Getting Things Done

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But not GTD in the larger sense. But getting things done, lower case: I shaved the lawns yesterday, front and back. I did a bit of weeding in the garden, also. And today, I find that for the second summer session class, I ended up 1 point shy of an ace, out of 500. Yes, absolutely where I should have been for a class on UNIX and shell scripting. But now just two classes to go! Huzzah!

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

  • Staff Sgt. Brandon R. Pepper, 31, of York, Pennsylvania, died July 21, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
  • Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael J. Brodsky, 33, of Tamarac, Florida, died July 21 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained July 7 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, related to a dismounted improvised explosive device blast.
  • Pfc. Julian L. Colvin, 21, of Birmingham, Alabama, died July 22 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Staff Sgt. Richard L. Berry, 27, of Scottsdale, Arizona, died July 22 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Eric E. Williams, 27, of Murrieta, California, died July 23, in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan.
  • Pfc. Adam C. Ross, 19, of Lyman, South Carolina, died July 24, in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered small arms fire.
  • Spc. Justin L. Horsley, 21, of Palm Bay, Florida, died July 22 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Brenden N. Salazar, 20, of Chuluota, Florida, died July 22 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Justin M. Hansen, 26, of Traverse City, Michigan, died July 24 while conducting combat operations in Badghis province, Afghanistan.
  • Pfc. Theodore M. Glende, 23, of Rochester, New York, died July 27, in Kharwar, Logar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire.

SuperDuper! to the rescue!

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Today, I changed the password on my Mac Air, Agog. I then cooked dinner, and watched a couple of episodes of Poirot. I came upstairs … and I don’t remember the password I set. It was a good one. I have backups a couple of different ways, but neither of them seemed to be immediately accessible to me. In order to recover from the Time Machine backups, I need WiFi configured *and* I need to mount the volume that has that sparse image on it. That path seemed blocked to me. But there’s a better way!

I make periodic backups of my system using a program called SuperDuper! Among other lesser capabilities, it duplicates the whole system onto another (external) disc, and makes that bootable. Except that when I booted while pressing the Option key … the USB external drive wasn’t being presented to me as a boot option, as the documentation says it should. Sigh.

After spelunking around in Recovery mode (hold Command-R while booting) for a while, and taking a break to walk the dog, I came back, and FINALLY, in Disk Utility , the Apple menu offered me the option to set the boot disk. I selected the AirDuper disk I’d refreshed just last weekend, and that’s what I’m booted into now. I’m using that to restore Agog’s internal flash drive, which is happening in the background as I write this.

Whew!

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

  • Staff Sgt. Carl E. Hammar, 24, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, died July 14, in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.
  • Sgt. Erik N. May, 26, of Independence, Kansas, died July 14, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Sergio E. Perez Jr., 21, of Crown Point, Indiana, died July 16, in Wali Kot District, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when his vehicle was struck by enemy rocket propelled grenades.
  • Spc. Nicholas A. Taylor, 20, of Berne, Indiana, died July 16, in Wali Kot District, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when his vehicle was struck by enemy rocket propelled grenades.
  • Sgt. Daniel A. Rodriguez, 28, of Baltimore, Maryland, died July 18, in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Jose J. Reyes, 24, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, died July 18, in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Cpl. Joshua R. Ashley, 23, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, died July 19 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Krystal M. Fitts, 26, of Houston, Texas, died July 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered from indirect fire.
  • Senior Chief Aviation Warfare Systems Operator Sean P. Sullivan, 40, of St. Louis, Missouri, died in a helicopter crash July 19 in Oman.
  • Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) Second Class Joseph P. Fitzmorris, 31, of West Monroe, Louisiana, died in a helicopter crash July 19 in Oman.
  • Pfc. Jeffrey L. Rice, 24, of Troy, Ohio, died July 19, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Darrion T. Hicks, 21, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died July 19 in Ghazni, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained from an enemy improvised explosive device.

From the Garden

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Last week, a couple of tomatoes, a few potatoes, and these butternut squash:

Butternut squash

Butternut squash

Yesterday I made first salsa. Five tomatoes, one each habañero, jalapeño, and cerrano pepper, and some cilantro from the garden. A small onion, and half a clove of garlic. Yummy, but a full 2.75 on my 3 point scale of salsa. I could not finish a measly three cups of salsa – I stopped when I noticed that my lips, cheeks, and tongue were all numb with the heat. Yummy, but too darn hot. It was four hours before that wore off…

Today, from the garden:

Tomatoes, zucchini, and insane cucumber

Tomatoes, zucchini, and insane cucumbers

Mob Rule

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Yikes: http://culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/Fidelity_archives/parricide.html So much for a happy celebration of Bastille Day (yesterday). The things people do to each other… Sigh. It’s on teh Internets, so it must be true! Alas, not much in the way of references there, so for me, for now, a grain of salt. But I think I want to know more, in a way that doesn’t really want to know that sort of thing at all. Compared to that account, the worst doings in Iraq and Afghanistan are the work of a few isolated children.

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

  • Staff Sgt. Raul M. Guerra, 37, of Union City, New Jersey, died July 4, in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Jonathan Batista, 22, of Kinnelon, New Jersey, died July 8, in Zharay, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire.
  • Cpl. Juan P. Navarro, 23, of Austin, Texas, died July 7, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when he was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Staff Sgt. Ricardo Seija, 31, of Tampa, Florida, died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Erica P. Alecksen, 21, of Eatonton, Georgia, died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked her unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Clarence Williams III, 23, of Brooksville, Fla., died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Trevor B. Adkins, 21, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Alejandro J. Pardo, 21, of Porterville, California, died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Cameron J. Stambaugh, 20, of Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, died July 8, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Sterling W. Wyatt, 21, of Columbia, Missouri, died July 11, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Michael E. Ristau, 25, of Rockford, Illinois, died July 13 in Qalat, Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.

The Dortmunder

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I’ve decided to name the newest Linux system in the house Dortmunder. It amuses me greatly to name this bitty Raspberry Pi system after a spaceship the size of a small city. This one, however, isn’t captained by Andy Umberger, even though he is a friend of a friend. I’ve deployed Dortmunder in the “wiring closet”, running headless and hopefully trouble-free for a long, long time.

Dortmunder deployed

Dortmunder deployed

Fresh Pi, Have a Taste

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Here’s a shot of the screen:

Big screen running from new computer

Big screen running from new computer

The screen is running from my newest linux-based computational device, which you can see at the lower left of the picture above.

It's a Raspberry Pi!

It’s a Raspberry Pi!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, yet, but at $35 plus shipping, I’m sure I can find a cost-appropriate use… I got in on one of the first few batches manufactured, placing my order last February, I think. It arrived today, a few weeks ahead of original schedule. They’re supposed to be opening up ordering again in a few days (whenever “mid-July” is, in marketing-speak), at this Newark/Element14 page.

Anyway, I’ve got to go roast coffee, but I thought I’d show you the newest small member of the menagerie around here. Ciao!

Sunday, continued.

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And I’m back, having not forgotten my self-imposed duty to recognize, this day and every day, the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform on our behalf.

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

  • Staff Sgt. Robert A. Massarelli, 32, of Hamilton, Ohio, died June 24, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Sgt. Michael J. Strachota, 28, of White Hall, Arkansas, died June 24, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Pfc. Cody O. Moosman, 24, of Preston, Idaho, died July 3, in Gayan Alwara Mandi, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire.
  • Capt. Bruce A. MacFarlane, 46, of Oviedo, Florida, died July 6, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Tiger lilies blooming

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Just wanted to share this with you. There’s ALSO a tomato or two headed through orange on their path from green to red, but that’s a week or so out.

The tiger lilies are doing gangbusters this year, even in all this heat.

Tiger lilies - 8 July 2012

Tiger lilies – 8 July 2012