All right, so I have the new laptop…

D'Arque Bishop2 Comments

Well, on Monday, my new laptop finally arrived. It’s a Dell Latitude D620 laptop, which is more or less the standard model of laptop we get at the office. I know I posted why I got the company laptop earlier; I posted a bit more detailed explanation of why and what I used before on a Slashdot comment, responding to a story asking about getting UNIX workstations at work.

Up until about a week ago, I used a self-provided PowerBook G4 as my work machine.

Not too long after starting at where I work, I was given the task of overseeing my employer’s Linux boxes. Seeing as most users did their Office et al work via Windows terminal server, I loaded Linux onto my laptop and used rdesktop for the terminal servers. It was… okay, but the power management and various interface issues annoyed me. I ended up buying a PowerBook G4 for both work and personal use, and it worked beautifully for the most part. (Though, MS’s Remote Desktop Connection for Mac software was crap, and for the most part I still used rdesktop on X11.)

However, I finally ended up switching back to a Windows laptop last week. I’m doing more and more remote site implementations, and I found that not only was getting my USB-to-RS232 adapter working with minicom something of a chore (for programming switches, routers, and the like), there were a couple of programs that I would need in Windows that ran dog slow in VirtualPC. Also, I couldn’t justify the cost of a new MacBook when the old one still worked well for personal use, and I knew the company wouldn’t buy me one.

So, for work purposes, I now run a Dell Latitude D620 with XP Pro. If I need to administrate the Linux boxes, I use PuTTY and Xming, and if I need to do some local testing I have VMWare Workstation installed locally. I still keep the PowerBook for personal use.

A couple of other things I didn’t mention were that the D620 I requested came with a docking station and a Cingular 3G broadband card. While I could have gotten a BookEndz docking station for a MacBook Pro, I don’t know of any 3G support for Mac OS X. Also, from a corporate perspective, Dell Gold tech support is faster than AppleCare should I have a problem.

So, how is the laptop so far? Besides myself, I’m impressed. It’s worked fine, other than an issue with my laptop having sync issues with the domain controller, but I suspect the VMware network adapters were responsible for that. Otherwise, since I’ve loaded my work software on it, it’s worked fine for me. I’ve also got a USB stick with my personal apps like Thunderbird and Gaim installed on it for when I travel, so it’s ready on that front. All in all, it’s a decent machine. And despite my worrying about not asking for a case, it turned out one was ordered for it anyway by accident.

As for the PowerBook, it’ll be my personal machine, and travel with me on personal trips and Mortal Kombat Online related trips. It’s still a workhorse, and will serve my purposes. I just need to bring it in to an Apple Store to have them look at the spacebar and figure out why it’s not working properly.

Ah, well. I think I’ll be good on the laptop front. We’ll just see how it goes. :-)

Mr. Prime, welcome back… we MISSED you.

D'Arque Bishop

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32023

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The net is buzzing with the news that just dropped at sectorseven.org regarding Megatron’s voice.

Sector Seven is the government agency investigating the giant robots in Bay’s TRANSFORMERS. This website, a very secretive and dense place, has been cracked. Click the link above and enter in NBETWO. If you click on the red scorpion you’ll get a list of emails, indicating “megaman’s recording” and an “Agent Weaving.”

I have run this by my sources within Paramount/Dreamworks and it is indeed the truth. Hugo Weaving has been hired to voice Megatron for Michael Bay.

The feelings are mixed. On one hand… fuck. No Frank Welker. But on the other… fuck! Hugo Weaving rocks! I’m curious to hear his robot voice, see how different it’ll sound from his other voice work. I’m glad it’s someone we can guarantee a certain level of excellence from and not a big star who’ll just take the check to sit in a room and read into a microphone (I’m talking to you Julia Roberts and everybody else in the live-action CHARLOTTE’S WEB… Thomas Hayden Church, you’re the exception).

Well… heh. On one hand, I had been pulling for Frank Welker to reprise his role as Megatron, if only because they had gotten Peter Cullen back to play Optimus Prime. On the other hand, I’m not like the TF fanboys who have been demanding that it only be Welker or it’ll definitely suck. For example, I really liked David Kaye’s interpretation of Megatron seen in everything from Beast Wars to Cybertron (with the exception of that abomination Robots in Disguise). I REALLY enjoy Hugo Weaving’s work; truthfully, I consider this to be pretty damn good news overall. This has done nothing to make me look forward to Transformers any less. In fact, now I’m looking forward to it a bit more just to see what Weaving’s Megatron will be like. :-)

The end of yet another week…

D'Arque Bishop

Well, it’s Friday, and I have the weekend to look forward to.

Actually, my plans for this weekend have changed slightly. I hadn’t planned on doing much of anything, as Dave and Louie were both going to go up to Austin for the weekend. However, I got a call from Dave last night while I was out having drinks with my coworker Brent, letting me know that the trip had been cancelled. I didn’t find out why until today: Louie had to leave town due to a death in the family. :-/ My heart goes out to him, and I hope the services go well. In the meantime, I’ve invited Dave to come up here tomorrow and hang out here for the day. I’m not sure what exactly we’ll be doing. Ah, well… we’ll see when the time comes.

This week has been relatively uneventful for the most part, other than meeting Brent for drinks yesterday and having dinner with the boss, Brent, and a couple of other coworkers on Wednesday. The only other notable thing that happened was that I needed to take my car in for service this morning. As I was driving to meet Brent yesterday, I noticed that the temperature gauge was rising as the car idled, and would lower when in motion. By the time I got to where Brent was (after driving through stop-and-go rush hour traffic), the car’s temperature was in the red zone. (Fortunately, driving home was almost nonstop once I got on 610 from Westheimer.) The issue turned out to be a combination of a short-circuiting cooling fan motor and a malfunctioning electronic coolant temperature sensor (which was reading at -22 degrees… heh). $400 later, the car was fixed and I was on my way to work. Not the most fun way to start my day, let me tell you…

As a final note, I have a new desktop wallpaper on my main PC…

Main PC desktop - 23 March 2007

I actually picked it up from this site; it’s a steampunk reimagining of Darth Vader. The artist also had steampunk reimaginings of Jabba the Hutt, Han Solo and Chewbacca, and the Death Star. I dunno… I think Star Wars would make a very good steampunk background. Then again, I fully admit I didn’t begin to appreciate the aesthetics of steampunk, so to speak, until I saw the way the TARDIS console room was designed in the Doctor Who TV-movie. One of these days I’ll pick up The Difference Engine and read it, as it’s supposed to be a very good steampunk book. Final Fantasy VI also has a definite steampunk feel to it. :-)

Anyway, for now, I’m just going to finish this drink and ponder going to bed. Fun fun…

Changes in (my) work technology…

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

Those of you in IT know how it is. The technology you work with just keeps changing on you… heh. In my case, I’ve been caught in the middle of changes for work, namely involving my cell phone and the computer I use. Change is good sometimes, but it’s sometimes a bit unexpected.

A few weeks ago I changed cell phones. I had been using a Cingular 8125 for about a year or so. As much as I loved the 8125 (especially when I got PocketPuTTY and TCPMP installed on it), it had three drawbacks that were beginning to annoy the hell out of me. The thing was extremely bulky; it was not uncommon for the thing to fall off of my belt. Also, using the stylus on the touchscreen could be annoying, especially when I accidentally drop it. I had already lost one stylus in the shop at my office, and have come close to losing the spare one more times than I care to admit. Last but certainly not least, the voice quality was subpar. I could hear people fine, but I couldn’t say the same for people who wanted to hear me. So, I eventually asked for something different. I could have gone with a Samsung Blackjack, but as my coworker Jesse put it, “There’s a REASON it comes with two batteries.” Instead, I got a Cingular 3125. I can’t really use TCPMP (yet) or PocketPuTTY on it, but it’s working out as well as the 8125 did for email. Also, the voice quality is superior, and it’s not too much bigger than a Motorola RAZR. (I compared it to Misty’s RAZR weekend before last.) Granted, I’m having to get used to T9 predicative typing on the phone, but that’s never been too much of an issue for me. All in all, it’s been working out well for me.

On the other hand, I’ve actually been migrating away from Mac for my work machine. I’d been finding I needed to run VMWare for test environments, and there are a couple of apps I use that are Windows-only. A few months back, I got the bosses to get me a desktop machine I could use for VMWare et al, and I would use the Mac when on the road. Well, Jesse needs an actual workstation, and there have been a couple of times when I could have used those Windows apps when out on the road. So, I finally gave in and requested a Dell laptop (in this case, a Latitude D620). My desktop machine will end up going to Jesse, and as for the PowerBook… well, it’ll be turned into my personal use only laptop. In other words, I’ll be taking the Dell on business trips, and the PowerBook on personal trips. Of course, that leaves me with the problem of using my own personal apps when on business trips. (Namely, Firefox, Thunderbird, Gaim, etc.) I’ll end up taking a USB flash drive with the PortableApps Suite software when I do go on those trips, just so I don’t have to worry about installing my own personal stuff on the laptop. The new Dell should be in sometime next week, hopefully.

Of course, the one regret I have about the laptop is that I asked that a case not be ordered for it. I had planned on buying one myself. That was, of course, before looking up the case I wanted and finding that it was a Zero Halliburton case, and that it would cost somewhere between $280-400… yikes.

All in all, things are going good on the work tech front. The changes are taking a bit of getting used to, but it’ll all be for the best, methinks. We’ll just see how it all goes…

I think this easily qualifies as the “oh s**t” of the day…

D'Arque Bishop

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/20/lost.data.ap/index.html

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Perhaps you’ve experienced that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing an account worth $38 billion.

That’s what happened to a computer technician reformatting a disk drive at the Alaska Department of Revenue. While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account — one of Alaska residents’ biggest perks — and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.

There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defense had failed: backup tapes were unreadable.

“Nobody panicked, but we instantly went into planning for the worst-case scenario,” said Permanent Fund Dividend Division Director Amy Skow. The computer foul-up last July would end up costing the department more than $200,000.

Er, damn. I’m glad I wasn’t in that technician’s shoes… I’d be panicking and updating my resume if that ever happened to me. :-)

Sharing a desk isn’t always fun…

D'Arque Bishop

Well, this is fun. Apparently I have a helper/companion when working on my computer at home.

Gus lounging on my desk…

With Gus and Ringo being exiled to the upstairs more or less permanently (thanks to Chase and especially Star not being cat friendly), they get bored and lonely. So, I’ve taken to leaving my bedroom door open during the evening so that Gus can come visit. (Ringo is rarely that adventurous.) Most of the time he would either find a spot on the floor or on my bed, and lie there contentedly.

Recently, though, he’s been taking to getting up on my desk and exploring around. It wouldn’t be so annoying if A) he wasn’t so twitchy and likes to move around, and B) he loves pens and related objects. More than once I’ve had to stop him from taking Sharpie markers, a pocketknife, and even my Bluetooth earpiece from the desk. He also likes to stand or lay in front of the monitor, as evidenced above. While I was writing the first couple of paragraphs of this post, he actually had a paw outstretched onto the keyboard, and I had to work around him.

I love the guy, but he is a typical cat in that he is very demanding for attention, and to hell with any reason why you shouldn’t be giving it to him. When working on stuff that can be a bit of a pain in the ass, especially when he jumps in my lap. Still, it is cute sometimes, and I enjoy his company for the most part… when I’m not trying to keep him from stealing stuff, that is. :-)

A weekend with friends… (Or: “So, what’s next for us?”)

D'Arque Bishop

So, last weekend was spent with Misty. Yesterday was a day out with Dave and Louie, as we decided to spend the day doing some sort of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The day wasn’t all THAT eventful, but it was a good day out and about. The plans were started on Thursday night when Dave called and we all arranged that we would meet on Saturday. From there, we proceeded with our plans…

Read more “A weekend with friends… (Or: “So, what’s next for us?”)”

A weekend with the girlfriend… (Or: “I caught my mom’s garter! Ewwww!”)

D'Arque Bishop

Bleh. I know I haven’t updated this site in a while. So sue me.

The truth is that I’ve been extremely busy with work and the like. This past week it wasn’t uncommon for me to not be home until after 7:30 PM, and that’s even with my coming in to work at 6:45 AM. I’ll go into detail later… maybe. I guess one could argue that it’s what I get for spending last weekend visiting the girlfriend up in Jackson. Back when I last saw Misty in November, I met her friend Dani, who more or less made me promise to take Misty to her wedding. And so this visit was set in motion… :-)

Read more “A weekend with the girlfriend… (Or: “I caught my mom’s garter! Ewwww!”)”

Arkansas? Nope, not really growing on me…

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

Meh. Well, I’m in my hotel room in Conway, AR, right now, just relaxing at the end of a long day. I plan on turning in early, but that’s not going to be for another couple of hours. For now, though, I’m just browsing the web, chatting with friends, and winding down.

I ended up getting up at 4:15 AM this morning, as my flight to Little Rock was going to leave at 7:15 AM. I got to the airport terminal itself around 6 AM; normally I might have been earlier, but I drove myself to the airport this time and parked in the economy lot. It was a good thing I got there early, as there was quite a line to get through security. I boarded my flight, got to Little Rock, got my rental car, and made my way to Conway without incident. Once I got to the Conway facility, I met with the two employees there and started work on mapping out where everything was and what needed to be done.

Of course, while I was doing so, I saw something that I had seen the first time I came out; this was there the last time I was at the facility, so don’t take this as a reflection of us or my coworkers. I guess you can call it Arkansas public education at its finest.

An example of Arkansas public education?

After I got finished at the location, I ended up going to the hotel and getting myself checked in and to my room. Once I got settled in, I decided to go have dinner, which would have consisted of a burger and a beer at Chili’s. I knew where the Chili’s was, so I drove over there, got a table…

… and was quickly informed by the waitress that I was in a dry county. Bah!

Such a thing has rarely made sense to me. I just don’t see the point in having dry counties; I guess it comes from living for 25 years in a “wet” county and not seeing any problem with it. It just seems, well… silly to me. Ah, well… I ended up having a Diet Coke (which will play havoc with the desire to sleep) instead.

Tomorrow looks to be another productive day. I should be done with everything I need to work on by noon, which leaves me free to work on other work projects the rest of the day. Hopefully I don’t encounter any setbacks… heh.

(And I can’t wait to get my laptop in for service. The spacebar is REALLY beginning to annoy me…)