Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

The two briskets have just been placed in the smoker. I need to stay awake until the smoke and heat gets rolling before I can grab a little shut eye.
The rub smells great and the briskets are HUGE. Pics to follow.

I took today off from work, and it’s a good thing I did. I feel like crap. Sore throat and a headache. Trudging through a day of meetings, email and phone calls would have crushed me.
Instead, I prepared for the holiday. First thing, I wrapped the smoker in insulation to try to keep the temperature up. I used special water heater wrap, so it should stand up to the heat. Take a gander.

Since I was at the hardware store, a few other things around the house got done. A broken dimmer switch, an old water filter, a broken ceiling light fixture, and two pull chains all got repaired today. Go me.
In other Thanksgiving news, Heidi’s with the brining program and has a funny post.
I forgot to post a few goodies, so take a look at Brad’s post about a rainbow near work a few days ago. The pictures (thanks to Mr. P) don’t do it justice. It was the most amazing rainbow I’ve ever seen.
Being Daddy posted about the Breakup of the Wiggles. Now remeber, I work at the Disney Channel and we make and air the Wiggles. I emailed the link to our President of Entertainment, and he liked it. It’s hi-larious!

Thursday is Thanksgiving and I have the task of smoking the turkey and the briskets. I picked up the meat this morning and put it in the fridge.
Smoking the food takes time and I need to plan ahead to make sure it’s ready on time. The meat needs to be done at 2:30 PM on Thursday so we can hit the road and be at my parent’s house around 3:30 PM.
I just so happen to be learning to use Microsoft Project at work and came up with this:

So, it looks like I’ll be up in the wee hours before Thanksgiving to get everything in order. I hope my Mom has the coffee ready when I arrive.

(I posted this elsewhere, but thought you all might enjoy it)
Poster: There’s a problem with an Apple Product
Mac Lover: No there’s not.
Mac Hater: Yes, there is. [insert details]
Mac Lover: That’s a feature, not a problem
Mac Hater: It’s a big problem [expand Apple complaint]
Mac Lover: OK, it’s a problem, but I’ve never seen it.
Mac Hater: [Anecdotely evidence of problems]
Mac Lover: [detailed rebuttal]
Mac Hater: [counter rebuttal]
—> [rebuttal cycle continues 5-6 times]
Mac Lover: Regardless, Apple is wonderful.
Mac Hater: Apple is a cold hearted evil empire after your cash.
Mac Lover: Hater!
Mac Hater: Cultist!
Mac Lover: [leaves in a huff to go have a smoke]
Mac Hater: [leaves in a huff to go suck down caffiene]

I’m finally back to do a weblogging. My trip to Las Vegas, coupled with computer trouble & upgrades led me to some blog downtime.
I took the girls to the Doo Dah Parade today and we had a good time. I took a bunch of pictures, but haven’t made a page of them yet. Perhaps I’ll finally break down and use a album program to make the HTML.
Work will be busy this week in prep for my trip to Orlando for even more meetings next week. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am going to smoke both a turkey and a few briskets for the meal. It’s gunna be an allnighter, but it will be worth it.

After spending some time on Saturday getting a new motherboard installed, I thought everything was going smoothly. The new motherboard was working fine and I was happy.
About an hour ago, the computer refused to boot. It went through POST fine, but after seeing all that it just hangs. I can’t get it to boot.
After popping off the case cover, I got the slight whiff of electrical smoke.
I fear the worst. After a day of service, my motherboard has been struck down with infant mortality.
I’m leaving for Comdex in 15 minutes and will be gone until Tuesday. Unless magic eleves fix it while I’m away, it looks like I’ll be spending part of Wednesday, exchanging a motherboard at Fry’s. Heaven help me.

I think I broke my motherboard.
A few days ago I had to replaced a fan on my motherboard. The replacement was a bit loud, so I ordered a quiet one. This morning I did the swap.
The heatsink/fan didn’t use screw to attach, it used plastic anchors. I simply pulled the anchors out with a bit of force. I guess it was too much force, because when I tried to boot I got an error.
I must have cracked the board a lost a few traces since the mobo doesn’t see my RAM any more.
Looks like a trip to Fry’s. I’m probably going to pick up an Abit NF7-S.

I am quite proud of my daughter Zoe. Being a bit of a geek, I like to see Zoe head down the l33t path, not the newb path.
Zoe likes to visit the Homestarrunner site and particularly likes to read the Strongbad emails.
This morning, I glance over at her screen and see her writing an email to Strong bad. I heart soared with pride!
Here is the verbatium text of the email:

My best translation is: “Strongbad, why do want to be a movie star? Strongbad, you are freaky and scary. From, Your Friend”

Earlier in the week, one of the fans in my computer started to go bad. The offending fan started to make a noise and pin slowly. I knew I’d have to replace it or the BIOS chip would burn up in short order.
I went to the hellhole known as Fry’s and found a fan that would work, but was not an exact replacement. Close enough till I could pull the original and get a proper replacement.
With the case covers off and a flashlight pointed inside, I saw the usual dust accumulation on the cooling fans. I got a small brush to clean things up. Mira was hovering, as see does any time I puli out tools to work on things. She asked if she could help.
Why the hell not? I gave her the brush and her to clean the dust off.

Mira earning her keep as a tech
I ordered the correct replacement fan and few other cools things. Arrival next week some time.
BBQ
The smoking of the brisket went well. The meat was most tasty and made for an enjoyable dinner. Michele made mashed potatoes and buttered carrots to go along with the brisket. De-lic-ious.
If you want to see pictures and read a bit more story, hit the MORE link.

Continue reading “Geeking”

On Wednesday, I saw Matrix Revolutions with a group from work.
Seeing the movie on opening night went smoothly to planning and line waiting by Mr. P, Travis and Chuck.
I liked the movie. The action was superb, the effects inventive, and the story did get wrapped up. I agree that they left a lot of questions unanswered, but it didn’t bother me much. The movie was a comic book, not a philosphy text. People expecting big concepts aren’t going to find them here. It’s pop science fiction, not a documentary or Tolkein.
BBQ
Currently in the oven is a three pound brisket. I woke at 6AM to start the smoker to cook this evening’s meat. At 9AM I moved the meat into the oven inside at 225°. Martin says it’s supposed to stay in there for EIGHT hours. I think he’s torturing me.