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Christopher 'Vulpine' Kalley,
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Copyright © 1998-2006

"Better Vulpines through Technology."


"Forget Disney World ... I'm goin' to Hell!"


Geek Project Thu Jun 30 14:49:39 CDT 2005
Mood: Geeky Music of the Day: Yngwie Malmsteen - On the Run Again
(Take two. My first attempt at writing this was eaten by vim...hurrah for screwed up keystrokes.)

Thought I'd take a bit of time to write up my next geek project. A linux based media system. Or, in English, a computer with my TV set as the monitor, so I can watch avi's and mpg's on TV, instead of on my monitor. Why ? Mostly to see if I can. Nymaz did this with his old Windoze workstation, and I want to see if I can do the same under Fedora. It won't work quite as well, since he was working with an Athlon 1.4 GHZ system, and I'm going to be using Shub's old hardware (Athlon 750 MHZ) as the base. I've got most of the parts I need, only thing I 'need' to get is a video card that supports TV out. So, I'll be doing some pricing on Ebay for an older Nvidia card with TV out, and the cabling to go from card to TV. probably also need to dig up a sound card, but it might work fine with the onboard stuff. I also want to add a DVD rom on the box, so I might be able to replace my DVD player with it. But that's not a must have yet. The files will be stored on Shub-Internet, and shared across the network via NTFS. If this works well enough, I'll start pondering bigger harddrives for the media box, keep the files local. Also, I may move the mp3 collection to there as well, output music playing to it as well. Or not, not sure yet...haven't worked out the best way.

So I'll be plotting and pricing and planning over the July 4th weekend, probably won't start working on it til next weekend or later, depending on final cost of the video card, and if I find I need other bits. Oh, I haven't picked a Geek Old One name for the system, the working name is mythos.cabal23.net, since there is a tivo-like app called Myth TV that is similar to what I want to do. Though I'm not looking to do MythTV on this box, the cpu and hardware requirements are a bit outside my planned budget. But, maybe in mythos mark 2 ;)

Santa came early... Wed Jun 29 15:57:53 CDT 2005
Mood: good Music of the Day: Nightwish - Sacrament of Wilderness
And brought me A Guide to the Cthulhu Cult. It's an out of print 'guide' to the Cthulhu cult in history. Yes, it's a joke, but as a history and religion nut, as well as a Mythos freak, it's right up my alley. Now to keep from reading it til I get home tonight...*anticapatory dance*

Want !!! Wed Jun 29 11:33:03 CDT 2005
Mood: covetous Music of the Day: Blue Oyster Cult - Make Rock not War
I Want !!!

Come on, I need Esoteric Order of Dagon pint glasses, and a Miskatonic shotglass. *check budget* Ok, not this week...but soon. :)

Tonight Tue Jun 28 17:04:08 CDT 2005
Mood: tired Music of the Day: Weird Al Yankovich - Melanie
Since Cthulhu hasn't decided to show up and munch the stupid, I plan to spend tonight home, doing mundane house stuff (laundry, trash, etc) and reading. Almost done with Shadows over Baker Street and Bran Mak Morn, probably finish them off tonight. That, plus ferret time should = about time to go to bed. I'm going to try to avoid being online after 9pm tonight, so I can get a full night's sleep. Lets hope.

Ia Ia Cthulhu Fthagn Tue Jun 28 13:38:38 CDT 2005
Mood: squamous Music of the Day: Blue Oyster Cult - I am the Storm
Ok Cthulhu, anytime you want to rise and take out humanity...feel free. Anything to keep me from dealing with idiots today !!!

Weekend Update Mon Jun 27 00:29:04 CDT 2005
Mood: soso Music of the Day: Andromeda on DVD
It's been a fun weekend. Friday night was a pool party over at WesM's place. Had a very good time, watched weird online videos and horsed around. Came home, and sacked out. Saturday I woke up late, did my usual ferret care, showered, and headed out to see Herbie: Fully Loaded with Amythest and Techie. It was cute, and in alot of places laugh out loud funny. Plus Lindsey Lohan jiggled nicely in the movie. :) It wasn't Land of the Dead, but it made for a better mood I think. After the movie I stopped by Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy of the new Robert Howard collection, Bran Mak Morn, the Last King. Bran is my favorite of REH's characters, the Pictish king fighting against Rome. None of the stories in the collection are new to me, but I liked the book, and the supplimentary material is interesting. After the bookstore, I caught back up with Amythest and Techie, and we went...to a bookstore. ;) Half Price Books is my friend. I didn't spend much, mostly picked up some books to resell later. I've been planning to start an online bookstore selling Mythos and other 'weird' fiction. And I found a few copies of some old editions of these books. So we'll see how this goes. I'll write more about the store later. But after Half Price, we went to go to see the Fort Worth Symphony doing a concert in a park. The theme of the music was Sci-fi/Fantasy movie soundtracks. We also met up with Nymaz there. The line to get in was rather insane, and it was hot and sticky...but worth it. They did parts from Star Wars, Apollo 13, Pirates of the Carribean, Lord of the Rings as well as other movies. Very very entertaining. Afterwards, we headed out, stopped by B&N again (Amythest wanted to get a book she found out just came out.) Headed home afterwards to poinging ferrets and general vegging. Spent the rest of the night trying to to cool down from too much sun on Saturday.

Sunday I woke up late, after having a strange dream about smuggling an old friend out of Texas by way of the ocean. Slow start to the day, watched Mythbusters and ate breakfast. Was kinda down, so tried retail therapy. Went to one Borders books, which according to their website had a copy of a book I've been looking for, "Shadows over Baker Street." It's a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft Mythos. Weird, but it works well. Well the first Borders didn't have it. So I headed for the next one, by way of another Half Price books, got some books I was looking for, including more stuff for the new bookstore. Then went to Borders #2, and got Shadows. Hurrah. Came home, made dinner, read a little. Headed over to Amythest's to watch TV, came home again, medicated the ferret and am currently watching Andromeda on TV. Should take a shower and a few sleeping meds and see about sleeping soon. Maybe with a little weird fiction in my collection.

Vulpes Update Fri Jun 24 15:40:57 CDT 2005
Mood: Good Music of the Day: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - 20 Minutes of Oxygen
Been a busy week for me. Called in sick Monday due to the sinuses again, that and a general feeling of just not wanting to deal with work. I think we need mental health days. "I'm not coming in, because I'd probably kill someone." should be a valid and paid excuse ;) Made up for it though by cleaning up the abuse mailbox and doing a bunch of server quality control...making sure things are done to spec and according to customer orders. Also did alot of scripting foo, one firewall script to block ssh hack attempts, another to automate the QC process on unix servers. Hurrah for scripting, when an admin gets lazy or tired of things, he scripts it. :)

Other than work, not alot going on...got a bunch of meds last night, melatonin (for sleep) for almost a year, an herbal mix for depression for 3 months, and my allergy drugs for a month. Plus a present for my mom. I did kinda blow my budget, but hey...better to sleep, be happy and not sneeze. I did get the wrong pills, but these might work better or have to be taken less. Dunno. And I got mom a gift, well...cause I can. :)

Hmm, what else...been watching the first season of Andromeda at night while playing with the ferrets. Show's still good through another goround, so I think I'll go pick up Season 2, eventually. Kinda short of funds now ;) Haven't been playing games much, or geeking (other than at work). Been reading alot, mostly Robert Howard pastiches and Brian Lumley Mythos fiction. I'm weird, I find reading cosmic horror to be a real pick-me-up.

This weekend I'm going to be busy. Tonight is a pool party with the gang. Tomorrow I'm hitting the movies, probably will see Land of the Dead. Tomorrow night I'm going to see the Fort Worth Symphony doing an outdoor concert, the theme...scifi/fantasy music. *happy dance* And Sunday, Sunday I plan to veg. Yay veg :)

Tuesday's Gone... Tue Jun 21 21:53:05 CDT 2005
Mood: alright Music of the Day: Andromeda on TV
Well it's not gone with the wind...as far as I can tell it's still out ;) Hi there. I had a pretty good day today. Monday I called in sick, that sinus foo took me out. But today I was feeling much better, so I made it into work. And found that rather than having a killer workload, it was a pseudo quiet day. Had alot to do, catching up from 3 days out of the office, but not in a hectic way. Got caught up too. This is a good thing. Got out of work, headed to the store, got groceries for the week. Came home. Did laundry, and now I'm on Nyarlaptop in my bedroom with poinging ferrets. Shadow is really perked way back up. He's getting some major wardancing in. Does a fox good to see his ferrets playing like they're kits again. Though I think Winter got used to being the ferret with the extra energy. *grin*

Not alot else, thinking an early bedtime for me tonight. Enjoying a little sci fi tv before naptime. Ferrets, cute AI's on TV and sleep, the best things in life are well...affordable.

Pic post Mon Jun 20 17:53:54 CDT 2005
Mood: amused Music of the Day: Stargate SG-1 on TV
I found this while going though old pics of friends, and I thought people might get a kick out of it.



From my bday a few years back...it was amusing.

Weekend Update Sun Jun 19 22:23:49 CDT 2005
Mood: sickish Music of the Day: Automaniac on TV
Hi ho neighbors. I survived the weekend, mostly. Friday was a rough day, but Friday night I came home, made ravioli, and watched TV, including a very cool DVD on the Crusades. Very antisocial night, but it made me feel better about my rough day.

Saturday I woke early to go shopping, got ferret stuff for the gang. Then went to my group's Midsummer ritual. Short and sweet, since it's fecking hot in Texas. Afterwards I came home, showered again, medicated the ferret and headed out to dinner with the gang, and from there went to see Batman Begins. I liked it, I enjoyed the plot and backstory. Only problem was it was kinda sporatic, took a while to get going, got good, got slow, got good, got slow, got odd, got good. But I thought it was better than the last few Batman movies, and worth seeing.

Only problem was, my sinuses went into spasm during the movie, and I had a pounding headache come 2/3rds of the way though...so with all the booms in the movie, I was wincing. Came home, medicated myself to the eyeballs and finally felt human enough to sleep. Sunday started with ferret care, went to lunch with a friend. Ran some errands for my mom, all the time feeling more and more wonky. Finished out the evening hanging out and watching Food Network. I'm turning into a food show fan. It started with Iron Chef, then Alton Brown's Good Eats...I'm getting addicted to food shows. Of course, do I try anything I see on TV. Hell no. *laugh* But sometimes they're fun to watch, especially interesting or unique foods.

Came home, got clean, now eating soup while writing this. Hoping I start feeling less sinusy and bleah feeling. Would be nice to wake up not hurting or feeling off. *crosses fingers*

Bored Now Wed Jun 15 13:08:03 CDT 2005
Mood: bored Music of the Day: Hammerfall - Destined for Glory
As the subject says, fox is bored. And tired. And tired of being bored, and kinda bored with being tired. Nothing bad is going on, work is ok, Shadow is perky, friends are friendly. Skippy the Plush Cthulhu has a new friend. I've got Mail Call on tv at home, life is pretty spiffy. But I feel off, nothing short term to really look forward to. (and long term is so vague thanks to money, I just don't want to go there.)

Before anyone worries, I'm not having a depression episode...I'm just...having trouble saying to myself "Ok, it's dull now...but I have "X" to look forward to."

And there are things to look forward to. Quite a few things....

  • Seeing Land of the Dead in a week or so. Hurrah for Zombie movies.
  • Batman Begins, this should be a major improvement over the last few batman movies.
  • Fall weather. My mood always perks up when fall comes around. Ok, in Texas that's Mid October, but I can be patient...I think.
  • And speaking of Fall, there's always the Texas Ren Faire. I had a blast last time. That's something long term to look forward to. And affordable.
  • I want to take a vacation. Don't know how to work the logistics of affording it (since I want to go outside of Texas). But I'll deal with that later.
  • Geeking. I have a few projects on the back burner that I should be able to do with little expenditure of cash, upgrading Shub to Fedora core 4, building a multimedia server to play avi/mpg on TV, setting up wireless. Little things.
  • General good times with my friends. Concerts in the park, pool parties, movies. Assorted fun. It's good to have friends (specifically friends who I physically see on a weekly basis, over my friends I only see online most of the time).

    Not a ton of things, but not bad either. And I'm probably forgetting other things while I'm at it. But funny, i'm in a better mood for posting it. :) So it worked.

    • Hurrah for Weekends Sat Jun 11 17:53:30 CDT 2005
    Mood: Good Music of the Day: Mail Call on DVD
    Hey all. Hurrah for weekends, so far I've had a pretty darn good weekend. Started early on Friday, when I went home from work a few hours early due to feeling foul and tired. I've had a sinus bug for a while, and it's gotten worse over the last while. So I haven't been sleeping worth a darn. So, I came home, took care of Shadow and took a nap. Didn't get alot of rest, but it helped me feel better. Woke up, got ready and headed to Fuddrucker's (a burger place for those who aren't familiar with them.) Very good food, especially if you like big juicy fried burgers. Met up with a bunch of D/FW Ufies List members. Once dinner was done, we headed over to the movie theater to see i Mr & Mrs Smith. Now I was pretty much going to see this to see Angelina Joile kicking rump. I didn't expect it to be much more than that. I was happily suprised. It was funny, very very funny. I laughed out loud and loudly at multiple places in the movie. Brad Pitt, who I don't find to be a great actor, was funny and perfect in the part. And Angelina Joile was not only hot, but also funny as hell. It's a definite buy movie. It's not perfect, the pacing is a little slow, and it went a while longer than I thought it should have. But, that's a minor flaw in an otherwise very fun flick.

    Came home with the idea that I'd go to bed. Nope. First, I was hungry, then I needed to let the ferrets play. Then I was brain twitchy, body was tired but my mind was running. Ended up watching Andromeda episodes and reading til about 3 am, then I finally passed out. Woke up around noon today, (actually I woke up first around 8, medicated Shadow, medicated myself and passed back out). Got motivated, went to Wal Mart and got groceries for the next week and change, and some new jeans for me. And be afraid, I found a pair of shorts I liked, so fear the white legs of doom ;) Came home, unloaded, made lunch, took a nice cool shower and then headed back out to Half Price Books. Dangerous place. And boy, was I a lucky fox. I got a copy of a Delta Green novel I've wanted (think X-files vs Cthulhu) and a Robert Howard pastiche of his Cormac Mac Art stories I've been looking for for years. And on a whim, I checked out the video section and found...Mail Call DVDs. Both of them, for $8 each. Oh hell yeah, I grabbed them and headed out before I did more damage. Came home, put in one of the DVDs, medicated Shadow again, and now I'm vegging with Nyarlaptop and watching Mail Call while Winter and Shadow get some exercise. I'm a very content fox right now. Hurrah for the Universe getting the hint and giving me a break. :)

    Radio Free Vulpine Thu Jun 9 09:16:36 CDT 2005
    Mood: sleepy Music of the Day: Virgin Steele - Agony and Shame
    Well, last night I got to play electronics geek. A friend of mine had her car broken into and her stereo stolen. She got a new (used) stereo, and needed help hooking it up. So we picked up the wiring harness, and I got busy splicing. Now I've never installed a car stereo before. And it's been many moons since I did anything involving bare wire. Ok... learn a few things. 1. The kits come with extra stuff...which I eventually figured out mapped to rear speakers (that she didn't have). So not needed. Also, other features such as antenna control and remote control don't always fit to a stereo. So get the wires matched, get it all plugged in, turn on car...and we have lights...and sound...but only on half the car. A splice had come unspliced. Ok, resplice, tape every thing up so no shorts, and try again. Woo, we have sound on both speakers. And the CD player worked as well. Not bad for my first try. Maybe someday I'll hook up a stereo for my car ;)

    Stubborn Ferret Wed Jun 8 07:56:02 CDT 2005
    Mood: better Music of the Day: Pogues - Turkish Song of the Damned
    Quick update, guess who was a good boy this morning and took his meds with little complaint. Yep, Shadow the stubborn. And I figured out the problem. The meds haven't been mixing well with the ferrettone, so he gets pure ferrettone, then a bit of this nasty tasting gunk. And it finally overwhelmed his ferrettone addiction. So, smaller doses (two .25 ml doses instead of one .5 ml) with more 'tone, and lots more stiring = happier ferret. And calmer human. Now, to deal with the rest of my morning.

    My Day Tue Jun 7 20:38:08 CDT 2005
    Mood: tired Music of the Day: Assorted TV on
    What a day. Started with Shadow not wanting to take his meds. I think the new blend (from the pharmacy, over what I got from the vet) is a little different tasting, because he's really not liking it. He will take the meds, but he fights a bit more, when he used to just go for it. He might be associating the bad taste with the spoons I use to med him, since I use the same kind every time. I'm going to swap the spoons and see how that goes, along with mixing a bigger percentage of ferrettone to ferret meds. See what we can do.

    After that, I made it to work on time, hurrah. Did my usual Abuse/Security foo in the AM, all was going well til around 1pm. Then one of the other techs in my group was doing something with the power plugs, and rebooted my computer. Ok, annoying, but it happens. Then, while it was booting, he whacked the power again. ARGH! So we both go tracing the wires, and I hear "Is this it ?" and the sound of Cthulhu rebooting again. *sigh* But...it freezes on the motherboard splash screen. This...is unwell. Spend about 30 min futzing with it, trying to get it to boot. No good. Either the motherboard fritzed, or something went wonky in CMOS. Go get lunch, leaving Cthulhu with the IT guy. Come back from lunch and Cthulhu's booted fine. The CMOS battery seems to have fried. Replacing it fixed it. So boot back up, get back to work. And boy did I have alot to do, lots of quick fixes and emergency installs. By the time 6pm rolls around, I'm ready to run away. Lucky for me, I got to. Came home, ended up spending tonight vegging. Was talking about hanging out with Amythest and some friends, including one who's just in from California for the week, but I passed, I was feeling pretty rotten. Had soup, vegged out, generally spent tonight being a bum. Feeling a little better, but I think it will be a very early bedtime for me.

    Pain sucks Mon Jun 6 14:00:25 CDT 2005
    Mood: hurting Music of the Day: Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - Color me Green
    Well, somehow I did something to my left shoulder, cause all morning I have been in serious acheage. Hurts to do most anything with my left hand...and since I work in the computer business, I do alot of typing...so lots of grumbling about pain. I didn't do any heavy lifting or repetative motions (get your minds out of the gutter people), so I guess I just slept on it wrong or something. Bleah. This blows.

    Quiet Sundays Sun Jun 5 17:52:00 CDT 2005
    Mood: Ok Music of the Day: Clash of the Titans on DVD
    Well it's Sunday, weekend's over. And I did jack squat today. Ok, not completely true, I did clean house a little. And watched TV. Played computer games. read a bit, did some grocery shopping. Prepped fried ravioli, will cook them up in a little while. Been having bad issues with allergies all day, it's finally settling down to a vaguely bleah feeling. Feeling a litle edge of the Sunday blahs I get so often, but I'm fighting them with the cooking and a movie I love...Clash of the Titans. I loved this movie as a kid, and recently relearned I still love it. So a little mythology to keep a fox perky. Then, who knows.

    Weekend Fun Sat Jun 4 21:40:49 CDT 2005
    Mood: Good Music of the Day: Star Wars: Clone Wars on DVD
    Well, so far I've had a pretty good weekend. Friday I went to lunch with some friends, then to Barnes and Noble. Found alot of books I wanted, including a new collection of Robert Howard's Bran Mak Morn stories. *drool* Must get, but another time. I do have all the stories in the collection, save a few snippits, but it's a lovely book. Came home, and I was in a odd place. Not down, but not really able to focus. It happens on occasion, no matter what I did, I couldn't focus. So I cheated, moved my TV into the bedroom, put on Alien vs Predator from NetFlix and let Winter and Shadow loose for a long romp. Good combination, eventually put up the ferrets and fired up the laptop to chitchat with friends. ( I so need wireless at home). Went to bed rather late, but in a good mood.

    Woke up today, got moving eventually. Had lunch, then took my mom to Walmart so she could do a bunch of shopping. While we were there, I noticed they had a 19" tv on sale for $55. It was a display model, and it looked in near perfect condition. I didn't get it, mostly due to lack of room with my mom, and her groceries. But, I did go back and get it after dropping off my mom at home. Also had to pick up a univeral remote, since the TV didn't come with one. Came home, then went back out to take care of critters. (Several friends of mine are out of town, and I'm pet sitting). Finished up, got pizza came home and settled in for a night's TV and general vegging. Hmm, now what to watch after this video is over...who knows. But we'll see ;)

    This Last Weekend Thu Jun 2 22:15:18 CDT 2005
    Mood: tired Music of the Day: Iron Chef on TV
    Finally getting around to talking about my 3 day weekend. Friday started nicely, with my boss telling me to go home about 1 1/2 hours early. Not to look a gift early day in the mouth, I ran home, ate a snack, and waited for Techie to show up and snag me. From there we headed up to a friend's house for a pool party. Walked in, got handed a Woodchuck apple cider right off. Have I mentioned I have really good friends. Got changed, went swimming. Had alot of fun horsing around playing the waterpolo version of Calvinball...well til I somehow cramped up my left calf. Pain, lots and lots of pain. Eventually convinced my leg to straighten out, but after that, I wasn't in the mood to swim. Got back into dry clothes, had a burger, and then the lot of us sat down to watch Spaceballs. A bunch of geeks watching Spaceballs, as you can imagine it was interesting. Afterwards headed back home, and promptly passed out.

    Saturday I woke up bright an earlish...went over to Amythest's and from there ran errands on the way down to snag Nymaz and hit Scarbourough Faire. Ran by Compusa, got a new Palm case for TsathogGUI, One of those soft fliptop cases with room for cash, cards and memory. And on sale, which is a good thing. Headed down to Fort Worth, in the rather heavy rain. After checking out the weather report, we decide 'what the hell' and head out, by way of mexican food for lunch. Well, the weather report lied, and we got soaked. It wasn't as bad as it could be, and the shows we saw were alot of fun, but I was feeling less than perky by the end. Headed home, changed out of mudclothes, met up with more Ufies for dinner, then went and saw Madagascar. Very funny movie, unlike most kids movies it didn't force a moral message down your throat. Of course, I'll never be able to see lemurs in the same light again. ;) After the movie I headed home and vegged out, went to bed fairly early again as I recall.

    Sunday, I was lazy...was going to do laundry and clean house...instead I went over to a friend's place and watched Gothika (good, if slightly weird ghost story) and most of season 2 of Vicar of Dibley. The rest of the night was fairly dull, watching movies and playing GTA 3.

    Monday, well it was very similar to Sunday, save swap the Core for Gothika, and Dark Angel season 1 for Vicar of Dibley. I really am enjoying Dark Angel, mostly because Jessica Alba is cute ;) I saw a few episodes when it was broadcast, but only a few. I also think I picked up a bug this weekend, because I was feeling very bleah Monday.

    So, that's my 3 day weekend in a nutshell, nothing too wild, or exciting. But I had fun. Can't wait for the next 3 day weekend... I need the sleep ;)

    TsathogGUI Thu Jun 2 10:42:56 CDT 2005
    Mood: Geeky Music of the Day: None
    Finally updated the Cabal23.net website to include my newest Geek Old One, TsathogGUI.