Not Necessarily Interesting News

I’ve been wasting entirely too much time lately playing Enemy Territory. A completely free game from Activision. It was a planned multiplayer add-on to Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The project was scrapped but Activision released it anyways as a gift to gamers. Its best part is it’s supported under Linux, 3D acceleration and all. I don’t have to reboot into GameOS to play it which is a really big bonus. I’d have gladly dropped $40 for this game if it had been released. It has a good balance of player classes that make for a lot of action. I prefer to play Engineers and Medics. They may not rack up body counts but they see a lot of action.

Was playing around with Maestro, the software that they are using to control the Mars Lander, on my iBook and wasn’t thinking when I told it to install to my external firewire drive. The problem with this is that the drive is formatted FAT32 so I can use it on my iBook, my Linux box, and a Windows machine. When OS X went to write to the drive it totally hosed the file allocation table. FAT32 doesn’t support some of the file names that HFS+ does. Somehow this screwed up the whole works.

I _know_ the files are there I just can’t see them. I’m looking for a restore utility that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. I found Virtual Lab which seems to do what I need but they want about $300 to recover the data. That’s just to recover the files this one time. If I needed the program in the future I’d have to pay again. I don’t think so. If anyone has any recommendations on software that might be able to un-fuck me, please leave a comment.

I’m most upset about the fact that the original of the video I made after my uncle died was one of the files that went missing. That archive means a lot to me and I want it back.

Our canister HEPA filter died last night. This is a really bad thing. It’s the only thing holding back the flood while I try to sleep. The fan blade came off the spindle and no matter what I tried I could not get it to stay on. Hose clamps, screws, and even epoxy. That thing had a whole lot of air flow going through it that would pull the blades right off again. It was really a bad design flaw once I looked at it. It was getting old but these things are expensive and we had just bought a replacement filter for it last month at $75.

We decided to go out today and look for a new one. Our old one was one of the biggest that Honeywell makes. Our one requirement of the new one was that it needed to use the same filter because there was no way I was throwing out a $75 filter cartridge. We found exactly what we were looking for at Home Depot this morning. It was _not_ cheap. $165 to be exact but it’s worth a good night’s sleep. We ended up getting the biggest one they had again. It’s the Honeywell 50250. It’s a little larger than our older one but it appears they fixed the design flaw of the previous version. It is also quieter.

Thank God allergy season only lasts 4-6 weeks.

: I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow from the album “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” by The Soggy Bottom Boys

…and a hockey game broke out.

Last night I went to my first hockey game. My sister is a season ticket holder for the Austin Ice Bats. Her seats are on the glass near the home goal. I’m not much of a hockey fan but it wasn’t too bad. I was disappointed that there were no fights though. I always say: You’re not having fun until someone is bleeding. I did manage to get a puck that was shot over the glass into the net. It was also fun having hockey players faces smash into the glass 2 feet from your face when they got checked.

: Souvenirs from the album “Margaritaville Cafe – Late Night Menu” by Jimmy Buffett

I was driving up 183 in Leander this morning when I heard a siren approaching from the rear. I can hear them a long way off because I drive a convertible so there’s not much sound-proofing. I was sitting at a light in the right hand lane and the fire rig went to go around the stopped traffic in the turn lane. I was at the head of the line and the light was green so I pulled across the intersection to give cars room to make room for the truck. I eased over to the shoulder and the guy behind me took it as his chance to pass me, cutting off the firetruck in the process. You know the type, white trash, driving a souped-up ’90 Camaro, wide tires on the rear, hood scoop, and all. I decided that he wasn’t gonna pass me or cutoff the firetruck to do so. I pulled out halfway into the lane he was in and hit the brakes. I guess there’s something about brake lights higher than his hood suddenly appearing that caused him to rethink his actions and let the truck pass. I caught up to the firetruck a mile or so down the road after it appeared they got called off of their run and were sitting at a light. I got a wink and a thumbs up from the fireman in the passenger seat.

I kinda hoped Camaro Boy would hit me. He’d have plowed far enough under my Defender to rip that silly hood scoop right off his piece-of-shit Camaro and rest my bumper firmly on his windshield. I, of course, was told that I was #1 for my troubles.

: Sunny Afternoon from the album “Fruitcakes” by Jimmy Buffett

They say there are two kinds of people in Central Texas: Those that have allergies and those who will get them. I’m one of those with allergies. We’ve lived near Austin for 8 years now. The first couple of years I had no problems then the problems started. This is the worst year yet. I’ve tried everything. Sudafed, Claritin, Benadryl, you name it. We have a large canister HEPA filter going 24 hours a day in our bedroom but nothing helps. Luckily this only last a few weeks every year.

Mountain juniper
An invention of Satan
It should all be burned

Damn cedar fever
Runny nose and stuffy ears
I am suffering

My allergy meds
They don’t stop my misery
Please pass the Kleenex

Here comes the pollen
A nasal amputation
Is the solution

Well, here’s to hoping this year is much better than this last year. 2003 really sucked. 3 deaths in the family, unemployment for several family and close friends, and extended hospital stays by multiple family members.

It wasn’t all bad though. I did get the car of my dreams, my Defender 90. I did get re-hired by IBM after last years’ lay-off, and we took a really good trip to DisneyWorld.

If it wasn’t for close friends and family I don’t know what I’d have done.

I think I’m due for a good year.

: Navras from the album “Matrix Revolutions” by Juno Reactor Vs. Don Davis