Author Archives: David

Open source on the brain

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I think I have open source on the brain.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was listening to WBEZ … and they played a promo for Fresh Air … Terry Gross was saying “On the next Fresh Air” … but I heard “On a LINUX Fresh Air”.

Oh the tricks the mind plays on us.

Of course, every time I hear Yellow Submarine on the radio my mind translates it into “Yellow Subroutine“.

Who’s crazy now?

Online Pizza

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I just ordered a pizza online for the very first time.

Both Ginny and I had pretty rough days … and I was kind wiped out from my workout, so we decided to order a pizza from Johnny D’s KoKo Café.

We’ve ordered from them before and like their pizza … but we’ve always ordered on the phone. Today I decided to try their online ordering.

It was pretty slick … although it didn’t work in Firefox, which was annoying. I’ve been very successful at being IE free for a long time.

Partnership?

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I just got an email from a UK terminal emulation company … they were complementing me on my website and talking about how they were really interested in ‘partnering’ with me.

Correct me if I’m wrong … but I really don’t see how a terminal emulation company could partner with me in any way. It’s not like we’re in the same line of business.

Unfortunately, I was kind of short with the guy … I really should have at least found out what kind of partnership he was interested in. I tend to view such email contacts with quite a bit of skepticism. Heck, I almost reported the email as spam.

Back to work

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Tomorrow I’m back to work again … it’s been a fairly nice week off, although I didn’t get everything done that I had wanted to.

  1. Run system shutdown test on server. This took me about 4 hours to do because there really isn’t a way to simulate a system shutdown without actually shutting down the system. Luckily the software behaved exactly the way it’s supposed to.
  2. Work on slides for server training session.
  3. Empty drawers and put paperwork in filing cabinet.
  4. Clean-up basement.
  5. Write program / script to scrub remaining email addresses from archives.
  6. Work on prototype web app for Implementer

Of course a few unplanned items came up …

  1. Major back spasm that seriously effected my mobility. I don’t know what caused it … they are usually caused by stress, but I’m on holiday right now. Maybe I’m getting stressed out about going back to work? Of course, right now, the only thing that’s giving me stress is my back pain.
  2. Tivo going wonky … see previous post.
  3. New hard drive & DVD-RW for my laptop arriving. This is where I learned that it’s not a good idea to leave the original laptop drive in the removable drive bay when you boot up the new drive. System gets kind of confused and screws up the new drive. Luckily it doesn’t effect the original drive, so I was able to re-image the new drive.

Tivo Upgrade

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The other day our Tivo started making some odd thunking noises … and the picture started going weird periodically.

I did some research and determined that this is the sign of a failing hard drive.

I discussed the options with Steve and determined that the best thing to do would be to replace the hard drive. Due to the heat dissipation requirements I needed to get a 5400 rpm drive. Unfortunately, such slow drives are pretty hard to find. Luckily CDW had a 160gb Maxtor 5400rpm drive in stock.

Of course Tivo can’t deal with 160gb … so I’ll only get 137gb out of the drive.

Steve offered to help with the upgrade, so I met him for lunch and then we went over to CDW to pick up the drive.


While upgrading the Tivo isn’t trivial … the technique has been perfected quite well. Detailed instructions can be found at http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com.

The hardest part (for me at least) was cracking the case. Once the case was opened, the rest was pretty easy. As I type this, the old drive is being duplicated to the new drive. It’s pretty slow going … it started duplicating at around 5:30 and at 8:45pm it was only 50% done. I think it will be done around 11pm tonight.

It was a very Happy Holiday

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Well, the Xmas holiday is over … and we survived intact 🙂

It was quite busy over here at the Gibbs house …

  • My parents came over on xmas eve. We had dinner at Brass Restaurant. Then my mom and Ginny went over to her church for the evening service. My mom doesn’t subscribe to the Christmas holiday so much as she likes the music and pageantry. Dad and I stayed home … we talked and watched Master and Commander. I don’t know if he enjoyed it as much as I do though. It is a bit on the loud and bloody side). Mom and dad stayed the evening in our guest room.

  • The next morning the whole clan came over to our house for brunch. We had ham, pancakes, and a lot of nosh food. It was good. We also got a bit goofy with a santa hat.
  • That evening we went over to Chris and Susan’s house for dinner … there was a fair bit of geekery and a lot of good food. Steve did a commendable job on a goose.
  • Today ended up being a lazy day … we originally had plans to have dinner with Joe and Lisa … but they had some varmint problems in their new house … so that had to be rescheduled.

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