What are you doing today?

[Citysnaps]

I did my first unboxing this morning. It’s a set of photos though, rather than a video.

This box and its contents have been underneath various houses for more than thee decades. Long ago it was going to be shipped and follow me to a 1 1/2 year assignment on the other side of the world. At the last minute a friend of mine said having it shipped through military channels was risky with respect to damage and theft, I ended up not shipping it. So after all this time being stored on bare dirt in under house crawlspaces, I thought it was time to take a peek inside. The thick corrugated cardboard box was devoured by termites and other critters. I was really surprised the contents still look new. I put this together from a kit looong ago.

I'm debating whether to plug it in and toggle in a simple program. I still have an 8080 op-code reference card from long ago!

 

[Roller]

I did my first unboxing this morning. It’s a set of photos though, rather than a video.

This box and its contents have been underneath various houses for more than thee decades. Long ago it was going to be shipped and follow me to a 1 1/2 year assignment on the other side of the world. At the last minute a friend of mine said having it shipped through military channels was risky with respect to damage and theft, I ended up not shipping it. So after all this time being stored on bare dirt in under house crawlspaces, I thought it was time to take a peek inside. The thick corrugated cardboard box was devoured by termites and other critters. I was really surprised the contents still look new. I put this together from a kit looong ago.

I'm debating whether to plug it in and toggle in a simple program. I still have an 8080 op-code reference card from long ago!

You should definitely fire it up and run a program. I bet you’ll find more than a few bugs, though.

 

[DT]

Amazing piece on Laurie Anderson on 20/20 tonight, if you haven't experienced any of her art, do it now.

 

[DT]

I did my first unboxing this morning. It’s a set of photos though, rather than a video.

This box and its contents have been underneath various houses for more than thee decades. Long ago it was going to be shipped and follow me to a 1 1/2 year assignment on the other side of the world. At the last minute a friend of mine said having it shipped through military channels was risky with respect to damage and theft, I ended up not shipping it. So after all this time being stored on bare dirt in under house crawlspaces, I thought it was time to take a peek inside. The thick corrugated cardboard box was devoured by termites and other critters. I was really surprised the contents still look new. I put this together from a kit looong ago.

I'm debating whether to plug it in and toggle in a simple program. I still have an 8080 op-code reference card from long ago!

Holy shit, that's amazing.

 

[lizkat]

Sounds like fun. Did a small amount of gardening. Run to the tip. Got some cash for Mrs AFB. Filled my tyre with air.
With write some reports for work later.
Also had a walk

So much for "a day of rest", eh?

I lazed around drinking coffee and looking out the window at snow piling up on the ground in April. Original plan for the weekend was to pick up wind debris from over winter off the lawns. Later for that!

 

[Deleted member 215]

Lying in bed

I woke up this morning with a pretty severe sore throat. I did a rapid test and it was negative; this seems to just be a cold (albeit a bad one), but, perhaps due to the precautions of the pandemic, I haven’t actually had a cold in over three years. I work in an elementary school, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I caught something. But I definitely have a fever right now, so I’m gonna take something for that…

 

[Clix Pix]

Finally got around to doing my monthly backups so that tomorrow I can take one set over to the bank to stash in my safe deposit box there and I'll bring home what is in there now and update those external SSDs now and then again at the beginning of the new month before they make a return trip to the safe deposit box. These backups are of my image files plus my other important data files.

 

[r.harris1]

Hello to all, my first post in this lovely little thread and one of the first few in this lovely forum. I know some of you from elsewhere.

Today, after many false starts over the last few months, our company is finally "officially open" for working in the office again. It was originally going to be the end of November, then the end of January, the end of February and now...it's actually here. One could voluntarily go in all this time, and I've done that to give my wife a break. It was lovely and quiet. Today should be noisy and chaotic and there will be a lot of angst. We require vaccination, sort of, and we have to go through a ritual each day of acknowledging we don't have COVID and answer questions on a company app so our badges will work.

So going to the office will be one of the things I do. I'm also writing some code for a Kubernetes custom controller and hosting a software architecture call. We "over did it" as far as eating went over the weekend. I made a steak and noodle dish for us with a miso butter sauce that was great but a little heavier than I intended. Then last night was to one of our favorite Mexican "dives". Colorado has a huge hispanic culture and the Mexican food here is to die for. We love places where we're the outsider! Very little English was being spoken and the food...well...gosh.

Tonight will be simpler and lighter fare. Probably with an Old Fashioned to cap off the day at work. Now off to get that walk in before the chaos of the day.

A great day to all!

 

[Roller]

Lying in bed

I woke up this morning with a pretty severe sore throat. I did a rapid test and it was negative; this seems to just be a cold (albeit a bad one), but, perhaps due to the precautions of the pandemic, I haven’t actually had a cold in over three years. I work in an elementary school, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I caught something. But I definitely have a fever right now, so I’m gonna take something for that…

I wouldn't assume that you don't have COVID on the basis of one antigen test. If you can, I would get a PCR test. If it's negative, it's highly unlikely that you have COVID. If it's positive, Paxlovid might be a consideration. There are also non-COVID causes for sore throat, such as step infection, that require treatment. Take care.

 

[Eric]

Hello to all, my first post in this lovely little thread and one of the first few in this lovely forum. I know some of you from elsewhere.

Today, after many false starts over the last few months, our company is finally "officially open" for working in the office again. It was originally going to be the end of November, then the end of January, the end of February and now...it's actually here. One could voluntarily go in all this time, and I've done that to give my wife a break. It was lovely and quiet. Today should be noisy and chaotic and there will be a lot of angst. We require vaccination, sort of, and we have to go through a ritual each day of acknowledging we don't have COVID and answer questions on a company app so our badges will work.

So going to the office will be one of the things I do. I'm also writing some code for a Kubernetes custom controller and hosting a software architecture call. We "over did it" as far as eating went over the weekend. I made a steak and noodle dish for us with a miso butter sauce that was great but a little heavier than I intended. Then last night was to one of our favorite Mexican "dives". Colorado has a huge hispanic culture and the Mexican food here is to die for. We love places where we're the outsider! Very little English was being spoken and the food...well...gosh.

Tonight will be simpler and lighter fare. Probably with an Old Fashioned to cap off the day at work. Now off to get that walk in before the chaos of the day.

A great day to all!

Glad to see you embrace it so openly, while I work from home anyway I still have anxiety about visiting client sites, something I would proactively do regularly before the pandemic. I've been invited in a few times and have balked until recently, this month I'll be going onsite for a couple of meetings to make an appearance and will just mask up for my own comfort. I know everything is moving that way and I'm hoping it's something we can learn to balance out and live with.

I'll say that my wife would also be grateful if I got my ass out of the house every now and then too.

 

[Roller]

Finally got around to doing my monthly backups so that tomorrow I can take one set over to the bank to stash in my safe deposit box there and I'll bring home what is in there now and update those external SSDs now and then again at the beginning of the new month before they make a return trip to the safe deposit box. These backups are of my image files plus my other important data files.

Curious to hear what external SSDs you're using for backup. I also keep a backup offsite and I update it and the one I have at home about once a week. Most of it remains the same over time, but some of the stuff I'd need most in case of a computer failure or other mishap, like financial transactions, changes frequently. I used to be selective about the files I backed up, but Carbon Copy Cloner and similar apps make it so easy to just back up everything, with only changed/new files actually being copied.

 

[DT]

Curious to hear what external SSDs you're using for backup. I also keep a backup offsite and I update it and the one I have at home about once a week. Most of it remains the same over time, but some of the stuff I'd need most in case of a computer failure or other mishap, like financial transactions, changes frequently. I used to be selective about the files I backed up, but Carbon Copy Cloner and similar apps make it so easy to just back up everything, with only changed/new files actually being copied.

I use Backblaze for all the machines around here, it provides a nice incremental backup, with an easy way to fetch a single file, so it also functions as a "version control" of sorts, I have once or twice needed an older copy of a file. It's inexpensive, storage is unlimited (we've got ~3GB being stored), works with external drives, etc. There's a plan option to extend the backup snapshots to like 30 days, I think the standard $7/month/machine is 7 days (you can buy for a year and it's $70/12 months)

Then I have some large spinners I use for a weekly image backup, I also use those to store VM snapshots - since some of the latter are large and just a tiny change results in the whole thing being backed up, I have a few scripts that run automatically that move over just the changed files (basically project folders) to a location that gets picked up by Backblaze.

FWIW, I'm using Sabrent Rocket SSDs in external TB3 cases, just decent generic metal boxes, they run cool, are fast, could easily be a 2-4TB stick to really expand if I needed to (I keep my Photos library and VMs on externals, so they're easy to move somewhere else if needed).

 

[Alli]

Today, after many false starts over the last few months, our company is finally "officially open" for working in the office again. It was originally going to be the end of November, then the end of January, the end of February and now...it's actually here. One could voluntarily go in all this time, and I've done that to give my wife a break. It was lovely and quiet. Today should be noisy and chaotic and there will be a lot of angst. We require vaccination, sort of, and we have to go through a ritual each day of acknowledging we don't have COVID and answer questions on a company app so our badges will work.

How do you feel about going back to an office? I have a friend who does (telephone) tech support for an ISP. He’s been WFH for a long time now. He just got word that they’re supposed to return to the office this month and he is NOT happy. He doesn’t understand why answering a phone requires being in an office, when it’s clearly worked just fine for almost 2 years with everyone at home. I tend to agree.

My son’s place has gone hybrid. Basically, anyone who wants to go to the office can go at any time. He figures he’ll go in twice a month just in case anyone needs him in person. My daughter, OTOH, works for a place that has been WFH since 2017. They don’t even have a physical office.

 

[Clix Pix]

Curious to hear what external SSDs you're using for backup. I also keep a backup offsite and I update it and the one I have at home about once a week. Most of it remains the same over time, but some of the stuff I'd need most in case of a computer failure or other mishap, like financial transactions, changes frequently. I used to be selective about the files I backed up, but Carbon Copy Cloner and similar apps make it so easy to just back up everything, with only changed/new files actually being copied.

I use Samsung T5s, Samsung T7s, G-Drive Mobile SSDs, and Sandisk Extreme Pro and Extreme Portable SSDs in various sizes and capacities ranging from 1 TB to 4 TB. I first started with Samsung's first external SSDs, the T1, and as they improved things, moved to the T3 and later the T5 and now the current T7. The T1s are still functioning but I've pretty much retired them and the T3s. As prices dropped and my needs changed I upgraded to larger capacities and tried the different brands as they came along. I still do have a couple of large-capacity desktop external HDDs, too, but as the years have gone by I've swapped bus-driven external SSDs for bus-driven portable HDDs. SO much faster!

I use the external SSDs for backups and for various current purposes -- for instance, image files which I'm still working on. When I buy a new, larger-capacity drive I then switch things around and repurpose the drive I've just emptied to use in another way whenever the need might arise. I have archived files plus current files and keep my photo files separate from my other backups/current projects. I also use the external SSDs for transferring folders and files to a new computer whenever I purchase one, and it is very convenient doing things that way. I prefer to keep most of my photo files off the computer's internal drive, only the current image files are on there, the ones on which I'm working, as of course they can fill up a drive in very little time with those large RAW files as well as the processed images. If I've got a lot of images to process from a given day's shooting I stash those files on yet another external drive to which I return when I have the time and inclination to work on them. I keep about a year's worth of edited .jpgs on the computer, though, for quick reference and easy sharing.

For years I've been hearing about Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! but have never tried either one. I know each is considered very good and useful, but I've got the time and enjoy puttering around doing things manually. I don't use Time Machine, either, as I've never quite trusted it for some reason. From time to time I've thought about using an online backup service as well, but haven't really explored that thoroughly yet. My current system with the off-site storage in my safe deposit box at a local branch of my bank has worked out nicely for me. Definitely it is important to have off-site storage of one's valuable data and photo files, as keeping everything only at home is just asking for trouble.

 

[Deleted member 215]

I wouldn't assume that you don't have COVID on the basis of one antigen test. If you can, I would get a PCR test. If it's negative, it's highly unlikely that you have COVID. If it's positive, Paxlovid might be a consideration. There are also non-COVID causes for sore throat, such as step infection, that require treatment. Take care.

Thanks, although the fact that later in the day the sore throat went away, and I developed a runny nose, watery eyes, and muscle aches (which is the progress a cold always takes for me) tells me it’s a cold. And while I’m still sick, I feel better this morning, especially after getting almost 9 hours of sleep. I won’t be going back to work yet though. And I may need another COVID test to return.

 

[Roller]

Thanks, although the fact that later in the day the sore throat went away, and I developed a runny nose, watery eyes, and muscle aches (which is the progress a cold always takes for me) tells me it’s a cold. And while I’m still sick, I feel better this morning, especially after getting almost 9 hours of sleep. I won’t be going back to work yet though. And I may need another COVID test to return.

I hope it's just a run-of-the-mill upper respiratory viral infection, though with muscle aches, flu is also a possibility. But as long as you're feeling better, that's great. One of the challenges is that the symptoms and signs of these conditions overlap so much, which is why I favor testing where available. If it's going to be a few days before you return to work, you might consider doing another antigen test or two.

 

[r.harris1]

How do you feel about going back to an office? I have a friend who does (telephone) tech support for an ISP. He’s been WFH for a long time now. He just got word that they’re supposed to return to the office this month and he is NOT happy. He doesn’t understand why answering a phone requires being in an office, when it’s clearly worked just fine for almost 2 years with everyone at home. I tend to agree.

My son’s place has gone hybrid. Basically, anyone who wants to go to the office can go at any time. He figures he’ll go in twice a month just in case anyone needs him in person. My daughter, OTOH, works for a place that has been WFH since 2017. They don’t even have a physical office.

We’re going to be hybrid too, which I much prefer to “all in” - most of us spend most of our days on meeting calls as we’re spread around the country (and world, for that matter). It makes no sense to go to the office with a long unproductive commute to sit on phone calls. Sometimes it might be good to whiteboard and collaborate on certain kinds of design discussions but that may be once a week or once every couple of weeks. Most people feel the same way - that we’re better off mostly at home. Our productivity went through the roof over the last couple of years as did our collaboration, in a strange way.

There’s a huge amount of angst and worry and spending 2-3 hours in a car every day around people who haven’t done a lot of driving over the past couple of years isn’t a good feeling either . Then there’s the who’s vaxed and isn’t and how do we eventually reconcile that.

Woof.

 

[Roller]

I use Samsung T5s, Samsung T7s, G-Drive Mobile SSDs, and Sandisk Extreme Pro and Extreme Portable SSDs in various sizes and capacities ranging from 1 TB to 4 TB. I first started with Samsung's first external SSDs, the T1, and as they improved things, moved to the T3 and later the T5 and now the current T7. The T1s are still functioning but I've pretty much retired them and the T3s. As prices dropped and my needs changed I upgraded to larger capacities and tried the different brands as they came along. I still do have a couple of large-capacity desktop external HDDs, too, but as the years have gone by I've swapped bus-driven external SSDs for bus-driven portable HDDs. SO much faster!

I use the external SSDs for backups and for various current purposes -- for instance, image files which I'm still working on. When I buy a new, larger-capacity drive I then switch things around and repurpose the drive I've just emptied to use in another way whenever the need might arise. I have archived files plus current files and keep my photo files separate from my other backups/current projects. I also use the external SSDs for transferring folders and files to a new computer whenever I purchase one, and it is very convenient doing things that way. I prefer to keep most of my photo files off the computer's internal drive, only the current image files are on there, the ones on which I'm working, as of course they can fill up a drive in very little time with those large RAW files as well as the processed images. If I've got a lot of images to process from a given day's shooting I stash those files on yet another external drive to which I return when I have the time and inclination to work on them. I keep about a year's worth of edited .jpgs on the computer, though, for quick reference and easy sharing.

For years I've been hearing about Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! but have never tried either one. I know each is considered very good and useful, but I've got the time and enjoy puttering around doing things manually. I don't use Time Machine, either, as I've never quite trusted it for some reason. From time to time I've thought about using an online backup service as well, but haven't really explored that thoroughly yet. My current system with the off-site storage in my safe deposit box at a local branch of my bank has worked out nicely for me. Definitely it is important to have off-site storage of one's valuable data and photo files, as keeping everything only at home is just asking for trouble.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Sounds like you've tried a slew of external drives. I've also used various solutions over the years, including VXA tape cartridges, SyQuest drives, Iomega Zip drives, and floppies before that. They were certainly no fun!

I have several Samsung T5s. They've been incredibly reliable, so if I get some larger capacity external SSDs, I'd go for Samsung. Have you found the T7s any better? They're priced similarly.

The advantage of Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! is that they let you maintain nearly identical copies of a drive easily. I switched to CCC a couple years ago because I liked its feature set a bit more. Apple's OS changes have made it harder to create bootable clones, so I no longer do that. But I can connect one of my backup drives to another computer and be up and running quickly. I also use them with Migration Assistant to set up a new Mac, which I did this past weekend.

 

[Roller]

I use Backblaze for all the machines around here, it provides a nice incremental backup, with an easy way to fetch a single file, so it also functions as a "version control" of sorts, I have once or twice needed an older copy of a file. It's inexpensive, storage is unlimited (we've got ~3GB being stored), works with external drives, etc. There's a plan option to extend the backup snapshots to like 30 days, I think the standard $7/month/machine is 7 days (you can buy for a year and it's $70/12 months)

Then I have some large spinners I use for a weekly image backup, I also use those to store VM snapshots - since some of the latter are large and just a tiny change results in the whole thing being backed up, I have a few scripts that run automatically that move over just the changed files (basically project folders) to a location that gets picked up by Backblaze.

FWIW, I'm using Sabrent Rocket SSDs in external TB3 cases, just decent generic metal boxes, they run cool, are fast, could easily be a 2-4TB stick to really expand if I needed to (I keep my Photos library and VMs on externals, so they're easy to move somewhere else if needed).

I tried Backblaze for awhile, and I may try it again. Thanks.

 

[DT]

I woke up this morning with a pretty severe sore throat. I did a rapid test and it was negative; this seems to just be a cold (albeit a bad one), but, perhaps due to the precautions of the pandemic, I haven’t actually had a cold in over three years. I work in an elementary school, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I caught something. But I definitely have a fever right now, so I’m gonna take something for that…

Yeah, masks and very little exposure to people for 2+ years and we were the same, no colds, no flu, the first time any of us got sick, we panicked and assumed Covid! Started testing, and nope, just wound up being a bad "head cold" (not even much of a fever). I'd keep a careful eye on your temp, and consider @Roller's suggestion (re: testing) too. Feel better!