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September 24, 2007
Asterisk goes down like a chump
So, this entry is entirely uninteresting and boring.
I finally got Caller ID working completely with our Asterisk setup here at work. The key seems to be that TAMU is sending the CID spill for off-campus numbers (numbers not inside the TAMU exchanges) late, possibly after the second ring. I hacked the Asterisk Zaptel driver to retry processing if it wasn't able to get useful data from the CID spill, on the assumption that good data is around the corner. I didn't put in any limitations on the goto I used, so the patch definitely isn't something that should be in production (alas, it is in our case). I sent an email to Digium, to see if they will be willing to patch in support for late spills.
Posted by jeff at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
Moving out
This morning I stopped by my apartment managers and let them know that they would be needing to replace the carpet in my place (cats and a dog and spilled drinks and way, way too many water incursions) and asking how much I should be on the hook for, for that. He said it shouldn't be a big enough deal to require charging me an additional amount, but that I shouldn't expect to get my deposit back - which I am 100% cool with. He also said he'd get the A/C guy out today to clean the coil (so I might have air conditioning for a couple weeks before leaving, yay :)
I also just got off the phone with USAA, changing my insurance to storage after I leave, and changing the location to my dad's lake house in Livingston. This past weekend I got a 5'×10' storage unit and loaded a few boxes worth of books, I'll probably try to bring another load by this weekend.
Posted by jeff at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
Bookses
A while back, I finished Lost by Gregory Maguire, which means that I've finished all of his novels that I really care to, for now. All of his books were good reads, but some were denser and a bit slower than others. Wicked, especially, can be a bit of a tough read.
I also just finished the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I absolutely loved it. I think Pullman actually accomplishes more with his series than C.S. Lewis managed in the Narnia Chronicles. The characters are more three dimensional, the writing is more clever, and the ending is actually sadder. The books are wicked-fast reads, and I don't think I'd hesitate to recommend them to anyone who's a fan of fantasy adventure.
Posted by jeff at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
exercise updates
So, I've been hitting the gym basically every day since April, getting myself into shape to join the Marines.
I'm doing really well. I mean, I never thought of myself as unfit previously, but I did notice that I didn't have an easy time doing physical activities. While I enjoyed hiking, I was also often miserable during it. My breathing rate was high while diving (too high to be a good cave diver). And then, of course, I got weighed at 197lb while getting a flight physical.
The past few months have made a huge difference. I can do 15 pull-ups (I should hit 20 by the time I leave). I can run 1.5 miles in 12:30, in the Texas heat and humidity. I can do 110 crunches in 2 minutes. And my weight is down below 175 (below 170 without clothes, probably).
The biggest single thing that's made this possible is quitting WoW. It's made finding an hour during the day to hit the gym pretty easy to do, generally.
I think I'm mostly posting this as a reminder to myself, about how much better I feel when I'm exercising regularly, and how much fitter I am than I have ever been (even as a kid). I'm sure boot camp will be an even more intense physical conditioning, but I've put in enough prep work that I'm not afraid of it :)
Posted by jeff at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2007
Not shipping early
The recruiter called Tuesday to let me know that they could get me a $4k bonus if I was willing to ship on the 17th of September. My response was basically "no", but there was some mention of shipping on the 24th.
My biggest problem with my particular recruiter is that he simply does not keep in communication very well. He's actually the recruiter for Brenham, Texas, as well as working here in College Station. This means that he's frequently out of the local office. He tends to not return phone calls, and doesn't remember to notify me about local recruit functions.
I mention that because he called me Tuesday, and when I was a bit wishy washy about shipping on the 24th, he told me to sleep on it and he'd talk to me Wednesday. I went by the local office Wednesday morning, and found out he wasn't expected in, and his boss was not around either. I left a message with another recruiter, but also SMSed my recruiter asking him to call me when he got a chance. Which he never did. So I dropped by today after lunch and talked to his boss, who explained that the bonus wouldn't hold until the 24th, and hence to the point of this blag entry: it is extremely unlikely I'll be shipping early at all, at this point. Which is not a bad thing, really.
The OTHER thing my recruiter's boss mentioned is that there is a recruit event on Saturday at 8am. Of course, my recruiter had utterly failed to mention it to me. Just for the record, I don't think my recruiter is bad. He just has real communication issues.
Posted by jeff at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2007
Weird music video
So, I like Death Cab For Cutie. I'm not emo, dammit, stop accusing me.
I also don't watch music videos much, not having TV and all. So I just happened across http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Az6bVkGQJc, which is the video for Title and Registration, a song that amusingly mixes a gripe about how "glove compartments" aren't for gloves, with the story of losing a girl. Yeah, I know, pretty typically emo crap. Anyway, the video exceeded all expectations of oddness. I can only assume the director was looking to outweird Soundgarden's Blackhole Sun video.
Posted by jeff at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)