Sometimes You Don't

Not much of a post. Had a lousy day. Everything I touched became FUBAR. Going to bed and will try to forget today. Tomorrow will be better or I'll die. About the only thing that didn't happen today. Enough whining. Later.

"Stress is the trash of modern life - we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life."
~Danzae Pace

Ahhhh Saturdays!

It's cold outside. Setting up several projects today. Server transfer of data to a new machine. Upgrade on a Windows PC. Resisting the last piece of King Cake. I am so selfish and in a stupor from all the sugar. I love those things! Also have to tackle a boot problem. Full day today and tomorrow. Have I mentioned it's cold outside?

It's late in the day and I just had to refuse a geek sushi party. Darn it! We have so much fun and the food is spectacular. Oh yeh, it's cold around here. We gather at a local restaurant and know the owner. He is Japanese. Nice fellow. The prep time for the food takes a while, but the wait is worth it. BTW, all the dishes served are not made with raw fish. Sorry Ashy and Forest. Was previously occupied and couldn't make the trip. Mebbe next time, huh?

Locally and in many parts of the country it's cold. K, my rambling is through. Stay warm.

"If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim."
~Brown

Slow Day Then King Cake! King Cake!

TGIF. For some reason this week has been very tiring. Just finished two posts that were in the draft stage. They are now published. Where does all this time go and does it take money out of my wallet when it leaves? People are being conservative with their bucks and I don't blame them. I hear reports everyday about business being slow. It's my belief the current administration has taken a bad situation and made it worse. Please remember this as you vote. Health Care Plan my ass! Just another title for federal government controlled socialized medicine.

One really nice thing happened today. When I returned home there was a package on the veranda from Gambinos. Inside I discovered a blueberry King Cake. Immediately the box was opened and a few minutes later the sugar coma took over. Yep, I think blueberry is my favorite. Don't know about King Cakes? Go to Wikipedia and search for Mardi Gras. There's a reason it's called Fat Tuesday! Thank you so much for the wonderful gift Verdana. It is such a pleasure to receive such treats, daughter of mine!

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?" ~William A. Ward

Great Software - Free Download

After yesterday's article someone wanted to know what is used at the beach house to manipulate blank CDs and DVDs. I like Nero, but the price is a slap to the face. Utterly ridiculous to pay such a large sum of money when there are better programs for free. I use a freeware program called CDBurnerXP. WARNING: If you use Windows 7 don't download the version 4.3 beta. Stick with version 4.2.6 beta and you'll find that Windows 7 will be happy. There is a wealth of information about this issue and many other things about this great program. The help section is very well written if you have problems. The forum is also good. Also, make sure Microsoft's .net is up to date. If you are using Automatic Updates the .net stuff should be okay. If you are not doing your updates then why are you reading this post!?!?!? Get thee to Window's Updates and do it - all of them! The beach house has used this great cd/dvd program for years without any problems. CDBurnerXP will do the .ISO dance too. Remember, you download at your own risk so don't whine if you screw it up. They will accept donations so send them some money if you like this program; that is if you have any nowadays. Hope this helps.

"No matter what happens... somebody will find a way to take it too seriously."
~Dave Barry

What Would Captain Jack Sparrow Think?

People occasionally ask about "ripping" DVDs. WikiHow has a way to do it in 4 steps. The legality of performing this action is questionable at best. When a dvd is purchased and finds its place on the shelf at the beach house it gives me a feeling of ownership. Certainly it's a good idea to copy the valuable data and store the original to keep it pristine. This is my humble opinion and I'll leave it at that for now.

Then there is the matter of "burning" DVDs. There is another good article at WikiHow. Again there are legal issues that may concern some people. Again it is my humble opinion that if I am making frontline backups in order to preserve original data it seems a very sane thing. After all they remain in my house and I don't sell them for profit. You'll have to decide this issue.

By no means am I encouraging piracy. The questions have been asked and these are some answers. Make your decision. If anyone has recommendations please use the comments. Hope this helps.

"We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach."
~Bertrand Russell

It's FYI Tuesday

Finishing projects on the beach house bench that have been delayed. Lot of work to do and I need to really knuckle down and keep at it. There are several calls scheduled and the field work is almost back to normal. If I am running a bit behind, please understand. Remember I am the dude that celebrated Christmas on January 23, 2010.

Still reviewing the Secunia software. It looks good so far. Am also trying to put Cybersouth back together from the melee attack by the jerks at js-kit. They emailed and offered an upgrade. I cannot print my reply here due to content. They know I don't like them at all.

The How-to-Geek has a great article about managing GMail inside the Chrome Browser. Haven't tried the lightning fast, vastly versatile browser from Google? This post is being made in it. You can find the download at Google Chrome. There is also a permanent link in the Links List on this page.

"Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch it to be sure."
~Murphy's Law

Wow!

She calmly walks out on the stage: Then sings, a capella, a powerful tune!

What a voice.

"So she poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the thirst of his spirit."
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

TS3 Online

Teamspeak 3 server is online. Used it for a while yesterday and it sounds good. I don't really know anything else. My admin privileges are very limited. Ashy is doing a good job and please talk to him if you'd like to move from the TS2 server to the new TS3 unit. Thanks out to Ashy and Forest for their contributions. When everyone crosses over then the TS2 server will be converted to TS3 as well, for backup purposes. When that happens it'll renew my interest because I'll convert it. In the meantime, enjoy the great and new Alienware TS3 server (compliments of Ashy). Seems to be vast improvements and capabilities. The voice clarity is phenomenal. As with any new technology patience and co-operation are needed. Don't take offense if you are asked to adjust your client settings. Everyone working together will help tighten the system in an expedient mannner. It took some trial and error on my part to bring it up to speed which is the reason for the delay. The server has actually been running for several weeks, but we could not use Windows 2K Server software. Contrary to their notes on the Teamspeak site (they say it will even run on Windows 98!), make sure you are using XP or above.

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it."
~H.E. Luccock

January Jingle Bells

Today was a good day. Long and tiring, but a very good day. Early there was a crisis with a network that was resolved over the phone and by remote laptop voodoo. Then I enjoyed a day of food, fun, seeing all my family together, and watching children play with a lot of grins and smiles being passed around. The conversation at the dinner table was good and the food was fantastic. I am not so sure that we shouldn't delay our Christmas gathering every year.

We stayed late and had a pleasant journey back to Tupelo. It was good to park and unload my truck at the beach house. Tomorrow I shall start work again. That will be after a good night of sleep. Who knows? May even sleep late. Thanks to Verdana and Uncle Snake for being gracious hosts. Thanks to everyone that prepared the really great food. Thanks family. For everything. Love y'all!

"Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind."
~Chase

Delayed Gathering

Made it to Colliervile. Having a joyous time visiting with my daughters and their families. The trip up was uneventful. Even slept for a while which shows that I definitely trust my son-in-law's driving skills. It's great to be able to spend time with them alone even though I was very tired. My two "girls" just crack me up. They laughed and conversed. Truly I am a blessed man. They are the epitome of the word sisters. And hey, both of my sons-in-law are cool too. They have happy children that smile a lot. God has been good to me.

Will return to the beach house tomorrow after a Christmas celebration with family in late January. Later.

"It's hard to be responsible, adult and sensible all the time. How good it is to have a sister whose heart is as young as your own."
~Pam Brown

Two Items, One Tech One Not So Much

Am using a program that scans your computer and not only tells you what is not upgraded, but also links to the upgrades. It's called Secunia PSI. It is freeware and I read the EULA finding no hint of spyware. Now you may have noticed that I have not linked to this site. It needs more review. Those advanced enough to try it know how to locate this program and download. It has a simple and advanced mode. The simple is easy enough, but you find all the real settings and power in the advanced section. After some use a link may be posted. So far so good. This PC will be the guinea pig before links are added. Remember, if you do download, it's your ball of wax. Wanted everyone to know I've not forgotten to lend a hand at tech help. More on this later.

Congratulations are in order for Scott Brown. He won the deceased Ted Kennedy's vacated seat in the Senate. Yes, we can change. We can take back our country and stop all this ridiculous spending, idiotic foreign relations (our President bows to foreign hostile leaders?!?!?!!?!?) and put this derailed train back on the right track. Good Lord I hope we have a decent candidate for that office in the next election.

FYI, comments moderation is off so you should be able to comment and it post immediately.

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
~Abraham Lincoln

Only a Mule's Rear End Spams People

Really hate to do this because of the time involved, but I am trying to track the fools that are spamming my comments. To all my friends, readers and interested parties, please don't stop sending your comments. I've been spammed twice during the past week and wish that I could get my hands on these creeps. I'd put my foot in their asses. The jerk from yesterday doesn't realize I can find him and he will be blocked from this page. So help me if I had my way I'd line up every virus writer, malware creator and spammer and shoot them dead. The world is better off without them. Unfortunately there are laws and morals that prevent such actions. If I ever meet one of them it's for damn sure I'll get out of jail before he gets out of the hospital. Yes, I am truly a dysfunctional Vietnam Veteran. And a damn site mad about all these bozos.

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught."
~J.C. Watts

Guild Wars Stuff (NERD ALERT: You may not be interested unless a participant in GW)

My apologies to those that don't play this game, but this is a rare opportunity for players to collect some nice weapons, consumables, etc., from Nicholas the Traveler.

Nicholas the Traveler is looking for Decayed Orr Emblems. To max out you need 15 per account. This is one of the easiet collection runs seen yet. Don't bother with hard mode unless you need to vanquish. Hard Mode is not that much worse than Normal, but be careful with your aggro. Starting in Temple of Ages for the first run in HM The Black Curtain, Cursed Lands and Nebo Terrace are easily vanquished. Overall, it does take some time even with Cursed Lands being rather small. The other two areas are rather large with bad guys lurking everywhere (lol). Max drops were 3 purple weapons. Had trouble with Suicidal Alesia dying in HM otherwise the party survived all 3 areas, for most of the run (see the bonedragon info below). Be sure your character can take and deliver damage. Claude, Alesia, and Olias tend to move too close and it's good to be alongside to draw some of the assault. Here's the party roster:



I took a full compliment of 8 hence the reason for starting in Temple. Masters is an Aura MM, Olias uses lvl29 Fleshy MM build (both with Masochism) and Xandra is a Spirit Spammer. All have some healing and all 3 can resurrect. So much for the heroes. The henchmen are damage, interrupt and heal. Claude the Cultist is good here because of his slight bonding capability. Both in HM and NM the same amount of Orr Emblems were collected with Normal Mode taking about 1/4 of the time. Just a straight run from Temple of Ages to Bergen Hot Springs and back in NM. All upper class weapons were sold including the gold drop that fell in Normal Mode! They were high req and most not max damage. During Hard Mode after selling drops 5k was collected. 1k was the total during NM. Several Radiant and Survivor runes were salvaged. Oh yes, a hint; be careful around the bonedragon - something in that group can party wipe. Don't think it's the bonedragon either. I barely survived in HM. May be the multiple sorcerers using the skill earthquake. Uber kiting and some lengthy rezzing put us back together as a team. Here's my personal skill bar with 16 in Blood, 13 in Soul Reaping and 3 in Illusion:



Skills left to right are Summon Ruby Djinn, Demonic Flesh, Hexor's Vigor, Life Siphon, Life Transfer, Pain Inverter, Conjure Nightmare, and Signet of Lost Souls. Life Siphon and Conjure Nightmare can be spammed. Along with Life Transfer they equal a fairly constant degen of -19. Don't belive that garbage about not taking MMs. Not all opponents in these areas are, "undead." Zombie Warlocks and Damned Clerics are squishies (live casters). Grasping Ghouls are melee enemies classified as live. You're probably familiar with the rest of alive enemies. There are plenty too. I am sure someone will actually solo (use 1 character) this run and would like to hear about it. Also a unit of 4 would be interesting, especially if done in Hard Mode. Certainly I am not suggesting everyone follow this guide and would like to hear opinions. That's why the comments are just below each post.

"It is a happy talent to know how to play."
~Emerson

Blues Monday

Roy Rogers is legendary. Not the one that had Trigger stuffed. The guitar player. He's played with everybody and all over YouTube. Here's a great example of his talent:



Got a favorite? Send me a link! Thanks Ashy for a great video.

"Music's the medicine of the mind."
~John A. Logan

Ongoing Changes & Repairs

Sitemeter is back in place. Probably missed about 1000 counts when the jerks at Haloscan, js-kit, etc. ripped my blog apart. Wish I could meet the cheesy bastards face to face. Needless to say, I'll NEVER use either company again. If you have ever worked in HTML then you know the reason for frustration.

Teamspeak users: We are working on it. The TS3 server is up and running. But, it's not quite ready for prime time. In the meantime, the TS2 server is available as a Public Clan server. Hope to accomplish lighting the candle under our Alienware TS3 server generously donated for use by Ashy (thanks again!)within the next few days or maybe even today. Windows has been timing out on updates and there was a problem with some .dll files missing. Kudzu Dragons, you can bet it'll be in the guild announcement when it is online.

Everyone stay dry out there. It's wet in the Deep South.

"Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger."
~Saint Basil

Relief Is Needed

Folks, there are people out there that need your help and your prayers. It is shocking that the death count in Haiti has exceeded 200,000. Several very good suggestions are lined out at NPR. Be sure you know where you donation ends up. If George W. Bush and Bill Clinton can put aside their differences and work together in aiding these poor people then we can certainly do our share.

Beagle, I stole the above link from your page. Hope you don't mind.

"Sometimes in tragedy we find our life's purpose - the eye sheds a tear to find its focus."
~Brault

Bungee Jumping, One Approach

This woman is so funny. Take a few minutes and brighten your day. She manages to keep the audience laughing without ever using one word of profanity. She has several videos on YouTube that are also very good.



I'm still laughing. Thanks Ashy for a great link!

"There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth."
~Victor Borge

Great Googly Moogly!

The Google Chrome browser is now in the links list. They've stepped up their advertising and more people are inquiring about it. Using Futuremark's Peacekeeper I've run speed tests on IE8, Firefox and Chrome. Chrome gets the checkered flag after lapping the others. It is very flexible and using iGoogle as a home page really creates great versatility. In order to use iGoogle, you must have a GMail account. You can find it under Google Products which is also in the link list. GMail is awesome. It has the best spam filter in the solar system. There are many nice applications and add ons that will help you improve your GMail use. Just do a search for GMail downloads. Too many to list here.

Hope this helps.

"While you are destroying your mind watching the worthless, brain-rotting drivel on TV, we on the Internet are exchanging, freely and openly, the most uninhibited, intimate and, yes, shocking details about our config.sys settings."
~Dave Barry

Print Icon in Chrome

There's been ongoing discussion amongst users and techs about how to put a print icon on the Google Chrome Browser. Here's how you do it:



When you finish it will look like this:



Of course the Red 'Print Icon' and circle won't be in the finished product. Also, it will show up on the right of the toolbar. I moved it to the left corner and dropped it there so it will stay permanently. Leaving it on the right may make it disappear as you add to the bookmarks toolbar.

Hope this helps.

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can."
~Sydney Smith

Hard Night's Day

Long day. Staying up all night working on a machine that was finally trashed and replaced didn't help matters. Win some, lose some. After starting work in the field at 7:00AM today, I finally crashed about 5:00PM. So now I am awake, but sleep doesn't seem too far away. This is not good scheduling and unhealthy too. At least there's a new episode of Castle queued at Hulu. Going to watch it and then try for more sleep. Might try to catch Ringo Starr on Jimmy Fallon's show.

Later.

"Most people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up."
~Goodman

Gordon Sumner and EC

This is a nice mellow tune that was featured in Lethal Weapon 3. Sting is a powerful singer and Clapton shows his tremendous ability adding occasional acoustic guitar. That's the mighty David Sanborn on sax. Can we say 'talent in the room,' y'all?

"Sounds like the blues are composed of feeling, finesse, and fear."
~Billy Gibbons

Weather Outside? Downright Frightful

Being sequestered to one room for the better part of the day is not great fun nor healthy. Ventured out early this morning and turned around. Back to the house. So glad there is a computer here. It's cold. The frozen hot water is now flowing. The steps are frozen over again and I didn't need a return match. The knot on my head is gone and the knees are healing. The server that flew off my shoulder during the fall didn't make it.

There is a small heater under the desk. This is a common site in many offices and it kills me to see them plugged into a battery backup unit. Don't do it! The small "chill chaser" type heater usually cycles on and off by thermostat. When it kicks in there is an enormous amount of amperage used. This can shut your system down. If I hear a computer is shutting down at random looking under the desk is a first priority.

We are having a warmer day tomorrow. Should be sunny. Wow! Break out the grill, call your friends, get the blender for boat drinks...wait...the high is in the low 40s. Never mind.

"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."
~Stout

How about a Tune?

Since I missed Music Monday here's one of my favorite tunes. This version is from 1985, but has a lot life and intensity onstage. The engineering is very good for a live performance and the performance of the musicians is inspirational. Take a few minutes and make your Saturday a bit better.




"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
~Maya Angelou

It's Elvis's Birthday; I'm Cold, Smelly and Sans Wheels

Weather needs to break. Really. Truck won't start, hot water is frozen and my steps are covered in ice. This is not easy on a parrothead. But, the truck seems repairable, there is cold water and I refuse to use the steps again, for walking anyway. Checked the mail and that was enough. Can't for the life of me understand penguin or polar bear mentality. Ahhhh, life is full of mysteries. More coffee being made and if there's a boat drink in the near future ice certainly won't be a problem. I'll just chip it off the front steps...

Peace out.

"Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in COLD WEATHER becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigours of the mind."
~Leonardo Da Vinci

Blah, blah, blah

We got some snow, not much. The roads are messy in places and my truck won't start. Got the charger on it hoping it'll kick over in the morning. It's hard to watch stuff fall apart. It's late, I am worried and fell this evening bringing in a server to bench. Hit my head pretty hard but only spent a few minutes collecting my wits while getting off the deck. All in all...not one of my better days. Wish sleep would get here. Later.

12 Degrees Outside

Issued by The National Weather Service
Memphis, TN
4:12 am CST, Wed., Jan. 6, 2010

... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO 3 PM CST THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW AND SLEET... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO 3 PM CST THURSDAY.

* SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING. SOME FREEZING RAIN MAY ALSO MIX IN AT TIMES... BUT NO ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE ANTICIPATED.

* NORTHWEST WINDS BETWEEN 15 AND 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY BEHIND THE STRONG COLD FRONT.

* THIS IS THE FIRST ACCUMULATING SNOW OF THE SEASON AND IS EXPECTED TO HIT THE MIDSOUTH DURING RUSH HOUR THURSDAY MORNING. EXPECT HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS LATE TONIGHT AND THURSDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW... SLEET... OR FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES... AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

&&
More Information

... FIRST WINTER EVENT OF THE SEASON EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY...

.AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND AN ASSOCIATED STRONG... ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL SWING SOUTH INTO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING. THIS WILL SPREAD SNOW ACROSS THE ENTIRE MIDSOUTH... WITH A SNOW AND SLEET MIX SOUTH OF A WEST HELENA ARKANSAS TO TUPELO MISSISSIPPI LINE. GUSTY WINDS BEHIND THE COLD FRONT MAY ALSO LEAD TO SOME BLOWING SNOW ON THURSDAY.

The high today should be a little above freezing. That'll surprise me. We do have a chance for snow so be careful during your evening commute. Try to take a few minutes off during the day to visit the grocer and stock essentials. That way you will avoid the massive brawl in the bread aisle after work. Stay warm. Stay safe. Peace out!

"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination."
~Ward Elliot

Deep South Freeze

It's cold. Rare to see temperatures in the teens around here. Low is predicted to be 17 degrees! Make plans to stay warm tonight. It may be a 3 dog night so let those pets in or provide some type of heat for them. If you haven't put plants inside by this time don't bother.

Long day and time to get some sleep. It's possible that I will make service calls tomorrow afternoon. We'll see.

"Every mile is two in winter."
~George Herbert