Stray Diskettes

I copied and pasted a whole list of "You might be a geek if's" to Soran quite some time ago, and was just reminded of one earlier today:

"You might be a geek if you find stray diskettes whilst doing laundry."

Ha. Ha. I was at the bank earlier today and went to put a deposit slip into a pocket. It hit something going in, so I let my hand investigate further. What's this? I ask myself. Oh! A DISKETTE!! Hmm...

Turns out it was the diskette someone at work gave me yesterday. I hadn't had a need for it yet, nor that pocket, so it slipped out of my memory for a while. Anyway, it reminded me of that "You might be a geek if"

I was still waiting at the window, so I stifled my laughter, but a slow grin spread across my face. The teller just smiled back and told me I was all set. I left, and giggled all the way out. Hopefully she didn't think I was laughing at her... LOL

Anyway, other than one particular issue at work that I simply can't seem to get around (which, unfortunately, negates all the positives about working there), my life seems okey-dokey. Yeah, same old emotional highs and lows, but I've come to the point where I simply expect them to get over themselves once they're done throwing tantrums on me.

Interesting dreams lately, too, which have been pointing my attention at a few things I'm now trying to change and keep an eye on.

Alas, I'm at a loss for words tonight. Interesting. Lots of inspiration and no words to express it. Hmph.

Feeling slightly techieish tonight,

~nvnohi

DSL rocks!!

I've just increased both my download and upload times!! I can't believe DSL is faster for me than Cable, but it's cheaper (and free for a month) so I thought I'd give it a shot just to see. Now that I've seen, I'm KEEPING!! Hee hee hee!!

First Cisco 4 class went well... I'm finally "getting" VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking for those of you who hate acronyms). Now I just need to re-tackle subnetting and I'll be well on my way to passing that CCNA exam with flying colours in a few months. Hehheh.

Anyway, off I go... gotta go play on the 'net some more!

Feeling very techieish tonight,

~nvnohi

Hackles reply

OMG I just received a reply to the email I sent the Hackers writers!! Well, okay, so I actually received it a while ago, but I just barely checked my email at home and this is the first time it's been on Selene, so I was reminded of it and HAD to commit this moment to this blog.

Wonderful. I wouldn't go so far to say that I idolize the creators of that comic strip, but it's still awesome that one of them actually wrote back to me. I can't imagine the emails they must be receiving already. ::awed sigh::

Anyway, she basically just thanked me for the support and all, and commented that I have "poetic writing." She went on to indicate that she and the other writer were still good friends, and that she loves Chai, too.

Not the first time I've been honoured with a reply from a webmaster, but certainly the first time I've been honoured with a reply from a webmaster whose comic strip I've read diligently for the past year!! There's something particularly special about something like that.

Feeling honourably geeky now,

~nvnohi

Sword Of Hope and Madison Day Bed

I just bought the Sword Of Hope, and am seriously considering this gorgeous daybed, called the Madison.

The Sword of Hope is apparently from a game of the same name, and someone decided to make a replica of it in stainless steel. Thus far I've only found one site that carries it. No, it isn't battle-worthy, but it's certainly gorgeous!! I LOVE it. I spent several hours over a span of two days trying to find the *perfect* sword for this year's RenFaire. Everything seemed so...dull. Then my eyes feasted upon the S.O.H. and all became clear. Emblazoned upon the hilt of this fine sword were the words, "BUY ME!! BUY ME NOW!!" It called to me as a plant calls to water. Then I read the measurements and knew beyond doubt that this was, indeed, the sword I'd been seeking those last two days. 33" long TOTAL. That means it would probably go to around my ankle or so!!

I showed it to my friend (who was visiting) and she agreed that it was perfectly suited to me, my personality, and my small frame. So I bought it. It has yet to arrive, but I expect it any day now. And it had better come! MWAH hah hah hahhhhh Okay, so the people at work are beginning to treat me better these days, can't imagine why... There can't be such a thing as a disgruntled I.T. worker, can there? ::evil grin::

Anyway, the day bed... I'm hesitant to spend that kind of money on what will basically function as a new couch when I really don't /need/ to get it, but it's so cool-looking, and I've never ever bought myself any /new/ furniture aside from the foldup tables and chairs and such. Everything else was donated by various people. No offense to them (for I am grateful), but I /need/ to finally make my home into MY home, complete with MY sense of style.

Then again, maybe that would be a bad thing. LOL.

Still feeling adequately geeky albeit slightly more ladylike with such thoughts of house decor,

~nvnohi

He's not dead, so I'm going to kill him!

Earlier today, a coworker overslept - apparently forgot to set his alarm clock or somesuch silly thing. So a few of us sat there behind our computers, occasionally glancing up at each other and shaking our heads in a somewhat concerned manner. After all, the guy is /never/ late! Having just lost one coworker to the untimely demise of cancer, and knowing of another guy who last summer died in a car crash, I of course began fearing the worst.

What if he got in a car accident? What if he was travelling from some music practice gig somewhere and fell asleep and hit a tree with his car and him still in it and he's lying dying with some crazy deranged axe-wielding woman standing over him threatening to cut off his legs below the knees if he doesn't play the drums for her once more?! What if-- at that point I realized that my mind had travelled backward in time to the hours of Misery that I'd watched...

So, he finally calls, and explains why he wasn't there a WHOLE TWO HOURS AFTER HIS SHIFT BEGAN. Phew. Relief. No more assuming that some evil wizard named Saruman had come into our world and snatched him up to do his evil computer-killing bidding. Oh, no. He was on his way into work, after all. Then again, what if Aliens had abducted him, and he was on his way into work to kill the computers after /all/?!

I shunned that thought and continued thinking rationally. All right, I /began/ thinking rationally. Whatever that is. So, I'm about to leave, and he's not there yet. No big deal. I head over to the restroom and dump my now-hours-old Pepsi in the sink, throw away the cup, and open the door. THERE HE IS, quickly entering his code to the door, trying to sneak past my blazing eyes! He briefly turns as he walks in and is startled to find my eyes searing through him like phasers cutting through a bulkhead.

"YOU!!" I allow my voice to say as boomingly as it can get.

"What?!" he says, obviously not all that perturbed by his failure to get to work on time and stop us from needlessly worrying.

I briefly explain that we were worried about him, etc, and as he starts to walk into the main part of the office, I say, "Okay, now that I know you're alive, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

At this point our Coordinator guy jumps backwards a bit and looks as if he wouldn't want to cross me. LOL. But having said that, I'd cooled down and was simply happy our coworker was a-ok and not spitting up daisies or anything. Way too young for that. Not that death holds prejudice to age.

Anyway, he's OK. Which is good, because the rest of us are sick and tired of finding new coworkers that can't even begin to fill the shoes of those that have abandoned us (whether by choice or not).

So us geeks have big feet. Sue us.

Feeling immensely relieved and adequately geeky,

~nvnohi

hackles (crying over here)

Hackles has come to an indefinite end. It isn't fair that two people with genius minds have to work for a living aside from creating their awesome comic strip a mere two days a week. I only discovered this strip last year! I've read all its archives, followed all the characters, and have often wished there were more cartoons. Now the authours must leave it be.

I shall very sadly miss it. A hole has been blown into my heart which will never be filled in until the hopeful day that they can pick up the pieces of their strip and get Hackles out of his obvious demise. Until that day, the world has lost one of the best strips in existence. Garfield, Dilbert, UserFriendly, and a few others are all excellent, but Drake and Jen truly had a gift with their animal-people. I've even categorized all of my coworkers into these characters, including the two penguins...who in my case are MS-involved, not Linux, but I keep telling them they're Linux gurus in disguise, if only they'd see it. Otherwise they're just like those penguins, always together, and always collaborating, and definitely weird. (In a good way.)

Such a sad day despite the sunlight, strange tea and awesome french toast. The music surrounding my sensitive ears has turned melancholy despite its happy rhythm.

Sad techie with a broken heart,

~nvnohi

Interesting tea I just conjured up.

It's the only word I can use to describe it. Interesting. That's exactly what it is.

I just combined a teaspoon of Jasmine, a teaspoon of Catnip, and half a teaspoon of Gunpowder. Then I added the contents of one bag of lemon zinger and a those from a bag of chai (both from celestial seasonings). The result was a strange-smelling combination of cinnamon and lemon with a few other things. Probably whatever was in the teas. LOL.

So then, using the mesh spoon tea infuser, I steeped some of this mixture in a cup of hot water for a few minutes. It's... interesting. The aftertaste is actually /pleasant/ once you get over the initial "hmmm... what IS this?" effect of first tasting the stuff.

Now, don't go thinking I'm strange just yet. Oh no. My "french" toast is almost done. This I've made by combining three eggs and an equal portion of milk in a bowl, then dumping it in a preheated square fry pan, setting four slices of bread on top, flipping them over, and letting it all cook together. This is by far the easiest way of cooking french toast, and you get VERY delish results because the bread soaks up the egg right in the pan as it cooks. No waste and no mess. Hehheh. You can even sprinkle cinnamon on top before you cut the pieces apart with the spatula and flip them.

Then stack them on a plate, add powdered sugar, syrup, and whipped cream, and you've got yourself... BREAKFAST!! And that's the story of my life.

Feeling improvisationally techie this morning,

~nvnohi

haven't written for over a day?!

Not that I haven't /wanted/ to write lately, just haven't had much /time/ to write lately. I was just thinking about how much I really do enjoy putting my thoughts down in words. My hands sit calmly upon the keys until thoughts begin to race and quickly find their way down into my fingertips. Each keypress is an emotional release of thoughts which need to be expressed, even if never heard or even acknowledged by other people. How intricate the written word can be! It's as if the airy creatures residing in the mind simply dance along the screen like honeybees explaining the location of newly-discovered food. Look closely enough and you find out that it's not merely a wiggle, but a story.

I've had a lot of time to think lately, and I've taken advantage of it. Yesterday I realized that the third song I put together using the Ejay software is actually really good. My music-loving side felt shivers whilst listening to it!! My mouth exclaimed, "Wow, I can't believe /I/ of all people put this together!!" Even my fingers are still contemplating the concept of writing a review of it one day soon.

Long day at work, had some company over tonight, and now I'm writing this. Oh! My former English teacher wrote to me the other day! I was SO happy to hear from her! I'd written her a while back and ended up going to visit her after school let out. It was a great visit, and I wrote a couple times afterward, but she's not one for writing back often. I finally stopped writing, but she never left my thoughts completely. Yes, it's true, I HATED English class, but she's one special teacher. She's the one who told me to keep writing no matter what. For once I listened to the right person and did just that despite three more horrible English-filled years. Somehow I graduated, and somehow the Road has led me to where I am now.

Not a bad life, really. I'm warm despite the cold outside the window. Friends abound, even if I seldom see them. Something about me caught the eye of a special gentleman, and thus far we're getting along well - nice change of pace for me, getting me away from the computers somewhat, and I love the newness of it all, the learning stage, where everything he does is magic. Every movement, every flip of the hair, that sort of thing. It's downright cool.

Food's on the table, Selene's in optimal health, music plays softly in the background. My mind wanders from subject to subject and back to the gentleman again. I feel in touch with God again, even despite the beginnings of a relationship! Music is touching my soul again! I'm staying warm in a new LLBean jacket despite the sub-zero temperatures. I wear my Peter Cetera hat proudly against the cold wind. A fuzzy purple scarf surrounds my face in the blustery air. Work schedule may need much improvement, and I still hate a certain program I must work with, but... otherwise, it's not that bad. In fact, I still have some drive left in me yet. Still finding things out. School starts soon.

Yes, life is good. In a few moments I will be shutting my eyes and commencing my dreams, which, if last night was any indication, will be fairly nice. I'm looking forward to it.

Feeling calmly and philosophically techiesh and quite lucky,

~nvnohi

LARKSONG

LARKSONG
42004011871 - ©2004 WLL

Brightened sparkles in the night
The thudding sound of calm delight
Gentle sense of softly blowing
Breezes in a land of knowing

Standing tall, a blackened tree
Whose leaves are falling in the sea
The wind blows gently on its bark
Within its branches is a lark

Sweetly singing tunes of old
Her heart is like a harp of gold
Nimbly plucking at its roots
Enlisting aid of breathy flutes

From bursting clouds, a rain emerges
Where a river soon diverges
Surrounded now by flowing waves
Waters nourish former graves

The tree's in bloom, its flowers bright
Glistening dew in morning light
Leaves swept back from tender bark
Still protect the playful lark

Feathers ruffled by the rain
But nothing much could cause her pain
Building up her little nest
Settling down to watch the rest

The wind comes up and blows the tree
Again the leaves fall in the sea
Since she wove the nest she made
The lark sings calmly, unafraid

Watching stars within the sea
Gentle rhythm in the tree
Emanating from some force
Deep within a rooted source

Leaves caress the nest she made
And she sings so unafraid
Watching dawns fade into nights
On her branch, a jay thrush alights

Oils

I know I've often had an odd ability to be attracted to expensive stuff at times, but... I had no idea that extended to /oils/! An exboyfriend once used this essential oil that I loved, either frankincense or myrrh or both. He said it was /very/ expensive, one of the most expensive, actually. Ha ha. My scent of choice for myself happens to be Jasmine. I was just looking at this site, and Jasmine is the most expensive on the whole site, followed by Rose and Blue Chamomile. In fact, even 10% Jasmine (mixed with grapeseed oil) is nearly as much as pure Myrrh. Frankincense is actually cheaper. Zheezh... At least I love silver over gold... but it reminds me of when a friend and I went into this antique shop once and I was immediately drawn to these crystal vases and the like. I'm like, "Wow! THIS is what crystal SHOULD look like!!" I'd never been totally impressed with other crystal I'd seen. Well, I soon understood why - /this/ was /lead/ crystal. Not just lead crystal, like 20% or whatever the usual amount these days is. REAL lead crystal. The kind that actually sparkles in /any/ light. The cut in the crystal was stunning. The price tag was, too (for that stuff anyway), but unfortunately I didn't have enough with me that day... ::sigh::

One of my favourite pasttimes at my mom's house is to "price" the antiques on the Antique Roadshow whenever she happens to have it turned on. I'm usually fairly good at it, too. Is it possible that this is some talent, or is this just something everyone can do? Mom doesn't appear to be /that/ good at it... ::shrugs, focus shifting toward music that's playing::

Ooh!! "Da, Da, Da" by Trio!! I LOVE this stupid song!! Gotta go bounch my head to the dumb, repetitive beat...

Still the techiest,

~nvnohi

My (Currently) Favourite Programs

These are my favourite programs to date:

Arachnophilia
Webpage creator. Honestly, I haven't used it since learning HTML, and now I prefer Mozilla, but it was excellent software for my needs back then. It's highly customizable, can beautify existing code, and help you create and learn code. Also keyboard-friendly.

Audacity
An audio editor. Standalone (doesn't need to be installed, can be run right off a thumbdrive even). See site for more info, very very cool program. I just love standalone programs. They're so versatile.

BulletProof FTP Server
I actually bought this, maybe there was some limit on time or something... but it's excellent at any rate. Great for those times when I don't feel like emailing a bunch of pictures to friends - they can just go look in their folders on my computer and ftp what they want, once I open it up that is. I never said I was totally wreckless with my computer's security... LOL

CDex
Excellent cd ripper. Even consults a CDDB (database) to auto-insert the titles in for you! Very nice feature and quite customizable as to how you want your files named.

Cool Page
Coworker made me try this. It's basically a WYSIWYG webpage creator. You drop what you want onto the work area, and when you tell it to turn to HTML it does just that - What you see is what you get.

DB Power Amp Converter
AWESOME wav-mp3-andbackagain audio converter. This one installs part of itself into the right-click menu. Normally I hate that but this one has my full approval. You go into the folder where you keep your audio files, right-click, and select what you want to convert it to. (Works with the right-click keyboard button, too, hehheh.) Fast. I love simplicity that doesn't require a lot of overhead.

Ethereal
Network analyzer. Faint of heart stay out. Another coworker recommended this to me and I downloaded it just in time for it to be highly useful in my Cisco studies.

Hex Editor XVI32
Really cool hex editor, not that I've used TOO many of them. If you don't know what a hex editor is, you'd better find out before playing with this. Especially if you don't know how to use backups of Explorer.exe... hehheh

Juno
My favourite email program. Note that Juno is also a dialup ISP. In fact, I started out with them, but quickly moved onto Cable (which it works well with). No local numbers for me anymore, either, I'm afraid. Nonetheless, the software is great and has saved me once already. (Yes, once, the only time I let my computer get that bad off while I was in the middle of an unsaved email.) Very stable. Can't tell if it has spam killers in it anywhere, but I don't give that address out to just anyone and I've had it for three plus years with no issues. If you're smart, remember to keep a few freebie accounts for those "GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL NOW!" pages and any pages where you must order something.

KeyText
Automation software. Has a few quirks, but my coworker showed it to me and I was hooked. I ended up buying the full version a few days later. It can type and click and prompt wherever you want it to whenever you want it to. I currently use it to log in to my student pages for school (amongst other things). Very good for creating keycuts... heh. heh.

KillDisk
Harddrive ERASER. I mean, eraser. It wipes out EVERYTHING and rewrites with 1's and 0's. This makes it very very unlikely that anyone could ever ever ever recover data. Far better than merely formatting the hard drive. (X-philers take note.)

Modplug
Plays mods, duh. Winamp has a plugin for this but modplug sounds better, no doubt about it. (I hate admitting that Winamp can be outdone, but... it's true in this case.) Modplug.com also features a tracker, if you're into creating your own mods, and you can also download free mods here. Nothing better than free mods!!

Mozilla
MY FAVOURITE BROWSER. Briefly, it's highly-keyboard-oriented, opensource, features email/webpageediting/chat software, and is just totally cool. I'm stopping there. See recent ramblings on this (otherwise I'll be here all day praising it).

Ogg Vorbis
Very simple program for recording audio in the highly-compressed yet high-quality format, .ogg. I personally use it to record my tapes onto my computer.

Opera
My formerly-favourite web browser. Zillions of keycuts to memorize, takes some getting used to, but very cool once you get the hang of it. Mozilla, however, is far better IMO. Try both and decide for yourself.

PGP
Pretty Good Privacy. Make sure you keep your keys in a safe place and NEVER EVER forget your passwords. Pretty Good hardly describes this encryption software. Trust me. You will /not/ get your encrypted stuff back if you lose your keys or passwords.

Pow
Popup stopper. There's PROBABLY something better, but this works well for me, and I haven't found it particularly necessary to find anything else. You need to add popups as they appear, but once you do, those sites will NEVER show up again. (Unless of course you delete them from Pow's kill list.) Note that it's great to find someone who already has a good .dat file going. You can plop it into the directory with Pow and have a premade list to add to. I keep backups of mine so when I reinstall the o/s I don't have to start all over again...

Real VNC
Similar to PC Anywhere in that you can control a computer from another computer. Remote Administrator was far better (had many more features, although I don't think it was quite as fast), but it was costly so after my trial ran out I went looking elsewhere. RealVNC fit my needs perfectly and is OPEN SOURCE. Can't beat that. I've had a friend install it on her computer and we've taken turns controlling computers. Works perfectly.

Trillian
The ultimate IM software. It combines AIM, Y!, MSN, ICQ and IRC into one place. It also allows you to sign in to multiple accounts for each at the same time. Very cool. Unfortunately, it has some irritating issues with AIM at times. AIM apparently likes to change things frequently and Cerulean has some trouble working around them. Nonetheless, it's very good software and I simply keep a copy of AIM installed just in case I need it. (Not often, mostly for file transfers coming in.)

Winamp
My absolute favourite music player. Someone recently told me there's something better, but I bet it wouldn't work with my keyboard!! MWAH hahahahahahaaaaa!! Winamp rules.

WS_FTP
FTP software. 'nuff said.

Xara
Cool webpage effects creator. Again, I learned of this from a coworker. I think he's got an obsession with easy ways out of coding HTML... ::grin::

ZoneAlarm
Software firewall. Trust me, you need this. I don't CARE if you have a hardware firewall! That's not enough!! Zheezh!! Note that if you're running XP, you don't really need ZoneAlarm provided you're using XP's firewall... However, you CAN shut that off and use ZA instead. :D

That's my list. For now. I'll mention winzip, but it's so widely known... LOL

~nvnohi

More Mozilla

All right, I really thought Opera was cool when I first laid my fingers on it, but Mozilla has definitely won my heart with blazing speed, and is continuing to impress me more and more. This puppy has built-in web editing software (not to mention email and other stuff I still haven't played with yet). It's completely WYSIWYG!! One problem, though, is that it's going to make me ohhhhhh-so-lazy much of the time... I mean, I'll probably end up modifying a few things in the source, you know how that goes, but I recreated this links page of mine for my local network and it came out VERY well, in a matter of half an hour. Considering I used tables instead of frames (tables are better IMO), this was a great feat. No matter how indented and organized my tables get, I still have trouble finding things quickly in the source.

So, let's say I love Mozilla. I'm also discovering and memorizing new keycuts, such as CTRL-SHIFT-L to open a "goto" window (unfortunately my keyboard's go button doesn't work with Mozilla, bummer). And I've already learned how to edit my own pages with CTRL-E, as well as go back and forth and open my home page with ALT-arrow left, ALT-arrow right, and ALT-home. Awesome stuff!! It's not every day that you find great software that's worthy of this much attention...

Currently Winamp is sitting happily in my tray, completely controlled by my keyboard, out of sight... Mozilla is open often, Juno is still the coolest email program, Trillian is sitting lightly in the background, and Chai... Chai... well, Chai is /Chai/... Next up is my current list of favourite programs.

~nvnohi

Oregon Chai "Chai Nog"

All right, so I'm a sucker for Chai. Literally - if there were a Chai-blooded creature I'd probably turn into a vampiress just to suck it out of them. Thus, when I happened upon this refrigerated box of Chai Nog by Oregon Chai in the store yesterday, I just /had/ to try it. Yes, Pacific Chai is great... in fact, awesome... but, alas, it was the first thing I tried and it was so good I couldn't believe I could have stumbled upon the greatest thing in the world so by chance like that. What if there were something greater?

This in mind, as I said, I bought some. Currently it is sitting in front of me, a cup of it made off to the side. It's... interesting. You shake the box, pour some in a glass or mug, and add an equal amount of milk. Definitely noggish. I can taste the vanilla more than anything - almost alcoholic, I daresay.

The box is rather funny, too. Here's what it says:

"It happens to everyone. Your holiday spirit gets ticked off and won't come out of the house. Not for sleigh rides. Not for Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. And not for any of that damned Figgy pudding. So your favorite chai-heads up in Oregon put our pointy ears to the ground and came up with an antidote. Discover once and for all why reindeers number two, three and four were named Dancer, Prancer and Vixen. Oregon Chai Tea Lattes. Hot or cold, the official drink of the human race." (From box of Oregon Chai.)

Cool, huh? Now, as for the taste. As I mentioned, very obvious vanilla flavour, and I don't mean that fake vanilla. This is definitely the real stuff, complete with the alcohol base. Somewhere in the background, I think I taste some of the spice, and an interesting hint of the black tea. Milk isn't even an issue. Maybe I didn't add enough? I /thought/ I had the proportions right... doesn't matter. Also note that I'm drinking this cold merely because it's too early in the morning for me to heat it up. Granted, it says you CAN drink it cold, but I've never HAD cold Chai so my opinion of it may be less than adequate at this point. However, I'm also keeping in mind that it IS a NOG, after all, and I've ALWAYS had cold NOG. Not bad stuff at any rate, just not as good as the other kind, but then again I'm not a huge nog drinker. Just have this horrid obsession with Chai anything apparently. For me, Pacific Chai may be able to form a monopoly. It reminds me of cuddling up with a cup of hot chocolate on a blustery winter's night in front of a fire, only instead of hot chocolate, it's a drink suitable for a god. Their product is just sooooo good!

If you want a definite Nog flavour without the eggs, I'd highly recommend chilled Oregon Chai Chai Nog. If a warm, fuzzy sensation is what you desire, go with Pacific Chai Spiced. Note that Oregon Chai ALSO has OTHER flavours. I'm definitely going to be trying them out if/when I see them!!

Feelin' mah noggin' for signs of nog,

~nvnohi

webpage

The Roads. This is my actual site, by the way, in case anyone is interested.




Still feeling rather techiesh,

~nvnohi

hairs all staticky!

My hair is standing straight up. Almost. Okay, it's standing up AND sticking to my forehead at the same time. Hmph. Probably due to the dry, cold air lately.

IT IS FREEZING OUTSIDE. Earlier I went a-shopping, and ended up waiting for a cab for like, an hour or something. ::lapses into Ed Gooberman voice::

"So, like, you know, how long is this going to take?"
"How long...?"
"Yeah, you know, like an hour or something?"
"Ed Gooberman, it can take years to--"
"A YEAR? I WANNA KICK A** NOW..."

hehheh, I should really listen to that sometime in the near future. What? Oh! Anyway, I was outside for about an hour or so, awaiting the cab's arrival. I must have looked quite a fright - I had my LLBean coat on, Peter Cetera cap, headphones, backpack, purple fuzzy scarf, and - over all of this - my green velour cloak. It was cold outside, after all. However, I can't imagine what was going through some folks' minds. It's not often you see someone wearing an ankle-length shiny green cloak around the city. LOL. It was probably reminiscent of LOTR. Ha! Ha!

Earlier, at Wal-Mart, I was checking out and saw this note on the register that said: "I would card my own mother." Obviously it was about carding people to check their ages for tobacco product sales. "That person must have been adopted," I told the clerk, who said quite unintelligently, "Huh?" So I indicated the note and he said, "Why?" I said, "Well, since the person who would be carding a customer has to be at least 16 or so to sell cigarettes (and thus carding someone), and most mothers have to be at least 10 or older to give birth, then that means his mother would have to be of legal cigarette-purchasing age. Thus, the only logical reason for someone to card their own mother is if they didn't know their own mother. Usually, that type of person would be adopted by someone, and never have met their biological mother." I then noticed that the clerk did not seem very amused, so I added with a sigh, "And... I'm... shutting up... now..." at which he looked up and said, "That's the most thought anyone has ever given to that." At that point his look was actually somewhat thoughtful, but still unamused, so I said again, "Yeah, probably... as I said, I'm shutting up now." LOL. Well, I think my logic was fairly logical...

Anyway, I'm sleepy... maybe I'll head to bed soon. Or perhaps find my IM... hehheh

Feeling quite techie tonight,

~nvnohi

You will be reinstalled. Resistance is futile.

Sorry, I saw First Contact last night... lol

Guess what?! I've finally remade Selene. Not physically, mind you... logically. You know, reinstalled her o/s and all her software. Well, at least the big stuff that I use constantly - Juno, Trillian, Mozilla, PGP, Keytext, Keyboard software, PDA stuff, Audio converstion software, Winamp... speaking of that last one, this is the best part!! I discovered that Winamp has 5.01 out now (for how long, who knows, I never have it autoupdate for me 'cause I hate software taking over on me... see http://winamp.com/player/full.php)... Anyway, I opted for that instead of my 3.whateveritwas and NOW IT WORKS WITH MY KEYBOARD PERFECTLY!! Just like the 3.8 did!! YESSS!!! So I hit the play button on my keyboard, and presto, music begins, just like that! No more "Okay, here's winamp, I /suppose/... but you have to load your OWN darned playlist 'cause I'm not in the MOOD!!" Now it says, "Oh! You want Winamp? And you want music to play NOW? Sure!! Here you go!!" ::sighs very contentedly::

I LOVE my little girl!! Selene is the GREATEST computer that's ever been built!! (Yep, I'm her mom, I can say that.) This whole install went so smoothly... and she's even stopped asking me to hit F1 upon bootup again. I swear it's related to that particular hard drive. Weirdness.

Thanks be to that defective hard drive drawer for this one. If it weren't for it doing whatever it did and causing Selene to be unable to write to windows off and on, I'd still be using the MOUSE to play songs in Winamp. ::shudder:: Now, to reinstall all my keycuts... THAT might take a while...

Oh yeah, and whilst reinstalling Juno and flipping through a few menus, I discovered these export and import options... verrrrry interesting items, so I tried them out. Yanno what? All this time I've been manually copying the whole user directories whenever I reinstall everything so I don't lose my email... the files just kept getting larger and larger... and I've been saving individual emails which takes FOREVER... ALL I HAD TO DO WAS EXPORT TO A FILE!!! ZHEEZH!! Hundreds of emails, all categorized in their own folders, each folder exported or imported in a matter of seconds!! Golly, yanno, you use a program long enough (say, 3+ years) and you figure these obvious little tidbits out! Now I can create dated archives instead of saving emails individually that I'll probably never read again but wanna keep just in case!! Now my poor program doesn't have to load all that stuff every time I open it!! YAY!! And the cool thing is, I can add to the archives by importing them, then putting more stuff in, and then exporting them again. Awesome. Then again, that would only make them bigger, and my largest atm is something close to 20MB. (That was probably a digest collection for one of my groups.)

I love computers.

Feeling very sharply techie today, and oddly content (maybe that's my second cup of Chai talking),

~nvnohi

Lemon and chocolate and tea, oh my

I'VE GOT TOMORROW OFF!!! YAYYYY!!!

And that's all I have to say.

Oh yeah, and I still _love_ my new tools. ::whoo hoo::

Not as grumpy as I should be considering the last two evil nights,

~nvnohi

TOOLS!!

I almost forgot why I logged into groups in the first place!! I had to ramble on and on about some stuff I bought today!!

See, it all started with a plan to go food-shopping. I've been trying to find a 1/4" Nut Driver and bits that include a #2 phillips and a #15 torx, but it had to be small enough to fit in my jacket pocket. I searched ALL OVER the internet and finally found something somewhat good, but it was still not quite what I wanted.

So I'm downtown today, headed toward the foodstore, and I stumble across this wellknown hardware store which I often pass but rarely go into (last time, I believe I was looking for an electronics soldering kit and they were all out so I went to Radio Crack - I mean, Shack - instead). I'm thinking, hmmm, hardware store, tools, hardware store, tools... might be a connection there, somewhere. So I went in.

Lo and behold, they had ALMOST exactly what I wanted, and it was half the price of the other thing I'd seen (which I would also have had to pay S&H for)!! Not only that, but it's bright fluorescent green and is, methinks, actually better in all. This is what I almost bought:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&fromAuto=YES&bidsite=CRAFT&pid=00947480000

And I don't have a link to the one I just bought, but it was only $6 or so and I got it fast (no shipping you see) and it's GREEN!! I got two of them, one for home, one for my jacket. Yay!! Now I'll ALWAYS have my tools on me!! That one screwdriver combined with my pda, a boot diskette, killdisk, cracker, w95&w98se cab files (two mini cdrs, same size as a diskette!!), bent paperclip, foldup keyboard, pocket mirror, penlight and retractable razor ... ALL I NEED for most everything I ever do anywhere I am!! And the best part is, it all fits into my winter jacket pockets!! (I've only got five, bummer.) Technically, if I really wanted to, I could probably stuff my miniature IR printer in there, too, but... hmmm... might have to get rid of the cell phone...

Anyway, this screwdriver is so cool. It's just like the one in that link except it's green and not a Craftsman (big whup as far as I'm concerned). It has a #1 and #2 Phillips, Slotted 1/4 and 3/16in, 10 and 15 Torxes, two square recesses, and the nut drivers (1/4 YAY and 5/16). And it's only 7ish" from tip to tip when fully loaded. I can take the shafts apart and it reduces the longest length to 4.5"!! But it'll fit (barely) into my pocket without having to do THAT... LOL

I LOVE this tool...

Oh yeah, and I got a few other cool things, too, when I ended up at Walmart. A spanish-style wineskin!! Yes!! A WINESKIN!! You know, like the canteen-like thing that Frodo drinks from in LOTR? Yeah, that. It's quite old-fashioned and I've been wanting one for like, years. Finally happened upon one!! AND I found THE coolest foldup tool... it's pliers, three knives, saw, the usual swiss army type stuff (minus the toothpick and tweezers, hmmm) and it actually has this square recess tool on it that doubles as a driver! The thing included nine bits, one of which fits over that square piece and turns the whole ensemble into a 1/4" nut driver. Talk about awesome. It's magnetic, though, not ball-bearing, so I refuse to use it on computer stuff, but whoa, what a thing to have. And it was wayyyy cheaper than the stuff I'd been drooling over on the 'net recently.

What else... Oh yeah, some cable clamps, very useful, and I finally broke down and bought a knife sharpening stone. Also picked up some more wooden matches. ALMOST bought some waterproof ones, but... maybe next time. AND I got a scale. I've never ever ever had one before. My weight stays fairly constant for one thing. But regardless, I figured I could get one. (Now watch, my weight will be on my mind more and I'll probably become a blob or something. Nah.) Oh!! Oh!! AND I got a TEA INFUSER!!!! YESSS!!! Finally!! The style is EXACTLY what I've been wanting!! It's a mesh ball when closed, attached to two hinged sections that function as the handle. You squeeze them together to open the ball into two halves, put the loose tea in, let it shut, and vóìlá! Instant teabag (sorta). Brews strong, too, if I do say so myself. Certainly better than the funky thin-mesh plastic doohickeymajiggie that I bought a while back. This one actually lets the water in. And cleanup is a snap - haha, literally! Open, fling contents into trash, and rinse. Big deal, huh? WAY COOL!!

I love shopping...

Well, I'm craving the biggest cup of chai... must be withdrawal. So I'm gonna go get myself some and keep playing with my new toys. Hehheh. Whups, too late. Couldn't wait to hit Publish before getting Chai... LOL

~nvnohi

FOOD!!

So it's late and I should be sleeping. Bite me. At least I cleaned my kitchen with the excess energy I had before I found food... maybe the food will make me sleepy? ::hopeful look:: Prolly not. :(

Anyway, the menu for tonight: My own soup combined with Campbell's Chicken Noodle, sweetened yams, bacon, and Kukicha tea. What? You have a problem with my eccentric dietary habits? Then go find someone else to watch eat!! Zheezh!!

Hehheh. ::munches on bacon, apologizing to it as she does so, then does same to yams and soup and tea:: I am getting this overwhelming feeling that I want to write some more techno music or something. Hmmm... But I won't. Oh!! I wrote a poem earlier. I suppose I oughta post it here... one sec... ::fingers fly across desk to find correct disk:: ::looks up:: What? Of course I still use diskettes! They're quite handy for visible organization of one's smaller things, such as several years' worth of poetry!! Hey! Do you want this poem or not? Yes? Good! Then sit there and let me find the diskette!! Zheezh!! ::shakes head, goes back to quick search of desk:: Ah! Here it is. One moment while I open it up-- yeah, yeah, I know it's slow. Hush! Here's the poem:

THE MORNING LIGHT
42004010951 - ©2004 WLL

The morning light shines upon
The delicate features of your face
Gently kissing my tired brow
As if I'm in another place

Hands caress my face and neck
Hair flips forward in your eyes
You bring your lips to mine, so sweet
Is this you or some disguise?

Chivalry abounds in you
I see you in another time
Where you were a courtly knight
Who put all verses to their rhyme

Mounted on a wondrous steed
Carrying a sword so bright
Trotting on the fields of dew
Sparkling in the morning light

Your lips are tender, hands so soft
Hair blows softly, eyes a-knowing
Caught within their deep abyss
I find I know not where I'm going

Touch your neck with parted lips
Your head falls back in subtle bliss
Return my touch with just a gaze
And a blazing, fiery kiss

Your eyes meet mine, a curious
And probing look into my soul
Deep in thought as if you see me
Out there on the grassy knoll

Where the horses tethered there
Neigh approval of our plight
As I wake within your arms
In the warming morning light

There. That wasn't such a horrid wait, now, was it? Well, anyway, I'm gonna finish my dinner (or whatever it is) and go chat in IM for a bit, and hopefully I'll fall asleep for a while before work. Doubtful, but... possible. At least now I'm caught up. Ooh! There's a yawn!! A small one, though... ::sigh::

~nvnohi

waaaaaterrrrr

Okay, so for some reason I'm back on a water kick. Don't ask me why. It just began last night. Apparently my body has decided that it wants *real* hydration for a change! Well, there are worse things to be addicted to, I suppose. Note, however, that Chai is *not* one of them...

Not much going on this week [thus far]. I get to work a couple of midnight shifts [insert sarcastic enthusiasm here]. Yay. Oh, joy, oh, joy. Just what I always wanted. More sleep deprivation, crankiness, heart racing, body temperature changes, immunity deficiency, stomach problems and hallucinations. Yep. Can't wait. Just love feeling like sh**.

In other news, I think I've developed a taste for mixing music samples. Always had a knack for mixing songs together, and even pieces of songs, without missing much of the beat, but... this is closer to the real thing (whatever that is). It's a program called "E-Jay Techno 2" and I got it ... oh, gosh, almost two years ago? Wow, time flies. It was one of those Imation points offers where you only pay shipping and you can choose one of several free softwares just for using Imation brand diskettes. LOL. Seemed fun at the time, but I never applied myself to learn much about it, so it sat in its sleeve until last week when my eyes happened to stumble across its blue label. So I popped it in and began fooling with it, and lo and behold, now I've made three of my very own techno songs! Yeah! Me, the nontalented music lover! A friend of mine has heard a couple of them and thinks I should have been a sound engineer or something. I dunno. I like computers, so it would have to include them or no dice. Yanno what I mean?

Another friend of mine from school recently emailed me. Haven't heard from him in... hm. A while, I'd say. Seems he's doing well. Also heard from my best net-friend much to my delight. It was hard to find her online almost since the concert, I swear it! Then again, I've been trying to stay off IM more, too, so that certainly didn't help. I miss her dearly, especially the good old days when her and I would call each other the lowest names we could create. ::fond smile:: She's a sweetie. And no, she's likely *not* reading this. Highly unlikely, anyway. As much as I know she loves me, I simply can't imagine her finding this blog and actually reading enough of it to stumble across something about her. Hehheh. (And if she is reading this, then I meant the other net-friend! Nyah!)

I miss Spook. ::wonders where that just came from:: Spook was one of my gerbils, and she died the end of November. I've still got Lucy and Puff, but Spook was, I must admit, my favourite of the three. I know, I know, not good to play favourites, but she was black, for one thing, and her little almond-shaped eyes sparkled with gentle intelligence and insatiable curiosity. I think I'd relate my love for her to the love I felt for Dewie. Heck, I still feel love for both of them! Puff gave me a scare the other day... she was apparently sleeping or resting in the top of the tube which connects the two cages. I thought for sure she was sick because Lucy was acting strange and looking at me funny, much like they both did when Spook had died. But she eventually woke up or whatever and she seems fine now. Not sure what that was all about.

Whoa, I'm getting sleepy... too early for ME to be headed to bed, but then again, maybe not. Perhaps I'm simply looking forward to some more, um, /interesting/ dreams tonight... ::grins thoughtfully:: Gotta love the imagination!! :D

Not looking forward to midnight shift for it makes this techie feel anything but,

~nvnohi

Hungry

Darn, I'm hungry. I have no clue what's going on with me today but I wish it wasn't. Got up this morning, went to work, and the next thing I knew the room was spinning and coworkers' voices sounded all echoey like in those movies where someone's going insane. It was as if my eyes had separate brains, too - one saw one thing, the other saw another, and neither eye would speak to the other and combine the information into one image. Then my body temperature dropped to the point I HAD to put on my coat despite having a nice warm laptop on my lap. I finally gave up and decided to leave, because eventually I began conking out right there in the chair. Completely useless to myself and the laptop and certainly work. I didn't even ask, that's also unusual, just said something about 'if it's okay with you, I'm leaving,' or somesuch, didn't wait for an answer, went upstairs, conked out in two other coworkers' office, chatted a bit, and then took a bus downtown.

Had some shopping I'd intended to do after work anyway, so I fumbled around downtown for an hour or so and then came home, sleeping on the bus all the way. Upon getting home, I took turns playing with Selene and hitting my head on the desk so I finally went upstairs to read. That woke me up of course, but then several pages later I found myself nodding off again. It was broad daylight!! I NEVER sleep during daylight hours!! It's physically /impossible/, as I keep trying to tell people!! The only explanation is that I'm either sick or highly overtired. Could be the latter; haven't been sleeping much, although I have been sleeping deeply with lots of interesting dreams. Still, I fell asleep for about three or four hours... and I'm still kinda tired. And hungry. OMG I'm hungry. I turned on the timer on the stove to ensure I don't fall asleep whilst cooking dinner... which is, oddly, not too heavy and kinda weird... fried veggies, rice, and candied yams. Nope, no meat. I know, weird. Well, anyway...

I really hope this resolves itself soon. I *hate* feeling disoriented, dizzy, sleepy, and just plain out of it, especially when I've not even touched any alcohol that could account for it.

Oh yeah, and the auras... egads! I used to think I really was going crazy whenever I went into what I call "phase" (can see auras very very well, so well they sometimes trail down the hall after people, very scary)... then I read once that people wishing to see auras (go figure them people out) should relax their eyes. It also said that many people will see them best when they're sleepy, because their eyes are so very relaxed (not focused on the person the aura's on). That would explain what happened today... when I'm tired, my eyes are less focused, and it enhances (or rather exaggerates) what I normally see. Certain people have asked me if I've ever done illegal substances, and I have to admit - no. For one thing, I definitely do NOT need to go around getting addicted to such things, and for another, I don't need to go around asking for hallucinations - I already see funky things all on my own, thank you. People on drugs have no clue!

I don't even know where I was going with all this, and maybe it's not even wise to throw this on the internet, but then again I've discussed this sort of thing with friends on the boards before so it's already out there. ::rolls eyes:: Ah, internet privacy is SUCH an oxymoron... thank goodness the food is just about ready.

Sleepy and WEIRD techie with the rumbly tummy,

~nvnohi

CHAI...

I love this stuff. Yep, I got all four 6lb plastic jars of the stuff yesterday afternoon, much to my wondrous delight. I don't know who invented this particular mixture of chai, but whoever it was, THANK YOU!!

In other news, I'm /happy/. Ooh, like, that's so totally unusual, huh? Well, it can be... lately I've been a bit off kilter. Mostly due to odd shifts, of course, but now that I've recuperated, I feel a lot like my old self again. Or rather, my old new self... or is that new old self...??!?#)($@)&*#)(@&%

Pardon me while I sit here pondering that one.

Okay, I'm back. What? Oh, actually my mind gave up on that question and began wandering around another subject which I shall not get too deeply into within this blog. They call them blogs for a reason. They're weB logs. Hello? On the web? Yeah. Anyway, let's just say it's darn, my ankle itches like the dickens... what is the dickens? I don't even know... ::stops head from spinning:: Well, I see my thoughts have returned to their usual selves as well... racing, swirling, crashing into one another, vying for my undying attention even as they blink out and turn to a new concept for analysis. ::cocks eyebrow at monitor:: Wow, am I rambling!! This is what happens when I tell myself I need to keep my literary juices flowing. "Just write whatever comes into my head," I told my fingers. Guess what? They're obeying. Hm. I don't think I intended for them to type out so /much/ of what's going on in my head. Okay. Time to get a grip. I feel like playing with my thoughts since there are so many of them... ::musters up creative side::

~*~ The Tale of the Geek, Part Two-Hundred Forty-Three Million, Fifty-Six Thousand and Twenty-Two ~*~

(How's that for a title?)

She sat there mesmerized by her cup of steaming chai, her nose quivering at the warm bliss emanating from within into the surrounding air. Her mouth watered and her eyes sparkled as she contemplated the keyboard-themed cup in all its glorious perfection; several moments passed before her hand finally mustered up enough courage to disturb the wonderful contents inside by raising the cup to her eager lips.

Sighing happily, she set the cup down and closed her eyes, letting the sticky liquid soak into her tastebuds as it slowly trickled down her throat. Warmth embraced her as it reached her stomach, and she sighed again. "Chai..." she breathed out, and opened her eyes. Suddenly she realized that her whole cup was gone and there before began these words: "I love this stuff..."

She finished typing what she'd started in her chai-induced trance and clicked POST. Then she got up to get another cup. This was to be a long, happy night.

~*~ The End ~*~

(for now)

The Coolest Chai-Addicted Tech In The House,

~nvnohi
(yeah yeah, so I'm the ONLY Chai-Addicted Tech in the house... bite me)

First poem of 2004.

NEW YEAR, NEW MIND
42004010141 - ©2004 WLL

Ushered in a whole new year
Writing suddenly appears
Emotions strongly volatile
God, you know, it's been a while

Screaming in the dark of night
My voice is heard until the light
My heart beats faster, faster still
As I summon all my will

Standing taller, feeling strong
Even if some things are wrong
Skies are overcast with gray
But underneath is bright day

I won't let them tear me down
I won't let them see my frown
You try to own my body and my time
But you will never own my mind

Because I've learned to block all of you out.

Some people are rude.

Then again, sometimes I'm stupid for not putting a stop to it.

Anyway, I'm enjoying some nice loud music instead of having to deal with it, so it's fine with me. I'm not in a great mood today anyway and I refuse to deal with anything I don't feel like dealing with. Antidepressants ran out almost a week ago, I've been dealing with sleep deprivation due to a couple of midnight shifts, I'll be doing more again and once more doing all three shifts, and I'm pretty darned ticked off about it. Especially in light of the fact that little nothing can be done about it.

So, f*** the world. That's what I say.

On the other hand, I'm also rather intrigued with life since it's dealing me some rather interesting lessons lately. Even though I'm rather ticked off right now and not feeling all that able to deal with rudeness, disruption, lack of sleep, stupidity, and meddling, I'm also quite astutely noting it all in my large database of knowledge. This knowledge comes in quite handy down the road when I begin thinking I'm worthless. Today is not one of those days; in fact, I feel quite capable today even if my emotions are currently in my way. I know I'm worth something and I'm not afraid to stand up for that. At least, in my psyche. It's the presentation of these ideas that I need to learn right now. Normally I'm tactful and slick about such things but I simply do not have the patience to be tactful. My house is my house, my body is my body, and my health is my health. Thus, I'm keeping my mouth shut. If no one will listen to my gripes, and no one cares about MY wellfare, then I'll shut up, deal with it, and look for alternative ways of getting around the dopes.

Such as listening to loud music. I don't do it often because I worry about my poor neighbours. This certainly doesn't justify annoying the hell out of the today, but you know what? I don't care!! At least, not enough to spare their little earballs.

Now comes the challenge of figuring out what I wanna listen to... and what I want to do with the rest of my day...

Feeling more annoyed than techie,

~nvnohi