August 27, 2009

A vacation

I'm going home for Labor Day weekend. It's pretty necessary at this point.

I'm burnt out and I no longer love my job.

I need to be a traveling consultant. There is one traveling consultant position open with the company right now, but I haven't heard anything since I applied. I'm wishing I had uploaded by recommendation letters with the application.

In the meantime, I'm burning through money much faster than I need to.

I finished the Magic Mirror Socks.

I cast on with a US#3 40" circular and worked both socks from the toe-up two-at-a-time, turned the heel, then switched to the US#2 for the beginning of the leg. I worked with the #2 for one repeat, then switched to US#6 DPNs for the remainder of the foot. Not bad planning on my part. These should fit Stephanie's feet without any problems. Right now, I'm trying to decide if I also want to give her the Cloverleaf Cables socks....but I think I'll gift those to Andrea.

So now I'm working on Henry in KnitPicks Palette Fog for Daddy. I'm trying to decide if I want to make another one, in Lipstick, for Mom later.

August 21, 2009

Again, We are NOT retreating

we are advancing in an entirely different direction.
~Victoria, channeling Douglas McArthur

I know when I've been licked.

I've been licked.

Because it's Hurricane Season here in Florida, I've come home to blinking clocks twice this week. The first time, the server was fine, so I didn't think about it.

Tonight, I decided to rip some more music to the server. Hmm...the server isn't on. Turn it on (and yes, I've priced a few UPS systems. The one I want is $100; I'm not buying the cheap crap at Wal-Mart. I want the battery backup to last longer than 15 minutes.)

Greeted by
"Secondary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed"

Crap. Reset the BIOS. Move battery backup to top of purchase list. Log into server.

"The Evaluation Period for this copy of Windows has ended. Windows cannot start. To continue using Windows, please purchase and install a retail copy of the product."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

I give up. I been licked. If you'll excuse me, I'm now looking for my last 120 GB drive. I'm going to clean it off and install Unbuntu onto that.

Windows Home Server is absolute crap. Linux, here I come.

August 15, 2009

We are not retreating

We are advancing in another direction.
--Douglas MacArthur

Sometimes I just can't win. Last weekend I built a server, a home file server. I was sooo excited about this. I should have known something would go wrong.

Sat., Aug 1: My new case arrives!!! It's a plain case from Newegg. This is a file server, not a gaming rig.

Wed., Aug 5: My 1 GB memory stick arrives. Finally, I have everything I need to rebuild my old computer into a file server.

Thursday, Aug. 6: I install the motherboard, the memory and the 200 GB hard drive into the case. On it goes....
"Secondary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed"

Hmm...I wasn't expecting this...Google the error message on the laptop. Oh....the BIOS is looking for a floppy drive. I decided not to install one (who uses them anymore, anyway?), so into the BIOS to check all the settings.

Man, it's been a long time since I did all this.

Friday, Aug. 7: (this is really just a continuation of Thursday night). Hmm....I have Unbuntu running, but it says that it doesn't recognize my hard drive. This hard drive is brand new.....what's the problem?

Two hours, a glass of wine, and a longing glance at the vodka later....

Oh, I don't have any power going to the Hard drive....duh. Hook up power. Install Unbuntu. Go to sleep.

Late Afternoon: Hm....where the GUI? I suck at command line. Install GNOME. No GUI? Do some internet research. Crappers. I should have installed Unbuntu Desktop, not Unbuntu Server....

Wipe drives. Download Windows Home Server and burn to disc. Open Vodka.

Sunday, Aug. 9: Install WHS. This is great. . .wait, this is a stripped down version of Windows Server 2003! I feel somewhat cheated, but let's see how this works.

Late Sunday: In order to connect my 500 GB drive (the one with all my music and pictures, which is the entire reason I want a home server), I have to format the drive. . .which defeats the purpose of connecting it. Instead, I move all the music and pics to the 200 GB drive, then format the drive.

Tuesday, Aug. 11: Well, everything has been moved. Now for the moment of truth. Format 500 GB drive (it needed a cleanup so, why not) then connect it. Presto! 700 GB of space in my new server! Now, how in the hell do I activate this???

Wed. Aug. 12: How do I activate this?

Thursday, Aug 13: How do I activate this?

Later that day: Huge Rainstorm today. Knocked all the power out at my house. I know this because the microwave clock was blinking and wrong. Hmm...server has been knocked out. Will power on later...(need to buy battery backup for it)

Friday, Aug. 14: Turn computer back on. Greeted by
"Secondary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed"

Crap. Reset the BIOS. Move battery backup to top of purchase list. Log into server.

"The Evaluation Period for this copy of Windows has ended. Windows cannot start. To continue using Windows, please purchase and install a retail copy of the product.
"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! I've barely had this installed for a week. I'm supposed to be able to evaluate it for 120 days. It's barely been 120 hours!

Search Google again. Finally figure out how to register and get a product key. Then jet over to the Windows Forums (amazing how easy this stuff is to find when I'm in a blind panic) and get some help. Olaf tells me to do a server reinstall, not a new install, because a new install will wipe out everything on the drive. Message received. Reboot from CD, server reinstall . . .

At the moment, I'm back in business, but I'll tell you this now, I'm installing Unbuntu tonight and creating a dual boot system. I'm not going through that drama again.

Happy Days are here again

I have a new camera! A Canon PowerShot A1100 IS. I'm in love.

Because I knit so much, a camera that could take lovely macro shots, had intuitive controls, and had some control over manual settings was a must. However, the built-in settings are working wonderfully for me, especially the Indoor setting. I can take a picture that's so near perfect that when I open it in Photoshop, I barely need to make any adjustments.

:)

I also have a new mp3 player.


I miss my iPod horribly, but I'm getting over that. Apple has done a great job of making a wonderful music accessory that is very intuitive and nothing will come close, but at least this will play music (and pick up the radio, which even the iPod can't do...)

I went 2 weeks without an mp3 player, which is a lifetime for me. I haven't been without my iPod since I got the first one.


Update: After writing that post, I went and bought an 8GB iPod. Yes, I'm a hypocrite; I love iPod. The sansa will be taken to the gym, though. I'm not losing another iPod.

August 4, 2009