Everyone Must Back Up

I thought of putting this entry into the Computer Circus blog, but it was so general and uneventful, that I figured it was appropriate for this general, uneventful blog.

I was feeling this feeling in my gut that I get just before something bad happens to my computer(s). I have learned to pay attention to these nagging little feelings, because they have been so foretelling in the past. This time, I decided to do something before something happened.

I have had some drives sitting around for some time, waiting for something to be done with them. One was a drive that crapped out some time ago (I am sure there is an entry in the Computer Circus about it). Another was an image copy of that drive...I THINK...as it was labeled as a mirror drive (with the added notation, "in limbo"). I have no long term memory anymore, so I do not know what the state of the drive was, exactly. But another drive that I didn't notice until I was just about done with my operation today, was a backup of my current data drive, as of January, 2006.

My operation today consisted of backing up my main computer. I took the "in limbo" drive and wiped it and backed up my 120GB data drive onto it. Goodbye original content (my current system was a descendant of that data, and I figured it had been sitting around long enough). It had previously been used in a data recovery operation, and I think I was holding on to it until I determined that the files on my current system were really intact. Well, now I know I'll never know for sure, so I decided it had sat around long enough, so not it contains a copy of my current data drive as of today.

So there.

I also had another spare drive that I picked up during a swap session at the robotics club that I never get to anymore - the last time I went was December 2005, I think, as that is when I got this drive. So I used it to back up my system drive.

So, now I have a complete image backup of my system drive and my data drive - if either drive craps out in my computer, all I have to do is drop one of these backup drives in its place and fire it up again (then immediately back up THAT drive).

MAN, it feels good to have a backup! I'm thinking of running a backup every week from now on. I used a great little piece of (FREE!) software, called Drive SelfImage, to make my drive image copies. I recommend it to anyone who is not afraid to open up their computers and add a second hard drive to save their files onto (or for anyone who simply needs to make an image copy of a drive). It is very simple and fast (well, as fast as your drives and buses are).

And, now that I have a new power supply in my media/backup computer, and a working fan in the Linux box, it is time to perform some backups of the other computers in my little network. An ounce of prevention, you know!

Up And Running

New post on the Computer Circus blog. Look for it in my links in the right hand column.

Server Down Under

My server is down until I can replace a fan, so no pictures for a while. At least, not until the system is UP again.

What's Up?

All this time, I thought I knew what "up" meant. Then I started thinking about all the ways in which the word is used, and now I'm not sure what it means at all. Consider the following:

Show up.
Slow up.
Pay up.
Give up.
Shut up.
Wash up.
Look it up.
Call 'em up.
Eat up.
Throw up (well, that one kind of makes sense - similar to cough it up).
Fed up.
Close up (can take that two ways).
Cover up.
Spin it up.
Wind it up.
Turn it up.
Start it up.
Crank it up.
Fire it up.
Make up. Or make it up.
Screwed up.
F'd up.
Wake up. Time to get up and go in for your check-up.

I'm sure there is a ton more - can you think of any? And do we have a clue what we're saying?

What's Up?

Life in the Works

UPDATED WITH PICTURES

Man, what a week.

I spent Memorial Day weekend - plus an extra day - up at our new land. Our new spot is 4 miles from Lake Englebright (Englebrite?), and our builder friend just bought a new boat, so of course we had to spend some time on the lake.

I tried my hand at wake boarding, but I could not get up on it. I tried until my muscles gave out - and I *almost* got up on the last try.

We also bought a nice new weed eater and I cut a path across our land down to a sweet little meditation spot that my wife is creating for herself.
She's up there right now taking it easy. She has had a HELL of a time the past few weeks, looking for work, building her portfolio, coordinating a million details with our house plans, etc., etc., etc. Now she is looking at not one, but THREE awesome job offers and is stressing over which one to choose.

A couple weeks ago, she picked up a 1981 Toyota pickup truck so we would have something up on the land to cart stuff around with. It's a cute little 4x4, and we have no idea how many times the odometer has wrapped around, but it's not in horrible shape.
The key was nearly impossible to turn in the ignition, and just today I made it very impossible to turn anymore...shortly after I extracted it from the steering column. My gut was telling me its time was close, but I had no idea it was THAT close. In order to remove the key cylinder, you have to turn the key to the ACC position so you can push in a little button that sets it free. It took me close to 10 minutes fighting with the key before I got it to turn.

I have a new cylinder on order, so I decided to do a post mortem examination of the old one to see how it works. Unfortunately, since I didn't know how it worked, I basically destroyed it in the process of taking it apart. Had I known how it worked, I could have dismantled it with very minimal damage. But now that I know how it works, I am armed for the future.

Oh, MAN was that cylinder worn! It's amazing it worked at all.

So, now I can easily start the engine with a screwdriver. So could a thief if he noticed. Only one problem, though - the starter is going bad, too. I have one of those on order, too.

The truck is sitting in my garage right now - I managed to drive it home from Grass Valley on Tuesday. I had to stop four times to latch the hood down, though, because the catch was missing a spring. Good thing the safety catch works! I bought a new spring and put it in. I also noticed there was a bad hose from the air cleaner to the block (what's that for?) so I tried to find something to replace it with. not much luck, but I have a piece of fuel injection hose on it that should hold for a bit.

We stopped at a wrecking yard and picked up some window crank handles and put those on to replace the broken ones. I also replaced a couple little broken lamp lenses on the side rear, and realized the lamps, themselves, were busted out, so I have to go back and find some replacements.

Someone had jacked up the battery mount pretty good, so I fixed that...pretty good.

Oh, and I figured out today why the horn doesn't work (it worked one time - when it was really hot last weekend - which makes sense now). There is a spring-loaded contact pin that rides against a metal plate behind the steering wheel to make electrical contact for the horn. It was worn down so much that it was no longer making contact. However, on a really hot day, it will expand just enough to make contact. If I can get a steering wheel puller tool, I can get in there and braze a bit of metal back on top to make it work again.

In the meantime, the horn sounds sick when it works, so I am going to go back to that wrecking yard and pull a horn that I saw on an old 1981 pickup truck that they had there (the same one I got the other parts from). Oh, the funny thing it, this truck in the wrecking yard also had an air filter that was almost brand new - so that's in my truck now.

So, why did I drive this truck over 160 miles back to home base? Because a while back, I bought a 10,000 Watt generator, and we had no vehicle to carry it in. This thing weighs nearly 300 lbs. I had to build a ramp (simply made from two 8-foot 2x6 boards each nailed to one of two 8-foot 2x4 boards. I just dropped the tailgate down (all the way down to prevent breaking it), lined up the boards, and HEAVED this generator up the ramp. Yes, it has wheels, but it still weighs nearly 300 lbs.

Between eating weeds with a killer weed eater, trying unsuccessfully to ride a wake board, mounting some shelves, tweaking an old pickup truck, building a ramp and shoving a 300 lb. generator into the back of the truck, I ACHE ALL OVER!

I still ache. And I might be going back this weekend. Then again, I might not.

I went up with my wife last weekend, then on Tuesday she got on an airplane out of Sacramento to go to an interview in Connecticut (with a company she could telecommute with), and Wednesday night she flew back to Sacramento and drove back up to the land where she is relaxing in our little trailer, awaiting my return this weekend. We're trying to coordinate with our architect person to get our plans submitted to the county on Monday. That's a story for another time - GEESH! What a jerk-around experience that has been.

And I am in a killer crunch at work right now, trying to complete a new component for our web-based enterprise application. God, I hate JavaScript! Hopefully, after this, I will never have to deal with it again, directly. Then again, I hope to find a better [paying] job and get up to where our land is, soon.


What a journey!

Interesting times lie ahead for sure. Wish me good fortune!