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Back pain is no fun at all.

Blew out my back on Wednesday. In retrospect, it’s been a problem for a month+, and prevented me from a catch-up trip with Mitzi Liossis — I thought it was muscle spasms.

Sadly, so did my chiropractor, and the exercises I was given.. well, they’re exactly the opposite of what you should do when there’s a disc at risk. This misapprehension had some unfortunate effects. It got worse instead of better, culminating with a point when i bent down.. and couldn’t get back up.

Going to the chiropractor wednesday was a mistake – in that i mean getting in my car. I already knew I couldn’t bend, but i forced the issue, and spent the night on the floor as a result.

Finally managed the futon, and was stuck there. Not a fun time. Pain killers don’t really help when you get caught in a back-spasm that just won’t stop.

Christina Greengrass went and got me a back brace, which was enough to painfully make it upstairs to the bed, where I was stuck for a full day.

Since then I’ve managed to make it to the washroom (one of those problems google-fu doesn’t cover AT ALL) with some help, and then eventually by myself.

This morning I was able to stand again with only moderate pain (not bend however), and I have a finer appreciation for verticality. I’m apparently looking at up to 6 months for this to recover.

Not a lot can be done in the near term. When I’m well enough to get into a car (Ie mostly healed) I’ll need to get to the doctor and get some imaging done. In most cases, this just has to heal naturally — the exceptions are NOT cases I want to consider.

I’m extremely glad I didn’t panic and call an ambulance. Emergency room response times are normally 12+ hours, and the local hospital is generally over capacity. The most they’d be able to do for me is better pain meds, but then I’d be stuck there – a horrifying thought. If the outcomes are the same, I’d rather be at home in pain vs a crowded and loud hospital.

Take care of your backs folks.

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AI Fun

AI test box is a success. InvokeAI is a fun little picture maker. OpenWebUi however has been genuinely handy for coding samples. Need a bunch of boilerplate for argparse? Easy. Some boto handling? Sure.

Big stuff though, forget it. I’ve experimented with ‘turn this shell script into equivalent <other language>’ — usually it’s 30% useful, 70% absolute garbage.

That’s ok though, I can tell the difference. Some of the examples are almost as useful as stackoverflow. Some show me different ways of coding to the same end. Not bad.

As a result, time to give this machine a bigger GPU. 12GB isn’t really enough video memory.  So I’m swapping my Nvidia 3080 for a Radeon 7900XTX, which should give me 24 GB of video memory.

Rocm isn’t as mature as Cuda from my understanding, but all of the tools i want to use in this machine will run on either – and that’s all I need.

 

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Almost right!

Had some second thoughts this AM about how I’d put my new rack together. The vertical mounts at the back were just too close to the back, and as a result, power cords were pushed hard against the door when closed.
I had considered leaving it, but I couldn’t get it out of my head, and it’s the first thing i woke up to.
Alright then. Went down early, took everything out of the rack, moved the mounts to where they should have been, then put everything back together. Just under 2 hours. I feel tired, but better for doing it — the rack is going to get more full, not less, and it’s harder to make changes the longer I wait.
Everything is running properly, and no further concerns. A reminder that it’s best to address concerns as they come up, and not wait.
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Server rack migration went well. About 4 hours to move into the new rack. A good friend ended up with the old rack and a few other choice toys for the eye watering price of “oh please god just take this stuff away” — mighty generous of him to agree to such heavy terms.
A few minor hiccups, but end of the day everything’s online and functioning.
Man, it’s a tall rack. Did I mention it’s tall? It’s tall. 42u is very, very tall. 😃
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Listening to: Pete Yorn

A paraphrase from a Pete Yorn interview:

“My music is written to be listened to in your car, while crying.”

With that thought, here you go.

Lyrics
In the time, I got to know herShe revealed she was weirdBroken nails, I would neverTry to leave something real
And I told ya conversationsNever went anywhereAnd I know it’ll last foreverShe can’t quit it, she don’t care
She got left on the side of the roadNo one’s gonna take her home again, my babyGot left where no one knows I never thought I’d see your face again
There was lightBig explosionsWe believed it was realThen she’d ice never talk toAnyone that she knew
And I felt her devastationWe were lost in the fightAnd I knew I couldn’t leave herI would love her through the night, oh
Got left on the side of the roadNo one’s gonna ever take you home again, my babyGot left where no one knows I thought you were a better friend to meMy friend
Got left on the side of the roadNo one’s gonna take you home again, my babyGot left where no one one knowsI thought you were a better friend to me, my friend, oh
I’m looking for youSee ya tonightI’m looking for youMaybe tonightI’m looking for you
Got left on the side of the road No one’s gonna ever take you home again, babyGot left and no one knows and no one’s gonna tell you where to goMy friendGot left on the side of the road No one’s gonna ever take you home again, babyGot left where no one knows, I thought you were a better friend to meMy friend
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A random day in February

Nice day. Made spaghetti – we make enough for more than a few meals later, so it’s a half-day effort. The whole upstairs smells delicious, but I couldn’t eat another bite.

Ran a new network line to Christina’s new office – this required 2 panels cut into the drywall, and one hole drilled in the floor. Turned out really well, and not a chaotic mess. Now only the kitchen and living room lack network cables, but our wifi mesh is pretty good, so that’s not a today kind of task.

Also finally decided on a larger synology NAS to replace my storage server. Moving from a server to a NAS seems counter intuitive sometimes, but other than a few apps that will run as docker containers, it just needs to store things, and NAS devices to that well. Plus they tend to be quiet, and the hotswap bays are nice.

It IS going to mean some future server rack re-org, likely removing EVERYTHING from the rack, then adding once at a time — an early summer project perhaps, ’cause that’s a whole day of downtime, guaranteed.

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Alan Watts

I stumbled across the text for this a little while ago, and I know it will be a joy to come back to and read again later.

To be a human being you have to love the light, but you also must trust yourself to the darkness. Be able to let yourself go in the faith that you’ll arrive back all in one piece.

Now, it’s alright. The ground is going to hold you up. So just just lie down. And there’s nothing else you need to do, because the ground is firm and it will hold you there.”

“Look, do you know what you’re doing? You’re trying to hold yourself together. As if your skin weren’t strong enough to contain you. And you’re doing this all the time to keep yourself from falling apart. Why? You think, do you, that if you don’t hold yourself together you’re just going to go bleah and disappear into some kind of frightful green jello? No, you won’t.

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I’m really looking forward to this christmas break.

It’s been a long year.  Tomorrow’s the beginning of my vacation though, and that helps a lot.

I managed to get my broken tooth repaired this week – second one in what, the last two months?

I’ve discovered the joys of the ‘Edge’ plan with Rogers .. you can turn in your phone anytime — if you’re switching to another contract. Looking to just be done with it? You can’t even give the phone back until the last 30 days, even if you offer to pay everything you’ll owe upfront.  Two different phones, bought a month apart. That will take some time next year to sort out.

Mortgage season comes next year, we’re up for renewal, and rates are .. less than optimal really.  Going to have to crunch the numbers, and get the right combination (and from the right broker).  RBC is wooing us, and I have a mind to see if we can’t get a shorter term – less than 12 years) to maybe get this paid off by age 60.

Also a lot of home improvements coming – for example I’ve had an eye on our garage door since we moved in a decade ago, and this year I want to replace it.  Our bathroom counters were a fail, and it just shows I should’ve gone with my gut and cancelled them, even if there was a penalty.  Now we’ll need to do them again, this time in stone.

Windows as well, not all of them, but enough that it’ll probably pinch a bit. I’m not sure if we’ll manage them this year.. but we’ll see.

Everything’s in the new year though, for now there’s a solid week where there aren’t any big items looming. I intend to enjoy it.

Merry Christmas.

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Lasers pew pew.

Finally turned on my laser for the first time this year, and cut a few panels for an upcoming project. Also moved the materials storage, which gave me a chance to see what I have — wow, I have some fun items I could cut/engrave 😮
I also took the time this weekend to do long overdue maintenance on the laser. Rails oiled, dust removed, chamber vacuumed. The exhaust path was caked – ick!
I also pulled out all of the bed supports and scrubbed them. I won’t lie, first time they’ve been properly cleaned since i bought the unit. The sink ran black for about 30 minutes, but they look brand new now.
I also dropped a screw while doing maintenance. Holy heck what a terrifying moment. I’d convinced myself it ended up in the power supply below, but I couldn’t see it. Much later I found it, caught in one of the edge panels, and I won’t lie, I instantly felt better.
Planning my next laser cuts, it’s still a beautiful machine 7 years (?) after purchase, and I’m still on the first tube!
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Little update

Reading glasses came in today. They’re definitely what I need for close-up work, and absolutely something I’d take off to look any further – exactly what I was hoping for. Already used them to read some very tiny writing.

Replacement router came in yesterday and went in, along with new switches. 98% of what I was hoping for, and with luck the last 2% will get sorted with a firmware patch later this month.

Charged up my car battery, it doesn’t handle sitting idle for long periods in cold weather. Now it’s topped up at least, and won’t give that low battery warning.

Waiting on final word from the accountant about taxes, then we can go and sign and pay – it’s always a good time of the year once that bit of business is behind us.