that the gentleman is no longer there isn't much of a surprise. The good news is that my indignant manner scared the young fellow (Josh) into telling me that Wednesday there's a half-off everything sale... So we wait to order the glasses until Wednesday. Lovely. I wanted to get this done January 1 - it looks like I might be lucky to have my new glasses before we move. What fun.
Anyway, I also got to wander the tool section at Sears - Coping saw, $8.99, "front-push" stapler's $19.99... These are the important things. That, and the fact that the "sport" of Google-whacking made the tail-end story on the 10 pm news tonight. Gee, can Olympic recognition be far off?
Other than that, Ann's getting cable hooked up - the good news is that $39.95 a month gets me my cable modem. Once I've had it for a few months, I'll cut back on Goldengate, though I think I'll try to keep something there for dialup when needed.
And the planning has started for all of that, as well...
Speaking of, Ann actually spoke to the Belands tonight. Matt's home, but he's still packing hardware. I'm telling you, when the words "stent" and "penis" are in the same sentence, it's an involuntary reaction - I just huddle and cry...
Anyway, Matt's home... And things are slowly returning to normal, I hope, for him. I'll spare you the further details. Lord knows I didn't want to hear them, though my wife insisted on hearing them, and giving them, in horrid, horrid detail... Whaddya wanna bet I'll be dreaming about tonight?
And on that terrible thought, G'nite.
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P. Dominik. All rights reserved. No reproduction without express
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