Off-Hook

Well, the AMD 64 cpus continue to become more affordable today. The “bottom-of-the-line” 2800+ (1.8G newcastle core) has dropped another $10!!! The 3000+ dropped only another couple bucks, but it dropped all the same. Interestingly, the rock-solid 32-bit athlon xp line hasn’t dropped so much as ten cents this year. Go figure!

Apparently, AMD has decided to drop having a choice of 2 different ath 64 3200+. There was a newcastle core AND a clawhammer core. Now there is only the newcastle core (512M of L2 cache). The clawhammer core (1G of L2 cache) starts with the 3400+ (2.2G) and opens at a mere $300. It’s all good, though… I would sooner buy the 2800+ or 3000+ now, which will last a while beyond 32-bit obsolescence, and look forward to buying the primo 64fx cpu or next gen for an upgrade a couple years from now.

On a different note, what’s up with the westell modem? I just got dsl, and this flaky little guy needs to be power-cycled every time it gets slightly burdened. I’m thinking about rma’ing the whole rig, but it does work (it’s just not very stable). Perhaps I’ll look into incompatibilities or the limitations of my existing box…

Man I love shopping for hardware, don’t you?

Got the handiest, dandiest little mail notifier client to replace ezpop (which apparently is no longer being updated). I highly suggest poppeeper to anyone in the market for a windows mail notification prog. It’s light on the HD and FREE! Plus, it’s VERY user-friendly. Just a little lagniappe for those into freeware like me.

Just how do I miss software updates? I scour the web every day for updates to my freeware, like irfanview, filezilla, cdex, winamp, filzip, etc., and somehow, I’ve missed like 3 updates of irfanview. I must be seriously slackin’!

Not much time left to tweak our LNP database. I have the necessary forms to filter the amount of information coming from the NPAC (the NPAC is a big portability database consisting of 8 regions split up alot like the old RBOC regions– It contains all ported and pooled numbers along with what service provider owns them, how they’re supposed to be routed, and other important SS7 info), but I haven’t completed them yet. Hey– I only just compiled all of my employer’s LRNs with our office point codes throughout our entire network Friday… I’ll get around to it! Once those filters are in place, a whole lot of corporate bean-counters will be VERY happy. These LSMS databases, like the one we’re implementing now, have a default limit of 48 million records. Well, the entire NPAC is WELL past 48 million records already, so if we had to download everything, our database would already be obsolete the same day of purchase. If you ask me, the default limit NEEDS TO CHANGE! But that’s neither here nor there. We download enough in the regions we cover that we’re already less than 7 million records from the limit only ONE WEEK after our first bulk download. The filters I’m requesting will cut that number in less than half.

Interesting news– Prices have finally started to drop again on 64-bit processors. Athlon 64 Newcastle core CPUs dropped almost $10! I’m excited, and ready to get back to my hardware project! Especially now that my dsl modem is here (supposed to be at my house today). That will help in so many ways… Keeping an eye on the LSMS, updating my web pages, admin of the church site and email, software and OS updates (there’s just too much to list).

Anyways– Plenty to do, no time… Sometimes it’s really exciting that way!

Lots of folks comin’ over this weekend. My director figured I’d be up here on Saturday trying to finish that database. Hey– I’m finally over the hump of this mountain, I think I’ll try to take it easy on the downhill side. I’m nearly there, anyways. I’d like to have my database complete before 5 today. The LSMS is up and running, so no headache there (yet). Next week– Testing the database from live offices in our network. Should be cool.

Got the church’s website finished (at least the basic design and the front page). I’m using “css,” so I won’t have to work hard on the subdirectories. The staff is happy, so I’m happy. I’d like to get the rest of what I have responsibility for on that site finished by next weekend.

Maybe after it all, I can get back to my favorite personal project — my home-built comp.

In the meantime, I’ve been able to address alot of Firefox bugs unique to Gaim’s incompatibilities. Here’s looking forward to the next release of Gaim. Firefox still has some stability issues, but overall, it’s still my default browser and browser of choice.

I’ve been working with what have got to be some of the best html editors of all-time. Aranae is simply divine. Highlights, easy-to-navigate tools… I can’t say enough. Notetab Light just gets better and better, too. Combine those with Firefox and Filezilla (an open-source ftp client that looks/feels like cuteftp, but easier to navigate), which has a wonderful shortcut to bookmarked ftp sites, and you have yourself a website creating powerhouse!

Well… Today I was in training. It’s really helpful and I’m learning plenty! I hope to be able to do some of my own translations soon. It’s good for my deadlines on related activities and for job security!

At the same time, I need to compile a database of offices and LRNs (Location Routing Numbers). LRNs are kind of like an address for every office that is “LNP-capable.” The offices each have a point code. This point code identifies them in an SS7 network. Lots of folks don’t know what SS7 is, but simply stated, it’s a way of sending data over telephone networks that all providers can understand and translate in order to give faster, more dependable service and more options, like caller id, caller name, *67, and other stuff. I have records of point codes and records of LRNs per office, but I have very few records of offices with BOTH the point code AND the LRN… and I need this yesterday in relation to the uploading of information to our new LSMS (Local Service Management System). The LSMS is a central database maintained by a telephone service provider that contains the information necessary to correctly route calls to ported numbers across the US.

As you can see, LNP (Local Number Portability) is no simple technology. It’s complex enough that it requires a high level of maintenance and upkeep, but hi-tech enough that it does alot of this maintenance automatically. Our company is making alot of changes right now in this area, and I, with a few others, am at the center of it. Combine that with company coming this weekend, a new website to publish (my church’s) that needs immediate updating, and training, and you get a dedicated tylenol customer.

I know all will be well again soon enough. Just happens to be a big pileup right now. It will all fall back to baseline levels soon. I’m looking forward to getting back to building my project computer and looking for new digs.

Life can be kind of stressful sometimes… but isn’t that sort of the same thing as exciting?

I’m running across the strangest bugs today…

Gaim makes a Windows port. It’s an excellent mult-platform chat client that connects to AIM/ICQ, MSNIM, Yahoo, IRC and Jabber. It has the most popular functionality of each of these built into one nice, neat client. The latest version (0.8) has serious issues opening links in Firefox (my browser of choice) and has limited operability in the menu attached to the systray icon. It has improved file transfer utility, but I’m back to the old version. Here’s hoping the next version addresses these bugs (as well as other minor GUI bugs). I used to be a die-hard trillian evangelist, but they got greedy and started charging major bux for the same thing Gaim offers with a few more features. I’m simply not impressed enough to drop $25 for it, and the free version isn’t as compatible with current features as Gaim, so it was kind of a “no-brainer.”

Firefox is showing some strange bugs, too. Overall, my rock-solid opinion on the stability of the latest releases is that 0.8 is the best, most stable release at this time. I’m using 0.9.2 and there are some strange bugs, including limitations on shell settings. 0.9.2 also has some stability issues related to multiple java applets, but overall, it does pretty darn good, and is still light-years beyond IE.

Well… My first blog. Seems kind of interesting. A place to write all the stuff I think about all the time like God, my family, politics, computers, etc.

I like the idea. There’s a lot of cool stuff to stay up-to-date on, like new browsers, 64-bit processors, LNP (this is what I engineer for a living), Creationism and other stuff.

Come back sometime. I’m only getting started. It won’t be long before I have something of interest, maybe even some photos. I’ll be logging the construction of my new computer, too (from the ground up). That should be of interest to lots of folks.