A Geek Goes Flying

Using the OpenVPN Connect app on a MacBook, I wasn’t able to connect to my office VPN. Opening the app revealed an error message: Error calling protect() method on socket OpenVPN Connect error message The fix was easy; from Terminal: % sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openvpn.client.plist

I was already a fan of the fuelrod chargers available at the Disneyland parks, as I’ve discussed before . But the old ones, with the USB A port for charging and a USB B Micro port for recharging the fuelrod, were compromised devices: Good in a pinch and easily swapped for a fresh battery inside the parks, but with the caveats of a slow 5 W charging speed and relatively small capacity. A few weeks ago, trying to swap the old fuelrod for a new one resulted in a notice that the old device would be upgraded free of charge to the new kit, which comes with a redesigned fuelrod itself (“Mobile Power Bank Model R32A/B”), USB C to Lightning, USB C to USB C, and USB C to USB B Micro and USB A to USB C adapters. The rod itself now has a single USB C port used for both charging other devices and recharging itself. Four green LEDs display the state of charge (full to empty). And, critically, the batttery appears to be larger capacity (11.52 Wh, 3.6V 3200 mAh), and the charging speed is greater, now

Going to try this. Doubt I’ll win. But it’s a start. Created an account on https://nanowrimo.org/ . As of this writing, November starts in 7 hours, 21 minutes, and 55 seconds. 54. 53. You get it. NaNo Prep 101 . Create a project: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/<username>/projects For this round, I just want to see if I can knock out 50,000 words, so I’m setting it up as a Memoir. Next time, I’ll prep something fictiony. But I’ve got a bunch of stories I can tell, so why the hell not. No one’s ever going to read it, but it’ll be good mental exercise and should be an easier hill to climb to get to that 50K. Deep breath. Here goes. This sets up the goal name, the type of goal (“writing”), the word-count goal (50,000), and the start and end dates (11/01/2024–11/30/2024). Update: I’m behind (shocking). Got off to a decent start on the 1st (984 words), made less progress on the 2nd (736 words), and nada yesterday (Dapper Day at Disneyland). There‘s always time to catch up though..

$150 off an iPad mini 6 on sale at Amazon finally convinced me to upgrade from the iPad mini 4 I’ve been dragging between rental planes (with its slightly cracked screen and outdated operating system - iPadOS 16, released in 2023, left it behind ). Since it would now be USB C instead of Lightning, and since my old charging setup was woefully inadequate (10,000 mAh and 10W total output power), it was time to just sort of refresh things. Flight bag, 2020 edition , now: Center Section Four Top Pocket: Still the AO sunglasses and foggles. Main compartment: Same Stratus GPS / ADS-B receiver and RAM suction cup mount . At some point I might replace the battery, through the official kit ($125) or just an aftermarket battery ($30). Same  Bose A20 headset, but I needed to replace the ear pads ; I opted to use the official Bose SKU ($36 shipped). Same  Velcro PTT switch . New for the iPad mini 6: RAM-B-202-AP36U RAM® EZ-Roll'r™ Cradle with Ball for Apple iPad mini 6 ($36.50). I’ll als

Getting ready for NaNoWriMo. The BYOK isn’t out yet. I’m not going to drop $350 on something like a Freewrite Alpha , as cool as I think it is. But I have an old IdeaPad S10 netbook (10.2" 1024x600 screen, surprisingly good keyboard, Atom processor, 2.5 GB RAM, whatever old SATA SSD I had close at hand, and I picked up this DC 5.5x2.5mm to Type C USB cable , which so far works perfectly to charge and power the thing).  IdeaPad S10 netbook   Now I’m on the hunt for a decent Linux distribution (probably DSL 2024 ), and word processing software : I’ll probably end up with AbiWord , but old WordPerfect is still a contender (was using it for years on my 1024x768 VAIO PCG-Z505R), and FocusWriter looks interesting. LibreOffice is probably too heavy. Was not previously aware of FreeOffice TextMaker before, but I should check it out at some point It just needs to provide a relatively distraction-free writing environment that I can work on whenever I have spare time; think this’ll work.

Like most (?) Americans, I’ve always pronounced Nikon as “Nye-con.” Until a couple of years ago when some Japanese neighbors corrected me: “Nee-con.”Smug in my superiority, I adopted that pronunciation, certain it was the “correct” one (though it turns out, even that wasn’t quite correct, as the Japanese pronunciation has the ‘n’ silent; NEE-koh). Turns out, Nikon’s official policy is (reportedly): Say it however you do, regionally . But Porsche still has the “uh” at the end: How to pronounce Porsche properly And Linux is still Lih-nucks: Linux Pronunciation (from Revolution OS). So, uh, there it is.

I temporarily have a foster dog, now named Mason. Mason napping on the balcony while I iPad. He’s awesome, but my senior street stray mutt isn’t having any part of it, and my Labrador loves him so much, my home won’t long survive their hours of excited play. (Imagine zoomies on meth, with a dose of Sunday Night Football.) So I’ve been working on the balcony at night (it’s pleasantly cool, for now...) while Mason chills with me, my Lab looks out at us longingly, and my senior mutt curls up in the bedroom, ignoring all the commotion.  I’ve had this Best Choice Products Folding Zero Gravity Outdoor Recliner ($70) for a couple of years and it’s comfortable, but not perfect. The elastics on the “pillow” are toast, so it wants to sit around where my waist hits. And the side tray is junk, it doesn’t attach securely and I’m super leery of putting anything of value, or containing liquids, on it. In fact, I don’t even have it attached. Instead, I picked up this Mr.Power Mic Stand Cup Holder wit