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Christopher 'Vulpine' Kalley,
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Copyright © 1998-2006

"Better Vulpines through Technology."


"America: Screwing with the English Language for over 200 years."


Cold Fusion, Thou art my Bitch !!! Wed Nov 30 22:20:44 CST 2005
Mood: Triumphant Music of the Day: Iron Chef on TV
As you may infer from the above post, I did something fairly amazing (for me) in Cold Fusion at work. For those who aren't geeks Cold Fusion is a scripting language that plays with databases. It's also a royal pain in the ass, since I don't know it or it's backend worth a darn, and I rarely get to play with it, so I've had no need to develop any skills with it. Til today, when we found out that an ex-employee had upgraded it on a number of servers, changed the admin password before he left. And didn't share this important tidbit. Well poo...this is bad. Call up the admin, who'd been up til 7am working on stuff last night, he calls back...password, what password, he never got the password. We both do a flurry of googling, he wins the speed award for finding a hack to crack CF passwords. Sends me the info, I get to work while he trys to sleep some more. The fix...is soso, it fixes one variant of CF, but the other it doesn't work worth a damn. Crap. Curse alot, get frustrated, decided lack of blood sugar is b0rking my brain. Go eat. Come back, try some more, poke at some other files...read a bit more, find a hint on another crack. Get cracking, give it a shot, and praise Shub-Internet, it works. Go ahead and fix the other dozen or so servers, write out in detail what happened, and how to fix it in the future, and send it to all the senior techs and admins and whatnot at work. Me? Keep secrets at work, hell no. The more they know, the less I work. *grin* Plus it pisses me off when someone keeps a trick secret to seem "more important." Asshats ;) So yeah, it's not a huge thing, but noone else figured it out...and I did. And in something that isn't what I do every day. So I'm proud of myself.

Fried Fox Mon Nov 28 18:16:16 CST 2005
Mood: exhausted Music of the Day: Good Eats on TV
14 hour day at work. Some things broke, and after fixing them, other things got found, and so on and so on. In total, 14 hours of frazzled foxness. Started at 4am when I got a call from the overnight tech asking me in a paniced tone to get my kiester up and to work. Glad I went to bed early, instead of staying up til 2 am like I normally do on Sundays. Oh well. Tonight, I plan on keeping my cellphone off...just in case ;) I also plan on taking a long bath with a good book and going to bed very soon. Sleep, perchance to dream.

Turkey Day Review Fri Nov 25 17:49:25 CST 2005
Mood: Good Music of the Day: Testament - Practice What You Preach
I had an okish Turkey Slaughter Day. Wednesday night I stayed up late playing World of Warcraft til gods knows when. Accomplished several goals, got my undead rogue to level 21, and part of a guild. Big shock, it's the Esoteric Order of Dagon. A bunch of HPL nuts on WoW...gotta love it.

Crashed out around 3, woke up for my usual work time...freaked out thinking I was running late, then remembered I was off...went back to sleep. Got up again around noon. Got ready, headed over to Mom's to pick her up for dinner. We don't do the big spread stuff for holidays, since there is only two of us. So we go out to eat...this year it was...Bennigans. Only place open, which is kinda weird. Get there, get Mom, head to Bennigans. They're closed. Eep. Mom mentions they don't open to 3, it's 2:30. Somehow I'd skipped that little datum in the plans. Back in the car, off to Walmart to get some stuff...yes, the Wallyworld was open. Get stuff, get mom though checkout, convince her that no, the checker didn't screw up on the coupons. (My mom is a sweet soul, but is convinced people are out to rob her blind) back to Bennigans, just as they open. Timing, it tis everything. Have lunch, I had a french dip, and she had a monte cristo. *laugh* Traditions are only good if you have fun. We have a tradition, avoid the traditional ;) After dinner we heading back to her place, I hung around a bit and shot the breeze. Left around 6, headed over to Amythest's to hang out and watch Men in Black. Fun movie. She'd been up all day doing the turkey day prep, so I didn't stay late. Home by 9 or so, played wow and watched Dagon til about 1 am, then bed. Yes, I watch Dagon alot...it was on Scifi when I got home, and sounded just the thing for Turkey Day...I think I may watch it again next Turkey day. :) I need more weird traditions. ;)

Today I got to work, and it's dead for everyone else but me. I have a ton of servers that need investigating and a custom software install that's taking forever. But once that's done, I'm cutting out early. The security foo is all caught up, just this one thing that needs to be done ASAP...so I sit here waiting for it to get done. Weee. Thank goodness it's the weekend soon. Nothing much planned for the weekend, probably boring old housework and vegging. No malls or shopping if I can help it, this season is scary. But, I've got nearly all my holiday shopping done. Just two people left and it's not even December. I rock. And I still have money left over. :) Hurrah for me.

Giving Thanks Thu Nov 24 23:15:28 CST 2005
Mood: ok Music of the Day: History Channel on TV
Well, since everyone else is doing it, I've got a few things to give thanks for. So, with that...here's my list.

  • My friends. Without them, my life would not be a tenth as good as it is. This is both my friends here locally, and those of you I know online. I have a richness of friends.
  • My ferrets and cats. Furry family are a good thing.
  • Mythos. Hurrah for weird fiction, it's one of those things I love, and will read no matter what my mood is.
  • Computers. They work. Rather well actually.
  • My job. It's not always pleasant, it often drives me insane, but it pays the bills and keeps me in computer parts and books.
  • My sanity. I've had fewer moodswings this year than any year in memory, even with some really bad things going on. Impressive :)

    So, for those things, and probably many others I'm forgetting, I am thankful.

    • Med Buddies Sun Nov 20 11:40:00 CST 2005
    Mood: amused Music of the Day: Show on Icebreakers on TV
    Well, the sinus pain was bad all night last night, not as bad as it was, but kept me from sleeping. Call the doc, begging for something for the pain. Get a call back, they're putting me on a steroid to reduce the inflamation, which will relieve the pain. The funny thing, it's prednazone...the same thing Shadow's on for his insulinoma. *snicker* So we're med buddies now. Yes, it's funny... but Shadow's never had a sinus infection, so it might work ;)

    Weekend Foo Sat Nov 19 22:39:17 CST 2005
    Mood: sore Music of the Day: Blade Trinity on DVD
    Well, it's been a busy weekend. Friday night I met up with the gang for dinner at Red Robin, american eatery type place. Not bad food, but kinda pricy. Afterwards I headed home, by way of Movie Trading Company. Picked up a few flicks. Once I got home, I watched the Showtime series "Masters of Horror", specifically the Stuart Gordon directed "Dreams in the Witch House." Yet another oddly entertaining HPL adaptation. Like most of Gordon's takes on HPL, it's not quite what the story was...but still good. Plot addons and extra blood, gore, and sex that wasn't in the story, but it still worked out ok for me. After that I watched TV and played World of Warcraft for a while, then finally went to bed.

    Saturday I woke up, got dressed, medded the ferret and headed out to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I enjoyed it, as usual...only problem is my sinus pain came back with a vengance. After the movie I came home, and did the online checkin thing with the Carenow clinic I go to. A few hours later, I got the call, go to the doc, get new drugs. Go get 'script filled at the pharmacy, wait a long while then come home. Drugs myself, and wait for the pain to go away...and wait, and wait...still hurting right now. Hopefully by later tonight it will fade enough so I can sleep. Tomorrow, I need to do laundry, other than that I don't plan on doing much...again, hopefully I'll feel better. *crosses fingers* Wish me luck.

    Audio Geekery Sat Nov 19 01:11:37 CST 2005
    Mood: tired Music of the Day: Dagon - End Credits
    Well, I was a busy little bee tonight. I've wanted to grab soundclips from the movie Dagon for a while. Specifically, the S.W.A.N.A.(1) chanting "Ia Ia Cthulhu Fthagn." as well as the end theme music, which is pretty in a creepy sorta way.

    Well tonight I did some googling, grabbed a few shareware programs, ripped the audio from the DVD for the two bits I wanted. Fired up a wav editor, and cut the S.W.A.N.A.'s bit (2), then just encoded the end music as an Mp3. This all took about 30 min total. I'm so good, I scare myself. If anyone wants this stuff, drop me a line and I'll get it to you.

    Good end to a pretty crappy day. Night though, the night has rocked muchly. Babble more later.

    1. Squid With A Nice Ass, see previous posts on the subject.
    2. Not those bits, you perverts ;)

    Ugggg Wed Nov 16 22:33:01 CST 2005
    Mood: annoyed Music of the Day: Mythbusters on TV
    I'm still sick, my sinuses have been freaking out since the weather cooled off down here in Texas. Last night I was in enough pain I couldn't sleep til almost 6am. On the plus side, my new undead rogue character on World of Warcraft did pretty good while I couldn't sleep. Today I worked a half day, came home, napped a little and spent tonight watching TV and vegging. Still in some pain tonight, sitting up right now waiting on the assorted drugs I'm on to knock me out and let me sleep. If I'm still feeling like this tomorrow, a doctoring I will go. Sheesh, 4 visits in one year...compaired to one visit in almost 4 years before this. I still hate doctors, but I hate being sick more.

    Weekend looks to be fun, going to see HP on Saturday, probably will do some Yule shopping Saturday evening or Sunday. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I got a good percentage of my gifts gotten already, or at least ordered. Some especially goofy stuff this year...glad my friends have a sense of humor. *grin* Lets hope for feeling better fox...and sleep.

    New Monitor Sat Nov 12 23:55:19 CST 2005
    Mood: ok Music of the Day: Anacondas on TV
    Well, I went out and got the new monitor for Zhothaqquah today. It's a Dell 1926B 19" CRT monitor. Very nifty actually, I now have all black hardware for Zhothaqquah. *grin* And unlike my old 19", the colors are very bright. Great for playing World of Warcraft, and for life in general. I want to get a second monitor and a new video card for dual head goodness, but that will probably wait til xmas time....my pressie to myself I think. But for now, I'm a happy fox with a great monitor.

    It's Friday... Fri Nov 11 13:28:06 CST 2005
    Mood: blah Music of the Day: Hammerfall - Fury of the Wild
    It's Friday, that's really all I can say about today. Went to bed in a decent mood, woke up in a crappy one. Work is...well lets just say I'm having one of those days and leave it at that. Mostly the work foo is from yesterday, but it's bleeding over into today's insanity. But, it's the weekend. Or will be soon.

    Really don't have any wild plans for this weekend. Tonight I'm helping Amythest with some school stuff, and tomorrow at some point a bunch of us are getting together for "something". No details other than tomorrow eveningish. I'll probably spent tomorrow doing chores and housework, maybe some grocery shopping. Probably a little geeking too. Or World of Warcraft...well that's kinda like geeking ;) I might also work on a project I've been ignoring for a long time. Friend of mine bought a old Dell optiplex computer for her mom to use instead of Pentium I type she's got. I need to clean it up, get something running on it OS wise (Windows based) and a modem in it. Well, I probably won't drop a modem in myself, unless I find one in spare parts. But I should at least make sure it boots, has a decent amount of RAM and see what OS it does have. If it's Win2000, I may just crack the password and see what I can do to upgrade it, rather than play the OS install game with Dell hardware.

    Zhothaqquah is running mostly good, though the cd-rw drive is acting very flaky all of a sudden. It's not recognizing the cd-r's as being valid/blank, but Windows shows them as having 700+ megs of free space. WTF ? Maybe it's the computer giving me a subtle sign it would really like that DVD-RW upgrade I was thinking about... Damn greedy boxen. ;) You're already getting a new monitor this weekend (probably). Oh well, it's still cheaper than having kids ;)

    GYROS !!!!!!  Wed Nov 9 20:37:35 CST 2005
    Mood: full Music of the Day: Mythbusters on TV
    Gyros have been obtained. Food was yummy as always at King Tut's. If you're in the Fort Worth area, or stop by on future travels, give it a shot. Now I'm home, digesting, and watching Mythbusters on TV. Yay Mythbusters, and just FYI...for the redhead fans out there, Kari is especially lovely this episode ;)

    Gyros Redux Wed Nov 9 11:59:13 CST 2005
    Mood: hungry Music of the Day: Tempest - Dunmore Lassies
    Just a quick note for those wondering about my gyro craving. I'm getting it sated tonight by going to King Tut's down in Fort Worth. Yay Egyptian gyros. *happy dance* I know you all were worried about me :)

    Damn you Alton Brown Mon Nov 7 18:30:28 CST 2005
    Mood: hungry Music of the Day:
    Damn you...Good Eats was on, doing a show on Greek gyros, and now I'm craving a gyro from a Egyptian place down in Fort Worth...

    *grumbly tummy*
    Darn it...I hate when my taste buds get an idea...no matter what I eat, they will complain. :(

    State of the Fox Mon Nov 7 12:57:28 CST 2005
    Mood: sick Music of the Day: Blue Oyster Cult - Magna of Illusion
    Still feeling like poo, though not poo in massive amounts of pain. I slept last night mostly well, though I had dreams about the director Stuart Gordon (famed for Reanimator and other horror/Lovecraftian films) casting me in Dagon 2. And yes, opposite of the S.W.A.N.A. (1) *wink* So my sleep was rather odd, plus just not enough of it. Woke up this morning, took my handful of pills and came to work. And I'm okish...lowgrade fever (or warm building, hard to tell), aches/twinges and conjestion. But the big kicker...my hands are shaking just a little. I think it's from general rundownness that I'm feeling, it's not very noticeable...unless I try to send a text message from my phone...then it sucks. But it could be worse. After work, I'm heading home (after a store stop for more juice and eggs) and vegging, hopefully going to bed early.

    (1). Squid With A Nice Ass. Character in Dagon who was female (and cute from the legs up, from hips down she had tentacles). First time I watched the movie there was a walking away (slithering away ?) shot of her bare behind, and I said "For a squid, she has a nice ass." Offically, the weirdest thing I've ever said. My friends still wonder about me for that. But it was a very lovely ass.

    Sick again Sun Nov 6 20:06:13 CST 2005
    Mood: sick Music of the Day: History Channel on TV
    Well, looks like I didn't get rid of that sinus infection. Friday and Saturday day I felt good, but as Saturday went on, the less good I felt. By the time I crashed, I hurt alot. I hoped that sleep and drugs would fix...no such luck, I woke up way early in real pain. And been there most of the day. Slowly feeling humanish...still getting sharp stabbing pains, but they're not lasting as long as earlier...I think. If I'm still hurting tomorrow, back to the Doc for me. Grrr...have I mentioned lately I hate going to the doctor's ?

    On the positive side, Zhothaqquah is running great, so is World of Warcraft. Slowly getting everything reinstalled bit by bit. So far, so goodish. :) Still have some upgrading to do, some programs to find, etc...but I'm happy with my progress, and the machine's performance.

    Besides computers and sick, not alot else. Saw Wallace and Grommit on Saturday, laughed like a loon. Definitely a good show. Been watching alot of TV, playing alot of WoW (since last night) and reading alot. Yay reading. Ok, I'm babbling...I'm exhausted. So, I'll write more later. Now, time for soup (bleah)

    Zhothaqquah v2.0 Sun Nov 6 01:33:12 CST 2005
    Mood: geeky Music of the Day: Discovery Channel on TV
    Well today I decided to go out and get the upgrade bits for Zhothaqquah. Mostly due to the Windows install being goofy. So I went to Fry's, and got a ECS 755-A2 motherboard and an AMD Semperon 2800+ processor. And since I was adding all new hardware, I splurged on getting a 120 gig SATA drive for the boot drive. So the only old hardware will be the RAM (3 weeks old), case (cool looking), video card and DVD and CDRW. I spent more than I planned, but not by much (discounts and all), so I was happy. After my purchasing, I went home, dropped off the stuff and headed back out to see a movie with the D/FW Ufies List (more about that later). About 10:30 pm I got home, started putting the hardware together. Went fairly straightforward, actually read the manual on the hardware, so things like the front USB ports on the case are working for once. I just finished installing Windows XP, running though the various security updates. This is gonna take a while, but I think it's going to work out pretty good.

    What a Day Thu Nov 3 19:47:49 CST 2005
    Mood: tired Music of the Day: Behind the Mask of Zorro
    Well, today was one hell of a day. Started last night with me not able to sleep thanks to sinus pain. Maybe got 2 hours of sleep, ended up calling into work. Went to the doctor, got the usual antibiotics and a shot in the rump. Owowow. Got the perscription filled, and decided that since I was feeling a little awake, and I had the day off, I should go get my car inspected. I've had bad bad luck in car inspections, but I was feeling positive. So I went down to my mechanic (same guy I've been going to for 6-7 years now, save when I was in Austin). Took a while, they were busy...but it passed, only needed a rear wiper blade added and a lightbulb in my taillight (didn't know it was out, oops). That, plus inspection and a oilchange came in at $101.00 Which, compaired to the $650 I shelled out last year, and the $800 the year before, was nice. It also helps that I have quite a bit more in the bank set aside for said repairs. So, I was flush with funds...so I went to the local Scifi/Comic shop and splurged on books. Got a David Weber novel, as well as a Arthur Machen weird story collection, and a hardback edition of Robert Howard's stories done by Wildside Press. They're doing a 10 edition series of REH's weird stories in a fancy edition. Needless to say, I must have ;) Headed back home, got groceries, made dinner and have generally vegged watching TV, playing WoW and budgeted money. So life is much calmer for me. I'm going to take a hot bath and hopefully go to bed early tonight. *crosses fingers* And hurrah for tomorrow being Friday.

    And a light at the end of the tunnel. Tue Nov 1 22:01:47 CST 2005
    Mood: happy Music of the Day: Tesla - Edison's Medicine (live)
    Well, as glum as I've been for a few weeks, tonight I had a nice upswing of mood. Got laundry done, got laundry put up (including last week's pile), had dinner, watched TV and did a little hardware foo. Oh, I didn't mention this...guess who had another power glitch today...yep. In the time it took me to go from home to work (7 min approx) my power blipped out...my router came up fine, but the computers didn't. So on my break, I flew home, booted the boxen..and saw my KDS 19" monitor decided to not power on. *grumble* It did this yesterday, eventually it started working...no idea why. Same thing today, came home after letting it rest for the day, and it powered right up. I also pulled Shub-Internet's drive, and stuck it in an old system I had in storage, booted fine. Copied a few files over, and watched for errors. Nope, drive looks unharmed from yesterday. *relieved sigh* When I rebuild Shub in the near future, it will be nice to be able to not have to reinstall from scratch. Not alot else, been tinkering with Windows setup on Zhothaqquah, trying to think of things I normally used on Shub, and finding a Windows version. Pretty much have everything, save a money program, like GNUcash. Not sure what will take it's place, might just do a flatfile balance sheet for now. We'll see. On that note, I think this geek is heading to bed.