/dev/zero

When I packed my car to move to Texas from Santa Cruz, I owned two bath sheets. 1, a decent bath towel, the other, a soft, fluffy one that felt really nice after a hot shower. I was going to use them both to pad things in my car so they didn’t rub together and so on.
When I got to Richardson, I only had 1 of them, the “ordinary” towel. Somehow the fluffy one got left behind. I hope Gunilla, or Thomas, or Andi are enjoying it.
So I asked for a new one for Christmas and got one.
I’d forgotten just how good a nice FLUFFY towel that comfortably wraps around my bulk feels after a shower. (For the record, the one I got for Christmas is even BETTER than the one that got left behind.)

Reading my friends Livejournals, I’ve noticed an interesting trend. It seems there are a lot of people doing the “I rant about my life and if you don’t like it, don’t read my journal” thing lately.
Apparently everyone is convinced that they have mortal enemies, and these enemies are so vile and evil, they actually dedicate significant amounts of their time to reading their journals.
I have a very simple rule about my journal and who may read it and what they should take away from it: If I don’t want someone to read something, I don’t write it. I don’t fear that someone who may harbor less than glorious feelings of love for me might read that I had a crappy day. I learned back in high school that my most bitter enemy probably doesn’t spend more than 5 seconds a day actually thinking about me. It would be a bout of true narcissism to belive anyone who harbors ill will toward me actually takes time out of their day to locate and read my journal. My friends only read my journal because it is posted in a convenient format alongside the journals of many other friends. I certainly wouldn’t take the time to go through all my friends web sites to read their journals individually.

I did pretty well this year. Better than I epxected.

Martin arrived yesterday, plane landing right on time. Despite the DHS level Orange, parking was NO problem at all. I was able to get a parking space right outside the terminal by his gate. He had no checked bagage so we didn’t have to wait around for that. It’s really good to see him again. Too bad he can only stay until Monday.

Since I’m basically penniless and living with my folks and being supported by them, I didn’t expect a whole lot in the way of exciting gifts. Mom has forked out a bunch of money for dental care for me, and they’ve been paying for my schooling and everything else, so I can’t complain if I don’t get much for Christmas. As I expected a got a lot of (much needed) clothes. (3 pair of jeans, underwheare, a pair of athletic shoes and a couple of shirts). I got cologn from my neices, a nice bath robe and a big fluffy bath sheet (I’ve missed my good fluffy sheet that I left in Santa Cruz). I had both a PS/2 and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW on my list. I didn’t expect to get either one.
From Dad I got a DVD+-RW.
From David I got his old PS/2 and a bunch of PS/2 games.
From Martin I got a NICE cigar.
Still waiting for the single-malt scotch to show up from the airport. (He couldn’t carry that package on the plane with him, nor check it, so he had to air-freight it.)

Don’t you just hate going to another room for something, getting distracted for a moment when you get there, then you can’t remember why you went into that room in the first place?
I’m cleaning up my office so will have a place to sleep while he’s visiting. For some reason I went out of my office, down the stairs and walked into the living room where Mom was wrapping Christmas presents. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and shoved it on top of something so I wouldn’t see it when I walked in the room, and all thought of the purpose of my trip vanished.

The office is now mostly cleared. I’m a little ticked off that, when I started pulling my CDs out of the cardboard box in which they moved here from California to finally re-populate my CD rack, about half the jewel cases are empty. And of course it’s mostly my favorites that are missing. I know a good number of them made it out here to Texas, ’cause I can remember playing those CDs at some point. But where they’ve gotten off to I don’t know, and some of them will be difficult to replace.

Recently I changed my spam filters such that instead of just dumping all spam into a single folder, it creates a new one each day. I did this because I was curious to see just how man spams I was receiving per day, and I was too lazy to set up Procmail to do extra logging functions or write a script to check the procmail logs, and really too lazy to do it manually.

So here’s what my spam folder looks like:

Yup. Nearly 500 messages a day, not counting the “low” day on Sunday, and the day I started (half way through the day) and today.
What surprised me was that Sunday was such a light day. I wouldn’t think the day of the week would matter to spam bots. Then again, the previous Sunday was every big as busy as other days of the week, so maybe it was just a fluke.

Don’t ask me why posts I made a week ago just suddenly showed up on LJ. I have no clue.

Today I configured two sets of DNS and DHCP servers to do dynamic DNS updates.

I set up my internal DHCP and DNS server so when the DHCP server fulfills a DHCPREQUEST, it updates the DNS server with the hostname and IP address of the client.
I then configured dhclient on my cable-modem connected router/workstation/server here at home so that whenever it’s IP address changes, it will update the zone file on the DNS server in California. This will allow me to forward mail here, and to get in via to get files when I’m not at home.
The annoying part is that the syntax for the keys and zone statements in the BIND DNS server and ISC dhcp server and clients are just enough different to be a pain in the ass. I copied and pasted from one to the other, only to discover that while BIND requires all values to be quoted, and every line to end with a semicolon, including the closing brace line, dhcpd and dhclient want raw values and semicolon only on key/value lines, but not on the closing brace. I had to go through about a dozen edits before I got everything right in all 4 files (/etc/dhclient-eth1.conf, /etc/dhcpd.conf and /etc/named.conf here, named.conf on my DNS server in California.)
Anyway, all is working now.

I just made up a risotto for Mom to take to the office Christmas party tomorrow. I used up the last of the Thanksgiving day turkey stock. I do NOT want to have to stand over a pot of rice stirring for that long again! My arm just about fell off. I had to make a large-ish batch (enough for 12), so it took a while, and you have to stir the thing constantly during the adding-hot-stock-to-rice phase.

The recipe called for 2 cups of fontina cheese, which I couldn’t find in the store, so I substituted farmers cheese, and 1/2 cup of parmesan. I almost left the cheese out after dealing with stirring for a half-hour / 45 minutes. I didn’t feel like taking the time to grate 2 cups of soft cheese. But I decided to do it anyway, and I’m glad I did. The dish looked and smelled good already, but after throwing in the grated cheese and stirring it in good so it melted, it was fantastic.
Other than what I got licking the spoon after the last stir before throwing it in the sink, I haven’t had any, so there better be some left over after the party tomorrow.

Recipe - (serves 6)

• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 3 cups water and a chicken bullion cube or 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup fontina or farmers cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup arborio or carneroli rice
• some olive oil
• Finely chopped parsely for garnish (optional)
• Diced tomatos for garnish (optional)

Sautée the carrots in hot olive oil until starting to soften, but do not brown. Add the onions and mushrooms, continue sautéeing until the onions and carrots are soft. Add the rice and stirr until the rice is coated in oil and turning golden brown. While the rice is cooking, heat up the stock and wine in another pot. When the rice has turned golden brown, add about 1/2 cup of hot stock. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly until the stock is fully abosrbed and the rice is starting to turn creamy. Add some more stock, stir until fully abosrbed. Repeat until all stock is added and absorbed. Add the cheese, stirring it in as it melts. Garnish with some chopped parsely and tomato.

Ok, that was weird. I just FELT the novocaine wear off.
The numbness had been gradually wearing off for the last hour and a half (eating lunch was interesting, not being able to feel or move the lips on once side of my face), but over the last 15 seconds, I actually felt full feeling return to my lips. It went from “still fairly numb” to “completely worn off” in about 10 seconds. It felt WEIRD.

Wonderful stuff, novocaine.
Right now I can’t feel my left cheek. I had 3 fillings done this morning. Didn’t feel a thing. Didn’t even feel the needle.

I tell ya, Dr. Graves is a great dentist. Just rubbed some topical anesthetic on my jaw, then a few minutes later gave me 3 shots of novocaine, but I didn’t feel anything other than him pinching my cheek.
While he was working on the inside of my mouth, I was watching a movie. I guess this is pretty common at dentist offices now, but it’s been about 10 years since I’ve been. I put on this headset with little LCD screens and I have a TV floating in front of me. We’ve had a copy of Chicago sitting around here for a while and hadn’t watched it. I wanted to see it while it was in the theaters, but no one wanted to go with me, so I took it with me to the dentists office. Got about 3/4 of the way through it before Dr. Graves was done. Unfortunatly they had to get another patient in there so I coudln’t stick around to finish the movie. Gotta get me one of those headesets though.

I’ve now completed 4 of my 5 finals for the semester. Only one left to go, tomorrow morning at 9:00.

Tuesday night - Basic Food Prep.

The written final went rather well I think, though not fantastic, thanks to a study session with Alan on Sunday. Alan is the one other person that is in both basic and advanced with me. We set up a study session after our advanced class the week before, then I emailed our basic instructor to ask him to invite the rest of the basic students as well. I only got one response, and she didn’t show up, so it was just Alan and me.
Unfortunatly I forgot most of the information we learned about potatos (at least, the stuff that was on the test) as we didn’t cover that in our study session.
The practical final went better. We were paired up, then half the class took the written while the other half did the practical, then we switched. During the practical, we were given a “mystery basket” and a menu to prepare. My partner and I got chicken breasts, 3 vegetables (zucchini, carrots and turnip) 12 oz of veal demi-glace and 4 oz of arborio rice. We were to prepare grilled chicken breasts with a sauce Robert and risotto, our own discretion on how to prepare the veggies. We had 1 hr and 15 min to prepare them, then “serv” them to Chef. 1 point would be deducted for each minute our plate was late. We would also be gradded on presentation, flavor, how well we followed instructions and basic cooking principals.
I grilled the chicken and prepared the sauce. Jim, my partner did the risotto and prepared the vegetables, then I took over cooking the glaced carrots and turnip while he finished the risotto. We served the zucchini in a creamed fashion following a recipe of Jim’s. Luckily the practical portion of the test was open book / open notes, so I could look up the recipe for a sauce Robert.
We scored 18 out of 20 points. We got docked 1 point for putting the items on our plate too far apart and placing some garnish on the rim of the plate (Breaking one of Chef’s cardinal rules) and the glazed vegetables needed a touch more sugar to glaze properly.

Wed night - Advanced Food Prep.

I scored 80% on the written (we graded them in class). We did the practical last week, but weren’t given an objective score as such. The instructor for Advanced grades real easy.

Thurs. morning - Introduction to Economics

Easy test. I did the “make up” test as well, which would replace my lowest previous score if I got a better score.

Thurs. afternoon - Intermediate Algebra

Ooops. I wasn’t paying QUITE close enough attention last Thurs. The final was on Tues. I thought it was today. Luckily she said we could come to any of her class finals to take the final for our class. Unfortunatly I didn’t realize her Thursday final was at 12:30, not 2:00. Luckily I tracked down where she was (grading papers) and she let me take my final. Looks like 3 or 4 others were in the same predicament. Unfortunatly I missed the part where we were supposed to bring a blue book for scratch paper. Luckily one of the other students taking a final at that time had a spare and gave it to me.
I ran over time (I think the stress of finding out I had the wrong day, wrong time and forgot to get a blue book threw me off my groove), but when I handed my test in she told me I already had enough points in the class that I didn’t really need to worry about my grade on the final anyway.

Friday morning - Principals of Macroeconomics

Still to be done. I’m not looking forward to it. I haven’t done well on the other tests so far this term, so I’ll be craming hard.

Now if I could just figure out how to automatically import Livejournal comments to here, and have comments made here automatically posted to Livejournal, I’d be happy…

My Livejournal friends may be seeing entries both under my regular LJ account, strongbow1800, and my syndication of this web site, strongbowtexas.

No, you’re not seeing double. MovableType now has a plugin that will automatically upload entries made HERE to my Livejournal account. So really the RSS syndication is no longer necessary. This offers a better solution, IMHO.

http://news.com.com/2010-1006-5111876.html

Choice bits:

Micron claims that Hynix is competing unfairly by — I am not making this up — selling its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips at a lower price than U.S. companies do. Micron CEO Steve Appleton insists that this is unlawful and that American consumers should be forced to pay higher prices when shopping for computer gear.

Not surprisingly, Micron’s stance is that Hynix is being subsidized by the South Korean government.

But is South Korea actually subsidizing Hynix? Let’s not concede that crucial point too quickly. T.J. Rodgers, the libertarian CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, wrote in a policy paper a few years ago that he once believed that “Japan was dumping DRAM chips into the United States, selling them below manufacturing cost. In retrospect, I believe that Japan simply got better at manufacturing than we were for a while and was able to produce the chips at extremely competitive costs.”

Bush and his people have been talking out of both sides of their mouth on just about everything since he took office. Defending our country against those who hate us, who hate us because we are free, is top priority. It ranks so high, that actually allowing us to BE free is of lower importance. Should it come as any surprise that the administration is equally duplicitious about trade?

The supposedly free-trading Bush administration levied tariffs on steel imports and imposed quotas on Chinese dressing gowns and bras, while sending aides to agree to a “free trade” framework with Latin American nations this month in Miami.

Even Alan Greenspan has weighed in on the issue.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, warned of the Bush administration’s “creeping protectionism” in a speech last Thursday at the free-market Cato Institute. “Over the years, protected interests have often endeavored to stop in its tracks the process of unsettling economic change,” Greenspan said, according to The New York Times. He added: “Virtually all such efforts have failed. Consequently, it is imperative that creeping protectionism be thwarted and reversed.”

A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card and wrote on the back: Revelation 3:20 and stuck it in the door.

The next day, as he was counting the offering he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation Genesis 3:10.

Revelation 3:20 reads: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.”

Genesis 3:10 reads: “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.”

A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card and wrote on the back: Revelation 3:20 and stuck it in the door.

The next day, as he was counting the offering he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation Genesis 3:10.

Revelation 3:20 reads: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.”

Genesis 3:10 reads: “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.”

Yesterday I took a test for Algebra chapter 10. I elected to take it in the testing center rather than in class. I should have been studying for it all through thanksgiving weekend, but got lazy.

So instead I went to the campus, sat down in the library (excuse me. I guess it’s not PC to call them “Libraries” any more. Now they’re “Learning Resource Centers”) and studied Chapter 10 for an hour, walked up to the testing center and took the test. I completely blanked out on how to solve a quadratic equation using the “completing the square” method, even though I’d just been doing it 15 minutes before. So I factored it (it was an easy problem). I got my test back today. For all my lack of study, I got 89%. And she gave me full credit for the problem where I was supposed to complete the square. On the other hand, even I can’t figure out what I was thinking on one of the word problems. It was a wierd bit of logic that, looking at it today, was just bizarre. For the curious:
A picture, 10″ by 12″, has a frame around it. The width of the frame is uniform and has the same area as the picture. What is the width of the frame?

Today we scrubbed the kitchen completey in Basic food prep. Seems kinda pointless to go through all that scrubbing when my Advanced food prep class will be cooking in that kitchen tomorrow night, and there are about 5 other classes that will still be using it before the end of the semester.

This weekend will be a heavy study weekend. I expect to pull an A in Algebra (how’s that for a guy that flunked it twice?) and Intro to Economics, a B in both Basic and Advanced food prep and I don’t even want to guess in Macro Economics. I’ve done poorly on the exams up to now.