There's the most amazing thunderstorm outisde. 20 miles north of us, but it's huge. The lighting is constant; the thunder it creates is a low rumble in the background. I can see the flashes travel from one end of the sky to the other. And yet right above us the stars are out. Our county was under a tornado warning; it must have been from this storm.
My mom, sister, and I went out to the edge of the field to see if we could see any tornadoes. We didn't, but watching the lightning was incredible. At least one part of the cloud is lit up at all times; the streaks travel from side to side, and every once in a while you happen to look at one directly, and it nearly blinds you. I've never seen anything like it. It's awesome and glorious, and a bit frightening all at once. I would hate to be under it, but right now we have the perfect view.
I don't think I'll go to sleep for awhile.
I was quite productive today. I replaced the 4 2-gig SCSI drives in the server with 2 9-gig SCSI drives. And yes, I still hate SCSI. But SCSI-3 hotswappable drives are infinitely better than ancient full-height SCSI-2 drives. However, I also discovered that a 200 watt powersupply is not enough for 3 harddrives and a CD-R drive.
But if that wasn't enough to make my day exciting, we finally got the air conditioning fixed in the car today. So when I drive home tomorrow in the 90-degree heat, I'll be able to enjoy myself.
And now, to round out a pretty decent day, I'm going to spend an hour playing games.
Having just finished off a glass of milk and watched the end of 'Keeping Up Appearances', I'm now going to write a few lines to prove that I'm still alive and sane.
Well, still alive anyway. I'm not sure I've been completely sane for years now. And if that last sentence has any sort of logic or coherence at all, you're either high or sleepier than I am.
I've kind of settled into the "I can keep going for these last few weeks" mode now. Only 11 days of work left, and a week after work ends I'll be heading back down to Texas. I really can't wait. The way things have been around here, school will be more of a vacation than summer vacation was. Not that I actually am terribly busy; it just feels like it. I'm blaming it on the early hours I've been having to keep. It just doesn't feel like a properly lazy day unless you've been able to stay up until 2 playing computer games.
I've been reading a lot the past few days; whenever we go to the library I spend all my free time buried in my books until I finish them. Mostly Agatha Christie lately. Also Asimov; I've finished the fourth book of the Foundation series and have come to the conclusion that they're definitely worth spending money on.
But anywho, it's off to bed for Ardith. Sleep is good. Sleep is very, very good...
There's nothing more lovely than feeling tired. Not the run-down, exhausted, frustrated-with-the-world tired, but the deliciously tired feeling you get after driving home from a long day of work and having a good supper. Add on to that the satisfaction of realizing that you gave detailed enough instructions to your library-going siblings in order for them to get the books you wanted. Then read a book by Douglas Adams, and laugh to yourself as you realize you don't have to puzzle out all his zany logic tonight; you can do that tomorrow, after sleeping in until noon. Since a tired brain can only hold one thought at a time, that particular one serves to keep the wheels upstairs turning as you get ready to turn the lights off and finally sink into a warm, comfortable bed.
But then the thought makes way for another...
Drat it all, today's Thursday. I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow and go to work.
*click*
Well, I haven't posted for a week, and the natives are getting restless, so a short update seems in order.
Basically, nothing's happened.
Nothing big anyway. Just lots of little things which all pile up until I'd swear I'm carrying enough 2-oz. weights to make up a ton.
As far as work goes, everything's fine. Maybe a little too fine. As usual, I've managed to work hard enough that people now start expecting it on a regular basis. I really need to quit doing that. And, my boss is still after me to quit going to LU, take a few classes at UNI, and work for him full-time. Which I'm definitely not gonna do. I'll admit, it's nice to feel wanted, but when 'being wanted' changes into pressure, I get frustrated.
Life's okay at home, too. My dad's defibrillator has gone off twice in the past month, and he's still trying to get used to a new medication, but since the doctor said not to worry about it, I'm trying not to. Trying reasonably successfully, in fact. It's amazing what sitting around playing Final Fantasy III in your spare time will do.
And thus my life continues to amble its way along a dusty country road; sometimes a combine rolls by and raises enough bits of earth to bury an elephant, and sometimes a cloudburst comes along to wash it all off.
'Night, all. I'm gonna go to bed early and catch up on some of the sleep I lost last night staying up to watch Dr. Who. May you sleep soundly, not waking up until the alarm goes off. Better yet, if you can, just throw the alarm clock against the wall, roll over, and go back to sleep. And enjoy it.
Ok, Ardith is back to her semi-normal state of insanity. Which means I need to find a calendar somewhere.
*hunts around for calendar*
Why, you ask? Just wait and see. I will reveal all as soon as I find one.
*gives up hunting for paper calendar and looks online*
Okay. I have a little less than 6 weeks until I leave for school. 6 weeks in which to read as much as possible, earn as much money as possible, and try and figure out why I have this sudden urge to buy some more tools.
However, 4-5 days out of that time will be used up in helping my little sister start her College Brainwashing... oops. I meant to say orientation for Grace College. That is about a week before I head back to school, and a week before that I'll be going bonkers driving myself hither and yon; that's when our church has its yearly Family Camp, and while it's loads of fun, I shall be a very busy little girl. And that's really only a couple of weeks away. So the summer's not so long after all.
And now, having completely distracted you and messed with your poor little minds, I shall reveal the real reason I was hunting for a calendar.
*drum roll*
You're not paying attention! Yes, you in the front row. Pay no mind to the fact that the ceiling is being stomped on by various large land mammals. If the plaster isn't cracking yet, you're not in mortal danger.
*another drum roll*
Umm... where was I? Oh yes...
*yet another drum roll*
The real reason I wanted to know how long until I get back to school is this: Once I am safely esconced in my dorm room, I'm going to do something really, really, fun. I'm going to spend $50 on books I want to buy. All will most likely be used, as they're cheaper that way. However, I'm taking nominations for Really Good Books which are Worth Spending Money On. I probably shan't take many of your suggestions, but I shall at least contemplate them. And that alone is worth marking down on a calendar.
I'm tired. So very tired. It's been a long week.
I'm tired of listening to my coworkers gripe about their boss, or about people who used to work there.
I'm tired of having to put up with Nolan's rebellion
I'm tired of having to deal with losing people.
I'm tired of having to figure things out.
I'm tired of having to be all things to all people.
I'm tired of always having to hold my head up.
I'm tired of this summer.
Too much "I". I should just shut up now. Thank God tomorrow's Saturday.
So close...
The guy from our soon-to-be new ISP finally came out today to get us all set up. Unfortunately, it's not quite all done. However, I should have at least something up and running by this weekend. And that will make me extremely happy. Outrageously, insanely happy.
Here's what I predict will happen:
1st week. Jason downloads everything within sight, so does my dad, my mom becomes enchanted by the fact that she can be on AIM all day long.
2nd week. Jason fills up his harddrive. Should take that long to use up all 20 gigs. Sharon discovers some place that streams foreign-language-pronunciation lessons. My dad subscribes to Rush Limbaugh's service so he can stream video during Rush's radio show.
3rd week. Jason, having filled up his harddrive, and finding that he can now read all his favorite programming forums faster than anybody posts to them, becomes slightly disenchanted and actually does something else for 2-3 hours out of the day. Somehow, by this time, we will have managed to max out the bandwidth. Thus, there will once again be a push to Get Ardith To Implement Bandwidth Restrictions For Certain People. My mom will be completely addicted to her email and IM capabilities.
4th week. By this time, most of the insanity will have calmed down. My dad will have ordered several more large harddrives, and a few virii will have been squashed in their infancy. Jason will have realized it is not necessary to download every last game demo on the internet. Sharon, having remained remarkably sane throughout the whole time period, will suffer the withdrawal that comes from being disconnected from the network, as her computer is bound to act up by this time.
Of course, I'll be quite calm the whole while, using the bandwidth to do such exciting things as upgrading the servers with apt-get, and finding new forums to terrorize.
Also, since it seems we will now have a static IP address, there are some very interesting possibilities to consider...
Today was the first really good day I've had all weekend. I was able to talk to my mom some about Fran; no awkward questions, just able to talk. And then, since we had a church picnic today, I was able to distract myself for the rest of the afternoon. That was a good thing.
On the more amusing side of my life, it looks like, barring any unforseen incidents, like my folks will be gone for a few days; Thursday afternoon through sometime on Saturday. Thus, I am looking for amusing suggestions on what to do to the kids while they are gone. Lucky for them my new motherboard will be getting here around that time...
This is the #1 reason I'm not going to get my tongue pierced...
A friend of mine died today.
Some of you maybe knew him; those who didn't missed out. His name was Tim Smith, but everyone I knew always called him by his floor nickname, Fran. Apparently he came in contact with some toxic chemicals or fumes. I guess he'd been pretty sick; I didn't hear anything until I got the email today telling me that he was gone. He was on life support, and his family took him off it this afternoon.
He lived on my brother floor at LeTourneau, 2A. I guess I got to know him best last fall, when he was Kenneth Martens' roommate. Fran took me to Fall Fest that semester. We had some good times, watching movies, playing on Stern's XBox, sometimes just yakking.
This hurts. I've never had a friend die. I'll see him again someday, but not on this world.
I'll miss him.
Do you know how long it takes to catch up on a week's worth of webcomics on dialup? However, I did manage to run into a gem along the way.
PVPOnline for 07/02/2003
I can see myself in all three characters: Francis is me as Home Network Admin. Cole is also me in my role as Horribly Mean Older Sister. And Brent Sienna? Well, there are multiple roles fighting for that honor.
I'm back from plunging the depths of the un-connected. Or at least that's what it felt like. You never realize quite how addicted you are to your internet connection until you lose it for a few days. As there's some sort of stupid 200-hour/month limit with our current dialup connection, we got cut off from the rest of the world on Thursday. But that was only the beginning of a very long weekend...
Thursday: As I mentioned before, we ran out of hours. I'm officially annoyed. I should not have to put up with such idiocy in ISP connection policies.
Friday: 20 minutes on my way home from work, and 40 minutes from home, the car broke down. For some wierd and uncanny reason two cylinders quit firing, and it's in the shop now being worked on. Just let me say that waiting around an hour in a hot car by the side of the freeway for my parents to come by and pick me up is not my idea of a good time.
Saturday: The guy from CNS was supposed to come out and hook us up. Hah. He never showed, and I'm still broadband-less. I'd be disappointed, but it's rather what I expected. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we can get him to show up at all this week.
Sunday: This was the icing on the cake. My baby brother almost got the tip of his finger cut off in a freak accident. He was playing with a little folding chair when he managed to fall on it and close his finger in the hinge. They had to take him into the ER, and he ended up with 6 stitches, 2 of which were internal, and enough pain medication to zonk him out for the rest of the week. It wasn't a pretty sight. Poor little kid; he's only 15 months old, and he doesn't quite understand why his hand has to be all wrapped up all the time.
And though today doesn't really fall into the weekend, I'm going to include it because I'm frustrated, and thus I'm going to do what I jolly well please.
Today: Since we finally got web access back today, I had to put a new NIC in the gateway last night so everthing would be up and running. Even though I wouldn't get to enjoy it until after I got home from work. All was well and good, but in the process, the DHCP process on the server had gotten totally screwed up. When it all finally started to catch up with the network, midway through the morning, I wasn't home, and my dad was left to try and troubleshoot it. In the process he yanked all the cables from all three hubs (Word to the wise: it'd be better to buy one 24-port switch than to slowly increase capacity by buying successive 8-port hubs), and then left it for me to work on when I got home. After driving home in a hot 15-passenger van, I was excited, to say the least.
I fixed the problem with the DHCP server in about 10 minutes, and then proceeded to hook up all the cables again. I could go into great detail about the joys of sifting through spaghetti with a flashlight under a desk in the corner, but I won't. Suffice to say that even the best among us would be capable of making a mistake or two. At any rate, I learned one new thing today: when you daisy-chain two hubs together, only do it with one cable. If by accident it happens in redundance, with one going from a regular port to a regular port and one going from an uplink port to a regular port, bad things happen. Not the least of which is the server being flooded with 2,000,000+ packets in a very short time. Needless to say, it decided enough was enough, and shut down the NIC driver. Of course, I didn't realize all this for another hour and a half, while I tried to figure out why absolutely nothing was working.
And if none of that made sense, count yourself amongst those blessed by happy oblivion. I'm just glad that a three-day weekend is coming up.
