Not only do you have to setup filters to block junk mail, but you also have to setup firewalls to block spammers from using your system to send junk mail.

It's starting to really get ridiculous. Something needs to be done about the junk mail problem. I just can't take it anymore.

My email server processes 1000's of junk email messages each day. Last I checked it was 15,000 a month, but junk mail is up 80% since then. I have to dedicate massive system resources to my mail server just to cut through all the junk. I spend hours configuring filters and blocking software each month.

Then on top of all that, they start smashing my web servers with junk mail. My forums are filling up with junk. My blog comments are getting junked. They are even hitting the contact forms on my web sites to send junk mail. Yesterday I found my web server spewing 1000's of junk emails all over the net because some low life wants to make a quick buck.

I wrote a script yesterday that adds blackhole routing to IP addresses found in my log files from systems trying to find email addresses to spam. It's up to 4550 blocked IP's so far. It's only been 24 hours. 4550 spam attempts in 24 hours. The only reason why it's not more is because I'm blocking the IP's on the first attempt. It has slowed from 1 per second to about 1 ever 20 seconds.

I'm about ready to just tell everyone to get a Yahoo/GMail/Hotmail/or some other email account and turn the mail servers off. It's costing me too much money to keep the mail server running.

This week will be awesome! The Gear Mashers will be testing our skills at the proving grounds. It will be an all out rock rash bash. First one to the top will be king of the mountain.

Video coming on Saturday.

All in all, Thanksgiving was a blast. It was great to see everyone show up. We even got a bit of wheeling in.

The day before Thanksgiving, our well died. At first we had very low water pressure. Thinking it was the pressure valve, we replaced it. Then we had no water at all. After checking it out for a day, we found out that only air was being pumped up. So we just hooked into the neighbors water for Thanksgiving week end.

Thanksgiving day we feasted on Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings.

The day after we went wheeling. Almost broke Tim's rig again. It was a mellow day of wheeling.

Saturday we just stuck around the house. Randy and I put together my engine, transmission, and dual crawler case. Now it's ready to be mounted in the chassis. It's going to be so cool! I can't wait to get it setup.

Sunday we fixed the well. After pulling the pump out and finding it was cracked we decided to buy a new one. Looks like it was cracked when they put it together in the first place. We also measured how deep the well was. We found out it was 130 feet. The old pump was only down 100 feet. So we were able to drop the pump 20 feet more.

New pump, wire, hose, and pressure valve later. Everything is great!

Now I have to get back to work and finish the program that was suppose to be done last Wednesday.

Why don't keyboard manufacturers “get it”? Some of them have keyboards that are almost perfect. Some have keyboards that just suck.

You may know that I’ve been searching for the perfect keyboard for a very long time. I have yet to find one that I totally like. If I did find one, I’d probably buy two or three just so I have them later when I wear them out.

What is the perfect keyboard for me? That’s easy, but first let me tell you about the keyboards that almost make it.

The Apple keyboard. It has USB ports for the mouse and other devices. It’s small so it does not take up too much room on your keyboard tray. It even has a decent price. But, the key caps are old style and the layout is non-ergonomical.

The Macally Icekey. It has USB ports. Scissor action short key caps. But, it’s a bit on the big side. It’s USB ports are on the very outside left and right. So if you plug a mouse into it the mouse hits the USB plug. It wears out very fast. And it’s not a ergonomic layout.

Type Matrix. This is a great keyboard. Small, slim key caps. Ergonomic layout. But it does not support the Mac so well. It does not have USB ports. It’s not even a USB keyboard.

Kensington Slim Type. It has the scissor action short key caps. It has a small foot print on the desk. It has media keys and a power/sleep button. This is almost perfect. But, the Delete and Home keys are in the wrong place. There is no USB ports so I have to use a USB extension for my mouse. Still not a ergonomic layout.

OK, so what keyboard would I make if I could make a keyboard. Well, I would take the Type Matrix and add Apple keys to it. Make it USB and have two USB ports on the back. Then stick a few media keys and a sleep/power button. That would probably be the best keyboard ever.

So, hello keyboard manufacturers… Get a clue!

Tools that I use every day on my Mac:

• For Work:
  
  
  • TextMate
  
  
  • iTerm
  
  
  • On The Job
  
  
  • svnX
  
  


• Productivity:
  
  
  • Quick Silver
  
  
  • Menushade
  
  
  • Spirited Away
  
  


• On The Server:
  
  
  • FreeBSD
  
  
  • Apache
  
  
  • Ruby on Rails
  
  
  • Mongrel Rails
  
  
  • PostgreSQL
  
  
  • PostFix
  
  
  • Dovecot
  
  
  • Subversion
  
  


• Other:
  
  
  • Apple Mail
  
  
  • Apple iChat
  
  
  • Safari + Stand
  
  
  • FireFox + Firebug
  
  
  • NetNewsWire
  
  

This has been a very busy month for me. I have a major project due soon, so I'm working on getting that finished while my other customers are calling and emailing me every day for more work. Just trying to keep up is 16 hour days. It's usually like this near the end of the year.

Winter kicks in and since it's hard to go outside and do stuff, people start thinking of ways to "improve" their web sites. One customer didn't want to wait for me to do stuff, so I installed a CMS system for them. They are totally wreaking their web site now. Basically removing all the content. Content is the only thing that gets customers.

One good thing about getting lots of work is that I get more money coming in. That is good because taxes are coming quick and I'll need to start saving up to pay them.

I think that 2007 is going to be a great year for ORS. Business is looking good and I'm really picking up Rails development. My Orange Modules should be a hit this year. I think this is the year that I'll be able to pay off my current debt. In-fact, that's my goal for this year. Debt free.

One more thing I want to complete this year is my rock crawler project. I really, really, really want to get that thing on the road this year. Really. I can feel it... This is the year.

Oh, I have some wheeling video to post up soon. Check out my YouTube clips.

Well, Jane has had her Mac Book Pro for a few days now. She is loving it. I don't think it's been more than 30 feet from her since she got it. She uses it on the couch, in the studio, in the office, at her parents house, everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if she uses it in her car while driving to Reno. ;-)

It's a nice setup. 17" screen, 2.33GHz Intel Dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, 7200RPM hard drive, and a bunch of other things. It was real easy to move all her stuff from her old computer over, but her old computer had more stuff than what would fit on her new drive. So we copied only the stuff she needed. She has like hundreds of iTunes music files and tons of work files from Photoshop. So we are archiving most of her work files and soon I'll have my file server to store them.

I found a 15" monitor with the DVI to ADC adapter on eBay the other day and so I purchased that. I hope to get it in a few days if they guy ships it on time. Then Jane will be able to plug her Mac Book into her 23" monitor. I'll have the 15" for the Cube, and the Cube will go to my dad. His iMac G3 is really, really old and slow.

So now Jane has her Mac Book and is flying faster than mine. She needs the speed for Photoshop and all. I just do programming, so I don't need much speed. My iMac G5 is good, but just as soon as Apple comes out with a good Tablet PC, then I'm totally going that direction.

Johnny and I went out last week and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was fun. We went out past Dayton into nowhere and after cruising around where there were no roads, we finally found the perfect tree. We cut it down the the Saws-all and that was that. Strapped it to the roof and back home we went. Jane and Cyndie put all the decorations on it and now it's all good. It's a great tree.

So yesterday I turned off the "Mark Read" part of my spam filter so it was easier to count how many spams a day I get. Yesterday I received exactly 100 spam emails. I'm going to average it out for a week and see what kind of badness I have. I'm thinking it's going to stay at around 100 spams a day. So 700 spam emails a week.