Also available as RSS: XML
Delightfull show last night. A group of us met up for dinner before the show. We were going to go to Sushi Zanmai, but the wait there was pretty horrific and they didn't do reservations for smaller parties, so we wandered over to redfish for dinner instead. It was alright, but not amazing I wouldn't say. The beer and the cornbread were both really good, everything else was alright but not spactacular.
After dinner we walked 2 doors down (redfish is right next to the trilogy) and waited for the doors to open. Trilogy is a nice venue. It has the resturant/bar in the front and then a back room for music (with it's own bar). This is the first time I have seen the spankers have an opening act, it was: The Crispy Family Circus They were quite entertaining and I think a good fit for most of the people in the audience. Especially amusing was the end of their show where you were invited to give them tips by stapling them to Crispy.
The Asylum Street Spankers were excellent as usual. The brought in some folks from Tin Men, including Washboard Chaz Even though he had never played with them, he fit right in and had no trouble playing along. It was a good gig. Because of the opening acts and guests and such, they didn't finish playing until about 1:30 or so.
Looking forward to the denver show sunday night. All you Fort Collins folks should go see them tonight!
Southern sun and Hacking Society were nice last night. It was still "Sout month" at Southen Sun. They have a really nice cream stout on nitro. Yummy. Did some playing around with access points at Caffe Sole. Left early in case any spankers wanted to crash at my place. Turns out they were pretty settled in in boulder, so they just stayed up there.
Tonight is the spankers show at trilogy. Probibly a dinner with some folks before hand, not that we have planned anything...
Just got back from kurts second Therapy dog vist (out of 3). He did fine as usual. There were a lot more dogs and people this time, but there was also a lot more activity at the place. They were bringing in several new people, and nurses and doctors were runing around all over the place. Got to see the 103 year old guy who loves dogs. He kept giving treats to all the dogs. There was a new guy there that we visted and really brightened up his day I think. He was very happy to see all the dogs. There were 3 greyhounds there counting kurt.
Everyone should come out to the Asylum Street Spankers shows this weekend. They will be in boulder friday night, fort collins saturday night and denver sunday night. Some of those days the band (or some part of them) will be crashing here. Should be fun. They seem like a nice bunch.
Pretty typical monday. Had an anoying thing I was working on for work today that I haven't (yet) managed to figure out and get working. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.
Twyla and Merlin had a little tiff in the yard yesterday. No injury, but they sure were growling and snapping. It was when I had just gotten back from the store and Merlin was all wound up from being crated. Twyla was running around with him and he got tired of her being pushy. She was very reserved all the rest of sunday, but is warming back up to normal today. I hope they will learn to get along better. I think it's just a matter of Twyla trying to boss Merlin around and him not caring. I think they will come to an arrangement. They did do some playing in the yard today with waggy tails.
Perhaps tomorrow I will brew some mead. A nice quickmead batch.
Productive day today so far. I managed to: Vac the entire house, put out the trash, clean up the back yard, take the dogs for a walk, move a drive into my old main server so I can track down what was wrong with it, clean out my printserver and reboot it, clean out part of the garage, and clean up my desk upstairs in the bedroom. Next on the list is grocery shopping and cleaning out litterboxes.
Oh, and it's semi-official: I called and said that I wanted to keep merlin. :) I guess I am going to turn into the crazy dog guy (male version of the crazy cat lady)?
Oh, one amusing thing I forgot to mention about 24. They show this clock with the time on it before and after 'commercial' breaks and at the beginning and end of the episodes. Of course there are no commercials on the dvd version, so you see just how much of your life you are saving by not watching them on tv. ;)
Just watched the first four "hours" of the 24 tv show, which I got from netflix. It started out a tad slow but it picked up speed pretty quickly. It seems pretty well done. Only a few groans from inapproprate computer teminology. I have the next few as well, so I will have to see if it keeps going good or not.
Finally got off my duff and wrote up a bunch of junk that I should give away or sell. Check out: Junk for sale.
Thursday night's Boulder Hacking Society was fun. I managed to fix lenore's access point that had freaked out. I got my spare linksys access point working as a client at Caffe Sole and got a few other things done.
Friday was just a typical day. Made a nice dinner with fresh bread (from the bread musket), blackened shrimp, linguini, and a nice aussie shraiz. Was going to watch some netflix, but for some reason I got into watching some old Buffy's that I have on computer. Good times.
Today is catch up around the house day. Need to do some laundry, some vacuuming (you would not believe the amount of mud that 3 dogs can track into the house in a week), and pay bills. I'm gonna try and be good this weekend on eating. The last few weeks I have been loosing weight during the week, then gaining it all back on the weekend. Thats not a fun cycle. I would like to get down to under 200 and just maintain there.
Played around with k3b. It's a KDE cd/dvd burner gui application. It's pretty slick. It's a TON better than gcombust or xcdroast. I don't have a DVD-rw, but the cd stuff looks to be working. Also played with konqueror, the KDE file manager/web browser. It's still slower than firefox for me at least. I managed to import all my firefox bookmarks and got it to look like I wanted without too much trouble. It doesn't have a feature I use a LOT in firefox though, it can't open a bunch of bookmarks in tabs. I use that to read people's blogs and comics. Oh well, will stick with firefox for now.
Took kurt down to the therapy dogs inc meeting down in aurora. We both had a pretty good time. There were only about 4 other people and 4 other dogs there tonight. Usually they get more people than that. There weren't any other greyhounds, but they do have one that usually there. There was a famous and highly trained Chinese Creseted named Eric, a doberman, a bichon and a mixed breed dog. All the dogs were very outgoing and friendly. Kurt did great except a few places in rooms where it was close quarters he didn't want to go in. Some of the rooms there at the nursing home were really frikking hot. 90's at least. Some of the people there had dog treats and were very happy to see the dogs. I did get one grumpy lady telling me that since I was a man, I should cut my hair. We were supposed to be there from 6:30 to 7:30, but we didn't leave until 8. Just too easy to go and see more people. Even so there were a number of folks on the list that we didn't manage to get to this time. Was very cool we could brighten up their day. Two more visits with kurt and he can get certified, then we can look for a place closer to home to volenteer at. Also, then it will be twyla's turn to go. I think she would do pretty well at it as well.
I had a pretty generic weekday today. It was very nice outside in the afternoon, so I did take the dogs for a walk. I think I have taken them walking every day since late last week. They are liking the exersize and it's good for me too!
Coming up later this week tons of things: Tomorrow I am going to try and get off my duff and go with kurt to the therapy dogs inc meeting down south. I think he would be a great therapy dog, so I want to get him certified. Takes at least 3 visits and the place is in aurora, so it's not close, but I still think it will be worth it. Thursday is of course hacking society in boulder. Always a good time.
By Friday I need to make up my mind about Merlin. He's a super cool dog, so I am trying to decide if I just want to keep him. 3 dogs isn't too much more work than 2, right? The only time I can see it being a problem is for traveling. (Harder to find a dogsitter). Also, I need to see if twyla starts liking him better. She's been kinda growly to him, but I think it's just because she wants to make sure she is still alpha bitch.
Some Pictures I have taken in the past week or so. Most of them of Merlin.
Had a good time last night. sgailean and I went met at the park and ride and went down into denver. After a few minutes of wandering around for parking (People out for dinner on a sunday night?), we went to gumbos for dinner. It was pretty good. I had the blackened shrimp.
Then off to rock island for elusis'es DJ set. We missed the first song or two, but were there for the rest. Really nice set. I didn't recognize many of the songs, but I liked almost all of them. Will have to go do some disc shopping I fear.
Got to meet elusis maggledy Gavin and probibly about 6 others that I am not sure I heard correct names for. All very nice folks. There was the usual fun people watching. Some people were even dressed worse that I was! (gasp). There were some nice hairdoos, some elaborate coustoumes and general amusement.
The music went down hill after elusis was done. Hung around for another hour or so and then bailed out to come home and let merlin out. All in all a good evening.
Weekend movie roundup:
Pistol Opera was fun. It did drag a bit in a few places or get wildly incoherent, but overall a good flick.
Samurai Fiction (no imdb link I can see): Amusing in places, but over all a snoozer.
28 days later: Not bad. Zombies and blood. Done in a weird post apcoliptic way. Once again though I feel compelled to rant about movies that insist on having the dialog down super low, so you turn it up to hear and then they have a scream or gigantic explosion that rips your eats off and causes all the dogs to flee the room. I know it gives them more impact, but man it's anoying. Perhaps we could figure out some tech way to get around it.
Need to try and figure out something to wear to head out to the club tonight. I haven't been clubbing in ages. Oh well, I will think of something.
Well, that was sure a productive shopping trip. I managed to get a nice replacement fanny pack at REI in boulder. It was their winter sale, so 20% off. Then I went by liquormart and they had one bottle of the Old Guardian (barleywine style beer) left. I snagged that and another bottle of the Smoked Porter When I got home and started transfering things from the old broken fanny pack, I found my missing puzzle ring. I had given it up for lost weeks ago, but it looks like it fell into some obscure crevice of my fanny pack and I didn't see it. Excellent.
Now on to an evening of drinking and watching movies.
Just got back from walking the dogs. A few days ago it was snowing, today it's 50's and really really nice outside. Had a great walk with the dogs. Kurt and Merlin are both super well behaved on the leash, of course twyla is a brat and has to stop and sniff and mark everywhere, but thats ok.
For the first time in a while I have no plans at all for this weekend. I can relax and do not much. It would be nice if I did a few things around the house. I would like to get some computer junk written up and pics taken so I can try and sell them off. I have far too many computers, cables, etc. Might head up to boulder and see if liquor mart has the stone barleywine. Also, I should look for a new fanny pack, the zipper on mine died. Other than that, rest and relax.
As Sean Points out, I have the link below wrong. It should be: Satori_v2_2.00.8.7sv-pre1.bin.zip
Went up to boulder to the walnut to meet some folks tonight. It was a nice time. Parking in boulder friday night is always a pain, but I managed to find a space in the library parking lot after a while. The walnut still had their barleywine on tap. It's yummy. I highly reccomend it. Now to settle into a evening of relaxing and watching audio visual entertainment.
Just got back a bit ago from the Boulder Linux Users Group Meeting. We had a nice demo of the Linux based Telly device. It looks pretty slick. It's kinda pricy, but cool.
I think my talk went pretty well. Had some good interaction with the audience. Things did get a bit de-railed when people were talking about good/bad service experences that they had with laptop vendors, but overall it went over ok.
Got home and merlin had done some more shreading in the crate, but seemed to be in good spirits. Hopefully his SA will get less and less as he realizes that I will come back and let him out everytime.
Oops. I had a missing quote in there and messed up my last entry. Fixed now.
Well, my 802.11g access point and pcmcia card came in today. It's odd, they both came UPS ground but one showed up in the morning and then the second one showed up late afternoon. UPS is not known for showing up several times. In this case I am glad they did. The pcmcia card worked no problems with the prism54 driver from prism54.org. It worked well with my existing 802.11b access point, then I connected the new 802.11g AP and it came up fine there too.
The access point is fun to play with. It runs Linux under the hood. I first looked over the 2.00 firmware it shipped with. All the usual things you would expect to have on an AP. Then I upgraded to the latest Linksys one, which is 2.02.8. The firmware upgrade worked fine, and it had a few new features, nothing too exciting. Then I decided to be daring and load the Satori_v2_2.00.8.7sv-pre1.bin.zip Firmware. It's very slick. ssh support, firewall support all kinds of things. It's fun to ssh in and look around on the access point. Will have to keep playing with it in the days to come. I wonder if I shouldn't buy another one before they stop making them.
One slight problem I ran into is suspend/resume not working right with the new pcmcia card. Looks like I made the pcmcia support builtin instead of modular. Oops. Oh well, it gave me a chance to build a new 2.4.25-rc2 kernel with the prism54 stuff built in.
Haven't updated in a few days. A few things to report. Merlin is settling in ok. He doesn't seem to like being crated and left at home. He shreaded up a blanket and there was a lot of drool in the crate. He was pretty calm when I got back though. My microphone on my webcam failed to work, so I didn't get a recording of him to see if he was making any noise. Will have to see about fixing that. Twyla has been a bit growly to him, but I think thats due to her wanting to make sure she's still alpha bitch. Merlin has started playing with stuffed toys and he ran around the yard with the other two a bit today. He still does look out the window and whine sometimes.
My router and 802.11g card should be here tomorrow sometime. Should be fun to play with.
This thursday I am going to be giving a "Linux and Laptops" talk to the Boulder Linux Users Group. Everyone should come out and heckle.
Now that my laptop is all seeming stable again (lots of suspend/resume cycles and it's been up 8.5 days now) I need something new to tinker with. So, I decided to look at upgrading my wireless network here at home. The Linksys wireless routers run linux and apparently geeks have taken the linksys firmware and really really beefed it up So, after looking at that and the client adapters that are supported by the prism 54 site. I went and ordered one of the Linksys routers and a 3com 3CRWE154G72 card. We will see. It sounds pretty cool, and getting 54Mb/sec would be nifty at home. If it works as well as it sounds, I might have to pick up another of the linksys boxes for traveling.
Since it was the first saturday of the month me and twyla and kurt were down at the petsmart manning a table for Colorado Greyhound Companions. We had a great time as usual. The dogs just eat it up. I wonder how usefull it is for the group sometimes. Almost everyone we talk to says something like "Well, we have 5 dogs or I would be interested in greyhounds". Since we are talking to an already pet enabled audence they aren't as likely to need another one. On the other hand, people at petsmart are likely to spread the word to others. In any case it's good to get the dogs out and have them petted for several hours.
Looks like tomorrow I get a new foster. Merlin the blue brindle.
Sitting here at caffe sole in boulder hacking away. Had a pretty productive evening, drank some beer and then worked on a presentation on Linux and Laptops for next weeks BLUG meeting. Had a pretty good crowd here tonight as well. I think we were up to 17 people at one point and all our power plugs taken up.
Well, there isn't too much snow here, but I decided to bail out on going down to the therapy dog meeting. It's down in aurora, so I am sure I would run into a billion stupid people on the way there with the snow and such. Also, not sure how twyla is going to like being left home alone if I take kurt down to that. Next week I might very well have a foster dog, so they could keep each other company when I take kurt.
Went out and had dinner with a friend and her dad at Efrain's. Nice place. The chilie verde wasn't as hot as it was the last time I was there, but it was still quite tasty.
Got a call back from the person who tests for Therapy Dogs Inc. They meet at 6:30pm down in aurora each week. You have to go 3 times and pass some basic tests and then you can get your dog certified. Sounds nice. Will see if I can make it tomorrow. You can only do one dog at a time, so I will need to decide witch one to take first. Not sure either of them has been left at home all alone since I have had them both. I think they would both be good at it, so we will see.
The laptop has been up almost 4 days with a number of suspend/resume cycles. I am hoping now that the problem was just the cpu fan had fuzz in it that needed cleaning out. It seems to be stable at least. Knock on wood.
The anti-superbowl party went pretty well. Small turnout, but we had a good time. Played some games, drank some wine, talked some politics.
Time to finish preping the house for the anti-superbowl party later. Got the kitchen all cleaned up and cleaned bathrooms yesterday. Now to vacuum and make cookies.
This document was last modified on