yay! finally got Yellow Dog Linux (ver. 6.2) to install on our PS3! turned the video-game master system into a fully-fledged computer! (and it only took three tries.)
(turned out the problem with my first two attempts was the version of Toast i'd used to burn the install dvd.)
for programming, it has Java & Python & Perl, along with C and C++; then it also includes a whole slough of office & productivity software, plus stuff for a web server. 1098 software packages & components to install!
no more being limited to software-development-slacking on my iBook; now i can do it on our 40" HD tv!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
In Through The Small Door
ok, so we've got the giant desk down through the bulkhead into the basement corridor leading to our apartment (with Paul's help), and Barb & i have now slid/pulled/pushed the behemoth all the way down to our doorway.
but it looks too big to fit through (or rather the doorway is too small); the desk has four short carved legs on the corners, but it also has two additional legs in the middle for extra support.
and despite all kinds of wiggling, jiggling, and other spatial niggling, it simply cannot fit through the doorway! (even with the door taken off the hinges) we can get it in past the outer legs, but not the inner.
i really don't want to lose those extra legs in the middle of the desk; but they're the only things preventing the desk moving through the doorway. so i take out the screws that seem to be holding the extra legs in place, but the legs still don't budge. maybe they're glued in. my wife has gone upstairs by now; she maybe doesn't want to watch the coming emergency surgery.
i'd hate to have to saw off those legs and then later have to try to reattach them, but i see little other choice. where's our hand saw? in the end i resort to the last refuge of the frustrated man -- i give one leg a good solid thump; maybe i can knock the damned things loose.
and it does give a tiny little bit. i thump it again. again, a little movement; but the whole inside lower edge of the chair-hole also moves. can i take out the leg without ripping apart the desk itself?
after a few more solid thumps (and cracking off some molding around the leg), it begins to wiggle a little and then grudgingly slides out of its socket like a bad tooth under pressure. success!
now, can i do the same thing to the other inside leg, or will my luck run out? i offer a quick prayer to the powers that be and begin whacking the other leg. it seems more solidly anchored, but with repeated whacks (and prying off the molding) it too begins to yield; finally, it slides out. whoo hoo!!!
now i can jiggle-step the up-ended monster desk through the doorway (while i'm also praying the neighbors won't complain to the management about all the whacking), and i slowly navigate it (after re-inserting the extra legs and adding new screws) into place in our basement office; it's like steering the Titanic to its berth (instead of sending it through the North Atlantic).
i put the glass top back on (with some help from the best wife ever), and it's finished (except for removing the white paint and restoring the rich wood)! my first gargantuan desk, hooray!
(although that probably means that i have to actually get something DONE at it. oh well; back to "work".)
but it looks too big to fit through (or rather the doorway is too small); the desk has four short carved legs on the corners, but it also has two additional legs in the middle for extra support.
and despite all kinds of wiggling, jiggling, and other spatial niggling, it simply cannot fit through the doorway! (even with the door taken off the hinges) we can get it in past the outer legs, but not the inner.
i really don't want to lose those extra legs in the middle of the desk; but they're the only things preventing the desk moving through the doorway. so i take out the screws that seem to be holding the extra legs in place, but the legs still don't budge. maybe they're glued in. my wife has gone upstairs by now; she maybe doesn't want to watch the coming emergency surgery.
i'd hate to have to saw off those legs and then later have to try to reattach them, but i see little other choice. where's our hand saw? in the end i resort to the last refuge of the frustrated man -- i give one leg a good solid thump; maybe i can knock the damned things loose.
and it does give a tiny little bit. i thump it again. again, a little movement; but the whole inside lower edge of the chair-hole also moves. can i take out the leg without ripping apart the desk itself?
after a few more solid thumps (and cracking off some molding around the leg), it begins to wiggle a little and then grudgingly slides out of its socket like a bad tooth under pressure. success!
now, can i do the same thing to the other inside leg, or will my luck run out? i offer a quick prayer to the powers that be and begin whacking the other leg. it seems more solidly anchored, but with repeated whacks (and prying off the molding) it too begins to yield; finally, it slides out. whoo hoo!!!
now i can jiggle-step the up-ended monster desk through the doorway (while i'm also praying the neighbors won't complain to the management about all the whacking), and i slowly navigate it (after re-inserting the extra legs and adding new screws) into place in our basement office; it's like steering the Titanic to its berth (instead of sending it through the North Atlantic).
i put the glass top back on (with some help from the best wife ever), and it's finished (except for removing the white paint and restoring the rich wood)! my first gargantuan desk, hooray!
(although that probably means that i have to actually get something DONE at it. oh well; back to "work".)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Best Desk Day -- thank you Paul!!!
yesterday, the mrs & i were making our usual Friday consignment shop rounds, beginning of course at Table To Teapots. i went in and looked at the bargain rack: nothing. then, nearby, i see this enormous white desk.
white desk, i think, i don't want a white desk. but it was pretty nice -- huge like a piano (with carved legs and everything) and it was topped with a giant sheet of furniture glass. i had to go over and look.
on closer inspection, it's only white because someone slapped on a fast coat of white paint; underneath, it's a dark wood. the price? $49. forty-nine dollars! i remove the price sticker (the way of laying claim to a large item), just in case i might be interested.
i walk away. start back at the asian & antiques end of the store, closer to the entrance. do i really need a desk? the desks we have are enough, aren't they?
but a few minutes later, i'm back at the desk; it's too good of a price to ignore. now i'm opening the extra-long drawers of this gargantua. small drawers on the left, and some large drawer/slide thing on the right inside the right side is a metal tag: Property of / RAYTHEON / MFG Co / 16207.
it's a Raytheon desk! whoo hoo!
figuring out the spring mechanism, i pull out the giant drawer; and it suddenly slides up and locks into place as a right-angle extension on the right side of the desk.
my wife, also looking at this and that, sees i'm clearly smitten. "We have to buy that, you know," she says, smiling. (not that we really have any room for it in our basement offices; but we'll make room.) now we just have to get it home.
then a man comes up to me; he's been looking at some antique-looking wash-stand (a hoosier, my wife tells me, a free-standing kitchen cabinet). "Do you work here?" he asks.
no, i answer; and then he tell me that his wife has him picking up the cabinet he's been looking for. i know that the consignment store staff aren't supposed to help people move furniture, so i offer to help him move the piece out to his car.
my wife comes back; she's made a call with a friend who can maybe help us in a few days. a store worker comes up and asks if we're going to buy the desk; my wife says yes.
the guy i'm helping looks at the giant desk and says, "Where do you guys live?" we say nearby, and he offers to give us a ride in the panel van he's rented. he says his name is Paul.
instant salvation! i love this town!
as we load the stuff into his van, my wife goes across the street and buys a box of yummy pastries for a thank you gift. we make the trip across town, and he even helps me carry the desk down the bulkhead stairs.
thank you Paul!
---
[next post: how i got the darned thing into our basement]
white desk, i think, i don't want a white desk. but it was pretty nice -- huge like a piano (with carved legs and everything) and it was topped with a giant sheet of furniture glass. i had to go over and look.
on closer inspection, it's only white because someone slapped on a fast coat of white paint; underneath, it's a dark wood. the price? $49. forty-nine dollars! i remove the price sticker (the way of laying claim to a large item), just in case i might be interested.
i walk away. start back at the asian & antiques end of the store, closer to the entrance. do i really need a desk? the desks we have are enough, aren't they?
but a few minutes later, i'm back at the desk; it's too good of a price to ignore. now i'm opening the extra-long drawers of this gargantua. small drawers on the left, and some large drawer/slide thing on the right inside the right side is a metal tag: Property of / RAYTHEON / MFG Co / 16207.
it's a Raytheon desk! whoo hoo!
figuring out the spring mechanism, i pull out the giant drawer; and it suddenly slides up and locks into place as a right-angle extension on the right side of the desk.
my wife, also looking at this and that, sees i'm clearly smitten. "We have to buy that, you know," she says, smiling. (not that we really have any room for it in our basement offices; but we'll make room.) now we just have to get it home.
then a man comes up to me; he's been looking at some antique-looking wash-stand (a hoosier, my wife tells me, a free-standing kitchen cabinet). "Do you work here?" he asks.
no, i answer; and then he tell me that his wife has him picking up the cabinet he's been looking for. i know that the consignment store staff aren't supposed to help people move furniture, so i offer to help him move the piece out to his car.
my wife comes back; she's made a call with a friend who can maybe help us in a few days. a store worker comes up and asks if we're going to buy the desk; my wife says yes.
the guy i'm helping looks at the giant desk and says, "Where do you guys live?" we say nearby, and he offers to give us a ride in the panel van he's rented. he says his name is Paul.
instant salvation! i love this town!
as we load the stuff into his van, my wife goes across the street and buys a box of yummy pastries for a thank you gift. we make the trip across town, and he even helps me carry the desk down the bulkhead stairs.
thank you Paul!
---
[next post: how i got the darned thing into our basement]
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Hooray! Autumn is here!
Chill is in the morning air; the just-past-Full moon hangs in the crisply blue sky; and the snowbirds are starting to head South & West. Can hardly wait for the first real snow; love the change in seasons!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
family stuff
wow, i never knew how hard family stuff would be -- how difficult to handle. i just had no idea.
i'm not saying it's not worth it; i'm just saying that i was unprepared.
thank gods that i had as much time as i did to grow up (a little) myself before starting off on this journey.
i'm not saying it's not worth it; i'm just saying that i was unprepared.
thank gods that i had as much time as i did to grow up (a little) myself before starting off on this journey.
Monday, November 2, 2009
November cheer
now i remember November -- coldish, dark early, and somewhat grey-looking out.
even our normally cheery parakeets seem somewhat subdued this afternoon.
maybe a steaming cup of steaming hot chocolate would help (me)!
cheers!
even our normally cheery parakeets seem somewhat subdued this afternoon.
maybe a steaming cup of steaming hot chocolate would help (me)!
cheers!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
hey, peeps.
happy November, all.
did we all survive another Halloween?
have we recovered from diabetic comas?
(or at least most of us?) close enough.
now for the nightmare before Christmas. :-D
did we all survive another Halloween?
have we recovered from diabetic comas?
(or at least most of us?) close enough.
now for the nightmare before Christmas. :-D
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