17:53EST-TUE-7/31/2001
- Well I spent another two hundred dollars on my aquarium today. I went in with the sole intention of getting a couple more pieces of live rock to help balance out the ecosystem in the tank. I forgot to do a water change for something like two months and my fish were not happy. My rock crab died (mixed blessing) and all the cute little feather dusters on the rocks had dissapeared. I guess they died too. I did a water change and was shocked to find 40ppm of Nitrate. Not the best of conditions. At least my Nitride levels were acceptable. I re-tuned my protien skimmer and did another water change. Things should be groovy again soon. Anyway, the trip to the store was productive in a number of ways. On Sunday I went in there and shocked the guy with a rather simple order. 'Give me all the fish in this tank with blue on them'. I was feeling frisky. Today I bought another four fish and a butt-load of rock. I think my tank is done for a while. It is nice and busy again and as soon as the new additions get a bit larger the older Damsels will stop picking on them quite as much. Salt water aquariums are so much more interesting than fresh water tanks (imho). Too bad they are a pain in the ass to maintain. Still, for the almost two grand I've put into it thus far I think it is entirely worth it. Even the kitten (DotNet) is starting to enjoy the tank. Good thing she is deathly afraid of water. You know how kittens like to play with your fingers and play bite and claw your hand? I'm starting to get more scars on my hand from playing with her. It's really fun and I love her to death but she is no longer a kitten and she does not realize that she is stronger. She can bite pretty darned hard now and can dig her claws into the flesh pretty deep now. So deep that I can lift my hand and the whole cat comes with it. Attempts to pry her off tend to hurt more than the latching on so I just walk into the kitchen and wash the cat off my hand. She hates it, but she's starting to learn when to quit. Now if we can only teach her not to keep tipping over the ash trays...
19:39EST-MON-7/30/2001
- I have mixed emotions about the LAN party yesterday. I had a lot of fun playing games and setting up the network but I brought my server from home this time to have a machine dedicated to running the games. Unfortunately, the computer had problems with explorer.exe and I couldn't get it to access any of the drives. Suck. I decided I might as well just format and reinstall the OS. A real shame since it had served me so well up to that day. I booted into DOS and typed the familiar format c: command. When I booted back up to try to begin the installation, it just booted up normally. Odd, since C: was supposed to be wiped clean. I quickly checked the computer and found D: had been wiped instead. Fuck-o! That was my A-K MP3 drive. The end result was losing 35 gigabytes of MP3s from every artist that began with A through K. Do you know how long it took to rip all of our CDs? Months! Spare time and the patience to shuffle CDs never seem to go hand in hand. Whenever I have the spare time, I want to use my computer to do other stuff like surf the web or maybe even game. Not to mention the initial reason for backing up all of our CDs is the obscene ammount of scratches or the ability to lose them in a very small space of time. Luckily, Patrick has volunteered to begin helping reload all these files. I will be buying an 80gb hard drive to mirror what is left as soon as I get another paycheck and/or suspect the market has hit a new low in prices on such a large drive. Luckily, we still have the larget half of the MP3 collection left and all the pr0n. Lucky us. I can just imagine us sitting on the streets with tin cups begging for MP3 donations.
18:45EST-TUE-7/24/2001
- LAN PARTY! After a brief chat with a couple other LAN gamers (LAmers for short, heh heh heh) we all agreed that we wanted to do that again as soon as possible. They wanted to do it tomorrow but some of us have to work for our RAM and I opted for a weekend option. This Sunday in fact. Same drill as last time (B.Y.O.S) and all that. If we can find a couple of folding tables, that would rule too because we are rapidly running out of stuff to jury rig them. Stability would be nice too. Speaking of stability, I got the new video card this morning. I knew the UPS man would come at around 11am and I would never hear it in the back of the house so I tried to sleep on the couch. Tried. I got to watch DotNet play with all the trash on the floor and eventually gave up sleep in favor of old movies on TMC. Really really old movies. Most were black and white. I lucked into one about scuba diving that was in color. It was horrible. I woke up later to the sound of the UPS guy tapping very quietly on the front door and running away after leaving a small box on the porch. Luckily it was my new video card and not a bomb. I went back to sleep. I woke up later and found that the new video card was very nice and shiney but did me about as much good as installing a bomb in my computer. It destroyed Unreal Tournament. Bastardo. There are some pretty nice features on the card though which I will have to check out some day. Tonight I format and reinstall the OS again. It's the last thing left to try. Now all I have to do is find my copy of Millenium again. That might be difficult. Last I saw, Patrick was running around with it. That means it has thirty new scratches on it. Also, my small collection of Win98 CDs were missing as well. I really like Whistler and all, but I do not want to give up my DOS support (because Masters of Magic is such a cool game!). I guess I might as well refurbish one of the many old P1s we have laying about the house. Actually, now I'm kinda excited about the idea. Dammit. This means I -definitely- need a KVM switch. Either that or I break down and finally get another monitor and replace the weak ass one I'm using for the server. My poor server gets no love, just tons and tons of MP3s and pr0n.
21:48EST-MON-7/23/2001
- Wow, this Saturday we had another LAN party and it went pretty darned well. Everyone claims to have had tons of fun, even Wulf who had to leave when he realized he was supposed to be at work. Oops! I'd like to get another one together as soon as possible. At a few points my computer started to show its age. It was still powerful enough to be the server for all the games but still, the graphics card wasn't holding up too well. I decided that it was time to retire my beloved VooDoo3 3000. That card has served me well for years now and I sadly lay it down to rest. Best $150 I spent in a long time. It will be superceeded by a GeForce2 Ultra card that I picked up for just over two hundred bucks. Not too shabby. Hopefully it will arrive soon. Hopefully. Next day air seems to be pretty slow. At least it should be here by the next LAN party. Speaking of which, I really need to figure out when that will be. I guess I need to get some input from the rest of the monkeys on any potential bad days. That always seems to be the best method.
20:42EST-THU-7/19/2001
- Why is it that Sinfest used to rock but now is just pretty lame? Maybe it's just me. See for yourself. Check out the first handful of comics and then read the latest ones. It appears to be going the same way as The Family Circus.
22:18EST-WED-7/18/2001
- You guys are weird. The latest poll about the wild date is largely in favor of Mr. Roper. What is wrong with Catwoman or Batwoman? At least some people (mostly me) have voted for Catwoman. Sheesh. I guess I have to pick stranger surveys.
2:42EST-WED-7/18/2001
- HEY! LAN party at our house this weekend. Tons of fun. Well, maybe we'll have it at Tater's house again, but it will still be tons of fun. And not quite as hot as our house. Bring a jacket. Saturday. Early afternoon. BYOC. What games will we be playing? What ever the hell people wanna play. Don't forget to bring your own NICs and a patch cable. We'll bring the rest. Be there as close to noon as you can.
1:41EST-WED-7/18/2001
- Destroyed. Demolished. Smashed to bits and utterly decimated. At least heavily dented. Not my car, but instead my dreams for my car. I wanted to turn my lovely '95 Celica into a fierce GT-Four but I found out that my body style is all wrong for it and I would have to do some serious rewelding and moving of parts. Like the gas tank. I'll pass. Now I have to figure out what to do with my money. Motorcycle perhaps. I have such a hard on for a Ducati. Either that or I'll buy a new project car and soup it up. Plus, I'll have a chance to install a new stereo and stuff. That's going to be a few grand for sure. At least three dozen. Maybe four. I'll have to wait until I have a better job. Probably better to get the Ducati.
18:22EST-FRI-7/13/2001
- Lucky me, I managed to get a copy of GT3 yesterday. Played it all day, in fact. It is everything I ever hoped for and less! The graphics are stunning and at times look just like something you would see on ESPN (except the camera work is better) but the game progresses VERY slowly as money is very hard to come by in this game. The tracks are a lot harder, the cars drive a lot more realistically. The sounds are fantastic and really make hitting other drivers a rewarding audible experience. Plus, if you fuck with them, they will fuck with you back. I found that out the hard way. :) Unfortunately, unlike GT and GT2, you can not pull in saved games from older games. I have tons of stuff for GT2, but GT3 will not even recognize the data. Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with the Corolla for now. I also picked up the really cool looking and very expensive force feedback steering wheel. It works great in the turns but leaves a lot to be desired in the straights as it tends to let the rear end wobble a bit. Too much for my taste. It's going back to the store tomorrow.
4:58EST-WED-7/11/2001
- I went to Wal-Mart tonight around midnight hoping that maybe they had gotten ahold of their first shipment of Gran Turismo 3. I guess not because as soon as I walked up with that gleam in my eye some old woman who was working there at the time just looked at me and said 'If you are going to ask about Gran Turismo, we don't have it yet. Was that what you were going to ask?' The smile melted from my face and I walked away heartbroken. I hate being impatient. Oh yeah, if you are a fan of the MP3 movement, you might find the collection we ripped from various CDs we got our hands on (mostly ours) and the occasional upload from a friend. To see the full list, click here and be prepared to wait for a while.
23:03EST-MON-7/9/2001
- As a devout follower of Murphy, I should have known better. Things turned to shit. I warn all ye who wish to brag about having a great day. Smile and deal with it because everyone else will vex you and that's bad, m'kay?
19:02EST-MON-7/9/2001
- I am so fargin' happy! I don't get it. Why? Oh well, I guess it's best not to question my luck. Especially being a devout follower of Murphy's Law. Here I am talking about what a great day I am having and all the good times I had this weekend, and next thing I know my car will be stolen and all my fish will die. That would suck. Update, in the time it took me to write this much, I had to deal with an angry caller. Perhaps I should shut up now before my car gets stolen. Oh, by the way, thank you again Regina for bestowing all of your leftover booze on us. It went to a great party!
17:44EST-THU-7/5/2001
- I realized one day that I am a textbook example of a fundamentalist. I tend to think that everything is more fun if there are more of your friends involved. A good example is going to the movies with a group of pals. We went to see Scary Movie 2 and personally felt that I would have been upset at paying six dollars to see it if I did not have four friends there to see it with. Actually, it cost closer to $30 after buying tickets and snacks for Zak and Lucas too but they bought fireworks so it's ok. We burned through probably fifty dollars worth of our stuff and then still managed to see the show in Oak Ridge. After that, we sped on to Barleys and suffered through some really really loud blue-grass band just so we could enjoy some drinks and Calzones. It can't rain all the time.
5:09EST-WED-7/4/2001
- Everyone has heard of heavy metal bands selling their souls to Satan for their fortune and fame. Lucas and I were just watching TV and were beset upon by an advertisement for a dual CD set of Christian music. They show several scenes from concerts with thousands of people. I bet they are pretty famous too, eh? Wouldn't that be just like Satan to twist a verbal contract around like that so a band who sells their soul to be rich and famous are condemned to performing Christian folk music? I'll bet they hate their fan club too.
0:29EST-TUE-7/3/2001
- I woke up this afternoon and was dissapointed that I did not have any email waiting for me to enjoy. Damn. I could not think of anything online that I really needed to do so I fed my fish and proceeded to play with the kitten while checking to see if TV still sucks as bad as I remember. It does. There was a lawyer show on from whoever was in the living room before me and since I had a kitten firmly attatched to my hand with tooth and nail, I could not change the channel. I tried for the next twenty minutes to pry the fuzzy beast off of my extremeties and wound up getting drawn into the show. I hate it when that happens. That is a sign of the brain shutting down and I had just woken up. Too early in the day to go without a brain. Or a right-hand. An old lady had written a will where she was giving millions of dollars and stuff to a televangelist and her kids were trying to sue her or something. Not very nice at all. By the end of the show, it turns out that she was doing it out of spite since her kids never talked to her or visited or anything like that and just let her be lonely and miserable. I bet she didn't have any email when she woke up either. The kitten is deathly affraid of the shower so I used that to get it off my hand and called my Oma. Oma is a german word for Grandmother, if you did not already know. We talked for a while about all sorts of crazy things. I am closer to her than I am my father, but I have seen him already this year whereas I hadn't talked to her in what seems like forever. I'll have to remember to do that more often. I'm sure she appreciates it when I call her and do not have to ask for money. That is probably why she never encouraged me to go back to college. I think I'll try to figure out what state my other grandmother is in these days and call her tomorrow.
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