May 4, 2001

Twelve weeks, for an adult, seems like it is not a lot of time, until you begin to think about it: Roughly a semester. An approximate fiscal yardstick too short to determine a trend. A quarter of a year. A single season in a single trip around the sun. Enough time to train a soldier to kill, but not enough time to teach him to think.

Twelve weeks is a trimester in the gestation of the human being. It takes three months to make an average movie of the week for NBC, CBS, or ABC. Ninety days is the sort of jail sentence one gets for drunk driving, unless one has spent the same amount of time in a rehab center previous to the offense. It's a period of time so...uncertain...in so many ways that we often ask for more time while we consider its implications.

Twelve weeks, however, is more than enough hours, minutes, and seconds to become addicted to heroin, crack cocaine, opium, and Everything2.

I discovered this last night when my borrowed computer's screen flashed an ominous 403 alert. Warning. Indication. Whatever they call it. A combination of phosphorescent ones and zeros that speaks volumes to computer-savvy users, but which meant only one thing to me: I did not have permission to search the E2 index, which is something I never knew I was doing in the first place. I could not log on. I immediately thought it was something I had done and sent pitiful emails to people here that I thought could help. Little did I know that they too would soon suffer E2 withdrawal.

The site was down for repairs, nate reported today, and I was physically aching for my fix, no less, I was sure, than a not-particularly proficient heroin addict. I had a litany of things I wanted to accomplish while I had those quiet morning hours to myself. It wasn't fair. I was blind with frustration. I tried to log on a dozen times; I searched google, hoping to sneak in that way. The cached pages that popped up with names I've known for twelve short weeks tormented me.

I realized: these were friends now, and I missed them. New good kind dependable friends, as sure as my motorcycle buddies, steady as my work partners who've fought the wars with me.

I forced myself to bed. No writeup. No editing. No nukes. No laughs. No epiphanies.

No Everything2 for the first night in 92 consecutive nights.

And when I awoke this morning and got my coffee and went through the familiar motions of virtually crossing the country, enduring great trepidation as time seemed to stand still while the hard disk whirred; when the home page loaded and the date was correct in its ofttimes snotty Greenwich way, I was happy.

I am an Everything2 Addict. And so, I hope, are You.

Well so the mix CD I alluded to on April 28, 2001
that I've been compiling
is now complete. Below is the playlist. The idea
for this mix came from my recently watching
Almost Famous. Somehow I missed this movie in the
theaters. I think I read a few so-so reviews and
so I initially panned it. But after watching it
at home on DVD two songs really stuck in my head:
America and the Rain Song. God, I miss these
sweet melodic songs. So I put together this whole
mix CD of songs that seem somehow connected.

• Summertime, Janis Joplin - (in case you were wondering, I "settled for" the studio version from Cheap Thrills. See April 28, 2001 for more about this.)
• No Woman No Cry, Bob Marley - (live from Legend)
• Homeward Bound, Simon and Garfunkel - (a live version)
• Do Right Woman Do Right Man, from The Commitments soundtrack
• Little Wing, Jimi Hendrix - (for Dan Caesar)
• America, Simon and Garfunkel
• The Rain Song, Led Zeppelin
• Ice Cream, Sarah McLachlan - live version from Mirrorball
• Caravan, Belmont Street Octet - a local Portland band playing a jazz standard
• Bird Song, Grateful Dead - (Wierd but I had no idea this was about her till I read the writeup here)
• Ripple, Grateful Dead - (It doesn't get any sweeter than this.)
• I Never Loved a Man, The Commitments soundtrack
• Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin (alternate take from 18 Essential Songs)
• Stay, Dave Matthews Band - (live)

Gods, I miss her right now. She's just passed her orals, and is getting ready for graduation. I wish I could be there with her to celebrate the occasion. But, I'm stuck here about to be bought by [corp. I cannot name], we just laid off an assload of people, and there's rumours that we'll have to re-intervew for our jobs. Regardless, knowing that she passed and that she's finally done with all of the assocated stress, I'm happy.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I love you, baby!

[ Dream Log ]

12:54

Never EVER before I have walked to a computer game store and realized the game had been sold out. This may work for old games, but it just doesn't happen to new games.

You probably know what game I was referring to: Black & White... I found it from another store.

Today, I have 6 votes. This was sort of unexpected. That was what I had yesterday... Is the yesterday's downtime and the Strange Stuff That Was Going On related to this?

In the university UNIX lab, all machines were taken and I'm now writing this from the SGI O2 box using Crappy Old Netscape 4. Fine machine, out-of-date web browser... =(

Yesterday I didn't make a daylog, mostly because there was no need, but also because the Thing was down. Anyway, a new version of the Jargon File is out - and it has AYBABTU in it. The end of the world is near!

Okay, time to face the challenges of the day...

15:21

Stuff to Script:

• Something to figure out IP address' real owner (like "whoseip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" that would query name server and ARIN's WHOIS server.
• Script to split tons of images into many ZIP packages.

16:24

I wrote to my friend (Finally! that E-mail had been delayed for a while), found some pictures for him... and that's about that. Now I MUST EAT. I'm hungry like a wolf. =)

23:25

Talked with a friend in IRC about why he should/shouldn't get Linux, and also told about my theory of why "home computer" is such a bad term. or something. I'm tired again. I need to play more B&W this night... =)

---

Other day logs o' mine...

Noded recentishly by y.t.: google Dream Log: May 4, 2001 ircii

Updated:

15:26

It's May already?
Damn, time is simply moving too fast. It seems to be accelerating at an exponential rate, and one shouldn'w waste a second. What the hell have I been doing for the last 4 months? I have accomplished very little, and seem to be wasting 90% of my days just slacking off.
I need to start making schedules, using up every last hour of workday evenings and getting enough sleep to have the energy necessary to be on all the time.
Er, scratch that.
What I really need is to get over my apparent inferiority complex. It's not like the average couch potato would do more meaningful things than myself. Except maybe when it comes to social relationships.. But that's an another story.

Speaking of work, I'll be transferred to a new project next June. Not because anyone would be unhappy with my performance (sometimes I'm amazed about what one can get away with), but due to some strange funding issues. I won't go into details -- with the insane sum they're threatening us with in the NDA, I won't touch that stuff with a 10-foot pole.
Basicially this means that my cushy job of doing PHP stuff for relatively reasonable and small client is replaced by working with Oracle products in a big multi-company project. With the same pay as before, naturally.
I won't complain, since I seem to be assigned to one of the less annoying tasks there are. But this happens just as I had gotten accustomed to the job at hand, built at least some relationships with the client's representatives and started to see the big picture more clearly. Oh well. With all the zillions of lay-offs in the IT world at the moment, one should feel happy just being employed.

All in all, things are going quite fine at the moment. Apart from the Japan trip plans not looking very bright at the moment, but that is something I won't get into right now. It ain't over until the fat guy sings karaoke in Tokyo, or something.

I would like to apologize to all of my fellow noders for being very inactive on E2 for the last week or so. The reason? I god addicted to a powerful drug called http://tiles.ice.org/. Which is completely silly, because I couldn't draw to save my life. Check out some of my tiles in there to see what I mean.
Anyway, don't worry.. Fad websites come and go, but Everything will always be ichiban to me. :)
Speaking of E2, I am extremely thrilled to see some great newbie noders at work. I'm going to skip the namedropping, but let's just say there are some very promising people out there. You know who you are. There has also been an explosion of Finnish noders lately, I just hope at least some of them permanently join The Everything Family instead of just creating one or two writeups and then forgetting the site.

Well, this has been a big pile of pointless crap again.

If there is anything that should be in a day log, it's whats going on in the world. So for now on, I'll be keeping the top headlines from around the world here. I've added The Middle East Times today, and their headlines are among the most intriguing. If there are any sources I'm not using that you recommend, please /msg me.

Without further ado, here is today's top news from around the world:

The BBC's Top Headlines:

• UK condemned over IRA deaths
  The British Government failed to respect the human rights of 10 IRA members shot dead by the security forces, a European court rules.
• Pope seeks to placate Orthodox
  Pope John Paul II asks for forgiveness for Roman Catholic sins against the Orthodox faith during a controversial visit to Greece.
• Khatami ends waiting game
  Iran's President Mohammad Khatami registers to run for office again, ending months of uncertainty about the future of his reform movement.
• China attacks 'supremacist' US
  Beijing accuses the US of trying to establish global domination with its anti-missile programme, as tensions continue.
• Kremlin welcomes Bush missile speech
  Russia's President Putin says US President George W. Bush's defence policy speech earlier this week is a "good basis" for further dialogue.
• UN condemns Timor trial 'mockery'
  The United Nations criticises jail sentences given by the Indonesian authorities to six men for killing aid workers in West Timor last September.
• Congo report denounced
  The governments of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi denounce a UN report accusing them of using the war in DR Congo to plunder its mineral wealth.
• Ivory Coast accuses chocolate companies
  Ivory Coast tells chocolate companies they will have to pay more for cocoa if child slavery is to end in West Africa.
• Cuba's anti-corruption ministry
  Fidel Castro's government sets up a ministry to root out corruption and improve efficiency in the economy.
• Chirac condemns torture general
  President Chirac calls for disciplinary action against a retired general who has shocked France with tales of torture during the war with Algeria.
• Police crack down on Berber rally
  Algerian riot police fire tear gas in the north-eastern city of Bejaia on young Berbers demonstrating against "police repression".
• UN refugee appeal to Pakistan
  UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers asks Pakistan to be patient over the presence of more than two million Afghan refugees.
• Six killed in Assam attack
  At least six people die in the fresh violence in India's north-eastern state of Assam, where state elections are due next week.

The New York Times' Top Headlines

• Bush Will Modify Ban on New Roads in Federal Lands
  The White House will put in place Clinton administration regulations intended to protect national forests but will allow those rules to be amended case by case.
• Florida Leaders Sign Agreement for Overhaul of Voting System
  Six months after a chaotic election in Florida, state lawmakers have reached agreement on a bill that would do away with questions about determining voter intent.
• U.S. Is Voted Off Rights Panel of the U.N. for the First Time
  In a move that reflected a growing frustration with America's attitude, the United States was voted off the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
• Blair Says Cattle Disease Is Near End; Elections Due
  Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Britain was in the home stretch of its race to contain a ruinous epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

China Daily Top Headlines

• N. Korea lashes US over terrorist label
  North Korea on Thursday accused Washington of trying to isolate it after the US State Department kept the state on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
• White House, Justice search for new FBI director
  The White House and US Justice Department scrambled on Wednesday to find a replacement for retiring FBI Director Louis Freeh, one of the nation's most powerful law enforcement jobs that requires Senate approval and carries a 10-year term.
• Massive poverty a political powderkeg in Asia
  This week's rebellion of the poor in the Philippine capital has underscored the serious political risks of having large sections of the population living in poverty, analysts and development experts said.
• Anson Chan retires, happy with career
  Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and the standing ovation after speaking to the Asia Society last week were Anson Chan's two most memorable moments throughout her public career, she said.

The Middle East Times Top Headlines

• Egypt looks to Russia for missile technology
  In a move that could signal a major foreign policy move, Egypt raised the topic of acquiring Russian military technology during President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Moscow at the end of April.
• Solar Temple cult influenced by ancient Egypt
  The French court trying a man accused of masterminding the death of 74 members of a New Age doomsday cult last week heard that he was inspired by a 1970s trip to Egypt.
• Middle East states still dominate U.S. list of terrorism sponsors
  The United States on April 30 cited but did not endorse Israeli allegations that security officials in the Palestinian Authority of President Yasser Arafat took part in attacks on Israeli targets.
• Palestinians find ready supply of suicide bombers
  Palestinian suicide bombers evoke incomprehension as well as fear among many Israelis who find it hard to grasp the desperation and fervor that motivates them.
• Helicopter gunships and Jewish moral responsibility
  With Israeli helicopter gunships firing into cities and towns in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and Tzahi Hanegbi, an Israeli cabinet minister in Ariel Sharon's new government, speculating about another war in the Middle East, American Jews are caught in a dilemma.
• Dawn coming for sleeping giant insurance
  Egypt – the largest country in the Arab world with more than 65 million inhabitants and a burgeoning middle class – is in the process of liberalizing its insurance sector, long dominated by four state-held insurers.
• Dubai launches 'enlightened' Islamic satellite TV
  A new Islamic satellite channel is using women anchors, dramas and cartoons to improve what many Muslims see as their faith's much-maligned image.
• Morocco tries to improve status of women
  Morocco's King Muhammad on April 27 set up a commission to try to improve the status of women in this North African male-dominated society.
• Saudi Arabia to ban 200,000 more web sites
  Saudi Arabia is planning to bar access to another 200,000 Internet sites within the next two months, a Saudi newspaper reported on April 28.
• A lot of desert but not many roses greet Sting concert
  Thousands of people trekked out to the Pyramids of Giza on April 25 to witness the widely publicized Sting "mega concert." But, despite the combined allure of one of the world's biggest solo artists and one of the ancient wonders of the world, the evening turned out to be a disappointment.

REMINDER! The Fantastic Manchester Booze-Fueled Britnoder Bash!

At Last! I have finnished that bloody report about my industrial placement. This done on top off full working days in the office!
Completion goes like this, got up at 8:10, showered, dressed and in Uni by 8:45. I printed it out, made a cover sheet and handed it in. That simple. A bit of an anti-climax after the 6 hour sessions working on it when I get bacdk home. I'll have to figure out a way to appologise to my girlfriend for being so innaccesable since Monday.

As usual, I am "planning" to go out and get drunk tonight but I'm not sure if I'm going to get around to it! It's been around 5 weeks since I last got drunk properly and I think this week has been a reason for me to deserve it!

Today I cycled all the way downtown from my home in Brentwood. Not really a super long ride, but probably the longest I've taken in quite some time. I cycled to the University, stopping at the bank on the way to pay the power bill that had been forgotten during my exams several weeks before. I've never had a good eye for color, but even I could see that my green RAD pants just didn't go with the forest green of my new cycling jacket. It was very ugly, but I wore it out anyway. While I was on campus I though I had better stop off and pay my late fees at the library. I knew I had two dollars in finds, so I wasn't expecting it to be five. I must have had those other three books on Go out for an extra day.

After that I cycled past Foothills Hospital and down a hill and eventually across Memorial drive, and then I got on the bike paths and took that all the way down to Prince's Island Park. I did not know that there is a pedestrian bridge underneath the bridge that carries Crowchild over the Bow; now I do.

The day was sweet, and a little to warm to be wearing the jacket. I could smell the trees and grass, and I was amazed by the beauty of the city, both to the eyes and to the nose. It's not like one might expect when one drives in from the south and you can see the smog hanging over the city like a shroud. I feel as if I sort of under-appreciate the city I live and work and learn in.

By the time I got to the paths, I was already getting saddle sore. I had already lasted a lot longer than I would have been able to if I had only had pants on; the bike shorts under the RAD pants really helped. That's the first time I've ever worn bike shorts; I'm getting prepared to cycle to work and save myself the transit fare. I need the exercise anyway. I've fallen into the scrawny nerd boy stereotype.

I haven't been to Prince's Island in a very long time; a year or two at least. When I was last there I saw a Shakespeare in the Park play, but I can't remember which one. I gawked at all the buildings and new condos and the construction like a common tourist, as if I haven't seen them all a thousand times before. It's always interesting to read the a tourist's perspective on your home city; you sort of see things through their eyes that you've seen so many times that you've forgotten what it means, or its just always been there and you never thought about it in the first place. I read the part in Travels with Samantha, where Phillip is in Calgary, and found it interesting. We Calgarians love our +15 system. It gets us between buildings in bad weather and gives us a semi public place to hold pancake breakfasts during Stampede week.

I was able to make it right to my building, then I went back to the park for a bit, and then cycled my tired ass home. And that was basically my DDO (designated day off).