Well, I am now Windows XP enabled at work. Dispite some comments about how this is a 1.0 Microsoft product, I find it to be a really stable and good looking platform. Further, it isn't a 1.0 product. If anything, it is the next version of Windows 2000. Most of the back end seems to be exactly the same. Right down to the license logging service and computer management application. But on top of all that, it is filled with cool and good looking changes. For instance, the start menu has gotten a major facelift for the better. After the rousing sucess here at work, I don't think I will have any problems installing it at home. And, for the first time in my whole life, I have installed a Microsoft Operation System without having to install device drivers after windows was done. It found and installed each and every device flawlessly on the first try. As soon as install was done I was off and installing software and patches. Fun.

I can't believe it is almost the year 2002. Just yesterday it seems I was thinking how far away 1994 was. And now look at me. It's the year 2002, I'm married, living in Seattle, and work with networks. If you had told me I was going to be doing all this stuff when I was starting high school I would have laughed at you.

But that's the way it goes I guess. I can't wait to see what surprises are in store for me in the coming year. It will be twice as good now that I have Erin to share it with. I think I can honestly say I am really happy with where I am in life right now.

See you next year.

posted 12/31/2001 02:34:29 PM -





Well, that was quick and painless. This site (and another) have already been moved over to Cornerhost. Maybe Network Solutions's merger with Verisign was a very good thing. I don't think I have ever had a DNS record updated that damn fast.

posted 12/29/2001 10:19:33 AM -





Well, in 24-48 hours, this site should be moving to it's new host. I decided to go with Mike's wonderful hosting solution at Cornerhost.com.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions about hosting providers.

I've got the DNS request in for the nameserver changes, lets just hope all goes well. Till then...

posted 12/28/2001 08:52:03 PM -





I'm trying to find a web host that is cheap enough that Erin and I can both use it. She was given a domain name from Jish and we really can't afford 2 Interland accounts. I actually have been wanting to move off of Interland for quite a while now anyway. So what is a good host out there? I have been poking around and have found quite a few that look good, and are less then $10/month, but I don't know anyone who uses them.

Any ideas out there?

posted 12/28/2001 09:31:24 AM -





Well, we are back from Denver. This morning blogger wasn't working, and I was starting to get worried. I really don't want to spend the time trying to move everything into another content management system. The web host I use doesn't have the latest perl version anyway. But, blogger is working again, so off we go:

Ugh, so solosier thinks this site is "gay," and you know how much I value the opinion of womanizing pricks.

Denver was good, but the flight out there was pure hell. It seems Frontier Airlines are 30% overbooked through Jan 1st. Way to go Frontier. If you want to stay in business, this isn't the way to go about it. I mean, with all the technology around these days, you would think an airline would be able to have controls in place that would make overselling seats on a flight a thing of the past. I saw no less then 12 people receive a free round trip ticket (on top of their normal flight tickets) to be used anytime in the next year, because they were bumped or otherwise delayed from getting on their scheduled flight. If I had stock in Frontier right now, I think I would sell it.

So, we got into Denver on the 21st at around 11:00pm, and then promptly waited for our bags for 45 minutes. Out of the 3 bag ramps in that area, only 1 was being used and there were 4 flights worth of bags about to come in on it. So more time wasted at the airport. We finally got our bags, and headed to my parent's house. After a bit of conversation, Erin and I headed off to bed.

Coming up, the rest of our holiday trip to Denver.

posted 12/27/2001 09:49:45 AM -





Music so nice, you pay twice. The RIAA train just won't stop.

Seriously though, I give it a month before the steps to cracking this "protected CD" is common knowledge on the web. And in 2 months we will have another ad-ware application allowing the end user to unprotect the CD straight into MP3 format. Personally I don't see RIAA winning this one unless they invent a whole new audio format, media format, and distribution model. Even then I doubt it will be long before someone invents something to transform the new format into MP3.

All I can say is these new "protected" CDs better be marked so I know not to buy them and expect to be able to listen to them on my computer.

posted 12/19/2001 01:32:06 PM -





I almost just killed me a nun. She was in a small teal toyota of some kind. The mostly plastic kind of early 90's car. Of course with god on her side she has no reason to look both ways before pulling out into traffic. Although I think she might have tried to look but her head piece was blocking her view. I was driving up California Way, the main street through West Seattle, on my way to Blockbuster to return some movies Erin and I watched last night. This stupid old nun pulled out from the post office without even looking to see if anyone was coming. I on the other hand, was going around 35 and was less then 200 feet away from her when she pulled this shit. Lucky for her (hey, had I hit her I might be able to get that New Beetle I want) there was one of those middle lanes for turning. I used it to avoid killing an old idiot. Did I mention I have a truck? It's not a full sized F150 or anything, but it is still made out of metallic components. Much more durable then a crappy teal toyota. Yep, she would have been crushed.

Then, on my way back from Blockbuster, I took a side road back to the office so I could avoid traffic. I was behind this ugly brown Lexus for a few blocks. We were stopping at stop signs and going around round-a-bouts. Till we got to Charlston. I guess he was feeling good about not having any traffic to stop for at any of the past stop signs, so he decided he didn't need to look before making a dash across the street. Well, his expensive Lexus almost became lunch for a beaten up chevy. The chevy came sliding to a stop not more then a foot away from the door of this Lexus. The look on the chevy driver's face was identical to my own after almost killing that retarded nun.

I seriously have never seen as many bad drivers in my life as I have seen since I have been in Seattle. You would think it rains here enough that people would LEARN to drive in it. It's almost as bad as watching Southern Californians trying to drive in Denver in January. Funny, but only safe if you are watching from the 2nd floor of a building.

posted 12/18/2001 02:26:47 PM -





More stories from people caught with tweezers trying to get on a plane.

"I walked through a metal detector in the Austin, Texas, airport and was told by the attendant to turn around and go back through the detector again. When I asked why, she said that my hands were in my pockets (as if my hands could prevent the machine from detecting a weapon that might be in my grip). I did as she asked, this time passing through the detector with my hands up at chest level and palms facing forward--sort of a "nothing up my sleeves" posture. She then instructed me to do it a third time, saying, "You don't normally walk like that."

I really like the ending to this story:
"After sifting through more than 300 responses, my impression is that people don't mind the extra security measures--but it's the inconsistencies that get to everyone. What's the point of confiscating tweezers if they're going to hand out stainless steel forks on the plane? Why are little kids and grandmothers being pulled aside for "random searches"? What's the point in checking IDs when it's so easy to get a fake ID, as millions of teenagers can tell you?

We don't mind getting to the airport earlier, waiting longer or even submitting to wand searches--but we would like to believe that Operation Window Dressing is more than just an ineffective show."

posted 12/18/2001 07:56:40 AM -





Go ahead, just try to get that pasta past security.

This was both a funny and very scary read. On one hand it is quite humorus that airport security would take a man's yougert covered pretzels. On the other hand we have morons working security who want a woman to take her wedding ring off and send it through the x-ray machines. Personally I didn't think security had changed too much when I flew to LA 3 weeks ago. Other then the fact that there are now national guard officers wandering around and making sure no one is parking in the loading only zone (except LA, where they walk around with M-18s in their hand and never in less the pairs.). Because that job is too demanding for airport security. And the fact that no one without a ticket is allowed past the metal detectors now, but Canada has been doing that for years. I guess I just don't see what all this security is really going to change, other then the ammount of time the average traveller has to spend at the airport now. Beef up security for restricted areas of the airport operations. Beef up screenings for all airport employees, right down to the old man who sells newspapers on the sidewalk outside the ticket counters. Don't let people without tickets past a security checkpoint. But don't fucking tell me I have to take my wedding ring off and send it through, or that my snack needs to be poked and prodded by some guard. The line between good security and oppressivness isn't that thin.

posted 12/18/2001 07:44:00 AM -





Uh oh, l33t siTeZ r g0nNa g3t dA sTo/\/\p, y0

It was only a matter of time before the federal government set up something like this. I mean, they even used their own warez site to track some of the software pirates. The funny thing is, warez sites are so fucking crappy (design and functionality wise) that no one even noticed that one of them was "undercover." Because the government usually can't fit in perfectly. If you are looking for someone who doen't quite fit, you will most likely find them. Not the case with warez sites. It was just another in an endless display of pop-ups, porn ads, broken links, broken images, bad javascript, and top sites. I want to line up all the people who were busted so I can point and laugh at all of them at the same time. Oooo, that is an interesting thought too, their punishment should be to have to use a computer from in their jail cell to sort through spam mail for the public. Of course, they would have to do this on a 286 running Windows 3.1 for Workgroups and no mouse.

*shudder*

posted 12/14/2001 12:50:06 PM -





20 Year Usenet Archive Now Available! Included is a timeline of some interesting first posts.

Google has fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 700 million messages dating back to 1981. This is believed to be the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled.

My favorite is this post
"Out of today's mail: Electronics, June 16, 1981:

Under the heading (pg. 33) "Xerox to market personal computer..." with the announcement of the 820 which most of you may have seen already, is "... with IBM to follow suit" Called Chess, it is an 8088-based system priced between $3-4K, and includes two DSDD 5-1/4 Tandon floppy drives, a detachable keyboard. An OS "similar to CP/M" from Microsoft (IBM Personal Computer DOS), from 64K to 256K RAM, and a "600-by-400-line" B&W display and able to handle eight colors with a resolution of 400x200 pixels or four colors at 800x400. Look for it to be announced next month and check out Sears, Computerland, and maybe J.C. Penney.

--Frank"

posted 12/12/2001 11:23:02 AM -





Meet the Megway Transporting Human.

Those kids are so clever.

But that reminds me, since they are all Bay Area people. I remember a certain Jish saying he was going to be back in Seattle around the end of November or beginning of December. But both are now gone. I hope Jish gets here soon, or we are going to be forced to revoke his honorary Seattlite status.

posted 12/12/2001 08:35:22 AM -





Wow, come January 1st, 2002 there will no longer be such a thing as the French franc. Same thing goes for the lire, peseta, drachma and guilder, they will all be replaced by the euro. It's crazy to think of just how long ago the euro had been announced. I remember when I first heard of it, but don't remember when it was. But, I'm glad to see it is going to become a reality soon. I don't know the logistivs involved, but I am sure this landmark event is going to be a nightmare for most people. I don't think I would want to wake up new years day and have to remember that all the money I have is worthless in its current form. I also wonder what it is going to do to the individualized markets in each country. Anyone who has ever looked at a currency exchange rate table knows that it is crazy how different each currency is. Even between the European countries involved in this money change. So say I am a millionare (millionlire?) in one country, would I still hold the same ammount of money once it gets converted to the euro? Would I have more money if I had moved to another country right before the end of the year?

I wonder about these things, even if it doesn't involve me.

posted 12/10/2001 07:36:49 AM -





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