| a quickie poly-ticky... |
[03 Sep 2008|11:38pm] |
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music |
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Dead Can Dance - Desert Song |
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So I really had intended to avoid the repugnican convention....only out of fairness...don't wanna watch that sort of thing for either party. seriously.
but i surfed....and i knew tonite was the big speech for sarah palin. and frankly, she does intrigue me a bit. she's the most 'maverick' thing mccain's done in years.
and i *LIKE* mavericks. if you're a maverick you get brownie points in my book just for breathing.
it's why i liked mccain back in 2000. it's why i wish i could like him now. frankly, i had a feeling i might like palin.
and after watching much of her speech, i've decided i do like her. would we agree politically? no. in fact if we were neighbors, i'm quite sure we'd have fun lobbing raspberries (red) and blueberries (duh) over the fence at each other at barbeques. just in good fun. catcalling liberal versus conservative sayings we didn't even believe just cuz it was expected. and all the while laughing at the utter absurdity of it.
she's quite charming. and even seems to posess a sense of humor...or was WELL-coached on delivery. she had a lot of gentle barbs and zingers which were delivered on lace-fringed overstuffed pillows. fairly lightweight stuff. she took the high road for the most part. which again, i respect. ther'es a time for red-meat mudslinging. but we've had too much divisiveness the last coupla decades. it needs to stop for a while.
she spoke with grace and style, they actually had a camera pointing at the audience from behind her that showed the TelePrompTer...not sure if that was deliberate or not...
then was the magickal moment when it all fell apart. watch for this to be quoted on The Daily Show tomorrow...
She was extolling McCain's virtues. How he was the man who has been against special interests and willing to stand up to big business and the establishment the whole time and who had these organizations against him since 2000.
0_0
...after he got swiftboated and all those corrupt special interests and big businesses fell into line with open wallets to crown W king.... so he could fuck things up so bad that the only repugnican with ANY standing left in the country was mccain....
i almost feel sorry for the guy.
and if i had any faith at all that he would be permitted to be the maverick i know he could be, i'd consider voting for him. however i know full well that if he manages to get in, the most important decisions of his time in office would still have to be vetted by his party.
and from looking around the approving audience at palin's speech, knowing full well that those men and women were the salt of the repugnican party...gee. that was bloody scary. i could handle mccain i think. i could handle palin.
i. cannot. handle the repugnican party. and after the damage done by W's administration...yea. a mccain/palin ticket just won't attract me now even though i do kinda like 'em both.
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| Life update... |
[20 Aug 2008|01:55pm] |
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mood |
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 crazy |
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So it's been an interesting few daze...rather productive I must admit...
Nice relaxing weekend overall...spent some time with Sandy, Vikki and Liz on Sunday, lazing about doing *nothing*. Unfortunately Liz got a nasty flu just as it was time to go....ended up being down for a couple of daze. Thankfully it looks like I dodged that bullet.
Monday...just another day...prepare for yesterday..
Until I got a phone call from my boss's boss
She asked how I was doing and then asked when I was back, and when I'd just even come back briefly. Seems one of our network engineers is moving on and she wanted to discuss some "changes" in the department.
I read between the lines and actually got a bit optimistic.... so I told her I would be in the next day and we agreed to meet in the afternoon.
Yesterday the plan was to get into work and go see my GP next door at Swedish Covenant. As you might know the antibiotics are kicking my arse with all the salt and the peeing and the schedule...\
my alarm went off at 4am. I didn't move till after 6.
Oops.
Get into work just in time to walk next door. Gave records and stuff to the doc and we chatted. He really couldn't do much for me. Which confirmed my earlier suspicion that I was in a delaying tactic earlier. See, I had complained to the ID staff that I was being overwhelmed with all the salt I was taking in. They told me to make an appointment with my primary care.
Tick
Tick
Tick
ok that's 3 weeks gone by, plus another 2 weeks before I got to the point where I could mention something.
Now to get anywhere, we'd have to get 2 different doctors, each in only one day a week and from 2 different hospitals to exchange records and discuss what else to do.
By the time that's done? Treatment's conveniently done too.
Blood pressure is elevated for me. If I walked into any doctor's office, it would just be at the high end of normal.
I have edema all over the place...can barely wear shoes, but that will get better after I'm off the drugs.
So I deal.
Meanwhile, back at work, I'm a bit of a celebrity. People asking me how I'm doing, ooh-ing and ahh-ing in amazement over my 'tard helmet, and, where applicable, geeking meds with me and swapping PICC line stories...
enniehoo to make a long story short, in the meeting, i will be assuming network engineering role as of february. That will give time for me to train my replacement, get back in the loop after several months out of the loop and dovetail nicely into review time etc etc.
Yes that means promotion.
wheee!
and today my car got totalled.
well not really...but really.
I had a minor fender bender back in March, but didn't bother to claim it at the time as I had other things going on and the damage was quite minor. However, as the other party went to insurance, I decided to go as well, especially since I had paid for the full coverage.
My initial estimate was $1500 to fix the car. Insurance choked a bit, then sent an adjuster to my house to inspect in person. That already told me the odds were I was a total. He did say I won though. Over 19 years adjusting and he had NEVER seen a car with 376,000 miles on it before. I was 60,000 miles past the highest he'd ever seen.
So after he did all the math, I could take $1200 plus tax paid on another car and he could call a tow truck, or I could take $900 and we'd be done.
Since I only have minor and maintenance issues with my car (need tires for winter, front end alignment, a tune-up...) I'd be nucking futz to give up a perfectly good 40mpg car that runs fine and take on something I would have no idea what might be wrong with it. I don't want to take on a car payment and can't afford one now in any case. And even $1200 isn't much of a car...
So now I have money to winterize my car. :)
And while I waited for him to do his paperwork, I took the time to wax my bike and put a new tarp on it which I've been meaning to do for the last 3 weeks...not as though I'll get to ride it this season... :-S
and lastly, I found this surfing....Awesome teh geeknezz!
geeky girlz so rule my world...
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| So I haven't been political in a bit... |
[18 Aug 2008|09:45am] |
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mood |
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back in the day i often posted lil bits i pulled off the news showing the erosion of human rights in america, the invasions of privacy, the excesses of corporate greed as well as other bits that bothered or horrified me as i watched this once great nation slide almost inexorably into a fascist nanny police state.
granted i'm glad to see some of this trend is finally reversing, or at least the brakes are going on
Still...after being pointed to this frighteningly prescient article from January 2001 in, of all places, the Onion, by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) thunderslug I followed a few of the links. A few are too old and expired, but this one had some amusing as well as scathing short vids on it...
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| OK this is just wrong... |
[13 Aug 2008|03:10pm] |
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mood |
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 amused |
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so i subscribe to some TechRepublic stuff. Some of it is inane, some of it surprisingly sneaky. Today I get this article showing me how to expand a system volume on a Virtual machine. Neat. Useful even.
Here's where it gets wrong for me...
The 'how-to-do-it-in-WINDOWS' dialog takes you to an all-command-prompt performance.
The 'how-to-do-it-in-LINUX' dialog is ALL GUI!
Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot...
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| oh one more... |
[10 Aug 2008|07:28am] |
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mood |
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 creative |
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music |
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Haddaway - What is Love? |
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this one counts as MUCH closer to rickrolling, but somethin tells me the geeks in you and sacre (for a separate reason) will enjoy it
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| Ok this is a pimping... |
[01 Aug 2008|11:54pm] |
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mood |
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 impressed |
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youraugustine is an abso-bloodly-lutely fucking brilliant writer. but very very private. if you ask nicely she will usually open some of her writings up to you. They're novel-length, intricate, detailed, and belie knowledge of worlds she should not be privy to.
This is a rare privilege. A work of hers that is not protected. A glowing piece of short fiction.
I *HIGHLY* recommend it.
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| so this is a big duh for anybody who knows me.... |
[25 Jul 2008|12:04am] |
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mood |
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I feel loved when...The Five Love Languages My Primary Love Language is Physical Touch<th colspan="2">My Detailed Results:</th>| Physical Touch: | 11 | | Quality Time: | 8 | | Acts of Service: | 4 | | Words of Affirmation: | 4 | | Receiving Gifts: | 3 | About this quiz Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak. Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is. Take the Quiz!
Check out the Book
On another more significant note, a big spankin' sappy barfday to the lovely and talented ann_totusek
off to bed. the alarm for the 4am dosing goes off soon...
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| And now for something more mundane.... |
[22 Jul 2008|11:59pm] |
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After that inspiring happypost, I figure you might wanna know what's going on with my head.
The spot with the skull removed is caving in nicely. More of a flattening than a caving in but now I really know where my bone is missing. The stitches itch unless I go near them. Then they can be rather painful still. I'll SO be looking forward to having them removed. I say that with both sarcasm and anticipation.
Medicine generates a *BUTTLOAD* of garbage. I go through 14 syringes each 24 hour day. Each in its own sterile plastic wrapper. I go through anywhere from 3-12 alcohol-pads to sterilize things. One IV tube a day (reused 3 times). 3 half-liter bags and 3 large syringes. plus various caps and plugs, plus paper towels I use to dry my hands after antiseptic washes and cleanup from inevitable IV drip because I regularly have to drain air out of my line...this antibiotic I'm on bubbles almost like beer sometimes I swear...
I'm looking forward to having a little fun when i start going back to the office. I will reuse these bags and take full advantage of my being on a PICC line. I'm'a fill one with coffee. Another with Mountain Dew. A few others with water and the BRIGHTEST, most OBNOXIOUS food colorings I can manage.
And I've decided on how I want to decorate my helmet.
Yes I will continue to accept signatures on it; good wishes and get wells and such. But I still have people staring at me when I'm out wearing it. Odd "shouldn't you be in an institution, where's your handler" type looks. Which are even funnier when they see me get out of a car that I was obviously just driving!
So in response, I know how I want to decorate my helmet.
2 words
Aluminium
Foil
If you can't see how those 2 words would just be perfect, I fear for your sanity and functionality and definitely wonder what you're doing on my f-list. ;)
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| A comment I made... |
[22 Jul 2008|11:45pm] |
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mood |
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 contemplative |
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music |
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Elton John - A Funeral for a Friend |
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This post inspired me to post the following as a comment. I decided it rated a post of its own on my own journal...
I love your penchant for storytelling....
and it's nice to have someone who can properly translate kittydeathspeak into the appropriate incantations. thanks for relaying that. :)
I had Bill Bailey, a tuxedo kitty. Awesome cat. I miss him muchly. He died of one of the variations of kitty-a.i.d.s. that are out there. His last day he wanted to spend some time with me. He was usually friendly enough and put up with everybody else around the house and our other kitten-with-no-name (everybody had a name for her and nobody knew what her real name was). She came in to check on him/steal some lovin' and he channeled the death-rattle from Bast's tomb with the ferryman in harmony. The other kitten slowly backed out of the room and stayed away for the rest of the day.
I had the bad taste to be out of the room when Bill expired. I came back in and saw he wasn't breathing any more, and as I petted him one more time, he let out one more sad little purring noise--he had waited for me before actually leaving.
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| a wish.... |
[18 Jul 2008|11:41am] |
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mood |
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 busy |
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music |
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beatles - birthday song |
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for a totally awesome sappy burst day to synnoveaevael
hope it rocks
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| quick note to those of you who have my cell phone #: |
[28 Jun 2008|01:36am] |
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mood |
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 annoyed |
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My phone just took a crap on me today. I'm going to try to get it dealt with sometime tomorrow but can't guarantee that it will work out. Make sure you leave voice mails and emails as i will try to keep up with them...
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| Things 3 |
[26 Jun 2008|03:23pm] |
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* Post 3 things you've done that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
* See if anybody responds with "I've done that." If they have- add another!
Had a tumor the size of my fist removed from my skull with no need for follow-up chemo and radiation.... (like duh that's an obvious one for anybody who's known me on here...)
Driven in excess of 150 mph in a street legal car on an open road
Observed traffic flow patterns in large populations of cockroaches.
Im sure i could put more, but i'm interested to see if anybody can "me to" me on any of these. ;)
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| An explanation on how computer memory paging works. |
[26 Jun 2008|01:11pm] |
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mood |
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Found on the web....
http://www.baetzler.de/humor/paging_game.html
who here can imagine a gaming session of this?
and ya wonder why so many computer geeks get into gaming...
The Paging Game
The following is a technical update to IBM's explaination of how virtual memory works. It was written by Jeff Berryman of the University of British Columbia and distributed at a share meeting shortly after IBM announced virtual memory for the 370 series.
RULES:
Each player gets several million "things".
"Things" are kept in "crates" that hold 4096 "things" apiece. "Things" in the same "crate" are called "crate-mates".
"Crates" are stored either in the "workshop" or the "warehouse". The workshop is almost always too small to hold all the crates.
There is only one workshop, but there may be many warehouses. Everybody shares these.
To identify things, each thing has its own "thing number".
What you do with a thing is to "zark" it. Everybody takes turns zarking.
You can only "zark" your things or shared things, not anyone else's.
Things can only be "zarked" when they are in the workshop.
Only the "Thing King" knows whether a thing is in the workshop or the warehouse.
The longer the things in a crate go without being zarked, the grubbier the crate is said to become.
The way you get things is to ask the "Thing King". He only gives out things in multiples of 4096 (that is, "crates"). This is to keep the royal overhead down.
The way you zark a thing is to give its thing number. If you give the number of a thing that happens to be in the workshop, it gets zarked right away. If it is in a warehouse, the Thing King packs the crate containing your thing into the workshop. If there is no room in the workshop, he first find the grubbiest crate in the workshop (irregardless of whether it is yours or someone else's) and packs it off (along with its crate-mates) to a warehouse. In its place he puts the crate containing your thing. Your thing then gets zarked, and you never knew that it wasn"t in the workshop all along.
Each player"s stock of things has the same thing numbers (to the players) as everyone else"s. The Thing King always knows who owns what thing, and whose turn it is to zark. Thus, one player can never accidentally zark another player"s things, even though they may have the same thing numbers.
NOTES:
Traditionally, the Thing King sits at a large, segmented table, and is attended by pages (the so-called "table pages") whose job it is to help the Thing King remember where all the things are and to whom they belong.
One consequence of rule #13 is that everyone's thing numbers will be the similar from game to game, regardless of the number of players.
The Thing King has a few things of his own, some of which get grubbier, just as player's things do, and so move back and forth between the workshop and the warehouse. Other things are used too often to get grubby, or are just to heavy to move.
With the given set of rules, oft-zarked things tend to get kept mostly in the workshop, while little-zarked things stay mostly out in the warehouse. This is efficient stock control.
Sometimes even the warehouses get full. The Thing King then has to start piling crates upon the dump out back. This makes the game slower because it takes a long time to get thing off the dump when they are needed in the workshop. In this case, the Thing King selects the grubbiest crates he can find in the warehouses and sends them to the dump in his spare time, thus keeping the warehouses from getting too full. This also means that the least-often zarked things end up on the dump, so the Thing King won"t have to get things from the dump so often. This speeds up the game when there are a lot of players and the warehouses are getting full.
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| A moment... |
[23 Jun 2008|10:05am] |
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mood |
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contemplative |
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I am definitely not breaking any news when I announce the demise of one of my heros, George Carlin, but of ths man I would say this....
were I, by some insane miracle/curse of life to have ended up emperor of the planet, one of my very first acts would have been to elevate him to Court Jester, require him to attend all important state functions and cabinet meetings.
Just so I'd never get my head too full of myself. I like to think that while he would likel;y have resented the position, he would have done it partly out of spite, and partly out of a duty to help the poor schmuck crazy yet bold enough to provide his own skewer...
Were more people in this world to have just a fraction of the wit, wisdom and perception that man had, the world would be a far better place.
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| a number... |
[18 Jun 2008|09:53am] |
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mood |
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calm |
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music |
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XRT on the internet radio |
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140,000
roughly. once i factor in bits that i've had to pay, this is what my insurance paid out for my adventures this year...
let this be a lesson to you kiddies. if you can get health insurance, *FUCKING GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!*
in other news, it's kind of funky. i can't tell if the river is rising or falling. it's fallen a bit around the little house on our property but i now think that's due to the moat the roomies built around it so they could pump the water out from around it. it seems to be higher in the street. I've moved my car around the corner cuz I don't think it's wise for me to drive through all that water and the driveways are now constantly wet anyway.
there's a heron walking down the street pecking at minnows several times a day and we could probably eat the rest of the year on all the mallards around here. and frogs are very audible. this is probably a good thing as i understand frogs need pretty clean water to live in...and of course the constant gurgle of water spilling over curbs and bubbling out of the storm sewers is strangely soothing, broken only by the somewhat less soothing gurgle and thrum of water expelled by the sump pump every 1-2 minutes...
such is my life at the moment...
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| quick note on duckon before i pass out... |
[15 Jun 2008|03:48am] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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This is like the first time i let myself ENJOY duck. every other time it's been interrupted, cut short, or both. granted i blew off friday nite but it was for the first sci-fi friday nite in my cave, by the time the tv was over i would have missed too much of the fun.
i won't name names tonite but i enjoyed myself immensely with friends new and old. it's always kind of surprising to see how much you're appreciated when some weird shit happens in your life and it comes home to your friends that they almost lost you.
and singing tesla coils have to be one of the fucking coolest things i have seen in a LONG fucking time.
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| ok this is rather impressive... |
[13 Jun 2008|11:07pm] |
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mood |
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impressed |
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music |
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Kansas-Carry On My Wayward Son --redux |
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I know ericcoleman mgiht not approve of the subject material, but can't argue it's well done...
In other news, the river is rising again...
And I decided I'll hit duck first thing in the morning semi well-slept instead of missing much of tonite AND getting there tired tomorrow...
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