Toby's Log page 117

More mice captured

in

I’ve captured two more mice now. The first was very smart and was able to figure out how to pull the cracker out of the trap. She did this a few times before I put the cracker standing up against the back of the trap. This was far enough in that she couldn’t get at it without the door closing behind her, so she was trapped. I took her immediately to the park, as I figured I’d have the same trouble as with the last one if I kept her for the night. I had trouble getting the door opened at first to release her. I flipped the cage upside down so it could open, and thought it was, so I was confused as to why she wouldn’t leave. I tried to pour her out, only to realise she was squeezed against the door.

The next mouse I caught in that same trap. I had hear they wouldn’t go into a trap that hadn’t been cleaned, as they’d smell the other mouse, but this one did. He made some noise trying to get out, which woke me up. He was a rather large fellow. Released him quickly and easily. He sped off quite quickly.

Both these mice I took quick shots of in the trap. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of them outside while releasing like I had with the first, as it was quite dark and would have been a challenge.

I’ll have to see if I’ve still got more to take care of. Since trapping the second mouse, they (or it) have been much more quite and sneaky than before.

audacity: microphone won’t stop monitoring

in

I recently recorded some music through an external USB device called a Powerwave. It allows me to record one stereo track through a 1/8th inch jack or RCA jacks. I used Apple’s Garageband to do the recording. It does have a strange problem of not allowing one to see or edit anything past 33 minutes into a track: you can only listen, and only by starting it from sometime within the first 33 minutes and then fast forwarding to where you want it. But it is much more stable than Audacity, so I felt more confident in using it. However, I used Audacity for some initial testing of the setup. I had it play through the speakers while recording, since the input wasn’t a mic.

When I finished with Garageband, I disconnected the Powerwave, and the input device was changed back to the internal microphone. For some reason, the mic was continuosly monitoring even with all audio applications closed. I went in to Garageband to try to turn it off, by various means, but was unable to. I left it go for nearly a day, and nearly forgot about it, save for an occasional crackling noise I heard when I got home from work, which I at first thought was a mouse. I finally found the solution to the problem. Audacity had left the audio driver or whatever monitoring the input, and after I removed the Powerwave, it was still monitoring (though I had been able to turn it off for some reason from Garageband while using the Powerwave). Switching this off in Audacity preferences wasn’t enough to turn it off: I had to record a track to make the settings take effect.

Symbolic Links: from intended dir only

in

I had much trouble making symbolic links work for my web site. After a bit of investigation, I finally realized the problem: symbolic links with relative paths must be made from within the directory they well be in, i.e. ln -s path/to/file linkname. This means you must cd into the directory the link will be in before making the link. Otherwise, the link will not work properly. This is because the path stored in the link is exactly the one you feed into ln. For example, if you type ln -s . /Users/bob/bill.link in a different directory than bob, bill.link would point to ., AKA bob, which may not be the intention. On websites, such things will lead to a 403 forbidden error no matter what the permissions are. In the finder, the link will not work.

This helped me out a lot for my calendar, for which I needed to point it to the iCal .ics files. Since Apple moved the files into individual folders, I couldn’t just point my phpicalendar to that folder; I had to make symbolic links to each file. The alternative to this would require me to manually synchronize two copies of the file, which would be undesirable.

[Update 2016/09/01]Clarified some things based on increased knowledge[/Update]

Server running again, ibook back

in

My ibook’s logic board failed for the second time since I got it. The failure is a common problem among certain ibook’s, so the board was replaced free.

When I first took it in to the Apple Store (my first visit to one by the way), the guy said it’d cost like $300 because it looked like I spilled something on it. There had been, but it was a long time ago and before the first logic board was replaced. I had been worried then, but they replaced it no problems. I was a bit angry at the apple store at that point and unsure of what would become of my ibook.

I decided to call the same number I had called the first time (then it was shipped from home, in a box provided by apple). The guy seemed familiar with the problem, and had me hold down the power button for 30 seconds with no power connected, then zap the PRAM. It started up fine, though I had since the problem started not been able to get past the login screen, and usually got no video at all. He told me just to take it to the apple store if something went wrong, and gave me a case number.

After two days, it froze up and wouldn’t start again. I tried the same routine he had me do, but to no avail. I cleaned it up a bit and took it back to the apple store. There was a different guy there, more talkative and friendly, who sent it in for me this time. Phew.

I watched the progress on the apple site. It was done the next day. It shipped back a little slower, but was with me only four days after first taking it in. That’s mighty fast for sure, and all free. It sucks that the logic boards fail on these computers, but at least apple takes care of it quickly and freely. Unfortunately, Their program will expire for my model soon, so this’ll be the last time. I probably have perhaps a year left with it, as it has gone thus far. Hopefully the next computer will be a little more reliable. Hopefully I’ll have money for it when the time comes.

They replaced both the logic board and the keyboard. Bonus. Sweet.

So the server is back up again, not that anyone but search bots and hacker bots visit it anyway.

Mouse capture

in

Mrs. Mouse is dead. She somehow managed to fall into a bucket of water I had sitting around and drown. Awful way to go, in my opinion. I was glad to get the body out of my house; it wasn’t something I liked looking at. I poured her with the water onto my lawn, and she is presumably eaten at this point.

Before she died, I began to become aware that there was more than one mouse. I wasn’t sure of how many, but at least two. I’d see a shadow zip by while I heard chewing elsewhere. I didn’t let them chew long; I’d pound the wall where they were chewing until they stopped. I don’t want my house chewed up.

Last night, I ventured out to Walmart because I really wanted to get rid of my mouse problem once and for all. I examined all of their traps. They had a variety of kill traps and a couple of live traps. I of course wanted live. They had some fancy looking ones for an unknown price, but I settled on some cheap plastic one’s, a box with a door that only opens one way. I wasn’t sure if the mouse would be fooled into going through the door to get the food.

I set two traps up with cheese crackers in them, and put little crumbs near the entrance. That night, the mouse came out, right near me. He kept creeping up and then running back. He snuck the crumbs only from the trap, then snuck around elsewhere. The next day, I worked all day, then celebrated my brothers birthday. I didn’t get home till 2200 or so. I came home to find a little mouse in one of the traps.

I had luckily just brought a tank home from my parents house. I cleaned it, put some paper and a can in it, then let the mouse into it. Mr. Mouse doesn’t seem to want to remain in the tank, and has jumped up and walked around upside down on the mesh lid numerous times. He keeps looking at me from time to time. I have the cracker, some cake, and broccoli in there for him, and he’s eaten much of the cracker already. I fear that he’ll eventually just hop onto the lid and chew through to escape. I dunno if I’ll keep him, even if I’ll be able to. I may just release him off in a forest. He appears to be a white footed mouse, as he has the white undercarraige and makes a buzzing noise from time to time, so he should be quite at home there. He’ll certainly be happier than living in a cage, and I’ll be happier without having to worry about him.

Yars are on hiatus

in

John had stated concern after the Khameleon show about having enough time for the band with school coming up. This came to bear when he told Dwight he was quitting the band. Luckily, he then decided to only take a break. So the Yars are not playing for now, perhaps all the way through the school year. The November 30th show is still on with both John and Jesse, but Yars Presents at the ECC is cancelled for now.

Mrs mouse is still in the house

in

Despite what I had thought, Mrs mouse is still here. She just had been hiding much better than before. I saw her sneak passed my room a couple days after writing my ‘missing’ entry. I’ve heard and seen her several times since then. Once, when my brother was visiting (the first time in months), we saw her in my back room. She must have been hiding in there amongst all the junk. I’ve also seen her several times in the kitchen. I found that she had been eating from a bag of flour I had in a closed cupboard that I never use. The cupboard shelves have spaces around them, allowing easy traversal up and down the entire set (for a mouse anyway). I removed the flour and several other items I felt she might like to eat. Today she is being extremely outgoing, making noise and rummaging through food while I’m in the same room. Whenever I come up to her, she sits for a second, as if trying to hide by lack of movement, then scurries away. She appears to have attempted to eat some baking soda. Then she moved on to some candy. I’m trying to remove all food sources, hoping she’ll get the hint that I don’t want her there. Perhaps her long periods of not being seen are actually due to her visiting other houses or food sources. I’m hoping for this, as it’ll make it more likely for her to give up at my place. My table is covered in food right now, as she can’t reach that. I’ve also got several more closed cupboards filled with food. She’d have to chew her way through them to get that food, which I’m hoping she won’t do. I also have some cans and jars easily accessable. She could chew throught those, though I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll remove them if need be. I had some sugar drink mixes on a top shelf, one I once thought impenitrable by her, though I removed other things just in case, but she seemed to be trying to chew through the wall there, so I removed that as well. I don’t care for damage to my house. I have some croutons and some sugar drink mixes on a box on my fridge, which she seems to have not been able to achieve yet. Theres chips and other snacks on a shelf that would seem fairly accessable, as it is low to the ground and a simple slide out drawer, but it has walls against all four sides when the door is closed. Scraps of fruit and other stuff that I sometimes leave out to be put in the compost she doesn’t go for, though they’re right in the open, so she is certainly targetting only certain foods.

Mrs. mouse is a very nice looking mouse, very clean like a pet mouse. She’s gray with a white belly. She has big, curious looking eyes. She still looks quite healthy.

Jesse’s leaving

in

I saw the Yars play at Club Khameleon last Friday. The show also included Kill the Hippies, Aviatik, and Drop to Zero, all bands with a sizable local following. Dwights dad and dad’s girlfriend came in early on in the Yars set, and his mom came in halfway through the last song (she had had to park far away and walk). Dwight had to retune his new guitar several times during the show. This new guitar was a slightly more expensive one that the new guitar he had just bought; he returned it as it couldn’t keep its tuning. It’s another of the pointy sort. Dwight made out with some chick while Drop to Zero was playing.

I had worn my kilt in from my recent trip to Scotland. It garnered a bit of attention, but most from Jackie Stuart, a girl I didn’t know but had seen before at previous Aviatik shows. She was quite excited that I had gone to Scotland, as she was part Scottish as well. I talked with her for a bit after the show about my trip (rare, me talking to someone other than Dwight or John). Dwight is going to make a sitcom written by a member of Aviatik based on his moving in with two lesbian couples. I’ll have to see how that gos. The guy seems funny, so hopefully he will be in his writing as well. I drove Dwight’s mom down to her car and we went to Taco Silver’s. We were going to then go to Rockwood’s, but it was late, so I didn’t join them.

Though Jesse was just getting the songs down, he is going to be leaving the Yars. Jesse needs to get good grades in school, so he is quitting all of his bands to ensure success. He will play at the ECC this week and the November 30th show if needed, but none other. Those ECC shows will be hard to continue. They worry a string of drummers will now come and go. They do have another drummer lined up, however. This drummer will play for the Yars, and his other band will practice at John’s house. His other band is pop style punk. They would probably end up playing at Yars shows. Hopefully something’ll work out for them.

John has expressed concern that going to school, working, and playing for the Yars will be a challenge in scheduling and having enough time.

Dwight and John plan to play an acoustic set at the ECC soon, and have invited me to play with them. I will, mainly because I really want to see John play his upright bass. That’ll be awesome. I’ll just do some simple, light stuff with brushes and a partial kit.

Heavy little waves

in

Went out again, just Paul and myself. The end of the sailing season is approaching, so we’ll have to get our last sails in soon. We went out later in the day, as Paul had to work in the morning and be indentured into a union. The waves didn’t look big at all, but they rocked the boat around a lot, so much so that we decided to not really sail. We put up only the jib. It was quite windy though, so we cruised along at quite a good clip, especially for not having the main up. We then anchored down, tied our life-vests to ropes, and went for a good swim. The boat was rocked about a lot without us on it, and the jib halyard freed itself and swung about, eventually wrapping around the mainstay. As I am a very poor swimmer, I got some practice in at how to properly propel oneself through water, with the help of Paul. I’m slowly getting better at it. After a good long bit of swimming about, we went back aboard. Paul wanted to organize the stuff in the cabin, and had bought a plastic bin to help. Trying to do it while being rocked about on the lake was difficult though, so we motored back in to the river and did it while docked. The organization helped the cabin look much more clean and spacious. Then we docked at the docking dock and pulled her out. I evidently lost a little dealy for connecting the boom sheet tackle to the boom, but I don’t even remember it being there. I seem to be causing trouble at these pulling out points recently. We then went to Chipotle. I was going to see the Yars play at the ECC, but it was too late to make it all the way to Kent, and they had a show Friday anyway.

I’m back (from Scotland that is)

in

Ah, back home. I had an enjoyable trip for sure.

The plane trip was quite long. The first leg was in a smaller plane, then the second in a big one. As my first experiences in big planes, they were nice. There were some nice views on both, which I tried to capture with my camera. The windows were dirty though and made for not too clear photos. There was a nice sunset and sunrise and interesting cloud formations, as well as the stuff on the ground. It was amazing how quick Kelley’s Island came into view after leaving Cleveland. Lots of waiting at lines and terminals in airports. I had to empty my bag (my carryon contained all my luggage, the only way to travel if possible) at one airport at the security check, but not at any other.

We took an introduction to Scotland tour to show us the main stuff. It went from mid Sunday to early Friday morning. We were bussed about to various attractions, and our lodging and many meals were included with the tour.

I will continue my story later…
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