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The Good And The Bad

I'm working on several things right now. Yesterday was simply an awful day. I spent way too many hours trying to create a boot Win98 CD so I could install Windows 98 on Darryl's old Compaq notebook. It had Windows ME on it, and things were slowly falling apart. We decided to re-install the OS just to try and make sure that it wasn't a hardware problem. Normally I would boot from a floppy disk, then install Windows. The problem here was that the floppy drive in the notebook wasn't working. I spent several hours trying to create a boot CD using a method that had worked a year ago. Frustratingly, things weren't working, and later I realized I was using combinations of bad floppy disks and CDs and as a result, I was getting more and more frustrated at the lack of results. Finally, at the end of the afternoon, I still had no boot CD, but Darryl had fixed the floppy disk drive--he found a small piece of floppy label was stuck in the drive! So today I was able to boot from a floppy, and installed Windows 98. Tonight I'm finishing up with installing the updates and other software he needs. Wednesday (oh! that's today!) he can have it back so he can put his data back on it.

Tuesday Caleb and I worked on a wireless connection to the Kelley's house, using standard 802.11b wireless networking equipment. The distance is about a half mile, and we were successful with our tests. I had to climb the fifty foot antenna on the base three times before I was done, but it was worth it. It was exciting to make a connection across town! Now we are fighting another aspect of the project, which is setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) so that the connection between the Kelley's and the hangar is secure. That part is proving to be difficult for Caleb, who is helping with the project. Without his help I wouldn't be tackling this project. Don't know that we'll solve the issue soon, but we'll continue to work on it this week.