I say "part 1", because it's 12:40am right now and I just got back from a little public transportation adventure I'd like to call "iPhones are a crutch to real navigation".
Let me begin at the end:
I just got back into the hotel and pumped up the heater to warm up. My toes, thank gods, are only slightly chilled since I had the good sense to put on my wool socks even though I probably should have had my compression stockings on. I'm glad I did; I'd rather still *have* toes than slightly swollen ankles like I have now. It's fucking cold out there, even though it's only 38F.
Skip an 1.5 hours back, when I just got out of the movie theater and was walking down the street to 82nd where I'd catch the 72 bus. I realized then that a) it's Sunday and b) it's near the end of the schedule, and that made me panic about c) if I missed the bus I may have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. There'd be a next one, I'd checked earlier, since the last ran until 1:20am.
Luckily, I wasn't in any bad shape - the next bus would arrive 12 minutes after I got to the stop, so I moved around a lot and huddled in to keep myself warm. Once the bus did come, I relaxed, knowing that the auto-announcer for the stops would announce major intersections where there were transfers; in this case, the MAX overpass for transfering to the light rail.
No such luck, it didn't say anything when we went over it.
I didn't realize we passed it until after we made the turn at the intersection towards the airport at which time, blam, it hit me. Looking at GM (Google Maps), I saw just how far I'd overshot the stop, so I asked the bus driver if buses were still running in the oppostite direction. Yep, he said, so I got off the bus and scurried across the highway to the other side. Once there, I checked good ol' PDXBus app, and saw the lights of the bus coming my way. Oh thank gods! Once on that bus, I asked the bus driver to let me know when we'd got to the MAX overpass, and that the previous bus didn't announce it. Thankfully, he did and I was able to get to the MAX station.
Get there I did, but it would be another 22 minutes for the train to show up. My chest was warm, and my toes were just a slight bit cool, but my hands and my legs were freezing. See, instead of picking jeans to wear like I had been the last few days, I chose to wear my very thin work slacks. Mistake #2. And I brought gloves with me on this trip - yes, I was smart there - but where were they? Back in the hotel room, in my backpack. Not so smart after all.
22 minutes of freezing go by, and I notice that my 24 hour transit pass has expired. Run back up to the ticket machine, buy a new 24 hour pass, run back down and get my freakin' train. Then a brisk walk back to the hotel and here I am.
Before all that suffering began, though, the day was going smooth enough. I'd got up somewhat late and made my way over to Bread and Ink for the walk-up waffle window. Having spied this before, I figured I'd give it a go. I got the Fall Leaves special, which I'll describe later in more detail - possibly in part 2, or maybe never. Ask me if I don't write about it. Suffice to say, breakfast was tasty, but not all that filling. Which was fine, because my next plan of action was to go back downtown, pick up some lunch goodies, and head out to the Hillsboro end of the MAX Blue Line.
One tradition that has started is going to the Flying Elephant for lunch at least once while we or I am in town (we being Terra and I). This time it was back for Mama Leone's soup, a breakfast BLT, and some Oregon Pure Rain water. Mmm, rain water. I ate the soup and half of the BLT, then went back out to catch... this time, the red line. It went half-way down the line, and that was fine, because in my flittering about deciding what to do that day I randomly decided "hey, let's go to a neat game store". Way out in Aloha, Portland, which is a small suburb halfway between downtown and Hillsboro.
Aloha is a lot like the other suburbs in Portland metro area: it's non-unique. That is to say that it doesn't, at first appearance, have anything to differentiate itself from other suburbs in the area with possible exception of having an Intel campus. It's nice enough, but I'd describe it sort of like driving through Eureka with none of the tourist areas. You could live there, but it'd be pretty boring. I have no interst in living there *at all*, although there were plenty of pretty trees to look at while zooming by.
Anyway, I did eventually get to the game store "Rainy Day Games", even if I got off at the wrong bus stop and walked around a bit trying to re-orient myself. Snacking on my other half of BLT, I got to the store and checked out what they had; which was quite a lot, actually. If you ever do find yourself in Aloha, this game store is probably the best for many, many miles around. Fully stocked with RPGs, minis, board games, card games, even a frisbee golf goal! The staff were also very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly - like many game stores I've been in where the owners actually care about their store and gaming. So I was in my element.
Getting back on the MAX eventually, I rode all the way down to Hillsboro. The... most... boring... trip... EVER. I would have turned back earlier, but I wanted to unlock the achievement in my mind "Blue MAX goes to Hillsboro". Buster Gold, though, wasn't to be found.
I'm sure that's a joke.
When I did get back, I was pretty exhausted from all the sitting, walking and gazing at suburbs that I chilled out at the hotel and checked out some local shopping. This case: a Dr. Marten's store. Last Tuesday evening, when I was packing, I thought to myself: "I don't need to bring my coupons for shopping in Portland. Why would I buy shoes?" Today I kicked myself for not doing so, because I found an excellent pair of boots to wear in the rain so I don't wind up with soaked feet (and socks). Although I still may buy them, if I can forgive myself for spending the full $115 and not... um, whatever 15% less of that is. Something in the $95-98 range, I'm sure. As such, they're holding it for me and will not apply the discount unless I have the coupon. Oh well.
So I checked out that, and then came back to rest for a while. A while turned into 1.5 hours as I watched some TV, read, and took a brief nap. Knowing that it was Sunday and the bus schedule would be a hellish beast, I took a look at the things I wanted to do:
a) Go to Lucky Devil Lounge
b) Get pizza at Dove Vivi
c) Watch District 9 at the Academy Theater (2nd run pub/pizza place)
d) Get back before 1AM.
The timing of everything made "a" impossible, which is okay - I've seen enough naked women this trip, and this way if I ever do come here with Micah, we can check it out together.
To make this short(er), I did wind up getting to Dove Vivi before my fingers fell off. Fantastic, wonderful pizza of which I had 3 slices: wild mushroom (THE best), Tosca (or Tossa... something) Ham, and the regular sausage. All with cornmeal crust, all deep dish, all wonderful. And I'll be going back, that's for sure. Oh, and they also serve chocolate chip cookies. They're not amazing, not like the pizza, but make a good after-pizza dessert without killing you.
Did also make it to the show, although 30 minutes early. I killed 15 of those getting some coffee knowing I'd need the kick for the trip "home". Good movie, although I never quite empathized with the main character. I just have a hard time doing so, call it the "Dancing with Wolves" issue if you will.
And I did get back to the hotel before 1AM, even if it's after 1AM now.
That's all for today (yesterday). Tomorrow I attempt to wake up at 6:30am, but if I can't I can't. I want to try biscuts and gravy at the Pine State biscut cafe, but I'll probably sleep in and eat something either at Mother's or here at the hotel. Then it's off to the PSU campus for a tour at 10:30am, followed by shopping at the swim store (haven't forgotten, sweetie), then maybe I buy those boots anyway, hang around Portland and perhaps enjoy a cocktail, then back to the airport to fly home. Oh, and what joy that'll be to get home! I may even take Tuesday off to just wallow in home-ness, but likely I'll need to get my ass back to work as I'm sure there's just a metric ton of stuff that needs my attention.
Isn't there always.
Good night, world! See you in a few hours!
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This morning's ran-dez-vooos with co-worker at Utopia cafe didn't happen. Apparently the baby was up late that night and finally got to sleep around 7:00am, totally understandable. I went, still, and took bus #9 to Belmont to transfer to the #15. Apparently the overhead cabling was out on 1st street and Oak, so the blue and red MAX lines weren't running past the Rose statdium. No worries, I know how buses work.
When I arrived at 7:40, the place only had two other parties in it so I grabbed a table right away. Service was good, and the corn beef hash was excellent! Easily big enough to split between two people, it had home-made corned beef chunks which were cooked just right, probably two large potatoes worth of potato, plus white and green onion and red bell pepper. Buttermilk biscut was also included, all a great deal at $9.50. Too bad I could only finish half. Big breakfast taken care of, I got back to the hotel later to start writing this and take a bit of a rest - it's still raining, so I need to pick up an umbrella before going out again.
Update: grabbed an umbrella from Walgreens just up the street, and headed downtown to do a little Saturday market poking around. While there, I also went back to the food cart square and got a teriyaki/pineapple hamburger from BrunchBox (which has the famous "Youcanhascheeseburger") and started to head back to the hotel to drop a few things off. Good timing with the umbrella, as it started to really pour once I got off the MAX train. Killed some time by reading some more of the book I picked up at Powells, then headed back out to catch "Cold Souls" up at the Living Room Theater. The theater, by the way, has a small restaurant/bar on one side and cinemas on the other. While it does show second-run movies, it's also an "art house" movie joint and charges the usual rate ($7/9.50) as opposed to the second-run rate ($5/7). Pizzas, sandwiches, salads, beer, cocktails and such can be had, but I didn't eat anything while I was there.
Movie done (and it was really good), I dropped by Ben & Jerry's to get a pumpkin pie milkshake. Sounded too good to pass up. My co-worker and I had made more plans, this time to visit Portland's oldest cemetery and go on their Halloween tour. A few bus transfers later, I got there in time to find a decently long line; one that was longer than it'd ever been before (well, 3 years of it going on it had never been on a Saturday). So we did that, saw actors re-enact the characters of various people who'd been buried there - very neat! And $5 donation, too (or $10 for families). Hadn't had dinner yet, but I figured I'd combine to tasks this evening: get steak at the Acrop (aka the Acropolis Club).
All the reviews on Yelp show that the Acropolis has really good - and very affordable - steak. This did indeed turn out to be true, the special (8 oz. sirloin) was $5.50 with a baked potato and Texas toast. Even the most expensive cut was only $10. The steak was done right and was very tasty - I recommend that if you want a good steak (not excellent, though, and not fancy) go there. Where you make up the cost is tipping the strippers or buying booze. I didn't go for booze this time, as that was getting pricey and I had a long way back home. I'm very glad I didn't, because the bus line was a bit tough to figure out with the Saturday schedule and it getting late. Anyway, in comparison to Devil's Point, the Acropolis was pretty big. There's three small stages with seating around it, so you can't free-load and gawk but you can eat there easily as there's a raised tipping bar. The fourth stage is much, much larger with an actual pole (the others didn't have one), but no area to eat at - drinks only, and no tipping bar. I wanted to eat without the pressure of tipping while eating (I was starving by that time), so I sat near the main stage and put my order in. It's pretty busy there on a weekend night, and more so being a "holiday" - roudier than Devil's Point, but probably because of the aforementioned weekend and holiday. The hallmark of this experience was, however, that the first dancer was choosing her own music and, as one of her songs, played Rob Zombie's "Foxy, Foxy" which I'm sure Mr. Zombie had intended it for.
The party sitting at the stage was a group of guys (and one woman) who were there for a bachelor party, and they were pretty drunk - but nice and funny drunks - but were treating the dancer nice to which the dancer smiled, joked, laughed and generally had a decent time. It was all fun. I tipped well, in part because she seemed to be having a decent time and because she played that song.
When she left, another, very much shorter woman came on and the DJ took over the music duties. R&B, sadly. I finished up my food quick and decided to spend only a little while longer there - it was getting late anyway. The second stage had a woman dressed in the typical Catholic School Girl getup, with a ruler, riding crop, glasses and a stern "you've been naughty look". Not my thing, sadly, but the other people around the stage were more into it. Getting up to go, I noticed the 3rd stage behind me with a dancer who was largely being ignored because most people were crowded around the "school girl" - which was too bad, because it looked like she was really getting into it and moving much more deftly to the music. Even though I was getting up to go and just passed by I tipped her anyway.
The bus ride home, ugh. The route the 70 takes late at night is split in half, and one of the halves isn't used after 9:00pm. It took me a while to figure this out, but *ta da!* Google Maps to the rescue! Glad I charged my phone this afternoon, even though it ran out of batteries once I got on the bus. Anyway, it was about a 30 minute ride from there back to Lloyd Center, and with all the Halloween people - one dressed as Krishna (and very well, too) - I was happy to get back without any issues.
So now it's 11:40 and I'm off to bed. Tomorrow's going to be much less interesting, but I hope (this time, for real) to get some walking in the various parks in.
Goodnight, world!
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This week I flew up to Portland for general work purposes, much of which were fulfilled yet some still remain to be done by consultants later next week. I'm also here to spend some time with my oldest friend Micah, sadly that was not to be as there was a death in his family which he needed to fly out to Eerie for (the funeral, that is).
Thus, Wednesday I arrived and worked from 8am - 11pm, taking a dinner break to enjoy tasty and well made comfort food at Mother's Bistro (including pear & huckleberry cobbler and a glass of Chateau Blanc ice wine) and then later crashing at Hotel Fifty down the street. Hotel Fifty would normally be out of my price range, but their mid-week rates are very, very good. I think next time I vacation up here, I'll make it a point to come up in the middle of the week to take advantage of the deals.
Thursday was another day of work, with a quick break for Lebanese lunch over at... that place we passed by last time we stayed here. Then a quick bite at the Lotus card room - a pink grapefruit cosmopolitan, and then it was back in work. Had a slice of carrot cake for dessert, then back to the hotel to watch a National Geographic series on the magnetosphere.
Today, the first half-day of vacation, I went by the lunch carts - an excellent destination for inexpensive lunching. I'd totally forgotten about the Shnitzelwich stand that was recommended to me, and instead went for Thai - green chicken curry with eggplant and Pad See Yoo with tofu. Not incredibly impressed by the noodles, but the chicken was very good. Next I walked around a lot downtown - a tradition, it seems - and stopped in Cupcake Jones for their mudslide cupcake. Other tourists were inside and asked where they could get a good lunch nearby. I recommended Silk (I try getting there when I'm up here, if I'm hankering for Vietnamese), as did a few of the workers there, and I showed them how to get to it. I'm starting to remember where things are here now, yay!
Next a trip to Powell's, which is like a small labyrinth of books. Yes, it's the largest bookstore I've been in and it's great. It isn't, however, absolutely huge; Berkeley campus libraries are huge. The main branch of the Oakland Public Library is huge. This bookstore is just very large. Largest book *store* I've seen, which is pretty neat! And they have a great selection, good deals, good prices and a good cafe which was totally packed on a Friday afternon. No big surprise there. I hemmed and hawed about picking up a book or two, and decided just to grab one - I don't have it next to me, but the title is Thirteen Orphans... ubran fantasy with majongg magic. So far it's decent, but I might return it for another.
Anyway, off from Powells I went cider shopping for a dinner later in the evening at my co-worker's house. He was very generous to invite me over to him and his wife's new condo in the Belmont district (*squee!* they have so many cool neighborhoods here!) for dinner, so I picked up some organic apple hard cider for the occasion at Whole Foods. I scanned their wine section and found some bottles of ice wine - $80-100 each, and they were pretty petite. That done, I walked back to the office and waited until he was ready to go. Grabbing the #15 bus, we chatted along the route about public transit and how the commuter train system could really be improved by increasing rail traffic between the cities of Oregon.
Dinner at their lovely three-story condo was spaghetti carbonara with green salad and garlic bread - good stuff. Their cat made instant friends with me and my lap, and their kid was very cute and playful. I now have an unfamiliar cat's hair on my jeans which I'm sure Tim will just wallow in! We talked about various things, and made plans for Halloween evening to go to the oldest cemetary here in Portland for an historical character re-enactment type thing - which I hear is quite excellent and a good time. We also made plans to have breakfast at Utopia cafe the next morning early (7:30amish). One thing I swore I'd do for Micah, however, was check out a few bars & strip clubs... so I got a ride over to Devil's Point bar before heading home.
Devil's Point: small, but comfortable bar with a decent layout. The bar is located by the door, so if you need change ($1 bills) it's an excellent pit stop for a drink. There are a few 2-3 person tables as well as a few "tall" tables with stools for 4-5 people. The problem here is that they also have a pool table that sits a bit too close to one of the "tall" tables. I had to move as I was causing problems for the pool players, but everything was relaxed and groovy. No skeezy, dangerous or bad-smelling people here; just a bunch of people (40:60 female/male audience ratio) you'd expect to see wandering to work or school. Of the four strippers that I saw perform, one was more of a variety act (flame eating - very cool), two of them seemed to be fairly veteran in knowing various moves, and the fourth... well, was really trying - but she just didn't couldn't keep with the music and the whole performance was very jerky. Not that I have any experience watching strippers, but I've now seen a wide variety of dancers (flamenco, ballet, ballroom, belly, modern, etc. etc.) and can tell those who take dancing a bit seriously and those who go through - what looked like - exercise video movements. News Flash: Tae Bo is not erotic.
My overall impression of stripping is that it's hard to take seriously. There's a certain level of baseness that's expected in the audience's desires, so when that's catered to (butt flex jiggling, for example) it's totally uninteresting. One of the dancers looked like she was smiling and having a good time (I think some of her friends were in the audience) and had very cool plum blossom branch tattoos from her thigh to her shoulder - although there wasn't much to her dance, she - and the fire eater - were the only ones really worth watching. The DJ didn't really have his act down yet, but was friendly and not too "please tip generously" PSA-guy.
Home again at 10:30pm, and this time right to sleep.
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Note: a muffin, some apple sauce and a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese does not make a full breakfast for a 255 lb., 6'5" man. I'm surprised I lasted 4 hours, let alone 2. Glad I packed those lentils from last night for an early lunch.
Anyway, this is a sort of Paul-gets-it-together post mostly for myself to write down what all is happening - I'm just a touch worried that I might lose track of all the crazy things that are going on, and hey: now you people who were wondering just what I was doing when I say "it's been crazy busy"! As if you wanted to know...
* Testing our new 10mb internet link with our new Juniper firewall and testing failover with our existing 3mb WiMAX connection.
* Backing up, wiping and re-installing Snow Leopard Server on XServe (plus creation on a helpdesk website wiki)
* Installing router in Portland on new T1 circuit, upgrading a Vista workstation to Windows7 and testing, server maintenance.
* Moving a new server rack to Fullerton, migrating users data to new server, installing new phones and phone system; also installing new T1 at other SoCal office and switching their old T1 to a PRI.
* Implementing MPLS link in Berkeley, Davis and Portland and testing. Then implementing in Pasadena and Fullerton for running phone connectivity.
* Moving web services from physical server to new virtual server
* Compiling 2010 budget requests and researching IT projects for next year (consolidated backup, 10GbE for core switching, new file storage system and virtual desktops using Wyse thin clients possible).
* Start assembling new phone system for Berkeley (switch and extension setup, plus wiring and demo area); work with receptionists to train on call system first. Work out system for remote line "answering".
* Complete FTP installation with or without AD authentication, move files from old system to new and prepare usage documentation.
* Finish Macroeconomics mid-term and continue classes, reading, and weekly quizzes. Start term paper.
So I'm thinking *not* having Thanksgiving at our house is sounding better and better.
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That's right, I've been going back to the gym in ernest and this time under the supervision of a trainer. Besides being there to spot - which, when you're going to weights you haven't dreamed of, is a good thing - the help of knowing which muscle groups are going to be worked and in what sequence (going from big to small) provides a great deal of efficiency to my workout.
Now, however, my triceps are completely wasted. Really. I could barely change my clothes!
Anyway, we're on the "shock and awe" weight training approach to get my nearly non-existent upper body muscles developed so that I can last more than a few minutes on the zip line excursion. Which they'll hopefully have on the cruise. If they don't, oh well - I still get toned out of the deal which I'm happy about. This 3 times a week schedule works, too, but I only wish that I didn't have such a long commute; getting up at 5:15am proves to be more difficult than I remember from a few years back.
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So I've got a quick and easy ice cream batter recipe and it's working for me. Doesn't require a lot of prep, ice water, 3 bowls or a multitude of yolks to make into a custard. Now I'm making my modified Oregon Chai ice cream recipe, and so far it tastes... really good! I'm specifically making small batches (halving the recipe, which makes for about a third of what the full recipe does - don't know why), this time with different alcohols to keep the ice cream from turning into a solid block of milk ice.
I'm making four mini batches: one with Yukon Jack, one with Bailey's Irish Cream, one with a dark rum, and one with either vodka or tequila. I'm not too set on using straight vodka, as it probably wouldn't add to the flavor at all - that's what I'm going for - but I'm not going to give it entirely up, so I'm using Hangar One Spiced Pear. Should be a treat. And I've made a contest out of it: I got suggestions from some of my Twitter/Facebook folks, and whichever suggestion pans out to be the best, they get a quart of the ice cream.
After all that, I found a Mexican Chocolate ice cream that looks really good. I'm going to try it the custard way first (brutal), and then the simple way. If there's not much difference in after effect, I'm going to stick with the simple way. I just can't get past 6 egg yolks. Yikes.
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except that it's 11:30pm and I've technically been "at work" since 8:30am this morning. Not a typical day.
I wouldn't be here if it wasn't pretty important, of course. Checks need to be cut tomorrow, invoices need to go out, etc. And while files are copying and things are installing, I'm doing other misc. tasks like switching out power cables from one UPS to another, fixing the archiving software, etc. Finally, around 11:00pm things started to work, but I chose to be pessimistic and assume things wouldn't continue to do so.
From the sounds of it, I was right!
Anyway, a huge apology to my sweetie for not being in this evening. I heard you were feeling bad, and hoped I could be back in time to at least tuck you (and myself) in to bed. I'm crashing here in Berkeley tonight so I can be up early to check in and make sure everything went okay. Not my favorite thing to go - by a long shot.
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Okay, for those interested in getting me anything for a special occasion or whathaveyou, here's what I've been interested in lately:
1) Locally produced or Spanish olive oil. There's a brand that's near to the Bay Area - Stonehouse - which sounds good, and there's also Napa Valley Olive Oil Company. I'm also interested in trying the really fresh first press that they (Stonehouse) do - Olio Santo.
2) Interesting vinegars - one, for example, would be Al Wadi Al Akhdar Pomegranate molasses (example here) from Lebanon, or Vincotto with figs (I want to try this with the raspberry compote and see what happens).
3) St. Germain elderflower liquor. I recently tried this in a mixed drink in Portland and loved what it does. It's usually added to put a flowery twist on a drink, but I think it could also do interesting things in ice cream.
4) Gift certificate to Sur La Table - there's just so many cool things there, I'm not sure what I'd want!
5) Geek hoodie - my current one is on its way out, please save me from looking too geeky.
6) 35 F2 (55) Engraved 35MM SLR manual focus wide angle lens (found at www.keh.com, about $250). This would go with my new (to me) Olympus OM-4Ti I picked up from the GCGS a last month. Also could use a lens cap and a UV filter for that puppy.
7) Neoflex combo lift stand (by Ergotron). This is a monitor stand that would replace my current one. It puts the lotio... I mean, laptop right up against the side of the screen, reducing the amount of wandering and refocusing of my eyes.
8) A night of drinking at Miss Pearl's in Oakland. I heard this was a pretty neat place, and I sort of know one of the people who works there.
9) Air compressor (see me for details if you're serious). This I would use, in combination with a grinder, to de-rust my bell stand and do a bit of work getting the remaining solder off.
10) A gift certificate to the Crucible. Must... take... more... classes!
11) Pre-paid card to Champions Online. My new MMORPG of choice.
12) Help funding the Hospital Getaway (i.e. travel to London for Hospital @ Matter next year - details can be provided). This is a trip I'm thinking of doing with my friend Micah - we'd go to London, see the Hospital Records crew put on a show (music) at Club Matter. Drum & bass, by the way. Should be fun! Not sure how likely it is we'll do it in 2010, so this one's probably going to be cut & pasted into a list for 2011.
13) Gift certificate to Otto Frei (a jeweler supply store in the Bay Area). Once I get myself back in gear with some studio time, I'm going to need some materials for making jewelry stuff.
14) the usual iTunes certificate would also be cool. I loves me some music.
15) A tasting tour at Hangar One in Alameda. The only kind of alcohol tasting I like!
(X-posted from Facebook)
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It's what I do now. This is probably the 11th PC I've built this year, and while I'm far behind people who've worked at computer shops, I'm making good headway in doing it nearly without glancing at where the front HDD light thingees go on the motherboard. ASUS has cheat-blocks now, but that just makes things too easy.
Anyway, when I first built them a computer 5 years ago I was in love with Shuttle. Shuttle PCs were neat and nifty, and I always prefer smaller computers to big honkin' ones. Probably because in the last decade or so I haven't had much space to put a computer - or a monitor for that reason. The problem I didn't think of then, because I was ususally of the "buy a new system when the old one goes kaput" was that when something like, oh, the motherboard fails there's not much you can do. They no longer manufactured the hardware, so getting a replacement would mean paying to send it in and having it fixed. It was old when I bought it, so after seeing what upgrade opportunities there were (a .25ghz upgrade for $200? Yeah, not worth it), we settled on getting something new.
In this case, I found a nice mobo, a slim case with quiet fans, a 380w power supply (plenty for their needs), a decent sized hard drive, etc. all for about $400. Not too shabby. The trick was getting it together fast, because they now did all their bill paying and banking online. That's why I'm here tonight staying overnight - so they can do all their week's worth of delayed stuff tomorrow AM. It's my dad, so I wouldn't say no.
And the good news is that there's a weekend coming up with lots of relaxation etc. A nice, long weekend without a lot of activity (just a trip to S.F. and a game). Whew :)
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Or why computers should be funny, and not explode. Hard drive near-failures (as far as I can tell) have slowed down my day. I'd started by a) planning to get here at 8, which sort of happened, b) leaving here by 5, which didn't happen, c) going to see a movie with Micah, which didn't happen because he's still sick, and d) getting home at a reasonably late hour - but still not so late as it's keeping my sweetie up wondering if I got hit by a milk truck late. Which will still happen, but hopefully earlier than that.
Anyway, I did manage to get all the server, switch and fiber switch firmware updated, OS updates done, my parent's computer ordered, the ftp software updated, the wiring organized and tied back. The painful part is that I had *almost* finished the power saver software install. ALMOST! That damn Windows Firewall kept the controller software from finding the workstations it was installed on, so I had to go back and do it again. Then the controller PC's hard drive started stopping. Started stopping? Eh, yeah. So now I'm running checkdisk with bad sector scan/recover and hopefully everything's okay. Or at least wasn't okay, but now is repaired and okay.
Assuming it's repaired and okay, then I just need to tell it to scan for the new installs once again (the fast part), and woosh, off I go. Almost 2 hours later than I hoped. Yikes.
One failure on my part this week was e-mailing my plans to my housemates. We have a calendar, but it's only useful if people - like me - write stuff down on it. Also, reminders are good - reminders in person. They seem to stick better that way, and thus less annoying people with the unheard of plans that involve me not being where people think I'm going to be.
Tired and babbling, I'm packing it in now. Oh crap, the drive's checking free space. Screw it, I'm going to reboot the machines and just head out now. Tom can finish them up during the week in the early morning. 2 hours mostly wasted. Bleh.
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Today I had a sugar-free, non-fat medium iced mocha. One small thing I forgot to mention. FREAKING DECAF! So now I'm buzzed with that "all muscles tense, chest tightness" fun knowing that in approximately 30 minutes I will hit the slump I get into after all the drug is burned out.
arrgh.
On the other-hand, I'm getting a lot done, which for my near-workaholic self is a pleasure. This month I've managed to get our new phone system project approved, the MPLS project approved (and install dates set), phone service installed at our new office in Fullerton, a new server installed and prepped for EMC's DiskXtender, numerous software and firmware updates on all our servers, our virtualization environment set up and properly configured for our Deltek test environment, started our fixed asset catalog (and will be putting that all into a handy database next month), researched and will soon be delegating our bosses' blackberry/Google calendar migration/synchronization, and will hopefully have the phone system completely set up for the new space. Oh, and our San Diego office moved from one office to another.
My goals in September are to finish installing DiskXtender on our new server (thus moving about 1/3 of our storage to an archival array), completing the Deltek upgrade and moving that into production, migrating all the old CRM data from DeltekCRM to our Vision system, starting our FA database so I can help the business office remove old assets that have been or will be donated/disposed of, and - lastly - starting the setup of our IT helpdesk self-help webpage.
Sound like a lot? It is! And on top of that, I've got a Tuesday macro economics class (which I'm really looking forward to). The only thing I'm worried about is the phone system thing, because I know the least about it. I'm going to have a hell of an IT work portfolio when I leave here, just in time to transition into a new career! The good thing being that I'll have an excellent track record of working hard and expanding my skills base - something that's a big help when stepping into a new job.
Life's pretty busy, but in a good way. No forced moving, no sweating bills, no looming health issues. Just pressing along in the shuffle of daily life.
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If I wanted to listen to machine gun fire this often, I would have time-warped myself to Vietnam in the 60's. Or, by the rate the drug battles are going in certain parts of Mexico right now...
I wanted to write a bit about what's been going on lately, but it hasn't been *too* exciting (even at work). The good news is that I'm not feeling as depressed as I had been for the past few months - something I greatly appreciate. Being tired all the time and feeling emotionally crappy has no benefits. I don't lose my appetite when otherwise emotionally taxed, so I don't even get the possible weight loss benefit. However, I don't get the weight gain problem either (although slightly, my craving for chocolate shakes goes up).
Anyway, my stint in International Relations at Berkeley City College went extremely well. Very proud of that. I didn't miss a single class, engaged conversation at every opportunity, asked meaningful questions and got good answers, etc. etc. I felt very lucky to have a doctor of political philosophy teaching the class; he'd traveled all over the world and lived in several different countries - many recently, such as Russia - so he had lots of "on the ground" experience. Sadly, the same teacher won't be back to teach at BCC mostly because his "main" school is on the peninsula. Totally understandable, as that's a hell of a drive/BART/whatever. I certainly wouldn't be up for it.
The other great thing about that class was that most students actively wanted to be there, and many (60%+) were well read and well versed in international goings-on and politics. I didn't feel like the only one who knew anything about the Cold War, which was awesome, and a good number of them knew more than I did. There's hope for this next generation yet! (Even if their writing skills aren't that great)
Yes, there was that. I've also had good amounts of success with my Kindred of the East game - importantly, it's not boring (which I feared it would be). The players are interested in the setting and what their characters achieve, even if they're not exactly well-suited to each other. That's part of the lesson I figure. A few more sessions of "get the ghosts out so that the ginseng quality improves", and then it's end of story block one and back to Fading Aeon again for a few sessions more. Gives me a break to work on the next storyline, do some downtime and administration, and generally goof off.
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This Saturday was short, as it was jam packed with activity. The most memorable, however, was Lovejoy's - truly a wonderful and unique experience! I'd heard that back in the flush days, reservations had to be made months in advance. Thanks to the depression, a reservation only a week or so in advance did the trick.
There's just something fun about English tea and the little customs that go with it - I, personally, find it relaxing and ... in a way, cute. It reminds me of watching Agatha Christie's Poirot, with all the trappings of 1920-30's England and whatnot. Tea was fantastic, food was great, but the experience was best!
Then we did a bit of driving and walking over to the Mission and walked down to Tartine Bakery. Yes, the baking is good, but to quote a Yelp review: * "They all seem to be hired from the We're Too Hipster for You Temp Agency..."
It's true. Very true. So true, it's almost worth not going. And part of it, I'm sure, is because they don't have a good system for taking orders and ringing you up. It's stupid! You go in, shuttle through the long line, and they ask you what you want. You start the list, and at the first item they go off to bag it up. Then you tell them the next thing you want, and they go off to bag that too. Etc. Etc. You get to the counter, and your helper has already disappeared, and the cashier wants to know what you ordered. We're not quite sure. Well, no one *else* has *ever* had a problem remembering what *they* ordered.
Gee, thanks. It takes a moment of telling the cashier who had taken our order, and she drops off the bag. The cashier looks through it and rings it up.
They could, oh, I don't know, write you a ticket with the items you ordered like deli's and other busy bakeries do. Sigh. So it was worth going to once for the incredible croissant, but I won't be back. I am, however, interested in checking out Bi-Rite ice cream... next time!
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| Date: | 2009-07-17 18:50 |
| Subject: | Making up time |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  aggravated |
So today I decided to put my admin hat on and do some upgrading of our network and server equipment. I reset management passwords, downloaded utilities, installed firmware, the works. Except for two things: the fiber channel switch and the ethernet switch on our blade enclosure.
See, the fiber channel switch I got was a deal from CDW, a b-stock item that had been installed then removed. The equipment was totally good, so I thought. As it turns out, the previous owners decided to change the default password - no biggie, right? Just reset the default to factory and go to town.
WRONG!
Brocade decided to be pricks about it, and put in a confirmation code that you have to exchange with support techs in order to get the restoration password. Why?!
Fine, so I call HP and go "what the heck" and they say: talk to Brocade. I give them a call and explain, they say "we don't support used equipment" but they'll help me if I buy a maintenance agreement. WTF? I've seen these so-called maintenance agreements and they're nothing but expensive pains in the ass. Thousands of dollars for support you don't and won't need, just to freaking reset the configuration password to the factory setting.
Oh, but they tell you you'll want the 24x7x365 days of platinum extra special we'll-hold-your-hand support for your enterprise environment! Oh yes, me and my IT team of one who aren't on site 24x7. Per incident? Hah, no luck there.
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Tonight I embark upon the quest to put together recipes that:
a) are generally low in saturated fats
b) contain vegetables
c) most people will eat
I can generally get two out of three, "b" being pretty easy to achieve. However, I'm feeling that most of what I make Ben won't be thrilled with eating. So it looks like two meal dinners on some nights, but that's extra work I don't normally mind so long as I get to finally enjoy nicer meals.
And I think I'll be making more fish and grilled meats on the weekend, which will be nice!
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| Date: | 2009-07-03 07:10 |
| Subject: | More flight fun |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  nervous |
Somewhere after starting at my current job and after my trip to Sweden, I developed problems with flying. Stress-related, I'm sure, and not some sort of terrorist attack fear. Hell, those sorts of things had been going on since the 80's, so nothing was really new there. Anyway, my fears are more of the mechanical failure variety and - interestingly enough - kick in around when cruising altitude is reached.
Which means I'm in some sort of strongly elevated stress level through the majority of the flight, especially tough for flights lasting a few hours (oh, the fun I will have traveling across the Atlantic again). I can sleep, sometimes, if I'm really tired and the flight's at night. Mercifully, the flight to Beijing left LAX at midnightish and got in at 7:30am the next day, so I nodded off pretty much right when we got on the plane then woke up during our final approach to the runway. These trips out to the Midwest are brutal because they're in the middle of the day, when I'm totally awake, and last 4 hours or so. I've taken to trying meditation on the flight and drinking chamomile tea before getting on. Sometimes that works, usually only a little. Last flight up to Portland I had two panic attacks due to a very noisy landing gear; so I was totally wiped when we got in.
I hear that most people's fears of flying kick in during take-off and landing; naturally the most dangerous (in an otherwise very safe method of transportation) part of the flying experience. That makes sense, rationally, and I only wish that was the case with me. You guys get the shortest part of the flight! Well, usually. Unless you're flying from Chicago to Detriot. All of this is, of course, worse since post-staph infection in my leg which adds discomfort and general nagging fear of a blood clot from all the altitude and pressure change.
So I'm not as big of a fan of flying anymore, even though it's a necessity for my love of travel; I've got to get over it sometime, and hopefully that sometime is soon. In the meantime, though, I hope for an uneventful flight, an early arrival, and understanding relatives as I arrive late to my destination.
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| Date: | 2009-06-29 15:05 |
| Subject: | is now signing |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  blah |
And while I wait, a few words:
Annoyingly, the family reunion event this year will be taking place on Sunday - not Saturday (the 4th). So I just had to change my flight from Sunday evening to Monday evening, costing an additional $70 and requiring a long 6 hour flight instead of a less aggravating 4.5 hours (due to stop-over somewhere). Grr.
I'm also splitting here a bit early to get my IR reader and catch up on all the reading I should have done over the last week. I'm bad. :(
Finally got the go-head on several projects which has cleared out the logjam of purchasing. At this point, only one project has yet to be fully realized, but we'll get to that when we get to it. DS3, here we come!
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Taken from the quote "Pop-Tarts are safe and do not cause fires".
This weekend was another shot at learning a crafting skill, but this time one that required much less large muscle control and more fine dexterity; to which, I should not be surprised, I did much better than my previous attempt at blacksmithing.
All in all, it was a 100% (and then some) success! I was smiling and happy the entire time I was there because I finally *got it*, which made paying $300+ for the class not feel like a unreasonable burden. I picked up arc welding in a snap, made some great welds, and got back into practice with an oxyacetlyene torch! First we practiced making simple weld lines with 6011 sticks with the arc welder, then simple 90 degree joins with two small pieces of steel. Then, some practice cutting with the oxyacetlyene torch, and welding plates together just using the flame. It was like picking up a bicycle after having not rode for a year; took a moment to get back into the swing of things, but then easy.
So the first day I spent absorbing all the information, then rummaging through the scrap bins to find the raw materials. My project: to build a metal stand for my big, 45 lb. cast iron bell. I found a nice circular piece of steel, cut some semi-circles out to make it look more interesting (and to shed some weight), then headed home. That was 8 hours of work. The next day, it was back in to find the supports - which was really tough, since most of the students had already picked through the good pieces. Luckily, inspiration struck and I found just the right piece to use. The morning was dedicated to cutting those pieces up into triangles tall enough to give the bell hanging room. At first I wasn't having much luck with the cutting torch, as the metal beaded up behind as I was making a cut line. The instructor noticed I was using too small of a tip, so we swapped it out and *bam!* in 10 minutes I was done cutting. So much for the 30 minutes I'd wasted beforehand with the other tip.
Cutting accomplished, it was time to grind grind grind, which I then spent another 2 hours doing getting all the rust off the places where I'd weld the arms to the base. I also had to clear off the beads of metal that had clung to the bottom of the legs so they could actually sit flat - that took a while. I can see how sculpture fabricators can spend most of their work-time grinding; it really takes a lot of the production time, like about 1/2 of it or more!
Anyway, spot grinding done, it was off to weld the arms to the base. A few false starts and trying to get a comfortable spot to hold the welder, I realized welding in tight confines is a bitch; getting the stick "struck" is a pain in the ass if you don't have a good amount of room to move! With the help of the seasoned pros (thanks Rob!) who tacked the arms on, I completed the weld without too much difficulty. The trouble was getting the damn things to stand upright, but thanks to the hammer wedge, all went well. That done, it was back to the grinding room to notch the top of the arms. I'd grabbed a plain steel pole with two bendy bits at the end to serve as the hanging rod for the bell, and I gave it a quick de-rusting as well as some basic grindage to get sludge off and get things more symmetrical-looking.
I've got some more ideas about what I want to do with it: adding more design elements, for one, removing more rust and in general giving it a good polishing. The great part was that I was able to produce a fully functional item within the two days and... make it look good!
So now to save a bit of money and transportation time, I'm thinking of setting up a little table & bench in the garage - probably a small work table I can shuffle around - and get an air compressor and die grinder / hand-held grinder to do my cleanup grinding at home. During the day and on the weekends, of course. And probably in our RV driveway as not to dirty up the garage any further. That way I can just get studio hours for the torch use. Woot!
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in a giant spinach wrap.
This weekend was much fun as we, the intrepid Californians following all the other Californians visiting Oregon, departed Oakland at 6:50am! Much annoying time was had on the plane, as I had two small panic attacks and in general a miserable time - I always have Not A Good Time on flights these days due to stress (only on take-off and cruising, though). Once at the hotel after said panic attacks, we just chilled out and napped into the afternoon, content to spend our time downtown walking around. We ate at McCormic which had recently moved to a different part of town, and while the food wasn't as good as it could have been the drinks were excellent.
Three drinks, however, seems to be my absolute limit for which after I become ill.
Taking the MAX back to the hotel, we had another fun surprise in store. A group of teenage basketball players were in town for a few games and were staying at our hotel. In our wing of the hotel. To make matters worse, our room's window was directly facing the metal stairs from the garage which people ran up, hung out, and in general made annoying noise until 4:00am. Lucky for me, I managed to fall alseep around 2:00ish and only woke up about three times. Not so lucky for my sweetie; intelligently, she'd asked the staff to put us in another room which they did the next day.
The teenagers were still there on Saturday, but the noise of the stairs was gone (thank gods).
Saturday we took ourselves up to the Zoo in the morning, and had a great time there. I am, apparently, a Friend of Lorikeets, as I had a hard time getting them off of me. Maybe I'm a bird person? Some train-riding later, we'd also checked out the rose garden which was most excellent. Weary from all the walking, we'd relaxed the rest of the afternoon and - when feeling better - headed out to Saucebox in the late evening. Now, at least I had no idea that the Pride Parade was going on this weekend, so when we saw people walk by (as we ate outside) in rather unusual clothing, we'd wondered if there was some sort of 70's party going on. There might have been, but who knows. Many other drinks were enjoyed, some endured (I had a dragon martini which I could not finish - too hot!) Stumbling back into the hotel, there was much better sleep that time around.
Sunday was another day of venturing out, as we went to the east side to have breakfast at Bread & Ink. Most fantastic! Salmon cakes and blintzes were enjoyed, and then more bus riding back for an afternoon appointment; which, sadly, was cancelled. So we went over the bridge one more time to get Terra's ears pierced at Black Hole, during which we walked around the Laurelwood district and decided it was very nice indeed. Also, that we totally didn't need to wait the 15 minutes for the 19 bus and could have just walked there. Then, we visited the Saturday/Sunday (too) market for gifts, general asking around and enjoyment! Later in the afternoon, we scooted over to the Chinese gardens to view the very pretty garden and enjoy a spot of tea. Last, we headed to the Pride fairgrounds to find out that they were closing (so we only got to gawk around then head out) and took the MAX out to find an Indian place to eat. Sadly, the Indian place was only so-so. Oh well.
Somewhere in there, we also visited REI (for a new bag and some rowing gloves) and an art supply store to buy notebooks. I think I got a lot of that out of order. Oh well.
This morning (Monday), both of us were still sore from all the walking about, but I less than Terra - so I was still able to go kayaking. Grabbing a quick bite at the hotel breakfast room, I headed out much earlier than I really needed to, so I got off the streetcar (well) ahead of my stop to walk the rest of the distance. On purpose. Really! Walking down to the harbor, I found the gate locked and had to holler for the tour guide. Introductions were made (he was from Vermont and moved here a year or so back - and knew a few people from my old highschool!) and off we went out into the water. This boat was long enough to support my legs, but it took me a good 20 minutes to get my feet comfortable within the shell. We paddled along the river down to Ross Island and took in the sights. I have yet to master the right amount of force and paddling technique to get the boat to go straight - now I veer to the left a lot and have to constantly over-paddle to get back.
Wrapping things up, we went out to the Flying Elephant for lunch (which was tasty, as always), to Dr. Martens for poor customer service, Cacao for drinking chocolate, then back to the hotel to grab our stuff and back to the airport.
Which is where we are now, and of course: our plane is delayed. We were scheduled to depart at 6:45. It's now 6:16pm and the plane isn't here yet. Good times.
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I wish I had made this up, because it's sad to think this argument is actually being made.
In short: Vatican adopts policy to disallow adoption of children to non-heterosexual couples. Board of Supervisors issues statement saying the policy was discriminatory rhetoric, urged local Catholic agencies to ignore it. Law group sues, likening the Board of Supervisor's tactics to the Nazi's vilifying the Jews to repress them, leading up to the "final solution".
The comparison:
Nazis - vilified Jews as, first, suspicious (and to blame for a variety of problems), then sub-(or non) human, forced into ghettos, labor camps, and then systematically killed.
SF Board of Supes - responds to policy with statement. Um. And that's it. Is anyone expecting the Board of Supervisors to start carving out neighborhoods where Catholics will be - literally, by the police - forced into? Have city-created propaganda films been created depicting Catholics as hungry rats?
Ugh.
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