mBrewer

1500 miles of the AT, photos, dating Jess, moved to SF ... stuff

2009-10-21T00:29:01Z

Hmmm, I should've updated before now. I meant to update when I got off the AT, and... again when I moved into SF... and maybe again when... yeah.

Ummm, yeah. I ended up hiking 1500 miles on the AT, but stopped in MA due to time limitations. It was more fun to hike it slow and see things than to run through. Jess got off at 1000 miles and then went to work on a farm in North Virginia, where she's been having a great time learning how to farm. We both had an amazing time on the trail, and life really hasn't been the same since. "My world's on fire, how 'bout yours, that's the way I like it and I'll never get bored" comes to mind.

I now live in the Mission in SF with cpride, Jess is moving in next month. Still working at Google, My new job relates to webcrawling (still SRE). I'm doing parkour, running, biking, exploring the city, meeting new people, dancing, going to crazy music concerts, bringing home hobos, and generally running about and having a good time.

Going back to AT stuff, we finally have some photos up (but not all)
Jess just posted the best from the middle period of photos (about the
middle 750 miles).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smalladventures/sets/72157622620323846/
All of them we have uploaded so far are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smalladventures/collections/72157621147753919/
www.smalladventures.net under trail-logs has all of the info we've so-far posted about the trail - including photos links.

Anyway, I should really update this thing for major life changes, rather than like 3 major life changes (finished 1500 miles on AT, moved to the mission in SF, changed positions at work, dating Jess...).

Hiking the AT

2009-05-26T22:27:14Z

I'm hiking the AT!
Sorry this post is so late, I started on april 16'th. Anyone curious on progress etc. see www.smalladventures.net - it actually links to a livejournal account being updated by Jess' (my girlfriend's, for anyone not following the gossip) mother.

Anyway, life is great, but I gotta get the heck out of this town, I'm currently in domascus and need to get on the trail tonight. ttyl all!

phone number change

2009-02-02T22:16:32Z

I gave up and changed my phone number to the one I've been using for about a
week. Here it is:
650-861-0224

My current contact information etc. is of course on my/jess' website.
Note - the old URL is being phased out, we're now using "www.smalladventures.net"
Also, we switched to flickr image hosting so hopefully images will appear on the site soon. To this end all my photos, and photos for the site (and maybe some of jess'), are posted on http://flickr.com/photos/smalladventures

I tried to migrate the phone number but failed. So I'm spamming everywhere, sorry.

I live! (and have a website)

2008-05-06T03:40:48Z

I'm going to remind people again to please call my new number. I think most people have gotten it now.

Also, I put up a website for anyone curious "www.boxxen.org". It's not amazing, and YES there are spelling errors... lots and lots of them. I will get around to correcting it... someday... or maybe I won't out of spite :-b. I need to put more stuff up, like finishing the kernel spec that's up there, and putting tons more backpacking info up, and and... oh man.

Anyway, life is still awesome. Lots of cool people. I'm playing frisbee twice a week, and playing guitar on the lawn a lunch with other people once a week. I went to a jam session last week and met cool people to jam with in the future. I went to the makers fair this weekend, and I mean... what is there to say about an event involving fire, a working model of babbages difference engine, a model navel battle with remote control ships ACTUALLY sinking each other, fire, robots, working steam powered cars... and oh yeah... FIRE! I walked to the nearby climbing wall on sunday (4.5 miles away) and went climbing. I am week! I need to climb more again. The week before I did about 30 miles or so down in Santa Cruz with 'rhetta. It was a good time, the wind though made us turn around, and pelted us somewhat painfully with sand. It's gorgeous out there. I got sunburned because I'm stupid, but it mostly turned to tan, not much peeling. I was shirtless but wearing a backpack, so now I have a very funny tanline :-b

I'm going backpacking with Jess in seattle in a couple of weeks. I can't wait. I'm trying to get back to walking a bit before that because I've only been biking and running, and the muscles are a bit different. I'm also spending a week just working in the google seattle office up there first (I'm getting there around 1pm I think on saturday the... 18'th?). Thus, I'll have time to hang out with people up there. So seattle people, come play!

I'm getting close to paying off my college loans (very soon now) and then I will start seriously looking at cars, rather than idly looking. That's exciting.

That's pretty much my life. Yup... just thaught I'd put up an update.

awesome weekend

2008-02-18T03:53:17Z

Friday afternoon we had a social TGIF, I ran into a few interesting people, had a beer but wandered off after a bit. That evening DFontain and I drove up to SF and met up with Em and Alanv for dinner (yay Soba!), then dropped Alanv and collected Shiue (with much getting lost on the way) to go dancing. Em informed me that the single beer had made me a bit more bouncy than normal. We went to Mighty where they were playing breakbeats. We had a few drinks, of which I drank the bulk, presumably staying bouncy? I don't know. Shiue left after a while and Dfontain, Em and I danced until 3am (that being about 4 hours'ish I think?) and finally went home pretty tired and rather sweaty. It was wonderfully awesome. YAY dancing! I must do this more often. There is not enough time to do enough things more often, this is frustrating.

On Saturday I went up to SF and went bed shopping with Em. She acquired a very nice mattress actually. I find it interesting that very few of the mattresses they had either of us actually liked. They all have squishy pillow tops that seem to contribute nothing to overall comfort and just make the top feel "soft". But then you sink in and that makes your feet kinda high and twists your hips a little funny. It turns out that only the "lower end" of mattresses come without pillow tops these days... seems very silly to me.

I am still trying to acquire a futon. Or rather, I am trying again. I sent some E'mails this evening to craig's-list people. I think if these E'mails don't pan out I will just give in and buy a new futon mattress this week to sleep on and continue looking for a second mattress and frame for the living room. Mattresses do actually wear out, so I feel a little less bad buying that new than I would a frame.

Otherwise, life as usual. Work as usual. Not enough sleep while on call due to lack of internets at home, snowboarding is awesome, writing some code, funny laptop problems, funny WAN card problems, got clipless pedals, more WAN card problems, some more WAN card problems, deleting some code at work, and that brings us up to date. Life is good. I need dinner.

bike fork

2008-01-13T02:07:39Z

Well... apparently you can bend a bike fork.
It figures, my first experience with a cyclocross bike, and I bend the fork in a minor fall... so much for "Oh yeah, it's tough enough, you won't break it"... lol

on Thursday I was biking to work, and there was a light sprinkle. I was making a right hand turn on a sidewalk and my front wheel lost traction, and I fell over. No big deal really right? I didn't hit anything, and was completely uninjured.

Well, I pick my bike up and the front wheel won't spin because one brake is jammed against the rim, and, the left shifter/brake unit is spun about 10 degrees inwards from where it should be, and the rim looks basically undamaged as does the shifter. After releasing the brakes it turned out that the rim was very slightly out of true, but very little, and the wheel would still roll with the brake released, but the fork had in fact twisted, and the handlebar to fork mounting (the stem) hadn't budged!

I took it down to the bike shop today and they looked a bit confused. It's a steel fork for what's known to be one of the tougher cyclocross frames on the market. They said that it was actually the "crown" that was bent, that is the bit that attaches the two tines to the steering shaft. They are going to see if they can get it under warranty, but since it's a crash it's quite unlikely. So, hopefully they'll get it fixed "soon".

So apparently it IS possible to bend a steel fork using only pressure from a bike rim WITHOUT bending the rim significantly.... who knew? I guess I win or something.

Airline Bomb Threat

2007-12-26T04:38:18Z

So, I don't mean to post too often, but I feel this is somewhat noteworth.
Anyone hear about that plane, which flew from Las Vegas to Bradley international in Hartford CT? The one that was landed in Omaha Nebraska? Well... I was on that flight.

So, we're flying along, and I noticed a major change in the engine sound for about 5 minutes or so and was kindof confused. Finally the Pilot told us that we were landing in Omaha because some drunk person who missed the flight in Las Vegas had threatened to blow up the airplane. And that no-one was allowed to use the bathrooms. So... we landed in Omaha, and taxi'd off to the middle of nowhere. Then... we sat there... for a very long time.
Finally they had us get out of the plane, but leave our luggage. It was 10F outside, so they let us take jackets etc. They bussed us off to a warehouse where we sat for a while, and they gave us chips, candy, and water, and finally let everyone pee. While we were off the plane they ran dogs through it to check for explosives and decided everything was chill. They then bussed us back over to the airplane. The airplane then taxi'd over to the airport, got refueled and crud, and took off again.
Except that the entire affair was completely rediculas (I cracked up when he announced it), it was handled fairly well.

It's very interesting to watch people in situations like this. Lots of people make slightly off-color jokes, they get a lot more friendly. Suddenly I was having a lively conversation with the woman sitting next to me on the plane, all about what each of us do and where were from and all of that stuff. It was also interesting too see what people complained about. Not being able to smoke, having to leave kids toys.

It was odd that they DIDN'T actually sniff US with dogs. No doubt this post will be read by the FBI or homeland security or something. I'm sorry for giving away that little "secret", but we all know security by obscurity is bull anyway, so give it up.

Anyway, surprise surprise, it was no big deal, and I got here safe, about 4 hours late (4.10 AM.. officially 3:15, I have no idea how that works).

etopiei @ 2007-12-04T01:30:00

2007-12-04T09:43:53Z

Alright, progress since last update.
Met an amuzing human ('rhetta) at thanksgiving at Purple/Brian's apt, hung out with her once since then. Also found out Katherine Barataone lives here. YAAY more peoples!
I finally got a debt card that works. Funny story about that, it turns out that numeric pads on keyboards are flipped vertically from numeric pads on ATMs. Who would've guessed? I think that tells enough of the story
I have a REAL drivers license now, this has made the ucharacteristically frequent trips to bars somewhat simpler.
I've been hanging out with a lot of germans and russians (this might explain the bars).
At work I'm learning a lot, and there's tons more to learn. I think I've got another week or so before I give up on trying to get background and just start doing shit. It's pretty awesome, and the people are awesome. I'm here now because I was having an interseting conversation with someone until quite recently.
I finally gave in and got a facebook account. I needed it for searching out some people (read, facebook stalking). And, as I should have expected it has already yeilded further utility in announcing to a good friend from highschool my general whereabouts. A friend who I had simply forgetten to inforom. I'm also mildly disturbed at the general rapiddity of response to friend requests.
I even have furniture now in the form of 2 Google bean-bag chairs.

Yup, so life is awesome. My new bike is STILL awesome. About the only thing left to desire is more vacation time and a hot/interesting (as if those two could be seperated) girlfriend.

At long last, another post

2007-11-05T05:05:57Z

Hey! I finally figured out why I couldn't post to LJ! My firefox configs were broken and it wouldn't accept cookies AT ALL EVER. I "rm -rf .mozilla" and everything is fine now.

So... lots to tell.

First, I'm working for Google now. I just moved to Mountain View. I start work on Monday (the 11/5). I took a month off between jobs to just hang, and learn to drive. I am going to be a "Site Reliability Engineer". I gave up trying to say what I'm doing, it's not "programmer" or "sysadmin" so there's no single word for it. I have a 1 bedroom about 1 1/4 mile from Google, which is AWESOME. I'm going to go carless for a while at least. I think I got more space than I need though... we'll see when my shit gets here.

During my break my dad and I flew out here to find an apartment, get a bank account out here, get renters insurence, get a bike, and visit my grandmother and aunt up in Sacramento. That was pretty awesome actually. I got to learn more about my dad, and we drove around and saw the coast range, Santa-Cruz, the Sierra Nevada's, and I got to see my grandma who I last saw when I was 12, and aunt who I've only barely even met before.

Our goat died on Tuesday night. Dad and I buried her Wednesday morning after he found her. My family now owns no goats, and no kitties. We're pretty sure both cats were eaten by hawks ::tear::. I miss fuzzy animals.

I have a driver's license, WOOHOO! thank you Daniel (my older brother). Currently it's a temp though, which makes some ID stuff annoying. I'm hoping Google will let me start work with just the temp and my college ID.

All of my stuff is being shipped from MA right now, so currently I have my laptop, my travel guitar, an extra shirt, my sarong, A sleeping pad and sleeping bag, and all of the stuff that I normally carry in my backpack.

I'm having some troubles with the bike I bought, but I should get that sometime this week. It's a shiny new cyclocross bike with 10-34 rear gear set, Surly cross-check frame, drops, and interrupter levers. I can't wait to try it out.
So far since coming here I have acquired:
a shower curtain and rings
a baking sheet
silverware
8 teacups (1 dollar)
basic cleaning and hygene essentials

I have walked about 35 miles in the last 3 days. The day before that I flew to Mountain view. The day before that I moved a huge amount of wood, buried a goat, and shipped everything I own. Exercise is a wonderful thing.

I've been hanging out with DKB and Dfontain some, so that's cool. Walked in the park yesterday. Yup... that's my life right now.

backpacking trip

2007-08-21T02:25:47Z

Got back from backpacking. Had a really good time. There are lots to tell, for details check out Jess' LivcJournal, I believe she's posting something like a trail log. Suffice to say that it was a rather epic Adventure. Including the rainbow family reuinion, fighting ermine, walking 25 miles or so in one day with a pack, old growth forests, getting lost, drunk hicks, running out of water, and amazing views etc. I'm currently looking for new housing from now till the end of september'ish, maybe a bit longer. Anybody got anything?

Here's what I remember:

Day 0: hiked in a short distance, decided we were getting lost, ate dinner and went to sleep on a hill with no tarp. Slept well

Day 1: hiked about 15 miles, basically a nice day, we feel pretty good

day 2: hiked about 15 miles, a little more tired, lots of oil drilling in the national forest, LOTS, and all new. Saw a buldozer

day 3: hiked about 15 miles, still a little more tired, found a tender for a steam engine and some very old oil rigs. We figure this area was either strip mined or at least clearcut. There were LOTS of earthworks at some point. The oil rigs used electric motors. The tender was either for oil or wood, being of the classic U design.

day 4: reached hearts content, had some map problems on the way, so did some backtracking milage. Walked between some REALLY cool boulders, very pretty scenery.

day 5: a couple of fighting ermine stumbled into camp before we got up, came within about ten feet. Found old growth and and wandered through. VERY cool, not very dense actually, some really tall trees, some tall trees, some short trees, some understory, some ferns, some lower stuff. The ground is very dense with roots, so dense that the trees snap off rather than pulling their roots up when they die. It feels good. As jess said "like a velociraptor might be wandering around somewhere". Forest made up of white pine, Hemlocks, and Beech. left hearts content, on the way out ran into a guy on the road who asked if we were "going home". After some confused conversation it turned out he was referring to the "Rainbow Family Reunion" going on about 7 miles away, we decided to check it out so jumped in his car and went over. It was pretty cool, basically a bunch of people hangin' around in the woods smoking pot and freely sharing food. Cool people, was some fun. We wandered around a while to see what it was about, then left. We just walked down the road till the first person passed and asked if we need a lift (another rainbower of course). We talked to him a bit and he dropped us off near where we met the first guy, about 1/4 mile down 116 from the fork in the trail. Went back to walking, and got in a couple miles but not too much... really no idea how much. This day basically came to a zero day... but a very cool zero day with lots of walking.

day 6: about 15 miles, Walked out of allegheny national forest, camped Illeagally on state game land just outside of allegheny national forest. looked like it would rain so we pitched a tarp, otherwise we were basically stealth camping on mostly fern, so we did little damage.

Having major problems with grass seeds eating our feet... at some point in here Jess gets one embedded in her foot... I got some sores from them on my feet. Very pointy little things. Also at some point in the next couple days we

day 7: about 15 miles, went through cook state forest, ran into some nice guys who gave us a map of cook, lots of big trees, that's cool. Walked onwards, a bit outside of cook and found some state game land, this time pine forest so we REALLY did no damage, slept with no tent. Slept okay, but not great. I believe this was the day where our legs were EATEN by thorns. Miles of thorns, oh god long pants, I finally put on my wind pants and came out only somewhat chopped up, Jess came out covered in scratches.

day 8: about 25 miles, reached clarion, as discovered by talking to an old lady with a young kid riding a "mule" go-kart thing. reached summerville, though not sure. tried to sleep in the back of a field, but I couldn't sleep, jess got about 3 hours, got up and kept walking. Finally slept on the mowed back edge of an old guys unfarmed fields. Slept for several hours. Beutiful view in the morning.

day 9: about 6 miles, ran into old guy who's field we slept on on the road after waking up, nice guy. We didn't tell him anything, figured he wouldn't care anyway. He gave us directions to a delli a couple of miles away. Walked there, through farms, got some food mmmm, real food, walked back. Found another spot no-one seemed to care about and slept for about 3 hours. walked back to route 28 again. wandered around looking for a library to kill an hour, ran into some drunk guys and talked for a while, and finally met kesden at the unimart.

I can't place a few events... somewhere earlier on we discovered problems with the water. Turns out that Hemlock can poison the water, best we figure it's something related to ammonia due to acids in the soil. We also had trouble with what we believe were sulfates due to runoff from farm fields as we got nearer civilizations. Had some real trouble with water actually overall. We also discovered a whole in my filter bag which leaked down the side, so that we had to bend the hose halfway down to make it drip off to the side of the bottle. This meant the siphon was shorter though and greatly slowed the filter rate. The filter itself also jammed somewhat with crud (apparently it's hitting end of life). Ended up using iodine on the 25 mile walk just for time reasons.

Also somewhere in here... I think around day 5 or 6? Jess was bitten by what we believe was a hornet or yellowjacket. Her hand swelled so she couldn't close it, but no other problems.

Lots of different environments. Fields of ferns with deciduous trees, broken deciduous over hemlock, pure hemlock groves, big fields of grass and various thorns with a few trees, very pretty.

etopiei @ 2007-08-04T20:36:00

2007-08-05T00:50:56Z

Right... to those who responded to my last post.
I'm leaving PA at 8:24 and getting to CA at 1:22PM. So I'll probably get out into interesting places to wander around 2:30? I thaught I would get there a little earlier, but that's okay.

I don't know where people want to meet. I'm flying into the airport and planning on taking the Bart directly from there into SF. and wandering around for the afternoon. My plan was then to go back to the airport and pickup the hotel shuttle to the hotel, and cram a little more python that night.

So... people who know things about SF should suggest meeting places or some such. Otherwise I'll just get on the Bart going to east-SF and get off at the first interesting looking stop (you know, like after they start getting dense).

--------
I guess I could do a real LJ type post below this. Well... I'm at home, which will shortly no longer be my home. I'm moving my stuff to the basement of this house just before going backpacking next weekend with Jess till I come back on the 19'th (Kesden is giving us a ride out... he's awesome). About then I'm planning to magically find housing through September, and then I have no idea where I'm going.

So... anybody want stuff? I'm giving things away. I have a backpack I'd happily give away for example. a few bits of computer hardware, a fan, a Microsoft USB keyboard that crashes Linux, a couple belts, some wrist braces, and probably more that I'm not thinking of.

So yeah, that's what I'm up too. currently cleaning packing for this trip, packing over all, and getting rid of stuff. Feeling like allot of things are changing right now, but in a very... it's coming and I'm content with that, sort of way.

going to CA mountainview this sunday

2007-08-03T01:49:43Z

I'm flying out to San-Fran on Sunday morning, so I'll be there most of Sunday. I'm interviewing with Google on Monday from 10:00 to 3:00 and I'm flying out again at 22:00. I'm planning on exploring San-Fran for allot of Sunday before going back to the the airport and grabbing the shuttle to the hotel (before too late of course, sleep is advantageous).

Anyone around who wants to hang out? I don't have a car since I don't have a license, but I have $35 a day for food and they'll reimburse me for taxi's and busses. And of course, I am not completely poor.

a post... first time in a LONG time.

2007-07-14T03:54:14Z

So... I probably should've used this the LAST time I had interesting news to spread around. Like when I got a job at the PDL in the CIC at CMU. Oh well... Probly not too many people still have me listed as a friend on LJ, that's fine, I never post anyway.

Anyway, this is an efficient way to spread information, so, to anyone curious here goes.

Lizza and I just broke up. We're still really good friends. I guess Lizza just kindof... fell out of love. Stuff like that happens, it's okay. I'm sad, she's sad, but it's okay.

I supose that I could make all sorts of cracks about not posting because I'm not angsty... so now I have something livejournal worthy? Nah, it just occured to me that if I don't tell people via some mass network someone will ask me 2 years from now if we're still dating... hell, they probably still will.
Besides that I can say that I'm not really sure where I'm trying to go now. Maybe still San-Francisco area, maybe still to live with Lizza, but just as friends. I don't know, we'll see.

Yup, that's all that I have to say. Maybe I'll post again next year.

etopiei @ 2006-09-06T02:20:00

2006-09-06T06:34:32Z

So... short story, my phone is broken, I'm supposed to get a new one by late thursday'ish.

Long story. The "F" (left) button on my phone died, after wacking it a few times it worked again, this was about a month ago. It's happened a couple of times since, but this last time I couldn't beat it into submission. One of these times I disassembled it and discovered that the buttons are much too "high-tec" to be repairable. So I gave up on my wonderful 8+ year old phone, and my dad is sending me a flip phone. It will only have a digital link, so no longer can I brag that I have 4 bars when you have none, but verizon is phasing out the analog anyway. So I'll see if I get a good enough link, and try it for a week or two. In any case, in this process I have... of course... lost everyone's phone numbers, again. You'd think I would make backups paranoically, but it can't be automated because my phone was so old, so I didn't. I'll try beating my phone up and see if I can get it to register the F key just one last time, but chances are, if I had your number it is now gone.

snow-crash=six-string samurai

2006-09-01T00:26:47Z

I'm reading snow-crash and I'm noticing a startling similarity to six-string samurai. You've got a main charactor who is both a samurai warrior (whatever, close enough), with swords and whit, who also has one other impressive skill. Guitar in one case, hacking in the other. You've got your small cute sidekick, a bit older in snow-crash, but there's a similarity in that she doesn't fight, and she can do a number of things the main charactor can't, surf, be small, pick locks, be not a dufus. In six-string samurai it's the sidekick can fix old mechanical shit.

Just an interesting parallel I think. Both awsome stories, with awsome imagary, and awsome charactors.

life

2006-08-24T00:15:43Z

Right... so my life.
Still no job, working on that. Still here in Pittsburgh, not getting work done.
I went meta again and I'm working on an inference rule compiler, that turns a set inference rules into a function with a big fat case statement. The idea is to then write a compiler in inference rules, and then add to the inference rule compiler a proof checker, and write a proof of the compiler in that. Basically the concept is that this should be the only layer that you ever have to prove... except for the compiler that compiles it... oh well, it's a start.

In other news, lizza is coming back on saturday now, for all who are curious. I'm living in the same place as I did all summer, crooked house, but now with a new housemate Rebecca (I should really learn her last name). She seems pretty cool. Life is good, I'm feeling fit and exercising a lot, playing guitar regularly, all that good stuff. I'm up to about 60 songs typed into my computer that I can play. Now if I can just get some work done as well everything would be perfect. At some point I need to get a new E'mail before my login disappears, I need to bug some people from computer club, still haven't gotten around to it.

Lets see... My parents are getting me a water filter for my birthday, early in case I manage to get out again before it gets cold. I'm very excited about that, and trying my new backpack... OH man, backpacking base weight under 12 lbs, it's exciting. I'm also toying with using my laptop as an affects system for electric guitar. I'm having trouble making it out to get the necicary adapters though (simple, I just have to do it while things are open). Meeting lots of fun new people, there are already some pretty awsome freshman hanging around the clusters etc. So that's pretty neat. Yup yup, life goes, life goes.

If anyone wants to go climbing at any point tell me. I'm totally up for at least once a week, but I haven't been actually getting there. It's so mcuh more fun with other people. I should get my ass to campus so I can start pushing my new andrew config on people like I was trying to sell them a vacume cleaner. TTYL!

new andrew configurations, X etc.

2006-08-24T00:05:56Z

This is a cross post to the KGB B-board, but I figured I should put it here too, since I think people read LJ more than they read the B-board:

I posted something closer to what I think the default login should look like
in my public directory, at ~mbrewer/public/working_home. If anyone is having
trouble with andrew linux configs take a look there.

The config includes a fairly nice, user friendly fvwm2 setup for anyone needing
something to switch to from gnome. I actually based it on Ivan's configs. The
scheme is obviously biased towards my taste, but it's a good starting point,
and should be usable by pretty much anyone.
Many of the niceties I get asked to help repair regularly are included, some of
which are listed below:

- startup message with some simple info for new users
- generally reasonably nice looking X layout
- start button in the lower left hand corner
- menus with many of the most commonly used programs on it
(the items on which actually work)
- xlocking if your gone for a bit
(there are some bugs related to zsh that I'm avoiding for now)
- working delete/backspace keys
- working X forwarding when using ssh
- killing X logs you out
- login with a bash shell
- a nice command prompt
- basic vim configuration (with some sml fixes)

(Yes, I'm aware that this is too long a list to make a good presentation
slide... I don't care)

To anyone who decides to use the configuration, or pieces of it, It'd be
wonderful to get feedback on what features would be good to add, what's
annoying about the current setup, and just generally any ideas you have
on how I could setup a better user interface for your average CMU
student. Also.. please test this on new freshpersons... please!

We're also talking to the andrew people about a few things missing in the current system such as gnome, and 3D acceleration.

etopiei @ 2006-07-13T13:54:00

2006-07-13T17:55:07Z

Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

✓ I miss somebody right now.	✓ I don't watch much TV these days.	× I own lots of books.
× I wear glasses or contact lenses.	× I love to play video games.	× I've tried marijuana.
✓ I've watched porn movies.	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
✓ I curse sometimes.	× I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	✓ I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me. (Several in fact)

* * * * *

× I have broken someone's bones.	× I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal.	× I hate the rain. (Rain is AWSOME)
✓ I'm paranoid at times. (Your not paranoid if their really after you)	× I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free. (WTF? I'm awsome, what would I fix?)	✓ I need/want money right now. (Need to fix my bike)
✓ I love sushi. (YAAY!)	✓ I talk really, really fast. (Sometimes, my parents are from California)	× I have fresh breath in the morning. (I wish)
✓ I have long hair.	× I have lost money in Las Vegas.	✓ I have at least one sibling. (Awsome brother)
× I was born in a country outside of the U.S.	× I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past. (I used fingernail strengthener once, but it didn't work well enough for guitar)	× I couldn't survive without Caller I.D. (what's that?)
✓ I like the way that I look. (Fewer zitz is all I would change)	× I have lied to a good friend in the last 6 months.	✓ I am usually pessimistic. (I prefer realistic)
✓ I have a lot of mood swings. (Between happy and happier recently.)	✓ I think prostitution should be legalized. (Meh... why not?)	× I slept with a roommate.
× I have a hidden talent. (I tell everyone everything and I'm a total showoff, not likely.)	✓ I'm always hyper no matter how much sugar I have.	✓ I have a lot of friends. (HI!!!)
✓ I have pecked someone of the same sex. (Truth or Dare)	× I enjoy talking on the phone. (Hate it)	× I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
× I love to shop and/or window shop.	× I'm obsessed with my Xanga or Livejournal.	× I'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother. (My mom is awsome)
✓ I have a mobile phone.	× I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months. (Never)	✓ I've rejected someone before. (Several in highschool)
✓ I currently like/love someone. (You know who)	✓ I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life. (Well... not NO idea, just an inkling)	× I want to have children in the future. (Maybe, not in the plans now though)
✓ I have changed a diaper before. (My mom did daycare)	× I've called the cops on a friend before.	× I'm not allergic to anything.
✓ I have a lot to learn. (There's SOO much)	× I am shy around the opposite sex.	✓ I'm online 24/7, even as an away message.
✓ I have at least 5 away messages saved.	✓ I have tried alcohol or drugs before. (Alcohol)	× I have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past.
× I own the "South Park" movie.	× I have avoided assignments at work/school to be on Xanga or Livejournal.	✓ I enjoy some country music. (The old stuff is awsome, some of the new stuff is okay)
✓ I would die for my best friends. (One or two of them)	× I'm obsessive, and often a perfectionist. ('Ish)	× I have used my sexuality to advance my career.
× I think Halloween is awesome because you get free candy.	× I have dated a close friend's ex.	✓ I am happy at this moment. (And most moments)
× I'm obsessed with guys.	× Democrat. (NO!)	× Republican. (NOer!)
× I don't even know what I am. (I'm human... I think... not sure what this question intends)	× I am punk rockish. (Ummm... no)	× I go for older guys/girls, not younger. (I like girls on the mentally older side I guess, but physical age isn't important)
× I study for tests most of the time.	× I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I've ever met.	✓ I can work on a car. (A little, I've helped people refill their radiator, and I can often recognize the cause of that awful sqweeling)
✓ I love my job(s). (I don't have one, but I like it)	✓ I am comfortable with who I am right now.	× I have more than just my ears pierced.
✓ I walk barefoot wherever I can. (Not so much recently, but in general yes)	✓ I have jumped off a bridge. (a very short drop)	✓ I love sea turtles. (Leatherbacks, greens, loggerheads, sooo cool)
× I spend ridiculous amounts of money on makeup. (eeeewwww)	✓ I plan on achieving a major goal/dream. (AI, a good programming language, a good operating system. I'll do one of the 3)	✓ I am proficient on a musical instrument. (guitar, vocals. Proficient might be a little strong)
✓ I hate office jobs. (Unless programming counts? Is that an "office job"?)	✓ I went to college out of state.	× I am adopted.
✓ I am a pyro. (FIRE!)	× I have thrown up from crying too much.	× I have been intentionally hurt by people that I loved.
× I fall for the worst people.	× I adore bright colours.	× I usually like covers better than originals.
✓ I hate chain theme restaurants like Applebees and TGIFridays. (their silly, and expensive. "Hate them" is a little strong though)	✓ I can pick up things with my toes. (I'm bad at it thoguh)	× I can't whistle.
✓ I have ridden/owned a horse. (I rode one once)	× I still have every journal I've ever written in. (I threw away a 40 page story I wrote)	✓ I talk in my sleep. (so the tell me)
✓ I've often thought that I was born in the wrong century. (Maybe should've been 60's? maybe before civilazation to any real extent.)	× I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.	× I wear a toe ring.
× I have a tattoo.	× I can't stand at LEAST one person that I work with.	× I am a caffeine junkie.
✓ I am completely tree-huggy spiritual, and I'm not ashamed at all. (WOOT! but not a tree spiker)	× If I knew I would get away with it, I would commit at least one murder.	× I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical, the better.
× I enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner.	× I'm an artist. (I would like to be, but I'm really an enginear)	× I am ambidextrous. (STRONGLY right handed)
× I sleep with so many stuffed animals, I can hardly fit on my bed. (dust allergy)	✓ If it weren't for having to see other people naked, I'd live in a nudist colony. (I' don't care about people naked. I'd be there if it weren't for having to not be here.)	× I have terrible teeth.
× I hate my toes.	✓ I did this meme even though I wasn't tagged by the person who took it before me. (meh, first meme)	× I have more friends on the internet than in real life.
× I have lived in either three different states or countries.	× I am extremely flexible. (not at all)	✓ I love hugs more than kisses. (they are both good though)
× I want to own my own business.	× I smoke. (eeeww)	✓ I spend way too much time on the computer than on anything else. (that sentence sucks)
✓ Nobody has ever said I'm normal. (HAH!)	✓ Sad movies, games, and the like can cause a trickle of tears every now and then.	× I am proficient in the use of many types of firearms and combat weapons.
✓ I like the way women look in stylized men's suits. (I like the way women look ::cut::)	✓ I don't like it when people are unpleased or seem unpleased with me.	✓ I have been described as a dreamer or likely to have my head up in the clouds. (SOO many times)
✓ I have played strip poker with someone else before. (I'm decent at poker ;-p)	× I have had emotional problems for which I have sought professional help.	× I believe in ghosts and the paranormal. (not... exactly)
× I can't stand being alone. (along is good)	✓ I have at least one obsession at any given time. (kindof...)	✓ I weigh myself, pee/poo, and then weigh myself again. (not in general, but I have... aren't you curious?)
× I consistently spend way too much money on obsessions-of-the-moment.	✓ I'm a judgmental asshole. (yeah... need to work on that)	× I'm a HUGE drama-queen.
× I have travelled on more than one continent.	× I sometimes wish my father would just disappear. (he's AWSOME!)	× I need people to tell me I'm good at something in order to feel that I am. (it only matters if I respect them in that field)
× I am a Libertarian. (NOer'er (libertarian sortof))	✓ I can speak more than one language. (YEAH! C, C++, Python, SML, Basic, Matlab, sh, Pascal...)	× I can fall asleep even if the whole room is as noisy as it can be.
✓ I would rather read than watch TV. (I'm too lazy to watch TV. I want imediate gratification, channel surfing is hard)	× I like reading fact more than fiction. (Fiction can be more real than Fact)	✓ I have pulled an all-nighter on an assignment I was given a month to do. (Several times)
× I have no piercings.	✓ I have spent the night in a train station or other public place. (A couple times)	× I have been so upset over my physical gender that I cried. (I like females, this is easier if I'm male, that's all I care about. Otherwise physical gender is so irrelevent.)
× I once spent Christmas completely alone because there was a miscommunication on which parent was supposed to have me that night.	✓ There have been times when I have wondered "Why was I born?" and may/may not have cried over it. (Sort of... Not depression though... Cried about what the world is, and how little I (can) do to fix it.)	× I like most animals better than most people.
× I own a collection of retro games consoles.	✓ The thought of physical exercise makes me shiver. (With JOY!!!)	× I have hit someone with a dead fish. (no, but I should)
✓ I am compulsively honest. (Pretty much)	✓ I was born with a congenital birth defect that has never been repaired. (Yup, I got my parents dork genes. But it's better this way.)	✓ I have danced topless in front of dozens of complete strangers. (sure, why not (I'm also male))
× I have gone from wishing I was a girl to revelling in being a boy to feeling like a girl again in the span of five minutes, and not cared a whit for my actual sex. (I'd have to classify things in terms of gender, which I don't know how to do, so I guess no?)	× I am unashamedly bisexual, and have different motivations for my desires for different genders. (pretty straight, at least to date)	✓ I sometimes won't sleep a whole night or eat a whole day because I forget to. (or 3, or 5)
× I find it impossible to get to sleep without some kind of music on.	× I dislike milk. (milk is delicious (like math))	× I obsessively wash my hands. (germs are good for you)
✓ I always carry something significant around with me. (my inhaler, so I don't DIE)	× Sometimes I'd rather wear a wig in day-to-day life than use my own hair.	✓ I've pushed myself to become more self-aware and thereby more aware of others. (Whether I succeeded is another question. Not convinced self-awareness translates to other's though.)
× Even though I live on my own I still cry sometimes because I miss my mother.	× I hand wrote all the HTML tags in this document. (no scripting?)	✓ I've liked something which a majority of people claimed was either bad or weird. (type theory, strange sexual practices, math, programming, the smell of fields in spring)
× I have been clinically dead for a brief period of time.	✓ Instead of feeling sympathy/empathy with people and their problems, I simply become annoyed. (sometimes)	× I participate/have participated in auto drag races and won.
× I do not 'get' most comedy acts.	✓ I don't think strippers are money-greedy or slutty for dancing. (they're just making a living. which is part of why it's only sexy with willing suspension of disbelief.)	× I don't like to chew gum.
× I am obsessed with history/historical things and can't wait for someone to build a time machine so I can be the first to use it.	× I can never remember for the life of me where I parked the car.	× I had the TEEN ANGST thing going for at least 2-3 years. (nope)
✓ I wish people would be more empathic and honest with each other. (just fucking say it, oh man anime)	× I play Dungeons and Dragons weekly.	✓ I love to sing. (music is good)
× I want to live in my mother's basement when I grow up.	✓ I have a custom-built computer. (ummm... kindof? I rebuild shit regularly from parts I find in Wean, does that count?)	✓ I want to create a certain someone's babies, even though there's a 0% possiblity of ever achieving it. (JCREED!)
× I would be in a relationship with one of my pets if they were human. (or even if they weren't? (I don't swing that way))	✓ I've gone skinny-dipping. (In the mountains)	× I've performed in three plays.
✓ I enjoy burritos.	✓ I'm Irish and loving it. (a little irish)	✓ I have a thing for redheads. (it's all good)
× I am a twin! (people sometimes think I am, but he's 2.5 years older)	× Most of the times, I'd rather do something intellectual instead of doing something generically 'fun'. (both are good)	✓ Once I set out to finish something, I always stay at it until it is completed before I move on to something else. (I much prefer to)
× I wish there were a way to erase past mistakes. (that'd make life no fun)	✓ I sleep more than 12 hours a day. (often)	× I wish I could be prouder of what I've accomplished, but it's never enough. (I haven't accomplished much, so I don't want to be proud of it)
× I need more time to myself.	✓ I wish I was more open-minded. (always)	× I hope that I go really prematurely grey. (that could be cool)
× I download songs from the internet.	× I've just reenacted chapter 58 of Death Note with my best friend.	✓ I say random things to freak people out. (it's fun!)
× I'm still a little mad about the ending of Death Note.	× I love playing Truth or Dare.	× I love listening to slow music, but I hate singing to it.
× Music helps me remember that I am not alone. (people help me remember that I'm not alone)	✓ Playing my favorite sport makes me temporarily forget my problems. (Frisbee! not that I have many problems)	✓ I think this survey is particularly long. (yeah, wtf?)
× I prefer my LJ friends to my real-life ones.	× I can only hate someone that I love. (I've never really hated anyone)	× I've ordered an extra two shots of espresso to an Americano at Starbucks. (huh?)

shoes and consumables

2006-07-04T18:16:57Z

I just occured to me how much milage I walk/run. I figure I cover an average of 5+ miles a day (walk to campus is 1.6, though I sometimes bike, walking around town, occasional jogs, going on longer 10+ mile walks on weekends occasionaly). Given that in a month I do about 30+5 = 150 miles a month. So in 3 months thats 450 miles. Most shoes go between about 400 and 1000 miles before death. So killing a pair of shoes in 3-6 months is actually about right.

I.E. 2-3 pairs of shoes to do the entire AT, which also jives with what
I've heard.

I just hadn't really added all that up before. I always thaught of shoes
as a fairly long term item, not as a consumable. They really are though,
it's just that you don't notice if you have A) alot of shoes, or B) are
two young to think in multiple month timespans. Now I have 1 pair of
shoes that I use for everything, so they seem more like a consumable
item.

Actually everything is seeming more and more consumable. Laptops, clothing, most things you own are consumable on the 4 year timescale. Instruments, books, cameras, desktop computers, furniture, non-clothing camping gear are all non-consumables on any relevent timeframe. My desktop computer is now over 6 years old, and is still a fine machine.

It's not a big issue, it just changes the way you think of things and the way you buy things. The realization that so many things are really temporary changes how I feel about owning things, using things, wearing things out etc. Clothing is to be baught, used, and used up, same for shoes, food, bedding, laptops. You don't damage it intentionally, but it will wear out eventually, so protecting it too much is silly and pointless, because then it doesn't get used, and why did you buy it?

laptop broken, but life isn't yet

2006-07-03T18:54:53Z

The powersupply for my laptop came in the mail today. I'm not sure if that was the problem or not, it looks like it might be a problem with the solder joint between the connector and motherboard. I just disassembled the whole laptop and I'm toying with it now. I had a little battery life and I just used that to rebuild reiserfs because all the power deaths during it's journal replay phase made it sad.

New screen hasn't come yet, I'm hoping that comes tomorrow so my laptop isn't left in it's disassembled state for too long. I'm doing the rebuild with no heat-sinks on machine, and I'm a little worried that it'll fry. I'm trusting the Intel speedstep stuff to reclock such that it doesnt overheat too much.

WEEEE! it looks like it needs a couple of drops of solder on the power connector, could I borrow a soldering iron and some solder from someone? It'll only take me a minute, but I currently am ironless.... ick, maybe I should just go out and buy a new one. The only other option I can think of is to run down the oakland radioshack and pick up an iron there.

Anyway. this weekend was awsome. Checked out the REI sale with avolkovi yesterday, then went to the beehive and he taught me GO (good game, I like the way the thinking works, it's fun). Then tyler joined us and we wandered by the river for a while, came back and shot some pool, and played disc until the rain picked up a bit too much. Then we watched a really cool anime called mushishi, AWSOMENESS.

Planning a backpacking trip for two weekends from now, Lizza is coming next weekend, there is a 4'th of July party going on tonight, YAY! Now if I can just get some work done, and get my laptop back online. Meh, life is good.

WARNING! show is at 9:00, not 7:00

2006-06-25T05:43:41Z

I actually didn't get it wrong, but I was informed incorrectly.
Turns out the show is at 21:00 (I.E. 9:00PM) in the undergound.

I was just trying to balance my itty bitty base amp for my acoustic 12 string guitar... Yeah, right. I can't get it to sound right, it carries the 6 string takamine okay though. I may also be able to feed strait through the PA, the twelve might be loud enough strumming that I could play anything strummed without anything anyway. If I try the amp there and the 12 sounds like ass I can always just play the 6. Or for that matter, mic the guitar. I will test it at a real volume tomorrow morning, it is 1:40, and I don't want to piss off my roommates too much. Using the "Low Mid" control as a notch filter to kill feedback is a BAD thing, but it's what I've got (I left my notch filter in Mass)... oh well. I guess I should purchase a hole cover at some point, maybe snag one tomorrow at the Acoustic Music Works. I don't know if that's better or worse than basically killing the low-mids. Oh well.

Anyway, whatever happens happens. I'm just going to play this by ear and not worry about it (pun intendend). Just... chill yo.

Musique

2006-06-24T17:37:02Z

Well, Rumor has it that this information is already out in other places on LJ, so you might as well hear it from me directly as well. I'm playing for about half an hour on sunday night at 7:00 in the underground here at CMU. It's short notice so believe me it won't be spectacular. It's actually my first non-talent show gig. I'm planning to just pull out some of the tunes we sing at so called "Hippie Parties". I'll be playing for about half an hour, so on the order of maybe 5 songs. I'm trying to at least get the gist of my set tonight.

I don't remember enough of the lyrics to enough songs reliably enough to pull this off, so I'll probably have music on stage to glance at. When messing around I use my computer screen, but I'm thinking maybe I should steal a spare stool and set some paper music on it? The computer might actually be more visible, I'm not sure. I tried this once before but I couldn't read the music under the lights (although that was in Rangos, not the underground). Anyone with any experience at this have a suggestion? Just in case someone outside of CMU is curious, the underground is sort of a larg'ish coffeehouse kindof setting in the basement of one of the dorms.

So anyway, feel free to come and heckle me, or sing along or whatever. Hell, if anyone wants to come up to sing, or play, a particular song with me that'd be fine too. I could use someone reminding me of lyrics. For example, anyone who can solo on guitar could do so over "Give me one reason" by Tracy Chapman, I was considering asking the one of the follong band to do so as a nice segway into their set, but we shall see.

To explain further this happened when someone came up to me at half priced dinner in Fuel and Fuddle, and asked if I could play sunday night. Apparently someone (else) forgot they were supposed to schedule a band for that night, and the band they found on short notice didn't have enough material to fill 2 hours, so they needed someone to fill for the extra half hour.

Backpacking! and back to pittsburgh

2006-06-21T03:31:37Z

Sorry everyone, but I'm not dead yet.
I had a good backpacking trip with my family. My brother came too this time which is awsome. I carried pretty much my full complement of gear (minus bearbagging, and water treatment equipment). We all came in under 30 lbs, closer to 25 a piece for total pack weight upon leaving, so that was awsome. We did about 16 miles total over 3 days, walking through lots of muck. I tested my super light mesh running shoes for backpacking and the worked okay, except for the whole in the bottom of the shoe which kept sucking up water. My brother and I tested my tent in a true serious downpour with sideblown rain, we got about 3/4 of an inch built up under the tent but stayed dry. My dad tested his new ULA backpack which is AMAZING (oh man want... going to buy one soon). My brother and mother tested new EMS 3 lbs ultralight backpacks... tiny things (I think 2600 cu). They fit everything for 3 days though. I showed dad my tent and cooking system, and we both cooked meals. Mom learned how to use an internal, and avoided getting hit the the head. We saw some wonderful flora and fauna (including a loon from about 30 ft, and some very cool songbirds). It was all around a very nice backpacking trip. The first day involved quite alot of black flies though, such that even though it was in the 30's dad had on long pants and his warm jacket, because he didn't have a long sleeve shirt. I went for most of the day with just tee shirt and shorts, but finally gave up and put on my rain pants in the evening. So my legs have little bloody holes all over them, but it's just a little itchy. It is a little creepy though when you look down at your leg, and in the 4 inch span from the top of your pulled up socks to your shorts there are 15 or 20 gnats on just the frontside of your knee. All in all a fun trip. We BURNED through water. We were using a capacity of about 2 quarts per person, and we did a complete refill 5 times a day. My arms got pretty tired from filtering water.

Anyway, will be coming back to pittsburgh tomorrow. See many of you soon. I can't wait to go again as soon as possible... YAY outdoors!

In massachussets

2006-06-18T06:40:38Z

Going backpacking tomorrow with my parents. Will go to sleep shortly.
We're going up in southern vermont for about 3 days. The plan is for this to be a lighter trip, we're experimenting with alot of new gear. I'm trying normal shoes, dad has a new pack, my parents are using a new tent, my brother hasn't been out in years, and this will be the first time my parents have gone out in new england under 30 lbs each. It should be fun and interesting.

My dad is a total gearhead by the way. We've been comparing notes on pack weights etc. He's got crazy spreadsheets and stuff (just like me). I LOVE his new ULA pack, it's absolutly amazing. 42 ounces for 4200 cu, and it's so comfy. I'm thinking of getting one size down from that (3500 cu).

I miss you Lizza. I keep bringing you up when talking to my parents. Largely because all of my backpacking experience not with my parents, is with you, but many other reasons as well.

Life is good. I have health insurence again. I got to play my acoustic that's up here, it was lonely and needed to be played a little bit. It's so crazy playing on extra-light strings after playing mostly on lights, and a twelve string. It feels like I'm playing electric or something, it's great. oh, and i love the sustain of this guitar. I was just watching a thing on how to make an acoustic guitar body... compound curves are hard.

I'm not up here long enough to see much of anybody though... sorry peoples. I had sort of planned to be here longer, but mom was worried that I wouldn't be working on the whole getting some research done before grad school apps thing. Actually, I'd also planned to learn to drive while I was here as well.

I met with a CS prof from UT Austin. He knows ALOT about how to get into graduate school, I actually learned quite a bit about the process. Who I should get recomendation's from etc. He works on processor stuff, specifically sort of distributed networks of processors on one die, it's related to the clockless designs in that allows for more of a clockless processor, but async isn't the primary goal. After talking about the whole graduate school thing we just wanked for a while. It was funny because my dad was there, and his dad (a famous geologist at Smith) was there, and neither one really knew what we were talking about for most of the conversation. Anyway, he's a nice guy and offered to hook me up with some profs at UT Austin and UMASS who do PL research.

Repeat yet again... does the 8'th work for people who want to do a weekend backpacking trip?

trip to mass

2006-06-14T15:00:45Z

It occurs to me that if I was an intelligent LJ user I would've put this up a while ago instead of telling a bunch of people in person. Oh well. Anyway, I'm going back to massachussets:
flying out on the 15'th
coming back on the 21'st.
We're planning to do an overnight backpacking trip depending on weather

Ah yes, people who want to backpack, does the weekend of the 8'th work for you?

We have more summer yet. I'm currently planning to go to a folk festival in august (18'th, 19'th, 20'th). So anyone else who wants to go backpacking, or bikepacking, or whatever (preferably a longer trip) start thinking about when you'd like to, and start collecting equipment.