Alrighty then.

I have a tale to tell
Sometimes it gets...

Aw, scratch it. :)

/me sits around here typing email, reading slashdot posts, and thinking about where to begin this rambling. Well, I guess I already did that, so... how to continue it, then! Gawd, don't you hate those self-reflecting references?

Hmmm... Since I didn't ramble after BLUG last night, I may as well spout a blurb about it now. Liz Coolbaugh, editor of the good ole standby, Linux Weekly News, gave the talk, discussing many different distros and their assortment of purposes. She did a good job, although I think it was targeted more toward newbies than to the devout members of the cult, such as Jaeger, bouncing, and myself.

Oh, one thing different: They've moved into the bigger auditorium now, since that little room was always getting too packed. Although perhaps the IPO insanity may have watered down some of the community spirit of old, it's still cool to see expansion of Linux users happening. Someday, perhaps, we shall unseat the Evil Empire (which is still evil even if it gets cut into multiple evil little pieces), and all the people of the earth shall know the beauty and wonder of free software.

[toilet break. brb]

Ok, back. And ahhh, how relieved. A most relaxing sensation. :) (Uma Thurman's line from Pulp Fiction: "That's just A little more information than I needed.") So anyway, on with the show.

Work today. Ok, two things, both of which spring from a somewhat vaguely similar source. Hmmm... Anybody reading this watch Office Space? Yes? Good. If not, go see it. Now, remember "Hawaiian Shirt Day?" Yes? Then we're on the same page here. A dead ringer. lol. (Although I actually didn't make the association until I mentioned the events at my job today to bouncing this evening, and he was like, "Oh, you mean like Office Space!") ROTFL.

Ok, BUT, the difference, at least in the department I work in (and does anything else matter, really?), is that pretty much everyone saw it for the joke it was, and dressed accordingly. That is to say, most people came to work as normal, and I, in all my infinite non-conformist wisdom (along with the help of a little, aaahem, advice from someone else), wore my Queen Amidala t-shirt from Starfest, which pretty much shouts, "I'm not only a geek, but a really, really goofy one at that!"

Yes, it got a few looks, and a few comments, to which my canned response was to be: "Naboo is as close to Hawaii as I GET!" (As in: they're both way far away, so as far as I'm concerned, they might as well be the same goddamn place!)

Yeah, sometimes, ya just gotta laugh. Anyway, this led to a few email exchanges, and some urls getting sent around (I'd link, but I don't have them handy here) to a few pieces of the most absolutely hideous clothing I've ever seen! Alright, maybe not the most hideous, but it's fun to use hyperbole. :)

When the Outlookers crashed the server, a common joke (which I believe I even mentioned here) was that productivity skyrocketed for the day. Well ya know, it just might be the truth that on some days, email drives productivity into the ground. On this day, it was certainly the truth. Oh, but how boring life would become without it. :)

Yadda yadda yadda. (Yes, that usage was fully meant in the Seinfeldian sense. For those poor souls who haven't watched the show, you shall never know the true meaning. Not that you would anyway. Given that it's about nothing. The show, I mean. Yadda yadda yadda.)

Work ends. I get home, all set to type a rant, rave, holler'n'hoot, and wouldn't you know it? Dagobah locks up the instant I try to unlock the screen saver. Hard reboot.

After the RAM check, the system just stops for a minute.

Primary HDC failure. (or something like that)

Ouch. I try hard rebooting a couple more times, with the same result. I rattle off a few curses in disgust, and figure I'll be going at least a week without a home PC. But of course, any geek who values the constant presence of their computer as much as I do isn't going to give up that easily. So I open the case and take a look around (yes, I have evolved beyond the point where I run with the cover off all the time, but I may evolve back at some future time).

Well, everything looks in order, the power and interface cables are tightly plugged in. Just for kicks, I pull the IDE cable out, and grab another from my drawer, attach it, plug keyboard and monitor in, and power up. Viola!

Kernel boots, requires me to again manually run e2fsck to clean up all the damage, and reboot again. While the rest of my partitions get non-interactively fscked (No, not date rape. The whole thing was totally consensual, really! Nor are we talking about necrophilia here. Moving on... ... ... ...) Gawd, that was random. As I was saying...

While the rest of my partitions got non-interactively fscked, I fired up my DVD player, and picked one of the songs toward the end of The Wall to watch. As was probably inevitable, I ended up remaining affixed to the DVD player until long after the fscking was over. (Ya know how long it typically takes for males to finish, versus the finish time of females, etc etc etc etc. And given that Dagobah, unlike some of the other PC's, is really neither gender, and... Moving on... )

And I'm not making any sense whatsoever anymore.

After way to much Pink Floyd DVD fun, I put the PC back together, returned it to its standard location, and booted. Went to supper at Ruby Tuesday with the family. Came back satisfied and stuffed, having eaten totally unhealthy animal fats, for not one, not two, but as the primary component of THREE of my meals today! (Did I mention the company-wide BBQ picnic lunch? Yeah, that was yummy too!)

Upon arriving home, I jumped in my car, and proceeded immediately to one of the nearest known location to stock.... You guessed it. Di di di di di di di Dee Vee Dees.

I knew exactly which title I intended to purchase, having heard raving reports from multiple sources in both the on and offline world. Also, having seen the movie in the theatre months before the beginning of my (shakes head in hopeless self-defeat) boycott, I knew it to be of most outstanding quality.

And now, I find myself looking upon the words and images printed most stylishly on the noisy inner packaging.

self destruction might be the answer.

HOW TO START A FIGHT

MISCHIEF.

MAYHEM.

In Tyler we trust

use soap.

Tyler Durden says...

Fight Club.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

During the late twilight trip down the highway to the store, I became one with the vehicle. I melded with it as I never have up until this date. Man and machine were one in unison. Every movement of the clutch, every slight inching of the steering wheel, each easing of the stick into oh-so-perfect gear was felt. The shifts smooth, the speed rapid, the turns hard -- but not so hard as to squeel the tires or cause it pain, the radio pumping sonic blasts. It me understood, and I it. We were one with each other, united by the road, for nothing could come between us. All mutual apprehensions, squeamish fears, and other awkward misunderstanding which accompany every new introduction were let go. The bonding was complete.

lol. Yeah, boys and their toys. lol again. blah. Maybe I should do as some strange character has suggested, and give it a name. But it ain't gonna be Skinner, Smoking Man, Deep Throat, Samantha, or anything else following such a convention. I would consider naming it ____, except that that was the name I was planning to give to my next PC. Although... it would make more sense to name a car that. If only, if only... that new non-human character introduced in Animal Attraction had been given a name in the dialog. Then I'd be set. Stupid writers. Anyway, moving on...

Well, there's really very little to move on to now. Oh, yes. When I arrived at Circut City, I looked all over the goddamn movie section, and couldn't find what I was looking for. I figured that given its release on Tuesday, they'd surely have it on prominent display. But no. Finally, I resorted to asking an employee for help. He was almost certain that it was out of stock, but checked just to make sure. Bingo! ONE copy left, hidden in the backup storage area beneath the display shelves. Hahahahahahaha!

Snagged it, busted out the Happy Bank Account Depletion Card(tm) (ALL web sites caught using the phrase "Happy Bank Account Depletion Card", or any variant thereof (i.e. "Handy Dandy Bank Account Depletion Cards For Dummies"), will be prosecuted to the FULL extent of the law!), made my exit, again became one with the vehicle, and arrived back at the Louisville Compound.

And NOW there's very little else to move on to, EXCEPT to terminate this writing, insert disc 1 into player, and relax! Neeheeheeheehee.