I’m fighting off some kind of cold which has my nose draining and my throat sore, and which also means I’m snoring (keeping poor Jen awake) and getting lousy sleep. So today I’m viewing a spreadsheet through half-lidded eyes.
One highlight of the day is that I’m using the magnificent Data Rescue II to resurrect our failed photo archive disc; After almost having given up on it, I’ve been able to snatch all of 2004, 2006, and 2007 from the jaws of digital doom.

Date posted: October 5, 2009 | Filed under general | 1 Comment »

Well, it’s official: Saturn is dead. I kind of knew it would happen, even when they claimed that Roger Penske was going to buy it (buy what, exactly? Build what? That whole story never made sense).

* * *

I’ve spent a good deal of quality time with OS X Server (Tiger) over the last couple of weeks, and my experience has been very good overall. I had a previous install to learn from, so doing things like setting up users, groups, share points and sharing were a lot easier to do than if I’d tried it out of the box. Opening up ports for HTTP, FTP and VNC went smoothly, and I followed some helpful directions to log into the server using SSH and then share via AFP over a secure connection. I’m curious to get a copy of Snow Leopard Server and look at the differences.

* * *

I also bartered some networking help for a used G5 tower, which means our setup here at the house will be current as of 2004. The big thing is to have a machine that will take a SATA drive, which are cheap and plentiful—I’ve been cobbling together servers with ancient hardware for years, so when I can put an enterprise-level terrabyte drive in a five-year-old machine for ~$100, it means I can finally collect all of our photos, music, video, and backups in one place. I started moving files last night, and with the help of a utility called SmartReporter, I’m hoping I can avoid the catastrophic failure of our last music server.

* * *

I did not know this before, but the 3rd generation iPod will not charge from a USB connection, which sucks, because Apple decided to drop FireWire 400 ports from the back of new Intel iMacs. Which means I can listen to what’s on my iPod from my work computer, but I can’t charge it unless it’s plugged into the wall.

* * *

We are inching closer to that new car, but it’s slow going.

* * *

I’m going to have to break down and dip into the home equity fund to buy three more windows for the front porch before the really cold weather hits. It’s chillier at night now, and I’m too used to being able to work out there quietly. Also, having two computers on the dining room table for a second year in a row is unacceptable—especially with all of the cords hanging at Finn-height. Meanwhile, I just ordered ten more Pullman window counterbalances for the rest of the upstairs windows. Ten is about all the budget for this month will allow, and it’ll take me a weekend or two to get them all installed. The next step is to figure out a good way to blow paper insulation into the empty window pocket cavities without getting it all over the house.

Date posted: October 1, 2009 | Filed under geek, general, house, porch | Comments Off on Quick Updates.

Date posted: September 28, 2009 | Filed under finn | 1 Comment »

whoa, look at my hat

I’ve been writing and rewriting a post to Finn about her birthday, but I’m not a good enough writer to say what I mean. Meanwhile, the last two weeks (well, the last month) have been ridiculously busy, to the point where I’m not getting a lot of spare time to organize my thoughts. I’ll keep trying.

Date posted: September 28, 2009 | Filed under life | Comments Off on Whoa, It’s Been Awhile

power salute

…for a much longer post I haven’t finished yet, celebrating the birthday of my beautiful baby daughter. Mama said it a lot better than me over here.

Date posted: September 22, 2009 | Filed under finn | Comments Off on This Is a Placeholder

out for a walk

Date posted: September 15, 2009 | Filed under finn | Comments Off on Out for a Walk

pretty smile

Mama will write about the weekend better than I will, so I’ll just post a picture here.

Date posted: September 14, 2009 | Filed under finn | Comments Off on On the Lawn

My trusty MacBook Pro, after several years of faithful service, has started exhibiting signs of flaky behavior over the last couple of months. If I put it to sleep for my ride home, there’s a 50% chance it will have woken up and be cooking itself inside my computer bag. This happened when I was running 10.4 and has only gotten worse when I upgraded to 10.5, so I know it’s not software-related. I’ve reset the power management unit several times, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Running Photoshop, Windows XP under Parallels, Mail, FTP, and three or four other essential applications concurrently makes the processor get hot to the point where I have the cooling fans on maximum. I’d guess several years of this have begun to fry some of the innards, making things flakier over time. Plus, I’m continually bashing my head against the 2GB RAM ceiling in this model.

Now I’m getting a single horizontal line across the screen about 1/3 of the way from the top, which is small enough to almost be invisible but large enough to be really annoying. When this line appeared in the past (always after the sleep-waking incidents) it would go away on its own after several minutes, but I’ve had a permanent line for 24 hours, which has me worried.

This is actually the second display for this particular laptop; I had the first one replaced under warranty only months after I got the unit. It’s well outside the warranty and Applecare coverage at this point, so I’m on my own. Some initial research prices a replacement at around $800, which is about $200 less than a new MacBook. I’m not afraid of doing the surgery myself, but for that kind of cash, I’d rather just buy something new.

Sick Macbook

I get the feeling this is a symptom of greater problems down the line.
So, new MacBook Pros (I don’t think I could trade down to a consumer-level MacBook) start at $1700 for a 15″ and go all the way up to $2400 for a 17″, which is considerably less than what they were 3 years ago. Refurbs are $200-400 less than list, and I have no hesitation buying last years’ model to save some cash, but right now is not a good time, considering we’re saving up for a baby-hauling vehicle. I can make do with what I’ve got by running an external monitor and just living with the problem, but I’m depressed that I can’t stretch the lifespan of this machine out another year or two.

Update: It seems to come and go. I though it might be because I was jamming the laptop in a bag with a bunch of other items, but carrying it separately had no effect. After several hours of sleep, the line goes away sometimes, and sometimes not.

Date posted: September 10, 2009 | Filed under geek | Comments Off on Just When I Need It Least Dept.

I live in a field down by the river

Courtesy of Mr. Scout and his lovely wife, we took a trip to West Virginia and did a little swimming on Sunday afternoon. Finn found a big lawn to boopty around in, too.

Date posted: September 8, 2009 | Filed under finn | 1 Comment »

Driving 2.

Date posted: September 5, 2009 | Filed under finn | Comments Off on Driving The Convertible.