Diary of a Network Geek

Yeah, so I’ve been thinking…
Again, this is often a problem area for many reasons, but I just can’t seem to get through the day without it, so I keep on doing it. In this case, I’ve been thinking about Hurricane Rita. Or, actually, I’ve been thinking about what I would have liked to have had on hand when Rita hit, that I either didn’t have, or didn’t think of until afterward.
Here’s most of what I ordered from REI.com:
Candle Latern
Candles for Candle Lantern
A NICE battery-powered lantern
Folding Water Carriers
Portable Water Purifier (Because I’m just not going to worry about this again!)
Sun Shower (Because a little disaster shouldn’t mean that I stink.)
Percolator Coffee Pot (Because a nice cup of coffee is a giant leap toward feeling civilized again!)
And, I’m still debating on which first-aid kit to order. It’s important to have a nice one that includes a good emergency first-aid manual, if you’re not well versed in emergency care already. I have First Aid Merit Badge, so I’m reasonably confident that I’ll be able to muddle through.

From RealGoods, I’ve ordered:
FreePlay EyeMax Radio (It runs on dynamo or solar power and has a built-in flashlight.)
Sidewinder Cell Phone Charger (You can laugh about this one, but that cell phone may be the only communication I have and it won’t work without power.)

Still to get:
A good shotgun and shells, for both emergency hunting and looters (Meat is meat!)
Gas cans! Even if you don’t have a generator, it’s nice to have gas.
MREs They have a shelf-life of years and, with a little clean water, you can have an instant hot meal. The might not be really super tasty, but they’re not bad and they are food. (Again, meat is meat!)
Extra dog food! I need to get that BEFORE the streets get crazy.
Oil lamps and oil. Safer than even the candle lamps, generally, and in the non-hurricane season, they can be decorative.
And, for the long-term, either a generator or solar backup solution. If I can find a way to protect the panels eaisily from wind damage, I think that’s best. In 6-8 hours after the storm hits, we’ll probably have sun again, so I can start charging batteries, but gas may be a long time coming!

I’m sure there are more things, too, but, for now, that’s a good start. Of course, I may move away before that, but, still, the latent survivalist in me would love to have all this on hand, just in case. I mean, if the Rapture comes and I’m left behind, I may just have to “civilize” the heathens! (Hmm, maybe I should add a Bible to that list…)

Well, I’m staying.
As long as I have an Internet connection and power, I’ll keep posting. I’m out in Jersey Village, which is 80 miles from the coast, roughly. Now, if you’re not familiar with Jersey Village, it has a reputation for flooding, but, not to worry, I’m on the highest point in JV. In fact, four years ago, after Tropical Storm Allison, we chose this house because it was one of the few that was high and dry. And, they’ve spent the past four years improving the way JV handles water runoff and such, so I’m pretty sure that I’ll be okay. I imagine that it will be a little crazy around here, but, I hope, the worst case scenario is that we’ll lose power for a couple of days. I hope.
Anyway, I’m staying. I’ll be tying down anything I’m afraid might fly away and dragging stuff into the garage tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I’m going to go have dinner with someone who’s also staying out in this area. My company shut down today, so that people could evacuate tomorrow, if need be, which means I’ll be home most of the day doing nothing. I guess I’ll read, watch the news, play with the dog and blog. After I get the other work done. Oh, and I’ll probably be praying, too.
Don’t worry about me, though. I have quite a bit of food and water. And, I have a natural gas stove and a wood-burner for backup. (All of which, I think I’ve already mentioned.) I’ve called my parents and my one sister who worries more than I do. I’m not sure what she thinks she can do for me up in Northern Illinois when the hurricane hits, but, well, I guess I’ll have to be sure to call her when it passes through and I’m okay. Oh, I also have batteries and candles and lots of frozen water, too, to try and keep the freezer and refridgerator cool if the power goes out. As for the rest, well, I guess I’ll just have to ride it out.
This is NOT why I wanted to live in Houston. Far too much excitement for this old man. Far too much!

for future generations.
Did I mention in yesterday’s post that I’ve been drinking again? It’s been months since I had any alcohol at all and this past weekend, I bought beer and wine. Actually, the cheap, California red I bought is pretty good. (That would probably horrify an old friend of mine who really knew wine. 🙂 I’m sorry, Larry, I probably have forgotten everything you taught me! ) It’s called Red Truck and I bought it because I liked the label. Yeah, really, that was how I picked it. I’m still working on that bottle. Poor, old Uncle Jim is a light-weight these days. Youth is wasted on the young.
I bought Kingfisher beer, because I hope to experiment with some curry this month. Er, next month. I have fond memories of the “salad days” when I learned to enjoy hot, spicy Indian food which could only be doused by liberal application of Kingfisher.
I’ve also been smoking again. Haven’t done that in years. Well, at least not cigarettes. And, what’s worse, is that it’s been clove cigarettes. I haven’t smoked clove cigarettes in almost nine years. At least I’ve been limiting myself to one a day. That’s one cigarette a day, gentle readers, not one pack. The last time, I was chain-smoking the darn things. And I mean chain-smoking the most hard-core sense, too. Not the namby-pamby, “finish-one-then-pause-before-lighting-another” kind of chain-smoking. I mean I was lighting one cigarette from the butt of the last. It was not pretty at all. Very bad. And, I was doing it in a small apartment. Oh, that was very ugly. All that smoke in a small, confined space. No, it’s better this time. Just one a day, smoked outside in the fresh air. *cough*cough* Yep, that fresh air sure is tasty. Ah, heck, when I’m done with the pack, I’ll stop.
So, I weep for the sad example I’m setting for future generations of network geeks. Don’t be like your Uncle Jim, kids, be better than that.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."
   --Helen Keller

They say bad news always comes in “threes”.
First, James Doohan, the one and only “Scotty” from the original Star Trek series died today. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Gerry Thomas, “inventor” of the TV dinner died today, too! Talk about a pop-culture one-two-punch! Man, I really admired both these guys.
James Doohan was a great actor, his overdone Scottish accent not withstanding. According to rumor, he never liked Bill Shatner, but his character, Montgomery Scott, admired Captain Kirk terribly. To pull that off took a lot of really good acting.
And, as a Marketing student, the man who marketed the TV dinner, going against all traditional, home-cooking values and wisdom at the time, was a true inspiration to me. He sold America, and most of the Western world, on the idea that they needed quick, easy-to-prepare food that they could eat while watching that new television thingee. And, according to the linked article, he apparently got a lot of hatemail for it, too. But, now, you can get a dizzying array of “TV dinners”. That’s a guy who really understood his job and did it well. I can only hope to measure up to that standard one day.

So, if trouble comes in threes, I shudder to think who’s next.

Here’s some food for thought.
I have an artist friend who looks at the world in very interesting ways. He had some advice for dealing with someone who is saying something that gets on your nerves that was actually passed on to me by a mutual friend.
He said, since people are always telling him that their dog seems to know that they’re thinking
and understand what they’re saying, that it’s almost as if it can talk. And, he wondered; what if their dog really could talk? It wouldn’t matter what it said, or how dumb it was, it would be so amazing that your dog was speaking that you’d listen in rapt fascination. So he takes that approach when he’s talking to people that are trying his nerves. He just says to himself, “Look, that animal can talk, that’s AMAZING!!!!” Try it sometime. It really does work amazingly well. If nothing else, it makes me smile enough to distract me from how annoying the speaker is to me.

Incidentally, that was the front man for Culturcide, who now does very unusual, process-oriented art with paint and lace that is very popular with a certain culture-obsessed set in Houston. He’s an interesting guy with an obviously interesting way of seeing the world.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
   --Douglas Adams

I wasn’t going to write an entry this evening.
But, then my dog went and was cute. You see, I just got back from walking her, even though I’d decided not to do that this evening. It’s been hot and it looked like rain and, well, frankly, I was just tired tonight. In fact, I decided last night that it was too hot and opted out of our usual walk. But, tonight, Hilda just wouldn’t let me alone until I got up off my tired butt and took her for her walk.
First, she just paced around and whined a little. I ignored her, figuring that she wanted to chase a squirrel in the backyard. Then, she kept coming up and licking my elbow. I checked her food and water. She had both. Finally, she put her head in my lap, looked up at me and sighed through her nose. So, I asked her if she wanted to go out and she danced around by the back door until I got up and then she sat down, quivering when I got close. That was when I figured she wanted her W-A-L-K. When I asked her if that’s what she wanted, she practically squealed with delight that her stupid human had finally figured it out.
So, we went for our drag, er, walk. And, sure enough, when we got home, she was all calm and quiet. She just knew it was Thursday and time for her walk. Heck, she probably had figured out that I’d cheated her yesterday and wasn’t going to let me get away with it again! Those darn kids! Er, Dogs! She’s smart as a whip, that Hilda of mine.

You know, a walk is the least I can do for her. She’s always so happy to see me. It doesn’t matter if I’ve been away five minutes or five hours or five days. Her level of joy is constant. The only thing that troubles her is an empty food bowl and a squirrel on the patio. And, apparently, getting her walks! I wish I could set aside all my cares and be as openly, unabashedly joyful as my dog. So simple that it seems to almost be a spiritual lesson. Simple joy. Even if she’s “just” a dog, that measure of simple joy I get from her heals me a little bit every time I see it.
Yep, I envy my puppy her joy. But, as long as she shares it with me, I don’t mind.

For some reason, I seem to be preparing for a siege.
Yesterday, I spent $296 on food at Sam’s Club. My freezer is packed so full, that things lean against the door! I have mass quantities of all kinds of staples. So, for the next three months or so, all I should need are short-term perishables like milk, eggs, and yogurt. Everything else, mostly, I have jammed into my pantry and upright freezer. But, my siege mentality goes further than that.
I’ve taken to locking the door behind me when I get home. I have a double-key deadbolt, so I don’t have a little toggle handle to lock the deadbolt on my back door. Instead, I have to actually use a key on the inside, too. That makes it difficult for anyone to smash a window and then open the door from the inside. It’s kind of weird, really, since I have no reason to be like this. I mean, it’s not like I’m actually afraid that someone is going to try and kill me or anything, but, still, I’ve been a little paranoid.
My .357 is still loaded and in the key-code gun safe next to my bed. I have candles in every room of the house, so I can find my way when the power goes out. But, the power hasn’t gone out in ages and I don’t remember the last time I heard anything about any kind of violent crime in my neighborhood. Still, I’m ready should anything happen. I don’t know, maybe it’s just that I’ve been living alone for a bit now and I’m just preparing to take care of anything, no matter what it is, all by myself. Certainly, that’s some of what motivated the food hoarding.
Everything I bought at Sam’s is convenient food. For me, at least. Soups and ravioli and single-serving macaroni and cheese. Hot Pockets and White Castle Cheeseburgers. Frankly, everything I make these days has to be quick and easy or it’s not worth it! I’m just too busy! All the running around with H.O.P.E. and doing pro bono computer work for a non-profit organization and church and therapy and support groups and just everyday life keep me really busy. And, even with all that, I still manage to lose weight. Of course, it fluctuates, but I bounced off 170 this weekend. It’ll be back up tomorrow, but still, I’m keeping trim in spite of eating relatively “fast” food.
Wow, I got tired just thinking about all that. Off to bed for me. I need my rest!

I love food!

So, last weekend I made some blueberry scones and, even though they turned out more like drop-biscuits than scones, they were very tastey. In fact, there was a bit of fighting over the last one! I may even try that again this weekend with raisins and cinnimon-and-sugar. The best thing is it lets me use up that self-rising flour I accidentally bought some time back.
What does this have to do with fun Friday links? Well, duh, I’ve got some links to food things! First, there’s the Ben and Jerry’s Recipe page. If you don’t know who Ben and Jerry’s Icecream is, you must not be from this country. They’ve been around for the longest time. They used to make their money marketing that they only used fresh, organic ingredients. Until they got caught not doing following that “rule”, that is. Still, they make good ice cream anyway. Probably not good for me, but that’s why I like it. And, in the somewhat healthier catagory, A Taste of Thai has a Monthly Thai Recipe Club. If you take a stroll down your grocery store’s “International Foods” aisle, you will find at least a few Taste of Thai products. If you like Thai food at all, they’re worth checking out. Very simple to make and quite delicious!

So, indulge your food fantasies and check out the links. Happy Friday!

New “issue” in the job market.

Never heard of insourcing? Me, either, until this past week. And, apparently, it’s made enough of a stir that two different on-line news sites have articles on it. My standard news source, Wired News, has one article and MSN has another. So, what is it? Well, apparently prison inmates work even cheaper than outsourcers in other countries. Yep, that’s right, prison. Those crafty entreprenuers have put inmates to work in call centers and the like at prices that are, well, almost criminal. These guys make about $130 per month, or about $1500 per year, which beats those high-priced Indian outsourcers that make a whopping $6,000 to $8,000 per year.
Now, I have to admit, I’m a little conflicted over this. First, I think it’s great that the jobs are staying here in the US. And, the prisoners seem happy because it beats mopping floors or working in the laundry. But, can private industry possibly compete with that? And, is it really moral to make that much profit off the prisoners? Hmm, maybe. I mean, isn’t it fair that the criminals help pay for their own rent, food and upkeep? On the other hand, it is almost like slave labor. Of course, a group of small business owners feel that they’re being put out of business due to this cheap, American labor force and are trying to say that it’s illegal. Or, that it should be. That’s still up in the air, but it is an interesting and, possibly, disturbing trend.

In theory, I’m in favor of inmates pulling their own weight, so to speak, in the US economy. And, of course, I’m in favor of almost anything that keeps jobs in the US instead of sending them overseas. But, what effect is this having on local economies? Is it helping or hurting? Or is it not effecting it at all?
More importantly, is it legal? Is it moral? Or, is it just good business? I mean, that was the argument for sending the work offshore in the first place. Honestly, it seems like a good idea, but there’s just something about it that kind of bothers me. I guess it’s too much like a freaky, sience-fiction scenario where the cheap labor force is increased by enacting harsher laws and jailing more “criminals”. How long would it take for a two-class system to develop? I don’t know, but I’m not sure I like where this might go.

While I was looking for something totally unrelated, I came across the following news story:

“Marjorie Nighbert, a 76-year-old Florida woman, was hospitalized in 1996 after a stroke. Before her hospital admission, she signed an advance directive that no “heroic measures” should be employed to save her life. On the basis of that directive and at the request of her family, the hospital denied her requests for food and water … Until her death more than 10 days later, Nighbert was restrained in her bed to prevent her raiding other patients’ food trays.”

The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, January 13, 1997, page 23.

This is truly the most horrific and cruel thing I have read in years. Since when were “food and water” considered heroic measures? Why didn’t the family do something? At what point did denying her food and water seem like a reasonable thing to do? How could a doctor, having taken the Hippocratic Oath, allow such brutality to occur?
Is it any wonder why law makers want to protect us from ourselves? We hold ourselves as an enlightened society, superior to the rest of the world, but things like this go on here still. I’m simply stunned.