Procrastination

I really need to get over this bad habit of waiting to start my homework until I've gotten my test scores back. I would never have been able to pull that off with the summer class I took...the most I could take off would be an afternoon.
Maybe I've been spoiled with taking a normal math class....then again even thought it's an internet class I still have to go take my tests on campus. Even more ironically is the fact that they are paper tests....so I literally sit down in a little room and write everything out by hand. I actually find it kind of quaint to be honest, and it does allow for a more personal experience than just a simple answer to a problem. I rather like being able to show my work and how I reached my solution.

Anyways I might need to take the next semester off here to work on some other projects, plus I'm expecting work to get real busy around that time. We'll just have to see what happens, but if I don't take the next class I have lined up then I think I'll have to wait until fall of 2009. :(

If only things were as literal as math...like remade 80's videos

Take on me: The literal version

Fun with scripts

Today I worked on tweaking a script that I wrote two weeks ago, basically it telnet's into a router, graps the output of a command, parses it for the ip data only, then crafts it into a config statement and appends a line of my choosing. It then stores it locally, and uploads the command back to the router all in about 20 seconds.

It's not perl, or amazingly graceful....in truth it's visual basic hacked together, but it works and it will allow me to do 286 routers in the time it would take somebody to do a tenth of that by hand. It was actually fun to figure out.

Sodding the frontyard

As the title gives away....we had some work done on the front of the house just yesterday. Here are some pictures of the before work (although I had already pulled out the landscaping rocks):

And here are the results of the work they did yesterday:

This completes phase three of the landscaping project for this year. Next spring we are hoping to put in english boxwood shrubs along the dirt areas outline by the landscaping rocks.

Sodding the backyard

Here are some pictures I took before the sod was put in, but after the area was cleaned up (ie. everything green removed):

And here is the area after the sod was first put down, the pictures are about a week old now:

what i've been up to

sod, logarithms, cuddly pudding, shell scripts, furniture building, dr. who season two, mass effect, super mario rpg, poopie diapers, power washing and drama.

Why cats make bad computer technicians.

Dell Dimension 8300 w/ aftermarket power supply

Based on an earlier case migration I did for my Dell, somebody asked me a question about changing the power supply.

Is the dell dimension 8300 utilizing a standard ATX pinout or is it Dell's custom wiring schemes, and if it is dell's custom wiring do you know of any adapters? and if it is standard atx should I use a standard 24pin to 20pin ATX adapter to allow the Ultra X3 power supply to work.

So the short answer is that any power supply should work just fine, in fact I'm using an Antec Phantom 500 myself with no issues. Usually you can even break off the extra 4 pins to magically make it a 20 pin one without using an adapter.

Stupid princess....

One time somebody dropped a spoon and Ninja Cat killed the whole town

You'll never see him coming.....he's a statue!

Every kid needs a ball pit

No matter what I tried I just couldn't figure out why Jen's computer was draggin' butt. I checked every registry entry, ran checkdisk/defrag, verified all unsigned drivers, disabled all optional startup items, even searched for root kits after doing a full virus scan with the drive in slave mode on another computer. The only option left was that somehow a vital system file got corrupted and a total reinstallation would be needed.

That's not really something I have time to do right now, so I decided to try a "repair installation" which is something I heard about a few years ago but haven't had to try yet. Basically it's supposed to "reinstall" core windows files BUT....and this is the key part...not wipe out all the current settings and installed programs. Which should mean that Jen's email will continue to be configured and work, and all her other programs.

Following the directions it seems it worked just as advertised. It's been a few days now and aside from having to reinstall IE7 and a butt ton of patches everything stayed the same. You'd never even know I did it honestly. I was pretty darn nervous I was going to loose everything, but it worked very well.

Speaking of Jen she bought me a new shirt, but Connor managed to get ahold of it before I had a chance to wear it :)

He also managed to get ahold of a diaper wipe dispenser the other day...he has this bad habit of trying to set them all free:

And lastly, I think Jen had this idea, we decided that since he didn't like the pool very much that we would use it as an indoor ball pit. Seems they sell bags of 100 balls at Walmart for like 10 bucks. We ended up using three of them, any more would have probably been a mistake for the size of pool we have.

Computer joy and pain

Jen's computer has been giving me nothing but problems the past couple of days. First it kept giving a BSOD with "BAD_POOL_CALLER", and now it's just running like absolute junk. Slow as hell....but i've gone over every process running, verified every driver, even scanned for rootkits.

I'm about to go old school on this mother effer and start ripping out parts. Haven't had to do that for a few years but maybe I need to make it learn some respect. I should make sure to do it where all the other computer can see me, so they get some idea of what tortures await them if they cross me.

Oh, and for the record...the Linksys BEFSR41's parental controls abilities are a total joke. They advertise that you can filter LAN users internet access, but it's only some type of half asses ACL.

Administrators Can Block Specific Internal Users' Internet Access with Filtering

You can either entirely block or allow a single IP.....what is the point of that? I mean hell if I wanted them offline I'd UNPLUG THE #&#^@ING WIRE you dumbasses. And then on top of that they give you the ability to filter ports on an IP....which is where the "half assed" part comes in. Apparently somebody on the team had a clue as to what filtering should entail, but it's just simply not good enough. Not even close. So what if I can block FTP or TELNET if I can't control the sites people have access to on port 80! What is needed is the ability to create custom ACL's based on domain name (hell i'd even take IP) and apply those to the IP's. As it stands today the BEFSR41's only good feature is having 8 ports and that is NOT good enough for me to keep it. Enjoy you ride back to newegg little guy, you worked well but not good enough.

Up next the Dlink DGL-4100 gamerloung erouter....looks like it actually has some ACL features now that I've read the manual.

Oh, and the customer service at Newegg.com is awesome. Really happy with them and that's going to make them my first stop for the Dlink and future business.

Things to do if I take over the world

1. Block all internet traffic to Nigeria
2. Have the people responsible for the "lowermybill" flash ad's with dancing people killed.
3. Find the people who wrote the non manga filter for the Naruto anime series and also kill them until they die from it.

This was a triumph!

I'm trying to get Amelia started early...

How to remove cat urine from clothes

The simple answer seems to be borax and white vinegar. One of our cats has been having bladder problems lately and relieved herself on Amelia's play mat and my shorts. In an act of desperation I tried soaking it in a mixture of Borax (20 mule team!) and white vinegar for a day (with water of course), then I put in the washing machine on the highest temperature setting.
Previously we had tried it on just the highest setting with only Borax...I think the soaking and white vinegar is the key here. At the least it doesn't seem to hurt.

So cat urine? Soak in a quarter cup of Borax and a quarter cup of White Vinegar overnight in a tub of water...then wash in hot/hot. You might just save some clothes...

Bad news, Ralphie passed away

Our mouse died yesterday. :(

No idea what happened, he would have been four years old this October. I guess that's pretty good for a deer mouse I found out on the sidewalk, but it still kinda sucks.

Hopefully if there is a mouse heaven, it's not right next to cat heaven. Although I like to think he lived like a king for four years, and even got his picture in a book. Not to shabby really...