http://imler.dyndns.org A software nerd in Saint Louis Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:38:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When installing software, usually the topmost link on a download page? Is the default option.  Don't scroll down unless you know exactly what you're looking for. After you install the wrong software, do not blame the operating system.  Also, take notes when other people fix things for you. Read error messages.  They ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=118 Tonight is maintenance night on the computer cluster.  The desktop needed a new power supply, and the UPS had to be changed for a better one. Bubba, the wordpress server, had to go offline for the UPS swap just now. It had been up for over 245 days.  I always feel ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=115 Rhiannon is coughing.  I reach into my inner jacket pocket, grab a tube of cough drops, and hand it to her without looking. "Take one of these," I say, as suavely as I can manage. "Why do I need a towel?" she asks. I look down.  I've actually handed her a tube of ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=114 me: Somehow we did a scene that crossed 'Song of the South' with 'The Flintstones'. Think Barney and Fred picking cotton in blackface. We got there after exploring a scene where they make Flintstones chewable black tar heroin. Dan: Oh, awkward. Leno did that same bit Monday night. me: Oh, yeah. I ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=113 I have a new feed on twitter:  @too_thinky This feed mirrors my away messages, and stray thoughts throughout the day.  The goal of the project is to babble all day long, while still producing interesting posts, all in under 140 characters. Think of it as part improv calisthenics, part pandering to ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=112 Life is really all about the good moments you remember.  The NOLA improv festival was last weekend, and it had a lot of good moments. During a workshop, John and I did this scene about having to kill all the rabbits in a pet store because the pet store was closing. ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=110 Cell phones allow us to do all sorts of unwise things, like continuing a conversation with someone while you're sitting down to relieve yourself.  Bad form, so people try and hide it.  They mute the phone when flushing, and when running water, hoping that the person on the other end ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=109 Saturday is getting really, really busy. There are three things I want to get done Saturday between 5:00 and 11:00:  there's a  Rosh Hashanah dinner, a Jonathan Coulton concert, as well as the public debut of the ride a light-cycle project I've been working on (at the Atomic Cowboy.  Should be ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=103 Borlaug Fantasies:  The belief that, if properly motivated, each and every human has the potential to become the kind of scientist that keeps hundreds of millions of people from starving to death due to resource scarcity. http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=102 I'm having a particularly graceless week.  I feel stressed, overextended, my allergies are kicking in, and I'm not sleeping well.  My sleep is restless and shallow. The practical upshot of this is that I'm having lots of vivid, semi-lucid dreams that I remember when I wake up. For example:  I'm dreaming about ... http://imler.dyndns.org/?p=99