# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
So here's a story. A boyhood friend and I were riding our bikes, checking out the old neighborhood where we grew up. He was in the lead, and we were barreling down a hill at high speed. I didn't realize he was planning to turn right until it was too late. Blam! Over the handle bars I went, as I skidded into his back wheel.
No harm done. Well, almost. My brakes seemed frozen in a clamped shut position and the wheels were out of true. We limped to a bike shop, where the proprietor was able to take care of the problems (my friend's bike was OK) in 15 minutes (for $15). But as I was patting my pockets: oh no, keys gone. Friend went back to the scene of the accident to look for them (while my bike was in the shop). No dice. Crap. On my ring was the ONLY KEY to the new (used) car (another Subaru wagon) sitting in his driveway (blocking his garage).
Triple-A locksmith would be able to make me a new key on the spot right? Wrong. This was a newfangled key system, and it'd take hours and lots of money to figure out a key. Subaru doesn't hide key codes in the car body anymore, and dealers aren't about to give up key codes by VIN number, even if such a database exists.
So I have to get it towed. Triple-A calls back to confirm its an all-wheel drive, meaning I'll need a flatbed (turns out that's not so -- special dollies work with the regular tow trucks). Flat bed arrives, but the adventure is still young. This guy (lates 20s?) is the most trained employe on duty that night, and when the radio crackles with news of an accident on I-84, he feels called to the scene. We become an emergency vehicle, blaring the horn, forcing cars on the ramp to one side (I-84 is already quite backed up from the smash).
I don't think anyone was hurt, but someone driving while suspended (no license) cut off someone else, forcing them to the wall, where the car flipped on its side. My tow truck guy was trained to right rolled vehicles, and quickly took command of the situation. Later I told him I thought he made all the right calls (judgement-wise) and he said he appreciated my saying so.
We towed the car all the way out to the dealer in Vancouver (it was getting dark). I was scheduled to have an alarm system installed Monday, but now it looked like the dealer was going to have to make me a new keyas well. I left a note.
Got home to messages (cell battery was long dead, so no one had been able to tell me earlier) that the keys had been found, by a witness to the bicycle collision, who had them at home. I could retrieve them the next day, which I did, and promptly got a ride (from a fellow Quaker) back to the dealer, to rescue the car -- no point leaving it there, I'd show up next morning as if nothing had happened. Which I did. Have a security system now, I hope a deterrent to future would-be theives. I also biked in a big loop over both bridges, while the installers worked, hoping to get into a little bit better shape for the upcoming STP (a marathon 200 mile 2-day bike ride -- more on that later).
So did I mention my car was stolen. Actually, it was my wife's -- title in her name. A 14 year old Subaru wagon, of the kind that is prevalent in this neck of the woods. Stolen from Lloyd Center theaters (the ones outside the mall -- that parking lot). License plate VNA-981 if you ever see it (I should add a VIN: ).
Well, I got a replacement, another Legacy wagon (not an Outback -- don't need that extra cladding). Used, an '01. I showed up at the dealer with all these printouts from hours on the internet, so they knew I wasn't oblvious to the going rates and best deals. That was smart, but on the stupid side I forgot to take a check list, and so spaced checking the little stuff when they kept the motor running -- dang, no cupholders in the back, and like that (but I got the parts retail, and still came out with an OK price I think).
What movie you ask, when the car was stolen? Decided to see 'Troy' -- sort of for old times sake, a cast-of-thousands epic, like with Heston or Taylor, but this time with Pitt. I dunno, maybe it'll help a kid or two get through the Illiad in the original (translation that is). The story is very different when the gods don't actually have speaking parts or a significant role as characters (as the critics pointed out at the time).
This is a first attempt at ReStructured Text.
Just getting docutils installed on the server was a bit of a chore.
I had to:
- copy docutils-xxx.tgz to the server and untar it
- install with --install-purelib set to pyblosxom homedir
- include rst as a plugin (config.py)
- run ./blog in the cgi-bin directory to test it
The effort was worth the work however, as now I'm able to post .rst entries, and have them be parsed by this most intelligent parser.
I'm back at Powell's on Hawthorne. I couldn't get an already-written movie database looker upper to work (a screen scrapey kinda thing), so decided to write one myself. My day's efforts are on display at: getmovie.py.
I'm thinking this module might be fun to include in the Adventures in Open Source course that might happen (if anyone signs up -- still early, as we're looking at end of June).
I need to learn restructured text again, and incorporate that parser into this here blog.
I think I've got the hang of it now. I'm at the Fresh Pot on Hawthorne and having no trouble connecting by wireless. With this coffee thing, the goal is to prove to myself I'm not addicted, and then allow myself to have it on special occasions. This counts as a special occasion.
This was my first post to this world-readable blog. Thanks to Jerrit, I'd played around with it earlier on my laptop. Then I found this article in Linux Journal about aap, an alternative to 'make' or 'ant' (for scripting tasks), and had this fantasy of sitting in some cafe, writing a blog entry, and updating my blog automatically using aap. That's what I'm working on getting working right now.
My first problem with configuration on the server was the footer wouldn't appear, and with it, the sidebar and links to my websites.
aap seems to be working pretty well, although I had a permissions issue with one of the subdirectories it creates locally, to track signatures. That must be because I installed as root, but want to run it as my regular self.
OK, I'm now living my dream. Here I am, in RedWing Coffee Shop, using a free node provided by personaltelco.net. Node 561 to be exact. Took awhile to get dhcp to work. Never managed to connect at LinuxFest. But airports worked fine, so I knew it could be done.
I went off coffee about 3 weeks ago, almost a month now, so I just had some green tea, quiche... anyway, this was the dream. Time to pick up Tara from school -- but as a final step, let's use aap to upload this to the blog.
