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February 2007 Archives
For a while, I've stored my music in to PGPdisk folders, each mounted into an NTFS sub-directory. Originally, primary music files went in one folder, and secondary files went in the other folder. Like many good intentions, this setup didn't last long once I ran out of space in my primary folder, and started using the secondary folder for overflow.
This worked well enough, but I wanted to change it, for a couple of reasons. First, I'm trying to get away from PGPdisk and move all my encrypted file systems to TrueCrypt, for long-term flexibility and cost savings. Secondly, I wanted a single, large area for all my music, so I didn't have to remember (or search for) where a particular artist might be located.
Monday, I did some research, and found this site: HOWTO: Move your iTunes music while preserving library data. The description seemed very straightforward, so I went to work.
First, I created a single, 105gb TrueCrypt volume. At some point I want to move this volume to an external disk drive, and wanted it to fit even if I went with a 120gb drive. I only have 70gb of music now, so it also gave me a big chunk of space to grow into. TrueCrypt is good - very good - but it takes a while to create, encrypt, and format a 105gb volume, especially one stored on a network drive. I started on Monday afternoon, and it took about 16 hours to finish.
On Tuesday, I copied the files from my current PGPdisk folders onto the new TrueCrypt volume. This took about three hours total. Later that afternoon, I created a backup of my iTunes folder per the instructions.
This morning, I copied the XML and ITL files to my Linux box. I substituted the new file location in the XML file, and zeroed out the ITL files, also per the instructions. I copied the updated files back to my Windows system, and started up iTunes.
iTunes started, but didn't display anything. I watched for a while on the Task Manager and saw it was working on something, but no status bar was displayed (contrary to the instructions). After fifteen minutes or so, I got a dialog box saying my ITL file was corrupted, had been saved, and was then rebuilt. I spent a few minutes poking around in iTunes to make sure it was reading from the new location.
Everything looks good so far. I had no real podcast subscriptions, so losing them is not a big deal. All my custom play lists are intact, and everything appears in order. Fry's has a 250gb external drive for $99 - I'll probably head out there on Thursday to check it out.
After reading about this subway-style map of US interstates, I decided to do something similar for the Los Angeles area. Click on the map to view the full image.
I was reading up on the city of Fort Liard, NT as part of some very long range trip planning, and the site mentioned that they sometimes get a chinook, which from the context seemed like a type of wind. It reminded me of other winds that have interesting names.
Here in Southern California, the hot, dry winds blowing from the desert to the ocean are called the Santa Ana winds. As life-long residents of the San Gabriel Valley will tell you, the Santa Ana's give us a unique pleasure: those insufferable people who live at the beach (and aren't shy about letting you know about it) get some comeuppance when their normally cool weather changes to stifling tripe-digits, and the smog that normally blows inland towards us settles in over the beach.
There are two types of Chinook winds. On the east slope of the Rockies, Chinooks are warm, dry winds known to melt a foot of snow in an hour. On the coasts of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Chinooks are a warm, moist southwesterly wind that brings rain and snow to the coastal ranges.
Sirocco are southerly winds originating in the Sahara in northern Africa, bringing heat and dust to the north coast region of the Mediterrean.
This site has a list of many more types of winds.
My Super Sunday featured fifteen pounds of carne asada, peanut butter rice krispies treats, classic sodas from Galco's, visits from Justin's friends Peter and Spencer, Mandy, and Jason. Plus, a decent football game.
The Bubble-Up brought back childhood memories of good times at my grandmother's. And anyone who says there's no difference between Coke made with sugar and Coke made with HFCS is either brainwashed or has no taste buds.
Carole's write-up of her recipe - the best one of all. Follow the timing closely.
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups light Karo corn syrup (1 16 oz bottle)
2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter (Skippy is best imho)
1 Teaspoon real Vanilla extract
6 cups rice krispies
1 pkg (2 – 2 ˝ cups?) Nestle’s Tollhouse Morsels
13 x 9 glass pan
Best to have all of your ingredients “at the ready” including rice krispies poured into a giant measuring pitcher if you have one, don’t wanna waste time measuring when you need to be mixing!
In a large (4-5 qt?) preferably nonstick stock type pot, dump in sugar and cover with bottle of Karo, then bring sugar and karo syrup to a full boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Count to 60 seconds, exactly. Immediately turn off burner and stir in peanut butter& vanilla. When it is fully combined dump in rice krispies, stir until evenly combined and all rice krispies appear to be coated with pb mixture. Spread evenly in a 13 by 9 inch glass pan, pushing in firmly to flatten top with a nonstick spatula, then dump on chocolate chips somewhat evenly over entire pan of pb rice krispie stuff, DO NOT SPREAD, (yet). Leave pan sitting on stovetop or counter and set timer for 10 mins, THEN come back and spread melted chocolate chips evenly over pb stuff.
Refrigerate for a minimum of 1-2 hours before cutting, 3-4 hours seems ideal, longer is fine too, though if leaving in fridge much beyond 5-6 hours (overnite etc.), I recommend covering pan at that point (don’t cover before set up solid, then you will get condensation which would be very icky on these) for longer storage. I recommend removing pan from fridge, 15-30 mins prior to cutting, just to make it a little bit easier…but you will burn some calories cutting these regardless (yeah!). Chocolate should be totally “hardened” before cutting, no longer shiny, melty looking. Cut into small squares, these are very rich, more like candy than cookies. Plus in theory at least, they last longer if you cut them smaller? Store cut bars in Tupperware or similar airtight containers either in fridge or on counter, fridge is best if it’s at all warm, as the chocolate will melt and get messy otherwise and besides, they are harder to bite into when cold, (limiting the amount you can eat?) causing you to eat less because your jaw gets tired faster?
Enjoy!
I did a loan signing for the residents of the house in question.
TEMPLE CITY, Calif. -- A man suspected of having been under the influence was arrested today after the car he was driving slammed into a house near Temple City, killing one of his passengers -- a 25-year-old man -- and injuring two others, authorities said.
The crash occurred at 6853 N. Muscatel Ave. at 1:14 a.m., according to California Highway Patrol Officer Alex Gonzalez.
The 20-year-old San Gabriel man, whose name was not immediately released, was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and was being treated for "moderate" injuries at a hospital, said CHP Officer T. Moreno of the Altadena Area office.
A 25-year-old San Gabriel man died at the scene, Moreno said. His name was withheld, pending notification of relatives. Two other passengers -- a 22- year-old man and a 14-year-old boy, both of San Gabriel -- suffered "major" injuries. Another passenger, described only as a male, fled the scene, Moreno said.
According to the preliminary investigation, the motorist was driving a 1997 Pontiac west on Greenwood Avenue "at a high rate of speed" and kept going through the "T-intersection" at Muscatel Avenue and crashed into the house, Moreno said.
"We were all in bed, and then ... I just heard a big noise, like a bomb or something like that, and we came out and there it is," Raymond Gongora, a resident of the damaged home, said.
Another resident, Teresa Gongora, said she thought "a wall was falling down or something."
"We looked and we saw a car right there, smoking, in front of our window," she said. "I came out to help the guys because they were saying, 'Help me, help me.'"
