Adjective Noun Blog

Losing my.....

2009-10-18T19:06:29Z

I had too much leave building up, so I took 4 days off work.
I got the roof leak fixed, by getting the wall above the roof plastered and painted.
The electrician fixed an intermittent electrical problem with the bathroom light, the neutral wire was corroded.
I had a handyman round for seven days. He worked at the other house most of the time, but he helped me with miscellaneous stuff and the shelf I put in over the washing machine :

and the garden and my other project, the gate from Schoonzicht:

Can you spot the crenelation I welded back on at Steve's? Only if you are looking for it.
I hung the gate and am now working on the hard part, the frame.

Cut it down to size with the newly purchased angle grinder. Small angle grinders are quite cheap, incidentally.
I am using the big bit in the hammer drill and hammer and chisel to make holes in the wall for the frame. The purplish bricks are the hardest.

Also moved in total ~700 kg of tiles this weekend to the other house. Spotted on tile shop website:

under-floor heating FTW!

mac1235 @ 2009-04-18T20:12:00

2009-04-18T18:14:30Z

Updated flickr again.

mac1235 @ 2008-12-03T17:04:00

2008-12-03T15:13:39Z

In 2008, mac1235 resolves to...

Find a better science.
Go to slashdot every Sunday.
Cut down to ten movies a day.
Tell my family about computers.
Volunteer to spend time with dailystrips.
Buy new books.

mac1235 @ 2008-10-19T21:00:00

2008-10-19T19:00:15Z

How to make a mac1235

Ingredients:

5 parts jealousy

5 parts brilliance

3 parts joy

Method:
Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of lovability

Dissapointing

2008-06-07T17:50:20Z

As a 1930s husband, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Updated Flickr

2008-06-07T17:18:42Z

Very boring to other people.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26948431@N00/?saved=1

You scored as a Utilitarianism

2008-06-06T17:37:34Z

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
You scored as a Utilitarianism
Your life is guided by the principles of Utilitarianism: You seek the greatest good for the greatest number.

“The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”
--Jeremy Bentham

“Whenever the general disposition of the people is such, that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things, good government is impossible.”
--John Stuart Mill

More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...
Utilitarianism
80%
Justice (Fairness)
80%
Apathy
75%
Hedonism
60%
Strong Egoism
60%
Existentialism
60%
Nihilism
55%
Kantianism
40%
Divine Command
5%

Add +2 to the Technogeek skill on your character sheet...

2008-05-23T13:56:44Z

So we went to Betty's Bay for the weekend more than a few months ago. During that time I sewed up my battered old jacket and installed 2 Linux distro's on an old work Dell laptop. The first, Gentoo, was something I always wanted to try out. I can now say I have compiled my own kernel. Since I have been using open source for more than a decade, it is unusual that it took so long. It's not exactly difficult on Gentoo, it was menu-driven.

The thought of doing "emerge all" on a 2 year old distro and waiting days for it to update on dial up, was too daunting though. So I installed Ubuntu-server edition instead. It seems to be what I needed for a specific project.

So I get 2 Technogeek Points!
One for compiling my own kernel.
One for going away alone for the weekend with my fiancée to a remote area and spending the time playing with operating systems. Well, she can't say she didn't know what she was getting into, :)
I still feel lucky she married me...

ugh!

2008-02-27T15:07:51Z

Main Type	Overall Self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Updated my pics on Flickr

2008-01-09T23:40:53Z

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26948431@N00/?saved=1

À Propos Linda...

2007-11-08T19:09:13Z

I proposed, she said yes! Actually the only bit I was worried about was the parents. Yay! Go us!

I'm not as smart as you thought...

2007-09-06T18:33:46Z

71%

FilmCritic.com - Movie Reviews

mac1235 @ 2007-06-19T17:23:00

2007-06-19T15:24:30Z

What were you in your past life?
You were ... much shorter.

'What were you in your past life?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Book Fair!

2007-06-16T22:05:53Z

Panel discussion.

After she dis-interred me, I took tngr_spacecadet and her mom to the book fair. I spent some time at Reader's Den, but there were other interesting events. Cooked supper and am now feeling awake enough to jog and blog.

mac1235 @ 2007-05-28T00:37:00

2007-05-27T22:38:42Z

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Librarians! Cats! Soy! Google!

2007-05-22T13:02:53Z

Looks like the meme hit librarians.

Presents

2007-05-14T00:11:17Z

While I bought easter eggs for the office, the really fun part was that someone carefully broke into my house and hid easter eggs everywhere. This is most of the haul.

Not sure how, but nothing was damaged and eggs were hidden well, but not too well. It's almost like they had keys and knew their way around. That's ridiculous though. Isn't it?

I got a pair of socks for Easter, another for my birthday and a third as a thank you gift. Three in two months from different people. Am I being paranoid or are people trying to tell me something? I don't have the people skills to tell. I don't care either. Nothing will part my from my beloved thick woolen hiking socks! Nothing I tell you! One of them has been well darned by me and ten years old. My Precious...
My Aunt B gave me money for my birthday, this time without the usual admonition not to spend it on computer parts. Perhaps because of this, I immediately went to Woolies with the GF and bought a warm shirt and jacket for winter. I traded in 2 pairs of socks, but paid mainly from Aunt B's money... Below you can see me, in the shirt, with the jacket on my lap, darning oldest pair.

The astute may wonder what the black object on the arm of the couch is. It's the controller for a Playstation 2.

I have always been curious about Okami. It's an very interesting concept game. Once again, someone bought it for me for my birthday. As it is only for the Playstation2 I needed one. Fortunately as the new consoles are being released this year it was easy and cheaply acquired through the Capeads. Then I borrowed and moved tngr_spacecadet's TV and away I went. It's quite fun. I like the visuals. Everything is drawn in the old Japanese style. Some of the game is very twee, for example you get points for making the cherry trees blossom and feeding wild animals. On the other hand combat vs demonic musicians is good. I find the controller are very ergonomic. I can see the attraction of consoles now. Not that I'll get one, just that I see the good points. It came with about 6 games, which I traded to Ian B as he might use them. He gave me an adventure game. I now have Beyond Good and Evil and Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon. These are both mystery games, decent reviews. Maybe I can interest someone in playing them with me? tngr_spacecadet? Anybody in CT want Tiger Woods 2004? I can't give it away..

I don't know if I already mentioned it, I have reading glasses now. Only using at night if I have already been reading a lot that day.

Mood = Experimenting with new meringue mixes.
Music= Z:\mp3\Ash\Ash - Girl From Mars.mp3

Best birthday ever!

2007-05-05T15:55:38Z

The fact that my birthday fell on a long weekend was a good start. Over the 5 days I only had to go into work twice. I grant you I find upgrades of software RAID disk arrays under SuSe 9.1 a daunting task, but that only heightened the satisfaction when I finished on Saturday morning.

Other things I did before my birthday include buying a USB Hard drive enclosure and fixing the briefcase.   Esquire was open every day of the long weekend.

I also cabled my home computer room with three extra network cables. This got  tngr_spacecadet's Sims2 PC on the net. I could also move my file server and downloading PC into the computer room. This is a vitally important preparation for winter. I now have five PCs in one room, three of which are always on.   Warmth and a humming noise ensues.   No wait, the humming noise is from tngr_spacecadet's electric pedicure foot-bath! The rest of the house has underfloor heating, though I hardly ever use it...

Sunday was spent making so many meringues I haven't even finished them yet. I was playing around with proportions and have improved my recipe slightly, at the cost of 2 out of 3 batches being sub standard.   Still, many were eaten when people came round for an evening gathering.

I had borrowed tngr_spacecadet's coffee machine and the electric fondue pot for the occasion. Yes, unbelievable as it sounds, she has more gadgets than me. My recipe for chocolate fondue:

1/2 tin condensed milk,
1 cup cream
3 slabs dark, bitter chocolate,
4-8 Bar Ones
break up the slabs and slice up the Bar Ones into chunks.
stir under very mild heat to dissolve.
Serve with fruit and marshmallows.
Yum!

Between filter coffee, Frangellica, G&T, fondue and meringues a good time was had by all.

I got some nice presents, details to follow.

Grrr. Defective components.

2007-04-10T22:52:50Z

I spent most of work on the phone with someone in JHB. The fact he was altering lines in the config file that had been commented out wasted 2 hours alone. He's been in the biz a while, I think he's just determined not to learn anything new. Finally got the VPN up though.

The remainder of the day I was scanning Cisco router configs, trying to find the Product code for the E1/Primary for the Siemens guy. I won't go into the situation, this is the 3rd or 4th month since we called Siemens so it's a long story. This task might not sound too hard to a Cisco person, but as our routers Just Work, I rarely have to mess with them and know next to nothing about Cisco IOS. Well, OK, I know more than I did this morning. This would not be so bad, but I suspect the guy is playing "Techno Standards Tag" (Tm) with me. By this I mean he doesn't know what to do, so is asking for more info as a stalling technique. I don't see what he can do with the info. Hopefully I'm wrong though. Volumes could be written about what I don't know about PABX's and Cisco routers. Don't have to time to learn either, as I spent none of today on my SK work and will have to catch up over the next few days. Next is upgrading memory on ~70 machines at twelve sites. I can tell right now it's not happening by the specified time, without a lot of assistance from my co-workers. Assistance has been promised, barring emergencies, which are what we will get.

Tonight I dropped off the handyman, shopped, and visited the tenants. Also discovered that my eggs were off. I spent much more on petrol cruising around trying to find a shop that sold eggs at 9:30 than the cost of the eggs. After I got back I found I was out of peppermint essence. The shop only had lemon essence, it will have to do. Also I will never buy Nulaid eggs again. Ah, the perils of infrequent domestic urges.
Fortunately a hug from tngr_spacecadet quickly restores my good humor in all situations. Shallowness, thy name is mac1235?

Update. The lemon meringues are coming out better than the coffee ones. I am, of course, using pine nuts on both.

mac1235 @ 2007-03-28T23:30:00

2007-03-28T21:38:54Z

Yes I'm a nerd, but what type?

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Gamer/Computer Nerd You enjoy the visual stimulants of a video game, chatting on AIM, or reading online comics. Most of these types of nerds are considered dirty who lack hygeine, of course they always end up being the ones who make a crapload of money. And don't worry, that's just a stereotype; I'm not calling you dirty. ^_~
Science/Math Nerd
Literature Nerd
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
Social Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Of Microsoft, hard drives and Ubuntu...

2007-03-18T21:43:54Z

MS
So, I went to the Microsoft Roadshow a few weeks ago. Our company was bought out last year by a BEE company that specializes in application development. They plan to sell us to their existing clients so they can offer all possible IT support and we plan to use our new BEE status to bid on previously unavailable contracts. We even got a new contract recently. Not a big one, and I doubt it was BEE, but it is the cause of much optimism. Now that a miasma of despair no longer hangs over our company's long-term future, we are being encouraged to go to industry functions. Entrance is free after all. There is even talk of hiring new people.   We have slowly hemorrhaged staff over the past 4 years and can't really stand to lose any more...

I went to the Vista lectures. Vista is not actually something I have played around with. The machines at work are too weak and at home I play games, something Vista reduces the performance of. Nevertheless, resistance is futile, the big manufacturers are in Micro$oft's pocket. All new machines will come bundled with Vista soon, so as not to go in blind I've read the articles about Vista on the 'web. The new group policy options (essential when you have over 1000 machines in your network) are nice, but it would be trivial(?) to backport to 2003, if they weren't trying to sell as much Vista as possible. Vista is an incremental improvement on XP, with nothing I need right now.
I am toying with the idea of buying a copy of XP just before they cease to be sold. Cracking OS protection is fun and all, but I've got a life these days.

The convention centre had a display of "Star Ship Drives Through the Ages." At least that's what I called it. It was nice to meet friends in the industry again and the food was very good. Immediately after I went to Gael's surprise birthday party. I had to, I was supplying the roast veggies. Fortunately, they were cooked the previous night with ample assistance from tngr_spacecadet.   Since Gael's husband also didn't know about the surprise, and survived, I think we can consider his triple bypass a success. A busy day for me. See my flickr stream for lousy photos.

HD
As part of my project to get a PC for tngr_spacecadet that can run Sims 2, I bought a new 500 Gb drive for me and put the old 300 on the pile of parts for the new machine. I had been neglecting my geeky friends lately, and now, armed with the ~~firepower of this fully OPERATIONAL battle station!~~ hard drive I visited people. Those people coming to wytchfynder 's belated welcoming braai on Saturday can bring media. Incidentally if you can read this and know where I live you are invited.

Ubuntu
The advantages of our buyout, salary increases and talk of training outweigh the disadvantages, paperwork. Due a misaddressed mail I have prior knowledge of an upcoming hardware audit.
So I have spent all my free time at work (a minuscule amount of time) working out which is the fastest PC and claiming it. Since I was doing a hardware update I decided a to do a reinstall to clean out the cruft. I took the plunged and changed to Ubuntu over the weekend as it's the happening distro. The install went OK after a minor hiccup with the hideously complicated partitioning scheme I inherited from Redhat 8.? days. I've done about 5 upgrades since then, switching distros to SuSe along the way, so a complete re-install was overdue. To get round the partitioning problem I wiped everything except the /home partition and re-created partitions. Worked like a dream. Data, mail in Evolution and bookmarks in Firefox came across without any intervention. I had ghosted to a new HD so I wasn't risking anything anyway. I left it pulling the 200 MG of updates off the 'net on Sunday evening. That's reasonable. What I'm not sure about is that it's one CD. One of the things I like about SuSe is that it's 5 CD's or a DVD. Anything you want, like Midnight Commander or a torrent client will be there. Ubuntu uses debian's excellent apt-get for those things. I'll have to see if the simplicity outweighs the latency of fetching things from the 'net....

Mood:   Eh.
Music: Z:\mp3\humour\Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie\Every_OS_sucks.mp3

R23 /kg

2007-03-08T23:05:34Z

The spoils of ~~war!~~ the community chest carnival!
Unfortunately we were working late and couldn't queue up 30 minutes before opening to rush in and get all the good books before they were all gone.
The good news is fire regulations officials delayed the opening for enough for us to rush in and get all the good books before they were all gone.
The pickings were slim this year, still I got the Spy vs Spy above, a Sayers and Tevis I was missing and miscellaneous stuff I will read and decide whether to keep. It was fun to look at the vast array of books and think "Mine! All mine! If I so desire!"

Music - Z:\mp3\Jonathan Coulton\Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey.mp3

Losing my apathy?

2007-02-26T19:05:44Z

I was worried by a sudden lack of apathy this weekend. I had finished my annual Master of Magic game earlier this week.

Not the best score possible, but a new record for me!

So on Saturday I swept the leaves, mowed the lawn, bought groceries and fertilizer. I brought food to an ailing tngr_spacecadet and ate it with them. Dropped the maid off. Spread fertilizer and thoroughly watered the garden. By that time it was dark and I was was tired. So I repaired to the computer and cleaned some old files off my file server to make space. Then looked through my comic collection and worked out I was missing and scheduled it for download.

Fortunately by Sunday the urge had faded and I spent the day reading that which had downloaded. And being a good provider. I think we watched Heroes that night.

Yay! Normalcy has returned!
Music: Jonathon Coulton - Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime

A Song Of Patriotic Prejudice

2007-02-19T23:05:54Z

"The English, the English, the English are best,
I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest."

I have been feeling rather English these past few days, due to my listening to the complete Flanders and Swann. I never thought I was the nostalgic type, but apparently I am. I am also surprised by how many of the songs I can join in on! I am only halfway through and so will be Anglophilic for the next few days.

Yours sincerely,
mac1235.

From the Journal of L. Steele PhD (M.ad Sci)

2007-02-18T21:56:08Z

17th February 1841.
Wonderful news, lindarii flowered today. I say lindarri as from the flower it is clear I have a new species. Dr Bronson of the Linnaean Society was wrong. I have decided to name the species after my late wife. Oh how I wish she could be here in the moment of my triumph! The primary has a aesthetically pleasing shape that I think she would have liked. Pictured below is the secondary that I suspected was present. With it removed growth of the primary is unimpeded.

My secretary, Pavel saw the greenhouse for the first time since his return from India with his bride. He has been busy these past weeks settling those affairs of mine that arose in his absence. His comments about the resemblance of the Lindarri's primary to a human figure, while accurate, were crude in the extreme. His military background I fear. Fortunately the same military background makes him more reliable than that superstitious, scrofulous little Irish-Cockney crossbreed of a gardener. With Pavel present I can concentrate on my researches again. The illustration above is his work.

Dr. Smythe called again this evening. I suspect he hoped to catch a glimpse of my daughter. She is at finishing school this summer, but before the subject came up he saw the greenhouse. He doesn't like my approach to Ipomoea lindarri.
"Removing secondary tubers will result in a primary of unusual size and robustness. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
and similar bleatings. Troglodyte. Robustness and size are the intention. Are indeed vital. I am afraid I found his obtuseness unbearable and retired early, claiming a spurious requirement for early rising. How I miss my wife, she was always much better at the social niceties than me, as the good Lord intended women to be.
And now to bed.