I've recently fallen in love with eBay; Not in a big romantic way, just a subtle crush that sends me scurrying off to check my bids every half an hour.

My latest (and greatest) purchase is a Polar M32 Heart rate Monitor, with a soft band strap and funky wrist monitor. It has all types of funky technology, even letting me know when I'm training in my optimum heart rate zone. My zone! Wicked.

It arrived this morning, and just after tearing it from the box I hastily put it on and pushed the buttons til I got something that looked like a heart pulse on the wristwatch. I don't know if it's mine. I hope it is. Since then, I've been doing all sorts of things to see what my heart rate does.

Just sitting here, coding in basic PHP keeps my heart rate around 72 bpm. Shell scripting usually boosts it to 74 bpm, but whenever I have to send a fax, my heart rate zooms through the roof and zips up to 85 bpm!

I need to get fit! Send me more faxes! Abandon the tree-friendly email! FAX ME!!!
Feel that body burn!!!

I got a little bit overwhelmed with an icon generator... Although, I really think some of them are true classics.

We always take things for granted. It seems, the better something is at its job, the less we notice it.

Take for instance: Google.
It's always there, it's always working, it always provides us with the answers we need.

In fact, Google has invaded our popular culture, and our language. To "google" something is now commonplace, and Googlisms has its own devoted web site.

Results of my own Googlism:
jacqui is ready for gold rush
jacqui is recognized in the community for her expertise in working with couples
jacqui is diverse and energetic
jacqui is a born artist
jacqui is in elk geval een zeer opmerkelijk gitarist
jacqui is an artist of figurative subjects with life and energy
jacqui is our shop photographer
jacqui is a gift to interview
jacqui is an undergraduate student of merit
jacqui is her ability to accept me as I am and for who I am in spite the fact that she knows me so well

In fact, it's so damn good, that Microsoft is getting envious and has plans of rolling out there own version of a super-search engine later on this year. Phhhht. Like they have a chance!

So we take it for granted. Google is a rock on which internet subculture is built. It's there. It's always there. Have you ever seen a Google Error Page? Neither had I. In 4 years of Google usage (Yeah, so what. I'm a google early-adopter snob! What of it?) Google has always been there, until this morning when it wasn't there.

Google Error Page

It's a mark of quality when even the Error Pages are given their own special worth.
Go Google, Go!

Does size matter?

Is performance directly proportional to size?

Some of us are not gifted with the ability to chose our size. Some of us are too small, some of us are too big. I once said that size matters not, but then, I was always well proportioned and didn't have a size problem. And I don't have a penis.

The arguments for each side are varied but clich?.
It doesn't matter what you have, but it's what you do with it that counts. Any more than a mouthful is a waste. Small things come in good packages? Or was it large things comes to those who wait? What? Anyway, yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm 100% sure that every one of you have heard it all before.

But this is totally different.

There's a G5 sitting 2 feet away from me.
Feel the raw power.

It's got a 20-inch flat panel monitor. Looks like the whole wall is taken up by crispy dynamic graphics. Brilliant graphics. Brilliant resolution. Brilliant design. This thing even has a built in USB hub.

Under the gorgeous brushed steel casing its got a 64bit processor, which is double that of any PC that's commercially sold. The 1GHz frontside bus is more than enough bandwidth for the most power hungry application, and yo, I just saw Microsoft Mac-Office install itself in under 60 seconds. I saw that on the 20-inch crystal clear display. The fact that it's also got a 120Gb hard drive and 1024 Mb of RAM seems to fade into the background. All of the other PC's in the office are turning a violent shade of green.

Envious? Of what?
Did I mention 20 inches?
*whimper*

Lets face it.
Size matters.

if yu cn undrsnd ths yu mst b a lnx prgmmr.

im sck of tryng tu ndrstnd cryptc cmmnds nd prcedrs. cn i by thm a fckng dctionry?????

fsck it all.

Arse! Bollox! Crap!

God damn the beurocratic Federation of International Swimming and damn the British press. Damn them all to hell.

All I'd like to see is a bit of technology in the swimming world. I'd like them to embrace technology, instead of shunning it. Let me see them using their 20 million dollar budget wisely! I'd like to see sporting events adequatly reported, with fair coverage given to all sports. Not just snotty old soccer, and the crotch-rocket fantasy of the friggin' Grand Prix in Germany.

I want to see water Web Cam's. Lots and lots of spunky water web cams. With some underwater shots, as well.

I want to SEE the Thorpe-splash, and I want to FEEL the war cries. I want to shout at the screen when Australia gets beaten in the relays! God damn it, I want to SEE Geoff Huegill!!!

I dont want to read about the World Cup three days later in some piddly little article, only present as a space filler, because there's no more waterskiing budgerigars to report about.

Give the people what they want! Live swimming action on the net!!! For pities sake, at least give us some decent stills!

The problem with ordering things from the internet is knowing where to get them delivered. In the past, I've had things delivered to work, knowing that there'll always be somebody around to have a chat to the postie. It's also a nice break to the day to rip open a parcel and show the contents off to workmates like a Primary School "show and tell" session.

Ooooh look! That's a nice shirt! That's a nice keyring! You get really cool stuff in the mail, Jac. You must be cool too!

*ahem*

However, what is a girl to do when ordering something, erm, personal from the net? There's no way I'm going to open a box of tampons, or condoms in the middle of the office in front of an unsuspecting crowd of onlookers!

So... I decided to send the ordered parcel home. My home. With the narrow letter box that is clogged with cobwebs and last year's dustmite colony.

Postman didn't even TRY and shove it through. He just left me a note with a nasty message saying:
"You friggin' idiot! What were you thinking! Come and collect this HUGE box from me at a time that's not convenient."

So I got somebody else to pick it up for me. And they dropped it off ... at work.

Right. Square One. Again.

So what's in your parcel, Jac? Arent ya gunna open it and see? Go on! Open it! Your mail is always so exciting! Open it! Open! Open!!

So yeah... Isn't the weather cool!? Glorious rain has been leaking from the sky for the whole day, softly soaking everything and anything.

Such a relief. And a nice way to change the topic.

Pity about the suspicious box that's sitting UNOPENED on my desk.... And I'm not going to tell you what's inside it!

*stern voice*
SYN-ACK, you bunch of scruffy packets.
Nobody's coming in unless you've got polished IP addresses and tidy port numbers.
And NO pings.
If anybody even tries to get into the mySQL or the Apache, I'll personally frag you to pieces.
Capiche?

My poor linux testing machine got hacked over the weekend!! Some bastard went and stole my root password!!!

*cries*

I got hacked, mummy, and it really really hurt!

What a way to make a girl cry!

It was so well hacked that I couldn't get INTO the machine to see HOW it was hacked. Thus, leaving me with a pile of hardware controlled by Joe Random.

"Bugger that!" says I, and out came the distribution disks for a clean fresh install of our favorite penguin.

So, right, I'm now ultra paranoid.

Everything is getting chained down and nailed to the floor.

*eyes off network cable*
Only one way to fully secure a system and that involves 3 tonnes of concrete, 1 machine gun and a pack of hungry pit-bulls.

Bastards arnt going to get me twice, damnit. If anybody can help a n00bie learn about Linux Security, please drop me a message!

Am so glad I use a CD carrier case for a lunch box. Means I can leave it on my desk and it just blends in. Blends in so well, in fact, that I sometimes have to spend 10 minutes trying to find it.

Damnit.

I've heard of Computer Bugs, but this is just rucking fidiculous.

*cue all kinds of shuddering freakouts.*
That's enough to scare me out of the IT industry for good.
Erch.

The Two Towers: Large Trailer

I took action this morning, before I went to sleep.

I handed over my modem cable with strict instructions to hide it from me, even if I beg, plead and bribe with cookies. It worked. Mothership took the cable to work with her, so it became physically impossible for me to hook up online and waste all my time looking at journals/messageboards/trailers/emails. I did a few hours work today, so I guess the plan worked. Even though it was painful, I'll definatly give it to her again tomorrow morning. But... now that she's home, it took me about 0.03 seconds to start asking about the vital piece of RS232 cable required to click into the network. *ahhhh* Aint too proud to beg.

Honey! I'm home!

Feels so good. Even 28.8k is enough to tide me over.
I checked my mail (12 messages! No spam! Go me!) checked RB, glanced at CO (guilty that I have 0 time to spend there anymore) and write a blog entry. Also! Im going to download the large TTT trailer and feast my eyes on all the lovely Middle Earth Goodness.

I think I'm in love with this new LJ client I have.
Doyle.

At what point did I forget how to program in Javascript?

So, Ok, like... yeah. I have an assignment, like, due in at midnight and, get this right, my brain has like taken a vacation! Like... shyeah. I mean, dude!

*shudder* Every time I do this, I feel like a vapid cheerleading fuckwit. I cant get a simple rollover to work for me, and, seeing as I'm not allowed to use pre-written scripts my debugging task just got alot harder. Doesn't help when I was loading the wrong script in the first place. But thats beside the point.

On top of that, Dad rang back this morning. I had given him a quick tingle last night for Father's Day, so it was good to hear from him again. I was about to start grumbling about early morning phone calls, when I realised it was around 10am. I'd had a total of 5 hours sleep, but, 10am is far from the standard definition of early. Apparently he's going ok, got my email however, they're having issues sending it and the last thing he wants to do is touch it.

Touch it? Are you crazy?

I know exactly how he feels. Some days I wish I could touch my computer with a powersaw and see how Windows boots with an anglegrinder shoved up its Floppy Drive.

Anyhow... back to my javascript.
I really love this new design.
Doyle.

In tech support, no one can hear you scream
Written by Simon Peppercorn.

The phone rings as I unsheathe my lightsaber. Bugger. But I'm in a good mood, and not really enjoying JKII anyway? so I answer it.

'Hey hey!'
'Simon, I'm sitting in front of my computer and I want to overclock it. I want you to talk me through it.'
I cringe, knowing that this guy has the technical aptitude of a frog. So instead, I suggest it would be easier if he dropped his case over to me and I will have a look at it for him.
'I thought you would know how to do it,' he said, almost condescendingly.
The desire to cause pain was creeping in. I explained that it isn't necessarily a five-minute over-the-phone job, and would require a number of restarts and tests for stability.
'Surely we can give it a go...' he persisted
'OK...' I resigned, '...fine. What CPU do you have?'
'Huh?'
Audible groan... 'Do you have an AMD or Intel system?' I asked impatiently.
'Oh... ummmm... it says "Packard Bell".'
Urge to scream? 'OK...so what CPU?'
'Packard Bell!' he repeated.

And this is where it became a 'Choose your own adventure'-type situation. My choices were:
o politely and patiently take the person step by step through his overclocking adventure;
o give him a mouthful and tell him to go buy Atomic;
o look for a blunt object and suggest he drops by.

It's a strange thing. Having a reasonable technical knowledge or skill in personal computers creates an impression among those not so blessed that you are an expert in the entire IT industry. You seem to give off a signal that you are available as a personal technical support response unit, 24 hours a day.

To be fair, it isn't only geeks like us that are subject to this phenomenon. People such as mechanics, doctors, lawyers, interior decorators, and many other skilled people are surrounded by those who believe these people are willing and available to provide free support to others. I am guilty myself of harassing a particular nurse about matters I am sure he would prefer to forget about, when not at work? for which I owe eternal thanks.

But when it comes to computers, it's those of us in the know who are constantly expected to find solutions for the most inane problems, 90% of which are traced back to user error, ignorance or plain stupidity.

Typical problems:

o 'My monitor won't come on?what happened?'
o 'Why can't I print? I just put a new cartridge in, but the pages came out blank. My printer must be broken.'
o 'My PC won't start? how come?'
o 'Manuals?'
o 'I want to overclock my computer.'
o 'I wanted things nice and neat, so I moved all the .dll files into one folder, all the .inf files into another folder, all the .ini files into another folder?'
And so on? and so on...

And like superman with a propeller cap, you are expected to drop your JKII game, run to their assistance and save the world.

So being the superhero you are, you leap to the rescue, expecting to be able to display your technical prowess and fix some incredibly difficult system problem, impressing yourself and others... however, the more likely user feedback is:

o 'Of course the monitor is plugged in? oh? so it isn't? silly me!'
o 'Remove what tape from the cartridge? Oh? that tape? hey? it prints now!'
o 'Oh? I didn't read any of those messages? I just kept clicking "next" or "continue".'
o 'I don't need no steenking manuals!'
o 'But if I overclock my Pentium 100, then I can play Doom III when it comes out? right?'
o 'Stop hitting me!'

So you retire, deflated and angry, swearing to never look at another person's problems ever again. But weren't you a newbie once? Haven't you ever asked a question which made someone else think 'Tosser?'?

My Grandfather likes to tell me that 'Computers is the ruination of society', and reminisces about the days gone by, before computers, where unemployment was unheard of. He would talk of the day when a whole floor of office staff was given marching orders and replaced with a single computer. As much as we might roll our eyes at the ramblings of old folk, he does have a point: to a large extent, computers have replaced jobs traditionally performed by people. Technology has indeed been the cause of great industrial and social change -- not always for the better.

But the more advanced we become, scientifically and technically, the greater the gap between those who are ignorant of technology and are slow to respond, those who resist the changes and fail to accept that life could be a whole lot easier if they learnt to use an ATM, and those like us who embrace technology it, learn from it, drive it forward and help those who are falling behind.

But this is the trade off, isn't it? Those of you in the last group: you have been given a special power. And with that power comes two responsibilities. The first is to spread the word. Share your knowledge and encourage the growth of technology. Your other responsibility is far simpler, but less easy to accomplish. That is, to make sure people who shouldn't mess with computers DON'T mess with computers: keep them away from a keyboard using any method permissible by law -- heed my warning or you and I will be targeted for the rest of our days by shit like this:

Tech Support: 'What does the screen say now?'

User: 'It says, "Hit ENTER when ready".'

Tech Support: 'Well?'

User: 'How do I know when it's ready?'

Tech Support: 'When I stop swearing at you.'

In tech support, no one can hear you scream
Written by Simon Peppercorn.


The phone rings as I unsheathe my lightsaber. Bugger. But I'm in a good mood, and not really enjoying JKII anyway? so I answer it.

'Hey hey!'
'Simon, I'm sitting in front of my computer and I want to overclock it. I want you to talk me through it.'
I cringe, knowing that this guy has the technical aptitude of a frog. So instead, I suggest it would be easier if he dropped his case over to me and I will have a look at it for him.
'I thought you would know how to do it,' he said, almost condescendingly.
The desire to cause pain was creeping in. I explained that it isn't necessarily a five-minute over-the-phone job, and would require a number of restarts and tests for stability.
'Surely we can give it a go...' he persisted
'OK...' I resigned, '...fine. What CPU do you have?'
'Huh?'
Audible groan... 'Do you have an AMD or Intel system?' I asked impatiently.
'Oh... ummmm... it says "Packard Bell".'
Urge to scream? 'OK...so what CPU?'
'Packard Bell!' he repeated.

And this is where it became a 'Choose your own adventure'-type situation. My choices were:
o politely and patiently take the person step by step through his overclocking adventure;
o give him a mouthful and tell him to go buy Atomic;
o look for a blunt object and suggest he drops by.

It's a strange thing. Having a reasonable technical knowledge or skill in personal computers creates an impression among those not so blessed that you are an expert in the entire IT industry. You seem to give off a signal that you are available as a personal technical support response unit, 24 hours a day.

To be fair, it isn't only geeks like us that are subject to this phenomenon. People such as mechanics, doctors, lawyers, interior decorators, and many other skilled people are surrounded by those who believe these people are willing and available to provide free support to others. I am guilty myself of harassing a particular nurse about matters I am sure he would prefer to forget about, when not at work? for which I owe eternal thanks.

But when it comes to computers, it's those of us in the know who are constantly expected to find solutions for the most inane problems, 90% of which are traced back to user error, ignorance or plain stupidity.

Typical problems:

o 'My monitor won't come on?what happened?'
o 'Why can't I print? I just put a new cartridge in, but the pages came out blank. My printer must be broken.'
o 'My PC won't start? how come?'
o 'Manuals?'
o 'I want to overclock my computer.'
o 'I wanted things nice and neat, so I moved all the .dll files into one folder, all the .inf files into another folder, all the .ini files into another folder?'
And so on? and so on...

And like superman with a propeller cap, you are expected to drop your JKII game, run to their assistance and save the world.

So being the superhero you are, you leap to the rescue, expecting to be able to display your technical prowess and fix some incredibly difficult system problem, impressing yourself and others... however, the more likely user feedback is:

o 'Of course the monitor is plugged in? oh? so it isn't? silly me!'
o 'Remove what tape from the cartridge? Oh? that tape? hey? it prints now!'
o 'Oh? I didn't read any of those messages? I just kept clicking "next" or "continue".'
o 'I don't need no steenking manuals!'
o 'But if I overclock my Pentium 100, then I can play Doom III when it comes out? right?'
o 'Stop hitting me!'

So you retire, deflated and angry, swearing to never look at another person's problems ever again. But weren't you a newbie once? Haven't you ever asked a question which made someone else think 'Tosser?'?

My Grandfather likes to tell me that 'Computers is the ruination of society', and reminisces about the days gone by, before computers, where unemployment was unheard of. He would talk of the day when a whole floor of office staff was given marching orders and replaced with a single computer. As much as we might roll our eyes at the ramblings of old folk, he does have a point: to a large extent, computers have replaced jobs traditionally performed by people. Technology has indeed been the cause of great industrial and social change -- not always for the better.

But the more advanced we become, scientifically and technically, the greater the gap between those who are ignorant of technology and are slow to respond, those who resist the changes and fail to accept that life could be a whole lot easier if they learnt to use an ATM, and those like us who embrace technology it, learn from it, drive it forward and help those who are falling behind.

But this is the trade off, isn't it? Those of you in the last group: you have been given a special power. And with that power comes two responsibilities. The first is to spread the word. Share your knowledge and encourage the growth of technology. Your other responsibility is far simpler, but less easy to accomplish. That is, to make sure people who shouldn't mess with computers DON'T mess with computers: keep them away from a keyboard using any method permissible by law -- heed my warning or you and I will be targeted for the rest of our days by shit like this:

Tech Support: 'What does the screen say now?'

User: 'It says, "Hit ENTER when ready".'

Tech Support: 'Well?'

User: 'How do I know when it's ready?'

Tech Support: 'When I stop swearing at you.'

Big fucking Happy Dance

This is the type of happy dance that comes with the high kick. Parading around the house like an oversized leprachaun who just fell over a pot of gold. Got the maniacle grin, and the leaping spazmodic shouts of glee. If I wasn't so godamned unco, i'd look like a Riverdance-refugee.

Wa-heeee!

I finally, after a considerable amount of time, managed to get two threads (spearate programs) to speak to each other via the serial port on the same computer. This small task has taken me about a week to polish off.

Wa-hooooo!

Now, however, I'm isolated off the network as the serial port is the very same port that I'm using for my modem. So, I'm offline for the next few hours. This is cause for unrest, as Carmody Online has had a few tweeny-bopper (tweeny as opposed to teeny, which are actually teenagers rather than glorified pre-schoolers.) invaders lately that need more attention than I can really spare.

Booted two of them off today, hoping they dont come back and take over while I'm gone. Iv had enuf ov netspeek 2 last me a lifetime or 4. Are schools even teaching English anymore?

May have to look into spreading the Mod's influence over to the Earth Temple, where most of the action is. Gah. If I had've known that CO would attract so many fuckwits I never would have built it. Perhaps with the new fandangled image, they might retreat a little. It is very upper-class for a dinky little website.

Oh well.
Back to work. I'll let you know when the next happydance occurs.
Doyle.

Big fucking Happy Dance

This is the type of happy dance that comes with the high kick. Parading around the house like an oversized leprachaun who just fell over a pot of gold. Got the maniacle grin, and the leaping spazmodic shouts of glee. If I wasn't so godamned unco, i'd look like a Riverdance-refugee.

Wa-heeee!

I finally, after a considerable amount of time, managed to get two threads (spearate programs) to speak to each other via the serial port on the same computer. This small task has taken me about a week to polish off.

Wa-hooooo!

Now, however, I'm isolated off the network as the serial port is the very same port that I'm using for my modem. So, I'm offline for the next few hours. This is cause for unrest, as Carmody Online has had a few tweeny-bopper (tweeny as opposed to teeny, which are actually teenagers rather than glorified pre-schoolers.) invaders lately that need more attention than I can really spare.

Booted two of them off today, hoping they dont come back and take over while I'm gone. Iv had enuf ov netspeek 2 last me a lifetime or 4. Are schools even teaching English anymore?

May have to look into spreading the Mod's influence over to the Earth Temple, where most of the action is. Gah. If I had've known that CO would attract so many fuckwits I never would have built it. Perhaps with the new fandangled image, they might retreat a little. It is very upper-class for a dinky little website.

Oh well.
Back to work. I'll let you know when the next happydance occurs.
Doyle.

Other than the extreme hatred I have towards Windows programming, Prolog, and my assignments, I'm in a very loving mood. I'm crooning away to just about every Mp3 I own. Moulin Rouge is bloody excellent at 4am... however... there's no way in hell I can sing Nicole Kidmans part, AND Ewan McGregger's part at the same time.

This is the point in time where I wish there was a guy in my life who:
who understood "go away: programming" isn't being rude,
who could understand why I dance around at all hours of the night doing work,
who didn't think i was a total geek,
who sounds like Dominic Monaghan,
who shared my obsession with Tolkien, and Carmody,
and who didn't take up much of my time, or thoughts.

*blink*

So... looking at the above criteria... I think I need to change my Major to Mechatronics, and build myself a Robot.

MessageBox(hwnd, "NOT FUCKING LIKELY.", "HAHAHAHAHAHA!", MB_OK|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);

Doyle - who cant wait til she graduates, and gets a life.

Artifical Intel: (not to be confused with Natural Stupidity)
Practical: 100%
Theoretical: 0%

Project Appreciation:
.....er.....well.....
John's going to kill me....

Well, after lying down in a dark room for 30 minutes, my body decided that it was awake. Not just awake, but strung out like Pete Sampras's tennis weaponry. My mind wasn't about to switch off, and my thought processes just wern't going to die down.

>> kill -9 brain

>> shutdown brain -now

>> rm -r brain.ini

>> DIE DAMN YOU, DIE!!!

>> unrecognised call: "DIE"

damn it.

No, it was 2am, and the panic attack hit me just as I was beginning to think I had prolog beaten. But... then...

//cue very scary dramatic music

WHAT THE HELL ABOUT GRAPHICS?

So, like in some B grade horror movie, my eyes flicked open, and I sat up like Frankenstein. Time to switch them computer back on and get some more work done, as it was plain that I wasn't going to achieve much sleepaction.

Fuck a duck.

So, I have to implement triangles, and get my file I/O working. Basicly, I have to implement the menu's, and get me a triangle button.

Prolog Status: Practical Section 80%, Theoretical 0%

Graphics Status:

Triangles: 100%(I can draw trianlges)

Triangle Modification: 60% Rotate is a little wonky, Fill doens't exist

Triangle Storage: 100%

File Input Status: 0%

File Output Status: 3%(My list is in the right format...)

Graphics Documentation: 0%

Its now Wednesday: these are due in just over 50 hours...

Ok, so this normally wouldn't phase me. I'm on track to meet the Friday5 deadline. However, that is completely disregarding the fact that I'm supposed to be doing a project, and am supposed to have finished (or at least done something presentable) a project appreciation report.

So, add in the fact that I need to produce 4000-ish word report on what my project is, why I should be doing it, and how I intend to complete it... and well... I'm fucked. Proper Fucked. No amount of sand is going to get me out of this one.

I'll be living here for the next two days. No sleep. More coffee.

I should save the Council the hassles, and just install a "Warning: Viscious Geek At Large" notice on my door. To leave you on a happy note, I'd better include a joke, or something...

The Sun Herald's 10 Best Newspaper Headlines of 2000

1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say

2. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies

3. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

4. Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case

5. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

6. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

7. Stolen Painting Found by Tree

8. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

9. British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands

10. Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

*teehee*

Better laughing, than crying.

Doyle.

"This is defiantly a Blog Moment!"
I'm now obsessed with Blogging. Its become one of those pass times that I just cant seem to get enough of. I'll be in the middle of a conversation, or in the middle of stuffing something up, and I just sit back, laugh, and think: "this'd make an excellent Blog entry!"

Anyway...

After I digitally handed in my assignment, I went home to start my stress-free night of "Bad food and Buffy". Miraculously, I'd managed to track down a copy of all the Buffy episodes that I've missed due to assignments (and idiocy), and blissed out - Joss Whedon style.

Of course "And again, with Feeling" has to be one of the greatest episodes I've ever seen. Right up there with "Hush" and "Prophecy Girl". I'm already downloading all the mp3's so I can relive the fun again, and again... Each time I watch an ep, I can help loving Spike just a little bit more. He's just so... lovely, and good looking, and sexy, and evil.. and...
*ahem*
What?

I love being stress free. Even if its just make-believe, and very temporary. Ok, so I've finished with the Computer Graphics tutorials... yet... now I have Prolog and the Computer Graphics ASSIGNMENT. Dah fuckit. I hate Uni. I really do. I want to move to Sunnydale, and set up an Internet cafe for lowlifes and demons. Of course, they wont kill me, and attack me, as I'm giving them T1 cable access to the DemonWeb, so they can e-mail all their international Demon buddies.

"Hellmouth Cafe" I'll call it.
Brilliant.
I'll serve "Bloodychinos", and "Evil Latte's".
Cant wait.
Wish I was sain.

*breaks into a random tap dancing number*
Grrrrrr Arrrrg!

Alpha Geek
Well... in true Procrastinating Style, here for you reading pleasure is the first solo single released by the new hip Indie Soloist, EngineeringGirl called "Alpha Geek".

(Alpha Geek, is much like the Alpha Male, only, its with computers, duh!)

*sung to Piano Man*

It's 3am on a Wednesday,
The Regular Geeks are all board,
there's a strange nut who keeps chatting to me,
makin love to his cordless keyboard.

Fix the system, your the alpha geek
Fix the system tonight
well it started off as the Blue Screen,
and with it went all of my files.

(to all those who care, the coding is going sporadically, and I'm up to pr ac 4 of 5... Go Me!)

Well...
I'm addicted to web developing. It is the soft of addiction that many people would seek a solution too, either finding a "Webber's Anon" or something, yet, I continue to plough through the limitless bullshit that is online... Perhaps this is the first step.

I'm beginning to think like a computer. More specifically, I'm beginning to think like a Windows Computer. My mind is all a quivver for about 4 hours, and then, just when its starting to get productive, it crashes, and I find some more useless bullshit to entertain myself with.

Just today, I spent over 45 minutes trying to figure out what "flavour" I am. Not being happy with "Peanut Butter" i retook the test only to get several other unacceptable answers. (Tea, Lemon, Alcohol, and Vanilla).

Although, on a bright note, i'm beginning to lose weight!! I hold my net addiction soley responsible. Last night was typical of the way I've been eating of late.

6.30... consider making dinner.
7.30... getting hungry, should really make dinner.
8.30.... will make dinner after I finish writing email/post/blog/code
9.30... stomach is about to jump out and make itself some dinner
10.30... abandon the thought of making a decent dinner, attempt to make some toast...
10.45... forgotten all about toast in toaster. Is now cold, and stale, and really unappealing.
11.00... settle for two slices of uncooked bread.

I hope they have 12 steps to recovery.... However, I dont want to be a net addict all my life. It'd be torture. I'd be like an alcoholic working in a bar, or brewery...

Ak. It's now 2.05 pm, and my connection tells me that I've been online for over 4 hours. 4 hours where I could have done alot of work. At least 2 of those hours have been filled with random hunger pains and rueful glances toward the kitchen.

THIS IS IT!!!

I'm getting off the web!! I'm going cold turkey!!! No more!!!!
(Until I've had some lunch)

Fighting with Linux
Well... I'm now trying to reinstall linux RedHat 7.2 on my computer, and am getting really frustrated.
First of all, KPPP isn't working...
I can dial out, all hunkydorey, yet, my modem and the server have some really whack ideas about communicating. I'm sure its my settings, and I'm sure i've stuffed it up somewhere... however, I cant seem to find out where.

Also, I'm messaging a newsgroup about mapping my extended partition into Linux... (ie: my mp3's) so that I can dance while doing my assignments... yet... *hehe* at the moment, the bastard doens't want to cooperate. *mental*

And, the stupid fucking ITS site has a big fucking gremlin in their site, so that normal users have to spend about 4 god damn hours wading through the "illegal errors" and shutdowns caused by IE... GOD DAMN.
I'm just so unimpressed right about now... If I had something to punch, I'd punch it... and then give it a good talking to. UGHHHH.

Insane.
Ok.. my computer just had a heart attack.

Currently eating: Starburst's Juicy Gums.

I should really stop... otherwise I'll be bouncing for hours...
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

SUGAR HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-ahem-
(trying to hide her giggles behind her hand, and making all sorts of snuffling, and snorting sounds)
I'm normal.
Really....