Brainwaves of Sken

So, my throat is distractingly painful in that sharp way that is difficult to ignore, particularly when swallowing. Halls and hot cocoa have done little, so maybe an Aleve is just what I need. And, y’know, more than 6 hours of sleep.

Fortunately, I should be able to get it. I just found out that I have 4 and a half days I need to take off this year. That’s not including the 2 days off I’ve already reserved to go to Denver next week.

Which reminds me, is anyone interested in taking Lucy and I to the airport next Thursday, to arrive about 6pm? We really really really don’t want to pay to park for 5 days. If you want to hang out with me in the afternoon, I’d probably be amenable!

Back to the days off – I’m taking a half-day today, and I may take the entirety of next week off, too. That’ll at least give me a chance to get a few things done that I’ve been putting off.

EDIT: KT saves the day!

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Beh.

After 3+ years, my audio receiver died. I bought it about a day before Halo 2 came out. It gave me barely any trouble the entire time, with DVDs, Cds, radio and games, but one day, I went to turn it on, and it would click on… and off again.

Being persistent, I took it apart today, looking and smelling for anything toasty… nothing. I’m pretty sure the problem’s somewhere in the subwoofer element (where the power goes first before hitting the receiver itself), but even the fuse is looking fresh and new.

So that’s the end, I guess – I don’t have the tools or expertise to go through and test every component on the boards.

Fortunately, my DVD player/CD player has always been separate, so, I can still do things the traditional way – through the TV. At least, as long as the RCA-to-coax cable adapter doesn’t die.

:D

On the other hand, I spent the day working from home, spending some quality time with our new HD camera and the instruction manual. *geek geek*

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I’ve been following the Batman/Joker-based ARG off and on for awhile now, and thanks to a few people on my flist like thunderclap8, I was alerted to a countdown.

At the end of the countdown there were 6 addresses, one in St Clair Shores. Hell, I was about to go on lunch, it’d be tight but I could make it there in 30 minutes.

I busted my butt and got there just as a dude was getting in his car with a cake. I went in and asked for the cake for Robin Banks (get it?), and you guessed it, the other guy had it.

Well hey, fair and square, right? I go out and, after a minute, knock politely on his window. He looks up from digging in his cake and gives me the smuggest expression as he shakes his head. I can see a bag with a paper marked “EVIDENCE” in it, but little else around him. At some point I say, “Have a heart, man!”, but he ignores me.

Eventually he drives off.

What a bummer, that the guy wouldn’t even talk to me or show me what he’d found. I guess he must have thought I was going to steal his thunder. Or his cake.

EDIT: http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=13422536 <-- that's the cake. :)

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http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/03/atandt-to-hang-up-its-pay-phones/

AT&T — or whatever company it is that’s going by that name these days — has decided to pull the plug on its pay phone business, over 100 years after the first coin-operated model was installed in Chicago. Currently, the telecom giant owns and operates public telephones in 13 states.

With the number of pay phones having more than halved since 1998 — due in large part to BellSouth’s exit in 2001 — AT&T clearly thinks that the sidewalk stalwart is at the end of its shiny metal rope, although it will continue to provide related services until the dial tones go silent at the end of 2008.

While public reaction to the announcement has been mostly tepid so far, several groups have raised their voices in protest, most notably the Justice League of America, which calls the impending lack of changing stations “a national crisis.”

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It is so very nice to read an opinion piece (warning for the politically averse, it’s titled, “Who’s afraid of Barack Obama?”) where the author makes use of the web to actually link to his sources. Even when I don’t agree with every little assertion (perhaps especially then), it’s just refreshing to be able to actually follow a train of thought.

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My comments are in , but I’ll repost them here:

I feel like we customers are stuck in the revolving door of ownership that is LiveJournal. I look forward to reading someone’s accurate re-interpretation of these events.

As Sixapart’s financial terms remain confidential, we don’t have any idea whether they kept us long enough to make a profit, or decided we’re too much work, and dumped us.

Either way, frequent changes in ownership are rarely good, and I worry for the state of the web community I have been fervently loyal to for six and a half years.

I do hope that SUP and the new advisory board will do a better job of discussing policy changes (such as the recent controversial Adult Content default filter) that affect us intrinsically before effecting them.

I think that the owners of LiveJournal deserve to make a decent profit. I just hope our next owners show more loyalty to us wacky and quick-to-anger bloggers.

I hope you understand that while I feel my icon is appropriate in these circumstances… I’m still going to update my LJ archive ASAP.

(and later in that first post …)

Despite the risk of sounding like an unrealistic idealist, I think Brad and the original LJ staff have spoiled us for traditional corporation-consumer relationships.

We are not blogspot customers, for instance, and have much different expectations. We’re used to decisions being vetted with us. You know … like a credit union.

I don’t think Livejournal will ever be user-owned unless we prove too unruly for anyone to keep, but I think that’s the only way we’ll ever be satisfied, at this point.

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Alex: this is pretty nifty!
Alex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNEOI7bYl3c
Alex: (human exoskeleton)

Me: I’ll be excited when they perfect power-assisted jumping like in Starship Troopers (the book) :)
Alex: hehehe, indeed!
Alex: for now, that guy needs to watch out for his “tail” (power cord)
Alex: not as effective if he has to be plugged in
Me: That’s the other thing, helloooo nuclear power pack! I suppose you could use fuel cells instead, but where’s the fun in that?
Alex: fusion cells ‘R us!
My apologies to those of you who have me 4 times in a row on your LJ list

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From Miscellaneous

The awesome and inimitable blue_lucy turns 26 today. She is also celebrating her current states of having a 4.0 in all but one of her vet school classes, woo! I’m so proud of her.

If you see her, feel free to compliment her on her flawless denture work, and on how her arthritis barely slows her down these days, particularly now that she’s drinking Ensure.

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The second article isn’t yet out – it’s in AutoNews, and the title is, “7,500-mile oil change is becoming the norm”.

It notes 40 brands that suggest 6,000 miles or more between oil changes, some (like aston martin and porsche) suggesting 10k-12k or every year (in normal driving conditions). Some cars, like Saab, Saturn and BMW, have software to tell you your engine oil’s life and when to change it, and the factories that use such monitors say intervals of 8k to 10k are typical.

Not many people read the manual for their vehicle. I read mine, but I’d forgotten that Mazda recommends 7,500 miles in between oil changes. I think that’s mostly the guilt factor – you go to an oil change shop and they put that little sticker on your car for 3,000 miles, and so you dwell on it even as you find you don’t have time to do it on time.

Personally, I drive up to 3,000 miles in one month. I drive 1,000 miles every month just going to work (barring trips that fly me out of town), and monthly oil changes are just not practical when I still haven’t found an oil change shop I trust. Well, now I don’t have to feel quite so guilty.

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