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I was reading AndrewSW's blog and came across this comment. I've included an excerpt from the comment here because I just thought it was "Old School Cool."
........."Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to produce an archive of human knowledge, that assumes no prior knowledge of humanity. You could begin with large colorful diagrams that explain in images how to build a simple lens to allow them to read smaller diagrams that would explain how to build a simple phonograph, that would allow them to play the records that are part of the archive. The records, combined with more diagrams, could begin to explain our language. Then, with the help of the language and the records and more diagrams, you could explain all of our technology, all the way up through transistors and computers, so that they could build CD players that would play our audio CDs and data CDs, and eventually culminate in their ability to develop complex genetic equipment that would allow them to clone a human being from the genetic code stored on the media. Then it would have instructions on how to teach the human about humanity, and allow them to restart humanity, and continue where our world left off.
What a project that would be."
(Comment by sam Saturday, December 13, 2003)
Cricket Commnuications a local cell phone provider here in Arizona which offers unlimited local calling for $39.00 a month. I switched from Alltel to Cricket because I was exceeding my minutes every month and wanted a calling plan without the restrictions of minutes. Cricket "WAS" a wonderful replacement. That is until today. Today I officially gave up my Cricket cellphone and any cellphone for that matter.
You see, my cellphone bill was due on the 23rd of December and because I was traveling for my anniversary I was unable to make the payment until the 26th. There happens be a kiosk where payments can be made within a couple miles of my home. I went there and made payment on my phone and because the machine did not accept change, left with with a negative balance of $1.86. I continued to use my cellphone the rest of that day and woke up the next morning to find that my phone had been temporarily disconnected for non-payment. I attempted to contact them through the series of voice mail mazes and was unsuccessful. I decided to go to their retail store with receipt in hand to get it straightened out. After waiting in line for an hour I was finally being helped and told that the reason that my phone had been disconnected was because I had a prior balance of $12.62. That plus an additional $15.00 fee for the current disconnection was going to be required for reconnection. I smiled and handed him the receipt showing that upon making my payment the kiosk showed that I had a negative balance. He proceeded to tell me that the kiosk were managed by a third party vendor and actually didn't display the correct information. I retorted that the problem then was not in fact mine but theirs seeing as how the machine with their name on it. He assured me this wasn't the case and encouraged me to speak with another representative there who could explain to me what I needed to do. The next representative told me I needed to make the $12.62 payment in the kiosk they had located in the store. I told her I wasn't going to pay the additional $2.00 which the kiosk requires in order to make the payment and for that matter the fact that I had to come and stand in line for an hour was enough for them to eat the twelve bucks anyhow. At that point she told me that I not only had to pay the $12.62 but also the $15.00. I immediately told her to cancel my service and provide me with a refund for the payment I had made the day before. She told me that I would not get a refund to which I quickly reminded her that the cellphone service was paid a month in advance and that I better be getting my money back.
Now I have to wait for my refund to come in the mail minus the $12.62 which I refused to pay anyhow. I'll tell you what, I'm not a happy camper and you can bet that corporate office, the Better Business Bureau, and if I'm lucky some investigative news show will be hearing from me.
Now I sit without a cellphone and have decided to refrain from going with any other company. I lived a life without one once and was okay with it then. I should be fine now. I mean I still got my Blackberry right?
Tonight we went to MY parents house for our first stint at Christams and it was the best Christmast I think I've ever had. Everything just clicked. My mom's husband's family was there and we just had a really enjoyable time talking and celebrating together.
Something even more awesome though was when my wife and I got home we decided to open our Christmas stalkings. In mine was 2 Jack Karouac books, "The Dharma Bums and a collection of his early works called "Atop an Underwood". Man this woman really loves me.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a safe holidays. Hopefully I won't be blogging over the next few days due to playing with my new Christmas toys (hehe).
We crossed the border and made our way toward the pseudo-mexican culture of Nogales. It was more carnivalistic and money driven than I recall from earlier visits. This trip was more to me than haggling over the price of a badly painted porcelain pig. It was more intended to give some insight to my "Mission". Even, if only for a day, I wanted to enrich myself in a culture that was not my own. What I realized (and what I guess I already knew) was the culture I visited wasn't real, but contrived. It was a border culture, more closely related to a circus or carnival. Where carnies with their crooked smiles entice you to buy their worthless Knick-Knacks. This wasn't the "REAL" Mexico I had intended to visit with its rich culture and religious customs. It was a playground for conmen and women to match wits with unsuspecting people like myself, who would fall victim to the poverishness they parade. Little children, no more than 5 years old, forcing 10-cent gum in your face and asking a dollar in return. The old haggish looking women, who wrapped in filthy blankets, lay waiting on the sidewalk to force an empty cup to your over-filled wallets. Only to quickly retrieve the money from the cup and hide it under the blanket and once more appear victimlier to the next passer-byer. I saw them laughing, I heard them talking in secrecy to one another, showing there stashes of riches cuddled under their dirty dust ridden blankets. It's a production where we "Americans" with our hearts in our wallets, are the unsuspecting actors who deliver our lines on cue.
Upon realizing the facade of this culture, I sat back and watched. I watched and listened as the Mexican vultures circled the crowds and singled out those they knew to be effortless targets. They would lure their targets into their raggedy shops and attempt to convince them their wares were of greater craftsmanship than the others. For those that got away they would be badgered until they were in the safeguard of the next shop owner, who was prepared to start a dance of his own. This would continue until either our pockets were empty or we grew too tired to go on.
After only a few hours, we were in fact too tired to push our way through the welcoming streets of this "so called" Mexico. I felt robbed, deprived of what it meant to visit a country so different from our own. I think I was most disturbed in realizing that it wasn't much different at all. It's a place where people care less about others and more about rising above someone else regardless of the expense. I purchased that badly painted porcelain pig as I waited in line to cross back to the security of home, where I could drink the water and remain unscathed. I realized that the "REAL" culture of Mexico was far beyond this "borderess" town of greed. I'm left longing for an adult experience to what it really means to visit Mexico. As a teenager, I spent weeks working in the central part of Baja California where I witnessed a much different culture, one far from the charade of these visually malnourished misfits. What I wanted was the opportunity to see the culture, which I understand to be so different from that of our own, through the eyes of the adult I've become. I will have to find that from another trip, one much more to the meat of Mexico.
I'm beginning to think that the "System" has evolved in such a way that it prevents the success of those who want and choose to fight against it. For every one of us, who's eyes are open to what that system is trying to take from us, there are thousands of "THEM" who prevent us from making our dreams a reality. I don't think that the majority mean to do this, rather they do it inherently. They believe as much in what they've been told and learned from oppression as that of which we believe. We are grossly out numbered. Wherever we turn with our ideals of freedom.....freedom of thought, freedom from possessions, freedom of lifestyles, freedom's of whatever, we are met with resistance from those who refuse to go against the grain, and ultimately to them, against what is "Supposed" to happen or be. The complacency they share is also inherent and comes from what "WE" are supposed to do and feel. It is that complacency which builds the wealth of America; "If we continue to go the way of the "American Dream" we "WILL" be successful...If we just want it bad enough, we "Might" just make it happen." Unfortunately for the "Free Thinkers" the American Dream wasn't tailored to or for us. It was written around us, with the foresight that we would not be a cause big enough to warrant concern. Were they right? I'm beginning to think so.
I've only ever seen it once but it was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. It's called "The People's Champions". Today while watching the FX channel they advertised a People's Champions marathon Friday night at 10 pm Pacific Time. If you're available, I suggest you watch it. If you're not, I suggest you Tivo or tape it. It's that funny.
So my wife and I went out of town for our anniversary. We headed out from Phoenix on Friday afternoon and made our way towards Tucson. We drove around Tucson for a few hours before deciding on a place to stay for the night. We stopped at a used bookstore and picked up a couple books and then went to our motel room to rest up for our trip to Mexico. The next morning we were up early and driving to Mexico. It took us about 2 hours to get from Tucson to Mexico and we arrived, parked, and entered by foot to Mexico about 12:00 Pm. We walked the shops with constant caos from the merchants trying to hock there wares. We had lunch at a nice little Mexican restaurant where they were offering free margaritas with a "Lunch Special". We decided to give it a try and the Lunch Special was HUGE as well as the margaritas were so powerful I could only drink but a few sips. After spending a couple of hours over the border we decided to head back toward Tucson and then drive to Tombstone. We arrived in Tombstone around 6pm or so and quickly found a room. We were exhausted. Exhausted from walking, from driving, from even talking. We went out had a quick bite and settled in our room for a much needed nights rest. We awoke at 6am to catch a glimpse of the sunrise as it arose over the beautiful Pedregosa Mountains. We had planned to take the 2 hour drive out to the mountains after a short day in Tombstone, although we realized that we would be adding another 3 or so hours to our return trip. By this time we had already covered over 450 miles and knew there were over 200 miles between us and home. We decided that after Tombstone we would return home. So we took our tour of the "Fight at the O.K. Coral", had some Indian Fry Bread and called it a trip. I am comfortably back home and away from the confines of that dreaded car. Oowee the backaches from driving and lugging around my fricken backpack with laptop and accessories. If I wasn't driving in the car, I was walking around, and carrying that awful pack. Although once I began using the chest and waist strap it made the backpack bearable. I'm tired now.
I have a lot to say on the specifics of certain parts of the trip and will gather those and post them apart from one another. I'm gonna take a nap now and I'll get to those upon awaking.
Well folks, I'm off to Mexico. It's my 7th wedding anniversery and my wife and I wanted to get out of dodge. I wanted to go somewhere that we had never been before. While I have visited Mexico before, it was only as a teenager when Mexico couldn't be all Mexico is supposed to be. So I say Adios to you all!!!!
Hasta la vista.
Once again I wish I had thought of doing this first. I told you before and I'll tell you again....this guy (VoodooTime) is awesome.
I just realized how appropriate my new banner is for my life right now. A long road to a place I've never been.
Wow!
I just finished the amazing book "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. Wow! That's all I can say. I was really drawn in by the romantic ways Kerouac describes the journeys of Sal Paradise, who, quite possibly was really Jack himself. Every chapter told in vivid detail the aching desire of a man's journey in finding a life he truly loved. I can't help but find myself daydreaming and seeing myself along side ol' Sal on his travels. Such excitement, fear, and love fueled his soul.
As I finished the book, I could not help but feel sadness for not being able to be part of his life any longer. What a journey. I compare my search for my "Mission" with the experiences in the book. I learned something about myself in the last chapters. I really learned how much I love people and their relationships....their friendships....their love. If my "Mission" is to travel, I fear the thought of having to move on....to move away from those people, those relationships...and feel that I will be left with an empty sadness. Sadness I don't yet have because I haven't met them yet. The biggest part of the journey is the relationship with these people....and I already feel the sadness of having to say good-bye to them. The same sadness I have in saying good-bye to Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty.
Good-bye ol' pals and thanks for the ride.
Phoenix, AZ to Vancouver, WA - 30 hours - $79.00
Vancouver, WA to Chicago, IL - 48 hours -$99.00
Chicago, IL to New York, NY - 18 hours - $69.00
New York, NY to Baton Rouge, LA - 33 hours - $79.00
Baton Rouge, LA to Denver, CO - 31.5 hours - $79.00
Denver, CO to Phoenix, AZ - 20 hours - $69.00
___________________________________________
Total Time: 180 hours = 7 days 5 hours
Total Travel Cost: $474.00
You'd be living in a hole in the ground if you haven't heard about the capture of Saddam Hussein. He was found hidding out in a hole outside his home of Tekrit. The reason I'm even bringing this up is because of a hunch I have. I'm willing to bet it all on the fact that I believe George W. Bush is or has let his father (Bush Sr.) have direct contact with Hussein. We'd never hear about this, but I'm sure it's happen or is going to happen. They both had such contempt for Hussein and I can see them now dressed in white hooded sheets, dancing around the aged and homeless looking Hussein chanting all the while "Neener, Neener, Neener".
A friend of mine invited me over to her and her husband's house to for what was to be an awesome experience. Apparently after the children are tucked away in bed, a mexican flag goes up and the Mexico experience begins. Tequila is mandatory of course, as is beer and board games with other friends and neighbors. However, there are two rules in Mexico which are strictly enforced; No cameras, and most importantly, what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico. I had a great time in the 4 hours I spent enjoying the festivities and plan to visit again soon. We played the game Cranium. If you haven't played it I seriously suggest you check it out.
I'm currently reading a book called "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. A great story about a man's travel across America in search of himself (kinda consistent with my last blog entry, eh?). I came across an awesome quote from the book that I'd like to share: "But all I wanted to do was sneak out into the night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country." Yep that's it....That's the way I feel. I read that, rummaged through my desk for a highlighter and aggressively marked the text as to not forget it existed.
This is turning out to be an excellent book. The main character Sal Paradise's journey across the country has insighted in me some grand ideas. I'm only half way through it and I'm sure I haven't come across the meat of it all as of yet. When I'm do, I'm sure you'll hear of it.
While driving around this afternoon, my mom called me to tell me about a spot on NPR (National Public Radio) talking about blogs. This broadcast is a poetic interpretation on blogging where Andrei Codrescu compares spiders and their webs with bloggers and their blogs. Interesting?
Yea I know I missed yesterday's blog entry. Don't worry though I've grounded myself for a week because of it. Actually, I wasn't able to get on the computer last night because my wife and I started out on a discussion about our relationship that lasted for about 3 hours or so. By the end of our conversation I needed some serious sleep.
It was a good conversation.....Basically, my wife and I discussed something I have been dealing with for a while now; my life’s "Mission". When I say life's mission, I'm not referring to the meaning of life or the purpose of my life on this earth....rather, I'm talking about where I'm supposed/meant to be. That is to say, I have this burning passion inside of me and it's trying to get out. The problem is that I don't know what the heck it is.
The other night I had met my wife at the bookstore to sit down and talk to her about this (which was pretty much the first time I had brought it to her attention). I had told her that I wasn't sure where I was going....and that I wasn't sure if it was consistent with where she wanted to be. I wasn't saying that I wanted to leave or that I wanted a divorce, rather I was saying that I wanted to make sure that we were not stunting the growth of either one of us and gave her a kind of "Heads up" on what I had been thinking of for a while. A couple days went by (and this is where we cue to last night) and I could tell that there was something on her mind. I was a little weary about asking her because I feared arguing. In the 10 years my wife and I have been together we haven't had very many rational conversations (though after last night, this has changed). I asked her anyway and found out that the conversation we had a few days before was really bothering her. She was saddened by the thought that I would leave her for the pursuit of my passion. I tried for hours to explain that it wasn't as cut and dry as that and that the way she interpreted what I had said was not in fact what I meant. I was trying to explain to her how powerful this "Mission" felt to me and that I felt it was so strong that I didn't want to affect the rest of her life and cause her unhappiness because of it. I could not get her to understand exactly what I meant because as I said, I don't know the meaning of, or even what the "Mission" is.
I think the mission has something to do with traveling and seeing the world. The traveling I'm talking about isn't like vacation traveling though; it's more like being dependent on my surroundings. I tried to explain to her that this feeling goes back as long as I remember. From my childhood, when I looked up in to the midnight stars and realized that the world was ever reaching. From then till now, I've wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to share in it, and I wanted to see as much of it in a real and non-superficial sense as I could. It's some sort of primal urge to move across the great expanses of our earth with only the things I know now, and the pursuit of what things I could learn. It's a pursuit of knowledge that to me requires a first had account. Our world is made up of the beauty that the earth provides as well as that which people provide. It's this I want to see and understand with my own eyes and hands.
As I said the discussion went well and I think the future holds a time and a place for me to make this possible. I need to pin down exactly what this mission is and begin planning for its execution. As I learn more about it I believe it will become less vague to me as well as anyone out there reading this.
(Hangs head low)
It must have been me. Yep, I really did it this time. Remember yesterday how I told you guys about this really cool firewall called SmoothWall? Well, I guess I'll have to step and take the blame. You see, it seems that after posting a new entry on my blog about their firewall they got Slashdotted. Deductive reasoning can only lead me to assume that I, and I alone am to blame. If only I had thought about what I was typing before I typed it.
Anyhow, I finally got the firewall up and running. It's pretty sweet and doesn't require any very heavy hardware (as most don't anyway). I have it up and running on a PII 333mhz machine with 64mb of Ram. It took a while to try to get it configured because I was trying to use 3 NIC cards. After failing miserably on that, I decided to go with 2 as I had done in my last firewall. I got to say it's pretty sweet......I mean it's been successfully up now for over 3 minutes......If that doesn't say something well I don't know what will.
I can now take down my dying AMD K6 450 and retire it. I had been running Redhat 9.0 on it and it served it's purpose well. I just wanted to go to a less bloated firewall. It's sad to say goodbye, though I feel it's time. So long old buddy, so long.
*Services will be held at 6:43 AM on December 17th. For more information please contact your system administrator.
This is pretty cool. It's a firewall system that's made to run on a standalone machine on your network. A 33mb file which intalls a very basic linux distro. Everything about the firewall is configured through a nice and clean web interface. I'm gonna check it out sometime this week and I'll let you guys know how it goes. My neighbor has it running with 3 NIC cards, which provide, what he tells me to be the most secure firewall settings around.
"The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children."
- King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)
I've updated my sidebar to now include my instant messaging handle. As I said in my post yesterday, if you're online and what to say hey, feel free to.
See you on AIM!
Tonight I had the chance to chat with AndrewSW on AOL Instant Messenger. It was really an interesting experience getting the chance to talk to him in real time. I have been reading his blog pretty regular now for the last 5 or 6 months I think and always enjoy what he has to say. Tonight however, I got to learn a little bit more about the man behind the blog. He seems like a real cool guy and I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with him for almost an hour. So what I've decided to do is post my AOL Instant Messenger Name (as obvious as it might be) so that anyone out there who stops by the old Intangibles in Decrescendo can give a shout out in real time. My screen name is obigabu....If you see me on, give me a shout.
I wanted to post this here because Wonko has a very interesting discussion going on about social adeptness vs. social ineptness. I'm sure there are many of you out there that have fought the same battle and your experiences and your ideas on this issue could be constructive to all of us.
Let the countdown begin. 24 days till Christmas means 24 days till I get my Orinoco Wireless pcmcia card. Yep, I told my mom that this year I refused to accept a gift that was for both my wife and I. I told her that we wanted individual presents and that a good place to start was www.orinoco.com. How convenient that I was ready to give her an idea for a gift, I know. That's what's so good about it. Now for Christmas, I don't have to get some hokie centerpiece that I have to put out when ever she comes over to the house.
(Actually, I'm just kidding. My mom does very well in the present department.)
I just wanted to over exagerate how cool it will be to get that wireless card. The reason, if you're dying to know is becasue I can't seem to get that piece of trash wireless card to work under linux. The Orinoco card works...and I get it in 24 days!! What do you want in 24 days? And don't give me that world piece crap cuz I know you're just as materialistic as me.
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