So i’m posting, just because having something to do is always fun. The schools are doing PACT testing, so us techs are persona non grata at the moment. If we were to bring some computer down during the all-important sorting tests (Crushing more dreams and deciding more futures impersonally before 9 AM than more guidance counselors do all day!) we’d probably be summarilly executed. So i’m playing about in the office.

I’ve gutted an Intergraph machine from ‘95 for parts around the office. A co-worker wanted the ram and harddrive, and i wanted the fan-dancy floppy drive. It really is both fan’ and ‘dancy, trust me. Its a combination thin-floppy and a pair of PCMCIA card slots, all in a 3.5 inch inclosure. That should be fun to mess with. it wants two IDE slots though, which may be an annoyance. However, i could always chain my hard drives and cd-roms through an Ultra-66 card and get decent data transfer. You never know.

And i’m also messing with setting up an RSS feed. It really isn’t all that customizable… just a title, description and link. You can add a bunch of channel info, and an image; but why really? I now need to start throwing it at some compiler to make it viewable… if i can get a decent aggrigator, i may even make up a little start-page ‘blog for just me.

Well, back to looking at Cool Solutions.

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So, just a two day gap in my postings, and that’s not too bad. I still need to get back to the EGC, i do actually miss writing for it.

I saw the series premier of “Panic Mechanics,” TLC’s newest attempt to duplicate the success of Junkyard Wars. Its not a bad show by any streatch of the imagination, but its just not as rampantly cool as JW. I like the little challenges, the Race-the-Tank thing tests mechanical ability, and the Two-Man-Car thing tests communication and all that. So the interstitial challenges can be kept, and the overall idea behind the show is cool. Somewhat Junkyard Wars-ian, but a good set of concepts. They just fail in two ways. First off, the host is a little too silly. I mean to contrast with the two hosts from JW, he’s all Llewellan, but without the charisma that the JW host has. They either need to make Trevor smarter, or get an intelligent co-host.

And second, the thing is too damn fast. It lacks JW’s engineering tangents (the bit where they go off about interacting forces and how the levers work and all that), and it just comes off like a clips show. You have a whole challenge based on the coil wire, but no real explaination about what a coil wire is to begin with, or what it does for a car. I’d like a smattering of mechanical explainations seeded throughout the show. That and i’d like there to be only one challenge per episode. The whole “Two seperate challenges” thing leaves no time for exposition. During the whole Brass Band Moving race, i had no idea what the course looked like, who was in the lead, or even who to root for. Either have a little overlay of the course with red and blue dots, or stop the fading to black thing they did. That was truely annoying.

Well, i’ll watch it again next week, but it will never (never) replace Junkyard Wars as the absolute coolest thing on TV.

And i caught some new anime yesterday while the woman was at work. Don’t bother with SoulTaker, no matter what people tell you. Its all trippy shifting backgrounds and wierd colour things. My take on it: “Warhol on bad acid mixed with Go Nagai.” The transforming Hearse was the coolest thing about it, and that was stolen blatantly from Transformers. Actually, everything in the show has been done other places, and better.

Metropolis, on the other hand, bears watching. Mayhaps even a few times, so feel free to buy it. Go to Suncoast, its cheapest there. But it was well acted, well translated, i honestly felt for the characters, something i don’t often do. It nearly had me bawling, but then i dislike people killing robots, i don’t know why, it just bothers me. So yeah, go check it out, or whatever.

Jason, i may come bother you either monday, tuesday, or wednesday. My woman’ll be working, so i’ll be bored and all that.

I also bought a bunch of bathroom hardware today, so i may spend some time upgrading my bathroom. What, i think that getting a nicer toilet seat counts as upgrading, anybody have a problem?

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Finally my new project has a home. An aluminum 4u rackmount kind of home. I have to say that this is an absolutely huge board. The damn thing takes up every inch of space in this Skymaster case. It looks smart though, and i have to say i am proud of how it has turned out.

I can’t get it to recognize a floppy drive though, and this is annoying. Add to this the fact that i can’t get the floppy that i rather like to even fit into the drive cage and i am rather pissed at the whole thing. Upon dismatleing an Intergraph machine at work today i came across quite a little find. Apparently in several of their boxes Intergraph installed these incredibly interesting little floppy drives. They are 3.5″ in size, but they are comprised of a thin laptop floppy drive and two PCMCIA slots. The only problem is that the slots connect to the back of the drive and the floppy to the side. The Skymaster case has a 3.5″ openning, but the drive is inclosed in this little cage that makes accessing the side connector impossible. Oh well, back to the drawing board… this thing will surely keep while i figure out a new plan of attack.

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(To the tune of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, by the way) Seriously, all i’d like is for the damn outer door to lock. Here’s the “skinny,” as the young kids say: there are two doors that are supposed to stop you from getting in to my apartment, killing my cats, and stealing my stuff. The inner one is a crappy little wood-core door with a deadbolt. I don’t really think this would stop anybody who wanted badly enough to get through it.

So i pin my hopes on the outer door. It’s metal and it locks magnetically unless somebody buzzes you in or you have a key. There was a third way, if you typed #2345 into the door-buzzer, it would unlock. This was allowing vagrants and other assorted people we don’t want standing about in the hallway, asking me for money for champipple. So they (the management company) decide to turn this off. This is the first good idea that i’ve seen them make, so i knew they’d mess it up. Instead of making the door stay locked, it stays unlocked. I waited a week, and then started calling them. This is how it went:

Monday: I call the main office, it is busy. I call the satellite office and they say “Oh my god, i’ll get somebody out there today!” and i say “Whew!” and go about my business.

Tuesday: I assume it locks. We all know what assume means. It doesn’t lock.

Wednesday: I call back. The main office is still not answering its phone. The sattelite is, though and is much less helpful this time. She (same person from last time) tries to call the main office and can’t get anyone on the phone. On either “Back” line. She tries to explain it by saying that there are probably only two people working. This would mean that both are engaged in doing something that isn’t helping that door get locked, or even answering the phone at all. The lady on the phone says she’ll call the people who fix the locks and call me back. Guess what doesn’t happen. Yeah, i’ll be calling them tomorrow.

See, i think that there are really two things that could happen that are more important than that door. An actual emergency (fire, flood, terrorist takeover, etc), or loss of a primary utility, ie: electricity or water. This door is more important that cable, and more important than the elevator. But then this is the same management company that saves money on their video surveillance feature by not putting any cameras in, and that won’t keep a janitor in the building to manage the keys. I wish i could move out, really.

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Well, i’m already so out of title ideas that i’m resorting to that hoary old gag. Ah well, i’m sure that you’ve grown to expect it.

So i’ve watched another movie and want to pontificate about it. I should make that a “Category” in this content management thingy… (a project for another day) But anyhow, i watched Va Savoir last night, and i have to say that it was actually interesting with flashes of brilliance, until the ending, which was incredible. Basically everything after and including the duel scene (starting with the climb up the stairs) is without parallel. The dialogue writing is far too cool for words. On the other hand, the first two thirds of the movie are really slow paced, and the device of using one single camera angle to place the viewer as the audience to a play is a little blatant… ah well, not bad but really only for a rental.

I also finished reading a book today. Whenever you have time, buy Garfinkle’s “All of an Instant.” Its a book that is beyond incredible. I mean simply the finest piece of time travel fiction i’ve ever read. It doesn’t bother with the accepted “Timeline” pseudoscience, but instead goes way off into random theoretical ground. Hell, if anybody wants to borrow it, drop me a comment.

And yes, i’d like that NieA DVD back. I’ll let you borrow the fourth one.

Today, i actually do buy “Metropolis,” God willing and the creek don’t rise.

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Yes, that is a pun on both “Queen of the Damned” and on “Lord of the Dance,” i’m a regular “notmydesk.com.” Apparently the current Count Dracula needs an heir, and i’m thinking of putting in an app. What, i’ve always wanted to be nobility and i think this may be my one big shot at the whole “serfs and big ass manor house” thing.

So if you ever find yourself to be UPS, or even a UPS driver, here’s how you piss me off. Make a delivery, make sure its when only people with no job can be home (Oh, delivery at 10am, sure! That’ll work!), then when the guy isn’t home, just let his neighbor sign for it no questions asked. That’s great. My case arrived yesterday and they let my next door neighbor just sign for and take the damn thing. I had to sit around for 2 hours waiting for the guy to show up so i could get my damn package. I called UPS and told them to never do this again. The simple reason being that i did not know this person, could not pick them out of a crowd of two, did not know their phone number or when they would return from wherever they were, and had no way of getting their phone number. The phone to buzz in at my apartment complex is not labeled with room number or with name, you simply call the managment company, they add your name based on when you sign up, and your first name gets put on a list. I think we are “Brooks, S. #79″ or something, and my brother and i live in apartment 103! The UPS operator could not tell me what the signature said, because its the standard EKG that most people call their signed name now. I mean if you are going to just hand a $100 package to somebody first ask if they know the person whose package they are signing for, then ask them to print their damn name somewhere on the stupid form. Well, i’m just paranoid, but i don’t think i’m unreasonable.

So i’ve got my case, and i’m almost done with the “File Server from Beyond the Grave” ancilliary ‘blog. It’s not like it is taking whole lots of time, i just don’t have very much of it to throw around, what with the woman and the job and the sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, i had one wierd-ass dream last night. I had a flying castle, and my flagrant abuse of power made my girlfriend leave me. I still enjoyed the flying castle though, and she was either in the process of leaving completely or coming back and i woke up. Damn inconclusive dreams.

And speaking of the file server, its in a case now. Still has the same “Incorrect A: Drive” error. So if anybody has any ideas on how you could fix that other than trying another drive or cable, i’m all ears.

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Well, now the board has its second processor and two cooling fans. The damn thing is starting to look almost like a computer, too bad i don’t have a case yet, but i am working on that final addition. The fans are remarkably quiet, though this is less surprising when you consider the fact that these are 200mhz processors, compared to the 1.3ghz that is in my athlon box at the moment.

Not much more to say except that it is really being a pill at the moment, and refusing to give me the “Second Processor Initialized” message.

The second processor (matched to the stepping number of the first) ran me $25, and the fans cost $9 apiece, bringing the grand total up to $109.

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Well, it has been over a week, and i have to say that its all Time Warner’s fault. But thanks to high quality splitters, the availablility of good RG-6 at Home Depot, and the existing house amp and tap i’ve got in my room; everything’s going to be ok. Well, that and the Roadrunner is faster than ever. Go me.

I’ve done a little more farting around with the new server, ordering some parts and whatnot, and so i’ll be able to tell you more about it when i get off my fat ass and throw together a seperate ‘blog for the File Server From Beyond the Grave. Well, assuming i can ever get it to recognise the floppy drive. If that doesn’t happen then it can go to hell. Well, or i’ll go to Hongfaith and get a replacement motherboard.

And finally, “The Two Towers” has already managed to make me its bitch. Go check out the new four minutes they added in to get people back in the theatre. Well, it worked. Yes i payed to see Fellowship again (for the third time) to see a trailer at the end. And you know what, its worth it. To paraphrase that Blade II review that Nick posted: “HELM’S DEEP AND EOWYN AND ENTS AND”… So forth. Just go see the damn thing already. I think i may take the whole week off work again. Lets just hope that i don’t get fired this time.

And yes, i am lower than shit. I didn’t get any e-mail answered last week, i was too busy sleeping and all that. So to the two people who mailed me months ago, sorry i’m a jackass.

Tonight’s quest: Get Mt-Search up and running and restore search functionality to the good ol’ ‘blog here. (That’s alot of apostraphies)

Anyhow, i’m heading off to Columbiana to see about buying the anime Metropolis, and perhaps SoulTaker, just because it seems to review well. Damn i wish there was an anime section at Blockbuster. I’d save so much more money that way. Ah well, i can always assuage my concience and go donate them to NASHI.

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Well, there we go, you can search the ‘blog again. I don’t think anybody used the feature anyway, but there it is. I used it, so i was feeling the lack. Yes, i did barely change the template. I’ll edit that and the archives more thoroughly when i’m not either sleeping, working, with the girlfriend, watching Star Trek, or otherwise engaged.

Yes. That is a bad pun, thanks for pointing it out.

Sadly i wasn’t able to get Metropolis today. It either hasn’t come out yet or it is sold out. I’m guessing against the second, but either way i think i may just make an order over at Amazon. I hate their stance on software patents, but they are so damn inexpensive… It is somewhat analagous to the fact that i hate Wal-mart with its forcing mom-and-pop stores out of business and generally choking the life out of a town but i shop there all the time. Damn i wish i wasn’t such a hipocrite sometimes.

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Sorry, i’ve been on vacation this week and it looks like the world continued to go to hell in a handbasket. Thanks everybody, for letting me know that i am truely needed, and that if i wasn’t here that everything would sink into assinine barbarism.

First off, the Oscars. I have only two minor gripes, but they’ve been stewing for a while. One has recieved pretty major press, two got none at all. We’ll start with the one that nobody noticed: “Best Animated Film.” And i’ll tell you the reasons why this annoyed the crap out of me. First off, there were only three nominations. Shrek, Monsters Inc, and Jimmy Neutron. Did the judges notice no other animated films this year? At all, i mean? Even the horribly boring and poorly acted Final Fantasy could be thrown in there if you can’t bring yourself to watch anything that wasn’t released stateside. There were five nominations for “Best Picture,” putting only three in for “Animated” means you couldn’t find two more. Second on the same issue, this means that there will never be another animated voice actor nominated for best supporting like Robin Williams was and there will never be another animated film nominated for best pic like Beauty and the Beast. Yes, both Disney, but hey we do have to start somewhere. This just means that animated films will continue to be marginalizedand will not be given equal footing with live action movies.

Second in the things you probably didn’t notice. Amelie was robbed. Yes, i liked the cute little surrealistic romance, so shoot me. It managed to create a completely stylized world, to the point where it left reality behind completely, yet at the same time seemed real-er than reality. It was robbed in favor of a Yugoslav war film. Hey, there you go, film a war movie in a war-torn country. You are really reaching there. Next i’ll make a movie about a guy being bored and watching TV and i’ll set it in my apartment.

And finally, Halle Berry. Yes, the chick whose boobs i saw before Swordfish, thanks to a Playboy and shoplifting. She seemed to think that her winning best actress somehow openned a door; that like Rosa Parks, she stood up and forced her views foreward. I have news for you: She didn’t. If anything she proved that it is already possible for a black actress to win Best Actress. She didn’t kick the damn door down, she jiggled the handle and found out that it was already unlocked.

And again, as soon as i was saying that the American judicial system had woken up and smelled the bullshit, this happens. I’d like to tell the mother of this kid something:

First, the kid was schitzoid, he had severe psychological ailments. He was under voluntary treatment until the voluntarily checked himself out. At that point, he was declairing himself sane. When this occurs, you can no longer say that he was any different than any other Eversmack player. You cannot claim that he was special because of his brain chemistry because this defect was a known issue, he was in treatment for it, and he declaired himself fit and sane.

Second, he is no different than many other people who commit suicide. I had a family friend, a person who was basically my uncle, but not by blood. He was obsessed with his job. He exibited the same behaviour that this kid did, but apply it to a job rather than an imaginary world with magic elves. And like the kid, he decided to paint the foyer with himself. Does this mean that his employer is somehow culpable for his suicide? That, in giving him an activity that he could not stop, the boss was somehow the trigger man? A very sick child took his life, but this is not Evercrack’s fault. A gnomish puma-burgler did not impale him on a Vorpal Belt-buckle of Holding or any such thing. This is another example of the justice system being used to prosecute something that isn’t a crime.

And what is she asking for? A metric fuckton of money. But it is only to send a message, right? Just so the big mean game company will put a warning label on the game that it might be fun, and that you may want to keep playing. Well hold the phone lady, that’ll stop everybody from playing too much Everquest, just like it stopped people from smoking or using illegal drugs. In the second place we live in a society that’s really enamoured with creative sentancing. They love to tell people to watch an incredible amount of Lassie when convicted of animal cruelty. Why couldn’t you sue for the warning labels. Or, heaven forfend, even form a protest group? Instead of a class-action lawsuit levering your berevement for cash and fabulous prizes, try to march on Washington? I mean, it would get you what you wanted, and you would look far less like a gold digger who was trying to make money on your son’s suicide.

There. Now i feel better. In “i’m not pissed off” news, i’ve gotten the file server booting. It will post, and boot from a dos diskette. So therefore i’ve decided to push the envelope a little and i’ve ordered a second pentium pro, heatsink, and vrm so the thing can truely live up to its potential. And the whole thing is held together with thumbscrews, so i can take the damn thing apart toolless if i need to. Yes, i am proud. I need a case though, and i’m thinking rackmount. I don’t have a rack, but i’d certainly like one.

There. Its two-fucking-thirty, so i think its time to eat. I’ll run across the street to the deli. Yes, it is slightly convenient, but wholly outweighted by the incredible amount of bars around here.

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