Very Local News

• I used parted (Partition Edit command line version) for the first time today. It makes partitions on drives so you can use them for storage. It took me a minute to get things right because I was trying to say '/dev/sdb1' when the software just wanted '1' to describe the partition. The manual page had no examples. Online information kind of sucked. The info page had an example and I noticed what I had been doing wrong the whole time.
  Knoppix refused to boot with that drive regardless of the machine I hooked the drive to. The boot process would simply freeze at different points. Knoppix has gparted (Graphical/Gnome Partition Edit) that makes partitioning a breeze.
  
• I came in from lunch with two bugs on me. It isn't like I'm traversing a jungle between here and the parking garage. That is worse than when I mowed last night.
  
• Contacted the mortgage company to get the little tickets that you use to gage how much you pay every month. It turns out some payment got dropped because of my two loans, one was where I intended and the other was a month behind. I will get caught up this month.
• Contacted the tax assessor's office and they are sending us a new set of homestead paperwork. Lots our original packet. Hope we still have time to fill everything in and get it all straight for this year.
  
• Toyota is asking the Japanese government for a bailout. I have no idea if other Japanese car makers are doing the same.
• We have an auxiliary air conditioner at my office that kicks in when the building AC turns off at 17:00. The fan sounds like a sledgehammer hitting a sheet of steel when it starts. The hum is toned down, but present. It is the five o'clock whistle of sorts.