Saturday
- keeping busy. There just seems to be so much to do on the weekend.
The malfunctioning main desktop (Windows) computer came first.
After
a bit of fooling around it became clear that in order to work on it I
had to completely disentangle it from the rats maze of other computers
and cables it was embedded in. It's in the same rack as my "main" Linux
system and the Beowulf cluster. We are talking for each cluster box a
(1) power cable, (2) ethernet cable, (3) mouse connector, (4) keyboard
connector, and (5) video connector for a total for twenty cables.
Actually there were a couple of USB extension cables as well, so 22
cables. The main Linux box had another five, and the windows machine,
with printer, scanner, USB, audio and firewire had another ten. So
about thirty seven cables - plus
the cables for the power strips, transformers, UPS units, air
conditioner, and landline for the desk phone. It was a mess, forty five
or fifty cables altogether.
I began by taking out all the
Beowulf boxes, and their ethernet switch and cables and the four port
KVM switch and cables. I haven't even turned the cluster on in months,
so I decided to move it out to the garage, together with it's grey
metal shelfing. You can see it before the move in yesterday's picture -
that's Hobbiton, behind the
cats. The PC's I kept are out of sight below the table. The Linux and
Windows computers were going to be hooked to the KVM switch so the
extra monitor/keyboard/mouse was moved to the spare bedroom - the
garage isn't a good location for CRTs. I suspect, if I get the
time and urge to work on the cluster I'll move it out there.
Once
disentangled I set up the Windows machine on the table and plugged it
in again - and it booted. NO problems. What the Heck? There were some
minor issues with the printer - apparently if you change the USB cable
from one port to another the OS isn't smart enough to realize that it
already has the drivers and needn't reinstall them, but it wasn't a big
deal. I just tried ports until I found the correct one.
Then it
was time for lunch, with friends, at a nice Korean place. Afterwards I
needed to go by the Walmart Customer Service Center, but decided to do
it Sunday morning before the lines formed. Instead I went home, napped,
and did some more work about the house.
Friday
- windy and coolish. I spent the day in a wool shirt and jacket - no sailing this weekend.
My friends contacted the city and there is a claim form that
one can submit when a city tree falls upon a vehicle. Although the
damage is mild, just a couple of small dents, we estimate the
repair costs at about $1500 - two new quarter panels and possibly a new
hood, all which need to be painted and pinstriped to match the rest of the vehicle.
In other bad news my main PC died. The is the relatively new P4 3.2Ghz
system. Possibly it's just the power supply - it happened sometime last
weekend when I was trying to do my taxes. I left the room and when I
came back, voila, the machine was dead. Since it was hooked to the laser
printer this meant that I had to redo a few things on my laptop,
download the tax forms again from the IRS, and then install the printer drivers on
the laptop so that I could print the tax forms out.
I'll see if I can find a working power supply around the house and
substitute it in this weekend.
Thursday
- another nice day, a bit cool and windy but still sunny. It was really
windy last night - a
tree limb fell on my car. Bah.
In the good news column I can say that I found my waterproof Pentax
Optio WP. It was tucked away in a drawer.There needn't be a Olympus 790
in the near
future.
Wednesday 16 January 2008
Wednesday
- went down to the boat. It looked OK, fairly dry and tight (except for
the bad ventilator box that I knew about). I started the diesel and
charged the batteries for ten minutes or so (I also need to get the oil
and filters changed). All these mornings driving the hills of Ventura
on my way to work and looking across the channel to Anacapa have left
me with a strong desire to go sailing. But we have Santa Ana winds
forecasted for the next few days, it's probably not a do-able thing
this weekend. Unless I go out early. It is a three day weekend, I could
do a bit of sailing on Saturday morning and get back to Lancaster later
in the day for more chores and tax stuff.
My tattooed rock-and-roll neighbor was home in the slip next door, with
his pals. I practically got a contact high off the marijuana smoke
drifting over. I really need to change slips on of these days. I wonder
if I could move across the way. It's more exposed to westerlies, but
also much further from all the apartments and people. Allmar owns all
but one of the local marina's, it might be do-able. I'm grandfathered
right now, with my tiny 27 foot boat, I don't want to lose out and have
to pay a slip fee for the huge 40 foot minimum slips that are becoming
that standard.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Tuesday
- I forgot to say, I'm up 50 cents for the last weekend. HooRah!! Of course
my Dad will have the Patriots next week, and I'll have the Chargers and
Green Bay, so he'll have the Giants. I might break even.
Taxes are done, and the checks mailed off.
Monday 14 January 2007
Monday
- back to work. I drove down in the morning and it was fairly busy on
both the 14 and the 126. Not impossible, though it means the day starts
about an hour early.
Book #3 was Around
the World Single Handed: The Cruise of the "Islander",
by
Harry Pidgeon. It's an OK book - Pidgeon isn't the author that Slocum
or Chichester was, though it's reasonably well written. One oddity, to
the modern reader, is that it is primarily about the places visited and
not about the experiences and skills involved in small boat sailing. In
1922 Tahiti, Panama and Australia were remote spots, visited only by
the wealthiest of yachtsmen. Today we travel by the thousands to all of
these places and to us the remarkable part of his voyage is that is was
done
alone, without an engine or even self steering gear. But the matter of
an engine, for example, isn't even brought up until he mentions a gas
outboard being
pushed on him to aid the transit of the Panama Canal....
Sunday 13 January 2007
Sunday
- working on those quarterly taxes. Bah. A nice day out and I'm reduced
to doing anythingbut
taxes indoors.
It was a weekend of excellent football. I thought the Cowboy's game the
weakest, but perhaps it was just a game too many. The other games were
excellent, some of the best football I've seen all year. And there was
a snowbowl - I do enjoy a good snowbowl.
Book #2 of
the new year was The
Hidden Family, by Charles Stross, the sequel to The
Family Trade mentioned last week. OK stuff, but not world
shaking. It was read in fits and starts during the week and that may
have affected my perception of it.
