The next time I hear the Weird Al song, 'I'm So Handy' and the line "Maybe I'll just rewire up your house for fun", yeah.. This has been anything BUT fun. It's amazing how things never, ever go the way you expect them to.

Also, please ignore my wiring from the previous photos of the PC position.. I threw my PC and screen on a temporary tabletop that I can easily move to do patching, and have to look into now getting a new desk! This is NOT how my typical wiring looks with my stuff. :D

It's been a day. I did manage to get wires routed where I wanted them after much drywall ripping and drilling through exterior wall framework. My computer desk while trying to move it decided to finally give out though after 13 years.

I have a much greater appreciate for those who can expertly run cable in attics now. Wanting to put 2 drops in the main bedroom (1 PC, one to a 2.5GiB switch local to the room). Exterior wall, and crawling through all the insulation up there was shite.

I don't know what happened.. The photos I took on my NZ trip, I never noticed that a bunch of ones I took whilst at the war museum aren't on the laptop, or camera SD card. Fuggin' hell. It either never saved the photos to the SD card and I didn't notice, or somehow they got wiped. Not sure how..

This is the first Christmas I've been guilted for giving presents. X.x You know I'm not gonna go to a family Christmas and not bring gifts! One in jest but, you literally can't win with some people. And a sprinkle of jealousy giving some things to my folks, specifically something my mother wanted.

With all the cooking I've done through the years, you'd think I'd have mastered the art of making hard-boiled eggs easy to peel. I have yet to master this, and believe me, I've tried practically every damn trick in the book. They come out fine cooked, just always impossible to peel. -.-

I don't know what I expected.. But I wanted to try AliExpress for something to see how it came out. I did get the item, but the box it finally came in was beat all to shit. Item was 'intact', but wanted to check quality in places.

Made the mistake of getting heavy duty spackle instead of regular type. I even asked the staff there what is the better to use inside to do drywall repairs, and of course they used AI to ask their phone. This stuff is THICK. Almost more a putty than mud and just will not stick to the wall at all.

Thing about projects that spiral.. You end up buying more tools than you expected, and you WILL end up back at the hardware store at least 3 times more than you planned for. I now can punch down and make my own Cat6 cables, fish them through walls, and even test them now!

Gahh, so many things to do and need more time off! The last gift to ourselves along with the new tires and home network updating, is getting a topper on the truck. Put in an order for a Leer 100XQ today. I *really* wish I could get the 'Sport' version, but only for the Tundra, not Taco. :(

Since we'll be ripping this whole bathroom apart, this is what I was talking about with the found 'void' space where we ran the cables from the attic. There is no reason why I can't put a full shower in here at all I can see, and it's all wasted space.. Just a vent stack for water heater in there.

Oh, and the one thing I *knew* doing this whole network project would spin off 5 other sub-processes now. Two of which started today, a bunch old shit under the stairs, and redoing the hallway closet. Got a bunch of stuff to donate/sell..

Also, it's been years since anyone has been over here other than Korben's favorite local 'uncle' to him! Wasn't quite sure how he'd react. I have to say I'm quite happy how Korben handled it.. Just took a couple treats and acclimation after barkiness, and then he became quite the work supervisor!

Today had my Sister and BiL come over, as he's an expert at cable running and not something I'm strong at. Were able to manage running cables for the PoE Cameras, Doorbell, Speaker, and AP through the house. I now know how to do the bedrooms myself with his wisdom too.

One thing I wish I understood with ZFS and set of SSD Read [RAID0 1.76TB]/Write (ZIL) [RAID1/10GB] cache drives connected to a HDD RAID5 [4x7200/512mb SATA3] pool, how do I know it's working right?

Well holy crap.. It all worked after putting everything in first time. Now I get to learn all about ZFS and QuTS Hero and everything I can do with it all! But, both PCIe cards are working for 10GbE and 2 ZFS drives on the QM2 card.

Slowly getting things mocked up to account for positioning and spacing for everything. I think I got all my measurements down (just have to change a couple little things), but everything I planned will fit exactly where I want it. Will hopefully have wiring going next weekend!

Not even a week ago, I was in +90'F if not more in places I was hiking and walking around.. Tonight.. I don't like this at all.

It really does take a good 3-4 months after services for medical insurance to finish their stuff and bills finally start trickling into your mailbox. One thing that I'm shocked at (and I know I'm lucky with my insurance) was the cost of my MRI. Far less than I was expecting, and then some. X.x

That feeling when you finally update your budget spreadsheets including all the trip charges (totaling over 200+ transactions over 2 countries and 3 weeks), and it matching to the penny with everything accounted for.

So for Christmas for ourselves, we wanted to do two things. First is the home network revamp among other changes in layout in the house. Second, getting actual nice A/T tires for the truck, and cap for the bed. Got a set of BF Goodrich KO3's. The 'stock' tires need replacing anyway.

Since getting back, I drove the truck for the first time back in the US. I knew being on the correct side would be easy enough, but the one thing that surprised me was I now hit the windshield wiper stick vs. turn signal stick. The exact problem I had when I was there until acclimated to it.

Not sure why I haven't before, but decided to peek to see if we had fiber available in my town yet. Of course, it's not. However, I did discover that at least I could upgrade to 1GB Cable for less than I'm paying for the old service.. Duh. Just really want more synchronous up/down speeds.

Ohno... What have I done.. (Let's just say I've needed to upgrade my home network for.. a while.) Got more than this, and will make for a fun project this Christmas when everything gets in!

Well now.. I have NO idea how, but one of my cards somehow got compromised while on my trip. I can think of 2 places where it occurred (they won't tell me where it happened). One was through a tourist ticket seller online where I used it.

You know, when we were taking off from LAX on 24L, there were birds literally flying to my right off the runway.. I was wondering how common strikes were. I get home, and this popped up. Looks very similar to what I saw today. X.x www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGb...

Welp, made it home tonight after nearly 3 weeks over in NZ/AU. Sunday was the longest 'day' I have ever traveled, and my brain and body are just done. I left on Sunday at 2pm in Auckland with 28 hours actual flying/transferring to home, and arrived home still Sunday at 8pm. Breaks my brain!

I have now accomplished all my goals, and then some here down under on this trip. Pet a 'roo - Check. They really are STUPID soft! Tomorrow going to check out Blue Mountain National Park for the day, but damn I wish I had much more time..

Whilst doing the Opera House behind the scenes tour, I saw this pop up.. Very curious how good it is..

I will say, I've waited to see this for a long, LONG time.. Almost surreal actually.. BEING here. And not a bad view from my hotel, either!

It came out soooo wonderful, and awesome memories from the trip! Thank you sosososo much!

One thing I do have to say about this part of the world.. If you're an introvert like me and want to be pulled out of that, lets just say, you will be whether you want to or not.. People in NZ and so far especially the short time in AU, everyone is SO FRIENDLY and just want to talk!

But yeah, gonna chill a lil bit then do some walkabout around here and get some food.. Finally in the mind state I wanted to be today. :D

Got up this morning to head back to the airport, but saw that there was a rental return place with them included right around the corner from my hotel. Just got back from there, and they made things right and am much more comfortable with what they gave me. I need to drive through downtown a bit.

After arriving in Sydney, we were delayed about an hour. My car rental place closes at 10:30pm, and by the time I got through customs it was 10:32. I raced to the counter, and the guy was still there at least. However, basically just tossed the keys at me and left.

Been quiet on here while doing the fun things in Auckland over the previous week and will recap eventually. Flew out to Sydney last night and had possibly the most interesting 'single serving friend' experience on my Qantas Business-class flight.

Holy shit, I actually suited and finally was able to get photos with @zambuka.bsky.social , the one who helped me create this character so very, very long ago. :D Few folks here I've not seen in... ages. Been an interesting con for sure and awesome catching up!

You want to know why I never eat out or order things (well, other than where I reside there aren't options anyway), but when out of the home? How difficult is it to order some eggs, bacon, OJ, coffee/cream and fruit?

"Sorry sir, we don't have printed menus for our 'Green Initiative'. You have to scan this QR code and download this app to order." Same org using AI like everyone else. Fuck your AI and App. I really, really can't wait for this damn bubble to burst. I just want a fucking paper menu. Jeezus H.

Just once, I'd like when booking a hotel to have an option for "Quiet" room only. What good is having a suite if the paper-thin wall is shared by a main atrium/stairs on the other side, as well as main cleaning staff staging area? Horrible design. I did not get the rest I wanted by far. -.-

The fact it's also not like, 0'C outside also kinda helps. So far so much of here reminds me of living/visiting Hawai'i, just different flavour. Even the birds love wanting to come into your door. I LOVE having windows/doors open, and so many new scents here from flora I'm not used to.

Ok, the thing breaking my brain the most regarding the change on this side.. I knew it'd be a bit warmer, but holy crap, the daylight hours are HUGE different. I went from it being dark by 4:30pm back home, to right now in Auckland time it's almost 8pm and it's still daylight.. X.x

Got my rental (Subaru Forester) with the steering wheel on the wrong side (first time ever driving RHD), and then everyone drives the wrong way too. Taking a bit of acclimation, and when you've been traveling constantly for 40+ hours and Wednesday literally never existed, I'm still a bit out of it.

Well, after one hell of a timeline to get out here to Kiwi-land, I made it mostly without issue minus a blunder at customs.. They shooed me through the wrong place and couldn't get my bags until I was out and had to have their customs find/get them for me. -.-

Ah yes, the whole international packing day has arrived so everything is ready in the morning.. I realized that since I'll be at a con, I should probably have some badges with me. I totally had them stored by my desk for far too long, and realized how much time has now passed..

Alright, I'm done with needle sticks for a bit. Still have 2 more to go through in December (MMR and Hep #2), but will at least know that I'm fully 'topped off' on everything available. Got Pneumonia, and HepA/B (2 separate) today.

I'm kinda in the, "Holy crap, am I really about to go halfway around the world" mood of thought, and am having serious anxiety about it all.. x.x I feel like there's a ton to do with work and home before, and how the heck did time fly by? I.. think I'm ready? It'll be an adventure for sure.

Drinking with Don.

I've been running a QNAP TS-419 II with 4x4TB for like.. 12 years now, holy crap. It's been running 24/7, 12 years... It's just a little full now though, and very much can't stream modern video encoding without issues. Think this will fix a lot of that. New drives are 512MB cache and 7200 too.