Category: Life News

The Storm Cometh

Last night, the snows never came. They had said that it would be snowing heavliy by midnight, but they were wrong. It waited 12 hours. Now, they’re saying that it will snow even longer than they thought bringing us maybe 12″ of snow. It has been snowing since 1pm EST and hasn’t stopped. It’s coming down pretty heavilly, too. And of course, there are the idiots here who think that because of a little snow, the world is going to end and they must make a last-ditch mad rush to the grocery store to buy any food that they think they’ll lack in the dreadful few hours in which they might not be able to leave their homes.

Okay – I’m being a little sarcastic, but I’m not kidding. These people here PANIC when it snows. Even when it snows just a little, there are shortages at the grocery stores. What’s poor Texas boy to do when those who have lived with snow all their lives run in a state of insanity when a few flakes fall from the sky? Well, laugh at them, I suppose!

Cold Fingers

Some days, I just don’t feel like riding. Like today, for example. Today, I didn’t want to suit up when I knew that it wouldn’t get above freezing where I’m working. Something about that just sends shivers down my spine today. So I stole the car.

Maybe that’s becasue I don’t have heated hand grips. Or, maybe it’s because yesterday, Laura gave me some hand warmers – you know: the kind you put in your gloves for skiing? Well, they worked… for about 10 minutes. Then, they died. So – I was forced to ride in sub-30 degree wind at freeway speeds [making a wind chill of who knows what… UPDATE: I just did the math. The wind chill for an average wind speed of 70mph and average temperature of 25 degrees is -14. Ow.] with quickly depleated hand warming inserts. Now: these are supposed to be good for 7 hours or so. But, Laura told me these were old and she said she wasn’t sure how well they’d work. I can’t blame her, she warned me.

I blame the warmers. They failed.

So, after that ride of frost both ways yesterday, I really did not feel like braving the wind chill today. Tomorrow, I might try again – after all: Laura just bought me a new batch of hand warmers. Maybe these won’t quit on me so soon…

Is Winter Over?

I’m somewhat confused with the weather here. Last year when I was here, January was bitter cold and icy. This year, it’s somewhat like Spring. Not that I’m complaining – I’m about to take a leisurely ride on my motorcycle just to enjoy the weather. I did that yesterday, too.

However – it does seem a bit strange to me. I’m hoping that February doesn’t rebound with a vengeance and hit us with 20 below temperatures…

In the mean time, it’s two wheels for me! [not that I really stopped riding… it’s just much more comfortable now…]

LAN Upgrade, Phase 1

I have compelted Phase 1 of the LAN Upgrade project. For those of you who don’t know [which would be most], I have come up with a plan to update the hardware and software of my home LAN [by LAN, I’m loosly referring to computers, networking equipment, and other accessories] in order to bring it into the next generation of technologies.

The Phased Approach

For Phase 1, I upgraded all my wired machines to 1GB from 100MB [this was a network upgrade for those of you who aren’t familiar with technologies – 10x faster than before]. That included a new GB switch to replace my old, reliable Netgear, new GB network cards for two of my machines, and a new KVM [again: for those that don’t know, this device allows me to use one keyboard, monitor and mouse to controll up to 8 machines at once]. I know, the KVM isn’t “network” gear, but it’s part of the overall purpose for this upgrade. My old KVM was putting not-so-faint lines on the screen and was interfereing with digital photo editing and generally giving me a bad picture.

And that brings us around to the core reason for the total upgrade: Digital Photography. I am running out of file storage space on my current server and was looking for a way to make the entire LAN more capable. Phase 1 was networking capacity and usability – it’ll be much quicker to access that file store now. Phase 2 will be a new file server – but one made with current technologies, not one that is a year or so behind. It will have about 1.2 TB of storage. That’s Tera Bytes… 1000 Giga Bytes, 1,000,000 MB, … you get the picture. Lots of space. This server will be built on a dual core x64 processor. Phase 3 will add a second dual-core processor and lots more RAM. I will then move the email processing to that box and re-task the current email server.

Yep, it will be lots of fun! Cost? Well, let’s just say that there’s a financial reason for the phased approach. Phase 1 was fairly inexpensive, but I’ll have to save a bit for Phase 2. Phase 3 might be far out enoug that the extra processor will be much ceaper than it is now.

Does It Ever Stop Raining Here?

This week, I’ve been in Seattle, Washington for an anual internal Microsoft training event. It’s been quite informative, but there are some things I don’t like… Such as the fact that I haven’t seen the sky for a week; nor the sun. It’s been overcast and rainy all week long and I have been inside a convention center during most of the daylight hours, anyway.

It’s not all bad, though. I’m learning a few cool things about newer Microsoft technologies and passing a few exams to update my certifications.

I just know that I’ve been here too long and want to go home to be with Laura. I miss her!

Last Work Day

Today is my last work day of the year. I have holidays and vacation until January and so this day is my last day. I like that… I’ll be spending all my free time with my wife. I like that better. I will be using my vacation time to finally straighten things up around my office, and maybe hang some pictures up that have been waiting…

And, of course, to sleep late.

I Must Be Insane

I must not have been paying attention to the weather. But when I left the house on the motorcycle, the temperature on the bike said “24”. Hmmm… Did I stop and circle the block and go pick up the car? No – like a mad-man, I continued. I rode on and on for about an hour until I finally reached my destination in the mountains of Western Virginia. It was 14 degrees. I think.

It was so cold, that my motorcycle thermometer gave up displaying the temperature. The last one I saw was 15 degrees before it went to “- -“. I guess Honda figured that only idiots would ride in weather that cold so they didn’t allow the thermometer to read that low.

So, now that I’m here, I don’t want to leave – it’s too cold out there. Maybe it will warm up by 3pm enough for me to ride home…

Winter Ick

I’ve been under the weather today. Seems I have to have at least one Winter sick day every year. So, I spent the day trying to “rest up” and get better. Of course, it’s really cold outside and probably will be all winter long.

I was hoping that riding the motorcycle to work so much in the cold would toughen me up, but I guess it hasn’t worked like I’d hoped. Of course, I seem to get rid of the symptoms when I go outside in the cold – it could be the whole “inside” atmosphere that gets to me. When it gets back into the high 30s in the mornings or higher, I think I can ride again. Otherwise, my fingers will fall off.

And then, there’s that whole ice thing…