Monthly Archives: May 2004

I got my iPod working :D

Even though Sax got me the necessary firmware file, I still couldn’t get it working under Linux. I blame this on my lack of firewire, because according to what I have read, the iPod only decides to extract a new firmware image automatically when it is using the firewire interface- and I only have USB.

Anyway, I used one of the machines at Chris’ work, and installed the new firmware there. Then when I came back home I made a backup of the firmware with dd (for future use), and used gtkpod to create the directory structure and copy my music over. I’m listening to it now :)

I can see my currently playing section becoming slightly deprecated, heh.

As for the other half of things, at the moment neops1 is usable, but sill not in a state I would like it. It’s having troubles with the emerge -e world / emerge --resume commands and keeps segfaulting/dying in new and different ways when it tries to compile Java. And it seems like some stuff on there that hasn’t been recompiled for the new architecture yet (like unison) doesn’t work at all. Which means I can’t sync my computers, at least for the moment. I’ve ordered some new RAM that is hopefully of a speed that my CPU will play nicely with (according to my BIOS, anyway). And yes, it’s also a bit of an upgrade :)

I ordered it via 1-2 day shipping, so if all goes well, I should have it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully it works well, and fixes my compile problems. Otherwise I’m going to be very upset :/

Anyway, I’ll leave you now with some happicow zen, from our weekend at Alfred:

Not 1 hour after taking my new iPod out of the box, I make it completeely unusable. To be fair, it was unusable before that (for me in Linux [which is all I have here], anyway), which is why I broke it in the first place. Apparently directions for setting up a normal iPod (e.g. it comes formatted for Mac or Windows) don’t work so well for an iPod mini. Lesson learned. Now I have to try to get updater.exe from some nice person with Windows before I can do anything more with this. Either that, or I have to wait until tomorrow and make Chris take me to his place of employment so I can use one of the Windows boxen he has laying about there.

Oh, and the processor is in and working mostly well. I say mostly because it had some issues with one of my RAM DIMMs apparently- the computer started segfaulting whenever I tried to compile anything non-trivial. I was able to guess which DIMM was the problem by looking at the output of memtest86. Sure enough, it worked fine after removing that particular DIMM. Of course, this means that I am down to 512 MB memory, and hence and looking into purchashing more (and faster, so as not to have any more compatibility issues) RAM.

Today I got complimented on my lunchbox, which I have begun using to bring my lunch to work.

The lady was very surprised when I said that I used it on a daily basis when I was seven, and told me that it was a “very cool” way to bring my lunch to work :D

And all this time I thought that everyone else probably thought I was a huge dork for being 24 and carrying about a Mario Bros. lunchbox on a daily basis- of course, I didn’t really care and did it anyway, because I thought it was cool. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t feel really nice to be validated like this, of course :D

I had a wasp’s nest inside the driver-side door of my car. Ewww. I have no idea how long it’s been there, or where the wasps who presumably created it are, but it’s gone now. Still, that’s kinda disturbing…..

I just got one of those newfangled McDonald’s Adult Happy Meals, and I’m really surprised, but that was quite possibly the best ceasar salad I’ve ever had. Of course, I’ve already established that I don’t like *real* caesar salads :). And now I have a nifty new toy to put on my utility belt! I don’t think it’ll make me walk any more or anything, but it will satisfy a bit of stupid curiosity I have :)

This statement contradicts itself (no it doesn’t). So does this one, from BoingBoing:

Apparently, there are now 8.8 million men over 6’2″ and 5.5 million over 5’9″ in the US.

Yes, I am well aware of what was meant. However, I found what was actually said amusing enough to blog it. So there.

In other news, I just found out my iPod mini finally shipped. I should have it by the end of the week- w007! This week is turning out to be like Christmas, I’m also getting my new processor and blinky accessories within the next few days :)

Edit: Ah, it’s been changed now. Well, I had my fun with it, anyway :)

Yesterday we tried to go get free mimosas again, but apparently the Mahogany Grill doesn’t do that on Ithaca College‘s graduation day (but they do on Cornell‘s graduation day… go fig.) Oh well, I wasn’t going to drink a mimosa anyway :) Instead of brunch, Peter, Chris, Elsa, and I got lunch. I think I prefer the cheap vending machine caesar salads to the real stuff :/

After that Elsa went off to study and we basically hung around until Beth showed up. Then we went out to see the property Chris is buying, and then over to Treman park again (I have some moblog pictures of that). After that, we had dinner at Manos (not that Manos [though I admit that the name is a big part of why I like this diner]) and desert at Purity. Then we showed Beth where I work (and hence, where her interview today is) and met up with Elsa again briefly, to distract her from her studying.

Back at home, I stayed up until about 0500 this morning watching Peter finish The Suffering. I’m a bit disappointed, even though he got the ‘good’ ending. Surprisingly, now, after only 3 hours of sleep I’m in a surprisingly good mood. Maybe it’s the excitement over Beth‘s interview :)

It’ll probably hit me sometime during the second interview we have today…

Mood: hopeful

As usual, from LunaNiña:

I say … and you think … ?

1. Playoffs::season
2. Morris::town
3. Break up::dissolve
4. Eggs::butter
5. Parker::brothers
6. Hardy Boys::Nancy Drew
7. Deluxe::Vapor
8. Protection::security
9. Girl Scout::cookie
10. Salsa::Verde

Today we went out to Billy Bob Jack’s Barbeque Shack so that Chris and Peter could try to finish a 49oz. steak each in under an hour. Peter suceeded (barely), Chris didn’t. I took a bunch of moblog pictures, but I don’t think many are going to come through. I’ll try sending them again later, after I give it some more time.

Today I also decided it was finally time to upgrade my processor. I got an Athlon XP 2800+, as that has the maximum FSB that my motherboard supports (333 MHz), as well as a new basic heatsink (as I don’t know whether my old one was up to snuff and it’s better safe than sorry) and an awesome fan.

I should go now; I’m watching Peter play The Suffering, which is a really creepy-cool game, and way too scary for me to play myself :)

Beth has an interview at SGN on Monday!

/me does a little dance