My computer R pretty. This R a pretty everyone can use, and it even makes U more productive.

This is because Ubuntu R awesome, and Microsoft can'ts has me bucket.

Had a conversation with my boss today. We talked airplanes.

Specifically, we talked about the ban on the use of cellphones on airplanes. I took a moment to rant about how it's silly, because the strong transmitters are in the towers, not the phones. If you can get signal, then the plane is already suffering all the "interference" it's going to suffer.

He thought about this a moment, then told me to write a letter to the FAA, from him, asking for a detailed technical explanation as to why he can't use his cellphone while taxing a runway. I said "yes sir, I'll get right on it". I even managed to hide my grin.

So now I'm demanding explanations from the FAA, care of the Congress of the United States.

I love my job.

Cannonical released Ubuntu 8.4 on Thursday. This makes me extremely happy. The new Ubuntu features Compiz Fusion as part of it's default configuration. Compiz Fusion is a graphics package for the user interface that takes advantage of modern graphics cards. Why, in an era of insane photo-simulation in video games, are we not using this tech for something productive? Like the better (and prettier) management of our workflows?

Compiz shows what happens when you solve the problem instead of asking the question. My windows are floating in space on a giant translucent cube. It's easier to use, and awesome at the same time. My OS makes me giggle.

I had Compiz running in Ubuntu 7.4, but I had to hack it together from bits and pieces. As a result, my OS broke when I tried to upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10 (Ubuntu releases happen every 6 months, and are labeled by the month of release). I've been hobbling along ever since, and now I finally have my OS back. I only had to install two packages (pre-prepared Linux programs) to get everything running. First, I needed the control pannel for my Nvidia drivers (multimonitors for the win), then I needed the control panel for the Compiz advanced features. That was it. It's working, effectively, out of the box. No hacking at all.

Oh Linux, I've missed you.

I'm giving up on finishing the scene-by-scene posting. I can't seem to keep it running, even when I HAVE all the scenes finished. If you'd like to read rest of the draft, just drop me a line. My life is a little too full to tend the project at the level I've been trying to tend it. Sorry about the delay between dropping updates and posting this.

I had a lovely perambulation with samurailuci this evening. It put me an a thoughtful mood. ( I wound up thinking of this. )

My office's Press Secretary is leaving today. This is his last day at work before he goes off to greener pastures. At his office party, from whence I just returned, I learned that he's turning 27 next week. Do you know who else is turning 27 soon? Me. I'll be 27 in May.

Until today, I assumed that my coworker/pseudoboss was older than me. He had to be in his 30s, I'd assumed. I assumed this for one simple reason: He had authority over my position at work. People who have authority over me have always been older than me.

This is the basic definition of a cognitive dissonance. There's a difference between what my heart knows and what my head knows. In my head, I have no ridiculous barriers about age and position. It's not how old you are, it's what you can do, and (frequently) who you know. In my heart however, this is not the case. I know that age makes no difference, but I still ~feel~ that everyone 'above' me must be older.

As he declared his age over his early birthday-cupcakes, I came to a quiet and weird realization: Most of the people I work with are my age. I scanned the room, taking in the faces of the people I see every day, noting who's age I knew, and who's I could guess. Some of them are younger than me, my boss is older, my boss's boss is older, everyone else is basically my age.

I'm no longer working in an environment where everyone has an extra decade of experience. I'm not faking maturity to blend in, I'm as mature as these people, and they're my peers.

It's kinda strange.

For those curious to revisit my half-built story, we'll be picking up where we left off. Following this post, the remaining posts will be filtered. You'll need to log in to see them, and you'll need to be in my Writing filter. If you'd rather be in/out of the filter, just put a comment on any of my entries.

If you want the full version instead of a synopsis, it's available under the Mythica tag in my LJ. A more convenient full-length recap will be available shortly.

Story thus far: ( behind cut, to save you from vast wall-o-text )

Around 9:30 on Thursday, amidst a number of more-important happenings, I finished writing Mythica. Technically, this is self-aggrandizement, I finished the first draft of Mythica, but I'll take what I can get.

So what now? I'll be taking a vacation from writing, that much is sure. The draft needs serious editing, but I'm too close to the material to contribute. So it's finally time to catch up with my backlogged reading list. A few dozen books should flush my own voice out of my head quite nicely. Then I'll be able to revisit what I've written from a fresh perspective.

You all won't have to wait though. I'll resume zero draft postings shortly. I eagerly await having my glaring mistakes pointed out to me.

This being the internet, you've doubtless already heard. I'll not trouble you with his personal history, or with explaining why he's so important to gaming others have said it better. Nor will I try to explain how I feel about it that's been done too.

In 6th grade, I visited my local library and sheepishly asked the man at the counter if they had any books on D&D. The librarian helpfully informed me that they didn't. They used to, "this stuff was huge about ten years ago", but most of those books had been lost, or sold, or to damaged to circulate. I was crestfallen, and the librarian helpfully ran an interlibrary search (This was in an era before you could check your state library circulation online). He turned up one book: Role-Playing Mastery, by Gary Gygax. He put it on order, and I marched back two weeks later to pick it up.

I read it, in the library, before even checking it out. Then I checked it out, and read it again. I reordered that book two times, having it transferred to my branch from the main branch at Wheaton Regional for each rereading. I got into an argument with a librarian at Wheaton, because they refused to permanently switch it to my local library's collection. "How many times in the past five years has that book even been touched!" It was the first time I'd called a stranger an idiot.

The irony is, I didn't believe he co-created D&D. When I read that claim in Role-Playing Mastery, I went back and checked my copy of the 2nd edition PHB, and noticed, quite smugly, that his name wasn't on the list. This fit with my understanding of Gygax; The author of Role-Playing Mastery was smart, funny, and insightful, but he was also very very full of himself. I just figured he made up that part about D&D to impress people.

Cut me some slack, I was 11.

Despite the flaws I saw in the book, despite the complaints I had about some of his thoughts and observations, it was Gygax that taught me the importance of character motivation. It was Gygax who convinced me that Worldbuilding was about details. He taught me that minor characters could make or break a story, and he taught me that not everyone needed to be an epic hero. I didn't learn roleplaying from him, I learned storytelling. It was an earthshattering paradigm shift for an 11 year old. I still owe him for that.
Gary Gygax is dead. Rest in Peace, Dungeon Master.

I finally just gave in and called Folger theater, and apparently, the ship's already sailed on this entire endeavor. There are individual seats available here and there, but absolutely nothing for groups. I'd still suggest going, since it looks like a really good performance, but there's simply no way to go as a group.

Sorry folks.

Anyone interested?

I've finally something to show for all my mucking about with my projector. The image links to a Flickr photo set of the monstrosity in it's current state.

I'm looking for a way to make uploading photos simpler and easier. For now, I'm going to try my hand at flickr. It's not perfect (for example, I still need my webspace to upload a thumbnail) but it's faster than crafting my own photo galleries from scratch.

While I vastly prefer the flexibility of the RAW format, I may also  switch the camera over to JPG. That would drastically reduce the needed steps for uploading project logs.

Sometimes you want to take beautiful photos, but sometimes you just want a snapshot so you can say "Hey! Wires!". It's all hypothetical right now, but I'd like to get some more pictures up. It's so much easier to show what I'm building than it is to describe it through text or voice.

The workday conspires to murder my sanity. Good gods people, pace yourselves. Today is not the day that absolutely everything ever needs to get done.

Project:
Finished the outer shell last night. Now I just have a metric ton of wiring to do. I want to get things together for some kind of weekly TV night, like I did years past. Only this time, without the suck. Namely, more places to sit, an actual regular event, stuff to watch, and other paltry details. Thursdays. Maybe thursdays.

Writing:
I stopped trying to make sense, and just wrote down snippets of dialogue as they came to me. The big scene is starting to fill in as a direct result. This is a very good thing. I want this to be done. I'm eager to finish it. The feeling is hard to describe, like the end of a long run. You can see the finish line, and you're all at once happy to see it, and annoyed because it's not here yet.

Good gods, back to work with me.�

Okay. Getting organized. I've checked on the tickets, and only the Sunday matinée is still open this week. That leaves most of next week available. If there's any folk who need help with ticket prices, let me know directly. I can subsidize a few folk (it's for ART!).

I'm thinking one trip on Thursday or Friday (the 6th or 7th), and a second on Saturday (the 8th). Who's in?

Status of life, plenty to report, and nothing of substance.

I've plans, oh yes, and big things in the works, but I'm having a lot of trouble pointing to things and saying "See that? That there? That's the awesome I'm currently creating." This is partly because I've temporarily lost access to a digital camera. It's really hard to post photographs of an ongoing project when you can't take photographs.

Until I can actually ~post~ something awesome, you'll just have to settle for reading about it.

This is fascinating.

On an unrelated note, this is also fascinating, but entirely frivolous.

As one of the single people on the planet on Valentines Day, it's pretty much my job to be a crotchety curmudgeon who decries the saccharine nature of the holiday, it's commercialization, and how annoying couples are. It seems I'm not very good at my job though, I just can't bring myself to be annoyed, depressed, violent, or snide. Not really, not today.

Part of me misses being in a relationship. Another part's happy to be free of it. Relationships are about caring for other people, putting their priorities first. I suck at it. Even when I was doing well, it never really came naturally to me. It took a great deal of work and always made me feel fraudulent and inadequate. At least now I'm not forgetting anything, or screwing anything up.

If you're in a relationship, enjoy it, and more power to you. If you're not in a relationship, then let them have their fun. Valentines happens only one day a year after all.

Thank you, that is all.
(Props to gmskarka for the link)

What? I'm not an actor, I'm allowed to say the name.

Teller's Macbeth is coming to Folger Theater at the end of febuary.

I'll definitely be going, it has a stellar review from a reviewer I actually trust. As this is about two blocks from my job, I'll probably go several times. If other folks are interested in coming with, we could make an event, or events, of it.

Dates & Times:
February 28–April 6, 2008
Preview Dates: February 28–March 1, 2008
Regular Performance and Matinee Dates: March 2–April 6, 2008

Tickets:
Preview Performance (Tues–Thurs) 7:30 PM: $25-$35
Preview Performance (Fri–Sat) 8PM: $25-$35
Preview Performance (Sun) 7PM: $25-$35
Preview Matinee (Sat–Sun) 2PM: $25-$35
Regular Performance (Tues–Thurs) 7:30 PM: $34-$42
Regular Performance (Fri–Sat) 8PM: $42-$55
Regular Performance (Sun) 7PM: $34-$42
Regular Matinee (Sat–Sun) 2PM: $38-$48

Who's with me?

I finished rewiring the projector yesterday evening. Photos will be forthcoming shortly. I'm very satisfied with the initial burn-in. All my tinkering didn't result in any broken components. Image, brightness, AND focus all came out worlds better than they had before. I'm getting a bright, clear, and sharp image. Corner to corner.

It's still not as bright as the EVO, but it's more than good enough for my purposes.

All-in-all, the result is quite satisfying. There are certainly things I need to correct, some light leakage issues and the such, but it's rare that my tinkering yields such overwhelmingly positive results.

Following some minor tweaks this weekend, the project will go on a one-month hiatus for burn-in. The burn-in period is designed to help find flaws and kinks in the design. Last time I built this thing, I made a number of assumptions that I later had to correct. This time, I'm going to put it through it's paces before I do anything permanent.

In other news, I'm on scene 54 of 67.

aaaaand back to work.