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Time: Mon, 22 May 2000 00:07:04 GMT
Everything server: Apache/1.3.9 (Unix) mod_perl/1.21
Number of nodes: 525214 (1593 new since May 21, 2000)
Number of users: 14754 (29 new since May 21, 2000)
Number of links: 1589206 (16342 new since May 21, 2000)

Node to user ratio: 35.598 nodes per user
Link to node ratio: 3.026 links per node
Link to user ratio: 107.714 links per user

New Nodes: Users Online (28): [moJoe] [juliet] [artfuldodger] [Lord Brawl] [sabre23t] [ukyoCE] [hodgepodge] [themusic] [Stride] [ShadowNode] [achan] [heropsychodreamer] [davidgentle] [Eco] [Asfodel] [moa] [shmOOnkie pOOnks] [BelDion] [RST] [Perianwyr] [Ninja-Lad] [cfc] [QuMa] [ithron] [TheAlien] [drL1nux] [/dev/null] [gorlim]

JeffMagnus node count: 3669 (2 new since May 21, 2000)
JeffMagnus experience: 6082 (11 more since May 21, 2000)
JeffMagnus experience to node ratio: 1.658 XP per node
JeffMagnus nodeshare: 0.699%
JeffMagnus node of the day: Everything 2 Civil War

< week | May 21, 2000 | May 22, 2000 | May 23, 2000 | week >

Everything's Best Users Snapshot

Users                  XP wa7 inc   l_XP l_wa7
Pseudo_Intellectual 11768 192 466  11497 153
dem bones           10685  88  16  10678  87
jessicapierce       10622  93 120  10525  80
pukesick             8142 115 120   8132 113
DMan                 8090 162 273   7996 149
Saige                7481 121  34   7464 119
...
EBU #50              2479  75  68   2436  69 


Server time: 00:02 Mon May 22 2000

l_ = last (previous) value; inc = increase in stats value
wa7 = ((stats + (6 * l_wa7))/7) = weighted average with denominator 7

Random Nodes

Quarter way through offline noding on a translation of the Quran, and uploaded what is done.

Nodes to node

I was watching this documentary on 1992 on VH1 yesterday. Grunge. The year Michael Jackson's Dangerous album was booted off the Billboard #1 spot by Nirvana's Nevermind, whose bassist is quoted as saying that "Nirvana didn't go to the mainstream; the mainstream came to Nirvana." Before me, images of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains from the long hair and flannel shirt stage of their budding careers flashed up on the screen, and I was immediately filled with a strange reminiscence of my dear old college days, since 1992 was the year I graduated high school and went off to college. Grunge came in handy. But how dear and old should these days, not so long since past, be to me?

Kurt Cobain on the cover of Rolling Stone, wearing a shirt with a handwritten statement that Corporate Magazines Suck. Kurt Cobain dead. And how long did grunge live? 1995, maybe. Three years, and it seems the supposed anthem of our generation is but a memory. It is shows like these that make me feel old, make me feel less a part of any generation and more like change that fell through the cracks. Even now, at 24, I am bonding with other 24 year olds on how our music was real, how music kids are listening to is shit, how the evening news was still worth watching when we were young and now it seems like so much filler.

I know it is not this way, but it feels this way. Will it feel this way for the rest of time, time that seems to move too quickly to say what is really on its mind?

I just heard this beautiful anecdote from a guy who works in the office in Gothenburg: Whenever it is time for an ISO review, he is kindly asked by his boss to take the day off, since he is so honest he makes the passing of the review without remarks and further reviews impossible.
More: Whoa, I know awk! I spent the morning hacking together a small benchmarking utility. The rest of the day will be spent stuffing code for different output formats into it. I have been away from programming far too long. This is fun!

Today's Soundtrack: Bone Machine by the ever-growling Tom Waits, especially Black Wings.
Had a weird experience as I woke up (See Dream Log: May 22, 2000) then headed of to school. Had another exam today, two down, two to go!
Rest of the day, well... Noded a bit, then went home, discovering a fairly large pool in our garden. There's some rather heavy [melting of snow going on around here now.
14:42 EET

Working.
Not in a coal mine though, which is really a shame. A helmet with a cool flashlight attached to it could be a fun thing to have.

Ok, I'm just being silly.
Thanks to the sunburn I wrote about yesterday, I had a restless night. Not only I have to work in pain and weariness, but I have to redo a big part of the project I finally finished last week. This is because the prouduct was used by customers in a different way originally intended.
It's not a big deal nor an enormous amount of hard labor, but I thought for sure the project was 100% completed. I guess there is no such thing in this line of work. The product was of couse meant to evolve, but not this quickly! :)


Track of the day:  Oliver Ho - Metaphysical A2
it rained most of the weekend. not an exciting rain, either. just a dismal mist constantly falling.

friday

we went out to dinner at the palm. craig ordered the biggest prime rib i've ever seen, and i got what must have been three chickens worth of blackened chicken breast. craig talked me out of a salad and into the calamari appetizer. the wine was good, a bottle of 1997 neibaum-coppola merlot. we skipped dessert, paid the valet and went home.

saturday

we woke up and made a long trek to maryland for a friend's graduation party, then back to my place. a friend of craig's called and invited us out for drinks and so we headed back down to virginia and eventually to a pool hall. i turned into super-ultra-mega-bitch and wanted to go home and eventually got my way. i was tired. then craig's roommate had "a few friends" over, but promised they wouldn't be "too loud". i woke up at 3 am thinking that there was a live concert going on in the living room. of course i took it out on my boyfriend, like any good girlfriend would.

sunday

after finally getting some sleep, we woke up and decided to head to BFE for a gun show. i joined the NRA finally. i've been meaning to for quite some time. i don't agree with all their politics, but i do want to help beef up their membership numbers. the more people join, the less it's perceived as a lunatic fringe. yes i'm a gun owner (ruger kp89). i enjoy the sport of target shooting and soon i will start on skeet. i also want to be a woman involved with the NRA to show that not all women are Rosie O'Donnell following chicken-heads. cluck cluck cluck.

after the gun show: grab some dinner, pick up some hard cider, and head off to visit craig's family. then back to my house and in bed early enough to wake up in time for work.

today

before my alarm went off i woke up to the sound of amazing thunder claps. i don't know how craig slept through it, but he did. i hopped in the shower, got dressed, headed to work and here i am. procrastinating again. i promised myself i'd actually buckle down and try to be a good employee this week, but i really feel like i've just lost hope in being happy with a technically oriented job. i need to snap my fingers and have millions of dollars so i can hike and fly and go and do. oh-that-sounds-like-fun-let's-go trips to wherever. whenever. between trips i'll stay at home and paint or go walking through local parks, or just whatever. hell, if necessary to sweeten the deal, i'll offer to be the perfect housewife. i'll learn how to cook and clean and do laundry and make martinis. and i promise not to get too fat.

what i've learned about working in the technology field is this: it's all about swinging penises (the plural of penis is penes, but it never quite looks right). i don't necessarily think the IT field is a mans game, but it does seem to be a big competition... highest salary, biggest office, most exclusive airline membership club (super ultra deluxe presidents elite red carpet club), who has the trendiest designers latest variation of tan pants, who can spend the most on ugly clunky shoes (i know men who own more shoes than any female i know), who has the latest and greatest sports car or SUV. yeah it's cool when you've got the nicest car in your circle of friends, but when next years model comes out, someone is invariably going to out-do you.

i live pretty modestly all in all. i haven't bought new clothes since i absolutely had to (last year when i lost a bunch of weight), i own two, maybe three pairs of shoes. my car is an almost-paid-off 1995 honda del sol. i live in a small apartment. sure, it'd be nice to have one of each high class super ultra elite everything (car, house, clothes, electronics, etc), but i can't really afford it, and even if i could i don't think i would actually BUY any of it. my car works, my clothes keep me warm, my roof doesn't leak, basic cable (which has all the educational tv i need) shows up fine on my 27" tele, and the laptop provided by my employer works fine (i don't own one of my own). but i still kinda feel like people think i'm a cro-magnon for not owning (and not wanting to own) a palm pilot and a palmtop computer, not having a super fast car, name brand clothes, a dvd player or a computer of my own.

craig tells me not to worry about it... that i'm being smart by planning for the future. he says most of his friends who live large and have one of everything are living so far beyond their means that it is discusting. perhaps this is true. but they still look at me like i'm a pauper. or quite possibly i'm just paranoid.

Mobile Internet

Well A is having more problems with his laptop. Well, not so much problems, as not being set up for the Internet. I couldn't find a modem on it (although one is proably hidden away somewhere) so being very foolish I decided to set it up to use his mobile phone with the IR port. Having installed the software, I discovered that the IR driver was not installed, so I set that up and found that the software could only choose a port during setup, a simple reinstall didn't give me the option to change, which ment an complete uninstall and then another reinstall. It still couldn't see the port (for some reason the drivers made it COM2 instead of a seperate device and the phone software thought that COM2 was too slow). So once again I uninstalled the software and reinstalled it - this time to use the serial cable. I am really upset with Nokia, you have to reboot after EVERY install and EVERY uninstall.

If anybody has any suggestions on getting the laptop, IR port and cell phone to work /msg dorward them. its an HP something, nokia phone, and the OS in Win98.

The Love Bug

M has decided to ban all webmail accounts to reduce the risk of the lovebug, fair enough I guess, but he put me in charge of blacklisting the domains. It is incredible how many there are out there. Do you know any? List them at free webmail accounts.

The IT section is leaping for joy over the disabling of our old email system which was still letting ILOVEYOU in to the system (174 people love K!). We all hated the system anyhow so it was no great loss. On the subject, our ISP (star internet) has created a separate division to sell the antivirus software they created in-house. It managed to catch the love bug as soon as it came out (without modification). We all think the share price will rocket.

I put out a message to leave NT workstations switched on over the weekend. I'll be coming in to work out just what machine names are in use (several have been renamed but our anti-virus server still doesn't know it) and get the latest antivirus software on them.

JavaScript

I showed BluePrintVert how to pick a random item from an array (in JavaScript) and he started kicking himself. The example array I called `happy' and BluePrintVert proceeded to fill it up with grumpy messages for his version of the magic 8 ball (keep reading my day log for the URL when it is published).

Helping Hands

BluePrintVert got frustrated when it took five whole minutes for a user to grasp the fact that rebooting might fix their Out Of Memory error. This seems to be typical of many off the calls we get to our helpdesk.

You may have noticed that I don't seem to be solving very much and BluePrintVert is. This is because I am too busy creating a PHP/MySQL database and have to learn PHP as I go along. It is working out quite nicely but I haven't found a way to make multiple fields in a table unique in MySQL. If anyone knows please /tell dorward. At the moment it looks like I'll have to implement the check in PHP rather then on the db itself.

Lunch (or so they thought)

I took some time out to post my application for student finance (it took me long enough!), hand my cell phone in for repair (so long as they believe I didn't drop it the repair will be free), visit the bank (I managed to forget to pick up my money but they called me just before I handed my phone over so I was able to run back), and once again fail to get my hair cut (this is my new hobby).

Office Woes

BluePrintVert managed to solve a problem with N's inability to delete files. In Office 2000 you can delete files from the open dialogue box, you can also preview files in the same place. However, if a file is previewed it is marked as `in use', and if a file is `in use' you can not delete it. As a result N couldn't delete any of his files! This is yet another quality feature brought to you from the makers of ClipIT the vampire paperclip.

Naming Conventions

Somebody left a file with a long name in the root of the projects folder, as a result when people in Word went to open a project related file, it moved everything else off the window to the left and made it look like there were no folders there at all. You had to scroll to the left to see any folders, and you can't expect people to realise that! I hate people who break naming conventions, but it does allow me to delete their files with no guilt!

Home Computers

As I type this I am sitting on the bus, it is the first time I have really used my GoType keyboard for quite a while. It was defiantly a good investment though. As I set up jpilot the other day I'll be able to upload this with no trouble for editing (i.e. spell checking!) in emacs and then pasting into Netscape.

As I'm writing about my PC I'll mention that I got round to installing licq last night. It took quite a while to compile (I should have waited until this evening) but it looks pretty fantastic. I mucked up my QT libraries, but it should be fairly simple to put them back the way they were and recompile licq with a --command to use qt2 in a non-standard location. That's the only thing I don't like about linux, different versions of libraries. It is better than dll hell though - it tells you what went wrong and is usually fixable without too much trouble.

I've come to the decision to redo my homepage again. While it looks very pretty it is over 100kb at the moment (I went through a Macromedia Fireworks frenzy a month or so ago) so I'll be simplifying it somewhat. I'll also take the opportunity to put this day log on it as well as Everything2.

There are twenty five minutes to go until off peak (when Internet costs drop 80%) so I'll fill up the time working on the website. Who knows? I may be able to announce its upload in this day log.

Just layin' in the cut... like bacteria:
This weekend was particularly uneventful. Hung out with Erin every day which was kind of nice for a change. Saw a couple of movies (Gladiator and Love and Basketball). Other than that we just hung out downtown most of the weekend. Relaxing if nothing else, which is exactly what I needed.

I seem to be running a little slow today. Didn't get here until 11:15AM and I haven't done a damn thing other than check my email.

I've decided to go ahead and purchase a motorcycle. I'm looking at either a Suzuki GSX-R 750 or a Honda CBR600F4. I've received mixed reactions from my friends and family on this. Some think its cool, others think I'll end up killing myself. I guess we'll see what happens.

Things to do today:

  • Find good vet to take iguana to
  • More research on which bike to buy
  • Walk home from work

Updates:
Let it be known that none of the above tasks have been accomplished yet. Erin just called me and we had a slight argument about something. However it was so pointless that I cannot even remember what the hell it was about anymore.

It's raining and I wish it would stop. It's that shitty off and on rain that doesn't really prove anything other than the fact that water makes things wet. I wish it would storm, because that's the kind of mood I seem to be in right now.

My roommate's brother is over here staring out the window at the building's across the street. I believe he is going to do a painting of them sometime soon.
eof.

Ack, tired, sick, still at work.

Well I'm still pretty new to Everything2, but I'm already getting node-block and resorting to doing things like filling out a daily diary in order to get one more writeup in. The stretch between second and third level is a tough one, it feels like. At least at higher levels you don't feel like there is a hard goal to hit, you just node because you feel like it. Or that's my guess anyways. I'm already fifteen exp from 3rd, but I still have to node 26 or so articles. I find myself doing fluff pieces like feed the homeless to the hungry and responding to new articles like Renaissance is for sissies, real men wear armor. I feel cheap somehow. I'm not just self promoting here, I was just using them as examples of the low level struggles.

In any case I had a pretty good weekend. Hope you did too.

It's Victoria Day in Canada, so no work today. I came home today to find that my cat, Toby, has somehow managed to open my freezer door, and it's been open for about a day. AGHHHH! CAT! HOW? My perogies are all floppy, my dumplings are a wreck, and I've had to throw out all sorts of sketchy now-thawed meat. Sigh.

I'm grumpy. My belly muscles are all seized up.

I'm afraid to go to my folks' home for dinner tonight.. I'm so going to come home and find that he's thrown my bed out the window or something.

I tried to rent Being John Malkovich (excellent film!) last night to make my boyfriend watch it, but they won't issue me a rogers video card. Bastards! Why on earth do I need to have a major credit card? I'm getting a video, not a mortgage. I'm curious now how I managed to get my other rogers video card at the other branch.

Update: okay, so my bed is not, in fact, in the street.

-/+

A very crazy day
I sleep later than I want, but I'm up early enough to get the important things done. Work is gonzo today. Inspectors everywhere, and the tension level is up at a nice low boil, but things seem to be going well. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Have to go, will finish later. So vote me down, You damn dirty apes!

OK, so I did ask for it, but still. -begin sarcasm-I apologize to you with the down votes for not taking more time to finish my daylog. Next time I'll simply ignore my duties here on the ship for your pleasure-end sarcasm-

-begin Rage-You know what? Fuck you, down voting scum. I hope you get an xp ass whupping by a couple e2 gods for the next month. Why don't you log off so you can kick puppies and pull the wings off of flies.-end Rage-

There, I feel better now. Feel free to vote as your conscious dictates. For myself, I will continue to strew up votes among the daylogs, or merely not vote at all.

Ah, the incredible boringness of packing...blah. Maybe I should just throw it all out and live like a Zen monk or something. It might not be a bad idea-- I'm probably only going to be able to afford an apartment the size of a closet, anyway. I can either pay over $3000 a month, or a more "reasonable" $1200 but live in Hayward or Fremont. Can I manage this? I don't know. I'm terrified and intimidated by the idea of going to Stanford anyway. ... I'm fine, really. Just breathe.

Matter #2: I need a job. I need money. Getting a summer job where I could work with Mandarin-speakers would be cool, as I need to brush up the rusty Chinese before hitting Stanford University. (Let's face it, there aren't too many Chinese people to chat with in Fayetteville, AR.) Maybe I should wander the Oakland Chinatown and look for Help Wanted signs.

Matter #3: Speaking of Chinatown, I've promised myself one of the really cool modern-cut cheongsams at www.goodorient.com (or something like them) if I get back in shape this summer. (As well as some nice expensive lingerie, since I can't find a bra that fits right at normal prices.)

Oh, the journal project is turning out well. I found a nifty photo in a magazine that I cut out and taped on one page, so now it's all mixed media and stuff. I'm having fun doing it, and as with when I got to send letters and care packages to someone overseas, it lets me feel almost like I'm spending time with the person... I hope Kai likes it when I'm done. Ooh, I could make it multisensory and add a drop of China Rain when I'm done.

Gah! How obnoxiously sentimental and girly is this project going to get? You know, my seventh grade self would have smacked my starry-eyed present self had they ever met. Well, I refer her (and anyone else) to Sappho: We shall enjoy it. Take that!
Today I bought groceries!

Fuel for a noding machine:

Part of a balanced diet (why do they show the bowl on the box with twenty-seven grapefruits?) to keep your noder's nose wet and give them a shiny coat. Please note that this is not the bulk of my diet, merely the essential items I was out of 8)

While waiting for the Radio Shack to open so I could get my microphone adapter (solely so I can make elaborate and obscure sound collages to delight and infuriate ideath with, let me assure you) I read the Waste Land and Other Poems, a collection. You know, I think bones is on to something here.

Returning home at 1 pm I went to sleep; my nocturnal schedule is like that, so everything else I have to say is everything observations which occurred in the time period covered by this day log's span.

Wow; I gained almost 500 XP in one day from cut-and-posting classic literature, which it was a joy to share. Maybe I'm on to something.

Joy. JeffMagnus' script is working again. I had almost stopped being tired of seeing :

JeffMagnus node count: 3670 (1 new since May 22, 2000)
I think what we all need is automatic self-announcing nodes.
Hi!  I made a new node today!  And guess which one it was?  THIS ONE!
I enjoy sabre23t's daily stats-posting, however, because it tells me about myself and gives me some relative statistics. (Aspirant? How cool is that? Hint: muchos) True, these are things I could calculate on my own with the right footwork, but he lays it out for me. JM's, on the other hand, seems more to be shoving his (subjectively) uninteresting statistics down my throat.

in our last episode... | p_i-logs | and then, all of a sudden...

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