by Matt | Jun 22, 2003 | Imported Entry
I’m typing this from the ‘rent computer so I’ll be brief. Yesterday I installed 4 steel and rubber casters to the bottom of the case, so now it has wheels. I also sanded, primed and began painting the case. The “Subaru Blue” is apparently hard to achive without pearlesent auto paint, so I went in a bit of a different direction. You know those cars that have the color changing paint? Well, have you ever seen a case like that? Neither have I, so I decided to give it a try. I’m on clear top coat #5 of approximatly 7. After the next few coats it’ll need at least 24 hours to dry and harden. The order from Xoxide.com is here so after the case is done I’ll be installing 2 blue LED fans, a blue cold cathod and a Vantec Stealth (silent fan). Also, the new Swiftec heatsink that Chip recommended will be here early next week. I’m going to wait on that heatsink to put everything back together. When it’s completed it will be a really neat shade of deep, color-changing purple, glow like crazy and be nearly silent. This is my first case-modding so hopefully everything will go well on a technical level… *knock on wood*. It might just encourage me to cut that case window I’ve been thinking about. We’ll see.
Chip is on his way over at the moment and we’ll be installing his fan grill and red cold-cathod tube. It should be glowing nicely in a short while. After I finish my clear coats I think we’ll be heading to the movies to see if all the hype about The Hulk is deserved.
So, if I’m not online in the next few days, now you’ll know why. As soon as that heatsink gets here everything will be set and I’ll be back up and running.
Later.
by Matt | Jun 21, 2003 | Imported Entry
It must really be a hard life my brother leads. You get everything paid for by everyone else. You get free gas, free food, free transportation, free everything. You don’t have to pay for college, that’s free too. You date 7 girls at the same time and STEAL YOUR BROTHERS FUCKING CAR EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!
Fucking shit. He feeds my mom some sob story about how his life is so hard because he doesn’t have a car so she gives him the spare keys to mine. What the fuck is that about? I found out that my gym membership hadn’t expired yet so I decided to go. I look out the window and guess what, no car. “Mom, where’s the Matrix?” I ask. “Oh, you’re brother took it to Boston, he’ll be back late tonight.” What the fuck is that shit? Sure, borrow the car to go to the store, or to rent a movie, something like that. That shit doesn’t bother me. But to take it to Boston? I NEED MY FUCKING CAR. There’s no two ways about it. At some point today, odds are I was going to be leaving the house… now, I’m not.
AAARGG!! !%$^#*^&%$#$#* unintelligible words %%#@#$@#*@#*!!!!!
*breath*
So… since I’m in sure a wonderful mood already… I get to spend, by default, the entire day with my parents. Now, I love my parents, as everyone loves their parents, but after 4 years of college there’s a level of independence that I’m accustom to. This, is not it.
Regardless, there is a glimmer of happiness that I should mention before that too gets squashed. The order of computer mod parts that Chip and I ordered are here. Also, my father said he’d help me drill holes in my case tonight and give me a hand attaching casters to the bottom. I figure while we’re at it, since I’ll have to be taking all the hardware out of the case to begin with, I might as well paint it. I’m thinking “Subaru WRX blue” for a color. We’ll see what I come up with at the store… which, surprise, I can’t go to CAUSE I DON’T HAVE A CAR. See how everything is a big circle… everything leads into everything else.
So, if I don’t update for a few days it’s because my beloved computer is going from beige ugliness to silent, blue and pimped out. I’ll take pictures.
Cheers.
by Matt | Jun 20, 2003 | Imported Entry
I’m sorry. I’ve been good the past few days and I haven’t gone off on Senator Hatch like I should… but the more I read about this moron, the more I have to. If you haven’t been following the news, the genius senator Hatch from Utah described, in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, a new and exciting way to stopping internet downloaders… by destroying their computers. I shall now quote the Washington Post:
“No one is interested in destroying anyone’s computer,” replied Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc., a secretive Los Angeles company that builds technology to disrupt music downloads. One technique deliberately downloads pirated material very slowly so other users can’t.
“I’m interested,” Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone’s computer “may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights.”
(more…)
by Matt | Jun 19, 2003 | Imported Entry
What a mixture of items on today’s docket. First off was my job interview in Durham. I was to meet photographer Dave Mendelsohn at his house at 2:00. Everything went fine and Dave seems like a really nice guy. He said I had one of the strongest student portfolios he’s seen and he’s going to give me a “trial run” sometime next week. That should be interesting especially since Kim Case wants me to assist her the 26th-29th… which, in case you’re not looking at a calendar… is next week. Well, when it rains it pours right?
After the interview I headed back home and, pulling into my drive-way, realized that today was the day for the house inspectors to come. They were supposed to be there at 4:00 but looking at my watch, it was 5:00 and it looked in full swing. Not only were the inspectors here, but the buyers, the buyers parents, their real-estate agent, our real-estate agent, her assistant, my brother and my father. It was a zoo. The inspector was running all over the house checking light switches and pipes and whatever else inspectors do and everyone else was wondering around my house like it was already theirs. One guy was in my bedroom just looking around. I was less than pleased. I know these people are buying our house, but they haven’t yet, so it would have been courteous for them to stay clear of other peoples stuff. As they were leaving the inspector dropped a bomb on us and asked us if we “minded” him putting out Radon detectors and keeping all the doors and windows closed for 72 hours. I told him to go to hell. Nicely of course, but I made sure both he and everyone present knew that wasn’t going to happen. The compromise was to put them in the basement for 48 hours and that we wouldn’t go down to the basement much. I’m sorry, I don’t care what kinds of tests you need to run, closing up a house for 3 days in the summer is just stupid. Why even open your mouth to ask such a mind-bogglingly stupid question?
So, after being nervous (not really, just a little) about a job interview all day and coming home to this mess, you can imagine the state of mind I’m in. To top it off, as soon as I walk in the door, Capt. Moron, my brother, asks me if he can use my car. Now, the back story here is that he used it yesterday to get himself lunch. When I got in it this morning, not only was there a big Coke ring on the console, but the decaying Burger King bag was stuffed under the seat and the car smelled like rotten onions. I told him to fuck off. I know it sounds stingy and mean, but you just don’t leave onions in someones car and then expect to use it again. I’m sorry, I’m just not that nice.
In better news, Chip and I placed an order at Xoxide.com and it’s shipped. It should be here sometime next week. We’re planning a little light case modding, nothing big, just a fan or two and a cold cathode tube to make things glow a little. I’m also planning on getting some casters (wheels) for my case so I can push it around rather than carry it. A file server just isn’t meant to be carried. I also want to get a Zalman CNPS6000-Cu. It’s nearly silent and it cools like a freezer. It might be a solution to my real noisy case. It’s rated for up to an Athlon XP 2600 but does have one downside… it’s really really heavy. It’s 462g and the AMD recommended weight limit is 300g. There’s a special note saying that “great care should be taken whenever the case is moved. I’m not sure if that would make LAN parties possible. It would certainly make things difficult, but it would solve so many problems at the same time… I’m torn on this one. You guys all know how loud and annoying my machine is, if I could make it nearly silent… is that worth the immobility?
Last item is a BIG, GIANT THANK YOU to Chris. He bought me the new Deep Dish CD as a cheer-up gift and it came today. Chris, you rule bro. Thanks a ton, it made my shitty day just that much better.
Anyway, I think it’s time for a shower and some food. Chip is out doing something with Tim tonight so I’m going to have to find something to do on my own. It might be a good night to read my book. We’ll see.
by Matt | Jun 18, 2003 | Imported Entry
I have insomnia. It really kind of sucks. But, as an upside, I have plenty of time to reread my entire journal archive. You know what I’ve found out? I’m a cynical bastard… or a comic genius, either one. You decide, as I have nothing better to do than quote myself:
Talking about the last Harry Potter movie:
what the fuck is the chamber of secrets? Yes, evil is inside it, yes it’s somewhere in the castle but WHY is it the “chamber of secrets?” It has nothing to do with secrets! Nothing. Unless you count the fact that no one knows where it is. That’s the only secret associated with it. If it was a chamber for secrets would you get some special knowledge from within it? At least, that’s what I would figure. But no, it might as well be called Cheers because the only thing evil is doing inside it is hanging out for a little while and having a beer in between snacking on students.
On eating hotdogs:
I would like to take a moment and send a big “fuck you” out to whatever ass-hat decided to stock a downtown gas station with horrible near-death causing hot-dogs.
On proper clothing care:
My pants are in the oven. Why? Because they were dirty, I washed them and I have no dryer. I’ve heard that putting clothes in the oven for a few minutes on a low setting will dry them a little. More than likely I’m just cooking my pant.
On proper darkroom procedures:
STILL waiting for the damn scanner. I hate freshmen that don’t have a clue. Maybe I should give them a clue-pon…. or a swift kick to the face. Why do you think?
On college administrations:
That should be a VERY interesting conversation. Beginning with the phrase “Now listen you ass-face” and ending with “no officer, I’m not giving you attitude.”
And… drum roll please… the winner for most completely incoherent yet funny as heck journal entry is….
Entry #797 – “Sleepy”
“You know whats cool about sleep deprivation? Nothing. Well, besides a near euphoric state in which nothing really bothers you and you’re not really “awake” but certainly not asleep. Either that or EVERYTHING bothers you and you try to kill the guy at the convenience store for not giving you your change fast enough. Point is that I’m rambling mindlessly because I got to sleep from 8am till 10am. Then I woke up, couldn’t sleep because it was sunny, etc etc. Then I went and paid the cable bill. It was $60. Fuck cable. Then I picked up my digital prints at PhotoMasters. They were free. The guys there know me and didn’t feel like charging me. They rock. Now I’m at the photo lab. I’m not awake, but I’m typing, which is odd because I didn’t think you could type while you were sleeping. But I’m making a go of it. Which probably explains the spelling errors. Not that it explains the spelling errors in any of my other posts, but hey, if you’ve got an excuse, you might as well use it. After this I’m going home to get Lauren and coming back downtown to pick up her car. Then I’m formatting a hard drive… again. Fuck my harddrive. Then I’m sleeping. Sleep is good. I need sleep. But that’s ok, it was worth it to help out Lauren. I know she appreciated it and I was glad to help. Yah me! Ok, class now, sleep later, stuff in between.”
And with that, I end my incoherency for yet another night. G’night everybody.
by Matt | Jun 17, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, the excitement never ceases here in NH. Today there was a police stand off at the house at the end of the street. At one point I counted 6 Milford cruisers, 3 NH State Troopers cruisers, a few unmarked cruisers and, of course, the SWAT team. Apparently the guy down the street decided he didn’t want to be arrested today (they were serving him with an arrest warrant) and he grabbed a gun and holed himself up in his house. Six hours and a crap load of tear gas later, the guy was finally dragged out.
What was almost more enjoyable was the watching. I had a front row seat to all this. I was watching from the yard next door for the first half but once the SWAT team showed up they moved everyone a few extra feet back… so I sat on the bumper of the SWAT van with my camera.
I grabbed both the 35mm and my folks puny Nikon 2500. You can see the digital pictures here. They’re not much to look at but the film hasn’t been developed yet.
What was also pretty cool was that as soon as SWAT arrived, they closed off all the surrounding street, so I was one of the small group of people that were actually able to watch. The TV and newspaper guys were at least 2 blocks over. I was sitting right there in the front yard. It was cool. No one told me to leave, only to move back a little, so I did.
So, that was my excitement for the day.
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