The Empirical Manifesto

So long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye...

The U-HAUL Sport Trailer is loaded. It was roomier than I anticipated. Not only did I get everything in which was earmarked to go, I got a lot of other stuff packed as well, including my daughter's bicycle and scooter. LOTS of room in that little trailer. I roll out in the morning.






Oh she move like the Diva do
I said "I'd love to dance like you."
She said "just take off my red shoes
Put them on and your dream'll come true
With no words, with no song
You can dance the dream with your body on
And this curve, is your smile
And this cross, is your heart
And this line, is your path...

--Kate Bush

I'm drunk on margarita's.

My Final Fantasy Collection

Dreamed about the second half of Battlestar Galactica Season Two. I won't tell you about it because I dreamed spoilers.

Successfully migrated all my iTunes data to my new 160GB drive. It rocks harder. $60!

Just ate leftover fire-burgers from yesterday - they're fantastic!

Carla here. That r0x.

Tony is my hetero-life mate and I miss him. It's like...twins being separated. It hurts.

Every neighborhood kid with in a mile came to swim in the pool today. We were all drunk on margarita's so we didn't care.

I'm Texan. I like George Strait.

I snatched open the humirdor and lit a cigar for galinda822 and myself. They were fantastic

I have my 'Stephen Segal' in.

Daisy is the most beautiful cat on earth.

I'm going to bed now.

I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark, When he made Pearl Harbor.

I think my cat Daisy has figured out and understands the HVAC system at the house. This may help should I need repairs in the future. I'm wondering if I could bribe her into replacing my hot-water heater with some canned tuna.

I miss you more then that movie missed the point, And that’s an awful lot girl.

I was up late listening to my new soundtrack - it was blessedly quiet in the house (after the kids went down) and the environment was perfect for doing so. Then my wife walks in from the other room where you couldn't hear it and exclaims that the music is a little loud. "Funny, it wasn't until you came in here." I replied.

And now, now you've gone away, And all I'm trying to say,

My neck is aching today. I either slept on it wrong, or my head has swollen to a massive size due to all the thinking I've been engaged in lately. I just took two Excedrin. Where is the user group file on OSX anyway?

Is Perl Harbor sucked and I miss you.

darwin is unix which isn't really unix, based on BSD which is more like SYS5 now which darwin isn't...My head hurts. drax0r had a book entitled, "OSX for Unix Geeks" or something to that effect. Perhaps that will show me where the shadow file is, since I know one exists...Oh, and groups is an executable. *sigh*

I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school, He was terrible in that film.

I installed a processor, voltage regulator, and a floppy drive on our new *shudder* Exchange server this morning, then loaded it up with 146GB drives. Wouldn't mind having one of those myself. I seriously need to look into some sort of backup/increased capacity for teh max0r.

I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part, He's way better than Ben Affleck.

We had a one compresser go out on our Liebert A/C unit. I get a call from Facilities. "Are there any servers you could power off just until we get this compresser replaced?"

Yeah, we have at least a dozen servers running for no reason whatsoever.

And now all I can think about is your smile, And that shitty movie too,

Apparently, they have OSXUserUtils, which adds commandline useradd/userdel/groupadd/groupdel fuctionality; but it appears to be just an emulator to the GUI (which I do not require), includes a 'group' which really isn't used (Uh...) and non-functional with 10.4! Fantastic! What a raging pile of shiite muslim that would be.

Perl Harbor sucked and I miss you.

Skoal, caught mid-air doing a whirling dual-wield attack!



Gamed two hours last night, from 2100-2300. Paused the game before I went to bed, but the box rebooted in the middle of the night for updates. Don't think I saved so...will replay again tonight. No worries, I'm not exactly in a hurry to finish the game. What's the point in that?

My boy and I have been reading a page from "The Great Castle Search" each evening. He loves the Great Search series of books. I learned about Motte & Bailey castles and palisades.



The kitties are already housebroken (thanks astro!) and have been ceaselessly exploring. Daisy still hides from them, but they pay her no notice. They don't cry at night, but during the day, when they're out, they use a series of echolocation to find each other if they are out of visual range. Now THAT can get annoying, but it seems to work for them. They will get darker as they mature, developing tiger-stripes or leopard spots, and their wild animal-like pelt will thicken; I got to pet the mothers and they were awesome. I was only able to get these pics because they had just awoken from a mid-afternoon catnap and were still a little groggy:



Headache is gone and I feel fantastic. Its been a busy morning, it always is - but when you're in a great mood, you really don't seem to mind; it's an opportunity to shine!

Still firming up plans for this weekend. I think we're going to watch The Sopranos Friday evening, and the wife is going to finish painting the dining room (and possibly start the living room) Saturday. If she does that, I'll entertain the children downstairs with movies and Hot Wheels.

(12:25:31 PM) EricHowton: Have you heard the good news?
(12:25:35 PM) EricHowton: HE HAS RISEN.
(12:25:50 PM) galinda822: Who?
(12:26:01 PM) EricHowton: Tony's awake!

The sky is gray and its raining buckets. I love it! Of course that always means the children will be underfoot when I get home instead of riding their bikes...



Then there is drax0r who is an outspoken proponent of not deleting posts...his own posts, that is, as it turns out, as he has recently deleted one of mine. The great operatic composer Wagner thought that no opera should ever be more than two hours long, else one would lose interest. He himself, however, composed operas over four (4) hours long. He felt the rules should apply to everyone but himself. Much like our friend draxor here:



Thanks for playing!

Gamed until 2300. Daisy slept on my head.

It's worse than you know.

Created a new schedule with the wife Saturday, to make things easier, and to save money.

Tuesday's I do the household shopping, sans groceries.
Kids go down every evening without fail at 2000.
I grill dinner every weekday evening.
We walk everyday after work.
I refrain from any internet activity and/or gaming until after 2030.
Wife and I do the bills together every Thursday after 2030.

Friday night is movie night, the only evening we turn on the television.
We order out Friday night.
I only buy beer on Friday.

It usually is.

Was supposed to take reciept of the bengal kitties tomorrow - but am instead making a whirlwind trip to Wichita Tuesday after work. I hope to be back in town sometime this weekend, giving me at least one day off before I have to return to work. So much to do, so much on my mind...Being personally responsible for everything which surrounds me wears me out. I have so little time for reflection or regret.

We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight...turbulence and then explode.

Burned all my movies off teh max0r this weekend, freeing up something in the neighborhood of 52GB. I wondered why my 72GB drive was near capacity. Of course I know why the little internal drive in the mac is full - I'm sitting at 30GB of iTunes music. I'm contemplating burning off my entire collection for backup purposes. Something like six DVD's worth. I think it's time for me to invest in a little mirrored 1TB vault. It doesn't have to be fast, just stable...

And that being said, I'm continually impressed with my XP box. I burned off a whole host of junk from that 10k drive, deleted the swapfile, and it defragged in 8 seconds. Nice. Was hoping running only on RAM my game would load/run faster, but it doesn't. Still contemplating a new video card. Oh where will I find the time, or the money?

I aim to misbehave.

The kids were in the other room watching television the other night when they came into the living room to get me. They were very excited about something. The both of them. They each grabbed a hand and tried to extract me from the couch. I relented and followed them into the other room. They sat on the edge of the bed, and patted a space between them. "Sit here, HURRY!" I sat down in front of an infomercial for a mop, and looked at both of them. What did you want me to see? Did I miss it? Both pair of eyes were GLUED to the screen. "No, daddy, this is it - watch!" I watch a man demonstrate the mop on a variety of substances. The children were awe-struck. About two and a half minutes later, they show the mop, and the price. $19.95. "This is the part!" My son announces. My daughter squeals with delight. Not one, but TWO! TWO mops for the price of one! the television announces. Both children looked as though they had seen the real Santa Claus. "TWO DADDY! You can get TWO mops!" They were very excited about the mops. I was speechless.

Going to Wichita this weekend to perform the smaller of the two moves. Leaving Thursday after work and arriving back in STL Saturday evening. As the in-laws are still out of town, we're contemplating theiving their 27" television until we get our household goods from Texas. I cannot wait to get a couch!

Astro. His wife. His brother-in-law. My wife. Our friend. Our two children. Myself. Enjoyed dinner and an evening with Astro & his family when he came to STL on business. Will unfortunately miss them on the way back, as we are in Wichita that weekend. Not to worry, they're looking to get down here lickety-split! His brother-in-law is an ex-Navy man and unix system administrator. That was cool, we had lots to talk about! That and Astro finally come up with the goods - pics of the Bengals. Oh, they're gorgeous. The coloring! The patterns! Meow.

Concerning the Texas move:

060322 (evening) Leave for Wichita. Sleep upon arrival.
060323 (morning) Leave for Boyd. Kids at folks. Overnight at David & Wendy's.
060324 (all-day event) Mom & Dad. Kids at folks. Overnight at David & Wendy's.
060325 (morning) Pick up U-Haul in Decatur & load. Overnight in Decatur.
060326 (late-morning) Drive to Wichita. Overnight in Wichita.
060327 (morning) Drive to STL.
060328 Unload truck. Pass out upon completion.
060329 Return truck
060330 Return to work.

Methinks David & Wendy are going to keep Mleko. She's a sweet cat, and I love her. But she is also getting up in years, and there is nothing I can offer her that David cannot. Plus, she's integrated herself into his 4000/sqft home with his other cats and hasn't seen Daisy in a year. I'd hate to move her across the country to offer her an 800/sqft house with Daisy. If there's going to be someone other than myself who is caring for Mleko, there's no one else I would rather it be than David.

For Valentine's, my wife presented me with a basket arrangement of Bud Light and chocolate World Poker Tour 'chips' (we are in STL, after all - what better way to express ourselves than with Bud Light, the local beer of choice?) I hid in the house, a bottle of Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur. I wonder if she'll share?

I love gin.

I love my wife and miss her something terrible.

I watched the movie "Soldier's Girl" this evening.

My children are annoying and distress me when I'm near them. Nonetheless I miss them when they are gone.

I am listening to the Telarc release, "Choral Masterpieces" with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Probably under the direction of Robert Shaw.

I can't sleep. I am very sleepy. I am wide awake. I will pay for this in the morning. If I could get away with NOT sleeping tonight, I would.

I need to be in early in the morning.

I have already picked the tie I am going to wear tomorrow.

I cannot believe Richard Penn wanted me for this job.

I'm enjoying my job, but I'm not entirely comfortable in it yet. I'm sure that will come in time.

I have compensated for not being a unix admin by re-doubling my efforts on quark.

I need more disk space on my server.

I want another server up.

I wish Jay would put quark with his servers. It's only 2U!

I wish Tony would bring up osCommerce so I could at least provide Dan Smith with what he wants.

I miss Tony.

I miss my cats. Mleko is integrating into David's household. Speedbump thinks he owns their house.

I will eat steel cut oats for breakfast.

I have not been on my high blood pressure medication for nearly a month.

Houses here are fucking expensive!

These Logitech X-230's are not a poor replacement for my fried Bose.

Bose are overrated anyway.

I always preferred Infinity.

I don't know that Infinity makes multi-media speakers.

I don't know why they wouldn't.

I annoy most people who know me.

The only reason my co-workers tolerate me is because I'm the new manager.

I listen to "The Shape of Things to Come" at least 4 times a day.

I wish my Cavalier had more horsepower.

I'm thankful for my family. Everything I do is for them, even when they don't realize it.

I've thought about becoming Amish. I could really do that.

It was fun living with David and Wendy.

We had a house picked out in Burleson.

I drink a lot of water (when I'm not drinking gin).

I need to urinate.

I have a Sun 711 multi-pack.

I don't know where it is.

I miss Daisy.

I like OSX.

I am no longer functional with XP because I try to use OSX commands.

It makes me look retarded.

Accomplished though he was, I bet Mario Andretti never navigated US75 Central Expressway at full speed. I don't even know why they built Texas Motor Speedway since 75 accomplishes the very same thing. I pulled off the entrance ramp, having to adjust my speed to slip between two cars just after rush hour, accelerating to match. The car to my left was matching my speed, and since the car behind me had fallen back, I hit the brakes hard but quick, indicated once, and jerked the wheel to the left while flooring it to immediately draft behind the person previously to my left. A quick mirror check and I flew past him on the left with a single hit of the blinker, accelerating to prevent the person coming up behind me in the new lane from braking. One more hit of the blinker and I was back in the left right lane keeping the rev's up best I could as I coasted betwix two vehicles, one which was indicating to swing in behind me. With that nearly accomplished, I rechecked the mirror and hit the indicator, moving over one, accelerating, moving over again, this time into the far left lane, and took my place among the 80+ group! Had I 10" vented disc brakes, a 4-speed tranny and about 725 horsepower in that Cav, I could have accomplished this much easier. As it was, I'm pretty impressed I was able to pull off the delicate balance of manuvering, maintaining RPM, and braking in an '02 stock LS model. Now I'll tell you what could manuver, that gorgeous Sebring LXi. It sat so low, and with those 17" stock wheels, she could take the G's of the quick lane change...and she at least had a V6. Alas, she is no more:



Gave Daisy lots of lovin' last night but felt like I laid awake in bed six hours instead of sleeping.

Today is the day teh max0r gets OC'd! 1500MHz baby!

(08:17:08) SomeBritInMass: How's life today.
(08:19:24) EricHowton: Little rough around the edges actually, though it was nice to see Daisy!
(08:21:09) SomeBritInMass: Daisy lives with Tony. Tony likes to drink. Tony drinks a huge amount, especially when you're around. You were at Tonys last night!
(08:26:58) EricHowton: Exactly!
(08:27:23) SomeBritInMass: Sherlock watch out!

I saw a couple of Dallas County Constables on my drive in to work this morning. I think it's coincidence.

Let me tell you, a double-fault final-play elimination hasn't occurred since the Helsinki episode of 1919, and I think we all remember how THAT turned out!

I have finally made the move to replace my longtime Google default homepage to drax0r.org. I tell you, it has everything you need! Even a link to CTRL-ALT-DELETE online!

A coincidence occurs when unexpected parallels can be drawn from two or more events. In the popular sense it is used to describe events (or, more accurately, combinations of two or more events) which are of low probability.

xanga's e-props are gay.

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. NOBODY.

I'm back on the set, covering all bets.

So we went through this NT domain migration. Everyone's on a new domain now. They kept the WINS servers up for the sole purpose of authenticating users properly when they write to their samba shares. Well, since migration everyone who writes to their shares shows up as 'nobody' and the reverberation has been felt far and wide. The Resource Technical Branch Team Leader stopped by my desk so I could fix this. "Talk to your Windows people." I told him. (I usually tell him this by default, but in this case, it was actually applicable.)
"But it only happens when they try to write to their Sun workstations, so it's your problem." he tells me.
"It worked prior to migration, it doesn't work now. Not my problem."
"Perhaps you forgot to change some samba settings on some boxes?"
"I didn't change any samba settings on any boxes. My boxes simply tell all incoming connections, "Authenticate via WINS."
"So...you're going to fix it?"
"No."