Windy

The weather has shifted dramatically in the greater Washington DC area. The temperature is dropping rapidly but the big news is the wind: it's averaging 30 mph with gusts to 50+ mph.

The major downside (for me) is that the household electricity is flickering in a nasty way. The machines I'm working on are all on UPS but our broadband connection is fairly fragile so we're occasionally losing Internet connectivity.

So far, the only wind-related damage is this:

It was an old tree already slated for removal. I guess the timetable has been moved up.

Windy

The weather has shifted dramatically in the greater Washington DC area. The temperature is dropping rapidly but the big news is the wind: it's averaging 30 mph with gusts to 50+ mph.

The major downside (for me) is that the household electricity is flickering in a nasty way. The machines I'm working on are all on UPS but our broadband connection is fairly fragile so we're occasionally losing Internet connectivity.

So far, the only wind-related damage is this:

It was an old tree already slated for removal. I guess the timetable has been moved up.

Attention DC Drivers!

When all traffic lights are out because of a mechanical or electrical failure, the intersection by law is a four-way stop. That means every vehicle stops so everyone gets a turn to get through. Unless you're an emergency response vehicle, you don't get to breeze through on a whim.

Idiots.

Attention DC Drivers!

When all traffic lights are out because of a mechanical or electrical failure, the intersection by law is a four-way stop. That means every vehicle stops so everyone gets a turn to get through. Unless you're an emergency response vehicle, you don't get to breeze through on a whim.

Idiots.

Disk Upgrades

I've been a busy geek the past few days.

My 100 Mbps network switch has been a little flaky lately so I dashed out to buy a replacement yesterday afternoon. I was surprised to find that gigabit ethernet devices are now so mainstream they're available at Best Buy... it's apparently been a long time since I've indulged myself in geeky shopping. There is now a spiffy 10/100/1000 Mbps switch on my shelf, although I don't have any machines (yet) which can take advantage of the faster speed. Perhaps I'll purchase the gigabit cards for my machines for a birthday present later in January.

The upgrade of my XP box from a 60 & 40 GB hard drive combo to a single 500 GB disk is now complete. Western Digital's boot partition cloning was a breeze to use; I was ready to employ a number of other methods but thought I'd give WD's apps a try first. Restoration of the photo & movie directories will take a while but they'll complete on their own in another couple of hours.

The 320 GB disk for my iMac has arrived. It's going to be more of a challenge since the iMac can only hold one disk at a time and the default file system is HFS+. I'm going to clone the existing 40 GB boot partition to a USB disk and confirm I can indeed boot from the clone. Once so assured, I'll perform the surgery to install the new disk, partition it and restore the clone. If that all goes to hell, I could always plug both disks into my Linux box, repartition the target disk and use "dd" to replicate the data to the new disk. I haven't done this sort of work on a Mac before so it will be a novel & new experience.

I'm really getting to love being unemployed. Do I really have to go back to work on Monday?

Disk Upgrades

I've been a busy geek the past few days.

My 100 Mbps network switch has been a little flaky lately so I dashed out to buy a replacement yesterday afternoon. I was surprised to find that gigabit ethernet devices are now so mainstream they're available at Best Buy... it's apparently been a long time since I've indulged myself in geeky shopping. There is now a spiffy 10/100/1000 Mbps switch on my shelf, although I don't have any machines (yet) which can take advantage of the faster speed. Perhaps I'll purchase the gigabit cards for my machines for a birthday present later in January.

The upgrade of my XP box from a 60 & 40 GB hard drive combo to a single 500 GB disk is now complete. Western Digital's boot partition cloning was a breeze to use; I was ready to employ a number of other methods but thought I'd give WD's apps a try first. Restoration of the photo & movie directories will take a while but they'll complete on their own in another couple of hours.

The 320 GB disk for my iMac has arrived. It's going to be more of a challenge since the iMac can only hold one disk at a time and the default file system is HFS+. I'm going to clone the existing 40 GB boot partition to a USB disk and confirm I can indeed boot from the clone. Once so assured, I'll perform the surgery to install the new disk, partition it and restore the clone. If that all goes to hell, I could always plug both disks into my Linux box, repartition the target disk and use "dd" to replicate the data to the new disk. I haven't done this sort of work on a Mac before so it will be a novel & new experience.

I'm really getting to love being unemployed. Do I really have to go back to work on Monday?

Happy New Year, As Near as I Can Tell

Judging by the recent round of thank-god-2008-is-over postings on LJ, it would seem that I'm nearly the only person on the planet whose 2008 didn't completely suck out loud. In fact, it was a fairly good year I think. You may all now bask in my glory... bunch in a little closer 'cause there's more people behind you.

While 2008 with my Dear Employer wasn't exactly spectacular, it wasn't pure unadulterated evil either. I was gainfully employed, was well-compensated for my work and ultimately moved on to a new job on my terms rather than on someone else's timetable. On the professional front, I consider 2008 to be mostly a win.

cuyahogarvr moved to DC in late 2007 so we've now had a solid calendar year together with no homicides. That's not just a win on paper: his presence here has been a nearly daily source of joy and love. Big win.

I think my square dancing has gone well in 2008 too. My C1 calling & dancing is vastly more solid than it was a year ago, proving that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks. Better yet, we're about 1/3 the way through the C2 list in a class with John Marshall, offering a load of mental stimulation and a new circle of friends outside my fairly large but somewhat circumscribed boundaries. Win.

Family continues to drive me insane periodically but that's what family is for and the drama has been easily managed. win.

While the financial apocalypse has severely damaged my retirement accounts, I wasn't planning to retire for another 20+ years anyway so I chose to see the drop in values as a cyclical economic issue which will right itself in the course of time. Our home hasn't dropped much in market value and remains at more than double what we purchased it for in 1999. If all else goes to hell, at least the trailer in West Virginia is paid for so we won't be fighting the neighbours for the privilege of living in a cardboard box. And, as the old proverb goes, I still have my health. Win.

Midnight will soon be upon the east coast but I doubt I'll be able to stay awake much longer. For those will reading, happy new year to you!

Happy New Year, As Near as I Can Tell

Judging by the recent round of thank-god-2008-is-over postings on LJ, it would seem that I'm nearly the only person on the planet whose 2008 didn't completely suck out loud. In fact, it was a fairly good year I think. You may all now bask in my glory... bunch in a little closer 'cause there's more people behind you.

While 2008 with my Dear Employer wasn't exactly spectacular, it wasn't pure unadulterated evil either. I was gainfully employed, was well-compensated for my work and ultimately moved on to a new job on my terms rather than on someone else's timetable. On the professional front, I consider 2008 to be mostly a win.

cuyahogarvr moved to DC in late 2007 so we've now had a solid calendar year together with no homicides. That's not just a win on paper: his presence here has been a nearly daily source of joy and love. Big win.

I think my square dancing has gone well in 2008 too. My C1 calling & dancing is vastly more solid than it was a year ago, proving that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks. Better yet, we're about 1/3 the way through the C2 list in a class with John Marshall, offering a load of mental stimulation and a new circle of friends outside my fairly large but somewhat circumscribed boundaries. Win.

Family continues to drive me insane periodically but that's what family is for and the drama has been easily managed. win.

While the financial apocalypse has severely damaged my retirement accounts, I wasn't planning to retire for another 20+ years anyway so I chose to see the drop in values as a cyclical economic issue which will right itself in the course of time. Our home hasn't dropped much in market value and remains at more than double what we purchased it for in 1999. If all else goes to hell, at least the trailer in West Virginia is paid for so we won't be fighting the neighbours for the privilege of living in a cardboard box. And, as the old proverb goes, I still have my health. Win.

Midnight will soon be upon the east coast but I doubt I'll be able to stay awake much longer. For those will reading, happy new year to you!