So I setup a FreeNAS box today. All in all it was easy to setup, but…

High Point RAID, specifically the HPT370, doesn’t work. I tried and tried all day to get it to work, but it would just mess up. I would use the config tool to setup the RAID and when I tried to format the drives it would just blow up.

I’m not sure if it’s because of FreeNAS or if it’s just a bad card, but I wasn’t able to use it. I’ll probably try again with some other release of the FreeNAS firmware….maybe.

What I really need to do is get some bigger hard drives for it. Right now I’m using two 40 gig drives and I have to run them on a single controller without RAID. Kinda sucks actually.

Some day I’ll upgrade it, but for now it works. Jane really needed a place to store her files.

It’s that time of year again and this year we have the wind. The last few years it hasn’t been that bad. Kinda nice. But this year I’m expecting it to be like when we first moved here. Very, very windy.

Yesterday a whirl wind came through and shook the house pretty good. It even blew over one of our driveway borders and pushed open the skirting on our house.

Today the clouds are coming in and it’s getting dark outside. Looks like rain is on it’s way. My battery systems are running good now, so I’m safe from power outages.

Yep, windy again.

So I purchased a new inverter for my backup power system. I hooked it up last night and I’m still getting problems. So I guess it’s either a. the Iota charger is failing, or b. I’m running too much and over powering the system.

I have six servers. If they are all using 120 Watts then the total should only be 720 Watts. I have a router and a firewall. The firewall is like 10-18 Watts. The router is 40 Watts. So 720 + 40 + 18 = 778 Watts. 778 ÷ 120 = 6.5 AMPs.

OK, that’s all good, but what is it on the 12vDC side. 6.5 x 12vDC = 78 AMPs. My charger is only 75 AMPs. Uh, oh. I think I’m overworking my charger and that’s why it’s blowing fuses and can’t keep up with charging.

I just watched the latest Apple Keynote that Steve Jobs gave in San Jose today. I’ve got to say that Apple is on top of things lately.

The new iMac is cool. The new iPod is cool. The new iTunes is cool. But downloadable TV shows for a buck ninety-nine is just awesome! Finally someone gets it. It’s still a bit over priced, but just the fact that you can download a TV show, copy it to your iPod, and watch it anywhere is just great! Right now it’s just ABC doing it, but soon.

Another cool thing is that iTunes has Podcasts. Podcasts are awesome. I’m just getting into them. Basically they are pirate radio on the internet. It’s great! Give a whole new level of interest to the internet.

Video Podcasts are next. Think pirate TV! I can’t wait.

I’ve been working for two months straight now on multiple projects. It’s great! I have some interesting things going on.

My current customer is great and I really like how his web application is turning out. It’s simple, clean, and gets the job done. He is even talking about doing his next version with me. I’m very happy about that.

I have my own project, Orange Modules, in progress right now. It’s a Rails app, so it’s going to be really fun to create. So far I’m have most of the models done and a bit of the Javascript API running. I’m wanting to have the base system done by the end of the month. Tons of stuff to do before then.

I have another project coming up the first of next month that will take about a full month to complete. I’m getting a third of the company as a full partner when we ship it. It has some great potential. It’s a WISP solution competing directly with Sputnik. Where we are going to have the edge is that our software will be better, faster, and more ISP friendly and user friendly.

I also have a few other customers for side jobs during this month. This year has been full on full speed ahead. No sleep and no rest because I needs me a new rock crawler! I just hope that this rate stays going for the next six month to a year. It will really boost my business into 2008. Things are looking good for 2007.

So I’m working on this customer’s web application. It’s a really simple system and there isn’t a whole lot to it. I was tasked to add a few functions to it so it can ship as their version 2.0.

He has had several programmers working on it over the years. From what I gather, they were just out of school and still green. By looking at the code, I can tell they were still new to programming.

The first day digging in the code, I was able to add the AJAX functions that my customer wanted on the display pages, and I was able to fix a few alignment problems with the UI. But while I was digging in the code, I found many other problems.

The first big problem was found after I moved the code base to my servers to work on the system. Although there was a config file that setup the document paths, it wasn’t being used in most of the files. So if the base directory is changed, that mean going into every program file and changing the hard coded paths.

The next problem is the multi-rudundant code. Make a change to a drop down, and you have to make the same change to twenty different files. The programmers have include files that have some of the common functions, but they repeated code throughout the application.

Even though the problems are really show-stoppers, I found other bugs like the pager (next, previous page) were not working correctly. The sort didn’t work right. The account setup was totally wrong. I’m not sure how they are going to do billing, that’s a whole other problem.

Anyway, looking at the mess I thought to myself, “How long would it take to re-build this whole web app in Rails?”

Six hours later I have a mock up of the primary interface. I’m guessing another six hours would give me the login and manager functions. Another eight to polish it off and ship it. So I’m thinking 20 to 30 hours to complete the project fully.

I really like Rails.

Another project is getting wrapped up and shipping out. Just a few tweaks here and there and I can put a big fat DONE stamp on it. And already another project is on it’s way in.

This morning I just started another project doing some AJAX stuff along with a server management contract.

Not only that, but in Feb. I have another contract coming up with royalties from the software sales. Now that’s going to be great!

Things are looking good and work is picking up. It’s nice to have some more money coming in. Taxes are coming up and I’m starting to think that I’ll be able to pay them off before they are due! What a change.

I’ve also changed my rates to $75 per hour and I’m not doing any work unless I’m getting paid to do it. No more freebies. I probably lost $10 grand last year for not charging on “simple” things. No more of that. It’s not that I’m getting greedy. It’s that I need to start making some money to pay my debt and bills off. I only made $16,000 last year. I should be making at least $50k.

So, no more freebies! I need to get my Rock Crawler finished!

I’ve got to start working on my buggy. I just have to. I think I’m going to get started today.

Back in the day, when I was an employee, we sometimes needed services from 3rd parties. Those 3rd parties would usually charge $150 per hour for their tech support services. I had always thought that it was crazy to charge so much for such simple things. I would always try to do it myself to save the money for more important issues.

Well, now that I’m running my own business I finally understand why those companies would charge so much. It’s not how easy the job is. It’s how disruptive it is. Sure a simple change or fix would only take a few minutes and no thought, but it’s not how small the problem is. It’s how many requests because of it that you will get stuck with. Basically $150 per hour limits the amount of disruption that each day brings because customers will do the simple stuff themselves.

So I bid a job to design a web site and provide a inventory system for them to use. I built the web site, deployed it on their web servers, and setup their inventory systems. No problem. Everything went fine for a while, then the requests started coming in. Add a link here, tweak a graphic there, simple little things. So I would combine my hours and charge them at the end of the month.

What I didn’t realize is that each change wouldn’t just be quick and easy. It would also interrupt my thought process. It would delay more important projects that are paying way more money. But also, when you start getting more customers, and each one starts interrupting you throughout the day it starts to become impossible to get anything done. A 100 hour project takes 200 hours to finish. You only get paid for 100 hours because that’s all that you worked on it, but the other 100 hours was wasted time that could have been used to make money.

This week I’ve had phone calls, people coming over, emails, and more phone calls. I keep telling them that I’m super busy and that I don’t have the time right now to help them. But they keep calling. They keep requesting more and more from me. “If we don’t get this link posted, then it’s the end of the world and we won’t do business with you anymore.”

So I’m going to make a few changes this year:
1) Set a block of time each day to field support issues.
2) Don’t give away any time for free!
3) Get my own software up and running, and generating revenue.
4) Get back to normal work hours. 8am to 5pm Mon-Fri

My main goal is to make $520 per day, every day of the work week. I believe my time is worth $65 per hour, and since I’m working 10-18 hours a day, I should be able to meet that goal.

Once I get my own software up and running, I won’t need to take side jobs anymore. Then I won’t have to deal with deadlines or customers threatening not to pay me. Customers just pay for a service each month with no contracts. If they don’t want the service, then they can just move on.

So the other day I had all my servers go down. I ran out to the server room and found out the batteries were dead and the power supply had blown it’s fuses. So I look around for fuses and I can’t find them anywhere. The Iota Engineering DLS-75 Power Supply takes 40 amp buss fuses. I call around, look on the internet and all I can find are 30 amp buss fuses.

So I stick some 30 amp fuses in there and turn everything back on. In hours the 30 amp fuses blow and I’m back to square one. So I plug all the servers into main power and put two new 30 amp fuses in the power supply. This time I unhook everything from the batteries and just use the power supply to charge them. I leave it that way for a few days until the batteries are fully charged.

With the batteries up, I plug all my servers back into them. This time it’s working. So I guess that the powersupply with 30 amp fuses can’t charge the batteries and power the servers at the same time. OK, that’s fine, I’m back up and running. But if the power fail again, then I’ll have to go through this process all over again.

So I email John W. Kehm at Iota and asked if he could direct me to where I can purchase the 40 amp fuses. The same day he replies back with a web site, Marineengineparts.com, and tells me that there are many other web sites that have them.

Well, I go to Marineengineparts.com and order four 40 amp MAXI fuses. The reason I purchase the MAXI fuses is because that was the only fuses on the web site in 40 amps. The order takes 10 days to get here due to shipping them UPS ground. I finally get them late the other day. I open up the package and find out that MAXI fuses are totally wrong. They are twice the size of what I needed. They will never fit in the power supply.

Peeved, I shoot off a email to Mr. Kehm. I explain that they were the wrong fuses and if he could further help me find the correct fuses. I was very polite, explained to him what I needed and set it off.

It’s been a few days now and I have not heard back from John. The first time I received an email within hours. I’m starting to think that John has given up on me.

Meanwhile I’m running 30 amp fuses. This sucks.

I’ve been working in Ruby on Rails for about a month now. I’m just starting to get the hang of it. Ruby is a great programming language. It’s very simple to understand the code, once you understand the language. I actually like it much better than PHP.

It’s been hard figuring out all the little stuff. Also, debugging has been trying. I’m finally starting to figure out the errors when I have mistakes, but sometimes they just look like vague notices not really telling you where to look. I know I’m probably not doing a lot of things “the right way”, but I have a book and one day I’ll have time to read it.

I think the biggest hurdle of me learning Ruby on Rails is time. It’s hard to learn and do at the same time. I have to keep working on stuff or I don’t get paid. I could work much faster if I knew the whole system, but since I only know a tiny bit of it, it takes twice as long to do anything.

But, I’m still getting software wrote in half the time that it takes in PHP. That’s a huge plus, because once I learn Ruby on Rails then it will take a 3rd of the time to build software.

So, I’m one month into learning Ruby On Rails, and so far so good. I still have a whole bunch to learn, but what I have learned so far is working out well.

I finally did it. Nope.. no no no.. I didn’t roll my Samurai. But I did just about everything else to it today. I made plans to hit up some trails in Carson City today, but nobody showed up. So I headed out to find some new stuff. Well, I found new stuff.

I was headed up this wash that was tight, but no too hard. Came up to a small shelf, went over that. Came up to a small water fall, no problem. Under a tree, around a tight corner, more rocks, then it happened. A bigger water fall. Maybe 15′ long and very narrow.

I checked it out and decided that I could do it. It was a bit off camber to the passenger side. Not too bad. I started up it. My wheel went into a hole and I started leaning way over to the rock wall. The mirror folds in to the window. No problem, nothing wrong I’ll keep going. It pushes the mirror harder and I hear scraping on my door and fenders. Hmm, just a bit of body damage…no problem. Then my mirror breaks. OK, still no problem. It’s the passenger side. I can get a new one. I keep going.

I make it to the top of that waterfall. The only damage is a few scrapes and a broken mirror. Alls good, so I keep going. Around another corner, over a rock, wham! Another waterfall. But this waterfall is like 20′ high straight up. No way I’m getting up that. Well, time to turn around.

I should have walked up past the first waterfall to scope out the wash. I’ve done this before, so I should have known. So now I have to get turned around in a 8′ wide wash and go back down that gnarly waterfall. No problem…

I start trying to turn around. You remember Austin Powers… Well, that didn’t work too good. While trying to turn by going up the bank forward, then backwards up the other bank, back and forth, It happens. Busted Birfield (front axle). I could hear it just go snap. Then it became really hard to steer and get over rocks.

Anyway, I finally get turned around and start heading out. That water fall is a bad spot so I decide to pave it. I get out with my shovel and pry-bar. I fill the holes with rocks and dirt. No problem except the tight left turn into it. I start into it and I can’t steer because of my busted axle. So I end up using the high-lift to move my rear-end right and my front-end left. Finally get aimed at the water fall. Down I go.

Wham! As I was rolling over a few big rocks, I dropped into two holes on my right side. Landed right on a huge rock under my rocker panel. Squish… The rocker is now up in my door. Welp, no more passenger door. It’s crushed. So I continue out of the wash.

Took 15 minutes to get up in there, 90 minutes to get out. Now my rig is all busted up. Broken mirror, crushed rockers, busted axle, and I think something happened to the engine because oil is leaking just about the water pump.

That was a crazy little wash. I guess it’s time for me to start fixing my junk now.

Not only do you have to setup filters to block junk mail, but you also have to setup firewalls to block spammers from using your system to send junk mail.

It’s starting to really get ridiculous. Something needs to be done about the junk mail problem. I just can’t take it anymore.

My email server processes 1000′s of junk email messages each day. Last I checked it was 15,000 a month, but junk mail is up 80% since then. I have to dedicate massive system resources to my mail server just to cut through all the junk. I spend hours configuring filters and blocking software each month.

Then on top of all that, they start smashing my web servers with junk mail. My forums are filling up with junk. My blog comments are getting junked. They are even hitting the contact forms on my web sites to send junk mail. Yesterday I found my web server spewing 1000′s of junk emails all over the net because some low life wants to make a quick buck.

I wrote a script yesterday that adds blackhole routing to IP addresses found in my log files from systems trying to find email addresses to spam. It’s up to 4550 blocked IP’s so far. It’s only been 24 hours. 4550 spam attempts in 24 hours. The only reason why it’s not more is because I’m blocking the IP’s on the first attempt. It has slowed from 1 per second to about 1 ever 20 seconds.

I’m about ready to just tell everyone to get a Yahoo/GMail/Hotmail/or some other email account and turn the mail servers off. It’s costing me too much money to keep the mail server running.

This week will be awesome! The Gear Mashers will be testing our skills at the proving grounds. It will be an all out rock rash bash. First one to the top will be king of the mountain.

Video coming on Saturday.

All in all, Thanksgiving was a blast. It was great to see everyone show up. We even got a bit of wheeling in.

The day before Thanksgiving, our well died. At first we had very low water pressure. Thinking it was the pressure valve, we replaced it. Then we had no water at all. After checking it out for a day, we found out that only air was being pumped up. So we just hooked into the neighbors water for Thanksgiving week end.

Thanksgiving day we feasted on Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings.

The day after we went wheeling. Almost broke Tim’s rig again. It was a mellow day of wheeling.

Saturday we just stuck around the house. Randy and I put together my engine, transmission, and dual crawler case. Now it’s ready to be mounted in the chassis. It’s going to be so cool! I can’t wait to get it setup.

Sunday we fixed the well. After pulling the pump out and finding it was cracked we decided to buy a new one. Looks like it was cracked when they put it together in the first place. We also measured how deep the well was. We found out it was 130 feet. The old pump was only down 100 feet. So we were able to drop the pump 20 feet more.

New pump, wire, hose, and pressure valve later. Everything is great!

Now I have to get back to work and finish the program that was suppose to be done last Wednesday.

Why don’t keyboard manufacturers “get it”? Some of them have keyboards that are almost perfect. Some have keyboards that just suck.

You may know that I’ve been searching for the perfect keyboard for a very long time. I have yet to find one that I totally like. If I did find one, I’d probably buy two or three just so I have them later when I wear them out.

What is the perfect keyboard for me? That’s easy, but first let me tell you about the keyboards that almost make it.

The Apple keyboard. It has USB ports for the mouse and other devices. It’s small so it does not take up too much room on your keyboard tray. It even has a decent price. But, the key caps are old style and the layout is non-ergonomical.

The Macally Icekey. It has USB ports. Scissor action short key caps. But, it’s a bit on the big side. It’s USB ports are on the very outside left and right. So if you plug a mouse into it the mouse hits the USB plug. It wears out very fast. And it’s not a ergonomic layout.

Type Matrix. This is a great keyboard. Small, slim key caps. Ergonomic layout. But it does not support the Mac so well. It does not have USB ports. It’s not even a USB keyboard.

Kensington Slim Type. It has the scissor action short key caps. It has a small foot print on the desk. It has media keys and a power/sleep button. This is almost perfect. But, the Delete and Home keys are in the wrong place. There is no USB ports so I have to use a USB extension for my mouse. Still not a ergonomic layout.

OK, so what keyboard would I make if I could make a keyboard. Well, I would take the Type Matrix and add Apple keys to it. Make it USB and have two USB ports on the back. Then stick a few media keys and a sleep/power button. That would probably be the best keyboard ever.

So, hello keyboard manufacturers… Get a clue!

This has been a very busy month for me. I have a major project due soon, so I’m working on getting that finished while my other customers are calling and emailing me every day for more work. Just trying to keep up is 16 hour days. It’s usually like this near the end of the year.

Winter kicks in and since it’s hard to go outside and do stuff, people start thinking of ways to “improve” their web sites. One customer didn’t want to wait for me to do stuff, so I installed a CMS system for them. They are totally wreaking their web site now. Basically removing all the content. Content is the only thing that gets customers.

One good thing about getting lots of work is that I get more money coming in. That is good because taxes are coming quick and I’ll need to start saving up to pay them.

I think that 2007 is going to be a great year for ORS. Business is looking good and I’m really picking up Rails development. My Orange Modules should be a hit this year. I think this is the year that I’ll be able to pay off my current debt. In-fact, that’s my goal for this year. Debt free.

One more thing I want to complete this year is my rock crawler project. I really, really, really want to get that thing on the road this year. Really. I can feel it… This is the year.

Oh, I have some wheeling video to post up soon. Check out my YouTube clips.

Well, Jane has had her Mac Book Pro for a few days now. She is loving it. I don’t think it’s been more than 30 feet from her since she got it. She uses it on the couch, in the studio, in the office, at her parents house, everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if she uses it in her car while driving to Reno.

It’s a nice setup. 17″ screen, 2.33GHz Intel Dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, 7200RPM hard drive, and a bunch of other things. It was real easy to move all her stuff from her old computer over, but her old computer had more stuff than what would fit on her new drive. So we copied only the stuff she needed. She has like hundreds of iTunes music files and tons of work files from Photoshop. So we are archiving most of her work files and soon I’ll have my file server to store them.

I found a 15″ monitor with the DVI to ADC adapter on eBay the other day and so I purchased that. I hope to get it in a few days if they guy ships it on time. Then Jane will be able to plug her Mac Book into her 23″ monitor. I’ll have the 15″ for the Cube, and the Cube will go to my dad. His iMac G3 is really, really old and slow.

So now Jane has her Mac Book and is flying faster than mine. She needs the speed for Photoshop and all. I just do programming, so I don’t need much speed. My iMac G5 is good, but just as soon as Apple comes out with a good Tablet PC, then I’m totally going that direction.

Johnny and I went out last week and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was fun. We went out past Dayton into nowhere and after cruising around where there were no roads, we finally found the perfect tree. We cut it down the the Saws-all and that was that. Strapped it to the roof and back home we went. Jane and Cyndie put all the decorations on it and now it’s all good. It’s a great tree.