Keep your smile intact!

This will sound a bit like an advertisement, but it isn't - I am just a happy customer passing on what I have found...

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I don't like going to the dentist, though I'm not phobic about it. Up until a year ago, I was always really bad about flossing until a few weeks before my next dentist appointment - and mainly because I didn't want that regular speech about how important it was to floss.

I know it is important for me to take good care of my teeth. It is a very rare occasion that I go to bed without brushing - and because I'm so easily distracted, I often would find myself brushing for 5 minutes, because I'll lose track of where my brush has been...

I was pleased that my dentist told me I was "dentally boring" two years ago, though he still indicated that I needed to floss more. This was my third visit to him after about a 4-year hiatus from going to the dentist (which was preceded by a 5-year hiatus from going to the dentist), so I figure I must have pretty good teeth!

Still, I got to thinking about it - I do want my teeth to last me as long as possible. While I don't like going to the dentist, I like oral surgery even less. Dental pain is like bone pain - best avoided!

With that in mind, I started looking at how I care for my teeth. I had been satisfied with my regular toothbrush - toothpaste was the most variable item in my oral hygiene. The dentist had suggested one of the ultrasonic toothbrushes (like the Sonicare or Oral-B Sonic), but I thought they were way too expensive (over $70), considering the cost of a perfectly effective regular brush was well under $5.

When I went to my parents'-in-law in Colorado during Christmas 2006, I discovered that I had somehow left my toothbrush at home. Stopping at the Super City Market in Montrose, I found the Oral-B Sonic Complete toothbrush that my dentist had recommended on sale - so I went ahead and took the plunge.... and I have never looked back.

It takes a little bit of getting used to it, but it makes good brushing incredibly easy. No need to really "brush" - just apply a little pressure as you run it over the surfaces of your teeth, and it does an excellent job. I don't like tartar-control toothpaste (too gritty for me), and this does an exceptional job of keeping it under control with regular toothpaste. I do not like that it has a "non-user-replaceable" NiCd battery, but as of now, I'm still using the original battery. Generally, the battery typically lasts about 2 years, and it is tricky to replace. Don't just put it on the charger after every use - I charge mine just once a week. New replacement heads are also inexpensive and available on eBay.

That said, it still doesn't prevent me from needing to floss. My main issue with flossing is wrapping that floss around my fingers and having circulation cut off as I struggle to get the floss between my tightly-spaced teeth!

The solution I currently use is the Reach Access Flosser (on the right here). I don't have to put my fingers in my mouth, it works very well, is convenient, and the floss is quite durable!

One other item - and I only heard this recently, from my hygenist - that it is best to floss first, then brush. The only reason they brush then floss you is to get the polishing media out from between your teeth!

Certainly, do what you think is best, is most cost-effective and comfortable, but don't just brush as you always have simply because of inertia. Technology has advanced - leverage it to your advantage!

Personal scent care...

As a proper citizen of the United States, I concern myself with personal hygiene. I brush, I floss, I (try to) make myself look presentable.

Scent has been a somewhat vexing item, though. I was never been a fan of smelling like typical deodorant/anti-perspirant, so I chose unscented. If I wanted a scent, I'll reach for my cologne.

It wasn't until college that I started to think more about picking a scent. I didn't grow up in a particularly "smelly" household, so I didn't think about it much. But as I met people who applied a scent I liked, I started to consider it more.

Add in the fact that I a) don't sweat much normally, and b) have read enough about the risks posed by aluminum, the main sweat-reducing ingredient in modern anti-perspirants, to feel like I should avoid them, and I'm lead to choose the simple deodorant. Not a fan of roll-on or other wet/gel-based application, I use a stick.

Trouble is, deodorants don't typically come in "unscented", and as I said, I don't want to smell like... deodorant (or non-deodorant). I tried an unscented "Kiss my Face"-brand unscented deodorant from Whole Foods, and it just didn't hold up through a normal day.

What I did discover during my quest was that both of the colognes I like (Curve for Men, shamelessly stolen from my brother, and Halston Z-14 from high-school friend Brian Rockwell) both come as a deodorant stick as well. Yes, it is more expensive up front than buying a typical stick of Sure, but it takes me at least 6 months to go through one $10 stick (which I can buy least expensively on eBay). And it lasts a long time - I smell just fine over 48 hours later!

Let's think about that for a second - the smell I want to have, lasts a long time, cost-effective... it's a complete win!

So, consider that the next time you're putting on your current scent (or non-scent) - Do you like how you smell? Find a scent you like and make it yours!

Protect your data!

As previous posts have made clear, I am a bit of a packrat. I might need that 24V AC power supply sometime, so it goes in the power supply drawer, along with MANY others.

Needless to say, this collective nature applies to the digital realm as well. Over the past 20 years, I have collected a terabyte or few of digital data. Between a decade or so of email, amusing pictures, sound samples, documents and all my digital media files, I maintain a pretty good-sized file server at home to keep all this data in one place.

Keeping it organized is certainly an omnipresent challenge (as it is everywhere else in my life), but I'm less concerned that it will be lost now.

When the 10-year-old computer that was my home server finally refused to boot even a newly-installed OS, I took the opportunity to build anew the server and tackle the issue that had caused me concern for a few years - how to back up all the important stuff?

DVD media has a lot of capacity, but once you get to a certain amount of data, it becomes a bit cumbersome to burn all those discs. Also, as the data changes, how do you keep track of the new from the old on all that separate, often read-only media?

I liked the online backup options much better, as I have good cable-based broadband at the house, and their software will track the changes to the files. However, in order to leverage best the inexpensive "unlimited" online options, the client must be installed on a "workstation" OS - such as Windows XP or 2000 Professional. The second caveat is that the backup software is smart enough to only back up data on locally-attached drives. It will not include mapped network drives or USB-attached volumes in its backup set.

Much as I like Windows 2000 Pro, I figured that if this system was going to have the longest legs, it was best to stick with something that wasn't already out of current support, so Windows XP Professional it was. All the "server" apps I needed it to run (TiVo Desktop, Rio Receiver server, VMware server, as well as file/print sharing) would run fine there - all that was missing was a DNS and DHCP server, which I can get by without for the moment.

Trouble was, I didn't have much extra space on the XP server I had built. It was an amalgamation of various drives, and only one disk was protected from failure by a second mirrored disk. Much as I liked having the online backup, I'd much rather protect from failure in the first place. But if I had a second server, how would I back *that* up? I only wanted to have one server and backup set to maintain.

Enter the home SAN. I have worked with UNIX systems for a long time, and thought I might have found a loophole - iSCSI-attached volumes are block devices just like local disk. Would my backup software (Carbonite) see through my ruse and refuse to back up the data on those "locally attached" iSCSI volumes?

I bought several big drives on sale and installed them into one chassis, and installed Openfiler. Openfiler is a general-purpose storage device - it can act as a Windows file server, as an NFS server or as an iSCSI SAN device. It is not terribly easy to figure out if you are tech-challenged, but it is a worthy alternative to buying a "real" SAN. The system is flexible and permits you to build RAID volumes in software as well as in hardware. I wholeheartedly recommend gigabit ethernet hardware for communications between the server and the SAN (if you can make the whole path speak Jumbo Frames, so much the better) if you'd like performance to be as good as it can be.

Am I happy with what I've assembled? Thus far, yes. Speed to the SAN-attached disks is not horribly slow (between 75 and 200 Mbit), mainly limited by the speed of the controller card. I can always add additional space to the server by adding more drives to the SAN (I have 3 free SATA controller ports). And best of all, the Carbonite software *does* backup the SAN disks.

Windows device cleanup!

Ever wonder how Windows remembers (read: doesn't need to install drivers every time you connect it) your USB drive, external monitor(s), DVD-ROM drive, etc? It keeps track of everything that it ever detected (through Plug and Play or otherwise).

Forever.

While researching VMware physical-to-virtual (P2V) and virtual-to-physical (V2P) conversion, I couldn't figure out why I kept receiving error messages about an IP address configured on an interface that was no longer in the system. I did some digging, and found this Microsoft KB article, which outlines the two-step process to finding all these hidden devices (which can cause some unintended conflicts).

Have a look at your system, and see just how much old junk you can pull out of there!

Wired VoIP... wirelessly?

My current position requires me to travel internationally quite a bit. Using a mobile phone abroad is not cheap - and Skype is not always practical. Instead of spending US$ 0.99/min on my ATT mobile phone, I have a separate Vonage-based home office line that I carry with me when the mobile will not be cost-effective.

I have been a Vonage subscriber since 2004, and find its portability to be of tremendous value. Not only does it allow me to make calls from anywhere there is sufficient broadband (>64 Kbit symmetric), but also receive calls - in exactly the same manner as if I were at home.

Admittedly, I'm geeky about it. This means I don't use my PC with a headset. I like walking around when I'm on the phone, so I bring a Uniden 5.8GHz cordless handset and base with me (which normally is running in my office). This phone attaches to the Vonage ATA (the hardware device that connects back to Vonage HQ to give me a dial tone), so that also goes into the bag, along with its power supply. Needless to say, the setup contains a lot of wires and power plugs, but since it goes (typically) into checked luggage, I don't worry too much about the space.

Trouble is, I always had wired (ethernet) connectivity at the hotels where I typically stay. The Vonage ATA doesn't use wireless to connect outbound. On a recent trip to Scotland, however, the B&B where we stayed offered wireless connectivity only, so I had to improvise a bit to make it work. I had not planned for this, so that I could hack a solution together was extremely gratifiying!

My Windows XP-based laptop could connect to the wireless network without trouble, so I connected the Vonage ATA to my laptop's ethernet port. I then made use of a feature I'd never tried before - the "Bridge Connections" feature. I selected my wireless and wired interfaces, right-clicked and selected "Bridge Connections" and after a minute (and a reboot of the Vonage ATA), I had a dial tone!

I was not expecting it to work that easily, and indeed, later in the trip, it did not. At our last B&B, the same trick did not want to work. Not sure if it was because the first was a Linksys AP/router and the second was a Belkin AP/router, but needless to say, I went with Plan B - Internet Connection Sharing. I removed the bridge from the laptop's network configuration, and proceeded to share my wireless connectivity with my ethernet - and (after a reboot of the Vonage ATA), I had a dial tone again!

Not a solution for everyone, but it is nice to be able to make and receive calls exactly as you would from home!

The history of the "Amen break"

Ok, I get a lot of email. No, really, a LOT of email. So it is no surprise that I found a message from a friend of mine that he sent me in July 2006 that I had overlooked, much to my dismay.

What he had sent however, was golden. I had no idea about the rich and varied history involved with this 6-second sample from 1968, but had enjoyed the fruits of the manipulation of that track, from favorite trance tracks to current advertisements on radio and television.

Set aside 20 minutes and be as astounded as I was by this video.

YouTube: The History of the Amen Break

Quotes for the day...

Some very good quotes from my personalized Google page:

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
- Stephen Jay Gould

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
- Ambrose Bierce

Stem the tide, and protect yourself!

We're all faced with two related problems. One is an overflowing number of offers for new credit cards, and concern about protecting your identity (and credit) from theft.

Stop that flood of inviting credit card offers with the help of the (generally not-so-helpful) big three credit reporting agencies. A link on the Federal Trade Commission website has some very helpful information on ways to stem the flow of offers. They also have links to the National Do-Not-Call Registry which should keep any legitimate commercial entities (with which you do not already have an existing relationship) from contacting you unbidden.

Not only does this keep junk out of your mailbox, it also provides fewer opportunities for those who might slip one out of your mailbox for untoward purposes.

Keeping a regular eye on your credit details and score can help you discover earlier any discrepancies in your record. Another link on the FTC website explains how you can receive (for free, annually) your credit report from each of the big three credit reporting agencies.

Also, for those who still pay regular bills via regular post, consider this reason for going online with your bill-paying. Those stamped envelopes you place in your mailbox (to await your letter carrier) are easy prey for those who can then empty out your checking account writing forged, duplicated checks. Pay electronically, or take those outgoing paper payments directly to the post office (or to wherever they'll be safely picked up by the post), not in your mailbox by the street.

Purge, purge, purge...

As a proper card-carrying technophile, I have collected far more than my fair share of electronics and other computer-related miscellany over the years. Since 1991, I have accumulated so much stuff that I have bins, boxes and drawers full of computer electronics with no current purpose... for anybody. Eventually, one gets to one of the big questions:

Just how many vintage-1995 PCI video cards does one need?

As it turns out, I don't need any.

Nor do I need ISA-bus modems - or, in fact, ANY ISA bus components whatsoever. Nor Socket 7 motherboards. Or that extra Pentium Pro system. Or those 30-pin SIMMs.

You're getting the picture. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff.

The purges have begun, with the shipment (finally!) of almost 50 pounds of cards, cell phones, mice, cables, etc. to Dell as part of their recycling program.

The realization that I needed to get rid of this stuff happened long ago, but it was made more... temporally important... by virtue of the new house (and the need to move all of our stuff from our old place. I didn't want to just toss this stuff out with our regular trash, because isn't the right way to dispose of all the lovely lead, mercury, cadmium and other nasties that lurk within all this gear. In searching around, I stumbled onto Dell's Recycling page and ordered two of their "Consumer Recycling Kit with one airway bill" for US$10.

Over the next 22 months, I collected many cards, motherboards and other not-so-goodies and filled a box - finally ending up with 49 pounds and 14 ounces of electronic junk, and shipped it off this past week.

I had occasion to look around again, and realized that I needed to send more. I had given the other "Recycling Kit" to my similarly-afflicted friend Brad Schutter, so I figured I'd just order up a few more. Returning today to the link I found via Google today resulted in immediate disappointment, however, as I couldn't find any links to that which I'd previously ordered.

Fortunately, despite my tardiness in using them, my order was still within the 2-year window into your order history that Dell allows, so I found the original Dell part number (310-6492) - and lo and behold, I found the page with the actual item.

Take stock of the old electronics you (or your company) have in your posession, and consider this viable (and valuable) option for getting rid of the now-worthless electronic clutter that a) you no longer need to keep around, b) you can't sell on eBay for US$0.01, and c) has no value to charities like The National Cristina Foundation.

Quote by which I live...

I have described myself as "360 degrees of geek", given my ENTP nature, but never have I read it as well described as this:

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The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.

- Horace Walpole