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GRAFFITI -- July 19, 2010 thru July 25, 2010 >> 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.

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July 19, 2010

Wait for it ....

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July 20, 2010

Still busy..

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July 21, 2010

Midsummer veggies

1908 - Finally. I'm off call, and something besides zucchini is flowing out of the garden. Actually, the zucchini are failing fast - we've been pretty hot, here, and while it's rained some in the last couple of weeks, I don't think I was giving the squash enough water. Still, the tomatoes look lovely, don't they? As do those pretty green peppers of death, the mustard habañeros.

Last night, I went to Camden Yards for a Red Hat + HP virtualization presentation, followed by a ball game between the Orioles and Tampa Bay. I managed to stick around through about 5 innings, enough to see the back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning. I didn't stay long enough to see the Orioles squander their lead and lose, again. They're having a terrible season. But I had to hare on home to take care of a customer request that couldn't be dealt with via the iPhone.

Not much else to report, I think I'll go grill some franks now. Ciao!

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July 22, 2010

2055 - And there's another project put to bed. As the books flow in for my Fall semester at UMUC, Ron Morse and I have completed our obligation to review Bob and Barbara's newest work: Building the Perfect PC, 3E. A bit surprisingly, there's no Amazon link yet. As usual, it's fun to correspond with smart people and help in at least a minor way to create something that the general public can put to good use.

Now, I have more organizational work to do around this home office, since the books have long overflowed the cases. I'll be needing new furniture with more shelving in here one of these days, but not today. Picking up and such will help a lot, for the short term. If I make progress on that, then I might continue poking around with that "new" Go language, from Google. Ciao!

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July 23, 2010

2110 - So, you'll recall that one of Apple's "solutions" to the antenna attenuation problem was to provide a free iPhone 4 case for anyone who asked, and refunds for those who bought them already. That process was supposed to open up at the end of the week. I expected to wait a few days for the online crush to end, then go sign up for my refund, since I'd purchased a bumper when I got the phone. Imagine my pleasant surprise to receive an email today that the refund had been completed, without any interaction needed from me at all. I'll give you this, they don't do things by half measures.

Next up, are you into music? Into Macs, or iPads? Check out Mugician (for iPad) and Xstrument for the Mac. Both written by Rob Fielding, a software engineer and musician I worked with at NFR. Some cool stuff there. You can find Mugician on the App Store, and Xstrument at GitHub. Now, I have reading to do. Ciao!

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July 24, 2010

Nothing much, just ... Yardwork in the morning, recovery and pizza to balance the day out.

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July 25, 2010

2130 - Good evening. The morning and early afternoon were filled with shopping, fence repairs, more shopping to tank up the 5 gallon gas containers after topping off all the gear, and to refill the alternate propane tank. Then, just as things were unwinding, they wound up hard, and we got a big, fast storm through the region. There are still about 400K people without power in the greater metro DC area, though we only blipped a couple of times here at the house. Several trees were sundered by the high winds, and I saw one chimney (not brick) ripped off its house when Lexi and I took a neighborhood survey walk. Yow!

Sixteen more fallen warriors, and it seems like Illinois is represented out of proportion this week. No, I don't imply anything by that, it just jumped out at me as I filled out fully spelled state names. DoD can, in their press releases, write out Afghanistan fully each time, you think they could honor an Armed Services member by not abbreviating the name of his home state, eh? Our condolences to the families and units of the fallen.

• Sgt. Matthew W. Weikert, 29, of Jacksonville, Illinois, died July 17 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
• Sgt. 1st Class John H. Jarrell, 32, of Brunson, South Carolina, died July 15 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
• Sgt. Leston M. Winters, 30, of Sour Lake, Texas, died July 15 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
• Cpl. Dave M. Santos, 21, of Rota, Marianas Islands of the Pacific, died July 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Justus S. Bartelt, 27, of Polo, Illinois, died July 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23, of Coal Grove, Ohio, died July 18 in Zhari, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was shot by insurgents while conducting combat operations.
• Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28, of Moose Pass, Alaska, died July 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• 1st Lt. Robert N. Bennedsen, 25, of Vashon, Washington, died July 18 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.
• Sgt. Anibal Santiago, 37, of Belvidere, Illinois, died July 18 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained July 17 in a non-combat related incident in Kwowst, Afghanistan.
• Sgt. Jesse R. Tilton, 23, of Decatur, Illinois, died July 16 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained July 13 when insurgents attacked his unit in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, with rifle, rocket propelled grenade, and small arms fire.
• Cpl. Paul J. Miller, 22, of Traverse City, Michigan, died July 19 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Brian F. Piercy, 27, of Clovis, California, died July 19 in Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.
• Cpl. Julio Vargas, 23, of Sylmar, California, died July 20 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Cpl. Joe L. Wrightsman, 23, of Jonesboro, Louisiana, died July 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• 1st Lt. Michael L. Runyan, 24, of Newark, Ohio, died July 21 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his convoy vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.
• Pfc. James J. Oquin, 20, of El Paso, Texas, died July 23 in Orgun-E, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident when he was swept away by the current when a levee broke near his military vehicle in Paktika, Afghanistan.

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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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