Slashdot

Well, I haven't been spending much time around these parts, but I just got some news from home that I had to share.

As of 3:40 this morning, I'm an uncle. 9 pounds, 1 ounce, 22 inches. Stuart Jeremy. Stuart for my brother, Jeremy for my sister-in-law's father.

I currently have a very dead hard drive (Samsung SP1604N), which I would like to recover. I have already purchased a new enclosure. If the hard drive is not connected, the light comes on; however, if the drive is connected, the light comes on briefly then goes out. The hard drive doesn't spin up.

Does anybody have any suggestions regarding drive surgery options? Is there a fuse or something similar I can replace or bypass just for a couple hours so I can copy my files onto a new drive?

For about the zillionth time, Air Canada has managed to lose my luggage. There were no problems with my flight - no cancellations, adequate layover time - yet somehow, once again, I ended up at my destination and my luggage did not.

Now, according to my luggage tracking page, they've managed to find one of my pieces of luggage. The other is still in limbo somewhere.

We all know that NORAD considers the fat man to be a number one priority this time of year. However, did you know that Canadian ships as far away as the Persian Gulf are assisting the search?

Yes, that's my brother's ship. No, he's not in the video. Merry (winter holiday of your choice) to everyone. To the guys out in the "box", come home safe.

I phoned home the other day to laugh at their weather. Never do that. The next day, it snowed here, and we had a warning to stay off the roads yesterday. Making fun of someone else's weather is bad.

I did get some interesting news when I called, though. I'm going to be an uncle :) My brother, who is in the Persian Gulf aboard HMCS Ottawa, and his girlfriend, who was on the same ship, had a little pre-deployment celebration, and we'll be seeing the results in May. She was sent home as soon as they found out (can't have a pregnant woman in the combat zone), and he'll be back in March.

School's done on Thursday, I go home next Saturday for Christmas leave. Then I come back here, and go back there for my house-hunting trip. Then back here one final time to graduate, then I get 15 days to drive from St. John's NL to Victoria BC, an "official" distance of 7200 km. Should be an interesting roadtrip. Anyone have suggestions on what I should bring (emergency equipment, food, etc)?