Ghosting Windows 7 with Acronis

Ghosted one Dell gx520 to two others with Acronis 2010 the other night. Backed it up on to an old 20 gig IDE drive, worked perfectly. Except for one thing. Ok, this is approximate because I'm not looking at it now, this was a few days ago. After Acronis restore it reported a MBR error on boot. Put the W7 disc in, choose my language and then to FIX rather than install. Auto-fix checked it and suggested I reboot (did NOT show a Windows installation instance on the screen behind), which I did. So, then. Same scenario; choose language, then fix. This time is sees the install, choose next, choose the obvious boot fix choice at the top. Run. Reboot. Fixed. RTM build 7600.

New Nurse New Job

Three weeks into official nurse-ship, Kath has accepted a foot-in-the-door RN position in FV's MH float pool. She's officially working for a hospital system. In this time of swamped nursing applicants here in MN where RN schools - and graduates - are the thickest in the nation, new-grad nursing home employment is a virtually inevitable first step... Snared an interview through old connections, and then snared a job through skill, poise, knowledge and desire. The internal-candidate door is now open. Behavioral Interviewer: Where do you want to be in 5 years? K: On an ICU. Fairview knows a good hire when they find one. Rock star! I am so proud of you. I am so happy for you. I love you.

Oh ya, Cha-ching.

Pugsley is Dead - Long Live Pugsley

I just borrowed Jared's fat tires for two weeks and took several good rides on snow and ice and crusty mounds and deep drifts and I liked it. -but not enough. Not this year. Riding on winter streets, traveling to winter destinations, are not tasks I would choose a Pugs for. Riding on crusty, jagged, frozen sand-dune snow piles are. Riding on packed snow trails would be too. Would it get me out more in the winter? Maybe. Thanks again Jared, for turning me on to it.

The last few years the bike I spend the most time on is my steel fixed gear - road bike. Clipless pedals, shellacked cloth-tape mustache bars (for sweaty, grippy, gloveless riding), and one 42x13 gear. It's fun to smoke other riders isn't it? I love mountain riding too - but I think a new set of Nevegal 2.3's is going to satisfy all needs in that department this year.

I don't have, and have never had a true race-light, gear-shifting, road bike.

That above is the new-school champion (2010) Trek Madone (5.1) - carbon dream bike. Full Ultegra with Bontrager bladed-spoke wheels. It's the third model from the bottom actually, yes really. 3.4 retail, Steve says less than 2, maybe hundreds less. Confirmed my size (58) at Freewheel tonight - pretty amazing in person. Tell me why I shouldn't.

This is a reminder to myself that except for my friends and a few random surfers, this blog is really only for me, and I like this picture.

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan - 1980

Accept - 1979

Of the old bands Accept stands strong with Scorpions and ACDC. Still well worth a listen to this or Breaker or Restless or I'm a Rebel (between the first two) or Balls or Metal Heart. All of the above.

Remember that sleeve? - I do. Disco-Stu. Get it here.

Too Young To Fall In Love

You say our love is like dynamite, Open your eyes, It's like fire and ice

1981 get it here.

Upgrade Socket 478? (Compaq)

This is what I've been doing the last few evenings. Looking for a good quality SFF (small form factor - smaller size that is) PC for cheap. My around-the-house machines are maxing out on CPU, not RAM, not network, -playing movies, totally. I looked hard at upgrading the (Socket 478) processors in the existing; I could go from 1.7 to 3.0 for $20, but the FSB was not compatible - which I'm not sure if really means I couldn't use the hardware or I just wouldn't get the benefit of it. Either way I guess.

The current (SFF) computers are limited by their CPUs, which are limited by their Motherboards, which are limited by the shapes of the box openings, and the puzzle to close them all up and put their covers back on. So there isn't a choice to upgrade really. I researched powerful, older laptops, with worn batteries on eBay... I researched new SFFs at Newegg... I got the current ones for free, I guess I can't complain.

That refurbished Dell (dude) above, is a P4 (Pentium D) Dual-Core 3.4. Comes with all the modern features like a gig of DDR2 memory (up to 4), SATA hd, PCI-express, USB2 x 8 and legal XP pro. A buck-fifty. I pinged him about combined shipping for three (without the included USB keyboards and mice) 36-per, advertised. If it's all under 5 I'm doing it.

I mean, these are almost as good as my main computers, and they're upgradeable with the newest tech, they will last. One is slated for the garage too, so rockstar!

GraphJam

Grin

Coroner. Easily my favorite 90s Metal band. Top 10 all time too. RIP, Punishment for Decadence, No More Color, Mental Vortex, Grin.





God, I should say something more about these guys... Um. They're from Switzerland. They're a power-trio... They have like, wicked timing-riffs, jazz-influenced stuff, so it's super-heavy but angular too.

And they're excellently tight. There are no fat vocals or keyboard-swells or delay-washes or anything to cover up the guitar riffs. It's sparse and cleanly-mixed; Heavy, super-punchy. Groovy even. but Heavy. Their post-Grin self-titled swan-song features a full-on electronica track and a couple of atmospheric numbers. His vocal style has been described as gargling with acid, which is of course an insult in Heavy Metal too.

Steve likes their early stuff and would say No More Color is the best - it is indeed the crown on the first three. I say their later stuff is best. Mental Vortex is when I got turned on, it' s my choice - they had decided to go crazy and blow up. Grin's production is even way better.

It's as Killers is to Number of the Beast.

U of M stair-jumps: nope, still Winter...

BIXI in Montreal, Melbourne and Minneapolis

City public bike rental program coming Summer 2010. Don't be jealous suburbanites and inferior-city dwellers, you've got that new drive-through at the strip mall, that's cool too...