June 2007

There were 50 posts published in June 2007 (this is page 3 of 5).

Cheap Thoughts: Taking Back The Tubes

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), speaking of an upcoming FCC frequency auction, reminded me of an important fact (emphasis mine):

With this auction, we stand at a crossroads—we can either provide extraordinary benefits to millions of Americans or tilt bandwidth policy to line the pockets of a privileged few.

There is a clear path I believe must be taken: the airwaves belong to the American people, and their use should serve the public interest.

See that part? The airwaves belong to the American people.

We own the airwaves. We own the tubes over which America’s media conglomerates make billions.
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Missing Sleazefest

My Dutch friend Guus’s recent introduction to Pabst Blue Ribbon got me thinking back to the days I wandered around Sleazefest, where PBR was prevalent. Few shows can make me willingly stand in a sweaty, smoke-filled room for hours on end, but Sleazefest could. Bands right in front of you (and sometimes on top of you) played sloppy surf rock while girls wearing bumper stickers shimmied in cages. Three days and multiple stages! Man, that show was a blast.

Last year, the Indy went searching for the lost Sleazefest. I hope it turns up soon.

Father’s Day

It was a good Father’s Day. Woke up to smiling faces, had a great breakfast, then took the family over to visit my own father before spending some time in the pool. After much splashing we returned home, ate lunch, and all took naps.

After naps were done Kelly made us a great dinner. We then topped that off with a visit to Goodberry’s for some tasty frozen custard. Then it was bathtime for the kids and then story time for them before tucking them in.

Now Kelly and I will likely spend time working on the 500-piece puzzle that Hallie and I started. It should be a fun ending to a fun day.

Drupal To WordPress Migration Snafu

Bah. I’ve found a fault with my hack of the Drupal to WordPress migration script: the authorship of posts isn’t migrated. This typically isn’t a problem if a blog only has one author. For a multi-author blog, though, it can lead to much confusion.

Its easy enough to copy user id’s from one system to another, and so I’ve updated my script to do that. This still doesn’t correctly show authorship, though. The problem for me as a SQL n00b is how to create WordPress’s wp_usermeta table with the appropriate INSERT statements?
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Cuts And Runs

I said goodbye to an old friend yesterday: the lawn mower that I first pushed across lawns over twenty-one years ago now has a new owner. I put a wildly-popular ad on Craigslist earlier this week and sent it home to the first person who brought me the cash.

I had sold it once before, about five years ago to my buddy Scott, but got it back from him when he no longer had a need for it. I used it here until I decided I needed a mulching mower, at which point it took up its new home in the garage for the past two years.

Somewhere in my parents’ scrapbooks is a picture of a 125-pound me with the machine that launched my lifelong lawn care obsession. Goodbye, old friend! I hope to see your work as we pass by your new home on our occasional trips to visit Kelly’s parents.

Finger-eating Fan Pronounced Dead

One of the things I did on my get-stuff-done morning was retrieve the killer nonworking gable fan from the attic. After rigging up a plug and giving it juice, I determined the thermal safety breaker has tripped. The thermal breaker is a non-replaceable part which, when activated, turns the motor into a unique doorstop or lively conversation piece.

I’m still thinking it might be worth $50 to put up another fan. It gets to 130 degrees F up there, which makes the air conditioner work harder. The ideal solution would be to put in a radiant barrier but I think that would run $300 or more with the space I’d have to cover (~$.50 psf, if i recall). Maybe I’ll consider that in the fall (when it will also help with heating).

Why didn’t I get a degree in thermodynamics? Or curmudgeonry?

Job Front Progress

Looks like things are looking up on the job front. I have agreed in principle to a 3-month contracting position doing some interesting work. If things work out it’ll convert to a full-time job.

It’s not in the bag yet, and its not a full-time gig, but it is encouraging. More news as things firm up.