Monthly Archives: October 2004

Computer Upgrades

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I was able to get a couple of new fans for the computer, the desktop one, that is.

First off –a blue LED fan to suck in air to cool the interior space, glows blue when the computer is turned ON. This replaces the dull old ugly one that came with the case originally.

Secondly –a new heatsink and fan for the processor. We have an Athlon XP 2100+, and this fan is rated for Athlon XP up to 3400+ –so it’s a hefty decent fan. Not only that though, it has a control button that is mounted in a free PCI slot, three positions to make the fan faster or slower. It’s a Thermaltake TR2-M2 which has a copper base on the bottom. Decent fan.

I replaced both of the old devices with the above two items this morning.

A few months ago I was “suddenly” having a shutdown problem with the desktop, and it was running hot then … but hadn’t “seemed” to have done so before that dreadful first “shutdown” day. I cleaned off dust and dirt from inside the box best I could, and that helped … and finally a few days later I got “canned air” and that REALLY helped, but I couldn’t take the “heatsink” off of the “processor” since I didn’t have any thermal grease or thermal other thingie … so the heatsink wasn’t cleaned out as best as could be. All in all, it was alright though, ran better, and I also got a little portable fan aimed inside the open-sided-case … as I run the machine that way to keep things cooler in our NON AC house this year … and the temperature readings in BIOS were better than they had been.

With todays heatsink and fan replacements, temperatures are WAY DOWN! Hurrah!

What I really need now is new Memory. My memory seems to be cheap, and may be totally wrong for this machine in that way.

What I also really need now is a new Mother Board. Something better, with a better chip, and USB 2.0 on-board and well, the ability to run faster memory …

With the advent of Fry’s Electronics opening in the Atlanta market [outpost.com for ONLINE shopping], I have the stuff I want, need, can use, for good prices available for only the exchange of cash for product. No shipping and waiting, can look at all the stuff and touch it and compare it physically, so it’s SO MUCH better for me to get computer parts this way. I love shopping online, but with stuff I’m not surely wizardly good about, physical see in personism is a plus for me. ;)

Things aren’t such that I can get lots of everything I need to do stuff, but it’s that I must weigh what I can do in what stages of install for the best results. I totally see the needs for superb memory, that’s my biggest problem now, feeling that what my 512mb module is doing is what is causing me some problems. I can’t run things as fast as the processor can go.

Now, getting a new Motherboard would mean I could get faster Memory, so the better stuff is cheaper, that’s just the way it is in that case, but it’s still rather high priced.

I could also get a new Motherboard and a new processor for a package price at Fry’s. Good deals, must compare and see what’s what, what should be done.

We are at the point in the road of thinking of building a WHOLE NEW desktop, and fixing up this one I’ve been speaking of to run nicely for the children.

In that case, maybe just some new memory for it, and skip the Motherboard upgrade, skip the processor upgrade … oh, well, that’d be the cheapest way to do it.

Then a DVD-Rom or DVD-R/RW drive … or a dual layer version … ah, a DVD-ROM only for this if children’s computer … yes, but then oh, they’ll be learning how to do stuff eventually and it’s just swimmingly over my head to want to skimp on ‘puterismishness. :( I love decking them out. I love it too much. Gagetry at the ultimate level.

I just spent more time with the AMD processor site and Fry’s online to see what I should do, and I only have educated myself enough to make me understand it all more yet be more confused. Sigh. Dh wants me to go there later and get something more … and I’m not sure what angle to tackle. I am thinking perhaps that a risk on Memory is worth it, or that maybe a new board is worth it, or … hmm don’t know. Yes, I do. New board would be best, as it’d be newer at least, and warrantee stuff is worth it if stuff works badly as THIS CURRENT motherboard that was gotten as a unit of case and motherboard [barf! Sam's] may just be the problems we’ve had … who knows. I am rambling on here the last few paragraphs, so time to end this and just POST it!

Cornell Third-Party Debate (Peroutka)

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Today our pastor is away in Chicago speaking at the church that had a conference this past week at which he also spake, so we had our pastor-filler-John_Carrick, whom comes often when our pastor isn’t there. Today’s message was on “The Glory of Creation” Gen. 1:1-31. Very lovely.

In any case, we aren’t going to this evenings service, which is someone else speaking, but will stay home since FIL is here. As well the Peroutka third-party debate is airing on C-Span, and I wasn’t able to download it from the Peroutka site, I tried many times the past day or so. Errored out after a slow download of practically nothing for many minutes, in both IE 6 and Firefox, on two different computers. In any case we are looking forward to seeing how it went, and how Mr. Peroutka presents himself and the issues he stands for and against, as well as seeing the other major third-player candidates.

Find an update below, whence it is ready!

UPDATE: [10-11-2004] –Watched the debate last evening on C-span. Mr. Peroutka was good, held his ground, answered well. No arguements ensued. Mr. Socialist Party was funny, not a serious candidate IMO, Mr. Libertarian Party was good as I agree with many of that parties stances but surely not all of them by far …, and Mr. Green Party was obviously rabid against big corps and disgusted me with his talk about things as them being a “world wide” party. We don’t want a “world wide” party in the White House ever. In any case, Mr. Peroutka brought up Instant Run-Off Voting, and said that he had just learned of it via Mr. Green Party. This is where Mr. Green Party redeemed himself, and they all agreed, all four of them supposedly but I didn’t take it as gospel that Mr. Socialist Party agreed — he seemed rather not-into-it either by disagreement or non-understanding or some-such-thing. Mr. Green Party gave a good short descrip of what IRV is, and it’s something I’m familiar with for a long, long time, since sometime back in the 90′s at the least, I think. At any rate, it’s exactly the thing … but to get that to happen would be a joke, as the Big Tent party that visually is split into two oarts called Democratic and Republican, respectively, would have to die first, and for the Tent to be flattened would mean … ? People bowled over with understanding and change of heart … ? Doable, but in God’s way only, and that is a mystery and not something MAN can bring about.

The secondary thing is that one student in the audience asked about Abortion, and ONLY Mr. P. is Pro-Life. No other candidate there, or in the Big Tent is Pro-Life. None of those three, and neither the Big Tenties too.

Mr. P. went first in Introductions, then Mr. Green Party. Mr. P. said “God, Family, Constitution”. That seemed to make Mr. Green Party upset and he said in HIS Intro that he was going head to head, basically, in his Intro with the Constitution Party … but rattled right on into Green Party Avocado Dip Recipe instead … Mr. Socialist Party then took C.P. phrase above and laughed and showed examples from his life experience of WHY we don’t need to use that phrasology … a total joke that was. Mr. Libertarian Party stuck to L.P. politics. Good for him. The two funny pieces are Green and Socialist, they felt the need to defend themselves from C.P. That’s good. So Libertarians get the most votes after the two biggies, I understand that. It makes sense. C.P. is the rising “conservative” group. I don’t go all force into their platform, but it’s a God Honoring platform overall, and that’s why it’s God Honoring to vote for Peroutka.

It was a nice debate, not fiery, not boring. Just a good casual debate. Refreshing, actually. Mr. P. spoke on many issues, and gave info, didn’t give emotional outburst, or passionate speeches. He simply told the truth of what was what. :)

The Lone October Tomato plant

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My one lone tomato plant, natural and give to me –not planted by me, given to me by natural however it was it happened … :) The one I’ve written about before, I found it growing up where the hens had been stationed in earlier weeks, and I had caged it and it was growing nicely, flowering and setting fruit.

So I keep my eye on it. Today I brought some bread out to the hens and decided to stop by Lone Tomato and see how she was doing. I looked and admired the nice big tomatoes, three of them are big, two more a few steps smaller. I then went to count the next size, and saw that one of the smaller ones had a big line eaten out of it’s skin. Damage known as HORNWORM! I looked and looked and saw nothing. I looked over and under and upsidedown, and then suddenly, there it was. Yup, Hornworm. Young. Ugh. In October? I have had tomato plants last this long, I think, in past years, but never recall Hornworms in October. In any case, whether that’s actual or not, here it is, the first week of October and there was a Hornworm on my Lone Tomato plant.

I called Frank out and he got the worm, then he saw another one. Hmm. I looked and looked more, and then we saw another. Three of them. Hmph. So I went in to get some BT mixed up (Biological Insectiside for WORMS like the Hornworm). When I came with the BT in a spray bottle, Frank said he had found two more, total of FIVE disgusting green hornworms. I can’t stand them. They are the worst buggy thing, to me, that I can imagine. Ugh. Frank killed them all. The BT will kill whatever ones we may have missed. It’s amazing how well they blend into a tomato plant. It’s not THAT big either, the plant that is.

So there are two really nice tomatoes looking like they’ll be ripening soon, and another close behind, then at least 7 more in various stages of delopment. It’s Oct 8, so we have at least, given normal temperatures, at least 5 more weeks until First Frost, and hopefully I can keep it alive until it gives me enough tomatoes to satisfy my desire for FRESH HOMEGROWN TOMATO! I haven’t had any edible this year. The few I got were take before ripening to get them away from the StinkBugs and weeds that kept me from being able to take care of them. Most of them smooshed to yuck after ripening on the windowsill, me forgetting them until too late. I did make sauce for dinner with some of them once, but no fresh ones to eat came of the many we planted. We bought some big tomato plant last Spring, as well as the usual smaller ones we mostly have bought in the past. Well, those usual ones didn’t fruit at all. Withered to nothing in the Summer heat, just sitting there growing worthlessly the weeks before since planting. The BIG plants, they took off, but didn’t last either. It was a very frustrating garden this year. I had such high hopes for it too! :(

It’ll be nice if I can get a big red juicy tomato and slice it up, salt it with sea salt, then a big glob of mayo on it, yum!

Mystery tomatoes they will be, and are now. I have no idea of the variety. I figure it comes from whatever I gave the hens this Summer. What that may have been, my tomatoes I didn’t keep track of what they were. Well these are nice and big and round. I may have given the hens store tomatoes too, if I had some that went beyond my desired usage. Bumbling around with words since I have no real idea of [tomato] parentage. They just look like nice tomatoes.

Today’s worm attack was the first pest aimed at this Lone Tomato. I hope nothing else turn foe on it!

Happy October!

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Time is flying. Amazingly it is faster this year than ever before. Didn’t Winter just end, the sun just start being out more each day, when now it’s out less each day, and the temperatures aren’t AS tough, it’s backwards Spring. But it was just Spring.

My garden is a mass of dead plants and weeds, with one lone Cauliflower ever strangling taller and taller, looking ugly, not producing a thing. Actually, my garden was rather like that since Summer began. Spring it was working, and then, blahdom set into it. If I had the time to be in it noon and night it still would have gone sour. It’s just that ugly spot of land, that ugly Summer we had too. But it was a blink of an eye. A dream I had one night.

So now it is October. Good beer month.

I have one tomato plant that popped up not to long ago in the middle of the yard. Right now there are 10 tomatoes on it in various stages of development, as well as more blooms ever opening to be fertilized or not. It has been a gift. It would be somewhat connected with the hens, in that I gave them some tomatoes a few times this past summer, and they were penned in that area then too. One way or another, one nice plant sprouted up. I saw the leaves popping out from amongst the too long weedy yard, so I smooshed the weeds down to investigate it. I knew it was a tomato plant just from the couple of leaves visible. Oh what a nice plant it was! So I ran and found a tomato cage and propped it up nice and tidy. Pulled some weeds out that were near it and just have been nice to it ever since, pulling off extra leaves, moving a branch in the cage for better support.

We have another month and a half before first normal frost. I think I just might get tomatoes from this plant. That’ll be nice, since my real plants all were horrible this year. I have do a raised bed for them next year, no doubts about that. I think that the method I found this year, one plant in the middle of the yard, is a clue as to what’d be good to do.

I think it best for me to plant tomato plants later in the year, not in Spring. And plant them in various non-garden spots throughout the yard. Take a plug of grass and earth out, and put in the tomato plant. Grass will overtake it by Spring, and the spot will be ready to be used for a tomato again another year or so, but that the very next year it’ll just be grass and the tomatoes of that year will be in other little spots here and there.

Well, that’s a maybe solution to having nicer tomatoes. In the South there really are two planting seasons, and I’d really like to take advantage of them by growing some things earlier, and other things later. That’d help me not be so overwhelmed as to failure garden-wise. :)

So I’m happy to see October arrive, and hope to find some fresh North Georgia Apples soon, and hope to have some lovely tomatoes from the middle of my backyard soon! I’ll see about a tent to protect it soon enough, in case of early frost. That’s not so hard, to figure out a tent for one lonely plant ;)

A brief note about the hens: They have been molting for too long, and we’ve had no eggs from them since about September 10th, and most of them quit laying before that. It’s quite frustrating, and I hope to get a better set-up for them with lighting, so that maybe they’ll start to lay and keep laying all Winter. Any way, the Leghorns are the problem, I figured they’d lay all summer and fall and then do them in. They are in there eating and not laying though for a couple of months, so …. I want some eggs out of them! If we did them in, we’d only have 8 hens. 8 hens that are never every day layers. I need some new stock, and want to get the pens figured out and really just DO IT! This month would be the month to get babies. Hmmm.

So Happy October to y’all!