I have more stuff than what you see here (but not much), but like to keep it private. Want in? Tell me why... I can't help it, I have trust issues. Never know who is watching.

If you want to talk on AIM, msg me your ID and I'll add you to my flist.


Thanks,
Management

(all comments on this thread are filtered; we'll have no bots searching for AIM names here)

Ordinarily, I don't. However, there is an article that many of you may not have seen...

xkcd in the news

Well, it's 4:28 AM. I'm up. I've been up since 3:30-something, and I just feel not tired. I would love nothing more than to get to sleep, but such as it is.

I'm thinking about everything and nothing. If that seems nonsensical that's probably because it is. I was supposed to get a phone call yesterday from work about something that had to be done in NYC, but I guess it was forgotten. So that means I'll get to walk into a 4-alarm fire which I love to do.

Orange juice would be good about now.

I'm thinking about the downpipe on the Audi that decided that it wanted to check out. It gives this wonderful resonation inside the car. It's pretty bad as nothing is coming out of the exhaust pipe itself, which tells me it's a true failure. Should have the new one this week, so that'll help a bit. Still need to go about getting a boost gauge for the car as it does not have one (and it REALLY should in my opinion). I suppose I can go check out where I can find a A-pillar gauge pod so I've got somewhere to put the gauge. For the 8.7 psi that it is making (that would be categorized as slow) I guess I shouldn't be all that concerned, but I'm a car nerd and I like to know WTF my car is doing under the hood.

I really want some juice.

So I've still got the Trans Am hanging out in space. I need it to break 40 degrees so that I can continue to put it back together. It's been down since December of 2006, and I've forgotten what it is like to drive an F-body. Probably going to hate it, but it's got the LS2 for it so that could really help matters. Then I can sell it. It isn't a practical/Toby-compatible car. It's fun, it's sporty, it's fast. Three things that I haven't been in some time. But I digress. I sold my first LS1 F-body, my beloved 2000 Camaro SS, the first and only car I bought new. I learned that buying new isn't for me. The depreciation is too great, and warranties are meaningless to a guy like me. Why? Because I can never leave well-enough alone. Where's the fun in that?

Hey, 4:40AM. Time for some orange juice!

So I've purchased a Megasquirt setup for the Audi. It's a programmable electronic engine controller. It's cheap. You actually build it yourself. Here's the website with more info:

http://www.megasquirt.info

I'm using it to replace the existing one that's in the car (and made by Bosch). There are few tuning options for the Audi in regards to using the stock ECU, and realistically speaking taking a car that makes 150 HP and bringing it up to 500 HP is definitely going to take some tuning to accomplish it.

How do you get 500 HP from a 1.8 liter engine? Simple. Boost. Lots and lots of boost. More than 1.5 atmospheres (1.5 Bar or 21 psi) with the proper turbo will get you there. Seem crazy? Maybe. But I did it before. I had my 2003 Jetta with an identical engine. With a 45 trim turbo, it put down 280 horsepower at the wheels. That's roughly 330 or so crank horsepower. That's almost as much as the C5 Corvettes that were prowling the streets at the time (circa 2005/2006).

To many, a car is just an object you own. It gets you from point A to B. To me, a car isn't just transportation. It's an expression of myself. Old or new, doesn't really matter. But I always prefer technology to be present. An older car with new tech is just magic. It's a sleeper. A wolf in sheeps clothing. I'm good at making that happen.

In the coming months, I'll post up more info about everything. Could prove to be interesting to some of you. Maybe you have some questions regarding car stuff... If you post them up, I'll listen. I've even been known to take the time to help out some folks with their car problems...

Why is the big boss so hellbent on Exchange? Methinks he is up to no good. I see this ending in one of several ways:

1. He is escorted out the door by security.
2. I find a better opportunity.

I don't like either one of those choices, but I'm somewhat limited in my choices. I've been doing email for the better part of a decade, most notably GroupWise. 'I built this place' comes to mind when I think about it. I put together a system that's for the most part there when they need it. It does have failures, but there are things out of my control. I don't control the switches that connect the servers together. If there is a hiccup, cluster services can and does pooch the services. It causes a temporary (under 2 minute) outage.

We could put everyone in Caching Mode, which emulates what you have in MS Exchange and Notes. It saves server computing power, and it saves network traffic. It puts the burden of handling certain functions (such opening messages and attachments) to the desktop system instead of having the client go out to the server, make the request, the server getting the data and pushing it down to the client to display. Also, if the service migrates to another node the clients don't see it directly. Their client will not shut down due to lack of connectivity to the post office.

In Outlook, what happens if you lose your PST/OST? You are shit out of a mailbox. GroupWise doesn't work that way, even in Caching Mode. Your mailbox blows up in Caching Mode, you can wipe it out from your desktop and recache it. We keep your email on the server at any time. You have multiple methods of access.

Having Exchange is a great way to screw productivity simply because it's got a big target painted on it. When you tie the OS in with the services it provides, you sacrifice the security. When you allow seamless integration into the client, you sacrifice security. When you allow the sort of scripting that is present in Outlook to run on your client (typically using a hack that has more rights than the user that's logged in) you sacrifice stability and security.

You can (or at least you could) view anyones email box in Exchange. Even if they've hardened the security I'm willing to bet that there is STILL a way for you to do so. With GroupWise, it's not that way. All data on the server is compressed and encrypted.

Is this pure nerdery? Yes it is. Am I preaching to a bunch of tech savvy folks? Maybe. But understand that holding a handful of Microsoft certifications (including one for MS Exchange) and exactly zero in anything Novell. I'm telling you that while there are things that make Microsoft great, there are just as many things that will make you cry as an administrator.

We went there tonight for a couple of hours. I sat in the backseats of over a dozen different vehicles. I'm still considering getting something in lieu of keeping the TA. But a majority of the cars I like has seats in the back but no legroom so that's a no-go. I did LOVE a certain Dodge Ram truck. I think it might have been a Megacab design, but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is that I *loved it.

A lot of inconsiderate people there. I crop dusted them to my amusement. They walk right in front of you as you are looking at something, or slide through to get into a vehicle that you are looking at (I had that happen at least twice like I was opening it for them). A lot of kids that were just out of control.

I like the new Mini Cooper S. It's turbocharged, so that is cool. The Evo MR from Mitsubishi is nice. I looked at a lot of different Audi cars, but the convertibles... well, not just Audi's... have zero legroom which makes them of no use to me. Some really nice Audi 4 seaters with V8 engines, again no legroom. The 300C was a really nice car, I'll need to take another look at that.

Overall it was a fun time. Glad we had the chance to go.


Also, today I sold my soul when I agreed to pilot a test program for MS Exchange in our company. Then again, I'm not really all that happy with our Novell rep (Tim Grocki) since I sent him a message inquiring about GroupWise 8 (Bonsai) that went totally unanswered. I'd love to go back to Novell and tell them how after a lack of communication with our account rep we decided to go in another direction.

If nothing else, MSExchange will give me another notch on my resume so I figure why not...

So, I have always wanted a cotton candy machine. I LOVE cotton candy. So, Trase and I discussed it. She pointed out that she found an online tutorial on how to make your own machine. So we watched it.

Well, a couple of Snapple bottlecaps, a small DC motor, some random hardware 'from the homedepots', a lighter, and cardboard background and he was in business. Honestly, it looked like an absolute fucking hazard to operate. No way I'd eat something from it either.

Then, there are the little 'home' machines online for about $30-50. Many sites are out of stock, other sites are just questionable as to whether or not you'd actually get the item if you bought. I asked what the rate of return was on one of those machines as I was looking up real machines. Some reviews mentioned that the home machine was difficult to clean, and that they had a low yield.

Wow, so I too can make a whole bag of cotton candy every 36 hours. Oh joy.

Then she gazed upon an Ebay auction for an Easybake oven and a mini cotton candy machine. So while I'm going grey waiting for my sugar fix, she can wait an hour for a fucking lightbulb to make a cupcake.

Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for a real machine...

Gone are the days of vehicles I actually liked. Some of my personal favorites, like the Audi A6 which had a nice little twin turbo V6, the LS1 based F-body, the all-wheel-drive turbocharged DSM, are history. They've replaced them with slightly larger versions, normally aspirated (read: boring) V6's or in some cases V8's or killed it due to lack of sales. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice V8 powered car. I've had several, most notably my 3 ton Avalanche or my short lived stint in a 03 Cobra. But the feeling of a good turbocharged setup, not having to wait for the torque to kick in with RPM, not watching the gas gauge advance towards the 'E' at a frightening pace, is a pure force of nature. I've had only a few cars with turbochargers. Granted you can install one on just about any vehicle, but there is effort and time involved. And let's face it; who really has that much of either nowadays?

So I watch my personal favorite pastime, the automobile, evolve toward something else. I suppose I can blame some of it on the average consumer to whom a car is nothing more than personal transportation. That is not me though. I grew up in a Chevy household, the last of a virtually dead breed. My father would never consider having owned a Ford. He did own a couple Dodge vehicles along the way, but none of them lasted that long. He did own a couple of Volkswagen Beetles. You know the *real* Beetle. The one where the engine was in the trunk, and the trunk was in the front. There was no radiator, it was air cooled. It was a rather timeless design. They made almost 22 million of those little cars over the near 60 year lifespan. The 'replacement' Beetle is nothing like it's predecessor. Don't even get me started...

Now I drive an Audi A4 Avant. It's slow, but it is loyal. It gets great fuel economy. It carries my son with his baby seat without issue. It is all wheel drive, as is the Audi claim to fame. It's got the powerplant of my VW Jetta, 1.8T (T is for turbo). It is a manual (I loathe automatics). So there is abundant potential there in my honest opinion. It is, for all intents and purposes, my silver lining of an automobile industry on hiatus. Granted, it's 9 years old but do I care? No, I love it.

Eventually, I'll need to consider another vehicle. It won't be a new if I can help it; I can't bring myself to take that bad of a beating/depreciation. Warranties mean absolutely nothing to me; I can spin a wrench just fine as many that know me can attest to. And it all boils down to maintenance anyways; take care of the car and it will in many cases take care of you.

Okay, enough of me whining. I should try to go back to bed. Four hours of sleep just isn't enough for anyone.

It's an amazing thing. I say this as my son is still sleeping. He should've woken up at least once by now, but I'm sure he is very busy with the growing and such. To say that being a dad is important to me is sort of an understatement. I could no more live without air than not be a dad. I can never understand the guys that have a child (or even children) and can just turn a blind eye to them. That's part of you. Why do you do that? I can think of no greater dishonor than to be that way. The pride I have in thinking that this little boy is part of me as much as I am a part of him... brings tears to me eyes.

Is being a dad difficult? At times, sure. But then again, it's worth more than anything. Seeing Toby happy makes me happy. Hearing Toby laugh makes me laugh (and does this kid laugh). In many ways, he is a smaller version of me. He learns quickly. You can watch him work things out in his head. He's very well behaved, especially for a little boy of 18 months, 1 day old. He likes to cuddle with me, which is definitely something I'll miss as he gets older. The best I can do is get as much of him as I can now, because one day the opportunities that I have with him now will be gone forever.

I'm sitting here, just thinking...

At what point does one have a breakdown in the brain that logic is no longer? When do you determine that someone else must die? I say this as I'm watching a Linkin Park video (What I've Done). There is all sorts of imagery in it. Some of military weapons being fired. Famine. Just destruction occuring.

Why do we feel this need to kill other people? I mean, in a very rudamentary way, what the fuck is the problem? What warrants killing another person? What warrants killing several? What about thousands? Millions? The military has gotten exceeding (and alarmingly) efficient as taking whole cities of people and buildings and reducing it to bodies and rubble.

Why? I don't understand it. Maybe it's thinking like this that prohibited my trek through the US Army as an infantryman. I just think too much.

A back and forth cycle of murdering each other? Why? They killed some of us, so we kill some of them? Who's going to break it? I don't see it being them. I don't see it being us. If you feel that you have to kill someone, especially in the name of your 'beliefs', you need to seriously rethink your beliefs.

Okay, I'm done.

I'm just that slow to update. Have I been doing much blogging? No. Have I been reading many blogs? No, I haven't. I don't know why, I just haven't felt up to it.

What is going on?

Well, the Audi is running well aside from the damn ABS controller failure. I'll have to wait until after tax season to get it squared away. It's not really causing any issues aside from the lights on the dash, and I'm apparently able to tune those out at least for now. The chip was a worthwhile mod, it added some much needed horsepower (about 50) to it. Still need to replace the diverter valve, which I was going to do this AM.

Still might do it.

I've been up since 3:30 AM after sleeping from 11 PM to 12:30 AM then 1AM until 3:30 AM. My body just likes to be random. I feel fine other than that disconnected feeling. I feel like I've done nothing over the past week. Just feeling like I've fallen in the ocean. I need to get my groove back. I'm ordinarily much more... enthusiastic/productive.

Could be the colder weather not affecting me like it used to be. It's prohibitive.

Three more days until a whole WEEK of Tobyzilla. I can't wait. And, oh yeah, those clowns from NY too. Okay fine, my family. We are going out to see them.

Now to make a decision on what mood I am in, and watch some more Star Trek DS9. (Ah yes, lethargic)

Regarding the Azzarro I've gotten and like to use. It's got a bit of a sharp "woodsy" scent to it. I'm a bit self conscious about it. Trase comes back with this:

"If you don't want to wear the cologne, then don't wear it. But don't not wear it because Kevin farted and then said something was on fire."

How do you make a comeback to that? Is it just me, or is this topic concluded?

Okay, my brain is in meltdown mode.

Good news is that I found this today. It makes the task gathering Craigslist postings from multiple locations SO much better. One thing to note that if you are using Firefox when doing a search on this site and it just brings back a bunch of Craigslist homepages, you need to open a new browser window, type about:config and search for sendrefer. Set it for zero, close it and retry the search. (This info is on the crazedlist.org site, but sometimes you don't catch the fine print as you are focused on trying to find something.

I've been busting my ass to get the Trans Am running. One thing after the next... bolt broken off in the water pump, can't find the alternator bracket, missing the EGR blockoff plug. I need to get the block off the stand and onto the subframe (which I've removed from the car), install the clutch, wire up the whole thing as I need to rerun the cam position sensor (LS2 engines have it on the front timing chain cover, not in the back of the block like it was on the LS1/6 engines).

Then I put it all together, and hope it all works. Oh joy.

Work is a blast, and I mean that in the crappiest way. I hate walking around in the dark on so many things, especially since I'm thinking that they are talking about (in a very silent way) going to a hosted email solution. Because that's exactly what our users need, slower email.

Whatever, I'll go work at a dealership spinning wrenches. This field is so dull. I've been learning Linux in leaps and bounds. Bill can take all of his stuff and flush it for what it is worth. I'm sorry that I wasted all that time learning Microsoft stuff. Oh well, know thy enemy, right?

In other news, I have a Tobyrific weekend. He was SO good. Mary has really worked some magic with him (I'm in awe). She has her system of handling Tobias. I stuck to it, and there was no real drama with him. 15, 10, 5, time for bed. And he went quietly. He's growing so fast, and so incredibly smart. He even let me read him a book. Sat there and was observant.

I wish I could drag my youngest sibling out here as if there is anyone that needs their ass straightened out in a major way it is her. She doesn't listen to my parents for shit. Going to one or two days of high school a week is par for the course with her.

20 more minutes of this crap, then I'm done. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Well, a long painful evening of screwing around with a SQL database and modifying file locations has paid off. Our Wordpress site lives again.

Word to the wise; pick a config and stick with it. Changing from a subdomain structure to a subdirectory structure is about as much fun as putting a handful of thumbtacks in your shorts. That means it isn't fun for anyone who is that masochistic or wears boxers.

After evicting my neighbor (drug using vagrant) from my garage, he quietly took his stuff and left for Livernois and Springwells again. There is no love lost there. I cannot believe that he thought it would be alright to use my garage for a living quarters. I wish I had thought to check out there sooner. He was tactful enough for me to not notice him coming in or out. I'm bothered by the fact that I gave him cash in advance; he didn't even do the lawn as promised. Asshole.

The Trans Am is painfully coming together. I got the pedal cluster in on Saturday night. I need to assemble the engine, bolt the trans up to it, pull the front subframe of the car and finally put it all together in some sort of working order. I haven't driven the car since August of last year. I drove it for about 450 feet last December, then had to have Mary tow it back to the house as it just shut itself off. I was pissed when I found it the whole issue was due to fastners not being the type/length I was told. Big thanks to Shaun at SMC Performance in Auburn Hills for pointing out what should've been obvious to me.

The days are progressively getting better. Hobo eviction on Sunday, major database issues on Monday, I wonder what today will bring.

I do know that Toby made a good monkey on Sunday. Had to have a mini-Halloween with him even though he didn't get any candy. Which is fine because he's sweet enough as it is, and I don't want to bring him home hovering off the ground from a sugar high.

You know, you learn a lot if you just stop for a second and take a look at the big picture.

Take for instance a local car club I belong to, Motown Muscle. About a month ago I had it out with this fool named Crazzy_Al. He's an abrasive guy that was supposedly banned from the board permanently then somehow got back onto the board and has remained his same abrasive foolish self. He basically in so many words told another guy on the board, Dave, that he wished he had died when he crashed his Mustang into a telephone pole one night on Beech-Daly road. Nobody is 100% sure if alcohol was or was not involved. Dave posted up that he might have been (might have being the key words) and a lot of people jumped on him, most notably Al. I posted up how I felt, at which point he got on me something fierce. I reported him and his post to the President of the club, Rick who basically just said "Well, he had someone in his live die in an drunk driving accident..." That's fine, but you should still be able to control yourself.

Eventually, the thread was closed. But I haven't forgotten.

Al's wife had a miscarriage about a month later. It sucks to have that happen, but part of me can't help thinking that karma came back to Al.

Another member recently posted up something to Al in his 'reputation' section:

Who needs directions? 10-26-2007 04:16 PM Lon +1 for the kids you didnt have HAHAHAHA HOWS THAT DICK

Here is the whole thread" http://www.motownmuscle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59056

I find it ridiculous for a couple of reasons:

1. It's not very clear what he meant by that statement.
2. Al has posted up much more rude and public statements than that.
3. It's been dragging on for days now.

I just love how everyone goes and supports this fool when really he's making a mountain over a molehill. It's a message board, get over yourself.

So, I read this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/science/19watson.html?em&ex=1193025600&en=25a503b731871947&ei=5087%0A

Are they kidding? A Nobel prize winning scientist makes a comment and is about to have a whole lot of problems not to mention possibly losing his job? It's not even that bad of a comment. You need to infer something from the quote to be offended, thus somewhat negating the statement in the first place.

Testing shows that white people are smarter than black people. Wow, I didn't know that skin color could play such a role in regards to intelligence. I am not college educated, and I'm smarter (sadly) than a lot of folks that are. But it doesn't really matter; it's all relative. I cannot begin to convey the fatigue I am experiencing over the sheer preposterousness in regards to events such as this.


People need to just buck up and deal with petty shit like this. It's gotten, not getting, absolutely ridiculous. There will be a lawsuit to follow this, I'm almost certain.

I don't even bother watching the news any more. Quite honestly, I've had enough of all of it. Nothing good on there. Listening to Drew and Mike, which is now Mike, Mike, and some other guy gets irritating especially when it involves them basically giving someone a difficult time in the name of humor for the masses. Have we devolved to that level of intelligence?

Of course, there are those 'external optimists' that'll tell me it's not all bad.

Yeah, I think it is.

All the wrong people seem to walk through life unscathed. And unfortunately, good people get hurt. Good people suffer. And I hate seeing it happen.

I thought I would have a lot more to talk about, but I think that insomnia is seriously messing up my ability to think. My son rocks. Truck is running great. I just did the dishes, something I've been honestly slacking on getting done. At least I can get that crate shipped out today, just need to drop it off and I'll be in better shape.

Guess I'll be putting some more stuff on Ebay soon. Oh goody.

So... yeah... I don't want to piss off the guy from high atop the thing. And no, I'm not talking about any sort of god.

That is what the Avalanche ran out at Milan Dragway tonight. I need to get into the computer and do a little bit more tuning, but so far I'm thrilled with it's performance. I put the 5.3 liter heads on it from the old engine since the thermostat stuck and cracked one of the combustion chambers on one of the heads. The truck has had sporadic issues over the past month or two...

6.0 installed on Labor day.
Ate coolant, replaced MLS gaskets with graphite ones after trip to NY.
Still ate coolant, retorque head bolts.
Break a head bolt (cheap shit bolt, supposedly custom) in the block 1 hour before I have to be somewhere. Drill out broken head bolt over the course of 4 days (two hours a day max), replace passenger side head gasket. Use ARP head bolts.
Thermostat sticks closed, still eats MORE coolant, compression check shows issue with Cylinder #5 (driver side).
Replace driver side head gasket, new thermostat, use new GM bolts.
Still eats coolant, worse than ever, massive overheat (260+ degrees).
Remove both heads, inspect for cracks and found one in the driver side head combustion chamber.
Install 5.3L heads, new MLS gaskets, GM hardware (all today, finished at 5PM).

Go racing at 7:20 PM. Make 15 passes with the truck, 15.5 ET to 15.1 ET on the last pass. Timing is being retarded due to knock being detected. Will be fixed on Saturday for that race.

In other news, my little boy was sick on this past Sunday. He had a fever the night before, spoke with his mommy about it on Sunday morning. Decided it would be best for him to stay in that day. I'll have him this weekend coming though, no matter what. I miss him so much, and he's such a good little boy. I cannot wait to see him. :)