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GRAFFITI -- November 27, 2006 thru December 03, 2006 >> 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   
November 27, 2006

0838 - Good morning. So, yesterday I:

• Made coffee, started the laundry.
• Did the weekly food shopping.
• Washed the truck.
• Mowed and bagged the front lawn.
• Cleaned the shotgun.
• Finished up laundry, 5 loads total.
• Migrated data from one drive to another.
• Watched two episodes of Buffy.
• Formatted the CMR mailbag for the week.

Yeah, a busy "day of rest". Marcia is taking it easy on her leg following last Friday's expedition to the Craft Fair down in Greensboro. She went to Linda's for a while in the afternoon.

Troubled hardware tops my list of tasks today. I've also got some restructuring of our Eval system to puzzle out and write up for evaluation by others. And some QA work to do as well, I hope. Have a great day!

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November 28, 2006

No Post..

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November 29, 2006

0819 - Good morning. I am moving away from GUI mail clients again. This is mostly because the one I have used pretty steadily for the last couple of years, Mozilla Thunderbird, still doesn't have a Bounce command. "Bounce" is effectively a redirect of a message to a new recipient, without all the cruft that Forwarding brings to the table, like .signatures and the like. So I've been revisiting my old Mutt configurations and adapting them for both home and work use. There are some tricks to using Mutt with multiple IMAP accounts that I have no grasp of yet, but I'll get there. In the meantime, not only does Mutt have a bounce command, I can script it for specific common activities, like this:

macro generic,index,pager ,s [email protected]\n\nd

That macro works in all of Mutt's modes, when I type ",s" (sans quotes), it bounces the current message to the [email protected] address for adding to the baysian analysis tool. The second newline ("\n") accepts the bounce, then the 'd' deletes the message in question. One thing that's clear to me is that knowledge unused falls into disrepair. So, while I try to keep my mind and attention roving around and keep skills fresh, I've been away from Mutt for too long. The good news is that there are LOTS of good online resources, so I'll be able to do a refresh in short order. Of course, I'll start with the manpages on my own system, then supplement with finding the solutions others have found for problems and situations similar to mine.

Okay, back to the grindstone. Oh, and it's passport application day today. Fortunately, I remembered last night to grab the completed form and gathered documentation and put it in my bag. I'd hate to have to drive home and back before noon. Now, have a great day!

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November 30, 2006

0618 - Good morning. Well, morning at least. Aaaargh! I got far too busy yesterday and flat-out forgot to get out of the office on time for my Passport application appointment. And I couldn't get through by phone all afternoon, thereafter. So finally I called another local postoffice and made another appointment for today. My phone is set to remind me, so that'll be a help, too.

Here's the letter I sent by fax yesterday evening, cancelling our lawn service with the local Lawn Doctor franchise. Every word is true...

Re: Cancellation of Service

Date: 29 November, 2006

I received by post your discount "offer" for 2007 services. However, as I am deeply disappointed in the level of your services, and the attendant damage to my lawns, I will not be requiring the services of Lawn Doctor of Bowie in the future.

In our first year of service with you, I was very pleased. The powerseeding was effective and your crews always showed up on time. However, you never recommended grub control. So there was lawn damage. I paid the next fall for another round of powerseeding, and renewed for 2006, adding grub control to the list.

I called in April, May and in June of 2006, asking when you were coming out to apply the grub control treatments. Each time I was assured "soon". Finally in July (July!!!), your people showed up... far too late in the season. My lawn was damaged badly by grubs again.

I'm not going to bother to ask y'all to make it right, because you can't. All I can do is neither avail myself of your services, nor recommend them to anyone else in the future (which was my previous course).

Interesting business model. Good luck with that.

And that's that. Okay, plenty to do today. I've got that Passport appointment to keep (the repetition is for me and my tiny pea brain, not for you bright folks), then lunch with my friend Rodney. In the afternoon, I've got more QA hat to wear, as well as staying on top of unfolding events and a couple of eval systems that need preparation pretty soon. I like to pre-stage and re-burn-in that sort of gear well in advance of shipment. See y'all later!

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December 1, 2006

1120 - Good morning. And I made it in under the wire, too. Busy morning, about to be capped off by a meeting, so I'll keep this short. First off, for those who don't know what to get the geek in their lives, because said geek buys all his or her own gear as soon as the whim hits ... Well, I have a solution for you: Donate to the EFF in the geek's name. Donate again in your own. It's good for everyone - they stand up for things that matter to many of us, and for things that the ACLU simply doesn't understand.

Next, there's been an update to GnuPG. The *Ubuntu family of distros has already updated, you should stay on top of the update for your distribution, or for Windows, Cygwin, etc. The update is needed because of a buffer-overflow vulnerability. Not a nice thing to discover in a tool used for securing and authenticating.

Okay, almost meeting time. Happy Friday!

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December 2, 2006

No Post......

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December 3, 2006

1256 - Good afternoon. Yesterday was eaten by lethargic ... things. I'm too lethargic to imagine what sort of lethargic wee beasties might have eaten yesterday. Marcia was out and about, morning and late afternoon, enjoying her ortho-boot-free mobility... that's right, the six weeks has passed, and she's taken the boot off. There's more work to be done in terms of bringing the leg back to 100%, and another visit with the orthopedic doc just to follow up, but her progress is good.

I got out to the store and picked up some holiday decorations unlike anything we have in the garage attic, came home and decorated before Marcia returned yesterday at noon. She was pleased. Now I just have to figure out what to spend those hubby-points on. Linda came over to visit for a while - she and Marcia finished another 1000 piece puzzle. Then it was me and the dogs for a while - I worked for a bit on the computer, and ... time passed. We finished off the evening with the first three episodes from Buffy Season 3.

We've already done the Sunday shopping. Marcia's called her sister in Brazil. I want to finish up this post, then do some clean-up/organizational stuff here in my office. That's likely to put paid to the day.

A couple of items left over from Thanksgiving week... First off, we found the new Toyota 4Runner to be a nice ride for long trips. While, unlike the Santa Fe, the Toyota really is coachwork built on a truck frame, rather than unibody construction, the ride is smooth and comfortable. The seats make a good compromise between support and comfort. The higher ride makes for better visibility, which I sure appreciate as a driver. We got a bit over 19 MPG on the long trip. So far so good.

The second item was Molly's great escape. Yeah, again. I took our two mutts out for their morning walk. Lucy dropped a load about three houses down, so I was crouching to get that up and into the bag carried for the purpose ... when one of the leashes went slack. Uh-oh! I rose and turned to see that Molly had just backed out of her torso harness, and was standing there with the straps around her front feet, grinning at me. I took one step, and she took off running. Lucy and I took off after her. She crossed the road and went down to say hi to Oscar and another dog ... but didn't hold still long enough for me to get a grip on her. Then she tore back up to the road and jogged along past the Thompsons, headed for parts unknown. I went to the front door, got Lucy and her leash inside, and continued in pursuit of the stupidest dog on the planet. A block or so up, Molly accosted a jogger and made friends.

The jogger was astute enough to figure out the score, and held on to her until I got there. I took her collar, the jogger took off. A moment later, Molly bounced once, twisted out of her collar, and headed off again. About a mile later, Bob rolled up and past in the blue Trooper. Molly circled the truck. I came around and opened the back door.

"Molly, want to go for a ride?"

She jumped into the truck, and I shut the door. Molly's latest escapade was at an end. Whew.

After what seemed a remarkable drop in casualties, the reported losses this week are hard to see. I presume that the people who handle the reporting of such things were operating in "other people on holiday" mode, during the Thanksgiving week. My thoughts are with the families of our fallen troops, and with their units, who keep on fighting! Thanks for the heart and intelligence that you bring to your service, and your senses of Duty and Honor: We're proud of y'all.

• Command Sgt. Maj. Donovan E. Watts, 46, of Atlanta, Ga., died Nov. 21 in Bayji, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations in Siniyah, Iraq.
• Pvt. Reece D. Moreno, 19, of Prescott, Ariz., died of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Balad, Iraq, on Nov. 24.
• Sgt. 1st Class James D. Priestap, 39, of Harwood, Mich., died Nov. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when he came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during checkpoint operations.
• Lance Cpl. James R. Davenport, 20, of Danville, Ind., died Nov. 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Pvt. Heath D. Warner, 19, of Canton, Ohio, died Nov. 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Cpl. Nicholas P. Rapavi, 22, of Springfield, Va., died Nov. 24 from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Cpl. Michael C. Ledsome, 24, of Austin, Texas, died Nov. 25 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Jeromy D. West, 20, of Aguanga, Calif., died Nov. 25 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Capt. Jason R. Hamill, 31, of New Haven, Conn., died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle Nov. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq.
• 1st Lt. David M. Fraser, 25, of Texas, died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle Nov. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq.
• Pvt. Joshua C. Burrows, 20, of Bossier City, La., died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle Nov. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq.
• Cpl. Nathan J. Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, N.D., died Nov. 23 in Qarabagh, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.
• Staff Sgt. Daniel M. Morris, 28, of Clinton, Tenn., died Nov. 25 in Al Judiah, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Lance Cpl. Michael A. Schwarz, 20, of Carlstadt, N.J., died Nov. 27 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• 2nd Lt. Scott B. Lundell, 35, of Hurricane, Utah, died Nov. 25 in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades while on patrol during combat operations.
• 1st Lt. Benjamin D. Keating, 27, of Shapleigh, Maine, died Nov. 26 in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his vehicle turned over.
• Spc. Christopher E. Mason, 32, of Mobile, Ala., died Nov. 28 in Bayji, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire while on patrol.
• Sgt. Jeannette T. Dunn, 44, of Bronx, N.Y., died Nov. 26 in Taji, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related injury.
• Staff Sgt. Michael A. Shank, 31 of Bonham, Texas, died Nov. 28 in Logar, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
• Spc. Jeffrey G. Roberson, 22, of Phelan, Calif., died Nov. 28 in Logar, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
• Spc. Chris Kleinwachter, 29, of Wahpeton, N.D., died Nov. 30 in Ghazni, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his vehicle rolled over during combat operations.
• Pfc. Theodore M. West, 23, of Richmond, Ky., died Nov. 29 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Cpl. Jonerik Loney, 21, of Hartselle, Ala., died Nov. 28 in Hit, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
• Staff Sgt. Jeremy W. Mulhair, 35, of Omaha, Neb., died Nov. 30 in Taji, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during reconnaissance operations.
• Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, 34, of Litchfield Park, Ariz., died Nov. 27 when his F-16C fighter crashed 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.

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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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