Paul's Web Log |
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Web log of things that annoy me, interest me and are important to me. 
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Geez! I just spent several hours installing, tweaking, reading documentation Yikes! I was looking for an all-Microsoft blogging solution as well as something I could integrate with Exchange to publish my calendar, link documents, publish photos and have as a generally useful tool. Not today! I will re-group and attempt again on the weekend and hopefully get my FrontPage web site back online shortly.
This is an interesting site that tabulates most of the Weblog tools and servers currently available. WebLog Tools
Just fixed Blogger. I didn't create the Blogger web when I moved to Server 2003 (we are an "all beta" household - all beta, all the time). It just keeps life more interesting. Sunday, February 02, 2003
OK, January was a lost month. I want this web site to act as a resource for my personal and professional use as well as a resource for friends and family. I'm looking into alternatives and am polling professional friends regarding an optimal solution. Features I need: full text indexing Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Bought a new digital camera and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. I have Photoshop 4.01, but its a real resource pig with a steep learning curve. For under $80, Elements 2.0 has 90% of the functionality and appears to be easier to use. I am also impressed with the difference between PhotoShop 4.01 and Elements 2.0 - Elements has online tutorials, web links to download 'recipes' (pre-configured procedures for performing certain operations) and configuration of the package to suit the way you work. It will take me quite a while to master this package, but I was also up and running pretty quickly. Elements is also a resource hog - my current workstation is an 850 MHz Duron with 512 Meg of RAM and a fast 7200 ATA-100 drive. Performance tips include having a second hard drive for temp workspace, gobs of memory and a CPU that you can use as a secondary heat source for your home or office.
I didn't realize how busy I must have been. We will see how long this goes or whether I will make this page my home page. went to Best Buy today for some last minute shopping. It was great. The parking lot was very, very crowded, but inside (99% guys - go figure), the store was not that crowded, the sales people were helpful (!) and they created a single queue for the registers with a guy directing shoppers to the next available register. The guy in front of me in line said the line was 5x longer last night. I don't suspect it will remain this organized through the day, but it really put me in the Christmas spirit. Friday, October 25, 2002
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Interesting article on TCP/IP network security. Its a bit esoteric, but it reviews how the random sequence numbers are generated for various operating systems and network devices. Lots of them aren't so random, so the underlying OS or device(s) are not so secure, either. The graphs also show the beauty of mathematics. http://razor.bindview.com/publish/papers/tcpseq.html#windows
September 11. All the major news stations suck. I planned to boycott TV today, but a PBS special last night changed my mind. They highlighted how Canadians supported all the stranded air travelers that were grounded for the days following the 9.11.01 attack. PBS is cool. Sunday, August 25, 2002
I used Discover Desktop for the first time today. It generates a one-use credit card number for an online transaction and links it to your credit card. This provides a more secure transaction because your real credit card number is not posted to a web site. Saturday, August 24, 2002
Allergies started right on time this year, but don't seem as bad as I recall from years past. Its pissing rain and Phil's birthday ride (happy birthday, Phil) has been postponed until tomorrow morning. Saturday, August 17, 2002
hot, hot, hot. did a 45 mile ride yesterday, drank ~100 oz fluids, still hot. heartrate over 160 range at the end of the ride, most likely due to the heat. Thursday, August 15, 2002
Another moron on the PA Turnpike. Want to know who the most aggressive drivers are? They are young women! This chick was diving in and out of traffic - passing on the right as well as left, cutting drivers off in the process. I saw her coming and I could have backed off the gas, but I didn't. She changed lanes anyway. I laid on my horn as soon as I saw her start to change. This had no impact. Its amazing that I didn't hit her. I couldn't remember the cell number to report aggressive drivers in PA, but I will pre-program it later today. Sunday, August 11, 2002
The cost for US passports and renewals is going up as of Aug 19th. Everyone interested should renew or get their passport ASAP. All the information you need is available online from the State Department. The link is: http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html
The Macintosh Switch ads annoy me. They have nothing by whiny clueless people talking about how evil PC's are. I also assume these folks have VCR's with the flashing "12:00". Several spoof sites, ads and movies are around now. My favorite is "Switch to Mac? I thought you said Crack... can I borrow $20?" http://www.wemakedotcoms.com/ellen/images/Switch.jpg Saturday, August 10, 2002
I'm back. I actually posted a few other blogs, but I'm torn between keeping stuff current on my home page (www.paulbegley.com) and my blog. I will look into making my blog page my home page. I hope to nag Sarah into using Blogger rather than diaryland with her Blog page hosted on our server she can learn lots more about the web and system admin work. Wednesday, April 10, 2002
My father died Easter Saturday from complications of lung cancer and other lung diseases related to smoking. The previous week really, really sucked while we talked to Dad's doctors and family members who are doctors and nurses. In the end, Dad made the call and decided not to go back on a respirator. His blood gases looked good, an infection and fluid accumulation in his right lung abated, so they removed him from the respirator. I was not sure what his long term chances were, but he was in distress and had significant problems with mucus in his upper respiratory tract. They cleared his airway and he appeared to be doing better, but his long term chances were nil. We left the hospital to take the kids home around 8:30. I planned to return around midnight. My brothers phoned me just before 9PM that Dad was in distress, then again just after 9PM that he had died. Sunday, February 17, 2002
watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics. My biggest problem is having enough time to watch all the events I would like. I am recording the 1:30AM summaries and fast forwarding to skip through commercials and anything to do with figure skating or ice dancing. Sunday, February 03, 2002
Driving Rants If I have to hit my brakes after you change lanes in front of me, you just cut me off.
Got a set of rear tires for the Taurus (front set documented 17 Jan) after I discovered a bubble on the sidewall of one rear tire. I am very happy with the Michelin X-One tires. They were highly rated by www.consumerreports.org and they made an immediate difference in the way the Taurus handles, particularly in wet conditions. After two four wheel drift turns on wet roads, I feel *much* better with the new tires. The down side was the price. NTB in MD had the X-One's for $89 each, they were over $100 in NJ and Consumer Reports got them for $75 each. In both cases, I didn't have the luxury to shop around, so I won't wring my hands (much) over the extra money, but even at $100 a tire, not sliding through turns in wet weather is more than worth the price. Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Mt. Laurel Library has music CD's. I took out Jimi Hendrix Experience, Best of Cream and David Grey. Hendrix is OK, but its not all digital. I will have to dig around to see if I can find a better recording. Saturday, January 19, 2002
Its snowing in NJ. Barb and I were out testing the traction control and ABS on the new van. Its really neat. I never used ABS in bad weather before, so its a new sensation when braking. Thursday, January 17, 2002
This was an interesting week. Monday I had an appointment in our companies Maryland office. I wanted to be in the office by 8AM, so I left Mount Laurel around 5:30AM. I stopped for coffee at the first Starbucks near Elkton, MD on I-95. Getting out of the car, I heard the distinctive hiss of my rear tire going flat. I must have picked up a nail somewhere. It was still dark, so I drove over to the Texaco, but no one was available until after 7:30 to patch the tire. There was an Exxon at the other end of the center, so I started to drive to the other side of the center. Driving through the parking lot, I failed to notice a concrete divider separating an employee parking lot. I swerved to avoid the curb, but blew out my front passenger tire and dented the rim. Now I had a flat front tire and a rapidly deflating rear tire and I was blocking the entrance to the gas pumps. I put my mini-spare on the front tire since it was blown out, moved the car out of harms way and went to Starbucks for coffee. At 7:30, I returned to the Texaco. The service guy was very helpful. He repaired the rear tire and banged the dent out of the front tire. He didn't have a replacement tire, so I checked at the Exxon. They were out of my size tire, but recommended going to NTB about 20-25 miles South on I-95. I drove down to exit 77, found NBT and got two new front tires. It was 9:30 by the time I was back on the road. I really, really wanted to get the best wet weather tires for the Taurus since I want to keep the car for Sarah. I got Michelin X/One tires, which are pretty good wet weather tires, but I didn't have much time to research and they were the best they had available in the size I required for the Taurus. So it goes. Sunday, December 30, 2001
fixed ftp config so my web log is saved correctly and available on my web server. I hardened my server when I re-created paulbegley.com last month and the ftp and NTFS permissions were not setup correctly for Blogger to post to my home ftp site. There were too many little bastard script kiddies scanning @Home, but this has been fixed and Blogger is working correctly now. Thanks, Bob, for letting me know it was broken. I guess not many (any?) people are reading my web logs. Tuesday, December 18, 2001
wireless is still very cool. got tickets to CSNY in Madison Square Garden in February. I had Ticketron, but I got decent floor seats. Christmas traffic really sucks, but I'm determined to stay in the holiday spirit. Had a nice open house with some ex-Breakaway staff as well as our neighbor's Saturday. Someone else registered eggrock.com - this sucks. I really wanted a rant page to abuse ex-bway management. Are they in jail yet? Saturday, December 08, 2001
Testing Cisco 802.11b devices this week. It works great out of the box, but installing the client utilities nuked the connection. I will revisit this after I return from Chicago. Barb is down Cape May this weekend and I'm Home Alone. I am sure the girls and I will survive. Thursday, December 06, 2001
Went to DC today. Walked by the Whitehouse for the first time. Four times, in fact, trying to track down a friend of Lou's who works for the Secret Service. He and his partner met us for lunch and we had a nice time. Monday, October 22, 2001
Trying to clean up after my 7 year old I learned a lesson. Megan has had a box filled with torn paper for the past week or so. I was bound and determined to start throwing out things we don't need and things the girls leave lay around the house. I started to pick up her box of torn paper filled with clay bits she had painted. Barb pointed out that this was a manger scene that Megan has created over the past week or so. She even had faces painted on Mary, Baby Jesus and Joseph. OK, I felt like a turd, I didn't throw anything out and its just another humbling experience of fatherhood. Friday, October 12, 2001
I am bound and determined to Blog more frequently. To catch up: August - refinanced house and bought first new car (Chrysler T&C LXi so the girls fit in the van). Breakaway closed most of the Solution Centers the last day of August. Sept - Breakaway closed eSolutions practice and I was laid off the Tuesday after Labor Day. Wednesday they filed Chapter 11. Thursday I interviewed at Continental Resources. The following week we had the terrorist attacks and I accepted a position at CRI. Friday, July 20, 2001
Got my wheel a few weeks ago. Its great. Its so good that the detent in the DeRosa headset is pretty intolerable, so I will get that replaced shortly. The weld broke on one of the tandem rear cantilever brackets. I epoxied it for tomorrow, but will get it braised later this summer. Dennis had a lump removed from his lung and a heart valve repair job last Thursday. He was released from the hospital this week and is doing very well. He still has a lot of work ahead of him, but he is on the right track. They used his own tissue for the valve repair instead of a pig valve or synthetic valve, so he won't have to take any antirejection drugs. Internet worm problems Thursday with IIS4/IIS5. We handled it pretty well at work (www.breakaway.com), but even my home server was getting probed. Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Bicycle Stuff I just ordered a wheel from Mel Kornbluh (http://www.tandemseast.com) last week after bending my third axle. The problem with my bike appears to be a combination of 126mm hubs, my size/weight, riding habits (bunny hop over road debris) and pot holes in South Jersey. The new wheel will be a 126mm, 40 spoke Phil Wood hub with a Mavic T-217 rim. After careful measurement of both the frames, this wheel should fit both my DeRosa and Cannondale bikes. Mel should have it ready in about two weeks and I will post a note after I have a few hundred miles on the new wheel.
Long time no Blog. I feel GREAT. I passed a kidney stone yesterday after had 'attacks' in Mon/Tues/Fri of last week. Went to the urologist yesterday (25 June) and passed a 5-6mm irregularly shaped chunk 'o calcium into the cup. I feel *much* better now. Had blood test to check my parathyroid function and have 24 hour urine test scheduled for tomorrow. Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Found a very slick web ad filter Ad Subtract (http://www.adsubtract.com/). I am using it at home and it works very well. I also bought some hardware this month. An Asus motherboard and 850 MHz Duron processor. This is for my home workstation. I am upgrading to do video processing and my previous system was a PII-350. The Duron really screams and I can overclock as well as upgrade to an Athelon CPU as prices fall. Its been a rough month so far: The scary part is that they found me so quickly and I was hit by Script Kiddies from CA, WA, France, Italy and Germany in a few days.
Geez! Drivers have been a problem this week. I commute from New Jersey to an office just outside the city of Philadelphia. What I find is an ever larger group of morons who need to sit in the fast lane all the way through Route 38, then Route 30 (Admiral Wilson Blvd), the Vine Street Expressway and the Sure-Kill Expressway. Here is a driving tip: If you have 5+ cars riding your butt, there is a 1/4 mile of clear road ahead of you and the right lane is empty, its time to pull out of the passing lane. Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Problems with NTBACKUP on Windows 2000 SP1. Active Directory logs are not truncated correctly. There is a hot-fix from PSS and it will be fixed in SP2. The KB article is Q272425. Wednesday, March 07, 2001
Is it just me, or are most e-mail users morons? Speaking for everyone who ever managed a mail server, I have the following comments. Every chain letter is either a hoax or MLM/ponzi scheme. ==================================== Do you know anyone who LIKES these eyesores? Tuesday, March 06, 2001
Got our Peet's Coffee sampler yesterday. Two days semi-wasted this week due to a 'non-snow' event. Local weather forcasts predicted 1-2 feet of snow and we didn't get anything significant. Changing cell phones at work - from AT&T to Nextel. Not sure where this will go. The reception is much, much better in NJ, but I have not sorted out hands free use and the quality of the speaker phone in the car. I also just paid for a Jabra hands free for my Nokia and I like it a lot. We are looking into car and hands free kits for the Motorola i1000 units. Thursday, March 01, 2001
Good Things Bought 512 Meg RAM for the server. RAM is good. Servers like RAM. $175 from OnVia Bought a Siemens 2420 phone system. Its really, really neat. We are finally using both our phone lines effectively iButton - very cool electronics - Java key fob unavailable until May Bad Things Saturday, February 24, 2001
This is my initial post. I am sorting out security for my FTP site before Barb misses me down stairs. |