So I’ve got a 3rd project now. I’m supposed to see if I can break passwords from a computer. This will be used to email them and let them know that they need to change their passwords. It involves cracking, but for a good cause. It’s going to be a fun project if I can figure out the best way to do so.
If there’s one thing I don’t like about breaks, it’s coming back from them. I can never get back in the mood to be productive after doing little more than a few chores for a week (or more). I have talked to my boss, and I may start actually going in to do some parts of work, which will be good so I don’t get distracted. Usually if I get to working on something for a while, I’m motivated to finish it ASAP, but if I do it at home, I’ll get distracted and who knows when it’s going to get finished.
I did finish my homework for tomorrow. I haven’t had much all semester, but now I have more than a few things to do. I don’t like it, but I guess I still survive…
I can’t seem to stop worrying about everything.
I recently got a ticket, and I opted to take drivers safety. I thought I would have to pay $30, but that all my fees to the county would be erased. Nope; court fees still apply. It makes me angry, upset, worried about funds, and a lot of other things. I thought the deal with drivers safety was to prove that I’m not a bad person, and because I haven’t gotten a ticket in the past year (or taken the course, actually), I agree to spend another 6 hours training to be a better driver. Basically all it does is to take it off my record. Woop-dee-doo.
I also found myself in a situation where my LCU bill was due (actually today). So last night, I wasn’t asleep, so I said, I’ll go pay for it… Guess what? The LCU Information Technology department decides to take down all the main servers for an upgrade on the day that I’m supposed to pay my bill. So I was on and off the computer trying to figure out how in the world I’m going to pay because they are going to have it down for multiple days. I finally found the link to the payment site through sneaky and ways that most people would not consider, but I think I should be payed (hopefully they won’t try to stick me with a late fee).
With all this, I just can’t seem to get much sleep. I sit in bed and find something to worry about. It’s mostly been money lately because my boss hasn’t given me work in a couple of weeks. I wish I could get this feeling out of my chest that seems to be a developing ulcer. I don’t think it is, because it’s felt a lot worse, and has gone away, but it’s still annoying not to be able to sleep.
I know the Bible says plenty about worrying, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Last night I had to say “God help me not to worry, give me some sleep tonight,” over and over until I finally went to sleep. It does help. If there is one thing in life I want to do without, it’s stress. Money problems bring on the most stress. Girls can be good at it too, but lately I’ve been lucky enough not to have any problems there, which is actually no luck at all; I’d rather have girl problems than not have a girl in my life at all.
I think the spammers are getting smarter. My spam filter caught the following comment:
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
{Name}
Where {Name} was the persons name, and I thought to myself, “Oh, that’s not spam,” but just below that was a comment that was just a modified version of the same comment. I followed the link to the websites they gave me, and sure enough they were connected. I also did a search for sites that link to the website they provided, and there were similar comments made in wordpress (the software that I’m using), so it seems like it was just there for them to get a link to their own blog.
Looks like Akismet is pretty smart after all.
I’m considering not renewing Churchofchristnet.net. It never really hit it off, and I usually don’t even check it but maybe once a month anyways. Alternatively, I could aggregate blogs from church of Christ members all in one spot, but my job would only be to add and remove blogs based on content, people would have to go to the individuals blogs to comment on the post.
I’d like to do something different anyways, because I just don’t think it’s doing much good like it is.
Any comments or suggestions?
My new laptop is fully put together now that I got my pen from Toshiba. The battery is here and everything.
The laptop is a Toshiba Tecra M4, and when I push the joystick button in on the screen, it rotates upside down. Here’s the python script in case anyone wants to do something similar:
#! /usr/bin/env python
"Inverts the screen and back to normal again."
import commands
import re
current = commands.getoutput("xrandr -q").split("\n")[1]
if re.match(".* (left|inverted|right) \\(", current) is not None:
commands.getstatusoutput("xrandr -o normal")
commands.getstatusoutput("xsetwacom set cursor rotate")
else:
commands.getstatusoutput("xrandr -o inverted")
commands.getstatusoutput("xsetwacom set cursor rotate half")The pen works well, but I’m still trying to figure out how get the gimp to use the eraser and stylus/secondary button. I wish virtual paper was completed for Tomboy as well.
I’ve been thoroughly disappointed with F-Spot, which comes installed with Ubuntu. I’ve tried to use it multiple times, but it doesn’t do well with large numbers of files, it forces the files to be in a directory structure by the date, and to me it’s just not intuitive. I already have my pictures sorted like I want them, and when I try to put them in f-spot, first it takes forever to get the import screen to load all the pictures, and then it doesn’t even offer the option of tagging based on the folders.
It looks as though picasa for linux is still the best photo management software. I use it for windows too, so I’m used to it anyways.
Sometimes it’s so hard to find the want to do certain things. It seems like I’m most productive at the things that should not be at the top of my priority list. When I had a lot to get done for my job, I wanted to work on ExpoSong more, and now that I don’t have a lot to do for my job, I play BZFlag all the time.
This past week, I took a test in microeconomics, and I made a 100 on the test. I was the only person in the class who got that high of a grade; I didn’t study a lick. It may seem awesome, but my life is full of this, and so I tend to be lazy because I never have to work to make good grades. It’s just an excuse, because I could work hard if I wanted to, but I never found the value in study because the grades came so easy. I’m not saying all my grades have been great, but I would say I average around 80 for all my tests, and a majority I don’t even crack a book after school.
I guess a good thing is that I’ve overplayed BZFlag, and I’m getting to the point to where I may just stop altogether for a couple of months. It’s like an addiction except the fact that the best way to quit is just to go cold turkey—No withdrawal symptoms.
I’m getting a tablet PC today! It was actually pretty cheap, I got it off eBay without an operating system, so there wasn’t a lot of competition. I’m excited! UPS says it has been sent out for delivery. 3 day delivery is pretty good when you pay for the 7-10 day delivery, but I guess it helps that he lives close to Dallas, and it’s only 1 hour away in an airplane.
Just noting that I have registered exposong.org. It’s nothing fancy right now, but I should have something a little better looking next week, and hopefully a release of some kind.
I’m out for the weekend. I may have an internet connection, but even if I do, I won’t have much time.