| Things best forgotten? |
[Jun. 18th, 2007|09:59 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Back in the bunker | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Radio Free Dwarfstar (http://hurricane.stormcenter.net:8000/rfd.ogg) | ] |
Father's day, like Mother's day, is one of those Hallmark Holidays. A holiday that exists, more or less, as an excuse to sell greeting cards. Another manufactured day of 'expressing love and appreciation' for people we should love and appreciate anyway. Usually, these kinds of holidays don't mean much to me. My mom's birthday os close to Mother's Day, so I tend to wish her a happy mother's day around the same time. My grandfather (who's recovering nicely, thank you - still weak and tired, but his mind's back now that he's off the pain meds) gets appreciation days pretty regularly, though not in a Hallmark Moment sort of way.
For the last few years, my daughter's made a point of at least calling and leaving a voice mail to say happy father's day. This year, though, nada. No email, no voice mail, no card. I'm not really surprised. She hasn't said more than about a sentence to me in months - and that to thank me for telling her my grandfather was out of the hospital. Not sure what I did, but I've got to admit that it's a little disappointing.
Ah well. She'll grow out of it and start talking to me again (if only to explain why she's not) or she won't. I can care, but I can't change her thought process. |
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| I hate mornings |
[Jun. 14th, 2007|05:35 am] |
Seriously. I hate mornings. I've never been one to be able to get up early, unless it was race day or something, and I needed to be at the track by 0730. Unfortunately, or maybe not, that seems to have been changing. Between the dogs who absolutely insist on waking us up at 0600 (if we're lucky) and my sleep cycles getting completely borked city-hopping for work, it seems that I'm being forced into becoming some kind of morning person.
Case in point: Monday morning, at the bank for work a little before 0730. No big deal, right? Wrong. I'm two time zones from home, and 0730 on the clock is 0530 for my brain. That's after getting up early enough to get in the full morning routine AND get down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
At least this time I arrived at a sane hour - 1530 rather than the usual 2100 or worse I usually get. And it was a first class upgrade the whole way. As it will be on the way home. Have to love those frequent flier miles.
Doubt I'll bag one on the trip to New York in a couple weeks, but at least it'll be Economy+ at the worst.
And, in case anyone actually reads these things (My Son might. Don't think my Daughter has logged into LiveJournal in a while) my grandfather's surgery was a success and the pain he was feeling is almost completely gone. This rates a w00t at the very least, I'd think. |
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| Supporting the elders |
[Jun. 7th, 2007|01:20 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Under a bunker | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Radio Free Dwarfstar (http://hurricane.stormcenter.net:8000/rfd.ogg) | ] |
It sucks to get old. Not the "not a kid any more" old, but real old. Like, over 80 old. Once you're past breeding age, Evolution is pretty much done with you. Arguably, that's probably at the "not very old" stage. Women are becoming moms later and later, and men can father children until they're way too old to enjoy being a dad. But the point is the nearest thing to a "purpose" we have as humans is to create more humans. As biological life forms, we're in the game to pass our genes on to later generations. By some measures, biological success is determined by how many descendants you have over the next howevermany generations.
Ultimately, that sucks. A huge part of the world's problems can be traced to overpopulation. But I'm diverging from my original train of thought.
Elders have a place in society. If not from a purely biological standpoint (once they're not in the breeding game any more) then from a social standpoint - where their years of knowledge and wisdom can be passed on to later generations who can benefit from it. I'd hate to think of where I'd be if I hadn't absorbed so much knowledge and wisdom from my grandfather.
And now, with him going into surgery for a compression fracture (at the not so tender age of 93) I've got to wonder how much longer I'm going to have that wisdom and knowledge on tap. How much longer he's even going to want to be around. How I'm going to deal with it when his time finally comes and we have to say good bye one last time.
Feh. Depressing and my thoughts are jumbled.
Bad time to journal... |
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| To ramble, or not to ramble... |
[May. 24th, 2007|11:34 am] |
There are days when I wonder what, if anything, I could possibly write about. There's a lot of things, actually, I've got on my mind, but not all of them are fit for public consumption. Some of them are unfit because, well, they just are. There's times when thoughts should remain private because they're just a little too far out into left field. - Or is it Right field these days? Left. Right. Who knows any more. - Other things you just choose not to say because you're taking someone else's feelings into account.
Sometimes I think that's the worst part. You can't talk to certain people about certain issues. You can't even hint at them. (And if you think you're one of the people I'm talking about - chances are you're actually not.) Not because you don't want to, no. You don't because you're honestly worried they are going to either mis-interpret what you're saying, or they know what you're saying and actively don't want to hear it. In either case, if you say anything, you end up hurting them, which is exactly what you don't want.
So what does one do? At the moment, it seems, one posts to their journal that no one reads in a weak effort to get it out of their system.
This, of course, never actually works . . . |
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| LiveJournal gets Jabber |
[May. 14th, 2007|02:32 pm] |
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Well this is cool. Not that we need another IM client, but it's nice to see the Jabber protocol taking off. And with all the cool plugins for Gaim (Now called Pidgin) it's even better. Too bad our IRC network's almost dead . . . |
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| Technical toys |
[May. 14th, 2007|01:45 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Back in my bunker | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  lethargic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | RFD (http://hurricane.stormcenter.net:8000/rfd.ogg) | ] |
Once again, a long delay between journal posts. Not that anyone actually reads my posts. Most of the time, I don't even read them. Another "blogger" (gods I hate that term) amongst the millions already on the net. The vast majority of blogs are just a waste of space. Bits stored on someone elses server. Taking up space. A tribute to someone or another's ego. It's not that most of what bloggers write is crap, no. It's that most of what's written anywhere is crap - and blogging has made it trivially easy for everyone and their brother to try and carve out their own little slice of the Net's collective attention.
This, of course, isn't about ranting against bloggers or bemoaning the fact that no one reads mine. It's about the new tech toys I mentioned in the last post - a replacement for my damaged Rio Karma and the new DirecTV system.
First, the Karma replacement: A Coby MPC951.I looked around a lot before I picked this thing out. I didn't want an iPod. I'm not really an iPerson, and the pod doesn't play .ogg vorbis files, which is what a lot of my collection is in. A Diamond Zen or Atheros portable would have been sweet, but they also omit ogg support. Ultimately, it came down to the Coby, which has ogg support, acts like a USB hard drive, can display text files and QCIF format AVI's, and can act as a usb storage host. Pretty slick, actually. The software that comes with it is limited, but it's all open source and includes the sources. In my book, that's a good thing. Only downsides are less than stellar battery life and it being really slow to boot up. It's also a little large for its capacity, but that's not an issue since tiny size wasn't a major issue for me.
The other big deal was finally replacing cable (which, in our neighborhood, frankly sucked) with a satellite system. Took DirecTV over Dish Network because it was less expensive and had a better channel lineup. They finally got out of the backlog with the HD Tuner / DVR combos, so we were able to get it all set up in a single hit. HD is simply awesome. I've been getting the Planet Earth series from Discovery HD and it's incredible. Saving it for my daughter in case she ever comes back down to visit. My Son might like it too, so there's reason to keep it. We've caught some fun concerts (Styx, Sammy Hagar and the Wabaritas), some movies, shows we couldn't normally watch because of the time, and skipped through several hours of commercials. That alone is worth it. I hate commercials. "Smilin' Bob" needs to be shot. Several times. In the nads. Hopefully with the "I'm theeeenking of a number" guy catching the backscatter. But I digress.
I understand why SatTV has taken off so much. So far, it's proven less expensive and more reliable than cable. The down side is that you need the separate tuner (same as digital cable) which renders Picture in Picture kind of useless on TV's that support it. Read, most TV's over 25" built in the last 8 years.
Anyway, I've rambled enough for no one to read. |
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| Happy fraggin birthday to me |
[Apr. 16th, 2007|12:01 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Radio Free Dwarfstar (http://hurricane.stormcenter.net:8000/rfd.ogg) | ] |
So here I am at the office. It's Monday, and I haven't had enough coffee. For the first time in years, my mom didn't call at 0730 to sing Happy Birthday to me (and here I was actually awake for once) and me beloved daughter - who hasn't returned my calls or emails for about 6 months - hasn't called or emailed. It's technically still "morning" so there's hope yet I suppose.
Kind of odd this year though. For the last few years, birthdays haven't really mattered much to me. They're just marking time. Too young to retire, too old to start a new career. Kind of in the middle and feeling it. What's odd, of course, is that I'm quite happy with most of where I am now. Work's good. Home's decent. Family's good - except for the aforementioned lack of comms back from me dear daughter, and my grandfather (93, bless his aging heart.) recovering from an "almost fractured" hip.
So what is there to complain about? Well, now that I think of it, nothing.
Satellite TV should go in Wednesday. New karma replacement should arrive Thursday. And we'll be at the Strictly Sail Expo on Friday.
Damn . . . maybe life really is good after all. |
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| It's all about the weather |
[Mar. 12th, 2007|04:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Beneath the Vault | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Cooling Fan Symphony in D Flat | ] |
So here I am, back from a week working at an East Coast office of the "small financial institution" with which I'm gainfully employed, marveling at the weather. It's not that the Bay Area weather is so much better than anywhere else. It's not, actually. It's just that last Monday I'm walking back to the hotel into a 25 knot headwind in 20 degree weather (to be followed by a couple inches of Snow on Wednesday, which stayed on the ground for the rest of the week) and this Monday I'm riding my bike to work in The City and the thermometer in the fairing shows 72 degrees.
The day before, I've got my boat out on the bay for a couple hours, and it's jeans and t-shirt weather.
Yeah, this IS the ticket.
It's all about the weather. . . |
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| Where the hell did the time go? |
[Feb. 12th, 2007|03:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Comms Bunker 1 | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Talking Heads: Psycho Killer (On the Karma) | ] |
So here I am, once again, reviewing my journal here and finding that, somehow, there hasn't been an entry posted since October. Ok, I know I'm not into the LJ thing as much as I could be, or even as much as I was into posting to OpenDiary back in the day. But damn! I could have sworn there were at least two entries since that one in October!
Ah well, I suppose there are two facets to not posting much to this. One: I don't have that much I want to share with the world. And Two: no one reads this anyway. Not even my kids. My kids (bless 'em both - biologically mine and not) don't even seem to be posting much here any more themselves. My Son, I understand. College and life are taking a big chunk of his time. My daughter . . . what to say? I know she's going through a rough time in her life. Hell, I remember that stage myself and it was hell. A different sort of hell for me, but I can empathize with her. Just wish there was something I could actually do to help, but it's hard from two states away.
I'll be here for her - if she ever comes looking for help.
Otherwise, just the occassinal reminder that I am still here for her and the quiet hope that she'll remember that.
Anyway, I suppose I'll get back to the grind. Track down a rogue IP. Break someone's software. Drop a large object from orbit onto a random (but deserving) spammer... |
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| airports only suck a little |
[Oct. 15th, 2006|07:49 pm] |
So, here I am at san francisco international typing an lj entry with my thumbs on a blackberry. I'm not sure whether this cool from a raw technology standpoint, or painfully lame for the fact that I'm using technology that was pure scifi a generation ago to do it.
I'm leaning towards lame. But oddly, the concept is bringing me face to face with the fact that I'm rapidly becoming that aforementioned "generation ago.". While I may be able to keep up with rapidly advancing tech, am I doomed to be lost to a rapidly evolving (some might say DEvolving) culture?
Who knows.
Right now, my thumbs hurt. |
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| So, it's been HOW long? |
[Oct. 4th, 2006|11:37 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blah | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | RFD | ] |
Ok, so it's been, like, almost a year since my last post. I kind of dropped the ball on the Playing with the Paranoids thread (though I still sometimes think about their insanity, and drop by one or another PCT website just to see how far afield they are) and haven't actually seen fit to add anything else of interest.
Why the hell not?
Too many rants on the collective (bad) joke that's our government? Not enough gaming (RPG's on IRC are largely dead) on IRC or NwN? Too much travel? (Probably. There was a period of a few months where I was gone for a week every other week. Really took a toll on the sleep cycles) Or just not feeling like writing?
Go for all of the above?
Yeah. All of the above.
Anyway, on the off chance I'll get inspired, I'm going to try and write more in here and see if I can't get some of those creative juices flowing.
Wish me luck. |
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| Playing with the Paranoids: Prelude |
[Nov. 10th, 2005|01:06 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | productive | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Whatever's on Radio Free Dwarfstar | ] |
Radio Free Dwafstar - the BOFH mix 7700 Cuts, no commercials, no rhyme, reason, or order...
Over the last few months of 2004 and into early 2005, I spent some time on what was billed as an "Alternative Health" mailing list. A Yahoo Group, really, but they're effectively the same thing. Alternative health, of course, wasn't the primary topic of discussion on the list. In fact with the exception of some serious quackery, and the occassional good nutritional advice of one member, health was rarely a topic at all. No. The list was mostly a haven for conspiracy theorists.
Who are these "conspiracy theorists" you ask? They're people, some perfectly normal, many notably abnormal, and some few outright whacked, who believe that conspiracies of one form or another are absolutely everywhere. Some of them are actually fairly rational: we all know, for example, that the Government doesn't always tell the whole truth. But some of them border on the bizare. (By "border" I mean so far over the line the beliefs are laughable.) Something untoward happens? Earthquake? Storm? Flood? Natural Disaster, you think? Not so, say the PCT's. They're all the result of some secret government plan. But not just a government plan. No, the government itself is controlled by the Illuminati. Which, itself, is controlled by either Satanists, Aliens, or pan-dimensional lizards.
I wish was making this up!
Admitedly, I went there after reading the associated website - which I found under the Illuminati entry on the Skeptic's Dictionary. As someone who's relatively skilled at debate and logic, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to play their game for a while and see if I couldn't inject a bit of logical thought into a list that was notably illogical. Sadly, I failed. While I met a few interesting people, the Vocal Minority there seemed to be of the most rabid conspiracy theorist sorts, and I was eventually removed from the list after accusations of being a Government Disinformation Officer.
After thinking about doing this for some time now, I've finally decided to start chronicling some of the more amusing, disturbing, or otherwise interesting, debates and beliefs that ran across the list. Now, I'm not going to say which one of the sites I started with, the email address I used on the list, or the name of the list I was on. My reasons are varied, but mostly have to do with not wanting to connect myself with the on-line persona I used during the experiement. I'm not paranoid, but I am somewhat careful when dealing with people who are, in some cases, completely whacked.
Stay tuned for future installments... |
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| What happened to October? |
[Nov. 8th, 2005|11:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cranky | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Nothing | ] |
I was just going over my journal here, and realized I hadn't posted a single entry in about two months. I'm not exactly sure why I haven't written anything. I've had at least some time available, and more than enough things to write about. I guess I just haven't felt the motivation. Perhaps, also, there's a little frustration at knowing that very, very, few people actually read my writing. I don't think my own daughter (welcome back on-line, Kiddo) has had the time to follow the links to the long forum threads. Why add things here, in another venue, where I'm not really involved in the "blogger" culture?
It's kind of funny though. I see the blogs and web forums and what have you, and I remember the "good old days" of dial-up BBSes. Bulletin Board Systems for those who don't know that ancient acronym. Back before the Internet was called the Internet. Back when a high speed connection was a 1200 baud Hayes (for perspective, your cell phone can run at 9600 baud or better) and 9600 baud modems, when they came out, were $900. It was a different world then. Probably not "better," but certainly more exclusive. It took more than point-and-click to get on-line then, and it felt like a new world to explore.
Ah well. I suppose I should find the time to write up my last adventures to far away corners of the continent. Such as they are.
At least now I have the new iron (a trio of Dell Dimension 8400 workstations) received as partial payment towards a long-overdue loan. Maybe I'll get off my ass and build some iron and some antennas, and stop feeling like a lazy bastard for watching TV when I get home from work.
Feh. Enough rant. |
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| Noise noise noise |
[Sep. 8th, 2005|10:52 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Corrs: Whatever's on the Karma | ] |
The lab is hot, loud, and isolated. I could do without two of the three. The Noise Canceling headphones are taking the edge of the noise, and piping Andrea Corr's voice into my ears doesn't hurt. She's got a killer voice, she's exceptionally hot, and the music is great. At least if you like their Irish Folk-Rock sound. The heat? Hard to compensate for. We've got two ceiling tiles popped in our converted office and a 24" fan doing its thing, but with a stack of rack mount Compaq, HP, and Sun boxen, not to mention the Boss's miniature farm of Dell target machines, there's a LOT more heat in here than the AC was ever designed to handle. I could just open the door, but we've been making it a habit of staying on good terms with the Kender-like young lady who has the cube outside our lab. We don't need someone complaining about the noise from the H@X0rz K@ve.
Now, contrary to appearances, I actually enjoy building new hardware. This one's a Gentoo Linux box running on an HP Proliant with an Athlon64 in it. Loud little beast. Gentoo and the A64 are both new to me, so this is a fun challenge. Not a major challenge, mind you, but a challenge nonetheless. I just wish it wasn't so warm in the lab...
I do wish my darling daughter would return my calls though. But it's ok I suppose. She needs to get into the swing of school and probably doesn't need her old man intruding in her business while she does it. Miss her though. She's a good kid. She'll call me when she's ready. |
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| Once again, the 30th . . . |
[Aug. 30th, 2005|12:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
I admit, I haven't been keeping especially close track of my live journal entries. I go through phases where I will want to write a lot, and phases where I simply can't be bothered. This was somewhere in the middle, where I contemplated numerous entries, but actually didn't make any. Even having LogJam on the laptop didn't help, though it should have. Since the last post I've been out in the field twice more, lead a test, toured a submarine and a Great Lakes freighter, cruised wireless networks in three states, had a friend die, spent time with my darling daughter, and whatever else I've done over the last how-ever-many weeks.
If I can get off my lazy butt and actually start writing again, I've got an entire series of articles I want to do on Playing with the Paranoids - a look back (with no small amusement) on the 6 months or so I spent over late last year into early this year participating on what amounted to a PCT (Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist) mailing list. They claim it's an Alternative Health list, but the reality is considerably weirder and a lot more amusing. Inevitably I was booted from the list for being a Government Disinformation Officer, which would have been even more amusing had any of the people on-list realized I was, while NOT a "Disinformation Officer," a government computer security specialist.
It's amazing, and often amusing, the lengths people will go to protect their own beliefs no matter how whacked out or illogical they may be.
For those who are interested, stay tuned for my recounting of Paranoid Conspiracies, Illuminati Mind Control, and Alien Lizards.
L4J |
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| Various and sundry... |
[Jun. 30th, 2005|03:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | okay | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Datacenter Concerto for Cooling Fans and Hard Drives in D Flat. | ] |
It's been a strange week. After last week's extended Night Mission, ("*Ding! Dingdingdingding!* Hey, cool, we found us a 0Day!") that was an order of magnitude more pleasant than my last experience on the same site working the same hours, I was glad to be home. Of course, I have developed an instant loathing for the Boeing 737/300 and /500 aircraft. Who's idea was it to put in 17" wide seats? Between the German businessman in the seat next to me (Not a bad guy, really) and getting clubbed by every person passing the row, my shoulders came out of the flight feeling like I'd been sparring with Guro Derek again - who, incidently, is still kicking butt and taking names at the DBMA's "Gathering of the Pack." My neck was so sore that by tuesday I had to take the day off and spend it working out the knots in my muscles.
Bleh.
The only real sad thing right now is that I probably won't get to see my daughter this weekend after all. I'd asked for confirmation a couple weeks ago on what days I could have her, and only now do I hear back. Last minute tickets are expensive. On Alaska, the airline she usually flies, we're talking over $450 for the round trip. I'll check United later to see if I can get a better price. With the frequent flier miles I've been racking up there, it may be possible. But still . . . If I'd known a couple weeks ago, it would have been a lot more rational. Worse, it's only for the weekend.
It hurts that I haven't seen her since last December. She's gone through a lot this year, I know, and I've been really worried about her. It's just hard to get time with her, especially when it seems her mother doesn't want to do anything to make the scheduling easier.
Still, I'll find a way to go up and see her play, and hopefully we'll get to spend a week or two together after I get back from my next two engagements. The entire run of her play is in the brief week I get home between "Cabo" and "Montevideo". (Or are these "Barbados" and "Cancun"? I can never remember the transient codes we use to obfuscate the actual locations where we do what we do.)
If only the summer was longer.
So much varnish. So little time. |
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| Hot-el (not) California... |
[Jun. 20th, 2005|01:57 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | uncomfortable | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Radio Free Dwarfstar | ] |
So. . . it's hot. Not "stupidly insanely hot." Just Hot. Like low 90's, which for someone who grew up in the Bay Area, counts as hot. Add the humidity (95%) and it's what I would call "Miserable." Admittedly, the first time I was in Dallas (other than just changing planes) I stepped off the plane at 0130, stepped outside the air-conditioned terminal and just - stopped. Like I'd hit a wall. It was 103, 99% humidity, and that was in the dead of night. This time it's just hot. The hotel though, just about makes up for it. Example: Head out around 1930 for a half hour walk, and come back to the bed turned back, the lights dimmed, and candles on the nightstand. It was the room I'd have liked to come into on a honeymoon.
The down side is the travel agent didn't get reservation confirmation, so I may have to check out Wednesday morning and find another hotel. Here's to hope the Manager pulls off a miracle - since the hotel's solidly booked.
Down side of this trip is going to be the hours. "8 to 5" says the team lead. Amended with "We didn't say whether it was 8AM or 8PM though." I thought the last time I worked this site was going to be the last time I had to work nights here. Though after the schedule change in Jersey, I shouldn't be surprised.
Though all's not bad. I didn't know Dallas had an aquarium. Though their aquarium is more like a multi-level, multi-habitat, zoo than an aquarium. There's more birds than fish, and when was the last time you saw a Jaguar in an aquarium? More like a menagerie than an aquarium, or a zoo for that matter. But it was definitely a nice way to spend a few hours in the afternoon - and something I couldn't have done otherwise.
Ah well, I'll just have to see how the week progresses.
Happily my daughter gave me a call last night for Father's day. Something I really appreciated. Just wish I was getting to actually -see- her sooner rather than later . . . |
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| Kids... |
[Jun. 15th, 2005|11:05 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Mike and the Mechanics: Living Years | ] |
It has been a strange few weeks, and I suspect it will be a strange few more. My Foster Son is off visiting his biologicals (Wonderful people, actually) and will be gone for a few more weeks. Shortly after he comes home, he'll be moving into his own place. At leas t that's the theory, since the building's manager seems to want to make last minute changes to the deal - none of which are acceptable. I'll support him no matter how that particular situation turns out. It's not like I want him to move out. Though I fully understand his reasons and support his decision.
Just gonna miss him.
My beloved daughter . . . I wish I was getting more time with her. She's had a rough time of it recently, and I feel so out of the loop with her life. I've spent the last few months making a concerted effort to restore the relationship with my little girl, and I think we're closer now than we've been in a long time. I just never get to see her. Between work sending me all over the damn country (I get to spend Father's Day on a United Airlines 757 - in coach...) and her mother not bothering to respond to emails and such, I've got no idea when I'll see her again. July 4th? Who knows. Her mother won't confirm so I can't buy the tickets. By the time she does, it'll be $300 for the weekend. Not that I mind shelling out $300 to see my daughter for a few days, but a little foresight could have saved $100 that I could have spent on her instead of the airlines.
At least I got a chance to take the boat out under sail - finally. 20 knots out on the bay, two foot chop, and it's like she's on rails. Waves that would have pounded my old Ericson 27 (albeit a far lighter and more agile boat) simply disintegrate into a mass of spray without the old wood Ketch so much as shivering. The difference between 6500 pounds displacement and 22000 pounds. The difference between "Wow! Wave!" and "Huh? What wave?"
My son loves sailing. My daughter, not so much. She's been spoiled by her grandfather's 70 MPH Pro Bass boat. Sailboats are too slow for her taste. I could change her mind on a Rave, but I'm not sure where I'd get my hands on a $10K sailing hydrofoil. Actually, I am sure where to get one. I'm just not sure what use I'd have for a two passenger, almost zero cargo, sailing tri that can do 40 knots. My daughter would probably love the silly thing, just like she seems to enjoy being a passenger on my bike. It's a raw velocity thing, I guess. Kind of runs in the family. Hard to figure why I like sailing, when my road car's a mildly breathed upon Subaru WRX, and my daily ride is a Honda VFR or a BMW R-Bike.
I'm rambling, I know.
Not enough coffee this morning: a Bad Thing (tm) indeed. |
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| The h@X0rz K@v3 |
[Jun. 1st, 2005|09:21 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | hot | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | A State of Trance 2005 (Compilation) | ] |
The lab is too bloody warm. The Hacker's Cave, as it's starting to be called, started life as an interior office about 2/3 the size of my Boss's, a couple doors from the technical library. It's not a bad space, really. I've just been here too long. Too long amongst too many computers for such a small space with so little ventilation. It was intended for a manager and said manager's laptop. It wasn't intended for a small collection of Sun boxen, a couple Linux boxen, three switches, a router, a firewall, three 21" monitors, another router, and two l33t g33ks trying to patch together light duty servers out of obsolete iron.
If it wasn't for the 93+ hours worth of music loaded onto my Karma, and the Noise Canceling headphones (PlaneQuiet NC6 - about 15db of attenuation), I'd be going nuts from the noise - never mind the heat. Though popping a couple of ceiling tiles yesterday dropped it at least 5 degrees. Now, if I could tap into one of the AC ducts, we'd be set.
Hope my Son's flight back East turns out well... |
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| Throngs of Humanity |
[May. 13th, 2005|03:25 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Blondie: Heart of Glass | ] |
I'm sitting in Newark Liberty International Airport waiting for a plane. After last night's adventure, the swirling people, screaming, playing, and/or agitated children, and business travelers having meetings on their phones seems almost calm.
The original plan was to catch a flight out of here at 1520 local, drop into Chicago for an hour, then fly into SFO. Window seats back in the "suitable for children" seats: go through boarding twice: run across O'Hare: hope the storm pasting the midwest doesn't cause delays. Not pleasant. Since I have to go through secondary screening - again - I decide to take advantage of the organic ticket agent and find I can get slotted into a direct non-stop a few hours later, seated in an exit row up in the "fit for an adult" part of the plane. Leave three and a half hours later, arrive about 2 hours later, saving a little air-time and an hour on the ground in Chicago.
Good deal.
But that's today. The adventure was yesterday. With my cousin living in Manhattan, all of 13 miles from my hotel, it was hard to justify not visiting her and my god-daughter. Getting there was less of a challenge than I suspected. Hop the New Jersey Transit bus across the street from my hotel. The second one, really, as the 191 slowed down but didn't actually stop to pick us up. We ended up on the 190 that stopped a few minutes later: a 50-seater that was more comfortable than the damn Boeing I was soon going to be spending 6 hours aboard. Unfortunately, I was a bit reluctant to take the New York Subway without at least a little guidance from someone who's done it, so I set off for her apartment on foot. 58 blocks away . . .
The walk uptown reminded me why I don't like cities, and New York City in particular. People, in their teeming hordes. Every block I'm reminded that I'm surrounded by the inhabitants of America's most densely packed city. It's not bad exactly: just crowded. A veritable sea of humanity.
And they say the oceans are getting polluted...
It takes about an hour to walk the 5 miles or so from Port Authority to her apartment, feeling the city change subtly as I pass through the neighborhoods. People watching, mostly. Curiously checking out the impromptu sidewalk vendors selling books, pirated DVD's, knock-off sunglasses, and whatever else you find being sold on a New York City street. No bad encounters though. An occasional nod, or polite 'excuse me' from a passing pedestrian - a strong contrast to the stereotypical view of a New Yorker.
With an hour to kill after arrival (She's teaching, and I got lucky to catch her between students) I wander down to the river and watch the world pass by. People walking, blading, or riding by. Families out with their kids. Couples out being romantic against the backdrop of a river bordered by buildings. Riverside Park is actually peaceful, in spite of the swarms of helicopters flying to and fro. Swarms may not be right, but I saw more in an hour than I do in a week in San Francisco.
The rest of the evening was quite pleasant. Dinner at a really sweet Indian restaurant around the corner from the apartment. Hanging out with the choir she teaches, listening to a rehearsal. Playing on the kitchen floor with my god-daughter and her baby-sitter (One of her students who struck me as "my daughter in 5-10 years." Cute, bright, redhead.). Birthday party for one of her students after the rehearsal. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night.
The trip back was another leg of the adventure. My cousin walked me over to the subway station and told me which gates to walk through and which platform to wait on. Not exactly complicated, of course, but it helps to know what to expect. Compared to the BART system, the NY Subway feels primitive and old in a way that BART will probably never have. There's really no way to mask the wrought iron beams and girders supporting the tunnels, or the peeling paint, or the years of soot covering the ceiling. Appearances in movies just don't do justice to the gritty, but eminently functional, reality of the subways.
The 42nd street station has a tunnel that leads to the Port Authority bus terminal. A great multi-story affair with dozens of gates for the buses to pull into and load. It felt more like a high efficiency airport - without security gates - than a bus station.
I got guidance to my gate from a New York City cop who was pleasant contrast to the brusque cops I'd encountered the year before. He got me to the right area, and 15 minutes later I was on the bus heading back to my hotel. Less than an hour door to door from my cousin's apartment back to my hotel.
Not a bad little adventure. Probably not worth chronicling here, but what else am I gonna write about? |
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