well alright- the online photo album is back

got my online photo album back up and running. took a little wrangling, but i finally managed to figure out that the application name for the virtual directory you want to enable online access to can't contain spaces- it has to match the web address you're specifying in the web browser or it just won't find it. through trial and error i managed to figure out that changing that application name after the fact does Diddly Squat; it has to be created with the correct name to begin with. in any event, the photo album is back online. off to dreamville for me.

permalink

crash impact

well, after suffering my massive hard drive crash, it occured to me that my online photo album isn't actually online anymore....going to have to re-install IIS etc etc. SO....the link to the online photo album is not going to work for the time being. considering all the work i have to do just to get back up and running, it may be a while before i can get to that. i'll post something here when it's up and running again. time to hit the hay.....waaaay past time...

permalink

well well the end of another weekend

Loren's upstairs, crashed like a big dog. Chowder's under the chair, crashed like a somewhat smaller dog. i've got a significant amount of the reconstruction of my computer system accomplished....though i didn't get much else done this weekend. did manage to make it over to the Sargents' for a relaxing dinner with the the rest of the Pelkey clan. good times had by all, as usual when the whole group manages to get together. i played with Ethan and Cole a lot rougher than they're used to- they didn't quite know what to think of that. i stopped short of actually terrifying them, but put a little scare into 'em hehehe. gotta keep 'em guessing :P

Loren and i just hung out all day t'day- didn't get out at all, didn't get anything accomplished. Loren looked up "The Demented Cartoon Movie"- a flash cartoon consisting of a half hour of nonstop exploding-head-and-nuclear-bomb-kamikaze-watermelon-car-crash gags that had him rolling. he laughed 'til he got cramps and declared he now understood what people meant when they said they'd busted a gut. never made him get dressed or anything- a completely laid back Sunday. fed him Big Brunch, as per our usual Sunday routine, and some pork chops for dinner, while we watched the first of MTV's animated Spider-Man cartoons I got us on DVD for Christmas. i think he enjoyed not having any demands put on him as much as the entertainment he surrounded himself with.

tried to get my printer installed so i could get a D&D character sheet printed out for him....about 8 times i tried to install the software....it sucks, it simply will not install. can't figure out the problem; haven't ever had this much trouble installing drivers before. word to the wise: HP hardware is great, their software leaves MUCH to be desired.

ok if i don't crash out soon i'm going to be worthless for Day #4 of my new job tomorrow. i'm working in a machine shop, which is much like saying i am a cog in a machine- a machine that slightly enlarges a punched hole in literally thousands of pieces of steel. load the machine run the machine offload the machine load the machine run the machine offload the machine over and over and over ad infinitum....extremely boring (pun intended). it's a small family-run company, and everyone there seems nice enough. i'm getting paid $14/hr and it's not too far from home- no health insurance of any kind, so that's a factor. it's a significant pay cut from what i've been doing, but it's work, and therefore money. the owner acknowledged my performance with an increase of $1/hr over what i was nominally hired at, so that's nice, and a bit of incentive. i guess the question is how i fit in there in the long run, considering his family, all very experienced working there, are going to be first in his mind in matters of promotion and increased responsibility as they expand. it's hard to say anything concrete about the place yet though, first impressions aren't worth all that much. i'll have to form an opinion over a longer period of time than 4 days i think. (past) time to hit the hay, 4:30am comes mighty early.

permalink

test post after crash

ok i think i've finally gotten my blogging software back up and running- this is a test of the setup. suffered a hard drive crash to the tune of 50Gbs. glad the blog, at least, is stored offline. the only other saving grace is my online photo album wasn't impacted, due to its location on a different physical drive. c'est la guerre with these blessed/infernal machines. not sure i could function properly without a computer anymore, but it's certainly a trade-off. BACK UP YOUR DATA, PEOPLE! [sigh]

permalink

REM report

Scene 1:
my parents were fixing up their fictitious house, on their fictitious huge piece of property, in order to sell it. there were some hired hands around, and i was hanging around helping them out too. it was a sunny day. there was an outbuilding behind the main house, with a lot of windows. apparently they were having a large gathering at 6:30pm later that day and were kind of rushing to finish up what they'd been working on. my father asked me to help him with some gutters he was putting up, so i picked up a bunch of materials and a putty knife. i wasn't sure where the gutters were going to be mounted but i got the impression it was (strangely) underneath a roofed-over area between the back of the house and the outbuilding. i asked him about some grey sticky looking stuff, was it mastic? did he want me to bring it? yes to both. sure enough, under the eaves went the gutter material.

i noticed the floor between the house and the outbuilding had been painted over with a thick layer of white paint, with a roller, and the puckers in the paint were clearly visible. the only areas not painted were a couple areas of hexagonal vinyl tiles with a striped pattern in slate-blue colors. there was a path made from some rectangular pieces of plywood between the back porch and the outbuilding, which had been painted to the floor also. i thought it looked kinda rinkydink but knew my dad was getting what he wanted from them...whatever that was.

Scene 2:
standing inside with a throng of people at night. my old boss Todd was there, he seemed like he was in a really good mood. it was an informal gathering and people were having a good time; i got the impression the occasion called for speeches- something special was going on.

Scene 3:
i was standing inside by the kitchen talking with Melissa. there were some people there i can't remember now whom i knew, including one middle-aged Hawaiian guy. when i turned from Melissa and stepped around a corner to look at him again, it was like he'd lost 20 years and now had a full head of hair. he was wearing glasses, and talking with some people; he didn't notice me.

Scene 4:
i was back outside, this time with Jason. we were looking inside the outbuilding through the windows; the place seemed cozy now, there were some framed pictures hanging on the walls inside, and everything looked to be pretty finished in there. i wanted a cigarette, so i turned to head inside to get mine. Jason made a joking comment to me that he had some cigarettes and i could have one if i wanted. i don't know if i took him up on it or not, but i ended up with a smoke somehow. there were flowers planted everywhere, mostly purple ones, low to the ground, and i clumsily stepped on some of them, grabbing a pole to keep from falling over. "clumsy!", i thought. but it didn't seem like all that big a deal considering the scope of everything that was being done- they'd recover; it'd be ok in the long run. Mom came out and told me not to flick my butt on the ground. i told her i never did, that i always put them in my pocket. she stayed outside and talked with Jason and me for awhile. from behind me i kept hearing an extremely faint voice counting, and asked if anyone heard it. Jason did and we turned to look back to look for the source of the sound.

Scene 5:
suddenly we were standing on a wooden deck overlooking a river or some other body of water far below the property. there were mountains in the distance. it was almost like the Sound, and beyond the water it might have been Whidbey Island. there were two small boats off in the distance, moving toward us. they were moving pretty fast and as they got closer, i could tell the the two guys piloting them were counting fish. 16...24....they seemed to be having an argument about the number of the fish and how to split them up. one boat cut the other off with a dangerous move, veering right into the other's path, and they passed by the rear of the deck, headed down toward where my dad was. Dad was in the water with another guy, by the bank. he and another guy were in up to their necks, holding on to a small boat like they were pulling it in to tie it off, or maybe just untying it...something. the other boats pulled up to them and Jason and i both knew there was going to be trouble. the belligerent guys started trying to drag my dad's boat out into the river, but Dad and his friend hung on. it looked like the newcomers might sink the others' boat, and i was worried about my dad. before i knew what was going on Jason was over the side of the deck into the water, which seemed a lot closer and not as far below the deck now. he hoisted a kid up over his head out of the water, who belonged to the bad guys in the boats, and held him up so i could take him from him. his intention was clear, he wanted me to keep this kid for collateral to make sure nothing happened to Dad. i quickly took the kid from him, and Jason headed for the scene playing out on the water. i brought the kid (who'd changed into a young girl) over to a chair on the deck and sat her in it. Melissa was present and she was growing more anxious by the second. she was upset about the way i was treating the little girl, but i basically cut her off and told her i was handling it, knowing that i wasn't going to do anything to harm the girl, who was angry and frightened and began to protest and struggle against me. i firmly held her to the chair and told her forcefully (more forcefully than Melissa was comfortable with) to calm down, and that everything was going to be ok. after a moment the little girl responded to my tone and realized she couldn't resist me, and calmed down. Melissa watched but didn't interfere.

Scene 6:
before long, Dad and one of the boat guys, a scraggly looking middle aged guy with dark hair, were on the deck, seeming to have worked things out. the man was collecting his daughter from me. he picked her up and very carelessly, almost violently, threw her up over his head like he meant to put her on his shoulders- but lost his grip or something- and she literally FLEW over his head and landed with a smack on her head and shoulder on the deck, neck bent sideways and arm splayed out awkwardly. i was sure this girl was hurt and Melissa was instantly appalled and terrified for the little girl. i started for the girl instantly, but the man was much closer and went over and picked her up, as if nothing was wrong, and evidently there was no harm done. i followed him around with her for awhile to make sure. Dad was there too and the man seemed to be explaining to Dad how he'd had many many children and never had anything happen to any of them before. i couldn't imagine someone as careless as this hadn't met with some tragedy, but my dad seemed to accept it, so i let it be.

and that's about all i remember. chalk up another wierd one.

permalink