Mark Turner Dot Net

I have been checking into wireless networks lately. Things like NoCat and others.

Yesterday, I found a very cool linux application called Splat! It lets you map transmitter characteristics across terrain.

Such an app is very useful when building a wireless network. Or any network where line of sight is very important.

I also made a call on the ham radio to another PC-savvy ham, John, N1GMV. He sounded very excited about getting an 802.11 network going in Raleigh.

Hopefully, we’re not alone and can get a group together to make it reality. We’ll see.

My idea is to organize it as a cooperative. We can’t make it free because of the costs involved with tower space rental, bandwidth, and other expenses. But a coop could keep the overhead low and allow for some room to grow the network as the membership increases.

This is by far the most ambitious idea I’ve had. I haven’t a clue about 90% of the important stuff, too. But every grand scheme starts as a dream.

And that’s what I’m good at: dreaming.

The other day I went to the local warehouse club to buy some diapers and to send some film off for developing. The warehouse’s checkout lines are notoriously slow, so I decided to use my time in line to fill out my film envelope.

The cashier, an ebullent, middle-aged black woman, was kidding with her customers as well as proving my slow-line theory wrong.

Suddenly, it was my turn to pay. I didn’t want to slow her down, so I punched in my debit card pin number in a frenzy.

As I was sorting through the keypad’s prompts, she asked “no pictures today?”

I had to pull my head out of prompts and pin numbers to decode what she said.

“Pictures? Ah! She thinks I’m pretty hip,” I thought. “She can tell I’m down with the brotherhood.” After all, any street-smart homeboy knows that “pictures” is slang for cash. I smiled a knowing smile and answered “no.”

A few beats later, I realized I had gone through her line carrying my empty film envelope. She wasn’t talking cash, she was talking photographs.

I hung my head and drove my lily-white-feeling self home.

Also, I’ve been keeping busy updating Hallie’s Baby Blog. It’s an ongoing diary of her progress at the hospital.

I will probably keep it going even after she comes home with us. It’s nice to keep a record of events, isn’t it?

I was going to register “SiliconHallie.com” for her page, but Kelly shot me down.

We were delighted to look at Monday’s Raleigh News and Observer and see our whole family on the front page!

It was on a story about WakeMed’s donor milk program. We got a big picture right under the headline! Cool!

A local copy is here.

I’ve got a few resumes out there, waiting for some calls. The economy is in a free-fall, so the job market is tight.

We got lots of rain yesterday and today. Reports indicate two inches fell at RDU Airport. This will go a long way in alleviating our drought.

I’m thinking of writing a letter to the local paper to compare a state lottery to the recent accounting scandals. Same difference, in my opinion.

“Same Difference” is a contradiction in terms, isn’t it?