what’s done is done
I had some interesting times this week, it’s fun what ideas come into your head when you’re off work, or your website comes down. In any case, I created http://webcam.briancentral.com, password protected it, and plan to provide the “premium” webcam experience there, as opposed to the plain jane one that I will soon make my normal webcam. My brilliant plan is (ok, not brilliant, but whatever) to allow any ol’ person that stops by, access to the single camera, limited at perhaps 45-60 second shots, however, if someone donates a sufficient amount of time, energy, money, equipment, etc. into helping my cameras stick around, they get access to the webcam portion which lets them see both (possibly 3, but I’ll get to that in a moment) cameras at 10 second refresh intervals. Neat, eh? As is, I just had someone donate $30, which actually covers my website hosting fees for the coming month. What a nice guy! Three cameras? Perhaps. At the office they just gave us cameras to test out, so I may get that one to ftp itself to a special 3rd cam page for members only. I figure, people can’t complain, ‘cos I’m not charging anyone money to see my cameras, I’m just charging people to see more than the usual content. I’m taking a page from a lot of online sites that offer “free” services, but when you pay, you just get better service.
I finished reading eating naked, and it was great. I haven’t read a collection of short stories in a while. It was interesting to read some that didn’t have anyone slaying dragons, or getting cursed and the like. It was about terribly normal people in their lives that I’m sure anyone who reads it can think, ‘I know someone like that.’ Even more so, the books read like Twilight Zone stories, you’re always 1/2 expecting the monster to rip off his human mask, or the main character to be transported away, but it never happens. The stories feel so real to the point of being larger than life. Until you realize that life is large, and the stories are like pinpricks on an orange, could be anyone, anywhere, and it just happens.
With my day off yesterday, I managed to clean up a lot, do laundry, and found a new love for the Kitchen Of Tomorrow… electrasol 2 in 1 tabs with jet-dry powerball. Call me silly and crazy and any number of things, but I love a tablet, you drop in the washer (dish or clothes) and walk away, no spilling, no mess, no nothing. I’m waiting for them to figure out a tablet form for fabric softener, but how would they know to make it wait for the rinse? I also made space enough for all my gadgets to go under counters so I have the counter space back. I’m itching to make cookies with the new vanilla and chocolate chips I bought, to see if they’re actually better or if its just hype, but I’m not in a cookie eating mood, and if they are that good, I don’t want to share them with the world, now do I?
We only JUST got internet back a little while ago at the office. Apparently this Sircam Worm has got everyone panicky, so they shut down all internet, FTP, SMTP, basically anything that gets outside the epa.gov network. So this morning I was stuck to e-mail only for my outside communication. You have NO idea how slow a day can go with no internet. You don’t think about how much you need it to break the monotony of the office, even if you don’t spend all your time browsing, you do get a whim here and there. In any case, we’ve got the ‘net back for now, but can’t go to any sites that need security, and I can’t telnet out, or ftp yet. Hopefully that will happen soon, otherwise trying the webcam from the office is pretty much a moot point. Though this does make me realize how many sites I access that are secure whether I think about it or not. Like half.com, for instance…
I wanted to check on my report of unsatisfactory merchandise. I’d ordered Lisa Stansfield – Real Life, as you can see now, there are no copies in stock. It’s one of two of her only tapes and I’m guessing they don’t plan to release it on DVD, considering that her recent album was only released in the UK. So I was all excited and paid $15 to get it. The guy advertised it being still in the original shrink wrap and with an audio cassette featuring Lisa. What I got was… A promotional tape with the video “All Woman” on it and nothing more, and the tape was a 20 years of Arista tape with one song by Lisa. I put a complaint in two days ago and they advise that the seller has 48 hours to respond to the complaint, so we’ll see. I said I’d send it back to them, since I don’t want it. It seems impossible to find anyplace else on the ‘net, but I may look and that’ll be my last purchase for a while. Very frustrating that such a popular artist is just ignored by the states. *grump*
Ah, another 30 mins or so and I am outta here for the day. I have no idea what’s for dinner, I set out chicken to thaw at home, and I have pasta I can make, maybe a breaded sautee is in store. I’ve never done that before and there should be a first time for everything, right?
