There’s a lot going on this week, here are bits and pieces:

• I’m downloading and will attempt to install KDE 3.0.1, just to see if it’s worth the effort yet. I’ve been underwhelmed by almost every major release of KDE so far. It would be neat if it weren’t so damned sluggish and crash-prone. I didn’t try 3.0, though, and with the recent announcement of 3.0.1 I figured it was time to give it another go.
  
• I’ve got my hands onto yet another WinXP-installed Sony Vaio laptop. This time I actually need to try to connect it to our office network, as it is to become the main workstation for Rosey105’s music director. I told the PD that I wouldn’t be able to fully prep it until next week, though. I still have to finish rolling out that Quantum Snap! server.
  
• Which brings me to the news that I’ll be coming in for at least a portion of Memorial Day weekend to switch the entire network over to the aforementioned Snap! server. Thanks to the helpful tech support at Quantum, I learned how to set granular folder-level permissions. Now I just have to replicate the existing permissions onto the new machine, a process that should only take about the next two working days. And this one’s already half-gone.
  
• This entry deliberately left blank.
  
• Tonight and tomorrow night are the perfomances for the dessert theater that Wendi and the kids are in. Weeks of almost-nightly practices have led up to this. I’ll be going to Friday night’s performance.
  
• I love ham and swiss on bagel sandwiches. Yum.
  
• I’ve learned how to push out a setting change that will tell Mozilla to use our network’s proxy server for web browsing. It’s not fool-proof, but should work for those machines where the individual user’s preferences haven’t been tinkered with. I can also push out a “no proxy” setting change at the same time I change the setting for IE.
  
• I have the ability to view all image files transferred via the proxy server. Driftnet, while evil, may come in handy to tell when folks are surfing for things they really shouldn’t be. Well, that and the proxy server logs.
  

To make a long story short, this website was offline all day yesterday due to a billing misadventure. Gods willing, it won’t happen again.

Upon (finally) realizing that many visitors to this website would have absolutely no freaking idea who I am or what I’m doing here, I decided to write up a biographical page to clear up the mystery.

Two months later, I’ve actually gotten around to doing it.

Right below the “Home” link at the upper-left corner of each page is a “Bio” link. Click and read, kind visitor.
GreyDuck Bio Page

And this time I can write about it in my own journal instead of leeching off of AMV.org…

Last night Wendi and I took in a bit of a show. Midnight Oil came back again, this time in support of the Capricornia album. I had to suffer through two passable opening acts, then the real fun started. The Oils played a bit more varied of a set than in the December show, focusing on tracks from Capricornia, Earth And Sun And Moon, Redneck Wonderland (they played Blot! Yeah!) and Blue Sky Mining as well as a couple from 10,9.8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 (my first audio CD purchase, way back when). I never thought I’d hear Tin Legs And Tin Mines played live!

Having survived a number of shows at the Roseland, I can state with some authority that it’s too damned loud there. I don’t know who they’re trying to impress, but no matter who’s playing you can hardly hear the music for the noise. I came to see a concert, not be subjected to a sonic barrage. Grr. When Jethro Tull can split your eardrums, you know that someone’s not really thinking about how to properly fill the venue with an appropriate level of sound. Oh well. Louder is better, right?

Earsplitting sound levels aside, this was a fantastic Oils performance. Given a different venue I’d see them again and again if I could. Marvelous.

It is supposedly the course of wisdom to not say anything when you have nothing to say. If I were that wise, this site would probably never get updated. Ha ha, I’m so witty!

My recovery is going well, occasional owies notwithstanding. The sun came out this morning, kicking off the usual sunny-day endorphine rush that tends to improve my outlook considerably. Who knows, I might just make it through the day with a good attitude.

Oh yeah, this is me we’re talking about. Tfppppt.

Ah! Ben called my office yesterday evening! Once again back from self-imposed exile! We should be getting together soon, Ben and John and myself, for gaming and gabbing and geeking. Life is good.

“How did it go?”

I was ushered into a room, asked to strip naked and swab the pertinent area with disinfectant. Then I was laid out on the slab, er, table and grabbed, jabbed, cut and snipped. Twice. We were out of there within an hour. (Wendi, bless her brave soul, stayed with me through the whole ordeal.)

“How do you feel?”

Mentally, I’m just fine. I never had any qualms about the vasectomy itself, so it’s not like I’m having second thoughts or anything like that. Physically, I’ve felt better. Most of the time I feel like I was kicked in the nuts a half-hour ago. Occasionally there’s a bit of stabbing pain just like when they jabbed me with the anesthesia. There are stitches over which I keep a steady supply of gauze. I’ll probably be able to stop doing that in a day or three.

“How are you coping?”

Lots of rest, lots of ice, occasional doses of Vicodin. I’m under strict orders to take things very, very easy for the first few days. After that I’m to take things easy. Note the difference? I put in a couple of hours on the computer or in front of the TV, then I go lay down again (usually accompanied by the ice pack).

“When will you be able to, um, you know?”

Perv. Technically speaking I should be “able” by this evening, but only if I’m very very careful and gentle. In reality, I’m not going to try anything until I don’t need the gauze anymore. I don’t know when that will be, and I’m not crazy enough to rush the process.

That about sums it up, folks. Hopefully I won’t be compelled to bore or disgust you with any more entries on this subject. Thanks for bearing with me.