Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

I returned to work Thursday, thanks to rides from ladysoapmaker. Got the company laptop working properly...once I received the right passwords for it. Also activated my SecureID keyfob.

This week, I'll be troubleshooting a friend's PC which died during Wednesday night's storms. And I may be trying to revive another friend's failed flash drive.

On Tuesday, I was working on my new job at $CLIENT in downtown Cincinnati. I had brought in my own laptop in order to do some prototype coding, since the company laptop hadn't been delivered yet to me.

( And then life had other plans for me. )

The nurses and patient care technicians took good care of me there. I have no complaints. But I have no desire to return to the hospital anytime soon.

Fri 5/21: Slept in all morning, Packed for my upcoming camping trip with friends from the DPA. On the way to Cub Foods to pick up 6 gallons of reverse-osmosis water, I realized I left my Thinsulate sleeping pad in the garage. So I went back to get it. I'm glad I did -- I left my tent behind as well. Then I headed out to Hueston Woods State Park via I-75, SR 129, the city of Hamilton, and SR 177. And it poured. I put my tent up between rainstorms.

Sat 5/22: Spent a glorious day doing nothing while camping. Made a good breakfast of Bob Evans sausage (Praise Bob!) and eggs. Also cooked marinated chicken on the Hibachi. Tried to keep the fire going while everyone else left to see a movie.

Sun 5/23: Packed up and left Hueston Woods. Went to pick up M, who said she wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge. I didn't know if they had day passes available so we went to The Beach Waterpark instead. M wasn't happy that the park closed at 6:00pm. After I got home, I partially unloaded the car, took a nice long shower, and washed my jeans.

For years, I've been wanting to purchase a synthesizer or keyboard workstation -- specifically, something in the Kurzweil K2000 family. I briefly had a Kurzweil K2500, but found that I couldn't afford it and had to send it back.

As I've often said, I'm not a guitarist. I simply don't have the chops in the left hand to be an accomplished guitarist. I wouldn't mind learning how to play bass guitar, though. And of course, I have my woodwinds. But nothing fires me up like keyboards.

Why keyboards? Because I can have access to a wide range of sounds. I can't get this from traditional instruments. In a way, it's like painting a picture with a range of colors instead of just a few. With the help of a computer and music composition software (e.g. Cakewalk), I can knock out compositions much quicker than what I can currently accomplish.

( What sort of keyboard sounds would I want to include in my palette? )

Had lunch with maedbh7 yesterday. One of the many things we talked about was how the filk community is oriented toward solo musicians. Ensemble players such as her and myself don't often get a chance to perform.

Years ago, there used to be instabands -- groups of filkers who would get together, rehearse, and perform a song during a convention. I think the only impromptu ensemble in filk these days is Philip Textor's Chamberfilk, which I've been a part of.

So, how can we get this ball started? Who else would be interested in such a project?

I was having dinner with longtime friend Tom P this evening, as he was returning from a business trip to Hamilton (Ohio). At one point in the conversation, we were discussing the works of Todd Rundgren, and he mentioned "Singring And The Glass Guitar", from the "Ra" album. It's an (I think) 18-minute story song -- an electrified fairy tale, as it's subtitled -- which features each of the four members in the band Utopia: Todd Rundren (guitar), Kasim Sulton (bass), Willie Wilcox (drums) and Roger Powell (keyboards).

The story: The muse Singring is kidnapped and trapped in a glass guitar, locked with 4 locks. The keys to these locks are scattered across the four directions of the earth. 4 brave adventurers -- the members of the band -- take on their own hero's journey in search of these keys. The journeys correspond to the 4 elements -- earth, air, fire, water. (Lyrics here.)

This is a song I'd love to perform someday, in a concert at a filk or science fiction convention. But the song demands 4 strong musicians, as each performer sings and plays solo. Near the end, as they come together, they sing in 4-part counterpoint. It also requires a narrator. I'd take the keyboard part (after much rehearsal and practice). But who would be able and willing to fill the other 3 parts? I was thinking of the guys in Ookla, and markbernstein as the narrator. Or are there others out there in the filk community who have the chops to perform this with me?

When we last left this story, I had been hit by a computer virus that sent out a spam message to everyone in my address book. I have since updated my definition files and performed scans with AVG, Ad-Aware, MalwareBytes, and SuperAntiSpyware. All four of these programs offer a free version for home use.

The results: AVG found 0 viruses, Ad-Aware found 0 viruses, MalwareBytes found 2 viruses and 2 joke files, and SuperAntiSpyware found 3 viruses. As far as I can tell, my system is clean now. But from my recent experience, no one anti-virus package will catch 100% of the viruses and malware out there.

A few astute recipients noticed that the message was out of character. Usually I include a brief explanation of any hypoerlink before presenting the link itself. And I used to work as a contractor for Lilly. Why would I plug a competitor's product? (Viagra is made and marketed by Pfizer. Lilly's competing product is Cialis.)

I recommend that everyone who received the spam message from me not click on the link (or better yet, delete the message), and perform a virus scan.

Via fleetfootmike: fireflylive posted a great LJ entry on what it really means to be a Christian.

It's not the cross that you may wear. It's not the Bible quotes that you can quote. It's taking what you know in your head and putting it in your heart, and living like Jesus. We need more Christians like her.

Yesterday at church, during Joys and Sorrows, I mentioned the plane crash in Poland, and offered my prayers. I also mentioned that I was part Polish, and this incident affects me personally. After services, a man in the congregation that I know -- let's call him Joe -- came up to me and said, "You're Polish? That's too bad." He later said he was teasing. But that didn't take the sting out of his previous words. To add insult to injury, Joe commented on my ability to read, after he saw me looking at the bulletin board.

I should be thick-skinned enough to forget about these incidents. But I'm not.

In our church, we believe in the dignity and worth of every person. This incident shows that there are still people out there who don't live this ideal.

Sarcasm hurts. It's like being hit in the side with a padded sword. It may not draw blood, but it leaves a welt.

Why do people engage in such disprectful behavior? It's like seeing someone and calling out, "Hey shithead! How's it going?" What do people get out of it? Or are they wounded enough to lash out at everyone they see, or some people in particular?

At least my cats don't say things like that to me.

After using Ubuntu Linux on one desktop and two laptops for several months, I find that I can do most of eveything I need to do in Ubuntu. Three notable exceptions I've found so far:

1) Using a PCMCIA modem on a laptop. Linux and PCMCIA modems don't get along very well. Primarily because most PCMCIA modems are Winmodems, which use part of the Windows operating system to perform its tasks. If I'm at a place that has only dial-up (such as my mom's place in Buffalo), I have to boot up in Windows.
2) Websites that require Internet Explorer. There are some websites out there, presumably developed using Microsoft products, that don't support Firefox. (Shame on them.) And Microsoft isn't going to develop a version of IE for Linux anytime soon.
3) Windows-only apps. I haven't tried installing or running TurboTax via Wine.

I intend to keep using Ubuntu as my primary operating system for the foreseeable future.

P.S. Ubuntu 10.04 -- aka Lucid Lynx -- is scheduled to be released on April 29.