Red's Place

Had my annual "PBC Review" today. (I'll leave it to you to work out what PBC stands for, its another corporate oxymoron).

Went really well. Was in and out in 20 minutes, got a very good rating and a payrise! Came out of the meeting slightly stunned.

Sold my old Dell P3 PC tonight for £150 including the 17" monitor. Good machine that was, but 1ghz P3 is not enough power now. I would have turned it into a server, but the memory maxed out at 512mb, so my evaluation copy of Windows 2003 Server wasn't happy, and I couldn't run any server applications.

Next in the IT project list:
* Build up 2.8ghz P4 machine (I have CPU and motherboard!), and need to decide if I want to use it as a fast (RAID0), or secure (RAID1) disk setup.

* Buy a new router (tempted by the Draytek 2600G models, with or without voip) - not sure if to get integrated wireless or standalone wireless.

* Get a new main network switch, to upgrade to gigabit.

Onward...

Sorry, I've been neglecting the blog for the last week, and even Phut mentioned it. Been not busy work wise, but busy sorting out the garbage at my folks for my sister and husband's imminant arrival. Work is still going slowly, waiting for the customer to sign.

Finally bought myself a new ADSL router, with built in Voice over IP support. Now I can actually use the service with Gradwell (or other) but have found that Gradwell's rates to landlines are not the cheapest.

Have managed to get myself a free USA number, via the site www.ipkall.com so if anyone in the US feels like a chat, I've got a Washington State number you can call (360 area code) ! Funky.

Better get on with the Sunday chores, its Chrimbo festivities at work this Thursday, in Portsmouth, so a few beers and some food methinks.

Bruce Schneier has been working in, and writing about, the electronic security world longer than anyone else.

Here are his tips for a safe home computing environment, well worth a read:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2004/12/safe_personal_c.html

Bloody freezing today going to work, although I hear its much colder in the US.

Saw Phut and Mrs Phut yesterday, along with Ribby and his missus. Great to see you all again!

There seems to be very little of interest on TV this week, which is a little annoying. Nothing to report, nothing else going on!

I know you didn't think of this as a photo blog, but due to the power of phones and bluetooth, here are Phut and Ribby....

Also, I've had a few weird comments posted to very early parts of this blog, so now all comments go into a holding system. I get notified and I can approve them pretty quickly. If you want to be pre-approved you'll have to get a TypeKey ID, very easy, use the link on the comments page.

Out for curry tonight with Ribby and need to get Craig pretty soon, so better stop blogging and get in the car...

Found these on my phone, interesting pictures, click for larger versions...

Last Sunday in the Links pub:

Tuesday night's curry trip:

See you in the New Year!