Friday, September 30, 2005
post://112812685190735287/
Worried about your data, doing something sneaky? Try this
anonomizing client.
Check out the 2600 Podcast @ iTunes, probably available without, but much easier with iTunes.
And gMail doesn't indicate your IP, but they can search your email.
Google's WiFi VPN Client - They're buying up fiber all over, wireless access points, and apparently a large part of a major building in New York.
"...with elevators capable of taking an 18 wheeler up to the 20th floor"
posted @ 20:27
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Monday, September 26, 2005
post://112776351554545739/
theres updated links it ought 2 b easy to keep it all up to date, will soon integrate but too much real world stuff to do right now
and only 1 hand to do it with
no break from work either, too much stuff this week
and it sucked today due to the elbow, aside from getting start to work info for a new employee: J.Orefice
I know what you're thinking... it's pronounced: `Or If Ace
uh huh.
posted @ 15:38
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Friday, September 23, 2005
post://112757286255849640/
I didn't go to work today.
I woke up this morning with a very sore elbow, so sore in fact, that I couldn't even move it. I attempted to get in the shower and was overcome with pain. A wave of nausia hit me and I was laying on the floor, cradling my right arm and wondering what the hell was going on.
I went back to bed to lay down after having a few advil. It gradually eased the pain, but the giant golf ball on my elbow failed to go away.
The boss is off in Minnesota this week so I had to be in. Thank goodness for VPN.
I logged in and used the Avaya application to control my phone remotely. Any calls I made or received appeared as if I was right there in the office, so minus a small subsection of people who actually knew where I was, it appeared I was there just like any other day.
I attempted to get an appointment with a doctor, but no one had any room today. I don't actually have
a doctor yet, just got my new health insurance, so didn't really have anyone who could
squeeze me in. Nicole was worried, and I was curious, so we went to the emergency room.
It turned out that was the right thing to do considering the implications of letting it go without treatment. The doctur said it was
bursitis, an inflamation of the tissue around the elbow. He kept asking how I hurt it, what I hit, indicating it was normally some sort of trama that caused it. I had gone to sleep fine, and woke up in pain. I have no clue how it happened.
So here I sit with a perscription for an antibiotic and painkiller. I can't play games, and am even now feeling sick sitting up and in front of the computer.
Time to go watch some more TV.
posted @ 18:26
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Thursday, September 22, 2005
post://112743964454935551/
does anyone remember me talking about how I've been making links for a good 2 months now, but haven't found a good way to post them?
Well
here's my solutionI'll integrate it into the site sometime in the future, but for now I've made it as easy as possible. I update one generic XML file (or give it an rss feed) to pull from, and it will display it on my site, updated as soon as the file is newer then the existing source. No HTML to update, only one tiny file to modify and upload.
I love this shit.
Take a look, let me know what you think.
I'm eventually going to program a VB app around it, it will make it easy to create updates, you'll only have to upload it via FTP to your webspace... now all I have to do is learn how to integrate FTP into VB and I'll be all set, I suppose I could set up a batch file that would FTP via command line, but it's just not the same as having a built in "publish" button.
Lookout blogger, I'm hot on your heels.
posted @ 21:36
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Saturday, September 10, 2005
post://112637360850824741/
Krunking - the evolution of
crown dancing.
posted @ 13:32
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Monday, September 05, 2005
post://112593051272223532/
Oh my goodness, do I have a yummy batch of links for you!
One of them can be particularly nasty, but it appears the toolbar installation doesn't work correctly on American IE so you may be ok -- I can not send you there in good confidence without saying you should only use FireFox to
visit Abondonware.the-frenchkiss.biz. (login required, but no email confirmation)
It's all the games you remember - from ManXX Superbike, Sega Rally, Mech Warrior Mercenaries, Destruction Derby, and... of course, my favorite, that I thought i lost forever... PHANTASMAGORIA! 7 CDs and it has the complete ISOs. I'm going to play it later with Nicole. I would always talk about it, but until now there was no chance to find it.
One small note about Abondonware. It's
techically illegal. Copyrights stay true for however long -- companies could release these games on modern media, for the new operating systems, but then they'd have to spend money on something that a very small percentage of people would actually buy. So they aren't as apt to get upset about sharing their beloved creations. So enjoy them responsibly, only download if you own the copywrite (purchased the game sometime in the past) and you'll sleep well.
Speaking of games -- here's an
Adventure (Quest) RPG that is apparently created with illustrator, and playable via a web browser. There's no sound, and it's relatively fun. Give it a shot, but don't try to battle the snails until you've got some magic, a lot of potion, or at least a pet to help you with battle.
Completely unrelated here is
an overhead view of the destruction in New Orleans. They took a bunch of arial photos and stiched them togther, much like Google Earth. You can also zoom in, zoom out, and pan around. I didn't notice anything odd until I saw the highway leading right into the water. It's a strange sight to see, and really lets you appreciate the devestation. I hadn't really seen many images because I haven't been watching TV, but whew. It's a good perspective giver-thingy: brought to you by Newsweek.
posted @ 10:18
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post://112592988766735248/
Man has it been crazy. I've been doing consulting like every other night. I'm still at a loss as to what to do. I can charge for all my hours, I feel bad that I've been unable to crack their network configuration yet. The company I'm doing this for has an odd set up - ISDN router => Wireless Router => switch => remaining office computers and Win2k3 server. We're trying to set up VPN, and the signal isn't getting through the wireless router. It's not even fowarding through the ISDN router either. Two major holes in being able to get VPN up and running.
I'm going to get ahold of the company who does the ISDN and get them to configure the port, but I have to investigate more as to what ports it needs. I've read 10, 500, and 4700(?) and there was also talk of a 1750 inbetween. You'd think it would be easy enough, but forwarding all those ports from the router to the server did not result in a connection when we used the address of the router.
It's a crazy linksys that wants IPSEC and VPN to go through it, it has usernames set up, and everything you need to establish a direct link from the router to the server via IPSEC -- but even my attempts to configure it's built in VPN have not been sucessfull. I'm always wary of "features", just let me forward the damn ports!
It's somewhat frustrating, but the big question is how much do I charge. A friend got me in there, and it's not a huge company. I feel badly getting paid to wrestle with their network and not getting anything done. I have put in at least 12 hours so far, I think I'll just call it 8, or 6... I don't know. I so need the money, and technically am due all the hours I worked. I'm not a professional at this stuff yet, though -- but even at my full hourly rate for all the time I put in, I'm still cheaper then the
professionals who charge upwards of $300/hour.
What's one to do?
posted @ 08:09
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Friday, September 02, 2005
post://112569052891958302/
I took a Honda Insight for a test drive yesterday.
I was impressed. It drives really well, accelerates rather quickly, and held the onramp quite nicely. I had heard some really bad things about it, the small engine, maintainence... but I'd recommend it.
It's only got two seats. That's a big drawback. I couldn't replace the stereo without voiding the warranty. That's a HUGE drawback. I wouldn't be happy with audio CDs only, that just doesn't cut it for me. I'm spoiled with my 7 speaker MP3 playing stereo.
It accelerated good enough, it just didn't want to go above 75. Everything is power assited, which felt somewhat odd. The clutch was like a switch but I was able to go through the gears without a problem. It had all the necessary dials (RPM) and a nifty looking dash. It was roomy for a small car, and had quite a bit of storage space. The underside was absolutely flat. You could see everything, like the exhaust, but I imagine for aerodynamics it was all contoured to fit around the exhaust and suspension, everything was even and had quite a bit of clearance -- again, for a small car (with 14" tires).
If you want good fuel economy, don't mind 2 seats (or if you have an alternate car), and are looking for something around $20,000 -- go for it. At 65-70mpg for the manual transmission... you can't beat it. (If you don't want manual, kiss your power goodbye.) At 3 X traditional gas mileage, it's like you're paying $1 a gallon.
It's also got an 8 year, 80,000 mile warranty - but only 3 year on the battery. I imagine the battery's got to be rather expensive, I'm thinking 1-2grand but they didn't have an answer for me when I asked about it.
Now... why am I looking to trade in my sporty speedster? I have to use premium, the premium means I pay a 20 cent premium on each gallon of gas that I buy. $1 for every 5 gallons, about $2.50 a fill up. About $10 more a month. That's at gas prices as of today - about $3.30 for premium.
I figured I'm going to be spending about 300 a month for gas with the prices as they are currently. I wanted to see if turning my car in could save me money. It's impossible to get a used Insight at this point, and even if it wasn't it wouldn't be much cheaper. I could have saved $75 a month in payments for an '05 but I would have had to get a 72 month loan. I have a 60 right now, that's good enough for me. I didn't even know they -had- 72 month loans. What kind of shape is your car going to be in 72 months? I am all for paying things off ahead of time, which is why I have about 8 grand of equity right now: the difference between what I owe and what it's worth. It's got a good resale value because it's a rare car, but it just wouldn't have been worth giving up a car I love, for a new car that's just as expensive and limited.
A dealership just can't give me enough, for what I've spent on aftermarket stuff I'd want to get $13-15,000 for it. I'll certainly entertain any offers. It's an '03 limited edition Mazdaspeed Protege with 55,000 miles. It's got the front end of the Protege5 (wagon), so it has a really low front end with large foglights, without all the reflectors and funky stuff. It's got sideskirts, and a lower rear bumper as well. Intake is improved over the traditional Protege, tuned to the larger exhaust which helps the turbo push a bone-crunching 7psi. It's enough to bring a 135 2.0 to 179hp, though. It makes a differece.
I love it, it drives well, but it's not the type of car that lasts forever -- I've had my fun, and if it meant that I could save some money and stop feeling like I'm chipping away at an iceberg... I'd be all for it. It seems all my debt it unrealistically high, like I'll never pay it off. I wittle away at several credit cards every month, barely able to shrink the balance, even on the cards I haven't used in a year. The interest doesn't seem like all that much $15 here, $18 here -- and yet they dont' get any smaller.
How can this be? How did I get here? Who charged all this shit to my credit cards?
I haven't been using them, can't use them... but I'm getting nowhere and I hate it.
Calgon... take me away, or someone buy my car, at least. I could pay off quite a bit with $8000.
Anyone need a giggalo? I'll have to make sure it's ok first, but if it's enough money -- anything's possible.
=)
posted @ 15:48
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