Monthly Archives: December 2006

Heat my house.

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From ‘s journal:

I know that, at this time of year, it’s very hard to think about anything after the first of the year, let alone plan for it. However, I wanted to give you all more than enough time to plan for this thing:

What:
Benny and Skippy’s Annual House Warming Party
(also, nods of recognition to Benny, Will, and Joe’s Birthdays)

When:
January 6th, 2007.
Starting at 8pm

Where:
(the same place it is every year?)
119 N. Fairview
Lansing.

Come Help us warm our house for another year.

Disclaimer: You’re coming to celebrate, and have a good time. The warming of our house doesn’t require gifts (it requires bodies, and love) so don’t bring them.

Par-tay! :)

Rest in peace, prowl.local

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So, armed with a combo drive and a 512 MB SO-DIMM, I was ready to upgrade the crap out of my iBook. By that, I mean keep track of the screws while did most of the work. But, this is neither here nor there.

I had acquired both from ebay, and I was boosted by the fact that the machine had powered itself on, while closed, booted, and gone into sleep mode while I was off galavanting around the Flint and Detroit areas for family fun. So, it was working again, but the upgrade required a power-down. I knew it was risky, but I was bound and determined to squeeze every last drop of cool out of this thing. 1 GB of RAM and the ability to burn CDs was just the kind of cool I wanted. (cool)

This is where things took a bit of a turn for the worse. After tearing apart the entire laptop, layer by layer, we discovered that this particular generation of iBook does not have a second RAM slot for its onboard RAM. Nope, it has actual onboard RAM. Well, at least we could upgrade to the Combo Drive, right? Sure!

But it won’t turn on. Again. Same exact problem. *sigh* So, I have activated the actuators, perpetuated the perpetuators, set the gears to grindin’, reversed the polarities, increased the transporter buffer, re-routed power through the secondary coupling, and have decided to part out the iBook and sell its bits on eBay to fund a newer, better, faster laptop.

If you know anybody who’s interested in these sort of bits, please feel free to send them here. Also, please do the same if you know people looking for used White Wolf books. :)

In the meantime, I am not without a machine, thanks to . His timely gift of a used tower is much appreciated. I’ve already brought my old 17″ CRT monitor out of storage (AKA gathering dust on the floor next to my desk), put some extra RAM in it that I had lying around, and the Ubuntu install was completing when I left the house this morning. I still need to find the video card drivers and find a better place for my printer, but all is well.

So, the electronics saga continues. I’m not sure why this happens to me in cycles (power supply and motherboard on my last desktop gave out on me simultaneously, power wouldn’t turn on with the iBook…), but apparently I’m rolling with it well this time. :)

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Though millions of other people may be flirting with glamorous badness and crafty nastiness in 2007, I bet you’ll have a minimal attraction to negativity, no matter how interesting it might allegedly be. Drama kings and drama queens may try to seduce you into the crazy chaos they stir up through their addiction to pain, but you’ll be pretty immune to their temptations. Seemingly reasonable people might hope you’ll buy into their gloom and doom, but you’ll be too smart for that. Congratulations in advance for your determination to be free of the stupid suffering that so many people love to entertain themselves with.

Merry Christmas. Thank you for being.

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I am so tired. So very, very tired. Switching to a nine-to-fiver’s schedule for this weekend, as well as being in a bed other than my own, has drained me pretty well. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, though. The past three days have been awesome.

Saturday was catching up on the last of our shopping, and feeling pretty accomplished. Nothing ended up needing to be purchased on Xmas Eve, which is a first for me in a very long time.

Saturday night was one of the 8th Anniversary shows for In Perpetual Motion Radio, and I had a blast. The mood was very laid back, almost somber, but the music was as good as it always is. I was lucky to avoid anything ending in “a-billy”, which makes me a lucky Skippy.

Sunday, being xmas eve, had us packing during the day, moving the tree off of Buddy’s cage, and getting Buddy ready to go. Then, we headed to the T-W-P, and even arrived early. As always, the dog was infatuated with my parents’ lawn, but not so much with not being able to run free without a fence. We played with him for a while, then took off to Millington for the Cramptons’ Xmas Eve bash. After amazing amounts of food and a White Elephant present game, we headed back to the T-W-P, practically overflowing with family-ness.

I did -not- expect to have -that- conversation on the way back to the T-W-P. Color me pleasantly surprised.

I got nearly no sleep last night, but was OUT. She was the last to wake up for presents and breakfast this morning. And this, of course, is why I’m going to want to play when I get home. I have this nifty firewire/usb 2.0 hard drive enclosure. I have this nifty new-to-me computer from . I have the toy above, and several DVDs to watch. I have the CD that I’m listening to right now. I even got the Combo Drive for the iBook in the mail while I was gone.

Someone slipped us a lapel pin of a burning cat. ;)

So, many projects to move forward on, much playing to do, and I am le tired. We shall see if I fire ze missiles before a nap or afterward. :)

Woo-to-the-hoo.

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We got the best Xmas present EVER for . Seriously. And it wasn’t even on his list.

And, since yesterday was Yule, and I exchanged our presents for each other then. :) She dug the Zelda Hoodie that I got her, and I’m going to have longer and more water-efficient showers in my future! Is it strange that I’m this happy about getting a shower head for Yule? Heh.

You’re going to have to covet that hoodie IRL now, ! MU HA HA!

I really wish that would pull her head out of her rectum.

Also, iBook won’t boot. Power button seems to have no impact on the generally off status of the laptop. It -works-, though, because you can use it in the keypress combination to reset the power management unit, and the Apple charger responds properly by blinking at you. PRAM reset also has no effect. Holding the power button down to clear capacitors with no power source, also no effect. Battery is charging when power is plugged in. Battery is responding properly. Won’t boot with the battery in or with the battery out. No chime, no nothin’. I even unplugged, took out the battery, cleared the capacitors, took out the keyboard, airport, that little metal plate, and then the RAM, waited 20 minutes, and put the thing back together. Also, I let it sit for 10 hours.

It’s just not. turning. on.

The only thing that I can think of is the logic board, and the notoriously shoddy video on it. I can a) take it back to Apple and see if they’ll replace it for free, since they’ve had a pseudo-recall about this sort of thing (that I missed the date on), b) replace the logic board myself – by which I mean watching over ‘s shoulder, and trying to learn something, or c) part the (*(@#$ out and use those earnings to save for an upgrade. High-end PowerBook G4s on eBay and refurbished MacBooks from Apple are going for about the same price these days.

Or, it’ll act like ‘s did, and just randomly start working again. *shrug* Whatever. Usually, I’m all freaked out and upset about this sort of thing, but I’m really laid back. I have a bunch of options in front of me, and none of them are bad.

I’m going to step outside for a moment, breathe the not-quite-cold-enough air, and smile at the sky.

“Benny.” *pause* “Benny.” *pause* “No, it’s Benny.”

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Have you ever wondered what I meant by “security theatre” when it comes to airports?

What I mean is, you get scanned and prodded while they search for shampoo, hair gel, and moisturizer, when someone can scale a fence and take a nap on a plane. There’s no -real- security going on. It’s play-acting. Thanks to Wil Wheaton for this link.

Holy crap did we find the perfect gift for . MU HA HA!

And now, the lasers! PYUUU-PYUUU!! PYUU!!

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From :

If you’re going to stick to your guns, we’re sticking to ours. Yes, Congressman Virgil Goode, you are an ass.

I know Christians, people who try to be Christ-like, that are saddened by this sort of thing. Not only that, but it gives Virginia and the entire South a bad name. *sigh* More than that, I am saddened as an American that delusion continues to make its way into our nation’s government. I just want to help these kind of people. Help them across the street, or to their therapy appointments. I just want to pat them on the head and tell them that everything is going to be okay.

I guess it’s just the Eagle Scout in me.

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Happy Holy Daze, Taurus! I’ve been meditating on the perfect holiday gift for you. What item might inspire you to take maximum advantage of the cosmic currents in 2007? I’ve decided on *Winning With Integrity: Getting What You’re Worth Without Selling Your Soul,* a book by sports agent Leigh Steinberg. It’ll help you be both smart and heartful as you navigate your way through the negotiations you’ll be called on to do in the coming months. Here’s a taste of Steinberg’s advice. (1) Align yourself with people who share your values. (2) Learn all you can about the other party. (3) Create a climate of cooperation, not conflict. (4) Learn to listen. (5) Convince the other party you have an option, even if you don’t.