Archive for December, 2007
Monday, December 17th, 2007
My cron jobs have been running as scheduled, but the strange part is I have been getting status emails…with errors in them.
I am using the cron jobs (Scheduled Tasks) in Plesk to run my sitemap generators. Every time the generator runs, it deletes the old generated files and creates new ones. I was wondering why I was getting errors. Sometimes, the files wouldn’t generate at all.
I called tech support at my new wonderful hosting company. Melissa explained to me that I set up the cron jobs under the user account for that domain. When the jobs are run via web interface online, they are running under the apache user. When they are run by cron, they are running under a different username, without the same privileges. The cron run is not able to delete those existing files and write new ones.
The way I got around this in Plesk was to click on “Server” (over in the left column) and then “Scheduled Tasks.” Once in the scheduled tasks manager, I clicked on “Apache” to set up the scheduled tasks under that user.
I am running the sitemap right now through the cron job…wait…it just finished with no errors and the files were updated correctly. I did not receive a status email because I set the email address up while the cron job was running. I am running a different site right now and will let you know how it goes.
By the way, Plesk is very good.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
There was supposed to be a big wind/snow storm over the weekend here in New York. We heard sleet hitting the windows Saturday night and woke up Sunday to see a nice layer of hard sleet/freezing rain on the already existing snow. This is the kind of snow you can walk on top of. It pretty much sleeted all Sunday. There was supposed to be heavy winds all Sunday into Monday.
Well, it was very quiet all Sunday. I was hoping that the wind missed us. I really hate wind. Of all things, I hate the wind.
About 7PM or 8PM last night, I felt a gust hit the house. I wasn’t happy about this. I looked out the window and noticed everything flying around. Good thing I brought the recycling cans inside the night before. I felt a few more strong gusts, so I looked out the back door onto the porch. I noticed that the tent (set up in the summer and never taken down) was upside down on the table. I thought the tent legs were going to put holes in the screening from tumbling around all night, so I went outside to take it down.
When I went outside, I felt like I was in a vacuum. There was strong wind coming from all directions. It had to be over 50MPH. I thought for sure that the huge oak tree in the back yard was going to take me out. I started taking the tent down. Someone call the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the least amount of time anyone has used to disassemble a tent. I was like Laurel and Hardy in fast motion. You should have seen me scurrying around pulling the tent poles out and folding them up. I got everything apart and threw it in the dining room. There was no time to drink wine, so that wasn’t even on my mind. Well, I guess I thought of it, but there were more pressing issues.
Laura got out of the shower and looked very relaxed. I was sitting there with my clothes all messed up and my hair standing on end. The tent was thrown on the floor. It was like one of those moments…when one person has no idea what the other person was just doing.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
When I was applying the drywall tape for the kitchen, I noticed some bubbles forming under the tape in some spots. I was getting all mad because I thought this was going to make the entire project look bad. After the tape dried, I forgot all about the bubbles.
When I was painting the kitchen the other day, I noticed one or two areas of the tape where bubbles were forming, I guess due to the moisture of the paint. The spots were hidden pretty well, so I didn’t really care. I guess the paper tape was getting wet and expanding.
Last night, I was telling Laura how well the color paint hides anything and everything on these walls. I looked up to the spot where one bubble was pretty large and noticed that it didn’t exist anymore. I was so happy. I think the tape dried out and tightened back up.
What’s the moral of this story? If you get some bubbles in your drywall tape when you are taping or painting, don’t freak out. They will disappear after everything dries.
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Sunday, December 16th, 2007
Well, that was fun. Not really.
I sanded for the better part of yesterday and now I am a little sore. I do have to say that I am very happy that I bought that respirator mask. It has come in quite handy and it’s nice to know that I am not breathing in the crap I am working on.
Yesterday morning, the sanding was going very smoothly. I was more than half way done. I was working on a particularly tough spot (with lots of glue) when I began to smell something. I looked down and the motor of my brand new DeWalt belt sander was smoking. I gave it a break and tried again…no power. I burned the motor out. I guess not even DeWalt can handle me. I ran down to Lowe’s to return it and grab another one. Once back, I finished up pretty quickly, paranoid that I was going to burn this one out too.
When sanding something like this, with old glue on the floor, is to sand a bit, then sweep, then sand, then sweep. You have to get the glue particles out of the way, or else you will heat them up again and spread them out on what you just sanded. Things went faster once I figured this out. Also, a good tip would be to get those knee pads…I didn’t.
I snapped a chalk line for each joist and re-screwed the subfloor down.
This is the finished floor…all sanded. It doesn’t look great, but will be a heck of a lot better for tiling. It’s also much smoother on my bare feet, and that’s important.
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Saturday, December 15th, 2007
Well, it’s time to prepare the kitchen subfloor for the tile that’s going to be going on top of it.
Some people have told me, “Hey, just lay the tile on top of the plywood…it’ll be fine.” I was always a little uneasy about that, so I read up on it. Apparently, it’s not a good idea to adhere tile right to plywood, because wood shrinks and expands with temperature and humidity. I guess you can do this in your house if you feel like doing the whole job over in a few years.
The way I like tile done in our house is to prep the subfloor, put thin-set over the subfloor, lay down cement board over the thinset and nail/screw the cement board down. Now, put your tile down. The cement board is what you want to adhere your tile to, not the subfloor.
So last night I started prepping the subfloor for the tile. The first thing I did was to head down to the basement. As you may know, there are several joints in the subfloor. Many of them travel with the floor joists, so they aren’t a big concern. We’ll call those “vertical” joints or seams. Then, there are other joints…we’ll call them “horizontal” joints. These seams travel across the floor joists and have nothing holding them from flexing. Well, I suppose they are tongue and groove, but from what I can see, they still flex when I stand on them. I good way to see if they flex is to walk around with bare feet. You can feel around better.
You can see the seams in the photo above.
When I went downstairs, I pulled out my nice new DeWalt miter saw and grabbed some spare 2″x4″s. My plan was to cut the 2″x4″s and screw them up against the bottom of the subfloor (screws into the existing joists). There was insulation in the way, so I tried to be very careful…I had just gotten out of the shower. Well, everything was going fine. I was cutting and screwing and cutting and screwing. Then, I started noticing some itching on my arms. Man!!! The insulation got to me. Oh well, there’s another shower.
Anyway, the purpose of those 2″x4″s is to stop the flex from those horizontal seams. I went upstairs and I succeeded in my mission. I walked around bare-footed and everything was good and solid. Now, I had something to screw into to finish off that job.
Also, when preparing a subfloor for tile, you want to be sure to re-screw the subfloor to the joists. Things are bound to come loose and start squeaking over time. If you walk around, you may even notice some play between the subfloor and the joists. Some hopping might help you notice this. This is the reason I went out and bought my new chalk snapper.
Luckily, in my case, the previous owners put down some really cheap parquet flooring. They came in 1′x1′ squares with foam attached to the bottoms. On the foam, there was adhesive. This adhesive left me with little glue spots all over the floor. Now, I don’t only have to sand the floor smooth, I also have to sand up the glue spots, which like to get sticky when hot (from the friction of the sander). We’ll see how that goes.
After the floor is all sanded, I am going to re-screw the subfloor to the joists and sweep up. The floor will be ready to tile and my job is done.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I am all about getting the good stuff these days. I don’t know anyone who can dispute the fact that working with quality tools is better than working with cheap ones. Tool manufacturers do a very good job of making “good” tools feel really nice in your hands. There is a big difference.
Yesterday, I took a trip to Lowe’s to get a few things. I wanted to get a chalk snapper (You know…it looks like a tape measure. You pull the string out of the thing and snap the line of chalk) and two garbage cans. I need the chalk snapper for the floor of the kitchen. I have to make lines to help me screw the subfloor down to the joists. Whenever doing a floor over, this is a good idea. I needed the garbage cans because I have a bit of a mess outside. I already have four full garbage cans outside under the porch and one inside the porch. I have to get the sheetrock off the driveway, so I bought two more. By the way, I filled those two and need about two more. I’m not going to get them though.
So I wandered into Lowe’s. I began searching for the chalk snapper and happened to pass by some face filters. I picked up a nice 3M Dual Cartridge Respirator Assembly and held onto it. I needed this for the sanding of the sheetrock, among other things. My old one leaked. I found this out during the previous day’s sanding. I like these better than the little white ones because they stay on my big head better. Also, I used to wear them when I worked at a bodyshop back in the day. They do a nice job filtering particles.
As I continued my search for the chalk snapper, I passed by some razor blades for my Stanley razor knife. I remembered that I just dulled out the last one on the sheetrock. I picked up a ten pack and held onto them. Then, I saw some screw bits. I picked up the 25 piece Dewalt bit set. I thought of how nice it would be to toss the two bits that I keep switching back and fourth in my screw gun now. It’s like they are going to heal themselves or something. I held onto them.
Boy, that’s weird, where the heck are those chalk snappers? Oh well, moving on. Geeesh, I wish I didn’t see the screw gun battery replacements. I thought back to the day before…me running back and fourth, between the basement and the kitchen to replace the battery in the cordless screw gun. Remember I just got this screw gun about a year ago? Yeah, that’s the last time I buy anything other than DeWalt, Makita, Bosch or Milwaukee. As I said above, I am into the good stuff, especially when it comes to tools. In this case, since the gun is so new, I picked up a FireStorm Two 18-Volt Extended Run Time Battery pack. Just one thing, remember that these are meant for home use. Contractor use is not covered under the warranty. One DeWalt battery is twice the cost of two of these. Say anything about quality? I held onto them.
This trip was getting expensive. I only came here for a few things and haven’t found either of them yet. I swung around the corner and there they were…the chalk snappers. There were a few of them there, but I got the best one. It’s called the Stanley FatMax Chalk Reel Kit With Blue Chalk.
A funny thing happened on the way to Lowe’s. I called my friend, Craig and told him that I was getting a chalk snapper. He said, “Oh good. Just remember to get a good one.” I told him, “Well, the most expensive one is around $12, so ok.” I thought that was amusing. I picked it up and held onto it.
Onto the garbage cans. I took a look outside to only learn the garbage cans were inside. I walked back in and found the correct aisle. I went to the cheap section and grabbed two black garbage cans and their lids. Over and out.
I stumbled to the register and paid for all the stuff I just had to have. Can I ever get out of that store without leaving with a bunch of stuff I didn’t know I needed? Does this happen to everyone when they are initially stocking their tool collections? Perhaps it’s just me.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I run Windows Vista. I have a C: drive that can hold 290GB. I also have a D: drive that can hold 7.68GB. This D: drive is also known as the “Recovery” drive. Windows Vista has a fancy feature where you can set up a backup schedule to back up all your files and stuff from the C: drive to the D: drive. I think this is really nice.
There is only one problem. After I set up the backup schedule with all the recommended settings, I ran the backup. About half way through, I received a message informing my that the D: drive was full. Hmmm…that’s really interesting. Am I doing something wrong?
The reason this puzzles me is that this computer is only a few months old. Why in the world would Circuit City sell a computer with a large hard drive and a tiny backup drive? At this very moment, I remain puzzled. There has got to be something I am missing.
Oh well. I went on CircuitCity.com today and browsed through the external hard drives. I came across the “Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Desktop Drive” and thought it was a great deal. I could plug this external drive into my computer and have it run as the backup drive, once a week or so. I can even put it on the scheduler. That’s pretty cool. With the 250GB capacity, things should be good.
Here are my concerns…I am still wondering if I was doing something wrong with the current backup drive. Also, I am hoping I don’t run into any snags with this new drive, such as, “Oh, this drive won’t hold those types of files” or something like that. The drive is only $79 and change, so it’s worth the gamble, I guess. I plan on using the external drive for a full system backup and restore (if need be).
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Posted in Computers | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
When I mention anything about redoing the kitchen to any man, almost instantly, the response is, “You are going to put the cabinets in the basement, right?” I’m like, “Yeah, I already have a few down there, but I am going to put a few more.” I can hear it in their voices…they want to say, “It doesn’t matter how many old kitchen cabinets you already have in the basement, there is always room for more.” It’s a pretty funny scene.
This go round, I put the old bathroom cabinet and two kitchen cabinets in the basement. I just came back up from hanging the two kitchen ones. These cabinets were in great shape and will help out with storage down there. I am not a big fan of floor cabinets, because the floor is dirt. They would be pretty wobbly. The hanging ones are good for my needs.
Now, these might not look to great to the average eye, but any person who is looking at them who has a sense for basements, these look pretty damn good.
Also, I wanted to show you my two girder beams I put up over the summer. The primary function of these is to take out any flex that might be in the floor. They were installed under the parts of the house we intended to install tile, meaning the bathroom and the kitchen. The span from the foundation walls to the primary girder beam is about 15′, so these cut that in half. The girders are made from three 2″x10″s, sandwiched together fastened by screws. Glue and screws would’ve been ideal, but this will do. They are being held up by heavy duty 38,000lb temporary lally columns about every 7′ or 8′. The package didn’t say anything about them being temporary, but it’s common knowledge. They really aren’t temporary though and I would say that each one of them isn’t holding any more than a few hundred pounds. The footings are concrete poured into 8″ sonotubes a few feet deep. The main girder footings are 2′x2′x12″.
They work very well and do a great job of taking any flex out of the floor.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I have been putting this off for a while. For some time, I have had the need to set up a cron job to run my website sitemap generators. Currently, I do them by hand. Every few days, I log in to each one and run the generator. This gets a little tedious, because I have to do about thirty of them.
I have always known there is a function in the sitemap generators that allows a cron job to kick the generators on. All I had to do was set it up. Now, I am not all that good with that little black screen…SSH. I mean, I use PuTTY for some things, but not all that much. I would rather use a nice GUI to take care of these tasks.
Well, it just so happens that Plesk offers that GUI. By the way, I am talking about Plesk 8.1 here.
Ok, the first thing I did was to login to Plesk. Then, I clicked on, “Domains.” I clicked the domain I was interested in setting up a cron job for. Next, I clicked the “Scheduled Tasks” icon and then the system user. Once I was done clicking all that stuff, I clicked the “Schedule a Task For …” That’s the easy part. Well, the rest is easy too, but at least I was at the place I had to be to set up the job.
Once I was at the task page, there were a few things I had to fill in to set up the job. First, I checked off “enabled.” I think that’s pretty self explanatory.
Basically, I wanted this php script to run every two days at 4AM. It’s pretty simple. For the first field, labeled, “Minute,” I put in a “0.” That will start at zero minutes of the hour. For the “Hour” field, I put in a “4.” This will start the script at the fourth hour of the day. It is based on the 24 hour clock. Ignore the periods after the digits. I put them in there just for grammar’s sake. For the “Day of the Month” field, I put in an “*.” I guess that means any day. I also put in an “*” for the “Month” field. For the “Day of the Week” field, I put in a “*/2.” This means that the script will be initiated every two days. For the last field, “Command,” I put in the path to the cron file in the script. That is something you will need to get from the script itself.
This was the first time I did this. If there is anything I missed, anything I did wrong or anything that might have been done more efficiently, please let me know by way of comment.
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Posted in Internet, Technology, Websites | 3 Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
Yes, the title says it all. Yesterday, we found out that it was going to snow today. These things are always a bit of a surprise.
On the radio this morning, I heard that all the schools were closed. Then, I heard that the snow was supposed to come at noon, starting with light snow and getting heavier towards tonight. Then, I heard that perhaps it would start snowing at 10AM. Well, it started snowing at 8:30AM and hasn’t even given any sign of letting up.
They are talking 6″-12″. There is already about 3″ out there.
I think one of the most peaceful things to do is to go outside and listen to the snow hit the ground. I used to do that when I was a kid. I would lay down in the wheelbarrow, face up, and get snowed on.
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