2008 is Strangely like 2007...

So far, this new year is just like the previous one. Weird... The weather is still cold, my pool playing hasn't changed and all the same stuff that needed to be fixed, still needs to be fixed, and the list goes on...

But, the Christmas tree is gone. I had to cut it all up to just a pole and bags of branches because it was so dried out. But, it got done and is gone to the big Christmas Tree farm in the sky.

The Home Server is working great. I am in the process of moving all of the important data over to it, which it automatically keeps redundantly on two separate disks and it has successfully backed up all the machines each night for most of the week. It also warns you of all problems on any of the computers it manages, so you can resolve them. Anybody that has important data and less than 10 computers, should check these little Home Servers out. In a short while they will be all over, but right now HP is the only company selling them and they cost from $500 to $750 - depending on the amount of disk they have. They are pretty amazing little units that provide a simple, yet elegant, solution to problems that have been around for years.

While Tom and Jade were here, the new E-machine computer had some sort of disk problem that Tom said woke him up one night. Then, all sorts of other issues started happening so I took the E-machine back to Best Buys yesterday after rebuilding it to stock – replacing all the upgraded case fans, memory, power supply, cables, etc. They agree the disk was trashed when they tried to use their ‘special Geek Squad’ utilities on it. So, they said they would swap it out. They didn’t have the same model so they were going to sway it out for some other computer at the same price point. When they saw that I had only paid $109.99 for it, at the Black Friday sale, they freaked saying that the cheapest, and less capable, computer they had would cost at least $399 and I would have to pay the difference. That wasn’t going to happen so I suggested that I buy one of the 320 gb disks that were on sale last week for $59.95 and they could just put it in, they said that they couldn’t give me the last week sale price on it - Grumble, Grumble… So, I started getting a little pissed off at that point and their manager called around and found another new one at some other store and they are sending it to swap out. So, I will have to rebuild it hardware and software wise when it arrives… Big cheap computer fun…

The last two nights I played in my pool leagues. On Wednesday night, I won all four of my games. The rest of the team also won four games between them all, so we ended up tying the other team at 8 to 8...

I was driving the Lincoln and somehow the front bumper under panel got hung up on a bolt coming out of the concrete parking stop in the parking lot and tore it loose. When I tried to drive home, it was banging around so I returned and got it taped up and took it down to a body shop to get fixed for free, since the body shop owner is the pool team captain.

Then, last night, I ended up getting 32 out of a possible 40 points, which was not up to my standard, but crap happens. There were a ton of people in there and it was really hard on the eyes. Then, last night something really weird happened. When I came home from playing pool and went into the bedroom, I noticed a petty loud 60 cycle hum coming from the corner of the room where the entertainment center lives. I thought it must be some component or electronic thingie was flipping out and started troubleshooting. We unplugged everything a couple of times, went outside to check if the air conditioner unit was somehow on and checked all over and can find nothing. There is nothing in under or over that living area, that is powered or has anything that could generate such a noise that I am aware of… It went on all last night and is still going. It is driving me crazy. There also is no hum in any room close to it – just in that one place… We have also had a circuit trip from the same general area, but not that plug, a couple of times lately. I really don’t see how that is connected, but…

I am going to have to put together some sort of a directional listening device and try to isolate the source. If that doesn’t work, its hammer time, I guess…

If you don’t hear from me again, there was probably some nasty animal or electrical nastiness that got me under the Dahouse…