I need to take the time that I have and stop and smell the roses, whether it be taking food to my grandma or just trying to get to know co-workers on more of a personal level.
I need to take the time that I have and stop and smell the roses, whether it be taking food to my grandma or just trying to get to know co-workers on more of a personal level.
At this point of winter, I am always depressed. The excitement that comes with the changing of the seasons wears off, and like the snow my enthusiasm changes from a bright white to a dull nasty brown.
On the upside, Florida had a high temperature of 85 degrees today. I will be down there in one month. Watch for updates, I am going to journal the whole trip here.
Well yesterday I managed to finally obtain root SSH access to the Ix2-200. Here are the steps necessary.
1) From the device go to support.html
2) Click on 'Support Access'
3) Enable SSH access
4) SSH to the device, connect with:
a) Username: Root
b) Password : "soho" + whatever the administrative password on the unit is
Well I don't know what else I can do now, I suppose I could create some actual cron jobs or something like that.
Well I survived another weekend. How come Saturday and Sunday go so much faster than Monday and Tuesday?
Friday was marked by a trip to my local dive shop (LDS). I ran up to finally purchase a pony bottle that would be able to safely get up from the deeper dives that we have planned for this summer including the Straits, and Alpena. So, I splunked down 100 dollars for a deposit on each of the two charters. Then I paid up for my pony, a new international K valve and all the materials necessary for a new sling. Before I knew it my bill had quickly grown.The strange part is I spent all that money, and didnt end up taking anything tangible home with me.
After the fun at my LDS, I went to hang out with a friend in Lansing. It was nothing major, but it was great to catch up with a good friend. We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I think my favorite part was the whales or the mountain. I found it quite amazing what could be done with drapes and projectors.
So Saturday morning, I woke up and regrettably had to head home. I really enjoyed hanging out and just shooting the breeze with my buddy. Its not often that I just get to hang out and relax :D. I made the long drive back to the Apt, of course using my GPS for nav. My GPS froze again and I didnt realize for like 30 miles, luckily I noticed .5 miles before my turn. So I made it back to the apt, got all my dirty laundry and took a shower then headed back to Romeo.
Romeo is always pretty uneventful. Thats not a bad thing though. Life just seems to be slower and calmer there. Riley is always ecstatic to see me coming home and visiting with the family is also great. As usual, we had a big ol' Sunday dinner. I always regret having to head home. Its getting to the point where its just a necessary evil, and the longer you delay it the worse it is.
Well the only other big e event of the weekend was my sister getting sick. I have a pretty decent immune system. That being said, I am long due for a cold or something. I think the last time I had anything was more than 6 months ago. So, keep your fingers crossed for me.
On that note, I am going to head to bed which officially marks the end of another weekend. Only a dozen more until I start to see signs of spring. Well, another week of work starts early tomorrow. I need to get to bed to be at my best.
Well I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but I feel like diving tonight and can't wait until March's dive trip.
So here is a list of all the cool diving gear that I have in my big bags. I will write about each item and try to give a review on each one.
Well of course, the first item is my BC. Its rear inflated, not a vest style BC. This thing has served me fairly well. After its first 25 dives it showed a few signs of wear, but I called Oceanic and they replaced it for free. The main trademark of this BC is the front inflation bladder. Some people scoff a this, but I can personally tell you it works. Last time I was waiting to pass gear up to a charter captain with 2 foot swells all the other divers kept getting mouthfuls and I was high and dry. The downside of this BC is the size, it doesn't pack away very well (I guess you cant win them all). I think if I had the option to do again, I likely wouldn't buy this model. I discovered recently that newer Scuba pro models can accommodate some small doubles if they have screw holes in the backplate. Man I wish I would have known that..
Scuba Pro © Mk17-G250V Regulator Set
Well this is probably the most expensive item in my dive bag, however it was well worth the money. When all said and done I have about 700 bucks into the first stage, second stage and octo. I have dove this regulator to 121' and it has preformed like a workhorse without any problems. The only real question is when can I afford another one. I would without a doubt purchase another one of these bad boys.
Well not quite the one pictured here, my backup BCD is a Scuba Pro older model BCD. I really like that this model packs down to virtually nothing. It is small and light, but not rear inflated or weight integrated. Its basically just there in case my primary takes a dive mid trip or charter.
My Tank Situation
Well, I currently own 3 tanks soon to be 4 tanks. My first tank, like any beginner was a standard Luxifer AL 80. Aluminum tanks are the cheapest tanks, but they have terrible buoyancy properties when empty vs. full. My second and third tanks were true garage sale finds. I picked up 2 steel 72 cfu tanks for $12 per tank. This was a gamble seeing that the last viz sticker was from 1976 but both still had air. So I had new valves put on (I hate J valves) and had them tumbled and prepped for nitrox. I am still looking for a feasible way to double these tanks and get them on a backplate. My current bc (the outrigger) does not support doubles... listen for more detail later if I figure that one out. The last tank is a pony that I mentioned in the last article. Its a necessary system for deep diving.
The Wet-suit Situation
This is my primary pool and warm water diving wetsuit. The interesting thing here is that it is like laminated so it doesnt absorb water like a normal neoprene wetsuit. This means it drys in like 20 minutes. The downside, the welding of the seams used a tacky glue that really pulls on any hair that it comes into contact with.
Henderson © Thermoprene © 6.5 MM
Well this is my suit of choice when diving in cold Michigan waters. I usually pair this with a 7mm hooded vest when entering frigid water. Usually if I know the water will be less than 50 degrees I will wear the hooded vest under.
After diving a Oceanic Veo 100 for my first 50 dives, 25+ of them with nitrox and no ability to profile it on that computer, I finally decided to upgrade to a nice computer that will profile in nitrox. My old Veo had a terrible one-button interface. The first time my buddy and I were diving the Veos in a cavern we actually had to surface early to discuss what the hell the various screens meant. To my surprise, the more complicated Gekko was actually easier to operate. With up, down and enter buttons its.. dare I say intuitive. We will see how durable this computer is, if it lasts I WILL be a Suunto consumer for life.
Princeton Tec Torrent, Amp 1.0I just picked up a Princeton Tec Torrent, and AMP 1.0. This after I had absolutely no luck with a Princeton Tec Rage. Their warranty support was great but after 4 units flooded I gave up on that flashlight. Stay Tuned for reviews of the torrent and amp. Update: I have now dove this light several times and I am very impressed. I also picked up the Torrent which is the mate to the Amp, and they are a great combination of bright but not too bright! Great Product!
Dive ReelsI managed to acquire two dive reels on the cheap, one 150' and one 300' reel. These are necessary when doing wreck diving or cave diving. Good stuff. Also for any great lakes divers these are a NECESSITY. You really need to have one of these secured to a safety sausage in-case of getting blown off a wreck. Also for mooring from a buoy to a shipwreck. Also, one might consider finger-spool reels. These are reels that are quite a bit more compact and allow the users to avoid the hassles of large cumbersome reels.
Other Gear
Fins, Dive Slate, Spare regulator (Mares), Dry Bag (XPS), Mask (Oceanic), Spare Air
Well after a discussion with my parents, it sounds like I may finally be receiving a pony for my birthday. I love birthdays, its totally an excuse to get new scuba essentials. For beginners, a pony bottle is a small secondary tank that runs an entirely separate regulator in-order to create an entire second redundant system. These really become a necessity when diving deeper than 70'. I own a spare air which holds 3cfu of air, but at 70' 3cfu of air becomes 1cfu of air which is about 6 to 8 breaths (definitely not enough to reach the surface).I will likely be shopping for a Luxifer 30 or 40 CFU tank. I feel that 30cfu tanks fit better but 40's will allow for use in the future event that I go technical.
Safety Sausage - Surface Marker Buoy
Well, it has come to my attention that Universal Studios is building an entire separate park in Florida to monopolize on the whole Harry Potter phenomena. I wonder how this will coincide with the release of the last several movies. JK has committed to only seven books, all of which are complete. The movie series have already produced 6 of 8. It seems like this may not be a wise business move, after the movies cease there will be no new books will Universal be able to recoup the millions they are investing? Maybe this is some sort of karma for the whole Conan fiasco!
Well I heard this morning on my way into work that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was also having problems with his prius. For those of you who don't know who the hell Steve Wozniak (Woz) is, he was the technical genius behind what is Apple computer. Apple was originally founded by Steve Jobs, who provided the business savvy and management skills and the Woz who actually coded the first Apple products while in an LSD based drug binge. I don't really care what you think, but I know I have the utmost of respect for the creative genius that he has especially considering that his brain must not have been firing on all cylinders when he created what was known as the the first commercially available PC with a mouse. If you actually look back in Apple history, you learn about Xerox Parc (Palo Alto Research Center). You learn that Jobs and Woz took a tour of the PARC and 'borrowed' the ideas that Xerox failed to bring to market.
Now back to Toyota, they have recalled millions of vehicles after requests of many legislators. Apparently originally claimed that floor mats were responsible for the cars accelerating out of control on the roads. Now they are claiming that a faulty gas pedal is to blame. After talking with a family friend who works in the industry, who informed me that all Toyota's are drive by wire rather than mechanical linkages it seems much more likely to me that a computer issue may be at fault. However, if a shim is placed in the spring of the gas pedal it may eliminate the problem at the user not at the source. I just find it interesting that every news source will not cease to talk about this issue. It seems to me that the huge national debt should likely be priority. I think less than 12 people have died due to these faulty cars, to put that into perspective 631,636 have died in the last year due to heart disease. Why doesn't the media focus on bigger matters? Wow.. all that from the Woz and Toyota.
I thought I'd like to share some pictures and stories of some of my past adventures with you.
White Water - Hiko, WVThis first picture came from a school trip to Hiko, WV. This picture was taken on the New River. Kettering has an outdoors club that makes an annual trip to make this run down the river. My Advice: If you are ever around Hiko, or looking for whitewater rafting, go with Songer White Water. It was clear that the Songer guides were more experienced and cared more than any of the other companies that we saw on the river. Our guides constantly gave us information about what was coming up next, and they explained quite a bit about the river during the downtime. It was actually quite normal to catch the patrons on other boats trying to snoop on to what our guides were saying while their guides just let them sit and be bored. Also, the Songer guides were able to get us through most of the really nasty class 5 rapids without wiping. This is in contrast to other companies on the river, of whom we saw quite a few really nasty wipe-outs. This was definitely a once in a lifetime, must do.
SCUBA - Summersville, WV
Well of course I can't be near open water without getting some nitrox in my system. We went out and hit Summersville Lake. The visibility was very good down to 65'. After 65' visibility was non-existent. There was not a ton to see here, this was mainly a wall-dive. The rock formations were quite stunning though. I understand that Summersville Lake supplys Summersville Damn. When the damn opens, the water level drops 15' to 20' so many of the really cool formations that we saw underwater are actually above water. The exclusive charter on Summersville lake is out of Sarges Dive shop. We had good experiences dealing with Mark from Sarges. He managed to provide two days of dives at very competitive prices. In hind-site, I would have packed more sunscreen. Now that I have more experiences under my belt in regards to diving, I can see that Summersville is more of a beginners dive. I think I would really enjoy taking my gear and exploring below the 65' mark. Apparently the average depth tops out at 250' which is far over recreational limits. Hiko, WV was definitely a fun trip between the diving and the rafting.
Ginnie Springs - High Springs, FL
First cavern dive WOOT! There, now that I got that out of my system. Ginnie springs is very... unique. Its a spring and an attached cavern. Its pretty safe for new divers basically you have access to about 250' of cave that is barred off at the back. The cool part is fact that if you can get upto that bar you can feel 350M gallons of water screaming past. The real attraction to this dive is not the wildlife, or the depth its the caverns. If you look at the first picture you can see columns of bubbles behind me. These are actually exhaled from divers that were below in the cavern. Once you get inside the cavern you will notice a nice white sand bottom, and plenty of maneuvering room. In order to get into the cavern you need to access
through one of about 3 large entrances. We made it down last time at the end of March. We dove on a Saturday and much to our surprise there were about 35 open water students doing checkouts in the open area near the mouth of the cavern. We managed to log two dives at this site, and after a few hairy moments we actually figured out how to work an Oceanic Veo dive computer. Figures, it was pretty much foolproof. Although I have outgrown the computer now the Veo did log my first 50 dives, and thats something that I would recommend for any new diver. No more dive tables, well at least until you hit nitrox then you get three more.
Gilboa Quarry - Gilboa, OH
Well here is where I talk about Gilboa. Gilboa touts itsself as the midwests primer dive venue, I have to disagree with that. However, Gilboa does have some interesting things to see for all levels of divers. From a cargo helicopter to a stripped down airplane Gilboa has it all. If you can get down there on a week day its desolate. Gilboa is a flooded rock quarry that ranges from 121' at its deepest point which is off limits to new divers to 30' around the edges. They have all kinds of platforms which makes training there really easy. Deep was very convienient too, with platforms at 60 and 100 feet, it was really easy to descend right down the lines to do the checkout, however it was rreeaaaallllyyy cold.
We hit the following wrecks while in Alpena:
The Grecian (AMAZING)
The Nordmeer (WTF)
The Thew
I will start with the thew, it was mostly busticated. however the bow was intact and you could swim along it. The Nordmeer was a very interesting one, as we pulled up onto the site I saw something on the horizon. "Is that another boat on the dive site" I asked outloud, "That is the dive site" the captain replyed. The Nordmeer was stranded in shallow water and gets smushed more by ice every winter. The best dive of the entire trip was the Grecian. We dove the bow, the sheer scale of which I found AMAZING. It seemed like you could look 40' up and 40' down and never see the end of it. I understand that the bow is the more amazing part of the wreck, but I didnt make it down there.
Loch Low Minn - Athens, TNThis is an awesome panoramic from Loch Low Minn, in Athens, TN. This place is crazy stocked with paddlefish. The paddlefish is a reclusive prehistoric fish that has a huge freaking nose. They eat kelp in the water. The staff at the Loch believe that they have 20 to 30 different fish and I can personally tell you that they are between 3 to 6 feet long.They are the kind of thing that will sneak up behind you and startle you.
Portage Quarry - Findlay, OH
Well I have to go on the record and say that I much prefer Portage quarry over Gilboa quarry. Portage is much larger and has much more to see, however it is not as deep. The cool things to do at portage include checking out the Silo. Which stands upright at about 60' and you can swim up through it emerging at about 20'. Also, there is a semi truck trailer which i have come across once which is very disorienting to swim through since it lays sideways on an angle. Like Gilboa, portage also has a plane and several cars boats and swim-troughs. Apparently there is a 'Seven Car Pileup' which is seven cars stacked on top of each other. I have looked for it about 6 times and have never found it. I am beginning to think it doesnt really exist. I think the real reason why I prefer Portage is because it has more to see and it is much less expensive than Gilboa. The owner of Gilboa nickels and dimes everything from parking passes to air, as opposed to the very inexpensive parking and very competitively priced air at Portage. Viz is extremely variable, I have dove portage on about 4 seperate occasions now. Three had great Viz, one had terrible viz due to rain and wind.
Well first impressions, I was really impressed with these devices. Iomega claims that these units feature full SNMP, SMTP, and RAID 1. They claim that they also support iSCSI, R-Sync and Cifs. Let me be the first to tell you, many of these features are flawed or buggy and some just don't work. I feel like these devices could have used much more development time and here are some of the areas I think need more attention:
- SNMP - First, the MIB was nearly impossible to find. Some genius over at Iomega decided that a good place for the MIB file would be in a hidden directory on the cd. I contacted the web support to ask for a location and the agent literally had no clue what a MIB file was. The alerting from the device is only triggered in 3 broad categories, rather than specific events. Things like rebuild of RAID mirror successful are reported as the highest severity errors. Additionally, some events like failure of backup jobs are not even logged in SNMP although SMTP alerts are sent?!?
- R-Sync Backup Jobs - Well this was a total flop. These devices are not capable of receiving and copying to a secured folder. What does this mean in layman's terms? If you have a source lets say user data where users have permissions, you must copy to a completely unsecured destination folder on the remote unit. This is not acceptable any company.
- Support - Well their support leaves quite a bit to be desired. In calls to their help desk I am averaging about 30 minutes of wait time, followed by about 50 minutes to get anything resolved or to get to the point where the analyst understands what I am asking. Likewise, their online chat feature offers quick access to analysts but I have had chats run upto 50 minutes most of the time the online chatters have no clue and end up googling to attempt to find a solution. Questions as simple as what port is this widget running on, or where is the MIB take quite a while to answer.
- Power Supply - Well there is no 220v power supply available.
- Hot Swap - Don't assume that because these devices use SATA II drives that they are hot-swappable, because they definitely aren't.
- iSCSI - Well this one worked, I was able to successfully mirror data on a novel server.
- Heat - Drives do run warm when being worked hard.
Let me wrap it up like this, these devices have potential but it is completely destroyed by the crappy interface software. These devices would be great for home use, but the Enterprise IT functions like SNMP for monitoring definitely leave something to be desired. All-in-all these devices are not quite ready for primetime, the hardware is there and great but the software is terrible.
Well this is my typical first blog post, I intend to talk about my life in this blog so here is a little about me.
First I am currently a Senior attending Kettering University. Kettering is a very unique school that forces its students to work for at least half of every year at a corporate partner. Across these work terms I work for a 2.5B dollar company with approximately 7200 employees. I am majoring in computer science and work within the IT devision of my company. I plan on posting information about my experiences related to engineering and equipment reviews from a corporate standpoint.
In my spare time I really enjoy Michigan and the adventures that it offers. Recently, I have been getting more into scuba diving. I am currently an SSI certified Advanced OW diver. I successfully completed 50 dives and I have Equipment, Drysuit, Navigation, Deep Diving, and Nitrox advanced certifications. I also intend to talk about my experiences diving at different venues throughout the midwest and the united states.
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