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dspam
dspam is a great product for catching spam, but as I've complained about in the past, setting it up is a nightmare. I went to install the latest version today and wanted to install it "correctly" and have the web user interface operate how it was designed. I spent awhile futzing around, but ended up using my hacked up CGI to get the web interface working. Uggh.
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Sound isolation
As part of our rearrangement of our TV room, my server has become part of our entertainment center. Unfortunately the server melt down caused me to switch to a server that is significantly louder. So, I went on a mission of deadening the sound. First task was to get acoustic foam. Guitar Center had some (what a weird store to visit). I cut the foam and placed it in my cabinet. It didn't do much because there is a big hole in the back of the cabinet for ventilation. So, I had to devise a ventilation system. I bought some 3" PVC pipes from Home Depot and attached them to the server such that they act as intake and exhaust from the server. This would allow me to completely encase the server in the foam and stick the pipes out the back of the cabinet. So far so good; I put everything together this morning and it was still noisy. I picked up a quieter fan from Fry's (I hate that place, but where do I find a case fan). While the server isn't 100% quiet (I looked at water cooling systems, but water in my computer scares me), it's acceptable especially with music or the TV on.
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United States Postal Service
In some ways, the USPS amazes me...mail gets delivered to my house almost everyday without me having to pay to receive it. However, at times, the inability to do the simple task of delivering my mail annoys me. A few weeks ago I noticed that our normal carrier wasn't delivering the mail and mail was coming at odd times (like 5:30 pm) when it normally comes around noon everyday (I can hear the letter carrier put the mail in the mailbox that's next to our front door). Then I noticed the replacement carrier not wearing a uniform and then was confused about where the mailbox was on a neighbor's house. This neighbor's house has the same layout as ours and the front door/mailbox are in the same spot. Not rocket science to find it. We also started getting mail for someone else that was in a different zipcode about 10 miles away; same street address, different street. On Tuesday, I had it with this mess as we got mail for both our neighbors (one on the same street, one on a different street) and called to file a complaint. Yesterday, we got a note in our mailbox from our normal carrier; she was on vacation for a few weeks and apologized for the mess that was created. She said that the replacement carrier is the worst she has seen in her 16 years with the USPS. I'm glad that the regular carrier is back and maybe mail delivery will be back to normal.
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Universal Remote Control
We now have 5 remote controls to control the TiVo, TV, Squeezebox, AM/FM Tuner, and Sirius. That's a lot of junk to deal with, so I decided to try out a universal remote. The Logitech Harmony 520 got decent reviews and seemed to be one of the least expensive programmable universal remotes. After a few tries, I finally found it at Wal-Mart. At first, setting it up seemed like an immense chore with the devices mode, activities, etc. It's nice that it recognized all my devices, but it is extremely confusing to setup. After playing with it for awhile, I think I am finally getting the hang of it and setting it up the way I want. The fact that you can configure the buttons differently in "Device" mode" vs. "Activities" mode had me really confused. In most cases, I want them the same. In addition, the automatic activities it sets up aren't exactly what I want and there doesn't seem to be a way to really customize them, so I have to setup a generic activity and start there. However, doing this, I have to reset all the buttons I already configured. I think after some more configuring, I'll start to like it. The real question will be if my wife accepts it.