Busy Month
Yeah, I know, no updates in the past few weeks. Honestly, it feels like it has been a lot longer than that. I’ve just been damn busy. There were the Preds in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it past the first round. Better luck next year, I guess. Other than that, I’ve been pretty productive at work coding a new CRM, doing support work for SMARTMailer, and managing a new project for a new product that should kick ass (no, seriously, it’s kinda cool).
Then there’s working on the new ChattaLAN server. That hasn’t gone so well. I started to get things ready and as I was trying to install the OS (a number of times), drives were acting a bit flaky. As it turns out, three of the four drives were showing signs of failing. One drive is hit or miss on boot. Another drive lost a platter. And the third drive is making noises and the byte counts fluctuate on boot. That leaves me with an old 40GB IBM DeathStar hard drive that may or may not make it until next week. So, being a bit low on the extra funding to buy new hard drives (thanks to $1,000 in medical bills plus the standard living expenses), I’ve decided to try raising donations from users of the server to buy new drives and equipment to get the new server online. So far, I’ve only received one $50 donation from Ben Ridge, but being 1/5 of the overall donations, it is much appreciated! I’ve received a few more promises, but nothing solid as of yet. For more information on all that babble, see the “Ads?!?!?” post below and/or donate.chattalan.com.
I’ve also been doing quite a bit of much needed work in the back yard. I’m starting to reclaim a fenceline from weeks and vines. It looks pretty good, but there’s still a lot of work left. I need to wait for the vines along the back fence to die so I can clear those out. I also need to finish weed-eating along the back fence and on the outside of the fence. I’m also toying around with the idea of turning the old flower beds into rock gardens. Just dig ‘em out, lay down liner, and fill ‘em with rocks. I also need to get off my lazy arse and put up the lattice, put in steps, and stain/water-seal the whole deck.
Oh, and I also got new cushy, blue carpet for the living room (see here and here). We had to move all the furniture out in a hurry to get it installed on short, 20-hour notice. Now, all the furniture is sitting in the garage. I’m going to re-paint the walls before moving it all back in. And I’ve given away the couches because I’m getting new ones! In place of an old brown couch and a painful futon, I’m getting brand new leather couches. Oh yeah! However, those are on-order and probably won’t get here for another 6-8 weeks. Ouch. I also need to finish the den, but I have to move some of the furniture from the living room back out to re-paint the lower trim and then put down the quarter-round.
So, my home projects total up to be:
- Re-paint living room (gotta decide on a color)
- Re-paint trim in den
- Put down quarter-round in den
- Put up lattice around deck
- Put steps on deck
- Stain/water-seal deck
- Turn flower beds into rock gardens
Oy..
I’ve also been toying around with the idea of starting a 501(c)(3) for ChattaLAN. I’ve been doing a little bit of research on it and think it may be a good idea. It would be a non-profit for hosting of web sites, e-mail, etc. for local area geeks and their communities. No advertising on the sites (certain exceptions apply) and voluntary donations. That would make donations a tax write-off for the donors. Plus, it would be a decent little tax write-off for AirNet since they are hosting my personal server free of charge. I wouldn’t have to pay taxes on donations, either (since they currently land in my personal checking account). Maybe it could go further. Who knows? I’m still toying around with the idea and will talk to a few of my accountant friends and see what we come up with.
I think that’s about it for the updates. I’m taking a half day at work tomorrow to drive up to Nashville and see Cirque du Soleil: Delirium. That should be a nice, relaxing break. I need a real vacation, though. I’ll be taking off on my extended weekend come next Thursday. Justin and I are going to see Adam in Olympia, WA. WOO HOO!!!
