the weBLog
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Halloween
Work was uneventful except that sous chef Jen and Michael were both in pretty bad moods, and did a pretty good job of spreading the misery. After work, Heidi and I went to Kytta's and Heidi trimmed my hair. Then we somehow ended up in cotumes - mine was a flight suit that made me look something like Maverick in Top Gun. We briefly stopped at Heidi's church, then back at the Club where Michael was so embarassed he asked us to go into the kitchen to talk to people. Of course, had we been guests (even say, if we were with a member) he would have been completely accomodating of our costumes. Anyway, its but a twinkle in the time of my life (I said those exact words as we parted ways at the end of the night). I then picked up one of the two candidates for the future silverfir.net, started the download of FreeBSD 4.9, went to a party with Heidi and her friend Melissa, had a surprisingly good time, and returned home. While I was waiting for Heidi and Melissa, a cop came by and shined bright lights on me (rousing me from a peaceful rest), and informed me that I was "kind of" in a closed parking lot. He checked my id, told me he wouldn't bother me, and went on his way. Its the most pleasant experience I've ever had with a police officer in my life. I also picked up five movies today - Identity, A Man Apart, Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, What a Girl Wants, and Holes.
Work was uneventful except that sous chef Jen and Michael were both in pretty bad moods, and did a pretty good job of spreading the misery. After work, Heidi and I went to Kytta's and Heidi trimmed my hair. Then we somehow ended up in cotumes - mine was a flight suit that made me look something like Maverick in Top Gun. We briefly stopped at Heidi's church, then back at the Club where Michael was so embarassed he asked us to go into the kitchen to talk to people. Of course, had we been guests (even say, if we were with a member) he would have been completely accomodating of our costumes. Anyway, its but a twinkle in the time of my life (I said those exact words as we parted ways at the end of the night). I then picked up one of the two candidates for the future silverfir.net, started the download of FreeBSD 4.9, went to a party with Heidi and her friend Melissa, had a surprisingly good time, and returned home. While I was waiting for Heidi and Melissa, a cop came by and shined bright lights on me (rousing me from a peaceful rest), and informed me that I was "kind of" in a closed parking lot. He checked my id, told me he wouldn't bother me, and went on his way. Its the most pleasant experience I've ever had with a police officer in my life. I also picked up five movies today - Identity, A Man Apart, Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, What a Girl Wants, and Holes.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
A new silverfir.net on the horizon
Amy's dad has an old server machine that he is donating to the silverfir.net cause. Its a PII 300 Mhz with a gig (!!) of RAM and SCSI internals. My plan is to install FreeBSD on it and get all services up and running securely (primarily pop3s), along with webmail, majordomo mailing lists, and a blog-like website design interface for users, then swap the two machines physically.
TRC meeting today
It went well, everyone was productive taking apart the old field components and moving things to the side of the building that isn't going to be destroyed in the remodel. FLL students are nearing the stage where they can program their robots. In my opinion, fundraising is still the biggest issue facing the club.
Parental support for road trip growing
I seem to have been somewhat convincing, and it is likely that a vehicle for the trip will be secured soon.
11 days until I turn 21
Kinda scary. Time flies - if I were on track, I would be graduating in about a year. As it is, I have at least two. Speaking of which, starting the UW immediately seems like a better and better idea. And going to UTah for communist programming would interfere with TRC and FIRST activities. That isn't good news for Clifton; I don't know why I didn't think of the conflict before.
Silverchair is amazing
Listening to music from Silverchair's Best of Volume One, I have decided that they are an amazing band. I highly suggest their Best of CD.
Amy's dad has an old server machine that he is donating to the silverfir.net cause. Its a PII 300 Mhz with a gig (!!) of RAM and SCSI internals. My plan is to install FreeBSD on it and get all services up and running securely (primarily pop3s), along with webmail, majordomo mailing lists, and a blog-like website design interface for users, then swap the two machines physically.
TRC meeting today
It went well, everyone was productive taking apart the old field components and moving things to the side of the building that isn't going to be destroyed in the remodel. FLL students are nearing the stage where they can program their robots. In my opinion, fundraising is still the biggest issue facing the club.
Parental support for road trip growing
I seem to have been somewhat convincing, and it is likely that a vehicle for the trip will be secured soon.
11 days until I turn 21
Kinda scary. Time flies - if I were on track, I would be graduating in about a year. As it is, I have at least two. Speaking of which, starting the UW immediately seems like a better and better idea. And going to UTah for communist programming would interfere with TRC and FIRST activities. That isn't good news for Clifton; I don't know why I didn't think of the conflict before.
Silverchair is amazing
Listening to music from Silverchair's Best of Volume One, I have decided that they are an amazing band. I highly suggest their Best of CD.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Wireless Hacks Rocks!
Rob Flickenger's book Wireless Hacks rocks my world. It is full of lots of interesting and useful information. Just now, I forced my WET-11 down to 1-2 Mbps, and the link seems to be working much better. Instead of constantly switching between 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps, which looses a lot of packets (exactly my problem), it stays at the much more consistent and reliable 2 Mbps, and packets don't seem to be lost anymore. Since my neighbor's cable modem runs at no more than 1.5 Mbps, I shouldn't loose any performance.
Indecisive about Blockbuster
I can't decide if I want to continue working at Blockbuster. While the job isn't really worth my time, it does provide more money and I'm not sure what I'd be doing with my time were I not doing this job.
Road Trip plan forming
Scott liked the roadtrip idea, the only problem is that he is flying home and leaving his car in Minnesota. So I have to find another vehicle to use. My dad's Saturn seems the best choice, but my mom today also suggested a camper on the back of the truck. I don't like the idea much, but its worth a look into.
My Future
Talk of the roadtrip with my mother turned into a general talk on my future. I have been invited to join a project in Salt Lake City - sort of a programmers commune house. Its an interesting idea, and if I have a clear exit strategy, I will seriously consider taking my friend Clifton up on the offer.
My mom would like to see me get into UW in the winter semester by pulling strings in the EE department. I don't see it happening, but she does have a point in that if you don't try, you don't get. Problem is, I don't know if I want, and don't want to try to get if I don't want. Nevertheless, my near future involves working at Blockbuster, unless I were to call them and tell them I quit... haha.
Until next time...
Rob Flickenger's book Wireless Hacks rocks my world. It is full of lots of interesting and useful information. Just now, I forced my WET-11 down to 1-2 Mbps, and the link seems to be working much better. Instead of constantly switching between 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps, which looses a lot of packets (exactly my problem), it stays at the much more consistent and reliable 2 Mbps, and packets don't seem to be lost anymore. Since my neighbor's cable modem runs at no more than 1.5 Mbps, I shouldn't loose any performance.
Indecisive about Blockbuster
I can't decide if I want to continue working at Blockbuster. While the job isn't really worth my time, it does provide more money and I'm not sure what I'd be doing with my time were I not doing this job.
Road Trip plan forming
Scott liked the roadtrip idea, the only problem is that he is flying home and leaving his car in Minnesota. So I have to find another vehicle to use. My dad's Saturn seems the best choice, but my mom today also suggested a camper on the back of the truck. I don't like the idea much, but its worth a look into.
My Future
Talk of the roadtrip with my mother turned into a general talk on my future. I have been invited to join a project in Salt Lake City - sort of a programmers commune house. Its an interesting idea, and if I have a clear exit strategy, I will seriously consider taking my friend Clifton up on the offer.
My mom would like to see me get into UW in the winter semester by pulling strings in the EE department. I don't see it happening, but she does have a point in that if you don't try, you don't get. Problem is, I don't know if I want, and don't want to try to get if I don't want. Nevertheless, my near future involves working at Blockbuster, unless I were to call them and tell them I quit... haha.
Until next time...
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
I survived, so far
At 12:30am Tuesday Morning, I had been working for 22 of the last 29 hours. Then I pulled another shift at polaris six hours later. I'm not quite sure how I'm still awake right now, but I'm clearly not feeling fine or I would have made it to the Seattle Wireless meeting as planned. Instead, I stopped at the office to print out a map to the Drinkmore Cafe, and ended up staying here to play some Counterstrike and read Wireless Hacks. Besides, I don't really have anything to share with the SW people, although I do want to see Dan's Carputer, I think I need to learn more before I can effectively interface with the likes of Rob Flickenger and Matt Westerfeldt.
Too tired to remember things
Scott lent me starship troopers, the book and I have been enjoying reading it, but I lost it at Blcokbuster sunday night. I tend to lose things when I'm tired. It may not be merely cause and effect. Perhaps something else causes me both to not sleep enough and forget things. I don't know. Anyways, I'm pretty sure I don't want to continue at Blockbuster, even though its not so bad, I just don't think the extra money is worth the time. Maybe we'll see at the next paycheck.
Road Trip?
I came up with a pretty cool idea today - since I don't really want to work the holidays, but I don't want to have nothing to do - and since Scott is off from college between Thanksgiving and New Years, I was thinking of quitting Blockbuster, taking a leave of absense (or quitting) the Bellevue Club, and going on a monthlong roadtrip with Scott between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I still have to contact Scott about the idea, of course.
At 12:30am Tuesday Morning, I had been working for 22 of the last 29 hours. Then I pulled another shift at polaris six hours later. I'm not quite sure how I'm still awake right now, but I'm clearly not feeling fine or I would have made it to the Seattle Wireless meeting as planned. Instead, I stopped at the office to print out a map to the Drinkmore Cafe, and ended up staying here to play some Counterstrike and read Wireless Hacks. Besides, I don't really have anything to share with the SW people, although I do want to see Dan's Carputer, I think I need to learn more before I can effectively interface with the likes of Rob Flickenger and Matt Westerfeldt.
Too tired to remember things
Scott lent me starship troopers, the book and I have been enjoying reading it, but I lost it at Blcokbuster sunday night. I tend to lose things when I'm tired. It may not be merely cause and effect. Perhaps something else causes me both to not sleep enough and forget things. I don't know. Anyways, I'm pretty sure I don't want to continue at Blockbuster, even though its not so bad, I just don't think the extra money is worth the time. Maybe we'll see at the next paycheck.
Road Trip?
I came up with a pretty cool idea today - since I don't really want to work the holidays, but I don't want to have nothing to do - and since Scott is off from college between Thanksgiving and New Years, I was thinking of quitting Blockbuster, taking a leave of absense (or quitting) the Bellevue Club, and going on a monthlong roadtrip with Scott between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I still have to contact Scott about the idea, of course.
Monday, October 27, 2003
This Week is Going to Suck
I can already tell - I closed at Blockbuster, will be working there tomorrow (putting out the new releases, may be there as late as two. Of course mondays and tuesdays, Michael comes in at 7:00, so I have to try to be prompt. I dropped Jason off after work since his usual ride is out of town, and now its 1:30. I'm looking for a new job to replace the two I have now, something that will give me Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Barring that, I'll just quit Blockbuster, or at the very least change my availability to WTh 5-10, FSat 5-12. I can't handle any more weeknight closing.
I can already tell - I closed at Blockbuster, will be working there tomorrow (putting out the new releases, may be there as late as two. Of course mondays and tuesdays, Michael comes in at 7:00, so I have to try to be prompt. I dropped Jason off after work since his usual ride is out of town, and now its 1:30. I'm looking for a new job to replace the two I have now, something that will give me Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Barring that, I'll just quit Blockbuster, or at the very least change my availability to WTh 5-10, FSat 5-12. I can't handle any more weeknight closing.
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Blogless in Bellevue?
I seem to be falling out of the nightly blogging habit; I will work to ameliorate the problem. Part of the issue was flaky internet, I just got the antenna back up with what should be a somewhat more rain-resistat design. A more permanent solution is still needed.
I worked Bb in Lakemont Friday, I'm working Bb on Gilman Sunday til close. Meanwhile, Polaris job keeps on keeping on, with Michael being his usual self, asking me to cover the bar while Will (the bartender) attended a class that I had signed up for, since it is more important for servers to go to the class. I did alright, although I have no idea how to make any drinks - I had to go grab Will for that. I just wish Michael would tell me more than 30 minutes beforehand that I wasn't going to be attending the class.
Robothon and society
Both of my parents are sick with something that seems to be different than what I had. I seem to be alright so far. Tonight, we watched Hollywood Homicide. This after my dad and I attended the Seattle Robotics' Society's Robothon. While there were many interesting thngs there, it seems to suffer from teh same disease that the rest of engineering does - the ability to interface as more than just a curiosity with the public. FIRST aims to change that though exciting regionals, its just a matter of getting people there.
Random Sports
Yankees lost to the Marlins, so I'm pretty happy about that. It bodes well for another LA Lakers losing season in the NBA. BYU beat UNLV, but both teams are sucky so it doesn't really matter.
I seem to be falling out of the nightly blogging habit; I will work to ameliorate the problem. Part of the issue was flaky internet, I just got the antenna back up with what should be a somewhat more rain-resistat design. A more permanent solution is still needed.
I worked Bb in Lakemont Friday, I'm working Bb on Gilman Sunday til close. Meanwhile, Polaris job keeps on keeping on, with Michael being his usual self, asking me to cover the bar while Will (the bartender) attended a class that I had signed up for, since it is more important for servers to go to the class. I did alright, although I have no idea how to make any drinks - I had to go grab Will for that. I just wish Michael would tell me more than 30 minutes beforehand that I wasn't going to be attending the class.
Robothon and society
Both of my parents are sick with something that seems to be different than what I had. I seem to be alright so far. Tonight, we watched Hollywood Homicide. This after my dad and I attended the Seattle Robotics' Society's Robothon. While there were many interesting thngs there, it seems to suffer from teh same disease that the rest of engineering does - the ability to interface as more than just a curiosity with the public. FIRST aims to change that though exciting regionals, its just a matter of getting people there.
Random Sports
Yankees lost to the Marlins, so I'm pretty happy about that. It bodes well for another LA Lakers losing season in the NBA. BYU beat UNLV, but both teams are sucky so it doesn't really matter.
