Future projects

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UPDATE — So I decided to try for a slightly cheaper pfSense solution.  I snagged a quad port NIC from StarTech and hooked it into my VM Linux host running VirtualBox.  I virtualized pfSense and exposed the quad ports via bridged adapters.  So far, so good. My latency and speeds are even a little better than they were with DD-WRT.  I’m a little nervous that I’m making my VM machine a huge single point of failure.  But since it already does DNS, among other things, it’s already in that spot already.  I can always fall back to my Asus (now relegated to AP duty) if I need to.

So I’m always planning (or scheming) new things I want to do when I get the time and money.  Well, mostly the money.  Ha! Most of the projects are tech related, but there’s the occasional home improvement project.

  • A new computer chair
    • Yeah, it’s an Aeron.  My old chair is an Office Max special from 2008 and is practically begging for a replacement.  Since I spend a good portion of my time in this chair, I might as well do it ergonomically and comfortably.
  • A new LAN setup with a better firewall and backup solution
    • I’m currently running DD-WRT on an Asus RT-N16.  It’s not a bad setup, but DD-WRT can be a pain in the ass.  A friend showed me pfSense and it’s been really hard to ignore.  My current thought was to retire the Asus and use the Time Capsule for its 802.11ac functionality.  I’ve already got a 10/100/1000 Cisco switch to work with, so scrapping the Asus isn’t a terrible thought.
  • A new desktop and a new gaming rig
    • My Mac Mini desktop harkens back to 2010.  My “gaming” rig is even older; top of the line 2008.  A pretty heavy duty 690 GTX spurred some new life into the latter.  I’d honestly love to dual 27″ the Mac Pro and bring in a decent gaming rig.  I play more console games these days, but I still like to play the majority of my FPS games on PC.

It’s a shame all this easily adds up to the thousands, if not the early tens.  Shame money doesn’t grow on trees, right? Now it’s really just a matter of prioritizing everything and deciding what I really want.

Unsuccessful login attempts

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Seriously, why can’t more online services offer these notifications? If I know I haven’t tried to login recently, an unsuccessful login notification is a great tipper to me that I need to potentially change my passwords, etc.  Unless, of course, my account is associated with a rather prevalent & popular username that everyone is trying to login to and/or reset.

Oh, the pains of having a semi-old Gmail account with a rather well-desired username…

The unknown caller and the lack of voicemail

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Do you always answer your phone, regardless of who’s calling you? It’s rare that I actually talk on my phone. When I do though, I generally know who’s calling me. Periodically, I’ll get a call from a number I don’t recognize at all. I often let these calls go to voicemail. If you really want to talk to me, and you’re not a wrong number or a scammer, you should – theoretically – leave me a message and I’ll return your call. That is the way voicemail is supposed to work right?

Or better yet, if it’s important, call again! Call back within the next few minutes and I’ll most likely answer if I’m near the phone.

Simple, right?

Dead printer

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D’oh! My venerable HP Photosmart C6280 finally gave up the ghost.  I had this beast of an inkjet since 2008.  I originally got it at Staples.  I got it ridiculously cheap too; the store failed to tag it properly and the manager happily let it go for less than a $100.  I guess it’s more than paid for itself in over five years.  Now, of course, comes the unhappy task of finding a replacement.  No doubt I’ll never see that same price deal again though…

Adventures in eDating: Part 1

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So I’ve been meaning to do a series on my experiences with eDating for awhile now.  I’m a tall man (6’4-6’5″, depending on who’s measuring) in my late twenties, somewhat cursed with the dreaded “computer guy” (nerd) looks.  My success in the bar scene has never been anything remarkable, so I’ve often looked to eDating sites in my search for companionship.  For better or for worse, these sites have often been hit or miss for their own varying reasons.

I have/had accounts on Match.com, OkCupid, and POF (PlentyOfFish).  My hope is to do a series of blog posts on each site.  Since everyone loves quick and dirty summaries though, this has been my take on those “big three” thus far.

  • Match.com: The big name in paid eDating.  My biggest gripe with the site? Too many inactive members and/or “bot” accounts.  If you message a woman you’re interested in, she has to be a subscriber to even see your message.  Unfortunately, you have no idea who pays and who doesn’t.  It quickly becomes a shot in the dark as to whether someone’s not reply due to lack of interest or simply due to a lack of a paying subscription.
  • OkCupid: Free and feature filled — for the most part.  OKC got purchased by Match.com’s operators back in 2011.  The girls here are generally more active, have more free-form – and thus, completed – profiles.  Sadly, the response ratio is pretty low.  It’s hotly debated as to why, but the two prevailing theories are that the ratio of men to women is way off or that women (and men) simply use OKC to window shop too much.
  • PlentyOfFish: Oh, my.  The MySpace of dating sites.  This poor eDating site never seems to know what it wants to be.  The owner, Markus, is always changing the fucking thing.  And by always, I mean always.  The site doesn’t have the technological advantages of OKC, but it has a more active userbase than Match.com.  The big downside? The site feels like a huge sausage fest.  People just seem more randy and less educated.

So which site do I like the best? Thus far it’s been OkCupid.  My profile can be fairly complete, easy to maintain, and the search features are pretty powerful.  With A-List, the paid functionality piece of OkCupid, better features are slowly making their way into the code base so the site hasn’t stagnated like (or as badly as) POF or Match.  At some point I need to try eHarmony.  I feel like they run more a Christian marriage site, so I’ve always been a bit more wary…

Until next time!

EBT hurts my head

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I’m probably going to take some flack for this one, but begrudge me a WTF.

It really chaps my ass when I see someone who, in my humble opinion, is abusing EBT or Electronic Benefit Transfer.  EBT is for food benefits or food stamps, purchased with an electronic payment card.  I’m pretty sure the system was not made to allow John Q. Public a full purchase of junk food at 7-Eleven.  Today I watched “John” purchase a full, hot ‘n ready pizza, chips, candy bars, and soda with his EBT card.  After the transaction was completed, he went on to buy a carton of cigarettes with his own cash.  Mind you, it was a carton, not a pack.  I guess I’m fortunate that my state doesn’t allow non-food purchases with EBT cards.

But seriously, though.  WTF? Why should I have to work for my pizza when I can just be a bum and use EBT? I mean, after all, I can still use my hard earned begging money to go buy my cigarettes and beer.  Which is what this guy did after leaving the 7-Eleven.  In fact, as I left the store with my purchases, the bum had the nerve to ask if I had money for a bus pass.  I suggested next time he skip the whole carton and purchase a transit pass.  I got the bird for my sage advice.

Am I wrong in wanting these cards to only be used for essential nutrients and not a pepperoni pizza? Some of my more liberal friends call me “discriminatory” for suggesting this.  I say to them, if you’re on EBT and you want a pizza – get a job! Earn your treats.  Have respect for yourself and others.  Do something with your life!

Do something…

Don’t take my business for granted

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A few months ago, my 4th generation iPod touch‘s home button began to show signs of unresponsiveness.  Since the iPod was still under warranty, I made an appointment with the local Apple Store for service.  I’m always amazed at how busy the Apple Stores are.  There’s never a quiet moment inside these glass enclosures.  The visit to this store was no exception.

After a brief wait, a Genius played with my iPod’s home button for a minute before opting for an instant replacement.  I happily took this iPod home and set out to restore it.  When I got home and powered the iPod, I found the backlight was damaged — the screen was awash with white.  Lame.  I made arrangements to take the iPod back to the store the following week.

The next Genius thought I was clearly smoking crack.  How could one of their perfect refurb iPods have a bad backlight? “We check these things, sir.”  Right… After play scolding me for another minute, she brings out another refurb iPod.  I ask if we can power this one on in the store, “just to make sure.”  The iPod won’t power on.  So much for that factory pre-charge, right? She tells me to take this one home and just let it charge for a bit.  “It’d be incredibly rare to get another bad iPod,” she says.

Well as it turns out, this one’s a dud too! This iPod won’t even hold a charge long enough to power on.  Now I’m irritated.  I call Apple and eventually get in touch with one of the local store managers.  (They briefly tried to shuffle me off to AppleCare.)  “What do you think we should do to make this right,” he asks.  I tell him it’d be great to get a replacement iPod out of retail packaging and not a refurbished unit.  He quickly agrees and I’m, once again, off to the Apple Store.

The Geniuses aren’t very sympathetic.  “There’s just no way we gave you two defective iPods!” I can’t help but detect the underlying loss-prevention tone.  They think there’s some kind of fraud going on, but they replace the iPod as the manager instructs.  I tell the girl, “I just wanted the situation right from the start.”  The first defective refurb should have prompted an immediate retail exchange.  Three trips later should entitle me to “something.”  A $10 iTunes gift card, maybe?

Maybe I sound greedy, but in the past, companies worked hard to keep your business.  When I worked for a mom ‘n pop business, the owners bent over backwards to keep the customer happy.  New parts, store credits, etc.  Now you’re lucky if you get the thing you originally asked for.  I realize Apple’s a huge corporation, but they should never forget their roots or the little guy.

What do you think? Sound off!

The power of Search

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It’s really amazing to me how many people have found solutions to the Amazon Instant Video MP1026 error solely from this blog.  I’m linked to from quite a few sites and forums out there, as well as being the top Google hit for “Amazon” and “MP1026.”  Now if only Amazon would document the error in their knowledge base!

Unfortunately, the site’s new-found notoriety has brought a torrent of comment spammers.  I moderate the comments on this blog, since 99% of them are shit from spam bots.  Initially, I’d see a spam comment every few weeks.  Now I see several on a daily basis.  I configured Apache to be a little more aggressive, “banning” several spammer-friendly countries and enabling DNSBL checks on the comment page.  Unfortunately, these additional restrictions haven’t been sufficient.

Since I’m still getting inundated with comment spam, I’ve decided to give Akismet a go.  With any luck, I won’t be wasting anymore time dealing with spammers here.  On the upside, though, it’s reminded me that I do need to blog some more 🙂

Server hard drive failures

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This week, the server hosting this blog, and a number of my online services, failed from a dying hard drive.  I maintain daily snapshots of critical directories like /home and /etc with rsnapshot.  Periodically, I’ll also rsync over a full copy of root.  I figured a quick swap of the drive, a long rsync, and we’d be back in business.

I was wrong.

The backup drive where I held the full backup wouldn’t spin up.  The daily snapshots were intact, but the OS was shot.  I’ve used Gentoo on my servers, off and on, for almost the past ten years now.  If there’s a prevalent Linux server distribution out there, I’ve probably used it.  I’ve also had my share of the BSDs.  I always come back to Gentoo … until now.

A sysadmin gig a few years back exposed me to Debian.  I enjoyed the rapid installation of packages that came with a binary distribution.  I’ve also come to appreciate the stability and maturity of Debian.  While a few upgrades bit me in the ass over the years; new tools like etckeeper help minimize this problem.

Truthfully, though, I’ve grown tired of the compile times associated with Gentoo.  There’s also the occasional upgrade that breaks shit in true WTF fashion.  These are the upgrades that send me scrambling to the IRC channel and forums for help.  And while the people there are very friendly and very helpful, I can easily kill a day or two fixing a problem I shouldn’t have had in the first place.  QA just seems more “effective” on Debian.

Now before you think I’m totally tearing down Gentoo, stop.  Gentoo still has its place.  It’s still a great Linux distribution.  If you’ve never used Portage or USE flags, try them out sometime.  I guarantee you’re in for a treat! The system is just that powerful.  I still run a fair number of Gentoo machines at home and I don’t see that ending anytime soon.

I find I’m at a stage in my life where I really don’t want to be banging my head against the wall with system upgrades on critical servers (i.e., machines serving my email, DNS, et cetera).  Yes, we need upgrades, especially security upgrades.  If I can spend less time doing upgrades and more time enjoying my life, I’m going to do that.  I still enjoy running my own systems and don’t see myself converting to Google Apps anytime soon.  I just figured I’d try and rationalize the sudden switch in Linux distributions.

Amazon Instant Video Xbox Error MP1026

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I frequently make use of Amazon Prime’s Instant Video access on my Xbox.  Recently, I had begun receiving error “MP1026” on the system when trying to play content.  The error was doggedly persistent.  I restarted the Xbox, signed in and out of Xbox Live, and reinstalled the Amazon app countless times.  I finally appealed to Amazon’s support via email.

Annoyingly, the support tech suggested I call in to receive further tech support, not knowing how to resolve the elusive MP1026.  (At least he admitted his inability to solve the problem, as opposed to sending me a worthless, canned reply.)  Perhaps by accident, I discovered my own resolution to the problem.

Going through the storage section of my Xbox: I nuked the Amazon app, the Amazon “Title Update,” and all the cache files.  I had previously deleted all but the latter several times prior.  I guess nuking the Xbox’s cache files did the trick, because now I can watch videos again without getting the dreaded MP1026 error.

Maybe this will help other folks out there…