January 23, 2006
by dhoytt
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X11 Hogging CPU on Login Update

Well as I was doing my therapeutic updating of my issue I had with X11 I remembered what last actions I had done on my system before having this issue. I had created a new blog but also in that process had to create a new directory in the folder I share out my html content in. I also had to chmod my new directory to enable the blog application to be able to write to the directory.
I simply changed he permissions back to my original settings when I created my directory I presume with my umask settings, rebooted and logged back in and presto X11 is not using 98% of the CPU
At this point this makes no sense to me! Why would this directory having open permissions cause my Linux desktop to freeze and X11 to grab 99% of my CPU when I logged in? I did see this new Java file pop into my directory after I had created the blog with the application software, mt-site.js. I looked in this file briefly but didn’t spot anything. This will be the first new blog I create with the newly updated blog software MT version 3.2, at this point just scratching the head and really tired.
I have top running on the system now with the X11 desk top up and several terminal sessions going and accessed several X11 apps and X occasionally goes to the top of the list but with barely more than 1% of CPU and now this system is 95% -98% idle most of the time as it usually is.
To top this off the program I was looking for, GnuCash doesn’t even exist on this system!
Oh well, that’s enough for now I will isolate this when I have time. I need to get maybe a couple of hours sleep on my new bed and mattress.

January 23, 2006
by dhoytt
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X11 Hogging CPU on Login

I’m not sure what’s going on with my web server but when I login as any user using any desktop, Gnome or KDE it hangs and goes to about 100% CPU. This system has been up and running with this configuration for the past few years without any issues. My web server is still serving up pages and my blog is working fine with Mysqld but the simple act of logging in as any user in X11 mode sends X11 into CPU hogging mode.
I discovered this trying to see how GnuCash works to track my finances since I want to start my business in some fashion again this year and this time keep track of things a little better. I turned my KVM the wrong way since I was going to try on my backup web server first but since I went to the main web server and was just going to see if the GnuCash program was there and how it looked and felt I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Boy was I surprised when my desktop froze on me. I never even got to open the program it just hung as I browsed to the program and the whole desktop became unresponsive except being able to move the mouse pointer around.
The first thing I did was check my web page and everything there worked just fine. Next I logged in using ssh from my other Linux system (backup web server) and confirmed the issues I was having. I tried various ways of stopping and starting the X11 engine and none gave any better results.
I even rebooted and also tried removing my soundcard blew the system out with canned air etc… Nothing worked. I was totally unprepared for going into troubleshooting mode on this system since I was just going to check out GnuCash and go to bed but several hours later here I am!
For now I will keep X11 off of that system and login from my other Linux system. I am going to upgrade my web server’s hardware anyway but didn’t want to do it this soon. I think this may be a good time to update it anyway since I will be putting a new blog out on my site for items I will be selling. I will start selling items to finish clearing room in my house first and then fine tune everything.
Now that I’m thinking about it the only new thing I did was create a new blog for my site and for sale items, but doubting if that has anything to do with XFree86 grabbing CPU but hey something to check for later.
I will update on the progress of this issue later.

January 8, 2006
by dhoytt
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Seafood Gumbo

My dad decided to cook some seafood gumbo Saturday. Anyone who has cooked seafood gumbo know this is quite the endeavor and expensive as a car payment for a large amount of people! We all usually pitch in to help offset the cost but he still bears the brunt of the cost with some not really contributing as much as they consume but that’s how it rolls sometimes. I also always try to get over and help with preparation. I make gumbo sometimes myself and I know how it can go and I like picking up additional tips.
There are a lot of us in my family and my dad makes his gumbo fully stocked so each bowlful has plenty of all ingredients. This was one of his best efforts with pieces of King crab almost as wide as a small child’s wrist, lots of shrimp, oysters, chicken, sausage etc…
Three huge pots of gumbo you can bet I’m going back over there to make sure I have my fill. I brought some home already but that’s going to go pretty quick.
My mother said he started banging around about 4am so I missed how he starts his roux the most important part but I remember a few things from previous times, plus he gave a brief overview Friday when I was helping cut up some veggies.
I may do my part and make some gumbo this winter myself and have people over and I keep my pots fully stocked just like my dad.

November 29, 2005
by dhoytt
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Kitchen Floors Done, Multi-Color Peacock Slate

Ok finally finished my floors. Had to do the floors in fits and starts around other projects that had more of a immediate need such as major pool maintenance so I would not have to deal with a pool full of algae garage sale, several computer issues etc… I also was really sick in there as well.
As I have stated earlier on this blog I also had to do the floors in modules not only for technique testing but because the kitchen is right between my den where I watch TV listen to music and relax and the garage where I have tools materials etc..
I did a lot of clean up especially after I put in the mortar between the tiles. I thought also that if I could scrub the tiles as much as possible before putting down the wet seal that would give it more outstanding final luster & sheen.
Well I could get no shine before the wet seal but tested a few pieces of extra tile from previous cuts by applying the wet sealant and they came out looking just ok. I was a bit skeptical about taking that final conclusive step at this point, but could find nothing else to scrub off of the tiles so started on one corner of the floor and it looked really good after the initial application of the wet sealant!
I proceeded to do one half of the floor so I still had a passage to the den and garage from the other part of the house and wow. It looked great! Tonight I finished the rest of the floor after returning from a nice run at the local Junior college and I’m done!
Believe it the floor is done and looking excellent!
I have already been studying up and researching for my next two projects, what color to painting the kitchen and redoing the cabinets and putting in another sink and possibly getting new kitchen appliances.

Some pictures:
HPIM0194-a.jpg
Here I am after completion of putting down sealant on floors and after evening run still dressed from run.
HPIM0181.JPG
Tiles still wet from tonight’s application of the sealant.
HPIM0189.jpg
Showing last night’s application with half the floor not done to allow passage from one part of the house to the other portion of the house.

Here I am after completion of putting down sealant on floors and after evening run still dressed from run.
Tiles still wet from tonight’s application of the sealant.
Showing last night’s application with half the floor not done to allow passage from one part of the house to the other portion of the house.

November 27, 2005
by dhoytt
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Cool Thanksgiving Weekend

We had Thanksgiving at one of my nieces place with her family. I started my Thanksgiving Day preparation of my usual smoked turkey Wednesday. I used a larger than normal turkey and it turned out well.
My dad fixed lamb and prime rib and one of my other sisters cooked a standard roasted turkey.
We all filled in with additional side dishes that have turned out well. I worked the day after Thanksgiving, from home as usual of course, and the day was mildly busy.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful I purchased some items for my computer room mainly a couple of more heavy duty UPS’ and another older rack mounted case. The rack is now populated with a dual processor Pentium 2 system. I will of course have no use for those items and uninstall them and build a more powerful system into this rack case which has a lot more space for drive space than all but one of my other 19” rack mount computer cases.
I also had another decent weekends of runs and even on back to back runs of decent distance my time is improving showing my overall fitness is improving since I’m able to handle back to back 7.5 and 6 miles runs improving by times in both.

November 16, 2005
by dhoytt
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Runs are Improving

My normal 6 mile run felt pretty good today I just kept it nice and loose without really pushing it and took my time down about 30 seconds from my last 6 mile run a few days ago even though I didn’t feel comfortable. Down 2 minutes from my first run of the beginning last week
Yesterday I was a bit out of it and the previous day I had to tone it down a few miles. Soon I will feel comfortable to lengthen the stride and push the pace. After that point its time to work on speed an intervals and hitting the hills from time to time. Then maybe I will be able to hit some of the “all comer track meets” next year.

November 10, 2005
by dhoytt
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Nice Grounded Week So Far

Not too much special this week so far. Waiting for a person to come and get the items they bought at my garage sale so that I can get to the intent of the garage sale, getting more space to maneuver in.
Also had a couple of nice runs this week both in the 6 mile range I need to keep that up and hit the weights once my space in the garage is once again free.
I still have quite a few things to get rid of from my garage including numerous computer monitors. The monitors are all CRT’s since I moved totally to flat screen models in my computer room. The flat screens are much easier to move around than some of the CRT behemoths I had before. This flexibility is important since I’m always moving things around.
Well hopefully this weekend I will put another dent in moving items out of the house!!

November 7, 2005
by dhoytt
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Garage Sale & Kitchen Floors update

Floors and garage sale how do they go together? Well I
moved things out of my house plus acquired a few new pieces of furniture the
past few months to replace or sell and moved that furniture to storage until my
floors were done.

            Well I ended up a bit sick and also my tile
wasn’t available in the store when I took the time off to install the tile or at
least the main portion of the install.

Well I then ran into some killer
furniture deals at auctions and knew that these windows of opportunities at
those prices so gotta take advantage and then decide which pieces I wish to
keep.

I always take advantage of the
storage specials of half a month off or 1 dollar a month when doing things like
this and this was no exception. This time however my timing was off because of
the tile not being in stock and my getting sick.

            So to move these
things out I had a garage sale so I could get things out of storage without
costing more money and keep things off the floors since I’m not totally done. I
just have to clean the grout haze and seal the tile. Then I will place the pics
up on the site.

October 4, 2005
by dhoytt
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Kitchen Floors Taking a While

The kitchen floors are taking a while since I can only dedicate a few hours a day to the venture. I like to test out each new step to make sure I have the techniques correct and that the work is quality. I don’t like having to redo things! Now if I make any errors on one section by doing it a step at a time I can go back and see what I did and correct those issues. I also have so many other things to do that are time sensitive plus my regular home maintenance things are moving forward but just not in leaps and bounds. This is where attitude comes in anyone can start something with enthusiasm but finishing when going through some crazy things I cannot talk about, well hey knock the dirt off and keep rolling hard baby!
Here are a few pictures not the current situation but I’ll try to update that later this week. The tiles are 16″ x 16″ (16 inches squared) slate.
Before:
HPIM0148.jpg
Partial Dry Run:
HPIM0149.jpg