Nino's Joint

As a direct result of how someone’s browser history and various other computing “tracks” left behind being scrutinized, I saw first hand how some folks will “fish” for dirt on the person in question, no matter how innocuous it really was.

Enter TrueCrypt and portable versions of programs.

I use firefox with a few addons and GreaseMonkey scripts run out of an encrypted container.  As a result all my history, preferences, passwords and everything of that nature lives in this encrypted container – nothing is permanently stored outside.

Getting access to this encrypted container happens 1 of 2 ways.  1. You have my passphrase (not likely, not even my wife has it since she works in I.T. Security and needs “plausible deniability”) or 2. You have a high-end grid of computing power and a few months.

I’ve been labeled as paranoid many times.  I’ve been told “If you don’t do anything wrong/bad/illegal, then you have nothing to worry about”.  The sad truth is, I’ve seen people’s completely innocent or obvious jokes turn into things they get grilled about and used against hem in litigation or similar.

No thanks.

Testing post to facebook from self-hosted WordPress.

My Microsoft Sidewinder X8 wireless mouse has given me great service.  The only gripe I have is that the mouse feet are worn to the point to where  the bottom of my mouse is starting to scrape SEE HERE.

I called support: 1-800-624-7676 and eventually landed with a CSR who told me that they do not make them available for purchase and you they will not send replacement feet.  I was informed that they would make a “one time special exception” to replace the entire mouse instead.

My call was disconnected so I was called back (I provided my call-back number) from: 425.882.8080 <–alternate number?  The CSR took my shipping information and told me that they would send me an email confirmation once the replacement order had been placed.  They were having issues with their “system” at the time and therefore he could not place the order and give me immediate confirmation.  He said that if I didn’t get my replacement order email confirmation soon, that I should call back and provide my case number.

I don’t blog as often as I used to. I will be turning this into something that I find useful.

I got the into the habit of documenting things that I don’t do very often, but I find useful to have around in my own “language” so to speak.  I use a forum at work to document daily work and ideas/things we do as the Wireless Team.  This makes it easier to go back and remember how we solved problems that come up and don’t have an easily findable solution for.
I saw a website (Cyrus Lopez = credit) that did just this and it inspired me to get off my ass and convert my tutorials and how-to’s into something other people can find/use.

I’ll get around to it at some point.

I am not quite sure why, but my sleep habits are kind of odd. 

I just got off of a 2 week vacation where I would regularly nap for an hour or two after lunch at around 2-3pm.  Well, two or three days before my vacation ended, I started to wake up at 4-5am and was unable to fall back asleep.  In addition, now that I am unable to “daytime nap”, I’m still getting up at the same time.

The odd portion is that I’m not dying from sleepy/tiredness.  I feel just fine once I get past the initial sleepiness.  I am guessing I’m lucky enough to only need 5-6 hrs of sleep per day.  Hmm…

Powa loves to eat grass. I think the pictures tell the story:

Wait, what’s that I see?	GRASS!!	Better sniff to make sure!
OM NOM NOM NOM OM NOM	SO GOOD! MUST SAVOR THAT FLAVOR!	Yummy…Time to go puke indoors!

I love her to death!

I bought a Samsung HL-S5086W 50" DLP Projection TV in July of ’07 from Best Buy along with the 4 year extended warranty. Sometime in mid-July, I noticed a single white pixel/dot on the screen. It was there no matter what input I selected.

I called Best Buy and they forwarded me to the Geek Squad. The Geek Squad forwarded it me to another department to schedule an in-home visit. After a few days, I was called by who I’m guessing is the company the squad contracted the work to.

The gentleman came by and it took him longer to walk through the door than it did for him to troubleshoot the problem. He instantly said "Oh, it’s the light engine". He wrote up some stuff and had me sign it so that he could order the part.

A few days later, someone from Geek Squad called to let me know that the part was in and that the local guys should contact me to set up a time to come swap the part out. A few days later, they did.
When the technician came out, he pulled the TV apart and showed me the busted part and how he was going to replace it:

After he got the "chip" replaced, he put everything back, aligned the picture and he was off. The TV works good as new.

In retrospect, I could have done the repair having seen what he did. It definitely didn’t look complicated, just tedious.

So yeah. I had my laptop serviced under my on site warranty I bought to prevent me having to send it in for repairs. After receiving incorrect parts the first time the tech came out a second time (with correct parts). After finishing up the video would display.

I sent it off (reason: too many on site visits??) and fed ex lost the laptop.

I’m still without my laptop. I hate red tape.

Well, I got my car back this weekend.  It feels good to be back in the driver’s seat.  I missed it dearly.  At the same time, I’ve also noticed all the creature-comforts that the auto-industry has put in cars since mine was made (2002).  I will have to really think about keeping this car or getting a current year model.   I really like some of the things that are coming out as options for the 2011 vehicles (Voice activated radio, personalized “driver profiles”, bad ass stereo systems, more stock horespower, better reliability, great warranties….etc).
My nephew Daniel stopped by in between his classes.  Good to chat and catch up.  I’ve never really had a chance to sit and talk with him without everyone else around or being in a setting that wasn’t the greatest for holding a conversation.  Looks like he’s truckin’ right along and has a great overall outlook on life.  I’m sure he’ll have fun in his classes.  He’s in concurrent enrollment (1/2 highschool 1/2 college).

-Nino