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.

15 years; Table done

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Those are unrelated topics, as the semicolon indicates. First (as my lovely Marcia points out), I neglected to point out to all and sundry that we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. We went out to Sly Horse Tavern for supper, to celebrate. It’s good to be happy, eh?

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Table done:

Table in the sun

Table in the sun

I brought the table bits halfway up, and setup on the lawn, to show how pretty this is in full light. Then I hauled it back inside and upstairs, and properly attached the top to the apron.

Table in my office

Table in my office

I’m nearly 80% done with this project. I’ve got two more base cabinets and a counter top to fabricate and install. Then the office is done. Yay!

Memorial Day Weekend

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A three day chore marathon, closing with the annual remembrance of those lost to us in active military service. I choose to be a bit more OCD about my duty to honor our losses. (Or, as @xeni noted the other day on twitter, CDO, because it SHOULD be alphabetized!)

Saturday: I got the table apron and legs completed and assembled:

Table apron and legs assembled

Table apron and legs assembled

Next on Saturday, but without any photographic evidence at this time, I got our hanging baskets populated and hung up on the front porch. The watering outlets are in the baskets, but that isn’t set up with a supply yet, that’s held for Monday.

Final Saturday task – I applied gel stain to both surfaces of the cherry table top, to even out the look of the wood:

Staining the cherry top

Staining the cherry top

Sunday was a power run: I did the shopping, then applied a first coat of polyurethane to the bottom of the table. I mowed the lawns, with a dog walk as the halftime show. I evened out the first coat of poly with #0000 steel wool and a bit of 320 grit sandpaper, vacuumed, cleaned, and dried, then applied a second coat of poly. I watered and weeded out back, and took a little break. I then prep’d the bottom one more time, and applied a third coat of poly. That’ll cure overnight, and I’ll flip the work piece and start coating the top surface tomorrow. That and watering system setup will fill my Memorial Day, as will my thoughts of our fallen warriors…

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on the deaths of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. Eugene M Aguon, 23, of Mangilao, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Dwayne W. Flores, 22, of Sinajana, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.

 

Table work

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I’m working on the table/desk now. It’s got the cherry top that you’ve seen in early construction phase here. Now I’m assembling the apron. I bought the table legs from Osborne Wood Products. They’d have sold me the apron, too, but I was already stocked on the materials I needed for this. On Friday I did all the cuts. Today I did some round-over routing of the lower edges, cut a groove for the table top clips, and assembled the apron:

Assembling the desk/table apron

Assembling the desk/table apron

The center stretchers are affixed with pocket screws. The angled pieces in the corners are glued and pinned – They will (eventually) have holes for hanger bolts from the legs for final assembly. Because I’m using the table saw as an assembly surface, I’m protecting small areas with wax paper. For a larger project, I’d drop on a piece of hardboard instead.

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

  • Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea, 33, of Oakley, Kan., died May 15, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after drowning while attempting to cross a body of water during combat operations.
  • Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker, 29, of Hesperia, California, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling, 24, of Dalton, Massachusetts, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. William J. Gilbert, 24, of Hacienda Heights, California, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

Cabinet done

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The completed cabinet

The completed cabinet

The completed cabinet shows off it’s party piece – a slide-out tray to make the computers easier to work on. Given the placement of the heavy stuff, though, it’s clear I had to cleat the top of the unit to a stud in the wall – the weight of the two computers was enough to start it tilting forward. I’d expected that, but “tested” it, anyway. One computer, fine. Two? Not so much. It’s also worth noting that I’ve got a half inch of dense closed-cell foam buffer between the computers and the tray, to cut down on vibration transfer – that helps keep the noise down in here.

I got that install done, and got a couple of flats of flowers installed in the front beds today. The weather? Not frosty … more like mid-eighties. Sigh. Time to unwind. Ciao!

Aaaaargh! Frost!

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What happens when you put vegetables into your garden on the twelfth of May? You get a frost on the fourteenth of May, that’s what!

Frost impact 2013MAY14

Frost impact 2013MAY14

I lost just a few plants, not all of them … but seriously?

Dan steps up

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A big shout-out to Dan Seto, of Misc. Ramblings fame. He’s one of the infamous Daynotes Gang, joining (being joined? forced into Internet servitude?) the group shortly after I did, back in the earliest days of the new millenium (or possibly at the end of the last, I don’t have a precise record at hand). Dan stepped up to the plate and covered Daynotes.com‘s registration for the next couple of years, so we’re good most of the way through 2015! Thanks, Dan!

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I was amused to note that NetSol will let you spend nearly 3300$US online to “renew” a domain for an additional 100 year term. If you’re taking the long view, either personally or corporately, that might be a really good financial move. Gandi’s registration fees for the common TLDs are less than half what NetSol charges, but online you can only go up to 8 years for $124. GoDaddy runs just under 15$US per annum for renewal fees.

I bring up Gandi in that list above because I freed myself from GoDaddy’s increasingly interesting perspectives and issues. My biggest gripe with them was their support for Disney’s lobbying efforts on behalf of the MAFIAA’s legislative agenda, explicitly last year’s SOPA bill. It’s taken me a while to find the time to undertake the changes necessary, but I completed that journey yesterday, migrating the last of the domains to Gandi. The web interface is much more pleasant, and when whois privacy and domain list selling opt-outs are factored in, they’re cheaper than GoDaddy, too.

Whoops! Time to walk the mutt. Ciao!

Busy Sunday

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When I laid out the doors and shelves and such for finishing, there wasn’t room to leave the cabinet carcass in the woodshop and still have room to setup for roasting coffee. Coffee wins, so I dragged the carcass sections upstairs, assembled and temporarily loaded them up:

Corner cabinet in place

Corner cabinet in place

I ran out of time to get any more finishing done on the remaining pieces, sadly. I did get the main garden up and running today, though…

2013 garden getting started

2013 garden getting started

There’s 24 tomato plants, 12 pepper plants, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, etc. I still have to get the herb box cleared and up, as well as do the watering setup. For the next few days, I’ll hand water.

I’m still going to try to get Marcia’s sites migrated over to the new system tonight, before I fall over sideways.

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

  • Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, 39, of Warwick, New York, died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
  • Cpl. David M. Sonka, 23, of Parker, Colorado, died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
  • 1st Lt. Brandon J. Landrum, 26, of Lawton, Oklahoma, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Staff Sgt. Francis G. Phillips IV, 28, of Meridian, New York, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Kevin Cardoza, 19, of Mercedes, Texas, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Thomas P. Murach, 22, of Meridian, Idaho, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Brandon J. Prescott, 24, of Bend, Oregon, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.

Finishing a cabinet; Ch-ch-ch-changes a’coming.

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Finishing the corner cabinet

Finishing the corner cabinet

 

I’m making progress, as you can see. This cabinet may be upstairs as early as Wednesday of the upcoming week. Depends if I can get enough coats of poly on the doors and shelves. Pictured above, I’m at the poly stage for the face and insides – the dark teal sides are already three coats and cured. After supper, I took those down, laid out the doors and shelves, and first-coated the backs. Tomorrow, a quick sanding and I’ll get the second coat on.

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While I am not going to have the liberty to host sites that aren’t mine, I’m migrating back to a personally administered system. $FIRM has graciously allowed me some bandwith, 1RU of rack space, and an old R410. I’ ve got Scientific Linux (the high-energy physics respin of RHEL) I’m doing this for reasons. REASONS, I tell you. Well, I’m not telling you, not now, anyway. There are likely to be format changes, too, though I’m going to maintain the blog format for convenience. But it may not be the front-line landing page anymore. What I do will be clear and documented, though.

This site is running from the new box, as are Daynotes.com and Daynotes.net. Speaking of the former, Daynotes.com is still “owned” by Tom Syroid. But since Tom appears to be staying offline, there’s no way to transfer ownership. If anyone wants to pick up the ball this year and give Network Solutions some money to renew Daynotes.com before the site expires in mid-September, that’d be awesome. You don’t need to have any formal access to renew (spend money) at NetSol, at least you didn’t last time I did it myself. I’ve renewed it several times personally, but it’d be nice if someone has found it useful steps up for a year or two. Let me know if you do, and you’ll get public thanks, here and elsewhere.

Depending on the gardening potential tomorrow, I’m going to try to get Marcia’s sites migrated to the new box before the new week gets rolling. Now to walk the mutt in between rain bursts and then do a bit of remote system administration for work. Ciao!

LOPSA-East #FTW

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I got back this morning at about 11:30 following a fantastic LOPSA-East conference. I entertained such subjects as Tom Limoncelli’s Evil Genius 101, Kyle Fulton’s Automation in the Cloud with Puppet, Shumon Huque’s Using and Migrating to IPv6, and Matt Simmons’s Intro to SSDs. The Friday night keynote was delivered by Marcus Ranum of varied and interesting fame – his talk was funny, accurate, and depressing as hell. Just sayin’.

The New Brunswick Hyatt is venue for the conference, and it was excellent. The food was superb (in general, not just in the context of a tech conference), and the training rooms were well equipped. The LOPSA organizers are all awesome. #HighFives, y’all.

The 325i was a fine place to spend a few hours in driving up on Thursday afternoon, and back this morning. Four hundred miles round trip, and I got over 37 MPG. Wow!

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

  • Staff Sgt. Michael H. Simpson, 30, of San Antonio, Texas, died May 1 in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit on April 27, with an improvised explosive device in Arian, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Trinidad Santiago Jr., 25, of San Diego, California, died May 2, in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.
  • Pfc. Charles P. McClure, 21, of Stratford, Oklahoma, died May 2, in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.
  • Capt. Mark T. Voss, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, died May 3, near Chon-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan, in the crash of a KC-135 aircraft.
  • Capt. Victoria A. Pinckney, 27, of Palmdale, California, died May 3, near Chon-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan, in the crash of a KC-135 aircraft.
  • Tech Sgt. Herman Mackey III, 30, of Bakersfield, California, died May 3, near Chon-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan, in the crash of a KC-135 aircraft.

Paint It Black

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Well. not “black” as such, Rolling Stones songs notwithstanding. But I’ve managed to get finish (off-white, some walnut stain bodged onto the white for character, and dark teal) applied to all the bits of the cabinets. I’ve got a bit more “character” to apply to the face frames of the cabinets, then it’s time for polyurethane. Another few days at least…

It was a good five-day stint of woodworking and finishing, fun, really. I did take a break from that to shop, mow, and roast coffee (Nicaragua Finca Santa Helena Caturra, from Sweet Maria’s, of course) today, too.

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

Pfc. Barrett L. Austin, 20, of Easley, South Carolina, died April 21 in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, April 17.

Capt. Aaron R. Blanchard, 32, of Selah, Washington, died April 23, in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.

1st Lt. Robert J. Hess, 26, of Fairfax, Virginia, died April 23, in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.

Capt. Brandon L. Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Virginia, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka, 30, of Kailua, Hawaii, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Staff Sgt. Richard A. Dickson, 24, of Rancho Cordova, California, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Staff Sgt. Daniel N. Fannin, 30, of Morehead, Kentucky, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.