I couldn’t get my headphones jack working after installing Ubuntu 9.04 on my Sager. So, after some quick googling, I found that adding the following line at the end of the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file and rebooting fixed things right up:
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
For some reason, the faucet in my kid’s bathroom stopped working. There was a slight leak around the faucet’s knobs when turned on, but no water would flow out of the spout.
The old Faucet wasn't working any more.
After much investigating, I decided the supply tubes must be clogged some how.
The 'before' picture, under the sink.
(By “much investigating,” I mean I took apart the knobs and fiddled with the shut-off valves!)
We decided to go ahead and replace the faucet. After some more thought, I decided that I’d replace everything from the shut-off valves up, and the drain pipe (above the trap).
We purchase a cheap (but attractive, according to the wife) 4″, chrome, 2-handle, center-set faucet at Home Depot. I took the oportunity while there to go ahead and buy the new shut-off valves, chromed, flexible, copper supply tubes, a basin wrench, a mini pipe cutter, and, finally, some silicon.
When we got home from Home Depot, I began by turning off the main water supply to the house. I warned everyone that we wouldn’t have water for awhile, then got to work.
Basin Wrench: A requirement!
I had already removed the nuts connecting the old supply tubes to the faucet, so I started by removing the nuts holding the old faucet to the sink. The basin wrench came in very handy here. (In fact, this would have been next to impossible without it!)
I wonder if all my pipes have this much sediment built up?
After removing the old faucet fixture, I had room to remove the rest of the pipes, including the shut-off valves. When I pulled the valves out, I noticed a significant amount of sediment build-up inside the supply pipes. I was glad I decided to replace everything. That sediment was probably what clogged up the faucet in the first place.
I then cleaned up the holes in the sink to make ready for the new faucet. I dropped the new faucet into the holes and tightened up the nuts to hold it in place. While under the sink, I went ahead and removed the trap from the drain, and loosened up the old drain pipe and removed it, also. The new faucet fixture came with a new drain pipe, after all.
Wow. Yuck.
I was warned that the flexible copper supply tubes are a pain to work with, and it turns out they are! After bending, unbending, bending, unbending, and then repeating a couple more times, I finally got them shaped the way the needed to be.
The 'after' picture, under the sink.
I used my new mini pipe cutter to clip off the ends, and then attached the supply tubes to the valves! After that, attaching the valves to the pipes, and then some more bending, unbending, and bending some more, and everything was (FINALLY!) in the right place. I tightened down all the nuts to finalize the process.
With everything in place, it was time to test my work. I asked the wife to watch everything carefully while I went downstairs and turned the water back on. Miracle of miracles, nothing leaked! I got it right the first time. With bucket in hand, I went back upstairs to test the faucet itself. After releasing the valves (still no leaks!), I tried the hot and cold knobs and everything worked great.
No leaks! Yay!
The only thing left was the drain. I turned the faucet off, pulled my bucket out from under the sink, and started attaching the new drain pipe. It took a little longer than I thought, but finally everything was in place and tightened. I re-attached the trap and it was time to test again. No leaks again!
After the clean-up, everything looks great!
I attached the plunger control rod and adjusted it to work correctly. Then, for good measure, I tested the plunger and the sink’s over-flow drain. Everything is working great!
All total, I spent about 1 hour at home depot and about 4 hours working on the sink. I spent a little more than $50. I don’t know how much a plumber would have charged, but I’m pretty sure it would have been at least an arm, if not an arm AND a leg!
… and they said home-ownership was hard.
It's me, chest deep under the sink.
I changed my password today on my Red Hat desktop. In the process, I misspelled the password. I tried to change it with the passwd command, but the system told me I needed more time before I was allowed to change my password. bleh.
So, I logged in as root, ran passwd myusername and typed the password correctly. Something was wrong. My tty was acting all weird and inserting too many carriage returns. My password was now corrupt and I had no idea why. “No problem,” I though, “I’ll just log in as root again and fix it right up!” No dice. The root password got corrupted somewhere in the middle of the whole mess.
I rebooted. Still no dice. I boot off of an old Ubuntu Server install disk I had laying around. No dice. Ubuntu server doesn’t have the LVM packages. I got Phreakre to burn me an Ubuntu Desktop CD and booted off it. I still couldn’t get the Disk mounted, but only becuase I didn’t know the proper LVM commands to make it happen. These are the commands I used:
First, vgscan, which will run around the hardware looking for LVM volumnes and print out the groups for use in the next commands:
[root@irkenshost ~]# vgscan Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while... Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2
Next, I needed to run the vgchange command to activate the LVM volume group and add an entry in the /dev directory:
[root@irkenshost ~]# vgchange -ay VolGroup00
Then, to find the volume itself, I issued an lvs command. Most likely, the volume I was looking for is the default, LogVol00:
[root@irkenshost ~]# lvs
Finally, I mounted that volume to /mnt so I could edit the /etc/shadow file and zero-out the root password:
[root@irkenshost ~]# mount /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /mnt
After playing some Zombinion with AJ earlier in the day, El-Kabong came over for some serious, hard-core Cold War Action! Twilight Stuggle is a game I’ve been watching climb the rankings on BoardGameGeeks for some time. It’s currently floating at 4th place, which puts it in some crazy-good company. The top-five on their site is:
As an avid board gamer, I consider Puerto Rico and Power Grid alone 2 of the greatest games ever. Obviously I needed to check out this game.
This first thing I noticed when researching this gem? It’s only 2-players! How can this be? BoardGameGeeks rated a 2 player game higher than Dominion? Not only that, but it didn’t come from Europe! If you know me at all, you know that I despise Ameri-trash board games almost universally. So what was the deal with this 2-player game from GMT that was racing up the BGG rankings?
Why does El-Kabong's hair look like Bozo the Clown's?
I’ve played a couple of turns of this before, but I’ve never finished the game. I know the jist of the game-flow, but not the specifics, so El-Kabong and I quickly set up the board and dug into the rules. We intended to follow along in the rule book for the first turn, then get down to some serious Cold-Warring! Step one found the first flaw in the game. The physical board’s quality is terrible! It is fold-out cardboard, but it’s thin, easily warps (this set was already slightly bowed upwards) and won’t stay down. We ended up putting a large, heavy, glass mug on one end just to keep it down. Step two found the second serious flaw in the game: the rules. Typical Ameri-trash, war gaming rules which don’t flow, are difficult to follow, and don’t proceed in a logical manner. We kept having to flip back and forth in the rules book during the game. Specific questions that came up during the game were not easily answered and were difficult to find in the book. So far so yuck!
I spent too much time in the Middle-East early in the game.
We played through a turn and a half, then decided that we had figured out enough of the rules to start over with the aim of finishing the game. Wow, I really like this game. The board sucks, the rules are difficult to read, and the small, square, cardboard chits to mark your influence are begging to be eaten by my cat and found 5 years later under the couch, but the game itself is really, really good!
The USSR swoops into the gap I left in Europe.
The first 3 turns are referred to as Early War in the game, and they are designed to destroy the USA player’s morale. Really. That’s the only explanation I can think of! USA will win before turn 4 without seriously strategizing her ass off, fighting for every inch of Europe, and just a tiny bit of luck. I’m told that the game has the reverse issue in the late game, with USSR getting the shaft, but since I’ve only ever played USA and I always lose before turn 4, I’ll never know!!
The next time I play, I’ll be dropping all my initial Western European Influence in West Germany and focusing my attentions in Europe almost exclusively.
I really like the flow of this game. All the pressure points applied to the two players and the multitude of ‘battlegrounds’ around the board keep the game interesting. The intense pressure felt even on the very first turn is amazing, at least for USA. I look forward to making it past turn 4!! I’ve still never seen the Mid-War cards!
The game ends, USA goes down in flames as USSR seizes control of Europe.
I got to play some Zombinion (a Dominion re-theme) with AJ this last weekend. This is pretty rare for me. Usually, AJ and I don’t enjoy each other’s company much during a board/card game. He’s a little too excited for me, and I’m sure I’m a little too “Father-knows-best” for him. By the end of the game, though, I think we both had fun and enjoyed each-other’s company.
AJ shuffles (again!). This is a Dominion re-theme, after all.
I really enjoy how easy this game is to teach, and how easily new players pick up the ins and outs of the game. He was quickly Higher Ground-ing me [Milita] with an evil grin while carefully counting and considering how many Survivors [Gardens] I’d picked compared to how many were left. I didn’t give the game my full attention, but I was playing, and AJ managed to tie me! Good for him! Good for us for getting along so well! Finally, good for Mr. Donald X. Vaccarino for creating one of the greatest games of all time!
Will he win?
If I rememember correctly (which is doubtfull), we were playing a set that included all of the following:
I worked on a Survivors [Gardens] strategy, while AJ exploited Maverick [Village], Stick Together [Festival], and Tactics [Throne Room]. I really enjoyed the game, not the least of which because AJ was truly enjoyable to play a game with that day. I hope we have many more.