Reality Me

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  • Michael Berg…man of principle!

    Michael Berg sums it up.

    BERG: Well, you know, I’m not saying Saddam Hussein was a good man, but he’s no worse than George Bush. Saddam Hussein didn’t pull the trigger, didn’t commit the rapes. Neither did George Bush. But both men are responsible for them under their reigns of terror.

    I don’t buy that. Iraq did not have al Qaeda in it. Al Qaeda supposedly killed my son.

    Under Saddam Hussein, no al Qaeda. Under George Bush, al Qaeda.

    Under Saddam Hussein, relative stability. Under George Bush, instability.

    Under Saddam Hussein, about 30,000 deaths a year. Under George Bush, about 60,000 deaths a year. I don’t get it. Why is it better to have George Bush the king of Iraq rather than Saddam Hussein?

    [Source]

  • Let’s track a typical day

    Continuing…

    2:00-3:45pm: Trying to get drivers to work on the client computer. All working except the most crucial…the network card.

    3:45-4:30pm: Noah to karate and family affairs.

    Continuing with NIC troubleshooting…

  • The Realtek 8201CL does not require a driver!

    If you are using a motherboard with a built-in network adapter (like the Realtek 8201CL found on the MSI PM8M-V which is a Via P4M800) you don’t need to be looking for a driver for the 8201CL. Instead you need to look for the driver for the MAC chip embedded in the chipset. Ie. See your motherboard manufacturer specs and download area.


    The Ethernet hardware consists of two parts: a PHY chip, and a MAC chip. It’s the MAC chip that requires the drivers. RTL8201x is a PHY only chip which does NOT need any driver at all. If you have RTL8201x in your computer system, there must be another MAC chip in the system too. Most likely, the MAC chip is embedded in the chipset. Please contact the board or computer provider to find out which MAC chip is in your system and how to get the drivers for it.

    In my case the drivers needed to be for Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC.

  • That’ll make you famous

    I wish I had drank less alcohol in college. I bet she does too.

  • Let’s track a typical day

    continuing…

    10am-2pm: Some blogging and time wasting in here. A bunch of time was spent trying to get the drivers for the Windows 2000 professional client machine working. The networking driver and vga driver are still not working. Had some lunch. Visited briefly with the kids to straight and focus them on making dominoe races.

    Need to get focused again…

  • Near miss causes much Internet chatter

    A soldier in his apartment near his station was nearly shot by another soldier in the ajoining apartment. He was saved only by a little press board deflecting the bullet. He took pictures. Told his story. And received enough Internet fame to raise his blood pressure.

  • Two party system dying?

    Oh yes. We hear it daily. Left! Right! No left! Way right! The words lip off people’s tongues like insults, "Democrat!" and repulsions, "Republican!" Some people do not totally agree with either party but choose one as the lessor evil. Will anything break the two party system? The Pirate Party thinks they will break the two party system! (or maybe it will be Neoroots.)

    America’s two political parties may not realise it yet, but in their current form they are nearing obsolescence. As technological advancements continue to bring more and better tools for communication, citizens are increasingly empowered to come together in common purpose and reject the current political system that seems designed by the two parties to keep us apart.

    [Source] (see also) (and democracy isn’t dying, democrats are)

    Note: To read The Pirate Party, you will have to hold down your mouse and highlight the white box.

  • Sync your browser settings

    Do you leap between computers? A bookmark in Firefox one day at work and a bookmark the next day on the wife’s computer? Remember being at a website but don’t know which computer you were using? Google introduces another tool. Google’s Browser Sync ends your frustrations by keeping all browser information between multiple computers the same. It even claims to remember your open tabs!

    Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

    Give into Google. Resistence is futile!


  • Messing with your eyes

    Take a look at this picture. Stare at the dot for 30 seconds then put your mouse over the picture. Is the picture in color or black and white?

  • Let’s track a typical day.

    Continuing…

    9am-10am: More changes to client’s web application. Syncing updates from my dev server to client’s dev server for client review. Much more to be done but significant milestone achieved.

    Next: Identify motherboard on client computer and locate drivers for video, netcard and two others.

  • Let’s track a typical day.

    Continuing…

    8am-9am: Overextended "me time" and created a blog for Tommy. Unlike Asperger Teen which is done by the parents, Tommy’s blog will be his own writing. Some of this time was spent trying to get the clients’ Windows 2000 box working correctly. The network card driver, video card driver and two others aren’t working.

    Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming…

  • The monkey on my back

    If I worked in an office, I think I’d have to wear this Yoda backpack. Thanks to Single Dads for the link!

    I can see an office dialog going like this: "Him? You aren’t really seeing him. He’s a figment of my imagination."

  • Let’s track a typical day.

    Updated. The fact checker woke.

    Thus far:

    I overslept and woke at 4:305am. 4:30-55-5:30am was my freshening up time and making coffee. I’ve severely cut down on my coffee intake, going with no coffee days on end, since caffiene seems to aggrivate the BPV. Today I needed coffee.

    5am-7:30am I avoid distractions and focus on programming a client’s web application. With web apps, so much can go on behind the scenes that the client can begin to think the developer isn’t working at all. Today is about producing visible results. I do some multitasking and during this time I also get Windows 2000 Professional installed on a client’s machine. I was having much difficulty because I couldn’t get the harddrive formated as the keyboard kept locking up on boot. Last night Evan crawls over and starts pushing buttons and stomping on the keyboard and I’ll be darned if he didn’t get the formatting software working in a couple minutes when I’d been trying for hours! The one year old is a computer prodigy!!

    7:30-8 is some me time. Regrouping. Quick bite to eat and getting back to work.

  • wrong path

  • Let me off this ride!

    A day or two ago it hit me. BPV! Benign Positional Vertigo for me comes on with extreme stress. It’s strange. I feel woozy. The room spins and I have trouble standing. Nothing I can do helps. I just have to wait until it subsides then try really hard to minimize my head movements. Granted, I could get some 25mg meclizine pills but I can’t afford the sleep right now.

    Age: BPPV seem to have a predilection for the older population, with the average age of onset 51 years. It is rarely seen in persons younger than 35 years without a history of antecedent head trauma.

    I wonder what head trauma I’ve had.

    One of the most common causes of BPPV is head trauma. Although the true mechanisms are not exactly certain, the concussive forces presumably cause particles that reside in the vestibule to become displaced to the canal. Other factors that predispose individuals to BPPV include inactivity, acute alcoholism, major surgery, and CNS disease.

    Oh. Thanks college!

    Once treated, BPPV recurrence rate is between 5% and 15%.

    Treated? I wonder if they mean canalith repositioning procedure (CRP). I suppose my chiropractor could do that.