Publius & Co.

Computer tools

I was digging thru my toolbag at work the other day, and I noticed I have a lot of strange tools. That shouldn't come as a major surprise; specialized equipment frequently needs specialized tools.

When I opened up my first computer (an IBM AT running at 8 MHz) in 1986, the only tools that were really required were 1/4-inch and 3/16-inch hex drivers. There were some special tools available for some tasks, though.

For the first computer project I worked on (building up 150 system units for the US Postal Service) I was required to populate a memory card with sixty-four discrete 64mb memory chips. Doing them by hand was a major PITA because it hurt, especially when a chip would flip up and embed itself in my thumb, and I would probably bend a pin on two or three of the sixty-four chips that didn't stick me in my thumb. That would give me memory errors (2XX on POST) and I'd have to find the one(s) with bent pins, straighten the pin(s) if I could or replace the chip. There was a chip-insertion tool available, but quite frankly, it didn't work.

Later on, as chip packaging got away from the little black rectangles with a row of pins on each of the long sides but before the invention of ZIF sockets, brute force and elbow grease were still required to install a chip, but specialized chip removal tools were invented. Those are for later.

Notebooks, and especially Compaq notebooks, brought on the weird tools. Meet Compaq part number 107823-001:

It's a simple plastic wedge that was issued to Compaq certified techs to help crack open the case of a Compaq LTE 386S/20 laptop computer, and I'd put up a picture here of mine, if I could find it. It's still a very useful tool, at least to me: Because it's rather tough plastic, it's great for scraping thermal paste/glue from the bottom of heat sinks before cleaning them with ethanol and re-installing them. That's what the black stuff on the blade is.

Daddy needs a new set o' wheels.

It's spring, and a young man's fancy turns to...thoughts of a new bike. I do it every year. Partially Bicycling magazine is to blame; their annual buyer's guide (AKA the massive bike pr0n issue) just came out, and I've spent a lot of time lusting after new bikes. Part of it's just that I like looking at bikes.

Like this one: aluminum frame with a ten-speed cassette (thirty speeds total), carbon cranks, seatstays, & fork, and lots of Shimano Ultegra.

Or this one: An all-carbon frame, with a ten-speed Campagnolo Veloce drivetrain, a compact carbon crankset (only two chainrings, but with smaller-than-standard gearing), and that gorgeous Celeste color highlighting not only the bike, but their 120th anniversary as one of the world's premier cycle builders.

Or even this one: a frame that's a mix of carbon and aluminum, a carbon compact crankset with a nine-speed Ultegra cassette...and can ya dig the gorgeous retro graphics?

I admit, as much as I like my current bike, I wonder if it really fits me well. While riding on it, I felt I was too stretched out, and if you're too stretched out, you can have some trouble controlling the bike.

Also, you're just not comfortable, you know? I admit it's my own fault; I certainly rushed into the purchase. Hey, it felt fine in the parking lot.

So I'd like to try a smaller frame, but I can't really justify spending $1200+ just to see if I was right about the bike size. But I can spend less than $300 on eBay for a used frame, and transfer a lot of the components from one bike to the other. Here it is:

A Reynolds 853 steel main triangle, cro-mo rear triangle, and a Time Millenium carbon fork. It'll have a full Shimano Tiagra 27-speed drivetrain, a Thomson aluminum seatpost (or maybe a Ritchey steel seatpost, as I have both), and Rolf Vector Comp wheels. I still have to buy a new headset and I'll have a local bikeshop install that for me (I don't feel like spending about $100 for a tool I'll use only once).

I've never built up a bike before, and it should be fun. Now I'm just waiting for the frame to show up.

Friday Rat Blogging

The late Witter, hamming it up.

Stupid but funny

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx

The gf did it to me...

It's the book meme. Let's get to it, shall we?

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
You mean, if I were this book would I throw myself on the fire? The Lord of the Rings. I've tried to read it; it keeps putting me to sleep. I was glad I waited for the movie version though I've only seen the first one. One day I'll watch the others, even though I understand the length of them may well put me to sleep...just as I would expect.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
None in novels. In graphic novels or comic books...yeah. Kitty Pride. Hey, it was for her brains and the fact that she's a Cubs fan! Also...her dragon is cool.

The last book you bought is:
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I'm finally getting around to reading one of the all-time great science fiction series.

The last book you read:
Foundation by Isaac Asimov. What's that? I'm reading the Prelude second? Yeah, but don't blame me. Like George Lucas and Star Wars, Dr. Asimov started the Foundation series somewhere in the middle.

What are you currently reading?
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I mean, I bought it for a reason. I'm also reading bits and pieces of my welding textbook.

Five books you would take to a deserted island.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Probably my most favorite book of all time. I re-read it about once a year.

The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll, with annotations by Martin Gardner. Probably my second-favorite book(s); I re-read this one about every other year. With this copy, I can smuggle in two books for the price of one.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, translated and annotated by John Ciardi. Yeah, I re-read this one every so often, too, and yeah, I'm smuggling in multiple books for the price of one again. Sue me.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Hey, if it's good enough for Heinlein to remark it was one of the finest science-fiction novels of all time, it's good enough to accompany me on a desert island.

Watchmen by Alan Moore, with illustrations by Dave Gibbons. Possibly the finest graphic novel of all time...at least, in my humble opinion. It blew me away to the point that I've collected an awful lot of Watchmen related material, including a rather expensive unmarked and unopened cardboard box that may or may not contain a first-edition hardback copy. I'd open it up, but I don't want to risk ruining the value.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Why is easy--I'm going for an international flavor.
Gir for a Canuckian flavor.
Jeremy to find out what the limeys are into.
Sweety to find out what they're reading in The Netherlands.

Dreams and School

Jennifer jokes about dreams...at least, I think she's joking. The link above is in her "Bad Joke" category.

Pretty much ever since I've been going to school, I've had a school-related nightmare.

My first bad dream was when I was in elementary school in Hawaii. In Hawaii, I went through kindergarten, first, and most of second grade, and one year, I dreamt I went to school naked...except in that first dream, I was naked except for white gloves. I don't remember exactly what grade it was, but I remember the white gloves in the dream. I had the same basic dream once a year, until sometime in junior high, when my yearly bad dream changed to...

...forgetting my locker combination. Not as traumatic as showing up for school el nud-o but still. There was usually something deathly important in my locker, though. The forgotten locker combination continued thru high school.

In college, my dream changed...duh. No lockers, and because I'm taking a welding class this semester, I had it just a few weeks ago. In this dream, I dream I've got a full-blown class schedule and more than halfway thru the semester--too late to drop a class--I discover I've forgotten about a class. Maybe I went to the first one and completely forgot about it since, maybe I just never went to it at all, but it's too late to drop it without it affecting my GPA (3.6-something, but I'm not bragging) and my membership in Phi Theta Kappa is, for all practical purposes, history.

I'm proud of my high GPA and PTK membership (as well I should be) and this dream has me waking up in cold sweats.

College also introduced a new wrinkle: My once-a-semester anxiety attack. Once I went into shock after a Digital Logic Circuit Analysis lab, once I threw up in the student union playing a video game. Then once, when I was taking a class for fun (advanced algebra as a refresher, because I was planning to take calculus the next semester), I went to the emergency room instead of class because I thought I was having a heart attack.

I'm still waiting for that anxiety attack. Hopefully I'll turn off the acetyline or the arc welder before it gets bad.

Hailstorm!

There was a hailstorm today. It's only the second time in my life I've ever seen hail:

Click for bigger

For those of you not familiar with American coins, that's a Washington quarter, and, according to the U.S. Mint, it has a diameter of 24.26mm.

It must be a new year...

...because Really Big Computer Company has rearranged their T/S website again, and I can't find DICK.

Friday Rat Blogging

Rizzo, the first rat I ever held, in a picture taken three years ago. Rizzo was one of the two rats that my gf adopted several years ago that changed us into rat people. As I held her that first time and looked into her eyes, while she looked back at me, I realized There's someone thinking back there...

Granted, it was probably Does he have something I can eat? but still--thinking is thinking.

Creepy? You want creepy?

This is creepy.

(Liz is Working found via Mama Karen.)

Deaths in the family

The gf and I lost two from our rat family over the weekend. The last of my original four rats, Calle, died in his sleep Saturday afternoon. He was just a week short of his 30th monthday.

Schwartz, part of the gf's second wave of rats and Calle's sister, was PTS on Monday. She had been growing weaker and weaker and she started bleeding from either her vagina or urethra.

Sorry I've no pictures, but there are some, along with more details into their life with us, at the Ratablog.

What's in my pocket?

Ted wants to know what's in my pocket?

Right front: keys, change.
Left front: 2nd set of keys, Swiss army knife (Huntsman), chapstick, pen. Farecard during the summer.
Right rear: wallet.
Left rear: nuthin'.

Friday Rat Blogging

Leather, from last year's Christmas shoot. Today is her 30th monthday! (Click for bigger)

Friday Rat Blogging

Jack and Jim waking up, from July 2004

UPDATE: Please take a moment to check out fellow rat-person and hockey-fan Liz's two handsome little boys, Tony and Gary.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Fellow Munuvian Mama Montezz too!

Beer-Can Chicken

It's colder than a witches patootie in Washington today. Cold temps, strong wind...and all I can think about is grillin'.

My favorite thing to grill is also one of the easiest and tastiest things to grill--Beer-Can Chicken. It looks great, it looks funny (I admit), and it's one of the best things you can ever, ever put in your mouth. I wish I had some right now.

BEER-CAN CHICKEN Number of servings: Not enough.

INGREDIENTS
One chicken, whole.
2 or 3 Tablespoons grillin' spice. I use Emeril's Essence, to be honest.
About six ounces of beer.
One beer or soda can--that is, one 12-ounce American can.

GRILL PREP
Yes, grill. Any monkey or girly-man can turn on a propane grill and get the heat juuust right and not screw it up...Propane isn't grilling! Girly-men have no sense of adventure! No balls! If you don't have a charcoal grill, I forbid you to continue reading, girly-man!

Real men will be using indirect heat to cook the chicken, which, technically means you won't be grillin' BUT you will be using your grill and making fire and smoke and all of that stuff that scare girly-men.
1. Prep your coals. I use a chimney starter (two, actually) and you'll want to as well, since you'll have to replenish the coals while the chicken is cooking.
2. Get the chicken prepped while the coals ignite. It's a fast prep, so you should have time after the chicken is prepped to drink some beer while you're waiting for the coals to get hot.
3. When you're ready to cook the chicken, put a drip pan (I use disposable aluminum cake pans) in the center of the coal tray, to catch drippin's from the bird. The coals will go on each side of the drip pan. Notice the chicken isn't directly over the hot coals? That's why it's called indirect grillin'.
4. ADVANCED GRILLERS ONLY: Sure, you can smoke your chicken with some smoke. If you know how, I don't need to tell you. If you're a beginner, you soak the wood in water for about ten or fifteen minutes so it'll smoke and not catch fire, then you put the wet wood directly on the coals.
5. You'll have to replenish the coals at least twice, about every twenty minutes, so be sure to have a safe place to start more coals. Weber makes optional hinged cooking grates to make the coal-replenishent part of the operation a helluva lot easier. My Patio grill has a hinge in the middle, so I have to take the chicken off, lift the grate, and replenish the coals this way. It's a Zen exercise for me.

CHICKEN PREP AND GRILLIN'
1. Open a beer. Drink half of it (you gotta love a recipe that starts like that!). If you don't drink, non-alcholic beer is fine, or you can use lemonaide, or RC Cola, or Dr. Pepper, or even water if you want. Just as long as you have about six ounces of liquid. While cooking, the liquid will steam up and help keep the chicken nice and moist.
2. Get your chicken. Remove the gizzards and neck and other crap outta the chicken, and save the necks for crabbin' and the gizzards for your rats, or throw 'em away. Whatever the hell you wanna do with 'em is fine with me.
3. Wash the chicken in running cold water, then pat him dry with paper towels. Set aside briefly.
4. Get your beer can and make sure it's about half-full. Or half-empty. Whatever.
5. Use an old-fashioned can opener to put two or three more holes in the top of that can, then add about a tablespoon of your grillin' spice. NOTE: If you're using a carbonated liquid, it'll foam up when you add the spice, so be sure to do this outside or over a sink or something that can get wet.
6. Shove that can up the chicken's butt! If you enjoy this part, I don't need to know about it. Stand him up on your workspace, using the can and his legs to form a little chicken tripod.
7. Rub the chicken all over with the grillin' spice. You'll need at least a tablespoon, and probably two. Lift up the wings, and get the spice under the wings. Get some spice underneath the skin, and on his back and his legs and all over him. This part you should enjoy, but don't tell anybody.
8. After you've rubbed your chicken, tuck his wings behind him so he looks like he's takin' a whiz. Take a picture, because, quite frankly, I think he looks funny as hell.
9. If your coals aren't ready, drink a beer. You've earned it.
10. When the coals are ready, distribute the coals evenly on each side of the coal grate, and put a drip pan in the center. Put on the cooking grate and stand your chicken up in the middle. Close the lid.
11. Check the coals every fifteen or twenty minutes. You'll have to replenish the coals as he cooks (about half of a chimney starter's worth of coals on each side) while he cooks.
12. After about an hour, start checking for doneness. The most accurate way is with a cooking thermometer: stick it in the chicken near the thigh (don't touch the bone!) and your chicken is done when it reads 180 F. If you don't have one, pierce the chicken in a couple of places--any liquid that runs out should be clear. The least accurate way is with the chicken-leg shake: Jiggle the leg and if it moves freely, it's done.
13. Present Mr. Beer-Can Chicken to your guests. Take a picture, and have fun getting the beer can outta his butt, being careful not to let the hot liquid in the can spill all over your hands and burn you.
14. Dig in. Serve with some more beer and grilled corn (you can find the recipe in the extended entry).

Victor grillin' some beer-can chicken

Oh, baby. Beer-can chicken...I can taste it now...

GRILLED CORN
1. Pull back the corn husks, but don't pull 'em off! Tie them together with some butchers string (or sometimes you can use some thin strips of corn husk) so you'll have a little handle. Pull off the silk, though.
2. I normally spray it with some olive oil and nothing else; I know some recipes say brush it with spiced butter (butter softened and mixed with paprika, chives, cilantro...whatever you feel like mixing it with). It's entirely up to you.
3. Put it right on the grate, turning every so often. You might have to put a piece of foil underneath the handle, to keep the husks from burning.
4. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T WRAP THE CORN WITH FOIL! First of all, that steams the corn, it doesn't grill it. Second of all, you don't get nice grill marks on the corn. Finally, only girly-men cover their corn with foil.

Where's the beef?

It was supposed to start snowing for forty days and forty nights today. It didn't, to be honest, but give the weathermen a break! It's not a science; it is, at best, an educated guess. Chill the puck out already.

At least the gf and I managed to get some pretty pictures. She took hers in our back yard; I took mine at the Shady Grove Metro station. In all cases, click for bigger.