Techie news in a convenient list format

  • I bought and setup a Windows Home Server to manage all of our home computer backups. Rich's computer has never (!) been backed up and I was not good about remembering to maintenance mine. With my photos now being in RAW format and our music all being on hard drives, I wanted to safeguard from that sad day when one or both machines bit the dust. Much like buying a UPS, it's not necessarily a fun purchase, but I found myself strangely excited about getting home to set it up. I think that makes me a nerd, but I'm not sure.
  • HOLY CRAP I GOT THE WIRELESS TO WORK! You have no idea how excited I am about that (although the caps lock probably gives you a hint). It only took about 100 feet of ethernet cable to move the router to a more central location. I'm going to leave it there in its temporary setup for a few days and then start drilling holes to put it there permanently if it continues to do so well. Since we don't have a phone to put in the phone nook under the stairs, it has just become a wireless nook. As a side note, if you ever have to untangle 50 feet of cable, over-under is your friend (there's a video link here). My little gem of knowledge to you.
  • WordPress 2.7 will be out on December 10 (if not sooner) for self-hosted users. I am happy to note that threaded and paged comments will finally be included by default. LiveJournal's only been doing that for years. But I'm looking forward to playing with all the new WordPress features.
  • To celebrate the new WordPress version, I'm going to work on a new blog design. I have several ideas for the masthead, but suck at PhotoShop. I can't bear to spend $699 on software I suck at so I'm trying out Gimp which is much cheaper, being FREE! Gimp recently came out with a new version and so far I'm pleased with it. I still suck at it, but I'm getting better.
  • Since Amazon Kindle is out of stock these days and Curtis is playing Wrath of the Liche King instead of reading, I have commandeered his until further notice. I have also forced him to buy me books to read on his account. I hope he likes vampire romances.
  • My new Minimed 522 insulin pump came in the mail today! The excitement of the new pump was tempered by it being almost identical to my 515 pump except that the 515 is no longer under warranty. The jury is still out on if I will have my sensors covered, so until then I just have a new pump that's clear instead of smoke. But it has that new pump smell! (And doesn't have all that funky dust in all the crevices of it like my old one.)