This morning I shoveled the 2-3" that fell overnight, and made it into work with no problems, although it was very slick. This stuff is supposed to stop by noon, with only scattered snow flurries for the weekend. Hopefully it will warm up a bit and melt off all this white stuff.
posted by MikeM at 9:11 AM    

 
Well, 4" into the snowfall, I just shoveled the back walk, the deck and steps right up to the gate, one of the three main gravel areas, and the entire front walk and driveway. WOW! A few weeks ago, this would have killed me. If nothing else, all this shoveling is getting me into shape. I did the whole driveway at once - was breathing hard and a bit overheated, but the last time I did the driveway I had to stop quite a lot. Of course, 4" is not the same as 24". :) By the way, we have still not been able to buy a new snow shovel, and the attempted repair with mass application of 'Liquid Nails' failed completely. The glue cracked as soon as I used the shovel, but the shovel seems to be at least partially solid. I suppose I won't know when it is gonna break until I hear the snap.

They are still calling for a total of 8" to 10" in our area, and I am hoping that with the 4" that has already fallen, only another 4" will fall, meaning that my shoveling job will be half of what it would have been if I hadn't just shoveled it all. I cleaned off the patio table so we should have a somewhat accurate measure come morning. The backyard has melted some during the last couple of weeks, but there is still over a foot of snow in the areas we don't get too, and over three feet where I piled the snow during all the previous shovelings.
posted by MikeM at 11:23 PM    

 
...And in the forecast, 5-10 inches of new snow from 4pm through noon tomorrow.
posted by MikeM at 3:32 PM    

 
New York Post investigative article shows that the anti-war effort by certain groups is being financed by 'questionable' sources, including the Communist Party and Islamic Jihad.


'MAINSTREAM' USEFUL IDIOTS

By BYRON YORK
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 23, 2003 -- THE antiwar group Not In Our Name has attracted a lot of attention in recent months by publishing a "statement of conscience" in newspapers across the country. The organization purchased two full pages in the Jan. 27 New York Times to run the statement, which assails the Bush administration for "unleash[ing] a spirit of revenge" after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and embarking on a course of "war abroad and repression at home."
The letter was signed by hundreds of celebrity endorsers, including the actors Ed Asner, Martin Sheen and Marisa Tomei; writers Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker and Barbara Kingsolver; musicians Graham Nash, Pete Seeger and Mos Def; and politicians Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The combination of well-known names and high-profile ad placement has made Not In Our Name a leading player in the antiwar movement.

Yet, relatively little attention has been paid to Not In Our Name's financial support network. A look at that network shows that the group relies on tax-exempt foundations that in the past have been - and today still are - affiliated with a variety of radical causes, including the defense of convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal, support for Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba and involvement with figures linked to Middle Eastern terrorism.

AT a Not In Our Name demonstration held on Jan. 27 outside the United Nations, one speaker declared that opposition to a war in Iraq, as exemplified by the rally, "is becoming a broad-based movement." A look behind the scenes, however, suggests that the organization itself is not broad-based at all, but is, rather, one of a small group of radical sects devoted to causes far removed from the antiwar effort. Not In Our Name is in fact two groups, which began as one.

The organization was created in March 2002 by a gathering of left-wing activists that included representatives from the Revolutionary Communist Party, the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party, Refuse and Resist!, the International League of Peoples' Struggle and the National Lawyers Guild, among others. The organizers intended for Not In Our Name to stage protests across the country and also draft, according to the group's organizing document, a "Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience to be issued by well-known artists, intellectuals, activists and people in public life, lending their moral authority and their unified voice to the resistance movement."

AT least in the latter goal, Not In Our Name has been extraordinarily effective. But it had to split in two to succeed. There had been concern among organizers that some of those who might be inclined to sign the statement might not want to be associated with Not In Our Name's activist wing. So the group created two separate entities, one called the Not In Our Name Statement (which handles the manifesto and the collecting of celebrity signatures) and the other called the Not In Our Name Project (which handles street demonstrations and other protests).

"For the statement to succeed, we thought it should be separate from any form of political actions," says Clark Kissinger, a member of the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party who has played a major role in organizing Not In Our Name. "We wanted people to be able to sign the statement without having their names used to endorse other actions."

Today, the staffs and finances of both groups are managed independently. Still, both parts of Not In Our Name need to raise money. Rather than creating foundations to collect cash, they formed alliances with so-called "fiscal sponsors" - that is, already established foundations that could use their tax-exempt status for fundraising.

THE Not In Our Name statement that appeared in the Times included a small box asking that donations be sent to something called the Bill of Rights Foundation. Last year, the foundation agreed to serve as Not In Our Name Statement's fiscal sponsor, but a look at the group's Internal Revenue Service records shows that until recently, it has had nothing at all to do with the peace movement. Rather, almost every dollar raised by the group for several years went to the legal defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted cop-killer whose case has become a cause célèbre among some on the Left.

In 2001, for example, the foundation spent a total of $102,152, of which $95,737 went toward Abu-Jamal's legal expenses. In the year 2000, the foundation spent $75,956, of which $57,722 was for Abu-Jamal. And in 1999, the foundation spent $155,547, of which $139,126 went to Abu-Jamal's lawyers.

At the end of 2001, Abu-Jamal changed his legal and finance team, leaving the Bill of Rights Foundation without its main cause. In 2002, it hooked up with Not In Our Name Statement. Foundation president Judith Levin sees the Abu-Jamal case and opposition to a possible war as closely linked. "They're related as a matter of principle," she explains. "The connection is the violation of civil rights of people in this country."

FOR its fund raising, the Not In Our Name Project is allied with another foundation, this one called the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization. Founded by several New Left leaders in 1967 to "advance the struggles of oppressed people for justice and self-determination," IFCO was originally created to serve as the fundraising arm of a variety of activist organizations that lacked the resources to raise money for themselves.

In recent years, IFCO served as fiscal sponsor for an organization called the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (their partnership ended when the coalition formed its own tax-exempt foundation). Founded in 1997 as a reaction to the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act, the coalition says its function is to oppose the use of secret evidence in terrorism prosecutions.

Until recently, the group's president was Sami Al-Arian, a University of South Florida computer-science professor who has been suspended for alleged ties to terrorism. (He is still a member of the coalition's board.) According to a New York Times report last year, Al-Arian is accused of having sent hundreds of thousands of dollars, raised by another charity he runs, to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Times also reported that FBI investigators "suspected Mr. Al-Arian operated 'a fund-raising front' for the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine from the late 1980s to 1995." Al-Arian also brought a man named Ramadan Abdullah Shallah to the University of South Florida to raise money for one of Al-Arian's foundations - a job Shallah held until he later became the head of Islamic Jihad.

TODAY, IFCO sponsors Refuse and Resist!, an antiwar group with ties to the Revolutionary Communist Party, and also devotes substantial energy to supporting the Castro regime in Cuba. Cuba is a particular favorite of IFCO's executive director, the Rev. Lucius Walker, who, addressing a "solidarity conference" in Havana in November 2000, proclaimed, "Long live the struggle of the Cuban people! Long live the creative example of the Cuban Revolution! Long live the wisdom and heartfelt concern for the poor of the world by Fidel Castro!" Both IFCO and the Bill of Rights Foundation are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charities, which means that all contributions made to them - whether for antiwar protests, Cuban solidarity rallies, or the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal - are fully tax-deductible.

The groups have been quite successful. The most recent IRS records available for IFCO, from the year 2000, show that the foundation took in $1,119,564 in contributions. For their part, organizers of the Not In Our Name Statement report that they have taken in more than $400,000 in recent months for the purpose of publishing their statement. It is not possible to say who is giving the money, or whether it comes from many people or just a few; federal laws do not require tax-exempt foundations to reveal their donors - or even whether donations are received from inside or outside the United States.

'WE who sign this statement call on all Americans to join together," says the Not In Our Name manifesto. To hear the group's leaders speak, one might think that is actually happening, that there really is a "broad-based movement" represented by these activists. But a look at the people and organizations involved in Not In Our Name suggests otherwise - no matter how many celebrity signatures they might collect.

Byron York is National Review's White House correspondent. From the Feb. 24 issue.

posted by MikeM at 11:42 AM    

 
While the roads are kind of slippery, there was only about another 1/4" on the ground this morning. The forecast has again changed - 1-3" today, 2-4" overnight, snow ending tomorrow by noon. We'll see.
posted by MikeM at 10:07 AM    

 
We just finished watching "Kiss me, Kate", a musical by Noel Coward about the trials of a theatre group putting on an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew". Very good, and funny as well!

As for the snow, it put down maybe 1/4" during the day, of a light powdery stuff that was only able to make the morning rush dangerous because it was 25 degrees! Once it warmed up it didn't stick to the roads anymore, but just made them wet. It stopped snowing at around 8pm, and although it is VERY cold outside (20-22) and the roads are likely frozen solid where there were wet spots - there is no snow to speak of on them.

Now, the forecast was for 6-8" by morning - it keeps changing - and now there is no snow falling. Basically, we are all guessing. What we will find in the morning is completely 'up in the air' so to speak. :)
posted by MikeM at 10:35 PM    

 
Well, the forecast was, as usual, only partly correct. It started snowing just before 5am, not 10am as forecast. Now they are saying 1" to 2" accumulation today, and 4" - 6" by the time it stops, which should be tomorrow morning sometime.
posted by MikeM at 9:42 AM    

 
Guess what? They are predicting snow for tomorrow - starting by 10am. *sigh* The incredibly accurate forecast calls for 1/2" to 6".

I'm hoping for the 1/2"

Then Thursday evening, snow again - more accumulation. Oh joy.
posted by MikeM at 2:55 PM    

 
Well, it's been busy.

Saturday and Sunday were 'relax' days - although we picked up Patty's wedding ring (lovely) and began tentative plans for our wedding (March?).

Monday at work was divided between sites, part of which dealt with backup issues and the other part with contract RFP issues. All done now except for the review and edit process.

Today is my brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Greg! I would give ya 33 spanks but you're bigger than me.

I got to work today to find an attempted hack in progress - from 7am to 9:30ish the same person was attacking the firewall in a very thorough manner - I got over 300 alarms in just that short time. He didn't get through the firewall, and managed to leave enough clues to allow us to nail him. His machine was likely compromised by a trojan of some sort - which could happen from opening attachments in email or just reading some emails - this is why I will normally not read any email from those I don't know, and never ever open attachments even from those I know unless I am expecting it. Heh - I don't even read email from friends and family unless they have subjects that I'm interested in. All these fwd:fwd:fwd: subjects just get deleted. :)

posted by MikeM at 2:50 PM    

 
Well, progress on the backup front: BrightStor called and my problem is being escalated to the next level. About time. Only took them what, six months to decide that they didn't know how to fix it?

In the meantime we have cobbled together a simple tar-gzip weekly backup to one of the linux servers. Works fine, but its not a system-level backup, only file-by-file, and then only the ones not in use. Better than nothing though.

Patty and I are both sick - sore throats, sore like there is a scratch or something in the upper back of the throat. The back of our necks ache at times as well, but other than that we don't feel too bad. Some drainage as well, perhaps just sinuses rebelling against the cold dry air. I think we worked ourselves too hard on shoveling the snow, exhausted ourselves too far and that got us ill.

Patty and I also are beginning plans for our wedding - we have the rings (we pick hers up tomorrow), and I will get a license next week. We are wavering between a Justice Of the Peace and a Church Wedding - not sure what we can afford, and not sure how we would handle the travel arrangements for family and friends. We are right in the middle of both families, one is four hours north, the other four hours south. :)
posted by MikeM at 7:59 AM    

 
Made it to work - took an hour for what is normally a 25 min drive. The roads themselves weren't bad, just slush in places but mostly just wet. The problem was that there wasn't very much road to drive on. The window-high piles of snow bracketed a single lane on most side roads, and maybe two lanes on other, more major, roads. For instance, 355 is a main road - 270 is the interstate. 270 had a few places where 7 lanes turned into three and then into one. Talk about a backup. 355 had one place that I had to drive through that went from three lanes to one and a half (to be generous). And of course people had to use the bad right lane to try to hop in front of people when you could SEE that the lane ended several carlengths away. I stayed in the middle lane mostly, because sometimes the right lane went away and sometimes the left. :)
posted by MikeM at 5:56 PM    

 
Finished the driveway moments ago. Patty and I tag-teamed it, working in shifts of 15-20 min, then resting for 30-45 min, depending on pain factor. I pushed it more than I should have at the end, but got the 4' ridge of ice/snow out of the way before calling it a day. I can get out and back in again tomorrow. It looks kinda funny, actually, we only did my half of the driveway (well, 2/3) and a walkway along the right to the mailbox, leaving a 5' wide swath from the bottom almost to the top of the drive. The 8'-10' cleared part was melting off as we cleared it - its dry now for the most part. The nice sunny day helped a lot. Of course, the sun also made the snow weigh twice as much as the light powdery stuff that it fell as. If I had gotten to it immediately with the blower I might have saved myself a lot of trouble! Next time, perhaps.

Anyways, after I finished the drive I lay down in the floor with my bright red feet a foot or so from the fireplace - actually on the marble hearth. They were numb and red - the shoes I wore were not sensible by any means, and by the time I was finished there at the end were soaked through. After 10 min of rest, I could feel my toes and could wiggle them again. While I was on the floor, Maggie licked my face clean. :) Now to the shower and a long nap before BUFFY comes on tonight!




In other news, it looks like Blogger was just purchased by Google! Dunno what this means, but since this site is generated by Blogger, it will likely impact me in some fashion.
posted by MikeM at 3:57 PM    

 
Did some other chores, then hit the driveway again every couple of hours. Usually got one pass along the driveway done, then back inside. Just now I tried again, got another row done, and felt good enough to try for a main-run lengthwise down to the road! I got to the 4'x3' rock-hard pile of snow left for me by the state and broke my snow shovel.

Oh, and its snowing again.

*sigh*

Tomorrow I get to call into work (if it is open) and plead snowbound. Then I get to use the METAL shovel (spade, actually) to break up and remove the massive snowdam at the bottom of my driveway. I think the snow shovel is usable IF I don't stress it. It cracked on both sides of the socket - where the handle goes into the blade portion. All I can do is try and be careful, and take little 2" slices of the 24" snow in an effort to not break it completely. If it does break, I have to use the spade, which is NOT made for that sort of thing, and is much smaller (though stronger!).

What happened to all the teenagers running door too door and offering to shovel my drive? Usually we get several of them after a snow, this time - de nada.

Well, I'm off to take a massive dose of painkillers and try to rest my back for tomorrow's labors. Goodnight!
posted by MikeM at 11:50 PM    

 
The leafblower is useless with snow this deep, and the sleet made the top inch or so compacted and hard. Shovel time. I hope and pray someone comes to the door asking for money to shovel the walk - I would gladly pay nearly any amount. Every shovelful sends spasms up my lower back, and I think I may have done some damage there. I will just do a little bit, rest, then try again. Work tomorrow looks definitely iffy, and if I can't get my drive cleared I'll be working on it tomorrow as well.
posted by MikeM at 3:53 PM    

 
Wow - they weren't off by much. Maryland is under a snow emergency, no traffic allowed on the roads except emergency vehicles. People just ignore it, but it gives the cops some teeth when dealing with people who get in trouble because they 'just HAVE to get to the store and get some donuts'.

We got a total of about 24". I don't have an accurate measure, but after we had 16" on the table, I cleaned it off, and now it looks like another 8" or more is piled on it. The glider is buried completely, we can't get any of the yard except the bit I kept shoveled. I need to break out the leafblower and see how it works in this stuff. The driveway... DOH! We have some drifting in the front yard - looks like about 2-3' piled up against the garage door. Lovely.

Today is a holiday, but tomorrow I'm supposed to be at work! Looks like today is going to be snow clearing day! I have gotten more excercise in the last 2 days from shoveling this stuff than I've gotten in a LOOOONG time. I know its probably good for me. I told Patty that if I die outside, leave me, and if I die inside, drag me outside into a snowdrift, I'll keep better. No need to stink up the house if she's stuck there for several days. :)

They are saying that it will take 36-60 hrs to get the side streets PASSABLE, much less cleared. The temperatures were in the mid-teens for most of yesterday, and last night dropped a bit. Right now it is 26, so that is good, at least.
posted by MikeM at 11:15 AM    

 
Albemarle va - anne Arundel md - arlington/falls church/alexandria va - Carroll md -culpeper va - district of Columbia dc - fairfax va - Fauquier va - greene va - harford md - howard md - madison va - montgomery md - Nelson va - northern Baltimore md - orange va - prince Georges md - Prince william/manassas/manassas Park va - rappahannock va - southern Baltimore md - 430 AM EST Sun Feb 16 2003

...Winter storm warning continues through Monday morning...

Precipitation will continue this morning across the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas...And much of northern Virginia. temperatures are cold Enough that the precipitation is expected to remain all snow for today and much of tonight. The snow will be heavy at times...And a thunderstorm is also possible. By this evening...5 To 10 inches of snow is expected. The snow will continue overnight...And an additional 5 to 10 inches is expected. The snow May mix briefly with sleet at times tonight.

On Monday...The snow will taper to snow showers during the afternoon. By the time the snow tapers off...Snowfall totals of 1 to 2 feet are expected.

This snow will be accompanied by Strong Northeast winds...And this will cause very cold wind chill values of between 5 above and 5 below Zero...Along with considerable blowing and Drifting of snow.

This heavy snowfall will make travel next to impossible across the area. Postpone any travel that is not absolutely necessary. By staying off the roadways...Highway Crews are better able to keep Roads passable so emergency vehicles May still travel.

Road conditions continue to deteriorate. If you absolutely must travel...Slow down and allow extra time when traveling. Practice your Winter safety rules...Keep an extra flashlight...Food...And water in your vehicle in case of emergency.

Stay tuned to noaa weather radio or your local Media for the latest information on this very dangerous...Major Winter weather event.
posted by MikeM at 10:31 AM    

 
I had meant to post this a long while ago, but if you are at all curious about Absinthe, this is the place to go! You can even order it, if you don't mind paying a heinous shipping cost in addition to an incredible price. la Fée Verte: Absinthe FAQ & Forum Gateway
posted by MikeM at 10:20 AM    

 
Woke up this morning to an additional 6" or 8" of snow. *sigh* Shoveled the dogs area again.

It is currently 16F here, and still snowing hard. On the bright side, last night we watched not only U571 but "Leonard, Part 6" came on! As long as the power stays on, I'll be happy enough with my computer, DVDs, and Cable. :) I think I'll start a fire though, helps keep the cold air from coming in through the chimney.
posted by MikeM at 10:06 AM    

 
I'm back to reading Hacking Exposed (3rd ed), after a bit of a hiatus to read several other books : Biohazard (Ken Alibek), The Darwin Awards (Wendy Northcutt), Kiss of Shadows - a Merideth Gentry Novel (Laurell K. Hamilton), Harry Potter 4 - Goblet of Fire (J. K. Rowlings), Mall Purchase Night (Rick Cook).

As for movies - we just rented "U571" and 'Lucky Numbers"
posted by MikeM at 8:30 AM    

 
Spent Friday with Patty, out on the town. Went to a nice Italian restaurant - Zios, went grocery shopping, watched an F-15 fly holding patterns over the Gaithersburg AirPark (small airport) for half an hour, at VERY low altitudes. Impressive and scary. It had both extended fuel tanks and missiles, so was loaded for long-range bear-hunting. Since they are rare at best around there, and it made no effort to land, I assume that someone was forced down at the airport after straying into the forbidden zone just south of here. Stupid people to play fast and loose with the rules while we are at code Orange.

The forecast was for 2-4 inches of snow, beginning around 5pm and lasting thru Sat morning, mixing with feezing rain and rain as the temperature rises. The snow didn't start until after midnight, and as of right now we have 3" and it shows no signs of stopping. The next phase will supposedly begin Sat night/Sun morn, where we get 8-12 additional inches of snow all day sunday. Argh.

I just shoveled the back areas for the dogs. I'll try to do it every 3" or so, so it doesn't get to be a major job. The driveway I will leave until Monday evening - I am hoping we get some major melting. I'm off Monday, and hate shoveling that driveway.
posted by MikeM at 8:25 AM    

 
Spent all day online with the tech support guy from BrightStor. No resolution yet. Debug mode, logs, tests, registry changes, more tests, set the switch for 1/2 duplex, more tests - no resolution. Same error...

Tomorrow I took the day off to spend with Patty! Happy Valentines Day!

I also have Monday off, as it is a holiday - what luck! 4-day weekend!
posted by MikeM at 3:24 PM    

 
Wow, nostalgia. Just found a link to a friend's website that I haven't been to in years - http://home.rochester.rr.com/erikh/ - Erik and I were part of a bunch of people that used to call a BBS near Boston. Yes, dialup, with a modem, to a computer in Boston running BBS software. Used to be the only way to go. Anyway, Glenn & Paula, John, Erik, Scot, Cliff, Joe, Kelly & Dave, Daniel, Bill, Mike, Tina, Andre, Mark, Brett, Terry, and a few others used to either live in the Boston area or travel there every 4th of July for The SWC Gathering - Software Creations was the BBS. Cliff is Cliff Bleszinski, famous for being part of Epic games, and Joe is Joe Siegler of Apogee fame. Glenn and Paula were usually the hosts, and along with John would do all the work finding lodging, entertainment, and places to go/see/be seen for all of us malcontents. I thoroughly enjoyed myself each and every time I was up there, even though it was a 14 hr drive!

The last trip up there that I made was around 1997, I think. Met Patty that year and spent the 4th with her, and for every year afterwards as well. Don't regret a thing! I am very happy here in Maryland, even though I changed cities & jobs in order to be with Patty. I am quite happy and very lucky, because we recently bought wedding rings. :) We don't yet have a date set, but it should be fairly soon!
posted by MikeM at 4:19 PM    

 
Smoke tested the backups today - needed a file back and was able to recover it from older tapes - tapes that had been purged from the database and needed to be merged back in. That was about the harshest test short of a full recovery. Worked nicely, although it took an hour to get 96k of files back. It took nearly half an hour alone to actually merge the cat files back into the database, after taking only 10 min building that cat file from the tapes. At least it worked fine, even if it wasn't speedy or simple.
posted by MikeM at 3:17 PM    

 
Well, the 'snow event' turned out to be a 'no event'. Flurries all day, no accumulation, even on cars or sidewalks. It just made things wet. This is not a bad thing, as it means that the roads won't be dangerous tonight. Of course, wet roads freeze, but with all the chemicals they applied in anticipation of the snow, it would have to get into the mid to low 20's to freeze the roads.

I just downloaded all of the patches/fixes/critical updates for MS Windows 2000, SQL server, Office and all of the components including Visio, and MSIE 6 sp1 with the new patch for it as well.

I took these 587mb and burned a CD. Now we have an up-to-today version of all of the major MS patches on media that you don't need a network or internet connection to get!
posted by MikeM at 1:30 PM    

 
Woke up this morning - no snow. Radio said it was beginning to snow lightly to the southwest of us, moving slowly to the northeast. I got ready and got into work a good 45 min early, just in case. On the way to work it was flurrying, and by the time I pulled into the lot there was a dusting on the road with tire tracks in places, but mostly just damp/wet roads. They say it will stop by 2pm, maybe 1-3" with it leaning heavily to 1" or so. No biggie - I'll make up the time I missed from the last snow - still owe 2 hrs - and be even until the next snowstorm.

At work, we had 3 klez emails stopped by the central scanner. I usually get 1-2 a week, having three within a few minutes of each other over the weekend is interesting. Seems that ALL of them are coming from comcast users, and have been for the last few weeks or so. I know that klez spoofs the 'from' field, but the headers have the actual sender IP in them, even if that doesn't match the 'from' field. That IP is comcast in almost every case.

Are people still opening attachments that they aren't expecting? You would think that they would have learned by now! I don't even open attachments from family and friends unless it is something I am expecting and have requested.
posted by MikeM at 8:28 AM    

 
There is supposed to be another 4" or so of snow on the ground by morning. Oh joy. Hopefully the road crews will have it all taken care of by 7 am and all I will have to deal with is wet roads with perhaps some slush in places. Patty and I visited the new site of my office - we are moving in 4-6 months - and it is only 10 minutes from home! I am currently 25 or so min from work, more if traffic is bad. I feel for Brian - when he is at the office I'm at it is over an hour driving on some of the worst roads! 495 in particular is a bad one in the mornings.
posted by MikeM at 6:43 PM    

 
Today was Toby's 5th birthday, so we got everyone into the car and drove to the 'Three Dog Bakery' on Elm St in Bethesda. Once there, we let the dogs sniff around the store, talk with the other dogs, and Maggie barked at every new arrival until we sprayed her in the face with the water bottle we had on hand just for that sort of thing. Toby doesn't bark at other dogs, he loves them! People, now, he occasionally has a problem with.

So, after spending nearly $50 on hand-baked custom dog treats, we returned home and gave them each some of the booty that they had been sniffing after the whole way home! I myself had only a small corner of a 'Basset Bone'. Imagine unleavened bread with a touch of peanut butter flavor, all coated in a light honey drizzle. Yum. Well, at least I like it. They also have little carob-coated heart cakes - the soft peanut-flavored cakes were good at first, but the flavor of unsweetened carob is not at all what I was expecting.

posted by MikeM at 6:40 PM    

 
Woke up this morning at 3am, found 4" of snow. Shoveled a walkway in the backyard for the dogs, then took the top layers off of the 'potty area' so they could at least do their business without having to wade thru snow that was up to their bellies. Then back to bed.

Woke up again at 5:45 - now we have 7" of snow. *sigh* Shoveled the backyard again. Roads look horrible. I have to shovel the driveway before I can get out, or I will be pushing snow with my bumper and undercarriage - always a not-so-good thing. I'll be late for work - but at least I should make it. Perhaps the roads will improve by the time I'm ready to leave.

Yesterday was spent working with tech support for the Xerox printer and the BrightStor backup software.

the Xerox tech told me that the extended maintenance kit (40,000 pages) isn't warranted to give more pages than the standard maintenance kit (10,000 pages) even though it costs twice as much and its major selling point is that it has quadruple the capacity. Apparently the page numbers are simply MAXIMUMS. No warranty on them unless they fail within 20% of new. Since mine failed at 31%, it is OBVIOUSLY not in warranty any more. I protested, got passed up to another tech, who shipped me another Ext Maint Kit overnight - without an argument. Sometimes you get the good techs, sometimes you don't.

The BrightStor tech told me that it 'really wasn't their problem because nobody else is having trouble with the Windows 2000 client'. Uh-huh. I'll be working with the same BrightStor tech again today, even though I contacted the Cust. Svc. Mgr and told her that I considered the problem to be more than the current tech could handle. She agreed to escalate it to another tech once we gave the current fellow 'one more chance'. Nothing like having to work with a tech support guy who KNOWS that you just requested an escalation because you consider him underqualified. Lovely.
posted by MikeM at 7:47 AM    

 
Buffy last night was great! Also there is news about Willow from Buffy and Wesley from Angel getting married! Congrats to the happy couple!

There is a good review of several popular DVD burners on Tom's Hardware, one of my favorite hardware-related websites.

We are still getting log entries (dozens, down from hundreds) on the firewall from people infected with the SQL Slammer worm. I find it incredible that anyone out there is so clueless as to not even notice that they are attacking the internet at random. I understand that applying the patch is a strenuous manual process, but why have an SQL server exposed to the internet in any case? It isn't that hard to put a firewall in front of it and block port 1434! *sigh*
posted by MikeM at 10:36 AM    

 
Yesterday we watched "Groundhog Day" - a favorite of ours that is quickly becoming a tradition. Gotta love that movie.

Today at work I arrived to find one machine had given up the ghost and the other one had a non-spinning power supply fan and heat emanating from the power supply... These two machines are the monitors for the fiber network county-wide, so are sorta important. The first one would not even boot - no blinking, no beeping, nothing. PS died? We swapped PS with a similar unit, no dice - lotsa beep codes, different each time, so we then moved the hard drive and custom serial card to another box (the one we took the PS from. Had to reinstall it.). The machine we retired was a 486-33 with 8mb and a 2m video card. We replaced it with a P100 with 64mb and an 8mb PCI video card. Slightly faster, but overkill. It only runs a DOS-based application. :) But it worked fine - booted, came up without a hitch.

The second box had a bad fan - the PS was working fine, but the fan was sticking badly, and would only turn slowly if you prodded it - stopping after a few minutes. Now, the retired box, above, had a 40mm fan in the front as well as the back, so we cannabalized it and replaced the fan in the PS with that one, running the wire outside the PS and connecting it to the power supply that way. (We just cut the wires to the old fan and tucked them safely out of the way inside the PS). It worked like a charm, and now both machines are purring away.

Oh, I forgot to mention - the second box is a 386sx with 4mb ram and a 512k video card. Just so you know. Plenty of power for the application. And if that had been a pentium with no PS fan - we could have had a major problem!
posted by MikeM at 2:27 PM    

 
"The Explorers" by Kevin Hopper

You flung your bodies into the void, to seek understanding of the mysteries of our universe.
You began your journey without fear, carried out your duties in the hope of improving life for all of mankind.
You were an integral part of an elite team, that faced the unknown, like the heroes of ancient lore.
We, the people of Earth, salute your courage, and your ultimate sacrifice.
We, the people of Earth, mourn your passing, and send our deepest sympathies to your families and loved ones.
Tears were shed, and hearts were heavy, as we heard the news of your passing into the ultimate uncharted territory.
God speed, and peace to you, on your final journey.



posted by MikeM at 11:09 PM    

 
Went to the movies - saw 'About Schmidt' - Jack Nicholson is passable in this, although I don't rank him in the top 100 actors. Nice but sad movie with no plot, no pacing, and no real story. Just life in general. Chick Flick.

Got back from movies and puttered about the house for a while (Patty worked on her book, I watched the special features part of 'Battlefield Earth') then turned on the news. Then I called Patty downstairs with the horrible news.

Seven astronauts dead, and all the newsies can talk about is the loss of the Columbia and how this is a major setback for NASA. Geez. Who cares about NASA? They will recover quickly, just like always. What about the 12 orphaned children? The 5 single parents? The parents of the astronauts? They made noises about it being the least experienced crew - but quickly stated that had nothing to do with the destruction of the shuttle. So why mention it? The more I see american TV news, the more I dislike it intensely.

Just last week we were watching them tumble around and perfoming the experiments onboard - one of the cable channels we get had them on it for several hours one evening. They enjoyed their jobs, and were having a great time, laughing and joking with each other and the TV camera.

Our prayers and condolences go out to the families of the astronauts.
posted by MikeM at 10:18 PM    

 
Welcome to February - seems like time is flying by! It is raining today, but 36f so no problems other than normally associated with wet roads.

I just started reading the fourth Harry Potter book - which is good but slightly disorienting after reading the fan fiction by Cassandra Claire - she builds on the four books and takes them farther - so some of the things in her fiction are based on events that I am reading now. She does an excellent job of capturing the feel of the books, and the stories she tells are logical extensions of them. Check them out!

I'm considering putting most of the items in my parts closet up for sale on Ebay, unless someone out there wishes to make me an offer for part or all of it?

The last few days have been spent working on the backup issues at work, enhancing certain security issues, preventive maintenance on the firewalls and such, documenting configurations, etc. At home we have been relaxing and reading or watching DVDs - we watched Star Wars Episode 2 last night, for instance. Good movie, I understood more of the plot and story this time around. Still kinda disjointed and non-intuitive, IMHO. (IMHO = In My Humble Opinion)
posted by MikeM at 10:04 AM