Fitness club. Lots of stationary bikes. Lots of people on the stationary bikes. Empty bike rack outside except my bike.
Wouldn't it make more sense to bike to the workout place & get a nice breeze? Instead of driving to the workout place & working hard while stationary?
Other than that, I'm currently in Ames, after having been at a wedding in Wisconsin. Far too much time spent tearing around the midwest at 22mpg. No fun on the gas bill. On the way back from Wisconsin, there was some severe rain - monsoon - as in "Can't see the road" rain. So, we were just creeping along at 20mph on the highway for about half a mile.
-=Russ=-
I spent the day replacing network cards, hubs, switches, and servers.
And if I had remembered to take my camera, I would have a wonderful picture of a chimney with about 10' of brick blown off a corner. Lightening hit a building, and took out a lot of the networking stuff.
So, the day was spent replacing blown out networking bits. Interesting. Not terribly fun, but interesting.
Oh, and I'll be in Ames next weekend. I'll head back after Paul's wedding, and leave Monday noon or so.
-=Russ=-
After work today I decided to cruise around. So I did - on bike. I wanted to explore the bike path that went north from Layton Ave, and see where it went. I also had in mind finding a path to Milwaukee proper on bike - there are some fun bars in Milwaukee, or so I hear, and Russ-policy is not to drive anywhere he might drink.
Anyway, I navigated the bike path, got the end of it, and decided to explore the harbor area. There's some nifty stuff up there (I didn't have my camera, but Saturday is possibly a day to explore and take pictures) including a lot of asphalt tanks, a wastewater treatment plant, an abandoned railroad passenger car that's gutted and partly falling apart with a little engine attached to it, a bunch of "generic building businesses" with railroad access, some boats, and a variety of other neat stuff.
I proceeded to get myself into the city, and meandered around for a bit, eventually running across "Mo's Irish Pub & Restaurant." Expensive place... I'm not buying food there again in the near future, and $5 for a glass of Guinness is fairly obscene. However, they have a wonderful cover band playing acoustic guitars and playing a mix of Irish tunes, classic rock, and modern stuff. Very talented musicians, http://www.theorphans.com/gould_and_patrick/ , and fun to listen to. So, I'll probably go back.
I then managed to figure out how to get from where I live into the city - I just take Kinnickinnic north until I hit Milwaukee. Not bad, and it's about a 30 minute ride (late at night) in.
Oh, navigation around here is wonderful, especially around the lake. "The lake is east. I live south, and Milwaukee is north." Makes it easy to find one's way around.
-=Russ=-
$10: Jack Grassel benefit concert
$10: David Bowie concert
$13.50: Parking ticket
I went to the Jack Grassel benefit concert at the suggestion of one of the people I work with. Not bad, some bizzare music (jazz & such) - Mrs. Fun was a good group, playing (from their website) "hardcore electra-acid-jazz." Whatever it was, it was unique & quite good.
At the intermission, I wandered around outside for a bit, and ran across Susan, who had an extra ticket for the in-progress David Bowie concert. So, I went to that. Quality show - the lights & sound were impressive, and the music was quite good too. Incredibly bright white lights that could flash on and off instantly - I don't know how they were doing it, but the effect was impressive. And change colors, and put spinning filters in, and all sorts of stuff.
After that, I discovered a parking ticket, which I suppose I'll have to pay.
And, the darned cat attacked my bread again, destroying a few pieces of my sammich bread! Soon, I'll be in the basement room, with a door that actually closes...
-=Russ=-
"And there was a roar, and a crash, and the rocket of life flew through the window. And Lo, the Windows were broken." ~Russ
*sigh* I think my summer is going to be spent repairing Windows. Not the nice glass kind where you can just replace them, but the annoying kind that live on computers. The internship, while possibly interesting, looks like it involves a lot of fixing "Stupid Windows Tricks" - same as pretty much any other job that possibly involves a Windows computer.
And, being close to home (90 miles) means that I can come home every so often. Which usually means "Fix stupid Windows tricks." My mom's computer just decided it didn't want to run any programs. Wonderful. Fortunately rebooting fixed it, but still...
Anyway, yea, I'm sick of Windows. As Matt said, "Don't use Internet Explorer." Another good reason is because a lot of spyware relies on it to install. Mozilla is good. Firebird is good. Opera is good. Safari is really good (but doesn't run on Windows). Anything but IE is good, really. Even Netscape.
The good news is I'm halfway to convincing my parents that a Linux box for a "homework" computer would be good and require very little maintenance.
Finally, does anyone know some good web filtering or logging software that can't be disabled? There was something Hunt Street used, and I can't remember the name. My brothers tend to leave disturbing websites up on computers and all deny it. It's either that or run everything through a logging proxy server with individual logins, and disable all 'net access except through the proxy server. And have the logins timeout fairly quickly, so it's not possible to use someone else's login. That way, if someone goes somewhere disturbing, it's tied to their login ID. It really shouldn't be a problem, but my parents are truly sick of assorted porn site windows being left up on computers and everyone denying having done anything. And I'm annoyed, because I cleaned 250 meg of assorted porn videos (according to their names) out of a shared folder on my server here.
-=Russ=-
After a few days of being home and on a semi-fast DSL line, I'm up in Milwaukee (Cudahy) on a dialup. And it's not that bad... slow, but halfway reliable, or so it seems. Shared dialup, even.
It's a 90 mile drive from my home to here, and about a 400 mile drive to Ames. I'll probably be making both trips every so often, depending on what I end up doing.
For now, I'm off to explore, and to get a parking permit for my car, and then to go visit the place I'll be working.
Oh, and update your Windows XP or 2003 install. New updates, apparently.
-=Russ=-
Yes. I do.
And, before I start on this, an intercooler is a device (looks like a radiator usually) that sits between the pressure side of a turbocharger and the intake of the engine. The air gets heated up from the turbo, and the intercooler helps to cool it back down before it goes into the engine. Helps reduce detonation, increases power, all sorts of nice things.
Anyway, I'm back in Chicagoland on a blazing fast internet connection. And a minivan & RX-7 full of stuff have come back with me. I really don't like having to put all my stuff in boxes and haul it around. It's just not enjoyable.
That said, on the 12th I'm moving a small subset of my crap to Milwaukee for the summer. And then sometime in August I'm moving all my stuff *back* to Ames for the fall. Living in a basement apartment at the corner of Hyland & Lincoln Way with Mike Collins, for anyone who cares.
-=Russ=-
I learned many things today.
1: Radio Shack has a $5 off coupon on their website that basically translates to one $5 or less item free per visit.
2: You can put Cinnamon Rolls on layaway at the Cookies place at the mall. They looked at me weird, but let me buy one early in the day and pick it up later in the day. Very nice so you can assure a roll later in the day between bus shifts without having to carry it around.
3: Unit 927 has an intercooler! Cheap air to air intercooler, but an intercooler!
4: I've been helping the police as of late. First the pictures, and then waiting for a police car (lights off) to go roaring down the road when I had plenty of room to make the turn. They were going after a white Ford Probe that had gone jetting past previously, and would have not gotten pulled over had I turned in and made my generally slow way along.
-=Russ=-
The HTML still needs refinement, and I'm awaiting the the registration code (THANK YOU anonymous person who registered it!). However, that said, IRC is now even easier to access!
http://irc.sevarg.net
Same as the server address!
#Strangetalk if you're an Iowa State person.
#Aspergia if you're an Aspie.
-=Russ=-
Coming back from JAMM (a birthday party, I was totally sober), I dropped Larf off in Frederiksen, avoiding a DPS car that was in the area, as he had two half consumed bottles of alcohol.
I got back to Lot 60, parked in my usual back corner, and opened the hatch so I could grab some stuff going to Friley – some spray paint, etc (I pulled the rest of my stuff out of the Redneck Ricer at the birthday party). I found some windshield deicer, and since there was only a bit left in the can, I decided to make a small flamethrower with it. I was aiming into the empty corner of the parking lot (no cars in at least a 100’x100’ area, 10’ away from my car, etc) shooting 3-4’ flames. Nothing except asphalt in the area.
Anyway, three drunks decide to come harass me. No idea why, I didn’t know them, they didn’t seem to know me (though who knows, everyone on campus knows me by now). One of them was named Chris – I think one of the ones assaulting me. Anyway, one of them takes a swing at me. I deflect it mostly, roll my eyes, and decide to go close my hatch, and leave the area. Then the guy swings again, so I figure I may as well fight back, since he’s not leaving me alone. I take him down fairly well, and his buddy comes and starts kicking me. I’m fuzzy on what went on from then, but a quick summary would include me getting smacked in the lip enough to get a very fat lower lip and a swollen upper lip (right corner), my backpack getting damaged (one of the plastic strap connections broke, not replaceable, so I’ll have to duct tape or replace), and a scraped up knee from the pavement. One of the guys kept trying to get the others to leave me alone, but they went at it for about a minute. Finally they left to the southwest.
Police showed up (thanks, person who called), ambulance showed up, it was a blast... or such. Nothing spectacular, I was bleeding a bit, a bit shaken up, still functioning more or less normally. Drove to the ER, where they pretty much told me “We don’t stitch lips... that should heal nicely.” Ah well. And, I’m sitting here waiting for someone to come clean up my knee. In retrospect, going back to Friley, taking a nice long shower, and going to bed would have been a better idea. And I wouldn’t still be up at 3:30 in the morning in the hospital. As of 4, my jaw is sore, my lip is split, and I’m generally in a crabby mood.
Lessons learned: Apparently drunks don’t take well to small flamethrowers in safe directions? I explained to the police what I had been doing, and they didn’t see anything wrong with it. Also, in the event of a future fight, either turn tail & run, or safely deposit my backpack and go for blood. I remained on the defensive, more or less curled up towards the end of it, and I suspect going back at them may have worked better. Hopefully I don’t have to deal with it again.
So, yea. If you hear anyone talking about beating up that fuzzy guy, find out who they are and contact DPS. Thanks!
-=Russ=-
Don't get off a bus and walk right in front of it at a dark stop at night wearing dark clothes. Good way to get hit.
Cardinal: Not blue. Not orange. Cardinal. It doesn't go past Frederiksen Court, and it doesn't go to the commuter lot.
-=Russ=-