Scattered bits and pieces today.

When I arrived at my dad's apartment this morning, there were a couple of people sitting in the living room; a man and a woman. They were selling him a health insurance policy. In fact, at the moment I walked in, he had just signed the papers.

Did introduced me, and the man said, "So I hear you got a job doing web design. Congratulations on that."

I was like, "Um, yeah, thanks."

He said, "I might be needing a website a few months down the road for this thing I've got going on the side. Can I call you about it? Maybe we can work out a deal."

I was like, "Sure. That would be great." (This whole thing rather caught me by surprise.)

Also, he said he might want to employ my services for a more immediate problem. He has a hard drive that caught a virus. He doesn't care about the drive itself, but there were some pictures on it of his family that he wants. His computer won't boot from the drive. He asked if I might be able to help extract them.

I said that based on what he had told me, it sounds highly likely that they are recoverable. He's going to bring the drive by next week when he comes by to see my dad again.

We didn't discuss price, mostly because I was so taken by surprise by the whole thing. But I think something can be worked out. Maybe one of these days, I'll get better at figuring out this whole "business" thing.

...

Another random festing highlight.

At one point during the fest, Nemo showed me his project. Not of software, but of the hardware variety. He had built his own battery charger out of basic electronic parts. This is a project about which he had spoken on past occassions when it was in development, but I had never seen it before.

In addition to the academic value, he had also found a practical use for it. Since his cell phone charger had gone bad, he was using the charger for his phone battery. Most people probably would have thrown away or taken back to the store for a replacement, but not Nemo. There his battery sat, connected to wires protruding from the little box, as a meter read out various figures on the status of the charge.

He explained many details on how it worked, most of which went right over my head, since I am not an electrician, and possess only a very rudimentary understanding of the principles of electronic circuts. Nevertheless, I was impressed.

He also showed Jaeger and I some of his other hardware projects, most of which, again, went over my head, but it was fun nonetheless.

...

I was planning to go to Hacking Society tonight. However, this morning, I got word that my mom will be arriving at DIA at around 2045 MDT. I would also like to be at the airport to for her arrival. Normally, I would probably just skip Hacking Society completely under such circumstances.

However, since I need to return a book to the Boulder Public Library that's due Saturday, I may go ahead and make the trip to Boulder, and also swing by for a brief visit to Caffe Sole between the times of 1900 and 1945. I guess I'll see anybody who's there then, and anybody who's not, well... another time.

...

Phillip K. Dick's Mary and the Giant. It wasn't quite what I was expecting from someone reputed to be one of the greatest scifi writers of the 20th century. In fact, I wouldn't even really classify this book as scifi at all. Nevertheless, it was an interesting piece.

A man in his 50's, during the 50's, comes to a small California town to open a classical record shop. A spunky 20-year-old girl, who has lived there her whole life, spends her spare time hanging out at a local bar listening to the jazz played by local "negro" musicians. Things happen. I guess I'll leave it at that.

It makes for an interesting read, but nothing I would put under the category of masterpiece.

After writing that bit, out of curiousity, I looked at what a few other people thought on Amazon. YMMV.

...

Angel finale. I suppose it was as good as it could have been. The last several episodes have obviously been trying to bring the narrative to a head much more quickly than the writers originally wanted to. Rushing the plot forward, still well done, but with no time to stop for breath, the last month of Angel felt a lot like the last few episodes of Babylon 5's 4th season (when JMS & Co weren't sure if it would be renewed for a 5th, and tied up the plot as much as they could, pronto).

This was a show that was not meant to end this soon. It should rightfully have lasted a full 7 seasons.

But they did well with what they had. I especially enjoyed how it showed each character spending the day "as if it were your last".

The final scene was a strange stroke of genius.

Angel will be missed.

...

There, I think that covers all the topics at the tip of my brain. Now, on to work!