tommy's scratchpad

Neat post by Matthew Perry. I couldn’t help but run the same command:

$ history|awk '{a[$2]++ } END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}'|sort -rn|head

188 cd

151 svn

113 vi

88 ll

60 sudo

53 more

40 make

40 ./dd.py

30 ./run_test.py

30 ls

dd.* is my tempfile name prefix for quick and dirty scripts. run_test.py is from running the MapServer msautotest regression test suite when developing and testing code.

What does your shell history look like?

I was compelled to write this after reading about Paul’s experiences. A couple of months ago, my Motorola E810 came to a screeching halt: the display died. As well, the battery recharge became spotty at best. So I was in need of a new phone. I called my wireless provider, who give me a story about having to lock into another 3 year contract to get a new phone.

I was very hesitant this time about locking in again; I’ve taken a beating on cellphone costs in the past, and I didn’t want to sign up for another “plan” again until I had reviewed all my options thoroughly. So I wasn’t given a phone. I asked if I could cancel my contract, which would have costed something ridiculous.

So at this point I was stuck. A friend lent me an old cellphone which I’ve been using in the meantime until I figure out what to do (another friend has since coined it the “loser phone” 🙂 ). So don’t laugh too hard next time you see me with a circa 2000 cellphone / brick on the table 🙂

What’s a guy to do? The prices of wireless communications are ridiculous! Is it like this everywhere (Man, my Vodafone was dirt cheap when I was last in Europe). Contract? Pay as you go?

I couldn’t agree with you more, Paul!

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been quiet on the blogosphere, and MapServer to some extent. Well, it’s a result of kicking my basement renovation into high gear after starting last fall. And with the winter we’ve had, what better time for this project 🙂

I’ve done my share of renovations in the past, but, in terms of hackery, this one takes the cake. It’s fun to be hacker as a coder sometimes, but not when doing renovations! In tearing down the basement, I have undoubtedly seen the most horrific attempts at a basement reno in my entire life. I have never (and I mean never!) seen anything like this:

• using cardboard as shims, even in – get this – the shower stall. Now that won’t absorb any water!
• disaster electrical: connections put together with tape only (so much for junction boxes!). And behind the shower as well! When they did use boxes, there was no reason to. In cleaning up the electrical, we ended up pulling down over 10 junction boxes, which served no functional purpose whatsoever. Unbelievable!
• whoever taped and mudded the drywall did an awesome job of applying enough compound to make the joints resemble a beer belly and a half!

I could go on, but I won’t. I’ve often been called a perfectionist for renovations, but when you’re doing things that affect safety, it’s a big no no. Their should always be a great consideration for safety before proceeding with things. It could be as simple as making you do not accidentally step on tools or using a tool to lift drywalls easier. I think this property would have been worth more without any renovation than with the original attempt.

So after taking the whole thing down, I’ve been putting things back together again in the last 8 weeks. It’s been a fun experience for sure, but has also involved alot of running around, coordinating various help, playing helper and actually doing the work, and, of course, being budget conscious. Doing this at night after your day job is not for the faint at heart, but is gratifying in terms of cost as well as getting exactly what you want.

I hope to be done the bulk of the remaining work in the next month, which includes laying ~1000 square feet of porcelain/ceramic tile. Luckily, a friend’s uncle is helping with most of the project, so it’s valuable to have professional eyes (and hands) on things at all times. If you want to build a kitchen in your basement, you may need to work with a contractor who specializes in garbage disposal replacement in western new york to install a garbage disposal for you.

Check out the progress (advice/suggestions valued!).  When the drywall dust settles, I looking forward to getting my life back. Now that warmer temperatures are (seemingly) here, it’s high time to finish the job!