Some more poetry

Been a while since I wrote any poetry, but then the other day I bought a CD by Evanescence and that darned "My Immortal" keeps pushing me back to the ol' pen and paper! So, here are some poems I've written these past few days (also on my website):

DAY AND NIGHT

Ancient wrinkles of the past
Creasing corners of his eyes
Hair hangs loose, all white and gray
The mirror sees the young disguise

Tired eyes so dim and wise
Pierce the glass; they stare
Into me as if they know
I can see him standing there

Awesome wonder mixed with fright
Every time a different sight
Always older, always watching
I feel as if I'm day and night

Within the confines of the glass
His presence cannot leave this place
I can not bear to see him die
I scare myself and look away

Looking back to find him gone
All that's left is in my eyes
My hair hangs loose, it's turning gray
I see through the young disguise

Awesome wonder mixed with fright
Every time a different sight
Always older, always watching
I feel as if I'm day and night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONTRA POSITIVITY

I sit here watching me
Sit here watching her
Watching for a sign of life
Whenever music strikes a chord

Fire flames and stirs within
Water quickly puts it out
Soggy mess; ashes, mud
Ebbing tides upon the sand

Emotions moving to and fro
All to oft, she wakes this way
Nothing matters anymore
I see the sunlight in the trees

The fire burns upon the sea
Oil and water don't combine
Yet here we are, so uncertain
Contra positivity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BROKEN DOOR

You stood outside
A Gentle Shepherd for protection
Sunlight glinting in your hair
I watched from the dirty window
As you approached my broken door

I warned you of the skunk I'd thought
Had made its way into my house
I saw the eyes look up at me
'Twas a cat, how could I know
I lay here trembling on the floor

I've dressed in black
And pulled the shades but it's not dark
My heart still beats within my chest
Longing for the Light I've left

I saw the broken wood outside
Laying there upon the snow
Soon the snow will melt away
The shattered door will be absorbed
Into the ground where it will rot

You took my hand and laid me down
Until I slept beneath the sun
As the day withdrew its light
You shaped the clay til I conformed
And said I'd stay but I forgot

I've dressed in black
And pulled the shades though it's not dark
My heart still beats within my chest
Longing for the Light I've left

Geeks vs. Nongeeks

Geekiness isn't just a word - it's a way of life! People who are lacking in geekiness simply do not understand those who are overflowing with it.

Consider, if you will, a geek who comes home from work after an 8-hour day of computer-related tasks. The person whips out their keys, unlocks the door, flips off their shoes and runs - not walks - to the main computer. Which, incidentally, happens to be sitting on one of two tables supporting computers and their related equipment (the makeshift tables don't count). With one barely-detectable movement, the geek turns on the computer and main monitor, closes his/her eyes, and listens blissfully as the fan whirs on and the hard drives spin up. A happy beep is heard, and the geek continues on through the ranks of computers, hitting switches one by one and listening to each start up in succession, complete with its own set of POST beeps.

Computer fans now merge harmoniously with the network's whirring, and the geek sits down happily whilst pulling off socks with nimble toes. By this time the main computer has been waiting patiently for three
seconds - an eternity! - and another dexterous movement causes music to pour forth from speakers situated in precise locations designed to present the best possible sound quality in the ever-decreasing space of the computer room. Er, I meant dining room.

A few more keypresses and the geek has begun text-chatting with a couple of friends, checked several email accounts for new mail, scrolled songs several times to play the one desired, and opened a class assignment
found on a website with several javascript choices (thank goodness for a great automation program for that last one). The evening has begun. This is considered FUN.

A non-geek would watch all of this and shake their head. I know. I've seen it happen several times. Another common reaction from anyone who has a clue is "Er, what are you doing NOW? Never, mind, you're going too fast."

I suppose for them, the ultimate evening after work is flipping on the lights, starting supper ("Oh yeah," the geeks reading this now think, "I should probably find some Funny Bones and Red Bull...") and settling
down in front of the television or with a good book and a soft light.

Lights. Whups. Forgot to flip those on again. Couldn't tell with all the monitor radiation floating about the room. Besides, the network lights are bright enough to light the way to the drawer beneath the table where the Funny Bones are kept. Really need one of those portable refrigerators for the Red Bull, though. Guess a trip around the kitchen is needed. Considering the kitchen has been strategically placed right
next to the computer room (I meant the dining room, honest), it shouldn't be...too...bad... ::refrigerator door opens and shuts quickly:: ARGH!! There's another speck of dust on my customizable
keyboard!! I've been away too long!!

Ahem. Indeed, non-geeks definitely have NO clue whatsoever.

'Nuff said.

Feeling excitably geeky and craving those chocolates I hid on myself and can't find,

~nvnohi

You know your headphones are too loud when...

...you're in the bathroom upstairs doing your business and you hear the whistling from "Joyride" by Roxette!

In other news, VIENNA TENG IS TOURING!! WHOO HOO!! I have GOT to go to at least one of her shows. I HAVE to. For one thing, I've already seen Peter Cetera in concert, so I've already lost my "concert virginity" as a friend so well put it - might as well get another "notch on my headphones" so-to-speak. I also just found out that she's got some new material coming out!! Yes!! It's a new album!! I HAVE to order it... it comes out February 24th... $13, such a low price for such gorgeous work... I still can't believe how awesome her voice is. Heh, Mom just called and I told her all about it, I could see her eyes rolling right through the phone line. Har har, poor Mom, first she hears all about Peter Cetera (for 17 someodd years, mind you) and now it's Vienna. Well, I can't help it if I'm moved so greatly by such talents!

OMG Imagine... No, wait, I already have, since some time last year... Peter Cetera and Vienna Teng doing a duet!! OMG that would be so cool...

Well, I'm off to visit Mommy Dearest. LOL. Blog ya later.

Feeling outrageously excited and so far from techie it's insane (note the geek is still strong in me though),

~nvnohi

old router

Been goofing off for the last hour or so with an old router I found in my closet. I was originally looking for my Evanescence CD (which is STILL missing, growl) but at least I dug up a couple techno CD's a friend had given me. Oh, and the router of course. Finally plunged into that thing and found scads of documentation for it online, which I downloaded and perused for a while. Then I hooked it up to my main tower via com1 and began putzing around with it. Pretty neat stuff, even if its line commands are a bit different from Cisco's.

Then I got tired of fooling with it so I exited hyperterminal and decided to email a former classmate about the whole thing, then ended up playing one of those CD's, and now I'm here. Gotta love days off when you can sit around doing pretty much nothing all day long. I got up this morning around 5:30am after multiple attempts to go BACK to sleep, showered, neglected to wash my hair, bumbled downstairs, and can't for the life of me remember what I did all day in between arriving at my chair and looking for that CD...

No, wait. I remember. I was trying to get a USB drive to work. That's right. Then I ended up moving files all over the place. Wow, does that really take several hours to do? Golly goshily! I hope I did some other stuff besides that...

Well, apparently I've wasted enough time today. Time to go finish reading my Cisco material for Monday's test. Have about three or four more sections to read and take notes on. Think I'll call a friend first, though. Been meaning to do that for about two hours now. Think it's also time for some new music. Where'd those other CDs go...

TTFN,

~nvnohi

Subnetting

This is actually a bit late, but I *think* I finally understand Subnetting!! Or at least, I'm *this* close to it... Took three-point-something semesters of Cisco and VLSM to get my mind to go that way instead of running FAST in the opposite direction, but now it's all excited about it and can barely get enough. WONDERFUL feeling to have again, that "wow this is interesting" feeling that comes from a sudden realization about something. Awesome.

In other news, I'm hungry again. Now you just wait one second before rolling your eyes at me! I haven't eaten since, oh, about 11 hours ago. That's a long time even for ME!! I'm thinking chips and dip might be fairly good right about now. What?! There's four food groups in there! In fact, there may be more food groups than that in there... let's see, potatoes=veggie plus carby thing; onion in dip=another veggie; cream in dip=milk product; lots of salt=okay, this stuff is REALLY salty... what did they do, dump a box of salt in here and add some cream? Zipes. I knew I should have bought some plain sour cream and made my own. Or at least added some of this stuff to the sour cream. I'd say add sour cream to this stuff but that's definitely backwards. Too salty for that.

Anyway, I've got some lightly-salted chips, highly salted dip, and a nice cool glass of chocolate soymilk, all mixed deliciously with a song by Pulp called "Something Changed." WOW time flies. Ooh. Song changed. "You're The Inspiration" by Chicago... just when you thought there wasn't a better song, your favourite comes on and melts you into the carpet as a reminder that it's still better than anything else you've ever heard. What a possessive little creature this song is. I must have listened to this song - purposely - at LEAST well over a million times since the end of 1984. Probably more-- whoa, and there's the "oh" at the end. O...M...G... ::shivering::

I LOVE that voice, that music, the doubletracking... Peter and David together were geniuses. Okay, they're geniuses anyway in their own right, but they made such good music together. Together their talents hit perfection, as is evidenced by that one song...

I'm very very very very very very very very very sleepy so I'm gonna go fiddle with the tv and see if I can get it working again (something screwy with cable). If I can I'm gonna go cuddle up in front of the boob tube and eat my chips and salty cream and drink the yummy cool chocolate soymilk and see if I can't stop this stomach from growling so I can SLEEP again!!

Still the techiest,

~nvnohi

Penguins

Been rereading Hackles.org again, and came across one of their links. It was on penguins (facts, etc). Then I had a bright idea! Look for MORE on penguins!! After all, I can't sleep anyway, stupid throat gets all weird on me and such. So, on my last sip of chicken noodle soup, I go searching.

This is my favourite penguin picture site thus far: Penguin Haven.

Very cool (no pun intended). That particular page is on the Adelie species of penguin, but there are links to others as well. The first pic on the right side is typical of that piece that Saturday Night Live (I think it was them) did on a dating service. Remember that? They hooked up all the "losers" and such? Anyway... I also love the second and third ones down on the right side. The second one reminds me of The Game. "Good thing he jumped. If he didn't I would have had to push him..." The third one down is just downright cool. That dude looks like he's flying high. "Yippeeee!! I just finished my program!!" (Okay, so REAL penguins don't really program. At least, the scientists haven't indicated such behaviour. Yet.)

And that second one down on the LEFT side! That's perfect ring-around-the-iceberg, there. The one below it is cool, too... don't they look like one is saying, "Okay, you stand right there. We both turn around. On the count of ten, we turn as fast as we can and whoever gets into the water first wins the fish." No, seriously. They're really discussing Quantum Physics. And below THAT... "Did you see that?" "Yep, another snowmobile bites the 'berg. Tsk, tsk."

And lastly, the one on the right, the last one: "Hey, honey, the chicks are outside playing! You wanna...?" "Get away from me, it's not friday yet!!"

Remember how I said that there were other penguin species, too? There are some REALLY cute pictures of Emperor Chicks on the "Emperor Chicks and their Families" page. What person in their right mind would think animals aren't as "good" as humans? Go look at the Chicks page and tell me that doesn't resemble a human family. The difference is, those chicks don't bear arms like many human children do. Ha. Ha. Get it? They have /flippers/... Aw, never mind...

This flu had better take a hike and fast...

Germy techie (who just had inkling of desire for wheat germ, figure that one out),

~nvnohi

Mice on Mars? Will they be telepathically linked, too?

This is one of the most interesting and yet horrifying things I've read in a while. The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program apparently intends to launch mice into orbit around the Earth in a special metre-sized spacecraft designed to create artificial Mars gravity. The mice would be up there for five weeks before returning back to Earth's surface in a fluffy little padded thing. This is all about science, of course, and to find out how Martian gravity may affect humans should we ever land on Mars and stay for extended periods of time.

According to Telegraph.co.uk, the 15 mice would be in comfortable cages with room for exercise.

At least they took the poor creatures' fitness into consideration.

Now, while I find this all quite interesting to the point where I'll probably follow along and find out what happens, I still do NOT understand why mice are being used for this little data-find instead of the humans who really want to know. It would seem fair to me that whoever wants to know how Martian gravity would affect a human should be up there themselves. Oh, I know, I know, humans aren't that expendible, right? Whatever. How unprejudiced we've become.

Remember that doctor, oh, what was his name... Warwick? Yeah, Dr. Kevin Warwick. Dr. Warwick is the guy who had a transponder surgically inserted into his forearm back in 1998, and more recently (2002) had a little chip implanted into some nerve fibers so he could try sending sensations to his wife Irena (who had a similar device implanted). He has his own website: www.kevinwarwick.com. Very cool, albeit a bit frightening, stuff; but at least this particular scientist is true to his cause - he experiments on himself and other willing human participants! The hopes are that one day his research might help people with nerve damange become able to control their limbs again. And talk about something reminiscent of Borg technology - he even goes so far to think that perhaps one day we could become electronically telepathic. Whoo hoo. Potential Collective, there.

Phew.

And here I am, a measly 26-year-old munching on garlic and chicken noodle soup whilst "skipping" work because of mere flulike symptoms. At least I'm working on a Networking Degree. Thank goodness for inspiration.

I need Yoo-hoo. If only...I had...strength...to open...bottle...

Where's that brain implant when I need it...?!

~nvnohi

EasyOffice

This is a rather large download, but well worth it. I just discovered a handy little trick that I've never seen in MS-Word: Read Text Aloud.

Yes, fine Word fans everywhere, there is such a thing as cool outside your popular application! So, what am /I/ using it for? Sleep-learning! Yep, you copy and paste the text you want to "read" into EasyWord, and then have "Mary" read it aloud for you. Then you can wander about the house, or go to sleep, whatever, and on some level you've got these words filtering into your brain. Cool, huh?

Anyway, head over to Download.com to get this cool office applications suite.

~nvnohi

Short Elven Priestess

I'm the Short Elven Priestess Of Elfwood Forest,
casting enchantments over unsuspecting, taller, man-elves and
threatening threats with the Sword Of Hope and the Bow of Reddened
Light!! My cape flashes before thy eyes and with a single twist to
the music in the air, I am gone, leaving precious, magical pixel dust
shimmering upon the leaves of every tree!!

Okay, so I simply didn't want to lose that... this is a good place to store such cool descriptions of one's new character!

MOZILLA FIREBIRD!!! OMG!!!

I thought /MOZILLA/ was awesome! I hadn't seen ANYTHING yet!! Mom's over, both of us feeling poorly, and so we're surfin' the 'net. Hey, what else are we gonna do? Anyway, she found mozilla.org and asked what "firebird" was. I thought it was an email client. No! That's /thunderbird/!! So I got curious and thought, "Hmmmm..." The next thing I knew I was reading about it on Selene and thought again, "Hmmmmm..." THEN I'd downloaded it just for kicks.

Guess what? This is like, the /coolest/ browser ever! It loads SUPER fast, and doesn't even /install/ into Windows. It seems to be completely standalone. I unzipped it into a directory, double-clicked the .exe file, and bingo, there's Mozilla Firebird, already hooked right up to its own site. I found options and changed the default web page to my usual one (my links page), and it worketh! Every time I make a change this little .dat file changes in the directory. This is VERY neat. And talk about customization! I quickly figured out how to destroy the ever-present toolbar and add the buttons I actually wanted to the area with File Edit View etc (only added the stop button and address box, everything else is KEYBOARD-oriented for my purposes) and now I've got a nice large workspace. I could, in all likelihood, copy this whole folder to a CD or another partition and simply flop it back on there when I redo everything - no reinstalling options, nothing, just a c/p of the whole folder. Awesome.

AND I even installed a new theme, not that I really needed it with the number of icons /I/ use, but it was purple, so, you know... ;)

Mozilla Firebird. Same functionality of Mozilla 1.5, but faster and with less Windows integration. I really need to learn linux. They've got some great geekthoughts working out there.

~nvnohi

I FISSED IT!! (the favourites button issue)

Specs: Logitech Black Elite keyboard with iTouch software v2.15.264, and Mozilla v1.5 operating on W98se platform.

Issue: iTouch incompatible with Mozilla at this time - specialized internet buttons do not open webpages if Mozilla is set as default browser.

MY issue: Favorites button needs to be linked to Yahoo Groups login page using Mozilla as default browser. Will not open anything despite manual insertion of html address.

Steps taken: Emailed Logitech to ask that they support Mozilla in some future release of their software. Then decided to find some way around this problem in the meantime.

Resolution: Open iTouch software and change Favorites button to open a Program instead of a website. In the path box, I entered this:

C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe http://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.intl=us&.src=ygrp&.done=http://groups.yahoo.com%2F

This, in effect, opens mozilla.exe (which is Mozilla's browser), and then opens Groups Login afterward using Mozilla. You could, of course, modify the website following the path to Mozilla's executable with any other website address.

It worketh perfectlyeth. We are happy. And feeling quite geeky. And very pleased with ourselves. Yes, it's a simple fix, but it's the simple things I seldom think of. Bah hah hah.

~nvnohi

Logitech Keyboard - Black Elite

I just want to praise this keyboard, even though it doesn't support Mozilla at the moment as far as its extra "internet" keys go. Also, note that I bought this about a year ago, but I didn't have this blog then. The reason I thought to write this, in fact, is because I just emailed the Logitech peoples requesting they support Mozilla, and ran across a few reviews of this baby. I HAD to add my own opinions. That's ego for you.

First off, I bought it because a lady at work got the blue/gray version of this keyboard, and I had the priviledge of typing on it for a few days whilst filling in for her. O...M...G... talk about bliss!! I checked out the prices and decided against buying one since it was over $20 - I spent $6 on my awesome (yet simple) IBM keyboard with no frills whatsoever aside from being black and quite comfy on the lap.

Then we were told we could order any keyboard and mouse we wanted for the computer in the main area where I /normally/ work. I immediately recommended the Black Elite, having seen it out there when looking at that blue/gray one. WE GOT IT!!

Well, I fell in love with it immediately and had it all programmed within an hour. It was then that I knew I would have to get one for home, despite a hefty pricetag of $53. For someone who normally spends $6 on a keyboard, that's a lot. It was well-worth it.

I had a few issues getting it to work with Winamp 3 when it came out, but Logitech has since fixed that so there's no need to hack it any more like I had to do. Strangely, while no support is listed for winamp 5.1, it works perfectly!

The look: sleek, black, rounded, flat keyboard with silverish accents around the audio and wheel controls. It really does resemble something out of a science fiction movie. My ultimate dream is to get a special chair and attach this keyboard to a movable arm like in Star Trek. LOL.

The feel: Very light touch. The keys seem very loose, but it's not broken! The tippity-tap of keystrokes is quieter than even my IBM (which I thought was fairly quiet). It's easy to type fast on this thing if you've got the nimble fingers to go with it. I've easily reached 73wpm.

The features: Eight programmable (albeit pre-labelled) keys which can access any site or folder or file you want. With the F-Lock key you also have 12 F keys that you can program with the same diversity. The best part, however, is the set of media controls. The software has been updated since Winamp 3 came out and it works well even with Winamp 5.1. It also seems to work well with Media Player and MusicMatch Jukebox (we have those at work). Very handy in the office for playing music because of the Mute button - phone calls can now be answered in one ring instead of three! The navigation wheel on the left side of the keyboard is great when set to volume - it's very handy and easily accessible to the left ring finger (at least for me). I prefer this over the circular wheel at the top of the keyboard (although I prefer /that/ over the buttons used on the gray/blue version of the keyboard). It's simply more accessible for such a thing. This is by far the most handy feature I've ever seen. You can also use it to switch applications, zoom in, scroll, access Favourites, and go into My Pictures and My Music. Obviously I seldom use them, but it's easy to press the wheel and select the new choice. The Go button is great when used with I.E., but unfortunately the eight keys and the Go button do not work with Mozilla. ::cries::

My ONLY real gripe (aside from wanting it to be fully compatible with Mozilla) is that the F-Lock key cannot seem to be programmed to come on automatically at bootup. I seldom use the programmable F keys but do use the normal windows F keys often (especially Alt-F4 to close programs). This is annoying. However, I've become accustomed to simply turning it on after entering my keytext password, so it's not THAT evil and fully ignorable considering the media controls and the typing comfort.

I now understand why people pay big bucks for keyboards. LOL. Oh yeah, and naming this keyboard the "Elite" certainly appeals to certain types of computer lovers, lol.

Feeling happily geeky today,

~nvnohi