the problem with stuff

so what's the problem with stuff? maintenance! everything you buy, beg, borrow or steal will eventually need maintenance. there is no getting around it, and some things are even predictable.

recently, the hard drive in my mac mini started making a certain noise, which let me know the drive is on its way out. my solution was to get a new iMac, and move the mini to diane's house, where it will only be used some of the time. my espresso machine needed one repair, and one maintenance item: the vacuum breaker needed repair (the machine was non-functional without it), and it also needed a so-called "group head gasket". the group head gasket is a $5 O ring type of part that wears out every so often. but still, i needed to maintain the machine to get top-quality espresso out of it, rather than just a small cup of very strong coffee.

also recently, i had a spate of home repairs - about 10 big things, previously blogged about. it's great to have all the things repaired, constructed, painted, or in some way, maintained. some items were more essential than others, but it all falls under the category of maintaining the stuff you have, and being sensitive to when parts of it are not working correctly.

just this morning, an amazingly regular item needs repair: diane's wood pellet stove. every march without fail, we need to get rob from california windows out here, and perform some type of maintenance. the item needing maintenance always varies, but it's always something. diane has needed a new blower fan mounting, a new auger motor, a new squirrel fan, new door gaskets, the spring tensioner on the lid replaced, and the clean-out trap actually cleaned out. just this morning, the squirrel fan which blows the hot air out of the stove and into the room stopped working. the stove operates, and burns pellets, but all the heat just goes out the chimney without that fan redirecting the airflow. looks like we'll be seeing rob once again! this will be the 4th year in a row he has come out in the month of march to repair her stove.

i noticed that the control which varies the fan speed has not worked for quite a while now. the fan stays at a constant speed rather than responding to the control knob. the problem could be in the control, or it could be the fan itself. either way, rob will have to come here, extricate the stove from the fireplace (no easy task), diagnose the problem, put the stove back, order the part, return at a later date with the part, extricate the stove again, install and test the part, and put the stove back in place. diane and i have seen this pattern many, many times!

part of just owning things is the inevitable repair process. everything that's ever been built will wear out eventually. it's not worth making noise over the issue. there seems to be no escape. you just have to gather your strength together, make those phone calls to the right repair folks, wait some time, and then pay some money. however, it's still worth it! i'd rather have to maintain the items i have than to not need maintenance because i have nothing to lose. bob dylan's lyrics will only take you so far. :-)

whaddya want, mack? i ain't got all day ...

well, actually, it's a mac i want! or rather, i'll need a new mac computer soon - my internal hard drive is destined to fail. :-(

having worked in the disc drive industry, i am privy to the funny noises they make. hard drives are really mechanical devices which perform a technical function. they also spin, which implies spindle bearings. and spindle bearings make a particular noise when failure is imminent.

and i have heard That Noise! hallelujah brother! i predict that my internal hard disc will fail within one year. the time to change it out is NOW. it never pays to wait once you have heard That Noise.

i did check about a replacement drive with apple. the short answer is that while possible, it's not worth it to replace the drive. there is no larger capacity drive available for my model of mac mini, and i am filling the one i have, albeit slowly. the drive is only 60GB, and i have about 38GB of data ...

then i thought of a new mac mini. mine has been so good to me that i would want another. checking both online, and with a good friend who works at apple, i am opting for an iMac instead. i was thinking of a mac mini + giant monitor + peripherals combo, but it's cheaper to get an integrated iMac:

3.1GHZ 27" iMac with internal AMD Radeon graphics

the machine comes with 4GB of ram, and i won't need to add more. there is a 1T internal hard drive, and a cd/dvd reader/burner - cool! the wireless mouse and keyboard come as standard equipment.

i'll most likely bring my mac mini to diane's house, and add it to her network. that way, i can have a real UNIX system at diane's, and not have to complain to her anymore about how much i hate windows. :-)

thanks go to my friend john who works at apple. his knowledge of their products made choosing the right machine VERY simple. i appreciate the insight and help very much.

update: i've already picked up the machine at the apple store in los gatos! it'll be installed at home this weekend. :-)

it's working

my spam-catching efforts are working! i made a new years' resolution to not allow any spam on either this blog, or on my ucsc website. so far, so good - and i expect the success to continue indefinitely.

as a matter of fact, it's pretty hard to fail. i am now moderating all comments on rfg, and having my own scripts email me potential guestbook entries on the ucsc website, rather than post them directly. unless i post a spam comment myself, only real comments will appear on the two sites.

i receive 1-2 spam comments on rfg each day. i guess people have nothing better to do, but i receive "comments" on very old blog entries, advertising various knock-off products. presumably, the spammer thinks that no one will notice a comment made on a years-old blog entry, and they'll be able to get their spam on the web surreptitiously. not a chance, idiot pig-dog!

spam guestbook entries (the equivalent of blog comments) dropped to ZERO on my ucsc mcintosh website! :-) i receive potential guestbook entries as email now. i post the guestbook entry myself if it is legit - and summarily delete it if it is not. naturally, spammers could attempt to start back up at any time, but i no longer care. i ENJOY deleting their emails!

a recent spammer has given up. after about 2 weeks of daily attempts, they just stopped trying. they never saw their spam on the net from my website. plus, i altered my script to "accommodate" them: i made the script count characters. if the potential guestbook entry was longer than 1k, they received a message saying that it looks like they're attempting to post spam, and that is not allowed. i gave them the option to email the moderator (that would be me) if their message was not spam, but just a long comment.

so far, no one has sent me that email. i'd simply reject the spam anyway, even if it arrived in the mailbox that way.

i like this moderation thing. too bad it's needed, but moderation is a simple and effective way to keep spam away from one's "online products". this new years' resolution will be easy to keep forever.