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Bike to work: the month of May in review
I was only able to bike to work 8 times in May, due to a variety of reasons.. early in the month, I caught a cold, and various obligations at home made it necessary to take the car on several days I otherwise would have biked. Later in the month, I had a week where…
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Next year’s pool project
I’m already thinking about next year’s pool project, and I haven’t even started this year’s yet… For next year, I’m considering adding an automatic chlorine feed using a chemical metering pump, similar to the setup described here. The main goals of the project would be: Save work; Save money on chlorine by matching the supply…
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Portal Meltdowns
We had another portal meltdown this morning. I figure I’ll keep a “meltdown log” of sorts to record notes, etc. Hopefully it’ll help me get to the bottom of this. Background: Every so often, the portal becomes unresponsive. There seems to be no correlation to system load (high demand etc). For example, spring final exams…
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Today’s PAGS tweak
Today I fixed the latest crop of users with portal-access issues: Previous students who took a semester off, or never completed a degree, who want to use myUMBC to register or retrieve a transcript. These students do not have a student affiliation in LDAP, because they’re not “current” students. They also lack an alumni attribute…
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Dell Widescreen Monitor + Linux: Utter & Complete Frustration
I just wasted an entire day trying to get a new Dell 2007WFP working with my 3-year-old Dell GX270 desktop, which runs Debian. The result: total failure. It works at 1280×1024 (and looks all stretched out), but flatly refuses to work at the monitor’s optimal resolution of 1680×1050. In the xorg.config file, first I tried…
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Portal session management tweak
I’ve decided to work a little harder to make myUMBC work for more users. Of course, the ulterior motive is to save work for myself and the help desk. Actually, sometimes my entire job seems geared towards doing things to save myself work. I guess once I’m completely successful, I’ll be able to just sit…
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Leaf Blower/Vacs: Echo vs. Toro
Here we have it: a head-to-head comparison between the Toro Super Blower/Vac and the Echo ES-210 Shred ‘n Vac. I’ve used the Toro for 3 or 4 years now, and recently bought the Echo. First things first: I’ve always liked the Toro. But, it’s electric, and the cord has always driven me nuts. One of…
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Pool still covered
Yesterday was supposed to be the big pool-uncovering day, but it didn’t happen. The original plan was to open it early so I could get my coping project underway. But, yesterday it occurred to me that I could get started with the cover still on, and just pull the cover back to expose whatever area…
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Out-of-control Azaleas
It’s azalea-pruning time of year again. I’ve got a multi-year project going to tame the two huge azaleas outside our living room window. They were neglected for a long time and have gotten very leggy, woody and overgrown. One of them is actually two azalea bushes that have grown together. The big ones are way…
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More on Ademco Keyfobs
We’ve been using keyfobs with our security system for a couple weeks now, which is enough to get a good feel for how they work. First off, the reliability is a lot better since I relocated the panel’s wireless receiver about 40 feet closer to the garage door area. I have a feeling that the…