If I could concentrate on one thing I’d be dangerous
I’m always interested in *so many* things at once that I cannot give any one thing the level of attention required to do any of them very well. My mind seems to skip from one interesting topic to the next, allowing for only a day or two’s indulgence before the next shiny thought draws it away like the fires in Mirkwood drew the Dwarves off the trail and the lights in the Dead Marshes drew Frodo nearly to his death. (My mind has been on LotR lately obviously)Things of interest lately include:
1. A great book Ned got me called "Annals of the Former World" by John McPhee. This awesome book is the work of a talented author (formerly with New Yorker magazine). It describes his geological journeys with geologists back and forth across the USA in luxurious prose. The book won a Pulitzer, I think.
2. Various flavors of Linux that run from a CD. You pop in a CD and set the machine to boot from CD and voila! you’re running a funky linux. Great hacker stuff. I have tried Dyne:bolic and Knoppix. I also revisited tomsrtbt which *was* a linux that fit on a floppy but now has a bootable CD distro also.
3. Playing variants of the classic game Nethack on the iBook and the palm. I used to play Angband once in a while before I found T.o.m.e. which is *awesome* and since I couldn’t bear to lay in bed and not adventure a bit before I drifted off to sleep, I found kMoria for the palm which is essentially the same game. Lots of 2D fun.
4. Politics: I’ve written my congressman (and gotten a response) asking him to censure Bush for misleading the country and Congress about the case for war in Iraq while ignoring the mandate he had to seek out and remove Osama binladen and al Quaeda.
5. I wrote to the Ombudsman of NPR when I found a discrepancy on their site regarding the number of hours of programming they produce each week. I wasn’t really expecting a reply, but he sent me back an email saying he’d look into it. The error is still not corrected, so I sent another email hounding him about it.
6. I sent Wil Wheaton encrypted email thinking if he had to decrypt it to read it, he might. So far no response but his book: "Dancing Barefoot" was pretty funny (especially the section on William Shatner)
7. Spring had me outside doing yardwork, but that hardly counts as something to think about. Its very relaxing hacking limbs and clipping hedges and pulling weeds. If it wasn’t for the plethora of ticks we have I’d enjoy it a lot more.
8. I’ve been looking into new palm pilots (I like the Tungsten T) but what I really want is something that does wireless *and* has WPA security built in. I upgraded the Airport so its now WPA and not stinky WEP but WEP is about all I can find in the Palms…
9. I started investigating a game called Core Wars. It all harkens back to a Scientific American article from 1984 but you can find out about it at koth.org if you’re interested.
10. I have a *ton* of digital pictures but I haven’t had a chance to put them into any kind of format for web display. i found a set of php scripts called "gallery" which i may install on the webserver to make it easier to get these things out there for everyone to enjoy, but I haven’t had the patience.
What have *you* been up to?
Comment posted on 5-7-2004
I tend to bounce around much the same as you do. That’s just fun though. I’m constructive enough at work all day long, and my home projects have done a lot to improve the place I live in. Other than that, I bounce meaninglessly.
1. Indoor home improvement projects: Right now I’m fixing walls in the area just outside my bedroom/bathroom/laundry room. It’s not a big project. I had to rip out some original wainscoting that had ceramic tiles glued to it.
2. Painting my porches and some of the windows: This is a pretty big project that I hope to have finished this weekend. It has been a bit put off due to rain.
3. Getting my garden started: I’m most of the way there now. I decided to plant the watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins and cantaloupe in the flower beds that run along the side of my house. Most flowers don’t last long in the sun here and I thought having produce appear in this space would be cool and fun. In the garden proper I’ll plant spinach, carrots and similar things. Sophia requested baby corn. I found seeds online and they will be in there as well.
4. News and Politics Junkie: I can’t help it. I’m addicted. I read online constantly and I cruise the cable networks. I really like CSPAN.
5. Guitar: I’m presently working hard on improving the mechanics and chordal vocabulary in my playing. These intense stints typically last between a week and 4 months. I usually lapse back into playing once every few days after a while. Progress? I donno… I’ll get back to you.
6. Blender 3.22: I’ve always loved computer graphics, I remember when on my Commodore 64 I could turn one pixel on and off and color it. \"I can do anything now!\" I said. After recently playing with the free version Maya (Gollum, \"Finding Nemo\" etc…) a bit I got excited at getting into modeling. The water mark across the renders really bugged me though, and looking at the price I knew I would never own the real version. Then I found Blender at http://www.blender3d.org. This app is amazing. Steep learning curve, but people are creating amazing 3D worlds with this app. It is so fast and sweet. Complex animated movies with sound can be done with it. And it’s an open source project… and it’s free.
Check out:
http://www.blender3d.org
http://www.blenderman.org
blenderchar.weirdhat.com
7. Yard Cleanup: Lots of cutting tree branches, cleaning flower beds, mowing and pruning. Very satisfying work. Things look much better when you\’re done, and you get a sense of making the community a better place for everyone to live in. I have a fairly serious dandelion problem though, and I refuse to pour chemicals on my lawn. In my neighborhood I\’m in the
majority though, most lawns are a grass weed mix. There is this sage like weed that has taken over large areas in the neighborhood over the last few years. With the drought and severe watering restrictions in place here, grass is dying and this weed is taking it\’s place.
That sums it up pretty well. It\’s been hot and sunny here ever since it stopped snowing last week. Must take the dog into the mountains for a hike tomorrow morning. Sophia is coming a month early! She\’ll be here in 3 weeks. I have a little bit of setup to do for that, but she already has pretty much everything she needs from last year. She\’s going to love my
robot vacuum.
peace.
Comment posted on 5-8-2004
You’re so constructive I think you’ve inspired me to do some work around the house today! I’m sure the urge will pass soon though. It’s difficult to get to the big projects though with the girls running around. Somebody’s got to shepard them away from ladders and paint buckets and such or deal with incessant screaming if I’m in the front yard where they’re not allowed to play. I started work on the sideboards (the house is half cedar shakes which take oil and half big wood board siding on the peaks) last year in anticipation of the gutters going up. I didn’t use any chemicals and spent 5 to 6 weekends cleaning, scraping, sanding and priming by hand up on the ladder and only got one of the peaks and the trim in the front done. I’ve gotta get to the other peaks and the remaining trim this spring.
Comment posted on 5-12-2004
Ah yes, house painting. The mother of all home improvement projects. I’ve learned that there is an upside to having a house covered in fake plastic boards, even if the idea turns my stomach.
A big part of my being so productive has to do with knowing that once Sophia shows up it’s going to be nearly impossible to work on anything major. Last summer keeping my lawn mowed was a challenge. Them little ones can wear you out ta-boot.