Older blog entries for dria (starting at number 129)

Added random bits to my personal site (dria.org), and started (finally) doing some planning for a full revamp of the linuxchix site. Pondering the fate of the OSWG - not sure if anyone uses the site or not. I know there's only one active user of the CVS system, and the mailing lists are utterly silent.

Should I just let it fade away, or do you think maybe there's still some use for the project? The Linux Documentation Project has been much much more active in the past year, and things seem to be progressing nicely over there (they do DocBook now, have a CVS system, etc).

What do you think? Let me know.

Aw, shucks. Thanks to everyone who has posted or emailed that they like my new site. That's real sweet of y'all :)

I've finally put my personal weblog site up. dria.org. PHP is too fun.

I am no longer on vacation. I'm at work, having just waded through far far too many email, pondering things like technology and life and insanity and cities and how much cities suck when compared (thee, to a summer's day) to the country. The maritime country, in fact, which is even more breathtakingly beautiful than plain ol' regular country. There's just something about tides, I think. About waking up in the morning, grabbing a coffee, then sitting on the porch watching the tide come in (or go out, depending), while there are crickets and heavily laden apple trees, a faint breeze from the west, and a profound stillness. Dawn breaks over the red cliffs of Blomidon, and there are eagles.

I had a fantastic time. My friends were successfully married with only a few minor sillinesses from the proverbial peanut gallery (that'd be us). I spent a lot of time sitting at my favourite cafe (there are only two in town), drinking socially-conscious coffee on the back patio, writing or reading or talking to dear old friends, getting a little sun here and there, and just being very very relaxed. I also took a whole lot of photos, but they're not online yet. I'll post a few so y'all can see some of what I mean when I talk about the ineffable beauty of that place. Words simply cannot capture it. Nor can a camera. You really have to be there, to feel the stillness for yourself, to smell the air, to meet the incredible people.

If you're going on vacation, I highly recommend Nova Scotia in autumn.

But, alas, I have returned to the grey concrete craziness of the city now. It's sunny, at least. If it were raining today, I doubt I could have coerced myself out of bed anytime before noon. As it is, I got up, had a couple of cups of coffee and wrote for an hour or so. Last night I wrote for three or four hours I think, after I got home. During the week I filled the better part of a notebook with my scribblings. I had forgotten just how hard and wonderful writing can be. I have ideas for a half dozen books now, and dozens of short stories.

Yes, I wrote poems. Several. No, I'm not going to share them with you here.

This is likely my last advogato diary entry. Now that I'm writing again, I feel significantly less desire to share the random tidbits of my life with perfect strangers on this site. I'll share them through my writing instead. I'll post a note if anything manages to get published. Until then, adios. Stay sane, keep smiling, and for god's sake go outside every once in a while. It's good for you.

"Perspective. Use it, or lose it."

I plant my little standard firmly in the rocks atop this little hill of mine. Around me, absurdity and madness wash like ocean tides. The world is going insane, but I will not be taken without a fight.

Today, use the word "zen" as often as possible. And carry a bamboo stick and yell "wake up!" when you hit people with it, as if you were a zen master and they a student fallen to slumber during zazen. It can be a metaphorical stick, if you insist.

Tomorrow, write all your email as if you were Yoda. Eschew jargon. Use your stick often. Be wary of crocodiles lurking in dark waters beneath the conference table. Write a poem.

"I'm on vacation!" - Al Massey, explaining to Valdez (slimeball guerrilla leader) why he, an American journalist, is lurking around a little Mexican town that happens to be in the guerrillas' territory. A-Team, pilot episode

I am, in fact, going on vacation. La la la la foo.

Played hermit today. Worked on my narcissi^Wvanity site (soon to be put up at dria.org). It has a weblog, among other things. All hail PHP. Rasmus deserves a cookie.

In other news, nothing happened.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I went to a couple of movies, bummed around with the gang, and spent way too much time actually doing productive-webby things this weekend. No gaming at all. For shame. I'll regret that 'round mid-week when I'm sick of webbing and stay up past my bedtime again playing one-or-the-other addictive city-building game. Just you wait.

Later, I get to go on vacation. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to that. Seems like all-but-one of the old gang is going to be in the same province at the same time, which, as far as I can tell, hasn't happened in the last 7 years. Someone should really warn the natives, 'cuz it ain't gonna be pretty.

Currently reading: The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell. This is the first in yet-another-Arthurian-epic, this time known collectively as "The Warlord Chronicles". So far it's like a Fellini movie, which has turned out to be the theme of the weekend.

Currently listening to: well, nothing. Earlier I had David Usher's Little Songs CD on, and before that, more stuff by Our Lady Peace.

And at night, the ice weasles come.

Speed update, then bed.

1. My cat is home. He appears to be doing quite well. Hoorah.

2. Printer works. The USB cable did the trick.

3. Sim City 3000 Unlimited is the work of the Devil.

4. Hack hack hack. I haven't had this much fun working on something this mind-bendingly difficult in a long time. The difficulty is the result of me having to learn the technologies as I go, rather than the task itself. To a certain extent. Sort of. It's still hard...I'm quite convinced.

5. I'm going to Nova Scotia in a few weeks to attend a friend's wedding and to soak up another year's worth of general geograhic beauty. I've found myself humming silly Nova Scotian folk tunes recently, which is usually a sure sign of homesickness. Oddly, I didn't grow up there.

6. I watched shreds of the final episode of Survivor. This is the first and only (and last) exposure to that show I've had, but I had to watch at least a bit of it in order to fulfill my pop-cultural duties as a loyal North American. Thank god it's not a Canadian show. That would just be embarrassing.

7. Highlander IV (yes, 4; yes, a movie) opens on September 1st. At the moment, it looks like I'll be going by myself. Betcha $5 I don't have to line up for tickets. Screw you all anyhow, it's got Peter Wingfield in it, and that's all that matters.

8. The grocery store near my house closed a while ago...like closed its doors forever sort of closed. As a result, I'm down to a 1/4 box of mini-wheats, two cans of tuna, and a half packet of spaghetti (no sauce). This is seriously cramping my style.

That's all for now. Adios.

Something's seizing
You know you lost your mind
You know we all need saving
She found you late last night
You feel the madness gaining
You know you just can't win
You know this, you know this
You know this...

I'm just so
tired of waking up
on the ground.

Today. Spent a bunch of time cleaning my apt. Bought a Dirt Devil hand vac and a Cannon BJC 3000 printer. Printer seems to be okay. Parallel port works okay. Drivers installed okay (windows box).

LPT Error: Printer Not Responding.

Well hell. Tomorrow I get to buy a new printer cable (a USB one if I can find it). I think the problem might be associated with the 20 year old parallel cable I've been recycling since grade school. Blast.

In other news, I get to bring my cat home from the hospital tomorrow (not today like originally anticipated). The vet wanted one final day to see how he did now that they've taken him off the IV drip. That's okay with me. I'd hate to bring him home and have to take him back again.

One of these days I'm actually going to get some of the stuff done that I want to get done. Made a few small baby steps towards getting my weblog put together, but then randomness intervened and managed to destroy any semblance of productivity for the rest of the day.

That sort of thing seems to be happening more often these days, and it's really getting on my nerves. I want a week where I can just Do Things without a billion little details and errands and other randomnesses cropping up to ruin my concentration.

I have so much I want to do, and so blasted little time to get it done in. Blah.