May 2008 Archives

The bug caught his first fish today. Pacific mackerel. "Holy mackerel, Batman!"

Walked the Newport pier early this morning. Overcast. Sweatshirt weather. At the end, many fishing. (Mostly Asians.)

Guy there (Jake) asked the bug if he wanted to "Catch a fish." (Everybody was catching mackerel like crazy.)

The guy actually hooked the fish, then handed him the pole. I showed him how a reel works. We could feel the fish tugging at the other end. Pole bending like crazy.

Rode my mountain bike to the coffee shop today with laptop in tow. Now, I've carried my laptop along to the coffee shop numerous times (in the car). And I've ridden there plenty of times. But this is the first time I've biked there *with* laptop.

Not sure why this feels like such a cool thing, but it does. Maybe it's the sense of freedom it brings, like backpacking. Liberating.

I was patting myself on the back, telling a friend how I'd rode there with a zero-carbon footprint .. to which he responded, "Yeah, if you don't consider all the jet-fuel they burned flying in that coffee you're drinking."

On a more technical note, I started studying PHP & MySQL this week. Been wanting to learn those technologies for some time. Now felt like the right time.

PHP has become a powerful scripting language, and also very popular (used by more than 20 million web domains). And since it's based on the C programming language, I might learn some of that in the process.

"Two things pierce the human heart," wrote Simone Weil. "Beauty and affliction." It's always interesting to hear a quote that captures the essence of a notion we thought no one else could comprehend.

After picking up the Bug yesterday morning, he said (as I drove away), "I want you to be a dada and come inside momma's house."

Interesting how he objectified me with the phrase "a dada," (which he has never done before) as if he were somehow searching for a way to get me inside, or had learned to associated the idea of "a dada" with someone who "comes inside momma's house." (not a normal practice for me)

Talk about heart-wrenching. Like a conversely beautiful experience last month, his words went deep .. piercing just as I lowered my defenses.

Can't blame the little guy for wanting to spend time with both of the people who made him. My rock-climbing buddy, Tom, has a 7-year old daughter. He warned me these days would come, and described the (heart-wrenching) challenges they'd bring.

"Do you want me," I asked (trying to figure out where he was coming from), "to come inside and visit with you? Or with you AND momma?"

"With me *and* momma," he answered.

I normally stop by the library the day before I get the Bug. There I usually pick up a few new books, which I read to him throughout the week.

Occasionally I come across one showing pictures of children (or baby animals) lovingly surrounded by *both* parents. These I automatically reject (censor), cuz that's not his reality. And I don't want him to feel .. well, you know what I'm saying.

This was first week the Bug was not able to tootle around town in the Porsche. I told him it broke, and that I sold it to a guy who could fix it.

He asked what kind of car I was gonna get. I wasn't sure and asked his opinion.

"You should get a fire engine," he said (while eating an ice cream cone down on Balboa Island). Know of any cheap, used fire engines for sale? =)

On a more technical note .. ever run out of room on your hard drive? particularly your C_drive? (where Windows resides)

Crap Cleaner

This seems to be a common problem with drives that are partitioned too small, and with laptops, which traditionally come with drives much smaller than those in your desktop.

Sold the Rad-mobile today. I've driven that car every day for 22 years. (When I find something I like, I stick with it.) Bought it when I was living in Pennsylvania (1986) when the car was 2 years old ($32K). Previously owned by a doctor's wife.

Last week I noticed the engine sagging slighty. Took me a few days to figure out why. A part called the motor mount bracket had broken ($450, just for the part).

My buddy, Big Al, stopped over this morning to take a look. He's an ex crew chief for race cars. Builds race cars for a living. He said the bracket would not be easy to replace.

We'd have to do what is called a partial engine-drop. He also said not to drive the car, cuz the dang engine could fall out.

So I placed an ad on Craig's List. Within the hour, phone rang. Guy named Alex asked how much I thought the car was worth. I really had no idea, given its condition (undriveable).

But I threw out a number I'd be happy with. Alex said, "If you're willing to sell for that, I'll come over right now and buy it sight unseen."

Well, he did. Him and his buddy. Car left a few hours ago on a flatbed. It all went so very fast. (Made me dizzy.) One minute Big Al was ready to fix the car for me; the next (it seems), it was gone.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! ("5th of May") It's like our 4th of July, for Mexicans .. tho not technically their Independence day (as many presume). Rather it's when Mexico defeated the French (under Napoleon) in 1862 (during our Civil war) ..

.. some 41 years after Mexico's war of independence. Four thousand Mexican soldiers defeated twice as many French at the Battle of Puebla.

CdM is a big deal here in Southern California, and probably any place with a sizable Mexican population. Like St. Patrick's day, you don't have to be Mexican to celebrate. Good excuse to eat tacos and drink Mexican beer. Olé!

Been busy working on the new » Guide to Virtual Private Servers. Now I remember why I don't write more guides: they're lots of work.