…at night anyways.

Canon 20D. A bell tower at the center of North Campus.

Didn’t have my tripod with this one, nor did I remember my camera went up to ISO 3200. Ouch. Still, in a creepy science-fictiony way, not too bad…

Yes…a very interesting Photoshop Parody tomorrow, if I’m not connived into working all day. Hmmm….

Anyhow, here is a picture of my LAN setup:

Canon 20D

I’m showing this because I’m planning on writing a how-to on setting up a home LAN, wired and wireless. In the picture above, you can see a slightly overkill 24 port patch panel, a wireless router, a too small 8 port switch, and the cable modem. Ahh, the tech life. Sadly, I never got around to putting a port in the kitchen and one in the living room. Why wired? Well, as much as I love wireless, some of the devices I have are wired (print server), and quite often I have a machine home with me that needs to be worked on, and it, conveniently, doesn’t have a wireless card. And because, well, the cost was about the same. Oh, and doesn’t EVERYONE want ethernet ports in their walls?

I like to think I get along with technology. I named my laptop Lady Ti, my iPod Podkins. I’m the kind of person you go to when there is a computer problem - only for it to disappear when I arrive. A disturbing incident happened the other day. I was at Home Depot, signing the electronic screen thing. I clicked “Accept” and it rebooted. I have no clue what this means.

Well, perhaps the device had an unrecoverable error, the cord shorted, etc… but whatever, it can’t be good.

Frank J. has asked his blogging readers to identify ourselves, so the liberals can send the paddy-wagon to pick us up. I weighed the pros and cons, and figure I could use an excuse to get out of class early.

1. Who the heck do you think you are?

Me?

Yes, you.

Ah, well. No one in particular. I tend to think of myself as a normal person living in a crazy world. Particularly painful is my view of reality, and how it tends to fall out of alignment with everybody’s expectations.

2. So, other than blogging, what’s your job? Do you work at some fast food joint, dumba**?

I work at a graphic design company. It’s actually part of a University, but still, it’s a great job. Sort of like how Frank always talks about sarahk, I *could* always talk about my job, how much it rocks, and the cool people there. But I won’t. I will tell you I do a mix of computer support (OS X), graphic design, framing, and signage work.

3. Do you have like any experience in journalism, idiot?

Yes! See my links to the side.

4. Do you even read newspapers?

Yes, sort of. I read the Michigan Review, the only independent and well thought out paper at U-M. Though I don’t always agree with their articles, at least they discuss important issues.

5. Do you watch any other news than FOX News propaganda, you ignorant fool?

Yes. I also listen to Rush Limbaugh propaganda, Sean Hannity propaganda, and NPR propaganda if I’m forced to listen to it. If I’m able to, I listen to Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM for kicks.

6. I bet you’re some moron talk radio listener too, huh?

Oops! I also am psychic.

7. So, do you get a fax from the GOP each day for what to say, you @#$% Republican parrot?

Since I try to avoid political issues, no. If they wanted to, I’d be all for it. Let’s talk ($$$, ahem) people.

8. Why do you and your blogger friends want to silence and fire everyone who disagrees with you, fascist?

I don’t really have any blogger friends, depressing, huh?

9. Are you completely ignorant of other countries, or do you actually own a passport?

I do own a passport! [Is this question so the lefties can ship us out of the country? - ed]

10. Have you even been to another country, you dumb hick?

Yeah, if you count Canada as another country. Oh, and Yugoslavia. Plus I saw Australia on TV.

11. If you’re so keen on the war, why haven’t you signed up, chickenhawk?

. . .

12. Do you have any idea of the horrors of war? Have you ever reached into a pile of goo that was your best friend’s face?

No, hopefully never.

13. Have you ever reached into any pile of goo?

There was the dead raccoon I walked by for over four weeks.

14. Once again, who the heck do you think you are?!

What?

Heh. Bad pun, eh? If you notice, this is filed under the category “Things.” Appropriate, if for no other reason than why I created the category. Throughout my life, I was obsessed with making “things.” I don’t know why, I just like making them.

Things are defined as:

Noun. Anything made by me. Usually made of paper, glue, tinfoil, straws, toothpics. Often representative of something found in nature or man made. Not necessarily proportional, to scale, or realistic. Generally made when I have a big project looming, and am trying to avoid responsibility. Usage: Boy, oh boy, I just made some things. OR WOW! Look at the thing John made. What is it John, a horse?

Pretty simple definition, I should say so myself. Often times I find myself trying to make something - like a forest (hence the bad pun) - out of scraps of paper. I just made this yesterday, for no particularly good reason. I just saw a sliver of craft paper, and thought it would make a nice pine tree.

Canon 20D. It’s a big wide river. Has to be, if those trees are to scale. See what I meant about scale?

Canon 20D. Notice the holes? Those were necessary because I cut V shaped slits in the mat board for the trees.

As soon as I’m able to put together a setup, I’ll be taking pictures of all the things I’ve made.

Wow:

Hindrocket at Power Line blog writes: Michelle Malkin is all over the story. Michelle has what it takes to be a great blogger: she suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. And I mean that as the highest possible praise.

I suppose that means I already have a head start!

For all those of you who happen to land at this site, either because of a MSN search or because of a sneakily placed Engadget reference, take a look around. I’m not highly predictable, so eventually SOMETHING you like will come up.

Not much more to say, been studying for a horrible math exam.

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

I’ve been seriously hoping that we have a huge ice storm, the entire city of Ann Arbor loses power, and it take 3 days to get everything back in shape. Oh, don’t get me wrong. There could be bouts of biblical flooding, U-M Ann Arbor would still stay open, and U-M Flint would open “2 hours late.” It’s a problem when you are a commuter at a college that is mainly made up of non-commuters. I just think that my professors might delay the exam a few days, what with the large scale freezing. Probably too much to ask for.

Sigh. This is sort of embarrassing, sort of pathetic. At some point in the past, I decided I needed a companion watch for my pocketwatch. There were times when I was wearing a pair of pants that didn’t have the extra little pocket to hold it safely. So, I set out on a journey to find “just the right watch”. It had some embarrassing consequences. Now I must warn you, I am not rich, materialistic, or into fine goods. I do appreciate well made, Italian or USA made goods. Usually the sticking point is the price.

It all starts off on a nice day. I’m surfing the net, and decide to pop into Urban Outfitters, a “trendy” store with questionably dressed models. And what do I see but this:

Canon 20D

It was on sale, but there was one slight problem that caused some frustration. I get the watch, color labeled brown, and inspect it, decide I really like it, and wear it around campus. I’m meeting some teammates for a project we were working on - am in the basement of this horrible library - and look at the watch. To my horror, the watch is PURPLE. Not only is it purple, but it wasn’t purple when I left home. I do a frantic search on the net, and find out Urbn seems to have mislabeled it. Thankfully it’s purpleness is subdued under most light, but it gave me a shock that day. The proper color name is “eggplant,” though it varies in intensity depending on the type of overhead lights.

In the meantime, Urbn had another watch on sale, but this one was out of stock:

Canon 20D

It kind of bugged me, because I did NOT want to pay list for this watch. I checked eBay, did some searching, and could not locate the watch. Via Google I finally found a seller who had it on sale, and in addition to the Yota, they had this radically different “film watch,” made by Casio:

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

Problem was, they wanted a lot of $$ for the film watch. Stupidly, I ordered both. While those were eventually going to arrive, I decided to search for the film watch. First Google - no luck - then eBay. Sure enough, one seller, in Taiwan no less, was selling EXACTLY the same watch, at half the price. I jumped on the eBay deal. This meant I could send the costly film watch BACK when it arrived. But then something happened, I decided to order a second so if something happened to my new watch, I would have a replacement. Bad move. This means I have:

1) Space Yota and $$ Pella

2) Pella on eBay

3) Backup Pella on eBay

AND

4) wrong watch

All in the mail headed towards me. Items 2 & 4 arrive, the correct eBay Pella and the wrong watch (I didn’t know it was the wrong one until I opened it). The next say or so item 1 arrives, and I set out to return both $$ Pella and item 4. Confused? Because the seller sent the wrong watch, I had to return not one watch, but TWO. So, I decide to send them from work, since it’s easier to pay my UPS tab. I bring one watch to our UPS person, have her fill out the forms. I laughingly tell her about getting the watch but finding one cheaper. Problem is, I had both watches to return, and when I walk into the work area, one of my coworkers is holding the mistakenly sent watch. The person who wrote the UPS order followed me into the area, and seeing the second watch was a bit confused. There was no way I could explain myself.

The last watch, the Casio, is probably the coolest (and is certainly the cheapest) of the three. Not only are the numbers in the round, but the time display has three modes; 1) Digital time + date; 2) Digital time + pendulum (little animated animals); 3) Digital Analog Hands with seconds sweep. The address book is cooler - the names and number shoot in from the sides, and if the number is too long, the numbers and names rotate. I don’t really use world time, but it is nice to know I can tell the time in 24 time zones.

I’m doomed, doomed I say! I have an impending test in 2 hours and 26 minutes (+/- 5 minutes) had a test. Agggg. I keep getting the feeling like I’m being led to my own execution…

All rise, as the honorable Judge hands down his sentence:

Judge: You have been sentenced to death by paper! Any last words?

Me: Yes, I’ll have pepperoni on my tombstone.

Well, I HOPE it’s not that bad, but this is my first hour long test (all the rest have been 2 hours), so I’m not too sure what it’s going to be like. I keep envisioning I’m going to look at my test and just blank out - it happened in 320, it can happen here.

with a loaded school/work schedule, not having yet-implemented some sort of picture gallery (I’m still searching* for a good one!), and all of my photos in a mess, I’m trying to make at least one post a day, whether it is a picture, cheesy parody, or ill writtten satire. Sigh.

Canon 20D + Bellows

But have no fear! I will post again. Anyways, I have a TON of cheesy pointless short “stories” that I’ve posted on the web in the past. Afterall, if I don’t have the time to invent new content, I’ll just reuse it.

It’s pretty simple, actually. From CNN, via Reuters:

Separately, Bush said his 2006 budget, which will be sent to Congress next week, will have “strong” funding to develop hydrogen-fueled cars, cleaner burning coal and increase ethanol production.

Bush’s national energy plan includes opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling, a move opposed by moderate Republicans, Democrats and environmental groups.

For those of you who were against the war in Iraq (hippie, cough), you could have prevented this. All you had to do was let Bush drill for oil in the FIRST place. As much as I like trees, open land, and spotted owl (mmmm, spotted owl), we should be able to do some drilling. For Pete’s sake, we had to invade a country to drill for oil! Bush felt it was easier to go to war with Saddam than fight the environmentalists at home.

PS - this, of course, requires that you actually believe that our motivation was to go into Iraq for oil, which is one kook theory dreamt up by the “300mpg” carburetor people.

Also, I think I’m going to add a Satire category…

I often ask myself this question, wondering how effective, say, 20 undergrads would be versus one janitor - changing a lightbulb. Not to shed bad light on undergrads, I’m one as it is, but one incident struck me as the power, or lack thereof, of a collective body of students. Now, I need to make clear that I DID NOT call Public Safety (DPS) either, but I’m exempt, because, uh, well, you know.

The map above shows the parking lot I park in, and the path I set off on to walk to class (Orange lot, the yellow indicates Graduate student parking). Two weeks before Thanksgiving (Fall 2004), a dead raccoon appeared on the grass right next to the sidewalk (marked by the red “X”). Now, I really like raccoons, and was deeply saddened by it’s untimely demise. That being said, SOMEONE needs to clean it up.

You need to realize the context - the sidewalk is not often traveled by students - bus’s run every ten minutes - it’s about 1 USA city block to walk to the nearest building (well, main ME buildings). Still, there should have been enough students who said, “Sure, I’ll call DPS, and ask them who to contact.” Not that I can tell. I promised myself - if that animal hasn’t disappeared by the time I get back from vacation, I’ll call DPS. Sure enough, the animal didn’t disappear. I waited a few weeks, snow came, then the snow melted, animal still there.

Weeks later, I decide to call. By now, the raccoon is frozen, sort of like Hans Solo being frozen in carbonite. I couldn’t ask DPS to dig through the snow (Arrr, ye walk three paces t’ th’ port once ye pass th’ lightpost. Turn t’ th’ sun, an’ dig fer 3 minutes.), nor was I going to clear the snow and call them. I did the next best thing: nothing.

Once the snow melts, I will call DPS. Only if another student doesn’t do it first.

Update: 2/15/2005 I called!!! By this time, all the snow had melted, and the poor little raccoon looked like a ball of white rags, with a (shudder) spine. Gross. Thankfully, he was gone by the time I left for the day. Had they not seen him, I feared they’d think I was being a prankster. The woman I spoke to on the phone laughed when I said it’d been there since Thanksgiving.

Don’t know. I found this graphic on Engadget, but it appears they replaced it with a newer, slightly LESS appropriate image. Odd.

Basically, Microsoft thought it wise to name the new Xbox as Xbox 360… however, I thought it was a stupid name, and if they had only named it Xbox 180 it would have fit better. Sorta like, “Microsoft is doing a 180 on the Xbox design” or some such nonsense.

Not that I hate Microsoft, but somehow this just fits.

Update: Just to clarify, Engadget NEVER used the 180 graphic. Perhaps had I worded it differently, it may have appeared as satire.

Update: Just changed the link to a static Flickr version.

Update: The contest is over, I lost, and, well, is there much else to say? To see the original image, click here.

Ummm, if you didn’t know already, “Please, please, please” vote for me. You only have until the end of February.

Those of you at work reading this might ask, “What other pictures did you consider?” After all, not EVERY thing in life has green tentacles and is of alien origin. Well astute reader, I have put up a few images (at no expense to the bandwidth) of some Thistle. The consensus was, while these are nice images, they need further, uh, refinement (cropping mainly). And could use some tentacles.

Nikon Coolpix 995

Nikon Coolpix 995

Nikon Coolpix 995

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

At least the getting up part. Ugh. Once I was on the road, I decided to try out that often difficult, and slightly risky, driving-car-while-operating-picture-box. Turned out so-so.

Canon 20D

Canon 20D

I made the last one B&W. Not in camera, though that is possible. And yes, that IS fog. This is Michigan, right? No sense in January sticking to the things it does best.