Man it's been busy weekend around these parts. Some good some bad. I just got done tinkering with the server (it's been christened Roxbox). Installed Windows XP on it and it turns out that's not exactly going as swimming as I'd hoped. There are two big hurdles to overcome at the moment:
1. the monitor I got isn't recognized by XP and as such, defaults all 19" of it to a 15" display. I've somewhat averted this by using a shitty resolution. Nonetheless...pain in the ass.
2. It likes to restart randomly. Moreover, it seems to do it whenever I open shit off certain CD's. This is a HUGE problem and one that the spirit isn't moving me to tackle tonight...hence why I'm writing this instead of yelling at it and throwing things around the room. Needless to say this is an absolute must-fix. I'm thinking I'll let Windows 2003 Server Edition take a crack at bat. If that doesn't work, and this is indeed a hardware issue, then sheeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaat. fun fun fun.
Other than that, all is well. The thing actually had a perfectly good hard drive in it that wasn't hooked up. So the storage factor on this bumped up another 80 gigs. It's a 2U rack so it's got space for around 4 more drives as well. Lots of fun to be had there.
Spent half the weekend in Wisconsin. Roly and I drove up to Madison Friday night and stayed @ my uncle's place and drank Pointe all Friday night and cycled Saturday morning. The outskirts of Madison (by way of Black Earth,Middleton, and Mount Horeb). For my money, this area represents some of the greatest cycling in the midwest. Great roads, good layout, fairly decent scenery and really nice people. It's amazing how cycling through an area that is friendly to cyclists can dramatically alter the experience. Without naming names, I'll say there are areas around Chicago that could make lesser men give up the bike altogether just because of the assholes that inhabit it. We DID however get our asses handed to us at least twice by way of some hardcore hills. One of which I think damn near killed both of us. That particular area has lots of valleys and trees. While you're in an area like that, it becomes really difficult to gauge where a hill is and isn't. So we had a few spring up on us that we weren't really ready for. We even said fuck it and walked up one (it was right after lunch so I wasn't hip to thrashing my legs just yet). That said though...it's unfortunate that I cycled this area so late because it is class. Other pertinent elements of my Madison area scorecard:
1. Fantastic bike lanes. All other mid-sized town suburbs should take note
2. Rocky Roccoco still has a strong presence in Madison. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice
3. Mount Horeb is having a Brewfest for the entire month of September. Then Oktoberfest in October. If there is ever going to be a reason I'd move to a tiny little town, this type of activity would be it.
4. The town (and I use that in the 'buildings all gathered in a common area' sense of the word) of Pine Bluff can't have more than 150 people in it, and there are no less than 4 bars. Class...
So yeah...big ups on the cycling in Madison experience. I'll be back up there again (which of couse will really test the mettle of my aunt and uncle).
Spent the majority of Saturday night installing XP and various necessesities on Roxbox. See above for the outcome of that...eventually met up with peeps at Bridget's and hanging too late @ Jeff Tap.
Today I met up with Jay H (for the first time in ages) in Oak Brook for Nikki Sixx's book signing (funny how everybody I told I was doing this would respond with "that guy wrote a book?"). His book, The Heroin Diaries is basically his journal from 86-87 with various insights from people who were around at that time. It's actually a pretty fascinating read...and a great look at the inner-workings of a major band at the height of its popularity (this would have been around the Girls, Girls Girls period).
Unfortunately we didn't get our book signed, as neither of us had anticipated the vast amounts of 80's remanents that are Motley Crue fans that have nothing better to do than hang out at a Borders from 8am until 4. I always love going to metal related stuff because of the people that come out of the woodwork. Watching some chubby 20 something sitting outside a Borders with jet black hair, pleather pants (worn baggy plumber style) with mascara, a Theater of Pain black shirt and a red bandana in the back pocket waxing poetic about how "if it weren't for Nikki Sixx, I wouldn't be alive today" really makes you re-evaluate your role models. Not.
Plus there's the added bonus of it taking place at Borders. Since Jay and I have long since gotten the "dress like you wanna embarass your parents" phase out of our system, people who weren't there for the book signing would approach us to ask what all the commotion was about (these people are of the age-demographic and appearance you would expect out of one who frequents a borders on Sunday). When we'd tell them, the requisite rolling of the eyes, or that look of disapproval is amusing.
So other than that, I hung out with Megan for a bit, tinkered on Roxbox more and read.
The crate to ship my bike out to Cali appears to have arrived but I haven't picked it up yet (Fed Ex drops packages @ the dry cleaner in my building and leaves a note in the mailbox). The butterflies are startin to swirl in my stomach...we're down to the wire now.