In looking back, a lot has happened in the last six months.
Unfortunately, very little of it ended up here.
That was due, in a large part, to the failures of age -- of my old laptop. The battery life had dropped to near-zero -- one of those calculus things where you never quite reach zero, but you approach it so closelythat it really doesn't matter in real life -- and when it would lose power while in the middle of doing something, it would crap all over the hard drive.
After losing quite a few important files (including some journal entries, now lost forever,) I gave up trying to use it except when plugged in.
That meant no more typing on the train.
Now, however, that I am mostly switched over to my new laptop I can once again get some work done en route. So, what's been happening since that last entry, back in December of 1999? Read on, MacDuff!
Well, in December, I disappeared. I'll finish that entry soon and get it up. The New Year's day, 2000 came and went. The morons of the world celebrated their popular misconception about the start of the next century, blissful in their avoidance of any need to think for themselves.
I did discover, a week or so later, that my billing program (TimeSlips 3, circa 1990) was curiously non-compliant. It turns out that while it will let you enter slips for the year 00, it won't accept dates outside the range of years 72 to 99 when selecting slips for invoicing. Bizarre.
I have been working like crazy for Long's Drugs lately, including some 12 hour days for weeks at a time. What else? Cassie's back in swim class. Made amazing progress, once she got a pair of goggles. She had (has) a real problem with water on (in) her eyes, and the goggles let her enjoy the water, instead of spending all her time wiping the water from her eyes.
In other news, I am beginning to suspect that I suffer from depression, at least somewhat. I know that mental illness of one form or another is a popular hobby these days, but I am at the point where I think having a wooden indian to talk to (and, perhaps, offer some honest, unbiased, unemotional suggestions) might be a big help. The voices in my head just aren't doing it for me anymore. It seems that lately I have no motivation, I am rarely what I would call really happy, and I just don't enjoy things the way I used to. I suspect it stems in part from Dad's situation, but I don't think that's the whole story. Luckily, Rachel's health insurance has a modicum of coverage for mental health problems (20 visits a year, with a $25 co-payment each time -- you have to be rich to be crazy!). We'll see what happens.
And before you ask, yes, insanity runs in my family. Certainly my mother was insane. Rita had a major breakdown a couple of years ago. Stanley's been gone for a while, and I don't think anyone would argue that Paul is really all there. It's hard to tell with Barbara -- she uses her mind so little, no one knows what it's really like.
Meanwhile, I've heard from a number of voices from my past. Phil from high school sent me an e-mail, as did Harry from City College. I ran into Danny's folks too, at the Jewish home. Gave them my e-mail and phone number, but I haven't heard from him.
I'm also on the Abraham Lincoln High School Alumni Mailing List -- an alumni with an AOL address occasionally sends out huge image files which are scans of flyers for fund-raising events. Of course, the non-newbie way to do this would be to send a URL of a web page that shows the flyer, or has the appropriate information.
I've got a file server on the network now, and I'm slowly ripping all my CD's to MP3's so I can listen to them from anywhere in the house. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out MP3.com -- that's where I found John Williams. Anyway, the point is to be able to listen to any CD I own, whereever I am in the house, without having to actually dig up the physical CD. Now, some folks do this by buying several of those 100 CD changers, loading as many CD's as they can, and running speaker wire throughout the house. I'm doing it by converting the music to MP3 files and putting them on the network. Then, any computer that is on the network and has a sound card can access the MP3 files and play them back. (I'm listening to Lyle Lovett's Step Inside this House (both discs) as I write this.)
The other advantage to this is that you can make up playlists -- lists of songs to be played as a set. They don't need to be on the same CD, or by the same artist, or anything. So I can pick out some favorite late-night songs and compile them into one list. Or songs to play along with on the guitar. Or upbeat party songs. This is a big benefit. And, of course, it's all done on a computer with a real screen and keyboard.
The file server is a linux-based PC running Samba so that the Windows boxes can see it and NFS so that the other Linux machines can as well. One of these days, I'll get around to setting up NetATalk so the Macs can get to it too. Mind you, it's not like we have hundreds of active computers around here. Still, we do have a few:
We're also getting a new room off of the attic, which will be fully wired. At some point, we'll get to the rest of the house as well. This brings up the other big happening lately -- remodelling. The new bathroom is about halfway done -- the plumbing is in place, and it's mostly laid out. The Living room is nearly complete (just a few minor things left) and the Dining room will be done soon. Next will be the garage, furnace, and, possibly, the living room.
There's been a lot more done than it sounds like, though. We have a new electrical feed (200 amps) and most of the West outside wall has been replaced (dry rot). We have four new windows in the garage (three on the West side and one on the back, next to the new door.) There have been other changes as well, but those are the major ones.
The house is a little different than it once was. Dad doesn't seem to mind, and I don't really care much. It makes Rachel happy though. (Of course, she'll be much happier when it's done!)
Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. I am hoping to keep this more up-to-date from now on, but then I'm also hoping I'll get rich and turn good looking, so don't hold your breath.