Monday, June 28, 2004
Geek Merit Badge
I earned my Geek Merit Badge this weekend. I had bought the 3rd Harry Potter computer game for the kids as an end-of-school treat. However my creaky old computer wasn't really up to playing it.
Minimum system requirements:
600mhz processor
256 megs ram
video card with ATI radeon chipset; 32 megs ram min
My system:
500mhz processor
128 megs ram
onboard video card, 11 megs shared ram
The game ran, but was slow, jerky and looked terrible. I decided to look into system upgrades. I figured I could live with the processor as-is, but needed more memory and a separate (and better) video card.
I went to Staples and talked with the holier-than-thou self-appointed computer god there. He sniffed at the idea of running this game on my old system, saying "Oh it'll be buggy and will probably crash left and right". Having already played the game and seen no bugs, I assigned him a credibility rating somewhere below junk bonds and ignored him. They had an ATI Radeon vid card w/32 megs ram for $50. They also had 128 meg PC100 DIMMS for $50/ea - I'd need 2 'cuz my system has only 2 memory slots and a max memory of 256 megs. Hmm - $150 to upgrade my system to play a game? I chickened out and left.
Saturday brought the BestBuy circular in the local paper, and lo and behold they had a kickin' video card on sale. ATI, 128 megs, $69 - whoo-hoo!. They also had my memory on sale for $30/ea. Emma and I head down on Sunday to pick it up. Whups - the video card uses the AGP interface and local sensible-attitude-not-holier-than-thou-but-still-all-knowing computer god says my system probably doesn't have an AGP slot. Since there are only 2 left he suggests I buy it anyway and check my motherboard before opening the video card box. AGP slots are brown; older PCI slots are white. If I see no brown, I'm PCI only and should return the video card.
I get home, install the memory and inspect my motherboard. Sure enough, I see only white PCI slots. Damn. System is much perkier with 256 megs ram though, so I mull over the video card thing while I work on the deck.
I decide to go back to Staples and check which interface that 32-meg ATI card uses. Hooray - it's PCI! I pick it up and install it on Sunday night. Multi-step process involving un-installing current video drivers, setting system to vanilla VGA, then disabling that, then physically installing new card, then installing drivers for new card. 1 hour later and I'm back up.
Results? Game (and rest of system) looks great and is much more responsive. I proudly pin on my geek badge, play Harry Potter until midnight, and call it a day.
Quick Review of Harry Potter:
If your system is up to it, it is a fun and great-looking game. New spells, more hidden treats to find (cauldron cakes and Pumpkin Pasties). Fred and George have a shop where you can buy passwords to give you access to other secret places. Emma's favorite spell challenge is Lapoforus where you get to play from a rabbit's eye view. No dueling club (boo!), but no Quiddich (hooray!). Overall, a worthy successor.
teebee
Minimum system requirements:
600mhz processor
256 megs ram
video card with ATI radeon chipset; 32 megs ram min
My system:
500mhz processor
128 megs ram
onboard video card, 11 megs shared ram
The game ran, but was slow, jerky and looked terrible. I decided to look into system upgrades. I figured I could live with the processor as-is, but needed more memory and a separate (and better) video card.
I went to Staples and talked with the holier-than-thou self-appointed computer god there. He sniffed at the idea of running this game on my old system, saying "Oh it'll be buggy and will probably crash left and right". Having already played the game and seen no bugs, I assigned him a credibility rating somewhere below junk bonds and ignored him. They had an ATI Radeon vid card w/32 megs ram for $50. They also had 128 meg PC100 DIMMS for $50/ea - I'd need 2 'cuz my system has only 2 memory slots and a max memory of 256 megs. Hmm - $150 to upgrade my system to play a game? I chickened out and left.
Saturday brought the BestBuy circular in the local paper, and lo and behold they had a kickin' video card on sale. ATI, 128 megs, $69 - whoo-hoo!. They also had my memory on sale for $30/ea. Emma and I head down on Sunday to pick it up. Whups - the video card uses the AGP interface and local sensible-attitude-not-holier-than-thou-but-still-all-knowing computer god says my system probably doesn't have an AGP slot. Since there are only 2 left he suggests I buy it anyway and check my motherboard before opening the video card box. AGP slots are brown; older PCI slots are white. If I see no brown, I'm PCI only and should return the video card.
I get home, install the memory and inspect my motherboard. Sure enough, I see only white PCI slots. Damn. System is much perkier with 256 megs ram though, so I mull over the video card thing while I work on the deck.
I decide to go back to Staples and check which interface that 32-meg ATI card uses. Hooray - it's PCI! I pick it up and install it on Sunday night. Multi-step process involving un-installing current video drivers, setting system to vanilla VGA, then disabling that, then physically installing new card, then installing drivers for new card. 1 hour later and I'm back up.
Results? Game (and rest of system) looks great and is much more responsive. I proudly pin on my geek badge, play Harry Potter until midnight, and call it a day.
Quick Review of Harry Potter:
If your system is up to it, it is a fun and great-looking game. New spells, more hidden treats to find (cauldron cakes and Pumpkin Pasties). Fred and George have a shop where you can buy passwords to give you access to other secret places. Emma's favorite spell challenge is Lapoforus where you get to play from a rabbit's eye view. No dueling club (boo!), but no Quiddich (hooray!). Overall, a worthy successor.
teebee
Deck Update
Not much activity this weekend. Got the posts in place, plumb, braced and cut to height. I assembled the main beam (2-2"x8"x20', nailed together with 8d galv nails) and temporarily in place on top of the posts. I need to go back to the plans and figure out exactly where the end joists will be before I place the beam for good and cut to final length.
2 new pics here.
teebee
2 new pics here.
teebee
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Deck Update
Contrary to some people's belief (ahem!), lack of blog updates does not equal lack of deck progress :-). I was just too damn tired at the end of the day. So now, here ya go:
Tuesday
Day starts off overcast. Weather says 40% chance of rain. No choice but to press on. Go to Taylor Rental to pick up power auger. Guy tells me "Oops, we forgot to call you - both of ours are in the shop." Peachy. Go down to Chicopee store to pick one up. Get there, am told "Oh, they said this would drill a 12" hole? Guess what - it only can drill an 8" hole". Double peachy. I'll have to make do with 8" holes. Get instructions on how to run the thing, load it into truck, and we're off.
Get back home, get all lined up for first hole - and the machine dies. Can't keep it running for more than 30 seconds. 20 minutes of frustration and expletives later I realize that the idiot that gave me instructions told me the wrong setting for the gas on/off switch. I set it the right way and the machine settles right down to work.
Power augers are great machines, and excel at digging holes. However, it equally excels at beating you up. It is heavy. It bucks when it hits obstacles. It roars and snarls. It gets hot. Did I mention it is heavy? Heaving the bit up and out of the hole when you are 4' in is quite a chore.
Ok, enough bellyaching. I get all the holes dug. I curse the Taylor Rentalites for not having an extension that itself has auger threads on it, 'cuz once I get below 3' the dirt isn't thrown out of the hole anymore and I need to stop, lift it out, goose it to throw out all the dirt, then put it back in. Brief rain delay around lunchtime - I cover everything up and head in for lunch. It lasts around 3 hours, so I do dis, dat and the other ting while I wait it out. It stops, I un-tarp everything and get the last holes dug.
Call the inspector to schedule a visit for the next day, clean up and done for the day.
Wednesday
Inspector shows up at 9:15 am. Great guy - helpful, friendly and professional. Eyeballs holes and says "Yeah, they look deep enough". Last hole closest to house started to go into footing drain ditch, so I propose lagging a wood block to the foundation and hanging a joist hanger off of it to hold up that end of the beam. He approves. He answers a few more questions, signs the job site sheet, and that's that.
I go to place in the sonatubes and find that an 8" auger bit hole is not quite big enough for 8" sonatubes. I get out the posthole digger and widen them; I also flare them at the bottom. All sonatubes are set and braced.
Lunchtime - lumber, concrete and hardware show up. I have the guy put it up at the end of the driveway so he doesn't crack it driving down.
Quick lunch, then it's concrete time, baby!
Each bag weighs 80 lbs. I use a hand truck to wheel them down the driveway and into the back. Heave them into the wheelbarrow and dump them in (accompanied by a nice dust cloud). Add a gallon of water and mix with hoe. Add more with the hose as needed to get right consistancy. Shovel into hole. Each hole takes about 3 bags to fill. After hole is fill, smooth out and place J-bar in, using lines and plumb bob to position them and leaving enought thread sticking out.
Man, this is tiring.
About 3/4ths of way through, my addled mind convinced me that I was going to run out of concrete. I dash off to local hardware store and pick up another 180 lbs. Get back, and was able to finish job with existing concrete. Oh well.
OK. All holes filled. Found that one of my holes was off position 'cuz I hit a big rock and the bit moved. I'll work around it. Clean up, move Trex into driveway and cedar into garage and I'm done.
Despite the delays and such, I was able to finish up exactly where I wanted to - foundation work complete.
Next - posts, beam, joists (probably not until Saturday)
Find pics here.
teebee
Tuesday
Day starts off overcast. Weather says 40% chance of rain. No choice but to press on. Go to Taylor Rental to pick up power auger. Guy tells me "Oops, we forgot to call you - both of ours are in the shop." Peachy. Go down to Chicopee store to pick one up. Get there, am told "Oh, they said this would drill a 12" hole? Guess what - it only can drill an 8" hole". Double peachy. I'll have to make do with 8" holes. Get instructions on how to run the thing, load it into truck, and we're off.
Get back home, get all lined up for first hole - and the machine dies. Can't keep it running for more than 30 seconds. 20 minutes of frustration and expletives later I realize that the idiot that gave me instructions told me the wrong setting for the gas on/off switch. I set it the right way and the machine settles right down to work.
Power augers are great machines, and excel at digging holes. However, it equally excels at beating you up. It is heavy. It bucks when it hits obstacles. It roars and snarls. It gets hot. Did I mention it is heavy? Heaving the bit up and out of the hole when you are 4' in is quite a chore.
Ok, enough bellyaching. I get all the holes dug. I curse the Taylor Rentalites for not having an extension that itself has auger threads on it, 'cuz once I get below 3' the dirt isn't thrown out of the hole anymore and I need to stop, lift it out, goose it to throw out all the dirt, then put it back in. Brief rain delay around lunchtime - I cover everything up and head in for lunch. It lasts around 3 hours, so I do dis, dat and the other ting while I wait it out. It stops, I un-tarp everything and get the last holes dug.
Call the inspector to schedule a visit for the next day, clean up and done for the day.
Wednesday
Inspector shows up at 9:15 am. Great guy - helpful, friendly and professional. Eyeballs holes and says "Yeah, they look deep enough". Last hole closest to house started to go into footing drain ditch, so I propose lagging a wood block to the foundation and hanging a joist hanger off of it to hold up that end of the beam. He approves. He answers a few more questions, signs the job site sheet, and that's that.
I go to place in the sonatubes and find that an 8" auger bit hole is not quite big enough for 8" sonatubes. I get out the posthole digger and widen them; I also flare them at the bottom. All sonatubes are set and braced.
Lunchtime - lumber, concrete and hardware show up. I have the guy put it up at the end of the driveway so he doesn't crack it driving down.
Quick lunch, then it's concrete time, baby!
Each bag weighs 80 lbs. I use a hand truck to wheel them down the driveway and into the back. Heave them into the wheelbarrow and dump them in (accompanied by a nice dust cloud). Add a gallon of water and mix with hoe. Add more with the hose as needed to get right consistancy. Shovel into hole. Each hole takes about 3 bags to fill. After hole is fill, smooth out and place J-bar in, using lines and plumb bob to position them and leaving enought thread sticking out.
Man, this is tiring.
About 3/4ths of way through, my addled mind convinced me that I was going to run out of concrete. I dash off to local hardware store and pick up another 180 lbs. Get back, and was able to finish job with existing concrete. Oh well.
OK. All holes filled. Found that one of my holes was off position 'cuz I hit a big rock and the bit moved. I'll work around it. Clean up, move Trex into driveway and cedar into garage and I'm done.
Despite the delays and such, I was able to finish up exactly where I wanted to - foundation work complete.
Next - posts, beam, joists (probably not until Saturday)
Find pics here.
teebee
Monday, June 21, 2004
Deck Update
Am on schedule - just barely. Got off to a late start. Decided to sleep in a bit. Then went into Alex's classroom to make paddleboats with his class (I put together ~20 paddleboat kits for the kids to assemble). Then spent an enjoyable 2 hours bringing the Miata to a high-gloss shine. Then finally got to work after lunch.
Got old stairs down in about 1/2 hour. Took awhile to get the trick of removing the vinyl siding off. Finally got it stripped off up to where the deck will be. Spend an hour fussing with position of ledger, then got it lagged on good and tight. New batteries are making old drill run great - drilled all the ledger holes then chucked in 3/8" socket adapter and set the 1/2" x 4-1/2 lag screws. Final tightening is done with ratchet.
Made up some batter boards out of firring strip and got them in place. Lines going here, there and everywhere. Lots of 3-4-5 triangulation to make sure everything is square. Used chalk line as poor-man's plumb bob and got footing positions staked out.
Tomorrow: dig holes, set sonatubes, call for inspection. Plus lumber gets delivered so cedar + concrete get moved into garage.
I took some pics today but am too tired to upload. Maybe tomorrow
teebee
Got old stairs down in about 1/2 hour. Took awhile to get the trick of removing the vinyl siding off. Finally got it stripped off up to where the deck will be. Spend an hour fussing with position of ledger, then got it lagged on good and tight. New batteries are making old drill run great - drilled all the ledger holes then chucked in 3/8" socket adapter and set the 1/2" x 4-1/2 lag screws. Final tightening is done with ratchet.
Made up some batter boards out of firring strip and got them in place. Lines going here, there and everywhere. Lots of 3-4-5 triangulation to make sure everything is square. Used chalk line as poor-man's plumb bob and got footing positions staked out.
Tomorrow: dig holes, set sonatubes, call for inspection. Plus lumber gets delivered so cedar + concrete get moved into garage.
I took some pics today but am too tired to upload. Maybe tomorrow
teebee
Friday, June 18, 2004
Deck Update
Building permit arrived yesterday. Permission! Going to lumberyard tomorrow to max out credit card. I'll be having most of the stuff delivered, but will take home the ledger boards, sonatubes, firring strips + fasteners.
I'll be taking next Monday-Wednesday as vacation days to get this thing started. Here's my tentative plan:
Monday - remove existing landing, stairs. Remove some siding. Affix ledger board with appropriate flashing. Lay out footing locations using batter boards + strings.
Tuesday: dig footings, position sonatubes. Call building inspector to look at holes. Begin painting railing boards (I'll paint them all while they are nice long boards)
Wednesday: pour footings. More painting.
Once I get all that done, getting the platform in place (posts, beam, joists, decking) will go pretty quickly, so I'll probably work on that over the weekend. After that it'll slow down again when I get to the railings and stairs.
Stay Tuned!
teebee
p.s.: I think I've decided to get OEM batteries for my drill. The old ones lasted almost 4 years and I've some concern about the longevity of knockoff ones. I found I could get OEM ones for not much more than the knockoffs at Home Depot. Pay a little more now...
I'll be taking next Monday-Wednesday as vacation days to get this thing started. Here's my tentative plan:
Monday - remove existing landing, stairs. Remove some siding. Affix ledger board with appropriate flashing. Lay out footing locations using batter boards + strings.
Tuesday: dig footings, position sonatubes. Call building inspector to look at holes. Begin painting railing boards (I'll paint them all while they are nice long boards)
Wednesday: pour footings. More painting.
Once I get all that done, getting the platform in place (posts, beam, joists, decking) will go pretty quickly, so I'll probably work on that over the weekend. After that it'll slow down again when I get to the railings and stairs.
Stay Tuned!
teebee
p.s.: I think I've decided to get OEM batteries for my drill. The old ones lasted almost 4 years and I've some concern about the longevity of knockoff ones. I found I could get OEM ones for not much more than the knockoffs at Home Depot. Pay a little more now...
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The downside of cordless
I bought a Makita 12-volt cordless drill 3-4 years ago. A really great tool. Recently the batteries have been fading. I looked up what replacement batteries cost and almost fell over - $65 per battery! I called up the local dealer and she opined that the drill packages (drill + charger + batteries) are sold at very slim margins, but the companies make up for it in replacement batteries.
A little web searching led me to Batteries-Depot.Com, where I found a no-name replacement battery for $38. This is much more in line with what I expected to pay. I'll be going that route, thank you very much.
teebee
A little web searching led me to Batteries-Depot.Com, where I found a no-name replacement battery for $38. This is much more in line with what I expected to pay. I'll be going that route, thank you very much.
teebee
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Wanna buy the Munster Mobile?
Friday, June 11, 2004
Poker night
Was poker night last night, at James' house, on his new porch. I showed up a bit late - was in Northampton at a zoning board hearing for my sister-in-law Lisa, who is becoming the new owner of the Northampton Airport and needed a zoning variance in order to knock down some old buildings and put up some new ones. An interesting spectacle; she got the variance. I was there for moral support. Interesting - the Noho planning board uses Yahoo groups to post its notices. Find Lisa's here.
Anyway, back to poker. The previous night saw temps in the 70's; last night had temps dipping down into the 40's. By the last hand we were seeing each other's breath. But did we go inside like girly-men? Hell no - we stuck it out like pseudo-macho idiots. Plus it would've been more work to bring everything inside.
Players included me, James, the Daves, Norm, Glenn and Johnny. New game introduced by Glenn: Tic-Tac-Toe. Basically a variation on Southern Cross, Elevator, Bookbinder, etc which themselves are variations on Omaha. Everyone gets 4 cards, then you place 9 face down on the table in a tic-tac-toe formation. You then flop 2 at a time, with bidding between each flop. You have to use 2 from your hand, and any 3 from the table that are in a straight line.
Worst loss of the night - Dave T has a natural straight flush (10-high, clubs), but gets beaten by Glenn who has an ace-high straight flush with wildcards (game was Follow the Queen, and Queen).
Me - I win the first few hands but don't make much due to my cautious betting nature. I lose the next bunch, then come back towards the end to finish up by $2. James busts out; consoles himself by taking random pics with his new fancy-schmancy digital camera (I'll post pics if they're worth a damn). Norm busts down to nothing but then comes back to redeem himself. Glen is the big winner.
New ante system incorporated to avoid the "hey, who forgot to ante" problem: whoever is dealing antes for everyone. Much faster and since deal rotates, is also fair.
Beers: Anchor Steam, Bass, Wolaver's Pale Ale, something Norm brought that was real nice but I forget what it was.
teebee
Anyway, back to poker. The previous night saw temps in the 70's; last night had temps dipping down into the 40's. By the last hand we were seeing each other's breath. But did we go inside like girly-men? Hell no - we stuck it out like pseudo-macho idiots. Plus it would've been more work to bring everything inside.
Players included me, James, the Daves, Norm, Glenn and Johnny. New game introduced by Glenn: Tic-Tac-Toe. Basically a variation on Southern Cross, Elevator, Bookbinder, etc which themselves are variations on Omaha. Everyone gets 4 cards, then you place 9 face down on the table in a tic-tac-toe formation. You then flop 2 at a time, with bidding between each flop. You have to use 2 from your hand, and any 3 from the table that are in a straight line.
Worst loss of the night - Dave T has a natural straight flush (10-high, clubs), but gets beaten by Glenn who has an ace-high straight flush with wildcards (game was Follow the Queen, and Queen).
Me - I win the first few hands but don't make much due to my cautious betting nature. I lose the next bunch, then come back towards the end to finish up by $2. James busts out; consoles himself by taking random pics with his new fancy-schmancy digital camera (I'll post pics if they're worth a damn). Norm busts down to nothing but then comes back to redeem himself. Glen is the big winner.
New ante system incorporated to avoid the "hey, who forgot to ante" problem: whoever is dealing antes for everyone. Much faster and since deal rotates, is also fair.
Beers: Anchor Steam, Bass, Wolaver's Pale Ale, something Norm brought that was real nice but I forget what it was.
teebee
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
New Deck
We tore off our old deck when we put on our new addition. Time to build a new one. I'm reasonable handy and I built our old one, so I'll be building the new one. Plans can be found here if you're interested.
I spent probably 3 weeks fussing with the plans. Basic structure is easy, but railings and stairs are a pain. I went to Town Hall yesterday and met with the building inspector. He asked a few questions, but gave his basic approval. He still needs to look it over in detail before issuing the building permit, but it looks like we're on our way.
Next step - ordering materials.
teebee
I spent probably 3 weeks fussing with the plans. Basic structure is easy, but railings and stairs are a pain. I went to Town Hall yesterday and met with the building inspector. He asked a few questions, but gave his basic approval. He still needs to look it over in detail before issuing the building permit, but it looks like we're on our way.
Next step - ordering materials.
teebee
Saturday, June 05, 2004
New Harry Potter Movie - thumbs up.
Emma and I went to the new Harry Potter movie today - "Harry Potter and the Wizard of Azkaban". Went with her friend Madeline and Madeline's dad Joel. Sold-out show - showed up 40 minutes before showtime and line was already 100 deep. Still, we got good seats and settled in for the 2 hr, 20 min journey.
Movie was very enjoyable. Focused much more in on Harry, Hermione and Ron. Old foils like Malfoy reduced to punching-bag status (literaly). Goregous camera work. Lots of little thing that you appreciate only in afterthought, 'cuz the immediacy of most of the action has you caught up in the moment. Once again, they had to drop an awful lot of the book story line in order to fit it all in, but once again they got it (mostly) right. Prof. Lupin (my favorite Hogwarts teacher) was spot-on. Spoiler - Lupin as werewolf was probably the most intense scene). Sirius Black was appropriatly menacing, until such time as was deemed appropriate. Dementors - very creepy (and I'm not kidding).
On the whole, 2 thumbs up.
teebee
Movie was very enjoyable. Focused much more in on Harry, Hermione and Ron. Old foils like Malfoy reduced to punching-bag status (literaly). Goregous camera work. Lots of little thing that you appreciate only in afterthought, 'cuz the immediacy of most of the action has you caught up in the moment. Once again, they had to drop an awful lot of the book story line in order to fit it all in, but once again they got it (mostly) right. Prof. Lupin (my favorite Hogwarts teacher) was spot-on. Spoiler - Lupin as werewolf was probably the most intense scene). Sirius Black was appropriatly menacing, until such time as was deemed appropriate. Dementors - very creepy (and I'm not kidding).
On the whole, 2 thumbs up.
teebee
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Pong (again)
I wrote a javascript version of the old Atari Pong game awhile ago. Finally posted it on my Geocities site. Find it here.
teebee
teebee
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Looking for a new electric razor
My 25+ year old Norelco isn't cutting it anymore (pun intended). I'm looking for a new electric razor. Anybody have one they like? I don't want to spend a lot of $$ (under $50, if possible). I don't care about rotary vs foil vs whatever - as long as it does a good job.
teebee
teebee
Here's what $5 buys in the valley
