Uncategorized on Nekodojo

23 years

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 06:53:18 +0000

Today is my 46th birthday. And yesterday was our 23rd wedding anniversary. That means I have been married to Michelle for more than half my life.

I remember, 23 years ago, one day shy of my 23rd birthday, standing there in Ragle Ranch Park in Sebastopol, CA, waiting to be married to the woman I love. I remember all our friends around us, holding swords, saying words over us, playing Greensleeves, or just watching us and cheering us on as we pledged our lives to each other. I remember grinning like a fool, and watching her cry her eyes out. I remember taking endless pictures, and then walking back to join all the guests, and saying “Thanks for coming, did you get some food?”

Sugar-free January

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 06:22:09 +0000

We have decided to cut out added sugars and sweeteners during the month of January. Anyone else interested in joining the challenge? Reply to the post, or contact me privately if you prefer.

I’m borrowing a page from Whole30 (It Starts With Food) and we probably won’t follow ALL of Whole30 but for now we will cut out sugar and see where that gets us. Check the following link for more info.

My Yahoo account was compromised

Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:50:47 +0000

About a dozen of my friends and contacts got spam labeled “From Greg Connor” and I believe the contact addresses came from my Yahoo.com mail account.

Even though the spam was not sent out through Yahoo.com mail servers, the contacts were unique to my Yahoo address book. (I don’t use Yahoo mail but I had imported the contacts over a year ago in an attempt to sync them to my phone or something).

Caves of Madness: Chapter 1, scene 1

Sat, 05 Jul 2014 00:34:41 +0000

CAVES OF MADNESS

Welcome to Springvale! Usually, life in our small cozy valley is quiet and peaceful. So quiet that many of us have left the valley to seek our adventure elsewhere.

But recently, something has disturbed our quiet town and threatens our neighbors and loved ones! Some folks have come back home to defend our families and neighbors from the new threat.

Prologue: Mad Caves

Visitors to Springvale may hear about the Mad Caves, and how they are filled with both treasure and danger. The locals love to tell stories about the Mad Caves, but none of the locals actually believe the stories. Really, it’s just an old copper mine, abandoned by the Dwarves in our grandparents’ time. Isn’t it?

Whole30 strong: June 1-30

Sat, 24 May 2014 04:12:29 +0000

I’m getting ready to do another Whole30 along with a friend. It is not very different from my current eating plan, so it’s not a huge stretch for me. It will be more difficult for her, so giving up my dairy and dark chocolate for a while is one way I can show support.

Anyone interested in joining us? If you are satisfied with your current way of eating, more power to you. Keep on doing what works. But if you want to try something new, think about joining us for 30 days: June 1-30.

Whole30 and paleo, more info

Sun, 18 May 2014 03:45:46 +0000

Some great coverage yesterday on the “Whole30” plan and “It Starts With Food” book: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/30-dieters-eliminate-foods-shed-pounds-23760830

I have been on the “Paleo” plan for some years now and I’m still quite happy with it. I am both happier and healthier. I really do believe that it literally saved my life (since I was pre-diabetic and I’m not anymore).

Yes, it is a really restrictive plan, but that’s why it’s only for 30 days. The point is not to banish potentially problematic foods forever–the point is to reset and re-evaluate and actually determine what makes us healthy and happy. Almost nobody will stick with the restrictive plan, but most of the folks I have helped/guided through the Whole30 have found it to be life-changing.

This is why diets don't work

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 06:47:34 +0000

Here’s why I truly believe “diets don’t work”…

I happen to think motivation is overrated. If you’re in the first 4 weeks of a new plan, motivation is super important. But if you have been on the same plan for 6+ weeks and you are having to keep “psyching yourself up” to stick to the plan, it is not a good life-plan.

1. Is your plan too hard? Running out of motivation after 6 weeks probably means your plan is difficult to follow. Take the opportunity to examine why your plan is difficult to follow. If you’re thinking “How can I find more motivation?” you can spend some time thinking about what makes your plan difficult.

The 11 Most Destructive Nutrition Lies Ever Told (Business Insider article)

Wed, 26 Feb 2014 18:11:46 +0000

Great article from Business Insider: “The 11 Most Destructive Nutrition Lies Ever Told” http://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-most-destructive-nutrition-lies-ever-told-2013-11

Some of my favorites: 2. Saturated Fat is Bad For You; 3. Everybody Should be Eating Grains; 5. Low-Fat Foods Are Good For You; 6. You Should Eat Many Small Meals Throughout The Day; 7. Carbs Should Be Your Biggest Source of Calories. All of these are persistent lies that have made it into the mainstream conventional wisdom, and this article debunks them, giving links to actual scientific studies.

Key skill for success: adapt and adjust

Tue, 31 Dec 2013 19:03:52 +0000

I’m a huge fan of the Paleo diet, but I’ve come to realize that it’s not for everyone. And whatever plan we start with, being able to adjust, adapt, and change is hugely important. Modifying a plan for our own needs is crucial for long-term success, and sticking to a single plan strictly is a recipe for failure.

So this morning I found this great guest post by Chris Kresser on Mark’s Daily Apple: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-personalizing-your-diet-lifestyle-key-success/ This means that two of the Paleo community’s important leaders have joined forces to share the message that Paleo is not the perfect plan for everyone, and that we should be able to adapt and adjust. So perhaps there is something to this.

Low-fat diets discredited

Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:27:30 +0000

Low-fat diets are starting to be discredited all over the place. Here is a study that spent $700M over 8 years, trying to prove that low-fat diets with lots of added veggies and whole grains helped post-menopausal women avoid or recover heart disease and diabetes.

http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/7343/5494

In fact it found the exact opposite. “Women with diagnosed cardiovascular disease at the start of the trial who adopted the ‘healthy heart’ low-fat eating option had a risk of developing future cardiovascular complications that was 26% higher than that of the non-intervention group.” “The leanest women at the start of the trial gained weight on the low-fat diet and those with the least insulin resistance at the start of the trial were at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) if assigned to the low-fat diet.” “The low-fat diet also worsened glucose control in women with diagnosed diabetes”

Why Diets Fail

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:41:09 +0000

Mark Sisson wrote a great post today called “Why Diets Fail.” Here is a brief quote:

When we diet, we deliberately choose scarcity. Why? In the end, deprivation is a self-defeating behavior. It will always be self-defeating behavior. Sure, there may be that temporary grit-your-teeth triumph many of us have experienced in the pre-Primal pasts. The fact is, you can scramble, deprive and exhaust your way to a target weight, but chances are you’ll just roll right down the other side of that mountain once you’re there. The better choice is always investment as opposed to deprivation. A better, healthier lifestyle calls you to invest in yourself. It’s not a mental game of mathematical twister or complicated rule book. It’s a lifestyle you create over time.

Voice Of the People site launched today, please check it out

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:19:48 +0000

“Voice Of the People (VOP) is a new non-partisan organization that seeks to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving ‘We the People’ a greater role in government.”

I will be following this closely! I like the idea of a #CitizenCabinet. Please take a minute to visit VOP.org, and sign their petition if you agree.

The Case for the Short Metcon by Robb Wolf

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 03:46:18 +0000

I have been thinking about doing some high-intensity training, but I am a little afraid of CrossFit and others like them. I would like to find something appropriate to my fitness/endurance level, and I want to make sure I’m doing it right and not hurting myself.

This article is quite insightful, explains what a “MetCon” is, and then goes on to explain how a 20-minute high-intensity workout might be counterproductive and how to choose an appropriate level.

Context and the Stages of Change

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 03:43:47 +0000

This is a great article about the stages of change Context and the Stages of Change by Emily Deans, posted on Evolutionary Psychiatry

It’s written from a Paleo perspective, but it’s useful for anyone who wants to guide others through a difficult life change. It explains why some people aren’t ready to listen, no matter how compelling the argument or evidence.

1. Precontemplation (a.k.a. Denial) Set a good example. Prompt them to consider something but don’t try to convince them, yet. 2. Contemplation - Person is not sure, and may be more open to convincing. 3. Preparation - Actively looking for support, resources, and pointers to how to get started. 4. Action - They’re actually doing it 5. Maintenance - avoid relapsing, turn short-term coping into long-term life skills.

Metademocracy: Governance is not a game. Yet.

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 06:20:06 +0000

I’ve read about this thing called Holocracy which has really got me thinking about governance systems. Holocracy is a method for governing a company or organization by having small interconnected groups that share responsibility for decision-making and finding consensus.

I think eventually someone will figure out a way for this to be applied to states/nations/etc. I think that communication technologies will be an important part of the solution, or at least important to enable it to scale up. But, right now I believe that government on a state or national level gets too polarized and then becomes paralyzed. Perhaps this is because we’re more concerned with blocking stuff we don’t agree with, than with finding consensus and moving forward on things we do agree about.

Plan for September: eat MORE and exercise LESS

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 00:38:08 +0000

My plan for this month is to eat MORE and exercise LESS. Yes, I know that sounds backwards, but here is my thinking.

1. I have had great results with Paleo but I have been playing fast and loose, and having stuff I shouldn’t be having a bit too often. I can have bread, but I’ve decided I don’t want to have it every day. So I’m taking this month to re-focus on core Paleo. Also, there’s some “extra” stuff I’m doing that is sort of OK but not really important to basic paleo. For example, intermittent fasting, and carb re-feeds. It doesn’t hurt, but it would benefit me more to get my basic, core paleo skills back on track. Here is my resource for that: http://everydaypaleo.com/just-paleo/ and Whole30.

Weight loss journey: skills and practices

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:26:13 +0000

Here are some of the important life skills and practices that I have learned in my weight loss journey.

1. Logging and measuring everything, at least while I’m making changes. 2. Really listening to my body to know when I’m hungry or satisfied. 3. Being aware of nutrient balance (fat/carbs/protein) 4. Experimenting, pushing the limits for 4-week intervals in the early game. 5. Being honest with myself about what plans will be sustainable over the long term (rest of my life) and rejecting anything that still requires lots of motivation after the first 4 weeks.

Be paleo, but don't be a dick about it

Sun, 07 Jul 2013 20:25:24 +0000

In the past I’ve been quite pushy about my anti-grains stance, but now that I’ve lost 90 pounds I just sit back and let the results speak for themselves. If any friends are really curious, I am happy to share my experience, and I also tell them to go and read up on Mark’s Daily Apple.

I still feel strongly that low-fat diets rich in refined grains are literally killing people, but since the science is still not settled and well-understood, there is little I can do about the masses. All I can do is vote with my knife and fork, try to set a good example for my family and loved ones, and be available to share my experience whenever someone is curious.

Peter Attia: Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem?

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 01:29:41 +0000

I have total respect for doctors who stand up and admit “Hey we don’t actually know all the answers, and we have hurt people by assuming we do.” I’ve read about Peter Attia and his foundation but I had not heard him speak about it before.

Peter Attia: Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem? http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes.html

Dear Sugar, let's take a break from each other

Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:43:02 +0000

On Lose It! there is a lot of discussion about whether sugar is terrible, whether to avoid it completely or to dole out tiny amounts. Most folks will answer that it is best to measure out tiny amounts but not deprive yourself of it completely. But I wasn’t really satisfied with either approach. So I wrote the following.

I found it was best for Sugar and I to take a break from each other. I feel like I do want Sugar in my life, but lately we have become, shall I say, overly familiar, and when we see each other every day, multiple times a day, our relationship loses something. That spark wasn’t really there. Plus I think Sugar can get a bit… demanding? clingy maybe? Like, if Sugar thinks I’m not responding quickly enough to her… overtures, it can get uncomfortable for both of us.

Joss Whedon on Getting Things Done

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 05:52:52 +0000

This is awesome because it mashes up two really awesome things: Joss Whedon and David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

The writer-producer-director who made Much Ado About Nothing while editing The Avengers, and who’ll return to TV this fall with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., knows a bit about “getting things done.” In fact, he cites David Allen’s book of that title as an important guide–even if he never finished reading it.

More here: How To Be Prolific: Guidelines For Getting It Done From Joss Whedon

Reaching 100 pounds goal

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:29:23 +0000

Me in 2013

As of today I have lost 100 pounds. This has been in progress for about 2.5 years.

I’ve written quite a bit about my journey. Check this blog post for a good summary of what I did. A tale of two diets — How I renegotiated my relationship to food: /archives/2013/1010 The short version is: Paleo and LCHF have been good for me, but it takes a lot of trying and experimenting to find the best plan.

Is breakfast really important?

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:04:41 +0000

Is breakfast really so important when trying to lose weight?

It depends a lot on the content of your diet. Look at your nutrient balance from last week. If your carbs are over 50%, you are on the low-fat, high-carb plan. That plan depends on eating 5-6 times a day, very small amounts, and distracting yourself so the hunger won’t bother you. High-carb dieters get into BIG trouble by skipping meals. If you get so hungry that you’re desperate and reaching for anything and everything, that’s why. The only way to eat that many carbs and still lose is to do it constantly throughout the day, no more than a serving or two at a time, so you are burning it off and not overloading your system with lots of carbs at once. I think this is why high-carb dieters say to eat breakfast every day.

Whole30 round 2 planned for June - I'm doing this

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 20:16:58 +0000

I have decided to do another Whole30 in June, starting today. Is anyone interested in doing it with me? Reach out to me if so.

The story so far: I’ve posted quite a bit about my Paleo journey so far. “A tale of two diets — How I renegotiated my relationship to food” ( /archives/2013/1010 ) is a great summary. Quick version: Over many years I have tried different diets and lost about 20 pounds, but nothing really worked well for the long term. Then I found Paleo and LCHF, then it just clicked. It has been 1.5 years and I’ve lost another 78 (for a total of 98 pounds).

5 Helpful Analogies for Understanding Complex Health Issues

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:44:15 +0000

Another great article from Mark’s Daily Apple today. This seems to clarify many of the ideas that have helped me in my path. 5 Helpful Analogies for Understanding Complex Health Issues 1. Insulin is a Doorman at a Fat Cell Nightclub Insulin is not a switch that goes from fat burning to fat storing. Fat is always going in and out of the fat cells. Insulin just makes it easier to get in.

More thoughts about "motivation"

Mon, 20 May 2013 06:16:54 +0000

So much of the weight loss self-help literature is about “motivation” and visualization and thinking positive and not losing hope and… and… and… A lot of these plans are very thin on PRACTICAL and USEFUL advice, other than just “Eat less food”. So if the plan is “Eat Less, Move More” and it’s just wrapped in a different flavor of motivation/positive attitude, it is really the same plan and will fail for the same reasons.

Experiment on yourself!

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:43:56 +0000

Of course I’m a big fan of low-carb. But I discovered something even more important: Experiment On Yourself. You will have to try dozens and dozens of things before you find the “recipe” that works for you. Keep track of what you’re doing. Ask others what they did, and try it. Keep track of how you feel. Find things that work and keep doing them. Fine-tune your plan as you go.

Motivation: Four weeks at a time

Mon, 06 May 2013 07:03:56 +0000

I posted this on Lose It but wanted to post here too.

If you are making a life change (like let’s say, losing weight for example), that will be hard for the first FOUR WEEKS. But, if it is the right change, if it makes your life better, it should get easier, and it should be its own reward. So give your plan a fair chance and stick to it faithfully for four weeks. Reach into your reserves and pull out the stops during this time. Distract yourself, drink more water, write in your journal, sing to yourself, get psyched up, kick your own ass, and tell all your friends to kick your ass for you too.

Further, in defense of fats

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:00:11 +0000

I keep posting to folks suggesting that they add some good fats. If you’re stuck for ideas on how to do that, here’s something I wrote on Lose It, in the Whole30 challenge. Whole30 is like paleo boot camp. It is a naturally low-carb high-fat plan.

I like really big salads with lots of olive oil and some salt. For more fats goodness I will often add an avocado. I also like veggies such as broccoli or cauliflower with lots of butter (clarified of course). Slivered almonds are great on salads or on green beans (more butter of course). I usually will have macadamia nuts by themselves, they are really rich.

Enough calories? Too much? What's the right amount?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:53:51 +0000

A common bit of diet advice is that you have to eat enough calories, and that you shouldn’t go below your budget too far (or below your BMR or Base Metabolic Rate). But, this is one of the big differences between low carb and low fat diets.

If you eat low-fat and high-carb, you are basically alternating between spiking up your blood sugar, burning it off, letting it come back down, and then starving your body of necessary resources until the next feeding time. That dance is a happy blend of sugar/starch feeding, treadmill cardio burning, being hungry but distracting/denying it, then eating again, in small quantities so as to get back into starvation mode again quickly.

Whole30 plan -- It Starts With Food

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:54:47 +0000

What is Whole30?

Whole30 is a paleo diet without the caveman. It is based on the book, “It Starts With Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. It’s a 30 day body detox, transforming journey to better eating and health. A great description is here: (Whole30 description) The short version: Eat real food - meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, good fats. Don’t eat sugar, grains, dairy and legumes.

What happens after the 30 days? The Whole30 take on things is that we don’t necessarily want to eat this strictly for the rest of our lives, but we’re building a solid base and a safe place to come back to, if we get in trouble. It is probably the strictest interpretation of paleo out there, which makes it great for re-learning and adapting. But a lot of paleo folks do fine with adding some dairy back in or relaxing some of the other rules, and maybe having occasional treat days where we get to have our pancakes or pasta.

Welcome to Lesterland

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:18:39 +0000

Whatever your most important issue, it will get no love as long as Congress remains broken. If you care about any issue in the US, you should care about fixing Congress.

I like this TED talk by Lawrence Lessig. It explains how Congress is broken and what we should be doing about it.

Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim.html

A tale of two diets -- How I renegotiated my relationship to food

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:37:06 +0000

I posted this in July of last year, and I decided to repost it here, in case some folks didn’t see the LiveJournal version of it. In the nine months since this writing, I’m down another 25 pounds, have started a workout plan that I like, and still feeling great.

Link: Top 11 Biggest Lies of Mainstream Nutrition

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 03:55:10 +0000

Top 11 Biggest Lies of Mainstream Nutrition

I love this article… it is a great summary of why everything we think we know about weight loss is wrong. Plus, it has links to real, honest scientific research.

Some of the biggest lies: Lie 5. Low-Fat Foods Are Good For You Lie 9. Low Carb Diets Are Dangerous Lie 11. High Fat Foods Will Make You Fat

I was also pleased to see that most of the “life lessons” I have learned along the way (in the last 2 years anyway) are actually listed here :)

I've started a new blog

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:58:21 +0000

I decided to create a new Wordpress blog for myself at blog.nekodojo.org. I’m hoping to use it to express some thoughts which don’t fit nicely in a Facebook or Tweet format.

I’ll try to make sure things are mirrored to Facebook, LiveJournal, etc. I will likely still be reading Facebook every day, and probably visiting Twitter and LiveJournal on a regular basis.

A tale of two diets - Part one: The story about quality vs. quantity

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 23:15:00 +0000

I’m making a list of things I have discovered which are either unexpected, or actually the complete opposite of what I believed before.

For now I’m expressing them as “old story” and “new story” and avoiding charged labels like “myth” and “fact”. The old story may work for some people… the new story works better for me.

Here’s one: The story about quality vs. quantity. Old story: A great diet plan means eating whatever I want, in moderation. New story: If I find the right set of foods, I can eat whenever I am hungry, and not stress about it other times.

Whole30: Intro to Paleo 101

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 20:49:00 +0000

I found three people so far who are interested in taking me up on my offer: Do the Whole30 program and I’ll do it with you. (If you missed my previous post, click through to my journal).

Anyone else interested? We will probably use Facebook to talk to each other, but if you are interested, and not using Facebook, contact me and I’ll still try to include you somehow. Or we can just support each other without broadcasting. I will totally respect your privacy. Ping me if you are interested!

An offer to friends: try this with me

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:50:00 +0000

I found the “Whole30” program and it sounds like exactly what I did when I started the paleo/low-carb lifestyle a year ago. I have lost 85 pounds total and I feel so much better. It’s like paleo, but doesn’t use the caveman as a role-model, it just focuses on the food. (Click image below for more info).

I’ve had amazing results. I feel so strongly about this, that I will make this offer to any of my friends: If you want to try this, I will do it with you for 30 days.

What works for me: Diet changes first, exercise later

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:13:00 +0000

What we are always told: Diet and exercise are both important. If you do only one, and not the other, you will not succeed.

What I found to be true for me: Exercise never helped me to lose weight. It was usually either a distraction, or messed with my diet, or even worse, gave me pain and injuries. I’ve seen some news lately that suggests exercise is important for health, but not actually effective for weight loss.

A tale of two diets -- How I renegotiated my relationship to food

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:31:00 +0000

Someone posted an article “How I Lost 100 pounds” which appeared on Lifehacker.com. I spent some time writing stuff in the comments, but what emerged turned out to be a pretty good summary of my low-carb experience so far. Read on if you are interested in my journey.

Low-carb and Diabetes

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:53:00 +0000

I’m not officially “diabetic” but my doctor says I am “prediabetic”. So some time back I got a blood glucose meter and tested myself for a while. Since then I have also started a very low-carb diet (call it Primal/Paleo or LCHF) and have lost a lot of weight. My HbA1C tests have showed I am still on the borderline, but my doctor says it shows “excellent control” (mine is 5.1%, non-diabetic will be 4.9% or less).

LJ friends clean-up

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 09:33:00 +0000

Removed some friends from my list who probably are no longer active. If I removed you but you are still active, comment here!

On the subject of going cold-turkey vs. gradually reducing carbs

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:15:00 +0000

I posted this as a comment in a friend’s journal but it sums up a lot of what I’ve been thinking about lately.

On the subject of going cold-turkey vs. gradually reducing carbs…

Re-negotiating my relationship to food

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 05:10:00 +0000

I want to re-negotiate my relationship to food.

Typical low-fat diet wisdom

Eat a lot of small meals during the day
Diet and exercise together–both are important
Portion control is key
Eat protein, starch, and veggies about equally
Avoid fat, no “bad” fats, small amount of “good” fats
Avoid sweets
Carbs are the body’s “preferred” fuel
Number of calories is the most important measurement of the diet
If you eat fat, you can only eat half as much food as when you’re eating carbs

What’s wrong with this picture?

Low-carb diet, after 6+ months

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 06:25:00 +0000

I am still eating a very-low-carb diet. (The one I’m following is LCHF, very similar to Paleo. Look back a few entries in my LJ for more info about the diet itself.) So far, it is an awesome life-change for me and I am actually enjoying it. Compared to other “points” or “calorie restriction” diets, it has been much easier to follow and stay on. I have been losing about 2-3 pounds a week when I’m paying close attention, and staying about the same when I become lazy or cheat more than 1 day per week.. but it seems quite sustainable.

Star Wars Online!

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:37:00 +0000

Hi friends! Is anyone else playing Star Wars Online?

The New Car is Finally Here (Again)

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:07:00 +0000

Short version: We have a new car. The first dealer didn’t get it when promised, got it two days later, but I backed out of the deal. I ended up getting very close to the same model for a bit less, from another dealer. The car is now here and we are happy.

Longer version:

This is approximately what happened with the first dealer:

Sat 2pm: Met with D1, asked if he could match the price quoted by D2 in email. He said he could not match it but could come within $440 of it. I said this was OK.
Sat 230pm: D1 shows me the same car as the one I want, only in V6 engine. I say I like it. He says he can get me the V4, should be able to have it tomorrow (Sunday). I say, I am traveling Sunday but I can pick it up Monday.
Sat 3pm: D1 checks my trade-in car, agrees with me that it is in great condition and would resell easily. I say I am hoping for mid Blue-book value (5600). His offer to me: 3500. I counter: 4500. He counters again: 4000. I say OK.
Sat 330pm: Lots of papers are signed. I have all the papers saying I have a new car, I just don’t have the keys.
Sat 4pm: D1 gives me a loaner car (Jetta with 94 miles on it) and takes my Jetta trade-in. I transfer all my stuff to the loaner car and say goodbye.
Sun: Day passes with no call, but I was not concerned.
Mon 12pm: I call D1 to say, I haven’t heard from you, do you have my car?
Mon 2pm: I get a voice message from D1, something like “The car didn’t get to get the the dealership, we’re going to figure this out tomorrow. You know, they release so many cars the last couple days and we tried to locate where the trucker is, but we were not able to do that today. So by tomorrow… any questions, feel free to gimme a call” I’m starting to get the feeling “tomorrow” is not a firm date either
Tuesday 9am: As a back-up plan I reach out to D2 to make sure he still has the car I want. D2 says sure, and I share my story so far. D2 is sympathetic and says that if I decide not to deal with D1 just let him know and he will take care of me.
Tuesday 11am: I show up in person at D1 and say “Look, I really need the car today, or we will not be doing business”. D1 and D1.mgr both swear up and down that it will definitely be here today by 6 pm.
Tuesday 5:50pm: I show up again, and the car is there, but by this time I have decided I am no longer wanting to do business with this dealer. I explain that I have decided not to accept the car. Many awkward conversations happen over next 60 min but finally they give up on me.
Tuesday 7:30pm: They explain that they cannot give me my trade-in car back, since that sale is finalized and they have already started reconditioning the car. Instead they will cut me a check for the agreed trade-in amount. More papers are signed. They tell me to come back the next morning for my check.
Total time: approx 78 hrs

Now, here is the experience with the other dealer:

LCHF eight week update

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:53:00 +0000

Update: It’s been another month since my previous post on this. I am still keeping very low carbs, eating foods that I like, and haven’t felt hungry.

LCHF four week update

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:21:00 +0000

TL;DR Powerpoint version:

I have been on the LCHF plan for 4 weeks
LCHF means “Low Carb High Fat”
So far, lost 3 lbs. per week
Haven’t felt hungry at all

What is LCHF?

LCHF is a version of the low-carb Atkins-like diet that is also being called the Scandinavian diet. Read more about it here or Google it. Rather than repeating what other web sites have said about it, let me just say what I like, and what drew me to it.

Where is the "marketplace of ideas"?

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:10:00 +0000

We have all heard of this “marketplace of ideas” but, where actually is it?

Sure, it sounds funny when you put it like that, but I’m being quite serious here. I think there should be a website (or app, maybe) where people can express ideas, vote on the ideas they agree with, and rate how strongly they feel about them.

Then, people could find other ideas, and rate them too, and explore the links, maybe even view ideas that seem to conflict with those they feel strongly about. Perhaps we could even draw connections and vote for the best related/supporting ideas.

A Marketplace of ideas for better government

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:56:00 +0000

I spent some time looking at ideas on the Contract for the American Dream site. There are a lot of good ideas there… and some others that are not so great.

The site breaks down into four sections. It’s not immediately obvious once you get to the Rate Ideas page that you are in one of four lists… so if you start seeing similar ideas and not much that’s new or interesting, go back to the home page and choose a different section to read and rate.

Read entries by tags

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 11:29:00 +0000

This is interesting… this must be a new feature that was added some time recently and I didn’t or communities based on their tags. For example if you modify me you get the screen that would normally show “Add to groups” and “Select colors” and now it has a “Read entries by tags” section.

This looks like it should work great for opting in/out of certain entries, and probably much cleaner than the old “Hey I made a filter for ______ entries that are {TMI, boring, only interesting to people in my xxx group, whatever}”. Now all you have to do is add the tag, which you may already be doing anyway.

Bunny is gone

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 05:03:00 +0000

Most of you already know that our cat Bunny had cancer for a year and a half or so. Today, we decided it was Time. His appetite has dropped off markedly this week and it seemed clear that he was going to soon get worse, and not better.

I am thankful that we had a long time to pamper him and I am pretty sure he wasn’t suffering. But, it is still awful and we are still very sad.

Jobs

Mon, 31 May 2010 10:51:00 +0000

Yahoo is looking to fill a bunch of positions right now, including front-end dev, back-end dev, and sysadmin/tools dev. These three descriptions are devs of various types. Feel free to pass along the descriptions. People can apply via careers.yahoo.com or send resumes to me (or other Yahoo folks if you already know one) – no reason not to do both.

Search Front End

We are hiring superstar client- and server-side engineers to join our team of JS ninjas and PHP gurus. If you have a passion for solving difficult problems and enjoy writing beautiful code that’s well documented and maintainable, you’re well on your way to joining our team. On the client side, we make extensive use of the YUI library and often contribute features to it. On the server side, our applications are built using Apache and PHP5. Work closely with user experience designers, product managers, and other engineers in a development environment that is highly collaborative. Build new features and enhancements for Yahoo! web search. These engineers are responsible for developing production-level code as well as proof-of-concepts and prototypes.

Blizzard: Tear down this wall

Sat, 01 May 2010 12:07:00 +0000

For those that play World of Warcraft (and some similar games) the idea of “realms” or “which server do you play on” is so much a part of the system, that we don’t often stop to question it. Choosing a realm is just part of the normal character creation/startup process, and we just sort of accept that we can only interact with other players that happened to choose the same realm. If we want to play with our RL friends, we have to make sure when we start up a new character that we choose the same realm as our friends, otherwise we can’t form a group with them or chat with them while playing.

Atheism and the search for meaning

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:07:00 +0000

I posted this in response to something someone said it and I wanted to save a copy for myself. It may or may not be interesting to folks following this journal (and I know you’re out there… both of you :). The original post was from someone who isn’t depressed, but finds it hard to care about things lately.

I have often found that “atheism” rings a little bit hollow as a person-label. It’s not really a complete belief system, but more a rejection of one, without a tangible replacement. And yet, a lot of people calling themselves “atheists” have deep sense of purpose, and care deeply about things, and have a great joy in life. Perhaps “Humanism” might better describe what I actually believe: I believe that people are basically good, and that when given a choice, people do great and kind things for others.

Transition

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:30:00 +0000

I just gave 3+ weeks’ notice to my employer, and will soon be moving on. Wish me luck at the new companY!

A Sysadmin's Tale

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:12:00 +0000

Once upon a time there lived a Sysadmin. He started as a sysadmin at a tiny company, and soon decided he liked the work, and would need to find a larger place with more sysadmins like himself, in order to hone his craft. He found such a place, a search company with a nice Vista. He worked at the search company with many other sysadmins, sometimes leading a small group, and usually finding work that was fun, challenging, and interesting. He stayed there and flourished with his fellows for several years.

A random dream sequence

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 07:44:00 +0000

I remembered part of my dream last night, so I thought I would write it down. I’m a little fuzzy on what was happening in the story leading up to this but I remember this part pretty clearly. (Well, ok, it’s been embellished a little)

Leveling my warlock (WoW)

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:30:00 +0000

[I posted this in a comment to a friend, but I think I want to post it on its own too.]

This last week I’ve been leveling my warlock. Got tired of Plaguelands and all that gathering of drops, so I cleared all my quests and hied myself to Hellfire Peninsula. Over three or four days I’ve completed all the quests except the (Dungeon) and two [70] quests, got the discovery and the questing achievements for the area, and moved on to Zangarmarsh.

Bunny update

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:40:00 +0000

It looks like Bunny most likely has lymphoma (i.e. cancer) at a moderate stage. We are both very sad about this, obviously.

At this point we’re not sure where it is, or how bad it is, but we’re pretty sure we don’t want to go the chemo route. We want to focus on making sure he is not in pain and that he’s enjoying himself.

We will keep everyone updated.

What I believe about health care

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Here’s what I believe about health care in the US.

1. Everyone should have it.

Every other industrialized country has decided that health care is a human right and has found a way to provide it to everyone. We should do the same. We should not let anyone else die or go broke because they don’t have health insurance. If Europe can do it, so can we.

2. Making a profit from health insurance isn’t right.

Blizzard GM contact

Mon, 25 May 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Here is a paraphrase of what I reported:

Hello, I am having trouble finding NPC “Ringo” for quest “Lost”. After waiting 30 minutes we went and did something else, and checked back a couple of times in the next hour… still no NPC. Please check to make sure the NPC is in the correct place and let me know when I can try again to complete this quest. Thanks. Here is the reply I received:

WoW server question

Mon, 25 May 2009 10:58:00 +0000

I’m sad that even though I have a lot of friends that play WoW, they are all on different servers. I would love to hang out, chat, quest and even RP with my friends, but I hate having to pick and choose.

If you play WoW, and especially if you might like to play, hang, chat, rp, quest, etc. with me, please comment here! I wish to know: What server(s) do you play on? Would you consider coming to another server occasionally? Would you move your chars to another server? If you did move to another server, who else would you try to convince to come with you? While playing, how much time do you spend grouping with others vs. soloing vs. RP vs. fishing/farming, or what? What times of day do you play?

Further adventures in customer support: Blizzard

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Blizzard is no shining star in this matter either, though I’m willing to forgive one slip of the “respond with form letter” button.

> Request ———————————— > Product: World of Warcraft > Category: Payment Issues > Subcategory: Credit or Debit Card

> Description ——————————– > After a charge was declined by my bank, I called my bank (Chase) and they informed me that they are refusing all charges from Blizzard due to unusually high number of chargebacks. > I’m upset that I can’t use my favorite credit card (my only credit card, actually) for paying Blizzard. Can you update me on what Blizzard has done and what you plan to do to get back on board with Chase? >

Open letter to Chase Cards

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Hello Chase team,

I have had many declined transactions over the last two days, and because of these I have called and spoken to Fraud Operations representatives six times in the last 48 hours.

Transactions that have been declined include: Buying books from Amazon, which I have done month after month for some years Paying for an online game, also something I do multiple times a month Paying for rental equipment from a music store, also at least monthly for many months Getting gas at a Shell station about a mile from my house that I’ve used many times before Getting gas at a different Shell station, after calling earlier the same day to complain about my earlier rejection at Shell

Twitter

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:07:00 +0000

I am @nekodojo on twitter. I’m not sure what I’ll be posting, but for now I’m just using it to follow people I know.

If you want to follow me, go for it. If we know each other but you don’t want to follow my twitter right now, maybe reply here to let me know who you are, or send @nekodojo Hello via tweet.

Sophie

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Sophie passed away at 3:18.

Sophie update

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Sophie has had a bad week, health-wise. The upshot of it is, unless her status changes dramatically for the better over the weekend, we will most likely have a painful-but-pretty-clear decision to make on Monday.

We have known this was coming, so we are as prepared as we could have been, but it’s still hard. She has been with us longer than we’ve been married, so she is close to 18. We have had a long and happy time together, but that doesn’t make it any easier either.

Linux encryption geek question

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:04:00 +0000

OK Linux geeks. Imagine you have:

5 or 6 Linux servers with their disks full of files
A need to encrypt the files so that if the servers are lost in shipping, secrets are not loosed
No extra disks and no extra servers to encrypt “onto”

How would you arrange to encrypt stuff “in place” where creating a mountable, encrypted filesystem isn’t really feasible? Is there a magic wand I can wave, or do I really need to write my own script to PGP-crypt everything one file at a time and delete? I’m assuming there isn’t a paid product that will encrypt “in place” but if there is, we probably would want it.

We are poor

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:18:00 +0000

This year, we started the year with about 25k in savings, rainy-day fund, and over the course of the year, well, it rained. Three cats with cancer, one new computer, two vacations, and a couple other extravagant purchases later, we have officially drained the rainy-day fund.

To make matters worse, I changed jobs, which is a good thing for me and our family considering the Hellish commute and crap management/political infighting/reindeer games at the old place, but I have taken a big step down in pay to make it happen. Next year’s forecast is that I will take home 13k less than 2008.

Vegas, day 6

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:54:00 +0000

Last day Get up and start packing Call for bell service Take cab to airport Wait in “web check in” line about 25 minutes while the 1 lady serving that line spends 10 minutes with one person, and 10+ minutes with someone from the First Class line (which has 2 other windows serving it) Give up and take our bags outside to curb checkin, done in 3 min. Fly home, landing 20 min early Cab home

Vegas, day 5

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:38:00 +0000

Back to TI to look at photos Avoid buying full rez photos on CD ($1200) but did get a couple extra 8x10 Breakfast at Hilton Cafe Back to hotel just to chill

Cash -15 Cab back from TI to our hotel

Credit -60 Midnight snacks, drinks, cold medicine -30 Deli, snacks

Vegas, day 4

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:57:00 +0000

Bus+walk to Atomic Bomb Museum Walk back (no bus, ouch) Monorail (1 stop worth) Hilton restaurants all closed 2-5 Had mini pizza at Pizza Hut stand Return to hotel Dinner at Hilton, 888 Noodle bar (thx Darren)

Cash - 1 Bus -12 Museum - 5 Monorail 1 ride - 9 Pizza hut -20 Slots

Credit -40 Deli breakfast stuff and snacks -10 Deli snacks, water

Vegas, day 3

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Drop off Miche and Corrii at Treasure Island Try to find shirt or bandana for Darren’s costume and mine Breakfast at Starbucks Stores not open yet. Gamble. Win 700 at roulette table betting on red, red, black Drive to Supercuts and get haircut Return to Treasure Island, locate Bridal Dressing Room Change into costume, chat with officiant and wedding staff Ceremony! On a freakin Pirate Ship! Lots of pictures after Back to hotel for quick lunch Cab to Postrio Excellent dinner Cab back to hotel

Vegas, day 2

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Cash +20 Corrii, buffet -10 Deli, sun screen

Credit -60 Buffet breakfast -24 Two day passes for monorail -180 Cafe Bellagio (need to collect from Corrii, Ed, Julie)

Vegas, day 1

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Day 1 Packed, got cats situated Parked car outside so L could park inside Took cab to airport Cab driver took 20 extra minutes to find our house (S.V.Place NOT S.V.Way ok?) Boarded plane 20 min late, then waited an extra 70 min to take off C and L were on the same flight, took cab to hotel together

Cash -25 Cab ride to airport -15 Lunch at airport -30 Cab from airport to hgvc +20 Clay-for cab -20 Dinner, hilton cafe

Needed: Desktop Support Technician, in Scotts Valley

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:31:00 +0000

Friends in Silicon Valley, do you know anyone who might be a candidate for the following job? This is described as a “temporary” position but that’s mostly because we need to fill it quickly… it’s entirely possible that the need will be ongoing.

Job Description – Desktop Support Technician

Location: Scotts Valley

Title: Desktop Support Technician Department: Information Technology Reports To: Systems Administration Manager

Job Summary: This temporary position is responsible for the installation, maintenance and troubleshooting of desktop computers, peripherals, software, IP telephones and related systems. Responsibilities include the timely resolution of issues affecting hardware, software and user permissions, and building new workstations as needed.

First day at work

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:08:00 +0000

HR paperwork with Brooke Set up workstation and email (Thunderbird and Firefox) Set up my Mac to also read work mail Went to lunch with: Tim (IT) Natasha (SQA) Sean and Michael (DEV) and Mark, ?Andre & ?Brendan (Web) (Need to verify the names I’m not sure of) Also met Eric and ____ who Darren introduced me to. I forget why. Met Devon (IT) and Josh (DEV) again (both of whom interviewed me I think) Set up Trillian to reach internal Jabber server. Read Twiki pages, added my phone number and IM to internal contacts wiki Met Marco (Project Manager) and Stephanie (unknown dept/title)

Video of Tyler

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:05:00 +0000

Apparently you have to chase *both* ends of the toy…

And the coolest part is watching yourself on T.V. after…

Search for a list-maker

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:22:00 +0000

I’m going back to read Getting Things Done by David Allen. It’s good stuff.

It’s clearer to me now that I need a good “list manager”. I have a lot of lists in various places, and I have a lot of input that I want to capture and put into a system, but it has to be a system that I trust, or else my brain will continue to remind me of things.

Stuff I've done for Shutterfly

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:10:00 +0000

Collection of scripts I may want to refer to later: on my personal wiki Documents I wrote on company wiki: saved here

As far as I know none of it is proprietary and doesn’t contain any actual user data. I’d like to be able to say that the way sysadmins deal with copying files and running backups contributes to Shutterfly’s competitive advantage, but I know better. Almost everything here is industry-standard-grade or lower… I just don’t like reinventing the wheel.

Job search update

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:07:00 +0000

Tied for #1: Apple They would like to make me an offer, but have additional hoops to jump through, in that some VP has decided to review all the open reqs and they all have to be signed again. That probably means a delay of about a week. They are growing a lot, mid to high level sysadmins, get your resume to me or ciannait.

Plus: Closer to home (25 min), nice location (restaurants), big name company, team is growing fast.

Sophie has cancer

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Sophie has a growth in one lung, and based on neurological symptoms, probably something in her brain as well.

As of right now, she’s not in pain or distress and we can likely keep her comfortable for a while, but we’ll be monitoring her pretty closely. Given her age, and the diabetes she already has, we are not likely to set her on a chemo or radiation course… we’ll be focused on keeping her pampered and comfortable. The usual expectation for a kitty with this type of condition is usually between 6 months and 1 year, but given that Sophie has just kept going, and going, like a tank, it may end up being longer than that. Who knows.

Apple interview

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Interview with 2 different groups at Apple, and one manager from the third group. Everything went well.

Job hunting?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:53:00 +0000

Whom do I know that might be looking for a job right now? I occasionally have recruiters call me for… various reasons, and I’d love to be able to pass on information if appropriate.

Comments here are screened and I’ll keep them hidden and/or delete. Or you can email me at gconnor@nekodojo.org to let me know you’re looking. Networking, ho!

Job search update

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Listed in order of my current preference.

Rats are leaving the ship

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Previous entry here was hidden, now switched to friends-only.

Short version: 2 people in my team of 7 were fired, including my boss.

Rats are leaving the ship

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Today my boss and two other people were fired. Jim and Heath are gone as of today, and Rich is leaving in a week or two.

I think that our VP Geoffrey is making a mistake, and I told him so, at least with regard to Jim. I told him that I think Jim is exactly what our department needs, and that he’s the reason I hadn’t left already. I flat out told him that my job search would be kicked into high gear because of this. He said that he appreciates my honesty and that he wishes I would give him a chance to make things better. I expressed that Jim *was* the last chance, for me. :(

Updated resume

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:34:00 +0000

Updated resume now appears here

On exploring the neighborhood and getting lost

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:31:00 +0000

This is Buffy, who achieved honorary Jungle Cat status by making a break from his presumably comfy home to go out on safari, finally making his way to our door.

We could tell Buffy was someone’s baby because he was very friendly and approachable, so we took a couple pics and posted them at the nearest stoplight with the heading: “Found: Orange/cream long hair cat”

Buffy’s owner called, I told her that Buffy was still out on walkabout as far as we knew, but he had showed up two nights and would probably show up tonight too. Which he did, finally about 11:15. I called the owner again, this time getting no answer, so this time I lured him into the garage. He’s in the garage now with food, water, litter and a blanket, awaiting the owner to get the message and call me again.

Happy ciannait day

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:03:00 +0000

Had dinner last night with ciannait and made some new friends.

Looks like most of these were there: ciannait, gordona, lwood, ravan, wolfs_daugher, iceblink, kshandra, solkitten, gconnor, miche_connor, medancer, snowwy. I friended you (those who were not already on my flist).

Work-related: Lab

Sat, 24 May 2008 13:44:00 +0000

Things we learned this week that should be written down… How to click through Pasadena to see Unavail images Unavail Images tab is just recent ones, not all of them Subbatches appear in portal catalina.out, from there you can tell what render node was used Render node has details of each transaction in Debug.log Everything we did while troubleshooting unavail images GRF properties file, pointing at colo-rf How to tell if colo-rf is getting 0 load How to tell if lab is getting 0 orders How to adjust pager settings in proactive How to change pager settings in sam/beholder for lab messages

Sophie update

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I forgot to post about this yesterday, but Sophie had a full-on seizure, right in the middle of everything that was happening with Harley. This was Saturday at 3:20 pm. She started off twitching a little, and then went into convulsions with her entire body involved.

I quickly hustled her into a box and started off toward the emergency vet. About 2 min into the trip she realized she was in a box (and got her wind back, most likely) and started complaining.

Harley is gone

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:49:00 +0000

Miche already posted about this, but I wanted to post also, for anyone who is on my flist and not hers.

Harley died at about 5:40 today. It became clear to us that it was time to let him go. In addition to the pretty rampant cancer (stage 5 lymphoma) he was facing additional challenges, including leukemia (due to cancer, not viral), loss of liver function, not enough protein in the blood and resulting leakage of fluid into his abdomen, and finally pneumonia. Treatment for all of these would have been grueling and the prognosis still grim. I truly believe we made the right decision to try and fight it, but the aggressive chemo took its toll.

Harley update

Sat, 10 May 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Harley had his second chemo today. We’re trying to get him to eat but so far he’s not interested in any food.

It’s going to be a challenge to keep him eating and hydrated. Current plan is to just keep offering food, every hour, through the night too.

He has had a lot of different meds (chemo itself, steriod, anti-diarrhea and anti-nausea) that his grogginess and lack of appetite could be caused by any of those (most likely being the chemo and resulting dead cancer cells getting dumped into his blood to get filtered).

Harley update

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:41:00 +0000

Harley is still in the hospital, 3rd night. His cancer is identified as one of the more serious ones (large cell lymphoma combined with leukemia).

We did get to visit him again today, briefly, and he was happy to see us. Right after seeing us the doctor started him on chemo. Apparently it’s common to give chemo even if surgery isn’t done, and this can sometimes help cats get some quality of life back for a time, but it would be temporary if so.

Harley

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Harley has cancer. This is a huge blow to us since we just lost Simon, six weeks ago. M and I are stunned and feeling broken…

We’re awaiting the results of one more test (exactly what type of cancer cells), but the ultrasound suggests that it’s entwined in his lymph nodes and spleen. It’s most likely not operable, and looks to be pretty advanced. Harley is being kept overnight at the vet, a second night, due to being quite dehydrated.

MogileFS

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:28:00 +0000

This week at work we’ve been experimenting with MogileFS ( link) which is a “filing system” capable of storing/retrieving many files across many hosts. It’s not a true file system, meaning that you can’t mount it and look at it with “ls” or “cat” files, etc. but using a custom perl module you can put files in and take them back out.

Some interesting facts about it: It’s based on HTTP GET/PUT so I believe it would be a good complement to other systems we have at work (without going into too much detail, it’s no surprise to anyone that Shutterfly receives lots of picture files from users and stores them for later printing :) Also, the MogileFS tracker module takes care of ensuring that files are replicated like you want; for example, if you want 2 copies of each file living on different nodes, after the initial upload the file will be duplicated appropriately. In the event of failure of one of the nodes, other nodes that hold the same data as the lost one will duplicate the items again to ensure replication is maintained.

Crucial Confrontations

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:43:00 +0000

These are my notes from reading “Crucial Confrontations” (multiple authors, Kerry Patterson listed first, more info on http://www.vitalsmarts.com/cc2book.aspx). Here’s a quick quote showing what the book is about:

Behind the problems that plague organizations, teams, and families, are individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with failed promises, broken rules, and missed deadlines. Others neglect to keep commitments or just plain behave badly—and nobody steps up to the issue.

Influencer

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:57:00 +0000

My notes from reading the book “Influencer”

Influencer

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:04:00 +0000

I’ve always thought of myself as an “influencer” but I have also been suspicious of books that claim to give me the power to “influence others”. Either it wouldn’t work, or would be unethical/sleazy, or more likely both.

I’m part way into an audiobook I picked up, called “Influencer”. I’m about 2 disks in (out of 7) but so far I’m pretty pleased. The material is clearly laid out, and seems to give great advice for things that actually work without being scritchy or evil.

Simon

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:33:00 +0000

Simon is gone. He died about 1:15 am this morning (the 18th). He was suffering something sudden and debilitating; based on blood tests the doctor said it was almost certainly cancer. He was quite frail already and we didn’t want to put him through any surgery, chemo, etc. Other than being hungry and a little confused, and having doctors poking at him, we don’t believe he was in pain or suffering, but that it was likely to go that direction given much longer.

Simon

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:22:00 +0000

According to the emergency vet, Simon either has intestinal cancer or a (less likely but more hopeful) a massive infection of some kind. We will know more after seeing the regular vet for an ultrasound tomorrow. He’s lost a lot of weight quickly and is pretty much skin and bones. He had been having diarrhea and vomiting for a week or so, though we attributed it to Sophie at first.

paralegal as a career?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:43:00 +0000

I have a friend who is thinking about taking some courses to become certified as a paralegal. She’s heard that this might be a good career option but she’s not sure.

Are any of you working as a paralegal or have you in the past? Or do you know someone who might like to comment? It would be interesting to know what opportunities are out there and what kinds of jobs you might find on getting training and some kind of certificate? Does it suck, is it rewarding, what types of people/personalities do well or poorly at it, etc.

Defining atheist morality and ethics

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:03:00 +0000

Posted as a comment to this post in but I want to save a copy for myself. This was a response to someone writing a paper about how atheists come by their “morals” and why atheists don’t just naturally become murderers and thieves.

Animal-based diets harmful to humans and the environment

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:31:00 +0000

While visiting my mom, I saw a video extolling the virtues of a plant-based diet versus an animal-based diet. The video was not the greatest in terms of production values, (i.e. most of the film was shots of someone talking, or stills with voice-overs) but it certainly got the point across.

Most of the content was stuff that I already knew, but which I’ve been somewhat comfortable with ignoring. For example, I already knew:

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:43:00 +0000

Hey everyone, it’s aelfsciene day! Here’s wishing you good friends, good food, good fun, and a designated driver, if appropriate. Be well!

Conversion to atheism, or how I learned to stop worrying and love living without mythos

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Posted as a comment in but I wanted to save it for myself too. I believe there’s a sort of cognitive dissonance going on in some cases, where children are taught that science/observation/experimentation/reason is a good tool for testing knowledge and understanding, and then taught on Sundays that all that doesn’t apply to God and related mythos. I also think that everyone’s reaction to it is different… maybe it depends on whether a child is taught early on to think, learn, solve problems and adapt, or whether a child is taught to obey and not question.

I fail at "manager"

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Crap. I just showed up to a $VP meeting unprepared. I promised to do two important things, about the only things I promised 2 weeks ago, and I totally failed to do anything at all on them. So I got sternly “reminded” in front of peers that when I say I will do something, I need to do it. It’s not the first time it’s happened, either; both of my to-do items have had their dates moved a couple times due to previous failure.

WW update

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:25:00 +0000

Last week on WW I managed to stay below my 40 points for 5 out of 7 days. Not a lot, mind you… I’m still well within my weekly goal, since there’s another 35 “floating” points to use any time within the week. My biggest points day was when I had specialty’s breakfast sandwich with sausage, also coffee cake, and also got take-out Thai food for dinner. I can’t do that every day, but doing that once a week definitely won’t kill me.

The sex argument again

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Greg: I like sex. Sex is not all-important, but it’s very important. I like to have sex with a partner, because watching her enjoyment is important. I enjoy sex by myself, but it doesn’t satisfy my desire for affection to/from another. I want my partner to *want* to have sex with me. I want my partner to be able to communicate what she wants. I want my partner to be willing to experiment and try new things. I will often do things for my partner that aren’t pleasurable, or even uncomfortable/awkward, if they are pleasing to her. I want my partner to be willing to do some things that are uncomfortable/awkward, but probably not often. I want sex with my partner to be spontaneous and playful. I’m not willing to be without an active sexual partner any more.

Letter to HOA (draft)

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:05:00 +0000

Dear Board members,

Recently I received a notice that my trash cans were not put away in a timely fashion. It is a legitimate complaint, but I would like to take issue with how this complaint was handled.

Typical day on WeightWatchers

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:45:00 +0000

So far I have been paying attention to portion sizes, and not trying to cut down quantities, really, but cutting out a few small things here and there (like candy, pretty much entirely.

According to the suggested POINTS goal, I’m doing well and coming in under the suggested amount. One day was well under the daily (41 points), and the other day was over the daily amount, but uses less than 1/7th of the weekly overflow (35 extra/week).

Exercise and food

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:51:00 +0000

First day of exercising in the morning. Nothing too exciting… this morning’s workout took roughly 10 minutes and consisted of: 3 stretches, 4 mini-crunches, 5 leg lifts, 3 mini-push-ups, jogging in place for 160(x2) steps, and 7 jumping jacks.

This was “Level 2” on the fitness scale (see previous post for link to _The Hacker’s Diet_ chapter: “What, Me Exercise?”). It was pretty easy to complete, but I spent the next half-hour coughing up something from my chest, so I’m perfectly willing to follow Walker’s advice and stay at this “level” for a week before turning it up a notch.

Health check-in

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:29:00 +0000

It’s January, and I’m a little late for “resolutions”, but I’d like to go through part of the exercise anyway. That is, I want to take the opportunity to examine myself and decide what I would like to change about myself. Whether I follow through and end up in a better place next year is not yet certain, but at least I’ll have a record.

I’m now at 290, the heaviest I think I’ve been in my life. I haven’t exercised more than a few minutes total since May or June. I usually eat what I pick up at restaurants (both lunch and dinner). I’m not really “stress eating” per se, but I so far haven’t taken the time to make food for myself, and my crappy commute makes it even harder to make and execute a meal plan.

Exercise log for January

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Exercise log for January Sun 1/27: weight 290, DDR 30 min, food 38.5 POINTS Mon 1/28: fitness ladder 2, 10 min Tue 1/29: weight 287.8, fitness ladder 2, 10 min Wed 1/30: Thu 1/31:

Happy bryant day!

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:04:00 +0000

For he’s a jolly good fellow! etc. Have a good day and a good year!

Happy Martin's Day

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:13:00 +0000

Well, at least I figured out it was a holiday before leaving for work, this time.

Darwin countered by Newton

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:41:00 +0000

Just saw this link courtesy of cuddlycthulhu: Top 100 Most Ridiculous Quotes Found On Creationist/Fundamentalist Chatboards

I especially like #2 on the list, attributed to “awesomestnerd” on “SmashBoards”: One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn’t possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

Things to do

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:38:00 +0000

I need a decent “to do list” application. For now I’ll post this here.

Sort through pile of papers on desk
Shred 2006 stuff
Move 2007 bills and pay stubs to “last year” file
Do taxes for 2007
Get and enter final W2 info, file return
Rollover SGI 401k into Yahoo 401k
Get blood tested again for iron
Type up “things to do” for home repair projects
Spend Lowe’s gift card on home stuff
File papers in the “to be filed” pile
File or shred additional papers in desk/hutch
File timeshare papers
Find homes for 2 dell desktops and 2 CRT monitors
Reorganize computer cabinet/shelf area
File manuals and papers on top of file box
Put away stuff in “extra/wtf stuff” box
Work on plan for forgotten realms campaign
Work on “tarot reading for character background” system
Replacement battery for Belkin UPS model F6C800

Jungle Cats, round 1

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:06:00 +0000

Today’s project was to trap a feral cat and deliver her to the local shelter for spay (or possibly neuter, not sure).

We usually feed the ferals at 10-12 at night, so last night we didn’t, and they were still hanging around at 5:50. We put some nice smelly canned food in the trap and it worked like a charm. (It helps that we have been feeding them IN the disarmed trap for 2 weeks or so).

Weight check

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:43:00 +0000

As of Monday I was back up to 288.2. I haven’t been exercising at all, and I’ve been having a lot of take-out and last-minute foods.

As of this morning (Weds) I am 284.8.

Trouble in paradise

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:55:00 +0000

Well, we had a big argument last night. I’m noting some of the points we were each concerned about, though this is by no means complete (and the actual argument took much longer because we each repeated ourselves a little…)

It started off with a pretty familiar pattern of “Do you want to snuggle?” and “No, I don’t really feel like it because of X”. In this case X=“my feet hurt”. It’s one of those perfectly valid concerns that I can’t fault her for saying along with “no”, but that frustrates me because I think to myself, “If something were really important to me, I would not want to let X stand in my way”.

Hawai'i trip, day one

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:20:00 +0000

Some highlights: Woke up at 7:00 despite setting alarm for 5:00 (turns out I had set the “Monday-Friday” alarm) Mad rush to get to SFO in time. Split the party so we could check in bags and park at the same time. Made it to the gate in time for the lady to say “I sure hope you are the Connor party” Pretty uneventful flight Found out there is no shuttle to the resort (well, there is but it costs about the same as a cab ride) Took a cab to the resort Saw large fields of lava rocks and a lot of “Hawaiian Graffiti” (white rocks brought from the beach and arranged to spell names on the black ground) Got settled in at resort and had a burger from the cafe Walked down the road about 5 min to see Hilton Waikoloa and dine at a good, very expensive Chinese restaurant at hotel

New friend?

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:19:00 +0000

Someone just friended me, but it’s hard to tell if the journal in question is run by a real person. We have no friends in common, and the journal was created today. 1 entry was posted in it (which I can’t see, despite being a friend) and the new journal’s 85 friends have nothing much in common other than being all from San Jose CA.

Anyway, if this new friend is you, comment here or email me so I know you’re a real person.

I'm here

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:12:00 +0000

It’s a Monday. I was very tired this morning so I ended up sleeping later than I planned - I got up at 8:30 instead of 7:00, skipped the shower, packed a lunch and hauled my butt to work. I thought about calling in sick because my knee really hurts today, and I’m having a little trouble getting around. Traffic was light, thankfully. I got here a little before 10:00, but I somehow doubt anyone will even notice.

Commute

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:13:00 +0000

Why yes, my commute *does* suck, why do you ask?

And no, “bad” is not quite accurate… “soul draining” is probably more correct. I really have to move.

Diet update

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:21:00 +0000

This morning I weighed 283.0.

Diet/exercise update

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:44:00 +0000

I gained back what I lost earlier this year. I’m now at

CalTrain

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 23:36:00 +0000

I took CalTrain into work today (actually light rail+cal train). It takes about two hours (driving takes about 1).

Probably won’t do this every day, but maybe I could do 1 day a week? That sounds do-able. This particular method was: Light rail (Berryessa, Tasman, Mountain View); Caltrain (Mountain View, San Carlos); Shuttle (San Carlos, Island Dr). Leaving from the first light rail station at 6:09 makes this a 1h 33m trip, while leaving later than that would take more (1h 49 min, up to 1h 57m). (Add about 10 min to those for walking from the shuttle to work The cost is 5.75 each way. Other options were pretty much all over 2:20 and mabye 2:50, for similar or more cost. I looked into but ultimately rejected: Lt. Rail to Caltrain by way of downtown SJ, lt rail by way of Tamien (South San Jose), driving to Caltrain and parking, taking a regular bus to CalTrain, and even an express bus going to Palo Alto from my house, then walking (from El Camino at Page Mill) to California St. station.

Complaint against a comment spammer

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:19:00 +0000

I sent the following abuse complaint just now. (This is probably only interesting to folks who read certain comic feeds and like clicking on the comments link to see what other LJ users are saying about the comic.)

I enjoy reading syndicated feeds and usually having comments on them is a good thing, because I can chat with other users who read the same feed. However, user “jassalol” has figured out a loophole in this system - it is basically a community with no maintainer and he feels he has the “right” to post whatever he wants in it.

progress, I think

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:59:00 +0000

We had another talk about sex, this time I think it went much better.

She had gotten a book about sex (forgot the name, basic “sex advice” type of thing) and we started talking about what types of things might be OK vs. No Way.

Probably OK list includes: regular p/v sex (might be touch and go due to not being aroused), touching firm enough to not tickle, massage, snuggling, kissing.

Sleep center

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 20:44:00 +0000

I was referred to the sleep disorders center for help with my sleep apnea (pause in breathing) and snoring/congestion. Last night was my sleep observation appointment.

It looks like I will almost certainly get a CPAP machine to assist with keeping my airway open at night. Most of the tightening of the airway is due to my tongue (seems to be a bit wider than normal and has bite marks around the edges) and there’s an observable but not serious narrowing of the part just above the uvula/tonsil area leading to the nose. Continuous Positive Air Pressure should hopefully help both of those.

Hawaii, here we come

Wed, 30 May 2007 18:28:00 +0000

Friends- We have made reservations for Hawaii! We are going to the Big Island, from October 14 to October 20. That’s six nights, checking in Sunday and checking out Saturday.

I know I have asked a few of you if you’d like to go with us, so now would be a good time to confirm your availability and request time off from work, etc.

We have a short list (family mostly) that we want with us if possible, but not all of them will be available and so far there’s plenty of room. If you’re interested in joining us, let me know that you’re interested and I’ll get back to you to let you know if there’s still space available. I have reserved 4 bedrooms total (2 with king, 2 with double-queen) but there’s a chance to get more rooms if we act quickly.

thoughts on monitoring

Sat, 19 May 2007 08:53:00 +0000

More monitoring is not necessarily better monitoring What gets measured, gets fixed. Are we measuring the meaningful stuff, or incidentals Meaningful metrics: quality, quantity and cost Incidentals - swap, disk space, anything targetted at a specific “problem” condition There should be (at least) 3 levels of “severity” with appropriate corresponding actions Major site problem - VIP not working, broken images, error messages, can’t place orders, etc. Minor site problem - Slow response, error in rare cases, monitoring broken Not customer-facing - One server or a small number have a problem but VIP is OK Minor - Node is not down but some resources are out-of-bounds. (swap, disk, cpu etc) Forensic, correlating - Should not notify anyone, but can be used for additional information “Critical” is not necessarily important (e.g. NTP can be “critical” but not worth notifying anyone) Too many minor alarms can mask important problems and dull our response

Exercise log for May

Tue, 01 May 2007 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for May Tue 5/1: Wed 5/2: Thu 5/3: Fri 5/4: Sat 5/5: Sun 5/6: DDR 30 min, weight 269.8 Mon 5/7: DDR 45 min, weight 273.2 Tue 5/8: Wed 5/9: Thu 5/10: Fri 5/11: DDR 30 min Sat 5/12: Sun 5/13: Mon 5/14: Tue 5/15: Wed 5/16: Thu 5/17: Fri 5/18: DDR 30 min Sat 5/19: Sun 5/20: Mon 5/21: Tue 5/22: Wed 5/23: DDR 30 min Thu 5/24: Fri 5/25: Sat 5/26: Sun 5/27: Mon 5/28: Tue 5/29: Wed 5/30: Thu 5/31:

Flash Developer?

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:33:00 +0000

Does anyone know Flash here? I found out Shutterfly is seeking a Flash developer. If you are one, or know one, contact me, or email jobs@shutterfly.com and tell them gconnor sent you. (looks like they’re in a hurry for this one, hence the broadcast, but if you’re looking for other types of jobs, browse shutterfly’s jobs page!)

Sr. Flash Developer Does an opportunity to work with the latest technologies to serve millions of enthusiastic users excite you? Are you passionate about designing and building products that will have an immediate and personal impact on a loyal customer base? Do you want to experience the thrill of a working in a successful fast growing engineering organization with opportunities for leadership and personal growth? Shutterfly pioneered the exciting world of online digital imaging. We are now looking to extend our lead by building the next generation of digital image based Products and Services. We are looking for a self motivated, outstanding Flash Developer who will join a team that will work closely with our experienced Product Marketing, User Experience and Creative teams to deliver web based application, client based applications, and presentation components for our valued customer base. Responsibilities: • Collaborate with product managers, interaction designers, operations, and other members of the project team in requirements specification, feasibility analysis, detailed engineering analysis and launch planning • Design and Development of Flash animation and applications for our Web Services and desktop application • Provide leadership in the use of Flash technology and mentorship in educating the organization on the capabilities and constraints of Flash • Participate in deciding the direction of Flash in our products and services Qualifications: • Minimum 4 years of Flash development experience on major Flash Projects • Mastery of ActionScript 2.0 and object oriented programming • Experience creating dynamic Flash applications that use XML and server side technologies • Experience with XML and Flash, including an understanding of XSD/DTD for validation • Flash Remoting and Communication Server experience a plus • Comprehensive understanding of web browsers and front-end technologies, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. JSP a plus. • Will need to work well with User Experience team (interaction and usability), Engineering team (server communication and application integration), and Creative team (look and feel). • Must have a portfolio or other way to demonstrate previous work for reference. • Experience and desire to mentor others in understanding Flash, appropriate use of Flash, and learning to program with Flash. • BS/MS in Computer Science desirable Our employees at Shutterfly are passionate and possess the deeply held belief that a team working for a cause will reach and benefit millions of people. We are looking for those rare individuals who share our passion about building a great company while delighting our customers, partners and fellow employees. Shutterfly offers many perks and benefits beyond salary. We offer Shares in our company, 401K, 10 Company Paid Holidays as well as 15 PTO days per year – and your birthday is a paid day off! We are easy to find off 101 on the peninsula, half way between San Francisco and San Jose in Redwood Shores, right next to Oracle. We keep a fun and casual environment at Shutterfly. Free drinks and cheap snacks are always available. We have walking and biking trails all right outside the front door. We have the excitement of the dotcom era and the stability of an established, profitable company. We provide Medical, Dental, and Vision as well as Life Insurance, Short & Long Term Disability, and an Employee Assistance Program. Shutterfly is an equal opportunity employer. Please submit your resume to jobs@shutterfly.com. No Phone Calls Please.

DDR on PS3

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:25:00 +0000

I got a Playstation3 a week or so ago, along with DDR and a dance mat… and it turned out that the dance mat doesn’t work with PS3 directly. (The game itself works fine, if you count “works fine” as “you can play the dancing game with the hand controller if you want”… feh). Earlier readers may remember that I tried a normal “PS2 to USB” converter and this didn’t work… my “controller” lacks either a “PS” button or “Analog” button. (Problem is now resolved. Read on…)

DDR on PS3

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:44:00 +0000

I wanted to get a game machine so that I could play DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). I was pretty close to getting the PS2, but I noticed that the PS3 is available, plays PS2 games, also plays Oblivion, and has HD support (including playing BluRay disks). So, I took the plunge.

Apparently, DDR works fine in PS2 compatibility mode, but the dance pad/mat doesn’t work, even with a PS2 to USB converter. (Silly problem… PS2 controllers work with the USB converter, if you’re playing a PS3 native game, but playing a PS2 game causes PS3 to forget which controller is which, and you have to press the “PS” button on the controller after loading the game to assign a port number to the controller; the dance pad lacks this magic button) Which means I can use the mat for other games, but not DDR, and I can play DDR with the handheld controller only (not a great workout). I guess the people who were supposed to test that old controllers work and old games also work didn’t think to test these things at the same time? hmmm.

Exercise log for April

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for April Sun 4/1: Mon 4/2: Tue 4/3: Wed 4/4: Thu 4/5: Fri 4/6: Sat 4/7: Sun 4/8: Mon 4/9: Tue 4/10: Wed 4/11: Thu 4/12: Fri 4/13: Sat 4/14: Sun 4/15: Mon 4/16: Tue 4/17: Wed 4/18: Thu 4/19: Fri 4/20: Sat 4/21: Sun 4/22: Mon 4/23: weight 270.8 Tue 4/24: DDR, 20 min Wed 4/25: DDR, 15 min Thu 4/26: Fri 4/27: Sat 4/28: DDR, 20 min Sun 4/29: Mon 4/30:

another talk

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:35:00 +0000

Tonight’s talk started out with me saying “I am out of clean clothes, do you think you might be able to do laundry tomorrow?” and from there led to “By the way, you mentioned a long time ago that you would like to make dinner once a week or so, do you still feel like you want to do that?” Finally I got to my real question which was, “Do you think I should ’take it easy’ on you and avoid asking you to do things because you are depressed and need taking care of, or do you think I should just start asking you to do the things I want you to do?”

Anyway, I made her very upset, mostly because she feels like now she is not going to be able to do the writing assignments she pledged to do and that I should have known that this was a bad time to talk about things. Yes, I probably should have known, because she DID tell me about the writing projects and I said at the time that I would be supportive. I probably should have just said “Hey can you do laundry tomorrow” and left it at that.

the talk

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 07:52:00 +0000

OK, it’s been a little while but let me see if I can remember most of what we talked about. This was on her birthday, as we were driving to dinner.

The quick run-down on the new job

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:09:00 +0000

Job? Started. Commute? Sucky. People? Awesome! Challenge? Huge. Storage? Peta. Docs? Wiki. Machines? Two. Desktop? Nice. Laptop? Nicer. Network? Wireless. Email? Exchange. Inbox? Thousands. Filters? PLEASE?! Tired? … tud.

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 00:05:00 +0000

Happy amcnh day!

Talk happens

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:06:00 +0000

We had a good talk tonight. I will tell more about it later.

Exercise log for March

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for March Thu 3/1: weight 260.6 Fri 3/2: weight 260.2 Sat 3/3: weight Sun 3/4: weight 260.8 Mon 3/5: weight 260.2 Tue 3/6: weight 259.8 Wed 3/7: weight 258.8 Thu 3/8: Fri 3/9: weight 259.0 Sat 3/10: weight 259.6 Sun 3/11: weight 261.2 Mon 3/12: weight 259.2 Tue 3/13: weight 259.2 Wed 3/14: weight 258.8 Thu 3/15: weight 259.4 Fri 3/16: Sat 3/17: Sun 3/18: Mon 3/19: Tue 3/20: Wed 3/21: Thu 3/22: Fri 3/23: Sat 3/24: Sun 3/25: Mon 3/26: Tue 3/27: Wed 3/28: Thu 3/29: Fri 3/30: Sat 3/31:

Slow-cooked pepper pork chops

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 20:10:00 +0000

I made slow-cooked pepper pork chops today and served it alongside pan-fried polenta and asparagus. (Polenta cut in heart shapes of course!)

My only variance from the instructions was that I could not wait around 1.5 hours to turn the heat down to Low, so I started it at High and as soon as it started bubbling I switched to Low and hit the road. Instead of 1.5*High + 4.5*Low I did about 10 hours on Low. (My new Crock Pot has a simple timer with four settings but doesn’t understand how to do two different stages all on its own.)

Introducing the book

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:55:00 +0000

Introducing the book - funny video clip about tech support, 2+ min.

RE: Offer of Employment

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:54:00 +0000

From: ${company_s} To: ${gconnor} Personal and Confidential February 6, 2007 RE: Offer of Employment

Where's the $#@* interview today?

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 06:43:00 +0000

For those of you who have been regularly tuning in to “Where’s gconnor interviewing now?” you will be pleased to find out that we may actually have a winner this time! Today’s interview was at Shutterfly and think they like me, and more importantly, I think I like them.

I’ll post details later. Brief overview, I met with 4 people, 5 if you count an almost-cameo appearance by the CIO. All of them seem very cool (well, I already knew ezray was cool). They have a real product to sell and they’re still a little bit startup-y but not as much so as the other place I interviewed last week. They have lots of servers and need more server-wranglers, which I am. Their group seems to be distinguished from other places I have checked out in that they have a strong role in finding technical direction, almost R&D like.

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 06:26:00 +0000

It’s been a month since New Year’s, when I told Miche that I really would like to make significant progress on “our problem” this year. I also said that rather than set a timetable and a deadline (because if we set a deadline, the terrorists win) I would instead just say that I would expect her to take some specific, non-trivial action at least every month.

She said at that time that she wasn’t sure what the next step should be, and I said, if you don’t know what the next step is, I strongly recommend that the next step should be to go to a therapist and say “I need help” and talk about it. I said that I would gladly go with her.

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:52:00 +0000

Tomorrow: interview with Shutterfly. We shall see if “system engineer” and “senior sysadmin” are mostly compatible.

Netli 2nd interview

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:48:00 +0000

I haven’t blogged about the second interview with Netli. I should do so before I lose short-term memory of it, but I’ll be terse compared to the first round.

There is only one person they would still like me to meet, and that is the CEO, out last Tuesday with a fever of 104F. I am not sure if they will still have me meet him but I told them my availability and the HR lady (closest thing to a recruiter I’ve seen) said she might contact me for another meeting. I was given information on their benefits but not given an actual offer. I believe the hiring manager was out last week so hopefully I will hear something from them this week.

Exercise log for February

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for February Thu 2/1: Fri 2/2: Sat 2/3: Sun 2/4: Mon 2/5: weight 276.2 raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, cream (fresh choice) salad, dressing, eggs, veggies, tofu, iced tea/lemonade veggies, hummus chunky chicken soup, 1/2 chicken breast Tue 2/6: Coffee, sugar, creamer oriental chicken salad, 2 chicken wings, veggies, hummus, salami, cheese, iced tea, 2 splenda won ton soup (about 2C), 1/2 egg roll, Vitamin Water, 1 cookie (and when I say “1 cookie” I mean a cookie-sized bit of cookie dough :) Wed 2/7: Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, half&half (Indian) 1 plate (about 2C) of meat/sauce dishes (no rice), 1/4 nan bread, rice pudding, golub jamun Tortilla soup (about 1.5C), beef jerky Thu 2/8: Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, half&half Rest of Tuesday’s chicken salad, 2 chicken wings, veggies, hummus, salami, cheese, iced tea, 1 splenda Can of soup, 1 “cookie”, olives Fri 2/9: weight 271.6 Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, half&half (tk noodle) Won ton soup, taro cake Can of soup, dash of curry powder, bread, margarine Sat 2/10: weight 270.2 1C malt o meal, 2 eggs Chicken patty, mayo/soy dipping sauce, 1/2 ham sandwich, olives Soup, bread Sun 2/11: weight 269.8 (mc d) 2 mini-sausage burritos, coffee, cream, splenda 1/2 tuna sandwich, soup, iced tea, 1 splenda Chicken patty, mayo/soy dipping sauce, broccoli Mon 2/12: Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, half&half (Kapp’s) Half of steak sandwich, cottage cheese, iced tea Tortilla soup, 1 “cookie” Tue 2/13: weight 268.2 Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda, milk (kabob place) adana wrap (minced beef&lamb, lettuce, tomato, wrap), iced tea Wed 2/14: Bagel, cream cheese (quizno’s) sm turkey ranch swiss, iced tea Pork chop, polenta, sauce, asparagus, mayo, iced tea, 2 splenda Thu 2/15: weight 266.8 Coffee Pork bits, polenta bits, veggies, ranch, hummus Salad, noodle mix, steak bits, iced tea, 1 splenda Fri 2/16: weight 266.2 Raisin bran, milk, coffee, 2 splenda (quizno’s) Sm turkey sandwich, diet coke, cookie 3 lg shrimp, breaded/fried, bowl of soup, rice. Sat 2/17: weight 265.8, bike 10-15 min (mc d) 2 sausage burritos tuna sandwich, iced tea, 1 splenda (party) bread, spinach dip, 3 cookies, coffee, cream, tortellini, cream sauce, broccoli, mayo, ice cream, more coffee Sun 2/18: 2 eggs, cheese, 2 aussie bites chicken/veg soup, bread (herbivore) falafel wrap, ginger ale, sm. cheesecake, coffee Mon 2/19: weight 265.2 Half bagel, cream cheese, 2 eggs, cheese, milk, 1 aussie bites Ham sandwich? Leftover pork, polenta, some chocolate Tue 2/20: 266.2 Coffee, n/d creamer, 2 splenda, raisin bran, milk Soup, pork bun, tea, 1 splenda Soup, salad, tea, 1 splenda, ham, cheese, olives Wed 2/21: weight 265.2 Food? Thu 2/22: weight 263.4 Food? Fri 2/23: weight 262.6 Raisin bran, coffee cake (bbq) 2 steak tacos, chips, avocado dip, hummus (kfc) pot pie, iced tea Sat 2/24: weight 262.0 (Dim sum) Uh, various kinds. About a plate of food, I think. Coffee, 2 splenda, creamer. Chicken noodle soup, left-over potato skin with cheese, iced tea, 1 splenda. Sun 2/25: weight 260.2 4 eggs, 2 sm tortillas, coffee, creamer, 2 splenda … Mon 2/26: weight 260.8 Tue 2/27: weight 261.4 Wed 2/28: weight 259.8

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:20:00 +0000

Hi again dear one

I didn’t actually get in trouble for running my mouth off. I think she was just embarrassed more than anything else. She realized that she wasn’t really very mad about that, though clearly she *thought* she was. I told her I was sorry if I said something I shouldn’t have but that I felt it was something she had already said to you or at least thought she had. (At one point I said “you should really tell her how you feel” she said “I have tried” so that was my reason for thinking it wasn’t a secret, or at least it provides some cover)

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:09:00 +0000

I created a filter with just you on it. I made sure that group was selected before typing beyond the first line, and I will also double-check that it’s locked after posting. I will try to make sure there is a suitable tag on the post as well but this may not be 100%.

Here are some of the things I would love to talk more about.

Me and miche, you and miche, and helping her Church, religion, and belief systems SCA, The Dream, households, being part of something larger than oneself Other ways to be part of something larger than oneself Our life goals, 1, 5 and 10 years out Brains, thoughts, emotions, senses, beliefs, behavior

Travel packing list

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:50:00 +0000

Travel packing list

Interview with Netli

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:58:00 +0000

I have found out the following about Netli (including just what I was told before signing an NDA): They have been around roughly 5 years and their business is providing speed improvements and local presence for companies dynamic web applications. Think Akamai, but geared to highly dynamic content/apps.

Spoke with Michele. Reason I’m looking? Recent layoffs affected people I worked closely with, including several that I had trained. I enjoy my new team as well, but it hasn’t been quite the same since my old co-workers and former boss left. Also, due to reorg, I find myself doing less challenging tasks, and rather than “coast” through this period I would prefer to step up to a newer challenge. Finally, I miss working in a “production” operation; I’m currently working in IT which doesn’t really allow me to use my creativity to make the company more competitive – IT is not SGI’s core competency. I want to feel like I’m working on something that’s important to customers (not just internal customers).

health update

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:25:00 +0000

I had another gout attack yesterday. Same site, base of left toe. The sequence seems to go something like this: Day 1 (all day): “Hmm, something’s up with my toe, did I bump it on something?” Day 2 (early morning): “SWEET MOTHER OF CHEESES! WHY is my TOE trying to KILL me? Where is the Advil!” Day 3: “OK, that still seriously hurts, but not as bad as yesterday. Advil? Yes please.”

Happy New Year 2007

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 11:40:00 +0000

Some of my resolutions: Lose 50 pounds this year Do something about snoring Get a new job

Exercise log for January

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for January Mon 1/1: none (weight 279.8) Tue 1/2: none Wed 1/3: none Thu 1/4: none Fri 1/5: none Sat 1/6: walking 35 min (weight 277.8)

Sun 1/7: Mon 1/8: Tue 1/9: Wed 1/10: Thu 1/11: Fri 1/12: Sat 1/13: Sun 1/14: Mon 1/15: Tue 1/16: Wed 1/17: Thu 1/18: Fri 1/19: Sat 1/20: Sun 1/21: Mon 1/22: Tue 1/23: Wed 1/24: Thu 1/25: Fri 1/26: Sat 1/27: Sun 1/28: Mon 1/29: Tue 1/30: Wed 1/31:

Brokeback Galactica

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:58:00 +0000

Brokeback Galactica Video, 2+ min. Thanks rmjwell for the link.

A Christmas Story

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:23:00 +0000

I created a printed version of this and made a Christmas card out of it for my sweetie.

Something for Mommy A Christmas Story starring Bunny, Sophie, Harley and Simon. (Content is rated S/MA for Sappy and Mildly Amusing)

Y! 2

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 04:16:00 +0000

Second Yahoo interview seemed to go well. I’ll post a summary of both interviews later if anyone’s interested. A handful of technical questions, but just as many were about my management style (not really a management position but some project management and leadership/mentoring is expected) and about my prior experiences. A couple of questions like “How would you handle something like X” I answered with “I dealt with something quite similar, and in that situation I did Y.”

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 07:07:00 +0000

I think I forgot to post this before, mostly because I didn’t want to get too excited, but I had an interview at Yahoo a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow I have a follow-up interview for the same position. So, think me some good thoughts tomorrow afternoon!

Dilbert's guide to investing

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:01:00 +0000

‘Dilbert’ deserves the economics Nobel

Scott Adams (famous Dilbert cartoonist) published a one-page “Unified Theory of Everything Financial”. I think it’s brilliant. If you’re not doing something very similar to this with your money, you may want to think carefully about why not.

I won’t reproduce the 9-step plan here, but go read it, it’s fast. What the Marketwatch article mentions right below the 9 steps almost merits being step 10 (or part of step 9):

Exercise log for December

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for December Fri 12/1: Sat 12/2: Sun 12/3: Mon 12/4: Tue 12/5: Wed 12/6: Thu 12/7: Fri 12/8: Sat 12/9: Sun 12/10: Mon 12/11: Tue 12/12: Wed 12/13: Thu 12/14: Fri 12/15: Sat 12/16: Sun 12/17: Mon 12/18: Tue 12/19: Wed 12/20: Thu 12/21: Fri 12/22: Sat 12/23: Sun 12/24: Mon 12/25: Tue 12/26: Wed 12/27: Thu 12/28: Fri 12/29: Sat 12/30: Sun 12/31:

A work-related rant

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:03:00 +0000

I got cranky at someone at work. Someone who I feel is failing to do his fair share.

Basically it went something like this:

“It’s been two weeks, would you like to be on call again?”

“Sure, I guess…”

“Well, I have to say I’m pretty upset about the tickets that are still in the queue from the last time you were on call. You said you would handle them, and you didn’t.”

Interesting math+social problem

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 10:09:00 +0000

[I’m capturing this from a chat session with a friend. I mostly edited out my friend’s words for privacy reasons, so it might sound a little disjointed.]

Here’s an interesting math+social problem I have been thinking about on and off. There’s no practical application for it (for me, right now anyway) but it’s something interesting to think about.

Let’s say N people decide to own a house together. Based on how much each person puts down, and how much they pay per month toward the “household” bills, how would you determine what fraction of property belongs to each person? (The situation could be roommates who want to quit renting and buy a house together, or someone who already owns a house and wants to share the house while actually giving the other person a chance to earn equity instead of just paying rent.)

Need for critical thinking

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:25:00 +0000

In my search for brevity, I may oversimplify the following and not fully explain *why* I believe these things. If you want to know how I arrived at a particular conclusion (especially one you disagree with) just ask me.

Submitted for your consideration:

1. People too often vote their emotions rather than their beliefs.

Seattle Trip

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:14:00 +0000

M and I are planning to go to Seattle some time in the next month or two.

Anyone interested in the details should comment here, and possibly select to receive notifications of comments to this entry.

Calling party cancelled

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 13:00:00 +0000

Calling session for today is cancelled due to lack of interest. I’ll probably be making some calls anyway, but the house is not really in a condition to receive guests.

If you DO want to make some “get out the vote” calls, please do so anyway… you can visit moveon.org for info. Also, if you would like to join me for dinner, give me a call :)

Political calling party, this weekend (!)

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 11:53:00 +0000

I’ve decided to spend some time this weekend making political calls. Would you like to join me?

I figured I would contact some friends and if they want to join me, take them to dinner as well. I’ll be calling between 2 and 6 and going out to dinner around 6:30 or 7:00, on both Saturday and Sunday.

In fact anyone can make calls from home, but if you decide to join me that will be great. I’ll even buy you dinner! (Limit 10) You are welcome to drop by and say HI even if you’re not making calls, and you’re welcome to join us for dinner too.

Exercise log for November

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for November Wed 11/1: Thu 11/2: Fri 11/3: Sat 11/4: Sun 11/5: Mon 11/6: Tue 11/7: Wed 11/8: Thu 11/9: Fri 11/10: Sat 11/11: Sun 11/12: Mon 11/13: Tue 11/14: Wed 11/15: Thu 11/16: Fri 11/17: Sat 11/18: Sun 11/19: Mon 11/20: Tue 11/21: Wed 11/22: Thu 11/23: Fri 11/24: Sat 11/25: Sun 11/26: Mon 11/27: Tue 11/28: Wed 11/29: Thu 11/30:

Anyone planning a trip soon?

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 01:55:00 +0000

I love our new kitchen, but our savings are pretty well tapped at this point, so it seems unlikely that we’ll be able to use our timeshare points.

For that reason, I would like to offer them to our friends. If you’re thinking about taking a trip before the end of the year, let me know and I may be able to transfer points to you. I would like to recoup a little cash, but not a huge amount… For a friend I’d probably ask for a bit less than a cheap-ish hotel stay, and the rooms are usually much nicer.

Taxes done!

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:43:00 +0000

Yes, I know, it’s the wrong time of year for it, but I was waiting on some investment paperwork and filed a six-month extension, and would you look at that, six months has gone by. Anyway, I’m getting a fair amount back, so that’s cool.

I also cleared out some space in the garage and moved things around so we have room for 2 cars again. And made cookies. woo hoo!

Interview at the Y

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 06:18:00 +0000

Interview at the Y went really well, and I am quite hopeful. Quick version: the job is on the User Database team (UDB is the thing that stores all the “user data” stored along with a user’s Yahoo account, including customization and settings for most or all of Yahoo’s various features (properties). People I already know on this team are Edgar W. (former AV) and Greg H (former SGI). They seem impressed with my abilities and background. Something like 2 or 3 other candidates need to also be interviewed, but I’m pretty confident we’ll be moving on to the Price Is Right phase soon.

Truck vs. House

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:05:00 +0000

Truck vs. House (not ours!)

Luckily, this is NOT, repeat NOT a picture of my house. The following is known about the accident:

Driver fled the scene, truck presumed stolen
Initial impact was not at angle shown, driver probably turned trying to pull out
In order to hit the house, driver had to make it over a curb, bushes, sidewalk, more bushes, and another curb.
Gas main had to be shut off (probably why house windows are open)

Godzilla

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:53:00 +0000

We adopted Godzilla at a recent gaming/scifi con and brought him home.

Doesn’t he look like he’s about to tell a joke? “You know I had a gig in Osaka last week, and I really killed. Brought down the house, you could say!” “So I was standing outside in Tokyo the other day… ‘cuz you know, can’t fit into most buildings?” “Fear me! Rar!… Eh? Nothing? …. Ah well, it was worth a try. Good night, drive safe, tip your waitstaff!”

Interview today

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 23:41:00 +0000

Interview coming up this afternoon with Yahoo! Wish me luck!

Also, updated my resume based on input from waterowl, bhoneydew, etc. Thanks!

Exercise log for October

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for October Sun 10/1: Mon 10/2: Tue 10/3: Wed 10/4: Thu 10/5: Fri 10/6: Sat 10/7: Sun 10/8: Mon 10/9: Tue 10/10: Wed 10/11: Thu 10/12: Fri 10/13: Sat 10/14: Sun 10/15: Mon 10/16: Tue 10/17: Wed 10/18: Thu 10/19: Fri 10/20: Sat 10/21: Sun 10/22: Mon 10/23: Tue 10/24: Wed 10/25: Thu 10/26: Fri 10/27: Sat 10/28: Sun 10/29: Sun 10/29: Mon 10/30: Tue 10/31:

Weird Al fans...

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:34:00 +0000

New from Weird Al: “White and Nerdy”

Enjoy!

Calling friends in the sysadmin/tech business

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 07:56:00 +0000

OK, I have a few friends who happen to be sysadmins, or at least in tech jobs, so to help in my job search, I’d like some feedback and opinions on the following.

Theory: I am outgrowing the label “system administrator” and running out of challenges under that umbrella. So, to find the “next big thing” I should probably look for something that doesn’t have the Senior Sysadmin label on it. Probably something like “Perl tools coder” or the generic-sounding “System Engineer”.

Kitchen update: Granite!

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:37:00 +0000

Latest set of kitchen pics is here: Almost Done - Sep 2006 At this point everything is done except backsplash, floors, and painting. Granite is pretty.

problems with the "official" explanation of 9/11

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 22:46:00 +0000

I found this in the Metro last week, and I thought a few people on my flist would be interested in it. Here is a link to the electronic version.

9-11: Unquestioned Answers Nonconspiracy theorist David Ray Griffin takes aim at the official 9/11 story

Quoting from the article: “However,” he continues, “when the official account of 9/11 is stripped of its halo and treated simply as a theory rather than an unquestionable dogma, it cannot be defended as the best theory to account for the relevant facts. When challenges to it are not treated as blasphemy, it can easily be seen to not correspond with reality.”

USA is being attacked...

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:41:00 +0000

I was previously unaware of the provisions in Geneva Article 3 that say in effect, if a prisoner’s status as a POW is questioned, he should enjoy the protections granted POWs until status can be determined by a tribunal. (Thank you to bradhicks for linking to that. I think it’s tremendously important.) Bush, Rumsfeld and Gonzales made the decision that these individuals were not POWs. Without meeting them. That effectively means that they *were* the tribunal. To me, this is yet one more example of the USA reacting out of proportion to the actual threat, and using the occasion of a terrorist attack to manipulate the system and erode liberties in the name of temporary/perceived safety. (Didn’t Ben warn us about that?)

Going to Hawai'i

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 20:33:00 +0000

M and I are planning a trip to Hawai’i. Most likely this will take place a year from now, in October 2007. We will probably go to one of these:

Waikoloa Beach Resort - On the big island, new in 2006.

Hawai’ian Village or nearby Kalia Tower - On Oahu in walking distance to Waikiki.

Now, the reason I’m posting here is that I’d like to invite friends along with us. If you’re reading this, that probably means we know each other RL and you would be welcome to come along with us. If you think you might be interested, let me know and I will keep you updated on the plans, costs, etc. (Expressing interest doesn’t obligate you in any way :)

Kitchen update

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:56:00 +0000

Pictures of the new kitchen are here: New Cabinets.

Cabinets are all installed. Still to come are: countertop (want granite), plumbing sink and filter system, putting face plates on the electric items, and putting dishwasher and fridge back where they go.

Haven’t decided what to do about floors… thinking about vinyl tile for the whole downstairs (replace pergo and brick-red ceramic tile).

Happy 9/11 day!

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:34:00 +0000

It’s the 5th anniversary of 9/11/2001. I don’t have anything particularly eloquent to say about it, so I’ll post a link to someone who does.

Please read I Remember Townsend…

It’s a pretty long piece, but worth reading the whole thing. liz_marcs is a real journalist, and she lays out pretty clearly why those who forget history aren’t half as bad as those who would rewrite it as propaganda, such as the ABC Road to 9/11 fear-monger festival. If you choose to spend some hours on ABC’s propaganda piece, you owe it to yourself to read “I Remember Townsend…” as well.

Interview questions

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 04:23:00 +0000

I recently interviewed at Google for a system administrator position. A few friends have expressed interest in the questions. Here’s the quick review in case you’re curious…

Exercise log for September

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for September Fri 9/1: exercise bike 60 laps Sat 9/2: exercise bike 45 laps Sun 9/3: exercise bike 45 laps (Avg this week: 42.8 min) Mon 9/4: exercise bike 60 laps Stopped with exercise bike due to knee injury, probably tendonitis due to exertion. This was in the right knee, on the bottom edge of my kneecap.

Week in review

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 16:05:00 +0000

This week I… Packed the rest of the kitchen (total 22 boxes) Had my kitchen removed Switched my mailer to Thunderbird Went to dinner with swami_bob and the professor Averaged almost 45 min of cardio a day

Next week I hope to… Get a new kitchen, damnit! See misty and the unicorn again (what’s it been, 6 weeks?) Attend interview on Wednesday Make plans for countertop

In memory of Elwood

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:18:00 +0000

“sorrow” will be my userpic for the next week. Ezzie and Merlin, I am sorry for your loss.

Week in review

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:35:00 +0000

This week I: upped my daily cardio to 45 min (avg this week 40.7 min) attended an ice cream competition completed the bulk of the remote access transition bought three short-sleeved dress shirts (actually long-sleeved shirts with an “alteration” :) packed all the food and most of the dishes into boxes

Next week I am planning to: take thurs/fri off to see my kitchen get demolished have a 3rd phone interview and maybe a live interview get creative with dinners (sandwiches anyone?)

Seeking a good mail client

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 22:18:00 +0000

I have been using Mulberry for a long time but it’s starting to feel old and clunky to me. Mulberry 2.2.1 is dated 2002 and I don’t recall why I didn’t upgrade to 3.0… it was some new feature I didn’t like and couldn’t figure out how to get the old behavior back.

So, I’m putting the question to my LJ brain trust: What (windows) program do you use to read your mail, and do you like it? (If you don’t read your mail on a Windows machine, or if you use telnet/ssh or a web browser to read mail, you do not need to answer… I have web-based and text-based mail readers that I like pretty well)

Tarot question

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:14:00 +0000

Riddle me this, Tarot fans. Cups=water Pentacles=earth Wands=? Swords=?

My answer in the comments, but if you have an idea, post yours before reading mine.

Petition against minimum wage "held hostage" to tax breaks for the rich

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:48:00 +0000

I signed this electronic petition. If you agree with the sentiment, you might want to sign it too.

So here’s the question that the right-wing extremists who control the Republican Congress will put before the Senate:

“Over seven million Americans can have a raise of $2.15 an hour by raising the minimum wage, but only if we give a tax cut to 7,500 ultra-rich people at a cost of $753 billion dollars.”

It’s despicable, it’s wrong, and we need to stop it.

Calling postfix geeks

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 09:58:00 +0000

Does anyone have some Postfix brain cells to spare? Let me know your thinking on the following problem.

Google me

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:15:00 +0000

First phone interview w/google today. I think it went pretty well. I was asked about:

single vs double quotes in shell or perl, and what backquote does
example of how you would parse a passwd file using perl reg exp
do you make a loop to do that or is there a function (i said map, grep, he wanted split)
how do you do simple math in shell (i guessed eval or parens)
how would you do the passwd split in shell (i said sed or awk)
example of sed to turn commas into tabs
what is cidr notation, walk through example of /22, how many nodes, what is the mask, what is that in binary

My turn to ask questions, I asked if ‘dont be evil’ has actually guided specific decisions at work. Nothing specific but just being cool to others in general. Also I mentioned that I am interested in both specialist and manager positions.

Exercise log for August

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:15:00 +0000

Exercise log for August Tue 8/1: exercise bike 30 laps Wed 8/2: exercise bike 40 laps Thu 8/3: exercise bike 30 laps (weight 273.4) Fri 8/4: none (oops, 7d avg drop to 25m) Sat 8/5: exercise bike 45 laps Sun 8/6: exercise bike 60 laps (back to 30+ avg) (Avg this week: 36.4 min) Mon 8/7: exercise bike 30 laps (weight 272.2) Tue 8/8: exercise bike 30 laps Wed 8/9: exercise bike 45 laps Thu 8/10: exercise bike 30 laps Fri 8/11: none Sat 8/12: none (excused: blood donation) Sun 8/13: exercise bike 45 laps (Avg this week: 25.7 min) Mon 8/14: exercise bike 60 laps (back to 30+ avg) Tue 8/15: exercise bike 45 laps Wed 8/16: exercise bike 45 laps Thu 8/17: exercise bike 45 laps Fri 8/18: exercise bike 45 laps Sat 8/19: none (weight 274.2) Sun 8/20: exercise bike 45 laps (Avg this week: 40.7 min) Mon 8/21: exercise bike 45 laps Tue 8/22: exercise bike 60 laps Wed 8/23: none Thu 8/24: exercise bike 45 laps Fri 8/25: exercise bike 45 laps (weight 271.8) Sat 8/26: exercise bike 60 laps Sun 8/27: exercise bike 45 laps (weight 270) (Avg this week: 42.8 min) Mon 8/28: exercise bike 45 laps Tue 8/29: exercise bike 60 laps Wed 8/30: none Thu 8/31: exercise bike 45 laps

We can always use more friends

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:22:00 +0000

More friends added: tim_wright M and I met Tim by way of Cafe Vax (eons ago!) aka_babs Also a Cafe Vax frequent flier happy_spinster I don’t actually know you, but you are a friend of both tim_wright and gregbo, so you must be good people :)

Seeking Senior Linux Sysadmin

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:47:00 +0000

Since I have a fair number of sysadmins on my f.list, and sysadmins know sysadmins, I thought I would pass this along. This was sent to me by Phil (some of you from AV will remember him and may have already received this). Just wanted to make you aware of a great position for Sr. Linux Administrator I’m trying to fill. I’m looking for a seasoned admin with 5+ year experience managing Linux (preferably Debian). Must be strong. Have all of the usual skills that go along with the position. Experience with MySQL and Foundry a big plus. The company is a profitable technology business in the ecommerce space with offices in San Mateo. (Beautiful bay views and cool breezes). Contact me for more information.

Outage report at the Neko

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 23:28:00 +0000

Power was out from about 4:00 pm to about 10:45 pm. I believe both poly(vhostbox) and neko-base(aka box3) are back up and fine, but let me know if anything seems amiss. As mentioned before, I will start moving stuff to external hosting a bit more aggressively now.

A/C had been keeping the house at 78F until the outage. It crept up slowly to about 83F downstairs, 86F upstairs by about 6:30. When it started getting a bit dark we opened the windows… it seemed about the same outside as inside. In reality it was probably still 95F outside. The inside kept getting warmer, even after dark (partly due to 3-4 candles going? hmmm). Anyway as of when power was restored it was 90F inside. A/C has brought it down 3 degrees in the last half hour.

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 18:00:00 +0000

power is currently out at our place. neko-hosted pages, poly pages and poly lists are down.

I should have moved sites off to external hosting by now but I haven’t spent much time on it. oh well..

i’ll keep everyone posted.

Exercise check in

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:05:00 +0000

According to my exercise log, both yesterday and today I have actually met my exercise goal (goal is 210 minutes over 7 days or 30 min avg per day)

From this point forward I will count “good days” as days for which the total minutes for that day and the 6 previous days was 210 or more. That means I have had 2 “good” days this month. If I shoot for 45 min/day I can do 45,45,45,45,30 and take two days off, and still meet my targets.

Domain switching checklist

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:31:00 +0000

Domain switching checklist High-level overview

Set up new hosting environment Access control panel, set password and security info View domain configuration and FTP user info Upload files to new FTP location Test new DNS service Test new Web service Create new email account Set up mailer Verify you can read both old and new email accounts Send test email to new account Last-minute sync for any changed files Configure domain registry to point to new DNS servers Wait for NS records to update Check to make sure web site looks OK Check to make sure email accounts and forwards are (all) working Copy mail from old account Notify gconnor to remove and archive old information

What kind of Fae am I?

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:46:00 +0000

I very rarely give in to memes, but I like the artwork on this one. Yes, I still think memes are basically ads for a web site, so I will hide this one behind a cut.

What type of Fae are you?

ObActualWriting: I don’t think I’m really cold, distant or violent. But I do have a twisted sense of humor. Also, looking at this gives me some ideas for my D&D campaign. (Yes, that means there’s Drow in it, but what’s a Dalelands campaign without some good, honest, well… Drow?)

My first chicken pie

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:36:00 +0000

Here’s the recipe to go with the pictures in the previous entry. It was based on this: Curry Chicken Pot Pie from Good Eats: Casserole Over.

I made it according to the directions except for the following: More onions: about 2C diced instead of 1C More broth: 1 can of broth is 14 oz, more like 1.75C instead of 1.5C More liquid: I also added the reserved liquid from the canned chicken (2 cans of mixed light-and-dark chicken meat is about 2C but I couldn’t bring myself to toss the extra liquid, about 1.5C) More butter and flour: I was afraid by adding more liquid I would not have enough thickening power, so more roux! No curry (M is allergic) and no parsley (didn’t have any). I was going to add garlic to compensate but I forgot.

mmmm, pie

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:38:00 +0000

I have made 1 chicken pie, and with the left over filling, a dish of chicken and dumplings as well.

of interest to a small number

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:36:00 +0000

For my web homies

I have moved a bunch of directories from your home directory to /home/domains/whatever.com/. This is being done in preparation for possibly sending web requests to a different server in the future (after the files have been synchronized of course).

Mostly this should not affect you. I have left symlinks in the old location pointing to the new location, so if you just cd where you expect stuff to be, you’ll be taken where you need to go. The web pages should still all be functional, though you may want to take a moment to verify that everything is still working.

Exercise log for July

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for July Sat 7/1: none (weight 275.6) Sun 7/2: exercise bike 30 laps Mon 7/3: none Tue 7/4: walk 55 min Wed 7/5: exercise bike 35 laps Thu 7/6: none Fri 7/7: none Sat 7/8: none Sun 7/9: exercise bike 35 laps Mon 7/10: none Tue 7/11: exercise bike 30 laps Wed 7/12: exercise bike 45 laps Thu 7/13: exercise bike 50 laps Fri 7/14: none Sat 7/15: exercise bike 30 laps Sun 7/16: exercise bike 50 laps Mon 7/17: exercise bike 45 laps (weight 274.8) (last 7 days 30+ avg!) Tue 7/18: exercise bike 32 laps (weight 274.3) Wed 7/19: exercise bike 30 laps Thu 7/20: exercise bike 30 laps Fri 7/21: none Sat 7/22: exercise bike 32 laps Sun 7/23: exercise bike 50 laps (avg 31.2 min for the week) Mon 7/24: exercise bike 36 laps Tue 7/25: exercise bike 32 laps Wed 7/26: exercise bike 30 laps Thu 7/27: exercise bike 60 laps Fri 7/28: exercise bike 30 laps (weight 272.4) Sat 7/29: exercise bike 30 laps Sun 7/30: none (avg 31.1 min for the week) Mon 7/31: exercise bike 50 laps

Still at SGI

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:36:00 +0000

Two years ago, I started as a contractor at SGI, herding unix machines and with the general guideline of “do cool things and train the rest of the team on sendmail, when you have time”. I was hired into a group of five sysadmins, one “monitoring” guy, two “remote access” folks, one security guy and a manager.

Since that time I have: deployed a spam appliance trained people on spam deployed a dhcp management interface and 4 dhcp servers trained people on dhcp taken over “monitoring” (read: nagios and munin) from the “monitoring guy” when he left trained people on monitoring seen two sysadmins get laid off got converted from contract to perm right near a layoff, hard to do taken over design/architecture roles when 4 designers left within a couple months seen our manager leave and not get replaced taken over “remote access” when the last remote access person left (a @!*&load of busy-work)

"pusher" sneak preview

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 23:06:00 +0000

Those who were interested in my “pusher” script, here is a “sneak preview”. Pusher Pre-Alpha Preview

Right now it knows how to install ~root/authorized_keys, push a firewall script and run it, and push apache2 config files.

It is very debian-centric and will need some tweaking to allow alternate handling of /etc/init.d scripts for other platforms, as well as taking some templates and variable definitions and putting them in a central “global template” location.

"pusher" - a quick-and-dirty scheme to push configs to multiple machines

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 22:52:00 +0000

One thing I still miss about AV is “fetch”. Fetch was not just a program; it was a freakin’ way of life. All machines ran fetch. All machines obeyed the great and powerful fetch.

Fetch was a perl script made for configuring a lot of machines identically. It could literally install, configure, and start up all the services needed on a new box. Pretty much all we had to do was install the server using the OS CD (DEC or Linux), teach the new machine its hostname, and download and run this program.

Casual Sysadmin Hosting Service v1.0

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:08:00 +0000

Posted for review, comments and entertainment value. If this is interesting, please comment, or just point and laugh; it’s okay.

Casual Sysadmin Hosting Service

“Don’t ignore your domain. We’ll do it for you!” Service overview

We host a handful of vanity domains for ourselves and friends. We try to do everything as cheaply as possible and we pass the savings on to you.

Hosting options

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:26:00 +0000

I find that I am growing weary of maintaining my own servers at home, but I’m still way too independent to turn control of my domains over to a “web hosting” service. So, I am starting to look at some of the “virtual server” hosting options. These are services that you pay something like $20-40 a month and you get a “virtual” server (it runs linux, so you can run mysql, mud/mush, procmail, spamassassin, apache, php, gallery, and all the fun stuff you would run at home without having a space-heater in your spare room 24x7. It’s not a “real” server in the sense of dedicated hardware, it’s really a virtual machine running on a larger, beefier machine and capped to a small slice of cpu and memory.

Items looking for a home

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:42:00 +0000

We need to find homes for some items. Please let me know if you’re interested in any of these. (email addr on my profile works best).

Queen size futon bed frame: This is a bed frame designed for a queen-sized futon (no mattress included, just the frame). It does not fold up into a couch; it is a full-time bed with headboard and footboard. Light maple in color. Might work with a normal mattress but results may be a little weird… you could try it with mattress and box spring but it would be pretty tall. Bolts are missing so you will need to go to the hardware store to get some parts.
Stereo components: Amplifier/tuner, subwoofer, speakers. These are probably 6-8 years old but should work fine. They support 5+1 surround. There is an “optical digital” input but it might be for an old standard or might not work at all, but if your tv/dvd/dvr has 6 rca sound outputs it should work fine. In good condition at last use but has been sitting in the garage for over a year. Has been claimed.
Desk: Standard computer desk including hutch. Made of oak, not pressboard. In good condition except for where the front molding strip has started to come off, so we put in two large wood screws on each side.
TV stand: Looks like it’s made of pressboard or MDF, laminated with a faux-maple finish. In good condition.
Exercise bike: Has given good service to us, and to the previous owner, but frankly we didn’t use it as much as we should. It is a pretty standard exercise bike, variable resistance, tracks time/distance/calories and takes your pulse, electronic features are powered by pedaling. (We are looking to get an elliptical machine instead).
400 cd player/jukebox: Loads up to 400 CDs, plays them by programming a track list, or you can arrange them into groups and choose shuffle on the groups. In good condition at last use but has been sitting in the garage for over a year. (Note: I’m ready to part with this item but my weety may not be, so she will have the final say in whether it stays or goes.) Has been claimed.

The rules: I would like to give these items away to a friend. I will take requests on a first-come first-served basis from among my friends list, and if nobody on my friends list wants it, I’ll consider any requests from others (friends of friends, etc). You must be willing to come take the items away from my house (in the 95132 area).

Sophie, Killer of Socks

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:28:00 +0000

This is Sophie, Killer of Socks.

She has just bravely killed not one, not two, but four pairs of socks. Not only did she kill them, but she dragged them out of the basket, from the nightstand to the bed, down to the floor, then down the hall to the top of the stairs, where she did the low “mroouw?” that says “I’ve killed something, come and see!!!1”

Exercise log for June

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for June Thu 6/1: Fri 6/2: Sat 6/3: Sun 6/4: Mon 6/5: Tue 6/6: Wed 6/7: Thu 6/8: Fri 6/9: Sat 6/10: Sun 6/11: Mon 6/12: Tue 6/13: Wed 6/14: Thu 6/15: Fri 6/16: Sat 6/17: Sun 6/18: Mon 6/19: exercise bike 30 min. doctor visit. wt 282 (yow) Tue 6/20: exercise bike 30 min. Wed 6/21: exercise bike 30 min. wt. 278.4 Thu 6/22: none Fri 6/23: exercise bike 30 min. Sat 6/24: exercise bike 30 min. Sun 6/25: exercise bike 30 min Mon 6/26: none Tue 6/27: none Wed 6/28: exercise bike 30 min, evening wt 280.4 Thu 6/29: morning wt. 278.6 Fri 6/30: none

Empathy 101

Sun, 28 May 2006 16:36:00 +0000

I was talking with a friend recently about empathy. I think a lot of people are “naturally” empathic, but I also think it’s a learned response, meaning that it’s a skill one can improve with thought and practice.

Before talking about practice, let me share my theory of how empathy works. Sometimes, clues can be obvious and you can pick up how someone else feels by watching body language, tone of voice, facial expression, etc. But, other times you may not consciously be aware of the clues, and your mind may pick up on them subconsciously anyway. In that case, you may not be aware of *how* the feelings are being “broadcast” at you or around you, but usually you can pick up on them anyway.

Kitchen saga update, and call for advice

Thu, 25 May 2006 18:07:00 +0000

Around the first of the year, we had some work done in the kitchen. Now, I have to get a permit from the city to authorize that work.

So far the efforts to get a permit on my own have been daunting. I have been to the city three times and been told three different things. First it was that I needed more details about the joists above and below. Next it was that I need just a little more detail on the plans, but it should be OK. Finally, the third day, the result was confusing, but the best I could understand was that the most qualified people available at the city building dept at the time *could not tell* if what I was trying to do was legal per the code or not, and that I would need to retain an engineer to at least review the plans and stamp them, if not rewrite them. At first the story was that I would really only need an engineer if I’m asking for an exception to the codes or an alternate material or plan… but now it seems that the city by itself can’t actually tell what’s legal/code and what’s not… or even what’s structurally OK or what’s not, and thus I have to seek a third party. (Possibly if it was a detached house they would have let me go ahead, but I think they are being a bit more paranoid since it is an attached townhouse.)

Liberty vs. Safety

Sat, 13 May 2006 11:35:00 +0000

I believe that one of the things that makes the USA great is the Bill of Rights. More to the point, I think the Bill of Rights is one of a very few things that makes the United States *worth* protecting. Freedom from unreasonable search (4th amendment) is one of those rights which I consider important.

I believe that finding and catching terrorists is important, but not as important as preserving the fundamental character of our nation. I agree with Ben Franklin: They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Thu, 11 May 2006 21:58:00 +0000

Cool link: “Evolution of Dance”

Yes, it’s a guy dancing for 6 minutes, and it’s very cool :)

Exercise log for May

Mon, 01 May 2006 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for May Mon 5/1: none Tue 5/2: none Wed 5/3: none Thu 5/4: none Fri 5/5: none Sat 5/6: Exercise bike, 40 min Sun 5/7: Exercise bike, 20 min Mon 5/8: Tue 5/9: Wed 5/10: Thu 5/11: Fri 5/12: Sat 5/13: Sun 5/14: Mon 5/15: Tue 5/16: Wed 5/17: Thu 5/18: Fri 5/19: Sat 5/20: Sun 5/21: Mon 5/22: Tue 5/23: Wed 5/24: Thu 5/25: Fri 5/26: Sat 5/27: Sun 5/28: Mon 5/29: Tue 5/30: Wed 5/31:

Does "evil" really exist

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 13:05:00 +0000

As I posted recently, bradhicks has some wonderful, thought-provoking material that makes us think about why we have political disagreements, and why reasonable people can sincerely come to wildly different conclusions and beliefs.

I have a fundamental belief that people are basically good and that people don’t do harm to others on purpose. I’m often proved wrong, but not often enough to make me distrust random strangers that come into my life.

Why do "reasonable" people disagree

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 09:45:00 +0000

I responded to a question posed by bradhicks in this post: What Do You Think of Your Opponents. I wanted to also record my thoughts here. Some of my friends might be interested in this discussion also…

Question (paraphrased) On the issue you feel most strongly about, think about those who actively/strongly disagree with your stance. Why do they disagree? Is it a matter of philosophy? Stupidity or non-logical thinking? Ignorance of some facts? Or selfishness/malevolence?

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:08:00 +0000

For anyone on my f-list familiar with Boston: I need a description of walking down a cobblestone street of olde Boston at 3 am. What does it look like, what does it smell like, what is open, what is closed, and what shops are closed but obviously have activity inside?

Think you can help? My deadline is Friday :)

Job-related

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:44:00 +0000

So it turns out that my boss is leaving the company to go to Google. He will be managing a team of 8 or 10 sysadmins (that sounds familiar… hmmm). I am not sure if this is on the IT side or the production side…

I really envy the guy and I’m happy for him, but I can’t help but think that working here is going to start to suck. Maybe this is a signal that it’s time to start looking elsewhere. I haven’t decided to leave, actually, but I know that it’s a lot nicer to look for a job when the pressure to survive is not immediate. Better bargaining position too.

Linked In

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 15:52:00 +0000

I have been adding people to my network using Linked In (http//www.linkedin.com/). But, because of my personal views on privacy, I’m a bit hesitant to give them the email addresses for all of my friends.

If you already use LinkedIn, and you would like to connect with me directly, view my profile and send me an invitation: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nekodojo - if you’re prompted for my email, enter gconnor at nekodojo.org (they already have my email so it’s OK to give it to them again)

Gaming session pt. 2

Sat, 08 Apr 2006 00:04:00 +0000

I added the rest of the gaming session to the end of the previous entry. “continued” link below jumps to the new text.

Serene is the first one out the door. Holfast can be seen following three people from a distance: the two soldiers (Bombin and Roscoe) and a woman in priestess robes, probably a follower of Tyr. The three of them are also running toward something… some sounds of a commotion.

Gaming session

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:06:00 +0000

Finally (!!) I got around to hosting the first session of my D&D 3e Forgotten Realms campaign.

Session notes posted to …

As our scene opens, four adventurers have come from the Shieldmeet festival in Battledale and have ridden pretty hard to get through the forest before nightfall. They manage to emerge from the forest proper just as the sun is setting (easier to do in the peak of summer) and they reach the town of Ashabenford just as it’s starting to get dark. more…

Happy pi day

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:15:00 +0000

Happy 3.14 day everyone! (But especially jake!)

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 23:29:00 +0000

For cyrano, thistle, or anyone else who does technical customer service. This is regarding a customer service job opportunity in San Francisco. Read on if you are interested…

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:22:00 +0000

cat pic!

(that is all)

Learning php/mysql

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 14:13:00 +0000

I have some smart people on my friends list, so please allow me to pick your brains. If web programming and/or databases aren’t your thing, please move along. :)

I have a project here at work that I need to slap together in about a week. It doesn’t have to be fancy, as it’s mostly going to be used by me and a couple others on my team.

There’s a bunch of data that I want to dump into a mysql db, and then I want to be able to create three or four web pages that correspond to certain SQL queries. I am pretty comfortable with the mysql part, and I could create the web pages/forms that I want, but doing so in perl would take me a long time.

Fight night

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:04:00 +0000

Miche and I had a fight tonight. It started with her saying she didn’t really want to do (some activity we’d agreed to do that was important to me) because of a stomach ache, and I said “No I don’t feel that’s OK, I feel like you broke a promise to me”. She felt I was overreacting and ended up leaving the house.

She sent me a text message an hour later asking to be picked up from the Safeway. She doesn’t seem to be angry now, just tired and a bit out of it. I said I was sorry for overreacting and for not telling her how important (activity) was to me.

dasKeyboard

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 08:43:00 +0000

I got a new keyboard. Yes, those are blank keycaps. Yes, it’s quite interesting to type completely without looking, especially passwords. I actually do fine on just straight letters, but I seem to look down a lot for control, numberkeys, etc.

Brief update

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:11:00 +0000

We had a lovely dinner at La Pastaia with da_zhuang attending. Everything was delightful. Highly recommend it.

I haven’t updated in a while, but the short update is that I took a week off, got a fair bit done to prepare for kitchen work, and am now back to work and killing more spammers. I’m still not allowed to kill them with my claw hammer, but killing them just the same.

Condorcet voting

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:21:00 +0000

This is a test of proportional-representation style voting: Pizza Toppings Election. Feel free to vote if you’re interested in seeing (useless) democracy in action. Like the Green Party, there won’t actually be pizza, just a vote about one.

Weekend Report

Sun, 18 Dec 2005 22:24:00 +0000

This week, I got caught up on a number of things at work. I feel sort of accomplished.

I also made eggnog, ice cream, and eggnog ice cream, for the company potluck. And I also made about 25 cups of green tea and passed it out to people. Fun fun fun!

Today I made about a gallon more eggnog (4x alton’s recipe). I found egg whites in a carton, but unfortunately they don’t whip up like real egg whites. I stupidly didn’t read the carton, where it says “This product doesn’t whip up like egg whites”. They were right. I am not sure whether to whip up some raw egg whites, or just leave the recipe alone. It seems to be fine on its own, just not as light and fluffy. The eggnog was a hit at the potluck, but the next potluck on Thursday I’m entering my nog to compete against three others in a “nog-off”. So, if I can find pasteurized egg whites specifically for whipping, I can make that, otherwise I’ll probably leave it in its current custardy state.

Exercise review

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 19:53:00 +0000

This week I exercised three days for 1 hr each, for a total of 180 min. I may do some more today, more likely not. This meets my “bare minimum” which is 150, the equivalent of 30 min for 5 days, but doesn’t get to my next goal of 210 min.

I have been a bit careless with both diet and exercise the last couple weeks. Right at this moment I am at 257.6, so that means I have slipped by 5 or 6 pounds. I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to diet, hoping that putting time into exercise would negate the need for it, but I know I really need to do both in order to get to my weight goal. I will keep up the cardio and try to watch portion sizes a little bit for the next couple weeks.

Eggnog, and ice cream

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 11:44:00 +0000

I made Alton’s Eggnog, and it came out pretty good, at least better than the store-bought stuff I think. Ingredients are: Milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and 3 oz. Maker’s Mark. And, freshly grated nutmeg. (let’s see, 3 oz x 90 proof / 1 qt total equals…) It came out to 4% alcohol for the finished product, which is (I think) about as much as a beer.

Also, before starting I stopped at Bevmo and got tiny versions of both Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey, and I did a side-by-side taste test of just bourbon and milk. The Maker’s Mark was a higher proof, but I didn’t taste the alcohol nearly as much, so it was the winner of the taste test (and I then went and bought a proper-sized container of it :)

Recipe to allow Squirrelmail users to request temp firewall access

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:24:00 +0000

Allow web server to execute the temp firewall script with no passwd.

In /etc/sudoers

apache ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/local/adm/firewall/add_temp.pl

Adjust your firewall script (that you use on startup) to allow a “temporary” table which is consulted for input. Also remove ssh so that it is not allowed by default.

Exercise log for December

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for December Thu 12/1: no Fri 12/2: no Sat 12/3: exercise bike, 60 min, 16.25 miles Sun 12/4: no Mon 12/5: exercise bike, 60 min, 16.25 miles Tue 12/6: no Wed 12/7: exercise bike, 60 min, 16.25 miles Thu 12/8: no Fri 12/9: no Sat 12/10: exercise bike, 60 min, 16.25 miles Sun 12/11: no Mon 12/12: no Tue 12/13: no Wed 12/14: no Thu 12/15: no Fri 12/16: exercise bike, 60 min, 15 miles Sat 12/17: exercise bike, 60 min, 15 miles Sun 12/18: exercise bike, 60 min, 15 miles Mon 12/19: no Tue 12/20: no Wed 12/21: no Thu 12/22: no Fri 12/23: no Sat 12/24: no Sun 12/25: no Mon 12/26: sick Tue 12/27: sick Wed 12/28: sick Thu 12/29: sick Fri 12/30: sick Sat 12/31: sick

Stephen Hawking on Monday

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 12:57:00 +0000

I posted about this before: Dr. Stephen Hawking to speak in San Jose. The show is happening on Monday.

Is anyone else going to this? If so, want to meet us for dinner? We are going to be at La Pastaia at about 5:00 and that should give us time to eat and socialize before the show. (And Klae, if you’re working that night we would love to see you!)

Update: Could not get reservations at preferred restaurant. We will try for Pasta Pomodoro, Santana Row instead, 5 pm.

Exercise log for November

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for November Tue 11/1: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles Wed 11/2: none, slacker! Thu 11/3: exercise bike, 40 min, 9 miles. weight 253.0 net, a.m. Fri 11/4: exercise bike, 35 min, 9 miles Sat 11/5: exercise bike, 40 min, 10 miles Sun 11/6: exercise bike, 45 min, 12 miles Mon 11/7: exercise bike, 40 min, 10 miles Tue 11/8: exercise bike, 40 min, 10 miles, weight 252.8 net, a.m. Wed 11/9: stairs, 51 levels in 33:07, 38.9 sec each, weight 251.0 net, a.m. Thu 11/10: not feeling well Fri 11/11: none Sat 11/12: none Sun 11/13: none Mon 11/14: none Tue 11/15: none Wed 11/16: none Thu 11/17: none Fri 11/18: none Sat 11/19: none Sun 11/20: weight 256 or so (creeping back up) Mon 11/21: bike, 45 min Tue 11/22: none Wed 11/23: Thu 11/24: Fri 11/25: Sat 11/26: Sun 11/27: Mon 11/28: Tue 11/29: bike, 48 min, 13.65 miles. Weight 259. ack! Wed 11/30:

Stop Alito

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 16:06:00 +0000

I signed the following petition…

“The nomination of Samuel Alito poses a grave threat to the protections Americans count on, including basic workers’ rights, women’s rights, and civil rights. We call on the Senate to stand up for all of us and reject the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

If you feel the same way, please go here: http://www.moveonpac.org/stopalito/

Thanks!

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:18:00 +0000

I am still exercising 5 days a week, but I changed up my routine a bit… instead of walking up stairs, I am riding the exercise bike. 30-45 min, every day except sat/sun (In theory I can use sat/sun as make-up days if I miss one during the week, but I have managed every mon-fri for almost 7 weeks now :)

props to the homies

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:23:00 +0000

Happy birthday to helenschappell, and may you have many more, just as happy. Thank you for letting us kidnap you and share your special day.

Also, da_zhuang, you rock. You rock six ways from Sunday.

That is all.

Dr. Stephen Hawking to speak in San Jose

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:50:00 +0000

Hey, is anyone interested in going to this?

If you would like to be seated with our party (currently 4 but may grow to 8 or 10) please RSVP by mid-day Friday. Tickets are $95 (possibly less if I can get them direct instead of using TicketBastard™). If you RSVP I will assume you will attend, or be responsible for finding someone else to attend in your place, or otherwise cover the cost of your ticket.

If you’re not sure you can make it, or if you don’t RSVP, you can still get tickets directly from ticketmaster.com or possibly a bit less by calling SJ CPA directly.

We may also plan for dinner (La Pastaia could be good). I will post again with dinner plans as we get closer to the date.

ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE DR. STEPHEN W. HAWKING

Mon, Nov 7, 2005 08:00 PM

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose, CA 95113

Hawking Rethinks Origin of the Universe

In two, rare public appearances, at a moment of revolutionary change, world-renowned cosmologist Dr. Stephen Hawking presents a popular lecture entitled “New Perspectives on The Origin of the Universe” at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose on Monday, November 7th, and at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, Thursday, November 10th, 2005. Both events begin at 8pm. _

A new low

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 13:20:00 +0000

I have sunk to a new low. (253.0 lbs.)

Exercise log for October

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 00:08:00 +0000

Exercise log for October Sat 10/1: none Sun 10/2: none Mon 10/3: exercise bike, 30 min Tue 10/4: walk/run (about 90/10), 35 min, approx 2 miles Wed 10/5: stairs, 37 levels, 23:39, 38.35 sec each. weight 253.0 (home, a.m., net) and 254.0 (work scale, after breakfast) Thu 10/6: stairs, 40 levels, 25:31, 38.27 sec each. Fri 10/7: stairs, forgot the count Sat 10/8: none Sun 10/9: none Mon 10/10: stairs, 40 Tue 10/11: stairs, 42 Wed 10/12: stairs, 45 Thu 10/13: stairs, 45 Fri 10/14: stairs, 46 in 27:33, 35.93 sec each, weight 252.5, afternoon Sat 10/15: none, wt 251.2 (home) Sun 10/16: none, wt 249.4 (home) Mon 10/17: stairs, 47 in 29:33, 37.72s each, weight 250.0 after workout (before lunch) Tue 10/18: stairs, 48 Wed 10/19: stairs, 50 in 29:52, 35.84s each Thu 10/20: stairs, 51 in 30:32, 35.93s each Fri 10/21: exercise bike, 7.5 mi, 30 min Sat 10/22: none Sun 10/23: none Mon 10/24: exercise bike a.m., 9 mi, 40 min Tue 10/25: exercise bike, 7.5 mi, 30 min Wed 10/26: exercise bike (work), 11 mi, 30 min Thu 10/27: exercise bike, 7.5 mi, 30 min. wt 248.6 a.m. Fri 10/28: none Sat 10/29: exercise bike, 10 mi, 40 min Sun 10/30: none Mon 10/31: stairs, 51 in 34:something, wt 256 (hmm, weird)

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 23:27:00 +0000

Miche and I had sex again tonight. She had some pain, but we managed to find a position that was not painful, and which she said was actually kind of nice, so I’m encouraged by that.

We have been trying to get together and have snuggle time for the last week or so, with some success. I want us to get in the habit of being in bed together and paying attention to each other, every night for an hour, whether or not we have sex. My thinking there is that hopefully we can create an environment where she feels slightly more comfortable (as in not anxious) and also one where she is willing to experiment with being varying levels of uncomfortable, taking small risks and feeling safe to do so.

Betrayed by sbc dsl again

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:38:00 +0000

Nekodojo.org is down for the second time in three days. Looks like it will stay down tonight and well into tomorrow. Poly readers: www.polyamory.org will also be down, as will any lists ending in @polyamory.org.

Yesterday: Connection went down Sat. night but I didn’t call them until Sunday, because I didn’t have the number. (It’s supposed to be found on the bill but all my bills are stored online as well :) Sunday, they had me change a bunch of settings, and then change them back, and then hold a long time, and finally it worked, after the tech fiddled with something on their end.

Poem: Tears

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 05:29:00 +0000

I wrote a poem for my sweetie. I’m placing behind a cut due to it’s sappy content. You have been warned.

Tears

You shed some tears last night, you were afraid, That something would be wrong, or I’d be mad. But everything was right, I’d never trade, Our love is not just strong, it’s ironclad.

I thought about our past, our wedding day, You were so scared, you shed some tears then too, But we have held on fast, words can’t convey, The time we’ve shared; our wish has since come true.

Private: About last night

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:36:00 +0000

Last night was a milestone, or at least a turning point, in our relationship. We had sex, for the first time in something like 5 years.

The sex was nothing fancy, but I’m immensely proud of M for getting up the nerve to do it.

Moveon.org petition: Establish a Katrina Commission

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:40:00 +0000

Congress must establish an independent Katrina Commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to unflinchingly assess the failures and successes of government responses to the disaster and make us safe.

If you agree with this, go here to sign this petition.

Personally, I don’t feel that the United States is safer since we sent troops to Iraq. It doesn’t make me feel safe knowing that a large number of National Guard, including Reserves, are in the Middle East.

On managing your manager

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:22:00 +0000

I wrote this as a comment to another friend but I wanted to save it here…

If I ever write a book on “managing your manager” it will probably include:

- Have good communication with your manager. Don’t be afraid to assign tasks to your manager if something is outside your control but affects how you do your job. More communication helps, if you are good at your job and comfortable talking about it – it only hurts if you are bad at your job and you’re trying to cover it up.

Empathy, and communication

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:19:00 +0000

I wrote the following in a comment to a friend’s journal, but I wanted to save it here too…

I had a conversation with someone recently where we talked about empathy, and how to develop and strengthen it. Something that has always helped me: I take my own “emotional temperature” very often, at least once a day, and in times of stress, sometimes a dozen times a day.

Exercise log for September

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 00:07:00 +0000

Exercise log for September Thu 9/1: (vacation) Fri 9/2: (vacation) Sat 9/3: (vacation) Sun 9/4: (vacation) Mon 9/5: (problems with toe) Tue 9/6: (problems with toe) Wed 9/7: (problems with toe) Thu 9/8: (problems with toe) Fri 9/9: (problems with toe) Sat 9/10: (slacking) Sun 9/11: (slacking) Mon 9/12: (slacking) Tue 9/13: stairs, 27 levels, 19 min weight: 256.5 Wed 9/14: stairs, 28 levels, 21 min Thu 9/15: stairs, 29 levels, 22 min Fri 9/16: stairs, 31 levels, 23 min weight: 255 Sat 9/17: none Sun 9/18: none Mon 9/19: stairs, 33 levels, 25 min weight: 256 Tue 9/20: bike, 30 min Wed 9/21: stairs, 34 levels, 28 min weight: 253 Thu 9/22: stairs, 35 levels Fri 9/23: stairs, 36 levels, 25:25, 42.35 sec each. weight: 254.5 (note: work clothes +7, gym clothes +3.5) Sat 9/24: none Sun 9/25: none Mon 9/26: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles. weight 253.6 (home scale, w/clothes) Tue 9/27: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles. weight 256 (home scale, no clothes, after dinner) Wed 9/28: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles Thu 9/29: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles. weight 253.0 (net, home scale, a.m.) Fri 9/30: exercise bike, 30 min, 7.5 miles. And cleaned house. weight 254.4 (net, home, a.m.)

Important court cases involving the dead

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:18:00 +0000

Note: the following is a work of fiction based on Cthulhu universe writings by bradhicks John Doe aka “Henry J. Ford” versus the Estate of Henry J. Ford, or as it’s commonly known, “Ford” v Ford. When the reanimated corpse of Henry Ford showed up to contest the reading of the will, the estate counter-sued, asking the probate court to rule that Ford’s death certificate was final. “Ford” argued that the law permits withdrawing death certificates in the event that the subject turned out not to be dead after all, such as when the attending physician mistakenly declares the subject legally dead and then they wake up. The probate court demurred, saying it didn’t have authority to define death, so the case got kicked all the way up to the US Supreme Court.

Drained water heater

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 18:16:00 +0000

Let the record reflect that I have emptied the hot water heater and refilled it. I had not done this since moving in, and I don’t know if the previous owners ever did this, or for that matter how old the water heater is (though it looks to be not much more than 5 years old). I had heard somewhere that you’re supposed to flush out the water heater every year, so it was overdue.

Exercise log for August

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for August Mon 8/1: Morning workout Tue 8/2: Wed 8/3: Thu 8/4: Fri 8/5: Sat 8/6: Sun 8/7: Mon 8/8: Tue 8/9: Wed 8/10: Thu 8/11: Fri 8/12: Sat 8/13: Sun 8/14: Mon 8/15: Tue 8/16: Wed 8/17: Thu 8/18: Fri 8/19: Sat 8/20: Sun 8/21: Mon 8/22: Tue 8/23: Wed 8/24: Thu 8/25: Fri 8/26: Sat 8/27: Sun 8/28: Mon 8/29: Tue 8/30: Wed 8/31:

Critical thinking: is it a lost art?

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:26:00 +0000

I think there a lot of people in the US who don’t have (or don’t use) basic critical thinking skills. This makes them very susceptible to being led around by their emotions and pseudo-reasoning than by their beliefs, principles and ideals.

I think that this is reflected in the media and in politics. How did politics come to be so divisive? If it’s possible to get any kind of information at any time, why is it that so many people choose to filter their media consumption so that they only get exposed to opinions they agree with?

neko-base is gone: long live "box3"

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:53:00 +0000

Neko users- The server has been successfully replaced. Its new name is “box3.nekodojo.org” but if you use the name “neko-base” it should still work.

If I have not given you your new password yet, please chat with me on AIM (nekodojo) or YIM (nekodojo_org) or give me an alternate email address where I can reach you. Or reply to this.

Expected downtime on neko-base tomorrow

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 21:59:00 +0000

Hello folks,

Well, it had to happen sooner or later… after some months of running an old Linux and failing to keep it updated, one of the accounts on the box got hacked.

I’m going to take this opportunity to reinstall the system from scratch, give everyone new passwords, and spruce up the firewall settings a bit. You will need to get the new password from me tomorrow to get back on the system or to get your mail (if it’s being stored locally on neko-base). If you haven’t logged in for over a year and you have no domains or mushes active, I will probably not create your account on the new system. If you still want the account, just ask (or if you decide you don’t need it, let me know that too).

Extremely personal

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 22:49:00 +0000

There is something you need to know, and I have been reluctant to talk to you about it. This is not intended to be an ultimatum or demand or anything; just an expression of frustratuon.

I am frustrated. Not just in the sexual way. I feel both helpless and angry. I am angry with you, because you won’t talk about or acknowledge our problem. I am angry because you know how frustrated I am, and how important this is to me, and you don’t seem to be doing anything about it. I am frustrated at myself, because I’m so patient, so kind, so considerate, and so, well, wimpy that I won’t risk making you uncomfortable no matter how pissed off or frustrated I feel. I feel helpless because I can’t do anything to change your mind, to make you feel differently, or even to make you comfortable enough to try something that *might* be uncomfortable. I feel helpless because I have asked you if there is anything I can do and you haven’t been able to think of anything. I feel angry at myself, because I am not strong enough to sit here and take it, and I’m also not strong enough to stand up and say “This needs to change.”

Zero wing rhapsody

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 00:05:00 +0000

If you like “all your base” you will love this. (and that means you, aelfsciene) MilkandCookies - Zero Wing Rhapsody

Of servers and toilets

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 01:56:00 +0000

Yesterday, I installed Debian on an extra server. I’m checking out the new version of Mailman, which seems to be quite cool. It has better integration with Spamassassin (and I could also upgrade to Postfix 2.1+ which has Spamassassin as a real-time filter. The cool thing about the new Mailman is Topics - you can have categories like announcements, events, classifieds, off-topic, discussion, etc. within a single list, and subscribers can pick and choose which things they want to see. Means users will need to add tags to the subject line, but I think people will figure it out before long.

Tags test two

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 13:08:00 +0000

Friends: tag this entry if you can. I’m testing to see if a problem with friends adding tags has been fixed.

Edit tags…

Exercise log for July

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for July Fri 7/1: Exercise bike, shoulder free weights, calisthenics. wt 260 Sat 7/2: Walking, 30 min Sun 7/3: Mon 7/4: Morning workout Tue 7/5: Wed 7/6: Morning workout Thu 7/7: Fri 7/8: Morning workout Sat 7/9: Sun 7/10: Mon 7/11: Morning workout Tue 7/12: Wed 7/13: Morning workout Thu 7/14: Fri 7/15: Bike, 20 min Sat 7/16: Sun 7/17: Mon 7/18: no workout Tue 7/19: Wed 7/20: Bike, 25 min Thu 7/21: Fri 7/22: Morning workout Sat 7/23: Sun 7/24: Mon 7/25: Morning workout Tue 7/26: Wed 7/27: Morning workout Thu 7/28: Fri 7/29: Morning workout Sat 7/30: Sun 7/31: Bike, 20 min

nekodojo.org

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 13:45:00 +0000

nekodojo is off the air right now.. unplugging DSL and replugging it didn’t work. I will troubleshoot things further when I get home (around 5 pst)

Rant about "enemy combatants"

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 08:23:00 +0000

geekymary wrote a great entry regarding Guantanamo Bay, to which I responded, and I wanted to repost my response here. The original entry is a lot more detailed and well-researched… my contribution is clearly just a rant by comparison. (Thanks to rmjwell for the link.)

The tone of the Geneva Conventions is one of respect for the other entity, despite the fact that you’re at war with them. Do terrorist groups deserve that respect? I’d say not. However, there’s another entity - humanity.

tags test

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 18:08:00 +0000

Testing to see if others can tag my posts. (tag_permissions set via admin console to “tag_permissions friends private”). Tag this post as either #boring or #interesting, if you can (friends only)

Edit: Strange, I was not able to remove tags on my *own* post with permissions set to “friends, private”. I set back to private, private and then I was able to de-tag.

So far I can’t think of a practical application to allowing others to tag my posts, but maybe I’ll think of something creative.

Animal style

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 13:16:00 +0000

I had Animal Style fries at in-n-out. Wonderful.

Clay, tell snap, crackle and pop that they were right!

Return of the pickles

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:19:00 +0000

2 jars cucumbers, carrots and onions

Slice produce and cram into jars. About when they are half-full is when you want to slip the fresh dill into the sides with a butter knife or something. This time I sliced the onion across the midsection (so each slice has like 10 concentric rings) but left the slices in slice form rather than popping out the individual rings. These take up less space when crammed in the jar and you can cram in more food.

Usually a single-batch recipe is enough brine to cover the produce crammed into a 1-liter jar. A double-batch of brine solution is enough for 2 1L jars. The 2X version consisted of:

D&D 3e starting up

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:58:00 +0000

[Gaming filter: If you’re reading this, you have indicated an interest in joining my next D&D 3e game.]

I would like to hold a character generation session this coming weekend. Our plans for this weekend are pretty open, so if you can drop in anytime Saturday or Sunday that would work. If you can come and spend 4 hours, that would be great, though 2 hours would probably work if you’re in a rush. We will provide either lunch or dinner as appropriate.

Vacation advice

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 15:59:00 +0000

We want to go somewhere on vacation where we can relax and perhaps do some stargazing. Therefore I want to find somewhere that is flat, dark, and has clear weather in August or September.

We were thinking about Sedona, AZ. Is anyone familiar with the area, enough to comment? Is there a good chance that the weather will be mostly clear in August, or September? Is it a good place to spend a week’s worth of vacation? Any other places we should consider? (Would be nice if it were in driving distance of silicon valley CA)

Exercise log for June

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for June Wed 6/1: Thu 6/2: Fri 6/3: Sat 6/4: Sun 6/5: Mon 6/6: Tue 6/7: Wed 6/8: Thu 6/9: Fri 6/10: Sat 6/11: Sun 6/12: Mon 6/13: Tue 6/14: Wed 6/15: Thu 6/16: Fri 6/17: Sat 6/18: Sun 6/19: Mon 6/20: walking 10 min, chest dumbell 25# 3x10, chest press 85# 3x10, jack, flutter, dolly, crunches 15 min Tue 6/21: Wed 6/22: elliptical 6m, treadmill 10m, bicep dumbell 20# 3x10, bicep ezbar 55# x15, tricep dumbell 10# 2x10, tricep rope pulldown 60# 3x8, overhead rope pulldown 60# 3x8, jack, flutter, dolly, mixed crunches. wt 256. Thu 6/23: Fri 6/24: treadmill, free weights (shoulders and back), calisthenics Sat 6/25: Sun 6/26: Mon 6/27: treadmill, free weights (chest), calisthenics Tue 6/28: Wed 6/29: treadmill, free weights (bicep/tricep), calisthenics Thu 6/30:

Thinking about a timeshare? Or just want a cheap vacation?

Mon, 30 May 2005 01:20:00 +0000

Are any of you interested in the following deals? \* Orlando: 3 nights for $69 \* Las Vegas: 2 nights for $89 \* Waikiki: 4 nights for $699

Fair warning: The catch is that you have to attend a timeshare sales presentation (2 hours). The timeshare is a nice one, M and I have been happy with ours, it’s very flexible and tradeable and the rooms are very high-quality. Email me if you’re interested…

BAILIFF, SMACK HIS PEE-PEE!

Tue, 24 May 2005 23:19:00 +0000

[Note: as of this writing, Greg is still unable to kill selected Wisconsin residents with the power of his mind.] Monday

More information on this outage. According to the log, it looks like the dhcp service stopped running about 21:37. I think I figured out why the service stopped.

The logs show a login as “root” from “maintain” at 21:30, a few minutes before the outage. This root session is still open as of this email. Additionally, there is a log file in /home/[username redacted] showing whether the daemon is running and who is logged in once per minute, and that file starts at the same time as the outage.

Ice Cream Social - Today!

Sat, 14 May 2005 17:46:00 +0000

As mentioned before, Miche and I are hosting an Ice Cream Social here at our place today between 2pm and 6pm. If you are in the area, please feel free to come by. Drop in any time in that range, stay as short or as long as you want. Directions are here: click me.

(Posting this for folks on my friends list who I believe I have actually met in person at least once. If you are reading this, you’re invited!)

Ice Cream Social

Wed, 11 May 2005 06:31:00 +0000

OK, I have gone a bit crazy with the new Ice Cream Machine and have made far more ice cream than I think I can eat.

As a result, Miche and I would like to throw an Ice Cream Social here at our place this coming Saturday. If you are in the area (or might be on Saturday) feel free to come by. I’m thinking it will probably be Saturday afternoon between 2pm and 6pm. Drop in any time in that range, stay as short or as long as you want. Watch this space for directions: OK directions are here: click me.

Books meme

Tue, 10 May 2005 10:22:00 +0000

Total number of books I’ve owned? Probably fewer than 50, most of them game books. Count comics and I’m pushing close to 100. But Miche’s collection, that’s another story, probably 1000+. I don’t tend to collect books unless they were especially meaningful.
The last book I bought? I think it was First Things First, an audiobook in the Seven Habits series.
The last book I read?Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. It is an excellent read, and I recommend it for anyone and everyone. It combines the best of getting organized, self-help, and having rewarding interpersonal relationships. It combines a lot of stuff I already knew, and a few things I didn’t, and makes a lot of great ideas work well together/complement each other. If it’s true that there is nothing new under the sun, this is at least a new way of looking at and organizing a number of timeless and valuable principles.

5 books that mean a lot to me:
Split Infinity by Piers Anthony: Read this when I was in high school, and the main character Stile became my hero for many years, and still is in many ways.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey: see above :)
Perl for System Administration by Blank/Edelman via O’Reilly
Dungeon Master’s Guide and Players Handbook by Gygax et al
5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their ljs
I’m choosing 5 random users who are unlikely to ever read this: weejay, cflam, meddle_84, sofawawayfromu, and baby_cakes24. Is that cheating? I don’t know :)

Melon sorbet

Mon, 09 May 2005 10:15:00 +0000

We made a modified version of Alton’s Melon Sorbet on Sunday. It turned out wonderfully. This sorbet meets with the misty_shadows seal of approval.

Our modified version contained: 1 lb 10 oz diced melon 10 oz sugar 2 Tbs peach schnapps

All ingrdients into bar blender. Pulse until visible chunks are gone, then blend low for about 30 more seconds. Chill mixture for about 30-60 min in fridge. Process in ice cream machine (with our machine we broke it into 2 batches at about 20 min each) until it is slushy and holds its shape. Relocate the mixture to the freezer for 2 hours.

Netflix and Six Degrees of Separation

Tue, 03 May 2005 12:10:00 +0000

OK, here is something to try if you’re bored and happen to be in front of a browser. I was clicking around on the Netflix site and I was looking at the Jim Carrey page, and I thought to myself, gee, I would like to get to the John Cleese page, I wonder if I can get there just by clicking links?

Here’s what I came up with on the first try (without using the Back button at all): Jim Carrey, Batman Forever, Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, Ving Rhames, Lilo and Stitch, David Ogden Stiers, Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke, Billy Crudup, Big Fish, Danny DeVito, Get Shorty, Gene Hackman, Antz, Danny Akroyd, Trading Places, Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda, and finally John Cleese. That’s 11 degrees of separation, so that means I kind of suck at this. I probably would have done better if I had allowed myself to use the Back button, but c’est la vie.

Exercise log for May

Sun, 01 May 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for May Sun 5/1: Mon 5/2: Tue 5/3: Wed 5/4: Thu 5/5: Fri 5/6: Sat 5/7: Sun 5/8: Mon 5/9: Tue 5/10: Wed 5/11: Thu 5/12: Fri 5/13: Sat 5/14: Sun 5/15: Mon 5/16: Tue 5/17: Wed 5/18: Thu 5/19: Fri 5/20: Sat 5/21: Sun 5/22: Mon 5/23: Tue 5/24: Wed 5/25: Thu 5/26: Fri 5/27: Sat 5/28: Sun 5/29: Mon 5/30: Tue 5/31:

Netflix

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 10:09:00 +0000

M and I have joined NetFlix again, so we will soon have movies mailed to our house.

I notice that NetFlix now has a “Friends” feature where your friends’ ratings, recommendations, and short reviews show up when you are browsing for new movies. So, if any of you fine folks also use Netflix, let me know and I will add you as a friend.

(No, I’m not going to just enter someone else’s email address and click Invite without their permission - *I* have a privacy policy too :) Speaking of which, if you want to enter me as a friend on Netflix, I approve… they already have my email address at this point - the nekodojo.org one)

More ramble about beliefs and modes/elements

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 11:02:00 +0000

I have previously written about beliefs and belief systems. The short version was something like this:

1. A belief is both a thought and a feeling, or a link between thought and feeling. It is a Thought that you Feel is true. 2. Beliefs influence our behavior. We get into a situation, we decide based on our beliefs (or other factors), and we act. 3. The consequences of our actions, in turn, serve to reinforce our beliefs or break them down. If a belief leads to a decision with good consequences, it gets strengthened. If the belief that leads to a decision with bad consequences, it will be weakened.

seeking dns consultants

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 12:47:00 +0000

My company is seeking some DNS advice. This will probably be of the “consulting service” type of arrangement, where the consultants prepare a quote, work on a specific task, and bill by invoice. (If we can’t find a consulting service we like, we may also consider hiring an hourly contractor for a short period of time, probably 3-6 weeks).

Approximate prerequisites are: Knows more about DNS than I do Exposure to multiple (at least 5) corporate IT environments with a role in managing or advising DNS infrastructure, preferably multiple “mixed” (unix/windows) shops Familiar with recent trends in DNS (such as dynamic updates, Active Directory, etc) and familiar with DNS best practices. Able to intelligently discuss choices that most IT organizations make with regard to DNS and articulate the pros and cons (i.e. don’t say “this is the only way”, rather say “here are the tradeoffs”)

Earth, water, air and fire

Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:32:00 +0000

I spent some time last night looking at my Tarot deck and the book that goes with it. I really really like this deck, (I lost my deck when I lost my game bag with books, dice, etc. in it, but luckily I had a second copy of the same deck.) The deck is The Witches Tarot.

The four suits are already well known for how they integrate with elements, and states of existence/awareness… Pentacles - Earth - Physical Cups - Water - Emotional Wands - Air - Mental Swords - Fire - Spiritual

Worldbuilding

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 23:51:00 +0000

There really should be a journal for: Worldbuilding. This would be a place to post ideas for worlds, where people would ask questions and offer suggestions to help flesh it out.

A world starts with a “concept” - usually the concept is “What makes this world different from the world we live in?” Some examples might be:

“There are three genders, and mating is by groups of three.”
“The cost of magic is pain.”
“The American Civil War led to the formation of two separate nations.”

The concept is then fleshed out by asking “Why?” and “Therefore?” These questions lead to investigation of cause and effect, to see what unfolds. “If the cost of magic is pain, some might choose to suffer pain themselves, and do positive magic, and others may choose to cause pain to others so they can do dark magic.” The cause and effect chain leads the writer to visualize some of the aspects of this particular world. For the purposes of checking out the prototype, keep other important aspects of the world as similar to ours as possible – i.e., fully explore the effect of making one important change, but only one, before changing something else that is unrelated.

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:19:00 +0000

Minutes of Eurythmics in our collection: 398.1 Minutes of Pink Floyd: 326.9 Minutes of The Bobs: 319.2 Loreena McKennitt: 235.1 Queen: 202.3 Enya: 192.7 Billy Joel: 189.9 Peter Gabriel: 181.2 All others: Less than three hours each Total running time of entire collection: 7 days, 1 hr, 52 min

That is all.

Choosing a diet

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 12:44:00 +0000

I am officially off the low-carb diet, due to the attack of gout and other concerns. It did what it was supposed to do, though… I lost 9 pounds on it in 3 weeks. That rate is probably too aggressive, though.

The directions from my doctor(*) are to follow a low-calorie, low-fat diet. Which sort of leaves the door open to any number of diets. The deciding factor for me is that I want something that’s easy to figure out. That is, I want to be able to eat a sensible breakfast and lunch, and then instantly (or at least quickly) figure out what would be best for dinner in order to balance things out.

damn that hurts

Sat, 09 Apr 2005 04:05:00 +0000

OK, there is now no doubt in my mind that what’s happening to my toe is gout. Last night, the pain was bad enough to wake me up, so I took more advil and went back to sleep. Today I took some alleve, which really did work for about 12 hours, and is now starting to wear off so I took another.

I’m going in to the doctor tomorrow morning at 9:45 (yes, saturday) so we’ll see what he has to say. He will probably say to keep taking the alleve and change my diet. Apparently, burning fat on the low-carb diet also contributes to uric acid in the blood, so that compounds the effect of eating more meats. I have been making sure to drink lots of water.

Diet update

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 16:46:00 +0000

Good news… I have lost about 8 or 9 pounds, after being on the low-carb diet for a little over 3 weeks.

Bad news… I developed some excruciating pain in my big toe. I can’t think what I might have done to bruise or strain it. What does a painful toe have to do with my diet? Hopefully nothing, but it could be gout. According to wikipedia: Gout is a form of arthritis caused by the accumulation of uric acid crystals in joints. It is an immensely painful disease, which in most cases affects only one joint, most commonly the big toe.

Taxes done

Sun, 03 Apr 2005 19:42:00 +0000

Taxes are finally done. I am getting a huge refund, mostly because 1. working for two employers, I overpaid social security tax, and 2. getting a lump sum from the Y! and having it taxed like a single period’s paycheck meant that the deductions for the lump sum were set on “insane!!!”.

Anyway, the returns are done and sent electronically. 12 days ahead of schedule too!

The only things I was moderately confused by were 1. why I didn’t get a mortgage interest statement from the finance company that held my loan for 1 month before selling it to a bank, and 2. how much that check for car tax refund was, that I got in Feb. because I deducted the whole amount last year, so the refund reduces the amount I can claim this year.

Dinner

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 06:44:00 +0000

Tonight we had esmerel, merlinofchaos, and da_zhuang around for dinner. Everything turned out well, I think. And, I think just about everything was low-carb, which was good for my diet. I probably had more food than I planned to, but I think I’ve done reasonably well the last week or so, so I’m not going to feel guilty.

Salad with arugulla, butter lettuce, radicchio, cucumbers, tomato, avocado, green onion. Two salad dressings (soy-mayo and honey mustard) made with the homemade mayo. Merlin made the honey mustard… turned out good Artichokes, a little tiny bit overdone but I don’t think anyone noticed. Dipping sauce, about 3 parts mayo to 1 part vietnamese “chili garlic sauce” - this was a hit I think. Meat, which I thought was filet mignon, but was probably some other loin cut. Salt, garlic, pepper. Broiled 5 min each side. (Supermarkets don’t seem to sell filet much anymore.) Broccoli, steamed, which was probably overkill but I wanted something else in case the ‘chokes didn’t work.

Exercise log for April

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 00:05:00 +0000

Exercise log for April Fri 4/1: (Still on low-carb diet) Sat 4/2: Sun 4/3: Mon 4/4: Tue 4/5: Wed 4/6: Pain in my toe started. BP around 130/80. Thu 4/7: Pain in toe was worse. Stayed home. Stopped taking thiazide. Took advil. Fri 4/8: Pain in toe was very bad. Took naproxen. Sat 4/9: Pain in toe was better, about the same as Thursday. Weight: 243.8 (bare) 248.8 (clothes but no shoes). Doctor visit. Started Colchicine, NSAID, and doubled Lotensin. Sun 4/10: Mon 4/11: Tue 4/12: Wed 4/13: Thu 4/14: Fri 4/15: Sat 4/16: Sun 4/17: Mon 4/18: Tue 4/19: Wed 4/20: Thu 4/21: Fri 4/22: Sat 4/23: Sun 4/24: Mon 4/25: Tue 4/26: Wed 4/27: Thu 4/28: Fri 4/29: Sat 4/30:

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:14:00 +0000

You know what? I think the only one who cares less than I do about The Terry Schiavo Case is Terry Schiavo.

Was that crude? I don’t mean to be offensive, but the point is 1. I don’t care about the case and I’m glad it’s over, and 2. I’m pretty sure Terry vacated and went on to greener pastures some 15 years ago.

Mayo revisited

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:30:00 +0000

[oops, this was supposed to go to good eats, but I’ll leave it in here too :]

Thanks for all the advice. I wanted to share my latest mayo experience…

My last attempt at mayo was reasonably successful. It was a stable emulsion, but it was syrup-consistency and didn’t stand up. Someone suggested adding more oil, and that did the trick. It was very nearly mayo-like.

This time, I ended up with “broken goo” but I was able to save it. The first whip attempt never really got to the “frothy” stage, so I started with an empty bowl and 1 whole egg, whipped until frothy (or at least foamy) and then poured in the broken goo :) It seems like once you get to the foamy stage, it’s smooth sailing from there out.

Diet prgress, day 16

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:49:00 +0000

I believe I have lost roughly 3 pounds over the last 2 weeks. According to the medical-style scale downstairs, I currently weigh 255 with shoes on, 252 with shoes off. The same scale put me at 258 two weeks ago, and still at 258 one week ago. So, three pounds lighter or so.

On advice from a friend, I decided to “make the food boring and get it over with”. So, for the next couple weeks I will be on the “lunchmeat and salad” diet.

How to make new friends

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 12:54:00 +0000

I decided I need more friends… doesn’t everybody?

1. Go to your own User Info page. 2. Find your first friend in the list, and click to go to their info page. 3. Look at that person’s friends. Click on the first friend of that user who is not also on your own friends list. 4. When you get to someone who has no friends in common with you (no bold entries), stop. Add this person to your friends list. If the person you clicked on has any friends in common with you, repeat step 3. Don’t click on anyone you already clicked on once, just choose the next person. 5. (Optional) Post a note to your journal saying who you added and how they are connected to you.

Food entry

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 06:15:00 +0000

I wrote down my foods but I won’t copy them all here. The short version is that I have been sticking to the low-carb diet (as described in Atkins “Induction phase”). It’s been a lot easier than I thought. I haven’t really been missing my bread, pasta or sugar. The real difficulty for me is finding interesting things to eat, but that is an intellectual and logistical problem for me, and not one that causes me much distress.

Stuff I am giving away (to friends only)

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 01:32:00 +0000

I would like to pass some stuff on to someone who can use it. If I can find a friend who would like these things, I’d like to pass it on to someone I know. Otherwise I will probably sell it on ebay or something for a small amount.

Cell phone: Motorola T720 for use with Verizon. Call Verizon and give them the ID number, or give to a family member you want to add to your plan. Or keep it as a spare. Includes an extra charger. Picture 1 - Picture 2
MP3 player: Creative Nomad Jukebox, 20G. Can be used with either USB or Firewire. Charge via AC adapter (not pictured) or can charge while plugged in a USB port. Comes with USB cable. (I have a Firewire cable too, just ask.) Picture
Palm Tungsten C: The kind with a built-in keyboard and 802.11b wireless. Cradle/charger, and an extra USB cable for charging or syncing on the road. Includes a hard metal case. Works fine, I just don’t use it since I got a Treo phone. Picture 1 - Picture 2

Yes, this offer is open to anyone on my friends list… just tell me they are going to a good home. If you live near me, pick it up, otherwise I’ll let you know how much it costs to ship and you can send it to me on Paypal.

Day 5

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 23:15:00 +0000

Eggs, bacon, sausage. Taco bell fiesta taco salad with no shell, no sour cream, no tortilla-chip-strips, though I did have most of the beans. A few broccoli pieces and ranch dip. Dinner: ground beef, polish sausage, broccoli, mayo, soy sauce, arrugula, boiled eggs, bacon bits, alfalfa sprouts, home-made vinaigrette (olive oil, red vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, garlic).

Weight for the week has been the same Monday and today: about 255. I was surprised to find myself about 255, I would have guessed I was 265-272. I have not had any exercise but I will probably start again with the walking pretty soon.

two lumps has that romanian song on it

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 09:23:00 +0000

Two lumps: http://twolumps.keenspace.com/d/20050318.html

Lyrics: http://www.catteacorner.com/dragosteadintei.htm

Made famous recently by this wacky guy who recorded himself lipsyncing.. see links here http://www.arkady.org.uk/DDT_Links.html

Having trouble remembering the words? Check out The Gnome-a-gnome-a-yay version: http://thunder.yansa.net/dragostea.html

Guaranteed to get stuck in your head. For days.

(Thanks to arkady for the links page - I actually found your page on Google while searching for “gnome a yay dragostea”)

Day 4 Food entry

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:31:00 +0000

I just had Chinese for lunch. Truthfully, I don’t really know how much carbs I just had. Thursday March 17 Lunch: Chinese take-away was served for a going-away party for someone. I had about two plates of food, mostly meats with light sauce such as mongolian beef (just the beef), cashew chicken (just the chicken and water chestnusts) shrimp with vegetables (just the shrimp) and a lot of tofu. I avoided rice and anything with heavy sauces. I also had about 8 pieces of broccoli with ranch dip.

Days 1-3 on low carb

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:46:00 +0000

I’m going to try and record everything I eat for the next 30 days, whether I am able to stay on the low-carb plan or not. I don’t expect anyone to read the entries. But, if you happen to notice that I’m counting carbs wrong, OK to let me know :)

Monday 3/14 I wanted to use a one-day fast to start things off, but M wanted to have sushi, so we went to Tokyo Sushi. I had: salmon sushi and Phillidelphia rolls without the rice (salmon, small amount of cream cheese), soy sauce, miso soup, small salad with a sweetish vinegar dressing, mussels, and soybeans. The mussels had some sort of dressing on it that was mayo-like… I scraped most of it off and squeezed on lemon juice.

why don't I give this low-carb thing a try

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:23:00 +0000

I have decided to try eating very few carbs for the next week or three, to see what happens.

In the past I have been skeptical of the low-carb (or no-carb) diets, mostly because I feel it should be possible to eat a “balanced” diet, in moderation, and be well, live happy. I have a feeling that the low-carb craze is a direct result of the “low fat” craze that has been omnipresent in this country & culture for some decades. We have become so used to “low fat” items and have traded carbs for fats. Now, the pendulum swings the other way and “low carb” is the craze, but neither of these appeals to my inner sense of symmetry.

Exercise log for March

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 00:18:00 +0000

Exercise log for March Tue 3/1: Wed 3/2: Thu 3/3: Fri 3/4: Sat 3/5: Exercise bike, 45 min Sun 3/6: Exercise bike, 45 min Mon 3/7: Bike ride, 35 min Tue 3/8: Wed 3/9: Exercise bike, 45 min Thu 3/10: Fri 3/11: Walking, 40 min Sat 3/12: Walking, 45 min Sun 3/13: Mon 3/14: (Start low-carb diet) Best estimate, my weight was 255 at this time (clothes but no shoes) or 258 (with shoes) which would probably equate to 250 (bare). Tue 3/15: Wed 3/16: Thu 3/17: Fri 3/18: Sat 3/19: Sun 3/20: Mon 3/21: Exercise bike, 45 min Tue 3/22: Stairs, 25 flights, 30 min Wed 3/23: Stairs, 26 flights, 30 min Thu 3/24: Fri 3/25: Sat 3/26: Sun 3/27: Mon 3/28: Tue 3/29: Wed 3/30: Thu 3/31:

frienditto free zone

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 00:11:00 +0000

Friends- You are all savvy folks and I know I don’t need to say it, but I’m saying it anyway.

This journal is Copyright © Greg Connor 2001-2005. Right to repost this journal’s contents on any website is reserved. Frienditto.com is expressly denied the right to copy anything from this journal, regardless of whether the original post was public or private.

Ten things...

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 10:22:00 +0000

1. Commandeered an expensive pair of load balancers to send 3 million spams per day to a decoy server for analysis. 2. Been kicked out of the house for 2 months, because I refused to lie for someone. 3. Been kicked out of the house 1 year later, because I refused to steal confidential information for someone. 4. Sneaked into a tent in front of a girlfriend’s house to spend the night with her. 5. Made home-made cat food out of rice and chicken livers. 6. Bought property on The Strip in Las Vegas. 7. Got ordained… online. And performed a wedding, holding my furigana dictionary instead of a prayer book. 8. Fell asleep at the wheel at 3 pm, became airborne, popped 4 tires and bent 4 rims, then woke up and heard about my stunt from a cop. 9. Argued with my Religion teacher over whether masturbation is sinful. 10. Cut a class for most of a year and took an F. That class being P.E.

Counter-meme

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 09:55:00 +0000

OK I am modifying this meme. Vive la revolution!

Ten things I haven’t done, but I know someone who has! 1. Hosted a meeting of the local chapter of Hell’s Angels, invited them to stay for cake and tea afterwards, and they very kindly did the washing up in return. (but arkady has) 2. Got told to turn back from my walk on a Romanian beach by a Russian soldier with a Kalashnikov rifle. (but helenschappell has) 3. Won the state level Parliamentary Procedures competition in the FFA. (but agrimony has) 4. Had dinner with Levar Burton. (but tyee has) 5. Left a drive-in showing of The Blue Lagoon because of a sandstorm. In Detroit. (but firecat has) 6. Peed on Robert F. Kennedy (but mactavish has) 7. Was an assistant to an events coordinator at the animation Oscars (Annies) and therefore got to boss around such presenters as Mark Hamill and other voice actors. (but creentmerveille has) 8. Been advised to get a hysterectomy by Harlan Ellison. (but colubra has) 9. Ate lunch with Henry Winkler (but da_zhuang has) 10. Saw Ronald Reagan speak on the campaign trail before he was President (but tersa has)

Choose Your Own Moral Values™ poll

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 22:03:00 +0000

Moral Values™ are part of this nutritious breakfast

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:14:00 +0000

I posted the following as a comment in wildpaletz journal, but I wanted to post it in my own as well. Readers of bradhicks will find much of this familiar…

I have pondered much on the issue of “moral values™” and have been troubled by it. By “moral values™”, I mean “the selected moral questions which happen to strengthen the bond between religious conservatives and fiscal/social conservatives”. These are the “hot button” issues that Christian fundamentalists are passionate about, but that if they took a moment to think about what’s really important, which they would find are not pillars of their faith.

AV reunion, sorta

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:42:00 +0000

I went to Blue Chalk last night to meet a bunch of other former AV people. Unfortunately, the effort to include Ops wasn’t serious or well-executed… I think that’s in part because the party was organized by Andreas and Jonathan who were marketing types and didn’t really deal with Ops much, so we didn’t have much reason to stay connected. I heard about the gathering like 1 day ahead, and forwarded the notice to a bunch of people who had been left out, but I didn’t really expect to see much of Ops due to the late notice.

Ghastly!

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:33:00 +0000

If you read ghastly’s ghastly comic, I have added it to the list of syndicated feeds: ghastly_feed.

It also appears that the LJ user ghastlycomic is written by the author, though it doesn’t seem to be updated often.

If you don’t already read ghastly’s ghastly comic, now is not a good time to start. Unless you’re like, perverted, and even other perverts tell you that you have a perverted sense of humor. If you are, then by all means, start reading!

Happy Septemberday

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 09:33:00 +0000

Happy birthday 9thmoon!

sick

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 16:42:00 +0000

Let the record show that I am sick like a dog. It started yesterday with sore throat and runny nose, then I soon got the chills. Today I have crud in my chest and crud in my sinuses, though it seems like I am not as chilled. Oh, and uncontrollable coughing fits that give me an instant headache. This sucks.

mydnsbl moving from investigation to testing

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 14:18:00 +0000

This is the latest draft of “mydnsbl,” which is a personal project I’ve been working on. It’s been about half work time and half personal time. As of now, the software seems to work OK, and the docs are pretty complete (for testing purposes anyway). I will soon be moving on to the more daunting task of trying to test my new DNSBL with actual user mail, if I can convince management that it’s safe.

Pot stickers

Sun, 09 Jan 2005 23:57:00 +0000

I made some pot stickers using Alton’s recipe as a, well, general guideline :) They turned out pretty OK.

I made a few substitutions, because I didn’t have scallions or bell pepper on hand. I replaced scallions with minced onion, left out bell pepper completely, and instead of mustard I added 1/2 tsp of McDonalds Barbeque sauce. The filling turned out a little on the sweet-ish side but tasted great.

Tue, 04 Jan 2005 22:06:00 +0000

Note to self: It helps to plug the crock pot in. Pot roast will be ready about 6 if you do, and at 2 am if you don’t.

So far I have made one pot roast and one soup in the crock pot. I am happy.

Also, I made Lemon Curd last night and served it to my sweety on some pound cake. I am quite smug.

I refuse to surrender my freedom

Mon, 03 Jan 2005 22:56:00 +0000

“I pledge to join with over 400,000 ACLU members and supporters to help ensure that the President, his administration, and our leaders in Congress fulfill their duty to preserve, protect, and defend our Constitution.

By reaffirming my commitment to the American values of justice and liberty for all, I am enlisting in a powerful movement to defend our freedoms against assaults on our civil liberties.” Take this pledge

Spam stuff: early prototype of "too many user unknown DNSBL"

Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:58:00 +0000

As posted to SPAM-L… reposting in my journal mostly for my records…

---------- Forwarded message ———- Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 13:06:28 -0800 (PST) From: Greg Connor To: SPAM-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: MISC: early prototype “too many user unknown DNSBL”

This is a project that I’m working on, sort of for work but mostly in my own spare time. It doesn’t actually do anything useful yet, but I wanted to get some feedback on it from you fine folks…

The idea is that I want to keep track of the last 10 transactions from each IP, and if 9 of the last 10 transactions were user unknown, then that IP should go on a local DNSBL for something like 2 hours.

Busy week so far, and it's only half gone

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 02:07:00 +0000

Monday:

Made a list of all the things we want to do for the house. Sorted said list into “sooner” and “later”.
Finally put up the plastic light covers under the flourescents in the kitchen.
Swept the downstairs.
Vacuumed the stairs.
Measured the hot water temperature (111F) and turned up the temp on the water heater. (New temp 134F)
Made dvds out of Scfi’s Earthsea - let me know if you need a copy.

Tuesday:

Seven habits, four needs, and four faculties

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 16:36:00 +0000

The seven habits of highly effective people are:

Personal Mission Statement

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 16:25:00 +0000

I took some time over my vacation to work on my Personal Mission Statement. I am recording it here for myself, and to share it with those who are interested.

I take pride in my strengths. I am: patient, sensitive, compassionate, insightful, creative, and a good communicator.

I humbly recognize my weaknesses. I can sometimes be: unmotivated, disorganized, and a procrastinator. I will strive to overcome these, and to be: proactive, driven, organized, and dependable.

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 10:54:00 +0000

We are still on vacation. Here are some photos.

First night, we went to a comedy show and I didn’t take pictures. The second day we went to Mandalay Bay and saw the Shark Reef exhibit (where I took most of the pictures), and then the Excalibur Tournament of Kings show.

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 01:18:00 +0000

Buffet: eaten Comedy show: watched Quarter slots: Down $10 Pai Gow Poker: Up $36

tud

lovely Lost Wages

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 17:33:00 +0000

We are currently in Vegas. I think I really like our timeshare. The room is beautiful, and has a full on kitchen, washer/dryer, shower and whirlpool tub, and TV in the front room and another in the bedroom.

Also, the internet access is not only high-speed, it’s also free/unlimited. Not that I expect to be camped out in the room all week or anything.

Gambling, buffet, and comedy show tonight.

First Things First: review and brief summary

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 21:57:00 +0000

I listened to First Things First by Stephen R. Covey in the abridged audio version. I will probably be buying the actual book soon.

This is by the same author as Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which I greatly enjoyed even though I did not finish. Now would be a good time to break that out and finish it… I made good use of the first three Habits, I think, and I wanted to give myself some time to implement them and observe any changes.

I greatly enjoyed First Things First because it puts perspective on “time management” and neatly addresses what I have always found lacking in most time management (and indeed most “self help”) literature and lessons.

Summary follows. Ganked without permission. If you like these ideas, please buy the book.

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 01:07:00 +0000

We have returned home safely from Oregon. I have viewed 188 friends entries. That is all. (For now.)

Vacation coming up

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 22:00:00 +0000

We changed our vacation plans a little, and we will now be going to Vegas in the dead of winter, instead of going to Florida.

So we will be in Vegas between Dec 13 and Dec 19. JB and 9M will be there for some of that time. I wonder if there’s any chance anyone else I know will also be in vegas at that time. hmm.

Broiled Butterflied Chicken, the gconnor way

Sun, 14 Nov 2004 23:49:00 +0000

Based on Alton Brown’s Broiled Butterflied Chicken recipe though I have made a couple, ah, modifications… This version of the recipe is not for the faint of heart (nor for competent cooks, apparently :)

1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 lemon, zested Extra virgin olive oil Onions, carrots and celery cut into 3 to 4-inch pieces 3 to 4-pound broiler/fryer chicken 1 cup red wine 8 ounces chicken stock 2 to 3 sprigs thyme Some anonymous herb Canola oil

Position the oven rack 8 inches from the flame/coil and Turn broiler to high.

Kitchen stuff

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 16:45:00 +0000

We now have a new fridge, oven, dishwasher and microwave. woo hoo!

I am so stoked! Appliances rock.

Also, we were going to have the dishwasher installed by someone else, but in order to unhook the old one, I had to leave the hot water to the sink turned off. That meant, turn the cold water off too, so no sink and no ice machine, or leave the cold water on and when you use the sink, cold water sprays out the open part of the hot spigot underneath. Having tried both options, I decided I didn’t really want to wait a week for the situation to be fixed.

Moral Values for the rest of us

Sat, 06 Nov 2004 20:06:00 +0000

Thanks to bhanfhlaith for the cool icons.

Moral Values

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:37:00 +0000

Would someone good at making icons and banners make some of these sentiments into pictures? I’m thinking it would be appropriate to have them on a red, white and blue background, looking a lot like “I Voted” stickers.

Honesty is a Moral Value Love is a Moral Value Hatred is Not a Moral Value War is Not a Moral Value

we're joining the United States of Canada

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 19:28:00 +0000

Hey, look! A new icon that says exactly how I feel today.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And guess what, it’s an easy solution for both the healthcare problem and getting cheap drugs from Canada.

Thanks to kethry for the artwork.

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 10:21:00 +0000

“the most important election chimpanzee of our lifetime”

Get Out The Vote

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 08:51:00 +0000

Radio reports say that the race is still too close to call. But, while Kerry seems to have a slight lead among all registered voters, Bush currently has a slight lead among “likely” voters. That means that higher voter turnout will probably benefit Kerry.

Remind friends to vote, and remind them that they are allowed to take time off from work to do so. Offer rides if necessary. Walk around at work and remind your co-workers to vote.

Senior Bush adviser: "... we create our own reality."

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:05:00 +0000

Also, thanks to senatorhatty for pointing me to this NY Times Article by Ron Suskind. (Registration is free and in this case quite worth it)

In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn’t like about Bush’s former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House’s displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn’t fully comprehend - but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

Bush supporters: Are you voting for the Real Bush or the Fictional Bush?

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:40:00 +0000

I know you have probably seen this on your friends page already, but it deserves to be linked more.

Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD or Major Program, and Supported al Qaeda

72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). 56% assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. _
75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda_ 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. 60% of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.

Your "viewpoint" character

Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:36:00 +0000

Sort of related to what traveller said, I wanted to say a little bit about “viewpoint” characters and deciding what is “on camera” vs. “off camera”.

There are three “voice” styles. First person is, “I went to the store.” This makes it very clear who is speaking, and who your viewpoint character is. Second person is, “You went to the store,” or “You are on your way to the store.” (Second person is not used much except in Choose Your Own Adventure books :) And third person is “Joe went to the store.”

Most of us will probably write in the third person. With third person, you have to give the reader some cues as to who the viewpoint character is. The viewpoint character is usually your main character, but you can sometimes switch to another viewpoint character if you want to show something else happening out of sight of the main character. The best time to do this is at a chapter break when you would naturally change scene anyway.

Debate reactions

Sat, 09 Oct 2004 03:21:00 +0000

Gah! Is it just me, or does Bush seem like just an angry, bitter man? Also I don’t believe he’s a “good steward of the environment”.

Overall I think Kerry came across as calmer and more composed and Bush seemed angry and flustered for most of the time.

Anyway, this NPR article has a link to the audio and a link to the full transcript a little further down. The text transcript is pretty complete (and faster to read) but doesn’t give you the tone of voice. (I listened to the whole thing and I think I got a feeling for the voices, emotions, sincerity, etc… but I didn’t see the video so I have no idea who was walking around or what facial expressions were made.

My opinions and interpretations follow.

1. To Kerry, are you or aren’t you wishy washy? Strong and direct answer from Kerry. Laundry list from Bush about the same supposed inconsistencies, along with some rhetorical questions that sound like accusations but technically aren’t, like “I don’t see how you can lead this country in a time of war, in a time of uncertainty if you change your mind because of politics.”

high crimes and misdemeanors

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 17:24:00 +0000

I find it ironic that a large number of people who voted for Bush over Gore did so because Something was Wrong in the White House if Clinton could lie about having shagged someone and not get impeached for it.

Now Bush is found to have basically lied about reasons for going to war and sending 1000+ soldiers to their death and arranging for 22,000+ to be wounded badly enough to be airlifted out of Iraq to US or European hospitals.

Marathon script session

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 00:48:00 +0000

I spent a number of hours this weekend creating a mysql / perl / cgi script, to accept abuse reports and file them into a database.

This is part of a (hopefully) ongoing project which users can feed spam into and get customized blacklists out of.

The prototype is at http://abusetrack.nekodojo.org/test if you want to check it out, though it doesn’t really work quite at all yet. Create user Paste spam in Sign the report (doesn’t actually check pgp yet)

Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:28:00 +0000

CNN has a transcript of the debate but it wasn’t complete yet. However, this one by NPR seems to be complete. NPR Transcript of Presidential Debate

One of the questions asked of W was What criteria would you use to determine when to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq? His answer is interesting because it sets out specific goals that need to be met before we can pull troops out. What I find even more interesting is whether the same measure of success and completion applies in Afghanistan.

Weekend Report, and Move In Report

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:34:00 +0000

Thursday: At this point in time, pretty much all the books were packed, but nothing else was. mistyshadows helped to pack some more boxes of books and CDs, DVDs, and other trinkets in the entertainment center. We bought sushi for ourselves and ate it at home.

Friday: Escaped from work a bit early. Made food and continued packing. mistyshadows came to help some more. mistyshadows is wonderful. We got some more stuff packed from the closets and bathrooms.

Satellite TV poll

Sat, 07 Aug 2004 16:39:00 +0000

Please take my Satellite TV poll if you have Satellite TV or have had it recently. If you don’t have Satellite TV but you want to see the results, just click No and Submit Poll. (You must be logged in to LJ - though if you are not logged in you may still leave comments)

Things to do!

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 05:26:00 +0000

1. Buy new house

2. Get organized

3. Fix up old condo

3a. AC needs plywood surrounding it. Handyman - Ken Dembewski (408) 406-8445 Called Ken, he can meet us this week. Fix leak in kitchen sink at old condo

4. Fix up bathrooms in old condo

4a. Install vinyl in 1st bathroom 4b. Replace toilet in 1st bathroom 4a. Replace vinyl where it is funky 4c. Replace toilet in 2nd bathroom

Weekend report

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 14:13:00 +0000

Friday- There was a party thing at work, so I stayed until about 5:30 or so. On the way home, got a call from D asking if we want to come for dinner. We did so, and had a good time.

Dinner was grilled tri-tip, sausages and asparagus. Asparagus turned out pretty good- we laid like 8-10 of them in a row and then skewered them together with a short skewer perpendicular to the stems at about the 1/3 and 2/3 positions. Brushed them with a little olive oil and shook on salt and pepper, then grilled for like 4 min. The only problem we had was that the asparagus spears were really thin and tender so they kept breaking, but mostly they held together OK… this would have been a bit easier if the spears were a little on the chunky side.

Weird dream

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 13:40:00 +0000

I got woke up by a call on my cell, from someone who didn’t leave a message, but whose number is 408-275-8379. (If this is your number, let me know and I’ll remove it :) It was 6:43 and I decided to get a little more sleep, knowing my alarm was set for 7:20.

Well. I woke up a couple more times, the first time I thought, “I’m still a little tired, I wonder how much longer I have before the alarm goes off.” The second time I thought, “Hmm, that’s strange, it should have gone off by now, I really should…” Then the third time I thought “OK, I am less tired than I expected to be this morning, something is definitely wrong.” That was at 9:51.

New House Pictures!

Wed, 28 Jul 2004 17:36:00 +0000

Pictures of our new townhouse. M and I will be moving about August 14 or so.

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 22:45:00 +0000

Holy shit! Homestar has a journal?

homestar_rss

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 08:29:00 +0000

Have caught up with the last 154 friends entries.

Proceeding with house inspection and purchase.

Work is still good.

That is all.

TELEGRAPH MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:37:00 +0000

HELLO FROM SCENIC DOWNTOWN SILICON VALLEY STOP

M AND I HAVE SECURED A CONTRACT TO PURCHASE A NEW HOME NEAR THE SAME AREA STOP

WE WILL BE MOVING THE HOMESTEAD TO A NEW LOCATION SOON AFTER AUGUST 15 STOP

HOPE EVERYTHING IS FINE WITH YOU AND YOURS STOP

GREG M CONNOR SANTA CLARA CALIFORNIA

MESSAGE ENDS

Yahooooo

Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:31:00 +0000

Those Yahoos finally sent me my check. I don’t know why it wasn’t sent at the same time as the others. Perhaps I was just left off the list for some reason and they needed a reminder to put me back on.

Anyway, down payment here we come!

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 00:02:00 +0000

Happy Birthday ysabel!

Sign this petition

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 10:33:00 +0000

I signed this petition. Will you sign it also?

Congress is about to vote on amending the U.S. Constitution to deny marriage equality to same-sex couples.

Never before has our Constitution been amended to take away anyone’s rights. Yet our Senators will vote on this amendment in the next 48 hours.

It’s urgent that we speak up now. This hateful divisiveness has no place in America. Please join me in saying so, at:

House hunt

Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:51:00 +0000

In other news, we put an offer on the townhouse in Almost-Milpitas (off of 680 Berryessa). There was no counter for a couple days so it doesn’t look like we will get it. Oh well, I’m not too worried, we have just started and there are others to see and make offers on (including one 3 doors down from the first :)

Taking our time is good, perhaps it will give me some time to finish the linoleum in the bathroom, and chase down the check from Yahoo that will make up the rest of the down payment.

steaks

Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:27:00 +0000

Last night I made steaks. Normally I put them in the broiler on a broiler pan for 6 min each side. This time I decided to get them seared in a skillet, 30 sec each side, then thrown the skillet with steaks under the broiler.

Safety note: the handle of the skillet will still be rocket-hot 1 min later. DO NOT attempt to just grab the thing when you go to deglaze the skillet. You will end up with a nice burn on your palm at the base of your thumb. Keep the hot pad draped over the handle to remind yourself not to grab it directly.

Yahoo

Sat, 10 Jul 2004 06:56:00 +0000

For those of you who term’d from Yahoo on 4/15, did you get your check? and when? was it direct deposited, live check, us mail, fed ex or…?

I just recently realized that they were supposed to give it to me in 20 days and it’s been 60. I sent them a query and they’re working on tracking it down.

Good thing I have another job I guess :)

House hunt

Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:13:00 +0000

Now that we have contacted a realtor, our house hunt is kicked off into high gear. I still don’t have a really good idea of where the neighborhoods are cheap-but-ok or cheap-and-slummy, but I think our guy has a good idea. We saw like 6 townhouses yesterday and will probably see 5 more on Monday.

We are looking for a townhouse that is about the same square footage as our condo (1100 or a bit more), and has inside laundry, a ground floor entry and no upstairs neighbors, 2 br, 1.5-2.5 baths, and want to pay around 450k. We looked at a couple nice ones out Alum Rock, and out Berryessa, both east of 680, which are the two current front-runners (actually three because there were two identical mirror-image units out Berryessa). Tomorrow, we will probably look at some townhouses around 85 between 17 and 87. I don’t know which is worse, commuting up/down 85 or commuting on 237/680, probably about a wash.

Anti-forgery stuff: XML or no XML

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 22:26:00 +0000

Working on anti-forgery stuff. Here is my latest post to the IETF MARID working group. (Might be interesting to some folks but I’m mostly keeping it in my journal for myself)

INBOX Event, San Jose, 2-3 June 2004

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 22:36:00 +0000

Here is a quick view of what I have been working on in my spare time :) I have been interested in anti-spam anti-forgery initiatives for quite some time… some of the early writing in this journal is about spam and how we should be fighting it. One of the recent initiatives/proposals to combat forgery is SPF. I have been tracking it and staying active on its list, in addition to keeping up with SPAM-L and also participating in MARID, which is an IETF group checking out anti-forgery efforts with an eye toward publishing an Internet RFC.

Here is a summary of one recent event. Also, due to my persistent, positive presence on the SPF discussion list, and participation in a few in-person meetings, and possibly also due to my strategic Silicon Valley location, I was asked to speak on another panel next week in SF… I will keep everyone posted as to how that goes. /gregc.

The INBOX event took place over two days (I think) and I didn’t go to the whole show, but I attended the two evening sessions that were related to SPF. On the whole it was a *VERY* positive show for us. Here is a description.

Summary from anti-spam meeting last week..

Sun, 23 May 2004 22:54:00 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be invited to dinner with Meng Weng Wong, Harry and Jim from Microsoft, and some others from Verisign, IBM, Spamhaus, etc. Over beers, we talked about the ideas that Meng/Harry/Jim had hammered out over the previous couple days. (This is part of the MARID working group meeting last week, though not the only part. Is anyone interested in the rest of the meeting? :)

I am a long-time supporter of SPF and I was skeptical of anything that would appear to be a compromise to MS. But, the two proposals had more things in common than they had differences.

Sat, 22 May 2004 00:43:00 +0000

Hello friends!

I am not dead. In fact, I have been enjoying my new job. My boss even let me take a day and a half paid so I could go to an anti-spam-type meeti ng. It was the IESG Anti-Forgery Working Group (the group trying to come up with an RFC that stops forged email). More on that in another post.

I have just read 159 friends and community entries (2 days’ worth) so I am caught up but now sort of tired.

In case trip has not seen this yet.

Tue, 18 May 2004 23:41:00 +0000

“Paging Mr. Trip. The future you requested is here. Apologies for the 4-year delay.”

Testing Livejournal Server

Sun, 02 May 2004 16:24:00 +0000

I have installed a copy of LiveJournal Server at http://testing.nekodojo.org:8080/. This is to help me evaluate whether LJ could be used as part of a larger spam-reporting collaboration system.

Feel free to play, if you want to create a journal for the hell of it :) It might go away at some point.

Kitty update

Sat, 01 May 2004 20:27:00 +0000

Harley seems to be doing fine, other than a few lost teeth. He has some tartar built up on some teeth - including one large piece that the vet was able to break off with a thumbnail. He also has one tooth that is not really lost but has been covered over by gum and will eventually be re-absorbed back into the body.

The doctor recommended that we should brush his teeth, once a day if we can. We haven’t started that, yet, but we are starting to stroke him on the face to get him used to being touched on/around the mouth.

First day of work

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 03:38:00 +0000

1. SGI is cool. A lot like DEC I think. Lots of IRIX workstations.

2. People have been treating me really cool. I think someone told them that I’m the smart guy who will solve all their problems. This is better than starting from zero, I must say. Hopefully I can do a really good job!

3. No pager yet :)

I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end.

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:55:00 +0000

I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here, to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang up this phone and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world, without you.

Some years from now, I may look back and wish that I had written more about this period, this week, this month.

Simple pleasures

Thu, 15 Apr 2004 00:19:00 +0000

Tonight we had:

Filet, salt, pepper, garlic, and 13 min under the broiler Greek salad, courtesy of Safeway, with a bit of crumbled goat cheese added Asparagus, just a little butter and salt

Yum!

(Oh, and finding out that I won’t lose my severance after all, that was good too. Three months’ pay is always tasty.)

The beginning of the end

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 23:06:00 +0000

I have accepted a contract position with SGI, to work on sendmail and spam filtering. I am extremely happy about this.

I will be terminating at AV on 4/15 (or maybe 4/16?) I am happy about this as well.

Unfortunately I had already signed up to have my transition extended to 5/31 so I will most likely lose my severance package due to voluntarily (wry grin) leaving earlier than my planned term date. Which means I forfeit the 3 mo. of pay I would have got by sticking it out another 6 weeks. But, I don’t want to risk losing the new opportunity. I will still get my “please stay until 4/15 bonus” on 4/15 though (which is about 6 weeks pay) and I will get vacation cashed out (3+ weeks).

Patent question

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:52:00 +0000

I need to find out how feasible it is to get something patented. Does anyone have experience with the patent process, who is willing to chat for a while?

Thanks!

Notes: Best Practices Clearinghouse System

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 01:51:00 +0000

What’s the big idea here?

Problem:

Any spam blocking list is either too specific or too small/ineffective to be noticed, or it is effective enough to get spammers to attack/threaten/sue its owners and DDOS its servers into the stone age.

Proposal:

Make a blocking system that:

is fed by raw data from its members
- so that there’s not one person or group “making decisions”
allows members to show their policies and see others

Craptastic

Fri, 02 Apr 2004 18:04:00 +0000

OK, so my #3 job lead just dried up. There are two more leads at the Y, which are semi-interesting, and a lead at SGI wich sounds cooler, but it’s a contract. Six to twelve months, which is cool, and it involves mail filtering, so I could do much worse I guess.

In other news, I have been extended at the Y to 5/31, though I expect not much work will be done in the intervening time.

Meet Scott Richter, infamous spammer

Thu, 01 Apr 2004 12:10:00 +0000

Daily Show segment on SPAM (Audio only)

Dinner, Mudds, Sunday

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 00:27:00 +0000

Miche and I are planning to go out to dinner…

Where: Mudd’s Restaurant (San Ramon, California) When: Sunday April 4 (next weekend) at 6:00 PM PDT Why: No special occasion, just want to have dinner with friends

Friends of ours, including personal friends, work friends, LJ friends, are all invited. Please let us know by followup here or email if you would like to attend, and we will make sure there are reservations for all. RSVP by Saturday night, please. (Yes, this is the first day of Daylight time, so please set your clocks forward so you won’t miss the main course.)

Latest from Moveon.org

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 10:09:00 +0000

I subscribe to Moveon.org and I like receiving mail from them. I do this because it is important to me to get G.W.Bush out of office this year.

Sometimes they ask for money, and other times they ask folks to call their senators or something. It’s a good list to be on if you want to help kick some Republican ass.

Here is the latest missive on statements by Richard Clarke. The message seems to be that the administration was too wrapped up in finding a reason to topple President Hussein of Iraq and didn’t pay enough attention to domestic terrorism possibilities. There is enough blame to go around, there are things that the Clinton administration didn’t do either. I think it’s interesting, not necessarily that mistakes were made, but that the Bush administration has chosen to belittle/condemn/dismiss Clarke, who has worked tirelessly against terrorism under Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr.

samorost

Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:38:00 +0000

Thanks to kethry for this one. It’s kind of a flash game, it’s funny, took me about 15 minutes to get through.

samorost

The REAL difference between stock and broth

Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:10:00 +0000

As posted in but I wanted to save it in my own journal just for fun.

Inspired by the “difference between stock and broth”…. Meanwhile, on another soundstage (now would be a good time to put down your beverage):

… MARSHA: “So Alton, what’s the difference between broth and stock, anyway?”

ALTON: “You know, I would love to be able to tell you, but as I have said before, I’m not a food scientist. But, she is.” [points at SHIRLEY]

Email and spam control on neko-base

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 22:23:00 +0000

Of interest to users of nekodojo.org, but other folks interested in spam control may view also, if you like.

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 09:12:00 +0000

Looks like today’s wilwheaton.net has something for angie (strongbad-related) and something for Bruce (poker-related).

later

3.14

Sun, 14 Mar 2004 23:48:00 +0000

This is for Jake. will wheaton writes about ‘π’ day

List etiquitte

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:15:00 +0000

Dude, someone just insulted me on SPAM-L. Apparently insults are thrown around like candy on Halloween but someone posting an idea that is similar to something mentioned before (or even similar to a web site mentioned before) is heinous and they should be dealt with harshly. That seems backwards.

Anyway I wrote privately to the guy and said “Sorry if I am misinformed or naive but I don’t think that justifies an insult.” I wonder what he might say.

Kill das spammers

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 18:02:00 +0000

In my ongoing campaign of… well, not really evil, more like “civil disobedience”…

Day 1. Found 18 subnets/24 that were already sending us >100 bounces per day. Using iptables I arranged to give them “connection refused” for all connection attempts. No changes to sendmail.cf yet.

Day 2. Switched sendmail.cf to detect bounces (meaning MAIL FROM: ) and respond with 454 instead of 550. These are all guaranteed-forged domains so there’s no such thing as “legitimate” bounces. Also blocked another 16 ip/24 ranges found to be sending >100 bounces per day.

<<< 454 Stick it up your mail queue

Mon, 08 Mar 2004 22:48:00 +0000

Geeky anti-spam stuff…

Go Wil

Sat, 06 Mar 2004 16:57:00 +0000

I just added Wil Wheaton ( wilwheaton) to my friends page, and the first thing I saw after that was this:

there and back again in which he writes: Dear Mr. Jackson, Please let me be part of “The Hobbit.” Please. Please. Please. Please. I will totally be your best friend. Sincerely, Wil Wheaton PS- Please please please please. Thank you.

How can I improve on that?

Dinner, anyone?

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 14:40:00 +0000

A quick poll to see who else is interested in dinner. Offer valid in South SF Bay Area.

I applied for another job

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:02:00 +0000

I applied for another job at Y. Seriously, I was about to give up on them, but this job posting appeared right when I got back from my trip (on my day off, actually). Job description and my cover letter below… Wish me luck!

vonage?

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 01:31:00 +0000

Do any of you (or anyone you know) use vonage.com, or other voice over ip service? I am thinking about getting a voip line to use for long distance but I want to know the quality of the service (the line quality and the customer service, both)

Weekend report -- Seattle trip and wedding

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 17:51:00 +0000

OK, setting aside the uncomfortable flight back, I have to say that I am very glad to have gone to see torquemada and 9thmoon get hitched. Thursday: I decided to get a suit, because in addition to appearing in a wedding party, I also will be going to some interviews in the near future, and besides, I haven’t bought dressy clothes for myself in a long time. So, after work I hie myself to Men’s Wearhouse, where I get measured and proceed to buy 10 things I needed and probably 5 things I didn’t really, but they were nice. The suit needs taking in here and there, so it stays and the rest is bundled into the trunk.

Gearing up to beat Bush

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 15:01:00 +0000

I donated to John Kerry’s campaign. And I’m not even a registered Democrat. Hmm. Anyway, someone needs to beat the pants off Bush, I’m happy to help.

John Kerry for President - Contribute Thanks Greg, your contribution of $500.00 has been approved.

Thank you very much for your generous contribution to the campaign. Your support helps the campaign build our team against the powerful special interests of George Bush. Together, we can replace their politics of hate and hostility with the politics of possibility and purpose.

Airlines rant

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 11:41:00 +0000

We have usually had OK experiences with Alaska Airlines, but I was quite unimpressed with them this trip, though I guess I am not allowed to complain too loudly when M and I are flying on a Rewards ticket… but “Reward” does not mean “free”

The first flight going North was great. I had coupons to upgrade my Rewards ticket to First Class, and both M and I sat in seats *actually* wider than our butts. Only complaint there was that we were too late upgrading to get a meal.

The flight going home on Monday was bad. It was packed to the gills because there had been a cancellation a couple hours earlier. No upgrades available.

What really made me mad was that some family of four, whose flight had been cancelled, were sitting in OUR seats. They had been given assigned seats but they were all over the place, and you can’t expect a mother and father to be in different rows from their 2-year-old and 8-year-old children.

American Anthropological Association

Tue, 02 Mar 2004 09:56:00 +0000

Media Release Statement on Marriage and the Family from the American Anthropological Association “The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies.

Damn, strike two

Thu, 26 Feb 2004 15:17:00 +0000

My #2 most wanted internal position is seeming less likely… they responded to me to say “We are keeping you in mind but we’re screening other candidates too.” Not really a no, but not a happy note either.

There is one more internal lead I am following up on. If that falls through also, then I am pretty much done with Yahoo I think.

I would be really happy if Postini or Brightmail or someone could call me. For now, I will focus on the weekend plans and deal with job hunt on Tuesday.

Reply received from my Rep

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 15:11:00 +0000

Received reply. It’s good to see the Democratic party take a pretty much united stand against the amendment. Also, I know this is a form letter because I entered the same letter twice (after getting an error message) and then got two copies of the reply :) But it’s excellent to see them responding.

Dear Mr. Connor:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Federal Marriage Amendment. I appreciate hearing your views on this matter.

Things to do today

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 11:15:00 +0000

Call my senator (Barbara Boxer) using phone number on www.senate.gov. check.

Call my representative (Mike Honda) using phone number on www.house.gov. check.

Hello, I am a constituent from Santa Clara, California. I’m calling to say that I strongly oppose the President’s proposed marriage amendment. Can you tell me _______’s position on Defense of Marriage amendment? Thank you.

The postmaster faq for altavista.com

Sat, 21 Feb 2004 16:28:00 +0000

Suggested text for “THIS DOMAIN IS NOT USED FOR EMAIL” page.

All mail for “altavista.com” and some other domains is being bounced with this message: 554 5.1.2 THIS DOMAIN IS NOT USED FOR EMAIL - ANY MAIL FROM THIS DOMAIN WAS FORGED - questions contact postmaster@av.com

We still get a number of questions. I am thinking of directing users to this info on a page instead of to “postmaster@av.com”.

Q: Why is email to all users at altavista.com (and other domains) bouncing back with a “THIS DOMAIN IS NOT USED FOR EMAIL message?”

Friday: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Sat, 21 Feb 2004 10:40:00 +0000

Not necessarily in that order.

Ugly: On call at 5:22 am due to someone abusing the site. After emailing to say that I blocked them, the abuser emailed “Ooops, we’re sorry, didn’t mean anything by it, just for research and all that.” Then while I am letting them sweat and taking my time in replying, bozos call the NOC (in Pasadena, no less, so NOC once removed) and say “Gee, we think we are being blocked, can you check and unblock us? This is really important.” They can suck my left nut and I’ll be halfway to unblocking them at this point. Too bad they are in australia or some other RIPE-allocated backwater, they would need a passport to offer me oral pleasure.

Today sucked, but tomorrow will be better.

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 22:53:00 +0000

Happy Angieday to Angie! I missed you, but it wasn’t anything too terrible. log-munch4 should be almost better by the time you return.
Tomorrow is interview #2 for my #1 choice.
Friday is my #1 interview for my #2 choice.
Strange, I totally forgot to follow up with that lady from tellme.com, I think I said I could go there this week but I don’t remember what day she said.
Back still hurts a little, mostly in the morning, but I am back to 100% functional.

That is all.

Angry about something on NPR: ATC

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 00:31:00 +0000

Did anyone hear this Commentary segment on NPR today? I am trying to decide what bugs me about it…

Web summary reads: The debate about gay marriage takes center stage in the statehouse – where civil law is formed. But commentator Joe Loconte says religious views of marriage are an essential part of the debate and cannot be divided from the legalities. Loconte says the term “marriage” isn’t obscuring the argument – it’s the heart of the argument.

woo hoo!

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 08:07:00 +0000

> Hi, Greg: > > You did very well in your first round of interviews and I am interested > to bring you over next week for your second interview, what time frame > will be good for you? How about Thursday afternoon?

Um, yes please.

Interview today with Y Mail team

Thu, 12 Feb 2004 06:58:00 +0000

I just chatted with kethry to tell her some good news. Now, I will tell you all!

So I had an interview today. I feel really good about it.

It was at Yahoo. I found out about the job on Monday and applied. The recruiter sent my info to the manager Tuesday and the manager called me at home Tuesday night (last night). When I mentioned I would be on-site at Yahoo tomorrow he said “Great, let me get together some people to interview you.” I was surprised that I got an interview the next day with 4 people. It sounds like I just got right in at the second level :) Doesn’t that kick ass?

Spam server details

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 00:21:00 +0000

We have a few domains that used to be used for free email, and have been closed down for quite some time (18 months in the case of altavista.com). They have been heavily abused by spammers. I was tasked with setting up two sendmail servers to catch the mail to postmaster and bounce the rest. Two alpha servers had been doing this job in the NY data center, but that facility closed down.

Here are the details of how mail is set up on mail8 and mail9.

I love my friends

Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:49:00 +0000

Thanks for all the hugs and well-wishes. It looks like Dad is doing well, stable, etc. I talked to him this morning. My poor stepmom sounded pretty freaked out last night so I will call her a bit later too.

Thanks again.

I love my dad

Tue, 03 Feb 2004 07:07:00 +0000

Bad news, my dad was bleeding internally yesterday and was taken to the hospital. They found the source of the bleeding and cauterized it.

He is in ICU now. He is expected to recover, but there are three units of blood standing by in case he starts bleeding again.

I am not sure if I will go up and see him. I definitely wil do so soon, but not sure when. I *do* know that I will be donating blood very soon.

Weekend Report

Mon, 02 Feb 2004 17:04:00 +0000

Friday: Out to lunch with space_parasite, aelfsciene, eldrikmt, gregbo, and some other folks, to honor Trip’s last day at AV. (I’m thinking “celebrate” is not the right word.) Trip will be missed. Please join me to wish him luck in his future (especially in finding work as a unix spud soon!)

After a bit, we left for bowling and pizza, to honor last days for a couple other folks. Bruce made it but Angie and Trip didn’t. There was much bowling and beer and doofy prizes.

orkut.com

Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:14:00 +0000

I joined www.orkut.com. It’s another one of those “friend of a friend” services.

However, I don’t feel inclined to feed it all the names and email addresses of all my friends. Whether or not I trust their privacy policy, I have a strict personal privacy policy as well :)

So. If you feel inclined to check out orkut.com, you can find me and mark me as a friend.

Are there any other “friend network” type of services that you use and like?

Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:49:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Bryant!

Another busy day at the collective

Wed, 21 Jan 2004 06:41:00 +0000

I went to Yahoo! HQ again today, affectionately known as “the collective”. I will probably go again tomorrow. I insinuated myself in a few meetings and met some people. Here I will attempt to catalog the current list of leads I am working on.

Nam Nguyen: This guy just bubbled up to the top of my list. Based on my conversation with him Thursday, and after seeing him for a mostly-unrelated conversation today, he put together an actual job description. This is very interesting and pleasing to me, because he wrote up the job description *after* talking to me, and showed it to me first before submitting the request for a req/headcount. Hopefully management approves and budget is there. I gave him three things to add in that would make it even more tailored to my qualifications, but as written it is pretty compelling.

Tue, 20 Jan 2004 23:06:00 +0000

Posted another friends-only entry regarding job search. If you don’t see it, make sure you are logged in, or contact me…

gregc

Jerky treats

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 23:07:00 +0000

Smug me. Another 4 trays of jerky is in the dehydrator. The slicer works MUCH better on frozen meat. Slower, but much better slices.

That is all.

Busy Weekend Report

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:10:00 +0000

Wow, if I were not tired, I would be smug. Did a lot of crap this weekend.

Friday: Trader Joes, purchased snacks. Rite Aid, get soda. Home, drop off soda.
Gaming at Merlin’s. Game happened to be quite cleric-centered but I managed to not monopolize the session, I think.
Saturday: Installed Paperport and didn’t scan anything.
Spent a long time playing around with Windows Users and Groups - created a Roaming Profile and Home Directory on the Samba server. Found out that this makes the account take like 8-10 minutes to log in, because it has to copy all your preferences and shit every time you log in or log out. Backed out of that crap.
Stripped the futon and sprayed Nature’s Miracle on it in four places. Leave it out to dry.
Washed 4 loads of laundry.
Went to get take out for dinner. Folded clothes, watched TV.
Put a load of dishes in the washer, mostly pots/pans.
Unpacked the new electric food slicer. Sliced some salami with it.
Took 4 bags of pissed-on bedding into the bathroom. Went over each with black light, and sprayed each with Nature’s Miracle. This took about 4 hours and consumed an entire gallon of Nature’s Miracle.
Bed not dry yet. Covered up wet spots with plastic bags and made the bed, slept in it.
Sunday: Took a shower. Played on the computer for a while, viewing bills and statements and “printing” them into PDF using Paperport.
Sliced the steak with the electric slicer. Slices came out funny because the blade keeps pulling the meat down, but if you flip the steak each time it works OK. Next time I will try it frozen.
Cleaned the slicer. This is an operation in itself, and took about as long as slicing the meat. Went over each piece and the base unit with soapy water, plain water, then plain water with a shot of bleach. Take that, microbes!
Took the well-sprayed bedding to the coin laundry. Did another 5 loads of bedding and 2 loads of clothes and towels.
Met D and C for dinner at Chili’s. Then to Bed Bath and a Handbasket. Then to Barnes and Noble. Then home.
Not done yet! Took slices of meat marinading in soy sauce and set them out to be dried. Filled up 4 trays of the food dehydrator. (Making jerky, though you probably figured that out by now, you’re clever folk.) Sprinkled on black pepper and garlic powder.
Looked around for futon cover. Realized that I probably left that at the coin laundry in the dryer. sh!t
Typed up this entry.

Now it is time to make the bed (again!)

My visit to the collective

Fri, 16 Jan 2004 08:17:00 +0000

I had some meetings at Yahoo HQ today, so I took advantage of the opportunity to scope out the place and touch bases with some people.

Official meetings were as follows: Ops-swat. NY suite is closed, walkthrough completed, suite turned over, done deal. Not much else to report. BSD qa install. Touched bases with East who is in Y site ops, he will install kernel on qapicrawl machine. Gladiator QA. Erik, Cameron, Linda are tracking it, nothing really for me to do. Babel & Shortcuts brain dump. I gave Y Site Ops the operational highlights (not much) and I will send links to our docs. Not much dramatic there. Their team seems to be a lot like ours.

Job search goes on

Fri, 16 Jan 2004 00:44:00 +0000

I posted a friends-only entry just now about the job search. If you can’t see it and want to, let me know and I’ll friend you (or if you’re not an LJ user, I can send it to you).

Now, please enjoy the picture of a moose enjoying himself.

Spamassassin/procmail autolearning setup

Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:18:00 +0000

Posted for willowisp and callicrates but others might be interested too.

Here is how I have spamassassin set up at work and at home… I wanted to have a system that SpamAssassin runs mostly by itself, but when it learns something wrong I want to be able to correct it.

1. .procmailrc edited for the following:

Spam Blacklists

Sun, 04 Jan 2004 01:03:00 +0000

More spam blacklist fun. There is a cool tool called “SPFILTER” that automatically downloads the newest copies of several blacklists, and creates a combined output in several formats. (Bruce- maybe you can help me install this on mail8,9 Monday.. :)

# mkdir /usr/local/adm/spfilter/ # cd /usr/local/adm/spfilter/ # wget “http://spfilter.sourceforge.net/spfilter-0.59/Makefile" # make all # perl -MCPAN -e shell cpan> install XML::Simple cpan> install XML::Parser cpan> exit # perl ./spfilter.pl -verbose -format=sendmail,bind SPAM RELAY

New cat pictures

Sun, 04 Jan 2004 00:41:00 +0000

Added new cat pictures here: Gallery Cats (all new ones are on page 10)

pickles!

Sun, 04 Jan 2004 00:39:00 +0000

Hmm, it’s been a while since I made pickles. This time I made 4 jars (1L each). 2 are cucumber and onions, and 2 are carrots, onions, yellow bell pepper. All have fresh dill, and fresh garlic.

Brine solution contains: water, cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, raspberry vinegar, sugar, salt, yellow mustard seed, pickling spice, dill seed, dill weed (dried), powdered ginger, onion flakes.

Anti-spam project, thoughts

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 17:38:00 +0000

Something I am thinking about working on this month. This is probably only interesting to anti-spam advocates, sysadmins, and other hard-core geeks.

Mmmm, Good Eats!

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 22:41:00 +0000

For those of you who watch Good Eats but don’t read , Alton Brown has posted another Rant, this time on cattle-raising practices.

Also, if you want to keep updated on Alton’s Rants, there is an LJ syn feed of his blog at alton_brown. It doesn’t have the whole entry, just the first line and a link, but at least you will know when something new is posted.

Power Puffs!

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 21:03:00 +0000

Angie has probably already seen this! If not she should take a look. Thanks to ysabel for the link.

Introducing...

Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:04:00 +0000

Everyone please welcome mconnor who is sort of skeptical of this LJ thing but willing to give it a try. (She is my sweety if you didn’t guess :) If you already know her RL or virtually from Pern etc. please give her a welcoming comment.

Weekend report

Sun, 21 Dec 2003 23:09:00 +0000

Thursday: Interview with some startup in Mountain View. I think they like me, but I’m not sure if I like them, or rather, if I would like to work for a startup and have no life again. Oh and the site melted at work while I was at the interview. Oh and Bruce is leaving, which is going to be good for him.

Friday: Left work early to meet with a recruiter (“We have to meet before you can interview with them again” Ok Sure). Anyway it was my first time at the BART station in Millbrae (wow that thing is BIG) and it was my first BART ride in a long time. BART is cool, I wish it ran farther south, the crappiest part was driving 101 in the rain to get to Millbrae.

old invite codes == extend accounts

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:04:00 +0000

I traded in old invite codes for a coupon, and since I have a permanent account, I decided to share the love. I semi-randomly selected 9thmoon and arkady to get 2-month extensions (since you two were closest to expiring).

Enjoy, and don’t forget to trade in those codes.

Weekend report

Sun, 14 Dec 2003 19:49:00 +0000

Time for another Weekend Report.

Friday, stayed late at work, not because of any work I was doing, but because I was reading Spam-L and other anti-spam foo and lost track of time. Friday was a busy day but the rest of the week wasn’t. I think I got Baja Fresh and Pho take out because they were right near each other. On arriving home, watched TV and didn’t do much that was productive.

Things about me

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 12:02:00 +0000

Here are 6 random things about me, to feed the meme that is going around…

1. I wrote 50K words for my novel in November. I probably will finish at some point; I estimate it is 2/3 done or so. Or, I might turn the story and setting into a campaign for D&D, who knows.

2. I have been married 11 years. I consider myself poly, but M is not, so I will remain mono for the forseeable future.

I win

Sun, 30 Nov 2003 16:12:00 +0000

I win! Total: 50947 words

That includes Notes: 5363 words but I don’t care, they are good notes. It doesn’t include two pages of family tree, one continent map, one half-of-city map, and makes no account for blood, sweat, and tears (well, perhaps it does with the sweat part).

writing DOOM is so close to writing VICTORY

Sat, 29 Nov 2003 01:19:00 +0000

47204 words.. I am so close.

Unfortunately we have a second-thanksgiving type visit tomorrow and I will probably get next to jack done, so the remaining ~3000 will be cranked out late tomorrow night and Sunday.

Murder

Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:21:00 +0000

Just finished a difficult bit of writing. Things should start going a bit faster after this. Here is a snip of it if you want to check it out.

Lise said, “Perhaps you’re right, Ayden.” She turned on her side, propping up her head with her hand, bringing her nose-to-nose with him. “You made me feel better anyway. Thank you.” Then she kissed him on the cheek, and got up. “Good night, Ayden.”

Writing was better today but still not great

Tue, 18 Nov 2003 23:54:00 +0000

After two meager (one might say “paltry”) nights of 522 and 748 words, tonight was better. It was all NOTES but there are 1100 more words of notes, all of them plot ideas.

I will probably not include the “kidnap” plot in the finished product, because it was not really going anywhere (due to me not figuring out who the BAD GUY actually is or what he wants) and also because it involves the duke’s army riding out to rescue the kidnapped nobles and my main character is just along for the ride and not doign anything.

Help with my story

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:30:00 +0000

Please contribute your ideas regarding how magic might work in a fantasy world…

Day off

Fri, 14 Nov 2003 20:28:00 +0000

Day off. Writing was good. Everyone should try it.

Now I will distract myself with good eats, and a bit of Good Eats, while I let the storyboard shuffle itself some more in my head.

Nano update

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 22:39:00 +0000

I didn’t get my minimum done, but I am taking a day off from work tomorrow, so that will help. I am about a day ahead anyway.

Chapter 10 is ready for viewing. Working table of contents is here. Other than this I have another chapter like 2/3 done but it is out of order so I had better not expose it yet.

To those of you who have read some of the story and commented, thanks!

A silly poll

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 20:17:00 +0000

On today’s episode of “action novel writing”… A Poll!

Fun with user pics

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 01:07:00 +0000

Someone (ohhjuliet) had a cute moose pic so I had to steal it. And add my own caption of course. And here are a couple other pics just for fun.

more writing

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:28:00 +0000

Sorry about spamming everyone’s friends pages earlier… I moved the entries to the other journal where they are supposed to be.

I skipped some chapters so I could get to some exciting plot bits. Now I have a choice of going forward more or coming back to fill in the blanks, which is handy.

Wrimo, baby

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:37:00 +0000

Writing is coming along OK. Unfortunately, in order to get where I wanted to be, I used up all my ideas for chapters to come, so now I will need to come up with more plot devices, which means more working over my notes and cause/effect list in the hope that something else will fall out.

For my friends also involved in nanowrimo, you proably want to make use of your time to write your own novels, though if you are stuck (and using a fantasy setting) browse my stuff if you think it will help.

Day 6

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 00:05:00 +0000

2100 words. A decent length for a chapter. I skipped forward a bit in the story so it’s best if I don’t expose it yet. Added 300 words of notes too. Total: 9291 “real” count, 11714 including notes.

Day 5

Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:10:00 +0000

Just posted ch.5. In which Ayden’s new lady friend proves to have a life of her own. Chapter 05: Training day (1858 words) Ayden’s new lady friend is named Lise but goes by Kat (yes Emeraldas, I thought of you when naming her :)

I am slowly making up for 3 slow days with 2 stronger days, but still behind the steady-rate goal of 10K today. So I am 18.6% novelist and tomorrow I shall be 22% novelist. Today: 1858 story, 279 notes, 2137 total 5 day total: 7191 story, 2117 notes, 9308 total

End of the world

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 21:01:00 +0000

Here is a funny Flash cartoon about the end of the world and how we all get blown up by nukes, except for california or something. Takes a long time to load so watch it from work where the connection is fast. http://members.cox.net/impunity/endofworld.swf

Chapter 4

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 19:18:00 +0000

Finished this one last night. Read if you like. If you do read it, please leave a comment. Thanks! Chapter 04: Encounter (1278 words)

on organized religion and belief systems

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 08:15:00 +0000

Posted as a comment elsewhere but I wanted to save it here…

Day 4

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 22:36:00 +0000

Finished this one yesterday. Chapter 03: Midnight stroll (1091 words) Finished Chapter 4 tonight but you can’t see it yet :)

Today: 1880 story, -73 notes (folded into story) 1807 total So far in 4 days: 5333 story, 1838 notes, 7171 total

chapter 2

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 09:40:00 +0000

Chapter 2 is done, and I have made some inroads on ch.3. Note that these “Chapters” are pretty short, they will probably be lumped together a bit in the final product in groups of 2 or 3. Chapter 02: On the run (790 words)

Day 3

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:20:00 +0000

Today: 1054 honest prose, 241 in notes Total: 3453 story, 1911 notes, 5364 total I am technically at my minimum pace of 10%, but including my notes is a bit like cheating. They will grow into real story bits too, hopefully much more than the notes themselves, but I haven’t typed *those* words yet. :)

For friends who are interested (or just incredibly bored), chapter 1 is ready to be exposed. Chapter 00 Kingdom of Endwin, a brief history (480 words) Chapter 01 Hot tea, cold reunion (1129 words) If you do read it, please leave a comment just saying you read it. Or, ask me questions about the characters and setting if you like :)

Word count day 2

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:10:00 +0000

Notes and nonsense: 419 Geography: 92 Cause and effect continued: 327 Big old map: 0

Presentable prose: 1928 Kingdom of Endwin, a brief history: 480 Hot tea, cold reunion, pt 2: 658 On the run: 790

Total for today 1928 (2347 incl notes) Total so far 2399 (4069 incl notes)

Beta test

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 20:47:00 +0000

Want to be a test audience? If so…

Please read the following conversation. This is not the actual story… I have removed the thoughts and facial expressions. I want to find out if someone overhearing just the voices would think.

K: “Hello Denny,” D: “Kimne, hello, you look well,” K: “You too. Please sit.” D: *pause* *chair moves* “Thank you.” *pause* “You know, I was quite surprised to see you yesterday.” K: “I guess so, Denny,” D: “Folks around here don’t call me Denny; it’s usually Den or Densaye,” K: “Is it. I guess I never learned your real name, when we, ah, met in Camos.” D: “Ah, I’m sorry about that…” *pause* *dishes rattle* “Keep the change,” Girl: “Thank you!” K: “How did I know you were going to say that?” D: “What?” K: “Nothing, just a habit I picked up from you. I thought you were being extravagant, like as if to impress me, always dealing in silver and refusing to take copper. Looking back now I can see the real reason.” D: “Ah, yes.” *pause* “So you mentioned that, ah, you have a son now?” K: “Yes. Fine young boy he is. Ayden is his name. Quite like his father, in a lot of ways,” D: “Good to hear. Have you told him…” *pause* “Have you told him, ah, what happened to his father?” K: *pause* “Just that he died, quite painfully at that. May Sulam grant him rest.” D: “Ouch. Well, that’s for the best, I suppose. I am sure you are a wonderful mother to him.” K: “Yes, it has been hard, but we make do. I probably would not have come this far without Orell and Kanita. They have been wonderful.” D: “That’s good to hear. I am happy that you are well. I’ve thought of you often, but I never imagined that you had a son and raised him on your own.” *pause* “My heart grows heavy at the thought of the hardship you have endured. I would certainly not wish that on anyone.” K: *pause* “I know. I know, and thank you for saying so.” *teapot rattles* “So, enough about me, what have you been up to? You have sons, of your own now!” D: “Yes. Ardasho is the oldest, then Daytha, then Ormonn. Ardasho is probably a year and a half to two years younger than your Ayden.” K: “That’s… wonderful!” D: “Well, Morela and I are quite proud of them. Ardasho and Ormonn are both training hard; they want to travel to Aldavor and be officers in the King’s Guard.” K: “Ah, just like their father, yeah?” D: “Better than me, actually! They’ve been studying some new methods from Kin’tas too. Scary stuff.” K: “That’s great. I’m sure they will do quite well.” *chairs move* “Well I had better get back. It was good to see you again.” D: “Thank you, and you too. Please take care of yourself, and take care of Ayden.” K: “Of course, and you take care as well,” “Safe travels to you!”

Novel started, sort of

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 11:33:00 +0000

Finally, some text I can show people. Kingdom of Endwin, a brief history 486 words. Also, lost some time this morning drawing maps and 93 words of non-prose geography notes.

Writing this month

Sat, 01 Nov 2003 21:34:00 +0000

I have generated about 1000 words of outline and other material (568 family tree+683 cause and effect). None of it goes in the finished product but I feel like it’s a good start.

I also have a page and a half of scrawl that traces my hero (45) to his great-great-great grandfather. It is a huge file and loading time is slow due to my DSL. It won’t make sense without the notes (which I’m not going to show you, neener neener). Gen 1-4 (500K jpg) 25 sec Gen 4-6 (1.7M jpg) 85 sec

Choose your own adventure!

Sat, 01 Nov 2003 18:03:00 +0000

Yes, you too can be vicariously part of my nanowrimo experience without writing a word. Just answer the poll below. May the best plot win! (If you are not a logged-in LiveJournal user, the poll won’t work, but you may leave a comment with your answers)

Spamassassin with auto-learning

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:44:00 +0000

Recipe for spamassassin with auto-learning. It’s a little bit clumsy but it works. Interested in feedback from other geeks who have played with spamassassin on how to make it more streamlined.

Sysadmin tools

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 10:01:00 +0000

Ideas for sysadmin tools appear below. This is probably less interesting if you’re not on my team but feel free to join in if you like. Stuff sysadmins want to control and automate

Access: passwd, sudo, ssh keys
Package install: rpm check, install, freshen
System config files: hosts, resolv.conf, sendmail.cf, etc/
Ability to install a script and run it once
Ability to schedule a job (cron) or make sure it starts (init.d)
Synchronize a directory (via rsync or similar)

Stuff that should be monitored

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 22:59:00 +0000

I had an emotional reaction to something today, and for once I just ran with it. It was not the “cautious” or “proper” thing to do, but it sure made me feel better. I’m not sure if it was out of anger or frustration or just plain spite.

We will see what comes of it. Perhaps nothing. Sorry for being cryptic, I will share at some point but there are good reasons for keeping this one to myself for now.

Weekend Report

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:26:00 +0000

Friday: wandered off early. No gaming. I think I made spaghetti.

Saturday: Tried to fix the Tivo channel changing. Seems to be better, but I had to use Super Slow mode (6 seconds each). After taking apart the tivo with the intent of covering the inside emitter, I found out that the series 2 doesn’t have an emitter on the front, so the foil tent doesn’t really help. I think there was some baja fresh burritos at some point. Took back the movie which I didn’t get around to watching (shanghai nights).

Posting via mobile. Watching anime

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:00:00 +0000

Posting via mobile. Watching anime at lunch. No word on the job front, but that’s ok, i have plenty of time. That is all.

Mom issues

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:44:00 +0000

In other news, a month or two after getting my mom a computer, she now wants help getting a car. Whoops, I made the mistake of letting slip that I have enough cash in the bank to buy the car that she wants, and that I was thinking about just buying it for her and having her pay me back. (joy!)

Well after talking with M I thought the better of it and decided I didn’t want to spend 12,000 given that my job is going away in 2500 herself so it would have to be in someone else’s name (both the car and the loan). I told her she should really try to get credit on her own, and I would give her 2,000 for a down payment but that I don’t trust her ability to manage her finances enough to give her a loan (that I can’t afford to lose) and didn’t want to co-sign with her for that reason.

Ow my... ankle? heel?

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 00:36:00 +0000

My right ankle has been in pain for like 3 days now. I have no idea why. I think it coincides roughly with getting up early to exercise Thursday, since I had been a lazy slacker Wednesday. I pedalled OK Thursday morning but developed pain later that day.

It’s not really my ankle I guess but more my heel and bottom of the achilles tendon. It hurts at certain point in my stride (like when I shift weight to the front of that foot and that tendon is holding my heel up off the ground), stretching it aches a little but not a lot. Putting some heat on helps a bit too, as does a double-dose of aspirin.

Time management

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:36:00 +0000

For traveller_blues…

For additional insight I must also refer to Chapter 2. (My summary of it is here)

If you don’t actively (and sometimes aggressively) decide whose agenda you are going to spend time on, it will be decided for you.

Broccoli Ramen Casserole

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 21:52:00 +0000

Once home, I made Alton’s Broccoli Ramen Casserole and it was excellent. It’s a little Akane-style, mostly because it uses package ramen as an ingredient (uncooked, and including seasoning packet). Instead of mushrooms (mushroom! mushroom!) I used green peas as additional vegetable matter, and caesar dressing instead of bleu cheese dressing, but everything else was to spec. Great casserole, good balance of veggies to noodles actually.

Week so far

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 21:51:00 +0000

Monday: Got transition information delivered (hereafter referred to as “the other shoe”). See previous entry. Initial reaction was not great.

Tuesday: Got some information to suggest that efforts are still ongoing to find positions for everyone. That makes things seem not quite so hopeless. I know a lot can happen in 6 months (3-4 months for most of our team) *and* that there is important work to be done in that time, but I would still rather have an offer now.

Put First Things First

Wed, 22 Oct 2003 16:40:00 +0000

Posted as a comment to traveller_blues… I should probably follow my own advice more often :)

Chapter 3 was called “Put First Things First”. It was mostly about time management, but the best and most portable advice there was “Don’t prioritize your schedule, instead schedule your priorities”.

Notes on personal mission statement (3)

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 21:22:00 +0000

Roles and defining traits Husband Sensitive Strong Affectionate Compassionate (Proactive) (Organized)

Friend Sensitive Caring Honest Empathic Compassionate (Expressive) (Proactive)

Manager Organized Communicator Inspiring Diplomatic (Driven) (Creative)

Individual Honest Wise Patient Insightful Compassionate (Creative) (Expressive) (Proactive) (Physically fit)

Gamer Creative (Proactive)

Notes on personal mission statement (2)

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 21:15:00 +0000

Roles and goals Husband Financial security Spend time with M (not just “around”) Be attentive and affectionate

Friend Have time for friends Show appreciation

Manager 6-month plan Keep morale high

Individual Good health Creative expression Get organized

Gamer Run my own game Creative expression

Notes on personal mission statement (1)

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 21:11:00 +0000

Core values, strengths and weaknesses Values (Take time out for these…) Family/Friends Self awareness Creativity Growth, self improvement

Principles (Make choices consistent with these…) Honesty Patience Compassion Communication Emotional awareness/emotional honesty Humility/modesty

Strengths Patience Communication Sensitivity Compassion Insight Imagination Diplomacy

Weaknesses Procrastinator Unmotivated Disorganized

Desired qualities Proactive Creative Driven Organized Dependable Wise

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 21:45:00 +0000

I was going to spend some time typing up my values and mission statement, but decided to make up a batch of candied pecans instead. Mmmm, pecans. Now I must go work out and go to sleep.

Welcome to transitioning

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 20:05:00 +0000

transitioning - (v) the present progressive tense of “to transition” which is a noun with “to” stuck on and pressed into service as a verb. State of being in a transition. Brought to you by the makers of other fine made-up words like relevancy. (Have I mentioned that verbing weirds language? well, so does nounation :)

Well, that’s the other shoe dropped. We’re being fired in exremely slow motion.

It looks like I have 178 days to go in this job, so I will soon be looking for some other place where I can go be a sysadmin or manager. Strangely, I have approximately the same amount of severance and vacation saved up (177 days), so if I were to live off of the residuals, I could probably go to next October without tapping into savings. Not that I would want to… I want to work.

Sun, 19 Oct 2003 00:04:00 +0000

For traveller_blues: Steganography

Finally caught up with friends

Fri, 17 Oct 2003 14:23:00 +0000

Wow that took like an hour to read the 170 entries on my friends page from yesterday and today. You guys are on *fire*. I even read the 12 additional entries that appeared in the 90 minutes I was reading the first 170 or so.

Good thing there is nothing important happening at work today. Perhaps I will work some more on my personal mission statement. It’s almost done by the way.

Weekend Report

Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:49:00 +0000

Wednesday- Met for dinner and brief gaming with J. A good time was had by all.]

Thursday- Nothing remarkable.

Friday- Managed to leave work by 4:30. Forgot what I had for dinner. I think I just watched tv or something.

Saturday- Took apart entertainment center. Received call from D asking for help moving bookcases, so we met at the furniture place around 6:00. D and C helped me get the ent. center put back together, at least enough to get tivo running again. We went to dinner at California Buffet (on De Anza or Saratoga/Sunnyvale Rd or whatever it is called there) - this place is eerily similar to Todai.. a few different kinds of fish dishes, but no ramen/udon and limited desserts. Went back to D and C’s place to help unload and hung out for an hour or two.

Recall No

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 17:13:00 +0000

On the way to work, three or four people were on the street corner by the freeway ramp holding signs that said “No Recall. No on 54.” I waved and gave them the thumbs up.

I made the rounds and talked to everyone at work, asking if they voted. I found at least one person who wasn’t planning to vote because he was disgusted with the whole process so I encouraged him to go Vote No. Two more people weren’t sure if they could vote or where to go, so I told them to check smartvoter.org. I reminded about 3 people that if they haven’t voted yet, they are allowed by law to leave early to go do so. The vast majority of co-workers either had voted already, and a smaller number were non-citizens here on visa or green card.

Pickles. 4 liters of pickles!

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:58:00 +0000

15. 2 jars cucumber, plus 2 jars carrot+cauliflower, all 4 with onion, bell pepper, garlic

Weekend report

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:35:00 +0000

Thursday: I think I Thursday was the day I drove M’s car to the car shop to unlock the *%^$@! radio anti-theft lock which I don’t have the code to (now we do) and to get a replacement antenna. Radio code was free, antenna was $45 plus $55 labor. The sales guy at the car radio store can’t spell “antenna”. After arriving to work late, there were a couple meetings and pretty much time to go home.

Jealousy

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:08:00 +0000

Posted as a comment on someone else’s community entry. I wanted to keep it here for myself also. (Original comment was about boy1 behaving badly when author paid attention to boy2, and asks how to say “Listen you ass, you are dead wrong” in perhaps not just those words.)

More thoughts about my principles and values

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 05:27:00 +0000

More thoughts about “my principles and values”. This was written in response to a private message to a friend, but I wanted to keep it here for myself. Some of the original is elided…

New friends

Fri, 03 Oct 2003 20:21:00 +0000

I added althaea to my friends page because she seems to write some cool stuff. I also seem to have picked up a couple more friends due to what I will call The althaea Effect. Welcome kidarrian and creentmerveille. The reading around here may not always be insightful, but will at the very least be honest.

Usually I post like once a week to say what I did over the weekend, but sometimes I post something insightful or even clever. If you find my writing interesting, great, otherwise if you decide to wander off I shall not take it personally. I am writing primarily for me, and entertaining you the readers is not a huge priority, but I do try to be thought-provoking when the mood strikes.

Workout log for October

Wed, 01 Oct 2003 12:00:00 +0000

Wed 10/1: Bike, 12.7 miles Thu 10/2: Bike, 14 miles Fri 10/3: none? Sat 10/4: Walking, 30 min Sun 10/5: Bike, 7 miles Mon 10/6: none Tue 10/7: none Wed 10/8: none Thu 10/9: none Fri 10/10: none Sat 10/11: none Sun 10/12: none Mon 10/13: Bike, 8.5 miles Tue 10/14: none Wed 10/15: none Thu 10/16: none Fri 10/17: Bike, 8.8 miles Sat 10/18: none Sun 10/19: none Mon 10/20: Bike, 10 miles Tue 10/21: Bike, 10 miles Wed 10/22: none Thu 10/23: Bike, 8 miles Fri 10/24: Sat 10/25: Sun 10/26: Mon 10/27: Tue 10/28: Wed 10/29: Thu 10/30: Fri 10/31:

Weekend report

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 23:07:00 +0000

Friday: Forgot what we did, probably had take out for dinner or something.

Saturday: Up to my mothers to help her with her PC and deliver a new printer. It is a Brother fax/copy/print/scan thing (color and all) and I’m tempted to get another for myself ($99 refurbished). Mom seems to be doing fine. Driving home from 10:30 to 1:30 sucks since I was totally afraid I would fall asleep at the wheel… I stopped once for food and again for coffee.

Verisign referer info

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 21:32:00 +0000

World according to Verisign (thanks to bryant for the idea)

Thanks to Sitefinder the following people found their way to my server who otherwise would not have.

from www.14159754614.com to 14159.com from search:“sex cartoos” to b5mush.nekodojo.org/events.txt from www.thesoundlord.com to soundlord.com from soundlworld.com to soundlord.com from www.throghdreams.com to throg.com

I’m thinking this is a *really* helpful service. Completely worth all the hassle to admins and computer professionals world-wide. Or else I’m not thinking that… one or the other.

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:58:00 +0000

Having meetings to talk about best practices is actually quite fun. It would be more fun if Sacramento were not 2 hours away.

That is all.

Weekend update

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:57:00 +0000

I was not supposed to be on call this week, but the guy who is on call has an unreliable phone, so it’s the next best thing. But at least I don’t get paid. There was index-push related foo so roughly half of that I wouldn’t have gotten out of anyway, but, well.

However, despite a few rollover calls, I am feeling quite good about my job right now. I am like a lighthouse on the Sea of Uncertain Merger. Well, maybe not a lighthouse, but at least I am keeping myself focused.

Patch for Verisign's "DNS records, whether registered or not" policy

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 06:55:00 +0000

This Wired article says that BIND (named) software should have a patch available quite soon to make it ignore Verisign’s *.com and *.net “typo redirect” DNS entries.

ObPersonal: The article quotes Paul Vixie who I used to work with briefly at DEC. He is good people. Go Paul! Go ISC!

Verisign wildcards

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 23:11:00 +0000

I just sent this to ICANN-

To: comments@icann.org Subject: Complaint: Verisign wildcards

Verisign’s recent addition of wildcards in the com and net TLD’s: \* is a blatant abuse of their “custodianship” of these domains \* will cause numerous headaches and lost productivity for network admins \* will also cause a *huge* amount of spam to flow unhindered, which would otherwise be stopped as an obvious fake domain

They claim this is intended to “help users” – but it is clear that their motives are selfish and commercial. *.com is intended to cause advertising dollars to flow to Verisign and to cause Verisign to have an unfair advantage in securing new .com registrations.

Weekend Report

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 11:25:00 +0000

Saturday: Went to Fry’s and got a printer for my mom. I also got a scsi card so I could hook up the old tape drive, and a mini sheet scanner. The first one had no instructions or software disk so I had to go back. The second one didn’t seem to work (got huge black lines all through) but after rerunning the calibrate option it seemed to work OK. Had Chevy’s mexican food for dinner.

For Bryant

Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:50:00 +0000

cos reports that Howard Dean will be in the Boston area Tuesday and Wednesday… FYI

What's important to me...

Wed, 10 Sep 2003 22:18:00 +0000

How well do you know me? It’s possible that some of you know me better than I know myself.

I have made a list of the 3-4 principles or ideas that I am most passionate about. See if your impression of me matches my idea of myself.

Please rank items as to how important you think they are to me. Mark one item 10, one 9, etc. Mark 0 or just leave blank if you think I am not passionate about it.

Dealing with your micromanager

Wed, 10 Sep 2003 21:21:00 +0000

Chapter 23 of Managing Your Manager (by Greg Connor) (posted as a comment elsewhere but I wanted to save it here too)

Tue, 09 Sep 2003 23:07:00 +0000

Wow, it has only been a day or so and my friends page grew by 76 entries? You guys are prolific. And that was only including like 1 comic.

I drove M’s car to work because the battery was dead – luckily all it needed was a jump and some driving to get charged up, not a new battery like last time.

That is all.

More pickles

Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:45:00 +0000

Made three jars of pickles. As an experiment (and because I ran out of cider vinegar) I substituted some rice wine vinegar and red raspberry vinegar for the cider vinegar.. so we will see what happens.

Batch one made two jars 13. Kinda Sorta Sour Carrots and Asparagus

Carrots, onions and garlic in one jar, asparagus, onions and garlic in second jar.

1.33 C cider vinegar 0.33 C red raspberry vinegar 0.33 C rice vinegar 1 C white win vinegar

Common courtesy isn't

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 23:29:00 +0000

Posted as a comment in someone else’s journal, but I want to save it here. Regarding common courtesy, and how small favors may not be returned or even noticed by others…

I believe two things.

1. Common courtesy isn’t. People are either stupid or selfish a lot of the time. 2. If I’m going to expect people to act a certain way, I have to act that way myself. If the power of expectation has any real power, it should work when the belief/expectation is strong - strong enough to be unconscious and automatic.

Friday

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 22:33:00 +0000

Trip to Sac. Up at 6, shower, leave 6:50, get gas. Arrive Sac 9am. get settled in conf room, read email. I am there to meet with LM, and AN was there too. Before lunch, they mostly talked about monitoring and I listened in. I facilitate some communications between TP and SR. AIM is great but sometimes you just need to call. These two didn’t call each other for whatever reason, so I end up passing messages. I’m a great communicator but I’m not the only communicator. Anyway, after a bit they get settled in with AIM and I don’t need to pass messages anymore. I do some double-checking before fetching the main admin machine that all of SAC uses. Apparently it is not enough double-checking… questions start almost immediately after I do the deed. What’s my password, why can’t I ssh in any more, why is my shell changed from bash, etc. I had been handed some bad information, but instead of pointing fingers I decide to just address the pre-existing problems as if they were my problems. I think I scored points by being polite and listening to everyone. Anyway, the one task I did for the day had to be half-reversed because that was clobbering changes they were trying to make using the old system, so we will try again next week. I will not make my deadline but it was a soft deadline anyway and it’s more important to keep people happy and marching in the same direction. After lunch, I spent time getting LM set up on fetch, not really training but more just showing him where everything is. 3pm I wrap up the change event and go to the data center to say hello and reassure everyone. Just spending time talking seemed to do a world of good. Stayed until 5 pm. 5-7 drive home

Thursday

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 22:19:00 +0000

Action packed day. Doesn’t feel very productive but I think I got a few things done that I wanted to.

In at 7:06, caught up on email. 8am. Early integration meeting, worked on MS Project during meeting. My turn comes next to last anyway. 930. Find out our 930 meeting was moved to 11. Email KC back re OEM Answering more email questions and concerns re: fetch 11am. RH vs FE is on track, 2 good things were found out yesterday and this morning. I think we are 2/3 of the way there. 11:40 go to lunch with the team, cuban place, have mojitos and ropa vieja (skirt steak). 1:04 call in for meeting since we are still enroute to office. Had to pay $1 for no status on 1 item, but I saved 2 more by sending emails yesterday.Between 2 and 4, tried to focus on getting 1-2 machines fetched, but there were constant interruptions, so I decided to go with the flow instead. People are still concerned about fetch, apparently they didn’t get the passwords I printed like 3 weeks ago and left with sac boss. Oh well. Decided not to press my luck, it’s more important to show sac I am on their side than to cause bad feelings by charging ahead and stomping toes. Wrap up all email and head for home.

I oppose the recall

Thu, 04 Sep 2003 21:30:00 +0000

I signed the petition opposing the recall. Here is the petition link, in case anyone else is interested. The petition is open to people in California as well as outside California.

What I did today

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 22:58:00 +0000

The What I did today series is an exercise to review at the end of the week to see if I am feeling more productive. But to everyone else it’s probably boring… Catch up on email. A second person needs reassuring in Sac. Send brief email. Fax from Network Solutions was on my chair. Call NSI, leave message. Find email with same message, forward to legal chick in pasadena who has pretty much stopped replying to my emails because I ask rude questions (like when are you going to do your job, lady?) 9am, meet with FE team re RH vs. FE. Score is RH 5, FE 0, but FE has a couple of plays yet to make. Identify what they are, set next meeting (now daily) Sac guy can’t talk at 11, and has sent more email. Send a more detailed mail. 10am, my staff meeting, everyone plays show and tell like normal. RH vs FE is hot and smoking, Fetch is going well so is not quite as smoking. 11am, read email, sac guy is not impressed by my bluster of an hour ago, so instead I go with the softball this time, start to email, then AIM, and get him on the phone. I agree that he’s right (or at least I sidestep the opportunity to say he’s wrong) and he will agree that it’s OK to do things the “expedient” way for now. DH machine has suddenly become a hot item, so I deflect it onto TP. Poor TP wasn’t the cause of the delay, but because at least three of our team were deflecting blame at each other in front of the end user, I stepped in and made it his problem. If the user had not been standing there I probably would have let them hash it out among themselves but I feel it is poor form to say “that’s not my problem” in front of a customer (even if it’s not my problem :) 12, lunch. spaghetti. mmm. never mind that I had spaghetti last night, it’s not Pomodoro but still good. 1, more change control, heads down, get folks pointed in the right direction, get some machines hammered out myself. Worked through 3:30 and missed my 3p with MV. Wrap up message for CC, and announce another CC for Friday. Talk to AN and agree that we shoudl go to Sac Friday (for 5-6 hours only, to come back Fri end of day). As pennance for missing MV meeting, I write up a proposal and send it off to him. I also write up another proposal for another item on tomorrow’s meeting.

Things I did today:

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 22:48:00 +0000

Successful change control (1 of 3 this week) Lots of last-minute crap for the CC Had lunch: soup, fruit salad Tuesday staff meeting Postpone meeting with MV, he was busy Met with BOE team Set up meeting for FE vs. RH tomorrow Calmed down DR who was fired up about access for some reason

Dinner: pasta pomodoro S and H came over to retrieve little cat Watched stargate with M (3 episodes?) Pedalled on bike

Workout log for September

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 12:00:00 +0000

Mon 9/1: Bike, 16 miles Tue 9/2: Bike, 7.5 miles Wed 9/3: Bike, 10 miles Thu 9/4: Bike Fri 9/5: Bike Sat 9/6: no Sun 9/7: no Mon 9/8: no Tue 9/9: Bike, 10 miles Wed 9/10: no Thu 9/11: Bike, 10 miles (a.m.) Fri 9/12: no Sat 9/13: no Sun 9/14: Bike, 10 miles Mon 9/15: Bike, 9 miles (a.m.) Tue 9/16: Bike, 10 miles (a.m.) Wed 9/17: Bike Thu 9/18: Bike Fri 9/19: no Sat 9/20: Bike Sun 9/21: Bike Mon 9/22: no Tue 9/23: no Wed 9/24: Bike 10 miles Thu 9/25: Bike 10 miles Fri 9/26: no Sat 9/27: no Sun 9/28: no Mon 9/29: Bike 8 miles Tue 9/30: no

Personal mission statement

Sun, 31 Aug 2003 19:06:00 +0000

Of course, creating a Personal Mission Statement for yourself is a serious undertaking, which must be approached with thoughtfulness, introspection, patience. It usually takes months of thinking and rewriting to develop one that you are comfortable with.

OR you could just go to this site and click and it will create one for you. ;) You now have a possible starting point for your personal mission statement.

To find happiness, fulfillment, and value in living I will: LEAD a life centered around the principles of honesty, patience, and humility. REMEMBER what’s important in life is family, friends, sincerity, sense of accomplishment, and peace of mind. REVERE admirable characteristics in others, such as being patient, proactive, wise, sensitive, creative, and compassionate, and attempt to implement similar characteristics in my own life. RECOGNIZE my strengths and develop talents as a person who is a communicator, diplomatic, sincere, imaginative, insightful, and empathic. HUMBLE myself by acknowledging that I can be procrastinator, unmotivated, and disorganized and by constantly striving to transform my weaknesses into strengths. ENVISION myself becoming a person who: - my family members think is compassionate, patient, and dependable. - my friends think is creative, patient, sensitive, and witty. - my coworkers think is proactive, dependable, self-reliant, and wise.

Effective people site

Sat, 30 Aug 2003 17:03:00 +0000

I’m exploring the FranklinCovey.com web site. A bunch of essays are freely available here: Knowledge Expo These two seem to relate most of Habit 2 well: Center on Principles by Stephen R. Covey and Moral Compassing by Stephen R. Covey This is a good explanation of Habit 3: First Things First by Stephen R. Covey

Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 23:53:00 +0000

I’m still reading Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. A quick summary of Habit 2:

Attend your own funeral.
First creation, second creation.
Difference between leadership and management.
Finding one’s center.
Personal mission statement.
Rescripting, a work in progress.
Importance of visualization.

More on "Effective People" - Proactivity

Wed, 27 Aug 2003 23:52:00 +0000

The #1 habit of “highly effective people” according to Stephen Covey is “Be Proactive”. This makes a lot of sense to me. I believe I am already very aware of this principle, but there are probably numerous ways I could take it to heart which I have not yet tried.

The basic point of this chapter is that our freedom to choose our own actions is what makes us uniquely human. Most animals are wired up like this: (stimulus) -> (response). If an animal can be trained, that is still a pretty direct response to a stimulus. Humans are unique in their ability to decide on a different action (or no action) to a given situation. We are wired up like this: (stimulus) -> (filter: beliefs and values) -> (decision) -> (response). This is similar to something else I wrote in 2001.

Character ethic vs. Personality ethic

Tue, 26 Aug 2003 23:35:00 +0000

This author has put his finger on exactly what bothers me about most “self help” literature. There is a fundamental difference between building a strong character and just putting on a happy face and “thinking positive”. As my study took me back through 200 years of writing about success, I noticed a startling pattern emerging in the content of the literature. Because of our own pain, and because of similar pain I had seen in the lives and relationships of many people I had worked with through the years, I began to feel more and more that much of the success literature of the last 50 years was superficial. It was filled with social image consciousness, techniques and quick fixes–with social band-aids and aspirin that addressed acute problems and sometimes even appeared to solve them temporarily, but left the underlying chronic problems untouched to fester and resurface time and again.

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 22:29:00 +0000

Remind me to replace this with a real weekend report. Friday: trick knee, no exercise. Sat. Knee not as bad, went swimming for exercise, dinner with D and C Sun. knee is OK, but dealing with scope made it hurt again, and favoring it now gives me twinges in the other one. Got scope out, saw mars with unicorn and kitty.

Mid-week report

Wed, 20 Aug 2003 22:41:00 +0000

Wednesday: Up early to go to Sacramento. Picked up Bruce, got to Sac office about 9:30. Worked on fetch finishing touches with Bruce. (Make that “offered moral support while Bruce did 90% of the work.”) Fired off questions to Dan, Hugo, etc. about how things should go. Managed to get some time with Michael, Stacy, and a bit with Hugo, Dan and Tommy. Attended the Wednesday Sac meeting.

M came with us to the office and we took off at lunchtime to meet M’s parents, brother and brother’s fiance, and about 945281 people who are old friends of M’s folks. Had Chinese… got there just in time for starting on the soup. The place we went is about 35 min from the office to the East, so it was a long lunch.

Thoughts on property ownership

Sun, 17 Aug 2003 21:56:00 +0000

For those who didn’t quite read all the details of our trip, we are now proud owners of a timeshare known affectionately as Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip. Here are some facts.

Our fraction of the property is based on a 1-bedroom suite occupied for 7 days. It’s not a specific assigned week, it is based on a reservation system, first-come first-served.
We have the option to take a smaller suite for a longer time, or a larger one for a shorter time.
If we go at an off-peak time we can have 14 days instead of 7.
The cost of this timeshare property is a little less than a new car. We will probably pay it off in 3-4 years.
After it is paid off we can use it forever, we just have to pay a yearly maintenance fee of $480 (kind of like a condo association fee).
The 7-days (or 14 off peak) can be used at the home resort, or any resort in the Hilton Grand Vacations system, such as Florida (beaches, islands, disneyworld), Hawai’i or Scotland, or a couple other places.
We can trade with other timeshare owners using a network called RCI. Because Hilton properties are quite desirable, we can trade our 7 days for 10 days most anywhere else on the network.
If we decide to take shorter vacations, we can reserve in smaller blocks (2 or 3-day minimum I think).
We can also decide to fold our points into Hilton Honors program and get “normal” hotels instead (or air fare or rental cars or a combination of things.)
They gave us 9.9% financing which is not bad, but I still want to refinance with our credit union.
Our property is 10 acres, and is located on the strip across from Wet ’n Wild, between Circus Cirus and Stratosphere.
0.00406% of 10 acres is 176 square feet. Therefore, property in Nevada is about US$100 per square foot, if purchased with a resort already attached.
This makes the sale price of the entire resort by the developers about $450M.

So, the only thing left to decide is, where are we going on vacation next year, and who should we take with us?

Weekend report

Sun, 17 Aug 2003 21:16:00 +0000

Friday: I think we got Chevy’s food. Not much going on.

Saturday: Pedalled in the morning. Went to dinner with helenschappell and wschappell, had a good time. Went to Mudd’s and had a great dinner, and went back to their place to play with kitten. We did our best to tire out the little ragamuffin, but he dozed for 15 min and was playful again. “I got my breath back, it must be a new day!” Returned home and reassured our kitties that they are still the only ones in our lives, despite the Interesting Scents.

Article on managing your work (and managing your manager)

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 01:05:00 +0000

Bryant linked to this as well, but I thought it was interesting enough to mention.

Lots of techies give really lousy progress reports, and are basically hell on their managers for no good reason. This is particularly bad for sysadmin types, systems programmers, and other people who love math too much.

This is a pretty good article (if short) and has some good info, including: Time management and getting organized Balancing easy and hard work to get more consistent output Good strategy for dealing with managers who need constant status Good tips on making lack of information Someone Else’s Problem

Trip log Friday

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 17:11:00 +0000

Breakfast and Keno again at the Pyramid Cafe. After breakfast we hopped a cab to try and find our property. There was a building there but we could not get close with the cab, and there was a HGV office next to it but the doors were locked. So we stayed in the cab and went to NY NY. Cabbie was friendly and interested in the time share and I tipped him a few bucks, I think it was $30 total.

Trip log Thursday

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 17:05:00 +0000

Awakened at 930 by housekeeping, forgot to put the sign out. Oh well, showers for everyone and down to breakfast. Buffet crowded, so it’s the Pyramid Cafe (3rd time :) Played 5 on keno over breakfast. Then played some pgp again, this time M played too, good for her! I think we dropped $20 on that, though M kept some of that.

Spent $27 on Imax tix for haunted castle, which was OK but not great.

Trip log Wednesday

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 16:57:00 +0000

Checked out of HGV and stashed our bags. Got tickets for BOO from concierge. Went for buffet, while waiting, ran back to HGV to get more tickets from sales spiff desk: 99 for both Star Trek and Second City taken from gaming fund.

Run back to buffet. Haggle with cashier over which coupon I can use or not use. Coupons are OK for something I want anyway but the ones for the Flamingo were over the top, and I hatehatehate sitting there discussing whether we woulld save $4 one way or $6 the other. Omelete guy took forever to make my food, other than that breakfast was OK.

Trip log Tuesday

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 16:53:00 +0000

Up at 920, I got the feeling that sleeping any longer would make me snore. Not sure when M got up but I think she ate and watched TV and went back to bed. Made some coffee in the room.

This room is incredibly nice, it has a bedroom, bathroom with 2 sinks, a shower and a jacuzzi, and a kitchen and living room area as well. Even a washer and dryer. But it doesn’t have room service :) I think if I had kids I would like this better, but as it is the extra appointments of the room are overkill and I’m reminded regularly that this is not a hotel. Breakfast was Capn Crunch, so another 10 in gift shop bucks making about 45.

Trip log Monday

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 16:49:00 +0000

Flew Southwest. Got a snack at the airport. On arriving at resort, got some food at the deli.

After settling in I went to the Flamingo, withdrew 200, and played Pai Gow poker, broke even, down to 70 and back up to 100. Dropped 20 in quarters in Triple Play poker and slots. Back to room to fetch M for dinner.

Worked out 30 min on a bike, which doesn’t measure miles but does measure watts. Kept 60 watts or so for 30 min, which will either power the lamp in the room for 30 min or the AC I am breathing for 3 min, but either way earns me dinner.

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 16:09:00 +0000

Made it home safe, late last night. Catching up on friends entries, 236 of them to be exact. I will also be posting my vacation notes shortly.

Workout log for August

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 12:00:00 +0000

Fri 8/1: No Sat 8/2: Does moving the telescope and cleaning the porch count? Otherwise no. Sun 8/3: No Mon 8/4: Vacation, lots of walking. Also rode exercise bike at the hotel. Tue 8/5: Vacation, lots of walking. Wed 8/6: Vacation, lots of walking. Thu 8/7: Vacation, lots of walking. Fri 8/8: Vacation, lots of walking. Sat 8/9: No Sun 8/10: Hauled laundry up and down stairs Mon 8/11: Trick knee today, no activity Tue 8/12: ? Wed 8/13: Bike, 10 miles Thu 8/14: Bike, 11 miles, wt 261 Fri 8/15: No Sat 8/16: Bike, 10 miles Sun 8/17: Bike, 10 miles Mon 8/18: Bike, 7.7 miles (a.m.) Tue 8/19: Bike, 10 miles (a.m.) Wed 8/20: Bike, 10 miles Thu 8/21: Bike, 9 miles Fri 8/22: Trick knee! Nothing today. Sat 8/23: Swimming, 30 min Sun 8/24: Nothing, except hauling the scope up and down steps Mon 8/25: Swimming, 45 min Tue 8/26: Very light biking, also with arm movements, 25 min Wed 8/27: Thu 8/28: Fri 8/29: Sat 8/30: Biking, 10 miles Sun 8/31: Biking, 7 miles

Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:38:00 +0000

No workout today, but I also did not eat out for dinner, so let’s call it even.

After dinner of asparagus and leftovers, I made some more pickles. I made a double batch this time, one jar for me and one jar for some friends. Better not tell you who just yet… it’s a surprise. 11. Dill Pickles: Cucumbers, Onions and Bell Peppers Cucumbers, cut into slices Green Bell pepper, cut into thin strips Onions, cut into rings 10 cloves of fresh garlic 20 sprigs of fresh dill 2 cups cider vinegar 1 cup champagne vinegar 2 cups of water 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup kosher salt 2 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp onion flakes 3 tsp pickling spice

Feeling productive

Thu, 24 Jul 2003 22:20:00 +0000

I’m feeling like I had a productive day today.

Hours slept: 5.3 Minutes early to work: 15 Donuts brought: 24 Donuts consumed: 2 Meetings attended: 3 Meetings postponed: 1 Dentists visited: 1 Cucumbers pickled: 2 Bell peppers pickled: 1 Miles pedaled: 10.1 Calories burned: 500 Grams of ice cream: 140 Calories of ice cream consumed: 350

Trying On the New Me

Wed, 23 Jul 2003 21:40:00 +0000

This was posted as a reply in a friend’s journal and I wanted to save it for myself.

Workout log

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 08:04:00 +0000

After a hiatus, the Workout log has returned. Let’s see if I can keep this up. I haven’t had much exercise at all since October.

Mon 7/21: Bike, 45 min, 9.37 miles Tue 7/22: Bike, 45 min, 9.60 miles, wt. 265 Wed 7/23: Bike, 45 mim, 10 miles Thu 7/24: Bike, 45 min, 10 miles Fri 7/25: No Sat 7/26: No Sun 7/27: Bike, 35 min, 6 miles Mon 7/28: Bike, 50 min, 10 miles Tue 7/29: No Wed 7/30: Walking, 30 min Thu 7/31: Bike, 45 min, 10 miles

Weekend Report

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:41:00 +0000

Friday: not much going on. Don’t remember what we did for dinner. Hmm. I think we gave the cats their doses of Advantage.

Saturday: Emptied out the trunk of the car, which previously contained 5 12-packs of pepsi, bag of something from Walgreen’s, laptop for my mom, 2 pillows, and empty bottle which previously held pre-diluted radiator fluid. The trunk now contains only 3 sheet sets from Bed Bath and Beyond, a trivet or something, and a video card. We also managed to get most of the crap off the balcony (mostly leaves and dirt, but also a rug, some chicken wire, screws, remains of the window I pushed out to install the AC, and a couple other things I can’t remember.

Today's funny and educational link

Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:54:00 +0000

Ok, my favorite cooking show is still Good Eats. But, if you like Good Eats, and have temporarily run out of episodes, check out Deep Fried Live. The host is an octopus, the show is a cartoon, but the recipes and advice are real. Pretty funny!

If you haven’t seen Good Eats yet, do it! If you like Good Eats, be sure to check out Alton Brown’s own site Alton Brown.com for some more tips, rants and raves, etc. Worth it for the cool pictures of him if nothing else.

Pickle crazy some more!

Wed, 16 Jul 2003 23:32:00 +0000

Why am I pickle crazy, you ask? Well, I am just all around crazy, but that you know. Mostly it is because I finally found something I can make for myself relatively easily and cheaply and is a non-fat low-calorie snack that I will actually eat.

I took pickles to work last week and had them Thursday, Friday and Monday for lunch (or something like that)… Here is a link to the previous recipe. Those are all gone now. (Note the previous Dill the 4th recipe makes enough for 1 and 1/2 jars :)

Weekend report

Sun, 13 Jul 2003 22:50:00 +0000

A quick review of this week. Went to the vet on Monday, went to Sacramento on Wednesday, gods, it was hot enough to melt my deodorant, had a lot of good meetings with sysadmins, came back on Thursday, and didn’t do much at all on Friday. There.

Friday afternoon, went shopping, had mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and hamburger meat. Sounds strange but it was good… a comfort food.

Saturday, drove up to see M’s family in Healdsburg. Got to see E (cousin J’s new wife) and a tiny baby, might be the youngest baby I’ve seen in real life. Babies are so helpless… I think humans must be unique in surviving so well, compared to how helpless we are as infants. Also damn hot in the North Bay too.

Friends

Sun, 13 Jul 2003 17:46:00 +0000

After some discussion on today, I added a couple of friends to my list. Just some folks who I thought it would be interesting to keep track of, either because we seem to be of like mind, or because we disagreed but were friendly about it :) The new additions are in the Fuschia category because of connection via the polyamory community.

Stupid Neighbor Tricks, Epilogue

Sun, 06 Jul 2003 20:05:00 +0000

Downstairs neighbor finally moved out! The new tenant says she is renting the place and will buy it as soon as she gets the loan figured out. Excellent!

For those of you new to this journal, downstairs neighbor was a pain in the ass for quite a while, both making noise and also turning around and complaining about me after I had complained about him. Kind of an angry, bitter guy. Oh well, hopefully he will find something or somewhere that makes him happy. Having a new neighbor definitely makes me happy.

Weekend report

Sun, 06 Jul 2003 19:53:00 +0000

Friday: Did laundry. Lazy day. Went to the 7-11 for some ice cream. Watched fireworks out the window. Reassured kitties that everything was OK.

Saturday: Made pickled eggs using something similar to this recipe:

12 hard boiled eggs, peeled (make that 7) 1 T salt 1 1/2 C cider vinegar (make that 1C cider v. + 1/2 C wine v.) 1/2 C water 1 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. white peppercorns, crushed (make that 1 tsp crushed + 1 tsp whole black pepper) 1/2 tsp. crushed allspice (make that 1 tsp pickling spice) 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric (skipped) 1/4 tsp. celery seeds (skipped) 2 shallots, thinly sliced (skipped)

Spam statistics

Sun, 06 Jul 2003 18:51:00 +0000

Spamassassin seems to still be working well. Once in a while (like once a day) I get a spam that slips through the net… then I go to the spam folder and see another 8 more that were caught. Nice.

Anyway, I’m saving the statistics below for my future reference.

After collecting 552 spams and 1053 not-spams, I erased the cache of learned messages, re-learned them all, then reprocessed them all as incoming. The spam was all at Bayes_70 and up and the good stuff was all at Bayes_30 and below (apart from one bounce from a spammer, bayes_44). Not surprisingly, after learning the target set, Bayes became quite good at processing the same set :)

Ask me anything

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 19:32:00 +0000

OK I know I’m a bit late for this meme, but I’m bored right now. So go ahead and Ask me anything…

If the poll thingy doesn’t work for you (like if you don’t have an LJ acct) then just post a followup. Anonymous followups OK (questions and answers will not be hidden though)

Catch Me If You Can

Wed, 02 Jul 2003 09:20:00 +0000

I saw Catch Me If You Can on pay-per-view. It’s based on a true story (or at least “inspired by” a true story) of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo diCaprio), a high-school student turned con man, who impersonates an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. Christopher Walken is his father (Frank Sr.) and Tom Hanks is the sometimes-hapless FBI agent.

It was pretty good actually, worth renting sometime. Sort of action-oriented but more in the spy-thriller way and not in the blowing-up-stuff way.

Dill pickles again!

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 23:25:00 +0000

4th batch is now in the fridge and should be ready to eat next week. Recipe below.

Sours: Cucumbers and onions w/vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, pickling spice, garlic Dill the 1st: cucumbers and onions, less sugar, dill seed and dried dill, omit celery seeds Dill the 2nd: carrots and onions, less cider vinegar, more wine vinegar, dried dill, dill seeds, ground ginger, onion flakes, pickling spice Dill the 3rd: cucumbers and onions, sliced super thin, same recipe as the 2nd, fresh dill (not dried) and granulated garlic (not fresh) Dill the 4th: cucumbers and onions, normal slices, fresh dill and fresh garlic.

Weekend report: Busy

Sun, 29 Jun 2003 22:32:00 +0000

Thursday: I was going to take off about 1630 but ended up staying until 1830 mostly working on the zone file for smo. The thing that took such a long time was converting the saved secondary zone which is a semi-ordered not-quite-human-readable dump of data into an ordered file (mostly).

Gory details: We moved the primary publish point for the zone in preparation for shutting down smo name servers (but keeping smo domain names resolvable). It has a twisted thing that reads the hosts file and creates a dns zone from that – complete with CNAMEs where there were aliases for the machine, reverse entries, and it even makes TXT records for the comments. (We will be weaning people off of using /etc/hosts - on the production side we use DNS for just about everything anyway, save for “loghost” and a couple Sun machines that need /etc/hosts to learn their own names.)

Spamassassin with Bayes

Sun, 29 Jun 2003 18:03:00 +0000

After building up a catalog of 951 good messages and 388 spam messages, Bayes is getting quite good at categorizing my mail.

This is out of a set of 1339 messages classified by me, by hand.

neko-base> foreach j (BAYES_{01,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90})
foreach? echo -n $j
foreach? egrep $j mail/track-spam|wc -l
foreach? end
BAYES_01      2
BAYES_10      0
BAYES_20      2
BAYES_30      6
BAYES_40      0
BAYES_50      0
BAYES_60     22
BAYES_70     32
BAYES_80     31
BAYES_90     88

neko-base> foreach j ( BAYES_{01,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90} )
foreach? echo -n $j ; egrep $j mail/track-good|wc -l
foreach? end
BAYES_01     64
BAYES_10     12
BAYES_20     11
BAYES_30      8
BAYES_40      0
BAYES_50      0
BAYES_60      0
BAYES_70      0
BAYES_80      0
BAYES_90      0

neko-base> grep -c BAYES mail/track-*
mail/track-good:101
mail/track-spam:183

Overall here is the distribution of actual spamassassin scores. (Spamassassin was not used on all 1339 messages :)

Wish list

Sat, 21 Jun 2003 14:13:00 +0000

I really want to go on vacation, maybe to Vegas or something. I think I will take the week off July 25 or something.

I would really like to move but I haven’t been motivated to look for anything and I am sure not motivated to fix up this place.

I would like to run a d&d game. Sitting here thinking about it might make me more prepared, but more prepared doesn’t mean better. Doing it multiple times will make me better, at least more so than waiting longer to start.

Weekend update

Sun, 15 Jun 2003 14:59:00 +0000

Friday: Ordered take out from Kabul. Good stuff.

Saturday: Spent a few hours getting Quicken caught up. Thank goodness for electronic bank info in QFX form. Still have some time I need to spend to put everything in categories. Went shopping for cat food and got some kitchen supplies. (V-slicer, temp probe, pint-size measuring cup, some champagne vinegar). Made ramen. (Ramen packages, water, chopped broccoli, 1 egg dropped in when hot. I put some pickles and pickle juice in mine.)

Mid-week report

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:15:00 +0000

Back from Sacramento. A bit tired but I will live. More on that later.

And now Homestar Productions presents,

What I Saw Last Week a Strongbadlib

No, seriously. I’m a pretty strong person. But I saw this one head last week and boy was it dorky. This neat guy was at Lyons and he started snoggingsocks. I was like, ‘holycrap! You’re snoggingsocks.’ He told me to stop spanking him. I munched on his shoes.

Weekend report

Mon, 09 Jun 2003 19:17:00 +0000

Thursday: space_parasite and I stayed late at work.. It wasn’t especially difficult, just a lot of waiting for people to be sure things were OK. Got done about 10:00 pm.

Friday: Don’t remember much about Friday… I left work about 5:30 and came home, stopping at Jiffy Lube on the way to get an oil change. (We were expecting to go to Healdsburg this weekend but didn’t, and I am also going to Sacramento this week so I wanted the oil to be OK even if the rest of the car still needs to be seen for other maintenance)

Weekend report

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 00:08:00 +0000

Whoops, I almost forgot my Weekend Report!

Friday was busy trying to complete a project for work. Everything was working great (thanks to some hard work and fancy footwork on the part of my team, you guys rock!) but we decided not to announce the thing until Monday, mostly because the documentation wasn’t 100% there. I wanted to get the 2 applications to share common passwords, which would be a cheap way of getting people to use the app I *want* them to use, because they need the password for the other thing they *need* to use. That wasn’t quite happening Friday so I gave up on it and went home.

Anti-Spam RFC featured on slashdot, with my comments, long

Sun, 01 Jun 2003 04:55:00 +0000

There is a new anti-forgery proposal which holds a good deal of promise. It is featured in Slashdot here: Slashdot The Anti-Spam Research Group’s Plan for Spam.

Below is my response to the author of the proposal (not the slashdot writer :)

Hello,

I really like the proposal and I think you have done a great job in presenting it.

I have seen other previous proposals that didn’t seem to take off, such as “MS records” by Andrew Church or something like that. The first version was similar to your proposal here, but the second one involved a challenge-response type of system based on cryptography and I think that something complex and heavy like that is just an excuse for delay.

I feel strongly that the forgery problem has to be solved NOW, or at least we should start to try to solve it now. This is why I agree strongly with your proposal and why I like it so much.

Busy: server foo, mac&cheese, pickles

Tue, 27 May 2003 01:38:00 +0000

Busy me, today. Server move took about 4 hours, shopping took about 1 hour, and cooking took about 3-4 hours, including dishes.

Happy Birthday

Sat, 10 May 2003 17:53:00 +0000

Some pics Michelle took of Harley outside the window. (Please excuse the glare from the flash)

On saving the world

Wed, 07 May 2003 23:37:00 +0000

Posted as a comment in someone else’s journal, and I wanted to save it for me.

Crispy fried ramen noodles, Akane-style

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 16:24:00 +0000

1 ramen package 1 meat (optional) Boiling water Frying pan with oil

Boil the water. While it is getting up to a boil, open the ramen and take out the flavor packets. Cut the meat into bits at this time so it will be ready to go in. (this is assuming you have an already-cooked meat.)

When the water is boiling, start the skillet or wok with oil to heat on high. You probably want enough oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. (A flat skillet works better than a wok because you want to fry all together in one place, not stirring a lot). Drop a droplet or two of water in the frying pan so you can tell when it gets to boiling (the water droplets will pop - make them really small droplets for this reason.)

Don't cry over spilled... soup?

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 22:09:00 +0000

Yesterday I bought myself Vietnamese noodle soup on the way home (and something else for M because she doesn’t care for that). Anyway, when I got home, I fumbled while lifting the soup out of the back seat and *sploot* – nice hot red beef stew directly on the back seat.

Argh! I was frustrated at this for two reasons. 1. I wanted to go inside, not spend 25 minutes cleaning the car, and 2. I really wanted that soup! Oh well. I mopped it up with paper towels and napkins. Then I got an old shirt out of the trunk (on its way to be donated, now on its way to the laundry again) and went through a couple of cycles of pouring water on the seat and mopping it up with the shirt. Then I went upstairs and got soapy water and repeated a couple more times. Final step was to spray Febreze on the seat. I went upstairs and made crispy fried ramen noodles with a bit of diced ham.

Anything into Oil

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 21:48:00 +0000

Anything into Oil is an article in Discover magazine. I am going to be keeping a close eye on this technology. It sounds too good to be true!

The process is designed to handle almost any waste product imaginable, including turkey offal, tires, plastic bottles, harbor-dredged muck, old computers, municipal garbage, cornstalks, paper-pulp effluent, infectious medical waste, oil-refinery residues, even biological weapons such as anthrax spores. According to Appel, waste goes in one end and comes out the other as three products, all valuable and environmentally benign: high-quality oil, clean-burning gas, and purified minerals that can be used as fuels, fertilizers, or specialty chemicals for manufacturing. If a 175-pound man fell into one end, he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water. Just converting all the U.S. agricultural waste into oil and gas would yield the energy equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil annually. (In 2001 the United States imported 4.2 billion barrels of oil.)

Server report

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 21:24:00 +0000

I need to renumber the machine poly.polyamory.org onto a new network. I decided rather than trying to arrange time when cos and I are both available, I would switch tactics a bit so that both the new and the old IP addresses are active, and then he can do the DNS change at any time. So, I spent some time playing with Netfilter (iptables) getting it to do what I want.

guu-rei-gu

Sat, 12 Apr 2003 21:31:00 +0000

Created new user pic: This is one possible way to write Guu-Rei-Gu in Japanese: 遇礼仇 - one who treats his enemies with courtesy All previous pics still visible here

How to manage your manager

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 02:28:00 +0000

Posted as a reply in someone else’s journal. Saving for my reference. No this does not have anything to do with my current workplace :)

Weekend report

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 21:09:00 +0000

OK before I forget, the weekend report. Did some cool work stuff that needed doing. On Saturday I solved a potentially sticky problem that was just found on Friday. Also I brushed the dust off a device that is designed to funnel all syslog messages EVAR to one machine where we can watch them all scroll by.

Sunday was spent mostly looking for laundry rooms, since #1, #2 and #3 were closed, that meant hauling clothes to the other end of the complex. It would have been easier to haul them to my car; had I known all three closest rooms were closed I would have done so.

Called my house rep

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 13:36:00 +0000

Regarding HR 1146, proposed by a gentleman from Texas, concerning ending United States participation in the UN, I have called my representative to express my views. Here is the recipe in case someone else wants to serve a batch as well :)

1. Find representative here: http://www.house.gov/. 2. Call the number. 3. Say “I’m a constituent from ____(city). I would like to ask the congressman to oppose ______(whatever bill). I feel strongly that we should _____(verb).” 4. Say “Can you tell me if the congressman has a position on this issue?” 5. Listen. Say “Thank you.” 6. Hang up.

Games

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 23:35:00 +0000

Playing Bookworm just now. I very carefully lined up the word “LIENHOLDER” but it didn’t recognize it as a word. Sigh. I don’t think I have ever had a 10-letter word. I played LIEN and HOLDER for 2880 points between the two, but playing one long word would have been “fantastic!”

OK time for bed now.

Things to do

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 00:37:00 +0000

Call allergist make appt Call car repair make appt Call tax guy make appt Call plumber re: toilet

Move charon to new ip Move poly to new ip Cancel meer.net

Weekend Report

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 23:07:00 +0000

Last week started off OK, but by the time we got to Wednesday things were on the way downhill. I had a flat tire just as I was pulling into the office driveway. I waited until my afternoon meetings to go out and change it. Surprise! There was one funny lug bolt that needed a special key piece that I dont have.

Public service announcement: If you have a special anti-theft lug bolt on each wheel, take some time to check and make sure you have the key adapter in your car. Do this ahead of time, before you end up needing it. If someone else put the tires on for you, check that they put the key back in the trunk with the wrench.

As it turns out the AAA guy was not able to get it off either, and the tire would not inflate at all (due to riding on the rims for the last quarter-mile or so). The dealership has the part but there are like 10 different patterns so you can’t just get a ride and go pick it up, they have to actually see the car to match it. (The manual has helpful advice for this circumstance – be sure to write down the code number (visible on the key itself) sometime before losing the key.)

After getting towed to the dealer, I got the $20 part and paid the $70 to the tow guy for the mileage beyond 5 miles. The towing guy was really nice. Also my friend JT from work drove along with me in case I needed a ride home, that was extra cool.

This week was index deployment week, which involves a lot of meetings. There were also a couple of meetings having to do with last week’s network maintenance. I don’t like having a lot of meetings… I prefer to be available to people as a resource, and take some of the extra overflow type of work and in general keep people happy and focused. Lots of meetings with people outside my group make me feel sort of cut off. Perhaps I should take a laptop to the meetings and stay connected with irc.

Most of the time that was not meetings on Thursday and Friday was taken up by helping to deploy a new product – it was delivered to us a week and a half ago but we didn’t have a chance to work on it until now, and Friday night was the deadline. So Trip and I stayed quite late on Thursday night to try and figure out why it wasn’t working (Trip was doing most of the heavy lifting and I was mainly moral support and research assistant). After getting the data rate up from being stuck at 4 megabits we were able to get it up to like 8 or 9 (the theoretical max is 50 because we are running two copies at once to the same machine). This was not enough to meet our deadline but it would probably finish Saturday, and our other deployment was likely to run over a bit too.) So we called it “ok for now” but decided we should regroup with the R&D folks Friday morning when they got back in the office.

Weekend Report resubmit

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 07:25:00 +0000

I really did write up a post about my weekend. Did anyone else see it? Ah well, either my computer ate it or LJ did.

Highlights: - Move a few more users and three mushes. Charon is pretty much ready to take down. - Saw jakeaidan for dinner (Restaurant Formerly Known as Cuisineer Six) and dessert (BJ’s) - Saw L and J for dinner Sunday and had shabu-shabu at Kingswood - Spent most of the weekend organizing and reorganizing my MP3s.

Copy of my post in

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 00:16:00 +0000

I posted the following in and I wanted to save it in my own journal for my reference. (It’s a response to someone who deleted a handful of comments to her post because they were “being mean”.)

Psionic update

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 00:46:00 +0000

Still cannot kill Texans with my mind. Tried. Failed.

When Democracy Failed

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 00:15:00 +0000

Bryant might be interested in this, if he hasn’t seen it already. When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History

This is a very interesting essay about a world leader who: - had not been elected by a majority vote - had his political roots in a southernmost state - whose coarse use of language… and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media - used the occasion [of a terrorist attack] - “a sign from God,” he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion - pushed through legislation - in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it - that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus - proposed a single new national agency to protect the security of the homeland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single leader - and surprisingly, is NOT named Bush

Wish for peace II

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:15:00 +0000

Let me just say that I support the the wish for peace meme by linking to my original essay from September 12 2001 A Wish For Peace.

The following quotes written over a year ago still ring true for me.

Despite the sheer magnitude of yesterday’s events, I will still continue to trust people as often as not; it took a long time to learn and will take much more than this to un-learn…

Regime change begins at home

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:02:00 +0000

This article in The Onion was printed January 2001. This was pre-9/11, and yet strangely prophetic. And funny in that “doesn’t it suck to be right” kind of way.

My opinion? Terrorism sucks, but it’s not clear this has anything to do with Saddam or Iraq. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the misdirection and sleight-of-hand that Bush has used to associate Iraq with terrorism is impressive. Not because it shows how clever he (or his aides) actually are, but more because it shows that a large number of Americans are cattle.

Breaking news

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 20:24:00 +0000

Powell Offers Proof of Saddam-Osama Link, February 7, 2003 By Gil Christner

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary of State Colin Powell today offered incontrovertible proof of the long-sought-after link between Saddam Hussein’s Regime and the al Qaeda Terrorist Network.

In a speech before the General Assembly, General Powell was able to show, through a series of “degrees of separation,” how Hussein was merely 6 people away from Osama bin Laden, leader of al Qaeda. Using charts, graphs, and all AV equipment available to the U.N., Powell presented his case to the General Assembly and the entire world, which was watching via television cameras. Never rambling or tentative, a confident Sec. Powell spoke with a voice of authority, outlining the solid connection between the leader of Iraq and the group of terrorists deemed “the most dangerous people to Humanity” by Fox News Network. The series of charts and graphs were presented in 14 different languages, including Farsi, Aramaic and German. French was inexplicably left out of the languages used.

How to write my name in Kanji

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 16:09:00 +0000

OK, I went and bought a book on this subject which contains dozens of possible transcriptions for common names. I feel it’s already earned its value. Here is one possible way to write Guu-Rei-Gu in Japanese: 遇礼仇 - one who treats his enemies with courtesy Would anyone else like me to look up their names? :)

Weekend report

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 21:23:00 +0000

Hello again loyal readers, sorry this is a little late.

Not sure what I did Friday. I seem to remember leaving work more or less on time, like 5:30. I probably had dinner at some point. Oh, that’s right, L came over again and we worked on the first of the user migrations (me!)

Saturday, we went up to Healdsburg to see M’s grandma and parents. A good time was had by all! It was M’s birthday and her mom gave her a huge blanket that she knitted, must have taken a long time. We got back kinda late but not too bad.

Dear register.com

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 09:44:00 +0000

Last week I put in a request to have the IP address changed for one of my domain name servers. The change I requested has not been done yet. Instead, someone at register.com made a mistake and deleted ALL the NS entries for nekodojo.org. This made my domain inactive for approximately 36 hours this weekend.

I need you to do the following.

1. Make the IP change to the domain name server record (host record) as follows. Host ID: H53361427-LROR Host Name: NS1.NEKODOJO.ORG Sponsoring Registrar: Register.com (R71-LROR) (old) IP Address: 209.157.144.25 (new) IP Address: 64.139.47.218

Weekend Report

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 14:06:00 +0000

Wow, this is almost becoming a regular feature.

I bailed from work pretty much on time Friday, came home, and I think I stopped by the Russian deli for piroshki (though that might have been Thursday). M and I had piroshki, mine with a side order of leftover Tom Kha Gai soup. D called after we had finished eating and asked (of course) if we were considering dinner - we informed him that dinner was no longer a concern, but that we were open to any proposals for dessert. Met D and C later for dessert at Max’s.

Register.com failed save vs, stupidity

Sat, 01 Mar 2003 01:00:00 +0000

Well it looks like register.com fumbled my request in a bad way. So if you need to reach me, please try my alternate email “gconnor@nekodojo.COM” or gconnor@av.com. Went something like this.

Q: (12:13 am) Hello, I have moved one of my DNS servers. Can you please change the IP for ns1.nekodojo.org to 64.139.47.218? Thanks.

A: (12:56 am) You’ve requested to modify DNS for your domain name. Please respond to this email … In the ‘Notes’ section, please outline the changes you’d like made to your account and state that you confirm those changes.

Weekend report

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 22:29:00 +0000

Oh is it time for another weekend report? OK. Left work just about on time Friday, and met with Laura here at the house. Laura is going to be doing some work for me on the Nekodojo family of servers, because I kinda would like someone else to do the sysadmin stuff around the dojo for a while, and she gets some internship points out of it. Together we will work on migrating the servers to the new DSL, migrating charon services to neko-base, and other cool projects, time permitting. Excellent!

V-day report followup

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 05:25:00 +0000

Secret entry

In case any of you decide to be envious, yes, I have someone, but no, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m getting any. Still haven’t gotten any since, well, let’s just say well before my last post on the subject. :( Maybe once M gets off her meds we can work on it more. Hmm.

Neighbor report

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 21:34:00 +0000

Well the neighbor had some people over and they were all looking at papers around the kitchen table. And he took his “for sale by owner” sign down. So hopefully that means he will be selling and getting the hell out of here. Usually I can’t tell what is going on inside his place but he had the shades open, which makes me think he was showing off the excellent view to the people inside.

V-day report

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 21:20:00 +0000

Thursday: Got a gift for M at Shane Co (earrings) and stashed it in the trunk for later. The initial idea was to hide it somewhere in the house and give her an innocent-looking box of chocolates with a clue at the bottom, but something else came up (see below). I arrived home and we left again to go look at futons for the spare room.

After choosing a decent futon of the “loveseat” variety (not as wide as a normal couch, it folds out and extends and you bring out the extra piece of futon to stick on the end to make a double bed). The guy took forever to write up the invoice, but we were in no particular hurry. Set up delivery for Saturday.

Weekend report

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 20:42:00 +0000

M’s parents were here most of the weekend. It’s great to see them! We didn’t really do anything special, just watched TV and hung around the house. That was fun and relaxing. We left the house to go to Fry’s once (with a stop at Cost Plus) and a couple times for grocery shopping. We had salisbury steak Friday, Chinese Saturday, and gnocchi Sunday. They left early Monday morning.

Covad guy came today and was actually successful in hooking up DSL. That is cool. Now I can change the new server over to Megapath and start migrating users over.

Vacation report

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 07:47:00 +0000

Wednesday: Crazy day before leaving, trying to wrap up all kinds of loose ends both at work and at home. I decided to work from home so I could run a couple of errands without losing too much time. I had one conference call meeting and one irc virtual meeting. I managed to get a large amount of crap done, both work and home, though I was up until like 1 am.

Week in review

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 00:32:00 +0000

Last Saturday: Thought about going out observing, but my back was bothering me a bit, so we decided to stay home and watch a movie instead. See Stupid Neighbor Tricks for summary of the remainder of the evening.

Last Sunday: Didn’t really feel like going out of the house, due to my back still bugging me, and not wanting to see the neighbor outside. Stayed inside pretty much all day.

Monday: Went to work. buncha meetings.

Neighbor v3

Sun, 26 Jan 2003 23:02:00 +0000

Dear Neighbor,

I’m writing to apologize for the noise earlier tonight. Our roommate is moving out, and she rented a steam cleaning machine, so we used the machine to clean other parts of the carpet as well. Unfortunately the only time we had available to work on this was 7:30 to 8:30 and the machine was due back the following day. This is a one-time event and I don’t expect to have any future needs to clean carpets in the evening.

Stupid Neighbor Tricks

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 00:32:00 +0000

Had some problems with the neigbor making loud noises again. Since this was disturbing our movie, I decided to do something. Since he reacted rudely when I complained before and basically told me not to call him next time, I decided to call the police instead.

If you want the whole story, check out my letter to the management company:

Harriet,

I am a resident/owner at Vista Del Lago. I have been having problems with a neighbor making excessive noise. I’m not exactly sure what to do… can you please let me know what can be done, and/or forward the complaint to the VDL Board members?

Minion daily report.

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 21:11:00 +0000

Received telegram from abroad: “By wire from The Empire of Terafina. Stop. We have founded the terroriry of Hy Brasil, and invite your government to depart your territory and join us. Stop.”

Conferred with Majesty during twice-daily “lap conference”.

Replied to The Empire of Terafina: “Message from His Majesty: We care little about “region” affiliations, but since your country exports some fine Treats, we will forward the request on to our minions for their consideration.”

New nations springing up

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 23:06:00 +0000

Not wanting to be left out, I decided to go to nationstates.net and created The Dictatorship of Bunland. This land differs from other nation states because it is governed by a non-human: a near-domesticated British shorthair mackerel tabby cat named Bunny.

Since Bunny doesn’t speak English (and by most accounts understands very little of it as well) the business of the nation is carried out by his Minions. Those Minions in favor with Bunny may make policy decisions from time to time. Those Minions who fall out of favor are scratched and bitten, though they may be given a chance to earn favor again by lobbying him with treats. (Yes the currency is the “treat”. We use paper money here… we’re not savages… the name “treat” is of mostly archaic/historical significance but the paper currency still bears caricatures of little fishies, chickens, etc. – a remnant of the days when we were still on the Savory Treat Standard.) Some of the more liberal-minded Minions have collected themselves into a Parliament, but this is more to make their nation appear legitimate and less about making policy decisions fairly than one might at first suspect.

Year in review

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 22:03:00 +0000

Things I wanted to do this year Write more Roleplay Go out with friends Exercise

How it really turned out Exercise: Exercised regularly during the end of May and most of June, most of August, and pretty much blew it off the rest of the time. Writing: This has been inconsistent, just don’t seem to have the excess energy or enthusiasm for it. Roleplaying: There was Merlin’s game that has wrapped up, but nothing really other than that. I probably need to get involved with a Mush in order to get more roleplaying and I am afraid of getting wrapped up in something that takes too much time. Go out with friends- I am doing better on this but we are still a bit constrained because M prefers to stay home a lot.

Switching servers, migration plan

Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:51:00 +0000

I am starting to slowly switch services over from charon to neko-base (two servers here at home). The first step has been started, which is to duplicate all DNS information to both and start switching over domains to point to the new servers. If you’re a charon user, you may have already received mail from me about that.

The idea behind a slow migration rather than a quick one is so that each service will be impacted for a minimal amount of time – hopefully no more than an hour of inconvenience to the owners, and no Web/Mail outage observed by their clients. For Mush clients there will be an interruption, either the users will not be able to play during the switchover, or if the owner prefers, the users can stay logged in to the old server while the new one is being set up (and they should not do any building or send/change their +mail). The slower migration of services to the new host also allows me to double-check the services we are providing, to drop any services that are no longer required, and change the setup on the new machine if needed.

Tolkien

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 12:34:00 +0000

Happy Birthday!

Today would be J.R.R. Tolkien’s eleventy-first birthday.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/books/01/03/film.hobbit.reut/

For Pixel

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 23:32:00 +0000

I wrote this in response to Pixel’s post. It is a suggested reply to someone who is “offended” at a web site. Apologies for the duplication, but I wanted to save it in my own journal too for future reference.

Mafia

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 22:01:00 +0000

A friend of mine pointed me to this (as a cool party game) http://www.princeton.edu/~mafia/

Holidays in review

Thu, 26 Dec 2002 20:20:00 +0000

Christmas was good. Went to see M’s grandmother on Tuesday. Her parents and a couple cousins and other friends dropped by. My mom also came down (she lives further North so it is a good halfway meeting point) so that was good to see her too. Drove back really late Tuesday night, stopping by to see J and A, finally getting home at 1:30. Went to bed about 2:00.

Wednesday, got up and went to see my grandparents. This was only a 35 minute drive so that was good.

Audience participation

Tue, 17 Dec 2002 20:41:00 +0000

Today’s poll: What else should gconnor write about

Please answer. If you want to hear about something not listed here, please reply to the post. (If you are not a LJ user, you will not be able to submit the poll, but you can add a reply comment to the entry). Results of the referendum are not legally binding and by participating (or not) you agree that gconnor will continue to write about whatever he pleases.

Management style, delegating, etc.

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 21:09:00 +0000

I posted the following as a response in someone else’s journal, but it seems to be good writing and somewhat relevant and revealing. So, I will reproduce most of it here.

I have pretty excellent communication skills, so in general I’m a pretty good mid-level manager. I seem to have avoided getting promoted into uselessness (“reaching my level” as students of the Peter Principle would have it) and I now have about the right balance of Doing Things and Other Stuff. Life is pretty good.

going down to southpark

Sun, 15 Dec 2002 22:47:00 +0000

Spent some time with the southpark character maker which looks like it has improved a bit since the first time I played with it.

Revised userpics are here (added three). The 100x100 userpic size doesn’t show the full detail but the larger image is here on my server. I managed to make two of the t-shirts readable, the third one was just hopeless at the 100x100 size, so it remains a blur… but hopefully my homies will know what it’s supposed to say when they see it.

Christmas gift idea

Wed, 11 Dec 2002 23:38:00 +0000

For the sports fans on your Christmas list, behold Jesus Inspirational Sport Statues.

Hey angie

Wed, 11 Dec 2002 20:28:00 +0000

have you seen this syndication feed: theonering_net

Is the Friendsfriends page useful at all?

Fri, 06 Dec 2002 23:27:00 +0000

The Friends’ Friends page is an interesting way to waste time reading posts from random people you probably don’t know. (The link here is for my friends’ friends, but you can substitute your own name I think. Might work for paid members and not others, I’m not sure.

The problem with this feature is that if you have any communities at all in your friends list, those community members show up as “your friends’ friends”. Bah, this is next to useless, because I have bookmarked groups with huge numbers of users like paidmembers, polyamory, etc. Even if I wanted to temporarily remove those communities from my friends list and enjoy the friendsfriends for a while, now I’m stuck reading community entries (because my friends have bookmarked those communities as well). I don’t think the filter feature works with friendsfriends at all.

for everyone else

Wed, 04 Dec 2002 21:59:00 +0000

l33t romeo+juliet er, a pretty funny animation of romeo story using leet speak (description added for merlin)

For le_merle

Wed, 04 Dec 2002 21:41:00 +0000

Alcohol

Workout log for December

Sun, 01 Dec 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Sun 12/01: Mon 12/02: Tue 12/03: Wed 12/04: Thu 12/05: Fri 12/06: Sat 12/07: Sun 12/08: Mon 12/09: Tue 12/10: Wed 12/11: Thu 12/12: Fri 12/13: Sat 12/14: Sun 12/15: Mon 12/16: Tue 12/17: Wed 12/18: Thu 12/19: Fri 12/20: Sat 12/21: Sun 12/22: Mon 12/23: Tue 12/24: Wed 12/25: Thu 12/26: Fri 12/27: Sat 12/28: Sun 12/29: Walking, 30 min (yay) Mon 12/30: Tue 12/31:

Sun, 24 Nov 2002 11:07:00 +0000

It looks like Amazon is taking pre-orders for the My Neighbor Totoro DVD. According to Amazon, this DVD will be out on Dec. 3 and is produced by Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video. It does not say whether it is dubbed or subtitled.

There was one negative review, by someone who said that “this DVD is great for your children if they haven’t seen it yet, but don’t but it for your collection - wait and hope that Disney releases it” and sort of implies that lots of special features are missing.

lame again

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 00:12:00 +0000

I am obviously way behind my goal of 2000 words a day. I blame my job for this. This site launch was not supposed to totally eat like six whole days of my life, and two more sizeable chunks of evening time. I consider my job quite rewarding, even though it is not always fun, and l am usually satisfied, and proud of myself and my team. However, this week I feel like I have been sorely used. I am a hero at work, but there is a cost.

10k

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 08:10:00 +0000

10,000 words as of this morning. Added a bit to the end of one and the beginning of the next. Writing: Home (1805 words) Writing: The next day (2323 words)

Story stalled

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 01:16:00 +0000

Story writing has stalled for a bit, due to work. (We met a huge deadline, it was brutal due to last-minute issues, and the wildfire seems to be 80% contained :)

I feel a bit guilty for leaving Veldan hanging. The month is almost half over and I am only like 18% done. Oh well, I will try to make up for some lost time.

Need to come up with some adversity for Veldan to face, or some adventure other than training. Need to figure out how he feels about things and what motivates him - such as the character worksheet items.

lame!

Wed, 06 Nov 2002 00:05:00 +0000

592 words today. And I erased some material I had accidentally duplicated yesterday, so it was a net gain of about 400.

Lost some time to dicking around with queryint (1 hr) and gladiator (1 hr). I was really only paying attention here from 9:30 to 12:00 with a couple distractions. So I really need like 4-5 hours per day if I am going to do this.

I wanted to do 2000 per day which would have been 10000 by now. I am officially 1 day behind so I have to make that up.

Ack, this is getting harder

Tue, 05 Nov 2002 03:13:00 +0000

Ack, this is getting harder, not easier. I have been at this for like 4 hours and have only 1100 tonight.

1. I lost some time with work foo, I was working on work between 6:00 and 8:30. Can’t do that if I want to write and also sleep.

2. Spent some time talking to M about my characters and how I really don’t know them yet. It was interesting, as distractions go.

Recap so far

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 02:33:00 +0000

Dusk (2387 words) this one is pretty much done Extra material: exercises for mages in training (125 words) background material Elori (259 words) background material Elori background data (188 words) background material Visualization exercise (1059 words) This is a flash-forward Home (742 words) This should come after Dusk Timeline, updated (408 words) more background material Total: 5168 words

And yes, I have a script to figure this out for me, now, not just the total but the breakdown of each chapter or article. Isn’t that great?? Isn’t caffeine WONDERFUL!?!?

Good Night

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 00:41:00 +0000

5180 words. That pretty much means: 500 Friday, 2600 Saturday, 2000 Sunday. I was hoping to use the weekend to get a bit ahead and make up for Friday, but it looks like I am barely holding my own.

Anyway, 5180 means I am 10.360% novelist. I am averaging 1666 words per day, which is the bare minimum - this allows for no days off. I would rather get 2000 every day and allow for 5 days off during the month. (On the other hand, if I count Friday as a day off, I’m actually 1000 over. I should be able to make up the 1000 and earn an additional day off :)

Done for tonight

Sun, 03 Nov 2002 00:32:00 +0000

Added more to Dusk - 2388 words. Started on the next section, 408 words. Other extra material brings me up to 3189. Excellent!

Ball is rolling

Sat, 02 Nov 2002 18:41:00 +0000

1909 words so far. Some of these are extra material, like the list of exercises for mages. Oh well, it still counts :)

I skipped around a bit, so if you really want to read things in order, don’t read yet. If you do read, I appreciate any and all comments though.

Workout log for November

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Probably won’t work out this month very much because I’m busy busy busy. Fri 11/01: Sat 11/02: Sun 11/03: Mon 11/04: Tue 11/05: Wed 11/06: Thu 11/07: Fri 11/08: Sat 11/09: Sun 11/10: Mon 11/11: Tue 11/12: Wed 11/13: Thu 11/14: Fri 11/15: Sat 11/16: Sun 11/17: Mon 11/18: Tue 11/19: Wed 11/20: Thu 11/21: Fri 11/22: Sat 11/23: Sun 11/24: Mon 11/25: Tue 11/26: Wed 11/27: Thu 11/28: Fri 11/29: Sat 11/30:

Writing log for November

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Fri 11/01: 500 (500) Sat 11/02: 2680 (3180) Sun 11/03: 2000 (5180) Mon 11/04: 1661 (6841) Tue 11/05: 358 (7199) lame Wed 11/06: 2053 (9252) Thu 11/07: 231 (9483) distracted Fri 11/08: zip Sat 11/09: zilch Sun 11/10: zero Mon 11/11: nada Tue 11/12: uh-uh Wed 11/13: nope Thu 11/14: 688 (10171) lame Fri 11/15: 529 (10700) Sat 11/16: Sun 11/17: Mon 11/18: Tue 11/19: Wed 11/20: Thu 11/21: Fri 11/22: Sat 11/23: Sun 11/24: Mon 11/25: Tue 11/26: Wed 11/27: Thu 11/28: Fri 11/29: Sat 11/30:

It's a start

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 02:29:00 +0000

Not a very brave start, but it’s something. 310 words so far.

wordcount script

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 23:47:00 +0000

Might be useful if you decide to use a LJ as your writing area. This script saves the current month of writing in the journal, grabbing only the subject and entry text, and then counts the words. Any tags (html or lj tags) are included in the saved file but not in the wordcount.

Created another journal

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 23:45:00 +0000

I’m using an alternate journal gconnor_writing to store my writing for the next month, to keep it separate from personal entries.

I expect the writing may be bad, and will definitely be unedited. You may decide to wait for the finished product rather than reading it in real time. If you want to tune in anyway, you may click to the new journal’s info page and use the plus icon to add it to your friends.

Veldan story overview

Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:26:00 +0000

Overview: This is a “character” story according to the MICE categories. This is really Veldan’s “coming of age” story. It takes place over the time from when he is 19 to when he is 25 (or the story might wrap up sooner, I don’t want to fast-forward too much). Basically I will start when he is 19 and seeking his place, and I will wrap up whenever he finds his new comfortable place in the world. He may or may not be done training at the end of the story, but his attraction to Elori will be resolved one way or another.

Veldan additional info, chat with Merlin

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 22:39:00 +0000

Here is an update to the previous entry. I chatted with Merlin about the info I wrote (Merlin is Altaia’s creator) and also about Veldan’s history and the motivations of the other two characters…

Veldan story ideas

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 00:27:00 +0000

Musing about Veldan’s mentor/patron and the patron’s daughter

Weekend update

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 22:24:00 +0000

Yesterday, M pulled a muscle in her back while we were getting ready to go to aelfsciene’s party. Not a happy thing. We were able to call the doctor and get a quick prescription called in to Walgreen’s, which I ran and picked up, also getting a picture frame to go with aelfsciene’s housewarming gift. I got a burger for M and got her situated on the couch, then went off to the party anyway.

For writers: Info about the MICE

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 14:36:00 +0000

Here’s some info for writers who are not quite sure where the “beginning, middle and end” of their story should be. How To Write Science Fiction And Fantasy is a great book by Orson Scott Card.

We had the fortunate opportunity to see Orson Scott Card speak at a convention last year. He is a great guy, and cares a lot about helping amateur writers with advice. He led a workshop session where audience members collaborated to create a new science-fiction world, by asking “Why,” and “To what result/effect”. This was a great way to establish a cause-and-effect chain, and if the cause-and-effect chain is worked out in some detail, it can be an excellent story setting and a springboard for a number of stories. This was quite interesting as well… I will elaborate more on this if there is interest.

A possible main character

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 12:29:00 +0000

I am seriously thinking about using Veldan as the subject for my writing. Veldan is a character from Merlin’s game, Altaia, which I play in every other week.

Veldan’s History (Written as character narrative)

I am a half-orc. My mother was a half-orc. She bore four children by her first husband (not my father). He was a jeweler, and he died 5 years before I was born, during a robbery of his shop. After his death, my mother continue to work as a jeweler, but was not as good at it and her two oldest children also started working to support the family.

Ideas for generating characters...

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 00:16:00 +0000

Ideas for generating characters…

I wish I had something that would come up with random character backgrounds, like Central Casting. (Friends- If you have borrowed my copy of Central Casting, please let me know. I think I loaned it to someone in my Altaia game group, but I’m not sure.) Central Casting has a lot of detail, and creates a pretty complete background, but it has drawbacks. 1. it takes a lot of time to generate one character, 2. it is appropriate for medieval/fantasy only, and 3. I have currently mislaid my copy so I can’t use it anyway.

just another day in paradise

Tue, 22 Oct 2002 00:23:00 +0000

OK, I just got a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking and I am playing around with it to see how well it recognizes my voice. It seems to be doing a credible job so far. It looks like I can talk into just about any application where I could type, but I have to be in DragonPad in order to correct or select previous text. I think I can type faster than I talk anyway, so it remains to be seen how valuable this program really is.

Another partial dream

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:26:00 +0000

Some bits of the dream from this morning. In school, talking to some other school mates, everyone had school uniforms on. In a dorm room, still in bed, but listening to other kids on their way to class just outside the door. Getting in trouble for parking in the bus zone, then having to appear before a judge-type person to explain my behavior. Explaining that I was with my girlfriend (pretty sure it was Michelle) and that she had to go to the bathroom which is why I had to stop there Being told by the judge-type person “Oh well, that’s OK then” and then having to clear out of the auditorium before the next event started

To do list

Sun, 20 Oct 2002 12:54:00 +0000

New server is up.

Done: Install RedHat 7.2 Download errata and install (Download time 12h 30m at 21.3 Kbytes/sec) Configure sudoers Configure ntpd chkconfig gpm off Start httpd and edit config so I can read docs

To do: Configure iptables Unconfigure ipchains Test masq routing

It will probably be at least a week or two until I can start moving services from the old server to the new.

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 12:39:00 +0000

I’m collecting story ideas for nanowrimo again. I think it would be cool to do a mystery, but you have to kind of have a story/solution in mind going in. Hmm.

Vague bits of dream from last night…

Living in a post-apocalytic society (a la Jerimiah) Having to crawl down into a deep pit/tunnel to get something working again

In other news, I am installing a new server to replace Charon - I got a refurbished pc from Dell, 1.7Ghz 512M/30G DVD,etc for $550 +tax. Not bad. It included XP professional - I’m erasing it now but maybe I can reuse the XP on my other pc. I wonder what the difference is between home and professional xp?

Dream: Weird Airport

Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:49:00 +0000

I’m not sure why I was at the airport. Miche was with me, and someone else I knew but now I can’t remember. We were part of a tour group or something, and we had gotten off a plane and crossed a street, then gone up some concrete steps to where we were supposed to catch a bus for our group. We went into a building to sit down and wait for the bus…

Writing practice

Mon, 14 Oct 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Today’s writing brought to you by the King of Cups, Eight of Wands, Four of Cups, and Seven of Swords.

Writing practice

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 22:33:00 +0000

Not much writing practice tonight. I am instead going walking to 7-11. However, I have some cards I should study: Prince of Pentacles, Queen of Swords, Four of Swords, and Prince of Wands.

Funny site

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 16:51:00 +0000

This makes me laugh: Strongbad’s Email

Writing practice

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 23:50:00 +0000

Today’s random writing is brought to you by: the Five of Swords, the Four of Cups, and the Ace of Wands.

5S. Five of Swords Tempering, purifying, cutting away. Energy, courage, defense of the wronged, might for right. That which is temporal will be cut away or burned away. If reversed: Cruelty, wanton destruction, misuse of power. The subject of this card (not necessarily the Querent) has not yet learned that we receive what we give, or that we are all one, and that what is done to one is done to all.

sorrow

Thu, 03 Oct 2002 22:16:00 +0000

I’m changing my userpic to “sorrow” for the time being, to express condolences and well-wishes for aelfsciene who lost a loved one today. Be well.

Please excuse the lame drawing, but I wanted to create something from scratch (and I’m no kind of artist).

Workout log for October

Tue, 01 Oct 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Tue 10/01: none Wed 10/02: none Thu 10/03: none Fri 10/04: walking, 30 min Sat 10/05: walking, 30 min Sun 10/06: none Mon 10/07: none Tue 10/08: none Wed 10/09: walking, 30 min Thu 10/10: walking, 30 min Fri 10/11: none Sat 10/12: um, does hauling computers up and down stairs count? Sun 10/13: twice maybe? Mon 10/14: none Tue 10/15: none Wed 10/16: none Thu 10/17: none Fri 10/18: none Sat 10/19: none Sun 10/20: none Mon 10/21: none Tue 10/22: none Wed 10/23: none Thu 10/24: none Fri 10/25: none Sat 10/26: none Sun 10/27: none Mon 10/28: none Tue 10/29: none Wed 10/30: none Thu 10/31: none

Quick poll

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 21:07:00 +0000

Servers foo

Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:48:00 +0000

I would like to upgrade Charon, and then use the old Charon as the new Poly. This would allow me to retire the old Poly which is starting to show its age.

The new Charon should be a small-ish PC (physical size) so that it can hide under the desk neatly. The current model has a 10G drive. This should probably be closer to 30G in order to be able to back up stuff onto the server from our personal PCs. Or we could go with a 9G drive and add a second 30G drive for backup/extra storage in order to be more flexible later.

Life improvement list

Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:37:00 +0000

Things I would like to change about my life, in no particular order: Diet, cooking Exercise Get a new house Daily writing Spend more time with friends Gaming Learn Japanese Learn Java

Week in review

Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:20:00 +0000

I got up at 9:00 this morning to work on upgrades to the mailing list software on poly. Everything went smoothly, and we are now running mailman-2.0.13 (last version was 2.0.5). As a side effect I noticed that there is one list with 19 messages waiting for moderator approval, and the moderator’s old address doesn’t work anymore. Everything seems to be OK with the new version, however.

I feel like this week was pretty productive as far as work is concerned. I still feel that there is a lot more stuff we could be doing to improve our operation, but that we don’t have enough staff on hand to get ahead. Still we were able to clear out some old pending items, so that is forward progress.

Writing practice

Mon, 16 Sep 2002 23:40:00 +0000

Brought to you today by the Nine of Pentacles, Temperance, and The Sun.

Sat, 14 Sep 2002 09:04:00 +0000

I discovered the Default View feature; this is useful if you have lots of people on your friend list and don’t want to read them all, all the time. I already had a filter-group set up for this, so I just renamed it to “Default View”.

I actually read most of the folks I have marked as “friends” but there are a couple folks I wanted to include as friends just so they could see any friends-only entries.

Wed, 11 Sep 2002 22:46:00 +0000

Hello, not much going on. I haven’t had much time to write, probably because I have been more tired than usual. I have been waking up tired, despite going to bed at a reasonable time. Nothing serious, I think it’s just because the air mattress has gone a bit soft.

P.S. All the media-driven frenzy regarding “9/11 memorial” can go to Hell, thank you. I prefer to remember a bit, perhaps forget a bit, but I will do so in my own way. I don’t appreciate all you TV, newspaper and radio folks trying to sell more media pre-empting normal shows and trying to be the Most Sensitive, Most In-Depth, Most Whatever 9/11 anniversary memorial Thing.

Writing practice

Sun, 01 Sep 2002 19:13:00 +0000

Today’s random writing is brought to you by: Six of Cups, Prince of Pentacles, The Stars

Workout log for September

Sun, 01 Sep 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Sun 9/01: none Mon 9/02: none Tue 9/03: none Wed 9/04: none Thu 9/05: none Fri 9/06: none Sat 9/07: walking, 30 min

Sun 9/08: none Mon 9/09: none Tue 9/10: none Wed 9/11: none Thu 9/12: none Fri 9/13: none Sat 9/14: none

Sun 9/15: none Mon 9/16: walking, 30 min Tue 9/17: none Wed 9/18: none Thu 9/19: none Fri 9/20: none Sat 9/21: none

Sun 9/22: walking, 30 min Mon 9/23: none Tue 9/24: none Wed 9/25: none Thu 9/26: none Fri 9/27: none Sat 9/28: none

Writing practice

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 17:59:00 +0000

Today’s random writing is brought to you by: Seven of Wands, The Magician, and Three of Wands

New friends

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:57:00 +0000

I just added a couple folks to my friends list. No, I don’t think we have met, but we have some friends in common and some shared interests, so this is one way to say HI.

Chores

Wed, 28 Aug 2002 14:42:00 +0000

Yay, I cleaned my desk! Of course now I have a crapload of filing to do, so cross off one item and add one more. This is sort of like progress, I guess.

More chores

Wed, 28 Aug 2002 05:24:00 +0000

Installed air conditioner (temporary installation, involves cardboard and packing tape. Made dinner. Did the rest of the dishes. Updated to-do list. Failed to do curtains, mainly because it’s phucking hot and the AC got bumped up in priority.

Oh and M and I got this new diet/exercise plan, called something like the Six Week Total Body Makeover. It allows you to customize exercise and diet to your particular body style. For me it’s a minor variation on “Eat a reasonable balance, watch portion sizes, and do something aerobic to burn fat” since I didn’t really want to shape my body or bulk up, though there are some shaping exercises I might do. For M there are more exercises and a diet that’s about the same with slightly smaller portions. Anyway, it should be interesting.

How to write my name in Kanji

Wed, 28 Aug 2002 02:11:00 +0000

How to write my name in Kanji Sort of a work in progress This site had some suggested ways that various names could be written. This faq provides an overview of why the process is not straight-forward. Lines with English translations are all dictionary entries from this site. (Left hand is phonetic spelling, middle is Kanji, right is English.

Phonetic: ぐれっぐ (gureggu)

Suggestion 1: 遇礼具遇ぐうする遇する to entertain/to treat 礼れい礼 expression of gratitude 具ぐ具 tool/means/ingredients/counter for armor, suits, sets of furniture

Let there be AIR

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:51:00 +0000

3:20 pm Installed air conditioner 3:21 pm Turned the puppy on.

Dream notes

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 07:27:00 +0000

Today’s dream involves me on a train and a bus.

Vacation

Mon, 26 Aug 2002 13:54:00 +0000

OK, first day of my vacation is here. We are planning to use this week to finish up various chores and home improvement tasks (see my to-do list in previous entry). We have already managed to do a few things, most of the big stuff is still remaining to do. The big stuff is mainly painting the rest of the bathroom and installing the cove base and the various wall fixtures again.

Things to do list

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 19:00:00 +0000

Would like to do this week:

Clean up Clean up bedroom: Heater, TV stand, futon frame Clean up patio: Wood, Wire fence material, Cat kennel, Litter boxes, Extra area rug, chair Clean up kitchen: Cookbooks, Tools, Duct tape, Rice cooker, Sandwich grill, Stuff on cutting board Clean up my desk File papers Clean up living room: Box of computer stuff, bag of games, two cat carriers, stuff on hearth Clean up dining room: Extension cord, tools, bag of games, old receipts, bags, papers

Spam rant part two

Thu, 22 Aug 2002 02:14:00 +0000

Remember my spam rant from Monday? Well it looks like one of these ideas is not new, and is proposed as a draft for a future RFC. It is here.

Here is my feedback to the author…

I hope it gets adopted and accepted by people. We have a domain that was used for free email before (altavista.com) and even though we stopped the service, we still get hundreds of complaints of “Your user sent me this spam!” - all of them are forged. So I think it would be excellent to get MS records in place, even if acceptance is not widespread, all it takes is a couple large receivers to adopt it and spammers will learn to avoid domains with MS records.

Spam fighting ideas

Mon, 19 Aug 2002 23:34:00 +0000

I have been thinking about ways to alter email programs (readers, servers, protocols) so that sending spam would be more difficult, and hopefully more expensive and less feasible for spammers. Yes, this is a tremendously difficult problem, but it is also a very important one, so much so that I am surprised it hasn’t been solved already.

A friend posted this link which is a filtering system based on this idea. It’s a very interesting way to judge whether something is spam based on parsing out all the words and tokens from two large containers of mail: one with spam, and one with your legitimate mail. It’s a cool idea because it is adaptive, and the criteria is set by each user (or each group that chooses to share info about good and bad messages).

More story ideas

Sun, 11 Aug 2002 01:26:00 +0000

More story ideas. These could be used for either a tabletop rpg, a mush, written stories, or a combination of things.

Workout log for August

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 12:00:00 +0000

8/1: none 8/2: none 8/3: none

8/4: none 8/5: none 8/6: none 8/7: none 8/8: none 8/9: none 8/10: none

8/11: walking, 30 min 8/12: none 8/13: walking, 30 min 8/14: walking, 30 min 8/15: none 8/16: none 8/17: none

8/18: walking, 30 min 8/19: none 8/20: none 8/21: none 8/22: none 8/23: none 8/24: walking, 40 min

8/25: up and down stairs 6 times :) 8/26: none 8/27: walking, 30 min 8/28: none 8/29: none 8/30: walking, 30 min 8/31: walking, 30 min

Tue, 30 Jul 2002 23:45:00 +0000

Monday: Took air conditioner back to Fry’s. The guy wanted to give me a hard time and asked why I didn’t notice the damage until after I took it home. I just said I was in a hurry when I bought it, and waited to see what else he would say. I guess he expected the manager to give me a hard time too, but the other guy just came and entered his code, and he seemed to be more distracted by the new data entry screen than by my return. Anyway, I won’t be buying any more major appliances from Fry’s… what a hassle that was.

Aie! Quizzes!

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 19:37:00 +0000

Friends (and you know who you are) - please, if you’re going to post quiz results, or anything with pictures in it, please put in an lj-cut tag!

If I have you bookmarked on my friends page, it’s probably because I like reading what you write, and you’re cool enough to pay attention to. Take that as a compliment! But personally I don’t really care for quizzes, because they’re 1) they’re basically ads, 2) they contain large pictures, and 3) it’s something you didn’t write, and I much prefer to read about what you think, feel, and believe.

Pain

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 18:03:00 +0000

I am switching my user pic to the “pain” pic this week, to show sympathy and support for gaaneden. Hang in there!

Doing battle with the air conditioner, again

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 12:24:00 +0000

Good thing: Finally got the old air conditioner installed in the window. Bad thing: It’s not quite powerful enough to cool the front room. Good thing: We installed some curtains to separate the front room from the dining room. Bad thing: Still not enough cooling power, or the curtains aren’t working well. Good: Bought a new air conditioner on July 20. Bad: New air conditioner is way too heavy to haul upstairs myself. Good: My friend John helped me haul it upstairs! yay! Bad: Haven’t been motivated to install it until this weekend. Good: Motivated. Saturday. Bad: AC unit has a corner caved in. Outside of case looks terrible. Good: Who cares about cosmetic damage? I sure don’t. Bend it back out. Bad: Whoah, there’s some copper pipes right inside there that look bent up too. Good: Well I should probably test this thing before I rip the old one out of the window. Bad: No cool air, fan just moves around air that’s the same temperature as the room. Good: This thing comes apart for easy installation, maybe I should take the outside case off Bad: Oh look, this copper pipe is bent all to hell in three places. Good: Well I guess I should give it one more try, I wonder if I could straighten this pipe here Bad: No good, the pump part heats up pretty good but doesn’t deliver heated liquid to the radiator. Bad: OK looks like I’m going to have to take it back. Where the hell is the receipt? Good: OK found the receipt. Bad: Now how am I going to get it back down the stairs? Good: Well I have been putting off buying a hand truck, might as well do that now. Bad: Now I need to figure out how to tie this box to the hand truck because it’s so huge

Random story ideas involving genetics

Sun, 28 Jul 2002 00:08:00 +0000

Various ideas that may or may not become part of a story.

One down, three to go

Sat, 27 Jul 2002 21:12:00 +0000

I went to dinner at California Noodle House, and had noodle soup (#7) spring rolls, soda lemonade and cafe su da (sp?). Everything was excellent. I also poked at the to-do list a bit more.

I am slowly cleaning up my desk. I guess I should put away some clothes from the pile on the bed so I will have a place to sleep.

I was dismayed to find a flea yesterday, jumping about in the bathroom. I killed it, but there are probably more. Well, we have been saying how we would like to get hardwood floors, maybe now is the time. Anyway I need to get some boric acid and sprinkle it into the carpet.

Home Alone

Sat, 27 Jul 2002 18:24:00 +0000

Well, Michelle made it safely to her plane, though it was too late to check her bag, it was small enough to carry on, so everything seems to have worked out. She is going to visit her friend amcnh.

I am not sure what I am going to do with myself for 10 days, but there are a few things on the to-do list I could do, I guess. (See previous entry)

To do list

Sat, 27 Jul 2002 18:04:00 +0000

This is the current to-do list. Both long-term and short-term items seem to be jumbled together. Hmm.

Mom update

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 06:41:00 +0000

(If you’re reading this, it’s because I trust you. Not all my friends have access to this info, so please don’t discuss it with others. Thanks :)

Background: My mom lives alone, on a piece of property in Willits, which is about 2.5 hrs North of SF. She has a tiny trailer (not a mobile home, a trailer) and has about 10 small dogs, and about 8-10 each of chickens, ducks, peacocks, and a couple other things I don’t quite remember. She does not work, and is instead on permanent disability and gets paid a small amount from the state. Actually, she does work a bit, cleaning houses here and there, but it has to be under the table or she may lose her state benefits.

Nothing in particular update

Mon, 22 Jul 2002 20:19:00 +0000

Everything went fine with the Noc shift and with being on call this weekend, no big emergencies. I was a bit tired last week from a couple of early-morning wake-up calls, but that is not such a terrible thing. Since DB (my boss) and I each covered a shift, now we have some issues to take back to people about what was annoying or what could be improved. Now, about that status report, is it Monday already? (Hee hee :)

NOC

Sat, 20 Jul 2002 22:08:00 +0000

I’m taking a shift in the NOC today to fill in for someone who couldn’t make it. (Actually I’m here now and it’s almost over, 2 more hours to go.) It’s not as insanely boring as I feared, I have my laptop playing mp3s and I’m just relaxing, it’s cool. Nothing has really exploded yet.

Totoro

Sat, 20 Jul 2002 22:06:00 +0000

We saw My Neighbor Totoro on Friday during lunch. Excellent flick! It is made by Miyazaki (Kiki’s, Mononoke, etc). It is probably made for a slightly younger audience than Mononoke, but is quite enjoyable for both kids and grown-ups.

I want to get a lot more Miyazaki stuff on DVD but apparently it is hard, they aren’t distributed in the US so you have to get imports. Angie says this is because “Disney sucks” and I believe her :)

Anniversary dinner

Thu, 18 Jul 2002 21:08:00 +0000

We had our 10th wedding anniversary last month (June 21). We celebrated by going to Mudds (San Ramon) with a few friends.

Mudd’s is a *really* nice restaurant, a block or so away from Crow Canyon Road in San Ramon. Really excellent food, and much of the produce and herbs, etc. are grown on the premises. I highly recommend it, and it is totally worth the drive.

We had a somewhat small gathering, Miche and I, Jeff and Laura, Corrii, Darren, and John. Darren and John were also at our wedding 10 years ago, so I was happy they were able to make it. I know there are others of you who would have liked to be there, but we will make it up to you soon… I’m actually glad we had kind of a small group.

Low-fat versus low-carb diets

Mon, 15 Jul 2002 03:00:00 +0000

This is an interesting (and LONG) article on low fat vs low carb diets.

My reaction is here…

Month in review

Sun, 07 Jul 2002 09:17:00 +0000

I have done battle with the AC and won. It is now running and the temp in the front room has gone from 78.1 to 75.6 in about an hour. Anyway, the effect is not instantaneous, but it may keep the room cooler than the outside. (Usually it is the reverse.)

I know I have not written in a while. Sorry about that. I have been a bit distracted with work, and with anniversaries and weddings and stuff. I’ll try to recap some of the things that have happened in the last month or so.

Workout log

Mon, 01 Jul 2002 12:00:00 +0000

7/1: none 7/2: none 7/3: none 7/4: none 7/5: none 7/6: none

7/7: none 7/8: none 7/9: none 7/10: none 7/11: none 7/12: walking, 30 min 7/13: none

7/14: none 7/15: none 7/16: none 7/17: none 7/18: none 7/19: none 7/20: none

7/21: none 7/22: none 7/23: walking, 30 min 7/24: walking, 30 min 7/25: none 7/26: none 7/27: none

7/28: none 7/29: does hauling the air conditioner back downstairs count? I was out of breath… :) 7/30: none 7/31: none

Power outage

Sat, 15 Jun 2002 06:28:00 +0000

We had a brief power outage here at the house. Charon was not on UPS due to previous stupidity that I delayed fixing, but it seems to have come back up OK. Poly was on UPS, its uptime is 356 days.

If you notice anything wrong with either of them, let me know. You can email me, or if you are a LJ friend you can use my userinfo page here to page me. (If you’re not on my LJ friend list, check my home webpage for pager info).

Workout log

Sat, 01 Jun 2002 23:45:00 +0000

6/1: bike ride, 45 min

6/2: bike ride, 35 min 6/3: none 6/4: walking, 30 min 6/5: walking, 30 min (wt. 261) 6/6: none 6/7: none 6/8: walking, 30 min

6/9: none 6/10: walking, 25 min (wt 259) 6/11: walking, 30 min 6/12: none 6/13: none (work late) 6/14: none (game) 6/15: none (wt 257)

6/16: bike ride, 30 min 6/17: walking, 30 min 6/18: walking, 30 min 6/19: walking, 30 min 6/20: walking, 30 min 6/21: none 6/22: walking, 30 min

Home-made sushi

Thu, 30 May 2002 12:55:00 +0000

After making some rolls for myself and M night before last, I had a LOT of ingredients left, so we descended on friends L and J last night, bearing sushi ingredients, and made a whole mess of rolls.

Everything turned out good. The rice was not 100% done enough, but the difference here was subtle. Now I REALLY want to have an actual sushi party with lots more people and share the joy :)

What the hell is this?

Mon, 27 May 2002 23:09:00 +0000

Today’s meme brought to you by mactavish: http://www.antispin.net/~martine/cgi-bin/insanity.cgi?gconnor Try it with your username or your friends'

Summer haircut

Mon, 27 May 2002 22:19:00 +0000

New picture! It is not a great picture but it shows off my new summer haircut.

This is mostly so that those of you who know me won’t scream when you see me.

Bigger version here.

Added some friends

Sat, 25 May 2002 21:33:00 +0000

I have added some friends to my friends page. Welcome back :)

I have set up some groups that allow me to watch some friends’ journals and not others, depending on my mood at the time. So if you’re on my friends list, I may or may not be reading your journal religiously, but you will still have access to any friends-only posts I have made (though these are rare).

Half-assed diet

Sat, 25 May 2002 11:00:00 +0000

I am going to give the “half-assed” diet another try. The idea (as explained to me by Ambar) is to eat half of what you normally eat, and you will lose half your ass.

So I am taking baby steps, like asking for “no rice” with the cafeteria meals, getting salad instead of entree selection, half a doughnut instead of a whole one, etc. I managed to avoid pizza twice this week by getting salad instead. I got Chicken Marsala from By Th Bucket (reasonably cool italian place) and put half on a plate and half in a tupperware.

Workout log

Wed, 22 May 2002 12:59:00 +0000

Sun 5/19: bike ride (wt. 272) Mon 5/20: walking Tue 5/21: stairs, and walking (wt. 268) 5/22: Walked to 7-11, 30 min 5/23: Nothing today 5/24: bike ride, 30 min 5/25: Walking, 30 min

5/26: none (day off :) 5/27: Walking, 30 min 5/28: none 5/29: none (sushi nite) 5/30: 30 min walk (after site failures) 5/31: none (wt 264)

Health update, etc.

Mon, 20 May 2002 23:00:00 +0000

My doctor gave me a new prescription for blood pressure (Lotensin). The old one (Lopressor) seemed to make me incredibly tired, like I couldn’t wake up even after sleeping 8 hours. But, it looks like it is doing the job of keeping my BP down.

My leg feels better. I got pretty much all the mobility back, in terms of range of motion, but still the ankle and toe are both really weak. The ankle muscle is the one that pulls the foot up, and the toe muscle is the one that points my big toe up. I can move my ankle with some resistance (like the other foot resting on it) but it’s not enough strength to walk around on my heels. The big toe has almost no strength to overcome resistance though.

Health update

Sat, 11 May 2002 00:34:00 +0000

The back and leg pain is getting better. The doctor had given me instructions to take advil (at about the max dosage) and do some stretches, and also apply heat, etc. Well, I had stopped taking the advil and doing the stretches because it was starting to get better, but I think I stopped too soon. I started the stretches and advil again and it’s helping more this time. Stretching my left hamstring hurts like Hell but it feels MUCH better after having done it.

Strange dream

Mon, 06 May 2002 03:24:00 +0000

Another strange and disturbing dream.

thursdayfolks journal

Sun, 05 May 2002 22:50:00 +0000

Has anyone else been reading the Thursdayfolks Friends page? I have been reading it on and off. Reply here to let me know.

Weekend update

Sun, 05 May 2002 22:09:00 +0000

Pain in my leg is better, but not completely gone. I can move around fine, about the only thing I can’t do well is put on socks and tie shoes. It hurts to bring my leg up and lean forward at the same time. I went in the hot tub for like 90 minutes and did lots of stretches, and I need to keep doing that. Next doctor visit is like the 17th or so, and if it’s not better by then I will try to get into some therapy.

Strange dream

Thu, 02 May 2002 06:03:00 +0000

I had a strange dream. I don’t remember all of it, but I will try to note down what I remember here. Hopefully I will be able to piece it back together later, but this will probably not be coherent in its current form.

Discussion about evolution

Sun, 28 Apr 2002 14:10:00 +0000

M and I were watching something on Discovery about the Neanderthal and there was a commercial for another show about “the Real Eve”. Something like “Was there really a single common ancestor for the whole human race? Find out how she might have lived, etc.”

This led to a discussion about how evolution really happens. Neither M or I have studied it in detail, so perhaps there is something fundamental here we’re not getting.

Back trouble

Sun, 28 Apr 2002 13:05:00 +0000

Hurt my back on Wednesday, and it seems to be interfering with my leg.

Weird dream

Mon, 22 Apr 2002 12:50:00 +0000

I had a strange dream last night…

The first part of the dream that I remember: I was walking along some back roads which looked like rural parts of Sonoma County. I was walking alone but there was a kid following me. I walked by a freeway overpass/onramp, and there was a service station and a store, and not much else except for open grassland. I was looking for a restaurant or somewhere to buy food, but I couldn’t find any. A group of kids were sitting in front of the service station and they laughed at me. I walked on.

Sunday, boring Sunday

Sun, 21 Apr 2002 15:44:00 +0000

I have accomplished a few things this weekend.

Yesterday: I filed all the papers on my desk into file folders on the letter tray (not filed, but ready to be filed, mostly). I spent some hours last night tagging all my mp3 music with album-cover art.

Today: I cleaned the meat-drying trays and arranged the meat slices to soak in the soy sauce. So we will be able to make jerky today and have it ready tomorrow night.

Game ideas

Sat, 20 Apr 2002 14:03:00 +0000

Some other ideas I might like to incorporate into a game:

Thursdayfolks has a journal?

Tue, 16 Apr 2002 20:49:00 +0000

I wanted to experiment with the “community” features, so I created a community for Thursdayfolks. Thursdayfolks is a chat list for Miche and I and many of our friends. The new Thursdayfolks community contains some of these folks, but not all, since not all of them have LiveJournal accounts.

Info Join

I’m not expecting many folks to post there actively, but you can if the mood strikes you. If you post via the web, view the “full” set of options instead of the “simple” options and you should see the option of posting in thursdayfolks instead of your default journal. For the Windows client and others, there should be an option for “Select Active Journal”.

Similar interests, and six degrees of separation

Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:22:00 +0000

Interests

I checked out the list of people who have similar interests to mine and found: 1. le_merle is still at the top of the list and leading the pack by a lot, and 2. there are a lot of other people on the list that I don’t know.

1. le_merle’s score is not that surprising, considering I used his list as a starting point for my own list, so an interest is more likely to be on my list if is was on his, back in September or so. 2. the interests shared with lots of people I don’t know is not surprising, but also not very informative, since they all tend to list a LOT of interests, meaning that there is a lot of overlap when looking at my list, but not very much when looking at theirs (probably that means that I didn’t place very high on their lists.)

Week o' stress

Sun, 14 Apr 2002 11:17:00 +0000

The last few weeks have been stressful due to work, especially last week. I hope it gets better soon. There are some indications that it might get better, but then again, this is Operations, the land of the unexpected.

I have been on some high-blood-pressure medication for about a month now, but it doesn’t seem to have lowered my bp at all. I have to go back to the doctor on Tuesday and he will probably increase my dosage, or switch me to another medication. I will also start taking the Flonase (anti-allergy, I think it is a steroid) because I think the nighttime congestion and snoring are due to allergies. I would also like to go get allergy screening done and perhaps arrange for some shots, if it looks like they would help.

More employee issues, and managing friends (long)

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 05:18:00 +0000

If you’re reading this, you are in my Secrets group. Please don’t discuss my secrets with others, even if they are listed on my Friends page, they are not likely to be secrets_ok. If you’re uncomfortable about keeping secrets, best not to read below the line. I’ve added a couple people to my Secrets group, so if this is your first secret, there are some previous entries now visible to you that weren’t before, so if you get bored, enjoy. :-) Things have become quite tense with C. C and I had a very long chat today, which was good in a lot of ways. I explained that when he refused to sign the written warning on Monday, that had made me quite angry. I probably should not have taken it personally, but I did.

Tired

Thu, 04 Apr 2002 11:11:00 +0000

I was up quite late working on a report for work. I am now incredibly tired. For some reason I thought it was Wednesday when I woke up, though it was clearly Thursday when I went to bed at 3:30.

I got a huge coffee mug from 7-11 (20 oz) and everybody kind of chuckles when they see it, like I’m a huge caffeine freak or something. Never mind that I haven’t put coffee in it, it is usually hot chocolate or sometimes tea. I’ve gotten into the habit of stopping at 7-11 for a 79c hot chocolate in the morning, which is like 1.09 in a disposable cup, so I’m saving money and helping the environment.

Take this poll if you might be interested in an RPG

Tue, 26 Mar 2002 00:28:00 +0000

I am thinking of running an RPG, and I’m gathering info to see who might be interested in playing. Please take the survey if you might be interested in playing at some point (and if you think you would actually come to a game run by me). (If you don’t know me, but we have some friends in common, feel free to answer, and you may be invited to a game if/when it materializes)

Script to back up entries

Sun, 24 Mar 2002 19:24:00 +0000

Created a script to back up my journal (current month) onto my shell account, in case Live Journal should tank at some future point. In its default state it downloads the current month, and is suitable for running every night. If you uncomment the foreach loops it will back up those months you plug in.

The strategy is to back up the current month every night right before midnight. The risk here is that if I backdate some entries to before the current month, they wouldn’t be backed up, and I would need to run those months again manually. Hmm.

Added to friends page

Sun, 24 Mar 2002 14:34:00 +0000

I added a couple of folks to my friends page, and color-coded my friends into a couple groups for easy skimming.

I also added a couple of communities to the friends list, so I can read them easily, but more importantly, to give the appearance of having a lot more friends :) The community entries will show up in salmon-pink, and have two names, the community name first, and the actual user’s name in square brackets below that.

Sourcery

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 14:27:00 +0000

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

It’s a pretty good book, though I didn’t enjoy it as much as Mort. It was pretty Action-Packed™ but it seemed a bit more scattered, probably because the action was scattered around various locations, and also because there were multiple “point of view” characters, so I didn’t really identify fully with all of them.

I heard some feedback from a friend of a friend that the Discworld books get tired and rehashed after about 10 of them. I’m starting to see some of that, though I am still thrilled with them, it’s not new and unexplored territory all the time. I think the expectation that they might be read out of order leads to the author repeating himself sometimes, because whenever we see a familiar element, he takes time to explain it rather than assuming we know it from the previous books.

Ideas for an RPG

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 17:45:00 +0000

Medieval fantasy (typical D&D setting) Modern fantasy, light (Magic, think Harry Potter) Modern fantasy, mixed (superheroes, psychic powers) Modern fantasy, dark (vampires, etc) Modern spy story (think Mission Impossible, etc) 70’s spy story (think Bond, Avengers, etc) Older spy story (mob, gumshoe, etc) Victorian, Western, etc Future, space colony/exploration Future, dark/cyberpunk Future, light (Paranoia) Made-up fantasy worlds (Pern, etc) Fariy tales (Grimm, Prince Charming, etc)

Anything I’m missing? What types of settings can you think of from your favorite stories?

Productive day

Fri, 08 Mar 2002 00:55:00 +0000

Dentist appointment: Went and got dented. Taxes: Prepared the paperwork I will need to take to the preparer. Cars: Made appointment to take both cars in for services. Doctor: Made doctor appointment for next week. Gave C a ride downtown. Went with M and C to dinner at Red Lobster.

Mort

Fri, 08 Mar 2002 00:51:00 +0000

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Read this book over a two-day period. I have read about 5 others in the Discworld series, a bit out of order, but we have most of them now, so I will read the rest in order.

Mort is a young boy who finds himself hired as Death’s apprentice. Hilarity ensues when he fumbles a job his first day out, and then tries to cover his slip-up. Meanwhile, Death has some time on his hands while Mort is making the rounds, and tries his hand at some more human pursuits.

Thida is wed

Sat, 23 Feb 2002 23:50:00 +0000

Thida and Castor had their wedding on February 23, and I was privileged to attend.

Great, just what I need

Sat, 09 Feb 2002 22:21:00 +0000

I had sort of an argument with the neighbor downstairs today. He was playing music quite loud, so I called on the phone and said “Hi, this is Greg from upstairs. Do you think you could turn the music down a bit?” He didn’t respond at first so I went on to explain that my wife was sleeping, and could he turn it down a little?

His response was something like “Hey, it’s three in the afternoon, I should be able to play my music if I want!” I said something like “I just wanted to let you know that I can hear it, and if you can turn it down a little, that would be cool.” He said something non-responsive like “Whatever” and hung up.

Sat, 05 Jan 2002 23:25:00 +0000

Didn’t do much today. Worked on the Altaia character sheet, late last night and again today. The new character sheet is in Excel and the lines don’t line up quite the same, but it will be ok. I created a formula that fills in the seven boxes under where you type 4 with ranges 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, etc. This involves a formula that can tell how far it is from the target cell (difference in row numbers). Sure, I could have put *1 in the first, *2 in the second, etc, but I wanted the same formula in every box. The numbers disappear if you don’t enter a number in the first box, so it can be used as a worksheet or a blank write-in form. I’m smug.

The Green Mile

Sat, 05 Jan 2002 23:12:00 +0000

The Green Mile

I watched this movie on a premium channel. It is about a prisoner on death row (during Depression era) who is wrongly convicted, and earns the respect of the guards there.

It’s an excellent movie, and I recommend it. The end is quite sad, but the whole thing is good. Quite long too.

Chores

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 23:06:00 +0000

Wednesday: did laundry, and got into a bit of a fight with M about how I feel like I do just about everything around the house and I don’t feel appreciated for it. M can’t carry laundry up and down the stairs because of her knees and her back, which is understandable, so we typically go together and do it. I don’t like this much because it takes the same amount of time and we end up getting in each other’s way a lot, and I’m usually the one to go down again to put them in the dryer, and again to bring them back up. So, this time I said no, it’s OK if you want to just stay here, but perhaps you could do something else while I’m busy with the laundry, such as make dinner?

Today

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 15:12:00 +0000

So far I had a leftover taco for breakfast, and leftover ham and bean casserole for lunch. Leftovers are neat, if I can convince myself to leave some of the food over. Had some decaf coffee this morning and cherry lemonade for lunch.

Spent a few more hours on wanking with Veritas, giving myself a crash course in freeing up tapes and all. Looks like backups are working again, and a second crisis has been averted.

Earlier this week

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 14:30:00 +0000

Thursday: I went to work, things were slow but there were still some loose ends to tie up. I brought home food from By Th’ Bucket, a nice Italian place near my house. Not sure what else I did this day.

Friday: Work again, even slower. I left early so I could go by the Humane Society (see separate entry). I didn’t really want to get restaurant food again, so I made green bean casserole (french-cut green beans, cream of chicken soup, French’s fried onions, milk and pepper) and served this with honey ham (which is already cooked, so I whacked off some slices and nuked them).

Saturday

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 14:24:00 +0000

Got up and went for a walk, about an hour long, went to Walgreens and picked up a snack. I enjoy a nice walk, especially with headphones and CD player, though the headphones are nicer if I’m walking on back streets with fewer fast/noisy cars.

D called to ask if we want to go to a movie. I said no - M wasn’t up yet and I didn’t want to go by myself. I still want to see LOTR, so hopefully I can do so soon.

Pyramids!

Sat, 29 Dec 2001 00:08:00 +0000

Pyramids! by Terry Pratchett

(This is the 7th in the series. This means I have read books 3, 8, 1, 2, and 7. 4, 5, and 6 are on the way to me.)

The Assassins’ Guild and its associated Academy (in Ahnk-Morpork) are the setting for the first part of this story. It looks like the Assassins’ Guild is the most fun and stylish of the Guilds, and its Academy is a bit like boot camp. So, into this environment we throw Teppic, a spoiled young adult from a royal family from a far-off River Kingdom with lots of pyramids and not much else but sand. You have a nice coming-of-age story mixed with a nice view of the “colorful night life” of our familiar but smelly city.

Charity

Fri, 28 Dec 2001 23:24:00 +0000

This year, Michelle and I decided to give to charity this year, instead of our normal gift-giving of the season. We selected the Humane Society of Santa Clara as our preferred charity this year.

Today I went there to give them a check. It’s probably better if I don’t say how much, here on the Internet, but let’s just say the guy at the Humane Society said “Wow” and had to shake my hand twice.

Four book reviews

Sun, 23 Dec 2001 23:26:00 +0000

I haven’t done a lot of reading since the convention trip, but here are some reviews for the stuff that I did read during the trip:

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett is an extremely witty writer, and his work is a pleasure to read. The Discworld is about a magical world quite different from our own – it is in fact pizza-shaped and floats through space on the back of a giant tortoise. Despite the “unlikely” nature of the world, it is in fact quite well-imagined and it has its own set of natural laws. Sort of like “Xanth for grown-ups”.

Breaking radio silence

Sun, 23 Dec 2001 21:58:00 +0000

I haven’t written in a long time, probably because I have been tired and lethargic for the past month or so. I haven’t really done much of anything exciting. I’ve mostly been filling in the time with watching TV more than usual, staying up late, downloading stuff from the Internet. I’m not feeling very creative or even productive lately.

Oh, here’s one thing I did do: Michelle and I went to Shane Company to get new wedding rings. My old ring is nice, but I can’t really wear it much because it’s a bit too small and the style of it makes my finger irritated after a bit. So we both got new ones, in preparation for our 10th anniversary (coming up next June). Mine is a white gold band with some diamonds channel-set, and Michelle’s is a mix of diamonds and rubies with a ruby center stone. Nice!

Silly shockwave movies

Wed, 12 Dec 2001 21:02:00 +0000

Yes, these are very silly.

I’m A Cow: http://www.pacland.cc/imacow.swf

Weeeeee! http://www.threebrain.com/weeeeee.html

Enjoy!

Chat with a friend

Sun, 09 Dec 2001 08:46:00 +0000

Posting this mostly for myself… contains some personal info. (If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re a close friend and I trust you to respect my privacy and Michelle’s)

Kethry2 (11:10:11 PM): What else you been doing lately? Nekodojo (11:12:58 PM): Had an argument with miche about how I would like her to clean up after herself more and not leave trash lying around Kethry2 (11:13:16 PM): Oh? How did it go? Nekodojo (11:13:17 PM): There is more to it than that, but that’s the short version Kethry2 (11:13:39 PM): Yeah, Did you feel good, getting it out like that? Nekodojo (11:14:14 PM): Eh, she was pissed off at me because I was a bit patronizing, but I think she will be more aware of it (and that it annoys me) after this… Kethry2 (11:14:58 PM): Think it will help? Nekodojo (11:17:45 PM): We had another argument a week or two ago (right before we came to visit you) that was related a bit… I said that I feel like our chores are divided into “things Greg does” and “things we both do together”… I said that I feel like her asking me to help with something she said she would do makes me feel like she doesn’t recognize and understand the things that I do on my own every day without prompting. Kethry2 (11:19:00 PM): Maybe you could make a list? Greg Chores, Miche chores Together chores?

Instant messenger services

Sun, 02 Dec 2001 15:43:00 +0000

I have too many instant messenger services and not enough contacts to talk to. If you know me (or even if you don’t, I guess) and you use any of these services, send me a message so I know who you are.

AOL/Netscape messenger: Nekodojo MSN Messenger: gconnor@nekodojo.org ICQ: 18362803

I will probably ditch one or more of these services, because right now I only have two contacts in each. It looks like MSN Messenger is the best for voice, but they’re all about the same for text messaging. Your comments welcome…

Today

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 23:59:00 +0000

For now I’m skipping Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which I will write more about later. Short version reads, “The con was cool, we read a lot and watched TV,” but this doesn’t quite do justice to the full version. Sorry about this skipping around a bit, but I will try to come back to the missing days later.

We packed our bags in the morning, including the extra bag we bought at Fry’s near our hotel, and packed the art items in padded envelopes and cardboard with tape. We considered packing the glass thing, but thought it would be safer to carry it with us, and the matted print was too big to go in the suitcase. But the suitcase held the jewelry box and the wood block for the glass thing rather well. During this time I also called voicemail at work and changed my message, and forwarded my cell phone business line back to my desk for that true “on vacation” feeling (though the personal line still works - as always LJ friends can still reach me by alpha pager here.)

Catching up

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 23:04:00 +0000

Looks like I haven’t written much of anything since the 10th. Shame on me!

I have decided not to write a novel this month, due to that it’s only five days from deadline, and I only have 234 words out of 50,000 done (that’s 0.6%) and I would need to erase those words to make the work compatible with the outline. Defeat. Oh well, I will continue writing when the mood strikes me.

Sunday

Sun, 25 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Wednesday Nov 28, but this actually happened over the weekend on Sunday Nov 25.

I don’t think we went to any of the sessions on Sunday. We got down to the con area about 11-ish and walked through the art show area. We found 3 things we wanted to buy: an engraved-glass art piece, a jewelry box, and a print; total damage was about $110, not bad compared to what we would have done going to the actual auction and bidding on things in live mode. We hustled our treasures back to the rented lair.

Saturday

Sat, 24 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Tuesday Nov 27, but this actually happened over the weekend on Saturday Nov 24.

I went and hunted down breakfast in the restaurant again. We arrived a little late for the first session, but not by much.

The first session was Writing for Smart Kids and the panel was Gilden, Wrede, A. Turtledove and Smith. A. Turtledove turned out to be Harry Turtledove’s teenage daughter, who served as the “typical young adult reader”. The general consensus seemed to be that an author shouldn’t talk down to a young audience, or try to dumb down the material… kids are smart. I can’t actually think of anything they said you should do differently for a Young Adult audience… hmmm. Pat Wrede was asked “What inspired you to write X?” where X was some book she had written that I didn’t recognize, and Pat then gave her Rant about how Inspiration is overrated, and that a writer’s life is 90% Perspiration and 10% (or less) Inspiration. Another writer, Mel Gilden, took a moderate stance and said that all the little ideas that you string together to make a single work also count as inspiration.

Friday

Fri, 23 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Tuesday Nov 27, but this actually happened last week on Friday Nov 23.

We got up around 9 am and I went down to the hotel restaurant and got breakfast to go, and brought it back up to the room. We finally got ready to go, and went down and presented ourselves for registration. Once equipped with name badges, we wandered the dealers room and the art show. I bought the ceremonial Jewelry for Miche (this one in the shape of five spiderwebs chained together to form a necklace, which should look good with the Corset bearing spiderweb patterns.

Thursday

Thu, 22 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Monday Nov 26, but this actually happened last week on Thursday Nov 22.

I got up at the usual time and I let Miche sleep in. I paid all the bills.

Then I wanted to get some better headphones for the trip, so I went to Fry’s, but found it closed. (We had never heard of an electronics store that was closed on Thanksgiving before, so with tears in our eyes, we drove off into the sunset looking for another place to get headphones… we didn’t find one… *)

Wednesday

Wed, 21 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Monday Nov 26, but this actually happened last week on Wednesday Nov 21.

Meeting this morning, and I was a little late due to picking up Bruce at the car place. Bruce and I talked about the latency problem and how strange it is that he and I seem to be the hardest-working guys in Netops aside from Shawn, and how our production network kind of sucks.

I spent the day catching up on email and tickets, and creating a vacation-responder for my email. We successfully arranged for someone to come look after Sophie’s medication while we were gone. I also arranged a van service to pick us up at 1 pm thursday for the ride to the airport.

Tuesday

Tue, 20 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Monday Nov 26, but this actually happened a week ago on Tuesday Nov 20.

Many things happened at work today, but the most remarkable was probably the fact that we had a “bad response time” event (which had actually started on Saturday night). Many people looked at it and fussed over it; Bruce’s observation was that it was between the front end and the outside world, since Gladiator showed no change in back-end or total round-trip time. This was confirmed by Queryint logs which showed backend performance much better, not worse, starting Friday afternoon. My only guess is that it was a problem with one of our ISPs and could we try switing to the other ISP, at least in New York. This was not done, and no real progress was made until after 5PM when Bills called an emergency meeting with me and Brett.

Sunday, gory details

Mon, 19 Nov 2001 07:30:00 +0000

Writing on Monday Nov 26, but this actually happened a week ago on Sunday Nov 18.

Secret entry. Argument started off with me complaining to Michelle because I feel like I do more than my fair share of chores around the house and that I am not appreciated for it. I said that I wished she would make dinner once in a while. I said that I felt like the chores were broken into two groups, the “things Greg does” and the “things Michelle and Greg do together”. I expressed that I didn’t like coming home from work, after 8 hours of me working and her sleeping, and getting “drawn in” to the things she felt “needed to be done now” because she has just got up and is feeling energetic and wants to include me in something. I said that I understand why she doesn’t want to carry laundry up and down the stairs (because of her knees) but that probably means she could be helping more with other stuff like dishes. I also said that I think she leaves messes and trash around the house and that I usually end up cleaning up after her, and that I felt that asking me to do little things that I don’t usually ask her to do (like, can I get her a coke or water while we’re both sitting there at the computer) is unfair to me, because I very rarely say no (which would be rude), and yet I don’t ever ask those things of her (probably because I feel it would be a bit rude).

Sunday

Sun, 18 Nov 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Writing on Monday Nov 26, but this actually happened a week ago on Sunday Nov 18.

I had a big argument with M today. I’m not going to write the specifics here, since it’s kind of personal and not really resolved.

We got invited to dinner with Christine in Berkeley. I was sort of navigating by memory, which didn’t work well, since I had only been there twice by two different routes, and neither matched what Chris was telling me on the phone. Then as Chris was trying to guide me through the streets by speakerphone, I decided to back up and try to turn a different way, and backed right into someone else’s car! It was a very light tap and I was pulling over to the right to talk to the guy, but he just honked at me like he wanted me to keep going. I turned right and stopped and it didn’t look like he was following me, so oh well. We eventually made it to Chris’ house.

Sat, 10 Nov 2001 20:54:00 +0000

Spent most of my day today reading Elf Life (a comic strip). It’s pretty fun.

We went to dinner and tried to see a movie, but it was sold out until 2 hrs later and we didn’t want to see it with a huge crowd. So, we’re back home.

I’m still not sure what to do about the writing, maybe while my outline is in flux I can make up by writing something else, but I have been tired all week and haven’t been motivated enough to do anything besides work. Luckily next week at work should be a lot better.

Outline revision 4

Sun, 04 Nov 2001 19:38:00 +0000

I’m a bit disappointed that I trashed my own outline yesterday by coming up with another reasonably OK idea. So, I will back up a day and see if there is another way to interpret the original events by changing the milleu.

OK, what if the setting is not contemporary at all, but fantasy? I had tried to steer away from either historical or fantasy worlds on the assumption that it would either require lots of research or lots of other preparation to make the world believeable. However, if I don’t do *something* I will fail to start at all. At least fantasy can be generated by imagination rather than depending on research.

Sun, 04 Nov 2001 17:50:00 +0000

Lost a lot of time this weekend dealing with international nameserver issues. At least they didn’t call me this morning at 2AM like they did Saturday morning.

Michelle called me from Texas on Friday and I couldn’t talk, as I was in a meeting (about international nameserver, woo). Anyway, Saturday morning I reset my cell phone and it forgot her number, so now I can’t call her back. I’m sad.

Outline revised, day three

Sun, 04 Nov 2001 00:56:00 +0000

At first this was shaping up to be a Character story, tracking A’s development and secret and life changes. However, in writing this scenario, it becomes clear that the story here is really about C. Since we dropped A’s special ability or whatever, and thus his reason for unrest, it’s not about A any more.

In other words, I went from not really knowing how C fits in the picture, to having way too much info on C and not enough on A.

Going further down this rabbit hole…

Okay, now that I have gutted my previous outline, and made my already-written 234 words useless, time to go to bed!

Outline revised, day two

Fri, 02 Nov 2001 21:33:00 +0000

I am adding: A noble death I am numbering the events to try and decide how far apart the related events are

Brainstorming

Thu, 01 Nov 2001 23:45:00 +0000

Some things I want in my story

love, perhaps between apparent rivals, a and b a game, with high stakes, possibly illegal or secret psychic powers, or a gift, (martial arts? mysticism? mutation?) OR perhaps a magic item that slowly takes over the user An unlikely hero A, placed in a difficult situation and acting well Someone who falls from grace, or betrays himself, but hides his flaw: C

Some events: First introduction of hero A When the audience discovers the game First experience of the rival B and possibly C ??When one person discovers his/her gift (or finds the magic item) When one person C starts down the wrong path When two lovers part ways (B and C) or perhaps they are friends or siblings and they just have an argument When two rivals discover they are in love (A and B) ??When someone else discovers the gift or item (possibly a lover) When two lovers are forced to compete (A and B) When one person (A) has to choose between the right deed and his career or station Fight between the hero and the betrayer (B and C)

Some writing

Thu, 01 Nov 2001 23:45:00 +0000

(234 words today. Lame.)

Daylight time ends

Mon, 29 Oct 2001 00:23:00 +0000

If you didn’t already know, the correct time for the US is always displayed at time.gov and there are some links from there about how “standard time” and later “daylight time” developed. Before “standard time” there was no concept of time zones, and noon was periodically established in each particular city when the sun reached the high point in the sky. The various “city time” systems were synchronized in the early 1900’s by federal law, under pressure from the train companies, if I read it right.

Death

Thu, 25 Oct 2001 22:14:00 +0000

An old friend who I worked with here at AV has died. I am not sure of the circumstances… more information should be coming to us soon. He was laid off in January and I had not talked to him since then.

I am not affected by this personally as much as others around here, since we were not close outside of work, but this reminds me of my own mortality. I think he was very close to my age. I don’t know how or why he died, but…

No writing tonight

Wed, 24 Oct 2001 23:44:00 +0000

We went to Kabul (our favorite Afghani restaurant) with Darren tonight. It is now 10 pm and I am full from dinner and sucking down a slurpee from 7-11. It is now 10:16. I like going out to eat but I won’t be able to do this every night unless I take a laptop with me or something.

Today’s first random song from the jukebox is Cecilia. Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia, Up in my bedroom, making love I got up to wash my face When I come back to bed Someone’s taken my place

A storm

Wed, 24 Oct 2001 01:27:00 +0000

10:37 Went out to dinner and bought a large cat furniture tonight. Looks like I won’t have much time to write. Therefore I do so anyway. This story is a little emotionally charged, but it’s not *my* story. I probably felt something like this at one time, but it has been a long time if so. So this is not about my experience… it’s just a story.

Story ideas

Tue, 23 Oct 2001 12:23:00 +0000

My big problem with the “spontaneous write a story” exercise is having to come up with a plot/character idea on the fly. Any ideas on how people do this, either for writing short stories or improv-type stuff?

Once I have a novel framework, outline, or other harness to work from, maybe I won’t have to worry about generating random ideas. I have a pretty good idea of the setting (contemporary) but I will still need plot and character development.

Today's writing: Rick and Donna

Mon, 22 Oct 2001 23:58:00 +0000

Another random idea for a partial story. This time I couldn’t decide who the protagonist or point-of-view person was, so I just left out the thoughts and reactions and wrote just the sequence of events. This seems to get more dialogue in, and makes the actual events happen faster. However, I alternated between too much detail (which makes the events happen slower to the reader’s point of view) and very little detail. Comparing the ride to the restaurant and the ride back shows the difference in style (probably just based on my boredom with the scene and wanting to get it over with). If I am writing from a certain person’s point of view (rather than an impartial observer) I could probably use the variations in “speed” to reflect whether the person is involved/engaged (and things seem to be happening slowly, lots of time to think, lots of detail) and when they are bored (which can flow a little faster.. no sense in boring the reader too. :) I guess I need to think more about how to adjust the level of the detail and speed of storytelling. Suggestions? Without a point of view, I didn’t really get across what they were thinking and feeling, mostly because I wasn’t sure, I don’t know these characters well yet, how they met (online, but not sure how) and how they feel about each other. So I took an easy way out and just wrote the events. Might be interesting to go back and put in one person’s point of view and thoughts and see how that changes the scene, and how it changes the word count.

Novel writing for dummies

Mon, 22 Oct 2001 11:13:00 +0000

Stolen from a chat with a friend….

According to nanowrimo.com tips: Start writing down, now, every single thing you hear every single person say. Write down every dumb thought that enters your head. You will need it. Also under tips: “Try to dream about your novel, so you won’t lose those hours merely sleeping…”

Miche thinks I’m crazy. I say “Yes, I know”

Remains to be seen whether I can write 2000 words in a row. Never mind doing it day after day. A Wish for Peace was 1917 words apparently. Christie was 2300 words. So, do that 25 times in 30 days and I’m set.

Random writing: "Christie"

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 14:53:00 +0000

10:49 am. Today’s random writing is brought to you by the “Random” button on livejournal.com. After browsing several random entries, I began to see a pattern: most web journals (at least most of the ones connected to the Random button today) are written by girls who partied pretty hard last weekend, missed some classes last week, are worried about whether what Julie said about Kevin is really true, and are a size 3 but still want to lose weight to look good among the other cheerleaders… Writing the following partial story took like 4 hours, but some of that was research time and a couple brief interruptions. Hopefully I will be able to cut the time down a bit in the weeks to come; I don’t want to spend 4 hours a day, but I might be able to do two. If I choose a setting that is a bit more familiar, I will require less time for research.

Sat, 20 Oct 2001 12:44:00 +0000

I added myself to my own friends list. This means I get to see my own entries mixed in with the friends entries. This is kind of interesting… I don’t know if I like it. I also don’t know if other people reading my friends page will enjoy it or not, but then again, I don’t guess my friends page is viewed much by others… most everyone else has their own friends and don’t need to borrow mine :)

Writing

Sat, 20 Oct 2001 10:27:00 +0000

I have slowed down a bit on the writing about beliefs, relationships, communication, etc. I have a few more topics I want to cover, but it’s not as urgent anymore. I have received very few comments on them, on line or in real life, so I don’t really know if other folks are enjoying reading them or not. Anyway, the important thing is to write about what I am interested in, so I will enjoy writing more and do it more often. With that goal in mind, I will need to pick some other topics, but I will come back to beliefs, relationships, etc. from time to time.

Lists

Sat, 20 Oct 2001 10:10:00 +0000

Things to do, personal Write more Roleplay Go out with friends Exercise

Things to do, household Get rid of desk Get rid of tv stand Tighten loose screws on chairs Figure out taxes Paint bathroom Install air conditioner

Wish list New laptop

Fri, 19 Oct 2001 23:09:00 +0000

Tuesday: Actually rode my bike during lunch today, though I forgot my water bottle. Had to stop twice on the hill of death and cough up something that didn’t quite belong in my lungs. Showered and still had time to grab lunch on the way to staff meeting. Other stuff happened after this, probably involving another meeting and more emails.

Wednesday: Don’t remember much about this day.

Thursday: Did some bits of managing (which mostly amounts to talking to people about work that other people are working on). A meeting, then anime, then a bit more email and taking, then time to go take M to an appointment. Went to dinner with M… Spent most of the evening playing with the palm 3 and installing some free software called avantgo that promises to keep my palm 3 supplied with the current version of The Onion for free (which came in handy during meetings Friday).

Friendship and expectations

Sun, 14 Oct 2001 12:32:00 +0000

In the area of friendship, I have certain expectations of a “friend” that I might not have of everyone else around me. Let me begin by describing the expectations I have of everyone, including strangers, and work forward.

1. I expect honesty and general good will from everyone.

Honesty is different from openness. By honesty I mean that what one says is truthful and there is no attempt to decieve, but that doesn’t mean that the other person will necessarily tell me everything. This means that if someone asks me something I am uncomfortable with answering, I would prefer to say “I don’t want to talk about that” than to answer with a lie. In return I expect people to not lie to me.

Mon, 08 Oct 2001 11:34:00 +0000

Friday: Don’t remember right now.

Saturday: Went to Healdsburg to visit, got to see M’s parents, grandma, cousin, a few others. Spent most of the afternoon up there. We also stopped to see John and Angie and look in on the cats. Cool.

Sunday: Not much of anything, went shopping with M & C at Frys and also went to the fabric store.

LJ: Memories (aka Index) feature

Sun, 07 Oct 2001 00:09:00 +0000

I learned how to use the Memories feature. The name “Memories” suggests a scrapbook or something, but this is more like a keyword index. Cool feature. I am using it to create a topic index of sorts, though there are only three items worth indexing now. Btw the “Add to Memories” icon is on the “Read Comments” page (heart-plus icon)

Apparently you can add your posts or other people’s posts to the Memories keyword index, and view just yours, just others, or all together. You can also make the keyword associations Private, Public or Friends only; I guess this is if you want to link to someone else’s drivel and label it “drivel” you can keep your label to yourself if desired. Hmm.

Beliefs and belief systems

Sat, 06 Oct 2001 00:33:00 +0000

I think our beliefs are an important part of what makes us human.

A belief is an assertion, assumption, or expectation, and the collection of beliefs form a foundation for our thoughts and our actions. A belief is essentially a thought which we feel is true, so it requires both thinking and feeling to hold a belief. It can be conscious, such as something we have learned, or it can be subconscious, such as something we have always known and felt and seem to do so without thinking.

Lifestyle envy

Fri, 05 Oct 2001 07:19:00 +0000

Seen in a friend’s journal (quoted from some other person’s tee shirt): You’re just pissed because my lifestyle looks cooler than your lifestyle.

I guess that wouldn’t really be the shirt for me. Maybe I should get one that says I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle. That is about how I feel lately. Perhaps that is just the “grass is always greener” syndrome or perhaps I am just coming to realize that this is not really how I want to live.

Things to write about

Fri, 05 Oct 2001 00:55:00 +0000

Other things I want to write about: Beliefs and belief systems Openness and honesty Hopes, fears, expectations, visualization Friendship and expectations Trusting others and expectations

Thu, 04 Oct 2001 22:46:00 +0000

Reviewing…

Friday: Worked later than expected to do a code push, then went to gaming. Gaming was cool! We got some cool experience and got to banish a demon.

Saturday, Sunday: Didn’t do much over the weekend, skimmed some old emails and found old journal entries, so I posted them here. They are backdated, skim back for anything earlier than “Wish for Peace” for the old entries. Mostly about exercise and how I wanted to spend my free time but didn’t.

Empathy

Fri, 28 Sep 2001 00:27:00 +0000

I believe everyone experiences empathy to a certain degree. To me, empathy means a combination of sensing what someone else is feeling (receiving) and pushing a feeling at someone else (broadcasting). However, a lot of people use “empathy” to mean receiving and not broadcasting, so perhaps there is another word for sending/broadcasting which is better used here.

In order to receive feelings from someone else, I need to be intensely aware of my own feelings first. Picking up on a feeling from someone else is easy, but if I’m not in tune with my own feelings first, then it’s difficult to tell which feelings are “mine” and which are being picked up from someone else. So, it’s important for me to take my own “emotional temperature” often, so that I know when it changes, and I can be aware of whether the new feelings are triggered by something in my life, or being picked up from someone else.

Emotions

Thu, 27 Sep 2001 23:35:00 +0000

This is a repeat of some earlier material.

Emotions serve us well, whether they be fear, sadness, anger, joy, contentment, pride, etc. I think of these as the lights and dials on the instrument panel, by which we can evaluate our own state of being. In a car, we might see a light that says “oil pressure low”, and our usual reaction is to try and figure out why. It does no good to try and argue with the light, or cover it up, or ignore it, or blame the instrument panel, or become embarrassed or ashamed of our awful indicator lights.

Thu, 27 Sep 2001 23:30:00 +0000

Thursday: busy day at work. Met with David B, Luis and Jason on how to recover repository2. Met with David B and Angela to discuss how to communicate changes to people on various aspects of the site. Spoke to David B about anomalous test times from David H. Break for lunch and Anime, watched Lain. Gather performance numbers from QI and send them to David H. Spoke to David H about what the numbers mean, agreed to drill down more on gladiator and network factors, since QI latency seems to not track test tool latency. Asked Bruce to look into gladiator latency with Doug Young info, and try to simulate David H’s test. Started file move on Repo2. Opened keystone slip. Spent an hour talking to David B about issues of the day.

Thu, 27 Sep 2001 01:03:00 +0000

Quick rundown of what has happened so far this week.

Monday: Held training on Fetch and DNS. This went well. David B. is not back yet, but there is not much needing attention. I spent some time in the afternoon faxing letters to my representative and senators asking them “Please don’t give up my civil liberties today” - see www.eff.org for the Draconian wiretap provisions and other concessions to the “wish list” of law enforcement. I got my three reps, then went on to bulk-fax the members of the conference committee.

Exercise and diet

Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:49:00 +0000

I have not been motivated to ride my bike or anything. I think I rode it once this month. C and I are probably going to go for a walk today, that will be cool.

I have also not paid much attention to my diet and have been stuffing myself with whatever tastes good. Not a good plan to lose weight. In general I think I eat pretty healthy, but usually eat a bit too much. I think my diet would be fine if I were more physically active, so the exercise is really the most important thing.

Sex, or lack of

Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:45:00 +0000

I’m still frustrated at not getting the type & amount of sex I would like. I haven’t talked to Michelle about this, because she seems to break down, get defensive, etc. when I talk about it. So I just masturbate more frequently and play with my toys…

I have some wild fantasies about having sex with Michelle, others, or mutliple at a time. My favorite one is with Michelle (or some female) in 69 position on top of me, with some male screwing her from behind, so I get to see both of them up close and lick them as desired…

Sun, 23 Sep 2001 13:04:00 +0000

Dave and Busters was great. I got to spend some time talking to Notch about things we should be working on or watching out for. Michelle was there with Laura and others, so she stayed with us to go to dinner. Michelle and Angie both got plenty of doofy prizes.

Tied House was fun, got to see and greet all kinds of folks from work. Michelle felt a little out of place and tired. I still can’t really imagine what life will be like without Bryant, Ambar and Tara around the office. We’ll see…

Friday

Fri, 21 Sep 2001 13:39:00 +0000

I am taking the team to Dave and Buster’s for some off-site activity. We are all meeting at Tied House for the Bryant Farewell dinner after that, including some folks who were laid off.

Not much is happening in my life… I’ve been tired all week, but this is not a big deal.

Starting to post

Tue, 18 Sep 2001 18:00:00 +0000

Since I am new to LiveJournal, this is my first “real” post.

I dug up some material I had written in other forums (regarding the recent tragedy, and my thoughts, feelings and beliefs) and I have posted two of those messages “backdated” to Sep 12 and Sep 15.

Things are still up in the air and a bit morbid here at work, since we had layoffs yesterday. I am now going to go home and tend to my sick weety.

Hearts and minds

Sat, 15 Sep 2001 12:24:00 +0000

This was something I posted to a mailing list, and I’m reposting it here…

Regarding a comment “We are not fighting a mental state, we’re fighting actual individuals that carry out criminal acts”…

This is true, but I can also see the truth in what [the previous poster] was saying as well. Terrorists do exist in a vacuum, sometimes, but they usually turn out to be fringe-dwellers whose own society considers to be wackos – take Timothy McVeigh for example. However, the more organized “terrorist group”, whether it is the one supported by /bin/laden or the IRA, has a level of support in their homeland that we cannot ignore. The “support” ranges from “I don’t believe it’s right, but I’m not going to turn them in” on up to “You can have your meeting in here, and if you need weapons, I’ll give you a discount”.

A Wish For Peace

Wed, 12 Sep 2001 23:00:00 +0000

A wish for peace

I’m starting out this journal with a piece I wrote last week, Septemer 12, the day after the tragedy. Not all journal entries will be long like this, but it seems appropriate to post this here. Feel free to comment.

As many of us have, I have been spending time talking with friends and co-workers about yesterday’s tragedy. My thoughts and feelings echo those I have heard from others, so I know my experience is not an isolated one, but it is not a pleasant one either, as one would expect during such a time.

Journal 02 Jan 2001

Tue, 02 Jan 2001 22:26:00 +0000

Diet and Exercise Monday- worked out on treadmill, Krispy Kreme, Cuisineer Tuesday- no exercise, lunch at cafeteria, dinner steak/salad/veggies

Learn Java Monday- worked on JDK

Spend time with friends Monday- saw Corrii, Darren, Josh

Other goals Learn Japanese Write stories Roleplay Practice typing drills Plan next vacation

Journal 27 Dec 2000

Wed, 27 Dec 2000 12:22:00 +0000

Some things I would like to do with my free time

Exercise Learn Japanese Learn Java Write stories Roleplay Spend time with friends

Practice typing drills Plan next vacation

Goals for coming year

Lose weight, get down to 200 Eat at home more, eat out less

Observations

I wrote myself back in May of this year expressing a desire to spend time on these same things (Exercise, Learn Japanese, Write stories, Roleplay). But, I have been pretty consistently spending time on other things besides this. I have a tendency to spend time watching lame TV shows, or watching my work email when I’m at home, and other things I don’t need or particularly want to do. I’m not sure how to turn this around, other than setting some goals for things I want to do and get started on them.

Journal 26-May-2000

Fri, 26 May 2000 18:00:00 +0000

May 26, 2000

I feel like I didn’t really get much done today, other than for my status report. I wanted to work on documentation, but I kept finding other little things to do instead. I managed to corner Daryl and Steve Novell to talk to them about the Kana mail server. I also helped Greg Notch on the Solaris Fetch Project. It was a productive day, but I didn’t do the one thing I had intended to do.