Geek Zone Ahead

I just put together a PC for my father last night... I ordered the parts from www.newegg.com (great site, btw) -- and after about an hour worth of troubleshooting, due to not reading the entire manual, got it working. Pretty nice setup for $450. The kicker is that my dad is going to try using Linux for a while. Now, it's not like he's a computer neophyte by any means; he works with them every day, but it still comes as a shock.

It's just tempting enough to put together another PC like this for myself. But considering that I have 3 PC's (excluding my work laptop) at my disposal, that might be a bit much. I have a hard enough time fully utilizing them as it is. One of them is too old to be useful for anything but a file and print server (which is its function,) I have a 12" PowerBook, which is basically a browse the web while on the couch machine, and my Windows PC is small form-factor Shuttle. Think a PC about the size of a shoebox, but slightly taller.

Maybe I could lease processor time to Pixar or NASA or something... that should bring in a solid 25 cents every month... and in a few decades, I can pay off the investment.

Driving Lesson

Closed-circuit to about 75% of Minnesota drivers --

• Brake before the turn, accelerate through the turn.
  
• Merge at the speed-limit.
  
• If the person in front of my car is at a constant distance, it does no good to tailgate me.
• Left-lane = passing only, except perhaps in rush hour, and 1/2 mile before a left-exit. Corollary: If you have to make a left-turn in 5 miles on the freeway, do not move over with 5 miles to go.
• If there is a cop nearby, go the speed-limit, not 10 below.
• It is okay to break the Earth's inertial forces when the light turns green.

Okay, I'm done. For now...

Fictional History Lesson

Quick post as I watch the Wild take care of Vancouver... (damn good to have hockey back.)

During high-school, I had an AP European History class that went through a rather large amount of history. Something like 1492-1900 ... Columbus through the Renaissance, French Revolution, etc. Subjects such as the Thirty Years War, the Reformation, Machiavelli's The Prince, and so on were covered. That's a lot of guys and gals with whigs.

Of all of this, I probably remember a few basic events, a few of the more important people, and maybe some of the underlying ideas that they were all about.

I am in the midst of "The Baroque Cycle" by Neal Stephenson, which is basically an enthralling ficitious epic that just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well. Isaac Newton is a character, Louis XIV is a character, Gottfried Leibniz is a character, Huygens is a chacter, etc. etc. Long story short, if you like intelligently written stories & characters, Stephenson is your man, and this series just happens to be an excellent history lesson as well.

amazon.com links:
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World

Must... Write...

The internet is evil. There. I've said it. Not because it contains nekkid pictures, or that whole virus thing, or because blogger doesn't double space sentences, or even because there's probably a forum for people to talk about what kind of flashlight works best while hiking down a gravel road when the moon is at 42 degrees above the horizon. (Okay, maybe that last one is slightly evil.)

The internet is evil because it is there. It is like television on steroids. Have you ever been able to sit in the room with the television, and get anything done? It speaks to you... there might be something interesting on, maybe not, you'll never know unless you click that Power button. Yes, yes, yes, you can get your cable/satellite disconnected, but that's like cutting off your arm to stop your fingernails from growing. The internet is television times 10. Not only can you watch mind-numbing, time-wasting things, but you can actively participate in them!

Personally, I read probably 2 racing forums, several "geek" news/info web site (plug: www.arstechnica.com,) and a bunch of other daily reads. Not including blogs. It is nearly impossible for me to sit down at my home computer and not just browse the web. If I have something to accomplish for work, or banking, etc., then no problem. But if there's something I could be doing, say writing, taking photographs, designing nice layered-effect shrubberies... it just won't happen.

Yes, this is all about self-discipline... something I lack in various areas. Yes, I must work on this. Yes, the country, nay, the world is littered with middle-class people who work hard during the day, then slack off at night. I don't really have a point. I probably should come with some gripping, profound, unique statement that wraps all of these up into one unavoidable conclusion. ... oooh! There's a new sudoku puzzle out...

Fear of Tomorrow

I hate that feeling you get when you start to get a cold. You're not actually "sick" yet, but you can feel certain parts of your body not reacting 100% and your mental state can generously be described as cloudy. That's where I'm at this evening... I'm hopeful, but not optimistic, that I do not actually have a cold. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I'm supposed to golf on Saturday, I won't get sick.

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There hasn't been much for me to write about lately, at least nothing I feel is significant. I reorganized my office area last Sunday and repainted it a generic beige color (it was sorta light-blue-gray from when my roommate still was here.) More significantly, I reorganized the layout of my desk(s) to point them towards the room. Also, now when I look out the window, I can see actual trees instead of just my neighbor's window. Ahh, the joy of townhomes. I also installed a shelf from IKEA complete with drywall anchors. Gotta use the new drill I bought somewhere.

I also bought a devilishly hard guitar exercise book. Take a look...

What makes this really difficult [for me] is the up and down arrows which indicate picking direction... this is a style known as sweep or "economy" picking, whereas the first style you [should] learn is alternate picking.

Well, now I've put my camera out on my desk ... I really need to go pickup a cheap tripod.