Just wise owl tones no velvet lies...

Dumping this journal

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:14:24 GMT

This journal is about to disappear. Please watch your friends list management section for more information.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Life is tricky

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:40:27 GMT

Needless to say, life has been very tricky lately. There is no sense or purpose I can find in anything happening recently. It’s easily been the most difficult time of my life. Many things have been falling to pieces around me. Loosing our marriage, loosing the house, loosing the Malvern sweat lodge and so many of my friend’s lives within unforeseeable problems. I really wish I could make this time better in some way. Like tuning the universal radio knob for better reception.

What I can say is that if it wasn’t for understanding, kind people, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now. I thank my friends, my Mother, my Boss, and my cats for being there for me. And especially Ian, who was brave enough to call the police the other night to make sure a crisis didn’t happen.

My neighbor, who moved here recently from Ohio with is wife, has also been a rock in supporting me through this. He did what my Father, or my Grandfather, would have done in this situation. He put me to work helping him build a chain-link fence around his backyard for his dog. And also fed me dinner after work :d Yum.

Support comes from the most unlikely of places sometimes. I am thankful for that.

I also learned a new word recently from my neighbor. Persnickety. I suppose growing up in North Philly has shielded me from such creative uses of the English language. I’m sure I have more melting-pot soul in my language than most folk. This just adds to the pot in a great way.

I miss Elizabeth greatly at this point. I truly wish I could make it all better instantly. I am willing to do the work to make it right again. I have always been and always will be.

I find it amusing that life has recently been a lot like Savage Steve Holland’s “Better Off Dead” staring John Cusack. Where the songs playing around me have been, well, deep and dramatic in an 80s sort of way. Recently I have heard the following being played, at random, in the different usual places:

Styx: Babe
Mr. Mister: Broken Wings
Michael McDonald and Patti Labelle: Own My Own

Normally, if there is such a thing, such random places would be playing annoying pop music. Like I said before, I need to find that knob to adjust the station of the universe.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Recursion Warning

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:01:15 GMT

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OS X Kitten

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:46:19 GMT

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Walking miles within a 300 foot radius

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:52:13 GMT

This past week, I moved one of my client offices up one building in the same office park to a place more situated for a firm of their size. Took me about four days total. Fortunately for me, most of the building was already wired with Cat5e to a punch panel, although, none of it was labeled properly. That meant, beyond what I had to do already, I had to tone-out each line, make it live, test it, and mark it. That portion took an entire day, but the results are of course better than ever with their Gig switches on a faster Comcast Business Class Internet connection. Breaking down the server room, the video conferencing room, some of the workstations was another day. Getting everyone setup again took yet another. No real struggle. And you know, without this new hip, I don’t think it would have been possible for me to do at all.

The new server room is tight by design but with my expertise in making things work it ended up being extremely clean with room for expansion. There is even a dedicated A/C unit for the three servers (one being a Sun Fire). How’s that for professional? :) Photos to come.

* * *

I’ve decided to abandon the Tektonic.net VPS solution. At this point I have the ability to do what I need to from the home FiOS connection, so I might as well save some money and some downtime. Twilight.clockbot.net is the new server, a 1.7GHz CPU with 776 MB RAM and a 36 GB disk running Debian. I have it sitting on one of my public IPs. Hopefully Verizon will setup my RDNS for it soon. It is backing up to the RAID-Z on Decade on my home network just as the VPS was. It will also allow my users to IRC out using IRSSI or WeeChat, which is an important feature in my book as it is the best way to keep in touch with me.

I was using the VPS for a secondary DNS. Fortunately, I was able to talk Elizabeth into letting me do the secondary on her Linode VPS. It’s rather light and simple with DJBDNS. Migration took a matter of minutes. Syncing required a little sudo(8) trickery with the way she has her system setup. But it all works well. Secondary DNS backups will be running to my home network from her machine. I’ve just submitted the request at GoDaddy to change over my sticky NS2 record to the new IP.

* * *

I’ve been having very vivid dreams due to the SSRI I am taking. Nightmares mostly where I will wake up in the middle of the night fully aware of what I was dreaming about. Very creepy. Before now, I was never one to remember my dreams due to my inability to sleep with much ease. It makes one wonder if dreams are the reasons for one’s insomnia.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

A meme?

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:36:13 GMT

I usually don’t do meme’s, but this one is short and sweet. Grabbed from ehowton.

1. My username is _____ because ____.

My username is Time because of my fascination with it. Space/Time/Perception/Universal Order/42… that stuff. Time, which is my true user name on IRC and Time3 which is my alternate with the 3 being my favorite of the prime numbers from years ago in math class.

2. My name is _____ because ______.

My name is Michael because I was raised Roman Catholic by my parents. They named me Michael after Saint Michael the Arch Angel, a Biblical name. In the tradition of my Italian family heritage, I was supposed to be named Dominic after my Great Grandfather as both my older male cousins did not take his name. Personally, I think I look more like a Dominic than a Michael.

3. My journal is titled ____ because ____.

My (live) journal is titled “just wise owl tones, no velvet lies” because this was a line from a very well written, very moving Peter Murphy song entitled Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem. The line itself embodies how I write my entries. Wisely, without lies. Peter Murphy was and is a great influence on my life. One of the greatest song writers and male voices I’ve ever encountered. And by chance at that.

4. My friends page is called ____ because ____.

My friends page is called “Time3less companions” because I thought it was clever. And being clever sometimes works out for me ;-) But seriously, I try to surround myself with intelligent people at all times that way I’m constantly challenged and at least always learning something.

5. My default userpic is ____ because ____.

My default userpic is myself because I’m lazy and I don’t really care to much about userpics with my free account.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Muppets!

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:41:23 GMT

Thanks caereala!

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Some thoughts and writings

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:23:24 GMT

The TSA is the new fascism by making this woman remove her nipple rings at an airport in Texas so that she could board her flight. Honestly, I would love to know what procedure they were following that states that a person’s jewelry could be considered dangerous or otherwise lethal. Nipple bomber? No.

Elizabeth and I have recently watched Juno, No Country for Old Men, and went to see the Star Wars Exhibit at The Franklin Institute. All three were quite excellent. Juno was superb. A cast to die for, writing that never let you down for a second, a screenplay that flowed like water. No Country for Old Men was brutal, yet deep with meaning. An excellent cast, excellent screenplay, unbelievable plot twists, and symbolism galore.

The Star Wars exhibit was fun. Even though I’m not as hardcore into Star Wars as some folks, I was a fan of the first three movies growing up and owned some toys. Seeing the actual props they used in the filming just sent me back to when I used to play in my friend’s living room as a child as we created extended scenes to the movies using AT-ATs and the like. I was in awe at the sheer detail of the original Imperial Class Star Destroyer and
the Rebel Blockade Runner. These models were huge, at least 3 or 4 feet across. They had other original models and costumes, but these two, and the Millennium Falcon were mind blowing.

I wasn’t allowed to snap photos, but I had to get at least one with Elizabeth next to the original R2D2 costume and the original Princess Leia robe:

Outside I was allowed to take photos, so I got one of Elizabeth on the Vader-laden steps:

Finally, some thoughts going out to my friends who lost their 18 year old Daughter recently in a fatal accident.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

rainy day writing

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:20:49 GMT

Mank has made a fan out of me with the release of Isbjorn. Short and sweet melodies in that cold Biosphere Substrata context with a good amount of well placed, syncopated rhythm and a nice, long excursion into the subconscious at the end of the album. The piano notes greatly compliment this rainy, Pennsylvania day. One of my favorite finds for 2008. And free for download in mp3 format from the site.

While sleeping in this morning and listening to the ambiance of rain on the roof top and the occasional running feet of our cats, I noticed that the cats can both run quickly and silently and quickly and heavily depending on their mood. The rapid, heavy footing is very much in triplet so I can imitate this sound precisely with my hands on the floor. With a not too gradual crescendo, this gives me great advantage in making the cats think there is a third cat approaching them from somewhere in the house. These sort of things amuse me.

Now that I’m taking a SSRI, I find Philip K. Dick’s use of a “Mood Box” in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep quite amusing. Did Dick see into the future where most Americans would be dialing down their moods with the use of prescription anti-depressants? From what I understand, this phenomenon wasn’t prevalent in the late 60s when he wrote the book. At least, from what I watched on Frontline, such regular medicating has become more common in just the recent past. What did people with such a strong affliction do before all of this? Self-medicate? End up in jail? It makes me wonder about the gradually improving pace of the mental status quo in society.

The girl who regularly cuts my hair brought up some conversation the other day that lead to what I was doing in High School. I mentioned that most of the time I was playing with one of the many groups at gigs, or at practice, or at shows. She asked why I didn’t do this anymore and I really didn’t have a good answer for her. Well, beyond my dislike of rock music that is (I’ve heard it all before). If I could, I’d still play in a jazz or world-music group. I do hope that someday I’ll start producing ambient and electronic stuff. The financial investment will be a large hump to get over though.

I completed a coding project recently that automates the setup of WebDav with SSL within Apache2. I wrote the whole thing in BASH so, it’s not exactly elegant. I plan on rewriting it in Perl and then releasing it as OpenSource. It’s pretty simple, and greatly simplifies the setup, modification and removal of multiple virtual domains and multiple users within those domains.

Speaking of code, I just read O’Reilly’s Wireless Hacks by Rob Flickenger. This is a great book containing some very usable information regarding wireless network protocols, monitoring, and hardware hacking. Some parts are more challenging than others, but over all, a great read if you ever wondered if you could manipulate the current technology for your own good (or the good of others). I think the sections on WEP are some of the finest I’ve read in a long time.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

iPhone SDK released

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:05:09 GMT

My wish list:

Load and read full eBooks (would beat the hell out of keeping them at the office)

Interface for LiveJournal/Wordpress

Blue Tooth remote capability for Open Source apps (control my home media console from my phone (myth tv))

Of course, cut and paste would be nice too

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Rav4

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:51:18 GMT

My Rav4 was in a hit and run recently when Elizabeth borrowed it and was staying overnight at a Friend’s house. She couldn’t exactly place at what point in time the car was hit. According to her it was because of the snow on the car. As you can see most of the damage was on the front drivers side of the vehicle.

http://princessleia.com/images/accident/

I just received the total estimate on what it will cost to get my car fixed: $2276.46 - we will owe the $500 deductible to the insurance company. I hope my plan’s rates do not rise due to this.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Discharged from physical therapy

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:45:24 GMT

I have completed physical therapy! My hip is is feeling so much better now. I am so glad the therapists were so professional and knowledgeable. I highly recommend Phoenixville Hospital’s PT Department at the Spring Valley YMCA over Nova Care. Of course, just because I was discharged from PT doesn’t mean that I will ever be through stretching and strengthening. I am now empowered with the methods on how to maintain and achieve these two. And of course, a working hip joint.

I am so happy spring is around the corner. We have had 60+ degree weather the past two days and it is just charging me up mentally and physically. I don’t think I can take the winter months anymore. I should move somewhere where the temperature is milder year round.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Expose on Earmarks

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:52:47 GMT

This is possibly the best investigative journalism on Earmarks I have ever watched:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/

If you have ever wondered about how Earmarks work, you should consider watching this short report.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

Eclipsed by events

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:15:51 GMT

Last night I was fortunate enough to be at Union Jack’s Inn on the Manatawny when the Lunar Eclipse was taking place. Standing outside with some of the patrons and staff, we watched as the Earth blocked the Sun and turned the Moon from white, to red, to blue on a crystal clear black sky. The moon’s surface resembled a marble. It was one of the most spectacular eclipses I have ever witnessed. I only wish I had access to a telescope.

Last weekend was eventful. Elizabeth threw a LAN party with her Ubuntu PA/NJ friends at the house. I assisted her in cleaning and moving the table and chairs from the garage attic into the house before people started to arrive. People began to arrive at about 2pm. I was doing some network setup around 3pm when her cell phone rang while she was in the other room. I answered it for her in case it was one of the guests lost and needing directions. It was one of the guests only, he wasn’t lost, he was in a severe accident on the Perkiomen bridge where routes 73 and 29 meet up. His car was being towed away so he asked me to pick him up so he could still attend the party.

I was surprised to find him exactly where he said he would be, in the middle of the bridge, which was shut down with two fire trucks and a police car. Fortunately no one was injured. Apparently he wasn’t paying close enough attention to the road where 73 West bound curves drastically. He was most likely driving too fast as well. He spun his car out as he was approaching the bridge hitting the car ahead of his and causing that car to hit the car in front of it. I should have taken a photo, but I was in disbelief that it all actually occurred.

The remainder of the party was fun. I made sure everyone was comfortable. The games played were very fun. However, I was surprised at the amount of alcohol present in the house for the amount of people there. The alcohol had an adverse effect on one of the guests that, at one point, went horizontal onto the floor after drinking large amounts of Jack Daniels and beer (Irish Car Bombs?). It wasn’t too long after this that he went into the bathroom. When I went to check on him the bathroom was a mess. He must have been violently ill and missed the toilet. I have never witnessed a person cover so much square footage in being sick. Displeased and worried, I handed him a mop and a bottle of bleach. He spent the next two hours cleaning. Sadly enough, he wasn’t able to clean the bathroom entirely, but was able to get the majority of it up.

I spent the remainder of the night making sure no one was planning on driving anywhere. It was a long night, but I was happy to be able to play host. The next day I spent the morning and afternoon cleaning and reorganizing the house. Here are some of the photos and video taken by me. (I’m in none of the photos).

http://gallery.meetlinux.com/main.php?g2_itemId=375

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-wa5ETsIpM

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

“Snippets store room. It’s where we keep the flange.”

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:11:26 GMT

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_8191424

Three companies indicted over tainted pet food cases

Good. Now how about some legislation that tells us origins of all ingredients?

How do you like that idea, ChemNutra? You jerks. Have fun in prison.

[snip]

The Saturday before the Super Bowl I woke up with with a bad cough and a fever. Sunday I watched the game from my bed as I consumed copious amounts of DayQuill. I ended up missing work Monday which got me off to a shaky start this month. I didn’t start feeling better until the following Sunday.

[snip]

I’m now taking a SSRI called Lexapro. My mood has been much better thanks to it. I’m able to listen to music again without sobbing, for one. That’s a nice thing. I also feel much more stable emotionally. The side effects are interesting. I get vivid dreams now. Before this I rarely remembered my dreams so this is a very different experience for me.

I’ve learned I shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help when I need it. I shouldn’t fear that I’m the only person that has ever went through this. I’m happy my Doctor took the time with me to talk and find out if Lexapro was my best option.

[snip]

My laptop wireless is no longer working. This is very inconvenient due to my current setup living away from the home office. I spent the morning speaking to HP support as he stepped through his troubleshooting scripts. It was a good thing I did my research before calling else he would have denied my service request due to this machine being out of warranty.

See, there is a known hardware related bug with the HP Pavilion dv6000 laptops (hpdv6140us) that we purchased for our company where the wireless ceases to function and the motherboard must be replaced. I’m sure this person I was talking to knew about this problem. HP put out this notice:

******************************************************************
URGENT SUPPORT NOTIFICATION FROM HP
******************************************************************

HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement

HP has extended the existing service enhancement program for
certain HP Pavilion dv6000, HP Pavilion dv9000 and Compaq Presario
V6000 series notebook PCs. You may be entitled to a free repair
based on recent changes to this program.

HP records show that you have registered one of these products.
If you do own one of these products, HP suggests that you visit
the web site below for additional details.

http://US-UrgentSupport.p08.com/u.d?sGoZb_mpdUPGAY=0

So they are sending me a box that will take the laptop to the service center where they will replace the motherboard and get everything working again.

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. Please comment here.

AM America from 1975 featuring Monty Python

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:56:43 GMT

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Good morning

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:29:30 GMT

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ASPCA Ad

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:49:11 GMT

Just saw this powerful ASPCA ad come on the television. Very difficult to watch. It had my choked up almost immediately.

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Atonement

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:37:29 GMT

Great movie. Excellent acting, screenplay and story.

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In general, just there.

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:32:50 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

Looking at the Star’s of the Lid My Space page and confirming it at The Gatherings News page, SOTL is scheduled to appear in Philadelphia on May 3rd 2008 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral on the Penn Campus. This saves me a trip (possibly) to see them at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, although, I might just go to see them there anyway. I could use a road trip at this point. Travel is good for the soul. I suppose that means traveling to see SOTL at Andy’s might be great for the soul.

Last week I had a problem with while doing some intense stretches during physical therapy. I ended up loosing all of the feeling from my right hip down to my right knee. It took a few days before the feeling started to return. There still is no feeling on the side of my right knee. Fortunately, I had a Doctor’s appointment scheduled in this time period and he all but confirmed that I was stretching the front hip and pulled a nerve. And to keep my eye on it.

Beyond that, I’m pushing myself more and more at the gym, going every day, trying to regain my full strength and endurance. I’m also living away from home at this point which is putting some other challenges into play, mostly scheduling wise with trying to get out to PT, yet be at work, yet live my life. I now live much closer to work and much further from home. This was necessary and hopefully only temporary.

I’m doing work now on some of my deeper issues for the first time. A friend of mine has introduced me to The Work of Byron Katie. I’m not a fan of self help books, audio media, etc. But in this case, Katie manages to demand attention from me with her four question process. It is taking much practice to get used to. I’ll be interested to view the results this time next year in my moods, how I handle situations, how I come to understand more about how I tend to think.

Oh, and I received the final invoice for my hip replacement. $62,000. On the bottom it stated that this amount may not cover the cost of the Surgeon fees. For people in other countries, we paid $175,000 for our three bedroom, 1/2 acre home in Schwenksville. I think that puts medical expenses into perspective rather well.

Finally, my Uncle sent me these photos he snapped at 5am on Tuesday morning from his property in Quakertown. His house borders an wooded estate near Nockamixon State Park with many cabins. One of the cabins caught fire and was shooting fire into the sky some 80 to 100 feet. He stated “Good thing the wind was not blowing”. If it was, that would have been a forest fire engulfing his house and even my Grandparent’s house.

It is windy today in Pennsylvania.

The Cure at the Spectrum in Philadelphia - 1989

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:04:07 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

It was 1989. I had just turned 14 in July. I was in my Freshman year at Cheltenham High School. I wouldn’t classify myself as a Goth as I was both on the Football and Track teams at the time as well as participating in High School band and orchestra. I did, however, love the dark sounds of the British Goth bands The Cure, Peter Murphy, and Sisters of Mercy. Not really a surprise if you know my current tastes in music. I just love the dark.

Life, on the other hand, was bright and interesting. I had spent the past two years in public Junior High ultimately recovering from the six years in Catholic Grammar School spent in Saint Luke’s in Glenside, PA. My first year in Junior High I made some incredible friends that had such real interest in life, living, sports, biking, music, partying, girls what have you. I was finally able to be a kid and happily did so. Such a wonderful and dramatic change in my quality of life.

At this point I had a friend named Colin. Colin and I had been friends for a few years now, lived sort of close to each other, and ultimately shared tastes in music. He even purchased me R.E.M.’s Green for my 13th Birthday. He also was very much into The Cure stemming mostly from his older sister’s tastes. At one point, his sister was kind enough to take Colin and I along to the TLA on South Street so that we could watch the film The Cure in Orange (France) on the big screen. At this point I was very into The Cure. Like a true musical intellectual, I studied much of Boris Williams’ drum chops from sheet music as well as learned the harmonies on the piano. I recall being very excited when my friend Colin told me his Mother was willing to take us to see The Cure at the Spectrum. I remember the night of the concert vividly.

It was my first concert. I was young and impressionable. But as far as concerts go, this was one unforgettable experience. They utilized high powered black lights like I had never seen before. The stage was set in almost a black lit fog as if they had somehow transformed the Philadelphia Spectrum into Sleepy Hollow or some Poe novel. All of the effects fit the music, and the music, the performance, and the sound simply blew me away. I had already memorized every track from Disintegration which they played most of live that night. It was truly an experience like no other. Not bad for my first concert.

And here’s the ticket stub to prove it.

It’s worn. I wish I had taken better care of it. Fortunately, I was able to reference this event through this site:

http://www.cure-concerts.de/concerts/1989-08-23.php

Yes, the Pixies opened for The Cure. I wasn’t ever a fan.

Back at the gym and back at work.

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:56:25 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

Getting back onto my regular schedule again feels very good. I went to the gym this morning as I normally would arriving at 5:30am and working out until 7:15, then sitting in the hot tub for a little, then hitting the sauna, then showering and heading into the office arriving at 8am. Of course, I didn’t plan this out too well as I didn’t have my keys to get into the office. So I just hung out at one of my client offices next door for a little while until the person who had my keys showed up.

I’ve lost a good amount of overall muscle strength in this past month. My normal routine was rather difficult to do this morning, but then I was expecting such. The great part is the fact that there is very little pain with regards to my joint while working out, although it is still a little uncomfortable still. At this stage, it is all muscle and lower right back pain as I relearn to walk properly.

Being back at the office is nice again. Knocking out small problems with greater ease and putting out fires. Especially seeing everyone again. They all think I look ’skinny’ at this point. I’m sure my lack of a beard has a lot to do with those impressions as well, although, I really have grown to like my clean face. I’m not planning on gaining any weight beyond 155lbs at this point. My goal is to stay in between 155-160 to reduce the wear on the joint. That means strict diets and lots of exercise from this point forward. A great trade off for living without extreme chronic pain if I do say so myself.

A walk in the park

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:34:26 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

We are at the end of a beautiful few days here in South Eastern Pennsylvania. Monday to Wednesday the highs were in mid sixties when just last week it was below freezing with wretched winds. I needed to clear my head and get my exercise for the day so I decided to go for a walk at Green Lane State Park near Deep Creek Lake.

It was quiet out and there were only a few people walking their dogs. I listened to some Stars of the Lid as I walked around the lake side. I saw a sign stating that Eagles were attempting to nest in a tree near Walt Lane. I have no idea where this was in relation to my vicinity, but it made me happy. It reminded me of the time Elizabeth and I went to Hawk Mountain in the Lehigh Valley and did some hiking. That was a good day.

Memories are something, aren’t they? I don’t know how but this walk lead to a memory of my Father. I was young, pre-teen and was working with him on a masonry job. My muscles were not fully developed yet as his were, and like most things in my life, it took me a while longer than normal people to learn how to. He said to me “If you think this work is hard you should make sure you use your brain and not your hands when you get older.” I took that to heart, as I took most of the advice to heart my parents gave me before they separated years later. I became an engineer. I think for a living.

Thinking for a living hasn’t resulted in the best outcome. Sometimes I envy my Father, who seems to know when to stop thinking and just live. Or perhaps I think too much? I’ve been known to do too much of things from time to time. But this time around I can’t stop thinking. And often the thoughts are painful.

This is going to be a tough year.

One Month since the hip replacement surgery

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:27:38 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

It has now been one Month since my surgery. Yesterday I went food shopping by myself, with out a cane, in my 5 speed Honda Civic. Granted, I was in a good amount of pain later that evening, but it was nothing that 4-8 Ibuprofen didn’t take care of. I’m finding the use of Ibuprofen to be very significant at this stage. My pain is mostly soreness in the muscle and in my lower back as I learn to walk properly again. There is some sharp pain in my right knee as well. I was sort of expecting all of this.

I’m hoping to receive a call from the Doctor’s office today sometime regarding the levels of blood thinner medication in my body. I’m hoping they are going to take me off of this medication today. That will leave me in a place to take only Iron tablets, a multivitamin, and Ibuprofen when necessary, which hopefully wont be too long of a time, and quite possibly only at night before bed. It would also give me the go ahead to get back to my green diet, which I am desperately missing at this stage. Having a Vitamin-K restriction on your diet when you eat like I do is not very fun.

Once this happens, I’m going to plan on heading into the office on a part time basis starting next week, which means, going to the local (to work) gym again at 5am. This is another thing I’ve desperately missed. I know I’m going to have to take my time getting back into my regular workout. I’m very excited to see what I can do with this new joint though in terms of elliptical machine times and the low-impact workout type. My upper body also misses weight lifting. The main reason I’ll be in part time is due to the commitment I have with outpatient physical therapy at the local (to the house) YMCA in which I have appointment scheduled at 11am Monday and Wednesday of each week.

I can’t wait to get back to a normal schedule, get back to the gym, and get my full strength back. I know the challenge after that will be getting the muscles stretched out for flexibility.

Recovery, Blade Runner, Linux on my Laptop, and Last.fm for Linux

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:34:09 GMT

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us. You can comment here or there.

I’m healing well. I felt strong enough to head to Physical Therapy at the YMCA the other day without my cane. I also arrived an hour too early and had to kill some time. I was planning on picking up my blood thinner medication refill on the way back from the “Y” so I just went over to Target and picked up it and a Starbucks Cafe Mocha and played with my iPhone for a half hour.

Today however, I am extremely weak and sore. My body is not happy with me for some reason. This, combined with other mental and emotional problems happening in the house are starting to wear on me a bit. This has been, and well… is one of the most challenging situations I’ve put myself through in a long time. Recovery is going well though. And I can’t ask for much more than that. A little at a time. I have to stay focused on that.

In my spare time while not doing work related duties from home I’ve been watching more of the Blade Runner Ultimate DVD collection. So far, my favorite portion is DVD 5, which contains an ultra rare version of the Blade Runner Work Print version of the film. But, what makes it are the extras. And wow. The Work Print has a commentary over the entire version by Paul M. Sammon, author of Future Noir: The making of Blade Runner. He reviews the Work Print much like professionals review Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, and rightfully so as this movie is the Citizen Kane of SciFi as far as I’m concerned. He covers this version in such great detail it is this reason alone why you should consider purchasing the set.

The other feature on this 5th disc is the Making of the Final Cut, which points out the tremendous amount of work performed to correct the many filming and continuity problems with the different releases. It’s very impressive how they used CG to enhance and get the scenes working better. And don’t worry, none of that George Lucas Jabba the Hut extra CG crap… the only reason I still own a VCR, so when I do want to watch Star Wars I have to break out my original Trilogy VHS set so I don’t get upset that he had to go and ruin a favorite few movies and end up turning it off…

Hate:(

Love:)

I’ve also been working on finding a way to get Linux back onto my laptop without having it interfere with my WinXP install. Obviously using a dual boot setup would work fine only, with the OEM install, installing into a single partition was not an option. The installer would repartition the entire disk no matter what I would do. Fortunately, Elizabeth turned me on to Ubuntu’s NTFS resize function. Granted, no matter what I do, no Debian nor Ubuntu release will ever run on this machine without a lot of work around on my part. So I simply downloaded the text based installer of Ubuntu, burnt it to disk, backed up my WinXP install, defragged (a few or more times), and resized my NTFS partition. I can happily say that Ubuntu’s gparted implementation successfully resized the 100G partition to 50/50. I was then able to install Gentoo 64-bit, or try to. I tried a few times to get AMD64 working, but ran into many strange build errors. I ended up sticking with 32-bit x86 optimized to the K8 processor spec. I’m happy to say I have a working Linux Laptop again.

Elizabeth also introduced me to Last.fm’s Linux based player, which is available in Portage and for Debian based distributions using apt:

* media-sound/lastfmplayer
Latest version available: 1.4.1.57486
Latest version installed: 1.4.1.57486
Size of files: 7,129 kB
Homepage: http://www.last.fm/help/player
Description: The player allows you to listen to last.fm radio streams
License: GPL-2

Very fun stuff. I know I’ll be spending some time in Last.fm’s player in the next few weeks.