Last week I was on the road in Atlanta and needed to surf the web. The chief propellerhead happened to be there and apparently liked what he saw, because when I got back to the office I got hounded by coworkers asking me how I did it. After I demo’d how a simple cable turned my PCS phone into a modem, at least four coworkers (10% of the company) purchased the cable to do the same. Those who didn’t use Sprint were grumbling about being stuck in their current contract.

I didn’t know I was such a trendsetter. (Thanks, Jeff!)

Proving once again how it doesn’t take a brain to be a United States Senator, Orrin Hatch told a hearing on copyright issues how he favors destroying the computers of filetraders.

“I’m interested,” Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone’s computer “may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights.”

The senator acknowledged Congress would have to enact an exemption for copyright owners from liability for damaging computers. He endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, “then destroy their computer.”

Some clue is desperately needed in Washington, or the terrorists have already won.

The neighborhood got a little lonelier this week when our good friends Scott and Dawn Greenough packed up and moved from Garner to north Raleigh. It was about a week ago that Dawn called me while I was putting Hallie to bed and asked if I had a key to her house as she had locked herself out. I didn’t find her key, but after a minute of magic I was able to open the door.

We’ll miss that neighborliness that comes from being nearby. Whenever we’d go out of town, the Greenoughs were happy to look after our cat, Smitty. We would return the favor by caring for their cats when they left town. It’s just what neighbors do.

During the god-knows-how-many storms that have struck this area in the four years we’ve lived here, we could always count on the Greenoughs to come by and check on us – and for us to check on them. I’ll never forget the fun we would have on those days so icy and snowy that the two blocks between our houses was the farthest distance worth traveling.

I’ll miss the surprise encounters we’d have with them on the rare occasions when we would actually get out and exercise. We would frequently see them out walking their dog. And even when we didn’t see them drive by, Scott or Dawn would honk their horn as they passed our house, a friendly reminder that they were around.

While they didn’t fall off the face of the earth, they aren’t just “around the way” anymore, a fact that will take some getting used to. We’ll still see get to see them but our neighborhood won’t be the same.

We’re happy for our friends. Their new house is fantastic and we look forward to many fun-filled visits there. Back in our neighborhood, however, its the end of an era. Their old house now sits empty, its new owners never being able to fill it up quite like its last ones.

I had another long lucid dream this morning. It always trips me out when this happens. It’s like an instant vacation to anywhere in the universe – no travel required!

The dream involved crawling around a Navy ship, a common dream scene. Funny how even though I consider war to be a colossal waste of money and human life, I have consistently dreamed of ships since I left the military. It has become a dream sign, as I instantly recognize I am no longer in the military and thus become lucid.

Another common dream sign I frequently see is one of tornadoes. About a week ago, I watched a huge storm spawn frequent, beautiful tornadoes. My perch was a nonexistent hill around the Crabtree Valley Mall. (Or it could’ve been at the Marriott across the street.) Anyway, I find the tornadoes fascinating and not the least bit frightening. I get so caught up in watching them that I don’t notice how unusual it is to see five tornadoes at once (and thus wake up).

I must be sleeping better to be having such vivid dreams. If I could, I’d lucid dream every night!

This webpage about simulating life in the Navy had me cracking up. If you don’t get them, don’t worry: it’s 54 inside jokes.

Some samples:

5. Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.
6. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 190 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday, turn it down to 50 degrees. On Saturdays and Sundays, declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is “secured”.
7. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

Ah, I miss those days (not).

I added a link to the blog of my new coworker Larry Karnowski. Like a surprising number of people at Oculan, Larry is quite multitalented. Not only is he a Sierra Hotel coder, he is also a music conniseur as well as a volunteer firefighter. He writes a damn good blog.

Pay a visit to Larry and tell him I sent ya. (You can do that because unlike this site, Larry’s lets you leave comments. ) 🙂

While in my local Target store the other day, I spied a familiar sight on the toy shelf: an electronic football game much like the one my brothers and I wore out as a kid.

Mattel has re-released their Mattel Classic Games, meaning you can now drive a new generation nuts with electronic beeps and buzzes. Will they compare to the GameCube’s of today? Maybe not in their technological prowess, but they’re still mighty fun!

Rock on!

I’ve been too busy to blog much lately. Lots of my offtime was spent in getting my Zaurus back in working order. I brought it into work earlier this week with the aim of getting things set up to sync with my desktop. Instead, I wound up breaking the networking in it to the point where it wouldn’t connect to the network at all.

I used the opportunity to start over with the Zaurus, installing the newest ROM. Boy am I glad I did! The Z’s interface has been redesigned, with lots of apps easier to use and the filemanager better integrated. Plus, the networking support for my Socket WiFi card is included. Major kewl.

I still can’t sync over the network with the new Qtopia desktop, and the email client lacks SSL support, but other than that I’m pretty happy with my Z. There’s a lot of computing power packed into this little handheld.

I should also mention that completely killed my Win98 installation during my work to upgrate the Z’s ROM. Problem apparently was in the way I installed USB drivers I didn’t need. The error was completely mine and not the fault of Sharp, but it did cause me lots of grief.

I may take the time to upgrade to XP or W2K on my home desktop (in addition to Red Hat Linux, of course).

As if the FCC’s bonehead decision to relax broadcast ownership rules wasn’t bad enough (did they sit around thinking “You know, I just don’t think the media monopolies are big enough?”), now comes word from Declan McCullagh that the FCC is considering taxing cable modems.

Now the FCC is wondering whether it’s high time to tax both DSL and cable modems at the same rate. Its February 2002 request for comment questioned “whether other facilities-based providers of broadband Internet access services (should) be required to contribute” to the fund.

The telecom boondoggle didn’t end with the bankruptcy of Worldcom. It’s still going on, perpetuated by the FCC. I knew trouble was brewing back when the government got the bright idea to auction the public’s airwaves to the highest bidder. Awash in new-found money (but who cares if it was based on fraud?), Congress actually factored the spectrum auctions into balancing the federal budget. Now that the telecom bubble has burst and the public’s airwaves aren’t being greedily snatched up anymore, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the hungry FCC is seeking other ways to feed itself.

I think its high time fellow Americans held the FCC responsible for screwing up this country’s media. I plan to do my part by reminding my representatives to do their jobs.