The Wandering Wallihans

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Kids Playhouse progress

I got the roof on and got roofing on one side. Then cleaned up a weeks worth of construction debris.

I guess it is usable now.
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Rebecca has gotten in the habit of taking the kids on trips for Easter
vacation. One year it was Monterey Bay, the next it was London, this
year they went to Port Townsend to visit Grandma and Grandpa.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend due to a lack of vacation days,
but it did afford me the opportunity to work on the kids playhouse. See
the previous posting.

They are due back on Sunday (it is Friday night right now) so I will
have more pictures then, but here are a couple that I wanted to share.

Jacob lost his first tooth shortly before they left and lost his second
during the trip. He is missing the lower two front teeth. Jessica got
to hold a falcon. I can't wait to hear about that.

While they were gone we had an evacuation at work because smoke was
coming out of the AC ducts. We evacuated the building twice but the
fire department never found anything. The AC workmen were there earlier
in the day so maybe they miswired a motor and it burned up. Anyway, we
were never told what the root cause was.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Kids Playhouse

I have been building a playhouse in the backyard for the kids.

It all started about a year ago when Jessica asked if I would build a
tree house in our back yard. I said our tree was not big enough, but I
would look at building a non tree playhouse. Being an engineering type
I told her about all the planning and design work we would have to do.

One year later I was taking Jessica to the hardware store when she asked
if we were going to get stuff to build the playhouse. Being a sucker I
immediately replied yes.

So I bought a bunch of wood and we went home and started working on a
little house. That was in late February. Six weeks later I have most
of the walls clad and am ready to spend my Saturday painting and putting
the roofing on.

Notice the beam over the windows. The idea is that when the kids get
bored of it, at least I will have a nice shed.

Personal Network Security

This is my recommended listening list for home network security and public network security (hotels or wifi hotspots)

The bottom line is that at home you should:

1. Use a NAT router to connect to the internet. Make sure all your ports are blocked (default on almost all routers). Use Shields Up at www.grc.com if not sure.

2. Use WPA or WPA2 for wireless encryption. WEP is easily crackable.

3. Be aware that any non SSL traffic at public hot spots can be easily intercepted.

If you prefer to read, transcripts are available at:

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

If you like podcasts, you can subscribe at:

http://leoville.tv/podcasts/sn.xml

HOME NETWORK SECURITY

Episode 3, NAT Routers http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-003.mp3

Episode 11, Bad WiFi Security http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-011.mp3

Episode 13, Unbreakable WiFi Security http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-013.mp3

PUBLIC NETWORK SECURITY

Episode 10, Open Wireless Access Points http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-010.mp3