Weekend Fix-Its
There were three things that needed fixing this weekend. Hopefully, all of the tasks were accomplished.
First, I needed to replace the fluorescent light in my office. I had tried replacing the bulbs, but that didn’t work (and the new bulbs worked in a different fixture). So, I decided to replace the ballast and the lapholders. The ballast was fairly inexpensive, and the trick was just to match the same voltage and power settings as the previous. The installation had a couple of hiccups: The wires from the new ballast were shorter than the old ballast, so I had to use pieces from the old wires to reach all of the way to the lapholders. I set the wires up so that I do not have to replace the lampholders if I replace the ballast. Also, I accidentally mis-connected one of the lapholders, so the light would not start at first. After talking with my dad, and double-checking the connections, the problem was solved. I am now bathed in the cool bright light.
Second, my stupid heavy laptop stopped booting. This was a major problem, as there was some critical data on that machine. Interestingly enough, Sony’s support page does not even recognize that my laptop (a Sony Vaio PCG-GRT150 according to the box) exists. I did find some very helpful advise on the Hardware Analysis Forum which seems to indicate that there are thermal issues in the RAM chip bay. After following some of the directions in the post, and leaving the RAM access panel open (for improved heat flow), it seems to work okay. Backups were made. I plan on implementing some sort of network folder redirection, as discussed here and here, to avoid the fear of lost information.
Third, MovableType and MT-Blacklist seems to handle comment spam fairly well, especially in the newer versions, due to the comment moderation feature. However, an increased number of bastards are starting to use Trackback as a mechanism for spamming sites, and that gets put onto the blog immediately. No good. I’ve installed jayseae’s MT-Moderate, which will hopefully take care of some of this problem.
Comments
Well, one out of three isn't bad in today's techno world I guess. I have replaced ballast a couple of times in my hallway lights. I finally got rid of the florescents in the latest re-modelling so hopefully I won't have to do that again though. As to the Vaio problem and the blog spam, I am just barely able to understand the problem but reading your descriptions helps to keep me in touch with the 21st Century.
At my company's leadership assessment center we use a very elaborate simulation over two days which involves commercializing a new material which significantly improves the heat conductivity of the IC substrate using "tetrimin" -- which is a wholly imaginary mineral. If you ever decide to join a long term industry -- oil and gas -- you can use your experience with your Vaio to personalize your enthusiasm about tetrimin.
Keep on rippin'.
Posted by: Tom Standing | March 15, 2005 02:05 PM
What?! You mean that the aerospace/defense industry isn't long-term? I sometimes think that it is so long-term that I am moving in molasses.
Posted by: Jeff | March 15, 2005 04:01 PM
Hey Jeff,
How old is your laptop? I ran into the same issue when Good Guys refused to fix my 10-year-old Sony stereo, for money, because it doesn't exist anymore. Damn planned obsolescence!
Regards,
Andrew
Posted by: Andrew Sincic | March 15, 2005 07:53 PM