Lunch? Hah!

Came home for lunch and then passed it up. Why? Because a festive yellow box awaited full of one of the best things in the whole wide world. King Cake! Verdana (one of my two daughters) and Dr. Uncle Snake live close to Baton Rouge and several of us local folk get King Cakes around Mardi Gras from their local bakery Wholly! Donuts. This year she decided on the praline and pecan flavor and it is marvelous! Now excuse my lardass...going back for another taste!

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."
~Pavarotti

BBQ Grill? 550 Horsepower

It is so good to be home. Long days are downright tiring. Sweats and a very old pair of Lava Boots (the inserts left the building years ago) tend to lessen the tension. And when the day has been spent fighting the bear a refreshing beverage, something light to eat and conversation with good friends is such a pleasure. Now to finish some projects and align with the normal subnormal routine. May even call Daddy Dan the brother man. Spotted a beast roasting grill cover with a vette emblem on it and he needs one of these jewels.

Later.

"And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind."
~Dave Barry

Yet Another TS Blurb

TeamSpeak is back up on the KudzuDragon (that's singular Dragon not KudzuDragons) channel and you know the rest. Other channels will be reinstalled over the next few days. The main server for Kudzu will undergo further changes, but these will take place during hours of low usage. The beach house network crew is pushing to create optimum service for everyone. Please have patience. Donations are accepted.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

New Video Card

ATI, a division of AMD, has placed two GPUs on one card creating an SLI/Crossfire type environment available for most modern motherboards. Instead of trying to explain the whys and hows let me recommend Anandtech as a good place to start reading about this super video card. They have many pretty pictures and go into great detail about this technology. NVidia is said to be working on a similar project. Hmmmmm, think there will be possible heat dissipation problems?

Outta' here. Many projects at hand. Later.

"Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower."
~Alan C. Kay

And Where It Lands, Nobody Knows

Slow news day. A spy satellite is due to drop out of space sometime late February or early March. They don't know exactly when this will happen. They don't know exactly where either! They need to get it all in one sock! Let's see, a 10 ton device loaded with beryllium, a substance that can cause respiratory distress, and "they" can only speculate about the time and place of its demise? Sheesh! Read about it at AP.

Time to get moving. Work awaits. If you have time please pray today.

"Precaution is better than cure."
~Edward Coke

NOTE: I am aware that TeamSpeak is down. As mentioned in earlier posts we let the new server run for a few days and are now making adjustments. By tomorrow there will be a heavy duty battery backup behind it and the hdd change may occur. There are two servers that will be online and one has a 70lb. netserver cabinet attached. The back was pulled moving all this today and I am tired, hungry and hurting. The rest of the work will occur later.

May Your Hands Be Busy and Your Feet Be Swift

Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Rich Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson,Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Ron Wood and many more great musicans came together in 1978 and made a movie about the last concert of The Band. It's titled The Last Waltz. Just watched it again. Here's a small part of it with the great GooglyMoogly, Voodoo Child, High Priest, Slowhand, Maximum Whamma Jamma non duck walking King of guitar players...Mr. Clapton.

If you check this out be sure and catch Van Morrison doing Radio. He's all over YouTube. Wow! as Robbie Robertson said, "Van the Man!" Truly a gathering of legends in music. BTW, the title is from a Bob Dylan song. Turn it up!

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."
~Robert Fripp (Yes, this quote has been used several times and is one of my favorites. What's not to like about the lead guitarist of King Crimson?}

Late Night Cruising

Still cold, but getting warmer. Temp outside is 20 degrees with the 'feels like' at 10. Will warm to the 40s this afternoon and highs will be in 50s/60s next few days. This cold blast has been like a blizzard to those that live in the Deep South. We're not much on heavy outer wear in this area. This is flip flop, shorts and a festive hat country. I'll give up my electric heat for air conditioning any time! Somehow Jimmy Buffett music will be heard before the day is out. Local headline might read, "Volcano dance on the beach house veranda, a sure sign spring is near." Then the first lines of the article, "Steel drums and guitar strumming heard in the background. Local lardbutt fellow seen in sombrero doing a strange dance around a kettle grill on front porch. Flips flops are blowing out by the hundreds."

Posting late due to working until 3:00AM this morning. Departed the job site at 11:45PM and arrived at the beach house about an hour later. The deer wouldn't stay out of the road during the trip home. Think they were protesting and marching against this cold weather? Or is it a stand against deer season? Back to the subject: One piece of proprietary software would not cooperate. After research on the net about the software transfer, several forums produced a solid solution and it's all good again. The client is gracious enough to let me in Sunday morning and this project should close before the daylight turns to dark. No big deal. Sometimes it takes a little extra effort. Besides, failure is not an option. Nor is it ever in this business. That said, let me mention that I love my job!

Must get busy. Everyone stay casual. What ya' think? Roast beast over open flame this weekend?!

NOTE: That weather report is steadily being downgraded as far as the high temp today. We are officially experiencing a winter storm warning and schools are closing. K, I've stopped looking for bluebirds. Later.

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."
~Earl Nightingale

Friends, Romans and Countrymen, lend me...

Well, the ruptured eardrum may not go away for a while. Trish, a great friend who is a RN by profession, advised that it may take time to heal. The balance is better and the thought of the drive to the MD this morning is not filled with dread. The hearing comes and goes due to internal pressure shifts. Very very frustrating.

Work is progressing. The schedule is returning to its subnormal state. Nice to know several delayed projects will be finished in a few days. Spent two days resting which has helped my physical and emotional health. Sorry about not posting on Tuesday, busy with the ear thangy.

My appreciation to everyone that has helped this year can't be expressed in words. God knows there are many folks with greater problems. So do I. The ability to work and be happy are primary goals in life. It's amazing how physical impairment changes one's perception. Might be a good idea to keep this in mind permanently.

That's my ramblings for the day. Stay casual.

"Watch the little things; a small leak will sink a great ship."
~Benjamin Franklin

A Good Value

Still not backing up? If you are rendering photos, doing autocad, or writing an encyclopedia you may need a major appliance for backup. If you are saving documents, your favorites, email addresses, etc., (things most folks will really miss if there is massive trauma concerning the hard drive) then Buy.com has a great solution at a very very affordable price. It's the 4gig USB drive pictured here and it's only $19.95! There's another $10.00 off if you use Google checkout! 93 people rated it and this received 4.5 stars. Nice.

"When you start treating people like people, they become people."
~Paul Vitale

Time, What a Concept

Got some things accomplished yesterday and today. Have the dual processor server alive once again, but not stable. Still working on it. The Alienware machine will serve Teamspeak and may be configured to use a 10,000 spin SCSI Seagate Cheetah drive. Will try to do this at a time that has minimal client usage. Again, thanks goes out to Ashby for providing such a strong machine for this purpose. Nice to know people will help out in times of trouble.

Worked on the Zevon machine too. It now has two dvd burners and many adjustments were made on the interior cabling. As you can see in the picture it needed some attention. But, it's a really fun computer and does a super job rendering Guild Wars or anything else for that matter. I've red loom to go with the blue lights and hope to put all cables in their proper place soon. Even have red wire ties, lol.

This machine has a MSI SLI board with one PNY 512 (overclocked to 576) 8600GT Nvidia card. The processor is an AMD Opteron 180 dual core. The memory is ample at 3 gigs and there are two Seagate SATA drives striped for performance. There are 5 120mm case fans, one gooseneck 80mm fan to support the video card and a 200mm case fan in the top. The heat sink on the processor looks like R2D2 and cooling is not a problem throughout the machine. This Antec 900 case is a dream. The bottom loaded Antec power supply is a very stable and powerful 500 watt unit.

The monitor is a 22" Viewsonic. A MERC Stealth Zboard is used (it's a backlit gaming keyboard and the blue color choice matches the fans in the case) and I still use a G5 Logitech laser mouse which is awesome. There are plans to move my 5.1 Logitech speakers to this machine eventually, but the headset is fine since TeamSpeak is up and running again. The system is capable of 7.1 audio. I like this machine. Not leading, bleeding edge but it's a stout horse in today's race. Next purchase scheduled is a matching video card which will take advantage of the SLI form factor and technology.

Several other network improvements came about and the air compressor purchased last summer was finally assembled and brought to life. Thanks goes out to Tyroneus for the help. Still need to clean up this pig sty of a house. Maybe tomorrow. The ear is better. Things are better. Thanks for the messages of concern and support. Have a casual evening and Tuesday.

"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it."
~Edgar Watson Howe

Easy Sunday and Comments

It's 20 Degrees outside. The local weather says it feels like 8 degrees. This is cold for the beach house area. Really cold. It's a beautiful winter day, but too cold to accomplish anything outside. So, computers will be remotely connected, several will be benched and house cleaning is the standing order of the day. Won't make church this morning, but will stop to watch on TV. 1st Methodist broadcasts live and it's fun to recognize familiar people. Coffee is brewing and was just ground in the new grinder. A few cups later this will be finished, my hands will be warm and it's off to greet the adventures of today. Envisioned is a nice, quiet, peaceful Sunday spent accomplishing goals and reflecting on the past 20 days. Improvement is desired. Need I say more?

About the comments: Please stop the nonsense. I know that NO ONE INTENDS ANY HARM, but Barrack Obama is NOT interested in my website nor do I desire such a patronage. His muslim background really concerns me and everyone knows I am a Republican anyway. If I see any more such remarks then they'll be deleted once. If they continue you'll be banned. If you have something constructive to say that's fine. Just don't intimate prejudice. This site does not endorse that. As said many times before, this is not a forum. Yes, I have opinions and voice them. I also take the time to use the tools and upload my content. It's a place for Dock's observations and comments. Your input is most welcome, but use some diplomacy. Down through the years ideas of hate and prejudice have not been a problem. So, let's not start now. Heck, I even did a positive spin on the Democrats a few days ago. Have you noticed I've stopped dissing Hillary? I also stopped misspelling Obama's name. So, be nice. If my lardbutt can then I know y'all can...

"I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse."
~Mark Twain

Wow! This Popup Says I Can Win a New Mustang!!

Mastering and controlling a network can range from very simple to constant vigilance. Any tech worth his salt will flat tell you that he needs control. There's reason for this concept. Airplanes don't fly because they're airplanes. They can take to the sky, look marvelous, do their job and they have one need that is such a high value no price can really be justified. That one need? It's called a pilot. Even remote operated vehicles are piloted from the ground. Your SysAdmin is that pilot. He's actually a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, engineer rolled into one. That is the nature of this business. Don't get in they way of his job performance by going behind his back and having someone engineer, navigate, and pilot when he's not looking.

Here's the bottom line. Hire me or someone else. I will NOT be responsible for a network that has the possibility of being manipulated by someone else. Mistakes are not well tolerated in this business and the beach house policy is to try and avoid them. Other people poking around, especially the unwashed, in a network will create problems. It's an absolute. Technicians are very much individuals and the structure and policy will vary from network to network. So, decide on who flies your network plane and have faith in that person. Technicians? Sky pilots. Cyber voodooists. Maniacal Manipulators. Casual Controllers. Think about this: Why are you not doing this job? Again. Think.

If you own a business please keep your computing at a reliable business level. I've seen SysAdmins that clamp down security to the point of being ridiculous. They usually don't know the craft and overcome their inferior knowledge by restricting anything and everything. To not let an employee nowadays have internet access is absurd. If they abuse the privilege then restrict their individual user rights. Don't punish the masses because of sins of the one. Still, use common sense. If your children show up after hours and play on the network just get ready because here comes trouble.

There are a few (and there's emphasis on the word few) responsible young people that have tech savvy and will be cautious, but most are interested in filling that iPod, looking at Britney's latest pictures, going to anywhere and everywhere on MySpace and many other sites that harbor potential contamination. And you know what? They usually could give a rat's ass less that the machine they just corrupted will negate productivity at your business the next day. So keep business businesslike and buy little Johnny or Nancy their own machine to destroy. It'll save the destruction of your network.

Offended? Again. Think. That's my story and Ima stickin' to it! Peace out.

"Resistance is futile. My Ctrl-Alt-Delete is deadly."
~H.D. Murphy

Seeking Hamboni and TeamSpeak is UP!

Received an interesting email asking my opinion about the top 10 things techno and the 10 worst techno things for 2007. Hmmmm, this is too much of an opportunity to pass up, but requires some thought. That takes time and not much is left due to my slow start this year. This might be a good time to see if I can consult with Hamboni, the genie or jinn that lives in the bigfoot SCSI drive used as a door stop. My saying "IBM" three times over it to make him to appear has not worked well of late. His opinion of things can sometimes get sideways, but that seems to fit in at the beach house.

For a few minutes last night it seemed there was hearing in my right ear once again, besides the ringing that sounded like the ocean. Now that has reverted to the shrill locust like sound and little hearing on the right side. This has been miserable. One of my daughters even wants me to have the VA ppl check on my meds and she's not too prone to interfere. So, that will happen. Mood has fluctuated for the past weeks. As Cybersouth is scanned there is a reflection of such changes. Gosh folks, Ima tryin'! My inability to accomplish tasks and stay on schedule does bother me. Diligence and prayer make a great combo. My butt best be in a pew at St. Luke's Sunday.

Later.

"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day."
~Benjamin Disraeli

NOTE: The new TeamSpeak Server is online. HUGE THANKS out to Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, Esq., Jr., for an awesome machine to provide this service. The Dragons channel is online and further config will continue at opportune times. You know your name and password and if any probs you can cell me. WOW! This is a good thing!!

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Do I have a favorite Democrat? That would be John Glenn. Good man. Recently an email has circulated about his confrontation with Howard Metzenbaum early in his political career. There's some fact and some fiction concerning this email. You can read about it at the UrbanLegends section of About.com. Thanks for the tip Ashby. I wanted to use the snopes.com page about this subject, but since Firefox caught the site trying to load spyware (fastclick) on my computer they are now off limits. I'll never visit the site again.

Even though my father was a Republican he was a great admirer of FDR and fully supported his WWII efforts by joining the U.S. Navy. That's about as high a recommendation someone can give a President. I damn sure didn't support Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam conflict. Yet, I served. Back then we had a thing called the draft. It does my heart good to see the massive support of our troops overseas by people from both parties. When we returned from Vietnam we were treated as outcasts by most folks. BTW, Toby Keith is an avid supporter of our troops and guess what? He's a Democrat. I like him too.

If you go to the UrbanLegends article linked above please read the whole article. It's interesting. And the Dixie Chicks still suck.

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."
~T.S. Eliot

My Heart's Partially in Red Stick

It's Wednesday morning and my sad ear is still ringing away. But, after taking Benedryl and mega amounts of Vitamin C two nights in a row, the onset of a cold has either been stopped or delayed. Today I believe it'll be safe to drive the newly treaded and now starter capable Beach House Red Ranger.

My greatest possible apology goes out to Verdana (one of my two daughters) and family for not being able to see y'all before your return home. A very sad man spent yesterday bent over computers not believing he missed what would have been a great breakfast. This just makes me more determined to take a trip to Baton Rouge. Soon.

Gosh, this year has to change. And it will. God willing.

"There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself."
~John G. Brown

Take a Moment and Chill

Here is a very pretty song sung with a very pretty voice by the very pretty Colby Caillat. If you haven't heard about her sensational rise in the world of music take a few minutes and prepare to feel a little better. This is uplifting and shores up my faith in the fact that love truly can exist in the human heart.

Thanks Red Dragon for a great, great tip. BTW, her album, Coco, doesn't have a bad tune on it! Wish I could hear it with both ears!

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
~Auerbach

Melody of the Nutbird

Why would anyone be foolish enough to put over 100 games on a business computer? Among all the other activities this weekend I removed over 1000 infections (it may have been 2000 - I lost count) and did the registry edit from hell to save this machine. It has an AS400 client on it, a huge office suite and many other proprietary applications. Yet someone decided to play games with it. Absurd even on a home computer!!! There were also 3 different anti-virus programs running. Thank the Good Lord for Safe Mode because this one sure wouldn't boot in Normal Mode.

One of the culprits supplying this nefarious garbage was Yahoo. Just Google the words 'Yahoo and Spyware' and scroll down after all the yahoo addresses and read about this junk. It's horrible. If I ever become Emperor of the Known Universe, this company will be first on the list for eradication with AOL and COMCAST not far behind. I'd also offer bounties on people in the spyware business. Just shoot 'em and dispose of the bodies. Anyone in this industry stands a DAMN good chance of going straight to hell. I hope that I haven't been too reserve in my opinion.

Yes, the ear is still bothering me, but spyware inflames me. Now I must stop to take my meds. Later, y'all.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
~Bill Wobbleynife

Current Situation

The Teamspeak server is still out of commission. It may not return to service for quite some time and may be out of service forever. There appears to be more problems than first suspected. If the recent take on the situation proves to be true thousands of dollars and many man hours will be scrapped. This is just another negative hit in this horrible year. Yesterday and this past night were spent trying to repair the problems and no, I don't need any help. This machine has served this network for many years and my feelings about it are like losing an old friend.

Everyone make arrangements to find other outlets for their TS needs. Please don't bother me about this matter. I've an extensive tech library concerning networking and various aspects of machines. Many years of experience are also at work and may help me recover this unit. With the exception of BlackViper, who has used similar servers with the same configuration and the same dual processor Asus motherboards, I've probably read more about this piece of equipment than anyone. Techs can be uppity and know it all and you really don't want to do that with me right now.

The ear ache that has developed over the past 3 days has my tinnitus at max volume (sounds like a million locusts inside my head) and besides not feeling tip top my nerves are frayed. I am even considering stopping my Guild Wars participation permanently. Again, missing that doctor's appointment yesterday was NOT a good thing. Anyway, will keep my fellow guild members and allies abreast of the situation. If it comes to this end, I will definitely choose a successor as Guild Leader. Please don't bother me about this either. The new leader has been chosen if I step down.

Got to try and rest. This ringing in my ears and the soreness makes sleep very uncomfortable. Of course the infected ear is the right one and that's the side on which I sleep. Damn a bunch of mortars and grenades going off in Vietnam, lol.

"When Mozart was composing at the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Vienna was so quiet that fire alarms could be given verbally, by a shouting watchman mounted on top of St. Stefan's Cathedral. In twentieth-century society, the noise level is such that it keeps knocking our bodies out of tune and out of their natural rhythms. This ever-increasing assault of sound upon our ears, minds, and bodies adds to the stress load of civilized beings trying to live in a highly complex environment."
~Steven Halpern

NOTE: K, I am having a rough time and maybe my venting here has been too harsh. As said before losing this server is like losing an old friend. I've never been more proud of a machine when the build was finished 5 or 6 years ago. It is proof that quality is not expensive, it's priceless. How well it has served us down through the years. Ashby and I have our heads together on a kick ass replacement and we'll try to incorporate it in the beach house network soon.

Folks, if you'll take a look here, you'll find many notable people suffer from this ear ringing malady. Steve Martin's comment that "you just get used to it" is not necessarily true. With the ear infection the ringing has amplified and it is hard on one's nerves. Mine, anyway. Please bear in mind this condition has existed ever since my last "tour" of Vietnam. I find Bill Shatner's comments interesting. This is not much of an apology, but I'll close by saying efforts are being made to do better. Peace out!

Whine Mode has Hit Warp Speed...Again

Normally I am an upbeat, happy person. There are moments where I can whine with the best of them, but I find most others around me seem to bitch and gripe more. In all my years I've only had one year start out worse than this year. For the past 12 days every time I turn around some other travesty befalls me and you know what? Most people just don't give a big fat rat's ass.

1996 was by far the worst year of my life. My Dad died on January 10th, and a few months later I was in the midst of prostate cancer problems. Yep 1996 made Vietnam look like a picnic. You know what else? I am getting too old for this shit! 2008 is indicating a repeat of such a year. I knew I was having wayyy too much fun on the bike trip to Daytona last year.

Since 7:00AM I have been trying to revive my web server and then it progressed into reviving the whole network. It just came back up. On top of all this I forgot a doctor's appointment this morning. Just absolutely forgot it! I DON'T do things like that. Now it's rescheduled for another month off which sucks. Anyway being a positive, optimistic guy has just run over not a bump, but a huge boulder in the road. I pray God will help me get through all this. Many years since I've let life get me down.

For those that were to gather at the beach house tomorrow, don't. It's called off. There's too much work to be done and making headway seems almost impossible. I'll be glad to see 2009...if I survive! Gosh, I wish Dad was here to advise.

"I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages."
~William H. Mauldin

Sleeping and Geeking + Teamspeak Server

Naps? Took a hint from Jimmy Buffett's book A Pirate Looks at Fifty a few years ago and know that a nap is a great boost when stressed or wearing down later in the day. Yep, it's true. Read about it at ScientificAmerican. Next time you catch me napping well...nah nah nah nah boo boo! It's good for ya!

OMG, I've found a good explanation of how to control something that has bugged me for years. This is about ctfmon.exe and its annoying persistence to randomly process in the background like some kinda' cyber jackrabbit on crack. Get over to the HowToGeek. This is very well written in layman's language and it even has pictures!!! Great job Geek!

The Teamspeak Server will be down most of the day. It is being relocated and both hardware and software are being upgraded. It should return to service later tonight or tomorrow. Puh-lease! Don't call me about this matter. These machines reside at the beach house and I try to stay aware of their status throughout the day and night.
UPDATE: New part will be installed Saturday AM and the server will be back on line bigger, badder and mo betta'.

"All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own."
~Plutarch

Bill Gates Last Day At Microsoft (Funny Video)

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a bit long, but stick with it. You gotta' love it!!!!

"I've always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, 'Ain't that the truth.'"
~Quincy Jones

I Smooch You!

If you have a business, especially one that has to retain critical data like a law office, accounting firm, mega retail establishment or an industry that does payroll with tax records, please make sure your backup is working. How can I make this clear? Ashby R. Culpepper, III, Jr. Esq., (it's web name if you haven't figured that out!), who is one of the best techs in this area, says you will ABSOLUTELY not recover data if you have a devastating system failure that requires formatting and re-installation. Well (Ashby says), you may pay someone thousands of dollars for the attempt. Yes, attempt is a key word. And you will pay that fee on the front end. Am I making headway here?

Backup is so critical. Please make sure you have some recourse if a system failure occurs. What if the building burns down? What if lightning strikes? What if rabid wild dogs intent on eating hard drives show up? Or AOL ninjas show up and change your hard drives? People, please do backups. This is so important. What can I do to never hear, "Oh my God, all my data is gone?" Tattoo on the forehead? That probably won't work! Backup and do it VERY often. Like daily. Please keep a copy off site too. Hmmmm, are you using such a procedure? Then I smooch you.

Talk to me if you need help with establishing a backup system. Hope this helps.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."
~William James

It's Elvis's Birthday and the Ranger Has Returned

The beach house Ford Ranger is rolling again. It's a good feeling to know that your vehicle will start on demand. After many hours of beach house troubleshooting, hair pulling, teeth gnashing, wrench throwing, uber whining and other such fits of negativity, it was turned over to the professionals. They found the problems and it's all better. Hopefully, the electrical system has had a thorough check and future stalls won't arise again - for a while. Being a 1992 model it seems to be in pretty good shape and the previous owner did take care of it. These things just happen.


Time to rest. Have to finish some online remote-in projects then sleep! Later.

"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers."
~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

It's a New Week Finally!

moar funny pictures

This is the way the weekend felt. Hey, the whole year has felt this way. Thanks Lolcats for the great pix. Some of the pix on that site are awesome. It is also known as the I can has a cheezburger site. Click on the "moar funny pictures" above to view mucho hilarity. The one with the frog cracks me up. Thought I'd try to start this week out with a laugh. Wish me luck with the truck today. Better yet, please pray.

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."
~Earl Nightingale

Note: Truck didn't start and now I've lost my set of keys. If I believed in reincarnation it'd be a sure bet I was Attila the Hun or Hitler in a past life...at least the truck is at the shop. Aha! The keys were found in the truck.

NOTE: Good things come to those that wait and have patience. The truck will be back tomorrow and problems solved. Sometimes you juz must run on faith....agree?

Dropping Out of Warp Whine

Tomorrow the truck goes in for new shoes. For the moment it is starting. I checked all connections and cleaned some of them. Something at gut level tells me it is not exactly right. Hopefully this is paranoia. But! Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there's not something after you. If Tommy's crew gets the new tires on early then my week will start in the morning and is filled with catching up on projects delayed by this downtime. There's work scheduled for this week too. Please, everyone bear with me and be sure and call if needed.

Gosh, I didn't need this to happen timewise and moneywise. Doing Christmas with my daughters and their families this coming weekend. It'll be great to have them all here, but the 'expenditures vehicular' are slimming the shopping (which I still haven't done - but I do have a list!). Can't wait to have everyone online at the beach house and playing Guild Wars while we are all together. The laughter will be great and much needed. Gotta' get 2008 headed in a more positive direction and to hear the joy and feel the comfort of their two wonderful spirits will shore up my creaking timbers. Plus having two kewl sons-in-law, the Purple Giraffe and Mal around won't hurt things either.

Need to get some rest. Tomorrow starts early.

"It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back."
~Mick Jagger