Can’t Work a Calendar

Am I the only one who thought today was March 31?

Yesterday I learned about the Conficker virus, which was predicted to activate and cause misery on April 1. I have AVG, but it misses things, so I was worried. The site where I learned about the virus listed several antidotes, so I decided to give them a try.

First, I looked at Symantec. They have a tool for the job. When I downloaded it, it told me I had to close a bunch of programs and shut off my modem and so on, and I thought that was a pain, so I decided to check Microsoft. They have a page where you can get a free scan. I got that started, and it turned out it would take several hours. At first I thought that was okay, but then I realized it would be running after midnight, and I was afraid the virus would kick in and do something before the scan finished.

I shut it down, and before I left the PC for the day, I started the Symantec thing again, hoping it would work before midnight.

It’s very odd. At that point, I thought April 1 was a few hours away, but then I remembered the date on the machining notes I had made earlier in the day: March 30. And I felt relieved. I thought I had an extra day. And then I got up and realized the notes were wrong. So my extra day was gone, and I had to hope the Symantec tool had worked.

I don’t know if it worked or not; when I woke up, I stupidly tried to turn the computer on, which actually turned it off. I had left it on, after all.

Now I’m running the Microsoft scan. It turns out you can limit it to security issues, which dramatically decreases the time it takes. The estimate I got was 80 minutes.

In the meantime, I’m afraid to do anything on the computer. This virus is supposed to steal passwords and credit card numbers as you type them, so I don’t want to buy anything or type passwords manually. Maybe it can also steal passwords your computer remembers and sends on its own, in which case some jerk in China can probably edit my blog and read my email now.

This is a link to the Microsoft scan. You have to use Internet Explorer, naturally.

I’m frantically copying DVDs and watching them and taking notes this week. I found out Smartflix has late fees. I had assumed that was not the case, because I read something like “keep them as long as you want” on their site. You don’t get much time to watch the material and make use of it, so I have had to resort to making copies. I suppose this is technically infringement, but I’m going to throw out the copies after I watch them, so the guilt is pretty minimal. The cost of a blank DVD is 20 cents, and the late fee is 2.99 per week, and it takes several hours to watch a DVD and take good notes.

If you don’t take notes, the material is useless. There is no way you could remember all this information. If you don’t take notes, you have to rent the material over and over or buy it. I want to learn about machining, but I’m not ready to dump several thousand dollars on videos. Some of the courses aren’t too expensive, and I will probably buy some of them, because I don’t want to be a leech, but others run over a hundred dollars per DVD, with several DVDs per set. For that kind of cash, I expect to be able to send projects in and have them graded, and I want some kind of certificate I could show a machine shop owner in order to get a job.

I don’t want to be a professional machinist, but if I’m going to pay what amounts to tuition, I want the same benefits I would get from paying it to a school.

The Swarfrat guy charges reasonable prices, and there’s a lathe series called “Lathe Learnin'” which gets great reviews, and it’s a big pile of DVDs for $125. You’re actually better off renting from Swarfrat than Smartflix, because Swartrat applies the rental fees toward purchase. You can try before you buy.

His videos are really good, by the way. He doesn’t just grind weird shapes out to show you what the machine can do. He shows you very practical skills you can use to make useful things. He uses small tools, which is a plus in one way. You can do whatever he does without blowing a pile of money, and you should also be able to do it on bigger machines. Although he also has a TIG welder, and they’re not cheap. Some day maybe I’ll have to get one, unless I can find a cheaper way to weld small parts. The MIG would probably dissolve them.

One guy has a video in which he shows you how to build your own small milling machine, using a lathe. Seriously. I’d like to try that just as a project. His name is Jose Rodriguez. Look him up. I haven’t seen the video.

I guess this scan is going to take longer than I thought. I better get some things done.