Category: nerd

On most days my annoyance by people’s lack of initiative to solve their own problems is fairly low. Yesterday however was a bold-font red-letter RTFM day. It was like all easy to use and searchable documentation had been obliterated and reading had gone out of style. On top of that, no one was willing to try even the most trivial of tasks out.

Somehow my web server got replaced by Tivo today. I was somewhat surprised when I went to one then the other of my sites and found a Tivo welcome screen instead of the normal somewhat dated content. Turns out my rooftop gave up it’s IP and Tivo took it, then Tivo wouldn’t give it back. Everyone got a shut down and things are happy again.

I was recently reflecting on nerd stuff with Noah when I recalled seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time. Cue the flashback noise.

My parents had decided I was now old enough to enjoy the humor of the movie and rented it on a night that my sister was staying with a friend or something. It was wonderful, and hilarious, and full of awkward silences when my parents tried to suppress their laughter as to not acknowledge the dirtier jokes. I also tried not to laugh at jokes that I thought I probably shouldn’t have understood.

Shortly after that introduction, we saw most of the Python collection, and I’ve tried hard since then not to repeat lines from the movies in public. Faux pas. My parents told me that I used to love “Flying Circus” when I was 2, though I don’t remember that. I’m sure “Holy Grail” would have been funny at 2 as well, though on a different level. You know, the hopping on one leg level.

Now I need see “Lost in La Mancha” to complete the Terry Gilliam tour.

It brings a little sunshine to my morning when I get an e-mail complaining about something being “mispelt.”

A coworker IM’d me a link to this hilarious though cryptic joke about the war on terror in the Bourne shell. I’m proud to say I could read and understand it without the cheat sheet. Can you? Do you even know what the Bourne shell is?

Eudora’s built in content filter has once again prevented me from potentially offending a coworker. I keep forgetting how detestible the phrase “to annoy me” is in our culture.

Whew – that was close. Excuse me while I take a time out.

Initially interested because I thought it was an online quiz, I followed Noah’s link to the MIT weblog survey.

Unfortunately, most of the links at the top of my page are for links to my own stuff. oh well.

Today I inadvertently e-mailed a software user group our superuser and ssh account info when my address book filled in the To line. I think this should qualify as one of the most embarrassing work-related mistakes I’ve ever made, but I’m feeling pretty good about it since I was overly stressed and I had just saved all the final grades for a class.

Luckily I noticed the mistake right as Eudora whisked the message away and was able to change the passwords before anyone even got the e-mail. Whew.

The site has officially returned in to my possession. Please let me know if you notice anything amiss.

My brother-in-law has been kind enough to host my site during our move. Everything seems to be working normally, but go easy on the site and don’t waste his bandwidth.

Actually, it’s all part of a ploy to get him to use macs. First step – have him use linux and enjoy the flexibility but loath the interface inconsistencies and the broken packages. Step two – sneak a mac into his home under the guise of “hosting it temporarily.” Step three – suggest he give that 400MHz g3 a spin. He’ll be hooked in no time. No 4.2 GHz P4 with a gig of ram can compare to the spectre of a 7 year old mac.