February 28, 2007

Stopping Windows XP/2003 Powering Off The Computer On Shutdown

I'm posting this here mainly for my own reference, but also in case others have this problem as well. I've recently installed a UPS on my server, which is working great. The only problem is during a test power outage (I disconnected the plug from the wall), the UPS software shutdown the server correctly but when power is restored the server doesn't start up again.

The problem is the server is running a ACPI HAL, which means the OS gets control of the power management and windows is powering off the machine on shutdown. Unfortunately the server doesn't have any power management settings in the BIOS, it just defaults to last state—if it was on when the power was disconnected, it'll turn back on when it is reconnected. Therefore, it needs to left on, displaying the "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen after shutdown.

After some hunting on the Internet I found the setting to configure this, (you'll need SP1 or higher for either OS installed for this work):

  1. Click Start, click Run, and then type gpedit.msc.
  2. Under Local Computer Policy, expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then expand System.
  3. Double-click Do not turn off system power after a Windows system shutdown has occurred.
  4. Click the Setting tab, click Enabled, and then click OK.

Great hall locations: Computing  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 26, 2007

Three Birthdays In One Week

This week my first web server went live, a HP Netserver 1U Rack Server with dual processors and hardware raid 1 with live hot spares. I've been wanting to get my own machine for some time, but the cost of a decent server was an issue. However after considering the processing requirements, I decided a second-hand unit was probably going to be sufficient—this machine has dual 1GHz Pentium III's. I've named the machine Hermione (from Harry Potter, it has a white enclosure so I figured it should have a girls name).

Also this week marks the second birthday of my Blog, Uncle Traveling Matt, which started on this day back in 2005. And this week is also my own birthday as well ;-)

Great hall locations: Miscellaneous  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 23, 2007

I Generally Hate Windows Add-ons...

But, this is one utility I have added to my otherwise clean Windows install. Taskbar Shuffle is a small application that lets you reorder the buttons on your Windows taskbar like you can with Firefox's tabs. It also supports close on middle click. Total computing bliss!

Great hall locations: Computing  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 21, 2007

Fire Engine Yellow

This weekend's training session went much better than last week's. I had my bike back and was able to do all 3 events back to back. This time to ocean was a lot charmer, however after last week's near disaster I took a few precautions.

I went out right in front of the Surf Club and also sporting my new swimming cap—if fire engines were yellow, it would of been fire engine yellow! Needless to say I was certainly visible in the water, lol. We have to wear a cap during the race, so i always train in one.

The swim actually went surprisingly well, i did about 400m all up. Although the up/down motion of the ocean does take some getting used to. About 100m out from the beach was a training buoy, which I swam out and around. Training Buoy #4 apparently, according to the writing on side of it. After that I did two laps of the cycle course (32km) and then the 5k run. All in all the training progress is going quite well.

Great hall locations: Triathlon  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 15, 2007

Songs Of The Week #2

Sorry I couldn't find a better copy of "Magic Trick" on YouTube... here's the two I did find, plus another M. Ward track:


M. Ward
Magic Trick
(from Microsoft Zune advert)


M. Ward
Magic Trick
(live)


M. Ward
Let's Dance
(with original Bowie visuals)



Great hall locations: Songs I Like  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 14, 2007

I Fixed My Window With A Hammer

No, seriously, I did in-fact fix my window with a hammer, well, that was after I broke my window with a hammer... You see the drivers side electric window in my car doesn't work properly, it doesn't go all the way up. It stops about 1cm from the top and starts clicking. The glass doesn't completely line-up with the top of the door, which is main problem. To get the window fully up you must: 1. pull over the car and stop, 2. open the door, 3. set the switch to up, 4. grab the glass by both the inside and outside, 5. pull the window fully up, 6. turn off the switch manually. Now I've being putting up with this for some time, however after being caught on the motorway in torrential rain over weekend, something had to be done!

After completely disassembling the door and finding nothing that could be fixed with minor adjustment, I did what every good mechanic does, got out my hammer and started "adjusting" the door! lol. After some work the glass perfectly fitted into the door frame, however on trying to close the door, the door no longer fitted into the side of the door—damn! Ok, readjustment time (yes more hammering), now the door closes fine, but when the window is up the glass now protrudes right out of the frame! ug...

At this point I decide some new parts are in order, a new motor winder cog and window track, both for $20 from the wreckers. With the new cog, the clicking issue is resolved and the window will go all the way up—out of the door!! Obviously the door needs some realignment, with you guessed it a hammer, lol. About 30 minutes of banging later the window goes up prefectly into the door frame and the door closes. However, after reaseembling the door, the internal door handle doesn't seem to work though—the control rod appears to somehow gotten bent, no idea how that would of happened... :-P

Disassemble, straighten, reassemble, sweet door handle works. As does the electric window, it goes up, it goes down, and the auto switch off even works in both directions too—perfection! Who says you can't fix a window with a hammer! hehe...

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February 12, 2007

Ocean Swimming

I had looked into hiring a wetsuit for my triathlon, however for the number of sessions I was thinking of getting it for, it was almost as much as buying an entry-level one outright. So I'm now the proud owner of a Orca evo triathlon wetsuit ;-) I also recently bought a new pair of googles since the old ones were talking on water faster than the Titanic. With my new equipment in tow, we set off to the Whangamata to do a test triathlon (minus the cycle, since my bike is still on operating table).

The day I choose probably wasn't the best for my first attempt at ocean swimming, the sea was rough and surf fairly big outside the surf club where my race swim will be (the transition area & race start/finish are at the nearby park). So we went around the corner to Island View Reserve, the surf here was smaller so I decided to give it a go. After getting into my wetsuit, I started to swim out past the waves. I've never owned a wetsuit before, but had read they were meant to feel tight on land but ok when in the water, however after few a minutes the suit still felt tight—too tight like it was squeezing the air out of me, at about the same time I realised there was very strong rip current (undertow).

At that point I started to panic a bit as I couldn't swim fast enough to counter the undertow and get back to shore. I was travelling diagonally out to sea and left down the beach, most of the time not being able to touch the bottom. It was looking like I was going to get a free trip half way to Australia. Yet I didn't give up, and with every wave I paddling a little further and then tried to get a footing to stop being pulled back out. Waves were breaking over my head and my new goggles which weren't tight enough filled my eyes with salt water. I could feel exhaustion starting to set in. Some 400m down the beach I slowly got to the point where I could get a good grip on the bottom and struggled into shore. My sister who was watching couldn't tell anything was up, because I was too out and she thought I was swimming that way.

Afterwards I sat on the beach catching my breath, wondering what the hell I doing with this Triathlon stuff and that I should quit. Though after while came to my senses, "I've come this far, how can I give up now". Often at these times I think of some lyrics from a song by PUTS (my favourite aritst):

"When catching the goal gets rough and says life sucks, remember the lining's silver and that's always good enough, so when catching your goal gets rough and you lose steam, remember to count your blessings my peoples, don't be so mean."

It turns out this side of the beach now has strong rip currents that I don't remember being there when I swam there as a child. In future I'm only going to go out from outside the surf club, and only if it's reasonably charm. Since if on race day it was like Saturday I'm pretty sure the swim portion would be cancelled (the race chances to a run-bike-run in that case). At this point though I was left wondering if my wetsuit was too small. I had to have it ordered in, as they didn't have any in my size, but the sizes aren't linear. The size I tried on in the shop was too small, but the next sizes up were either Medium Tall or a Large (size 8, shorter and broader), so I had to take a guess and went with the MT.

After talking to the people at the Orca shop in Auckland it turns out that new wetsuits need to be worn a couple of times before they stretch to your body shape, and I probably did have the right size. Since then I've spent a bit of time in it in the pool at my mum's place, and can in fact both swim and breath properly while wearing it. It does feel very different swimming in it, so in retrospect in addition to the rough sea, adding all the new variables in to the mix on Saturday was a bad idea. I'm planning on wearing the suit in the pool several times this week and to reattempt the ocean swim this Saturday once again.

My bike has also been repaired, and I'm going to collect it from the shop right now! Ciao, Ciao!!

Great hall locations: Triathlon  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

February 9, 2007

Barry Manilow Listens To Techno

Often it feels like I'm living in the eye of storm, everything in my world is charm, while the lives of everyone around me is chaos. There are a few occasions that do shake my zen like peace and serenity, like last Thursday during my cycle training session. Take the following ingredients: A roundabout, a large amount of broken glass, a truck and me on my bike travelling pretty quick. Shake well and serve.

Riding over broken windshield glass (the small square variety) it turn out is very similar to riding a 10-speed on ice, the bike all of a sudden doesn't want to turn and is really quite keen to lie on its side. I hadn't seen the glass until it was too late, being a little preoccupied with the large truck right behind me. Given that turning around the roundabout at this stage was out of the question, I had two options a) continue the way I was going, and end up sliding over road and glass with the bike on top of me, or b) put my weight to the other-side and hit the curb and trees head on.

Obviously I choose option B, as sliding across broken glass is not on my "fun" list. Astonishingly I came out of this situation fairly unscathed with only a few grazes and two rather sore wrists. The bike on the other-hand didn't come off so well with both wheel rims & tires heavily damaged (the front one irreparably) and both inner tubes blown. As such my training schedule has hit a slight delay as I recover and my bike gets fixed!

Great hall locations: Miscellaneous , Triathlon  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles