Still Not King – Page 7 – An archive of my old LiveJournal

Whee.

Got some nighttime photos yesterday of the orange moon (to the right) and the glow coming from the hills in front of Saddleback.

The smoke is back again, like Monday. It’s thinner, so at first I figured it would be better, but I feel much worse. Maybe because I’ve been breathing the crap for the last 4 days, maybe because without the wind, the smoke and ash are settling at ground level.

Meanwhile I’ve been putting out virtual fires with our network since about 3:00 yesterday. Yesterday my boss and I spent most of the afternoon trying to troubleshoot a computer that was running incredibly slow, but only when the network was plugged in. I was there until almost 6:30 trying to troubleshoot problems that started affecting the few other people who were still in the office at that hour.

This morning, I got to troubleshoot the connection issues that started cascading around the office. Finally I discovered a cable on the back of the stack of hubs was plugged into the wrong port. We’d temporarily disconnected it yesterday afternoon for testing, and someone (presumably my boss) plugged it back into the wrong connector.

And of course, anything that’s already flaky has taken the opportunity to stop working, leading to follow-up “Hey, X isn’t working” visits that have led, so far, to rebooting a server, replacing a network card in a desktop, and resetting a hub. Did I mention my boss isn’t in yet, and no one’s really sure if he’s going to be in today?

So here I am, sitting at my desk, writing this in bits and pieces when I have time, drinking ~~hot~~ lukewarm chocolate, wishing I’d remembered to grab that bottle of Vizine or Clear Eyes or whatever it is from home. I really don’t want to go anywhere at lunch today, between having to leave early and wanting to stay indoors as much as possible.

Current Mood: 😴groggy

Smoke

Lungs doing tolerably well, considering all the smoke in the air. On the plus side, it’s a lot clearer (relatively speaking) than yesterday, since the smoke seems to be concentrated in the canyons & drifting outward, rather than being driven directly at the building where I work. (Naturally, I had an appointment with my allergist yesterday. In an office on the edge of the smoke plume. And she insisted on doing a breathing test.)

Family are all okay, though my dad’s workplace keeps trying to call people in despite being a few hundred yards from yesterday’s fire lines. AFAIK, friends all live out of the danger zone (I think we’re the second-closest to the Santiago fire, after wayens).

Work’s been interesting, with people periodically clustering around computers for online updates or around a conference room window that looks out at the mountains. Two co-workers who live out in the Santiago Canyon area: one was evacuated this morning, and figured he might as well come into the office. No word from the other. We’re all speculating as to whether he’s still helping put out fires, or standing guard at his house, or what.

Been fireblogging at K2R, with photos.

Current Location: Irvine, California

Utilization of College Impulses

I’ve been meaning to run by the UCI bookstore and pick up some new license plate frames (the original plan was to just move the old ones, but when we took them off, we realized they looked kind of ratty) — if possible, before the plates arrive. Around 11:30 or so I decided I’d run up on my lunch hour, then drop in at the Apple Store at Crystal Court (excuse me, South Coast Plaza) and see if they could give me any pointers on some weird stuff my iPod is doing. (The Googles, they do nothing.)

I hadn’t been in the bookstore in several years, and it was mostly familiar, with only shelves and departments rearranged, but this was my first visit to the new Student Center. It was actually kind of eerie, since what I’d seen of construction made it look like they’d razed the entire old building except over at the bookstore/Cornerstone (sadly, now a Starbucks) end of the place. And yet the landing in front of Crystal Cove, the hallway below it, and the landing above, all looked strangely familiar. (And I could swear the only thing changed about the restrooms was the auto-flush sensors and the graffiti.) It turns out they actually kept most of the building below the terrace intact, in some cases moving stairways or adding partitions, and mainly built around it.

Most eerie: In the checkout line, I heard “La Vida Loca,” which for some reason I associate with the Student Center Zot-n-Go.

While I was there, I remembered a photo I took of the old Student Center from the top floor of what was then the Humanities Office Building. (10 years ago, as it turns out.) I had enough time left on parking that I figured I’d run over and try to match the shot. On the way, I pulled up the website with my phone and looked at the original photo so that I could match as closely as possible. ~~I’ll try to post the before and after photos tonight.~~ Edit: I’ve posted the before and after photos at K2R.

By then I figured I didn’t have enough time to deal with the iPod, so I’ll just wait until the Spectrum store is done remodeling and drop in next week.

Current Mood: 🤔nostalgic
Current Music: The World is Not Enough, Garbage
Current Location: work

Heat Wave and a New Car

Last weekend I spent a lot of time reading on the balcony after things cooled off enough that outside was better, with the slight breeze, than the inside. I finished rereading A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, and started on The Farthest Shore.

Monday alenxa and I tried to run out to the local second-run theater and see Pirates 3 again, but they were sold out. None of the other movies looked interesting, so we spent an hour and a half in Barnes & Noble instead, then went for an early dinner at Ruby’s.

Even though it cooled off substantially Monday night, the apartment stayed warm, no matter how we arranged the fans. We seriously considered sleeping out on our balcony.

Tuesday I had the dubious honor of changing a tire in 85-degree heat, which was better than changing it in 100-degree heat on Monday would have been, but still not much fun. I took it to Costco, where they said they could repair it (it was an obvious puncture, with a 1/2″ bolt sticking out of the tire), but the tire was worn down far enough they wanted to replace it. I told them I was looking at replacing the car in a few months, so they stuck with the repair.

As it turned out, we ended up replacing the car this weekend.

Current Mood: 🙂relieved
Current Music: Almost Rosey, Tori Amos
Current Location: home

Cool

The theme of the day, at least for me, has been trying to keep cool. I went to see Transformers (and I have some things to say about it at K²R) in part because I was curious, in part because I found a Regal movie pass I’d forgotten, but in part because movie theaters are air conditioned better than our apartment is.

Came back mid-afternoon. Rehydrated. Opened up all the windows since it had gotten to the point where it was just as hot inside as outside, and at least outside had a breeze. Thought about swimming, then thought about just sticking my head under the shower for a minute. Finally settled on swimming, for the first time in several years.

We’ve been in this apartment for something like 6 years, and until today, neither of us had ever used the pool. The last time I swam was on our 2003 trip to Hawaii with the IVC choir (with alenxa of course, and also andrea_wot and zehntaur, though I can’t recall whether either of them were on that side trip), when we stopped at a small bay on the north shore of Oahu. That was salt water, so buoyancy was another issue. (On a related note, every time I walk down the main aisles of the Spectrum, I get stopped by the “Wonders of the Dead Sea” spa people. It’s getting to the point where I want to start responding, “Yes, I have heard of the Dead Sea!” and then rattling off a bunch of facts about it. Then telling them I still don’t want their spa products. Do I look like their target audience?)

Treading water is more tiring than I remember. And I seem to have no natural buoyancy. When I lie on my back, I have to flap my arms and legs from time to time or my face starts sinking below the surface. Still, I was out there for about an hour, trying to keep out of the way of the family teaching their two kids to swim (I think it was the mother and an aunt, with the father sitting out on the deck). When I realized that my eyes were clouding up with chlorine, and my fingers were beginning to look like prunes, I climbed out and walked on unsteady legs back to the apartment, rinsed off, and collapsed for a few minutes.

It’s still warm, but it’s a manageable warmth. Evening should be more comfortable.

Current Music: Aimee Mann, Ghost World
Current Location: home

Fun with Electricity! (Also Coffee and the Bust of the Year)

Heat wave + 3-day weekend = way too much hot air trying to sneak into the server room. Extra measures are being taken to ensure that the server AC can keep things cool, but I’m probably going to spend much of the weekend worrying about getting a “Server X down” SMS.

Brownout during lunchtime. I was at the Spectrum food court. All the lights flickered off and back on, and the muzak went silent for just a second. Twice. Here at work, most of the desktop machines rebooted. (Servers, of course, are on UPS.)

Coffee Crisis! Coffee maker at work shut off this morning just a few cups in. Determined that the power outlet had gone dead. Tried plugging it into another outlet, via extension cord + power strip. Power strip started buzzing, then circuit breaker tripped. Further analysis of coffee maker’s plug identified melted, cracked plastic. The company we lease it from can’t send out a replacement ’til Tuesday.

So, only 3 cups of coffee for the entire office. No gladiatorial combat, oddly enough. Though I did joke that it must be a fiendish plot by the cafe downstairs to sell more coffee.

Bust of the Century: Yesterday afternoon, got onto the 405 and immediately got stuck in traffic. Turned out to all be rubbernecking from something going on by the side of the road, where police were searching a stopped car. Lots of them. At least 5 squad cars, from at least 2 different cities, and a sheriff’s car.

Current Location: work

Bookses

Finished reading The Man Who Was Thursday on Friday.

Went to see Stardust again. It holds up quite well to a second viewing. Ever since seeing it last week I’ve been desperate to reread the novel, but maldis still has my copy. Since we were near a bookstore, I decided to pick up the paperback version, though, since it’s actually a different format than the one I’ve got already. The downside is that it doesn’t have Charles Vess’ illustrations. The upside is that it’s more portable.

I ended up rereading the whole thing last night. short comparison.

We’ve been trying to be out during the hottest part of the day, since our air conditioner isn’t terribly effective. It’s not really the AC’s fault, it’s the airflow in the apartment (or lack thereof). I’m out on the balcony right now, which is really nice. Step through the giant open screen door into the living room, and it jumps up considerably. Further back, into the room with the computers? Forget it!

So I’m sitting outside, occasionally glancing out at the trees, or up at the not-quite first-quarter moon, typing on the laptop.

Current Music: You Better Leave the Stars Alone, Ego Likeness
Current Location: home

Random

Got out to Santa Monica last week to meet up with my brother and his coworkers as they returned from a conference in Taiwan via LAX. Must remember to post pictures of dinosaur topiary and sundry oddness. (Edit: I finally got around to it.)

Speaking of photos, alenxa and I managed to get some really interesting cloud & sunset pictures yesterday.

Saw Stardust w/ andrea_wot and zehntaur. It was good. Disappointed to find how few people went to see it, though. Seriously, Rush Hour 3? At least it didn’t lose to Daddy Day Camp. Anyway, Stardust is highly recommended. If you haven’t seen it, try to catch it this weekend while it’s still in theaters.

Apartments are resurfacing the parking lots this week. Tomorrow through Saturday we’ll have to park on the street. This place doesn’t have enough street parking normally, never mind when 1/4 of the spaces are unavailable.

The Question of the Day

It seems that the question of the day is, “What page are you on?”

No spoilers.

I’d pretty much figured on not picking up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows until after Comic-Con. I had some things I wanted to make sure I got finished first, in particular some website updates. But then alenxa finished the book on Saturday, and I decided that the updates I had left weren’t quite so important as the ones I’d done Saturday afternoon. So I picked up the book Sunday afternoon, and put it down around 11:00 at night, a little over halfway through.

This morning I took the car in for some fairly major maintenance. They’d offered a complementary rental, which I happily accepted, and arranged for Enterprise to send someone over. (I would have been quite willing to walk, since it was hardly even sprinkling, but figured if they’d made the arrangements, I might as well. As it is, I think it would have been faster to walk.)

Naturally I pulled the book out in the waiting room. After a few minutes, the 50-ish man a few chairs over asked,

“What page are you on?”

“428.”

“432.”

I found it funny that we were not only both reading it, but within a few pages of each other.

After picking up the rental, I drove over to my allergist. Afterward, as I was making my next appointment with the new receptionist, I noticed the book on her desk (open and upside-down, but it was recognizable by size, color, and a name which jumped out at me before I looked away). Before I had a chance to mention it, the doctor walked up, noticed my copy sitting on the counter, and said, “Oh, you’re reading it too?” She then explained that her son and daughter (the latter turned out to be the unfamiliar receptionist) had each gotten their own copy so they could both read it immediately. At this point the daughter asked me,

“What page are you on?”

I opened the book. “448.”

“Oh, I’m on page 530” (or something around there). “I’ll close it so you don’t see anything.”

Independence Day

Wasted a good chunk of the middle of the day on message boards. Did some minimal shopping, and discovered that The District will have both a Pei Wei Asian Diner and a Peet’s. And as near as I can tell, the movie theaters opened on the 4th, because I don’t remember seeing a “Now Open” sign on Tuesday.

alenxa and I left for Laguna Beach at 6:45. We clearly drove the canyon in record time, since we were parked in a lot up on Forest and Broadway by 7:10. So we walked out to the beach, found ourselves a spot, spread out the beach towel and set in to wait.

I quickly determined that I should have stuck with shorts instead of changing into jeans, because while she sat down and started crochet, I immediately took off my shoes and headed down to the water to check out the waves and take pictures of the scenery. (I was planning to try out the fireworks mode on the camera, and figured I’d go for some establishing shots.) Naturally, I got soaked.

Watched the stars slowly appear. Planets first. Venus was fairly early, then Jupiter. Wispy clouds caught the setting sun. Watched people: the 20ish guys playing frisbee with penalty push-ups for missing a throw, who would lash each other with wet seaweed. The family burying their father in the sand. The girl who screamed that she didn’t want to get wet, though she had gone down to the water in a bikini. The woman holding a plastic bag above the waterline as she walked out into the waves to a waiting boat. The couple taking turns dunking each other into the water.

Around 8:30 the sun was down, and a single firework popped off to the west, probably heard by more people than seen, though its smoke was silhouetted against the glow of the western sky. Over the next hour the light continued to fade, people left the water, more people arrived and set up camp on the beach, or on the lawn just above. Shortly before 9:00 we started hearing vaguely eastern-sounding music, and looked around and someone was doing a procession of some sort.

Finally, at 9:00, the fireworks started. At first they were obscured by their own cloud of smoke, which made for an interesting nebula-like appearance with thin smoke reflecting light and tendrils of thicker smoke in front, blocking it. After a while a breeze came up, blowing the smoke eastward along the coast. Maybe 5 or 10 minutes in, the first fire engine drove past down PCH. No doubt someone messing around with fireworks who didn’t know what he was doing. (The number of fire trucks and ambulances that drove by last night was disheartening.) The show was over by 9:20, but we could still see the fireworks from up in the direction of Newport Beach. We waited, watching those, while the crowd dispersed.

The Diedrich Coffee we used to go to is now a Starbucks. I suppose it’s better than closing it altogether, but there’s another Starbucks about 300 feet away. It’s a bit silly. I’d called Coffee Pub earlier in the day to find out how late they were open, and they closed that afternoon. In the end, we decided to go to BJ’s across the street and split an appetizer and a pizookie. (Sadly, pizookies are crispy now, instead of chewy.)

We drove back by way of PCH to Newport Coast Drive, saw some interesting fog effects, and I managed to completely lose my bearings with all the twists and turns through the hills. Fortunately you can’t go wrong by staying on the road. Home around midnight.

Notes for next year: Shorts, flip-flops, and jackets.