Geek Desktop

I had a small nerdgasm when I first laid eyes on this.

I wonder if it’s a resource hog.

Hoozyrdady.

Lloyd Kahn – “Shelter is More than a Roof Over Your Head”

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

Mad Chimp

I’m running a few virtual machines, and I try to give each a unique background wallpaper to ease ID’ing each instance. I couldn’t find one for my MadMonkey so I fired up Gimp and whipped this one out.

Turned out pretty good, huh?

Hoozyrdady.

Geek Projects

I've discovered Geek Dad. My favorite article to date is 100 Essential Skills for Geeks from last week.


As Geeks we are expected to have a certain set of skills that the majority of the population does not possess. This list is by no means complete, but I think it is a good sample of the skills required to be a true geek. I won’t pretend to have all the skills listed here. I even had to Google a few of them.
Like all good Geeks you should be able to utilize resources to accomplish any of these things. Knowing where to look for the knowledge is as good as having it so give yourself points if you are certain that you could Google the knowledge necessary for a skill.

1. Properly secure a wireless router.
2. Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
3. Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
4. Screw with Wifi leeches.
5. Setup and use a VPN.
6. Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
7. Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
8. Turn a web camera into security camera.
9. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
10. Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.

Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/07/100-essential-skills-for-geeks-geekdad-wayback-machine/#ixzz0uLS6HDeW

Hoozyrdady

It’s Worth Learning

One or both of Darth’s front wheels have developed a squeal. Sounds like low brake pads.  While airing up the tires this morning I noticed the driver’s side front wheel rim is a lot hotter than the others… crap, does that indicate a bad wheel bearing?

Update: Duh! Most likely the heat’s from a stuck caliper. I’m off ‘til Tuesday, sometime this weekend I’ll pull he tire for a look.

Anyways. It’s time I learned how to do that stuff myself. I’ve watched & helped my brother fix brakes and replace wheel bearings a few times so I’m not completely ignorant.

What brings this up now is the Taurus is in the shop for brake work. Turns out I need new hardware at all four corners… New rotors, a caliper and pads in the front, new pads and pistons for the rear. All told it will cost a bit over $500, and a chunk of that is for labor.

I’d rather pay myself, if you know what I mean.

Next weekend I’m heading out to the Folk’s place where I can use their massive driveway and garage to continue my mechanical ed-joo-cation. Between my Dad and I there are no shortage of tools, and the nearest NAPA is all of 30 minutes away.

All I need is to find a good manual.

Darth also has a nasty case of rot down around his bottom edges. I’m going to get some spray on rust killer and hopefully stop further deterioration (check out the 6:30 mark).

Fun.

Hoozyrdady.

Road Trip Car Setup

We’d like to start taking road trips. There are plenty of places suited for mini-vacations within driving distance up here.

Some good ideas I would like to incorporate into Darth, along with the existing list of desired upgrades and fixes.

Power setup – inverter, batteries, volt meter, etc.

Space heater.

Roof rack (maybe a ladder)

Small fridge instead of a cooler?

Internet TV

I’m giving serious thought to ditching DirecTV via QWest. It was a good package deal three years ago; Two receivers, phone w/ voicemail and unlimited long distance (whatever that is) and high speed DSL all for $120 a month.

In three years, the monthly bill has crept up to $175 a month, and that’s after I dropped the phone line and switched to MagicJack. So $175 for Satellite TV (near basic package, no movie channels or sports stuff) and DSL.

Bah, I say!

Notes-

minimum pc specs for online tv

• Can I frankenstein a working box together out of all the spare parts I have on hand?
• OS -  MediaPortal (freeware for Win XP SP2)

Do I have enough bandwidth for more than one tv, plus online gaming and magicjack?

Remotes

Remote options

HDTV antenna.

• For internet outages, local broadcasts/news, those few programs not available online.
  
• Instructabels has a DIY antenna.
  
• Hometown gets crap HD reception, according to the FCC

How it should work -
1) Turn on the TV
2) Turn on PC (if off)
3) No login needed, straight to GUI
4) ONE Remote for TV and PC
5) Create a secure partition for sensitive objects/docs.

Best Debris Shelter I’ve Seen

I’d much rather build something like this than a single person shelter you have to crawl into, or a lean-to that’ll get you wet if the wind turns.

The Boys and I will try this one of these days.

Hoozyrdady.

Where’s the Shack?

Good question. A year ago I posted about undertaking my most ambitious project ever. Here we are in March of 2009 and nothing has been done.

Here’s the deal – Mom & Dad have been off again on again about selling their land and relocating closer to town. Up until last week they had decided to stay put, so Project Shack was back on again.

Lo’ and behold, up popped an 80 acre homestead located just outside of town and within their price range.

Project Shack is now Off again. Once the muck dries up I’ll be out on the present acreage clearing deadwood and chopping it up for firewood, at the same time I’ll keep an eye out for a good spot, just in case. Maybe I’ll buy a few acres from my folks.

Meh. We’ll see.

Hoozyrdady.

Samurize

It’s about time I posted some of my projects. This one here is something I work on when server maintenance gets boring.

I first read about Samurize on Lifehacker.com. I run this setup on my secondary monitor at work. It’s big, taking up allot of screen space, and a work in progress. I made all but the weather stuff; it’s a config that came with the Samurize install that I’m slowly tweaking to match the rest of my setup. There are loads of plugins and such available for download, but I’m challenging myself to make do with the installed bells & whistles as possible. The weather.2004 stuff was proving to be a headache so I cheated. Hey, why kill myself reinventing the wheel?

On the left I have CPU, Memory and Network info, the current weather, a 5 day forecast and the latest radar image. On the right there’s running services, a work log and a section for notes on the bottom.

T’would be cool if I could get some images displayed randomly from My Pictures, and there is a plugin for that, I just haven’t played with it yet.

In the future I’ll work on a setup for my main home PC and laptop. Since I only rock the single monitor in the Underground Command Center that config will be way more compact and I’ll try for a more stylish, sci fi look.

Like this guy’s -

Click the picture to visit his flikr page.

Both the home and laptop displays will monitor vital stats like temp, loads, battery power level, Wi-Fi signal strength, so on and so forth. Maybe I’ll run an icon less desktop.

Stay tuned.

Hoozyrdady.

2009 Darth Update

Late last Fall I found and purchased an '88 donor suburban with a hopefully strong running engine. The test drive was fun, the brakes were just about non-existent. The wrecker hauled it off to the garage.

Red spoke with Mech Dude around October and work was being done between priority (i.e. paying) work. Y'see, I'm broke so Darth can sit at Mech Dude's for a little longer.

The donor's interior is shot. A missing rear window guarantees the cargo area is fun-kay.

The upholstery defies description. What the hell - It's as if a nudist, backwoods meth head with a soap allergy moved in for a year and rubbed every inch of his bare flesh up and down all over the place.

Besides the engine, the only thing I can think of salvaging is some of the glass. Oh, and other assorted odds and ends like bulbs, lenses, maybe the beat to shit grill guard. Connectors.

Future parts list, no particular order-

Glowplugs- 60G plugs. Part #12563554 - Better plugs but burn cooler. The burn time must be increased. There are hotter plugs, but these are available anywhere.

Manual glow plug contol.

Second fuel filter- If I start experimenting with alternate fuels, a second high performance inline fuel filter would save me much heartache.

Tachometer.

Tires- Darth is sporting new tires, but if towing an upgrade will be in order.

Roof rack.

Dual Optima red top batteries- any of ya'll in the market for a kidney? I've hardly abused it.

Hoozyrdady.

Darth - The Search Continues

I'm still looking for a new engine for Darth, and it's turning into a big pain in the ass. If I wanted a gas engine, they almost grow on trees. 6.2 or 6.5L diesel engines, on the other hand, not so much.

I have two leads for donor vehicles; The first one is local and cheap with a low mileage 6.5L engine. If only he'd answer his phone.

The second lead I've kind of blown off. It's a high mileage daily driver located a few hours away. The plus side is it has some new parts Darth could use besides the motor but it would take most of my budget just to buy it.

I like the idea of purchasing a donor vehicle because it would be a good source of spare parts and glass, and I can sell the stripped carcass afterwards. Have you seen the prices for scrap metal these days?

If all goes well I will take Friday off to buy the donor and get it to the garage. Wish me luck.

Hoozyrdady.

The Shack

I posted this on the main page, really should have put it here... oh, well. I'm too lazy to fix it. The creeping mung is trying to sneak up on me again.... damned flu.

Hoozyrdady

Darth Maximus Touchup

Wow! An honest to goodness project fer the Project page! It’s about damned time.

Darth Maximus has an ugly ass hood. After years of sun, snow, tree sap and bird poo it was very fugly.

I’d heard about the Dupli-Color Shield product, a spray on bug and chip shield I have been dying to test. I didn’t think Red would be too happy if I used her Ride for a guinea pig so when Darth M and his mile wide hood came along…

When the thermometer wandered above 50 degrees (minimum recommended temp on the can) I leaped into action and prepped the patient. I warmed up the engine for that extra degree or two.

It all went smoothly. Big difference, huh?

And the finished product.

This job took the entire can. Even though the finish is flat, it goes on thick enough to cover the imperfections on the hood’s surface. I think it looks great.

Supposedly the shield will stand up to rain and snow, bugs and small rocks. To remove it I’ll need either scrubbing with soap and water or a pressure washer. Let’s see how it does this winter.

Hoozyrdady.

Test

My very first project

Will be figuring out how to post multiple pictures nice and neat.

Hoozyrdady

Under Construction

I have lots of projects and plans rattling around upstairs, like beans in a coffee can. I'll push my internet skills to their meager limits posting pictures and details here.

If nothing else, it should be good for a laugh.

Hooz.