So I haven't really done much on E2 recently, but mostly that's been because I've had no particular desire to write about anything I'm doing. It's not that I don't still like you guys. It's not that I don't like sharing. It's pure lack of motivation, plus a general lack of anything fun/new/exciting to say. I've just started a two year nursing program, however, and suddenly my desire to be a noder has returned. At the same time, this is totally contrary to my desire to remain a level 1 noder indefinitely. So, until I can convince a god to make me a permanent novice, I'll just start adding stuff to my homenode.

Things I Hate:

• 1. Cell phones not placed on silent/vibrate 24/7
• 2. Cell phones which ring during class/lecture/lab
• 3. People who show up late for class. Every day.
• 4. People who improperly use the verb download. ("Would you download that to my computer for me?") Just because you heard it on 24 does not mean it's correct. Download means transfer of data to you FROM external server. You download from an FTP site, Napster, etc. Upload is FROM you to external location. You would UPLOAD the damn coordinates of Jack Bauer to your colleague's computer. Or, to avoid any confusion, just say "send." Dumbass.

To clarify, I am not generally a hateful person. Everyone has things that get under their skin and make them go a little crazy. Just ask Brian Vickers.

Journal. of sorts.

October 12, 2007

The answer is no. It always is.

August 14, 2007

So I bought a PlayStation 3 the other day. It's not something I ever expected to purchase, as I'm not a gamer by any means, and the last console I ever purchased was the original Nintendo (paid for with money I'd earned mowing lawns, of course). I had watched the news about how much the PS3 sucked and how overpriced it was. I read about the decided lack of good, playable games for it. How it was supposed to be the coolest thing ever, but then the wee little Nintendo Wii came along and showed it who was boss. I had watched all this with a bit of a smile, because it's nice to see a pompous ass fall on his face, every once in a while.

Still, the fact remains: I bought a PS3. I've been involved with www.distributed.net since June 3, 1999, when I submitted my first blocks for the RC5-64 contest. If you're not familiar with what distributed.net does, check out their sparse writeups on distributed.net or just visit the website itself. I run the program on all of my own personal computers (4 of them). Whenever I build people computers, I give the new owners the option of a large discount if they'll run the program for me (most of them choose it). I check my stats nearly every day. I build my own computers with cooling in mind, to keep them as cool as possible while they crunch away at numbers. Basically, distributed.net has been a big part of my life for the past 8 years, and hopefully things will continue in that vein.

So, I bought a PS3. I bought it because distributed.net finally released a core which runs on the Cell Broadband Engine processor featured in the PS3. And the PS3, using the distributed.net software clearly demonstrates why it totally kick-ass. My modern, dual-core 3.0ghz AMD chip crunches at about 25 million keys per second. Not a bad speed at all, really (considering that a 3.0ghz Intel Pentium 4 single-core chip would only do about 5 million keys per second). I brought the PS3 home, configured the GameOS, installed Fedora Core 5, hooked up to the network, configured the distributed.net client... and there it was: 167 million keys per second. Totally worth the 500 bucks I just dropped. (credit, two years, interest free).

If you're already crackin' for distributed.net, join Team Everything2. If you're not, consider joining. Be warned: it will heat up your computer, so be sure it is adequately cooled. If you run in 24/7 like I do, you will notice a slight increase in your power bill, as well. Also, there was a $10,000 reward, but that was dropped in May do to the overall lack of progress with this 72 bit codec (the keyspace is freakin' HUGE!). That hasn't deterred me, in the least, of course. 8 yeras of my life means that money doesn't matter.

The PS3 is pretty sweet: 60gb harddrive, easily upgradeable. Fast processor, nice nVidia supplied video card. Bluetooth (the controllers are all bluetooth), built-in b/g wifi, gigabit ethernet, HDMI connector, 1080p compliant, slots up front for CF, SD, etc flash media cards, blu-ray player... basically, it's a great HTPC. I hear the thing even plays games, too (but I don't own any).

July 30, 2007

I guess I haven't written very much in the "journal" recently. Not much to share, I reckon. I've been slightly more active in E2 as of late, and I am contemplating breaking my vow of initiate-ness and doing a few more writeups. There are one or two nodeshells I would like to fill, as well as a handful of factual writeups I would like to create. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, I start my last year of nursing school in about two weeks. This semester is babies and where they come from, so it should prove to be rather interesting - and hopefully enjoyable. One thing I am looking forward to is being able to work at the free clinic across the street from my house. It'll be nice and easy to make it there on time, and it will hopefully be fun to give kids shots all day long.

At first, I was a little nervous about some of the upcoming changes to the site. I even thought about leaving and deleting all my stuff. I didn't really want to share some of this with all those other social networking stuff. I love you guys, but I don't love them, yaknow? This is a pretty close-knit website and I hope that never changes. However, after looking at some of my old writeups, I discovered that PTO Shaft was out of date, that the link for the video there is no longer valid. Bummer! Perfect video, and it's a shame it's no longer available anywhere on the web that I could find. This kinda made me realize how valuable a "media" element might be to some of the factual writeups. E2 will never be Wikipedia (nor should it be!), but sometimes a little video goes a long way.

September 28th, 2006

Today was my first day of clinical experience. We have three weeks of working 7am to 2pm, Thursday and Friday, at a long term care facility. Most of the morning was spent in conferences, talking about fire safety, maintaining personal protective precautions (as in like, wearing gloves, washing hands, etc). Boring but necessary.

So I was a little nervous. I mean, I'd never worn white shoes, white socks, white boxers, white pants, white undertee, which shirt, and white jacket all at the same time. Those of you who know me, well, you know I'm white (not tanned), so I was feeling decidedly... white. Plus, our clinical instructor is a part-time employee of the college, so none of the student nurses in my group (9 of us) had met her yet. This was cause for a little nervousness, to say the least. Especially when she showed up an hour later (the program chair had, however, told her the wrong time). She didn't smile, wave, or say hello to any of us. She didn't acknowledge us at all, in fact. She went straight to the other instructor for the second group who would also be doing clincials at the facility, an instructor who had already established herself as a friendly person.

Our instructor, however, turned out to be pretty cool. She proved to be genuinely interested in helping us as much as possible, and also thoroughly knowledgable as a nurse. That's a huge weight off my shoulders, because I'll be with her the next 10 weeks, and hey, if I don't pass clinicals, I am out of the program.

I had enough time in the morning to meet my first patient. Mr. T is what I like to call him. He's a pretty cool guy. In his mid 70's, but still a pretty capable adult. He broke his left femur and is at this facility for rehab more than anything else. I consider myself pretty fortunate about my patient, because he can basically take care of himself. ADLs - activities of daily living - are skills that older individuals sometimes need help with. Several of my classmates will have to do bed baths, provide care for patients wearing adult briefs, or help brush teeth, help with putting on clothes, etc. Mr. T can do all that himself. I will eventually need to learn how to do all that with a patient, but I am also kind of glad my first patient does not require that type of assistance.

We sat and talked a while, and he turned out to be a retired auto body man. He owned a shop down the road, but retired a few years back. He'd actually heard of my Ford Fairmont, and said he had always really enjoyed working on them. Detroit iron, full sheet metal body. He complained about all the plastic and rubber on cars nowadays, and missed the old days of solid metal.

So my first day wasn't so bad, and despite how tired I am, I am still looking forward to tomorrow.

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