::latencyproject::

2008-06-24T23:32:00.002-04:00

FINALLY....JWood enters the blog-dom...bookmark this site, surely to be a good read...

http://woodrobotics.blogspot.com/

2008-06-24T22:50:00.002-04:00

A homegrown EMC Celerra:

Thought I would mix up a bit of work here in a post for once. I have been with EMC since April of 2007 and have to say it litterally is one of the most challenging, rewarding and best jobs of my life. I think the only job better would be to race professionally, but we all know I am way too slow for that...

So on to tonights post.

I finally have an EMC Celerra running DART 5.6 at home. It has been a long time coming. Not so much that I could not get one, more of, time to build one. What do I mean by build one? We have the simulator.

If you are an EMC employee, partner or customer, and you have a Powerlink account, you can grab the sim yourself...just search for "Celerra Simulator"...first hit is what you want to download.

Now, I am not saying that my setup is a best of a performer, lets be honest. I am running this on a 6.5 year old P4 3.0GHz processor, with little over 1.5GB of ram. This thing will not perform...that is not the point. I need the interface, I need the ability to serve files. Why? I am going for my Celerra specialist, and well, I learn by doing.

So, mix 1 part Celerra Simulator from Powerlink, mix 2 part Vmware player, and presto...

Extraction of the download:

Now comes some space...this thing will chew some GB:

Now we boot the Celerra VM:

Perform some eth0 configurations...

Login :

Finally, start provisioning storage and having a virtual Celerra at home:

Now, this does take some tweaking, make sure to follow the Celerra best practices guide and tweak your Virt. Mem settings in your OS of choice. In my configuration at the house, I am running my Celerra in VM player on my workstation, which is considerably ancient. What is more impressive, is the fact that I am running this off of an ancient USB2.0 interface, that is running at best, a 5400RPM 250GB drive. It works, but it is a bit slow.

Try it out...if you cannot locate and you are a customer, let me know, I will burn you a DVD with the simulator.

2008-06-23T20:06:00.002-04:00

I think I found just what I need for the mini track, a mini-dozer....this would be perfect!!

http://www.struckcorp.com/

UPDATED!!! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO!!
http://www.struckcorp.com/download/RS1000Flash/RS1000.html

IMG_4353

2008-06-22T14:43:00.001-04:00

IMG_4353, originally uploaded by latency5.

"thee faddy, fith ith where the buug went...he in my tummy now"

IMG_4345

2008-06-22T14:42:00.001-04:00

IMG_4345, originally uploaded by latency5.

You know what I say, if you sleep in this house you need to earn your keep. ;)

MiniFem begging to drive, and quite honestly, with the hydrostatic of the 318, she could drive it, since the speed controls are on the tree.

IMG_4355

2008-06-22T14:40:00.001-04:00

IMG_4355, originally uploaded by latency5.

Put the new hoops on the 318 today. The old tires (from the 80's...this is an 88 after all) were dry rotted and useless. I made a trip up to TSC yesterday and picked up a set of four Carlisle's. The bar tires in the rear will seriously help down by the road. That tractor used to to slide down the slope like no one's business.

This baby looks mean now. :)

2008-06-21T08:06:00.002-04:00

When we were buying our house, the previous owners had their tractor in the back garage. I knew this house had a ton of grass to mow, and at the time I only had a push mower, so I knew I wanted their tractor. As we negotiated on price, I finally got the mower with the house.

I had no idea what I had gotten, both good and bad.

Good:
The tractor is a John Deere 318, one with a huge cult following on the web. Guys buy these things when they don't run and restore them. This tractor has front and rear hydraulics, a hefty 18 horse Onan and is a tank. That is until...

Bad:
The previous owner neglected the tractor, and badly. When I first started the mower to move it in the garage on the first week we lived here (2 years ago) the oil light was on. Time for new everything...filters, oil, trans fluid, plugs. Then I took the deck off, and the belly screen off and powerwashed about 50 pounds of mud off. It ran, and ran ok.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I have been stuggling with the mower recently, very under-powered, and just two weeks ago when I was mowing, one of the cylinders shut down (like it fouled a plug). I started to look at the mower, and the first plan of action was to fully degrease the mower and the engine so I could see what I was doing. After that, I checked just about everything I knew to, but still could not get the thing running.

A quick stop in to Voss bros in Powell, I wanted to see if there was anything they could recommend. "No, that mower is way too old, can't even get parts for them. Anything on it would cost more in parts and labor than a new mower....but we have a shiny new Z425 over here that would be a close replacement."

Me: "Are you nuts, it is a 318...tell me you know about the 318, you are a dealer after all. That Z425 is a 0 turn, it has no hydraulics, no hydrostatic..."

Dealer: "oh sure, well, don't mean to say 318 is a bad tractor, just I can't get parts"

Me: "ok, thanks, have a nice day, may be back later..."

After a few hours on weekendfreedommachines.org and mytractorforumc.com, I learned how to convert the 318 to a hon-deere. There are Honda replacement motor packages to bump the HP to 20 or 22 and get the steed back on it's feet. That is my answer, I get to keep the best tractor JD built and it will only set me back two grand to do so....but...

Before I do that...I have to call in the big gun....Dad.

My dad could fix the space shuttle, he afterall, has a great set of tools. But seriously, he is unbelieveable.

So this past Weds, while I was at work, Dad started where I had left off. The night before, we talked, and I had told him everything I had tried, so he knew right where to start. A short time later, he found a mouse chewed bare ignition wire, and a set of points that needed replaced. He headed off to Voss brothers...

Dad: "I need a set of points for an Onan powered 318..."

Dealer: "That is so old, we won't have parts for it. Sorry"

Dad: "How about you try and look in your computer?"

Dealer: "Sure...hey...what do you know..." (dealer disappears behind counter)

Dealer: "Yep, we had them, that will be $42"

Dad ventures back to the house, installs the new points and starter wires, and the monster comes alive. No more hard idle, no surging, the thing purrs, and it has some serious power.

So thanks to pops, this john deere that will still sell for about $3500 on any craigslist or ebay posting, has just only cost me $42.

This is how the mower looks today, I restored the deck the other night and re-sprayed back to JD yellow. Today I am going to TSC to replace the dry rotting tires with a set of rear bar tires and front tractors. The turf tires I have now spin on the hills down by the road...

2008-06-10T22:28:00.004-04:00

So, at the Worldwide Developers Conference, the worlds richest man that still can't afford a belt (Steve Jobs) announced some very cool things.

First. iPhone 3G...finally some speed. Second. 8GB. Third. $199. Fourth. Exchange Activesync push.

Apple, you have finally hit the target market of 'me'. A $500 phone, you were nuts, no Exchange push, you were behind, no 3G, you were too slow. Now...you have a customer (and so I guess does AT&T). My generation 1 MotoQ has been slowly dying, and what better way to replace it? For a phone half the cost, I get an iPod, iPhone and web device. Wait....did I forget to mention Cisco remote VPN capabilities??!!?

2008-06-10T22:04:00.005-04:00

IMG_4288, originally uploaded by latency5.

It is absolutely amazing how quickly they became little moms. These two girls treasure their little brother......

IMG_4091

2008-06-08T09:04:00.001-04:00

IMG_4091, originally uploaded by latency5.

"pffffffffft" - dog

IMG_4177

2008-06-08T09:03:00.001-04:00

IMG_4177, originally uploaded by latency5.

"mmmmmmmm.....I wuv gatowade" - minifem2

IMG_4139

2008-06-08T08:21:00.001-04:00

IMG_4139, originally uploaded by latency5.

Yesterday was a good day of playing. We took minime out to hang with us, and in typical fashion....he slept the whole time.

Minifem is finally on the mend. Final diagnosis was a UTI that got very severe...can't tell you how mad I am that the hospital did not catch (a simple urinalysis would have caught two days earlier
).

In other news, the John Deere is trying to die. Nothing but fits this year trying to run, and yesterday it fouled a plug and shutdown a cylinder...time for the professionals to work some engine magic.

2008-06-02T21:00:00.004-04:00

It is absolutely amazing how quickly plans can change.

The original plan had been for me to return to the office today. That was until I had to take Minifem to Childrens urgent care yesterday. Turns out she had a fever of a 104 and was not doing well. Looks like a bout of the flu, with vomitting, 104+ temps and a very bad time for it all to happen.

All of the healthy family members are living on the second floor of the house. I have installed a standby dvd system upstairs in our master for minifem2, that way she can take it easy and watch some movies. Mom has been doing well, staying with the mini-man. So far, we are only dealing with minifem being really ill.

I am staying out of the office tomorrow as well, and have worked to realign a Wednesday return. Time will tell how that works out.

In the brief moments of time that I had today keeping folks taken care of, I was able to get some tweaking done on the Home automation server, and install an network based wifi cam for the mini-man's room. Now I can monitor him from the first floor.

Screen shot of the little mans crib:

Also, after last weekends big storms...I decided to update the home automation weather scripts to start pulling all the pertinent information so that I have it at my fingertips on the internal web server. All automated and ready for reading when needed:

IMG_4035

2008-05-28T09:18:00.001-04:00

IMG_4035, originally uploaded by latency5.

Hi world....

Just got here, and I have been keeping mom and dad up all night. They sent me to the nursery one night in the hospital and while the nurses were nice, I really thought I should have been in the room with mom and dad. So last night, I decided to not let them sleep....I was up all night crying and squirtin' in my diaper.

Mom looks like she is doing better, dad keeps telling her to take it easy. Dad needs to shave, and brush his teeth. His breath is pretty rough after about the fourth pot of 2 day old coffee.

My sisters seem really cool. So far they have wanted to hold me about once every 3.5 seconds, so that is kind of cool. Having heard the voices of these people for the last 9 months, it is finally nice to put a face with the voices and names.

Dad posted just a few of the photos from when I decided to land on earth. Go check them out...and please forgive the ones of me where I still have slime on me...you know how parents can be, no shame. Till next time, I am off to down some formula, poop and cry.

Minime (not my real name, Dad says I can't post that here).

PS: I must have picked the right family to join, one of my sisters told me this morning that I have a dirt bike track outside. I have no idea what that is, but by the look on dads face, he seem jazzed??

2008-05-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

It's a boy!

mini-me was born this morning at 2:36am. Weighing in at 9 lbs, he is a hefty babe. Mom and babe are doing well, recovering.

Photos to come when we get some time, check back!

2008-05-19T20:55:00.003-04:00

Yep, the bread is still in the oven. Baker says that if the timer does not go off by next Monday, we need to grab the hot pads and bring it out....so till then...

This weekend was a nice time with the girls. We got Fem a new bike, her bike has been too heavy for her apparently and she could never really ride it well. That is ok, when the mini-me lands, he will have a bike waiting for him!

The bike is a hit:

I spent the day yesterday assembling the girls play house as well. Busy day, but all in all a good day of construction...even though I was in the rediculous wind all day. Girls like the house, should be a good 'attraction' when the all the kids come to visit. I thought about putting it in the woods, which would have seriously increased the little kid cool factor...but with all of the rain we have had I actually wanted them to be able to play in it this year.

2008-05-02T21:21:00.002-04:00

So I have been somewhat missing in action. A few posts from Flickr here and there, but definitely not the type of posts that I had been tossing up, you will get that with the weather being nice. It's not like I only post when I go out of the country.

So what has been going on? Fembot is still pregnant, and miniMan is just not ready to get out of there and smell the race gas...I think she is ready for him to get out...this is prime freak-out time for me. I get all wigged at this pre-baby coming into my life time.

Work has been going extremely well. I have been keeping a good balance, and lately, somehow or another I have been somewhat 'winning' things. Got a Garmin Nuvi for being one of the top in the division with some education work we were selling, then I scored a good sized check from my boss for busting my rear for a ton of RFP's, then scored two $100 amex checks for other wins and awards. Kind of nice, little bit of mad money. With the amex checks, I bought a new road racing helmet and some new Dunlop TT92's for the road bike.

So, on to the bikes. Last weekend was my first race of the season with OYL. I am way off the pace, and am mid-pack, at least 3 seconds off my best time at BeaverRun. It took a bit more than I had expected to get used the two stroke again.

This weekend I find myself motocrossing the other mini...time to take the Pitster X2R up North to TVland (Trevor Vines place) for the first race of the TVLand series. Should be a good time, and this will be my first motox race, ah what that should bring... :-)

IMG_3827

2008-04-29T19:12:00.001-04:00

IMG_3827, originally uploaded by latency5.

Two years old and driving...

...starting here, and then moving up to the 5mph Jeep.

IMG_3761

2008-04-29T19:11:00.001-04:00

IMG_3761, originally uploaded by latency5.

Minifem got to ride her new four wheeler and did great for her first time riding!

2008-04-25T21:55:00.003-04:00

Ah yes, the first race of the season. I am sitting next to Big Beaver Bullevard in PA. We race tomorrow at BeaverRun.

I had a meeting this morning in Zanesville, so I packed the Pathfinder and headed up after that. I am sitting outside a hotel in the middle of bum fum, and this hotel (well, that is a stretch) had to have been built in the 40's. Somehow, I have a single bar of wide open wifi connnectivity.

So as I sit outside on the front stoop, I am watching the Kentucky Kid on MTV streaming on the PC...you see, I would be in the room watching the tv if it was visible from the bed. Not the most high tech. In fact it is so low tech, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to turn it on....by simply turning the knob. Hey, a bit before my time. :)

2008-04-22T19:11:00.001-04:00

The kids have matching big wheels! Time for Races at Hyatts Road!!!

http://blog.badmotorfinger.com/uploaded_images/DSC_8341-781023.jpg

IMG_3808

2008-04-21T18:48:00.001-04:00

IMG_3808, originally uploaded by latency5.

Now the clown bike has a steering problem...

IMG_3777

2008-04-21T18:47:00.001-04:00

IMG_3777, originally uploaded by latency5.

This is getting rediculously addictive. I rode for over an hour on Saturday, then I limped onto the bike on Sunday and Fem grabbed some shots....

IMG_3751

2008-04-19T20:48:00.001-04:00

IMG_3751, originally uploaded by latency5.

Today started out very well. Worked to fill some ruts in the yard from the snow plow, started refacing the jumps and got a good one our session in on the mini-moto.

The day has ended very badly, as we now have Spencer in intensive care at Medvet. He has been on some medication for a foot infection, and today he has a shaking spell and could not stand. I rushed him to the ER and they have had him for observation and tests. His blood work has come back very high in many categories, and they are treating him for pancreaitus. He will be there over the weekend until monday, and we are praying the treatments can help him. He has had two more spells while in ICU, so we know he is where he needs to be to get healthy. Get well buddy...

IMG_3690

2008-04-14T20:32:00.001-04:00

IMG_3690, originally uploaded by latency5.

This kid is going to have some fun this year...

...and I have found a site that supposedly sells an adult size big wheel...I am soo tempted. :)