Asterisk and alarm working well together

After monitoring my alarm panel for a few days I have to say things are working extremely well! I’m still not parsing the messages the panel sends but I do get them reliably. As of now I get alerted via text message whenever the alarm is tripped. Actually, I get three alerts as for each test I get an event for “alarm tripped” and two for “alarm canceled.”

What I need to do now is write a little PERL app to convert the event code to text. I also might rewrite the AlarmReceiver Asterisk app to dump events into MySQL rather than randomly-named text files.

I also want to explore how to make the alarm report all events (a door opens, motion, etc) , not just when the alarm is tripped. Since I’ve got a phone line already dedicated to the alarm it shouldn’t be a problem to “nail it up” all the time. Alarm companies monitor a lot of their customers using “alarm loop” lines from the phone company, so it should be possible to monitor the whole system at all times.

Quoted in the paper

I was quoted in the paper today regarding a proposed topless club on Capital Boulevard.

“We don’t want a concentration of places,” said Mark Turner, chairman of the East Citizens Advisory Council.

“It drags down the property values or the safety of the hotels, like the Milner Inn,” Turner said. “Something like this happening sets us back.”

While the quote was accurate I wish I’d had more time to collect my thoughts. A neighbor had given the reporter my work phone number and he called me when I was right in the middle of crunch time on a big project. Deadlines notwithstanding, I should have asked to call him back. I wonder if its just human nature for one to wonder if one sounds like a moron whenever quoted in the paper.

At any rate, yesterday morning I thought of a big reason I’m wary of the project: robberies. Strip clubs are cash-driven businesses. Latinos have a reputation (right or wrong) for keeping large amounts of cash on them. I fear a Latino strip club will become a robbery magnet and overburden our already-overworked officers with more robberies to solve.

September Morn

September Morn
Neil Diamond

Stay for just a while
Stay, and let me look at you
It’s been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We’ve traveled halfway ’round the world
To find ourselves again

September morn
We danced until the night became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel that way
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Kapow!

Kelly and I were on the screen porch last night enjoying the long, wet thunderstorm. As we talked in the dark, I suddenly saw Kelly’s face in full color.

Kapow! A huge clap of thunder sent us both ducking for cover. Obviously, that lightning strike was a bit closer than the others!

I think we’ll enjoy the thunderstorms from the inside from now on.

Graffiti hotline

I’m probably one of the top callers to Raleigh’s Graffiti Hotline, the number to call when graffiti is spotted anywhere in the city. In fact, I’m on a first-name basis with them! After walking by a clean spot Monday that 24 hours earlier had spray paint on it, I felt I had to let someone know what a great job Raleigh’s Street Maintenance division has been doing to keep the city clean.

Below is my email to the division’s director, Elwood Davis, which cc’d city officials:
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Monitoring my alarm panel with Asterisk

Remember when I wanted to get my Asterisk phone system monitoring my home alarm panel? I did it today! It was surprisingly easy, too. Took about a half-hour of geeking to get it done.

Why monitor my alarm with Asterisk? Because the house has no land line and I don’t see the wisdom of paying some company $240 a year to do what I can do much better myself. Plus there’s something cool about having your computer do things when something physical happens – and Asterisk can do just that.
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Disable message balloons in Microsoft Outlook

I’m forced against my will to use Microsoft Outlook at $WORK. Frequently, Outlook will pop up a message balloon informing me that its accessing the network.

“Well, duh!” I say. “That’s what you’re supposed to be doing! Thanks for interrupting my work so you can bring me that critical information!” Talking to my computer is no use, though, as it just stares blankly back at me like a stupid dog.

Luckily I’ve found the recipe to turn off these useless messages for Outlook 2003. I made these registry changes and, voila, problem solved!

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Display Types\Balloons]
"Exchange"=dword:00000000
"NetConn"=dword:00000000
"NetWarn"=dword:00000000

(Hat tip, the Microsoft forums)

Gustav

I recently watched NOVA’s program on Hurricane Katrina called Storm That Drowned A City. It was a fascinating program detailing the timeline of Katrina’s march to New Orleans, focusing on how the storm’s surges undermined and overran the city’s levees. The takeaway was that the city is no better protected now than it was three years ago.

Now comes Tropical Storm Gustav, a storm which could quickly get nasty that is now making a turn towards New Orleans. The next week may provide a chance to see if we’ve learned anything.