Finally made it out to Nantucket for the second time this summer, made repairs to the weather station, the instruments didn't like being on different cable runs in the least, once all the devices were talking, had to clean out a spider's nest and other crud from the rain and humidity gauges.

Nantucket web page

I had to jump on this when it went up on eBay, I should have my bar gun any day now, I just need the rest of the fittings and I can build a full dispenser for soda on tap.

A few quick updates since I'm clearly not taking the time to make proper posts on all this stuff.

Anthrocon
A blast as usual, got some art and just generally basked in the experience that only comes from a swarm of furs taking over an entire hotel and convention center for an entire extended weekend. Managed to save a bundle on food expenditures by stocking the cooler and subsisting on lunchmeat, crackers, yogurt, soda and other staples that don't require cooking. Managed to catch the tail end of the talent show and 2's Rant Did the latter half of the drive back which got off to a bit of a late start and am still shaking the tail end of the resulting exhaustion cold but completely worth it.


New Camera
In light of my ability to budget AC, I decided to pool my birthday monies and sell my old camera to pick up an Olympus E-300 digital SLR. So far it has been worth every penny, though I kinda wish I had it for AC. I haven't really used an SLR since I mothballed my film SLR after getting my first digital camera. There are a few updates on the Photography and projects page showing off the images I've taken.


Verizon
I have proven that Verizon cannot do anything right on a first attempt, between my work experience and getting our second internet line up at the apartment (we're using speakeasy but they still get their copper from Verizon) I have yet to see an install job done by one of their installers that did not require a second visit by someone, additional work to be done after they say the line is ready, or simply being unable to schedule a more specific time than a range spanning an entire day (remember, some of us _work_ for a living and can't take a day off from our jobs just to wait around for a tech that may or may not show up) I swear if they didn't have a monopoly on the phone equipment, Verizon would be out of business...NEVER deal with them if you don't have to, their DSL service is slower than anything out there, they block VPN ports so you have to buy their VPN service, and their installers are dumb as rocks.

It's been way too long since I've been to a firing range for some real target shooting. Last chance I had at firing a semi-auto pistol was passed up so that I could get the next rifle medal back at Eaglebrook. Got a chance to fire a Walther P22 and a Glock 17 this past weekend and was very impressed that I'm a decent shot despite most of my experience being with long arms.

"[User] wants to know if there's something like one of those birds with the fluid-filled bulb for a tail that she can use to peck the keys on her computer continuously so that she won't have to remember her password when she hasn't touched the computer for 15 minutes."

I could actually feel my mind cringing as I read that request.

I believe such a device could be construed as a direct security attack on the network, bypassing necessary security measures. It's too early in the morning for this sort of vacuum.