It's looking good

Jul 31, 2003

Let the boxing match begin. So I started putting the assorted debris of my life into boxes the other night; starting with the office upstairs I took all the stuff off my shelves and arranged it neatly into two boxes which each weigh about as much as an import car. Moving is fun because you start to enforce the 5-second rule—when you hold some piece of crap over the open box and decide within five seconds whether you care enough about it to carry it down a flight of stairs, into a box truck, across town, and back up a flight of stairs, or to chuck it. Chances are, you'll say no. Which means you gather a pile of stuff in front of your door which either waits for a trip to the dump or Goodwill. And then you get to where you've moved to and can't find that thing you need because you 5-seconded it and now you have to go out to get a new one. (Can you tell I've done this before?)

I got my collection of tube radios packed tonight, along with antique cameras, pictures, and pretty much anything else not bolted to the floor in the living room. (Note to my friends who have agreed to help move: I've kept the boxes light. Really.) Next up are the assorted loose items in the basement, and then I'll work upstairs to the bedrooms.

In other news, it looks like AppleScript, which I was able to learn and use in 15 minutes on OS9, is crippled in OSX. All I want to do is build a small script to update a file remotely. From all I can find so far (and from the Finder Dictionary), Copy isn't even supported in OSX. And the Finder isn't scriptable using drag-and-drop. Dammit. I don't have three weeks to devote to learning the stupid language in the first place. | link

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Jul 30, 2003

Random thoughts for the day.

No, assholes, games do not sell movies. Your last movie sucked. People don't want to get burned twice, especially when you charge $9 a ticket for this crap. Make a better movie, and people will come.
OSX seems to be slowing down every three or four days as I put it to sleep and wake it up each day. Photoshop lags, Eudora takes up cycles to think, and all the apps seem sleepy. Anybody else noticed a problem with X and PowerBooks?
Buymusic is doomed to fail if their music service is anything like their customer service. Oh, and all those songs might not be legally available anyway.
Come on, people, vote this guy out of office. What is it going to take (or what are we going to have to lose?)

</grump mode off.>

Hmm. I'm working on modifying a script to automatically update my local log file to my webserver, so I don't have to manually copy and paste the file each time I update it. There are a few things I'd like to change (this script was initially written as a directory backup too, not a single-file updater) but I need to have more knowledge of AppleScript to do it. I wish the Finder was script-recordable like iTunes or other OSX applications. Oh, and Apple: three of your scripts for iTunes crash the application. | link

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Jul 29, 2003

Domesticity overtakes me. Last night I spent about 45 minutes at the Lowe's looking at the various and sundry refrigerators for sale. Life is not a simple choice of almond, white or yellow anymore; These days there's brushed metal (a pain in the ass if you have kids; metal picks up fingerprints like sprinkles on ice cream) and black (who in their right mind buys a black fridge? you might as well just start pissing on the floor, because that's not gonna help resell your house.) There's also the added complication of the side-by-side vs. the over-under (or, to really complicate things, the top fridge and chest freezer underneath, a la my Grandma.) If we get the side-by-side, we can have the ice/water dispenser, negating our Brita and Pur pitchers. But Jen's an over-under woman, which means we'll be spending less (seems like the side-by-sides are $200 more, on average.)

In other news, this does not mean good things for our current project. After our team busted asses to develop a beautiful demo, the whole project was cancelled. Dammit. | link

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Jul 28, 2003

friends
myself, stas, jeff, and jon 7.26.03

We're back from our trip northward to New York to attend the wedding; my fears were unfounded and we had a great time. I was able to connect back up with some old friends, catch up with people, and help celebrate Stas' wedding. (When was the last time you heard "Enter Sandman" at a wedding? No, really. Played by a great cover band called The Nerds. It was better than you're imagining.) I've posted a few pictures here. It was great to see everybody, and please stay in touch!

Looks like the house stuff is on track (when all this is over with, and the papers are signed, I may write about the process, but for right now I'm going to hold my tongue) and DSL is available at that address, which means we're getting broadband hooked up immediately. Cable will most likely wait until later; the other major issue is wireless service. I'm doing some preliminary investigation into which service offers the most for a two-phone shared plan. More info to follow, and any input is welcome...

A very PBS night. Not ony did I get swept up into the Seabiscuit episode of American Experience, but after that I got sucked into Blues Story. I am now fighting the urge to buy hundreds of dollars worth of music from the iTunes store. The best part of the whole thing was watching Teller, who had nestled comfortably between my legs for a nap, jump four feet in the air when Big Mama Thornton suddenly belted out a verse about her low-down cheating man. | link

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Jul 25, 2003

Dammit. | link

Jul 24, 2003

A gentle rant. I bought the album Best of Bowie, thinking that I would own this collection of the songs I do like as opposed to purchasing the entire back collection of his work to get the eight songs I want. I put it on this afternoon to groove out to some tracks and while listening to "Under Pressure" I realized that there's a verse missing at the climax of the chorus. Hunh. So I continued listening to the album, and when "Young Americans" came on, I was shocked to find that they clipped a bunch of stuff out of this song as well. Big deal, you're saying. So what. Well, that's what I bought the album for in the first place. I wanted to hear the whole song like it was on the LP I used to own in 1986, not an edited version. I understand that they wanted to jam as many songs on this CD as possible, and while I applaud that effort, couldn't we have done without "This Is Not America" (arguably one of the weaker songs in his discography) to get the full long-playing version of each song?

Listening, RIAA? This is a great excuse for file-sharing. I feel like I bought a copy of the new Harry Potter and found out that it's missing the entire middle chapter. | link

Jul 23, 2003

My Old School. This weekend, I'm driving north to the old homestead, deep in the Land Of Classic Rock, to attend the wedding of my best friend from High School. There's a reason I live down here in Baltimore, five hours, $6 and three bridges away from the town I graduated High School in; my experience in that town was sort of a grab-bag of good and bad. It wasn't until I was about 25 that I figured out the art of re-inventing myself, so my entrance into that town at eighth grade was a rocky one. One of the things that got me through was the group of friends I made my sophomore year, including the guy who's getting married. It should be a bittersweet experience, and one I'm only partially looking forward to—I'm not sure who's going to be there, how they're doing, or what they'll say. I missed my 10-year reunion (no great loss—I doubt I would have gone anyway) so I'm not up to date on what's been happening, but I'm wondering if some people have grown up. I'm also wondering if I should take Jen up to my old house to take a look; it's not often you get to see an impound lot in the middle of the woods. (My dad bought a repossession business in 1984, prompting our move to New York. To answer your questions, no, it's nothing like the movie, yes, I got pretty handy at picking locks, and yes, Harry Dean Stanton is the mack daddy.)

Queer Eye For The Straight Guy could convince me to hook up basic cable again when we move. Todd taped an episode for me, and it is hilarious. And holy Mother of God, did I want to smash this dude's girlfriend in the head with a brick. | link

Jul 22, 2003

After crawling back out of a black hole with Jen's help last week, I've been wanting to take some pictures and think creatively again. Unfortunately, two of the places I wanted to shoot at did not lend themselves to photography this morning. A few days ago I walked through the southern section of Canton, over by Brewer's Hill, and found some streets I've never seen before. I also drove up Broadway north of Fell's Point, with the goal of parking and shooting some of the storefronts and people I saw there. What I found didn't excite or inspire me, however—the Canton area had some interesting subjects, but the Broadway area was not speaking to me. Perhaps I've worn out my particular area of town; perhaps I wasn't awake enough to see some of the natural character present this morning. Whatever the cause, I haven't used my camera in a week and I'm beginning to worry about that.

I got a nice email from a guy in Texas this afternoon who is considering buying a Scout that almost exactly resembles mine- same color, style, and interior appointments. His Scout doesn't have any visible rust, however. Sigh. | link

Jul 21, 2003

Jen sent me this link from CNN this morning with the comment "for the love of god man, what was the question?"

Looks like we're not going to hear about the new house until the 25th or so. I think I may have to be medicated until that time.

unintended (or intended?) Amazon humor, 7.21.03

Todd sent me a section of the transcript of Frank Zappa testifying before the PMRC back in the '80's. He makes a great point.

Senator HAWKINS. Mr. Zappa, you say you have four children?
Mr. ZAPPA. Yes, four children.
Senator HAWKINS. Have you ever purchased toys for those children?
Mr. ZAPPA. No; my wife does.
Senator HAWKINS. Well, I might tell you that if you were to go in a toy store -- which is very educational for fathers, by the way; it is not a maternal responsibility to buy toys for children -- that you may look on the box and the box says, this is suitable for 5 to 7 years of age, or 8 to 15, or 15 and above, to give you some guidance for a toy for a child.
Do you object to that?
Mr. ZAPPA. In a way I do, because that means that somebody in an office someplace is making a decision about how smart my child is.
| link

Jul 20, 2003

I love my fiancee. Friday night, I was about as depressed as you can get. I got back to the house and Jen greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of gladiolas, a thick spicy steak, a glass of red wine and a plate of dark, choclatey brownies. I ate a full meal for the first time in a week, helped finish the bottle, and was asleep from 11pm to 10 the next morning.

Saturday we threw together a small party with a bunch of different friends; With a few exceptions, everybody was able to make it, and we were up until four in the morning talking, laughing, and enjoying the company. Thanks, everybody!

And, stupid me, I was having such a great time, I didn't take a single picture. | link

Jul 18, 2003

Today I'm at work, wondering how the inspection is going/went on my house. There are other things going on that I'd rather not write about here, but let's say that I'm averaging 5 hours of sleep each night and I'm as jumpy as a cat. I don't know if any of this is going to go through, and I'm worried and nervous. Isn't life swell?

I'm about as low as a brother gets here. | link

Jul 17, 2003

I'm averaging about 5 hours of very crappy sleep this week, and I'm popping Tums like they're M&M's. I now remember why I wasn't looking forward to buying a new house. Plus, Jen and I sat down and did our post-purchase budgeting to see what we could bank for a wedding, based on her current income and mine. Let's just say it's going to be a squeaky nine months until next May. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ky.

Here's something to make you happy, though. (It's safe for work, and not a huge download.) Enjoy, and tell me how you like it. Don't you appreciate the things I do for you? | link

Jul 16, 2003

We are still waiting for the word back from the sellers. Stay tuned.

Update: What a miserable, nerve-wracking, screwed-up day this has been. | link

Jul 15, 2003

Two things from yesterday: We did the house inspection; More on that later. The important thing is to say Happy Birthday, Mom! | link

Jul 14, 2003

A good weekend. Friday night Todd and Heather invited us over to dinner to share their wedding wisdom with us; they pulled out books and magazines and told stories and generally freaked the shit out of us. (Thanks guys!) We did not know how much we did not know about all this wedding stuff. It now appears that we will either get married at City Hall, host the reception at McDonald's and honeymoon at the Motel 6 by the truck stop off 95, or sell all that we have and go into hock for the next three centuries to host a reasonable wedding for our extended families.

Last night I was awake until about 2AM with my stomach in a knot after realizing that I had left the realtor's commission out of my homebuying calculations—an expensive omission. We should still be able to do this, but our cushion in the bank after the papers are signed will be about one-third less than I was expecting. Ouch.

There's a really funny link on Boing Boing about a married couple who have bought a 1920's bungalow and are renovating it; they've posted a list of pictures of some of the crap the owners left behind and are asking readers to vote on whether it's kitsch or crap. | link

Jul 11, 2003

For the past few days, while all the legal, financial, structural, and scheduling issues sort themselves out, I've been restless and distracted. There's plenty to do around the house, and I've begun some of it, but I've not been able to finish much. I'm ready for change. I guess my current mental state really shows how ready I am to get out of the city, start my life with Jen, and generally get things going. I've been searching for shiny things to distract me temporarily from sitting around the house wondering and worrying, and yesterday's post really reflects that.

It sucks when all the bones in your body are asking you to be creative in some way and you have the debilitating problem of not knowing what to do or where to start. I'm trying to bottle that up for when we move, but it's hard not to get discouraged.

Hot on the heels of my VoIP post from yesterday, C|Net posted this article, Is VoIP Ready For Prime Time? They don't seem to have such a rosy outlook for the technology, but for people like me, with two sets of parents outside the local area code and friends scattered about the country, [their estimated quote of] $20/mo. doesn't sound too bad. | link

Jul 10, 2003

Everybody say Happy Birthday to my sister Renie today!

Jen and I have been doing some work with a friend of ours for the last year and a half, and we started on a new project with him a few months ago. I IM'ed him last night and he told us he's sending us this cool phone for payment of services so far, which is very cool. This is no ordinary phone; it's a VoIP (Voice Over IP) phone built by Cisco and made to plug into any broadband network around. You pick up the reciever, and as long as you have a fat pipe, you call out as you would normally, without paying exorbitant long distance fees. Thanks, John.

Proof positive that there are about seventy ways to skin the cat: Todd helped me figure out how to do the thing in 3DSmax that was beyond my ability yesterday. It took all of two minutes to show me, and now it looks great. I need to get past my dependency on looking at this application like I would Adobe Illustrator, and embrace the 3D. The trick is to not get as discouraged as I did yesterday, to the point where I just want to go home.

I'm looking for some kind of Neon how-to guide and source for parts out there; I picked up a trio of neon letters at State Salvage a few weeks back, and I'd love to hook them up to a transformer and get them working. Unfortunately I don't have any of the electronics and it seems to be impossible to find a local supplier who carries parts. I'll have to keep looking.

Meanwhile, the fans for the 3Com hub arrived today; besides a little tinkering with the clips inside the case, installation was a snap and this machine is currently networked through the hub with no problems. The fans are rated for 12 volts of power, but considering the originals were rated for 5.5, I think it should be just fine.
Macintouch has a good tip on reviving seemingly dead Powerbook batteries: boot up into Open Firmware (Command+Option+O+F) and type "reset-nvram" and "reset-all". Then type "mac-boot" to boot normally. Theoretically, this should reset the Power manager and allow you access to the battery (if one day it shows up as dead to your machine.) | link

Jul 9, 2003

Today the Turing Machine has its Rock Pants On.

I, however, do not have My Rock Pants On. I am nowhere near my Rock Pants. They are very far away from me right now. I feel like I'm looking at a computer for the very first time again. I'm realizing just how frickin' little I know about 3DSmax, or more specifically, how little I know about making quick, easy models. | link

Jul 8, 2003

Today I'm grooving out to some old Bad Brains stuff I ripped years ago. I stopped over at Jen's this morning to fix her air conditioner and pick up some stuff; then I drove to the house and parked in the driveway for a minute. Timing the drive at 9:30, I was able to make it to work in about 25 mnutes, which is about the same amount of time it takes to get out of Canton to work, with less traffic.

I love Baltimore. I love the freaky ice cream truck outside my house at 7pm every night. I love driving three blocks further to find a parking spot at night. I love helicopters hovering over my house. I love the little woman who's worn a housedress for the entire six years I've been on this block. I love thirteen year old boys walking pit bulls. I love twelve year old hoochie girls pushing baby carriages (and not for the reasons you think, you perv.) I love Formstone. I love hot asphalt in August. I love the smell of rain on pavement in the evening. I love my neighbors because they stoop when the sun is low and the air is cool. I love living right up on my neighbors and the fact that they check up on me. I love the kid on the two-stroke scooter that I can't see in my rearview mirror. I love the rise in my heart rate when I walk home from my car late at night. I love the neighborhood bars and the people that are in them when I'm leaving for work in the morning. I love the good-looking Yuppies that surround me. I love the old-school Cantonites that still live here. I love marble steps, and the fact that I've owned a set. I love chicken-wire skylights. I love Highlandtown and Canton and Hampden and Pigtown and Bolton Hill. I love the alterno-kids that make me feel old when I go to bars to shoot pool. I love the bars that don't exist any more where I used to drink—Tio Loco's, Wroten's, Miss Bonnie's Elvis Shrine, and Lista's (the top deck only.) I love the Harbor and everything about it. I love to see the old advertising signs fading on the brick throughout the city. I love motorcycles out in front of the Daily Grind. I love cobblestones under the tires of my bike. I love the shiny breasts on the statue outside Johns Hopkins university. I love all the apartments I've lived in throughout the city.

There's a "Sold" sign on the steps outside my house this evening. | link

Jul 7, 2003

I put up some pictures of our trip to my folks' house this morning: Enjoy.

Rawk. I'm filling out the music library this afternoon with a few gems: Ozzy's Crazy Train, G & R's It's so Easy, and ZZ Top's Cheap Sunglasses. Ahh, bringing back the old days.

(Nervously eyeing the latest reports on unemployment and economic news) The house update is that we're on track for a late August closing date, barring any bizarre finds in the inspections. Hopefully each house will pass muster.

Science project of the week: I'm rebuilding a 3Com SuperStack II, which I found laying in the garbage here at work. Unable to pass up a choice bit of technology, I fished it out and pulled it apart to find two fried cooler fans. A quick stop at a cooling fan site, $10.40 later, and I should have two identical fans by Friday.
. . .

I'm happy to answer the door, even when I don't know who you are. I'm happy to come outside and move my truck, because it's in front of your house, and you want to bring in a dumpster to begin gutting it. I'm happy to make small talk with you. I'm happy to tell you that I've just gone to contract on my house.

I'm not happy when you ask me how much I sold my house for, when you've never once said hello to me in the three years you've lived on the block, and you don't know what my name is, and you don't bother to ask. It's none of your business. Read it in the fucking paper. | link

Jul 5, 2003

red, white, and blue, 6.04.03

Yesterday: lakeside, 85 degrees. Water about 75. Sunny blue skies, Harry Potter and a can of cold beer. Barbecue at the farm, fresh cut grass, twilight, fireflies, breezes cool off the cornfields. Blankets on the side lawn, beer, fireworks drifting over the silo, and laughter. Happy Fourth of July, everyone. | link

Jul 3, 2003

Today I added this site to the GeoURL server (that little button on the left.) Following my link to the list of local sites, I found a great site called Rebuilding Madison, set up by a guy who has some serious stones. He's got a log documenting the progress on a house he bought over in Bolton Hill and the experiences he's had fighting the drug dealers on his block. I have to respect him for this idea: He met with the local beat cops and built a break room out of the carriage house. Sending the word out, he was able to gather a bunch of donations from the community, including a fridge, stove, microwave, and furniture. That site sent me to 2321 E Fairmount, another site run by a woman battling the same issues in her NW Patterson Park location. It's a testament to the people who take chances and work hard to improve neighborhoods. Keep up the good work, folks.

Reading through that first site makes me think about my own worries over the last few days, now that this house is looking more like a probability. I've been fretting over the work involved, the time and money and stress levels that we're going to be taking on, sleeping poorly at night wondering if we're getting in over our heads here.

Then I think about all that this guy has taken on—not just the rebuilding of a house, but of a neighborhood—and it gives me hope. He's not just working on his house, but fighting against racism, drug gangs, the city, and prejudice every day. He goes to sleep with it (from what it sounds like, that can be hard sometimes) and wakes up to it every day. His defeats are hugely personal, and heartbreaking. But his successes are dramatic and uplifting. I have an overwhelming amount of respect for his fight.

His story gives me a lot of hope. I'll eat PB&J for a month if I have to. I'll live in the basement if I have to (and it wouldn't be the first time.) We can do this.

I'm also considering how to document all the progress at our new house, if we're able to buy it. I was originally considering a new URL for it, but I think I may just start a sub-section off the main site. Believe me, there are going to be a million pictures of the place before we're done. | link

Jul 2, 2003

they chose us!?, 6.01.03

Today, for multiple reasons better left unsaid, I am alternately giddy, heartsick, worried, and hopeful. We're heading up to my parents' place this weekend for some R&R by the lake, and when we get back we'll be starting the process of living together.

There are not one but two home inspections on the way, which means another round of cleaning for my furry household (and a replacement vent pipe for the hot water heater, something I've never bothered to do since the last home inspection) and the possibility that our dreams may be dashed, twice.

There is the happy thought of all the legal mumbo-jumbo which will involve signing not one but TWO chest-high stacks of documents (hopefully).

There is the exciting prospect of boxing all my stuff and moving it across town, and then mingling it with Jen's stuff, so that it becomes our stuff.

A message to two of our best friends: We love you, and please let us help in any way we can.

...

Ric Ford is asking for help with the Macintouch site; his business model has become untenable and he's asking for donations to keep the site going. I sent him $15 through Kagi to keep the site going. It's one of my daily links and something I could not do without. If you run a Mac, you should consider helping out too.

I don't know if I'm mad or just upset about this, but I didn't know anything about it until just now. Dennis Miller has become a tool of the Republican party. And a tool.

Jesus, when the wheels of Fate get moving, they really get moving. I just got some news that, while not unexpected, has me a good deal worried.

8:35: Choices: American Idol, or something, American Junior Idols, or something, some nameless sitcom, or 60 Minutes. What a brainer no-brainer. — link

July 1, 2003

penn is all screwed up over this, 5.30.03

Still waiting. It's hard to concentrate.

Looking at the garden this morning, I'm amazed at how everything is coming along. The portulaca Jen planted in the front bed is growing like wildfire, blooming on just about every new shoot. The sage that overwintered in the beds is now about three feet tall, and desperately in need of some tiebacks. The lantana is now beginning to show signs of health—it overwintered and almost died at work, then got plagued by aphids, and then got shocked when we put it outside. It's hearty stuff and seems to be blooming slowly. The lavender is about a foot tall, and the tarragon that poked its head through the snow is now about the same height.

ThinkSecret has an article on the new Panther upgrade for OSX, and it looks like there's a bunch of new functionality included. One of my main gripes is that they have decided to use the brushed aluminum for all windows including the Finder. Yuck. One of the positive notes is that my Powerbook is supported, so there's no worry about getting left behind.

www.donotcall.gov. Sign up now! Tell your friends! Put telemarketers out of business! Just remember—the service expires in five years so you have to re-register in 2008. Now we have to start lobbying Congress to pass some kind of anti email-spam bill. And an anti text-message-spam bill.

In other-other news, Spin magazine has a cover feature on Jane's Addiction that I will have to read. Lots of info on the beginnings of the band, stuff I never knew about. I'm curious to learn about the early days. | link

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