I had a great weekend away - but I had managed to forget my laptop power adapter at home (Durham) when we went to New Brunswick, which really put a kink into my plan of getting online while I was up there.

The weather was really nice while we were in NB, but nowhere near as hot as it was when we arrived back in the city yesterday. Sarah and I hung out in grocery stores to stay cool - although we did make it far enough to check out the Manchurian Candidate which was a fine movie. If you are looking for something to see this week and don't think that you can handle the Village, the Manchurian Candidate is a good candidate (pun intended).

My sexy new Airport Express arrived today and like all of Apple's product boxes, this one looks so cool that you want to keep it on display. In fact, now that I think about it, I still have my Powerbook box and the boxes for my iPod and Panther which I keep on display in my apartment, so I'm sure that the Express box will join them shortly.

The delivery guy for Sameday has been up here dropping off packages three times in the past week. Of course I'm sure he has people on his route that get more packages than I do. I will let everyone know how is turns out when I get home after work. :)

For any of you using Putty for terminal connections - that is anyone on a Windows box who would log into a remote machine via SSH - please upgrade to the latest version 0.55.

Please refer to the Putty website for more information.

After a little bit of getting the MAC address of my new base station recognized by Dal's network I am now successfully online via my new Airport Express. I have it plugged in near a bunch of metal and electronic gear so I am probably getting the worst reception that I can out of it and it is still fine in the living room. I'm not sure where else I would need to take it. Wait. Yes! It does work in the bathroom. Really what more can I ask for?

Related to my apartment is the fact that this year for the first time, they are including phone service with voicemail and a sexy phone with the cost of residence. And to make things even better, they are also including satellite TV service which includes all the basic channels plus FOX, Much Music, Spike and TBS to name a few. Needless to say I cancelled my cable subscription for the end of the month. I'm not sure how they plan on getting that satellite into the apartments - whether we would all need receivers or not, but I will be glad to be able to watch CSI and CSI:NY this season. Of course, I have found that I haven't watched any TV at all this summer after the first few weeks (when the seasons ended). I guess it is nice to have, but after so long without cable, I never really think to watch TV with any little spare time that I have, opting instead for a movie or TV show on DVD. But the fall brings new roommates and new schedules so I guess I will see what happens.

I wrote my final exam today in User Interface Design. I had been skeptical about actually taking a class while I was working, but I figured the benefits outweighed the disadvantages and considering that it is over an done with, I don't have much to gripe about. The course was a good one if you ever see Kori offering it again. In fact, in the future it will be a prerequisite for CSCI 4163 - HCI. So if you are at all interested in that area of research or study, then you will need to take it. Another word of advice would be: if you plan to get into HCI, then take as many Psychology courses as you can in first and second year - it will help you in the long run. So on that note, I'm out - it has been a long Friday.

I had a lovely visit from my family this weekend. They came up last night and we went to dinner then all watched a movie at my place. I managed to find a place for everyone to sleep - I guess it does come in handy every once in a while to be the only person in a three bedroom apartment. Today we all got up and had a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs. What followed next was the purpose of the visit - a trip downtown to see the Buskers. (Warning - the Buskers site is Flashed out big time.) Two years ago this also happened. My family had come down to see the Buskers and stayed with me. That time they didn't spend the night and because it was so hot and uncomfortable outside - especially downtown with all the people everyone managed to get cranky and we ended up calling the day really early and they just went home. So we were pretty keen on not repeating that again this year. Fortunately the weather was on our side - sunny but not too hot with a nice breeze blowing most of the time. We managed to spend four hours downtown together and everything went smoothly. Four hours in the sun. UV index 7. I had SPF 30 sun screen on, but that didn't seem to matter. I was incinerated. I'm talking tomato red, damn I wish I wore a hat sunburnt head. I have an Aloe Vera spray that I have been applying liberally, but I imagine that I will still get a chance to peel. I guess we will see. Let this be a lesson to everyone - the outdoors are dangerous - stay inside.

Starting on Monday, there has been a whole lot of furniture moving around in Glengary. Thankfully I haven't been doing much of that moving myself, but that is not to say that my furniture hasn't been moving. Lost? I was on Monday when they started bringing in the new furniture that will likely reside in Glengary for the next 20 years. I have some photos of the new gear posted if you are interested. It is surprisingly nice and I think it will change my perspective of Glengary if that is at all possible.

Also - an update on the TV situation. It's not satellite as I previously assumed, it is digital cable I guess - and all of the bedrooms and the living room will be wired up for it. One of the installation guys was in the building today - presumably installing it in other apartments - and told me that likely on Friday he would be drilling some holes to drop some cable. So when this happens I'll try to get some photos up at the above link. Until then - cheer out.

I just finished reading an amazing book. After having finished Cryptonomicon earlier this summer, I was kind of on a Neal Stephenson kick. Snow Crash filled in just perfectly. I might even argue that it is a better book than Cryptonomicon - but part of that might have to do with how long it took me to read Cryptonomicon.

Swords, hackers, linguistics, cool technology, corporate dominance and a future that makes you look at the way our society is moving - all of the elements of a great 'infothriller' that you won't be able to put down - even if you have too much work to do already.

I'm sure you have had days where you just can't get motivated, when you would 'rather not be here'. I know that I have had my fair share of those days this summer alone - it is warm out, maybe you didn't get enough sleep, or too much, or at the wrong time - any number of reasons. That is kind of how I feel right now. That mixed with a feeling of being lost in familiar places and a fun-house mirror for good measure and it is something like that. I went home for a nap at 5:30 today and when I was physically able to get out of bed again at 7 (after setting my alarm ahead twice) it was as if my life had slowed down. I sort of imagine that it would have been like the feeling that the character Peter Gibbons felt in Office Space after that hypnosis thing went south - except without the part where he doesn't work anymore. Because unlike that guy - working is my bliss.

So I put all the crap (keys, access card, wallet, etc) back into my pockets and I stagger, quite literally across the street to my ultimate destination. I felt as though someone could have attacked me with a rake along the front of the CS building and I probably would have landed on the sidewalk and then rolled off into the grass and fallen asleep. The security guy didn't give me any issues, no one asks you were you are going anymore - probably because it really doesn't matter when you are free to roam wherever you want - I think it used to be a formality because there is a column for it on the sign up sheet. The elevator was right there when I called it, which is usually the case when I come in during the evening. Now I am resigned to my office chair typing on an expensive keyboard finishing off a tube of Cheddar Lays Stax which I have never had before, but for tonight, appear to be my supper. This has been the story for the past three days as I strive to get a project that I am working on done before my new computer arrives and the rest of my life stops for two weeks. Of course, last night I had a real supper - ravioli - in fact I have a recipe to pass on, one that I created, but I will leave that for another post. I think that the fog is lifting so it is time to stop writing and start coding. I guess.

Searching for something a little different for supper last night I found some ravioli that Kumi left me when he was moving out of the apartment across the hall. So I decided to give it a try, the instructions were simple enough — put in boiling water for about 10 minutes. OK, with that done I started to think about the sauce — I didn't have any. I had a little bit of Ragu Original left but not really enough to do justice to the amount of ravioli I had headed my way :) So I decided to concoct one of my usual random mixtures of things that I have around, which isn't always much and see what I could come up with. Then I remembered the sauce I came up with when I was on my big nacho bender back in July. So here was my ravioli recipe that I came up with. It ended up being really good, much better than I had expected, so I figured I'd share it.

Colin's Ravioli

• 1 Plateful of frozen meat and fine herbs ravioli (I was eating by myself, I'll leave it to you to adjust the measurements as best you can)
• 1 Quantity of Ragu Original Pasta Sauce.
• 1 Smaller quantity of Smart Choice Fireball Salsa
• 1 Amount of Kraft Ranch with Bacon salad dressing.
• Italian seasoning
• Cayenne pepper (optional)
• Ground black pepper
• Grated mozzarella cheese

Boil the ravioli as per the directions on the package. While that is doing its thing, you can prepare the sauce. I mixed mine in a little glass cup thing that is about the size of a cup of a large muffin cup — just for an idea of quantities here. As far as the mixture of the sauce, I really don't have amounts, I just kind of throw it together. I'd say that it is a least half Ragu pasta sauce. Then I mix in a little salsa. I have really hot salsa, so I don't need much and it is quite the spicy dish. If you are nursing an ulcer, might I recommend the mild variety. It also gives the sauce a bit of a chunky texture which livens it up. The part that most people are going to think odd (I'd imagine) is the Ranch. Just squeeze it in there. I have Ranch with Bacon, but plain ranch would do fine. If I had to guess how much I put in I would say 2 -3 tablespoons, but it is hard to tell because I just squeezed it in there.

At this point you can use something, a spoon, popsicle stick, your finger to stir all of these fine ingredients together — the result should be pink. Rosée I believe it is called. If it is still quite red, add more ranch. Then you stir in about 2 teaspoons of italian seasoning — or more or less, I really like it. I also add black pepper and cayenne to the sauce at this point as I am a sucker for heartburn. Cover this up somehow and stick it in the microwave. Don't heat it yet... just leave it there for when you need it. If you are an efficient person, take the cheese out and grate as much as you want, you are in control here. Live dangerous and grate a whole pile. Snack on some while you wait if you desire.

When the ravioli is finished by whatever standards you desire, drain the water from the pot and I'll let you decide whether you want to keep the one ravioli that escapes and is sitting in the drain of your sink. Place the hot little buggers on the plate — or plates, however you decide to do this. At this point the microwave should be beeping because the sauce is heated — if not, go back in time and start the microwave. You should have a sense for how long this will take — mine only takes like 20 seconds, some might take a minute or two. If you made a lot, it might not be bad to stir it at some point in the heating process. Take the hot little bowl out of the microwave and pour the contents onto the ravioli — be generous and fair, be creative if that is one of your things. Put the bowl down and soak your burnt fingers in some cold water — not running water though — it isn't as effective. More pepper? Why not. Then take the cheese and sprinkle it all over the sauce and ravioli like a blanket. Garnish with a sprig of parsley if you care to, but if you are eating by yourself, I wouldn't bother. Take the plate and glass of iced tea to whatever table you eat at and enjoy. You remembered to put the cheese and various sauces away right? And turn of the element? Good. That should be it.

It is so close and yet so far. For those of you who missed the opportunity to watch me and Jon carry one sexy, heavy box from PCPC to my apartment, you missed quite a sight. When my cellphone rang shortly after noon I immediately got excited. When I opened it up and it was a Dalhousie number that I didn't recognize I got to the point were I could barely make it through the formality of: "Is Colin there?" "Speaking." "Colin your G5 has arrived and it is ready for you to pick it up."

Jon knew right away what was up. He has the unique claim to fame of being present at the birth of both of my computers. So I transferred some money around so I could actually pay for this beast and we headed over to PCPC. Now, allow me to divert a little. Last night (Thursday night) we had a really massive lightening storm. It was intense I don't remember thunder and lightening this intense before in Halifax. There was once in Wasaga Beach last year when Chris and I were up there - we were in a tent for that so it was a whole different experience. The thunder last night rattled my windows and illuminated the bedroom. I do love lightening so I was pretty hyped - as hyped as you can be after being woken up at 4am by the collision of superheated air particles. I was also hoping that the discharge would help clear up some of the sick humidity that has been plaguing us for a while. Nope. Today was as humid if not more humid than every other day this week. So by the time I get to PCPC I am starting to perspire. In hindsight I wish I had thought about how big this box might be - I would have brought a cart from tech support. Between Jon and I - emphasis on Jon (thanks so much buddy), we got this thing into my apartment where we sat and starred at it for over 30 minutes catching our breath. The real reason we waited in my apartment was that there was a guy in there changing my drapes. So when he was done, we went back to work.

Now I am in Durham, trying to enjoy a relaxing weekend at home while my sexy new G5, Athena, lies in wait for me in my apartment. So close and yet so far.

I am back in Halifax and after a long sweaty evening, and with the much appreciated help of my mother and Sarah, I now have a home office. Well... it is still a bedroom, but now the desk area is separate from the bed area and it feels a bit more like work. Plus the desk is nearer the window which will help me keep cooler while working, which was an issue before.

And despite being here for the past 4 hours, I have not yet started up Athena. I did unpack her and let me tell you - what a sweet machine. You haven't seen a more sexy piece of computer. Open it up - no cords, no clutter, just easy access to add more RAM, hard drives or daughter boards if necessary. I will put some pictures up tomorrow for everyone who is interested. I'm excited.

The other thing that I am proud of is that we managed to get anna moved across my bedroom without shutting her down. Thank you UPS for helping me maintain my 95 day uptime on anna. :)

Jon. When I was home this weekend I made my family my ravioli that I described below. Despite some people thinking that other people wouldn't like it, my entire family really enjoyed it - I know what you are thinking - they are my family and of course they would say that they liked it. I'm not sure if you have younger brothers (like 11 years old younger) but my brothers are picky and whiney. In fact I did hear some complaints before I even started making it: "I don't like ravioli." To which I replied, "You've never even had this before."

But when it was all said and done, all of my brothers ate it, and actually admitted to liking it, which in my mind is the greatest challenge.

My god this keyboard feels tiny compared to my nice ergonomic one at work. But until I am finished at work, I will likely be leaving it there. I got Athena online last night. This is a very quiet computer. I can fully appreciate the silence because I still have anna buzzing away beside it.

Setting up and getting used to Athena was much easier than Obnauticus because I have one and a half years of Mac experience going into this relationship. That being said, I'm sure there will be some rough times at the beginning at least until I can get everything tweaked the way that I like it. Of course, what's not to like. I'm not sure whether this will make me any more productive, but I guess time will tell there.

Take a cron job, add a transparent eterm, mix with the tail command, throw in a friendly Mac OSX interface and season with some imaging capabilities and you end up with something that might slightly resemble Geek Tool. I had read about the tool itself a while back when it was reviewed on macosxhints.com, but for whatever reason at the time I didn't install it. It basically allows you to set up a customizable window which by default is transparent with tiny black text. On this window, which can be positioned anywhere and either anchor to the desktop or float above everything, you can display a file, the output of a shell process or a picture.

All of that is fairly flexible too, the picture can be local, or it can be drawn from the internet (which is no longer a capitalized word) which makes it good for things like weather maps and such. Essentially any command that you can run in a terminal will work, as long as it isn't interactive. You even have the option of hiding the output of the command and simply displaying an icon based on the success or failure of the command - which can be used to report on server status and other similar elements. The file option is meant primarily to monitor system logs like console.log or Apache's access_log.

Right now I use it to power eight windows (with more to follow I'm sure):

• My current IP address (which for my desktop, doesn't change much, but meh.)
• Four 'cal' windows displaying text representations of four different months: last month, this month, next month and the month after that. The current month is larger and a different colour from the others.
• My schedule which is a graphic on my website.
• The word 'athena' in a fancy font with a drop shadow.
• A list of important events and birthdays that occurred on this day in history.

While you might think that I connect to the internet for this last bit of information, I actually don't need to. Unix systems tend to include all sort of weird things and OS X is no different. There are actually files which list important events in a number of different categories that I can pull this information from.

Mike has managed to score quite well on a couple of cool keywords - leet haxors. Unfortunately, they aren't particularly competitive keywords - at least according to overture which says that just over 1800 people searched for leet alone in July and only 175 searched for haxor, and none together. That said, that is overture and this is Google.

Clearly though, this is something that ought to be captured for posterity - which I'm sure mike has.

Our new phones arrived yesterday which is kind of cool. I haven't had a landline in about 2 years and the concept is unfamiliar to my new cellular lifestyle. It turns out that instead of a phone for the whole apartment which was what I had assumed, we each get one for our rooms - each with our own phone number. We are also on a central system, so that dialing another residence phone number only requires four digits. The laziness factor amounts to the fact that I will be able to call my brother in his room which is connected to mine.

The phone itself is quite nice - an Aastra 480e which has a nice display and a speakerphone and a data port for connecting a modem if I wanted to send a fax say. The voicemail is also really nice. I'm not sure whether this is a standard voicemail thing for landlines or not, but it lets me set two messages - one for when I am on the phone and one for when I don't answer. That is pretty cool if you ask me.