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Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable. EMAIL - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.. |
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July 15, 2001 - Updates at 0700
Good morning. Whoa!!! Is that the date already? We have so very much to do, and so little time. I have a fresh bunch of East Coast calls to make, finalizing trucking arrangements, checking into dog licensing, and on and on. There's a lot of other things to fit in, too. As many of us Daynoter's do, I'm suggesting that things might get sporadic, even sparse, on these pages for a while. However, I'm usually not very good at holding to that, so don't just go away, I'll likely surprise you.
News you should know: Walmart PC's are shipping with Mandrake pre-installed. Nine system configurations ranging from $391 to $648. That highest price unit is . . . a 2 gig P4 with 256M RAM, 40G HD, CDRW, Ethernet and 56k modem. As usual with computer ads, the monitor is shown, but not included. Still. Wooo-Hooo!
I guess I need to get to work. If I start surfing for fun news for us, I'll surface 3 hours from now, wondering where the day went. See you later, perhaps.
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July 16, 2002 - Updates at 1300
Hullo. I'm staying busy, that's for sure. Marcia's taken the week off, and we're trying to do some fun stuff out here on the West coast before we make our move. We did a long drive yesterday. Among other things, that allowed us to test out Sally's motion sickness medications. She passed with flying colors - no vomit anywhere. I'll take a few pictures off and on through the week, and give you a big dose Sunday or early next week. But we're trying to have some fun, in and around the tension of a pending move.
Some good news, it looks like I'll be working for Nerds after we've moved to Maryland. I met with the owners while we were back there a week ago, and we had a good conversation. Thanks to reader Mike for starting the ball rolling on that contact - it looks to be fun and varied work. Additionally, I might be working up some more tutorial proposals for IBM - my recent Emacs tutorial on DeveloperWorks drew a lot of positive feedback, including calls to put out some more advanced work on the Operating Environment that masquerades as a text editor.
I'd better get this posted, and go find out what we're going to do next. See you later!
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July 17, 2002 - Updates at
Nothing to see here, move along...
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July 18, 2002 - Updates at 1000
Good morning. An acute attack of fun combined with a lazy streak a mile wide when I got anywhere near the computer meant there was nothing to post yesterday. Thanks for your patience. We're doing some culture, taking Sally on long walks, and generally having a good time.
Running late, I've now bashed through 130-plus messages since yesterday about this time, including a lot of follow-up on issues with the back-channel mailing list which is rebuilt now that Daynotes.org is also hosted here, along with Jerry, Bob, Greg and myself. I have more things to do and understand about how best to have multiple virtual domains set up for Mailman. Everything appears to working right at the moment, though.
Now I remember what's been bothering me. There was a big story last week on the news about the dangers of using cell phones while driving. They ran attention studies showing how much less people are noticing while talking on the phone, and CAT scans showing how brain activity changes when conversation is on. But no one in any of the stories is mentioning how this same effect must be taking place any time you're talking to someone in the car with you, with the added problem of occasional (or more than occasional) eye contact. Oh, and because of air pollution problems, car pooling is encouraged. Aren't we talking about the same problem here? Ah, just don't TALK in your car. OK. Feh.
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July 19, 2002 - Updates at 0930
Good morning. I have some feedback on the cell phone studies...
Subject: Cell phones & driving
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 08:42:06 -0700
From: Roger RitterOne other point people never seem to bring up - if the true danger isn't the cell phone per se, but the distraction caused by the conversation, then all those solo drivers people get so upset about should be helping to keep the traffic accident rate down. Instead of carpool lanes, maybe we should have designated 'safety' lanes for cars with only one person? I'll bet *that* suggestion would rile some folks!
--
Roger
I like that! Not a commuter lane, but a non-distracted driver lane!
We're about ready to get our heads into the final push up to moving day at the end of the month. We've got to pack the rest of our gear, we've confirmed the truck, and we are going to enjoy every little bit of the garden-fresh vegetables until it's time to go. Also, we're going to spend some time with my folks, and other family members that we'll be leaving behind here in California. Ah, well. time to roll into the next part of the day. See y'all back here soon!
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July 20, 2002 - Updates at 0800
Howdy. Did I mention previously that in packing up for this move, I turned up books that I knew I had, but haven't seen in years? That in itself was fun, but yesterday at the used bookstore here, I found then knocked back Gordon Dickson's The Chantry Guild in one sitting. I seem to be unusually appreciative of stories drawn from Robert Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came", like Dickson's Childe Cycle or Stephen King's Gunslinger series still in progress.
That book done all too soon, I picked up a copy of The Dark Design, a Riverworld book by Philip Jose Farmer. So while I'm short on sleep, I'm a bit relaxed. I guess I deserve that from time to time, neh? Supper with my folks tonight, one more relaxing day tomorrow, then we'll dive into our final days in Sunnyvale. While we might retire back to California, I doubt it'll be back to the over-priced, over-trafficked South Bay. But should I be mistaken, I'll use a nice Pesto sauce to coat the words I eat, okay?
See you back here soon. We've seen what we came to see, and we're headed home.
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July 21, 2002 - Updates at 0930 and 1745
Good morning. I did say "... headed home" yesterday, didn't I? Yeah, we were in Ashland, Oregon for the week, seeing several plays at the Shakespeare Festival up there. Pictures and discussion later today, both here and on Marcia's site. But now I have some chores to get to. I'll be back later.
1745 - Okay. I'm back, briefly. I'm sorting through about 240 pictures that I took during our trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Here's a couple of special ones. At left you can see how Sally spent much of her summer vacation. We took her for some nice long walks, and introduced her to several new doggie friends up in Ashland. Many of those were visitors, just like her. However, her favorite activity, as always, is napping. Especially using furniture designed for people. We drove up on the Monday last, and started our activities on Tuesday morning, with a Backstage Tour. We've done that previously, but there's a new theatre (the aptly named New Theatre) to see, and each time with a different guide offers a new perspective. Besides, that's free with our membership, so why not?
At right you can see Danforth Comins, one of the actors with the company this year, talking to our group inside the Elizabethan Theatre. This picture shows also the set for the play As You Like It, the last play we saw during the week, and the only shot of inside the theatres. Photos are discouraged due to copyright restrictions on the sets and such. I do have lots of pictures from the various Green Shows (a pre-theatre entertainment each night) to share, once I've finished sorting them out.
But now it's time for supper, then on with the evening. See you tomorrow morning!
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Last Week
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Next Week
Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.
All Content Copyright © 1999-2002 Brian P. Bilbrey.
