Done this month (20171001Su - 07Sa)
2017-10-08 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearThis marks the first week for which, at N's suggestion, Colleen and I prepared a weekly menu in advance. It came out fairly well -- you can see it at the end of the notes. There were a couple of substitutions, but on the whole it was a success. We did the same this week.
I got a fair amount done. Unfortunately, very little of it was my taxes; that's the top project for this week. I did, however, get the Mac set up and the program I still think of as TaxCut (currently called "H&R Block at Home" or something like that) updated. The Mac, Whitewood, is set up on my desk, with (ThinkPad) Raven next to it on a tray table. There's a little story about that...
You see, sometime Friday morning I managed to spill some coffee onto my little ThinkPad, Cygnus. I shut it down and left it to dry out. An hour or so later, it booted, but some of the keys on the lower right-hand corner were flaky, and I couldn't get it to accept my hard drive password. That's when I set up Whitewood and Raven. Fortunately I had pushed recently, so Raven was able to sync right up and be productive.
Then, since I had a Linux laptop and a Mac mini with a nice large monitor, the obvious next step was to install x2vnc and share the Mac's keyboard (a ThinkPad keyboard, of course -- I'd had it at work), trackball, and mouse. I put those all on a KVM switch (which I don't use for monitors, only for USB, because switching a VGA monitor confuses my computers). Win. It took altogether too much time to figure out that the reason x2vnc didn't seem to be connecting was that Apple's implementation puts up a lock screen when you first connect. :P
x2vnc is pretty cool -- it lets you share a keyboard and mouse between two computers, using VNC's screen-sharing in the input direction, but not actually viewing the screen. Instead, you just move the cursor onto the other machine's screen, across whichever edge you specify.
The other tech-related failure Friday was that my attempt to replace the charging port on Colleen's old tablet was unsuccessful. Quite possibly the flat cable isn't seated correctly. It was a bit of a long shot, though I would have liked to be able to at least do a factory reset.
I spent quite a lot of time Friday looking up ways of unlocking a password-protected hard drive when one doesn't have a working computer to enter the password into. Apparently Lenovo changes their password hashing algorithm every so often, so you have to get a ThinkPad that was made close enough to the time your dead one was. Ouch! I didn't really care too much about the data, since it was all backed up, but that was a comparatively new SSD and I wanted to at least make it usable even if that included wiping it.
Around 9:30 Friday evening I turned Cygnus on again and it booted. Not wanting to push my luck I turned it off again almost immediately, but not before I'd removed the password on the hard drive.
It turns out that password-locking a drive is a massively bad idea. Among other things it means that you can't use it in an external enclosure, and might not even be able to use it in another computer. It's better to use your OS's "whole-disk" encryption, because that actually encrypts everything but the boot partition, and it does so in a standardized way so that you can use it anywhere as long as you have the password. You can use a variant on the same encryption technique to encrypt a single home directory, or even a single subdirectory.
Also Sunday, I discovered when I went to post last week's summary that my
client, ljupdate.el, doesn't work any more because Dreamwidth
has gone to SSL everywhere. I made several attempts to fix it, but so far
no joy. I'll probably have to cut-and-paste again. After I get my taxes
in, the first thing I want to do is write a new -- and more general --
posting client and integrate it with my build system (see MakeStuff).
This Saturday, though, N went to the Seattle Home Show and found a company that was having a 2-for-1 deal on some pretty awesome scooters. They're not exactly travel scooters -- they fold a little but don't come apart, and they're pretty heavy, but they're designed to be roadworthy. 18mph with a 25-mile range. We'll probably have to replace the seat on one for Colleen to be comfortable, but... She can definitely ride to Freeland and back in one.
In all, a rather frustrating week, but it could have been a lot worse.
1001Su
* up 4:40ish; ; read in bed for a while
& cleanup - minor, basically just the pad
* 8:20ish - kittens are rampaging. So good to hear.
* weekly post - had to post via the web because ljupdate can't do SSL. :P
... and apparently "http"s followed by a space and colon is a spam pattern on LJ
-> can use EmacsWiki: http-post-curl.el
* check ingredients for matzoh balls, fudgies, snacks
* spent some time with N going over the Arcbazar ADU designs.
* Grocery shopping: large (baking) and small (roasting) potatoes, sour cream, whole
chicken, carrots, celery, onions, other roots, salad greens, eggs, milks, kid bread,
chicken breasts, ground beef, burger buns, English muffins, tortillas, fresh
mozzarella, coffee, summer sausage (2 beef, 1 Armour), yogurt, 2 lighters (N and g's
rooms), cat-proof votive light holders, pastrami (sliced for sandwiches), bagels
-> ~$150 for the groceries; failed to find whole milk.
& my efforts to fix ljupdate.el by updating http-post failed; not clear why.
* 15min: brought in boxes of spices and candles from garage
* Sunday: loaded baked potatoes
* Colleen wanted the menu for the week printed out; did it in LaTeX because I wanted
practice. (would probably have been slightly easier to do it in HTML and print from
the browser, but less fun. I'll probably want to write some emacs lisp for it.
Haven't done that in a while.)
* M: a little noodling to keep my fingers in shape.
* UC: going through the stack on the tray table. Not finished, and there are some
things that needed attention last month. :P
* we get Bronx tonight.
1002Mo
~ pay mortgage - autopay? -> yes, autopay is set up; doesn't give any info about it on
the website.
~ (energy) pse paid 9/26 apparently. Autopay set up?
* pay AMEX bill
* Pay Mass Mutual ($700 to principal)
* UC: call GoodToGo to see why I got a toll bill even though I have an account.
866-936-8246 -> weekdays. Notice# TB-172713743
came in before the account was set up but apparently after I made the call to pay all
my outstanding bills. Toll transfered and late fee waived.
. call appliance repair (Whidbey Appliance Service; 360-240-9050 8-5 M-F)
-> 11:53 left message
* 15min: put labels in rolling file crate; the crate with sorted stuff from RE and
unsorted from Split End is now on top. Required swapping crates. The book box with
labels in it has been cleared.
* UC: call Express Scripts about why methocarbamol wasn't refilled. Turns out it's not
covered (WTF?), but cyclobenzaprine is. There were about five more alternatives, none
of which were covered. This is presumably because these are all used to control pain.
* UC: call UNW about latest bill -> Medicare thinks it's secondary and Aetna is primary
-> call Medicare COB 855-798-2627. Predected hold time 45min, with absolutely crappy
sound quality.
-> update mailing address at ssa.gov
* UC: update address at Schwab
* 5:10 started dinner. Veggies should go in about 6:15.
@ (wibnif) Robert Reich: "Donald Trump Is No Longer The President Of The United States"
@ Path of the Paladins (index) @ Path of the
Paladins - PenUltimate Productions (ysabetwordsmith)
-> I've started re-reading the series from the beginning.
* Monday: roasted chicken; roasted root veggies; -stovetop stuffing-; gravy
-> started too late; both chicken and veggies ended up somewhat undercooked. :P
Revised schedule -- many nights I'll have to start at 4:30, and sometimes 4:00
make 4x recipe of matzoh ball batter, put in fridge; put bones in crockpot
1003Tu
* up 6am; W=195.4;
x 2pm Colleen UNW botox
@ Poem: "Ari and the Atheist" - The Wordsmith's Forge
* called Exxon, checked address, and set up dividend reinvestment (which I should have
done 30-odd years ago) -> there are dividend checks that need to be recovered from the
state as unclaimed property; 800-435-2429
: the rolling crate isn't rolling anymore -- unbalanced load actually broke the bottom
corners on one side. Grump. Might be better to make a dolly that sits in between
whatever is sticking out on the bottom.
@ Cats in the Dawn
c.f. comment in Poem: "Uplifted" - ysabetwordsmith
* Tuesday: chicken soup with matzoh balls; ->
x -egg- _chicken_ salad or pastrami sandwiches
-> Nobody needed the sandwiches; there were over seven matzoh balls per person. We
had three, and two quarts of soup, left over. (At least, I think the takeout soup
containers are quarts) Anyway, it was a success.
1004We
* up 6:10; W=195.4;
@ Dear Mrs. Trump — The Horn Book
* 9:40 Bronx to SWAC - he has a sniffle.
-> He's ok - temp in normal range, gums look good, several other quick tests I didn't
quite catch including skin pinch, abdomen feels ok.
-> we can expect minor recurrences, with nasal and ocular discharge and maybe slight
fever, until he's about a year old.
* 1:45 Colleen Freeland Clinic Dr. Alex Kosloff
* M/C: chord out/re-script Rambling Silver Rose
* shopping after clinic. Country Store, RiteAid, Ace, Payless.
% exhausted and in pain, mostly around the hips. Definitely overdid something.
* Wednesday: hamburgers (no buns--we have bread and English muffins); green salad
As usual, Colleen and I were the only ones who ate salad, or had our burgers on bread.
j and I were the only ones who wanted seconds; that was good because the package of
ground beef only made 7.
1005Th
% Awake 12:30; managed to get back to sleep.
* up 6:38; W-197;
% managed to splash a little into or near my left eye while flipping my fried eggs this
morning. Near miss - could have been a real disaster. Thought I was getting better
at that, but apparently not. Let's not do that any more.
* email j a set of silly units to work out: nano-acre, furlongs/fortnight, attoparsec,
seconds/year (intermediate for light-year); compare that to pi*10^7
: Call from Express Scripts because apparently changing the mailing address for
prescriptions doesn't change the "physical address" that the eligibility department
uses. WTFFF?
* 15min: took water bill payment and Schwab signature card up to mailbox.
* progress on clearing papers off desk. Probably time to clear the tray table and set
up the mac for taxes. (Still a lot of stuff that needs doing, but it will make nice
breaks from taxes.)
* Thursday: chicken fajitas/tacos/whatever
* Attempt to replace charging port on Colleen's old tablet. Maybe. It seems to be
trying to boot but failing; don't know whether it's just too far down or what. I'll
see whether it makes any progress overnight.
-> holding down power and both volume buttons seems to reset it -> Worked
1006Fr
& awake 3:30ish
* Up 5:30ish; ;
* g doesn't have school, so release kittens early.
* tablet is only up to 43%, and it was off all night. Some people claim that it charges
better with the original Samsung charger -- good luck finding that. Aaaaaand now it's
frozen. Probably needs to have the battery disconnected for a while; that _might_ get
it to the point where it will stay up long enough for a factory reset.
* g doesn't have school, so release kittens early.
* Detaching the tablet battery for a while didn't help.
* 15min:UC: set up mac mini on desk
% clumsy bear managed to spill coffee into Cygnus (lower right-hand corner) Seemed to
work ok until I turned it off, but when I tried half an hour or so later it wouldn't
accept the disk password, so possibly a problem with the keyboard.
* first hour - science - submit 6-11, start on final project
: for future reference - use Ubuntu's whole-disk encryption rather than what the
computer provides, for easy portability.
* FilterBubbler - Sort. Track & Share - Make your experience yours. (Don Marti)
: another call from OnStar; this time about the broken links in the monthly
diagnostics. No news, just the usual questions.
* W/F: cut off another 6' bookshelf. Brought up the box of house design/home repair
books. (Does not appear to include the tiny house shelf.) Looked for the small
computer box, since that has the spare keyboards in it, but didn't find. And I'm
almost certain that the mac keyboard is in the house; might be in my closet.
-> mac keyboard was in the rolling crate
: annoyance: N got a scam call about an unpaid Seattle City Light bill for RE.
I asked for the account number and got something that didn't look like a SCL account;
called SCL directly (after paying an unpaid $25 bounce charge because my debit card's
expiration date changed. ref# 00166791 for the fraud report the agent filed for me.
call was from 425-882-4800 and the account# they gave was 0151430000
: Honu is kind of broken on the mac because it uses the BSD utilities. In particular,
ls doesn't support --color, and /home is an NFS automount point so anything that
relies on /home/[user], like the synched bookmark for !!, fails. Bletch. Also git is
ancient. -> install homebrew; brew install git; fix aliases.
~ Friday: x cheddar+broccoli soup (mix; not kosher); * sandwiches or leftovers
: secondary display doesn't seem to be working right on Raven. :P It's recognized, but
the primary screen gets blanked. Weird, and unpleasant.
: Tried Cygnus - won't even boot. It appears to be toast. It's entirely possible that
the drive is also toast, since it was password locked. Should have just used Ubuntu's
encryption. :P It's a Seagate drive, so SeaTools should work.
-> ATA secure erase
-> hdparm
-> Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) with SeaTools Instructions
: 7:57 Ticia actually jumped into my lap. I suspect she just wanted to get onto my
keyboard, but she let me pet her for a little while.
: 9:32 Cygnus booted! Seems basically ok. I'm not going to push my luck too far; I'll
leave it off for the rest of the night. I may have dodged a (minor) bullet.
F1 for BIOS; change to blank new password. (according to lenovo support)
1006-8 weekend N staying with G. I'm taking care of the cats. Cricket in N's room.
1007Sa
* up 5ish; W=196; ..., shower with C
: The Container Store order arrived yesterday. The closet is about half an inch less
than 5' wide, and half an inch less than 2' deep. So bletch. I'm guessing maybe 4'
shelves, with wood shelves along one end.
* Success! Removed HD password -- turns out you need it even to get into the
BIOS: hold down F1, then give HD password.
* 7:35 went in to cuddle Cricket. The kittens wanted to come in, so I let them. I'll
take Bronx out in a while.
* Mac environment mostly set up now. Should update Honu with the necessary magic.
brew install coreutils wget; brew install emacs --with-cocoa
@ terminal - How to replace Mac OS X utilities with GNU core utilities?
@ Termux
" Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app that works directly
with no rooting or setup required. A minimal base system is installed automatically
- additional packages are available using the APT package manager. "
: x2vnc doesn't work anymore. vncviewer shows a lock screen, and there doesn't seem to
be any way for x2vnc to access that. AHA! type s[cr] followed by password.
-> it's still somewhat flaky. One good thing is that Mod-N switches desktops on the
mac as well (of course, nothing else works). OK, copy/paste maybe/sorta works too.
* W/F: 2:20pm mounted one of the Rainbow Room swag lamps, where it will illuminate N's
chair and the stereo. Would benefit from an anti-earthquake lashing at the top, and a
latching picture hook at the bottom.
% tired; accomplished; productive. Rather a lot of work, so I'm not going to do the
other now so as not to tax my body too much.
@ Euro Scooter - Euroshine USA, Inc. we just bought two
: tried ethernet to Whitewood thinking it would be more reliable. Nope.
* W/F: 21:19 got the second swag lamp up, in the SW corner by the bookshelves, wingback
chair, and that end of the couch. The end by the wall is kludged for the moment.
1002Mo-08Su menu
* Sunday: loaded baked potatoes
* Monday: roasted chicken; roasted root veggies; -stovetop stuffing-; gravy
* make 4x recipe of matzoh ball batter, put in fridge; put bones in crockpot
* Tuesday: chicken soup with matzoh balls; -egg- _chicken_ salad or pastrami sandwiches
* Wednesday: hamburgers (no buns--we have bread and English muffins); green salad
* Thursday: chicken fajitas/tacos/whatever
~ Friday: x cheddar+broccoli soup (mix; not kosher); * sandwiches or leftovers
* Saturday: date night/scrounge -> cheddar/broccoli soup
