BunkBlog

Why are there so darned many Canadians on Live Journal? I realize it’s a full-sized country and all, but it seems the Canucks are represented pretty darned strongly here.

Of course, one of my more . . . adventuresome friends tells me there are a lot of online swingers that are from Canada, so maybe it’s just cold and dull? I know I’m gonna get hit for that one.
current_music:
current_mood: curious

Saturday –

There are some strange new businesses popping up in cyber-land. One that I recently became familiar with is Customatix. They make unique shoes. That’s right, they’ll produce a pair of nice comfy new shoes designed just for you, to your specs. I first saw the company named in Wired, and after checking out some of their references, I bought me a pair of shoes. I figure I might as well, I needed new running shoes anyway (shut up Walt), and the company will possibly end up bankrupt and gone in a year like most startups. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, and all that.

So, how’d they do? I ordered them on the 11th, they were shipped on the 15th, and (UPS blows for West Texas) I got them on the 21st. Apparently "2nd Day Air" means something completely foreign to UPS.

But, what do you really want to see, but pictures. So, here is the image that the handy-dandy Customatix Java applet produced:

And, these are the shoes as photographed by my Canon digital camera:

Although I did wear them a bit before I took the photo, you can see they’re pretty close to what the screen showed before I plunked down my credit card. The "royal blue" webbing is a bit less vibrant, and the "navy" soles are not terribly cerulean, but overall it’s a good match. Maybe if the web had a standard for color-matching we’d be good. And, yes, the left shoe does say Andy on the back. 🙂

The shoes are quite comfortable, they came with a second set of laces (in a less vivid shade of blue), and they come with a money-back guarantee if they turn out horrible or the wrong size.

I can’t imagine this business model can be profitable as yet, since the shoes cost about the same as good running shoes in a store, but there is no economy of scale. We’ll see. In the meantime, I’m thinking that I need some new boots too…

Does everyone need to go to a shrink, and some just don’t? Or, is it just everyone I know?
current_music: Metallica – Master of Puppets
current_mood: tired

Sunday –

OK, here we go. I believe I may have alluded to the fact that I’m attempting
to figure out this whole dating thing. There is something very wrong with dating
in the Naughty Aughties (Hey, somebody has to name this decade). Once upon a
time, guys got women’s phone numbers, and then failed to call the women. This
system seemed to work for years.

But, not today, oh no. With the rise of psycho stalker/rapist types, women
cling to their phone numbers more tightly than to their virginity. In exchange,
we dumb men get to wait by the phone and wonder.

Now, here are some of the excuses for being stood up I’ve heard in the relatively
short time I’ve been out and about, and my smartass responses that I wish I
had thought of at the time.

So, women of West Texas, take this as a warning. I want new excuses. I’ve heard
these, so they shouldn’t work again. At least keep me entertained if you’re
going to be a schmuck.

I’ve had a couple conversations about the whole “she’s a 10” thing lately. Kind of odd, but I really don’t fit the stereotypical mold of “rating” women on a scale.

Can’t we just tell people we find them attractive, without having to compare them to previous people in our lives?

I have, however, spent a few hours playing on Am I hot or not lately.

And, when did the term “hook up” go from meaning meet to get some? It’s not right to redefine cliches on the fly like that…
current_music: Doug E. Fresh – The Show
current_mood:

“El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles” can be abbreviated to LA. Is that the most efficient abbreviation known, or what?
current_music: Howard Jones – You Know I Love You, Don’t You?
current_mood: goofy

Wednesday –

How in the world did the US end up having an election this close? Wow. Let others ruminate on it, I’m thinking of more important things…

West Texas has snow. This is akin to Hell having snow, and about as likely in most minds. Of course, there are no snowplows, and all schools and even the local military base (I call it work) are closed for the day. Snow Day! Woohoo!

I have nothing to talk about, but I got some cool new eye candy for my computer. Traci Lords is going to be on First Wave next season, so I felt a strong urge to have more SciFi Channel stuff. Here’s my desktop as it looks today (800×600 or 1152×864). Probably change it soon, since I usually like more minimal looks, but I’m feeling frivolous today.

OK, it’s snowing in West Texas. They closed the schools, the military base, and people drive like shit.

Dogs and cats, living together!
current_music:
current_mood:

Everywhere in West Texas is at least 90 minutes from anywhere else. ICK!
current_music: Marilyn Manson – Disposable Teens
current_mood:

Thursday –

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect to get Pizza at Pizza Hut, do you?

Went to lunch at Pizza Hut today, not by my choice (I hate buffets). But, off to the Pizza Hut buffet we did hi. They open at 11:00am, for the lunch rush. We arrived at 11:03, ready for some pizza moshing action.

But, hark, there is no pizza on the buffet, only a salad. Hmm, says I, where might the flatbread with goodies be? Oh, not to worry, says the matron, we’re baking it up right now.

Well, since I can get a pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, certainly it takes less than 30 minutes to make the ‘za, no? Apparently Texas time really does run slower than the rest of the world. After 20 minutes of breadsticks and soda, we wonder again if they knew that lunch had started.

Oh, the pizza is almost done, we are reassured yet again.

tick
tock
tick
tock

11:30, and a steaming mass of Italian food arrives at the buffet, with a large mass of massively large people elbowing to get some. Ziti? I was hoping for Pizza, not ziti!

Finally, at 11:33 (or so) the master of food brings out a circular object, placing it in the position of honor on the buffet steamtable. But, wait, that is not red sauce, it is some other shade. Argh, it is dessert pizza! How can you have pudding if you don’t eat your meat?

Now 11:35, the first tiny pie shows up at the buffet, followed by 20 people trying to get the 10 slices. Thin crust? Thin Crust? Why, thin crust pizza takes merely 10 minutes to bake! Why, oh, why, would Pizza Hut require 20 minutes more to make a pizza than I require at my own home?

Then the floodgates opened and, yea verily, unto us did come a multitude of pizza pies. But, I can’t help but wonder if the opening of the store at 11am was a surprise to the employees of said establishment. Naturally, it took 10 minutes to pay the damned bill, too.

Oh, yeah, I added a mini-bio to my homepage, for ease of finding my photos. Am I cool or what?

And, the obligatory screenshot du jour. I’ve returned to Windows as my primary OS for now. It isn’t because it works better or is more stable or even faster or prettier. It’s simply because employers are still focused on Windows products, so I need to get back into practice with those products. Sucks, but there ya go.

So, the standard full-size and smaller-size versions are available. Have fun.

Sunday –

Yep, feeling much better now. Went to an exceedingly loud club recently, bought real food, listening to less depressing music, and changed all my wallpaper.

Since some people come to this site just to see what my desktop looks like this week (Chip), here’s the latest. As usual, I’ve made a scaled version (800×600) to complement the full-sized version (1152×864) linked below.

I’ve been making custom tapes and (lately) CDs for years. Here’s the
latest…
VAST – Free
Cake – I Will Survive
Buzzcocks – What Do I Get
The Cult – Love Removal Machine
Dramarama – Anything, Anything
Vertical Horizon – All Of You
Everclear – Hating You for Christmas
Oleander – Stupid
SR71 – Right Now
Incubus – Pardon Me
Stroke 9 – Letters
UPO – Godless
Robbie Williams – Rock DJ
The Soup Dragons – I’m Free
Doug E Fresh – The Show (Oh My God! remix)
LL Cool J – Going Back to Cali

Tuesday –

Just some thoughts that I wrote down while driving around this summer.

He was mesmerized by the dust devils, like miniature stationary tornadoes. There were two near the highway, one on each side. With the desert heat, he thought of them as entrances to the netherworld, coughing up a plume of dust rather than brimstone.

There are many cities in the desert that post their elevation rather than the population on the city limits sign. I can only assume this is because the altitude outstrips the populace to such a degree that it looks much more impressive to outsiders.

That was the great irony of it all: As soon as there was no reason to hide, there was nothing left to be hidden.

Surviving isn’t living; it’s merely the stubborness of biology running long after your reason to live has departed.

An old friend mentioned something recently. When I was in High School, almost everyone of my friends and acquaintances were into music of some kind. It was a significant thing in our lives.

Any notes we passed were laced with poignant lyrics. We identified people by what bands they listened to: the hiphop/funk kids, the metalheads, etc.

That doesn’t seem to be the same today. I encounter mainly 19-22 year old people in my job, and most don’t really have that same burning love of music that we did as kids.

Wonder where it went?
current_music: Everclear – Now That It’s Over
current_mood: crushed

OK, so here’s some info on my recent trips around the country.

I went out to California in July, visited with an awesome girl in Arizona en route. Saw my newest nephew out in L.A., as well as a couple friends I’d not seen in a while.

Then, since I still had lots of leave days to burn, I took more time off in September. I went back to AZ to visit the wonderful girl mentioned above. Then, I went up to Minnesota to visit my sister and her family, as well as my mom.

I’ve not seen my sister’s oldest two kids since they were in diapers, so it was weird to meet a couple teenagers. All my sister’s children seem normal, but they’re still insane. Damn, how can she handle those hyper-active creatures all day long? 🙂

Now, after all this traveling, I’ve got to get back to the real-life issues of my impending separation from the Army. I can’t wait to get out, but it’s a little scary not having the safety net for a short while.
current_music: Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
current_mood: contemplative

Tuesday –

Totally freeform today. Just felt like posting part of a story I’m working on, as well as some other random bits. To be multi-talented…

He normally felt a kiss after smoking was akin to licking an ashtray, but her mouth was sweet, with just a tinge of bitterness from the tar. He wanted nothing more than to hold her close and continue teasing her lips with his own.

She pulled him close so fast he knew she was feeling as much tension and anticipation as he was. Always agressive, she pulled his face up and kissed him, long and wet. Pushing away all doubts, especially that nagging Huxley quote, he responded quickly, pulling her up and falling to the bed together.

With as much teasing as either could stand, they pulled their clothes off and became more passionate. After several minutes, she was screaming while he was finally letting himself relax after so many years of tension.

"What do you mean, you don’t remember feeling that way?" he cried. "You said you loved me. You wanted me forever."

I should be moving on. But, I’m a sucker like I said, fucked up in the head. Maybe she just made a mistake, and I should give her a break. My heart’ll ache, either way. What the hell do you want me to say?

He drove out into the desert, marveling at the surreal landscape. Ocotillo and Joshua Trees conspired to make the view look like something out of Dr. Seuss, especially paired with the hot pink sunset. Always sunset.

Monday

Listening to Prince, thus the title of this page. Also, I’m in an uncharacteristically warm-and-fuzzy mood of late. I’m in a remarkably sane relationship, regardless of the complete lack of sanity surrounding the rest of my life.

I’m completely unable to express how totally happy my woman makes me, without sounding like a complete moron of sappiness. Since that’s not really my style, I’ll leave it alone. Just be aware that any excessive joy you may notice on the website is due to her influence. 🙂

More on the subject of web updates and such… For those 20 or so people that actually come back to my site more than once, I hope you noticed the little navigation aid I added back in May to these Thoughts pages. That was to be the first step in my complete revamping of my site, during some spare time I was hoping to have when the Army stopped jerking me around.

The cessation of jerking has, naturally, not occurred. In fact, I’ve been told today that I’ll probably be teaching new recruits up to the day I start out-processing the service. No rest for the weary.

So, no major site update for a while, but I don’t intend to stop this random webjournal. I have actually added a new page to the labyrinth: Internet Primer. For those of you who know people that still don’t understand that the Internet Button on their desktop does not contain everything that is the Net, point them to the Primer and hope they can grok it eventually.

In other news, the only close male friend I’ve made in the past ten years is getting ready to return to Korea, where I will undoubtedly lose touch with him as with so many other people in my life. (Kerry, where are you?)

Further making things interesting is the Freeservers monstrosity is having still more problems. Generally, the problems with my domain have been a blockade on my email forwarding. Some of these breakages have lasted for 3 days or more, a veritable eternity in net-time. Now, I’ve been unable to update my site for several days. So, although this page is dated 21 August, who knows when I’ve actually posted it.

The moral of the story regarding my Freeservers travails is a simple one and one you’ve probably heard before: you get what you pay for. As the name may imply, I don’t pay for my webhosting nor for my email forwarding. So, it is difficult to fault the service of a company that is giving away service. As soon as I get some real cash, I’ll set up my site on a stable, for-pay server, sans banner ads and everything!

And, since I do own my own domain name, you’ll still be able to find me with the same URL. Damn, I’m smoove.

Since I have to include a screenshot with every entry in my journal now (it’s a sickness, but I’ll get help someday), here’s one of my virtual terminals. Aren’t we adorable? Here‘s the smaller version (full-size is linked from the thumbnail).

Sunday –

Just showing off how much stuff I can have running on my machine without a slowdown. A friend was comparing his Windows experience with my Linux one. He has to reboot about every 8 hours or so. As I took this screenshot (and the 800×600 mini one), I had gone over 5 days since rebooting. And, the only reason I had reset then was because I had to do some audio editing in Windows, not because Linux crashed. Damn, I’m smoove.

I promised a big site re-write in June, but I ended up postponing my leave until July, and then leaving town instead of playing with my website. Sorry, but such is the pull of a new girlfriend in another state. 🙂

So, I may get to a reorganization in September, but maybe not. Deal.

I’m down to 8 months until I finish my indenture to the Army. I suppose that’s too early to be looking for a job, but I can’t wait!

Monday –

Well, here’s another screenshot of my Linux machine (and the 800×600 shot). Not much has changed in a while, which is a pretty good indication that I like it the way it is. I took this capture for two reasons: Alicia Witt is hot, and LICQ has a new version, which supports the floating window seen above Alicia’s head. Oh, and the skins for GKrellM now can skin the GKRellMMS buttons, as this cool Aliens skin shows.

I’ve been working some very very strange hours lately, so if you see me online, I may have just left the ICQ or AIM window open and gone to work or sleep. I’m not responsible for my actions of late. 🙂

Still looking for a purpose after the Army lets me escape next year. Anyone with a cool job in Central California (or San Diego I guess), for someone with my obvious talents in graphics, audio, web design, and just all-around geekiness?

Stay tuned for a big site re-write in the next month. I’ve got a few ideas for cleaning things up and making the site easier to navigate. Maybe I’ll even formally set up Linux and SIGINT sections.

Wednesday –

I’m using Linux pretty much exclusively these days, but sometimes there is a glaring lack in the Open-source world.

I enjoy burning CDs to listen to in my car, rather than making cassettes as I did 15 years ago. No biggee, right?

I can burn audio CDs very easily in Windows, and kind of easily in Linux. Here’s where it gets weird. I took a series of tracks that came from old cassettes or CDs or even (heaven forbid) MP3 files, and wanted to make a themed audio disc for the drive to work. I wanted all the songs to be nearly equivalent in volume, and some of them had been recorded at much reduced volume levels than others. So, I ran them through the "equalize volume" feature of Spin Doctor (a feature of Easy CD Creator in Windows). Then, since I was in Windows, I had Easy CD Creator make the disc. I surfed the Net while waiting for my burner to finish, and then played the CD on the way to work (great lunch break, eh?). It sounded like crap in places.

I had forgotten one of the primary rules of Windows: it sucks at multitasking. After making several data CDs in Linux, I’d forgotten that Windows doesn’t want you to do ANYTHING else while you’re burning a CD. So, although there were no errors reported by the CD-R program, and no apparent buffer under-runs, the CD was a coaster.

Fast forward to the next evening. I rebuild the tracks, all in Linux. I used MPG123 to convert the MP3s to WAV files; I used CDParanoia to rip the CD tracks to WAVs, and I eventually used cdrecord (at the command line even!) to burn the tracks to CD. The glaring omission in all this is the audio editing. I can’t find a decent audio editor for Linux. I’ve looked, and found a lot of half-finished projects that may turn out to be worthwhile someday. But, nothing to compare to CoolEdit or SoundForge is available for my favorite OS yet. So, I put together my pack of WAV files, booted into Windows, equalized the volume with CoolEdit (sweet program) as well as chopping out some dead air. Then, I rebooted into Linux to make the CD.

Seems like a waste of two boots, eh? I wish I had a Gigahertz machine so VMWare didn’t seem so damned slow…

I’m outta here. Surf well.