Wooden Leg Named Smith: January 2005

As I tried to post this morning, I am doing an early spring cleaning.

I've given two of my Macs to a friend here at work - my Duo 230 (with mini- and full-size docks) and a PB180(?) with a bad motherboard battery that I took apart to fix the battery. I'm down to 1x PowerMac 8150 Server with a G3 upgrade card, 1x PowerMac 8100 (parts for the 8150 server), 1x PowerBook 1400, and 1x Classic. My girlfriend's G4 is our everyday online and work computer.

I'm going to archive my information that's on the PM8150 Server then do the eBay thing with both 81xx. I hope to start working on it this weekend.

I'm also going to go through my various other collections and figure out which stuff I will put on eBay. I hope to do that soon.

Reducing my material goods. Maybe getting some cash for it (or trade), if possible. Then I will start all over again ;)

Monday, January 17, 2005

My Friend Rob's analysis of Rustycon this past weekend

This is an email I received from my friend Rob about Rustycon, a local area
Science Fiction (SF not "sci-fi") Convention. I was supposed to join him
there but my mother's 70th birthday party got moved the weekend before due
to snow and rescheduled on this weekend, so I baled on him.

In addition, it should be noted that Rob, Kelcey and I frequently attend
Norwescon, another yet larger local area Science Fiction Convention, as well
as Orycon in Portland, yet another not-quite-as-large-as Norwescon Pacific
Northwest Science Fiction Convention. While both Rob and I agree that
Norwescon has it's own problems, it would take a very bad convention to
truely disappoint Rob and Kelcey. Read ahead!

======
From: Rob
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 3:05 PM
To: Matt
Subject: Rustycon

Sometimes it seems like there really is such a thing as fate and it gives
hints about what will come to pass.

Kelcey and I made plans to go to a scifi convention in Seattle this weekend.
It is called RustyCon and I've never been to it before. I made hotel
reservations, got Friday off, and informed my friend Matt that we were going
to be there if he wanted to attend. Everything was going according to
plan...

On Thursday evening I got a surprise email from my boss that a
representative from Sharp would be on campus and would like to meet us. Rolf
had forgotten about my day off and agreed! Damn! I managed to get out of
that meeting, but it turns out that Matt had forgotten and filled his
weekend schedule up with commitments. Things were not starting out well!

On Friday Kelcey and I drove up to Seattle, chatting all the way so the trip
zipped by like never before. The sky was brilliant blue. The volcanoes
bright with snow. It was an absolutely wonderful day for a trip. Things were
looking pretty good after all...

We arrived at the Radisson at Seatac airport. I must say, I was not
impressed from the start. The Radisson is old, is only two stories tall, and
is quite sprawling. It looks only marginally better than a run of the mill
Motel6. We went in to the vacant lobby.

"Where is everyone?"
"I guess we are early."
"Is this the right hotel?"

Two sheets of paper posted in the lobby directory confirmed that it was
indeed the right place. Right about then we saw the usual overweight black
T-shirt and jeans clad volunteer crew come in. Something has to be done
about "the look" of convention staff, but moving along...

The bulk of the convention was going to be held in the convention area,
which is a located down a narrow hall from the lobby. Now, other convention
hotels have spacious multi-level facilities that, when crammed with fans,
feel like a space port that we might see in Babylon5. The promise of a fun
convention was dwindling fast.

We went outside to the car. A bout of thinking over Pringles and poppy seed
muffins commenced.

"What if we just bailed?"
"Makes no difference to me."
"This convention sucks."
"Alright, let me cancel the reservations."

I told the receptionist that "I had somewhere else to stay" and we were off
to downtown Seattle. I called Sheela and after confirming that I was indeed
her brother we dropped by for a Coca-Cola and a chat. I saw the Fremont
Bridge Troll and got hot chocolate by the bronze statue of Lenin. Then it
was off to Portland. We talked relentlessly about how to make a better
convention the whole way back. The drive zipped by again.

The story doesn't end quite yet, because today, Saturday, everything is
covered with ice! If we had stayed we would likely be stuck at that
miserable hotel and its third-rate convention!

That was the best nonconvention I ever had. I am also $200 richer to boot!

Cheers!

Rob

PS: The troll: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/WASEAtroll.html

Friday, January 14, 2005

These messages from Earth

I email these messages from work, while I am busy, in-between work, work, work.

I also use my Dead Father's name as my email "title" for this email address.

Weird, I know. But still, sort of poetic, in a way.

I hope these are posting, cause I haven't checked whether they are or not in a few weeks. Must have time to check that.

Talk at you later!

Thursday, January 13, 2005

16 email posts since December 6.

I've sent 16 email posts since December 6, 2004. That is averaging about 1 every other day, including the time that I was off work on vacation (December 20-28).

I love math!

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

We got Snow on Friday and Sunday!

I went over to my friend Mark's house on Friday evening and it started snowing before I left around 11PM.

Snow, snow, snow, falling on the ground, while I drove home. I only had to go a couple of miles, so there was no concern over slick roads.

Then the snow melted before we got up on Saturday.

Oh, well.

My Cousin Jenny had a bad battery in her car. She came over early on Saturday so we could go battery shopping. I called Les Schwab Tire in Kirkland and their two best batteries were 72 months/1 year replacement for $70ish and 84 months/2 year replacement for $90ish. I called Costco, they had a battery with 100 months for $39.49. Must investigate!

Julie, Jenny and I went to do our errands, with me driving (Jenny's care was tempermental because of the battery), we dropped Julie off at her Mom's because walking around a cold Costco wouldn't have done her whiplash any good. Jenny and I went to Costco, where we found the battery: 100 months/3 year replacement. I also shopped for what we needed for our household. Total bill $98. Jenny bought her battery and some other stuff - total bill $75.

We picked Julie up and went home, stopping for lunch along the way. At home, Julie's boss Peter dropped by totally unexpectedly to see how Julie was doing post accident and stayed for just a few minutes. Then I forced Jenny to help me change out her battery. She did 50% of the work and stated "Matt, at what point in the Future do you suppose I will ever change my car's battery ever again?" to which I responded "The appearance of competence is important for a woman dealing with cars." I do not believe she got the point.

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning it snowed again. We watched as neighbors and others drove/slipped/slid/did donuts through our street and we finally took down the Xmas Tree. I put on my Sorel boots and chopped it up, stuffing it into the yard waste bin. Julie's Mom had taken a picture of it before Xmas, so we have proof of it's existance.

My Mom's 70th B-Day party, with assorted family, friends, and other relatives, was to be at 12 Noon, but because of the snow, it was postponed until next Saturday. That makes 2 B-Day parties we have to go to on next Saturday.

The snow on Sunday did not last long, and today we have just slush and bad driving conditions as a result of the freeze overnight.

That was our snowy weekend in the Pacific Northwest!

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Apple announces new Mac Mini

A complete computer, G4 1.25GHz proc, 256MB memory, 40GB Hard Drive, that only weighs 3 pounds, for $499.

Wow!

I want one!

Thursday, January 06, 2005

"Girlfriend in a Coma, I know, I know, it's Serious!"

No, actually, Girlfriend not in a Coma.

However, on Tuesday Night, at approximately 6:45 PM, about 0.6 miles from home, she was driving her car (which cost her around $900 in December to fix) when she was rear-ended by a mini-van driven by a teenage girl. She was turning onto our street, crossing traffic, when she was struck. She had her brake lights on as well as her turn signal. She is lucky she didn't get shoved into oncoming traffic.

The girl jumped out of the mini-van and said "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you!" to which my girlfriend responded "You scared the hell out of me!"

As a result, I took the day off work yesterday to drive my girlfriend to the doctors, as well as to get various medical things. She's got whiplash, and has to go to physical therapy.

The highlight of the day was that the claims adjuster for the girl came by late afternoon and totally wrote off my girlfriend's car. The damage done, rear end and frame damage, would cost more to repair than the car is worth. This, after she spend $900 in December.

We finished the police report and gathered all the requisite paperwork for the car last night.

More fun times to come!

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

My Volvo needs a new drivers side sun visor

And the company that I ordered it from just called and said they don't have any!

Damn! Now I've got to go and do more research, to find a place that can get me one!

Going to eat Persian Food today

There is, in Redmond, Washington, a wonderful Persian restaurant, called the Alborz Restaurant. The owners are from Tehran, Iran, and the food is excellent.

I have been there twice so far, once for dinner with my gf Julie and her friend Christine and her husband Steve, both of which lived in Tehran before the revolution, and once for lunch with my gf Julie.

Simply AMAZING food, IMNSHO.

Only a couple hours left before lunch!

Monday, January 03, 2005

As you can see, on vacation I don't do the internet

For the most part during my last month's vacation, I did not use the internet. I had many other things to do.

And I feel good about that.

I had gotten in the habit of checking my email every day, several times a day. No more. If someone wants some sort of communication to me, and it is vital that I know the information quickly, the best way is, as always, to give me a call.

I have become a master of my own domain and will not give up my autonomy easily.

Well, at least that's what I delude myself with, anyways . . .

Wooden Leg Named Smith

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Have the Flu!

Friday, January 21, 2005

Spring Cleaning - repost