Digital Choke Daynotes

"Daynotes" are popularized by a Internet Web site called the "Daynotes Gang" (http://www.daynotes.com or http://www.daynotes.org), a collection of the daily technical and personal observations from the famous and others. That group started on October 29, 1999, and has grown to an interesting collection of individuals. Readers are invited and encouraged to visit those sites for other interesting daily journals. You can send your comments to us by clicking on any mailbox icon.

Reports

Pam and I got up a bit later than usual on Saturday; about 8:00am. (Our normal wake-up time is between 5:00-5:30am, and we're out the door by about 6:30am.) After the usual morning stuff, we headed up the hill to Auburn for breakfast at "Awful Annies" in old-town Auburn. That area was where they filmed the town sequences in the John Travolta film "Phenomenon". The small auto repair shop in the movie where Travolta worked was built just for the movie; it's not there now. But the background stores are all real.

Anyhow, there is a really good breakfast and lunch place called "Awful Annies". It was a nice morning, so we ate out on the porch. We parked on the street right next to the place; the street goes uphill a bit, but it was a good spot. For breakfast, I had a ham and cheese omelette, with hash browns and an english muffin, along with some excellent fresh-squeezed orange juice.

After breakfast, back into the car, and we headed on highway 49 from Auburn to Placerville. Just outside of Auburn, it's a windy road down into the American River canyon, then the road winds back up to the other side of the canyon. Then it's a nice two-lane road to Coloma. For those of you that remember your U.S. history, Coloma is the place where John Sutter discovered gold in the sawmill trace in 1849, starting one of the greatest land rushes in history. And it happened to be the weekend that the local historical types had set up a typical Gold Rush camp. All of the folks were dressed in period costumes, with canvas tents and doing the daily work of a small gold mining town. It was all quite interesting to walk around and look at the living conditions of the typical "49'er".

After wandering around there for an hour, we headed up to the cabin at Strawberry on Highway 50. Strawberry is a bit over an hour from Placerville ("Old Hangtown", because they did that when necessary in those days), and about 25 minutes from Lake Tahoe CA/NV (the town has a split personality). Strawberry is just a wide spot in the road, with summer cabins built on land leased from the US Forest Service. Most of the area along highway 50 from just above Pollock Pines (which is just above Placerville) is US Forest land, and there are many cabins in that area. Ours (actually, it belongs to Pam's folks) is just above Strawberry, which is at the 6000 foot elevation. The cabin is situated down a semi-paved road off the highway, right next to the south fork of the American River. The American River starts high in the Sierra mountains, and eventually winds it's way down to Sacramento and then on to the ocean through San Francisco bay.

It's a small cabin, sort of an A-frame, but it is cozy. There is a deck outside, with the river just about 25 feet away. The river itself is only about 25-30 feet wide, and it's not too high this time of year. But it does provide a very pleasant setting for relaxing and reading.

One of the attractions of the area is a small mountain right behind the cabin which is quite popular with climbers. It is not unusual to see a dozen people a day climbing up the rock face, which is about a 60 degree slope. Our family would spend a few weekends a year at the cabin, and when Jason was about 10, he and I went to the top of that hill. Not by ropes, but on another approach which was easily hikeable, about a 30-40 degree slope. It was a bit of a hike, but Jason really liked it. On subsequent visits, when he would bring along a friend, it was a hike he and his friend would take each time we went up there.

On this trip, it was just Pam and I. We relaxed a bit outside, and napped a bit. In the late afternoon, we hopped in the car for the short ride up to Lake Tahoe for dinner and a short visit to the nickel slot machines. (We are really big spenders.) No big jackpots this time (or any time, for that matter). I usually play the max bet each time; you can't get the big jackpot unless you play 3 or 5 coins at a time. On this trip, I just did the two-coin bet, and the third payout line came up triple-sevens. That would have paid 6000 coins (which would have been $300), but I missed it by a nickel.

But it was fun, anyhow. We went back to the cabin, and watched a tape of "What Women Want".

This morning (Sunday), we got up early again (well, 8:30am), and packed and locked up and drove back down the hill to Pollock Pines for breakfast at the "Knotty Kitchen", a small cafe in that small town. After the tasty breakfast, we went a bit farther down the hill to "Apple Hill", an area of many apple farms (and wineries, for those inclined). Many of the apple farmers sell their crops directly to you, and it has become quite a destination in the fall for many from the Sacramento valley. There are craft booths, plus lots of food made with apples. We stopped by our favorite place (Larsen Farms) and picked up a 20 pound box of red and green apples for about $10. Most of the places were pretty crowded; one of the most popular is called "High Hill", which usually has a line of cars waiting to get in. But all of those places have good apples, and we usually like to get there a couple times a year in the fall.

Then it was back home to relax a bit before the kids (and grandkids) came by for dinner. Tonight it was a nice roast, with baked potatoes, fresh green beans, and homemade applesauce, along with some homemade bread. Pam really likes to cook for the gang on Sundays; I like to eat what she cooks. After dinner, my son-in-law (Jared) and I did the dishes while Pam and Christine took the grandkids upstairs for a bath. Then Pam decided to make some brownies, and some banana bread. We had the brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce with nuts on top for dessert. Quite tasty, and very filling.

The kids left just before 9pm, and Pam assumed her usual position with her head on my lap. I watched "Alias", Pam got a head rub and fell asleep. Now it's just before 11pm, and I am writing this while watching an old "Rockford Files".

Today I learned about "crumple zones". On most cars, the sheet metal is engineered so that an impact will cause the metal to crumple to absorb the energy of the crash. I did a Google on "crumple zones", and there are quite a few interesting pages on this subject. Some have some broken links, but you might enjoy the information here, which states (along with talking about why Princess Diana didn't survive her crash):

I drive a 1998 Toyota Camry (and still do, without injury, for those of you who may be jumping to confusions). It has crumple zones, specifically in the hood (among other places, I assume). Both of you regular readers might have recalled that I mentioned that Pam and I had breakfast last Saturday at "Awful Annie's", which is in old town Auburn (CA), where I parked on the sloped street next to the restaurant. And, I might add, quite within the marked parking space.

After breakfast (again, for those of your who weren't paying attention), we drove to Coloma (gold discovery place), then to the cabin (at Strawberry), then to Lake Tahoe (CA/NV) to a casino parking lot, then to the small factory store area in Lake Tahoe (at the "Y"). It was there that I came out to the car and noticed the hood and grille of the car was damaged. The front lip of the hood was folded down, and the hood itself was bowed upwards. On the left side of the hood, there is a gap of about 3/4 inch (vertical) due to the damage. It is quite obvious as you approach the car, if you happen to glance at the hood as you move towards the driver's side door.

When going to the car after breakfast, I approached from the back of the car. At the next stop, I parked at the edge of the parking lot, so no cars could park in front of me, and I passed by the front of the car after parking, and then approached the car from the front when we were ready to leave. At the cabin, I exited the driver's side door to the rear of the car, and approached the car from the rear when we left for Lake Taho. At the casino parking lot, I exited towards the back of the car. I approached the car from the rear as we prepared to leave the casino parking lot. At the factory stores, I passed by the front of the car on the way to the stores. Coming out of the store, I approached from the front of the car. It was at that point I noticed the damage.

Now, for those of you not entirely bored by this whole explanation, you can see that I passed by the front of the car three times (twice in Coloma, once at the factory stores), and I didn't see the damage. So maybe you can understand that I was quite puzzled as to when the damage occurred. During four separate driving sequences (Auburn to Coloma, Coloma to cabin, cabin to casino, casino to factory stores), entering and exiting the car, I didn't notice the difference in the 'look' of the hood while driving down the road. Worse than that, I passed by the front of the car three times (in one day) before I saw the damage.

And it took me a couple of more hours more to figure out that the only time the damage could have happened was during breakfast. Since the car was parked parallel on a hill, the car in front of me must have misjudged his/her parking abilities, and crunched into the front of my car while I was sitting outside (about 30 steps away, but not within a view of the car), and I didn't notice. Nor was there a note on my car from whoever hit it.

So, it was off to the local body shop for an estimate for repair. And it was there that I learned about crumple zones (which is how today's post started, for those of you whose eyes have not yet glazed over), and how car parts only get one chance to use their crumple zone quota. Although the damage looks like it could be fixed with the "bang and paint" method, the fact that the crumple zones crumpled means that the part will not crumple properly the next time. Which is not good for a hood, since you want the hood to crumple, rather than slice through the windshield on it's way to the driver's face or other important body parts. And that crumple quota of "1" means that the hood needs to be replaced. Which is why the repair estimate was a bit over $2000. Of which I get to pay $500 (my deductible for hit and run).

And, if there is someone still reading this, you may recall that my luck that day was consistent. Remember the nickel slot machine and the 6000 coin jackpot I missed? That would have been $300 towards the deductible.

But, and I am serious about this, everyone gets little chunks of bad luck. Overall, I am very lucky. I have a wonderful wife who still loves me after 28 years of marriage. I have three children who still love me. And I have two grandchildren who's first word when they come in my door is a big "Poppa!". I have a good job that I enjoy, a nice house to live in, and fairly good health. So, I can deal with the missed nickel jackpot, and the $500 deductible.

No complaints here. And it does give me an amusing story to write about. Don't you think?

Not much action at work today. I was able to work on a few projects, mostly some standards documents. I need to build some security templates for the Win2K servers, using my new (additional) knowledge from the SANS class I took a couple of weeks ago. I've got Win2K server on another laptop, so I can use that to experiment with. I'm also going to put a Win2003 server on that system. When I rebuilt the laptop, I split the hard drive into two partitions so there would be room for another operating system to play with. The plan is to build some security templates and policies for each system. I can test them on out before rolling out to the production systems on the network.

After work, Pam and I stopped by the PriceLess store to pick up a few things for a goodie box to send out to Stacy at college. I'd tell you what was in it, but there's a chance that Stacy will see these pages, so you'll have to wait.

Then we went over to Red Robin (mid-scale hamburger joint) for dinner, then home to relax. I goofed around with the image at the top and bottom of these pages, adding a bit more moving text. I use Dreamweaver MX to make these pages, and the Fireworks MX program for the graphics. I'm not very artistic, but it was interesting to do.

Today is the third Wednesday of the month. So Microsoft has released this month's worth of updates. I just installed them on the laptop, and have set up the Microsoft Software Update Server (SUS) at work to push them down to the workstations at work. At least, those workstations that the other admins have configured to use the SUS. The recommendation from this corner office (yes, I do have a corner office; I'll have to tell you about it sometime) is to install the updates. I'm a firm believer in installing the updates promptly.

At home, the computers here are set up to get and install updates automatically. If you haven't done that to your computers, then your first step is to use Windows Update to get current, then follow the instructions at www.microsoft.com/protect to set up your computer for automatic updates. At work, get your network support guys to set up a SUS. It's not hard, they can put it on an existing Win2K server; it doesn't put a big load on a server. It's easy to set up, easy to administer, and easy to set up workstations to get their updates installed automatically.

Wednesday is also the day that Network Associates updates their virus data files. The laptop is configured to check for those each hour. That might seem a bit often, but most laptops are intermittantly connected to the Internet, so the once an hour thing is a good idea. Once a day is good for desktops with broadband or network connections, since virus data file updates sometimes happen on days other than Wednesday. At work, the update check happens during each login. Servers and laptops check hourly, workstations daily. Dial-up users may need to do it manually.

Getting Windows updates for dial-up users can take a while. Before I got DSL, I'd do the Windows Update thing just before I went to bed. The download would be done by the time I got up, a few clicks to restart if needed, or to shutdown if a restart is not needed.

After you get your computers patched (and set up for automatic updates), take a bit of time to get your relative's systems updated. And mention it to your neighbors the next time you see them. Friends help their friends get patched.

Here's some more 'crumple zone' news from one of my readers (no, not Brian C, the other reader). Peter T. writes about his crumple zone experience:

Wow! Loose tires on the road. Not a good thing. I recall an incident in our area a couple years back where a loose tire bounced into oncoming traffic and hit a car, causing a fatality. So Peter was a bit lucky.

I sometimes get a hankering for an older classic car. Although that's tempting (if I had the funding), the newer cars have a much safer design. We'll be keeping the Camry for a couple of years, while we fund Stacy's college years. Even though it has about 120K miles, it is still in good shape mechanically. And the weekend damage from the bumper tag incident will be fixed. Toyota seems to make cars that last. We had a Camry wagon that had about 280K miles on it. It went through various members of the family before it got donated to a local charity. Stacy has a Corolla that is getting up there in mileage. But it works good for her limited use while at college.

Pam and I had a nice dinner tonight at home. We decided to fire up the barbeque for some steaks. We had to get home pretty quickly, since the sun goes down about 6:30pm. It's nice to have a propane BBQ, because you can quickly get the heat up to the right level.

Then we went off to Hollywood Video to pick up a some movies to watch over the next few days. We watched Harrison Ford in "Hollywood Homicide". Not a bad movie, and it had a good car chase and cameos from lots of different actors.

This week has gone by fast. Been busy at work, but not much of significance. It looks like we finally got approval to implement a login banner. That's an important part of a security policy at the office. The login banner, along with strong computer and network use policies, are highly recommended. In fact, if you are the network guy for your company, the lack of those things can technically make your monitoring of the network a felony. Which reminds me that I was working on a "Is There a Felony in your Computer" report a few months back, and never got around to finishing it. I'll get it done this weekend. It is based on a talk that I heard at last year's SANS conference from an attorney at the US Justice Dept. Here's a teaser for you new guys: the act of using a network sniffer can be a violation of the Wiretap Act, and the Pen & Register Act. The act is defined as a felony, and the maximum penalty is 10 years in a federal penitentiary.

And if you are just messing around with your network, running port scans or other hacking-type tools, and it is not your job, you could also get in trouble. Not a good thing; just ask Adrian Lamo (who is living in this area while out on bail). Here's one of many articles about Adrian that you can find with a quick Google.

which details the new process that Microsoft is using to distribute patches. Basically, they will come out once a month, unless there is a Blaster-like potential problem. They are also revising the format of their security bulletings, and some other significant changes. A careful reading of this information is in order. And there are lots of interesting links in there for more information. I'll be taking a closer look at that page, and other links, tomorrow. Right now, it's getting late.

I got a few things accomplished today. Pam is off at work, doing year-end accounting stuff. So on Saturdays, I get to be chief cleaner around here. I started with the shower, then vacuumed the upstairs, down the stairs (have you noticed that there isn't really an easy way to vacuum stairs?), then the family room and office. Then I went outside and did a bit of pruning, and hosed off the back patio. I also hosed off the truck. Then I replaced a couple of light bulbs, which required the use of the ladder due to the 10 foot ceilings. I also dusted off the fan blades of two of the ceiling fans. Then I rinsed off the dishes in the sink, and took out the trash. And had a chance to watch a couple of episodes of "Gunsmoke" along the way.

And the grandkids (and their parents) stopped by on their way back from the pumpkin patch. We grabbed a pizza from the local Round Table (it was mine, not someone else's), and watched the baseball game.

Sorry about the missing post last night. But I did finish up the "Is That a Felony on Your Computer?" report that I have promised for such a long time. You might find it interesting. (Like most links around here, that will open up a new window; in this case, a PDF file.)

And I note that it is the 40th anniversary of the Lava Lamp. A Google of "lava lamp" will find you lots of references to this icon of my youth. I always wanted one, but never did get one. Apparently, there are others that share my memories. For instance, the folks in Soap Lake (Washington, USA) want to build the world's largest lava lamp. I'm not sure when it will get done, but it might be worth a trip. It's only 14 hour drive from here. I suspect that I'd have a hard time convincing Pam, though. But I might stick it on my "Now that I am retired, I might go there" list. Might as well get an early start on that list.

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