Midget's Musings

Moving Up, Jumping Ship, Etc.

2009-10-21T11:42:00.000-04:00

Going over to Wordpress, folks! Merging my static website with the blog, and Blogger just doesn't have the chops to do that well. All new content will be at the Brushpile, so go there instead. All the old stuff is there as well as other exciting new & used content!

Sunday Afternoon And The Portage Of Tools

2009-10-18T20:12:00.007-04:00

Today, we bring you another project which shall either be embarrassing, stupendous, or both, and possibly prove once and for all that you should think twice before admitting you know me.

We present to you, the Toolpack Rev. 1! Completed in a single Sunday afternoon of actual work and a lot of other random time of thinkage. (Including during the sermon this morning. Ahem. Sorry Pastor Warren.)

Over the past months I have been carting a growing collection of tools and other paraphernalia to work and back and have been resisting the trend among my fellow movers to buy Very Large Toolboxes (or bags) which end up being Very Heavy and Very Awkward and working best on wheels. I can usually get away with just my backpack (with lunchbox strapped on) and toolbag, but on the days when I need toolbag, drill, wrenches, books for the truck ride, first aid, *and* yummy lunchyness, I feet a distinct need for a couple extra arms. (Three if I have to bring my boots, too.)

This inspired - or at least prompted - the thought that I could probably fit it all on an old backpack frame, if I were crazy enough to try, and could find a backpack frame. After weeks of prowling curbs and checking out Goodwill I remembered Dad had one in the basement. (Thanks, Dad.) With the addition of some snazzy 1-1/4" safety-orange webbing I snagged from the dumpster at the freight warehouse, we got us a lean, mean, tool-carrying... thing.

Now at least I can break my back eccentrically.

Change Of Face(book)

2009-03-24T22:32:00.032-04:00

Over past Facebook changes I have largely, roundly, and imaginatively derided complainers. I have a very long, somewhat impolite, and happily unpublished blog post to that end somewhere, regarding the last facebook restructuring, and I still have very little patience with people who whine, cry, and generally carry on obnoxiously about every single thing Facebook changes. No good reasons, no quantitative analysis, or in depth discussion - mostly just a pity-party of complainers.

I know, most people may not be good at analyzing and comparing things, and/or don't have the time - but they still find the time to complain without a second thought. The least they could do is be respectful about it, and (*gasp*) say something about why they don't like it. Face it: posting things like "it STINKS!!! i hate facebook now it sucks and its different and what were you smoking?" does not inspire any respect at all and is mostly un-helpful.

So in the interest of my own opinions on whiners, I will not whine about the changes. I will attempt to compare the current UI iteration thoughtfully to past versions and provide insight into why most of you hate facebook so much right now, or at least did last week. And I apologize for the length of this post, but it seems I can't do things like this by halves. To my knowledge, this is the most thorough analysis of Facebook's interface changes ever published.

Anyway, here's my nut-shelled opinion: I think the layout took a couple steps forward and a whole bunch of baby steps backward. The changes have been made in the name of simplicity and ease of use. It is definitely more simple. However, it is visually less structured (i.e., more cluttered), does not always work the way I want or expect it too, and does not provide me with as much control or value. If it does not do what I want it too, ease of use tanks as well. This is a case where simpler is not necessarily better.

Goodness

Filtering based on friend lists
This is really nice - it's the one major feature I wanted in the old facebook that wasn't there.

Layout
The layout *is* simpler. For the most part, the underlying concept of the new facebook is pretty good, with exceptions noted below.

Badness
In the Operational Unintuitions Category
(Or, assumptions about user behavior which might not be quite right)

The post box operation is nebulous
It looks the same everywhere, but can behave very differently depending what page it's on. It is completely unclear that posting on your own wall is different than posting on someone else's, which has been very aptly demonstrated by my newly-facebookified mother, who replied to multiple wall posts by setting her status. The concept of a "status" is completely hidden unless you already know how it works.

This could be easily remedied - for starters, change the post button text to say "Set Status" when on your own profile page, unless posting a special type of content.

(See also the note on post format - either change the format so it works better, or split statuses back out to a separate entity. And the "What's on your mind?" line is a bit hokey, but I can't think of anything better than "Post stuff" or "What do you want to share today?")

The Recent activity thing is confusing
Labeling activity on the wall as "recent" serves no useful purpose for two reasons:
1) I can figure out if yesterday is recent on my own, thank you, based on the post's timestamp
2) The "Recent Activity" boxes are all through the wall, even if the activity is no longer recent. This makes the term "Recent" totally useless.

This is/was done (I think) because it is easier to filter programmatically and visually groups wall posts and informational stuff separately. However, it would still be better to use the "Today", "Yesterday", "Some other day" headings, grouping the posts and other activity underneath. The smart date headings were great because they are very simple, require no interpretation, and (most important!) give the user control over what they think is "recent" enough to be interesting. I honestly don't care if it's recent, I just care if it's interesting to me and generally when it happened.

The single "delete" button is not intuitive
When I click it, I do not expect a particular friend to stop showing up on my news feed, I expect to just get rid of (or de-rate) that particular post or post type. The friend-based behavior is redundant - news feed supposedly already rates somewhat based on friend activity/interaction. This is an example where simplification is completely irrelevant - it's simpler, sure, but it a) isn't very useful and b) doesn't work the way users expect.

Wall post filtering is not designed from a user's perspective
This one is sticky. The wall has been restructured for ease of use by everyone but the person who owns the profile. The defaults should be to show user+friends, with option to show only friends or only user. The current settings emphasize broadcasting the activity of the user, rather than letting the user choose how they want their wall to work and be used.

Wall posts no longer have a "Reply" link
This is a UI dilemma - it's a duplicate feature. Yes, you can just as easily post on a friends wall by clicking their name or on the "Wall-to-Wall" link, but if I'm replying, I look for a "reply" link. It's not intuitive to click one of the other links. It would be amazingly intuitive to click "reply" and have a post box drop down (or pop up), like a comment, only it would post directly to the friend's wall instead of commenting. This would be a killer feature.

The new feed is a lot of information in a huge, daunting list
It's very hard to get useful information out of so much data. The old feed algorithm provided a much better balance and control over what showed up - now I have almost no useful control. See also the note above about wall post activity/date headings.

I no longer have control of post types in the News Feed
Before, there were preferences with sliders to customize the type of content that came across my feed. Now the only way to do that is manually, with application filters. Not good.

And now in the Visual Miscues section...

Post format is visually muddled
Previously, the name of the poster was in a sort of header and the message was separate. The current run-on format is harder to read because it is not visually well-defined. It works great for statuses, but nobody writes wall posts like statuses. Heck, most people don't write statuses like statuses. For wall posts, a better balance between space and readability would be good - even just putting a break between the name and post.

The new feed is harder to read - no visual formatting!
The old news feed formatting was much easier to read - the "Today" "Yesterday" etc. headings broke down the news feed into smaller, more easily parsable chunks. (The abbreviated & more compact format helped, too.) Coupled with the more mashed post formatting, it's much harder to read the news feed.

Miscellaneous UI quirks

The rounded images look icky and ill-defined. Keep the sharp, square, refined look.
Can we please put pokes with other notifications or something? Burying them in the middle of the right-hand sidebar has always bugged me, it makes no sense.
Group invites & friend requests should go back over on the right hand side with events, pokes, etc. They get lost visually at the top, even if it makes sense grammatically.
Highlights are pretty useless. It looks messy and is distracting. I want the relevant stuff I like to show up in my feed, not over there. Reformatting them could help, or put some sort of visual break between the news feed and highlights.
People You May Know should be hideable. It's useless to me - I want the option of not seeing it, like I had in a couple versions ago with apps on the profile page.

My Big Solution:
Put all invites, events, pokes, and notifications on the right-hand sidebar. Group as necessary for ease of use. Limit the amount of space notifications can take up, or make it say "You have 23 notifications" and the link unzips it.

So there's my take. Hope it's useful.

On Backing Into Snowbanks

2008-12-31T00:04:00.004-04:00

There is a peculiar danger, one which does not immediately present itself, in backing one's automobile into a well-established snowbank. One naturally thinks of the calamitous: dents, dangling bumpers, inability to remove automobile from said snowbank. However, it is also prudent to be aware of the more innocuous difficulties.

Such difficulties are presented by strange noises. A small but pleasant whistling, not unlike that of a turbo (which my car indeed lacks) presented itself from the rear of the car, along with an intermittent noise of a rattly, puffing, hissing sort, beneath the floorboards, but only when I put the engine under load. These made for an uneventful but nonetheless interesting trip from Freeport to Falmouth, where examination could commence.

I suspected something to do with the small existing exhaust leak just forward of the catalytic converter. Brief examination confirmed the continued existence of such, and that more sound was produced from it than previously, but precisely why it should suddenly sound like an air compressor at higher engine speeds rather baffled my understanding of exhaust problems. (Which, admittedly, are primarily limited to "things falling apart".) However, curiosity regarding the turbo-whistle revealed a very mundane plug of icy snow lodged firmly in the tailpipe. This, thanks to my existing exhaust leak, had not rendered the services historically served by the potato, and merely required a bit more huffing and puffing of the engine.

After picking a hole in the ice chunk with a bungee-cord, it was observed by experiment that normal operation had recommenced and that revving the engine produced an impressive spray of melted snow. Much fun was had by all.

Reformation Day Record

2008-10-31T23:39:00.003-04:00

Today is the day Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg. Normally I wouldn't post something like this, but I find it very fascinating that upon this momentous date I also hit my current record of Ninety-Five (concurrent) Firefox Tabs.

Trivial and pointless, I know, but oddly coincidental. And look, ma, no swap! I haven't even maxed out my RAM yet... (And technically it's 96 since I just looked up that Wikipedia link.)

The Nemesis, Conquered

2008-10-30T23:47:00.002-04:00

I have won. For the past week, a mosquito has been annoying me, flying around - just enough to be audible - about twenty minutes after I go to bed and shut the light off. Abominably an elusive chap, he naturally was not there when I turned the light back on to look.

To spite me and tempt fate (apparently), he decided to prowl while I was still up last night (though how a mosquito can prowl seriously, I surely don't know), but I'd have to be a magician to have caught him. Or at least have had my glasses on. Every few minutes he'd fly close enough to be heard or caught sight of, but promptly disappear again, thereby postponing my bedtime, cumulatively, by more than is necessary to mention.

But Sir Mosquito was finally undone. When I woke up this morning he was placidly set upon the window, up high, as I lay down below. He was too slow; I promptly dispatched him to the realms of that which is past and shall return no more. I have won. I have beaten the mosquito.

The Pod Is Cast

2008-10-24T13:54:00.004-04:00

I've discovered podcasting. It's a fascinating phenomenon, that one subscribes to what are, effectively, (mini) radio shows and listens when one pleases. I don't quite know why it fascinates me so. Perhaps it's the fact that, really, I'm an audio/radio geek at heart and if I have the choice of watching, listening, or reading, I will listen while I work on something else.

Whatever the reason, really, it's fascinating. Also internet radio. I still listen to Thistle & Shamrock, but it's also very nice to be able to listen to other celtic music or British folk any time, 24/7. And while I'm on this internet audio kick, I should also tell you that I've been listening to Three Men in a Boat during my otherwise quiet, music, or NPR saturated driving time. Excellent book, by the way. Timeless British hilarity cannot be had much better. All this to say that I downloaded it from Librivox, which aims to record, through volunteer vocal chords, any and every book in the public domain. Tall order, but good results so far. There is the occasional quality issue - some people, well meaning and talented as they may be, do need some coaching to make their reading aloud palatable - but the enjoyment has largely outweighed that particular chapter.

I should also note that the iPod shuffle excels at audiobooks, as long as you don't do the shuffle part. It's a book-on-a-stick that remembers where you left off!

If I had a decent mic and less cumbersome recording setup, I'd consider doing a State of the Stickman podcast to top my extended family's penchant for weekly/monthly/otherwise periodic email narratives of goings-on.

Of Windchimes, Foghorns, And The Wonders Of Science

2008-05-20T15:26:00.003-04:00

It's been a bit windy around here the last few days, which led us, over supper last night, to ponder the age-old question: could the wind be harnessed not just for the pleasant tinklings of windchimes, but also to produce the mellifluous hoot of the glass bottle? Blowing across the bottle undoubtedly works for mere humans, so it seems it could also be possible to use nature's breath to do the same thing, there being a lot more of it.

However, there still remain a few questions to be answered by prototyping:

What airspeed is required to produce sound?
Is it necessary to funnel/control the airflow in order to produce sound?
Can we sound up to a three-note chord, with each note denoting a higher windspeed?
What will the neighbors think?
And, most importantly, will it keep Mom awake at night?

We may or may not have too much time on our hands this summer... so the prototype may or may not get built.

The Bane Of Browsing

2008-04-24T10:00:00.001-04:00

I love tabs. I love Firefox sessions. But sometimes it gets out of control...

Is there a support group for this sort of thing?

I Know It's Spring

2008-04-23T12:53:00.001-04:00

I hit a bug on the way home from class the other night.

The Winter's War

2008-04-11T09:10:00.002-04:00

The fallen lie along the road,
Broken, bleeding, dying,
Casualties of the winter's war,
In ditches as you pass them by.
The war was long and cold and hard,
Fought in deepest snow -
The trenches ready made
To hide from fearsome foe.
Guerrilla tactics: hide inside the very banks
Thrown up by the enemy,
Taking cover from slicing blades of death
Which come oh, so swiftly
With orange flash and muffled roar
To crush the lurkers in the banks,
And cutting down the army's flags
With wings of death to slay the ranks.
With each new storm and fall of snow
The casualties mounted;
The ranks slowly dwindling
Until the lost could not be counted.
But now that spring has come to us
The battles become fewer.
Melting cover recedes,
Running to the sewer;
And the fallen lie along the road,
In broken pieces, life's course run:
Your mailbox is now safe again,
The plow trucks have all gone.

On Creativity And Inspiration

2008-04-08T13:14:00.007-04:00

I've noticed in the past couple weeks how creatively dull this semester has felt, particularly regarding this blog. I had chalked it up to being busy: "I don't have time to do homework and blog and keep up with the details of life!" Ah, but I still have time that I kill, regularly.

So I started wondering: what gives? What is it about this semester that makes it feel the way it does?

Last week I got my much anticipated copy of On The Edge of the Dark Sea Of Darkness in the mail, and, well, indulged. I permitted myself the luxury of spending a piece of my evening (in reality, four+ hours) ignoring school work and sleep, immersing myself in the story. (I just can't seem to stay away from something that has such a seriously goofy title, by one of my favorite artists, with a subtitle that reads: "Adventure. Peril. Lost jewels. And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree.")

Then I realized some of what I was missing: inspiration. Creative input, artistic brain food, whatever you want to call it. For me, that is something I generally get from reading excellent books. Don't get me wrong, I've been do a lot of reading this semester - reading about management and team building and statistics and building things with CAD. Stuff that is really pretty creative in practice (maybe excepting statistics), but not much that really inspires in textbook form.

I hadn't been reading for the sake of reading, to enjoy the existence of a good book.

There must be a balance. Too often I try to read things because I think I should, or because it's useful, it's related to something I'm interested in or is supplemental to an interesting topic from a class. But, many times, that's more taxing than it is helpful, and what I need most is a break from trying to remember useful information. I need to take time away from the every day tasks, I need to spend time enjoying and admiring creation in the work of others, to be refreshed and inspired. Shards of reality often are more clearly seen encapsulated in myth than in daily life; the creation, more often than not, reflects glimpses of the Creator.

And it's inspiring. (I keep using that word. It really does mean what I think it means.)

Dr. Seuss And Theology

2008-01-15T13:16:00.000-04:00

Have you ever thought how much God is like Green Eggs & Ham? It's a weird food. It's somewhat odd stuff, it doesn't look right and sounds sorta disgusting. Ham and Eggs are not supposed to be Green, it just isn't right. It's unconventional. And it's introduced to us in an unconventional way, by an unconventional guy with an unconventional name - and that unconventional guy, The Great Sam-I-Am, just will not go away.

Then we go through so much ridiculous trouble to avoid him and his abnormally colored wares. ("I will not eat it with a Fox, I will not eat it in a box!" Or on a train, or in a plane...) And after going through all that, we find out that Green Eggs & Ham really are really good, after all! And we end up good friends with the Great Sam-I-Am himself, creator of this strangely unconventional dish that apparently isn't even sold in stores, but given personally.

So there you have it, metaphor where there never was (and probably ever shouldn't be). This post brought to you by the color Green and Theolo-vision.

Things I've Recently Discovered

2008-01-13T18:25:00.000-04:00

Item One: The Klezmonauts - Oy to the World!
You may have already guessed, but Oy to the World is a klezmer Christmas album. Yes, the songs and carols you know artfully arranged in - well, a (mostly) klezmer style. It's one of those unique finds that somehow defies normality and manages to be musically excellent, quirky, humorous, and poignant, all at the same time. I really need to get my own copy.

Item Two: Time Flies.
Here it is 2008 already, and I haven't blogged since last spring. Scary how more than half a year can fly by so busily with nary a peep escaping to the electronic presence. I think the introverted season has been good - or has it been extroverted? Am I stuck so far in my own head so I don't write, or am I so busy reading and consuming other writings that I don't write? I really have no idea. Anyway, it's been different, and now this next bit will probably be different as well, but I don't know how or what way it'll affect this blog.

Item Three: Books are Really Cool.
Having not made/had much time to read in the past summer and fall, it was nice to actually finish A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court after about seven months of reading it in fits and starts. It was also nice to get through a couple other books on my reading list in the space of a couple weeks - an amount of dead-tree examination unheard of in the recent months. The recommendation stands for all of them:
1) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)
2) Too Busy Not To Pray (Bill Hybels)
3) Me, Myself and Bob (Phil Vischer)

Which reminds me, I don't have a super-schnazzy rating system to use when recommending things here. Have to work on that.

Some People Get Inspired

2007-04-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

I just get crazy urges to make six-foot tall snow rabbits right before suppertime. Then I have to go back out after eating and finish the project before it gets dark and the weather decides to start alternately snowing and sleeting. I tell you the truth, it's a rough life.

How Not To Design Stuff: Dellusions Of Power

2007-03-20T22:40:00.000-04:00

The University of Southern Maine employs the use of a large number of Dell Optiplex GX280 computers in labs and classrooms. They are modern computers, pretty fast, quiet, not real pretty, and the power button of these computers looks pretty much like any other typical power button on the planet: it's round, it has that funky little circle-with-a-line-symbol-of-power-thingy, and it glows green. However, one unfortunate design flaw has caused lost time and headaches.

How, you ask, can the design of a power button result in confusion and lost work? Visual feedback.

Fact: The button glows green when the computer is on.
Fact: People expect something on the computer to glow green when the computer is on.
However: In order to tell that the button is glowing, one must look almost straight at it from the front. If you are a little to the side - which is the normal arrangement for the Labs - you can't see the light.

Result: If the computer is positioned anywhere but in front of the user, the little green glow is invisible unless one leans over and peers at the button.

One would not think this to be a terrible problem, a dinky little light doesn't make that much difference. After all, you can also tell if the computer is on by looking at the monitor.

That logic is conveniently defeated by two different circumstances.

1) Some classroom computers are attached solely to a projector - if the projector isn't on (or is blanked), there is no feedback from the screen.
2) In the John Mitchell Center CAD lab, all the monitors are on a separate power circuit and can be turned off at the professor's whim.

We are back to using the power button glow as the sole indicator of computer status. This is a dangerous prospect to entertain if the glow cannot be easily seen - and did I mention that pushing the power button when the computer is on immediately shuts it down?

(Cue scary theme music.)

You push the button. Nothing seems to happen for a couple seconds. You push the power button again. The computer you just turned on shuts off again. You wait longer this time, and are confused. You push the power button again, firmly, and wait longer and something finally shows up on the screen. You can now do useful work before class starts.

Then, the monitors are shut off during lecture and you forget the computer is on - and there are no visible glowy lights to tell you either way. The lecture is over and you push the power button to start the machine up. It shuts off. And, since the computers have DeepFreeze (or equivalent) installed, anything that you saved to the internal drive is wiped clean at boot.

It sounds ridiculous, but I've seen people lose valuable work because of that. Extra frustration, problems, and lost work - all because the power button doesn't provide a good (i.e., visible!) visual cue.

Welcome Back To The Grindstone

2006-12-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

Since we're now well back from Thanksgiving break, overloaded with homework, and careening our way into Advent and the Christmas season, I thought this would be a good moment for inspiration.

To offer some, that is (though I wouldn't mind recieving some, either).

Advent means coming, as I'm sure some of you know. Since we have a lot to look forward to in the coming days - finals, for instance, and, of course more finals, and Christmas break and home at the end of them - it is increadibly easy to lose sight of everything but the pin-prick of light at the end of the tunnel.

So take some extra time out with God in the days ahead. Yeah, I know, you have to study, you have to do this and that and the other thing. (By the way, my name is Kettle. Pleased to meet you.) This is an amazing season with an amazing story and it's all to celebrate our Creator. I can't fully comprehend it right now - I'm too lost in homework and doing stuff. I need to start talking to my Creator again.

So how are you doing? I don't think God cares so much about the ecumenical part, even less about the gramatical - but spiritually, He is concerned with us. That's amazing, too.

Crossposted at the USM IV blog.

I'm Lost

2006-11-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

...in a geeky sort of way. Find me.

The Modern Wonders of Letter-Folders

2006-11-09T01:22:00.000-04:00

Have you ever gotten a ridiculous sense of excitement and/or satisfaction from watching some mechanical gadget work? Do you know the exquisite feeling of childish glee when exploring some technological wonder?

It's absurd, really. Why should I be so fascinated with the operation of an automatic letter folder? What is so riveting that I could sit, feeding paper into it, for hours? But there is so much satisfaction in the snatching "ka-chunk" and sudden exit of a magically folded piece of paper! The perfect creases! Ah, it is so beautiful! *sigh*

Why do I feel like a total geek right now?

Fanfare For The Common Blog

2006-11-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

The Bad News: Doug TenNapel stopped blogging. That is, like, a serious bummer, man.
The Good News: I haven't read the three years worth of archives yet.

Like many personal blogs, Doug TenNapel has (or had) a less-than-perfect grammatical style, sloppy spelling, and he rants about personal stuff, politics, and religion. Unlike many personal blogs, it actually was interesting and relevant to my life, too.

I'm not really sure why. All I know is that Doug has a knack for illuminating the weirdness of life in a humourous and relevant way. Maybe because he's not blogging as some sort of "public service" his perspective is actually more useful... but I'm hyperanalyzing a good thing.

Anyway, Doug, I'll miss the insight and (sane - sorta) perspective. Keep it up in your now more private life.

Important FYI

2006-11-03T23:44:00.000-04:00

There is nothing better than a hot cup of tea and bed after a tiring day.

The Horrors Of The Everything Button

2006-10-28T21:44:00.000-04:00

We just got a Samsung ML-2010 laser printer. It's a great printer - cheap, compact....and it has an Everything button.

Truly, you cannot know the power of the everything button unless you have experienced it in person. For what can this innocuous grey button do? Everything! (Ok, almost everything.) It can cancel print jobs, print test pages, it can turn the Toner Save feature on and off, and it can change the paper feed.

I think Samsung might have labeled it wrong, though, the text underneath says "Cancel" and it only cancels a print job if the "On Line/Error" light is blinking. If you push the button in "Ready" mode, it turns the Toner Save feature on or off. But only if you press the button for about a second. If you just hit it real quick it doesn't do anything.

Don't press it too long, though - if you hold the button for two seconds then the printer will spit out a test page at you, informing anyone who cares the RAM size, CPU speed, and current settings of the printer.

Oh, you want to use one sheet from the manual feed tray instead of the bottom auto-feed tray? There's a really simple solution. Just load a sheet and press the "Cancel" button.

The Saga Of The iMacs

2006-10-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

We just got a new iMac. That is, if you count a 1999 Graphite DV/SE as new. It's a University cast-off which Mom is particularly happy to have since the current iMac is a pile of disembodied computer parts under the printer shelf.

It is in such a state because that (formerly) Blueberry iMac's Power/Analog/Video board died, and death of PAV boards pretty much renders the whole computer a large, 40-pound doorstop. Which, in a household as computer dependant as ours, is a distinct predicament. Thank God that there's a lot of info on rigging an iMac board to run off of a regular PC power supply, because that's what it's doing and otherwise we'd be sunk. (Not exactly proverbially, either.) I can't say I'm complaining too much, though, since we got that computer from an different local university for, effectively, the cost of a new logic board. (Read: cheap.)

We got that castoff Blueberry machine because the analog board in our original Rev. A Bondi iMac died. When that happened we could at least plug in an external monitor and use it, but using an iMac with an external monitor seems a bit of a waste of space. That machine was also getting, shall we say, rather dated and slow.

So here I am, shuffling files and parts around yet again to make everything work. I just wish you could move OS X system files around with the ease of OS 7/8/9. But alas, the days of simply copying a System Folder to another computer and having it just work are over. Oh well. I've learned more about iMac history and the innards of OS X in the past month than I ever knew before. That's gotta be worth something, right?

Reasons That "Reasons My Life Is Lousy" Is A Lousy Title

2006-10-20T10:18:00.000-04:00

Well, for one, my life isn't really lousy. Sure, it has some quirks to it and there are bits that get on my nerves, but it isn't really all that bad. Maybe it should have been "Things About Life I Don't Like So Much".

This is what I get for opening my blog-sized mouth before really thinking through it.

Reasons My Life Is Lousy, Part 1

2006-10-04T22:55:00.000-04:00

There's a stack of unread magazines on the bookshelf by my bed. A pile of sorted, but unfiled papers in front of the shelf, which is overflowing, and a couple half-read books are stacked on top. One of my computers is a pile of parts screwed to some metal legs, a pile of stuff is slowly covering the desk, including the laptop that I haven't touched for weeks. (It's ancient.) Don't even mention the lists of miscellaneous things to do or read or think about. And I'm sitting here writing this instead of writing a memo for Technical Writing class.

I don't have time for my life. Or at least I doesn't seem like it. Homework? It's not hard, it's just not done. I'm apathetic. I haven't really figured out how to manage things yet this year. I only have class four days a week! In between and around classes I have whole blocks of time! And I don't know what where the heck it's all going!

Then again, maybe it would help if I hadn't gotten sidetracked looking up stuff on hovercraft for three hours last night.

This Is A Test Of The Facebook Note Import System

2006-10-03T20:24:00.000-04:00

It's really nifty how it imports your atom feed and all. It just seems like it ought not to take more than three hours for the post to come through. Interesting.

It's Not Fair, I Tell You

2006-10-03T16:40:00.000-04:00

Two bomb threats a school in two days. At the rate we're going, we're going to make Bonny Eagle High School's record a couple years ago look puny. Yesterday wasn't so bad because only the Portland campus was shut down and I don't have any classes in Portland, but today - today some prankster (I assume, until further proof) gyps me out of Work. Money. I would be getting paid to do build stuff.

Yeah, so it's debatable whether hacking up those chairs for Equus and reassembling them in Expressionist/Cubist style is really building stuff, but I would be getting paid for it if the whole blasted school weren't closed from Gorham to Lewiston-Auburn.

Life is really not fair. My brother lives through power outage, lightning, flooding, and general mayhem at school in Illinois and what do I do? I sit here in my kiester because of a stupid bomb threat. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to put up with it.

Score! (The Good-Books-Super-Cheap Edition)

2006-09-11T17:14:00.000-04:00

I happened across a really nice looking copy of Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell today in Goodwill and absolutely *could not* resist picking it up. Only $2.99 for such a tome of excellence in such condition?! But of course! I must have it!

Sing I The Praises Of The UPS

2006-09-03T22:49:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to reconfiguring things around here and put that UPS that I got a couple weeks ago into service. Now, unless you have a UPS (or a laptop), you have no idea how awesome a feeling it is the first time it goes into action. Oh, to be working on a forum post when the power goes out three times inside of thirteen seconds and then decides to stay there, I, basking calmly in the light of my screen, oblivious to the chaos of young siblings proclaiming near and far that the power has gone out.

Until, of course, the chirps of that most brick-like of saving angels grow more worried of the impending doom of an empty battery. Then one must, unfortunately, finish the forum post, power down the server, and shut everything off, awaiting eagerly such time as the electrons cometh again.

Woe Unto Me, Who Is Addicted To Free Junk

2006-08-21T19:51:00.000-04:00

I realy kinda hope right now that Mum doesn't find out exactly how much free junk I've brought home in the week the family has been out of town. Because today I brought home a file cabinet, an 8' CB antenna, some miscellaneous small toolboxes and hubcaps, a largeish Bug Zapper and a couple keyboard trays.

Adding that to all the other stuff I've gotten (and not totally filed away yet), all collected it takes up more space than I really have at the moment. Especially that file cabinet. I don't think that will fit in my room very well....and I was going to bring home a different one with the short drawers for the basement. Hm.

Score! (The Ridiculous-Lot-Of-Miscellany Edition)

2006-08-20T00:22:00.000-04:00

Work has been good to me this week. I have saved from extinction in the netherworld of Dumpster a two-port KVM complete with cables, a couple ancient modems, a raft of storage bins, a box of miscellaneous mice, power cables and data cables, an APC 1000VA UPS (dead batteries), and a handheld inventory scanner thingy, apparently still in it's original box.

And yesterday at a yardsale I acquired a DVD player, a drafting chair, Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, all for $12. Now if only I could find the sword so I can go talk to the Great Deku Tree, my life would be so much better.

I Should Have Called This Blog "Diary of Sporadic Man"

2006-08-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

Actually, that sounds sort of like I'm some sort of mushroom superhero, so maybe not.

So to recap the last month:

Work.
More Work.
Housesitting.
Along with work.

And that's why I haven't blogged. I have fixed my computer (new power supply & a real case to boot), acquired a real (if somewhat dorky looking) CB antenna for Genny, and collected a lot of other neat junk for free.

There are some advantages to working for a moving company: Sometimes people want to get rid of things and we have the priviledge of doing so for them and good stuff goes to the nearest guy who wants it. That is how I have become the owner of a Samsung Syncmaster 700IFT 17" monitor, an HP DesignJet 350C plotter, a couple IBM 380 laptops, another old computer & HP 17 monitor, and a large piece of corkboard, among other small odds and ends. Yes folks, this is a "Score!" post, edition "Super Stuff I Don't Have Room For But Can't Pass Up For The Life Of Me". But I guess that's ok because the plotter is going to a friend who might actually use it.

I Went And Saw "Pirates Of The Caribbean" And My Computer Died

2006-07-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

Though not in that order. This morning my computer refused to boot. It still does. I think it's the power supply. (I hope.)

So maybe I was just in a grouchy mood because of that, but I didn't really think the latest installment of Jack Sparrow & Co. was terribly exceptional. Sure, it's entertaining, outrageous, a little zany, often witty - but it's the sort of thing I wish I'd seen in someone's living room instead of paying $7 to see. And it doesn't even have an ending, but a terribly obvious set-up for the next episode.

Though I will admit I did like Davy Jones and his Organ. Classic tribute to Jules Verne for you, right there.

Eureka! I Finally Got It!

2006-07-04T00:57:00.000-04:00

I figured out how to make Geotagging work with Zooomr. Well, actually, I read this lifesaving article and then it mostly worked.

For whatever reason, it still doesn't know that some tags exist, but I haven't figured out any ryme or reason to it as of yet. It works with the image numbers, it works with new tags, but some of the tags it just can't find. Go figure. But aside from that, it's just plain slick.

Yessiree. And Spring Point is no longer lacking for Geotags! In fact, I put so many in tonight it's not really funny.

Why Oh Why...

2006-07-01T20:54:00.001-04:00

So vacation was great. Four days in Vermont camping out in our friends house isn't that bad when it's sunny enough to go to the lake and hike and all at least two of those days, and it was. Good company always helps, too. Since then, however, it's been (and will be) life in the fast lane.

I left VT before the rest of the family so I could be back for to set up and mix a concert (open rehearsal, actually) at church last night and I feel like I haven't stopped since. After my five hour drive I stopped at home long enough to offload bags and whatnot so it could be unpacked and laundry done and all when the rest of the crew got home and then booked it down to church. Setup, sound checks, the whole deal, reset everything so I don't confuse Sam on Sunday morning, close up the building, take care of Animals. Did I mention that I'm taking care of the neighbor's animals while they're out of town for a few days? Morning and evening jaunts to feed & water the chickens and dogs. I think I got home before 23:00, but I'm not really sure.

Then today I spent the morning running around doing errands and getting briefed for house/dogsitting for another friend this week. And the afternoon rebuilding the boot disk on my server/router/gateway so my Mom (among other people) could check her email. And then housecleaning. And now I'm finally sitting (at the house/dogsitting gig) and feeling thoroughly bushed. Listening to NPR, blogging, and catching up from my week without web. And I think need to go to bed right about now.

I'm Not Even Working And I Have No Life

2006-06-09T23:19:00.000-04:00

You know you've been spending too much time on lighting design and rigging when, driving home late at night, you turn on your highbeams and immediately think, "Oh, they have hotspots".

And as if I needed more proof that somewhere around fourty hours is too much time to spend working on Fiddler On The Roof this week, I was thinking about the holes in my front wash and how to better rig my toplight before I was properly awake this morning.

Of Rain And Normality

2006-05-17T18:21:00.000-04:00

Today was really weird. I woke up and the sun was shining. For the past seven days (give or take a couple due to innacuracies in memory), it has been either cloudy, rainy, drizzly, or any combination of the above, and I had started getting used to it.

Now picture my confusion when I woke up this morning to sun streaming in my window and no comforting sound of rain dripping off the roof. It's very disorienting, I tell you, and I must admit that I stumbled around a bit and was somewhat disgruntled before the effects wore off sometime after breakfast. Such are the hardships of life, I suppose.

Score! (The Great-Stuff-Cheap Edition)

2006-05-15T23:27:00.000-04:00

I have found the suitcase. The suitcase that is sturdy, the suitcase that is cheap, the suitcase that is big enough to fit all my effects pedals. It's not the old, beat up hard leather suitcase I had originally envisioned, but still, one does not argue with a $5.99 Samsonite, with lock and keys, from that great bastion of treasures called Goodwill.

Now I just need to find my piece of plywood, speaker carpet, velcro and a method to latch the board into the case and prevent it from banging around inside. Another project for the summer. w00t.

Daisy, Daisy, Dilly Dilly Dee

2006-05-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Give me the time....it's quarter to three? Huh?

I built a clock last week. It was my final project for Intro to Ornamental Metalworking, my Art/Humanities credit for school. (Excellent class, by the way, highly reccomended; ART-192 at SMCC, make sure you get Mark Legel. He's totally awesome.)

It really came out pretty well, the Daisy Clock. Brushed aluminum petals, hammered copper center, $1.99 clock movement from Goodwill's Wesclox stock... except that something seems to be convincing the clock that a minute is 66 seconds. I need to take it back apart and un-convince it.

Our Fears Have Been Confirmed

2006-05-14T22:28:00.000-04:00

My brother is a nutcase. For one thing, he has a yahoo.co.uk email address. He was signing up for a Yahoo!(tm) email as a spammable catch-all internet addy, and sees the "Preferred content:" popup menu on the signup page. "Oo, what's that do?" The little help item proclaims:

...Note: If you change this setting, you may recieve a country-specific Yahoo! email address instead of one that ends in @yahoo.com.

"Coooool!" And whaddaya know, it worked.

Now he's just made himself a Facebook profile, and he's got himself in as part of the network of a Highschool that he "technically" has taken one class at. With his yahoo.co.uk email address.

I give up, I just feel so way-terribly normal right now.

Zoooming to Zooomr (Or: Another Lazy Title)

2006-03-29T11:55:00.000-04:00

I'm definitely moving to Zooomr. It's a combination of things, really. The day after my previous post, Kris, The Developer of Zooomr (of all people) comments to let me know that I can get rid of that stinky numeric url and replace it with one of my choice. (That's what I call service.) Cool, and I'm an Idiot not to have seen the setting to do that. And then he tells me that the API is coming and he's already hacked jUploadr to work with Zooomr. Scrap the "no clients" argument.

And how cool is it that The Developer takes the time to talk to people like me? I like it when busy people make the effort to help like that.

So now the only thing I can really complain about is Google maps being dog slow over a modem connection. But that doesn't have anything to do with Zooomr. And Kris says there is more coolness around the corner, so count me in.

Maybe I'll Move to Zooomr

2006-03-26T14:45:00.000-04:00

I'm not really unhappy with Flickr. Sure, they're big and slow (on a modem) and a little ugly, but it works and it's pretty slick, and I've got quite a few photos there. But when along comes this neat alternative called Zooomr that looks nicer, provides more better features (like geotagging, for one), and gives you more upload space and fewer restrictions for the same low price, what is one to do, eh?

Oh, the agony of decisions. So many things to consider. I've got a couple dozen photos I'll have to re-upload! I just got first Flickr comments today! Flickr lets me photoblog! I'm an Old Skool user, I don't use a stinkin' Yahoo ID! (Ha!) But Zooomr is cooler. Geotagging. And it looks nicer. But it has stinky numeric user URLs. [Edit: But you can change them! In your account settings. Thanks Kris.] And no upload clients yet.

Blasted Decisions.

Score! (The Maybe-Useful-Definitely-Geeky-Junk edition)

2006-03-25T22:42:00.000-04:00

Talking Alarm Clock
Originally uploaded by The One True Stickman.

I think maybe I'll make this a regular feature thing. As regular as anything is around here, anyway. Sure it's just a chance to brag about the weird stuff I've picked up for cheap or free, but what are blogs for, anyway?

This edition brings you the Talking Alarm Clock, an ancient kit I found assembled and stuffed forlornly in a small cardboard box in the dark and dusty recesses of the back room at school. Mr. Feeney said to Deep-Six it, and I mused that, oddly enough, my basement is about that deep.

It's a neat find - it had all the paperwork with it, right down to schematics, construction notes, and board masks, and it still works despite being older than I am. (The papers are dated from 1983.) It's pretty easy to use, as well. The three push buttons are for Hour Set, Minutes Set, and Speak Time. You hold the set buttons and it counts, you let go when you get to where you want to be. Push the Speak button to hear the current time. Simple. The slide switches set the speak mode and alarm - one just turns on the alarm (the Time Set switches then set the alarm time) and the other two set the Speak mode: No auto, on the hour, quarter hour, or minute. Every minute gets pretty annoying.

It is, however, extremely, dorkily, geeky. When you plug it in a deep male voice jerkily proclaims:

"*boop* Power, failed. Set, the, time. Power, failed. Set, the, time."

When announcing the time a feminine voice says:

"Good evening, the time, is, nine, twenty, five, P, M."

Better yet, the alarm:

"*boop* (female voice) Good morning, the, time, is, six, forty, five, A, M. *boop* (male voice) Time, to, get, up. *boop*"

And it repeats that every minute until you shut it off. I guess it would probably do it's job.

I suppose one really can't expect too much more from eighty's vintage speech synthesis being run from a Z80 micro - you can only do so much at 2.5Mhz. At least the TMS5220 speech chip does have some inflection and isn't totally monotonal.

Score!

2006-03-24T20:38:00.000-04:00

Poking my nose into Goodwill today in celebration of the start of break week, I stumbled across the greatest find of the month: an IBM Model M, the Keyboard Grail of Geekdom, for $1.99 (plus tax).

This is a keyboard such that it has spawned a loyal following, fanatics, even official reviews and instructions for care and feeding, and has been labeled the loudest, best, most solid and most likely to be used as an emergency office weapon. The very fact that ten or twenty-year-old keyboards would still be alive after that much abuse is amazing in itself, particularly given the life span of some more modern equipment.

I have entered the realm of the enlightened, bragging rights included. So what if mine is one of the later Blue Logo models made by Lexmark? It's still way cooler than anything else I've got.

Striving For Excellence In A Land Of Lowercase

2006-03-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

IMspeek really bugs me. Why does everyone seem to think that capitalization, punctuation and spelling don't mean anything anymore? The rules and dots are there to bestow the language with order, reason and color.

Don't believe me? Here. Let me translate some of an old classic into the modern vernacular of IMers for you, with very sincere apologies to Shakespeare.

alonso87: dude they all fell asleep
alonso87: im tired to
bro_sebastian: go to bed man
4n70n10: yeah man bro an ill watch 4 u
alonso87: bye
alonso87: zzzzzzz
bro_sebastian: OMG dude thats so weird they all just like conked out
4n70n10: LOL its the climate
bro_sebastian: yah but im not tired
4n70n10: me either
4n70n10: totally weird they just all fell over at once

Ok, enough of that torture. (It's from The Tempest, Act II, Scene I, by the way.) I think I can count on one finger the number of my friends who actually IM in fluent English. Hang on...I think I'm channeling the ancient spirit of superbob487... (above the whine of a certain William's coffin, which is rotating at a very high rate of speed right now)...

superbob487: LOL dude its all about like just talking not some english paper

Yeah, it's just talking, but what is talking about? Communicating, and you are communicating to me right now that you are too lazy to hit the shift key and put a little thought to what you're saying to me.

Think of it this way. A telephone is one step removed from real life - you can't see the other person's body language. IMs are one step removed even from that - you can't actually hear the other persons voice. (That's two steps from real life.) This makes it difficult at times to convey meaning - more specifically, the meaning we want - in what we write.

Now, comparing a book (The Tempest - a play, actually, but who cares) to a real-time communication device (like IM) is rather a stretch. Obviously the two have little in common aside from the words and communication bit. That's the important bit, however. Though a completely different method than books, IMs are still a medium for communication. More importantly, they are a form of interaction - like talking to someone. I don't know about you, but when I talk I don't do it in a flat monotone and I use various vocal inflections to convey my meaning.

Read that bit about our buddies on the island again, but try it out loud this time. (If you're in a library, just make sure you whisper.) If you read it right, it probably sounded flat and incredibly boring. If it sounded normal, you read it wrong. Remember: no periods no commas no pauses no taking a breath!

In writing, punctuation controls the flow of the words. Pauses..... dramatic... or dreamy... pauses..... can be had with merely a half-dozen (or fewer) presses of the period key. Just around the next comma, there awaits great adventure! Excitement! And colons! Remember this, kids: "Lack of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling inhibits comprehension." We'll review that later; now on to Capitals and Spelling.

Capitals mark important things, like places, titles, and Stuff that you want to Highlight. Beginnings of sentences. And sure, you ALL know about YELLING, but judicious use of that shift key really adds a lot of depth and class to simple sentences. Especially beginnings of sentences. Just that one capital letter can make writing easier to understand - not capitalizing takes away the visual definition and is harder for your brain to parse.

And spelling - spelling is one of the more nebulous ones. Your brain is really very good at fixing things and making it make sense, but there is no point in making it work harder than need be. Using regular spellings is easier to read and, as an added bonus, gives the appearance of being somewhat intelligent and capable of understanding multi-syllable words.

This isn't that hard, is it?

Now a brief spiel on acronyms. Acronyms to abbreviate common phrases are sort of like carrying a bunch of cardboard signs around my neck and holding up the one that says "LOL" whenever I hear something really funny. It might be faster than actually laughing, but it requires extra translation on the receiving end. Sure, I can translate it, but whenever I see "IMHO" my brain thinks it "Imho" and then has to go back and say "In my humble opinion". Communication is about getting your thought to the other guy, right? Anything that needs translation on the other end isn't communicating clearly.

Now one word on l33t 5p33k: Retarded. I refuse to go any further down that path. See also the last sentence of the previous paragraph.

Now that I have thoroughly lambasted all my friends (except one) and most of the rest of the universe under age 20 (except for probably a couple dozen), let me be the first to say that this whole post is rather...er, anal. You can sometimes leave off capitals without appearing totally dumb, and acronyms really do work if you're in a big hurry.

My point remains, however: Unless your house is burning down, there's no really good reason not to spend a couple extra seconds to type complete and properly formatted thoughts. Just remember this, kids: "Lack of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling inhibits comprehension." (And if your house IS burning down, what the heck are you typing for? Get out and call 911, for the love of Pete.)

Now Reading: The Perfect Stage Crew

2006-02-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

I happened across it in the school library last week while poking about for interesting metal art topics. (Paper required for class, not much info yet.) It was along side a rather large volume on stage lighting but, my schedule being what it is, I opted for the thinner volume.

Kaluta, John. The Perfect Stage Crew: The Compleat Technical Guide for High School, College, and Community Theater. New York: Allworth Press, 2003

This is your crash course in everything for theater crew - useful information one can actually find when needed and put into practise. His writing style...well, choice quote time:

I'm a teacher, but I'm not an English teacher. So I've used italics and grammar in a personal, creative way to indicate imphasis and to change the stress or point of a sentence. My editor has fixed most of these, but if you catch a poorly written phrase just let it go. I'm very sensitive about my writing, so please don't write in with corrections unless you just hafta. Just read the line again, with a different inflection, like they taught you in drama class. When confused, try reading passages aloud. This is best done in public, in a muttering voice. At least people will leave you alone. If you read the book over and over again, everything will eventually make sense.
Actually, that might not be true. You're going to have to read it, then try the technique a few times, then maybe it'll make sense.

I would characterize it as accessible. It's increadibly useful, yet entertaining at the same time, and in such a way that the entertainment doesn't get in the way of things. (In fact, it's mostly on topic anyhow and serves to underscore and reinforce stuff.) The other key to the usefullness is that Kaluta focuses on actually doing things, not just telling you how it should be done. No hobby horse of tradition and nomenclature here, just experience.

I'm getting my own copy.

Power, Simplicity, and Updates

2006-02-19T17:42:00.000-04:00

I'm loving my new site structure more every time I update something. Create a new page, edit a couple others, rebuild and upload! So much better than updating 25 pages by hand.

Anyhow, I've just got around to building a power supply for my guitar effects pedals. It uses a Dell PA-9 laptop supply, a simple regulator circuit, a metal box that was a required project for my metalworking class. Good, small, cheap, and pretty nice looking, too.

The View From Underbridge

2006-02-11T01:23:00.000-04:00

The View From Underbridge
Originally uploaded by The One True Stickman.

So on the way home Tuesday I went poking around to see if there was anywhere down behind Mill Creek in SoPo. one might be able to get a decent shot at the western sky. Lo and behold, there's this spiffy little corner under the SoPo end of the Casco Bay Bridge called Thomas Knight Park.

"In honor of Thomas E. Knight, master shipwright, who with Nathaniel Blanchard in 1850 established a major shipyard at the southeastern end of Portland Bridge" quoth the Big Brass Plaque.

It's a pretty nice park for being under a bridge and all. Quiet, if rather windy, and would afford a good view of any ship coming through the bridge. It was a pretty nice sunset, too.

Dude, Maybe It Was The Hairspray

2006-02-08T23:59:00.000-04:00

I think I finally figured out Global Warming. Really, after this record warm January, who can possibly argue with the facts?

See, it all started with the cavemen. (Oops, I'm sorry - Ancient Dwellers of Subterranian Geological Domiciles.) Some of the cave paintings dating from the last ice age bear surprising resemblance to certain modern urban art forms, leading scholars to believe that this may be the earliest known use of spray paint. (The Eskimos of only a few hundred years ago were known to have an aversion to aerosol cans, possibly because of the great decline in native terrain caused by ingorant and indiscriminant works by rogue cave artists. This may also be where we get the term "New-Age Art".)

Then came the cows. I think they actually (*ahem*) evolved prior to the A.D.S.G.Ds., but did not come into great prominence until the... (Ah, so sue me) Cavemen began breeding them. Since bovine, modern and ancient, are great consumers of Green & Brown Grasses and great producers of Greenhouse Gasses, the atmosphere degraded to the point where the ice-cap receded even further from the equator. As they say, it was all down-hill from there. (Unless, of course, you were an Olympic cross-country skier living in what is now Texas.)

So in my conquest to combat this terrible trend (or fry trying), I propose we taking cow-tipping to a whole new level and outlaw graffiti. We must do all that we can in this urgent matter - if we don't, we'll all bake in another few million years and that would really be tragic.

We Welcome You To A New Age

2006-02-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

TT2Site totally rocks. Let me say that again: TT2Site really totally rocks. I finally got NateNet totally rebuilt - a few minor headaches and growing pains with syntax and stuff, another password reset thanks to another ISP server rebuild, a brief run-around with site copy and we are off and running with the new system, folks! Adding an item to the menu is now slick as anything compared to the previous chore of changing every single page on the site by hand. Not to mention the coolness of the rest of the template/structuring stuff - all the power of dynamic content with no client or server-side scripting. w00t.

As promised, more projects pages and knowledge and stuff will be forthcoming, now that I have the most of the technicals out of the way of creative and productive work. If I could only get school and work and the rest of life out of the way.

Newsflash: Superbowl Now Obsolete!

2006-02-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Google Video, we now have all the best commercials without the hassle of watching an entire football game to see them. People like me who don't care much more than a dust mite about football can still get in on the entertainment value of big corporations spending multi-millions to make a buck (so to speak). Not that I care much about the corporations, either, but sometimes a few of their pennies turn out to be worth something.

Hey, Look! It's A Flying Clock!

2006-02-02T18:12:00.000-04:00

(Ooh, and there goes a toaster, too!)

Time really gets away from one at times. Like when school starts and you're back to the usual work-a-week world. Oh well.

The real reason for todays post is to bring you the very sad news that an important age in communications has come to a close. Western Union has stopped sending telegrams. I'm not really sure what else to say now. *sniff*

iTower Progress

2006-01-16T18:03:00.000-04:00

Formerly an iMac...
Originally uploaded by The One True Stickman.

Heralding the first photo post from Flickr and previously mentioned here, the now-named iTower (Gromit) is progressing. The next step is building another chassis piece so he can stand up properly. The ports you see on top are technically the back of the machine. The stand piece will also house such things as the speakers, airflow, and possibly a fan, and make it possible to connect a monitor cable without tipping the whole rig over - currently the mac Video connector is pointing straight down, requiring some extra room. Normally it won't be too much of a problem, given that he's going to be a server, but we'll need it occasionally.

Oh, and it all runs! Debian Sarge installed and booting, though not quite all set up. I mostly wanted to make sure it was good to go before school started and before I finished things off. The last thing I want to have to do is pull it all apart again just to hook up a CD-ROM drive to (re)install.

Once I've got further along (and got my conversion done website) I'll post a full write-up with lots more pictures of construction detail. Promise.

Weekend Windchills & Websites

2006-01-16T00:28:00.000-04:00

I heartily congratulate Old Man Winter for getting off his duff and freezing ours solid for a change. Saturday (14th) our high was 51°F - our high today was 40°F at about 12:01am and it's been dropping ever since. NWS forecast for tomorrow is a high around 27°, wind chill values between -3 and -13. Now let it snow!

In other news, using TT2site isn't really as hard as I thought (although I've yet to tackle the menu thing). It is, like a great many new things, mostly a matter of actually putting in a little time to try to understand it and realizing that it's really all fairly straightforward, just a little complex at first bite. As soon as I get NateNet fully migrated I'll write up an idiot's guide. Once I figured out sort of how the variable hash works it got easier - the Template::Toolkit manual might have been helpful, in retrospect.

On Preserving Dead iMacs

2006-01-13T22:56:00.000-04:00

Since well before the analog board on my parents Bondi iMac died, I've been contemplating what to do with it. Well, ok, not what to do with it, just how. Since most of the bulk of an iMac is the monitor, the obvious solution is to put the brains in a smaller box. There have been a number of ATX powersupply conversions - such as the kMac, this other site and a bunch of others - but I don't have to do that, my power supply works fine. It's just the monitor bit that doesn't. Why go through all the bother of rigging a boxy ATX supply when I've got a working one with about the same form factor as the motherboard and it Just Works(tm)? This guy did it with his iBox and there's the infamous 21-inch iMac. The only problems are 1) the iBox is sorta ugly, and 2) I don't have any extra big monitors lying around to hack up even if I wanted to. So, since necessity is the mother of invention and insanity the father, we set higher goals: we want to take the guts (mobo, PS, hard drive, switch board, speakers, and irDA port) and stick them in a nice, Mac-looking box. Hopefully.

We'll tackle the size thing first. I can fit it in a box smaller than a NeXT cube, but (obviously) larger than the G4 Cube. The thing is getting the components together with in a way that a) uses as much stock cabling as possible, b) allows access to external ports, c) fits in the smallest box possible, and d) allows for adequate air flow and some service without complete disassebly. So far I've got the Motherboard assembly and power supply board mostly bracketed together and the hard drive mount integrated. We're mostly good on (b) - the monitor port is slightly awkward, but this is probably going to be a server so heck - and (a) is doing spiffy except for the IDE cable. (c) is bigger than I'd like, but really can't get any smaller. (d) will be fine, once I figure out the fan placement, and I'm doing as well as can be expected on the service end. PS replacement will require a lot of take-apart, but we have decent access to the HD and Proc./RAM.

Once we've got that done up a little more, it gets itself more of a chassis structure of some sort (Still need more of an exoskeleton in some parts, legs, and (maybe) CD mount) and then we figure out how to make a decent looking box for it all. Simple, quoth the beautiful beast of theoreticals. Not so simple if you have great visions of nicely bent lexan and all that jazz, but we'll cross that bridge after we burn all the others.

Welcome To January, It's 50° and Sunny

2006-01-12T21:59:00.000-04:00

This is Maine. This is supposed to be winter. Instead we get wonderful springy weather complete with a thunderstorm. Where is our snow? Where is our Ice? Why do we have stinking rain and mud puddles? I suppose I really shouldn't be complaining, what with heating oil prices and all, but it just seems wrong to have green grass growing in your backyard this time of year.

Wonka's Many Flavors

2006-01-11T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is one of those very rare posts where I talk about movies. It's a combination of things, really - I've lately been on a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory kick, having just read the book, and (in a rare fit of something) watched both of the movies based on that book back to back. The contrasts are quite interesting.

First off, I love the book. It's zany, it's light, it's deep, it's funny, it's classic. It's the sort of thing I wonder how I made it this far in life without. This naturally colors my perception, so keep that in mind.

I like the second movie best. (For clarity, I will refer to the first movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as "the first movie". I will refer to the recently released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Johnny Depp, as "the second movie". It would be terribly confusing to refer to the movies by their rather similar titles, necessitating a note about which one Johnny Depp is in every time to make sure everyone understands, and also noting when I'm actually talking about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the book vs. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the movie.)

As I was saying, I like the second movie best. And no, not because Johnny Depp is in it. (Though I do think he's a very good actor and does a generally better job than Gene Wilder, but we'll get to that later.) It's a combination of things, really, partially due to technology differences between 1971 and 2005, but also casting and general story line.

The first obvious difference is casting. Just to hit on a couple major points: I really have nothing against Peter Ostrum, but he just doesn't look like a poor kid who's practically starving. He looks like he just walked out of some California Suburb and probably going surfing tomorrow, after he finishes his paper route. Mr. Bucket is also another notable figure, partly for his absence in the first movie, but also for his casting. He comes across very well as a young, but very tired and careworn man. The second Grampa Joe is also rather more effective in my opinion. Much more the wizened old man one would expect to have been in bed the last twenty years. The first is almost too young. (Never mind the fact that he might have been Einstein in another movie.)

Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka also lacks some sort of pep. The image I constructed from the book is of a spry little man who can't sit still, has a White Rabbit complex (So much to see! So little time! Hurry along, I'm Late! I'm Late!), is seemingly out of touch with much of reality and happily naive. Mr. Wonka from the first movie (that's Gene Wilder) seems slightly lethargic in comparison. Humorously oddball, yes, but a little to far up in the clouds somewhere. The second Mr. Wonka (that's Johnny Depp) is a little more odd and less kindly, but comes across as less of a polite mad scientist with A.D.D. and more of a mental case with a really bad haircut. He also seemed more rather more nervous about the things happening to the kids. I can understand some of that - who wouldn't be nervous if someone got pushed down your garbage chute by your squirrels - but my ink & paper mental image smiles and nods politely and does what little it can to help deal with consequences. The whole thing is (partially) rigged, anyhow. Oh, and what's up with the flashcards? Chalk one up for the world-class-mental/weirdo nomination. Happy mediums are elusive things.

The technology, however, really helped with things in general for the second movie. Quite frankly, a lot of the first movie's factory innards were rather lame. Brown water don't pass for very good chocolate in my book, and you think that waterfall is the source for the world's supply of Wonka Bars? Colossal and Vast and Fantastic are supposed to describe the factory of Mr. Wonka, not Boston Flower Show, amazing as it is. I also have problems with the the boat, it's so very...er...unimpressive. (We're working on the colossal and fantastic, remember?) I'm sorry to say this, but that bell (when the boat first appears) brought back images of Mr. Roger's Trolley and Mr. Roger's Trolley was better. Never mind that the tunnel scene is just plain out of place weird. Oh, and I almost expected the Everlasting Gobstopper machine to start churning out sock puppets or something - never have I seen such a hilariously ridiculous machine, covered totally in a custom cloth cover, with that goofy pink thing sproinging into the air.

Somehow, story lines are always the first victims of script writers or movie producers or whoever does these sorts of things. The changes in the first movie amounted primarily to the Everlasting Gobstopper Plot Device, which, in my humble opinion, was quite unnecessary. I don't really see any problems with the original plot. (There was also a notable absence of the Great Glass Elevator, but I relinquish the benefit of the doubt as far as technical feasibility.) The changes in the second movie were mostly Willy's history, in the form of flashbacks. Which also affected the end but provided some extra food for thought. The literary purist in me rankles at the liberty. The other side of me, however, really appreciates the way it was done. (I will also admit that the puppet scene is another case where I enjoy the book for what it is and the movie for what it is.) While I don't think adding in Willy's childhood and Father really adds a whole lot to the story (aside from providing a terribly convenient reason for Willy to be in the Candy business), it does add an interesting dimension in the comparison of relationships between Charlie's family and Willy's. (That's a whole 'nother post, however.) I'm not so sure about the end, though, they could still move to the factory. That, however, is just my two cents worth, through a lens of Ink & Dead Trees.

The Troubles With Websites

2006-01-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

Scalability. That's the bugger - especially with sites that start out small and simple. After a while, they grow and end up not so simple. Which is why I'm trying to convert my personal site over to use a template based pre-processing system to generate the static site prior to upload.

So far the one I've settled on is tt2site. (Reasons: it's easy to install and it looked simpler than WML.) Now if I can only figure it out: the features are plenty but the documents few, and Google's no help either.

The main problem is that there is little explanation of operation. Sure, I can figure out how to run the final generation command. That's easy. But how do I set up templates exactly? (I don't know how Perl's template thing works, and why should I? Tell me.) What exactly do all these config files do? Providing example configs is great - how do they work? I don't know. Tutorials would be nice. Start here. Do this, and why. See what happens? Great, now if you want to change it, do this. Cool, you just made a simple site! Now, add this file structure. Ok, in order to set up the menu things you need this config file, this is how the options work, this is how it will interpret that file structure.

I need more detail, a little bit of hand holding. I guess I'll just have to do a lot of poking and write my own Tutorial. Grokking someone else's creation is always so much harder than using something you thought up. If anyone wants to help, by all means - leave a comment or drop me an email.

Fishing For Fords

2006-01-06T23:16:00.000-04:00

Today was supposed to be a fairly normal day. Go shovel out the church, plow the Neighbors pond before lunch, eat lunch, and spend the rest of the afternoon working on odds and ends of this and that and organization, maybe help Dad work on the Buick. Unfortunately, I didn't get past the 'plowing the Neighbors pond' part.

The fun part: I get to drive a 1950-something Ford 9N. (Update: it's actually late '30s.) The more-fun part: it's got a 6-volt electrical system and took me 45 minutes to get it started. The slightly-odd-but-still-fun part: it's got a landscaping plow on the three point hitch, so we plow in reverse. The make-my-day-fun-part: The ice on one side wasn't as thick as we thought, so we get an afternoon course in Tractor Fishing 101.

After a bit of a 'kersploosh' and a startled reflexiv motion that kept the driver dry, the tractor settled (still running) with it's rear axle in four feet of water about six feet from shore, front end still on the ice and pointing towards the middle of the pond. Since it was so close to the bank, the original idea was to loop a rope around the blade and haul the tractor out with the Suburban. Of course, that'll dunk the (so far) dry engine and electrical system in. Hmm. Go home for lunch, Mrs. Neighbor has to take kids to Ballet. Dad wants to hear the whole story and immediately starts figuring. We'll see what we can dig up for useful stuff over at Mr. Skip's shop - the Buick is there anyway, waiting for work. Collect some useful planks, chains, etc. Mr. Skip shows up and we, not being fools, inquire of advice. "Let's go take a look."

If there's anyone to have around when you're lifting, towing, hauling, or otherwise moving anything big, it's Mr. Skip. Grow up on Farm equipment (they guy was backing haywagons at seven - you try that) and spend a few years in the house-moving business, and you have what you call expertise. We end up with a trailer load of planks, cables, chains, miscellaneous ice cutting tools, and the big Hough Payloader. All for the sake of Ford 9N. It got her out, though, and six hours later she sits in the barn with a shiney coat of greasy ice and pond weed and a fully drained engine and rear end, awaiting the kind services of somebody. We didn't manage to manage to get her out without dunking her nose, unfortunately. (To quote the neighbor, who saw her when she was nought but a steering wheel and the top two inches of hood, 'That doesn't quite look like where she's supposed to be.')

A short word to the wise: Don't sink tractors in ponds. It's a pain.

The Joys of Technology

2006-01-03T23:25:00.001-04:00

I'm working on creating the most complicated desktop computer setup possible. Start with four computers. Add a KVM to switch so I only need one keyboard, monitor, and mouse. Now add a second head to the main desktop, so I have a 15" monitor connected through the KVM and a 19" that isn't. Got that all right?

But what if I'm using my Windows box on the KVM head and want to access something on the main Linux desktop's big monitor? I have tried, quite a number of times (unsucessfully), to move the mouse off the KVM screen over to other monitor like I can on the dual head rig. And then when I switch to it I can't see what's on the Windows machine. Conundrum.

Enter Synergy, which acts like a sort of network based KVM. One computer is the server, it has the keyboard and mouse, and you can move to any of the client's monitors. (So it's really only a KM switch.) Ah Hah! If we set up the Windows box as the server and the Linux desktop as a client, presto! We can then access both the Windows and Linux machines at the same time, but fortunately only when the KVM is pointing to the Windows box. Just think how confusing it would be to acess the screen of a computer you can't see...

Reading In The New Year

2006-01-03T00:13:00.000-04:00

So what else is New Year's good for? Reading, of course! What better way to spend the hours waiting for the ball to drop (in a completely literal sense, devoid of metaphore) than with some whimsical creation of Roald Dahl? Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator happened to be the cause of my antisocial descent. Having finally read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (due to the great wisdom of library-going siblings) I figured I could do no wrong to continue in the trend. I am now trying to figure out how my childhood could possibly have been complete without Our Hero, Charlie Bucket. Next up, James and the Giant Peach.

Also on the docket for Holiday Break:

The Design of Everyday Things (Donald Norman)

Almost done, actually. Get a good book for your Birthday, and BOOM! The nasty little School monster steals away all your precious reading time. Very interesting, if slow reading at times. It feels like he's defining and solidifing things I think I should have known but hadn't the time to think through properly yet. It makes sense. And, as a geeky type, I find myself on both sides of the page at times; alternately wondering how someone could possibly fail to understand the operation of something as simple as that and what sort of bonehead thinks up an interface I have to spend days figuring out how to use. (Sorry, concrete examples escape me at the moment.)

The Princess Bride (William Goldman)

Yes, I've seen the movie, and yes, it was good. I have, however, too much experience with book/movie relationships and seek the whole of the story, for better or for worse.

1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said (Edited, etc. by Steven Price)

I haven't read it all yet (having just aquired it for Christmas) so the Jury is still officially out, but this would be my nomination for the Misstitled Book Of The Year Award. While a lot of the quotes really are dumb, many are just malapropisms, slips of the toungue, or the curiously quaint interpretations of knowledge characteristic of those under seven years of age. Sure, they may be flat out wrong, but that doesn't make them dumb. Or, for example, the much quoted assertions of the late Yogi Berra. I don't have a clue what he was thinking when he uttered some of his most memorable sentiments, but I find them quite amusing. He seemed to have a knack for stating grains of truth with such logical impossibility that, while the thought is true, the statement obviously isn't.

For example - "A nickel isn't worth a dime today." Factually speaking, a nickel has never been worth the same as a dime and never will be. The thought, however - that a nickel isn't worth as much as it used to be - is still there. There's nothing to feed the mind like warping an old cliche into a new context. It's clever phrasing, intentional or not, and actuall quite logical construction considering the cliche aspect. Some people call them idiots; songwriters make their living off things like "It's like deja vu all over again." Illustrating the concept (deja vu) you are utilizing to make your point with your sentence structure does not really strike me as the hobby of dimwits. It's recursive nature does put a slight warp on the cranial process, but it gets the point across. It's the sort of thing I would say on purpose. But then, maybe I'm a dumb critic.

It's A Super-Duper New Year

2006-01-02T23:36:00.000-04:00

So far, anyhow, but that's always the way it goes. Yes sirree, it's a New Year, folks! And you know what that means.........A neeeeeeeeew You! All it takes is a few little resolutions, kids, and you could have a better life! Call today to recieve your free informational packet!

Ok, maybe that's a little...commercially pessimistic. But while I don't see much depth in the whole new beginnings thing that often fizzles this time of year, it is a good time to recoup between semesters, get reaquainted with family you've mostly just seen in passing since the semester started, do some things you didn't have time to this semester, and, uh, relax.

It's not that I dislike new beginnings and bettering yourself for fun and profit. Personally, however, I find it works better to do that sort of thing the whole year instead of chucking a nicely worded dart at the Corkboard Of Despond once a year. Not that I would know (I don't play darts), but to be good at darts I think it takes practise. And when you have finished mulling over that profound wisdom, you may move on to greater things.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T01:06:00.000-04:00

Why I'm up at this hour working on reinstalling and restoring 1.9 gig of files to a friends laptop I'm not really sure. Particularly since I have to be up tomorrow for usual Christmas morning and church, too. It's the spirit of Christmas, I guess.

And last night, of course, I was up till 3:00 (am) getting schroeder fully upgraded. He's been needing a good apt-get dist-upgrade for a while, not having had the chance since early May. But, of course, I had to pick a slow day for RoadRunner(tm) and had to do other stuff all afternoon, so the morning was spent watching him download (1.5 gig of packages to DL - at 30-80kB/s) and the late evening and wee hours babysitting the rest of the process. Fun fun fun.

Aside from that, however, this week has been remarkably relaxing and productive. Cleaned out my pack and filed (most of) my junk from this semester, hacked up an A/V connector and tested my $15 Nintendo 64 (it works! Goodwill rocks), got my Flickr thing going, spent a bunch of time getting acquainted with LibraryThing, fixed the powersupply for my Boss multieffects pedal (broken wire), reassembled a friend's Digitech RP-2000 and fixed the powersupply for that (two broken wires), whacked together a dual head linux config for my cousin, updated schroeder, completely dissasembled the old iMac (dead analog board, but PS & mobo still fine - build a linux firewall/router box, I think), slept in a lot, and did a whole lot of research on website pre-processing tools. I think I'm going with tt2site for now, I just have to figure it all out and migrate NateNet over. More fun for the Holidays. No school until January 17th, though, so plenty of time to work on Things In General(tm), read and see if I can help Dad get more of the basement organized. I need more boxes to put stuff in...

After the Holidays. I've got a solid week of goofing off to do with family, the other stuff can wait until post-New Years.

Killing Father Time

2005-12-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

I'm learning (or at least realizing) just how time-driven our society/my life is, and I hate it.

In the three weeks I spent at Tauernhof's Upward Bound program this past summer, we weren't allowed watches while we were out on tour. It was awesome. Our leaders took care of waking us up and keeping us on schedule. We got up when someone yelled "Rise and shine! Brekky in half an hour!", we didn't know how many hours of sleep we got and didn't worry about it. Minutes were no longer important. Everything was somewhat flexible.

Now in contrast, these last two weeks of school would be fairly normal except that my church's annual Dessert Theatre production is next week - so, added on to the normal routine, I have to finish the lighting before this weekend and we have four performances next week. The last two weeks of school. Since my school schedule is pretty much a fourty-hour week, I usually do a bunch of homework on weekends. Now I have setup, dress rehearsals, and performances on weekends, on top of the usual midweek activites that take up a couple evenings.

I recalled this summer last week while putting together a robot during Lab - I happen to enjoy working on stuff like that and suddenly realized that I had been happily working on Olaf for an hour and a half (say that five times fast), oblivious to the rest of the world. That's when I realized I don't like time. Those three weeks with I spent mostly time independent and it was the proverbial breath of fresh air. (And I'm sure being in the Austrian Alps didn't have anything at all to do with it. ;) Regardless of where I am, I don't want to have to care so much about scheduling and time management and making sure I have enough time to do all my homework for PreCal. (And that's the kicker - I'm slightly behind and it's not because I don't understand the math. It just takes so much time to crank through all the problems.)

This is why I hate time: it waits for no-one, we can't kill it, all we can do is waste it (to borrow the cliches). But at the same time if we try to pack as much as possible into our minutes, we end up wasting ourselves instead. Which is really better?

Going for the Polls

2005-12-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

We return for a special broadcast on the weirdness of CNN. On the front page today is a poll with the blaring healine: Most doubt Bush has plan for Iraq victory.

Initial reaction: then what in tarnation is this?

After reading the actual poll article, we find some interesting things.

(CNN) -- As President Bush launched a new effort Wednesday to gain public support for the Iraq war, a new poll found most Americans do not believe he has a plan that will achieve victory.

But the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday night also found nearly six in 10 Americans said U.S. troops should not be withdrawn from Iraq until certain goals are achieved.

Just 35 percent wanted to set a specific timetable for their exit, as some critics of the war have suggested.

White House officials unveiled a 35-page plan Wednesday to achieve success in Iraq, and Bush used a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to tout what he said was progress in getting Iraqi security forces in place to protect their own country. (Full story link)

The poll conducted Wednesday does not directly reflect how Americans are reacting to Bush's speech, because only 10 percent of the 606 adult Americans polled had seen it live and two-thirds had not even heard or read news coverage about it.

(...)

Among poll respondents, 55 percent said they did not believe Bush has a plan that will achieve victory for the United States in Iraq; 41 percent thought he did.

Bold text mine. Now, we would like to point out that the percentage of people polled who think that Bush has a plan for vicory (41%) is higher than the percentage (33%, derived from the 2/3rds figure above) who have heard coverage of President Bush's speech Wednesday.

How can this be? Assuming that those who have not heard any news coverage (66%, the 2/3rds figure above) also have not heard of of the plan (released Wednesday), I personally would count those poll numbers to be out of date.

Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush

2005-08-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

...So early in the morning. Maybe we'll take up blogging again. Maybe we'll abandon it again after a couple months...we'll see. I have this love/hate thing with blogs. It goes in cycles.

Anyway, my summer is pretty much over, and we now head full tilt back into the school year. I'm looking forward to getting into micros, I wanna learn how to program stuff. My current goal is to have a working parport DMX interface by Christmas. Not designed from scratch, obviously (so much work that someone else has already done for you), but still built and programmed. My other goal is to get my corner of the basement more organized, with more shelving and workspace, so I actually have space to set up shop with room to work and a computer or two. (Or six, we'll see what happens there, as well.)

And, of course, this blog will be either the vent to the world or a silence resembling granite. It's probably about as interesting to the rest of the world either way, so I won't sweat it. The most interesting blogs to read are those of people you know.

The Super-Hero In All Of Us

2005-03-28T23:40:00.000-04:00

One never knows what the evenings rounds may turn up. Now, thanks to this wonderful quiz (by way of Michelle Malkin), we may all put to rest those nagging fears about which of The Incredibles characters we are.

What? You do not suffer from these sorts of feelings?

Come to think of it, neither did I until I took the quiz. Apparently I'm Edna...which probably raises more questions than it answers.

Non-Frozen Precipitation

2005-03-28T17:09:00.000-04:00

Awefully novel concept, after this winter. There are even bare patches in the back yard - puddles now, but still devoid of snow.

Anyhow, back from break and getting back in the swing of things after Easter. Six weeks 'till the end of school! That doesn't seem possible, but it is. It's really amazing how much one can not do over break, considering the time. In the course of last week, despite all good intentions, I managed to not do Physics homework, not do Algebra homework, and not do any reading for Circuits class. The biggest accomplishment of the week consisted of putting up bookshelves in my room, resulting in more organization and an increase in available floor real-estate. I also stayed up late and generally threw my schedule out the window. Profitable time, what. And, of course, I was so busy I had absolutely no time to post here.

And now, more later. Need to catch up on some things.

Spring Is Coming!

2005-03-12T22:02:00.001-04:00

Really. I saw another Robin at church yesterday. And now I'm heading for bed so I can get up at five tomorrow morning and go shovel/snow-blow a foot+ of nice fresh white stuff down at church. Awesome, I tell ya. Absolutely awesome. Spent a couple-three hours outside this afternoon tunneling with siblings, and probably do some more tomorrow. Best banks we've had since we moved, I think - they're all higher than the snow-plane of the yard, which is around three feet or so. If only I had a digital camera, I'd be photoblogging this...

Now on a completely random different topic, these things have got to be the best flower pots I've seen. (No! I'm not thinking of spring! Or I wasn't...)

On to bed, then. A great prospect of a morning awaits. Really too bad about the lack of camera, it is.

The Manalo I Have Discovered

2005-03-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

Stickman says, not of this world, the Manalo is. For the wearing of the shoes, Manalo has advice. The world of the shoes is the Manalo's. But the Manalo does not talk all about the shoes, also he talks about the Poncho and the warmers of the legs and the song and dance. (And the other fashion advice, of course.)

The Manalo, he is possessing of the super fantastic sense of humour. Stickman says, the Stickman enjoys the Manalo. But the Manalo, does he have the Force?

Those Darned Feather Quilts

2005-03-09T22:27:00.000-04:00

They must be needing some really good shakings this year. Yet another six-eight inches of snow, complete with high winds and cold temperatures. And busy days. It would have to dump last night, and of course school wasn't canceled today.

The roads were pretty horrendous, as well. Before the cold front came in last night it rained for a while and then when the cold front got here, it froze. Which made things really slick. Like you could skate on Rt. 25 through Gorham kind of slick, especially once the morning rush had polished it. In fact, some people skated their cars off the road. The best way to stop was, literally, to steer into the shoulder and do your deceleration there because the snow had that much more traction than the ice did.

But spring is coming, folks! I saw three Robins at school this morning. Welcome to March in Maine.

After that wonderful drive in, I was one of five guys who showed up for class (out of about fourty). And some of those guys live in the dorms, for pete's sake. Naturally, those of us who were there don't.

Indeed, I truly admire the dedication of modern college students. Idiots. Don't complain about your grades when you aren't there 1/3rd of the time.

I Have A Lot Of Respect For Those People

2005-03-07T20:45:00.002-04:00

Real bloggers are to be admired. I'm talking about people who blog full time, or even outside and around a day job and still crank out the commentary by the bucket. I cant really do that...besides having less to say on a great many given subjects, I generally just don't have the time. Too much to do. School work to do, computers to work on, side projects, and a few other things. At the moment that includes resurrecting one of the old IBM towers for a windows box. (Currently an eMachine is filling that position, but it's fan is dying and sounds horrible.) And once I've got a quiet windows machine back, I probably need to do a thorough overhaul of my area of the basement. It's better than it was a couple weeks ago (I actually have room to work on things), but could use a little more work (since I only have room to work on one thing at a time).

Yeah, so anyway, I am a busy person. But not so busy I can't kill time between classes at school surfing around and digging up clock hacks. Rather ingeneous, putting one in a G5 like that. Not, perhaps, the most tactful of mods, but interesting nonetheless. And I seem to be developing this thing for interesting clocks, but more on that later. Time to quit rambling and do something else.

School, Spam, School & Spam, Eggs, School, and Spam...

2005-02-20T23:13:00.000-04:00

In short, little time. Normal homework and such, and a couple other side projects that are occupying a couple-three extra hours per week at this point. I haven't had time to read my bloglist this week, let alone post and do my own stuff. I did, however, actually spend some quality time away from my computer (!) yesterday, puttering at my lair in the basement. It's a mess. As in boxes of scrounged circuit boards, miscellaneous lamps and parts, a couple pairs of unused speakers, two computers (semi-disassembled) and a monitor on my shelf over all the boxes, three more computers providing more shelf space in half the walkway to my workbench, two more monitors on the file cabinet, four more computers and misc cases/drivebays on the old bureu (which houses yet more junk), and odd piles of stuff, like keyboards, mice, cables, useful rubber, etc. And, behind the shelving unit, a pile of stuff heaped over the old school desk, consisting of an old mac monitor, a box of Cat-5 pieces I pulled out of the dumpster at school, a couple old tape decks, more boxes of wire, circuit boards and other junk, and who knows what other junk. I can't remember. All in the space of ten feet square. And to think, it's not as cluttered as it was yesterday morning.

Maybe it will get even better tomorrow, after homework and (possibly) shoveling (if it snows). And I need to finish up that graphics project I'm working on (which can't be divulged publicly quite yet...). Oh yeah, and I also need to test those VCRs, too.

Yep, Anyone Can Be A Journalist

2005-02-13T15:46:00.000-04:00

There's a Washington Post article today (by Howard Kurtz) about the recent job changes of certain people in the mainstream media due to bloggers. This paragraph caught my attention:

In the case of Jordan, a 23-year CNN veteran, it was a single online posting by technology executive Rony Abovitz, after Jordan's ill-fated comments at an off-the-record forum Jan. 27 in Davos, Switzerland, that led to his downfall. The lesson, say media analysts: In the digital age, anyone can be a journalist.

You know, for once the 'media analysts' are right: apparently anyone can be a journalist. So, sign up today! The New Rules of Reporting are easier than ever and now require even fewer tedious fact-checking procedures! You, too, can achieve high (or low) places.

And remember, you heard this from a Media Midget.

Death Of A Writer

2005-02-11T18:37:00.000-04:00

Arthur Miller died last night - I probably wouldn't take much notice except that I had Death Of A Salesman in Lit. class last semester. I'm also sort of ashamed to say that Death Of A Salesman is the only one of Miller's works that I'm at all familiar with. It is, however, something that I think everyone should see and think about.

Articles at CNN, Reuters, the BBC, and ABC News, which all do a much better job of summing up his life than I. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to add some more of his stuff to my reading list.

Black Bears And Shoe Strings

2005-02-11T11:02:00.000-04:00

The two aren't really related, of course, except that one may find both a humorous. Depending on your sense of humor. Black bears and the hunting thereof are, apparently, a hot topic in western Maryland. From an article in the Washington Times:

A bill introduced yesterday would save the black bears of Western Maryland — by spreading them into every county of the state. House Minority Leader George C. Edwards of Garrett County offered the modest proposal in part to highlight differences between rural and suburban parts of the state.

Choice quote:

"If these people want to tell us we have to live with the bears, they should be willing to accept the bears," the Republican lawmaker said. "They can bring their charcoal grills and their bird feeders in every night. Fair is fair."

Why is it that people who live in cities and urban areas usually have a problem with controlling wildlife population? It's not like they would know much about it, generally speaking.

Now, on to other things. If you've ever wondered exactly how many ways there are to lace a shoe, you need to take a trip over to Ian's Shoelace Site. Anything you could ever want to know about lacing and tying shoes. Seriously. (And his Ian Knot really is fast, once you get the hang of it.) Deffinitely one for my bookmarks.

And In This Corner Of The Ring....

2005-02-10T21:54:00.000-04:00

I heard earlier today that Terry Gross was going to be interviewing Sen. Barbara Boxer on Fresh Air this evening, and I thought it might be interesting. I wasn't dissapointed - Sen. Boxer accused conservatives of employing "Leninist Strategies". Listen for yourself.

Sen. Boxer cited Lenin's assertion that in order to defeat the opposing party one must keep the older folks happy and made a parallel to a statement of President Bush's in the State of the Union Address:

"I have a message for every American who is 55 or older: Do not let anyone mislead you; for you, the Social Security system will not change in any way."

What I fail to understand is how caring for our aging citizens amounts to Leninism. I assume, however that what Sen. Boxer did *not* mean was that Democrats don't care about the aging percentage of the populace.

(Oh, and brownie points for slamming Social Security Reform by making the Conservative=Communist connection.)

Weathery White Stuff And No School

2005-02-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

No school because of the weathery white stuff, even. Who'd a thunk? The whole day off today instead of closing the campus at two like they have every other time. I guess they figured the forecast was bad enough to warrent closing, and it looks like they were right.

(Image from the National Weather Service.)

It's really quite nice to have the day off, since I stayed up too late again last night (for no reason, at all - stupid) and really need to catch up on a couple hours of sleep prior to any more early classes. I can also catch up on a small bit of physics stuff I didn't get done in lab yesterday.

Speaking of white stuff, that's a lot of popcorn.

School, School, More School, And Lack Of Sleep

2005-02-09T14:15:00.000-04:00

Talk about slacking off. I seem to go in cycles where I keep up with this blog and then I don't, and then I do, then I don't. Arg. Too much going on.

Well, sort of. I finally got my machine in for a dist-upgrade Friday so I've been tweaking some new stuff and generally spending way too much time playing with the system. Discovering new things, like RSS feed reader to keep up with the news and whatnot, and I don't remember what else. Oh, compiling a new kernel, getting jackd running for audio stuff, etc. Not playing with Gimp 2.2 as much as I'd like. Gah.

Anyway, time for Physics class. Then lab untill five. Yahoo.

Maine Is In The Eastern Time Zone.....Right?

2005-01-24T13:49:00.000-04:00

For now, anyway. I heard a blurb on Maine Things Considered the other day and finally got around to posting this. Rep. Kevin Glynn (R-South Portland) is proposing a bill to move Maine from the Eastern Time Zone to the Atlantic Time Zone, citing increased economic and health benefits. (That's if I remember the quote from Maine Things Considered correctly. I also couldn't seem find a copy of the bill text, it's LR-518. Link to Kennebec Journal article.)

It would seem to me that changing time zones would cause more economic havoc than good. Sure, having an extra hour of daylight would be good for the Ski Companies and after-school activities, but being an hour different from the rest of the Eastern Seaboard could mess up commerce in general, travel, tourism, etc. Whatever.

I'm not sure what it would do for general health, either. Let people be out and about later, maybe. And keep kids a little safer in (and allow more time for) after-school activities. But on the other hand, right now the sun is just up when elementary school kids are out waiting for the bus at 7.30 or so. However, if we move an hour ahead, it will be as light at 7.30 as it is now at 6.30, which is not very.

I just don't really get it. The bill to make Moxie our state drink, that's one thing - but being the only state on Atlantic Time? (Ok - so it's not as weird as Maine Time.) Bragging rights, that's what we get. Why can't we just brag about Moxie?

The Pyrotechnic Qualities Of Capacitors

2005-01-24T13:30:00.000-04:00

Ok kiddies, you know how your circuits lab instructor always said to make sure to put your electrolytic capacitors in the right way around so they don't pop? Well, if you connect a ~25Vdc cap to 140VAC (RMS) and hold the 15-amp breaker closed so it doesn't trip, the capacitor will not only pop, it will blow up.

Completely.

There is a loud bang (which naturally brings your instructor running, since you wouldn't think of doing this sort of thing when he's actually in the room), a cloud of white smoke (which smells really nice), and drifting fuzz from the stuff inside the cap. Probably some shrapnel, too, but I didn't actually see any of that. One should also note that your instructor will probably be rather put out, due to safety concerns and destruction of school property, however small and cheap the property.

Names have been withheld to protect the very guilty. And no, I didn't do it, although now I know why you shouldn't. And now I can say that yes, I have seen a capacitor blow up.

Happy Inauguration

2005-01-20T16:08:00.000-04:00

I missed the inauguration fairly completely today, I was at lunch and the dining hall was too noisy to make watching it interesting. It doesn't have the same sort of appeal as a silent film, for some reason - but we digress. Here's to hoping Mr. Bush will do even better than he did with his first term. The BBC has an interesting take on it, with which I'm apt to agree, for the most part.

But tell me - is this just a little scary, or isn't it? Is there a good reason for the IAC to have this type of information? Is there a reason _anyone_ should have this information right now, aside from the law enforcement? The IAC?!? And then, from another corner, we have this tidbit about ABC, courtesy of Captain Ed.

Now, on a more positive note, it's a beautiful day, if still cold and (down here at school) windy. Three inces of fresh, white snowfall nicely augments the general sunnyness and blue skies.

Hurrah For The Media

2005-01-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

...Those denizens of fine, unbiased reporting and comprehensive coverage. I'm growing increasingly disgusted about the state of this nation's news establishments, especially after reading this essay by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan. I'm going to go vent by doing some Math homework, since anything I try to say at this moment will probably come out rather incoherently and who knows what else.

There's also an interesting new bit about the CBS memos over at RatherBiased.com on yet more evidence that the memos are fake. (For more info and background, which I am not going to elaborate on here, one would do well to take a look at the above site, Rathergate.com, Little Green Footballs, and probably a few others. Also an interesting post on Powerline about some details in the whole memo thing that are still blowing in the wind.)

A Little Tweak Here, A Little Tweak There...

2005-01-15T22:52:00.000-04:00

Ok, so an entirely new template isn't exactly a little tweak, but not this little corner of the web is a little prettier. I'll also be bonking around on the plumbing in the next couple weeks to add a links sidebar and maybe other stuff, I haven't figured it all out yet. So stay tuned.

In other news, I spent way too much time last night on the High Altitude Glider Project (as linked to from Hackaday) instead of doing something productive. What could be cooler than dropping a glider from a weather balloon at 76,000 feet? Well, besides the plane having a computer & GPS on board for autopilot, cameras, other fun sensors, and the ability for manual control and monitoring/tracking from a laptop on the ground via a packet radio.

Weeee're Back! And Not Much Better Than Usual!

2005-01-14T18:53:00.000-04:00

I _am_ going to try to post and keep this blog going, partly because I don't have any classes this semester which require writing in any shape or form other than class notes and physics/math equations. As such, this sort of thing is a good way to keep my writing skills in shape a little.

I'm also going to be keeping up a little more on the world in general, after getting in the habit for government class last semester and thinking awareness of current events and such to be a Good Thing In General. And, in writing about stuff like that, we excercise critical thinking and other such useful things.

And in addition to those noble and lofty aspirations, We, The Midget, will probably come at things from a natural point of view: techie. That is to say, as an EE student (well, ET (Electronics Technology), technically, for the Associates degree, but post that on to USM for rest of the EE degree...) and Mac/Linux geek, things in those fields will probably crop up here with some frequency. I'm trying to give this blog some semblance of purpose in order to make it more readable and interesting and...purposeful. Because however nice the thought of a genuine glimpse of someone else's life is, it 1) often isn't really an accurate portrayal, due to factors of subjectivity and such, and 2) does not really hold one's attention for long, regardless of whether you are the reader or the writer. Regurgitating a summary of your life onto the screen gets old pretty quickly, since you *have* just lived it, after all.

Anyhow. Since we've got all that out of the way, let's link to an interesting bit I saw on Whizbang earlier today on this article in the LA Times. Quite interesting, really. And, of course, the Slashdot discussion of this article has some insightful comments.

Sooo......

2004-11-27T23:56:00.000-04:00

Thanksgiving was good. The usual get-together with some portion of extended family, lots of food, lack of sleep on weird beds, and sitting around playing "UNO - Aria Edition" with cousins. Same old cards, but we sing everything instead of talking, and our parents kicked us out to the dorm to play. Whoever's turn it is to play generally gets precedence when playing UNO Aria, but it's still fairly open ended for conversation. Ryming and lyrical quality is encouraged, in addition to trying to sound halfway decent musically. And yes, I know, my family is strange. I fit right in.

And now, from the depths of the internet, a nugget of wisdom to ponder - what is the sound of one blog clapping? Er, no that's not quite right. If a blog falls in a forest, does it make a sound? Hmm. Ah! A blog *is* the sound of one hand clapping! That's what it was. But who cares. it's interesting for one person, at least. No, the world probably doesn't care about whether my blog makes noise in the forest, but who cares! . . . er, that is, I don't. But anyhow. A bit of work to finish before the end of the semester, so no more updates untill probably Christmas or so. If you listen real close, now, you can hear the sound of the post button posting. In a forest. With one hand. Or something.

More Of Life, Lack Of Time, And Genny!

2004-10-28T00:46:00.000-04:00

Guenevere, actually. But she goes by Genny for short. That's right folks, I have my car now, and have been teaching myself how to drive a stick-shift on my 45-minute commute to school every day. It's fun. Aside from the fact that I don't have a radio (It worked....then it didn't, and hasn't, so no music or nothin'), and since I got gas this afternoon the Old Girl's conked out on me randomly a couple times. Needs some drygas, I think. And taking her over to a friends shop tomorrow afternoon to do a little touch up on a couple rust spots before winter, change out a door for one in better shape, a headlight for ditto, and other miscellany.

But anyway. Halfway through the semester already! w00t! I'm sort of feeling on top of things this week, too. I've got stuff well underway for Lit. class Friday, stuff for Technical Graphics I've got the weekend to work on, etc.

And, in other news Go Red Sox! Eight games straight in post season to win the world series! And there was a full lunar eclipse tonight, as well. Viewing conditions here were quite good, clear and crisp, though I didn't actually watch much of the eclipse. And I still haven't quite got my website's stylesheet straightened out, but I think I'm missing some 'class="class_name"' bits in a few places on my pages, so yeeah. And it's bedtime (way past, actually, it being quarter to one), so Good Night, People!! I'm feeling way too happy for no reason right now!!! Yeah.

Aesthetic Uglyness And Other Oddities

2004-10-17T17:37:00.000-04:00

I was just realizing the other day that this blog is incredibly plain, boring, and otherwise pretty clinical in regard to it's aesthetics. It also occurred to me that I could do something about that, because it couldbe spruced up with pretty widgets without detriment to overall use, presentation and load-time, and said graphical improvements would probably increase general appeal. Always a good thing.

So, sometime in the next couple months, I will attempt to grok blogger's code and work on revamping things around here. At the moment, however, I'm re-working/formatting the CSS stylesheet for my website. It was pretty convoluted and hard to read. In addition to having things in there that appear to be for no reason at all. (Well, they were originally, but that's because I borrowed a stylesheet I liked to learn from.....) So I'm spending a couple hours un-spagettiizing it and making it so I know what actually does what.

Fall Is Deffinitely Here

2004-10-16T22:59:00.000-04:00

I can tell. See, here in New England we have this special hunting season, we call it Leaf Season, when lots of people from other places come up here by the busload for the sole purpose of shooting at our leaves. I should think it would be annoyingly easy, too, since they're such nice bright colors.

But what do I know. I live here. It is a convenient way to tell that fall is here, though. Leaf season and Fall always coincide, for some reason.

Ah, now, in other more important news, I finally have my car. Yeah! Went and retrieved it (along with the last of lots of spare parts) this afternoon, and she sits in the driveway. Waiting to be driven.

Anyway. I've gotten in the habit of staying up far too late over the past week or so, and it's not a good idea. I'm going to bed, since it's already later than it should be.

In Search Of A Title

2004-10-15T00:37:00.000-04:00

Or, I'm too tired to come up with one and why am I blogging right now? I have no idea. I just finished up some stuff for Lit tomorrow, so I don't have to do it tomorrow morning....I'm listening to random mp3s (Switchfoot at the moment)....and....not thinking. I should be going to bed, so I can get up tomorrow. I don't have class until 1300, but I have to go by the bank and stuff to transfer monetary, um, funds, out of my account for the next school payment and my car. Yeah! I'll have it as soon as we can get it registered and inspected.

I've also been spending way too much time lately fiddling with dbmix and xmms and trying to get pytone (my usual mp3 player) to output to dbfsd via mpg321, but I'm having trouble figuring out how. I think I need a shell script in between things to make it all play nice....

Yeah. Anyway. Time to catch up some small bit on sleep.

This Is That Time Of The Year....

2004-10-03T22:50:00.000-04:00

The weather gets nippier, the leaves start turning, Apple Cider is in abundance (for only $3.19 a gallon, lower, sometimes!), and my brother and I stop leaving our windows wide open all the time.

It's also an awesome time to go hiking, since the weather's cooler and the leaves are pretty and all that. So we hiked up Tumbledown Mtn. (just north of Weld, ME) yesterday with the Youth Group. We had a great view from the top - if you happen to like thick fog. It was kinda cool, actually, though being in a cloud is a tad chilly this time of year. It was fun.

And, of course, no time of the year would be complete without a computer problem, so I borked up Mom & Dad's iMac last week for them in the process of trying to find OS 9's multiple users feature so my little brother can't bork up the iMac. Brilliant, I am. But anyhow. I just got it booting up again, now for the fun, fun task of restoring things more or less back to their previous state. Which involves lots of time reinstalling drivers, copying a truckload of apps and files and miscellaneous kit back in from my server and then making it all work nice. Although it does force one to organize and straighten things out a bit, which that machine really needs.

So have a happy fall, and I'll refrain from cracking bad jokes about saying hi to the ground for me when you get there.

It's A Hectic Life

2004-09-28T22:21:00.000-04:00

Really. School, and other stuff, and more school. And no time. At least not to blog. I really actually don't have time right now, as I should be reading about the life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, but I'm having too much fun viewing my apps at the clear crispness of my new monitor (Sony G400 - 19"), which is a whole heckofalot better than my dying Sun. (GDM20D10 - it's not a bad monitor, except for the fact that the green gun went so everything had a nice fuscia tint to it. Ok on flowers, not on monitors.)

But anyhow. Yeah, I have two papers due Friday (for the same class, no less), which means I have a cartload of research, thinking, and writing to do. And the usual homework, darn it. I just remembered that. Ooh! I should be getting my car this weekend, though (no, that isn't really related, yes, I know), which will be nice. I'm looking forward to that, at least.

Ah, yes, the joys of College, eh? At least I have mostly awesome and generally pretty cool profs., which is a big plus. Loving it, really. Right, folks? Right.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2004-09-09T16:36:00.000-04:00

This morning I wished I were snoring
But I had to get up and go to class;
At least it wasn't *too* boring.

Had a test, actually, which wasn't bad at all, really. A bit windy on the point, and rainy, but not too awefull. Leftovers from Francis finishing off our summer, what. Feeling more like fall now, sweater and jeans type weather. Quite pleasant after the last couple days, which tended toward the humid-and-slightly-too-warm-for-comfort side of things.

So the weather's ok, just so it doesn't rain (too much) this weekend, we're going up to Papoose Pond (along with 160 or so other people from church) for the annual semi-official church camping weekend. And I get to drive up tomorrow night after Lit. class, yipee! Which reminds me, I need to get directions from Dad, I don't quite remember how to get there. Also need to type in some lyrics for Roger. However, I don't have a printer accessible from this machine at the moment. And the AP's printer has been finicky, so Rog might have to go yet another week without words. Ar. I _really_ need to try to find a motherboard for Snoopy, or fix it or something. It's a pain not being able to use the laser printer for anything at all.

Anyway. I should probably do some of my reading for Lit., or I'll be trying to cram it tomorrow, which isn't good for the digestion. Literary or figurative.

It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

2004-09-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

'...A beeootiful day in the NAAAyborhoood....'

Blog posts do not do justice to Mr. Rogers. Yeah. Um, beautiful week, actually. A little humid at the beginning of the week, but it dried off and was gorgeously nice, sunny, warm, and breezy (at least down at school). So there. And I survived my first week of college with flying colors, too. (Everybody now! Sing with me! 'I`m lo-vin` it' (No, blog posts do not do justice to McDonald's (tm) ads either.....) ).

AAAAnyway. I have a three day weekend to do not a whole lof of homework, and it's supposed to be just as nice through the weekend as it has been. I dunno. 'What is perfect? Besides tomorrow. Ah, tomorrow. Because tomorrow is an endless possibility. And an endless possibility is the second-best thing to wake up next to.' (Thanks Gospel.)

I can't, however, unless I go to bed, and I think I shall because it's getting on it years.

What, School, Eh?

2004-09-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

'`E'r you are.'
'I'm not dead!'
'Wot's at? `E says 'es not dead.'
'Yes `e is.'
'I'm not!'
'`E is too.'
'I think I'll go for a walk'
'No, you won't, you'll be stone dead in a moment.'

Ok, so I have no clue why I thought of that Monty Python routine. School is awesome. Really. I love the campus, I love my professors (except I don't know about my Lit. Prof. until Fri.), I love my classes so far, etc. I love sitting out by the lighthouse (in My Spot) for lunch and watching the harbor traffic, or sitting in my tree (which, it just occurred to me, might be worthy of a name) and watching boat traffic from a different angle and studying or whatever. Incidentally, did you know, that the breakwater out to Spring Point Light is built on a ledge, and that ships would sometimes go the wrong side of the lighthouse and go aground before the breakwater was built? I learned that at lunch from a passing harbor tour boat.

So anyhow, I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. Circuits class is pretty easy at the moment, and Government promises to be very interesting. Technical Graphics Standards should be fun, and I don't know about Lit. yet, but I'm optimistic. I'm lagging on some sleep, however, since I stayed up slightly later than intended last night due to an accidental nearly-really-bad-thing-happening putting a new hard drive in Wallace (my server). I deleted my entire /home directory, but luckily after I had copied it to it's new partition. So I just spent a little time juggling partitions and it's all mostly nice and spiffy now. Don't work on computers (critical stuff like swapping out drives and such) when you're too tired, it don't pay. You can't think straight. (It also took me until tonight to realize that the reason I couldn't mount my Dad's thumbdrive on my box was because I was trying to mount sdb1 instead of sda1. Duh. I don't _have_ any SCSI devices on this box....)

Anyway. Enough for today. So I'll leave you with the words of this sign, which, if heeded could be the end of all the problems Professors have. On one of the roads into campus, a board which reads 'Faculty and Staff only. No Students beyond this point.'

Three Cheers For Summer

2004-08-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

So let's here it! It was fun, it was prosperous, it had educational experiences I'll remember and learn from the rest of my life, and now it's all over and we all go back to school. I do, anyhow. And I really think an insane work week is the perfect way to launch into the school year, no? It wasn't all that bad, really; the weather decided it finally wanted it to be summer, and a nice, sunny, cool, breezy one at that. A little more humid Friday, but still quite bearable, and we were roofing, too. Yesterday, on the other hand, was quite beastly. Very hot, very humid (started at 0825, was soaked and dripping by 0900), and it probably didn't help that I worked a twelve hour day. I've mostly recovered, I think. I relaxed all afternoon - wiped and reinstalled my friends laptop (yes, I love windows), read, and listened to the last of the National Folk Festival on Maine Public Radio. Great stuff - Vishten, Solas, others I can't remember the names of - and I wish I could have gone up . . . but there's next year, I suppose.

Ah, yes, school. Which paperwork for I have some yet to do (parking permit, aka 'Hunting License'), books to get, since I haven't had time this week.....ah, yes. And the 0600 alarm time. (Sing ho! for eight-o'clock classes, aye, Sing hey! for the dawn o' grey . . .) Which reminds me, I have my own car, or will in a couple weeks. Grey (no, gray...I dunno, which?) Volvo 240 sedan, '87 I think. In awesome condition, but as yet without a name. She really needs one, too. Randy is tentative at the moment, partly due to the fact that our family has just re-read the Melendy books (Elizabeth Enright), which are just totally awesome anyway. (And yes, Spiderweb for Two _is_ definitely the best one, but only if you've read all the others first. In order. And I'm starting to ramble....) But Randy seems a sort of Volvo-y name to me for some reason, I dunno why. So does Betsy, though, or other such names. At any rate, I'm still working on it.

So, off to take care of what last minute details I can before tomorrow morning, and hope I don't forget anything and that all my forms got in on time. College, here I come. And I know I'm forgeting something just now, but I haven't any idea what or what it's related too at all....darn. Maybe it's time to give my brain a break.

The Timeless Question Persists

2004-08-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

What are rainy Saturdays good for? Dreary, they are, or at least this one. The sort of day that's only just lighter at nine o'clock than at seven and persists in being so all day. Aside from some pinkish bits of sky right now. I sorted more stuff in my room, I made a couple brackets to hand a power strip on the back of my guitar amp, plowed through a bit more of Xenocide (Orson Scott Card), weekly house cleaning. Slept in, because I stayed up until about 0030 reading 'The Tale of Despereaux; being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread' (Kate DiCamillo). Nothing like staying up late with a book and a good piece of your birthday Cheesecake - prime topper for a halfway decent Birthday. Especially after attending a Portland Sea Dogs game yesterday evening with my youth group, which was a lot of fun. Sea Dogs won, which was a plus. Not a half bad way of beginning my last year as a teenager, I suppose.

All in all it's been a decent week, perhaps a bit mundane. Or seems so in light of my current mood, anyhow. Blurry would be a better word. Spent Monday making a large dent in clutter, Tuesday being oriented to SMCC (which was interesting, and occasionally helpful), work the rest of the week, and Dad's Ordination service Wednesday night. Had a pile of the family here for supper and didn't get to spend very much time with people on the whole due to my getting home just about in time for it, but it was quite good nonetheless.

And so was my week. Shadowed by the moment in which I am currently, but my week nonetheless. It may be a small world, but it's plenty big enough to get lost in, seem like you're a nebulous region without an immediate purpose. To feel rejected by some, which overshadows acceptance by others and gives birth to the conception that no one really knows who you are; that you may not even know yourself. Obnoxiosly persistant feeling, it is.

We interrupt this broadcast...

2004-08-15T23:35:00.000-04:00

....to bring you earth-shattering news! Rumor has it that the website of Yorse Troolie was updated today, and may possibly have been responsible for recent Geo-Climactical disturbances on the eastern seaboard. 'It's....unbelievable', said some random spokesperson. 'I mean, we though there might be something coming, but not this soon, or this big.' Speculation is rampant in the scientific community, but at this time the event is believed to be a fluke, and certainly not malevolently initiated. When contacted by reporters, the party responsible merely remarked that it was awefully late, and he should really get to bed because he might have to work tomorrow. He did hint, however, about possible further clarification at a future date.

Nondescript Sentience

2004-08-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

Here I be, typing on my blog at midnight. What a life, eh? Sitting here in the dark, waiting for my hair to dry and listening to the crickets barely audible above the noise of my window fan and wanting to go for a long walk in the dark to listen to the wind and the crickets and smell the air. But I need sleep. So I sit here instead. Wonderful logic, that.

Finished 'Speaker of the Dead' tonight, thoroughly enjoying it. It tends to be a rather painful book at times, but very good nonetheless. Also took a night shower, as it was very hot and humid today and I helped Dad move some old railroad ties and other hunks of tree. The sort of weather in which you just stand and sweat; you don't have to do anything. Just stand there and the humidity clings to you and drips down the middle of your back like an impish tendril purposely trying to annoy you.

So here I sit, contemplating life and trying to make my brain define lines instead of gray areas, waiting, because I hate going to bed with wet hair. It ends up pretty weird in the morning if I do that. I should really go out in the woods one of these nights, lie in our field and look at the trees and stars. It might do me some good. To be alone, get away from some of life for a bit and work out other parts, and just know that the universe is still wheeling away just how God put in motion, that everything on Earth is like a dandelion, and that I, of all people, am loved and cared for by the Creator of the universe.

Weekends Are Nice, Yo

2004-08-13T22:39:00.000-04:00

Friday night, nothing to do and too much to do, and I don't have to work tomorrow. Yeah. I didn't think my room could get any worse, really, but it's managed to do so anyhow. Lil' Bro Kiddo got out some Lego's, some papers got dumped, etc. I have a box of books on my bed - instead of stacked there or on Claude (my old regular chair) and stacks of books on the desk. At the moment, bunches of Robin McKinley from the library and Orson Scott Card (the entire Ender and Ender's Shadow series) borrowed from my friend Mikael. (Good stuff. Read it. Ender's Game is first.) And then there's just the whole lot of other junk just around and not where it's supposed to be, wherever that is.

(...we were meant to live for so much mo-o-ore, yeaeaheaheah...)

Eh, sorry. Switchfoot is awesome. Then, so is Take 6. Different ends of the musical spectrum (slightly, anyway - rock and jazz-a-capella), but equally awesome.

Ooo. Back from spinning around a couple times in my new desk chair (a real one!), Zippy. Like with wheels and it spins and is nice and comfy and cost me a whopping six bucks at Goodwill. Everyone, this is Zippy. Zippy, everyone. (This is fun....I'm feeling sort of like Wooton Basset (from Adventures in Odyssey) right now.

And tomorrow, I get to go do errands and stuff again. Bank (first college payment due, Goodwill (just because it's there and I will be, too, and the local drug store for a new nail file. Lost mine while we were camping. *sigh* Ah, well. It had a good life. And maybe look at a car, too. Fun fun fun (to borrow the colloquialism).