A Bold Proposal

So here's the deal: I'm going to be contacting Robert Scoble at some point in the near future, because I have an idea that he may be able to start the wheels turning on. I'm writing out the meat of the idea here, so that it's available to him right away, and so that it's also in the public domain. Once I get this idea developed in writing, I want it to move as quickly as possible.

 

There are parts of Microsoft--who don't necessarily represent the company as a whole--who would have Microsoft be a benevolent, helpful giant, rather than a stomping, crushing, hegemonizing one.

 

Surely, a company this powerful has great potential to do good. And yes, I know about the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does good things, but it's a drop in the bucket when compared to what a company sitting on several billion dollars in cash could do for the world around it.

 

Anyway, I'm getting away from my point.

 

Scoble is one of these guys that is making a conscious effort to steer his company in a better direction. And he puts his money where his mouth is...a while back he pledged $5 toward Asian Tsunami relief every time he mentioned the word "blog" on his blog. Since then, he's been just looking for opportunities to do so, and joyfully.

 

So with a step in the right direction for Microsoft in mind, I propose this idea:

 

Make Windows 98 unsupported freeware.

 

First off, here's why.

 

1. The poor suckers out there still running a copy of Windows 98 that is so loaded full of spyware and other junk that the system is unusable, but they can't find the original Win 98 install disc and can't afford to take the machine to the local PC shop and get it worked on. These people need help.

 

2. The machines being designed and created for developing areas of the world need a very cheap or free OS included with them. Most of the companies working on this are looking at Linux-based machines. Free Win 98 may change that.

 

3. Home users again. If I've got enough spare parts lying around to build my kid a PC for cruising around on the net, Mandrake is free. Maybe I know more about how to use a Windows machine, but the free one will win every time. "Especially", I'll tell myself, "because he's a kid, and he's going to need to know how to use Linux down the road."

 

These are the broad strokes. There are dozens of small reasons and advantages, but Microsoft can make a real contribution to developing countries and be of real use to millions of families with computer problems just that simply.

 

We next need to deal with justification and implementation.

 

Microsoft, being what it is, will need more reason to let go of a former cash cow than, "Aw, c'mon, be good now." They're a big business, with big business concerns. Why do it?

 

1. The ongoing war on Linux. Let's be realistic and frank; Microsoft is doing poorly in this area, despite Linux's current weakness for use as a home computing platform. Surely they're not doing as well as they'd like. A free home OS from Microsoft, with an established user base already prepared for acceptance of it, surely wouldn't kill the Linux beast, but it would strike an unprecedented blow.

 

2. People using low-end systems in developing countries with free operating systems will naturally move on to use newer computers with the same or similar operating systems on them as the ones they learned on. Do you want that shiny, new OS to be a BSD or Solaris variant? No! Every shiny new box with a shiny new Microsoft OS will make you money. So pretend that India and China are American educational institutions and give them a freebie...Windows 98.

 

3. The raging piracy problem in hotspots around the world. What if your users used a free copy of Windows 98 instead of a pirated copy of Windows XP Pro? They might, if Microsoft makes it easier to get hold of the free one than the pirated one.

 

4. Public opinion. News of Microsoft releasing a full OS as freeware would rattle through the worldwide media so loudly, you'd hardly hear anything else for a week. If Microsoft loudly declared the above reasons for the move, it would strike a serious blow to the "I hate M$ because they're so very, very greedy" techie establishment. Those are compelling reasons, and these guys know a good argument when they hear it.

 

How? Will it be a lot of work that will bring no direct bottom line benefits? I don't think so. Here's why:

 

1. Most of the work has already been done. Windows 98 is a good OS. It's not perfect, and it can't hold a candle to any NT OS from Windows 2000 on, but for the vast majority of users, it's better than functionally adequate. Make three little changes.

 

    a. Remove the install requirement for a license key. Just tell the install routine to skip that part.

    b. Make it a stand-alone, self-install from CD-ROM process, a-la NT. No more floppies and fdisk-ing.

    c. Post an ISO at Microsoft.com for the whole world to pull down and burn to a CD, just like the Linux guys do.

 

2. Don't officially support the OS. No more Windows Updates, no patches, no nothing. The Windows geeks of the world will rise up and fill the gap, creating an instant support community. Most of this work has already been done, despite Microsoft's past aloofness to geek communities. These guys are doing fantastic work on this front.

 

I'm beginning to get away from my broad strokes approach. I need to post this. I need to call Scoble. Before I get too busy for another week, or doubt that Scoble will listen, or what have you. I've got to get this done, ADD be damned.

 

Here goes!

**Update**

I just made the call, and got Robert's voice mail. He probably didn't answer because it's 10pm here and 9pm in Seattle. I told him about my email to him, with a link to this blog, so hopefully he'll take a look and let me know what he thinks.

We're an Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune!

I took Crystal to see Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra the other night. I planned on going into minute detail on the lack of quality throughout the evening. I'll instead simply say that such a blatant display of extreme discord coming from a Marsalis is disappointing and disheartening. Repent, Wynton, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and you've got your family name to think of.

 

Yes, I know the difference between abstraction and discord. Yes, I heard them both, and there was far too much of the latter. I won't be paying to see you again, Wynton. Unless you repent. Then I'll think about it.

Welcome Back to the Grind

But first, let's reminisce, shall we? How about some photos?

Hmm, ok, who remembers this?


Or if you're one of the brothers Widdison, this should look familiar:


What's that? You don't see Krys here? Oh my, that is a problem. Here you go!


"But Jake," you say, "can't we see the dorky picture of you?...Please?" Yeah, ok.


Gary's cue stick guitar in the background is what makes that one worth posting.

So here I am, the first Saturday of this new semester at the Davis Lab doing...uh, homework. Please don't tell Crystal I posted. She could hurt me.

This semester, I have quite a bit on my plate, including Accounting 2010, Botany 1403 (which isn't really a Botany class), IS&T 2100 (Online, and hard to find time for), and Math 1010, this time with an instructor who knows her head from her ass.

My last math instructor wasn't so sure which was which.

And I'm still working in the Davis Lab, and I'm still doing all sorts of administrative things for WEA, and I'm still a husband and daddy. So my schedule looks like this:

Monday - BUSY BUSY BUSY
Tuesday - BUSY play Busy
Wednesday - BUSY BUSY BUSY
Thursday - BUSY BUSY BUSY
Friday - BUSY with non-school crap
Saturday - HOMEWORK HOMEWORK SLEEP
Sunday - Teach Young Men, Panic that I don't have all my homework done for Monday.

Sound familiar? Thought so.

Last night, Krys (see above for photo) and my sister, Julianne, had their first date. The reaction was very, very interesting. I think they like each other.

We went bowling, and had a good time. I got to wear my new bowling shoes and throw gutter balls, and Crystal got to kick my butt. This seemed to work pretty well for everyone.

Oh darn. I should get back to homework.

Well that is it for the 2 for 1 menu.

And now for another sushi review.

I have been slacking! We’ve been out 3 more times and I have not written any thing sorry to any one who actually reads this.

• Edamane – boiled soy beans still in the shell and sprinkled with shaved salt. I did not like this much to start but Jake has helped me come to appreciate them more. As an appetizer 8.
• Negi hama – this is another of those understated rolls like the utah. Yellow tail tuna and green onion. I can only describe it as having a musky flavor to it 7.
• Unagi Maki – cooked eel this is my favorite on the VIP 2 for 1 sheet. It has a sweet lightly smokey flavor that I really enjoy 9.
• Calliforina – the roll for beginners, crab and avocado are the main players here and they blend together well 8.
• Salmon – good for what it is but I would suggest the playboy or the samuri as you get more toppings and a better flavor 6.
• Tuna – a lot like the Negi Hama 7.
• Tempura shrimp – once again good for what it is but I would once again sugest the playboy as it has the salmon and the Tobiko (Flying Fish Caviar) and the shrimp 7.
• Spicy Rolls on the 2 for 1 – I have found that most of the “spicy rolls” are just to spicy to taste the what is there with the exception of the Spicy Tako. So they all get 5.
• Spicy Tako – the only spicy roll I like. The different texture and flavor are what I really enjoy 8.

Well that is it for the 2 for 1 menu.

to much fun

To those who attended the LAN party skip to the bottom. You already know it was a blast. Half Life was a slaughter. Pool was great too. I still need to work on my motorcross skills. Oh yes and the food was great. The only thing really left over was the chips and salsa. I slept for close to eighteen hours afterwards. To much fun.

Back to school. I'm putting off buying books. The one class I have attended is volleyball. I will also have to much fun here. I noticed about three other guys in a class of about twenty. The coach is pretty nice too. ;) The scenery is my favorite part of school. I mean no offense to any women reading. I must simply appreciate beauty in all forms.

Semi-Final Guest List

Here's the guest list as of Mon, 27 Dec. 2004:

Roger Widdison (Confirmed)
Eric Widdison (Confirmed)
Gary Walker (Confirmed)
Leon Walker (Confirmed)
Andrew Walker (Confirmed)
Jake Wilcox (Confirmed)
Jeff Wilcox (Confirmed)
Krys Johnson (Confirmed)
Joe Oskiersky (Maybe)
Boyd and David Wheeler (Confirmed)
Sian Dagostino (Confirmed)
Becca Betts (Confirmed)

Once again...Bring your own PC, Monitor, Keyboard, SURGE PROTECTOR (Required), and Headphones. SPEAKERS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. If you want to hear your game, you'll need headphones.

The directions to the party are here.

The party will begin whenever you show up after noon. You may show up before noon if you please, but you'll be helping set up if you do.

The food will arrive sometime between five and six.

Deck the Halls and Blow People Up, fa la la...

Well, it's well and truly the Christmas season, once again. This is going to be an interesting one, too. I've definitely got the "Christmas spirit" mindset, but I'm not sure I'm really feeling it. Maybe it's just cause I'm a nice guy all year, with my cliche keeping Christmas all year long.

At this point I would like to make it clear that I am not in a particularly bad mood, nor am I turning into the Grinch. Just having a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit is all. I do love Christmas and fully respect the people and religions which choose not to.

Changing gears slightly, this year, I can safely say that I'm giving better gifts than ever to date. Admittedly, I am sharing the credit for Mom and Dad's gifts, but I made sure I got everyone something they want. Giving is something I can really get behind. It makes me feel good. And when I feel good, I make those around me feel good. (Or is it the other way around? hmm....) Anyway, Karma, baby, Karma.

I recently had my foot worked on, and by order of the doctor, I have to "restrict movement" for a few days. In other words, I get to catch up on my gaming. Almost makes me wish I hadn't finished HL2. But, I have a new game to play with. Those of you who have never played Kingdom Hearts, give it a shot. It has come highly recomended, and I'm enjoying it so far. But first, play HL2.

On the subject of games in general, I have been hearing about problems with games expected to be played at the LAN party. These include HL (not source) not working while you've got HL2 installed and the Motocross codec (refer to his post earlier). Strange part is, I don't have these problems. I don't know if I should be proud or wierded out, because it seems like everyone else has them.

Well, now I'm starting to ramble, so everyone have a merry Christmas, a happy new year, and always give freely of your own heart.

One Important LAN Party Detail at the End, and Some Other Junk

I, once again, am on speed.

 

I have a new ADD doctor, and he wants to try yet another amphetamine. And that's why I was up reading until 3:30 this morning, and then only slept until 7:00. Fortunately, not only do you not sleep when you're on speed, you also don't feel like you need to sleep, so it all works out.

 

Oh yeah, and this is special extended release speed. So I feel weird all day, not just for a few hours after the initial dose. I just hope that this one doesn't depress me.

 

If you've tried to play Motocross Madness 2 lately, you may find that it won't run. That's because you're missing the Indeo codec, which Microsoft bombed in all versions of WinXP since SP1. Stupidly, you only need the codec to run the demo at the beginning of the game, but if you can't run the demo, you can't play either. Stupidly.

 

Indeo used to belong to Intel...it was their in-house video format (Intel+Video=Indeo), but they figured they didn't need it anymore and sold the IP rights to a band of highwaymen known as Ligos.

 

Ligos wants $15 a pop from Windows XP users for the codec. For a damned codec that you probably won't use except to run the demo for MCM2, in which case you'll probably press Esc so that you don't have to watch it again, they want $15.

 

Fortunately, we live in the Internet Age, wherein most things, if not all, are possible. In this case, we're going to download and install a version of the Indeo Codec that predates Ligos going all corporate greedy, yet still works fine in Windows XP. See?

 

So here's where you need to go for the free Indeo Codec.

 

(Take that, Ligos. Bastards.)

 

You know what? Speed makes me feisty.

Directions to the LAN Party, Phone Numbers, other Info.

The time is drawing near. We now have at least ten confirmed attendees and there will probably be more. This means that Leon and I need to order more food than we originally planned, but we can afford it, because more people will be paying the cover.

 

Once again, we are having Garcia's brought in. Yum. The cover charge is $10. Plan on it.

 

Please bring a network switch if you have a spare one. Leon has an old 10 MB/sec 24 port hub, but we'd rather not drag that thing out if we don't have to, and we're not even sure that it works.

 

Here is Leon's address in Kaysville:

 

350 N. Seemore Drive

 

Directions: From I-15, take the Kaysville exit. Coming off of the exit, turn West onto 200 North. If you're coming from the South, that's a left turn. If you're coming from the North, it's a right turn.

 

You should pass a car dealership right by the freeway as you head West.

 

Further down on the right, you'll see a nice park. This means you're going the right way. There's another park right next to the first one that has a sign blocking the parking lot that says the park is closed for winter. Keep heading West.

 

You'll see an LDS church on the left. Then you'll see a Baptist church across the street from the LDS church, also on your left. Keep heading West.

 

Fields. There are fields on the left and right, but mostly on the right. **CORRECTION** The train tracks are no longer there. Just take the first right-hand turn AFTER the churches.

 

Take the next right. It's called Seemore Drive. This is Leon's street. He lives at the very end of the street, on the right-hand side. There is parking in front and at the side of the house.

 

Here's an aerial photo of Leon's neighborhood. Seemore Drive is the road that ends in a "T", not the one that has a cul-de-sac. His house is the one on the right-hand corner next to the cul-de-sac. Yeah, the one with the huge back yard.

 

If you have any problems, questions or other concerns about the party, you can email me at ohbejake (at) earthlink (dot) net, or you can call my cellular phone at nine four oh, fifteen oh six. Got that? If you don't know the area code, go away.

 

Agent double oh nothin', out! (This message will self destruct. Well, not so much self destruct, more self deflate, like a two-week-old balloon that your kid got at some cheesy restaurant before you could stop the zitty minimum wage employee from handing it to him. And then you drive home with the damned balloon in the rear view mirror the whole way, and when it's not blocking your view, it's hitting you in the back of the head. Two weeks later, you find it wrinkled and sickly under a bed, and so you mercifully whip your knife out of your back pocket and put it out of its misery. And that's how this message will self destruct. In about two weeks.)

Yet Another New Year's LAN Party Update

Here's what the (potential) guest list looks like:

!! UPDATED 21 Dec. 2004 !!

Roger Widdison (Confirmed)
Eric Widdison (Confirmed)
Gary Walker (Confirmed)
Leon Walker (Confirmed)
Andrew Walker (Confirmed)
Jake Wilcox (Confirmed)
Jeff Wilcox (Confirmed)
Stan Wilcox (Maybe)
Krys Johnson (Confirmed)
Joe Oskiersky (Maybe)
Boyd Wheeler (Probably)
David Wheeler (Maybe)
Sian Dagostino (Confirmed)
Becca Betts (Confirmed)


I've read through Eric's list of HL mod maps and we may use some of them. More later.

Prognosis Negative

I'm with Jake right now, and we're done troubleshooting the troublesome system. We concur that the motherboard is fried. Looking on the retailer's website, I can't find it, so I may be screwed. I did find a great deal on an ASUS board, which I will likely be much happier with. I need to talk to Zip Zoom Fly RMA tomorrow, and this whole build thing will have to start over again in a week or so.

Happy Hannukuh.

Updated LAN Party Planning

The guest list in particular needs updating.

 

Oh, and my apologies to Jeff. He didn't load the wrong driver on Mom's system...he didn't even touch it. I was the installer for the print server on that machine, and it turns out I did it right. I fiddled with it and it suddenly started working. Sorry again, Jeff. Thanks for all your help.

 

Leon...you haven't reminded me to tell you about keeping a MAC address database. Believe me, you want to do this, and I'll tell you why. Later.

 

Here's the updated guest list:

 

Roger Widdison (Eric's little brother)

Eric Widdison

Gary Walker

Leon Walker

Andrew Walker

Jake Wilcox

Jeff Wilcox

Stan Wilcox (Bit of a pattern developing, no?)

Krys Johnson

Dan Carver

Joe Oskiersky (The HTML barfed last time I tried to spell his name right.)

Lowell Layton (Crystal's Brother)

Sian Dagostino (A Woman! (pronounced "See-Ahn"))

Becca Betts (Sian's friend, probably won't be playing.)

 

Roger, Dan, Andrew, Gary, Stan, Krys, Joe, and Lowell all need contacting and RSVP'ing.

 

I can get Krys, Joe, and Lowell. Leon and Eric, can you guys get the rest?

 

So far, we've had about two votes for Subway, and three for Garcia's. One of the votes for Garcia's is cast by the host, and so it looks like Garcia's is definitely in the lead. I'll visit them today and see what they can do for us. They may not even operate on New Year's Day.

 

Don't forget, folks...there WILL be a cover charge. So if you're calling someone to let them know about the party, don't forget that part. We don't know how much yet, but I'd like to keep it under $10 and I definitely can't see going higher than $15. Leon and I will get solid numbers as soon as we can.

 

Once again, the games menu will be 1.) Microsoft Motocross Madness 2, and 2.) Half-Life 1 Multiplayer Death Match.

 

MCM2 is long out of production and can be had from Froogle for $10 and sometimes less. I saw some on Ebay for as little as $5. If you don't have Half-Life by now, shame on you.

 

I strongly advise that you come to the party with at least game control skills. If you don't know where the "jump" button is, we'll be happy to help, but you really ought to have that down before you arrive. That sort of problem makes for a frustrating experience.

 

 

Build Update

This weekend, I tackled my third attempt to build a computer from scratch, my first time working solo. Things did not go well. The following is from a pair of emails I sent to Jake to recap my struggles.

Here's the story:

I put the computer together without any problems hardware-wise, except for that time I had to reseat the processor. When I came to installing Win2K, it went through the setup normally until the first reboot, at which point it got to the flash screen and stopped. Suspecting a video problem, I tried it with three different video cards (a basic PCI card, a 64 MB PCI Radeon, and the AGP Jetway card I got from you), with the same results every time. I tried both of the 64 MB cards in my main system, and both worked normally (although the PCI card was predictably much slower).

Installing Windows XP (Home or Pro) also runs normally during the first stage of install, but after the first reboot, both go to a black screen and stop. The system can boot to Win98SE, but why bother? When booting from a Knoppix disc, it uncompresses the OS and prints a message that it is ttarting the kernel, at which point it stops.

Quicktech 2000 (from the SDB disc) runs on the system if it is cold (it freezes before offereing a burn-in when the system is warmed up), and it finds no errors in its automated tests. It does hit problems when checking video modes. With one video card (the AGP one), it failed to load two VGA modes, and with the PCI Radeon card, it failed to load the text-only VESA modes. This doesn't seem relevant to the issue, since different modes are available with different cards, but the behavior of the system has been independent of the card.

The power supply voltages are all close to +/- 3.3, 5, or 12 V except for one wire that has nearly 13 V, but that should still be in tolerance. I've reset the BIOS settings with no success (the BIOS is really complicated). I've used two hard drives, including a brand new 200 GB drive. The 40 GB drive has passed all of the Quicktech tests, even after several passes.

The board is a brand new Chaintech Summit board. It has all the usual stuff (IDE, 5 PCI, AGP, ect), plus onboard LAN, 8 USB, SATA, and onboard audio. I don't think the problem is hard drive related because nothing has identified a problem with a hard drive specifically, and because Knoppix won't boot (it runs from CD, independent of hard drives). I haven't had the 200 GB drive plugged in except for one time when I was checking to see if the 40 GB drive (which is older) was at fault. It didn't make any difference.

The processor is an AMD Athlon XP 2700+. The 200 GB drive is a WD, and the 40 GB drive is a Maxtor (it predates my realization that they suck, but you work with what you have). The power supply is a 450 W supply, but it's probably a really cheap brand.

It just occurred to me that if I billed my time at the same hourly rate I get at work, this project is nearing the point where the labor exceeds the parts.

I’m very frustrated at this whole thing. I got past the hardware build, which is where I am relatively inexperienced, and now I’m stuck at the OS installation, which I’ve done dozens of times.

Planetary "Um"

I need to write...right now, if only for a lack of anything better to do. Since I quit this semester, I don't even have homework to do, or not to do and to inspire me to find something more interesting to do.

 

Even if I did, this would probably end up being that more interesting thing anyway.

 

I think Jeff loaded the wrong driver on my Mom's computer when he installed the networked printer for her. When she tries to print, it prints several thousand copies of gibberish. Can we be more careful next time, Jeff? I'm going to have to fix this now.

 

I went on a tour with WEA yesterday to Petersen Manufacturing Inc. in Farr West. It was fascinating.

 

One thing that struck me is that Steve Petersen knows every little facet of his business. He knows how every part is manufactured, he knows where every part is going, what it will be used for, and he calls his 430 or so employees each by name.

 

I asked him how much of his day was spent walking the floors of his factories, and his answer explained a lot of how he knows everything about everything. He said that 30% of his day is spent walking the floors, and that's not as much as he'd like. So that's quite a bit.

 

I've heard the term "management by walking around" before, and I believe in it. Yesterday's tour only reinforced that belief.

 

I want my business. I really do. I want a job where I enjoy going in every day, and it's a sacrifice to call in sick. And I have no interest whatsoever in writing a resume ever again. It seems to a certain degree that going somewhere and asking for a job is a form of begging.

 

There's a weakness in not being able to find your own value to society and creating the job that you need. I'm afraid of my own employment philosophy. God, what if I'm right? Scary stuff, and a sad commentary on American society's ugly streak of unemployment.

 

The other night Crystal and Julianne and I took the kids to Salt Lake to see the lights and a star show. Star shows aren't what they used to be, and neither is the planetarium, so we ended up seeing an IMAX 3D show called "Snowman Vs. Santa Claus." The 3D stuff scared the kids a couple of times right at the start, and it was hard to get them to keep their 3D glasses on. And then the show was only 30 minutes long...not worth the $8 per adult and $5 per child that we paid.

 

We had hot chocolate after the show, and then we drove around Temple Square to get a peek at lights. Rachel fell asleep in the car on the way home. I reminisced about falling asleep in the car and waking up to my Dad picking me up and carrying me to bed. I must have been five or six years old the last time that happened. It was about that time, too, that I was getting too big for my Dad to flip me on my bed. He hurt himself doing that once, and he didn't take the chance again.

 

I miss the Hansen Planetarium. It was in a grand old stone three story building that had creaky stairs and wrought iron banisters in it. There was an old phone booth in the lobby that belonged in some kind of period movie where Marty McFly has to make an emergency phone call to "Doc."

 

They also had an ultra-cool plasma sphere on the main floor that was a good three feet or so in diameter. Big damn thing. And if you stood up on its pedestal and touched it and then touched your friend who wasn't on the pedestal, you could give him a wicked zap.

 

Sure, the Clark Planetarium is a cool place, and I'll take my kids there, but it's not the neat old place that I learned about stars in. Kids need to know this stuff.

 

Well, I don't know what I'll do for the next four hours, other than sit in front of this computer. Looks like it's going to be a long shift. But my writing is rambling.

When it rains…

It started when I went to visit Jake last month. We looked at my motherboard, and realized that it was having some problems. The chipset fan was not running, and so he (hot)swapped it with one he had on hand. He also noticed a number of capacitors that were blown. While I’ve been fond of this motherboard, I haven’t been overly impressed with it, and so I figure it’s a good time to just replace it. I would have done so already, but I am under strict instruction to not mess around with the computer until my wife is done with school for the semester, which is still a week away.

Monday morning, amid frigid temperatures, I went out to start my car and clean the windows. By the time I was able to see out, the car had stopped, and wouldn’t start again. I tried for a while, and then went in for a bit. I finally got it started half an hour after I first went out. It ran all day, and the next. Wednesday, I took my wife’s car, which starts fine, and Thursday I tried my car again. It wouldn’t start, except that this time it was much warmer. We tried several times during the day, and finally it got towed to a shop.

I just got the diagnosis. One of the cylinders is going out. Their recommendation was to take it home and try to help it be comfortable until the time came. In retrospect, it sounds like the spark plugs were bad, and so now that they’ve fixed those, the car should be fine for the foreseeable future, although it is still dying. It’s had problems ever since I got it 6 years ago, and until this week, it’s been running better than it did right after I got it.<>

<>What this visit to the shop does is it gives me some impetus to replace the car before I have to go through another summer in that unconditioned greenhouse. I guess it is time for a new car. And a new motherboard. Oh, and a new house. Except that I may put that one off for a while, unless our apartment floods.

Right Now I Feel The Best I've Felt All Day

Which is really sad. Really. Sad.

I walked out of my WEA leadership meeting this morning, because I just couldn't stand the thought of being there anymore. And the meeting wasn't bad...I was. So I left.

The week is off to an ominous start, but tomorrow I'm going to sushi with Leon, and I've found sushi with Leon to be at least as effective at helping with my attitude as therapy was all those years ago.

Hmph.

This weekend, Leon and I exchanged Christmas gifts...he got the Radeon 9600SE that I bought him, and I got the 250GB SATA hard drive he bought me. As I was handing him things to take home, he took the hard drives and the vid card, thinking he could pull a slick one.

Then I helped him realize that if I had to wait for Christmas, so did he. Suddenly there was a new hard drive in my hands.

We took an hour or so installing the drive in the server...the server won't boot unless you have the BIOS settings for the SATA drives just so...then Leon went home and I spent until 2:00 am moving partitions around until I had things the way I wanted them. The new Video Drive is an impressive 232GB all by its little self, after formatting. It'll take some work to fill it up.

Leon installed HL2 today, and I expect I won't hear much from him after sushi tomorrow and before he's done getting through HL2 by himself in hard mode.

I managed to get the new wireless access point that's built into my DSL modem running this weekend. I had tried to get it going a couple of times before, but this time I finally figured out that it called what I was doing on my other AP a "pre-shared key", or PSK. That could have been a little more intuitive. But it's running now, and that's good.

Here's something interesting: Leon and I both run 128-bit WEP encryption. But my key is 13 digits and his is 26 digits. I think we had a little hex vs. binary snafu. That'll have to be worked out later.

Oh, Leon? Remind me to tell you the advantages of creating and storing a database of the wireless MAC addresses that you authorize on your network. Mkay?

Finally, I tried and tried to get my WinServ2k3 machine to serve FTP this weekend. It is not intuitive, and it still doesn't work. Maybe I'll just install the FileZilla server and call it good. But I've got such a nice, shiny OS, I'd really rather use the built-in FTP server. If it continues to be a pain in the ass...well, nevermind. It already has been one, so I'm going to FileZilla.

OpenOffice.org is a nice little piece of work. I had a student in the lab crying a couple of weeks ago because her PowerPoint file had been corrupted and wouldn't open anymore.

I suspected that OpenOffice would fix it, but I didn't have a copy handy, and I didn't have time to download it and try it at the time.

I did hang on to a copy of the file, though, and the other day I tried it. Sure enough, where PowerPoint barfs, OpenOffice runs like a champ. If you save the file in OpenOffice and then re-open it in PowerPoint, it works perfectly.

Scoble? Are you listening? Your PPT guys need to hear about this. $550 software suites are supposed to work better than the free ones, not worse.

It's beginning to look a lot like a LAN party

Is this party for New Year's day? I'm in.

I can bring a switch, and I may be able to get another player into the game. My little brother proved himself to be a worthy opponent at Half-Life.

As for catering, I like Subway. I know some Subway people and can talk to them.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

LAN Party Details Briefing (Stand by for De-Briefing)

I'm working at the Davis Lab and Leon is sitting here. I think it's a good time to hash out some details for the party.

 

Here's the list of invitees so far:

 

Gary

Leon

Jake

Jeff

Eric

Krys

Stan

Andrew (?)

Dan Carver (?)

Jörg (Known as "Joe" to you American types)

Lowell (Crystal's older brother)

 

It's at Leon's place, in the basement and library. The food will be upstairs, but you can bring it down and eat in front of your own computer if you choose. We have a reasonable player limit of twelve.

 

Leon and I will set up camp in Leon's room, for which I'll bring a wired router so that I'll have a place to plug in. If someone (Eric, I'm looking in your direction) could bring another switch or two, then that would be great.

 

Now, regarding food...

 

We need to arrange catering. Leon and I are planning this thing, and we're open to input. But we're not bringing in Baja Fresh again, dammit.

 

So, here are some local places that cater. Please give us feedback on your preference:

 

Tasty's (High probability)

Ligori's

KFC

Togos (Sandwiches)

Garcia's (Excellent Mexican)

Panda Express

Quizno's

Subway

 

Overall, Leon and I lean toward Garcia's, Tasty's, or Quizno's. Any of those would be fine, and if I talk to a manager, we can probably be assured of the food arriving on time.

 

We also need to get some variety. So we're going to play some Motocross Madness 2 before dinner and Half-Life. We figure it'll be a good warm-up game. This is not set in stone. Whatever the group, or even factions thereof, want to do is fine. We're all there to have fun.

 

Everything here is subject to change. Leon wanted me to throw that in, just in case. OK? Ok.

WEA Blog Update

WEA Leadership Members-

 

As you know, WEA now has a weblog. The link to the blog is: http://weberwea.blogspot.com/. The weblog's purpose is to enable all of us to have written communication that is widely available to the entire group and to document our progress. An added benefit is that by reading each other's posts, we'll get to know each other better.

 

Soon each of you will be sent an invitation email to join the weblog. All you have to do to join the weblog (or "blog") is click the link in the invitation email and then enter in a few details about yourself on the web page that will open up. That's it. You're a member. Please click the invite link and become a member as soon as you receive the invite email...the link will expire after a few days.

 

There are a couple of tools on the weblog that can make using it easier to use. First, you don't have to log on to Blogger (www.blogger.com) in order to post. You can go into your account settings once you join and create an email address that you can simply send your posts to, and they'll automatically be published to the blog.

 

Second, you don't have to check the blog all the time for new posts...you can have them automatically emailed to you if you choose. This is also done through your Blogger account settings when you're logged on.

 

Finally, if you use an RSS aggregator to gather your online reading materials, you can find an RSS feed link in the Blogger settings also.

 

To those of you shaking your heads and still not seeing the point...er, well, you'll just have to trust me. But the following links may or may not help, if you've got a minute to glance at a couple.

 

1. How To Blog, from TonyPierce.com. I agree with some of this, and some of it is bunk. Your mileage will vary.

 

2. Defective Yeti. His kid is cute (check out this post!), and if you don't laugh, you're made of stone.

 

3. BoingBoing. The Grand Dame of weblogs. BoingBoing is very hard to explain. But go ahead and see how it strikes you.

 

4. Obscure Store and Reading Room. Sort of a clearinghouse for all those man-bites-dog type stories that are becoming so common. When you see something unusual on CNN, odds are these guys had it a few days earlier.

 

5. 5ives. Guy has random thoughts in groups of five. Guy posts them online. Here's an example: 

 

Five fake names I like to give at restaurants

1. Mr. Bob Dobalina
2. Thorstenson Finlandson
3. Rrrrrrrrrroberto!
4. Bubb Rubb
5. Dr. Julius Kelp

6. Scobleizer. Robert Scoble is a Microsoft employee who writes about working at Microsoft. He uses his blog to communicate with other MSFT employees, talk about projects he's working on there, and clearly states what he feels Microsoft does right and wrong. This is sort of where I envision the WEA blog going, but with more people.

 

So that's about it. Watch for your invites, and don't hesitate to email me with questions...or better yet, post them to the blog!

 

Jake.

Let's not argue about who killed whom.

This week, my brother is visiting from DC, where he has been going to school. We were very excited to get together, because since we last saw each other this summer, both he and my older brother got new computers that are now capable of playing decent games. So, we planned, and when the time came, he snuck away from his wife and her family, and we played some Half-life.

There were a lot of concerns about this, because I’m an experienced player, and they’re all more or less complete novices. My DC brother got the game about a few weeks ago and played through the entire single player game in a surprisingly short amount of time. My youngest brother joined one of the LAN parties with my friends at this forum, but didn’t stay long or do very well. He’s an unbeatable Halo player, and we were doing well to get him away from Halo 2, which he just got recently. My older brother is very new to the entire multiplayer FPS experience, except for occasional games of Halo, which isn’t the same.

So, to counter my experience, I went out looking for new maps, so that I would have to learn all of the maps instead of having intimate, practiced knowledge of their layout. My early efforts at finding maps were disappointing. I found a couple of maps that their author was very proud of, but it turned out that they had very limited weapons, and they were extremely difficult to move around in. They were the sort of maps that a couple of players could easily control against an arbitrary number of opponents. Then I found The Snark Pit. It’s a forum for map developers, and they turn out some great work. I downloaded a lot of maps, and they clearly show the improvements that come from peer review. They are beautiful maps to be in (especially one that with snowfall, giving it an idyllic peaceful feel), and most of them give great game play.

So, Thursday (Thanksgiving) night, we got together and spent about 4 or 5 hours straight blasting each other away through half a dozen maps. They made some good progress in their skills, and so I think that at least two of them (the younger brothers) could hold their own in the Phischkneght LAN parties. We gave up because we were getting tired and our reaction times were dwindling. The peak of the evening was when we were playing on a small map (the Snark Pit review said it was only good for two players) that was just a small open arena. I had a tendency to get the long jump module and jump all over the place, leading my brothers to dub me “Spider Man”. We had a frenzied bloodbath. It got too intense for us, and we had to finish up with a peaceful round of Crossfire.

We managed to get together again Friday night, and we soon decided that the only map we wanted to play on was this arena map. We spent about an hour and a half there. It was insane. My youngest brother and I were neck and neck the whole time (he was usually ahead by 5-15 kills until near the end when I took the lead), and the other brothers had about 2/3 our scores. At the end, the two higher scores were over 300, and the lower scores were over 200. I had the most kills by a small margin, and also the fewest deaths by a much larger margin. In all, there were over 1000 kills during that time, meaning that the average life span was less than 30 seconds. It was the best round I have ever had, with bullets, rockets, and trash talk flying freely. About an hour after the game ended, I had finally calmed down enough that I wasn’t shaking. I think I’ve still got some adrenaline pumping from it.

Anyway, I need to play again. The next time we have a LAN party together, I have about 60 MB of maps for us to try out. We may find a few new favorites. Plus, the less we play Subtransit, the better.

[Edited to correct the size of my maps file from 60 GB to 60 MB. Give me a break. I was writing at 2 a.m.]