Category: AFK

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Every October, I get obsessed with a Tech Project

All of my domains renew annually or biannually, somewhere in October. RandomWiki and http://fireflywiki.net are the same.

Changes to backend platforms. New programming projects… I built an online campus/forum/archive for my MFA program during one such binge.

I don't remember what grabbed my attention last year (probably nothing, since I was hip-deep in new house projects – https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DoyceTesterman/posts/NTreF1eetYS), but 2014 was a massive project to automate the collection/archiving of my blog and social media posts as they were created.

This kind of bug always – always bites me right when I'm supposed to be prepping for a big writing project of one kind of another. Always.

This year, I've wandered down the rabbithole of website creation and hosting using a combination of Jekyll (markdown-based blogging platform) and github. It's become a situation where I hit a roadblock, back up, try it from another angle, and hit the same massive barrier from another direction.

The basic problem is, I'd like to collect the material from both of my main blogs into one unified one, with all the posts stored in markdown/plaintext, and while Jekyll can do it and Github supports it, the fact that I want to add sixteen years worth of previous blog posts brings the whole thing screeching to a halt – either Github gets mad when I try to put more than a thousand files into the same directory, or Jekyll refuses to build the site when there are so many source files – basically, I can import back to about 2014 (or 2013 if I never write another new post :P) which is roughly 20 to 25% of the stuff I want to include.

(And when that failed, trying to import the same .md files into a fresh install Day One turned out to be a total sandtrap as well.)

I don't know why it's always October, but there it is. Writing this out so I can at least avoid revisiting the same project in a year.

FireflyWiki.net | Firefly / Home Page
FireflyWiki.net · About Firefly · Episode Guide · Characters · Actors · Supporting Cast · Firefly Lexicon · Firefly Links · Firefly Timeline · Firefly Theme Song · Firefly Universe · Factions · Medicine · Places · Planets · Ships · Technology · Weapons · Firefly Gaming · Wanted Pages.

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VW TDI Dieselgate (personal update)

We got a letter from our VW dealership today, letting us know that if we wanted to, we could bring our TDI Jetta in early, provided we'd gone through the website registration process, and they'd give us the full value of whatever Volkswagen was going to pay us, as credit, weeks or months early, keep our car on their lot, and then deliver it to VW when the time came.

The downside to the proposal was that we had to buy something from the VW dealership, but since we were looking at slightly used non-VW AWD stuff, that wasn't a deal breaker.

The upside: I didn't have to drive the equivalent of forty cars to work every day.

So I drove down to the dealership today, found a low mileage 2013 Rav4 that met our eclectic criteria, and made the trade. The payback from VW was high enough (pre-dieselgate bluebook, plus $5000) we were able to make up the difference ourselves and buy the car outright, as is our preference.

Everything wasn't roses and champagne: the used vehicle has only one key fob, so I'll need get a second fairly quickly, and for some reason they couldn't pull up the VW estimate for what we'd get paid for the car, so they had to go by the manual, using the lowest estimate for our make and model, and then write us a check for the difference once VW finally does the buyback. The troubles caused a few twinges of buyer's remorse, but I'll get over it.

But… that said, we've got an AWD vehicle again (useful for those rare Denver blizzards and not-at-all-rare trips up to Loveland for family skiing), and big enough to carry the whole family (dogs included) without being so big Kate wouldn't be comfortable driving it (she took the kids for a spin this afternoon).

I wrapped up the day by building a second above-garage-door storage platform for our paddleboards, so all in all, a pretty busy day and YES I BELIEVE I'LL HAVE THAT ICE CREAM NOW THANK YOU.

VW diesel settlement and buyback program nears final approval
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer, who has been presiding over the diesel settlement proceedings between VW, several federal agencies and a class of almost 500,000 plaintiffs, indicated that …

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Vote

"The biggest landslide election in US history was the election of Warren G. Harding in 1920, when Harding won with about 60% of the vote to his opponent’s 34.2%."

"Some polls are reporting Trump with as little as 35% of the popular vote right now."

"If turnout is large enough and loud enough, we can make Donald Trump the least supported major candidate in US history. Since the recording of him bragging about sexual assault came out, he has turned to dragging the whole election into the mud; the usual goal of that kind of tactic is to drive down voter turnout. Trump’s band of Redcaps is pretty much guaranteed to vote, so they figure if they reduce turnout enough, they’ll win."

"I want their plan to fail. I want their plan to fail so fucking spectacularly that NO ONE will dare to run for President on a platform of thinly-veiled fascism again."

[…]

"If turnout is strong enough, the possibility exists for a massive upset."

"All you need to do, voters, is show up."

Economy-Class Whywolf – Time for another political essay. If you’re not an…
Time for another political essay. If you’re not an American citizen or able to vote in this upcoming election, my apologies.
I make no secret that I fucking despise Donald Trump. I actually like…

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Knock Loud, I’m Home

Shedworking: Ecocapsule
The egg-ish Ecocapsule from Nice Architects is technically a ‘portable house’ with off-grid capability but would be great for shedworking. As well as a desk, features include a kitchenette, lavatory, and shower. The whole thing is powered by a built-in wind turbine and solar cells which cover …

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The time has come to have one of those key Facts of Life conversations with Kaylee

It's important to discuss these things before it's too late.

Essential Life Lesson #1: Over is Right, Under is Wrong « Current Configuration
As part of our ongoing effort here at Current Configuration to make your life not only better, but also 10% more crunchy, we’re offering you this first installment of what will be an ongoing series of Essential Life Lessons. Kicking off this series will be a critical but even-handed examination …

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Silly Old Bear

This evening, while getting ready for bed, Sean pointed out the lamp on his dresser and said "I have a book about that bear."

The lamp in question is a ceramic sort of thing, the body painted to look like a tree, and the broad base painted to look like grass. On the grass there's a rather mopey looking Eeyore, and Kanga and Roo, and about three quarters of the way up the tree there's a somewhat faded bear, trying to look innocent, with a paw buried inside a hole in the tree.

It's quite an old lamp – I'm pretty sure my mom bought it to decorate my room before I was born, or perhaps a bit after – and it's the reason there's a Winnie the Pooh theme to Sean's room.

Sean has never so much as mentioned it before, ever.

"Yes," I said, "I'm pretty sure you do have a book about that bear. Would you like to read it for bedtime?"

Sean frowned. "No, the book is at school."

(Sean has a very… proprietary relationship with the small classroom library at his pre-school.)

"We have one here too," I explained, and pulled out a very hefty Complete Winnie the Pooh hardcover book from the bottom of his bookshelf. "Do you want me to read you a story?"

"I wanted a super hero story…"

"Well," I said, checking the clock, "I can read you one of each, as a treat."

He considered this, somewhat suspiciously, but seemed moved by the offer of extra stories. "Okay."

So I read the very first Pooh story, in which Pooh climbs a tree for some honey ("Like on the lamp!") and falls back down, and gets help from Christopher Robin in a rain cloud-based bee deception. There was a lot of giggling and complete concentration from Sean.

It's pretty long for a four year old: twenty pages, with only small illustrations, and probably the longest single story he's sat still for, as far as I know.

We finished the story and, as I've done in the past, I told him the title of the next story in the book, so he'd know what to look forward to, and turned to check out the selection of "Golden" super friends stories.

Sean kept looking at the opening illustration of the next story (something about Pooh getting stuck in the door at Rabbit's house… you might have heard of it), and fingering the pages.

"Sean?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you want me to read another Pooh story, or a super hero story?" I asked.

He paused, really giving it some thought. It's no small thing, if you're this kid, putting Batman on the back burner even for one night.

"I want another Pooh story," he whispered.

So I hid a smile, we read, and when we were done Sean climbed up, retrieved a stuffed Pooh-bear from a shelf above his bed, and tucked into his pillow without a word of complaint.

First couple steps into the hundred-acre woods. A pretty good night.