Category: CKB

One of the high traffic Flickr groups I read is What’s In Your Bag – pictures of people’s bags and what they carry around in them. It’s part of the pseudo-voyeur Flickr world of documenting people’s lives, just without showing the actual people. See also Annotated Work Spaces and Command-Shift-3.

It was only a matter of time before I got around to posting mine:

The Flickr page has the full annotations, but to break it down I’m carrying around (at the time of the picture):

• Jack Spade’s laptop field bag
• Headphones for laptop
• Netflix to return (disc 1 of Profit)
• MacBook Pro (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD)
• 5th Gen. iPod (40GB)
• Nokia 6682
• Laptop remote
• Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
• MacBook Pro power adapter
• USB cable for camera
• FireWire cable for iPod
• Winter/Spring 2007 Lay Of The Land newsletter from Center For Land-Use Interpretation
• Winter 2006-2007 issue of 2600 magazine
• The Bugatti Queen by Miranda Seymour
• Rhodia note pad and various pens
• Spare DVD-R blank

Out of the 700 photos I’ve put on Flickr, the picture of my bag is inexplicably my “most interesting.” Go figure.

One thing about getting your server hosed is that it’s finally an opportunity to do all that reconfiguration crap you’ve been putting off. Annoyingly, I discovered that I had become way too dependent on webmin for configuration. Kinda ashamed really, I used to be able to set things up completely by hand… including sendmail. Aside: the people who answer sendmail questions with “it’s too hard and insecure, use postfix” can go hang. Get yourself the fruit bat book and learn it the same way the rest of us did back in the BOFH days. It builds character.

Having said that, I made the switch to postfix since most SpamAssassin set-ups use it. Plus I get a leg up on making the switch to Leopard Server when it’s finally released. The Mac Mini colocation farm is just too great of a deal (and cheaper than what I’m paying now).

Grrr… Getting hit with a massive denial of service attack on my IP block and have to reconfigure everything from scratch on-the-fly at a new IP. If you’re trying to email me, please use the gmail.com address

In short, it’s difficult to have a bad day traveling around Italy. Details to follow over the next couple of days.

Quartz City is raising anchor and jetting off to Italy for a bit and will return next month.

Ciao for now!

Dear Apple Customer,

Apple is pleased to report that a shipment for the following order is on its way to you.

The following products shipped on 10/30/2006.

MBPRO 15/2.33 CTO

With the following configuration:
Processor 065-6642 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
Memory 065-6619 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM-2x1GB
Hard Drive 065-6624 160GB Serial ATA Drive@5400rpm
Optical Drive 065-6625 SuperDrive 6X
Display 065-6631 15" Widescreen Display
Modem 065-6645 None
Apple Software Solutions 065-6200 None
Keyboard/Mac OS Language 065-6627 BkLit Keyboard/Mac OS
Country Kit/AEX 065-6628 Country Kit

*Loads FedEx tracking page. Obsessively hits “reload.” Repeats*

I’ve had a variety of jobs over the years: fax machine repairman, auto deliverer, corporate spy, and various combinations of IT wrangler and network garbage collector. Couple months ago I added “television extra” to the list and here I am as “fifth guy from the left” (the tall one with his right arm in the air) in last night’s episode of Cold Case.

I have two memories of the World Trade Center, one is direct and one not.

My first visit to New York City was on July 3, 1986. In the following forty-eight hours I experienced the following:

• Arriving at the Saarinen terminal at JFK (I still miss crazy-ole TWA)
• Several scary “80s-era” subway rides (including the Train To The Plane line!)
• Gunfire followed by a woman screaming
• The best coffee and bagel I had ever eaten
• Attempted murder by cabbie (“pedestrians are targets California-boy!”)
• Used book stores in every neighborhood
• A dirty-water hot dog from a vendor in Central Park
• The joys of trying to park a car on the Upper West Side

On July 4, Nicholas, who was living in NYC at the time, and I tried to get into Windows On The World. We got as far as the elevator where the ground floor maitre d’ took one look at us and refused us entry because I was wearing blue jeans and neither one of us was wearing a tie. I wasn’t offended, in fact I muttered a bemused “wow, snooty New York service… Alright!” to myself. We ended up watching the fireworks from the south tower observation deck… My only regret was that I didn’t take a camera with me.

The indirect memory of the World Trade Center is a flyer and a video I have of Spiritualized’s 1997 show at Windows On The World as part of their “Highest shows on Earth” concerts. I wish I could have been there, I could have finally gotten into the place. (there’s a Real stream of the show here)

(advertisement from Asbestos magazine, November 1981. Found here and elsewhere.)

By applying to grad school of course…

Hell, in these days who doesn’t think about running away to grad school? It’s the A#1 double-plus-good refuge for intelligent social misfits and the self-ostracized. As a grad student you have full social permission to be one of those “oh, never mind him – he’s a grad student” guy.

To qualify, I only signed up to take the GRE. Call it an “exploratory foray” if you will, though I believe that the only people who use that phrase now are drug users, political candidates and the US Military. Helll, I’m not entirely sure that I even want to pursue it past the GRE stage as my dozen or so plus years as an IT Garbage Collector hasn’t yet made me want to stab myself. So far.

The object of all this hand-wringing is an urban planning degree. I love the field and it pays better than rock-and-roll.

The down side? Crushing amounts of anxiety, debt, and an uncertain future. A complete reverse-course for how I am now (in good spirits, debt free, and able to do my thing).

Since I can’t help but be Mr. Perversity, I scheduled myself to take the test on Friday the 13th (of October that is)