Jeff the Handyman

So I got a little inspired today and decided I would fix one of our two toilets that need fixing. We only have two toilets, by the way. Anyway, it was an adventure for a couple of reasons - the fix was relatively easy.

The toilet I fixed was leaking out the handle. Yea, that's weird. We figured out it was because when we flushed it, the cap on the intake shaft was probably clogged. Sure, I could have cleaned that, and I tried to figure out how to get to the dirty parts, but I decided after having done some research that it may be just as well to replace the thing. The other toilet, we have to hold the handle down to get it to flush properly. Yes, I could also probably just adjust a screw on the thing, but I think it has some other problems too.

The first reason it was an adventure is because I've never done this before. I did do the first thing right - turn off the water. But the next steps were not quite as obvious to me. Fortunately, the kit that I got, the FluidMaster Water Saving Dual Flushing System, had complete uninstall and install instructions. So, I figured out which screws to remove and in proper order. After verifying I was getting everything in proper (ensuring to cut the overflow tub to proper height - note: use a dremel tool, not a hacksaw as they suggest) it was time to put the screws in.

For as expensive as this kit is, they provided everything and great instructions. This included the brass bolts, rubber washer, metal washers and nut. Unfortunately for us, our tank had 1/4" bolt holes and, apparently, the standard bolt hole for tanks is 5/16". The hole was 1/16" too tiny. I tried forcing a bolt in but ended up stripping it. So Rachel and I packed up and went shopping. After over an hour looking in both The Home Depot and Lowe's, Rachel was very tired and I found out nobody has the 1/4" bolt that is needed for this type of job.

I ended up getting a glass and tile drill bit. I was quite nervous about this because drilling into ceramic is a careful job. It also required running water through the hole while the drillbit was doing its thing otherwise it gets too hot. In any case, I was successful at creating the hole and not breaking my drill by getting water in it.

After that it was just checking to see if I had any leaks (I did and had to dismantle the tank 4 times before getting it on straight and tight enough.) Then it was fine tuning the float adjustments to maximize water saving with flushing power. So, here's to saving water and water bill costs.

The whole job took me way longer than it should have. But having never done this before, I think I did good. The other toilet should not take nearly half as long to complete. The next challenge is to remember to flush UP when a light flush is needed.

UofL's epic win against Marquette

With 6.5 minutes to go in today's UofL basketball game against Marquette, I had thrown in the towel. I'd seen this story many times before. I sent a text message to Noelle and told her it was over. Then Van Treese got a steal and dunk. Preston Knowles decided that the rim was no longer too small and started draining 3-pointers and I sent 4 or 5 more text messages to Noelle (because she was at a party and would be interested in these turn of events.) As it turns out, the response I got (That's nice, but UK is better) was not really what I expected from her. I was sending these messages to my nephew, Austin. Oops. So, instead, I called and told Noelle the final events of the game. What was it? With 12.2 seconds left, UofL's Preston Knowles got the ball, drove the lane, jumped to shoot; but, being triple defended, dished the ball to an open Kyle Kuric who scored a ring around the basket. UofL leads by 1, 71-70, with 4.0 seconds left. Marquette failed to score and UofL capped, what columnists are writing, a furious win.

Coach Pitino, in his post-game interview, called it a top 5 comeback win. Of course, we all know about UK's epic win over LSU in 1994. UK was down by 31 points with 16 minutes left in the game. UK turned on their A-game and outscored the Tigers 62-27 to win the game 99-95.

This got me thinking. UK's win is epic. It is still talked about in Kentucky. But how do these two games compare? Coach Pitino gets to notch his cap with another epic comeback win, sure, but if we analyze the numbers which is the greater comeback? UK allowed LSU to score 27 points in the final 16 minutes, UofL held Marquette to 7 points in the final 5. minutes. That's 1 point every 35.6 seconds in UK v LSU compared to 1 point every 55.7 seconds in the UofL v Marq. Advantage UofL defense. On offense, UK scored 62 points in the final 16 minutes, or 1 point every 15.5 seconds. UofL scored 24 points in the final 5.2 minutes, or 1 point every 14.8 seconds. Advantage UofL offense. (Originally, I started counting at 6.5 minutes with Van Treese's steal and UofL scoring 26 points. That's 1 point every 15 seconds. But UofL was still down 18 with 5.2 minutes left.)

In other areas, LSU lost their point guard and missed free throws. Marquette had UofL in foul trouble the whole game, but couldn't capitalize on it during the end. They also missed an important free throw series, scoring 1 of 2. I give the advantage to UofL on this, they were in foul trouble and were battling the full force of Marquette.

In both cases, the game came down to the last seconds. LSU made an errant baseball type inbound pass that was picked off and UofL was able to trouble Marquette's lane running shooter enough that his shot was short. Both of these games were won by the same coach using similar tactics: pounding defense and tenacious pressing. It helped that the players started knocking down shots.

Being down by 31 points with 16 minutes left is usually a time when a coach or team throws in the towel and says, "Here's a practice game, let's make the best of it," UK didn't do that. Being down 18 points with 6.5 minutes left caused a large number of UofL fans to head to the door.

UK's 1994 win over LSU is totally epic, but I think Pitino is right, today's UofL win over Marquette should stand as a top 5 comeback win in NCAA Men's Basketball - it may even be a bigger win than the UK game. The raw analytical numbers bear it out.

Christmas Light Hero

Some people have too much time and or money... But sometimes they create Epic Wins!

Ubuntu LINUX! Yeah!

Okay, so I've been threatening to move my main computer to linux, Ubuntu specifically, for a very long time. A very, very long time. The problem was that Windows XP is a decent operating system. Sure it has its problems. It's totally and completely insecure by itself. Microsoft claims we can't pay them enough to not release a buggy operating system. Despite all that, most software developers, specifically game manufacturers and hardware manufacturers, develop their software exclusively for the Windows operating systems. Times are changing.

When Windows Vista arrived, people took a look at it. Due to a myriad of troubles, a lot of it Microsoft, but some of it due to computer vendors (Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Sony, IBM, etc) the personal computer experience was abysmal. People started to look elsewhere. Most went to Apple. (WHAT are they thinking?! ... I'll leave that rant for another post.)

Anyway, due to mostly technical reasons and not liking being treated as the criminal, I vowed never to upgrade past Windows XP. Windows 7 has nearly made me change my mind. Microsoft has made a very good operating system with Windows 7. Still, I and the general consumer are not Microsoft's customer. (Another topic and rant.)

Recently, my computer hard drive crashed. I thought of all sorts of hardware reasons as to why this might be, but I've finally figured it out... the part of the hard drive that stores critical boot information became corrupted. Everything I've tried has failed to restore it. Only just today have I been able to reliably access and retrieve my files.

But because of this hard drive failure, it has forced me to decide whether to reinstall Windows XP, spend $150 to upgrade to a Windows 7 (64-bit), or go Linux, I've decided I will make the plunge. Ubuntu, here I come!

I tell you what, this switch, while it has its problems, has been very, very nice. Canonical (the company the maintains the Ubuntu distribution of Debian Linux) has made the switch fairly seamless for the Windows users with their latest Ubuntu 10.10 release, Maverick Meerkat. Installation was a breeze and convenient. Absolutely any type of software I want to use is easily obtainable. Just use the Synaptics Package Manager to find the application you want, put a check mark on it, and click apply. It downloads the necessary files, installs the application, and places a link in the Applications toolbar (like the Start menu).

Much of the software you see on my sidebar started its life in the Linux world. OpenOffice.org (soon to be LibreOffice) is preloaded on the computer. It comes with a decent e-mail, instant messenger, news reader application in Evolution. I switched it out for Thunderbird (easy, easy). Firefox is preloaded, I just grabbed my add-ons and was off and running.

Oh, what about those games one might ask... Well, certainly the mainstream gaming applications (World of Warcraft, Half-Life, Oblivion, a bunch of others I had loaded on my computer). Well, there is an application called WINE (Windows Is Not Emulated). Long story behind the name, which included several lawsuits. But essentially, it allows a Linux based computer to load Windows specific applications on the computer and the application will barely know the difference.

One of the problems with the Linux world is that there devotees are sometimes very fanatical in their approach to software. For example, some in the Linux world are upset that Ubuntu will allow people to load "closed source" software on their systems. While I prefer open source software, I will use whatever works. What's the point of all this? Adobe has dragged its feet for a very long time in making Flash work with Linux. Shortly after the Windows Vista debacle, they finally did it. Partly because, ooh!, the MacOS is somewhat Linux based. (Yes, I know it is BSD... I'm trying not to confuse everyone.) Also, more people were jumping to the Linux bandwagon (who wants to spend a 20% markup on hardware and be limited to just one source for more hardware and software on the Apple side of things). Finally, Redhat, Canonical, and Novell were all putting their weight on Adobe to finally release a working Flash application... and so they did. I have no trouble playing flash games watching youtube or hulu videos, etc.

The one problem I have... and this is rather disappointing, Netflix streaming will not work with Linux. Netflix has decided they will use Microsoft's Silverlight code. Silverlight is like Adobe Flash. It's like comparing a Toyota with a Ford. They're both cars, but a Toyota will have its light knob placed in a different spot than a Ford. I was going to say it doesn't work with Macintosh, but I suppose they did. Upon further reading it's all about the DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) OK OK it's Digital Rights Management... certainly not my right to consume the product for which I paid, though. (see my other rants on DRM.) Using a virtual machine (VirtualBox or VMWare Player), I will be able to use Netflix... but that will be a bit of a pain. (I've got to load Windows XP, ensure all software is up-to-date, ensure security software is proper, etc.)

So, I'm about 6 hours into total Ubuntu Linux immersion and I am liking it. ... I've just spent 3 hours of not playing games to type up this post ... The installation was extremely fast (20 minutes) and I was able to browse the Internet at the same time it was installing! (Take that Microsoft and your 1 hour install time with nothing to do but leave the computer, and then it is 1.5 hours minimum of updates and at least 3 reboots).

For those of you who think I'm taking the easy way out with Ubuntu... know that I have installed Gentoo Linux on a computer. That was several days worth of frustration because you are literally building your computer from scratch and compiling everything. (I spent a good 30+ hours on the thing, learning a whole lot, but not even ending up with a usable windows manager.) While this is a good exercise for learning, I don't have that time at the moment. Just a couple of hours a night after the girls go to bed. Don't, ya'll worry, I'll be knee deep in config files and the terminal before too long. I've got to get OpenSSH working without passwords, figure out why my Samba shares aren't working properly, and get VNC up and running (and preferably through the SSH tunnel).

How's that for an updated blog post?

On my TODO list:
* Figure out why Quicken 2008 is failing in Wine.
* Determine if I should bag it and install Windows XP in VirtualBox and run Quicken from that
* Decide if I want to spend $30 and get Moneydance to replace Quicken as my financial tracking software.
* Get MythTV working on the computer connected to the TV (mythbox)
* Get the mythbox connected to the TV, Internet, and configure MythTV software
* Configure the TV capture card in mythbox
* Get VirtualBox running on mythbox with Windows XP so Netflix can be utilized.
* Find a video editor suite or see if I can't get Video Studio working in Linux.

Down Syndrome and Football Touchdown

So here's a video of a high school football game with an amazing touchdown by a kid with DS. (Okay, so it's not that amazing, but it is really, really cool.) The story is on FoxNews.

Watch the high def version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb_4f5nXZdA