The Vegas group has been bouncing around different links about Vegas and betting strategies, and other interesting reads I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. In an attempt to condense them down to one place, and clean them out of my inbox, I’ll leave them here for all to enjoy.

http://www.operacer.com/blackjack/blackjack-strategy.php

More later….

So in the middle of IM’ing and blogging and I really had to pee, and when I finally went, the piss was clear. And then I had Lewis Black in my head, telling me how I drink too much water. So I was chuckling about that (and the weather, and the economy, and milk,) as I washed my hands, until my papercut stung. (This will make more sense after you read two entries before this, the first for today. That’s a good argument for the blogs that post things calendar-wise — all the entries on a given day, in posted order. I need to work on cleaning up the history, adding a search feature, and maybe provide different views.) I am getting happier with my blog as I add features. I’m a little annoyed I need to spend development time inventing things others get out of the box, but it’s a fun exercise (getting the cookies right for the comments attributions, for example,) and I think it’s still worth it, at least for me.

And speaking of water, Weatherbug is telling me there’s a huge storm coming and we’re under tornado and flash flood watches until 0400. Neat. I like sleeping when it’s storming, as long as I’m not worried about my sunroof being open. (I went out and checked earlier, so I’ll be fine.) That is, until I hear hail, and then I freak out. The garage at the new house will be great for that, but that’s for another day.

And so, like Frasier, I sign off for tonight. Good night, Seattle.

Josh made a blog post recently about the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), and that project has been stuck in my head ever since. Through a series of PCs in people’s homes and businesses, and off-the-shelf 802.11 networking and cheap antennas, they link together a community broadband networking all through wireless. If some of these nodes also connect to the Internet, you could use this wireless community network (WCN) as your Internet source.

Their solution is completely dynamic, with no individual configuration of the nodes. You boot the software and go. You treat an old PC (or their special hardware,) like your cable modem. It has that same appeal as satellite TV has for “f you’ing” the cable company, their increasing rates, their limited services. This allows broadband to just grow, without huge infrastructure costs (which the cable/DSL customers absorb.)

It also appeases the geek in me for its routing and technologies. Unfortunately, I’m the wireless janitor for CS, and although I know a bunch about how it functionally works, I can’t imagine doing something like this. Dynamic routing in a truly dynamic network, etc. I’ve got a list of questions for them that I’ll eventually clean up and send in.

I found Josh’s link to them about the same time I read about a guy who made his wireless network ’safe’ by making it insecure (Salon 5/18/2004). It’s a wireless tech, like me, who opened up his home WiFi router to the world because it indemnifies him against being the one causing any problems. If they catch file sharing on his network, there’s no way the RIAA can prove it’s him and not an anonymous stranger using his network. I am not a lawyer, but I think that’s an interesting case, and tied into the CUWiN well. One of the questions I have for their project is how they justify sharing a cable modem or DSL line and doesn’t that break the providers Terms of Service.

I’m just throwing this out for other smart people to read, and think about. I would consider joining in my new house if I can do it affordably, I am not the only node in the area (a network of one is a strongly connected, but insignificant,) and I didn’t have to share my Internet (until I was convinced that was “a good thing.”) What do you think?

There are some things in life that hurt right away, and there are some things that are tolerable when they happen but get you later. Instant things are easy, like burning yourself or telling an offensive joke to someone who is offended. Others bite you later, like when they don’t act offended but get pissed at you for said joke. (I only bring that up because I watched Lewis Black’s new HBO special, and he finds the edge of funny and dances all over that line.)

What’s “biting” me today are some mosquito bites from the other night. It was great - we sat around outside, and then played mini-golf and hit the batting cages at like 10pm. But the bugs got me too, although I didn’t notice them at the time. A few days later, though, my ankles and legs are killing me. I also sliced myself with some cardboard with a pretty heinous papercut Sunday night, and although I noticed it at the time, it’s really burning today. It’s right in the crease between my palm and my pinky, and everytime I move my hand or get it wet it’s like I’m being cut all over again. But it didn’t bother me so much when it happened.

That and the house purchase. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m a little nervous I spent out of my range, but I think a home is one of those things if you need to spend a little more to be happy, go for it. I know the house is going to be great, but I’m concerned what my bottom line is going to be, especially during the transition months. Tack onto that a Vegas trip in three weeks with money I don’t want to spend, and I’m antsy. I have a feeling I’ll bring a moderate wad of cash, play for a bit, and if I’m not even or ahead the guilt is going to get to me and take the fun away (as if losing didn’t do that already.) I need to get a few more pictures of the house, and the inspection is set for next week. I guess the other thing I dislike is the waiting. Sign a contract, wait for some incidentals, and then wait 60 days before I can play with my very, very expensive new toy. Buying a house is somewhat like stubbing your toe, I guess. You do it, and then you have to wait to see if it is really bad, or if it’s just okay.

I don’t like bug bites, papercuts, or stubbing my toe.

[16:17] Flashodad: i’m a dad…
[16:17] Flashodad: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/erichays/www/
[16:17] Flashodad: Daniel Eric Hays, born 5/18/2004 at 11:17am weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 21″ long

Congratulations, Melissa and Eric! Your son is beautiful. And, I’m glad to hear you’ll be in CU another year.

I bought a ceiling fan yesterday.

…a ceiling fan with a 6-figure price tag.

…that came with a house.

My house hunting on Monday was pretty productive. I looked at two houses, and really liked the second. I ran it by my friends and family Monday evening, didn’t sleep much that night, and made an offer Tuesday morning. There was some negoiation that afternoon, and now pending inspection and legal approval of contract wordings, and deciding what type of financing I want, I’ll have a house in the middle of July. I didn’t take any pictures when I toured it, but there will be some when I go through again (probably with the house inspector.) There is no cute video clip.

Woot homeownership!

This weekend I shopped some more for houses in CU, and then went up to Chicago and Six Flags: Great America on Sunday. We rode a ton of rides, most of the big coasters a few times. Superman is so much fun, but the lines are long because it’s new. So, we rode the older ones a few times (Iron Wolf and Raging Bull were great.) Then we finished the day with a Cheesecake Factory dinner. MMmmm cheesecake. But it was midnight before we got back to Champaign, after a long day in the sun, and today I’m a little red and a lot tired.

New gallery of last summer’s pictures are up in the picture gallery.

More house hunting this afternoon - wish me luck!

People asked for updated pictures on my site, and so I put up a gallery and some photos from this fall (turkeys in oil, Tony’s birthday, etc.). The Gallery code is a pretty popular PHP based photo gallery that I’ve incorporated into the site. It’s look and feel may change a little over time while I get used to the features (and maybe hack a few new ones in.)

Enjoy.

Andrew mentioned something about blogging at work, so I thought I would keep all today’s oddities until tonight. This gives Tony something to read at 6 in the morning too.

This morning I overslept through my alarm, and was awoken by Mix 94.5 80s at 8 song. Today, it was “Who’s Johnny?” by El Debarge. From 1986, used in the Johnny Five movies. And my day was down hill from there.

Went to see my realtor, and decided there aren’t any houses on the market right now I’m interested in. But it’s a busy market time, and a few houses come on the market every few days (in the two weeks I’ve been looking.) The problem is the houses I want (1500 sqft, garage, relatively new/good condition) are really hot on the market, and get sold very quickly. All in all, this house hunting thing is pretty stressful. So, the plan right now is to stay on top of the market for a while longer, and keep looking at homes for sale by owner, and see what happens.

On the way into work, I filled up for gas. I went to Amoco by Beckman, and man are those pumps slow. First, I had to prepay, and then the gas came out a dribble. Not to mention it was $2.09. Grrrrr. So I quit after just $10. That should last me a while just driving around town, and maybe gas prices will go down by then. Maybe. How many wars do we need to start in the middle east to get prices to drop?

In the parking lot, I saw a car with Alaska plates. If we were playing the license plate game, I would have gotten mucho points.

So after the disappointing meeting with the realtor, and the I-can-piss-faster gas tank, I really wanted some coffee. Siebel’s coffee shop is open, so I grabbed my mug and went down for a cappuccino. BUT NO, they were closed, because of a boil order on campus. The order was already lifted, but I guess the Bevande coffee shop didn’t open until the afternoon. BLAST.

The rest of the day was so so, while I dodged user questions, more accusations that the networking is broken when it’s just user error. (”I’m not getting any wireless in my office - is it broken?” “When’s the last time you rebooted?” “Oh, I don’t reboot, I just hibernate and unhibernate my computer all the time.” “Ahhhh..”) I’m using the slow time right now to update some of our old databases with the new networking switches. That’s requiring me to learn SNMP, and it’s not very well documented (at least the tools for an SNMP agent aren’t overly documented.) But by the end of the afternoon, I can tell you that OID 1.3.6.1.2.1.17.4.3.1.2 will give you the MAC address and ports on a system. Sweet. Now the challenge is to integrate the tools back together so we have a usable, searchable database.

This was also supposed to be a TSG bowling party afternoon, but we have so many people injured that we decided just to play some XBox and watch movies in the afternoon. We made a 3pm run to Custard Cup, and then took it easy the rest of the afternoon. MMMMmmmm custard cup. For the record, my Halo aiming is really, really out of practice.

Came home, played around with Gallery for pictures (for the website,) got caught up on the TiVo, and blogged. That’s a day in the life. And I hope you haven’t had El Debarge stuck in your head through it.

Not as cool as the Etch-a-Sketch, but okay. I was really hoping for Legos or Simon, or Nintendo. Oh well.

What childhood toy from the 80s are you?

You’re GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip!! You’re
strong, tough, and know how to kick some ass.
Don’t forget though, no matter how manly you
think you are, you’re still just a doll. God
Bless America.