fall update

Now that the harvest, as small as it is, is in and things are settling down quite a bit for a long winter rest I finally have the time needed to rekindle my blog.. 
After spending the summer on numerous geek projects I now have the time and some energy to reconvene with my readers and catch up on the activities.
Facebook followers, Instagram followers  and numerous friends I have acquired this summer are leading me to the fall and winter slumber.
Summers are always busy time for old Trash. CLients use the summer months to upgrade their systems and technologies and that keeps old Trash busy. This summer was exceptionally busy. Lots of high dollar , high energy projects.
I have also delved more fervently into social media. WHile I got burned out doing videos weekly I also found Instagram for a quick fix of sharing and caring. Thru there I have increased my activity in the pipe communities and am working with a few other geek friends on rekindling the www.pipes.org website. While not a paid gig it is more of a labor of love for the lifestyle I have been involved in for over 40 years.  GO one over and pay a visit  here
Work in Babylon has also changed. I am still doing R and D and tech advising and tinkering but alot of my trivial work will now be done by the younger slaves. Giving me more time to meander and tinker. Both of which I love to do.
It is also time to prepare for winter around the stead. Gather supplies, collect project materials, etc.
The old studio is now a shambles as I am attempting to create a workshop out there for wood working projects long overdue. I hope to keep ya updated as I work thru this mess.
Good Sunday

a real long time

Oh yes it has been.
June 25 was my last post here so I presume everyone thinks I must have benn picked up by the guys in the black cars. Not so. I have been writing and devoting some time to my YouTube Channel over at drmacstudios.  I have been building quite a following since I began delving into the niche of pipe smoking.
Something I have been doing for over 30 years. Apparently the video world thinks old Trash has something to say. Ya''ll ought to take a look.
Anyhow life is SAMO SAMO on the homestead. Garden, self-sufficiency, dumpstering etc. All part of the day to day at the homestead.
I finished the GOod Lief Lab and working on the review. I am hoping to see Wendy and Mikey on Thursday at the Tattered COver LODO when they make a book stop here. I was rather impressed with the work and would suggest you all pick up a copy. A very worthwhile read.  

summertime blues

Since the last time I updated on fathers day I have been quite busy in both labs and attempting to keep the gardens from wilting and my compost from turning to clay. It has not been easy. But thus far it has been sucessful.

The gallery  surveillance gig is going well as well as several other  small projects I have been doing. Worked all day this past Saturday and came home and crashed on Sunday. Too much to do at the lab.  I am going to attempt a disconnect next week for a few days to regather and realign myself . We shall see how it goes.

In the meantime I keep pushing forward on projects and todo's. Hope y'all are doing well in this summertime season.

fathers day cherry rant

"I am tired of doom, lets smoke pipes, garden, and make things" should be my new catchphrase. Slow down a bit and dont get caught up in the hoopla.  Keep your calm, be smart and be prepared. BUt relax a bit.

I have been working on many projects lately. Not just just in my labs but for clients now too. Cant complain though because they keep me in baccy and pipes.. SO much better than 40 years of cigarettes. I should have done this earlier.  Except for 2 of Mrs T's smokes last week I have not had a cigarette in almost 2 months.  I am coming to realize that I just like to smoke. It is both relaxing and therapeutic for me. My latest endeavor in my passion for pipes has been the search for the best cherry tobacco.
Summertime is fruit time. Sweet and fruity tasting baccy. I started with Strawberry Fields from Tewkies. Not bad. I then went to Jerris Black Cherry. Again not bad. A little light on the cherry. Without going to OTC brands I was in Jerri's on Friday and he had put out some Cherry Cavendish..  Dam it smelled like cherry.. I have been smoking the shit out of it this weekend.  In several different pipes. Tastes good in all thus far. A nice light sweet summer smoke that I can handle as an all day baccy in the rotation. While I am not saying that my hunt is over I can say I can slow down a bit.

On another note. I have been a disciple of the Nearing's (Helen and Scott) for many decades now. SO when online friends over at holy scrap , Wendy and Mikey came out with a book The Good Life lab I had to see it . My review copy came this past Friday and I hope to have a review of it up within a week or so. They are currently away from TorC and on a book tour so you might check em out. Tell em old Trashdigger sent ya. They are scheduled to be in Denver and Boulder in August and I def will be there.

Its been a while

... since i posted here. I have been busy planting the gardens, upkeeping the gardens, working on special projects in the home lab and spending alot of time working on projects at the babylon lab. I have been making videos on my youtubechannel drmacstudios about pipe smoking and the lifestyle.
Just in cas anyone thinks that I have gone away. I have not.

Today is the first day I have been able to do a quick update here as my coffee is brewing (2nd pot) and my babylonian machines are doing necessary updates. Phun phun. Hope all is well with everyone and I should be able to get on a better schedule now. Here is last weekends video for your enjoyment.

tuesday morning nirvana

It is tuesday morning 515am and I have already smokes 2 bowls of Jeri's blend in old reliable and have drank 2 cups of olJoe.  I awoke this morning after the hot day yesterday and watched the current episode of Orphan Black. Last night I further endowed myself into the pleasures of Spotify .

Listening to an array of musical delights from Keef, Kiss, the stones etc I was nicely removed from the reality of this fucked up society and transported into the audiophile foreplay of classic music. Just about anything you could want to listen to is available out there. I found some Keef that I had never heard and was thoroughly entranced by the quality of the sound for a streaming audio. Good stuff. This site is worthy of further discovery.

Also this past weekend I was able to download onto ibooks a copy of the new ru serious biography of Timothy Leary. Another good ready. So good in fact that I started the book at 430 am and had devoured the contents before 9am. It was a very enlightening  read filled with anecdotes, philosophy and even a few legitimate tin foil hat stories. you can download the book here for free.  The download worked direct from the ipad so no transporting needed. Check it out.

On the homefront, the second planting of mescaline lettuce is sprouting as are the peas and taters. More to come in the next update.

SUnday video

    new video. If interested subscribe to my channel and leave comments.. Or comment here.

who needs an alarm clock?

I wake up every morning around 4am. Is this by design? NO. Is this by plan? NO this is a pre-determined time of the day set probably set in place my ancestors and passed down thru the genes.It gives me the benefits of having an hour or two of quiet time before the clan wakes up.

Do I need an alarm clock? Hell no. The bodies internal clock and the chirping of the early birds does the trick. At 4am the early birds start singing their tunes.  My throat says smoke and coffee are needed, my bladder needs emptying and the day should start. Its all deeply rooted in the genes.

Can we fight the genes? I doubt it. Over they years I have tried to adjust the natural clock with stimulants to keep me awake at night so that I may sleep longer. It does not work. I am usually asleep by 9 or 10 at the latest. Many times earlier. I am always awake by 4 am. It seems that nothing I do can change that, give or take an hour leeway. So I gave up and just embrace the reality the best I can.

 Unfortunately this quirck in the gene pool has caused many a strife with my partners in crime. For I seem to coddle to the other extreme when it comes to life partners. The majority of whom were/are on the late night mid morning rise schedule..

my weekly video

  

I know I talk aloyt about pipes and smoking but the garden chants and others will be coming in shortly.

Phriday Phun

I have been working tediously in both labs this past week.  At the big lab I have been working on possible refinements to processes and improvements to infrastructure of the base setups. It is hard when one has to explain and keep reminding the PTB that the world is not connected to the blue cable and that must adapt.. Its almost like telling older people of my gen that there are no carburetors in cars anymore..  Will these older people ever learn are will they be constrained by there age and loss of inquisitiveness. I for one have not . Even at my age I am still learning.. We can learn alot from our younger people.If we only take the time and make the effort.

There is a great article in the NYTImes this morning regarding the 20 somethings of today who are thinking outside the box and rethinking post-modern ideology and reembracing the skills and behaviors of our forefathers. click here for the article.  My friend Lloyd brought it to our attention on his blog and I had to read.. Oh boy can I relate. These 20 somethings are our link to the future.Hippie to hipster and back.

Anyhow today I am attending a security seminar and a screening of Iron Man 3. A trip to the tobacco emporium afterward and possibly an imbibement before spending a few hours in my big lab before returning home for the weekend. I am thinking of further exploration of this  for my weekend video update.  We shall see.

sunday video post

Saturday warmth

Its been a strange week in Babylon. But alas I am busy rebuilding machines and working in both labs. The new MacBookAir is a dream machine.. 11 inches of screen and 8gb of ram makes all the difference. Granted it has been hard to switch to something as light as the ipad but this is good. Thanx to Lloyd Kahn for peaking my interest in the device. I have also been testing out the nre Microsoft Surface Pro. Not as light as he Air but it does run the pro version of WIn8 and many of the software programs that a Pro would use. You can even run Ubuntu either as an app or inn VM.. I also tested useabiltiy of Tails with Tor on it off the usb stick and it appears to work ok with the keyboard. However the touch screen does not work . But alas. As you saw last weekend and will see again old Trash is starting up the youtube channel again with a more positive outlook on the lifestyle we live. While there is nothing I can do to change society as a whole I can change myself and reformulate my society to what suits me. SO I want be talking alot about politics but will continue to talk about prepping, gardening, technology, and the smoking lifestyle.

stop CISPA now

new video post. Happy Earth Day

Reading : free is good.

Reading is a major part of my existence. I read voraciously. As a youth I always had at least a couple of books with me wherever I went. Nowadays with the advent of the e-readers I am able to carry more and more books but in a smaller format. Having played with the different sizes and formats I am very satisfied with the ipad2 and the ibooks app. Held vertically the ipad is just the right size and feel for reading a book at a comofortable positioning. The type is wonderful for my old eyes to focus on and the swipe is wonderful to navigate the page turning. While my choices for media consumption is primarily books the ipad can also handle pdfs and magazines with ease. Using another app i can also navigate volumes of comic books and alternative zines. ONe of the new site i discovered recently is feedbooks . They have a wonderful array of books to select from and can easily download direct to the ipad ibooks app.

Thursday afternoon

I have been watching assorted youtube videos and listening to podcasts on pipe smoking and they all have one thing in common. They all seem to ascertain that pipe smoking is a hobby.. Well that is insulting because it is a lifestyle choice. Smoking has and will always be a choice made by an individual and not some frivolous waste of energy. That is why in my next video blog post I am going to rip on these MOFOs as yuppifiers of a good thing. Making it their own. Am hoping to create the video as a test on the new Microsoft Surface pro that I am testing in the lab. So far I am impressed with the innovative design and functionality that is built into the device. We shall see. Hopefully this will be accomplished this weekend while the weather is warm and I can get some rest beforehand.

   interesting video on what can be done with a tad of creativity and ingenuity.

Anyhow the weekend was great. I was able to get some more work done on Max and was even able to put her to use in a ride or two. Next up. Rekindling the trailer for hauling stuff again. It needs to be revamped a bit.

midweek blahs

Apparently we have gone from winter, to summer and now a stopover at spring.. Rain has now transcended on CO. Its wonderful. Makes the air so clean smelling and the garden soil is loving it. LAst night Mrs T made  big pot of chicken and potato stew with veggies and garlic bread.. My oh my what a way to enjoy the moisture. With a big bowl of stew.

Stews are hearty and you can use lots of cheap and tasty ingredients to make them. I love it.

The labs are also busy this time of year. What with all the new MACs to test and get ready for use. Its almost like Christmas in April when I get to set up my new MAC in the lab and to enjoy the use of a new MBAir for my lab work and R and D.

It has now been 6 weeks using Spock at home and its a joy towork with. All open source and free software. I dont think that I will be going back to Windows for anything. Linux and OSX are the way to go.

Anyhow  I am working on a few projects right now. ONe of which is rekindling the video blogging with more positive videos on gardening and my other eccentricities, smoking and tinkering. What do you all think. I have not seen many comments (or any) from my 20 pls followers and others who read my posts. I would love to hear from y'all either here or on my youtube channel.

After some months of slacking I am gettin back to hacking and would want to build this up even more. COmments are aprreciated.

celebrating Ishtar

Celebrating Ishtar the goddess of sex and fertility is the actual Pagan version of Easter.. Thats why the bunnies and the eggs. Why do people confuse it with the resurrection. I can see if we were celebrating the insurrection. I like to think of thi day as celebrating sex drugs and rock and roll.

March has been a wonder. Lots of snow some cold weather and of course some nice warm spring days. Tomorrow is April 1. The fools day.. I spent this weekend setting up the yard for spring planting and brought old MAx out of hibernation for the spring travels.  All in all its been a good weekend.
Here is a pic of the kids easter bins I created this morning . It doesnt matter that they are 13, 17 and 20 I am still expected to play Ishtar bunny.

techie and sci fi Sunday

 I finished reading turing and burroughs book by rudy rucker.. def beat influence throughout , alot of techie with a tad of monkey wrench thrown in.. Def a good well paced read that will hold the interest of the young and old alike.. The cameos of Neal Cassady and Ginsberg were very well placed.

I also must suggest that the ipad is a wonderful tool for all-purpose viewing, reading and surfing the web. While it is not of the caliber of the nexus or the smaller droid in its compatibility to open software it is by far the simplest most efficient tool for the market.

The reading of ebooks, the watching of mp4 films, the surfing of the web is all made easy on thei little device. I remember the old days when I had to carry many books and documents with me and it was cumbersome. However with the ipad and tablets available the load is definitely lighter. And after the useage the files can be easily stored for future enjoyment on my NAS rather than taking up room on my shelves, in boxes or in assorted closets. Evenually I would like to turn my NAS into a resource that my children  and close associates can access from anywhere . A sort of my own private cloud.

 

 

9 inches and melting

It was very unusual snow yesterday. All told we got about 9 inches at the homestead. Very dry fluffy snow. So dry that when the plow came thru the street was clean.. No ice. Very unusual. I will be going out later to do my part and shovel the sidewalks.. right into the beds.

Twas a relaxing day yesterday. I watched some youtube videos on pipe smoking and gardening. I cant believe that young people are calling pipe smoking a hobby.. To old Trash its a way of life. I got my first corn cob at 15, my first briar at 18 or so and my first Calabash when I was like 22 or 23. That old girl made it thru 6 or 7 kids and finally got broke beyond repair sometime after I turned 45. I have used my pipes to smoke luxury blend tobaccos, cheap ass crap, Prince Albert, and yes I even put a screen in one for smoking MJ. smoking MJ in a corncob is a lifes luxury item.

Why did I start smoking pipes? To me it was like carrying on family tradition. My dad smoked cigarettes. About 2 packs a day. My mom smoked to , and so did gramma. SO I guess it was a given that around age 11  I would also. At the time there were none of these bullshit laws in place. I went to the liquor store and bought a pack of camel non-filters, what dad smoked. You would tell the clerk you were buying them for your parents.. You could do this a cuppla times a week. Or you could risk grabbing a pack of dads out of the carton in the fridge. I always preferred option 1. And at 35 to 60 cents a pack it was cheap.

When I got into middle school  I found my first corncob in a basket on the counter of the local liquor store. Twas 75 cents for a Missouri Meerschaum and occasionally you could get it free with some Prince Albert or Captain Black tobaccos. I treasured that thing and I still have a preference for corn cobs. It was a cool smoke and was thoroughly enjoyable as an alternative to cigarettes.

Around age 16-17, a few years after dad died we were now able to smoke freely on campus.. We had an area in the main quad reserved for smoking. And it ws put to good use. ON a school trip up in Yosemite one of my friends brought his briar pipe and a bag full of good pipe tobacco. After smoking it a cuppla times during that trip I was hooked. When we returned I went to the Tinder Box and bought myself one. About 5 bucks.  It was my new pride and joy . I enjoyed it for years. Cigarettes, Cigars, and pipes are as much a way of life for some as ipods, cell phones and laptops are for others.

Smoking is not just a hobby its a way of life for some of us.

morning snow

Well the snow started coming down late yesterday afternoon but I went tot he store for coffee, junque foods etc whilst enjoying the early evening snow. I fell asleep early and woke up this morning to have my coffee, toast and butter, and a smoke. NOthing is finer.

Junior is happy with his new franken machine I built for him to work on his dubstep mixing. He has found a calling. Not too shabby.He has already posted one on youtube.

Anyhow I am on my third cup  of coffee and am contemplating a trek out in the snow since the Mrs needs creamer (powdered not good enough for her). But I am the providor.

Friday morning

Another week coming to an end and another round of snow is on its way.. March truly has been a snowy month..

Anyhow the 13 yr old is now getting into creating dubstep samplers and old dad is working on building him a machine for that since the Mac does not run the software he wants to use. Though Garage Band is good for beginners he prefers to try FL Studio. Alas  who am I to squash his endeavors. SO dad is building him a win 7 box for this endeavor.

Next Wednesday I will be going out to the other side of town to install the machine for the client that we configured a few weeks ago. The machine was delivered  a few weeks ago but the internet modem was just delivered yesterday. I love speediness. haha

If i was not so interested in getting free donuts at the lab I prob would consider taking a day off. But no I need my time at the lab. Besides that  there is a super drive there I need for my weekend "research".. COntemplating watching the British version of Shameless to see how well or unwell Showtime bastardized the show.

middle of the week

I have spent the last 2 days in a quagmire. Following the debacle of last Friday I am now being asked if I have any feedback. Do I be honest? Do I just let it go? Dont know.

I much prefer my work in the labs than having to deal with people? Machines are straight forward and logical. People are not? When having to deal with people I prefer to deal with them on a straight forward and logical level. Most people cannot handle this and they resort to wishy washy superflous drone mentality in their responses. But alas that is what society wants. Unfortuantely that gene was left out of my biology.

My work at the lab only provides the means to continue my work here,To explore, experiment, create, and to eventually provide a legacy on the web for my children and others who come later who may want to know about old Trash and how he sees his place in society.

Monday morning blahs

After a somewhat productive weekend around the homestead I am not really ready to go back to the lab. However I do enjoy the fact that after this week the kids will be off for spring break which culminates with Easter Sunday in two weeks. This means the official start of garden season and the spring projects.

Always in the hunt for bargains, Mrs T found a yard sale yesterday afternoon and purchased an oscillating fan for 2 bucks and got some free fabric. I saw several boxes of free stuff but had to hold back as I really dont want more clutter  to have to arrange. SO I let them wait for someone else to claim.

Walked over to Kingies yesterday to pay the public service bill and pick up some lettuce, ramen cup o soups, and grated cheese. While there I helped myself to some samples of real Irish butter on crackers, Irish cheddar cheese balls and some potato bread. The Irish butter is a def gourmet item I might have to spend some money on in the future.. Good stuff.

Ended the day with some leftover pizza that daughter brought home and some chips before settling in with a chapter of the currently reading  ebook before bed. Got me thinking about the idea of shapeshifting skugs and their potentials.

hmmmm.
 update: this is the beginning of week 3 with Spock. Having him sitting on the desk is forcing me to use him and become more of a Linux adventist . Something I should have done years ago.

the oldest video on PIrate Bay

Its also free to watch on you tube.. Enjoy

Sunday morning

I spent the morning tweaking Spock to work more like I do. Adding graphics, the ability to watch videos no matter what format, adding Audacity capability for recording, etc. It is a slow process because I am out of practice on my unix skills but it is coming along. I also found that I am not the only one who likes the work of harvey pekar as well as R Crumb. While they are not the popular super-heroes of comix that everyone knows they are 2 of my favorites. They are now available in CBR format so I can devour them on the ipad now also.

Anyhow this morning I also planted some taters, sweet peas, radishes and turnips to get the season started. I do hope it is not too early but as I said this is my laboratory and I can try anything. I would share pics but pics of pots with seeds are not very exciting. Just know that I kept my Paddys day tradition by starting the sweet peas.

Saturday evening

Gathered my jar of stored seeds from last fall and picked out some French Breakfast radishes, sweet peas and a few other cool crops to get things going. I put up some pots and hanging basket onto the porch and added some fresh compost soil to them in preparation for some early spring gardening.

This evening I was enjoying a smoke and a few e-pages of the book I am reading on the iPad. I am reading Rudy Ruckers latest Turing and Burroughs a beat sci-fi novel.. I started it at the beginning of the week and I am entrenched in it. His writing is wonderful Uber geek and Beat.

Tonight we read..

Tomorrow we plant a few.

saturday morning

I spent the day yesterday at a workshop on creating a more effective environment at the lab. What a waste of time. Sitting in a room for almost 6 hours preaching to the choir when the people who needed to hear this were not even there. But alas at least  they got it right food wise.

Unlimited urns of free Starbucks coffee. Breakfast was mounds of scrambled eggs with peppers and onions, steak fries (nice and greasy), lots of bacon and sausage links, toast, oj and various pastries.. The way to a geeks heart and arteries.

For lunch we had more gluttony. Pulled Pork BBQ meat, buttery rolls, BBQ chicken breast, potato salads, coleslaws, fresh fruit trays and massive platters of Peach Cobbler goop. Washed down with sweet tea or water.  Geek heaven.

As for the seminar nothing substantive was determined bt our hunger cravings were met. As we left in the afternoon, while the others were going to start Happy Hour early, I went over to the tobacconist and splurged on an Arturo Fuente cigar ($7) and enjoyed a half hour annoying people on the 16th street mall with my cigar smoke imbibement while texting on the ipad with my future SIL while enjoying the warm weather outside. Using the malls free wifi of course. 

On the homefront sometime this weekend I will be planting some sweet peas as is the custom. Sweet peas in the ground for St Paddys day. It may be a little early but alas. The homestead  is a lab in which we can experiment with all forms of things. Without the lab life is boring.

podcast for everything

I was scouring the websites I list on the left the other day and realized that I have been missing out. Pipes Magazine has a podcast. Yes they do. Apparently they rolled it out quite a few months ago and this is the first I am seeing it.
Each week they talk about pipes, tobacco music and other things. While I have only listened to a sampling thus far. I am likeing what I hear

Speaking of hearing things NPR released for free download the SXSW 100 top songs from this years SXSW, a gathering for geeks.. I have to admit they werent all in my realm of taste but they are  free. And that is a good price.

Met the Mrs over at Walmart last night for some midweek shopping and we went over to McD's for an early supper. It is nice to be able to have some time away from the teens now and then..  It gives us a chance to be adults. Not just parents. I think we all need that every once in awhile.

mid week meander

As you can see we got a bit of snow on Saturday and then again on Monday evening. Making Tuesday a challenge to commute to the lab. Luckily I let public transportation do the driving for me.

It warmed up yesterday in time to make it possible to see the new client and his wares. I was able to set up his basic infrastructure, network, secure wireless and a secure backup storage system . Phase 1 complete. We then went by Popeyes for chicken and beans/rice which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Another one of my joys in life is this tv show which I can enjoy on the run.. Can you name the show?

Sunday evening

I got indpired today by this website . It is a DIYer named Paul Elkins out of Seattle Washington. There is alot if wonderful and inspiring information to be had here. A pure source of information and an inspiration.
I found it purely by accident while scouring You Tube videos and seeing this.




enjoy

winter compost

I did a video this morning after the snow. Enjoy

snowing in Denver

The snow has finally showed its face here at the stead. I am so glad I went to the store last evening. But it was so warm even with the snow coming down I ventured to the market to get some bread  crackers, aged all natural cheddar, and some hot chocolate. I came back and went to work.
Spoke with my future SIL about some of his e-projects and suggested he go visit the new makerspace in Reno/Sparks near where they live. He reminds me a lot of me when I was young.. Maybe that is why my daughter likes him. I hope it all works out because he could join us and he could be a part of the new venture TechCommando.. Teaching people how to regain control of their tech, rather than contiuning to be a slave to it. Hope he will.
I am now on day 5 of running Spock and he is being very cooperative for an old machine with new life. Ubuntu 12.10 is a lifesend for this old Dell XPSM140.. 2gb of ram and a recycled 80gb ide hard drive. The wireless connection is an older g but it moves nicely even on the slower speeds.
I have also been playing with Tails by TOR running off of a 2 partition 16gb flash drive. Its a nice setup for someone whose HD has crashed and still needs an active machine. Same with the UBUNTU 12.1 on a bootable flash drive ..
I am working on some projects whereby I can pick up another Motorola Droid so I can create some simple how to videos and also to start adding more content on self-reliance on the DrMACStudios youtube channel. We shall see.

Friday morning

Well i went to the client last night and my oh my what a mess. The Apple 'geniuses' really got this guy all messed up. It did not take long to get him straightened out and put on a better path. There will be alot of work to but the tech commando (My new biz monicker) can handle it. Next appointment next week. I am going to correctly set up his backup system, move his important data to a secure NAS and begin the work the TC does best.
Beforehand went to my buddies house and had a nice cold rum and guava juice (fresh juiced) and roamed around his lair which eventually we are going to re-network.
 Anyhow it is Friday morning and I woke early so i went for a stroll over to WallieWorld and picked up a can of coffee and a pair of camo moccasins on sale for $5.. Good way to statrt the morning and now I am off to the lab.
Snow is expected tomorrow so I will be able to catch up on some research and development.

mid-week madness

After almost a year after implementation I am starting to find problems that I never thought of. When the developers built the production image for WIndows 7 64 bit did they ever think about  as before they integrated the 32 bit version on Office 2010 into the image. Mixing 32 bit apps with 64 bit os causes problems. I now have to solve them.. Stupid is as stupid does.
The other night a client asked me to set up a wireless network for their new computer. As I had not seen a router on the premises I priced some possibilities. When I got to the client I realized that they had a router and  interstingly I had used their connect beforehand on several occasioons since it was close to home and it had no security.. whoopsie. I set the security on it and wiped the logs. good day.
At least now I know where the signal came from.. And I still have the new password to the connection...
This evening I am meeting a new client who we are proposing a wirelss setup in an art gallery. fun fun. Should be a nice evening after a day at the lab.

mid-week meander

In the outside world the dnaa is in force as is the 6 strykes laws.On top of that the economy is on the down as the drones are high. The pro and anti gun advocates are out in force. Double whirly birds flying over DT most of the day.
Meanwhile anonymus is releaseing videos and wikileaks is releasing docs.. My oh my the people are getting angry. Just like Bama wants .. Martial law is coming. Big brutha is watching.. the SHTF.
Meanwhile at the stead me and the mrs went out for a walk last evening and had dinner, went grocery shopping and had a nice evening. Did not get back til almost 10 pm.. Slept in until 5am this morning.
IN the lab i fixed a power supply for one. Set up a wireless net for another and consulting on another project tomorrow.. Keep the side work coming.. Trash needs the resources.
Also spoke with a colleague yesterday on supplementing my plants with starts that she has started as well as rabbit poop compost for the beds.. The barter system works nicely if allowed..
Anyhow have a good day and I will continue to post from on Spock from Vulcan as much as and as long as possible. Fr those readers who dont get the analogy ttfb.

day 2

This is now day 2 of posting again on this new frankenputer. So far it is working well. I was able to download a cuppla plug-ins and input a sudo cmd to be able to watch dvds and burn dvds. Now there is an accomplishment. Remembering old unix commands that I havent used in years. I am beginning to get back to my old days of sitting around the lab writing code, reading the tech rags and getting motivated again. Realizing that I am not that old yet. Unix has come a long way since the old days. Spock likes it.

Working with a couple of outside and sideline clients this week for some extra revenue. We shall see. Hoping to officially launch a new project soon. Will keep all updated as this progresses.

What is in my bag

Being a geek means I carry or did carry lots of stuff with me as I never know what I am going to need. I am now down to one light briefcase. I used to carry a big backpack stuffed with assorted cables, external hard drives, flash drives, a 15 inch pc laptop, an ipod, an ipad  a droid and a few pairs of headphones. Over time I have minimized down to the briefcase with an ipad, mac book air, 2 pairs of headphones and a cuppla flash drives. One of those drives, a 16gb contains a bootable linux distro with separate partition for storage that I created, It is fully encrypted and can easily be erased if needed. This helps when I need to do tech work on clients machines that used to require me to carry a laptop to troubleshoot with. No longer. Amen. Technology has moved to the point that my daily gear gets lighter and lighter evn though my technical work continues to get more complex. Gotta love it.
I still carry a second bag with me on my daily commute to the lab but that has my paper reading material and assorted lunches and snacks, a small toolkit and a mag light for when I need it.
The second flash drive in my bag contains a test version of a public OS called Ubuntu which I am finding useful for on the go work when I want to use a clients machine but want my docs and settings already there when i boot into  it. I love this capability.

March musing

Have been spending lots of time getting caught up on my leisure reading and tv watching lately. Bad habits to get into I know but there have been some good shows on lately and definitely some good books to read.
Duck Dynasty, Anger Management, Shameless and others on cable and availalbe on ipad are wonderful. There are even some good shows on commercial tv. All of which I have been perusing for view.
For those a little bit more tech savvy there is also a Crackle App availalble on all platforms that gives you access to tons of free movies and tv shows from a bygone generation.. All in the family, Good Times, Sanford and Son etc as well as a slew of great movies and original series. All free and all streaming on the ipad.. Wonderful stuff.
As for the outdoors, the seed stores are starting to bring forth there wares for the spring. I am slowly perusing and picking out what I want to attempt this season. This weekend I started some green onions from recycle and had to bring them in this morning as it is supposed to flurry later in the day. But go back inot the 60s for the week. Good start.
MOre updates later. I am hoping to get back into serious blogging now that the winter curmudgeon is waking up.. We shall see.

We must persist

In my last post I suggested that we must persist. What does that mean? We must continue to live and eek out an existence in these trying time we face. Shelter, heat, food, move ability etc. are all necessities. We must continue and gather and prepare. Get the soil ready. Stockpile essentials, gather bartering items etc. and learn.. Your homestead is a laboratory. Use it to its full advantage. Don't be afraid to experiment. Don't be afraid to fail. Success is 99percent failure..
Garden, DIY, etc. are all necessary endeavors. The www is a useful tool. Learn and experiment.

a new year

Well the holidays are over and its time to start dealing with 2013.  My son and grandson paid a visit this past week and I was able to spend an afternoon with them. Catching up.. It has been a long 2 years since I last saw him. Trash is getting older but not necessarily wiser.
I see alot of things going on in the world that I just cant grab onto. MOre and more nanny state politics. More and more intrusion on our basic civil liberties. Less and less freedom. Is that what America has become? Do we really need mommy to take care of us? Have we become that codependent? The answers are quite shocking. For the most part the answer is yes..
What has happened? This is what the masses want? And they are getting it..
Anyhow for some of us life goes on undaunted.. The daily struggles continue. Work, prepare, and live on the fringes of the freedoms we still have. For how long. Who knows? But we must persist..