August 7, 2000

(thing) by pealco (1 y) Wed Aug 02 2000 at 18:45:20

Today is:

New style (Gregorian): 7 August 2000
Old style (Julian): 25 July 2000 C.E.
Fixed:
730339 R.D.
Astronomical (at noon):
2451764  j.d.
ISO:
Monday, Week 32, Year 2000
Coptic:
1 Misra 1716 A.M.
Ethiopic:
1 Nahase 1992 E.E.
Islamic (until sunset):
6 Jumada I 1421 A.H.
Persian:
17 Mordad 1379 A.P.
Baha'i (until sunset):
Kalim'at Kam'al, B'ab of V'ahid 9, Kull-i-Shay 1 B.E.
Hebrew (until sunset):
6 Av 5760 A.M.
Chinese:
cycle 78, year Geng-chen, month 7, day 8
Hindu Lunar (from sunrise):
8 Sravana 2057 V.E.
Hindu Solar (from sunrise):
22 Karka 1922 S.E.
French:
Decade II, Decadi de Thermidor de l'Annee 208 de la Revolution
Mayan (long count):
12.19.7.8.1

(thing) by JeffMagnus (5.2 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 0:03:35

Everything Day Logs
Yesterday | Tomorrow

Everything Snapshot

Time: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 00:03:03 GMT
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JeffMagnus node of the day: Microsoft

(idea) by Sylvar (3.4 wk) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 0:53:34
Yesterday I woke up early thinking what a weird and ornate dream I had just had. I went to the computer to node the dream, but I found I'd left Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri running. By the time I shook my attention away from building a new civilization, I'd forgotten the dream.

I went to Sweetwater Organic Community Farm and helped move heavy things. The first task was moving a canoe rack several feet to the left by removing the canoes, removing the crossbeams from the telephone pole segments embedded in the ground, reattaching the crossbeams with the cantilevered portion a few feet to the left, and putting the canoes back up again.

Later I helped move medium-sized rocks (I'd say somewhere around 400 pounds each, based on the force I had to put on the lever and how far the lever -- a hollow metal pole -- bent). We hauled them a dozen yards or so to help support the bridge that had washed out.

Then I came back and didn't do any laundry, meaning that I have to take my laundry to work and do it when I get off. The laundromat near work has an extractor that spins out a hell of a lot of water from the clean wet clothing before it goes into the dryer. I'd never seen one in any other coin laundry, so I was skeptical, but it's definitely worth 50 cents.

Today's projects include finishing the installation of Mandrake Linux on a machine I brought from home; I'm hoping to put phpSlash on it and develop a prototype for a new service we can provide for libraries: a site devoted to book reviews provided by library staff and patrons. I need a good name for it, but for now I'm just naming the machine "books".

(idea) by Debbie (9.2 mon) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 4:01:33
Update: Missed the Snapshot again! I will one day make it on time! Missed it by about half an hour. I would have made it in time if I didn't spend 45 minutes sticking bottles in the return machine. But then again, I wouldn't have. I needed the money for gas!

I have been noding about my recent encounters with the famous. It was actually kind of funny to watch the younger girls' faces as they caught just a glimpse of the Nsync members. Some of them actually cried. It didn't even phase me in the slightest when I was close enough to shake their hands. It doesn't really seem fair does it? Imagine being such a huge fan that just catching a glimpse of their sleive as they turn a corner makes you cry? And here is this old chick that barely even cares gets to shake hands with him? These thoughts made me begin to search my mind to find someone, anyone, who would make me cry if I had the chance to meet them. I could only think of one person and that is Melissa Etheridge. But I woudln't cry for sheer awe of seeing her. I would cry because of the intensity of emotion in which she sings. Her voice is so powerful you cannot help but get swept into her intensity. And so many of her songs can rip the heart right out of your chest. One song alone, I Will Never Be The Same, contains so much power as to leave me lying on the floor, curled up in a ball, crying. Look at these words:

naked soul
long lost child
caught in your eyes
lost in your name
secrets of your life
your distant devil
I loved you and then I lost you
I will never be the same



These words, on paper alone, hold power. But to hear them sung in that rich voice is beyond compare.
(idea) by hamster bong (10.9 hr) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 5:06:40
For some reason, it feels like the only place I could possibly spill my thoughts of present is.. here. I'm sure I could probably wander upstairs and scrawl them in my black book with the beautiful blank pages, but, something seems to suggest that here is the only place where such things belong.

I started this day very well, I think.. riding my bike around a dimly lit driveway, watching.. nothing, absolutely nothing and loving it. I sat there, too, on the cool ground after laying my coat as to not cover my pants completely in moist sand and a sort of dust that normally wouldn't be present under such conditions. It's as if.. it is a dust that can exist only at that one point when the air is damp, so damp that you can feel it, but it also has a warmth about it. I love that.. I think that I live for early morning hours like these.

I've this feeling that the perfect thing to do is just lay my head upon my arm and sit. I've done it many times tonight, because I am tired but it isn't the typical need for rest. My eyes, they're sleepy but not so much that they must be closed. I feel, though, as if I've lost the rigid tense feeling in my body and a head turned completely side ways, looking at the world from some skewed perspective, is the perfect way to be.

I was going to ride down the hill out back.. it's odd how I can see all the way down even though the moonlight has to find its way through some amazing misty fog. In the end, I decided not to bother with going down the hill only because this night looks like winter. Everything looks as if it has a thin layer of snow over it.. and though I am not particularly looking forward to winter, I almost wish there was just that very soft, light, dreamy white stuff laying about. Of course, without the cold.

Though I don't feel like ammending it at present, I've just had this idea for Feature Request for Universe 2.0. I would like to be able to pick and choose the little bits of every season that I love, and when they might happen along. Snow during summer, but just in the littlest bit and with the warm air still around. Spring mixed with fall, opposing seasons but.. would it be a good idea to do something similar to that? I'm not so sure, really, though it would seem a good idea in theory. I might tend to think that the spring thaw would lose its intense appeal if it could happen any time, and I don't think anything would be quite so lovely as it is when it happens at the proper time. But, back to the night, seeing as I've wandered off into some strange area that I'd not previously intended to.. I was almost afraid of the way everything looked. Also, I'm quite sure the bats are out in full force and though they probably wouldn't bother with me, it's a bit eerie to have them swoop past your face incessantly.

It's one a.m., and though I'm not actually that tired, just a bit drowsy, I think that I shall wander off to bed, slip into dreamland and try to find you there.
(idea) by transform (6 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 7:41:05
I wonder if I'm using the daylog as just another place to spill my post-teen agnst.

Screw it ...

Anyway, today was another one of the good days. I actually spent many hours with my roommate today, and we actually even had fun together, for the first time in a long time. We've had our problems lately, mostly that she can't be bothered to hang out with me unless forced or made to feel incredibly guilty. However, her boyfriend is out of town, so she's home for two weeks.

This is both good and bad. Good, because I really do like her and I love spending time with her. Bad, because I know that it's just because he's not here.

But today, we actually had fun. We made muffins, smoked a fair amount of mary jane, shopped for a friend's birthday present, and then watched Charmed. We got to do all of the silly things that nobody else will do with me (like singing "American Pie" at the top of our lungs while grocery shopping - did you know that song is mor than 8 minutes long? Neither did I ...)

I missed her.

(thing) by TallRoo (4.7 mon) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 7:55:58
Woke up to the news that Sir Alec Guinness has died in hospital. He was 86.

Drove to work, coming within a second of killing myself while overtaking someone. Heart still pumping adrenaline, fingers still trembling.

Today, have a couple of interesting things to node. Also, as I'm at work, I'd better do some work. I have to play with 2 Sun boxen to get some tests working. Easy.

Today is another dump the pump day. Every Monday, not every month as most people think. The BBC Are reporting that as of next Monday, the campain will target only one garage - BP - for increased effectiveness.

(idea) by Eos (1.8 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 9:42:09
My first day log...

I'm feeling surreal today. I'm fighting with my SO again. This is so messed up. I don't understand why we fight. I'll do something, intentionally or not, that irritates her a bit. She'll do or say something mean, and then totally shut up and not talk to me for hours. And even a day later, even if it's totally obvious that she shouldn't have done/said what she did, she refuses to apologize.

I don't understand that inability to apologize. I think I've gotten two sincere apologies from her in the year and a half long courtship we've had so far. We've had far more arguments than that. Unfortunately, I need closure. So I pester her about it, trying to get things resolved. But every time I do, she just gets more adamant and resolved to not talk about it. ESPECIALLY if I'm in the right. I can understand what's happening from a psychological perspective here, I just don't know what to do. Having her mad at me for a week until she calms down is sheer hell. Even though she doesn't have a constant level of irritation, it will continually resurface at bad times for a week.

And things are certainly not made easier by the fact that she's pregnant and going through living hell as her emotions go crazy and her body changes. I want things resolved, and I feel bad about needing that resolution. Exacerbating the problem is it's so hard to get her to talk... Ending about a month or so ago, we'd been having fights almost every day, for a month. What finally ended it was a huge fight where I finally got her to get past all of this petty crap that she keeps getting upset about, and talk about what was really bothering her. I was fearing the worst. Guess what it was? She was jealous because my job allows me to be flexible in my hours and even work from home occasionally. ??? So, we compromised, and I don't go in to work late any more except after a crunch time. The change in her behavior was so immediate and dramatic that I'm still in awe. Now it seems like we're having another slip back into argumentative mode... <sigh> How long before I can get her to talk about it this time?

Other general info... I'm rediscovering the music of my childhood. Leonard Rosenman's soundtrack to the animated motion picture Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship of the Ring was one of the first books I ever read, mostly because of this movie. I don't really remember my parents' taking me to the drive-in to see it at a very early age, but they love telling me about it. Apparently, I was absorbed by the movie. When Gandalf died, I started bawling, and when he reappeared later on I was jumping up and down screaming in joy. I can't help that the upcoming LOTR movie by Peter Jackson is too exciting for safety. I know I'll end up disappointed. I'm hoping for too much...

I think my general state of mind right now is a state of just-submerged fear. I'm afraid of what may happen to my relationship right now, particularly that a child is right around the corner. I'm nervous about the condition of the baby because my lover was taking some pretty serious migraine medication when we discovered she was pregnant. I'm afraid of the fact that my company dissolved the division I worked for, and I've been reassigned to a new area. I don't want to work in this new field, but I have to support my family. I'm afraid of the medical problems I've been having. I'm afraid of letting my fears run my life. I'm surpressing them, as much as possible. Is this wise? Do I have a choice?

But, I try to stay cheerful. It's too easy for me to slip into a downward spiral, and I've been there, done that. Not to mention that my lover certainly doesn't need that to deal with right now. Plus, my financial stability depends on impressing a lot of new people right now, so I can't really let anything get to me. Hehehe, this will probably end up being one of the points in my life I look back at as a low-stress period, if this progression continues. :)
(idea) by break (4.1 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 9:49:51
12:52 EET

*yawn*

I Only got between 4 and 5 hours of sleep last night. No idea on why this happened, maybe because of the sweaty temperature. So here I am again, in a zombie-like state at the office.
Surprisingly, I have managed to do reasonable amounts of both noding and working. Perhaps the weariness provides me improved concentration, since I don't have the energy to do 5 different things simultaneously? Normally I'm one of those people who just has to read while eating, watch TV while 3D-modeling, listen to music when doing just about anything that doesn't involve sound... You get the idea.

It's time for lunch. I think I'll check if the local cafe has any good salads. If not, it's junk food once again.


15:06 EET

The salads didn't look that tempting, so I got a french bread filled with ham and stuff. Nice. Tomorrow I'll prob'ly try a panini, since they look much more delicious.

The bosses seized my workstation to demonstrate some new project to potential customers. This means I had to just stand around for half an hour. And now it's past 15 already, and I'll leave shortly. What a productive workday, once again.


18:03 EET

I recieved word that my Arabuusimiehet posters are on their way from Helsinki. Joy! Designing the Arabuusimiehet shirt is being started again too. So if you spot some guy with The Holy Blue Watermelon and some weird slogan written in kanji on his shirt, say hi. It might be me. :)

The rest of the family has escaped to Tampere, apparently my parents gave in to my sister, who kept whining about visiting a theme park. I won't complain, because this means a few hours of peace around here. Time to start up Lightwave and get my hands on some polygons.


To be continued...


Today's Writeups:
  • ADBSSR
  • Jenna Jameson
  • Korg EX-800
  • Korg Poly-800
  • Korg Poly-800 mk II
  • Korg VC-10

    Nodekeeping:
  • Finland Metanode
  • Korg
  • (idea) by Noether (3.3 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 10:06:43
    This morning I listened to a CD that a Brazilian friend of mine gave me. It's Antonio Brasileiro by Antonio Carlos Jobim, light and frothy Bossa Nova and Samba.
    Só danço samba, vai, vai, vai, vai, vai
    Looking at the sleeve notes with a cheesy picture of Ipanema beach looking up to Dois Irmãos brings back lots of memories of the time I was in Rio de Janeiro, a beautiful and vibrant place.

    Of course there is violence bred from poverty and terrible pollution there too. I can remember being stuck in one of the huge tunnels that cut through the hills and inhaling this queasy alcoholic smell (the cars are fuelled by alcohol). I also remember being pretty frightened one time when I was downtown at night after listening to Mozart performed by a German choir. On the bus going back we were stopped at a road-block and these guys who looked like bandits came onto the bus. They had cartridge belts draped over their shoulders and they looked like they were dying to shoot someone. Anyhow, it turns out they were police! Like police everywhere they seemed to be racists and they searched this big black guy who was sitting next to me on the bus.

    I had a lot of fun in Rio too, walking along the beaches at Ipanema and Copacabana at night, buying this fantastic bread from the local bakery with my halting Portuguese. Imagine a city that has a rain forest in its centre. Heh! I want to go back.


    Yesterday, Tomorrow
    (idea) by Hermetic (7.2 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 12:22:20
    At work, already finished the things I didn't do Friday afternoon.
    I didn't do them because my new PC is here. It has a full tower case! It is huge. I have never sat at a desk that it could fit under. It has 6 (!) expansion bays in the front, two HDD bays on top and two in the middle. It came with two case fans, one sucking low and one blowing high, and a power supply with a fan plus a redundant fan in it as well. It also has three more cages to put fams in.

    I am so stoked. 50x CD-ROM. 8x/4x/32x CD-RW. 20GB 7200RPM HDD.

    It's too bad I have to wait for this weekend to drive down and take it home. I am not carrying that beast on the subway.

    My SO has a yeast infection from the pennicillin she is on. I feel really bad because I know she is really uncomfortable and can't do anything about it until she is off the medication.

    Work
    Crime Stats website today: Must re-do database, finish CFML code for queries, results. Tracking? What are people looking at, maybe? I will see if they want it. Shouldn't be to hard...

    (idea) by lioncub (3.2 wk) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 12:49:26
    Hello August 7 2000 - you are indeed going to be a day of weirdness, sadness and emotional confusion.

    Having just returned to London from an ill advised 'mates' holiday in Newquay (Cornwall, England) I awoke to the unusual feeling of not being incredibly hung-over and my mouth feeling like a mouth rather than the inside of a budgies cage. Also, being in my own house rather than a two-bit guest house, I was able to enjoy proper bathroom facilities rather than 'going for a McShit'

    Being still on holiday from work however I was careful to leave my car in a non-residents parking space to avoid ANOTHER parking fine (see July 28, 2000). The extra sleep afforded me by the day off (8am-11am) was filled with horrifying sweat-inducing dreams (contents personal).

    The main reason for my anxiety at the moment is the extremely imminent departure to foreign clines of my former partner and current very close friend. I'm aware I gave this topic some dissection on August 5, 2000 so forgive me if I repeat myself.

    I'm due to meet her in an hour to help her with various 'leaving the country tasks' such as buying a sofa for the newly installed tenant of her flat, dropping off boxes of personal items to her Grandma's house for safekeeping, changing currency etc etc etc.

    I'm not really sure how i'll function without her around - I've always been able to rely on her for just about anything and it has to be said that she's been there for me more consistently than i've been there for her. It might sound a bit big-headed but since we split up 2 years ago, I could have won her back without too much trouble but never really 'went there' as I always had designs on others and felt that as we had been together for so long and from such a young age that I needed a little more visceral experience.

    Well, I've certainly had that!. Did it make me happy?

    not in the least!

    .

    Now, I realise this is beginning to sound like me copping out, not wanting to be left alone and wishing I'd stayed with her. I can't deny that there is an element of that in my whinging but I figure that;

    1) She deserves better that me
    2) She's finally getting over me (which is a good thing)
    3) I'm only 26 so I'm not on the shelf just yet (can't wait for my entry on daylog August 7, 2006!)

    The day will continue to get weirder after the moving stuff around dust has settled and we get back to my flat for dinner (the last supper)etc, memories are relived, tears flow etc and then we have to share the same bed due to the fact that her flat has been rented out as of this morning.

    In times gone by, sharing a bed with her would have been a prospect that I relished but I fear that today it will be a very confusing, sad affair for both of us.

    More tears, more hugs, more memories.

    Then she's gone......

    (thing) by stand/alone/bitch (6.8 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 13:03:49
    Yesterday I came in to work, didn't do much of that but wrote a node, Why I'm at the office on a Sunday.

    So here I am, it's Monday, I have a shitload of work to do, and I want to die.

    As usual, I'm bitching about this job I have, which I probably could do, and probably would like, if I had chosen it for myself.

    My sister tells me:
    'You can do the job.'
    I cry and tell her,
    But I cant do the person

    And am at a loss to describe any further.
    She is one of the people I am acting this farce for, one of the people I hide from.

    I should blow them all off and start finding out what I want, but I'm not ready to risk everything, lose it all.
    I'm not seeking to throw it all away but to find my balance within the framework.

    I am dying slowly, or conversly, I am simmering internally, and it's only a matter of time, (how much?) until I blow, or expire.

    And now, I turn back to the task I have in front of me.
    I am not going to lose it this week, I am going on vacation on Sunday, that's just 5 more workdays to get through, one more week of family to talk to, one more week of farce to live, until I take a break...
    (idea) by ophie (2.4 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 13:08:56

    monday morning

    well, saturday or sunday i was supposed to get a call from the doctor. her suspicion is that i have a stone or scar tissue remaining in the bile duct causing pain worse than the gallbladder attacks i had which necessitated surgery in the first place. friday was excruciating. i went to the emergency clinic and their first initial concern was that my pulse was 120 despite a blood pressure that was normal (100/80). as the pain eased, so did my pulse. the second time the doc checked it i was at a comfortable 70. while the pain is present i get so hot and sweaty -- that also eases with the pain. the doc took blood, letting me know that the tests she was going to perform may indicate a gallstone or scar tissue, but that if it comes up negative it doesn't mean there's no stone. ugh. i don't want to go through this all over again. this morning i was hoping that maybe the doc had called my work number and left a message there about the result, but no such luck.

    so nervously i wait.

    coffee, coffee, coffee.

    the weekend was fun. friday, the man insisted we get a hand-crank ice cream maker, but after hitting more than 10 stores we had only found electric ice cream makers which use no ice... instead the metal drum must be frozen overnight. finally we found the closest we were gunna get. a bucket-type ice cream maker with an electric motor. we found it at walmart, in the toy section. we took it home, made some ice cream, and had a midnight barbeque.

    saturday evening was a night of sushi gluttony.

    sunday, despite the forcasters prediction of a wonderful weekend, was rainy. very. sunday i headed back to maryland, singing along with the cd that the man made for me. then i slept most of the day.

    now it's the start of another week. i'll keep ya posted...

    monday afternoon

    still no word from the doc. despite all the weird gallbladder crap going on, i'm in pretty high spirits.

    i feel the results of the verison strikes. i cannot get through to 411. ah well. i found a way around it.

    more storms coming. of course. this is the summer for non-stop rain, it seems. the power is going on and off. thunder is loud, lightning is cool, but the rain hasn't actually started falling yet. any minute now, though.
    (idea) by jeremy f (5.1 y) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 13:28:41

    Whoah

    For a Monday morning, this ain't half bad.

    I've already completely forgotten how hot it's supposed to be outside for the next 2-3 days. I've forgotten about how much shit I've almost gotten myself into at work. I've forgotten that I need to revise my schedule to include all the classes I really need.

    All I can think about is getting on the road today at 4:00, and heading home, with the wind from the air conditioner in my hair.

    9:18 AM EST - It's amazing the differnece between DRIVING and taking public transportation to work. I woke up an hour later than I usually do, and got into work at the same time. Even had time to browse the web for no apparent reason this morning before I left. Plenty of sleep, little work (woohoo!), boy this day's turning out great. I might just put on my headphones and listen to music till the day's finally over, or I get stuck on an