August 2005 Archive

Welcome to the Archive for August 2005! What you will find here may be old. It may scare you. It may even scare me! More importantly, you might find links that no longer work, and *gasp* information that is no longer, or possibly never was, accurate in any way. Don't rely on this information to save your life!

August 2005 Archive

Monday, August 29, 2005

[Comments: 2] 5:24 PM - fight-fire-with-irony

Okay, so I've heard the argument before that people walking around wearing shirts decorated with the logos of other companies is like advertising for giant corporate "monsters." For some people, this is apparently genuinely annoying.

So, in comes a Mr. Daniel Mills who picks absolutely the most ironic solution I could imagine: NoSponsor. The point of this site is to sell you shirts with a giant logo on them telling people you support NoSponsor's goal of getting logos off of people's shirts... by wearing a shirt with a logo that encourages people to join the cause by going to NoSponsor.com and buying and wearing a shirt with a logo....

Of course, if you do buy and wear this shirt that isn't selling anything, the sleeve directs you to the web site where you can go figure out what this is all about and, um, buy a shirt.... That's clearly not selling anything!

The slogan "Clothing without a cause" is worthy of some laughter as well. There's obviously a cause here, it's just not so obviously a useful one.

My inclination is to say that at $15 per shirt he is making money off these, so in all its irony, this is a clever backdoor way of tricking people into wearing his logos to make him more money and support a cause which demands you not wear shirts such as his at all.

Friday, August 26, 2005

[Comments: 0] 6:42 PM - uber-ubuntu

I decided to upgrade the hard drive in my laptop to something a bit faster than what I had. The original drive was only 4200 RPM, and seek times for most data were painful, especially when doing anything that required swapfile usage. The new drive is 7200 RPM, which has already clearly made a big difference.

Since replacing the hard drive basically requires a reinstallation of the software, because it wasn't worth copying the partition, I decided to try getting Linux on there again.

My last attempt was with Gentoo and it was many months ago. Hardware support was shoddy overall and there were lots of strange problems with the touchpad, and wireless support. Ultimately, I gave up and just threw Windows XP back on the laptop.

This time, I tried Ubuntu Linux, which is based loosely on Debian, and is rather new. The hardware support from the start has been far easier to configure. The touchpad behaves properly, and it even runs properly in 64-bit mode. Since I have an Athlon 64 processor, this is handy. I was even able to very simply get the ndiswrapper software to let me install the Windows driver for my wireless card, and now I have working wireless in Linux. That's very exciting.

I'm still working through two problems that remain: the scroll area on the touchpad does not work as a scroll area, and the system does not seem to sleep or hibernate. I'm not sure what can be done about the latter yet, but I'm focused on the scrolling, since it seems like it should be easier.

We'll see what happens.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

[Comments: 1] 2:41 AM - spiders-vs-pedestrians

On my walk over the the datacenter this "evening," as usual, I managed somehow to walk through the beginning strands of some badly placed spider web running across the sidewalk. As annoying as this is, it's also a bit fascinating because in order to get that strand of spider silk across the sidewalk, that spider literally had to somehow run up one side, attach one end, and then get over to the opposite end and attach it there as well. Those spans are at least three to five feet with no structures besides the ground spanning the distance.

My curiousity about the whole thing had me taking a long look at a few of the many webs on buildings, signs, trees, and other objects along my walk. I've got to say spiders are amazing. For example, one web was attached on several places to a tree, and then several feet away, two lines came off a stop sign to help the web keep its shape and structure.

Most of the time the placement of these webs seems to be reasonably smart, too. They often place a large number of webs in corners very close to lights, which appears to catch them a lot of nutty insects that rarely find anything better to do than bounce off light bulbs. Sometimes though, they seem to try to build webs across the sidewalk, as if to catch passing pedestrians, and I haven't yet figured out what makes them think that's a good idea, since we're far more likely to kill them than become entrapped....

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

[Comments: 0] 5:50 AM - better-than-a-summer-day

After the driest spell I can remember in any particular location I have ever have the chance to live in (granted that's four places total, and I don't remember Oklahoma weather all that well other than some hail), we have finally fallen into what I figure is probably the nicest weather pattern I could imagine.

It started a few days ago with a nice torrential downpour coupled with a pretty decent thunderstorm. Since then, the wind has picked up and the temperature has dropped off. We've been in the upper 60s to mid 70s with partly cloudy skies. I need to find something I can do outside so I can enjoy it.

Looks like the temperature will be back up into the low 80s by the end of the week. But even so, those are highs. If much of the next several weeks can hang out in the 70s... woot. :)

So, yeah, what can I do outside? Maybe I'll just try to figure out how to get wireless up on the roof and sit up there and just enjoy the fresh air. I have my doubts our wireless access point from the second floor will be usable through two floors worth of building and whatever horizontal offset there is. Maybe someone on the fourth floor is running an unsecured connection. ;)

Sunday, August 21, 2005

[Comments: 0] 1:34 AM - climb-tall-buildings-in-a-single-elevator-ride

Ray's sister and her boyfriend are visiting us for the weekend, and today we took a trip up the John Hancock Center to the observation deck. I'd previously been up the Sears Tower when my family was visiting, and I have to say that this visit, while slightly cheaper, wasn't quite as impressive, mainly because it was already night time, and I couldn't make out very much other than lights and large buildings I'd already seen. Perhaps if I went up the Hancock Center first or in daytime, I might have felt differently. Either way, it was still cool to see the city from high up at a slightly different perspective.

We also ate at the Weber Grill Restaurant, which I have now been to several times. All the food at this place is cooked on actual Weber Grills, and every morsel is worth every penny. If you like really good meat, and you can get to Chicago, you need to go. :)

Ray's sister has thorougly cleaned nearly every square inch of this apartment and done all of Ray's laundry. I am enjoying the temporary span of extreme cleanliness before we revert to having boxes scattered everywhere and piles of clothing around the washing machine for three weeks at a time. The deal with the boxes is due entirely to the fact that we often get 5-10 shipments of random items per week. Most of them are business related, so if we get an office soon, that problem may be taken care of, at least mostly. :)

I am writing this post via my Linux box, finally, because I gave up on the RMA through the company that made my KVM switch and just bought some good DVI video cables through NewEgg. Having those hooked up, I am now switching back and forth from Windows to Linux until I have completely transitioned all the important stuff to the Linux machine.

My Windows machine will still be held for gaming and for certain types of applications that just run better on Windows, but this starts the phase where I can finally know that I will never buy another Windows license, since Windows Vista (aka Longhorn) is clearly marked to be a piece of crap, and I have all the Windows XP licenses I need to last me the next several years.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

[Comments: 2] 12:50 PM - return-from-planet-hp

After nearly a month of waiting due to the incompetent handling of my repair order by Radio Shack, I've finally been informed that my laptop is on its way back to the store where I dropped it off. Apparently Radio Shack took the following actions, making me certain I will never again use them to facilitate a repair to any piece of equipment I own:

  1. The store in Chicago held onto the laptop for two weeks, from July 20th, when I dropped it off, until early August.
  2. The laptop was shipped to a service center in Kentucky that was shut down (as in, no longer operating anymore), it was returned to the store.
  3. The store shipped the laptop to a different service center in New York.
  4. The service center in New York received the laptop by about the 10th of August, and shipped it to HP for repair.
  5. The service center claims HP returned it to them for an unknown reason and it has to be shipped out again to HP.
  6. HP repairs the laptop within 72 hours of finally receiving it properly.
  7. The service center called this morning, less than 72 hours after HP had finally received it, informing me they have received it back from HP, repaired and are shipping it back to the store in Chicago.

The clear moral here is that Radio Shack are incompetent morons and should not be trusted to handle repairs. Next time I need HP support, I am calling them and shipping it out myself. Chances are I'll save at least three weeks of waiting.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

[Comments: 2] 10:14 PM - large-peg-in-a-small-hole

I went to check the mail when we got back from dinner today, and the mailbox was interestingly packed. We had our usual share of envelopes, which presents no complication, but Karl was expecting a box of DVDs. This box was about exactly the same width as the mailbox itself, so it fit perfectly.

Here's the problem... our mailboxes, like many apartment mailbox arrangements, have a large door that opens so the mail carrier can fill all the mailboxes without having to open them individually. This large door has many smaller doors arranged in a framework that individual residents have keys to open.

The opening on our door is slightly smaller than the mailbox opening accessible to the mail carrier, and so, while the box fit in perfectly, it was not within our means to remove it... intact.

The solution? My key makes a decent cutting tool. I cut a hole in the side of the box with my key, ripped out the side, removed the contents and then collapsed the box so that it could be removed from the mailbox properly. :)

Monday, August 8, 2005

[Comments: 2] 5:43 PM - gas-flows-again

Karl finally managed to convince the gas company that we were a new resident deserving of a new account with them on Friday, so they agreed to turn out gas back on, but not until today.

I am just about to take the first hot shower I've had since the gas was shut off... It will be so nice. I hope I haven't been unusually smelly these past couple days. :)

Sunday, August 7, 2005

[Comments: 0] 5:31 PM - returns

I love weird dreams. I am going to summarize my most recent for permanent record and everyone's personal amusement.

Scene: Department Store

I walk into the store wearing a nice shirt, pants, and a blazer. The blazer is too small and relatively ugly in my opinion. Someone gave it to me as a gift, and I want to return it.

I go to the service counter and ask the woman whether they will take returns without a receipt. She isn't sure, but the guy behind her says (to her) that they do because it's possible that I got the item as a gift without being given the receipt. She takes the blazer and puts it on a rack and turns around and starts talking to another staff member.

I turn and look around. There are some people holding flashlights with blue caps on them. The kids are shining them on staff members and giggling. It sounds like someone is keeping track of how many they "get."

I look at some merchandise including a table upon which there are orange and blue Mets vests. For some reason these interest me briefly, before I decide to walk back to the counter.

Most of the staff have walked away for some reason, but I ask the woman that's there why it's taking so long to process my return. She points to the sign above the counter, which says "Customer Service (31)" and remarks that returns are only processed in this department at 31 past the hour. I accept this, but don't look at my watch and start to walk down the stairs next to the counter but the woman tells me those stairs are for employees only. I walk in the other direction out of this department to find something to do for a while.

I'm looking for other men's clothing departments, but all I really see are children's clothes and toys, and a department for Authorize.net, which is an online credit card processor. All the hallways are very dark, and as I keep wandering further I find that the place looks far more like a giant ill-maintained warehouse with some kind of giant building in the middle. The building looks very old and about ready to collapse, and is definitely not worth trying to go into.

There is no merchandise here, but there are lots of customers wandering around. Two giant staircases go up toward the ceiling, so I theorize that maybe the men's clothing departments are up there. After climbing some rickety stairs with some other customer to the top, we find there's nothing but a locked door up there, and so we go back down.

When I get to the bottom, a homeless girl is standing there shining her blue-capped flashlight at people until someone steals it from her. I steal it back and return it to her.

I look up and there are about 10 people dressed in camouflage. About half are walking up a ramp, the other down the same ramp. They seem like they have something to do with the military.

At this point I start heading somewhere else. Unfortunately, I woke up and I never did get my return processed. :)

Saturday, August 6, 2005

[Comments: 1] 1:03 AM - blah

I feel lazy, grumpy, and bored this weekend. You'd never know if you talked to me, but I just want to spend the whole weekend doing absolutely nothing but hiding in my bedroom.

The other option would be to go out and do something fun and exciting. Someone should come visit me and drag me somewhere to knock me out of my boredom. :)

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

[Comments: 1] 5:43 AM - animals-need-shipping-too

Ben (a friend of Karl's from Northwestern that is working for us over the summer) was browsing around the web, I believe analyzing the latest cow population statistics for various states, and eventually found his way (by what means I cannot begin to guess), to the USPS web site.

Apparently, if you are moving, the Postal Service wants to help make sure all your hippos are packed properly for shipping.

If there's one thing I love, it's companies with a sense of humor. (Actually, that statement is probably grossly inaccurate, but let's pretend.) This seems particularly odd, because it's the US Postal Service, but all the companies I've ever loved have been the ones that weren't "above" including their customers in their zany office fun. If the USPS is to be one of those companies, I'm a fan. :)

[Comments: 4] 5:17 AM - gas-powered-appliances-hate-us

My guess is that gas-powered appliances do not like us because none of them have worked for me in the past 24 hours. In actuality, only one such appliance is unrelated to the apparent fact that our gas service has been turned off. To our determination we have never actually been sent a bill telling us of charges for gas used, and we received no advance warning that our service was about to be disconnected.

Apparently we did receive (our first month) a bill from the gas company with a "past due" amount, which we were thoroughly confused about since we had just moved into the building. Since that was apparently never followed up with the company, they seem to have assumed we simply refused to remit payment for our gas service and shut us off.

Anyway, I came upon this knowledge by attempting to take a shower. It was a very cold shower, and that is because our water heater uses gas. At first I thought it might be a water heater problem, but I looked at the heater unit and noticed the gas line and thought to try the stove. No luck.

So, with that knowledge in hand, we have to wait for business hours tomorrow and try to convince them that we just moved in June 1st and can't possibly be responsible for anything billed before that time.

The possibly more annoying part is that I just decided a little while ago to finally run a load of laundry because I really need to. Now, I thought, we have no hot water, so I'll just wash with cold water. The grand problem is, the dryer also apparently runs on gas, leaving us with a heat-free dryer! Now I have a washing machine full of wet clothes and the high-powered air drying method as my primary option. I was also going to run the dishwasher today, and the lack of hot water leaves that plan out of sight as well.

Sigh.

To make matters worse, we picked today of all days to use the grill on the roof deck. While certainly unrelated, the gas-powered grill refused to start, and since we could also not use the oven or the stove, we ended up ordering some delivery.

This all adds up to my theory that gas-powered appliances do not like us... at least, not at the moment.