via Jeremy… Google enters another arena.

I came home from my trip to find my Domain Controller down and out for the count. It was almost as if the power supply was completely dead, because I couldn’t even get LED’s.

So after a couple days of grieving, I ripped all the hard drives out and started putting them in my other box to find out which one held all my data that I never backup. Turns out that’s the one that doesn’t spin up at all - an old IBM Deskstar 34GXP (Model DPTA-373420).

Well, what do you do a drive refuses to spin up? Give it a good knock a couple times, right? I tried that, but it still failed to work. I could hear it trying to spin up, but it sounded as if something was stuck. I was then struck with a brilliant idea. As I turned on the system, I started tapping the top of the drive with a screwdriver handle. A few clicks and a high-pitched whine later, I had a new I: drive!

I began copying data like crazy, but quickly began running into CRC errors. Somewhat disappointed, but still feeling lucky, I copied off as much as I could. I noticed some of my pictures were corrupted, but most came out ok and I wasn’t complaining.

Unfortunately, drive space was quickly running out but fortunately I had a spare 300gb Maxtor sitting in my closet. I took a chance and powered off my system, plugged in the Maxtor and fired it back up. Chkdsk ran and when I got back into Windows, no CRC errors! YES! Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V!

For whatever reason, it decided to work and I was able to copy all my data off. Thank you. Now I’m trying to convert the bad drive to a virtual hard disk so I can get my Domain Controller fired up in Virtual Server…I hope that works!

I just had my first ever Big Mac. I want another.

I’m so conflicted.

I think I’ve finally traveled to a place that has had a jet lag effect on me. I had this great plan, though!

Even though I was planning to go to bed Thursday night, I continued to stay up and get things done justifying to myself by saying that by getting less sleep, I would sleep more on the plane and thus be better adjusted when I returned. Unfortunately…I couldn’t really sleep on the plane either.

So two days, only about 4 hours of sleep, and a night out of dancing later (not too late, tho), I find myself waking up at 4am for the second consectutive day in a row. Try as I might, I can only get back to sleep right before I was supposed to actually wake up…rather inconvenient.

I’m taking a couple days off from work so hopefully the erratic sleep schedule I usually keep when on vacation will help to properly adjust me back to the Western hemisphere. Until then, I plan to fall asleep in various odd positions at random times throughout the day.

The most extensive list of bathroom amenities I have ever encountered.

1. Shampoo
2. Rinse (Conditioner)
3. Bath Gel
4. Tooth Brush
5. Hair Brush
6. Comb
7. Shower Cap
8. Cotton Swab
9. Razor
10. Shaving Foam
11. Scrub Towel

Note that there is two of everything! I really wish I hadn’t forgotten my camera cable. :-\

I’ll be away for a little while, so don’t expect too many posts… I’ll tell you about it when I get back. ;)

I got craving for fast food last night as I do occasionally and was going to satisfy it with some McDonald’s. All I can say is screw you, McDonald’s.

Why am I so upset? I ordered a 6 piece Chicken McNugget and when I got my order, I asked for two packets of Hot Mustard sauce. I like my nuggets drenched in sauce, what can I say.

The guy said I would have to pay extra. I only could get one packet with my 6-piece order.

OK, McDonald’s. You’re gonna skimp me on a 5-cent packet of sauce? Come on… This is the kind of junk that will make me go to Burger King or Wendy’s.

EveryVideoGame.com kept me busy for quite a while today. If you’re feeling nostalgic and need a fix for old school games, check it out.

Anybody remember Karnov? Hehehe.

via Likert: You can now play 20 Questions with a computer. This thing is amazing. My first object was a computer monitor and it got it with no problem.

/me is amazed

Just wanted to post about a couple cool things before I have to reboot.

Microsoft Voice Command for the Smartphone - Ask your phone questions like what calls have I missed or what’s my next meeting and it’ll tell you! I’ve never taken very well to voice control of devices, though…I always feel silly talking to a computer.

World’s smallest secure web server - Can you imagine wearing a web server on your wrist? Imagine being able to go to something like vitalstats.dcortesi.com and seeing my current heartbeat, GPS location, and other interesting stats, all secure of course! And the best thing is…you would be able to take the watch off. That’d be an interesting mobile webcam…