Monthly Archive for June, 2003

“FreeBSD is there for us; it is our exit strategy. Mock not the exit strategy! For it may save our butts one day… ”

So I haven’t posted in a while. So sue me – I’ve been busy as hell.

Started work on Monday, and all seems to be going well. Getting paid a ton of money, and seriously wishing I’d been doing so since the beginning of summer.

Lessee… Went to T.O. with Suzan last week, to spend oodles of money and see Sam. I bought some wireless networking gear (2 USB NICs who, so far, both transmit fine and recieve sometimes. Don’t buy Benq.), a new 10/100 switch (not hooked up yet), a 2.4 GHz phone (and yes, the WiFi is still stuffed when the phone is unplugged), oodles of LEDs (3mm Blues for $1.50 @ Active Surplus – oh, how I love that store). Met up with Suzan after shopping – in the fscking rain – and we then proceeded to rendezvous with Sam, who is as much an asshole as ever. Had lunch, saw 2 Fast 2 Furious (which, now that I’ve seen the first one, totally blows away the first one in my mind). Then went home.

That weekend, bought an XBox. Dad helped solder the D0 wire for the mod before he left… I soldered the LPC, soldered it again (right this time), and modchip seems to be Cromwell-deficient. RMAing the Cromwell ASAP.

Rented Simpsons Road Rage for XBox. Amazing game – I’m beginning to see what I’ve missed by not being in the gaming scene for these past 20.5 years.

Oh, case mod nears completion – finished cutting the hole for the window, only to find that the moulding won’t conform to the side of the hole. So I taped it in, and left it overnight in the garage. Of course, I think I would up trimming it a bit too short (why the hell don’t they give us the moulding pre-cut? They know the diameter of the window already), so I’ll probably have to cut a chunk off the remainder and stick it in the gap.

I don’t know when I evolved this ability to type accurately while not looking at any part of the computer, but I love it. And now that I mention it, I find I can no longer do it.

So, that amazingly amorphous blob of ideas about brings you to this weekend. Mom & Jenny are at a Brownie camp, and Dad is out west at an Actuarial event. I’m here with Elizabeth – still not totally well – and Robbie, who got ill… today. Hopefully he’ll be better tomorrow so I can try and do something fun. I’m really not relishing the idea of being here with 2 siblings variously ill.

On that note, I end this here diatribe. It being too late to go to sleep – have to get up to help / do Robbie’s paper route at ~6.5am, and it’s now nearly 5am – so I’ll get some Caffeine and find some clothes.

return 0;

P.S. Laura is now blogging. I feel it necessary to mention this, as I’ve already quoted her twice on this here blog.

“Some people never come clean – I think you know what I mean…”

Went to see The Italian Job at Cineplex @ Square One with Caitlin and Suzan. Damned good movie – full of suspense, intrigue, gadgetry, Charlize Theron, and wodnerful Napster jokes.

And a well-done Shawn Fanning cameo.

Can’t say I’m in love with the Odeon in Square One, though – uncomfortable seats, maze-like entrances, and a hell of a lot of ads before the movie. For example, there was the Toyota Matrix one, the Cox Coca-Cola ad, one for the video release of the new James Bond flick who’s name escapes me… there were 3 or 4 more. Compared with the 1 or 2 I’m used to from AMC. This is before even the previews start.

Still, a very enjoyable evening. Currently a meeting with Sam next Thursday is in the works – haven’t seen that guy in nearly a year and a half. Add a job interview on Monday, IEEE meeting on Monday, CMS to write for J21.2003, LTD to maintain, computer to finish painting and modding, Wien & Cheese to plan, room to finish, Brother’s room to finish, inevitable household chores, and XBox to buy / mod contingent on the outcome of Monday’s interview… I’ve got a busy week ahead of me.

“You’ve got to do what Bob Seger said…”

I get upstairs, and notice the little battery light on my notebook – my communications centre – is flashing orange, indicating about 10-15 picoseconds of battery left (Mfgr. spec: 10-15 minutes).

Odd, that is, considering it’s plugged in.

Linux complaining battery dead, Windows says it’s at 98% – and did not diminish at all in 30 minutes of Solitaire (which, in the past, would have consumed 10% of my battery. These days – 60-70%). Plugging in the brick does nothing – light stays a-flashin’.

At this point, I’ve narrowed the list down to bad battery (and discovered it won’t run without one – grrr…), bad charge controller (AIEEE!!!!), or bad brick. So I plug in my other brick – light turns solid orange (=charging), and battery indicator drops to 0%.

HIt “refresh battery”, come back an hour later – blank screen! Move mouse, and am at Redhat login window. Log in, and no sound! Sound drivers won’t load.

Wrong kernel version. Knew I should’ve uninstalled that old version.

So the battery is working again. I’m reluctant to try the other brick again, but I’ve got to see if I shouldn’t be using it any more, or if this was an overheating-related incident (when picking it up, I was surprised the plastic was still solid).

People think that because of my extensive knowledge in this field, that I don’t encounter problems of my own. Consider that all of this went down mere hours after I finished restoring my Linux install from a reinstall caused by Gaim going blarg no matter what I did. I think I’m more of a trouble magnet than anything.

Oh well… went to University of Guelph with Mom and Jenny today for a tour. Nice campus – damned nice. Any and all of the Res rooms were bigger than their counterparts at Mac, food service availability was extreme (in our limited tour, we only saw 6 locations, compared with the 4 at Mac that serve Real Food). A little on the big side, though.

During the tour, it alternated between rain and threatening to rain when we walked between buildings. It was only when we were leaving that the medium drizzle abated, and the torrential downpour started. We figure that despite the suitability of the place, Jenny shouldn’t go, as her presence obviously disrupted the Natural Order of Things In General.

I’m more than a little convinced that the world as I know it is about to end, due to the phenomenal amount of crap seeming to filter into my inbox. There’s all this IEEE stuff that needs to be done – which I expected, but it’s still something of a shock. Then there’s LTD – the website from hell. Then there’s the fact that a certain a-hole hasn’t paid me yet.

But perhaps most disturbing is my sudden urge to listen to Knights in White Satin, by the Moody Blues.

Maybe if I finish up this LTD crap, I can work out the IEEE crap tomorrow, and actually get some coding done before I start work. That’s right – I haven’t even started work yet, and I’m already at my wit’s end. I can’t WAIT for July…

Now to take care of that Moody Blues thing… better to just listen to it than to waste time trying to figure it out, is my thinking.