I finally got round robin database working with the weather station data in nantucket, now we have a reviewable history for the temperature inside the house.



Also updated my blog software to 0.4.0 which seems to have some nice features like a "contact me" form and some other goodies. Will have to see if I can update from my phone when I have time tomorrow (login seemed broken last time I tried)

Current Project: RRD Tool

Last night we started to get hit by a textbook noreaster. I have food, heat and internet, no need to go outside, time to sit back and watch the fun.



The wind and drifting left my car oddly exposed considering that some cars are completely buried and the doors on the apartments across the street are covered half way with snow...I hope someone comes to shovel before the unsuspecting tenants open their front door to a flood of snow. Its nice to have weekends to myself, I do eventually need to stat studying to get my MSDN cert (a pay raise if I do) but since I haven't been given any of the information or resources for that, I can't really do anything further.

Current Music: Magnatune Electronica
Current Project: Snowed in

I recently found out that MRTG doesn't need to be running on the system in question in order to get network stats from it. I managed to get SNMP set up with the sveasoft firmware on my Linksys WRT54G router and now have full network stats, polled by my server every 5 minutes and graphed




Current real world stats for my RCN cable connection are 3.3 megabits down, 790 kilobits up, which is not too shabby considering I also get a static IP for $10 more a month and my cable/phone/internet bill from them doesn't even break $100 a month. I have yet to manage to peg my downstream limiter, but I've hit the upstream limit and left a nice flatline on the graph during some testing. Not many sources out there that can feed a constant 3+ megabit dowstream for quick testing.

Also thanks to a WEIRD list posting, I discovered BartPE which has already saved me once at work, oddly enough it was to fix the mess that Norton Ghost caused just by trying to run in preparation for ghosting another computer. Basically its a windows boot CD with full GUI and some useful tools for repairing windows boxes.

A quick hardware review, I decided to blow some christmas money and part of my first paycheck on a Treo 650 communicator. I can now check my IMAP mail boxes from anywhere with sprint PCS coverage, and share my net connection from that phone via Bluetooth thanks to a little hack and the knowledge of Sprint's dialing procedures, though since I can check mail on the phone, I find that I don't often need the rest of the computer when I'm not near a hotspot or network jack.

Current Music: Avenue Q - The internet is for porn
Current Project: Network Engineering

I got a very nice present from my Grandfather this christmas, an old freezer compressor which I am going to use as my compressor at the apartment, as posted previously, the $100 campbell hausfeld is a bit noisy to use in the later hours or when you want peace and quiet. The current stage is a testing rig, which needs to be manually started and stopped using the plug, safety is maintained by a spring-loaded blow valve that the campbell hausfeld compressor came with, and the one issue with this compressor is that it needs to start at 0 psi, otherwise it won't turn over. For now I am using the spare port on the large set of gauges strapped to the side to allow me to vent the lines and start the compressor even with a partially filled air tank. Ideally I would need a one way valve to feed the tank, and some sort of bleed valve to vent the lines to the compressor whenever the compressor stops. Not sure how easy it is to come by such a device, would guess some sort of 110v solenoid valve which closes when power is applied and opens when it is shut off would work.



Current Music: My failing UPS's battery alarm.
Current Project: HVAC Technology