Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Fourth Prep
July 02, 2004

Berta took off work today because of some paperwork issue at Abby’s school. Apparently, they lost her medical forms and won’t be allowed back at school until they’re replaced. Berta contacted the doctor on Monday, but it takes 5 days to produce the report (yeah, right) so Abby’s off school today.

I didn’t ask her what she intended to do while they were home, though I noticed that the terracotta pots for the catnip were on the kitchen table, as well as Abby’s Midnight Circus t-shirt. I assume they’re going to paint the pots today. Berta suggested that they might meet us for lunch.

Brace yourself
July 01, 2004

Apparently I’m not the only one with brace issues, but now they’ve come back to bite me.

A while ago I was showing Berta some code I had written. I forget what it was. Anyway, she commented as she had int he past that she didn’t like my style of indentation and brace use. Some will be surprised/enlightened to find out that this is one of the few things that Berta and I ever argue about. Anyway, she was convinced that her way was good, and I liked my way and that was that. Well, in a sudden urge to get myself in line with what seemed like the rest of the world (for no particular reason… ahem), I decided to switch everything over to the way that Berta did it, and now I’m thinking to regret it.

Tempt not my wrath
July 01, 2004

Some guy identified only by the name “Sam” left a comment about my post, “Kurt Cobain Death Day”. I figured that this was a good time to point out a couple of facts regarding my comment system here at Asymptomatic.

First, every comment you make comes to me in email (provided the system doesn’t tag it as spam). So usually I know instantly when the comment has been posted, and I have a perfect copy of your original, along with the IP address from which you submitted it. I get the IP regardless of whether you leave your name or email address.

Wireless Ethernet Bridge
July 01, 2004

I got myself a new wireless ethernet bridge from Linksys (via Amazon using my Paypal-linked Mastercard - Ah, the wonders of technology) and hooked it to the XBox. Now I can watch video files over the network using XBMC without having to turn on the basement lights (thus powering the network hub that lies dormant in the basement). Now if I could just remember where I put those episodes of Keen Eddie…

I played a little DOA3 last night. It was good enough. Playing with the regular controller takes a little getting used to. Speaking of which:

Lightning Bugs
June 30, 2004
We went out tonight to Chuck E Cheese because I promised Abby that she would be allowed to climb around in tunnels at home after I wouldn't let her do so at the Spy Museum. When we came back, we hunted fireflies in the front yard.

It occurred to me with some new camera skills that I’m aquiring that I could capture the lightning bugs on “film”, and so I set up the camera on an empty Amazon box (where the heck is my tripod?) and pointed it toward the neighbor’s yard. The exposure time was 8-10 seconds and the F setting was 8, whatever that means.

Anyway, the streaks of yellow you see in the pictures are the bugs. I’m not sure to where the junebug is indiginous, but I suppose that they’re a pretty odd sight if you don’t have them locally. Basically, the bugs blink yellow light every few seconds. The bugs are very friendly, and you can get them to land on you quite easily, which is what Berta and Abby were doing behind me as the camera ticked through these photos.