Freezerpants.com

Never leave the stream of warm impermanence.

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Over the years, this site has provided a number of outlets for me.
Trying my hand at humorous writing, a documentation of a life I believed interesting enough to share, a catharsis, geeky ramblings, and most recently.. Well, actually nothing recently. It's been nearly a full year between posts.

But I'm interested (at least for the moment) in reviving it as an outlet of sorts.
Perhaps the timing is bad. I realize that my internet anonymity is decidedly not. Let's ignore all that for a while and get to the point. Musing about me.

Four odd months ago, the woman previously referred on this very site as Madeline and I broke it off. Or, as she likes to point out, I broke it off with her.

I won't rehash the reasoning, or even analyze the things that went "right" or "wrong". Which is not to say that I haven't spent a lot of time evaluating these very things. But it doesn't seem necessary to use an outlet for things I've already made peace with. With regards to the end of our relationship, suffice to say, it was time.

I'm living in a hotel again. It seems that I spend a great deal of my life in a hotel. But truth is subjective, depending entirely on the viewer. Still- I've been here nearly a month, and I have another month to go. Here being Sumter, South Carolina.

I would be a liar if I said I were particularly enthused to be here. The truth is, I know (roughly speaking of course), where I do want to be. Folks, this ain't it.

I'm trying to avoid the virus of "short timer attitude", but I've already caught myself saying "It's only for a year".

Realizing that I am a social creature, even if that is entirely at odds with my cynicism and occasional misanthropy, I feel I've been left with no other choice but to find the silver lining in it all. The upshot is, I live fairly close to my cousin and her kids. And I adore them all. Of course, I also live equally close to my estranged brother, but he is, after all estranged for a reason.

For factual clarity, my brother and I are the ones at odds. I believe his relationship with the rest of the family is normal enough.

Another shining point is work. I'm getting exposure to some very cool technology that I would never have the chance to experience anywhere else. And hey, I'll be fully vested soon enough! Who knows what the future will hold, but it never hurts to have more experience.

So here I am in another hotel, listening to a generated playlist surprisingly apropos in it's favoritism of David Bowie and Mindless Self Indulgence.

Everything you need to know, provided by Growl

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:17:00 +0000

I love Growl . Odds are, if you're a Mac user, you do too. Or at least you've heard of it.

But did you realize that it can do really amazing things? All it needs it a few tweaks and an application or three.

One of the latest and awesomest things you can do is receive Growl notifications on your iPhone with Prowl ($3, app store ).

You'll need to install the Growl Plugin and then configure your system to send notifications from Growl to Prowl.

But just what sort of amazing notifications should you be sending?
What about Twitter notifications?

Go grab yourself a copy of Tweetie and sign in to your account. For reasons that escape me, the Growl notification preferences are sort of buried in Tweetie. To enable them, go to "Tweetie" -> "Preferences" -> "Accounts" -> Click your account name -> "Notification Options"

Check the bottom field marked "Growl Notification". You probably don't want to send every single tweet you receive to your iPhone though.

Go to "System Preferences" -> "Growl" -> "Applications" Choose Tweetie, the click "Configure". Change the notifications option to assign a priority of "High" to Direct Messages and Mentions (or as you prefer).

Back in the main Growl Preferences, go to Display options. Remember where you set up Prowl? Change Prowl to send notifications when Priority is at least High. I also chose to wait until the computer is idle for a period of time, since I don't need two notifications at once.

What about some other applications? While I have the excellent Delivery Status app for my phone, I really want to have push notifications. Guess what? They have a free Dashboard Widget that supports Growl.

Or (one of my favorites) HellaNZB:"http://www.hellanzb.com/ . In fact, that reminds me of another great Growl feature: Notifications don't have to be local. My home server runs HellaNZB, which can be configured to send Growl notifications to a remote machine. Back in your Growl preferences, you just need to enable listening for incoming notifications and allow remote application registration.

And then yes, you can push those updates out via Prowl too.

Remember though, it's a good idea to only send messages assigned a high priority, otherwise you are (probably) going to be swamped with mundane messages and IMs.

Oh yeah, IMs. Zachary West, author of Prowl, also happens to be an Adium developer.

Short Shorts

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:48:00 +0000

A long time ago Rob told me about this wireless gear he was using from a company called Ubiquiti Networks . I of course promptly forgot who made it or the specifics. Then we (as in my company) bought a few to evaluate for a project. I'm. In. Love. I highly, HIGHLY recommend the PowerStation2 to anyone who might have use for such a thing. Awesomesauce.

I set up a Tumb/Micro/Mini/Whatever blog over here
The whole thing originated on the Mailing List .
Basically, I'm just keeping track of all the crap I buy. Too bad I didn't start this 6 weeks ago, I've been single handedly supporting the local economy.

I bought a searsucker suit. I'm really excited to have it, but damned if I know when I will wear it.

I'm going to see Nine Inch Nails several times in the upcoming weeks. At the Pittsburgh show, I've got meet/greet + backstage passes , I'm very, very excited.

Speaking of crap I bought, finally broke down and got a Mac Pro.

Reasons to Love DIY

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:00:00 +0000

A while back, I ordered the SLG book Jellyfist . The concept was simple: Jhonen Vasquez wrote, and "Jenny" JR Goldberg drew pretty pictures to go along.

It was silly, beautiful and immensely entertaining. Recently, JR Goldberg began selling things on Etsy , so I thought I would take a look. Surprise surprise, I found a hand printed mini-book called "Squelch" for a whopping $5. That's right, five US of A dollars. And there was one left. I snatched it up.

I've been following JR Goldberg for a while on Twitter, and I decided to ask for an autograph on my order, didn't know if it would work..but what they hey.

Today, I finally received my order (it takes a while, I live in the UAE, so it has to be shipped to New York then here). I am absolutely stunned.

Not only did I get my copy of Squelch, it was Autographed..

..with a bunch of nifty extras!

That whacky JR Goldberg not only signed it, she threw in a pin, a nice little note, and a business card (from none other than MooCards , one of my favorites).

So, here is the point:

I love DIY. Not only did JR Goldberg undercharge me for this really great piece, but she went the extra mile. I didn't expect any of this, and I asked only for an autograph. She took it upon herself to really show that she cared about the product (her art) and her customer (me, her audience).

I've mentioned more than a few times my love for another Etsy Alumni, Hard Graft (neé Working Class Heroes ), and I love them for the same reasons. They create a superior quality product with a brilliant focus on detail and craftsmanship. How many companies ship you a piece of Austrian chocolate with your order?

Only one I know of.

Which is why I've continued to do business with them. When I got a new laptop, the first thing I did was place an order for a new laptop sleeve from Hard Graft. When a co-worker needed a laptop sleeve, I convinced him to buy one as well. (He did, and he loves it). He in turn has recommended them to other people as well.

Which is the point.

Goods from small companies (or even individuals) with the DIY mentality / ethic are wonderful things to purchase. Yes, often times the products cost a bit more, but in the end you know that you are getting a product that someone has a personal interest in. Their name and reputation hang on the quality of the product they personally create and sell to you. They care.

Etsy is a great place to find these individuals / products. There is a lot of crap, to be sure. (Seriously...how many people are selling keychains of random crap that they hot glued to a fob? No, I will not pay $15 for your Lego Man keychain, idiot).

What a co inky dink

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:53:00 +0000

Last night I was looking over the toledo source code thinking about how I should really update it.

Something shiny caught my eye, and I ended up doing everything but. A few minutes ago, I got an email from a guy in Holland who is working on making the AM03128 work with a microcontroller. He's using my code to figure out how to "talk" to the sign.

I often wonder if there would be anyone else in the world that would get any use out of my code. Now I know there is at least one person, and that's pretty freakin' awesome.

Apple, why do you hate postfix so much?

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:20:00 +0000

After running 10.5.6 on my local machines for a while, I finally decided to go ahead and update the server.

Which of course is when the problems set in.

Turns out, Apple helpfully reconfigured my configuration so that it insisted on listening to local connections only. Which wasn't documented, anywhere.

Foolishly, I assumed the problem existed in my own configuration files (it's been a loooong time since a restart), and I thought I bunged something up.

Had I done a diff on the configs, I would have immediately spotted the difference. ::sigh::

Easy enough to fix, once you know about it. Fix

A brief dissertation on the nature of iPhones

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Alternately: What I learned about iPhones while on Vacation

A few months back, I let temptation take hold. I broke down and bought an iPhone 3G from one of the, err, less than reputable places here in the UAE.

These places will, of course, happily charge you a ludicrous mark up for the device, which I simply was not prepared to pay considering I was going to Italy soon enough (more on that later).

It's not secret that I am a recovering cellular fetishist. At any given point in time I had a couple handsets on my person, with several more waiting at home. Always either super high-end or too unique to be useful to anyone but the insane.

Then I got my original iPhone. I was in love. I stopped looking at other phones. It honestly did everything I wanted it to do, and it did it well. Sure I Jailbroke it and installed grey-area applications. But I was happy, it was the one true phone for me.

Surveying the landscape of my bedroom, I decided to box all the other heathen phones up and sell them off.

It was here that I returned when I decided to buy my iPhone 3G.

As luck would have it, the guy was more than happy to buy my old iPhone (without the box or cables..I have them, they were just at home), dented corners, scratched lens and all, for a very, very good price.

I did the math, and deducting what he offered me for my old iPhone, the new iPhone was less than I would pay in Italy. But I wanted to be sure I was getting what I thought I was getting.

I asked outright about it's origin. Hong Kong? Italy? Belgium? Australia? Where did this come from?
His reply? "Yes".

So I tried a different tact: "Has this been hacked, or is this an officially unlocked phone?"
"Oh, it's officially unlocked, no problem."

I looked over the box. It certainly seemed genuine. But to be sure, I had him pop my SIM card in before I paid. It came right up on Etisalat. Satisfied, I paid and left.

That evening, closely examining the box, I noticed something odd: A copyright notice for the AT&T logo. I pulled a pasted sticker off the phone, and lo and behold, an AT&T graphic.

Over the next few days, I noticed erratic behavior. Calls dropped, terrible call quality, and most disturbing, you couldn't update the firmware while the SIM was in the phone. I started googling.

I didn't turn up anything solid, just reports from various countries that back-alley shops were popping open the cases and soldering SIM hack chips in. Apparently there are a number of different types, each of questionable quality, that all relied heavily on an IMEI exploit.

I began to closely examine my phone. Sure enough, there were rough-ish edges. As though someone opened the case. I continued to use the phone, and after updating to the latest firmware it seemed to do very well.

So well in fact, that I didn't really give it another thought. Until I got to Italy. Despite my best efforts, it simply would not connect to a Wireless carrier there.

Knowing full well that that very same SIM worked in Rome last year, I was dumb-founded. Etisalat is known for being a little...wonky, so I chalked it up to a new issue with their service and went on my merry way.

While out and about one evening, I decided to pop into a Wind shop and buy a couple of iPhone 3Gs. The kind that are actually OEM unlocked. The kind I wanted to buy originally.

Because of a very, very severe language barrier, I wasn't positive that these phones were what I needed. The shop keeper agreed to let me take them home and try to use my SIM, if they didn't work, he would refund my money. Got it back to the hotel, and presto! Right on the network. With my Etisalat SIM.

It was then that I noticed something interesting. The carrier unlocked version of the phone will actually allow you to select your carrier from the Settings menu. The UAE "hacked" iPhone definitely did not allow this at all, no matter what I tried. Problem found.

Long story short, I ended up commandeering one of the Italian iPhones for myself, and already I am much happier. The case feels seamless, supporting my belief that the UAE one was opened. And in general, it just seems to work "better".

I've not decided what I am going to do with the UAE hacked iPhone. I don't feel I could sell it off in good conscience, knowing it's an inferior quality version. Then again, I also know that it seemed to work OK with the latest firmware. Perhaps I will take it back to the shop and sell it back, just taking my losses.

As for the other Italian iPhone 3G? Well, I think my boss is buying it as a gift for someone. Maybe. I almost wish I grabbed more, just because the local market is flooded with these crap iPhones, but I was genuinely worried about customs.

TLDR Version:
If you buy an iPhone 3G, and you want (even someday) to use it on another network, buy an OEM unlocked version. Yes, they are more expensive, but in the long run it's worth it.

And don't buy a chipped version.

I wish I were Freelance Police

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:10:00 +0000

I'm a TV junky. I admit it. Back in the "Real World"*, I watched only a select few programs. Here, however, is a very, very, different story.

The problem is it's impossible to watch anything remotely close to "new" on the Satellite here, so I am reduced to downloading episodes. When you watch TV as it airs (or even with a Tivo) there is a forced wait between episodes.

Downloading on the other hand, well this is outright dangerous. You see, you can pick a show that's been running for seven years (Scrubs), download all the episodes and watch them non-stop.

Here is the catch: There are only so many "good" shows on. Then you turn to crap. Soon you're watching more than a dozen different shows, many of questionable quality, and you discover that you spend all your free time downloading freaking shows.

Then you build a server and automate the whole danged thing.

Which is wonderful, until you are caught up on everything. Then the ~~ice-weasels~~ cravings come. So you start digging back . Even then, it's not enough. Next thing you know, you're sitting up at two AM cursing your internet connection while you wait for episodes of Barney Miller to buffer on Hulu . It's a depraved life, to be sure.

I bought a new Macbook. It should be here in a few days (give or take, Aramex has funky schedules some times). Chuck, like most others, has reviewed it favorably, so I am excited to start lugging it around again. It's ridiculous, but I still miss my 12" Powerbook. Maybe this will finally be the laptop that fills that hole in my heart.

It's not really a secret, but Madeline and I have decided to call it quits. I actually waited a few weeks before finally telling my Mother. I just couldn't find it in me to hear the sigh in her voice when I broke the news.

I'll be traveling (not a moment too) soon. I'm headed back to Rome to hang out with Zuke, and in December to New Zealand to attend my friend Tanya's wedding. I'm really keen to meet the groom-to-be, I have a feeling that he is going to be every-bit as impressive as she. And seriously, they might have the coolest jobs ever.

Work.
Ugh.

As a policy, I try and avoid publicly discussing the job, but never knowing if you are coming or going begins to wear on a soul quickly.
I'm not done with the U.A.E., not by a long shot. I figure as long as there is interesting work (and a paycheck), I will stay.

But I have to admit, it might be nice to go home.

Caveat Emptor

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Way back in the hazy days of August, I ran out of storage.

Again.

My desktop looked like a bad set from "Swordfish". A 1tb Firewire 800 drive, a 1tb USB2.0 drive, and a few errant 500gb USB drives. With each new device my computer booted slower, the noise increased, my precious desktop real estate declined, and juggling data got that much harder. I needed to do something dramatic.

But there was good news: Data Robotics just released an updated version of their hyped Drobo , and the intertubes buzz was all positive. It supports Firewire 800 and up to 4tb of storage (16tb theoretical). After weighing my options, I decided to take the plunge. I bought one.

Fast Forward several weeks, my shiny new Drobo was here. Giddy with excitement, I followed the (simple) instructions to a "T". I installed the drives, I installed the software, I hooked this bad mamma jamma up... and nothing.

The software didn't recognize the device. Console showed an arcane error that seemed vaguely relevant to Firewire and mysticism. But nothing. Zip, zero, zilch.

I went through the predictable troubleshooting steps. Replaced the cable, rebooted, tried reconnecting my previous Firewire 800 drive, tried daisy chaining them, failures all.
Everything pointed to the Drobo.

I decided to connect it via USB 2.0, ta-da! It worked perfectly. But it was working on USB. Which was not acceptable, at all. The only reason I opted specifically for the Drobo was I wanted to move away from USB for my mass storage needs.

I contacted tech-support. I was hopeful that they would have a fast miracle solution. "This is a known bug, we have a super secret beta-tastic firmware right here to fix you up!" they would say.

Trouble ticket filed, I waited.

And waited.

A week later, I finally got my first response. They needed more information. Of course. I happily gave them all the details, included the diagnostic output from the Drobo Dashboard software. Things were finally looking up.

Then I waited.

And waited.

Eight days later (today in fact) I got a response. It was from Steven, a Tier-3 Support Engineer.
Bad news it seems, the Drobo itself was in fact defective.

Unfortunately, I live overseas, and their RMA process will only handle shipping to/from the US. I would need to send the Drobo back to the states on my dime, then ship the replacement back here (including duties, again) on my dime.

While this is a perfectly reasonable policy, it still sucks.

With a heavy heart I responded to Steven. I thanked him for letting me know, I explained that I understood the RMA policy, that I felt it was reasonable. And I explained that reasonable or not, by the time I got done shipping this unit back, the replacement unit, coupled with duties and the original cost of shipping and duties, this Drobo was going to cost me $970. Nearly double the price of a brand new Drobo. It just wasn't cost-effective, time to cut my losses and run.

I expected that to be the end of it. Or will it?

As I wrote out the trials and tribulations of my poor little Drobo, Steven e-mailed me. He's going to talk to his boss about the shipping issues.

As a sane adult consumer living overseas, I have no reason to expect Data Robotics to pick up the tab on this. But it would be pretty freakin' sweet if they do.

Regardless of the outcome, dear interweb, if there is only one lesson I've learned while living outside of the USA and shopping online, it's Caveat Emptor.

And this is not my face

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:15:00 +0000

Since it's been several months, I figured I would update the site.
Just, you know, for giggles.

Astro, the MINI, has been here for a few months.
We've upgraded his wheels to glorious König Zero's

We've put a Mac Mini in, complete with touchscreen, GPS and 3.5g data. Astro is using an interface called Neon Boombox . It's lacking a little polish, but it's a work in progress.

I took roughly 1.2 babillion pictures of the install, and jotted down notes and thoughts. Ostensibly all of this would be molded into an article for "Shuffle", but alas it's just never made it that far.

I nearly bought a house in Conway, SC. In the end I had to walk away from the deal, which is too bad.

Tyler, Chuck, Cathy, Joe, Jenny and I took a cruise. Specifically, a KATG cruise. Good times were had by all, although my liver is thankful it's over.

This month is Ramadan here in the Gulf. Which means, well, google it. It's not too bad, just a little inconvenient at times.

Speaking of inconvenient... I (and everyone I work with) fell victim to Credit Card Fraud. They made off with about $1,400 , which sucks. What sucks even more is that all of my cards were compromised (as were all my co-workers), which means none of us has any freaking money to do anything with right now. Still waiting for Aramex to deliver my replacements. Hopefully another week.

Speaking of Aramex... I ordered a Drobo and 4× 1tb drives. Hopefully this gets me through this TV Season.

Which reminds me: If you haven't been watching "Weeds", start. It's a wonderful show, although the first two seasons were a lot funnier.