After spending the morning doing things that are throughly unproductive, I have a couple of things that bother me about the world right now, mostly technical.

Why doesn’t Planet Debian advertise the availablility of an RSS feed in it’s output, but not to automatic readers. I expect that an age where aggregators are more common to everyone (OS X 10.4, anyone?) will accelerate greatly the age of the content web - more and more people will not be using the web for nice-looking sites, but for the content on them. This could cause issues with advertisers, who on major sites could make it harder for information to flow freely from sources to sinks.

While Apple’s Mail.app looks nice and works well, it is lacking at least two major features. The first is decent threading. We’ve had this for years in the world of mutt and any graphical mail reader I get will be required to have one. This is currently the only thing that is keeping me from using Mail.app for my main mailreader. The other thing that I want a graphical mail reader to do is work with GnuPG. It would be nice to have it auto-check people’s signatures. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I want “mutt with graphics”. Of course, some would tell me to get off my ass and make one if I want it so bad, but I suspect that one may exist already and I don’t know that it exists yet.

I’ve wanted to put an install of Debian on my iBook for a while, but I have been foiled by the fact that I use it daily and cannot cripple it. I need to figure out a way to copy all important data off so I can repartition correctly and reinstall both OS X and Debian. I think I am going to have issues with the Debian side of things, but I’ve been away from my Debian packages too long and I am feeling very bad about it.

I haven’t been active on gale in a while, but I’m toying with the idea of joining the conversation again. I’ve always liked the people there - for some reason they seem very nice.

My favorite site for a long time Halfbakery, has been down yesterday and today. It was the clearinghouse for me to spout crazy ideas that come into my head every once in a while. I may have to spout some crazy ideas here instead because they’re bouncing around up there.

So I haven’t been posting much lately, this is something which I intend to fix starting now. The reason that I have dropped off the radar lately is because of a great change in my life: I moved from a studio apartment to a two-bedroom apartment.

I knew I was moving for a while, but of course, having last moved two years ago and then to a new city with lots of friends to help, I didn’t appreciate the full agony of moving. I thankfully was smart enough to schedule getting the new apartment on August 15, leaving me half a month to move out completely. I didn’t really need all that time, but it was nice to not have to move it all in one day.

After conducting a wonderful three-week long search for apartments, I found a wonderful one-bedroom apartment that is situated right next to the new light rail system making it a very low-stress and simple ride into school. I filled out the application and the check for the deposit, and got a call a couple days later saying I was set for the place. The thing that clinched it for the apartment was the dishwasher. People who know me pretty well know that I despise doing dishes. A dishwasher is a dream come true for me.

Of course, I was supposed to move into a one bedroom apartment. I got a call around the 6th from the general manager of the apartments, saying that the one bedroom wouldn’t be ready by the time I wanted to move in, and wondering if I would take a two-bedroom instead. Thinking it a cruel trick of some kind, I asked if it would be the same price, and assured her that I could move in on the 20th if needed. So I was excited to get the two-bedroom for the one-bedroom price, but wary of course.

The day came (after the reunion) and as I showed up I noticed that there was someone in my apartment. I had showed up at 10am, but apparently they weren’t expecting me until noon, and the former resident wasn’t out of the apartment yet. I walked upstairs and signed the lease with the resident manager, paying pro-rated rent for the first month and making sure there weren’t any tricks. I got one set of keys to the place, and talked to the former resident saying that I wasn’t going to move anything big today, but if he could be out by noon (like he had expected) then I would be pleased to move in tomorrow or later that night. Visiting the place later in the evening I discovered that there were still large pieces of furniture there. I was getting mad at this point, because I did expect to move some of the large boxes of stuff I had in my car at that point into the apartment.

I called the next day to the general manager and got it all worked out - the stuff would be gone by 5. I also got more of the full story behind the mess. Apparently one of the two general managers decided to take an unscheduled vacation. This caused a failure in communication on who was to move where. The other general manager was shuffling upstairs to a new apartment and there were two or three other shuffles going on as well. Normally they don’t allow any moving withing the saame building. Anyway at 5pm that day, I was happy to see the general manager in my apartment helping to finish up the cleaning and the handiman came in to change the lock on the sliding door (it was previously fairly loose) and to change the deadbolt on the apartment door. This of course settled the issues that I had with the apartment at that point. I was very happy - I am getting a two-bedroom apartment for $65 less than I had previously been paying for a studio apartment.

Boring moving ensued, spanning many days. Soon everything but the large stuff that wouldn’t fit into either my car or Di’s (which is a station wagon and considerably larger). I also moved a bit of Di’s stuff because she is moving as well - although to one room of a two-bedroom. Then came the 22nd, the day which we had worked out would be best for the moving of large furniture. Having scheduled a rental of a U-Haul truck in the size of 17 feet the week before, but not receiving a call beforehand, I call on the day asking when and where I should pick up the truck. Originally I scheduled pickup at 10am. Calling the general office for the twin cities told me that somehow that was moved back to noon. This was okay, as I had the truck until 6pm still, and this was ample time to get everything moved, including the big-ass couch that was such a pain to move earlier in the year. Going out to breakfast and then to the actual U-Haul store, I discover that the assholes don’t expect me until 3pm. Now, I’ve had some issues with this U-Haul place before, but they were handled fairly quickly and nicely (see the couch ordeal for examples). However, I had already been delayed that day and I had plans for things closely after 6pm. To top it off, they couldn’t give me a 17 foot truck as I had ordered, but only a 14 foot truck. 3 hours is NOT enough time to move that big couch and all the other things we needed to move, and to top it off, I had A waiting for me to show up in the truck to help. Fairly obviously fuming at this point, they called around the twin cities trying to find a truck that I could get right away. They found a 14 foot truck in Burnsville. Of course now I’m complaining because U-Haul charges by the mile, but I need to get that truck. The guy at the U-Haul on Nicollet gave me $30 in gift certificates in order to make up for the difference, which didn’t really make it because the Burnsville one closes at 5pm and I wasn’t planning on returning it until 6pm, making them useless. We got everything moved - the big couch went to my place because it was much MUCH easier to move into the 1st floor than it would have been to move it into the already-full apartment.

At any rate, I’m never using U-Haul on Nicollet and 34th ever again, I’m all moved into my new place, and I am back to blogging again regularly. More about what has happened later.

The Last Three Minutes: Conjectures About the Ultimate Fate of the Universe (Science Masters Series) (Book) Authors:P. C. W. Davies Manufacturer:Basic Books Released:January, 1997 Rating: B

The Big Bang. Genesis. These are the two prevailing theories on the beginning of the universe. But honestly, who cares? I’m more worried about the future than the past any day of the week. That’s why this book caught my interest. If the universe is going to end, I want to be darn sure that it’s not going to happen before I die of natural causes, and it’d be nice to know how it’s going down too. Paul Davies takes me on a delightful tour thorugh the current theory of where we all are headed, in the big picture.

I’ve been struck in the last few weeks with something that is baffling me. The thing that really sparked this in my head was when I left Di’s and my bike in front of her car in our new neighborhood. They were not attached to anything, and I was pretty ansy about it, but after checking on them every couple of minutes for half an hour, I figured “wow, we live in a good neighborhood now”. No such luck. Just after a walk, we came back to discover that her bike was stolen. Just recently I moved into a new place (see post coming later), and of course I put my folding chair out on my porch. Now, my new apartment is ground-level. The placing of the chair on my porch was basically a test of the neighborhood to see how crappy it was. The thing stayed there for near a week before, last night, it showed up missing.

The thing that really bugs me is this: why do people steal this stuff? It’s not like it’s a really complicated concept: is it yours? No? THEN DON’T TAKE IT ASSHOLE. IT’S NOT YOURS. I was hoping that moving to this new neighborhood I could be away from the people who think this way, but apparently I need to be living in some rural area in order for people to have the common sense of decency to not take shit. The thing that really baffles me though, is that some of the other people on the first floor have non-tied down stuff on their porches, and it doesn’t get stolen. Are there really parents out there that aren’t teaching kids these basic morals of life? If there are, I want to smack them upside the head a couple times for screwing it up for all the rest of us.

Isn’t it sad that my great American dream consists of being able to leave a bike on my driveway/porch, unchained, and expect it to be there in the morning?

Di and I went on a bookstore tour of the Twin Cities today - after discovering that she has a particular aversion to everything remotely relating to an animal, we decided to search for a particular book which she had seen before in vegan cooking. We started at a new book place, the alternative bookstore that is below where Midwest Mountaineering used to have part of it’s store. We didn’t find any cookbooks there, but I did find a couple books that I wanted to buy. Knowing that I am short on the cash end of things this summer, I decided to get them from library instead.

Next was Cummings Books which is by far my favorite of the bunch, which is situated in Dinkytown and has a nice selection of books from all fields in it’s two stories (ground floor and basement). The two cats and one parrot just add to it’s charm - I think if I was about to start working at some bookstore, this would be my first choice.

After failing to find anything in Dinkytown, we stopped by the Midway and went to the three story bookstore there. While having read great reviews of it, I expected much more. The place wasn’t all that great - it seemed very unorganized to me. Anyway the book wasn’t there either. Giving up, we went to Borders down the road, thinking they surely must have this book we’re looking for. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

As I gawked at books for a while Di found 6 or 7 vegan cooking books and started looking through them in hopes to find one she liked. I then continued to look around at books and music, hoping to find some Frank Sinatra because I have been on a crooner kick lately for some reason. After a bit I traipsed back to Di and she chose one (How It All Vegan!: Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet) to buy.

Okay, so it was only four bookstores, but it seemed like a lot. At least it’s more bookstores than I generally visit in a day.

Home sweet home - except that it wasn’t home that I visited this weekend. I went to a family reunion / wedding in Spencer and Clear Lake, Iowa. Di didn’t come along, for good reason, and I missed her a lot. I would have liked her to come along, but it was smarter of me to not introduce her to my family by bringing her to a wedding with every living relative on my father’s side of the family present.

Brooklyn Park 20 7/25/04 7:00pm Score: 6

Halle Berry in a catsuit. What more can I say about this movie? It’s visual entertainment. Despite it’s outward appearance as a movie built for men’s eyecandy, the movie is very woman-liberating.

AMC Har-Mar 3:30pm 7/30/04 Score: 8

The first time I saw a trailer for this movie, I was fairly sure that I wasn’t going to see it. Honestly, it was being advertised as by the same guy who did “Dude, where’s my car”. That was closer to the kiss of death than any movie has come before that I have actually went and saw. I did go, and it is surprisingly good. I’m trying to decide if this movie is good on it’s own morals or just because it has reverse Riddick’s Disease.

07/07/04 Lagoon Cinema 4:00pm Score: 10

Plot? Who needs plot? Napoleon Dynamite certainly doesn’t. This movie set in rural america is a feast for the mind. Starting fairly indiscriminately, this movie shows that good writers can weave tales together in a way that makes everything come together in an interesting manner. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should.

Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Extended Edition) (Video) Starring:Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell Manufacturer:Dreamworks Video Released:28 December, 2004 Watched: 07/11/04 AMC Southdale 16 9:50pm Score: 8

When I saw the previews for Anchorman, it was clear that this was the movie that would make Will Farrell shine. The movie seems tailor-made for his style of humor - I’m not sure if that means that he is after his time, or he was just not sure of where he should be until now. The movie delivers on it’s promise of humor, with a small bit of plot just for the fun of it. The laughs are minuite-by-minute, with a few surprises in store for comedy movie fans.