Our furnace started making a funny noise the other day.

It was a little squeak… nothing much. I could barely hear it coming from the cold air return.

Curious.

I didn’t think much of it… our house makes all sorts of noises. They’re the kind of sounds that you become used to and miss when you’re not there (which is probably why I have such a hard time sleeping when I’m on the road).

Yesterday… the squeak became a low growl. I went into the furnace room, replaced the air filter, banged around on the blower, and the sound seemed to disappear. I figured that it was the air filter…. it was pretty dirty and perhaps the blower couldn’t suck enough air through it (winter just started and I hadn’t changed it in a while).

Last night at 2 am… it became a howl. Now the blower doesn’t turn at all.

I’ve googled and found the part I need. Of course, I need it today and can’t wait on an internet purchase.

It’s currently 22 degrees outside (-5.6 Celsius) and I’m not exactly wild about the concept of the inside of my house matching that temperature. I do have a gas fireplace and a few portable heaters (electric oil filled radiators), so at least I can keep it somewhat livable for the time being.

I’m just praying that the furnace repair monkeys are open today and don’t charge me a fortune for the part (last time they wanted $500 for a part that was $220 online).

Update 8:37 am

After working on it for a few hours (it helps when you have half a clue about what you’re doing), I was able to remove the blower fan.

In all its glory (click for a larger view. Why? because you’re bored as hell):

The blower cage and exaust fan (it’s a 90%+ furnace)

The upper part of the furnace (exaust fan goes here) and lower part (blower)

The problem… one dead motor.

Now I have to find someplace that A) has the part in stock and B) is open on a saturday (and from the phone calls I’ve made so far… that’s not looking very good).

Oh.. one more thing… yes… I marked the wires as I took them apart with a sharpie (so I can figure out how to re-assemble the damn thing later). Always thinking I am 🙂

Last weekend, I purchased a $10 ticket to the Mega-Millions lottery because the prize was up to $315 million.

This morning, I checked my numbers against the website.

I WON!!!

Of course, I still have to take the ticket in to claim my $7 prize for matching 3 of the 6 numbers, but still…. I”M A WINNER!!

Again with the Sony/BMG blues.

If you were unlucky enough to stick one of their XCP protected disks into your windows PC… do not, and I mean DO NOT make a second mistake and run the uninstaller to remove the rootkit it installs.

It’s now been discovered that the patch released by Sony to “uninstall” the copy protection software can open up a whole new can of worms on your PC.

“Alex Halderman and I have confirmed that Sony’s Web-based XCP uninstallation utility exposes users to serious security risk. Under at least some circumstances, running Sony’s Web-based uninstaller opens a huge security hole on your computer. We have a working demonstration exploit. … In the meantime, we recommend strongly against downloading or running Sony’s Web-based XCP uninstaller.”

In a nutshell… it allows any website to install and execute software on your PC via a webpage. This is beyond bad.

Another way to explain it: running this application to remove something bad will make things far worse. It will unleash the hounds and let slip the gates of hell.

Sony… if you’re looking for a Senior Applications Engineer who can tell you when you’re doing something insanely stupid… you should hire me (though I’m not sure I’d accept… I’m kinda funny about things like company stability and job security).

The internet turned 15 years old yesterday.

Happy birthday!

15 years of free pr0n, viruses, and l337 little fuckwads on IRC.

This is my obligatory “I haven’t posed for a couple days so I guess I better write something” post.

Not that I really have a lot to say today.

I am, however, rubbing my hands together with glee on two fronts:

• Sony BMG is getting kicked in the teeth (warning: popups)
• President Bush is getting the same treatment

If I think of something truely spiffy to write, I’ll letcha know.