Author Archives: bilborg

About bilborg

I am who I am, there's plenty of data on this site to tell you more. Briefly, I'm a husband, computer geek, avid reader, gardener, and builder of furniture.

“Day off”

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Wherein I:

  • Went shopping for food.
  • Paid the bills.
  • Took a nap.
  • Swapped disks around and reloaded OS X Lion onto Darla…

That last item may deserve a bit more explanation. A while back, I picked up a 160 GB SSD to muck around with. Since I was in a bit of a limbo with the Mac at the time, I chose to drop the SSD into the big workstation and load Windows 7 onto it. Because that box is a VM host (VirtualBox) and gaming machine, I put a 1TB drive in as ‘S:’ (for “Storage”) – that’s where all the multi-gig games are installed. It’s a fast-booting windows box, and that’s no bad thing, since it’s one of the few systems that spends more time off than on around here. But … really, it’s overkill for the use I put the box to – I can live with 40 seconds of boot time, and make the old MacBook Pro shine for a bit longer perhaps (probably as a media box attached to the TV downstairs). In that role, fast booting is an advantage.

So I snagged and burnt a copy of Clonezilla, and used it to image the SSD onto a spare 500 GB Seagate 7200.10 drive I had laying about. Then I swapped the Seagate into the system and it booted just fine, thanks. Then I went over to iFixit and pulled up the guide for replacing the HD in my model of MBP. It’s the same guide I used before to upgrade the drive from small 5400 RPM drive to larger 7200 RPM drive a couple of years ago. Oh, yeah, before I did that, I re-downloaded a copy of OS X Lion …

There’s a trick to that. Assuming you’ve purchased and installed Lion via the App Store, it deletes the local copy of the download as part of the install. In order to create a USB key that you can boot from, to install Lion on a new HD, you need to have that downloaded app, again. I’ve read several different methods, but only this one worked for me. Open up the App Store and sign in. Then hold down the Option button (sub-labeled: “Alt”) and do NOT let that Option button loose while you click on “Purchased”, then OS X Lion, then Install. That bypassed the checks that say you’ve already got it installed, or updated – those checks burp out various “error” messages, and won’t let you download. DO NOT then start to install Lion again, just Command-Q to terminate that, and follow all of the directions in this howto (also linked above).

So, I swapped in the SSD, booted from the USB stick, erased the drive, then did a clean install of Lion onto it. Of course, I’ve only got half the RAM that the Air has, and I don’t know about application performance yet, but with the SSD in place, Darlion (formerly Darla) boots nearly as fast as Agog. Wow! Now to get the software updates installed. Ciao!

Gone Fishin’

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Brian caught a chain pickerel

And there’s only one way that happens… we went fishin’

We drove up to Maine last Thursday, and stayed near to Marcia’s sister up there. The rest of her siblings and their spousal units were present, too. A good time was had, great food was consumed, and the Three Consecutive Days Fishing Achievement was unlocked. Today we left shortly after 5AM, and picked up Lexi from the kennel at about 4 in the afternoon, then headed home from there. V.tired, but a fun long weekend.

Tomorrow, we unwind, and catch up on a couple of chores before returning to work on Wednesday.

Catching up

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First, Happy Birthday to Pete! I’ve tried to call a couple of times, but no joy. So here’s where it is, when you have time!

*     *     *

Next, the duty. Our condolences to the families and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Spc. Douglas J. Green, 23, of Sterling, Virginia, died Aug. 28 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire.
  • Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr., 26, of Orlando, Florida, died Aug. 28 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered during a vehicle roll-over.
  • Sgt. Devin J. Daniels, 22, of Kuna, Idaho, died Aug. 25 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using an improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Colby L. Richmond, 28, of Providence, North Carolina, died Aug. 25 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Dennis James Jr., 21 of Deltona, Florida, died Aug. 31 from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wardak province, Afghanistan.

Sitting here, looking up

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I’m sitting here at sub-desk one, working on the Air and looking up at the wall (not precisely in that order, perhaps). I see two crooked pictures on the wall … and now I know the answer to the question, “Why earthquakes?”

Of course, it’s to piss off all the people with OCD.

*    *    *

JoCo released his new album an hour ago. I’d link to it, but he announced the event on Twatter, and killed his own secure server with the crush of traffic. HO HO, JoCo! To help with the joyeous crash and burn, I did retwat the announcement myself. After all, maybe ONE of the 70 or so folks who stalk me on Twatter don’t also follow Jonathan Coulton. One can never tell.

A is for Appropriate

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I would have said awesome, but the ‘A’ that I got for each class this summer was more tiring than awesome. Survival of challenging course work is harder at this age, and with a full work load besides. On the flip side, I’m certainly better organized, more motivated, and purposely successful than I ever was as a student previously. On the gripping hand, since I started at this last death march to finish a BS, I’ve accumulated 16 straight ‘A’s. Only eight more to completion (unless I calculate the courses wrong, and end up having to take one or two more… Don’t make me tempt fate!)

 

Kandahar Blues

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Our condolences to the families and units of these fallen warriors:

  • 1st Lt. Timothy J. Steele, 25, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, died Aug. 23 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Andrew R. Tobin, 24, of Jacksonville, Illinois, died Aug. 24 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire.
  • Pfc. Brandon S. Mullins, 21, of Owensboro, Kentucky, died Aug. 25 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Jesse W. Dietrich, 20, of Venus, Texas, died Aug. 25 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.
  • Spc. Michael C. Roberts, 23, of Watauga, Texas, died Aug. 27 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.

 

Rainageddon

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Rain: an inch and a half since 11 AM, and lots more on the way. The sump pump is firing out about 2 gallons US every thirty seconds or so (2′ diameter sump, about 6″ at a time). We’re going to get a fair bit more rain, and if we’re unlucky lose power … but that’s about it unless Irene changes course drastically to the west. Right now we’re outside the projected pattern for even tropical storm winds.

I’ve been up the ladder once, unclogging one downspout. I also neglected to consider the angle of attack for this storm – wind-driven rain from the east/northeast. I just now swapped out the screen insert for the glass insert on our back storm door – it was driving rain through the screen and making a pool between the doors. So it was leaking in, of course.

More later if anything interesting happens. Ciao!

Incoming!

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Or another starts-with-an-`I`, like Irene (and a bit like another `I`-storm: Isabel of 2003) … regionally, we’re sure taking it on the chin. Earthquakes (okay, a tiny one by left coast standards, but still), now hurricanes. Plague of locusts, anyone?

School-wise, I’m still waiting for the second grade to drop, the instructor promises tomorrow afternoon. Next class starts on or about 12 September: a class on Gerontology. It’s one of a few that fulfill a specific general education requirement I’m lacking. Later in the Fall session, I’ll be taking a class on Java programming. That should be fun.

I think I’ll walk the dog and collapse. It’s been a long week. Ciao!

Condolences, belated…

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I don’t know what got into me (or out of me) – Sunday was a total wipeout, and the last two days at work have been busy. Not an excuse, I just have hardly been in my home office in days.

Our condolences to the families and units of these fallen warriors:

  • 2nd Lt. Joe L. Cunningham, 27, of Kingston, Oklahoma, died Aug. 13 at Laghman province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident.
  • Master Sgt. Charles L. Price III, 40, of Milam, Texas, died Aug. 12 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Matthew A. Harmon, 29, of Bagley, Minnesota, died Aug. 14 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, while conducting vehicle recovery operations, and encountered a secondary explosion while dismounted.
  • Spc. Joseph A. VanDreumel, 32, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, died Aug. 14 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, while conducting vehicle recovery operations, and encountered a secondary explosion while dismounted.
  • 1st Lt. Damon T. Leehan, 30, of Edmond, Oklahoma, died Aug. 14 in Laghman province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Dennis G. Jensen, 21, of Vermillion, South Dakota, died Aug. 16 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.
  • Spc. Joshua M. Seals, 21, of Porter, Oklahoma, died Aug. 16 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.
  • Lance Cpl. Travis M. Nelson, 19, of Pace, Florida, died Aug. 18 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
  • Pfc. Douglas L. Cordo, 20, of Kingston, New York, died Aug. 19 in Zabul, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.