Clear channel

Amazing. I'm driving through South Bend, (yes, right now) and the two AM stations I can pick up are in Des Moines and somewhere in Tennessee.

Update: the Tennessee station was in Nashville, and by the time I got to Shipshewana, I had also picked up a station from the Quad Cities (Wisconsin and Minnesota).

Non.political post of the day

The two most important women in my life.

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Car Wash

Me and my shopping buddy.

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Woo hoo!

Now that's the kind of gas price I can live with.

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Future customer service?

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Non-church church picnic

Joined some friends for a barbecue with a bunch of people from the church we don't go to anymore. Kinda strange. Nice to see old friends and see how big everyone's kids are, but still kinda wierd. Trish looked nice with her Grand Canyon jewelry, though.

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Tornado

Here we are in the basement waiting for a large storm to pass. Weather channel on the wireless as long as the cable stays up.

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Drained

Went to the doctor. He decided to drain both feet, big relief. However, Trish and I weren't impressed with much else. I saw the Dad of the practice, and he was a little too old school for us. Not very sanitary, quick to cut without explaining. We think we're back in the market for b family doc.

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Emma's haircut

This just in. It's off her neck, but still long enough for a ponytail.

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Progress!

I haven't been idle. That Work Thing keeps intruding, but I have actually made some progress on my list:

• Install Bacula on Progeny, configure it to backup Tricia's machine and the other servers on schedule. (Installed, not configured)
• Pull all my O'Reilly books together on one shelf, take a picture, bragblog about it. (organized, just need a picture)
• Get the Saturn into the dealership and have them reset my radio. (Locked out after a jump start.) (Done)
• Call T-Mobile and see what deals they can offer me to switch. (Left message, they haven't called me back)
• Call Verizon Wireless and see what deals they can offer me to stay. (They can't offer me bluetooth sync to my laptop: points off for that!)
• Move the script backing up my Bugzilla site from Athos back to Progeny. (Done)
• Get some lumber and start putting walls in my basement. (Starting to get a plan)
• Rearrange my office so the servers are outside the curtain to cut down noise on phone calls. (Nope, but moved the noisy switch to where it's farther from my phone)
• Buy a new battery for the digital camera so Trish can use it to take more pictures. (Trish did this)
• Get a newish computer to run Unix and X-windows the way they were meant to be run. (May have a line on some old servers from work)
• Figure out why my "sitemonitor" script notifies me about a particular site every night, even though I had programmed it to ignore that change. (Solved it by just not monitoring the site anymore)
• Exchange the fullscreen Indiana Jones DVD set I received for Christmas for the widescreen edition (thanks, Mom). (Trish took care of it)
• Get back with the Lindens to update the TongShan site I helped them set up. (Talked, but they had to go adopt yet another!)
• Write the Great American Application, make millions, retire early. (Still in progress!)

Things I've been meaning to do

Now presenting a random list of things which have been cluttering up my mental "todo" list.

• Install Bacula on Progeny, configure it to backup Tricia's machine and the other servers on schedule.
• Find a quiet time for reading the Bible and praying.
• Pull all my O'Reilly books together on one shelf, take a picture, bragblog about it.
• Get the Saturn into the dealership and have them reset my radio. (Locked out after a jump start.)
• Buy the bike Ethan "gave" me on my birthday in 2003 (2002?), go riding with the kids.
• Call T-Mobile and see what deals they can offer me to switch.
• Call Verizon Wireless and see what deals they can offer me to stay.
• Move the script backing up my Bugzilla site from Athos back to Progeny.
• Get some lumber and start putting walls in my basement.
• Rearrange my office so the servers are outside the curtain to cut down noise on phone calls.
• For that matter, just cleaning up my office would be really nice.
• Redesign my website, using Drupal to manage content and setting myself free from FrontPage.
• Buy a new battery for the digital camera so Trish can use it to take more pictures.
• Get a newish computer to run Unix and X-windows the way they were meant to be run.
• Release a new version of Customer Service Alerts on my own time, since I can't seem to find time at work to get it done.
• Get over to Victory Christian Academy and see if some of the less pleasant popups can be blocked.
• Figure out why my "sitemonitor" script notifies me about a particular site every night, even though I had programmed it to ignore that change.
• Exchange the fullscreen Indiana Jones DVD set I received for Christmas for the widescreen edition (thanks, Mom).
• Migrate my Bugzilla install to the new server purchased two months ago for that purpose.
• Inventory the various unused computers in my basement and get rid of the ones I have no use for. (I mean really, how many 200Mhz PC's can one person use?) I guess I could work up a simple install image and set up my whole family up with FreeBSD firewalls. Gotta be low-maintenance, though, otherwise I'll never see my family again.
• Get to the doctor and see about this finger that's been giving me trouble.
• Configure Tricia's old computer as a games (ahem, "educational software") computer for the kids; find a good home for it where they can play supervised. Hmm, maybe the landing?
• Get to a different doctor and get screened for adult ADD (which, if it comes back positive, could explain much of this list).
• Write the Great American Application, make millions, retire early.
• Get back with the Lindens to update the TongShan site I helped them set up. (Guess I won't be done with FrontPage very soon.)