This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
|
 The last night Brandy and Amy were here we put this on to watch. Unfortuantely, they were both sleepy. Brandy was asleep before the end of the first episode. I had been trying to be really good and not freak out and pause it every time I noticed her eyes closing and had made it to the end of the episode. (To keep myself from being bad, I’d given Brandy the remote.)
But at the end of the first episdode, since Brandy was asleep, I started putting things away rather than starting the second episode and told Amy it was time for bed. She was unhappy, but went to bed.
A few minutes later I went in to check on her and she was still looking very unhappy. So I said we could watch the rest if she wanted to. She said “but you said we couldn’t!”. I told her it was OK, we could… that I would like that.
So we got set back up to start it up again, with Amy under a blanket with her head in my lap. We started up the DVD. Amy was much happier.
Of course, she was asleep within minutes.
I did watch the rest solo. And gave them back the disk rather than returning it to watch on the way home on the plane. It hasn’t been returned yet, so I’m not sure that they did.
This episode was the first multi-doctor episode. And it was fun to see the Doctors bickering with each other as usual. I especially liked though the Brigadier’s reaction to them. Not much else to say about it. It was good to see the second Doctor again. I just can’t get myself liking the 3rd.
Anyway, it is now in the hands of Brandy and Amy to watch and return. Gieven that they have each had their current netflix movies for months… Brandy has had Cube 2: Hypercube since 17 Sep 2005, and Amy has had Little Black Book since 10 Feb 2006. So I’m not expecting to to get done and sent in any time soon. (Of course, my current movie was sent out 23 Feb 2006, so I can’t say much.)
Of course, we’ve only been watching the Doctor Who ones together, so I guess it doesn’t matter that much since it will be awhile until we are all in the same place again. The next one is another first Doctor one that was released since we got this one. The first first Doctor episode actually.
I am a little sad this is as far as we had gotten since we started this at the end of the 9th Doctor’s episodes last year. I had really hoped to get up to episodes with Sarah Jane Smith before the episode where she comes back and meets the 10th Doctor comes on. That will be School Reunion which will be on in the UK in just a few weeks and will also feature the return of K-9.
It would have been nice for Amy to have seen some episodes with Sarah Jane and K9 before seeing them return, but I guess that’s OK. Most of the kids who are now fans in the UK won’t know who they are anyway. This is a sop for the older fans.
Of course, if we waited until this episode airs officially in the US, we’d have plenty of time for that…. but will we be able to wait that long???
Six days until new Doctor Who in the UK. I wouldn’t take bets on us waiting until Sci-Fi gets around to it, IF they get around to it…
As for watching more of the old episodes… I’ll let them govern that. I shant be bugging them about it. The main reason we started is it seemed Amy liked them, and I know Brandy had watched when they were on PBS, as had I of course… but there shall be no more prompting on the issue from me. We’ll get to it when we get to it.
I’ll be watching carefully for reports of how good this is (or not), but I’m sure even if it has kinks, it won’t be too long before they are all worked out. Excellent. NOw I just have to find that XP disk so I can try this… :-)
Parallels Workstation 2.1 Delivers First Virtualization Solution for Intel-powered Apple Computers
Parallels announced today that it is beginning beta testing for Parallels Workstation 2.1 for Mac OS X, the first virtualization software that gives Apple users the ability to simultaneously run Windows, Linux or any other operating system and their applications alongside Mac OS X on an Intel-powered Apple computer.
Virtualization software enables users to run multiple operating systems, like Linux or Windows, in isolated “virtual machines” directly on a Mac OS X desktop, giving users the ability to run programs that are only available on those operating systems, without having to give up the usability and functionality of their Mac OS X machine . Each virtual machine operates exactly like a stand-alone computer and contains its virtual hardware, including RAM, hard disk, processor, I/O ports, and CD/DVD-drives.
…
Parallels’ full support of Intel Virtualization Technology®, which is included in most new Core Duo chipset, ensures that virtual machine performance is close to near-native and that each virtual machine is stable and completely isolated from other virtual machines and the host physical machine.
(via Otherwise Occupied)
 Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Started: 7 Mar 2006
Finished: 25 Mar 2006
544p / 19d
29 p/d
I read Two Towers right as the Two towers movie was coming out. I had intended to finish it before the movie came out, but ended up finishing a little after. At least I think that is what happened. In any case, it was a long time ago. And my book pile has been so disrupted by the various moves, it doesn’t much resemble what it was. At the time I left Pennsylvania, this was 6th on the list. But others snuck in before they should have because things were in boxes. In any case, I finally got to it. Not quite in time for the third movie.
Of couse this is not the first time I read this. This series is one I have read many many times since my dad read me The Hobbit. It had been a number of years though. And I worried a bit that the years since I had read the last book in the series most recently would detract. But no, it didn’t. This series is still one of my favorites.
It did seem to go much faster than I remembered though. Every night I’d stop and think, wow, I got to that part already?
And as usual with the Return of the King in particular, the part that facinated me more than practically any other part was reading the extensive appendicies. The additional detail and background that gives is great. Especially the first few that give some more information on what happens to the characters after the end of the book, and then given an overview of the history of middle earth than is explored more fully in The Silmarillion. People who read this series but then skip the Appendicies are missing out!
The other thing I was acutely aware of as reading this time around was that both my copies of The Atlas of Middle-Earth were in Florida. I loved that thing too, and I kept wanting to refer to it, but didn’t have it…
One final thing to mention. The edition pictured above is the one I actually read. A copy I’ve had since sometime in the mid 80’s. The link above is to a current edition as this one is no longer in print. However, it also made me think about the copies that were the first ones I ever read. Including the copy of The Hobbit in the picture of me and my dad I linked above. Turns out while they were not from the very first print run, the versions my dad shared with me of The Hobbit, The Followship of the Ring, and the Two Towers were early enough that they had the same cover design as the first American paperback editions. And more impressive, the copy of the Return of the King was the ORIGINAL hardcover design from the UK. (Although it is missing it’s dust cover, which I vaguely remember, but have not seen since I was a child, and maybe never saw, but I think I did…) As I said, not actual first printing, but first edition if that is the right termonology… before the first time they redid the cover artwork in any case. All four of those books are at this moment in boxes in Florida. If they were in good condition they would be worth a decent amount as collectible editions. Unfortunately, they were beloved books from when I was about age 10 to when I wanted to read them at a time I didn’t have the old ones handy and bought a new copy sometime when I was a teenager. So I beat the hell out of them. All four are in pretty bad condition. The covers of the paperbacks are seperated and torn, the pages are yellowed and brittle, etc, etc. The hardcover is a bit better off, but still pretty beat up.
Anyway, whenever I find that box again, those four books are going to get put somewhere very carefully so they don’t get any worse. Cause of the condition they are already in probably not worth anything, but still fond sentamental memories for me.
In any case, great books. Silmarillian is next. Wonder how many years until I get to it.
It had been achieved independantly a few weeks back, but it was a painful procedure and there were missing drivers and such. As of today, Apple offers a way directly from them to do it pretty painlessly.
Boot Camp Public Beta
Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt” key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac.
(via practically every website I’ve looked at today)
Of course, what would be really awesome would be full virtualization (a la Virtual PC) but at close to 100% full speed. That will be awesome. And is probably going to be available before too long.
But this right here is good enough so that if Amy has some Windows thing she has to run next year for school or whatnot, we won’t need to make sure we have a seperate Windows machine for her.
Excellent. Not that I *want* to run Windows or anything, but having it as a quick and easy option when needed…. great. (Just have to dig up a XP SP2 disk somewhere… or buy one when the time comes.)
You need to put in a zipcode, a year, and a gender (not necessarily related to yourself of course) to view the article, which is annoying… but my Google News alert on my mom just popped…
Birthday Celebrated by Church
(D. L. Stephenson, The Republican)
Initially, Second Congregational rented space in what was then called Whitman Hall, located on the corner of Elm Street. In 1860, a church building was erected on Main Street, where worship services were held for more than 100 years.
Having grown too large for that structure, the church erected another building on Western Avenue in 1962, where it continues to serve about 230 active members, said the Rev. Ruth M. Brandon, the church’s pastor.
Congrats to my mom and her church!
I woke up this morning feeling not too great. First of all, something I ate yesterday obviously wasn’t too happy with me. Second, I think the air mattress I sleep on has lost just a bit too much air without me repumping it, so I am all sore. My back hurts and my chest hurts. But both only on the right top side. Plus there is the whole thing about everybody deciding to start doing everything an hour earlier starting this week. So I need to start aiming at being at work at 16 UTC instead of 17 UTC. Which is a pain. (Of course, any of those are better than the 12 or 13 UTC which was common at the last job…)
I drag myself out of bed, on track for 17 UTC, not 16 UTC and manage to get to work. A bit late, but not so much anyone would really care. Things are pretty loose here as long as you get done what you are supposed to get done.
In any case, there is a 18 UTC weekly staff meeting (used to be 19 UTC damn it). I am at work in plenty of time for that. I get coffee. I get settled. Then a few minutes before hand I head up to the meeting on the 10th floor of this building. The rest of the folks weren’t heading up quite yet, but I figured I’d get up there a couple minutes early.
There is another meeting in the room. I think nothing of it, I am early. But a few minutes go by and they do not leave, and the rest of my team doesn’t show up. A couple more minutes and someone from the meeting that is going on asks if I have a meeting scheduled and tells me he has that room booked for the next hour. WTF?
I go back down to my office on the 5th floor to double check the meeting request. Yup. 10th floor. And everybody is gone. Not one person from my group left in their offices.
I go back up to the 10th and check other conference rooms. Then the 9th, then the 8th, then the 7th, then the 6th, then the conference rooms on the 5th floor. Still nothing. I run into one other person from my group who has also gotten lost. We call a couple cell phones. Voice mail. We email one person in the group with a blackberry. Nothing. So I start looking at more conference rooms. 4th. 3rd. 2nd. 1st. Then back up again. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. Still nothing.
I am about to give up when I realize the 10th floor is not the top floor. I decide to make one last effort and go to the 11th floor. And there they are. I emailed the other lost person from my phone to let him know I had found the meeting.
Then I joined the meeting, 20 minutes late, and pretty tired from not feeling great to begin with and now having gone up and down the stairs multiple times. (Not to mention the various additional elevator trips I also took but did not enumerate… the ups and downs above were just the ones I did by stairs… OK, I mentioned it…)
It was promised that next week the meeting reuqest would be updated to reflect the actual room the meeting would be in.
I hope so. I’m not in good enough shape to go running up and down ten stories of steps several times just to find a meeting!
I want a nap now.
Since Brandy never did, I figured I’d go ahead and post about her car. Well, one of them. You see, Brandy has a Nissan that she drives every day (and hates). But in the garage she keeps and only very rarely drives, a Buick Reatta, which she loves. There were less than 22 thousand of them ever made, and it is getting to be a decently old car. (And hers was one of the ones with the touchscreen computer, of which they made less than 12 thousand.) The resale price of these cars has bottomed out and is actually starting to go up again as they start becoming collectables. Brandy hopes to keep it until someday we are actually able to do a full restoration and make it a nice classic car. (Something I wish I could have done with my 1976 Dodge Colt, but alas, it is long gone…)
Since we moved to the Palm Bay house, the Reatta never left the garage. It needed a new battery, some repairs to one of the seats, and some other things. Last month it was time. Brandy took the Reatta to the local Buick dealer. They did the work they were supposed to do. Then they called her and said it was ready to pick up. She said she would pick it up the enxt day. The next morning, before she came in, she got another call from the Buick dealer. Overnight her car had been broken into in the dealer’s parking lot. The lock was smashed and removed and then inside the car whoever it was had completely ripped apart the center console. Lovely.
The first call to the insurance company… Insurance company felt this was all the dealer’s fault and they should pay everything… however, they said that if a claim was made, they would most likely just declare the car totaled due to the age and the fact that replacement parts are no longer made and are in many cases very hard to find (particularly for that center console). This was very upsetting. Losing the car was not desired. Brandy had carted this thing around for many many years and was very attached to it. At first the dealer said they absolutely would not be responsible. (Oh, and by the way, there were not even any security cameras pointing at the lot… what’s up with that?) A few calls up the management chain though fixed that and they decided they would after all handle the repairs due to the break in. Well… as best they could… they couldn’t replace anything for which no replacement parts were available.
So, next question… was there anything missing? The pattern of the break in matched someone scrounging for parts, not someone looking to steal the car itself, or grabbing valuables from inside the car. When they did the complete examination though, nothing was missing. The biggest difficulty was the center console though. It was pretty beat up and torn, but that is one of the parts that there are no replacments for absent scrounging through junkyards and such.
In the end though, they were able to patch it up relatively well, replace the lock, etc.
Brandy picked up the car on Friday. The immediate things needed for it to be drivaable are all done. A bunch more would still need to happen to do the whole full resoration thing, but that wasn’t the goal quite yet. We just wanted it out of the garage and ready to drive and such. The Nissan will not be coming to the West Coast, only the Buick will be. The center console is a little worse from the experience, but not as bad as it initially looked and the lock and such has been replaced properly, and the intial things Brandy had taken the car in for in the first place are also all done.
And so yet another adventure on the way to the move…
Fun.
|
|
