LukPac.org

6.28.2004

There's a Fry's about a mile from where my training is, so I thought I'd go poke around and pick up some cheap batteries (2000 mAh NiMH 10-pack for $10, thank you Slashdot). When we went to one in Arizona, Zach described it as a mix of Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and Radio Shack. And that really sums it up, especially at the the location here, which seems a bit more tacky than the one in Arizona (and thus more like Wal-Mart). Actually, I'd say it's what Radio Shack would be if they had turned into a big box store and not drifted away from more hardcore electronics stuff in favor of cell phones and satellite service.

Of course, Radio Shack had cell phones and satellite dishes 15 years ago when I thought they (Radio Shack) were cool, but it just seemed different when the phones were the size of large phone books and the dishes were 10 feet across. Ahh, those were the days.

[8:39 PM] post a comment

6.27.2004

What to wear on the job

"Some people say it doesn't affect the way they work, but I disagree," Piper said. "I think if you dress up, it gives you a professional internal demeanor."

I don't know...it does and it doesn't. WPS is business casual, with a big emphasis on casual. "Casual day" basically means "cover your genitals and midriff (mostly)." While I'd say I probably felt more "professional" when I came in wearing business formal for an interview, I pretty much feel that same way every day at my current position. I'd say your job/work environment/etc influences how you approach work as much - if not more - than what you wear. Of course, that's all in my humble opinion.

[11:42 PM] post a comment

"We're having a lovely time, wish you were here..."

And with that I'm back out in Orange County for another week of training. This time it's four and a half days instead of three. From what I can tell it should be a bit more exciting than the last time. Luckily this hotel is quite a bit nicer than the last one I was at - free WiFi is just the icing on the cake.

So on the way to the airport we got rear ended. In my new car. The damage doesn't look too bad (just a loose/broken bumper as far as I could tell), but hey, it's not our insurance that's paying for it anyway, right? I'd guess if one has to get hit that's probably the best place.

Anyone want to come out to California and keep me company?

[11:10 PM] post a comment

6.21.2004

Another strange dream last night, this one right before I got up this morning. Somehow it involved my dad trying to get me to a class (I think), a guy I worked with buying me a drink and then balking when I say I can't drink it now, a son of my old barber (just kind of there) and a girl from high school and college, again, just kind of there. How all of that stuff got put together in one dream is beyond me. I mean, I didn't even have anything to drink last night. Maybe it was the fumes from all those cleaning products we were using.

[8:34 AM] post a comment

6.17.2004

New UW dorm gets OK

Most of the commission focused on the size of the rooms in the six-floor dormitory, which will house 425 freshmen. The plan calls for 20 to 25 more square feet per student than the largest current dorm rooms on the Madison campus.

As far as I know, the largest rooms on campus are found at Liz Waters, and having been in a few, I can say they are *really* big for dorm rooms. The rooms are seriously going to be 50 sq ft bigger than those?

The more I think about it, the more confusing it gets. Single rooms are generally bigger than half of a double, so...

[12:46 PM] post a comment

Back when I was a "kid" I was really into baseball. The Brewers, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor (and his 39 game hitting streak in 1987), Jose Canseco making gobs of money. I got the Topps sets every year. I remember trying to go to one of the last games of the season (and failing) in 1992 because the Brewers were really hot at the time.

But then something changed. Baseball just didn't seem that exciting anymore. Was there some fundamental shift in the game? Lack of player loyalty? The Brewers doing worse and worse? Or was it just me getting older - the exit of all my childhood "heroes" (I use the term loosely, although I did have a big poster of Paul Molitor)?

Whatever the case, I just really haven't been able to care about baseball for some time now. Not that I've really tried that much, but I think the last time I really cared at all was in the spring of 1998 and a guy down the hall was really big on the Brewers.

Of course, while I had no interest in football growing up, the rise of the Packers in the '90s changed that. I'm not as die hard as I was a few years ago - I'll survive if a miss a game - but I still enjoy watching the game and following the Pack.

[9:47 AM] post a comment

6.09.2004

Growing up in Racine you'd sometimes get some strange signals on channel 8. Nobody ever seemed quite sure what this was all about. This explains it:

On 10 September 1984, the FCC issued a license for a low-power translator station, W08BY, which began broadcasting on channel 8 from the facilities located atop the Marc Plaza hotel. It showed music videos.

Lots of other nifty Milwaukee TV trivia there as well.

[10:32 AM] post a comment

6.08.2004

Consumer Group Sues Cell Phone Companies for 'Locking' Handsets

Long story short: apparently GSM carriers are preventing people from moving their phone from one carrier to another, which in theory should be easy to do. Ok, fine, but this stuck out:

"Like the 'early termination fees' that cell phone companies charge dissatisfied customers, this handset locking scheme is designed to force unhappy consumers to stay with a cell phone company no matter how poor the service is," said consumer advocate Harvey Rosenfield, also representing FTCR.

The only time such fees apply is when you take advantage of the phone rebates. The entire premise of them is the companies will take a hit on the phones themselves in exchange for your agreement that you will stay with them for a certain amount of time. Buy your phone outright and you don't have to worry about it. Do people honestly believe they should have someone else pay for their phone and not expect anything in return?

Not that I love cell carriers or anything, but come on...

[8:41 AM] post a comment

6.06.2004

After a long weekend, the basement is finally mostly cleared out - except for one small spot a the bottom of the stairs, all of the walls, drywall, barnboard etc are gone. There's currently a very full dumpster in the driveway. Next up will probably be drainage, followed by a bathroom and new walls, drywall, etc. It will be a long journey.

I just picked up a copy of Mason Proffit's Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream. It's the only album in their catalog that hasn't been issued on CD, which is a real shame, since it's probably their strongest. For now a computer, some audio software and a CD burner will have to do.

I'm off to more training this week, although this is just in Madison. It's at CUNA on the west side, though, so the drive might be a challenge.

[10:18 PM] post a comment

6.04.2004

I think everyone has given up on blogging for the moment or something.

We spent the extra long weekend in Phoenix. It was nice to finally get down there, but we were both extra glad to get back home. 103 degrees with low humidity is still 103 degrees. 55 suddenly doesn't seem all that bad.

So once again I'm playing the Linux distro game. I got a new (old) box for the server, and I just put on the stable release of Debian. The installation went fine (gasp!), but "stable" seems fairly out of date for certain packages. I don't believe Firefox is available, for instance, and KDE is only 2.x, not 3.x. Yet going to "testing" apparently means security updates don't happen in a timely fashion, and things simply may or may not work.

What other choices do I have if I don't want to start from scratch every year or two?

[9:44 AM] post a comment