Category Archives: random

Out With the Old (Computer Files)

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I decided to perform a bunch of routine maintenance on my computer in preparation for installing the new OS update: Lion. I had already started downloading the 4th beta release of the iOS tools, and that was taking hours.  So, when that finally finished, I moved upstairs to connect my backup drive to the computer to sync the backups before I installed a new OS.

My backup drive has been filling up and deleting old backs lately.  Not really a problem, but it slows down backups.  So, I checked to see if there was anything I could clean off of there.  I noticed 3 and 4 year old backups of an older computer that I have already migrated important stuff off of (and now just runs my TV).  So, I “moved the files to the trashcan” which doesn’t actually delete files off a disk, then “emptied the trash” which does.

An hour and a half later I was still watching it count the files (350,000 at that point), it was well past midnight, i went to bed.  I checked and realized it was a 1 TB drive, so it definitely had lots of stuff that could be removed.  Upon awaking, it was still counting, but luckily finished soon thereafter.  Ending at 3, 696, 106 files to be deleted.  I know because it stopped to warn me that some of the files were locked and asked if those should be deleted.

So, it started actually deleting them sometime after 10am and finished a bit before 7pm.  (114 files deleted per second)  Freed up about 400GB on my 1TB drive.  Or if you include the accounting before the deleting 1am – 7pm = 20 hours (52 files a second).

In the mean time I took my jar of change to the grocery store, dumped it all into the Coinstar machine and ended up with a $24.01 credit for the iTunes store – that’ll mostly pay for the $30 OS X Lion upgrade and it cleaned out my change jar.  One über-corroded penny rejected.

Takeaway: i need to do maintenance on the backup disk more often.

p.s. i googled “terabyte” to see what the most odd image i could find – that’s the one above.  Available as wallpaper, a hoodie, and a mug, just click on the image.

p.p.s. “hoodie” so hipster my spellcheck doesn’t know it

Street Viewed

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I was working outside at 3622 Main this week, on a ladder, painting the trim on the windows I’ve been putting in.  I caught something out of the corner of my eye, a stalk on top of a car.  I initially suspected it was an art car, so glanced that way to see which one.  Instead, it was a Google Street View car.

Of course I couldn’t have been heroically lifting the glass into the window frames as I had been the previous day.  I was just painting them.  So, keep an eye on Street View and let me know when my back side shows up.

Willy the Hillbilly

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willy the hillbillyHave you seen this hillbilly at your local grocery store?  It cracked me up so much I had to buy a 12-pack.

My caffeine of choice is Dr Pepper, but I enjoy a Mountain Dew now and then, and particularly like their recent Voltage, which was raspberry and citrus.

I also particularly like the sodas that are made with cane sugar rather than corn syrup.  This one turned out to be not as good as I hoped, but still decent.

Apparently this one became available in December and is for a “limited time only” – it says so right there on the can!

Been a While: Calgary

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I stumble across a home made card I used to give to new friends I met while living in Canada:

Kinsington Gate Apartments #304
100 – 10 A Street
Calgary, Alberta T2N 4T3
CANADA
403.270.4497
home: bshirley@titmouse.sccsi.com
work: Shirley_Bill@pcp.ca

Hard to believe it’s been 15 years!

Eating Raw Shrimp, Not Advisable

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So, last week I bought some precooked shrimp at the grocery store.  They were cheap.  I bought them.  Tuesday, I was at a different store, I see some pre-peeled pink shrimp.  I glanced at the label, it didn’t say “raw”.

I defrosted the shrimp, thought they smelled a little fishy, wasn’t really paying attention, sat down to eat them, thought they were fairly flabby, figured they had been mishandled and were of low quality.  Ate one.  It was a wee rubbery, and as I picked up another, stared at the group of them all, I came to the very late conclusion that they were raw.

So, I cooked them up and ate the rest of them.  Hope I’m still alive tomorrow as this blog post will hit the web.  I’ll let you know how I’m feeling.

Hmm, here’s a list of possibilities: Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP),  and Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP).  Here’s hoping I don’t become familiar with any of those!