Mile
Zero

On vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Back next week.

I woke up this morning to hear that Robert Byrd had died, and that I needed to fix the timeline we had made of his life. As I logged into the VPN, the screen went oddly pink and blue, like Doom's old Hall of Mirrors effect if you cheated your way out of a valid sector. Then it went black, and then it refused to boot to anything but an external monitor in Psychedelic Snow VGA Mode. The video card, it would seem, is fried. Luckily, I'm just barely within the three-year extended service plan (good until August!), so Lenovo is sending a box and will fix it for no extra cost. But I'll be without hardware for probably three to five days.

I've been on a vaguely weekly schedule here for a while now, so I figure going quite for another week won't shock anyone too much. I had planned, starting today or tomorrow, to write my one-year look back at b-boying, but it looks like that will have to wait. I'll also have to hold off on playing through more of Planescape: Torment, which is too bad since it was just starting to get pretty good, and I'm looking forward to rambling a little on its relationship with death and meta-gaming when I get a chance. And finally, I hope I've gotten the database bugs straightened out on NPR's client now, because it'll be a lot harder to debug and fix them on my lunch hour at work. Still, it's not all bad: forced breaks like this are no doubt good for my tendonitis, and maybe it'll give me some extra incentive to drill footwork for Crafty Bastards if the heat lets up. Here's to a productive week, and a speedy return of my soon-to-be-repaired Thinkpad.

Gone to San Francisco. Back next week.

Although I reserve the right to change plans at any time, both writing and commenting will probably be thin this week. I'm trying cut down on the amount of extra typing at the moment, as well as temporarily giving up use of the XBox and my musical equipment, since I've been feeling the twinges that herald the return of repetitive stress injury. As a writer, coder, bassist, and gamer, RSI is something that I've come to know fairly well. And after working with sufferers in a data-input center, I have no desire to aggravate my symptoms. I'd urge anyone here who suspects that they might be in a similar situation to be very, very careful: you only get one set of hands, after all.

Like I said, at the moment my recovery strategy consists of avoiding activities which aggravate my joints whenever possible. I also habitually use a trackball at work, which I find is slightly easier on my wrists, and I'm trying to take advantage of Vista's voice command app to do my computing at home. Feel free to suggest other helpful measures in the comments.

Update: Hands and wrists still hurting. Picked up an ergonomic mouse, made a doctor's appointment on Thursday, still trying to stay away from keyboards/basses/video games, but unable to avoid work at this time. Actually kind of enjoying the lack of blogging, although that won't last.

This week until Friday I'm in St. Paul, helping CQ cover the Republican National Convention.

Whee.

The past week has been a little crazy. B-SPAN is really starting to hit its peak season, combined with the stress of training my replacements. We've got some sessions coming up on the effects of mass media and leadership that look promising, though.

Take Your Kid to Work Day took place yesterday, and I was drafted to teach kids about radio and sound production. I'm personally convinced that the main purpose of Take Your Kid to Work Day is to convince childless coworkers that their loins should remain unfruited.

The job search continues, as I just finished an interview with a local progressive think tank and have an upcoming interview with an offshoot of one of the national news organizations. Let's hope one of them works out, since rummaging through trash bins in search of sustenance and commentary doesn't appeal much to me.

In musical news, attempts to form a band via Craigslist have yielded little, besides an increasing frustration with over-optimistic college students who post five or six times a week in need of a front man. Watching them humiliate themselves online has reminded me that the most reliable way to actually find other musicians is to go out and play. Accordingly, I'm going to start hitting open mikes again.

I'm going to be gone for a week, working on the Improving Governance and Fighting Corruption conference site for WBI. I'll be back in the USA starting March 16th.

Plans while in Belgium include waffles, chocolate, finding out if European Nutella is really better than the American stuff, and tracking down the Noisettes' What's the Time Mr Wolf.

Hold my calls.

I did this on TW.net once, before I had a blog and I would just change the front page randomly. I think it was inspired by an old post at Emma Story's blog. It's better than just saying "I'm busy."

Last week and the next, I am:

• Composing: but not for myself. Three videos will be produced for the GDLN world forum, and they need music similar to the theme I've already made for background. Note to budding Spielbergs: do not tell your music director that you need "fast," "slow," and "really fast." music. It tends to be unhelpful.
• Planning: for National Novel Writing Month. Will anything actually get written? Hard to say. But it's nice to have plans.
• Reading: Righteous by Lauren Sandler and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I've been on a bit of a dominionist kick lately, and I'm going to try to see Jesus Camp this weekend if work allows.
• Watching: Night Stalker, the remake of the 70's cult classic that starred Darrin McGavin--a.k.a. The Old Man. It's a bit of an X-Files ripoff, and I think I'll actually have something to say about that shortly. Of course, Galactica is back for the third season, and it's every bit as good as you'd expect. I will definitely have things to say about it.
• Walking: the dog. He has turned into a pretty good puppy after all. The cat's trouble, but charming trouble.
• Playing: The Secret of Monkey Island using PocketSCUMM. It's easier than I remember, and wittier although not as funny, if that makes any sense. Rocket Slime is on the way from Amazon at some point, but frankly I've had no real gaming time lately.
• Working: overtime. All this weekend, and probably much of next week while the World Forum finishes. There's a lot of voiceovers to be done, and B-SPAN is picking up. Just don't tell my boss: I haven't technically asked to come in after hours, not that it's ever stopped me before.

Updates as events warrant.

Okay, the lights are back on, and everything seems to be where I left it. Guess Neureal fixed their DNS issues. Now, who's got an opinion?

Oh, yes. I do.

I'm typing from a Konsole window on my first Linux installation. I'm impressed by how slick the GUI is, and a little bit amazed at how unhelpful Linux still manages to be. Would it kill you guys to write just a paragraph on (for example) the four different partition formats I'm given? Sure, I can google it, but I probably shouldn't have to.

Also, the live CD (try out the whole OS from a bootable CD before you install) is really slick. But you can't tell me that most people really want to go around downloading a 700Mb ISO before they install. It's such a weird mix of technical savvy and personal cluelessness.

So... slow month, huh? Sorry about that. But I've got a few good excuses for the cobwebs in the corners around here. The results of a lot of work are really starting to pay off:

• France! Tomorrow I'll get on a plane and fly to Paris for a two-week vacation. Preparations have taken some time, especially since I've never been to Europe or speak much French. Traveling to a country where neither my Spanish, nor my Mandarin, nor my Arabic (such as it is) will do me any good: how do I let Belle talk me into these things? I may put up some travelogues if I get the time, and I may not if I'm just having too much fun. Basically, check back in November when regular daily updates will resume.
• WILL WRITE FOR FOOD. Speaking of November, my interviews about a month back paid off. Effective next month, I'll be writing and helping with production for the Bank's Internet broadcasting initiative, B-SPAN. Trivial and/or non-job threatening World Bank commentary will therefore continue to be a regular feature. It's a win-win situation for us all.
• Continue? 9 Next week's Escapist (Issue #15) will, unless something changes, include my article on gaming, hip-hop, and race. It's titled Guns, Gangs, and Greed: Gaming's Hip-Hop Diversity Gap. I'll try to put up a comment post for discussion if I get a chance. I want to thank Belle, Corvus, and Cindika for their help in editing--something every writer needs, whether they admit it or not. Any mistakes inside are still mine, but the article is exponentially better for their input.
• Those who are about to rock... Don't forget, if you're a reader in the DC local area: my Four String Riot solo project will be playing at Stacy's on October 28th. It'll be like an experiment in the effects of jet lag and two weeks away from the instrument/looping combo. I often joke that my shows are meant as a Spectacle teetering on the brink of collapse, and that'll certainly be the case at Stacy's. Come for the suspense, stay for the miraculous recovery of ROCK. Lately I've felt that performances have been a little dull--hopefully this will be the shot of nervous energy I've needed.