Category: Life News

Dive Turkey 6: Falling Apart?

I have been attempting to make some reservations around our upcoming dive trip to the Florida Keys. However: all the rooms in the cheap hotels are booked and going fast. The cheapest rooms are now going for over $220/night. That’s not going to be affordable, what with diving and all.

So – it might be necessary to either 1) re-evaluate the location and possibly chose the old standby [Cozumel] or 2) postpone until next year when we can reserve dates futher in advance.

Postponing will give us a chance to save up some more money for both the trip and the underwater case for the camera [which is expensive], and Cozumel is like … home…

Decisions, decisions…

A Breather To Work

After working all day Saturday and long hours during the week, I’m finally able to sit down at home and see to some system updates on my own network. I downloaded and installed Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 2 and have to say that it is a very nice improvement over the RTM version. The full month calendar and public folder access in OWA alone make it worth while. Not only that, you can now use the GUI to manage many things that before had to be done with a command line.

So – the server is up and running and I’m hoping that it’s pretty stable as we all have to wait some months for the official version of SP1 to come out.

A Day In DC

Today, we’re going downtown to learn more about Adobe Lightroom. That’s the application I use to manage my photography library. I’m hoping to learn some tricks and skills and how to better utilize the tool that I bought.

The good part is that I will not be going to my regular job. I’ve been working weekends and late nights, so a break is always welcome – especially when Laura gets to come!

New Wireless Network

In the course of my security training at work, I learned many things about security – especially securing wireless networks. In a previous posting many years ago [quite litterally – Sept. 2004], I talked about securing a Wireless network. I was wrong on one topic though: DON’T disable the broadcasting of the SSID. I read a good article on the microsoft web site that basically says it’s more secure to NOT disable the broadcast. In other words, don’t hide the SSID – there are holes in the way XP processes hidden wireless networks which actually causes them to be exposed by the client anyway. Since then, I have made changes and un-hidden the network, while keeping it WPA and now WPA2.

This week, though, my manager allowed me to expense a new wireless router which supports an additional level of security: WPA-Enterprise using RADIUS. I got this to learn more about how ISA & IAG (MSFT’s version of RADIUS) work in concert with a PKI infrastructure and wireless network security. With the new device [which is also stronger for better signal coverage] I will set up an 802.1X certificate-based RADIUS authenticated wireless LAN that should be the most secure home wireless network ever. Corporations do it, but I’ve never seen one in a home before.

But then, not many people have the fun toys at home that I do…

Good News?

Sort of, I suppose. I found out that my motorcycle is now under a recall – targeted specifically at my year model [2002 – 2005 VFR800’s] and specifically affecting the components and symptoms that my bike is exhibiting. The good news is that the repairs should be free and this won’t happen again.

The bad news is that I have to wait… I have to wait for a free appointment and for the dealer to gather the new parts and any other information relating to the problem. And I hate waiting…

Let The Assembly Begin

Yesterday, we took delivery of 3 major pieces of IKEA furniture: the MARKÖR sideboard, LIATORP bookcase [later to be updated with the doors which were out of stock], and LEKSVIK wardrobe.

So far, I’ve assembled the sideboard – the much more complicated of the three. It’s already made a big difference in the kitchen, which until now, has been very cluttered. The bookcase will be the easiest, but that I’m saving for last. Now, I’m about to begin assembly on the wardrobe. I can’t wait – there are so many things I need to put in it and clean up the office.

No More Two-Wheeler?

Is this the end? Well, for the motorcycle it appears there is a problem. It won’t start at all. Just sits there and makes buzzing noises when I turn it on. I’ve called into the dealer and they can’t even look at it for at least a week. Now I have a bike that won’t start and we only have one car. This will be an uncomfortable week, with Laura trapped at home.

Perhaps, like magic, the bike will just start one day. That’s what happened the last time this problem showed up. I had it towed to the dealer and it just started working. We’ll see what happens this time.

I have heard that there is some kind of recall in the works [Honda will not comment] and that it has to do with the electrical system. I hope they find something and fix it so it doesn’t happen again.

Need More Stuff

The new house is great – except for a few things. The key “issue” being a definite lack of storage space. Our previous landlords left about 6 pieces of furniture for us to use while they were out of the country, and most of those were storage-related. So now, we will head off to IKEA to see what we can find to fill the storage gap.

We have some nice, new “fancy” furniture coming next month, so we’ll have a real formal living area, but now we need some real storage. I have nowhere to put my motorcycle gear – it’s all over the floor right now. We also have no place to store our china or several other kitchen items. Those are the two things we’ll be looking for. I already know one piece we’re going to get – and that’s the MARKÖR Sideboard which was one of the pieces we were borrowing at our last house. And we’ll also be looking for a wardrobe to put the basement gear in.

I’ll let you know how it turns out…

The New Lens Has Arrived

I’ve gotten [finally] my new lens – the 24-105mm F4L IS USM lens from Canon. I have to say, it’s just what I expected. The focal range is excellent for a wide variety of purposes, and I’ll be able to carry the camera around without changing lenses and that will keep the dust down. I’m glad for that, since I don’t really relish touching the sensor.

I took a few pictures with it to verify that it was working, but nothing worth posting. The next time I have some to post, I’ll make sure I accelerate the processing of the pictures to showcase the new lens.

It’s still almost as heavy as my big lens, though…