Day by day, we make incremental progress

I'm making incremental progress with the computer problems. I've got a new DVD drive in my #1 computer to replace the one that toasted with the old power supply and I've been able to get the #2 computer's boot drive reformatted, wiping out the old WinServer2003 installation.

Funny thing, though. This is the computer I'd been using for a few years for my Wonderware work computer. It'd BSOD on me occasionally and then with increasing frequency until by the time I stopped using it, it'd be BSODing 4-5x/day. I'd been thinking it might've been the RAM going bad somewhere, but I hadn't done much about it.

I had it BSOD on me again earlier today when I was installing Windows from the CD. Okay, no problem, I got it restarted and it's working now, sorta, but I was having some problems getting it to recognize the MS Mouse off the USB ports. I got a msg that the USB ports weren't being recognized correctly. NOOOOOOOO problem, I'm now up and running and can reboot this computer happily.

While I was booting it, I went into the BIOS to change the boot order so it'd hit the hard disk first and not the CD. Plugged that info in, and hit F10 to save, pressed Y and then ENTER, and BLAM! DOS/ASCII garbage on the screen.

Gee, that doesn't sound like a RAM problem, I said, that sounds like some kind of a CMOS/motherboard problem.

I tried to change the boot sequence in the BIOS again and at the same point I got EXACTLY the same DOS/ASCII garbage on the screen. Even with the same colors on the characters.

So, I'm going to identify if this is the motherboard or something repairable. If worse comes to worst, I can always buy a new mobo for this tower for $50-60 and plug in the CPU chip and I'll be in good shape.

What's nicest about all of this is that I'm now solving problems on the #2 computer, because the #1 computer is actually up and running still. Hot damn!

Day by day, we make incremental progress

Yet another fucking disk crash---aaaargh!

For the 5th (I think--I'm losing count) time since early summer of last year, I've had yet another C: drive die on me. My computer guy has given me a new motherboard and a new processor and a new boot drive all on warranty, but I've still got to spend tons of time reinstalling and reconfiguring everything. I was ready to be done with this garbage after the 3rd time it happened, but, nope, I apparently had more in store.

Just stay the hell outa my way for the time being and we'll all be happier. Yuck. :(

Yet another fucking disk crash---aaaargh!

The computer bulletin

I have a functioning boot drive and I'm able to see the old C: drive, which APPEARS largely intact. I'm going to do a backup of the old C: drive in case it continues to degrade or it dies completely, then install the new software on the new C: drive.

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahk.

The computer bulletin

Computer's working again, hurray

After a couple days of screwing around with the computer myself and then giving it to my computer guy, it turned out that the RAID/SATA controller had gone south. My computer guy worked on this all yesterday and was able to recover my C: drive (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!) and get it back to life. That was at 10:30pm last night and, even after a whole day of working on this, he only charged me $100. I'm enormously pleased.

I didn't have any way of running more than one drive and the DVD/CD, so I went out to buy a SATA card. Best Buy had one, their website said, but when I drove out to Springfield, they couldn't find it. Bugger. :( Springfield's to the east of Eugene. I drove first to the Office Depot in Eugene only to discover that they do sell SATA cards, but only online. I then drove to the far western side of Eugene and found what may be the only SATA card for retail sale in Eugene at a small computer store. It's slower than I wanted and was about twice as much as the same thing online, but I really NEEDED this card to get back to work. So I bought it, brought it home, and configured the computer. I'm alive again.

A much better (and slightly less expensive) card is coming on Saturday and then I'll hook the rest of the SATA drives up and do some more backing up. Meanwhile, I've deadlines that I want to get back to. And I really really really have had quite enough problems with electronics, technology, or ANYTHING for quite a while!

Computer's working again, hurray

Stuff

The C: drive on the new computer is being a pill. It may be a controller issue, though, as I can't get the computer to acknowledge a new drive on the system, either. I had work to do this weekend, damnit, and didn't want to be hacking with the computer and losing time to things. Computers are the Universe's way of showing us that we are not in control.

But here's a good quote du jour that a friend who signs himself "Miles Vorkosigan" on FB said today. It's a darned good quote:

Watching the Fringe Christians and the Fringe Muslims trying to one-up each other in bad behavior is like watching the Voldemort-vs.Sauron Global cage match mixed with a Dr. Seuss morality tale.

Stuff

Crappy day in the office

My computer crapped out first thing this morning. I was worried that I'd lost Yet Another hard disk, a problem I've had far, far too much of this last twelvemonth. I spent the day without a computer and fretting occasionally.

But it worked out really well, you know? I had the idiot box on in the background and had lots of episodes of The Closer on while I debrided and swept and sorted and sifted.As a result of the enforced downtime, I was able to:

• process a large stack of mail (mostly junk) that's come in over the last week
• write checks and send payments on half a dozen bills
• fill up my wastebasket and recycle bin, empty them, and half fill them again
• dusted and swept (always an issue in this office)
• boxed up some spare computer stuff

The office is much cleaner, better organized, and feels much more comfortable.

Best of all, the computer is now working again! Whatever was wrong with the hard disk was fixable using the RECOVER feature from the WinXP boot CD.  A few massaged sectors, a repair to the registry from the backup logs, and ~poof~ all is well again.

But the day did inspire a considerable amount of cursing, so it's significant that early this morning before the computer died on me, I saw the Periodic Table of Swearing. (Warning: This is so beyond the concept of "NSFW" you can't even see it from there.)

Addendum: I got a report of a link problem for the picture, so here's a copy. But try the source first, please: they deserve the credit.

Crappy day in the office

Altoids, lots of 'em

I was shopping at Costco yesterday and I gave in to temptation: I bought a dozen tins of peppermint Altoids. Well, they were really cheap--$1 a tin--and I do like them. I have them here in the office and they'll last, too. I'd love to be able to buy ginger Altoids in bulk, too, but these will definitely suffice. 

Altoids, lots of 'em

Decommissioned a computer

My former #1 computer, CHLOE, is completely decommissioned. I had tried to get it up and running with a new 2T hard drive, but nope, it was still dying unexpectedly. Examining it Monday afternoon when we were swapping out DVD drives finally showed how the damage from the lightning strikes this past summer had manifested: half a dozen of the small on-board power capacitors were bulging and at least three were leaking electrolyte. I'd had CHLOE as my #1 computer for a number of years, so it's the end of an era.

I could have the board fixed for $60, but you know... I just don't need a second computer at the moment. I may want to get a RAID box at some point, but I don't see any overwhelming need to do that now, so I've just scrapped it.  I've got some spare parts from it that I probably won't need, including 3GB of DDR RAM, a CPU chip, and a great big tower case that may be of help.  

I've now got more room under the desk as a result, too.

Decommissioned a computer

A day of cleaning and errands

The Babe's been cleaning up some of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen (who KNEW we had so much space??!?!). I have gotten my office floor vacuumed--I'd forgotten my Persian carpet here was a dark red--and have spread tax paperwork all over it for sorting and sifting.

We paused mid-day and went shopping for a new side table to go with the new couch, which arrives tomorrow. The house is really clean and we're decluttering all kinds of things here and there. More stuff going out on the PayItForward lists.

A day of cleaning and errands

My desk is a mess, but it's decorative

Bernie cattywhompus on desk

My desk is currently a colossal mess. There are all kinds of unpleasant stacks of paper from projects, from taxes, from mail that's stacked up while I finish the ms.... just everything! But Bernie makes it look pretty good and, if not cleaner, then certainly a little cuter.

My desk is a mess, but it's decorative

Quick Friday notes

I've a ton of things to do today, but I did want to make a few comments:

• My system is exhibiting a really shocking latency. Part of it may be the mouse that I'm using, which I think is on its way out, so that I can click on something and maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I'll try a replacement for it soon and see if that fixes anything. But part of it is is just that Windows is taking this "Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it" attitude that I find unacceptable in any inanimate object I own. This also happens sometimes when I try to open a link from my email: I'll get a "This application is busy; do you want to retry?" message. Yer damn right I wanna retry; exactly what do you think you're doing if not listening to me? Having Windows go off into mumble mode is one of many really irritating things about it.
  
• I'm wrapping up a zillion different things, which is pestiferous.
  
• I made the mistake of installing a bunch of Windows updates yesterday. MS has gotten better about not throwing shit out on an unsuspecting market, but when the machine says "Okay, you need to restart to have all these take effect" and I say "No, do it later," I do not want the box to appear every 15-20 minutes saying "How 'bout now?" Particularly when the default is "Yes" and a stray spacebar will trigger the system shutdown with no saving throw. You know, guys, I've got the idea that I need to shut the system down and restart in order for my changes to take effect. Now piss off and let me work. If I wanted this kind of constant obnoxious reminder of my options getting in the way of what I'm trying to do, I'd be using a Mac.
• I got the unkempt hair and beard trimmed heavily yesterday. I feel much better now without hair flopping all over everything.
  
• The Babe comes home from the conference in Anaheim this evening. That'll be nice.
  

Okay, it's downstairs to whip up a fresh potta coffee and get to it.

Quick Friday notes

Almost out of paper!

Good heavens, the End Times must be near: I'm almost out of printer paper! I was about to start a print of the manual I'm wrapping up and the upper tray was empty and the big 500-sheet tray was almost empty. Might 's well fill 'em both up before starting a print, right?

I've got ~a~ ream of 8-1/2' x 11" left. One. Uno. And that huge stack of one-sided paper I'd been using for drafts that I keep in the upper tray? It's down to about 30 sheets. The box, she is empty.

Sonomagun! I think I need to go buy more printer paper soon. Fortunately, that one ream will keep me for a few days, but only just.

Oy.

Almost out of paper!

The Pep Boys: Mannie, Moe, and Jack

Bernie, Sebastian, and Yang are posing on the rolled-up Persian rug. I was doing lots of revamping to the network (behind me as I'm taking this photo) and I had moved a huge pile of debris off to one side, hence the rug rolled out of the way and the boxes of debris and so on).

The rug didn't stay rolled up for long, btw. I discovered that all three of these cats were sharpening their claws on the nap, which wasn't doing it a bit of good. There were little bits of rug yarns all over the place. I unrolled the rug asap thereafter.

The Pep Boys: Mannie, Moe, and Jack

Expanding my LAN

This may not be a big deal to anyone but me, but I've just gotten a few 8-port network switches, which have FINALLY allowed me to expand my LAN. I'm now able to light up all the network sockets in the house and I can connect all the computers and printers to the LAN at once.

This is an incredibly busy summer, between my day job and a bunch of other things. But I'm feeling fairly happy about everything. :)

Expanding my LAN

Cleaning and itching

Saturday evening and I'm trying to get the last bits of paper off the office floor and into file folders/the waste basket/the recyle bin/the shredder box. I'm having a continual itching in my eyes and the back of my nose from the dust on rug.

The allergic reaction is actually more in response to some repair work I did today on the #1 computer. I've been having a serious problem with overheating and thermal shutdowns. Finally peeling the cooling fan off the top of the CPU's aluminum cooling fins, I discovered a solid mat of dust and lint, which prevented any air from getting in to the chip at all. After some wrestling with the chip and the fan to get it back in, I restarted the computer and ran the temperature monitor. Sublime success! The temperature was 25C degrees cooler than what it's been running at. I should be just fine from now on.

I've not put the side of the case back on yet, though. I want to see how it does for a few days just to make sure. And I'm awaiting the arrival of a PCI card that will give me another 4 SATA slots, which will let me add another two 500GB hard drives to this computer. (Yes, that's going to be a ton o' hard disks.) But that's a task that will wait until after I return from the STC conference in Minneapolis.

Cleaning and itching

The vacuum cleaner story

I was thinking about how much paper I have stacked up for shredding now that the taxes are off to the appropriate agencies. (It's about two large boxes full, far too much for the little 4-6 pages at a time office shredder I have near my desk.) I was talking to someone at work about how I used to dispose of old papers by shoveling them into the wood stove and I was reminded of something I read some years ago that's a really good story. I haven't thought of this for quite a while and it bears repeating. (You can find the original of this story here.)

I hate to admit it, but this happened to me way back in 1980.

A few years after graduating from college, I returned to my folks home to retrieve a considerable number of storage boxes that I had left with them. These boxes were filled with books, course notes, old homework projects, etc that I had kept. I decided to weed through them and eliminate as much junk as I could.

Not having the heart to dump all that hard work into the garbage, I decided to grab a six-pack, settle down in front of the downstairs fire place and ceremoniously burn four years worth of college memorabilia. I managed to get through about five of the 15 or so boxes piled around me when I realized I could not possibly sort through each box page-by-page. In the interest of time, I decided to do a cursory scan of the contents to determine if anything 'jumped out' as worth saving. Well, box number six appeared to be loaded with Psychology and Logic 101 junk so I took the short cut and tossed the whole box on the funeral pyre before me.

I popped open beer number four and watched the box smolder. Raising the can, I gave one last salute to those two unmemorable courses as the box erupted into a roaring inferno.

The papers were consumed rapidly.

So were the ancient contents of the dresser drawer that I had hastily dropped into the bottom of that box when packing two years earlier. Dang, I had forgotten all about that stuff. The toothbrush and hairbrush went up rather well... also that packet of disposable plastic razors, dental floss and contact lens case and a bunch of junk I don't even remember. Of course, I didn't even know that stuff was going up in smoke as I sat there. Just chugged the beer and watched. It burned great... right down to that full can of deodorant that was in there with it all.

I had gotten about half the beer down when that deodorant can finally decided it had enough. What happened next I can only compare to the scene from "2001" where that Dave Bowman guy is falling through all those lights with that 'o shit' look on his face. I heard a BOOM so loud that my brain only registered it as a high-pitched squeal. The contents of the fireplace right down to the last ash were propelled out with such velocity that all I could see were a multitude of bright streaks emenating from a point about three feet in front of me (ala 2001). Big blue shock wave knocked me back.

Spill the beer? You bet. Caught me off guard? Hell yes. Felt like I jumped on a live grenade? Guess so. One second I was watching that inferno burn from the outside, the next second I was watching it from the inside.

The human brain reverts to 'primordial slime' mode when thrown into a situation like this. All higher-order functions vaporize. Guess it's all those endorphins and endomorphines hitting it at once. It took a couple of seconds to get the 'reasoning' capability of my brain back online. I jumped up, looked at my hands and feet, touched my face and realized that I was indeed intact. Holy Cow, I was completely untouched. Not even a soot mark on me. Although I might possibly qualify as a human cannon ball, there would be no Richard Pryor imitation tonight, folks.

I looked through the thick smoke toward the fireplace. What WAS a 6-inch deep accumulation of one winter's ashes was now squeaky clean. Blasted it right out. All those burning embers were now sitting on the deep-pile carpet behind me. ALL over the room.

I panicked.

I grabbed the little shovel from the fireplace set and scooped as fast as I could. As soon as I filled the shovel, I'd run to the fireplace, empty it and run back. Some embers were 30 feet down the hall. I guess I set the Guinness World Record for "Hot ember pickup with a little shovel" in those next few minutes. I did manage to avoid setting my folks house on fire, and the carpet only had one or two real serious melted spots on it. I DID find the deodorant can too- it had left the fireplace at some ungodly serious velocity, bounced off the wall at the far end of the room and come to rest directly behind where I was sitting. Dang thing was split wide open along the weld and peeled back almost flat. Burned black, too. Looked like re-entry junk.

After I got the Fire Marshal Bill stuff under control, I grabbed beer number five, popped the top and thought about how I was gonna get the remaining mess cleaned up. Close examination revealed that everything was coated with a heavy layer of very fine ash. Heck, a vacuum cleaner will get this stuff up no problem.

Gee, how lucky could I be? I didn't get decapitated, the house is still on its foundation, I got a GREAT story for the grandkids and the cleanup is gonna be a cinch. I grabbed my mom's upright out of the closet and started to work.

Ever have one of those split-seconds of consciousness when you realize you survived something really bad but you sense that it's not quite over yet? Well, I never have, but I wish I had felt that way at this point. Would have clued me in as to what was about to happen.

There I was, sucking up ashes with an upright vacuum. Too bad not all of them were cold. That upright vacuum swallowed ONE LITTLE ITTY BITTY HOT EMBER that was sitting there on the carpet. It flew right up inside it and sat on that big ol' pile of carpet lint way up in that bag. Heck, that bag hadn't been emptied in a long time. And all that air rushing in there made that little bitty hot ember REAL happy. Next thing I know, the side of that vacuum is glowing red hot. By the time I figured out what was happening, there was a two foot flame blowing out a volcanic vent in the side. It really looked and sounded sorta pretty, like a fighter jet on full afterburner. Diamond shock pattern and all (This is obviously a recurring theme in all of my writing).

Again, my brain reverted to primordial slime mode. All higher-order functions ceased and all I remember thinking was "T-h-r-o-w v-a-c-u-u-m".

I pitched it as hard as I could towards the open basement door, hoping it would make it to the patio outside. The distance was about 20 feet. In slow motion it looked like one of those old NASA films where the rocket goes psycho right off the launch pad. There it was, sailing brush end first with a nice slow roll...fire belching out the side. As the umbilical pulled out of the wall, the flame settled into a long trail of sparks. The vehicle had plenty of initial velocity and it looked like a good downrange trajectory... right up to the point it passed through the plate glass window to the right side of the door.

Yep, I swear this happened as written.

The vacuum cleaner story

Cement truck down the street again

We have a cement truck just down the street again this morning. The Walters crew is finishing up the construction on the last few houses in this development and that includes pouring a couple driveways. Unfortunately, it means that there's a bunch of noise coming in the window for the first few hours, so I have to close the window... and that's when this computer starts to overheat. I've got to get a can of compressed air and blow dust out of the cooling grid and apply more heat sink compound. Feh.

Cement truck down the street again

Getting the office a little closer to what I want

I had a brilliant idea yesterday. I’ve been looking at what to do about my office w/r/t not enough bookshelves. I've been making some idle plans for putting in a bunch of very tall bookshelves with a built-in desk. So, naturally, I’ve been looking at IKEA for things I can do with bookshelves. I’ve always liked their Billy series of bookshelves.

And then it occurred to me that I already have two of them.

Not yet spoken for.

In the rich reddish-brown mahogany color I like that goes so well with the dark green in the office and the red-brown of the cherry floor.

And there’s no reason why I couldn’t put them into the office right now.

So I moved a 4’ table out of the way and replaced it with two very tall red brown bookshelves. The TV moved to the other side of the desk complex and I’m figuring out what to put on the shelves now. One of first things was the miscellaneous containers of rubber bands, bulldog clamps, paper clips, push pins, and so on that tend to stack up on the desk. (They’re still near enough that I can grab them easily when I need them.) The assortment of pills and vitamins--sadly, a large amount of desk space; I’m definitely getting old--is also in the book shelf.

I can probably move a lot more kibble to the bookshelves, too, including CD spindles, markers, and a number of other small items that take up too much room on the desk surface.

Hot damn.

Getting the office a little closer to what I want

Moved in, sorta

I had just a moment here in the middle of everything to add a note.

We got all the stuff moved into the new house (save for the storage pod of stuff we'd stored a while back; that can wait until we're a bit settled and we have new cabinets built in the garage for storing things.

The painters are done with all the bedrooms and the bathrooms and they look fabulous! (Yes, photos will be coming.) My office is set up, sorta: the network's up, the printer works, I've got lots of Internet access, and the wireless is working for the time being. I've just bought a router to take care of the network routing in the patch panel (shoulda done that earlier, but I forgot).

The house is really lovely. It's incredibly upscale. I feel like I have to be a better person than I am now just to live in it.

Back to work--got a chapter I want to get out.

Moved in, sorta

Early Monday am

I had a lot of things to do for work this morning, so I got up around 5:00. There was some leftover coffee that was drinkable (I have much lower standards than the Babe for drinkability and leftover coffee that was good to begin with will do for an eye-opener), but I'm going to want more caffeine shortly, definitely.

I've got a ton of albums to listen to this morning--a new Weird Al, a bunch of Leon Redbone, some Steve Goodman--and a pile of really satisfying work. It looks like it's going to be a good day.

Early Monday am