Elucidations

Bob asked me to expand on a few recent blog postings, so here goes.

I'd like to buy a new mac to replace my aging G3 as my primary desktop system. Originally, when I was going to California, I had planned to get a 24" iMac, which would also supply me with a new monitor at the same time.

Sadly California didn't happen, and I'm ending up with a bit less spending cash. The current likely scenario is that I'll not buy anything, but there's at least a possibility that I might get a Mac Mini to tide me over.

Getting a new mac would also allow me to shuffle my G3 over to replace the role of my very nice but very loud and very hot SGI Octane. If I were to get a Mini this year, then next year I could get a shiny new iMac and the Mini could replace my G3 as the replacement for my Octane, so then all of my desktop systems would be reasonably modern, quiet, cool, etc.

As for never flying in the US, it comes down to two things:

1) SFO is a miserable maze of twisty passages, all different.
2) TSA stole my toothpaste.

These two things, along with various other minor annoyances, made the hours I spent waiting around in the airport an utterly miserable and insulting experience. I don't have time to waste away my life doing miserable things, and so from this day forward I'll be doing everything in my power to avoid taking a commercial flight into or out of the US.

Last but not least, the broadband. I thought I had covered this in my previous post, but yes we did get shaw installed here in the house. We set it up with wireless because it wasn't possible to run the cables through the wall to get from where the cable was to where the computer is. Plus it makes it much easier for me to type my blog while sitting in bed. :)

If there's anything else you all would like me to expand on, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

Freshly ground

So today I went out with Jean-Louis and his wife Susan (or maybe Suzanne, it was hard to tell) to climb Grouse Mountain on the Grouse Grind trail.

I made it to the top in 1:30, which isn't too bad considering it's my first time up. My cycling got me mostly in shape for the climb, but my calves and shins ended up suffering a bit, as they're not used as much on a bike as they are when climbing the side of a mountain.

I really enjoyed the climb, and I think I'd do it again sometime. I took lots of pictures, which you can currently find toward the end of my vacation dump album.

pixplzkthx

I finally got around to taking some pictures this week. I've put them in a catch-all album for the moment, which you can view here.

More fun with friends

So today I met a friend of mine from Vancouver, Jean-louis, and we had some tasty sushi and bubble tea together, along with his SO.

We might go out hiking tomorrow as well, depending on how things go. I suppose eventually I have to get out and see the sights here.

Work, Work, Work

Work is going well. I'm settling into a bit of a groove and making some fairly meaningful contributions to my project.

I'm still considering if I should bring home a Mac Mini with my discount. It's really tempting, but I've got a lot of other stuff I need to pay for first.

My god, it's full of tubes!

So I'm finally hooked up with a real broadband connection here. Got Shaw high-speed wired up to a WRT54GL loaded with DD-WRT, all locked down nice and secure.

It did give me a bit of grief during the setup until, of all things, I set the clock on the base station. Seems my wifi card doesn't like connecting with WPA if the clocks don't match, which is utterly gay.

Also, I just noticed one of the neighbours is staring at me through the window, from her balcony across the street. Sadly she's not hot. Oh well.

Friends with Benefits

But not that kind of 'benefits'. No, in this case the benefits of friends is free sushi!

On Friday evening, Candy and Ryan (crazy cat lady and programmer, respectively) came up from Gilroy to pick me up in Cupertino, then head over to Valley Fair to pick up Sue.

Ryan circled in the car while Candy and I waited around outside Tarjet for Sue to show up. Then, right in the middle of me doing my tanuki impersonation (don't ask), some smelly mall vagrant approached Candy, and turned out to be a smelly mall vagrant that she actually knew (and wished she didn't. I found myself feeling the same way very shortly thereafter).

He proceded to make an ass out of himself until we noticed Sue trying to sneak past without being seen by the smelly mall vagrant. Sadly (for Sue at least) we managed to flag her down and eventually escaped from the presence of the smelly mall vagrant and in the process managed to rescue another friend of ours, who I think is named Hovard.

Hovard is from Norway, and we had no idea we would be running into him at a random mall somewhere in the bowels of Cupertino, but I'm quite glad we did because he's a really cool person.

The five of us, minus the smelly mall vagrant, all piled back into the car and headed down to Gilroy for some sushi at Ichiban. I was promised naked sushi boat girls, but it turns out that all I got was the Eat Train. I suppose I shouldn't be too disappointed, it was still very good sushi, and Candy and Ryan paid for it.

I ordered the Lava Roll which was very spicy and very tasty, and I also plucked a few dishes from the Eat Train when it steamed past. We all shared our sushi, and I enjoyed a few other varieties, including some very tasty avocado-tainted abominations.

Finally we went over to Ryand and Candy's crazy cat lady house and I enjoyed huffing the allergens for a while. There was much chatting and laughing to be had between us all, and additionally Thomas, though he was fairly quiet for the most part.

That was pretty much it for Friday evening. On Saturday I was hoping to meet up with at least some subset of Candy, Sue and Ryan as well as some other people I hadn't got to see yet, but in the end I had trouble getting anything organized so I just ended up having lunch with Aaron and met a few of the folk he rooms with.

I think I'm really going to enjoy meeting with all my bay area friends next year, and I really hope the Visa doesn't get messed up again or I'll be right pissed.

Also, unrelatedly, I vow from this day forward to never, ever set foot in an American airport again.