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2003.12.26 at 12:35 AM CST
(Friday, December 26th, 2003)
I'm getting bit earlier start tonight but that'll be good so I can sleep and
actually be up before noon tomorrow. Yes, that's right, I've not been up
before noon any day except the day we drove out here (sounds a bit like me,
huh?). :-)
We finished off the day today with a hike we hadn't done before and some time
in the hot springs that are right next to the Rio Grande. It was refreshing,
as one might expect a hot tub to be, and in that we ran into several people who
agreed with us about how lighting should be handled in and around human
settlements. It was quite nicely dark after sunset as we sat in the about 104
degree water. The couple of people with flashlights were even quite good about
not shining them where they would be annoying. And to top it off we had a
wonderful clear sky as which to look. We were there until about 8:00pm with
sunset around 6:30pm, and may be back tomorrow.
I think there are even some pretty good pictures that we've taken with the
digital camera so far. (Yay for uploading to the laptop shortly after taking
them.) I'll just have to wait on the film camera pictures. I do want to see
how I did at getting a couple of the madrone trees that are along the window
trail.
2003.12.25 at 01:15 AM CST
(Thursday, December 25th, 2003)
It seems it requires a vacation or something to get me back to writing. :-)
I'm sitting in the Chisos
Mountains Lodge writing. (Yes, the yearly Big Bend trip.) This year there are just
the two of us, my aunt and myself. Two other of the normal crew are enjoying
the winter in Maine this year.
After thinking for a bit, I think I've remembered some of the interesting
things that have occurred of late (or as least since I last wrote). And I'm
working from memory because there is no network connection to be had in the
lodge (though I have more on network connections in a bit). I think I'd
mentioned a boy. He had a more spontaneous interest appear, which is cool, as
I think that's exactly how things are supposed to happen. He and I are cool
and I still get hugs out of him. :-) I have also recently acquired a newer
(i.e. less stone-aged) laptop. It is a Pentium II based ThinkPad. After
getting new batteries, a replacement keyboard, and a power adapter, it is doing
pretty well. Two batteries has already spoiled me.
The other fun thing to happen was the Placebo concert in Austin (at La Zona
Rosa) on December 05th. I had a very good time. Sang along to most of the
concert (as did many people in attendance). I ran in to two people I knew
(and for whom I need to make a CD or four) and stood behind a cute boy after
the opening band was done. Needless to say I couldn't hear too well afterward
(yay loud music) and have been enjoying the Placebo CDs I have a bit louder
than I did before.
My amusement for today was about how many places one can find 802.11 based
wireless networks. Since I'm out in Big Bend and we usually make a trip over
to Terlingua to have dinner at the Starlight Theatre one
evening I figured I could take the laptop and have kismet running while we
drove. Also, a bit of early info would make a couple of friends happy as
they're planning to be in Terlingua during New Year's. There is apparently
someone who has two pretty good power access points set up. They both have
SSID "xmasmtn" and appear to be Cisco gear, probably with nicer antennas. I
saw them various places as we drove through town, though I was able to be
pretty sure that one is in/near the school and/or library. While near the
Starlight I was able to, with much lag, get an IP address, but not able to
get to the world, so the router that the two APs connect to may be MAC
address limited. I didn't have time or too much inclination, so I didn't try
to find a MAC address I could use. I did see another network, which was
easier to use. It has SSID "default" and appears to be DLink hardware owned
by Big Ben River Tours. From
that network I was able to join IRC and upload the pictures from the digital
camera that we have taken so far.
Also, during that time at the Starlight that I had an IP address, a guy walked
by and asked if I was on the Internet. I mentioned to him that I was able to
get an IP address (192.168.40.0/24) but that I was not able to get past the
router. He seemed happy to hear that, so I guessed that he is the admin or
somehow related to the network. I offered to show him what tools I had used
but he declined. He did ask if I'd seen some other SSID that I don't now
remember and didn't at the time recognize.
I was yet again fascinated at the abilities we have for moving electrons and
bit patterns around the globe. I say this because while sitting by the road in
Terlingua, Texas I uploaded photos to a server in Austin and talked to people
on IRC via servers around the globe (and some of those people in the IRC
channel were in Virginia or Canada). All that data moving, and me mostly
knowing how it does move, and moving in less than a second. Nifty. :-)
Just a bit more and then I should sleep...
Yesterday my aunt and I did the hike to the Window (the Chisos Basin's
pouroff). We started a bit late in the day, so we finished the return hike
after sunset. It is a pretty nifty way to see the basin, at least until one
approaches the Lodge. When you do, the lights make it quite a bit more
difficult to see the trail. Ahhh... Lighting. :-) Though, admittedly the
light levels in Big Bend National Park and surrounding areas are pretty low
compared to most of the rest of Texas.
Current music: Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing & Black Market Music
2003.10.14 at 11:40 PM CDT
(Tuesday, October 14th, 2003)
While I'm at home and waiting on laundry to get done, I'm eating potato salad
and writing (again). I, as usual, have more things to pass on. Things that
you're likely to have heard about already, but that I also wanted to note here.
First, the current President of the United States has declared October 12th
through October 18th to be Marriage
Protection Week. Thanks for pledging to protect something that I can't
have on a legally equal footing. (Fucker.)
Thanks for pledging to protect something we should all be able to have (whether
we choose to or not). Thanks for pledging to protect something that the
government should not tie to religious beliefs (whether those who marry do or
don't). Thanks for picking the anniversary of the day of Matthew Shepard's
death which is also the day after National Coming Out Day. So, as a result, I
think all of us, those married and those not as well as those who can marry and
those who can't, should do as suggested and help protect marriage for everyone
and without thinly veiling an attack on what should be the civil right of
several groups of people.
In other news... I appear to again have a boy interested in whom I am also
interested. Things have barely begun, as we only first discussed this
yesterday, and I was only aware of the interest last week. We'll see how
things progress.
And finally, I'll have more info on hardware changes to the home network at a
later time (for those of you who are interested).
2003.10.06 at 07:37 PM CDT
(Monday, October 06th, 2003)
So I've again not written in a while... It has been on my list. :)
The short list is that I'll likely be visiting Maine again later this fall or
winter. I've been busy of late preparing for and doing network upgrades with /
for Pinkys's. I've been doing some hardware upgrades on my home systems. And,
I have gone permanent at work (with benefits starting soon (now)).
In other news, I saw this article
about Fred Phelps earlier today. I was appalled/pissed about what he had
attempted to do during Matthew Shepard's funeral and was greatly pleased to
hear that some angels helped out (references here and here). We'll
see what happens this time around...
2003.06.30 at 10:04 PM CDT
(Monday, June 30th, 2003)
Hmm... So this time I have lots of links to reading to throw at you. But,
before I do that there's a bit of news.
As I'm sure you've heard or read or both, the United States Supreme Court has
invalidated the Texas state sodomy law (and the similar laws in twelve other
states). This was in their decision in Lawrence
and Garner vs. Texas. I went to the LGRL rally in celebration (of a decision on a
law that should never have existed) and could be seen in video
linked by the News 8 Austin story about said rally.
And now for a list of things to go read...
2003.06.18 at 10:05 PM CDT
(Wednesday, June 18th, 2003)
Let's see... I've not said much in about a month. That is mostly due to the
fact that I am again working. I got back from the Bahamas and had three
different people offer me jobs, (Mach
10 Hosting, International
Studies Abroad, and Mr. Notebook).
After some thinking I decided on International Studies Abroad (aka ISA).
I've been working there a little over a month now and am enjoying it. All of
my co-workers are pretty cool and most can be found at Mojo's on occasion. :) There are
many skills and bits of knowledge that I already have that I'm using and there
are things for me to learn. This, I think, is a good thing. It means I'm not
bored. And I hope it stays this way. Now all I have to do is get a bit more
in shape and I can start riding my bike to work instead of driving.
2003.05.21 at 01:10 AM CDT
(Wednesday, May 21st, 2003)
I wonder when we (the United States specifically, and the "western" world in
general) will learn that violence begets violence. I mention this due to
this
article at CNN. If we want things to
change one side has to say, "enough" and change things. Why not have that
be the US?
Current music: Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
2003.05.19 at 03:26 AM CDT
(Monday, May 19th, 2003)
So, Saturday night around 10:20 PM I was back in Austin. I had some food at
Katz's with my brother and dad and then went to sleep.
Tomorrow (er., later today) I have some employment decisions to make. Well,
not really to make, to discuss with people as I think I've made up my mind.
I have had a few people "bug" me about having to go to the Bahamas, but it has
been both in fun and entertaining. :) I really liked the phone message I had
waiting on my home answering machine from one friend. It was just too
much fun. I also had nine of the very fine braids put in my hair while I was
there. I've adjusted to my hair making noise (due to the plastic beads that
are now present), but I'm not quite used to how I have to deal with washing
and drying it. Oh well... Note that I'm not complaining, just stating. They
should last about six weeks and are just fine through showers and swimming.
Current music: whatever Mojo's is playing while I'm here instead of sleeping
2003.05.16 at 04:40 PM EDT
(Friday, May 16th, 2003)
I'm currently sitting in a $5/hour Internet cafe in Nassau. I've seen such a
price before and it didn't seem too expensive. I am travelling and I'm not
going to be here too long. :)
After arriving on Wednesday, I got to the hotel, found that the reservations
were here, but the information on who was paying was slightly wrong. I was
able to use my credit card to keep the reservation and I talked with the owner
of the machine I'm here to fix on Thursday.
Speaking of Thursday, I got up, got a shower, and caught a cab to the data
center. Maxil Communications is a
subsidiary of Cable Bahamas or leases space from them, I'm not sure which.
Anyway, I got access to the machine and did a quick once-over to determine how
badly broken it was. Then I proceeded to back it up, re-install it (moving
it from RedHat 6.0 to RedHat 7.3), do security patches, and then migrate older
configuration and user accounts. By about the time the day staff at the data
center was ready to leave I was all done. :)
Today, I slept in, and then got some lunch at a local cafe (not in the hotel).
After that I walked around downtown Nassau a bit. While I've been here, I have
liked the feel of the city. It isn't as big as most I've been to, but it has
more of the density of European or Japanese cities without the taller of the
buildings common to Europe or Japan. The style of driving also appears more
European to me. :) I've seen mostly cars designed for the US market (driver
on the left) though I've also seen non-US market cars (driver on the right).
The local standard is to drive on the left-hand side of the road, which makes
left turns easy and right turns more interesting (I mention this because I have
a friend who likes to avoid left turns if at all possible in the US, which I
find amusing, considering they're not all bad). :)
Anyway, I should get this and several other entries posted, 'cause I'd like to
be able to get some sunset photos later on, and probably a bit of swimming in.
2003.05.14 at 11:50 AM EDT
(Wednesday, May 14th, 2003)
A bit of a nap on the plane and two and a half hours later and I'm in Orlando.
I've had a bit to eat and am waiting at the gate for my 1:30pm flight to
Nassau, Bahamas. :)
I've heard CNN reporting on the situation with the Texas Legislature (and
other things). I find the perspective of people who aren't opposed to the
re-districting to be annoying. First off, we haven't just done a Census, so
this is not the usual time for a re-districting. Second off, the plans have
some districts drawn so that parts of Austin are represented along with areas
stretching nearly to Houston. Austin becomes four separate districts, all
with some odd other area that doesn't really make sense. Granted there is
some gerrymandering that happens with any re-districting, but this is just way
way overboard. It is very obviously to try to break the Democratic hold
on the Austin area.
To try to prevent this from happening a very large number of the Democrats in
the Texas Legislature have left the state. This stops most bills from being
discussed and acted upon, not only the re-districting bill. I believe that
such a drastic action wouldn't have been taken unless it was truly felt
necessary. I think that in some cases, a disruption of other business may have
to happen to get a point made or to prevent some really heinous action, as in
this case, even if that disruption could be damaging to other things.
Anyway, I'm going to switch to reading William Gibson instead of running down
my laptop battery. :) I have an hour or so until boarding, and should be in
Nassau around 2:45pm EDT.
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