Tech/Horsepower

Right before Christmas I picked up a Dell Mini9 from their outlet for no other reason that it was cute and I wanted one. 8GB SSD, 1GB ram, Bluetooth, Windows XP home. All told I paid well under $300 with a 20% off coupon, a bargain – but I had no idea what a real life bargain it would become.

I’m not only the manager of our network engineering department, I’m also an emergency responder since I’m one of two engineers. Our clients rely on me to make sure they can get the apps we develop for them, email services, and more. It’s a life of being connected 24/7, which means not only having my HTC Tilt (via ATT) which is awesome for quick fixes, but toting my laptop almost everywhere. This presents two problems:

1. Security+theft. Having my laptop near me at all times usually means leaving it in the back of my truck when I’m out, making it extremely vulnerable to theft. The alternative is toting it everywhere. Who wants to have a backpack on when you’re shopping? Walking in the park? Going to a hockey game?
2. DANGER DANGER: WIFE UNHAPPY! Either scenario can lead to an unamused spouse. The toting around in public piece is obvious. Not so obvious is dragging the bag around at holidays, when visiting multiple houses. She doesn’t exactly appreciate the constant reminder that at any moment I may have to leave festivities to look in on something. Unhappy wife? Unhappy life!

A netbook directly solves these issues at the same time. It’s relatively cheap and can contain no important data – making it disposable. If it’s stolen I’ll be upset, but I could cleanly break from it. Here are some setup tips so you can cleanly break from it too. Assuming Windows XP but much of this applies globally.

• Set your BIOS password. This is SO overlooked! Sometimes the simplest tricks are the best. Setting a BIOS password is the first line of defense.
• Don’t store credentials for your VPN, remote desktop(s), and other connections. This seems like an easy one, but it’s habit to check that “remember my user name and password” box.
• Go one step further and create completely different accounts for your netbook. In case it does disappear you can deactivate those accounts and have zero worry. Remember, if a baddie has your user name, they usually have 50% of what they need to complete a hack.
• I surf with FireFox because of the third-party support, CS Lite is great example. Using this add-on allows you to clear all cookies and session information when you exit the browser. No worries about a baddie getting into your web services.
• Use webmail.
• Online file services like box.net Dropbox Mozy or any other cloud storage will keep your files off the netbook. Changing the password here should be the first thing you have to do should it go AWOL.

How it can make you a better emergency responder. My Mini9 is small, light, and since it’s all solid state it can literally be tossed into a bag, briefcase, glove box, gym bag, whatever. I actually found it fits perfectly in the seat pocket of my Trailblazer, awesome. It’s literally a throwable computer – I do things with it I’d never think of doing with my “ruggedized” 620A.

Battery life averages over 4 hours, which means you don’t need to carry the charger everywhere.

Finally, having a tethered data phone (like my Tilt) or a wireless-wan card is the ultimate companion for your netbook. Through Bluetooth I can tether and be on the internet within seconds – nearly anywhere. No wires, no fuss. Two devices working in harmony to make my life much easier.

If your emergency responders don’t have netbooks, consider getting them. You’ll not only have happier people with new toys, they’ll be better equipped to more efficiently address issues.

It was -12 this morning in Columbus. The kind of cold that humans, let alone machinery and engines, enjoy operating in. Every winter morning, I scamper out and start my Chevy Trailblazer. By the time I did today, it was up to a balmy -10 degrees. It usually makes not-so-wonderful sounds when starting up under 40′ish degrees, but this morning of course was much worse. The alternator SSSQQQUUUEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLSSS and the power steering pump WWWHHHHIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSS and GGGGRRRIIINNNNDDDSSS. Everything is fine, it’s just noisy. After some warm up time they mostly go away.

Later in the morning I get an email from a friend in Toledo. He had a similar experience with his 2003 Chevy Avalanche – an entirely different vehicle on a different platform. I type to him in reply “Yea, typical GM” – then I did a double take. I know GM has a perception problem from years of subpar vehicles. But I always told myself that they would pull out of it, people would take notice of their new offerings and quality and migrate back to them. Will they? A GM fan and car guy like me, knowing GM vehicles as in-depth as I do, still has faith lost at times like these. It makes me wonder if those owners of the new “quality” offerings such as the Chevy’s Malibu and Traverse (and their various platform twins) have changed perceptions or do their vehicles squeal and whir too?

What about Honda owners?

Toyota?

For me, half (or more!) of the fun of any new project is the setup. Even something as vanilla as this shiny new WordPress blog, I just love getting in and putting it together. After the initial joy of making it look and function the way you want, hardening the software is a fundamental that should be addressed but often overlooked – especially with self-hosters. I host ~20 WP blogs and we’ve learned and continue to learn much of this the hard way.

Let’s start with a couple absolutely necessary plugins:
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Bottom line on this category: Microsoft, Linux, data center management, engineering, security.

Technology is my career, my life, and my greatest passion (under my wife, Supreme Queen of my passion!). This will be the largest category, it’s the reason I finally decided to start a blog.

Why do I think the world needs another blog? I know rule #1 of starting a blog is choose one thing, and blog it well. I think I’m doing pretty well narrowing it down to three, my real top three passions. I know I’m not the only person out there who loves these three topics.

I’m often finding myself thinking how enjoyable it would be to write about something, so what the heck. I love to be creative with my writing, so hopefully I’ll be able to add a bit of humor and sizzle into the tubes. RSS me if you think I’ll be interesting!

Bottom line on this category: Drag racing, modifications, random automotive discussion.

This may be my least discussed topic, but it’s passion #3. I’m a car guy. I love all things that make horsepower. Here’s what I own:

• 1986 Ford Mustang SVO Competition Prep – one of the rarest Mustang’s ever built, a 2.3l 4 cylinder (that thinks it a V8) road racer. A lot of fun.
• 2002 Trailblazer LTZ – daily driver and old reliable, I don’t plan to talk about it much but worth mentioning.
• 2004 Saturn Ion Coupe – wife’s daily driver, affectionately referred to as “Plastic” or “Tupperware”.

I have spent a great deal of the past six years working on and racing GM 3800 Series II V6 engines, known as L67/L32 and most commonly installed in late model Pontiac Grand Prix GTP’s. I currently have a joint drag racing project with a friend from Toledo and his 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP converted to a 67mm turbo. Though I believe we’ll be retiring it in favor of a Pontiac Firebird with either a turbo 3800 or a V8 (LS1). I’ll know more this weekend when I go up for the North American International Auto Show.

My best friend (an extremely talented mechanic and performance engineer) is working on a NHRA Division III dragster project with a local race team. Can’t wait to hang with him this summer!

Also, I co-run the largest local automotive community in Columbus with my brother, who is a horsepower guy as well. I’ll probably be racing and tuning his supercharged 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula some this year.