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GRAFFITI -- July 09, 2007 thru July 15, 2007 >> 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   
July 9, 2007

0733 - Good morning. After yesterday's post, I got back outside and sanded out the Bondo that I used to patch the gaps and small holes in the posts. I have one more post that needs a chunk cut out, and new wood fitted in. Then once I patch that and sand it, I'll finish-coat and re-sand the patches, and lightly sand the posts overall. Then all that's left is to prime and paint. Not so bad, really...

Today we cook. Not as badly as much of the West, but it'll be near 100 today, with humidity levels taking us up to perhaps a perceived 105. I'm figuring I'll be able to set a pan outside and braise whatever's for supper without additional heat or moisture. Stay cool...

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Mon    TUESDAY    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
July 10, 2007

An errant firework

Caused smoke and charring

0656 - Good morning. Yesterday by mid-morning, I'd gotten three calls from Marcia. The first was really the most startling: "I've just spent the last five minutes putting out a fire."

Um, what???

Apparently some defective decided that the mulch bed around our post box made a good launching point for his bottle rocket this morning. He must have also dropped the match into the tinder dry mulch, after lighting his noise maker. Now, this could have been last night sometime, and smouldered all night - there's no way to know. But as you can see from the pictures, it burnt a good section of mulch, and charred the mailbox post nicely. Sigh.

I know how I'll probably fix it up. And I guess I'll just cut the dead decorative grasses back, and hope for a recovery next year. I don't think I'm ready to replace the mailbox just yet. You'll see how I handle that in the next week or two.

The evening was eaten by the usual chores, bills, backups, trash, and formatting the column for Jerry. The good news is that, even counting a 15 minute dinner break, I was done with all of that by 2130. That left me a few minutes to check work email and mellow out for a little while prior to retiring.

Now, off to work with me. I'm going to do some infrastructure backup work today, if the plan comes together. If not, well then I'll be doing something else.

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Mon    Tues    WEDNESDAY    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
July 11, 2007

1848 - Good evening. No fires today, thank goodness. And while I didn't precisely work on what I anticipated, I stayed busy, as usual. One sad bit of news: I'm holding my last copy of SysAdmin magazine in my hands. No, my subscription stands, but the magazine doesn't - they've folded (although the website holds no indication of that, typical of CMP). I've learned a lot over the years from articles in SysAdmin — I'll be missing that.

I made salsa tonight. A small batch, really, only about half a gallon. I ate perhaps a pint with chips for the major portion of my supper this evening. It was what I would term slightly above a "mild" salsa, on my own personal logscale of salsa hotness. I'm really waiting for the tomatoes to start ripening in bulk to see how things shape up. Should be yummy!

Time to move on to the next thing. Happy Hump Day!

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July 12, 2007

2032 - Good evening.So, to convert our library of CD's to Ogg, for listening on the computer took a long time, one CD at a time, and we're still accumulating. To convert the 6272 OGG files to MP3 format so that Marcia can use them in her car took a bit over 27 continuous hours (1651 minutes, 33.541 seconds, to be precise), on the home server. The command I used was find . -type f -iname *ogg -exec ogg2mp3 {} \;, where ogg2mp3 was a small one-line script that reads like this: oggdec "$1" -o - | lame -b192 -h --vbr-new -V2 - "$1.mp3". Now, I've used OGG in general for two reasons: Theoretically, it's a better encoding, that is, better music quality for the same size of file. Secondly, OGG is an unencumbered format. I've been able to do that because I could get a OGG plugin for Marcia's WinAmp player, and I bought her an iRiver player that plays OGG natively. But the car ... not so much. She wanted to put her music on CDs and listen while riding around with the top down. And it was ALL in OGG format. So, there you go.

Now to go keep up with our Inspector Morse episodes, flowing in at a frantic rate from our friends at Netflix. Ciao!

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    FRIDAY    Sat    Sun   
July 13, 2007

Was there a day here?

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    SATURDAY    Sun   
July 14, 2007

0805 - Good morning. It's one past eight as I type these first words. The dogs and I have broken our fast, I picked up the kitchen a bit, and I'm about ready to get rolling on the front porch. The goal today is to get the last of the patching done, get the surfaces prepared, and one coat of primer on. Then I'll go to the paint store and get a gallon of exterior acrylic in the right color for use tomorrow. It's good to have goals. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    SUNDAY  
July 15, 2007

Tomatoes, fore- and background

1612 - Good afternoon. Yesterday I finished patching and sanding and patching and sanding, out on the front porch. Then I primed all the lower posts with Killz Acrylic. Poking around in the shed, I found a can of the original paint used on the front porch trim - that makes it easy to match... except for that hardened lump in the bottom of the can part. But at least the paint and tinting levels were known. But the Duron store closes at 3PM on Saturdays. Argh. So I picked everything up, and relaxed in the evening.

Today, we went shopping. Then I made it over to the Duron store (open from 10 to 2 on Sundays, thank goodness). I painted the posts. Project done ... except that it's clear I need to pressure-wash the front, and repaint all the rest of the trim. It doesn't look horrible, but the older paint is clearly darker. Maybe it's just dirtier, and cleaning will do the trick. One can hope. Anyway, I cleaned up the workshop downstairs, then lugged all the tools back down out of the garage, and put them in their places. Then I harvested some 'maters from the garden, and made a gallon of mild salsa. I'll be making stir fry chicken and veg for supper tonight. I do stay busy, don't I?

Meantime the Administration and Congress battle over the meaning of the word "progress", while our troops in the field fight, and sometimes die, in the assorted wars for freedom in the Middle East. My pride in and gratitude to our serving men and women knows no bounds. My condolences to the families and units of the fallen...

• Spc. Roberto J. Causor Jr., 21, of San Jose, Calif., died July 7 in Samarra, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire.
• Spc. Anthony M.K. Vinnedge, 24, of Okeana, Ohio, died July 5 at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident.
• Spc. Jeremy L. Stacey, 23, of Bismarck, Ark., died July 5 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.
• Pfc. Jason E. Dore, 25, of Moscow, Maine, died July 8 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.
• Sgt. 1st Class Sean K. Mitchell, 35, of Monterey, Calif., died July 7 in Kidal, Mali, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
• Col. Jon M. Lockey, 44, of Fredericksburg, Va., died July 6 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
• Lance Cpl. Angel R. Ramirez, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., died Feb. 21 at Marine Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., after being medically evacuated following a non-hostile incident in Al Qaim, Iraq, on Dec. 21, 2006.
• Cpl. Jeremy D. Allbaugh, 21, of Luther, Okia., died July 5 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Steven A. Stacy, 23, of Coos Bay, Ore., died July 5 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Sgt. Gene L. Lamie, 25, of Homerville, Ga., died July 6 in Iraq of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Pfc. Le Ron A. Wilson, 18, of Queens, N.Y., died July 6 in Iraq of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
• Cpl. Kory D. Wiens, 20, of Independence, Ore., died July 6 in Muhammad Sath, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.
• Pfc. Bruce C. Salazar Jr., 24, of Tracy, Calif., died July 6 in Muhammad Sath, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.
• Master Sgt. Randy J. Gillespie, 44, of Coaldale, Colo., died July 9, in Herat, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered during small arms fire outside of Camp Stone.
• Sgt. Eric A. Lill, 28, of Chicago, died July 6 in Rustamiyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Baghdad.
• Capt. Maria I. Ortiz, 40, of Bayamon, P.R., died July 10 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.
• 1st Sgt. Jeffrey R. McKinney, 40, of Garland, Texas, died July 11 in Adhamiyah, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident.
• Sgt. Courtney T. Johnson, 26, of Garner, N.C., died July 11 in Besmaya, Iraq, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire.

Time for a shower, then I can start preparing supper. Ciao!

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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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