User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-10 18:05
	Subject:	I Can Haz Internets!
	Security:	Public

 
And cable, and phone too!

Arriving home from the laundromat this afternoon, I didn't think much of the Comcast van parked on the street in front of my house. You see them all over, all the time. Arriving upstairs, I immediately concerned myself with putting away the laundry. After that was accomplished, then I went to check my email. Email? Email? Hellooooo? What's wrong with my connection? Hmmm... the lights on the modem don't look right. Do I have a dial tone? No I don't. Do I have cable? No I don't.

That's when I remembered seeing the Comcast van. That's also when I remembered that my downstairs neighbor moved out last week. That's when I realized that in disconnecting her service, they managed to also disconnect mine. Grrrrr.

So I call Comcast, and find my way through the phone tree. When I finally get through to a real person I point out to them that their phone tree needs tweaking. At one point they ask you to press "1 for cable television, 2 for high speed internet, or 3 for digital voice." Yeah, they really need "4 for all three." So I tell the guy what's wrong, and about how the Comcast van was here not 10 minutes ago disconnecting my downstairs neighbor. Oh no, that can't be related. It must be something wrong with my modem. Uh huh. Right. But I oblige him by rebooting my modem. And while he seems genuinely baffled, I am completely unsurprised when nothing changes. He's convinced there's a problem with my modem. When I point out that wouldn't affect my TV, he says that sometimes it can. Riiiiight. Because equipment failure after a line branch will totally cause failure on the other branch. But at this point I've done the hard reboot, and he's sent his signal thing through to the modem several times, and that's just not doing the trick. So he's completely out of ideas.

At this point he then says he has an appointment opening tomorrow for a tech to come by. Uh, no. That's not an option. Among other things, I actually have work tomorrow. So I ask if there isn't an opening today. Oh no, I'm assured there are no openings today. So then, very politely, I ask to speak to a supervisor. I'm on hold. He comes back to say he's getting his supervisor. I'm on hold. He comes back to say his supervisor is almost available. I'm on hold. He comes back to say that he and the supervisor are working on the problem. I'm on hold. He comes back to say they're really working on it. I'm on hold. He comes back to say that the supervisor has found an appointment for me for today. Wow! That supervisor really must be a miracle worker. I mean, they apparently pulled that previously non-existent appointment out of their ass. But good on them. I now have an "all day" appointment for today, meaning that the tech could show up at any point between 2:30 (current time, at that point) and 8:00pm.

So I go and read for several hours. Then I remember that I need to run the dishwasher, so I do that. Damn! Should have done that at 2:30. Because no sooner do I start the incredibly loud dishwasher than the Comcast tech shows up. So he comes upstairs, and I bring him up to speed about how all 3 services are out, coincidentally right after the previous Comcast van had been here. Oh yeah! He admits what the phone guy couldn't because of calls being recorded. The tech in the other van cut my service.

So this tech disconnects the cable from my system and attaches some device to it that sends some signal. He then goes outside, and by finding the signal out there is able to determine which is my line. Back inside to reconnect the cable to my system. Back outside to hook the line back up. Lo and behold, suddenly my TV is showing me pretty moving pictures with sound, and not the "Please stand by. This channel will be available shortly" text message that's been showing the past several hours. I check and I have dial tone. I check and I have internet. The phone rings and I confirm to the tech that yes, everything's fine now. Thanks. All told, not even 10 minutes work, and most of that was probably going up and down the two flights of stairs.

Yay, I has internets again, and can watch my shows tonight.

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-10 10:04
	Subject:	Note to Self
	Security:	Public

 
Don't feed the trolls. Really... don't. Yeah, I know. They scurry around, yelping and mewling. They so obviously need to be fed. But you know you'll regret it. You know that as soon as you feed them they just barf it back up all over you. Don't. Feed. The. Trolls.

	User:	jrising
	Date:	2009-11-09 18:44
	Subject:	Community Flight Finder, version 1.0
	Security:	Public

Do you like to travel, but hate looking for the best tickets? Download the Community Flight Finder and let your computer do the work for you!

Here's what I wrote in the Read Me:

Welcome to FFlight, the Free Community Flight Finder. FFlight is for people who love travelling, just about anywhere. The scenario it's designed for is common: A) You want to take a round-trip trip some time in a several-week or several-month span, but you don't have specific dates (for example, you want to go any time during the winter). B) You could go to a wide range of places, and you might be willing to leave from several different airports, depending on what's cheapest. C) The most important factor in choosing flights is getting a good deal for where you're going. For example, you might go to Europe if you can find a flight for less than $400, but if you found a flight for under $700 to Asia, you would be interested in that. D) You don't want to spend hours searching for different tickets, but you'd love it if your computer would search for you. FFlight checks the prices of flights from your airports to 2000 others, at various dates within your range, and it shares those deals with other users so everyone can take advantage of them. The main screen shows the best round-trip fares that fit your search parameters. It ranks all flights by the metric "cents-per-mile" to help you find the best deals. FFlight takes time to work, just like you would doing it yourself. It's best to run it overnight (even over a few nights) to find the best deals. FFlight is open source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 3. You can get the latest source code from http://svn.travelersnetwork.org/public/ffly/trunk/

This version has a number of new features, including selectable destinations, remembered search parameters, a tool to search for airport codes, community announcements (say, for updates), and a background search that checks old prices.

It's still only available for windows, so if you're a mac user who wants to use it, tell me when you'd like to fly and I'll have it search for you.

The best deals now include $490 r/t to Russia, $683 r/t to India, $686 r/t to China, $820 r/t to Thailand, $880 r/t to Indonesia, and $936 r/t to Australia.

Download it, and see you elsewhere!

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-09 18:37
	Subject:	Well that didn't help
	Security:	Public

 
Arriving home tonight I was feeling all jumpy and jittery, teetering on the edge of a panic attack. (Long day, too many stressors, blah, blah.) So to decompress I had a nummy dinner, played some sudoku to decompress, and was bad and drowned my sorrows in way too many Trader Joe's chocolate covered orange sticks.

After a while I started to feel better. But then after another while I started to feel worse again. What the hell? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Before I had felt jumpy and jittery for emotional reasons. Now I'm feeling jumpy and jittery for physical reasons. Doh! Sometimes I forget I react badly to too much chocolate.

	User:	quality617
	Date:	2009-11-09 16:13
	Subject:	664 Monday!
	Security:	Public

	User:	mesatchornug
	Date:	2009-11-09 16:10
	Subject:
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	helping
	Music:	dance, magic dance

!!!!!!!!!!

squee!

	User:	neko038
	Date:	2009-11-09 15:54
	Subject:	Ok
	Security:	Public

So I jumped the gun on the throw. It was in the garage as it was being used for a film shoot and I forgot it was being used. So crisis averted. Please resume to your regular stuff.
Crys

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-09 13:19
	Subject:	Still at 179
	Security:	Public

 
Not too much accomplished this week. But thankfully not as little as last week.

* Housework - With all my new post-Halloween clearance acquisitions, I ran out of space in one of my storage totes. So I picked up a few more totes, to allow for the new stuff and future acquisitions. I also caught up this week on some general cleaning, which I had let stack up lately.
* Etsy Projects - I relisted some winter/Christmas items I had offered last year, but had let lapse over the summer. In the process of relisting them, I also updated the photos to include some better ones. I've also finally begun the process of slowly updating photos for most of my listings. (I took most of the better photos a while ago, and have just been procrastinating about processing them.) I also did some preliminary design work and picked up supplies for some new seasonal items I want to offer this year.
* Virtual Yard Sale and FreeCycle - I finally got around to taking some photos of the Apple Think Different posters I have, and was all set to list them on eBay when I decided to hold off on that. Instead I emailed a vendor that I know buys the posters to see if they might be interested in mine. (I know normally they only buy unopened sets. But I do happen to have one they're currently out of stock on, so I figured it would be worth a try.)

	User:	catullus_5
	Date:	2009-11-09 12:02
	Subject:	Why January should be National Rob Schneider Movie Month
	Security:	Public

Cool information from data-mining Metacritic.

The best and worst reviewed actors. Some are surprising (Viggo Mortensen), some are anything but (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Freddie Prinze Jr.).


"If you want to get a sense of the zeitgeist but can only read one review, you might prefer Rene Rodriguez, whose low standard deviation from the mean review score makes him very nearly a living critical average. If you are interested in an alternative perspective, Mick LaSalle's high standard deviation places him further from the critical pack than any of these peers." Also, to my complete lack of surprise, Roger Ebert loves everything these days.


News flash: The best movies come out in December and the worst ones come out in January.

	User:	catullus_5
	Date:	2009-11-09 11:06
	Subject:	Cue U2 song
	Security:	Public

The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago today. When you consider that communism slaughtered up to a hundred million people by some estimates, and enslaved about a billion people at its height, it could be that November 9, 1989 was the greatest day in world history during my lifetime.

Figured I'd mention it.

	User:	neko038
	Date:	2009-11-08 18:27
	Subject:	:(
	Security:	Public

Ok I am confused. We had a party last night for cast and alumni, and this morning I am missing a throw. It is taupe with a brown tartan pattern on it and fringing on the edge. It was in the living room, on a wicker basket. The blanket that was on top of it is still there and I hunted around the house for it and nothing.. So yeah, if anyone accidentally took it home please return it.
Why do things disappear when you have people over :(
Crys

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-08 17:46
	Subject:	Cake Wrecks!
	Security:	Public

 
So today I headed out to the Cake Wrecks book signing in Framingham. It was such fun!
Click on any thumbnail to take you to the set.

On the way home I drove right past a Trader Joe's. So now for dinner tonight I get to have nummy stuff I never get to have. Woot.

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-08 10:59
	Subject:	Sesame Street Cakes!
	Security:	Public

 
Calling all Sesame Street fans! And cake fans! You simply must check out This week's "Sunday Sweets" entry over at Cake Wrecks.

OMG, the adorableness!

	User:	girlygothic
	Date:	2009-11-07 15:41
	Subject:	Why is the Toilet Paper Angry?
	Security:	Public

 
Tomorrow I'm headed off to the Cake Wrecks book signing in Framingham. Just a little while ago I finished my entry for the Wreckplica contest. The inspiration cake is the second photo down in this entry.

	User:	neko038
	Date:	2009-11-07 14:10
	Subject:	I think I can, I think I can.
	Security:	Public

I did it. I drove the standard car all by myself to BJ's, stopping on 2 hills, going onto the Highway and off and through Somerville to Cambridge. And I only stalled 4 times and 2 of them were because I forgot to put the clutch down when parking and the other 2 were in Cambridge because people decided to walk behind the car when I was backing up. So yeah, I can drive a stick.
Crys

	User:	phoenixshadow
	Date:	2009-11-07 13:45
	Subject:	To the Rocky Peoples
	Security:	Public

Kyle Koslowski's doppleganger?  You decide (cross referenced on Facebook)


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33733718/ns/entertainment-celebrities/

	User:	catullus_5
	Date:	2009-11-06 09:23
	Subject:	Augustus Saint-Gaudens
	Security:	Public

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was cool.

I know a bit about coin collecting, and the consensus among enthusiasts is that the golden $20 Double Eagle designed by Saint-Gaudens and minted from 1907 to 1933 is the most beautiful American coin ever minted. And I agree.

	User:	revolos55
	Date:	2009-11-06 00:06
	Subject:	Chirp chirp
	Security:	Public

• 23:54 *sigh* Fuckin' Yankees... #


• 01:00 Listening a Mozart's Requiem, wondering if I recognize a part cuz I've heard it so often. Nope, it was sampled in "Lacrymosa" by Evanescence #


• 02:39 Junk for both mind and body: Gonna make some Cheese & Pepperoni Bagel Bites and watch The Vampire Diaries... #


• 08:39 RT @mollyrazor: Remember, remember the 5th of November // The Gunpowder Treason and Plot... #


• 11:18 Mmkay, I think it's just about time to hit the hay. And once I've pulverized the hay into submission, I'ma go to bed. Catch y'all in 8 hours #


• 23:02 Seriously, between Grey's and FlashForward there's this huge spoiler minefield that makes me need to avoid Twitter on Thursdays. #

	User:	elctric_mayhem
	Date:	2009-11-05 18:53
	Subject:	Coincidence
	Security:	Public

I've been watching the show Heroes since it first aired, 3 or 4 years ago. All along I noticed in the credits the name Joe Pokaski. I went to elementary school with a kid with that name, and the basis for a lot of our friendship was a mutual love of comics. For those 3 years I obliviously just thought it was a coincidence of names, but no. One of my best friends from elementary school grew up to be one of the co-writers of Heroes. Neat.

	User:	jrising
	Date:	2009-11-05 16:11
	Subject:	New Job(s)!
	Security:	Public

I have a new job, or two!

Virsona, the Artificial Intelligence startup where I've been chief architecting for the past year, is going under. Some banks had promised us four more years of funding two years ago, but have since then realized that they don't have any money. So Virsona stopped paying all employees after Halloween.

Yesterday, I was offered a job at Democracy in Action, a non-profit that builds tools for other non-profits, about 1 mile from my home. They're epicurean, with a kegerator in the main room, but also a recent history of burning people out. The work might be too easy for me, but at least I'll be helping.

But for the rest of November, I'm working for a friend from Olin on a fun project for the new Droid phone. It looks like I'm finally going to get a PDA.