Spring is exhausting…

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Last weekend, spring cleaning. This weekend, yardwork, all weekend long. The front is all pruned up, and first mowing of the year done. Looks pretty good (but the front fence needs a full redo). Today, I spent as much energy as I had (several hours worth) weeding out and tilling the garden beds in preparation for spring planting. In the evenings this week, I’ll get the rest of the back yard cleaned up, too. At least then I’ll have a starting point for the rest of the spring work.

Upcoming: This is going to be an expensive week, since a rock thrown a considerable distance by a truck cracked my windshield beyond the trivial repair stage. I’ve also got router bits to purchase for the cabinet work, and a bit more maple, too. Have to keep going on the office redo, or I’ll still be “working on it” months from now.

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

Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward, 24, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Spc. Wilbel A. Robles-Santa, 25, of Juncos, Puerto Rico, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Spc. Delfin M. Santos Jr., 24, of San Jose, California, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Eeek! It’s Monday!

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The weekend was given over to spring cleaning, and moving bits of furniture about. I was in another world last night –  a world of pain. So sorry to have given the mostly-regular Sunday post a miss.

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Top Tech Tip – You should have on-premise Tier 1 timekeepers – NTP out in the world is a scary place (search on “ntp vulnerabilites” for more information). Used to be, you could either cobble something that worked out of an old bit of Garmin gear, or spent 2-3K$ on a “proper” rack-mounted GPS unit. It’s not good to have single points of failure, though, so either more cobbling, or more likely a second expensive bit of kit.

Now, though, there’s the Time Server, from Time Machines. When I say “now,” I’ve no idea how long these things have been on market. The Internet Archive first noticed this product in late 2011, so it’s been a year and a half, at least. The products are inexpensive, well built, and do precisely what is described. And at $600 for a pair of them, redundancy is a no brainer. Highly recommended.

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

  • Chief Warrant Officer Curtis S. Reagan, 43, of Summerville, South Carolina, died March 29 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related illness.
  • Capt. James Michael Steel, 29, of Tampa, Florida, died April 3 in the crash of an F-16 near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

Bunny Sunday

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Or, dare I say, hasenpfeffer? No, we didn’t have that for supper – the rabbits aren’t out and about yet as it’s been too bloody cold! I did nothing special in celebration of a mystical fiction. Instead, I continued to work on the RHCE material through the day.

This evening, we watched the new Doctor Who episode via DVR. The writing on that show remains so very sharp and smart.

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Our condolences to the family, friends, and unit of Sgt. Michael C. Cable, 26, of Philpot, Kentucky, who died on March 27 from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by enemy forces in Shinwar District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

Change of Plans

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It’s a glorious Spring day out there. But I’m doing none of the things I should be doing on a day like this. I’m not out working in the yard, front or back. I’m not out playing, hiking, or whatevs. Instead, I’m doing quiet inside stuff.

I’ve been surrounded by people with varying degrees of razor throat (aka strep) for the last couple of weeks. Friday morning, I woke at 0300 with my throat starting to act up. I’ve also been battling a mild right ear infection for a couple of days. So, unusually for me, I bailed on work after a couple of hours yesterday morning, and went to the doctor’s office. They agreed that I needed a bit of help over this particular hump, and gave me a standard five day course of azithromycin. Also I got instructions to take it easy for a few days. Sigh. I’m staying out of the woodshop, and out of the yard.

So instead, I’m working on an RHCE course book and listening to prog rock. At the moment, the music is the 1991 Union Tour Live 1991 from Yes, and the RHCE topic is Kickstart files. The life of Reilly, this is mine. Heh, not!

Still Winter Here

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I think I want my DST hour back now, since Winter has decided to hang about for a while longer. We’ve barely gotten up into the low forty’s for highs this week, and the forecast for tonight? “Periods of snow, rain mixed in.” Just lovely.

I was gluing cabinet carcasses in the woodshop this weekend, and I went over to the Southern Comforters quilt show this afternoon, to see the pieces that Marcia had entered there. She’s a member of that organization, and this is her first showing event. No ribbons this time around, but she had fun, and I think her quilts are great. See some of them at her Marcia’s Makings site.

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

  • Sgt. 1st Class James F. Grissom, 31, of Hayward, Calif., died March 21 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds suffered from small arms fire March 18 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan.
  • Sgt. Tristan M. Wade, 23, of Indianapolis, Ind., died March 22 in Qarah Bagh District, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

 

Springing

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Some leaves and flowers are starting to make a for-real appearance around the neighborhood. Spring is very nearly here. So is yardwork, more’s the pity.

Most of the weekend I spent down in the woodshop. I have pictures, but no time to process them for you  right now. I did get the table top for my office desk assembled, cut and cornered, rounded over all the edges, and sanded to 220 grit on the flats, and 320 grit on the end grains. Today I finish-cut and did the dadoes on the pieces for the new corner cabinet that will hold computers, a printer, and other things. Tonight, I executed a DNS migration at work. A bit tricksy, but ultimately successful.

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

  • Tech. Sgt. Larry D. Bunn, 43, of Bossier City, Loisiana, died March 7 as a result of a non-combat incident at an undisclosed base in Southwest Asia.
  • Capt. Andrew M. Pedersen-Keel, 28, of South Miami, Florida, died March 11, in Jalrez District, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when he was attacked by small arms fire.
  • Staff Sgt. Rex L. Schad, 26, of Edmond, Oklahoma, died March 11, in Jalrez District, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when he was attacked by small arms fire.
  • Chief Petty Officer Christian Michael Pike, 31, of Peoria, Arizona, died March 13 in Landstuhl, Germany, as a result of combat-related injuries sustained on March 10 while conducting stability operations in Maiwand District, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. David T. Proctor, 26, of Greensboro, North Carolina, died March 13, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, from injuries sustained during a non-combat incident on March 3, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
  • Staff Sgt. Steven P. Blass, 27, of Estherville, Iowa, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Henderson, 27, of Franklin, Loisiana, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Capt. Sara M. Knutson, 27, of Eldersburg, Maryland, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Staff Sgt. Marc A. Scialdo, 31, of Naples, Florida, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Zachary L. Shannon, 21, of Dunedin, Florida, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Chief Warrant Officer James E. Groves III, 37, of Kettering, Ohio, died March 16 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Progress

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Installing the second set of shelves

Installing the second set of shelves

Yesterday, I ambitiously decided I’d get the second set of shelves installed after work. So I cleared out that side of the office (and piled crap into the guest bedroom). I carried all the pieces and assorting tools upstairs in three or four trips, assembled the backs to the carcasses, and started setup.

The floor on this side of the room is considerably less level. Fortunately, on all of these units I’ve been installing screw-adjustable feet, which makes quick work of the problem. You can also see how I bracketed the lower unit to the wall.

Second shelving unit assembled

Second shelving unit assembled

With the lower in place, I added some LED rope lights to the top of the upper section, lifted it into place, and screwed it to the lower unit, from below. I *really* like the dark teal – it’s grown on me further since I picked the color out a few weeks ago.

Today, I jointed and started laying out the cherry boards for the desk top. Next step for that? Biscuit cutter, biscuits, and glue.

Preparing the cherry desk top

Preparing the cherry desk top

 

Many Things Accomplished

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Our New Quilt of Many Colours

Our New Quilt of Many Colours

But first, look at the lovely quilt that my lovely Marcia made for our California king. The colors and design are gorgeous (and they pick up some of the colors in the painting over the bed). Awesome!

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I managed to get three coats of finish on the shelves over the two days. I patched some work systems remotely, and tested them once rebooted. I roasted coffee, went shopping, and gave myself a haircut. I walked the dog a few times.

And Congress stole an hour of sleep from me, and the rumour is that I don’t get it back for nearly 8 months … and then without interest. Bastards. And I did the taxes for 2012. Bastards. Balance our checkbook, eh? Bastards.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of  Spc. Cody D. Suggs, 22, of West Alexandria, Ohio. He died March 7 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, as a result of a non-combat incident.

Terrifying weather…

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Everything is closed … well, lots of things, including the “we’ll not `close` the government ever again” Federal Government. Schools. Etc. Post office is working, and aggressively delivering in case the snow gets worse. Some will have to stick to the roads for it to be worse:

March 2013 snow

March 2013 snow

I shot that just after 8 this morning. As of a few minutes ago (just after noon) … no change. I’d be quaking in my boots … but wait, I don’t need boots, the snow isn’t sticking … and it’s warmed up to 36 degrees F. Yeah. Scary.