Some data news, and a question, if anyone has an answer.
It seems like a long time since my last blog was posted, but in reality its only been a few days (*I wrote this four days ago!). I've mentioned this before, but I often feel like Quantum Leap's Dr. Sam Beckett right after a leap: my brain is Swiss cheese, and I find myself asking Jenifer- at least once per week- what day it is. I'm usually okay on the weekends, but most other days are up for grabs. Since our garbage and recycle is picked up on Tuesday, when I get home after working on Monday, I know it's Tuesday. I have no such landmarks for the rest of the week, though... except for our whiteboard.
The whiteboard is mounted on the wall directly behind and slightly above Jennifer's monitor. We've had it for a number of years. Its original purpose was homeschooling, but it gradually evolved into a family messaging center. Jennifer will usually put tomorrow's activities on the board, and I will put my wakeup time there also.
As far as data news goes, I'm happy to report that no data was lost in the recent, unexplained database meltdown. I still don't know what happened ( and expect that I never will), but I suddenly lost the ability to add data to several tables. I ended up exporting all of the tables into Excel spreadsheets, and then importing them back into an empty Access database. I had a few issues with this (the problem resurfaced!), but I was able to fix this, and in my spare time over the past few days have been formatting the new tables. As this is done, my next task is getting rid of old data that was based on table relationships. The final phase in the restoration of the database will be the rebuilding of relationships.
That's all for this blog. I hope (work permitting) to get another blog up in the next few days. Until then...
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
One of our dumbbells is missing
In my casual research of the title of this latest blog installment, I found at least half a dozen movies or television episodes that had were similar... instead of "dumbbells", substitute "Planets", "Aircraft", or "Dinosaurs" and you get the idea. The title came to me at the gym recently- actually, the staff there calls it the "fitness center" to differentiate it from the gymnasium, which has a polished hardwood floor, and in which basketball and volleyball games are played. And this is not to be confused with das Gymnasium, which in Germany is what we in the United States would call a high school. And just for fun, in Great Britain, it seems that a secondary school can be referred to as a grammar school, while in the United States a grammar school is a primary school.
But yes, one of the dumbbells was indeed missing from the milieu. There is a rack for the small (lighter) dumbbells near the emergency exit, and the dumbbells on this small pyramid range from 1lb (less that .5kg) up to 15lbs (just under 7KG). When doing pullovers, I generally start with a single 15lb'er and increase the weight by 5lbs per set of 8-10 reps. So even though I didn't need a pair of weights, I found it odd that one was absent. In any event, I did my set, replaced the weight and found its errant sibling: it was holding a door open! It seems that the dumbbell was standing in for a missing electric fan (which is usually near the door). Oh well, mystery solved.
In car news, we've finally broken 500 miles (1100km). Only another 500 miles until I can break the 4K RPM barrier and hit 5th gear! That could be a long time with my modest commute!
Lastly, database news.
I have a problem with my database which is getting worse. Earlier today, I tried to recreate a table from the old database (right now everything is Win7 and Office10). I had exported all of the tables from the failing database into Excel spreadsheets a few days ago, just to preserve the data. Today, I created a new, empty Access database, and imported one of these spreadsheets to create a new table. Much to my surprise, the new table has the same problem as the old database- I cannot add records (and these are all legal, legit, etc. My Microsoft Windows 7 and Office Professional 2010 are both legal, legit copies ( and by default, so is the source spreadsheet where the data was being stored). So, I'm at a loss as to what to do.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
But yes, one of the dumbbells was indeed missing from the milieu. There is a rack for the small (lighter) dumbbells near the emergency exit, and the dumbbells on this small pyramid range from 1lb (less that .5kg) up to 15lbs (just under 7KG). When doing pullovers, I generally start with a single 15lb'er and increase the weight by 5lbs per set of 8-10 reps. So even though I didn't need a pair of weights, I found it odd that one was absent. In any event, I did my set, replaced the weight and found its errant sibling: it was holding a door open! It seems that the dumbbell was standing in for a missing electric fan (which is usually near the door). Oh well, mystery solved.
In car news, we've finally broken 500 miles (1100km). Only another 500 miles until I can break the 4K RPM barrier and hit 5th gear! That could be a long time with my modest commute!
Lastly, database news.
I have a problem with my database which is getting worse. Earlier today, I tried to recreate a table from the old database (right now everything is Win7 and Office10). I had exported all of the tables from the failing database into Excel spreadsheets a few days ago, just to preserve the data. Today, I created a new, empty Access database, and imported one of these spreadsheets to create a new table. Much to my surprise, the new table has the same problem as the old database- I cannot add records (and these are all legal, legit, etc. My Microsoft Windows 7 and Office Professional 2010 are both legal, legit copies ( and by default, so is the source spreadsheet where the data was being stored). So, I'm at a loss as to what to do.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
T minus 100, or possibly M minus 100... or so
In my last post, I had mentioned (well, okay, it was the topic of the post) that Jennifer and I had purchased a new 2014 Subaru Outback from Grand Subaru- and I'm giving them another plug because we were THAT pleased with our experience there). I've only seen Sandy interact with a few other customers, but I've observed a technique she uses that I like. Just before a prospective customer heads out the door for a test drive, she always (in a good-natured tone of voice) admonishes them to "keep it under 120!" (~190KPH). As one who has sold things for a living in the past, I can appreciate her particular choice of words. On the surface, she's reminding the prospect to be careful, and that she is responsible for the vehicle. Peel a layer or two off, and its a reminder that the 2.5L engine under the hood is a beast that has won rally races around the world- after all, this ain't your father's Oldsmobile (old General Motors advertising slogan). Finally, on another entirely different level, its an invitation to let the clutch out and mash your right foot down and just get a taste of what you could have....
(*ahem) But I digress.
When we took delivery of our Outback, Sandy took us to the garage/service area of the dealership and gave us a whirlwind tour of some of the car's features. Just before we left, she advised us to read the manual as questions came up and call/email her for anything. And, make sure to observe the 500 mile break-in period (well, I thought she said 500 miles; a website I saw recently recommends 1000 miles [1600Km]). This latest discovery bums me out, as we just turned over 406 miles on the odometer.
The car still has not experienced 5th or 6th gear. (FRACK!FRACK!FRACK!)
I SO want to get this car on the open road and use those gears!
In other news, Jennifer was down in the Secret Underground Lair last night asking about dinner. I was working on my media library and listening to a Backstreet Boys song. She raised her eyebrows at this, as I am decidedly NOT a Backstreet Boys sort of person in any stretch of the imagination. So, I had to show her the YouTube video of two Chinese dudes lip-synching this song. And then I got to thinking about YouTube videos which had become memes.... at least in my e-world; Stuff like Numa Numa... which, of course, I also had to watch. But I did not watch Boxxy. In fact, I am not even going to post a link to Boxxy... if you don't know Boxxy, I am not going to lead you down this particular rabbit hole. You'll just have to look Boxxy up on your own.
On the data front,, there's nothing new to report. My Music Recordings table is functional, and the database now lives on an actual HDD. Going forward, the backup will be on a flash drive rather than the flash being the primary storage.
Finally, I recently had the opportunity to participate in a discussion in an Excel group I am a member of on LinkedIn. The topic was essentially how can an Excel "power user" be defined; that is, what is the minimum skillset needed to be recognized as such? Well, I'm not sure about anyone else here, but I started my contribution to the discussion by saying that I am certainly not a power user, but at times have been a subject matter expert. My feeling about power users is that they should have the ability to use both Excel and Access, and have to discern which is the better solution- or, use them together when necessary.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to (and, for the moment, our Outback).
(*ahem) But I digress.
When we took delivery of our Outback, Sandy took us to the garage/service area of the dealership and gave us a whirlwind tour of some of the car's features. Just before we left, she advised us to read the manual as questions came up and call/email her for anything. And, make sure to observe the 500 mile break-in period (well, I thought she said 500 miles; a website I saw recently recommends 1000 miles [1600Km]). This latest discovery bums me out, as we just turned over 406 miles on the odometer.
The car still has not experienced 5th or 6th gear. (FRACK!FRACK!FRACK!)
I SO want to get this car on the open road and use those gears!
In other news, Jennifer was down in the Secret Underground Lair last night asking about dinner. I was working on my media library and listening to a Backstreet Boys song. She raised her eyebrows at this, as I am decidedly NOT a Backstreet Boys sort of person in any stretch of the imagination. So, I had to show her the YouTube video of two Chinese dudes lip-synching this song. And then I got to thinking about YouTube videos which had become memes.... at least in my e-world; Stuff like Numa Numa... which, of course, I also had to watch. But I did not watch Boxxy. In fact, I am not even going to post a link to Boxxy... if you don't know Boxxy, I am not going to lead you down this particular rabbit hole. You'll just have to look Boxxy up on your own.
On the data front,, there's nothing new to report. My Music Recordings table is functional, and the database now lives on an actual HDD. Going forward, the backup will be on a flash drive rather than the flash being the primary storage.
Finally, I recently had the opportunity to participate in a discussion in an Excel group I am a member of on LinkedIn. The topic was essentially how can an Excel "power user" be defined; that is, what is the minimum skillset needed to be recognized as such? Well, I'm not sure about anyone else here, but I started my contribution to the discussion by saying that I am certainly not a power user, but at times have been a subject matter expert. My feeling about power users is that they should have the ability to use both Excel and Access, and have to discern which is the better solution- or, use them together when necessary.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to (and, for the moment, our Outback).
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Drivers, pt 3
Jennifer and I bought a new car this past week- it was our first new car purchase in fifteen years. We purchased a 2014 Subaru Outback. Created in the mind of Fuji Heavy Industries and built in the United States, this car is simply amazing. I showed a picture of it to my coworker Anna, and she simply said, "Road trip".
Truth be told, this car absolutely is pleading for us to take it on a road trip. We have at least four destinations in mind, and three are relatively easy day trips... but we are taking it easy until we get the car properly broken in and I have a few consecutive days off!
When we visited Grand Subaru for a test drive, our salesperson Sandy Jackson jestingly told us to "keep it under 120 (mph, ~190kph). I had some issues on the test drive. For starters, the analog instruments on the Subaru seemed to be reversed from the truck I was trading in (that is, the positions on the dashboard of the speedometer and tachometer were reversed from what I was accustomed to). Jennifer kept on asking me to slow down, and every time she did, it took a moment for me to figure out how fast we were actually traveling. Also, the Outback we test drove had all of five miles on the odometer, and the gearbox required more effort shifting than did that of our fifteen year old Escort.
We test drove the base model Outback, and it was fun to drive. We brought it back- all too soon- and were pretty impressed with the vehicle. We talked some more with Sandy about the price. I was looking through the brochure, and I noticed that the Premium model (one level up from the base model) had an all weather package; I asked Sandy what was in that, so she started listing some features, and as soon as she said "heated mirrors" I knew that was the model which we needed.
As it was very close to the end of the model year it took around two weeks, I think, to get our Outback. Sandy had located one with a dark interior and exterior, as well as a manual transmission, but it got sold before she could secure it. Not long after, she found one with the dark interior and manual transmission, and she called and asked in silver was acceptable... sure, we told her. When we went down to pick it up, trade the pickup and get all of the paperwork done, we noticed that the car has a little bit of blue in the silver- we like the color very much.
It took me a few days before I actually had the courage to start taking the Outback to work. I've mentioned before that I work in the largest industrial park in the United States.Some of the folks where I work drive a good distance to get to this job, so there are more than a few "beaters" in the parking lot. I very carefully sized up my parking prospects before the Outback's first trip, and I figured that the best place to park would be close to Anna's late-model sporty import.
So, how do we like it?
Well, since this is our first new vehicle in fifteen years, there's a bit of a learning curve, to say the least. Subaru has thoughtfully produced a quite comprehensive owner's manual... its actually larger than a few of my software books- and that is a feat! Since I work at night, one of the very first features I noticed was that every control in the Outback has soft red backlighting. The cabin is quiet enough to have a conversation with a rear seat passenger in a normal tone of voice. The doors close and lock with quiet authority. There are too many features to list here, but there are a few which I really like. Having grown up with vehicles that had manual trannys, Jennifer and I both set the parking brake almost without thinking. The Outback has an electronic parking brake, as well as a separate hill mode- if you drive a stick and have ever accidentally let the car roll a bit before setting the parking brake, you can see how handy the hill assist is. There's a little blue, thermostat-shaped light on the control panel that shuts off when the engine has reached operating temperature. Lastly, there's a center console which has a lid that flips up for storage. What's ingenious is that the lid covers two spaces: the large, "normal" storage space, and there is a smaller space directly under the lid. We're not quite sure what the upper area is for just yet, but its neat knowing its there. The console storage area underneath has a 12V output, a USB socket and a 3.5mm socket, the 3.5mm connection to hook one's MP3 player or cell phone to the stereo (of course this can also be done via Bluetooth).
I suppose you've had enough gravy, so how about some meat? I think I had mentioned recently that I really love driving. Ever since I saw Petter Solberg race for Subaru in a WRX, I knew that Subaru made a tough car. I don't think I'll ever have a WRX STI or even the "plain" WRX, but for the way I drive the Outback is a worthy stand-in. It doesn't have the intercooled turbo, but it does have the 2.5L boxer engine, which is peppy and powerful- a certain fellow in a Corvette that I went nose-to-nose with will attest to that ( I hope his suspension was okay after he hit those rough double railroad tracks at 50+ MPH [~80KPH]). I'm glad for his sake that we weren't racing, though- I'm pretty sure I could hold my own in the corners, and I think I could outbrake him... I'd definitely turn tighter! Yep, I learned this after driving the Outback for a week and logging less than 100 miles (~161KM) on the odometer.
And as much as I'd love to keep on talking about the Outback, there's some big news on the data front as well. I think about two weeks ago one of the tables in my database crashed without warning. It was an odd crash- I could still see all of the data, but could not modify it in any way. Here's where the story get a bit more interesting: among the Secret Underground Lair's computing arsenal, we use three flavors of MS Office: 2007, 2010 and 2013. The database is stored on two different computers, and each computer has an external hard drive where the data resides. Data is sometimes entered directly onto one of thes drives, or sometimes it goes on to a flash drive first, and then it is copied. Well, at some point this table MUSIC_RECORDINGS stopped allowing me to modify it in any way. I was unhappy about this, mainly because I didn't want to rebuild the table. But the thing that was most unsettling was that it worked perfectly in the 2007 version of Office. Still, I don't use 2007 all that often. I finally found an older copy that works, so this is the new working version.
Wow. Lots of words. As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Truth be told, this car absolutely is pleading for us to take it on a road trip. We have at least four destinations in mind, and three are relatively easy day trips... but we are taking it easy until we get the car properly broken in and I have a few consecutive days off!
When we visited Grand Subaru for a test drive, our salesperson Sandy Jackson jestingly told us to "keep it under 120 (mph, ~190kph). I had some issues on the test drive. For starters, the analog instruments on the Subaru seemed to be reversed from the truck I was trading in (that is, the positions on the dashboard of the speedometer and tachometer were reversed from what I was accustomed to). Jennifer kept on asking me to slow down, and every time she did, it took a moment for me to figure out how fast we were actually traveling. Also, the Outback we test drove had all of five miles on the odometer, and the gearbox required more effort shifting than did that of our fifteen year old Escort.
We test drove the base model Outback, and it was fun to drive. We brought it back- all too soon- and were pretty impressed with the vehicle. We talked some more with Sandy about the price. I was looking through the brochure, and I noticed that the Premium model (one level up from the base model) had an all weather package; I asked Sandy what was in that, so she started listing some features, and as soon as she said "heated mirrors" I knew that was the model which we needed.
As it was very close to the end of the model year it took around two weeks, I think, to get our Outback. Sandy had located one with a dark interior and exterior, as well as a manual transmission, but it got sold before she could secure it. Not long after, she found one with the dark interior and manual transmission, and she called and asked in silver was acceptable... sure, we told her. When we went down to pick it up, trade the pickup and get all of the paperwork done, we noticed that the car has a little bit of blue in the silver- we like the color very much.
It took me a few days before I actually had the courage to start taking the Outback to work. I've mentioned before that I work in the largest industrial park in the United States.Some of the folks where I work drive a good distance to get to this job, so there are more than a few "beaters" in the parking lot. I very carefully sized up my parking prospects before the Outback's first trip, and I figured that the best place to park would be close to Anna's late-model sporty import.
So, how do we like it?
Well, since this is our first new vehicle in fifteen years, there's a bit of a learning curve, to say the least. Subaru has thoughtfully produced a quite comprehensive owner's manual... its actually larger than a few of my software books- and that is a feat! Since I work at night, one of the very first features I noticed was that every control in the Outback has soft red backlighting. The cabin is quiet enough to have a conversation with a rear seat passenger in a normal tone of voice. The doors close and lock with quiet authority. There are too many features to list here, but there are a few which I really like. Having grown up with vehicles that had manual trannys, Jennifer and I both set the parking brake almost without thinking. The Outback has an electronic parking brake, as well as a separate hill mode- if you drive a stick and have ever accidentally let the car roll a bit before setting the parking brake, you can see how handy the hill assist is. There's a little blue, thermostat-shaped light on the control panel that shuts off when the engine has reached operating temperature. Lastly, there's a center console which has a lid that flips up for storage. What's ingenious is that the lid covers two spaces: the large, "normal" storage space, and there is a smaller space directly under the lid. We're not quite sure what the upper area is for just yet, but its neat knowing its there. The console storage area underneath has a 12V output, a USB socket and a 3.5mm socket, the 3.5mm connection to hook one's MP3 player or cell phone to the stereo (of course this can also be done via Bluetooth).
I suppose you've had enough gravy, so how about some meat? I think I had mentioned recently that I really love driving. Ever since I saw Petter Solberg race for Subaru in a WRX, I knew that Subaru made a tough car. I don't think I'll ever have a WRX STI or even the "plain" WRX, but for the way I drive the Outback is a worthy stand-in. It doesn't have the intercooled turbo, but it does have the 2.5L boxer engine, which is peppy and powerful- a certain fellow in a Corvette that I went nose-to-nose with will attest to that ( I hope his suspension was okay after he hit those rough double railroad tracks at 50+ MPH [~80KPH]). I'm glad for his sake that we weren't racing, though- I'm pretty sure I could hold my own in the corners, and I think I could outbrake him... I'd definitely turn tighter! Yep, I learned this after driving the Outback for a week and logging less than 100 miles (~161KM) on the odometer.
And as much as I'd love to keep on talking about the Outback, there's some big news on the data front as well. I think about two weeks ago one of the tables in my database crashed without warning. It was an odd crash- I could still see all of the data, but could not modify it in any way. Here's where the story get a bit more interesting: among the Secret Underground Lair's computing arsenal, we use three flavors of MS Office: 2007, 2010 and 2013. The database is stored on two different computers, and each computer has an external hard drive where the data resides. Data is sometimes entered directly onto one of thes drives, or sometimes it goes on to a flash drive first, and then it is copied. Well, at some point this table MUSIC_RECORDINGS stopped allowing me to modify it in any way. I was unhappy about this, mainly because I didn't want to rebuild the table. But the thing that was most unsettling was that it worked perfectly in the 2007 version of Office. Still, I don't use 2007 all that often. I finally found an older copy that works, so this is the new working version.
Wow. Lots of words. As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
You just HAD to talk about drivers, didn't you?
Last week the drivers were in vehicles. Today its all about the motherboard.
As previously mentioned, Mr. T and I completed Jennifer's new computer this past Sunday, the 30th of March. We didn't have much of an opportunity to do much other than physically set it up on her desk- we didn't do much in the way of burn in or testing, and I paid for that today. Dinner and a movie... and no internet.
As detailed in the previous blog Seven, we survived dinner without a movie, and on Monday I did indeed get the beastie online. From there, I was able to get updates to various drivers. So the PC is now functional, although still not 100%. There is a fair amount of software that needs to be reloaded, and most of it will be installed on the as-yet-to-be-named hard drive; I say it that way because although the PC knows there is a drive there, the drive has not been initialized yet. I get the idea that this is something that was a new feature to Windows 7, as I don't believe I've ever encountered anything like this in XP. As I recall, adding a HDD to XP is pretty simple: physically install it, boot the PC and make sure that it is recognized, and then when Windows boots, format it. We'll see how that goes.
Until that happens, I can't install Microsoft Office, because I believe it cannot be installed on an external drive. I also need Nero for viewing Blu Ray, and Jennifer's card program, as well as probably another dozen "necessary" programs.
So as far as the PC goes, I'm at an impasse... more news will be posted when I have more news.
Until then, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to .
Monday, March 31, 2014
Seven
Back in the early Eighties, there was a somewhat local band I liked called the Lamont Cranston Band. They played a really nice rock-blues fusion, and had some regional hits, but never went on to the big time. One of the more interesting songs from their Upper Mississippi Shakedown LP was something of a novelty called "Seven". In this tune, the singer laments that seven used to be his lucky number, but now everything associated with seven was bad.
Its not really that way with me. I don't believe in "lucky" numbers. If you would ask, I would tell you that my favorite numbers are five and four (in that order)- not that it means anything.
But... seven is a fairly special number for me, as far as this blog goes: its like the ceiling, a barrier to be broken through. With the hours and times that I work, I've found that getting more that seven blogs per month is challenging. And, when those times hit when I've got absolutely nothing in the idea tank, well... I really have nothing.
Today, though... today is a first: I literally just finished the post Drivers, and immediately started this one. As I was waking up this afternoon after a longer than expected Friday night at work, I was thinking about finishing and publishing the previously mentioned blog when it occurred to me that on most months if I publish seven blogs that's quite an achievement. And Drivers is #7 for the month of March, 2014. So , this has the potential of being #8.
******WE*INTERRUPT*THIS*BLOG*FOR*AN IMPORTANT*ANNOUNCEMENT******
Up. And. Running. 5.30.14 (30.5.14)
It took nearly a month, but Jennifer's new rig is operational and has been deployed! The machine was complete around a month ago, but then I decided to install an additional top mounted cooling fan. We had the box open today, and I casually mentioned to Mr. T that I had two 120mm fans, so he said we might as well use both, so we side mounted the second one (the blue ones are the ones we installed today). Windows 7 is mounted on an SSD- it boots incredibly quickly.
The only real issue I had was getting the PC online; I get a pass on this, though, because its actually the very first PC I've built from the ground up. We were watching a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory and having some incredible turkey that Jennifer had baked. I think we watched three episodes before the answer came to me: I had not installed the drivers from the motherboard utilities CD. Once I did that, we were good to go. I discovered an interesting quirk about this PC: the two front panel mounted USB ports are only for I/O... this is something new. Mr. T and I had prepared for taking the PC online for the first time by downloading some of our favorite utilities (Avast, CCleaner and Defraggler) onto a USB stick.Strangely, though, the PC did not acknowledge the existence of the stick. Odd, as I had the transceiver for the mouse in the next port over. I pulled the stick out, and swapped places with the transceiver. Mouse worked fine, but not the stick. Oh, well, on to Plan B- I went to each site and downloaded the software. Suspecting a possible issue with the drive, I plugged it into a top mounted USB port, and there it was! So the rule for this PC is: Front for I/O, top for data.
After the Chrome installation (this is the standard 1st download here at the SUL), I downloaded the Amazon Player. If you purchase music on Amazon, you really owe it to yourself to download the player, as most music purchased on Amazon becomes part of your Amazon personal cloud. So, even though I hadn't loaded my personal music library to Windows Media Player, I had access to a few hundred songs. I fired up Axe's Rock 'N' Roll Party In The Streets and then Night's Hot Summer Nights- classic late 70's rock which are probably unfamiliar to many. I played these two tracks as I downloaded the Steam client.
I think that's all for now. No data news or updates today, but I should have some speeds and feeds in the next blog or so.
Until them. I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Its not really that way with me. I don't believe in "lucky" numbers. If you would ask, I would tell you that my favorite numbers are five and four (in that order)- not that it means anything.
But... seven is a fairly special number for me, as far as this blog goes: its like the ceiling, a barrier to be broken through. With the hours and times that I work, I've found that getting more that seven blogs per month is challenging. And, when those times hit when I've got absolutely nothing in the idea tank, well... I really have nothing.
Today, though... today is a first: I literally just finished the post Drivers, and immediately started this one. As I was waking up this afternoon after a longer than expected Friday night at work, I was thinking about finishing and publishing the previously mentioned blog when it occurred to me that on most months if I publish seven blogs that's quite an achievement. And Drivers is #7 for the month of March, 2014. So , this has the potential of being #8.
******WE*INTERRUPT*THIS*BLOG*FOR*AN IMPORTANT*ANNOUNCEMENT******
Up. And. Running. 5.30.14 (30.5.14)
It took nearly a month, but Jennifer's new rig is operational and has been deployed! The machine was complete around a month ago, but then I decided to install an additional top mounted cooling fan. We had the box open today, and I casually mentioned to Mr. T that I had two 120mm fans, so he said we might as well use both, so we side mounted the second one (the blue ones are the ones we installed today). Windows 7 is mounted on an SSD- it boots incredibly quickly.
The only real issue I had was getting the PC online; I get a pass on this, though, because its actually the very first PC I've built from the ground up. We were watching a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory and having some incredible turkey that Jennifer had baked. I think we watched three episodes before the answer came to me: I had not installed the drivers from the motherboard utilities CD. Once I did that, we were good to go. I discovered an interesting quirk about this PC: the two front panel mounted USB ports are only for I/O... this is something new. Mr. T and I had prepared for taking the PC online for the first time by downloading some of our favorite utilities (Avast, CCleaner and Defraggler) onto a USB stick.Strangely, though, the PC did not acknowledge the existence of the stick. Odd, as I had the transceiver for the mouse in the next port over. I pulled the stick out, and swapped places with the transceiver. Mouse worked fine, but not the stick. Oh, well, on to Plan B- I went to each site and downloaded the software. Suspecting a possible issue with the drive, I plugged it into a top mounted USB port, and there it was! So the rule for this PC is: Front for I/O, top for data.
After the Chrome installation (this is the standard 1st download here at the SUL), I downloaded the Amazon Player. If you purchase music on Amazon, you really owe it to yourself to download the player, as most music purchased on Amazon becomes part of your Amazon personal cloud. So, even though I hadn't loaded my personal music library to Windows Media Player, I had access to a few hundred songs. I fired up Axe's Rock 'N' Roll Party In The Streets and then Night's Hot Summer Nights- classic late 70's rock which are probably unfamiliar to many. I played these two tracks as I downloaded the Steam client.
I think that's all for now. No data news or updates today, but I should have some speeds and feeds in the next blog or so.
Until them. I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Drivers
I'm something of a fan of words that have multiple meanings. Being involved with technology for some time has made me cognizant of the idea that just because one hears a word like "scanner", one doesn't necessarily know what is going on, unless one has a bit more contextual evidence. A regular reader may recall I've used the scanner example before, so today I'd like to relate an epiphany I had while driving to work recently, and another one of "those" words- namely, "driver".
Let me, for starters, say that I know that a driver is a golf club of some sort. This should tell you immediately that I have very little understanding of and absolutely no interest in playing or watching golf, so I may have suddenly become a pariah to some. In fact, my indifference towards golf is so great (is it even possible to have "great indifference") that I didn't even Google this club. The game itself has a fairly rich history, but I've often wondered which came first, the game or scotch whisky* (Scotland being famous for both). Per wikipedia, whisky came first. This helps me understand why a game would be known for eagles, birdies, sand traps, water hazards, mulligans, plaid shorts, and Bill Murray. Another sort of driver is a tool, of course- screw drivers, nut drivers and pile drivers come immediately to mind. And then, there are the big wheels on a steam locomotive which actually move a train- these are also called drivers.
*For American readers: apparently in most parts of the world, this beverage is not spelled with an "e". For readers outside of the United States, we spell it thusly: whiskey.
Yet another sort of driver is a business term- a factor to be considered, I suppose, when analyzing a situation, such as, "Recent unrest in the Semiautonomous People's Democratic Republic of Somethingorother has been a driver in the sudden spike of organic widget prices".
Something more familiar to my "tech-savvy" readers would be a software driver- that piece of software which tells a computer how a particular piece of hardware should operate. Printers are a good example of hardware that needs special drivers, dependent upon the manufacturer, model, etc.
But- as is my custom- all of those were teasers to allow me to present you with the definition which I'd like to discuss: the driver- as in, the person who operates a vehicle. Even here, though, we're going to run into some variety. For example, I believe in British English, the person who operates a railway locomotive is called a driver. However, I digress.
It seems that we're pretty much done with snow for this season, so I've started driving the Escort again. At one time, this vehicle was the most popular car in the world, mainly because it was relatively inexpensive. Being inexpensive, there are seemingly lots of things not to like about the Ford Escort, but the longer that we've owned this particular vehicle, the more I've come to like it... even some of the things which were initially negatives. For starters, this car is NOT quiet- the driver hears and feels everything from the outside (and underside). After a number of years of watching televised motorsports, I have decided that this superficial negative is actually a positive... what some might call noise or vibration I now count as feedback (data). The manual transmission is also very smooth; 1st gear is especially long (I can typically hit 30 mph [48kph] without having to upshift; I think when accelerating quickly, 2nd is optional and can be skipped entirely). Its also pretty low to the ground, and therefore railroad crossings and potholes need to be gingerly negotiated. The upside of this is that, because the car also ha a pretty low center of gravity and a decent height to width ratio, it takes corners with a confident nimbleness; the short wheelbase also contributes to the overall feeling of maneuverability.
And all of this car talk brings brings me back to the idea of "driver". My commute to work is not a long one- according to an article I read today, Chicago has the second-highest average commute time in the United States, at around 34.1 minutes (one way). My usual one way time is generally around eight minutes; if all the traffic signals are in my favor and traffic is light, its generally closer to seven minutes. What's interesting to me, though, is the type of person I encounter on the trip. Going to work in the evening, I encounter more drivers, that is, folks behind the wheel who operate with skill and enjoy their vehicles; to them, the drive is not merely what happens between home and wherever they're going, its an enjoyable part of the day. More importantly, they're skilled- and predictable. The morning drive, conversely, is not pleasant. There are easily 4-5X more vehicles on the road, lots of large trucks and, if I get out really late, school buses. Most of the commuters are thinking about getting to work on time, their work schedule, and often talking on the phone (which is illegal in Illinois)- in short, they should NOT be driving. As I work in what is thought to be the largest industrial park in the United States, there are lots of loading docks and trucks making deliveries or picking up loads. I have the utmost respect for what these folks do and their skill, but they do block traffic. Schoolbuses... a thankless job performed by ladies (typically) who normally get around in minivans. Schoolbuses in the United States do not have seatbelts for the children, so the driver is also a part-time baby sitter. And buses stop everywhere.
I love driving... not so much commuting.
Hardly any data today, and nothing new to report on the database. I've actually done a small bit of data entry- I got some new music this week. All of the album titles and tracks have been entered, but the Music Recordings table has yet to be updated, partly because of an issue with the PC I usually use for this task. The Secret Underground Lair also welcome a new member into the family this week- an Asus netbook with Windows 7 Starter and Microsoft Office Pro.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Let me, for starters, say that I know that a driver is a golf club of some sort. This should tell you immediately that I have very little understanding of and absolutely no interest in playing or watching golf, so I may have suddenly become a pariah to some. In fact, my indifference towards golf is so great (is it even possible to have "great indifference") that I didn't even Google this club. The game itself has a fairly rich history, but I've often wondered which came first, the game or scotch whisky* (Scotland being famous for both). Per wikipedia, whisky came first. This helps me understand why a game would be known for eagles, birdies, sand traps, water hazards, mulligans, plaid shorts, and Bill Murray. Another sort of driver is a tool, of course- screw drivers, nut drivers and pile drivers come immediately to mind. And then, there are the big wheels on a steam locomotive which actually move a train- these are also called drivers.
*For American readers: apparently in most parts of the world, this beverage is not spelled with an "e". For readers outside of the United States, we spell it thusly: whiskey.
Yet another sort of driver is a business term- a factor to be considered, I suppose, when analyzing a situation, such as, "Recent unrest in the Semiautonomous People's Democratic Republic of Somethingorother has been a driver in the sudden spike of organic widget prices".
Something more familiar to my "tech-savvy" readers would be a software driver- that piece of software which tells a computer how a particular piece of hardware should operate. Printers are a good example of hardware that needs special drivers, dependent upon the manufacturer, model, etc.
But- as is my custom- all of those were teasers to allow me to present you with the definition which I'd like to discuss: the driver- as in, the person who operates a vehicle. Even here, though, we're going to run into some variety. For example, I believe in British English, the person who operates a railway locomotive is called a driver. However, I digress.
It seems that we're pretty much done with snow for this season, so I've started driving the Escort again. At one time, this vehicle was the most popular car in the world, mainly because it was relatively inexpensive. Being inexpensive, there are seemingly lots of things not to like about the Ford Escort, but the longer that we've owned this particular vehicle, the more I've come to like it... even some of the things which were initially negatives. For starters, this car is NOT quiet- the driver hears and feels everything from the outside (and underside). After a number of years of watching televised motorsports, I have decided that this superficial negative is actually a positive... what some might call noise or vibration I now count as feedback (data). The manual transmission is also very smooth; 1st gear is especially long (I can typically hit 30 mph [48kph] without having to upshift; I think when accelerating quickly, 2nd is optional and can be skipped entirely). Its also pretty low to the ground, and therefore railroad crossings and potholes need to be gingerly negotiated. The upside of this is that, because the car also ha a pretty low center of gravity and a decent height to width ratio, it takes corners with a confident nimbleness; the short wheelbase also contributes to the overall feeling of maneuverability.
And all of this car talk brings brings me back to the idea of "driver". My commute to work is not a long one- according to an article I read today, Chicago has the second-highest average commute time in the United States, at around 34.1 minutes (one way). My usual one way time is generally around eight minutes; if all the traffic signals are in my favor and traffic is light, its generally closer to seven minutes. What's interesting to me, though, is the type of person I encounter on the trip. Going to work in the evening, I encounter more drivers, that is, folks behind the wheel who operate with skill and enjoy their vehicles; to them, the drive is not merely what happens between home and wherever they're going, its an enjoyable part of the day. More importantly, they're skilled- and predictable. The morning drive, conversely, is not pleasant. There are easily 4-5X more vehicles on the road, lots of large trucks and, if I get out really late, school buses. Most of the commuters are thinking about getting to work on time, their work schedule, and often talking on the phone (which is illegal in Illinois)- in short, they should NOT be driving. As I work in what is thought to be the largest industrial park in the United States, there are lots of loading docks and trucks making deliveries or picking up loads. I have the utmost respect for what these folks do and their skill, but they do block traffic. Schoolbuses... a thankless job performed by ladies (typically) who normally get around in minivans. Schoolbuses in the United States do not have seatbelts for the children, so the driver is also a part-time baby sitter. And buses stop everywhere.
I love driving... not so much commuting.
Hardly any data today, and nothing new to report on the database. I've actually done a small bit of data entry- I got some new music this week. All of the album titles and tracks have been entered, but the Music Recordings table has yet to be updated, partly because of an issue with the PC I usually use for this task. The Secret Underground Lair also welcome a new member into the family this week- an Asus netbook with Windows 7 Starter and Microsoft Office Pro.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
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