the rock garden

Thanks William (S. Burroughs)
Yes, I have installed fortune-mod on OS X again.
I still cannot get Linux and wireless working. Things have deteriorated to the point where I can barely seem to get Linux installed at all on my iBook. I guess I'm the only one trying to install Linux on a Mac that doesn't have a bootable cd drive? Ugh. Well, at least the drive doesn't read burnt CDs, CDRs.
I had no problem installing and running OpenBSD on my iBook, but it's been almost a year since I used it. I bought OS X and it easily swallowed my modest 10 GB hard drive. Okay, this is probably well covered territory in my blog pages. But I miss a straight Unix. I can't seem to get my wireless working on anything but OS X though. There is a good chance that within the next 12 months I will buy a new laptop with a burner and run Debian. I could sell my iBook for $300-$400, and buy a Compaq or some cheapie for $700 or so. I feel a powerful lust for an AMD 64-bit machine, but as a starving student I should not make such a large purchase...
Wireless has transformed computing for me. I discovered the wonder of it a couple of years and jobs ago, where at FCD Library I could take my 1GHz Gateway laptop out to the picnic table out back, type ./wirelessstart, and my script would configure the machine and put me on the wireless LAN. I was running TurboLinux Server 8 at the time. I was discovering how wonderful it was to automate all of your common tasks yourself using simple bash scripts.
Anyhow, now I work almost exclusively from the sofa, unless I'm doing some writing for school. In those cases I often use the dining room table or the computer desk in the spare bedroom. There is an ethernet cable waiting at the desk, but otherwise the only way to be connected is wireless. And why use anything else?
My brother-in-law says he will never use wireless because it is insecure. This is a guy who uses Windows XP and whose machine is probably broadcasting his keystrokes out onto the internet as well as relaying spam. Yawn, like anyone cares what you are transmitting while you surf for more information on cats, trains or right-wing politics.
Slam!
Having too much fun, just spit coffee in the space between my trackpad button and the case.
Okay, enough babble. Happy Turkey Day to anybody reading. Had my 33rd birthday this week, whoop de doo. My Grandma sent me a card and it arrived right on my bday, God bless her. I needed cheering up. I was having an end of quarter emotional meltdown. I went in late to school, okay I skipped all my classes and just showed up for my shift at work. The only reason I did that was because I accidentally took home the golf cart keys with me the day before. Of course nobody even knew I had them, everyone just figured somebody else was using the cart. But it was good that I went. I got some fresh air, and my buddy Mohawk Chris solved another Google puzzle, which really made my day! Working with smart people really blows my hair back. As opposed to some people, that would rather die than not be the smartest person around.
So I either walked or cycled in, can't remember which. On my desk was my copy of Dr. Dobb's Journal, stuffed with printouts. The day before I had been showing everyone the Google puzzle, and everyone was doing the obligatory "All you have to do is... Oh, wait, but then you have to..." and realizing that it wasn't THAT simple of a puzzle.
The puzzle was the vending machine with four or five digit numbers under each snack, and a 21 key panel with numbered keys. There was a formula, A*B-C+D/E or somesuch. What combinations will get you what snacks? Which snack is there no solution for? There were some keys that had the same numbers, three 7 keys, three 13 keys... A numerical problem.
Now, you could probably do some real next-level prime number math here, but I loved Chris' approach; A simple C program about 20 lines long. He made each snack an array item in a, and each key an array item in b. Nested FORs iterated through the combinations. He made sure that keys were not repeated, so E could not use the same key as A through D. The kettle chips had no solution, while most snacks had more than one solution. I think you could really bum it down using prime number math, and he thinks you could bum it down a good bit using some higher level math I don't know yet. Also he hates that he used nested FORs.
So, between that and spending my shift helping a coworker install Debian for the first time, my day really turned around. He is finally interested in Linux, as some job hunting has made him think that Linux skills are becoming more essential. I am still of the jaded opinion that most skills are meaningless in the corporate world, but what is needed is a total lack of spine and complete apathy toward all aspects of your work. It seems to pay the best, and offer the most stability.
The important thing is that you pull in the most money. The second most important thing is that you pull in the most money. The third most important thing... You get the idea.
I guess that is why I'm a student again, I don't believe in IT work. Just another IT burnout. In his post-burnout period.
I think if I had a position where I could just do some Web development in Perl or Python and HTML or may XML I would be happy for a while, pay be damned. But none of those positions seem to be coming along, so I will keep studying Electrical Engineering.
I feel like a dork, like the classic movie character where the jaded ex whatever ends up finding the faith again for a great comeback. Barf. But that's how I feel. Pre-comeback. Burgess Meredith in Rocky before Rocky came along.
Somebody is taking themselves awfully seriously today. It may be my biggest character flaw. Hunter Thompson calls it "being cursed with the Romantic Sensibility." Damn us all.
I am still smoking. I love tobacco. Luxuriant tars and resins. But I can feel it when I cycle. And I smell bad.
The quarter is almost over. Twelve more to go.