Month: December 2018

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I Do this Sort of Thing for a Living…

So, I finally got my new computer all put together and set up, in and of itself, no small feat. Not so much the putting it together, but getting everything installed, configured, and what needed data/files moved over is a major pain in the ass… I feel somewhat fortunate that I had implemented, a number of years ago a centralized and synchronized storage for things like documents, pictures, music, etc. but you have to be pretty vigilant in ensuring you’re saving all items to these shared locations.

I cannot imagine how people who don’t have access to options like these do it… And the “cloud” doesn’t really count. I mean, it can, it’s kind of there, but you had better have a very wide connection, or the ability to not have everything immediately available, if you have a lot of data stored out there. Also, it can be a very manual process. The nice thing about my set up, with an active directory domain and group policy is, is that when I log on for the first time on a new system, synchronization is automagical…

But, I digress.

So, I’m cruising along having some “fun” with the new system when I start to notice some idiosyncratic behavior. Periodic screen freezes, certain open windows freezing, seriously W.T.F… Now, I deal with misbehaving applications all the time at work (though it’s typically reached the data layer when I become involved), it’s something I am very good at so, I have some confidence in this not being a hardware issue, based on what I am seeing. This is a good thing because it would certainly be a major headache if it were a hardware issue. Having to track down the offending component, then going through the RMA process to get a replacement, etc… So, time to tear into this.

First thing to do, check on system resource utilization. CPU activity is good, RAM is basically waiting for data to occupy it, disk activity all look normal. Then it jumps out at me, there are over 1.5M handles allocated. Hmmm… I just got done dealing with a massive handle leak issue at work due in large part to some questionable choices some software vendors have been making. This is not something I want to be having to deal with at home too.

So, I track down the offending process, fortunately it was a single process using around 1.4M handles, and kill it. Performance immediately returns to normal.

Great… easy enough. Now, what is this process, LEDKeeper.exe. Quick search with my favorite search engine… well shit. This is one of the components that controls the LEDs on my motherboard and CPU cooler. I guess the music synchronized LEDs were fun while they lasted. Not sure I’m getting paid enough to deal with this… 🙂

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When you think you’ve lost something…

Deer hunting (Iowa’s Gun 1) started on Dec. 1st, the first full weekend in December 2018. This years opening day was absolutely miserable, temperatures just above freezing, and a pretty constant drizzle. I saw a few doe scattered about, but nothing worth writing about (and yet, here I am). The next day was a bit better, colder for sure, but instead of rain, we had snow. I’m no fan of cold weather, but snow is far preferred to rain when out hunting, outside of the increase in noise you make walking on snow.

As I’m getting my gear in place at the back of my vehicle, I see a couple of doe off to my left, at 175-200 yds. Just outside of my comfortable range, even with my black powder, so I just watch them a bit while I continue to gather my gear. Then I notice movement to my left again a ways off, but when I look over, I see a VERY nice buck walking up a waterway. At about the comfortable limit of my black powder (on a bench), but I figure, I’ve got my tailgate open and can use the back of the vehicle as a rest. So, I take the shot… and miss. Apparently, the wind was sufficient to keep him from spooking and he walks another 10 or so yds., and lays down in the tall grass. Me taking a mental note of his location, I walk off in search of others.

Fast forward an hour or so, and I’m not seeing much and I’m circling back to near where I saw him bed down; time to see if he stuck around. I’m wading into the tall grass, getting closer to where I saw him, and suddenly all hell breaks loose. Less than 10 yds. ahead of me, this monster jumps up and starts running. I fire three slugs at him (shotgun for walking), and after 5 or so minutes, as my heart rate slows back to closer to normal, I move forward looking for signs that I hit him. Swatches of crimson greet me as I moved forward, “success”…

Apparently, deer must have some massive reservoir of blood that we mere mortals don’t posses. As I’m following this pretty profuse blood trail, I come over a terrace and what do I see 300 yds. away, that monster jumping a fence into the next property headed west toward the creek… W.T.F…

Continuing to follow his trail I walk into the woods surrounding the creek, mile one has ticked by as I get to a small crossing for a tributary for the creek and as I’m approaching this, the deer jumps up again over 100 yds. away, with a companion doe and head north, into the last standing corn for miles in all directions… Great. Now I have to back-track to cross the feeder as it’s cut out a deep gully and the feeder itself is too wide and deep for me to cross.

Pick his trail up again headed into the corn… Have I made it clear how much I’m not a fan of this farmer for leaving the corn in the field this late in the year? Wading through the corn, the buck has made things a bit easier by sticking to the edge (this farmer planted right up to the creek), so I follow, until he decided to go back into the corn, crap… I go in after him, and make a (for me) cardinal mistake; never ever carry your long range, sitting firearm in your shooting hand when you’re bushwhacking. As I’m walking through the corn, looking down at his trail, I take a moment to look around me, and not 5 yds. away, there he is laying down. I damn near stepped on him again. Heart rate jumps as I put my shotgun (STUPID) down and try to take aim on him, as he’s bolting in the opposite direction… Needless to say, that shot hit nothing but corn stalks and dirt.

Now, I’m feeling like a complete bone-head, but, I need to push on… He left a pretty substantial puddle of blood where he was laying down, but I can tell by the trail he’s leaving, it is coagulating, i.e. not leaving much of a trail. But, with fresh snow on the ground, and his size, he is pretty easy to follow. Give him a 10 minute head start to get comfortable and pick back up…

Moving forward, as I am approaching mile two, his trail has mixed in with other large deer. And the blood has slowed to nothing. Shit, I cannot believe this. I look around for another hour, to no avail. Calling it a day. Man, I feel like complete shit for the litany of missteps that made me lose this deer.

Overnight, I have a hell of a time sleeping, running through all the things that transpired, mostly the mistakes. When I wake up from what little sleeping I did get, I decided that first thing, I would go back to where I last had solid indication of his trail and start with fresh eyes.

Picking the trail back up, I notice that a heavy set of tracks I didn’t notice before veered off into the corn… time to see where those lead. Followed those for the better part of a quarter mile when I look off to my right, between rows and I see the backside of a doe, not 15 yds. away. Well, at least I’m not freaking everything out by trudging through the stalks… Another 50 yds. in, I’m trying to be more vigilant in looking up, as opposed to just looking for/at the tracks, when I look up and see through 4-5 rows of corn, the buck, laying down looking in my direction. This time, no mistakes, shotgun in hand, I end this two day drama.

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