Beth's Blog

From the "'60s Europe Must Have Been Hilarious" File

2008-11-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Babs is my girl

2008-09-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Accusing McCain of having Linus Syndrome:

What a relief it would be...

2008-09-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

...not to have a president who would contribute to the Spastic White Person Clapping Syndrome often seen at inaugural balls:

for contrast:

Ladies and Gentleman, the Next* Vice-President of the United States

2008-09-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

* if you're a GOP asshat

Whoah!

2008-08-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just saw this headline on my Google News widget:

Polls: Voters Doubt Palin's Qualifications While Obama Expands Lead

Source? FoxNews.com. The times, they are a-changin', my friends. I predict that in about two weeks, once Palin's novelty has worn off and journalists have, like, asked her questions and stuff, the McCain campaign is going to realize that picking her was more a shot in the foot than the arm.

Your Official Caturday Message

2008-08-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Kellie and Donna wish you a safe and happy Labor Day:

Universal health care: Ted Kennedy figures it out

2008-08-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

Looks like Massachusetts's state universal health care plan is working out pretty well so far. Here's hoping President Obama will figure out something as good.

More blogger brilliance

2008-08-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

A great quote from Hunter, on what a McCain administration would look like:

Take all the worst things about the Bush administration, double them, then add Joe Lieberman.

Republican douchebag gets his ass handed to him

2008-08-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is fabulous:

John McCain: "The Eddie Haskell of politics"

2008-08-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Quote from this overview of John McCain's political career. That's about the best summary of him I've heard to date.

BBC US Elections Glossary

2008-07-31T16:10:00.001-07:00

This is pretty cool. Not only does it give an interesting perspective on how another country is viewing our election, but it's a good primer for those who aren't that politically initiated.

2008-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

I love The Poor Man Institute, and this post is a great example of why. My favorite part:

In a chilling post-script, activist, uh, elected officials have just expanded gay marriage rights in Massachusetts, in direct defiance of the Bible, or Darwin, or something. I think this means my wife has to let me start dating, although I may have to start dating guys - I’ll have to go down to the DMV so the fine public servants there can update me on the current status of my personal life.

Love it.

Republican Implosion, part Infinity

2008-07-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

This is pretty amazing. Missouri is often considered a bellwether state for the country, meaning "as goes Missouri, so goes the nation." This bodes well for us, I think.

There's a reason AT&T dynamic DSL is so cheap

2008-07-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

So as I was shopping for DSL for my new apartment, I discovered that AT&T's 6Mbps dynamic IP package was only $35 a month. Kickass, sign me up! I should have known: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Not that their speed claims are bogus; I verified them myself. But the modem they sent me is the biggest pain in the ass I've ever seen.

As an IT person, I like to do complicated things with my home network. I have servers. I have a KVM and a UPS. Normal home users do not have these things. Therefore, normal home users do not care when their DSL modem's DHCP seems to be overriding their router's. But I do.

It's the weirdest thing. For the life of me, I cannot get my dd-wrt Linksys to receive a WAN address from that godforsaken modem. I've tried PPPoE on the modem. I've tried PPPoE on the router. I've tried internal IPs. I've tried external IPs. None of it works. Any computer will hook to the modem directly, but even when the router is in between the computer and the modem, the computers are getting DHCP addresses from the modem! Like, what?

So I've come up with a plan B, which you can see in the above link. I have an old Dell Precision of my dad's, which is underresourced to the point that using it as a full Kubuntu workstation, like I wanted to, doesn't look possible (256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive...yeah). So I've decided to reinstall it with Xubuntu and use it as a router. After all, the modem will let it have an IP address and get to the Internets. All I need to do is install a second NIC in it, then configure routing, iptables, and DHCP/DNS appropriately (which could get ugly, but I've done it in Linux before, so there's hope). Then, I'll hook my router, which will now be serving the role of wireless access point and 10/100 switch, to the LAN port of the computer, and all will be well. I hope. I'll post progress reports as I go; this post mainly serves as a cautionary tale of AT&T jerk-offitude.

Sketchy IT Practices: Hooking VGA devices to a DVI KVM

2008-07-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sheesh. So I bought this KVM on ebay, like, two years ago, but never got around to taking it out of the box until today. I had DVI-to-VGA adapters on hand, since I bought a DVI KVM when all of my computers and my monitor are all VGA...not sure what the thought process was there. So I get the console hooked up fine. Then I go to hook the other end of the KVM cable to the adapter and...oh noes! The adapter is DVI male to VGA female, but the DVI connector on the cable is male, and the VGA connector on my laptop is female! Poopie pants!

I just ordered some of the appropriate adapter on newegg, which will arrive by Friday I think. Hopefully that will solve it, because VGA KVMs are as freaking expensive as DVI ones. The KVM is DVI-I, so I should be okay; if it were DVI-D, I'd be screwed.

Fingers crossed!

In other kitteh-related news...

2008-07-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

So true.

My new bebehs!

2008-07-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Kellie:
Donna:

They're a little confused still (I just got them yesterday), but they're very good girls. Donna, especially, thinks she's in charge of stuff already, while Kellie has mostly been hiding in a pile of clothes for the last day. I'm a little frightened to go home and see what they've done to my house while I was at work today; last night alone, they shoveled a significant portion of their litter box onto the floor and somehow managed to move a 30 inch square floor pillow about four feet across the room. What have I done...

Woo-hoo!

2008-07-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

And I got the apartment! Obviously housewarming details will follow.

If you ever say prayers, say them now...

2008-06-30T13:52:00.001-07:00

I think I have a shot of getting this apartment. I just talked to the manager and he said "we'll talk soon." Fingers crossed...!

Profiles in Stupid: Color Codes in ActiveX Controls

2008-06-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

We all know Microsoft is annoyingly proprietary in seemingly pointless ways. However, I had no idea of the true extent of their pointless proprietariness until yesterday, when attempting to do something simple turned into a 3-hour Google research project.

It all started while I was working on a project for work. I wanted to see if there was a way to make a Visio Viewer web part, so we could display network diagrams directly on a web page instead of making people open them in Visio to view them. Turns out the solution to that is quite simple and straightforward. So I implemented it, and it looked great except for one thing: the background color in the Visio Viewer was this God-awful aqua that, besides being God-awful in its own right, totally clashed with the nice default Sharepoint blue. So I decided I'd like the Visio Viewer background to be a nice Sharepoint blue as well.

Seeing the "BackColor" property in the code I pasted into the content editor web part, I figured it would be easy to do. Then, though, I looked at the current value of the BackColor property:

param value="16777120" name="BackColor"

Now I don't know about you, but I'm much more used to seeing six digit hex color codes, so this kind of threw me for a loop. But I'm smart, so I looked at this number and figured, "hey, that must be a regular hex color code that's been converted to decimal!" So I found the hex code of the blue I wanted, which was 6495ED. I converted it to decimal, popped that number into the BackColor property, and my background was now a lovely...terra cotta? What the heck...?

Just to make sure my hex code was on the level, I made a quick test html page in notepad and plugged the hex code in. There was my nice blue. So ok, just converting the hex code to decimal obviously isn't what they're doing here. But what is? Well, I learned what it wasn't: base 8, RGBA, something you can edit easily in either Sharepoint Designer or Visual Studio*. After trolling the Interwebs for any sort of clue, I finally stumbled upon this nugget in an MSDN article:

The valid range for a normal RGB color is 0 to 16,777,215 (&HFFFFFF). The high byte of a number in this range equals 0; the lower 3 bytes, from least to most significant byte, determine the amount of red, green, and blue, respectively. The red, green, and blue components are each represented by a number between 0 and 255 (&HFF). If the high byte isn't 0, Visual Basic uses the system colors, as defined in the user's Control Panel settings and by constants listed in the Visual Basic (VB) object library in the Object Browser.

Hmmm...okay then. I had to read it a couple times to understand what it meant, but then I started to get it. So I think what they're saying here is to get back to regular hex codes, you convert to hex, then divvy up the hex number into its three pairs, and those three pairs represent red, green, and blue values, like you see when you're messing with colors in Paint. Let's try to reverse engineer the God-awful aqua using this new hypothesis:

decimal: 16,777,120
hex : FF FF A0
decimal RGB values: red 255, green 255, blue 160

Wait a second...there's no way this could represent the red, green, and blue values for aqua; red has to be *lower* than blue or you'll end up with fuschia. So let's try switching the first and third pairs and see what that gives us. A quick plug-in to the color editor in Paint, and yep, there's the aqua: red 160, green 255, blue 255.

Wow, you have got to be kidding me. But let's try it with my blue:

hex : 64 95 ED
switcharoo hex: ED 95 64
switcharoo decimal: 15,570,276

I plugged that number into my ActiveX control, and lo and behold: pretty blue!

So my question is this: why, oh why, did Microsoft feel the need to take such a straightforward, universal standard as hex color codes and adulterate it in such a random manner, then leave next to no trace of documentation on said adulteration?! Answer: they're Microsoft. Par for the course. Sheesh.

* I'm sure, if I knew Visual Studio 2005 better than I do (i.e. hardly at all), I could have found a way to do it in there. But after attempting to for awhile, it became clear to me that continuing to head down that path would not be time-efficient.

The Ten Types of Republicans

2008-03-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

With poetry!

Come see me sing!

2008-03-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the full skinny on my chorus's concert. In addition to the fun and games mentioned below, I'm also singing in a small group ensemble.

Great singing and great songs! Costumes! Props! Who could ask for anything more?

Come celebrate the 27th Anniversary of The Anything Goes Chorus in a rousing, heartwarming and beautifully presented musical program. Members from both the San Francisco and Oakland choruses will come together to perform the usual variety of jazz, pop, Broadway, folk, oldies, and world music.

THE ANYTHING GOES CHORUS
SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 7:30 PM
The First Congregational Church
2501 Harrison Street @ 27th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Tickets: $15

The concert will be conducted by Ellen Robinson, Director and founder of both the San Francisco and Oakland choruses. She has been teaching singers and directing vocal groups for over 30 years. Ellen performs in the Bay Area as a jazz vocalist and has recorded two jazz CD's.

Advance tickets are available from members of The Anything Goes Chorus or at the door the night of the show.

For more information visit http:///www.ellenrobinson.com

Well Said

2008-03-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Couldn't have phrased it better myself:

No one could have predicted that letting a semi-retarded dry drunk with a history of abject business failure run the country for 8 years might end up having negative economic consequences.

Man, I suck at this

2008-01-23T13:32:00.001-08:00

I am not very good at this "blogging" thing. I think the root cause is best summed up by something the Flight of the Conchords guys posted on their hilariously out-of-date "official site":

A catch 22 type dilemna has struck kiwi band Flight of The Conchords in relation to updating the band news on their website. Members of the band (Jemaine and Bret) have noticed that whenever there are doing things that could be reported on the website, they are too busy to update the website. In addition, whenever the band members have some spare time in which they could update the website, there is usually, as one member put it "nothing going on". As a direct result of this problem The Conchords may resort to manufacturing news stories about themselves to bolster news items in less busy times.

So anyway, a quick rundown of my life...

New job = good. The whole experience is best summed up, I think, as "less work, more money," although now that I'm transitioning from the "trainee" phase to the "person doing actual work" phase of my employment, the "less work" thing is starting to wane a bit. Still more money, though.

New boyfriend = good. I must thank my dear friend Porter Venn for being accidentally instrumental in bringing about the circumstances in which Toby and I met. Basically, it went like this:
- Porter finally got me to go to Anon Salon, a monthly SF Burner party, in November.
- I had lots of fun doing karaoke there and decided to go back in December.
- As I was waiting to catch a cab home after leaving the December Anon Salon, I got swept up in a random group of people and ended up talking to this really cool guy at a bar, who turned out to be French-speaking, Linux-loving, saxophone-playing, all-round hilariously awesome human being.
Therefore, Monsieur Porter, kudos to you; without you, I wouldn't have been trying to catch a cab at the corner of 9th and Folsom on the night of December 14th, and I would now be living an entirely different life (well, maybe not *entirely* different...somewhat different, probably).

Singing = good. Everyone mark your calendars! The chorus I am in will be performing in Oakland on Saturday, April 4th, in the evening (specific time and place to come). Our song list is hilariously eclectic, ranging from Sibelius to Lennon/McCartney. It's going to rock.

Well, that's all I got for now. I have some really computery-nerdy stuff in the pipeline, which I'll hopefully get up sooner than two and a half months from now.

Two best kitty vids to date

2007-11-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

First, the ever-popular "gossiping kittys":

Secondly, the newcomer "playing dead but still meowing kitty":

I'm noticing a chirpy-meowing theme among kitty vids I consider "best ever." Time will tell if the pattern holds up, I suppose.