Tim's Blog

Google+

ratcheer — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:39:23 +0000

I really enjoy Google+. I’m just saying.

An amazing friendship

ratcheer — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:55:41 +0000

I came across this and had to share. It is heartwarming and different. It has a deeper message, though - do not buy products that are made with palm oil.

Suryia and Roscoe

Tim

Certified IPv6 Enthusiast

ratcheer — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:57:51 +0000

Today, I finally got my IPv6 web server accessible to the Internet, earning the Hurricane Electric Certified Enthusiast ranking. Yay!

IPv6

ratcheer — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:39:35 +0000

IPv6 is coming fast, so I decided it was time to get ready for it. It has been quite an adventure.

First, I signed up for a 6in4 tunnel broker service with Hurricane Electric, because my ISP is not yet ready for true IPv6. Almost immediately, I discovered that the modem/router supplied to me by my ISP doesn’t support it, either. So, I started searching for a reasonably priced IPv6-capable router. While doing that search, I found that my current wireless router, which I had been using as a simple wireless access point, could have its firmware flashed with an open source project called dd-wrt and it would then be able to support IPv6.

That also necessitated reconfiguring the topology of my LAN. In order to use my wireless router as the LAN router, I had to bridge my modem and plug its output to the wireless router. All the client hosts on my LAN then had to receive new DHCP assignments. Luckily, this step was easier than I had envisioned.

So, I rather quickly got IPv6 running well on a single client host, with its LAN NAT address assigned as the tunnel endpoint. I was pretty happy with that for a few days, until I realized that what I really wanted was for the wireless router to be the tunnel endpoint so that all my LAN hosts could participate in IPv6. This part of the project took me about a week of much trial and error and a lot of frustration. I had to learn to install and run scripts and configuration files on the router. But, finally, with lots of help from some great people in web technical forums, I got it all working.

Its all pretty cool!

The Masters of Rome

ratcheer — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:11:34 +0000

This is a series by Colleen McCullough. It is one of the best series of historical fiction I have ever read. Its central subject is the fall of the Roman Republic (as stated by McCullough in the Author’s Notes of one of the books). So far, the main characters have been Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Gaius Julius Caesar.

If you enjoy historical fiction, I highly recommend this series.

I am learning about IPv6

ratcheer — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:06:54 +0000

Black Hills by Dan Simmons

ratcheer — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:13:18 +0000

I just finished a book that was absolutely enjoyable for me. This was the first thing I had read by Simmons and I can assure you it will not be the last. Without giving anything away, I highly recommend it.

It is historical fiction about the American West. Very well researched, but fresh and inventive at the same time.

Am I retired?

ratcheer — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:50:09 +0000

Well, it finally happened. After 33 1/2 years of continuous employment, all in the IT industry, I became caught up in the recession of 2009 and am now unemployed. I am wondering if I am unintentionally retired. I have applied for several posted job openings that seemed to me to be a good fit for my skills, but to date, not a single one of them has even so much as responded, much less given me an interview. This is very frustrating.

I have been at home for a month, now. I am bored. I believe I still have a lot to contribute. I wonder where this is going?

Tim

Triple milled shaving soaps

ratcheer — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:11:13 +0000

Since I last wrote about shaving, I have made a grand personal discovery. Thanks to my many friends at the Badger and Blade web site, I have started using and come to strongly prefer triple milled, or hard, shaving soaps. They can be quite expensive, but they last a very long time so they seem to be “worth it”. My current favorites are Mitchell’s Wool Fat, George F. Trumper Coconut Oil (both from Great Britain), and Provence Sante from France. I have a couple of others and there are more on my wish list. All of these soaps provide luxurious lather, comfortable shaves, and leave the skin feeling as if it had already been rubbed with a fine lotion.

Another noted person I once met

ratcheer — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:02:25 +0000

Yesterday’s remembrance of having once met Baba Ram Dass prompted me to think of other prominent people I have met. One that came to mind almost immediatelt was Gene Kranz, whom I met at a business meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1997. He was the motivational speaker. I met and talked with him for several minutes at a cocktail party and dinner. He was an exceptionally gracious man, very friendly and easy to talk to.