things done today

* take boy to hockey
* get potable antifreeze from Canadian Tire
* extract trailer from garage
* fend off numerous assault strikes by lady bugs
* winterize trailer plumbing system
* remove trailer battery
* move all winter stuff to the front of the garage
* re-insert trailer into garage
* replace the contents of the garage in front of trailer
* mow the lawn
* weed-wack the lawn

Things not done today:

* finish getting all the junk out of the dining room
* Maple Story :)

posted at 5:02 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2007 in Personal | Comments Off on things done today

automation

I’ve been a big fan of computer automation for as long as I’ve been computing. Computers are partcularly well suited for repetitive, mundane tasks. I used to have a system set up at Alias, based on “track”:ftp://ftp.cs.toronto.edu/pub/track.README, that would automatically keep all of the system software and configuration files up-to-date, long before HP Software bought Radia :-). My PVR is probably my current ultimate example; it automatically downloads TV listings from the source, searches those listings for my favourite shows, resolves conflicts, etc.; all without my input!

Anyway, it always surprises me when I power on an infrastructure server, and the LDAP server or Perforce server or whatever isn’t configured to start automatically! I mean really; who runs around manually starting essential services after a power outage? I thought we stopped doing that in the 1970s…

(We had to power down our labs over the weekend, because the A/C cooling tower on the roof was being refurbished. It took me all day today to get everything running properly again…)

posted at 5:35 pm on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 in Programming, Science and Technology | Comments Off on automation

quiet

computer rooms are eerie when you turn everything (including the UPSes) off for the weekend…

posted at 5:42 pm on Friday, October 05, 2007 in Miscellaneous | Comments Off on quiet