tychoish, now without a net

I consulted with a few of my contacts about the mystery computer problem, and the consensus of opinion is that if a new power supply doesnít fix this problem, weíll have to start doing ritual dances around it. Itís a good thing that one of my trusted consultants, and most of my family are members of a ritual dance team, but honestly now. This had better work, because I havenít a clue.

In other news, I had another one of my Antrho Gender/Sex Roles class for the week. It was enjoyable, and I think Iím perhaps a little closer to understanding my distain/problem with this whole anthropology thing. I donít have the right Zen for it. Iíve been reading these ethnographies about gender roles and relationships in foraging societies, and seeing the potential and beginnings for the development of patriarchy, male dominance, and all the ills that go along with that. But the truth is, that these cultures have a fundamental egalitarianism (or something), and despite idiosyncratic elements of inequality, theyíre naturally egalitarian.

While not ideal, the anthropologic mode of analysis, or the lens through which cultural critiques are made is this kind of egalitarianism. Itís very pragmatic, and I like pragmatism.

Having said that, I suppose I was expecting that this course would contribute to feminist criticisism by comparing less patriarchal societies with our own, or by illustrating the various flavors male dominance and patriarchy can take across cultures. But the approach Iím seeing here is the development of, which is helpful, just in a different way, that I wasnít quite expecting. The thought of course being, that if you canít find a culture that developed differently (because there cannot be controls for these studies,) then donít even bother to approach the issue of deconstruction/dismantling from that perspective; but rather from the perspective of, if we know how it developed, then maybe we can undo.

That being said, this week we talked about Gender in Prehistory, so this is more like a ìdevelopment of cultureî type of study, so in order to (in this case) draw conclusions and be sure that your conclusions are well founded, I think a little bit of Zen is required. But even when the cultures arenít Neolithic, it takes a certain leap of faith to make a connection. At least, at this moment, Iím not terribly good at making leaps of faith like that. Maybe thatís what Iím supposed to learn from all this.

Another thing this proves, which is a concept that I think I knew, but that Iím learning more completely now is the meaning of cultural construction That is, in terms of the content. On a more cosmic level, Iím learning how to be more Zen.

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I got my iBook almost a day ago, and I feel confidant saying that Iím satisfied with the way itís set up. Iíve got all the applications that I know Iíll never use out of my way, and Iíve downloaded all of the little must haves. Iím almost giddy to take it to a hotspot to try out the AirPort. Iíve gotten some other work done today too, and thatís mainly the focus of this post, youíll be hearing about this new computer for a little while, but to some it up in a quick phrase: Iím really happy with this, and it just works. It just works!

One of the things on my to-do list was to fix my old computer. Iím sure regular readers are quite familiar with this tale, and I wonít bore you with the details. In an unrelated purchase, with my iBook we got a new processor/heat sink for the computer. This would have to fix the computer, there was no way it didnít.

Guess what the next line of this post is. Wait for it. Wait for it.

It didnít work.

Gotcha! In my furry, I swapped the motherboard back, and lo and behold we have a symptom. Now, it turns on for fifteen seconds and then shuts itself off. Bam. Nothing at all other than that. I havenít so much as seen the bios of this computer in six months. So my current theory is to replace the motherboard, on the grounds that it couldnít be anything else. Itís not the hard drive, because the hard driveís arenít relevant in the early stage of the boot process, it canít be the processor (unless the old one died, and the new one was DOA, which seems unlikely), itís not the ram, that all checks out, itís not the motherboard unless the old one died and then the new one was DOA), itís not the video card, cause it doesnít get to the video card stage. See where Iím left. Thereís no other vital system that it could be.

On the other hand, if it is the power supply, Iím going to be really mad, and itíll be pretty easy to build a second computer, given that all the components I have would then be good. If it is the power supply, this would have to officially go down in history as the oddest power supply malfunction in the history of the world ever. Ever.

Cheers, best of luck (to everyone, but Iím needing it, so I figure a karmatic adjustment is in order), and Iíll post again soon. Promise.

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I woke up to notification that my iBook shipped; well actually I woke up first and then found out that it had shipped, but you get the idea. In any case, FedEx says that it should make it here by Tuesday morning, (from Taiwan!) and I can’t wait.

If I were a more typical blogger, I would have posted about that. But I’m not a typical blogger, so here comes a rather banal post about my day today.

I just talked to someone about a job, and the chances of me getting said job seem to be pretty good. I’ll still be able to do this web design and consulting stuff, because honestly it won’t take up that much time, and I’m going to have a laptop in four or so days.

Other things on my platter for today: I have a lesson on how to pre-record radio shows, because I’m going to the interim summer engineer for OUTspoken, the LGBT radio show in St. Louis.

Tonight I’m going to see, guess, guess, DAVID SEDARIS. WOW! I love David Sedaris his writing and performance style (for lack of a better thing to describe the way he reads his writing) is so amazingly wonderful. *sigh*

With that, I’m done. At least for right now.

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I bet you thought you were going to be able to survive this week without seeing something about Ronald W. Regan on TealArt. So sorry. Actually, I don’t really give a rat’s ass about the “deify/vilify” Regan thing. There are a couple a poignant responses to Regan’s non-treatment of the AIDS crisis, most notably this, by Brad Graham. Honestly though, I can imagine any other ruler of the era dealing with it differently; not that that excuses him by any means.

In any case, what I really wanted to offer, was this little logistical thought. See according to all of the sources I’ve encountered, Regan’s body has been lying in state for a few days now at the presidential library. His “body” is now being flown the D.C. where it’ll lay in state until a big hoopla at the national cathedral sometime this weekend or Monday. The days are unimportant.

What I’m thinking is that his body will never leave the Regan Presidential library.

Why?

It’s a closed casket; it has to be flown across the country twice. Why would they bother to do that? Who’s to know? More importantly, who’s to care? Flying dead bodies anywhere costs tens of thousands of dollars, and I see little purpose in moving it around so much. “His” presence is unrequited for the formality to serve it’s purpose. And we’ll never know for sure.

Unless someone tries to hit the National Cathedral during the service (given who’ll be there, I suspect the risk is somewhere around a muted orange), they’ll never say, but between you and me it’s empty.

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The job market is downright horrible. I’ve been looking all over for a job for a while, and I haven’t gotten *any* response. Nada. Ok, I can cope with that, not easily, but it can be done. So unless something miraculous happens, I’m resorting to ‘Freelance Sam’ work. I can write, design websites, build computers, fix computers, and do consulting work in the area of mobile technology and some other technology related niches. It’ll work out, and with hope I’ll have enough income to do the essentials like, pay for insurance, countless scones, teas, and bagels, not to mention living expense’ whilst I’m away next year.

Earlier this week I ordered this iBook, which hopefully will ship today or tomorrow (but probably more realistically next Monday). Right now it’s essential. During the school year, this iMac (yes, the eight year old one) served me well. Between web browsing, Instant Messaging (AIM), word processing, and email, I really did not need to do anything else. Sure I would have loved to been able to update the back end of TealArt, do other web design, listen to MP3’s or watch my favorite cable TV programs, but I honestly didn’t need to do that.

Now things have changed. The thing is I haven’t been able to find an OS 8.1 compatible FTP client. And an appropriate syntax editor would be nice too. So I can’t do design as it stands now, but that’s only one of the many things that will be good about the new computer (I haven’t decided what to name it yet, as David said I had to.) First of all, this little beauty will have an AirPort Extreme card, which means wireless hot-spots here I come, OS X goodness, useable battery technology, and so forth. I can hardly wait.

Because, my schedule is pretty free, I’ll also have some time to entertain a couple of odd freelance writing notions. Articles and such that I’ve had floating around in my head for a while, but didn’t actually write because I was too busy concentrating on the social implications of the Mexican Revolution or some such. One such project would be going back to some biggish mobile tech site, and writing a “catching up article” detailing the perspective I’ve gained from being away from mobile tech for almost two years. Sure it’d be a bit cynical, but in some ways, I’ve conducted the perfect experiment for the mobile technology community, and I’d hope that some publisher would be willing to pay me a few bucks for the story.

Whereas I feel like I have some level of expertise or qualifications to talk about technology as an 18 year-veteran of dorkyness, I don’t feel the same way about writing, but it might be interesting to look at what I’ve learned as a writer in the past few years. I’m not sure that’ll be as easy to sell. That one will take a lot more thought and it’s quite likely that it’ll end up as a TealArt post. Maybe.

I’ve also had, for a while, the dream of setting up a gender theories discussion list. Almost four years ago I set up a list for Spec-Fiction writers, and I think it’s a really successful community. We have good discussions, stable membership in the neighborhood of 170, a team of great-dedicated moderators, and I really couldn’t ask for more. The thing is I’m not a terribly dedicated Science Fiction writer any more, and while I’m almost done with the first part of my second SF novel, I’m not interested in the culture any more. So I’m going to create a group for the discussion of Gender issues: Construction/Deconstruction, Cross-Cultural Interpretations and Perspectives, implications, with a queer studies and literary bent probably. In the next few weeks I suspect.

So that’s where I stand. Hope you enjoyed this update!

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So after graduating, after turning 18, after being accepted to a great college, after successfully finishing an awesome theater production I feel somehow obligated to reflect on the gravity of the past few months.

But the truth is that like any big change, I’ve had, in some cases, years to prepare for this. Right now the only gravity I’d like share with you is the lifting of all this weight that I’ve been lugging around from my shoulders for the past few months.

In that vein (or artery), I have two semi-whimsical points to make.

Firstly, I’m having a major geek conflict. See, I promised myself that I’d buy myself a much-disserved new computer this summer. I’ve been using this ancient iMac for months, and a new one is really worth it. I heard a rumor that Apple would be releasing a new something (I’m thinking this is the much awaited G5 PowerBooks) in the middle/end of June. But this is only the latest incarnation of this rumor that I heard first as a rumor about the middle of May. Now I’m not planning to get a PowerBook, because they aren’t worth the hefty extra chunk of change, especially in comparison to the iBooks. But the introduction of the G5 portables will drive down the cost overall, and it might be worth it to wait several weeks. Even though I really don’t want to. It might be time to, in the interim, fix-up my old computer. God forbid. Something. I need to not be using this computer for much longer I swear.

Secondly, I saw a Vintage VW Bug in perfect condition for sale a few blocks away from here. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Well it could hardly get worse gas mileage. The truth is I don’t really want a new car, or even a new-to-me car. Though that would be nice. I’ve been driving a 1989 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale for the past two years, and it’s a great car. Runs great, really reliable for a car of its age, and its really comfortable. But I’m pretty sick of it. Gas mileage is eh. Turning radius is pretty pathetic. I’ve plans to sell it at the end of the summer, and be car-less for a year or two (or even three/four), and then get something more suited to me and my uses when my life is more suited to having a car. I’ll live. But at the same time, a vintage VW…

Cheers!

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