Send comments or
suggestions to:
Christopher 'Vulpine' Kalley,
vulpine@cyberfox.org

Copyright © 1998-2006

"Better Vulpines through Technology."


"Ah, I see you've decided to go psycho, Godspeed."


City of Heroes and General Life Foo Thu Oct 28 11:30:25 CDT 2004
Mood: Tired Music of the Day: King Diamond - Burn
Well, it's been a long few days here. Getting used to 5 day weeks is harder than it looked. *thud* But, on the plus side I am doing some more interesting work now. At least when I'm not covering for my old position.

Bought City of Heroes on Monday, for those who play I'm on the Pinnacle server under the name Steel Weasel. Yep, I turned my old Exalted character into a superhero. So if you see a very short guy in grey poinging by with a katana, it might be me ;) The game is fun, if not very intuitive off the bad. But I like it, and that's important.

Saw The Grudge Tuesday night with The Grim Squeaker. Definitely a movie for those who like creepy movies. Not gory, though it had some gore, just lots of good suspense, creepy noises and jumps besides the normal cat from out of shot technique. Definitely worth seeing, well unless you don't like horror movies.

Not alot else new, spent last night hanging out with Amythest and Nymaz watched a movie, spent too much money at Movie Trading Company and had a lovely dinner...not in that order ;) Going to the Texas Rennisance Festival this weekend with the D/FW Ufies List. Should be alot of fun...other than away from my computer all weekend ;) *twitch* *twitch* Yes, I'm an addict. :)

Weekend Foo Sun Oct 24 17:46:03 CDT 2004
Mood: ok Music of the Day: Andromeda on TV
Not alot new. I haven't been posting much save bits and bobs. Not alot new going on, work has been extremely busy with the new position. Hopefully this next week will be a bit calmer, not having to do quite as many different jobs at work. But enough about that. This weekend was fun. Friday night I stayed home and did laundry and played on TsathogGUI. (I really need to set up a link for the new 'puter...one of these days.) Saturday I headed over to Amythest and Nymaz's to help prep for the annual D/FW Ufies List Halloween Party. Mostly did decorations and food prep, then came the partypeople. The theme of the party was 'The 80's'. So, my costume was pretty much what I wore in High School, concert tshirt and jeans. And the shirt was one I wore back in HS, was kinda nice to fit into a shirt I wore 15 years ago. ;) Of course, this was a very large shirt when I bought it. *wink* But the costume went well, I even won an award for "Costume, what costume..." ;) Hey, it's what I wore...and pretty much still wear today.

Came home after the party, generally vegged out and went to bed early. Got up Sunday, went to Movie Trading Company and spent the gift card I got for my bday on the first part of season 1 of Andromeda and Tremors 2 . I'm really enjoying Andromeda, I've been wanting a good space opera show to watch, and this is a good one. Lots of heroics and spaceships and cute purple aliens and ship AI's with clevage :) I'll be collecting the other DVD's. Other than that, I've been cleaning house. Amazing how much trash one fox can generate. But I'm pretty much done and feel good about what I got done. Especially since Sundays aren't my best day, mood wise. But today has been pretty good, and I'm taking that as a good sign.

New Job Report Thu Oct 21 19:16:40 CDT 2004
Mood: Good Music of the Day: Demonia on TV
Well, first few days on the new job has been fun. Only mild sarcasm, I have been working my tail off working on developing the new department, as well as doing my old job to cover the gap in support coverage. Plus IT work for other departments and covering for the manager who was out sick with dental issues. Oh yeah, and Nymaz was covering for an Admin on vacation, so I didn't have him to fall back on either. ARGH !!! I don't mind working my tail off...but sheesh. Today though, was much calmer. Got some work done, fixed some customer's issues post rebuilding. Wrote out a bit of documentation on what I was doing as well, so I can teach the others. And got out of work almost on time...unlike the last few nights. Had a meeting with the security admin to lay out what we'll do with that addon to our job description, got to use said info later. I'm really looking forward to getting in gear on this job...it looks to be alot better than I expected. Not just moneywise, though I think that will be nice as well. I just think things will work out well, and I'll get to show my skills.

Beyond work, I got a pair of books to add to my ever growing Mythos collection. Watching Demonia and eating cookies. Hurrah for Italian Nunspoitation movies :) Once the movie ends I may get gaming on TsathogGUI (new Windows workstation) or read...but in general I'm going to have a quiet night.

New Job Tue Oct 19 19:34:54 CDT 2004
Mood: Good Music of the Day: 09-Iron Maiden-Fear of the Dark-10 - Judas Be My Guide
Well, new position at old job. I am now part of the team we're setting up for doing customer's custom setup requests as well as other assorted stuff. Mostly configuration and creation, not tech support. And using my Unix/Linux skills as much as Windows. More Windows than Unix to start, since the other techs are both Unix, but we'll see.

*happy dance*

Downsides:
  • 5 day work week. No more 3 day weekends. :(
  • Still have to help cover Windows support til they get some new people. Probably never get away from this.

    But I think this works out as a very good thing...lets hope.

  • Birthday Report Mon Oct 18 13:52:09 CDT 2004
    Mood: Good Music of the Day: Lacuna Coil - Senzafine
    Well, I had a very good birthday weekend. Friday I had my birthday party, Amythest and Nymaz hosted it. As most of my bday parties in the last few years, this was a bad movie night. We started with Elvira's Haunted Hills and then moved on to Duel to the Death. Lots of cheese, bad lines and exploding ninjas. ;) I also lucked out on presents, the big thing was The Grim Squeaker's gift...a new gaming computer. *squeeeee* So I have yet another computer at Chez Cabal23, more on him later. After watching the movies the party eventually broke up and I came home and passed out soon.

    Saturday I woke up early and went out with my mom to lunch. Had a lovely breakfast style lunch (brunch ?) then went to Half Price Books, where I spent too much cash. Then I headed home to work on the new computer. Didn't get very far before I got called by The Grim Squeaker, Techie and SugarFae to see if I wanted to go to dinner. Sure, why not. So we go to dinner, then Barnes and Nobel (where I spend one of my presents, a gift card) and then back to Squeaker and Sugarfae's to watch Bad Santa. Now this movie was just wrong. Fun, but wrong. ;) After that movie, came back home and crashed out early, I had to be up darn early on Sunday.

    Sunday, aka my real Birthday dawned, and I was up by 8am. Headed down to meet up with Amythest and go to the Fort Worth Botanical gardens for their Japanese Fall Festival. Was enjoyable, watched a kenjitsu and a iajitsu demonstration, saw some very pretty plants and art, and very greedy koi. From there we went to Six Flags' Fright Fest, which was fun if way way WAY too much walking. Went on no rides, I can't stand rides. But I did like the shows and general sillyness. Came home after that, and started work on TsathogGUI, aka the new computer. He's a Duron 1600, 256 megs RAM, 40 gig HD, running Windows XP. Had some big headaches with getting things installed and running, but he's settled down nicely. Finally went to sleep last night around 4 am. Woke up today, glad I took today off from work. Been geeking more with my new toy, need to do some upgrades in the nearish future (better monitor/keyboard and a 2nd hard drive). But for now, Tsath is running great.

    I had a great birthday, due for the most part to Amythest, Nymaz, The Grim Squeaker, Techie, SugarFae, Silas and my mom. I'm hoping this makes the next year a very good one. And remember, I'm not just getting older...I'm getting weirder :)

    Car Foo Sat Oct 9 11:16:36 CDT 2004
    Mood: Relieved Music of the Day: Mythbusters on TV
    Well, I spent yesterday at the mechanic. Got up early, drove down to my mechanic. They pull the computer from my car, and trade it in for a new one. Car still goes vroom vroom vroom, rough idle. For those just tuning in, my car has been running very rough for some time, but the repair estemate was pretty expensive, so it took some time to save up the cash.

    They slot in the car computer, and guess what doesn't change. The engine. *grumble* Ok, have them try to inspect it...failure. Big shock. They decide to run it though some kind of fluid cleaning to clean up the emissions. About 10 min later the owner calls me into the workarea. Guess what's not revving like a racecar. Yep, my car. They hooked up the diagnostic system to my car, and it rebooted my car's computer. *boggle* It confused the mechanics, confused me, lots of confusion running around. Ok, they finish up the fluid thingie, car passes inspection and I drive away happy. And, best of all...the owner said at the begining, he would bring this in at estimate...and he brought it in $1 under it. What should have cost me about $800 or so total, I got for under $600. *Big happy dance* And this is why I've been going to the same mechanic for 5 years, save the 1 year I was in Austin. So, I'm back on the road again. Woohoo !!!

    Car Crap Sat Oct 2 13:48:07 CDT 2004
    Mood: Annoyed Music of the Day: Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
    Took car in to get the idle control motor (or some such part) replaced and car inspected. Got there bright and damn early, turned in keys, and dove into my book. 4 hours later, it's now the idle control motor, but possibily the computer that runs things in my car. Which they can't replace, since the company they get such parts from is closed on Saturday. Car won't pass without the idle working normally, so no inspection...

    ARGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    So, I'm pseudocarless til next Friday. My car's drivable, but I can't afford tickets right now on top of uber pricy car repairs. Lucky for me I work a mile from where I live, I'll just hoof it. But still. Argh ! DFW is not a town to be carless in, especially when you also live alone. Grumble grumble grumble.

    Shark Tale Sat Oct 2 00:21:19 CDT 2004
    Mood: Amused Music of the Day: Virgin Steele - Invictus
    Quick post, if you like silly movies, go see Shark Tale. It's funny as hell and in general fun. Not perfect, but good enough...and boy did I need the giggles.

    Volcano Cam Fri Oct 1 14:11:11 CDT 2004
    Mood: Pyroclastic Music of the Day: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - A Thousand Fists
    Well, for those people who want to see a possible big boom, tune in to St. Helens Cam. Ya, a web cam, updating every 5 min with a shot of the caldera. Wonder what we'll see...

    And yes, I have it stuck on my desktop, just in case ;)

    Car foo Fri Oct 1 13:50:09 CDT 2004
    Mood: mechanical Music of the Day: Impellitteri - Hold The Line
    Well, I fixed the radiator hoses on my car. Dad would be proud, only took about 10 min total. Wee. Of course, tomorrow I take the car in for the rest of the repairs and inspection. But, I actually did my own maintainance, and unlike the headlight from the begining of the year, it didn't take 3 hours and multiple trips to the store. Hurrah for me :)