Put in my first day on the new job yesterday - $12.00 an hour for 25.5 hours a week. Surprise - they'll be offering HMO Blue to part-timers! I asked them about storage costs now that my account is "free", and Chris said, "Don't sweat it." The other evening guy, Ken, lives in Andover and has to pass me on the way, so I'll talk to Chris about expanding my hours so we can car-pool.
The Groton meeting is in a few weeks, and I have beaucoup LaTeX files to review and change, but I have two weekends to work on them. I also need to make sure that simply renaming TCPMAN.EXE will let Netscape crawl the Web using CompuServe -- the debacle a few weeks ago helped me fix my first successful tech support call -- I let the others know so that they can be on the lookout for it.
Didn't get up in time to go to the mosque today. <sigh!> Spent most of the afternoon calling for tech support on software, to good advantage. Learned that most of the GPFs I was getting from Netscape were caused by using "stealth" mode in QEMM386 -- also got the latest patch for 7.5, which seemed to cleaar up other problems as well.
Using WebCrawler, I located a Windows based tool to make transparent backgrounds for GIF files. I then started playing around with the "embose" filter to make tiled backgrounds for my WiZ WORX and photography pages using the logos. I may do the same for the 366th pages with the "older" shield from the yearbook.
Finally had to come out for cigarettes, so I thought I'd do waffles & milk before hitting the sack. Going to see Brian & Jan after I get the mail tomorrow -- we'll find a movie, I'm sure, or else we'll just do some videos.
Serious Bad Karma with Brucilla -- it looks like a virus infection, but even downloading the latest update to Norton AntiVirus was futile. Actually, it was very frustrating! Netscape crashed when I tried to read the Symantec Home Page because the TrueType fonts were corrupted. When I disabled TT, my Netscape screens turned to Greek font and were unreadable!!
The major symptom is that my disk de-fragger keeps bombing, and trashes the FAT, so I keep losing more files. I suspected an infection last week when I noticed that the CD-ROM was being accessed every other second, as if it were playing a music CD. Replacing MSCDEX.EXE fixed that, but I'm not convinced that I'm "clean" yet.
Well, Egghead Software has been advertising 1Gb Seagate drives for $299, but they're the 12ms flavor, which won't support a CD-R drive's need for keeping the buffer full. So... I just came from Computer City, where I bought a 1.2Gb Western Digital for $419 -- a hundred bucks more, but I think it's worth it -- I had to get a new drive so that I can re-install everything and erase the infected partition.
I got my "trick" pen knife back today, nicely buffed to remove the bad engraving, and I'm waiting for the new engraving. So far, I've spent more on the "engraving" than I have on the knife, and it will probably just go back in the drawer again!
Got e-mail from Jean yesterday -- I saw in the Mensa Bulletin that Armas Lamsa had died in Florida, so I'd e-mailed her last week to get an address to send a sympathy card. She sent me her sympathies for Uncle LeRoy and Aunt Gloria, so I'll have to remember to send her copies of their Web pages.
Speaking of Web pages, I bought the Microsoft Word for Windows Version 6.0 a few weeks ago, and downloaded the HTML extensions -- Not Too Shabby! I got rid of HoTMetaL and the Chinese University of Hong Kongs's HTML macro package for Word. Finally, access to spell and grammar checker and the ability to "Save As" a .HTM file! OTOH, I still prefer a "text editor" for working with HTML files, because Word takes too long to load. <sigh!>
10:41 PM - Bickford's (Marlboro, MA)
The Bickford's at Drum Hill Rotary is closed by the time I get there, but I discovered that this oneos open until midnight, so I decided to stop and catch my breath. Managed to find a booth close enough to tehir electric outlet (with an extention cord) that I could hook up the OmniBook and recharge while I add to today's entry.
Other money I spent today that I can't afford -- I could have gotten out of Newbury Comix with just Cerebus, Groo, and The Shadow (2:3), but I saw the trade paperback of Reads, the third chapter of Sim's Cerebus: Mothers and Daughters, so I put it all on plastic.
Speaking of plastic, I was awakened this a.m. by a call from Tim at the Hobby Emporium teling me that the Monogram Phantom Mustang kits were in, and he'd put mine behind the counter. When he said that there were only 20,000 being issued world-wide,, I decided to get two -- at $30 each! I guess I'll assemble one immediately, i.e., after my trip the end of this month, and save the other for Serious Detailing at a future date.
When I started to put my watch on this morning, the face was blank. The jewelry store where I got the pen knife re-burnished did not have the correct battery, but good old Radio Shack had them. As I was replacing it, I noticed the RESET button inside the case, but it was too late by then.
I resisted the temptation to buy some video tapes for cheap at Lechmere's -- True Lies, Arnold's block-buster from last summer with Jaime Lee Curtis, and Forest Gump, Tom Hanks' no-brainer for Best Actor Oscar® (second year in a row, and much better deserved than the first.)
Speaking of movies, I went with Brian&Jan to see Mel Gibson directing himself in Brave Heart, the Scottish epic about William Wallace (Gibson) and Rrobert the Brruce (what a wimp!)
My "Maroon of the Day": "Duh, howcum it takes so long to download files from alt.pictures.binary.erotica.female?" (Probably because every other male virgin in the hemisphere is trying to access them at the same time? I suggested he try at zero-dark-thirty, when there should be less traffic.)
After talking with Brian today, I've decided to return the 1.2Gb Western Digital drive and get the 1Gb from Egghead for $299 and save the $120 for a backup system. After all, it's still bigger than both the drives I have now (two 452Mb Seagates), and I'll be keeping one of the old ones, anyway. One of the guys at the office even offered to buy one today!
-=DAH=- 07-Jun-95
Well, the last few days have been very frustrating, to say the least!
First off, the $299 drive was a 2-day sale item, and since Egghead's prices were too close to Computer City (and I'd have to pay sales tax), I decided to install the one I had. Easier said than done!
To make a long story short, I ended up getting a BIOS chip upgrade for $80 bucks (drove to N. Andover to pick it up) and had to play "swappy" with the old drives a couple of times ... turns out that there's a 540Mb "barrier" that has to do with more than 1024 tracks on the drive. WD supplied a software BIOS patch to get around that, but when I got the BIOS chip, I had to partition the drive again -- after I had already spent a night re-installing Windows and Windows for Workgroups.
I spent all of last night trying to get Windows (and any game with graphics!) to work with the new BIOS chip. I kept running QEMM's optimization on the assumption that there was a "shadow RAM" conflict. Around 07:00, I finally discovered that I had to set the BIOS setup for "one wait state" and everything was clean&green - that only took me 5 hours to find!!
Windows takes up a lot less space now, but I still have a lot of things that need to be re-installed, like Word, WordPerfect, Family Tree Maker, and anything else that's CD based, like the C++ compiler. Fortunately, most of that can wait until I get back from Groton, but it all has to be done before I go to DC.
So, I'm finally back (almost) to where I was on Tuesday. <sigh!> I don't think I'll get much sleep this weekend if I'm going to get that stuff done for the meeting in Groton next week -- I have to drive down after work Monday night, and I won't be back until Thursday.
The air conditioner in the Adm. Gracie is on the fritz (first time I've tried to use it since teh accident last fall), so I took it back to the A+ Body Shop at the Drum Hill Rotary. Fred called the people who actually did the work, and the soonest they can look at it is Monday, so I'll have to miss the weekly Support Desk meeting at UltraNet and come in late.
Sitting at A+ Auto Body with Fred, waiting for a ride home -- only 3 hours sleep last night, but I finished the LaTeX files and renaming the IGES files for Version 5.3 -- I have to call Greg@EB as soon as I get home so he can FAX me another copy of the map (I lost the one he mailed.)
Lot's of exitement last night ... I heard a collision, and when I looked outside, two cars had collided in front of the Freeman Lake sign on Route 40. I called 911, grabbed my camera, and went to check it out. Some people were already doing first aid on one of the victims (no seat belt - smashed his face on the windshield), so I started directing traffic. When the ambulances & wreckers arrived, I started turning traffic around using the Senior Center parking lot.
Drove down at 05:00 -- only two hours to get here. Copped some Z's at the Super 8 Motel ($43 a night). Got through the security checkpoints with no problem. Attending --
Phil (Sandia), Curt (NIST), Alan (DISA), Burt (EB), Aleta (EB), Greg (EB), Ed (Cat)
11:25 AM - Introductions & social agenda done
Presenting the figure stuff first.
12:48 PM - We went outside to the line of lunch-mobiles for vittles and brought them back to the conference room to eat.
03:49 PM - Went to the EB gift shop on the break -- slim pickins -- nothing for the G.W. Carver except the patch, which I already have. I got a small Los Angeles patch, a few post cards, and a Sea Wolf t-shirt for Mom.
Production Issues --
(1) "Virtual" Gaylen as a resource -- the current "manual" archiving system needs to be identified, perhaps by SCCS or a good manual tracking system. Phil really needs to look over her shoulder when she does the next printing. Looks like Jul-Aug before we can have the final draft & review for publication.
04:54 PM -- Done for the day ... supper & movie.
Didn't get to a movie, but supper was fine. Met Phil & Curt Parks for breakfast at the IHOP across from my hotel.
WWW - Curt, Phil, & Me
IGES has been registered as a MIME type.
Curt is preparing a "IGES Tools" Home Page. One of the things that he wants is a Public Domain IGES Viewer -- basicly, he wants a 2D ("Forest Gump") version of IGESDRAW that he can give away. I have the action item to prepare the RFP for his SBIR.
Phil has declared that he will not be continuing as IGES Editor after publication of IGES Version 5.3. Greg's funding expires at the endo of the year, too.
09:55 AM - Return from break -- Ballot comments resolution.
Gary Conkol seems to be Quite Pissed that the revised Chapter 1 went out for ballot without having been reviewed by the IGES Project Committee, and appears to have over-reacted -- Greg got blind-sided at the last Steering Committee meeting.
01:37 PM - We've been thrashing for hours over the beaucoup comments on the conformance issues of Chapter 1 -- bottom line is that Ed needs language in 5.3 to whip Parametric Design into shape, which many of us feel belongs in contracts, not the spec. However, there's much that we'd like to try to "squeeze in".
02:14 PM - Alan to Ed - "I didn't realize that you tried to boil the ocean ..."
Had a delightful supper with Burt & his wife Janet last night, then we all convoyed up to Greg & Barbara's new place - I gave her some prints of the Forever Knight Web pages.
We're zipping through the comments on Chapter 2 from the RFC ballot.
10:08 AM - We've slowed down.
"left blank" == "rive gauche" (in JAMA-IS == "reft brank")
Mantra -- "Editorial - Persuasive - Amend"
01:30 PM - Finished the Chapter 2 comments!! RFC 586 will be ECO 653. ON TO THE NAUTILUS!!
My action items ...
- send x-files to Curt Parks
- send LaTeX and IGES archives to Alan & Ed@Cat
When I entered the Friendly's and asked for a booth in the smoking section, I was told that the entire store is now smoke-free. I told them that it would be the last meal that I eat here. <sigh!>
Let's see, after the meeting on Thursday, we all made our way to the U.S.S. Nautilus Museum a few miles up Route 12 from the EB shipyard. We crawled around inside, took some pictures, then Ed had to didi mau for the Hartford airport, while Curt headed to catch a flight out of Providence -- both an hour's drive away.
Alan & I stopped at a Mickey Dee's to wait out the rush-hour traffic, and to talk about IGESGUMP™, which we agreed should be a MIL-D-28000 conformant viewer. Yesterday, I talked to Curt@NIST and Bill@IDA about offering a shareware, two stage viewer to stimulate interest in a more robust viewer, or getting the source for cross-platform compiling. Bill's willing to subcontract the port (for X-windows), but only if its for executable only, and no source is included.
Didn't get half of the things done yesterday that I wanted to do, and I still have to go to Nashua for some more Color InkJet paper from Sears.
Mom's pictures from Uncle LeRoy's funeral were waiting in my mailbox when I got back Thursday evening. About an hour later, Brian & Linda from down the street came by to feed FurFace -- I was in the computer room, and they didn't know that I had returned. We crawled the Web for a while, and I gave them some of the MREs I couldn't eat.
Well, the waitress sez that the smoke-ban was only for today's lunch-hour rush, and that I can smoke as soon as the last family with toddlers leaves!
Another afternoon dealing with the Totally Clueless -- today's batch was really out of it, and I learned a valuable lesson about "volunteering" information. Fortunately, Chriss had been down the same rat-hole with that customer before, so he cut me some slack.
Spent last night moving the 366th Infantry WWW files into their own subdirectory, and created one for "Beth". Chris sez that the 366th qualifies for a free $20 account, so I'll do the paperwork this week, and start the application for a domain name.
Sitting at Towne Line Tire waiting for Bill to get me checked in for the tune-up and transmission work on the Adm Gracie ... I overslept this morning, but Phynque called to give me her new 800 number and seecurity code so it will be like calling her collect. (Maybe she can get the folks to get that MCI plan, too.)
Yesterday was a real bust - I just couldn't get my act together to get up in time to find my way down to that hearing on the accident, even though I had pictures of the bad brake shoe enlarged. <sigh!> Then I got hung-up on changing a batch of HTML pages, and was Very Late punching in. UltraNet hired a new manager for Customer Service, a woman named Tonya Wright (?). I missed the staff meeting on Monday from taking the Adm Gracie to 3 different places -- I made the appointment at Towne Line for today's work, I had to get a State Inspection (the Viet Namese CITGO station), and Car-risma to get the air-horn fixed and to make an appointment for tomorrow to get a security system installed.
My fears of making a bad first-impression were aleviated by her having to leave before 5:00 pm, and I completely missed her yesterday. I see Betty Case at 3:00 today, so it'll be tight as to seeing Tonya today, and her next chance won't come until July 5th. Oh, yeah, I got my first paycheck, and discovered that my rate is $10 an hour, not $12. :-( That difference of $200 a month (assuming 25 hours per week) means that the HMO Blue is not a viable option at this time.
As we feared, my "outside" work is getting in the way of my hours at UltraNet, but that's really only for this week, with the trip coming up on Friday. I've got some price lists for people doing HTML authoring, and they're getting Money For Nothing -- $75 per page, and $20 per link!! Ah, well, they've set the Prevailing Market Price, so I think I'll grab some of that sucker money before the rubes get wise to the scam.
I talked to Bill Upham on the phone the other evening -- we'll try to do lunch the week after July 4th, with him, Wendy Swanbeck, and other former CV and former ADRA people. I have to get some things FTP'd to Curt@NIST for the IGES MIME "viewing" tools -- I already sent him the x-files, but he doen't have the full suite of 143 IGES files yet.
Well, I didn't get the Adm. Gracie loaded before I went to bed last night, and when I called Pop at 09:30, he suggested that I blow-off today and get a fresh start in the morning, drop the stuff off at Varnum Street, spend the week in the hotel, and then take the boxes down to Kenyon Street next weekend.
Soooo ... I picked up my mail in Concord, then came here to sort it because people were standing in line for tables at Friendly's. There was a letter from Dalmar in response to my post card from Groton last week, and I had just put his package in the mail last night. The Commonwealth was quick to inform me that I missed the hearing on Tuesday, and that my appeal was rejected. <sigh!>
This morning, I finally figured out a "GUMP" acronym that works --"Generic Unsupported MIME Plotter". WiZ WORX will offer two freeware GUMPs, HPGLGUMP and IGESGUMP™. Needless to say, the latter requires use of the former to "view" IGES files. What does need to be said is that HPGLGUMP will only work on Windows in 256 mode regardless of the resolution. (So what do you want for free??)
Well, I'll put up new Web Pages from DC.
Last update: 2005-05-05 by dennette@wiz-worx.com