I got this email from my boss a few minutes ago:

Travis – If we need to add KVM components, cards, cables, let’s get them on order this week so that we can ensure that they hit Feb’s budget.
Let me know what you would like to purchase.
You had also mentioned about ordering some drives for the external array. If we still have use for this, then please get a PO submitted for those components as well. Jim may have some need or use for additional disk space.

All – Anything else that is needed?

I replied with the following:

I’d like a pony!

How was your Valentines Day?

At Casa de WWBD, all went well. I had purchased a ring for my lovely wife, a 2.5 carrot Brazilian garnet surrounded by diamonds (and before you ask… no, her birthday is not in January… she just likes garnets.

It was well received, but I felt that I should get her something more, so I ran at the last minute to the store to procure a dozen roses and a bottle of Rosa (a red sparkling wine that she likes). Pure chaos ensued.

Clueless men were in the floral department by the dozens. Each one was looking at flowers with the same dazed expression on their face. They had several women working in that department, trying to assist in picking out flowers. How hard is this?

After finding a dozen coral roses (which were mislabeled as Vendela) and the bottle, I made haste to the checkout stand, standing behind an army of other men who had grabbed whatever they thought might be pretty.

Note to the man ahead of me… a fern with a small red heart balloon on a stick, while economical, is not going to get you anywhere when you get home. Prepare the couch, good man, for you will need it.

I got home, presented my wife with her flowers, wine, and some chocolates from Hallet’s (a local candy company that makes outstanding chocolate). She, in turn, presented me with a card and some scratch tickets. 🙂

Ahhhh… what a glorious weekend!

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and my wife borrowed a trailer so we could clean out the garage.

Our garage has been chock full-o-crap since we bought the house 5 years ago. To be fair, not all of it was ours. We inherited a large amount of “what the hell is that?” from the previous owners (a Vietnamese family who owned a lot of very odd stuff). While the amount of junk they left was rivaled only by the smell of kimche in the fridge, there was a lot of it.

A friend loaned us his trailer, a 5′ x 10′ wooden sided unit (5′ deep) with no shocks (the axel was welded directly to the frame… more on that later). I had to run out and buy an adaptor and extension for the lighting rig (as we have a 7 pin round connector on our Durango and he had the 4 pin flat connector on his trailer.

I did laugh when I saw the license plate on it: 9999-MB. My comment: “Wow… this trailer holds nearly 10 GB of stuff!!”

Yeah… I’m a geek!

We ended up hauling 4 loads out of there (just over 2,000 pounds or 907kg) and we still have a little left. Its a big garage!

On the last trip out, we had a little excitement. We hit a pretty good bump and because the trailer didn’t have any shocks, it popped the hitch off the ball. Good times ensued at 35mph (56.3kph)! Thank God I attached the chain to the back of our rig or it might have gone straight into the river (though that would have saved us the trouble and expense of unloading it at the waste transfer station).

I pulled over and gently slowed down to a stop, put it back on, and we were on the road again (though at a slightly slower speed).

We spent the evening sitting in the garage, drinking beers and basking in the glory that is open space. There’s still quite a few boxes in there that we have to go through, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to park the Durango in there soon.

I saw my neurosurgeon yesterday to schedule a date to remove the hardware in my back.

I’ve got what they like to call “hardware pain”. The heads of the screws rub against the muscles in my back, making it painful every time I take a step, sit in a chair, or lay down. Good times there!

Fortunately I don’t have long to wait.

They made the appointment for March 9th. It’s not as involved as my previous surgery so I should be able to go home that evening or the next day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this time. My surgeon also said I can keep the hardware after they get it out of me. At $1,200 a screw, it will make for an expensive souvenir 🙂

There’s a countdown on the right hand side of the page. If it gets into the negative numbers, you’ll know that I’m still in the hospital.

I did ride my motorcycle for the first time this year today. It was a brisk 44° (6.7° c) out there and with the wind it felt even colder, but it was worth it! The sun was shining and I saw a dozen or so other people out there on their bikes, so I wasn’t the only idiot.

I buy a lot of computer related parts online. Hell… I buy ALL my parts online.

Most of them come from newegg.com

They have good prices, real shipping rates, and the process your order fast. For example, I ordered a new 16x double density DVD burner and a floppy drive for my son’s computer on Tuesday. By wednesday… I had a tracking number and the total cost for shipping was a whopping $3.50.

Today, I had to call them because the Iomega Rev drive in my server is dead (it makes clicky-clicky noises when you insert the cartridge and never goes to ready status). I purchased this from newegg back in September and figured they’d refer me to the manufacturer because it’s past their 30 day RMA policy, but called them anyway. It was a “no problem, we can do that” phone call.

They’re shipping the new one out via 2nd day Fed-Ex at no cost to me and I’m sending the old one back tomorrow.

Seriously… you should buy from them. Great customer service, good prices (about 1/2 of retail), and realistic shipping costs. What more could you ask for?