Tales of an Aspergian Bus Driver

Updates & such

Well... my blog has decided to not show anything on the front page. This probably means I should add content.

Content... right.

Classes started. Yay. Nothing exciting, just 4 classes that should get me to graduation in December. My schedule is nice and clear though, as long as I wake up before noon on MWF. TR involves a very long day though, 8 AM to 1 AM (if I wake up for my morning class instead of just watching it online later in the day).

And, I still know nothing about the whole "losing my license" thing. I had a lawyer show up & say "Not Guilty" for me, so there will be a proper court date scheduled when I get to beg for probation & driving school. Unfortunately, I understand driving school isn't exactly a high performance driving school that would be interesting. I think I've completely stopped caring about keeping my license, which is not a good state. It would be nice to keep, but I don't particularly care if I end up losing my job or such. Maybe it's time to move on... or something. Hard to do on bike.

I'm the Multimedia person for The Rock now. So, Keynote/Powerpoint/video/etc is all my domain! *tents fingers* Any suggestions? Talk to me, email me, IM me, whatever. I'm really open to changing things around if needed/would look spiffy.

On the topic of spiffy, back in 5th grade or so my cluster of desks was known collectively as the "Math Spiffies." We were quite the odd bunch. I wonder where Brad is now.

BitTorrent is a really cool file distribution system. It works based on swarms - the more people downloading, the faster downloading goes. Anti-slashdot, basically. As people get bits of the file, they share them out to people who need them - and it all works out fairly well.

Moonlight Express tonight would best be classified by "obscene." There are many comments that I've overheard that won't be repeated here. It's also interesting listening to people discuss the ratings of various females that we drive past. "Well, I'd say she's an 8. What do you think?" *grunt/nod* "Well, dunno, maybe a high 7." *grunt/nod* (repeat for 5 minutes).

I've also realized that I really should secure wombat. There are far too many insecure connection types (unencrypted) going into it. Mail, FTP, IRC. Bad practice. I really should be encrypting all my traffic through proxies & such, but I'm not. Maybe I'll start getting that stuff in place this weekend.

One nice thing about my newer Powerbook - the speakers are MUCH louder than the ones on my Titanium. They're actually decent!

Speaking of Titanium Powerbooks, most of the parts have been eBayed - there's not a lot left, and I've made a decent amount on selling the parts. More than I expected, honestly, and I still have another LCD module to sell.

Finally, I spent 2 hours trying to find a Debian installer that had e1000 support in it. There HAS to be an easier way to do that. And, then, my next question: How/when do I tell it to use sarge/woody/sid/etc? The network install wouldn't let me point it at anything except the base /debian/ mirror directory, and never asked.

*sigh* This is what I get for only running Gentoo... total incompetence at anything else. I really should at this point be familiar with Redhat, Gentoo, Debian, Slackware, Mandrake, and a few scattered others. Instead, I'm just familiar with Gentoo and Redhat to some extent. Useless as a sysadmin. :-/

-=Russ=-

*sigh*

Talked to the lawyer, who had talked to the CA and asked. Paperwork hadn't arrived yet, but basically the reaction was "Ha! 106? No way that's getting knocked down to 24 over."

Talked to DOT in Des Moines. "We suspend for anything more than 24 over. Anything over 49 is suspended for a year." "Is there any way to appeal that?" "No." Which, I don't think is accurate, since I've heard from a variety of places that one can appeal a suspension... not that it'll do me much good.

So, I'm able to drive for an unknown period of time, followed by a year of not driving.

What bugs me most is the uncertainty involved. I can't make any sort of plans at all for graduation, the school year, or anything, because I don't know for sure when I lose my license. Maybe I should just resign at CyRide now and find another job that I can walk or bike to.

-=Russ=-

Bored? Howabout the Bible in Legos?

http://www.thebricktestament.com/ - Biblical stories illustrated in Lego.

-=Russ=-

I am 49% geek... more during the day.

I AM 49% GEEK! You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing. Take the GEEK test at Fuali.com

Take the test! Click the image!

I'd score higher during the day when I had more terminals & such open.

-=Russ=-

Professors & religion

Read this

Scary. And very, very real.

-=Russ=-

One Fully Defective Human

*sigh* Or at least really, really, really stupid.

Nutshell summary, I'm hunting for a lawyer, but even so, I'll most likely end up unemployed and in really damn good biking shape for the next year. Maybe I can bike to Chicago and back over Thanksgiving break.

I'll try to get the ticket scanned, but for those dying to know, 106 in a 55.

Proceed to flame me in standard Internet fashion. I'll start.

"You flaming moron, you were endangering deer and small children. I hope they crush your car and burn it in front of you. You're the reason insurance rates are so high for people in the sub-25 year old age group. I hope they never let you drive again. You're just a ricer wannabe who watches TFATF and thinks it's kewl."

-=Russ=-

Sugar is evil.

Article on the evils of sugar

Yup. Our favorite food is evil, apparently. Empty calories, no nutritional value other than just pure calories, etc. The article is worth a read.

This brings up an interesting point. This summer, I survived mostly on fruit, yogurt, ham, cheese, bread, and some beer. I lost 20 lbs, and am suddenly very regular. This is a noticeable (and somewhat annoying) change.

One book I ran across suggested the "Eden Diet" before fasting. The basic idea is "If it wasn't edible in Eden, don't eat it." Fruit & vegetables, basically. I think I may try this for a period of time. I'm convinced that American food habits are horribly unhealthy (just look at the obesity problem).

-=Russ=-

Redneck Ricer is back

Why didn't anyone TELL me what a rolling pile of junk that thing is???

Actually, I'm glad it's back. After my Chicago/Milwaukee run this weekend, I can take apart the '7 (part way) and send the fuel injectors in to be cleaned. They really need it. Plus do some other stuff.

I drove Boy Scout shuttles for the past 2 days. It was somewhat interesting. Not the best behaved bunch of kids I've ever seen, and the janitors I talked to agree.

Speaking of janitors, Derek is moving on the 16th, about half a block away from me.

-=Russ=-

Back in Ames & such

I'm back. 2728 Lincoln Way, Apt B. Driving a bus for a while, being a bum for a while, working for SCL (Ames Lab) come fall. Should be interesting.

The apartment is small, but workable (once everything is organized). Right now my room has no floor space, but once I get the loft finished, that will change. Or should, at least.

Off to drive. 7:10 report time for hauling Boy Scouts around.

-=Russ=-