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.

OMG Moar Wintar!!

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There’s a bit of rain on the ground … about a tenth of an inch since noon. The temperatures are in the mid-to-high 30’s (F). So of course OPM has already called it for tomorrow: CLOSED. Now, depending on how reliable you regard our weather forecasting establishment to be, that might be a good move. Others believe, too: BJs was crowded early this morning, when I was there for the weekly shopping. Evidently, for some folks, a winter storm is actually Ragnarok.

I did a lot of small projects this weekend, and I’ve spent some time diving into Ansible as an alternative to Puppet for systems configuration management. It looks interesting, and a lot less programmatic in implementation. I don’t know quite enough about either to make an informed choice, yet. But soon, soon.

I also built a birdhouse for the backyard, out of shop scraps. I’ve applied some walnut stain to most of the outer surfaces. I’m going to get a bit of white paint on the roof, then apply spar urethane over the whole project. I’ll put it out in a couple of weeks (and a picture of it up, at that time).

Oh, hey. One of the people I follow on Twitter noted that they weren’t watching the Academy Awards. Those are on? Um, okay. Break a leg, film people.

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DoD announced no new casualties in this last week, yay! Ciao!

Yardwork … errrr, Spring almost upon us.

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I withstood the temptation to wash cars this weekend, which was difficult, because the weather was glorious. About 60° F both days. We did open up the house both days and get some fresh air in, which was very nice indeed. But the highs are dropping back down into the 30’s, with chances of snow a couple of days this upcoming week. So I’ll just wait. Soon it’ll be time for washing of cars and yardwork … but not just yet.

Today, I was going to cut my hair and bathe the dog this afternoon (shopping and work this morning), but instead ran Marcia over to G Street Fabrics in Rockville, to get us a little time out of the house. Pretty day for a drive.

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Instead, I am dealing with my second SSD failure in a year. An old Crucial M4 gave up the ghost last year, and yesterday my Windows box failed to boot to the Samsung 840 I had installed there. No data lost, I have good backups, but it’s still a pain in the ass. To replace it, I’ve ordered on of the Seagate “hybrid” hard drives. I’ve not tried one of those, and I’d like to see how good they are. I’ll still probably end up with another SSD in this system, but not just yet.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Master Sgt. Aaron C. Torian, 36, of Paducah, Kentucky, who died Feb. 15 while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Happy Birthday, Baby

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Not puttin’ you in a corner, never fear. Yeah, my lovely had a nice birthday yesterday. She enjoyed a Downton Abby marathon, and we went out to supper with two other couples, each with a birthday celebration going in this week(end?). Good meal at Four Seasons Grille in Gambrills, just up the slightly frozen road from us a double handful of miles.

Not much else to report. I should do taxes tomorrow, which is bound to be a cheerless and disappointing task. Why tomorrow? So that I can shell out some more dead Presidents to fund the current President’s predilection for non-legislative action. Sigh.

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

  • Pfc. Joshua A. Gray, 21, of Van Lear, Kentucky, died Feb. 10, in Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.
  • Spc. Christopher A. Landis, 27, of Independence, Kentucky, died Feb. 10, on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from wounds received when the enemy attacked his dismounted patrol with a rocket propelled grenade in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. John A. Pelham, 22, of Portland, Oregon, died Feb. 12, in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was struck by enemy small arms fire.
  • Sgt. First Class Roberto C. Skelt, 41, of York, Florida, died Feb. 12, in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was struck by enemy small arms fire.

 

Really, Valve?

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You folks at Valve crack me up. I’m waiting for Half Life 3. I’m waiting for Portal 3. I’m waiting for Obduction (oh, wait, I’m getting that through the Kickstarter) … and y’all ask me if I approve of greenlighting Krita for sale on Steam? [[ Krita is drawing and image manipulation software, and it’s pretty damn cool ]] But I already have Krita on my Linux install. Oh … buying the free (as in GPL, eh) software just supports the development. Why did I have to dig for that information, Krita-people? Or was it Valve that made that information go way to the bottom on their page for your project.

Hear me. I’m waiting for Half Life 3. I’m waiting for Portal 3. If you want to sell me stuff, then work on those games. If you don’t … oh, well.

Not very funny

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While I’ve generally been a bit of a class clown, I’ve never thought of myself as funny. In a way, the snappy comeback and the right quote at the right time have always just been another way of masking my intrinsic discomfort around (other) people. I *can* put on a happy face and make my way through the world. I don’t think I’m very good at it, though, so I’m always striving a bit.

This whinging is apropos of our on-going spate of social engagements. We went to a cabaret last weekend, neighbors were here for supper the weekend before, we were out to supper with different neighbors last night, and out yet again next weekend with some friends of Marcia’s.  That’s something akin to three years of non-anti-social behavior, compressed into four weeks for me. Still, let me note that I have been having a nice time, but I could do with a little less. I’m just happy to crouch in the corner of my front porch, ready to shout at the kids when they walk on our lawn. Yes, “curmudgeon” is also a masque, eh?

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The weekend: Mostly work, both days, excepting the dinner out last night. We watched the third episode of Sherlock series two this afternoon – now THAT’S entertainment! Miss me? Heh.

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No reported casualties by DoD, for the second week in a row. That’s a good thing. Now let’s get them all home.

Sportsball: meh ; PSH: sigh.

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We had no obligation to watch the sportsball game today, so haven’t. I’m given to understand based on brief comments in Twitter that the contest wasn’t really a contest, eh? Meh. For y’all? I hope you enjoyed watching the game, if you did. Sometimes the commercials are fun, but it’s not enough to bring me to the set.

RIP, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Addiction sucks, and it took him from us untimely. For those of us left behind, take this lesson: the disease but sleeps. Be vigilant.

This weekend, I got some house cleaning done, and washed all the salt off of the car. Last evening we went down to VA to see Linda, Mary and others performing in a Cabaret at the Workhouse Theatre in Lorton. Good fun and wonderful singing voices!

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DoD has announced no new casualties in the preceding week. I’m glad of that.

 

Cold Sunday

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Still haven’t got above freezing, snow and ice everywhere around yet. Other than that, and a nice supper in with neighbors last night, nothing too exciting going on. Unwound today playing Bioshock. Fun.

Oh, yeah. We watched Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing this week. Loved. It. Loved it! You should watch it, too.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Chief Warrant Officer Edward Balli, 42, of Monterey, California. He died on Jan. 20, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds from small arms fire when he was attacked by insurgents.

Not as much fun…

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The second week of the year, sadly, was not so much fun (though overall successful and much more eventful).

I flew out to Columbus on business last Sunday night, and concluded the work in time to be home on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning, I got out of bed and spontaneously “decided” that emptying my stomach was going to be the previously unplanned activity of the day. Although that was a solo event, the aches, fever, and general lack of ability to focus lasted pretty much through yesterday. So I lost a week to Ohio, and to the flu. But all is good now.

I see from the news that I won’t have to watch the StupidBowl this year. Sad for Tom and his team, but I get an entire Sunday back in my life.

Tomorrow is a holiday for my ${FIRM}, so I’m going to be doing some house cleaning and a bit of project work down in the woodshop.

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

  • Sgt. Daniel T. Lee, 28, of Crossville, Tennessee, died Jan. 15, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire during combat operations.
  • Chief Warrant Officer Andrew L. McAdams, 27, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, died Jan. 10, at Bagram Airfield, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when the aircraft he was aboard crashed.
  • Sgt. Drew M. Scobie, 25, of Kailua, Hawaii, died Jan. 10, at Bagram Airfield, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when the aircraft he was aboard crashed.
  • Spc. Andrew H. Sipple, 22, of Cary, North Carolina, died Jan. 17, in Kandahar City, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.

Back in the Groove

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First full week of 2014 put to bed, although I took Tuesday off to ferry Marcia to an appointment. All is well. Chores all weekend, and obligations tonight, so I’m posting a bit early today. I didn’t have any more time for Puppet this week, but someone recommended I try ALL of the CM products out there before settling on one. Lovely. I’ll just order an “Extra 24 Hours in Each Day” subscription from Amazon. That’ll do the trick.

Y’all have a good week!

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DoD has reported no deaths in the last week, which is better than I expected.