Classic Jolt-Fueled Midnight Hacker

Classic Jolt-Fueled Midnight Hacker http://www.cybermenology.com The collected rants, recipes, reviews and rambling of a 20-something geek. en-us Copyright 2007, Laura Thurber laura@cybermenology.com laura@cybermenology.com Personal Blog Desktop victory http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000778 My desktop finally <a href="images/screenshots/Screenshot03082010.jpg">looks normal</a> again! In previous versions of Ubuntu (8.04 a. k. a. Hardy) my embedded terminal was accomplished using a combination of devilspie and gnome-terminal 2.22. The specific version was necessary; any higher and it wouldn't obey devilspie's commands to remove the titlebar and remain stationary. In the current version (9.10 a. k. a. Karmic), it's still accomplished using gnome-terminal because I like its transparency, but this time devilspie is the buggy one. I've got the system resources now to go All Compiz, All The Time, so that's what's controlling the embedded window. Steps for an Embedded Terminal on Ubuntu 9.10: 1. Open up a new gnome-terminal. Right-click on the window and edit the profile to have the characteristics that you want -- transparency, font, font color, scrollback, etc -- and save the profile. Go ahead and save it as the default, since at this point it's important to note that as all of the ccsm settings reply on the application name, (rather than the title) you can't actually use gnome-terminal for anything except this one window.* My default terminal is actually xterm. 2. Fire up the CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm). You'll be customizing a... I'm sure that I could be a movie star... http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000777 The paperwork is now signed, so it's official: I have a new job. No, I won't post the details here but suffice to say there won't be a gap between when my current contract ends and the new one begins. Nevermind that I might like to have a bit of a gap, considering my extracurricular work load. Of rather more immediate note, however: CoffeeMate's Hazlenut creamer is delicious. ---------------------------------------------------- <img src="/images/face2face2010/2010-02-27 19.51.22a.png" width="500"> My brother and I took a trip last weekend to Kansas City, for the specific purpose of taking in the Billy Joel/Elton John Face2Face concert being held at the Sprint Center. As anticipated it was amazing and not an experience that I would ever regret having. It's the second time we've seen Billy, and the first for Elton, and both were just in fantastic form. I couldn't help but notice some professional cameramen stationed at the edge of the state, and it makes me wonder whether it would be possible to obtain a recorded copy of the concert... note to self: look into this. Emotionally speaking, I held it together for Italian Restaurant and Norma Jean, and then lost it completely at Piano Man. It wasn't ... Rare finds http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000776 I never did get around to sharing what I found at Kirkwood Knittery a week or two ago: <a href="images/books/converted_haapsalu_shawl.jpg"><img src="images/books/converted_haapsalu_shawl.jpg" width="500"></a> And as if that wasn't exciting enough...! <a href="images/books/converted_neibling_kunststricken1.jpg"><img src="images/books/converted_neibling_kunststricken1.jpg" width="500"></a> and <a href="images/books/converted_neibling_kunststrick-decken.jpg"><img src="images/books/converted_neibling_kunststrick-decken.jpg" width="500"></a> I don't know whether I'll be able to knit from them in the near future; my queue is pretty loaded (how awkward is that? It's only February, and I'm booked until Christmas). Still, a girl can dream. Gold medal, please! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000775 My Olympic knitting project has been started, worked, and is finished. Pictures to come! Snowflakes - still not done. It was put on a two week hiatus for the Olympics. Evenstar Clue 1: Also not done; same reason. I have, however, successfully grown one thing: my queue (/facepalm). I've decided on my parents' Christmas present, which true to form is enormous, and also on a wedding present for a good friend. The latter involves a custom dye job from Laura at <a href="http://theuniquesheep.com/bases/Eos.htm">The Unique Sheep</a>, who was responsible for the amazing gradience colorways used by many people in the Evenstar group. My knitwear design classes at <a href="kirkwoodknittery.com/">Kirkwood Knittery</a> continue apace; I'm loving the class, but longing for the return of lazy Saturdays. It won't be for a while, though: my brother and I are going to Kansas City this weekend for the Billy Joel/Elton John Face2Face concert (I still cannot believe that he was able to get tickets! Dan, if it involved selling a kidney... just don't tell me) and <a href="http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com">Franklin Habit</a> (fangirl *squee!*) is coming to St Louis the first weekend in March. He's both doing a talk & book signing, and teaching classes on Saturday.... I need a snow day. http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000774 Lest ye think that I've fallen off the face of the earth, I haven't. My hard drive died a few days ago, which slowed me down a bit, and the weekends have been hectic lately. Dan's birthday was last week (we had a lovely time, thank you!), I've had a class every Saturday that I'm not doing something else, and the Superbowl was yesterday ... suffice to say, we're swamped. Nevertheless, here are some distinctly unflattering pictures of my progress: <img src="./images/projects/snowflakes/converted_img_1705.jpg" width="500"> Snowflakes... Not done. <img src="./images/projects/selkie/converted_img_1708.jpg" width="500"> Selkie socks ... Distinctly not done. In fact, I ripped them back to the ribbing tonight, because reverse stockinette for an entire pair of socks was not going to happen. I'll do regular stockinette instead; the chart won't care. <img src="./images/projects/twistcardigan/converted_img_1709.jpg" width="500"> Twist Cardigan. This is my third try with the Berroco Lustra, and I think that I like it in this format. Of course, I would like it more if I could do the #)%(@! cables correctly. This had a dozen rows ripped out tonight, too. <img src="./images/projects/msfsocks/converted_img_1712.jpg" width="500"> This is the only project which is behaving itself. Plain stockinette socks, BMFA StR in the Doctors Without Borders colorway. I'm going... Progress report on Snowflakes http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000773 I figured that after nearly four months, it was about time that I put up some kind of actual progress report on my <a href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/snowflakes-in-cedarwoods-lace-shawl-p-95.html">Snowflakes in Cedar Woods</a> project. It's gone from a few tiny rows: <img src="./images/projects/snowflakes/converted_img_1171.jpg" width="500"> To a dinner plate cozy: <img src="./images/projects/snowflakes/converted_img_1336.jpg" width="500"> To its current form, which I have titled fondly "Bag of Ramen Noodles": <img src="./images/projects/snowflakes/converted_img_1610.jpg" width="500"> Owing to a superhuman feat of awesomeness by Dan, I did two entire charts yesterday. Today I am off of work, and so far have done the 6 completely plain rows that start Chart G - something along the lines of 4,272 knit sts and 24 corner yarnovers. While I would love to start the actual interesting part of the chart now, my wrists are protesting, my stomach would like lunch, and I have errands to run. Google Chrome http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000772 Now that this browser is finally workable - for me at least - I thought that I'd start with a mini-review of it. Chrome is fast. You already know that; it's been Google's main plug for the browser since the beginning. We'll take its speed as read. Although it's taking some time to break the Firefox-induced habit of making a new tab and immediately hitting Ctrl+K to get to a search bar, I think I'm going to like Chrome's multi-use location/search/bookmarking bar. It's certainly handy to be able to create a new tab and immediately start typing search terms without having to worry about which input box has focus. I think it's interesting how new browsers just hitting the landscape have to not be as good as their predecessors, but better. Most of us won't look at a new browser unless it encompasses all functions for which we depend on our existing browser of choice AND offers us something more. Just good browsing isn't enough; it's got to have a truly enormous variety of extensions before we're even remotely interested. For instance: I wouldn't touch Chrome (much less use it as a daily browser) until it had a viable... Art! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000771 My kitchen will shortly be decorated with a whole lotta' <a href="http://www.metalandmagic.com">Ursula Vernon</a>. w00t. (Note to self: PAINT KITCHEN. NOW.) (Note to everyone else: <a href="http://www.redwombatstudio.com/blog/wpg2?g2_itemId=1319">Cookopelli I</a>, <a href="http://www.redwombatstudio.com/blog/wpg2?g2_itemId=1327">Cookopelli II</a>, <a href="http://www.redwombatstudio.com/blog/wpg2?g2_itemId=1072">March Hare and Dormouse</a>) Lookie! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000770 Oh hey, what's that? <img src="http://www.cybermenology.com/images/yarn/wollmeise.jpg" width="400"> Yes, it's Wollmeise! Courtesy of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/people/chanala">Chanala @ Rav</a>, it's 510 yards of Sockenwolle 100% in the colorway Terra di Siena to be precise. I don't know what it wants to be when it grows up, yet, but I'm fighting the urge to cast on for something and figure it out on the way! There was more yarn and yarn-related goodies for Christmas, which I haven't posted yet for the rather terrible reason that I haven't finished photographing them yet. This week filled up stunningly fast, but I will get there. Tonight we've friends coming over for dinner, and I'm taking the opportunity to roast the leg of lamb which I've been saving in the deep freezer. It will be my first lamb roast; wish me luck! Tomorrow is Knit Night (weather permitting) and bowling league resumes on Friday. Despite having a full week I've made progress on my gloves from Vogue Knitting and on the Snowflakes shawl. Isn't it nice how I wait until it's 10* to start on a pair of warm gloves? Well hello there, 2010 http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000769 A very Happy New Year to all of you, and may this year be even better than the last!