I read somewhere that one should not criticize unless one can do better. I don’t suffer advice. After watching two new shows this evening, with comedy veterans Michael J. Fox and Sean Hayes, I’ll cut to the chase. I am critical, and I won’t suffer either program. There has to be something else to do before sleeping on the weekend.
posted in computing, genealogy | Comments Off on Missed the eclipse | 272 words
Busy evening around here. Since the PCI-E small form factor RS-232 card was sitting on the table when I arrived, I decided to get to work and change out my weather station server. The current machine has a fan volume that I measured at 73dB. Not a jet engine, but loud enough that son #3 has developed a serious sleep disorder, and now plays video games until dawn. My fault.
posted in computing | Comments Off on Upgrading, slowly | 260 words
Today, after waiting for nine months, a new OS took its place in my small family… of computers. Although my decision to purchase one of those upgrade licenses that Microsoft put on sale was completed in mid-January, I waited until today to actually pursue the upgrade. Took me some time to find the emailed receipt (containing the required registration code), but after searching through several different email archives (and calculating the appropriate date from a post on FB), I was able to print things out and get busy.
posted in computing, technology | Comments Off on Making the great leap forward | 286 words
After an Apple kind of day, I’m still not converted. Yes, the presenter did an excellent job, and the projector worked flawlessly. No, we didn’t actually “touch” anything. Maybe next time.
posted in computing | Comments Off on A display of useless knowledge | 262 words
One positive thing about my job is the lack of routine. Nothing “nine-to-five”, other than the requirement that I be at work for the same number of hours as indicated on the bi-weekly pay slip. That does not mean that I never have to do certain jobs that are routine. Today, my time filler involved normalizing a database. In computing, if your “fields” contain similar data, you can sort (more quickly). Basic stuff. And the corporate telephone data has the same warts as any other data. Save. Apply the changes. Return and repeat. All two hundred and thirteen times… A good way to kill part of the morning and most of the afternoon.
posted in computing, music | Comments Off on Routine jobs, instead of a routine job | 252 words
In the same way that classical music never goes out of style, neither does classic comedy. Just spent some time catching up with Lucy Ricardo. Even if she always has some ‘splainin’ to do, she has fun in the getting there.
posted in computing | Comments Off on Resetting the reset | 253 words
Having trouble deciding how much time and energy I want to put into a project. The high heat and humidity have sapped my interest in anything that requires hours of manipulation.
posted in computing | Comments Off on Avoid over exercising (the brain) in high heat | 266 words
After an “assisted search” this afternoon, I have a conclusion that might be useful to others. Looking for something where you DID NOT put it is an invitation to magic. Or disappointment. Have it either way. I’m not talking about an apple in the orange drawer here. This was a typical office search.
posted in computing | Comments Off on Futile quests | 268 words
This was a noisy day. Sometime yesterday, the air conditioning in our server room failed. Not good. Once the temperature hit 30C, alarms rang, and we were put to work trying to find a solution. Overnight, things continued to warm up, and the industrial repair firm were called in, under cover of darkness. No joy. The rooftop compressor is just a lump, and no replacement before early next week. Plan B, anyone?
posted in computing | Comments Off on A noisy cooling effort | 265 words
Some things take longer. Things like booting an older Mac, when one (OK, me) has to burn an image file of an older version of software, after finding a suitable DVD (dual layer) and a DVD burner (ditto on the dual). Let that run while I cooked supper (USB 2.0 is slow). Then, I had to figure out what the correct response might be when the installer wanted me to go with GUID. Huh? That choice was buried in a sub-submenu, but now the machine is formatting and installing. Slowly. Based on observations to this point, I’m not dealing with a “speedy package” here.
posted in computing, Wx | Comments Off on Cue silence | 277 words
