It’s my birthday in a week or so. What can I say other than, “Big whoop”?
I can’t say that I’ve had a truly memorable or even great birthday in I don’t know how many years. Even my 21st was a complete washout. Actually… What 21st? I remember we went out to a restaurant. So much for the big birthday bash, eh? 11 years later, birthdays have become pretty much meaningless to me. It’s just another boring day.
Well, maybe not, since I’m sitting here whining about it.
Couldn’t resist that title, forgive me 
I was mucking about with SSH tunneling with PuTTY a bit earlier. Although it looks completely mind boggling, it’s actually very very simple to do. I just wish some schmuck had written a concise howto, then I probably would’ve spent 2 minutes figuring it out instead of 5. 
So… consider this my concise howto. (Ok, bear in mind, I have no idea how to spell concise, let alone speak it!)
First of all, you need to have an accessible SSH server somewhere that you can authenticate to, and hopefully the option AllowTCPForwarding is set to “Yes” in its sshd_config. If you have access to modify the config, I suggest checking that this option is on.
Load PuTTY on your workstation, and type the hostname and port of your ssh server on the “Session” window (That’s the default window that opens when PuTTY loads). If you have your connection saved, click it in the Saved Sessions list and click the “Load” button.
Now, in the tree list to the left, expand “Connection”, then “SSH”, and click on “Tunnels”.
In the dialog to the right, type in a source port (This is the port that you will connect to on your local machine) - pick something arbitrary - hopefully it won’t be in use. If you’re not sure, open a command prompt and run ‘netstat -a’, and pick a port that is NOT listed there
In the destination field, type the name of the server you wish to connect to, and the port, using host:port syntax. Click “Add”. If you want to add more local ports / remote hosts, do it now.
If you want your machine to be a gateway type machine, click the check box at the very top of the screen, “Local ports accept connections from other hosts”. — I have NOT tested this functionality, so who knows if it works.
Click ‘Open’ when you’re ready. If you like, you can switch back to the ‘Sessions’ section, and save your tunnel session.
The PuTTY console screen will open like normal, and you can authenticate to your ssh server. Leave that window open, and open whatever software you wish to tunnel with, and enter ‘localhost:port’ (set the port to whatever port you chose in the Source port for the tunnel).
Voila! You should be connected.
The only caveat I can see is using the tunnel for browsing the web is not that effective, especially in the case of name based virtual hosts - if you try access a site that is a virtual host on some web server, the default site will actually load, and not necessarily the site you were expecting. I’m not sure if there is a way around this.
I did a Volkswagen advanced driving course today. Got to drive a Golf GTI the whole day. What fun. Man, that car can accelerate! Defensive Driving course & Skid pan.
The morning consisted of driver evaluation and tips etc, driving in traffic along various routes. The instructor reckons I’m a good defensive driver, so I’m quite happy.
The skid pan in the afternoon was loads of fun. For some reason, every time we did something, I was first :P. Very nerve wracking initially, particularly with 2 passengers in the car, but I soon got used to it, and the initial adrenalin rush faded into dim memory.
It was loads of fun, especially doing fast pull offs, wheel spinning when changing in to second gear, and then suddenly slamming on brakes to skid. It was also interesting when later on, you’re driving sedately, take a turn, and the instructor pulls up the hand brake. Whoop! 180 degree turn. 
The Golf GTI’s are front wheel drive, so that was the only practical way of simulating oversteer.
Understeer was caused by turning a bend at a sedate pace, and then tramping on the accelerator.
It’s amazing how well the car safety systems avert all those situations. We got to do the full skid and turn thing with ABS on. It’s very loud, and the brake pedal vibration feels really funky while it’s working, but you retain full control of the vehicle through the turn. Brilliant stuff.
The GTI’s (not sure what other models) have an additional system called ESP which means Electronic Stabilization Program - this essentially prevents understeer, amongst other things, by limiting engine power when it detects the wheels losing traction due to too much power, so you essentially retain control of the car during a potential skid situation.
Driving my 1.6 Polo after the course was a real let down 
Got this new tsclient as a windows update. What a piece of shit. “More secure” seriously, who gives a rats ass? Now, instead of typing a server name and clicking connect and being presented with that machine’s login screen, I’m now presented with a little popup where I have to enter connection credentials so stupid tsclient can try automaitcally log you in to the machine Nice idea, however if you’re not using the Microsoft client on the machine (like the Netware client, for example) it seriously fucks you around. Now instead of having a relatively simple login, you now have to clear the “domain not found” error message, unset the “workstation only” check box, switch to the windows login tab, change that to your own user id, change the domain from local machine back to the domain, and finally log in. What a crock of shit. Thanks for fucking up yet another thing, Microsoft!
It comes as no great surprise that I heard absolutely nothing from home affairs yesterday.
My father in law will harass them again today.
We went to a parents evening at my son’s school last night. It was just a general welcome / info session for new grade 1 parents. The head teacher gave a fairly long and thought provoking (I hope) speech about our children’s education, and apparent lack of interest / apathy that parents seem to have these days with regards to raising their children. She didn’t pull any punches, which I think is great, because it seems these days that people try so hard not to offend, that nothing useful ever gets said, and it’s the human race that ends up suffering for it.
Hmm… I think the subtitle was used elsewhere…
I find it hilarious (in a sad, demented, ironical way) that our state president is importing a security wall for his official residence that costs around R90 million (~$12.7 million), especially in light of his view of South Africa’s crime “being under control”. Ha! At that price, I hope the wall comes with sharks with frikkin’ laser beams on their heads!
Don’tcha just love sequels?
I received notice that perhaps, possibly, just maybe the certificates will be available today. I await the call with baited breath. Of course, this means that I’ll have to drive through to Pretoria to go pick the damn things up, and probably queue for ages before I can get them, but, at least it’s better than waiting 12 frikkin’ weeks.
I realise that I just suddenly changed tack a few posts ago, and went off at a tangent about forms and birth certificates etc. At least one of my three readers have probably figured out what I’m up to, but for the others who yet remain in the dark, I’ll provide a hint: It’s got to do with finding a better environment for my kids to live in.
