building, making, thinking, geeking

[greatbear]

I'm currently sitting in the bowels of Ice Station Mayhem watching the temperature outside drop with every glance at the thermometer. It's currently 4 degrees F, and still steadily dropping. The house is toasty warm, with the woodstove working at near blast furnace levels thanks to the howling winds outside causing the flue to draw like crazy and fanning the fire. I have the electric heater on in the basement workshop where I was prior, and here in the infrastructure bunker the computers alone have the otherwise unheated room at a balmy 84. I don't envy Jeff having to head out in the crackling cold at 5am, the temperature being predicted into the negatives possibly by then, and a high of a steamy 17 for our Tuesday. Brrr! My Russian heritage normally has me tolerating even rather extreme cold, but ever since my first back surgery, it's taken a while for me to regain that tolerance while recovering. Add in creeping old age, and I prefer warmth more than ever. I have another round of PT tomorrow afternoon, so I can shake my cane at Old Man Winter if necessary.



I'm sitting here thinking of my next upgrade to these PCs, servers and networks. The LAN itself has been shrugging off anything I've tossed at it, I put in gigabit ethernet a while back and that should hold up for the foreseeable future. I do with I had gotten larger than the 24-port managed switch, as all the sockets are filled. I might throw another 24 port in the mix, or go a bit larger for a primary switch in order to team some of the ports for bigger throughput for servers and NAS, and use the current Procurve switch to handle the rest of the house connections. The wireless stuff needs an update, since the access points are still running the 54mpbs 802.11g speeds I put in ages ago. It's not an issue save for backing up laptops taking a long time, and the garage PC struggling to pick up a decent signal nearly 100ft away through several walls. I never got around to running the Cat6 and other cables into the garage as I was beset with injuries as well as having my help evaporate at the time. If all goes well, I will run the cables through the underground conduit in the mid or late summer (a lot will be happening before this time that will prevent me from doing this sort of thing, it's all good and a subject of another post very soon). I had assembled a monster "server" back in '07 that I had since repurposed into a killer workstation, I cheaped out when putting it together by using a pair of entry-level Xeon quad-core processors, but even to this day it is still a delight to use, especially with the Radeon 6870 video card I popped in last year. Back when I put the beast together, the top-end 5400-series Xeon quadcore processors were going for $1500+ a pop. While technically obsolete, I've found new ones for about 250 bucks or less, and dropping a pair of those into the monster will extend its useful life by at least a couple more years. I have to decide soon, as those might dry up and I will be dead-ended on upgrades for the thing.

I've been amassing lots of high-resolution digital music in recent years, and unlike even high-bitrate mp3 or other compressed audio, the stuff has been eating up hard drive space like crazy. I also want to rip and store the DVDs and BD movies we have as well, and those take up scads of drive space. I want to add a couple of Synology NAS units to handle this, with the drive space on the servers being used more for backups and work files. I can get the eight-bay NAS units sans hard drives, and pop hard drives in as storage space needs grow. I've run into issues with my Server 2003 machine not wanting to allow drive shares greater than 4TB, not sure yet what that's all about. If it's an OS issue, I will probably upgrade it to something latest and greatest. One of the servers will most likely have some flavor of Linux on it, just to keep options open.

I want to futz around with the GoPro camera my honeysanta got me for crimmus, and I've discovered all of my microSD cards are too slow for it. I just placed an order for a couple class 10 cards, 36GB each to start with. Part of me is really aching for a quadcopter to take aerial shots and movies using the thing, especially after seeing the results more and more people are uploading these days. It's not an outrageous sum of money either, especially considering how advanced these little drones have become. There's the issue of the supposed legality of personal, camera-equipped drones being used for commercial purposes, but I don't anticipate it being anything more than a hobby. Why let the gummint have all the fun anyway? Hell, here on Mount Mayhem (my less-than-imaginative name for where I live being one of the highest parts of the area) all I need to do is send one up a couple hundred feet, aim the lens north-east and I can have a shot of the No Such Agency less than ten miles away looming in the distance. w00t! More than likely the little cam will get used for silly animal videos (I'd love to strap it to Snickles when he's darting about the yard and chasing deer), in- and on-vehicle action movies (Tail of the Dragon, anyone?) and helmet-cam shots while biking down Commercial Street in PTown. The kit I have includes the waterproof camera housing, if I can coax Snickles and Kodi into the water at the same time, hijinx are bound to be recorded. As you can tell, I am hoping for a decent recovery from this last round of nastiness in order to have some fun while I still can have it.

The Mackie studio monitor speakers have been ordered, I've been wanting those for close to 15 years now, and I figure I deserve to indulge a bit and get the studio back in shape. Even if I never make my own bad music anymore, I can indulge my audio engineering self making what I already have a bit better.It's apparent to anyone who has been here that one can't swing a dead cat (sorry, Pinky!) without hitting something around this place that isn't wired for sound, be it PCs, vehicles, the house and every room and garage or any manner of portable noisemakers contained without and within. As a teen and even earlier than that, I was cobbling together bits to make or play music. Synths and oscillators and such, radios and amplifiers made to blast several watts made into speaker cabinets before there were such things as ghetto blasters and boomboxes (I should really have patented some of those contraptions, seriously), you name it. I haven't changed much, if at all. Jeff sometimes just shakes his head, and I really can't blame him. I've never been easy to understand, just when someone might have me pegged I go off in some completely different direction, just as unpredictable as my tastes in music. I can't change what I am, so why not indulge a bit of it now and then?

At my current rate of recovery, I hope to be able to get back to some of the needed upgrades and repairs to the house that once again got sidelined by all the usual suspects. Time has come for a purge of cruft that has been collected for more than 20 years that remains unused and unwanted. When the weather finally breaks, the first thing is to replace the front door and spruce up the entryway as well as the front flower beds and shrubbery. It's the first thing people see when they come here, and it's gotten a bit long in the tooth. We will update some of the furniture here too, as some are starting to get rickety and worn, or chew toys for the pups. I am hoping against hope I will be able to work with my hands overhead so I can finally finish what I started years ago with the sunroom and living room skylights and rebuilding. It's not that far to go, I've done the largest bulk of the work already. 4-plus years of pain while trying to work overhead put the kibosh on those projects, and frustration only added to my falling behind on other things. I can't afford to be like that anymore, and once I am (hopefully) able to get back to it without the prospect of reinjuring myself, I have to move. I want to enjoy all I have provided for us over the years as my own abilities ride into the sunset. Despite my setback in recent years, I still managed to do what I could. I often have people look upon me quizzically wondering why i seem to bother with all this, well, bother in their eyes and simply hire it out. For one thing, to do all these things I do would cost a fortune, something I just don't have. But the greater bit here is that it's something I love to do, despite the occasional bitching and tantrum. I can no sooner stop building, tinkering, making and geeking than I can stop breathing. I've had tastes of having to stop it all in recent years and anyone can tell I am a miserable cuss as a result. It's what I am, what I do, and what I live for. I just wish I can share in it somehow as much as possible, have fun with it and occasionally take breaks after a big accomplishment to go and have some unabashed fun. Is it so much to ask?

Comments

[holy13nation.livejournal.com]

The news here is one dire warning and story about our bad weather here, which will then be followed by a quick item on the really challenging weather in the US. Already we are having train cancellations and the like. Were we to experience the weather you do I think the country would just collectively go back to bed and give up. Given the English obsession with the weather we are pathetic at actually dealing with any.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

People's ability to deal with the weather with any sensibility has diminished greatly here. From idiocy on the roads to hoarding mentality at the local stores and everything else, it is just sheer panic. It's driven by panic mostly, pumped up by the apocalyptic reporting style of the media. Granted, the extreme cold is something to be cautioned, but when snow is imminent, you'd think an asteroid shower was in the cards. The local hardware stores and home centers will have a large stock of snow shovels, snowblowers, etc. At the first sign of trouble, stocks are depleted and people panic. Really? No one every plans for the occasional snowstorm anymore? What I've noticed is people selling their equipment for handling snow after a mild winter or two, thinking they don't need it. Guess what? Weather is a fickle beast, even more so these days.

It's so simple to deal with. In the winter, buy at least a week extra worth of food, and stock up on some non-perishables. Minimize travel plans in the worst months. And that classically British phrase works so well, keep calm and carry on.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

What is the opposite of a tinkerer? That would be me. I admire it in others and wish for you that you can return to your projects pain-free; but, I'm the opposite - no skills, no interest. We've been without a garbage disposal for 8 months, though the new one is purchased and sitting in the garage. Our gas fireplaces have never worked, though $1000 of work was done on them by the previous owner three years ago when we first moved in to our place. They would come in handy right now, but I'm wary of gas, never having had a gas bill prior to moving here. Yes, it all costs money ... which is why the projects remain undone.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Maybe it'sa form of OCD, ADHD, EIEIO, I dunno. If I were nearby, all that stuff would be installed and working for you. It's something I do for friends. I don't expect everyone to be a tinkerer like me, I grew into this habit (or whatever else you might call it) at a very young age. Without any friends living nearby, I had to occupy my time somehow. I'd listen to the radio, watch TV, read books, magazines, newspapers, play outside, ride my bike, and indulge in my seemingly innate tinkering nature. It had a downside, as my younger years also made me a social pariah of sorts. I was a very trusting type, and I can't tell you how many times that was betrayed. I was taken advantage of, picked on, made the butt of countless pranks and jokes, often with adults to boot. That only forced me more into my own little world. Honestly, it's no different today. People at work took advantage of my good nature and abilities, took credit for my work, made me the butt of jokes. After 30+ years of working with the same boring people, I'm glad to be away from them. I've fallen into my old comfort zone of enjoying my pursuits, keeping to myself, insulating myself from ridicule and exploitation.

Years ago I realized there was a huge hole in my being, and I made major changes to become more social, and be true to myself, others and those I love. My coming out and acceptance by the community back then was a completely new thing for me, and at times I let my "guard" down. But I made lots of friends who liked me for who I am, didn't expect anything out of me, and didn't judge. It wasn't perfect, mind you, but I had a lot of fun. As I got older, and as my health declined, I discovered not all those people remained at my side, and it took some adjustment and disappointment to realize a lot of it was fleeting. I found that some people with whom I shared peculiar interests were also insecure themselves, and some didn't like what they apparently perceived as competition. Lots of true colors were shining through. As the dist settled, I realized who the genuine ones were, and I remain in this dwindling LJ space because it holds the majority for me as far as online interactions.

So, yeah, I like doing all these odd pursuits, but I often feel like I can't talk about it for fear of being seen as boastful. I find it better to just do my own thing and keep to myself.

The Tinkerer

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I didn't take it as boastful, I took it as a fact of who you are and what makes you tick. I wish I had more skills, more interest in fixing. I could always rely on my dad until this past decade; of course, now he's gone and I wasn't smart enough to learn from him when he offered. I admire tinkering in others; I admire who you are as a person; though, we haven't met in person, our friendship is meaningful to me.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I am more your type in regards to working with stuff - as I'm sure you've no doubt have noted in many of my posts, like fixing/reinstalling Windows, making an old PC into a media center of sorts (pretty decent for what it is in fact), stuff like that so I'm handy like that too, thankfully.

But I know my limits and know that there will be times when I will have to hire out for some things, and that's OK as I'm not quite to the extreme as you are, though I'm also love making stuff, cooking stuff and the like.

So glad to see a series of posts of you looking/sounding positive and celebrating each milestone/accomplishment (and in fairly quick succession too I might add) has been a treat to read.

Good luck and remember, don't do too much or you'll set yourself back my friend.

I've been hearing, sporadically about the weather back east. "Enjoy" it. ;-)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I have to confront my increasing limits these days, and work around it. I wasn't abotu to do the roof on the house those few years back, even without the back trouble. 25 years ago it wouldn't have been an issue. These days I measure my time and abilities against the costs to get it done and leave more time for me to do other things, even relax or go places.

[redmoonriver.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to see the tinkery thinkery going on again! As glad as I am to NOT be in the northeast for this cold! :D

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of "escapees" from these climates are breathing lots of signs of relief. So far, I am coping. lol

[labeartorycub.livejournal.com]

Tinkering with many things at least leaves you not being bored. I can do some of the handiwork around the house, but I really do leave the serious stuff for the professionals. I pay more, but it's done faster than I could do it. Best wises on the improvements later on this year!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the good vibes, I can use 'em! :)

[labeartorycub.livejournal.com]

I hope the good vibes have been useful. :-)

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

It's cold here, too.

All the tech stuff sounds interesting- hope you'll be able to do all those things.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I need to branch out and find more of "my kind." It's not easy, and us nerdy types often don't get along. LOL

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

Keep puttering. Keep doing those things. My Dad is like you ( and I am like him). He's going to be 93 in a few weeks and it's the puttering around and doing projects that's kept him going.