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GRAFFITI -- October 03, 2005 thru October 09, 2005 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable.     About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.

MONDAY    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
October 3, 2005

0643 - Good morning. After yesterday morning's post, I headed out to one of the home centers and picked up a couple of wire-brush attachments for the drill motor, so I can finish prepping the woodshop floor. I also looked at the wood that I might use to finish up rebuilding a TV cart that Marcia's dad made into an end table for the library. The next project after that is a TV stand with build-ins for the electronics and such. It needs to be deeper than the current cabinet, and lower. We'll rearrange the living room again, around this new piece of furniture.

After the shopping, I came up here and started working on getting through the rest of the chapters that Bob and Barbara have ready for technical review. I'd fallen behind the curve, but caught all the way up by mid-evening - I read seven chapters, and only had minor nits to pick in six of them. In one, I couldn't find a damn thing to change. You've gotta know that's going to piss off the editors, who love to make changes. Unfortunately, that means that they'll take something that's right, and make it wrong, to have made a change.

Finally, for now, LinuxGazette.net's latest release, Issue #119, is now available. Go, read, learn new fun things about Linux. And have a good a Monday as possible, as the days get shorter and colder, and we all get older. I do really well with Mondays. Can you tell? Grin.

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October 4, 2005

0631 - Good morning. Yesterday I completed updating and installing XP and Office 2003 in a VMware jail to start doing some testing against an Exchange server. We have all sorts of weird and awful setups so that we can text various exploits and protect against them. Then I built a new debian install into an older P4 system to use as an offsite backup mastering machine - handles all the rsync and filesystem-level encryption fun so that nothing leaves the premises unprotected.

Day two of the week without Marcia and Lucy. Every once in a while Molly seems to notice that there's fewer mouths to feed around here, but then that thought leads her right to her favorite topic, food. Then she starts licking the air (in case food appears magically in front of her at head height) and looking pointedly at me: "I haven't eaten anything in the last 15 minutes. Do you want me to starve?!?" Lucy, being a much more sensitive dog, is apparently not been eating well, unless she can get hold of some of Malcolm or Duncan's food. Then she's got an appetite!

In the evening, I got the bills paid, me and the mut fed, the home encrypted backup copied and back offsite, the trash out ... Monday evenings are usually my busiest. Today I'll go forth and conquer something new (I hope). Have a great day!

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October 5, 2005

0703 - Good morning. I feel like a Vogon who's just seen that the Dentrassi chefs are grinning - that's right, there's something that I can get very, very angry about. I caught the tip of the iceberg last night in what must have seemed (to the sender) an innocuous email about a new application. I sent off in reply as scathing a response as I dared under the circumstances, and am waiting for battle royale today. I expect to be on the winning side, but that victory might be Pyrrhic. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm finally going to start building that list server today, gods willing. With that in play, I can execute on a project for some new tower workstations that I'll build from components for some of our devs. I've also got a short bit of training to do with a new AA that's joining the firm today. So I'd best be on my way. Have a great day!

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October 6, 2005

0937 - Good morning, more or less. I didn't turn on the coffee maker last night. I didn't turn on the alarm last night. I did bite my tongue rather badly while eating some ice cream, but that's to be expected, since I'm going to two dentists on Friday. So I overslept, made coffee before leaving, took one and three quarters hours to commute into work because the Beltway sucks ass, and now, thanks to Dodge, there's this link: "You have two cows" to destroy the rest of my day. Thanks a lot. Here, I pass on the destruction to any who are willing. Enjoy!

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October 7, 2005

1650 - Good afternoon. It's been a full day. I was at the dental surgeon's by 0820, and in the chair having x-rays taken to clear the upper right implant for progress. That went fine. Then I wandered into the building next door, into my regular dentist's office, where after a 45 minute wait, we got the posts and crowns installed in the two lower implants. It took about 2 hours all told for that process, and there was some pain, but not much. It sure is weird having all my lower molars again. It's been a long bloody time. By the time we have my uppers in, in late December or early January, I may not know how to act.

It was drizzling lightly as I got to the dental duo, but by the time I was done, it was pouring over in Silver Spring. I drove through the rain straight over to our local Jiffy Lube for an oil change and wipers. Then back home, theoretically to work remotely. There was a bit of a hitch there, as Molly picked today to poop inside for the first time in nearly a year. Hmmm. I gave her three chances before I left - I dunno why she failed to handle her end of the bargain. So after a bit of a clean up and a bite to eat, I logged in and started dealing with the email backlog and doing some remote system upgrades on the box I'm building (yes, still ... life at work is interrupt-driven). The rain came and went in waves, but nothing too heavy until a few minutes ago when the sound of the rain penetrated past computers and fans and music ...

It hasn't rained this heavily in more than a couple of months. We actually had the driest September since sometime in the 1880's. Anyway, back to work with me, but I thought I'd drop in and say, "Hullo". Hullo! See you tomorrow.

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October 8, 2005

1103 - Good morning. It's still just pissing down rain this morning. We took in perhaps 3.5 inches over the first 24 hours, and perhaps another 2 to 4 inches are due before this weather pattern blows out of here late Monday or Tuesday. Yes, I turned all the sprinkler timers to off on Thursday evening. I didn't see the point in watering the water. I did TR on the last manuscript chapter for The Bob, and started to do a writeup on SUSE-10.0 OSS edition last night. More about that when it's completed. Now I think I'll go work in the basement for a while. Have a great Saturday!

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October 9, 2005

1431 - Good afternoon. I "caught" Molly nearly unawares, napping on our bed yesterday afternoon. That's one of her favorite spots to be when we're out of the house. Evidently my working in the basement counts as being out of the house. As I mentioned yesterday morning, I was working in the basement ... preparing the main workshop floor for paint. The first step is to wire-brush the assorted crud, paint splashes, what have you all off the surface. Not by hand, though, or I'd still be at it come Judgement Day. Previously I'd been using a wirebrush wheel, and while that did the job, the coverage wasn't great, and it took a lot of work - I'd not gotten very far. Since that first try months ago, I'd picked up a Makita drill that can be used as a straight drill motor or a hammer drill. It's considerably sturdier than my old Craftsman. Then the other day, at Lowes, I bought a couple of coarse wire-brush cups. Together with the Makita and it's secondary handle mounted, I was able to get through about a third of the floor in unde a couple of hours. I may do another chunk later today, after I go back out to pick up the CDR blank media that I forgot to put on the lists for today's shopping run.

You may remember that we had the lawns reseeded, and that I'd setup some sprinklers to help things along since everything was bone dry. With the anticipated rain, I shut off all the sprinkler timers on Thursday night, and that was the right choice. The lawns are starting to fill back in nicely from the drought-like conditions of the last couple of months, and the damage that the grubs had done. The rains themselves have pretty much petered out, with rainfall amounts ranging from 3 to 10 inches over the two days. Yow!

It's much cooler here than in Iraq, where temperatures continue to run from lows in the 70's to triple digit highs day after day. And that is where we have young men and women putting their lives on the line to finish the job that Bush started. I'm proud of those troops, and recognize their losses, too. The first soldier listed below is from Crofton, just up the road a piece from here...

• Sgt. 1st Class James J. Stoddard Jr., 29, of Crofton, Md., died in Afghanistan on Sept. 30, when his vehicle accidentally rolled over.
• Staff Sgt. John G. Doles, 29, of Claremore, Okla., died in Shah Wali, Afghanistan, on Sept. 30, during patrol operations when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
• Cpl. John R. Stalvey, 22, of Conroe, Texas, died Oct. 3 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces during Operation Iron Fist in Karabilah, Iraq.
• Sgt. Marshall A. Westbrook, 43, of Farmington, N.M., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Oct. 1, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV.
• Staff Sgt. Sean B. Berry, 26, of Mansfield, Texas, died in Taqaddum, Iraq, on Oct. 3 of non-combat related injuries.
• Pfc. Andrew D. Bedard, 19, of Missoula, Mont., died Oct. 4 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
• Spc. Joshua J. Kynoch, 23, of Santa Rosa, Calif., died in Bayji, Iraq, on Oct. 1, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during convoy operations.
• Sgt. Larry W. Pankey Jr., 34, of Morrison, Colo., died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, of non-combat related injuries sustained in Balad, Iraq, on Sept. 23.
• Staff Sgt. Jens E. Schelbert, 31, of New Orleans, La., died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Oct. 1, when his forward operating base was attacked by enemy forces using indirect fire.
• Sgt. Bryan W. Large, 31, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio died in Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on Oct. 3, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.
• Spc. Jacob T. Vanderbosch, 21, of Vadnais Heights, Minn. died in Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on Oct. 3, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.
• Pfc. Roberto C. Baez, 19, of Tampa, Fla. died in Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on Oct. 3, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.
• Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian K. Joplin, 32, of Hugo, Okla., was killed Oct. 4, when he fell out of a U.S. Navy MH-53 helicopter during a regularly scheduled training mission in the Central Arabian Gulf.
• Spc. Jeremiah W. Robinson, 20, of Mesa, Ariz., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Oct. 6, of injuries sustained there on Oct. 5, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during convoy operations.
• Lance Cpl. Patrick B. Kenny, 20, of Pittsburgh, Pa., died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Karmah, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Daniel M. McVicker, 20, of Alliance, Ohio, died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Qaim, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Shayne M. Cabino, 19, of Canton, Mass., died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Karmah, Iraq.
• Cpl. Nicholas O. Cherava, 21, of Ontonagon, Mich. died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Karmah, Iraq.
• Pfc. Jason L. Frye, 19, of Landisburg, Pa. died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Karmah, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Carl L. Raines II, 20, of Coffee, Ala, died Oct. 6 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Qaim, Iraq.

Fallen Soldier, by David McCall.

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Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.

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