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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Went to other building, drove past two gas stations across intersection from each other. Neither can see the other's sign-board from inside the store. At 11:40 both stations were at 3.639. At 11:55 both stations were at 3.619. It takes (if my memory from when I worked at one of those stores is correct) about ten minutes to change over the sign, maybe a little less than that to change 1 digit on each side of the sign. Still, in that 15 minute interval, you expect me to believe that one store lowered its price and someone at the other store just happened to step outside, notice the change, and change their sign?
I don't believe it.
And, I'd be willing to bet that at least 2 or 3 of the other stores in town changed their price in the same interval also.
But multiple accusations of price fixing have never been proven in court in multiple trials.
I don't believe it.
I don't believe it.
And, I'd be willing to bet that at least 2 or 3 of the other stores in town changed their price in the same interval also.
But multiple accusations of price fixing have never been proven in court in multiple trials.
I don't believe it.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Unfinished business
Sitting here waiting for the restore, can't do much until that's completed. Just looking back thru the last few posts and saw I had some unfinished business.
Vger gauges: Discovered that the fuse for the gauges fell out. At least, it was missing. Found another 5 amp fuse, gauges work fine now. Still haven't got the dash fully re-assembled yet. Still need lights in the new gauges, still need to make a cover for them also. Driving in the dark this morning was not fun, can't see gauges with no lights.
Hay: With the rain Matt had to wait for a couple of days before he could try baling again. When he went out he got a couple of bales, then a chain fell off. Got that replaced, and then something else broke, plunger hit the knife or something similarly serious. They are waiting for parts.
Vger gauges: Discovered that the fuse for the gauges fell out. At least, it was missing. Found another 5 amp fuse, gauges work fine now. Still haven't got the dash fully re-assembled yet. Still need lights in the new gauges, still need to make a cover for them also. Driving in the dark this morning was not fun, can't see gauges with no lights.
Hay: With the rain Matt had to wait for a couple of days before he could try baling again. When he went out he got a couple of bales, then a chain fell off. Got that replaced, and then something else broke, plunger hit the knife or something similarly serious. They are waiting for parts.
Crash!
Gas is at 3.669 at 4 AM this morning.
Server crash at work. Came in 7 AM Wed morning, about 8 AM the SCSI alarm started sounding, looked and the RAID5 array was in impaired mode. Before we could replace the failed drive with a spare a second drive failed. We discovered that the fan that pulls air thru the drive bay had quit running; we connected it to a different jack on the main board and it started running again. Put the drives in my fridge for a bit, then started up the server again, all drives came up but the array was down. Started a rebuild. After 6 hours the fan died again and crashed the array. Nothing wrong with the fan, no power from the jack on the main board. Attached another fan, this time connected to one of the drive power connectors, rebuilt the array again. When the rebuild completed at 2 AM there was no data on the array.
So, let's try this. Shoved in an IDE drive with Win2K on it, restored the backup to the drive array. "Boot Failure". Inserted the W2KSP4 Server CD and ran the recovery console, damaged partition. Created the partition, booted from the IDE drive and restored the data to it. "Boot Failure", recovery console showed damaged partition. Install Windows Server, try to restore over top. NTBackup crashes partway thru the restore, 3 times.
Well, Windows is running fine, so let's restore the data, then we will re-install the rest of the software. It's 7 AM now. I went home last night at 5 PM while the others stayed and worked on it, I came back in at 4 AM. We have 35 GB of data to restore, so it will take some time. Updates later.
7 AM Renamed the server with the correct name, and joined it to the domain. Then the system state could be restored, along with the rest of the data. Didn't have to reinstall software.
11 AM: Server came back online at about 9 AM, a couple of minor glitches not least of which was that there were some problems with our contracted AD/Exchange provider, we are still having problems because of that (no email; can't join server to domain). Sent the other guys home shortly after 8 AM, they were getting punchy.
1 PM Our AD provider appears to have their problems sorted (but they STILL haven't returned my call) and the server is now stable. Finally.
28 hours is FAR TOO LONG for a server of this type to be down. It basically shut down two entire departments. A couple of items to note:
1. This server is 6 years old
2. It was built from a standard PC by mounting the main board in a rack box and adding a SCSI card.
Considering these items and the fact that it has run well for those years with occasional reboots, it has done extremely well. It looks as though we may be allowed to order a true server as a replacement before the end of this week. When this was originally built, they needed the server NOW for a specific purpose, but the project was over budget when they determined that they needed a server to run the app?!. Now, it is a mission critical server so they will finally part with the money.
Amazing what happens when the server hosting the accountant's spreadsheets fails. And no, that had nothing to do with it. This was not premeditated; we couldn't have planned something like this. Others create enough headaches for us, we don't need to create our own.
Server crash at work. Came in 7 AM Wed morning, about 8 AM the SCSI alarm started sounding, looked and the RAID5 array was in impaired mode. Before we could replace the failed drive with a spare a second drive failed. We discovered that the fan that pulls air thru the drive bay had quit running; we connected it to a different jack on the main board and it started running again. Put the drives in my fridge for a bit, then started up the server again, all drives came up but the array was down. Started a rebuild. After 6 hours the fan died again and crashed the array. Nothing wrong with the fan, no power from the jack on the main board. Attached another fan, this time connected to one of the drive power connectors, rebuilt the array again. When the rebuild completed at 2 AM there was no data on the array.
So, let's try this. Shoved in an IDE drive with Win2K on it, restored the backup to the drive array. "Boot Failure". Inserted the W2KSP4 Server CD and ran the recovery console, damaged partition. Created the partition, booted from the IDE drive and restored the data to it. "Boot Failure", recovery console showed damaged partition. Install Windows Server, try to restore over top. NTBackup crashes partway thru the restore, 3 times.
Well, Windows is running fine, so let's restore the data, then we will re-install the rest of the software. It's 7 AM now. I went home last night at 5 PM while the others stayed and worked on it, I came back in at 4 AM. We have 35 GB of data to restore, so it will take some time. Updates later.
7 AM Renamed the server with the correct name, and joined it to the domain. Then the system state could be restored, along with the rest of the data. Didn't have to reinstall software.
11 AM: Server came back online at about 9 AM, a couple of minor glitches not least of which was that there were some problems with our contracted AD/Exchange provider, we are still having problems because of that (no email; can't join server to domain). Sent the other guys home shortly after 8 AM, they were getting punchy.
1 PM Our AD provider appears to have their problems sorted (but they STILL haven't returned my call) and the server is now stable. Finally.
28 hours is FAR TOO LONG for a server of this type to be down. It basically shut down two entire departments. A couple of items to note:
1. This server is 6 years old
2. It was built from a standard PC by mounting the main board in a rack box and adding a SCSI card.
Considering these items and the fact that it has run well for those years with occasional reboots, it has done extremely well. It looks as though we may be allowed to order a true server as a replacement before the end of this week. When this was originally built, they needed the server NOW for a specific purpose, but the project was over budget when they determined that they needed a server to run the app?!. Now, it is a mission critical server so they will finally part with the money.
Amazing what happens when the server hosting the accountant's spreadsheets fails. And no, that had nothing to do with it. This was not premeditated; we couldn't have planned something like this. Others create enough headaches for us, we don't need to create our own.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wabe
Way behind, that is.
GAS: starting last Friday (I think), gas dropped to 3.979/gal, then Saturday to 3.899, then Sunday to 3.839, now today it is at 3.799.
We've had a few minor showers and t-storms over the last few days, nothing to get excited about.
Big news of the weekend was that we acquired a pool table thru FreeCycle, just had to pick it up and then find a home for it. With a LOT of help from Matt and Evolena we got the garage re-organized and found enough space to put the pool table in the middle of the floor. Need to keep it tarped when not in use to keep critters and weather off of it since the roof leaks and there are no screens or glass in the windows and no door in the frame.
I've wanted a pool table for 35 years, but never had time or space or money for it. Didn't get anything else done with the yard or hay or cars or anything else, but I can play pool anytime now by walking out to the garage. Just got to ignore the mosquitos. It's a mass-market cheap 6-1/2 foot table, the top has a tear or two in the felt and the balls don't always go where you expect them to go, but it sure is a lot of fun.
GAS: starting last Friday (I think), gas dropped to 3.979/gal, then Saturday to 3.899, then Sunday to 3.839, now today it is at 3.799.
We've had a few minor showers and t-storms over the last few days, nothing to get excited about.
Big news of the weekend was that we acquired a pool table thru FreeCycle, just had to pick it up and then find a home for it. With a LOT of help from Matt and Evolena we got the garage re-organized and found enough space to put the pool table in the middle of the floor. Need to keep it tarped when not in use to keep critters and weather off of it since the roof leaks and there are no screens or glass in the windows and no door in the frame.
I've wanted a pool table for 35 years, but never had time or space or money for it. Didn't get anything else done with the yard or hay or cars or anything else, but I can play pool anytime now by walking out to the garage. Just got to ignore the mosquitos. It's a mass-market cheap 6-1/2 foot table, the top has a tear or two in the felt and the balls don't always go where you expect them to go, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tornado!
Well, not quite. Technically, these are photos of a Mesocyclone, the progenitor of a tornado. These are frames lifted from video taken on my digital camera. The videos themselves are interesting, but not very good. I was using my monopod, but I was being eaten by a swarm of mosquitoes, so there is a lot more movement than I like.
I'm adding more storm photos here.
The white mailbox in the lower right corner is directly North of me and the road runs E-W. I'm in the Southeast corner of Trout Lake Township, Itasca County, MN.
I'm adding more storm photos here.
The white mailbox in the lower right corner is directly North of me and the road runs E-W. I'm in the Southeast corner of Trout Lake Township, Itasca County, MN.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
ISP's: Caveat Emptor!
Over last weekend I went shopping for a new ISP. My years subscription to my current ISP was expiring, and I wanted to try to find a better deal, and maybe a better connection.
In the past, I have always used a local service as my ISP. My first connection was actually a dialup to a local BBS run out of Computer Enterprises (long before I worked there) called Blue Sky BBS. Later, a friend of mine started his own business as an ISP and so I signed up with him. Then I used another local ISP (after my friend cashed out) that I had had good dealings with, then later still I went with my local electric co-op so I could get the bills combined. Then, the Co-op sold the dial-up part to a rural phone company so they could join WildBlue Satellite.
During the time I used these ISP's my dial-up speeds were usually around 28.8. I have always attributed the slow speeds to poor line conditions, I know that there are at least 20 splices in the phone cable in the 1.5 miles upstream from my house, and the line hasn't been replaced in over 20 years.
I decided to change to the ISP that I'm using for phone and guest Internet access at work. They are working on providing fiber in my part of the county, although it will probably be a couple of more years before it gets to me. So, I bought a years subscription.
With Paul Bunyan Internet we occasionally could not get a connection. Sometimes we only managed a 16.4kbps connection. Often, we got 19.2 or 21.8. I can't recall getting anything faster. I wondered if it was our phone line, and I rewired the phone lines in the entire house.
Well, I finally decided that I would look for cheaper Internet service. No sense in paying high speed prices for something that I can barely download email headers with. Here's where I went.
MSN: Qwest, my phone company, offers MSN, first month free, $18.95/mo thereafter. I signed up for it. Then discovered that you have to install special software, it uses something called the Connection Manager instead of Dial-up Networking, and you CANNOT connect with dial-up Networking. One major problem with it is that the Connection Manager is a per user setting, and the PC has multiple users. It also used my hotmail account and password for the user name which I didn't like. A PIA to turn off, it only takes a couple of clicks and a credit card number to begin service, to end service you have to call a well hidden number (1-800-386-5550) and wade thru a huge multi language menu to get to someone who needed to know my phone number, credit card number, email address, and why I didn't want the service.
NetZero: Stay away from this. NASTY STUFF!!! It installs a dialer that pops up context sensitive ads. You can't use Dial-up Networking. I signed up on a plan that was $1 for the first month, $9.99/mo thereafter. When I installed the dialer it kept changing my browser settings. I have firefox as my default browser and Google as my home page, it set IE and NetZero as my defaults, and when I changed them back it would instantly reset them. If it ain't malware I don't know what it is. At least it did seem to uninstall cleanly. After I installed the dialer and connected once and discovered all the problems I called in to cancel the service. NetZero charged me BOTH the $1 AND the $9.99, said I owed them for the software and installation. And, because I made the mistake of putting it on my debit card I couldn't dispute or block the charge. Bad Bad Bad.
BasicISP: $6.95/mo basic internet dial-up service. They have two local dialup numbers in the GR area. No special software needed (although they have a config wizard you can download if you wish). One email account. American support is free for the first 30 days, billable thereafter. No frills, no bells and whistles. And the really good part? So far, over three days, one connection has been at 21.8, but all the rest have been at 26.4. Man, it feels almost like flying! www.basicisp.net.
In the past, I have always used a local service as my ISP. My first connection was actually a dialup to a local BBS run out of Computer Enterprises (long before I worked there) called Blue Sky BBS. Later, a friend of mine started his own business as an ISP and so I signed up with him. Then I used another local ISP (after my friend cashed out) that I had had good dealings with, then later still I went with my local electric co-op so I could get the bills combined. Then, the Co-op sold the dial-up part to a rural phone company so they could join WildBlue Satellite.
During the time I used these ISP's my dial-up speeds were usually around 28.8. I have always attributed the slow speeds to poor line conditions, I know that there are at least 20 splices in the phone cable in the 1.5 miles upstream from my house, and the line hasn't been replaced in over 20 years.
I decided to change to the ISP that I'm using for phone and guest Internet access at work. They are working on providing fiber in my part of the county, although it will probably be a couple of more years before it gets to me. So, I bought a years subscription.
With Paul Bunyan Internet we occasionally could not get a connection. Sometimes we only managed a 16.4kbps connection. Often, we got 19.2 or 21.8. I can't recall getting anything faster. I wondered if it was our phone line, and I rewired the phone lines in the entire house.
Well, I finally decided that I would look for cheaper Internet service. No sense in paying high speed prices for something that I can barely download email headers with. Here's where I went.
MSN: Qwest, my phone company, offers MSN, first month free, $18.95/mo thereafter. I signed up for it. Then discovered that you have to install special software, it uses something called the Connection Manager instead of Dial-up Networking, and you CANNOT connect with dial-up Networking. One major problem with it is that the Connection Manager is a per user setting, and the PC has multiple users. It also used my hotmail account and password for the user name which I didn't like. A PIA to turn off, it only takes a couple of clicks and a credit card number to begin service, to end service you have to call a well hidden number (1-800-386-5550) and wade thru a huge multi language menu to get to someone who needed to know my phone number, credit card number, email address, and why I didn't want the service.
NetZero: Stay away from this. NASTY STUFF!!! It installs a dialer that pops up context sensitive ads. You can't use Dial-up Networking. I signed up on a plan that was $1 for the first month, $9.99/mo thereafter. When I installed the dialer it kept changing my browser settings. I have firefox as my default browser and Google as my home page, it set IE and NetZero as my defaults, and when I changed them back it would instantly reset them. If it ain't malware I don't know what it is. At least it did seem to uninstall cleanly. After I installed the dialer and connected once and discovered all the problems I called in to cancel the service. NetZero charged me BOTH the $1 AND the $9.99, said I owed them for the software and installation. And, because I made the mistake of putting it on my debit card I couldn't dispute or block the charge. Bad Bad Bad.
BasicISP: $6.95/mo basic internet dial-up service. They have two local dialup numbers in the GR area. No special software needed (although they have a config wizard you can download if you wish). One email account. American support is free for the first 30 days, billable thereafter. No frills, no bells and whistles. And the really good part? So far, over three days, one connection has been at 21.8, but all the rest have been at 26.4. Man, it feels almost like flying! www.basicisp.net.
What a Storm!
What a storm we had last night! Not sure if it was technically one storm or a series, but it seemed like 2 different T-Storms went past just to the north before the third one smacked us. The second storm actually had a reported funnel cloud that set the sirens off in GR, I understand that the Channel 13 news had a photo of it last night.
I spent some time outside as the first two storms slid past us taking photos and movies, here is one photo:
Some of the video is pretty good, I'm going to see if I can extract some stills or maybe even get a you tube account so I can link it here.
The third storm went over us about 10:45 PM (although I think the worst of it was to the north a couple of miles), we got 5/8" of rain in about 20 minutes. And, of course, it's all my fault because I spent two hours watering the garden earlier in the day.
Gas was at 3.999 when I got off work yesterday.
I spent some time outside as the first two storms slid past us taking photos and movies, here is one photo:
Some of the video is pretty good, I'm going to see if I can extract some stills or maybe even get a you tube account so I can link it here.
The third storm went over us about 10:45 PM (although I think the worst of it was to the north a couple of miles), we got 5/8" of rain in about 20 minutes. And, of course, it's all my fault because I spent two hours watering the garden earlier in the day.
Gas was at 3.999 when I got off work yesterday.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Another busy weekend. Started on Friday night (7/11), about 6:15 PM a storm broke. This storm brought tornadoes to other parts of the state. To us it brought LOTS of lightning and, by 7:30 PM, an inch of rain.
On Saturday Matt rebuilt the hay wagon. Then, on Sunday afternoon, he baled hay. This baler belongs to a neighbor, it's his backup baler that he hasn't been able to use because he can only get a couple of bales at a time before it misses a knot. Matt has been working with the neighbor (in between other things) on sorting out the problems with it. Looks like they succeeded, Matt got 75 bales without missing a knot.
Last week I noticed that the voltmeter on Vger said it was discharging. When I got home I checked with a voltmeter and the alternator output was fine and the battery was fine. Hmmm. Then, the next day, the fuel gauge suddenly went from full to 1/4 tank. Hmmx2. Then I noticed that the gate indicator light wasn't working. Hmmmx3. Well, after a lot of fiddling and wire tracing and unplugging it looks like the dash on Vger has died. I tried one of my other dash's that I have but that didn't work either, so it must be a connection to the dash that is the problem, but I can't find the connection. The turn signal, high beam indicator, and dash lights work so I don't think the problem is a ground since they all share a common ground, but the fuel gauge, volt gauge, low fuel light, gate light, washer light, belt light, all those have quit working.
Several months ago I bought a cheap oil pressure/temp/voltmeter gauge set by SunPro from Amazon.com, but I've never gotten around to putting them in. I wanted to put the gauges in the dash replacing the factory gauges, but there is just not quite enough room, and they don't mount very well. I discovered (with an old gauge) that the gauge mechanism fits just fine (but can't mount), but that the gauge housing is the problem.
Well, I needed gauges. So, I spent Sunday installing the set. I put them on top of the dash. Works OK there, but I would have preferred them in the dash.
The roses are done, but we have other flowers near the front door.
Gas Buddy currently says that gas is 3.999 but that's incorrect, it's really 4.029.
On Saturday Matt rebuilt the hay wagon. Then, on Sunday afternoon, he baled hay. This baler belongs to a neighbor, it's his backup baler that he hasn't been able to use because he can only get a couple of bales at a time before it misses a knot. Matt has been working with the neighbor (in between other things) on sorting out the problems with it. Looks like they succeeded, Matt got 75 bales without missing a knot.
Last week I noticed that the voltmeter on Vger said it was discharging. When I got home I checked with a voltmeter and the alternator output was fine and the battery was fine. Hmmm. Then, the next day, the fuel gauge suddenly went from full to 1/4 tank. Hmmx2. Then I noticed that the gate indicator light wasn't working. Hmmmx3. Well, after a lot of fiddling and wire tracing and unplugging it looks like the dash on Vger has died. I tried one of my other dash's that I have but that didn't work either, so it must be a connection to the dash that is the problem, but I can't find the connection. The turn signal, high beam indicator, and dash lights work so I don't think the problem is a ground since they all share a common ground, but the fuel gauge, volt gauge, low fuel light, gate light, washer light, belt light, all those have quit working.
Several months ago I bought a cheap oil pressure/temp/voltmeter gauge set by SunPro from Amazon.com, but I've never gotten around to putting them in. I wanted to put the gauges in the dash replacing the factory gauges, but there is just not quite enough room, and they don't mount very well. I discovered (with an old gauge) that the gauge mechanism fits just fine (but can't mount), but that the gauge housing is the problem.
Well, I needed gauges. So, I spent Sunday installing the set. I put them on top of the dash. Works OK there, but I would have preferred them in the dash.
The roses are done, but we have other flowers near the front door.
Gas Buddy currently says that gas is 3.999 but that's incorrect, it's really 4.029.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
More watertower
6/30/08
7/1/08
Note that the "Grand Rapids" is gone from the tower. I didn't have my camera ready when I drove by about noon on 6/30; part of the tent was open and it looked like a large part of the tower was in primer at the time.
7/1/08
Note that the "Grand Rapids" is gone from the tower. I didn't have my camera ready when I drove by about noon on 6/30; part of the tent was open and it looked like a large part of the tower was in primer at the time.
Some gas stations are at 3.939 while others are still at 3.969.
Here's a better photo of the Horse mower tongue. This is a Minnesota No. 3 Mower, probably dates from 1890's or 1900's, don't know for sure. Hard to find parts and info on the Minnesota Mowers. Sorry about the busy background. The jackstand is set so that the tongue is at tractor hitch height, this is pretty much how it sits when in the field. Matt is currently working on putting new knives on, I'm hoping to get a chance to get some photos of that process, and maybe a photo showing more details of the tongue. If I'd been thinking I'd have got photos while building, but I didn't.
Here's a better photo of the Horse mower tongue. This is a Minnesota No. 3 Mower, probably dates from 1890's or 1900's, don't know for sure. Hard to find parts and info on the Minnesota Mowers. Sorry about the busy background. The jackstand is set so that the tongue is at tractor hitch height, this is pretty much how it sits when in the field. Matt is currently working on putting new knives on, I'm hoping to get a chance to get some photos of that process, and maybe a photo showing more details of the tongue. If I'd been thinking I'd have got photos while building, but I didn't.
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