internet revolution at home
2003-06-04 - 12:17 p.m.
So, last night I gave another online friend my spiel about how my only real internet options are dial-up, idsl, or T1, and if I could afford T1, I'd get it... since I'm too far from the central office to get adsl or sdsl, and AT&T had some stand-off with my city, so there was no cable internet here.
Idsl is based on the old ISDN protocol, and supposedly gives me 144k/144k symmetrical access. This means I can upload or download at 16kB/s, but not both at once at that speed. Oh, and I got a bit of a good deal... well, for idsl... I pay $115 a month.
Our cable company recently changed, but I didn't think much of it, till I got this postcard from the new company in the mail. I called them, just to double check.
Yes, $60 a month after the initial 5 months at $20 a month. Ideally, 1.5M/256k, or 10 times my current download and twice my current upload.
They're coming on Friday.
chili x 16
2003-06-04 - 10:15 a.m.
My 3am Logic Chili recipe will probably be multiplied by 16 and fed to a hundred hungry teen-aged Unitarians! Debbie will be the chef. It will be served with salad and cornbread (probably some vegan and some non-vegan). I've never been involved in that volume of cooking before. It baffles and intrigues me.
I'm staying up late, having my car worked on. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. I'm juggling bills and hope to be caught up soon... a certain check from the federal government should help.
So far: slight burning smell is a slow leak from the oil tank drain gasket, getting on the engine and burning. I'll put off that $200 repair for now. Okay, the turn signal was a simple corroded bulb... total with oil change $42.38. :)
The trailer has less life in it now, with the cats and rats gone, but still about the same amount of clutter.
Speaking of trailers, I get to help with one. Debbie is making a movie trailer for drama class. Yay!
I might be going to San Diego very soon to visit Nolly; I might wait until July. Hmm... I could go the weekend of Comic Con and actually go to the con that Friday... though a weekend where I have Saturday off would be better...
8 strange weeks
2003-06-02 - 11:04 p.m.
For those of you normally confused over which Saturday nights I work, here is an even stranger 8 weeks of them:
June 7 Todd
June 14 Rafael
June 21 Rafael (normal Todd Saturday)
June 28 Todd (normal Rafael Saturday)
July 5 Rafael (normal Todd Saturday)
July 12 Rafael
July 19 Todd
July 26 Todd (normal Rafael Saturday)
August 2 Todd
This way, I can attend more of Fanime and Westercon. I hope that clears things up for you, cause I'm sure confused...
asexual
2003-06-02 - 3:34 a.m.
You are asexual.
What is your sexual orientation?
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Asexual eh? Cool, I'm Ed from Cowboy Bebop, according to the picture.
Baycon 2003 in stream-of-consciousness order
2003-05-30 - 1:37 a.m.
I remember this BayCon pretty well, but thanks to my attempts to sleep at night, and having to work overnight Sunday night of con, I have little idea what went on when, so here it is in the order it flows out of my mind.
Snuggling with Nolly.
Fluxx and kisses.
Sleep at night, sleep in the day, sleep under my desk, not enough sleep.
Free LAN! Networked 4 computers in our room. Share anime with the hotel via the LAN? No, maybe if I'd chosen a real IP address when I set up. Hmm, next time...
Parties! Screamworks? Too loud. I only got a few steps in. Some party with incense... had a weird air to it. Gaylaxicon/Conjecture? Yes! Mmm, vacuum-packed guacamole from Costco and tortilla chips. I stayed there a while, and suggested to Alan, the 2004 chair and part-thrower, that he attend Yaoicon this year and promote Gaylaxicon. Rule 6 party: yes. Massages and cuddling, singing and conversation. I was the last one to leave of those who left.
I missed out on the dances, art show, panels, filking, anime programming, move-in/move-out. I didn't throw a party, have a dealer's table, babysit, or help out with a fan table (I was going to do the latter, but never got my timing right ofr it). I did get to hold a baby for a while, and that was really cool. I briefly saw the dealer's room, boffing, and gaming.
I caught up with old friends, and didn't know much about what my close friends were up to a lot of the time until reading their journals during the con or after the con. I did respond to one journal entry by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the hungry journaller who was sitting in the room with me.
I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly. I also had watermelon, party food, and a portobello mushroom "burger" in the Coffee Garden. Thanks, Colleen, for the changes in the menu! Too bad they had to take my order 3 times to bring it out at all, then brought it out with an unidentifiable substance in it that turned out to be blue cheese (it was white and seemed like it could be a slice of some plant or fish).
I worked registration, and didn't do very much data entry. Some of the data entry was on a laptop! Which couldn't use an external ps/2 keyboard! Soon enough though, after I filed my nails down to manageable lengths, I did badge assembly/laminating most of the rest of the weekend, heehee.
Wait, Monday is becoming clear in my head. I got off work, moved heavy stuff (other than the fridge) to the car on a cart since there were carts available at 6:30am, slept a bit, then went to registration, which was already pretty well staffed. I got my registration weasel merit badge: Night hiking! heehee. I ran into a masseuse friend, whose daughter was being kitty-like, gave the daughter head skritches, then got a 20 minute massage that actually bruised me for the next few days.
I wanted to get people together to go out for dinner before going to work, but that just wasn't going to happen. I said good-bye to Nolly and others, then went off to work. I did make it to Dead Dog on my lunch break, and got a kiss that linked me strangely to Danny Elfman via a few intermediary people. There was even a nice conversation about the silly antics of badge counterfeiters over the years, including this year's person who bought a yellow Friday badge and went over it with a blue highlighter to try to make it green for a full weekend pass. It looked, well, laughable. :)
I'm sure I left out something important. There were quite a lot of nice hugs and conversations. I want to write a letter to the hotel for how uncharacteristically wonderful they were this year.
chili success
2003-05-29 - 11:07 a.m.
This chili is good. Seriously. And I actually recorded all the ingredients! :)
Too bad for the dentist... this has a whole bulb of garlic in it... heehee. Will anyone try my chili? I could freeze a portion for those far away (not Nolly, cause this one has beans in it).
3am logic chili
2003-05-29 - 5:01 a.m.
So, I was driving around trying out my new birthday present (thanks, Ade, for the car stereo!), when I found myself at Safeway.
I browsed the aisles a bit till I saw some dried chilis, and I thought, chili! I grabbed some ingredients and brought them home, ingredients I would only think of putting together at this hour.
I put one can of garbanzo beans, 1 can of black baluga lentils, and one can of European soldier beans, all drained, into the crock pot (once I cleaned it out thoroughly). Then I added a can of tomato paste, and a can of candied yams, not drained.
I started to cut up two of the four fresh habanero chilis I bought, when I decided to smell one. I put it closer and closer, but I could hardly smell anything. "Are these really habaneros?" I had to know for sure. I put one diced piece right into my mouth. This shock swept over my mouth, and involuntarily, the piece fell out of my mouth. Yes, that's the right stuff. Hmmm, I decided, and only put two of them into the pot.
I diced a bulb of garlic and parts of a purple onion and an orange bell pepper. The bell pepper is almost the same shade of orange as the habanero, which is why I bought it... it seemed appropriate at the time. I think that's why I decided to put in candied yams too. It might need a little more liquid.
I can smell it now in my bedroom, but that's not very surprising. I have fans (er, Vornado room circulators) blowing air through the house because of how hot it's gotten.
I'm going to sleep soon, leaving it on low, so hopefully it'll turn out good. Thanks to the habaneros, it might not something I can share with anyone I can think of around here. Oh well. :)
post-baycon, post-work-week Wednesday
5-28-2003 - 11:38
Dude, why am I still awake?
I know it's Wednesday, and it's the happy happy weekend again, and I don't have to work till Sunday night, but I've really stayed up late today. Things seem really interesting when I've been awake for 20 hours, and nothing is planned for the rest of the day.
I do have a dental appointment tomorrow at 2:10pm though. I've been trying to ignore this toothache and hoping it will go away, because it does go away, but then it comes back again, so I finally got an appointment.
I still have some money left, just need to pay the bills in the right order, so I don't pay something that can wait that gets in the way of something more important. It kind of reminds me of playing freecell... Soon, my federal return should come in, and that will be quite quite nice. I shouldn't make too many plans ahead of time for that money though. Hmmm, Torcon...
baycon anime filesharing
2003-05-24 - 8:14 a.m.
If you're at Baycon, have a hotel room, and have a computer plugged into the hotel LAN (access is free for Baycon this year), and if you like anime and want some digital fansubs, read on. If not, this probably won't interest you much.
Using some form of Windows networking/Samba, connect to 10.0.0.47, hostname purplepc, userid baycon, password baycon.
If you're using Linux or Mac OS X, you ought to be able to figure it out. If you're using Windows and need help...
1. Find your lmhosts file. It's usually in c:winntsystem32driversetc or c:windows. Edit the file. Add this line:
10.0.0.47 purplepc #PRE
2. Go to Network Neighborhood, or My Network Places: Computers Near Me. You should find PurplePC. Copy some files.
For those of you who think i'm leaving myself wide open, remember 10.* addresses are local only... you have to reach it through the hotel network.
Enjoy. That is all.
bagels, not enough sleep
2003-05-24 - 7:33 a.m.
Here I am at Baycon, typing quietly in my hotel room. I've been awake since before 6am, again. I watched an episode of live action "Great Teacher Onizuka" with no sound, and later made a trip to get bagels and cash.
I'll probably need a nap later. The con is good so far. Catching up with friends is nice.
It's Baycon!
2003-05-23 - 9:22 a.m.
Hi! Long time...
I'm finally at Baycon. Yay.
I went to a play last weekend with Debbie, and went bowling. It was nice.
I got a B in ASL (American Sign Language)! I'm taking the next class next semester.
The Doubletree is finally offering free Net access to Baycon attendees in their rooms. We have 4 computers hooked up.
It's fun here so far, though the con is really just getting started. It should be fun, as long as the drama dampeners function properly.
I'm Raven
2003-03-17 - 5:02 a.m.
Woo, I'm Raven. :)
Raven
So what Demonology 101 Character Are You? Find out.
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day shift?
2003-03-15 - 6:54 p.m.
I got an email from Pierre today asking if I wanted to switch to day shift.
My first thought was "no." Then I thought through my time spent here during the day, and those who have done days and nights here, and the type of day shift (starting at 6am, work through weekend, days off mid-week), and thought, "NO." I would like to stay on this shift while i'm working here, thank you.
Go Go 24601!
2003-03-15 - 4:46 a.m.
Tonight I saw a lovely rendition of "Les Miserables" at Lincoln High School. At least one string instrument was in desperate need of tuning (or of being put out of its misery), but overall I was quite happy with it. The part near the beginning with the priest brought tears to my eyes.
Good thing they didn't update the music... think Pat Benetar... "You're a bread taker... ditch maker... parole breaker, don't you mess around with me..."
The story never ceases to touch me. And after their lovely and creative redition of "Alice" and now this, I'm hooked on their drama department. "Brighton Beach Memoirs" is next...
After the play, we went out for dinner. Most everyone was home before midnight, but one of my friends taught me some go, and then we played one game until almost 3am! Now I'll have a better idea what I'm watching, at least, when I watch "Hikaru no Go"...
I wanted to record the new song by Debbie and her friend, all 15 and a half minutes of it, but she was tired. Soon!
TeleFan
2003-03-05 - 7:48 a.m.
I'm forgetful, especially when I come home from working 12 hours all night, or wake up from sleeping during the day. Unfortunately, those are good times of day to turn my phone's ringer off or back on...
The phone tends to ring during the day, and a ringing noise would seriously mess up my sleep pattern (and it seems messed up now...). A phone flasher is a nifty device that either has a built-in light, or an outlet for a lamp, so a light will go off when the phone rings.
This seems a bit better, but in my dark, boarded-up room, the light would be at least as annoying.
I went to Fry's to get a new desk phone. I found a model I liked, one with buttons on the base (I hate buttons on the handset when I have to use a phone menu), caller ID, a handset that is relatively easy to hang up, and speakerphone. Speakerphone is my best friend when I call some form of customer support and start off on hold.
Enter the small fan.
Then I tried to think of something to plug into my phone flasher, a cheap Radio Shack part I've owned for years. I wondered if I could find something that would make a small noise that would be obvious when I'm awake but wouldn't bother me when I'm asleep. Then it dawned on me... a fan! I grabbed a small clip fan.
Now it's plugged in properly and clipped and aimed so when I'm at my desk, it's pointed right at me. I did a test call from a cell phone, and it's very subtle, but obvioius when I'm awake. The first ring spins it up a bit, and it's still spinning when the second ring starts, so it starts to go a bit faster.
No fan calls yet while I've been awake, but I have successfully slept through three calls so far. If you have my number, feel free to call any time... I might be awake. The voice of a friend is like a gentle breeze...
sicky blah
2003-02-24 - 2:09 p.m.
Ugh. Sick. 38 degrees C, 100.4 F. But the main thing is my awful sore throat. It hurts to swallow. Bleh. Sore throat bear pop, liquids, sleep.
see: Its beauty wife, its patched roof!
2003-02-24 - 5:08 a.m.
Today, a security guard asked me if I would help him with Linux. I helped him a lot. I'm past the point where I can think clearly, but I had my first experience using Grub instead of Lilo, and it worked fine.
Now some guy named Daimir from the Ukraine (near Russia) is trying to chat with me, all in Cyrillic, and I have little idea what he is saying. Babelfish is helping somewhat... but even with how off Babelfish can be, it seems he may be drunk. I quote the excuse for a translation (while keeping in mind that this is a free service, thanks altavista.com!):
They tell me:"do not drink!",however, and 4 I do not drink I that I do see?Its wretched wife and the becoming thin roof...Me they tell do not drink, but I in secret drink and see:Its beauty wife, its patched roof!However, let us drink to the fact that makes our life better!
Does alcohol make his wife more attractive, and make it seem that his roof isn't leaking? Does that make one's life better?
More importantly, is he using some equivalent to Babelfish? I keep responding in English, and he keeps responding in Russian... This is quite interesting at 5-something-a.m....
My Big Fat Drag Queen Wedding
2003-02-23 - 4:11 a.m.
Wow, what all happened today? I woke up and agreed to take domestic partner to Ade's... then kinda got rushed out the door while I was still waking up. I'm sure it seemed to her like I was stalling and being slow, but I hate rushing out the door first thing waking up in the afternoon (it was actually around 11am, but I usually wake up in the afternoon).
We got Debbie and took Ade's old futon to the donation station by putting it on top of my car and holding onto it instead of tying it down. Of course, they don't take used bedding. We had to take it back again, then proceeded to tear it up and bag it to go out with recycling.
There was shopping at a mall. That's all kind of a blur already, though I remember finding a place to sit with Debbie to rest our feet cause of all the running around finding clothing.
We went to a cheesecake place, and Ade got cheesecake for those of us (all but me) who aren't vegan, and then I dragged them to Whole Foods so I could get my own chocolately sweetness (a whole cake), which turned out to be too much of my money. Oh well, I'll survive till my next paycheque.
We watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" at Ade's, then left her at home, did a bank run, and came home to get Milhouse (the cat) and drive him out to a walk in the park. We discovered he did NOT like the ride in the car! He cried a lot in that loud cat way. But he seemed to have fun in the park walking us around.
Domestic partner got tired, but Debbie and I were still wakeful, so we went to her house to watch "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Mmm, drag-queeny goodness. One of my favourite movies ever. 112 stars out of 113, at least.
My only tentative plan all day was to record Debbie and her friend doing a new song they wrote, and that never happened... maybe soon. Did I mention here that I got a new microphone? It really kicks ass. I can't wait to use it. I'm getting more into recording technology, and becoming more of a fan of Debbie's music. And Debbie kicks ass in general. Okay, I think it's almost late enough for me to sleep without throwing me off too much.
dehydrator recipes
2003-02-23 - 3:51 a.m.
Recipe time!
Banana jerky
It's really just dehydrated banana, but it works very well this way.
Peel a banana. Seperate it into thirds (this may take some practise,
but you can pull a banana into three sections, like sectioning an orange).
Put the sections into a dehydrator for a day or so.
Teriyaki Pineapple Tofu Jerky
Yes, I've been experimenting with my dehydrator. :)
Cut strips of tofu (don't freeze and thaw it). Marinade it in about 2/3
pineapple juice and 1/3 teriyaki sauce for about a day. Dehydrate in a
dehydrator for about a day. Mmm. This is still a work in progress.
ashi's big toilet adventure
2003-02-21 - 12:03 a.m.
For the past week or so, the toilet has been wonky. Flushing generally worked, but reloading for another flush (filling the tank) took around a half hour instead of half a minute.
Wednesday, I finally bought a new fill valve, and decided to go all out and get a piston flush valve too (nifty thing that eleminates the whole chain mechanism and that bob thing it pulls up).
After the domestic partner went to bed, I started some food dehydrating, then got to work. The toilet was made in 1981, so some of the connections were hard to get off. I soon realised a few things about water in my house.
1. The water shutoff valve to the toilet doesn't do anything.
2. The water shutoff to the house only works about 95%, at least with as hard as I was able to turn it off.
It was pretty workable once I turned the water to the house down as far as it would go, then ran the bathtub. The fill valve replacement still caused some water spillage, as water was drizzling out of the water supply, but only a little localized spillage.
Once I realized you have to take the tank off to replace the flush valve, I almost stopped there, but the piston flush valve was just too cool. I finally got it on and put it all together. The tank started to fill up, and water started to trickle out the holes where the tank bolts to the bowl section.
No! I figured the bolts weren't tight enough. I tightened them more. It didn't seem to help. A bit more on this side... a bit more on that side... the leak started acting weirder... a bit more...
Crack!
Now there was much more leakage. The tank cracked. I realized my jacket was on the floor on the other side of the (rather small) bathroom, and it was starting to get wet. I flushed and rigged it to stop filling. Okay, think. How much do new toilets run? Time check: Okay, 4:30am. Home Depot a few miles away opens at 6.
With the jacket hanging up to dry, I donned a sweatshirt over my shirt at 6 and ventured out into the cold morning. Once I was there, I realized they sell tanks seprately! There was one for only $100. I might not need a whole new toilet...
But I needed to know what brand my toilet is. I came home and looked all over, but only found some engraved numbers. I called, measured the distance between the two bolds (5"), and went back.
They found one that would probably fit, and it was $24 something with tax! Inside it had the really old-fashioned setup (including the air-filled ball that floats as the water fills up), and I decided to leave all that intact and just put it on whole. Besides, domestic partner was awake and wanted to take a shower. I added a few cups of water... no leak yet.
I turned the water supply back on full. Score! It works! And I don't have to blow all my money on a new toilet, which would be a huge pain to install myself... even if I could completely shut off the water suppy...
In American Sign Language class, the teacher asked me what I had done today, and I said I had fixed the toilet. It was quite amusing... maybe you had to be there.
Now I just need to get rid of the old leaky tank. Anyone want it, complete with nifty new valves? I also put it up on Craig's List.
nerds and trading and web comics
2003-02-20 - 12:58 a.m.
Okay, this web site has provoked more thought in me than anything else in the last several months, at least. Why Nerds are Unpopular. Almost everything in it rings true for me.
In the paragraph that starts: "We were a bit like an adult would be..." "he'd know enough not to care what they thought." If an adult were thrust back into middle school, sie probably would care (at least to some extent) what the other students thought of hir.
Aside from a very small disagreement, I fully agree. I feel better about my school experience, having read it.
Andrew, the guy behind Diaryland, has a new site called Swappington's. List something you want to give away, send it off, get points, and use them to get free things from other people!
One more nifty link, Neko Machi, a new web comic brought to you by Ewen, who is brought to you by the family responsible for my non-romantically-involved domestic partner, and Debbie, nyo.
happy happy good stuff
2003-02-16 - 7:20 p.m.
Good things
Snuggly goodness mmm...
Gifts for me: Sanrio Hello Kitty chopsticks and hair ties, Milton Bradley pocket Twister game
Gifts from me: Habanero hot sauce, bubbles, kosher chocolates, little roses, goldfish crackers, a little balloon, and probably something else.
Good, silly convention and con suite, even though I had to leave early
New microphone I'm probably getting
New music by Debbie
Vegan pocket sandwiches on Amtrak train
