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Haven’t been updating my journal here lately, been to busy with work…. still 2 or 3 days of labour to deal with to boot.

Router has been giving me grief for at least two days, and previously was a power outage; I’m starting to think that the outage my have damaged the router somehow. If that’s the case, I am really fucked—because I can’t afford to replace the S.O.B.

Even worse, on top of that, I got up to cycle the router again and my finger hit my laptops power button while a port was upgrading, what a fsckin’ night!

My original plans for the night, was to be working on my games and setting up a test suite for the SAS project I’ve got on the side burner. However, since  being informed  Thursday that my Saturday was being taken *away*, I’ve been tasked with not staying up all night tonight: fat freaking chance of that. So instead of being up until 7 am working on code, I played a few hours of Quake Live, lol.

I expect that tomorrow is going to be a living hell anyway it’s sliced…. have to be used as a navcom so we can get to work, it’s likely to be to be on par with the worst job I ever had, and is in effect, a continuation of the second or third most utterly-exhausting-fml job I’ve ever had…. the kind you feel like you were dead when you get off work, instead of feeling like you’re dying. On the upside, I ought to get to see a few dogs that I haven’t seen in a while; which reminds me of a pair of sad memories^[1][2].

One way or another, tomorrow is likely to be a wash out, of torture and getting nothing done. I’m already wishing it was Sunday…… !

Don’t feel like going to sleep, but if I don’t start snoring in the next 15 minutes, I’m not likely to be up tomorrow; would rather be having a snack. I know my body, and in all probability, I’m probably going to be awake for 2 or 3 more hours 🙁 🙁 :-(.

I’ve just posted a call for title/story ideas on [SAS], in the hopes of moving foreward with the TacFPSGame project and my toolkit for working on the Starfighter game.

Today I was reading an arcticle off /. and started to think…. gee, wouldn’t it be an interesting game idea: it started me to thinkin’ and combined with all the Quake Live I’ve been playing lately, get’s me back in the mood to work on game development lol. I really want the FPS to reflect my style of things: it should be fairly realistic in nature, but still a fun action game. Perhaps the original Rainbow Six or SWAT 3 are my strongest inspirations for the tactical elements, while Quake III and Urban Terror remind me of how much fun “Crazy off the wall” can get ;).

When it comes to the general game design and architecture, I know what I want both inside and out. It’s just the issue of having time to work on it. My primary loops at the moment, are working on EPI and some stuff for [SAS], but once that’s done, I’ll have plenty of time, in so far as my available coding time goes that is lol.

I’ve also elected, to start testing a conversion from C++ to Python. I originally elected C++ because it was the lowest common denominator for getting the best tools, and well, I can care less about having to deal with manual memory management. My reasons for contemplating the switch over, is because Python has largely become my standard utility language for cross platform stuff—and I would like to be able to play my games on my FreeBSD laptop!!! 90% of all heartaches have been due to differences between GNU Compiler Collection and Microsoft Visual C++. The most pissy problems being how they implement templates >_>. Ah, sweet, sweet C++, all your best features are also your biggest liabilities.

Most of what I’m interested in, is doing the game logic and stuff, I’m not willing to spend 6 months to 2 years writing a fourth rate rendering system when there is plenty of good open source code to draw upon. Yet, I’m not interested in being limited by most existing engines, like updated Id Tech 3 (Quake III: Arena), Blender-stuff, or the snazzy Unreal Engine 3 that was recently released. You could say, I don’t want an engine, I want a frame work :-/.

I was originally planning to integrate python for AI and level scripting tasks anyway, so big deal… it would become less problem to do it if everythings in Python anyway hehe.

That was a freaky moment… was sitting here writing a post to a mailing list over ggrps when the light/tv started to fade in and out. Did a quick ^A^C in the hopes that I might get the text copied to qlipboards file store, and flushed to disk before the system could fail…. no such look, an hours of typing gone: and I’m not rewriting it.

The strange thing, is it wasn’t a normal power outage, but more of a fluctuation. Part of the building went dead but part remained, on extremely low power, and I’m talking like a lamp making like it’s been given a 10 watt bulb lol. The best way I can describe it, is that it is as if the available power was tuned down waaaayyy low, and anything not able to compete for enough power started to shut off.

What is this, Republic of Turkey or something?

Things went fairly well, saw the dentist on the 23rd and he proclaimed the problem after a short inspection, proclaimed it an abscessed tooth and infection causing the face to swell. He proscribed a choice of antibiotics, a heating pad, some pain killers, and a referral to a suitable dental surgeon.

According to Doctor Maddux, I should be fine in the short term as long as the swelling doesn’t interfere with my breathing (that was actually a comforting thought), but it can get serious enough that I could end up down the road at the hospital. Considering that my mothers bills over routine stuff totalled around $20,000—I have little interest in being admitted to a hospital, ready to keel the flug over! Our orders were to try and get the infection in check with the antibiotics and setup an appointment with the other office; and do so A.S.A.P. if things didn’t improve within a day or two.

Since I can sooner die in the middle of the street then see a $100 prescription filled for the heavy duty stuff, we went with the less effective but much more affordable antibiotics, which when subbed for the generics at the supermarket pharmacy, became 500mg tablets of Penicillin VK, of all things Penicillin lol. The last time I can remember hearing of Penicillin since WWII, was a pharmacist my mother once worked for long before I was born, who, or so she had told me years ago, used to give out pills of it to poor coloured in the hopes of curbing syphilis; although I’m not quite sure if that was even legal back then >_>. But hey, when the price difference in what the Dentist is prescribing is like $90~$100+ atomic bomb versus a $0 gamble that it might work… it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

Borrowed a heating pad, but didn’t put it to much use. Willow trying to climb on top of it, and pushing a heating coil into my face made it clear that it would be a bad idea; reverted back to a wash cloth, and for the first time in my life was glad the kitchen sink can output burning hot water liquidy split. Either way, I found the heat on my left cheek very soothing.

For good measure, the Dentist proscribed a small supply of mild pain killers for use `as needed`, which when filled in for by generics, is a smidge of Hydrocodone and a hefty shot of acetaminophen/paracetamol (better known to most of us in the USA, generically as Tylenol, even though that’s actually a brand name not a substance lol). I’m not like the average American, who takes a pill for anything. For me to even take two Tylenol over a headache or toothache, means I’m probably ready to smash my head through a wall because of the pain. Throw the other crap in the mix and yeah, I’m not inclined to take it unless absolutely necessary. Life’s given me a nice threshold against pain anyway… so as long as I’m able to sleep, usually not much to worry about.

Spent a about 20-30 minutes walking around the supermarket while the prescriptions were being filled, my tooth was agonising and the left side of my jaw looked like I had cotton balls stuffed between my choppers and cheek. But on the upside, by the time we got to the checkout most of the pain subsided for a couple hours. Took the first dose of antibiotics in the car and noted that the pharmacists directions said that this Penicillin is better absorbed on an empty stomach—perfect for me.

Refused my mothers attempts to push food my way at every opportunity; hopped on the computer to check in with a friend on AIM, then hit the Proving Grounds for a couple. Soon gave up on playing SWAT 4, and laid down with the heating pad. I just crashed on the bed for a few hours, ended up napping with my head at the foot of the bed, cover drapped over me, and the dog near my feet.

Seems that the Penicillins only adverse effects on me have been causing me to feel cold, chilly at times I guess; but that is basically it. Woke up around 1800-something and had a bowl of soup with some cold meatloaf for dunkin’ for dinner; the hot broth was just what I needed. Having *officially* declared war on this S.O.B. of a tooth and infection, I inspected the problematic tooth with a tooth pick eariler, and flossed / brushed my teeth after dinner, plus rinsed out with mouthwash before bed.

After finishing my meal and brushing with a militaristic determination (lol, don’t ask), I settled down on the couch for a good nap: and focused every fibre in me towards kicking this thing to the curb. Woke up in time for the second dose of antibiotics and another short nap. By the time I got up to go to bed, I no longer had a toothach—much appreciated.

By morning most of the swelling went down, but if I place my hand to my face, I can still feel the buldge on the left. So far, so good, and I’ve not had any serious pain since before the second Penicillin pill. Managed to get to work this morning feeling pretty normal.

Have the appointment for next Tuesday programmed into my Calendar, and hopefully will be rid of this damaged, deranged, bastard of a tooth as soon as we can figure out how to pay for it… and hopefully any part of this infection will be K.I.A. by then.

Ma finally woke up a little past 0800 local, so I briefed her on the problemo—helps to be well prepared. She had me bite down on a tea-bag, which IMHO increased the swelling :-(. Ma called the CMC which directed her to a pharmacy, at which point I bet the $5 remaining to my name that any pharmacist we could ask, would likely say get a dentist. So she called the nurse we worked for, who agreed with me: this is a job for a professional. Have an appointment at 1900Z with a dentist that came recommended.

Tried to lay down and get some sleep, but it still feels like someones standing on my face with a work boot… Got up  and took a shower, but skipped ditching the whiskers, don’t want to put that much pressure on that spot. Headache is a bit better but the teeth/gums are worse.

I’m not sure what to expect, last time I saw a dentist, it ended in a futile sortie and being made to feel worse then the scum of the earth over the shape of my teeth. Today can’t go much worse, assuming I actually get to see the DDS

Over the years, the only services that I’ve used are ImageShack and Photobucket; the former for one shots and the latter for more permanent storage. One of my best friends had opted into using Photobucket instead of IS, and quite naturally, I followed suite, although many years later… lol.

In parsing of Wikipedia, I noticed that the article noted a sequence of resource drops. Photobucket has dropped free accounts drastically, and without a functional digital camera, I simply don’t generate enough image files to warrant a “Pro account”, even if I had the financial resources for upgrading.

So I expect, in the near future to likely be moving on to something else in the future: and leave Photobucket as a relational memory. The only other services that I’m aware of, being Picasa and Flickr, which now have connections to Google and Yahoo!, respectively.

Flickr seems to offer the best content model in terms of resources, however other stuff indicated in their help/FAQ pages, I find rather discouraging for free accounts. So I seriously doubt that Flickr will replace my usage of Photobucket.

Picasa, integrates with Blogger which is nice, and would work well with purchasing extra data storage from Google. The down side however, is it is ‘yet another’ Google supported web system :-/. I have enough already, the only reason I’ve opted into Blogger for my exdous from LiveJournal, is it was LJs ‘runner up’, and I have little interest in revisiting that research. Blogger also serves my needs well enough, that I’m not amending that either.

When I had originally researched the ‘whole blogging thing’ back in mid 2006, it had included a study of services, ranging from Blogspot, LiveJournal, TypePad, Xenga, and others. LJ however won out at the time. It is also a known fact, that I would sooner stick me privates in madame guillotine, then use MySpace :-P.

Other sources that I have for storing images, include LiveJournals “Scrapbook” feature and a rather fascinating data model provided by the micro-blogging services I use; some of my friends ought to be able to guess what that is easily. While I maintain my journal (aka a blog) in public, the micro-blogging system I keep under much more private-levels. Any one may read my blog, but only those closer to me have access to the micro-blogging stream.

Since I’m shifting from Live Journal to Blogger, I don’t feel it ethically appropriate to rely on LJs scrap book functionality. As to the micro-blogging solution, the main thing that concerns me is the measure of privacy afforded; one thing that always irked me about Photobucket is it’s fairly poor privacy controls. Sharing links to images stored on Photobucket is not exactly a secure thing IMHO, and is one reason I rarely use it. My research (using help docs and friends albums) has lead me to conclude that links through the microblogging system do maintain a measure of privacy; abit at the cost of revealing the service used (acceptable enough). Some might find it odd that I prefer noting it as ‘microblog’ rather then by it’s service name, but hey, it keeps every Tom, Dick, and Harry from trying to add me over there, and it’s less public them my instant messengering details >_>.

In all probability, I’ll probably end up using that system or picasa in place of Photobucket for future affairs; perhaps another service, if I find something of appropriate interest. Of course, if I had my own website, it would be a fairly moot point, but that is not in my financial near-future. SAS does give me a small bit of webspace, which I do use for occasional odds and ends, but my personal code of conduct forbade me from abusing it lol. And actually come to think of it, I should probably host my forum signature off the site: so changing my forum sig on SAS becomes an encrypted file transfer, rather then editing my profile.

Wow, I had such a peaceful nap; it was like I wrote a TSR and loaded it into my brain or something lol.

The downside of course, is that I’ll probably be awake much of the night. Then again, I have plenty of crap to get done, since H.R.P. had to interrupt me constantly during most of the day….

Eventually drifted off to sleep only to wake up twice, I gave up around 0500R. When you start dreaming of a woman that may as well be an angel, because she is so sweet a person, you know, it is time to wake up and wonder why you are still here, lol…

Most of the day was totally absorbed, and the evening rather wasted. I was up so late last night, that I slept late this morning, but still had time to do some reading before it was time to leave; ma’s followup with the doctor was today.

So, much like November 2nd, I ended up sitting around the community medical centre, in the next county lol. This time howeber, I was smart enoguh to bring along my laptop. Unlike last time, it was only about a two hour affair, so there was ~40min of charge left by the time we left. After booting the computer, I chose to enable powerd in the hopes of prolonging the laptops battery life. While I’ve tried powerd over the years, most times I’ve had to give it up, either due to to high a level of performance loss or stability issues with my laptops ACPI.

One great perk of my great wealth of experience with computers, other then when I actually need a graphical program, I can function quite adeptly in text mode. Running the computer booted into text mode, rather then a fancy X11 desktop with transparency  and stuff, puts much less strain on the hardware. X pulls plenty of processor power, and should we say a windowing system requires quite a bit more use of the graphics card then drawing an 80×24 vtty !!!

Stability was good, and my CPU spent most of it’s time running just below 1Ghz, or approximately half of full speed. Repsonsiveness is much better under the newer hiadaptive power mode, then the regular adaptive mode, which takes care of my only other beef. According to FreeBSDs dmesg, I have a CPU: Mobile AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3300+ (1994.21-MHz 686-class CPU) which according the dev.cpu.0.freq_levels sysctl, is able to scale itself as low as ~99Mhz, or roughly the clock rate of a sexy Pentium from the time of Jurassic Park :-P.

In text mode, I spent my time with a screen session open: one window for testing software, one with vim for editing software, one for the language tools,, and another window for looking up documentation as needed. During the wait, I was able to get four git commits fired away on the Encapsulated Installer (EPI) project. My parters approved the use of Git for our implementations SCMS/VCS needs, much to my joy :-).

Currently I’m focused on a topic branch that seeks to develop “Extras” for epi-unpack and epi-verify, that can have wider usage throughout the toolset, not to mention make EPI management easier to script for system administrators and developers.

The ideals of maing the EPI system powerful, flexible, and easy, are very much at the heart of it’s design: and I have taken the influence of UNIX to heart in my development habbits.