Road Kill Journal

stolen or broken computers

2010-11-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine (Erik) recently had his computer stolen, and it reminded me of my general philosophy regarding broken or stolen computers. I'll express it here with regard to Erik's current situation, but it applies equally well to any broken computer or part (except for the junky part, unless you sell the broken computer to a junky on ebay and he fixes it up first and then sells it for drugs, or a new tie or something.)

So, on to Erik's computer:

I always find these things to be blessings in disguise.

It was time to upgrade already, but you would have procrastinated over it for months or even years. Now there's no procrastination, in fact it becomes imperative that he get a new computer, and Moore's Law guarantees it will be an upgrade. Erik wins!

Some poor junky who can't afford a computer gets a pretty decent (maybe beat up, and well used) computer until they sell it for drugs. Junky wins twice!

Everyone is happy.

--Christopher

Mice!

2010-10-27T02:05:00.000-07:00

In a house somewhere, at this moment, there is a disease ridden mouse, nibbling on food, rendering it unfit for human consumption. That mouse is not this mouse. This mouse is dead. Passed on to my by a friend are the images of the last of the Mouse von Mousersons. The last of a noble family. Heffe von Mouserson was the adventurous type, ranging far and wide to provide for his many offspring. Unfortunately for Heffe von Mouserson, his adventures ended with a *snap*.

Urine Testing

2010-10-13T19:35:00.001-07:00

To all the misguided folks out there who think urine testing is or should be compulsory:

You do not have to be drug tested to get a job. YOU are allowing them to take your freedom, and so they take it, and think they can just take mine too.

Just say NO, I will not be degraded and demeaned so that you can consume my soul in exchange for a bi-weekly paycheck.

Anyone who asks *me* to pee in order for me to work for them has seriously misjudged me. My only response can be, and has been, to leave the interview immediately, as I'm not interested in helping further the interests of a company who thinks they own their employees.

While I agree I do not want my pilot to be on heroin while he is flying my plane, drug testing has become far too commonplace. I do not care one whit if the guy at my insurance company gets high after work, or the kid at the hotel desk smokes a joint some weekend. It is none of my business, and it certainly is not company business either.

The current business stance on this subject can only end with workers who are no better off than slaves. When the company has that kind of control over the entire life of an employee, we can start calling ourselves "client employees" and re-institute collars and human branding. Down with slavery! Down with urine testing! Down with fascism and censorship!

--Christopher Maujean

PS. Free Luna!

Rake task for compiling LESS css stylesheets

2010-01-10T13:47:00.000-08:00


desc "Compiles all .less files in app/stylesheets directory into the public/stylesheets directory of a Rails application"
task :less do

 require 'less'

 less_files = 'app/stylesheets/'
 destination = 'public/stylesheets/'
 stylesheets = Dir.entries(less_files)

 stylesheets.select{|s| File.extname(s) == ".less"}.each do |sheet|
    f = File.new("#{destination}#{File.basename(sheet, ".less")}.css", File::CREAT|File::TRUNC|File::RDWR, 0644)
      f.write Less::Engine.new(File.new(less_files + sheet)).to_css
 end
end

Hey Sister, can you spare some dead snake?

2009-09-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Submitted by my awesome sister Lelia.

Without further ado here it is:

Roadkill with a twist

2009-09-30T21:45:00.001-07:00

Awesome!

see more Fail Blog

I am a special kind of idiot.

2009-07-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the biggest idiots are those that know too much about a given subject.

I've been putting off my mac support call for over a month, because I wanted to clean out my HD before sending my precious laptop off to some untrustworthy den of hardware techs, where they might look at my pictures and laugh, or sic the RIAA on me, or something. Having finally cleaned this machine out, I made the initial support call to mac.

The nice mac technical support operative on the other end of the line didn't seem to think the issues I was having were hardware related. In fact, he felt that we should try some "basic operating system maintenance" things first, like emptying caches, resetting the bios, and fixing permissions on the disk.

This seems to have completely fixed my problems.

Yes, I used a linux machine, built on hardware from 10 years ago, for over a month, instead of my beautiful 2008 macbook, because I am a computer guy, and I know too much about computers to see the forest for the trees.

--Christopher

Another Seizure

2009-03-22T22:00:00.001-07:00

If you subscribe to my twitter account, which I update once a month if I'm really on top of things, you might have seen that I had a seizure. It's true, and is my second one since I've lived in Oregon, and possibly up to my sixth one, if you count several unexplained "fainting" spells I had as a kid.

Anyway, here's how it went down:

I was sitting on my couch, programming. Salina and John were in the room talking. I felt a bit weird, kind of odd feelings in my stomach and chest, so I got up and tried to go for a short walk, got lost in the living room, as I started feeling a bit confused. Brandon, in the living room , gave me a weird look as if I was just standing there staring at him, which I realized, is what I was doing. I went back into my room, had the same odd feelings, tried to go for a walk again, made it to the living room again, and started to feel dizzy, so I went back to my room and sat down on the couch. Salina looked at me and said "Chris, what's wrong?". I replied "I'm feeling a little dizzy." then my eyes rolled back in my head and I stopped breathing. This is where everything went into a swirling checkerboard whirlpool. An indeterminate time later, both instantaneous and forever, I heard voices coming from nowhere, saying a random jumble of things, including what sounded like someone speaking to 911, and people timing things. I instinctively began giving commands, "Put me in recovery position!" and was told I was in recovery position by someone I realized was Salina. My sight and feeling began to come back and I realized that I had wet myself (a common seizure side effect) and that I was lying on my bedroom floor. I had Shalah and Salina loosen my clothes and remove my coat, boots and socks and wrist brace (did I mention I broke my wrist 3 weeks ago?) and cover me in a blanket, I just lay there in recovery position for some time, getting the strength to stand and go shower. After the shower, I talked to everyone about what had happened while I was gone, and learned that after I had said "I'm feeling a little dizzy" and such, John noticed my eyes roll back and got Salina's attention, and together, they got me on the floor into recovery position and I started breathing again. Brandon called 911, and Shalah was summoned from her cabin. For about 3 - 4 minutes, I lay there, stiff with my hands shaking, at which point I began regaining consciousness.

After some reading, I've realized I have an 80% chance of having another seizure. They seem, so far to be rather spread out, and I'm much more scared of the the side effects of the mainstream pharmacure solutions than I am of having a seizure. I get a good 2 minutes or more of warning with my aura (an aura is a set of warnings that a seizure is coming). The odd torso feelings, confusion, and dizziness are my aura, and may be simple partial seizures and basically the real beginning of the seizure. They give me enough conscious time to pull over if I'm driving, find a safe spot if I'm out in the woods or at home, or whatever, and warn whomever I'm with that I'm about to have a seizure, or at least that I'm dizzy. I wonder if 2 seizures is a reason to get a medalert bracelet? I don't want to be seen by the quacks I've witnessed in this area and could not afford them even if I did want my humours adjusted.

--Christopher

Atom Quote

2009-03-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Atom: Dad, do you want a bite of this sandwich?
Me: Nah, I'm not hungry.
Atom (incredulous): You don't want a bite of heaven?

Music Acquired Recently

2008-11-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

Albums
Tricky - Knowle West Boy
Kultur Shock - We Came To Take Your Jobs Away
J.U.F. - Gogol Bordello vs. Tamir Muskat
Various - Electric Gypsyland 2
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks
Gogol Bordello - Multi Kontra Culti
Balkan Beat Box - Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box - Nu Med

Tracks
Balkan Beat Box - Adir Adirimi (Nickodemus Remix)
The Sway Machinery (feat. Members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Balkan - P'sach Lanu Sha'ar

I think I've become somewhat addicted to horns and accordion.

James Hurley House Concert

2008-06-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

I went to Erik's last night and witnessed James Hurley play a "house concert" for a crowd of about 10. It was cool, the music was good. It was an intimate little concert, and unlike anything I've seen before. I even beat Erik and Brad at pool at The Breakroom (I won 2 games of cutthroat out of 3) after the concert and the following party. All in all, it was a very good evening of carousing, which culminated in a Number 8(2 carne asada tacos, beans and rice) at Muchas Gracias and a taxi ride back to Erik's house.

Now that I'm home, it's time to watch some new Doctor Who episodes and relax.

New theme blog

2008-05-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've added a second blog to my stable, while this one will continue to be filled with the VERY random and infrequent odd post, tekfreek will delve into problems i'm solving, and how I'm solving them. Hopefully, one day I will have a wonderfully huge readership, and be super-geek-famous and shit. Who knows, but I'm sure I'll never be as awesomely cool as why.

Troll speak:
das right, dis da new blog: http://tekfreek.blogspot.com/

2008-03-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

cmaujean@gmail.com

541-846-9092

541-499-5022

PO Box 133

Williams, OR 97544

Christopher Maujean

Experience

2004 – Present

Musician’s Friend - Medford, OR

Senior Programmer/Analyst

Gathered requirements, designed, coded and maintained software in perl and ruby for a top 50 e-commerce retailer with 20+ front end servers. The software included: backend software for the website, and utilities for maintaining and auditing the various data flows to and from the web portion of the business.
Lead large projects for implementing features including international sales capability and interfacing with internal and external services such as tax calculation software, address validation services, and Filemaker servers.
Mentored and advised junior team members.
Participated in design and code reviews for all projects from minor bug fixes to complete rewrites of various systems.

2002 – 2004

Self Employed - Eugene, OR

Freelance Web development and IT services

Designed, coded and maintained client websites.
Advised clients regarding hardware, software and networking choices.
Purchased, built, installed and configured client workstations and servers.
Worked with clients to keep business workstations safe by removing viruses and updating computers with the latest patches.
Taught clients proper practices for keeping computers safer from attacks.

2001 – 2002

Premierelink Communications - Eugene, OR

IT Director/Lead Programmer/Sysadmin

Managed several in-house and contract programmers on multiple concurrent projects.
Managed multiple Linux based Apache+SSL, Bind, Sendmail, ColdFusion and PHP servers hosting over 250 clients.
Prepared technical bids for, designed, and lead programming on multiple web applications for client and internal projects using ColdFusion, MySQL, perl, PHP, PostgreSQL, XML, HTML, JavaScript and other tools.
Maintained company workstations and networks.

2000 – 2001

Qwil - Eugene, OR

Lead Programmer

Built 500 million record database in PostgreSQL.
Designed process and programs for efficient data mining.
Built and managed Linux web and database server for a public records site.

1999 – 2000

Courtlink, Inc - Bellevue, WA

Lead Programmer

Maintained and improved a 50,000-line Perl backend for a major public records oriented web application.
Implemented proper programming process using CVS and Razor (a CVS front end)
Mentored and advised junior programmers

1998 – 1999

HL Yoh (assigned to Microsoft) - Redmond, WA

Performance Tester

Designed and implemented a performance-testing suite for Internet Explorer 4.01 service packs, and Internet Explorer 5.
Designed a profiling plan for Internet Explorer Service Pack source code.
Verified, tested and reported Internet Explorer performance issues and bugs as found by my testing suite or reported by consumers and other teams.

Skills

Programming

I am proficient with Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Bash, SQL and PHP. I have had at least passing experience with Java, ECMA Script (JavaScript and ActionScript), AppleScript, Filemaker, ColdFusion MX, PowerBasic, C and others.

Operating Systems (user and admin)

OS X, many flavors of Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, PalmOS

RDBMS

MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite3, MS SQL Server, Filemaker 9

Network and Application Servers

Apache, Lighttpd, Mongrel, Sendmail, Jabber, Bind, IMAP/POP3, Subversion, ColdFusion MX, and many others.

Other

Code maintenance, Code optimization, process automation, build processes, software and system design, 3^rd party integration, data mining/munging/mashing and mangling, multitasking, learning new software and programming languages, and internet research.

Education

1980 – Present

Self-taught - Multiple locations

All of the above

References available upon request.

Toronado Pub

2008-01-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

What a cool place, good atmosphere, and the jukebox had some good music on it. Oh! Wait! did i mention FORTY BEERS ON TAP?!?!

here is their site: http://www.toronado.com/

Bloggin' from the MS Bloggers Lounge

2008-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

I'm here at the Awesome Awesome MacWorld Expo, and its cool. Getting alot of good training on filemaker from John Mark Osborne of Database Pros. Currently, I'm writing this entry from the Microsoft Bloggers Lounge, so that they'll scan my badge and enter me in whatever giveaway they're running (thats the point of Conferences and Expos: FREE STUFF, right?)

Puppy!

2007-12-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

I've gotten a dog. Yes, kind of amazing, given that I was never really a dog person before, but I've warmed up to them in the last few years, and decided I wanted one that was *mine*. Now I've got a little(gonna be huge) part Rottweiler, part Collie, part Mutt.

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

2007-05-02T00:34:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty cool number. stupid MPAA. Someone should revoke their right to claim sentience.

Configuring Apache 2 with mod_proxy and mongrel_rails on SuSe 9x

2007-04-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the process of ~~forcing~~ helping a friend with his conversion from Coldfusion to Ruby on Rails, we had to get him set up with a way to run multiple rails apps from his hosting machine. Here is what I discovered when I investigated using Apache 2 and mod_proxy to host rails apps through mongrel_rails:

NOTE: the examples use su -, but I would recommend using sudo instead.

Apache 2 / mod_proxy

mod_proxy was already installed (with yast) and just needed some configuration:

su -
to file /etc/sysconfig/apache2, add:
proxy proxy_ftp proxy_http proxy_connect
to the APACHE_MODULES= line

create /etc/apache2/vhost.d/example.com.conf
because apache isn't hosting any files, this is rather shorter than his apache/coldfusion vhost files


<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
   ServerName www.example.com

   # if not specified, the global error log is used
   ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-error_log
   CustomLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-access_log combined

   # Avoid open your server to proxying
   ProxyRequests Off

   # Let apache correctly rewrite redirect
   ProxyPass / http://hishostname.com:8000/
   ProxyPassReverse / http://hishostname.com:8000/

   # Let apache pass the original host not the ProxyPass one
   ProxyPreserveHost On

   # don't lose time with IP address lookups
   HostnameLookups Off

   # needed for named virtual hosts
   UseCanonicalName Off

   # configures the footer on server-generated documents
   ServerSignature On
</VirtualHost>

mongrel_rails

su -
gem install mongrel -y
export your source from version control to a likely directory (preferably as a non root user)
cd to your base rails directory
type something along the following lines:
mongrel_rails start -e production -d -p 8000 -l log/mongrel.log -n 20

anyway, thats it man. its freakin magnificent.
except the SuSe part. Get a useable server, yast sucks.

--Christopher

LinkGrabber

2007-04-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

I've finished a release of linkgrabber, you can go to links.boxgnome.com to see current output.

If you're on a channel linkgrabber lives on, you can ask for 'last' or 'channels' or 'help', by doing a /msg linkgrabber last|channels|help

Black Widow vs Hobo

2007-04-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

We found a hobo spider in an old backpack, and I put it in the cage with my black widow. here's the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4529105889870787216

LinkGrabber

2007-04-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've written a ruby based IRC bot called linkgrabber. Its really a clean little bot, with no interface to mess with it from a channel. It's silent.

All interface with the links will be done via a rails app that uses the same db.
Features coming soon to the web interface (once i get done writing it):

RSS Feeds of the links
Voting - enough ups and it'll be added to a del.icio.us feed, enough downs and it'll be deleted
Annotations

Anyway. I'll post more here as I get more done. The bot is currently grabbing links in #nogoodshits.

Netflix Instant Movies! Yay! oh. nevermind, windows only.

2007-02-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

I recently saw this neat new service that netflix is rolling
out in july 2007. Instant movies via your PC. Well, that is
freakin awesome!

Oh, well, I mean that is freakin awesome for all the Windows
users out there. For those sensitive intelligent mac users (did
i mention, I'm a recent mac convert, still floating through that
"new love haze", pro-mac, pro-linux), you'll have to continue
waiting for the DVD's to come in the mail. Because (in the small
print of course) you must be using a Windows XP or Vista PC,
and using Internet Explorer.

All software you can't pay me to use or support. I'll get a job
at Mickey D's before I diagnose another craptastic DLL problem,
or replace all my files after another distant relative surfs the
wrong sites and gets me a couple of nice virii. Anyway, I'm
rambling. On to the fun stuff.

I sent netflix the following comment, I can't wait to read the
reply. I hope hope hope its something interesting and not some
4th grade form letter.

To whom it may concern:

I really like your service, and I'm really happy about your instant movie idea. However, I must note that for this new service, you are restricting browsers and operating systems to IE (Internet Explorer) and Microsoft Windows. This is generally a sign of one of two things, both quite distasteful to me as an internet programmer/analyst :

1. You are being paid off by a large company to support only their badly written, bloated software packages (I refuse to use these packages myself).

2. You have a pile of lazy, incompetent managers and programmers who cannot expend the time and brain power to code something for the web that is platform independent (a fairly easy task these days for a decent programmer).

Given my penchant for believing the best of people, I hope that your decision to alienate me and exclude me from paying you for this neat service is based on the greater monetary gain to be had from possibility 1. It would sadden me to learn that your otherwise outstanding operation has an overpaid team of idiots such as the team laid out in possibility 2.

Thank you for your time,

Christopher Maujean

cmaujean@gmail.com

PS:

Feel free to call me (PST business hours please) 541-XXX-XXXX to discuss my feelings on this breach of consumer trust further.

I'll post their reply as soon as I get it.

Atom quote

2007-01-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

"Dad! That cup which you just got? It looks like a Freakin Indian Cup!" --my 5 year old son atom, excited about my new tea cup.

Trance Europe Express (or "I miss my old CD's")

2006-12-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

I got my latest infusion of 40 emusic tracks and have been trying to decide what to download. Then it hit me, i've been jonesing for some music I used to have that was ruined in the great kid explosion of the late 90's (me having 3 kids from 96-99). It's amazing how many CDs and DVDs a few kids can totally ruin over the course of a few years. Anyway, I remembered I really liked Trance Europe Express 3, so I looked on emusic, and to my dismay, they don't have it. I then searched for each of the artists and found a couple of em, but by no means was I satisfied. So anyway, if you have this cd, by all means, i'd love to have the "Air Liquide" track, and the "Mouse On Mars" track and especially the "Biosphere" - The Third Planet track which was one of my favorites from that compilation. Feel free to get me iTunes or eMusic gift cards this year, if you haven't heard me spout some other wish.

And, no post would be complete without a photo of some sort. So for lack of anything more interesting to photograph, another picture of me:

update: I found Mouse on Mars, Maus Mobil on emusic.

Laptop

2006-11-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

Got me a new laptop, finally. Its a MacBook Pro 15.4 "/ 2.33ghz / 2Gb of ram / 200Gb disk.

I'm really really stoked on it. To the point that several jealous people have told me to get over it already. What they don't understand is that I've been waiting for it for 2 fucking months, and it signals a major paragigm shift from linux to mac.
With this machine i could actually live my dream of freelancing from cafe's all over the world. It also happens to be about the BEST laptop on the market today.

Anyway, maybe i'll once again post more often, now that i'm truly mobile again.

On another note, i'll be in Eugene on Tuesday, November 28th for the Primus concert at the Hult Center.

This laptop has a decent built in video camera too, here's a shot of me, right now:

What am I listening to right now you ask? Devo - Potato

Interesting beetle

2006-06-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

DSCN2473
Originally uploaded by revtrance.

I like this beetle, he's metallic and looks fake until he moves. I guess he can fly too, but I haven't seen him do that.

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs

2006-06-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

B is for Basil assaulted by bears.

I just love the irreverent morbid treatment of a common children's book theme.

Absente - Absinthe Refined

2006-05-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

As I sit here today, hungover and taking it easy, I reflect on the green-ness of the night. There was a break in the rain long enough for us to party last night. I had gone to the liquor store to purchase a bottle of fine bourbon and saw Absente on the shelf and stood there for awhile deciding if i wanted to buy something that much more expensive. As I stood there musing, a little green fairy, translucent and slightly diminished, whispered in my ear the words I needed to hear. I made the purchase and went home. The box was interesting in its own right, with a pretty green fairy at the top and an absinthe spoon embedded in the box. This isn't 'true' absinthe, its modern, legal absinth with a fraction of the normal thujone content.

I enjoyed the preparation ritual, we carefully measured out 2 shots to each glass and used just enough water to melt the sugar cube.

The end result is a VERY tasty drink. I was impressed, the flavor came on strong and was just sweet enough to take the bitter off, the afters were long lasting and quite enjoyable. I got fairly hot after my first one, I had to take my jacket off and spent the rest of the night in a tshirt. The party lasted into the night, and we all had fun. Well worth the money we put into it, I will certainly buy this one again. It's definately not a nightly thing, but when I do have a night out, I'll certainly be considering bringing the green fairy with me, even in her diminished form she certainly brings out the party.

If you are interested in absinthe, google should do you fine, I found eAbsinthe.com immediately and surfed on over to an Edgar Degas painting L'absinthe which is now my wallpaper.

odd bug

2006-05-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

this odd bug was on a painting in the bathroom. neat looking thing. I wonder what it is?

Unicum

2006-05-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Unicum is a Hungarian digestive liqueur, made by Zwack.

I bought a mini-bottle when I was in San Fransisco recently, and had occasion to drink a few weeks ago. Yea, yea, I'm just getting around to posting about it. STFU. Anyway, it was an enjoyable experience.
I split it into ~1/4 shot portions. I offered these to several people in my house, all who smelled it, said "yuck", tasted it, said "yuck" again and put it down. I ended up drinking all of it myself. It was good, but if you ask me how it tastes, I'd say its kind of like shooting some jagermeister while chewing on a cinnamon stick and kissing a used ashtray full of jet fuel. My tasters agree, except for the part where they don't enjoy it. Damn, what's that say about me?

SD Expo Day 1

2006-03-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of me, in my first class on our trip to SD Expo 2006.

Web Fire Escape

2006-02-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

http://weblog.garyturner.net/escape.html

heh, kind of like the 'boss' command in the MUD's I used to play. Pretty cool. I'm putting one on this blog.

Ladytron

2006-02-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

only heard one track from them so far, but it was cool, so I'm posting to remind myself to get on and download some more samples.

http://www.ladytron.com/

first mobile post

2006-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is my first post from the crappy old phone work gave me.

ReadySET

2006-01-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

http://readyset.tigris.org/

ReadySET is a complete project document template set, and its open source. It's a bit annoying to edit in (I'm a confirmed vi user), but looks very nice. As it seems to be aimed at the "desktop" software project, I'm going to have to take a subset of the documents and use them "out of context". I'm attempting to use several subsets of documents in a project I have at work, and see how well they mesh with UML and our internal "waterfall-like" methodology. The website for ReadySET Pro, says, in 2005 they will have a wiki version. hmm 2006 now, nothing listed on their site. I'd convince my boss to buy it if it was there I think. Anyway, I'll post more as I see how these templates work.

Book meme

2006-01-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Grab that book meme.
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

Real compilers have to accept messier input.
- The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual, Second Edition, by: James Rumbaugh, Ivar Jacobson, Grady Booch. ISBN 0-321-24562-8

Hmmm, I guess I could have also grabbed one of: Applying UML and Patterns, Pragmatic Unit Testing, The Perl Cookbook, or Expert one on one Oracle. Thats what I get for reading other peoples blogs at work.

I lost at 8-Ball

2006-01-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, I'm sure Mr. Popeketric will be even now claiming to have beat me at 8ball, but the facts stand clear. I lost the game for myself by sinking the 8-ball in the wrong pocket. The 8 was frozen to the foot rail and the cue was behind the head line. I tried to pop it off the rail into the right hand head corner, and instead put it in the side pocket.
So blah. I'm a Nerd God anyway, not a Pool God.
Thats right: Nerd. God.

Pulp Religion

2006-01-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd just write to plug my friend and co-worker, Pope Ketric, and his new blog: pulpreligion.blogspot.com
and perhaps mention that I keep kicking his ass at 8 ball, 9 ball, and One Pocket.

pocket mod

2006-01-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

interesting little thingy. hmmm.

http://www.pocketmod.com/

Nerd God

2006-01-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Yep. I'm a nerd god.

So I saw this little thing on someones blog, and of course, had to take the test myself.
Yup. Thats me. Nerd. God.

The waters have receded

2006-01-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

But there was a casualty, Shalah's van, which up till now has served us admirably, although quirkily is no longer with us, I tried to drive it through some (deeper than I thought) water at the bottom of Tetherow, and it stalled. Today, we attempted to get it running, and the engine/transmission wouldn't turn even when dropping the clutch in 2nd, at 20mph (being towed by my friends truck). Alas poor Toyota, we knew her well.

EOF

Flood!

2005-12-30T17:43:00.000-08:00

update: found a host for my videos: http://nerdbucket.com/flooded
81 megs total, one of them is 50 megs, so if you're on dial up or something, you probably dont want to bother... They're still uploading though, so you'll have to wait.

well, wow. We're flooding out, I hear all roads out of williams are closed, due to massive flooding, cant get to Grants pass, cant get to medford. I'll see about finding a host for my (small) videos, but for now, here are some pics:

this is someones front yard

on the road to provolt

powell creek (normally a low flow spot, with a foot or 2 of water

williams creek, normally about 5 feet wide, I think

on somones driveway bridge over powell creek

clean eeg

2005-12-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

I had an appt with my neurologist today, and he told me that I have completely normal EEG results. SO, either it's just a fluke, or something else is going on. He gave me a bunch of shit for not taking the Topamax, I told him I'd try it out for a couple days, but I'm still sketched about the possible side effects, after all, my career is about thinking, and if I can't think clearly, I'm gonna have a hard time working. I love my work, and I love to think, so the cure seems potentially worse than the problem, I've had (including all the maybes) perhaps 4 - 6 seizures in the 35 years I've been around, so I can expect to find out in about 5 - 7 years if the topamax is preventing my seizures or not. Seems pretty crazy to take medication for 5 years to see if it might work.

In other news, my work gave us gift certificates to the mall for X-MAS. I sold mine to a co-worker, and bought myself a Pool Cue. got myself a Viper Striker, a very nice cue at a good price, and she sold me a damaged case for it at over 50% off (small cut in the top, caused when they were opening the box).

blah blah blah etc etc.

driving again

2005-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

I did some research (called Salem DMV office, and had several calls with my Dr.'s office) and found that yes, they did report my seizure to the DMV, but no, that doesn't mean my license is restricted, in fact, I still have my license. I'm quite glad I can drive, its been disheartening to live out in the boonies and have to rely on others for a ride. The remaining transportation stumbling block is getting some working vehicles, we're currently stuck with only a 2 seater toyota pickup as the property vehicle. Looking for a honda or toyota or nissan 4-door 5 or 6 seater that will be able to handle my daily ~80 mile driving needs. I hope we find a suitable one soon, as that should relieve the stress level a bit.

In other news, we had a great thanksgiving dinner at Shalah's work (The Hungry Woodsman/Buzzsaw saloon). It was good food and lots of family showed up.

seizure update

2005-11-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

so, I had my EEG, it sucked (the EEG itself was alright) I had to stay up and not drink coffee.
It was suggested to me by a friend that I may have had the seizure due to dehydration because i dont drink enough water. I looked it up. Seizures can be caused by severe dehydration. However the idea that most people are dehydrated because they dont drink water turns out to be an Urban Legend. So I'm gonna get a second opinion (if Blue Cross will pay for one, or its not too expensive). I called my neurologist office to see what the results of my EEG are, but he's in portland. the receptionist stated that he's read them, but didn't give her results, so I'm to call in a "day or two".

Neurology Appointment

2005-11-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

I had a neurology appointment today, and was diagnosed with "migralepsy". He says that the terrible headaches I've had all my life are migranes and that my seizure may be related to that. He's prescribed Topamax, (I guess 20% of the people who take it can experience some side effects, but if you aren't one of the 20%, it'll work well for you) , and wants me to try it. I have to be on it for 4 weeks before I'll be allowed to drive. I'm actually kinda sketched about it, but I gotta drive, I've got a load of kids and was their main driver until the seizure, so I'll give it a shot. He does have a "plan b" as well, if the Topamax doesn't work out.

KoL is a shining point in my life. An Adventurer is me!

Seizure!

2005-10-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

on monday I was driving home from medford and had a seizure. It was a Grand Mal and I stopped breathing and wet myself and everything. Annique kicked the back of my seat and I started breathing again, but that took my foot off the brake and we slowly rolled into the ditch.

I've never had a seizure before (that I know of, or remember) although I used to pass out as a kid alot (low blood pressure). I went in on Wednesday to PMG (Providence Medical Group) and saw the doctor, who sent me for blood tests and a CAT scan. I got the results back in the mail today. I'm completely within normal levels on both. This kinda freaks me out. On one hand its nice to know I don't have a brain tumor or kidney disease, and my thyroid is doing good. On the other hand I still have no idea what caused the seizure and I could have another anytime. On wednesday I felt the same lightheaded closing black tunnel feeling that was the beginning of my seizure on monday, so its not just some random fluke thing (I don't think). I guess the CAT scan and blood work also tell us I don't have meningitis. I have a "sleep deprived EEG" test this coming monday, and will see a neurologist on tuesday. I may have to take medication, and I've been told I'm not to drive until further notice. The clean CAT scan and blood work screw this for me, cause it's probably not some easy fix thing, they'll have to give me medication (Carbamazapine, or something) that I'll have to take for at least a year and have no seizures if I want to drive again. That last sentence is conjecture, i really have no idea how long I can't drive.

In other news, I've gotten yet another keyboard, this one due to a beer spill. This keyboard is pretty nice. 14.98 for a logitech access keyboard, alot like the M$ keyboard I have at work. The one thing I respect M$ for is that they make really kick ass peripherals like keyboards and mice.

Hey, check out KoL. I'm Fookin Aye, a Hardcore Ascensioninst, currently I'm an 8th lvl Seal Clubber. I'm planning to get Pastamancer next so I can make chowmeins and such.

Anyway, work to do, kids to put to bed, etc, etc, etc, etc....

blargh

2005-10-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy on a project at work, for the last 2.5 months and have let many many things slide as a result. I'm now very busy getting caught up on all the things I let slide. I hate that. Letting things slide hurts relationships for one thing. I keep seeing these dead squirrels on the road. I've noticed that the direction of travel and type of animal has changed over the seasons. kind of interesting, using road kill to learn about the migration patterns of the animals that live in the area. Too busy, in fact to sit around here, writing this post. Gotta finish cleaning up my personal space. too much crap, too little space. I'd really like to build a shelf for all this stuff, but I have no materials. Anyway, this time I'm really gonna stop typing. Really. oh, wait, check out the very cool game, The Kingdom of Loathing. You can look me up I'm Reverend Trance and Fookin Aye.

Hahah! Its my birthday yah scurvy lubbers.

2005-09-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, its my birthday today, and International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Yesterday, I went to a friend's house , and scratched his new Jeep top. I really didn't mean to, but I dragged my nails across the back window (meaning to brush it with my fingertips) and left some nice scratches on his otherwise clear windows.

Damn these schedules, I saw a really gory raccoon today on the way in but had no time to paint its portrait.

So far, my birthday has netted me a really good bottle of port (dow's lbv) (from my aforementioned friend) and a Palm Tungsten T (from me). And also what I'd consider a birthday present was having a dream in KoL and getting a spooky hockey mask out of it, man those things are worth about 280,000 meat.

kids are awesome

2005-09-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last night my 4 year old son, Atom was in the car about to go to his moms, and I brought a little frog in my hand to say goodbye. He tried to take the frog from my hand and I wouldn't let him. So he says "I just wanna shake his hand, dad"

Ruby, RubyOnRails

2005-08-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

My life has been changed. I have been a dedicated perl programmer (and perl evangelist) for over 10 years. I've always loved perl, until I was introduced to ruby that is. I've found a new favorite language. Ruby. It rocks. Its terse, follows (nay, enforces) DRY (Dont Repeat Yourself), and is extremely powerful and flexible. Its got perl culture and java class. I'm sold. Have some koolaid yourself at ruby-lang.org.

dead animals aren't only on the road

2005-08-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

I was walking through the company parking lot today and happened to notice a dead bird stuck behind the bumper of a van. Pretty odd, looks like the poor thing was stuck there alive for some time. I'll post a photo as soon as i figure out whats wrong with my usb auto mounting.

back from OSCON

2005-08-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

No, I've not quit photographing the dead animals, I was at oscon 2005 for the last week, and before that I've just been really busy. I'm guessing theres lots of fresh (kinda) meat to see on the roads since I've been gone, and I'll be posting a new one monday or tuesday probably. in the mean time, check out the photos from OSCON on the oscon2005 group at flickr.com.

never forget to bury a dead possum

2005-07-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

I went to bury the possum, but it was so late that I couldn't see the poison oak in the animal cemetery, so i gave up until "tomorrow". I promptly forgot, until several 105F days later, the family "mentioned" to me that it might be a good time to bury that opossum. Hmmm, I think they were right. It took me about 10 minutes to dig the hole, then I went out back and got the bagged up possum from the cloud of flies and ignoring the maggots oozing from a tear in the bag, managed to get the thing back to the hole, and in and covered with dirt without puking. I only gagged once. No photos, but I'd say the title of this post spells out todays lesson quite clearly.

nasty looking deer

2005-07-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

Today I took the 8 baby possums to Wildlife Images . Opossums aren't actually native to this area, so they weren't going to keep them, rather they had someone who would come get them and rehabilitate them. Wildlife Images is a great place, they rehabilitate and release suitably wild injured or orphaned native animals, and keep and care for animals that are too injured or domesticated to survive in the wild.

On the way home from dropping the babies off, I saw this fawn at the junction of Lower River Rd. & Bastian Road. It looks pretty old and I doubt all the damage is from the car that hit it, but probably from carrion eaters.

dogs like possums (for a snack)

2005-07-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went and saw War of the Worlds (tom cruise, 2005) at the theater, and it was a pretty good movie. There was a couple of parts that didn't fit the action speed of the rest of the movie (read boring) but as a whole, the move was good. When we got home, there was a dead, bloody possum in the driveway. I went to get a shovel and a plastic bag, while the teenagers oogled the body. It was then that they discovered the possum was a mama, and there were live babies in her pouch. Latex gloves, a couple towels, and we had a box of baby possums (8 live ones). I then bagged up the mama and her dead baby, and am about to go dig a hole to bury them.

kid gets pulled over

2005-07-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was in medford today, hanging out with my kids and saw this 10ish year old boy riding back and forth on his mini harley style motorcycle. It was pretty cool looking. He looked like he was having a blast, until he got pulled over for running a stop sign.

just another dead cat

2005-07-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Between Ruch and Jacksonville, about milepost 28 on Route 238, there lies the following poor dead cat. No tags, stiff as a board, he's a dead kitty of unknown origin, and certain destination.

lucky rollerblader

2005-07-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

No photos once again, but today I was parked in Grants Pass and saw a rollerblader get hit by a car. He was rolling along down the sidewalk and cut across the road at a stoplight, kind a confusing light, there are 4 light modules (one for each lane) on this one way street. What I guess he didn't notice was that only 2 of the lights were red, the ones nearest him. He swerved to avoid one oncoming car and caught the second one (doing about 35 i'd guess) on the hood with his shoulder. They came to a sliding stop and he hopped up, said something to the driver, and rolled off, none the worse for wear. It all happened so fast I couldn't get a picture of any of it.

On the road kill note, I saw 2 skunks and an unidentifiable furry red spot. I didn't make the trip to Medford today, so I'm sure I missed many photo opportunities on that route.

No time to stop

2005-07-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing many deer (one right next to the one pictured in my last post), and other animals in the past few days but have had no time to stop. My current count is 4 new deer, 2 squirrels, a (potentially, couldn't quite tell) dog, a raccoon and a snake, the latter 2 within 10 feet of each other in the middle of the road. If any of these are still there tonight, i'll probably post a picture or 2. The deer are usually gone quickly, and I believe I found out why. There are several wildlife refuges in the area, one known as Wildlife Images keeps several big cats, and other carnivores (wolves, for one). I'm told these refuges often pick up the fresher large kills to use as meat for their carinvores. Cool. I'm glad they're going to a good place. Wildlife Images is a really neat place, with all kinds of animals that are, for various reasons, unable to survive in the wilds anymore. Go there, if you haven't been.

fresh deer

2005-07-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

I saw this deer quite soon after its death, the blood is still fresh and a friend confirmed that a man and a woman taking pictures of the deer about 15 minutes before I passed there. My guess is that they were the ones who hit it, and were taking pictures for insurance purposes. This deer died just west of Jacksonville, probably at about 8pm this evening.

I've been thinking more about possible roadkill causes and remembering stories from friends and relatives who have hit animals, and I think my previous post was perhaps a bit harsh, I'm sure there are plenty of "stupid" or "careless" animals that stray onto the roadway and just don't have luck or instinct, jump the wrong way and Wham!, life is over. I've even been told of times when a deer has jumped out of the brush, probably in a mad run for the other side of the road, and hit a car, rather than the reverse. I've also realized that many people do agonize for life over hitting animals, but in this carnivorous society, I'm guessing that the agony (if any) is usually short lived.

2 deer in 2 days, I wonder what the effect our roadways and bigger bigger more more automobile attitude have on the deer population.

Why do I do this, anyway?

2005-07-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

I'd like to preface this entry with a few disclaimers:

I'm "nearly vegetarian" (chicken, eggs, turkey, cheese).
I'm very careful about driving and have many times put myself in danger to avoid hitting an animal.
I would NEVER intentionally hit an animal.
I don't go out every day hoping that an animal has died, but rather with the hope that I find any that have, so that I may document their death.

That said, I've received quite a variety of reactions so far regarding this endevor of posting dead animal photos on the net, from "whatever" to "Thats sick and wrong, what is the matter with you". This has caused me to further evaluate my motives for photographing dead animals and posting them on the internet. There are many reasons for doing this, some of them morbid humor, some more benign.

I'd say that the biggest reason is that I have a camera, and I find road kill to be an interesting subject. There are all these animals who have strayed into our roadways for various reasons, to find careless uncaring drivers who couldn't give a shit about animals who stray into their path. There are of course other reasons that animals are hit by cars, a moment of distraction is all it takes. Quite probably there are people who even try to hit the animals they see trying to cross the road.

These animals are going about their daily business of survival, when WHAM! its the end for them. No one really cares, perhaps they see a dead thing on the side of the road and they think "Ewww" or "Poor little doggie" or whatever, but its not a big deal, and the event is soon forgotten. I'd like to think that by taking a photo and writing a little story, there will be some record, even if just a count, of the number and variety of animals that meet DEATH on the road.

Tonight as I drove home, I saw the following deer in the gutter near the Applegate store. I wonder if it was knocked into the gutter by the car that hit it, or if the driver or some passerby moved it there. I wonder how much the driver cared about the life that this deer lead, and how much the driver cared about the damage to their vehicle. I wonder if they were drunk, stoned, or just distracted. I wonder if it was the deer who was at fault. I wonder if this particular deer had propogated prior to its death, and if it had a mate and children who are even now wondering where she is. I wonder how long this carcass will remain by the side of the road, and where it will go when it is removed. I wonder what makes a photo of a dead kitten "worse" than a photo of a dead possum, but I guess that is a subject for a future post.

update 2005-07-06: the deer is gone, glad I stopped for it last night. I've send blogger a support request on the image issue, still no answer.

update 2005-07-06: photos work again, tho i still have no response from support.

Poor fuzzy kitten

2005-07-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

This sad little kitten never had a chance. It was probably a little fluffy love toy for one of the neighbor kids, before it got out and went to investigate those loud noises on the road. Poor thing, I bet it was cute. I was told about this one from a land mate who had driven past it on his motorcycle earlier today, so when I was coming back from the store, I stopped and got some pictures. This was taken just down Tetherow, about 1/4 mile from our property.

Its interesting that the little kills, the kittens, possums, skunks, squirrels and frogs are left on the road to rot and merge with the asphalt. The big kills (deer, dogs, people) disappear quickly, snagged by passerby, no doubt, for burial, stew, or taxidermy.

Lucky I wasn't the tax collector.

2005-07-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful saturday today and I was driving down 238 between Applegate and Provolt and I saw a dead skunk on the side of the road. I saw it yesterday, but didn't have time to stop. I pulled over, got the tripod set up (borrowed from my ex-wife), got a few good shots, and headed back to the truck. I read somewhere that a good photographer takes care of their equiptment after every session, so instead of my first instinct (to lay the camera+tripod on the seat and drive on), I carefully began the process of disassembling the setup, resetting camera settings to my chosen defaults, and bagging everything up.

It was then that I noticed a pair of good ole boys crossing the road to come talk to me. The conversation went like this:
Guy 1: "Hey there, whatcha takin pictures of"
Me: "That dead skunk back there"
Guy 1: "Really?, What for?"
Me: "I have a website that I post pictures of road kill on."
Guy 1: "Thats wierd. So you're not takin pictures of the house? My wife sent me out here to see if you were the tax collector."
Me: "Nope, see..." I show him the photos.

At this point a big dirty guy in coveralls comes driving up the side of the road in a backhoe. He skids to a stop, with the front loader bucket up under the front of my truck, probably a half inch from touching the front tires. He hops down, says "hi" to the other guys, and comes and looks at the photos too. The same type of conversation happens, but this time, I tell them "Yea I live just up there in Williams" to which the reply is, "Heh, you can have the skunk if you want, I hear they barbeque them things up there."

After we chat for awhile, all laughing at this point, they all go off on their separate ways, and the big backhoe guy gets back up in the seat, starts up the monster, and yells down "Good thing you weren't the tax collector, I come prepared" as he waves a folding stock assault shot gun over his head.

So anyway, heres my choice from the shots I took:

road kill photography, an under appreciated sport

2005-07-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

Road kill photography is a fun way to get some exercise (running down a road from the only possible place to park, a 1/2 mile from the kill), enjoy the morbidity of looking at dead animals in various states of decay, work on your dexterity (try dodging 55mph traffic trying to get a good shot of a gut-oozing possum, several days past its prime), and last but not least, improve your photography skills.

For months now, I've been commuting to work (an hour away) on Highway 238 between Williams, OR and Medford, OR and wishing I had a camera so I could photograph the many dead animals I see on the road every day. A wonderful bonus got me a nice camera (a Nikon Coolpix 5600) with not all the features I wanted (Macro mode would be awesome) but enough to make it a good first digital camera.

My first post is a very flat, very dead possum I saw today and just had to stop for. Bloody, flies everywhere, nasty in every respect.