Stalk me! - Continued
Schedule:
Yeah, right.Blog:
Thursday March 06, 2008
Stalking the thief!
So, apparently, my CTA card ended up being used, either by the thief, or by the person who inherited after the thief. Anyone think this guy is predictable enough for me to catch them???
Here's the link to the visual of the travels of my wallet!
| Transaction Date | Transaction Time | Transaction Description | Amount | Balance |
| 3/18/2008 | 2:11 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $19.25 |
| 3/18/2008 | 2:40 AM | Addison_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $19.25 |
| 3/18/2008 | 1:33 AM | SS Rand-Washing (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $19.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 9:18 PM | Randolph/Wabash (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $21.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 9:06 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $21.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 3:07 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $23.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 2:35 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $23.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 2:16 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $23.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 2:03 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $25.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 1:10 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $25.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 12:09 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $25.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 6:05 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $27.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 5:46 AM | North/Clybourn (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $27.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 5:37 AM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $29.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 5:02 AM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $29.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 4:12 AM | SS Rand-Washing (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $29.50 |
| 3/17/2008 | 3:07 AM | SS Lake-Randolp (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $31.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 2:42 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $31.25 |
| 3/17/2008 | 1:31 AM | Randolph/Wabash (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $31.50 |
| 3/16/2008 | 7:35 PM | North/Clybourn (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $33.25 |
| 3/16/2008 | 7:27 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $33.50 |
| 3/16/2008 | 5:54 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $35.25 |
| 3/16/2008 | 5:29 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $35.25 |
| 3/16/2008 | 4:29 PM | Western_Brown (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $35.50 |
| 3/16/2008 | 2:49 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $37.25 |
| 3/16/2008 | 1:45 PM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $37.50 |
| 3/16/2008 | 5:55 AM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $39.25 |
| 3/16/2008 | 2:39 AM | SS Madison-Monr (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $41.00 |
| 3/16/2008 | 1:52 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $41.25 |
| 3/15/2008 | 4:20 PM | SS Madison-Monr (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $43.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 3:49 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $43.25 |
| 3/15/2008 | 3:19 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $45.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 2:35 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $45.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 2:13 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $45.25 |
| 3/15/2008 | 12:48 PM | Bonus | $4.00 | $47.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 12:48 PM | Payment | $40.00 | $43.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 11:49 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $3.00 |
| 3/15/2008 | 11:33 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $3.25 |
| 3/15/2008 | 12:24 AM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $5.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | 11:26 PM | SS Rand-Washing (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $5.25 |
| 3/14/2008 | 4:02 PM | Bryn Mawr (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $7.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | 3:22 PM | Wilson (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $8.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 3:15 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $8.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 3:05 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $9.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | 2:41 PM | North/Clybourn (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $10.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 2:28 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $10.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 2:05 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $11.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | 11:36 AM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $12.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 11:29 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $12.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 11:22 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $13.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | 10:42 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $14.75 |
| 3/14/2008 | 9:14 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $15.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 10:35 PM | Fullerton (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $16.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 10:27 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $17.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 8:33 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $18.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 8:19 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $18.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 7:33 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $19.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 5:44 PM | DB Wash-Madison (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $20.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 4:56 PM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $20.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 4:15 PM | Sheridan (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $21.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 3:23 PM | Western_Brown (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $22.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 3:05 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $22.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 2:31 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $23.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 1:26 PM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $24.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 11:57 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $25.00 |
| 3/13/2008 | 11:34 AM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $26.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 11:13 AM | Sheridan (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $26.75 |
| 3/13/2008 | 11:00 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $27.00 |
| 3/12/2008 | 9:43 PM | Berwyn (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $28.75 |
| 3/12/2008 | 8:23 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $29.00 |
| 3/12/2008 | 5:28 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $30.75 |
| 3/12/2008 | 1:13 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $32.50 |
| 3/12/2008 | 12:58 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $32.75 |
| 3/12/2008 | 11:36 AM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $34.50 |
| 3/12/2008 | 11:17 AM | Wilson (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $34.50 |
| 3/12/2008 | 11:12 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $34.75 |
| 3/12/2008 | 7:10 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $36.50 |
| 3/12/2008 | 5:33 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $36.75 |
| 3/12/2008 | 3:06 AM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $38.50 |
| 3/12/2008 | 1:17 AM | SS Lake-Randolp (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $38.75 |
| 3/11/2008 | 10:56 PM | Addison_Red (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $40.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 10:10 PM | Granville (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $40.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 9:09 PM | SS Lake-Randolp (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $40.75 |
| 3/11/2008 | 6:59 PM | Adams/Wabash (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $42.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 6:38 PM | Randolph/Wabash (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $42.75 |
| 3/11/2008 | 5:50 PM | Bonus | $4.00 | $44.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 5:50 PM | Payment | $40.00 | $40.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 4:17 PM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $0.50 |
| 3/11/2008 | 6:30 AM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $2.25 |
| 3/11/2008 | 2:16 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $4.00 |
| 3/11/2008 | 1:39 AM | SS Rand-Washing (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $4.25 |
| 3/10/2008 | 10:18 PM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $6.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | 9:59 PM | Lawrence (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $6.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | 9:44 PM | Wilson (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $6.25 |
| 3/10/2008 | 1:51 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $8.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | 11:36 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $9.75 |
| 3/10/2008 | 11:29 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $10.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | 7:53 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $11.75 |
| 3/10/2008 | 6:20 AM | Thorndale_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $12.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | 2:18 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $13.75 |
| 3/10/2008 | 1:39 AM | SS Rand-Washing (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $15.50 |
| 3/10/2008 | 12:00 AM | 54th_Cermak (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $15.75 |
| 3/9/2008 | 10:15 PM | Randolph/Wabash (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $17.50 |
| 3/9/2008 | 9:05 PM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $17.50 |
| 3/9/2008 | 8:43 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $17.75 |
| 3/9/2008 | 5:41 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $19.50 |
| 3/9/2008 | 5:10 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $21.25 |
| 3/9/2008 | 4:35 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $21.25 |
| 3/9/2008 | 3:41 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $21.50 |
| 3/9/2008 | 3:38 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $23.25 |
| 3/8/2008 | 3:21 PM | Chicago_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $25.00 |
| 3/8/2008 | 3:17 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $25.25 |
| 3/8/2008 | 2:47 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $27.00 |
| 3/8/2008 | 2:24 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $27.00 |
| 3/8/2008 | 2:13 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $27.25 |
| 3/8/2008 | 12:08 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $29.00 |
| 3/8/2008 | 11:38 AM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $29.00 |
| 3/8/2008 | 11:19 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $29.25 |
| 3/8/2008 | 5:06 AM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $31.00 |
| 3/7/2008 | 7:33 PM | Fullerton (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $32.75 |
| 3/7/2008 | 7:28 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $33.00 |
| 3/7/2008 | 1:50 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $34.75 |
| 3/7/2008 | 1:34 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $34.75 |
| 3/7/2008 | 1:17 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $35.00 |
| 3/7/2008 | 7:34 AM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $36.75 |
| 3/7/2008 | 3:28 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $38.50 |
| 3/7/2008 | 1:19 AM | DB Wash-Madison (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $40.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 10:02 PM | 54th_Cermak (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $42.00 |
| 3/6/2008 | 7:20 PM | SS Lake-Randolp (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $43.75 |
| 3/6/2008 | 6:51 PM | Addison_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $43.75 |
| 3/6/2008 | 5:58 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $45.50 |
| 3/6/2008 | 5:08 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $45.50 |
| 3/6/2008 | 5:06 PM | Addison_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $45.75 |
| 3/6/2008 | 2:20 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $47.50 |
| 3/6/2008 | 2:18 PM | Bonus | $4.00 | $49.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 2:18 PM | Payment | $40.00 | $45.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 1:23 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $5.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 12:17 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $5.50 |
| 3/6/2008 | 10:18 AM | Wilson (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $7.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 9:10 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $7.25 |
| 3/6/2008 | 8:47 AM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $7.50 |
| 3/5/2008 | 9:37 PM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $9.25 |
| 3/5/2008 | 8:08 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $9.50 |
| 3/5/2008 | 5:38 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $11.25 |
| 3/5/2008 | 3:02 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $13.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 2:41 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $13.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 2:36 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $13.25 |
| 3/5/2008 | 12:50 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $15.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 12:23 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $15.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 12:12 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $15.25 |
| 3/5/2008 | 12:07 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $17.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 10:35 AM | Sheridan (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $17.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 10:17 AM | Addison_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $17.25 |
| 3/5/2008 | 5:27 AM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $19.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 4:41 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $19.00 |
| 3/5/2008 | 4:20 AM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $19.25 |
| 3/4/2008 | 8:10 PM | Randolph/Wabash (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $21.00 |
| 3/4/2008 | 5:16 PM | Division_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $22.75 |
| 3/4/2008 | 3:31 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $24.50 |
| 3/3/2008 | 10:52 PM | Granville (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $26.25 |
| 3/3/2008 | 7:30 PM | Addison_Brown (CTA Train) | $0.00 | $28.00 |
| 3/3/2008 | 7:21 PM | CTA Bus | -$0.25 | $28.00 |
| 3/3/2008 | 6:39 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $28.25 |
| 3/3/2008 | 6:26 PM | CTA Bus | $0.00 | $30.00 |
| 3/3/2008 | 6:14 PM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $30.00 |
| 3/3/2008 | 5:42 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $30.25 |
| 3/3/2008 | 4:21 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $32.00 |
| 3/3/2008 | 3:40 AM | Clark/Division (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $32.25 |
| 3/2/2008 | 10:39 PM | DB Wash-Madison (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $34.00 |
| 2/20/2008 | 12:42 AM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $35.75 |
| 2/20/2008 | 12:41 AM | Damen_O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $37.50 |
| 2/19/2008 | 9:05 PM | Belmont-O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $39.25 |
| 2/19/2008 | 9:05 PM | Belmont-O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $41.00 |
| 2/17/2008 | 9:04 PM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $42.75 |
| 2/17/2008 | 9:04 PM | Chicago_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $44.50 |
| 2/17/2008 | 6:52 PM | Belmont_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $46.25 |
| 2/17/2008 | 6:52 PM | Belmont_Red (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $48.00 |
| 2/17/2008 | 4:42 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $49.75 |
| 2/17/2008 | 4:42 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $51.50 |
| 2/17/2008 | 12:09 PM | Bonus | $4.00 | $53.25 |
| 2/17/2008 | 12:09 PM | Payment | $40.00 | $49.25 |
| 2/16/2008 | 11:38 PM | Thompson_Center (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $9.25 |
| 2/16/2008 | 11:38 PM | Thompson_Center (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $11.00 |
| 2/16/2008 | 7:11 PM | Belmont_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $12.75 |
| 2/16/2008 | 7:11 PM | Belmont_Red (CTA Train) | -$0.25 | $13.00 |
| 2/16/2008 | 5:50 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $13.25 |
| 2/16/2008 | 5:50 PM | CTA Bus | -$1.75 | $15.00 |
| 1/12/2008 | 8:10 PM | VanBuren/State (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $16.75 |
| 1/12/2008 | 8:09 PM | VanBuren/State (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $18.50 |
| 1/12/2008 | 4:40 PM | Belmont-O'Hare (CTA Train) | -$1.75 | $20.25 |
Sunday March 02, 2008
Lost wallet
Let the narcissism continue! The loss of my wallet has inspired the return of this site! In other news .... Random moonings of I-90!
Saturday March 01, 2008
House Party ... Need I say more?
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Yeah fluffy
I say to you: May you have a wonderful night, for tomorrow holds many squirrels in importunate, and otherwise confusing locations, strategically placed in such a way as to confuse you with each successive squirrel. Eventually, this will escalate into a full-on squirrel-filled euphoria. This overabundance in tailed creatures staring intently as you go about your daily business will eventually become commonplace to you . . . Upon having been asserted as a non-threat, they will all move on to consuming all of your food, ripping apart your furniture, and eating all of your ice-cream. Coming between a squirrel and its ice-cream can quickly turn into a dangerous hostage situation, and so the squirrels are generally worshipped by being provided with copious amounts of ice-cream in order to appease the Bushy Tailed One.
Monday October 23, 2006
Onward, straightward, forward!
This simple life bores me. Let the chaos begin!
Here's to all the impulsive, idealistic, and well-meaning people out there; may the insanity within your mind become real.
Monday October 02, 2006
Asterisk and Fuming rage
All right, so there's probably plenty of you out there that are trying to do some cool shit with Asterisk.
I myself have managed to integrate the thing with a Nortel phone system. Sadly, this was the easy part.
First I started out with a TE410P card, which was connected to our PRI. Another port went to the Nortel system via a T1 crossover.
It took a little bit of cursing and what not, but all in all it wasn't too hard to get the twain to cooperate.
The most noteable issue was the fact that the TDM410P we were originally given was a 1st gen card.
This card completely freaked out (red exclamation point) an old IBM server we had sitting around, and so I decided that it must just be the server itself.
I tried the card in a Dell PowerEdge 1850 with similar results: In place of the cool blue LED that signified something about tranquility, happy bunnies, and nirvava, I was instead presented the next day with a server blinking Amber (which just so happened to be running a live call center).
Thankfully, at least for my asses sake, it didn't take down the machine.
It turned out the reason for this was related to NMI's (Non-Maskable-Interrupts) being thrown about.
Apparently, as little conversation with Digium revealed, Digium did indeed know of these issues, and offered to reflash the firmware for me, free of charge. I decided I was a bit paranoid about the card all-togther (probably not warranted in retrospect, but hey), and had them cross-ship me a new one all together.
Few days later, all was well: Nortel phones could call IP phones, IP phones could call Nortels . . . Life was good; except for the fact that my SIP phones couldn't call eachother -- on a LAN no less.
Here's where the anguish really came in:
No matter what I did, I couldn't for the life of me get the SIP phones I have around here to call eachother. So, the following lines represent what I was seeing (I'm sure plenty more people out there have this problem). And, what I did to fix it.
Oct 2 19:58:03 WARNING[1124]: chan_sip.c:1217 retrans_pkt: Maximum retries exceeded on transmission 4899e25b798733cd2d9658a92dc92ab5@IP.OF.AST.SVR for seqno 102 (Critical Request)
Oct 2 19:58:03 WARNING[1124]: chan_sip.c:1234 retrans_pkt: Hanging up call 4899e25b798733cd2d9658a92dc92ab5@IP.OF.AST.SVR - no reply to our critical packet.
== Everyone is busy/congested at this time (1:0/0/1)
If you actually have a Sipura device, or a Linksys IP phone, which is probably 99.9% a Sipura device (minus the ugly Cisco logo), there's a good chance you've run into this.
You can get additional logging from your VoIP Phone/ATA via Sipura Debugging Information (Check out slogsvr.zip).
You'll probably see something like "TP Parser error: 32" among all the other stuff. Guess what this all means?
You probably need to fix your caller ID information in your sip.conf. It turns out that certain characters freak the Sipuras and Linksys Voip Phones out.
Check this out.
Sunday September 10, 2006
Interesting . . .
So, I'm coming come from my girlfriend's house. I'm eastbound on Rt. 64, and get stopped by a train. I pull up before the car in front on me, put the car in neutral, and pull the handbrake.
I decide it'll be a little bit of a wait, and so I kill the engine. I casually look to my left, where I see a group of fairly young guys (probably early twenties if I had to place a wager) inside a large van, pulling some type of trailer.
The guy looks at me, opens the door, and motions for me to come in. I give him a less than friendly, somewhat mystified glance. He asks "what's up", to which I respond with the natural head-bob of the 21st.
Anyway, this doesn't really have much of a point, other than the realization that I would have totally otherwise hopped in and went from there had it been me even so much as a year ago.
I will probably never find out what that was all about. The curiosity will be with me forever. Anyway, later that day, I met someone new. Finally I the night ended with watching "Waking Life".
If this isn't the weirdest damn day ever, I don't know what is. Certainly wonderful, but weird.
Saturday September 09, 2006
Are you down with your Southern self?
Winged a roadtrip to the city with the girl, where we had dinner outside. Later it occured to her that she was missing the Sandwich, IL fair.
I call up one of my more roudy friends, almost half-expecting him to be going, but more with the intent of finding out if he'd like to join.
Sure enough, he was already on his way there. Few phonecalls and some disorentation later, we were there.
Friday August 11, 2006
Shit, shit!
So, I'm driving along Randall Rd. in St. Charles, when all of the sudden I hit a bump.
Now, it was not a fantastic "dude, you're Buick's airborne" bump, but it was noteworthy.
Almost immediately after, I decide to look at my speedometer, which seemed to think I was going 75MPH.
Now, this type of reckless behavior is definitely not something that's beyond me,
but I was in no such frisky of a mood -- I was with my girlfriend on a calm drive back home from dinner.
So, naturally, I decided it must be wrong this time.
A moment later, I slowed to a stop at the red light that was up ahead, thinking "that was odd".
Sure enough, I peer at my dash, and once again my car insists that I am still moving at 75MPH.
So, universe consistency failure you ask?
Whatever, I decide to let off the brake and see if the beast was still alive.
Ah, stalled engine eh? Sure, let's put it in neutral and address this problem already.
What's this? No sound of an engine turning over? Not even a click!? Blasphemy I say!
Well, looks like I have to push the thing . . .
Alrighty, so a few moments later, I have the thing in a parking lot.
I pop the hood and after a little looking around, I notice the trademark odor of copper and insulation heated way outside of the normal operating range.
"Eureka" I exclaim! I thought I'd have the beast running in no time upon having found a charred wire missing a chunk of insulation that said "fusible link" on it.
It was one of three that split off from a lower gauge cable. I imediately thought "oh well, it must have just corroded and grounded out to the chassis. This will be cake."
Meanwhile, a friend of mine arrives.
So, we're examining the connector to which this wire belongs when all of the sudden, it beings to glow red-hot and smoke.
Now, naturally, after the expletives subsided, we started to wonder what just happened.
Well, what if it's a short? Maybe that wire was in the state I found in for a reason other than natural causes . . .
Well, wondering only lasted so long, as Jeremy got impatient and decided to grab the wire (which was still hot),
and upon his third attempt at grabbing it, he jammed the wire right into the connecter.
This resulted in a very large spark, more cussing, and a somewhat all-around entertaining display of confusion.
After a bit more staring at the thing, Jeremy tell's me to cut my loses, and takes off a bit later.
This being one of the few times I was actually stuck somewhere without my voltmeter
(heck, even my screwdriver -- which I normally carry on my person), I was a bit frustrated.
I got a ride to Meijer, where I picked up one of those little 12V test probes, in lieu of a real full-functioning voltmeter, a pair of wire strippers, and a flashlight.
Knowing that I have a short, my first thought was to test all of the fuses in my glovebox.
I ended up visually inspecting the clear ones, and using a McGyver setup involving a 9V battery I had found in my car,
and that dammed 12V test probe I had just bought to create an ad-hoc test for continuity -- all the fuses turned out to be fine.
It then dawned on me that my first priority should be rolling up my windows, in case I had to leave it until another day.
After a little investigation, I realized that half the fuses on the panel had power, and half didn't -- for instance, my power locks worked, but the power windows didn't.
So, I took a computer power cord sitting in my car, cut a foot of wire, stripped it, and decided that I was going make it get power.
I probed out what seemed like a relatively high-current source of 12Volts, stuck one end of the wire into it, and put the other end into the socket for a fuse labeled "WDM" thinking it was probably for the windows.
I told my girlfriend to turn the key, and try to close the windows while I was holding the wire. Sure enough, the windows rolled up.
Now, at this point, naturally, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. So what do I do next? I got a little cocky.
I looked through the fuses and saw one labeled "IGN/COIL". With the key off, I pulled out the fuse and jammed the wire into the socket.
I told my girlfriend to turn the key, but not to start it yet.
Sure enough, I heard the all too familiar sound of the fuel pump whirring, which was a pretty good sign. "Ok try starting it!" I excalim.
This, my friends, was followed by the wire in my hand melting, causing smoke to come billowing out of my glovebox, and me screaming various explitives as molten insulation burned my hand.
I spent the next hour trying to trace the short. After ripping apart many feet of wire loom, I traced the short into the firewall of the car. There was no way I had enough time or energy to
rip apart the dashboard tonight. So, I called it a night. **to be continued**
Saturday August 12, 2006
New car
Need I say more? Woo.
Saturday July 22, 2006
Don't buy a Saturn
So, Saturn insists (check previous day) that the fuel line was damaged as a result of chipmunks (or other rodents), chewing through it . . .
Look guys, unless there's a chipmunk corpse charred near-beyond recognition right next to the fuel line, I'm going to go with manufacturing defect, negligence, or design flaw.
But sure, whatever, try and avoid a lawsuit by blaming some small furry creatures. Bastards.
Oh, and really, if a bunch of small furry creatures
(obviously under the influence of some hard-core narcotics, as mistaking your car's fuel line for some nuts and berries is a fairly common occurrence, I'm sure)
do happen to find their way inside your car, I really hope that your several ton worth of machinery is designed to handle the environmental effects of a creature weighing approximately three ounces. Bastards.
The beauty of this is that I'll have picture posted of the assembly in question (which is clearly burnt to enough of a degree that even if an animal did chew through it, there would be no way to tell.
I spent most of today test-driving cars, (as mine is quickly going south on me). In other news today, it's 3am (I guess it's tomorrow). Anyway, ended up calling it a night while driving to the ambient discord or Kidney Thieves. Somehow, normally, the CD never got my attention as much as it did tonight -- I think it has something to do with my mood (that being an acutely euphoric one, with a serious need for sleep on the side). The body may be a wonderful example of biochemical perfection, but it's definitely got some unexplained chaos that comes free with it. Woo. Night!
Friday July 21, 2006
You think you have car troubles . . .
So, my girlfriend gets stranded in Indiana after her car catches fire, of all things. Fire dept. came, along w/ some cops and such. From the sounds of it, it was a small fire, but fire nonetheless.
The beast gets towed all the way to Aurora, IL, where I'm promptly looking under the hood and going
"Let's try starting it !!"
After some adverse reactions to my idea, I finally get my way:
I connected the battery, put in the key, turned the beast on, but didn't start it yet -- I figured I'd be a little careful considering my audience already thought I was out of my mind.
Well, they had good reason to come to this astute observation, as immediately after I had done this, I heard a strange dripping noise.
The sound not something that would be consistent with a thicker liquid (such as oil) hitting the pavement. As you can imagine, this prompted quite the "oh shit" reaction in me, as I immediately turned the thing off, left the car,
looked under it only to be met by a pungent odor of gasoline.
It turned out that magical hose that was burned off of it's corresponding connector, which was burnt beyond recognition, was no vacuum line (as I initially thought), but actually a fuel line.
Thoroughly satisfied with my "oh shit" reaction, we promptly left the area.
Thursday July 20, 2006
Who disappeared where?
I know, it's been a while since I've written. First off, my main camera got stolen (yes, yes, nevermind the fact that I left it sitting there), so my ability to post pictures has taken a hit.
Hopefully whoever the new owner of my Powershot A95 is get some use out of the thing, cause I sure got some dammed cool pictures w/ it -- unless of course they're making a significant amount of money --
they can just goto hell for being complelled to take something that isn't their's.
Secondly, frankly, I've been spending too much time at work and the rest wasting gas. All in all though, life's pretty good. About the only thing in the back of my mind is "when will my car die!?".
At the moment though, it's 1am, and I think I may have a free laptop (broken, of course, but I'm a crafty little shit). Oh, the many wonders of finding stuff people no longer want (i.e. trash!) Woo-hoo!
Saturday June 03, 2006
Out of order
Sorry, the Lemur you have dialed is out of comission. On Thursday, I felt a little strange -- not anything particularly disconcerting, but strange. On Friday, I was bed-ridden. I'm not sure what
vile thing I came contracted, only to say that I haven't felt anything like that since I got Chicken Pox in High School (I got knocked clear on my ass on that one). Reason I bring this up,
however, is I'm somewhat curious as to other's experiences with fevers. Historically, when I was just a wee mischevious little boy (yea, I know, little has changed), I remember being out of
school because I had a fever, and ripping apart the world nontheless. I would either be in front of the computer, reading something, or otherwise screwing around with a soldering iron and some
stuff that was laying around. Am I just *gasp* getting old?? Is it easier to deal with fevers before puberty?
Granted, it's looking like I was only useless for the one day, but still. Major inconveinence it was -- I eneded up not going to work, not going to my Cousin's house warming party,
and worst yet, not seeing my girlfriend who just got back from a trip to Ireland. Today was not quite as bad -- I woke up with a happier mentality and aside from having a relatively strong
headache, some serious sleep deprivation, and some general apathy towards food, I decided forcing the issue of food was a good idea -- so I grabed some pizza with my girlfriend and a few of our
friends today.
Sunday May 07, 2006
You know you've had an interesting night when . . .
Um, yeah -- I'll elaborate on this day at some point later on . . . It's nowhere near as bad as it looks, however. Hell of a lot of fun though.
Tuesday May 02, 2006
Waveguide adventure
Waveguide antenna: $50.00, WRT54G router w/ hacked firmware $50.00. The aforementioned combined with some boredom and a car, and you have an interesting night indeed.
Saturday April 29, 2006
Adventure to the zoo!
Tuesday April 25, 2006
Creative Photography?
Bored once again -- so I got frisky w/ the tripod. Nothing too amazing, but some interesting shots here and there.
Tuesday April 18, 2006
Chord in randomness
Apparently, there's some people out there as random as me. Frankly, maybe even more so . . . I meet this girl who doesn't seem to think twice about running into random caves at strange hours of the night with nothing more than a cell-phone for lighting. Life is good indeed.
Wednesday March 22, 2006
Fisher Price PowerMac G4
So, I decide to run out and see a few friends I haven't seen a while a few days ago, and through the wonder of street-cred, I was given a laptop to repair that had some sort of liquid spilled on it.
It was a Powerbook G4 12" Al model. Not knowing a darn thing about a Mac, much less only having used one a handful of times, I accepted it anyway and explained that I'd be able to provide an estimate within a few days.
So recently, I decide to crack it open, and take a peek inside. The main board seemed to have a few corroded areas, but nothing too severe. It didn't seem bad at all, and so I began work on it. First, I ran the entire motherboard through a contact cleaner bath, and used a bit of 91% isopropyl alcohol on it. I decided that a few areas should probably have the solder cleaned out, and reflowed to them, so I took care of that before rigging the entire thing for a test run.
Upon plugging in power, the LED around the power connector would go out, with a spark that had a bit more kick than what I'd expect after plugging the connector in -- sounds like a short, er something similarly evil. Sure enough, I remove the DC-DC converter, and the LED remains on, but the machine would not power up -- it seems as if the DC-DC board is either used for more than just regulation of the battery voltage, or the entire motherboard is in need of a closer look.
So, I call up the client, and let them know what I'd think it'd cost them for parts and labor, as well as informing them that the fee for parts would be a gamble if there was more damage than anticipated. Getting the "go-ahead" I ordered up what I needed from www.ifixit.com and waited. Sure enough, a few days later, I had a small package waiting for me. Excited, I grabbed the 3x2 inch board, and popped it in to the sprawled mess of parts that was this laptop.
Amazingly enough, the thing came up with some type of boxy looking computer on the symbol wearing a frowny-face -- success, there's someone home!
The rest is really a boring and arduous diatribe on the reassembly, so I'll leave it at this: Apple engineers have designed the world's most unserviceable piece of equipment. From the multitude of screw types and lengths used, to the inaccessible, almost origami-like conundrum that is the internal assembly, suddenly, one thing becomes clear:
Behind the commercials expressing an atmosphere of free-will, forward thinking, and clean design, is the Apple development team:
A basement full of men and women dressed like skater-punks, who between a haze of cigarette smoke and intravenous drug abuse, design the next apple product.
Off to the side, a few design engineers are patiently waiting for the handful of pills they just swallowed to kick in while they draft ideas for the next design by means
of splattering globs of brightly colored paints along the walls of their newly finished meth-lab, which once served as a kitchen.
Meanwhile, towards the back, marketing is exploring the 70's "aura" they can target the post-modern hippy culture with, while entertaining an intense game of Hacky Sack while jacked up on several different amphetamines and amphetamine derivatives.
Somewhere through the overpowering house music, bong-smoke and dim lighting you can make out a naked person covered with paint and illuminated by several multicolored strobe lights prancing wildly about the room, raving about an epiphany involving "cheetos" and the number 7.
Finally, towards the far right corner, live a group of indigenous, albeit well-dressed men and women inside of cubicles.
The dichotomy is further exaggerated by the well-mannered and polite exchange the engineers have while developing the next ASIC for an upcoming portable entertainment device.
Finally, one of the engineers can be seen greeting their fellow employees farewell as he retires for the day.
He grabs his jacket, heads back to his work area, does a line of coke off of his monitor, and dives into a mosh-pit after having climbed to the top of his cubicle screaming incoherently about some delusional propaganda involving 'the switch' and how much better life is.
Some of you may have seen this patch which is supposed modify the RealVNC 3.3.7 Client for linux so as to allow MSlogon authentication for an UltraVNC server. If you've tried to get this thing compiled yourself, you've probably had an opporitunity to improve on your French -- to say the least. In hopes of trying to keep the evil in check, I have put the binary up for grabs. This file was compiled using a lone Slackware 9.1.0 box. You probably won't have any luck compiling this yourself unless you are using a dated distribution of Linux and have a little persistence handy. The binary has been tested to run properly on CentOS 4.2. Enjoy!
Saturday February 11, 2006
You know if going to be a good day when:
I found my old oscilloscope probes this morning -- yay! (They've been lost for quite some time.) We'll see what magic the rest of the day has to offer . . .
Friday February 10, 2006
Power.
Went test driving a few cars . . . We ended up at a Subaru dealership. I walked in thinking these guys didn't make anything other than mini-vans for soccer moms.
I walked out having near crapped myself after being taken for a ride by a less than mentally stable sales person. I'm not exactly quick to being impressed -- in this case, however, there really was no way I could possibly maintain composure. Talk about a disturbing amount of power. The Impreza STI is definitely a car you need a psycho to take you for a spin in. ;)
Sunday January 22, 2006
Rockstar life
Nothin' like a good long weekend. Went over to see my cousin on Saturday night.
Spent the night for a fun-filled Sunday.
Apparently we seem to attract a lot of authority with too little to do and more than enough ego to go around.
First my cousin got pulled over for not wearing her seatbelt (after she had put it on no less -- apparently the guy was following us in an unmarked SUV unbeknownst to either of us),
only to be pulled over again by the same officer while her boyfriend was driving, about four hours laster.
Later that night, I was challenged on three separate occasions for taking some pictures of rt. 64 -- and no I didn't have my tripod set up in the middle of the road.
Aside from the annoyance involved in people stroking their egos about petty money grabbing feel-good laws (such as seatbelt usage), it was actually a good time.
It really should set off some warning bells, however,
when you consider many younger people are forced into working low-wage jobs (regardless of skill) under the
rational that it is demoralizing to older employees to hire someone of the same or better level of skill.
Even further, it's mostly unheard of to see those people being put at a wage that is competitive with someone of the same skill/quality of work.
What's more irritating is that I know a few people first hand, who are very brilliant, but suffer from this very type of discrimination.
One of my friends is an ASE certified mechanic -- damn good at his work. Another is an electrician.
Hell, I know a programmer who decides to rewrite chunks of OpenLDAP like it's nothing just because he thinks a certain feature would be useful. I've run into a guy that owns his own record store.
Each one of these guys is damn good at what they do. Unfortunately, each one of them has to deal with some serious politics because they happen to be around my age.
Each one of these guys happens to be telling people much older how to get things done right.
Some of them have managed to find jobs with people mature enough to look past their age to take them seriously. Now, of the few cases that do get taken seriously, how many actually get paid what they are worth?
So, if you happen to be an officer reading this, think about the other side of the spectrum.
Not everyone who is younger is up to no good. Even fewer have jobs with a healthy environment. Almost none have a job that pays them what they deserve.
Let me tell 'ya, it's gotta feel damn good to be an officer driving an unmarked SUV,
only so you can give someone who's worked nine hours (providing them with just enough money to keep their head barely above water),
to pay for a seatbelt ticket in a job with an environment that is conducive to making a person into the type of sociopath that doesn't care about the giving someone that ticket in the first place.
What an elegant waste of time and energy for everyone involved.
Thursday January 12, 2006
Relative phase
Ever feel like there's something that you used to have that isn't there anymore?
Something almost like what would happen if you were hurled forward in time and suddenly lost touch with all those familiar? That's right now.
What happened to the carefree days? I feel like I've still held on to that younger mentality, with all it's rebellion, wonder and excitement.
Meanwhile, so many around me seem to have become bitter. What changed?
Saturday January 07, 2006
Oscilloscope, soldering iron: Meet Car.
So, for the past few days, my trusty but tired 1994 Buick Century 3.1L V6 has had the "Check Engine" Light on. At first, it was intermittent, and then, finally, solid.
Since working on a car really isn't what it used to be anymore, with all the electronics and such, I decided that the fastest way to figuring out what was wrong would involve a scan tool at the least.
So, I went to a local store, where they had once read off the data for me -- only to find out that they cannot do this anymore as some dude screwed up some other dude's ECU.
I did find out however, that if you decide to put down a $365.47 deposit, you can borrow the thing for as long as your heart desires.
So, armed with my new toy, I went to investigate. After plugging the thing in, I got:
P0321
Deciding that it was going to take a bit more troubleshooting, and figuring that some of my friends could probably make use of the scan tool while I had it, I took the thing home.
While driving around, I couldn't help but watch the LCD as relays clicked on and off, and solenoids engaged -- and yes, I should have been watching the road.
Let's be honest -- you'd probably do the same if it was you.
Deciding that I didn't even want to think about the second code I did a little searching for information on the first. It seemed to have something to do with a crank sensor, or something similar, anyway.
Not being certain however, and annoyed with the cryptic message, I called one of my buddies.
He came over a few minutes later, and we just started looking around to try and find where this thing could possibly be buried.
After busting out the reference for my car, my buddy quickly located the thing on the underside, where he immediately spotted a corroded wire leading to the crank sensor.
Both being certain that was the culprit, we sat around and talked for a while, comparing notes about the working world and such. After he took off, it was more or less time to fix this darn thing.
I decided to have some fun with it though, so I busted out my oscilloscope, grounded the thing to the chassis of my car, and probed out both lines coming from the sensor.
I couldn't find any documentation on pinouts or even the type of sensor (Hall effect? Who knows.)
In any case, one sat at a constant voltage (probably providing either a bias, or simply just power to the sensor), and the other happened to be have a square wave that was directly related to engine RPM (probably 24 pulses for every revolution, hence 24X signal ;).
The math worked out to about 350Hz at engine idle, and about 555Hz while I was reving the thing slightly.
Ignition Control
24X signal error
P0705
Transmission Range
Temp or Pressure
Tuesday January 03, 2006
Breaking the brain
Who knew the relationship between focus and eye divergence is so hard-wired into the brain that it actually takes skill to break it!? In english - I'm not too good at stereographs.
Thursday April 07, 2005
Today proved to be quite interesting.
Stupid construction around my house forced me to move my car quite early in the morning - that sucked.
When I finally awoke, I set out on my hunt to find some people to go with to the Fall Out Boy concert.
Just about everyone said they were busy.
I asked Val about a week or two ago, but she forgot - it was ok though, stalking is only slightly harder when you don't live on the same floor :).
Anyway, so I finally met up with Erin and Val, and we were on our way.
Scotty unfortunately couldn't go, as he had to attend a review for his mainframe assembler class :(
While we were a bit late, we still managed to catch a few bands before Fall Out Boy hit the stage.
It was a pretty cool concert - not too calm, but not insanely rowdy.
I wish I was able to bring my camera though.
Anyway me and Val just talked music most of the way there and back . . .
The drive there was cake as she had decided to print directions - which was really nice.
The return route was a little interesting, as we had to kinda' wing that, but we eventually made it.
After dropping the two off, I hit up the Lukalos, as I managed to unintentionally starve myself the whole day -
yeah, I know, not bright - whatever. While there, I managed to come across the Star newspaper.
The Ad for my former position is still being ran.
I also came across this little comic that I thought was particularly sad:
Now, I know that some people are just waiting for an opportunity to call me a hippy - whatever, here's your chance I guess.
Look people: Don't be afraid to frolic, do wild shit, tell people what you think of them, and try new things.
You only live once. There is so much beauty out there to explore - get off of your ass and go do it.
Go find something you love, and run with it - see where it takes you.
Maybe it's just me trying to justify how I'm living my life recently.
There's a few assholes out there that are just waiting for the opportunity to say I told you so,
and maybe they'll get their chance, but I haven't failed yet -
more importantly, however, I'm finding ways to be happy while still making a positive contribution to society and being successful.
So in the end, I can say that at least I gave it a shot - I tried to preserve who I was.
I'm sick of the corporate bullshit of the world.
There's so many beautiful and talented people that are wasting away their lives in cubicle farms working for people that they can't even relate to or have respect for, and doing things that
don't even remotely coincide with their own goals and aspirations.
There has to be a way to make it in the world and still hold on to what you believe.
Anyway, if your going "wtf mate?" this rant is partly the result of a lot of recent self-reflection, and my reasoning behind dropping out of college.
The rest is due to a roadtrip to Kansas City I went with my cousin on with over last weekend (I will elaborate on the past few days in the blog when I get some time).
Anyway, this guy's going to curl up with yet another EP of the X-Files (Anasazi) and crash, as he has a headache and needs rest.
Bah! And Victoria got Split-Habit permanently engrained in my head. Hah! I'll make more sense tomorrow, promise! Peace.