Quick Notes in the IRS Shadow

I've got a couple of things that I wanted to post, but don't have time to give them all a full post treatment.

Subversion and Smoothwall Fighting
I fought all afternoon with being unable to do checkouts, updates or checkins into Subversion on Dreamhost. I had that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach since I wholeheartedly have been recommending people use them for cheap Subversion hosting.

Turns out it wasn't Dreamhost's problem, it was mine. I recently switched on the transparent web proxy in my Smoothwall firewall. Apparently, the Squid proxy doesn't cooperate with the REPORT WebDAV HTTP headers that Subversion uses, thus resulting in the errors. I've shut the proxy off until I can figure out a better solution.

So, if you're getting "REPORT request failed", check if there's a proxy in the middle.

Home Theater Projector
Something like 18 months ago, I investigated the DIY projector information from Lumenlab. Since they used a 15" LCD, I ruled it out (no room for a projector of that size in my home theater). However, 6 months ago, I noticed that they had announced that they were taking their design and getting some smaller ones manufactured.

I added myself to their list to be notified when they were available to buy and I got the email a few weeks ago. I'm now eagerly anticipating mine to end up on the doorstep.

It was $499, with free shipping. Instead of an expensive $300 bulb, they use a cheap $30 bulb that lasts 6000 hours. According to their distance calculator, I should be able to get at least a 100" 16:9 image, but will wait to buy the screen until I'm sure about the size. However, this is the first inexpensive projector I've seen that doesn't throw out a postage stamp sized image at 10 feet.

The IRS Roller Coaster
After getting a letter from the IRS "requesting" a payment in the amount of almost $1200 due to under-reporting my 2005 taxes, things have gone 180°. We tracked down the glitch (we actually paid taxes on the money in 2004 and they didn't match things up).

Then, today, we got the call that we're actually getting almost $2000 back. What a roller coaster. I hope that they lose complete interest in my financial arrangements.

The cash will come in handy following the large soapy puddle in the middle of the kitchen coming from the dishwasher a couple of days ago.

The Electric Bike
I hit Target looking for a donor bike and bought the closest thing I could find: a retro, cruiser-style bike from Schwinn. Basically, if the motor doesn't fit in this bike, there isn't a cheap bike nearby that this thing will fit into. It was the only one there that met the requirements.

With the motor, I'm not terribly concerned with leaning down, so the more upright position is actually nice. There won't be as much weight on my wrists and the bigger handlebars offer plenty of space to mount the throttle and other accessories.

So, here's to hoping that the motor spins freely.