LonnieOlson » Fun http://lonnieolson.com/blog Words from the geeky sysadmin Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:58:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 A Day at the Races http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2008/07/29/a-day-at-the-races/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2008/07/29/a-day-at-the-races/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:58:44 +0000 fungus http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2008/07/29/a-day-at-the-races/ Last Sunday I had the chance to go to the Wyoming Downs. I’ve never been to a horse race before. My only experience was that of dramatized scenes in movies. It was quite interesting to see how accurate horse racing’s depiction in movies really is.

Besides getting a bit sunburned, I had a great time. Luckily I went with a friend that could give me a quick tutorial on how to place bets. Once I got the basics down, it became quite easy. Most bets are really straight forward. It was really interesting to see how even the best horses could get out run. When an unexpected horse wins people often lose big or win really big.

No matter how much analyzing one does, the element of chance is still the primary driving force in every race. Long shots are possible.

As long as you are careful, and bet modestly, the level of fun and entertainment will always outstrip the losses you will have. I highly suggest a trip to the races to everyone, and bring your family too.

photo

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2008/07/29/a-day-at-the-races/feed/ 1 Male Restroom Etiquette http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/10/03/male-restroom-etiquette/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/10/03/male-restroom-etiquette/#comments Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:16:09 +0000 fungus http://www.kittypee.com/2006/10/03/male-restroom-etiquette/ via mindjuju in #uphpu on chat.freenode.net

While I generally detest re-publishing crap everyone has seen already, this video is different. It is a critical piece of education for any male (or person assuming to be male). Never, ever, talk in the restroom.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/10/03/male-restroom-etiquette/feed/ 0 Kirk / Spock Get “Closer” http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/15/kirk-spock-get-closer/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/15/kirk-spock-get-closer/#comments Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:00:39 +0000 fungus http://www.kittypee.com/2006/09/15/kirk-spock-get-closer/ OMFG This music video of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" is the best
version I have seen yet. I did like the original, even though it was never
fully shown on MTV due to it’s controversy. However, this version was totally
awesome. Not just because Star Trek rules, but it was cut together quite
well. Of course, the premise of Kirk and Spock getting "Closer" is quite
… provocative.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/15/kirk-spock-get-closer/feed/ 0 OpenWRT, new A900, and Joanna Newsom http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/12/openwrt-new-a900-and-joanna-newsom/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/12/openwrt-new-a900-and-joanna-newsom/#comments Wed, 13 Sep 2006 05:31:33 +0000 fungus http://www.kittypee.com/2006/09/12/openwrt-new-a900-and-joanna-newsom/ I am finally getting around to re-designing my network at home. For a long
time I had my wireless locked down, only for the reason that I don’t want my
stuff sniffed. I am a big proponent of sharing and openness. I found a great
HowTo that can turn my Linksys
WRT54G’s into hotspots with a built-in VPN server. All hail to the OpenWRT
firmware. This will let me open up my wireless network to any who pass by.

My dad’s cell phone died. He was still using my old Motorola v60i phone on the
old legacy AT&T network. I am going to add him to my Sprint plan, and here
comes the good part. It is a great chance to buy a new phone for myself, and
give him my old one! Yay, new phone. I really wanted the new Chocolate by LG,
or the RAZR. Both really hot phones. But Sprint doesn’t have either. :(
So I picked the next best phone they have… the Samsung
A900.
It is almost as hawt as the RAZR, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Now, I
just have to wait for it to ship.

I am totally digging Joanna
Newsom. She has a totally strange
voice that grows on you. I heard Bridges and
Balloons on
Yeast Radio quite a few times, and fell in love.
Since then, I have bought the whole album. Check it out.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/09/12/openwrt-new-a900-and-joanna-newsom/feed/ 0 Four Things http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/24/four-things/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/24/four-things/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:29:00 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2006/01/24/four-things/ Another virus like survey for blogs. I don’t usally do these, but this one sounds easy. As seen on “allinthehead”:http://www.allinthehead.com

h3. Four jobs i’ve had in my life

Most everything is computer related, but here’s a few.
* Grocery bagger at a supermarket
* Box office attendant at the local movie theatre
* Assistant Manager at Blockbuster Video
* Customer service rep for DirecTV

h3. Four movies I can watch over and over

Eeek, I watch so many I don’t have much time for repeats.
* Amadeus (“IMDB”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086879/)
* Wit (“IMDB”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243664/)
* Se7en (“IMDB”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/)
* Pulp Fiction (“IMDB”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/)

h3. Four places I have lived

Four?! Sorry, can’t do that.
* With parents in Salt Lake City
* Across the street from my parents

h3. Four TV shows I love to watch

I hate television in general, but have recently found TV shows on DVD.
* The L Word
* Star Trek: Voyager and The Next Generation
* Queer as Folk
* Sex and the City

h3. Four places I have been on vacation

Most of my vacations are somewhat bohemian style, but here are the more exotic ones.
* Disneyland, California
* Houston, Texas
* Denver, Colorado
* Moab, Utah

h3. Four of my favorite dishes

I eat out quite a bit, but mostly to the same places. Finding vegetarian friendly places is sometimes a pain.
* Pasta of almost any kind
* Pizza loaded with veggies
* Rice and bean burritos
* Tofu!

h3. Four websites I visit daily

My aggregator gets most of the traffic, but these sites deserve special attention.
* “TorrentSpy”:http://www.torrentspy.com/
* “Netflix”:http://www.netflix.com/
* “Ars Technica”:http://arstechnica.com/
* “Slashdot”:http://www.slashdot.org/ (duh)

h3. Four places I would rather be right now

It is really cold outside, so not a whole lot going on in the outdoorsy sense.
* Back in bed
* At home playing World of Warcraft
* Bundle up and go hiking in Millcreek Canyon with my dogs
* At home playing World of Warcraft

h3. Four bloggers I am tagging

Nah.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/24/four-things/feed/ 0 Huge boo boo on my laptop http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/13/huge-boo-boo-on-my-laptop/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/13/huge-boo-boo-on-my-laptop/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:29:39 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2006/01/13/huge-boo-boo-on-my-laptop/ Last night I made the mistake of playing with some very strong magnets near my laptop. Magnets are hard to resist, especially when they trigger the magnetic switch that puts it to sleep. Unforunately I moved the magnet too close to the hard drive.

I heard a single click. Fear strikes! I try to play a track in iTunes since it is already open… Beachball of death! Fear turns to terror. I immediately shut it off, and waited a while, each second seemed like an eternity as thoughts of life without my powerbook streamed through my head.

I figure there is no use in trying to boot it back up. I pop in my Tiger install DVD and boot off of it, so far so good. Launch the Disk Utility. I hear a nightmarish grinding noise from under my left palm. Panic!

After some time passed during the grinding from hell, it stopped and displayed my drive with no volumes contained. Anxiety!

I click on the drive and look at the partition tab and see emptiness. Horror!

Launch Terminal and type _dmesg_ and see ??disk4: I/O Error??. Screach! Wail! and finally depression.

Life without my powerbook is not worth living. :(

But then I realize this is complete death, but only a kind of amnesia. Too bad it is too late to buy a new hard drive. I quickly get online w/ my _winblows_ box that is normally only running World of Warcraft. Checking site after site for prices on a new drive. This is an emergency, I can’t wait for shipping. So I bought a new 60G drive for pickup at CompUSA. Check their store hours… Damn! They don’t open until 10AM.

It is obvious that I didn’t sleep very well.

The next morning I pack my amnesiac laptop and a few extra tools and *drive* to work. I hate driving. Especially to work. But I am willing to sacrifice my comfort for my beloved “Pi”. The first hour at work w/o my baby was dreadful. Watching the clock every second.

9:45AM… Race to CompUSA and get there very shortly after they open. Run up to the counter and ask for my new drive. Race back to work crack open my laptop.

Damn there are a lot of screws, and at least 14 different types before I get to the battery. Erg. Oh well, no one said brain surgery would be easy.

Finally get the new drive in and Pi all closed up. Booted her up w/ the new install DVD. Wonderful, everything works great!

Now it is time to reaclimate Pi to it’s former life. Unfortunately I didn’t have a full backup (that was planned for the future), but at least I had my home directory tarred up on my iPod.

Install OS, Apps, Software Update, etc, etc. Restore most of my home directory. And hours later I have my baby back. New and improved with an even longer memory (40G -> 60G).

Yay! He’s gonna be just fine.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/13/huge-boo-boo-on-my-laptop/feed/ 1 non-interactive computer role-playing game http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/09/non-interactive-computer-role-playing-game/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/09/non-interactive-computer-role-playing-game/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:43:44 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2006/01/09/non-interactive-computer-role-playing-game/ I found a command line RPG with a twist, it is comeplely non-interactive. It is called “Miller’s Quest”:http://www.beastwithin.org/users/wwwwolf/games/millerquest/ You just launch the game, create your character, and watch it progress. At first I thought it would be really lame, but after a while of watching I can’t get enough.

I even hacked together a “CGI script”:/char.cgi to display the progress of the char over time.

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2006/01/09/non-interactive-computer-role-playing-game/feed/ 0 Happy Holidays http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/12/26/happy-holidays/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/12/26/happy-holidays/#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2005 20:36:08 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2005/12/26/happy-holidays/ Stolen from “Yeast Radio.”:http://www.yeastradio.com/ Here is a hilarious movie about Xmas.

“Xmas video.mov”:http://www.kittypee.com/files/Xmas%20video.mov

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/12/26/happy-holidays/feed/ 0 ASCIIMoviePlayer http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/10/19/asciimovieplayer/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/10/19/asciimovieplayer/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:29:00 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2005/10/19/asciimovieplayer/ “Apple”:http://www.apple.com/ put up some “sample code”:http://developer.apple.com/samplecode/ASCIIMoviePlayerSample/ASCIIMoviePlayerSample.html that can play QuickTime movies in your Terminal window.

Before:
!/images/4t.jpg (screen capture from QuickTime)!:/images/4.jpg

After:
!/images/3t.jpg (Capture from ASCIIMoviePlayer)!:/images/3.jpg

Oh, BTW, those are screen caps from “DigitalLifeTV”:http://www.digitallifetv.com

]]> http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/10/19/asciimovieplayer/feed/ 0 Creepy Big Brother photo http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/10/07/creepy-big-brother-photo/ http://lonnieolson.com/blog/2005/10/07/creepy-big-brother-photo/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2005 23:31:00 +0000 fungus http://kittypee.com/wordpress/2005/10/07/creepy-big-brother-photo/ At the “UPHPU meeting,”:http://uphpu.org/article.php?story=20050926112303663 Jeff Barr showed us where “maps.a9.com”:http://maps.a9.com is going. I started browsing around it, and found my workplace and the accompanying “map”:http://maps.a9.com/?mapMode=m&mapBvr=&ypLoc=28+S+400+E%2C+Salt+Lake+City%2C+UT&mapFrom=&To to be pretty creepy. However, this idea could really be a great thing. No more confusion about crappy landmark directions. Now you can have that _deja vu_ feeling all the time.

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