Another Word for Nerd

http://www.typingtest.com

My results:
Test: Huck Finn
Gross 107 WPM
Errors: 1 Words
Net Speed: 106 WPM
Accuracy: 99%

I think the Austin-American Statesman got the caption for a a tree-climbing article under the picture for an article about the Bartlett police department.

We have a mass user rename at work tonight, so I’m here late. While I’m killing time, I’m taking pictures and finishing the review writeup for the Tadpole Talin notebook I’ve had on review loan for the past three months. I’ll get the review posted on SunHELP over the weekend, and get this machine (which costs almost as much as an entire paycheck) headed back to them on Monday. Yes, it is an x86 laptop - but it runs Sun’s Java Desktop System linux distribution. After I return it, they’ll be sending me one of their new SPARC-based portable systems for another review.

Today looked like it was going to be hot, but when I headed home for a late lunch around 2pm, we had light drizzle. By the time I crossed the river on MoPac, it was a torrential downpour. I headed back to work after 3, and it was bright, sunny, and MoPac was completely dry. That’s Texas weather for you.

Still trying to sell my Silvertone bass guitar. If I don’t sell it, maybe I can take it to South Austin Music and trade it in for a case of strings or something.

I’ve been having “purge and minimalize” urges lately. When November (and “having no debt other than the house payment”) rolls around, I think I’m going to replace my home servers with Nanode boxes. The more I look at the mini-ITX and nano-ITX form factors, the more I like them. If Apple would could out with a “headless iMac” form factor machine, I’d buy one in a heartbeat instead of a G5 tower this fall. I got rid of the Cube (and bought my current dual 867Mhz tower) a year and a half ago because I had a need for multiple hard drives and peripherals - but those needs are gone now.

I need to take a day off next week to decompress and relax. I’ve been the only “IT guy” here at the office this week, supporting 65 other people. My coworker is on vacation in Florida, and gets back this weekend. At least this time I haven’t spent half the week with blindingly-painful migraines due to stress.

Oh yeah, I finally unsubscribed from Dave Winer’s RSS feed. His fifteen minutes of trying to claim fame for work someone else did is over, and I haven’t seen anything interesting come out of his weblog in months. It seems to me like he just likes to fly around and hobknob with people who are actually getting things done in the “blogsphere”.

Well, I’ve got one GMail account invite left. Anybody want it?
edit: because there seem to be a rush of people who can’t read or comprehend things, I’ve already given it away.

Yet another one of the fine bluesmen from the Blues Brothers movie is gone.
Ray Charles passed away today at the age of 73.

Well, Ronald Reagan passed away today at the age of 93. He was the first US President that I really remember (having been born in ‘74). Other than Clinton, probably my favorite president, although I don’t consider myself affiliated with any particular political party.

ABC News says:

Former President Ronald Reagan, the actor and politician whose conservative vision and sunny outlook transformed America, has died.

Conservative vision and sunny outlook? This is the same man who said:

My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

I found Kia Tech Info - the complete service and shop manuals for my 2001 Kia Sportage (and other models) available online, direct from Kia, for free.

Went to O’Reilly Auto Parts and got a generic “leather covered” shifter knob; I’ll put it on in the next couple of days to replace the factory-stock plastic one that’s missing its top label.

We hit a (so far) high of 97 yesterday. Right now, its 88F outside at 9PM.

It got so hot today in my parked truck (2001 Kia Sportage, black, non-tinted windows) that the plastic plate with the “gear diagram” on top of my stick-shift knob melted loose and fell in the floorboard. This is particuarly amazing because this time last year, it did the same thing, so I superglued it in place. It has gotten hot enough to melt superglue that has sat and hardened for a year. I think I’ll just find an entire replacement shifter knob.

Boredom is when you drive from 183 and Burnet down to Lamar/Ben White, and then back home up Mopac, at 11pm at night.

Heat craziness is when you look for broken sprinklers in company parking lots to drive through on the way.

Amy’s truck got put in the shop over the weekend, and will most likely need a complete transmission replacement. Thank goodness for extended warranties with a $200 deductible.

I’m driving us everywhere until it gets fixed, so I put a long-overdue complete set of four new tires on the Kia this morning. Discount Tire did a great job, and had me back on the road in about 45 minutes, for around $250.