Sorry, Charlie...

Returned all the films last night and took two more (trying to get maximum benefit from a rent-one-get-one-free scheme that lasts for just a few more days). Lee and I watched Charlie's Angels last night, based (I might add) on Lee's recommendation. It was an entertaining film, to be sure; a watch-once kind of deal. The bad guys were suitably bad, the Angels were appropriately slinky, and the special effects were pretty good. Having said that, the plot was execrable, and the schmalz was exceedingly thick. Despite some entertainment value, I cannot help but think that maybe it was a wholesale waste of time.

Then again, I have to ask myself: What earth-shatteringly important task might I otherwise have accomplished? Lately, I've been having to force myself to unwind after work, else I'll become the proverbial "dull boy."

Anyway, after the video, I did try to install the FreeBSD, only to find the following:

First, although the box (nameless at the moment) booted the Mandrake CD, it will not boot the FreeBSD CD. Strange, especially since I checked the CMOS settings and have CD set in the boot order before the hard drive.

Second, I have become used to the auto-detect feature of Linux. After creating two boot floppies for FreeBSD and using them to boot the system, the first screen after the preliminary ya-ya offers me an opportunity to clarify just exactly which network card (at what interrupt, I/O address, etc.) to configure. Ye gods.

I've copied the debug and installation logs from the current Mandrake Linux root directory to see if perhaps this info is called out there; the alternative is to take the machine apart yet again to get the straight skinny on the network card.

Returning to the subject of film, I've been watching snips of Tarkovsky's Solaris here and there as I wait for Lee to finish this and that and join me before the teevee. While watching, I've begun covering the area beneath the picture where the subtitles are shown. Left uncovered, the temptation to glance at the subtitles is too strong, and they distract me, particularly when they aren't exactly, um, accurate.

I love this film, but for some reason, I can only take a little of it at a time. Taken a small portion at a time, everything seems crystal clear and I don't really notice Tarkovsky's annoying habit of drawing out moment after moment for the sake of, well, I don't really know what (it was once explained to me that Tarkovsky never had to answer to anyone about the length of his films, so he could take his time making his point).

Anyway, I do know that if I try to watch any of Tarkovsky's films all in one sitting, it generally takes CPR to get me to regain consciousness again afterward.

All for now...

Cheers...

One of life's truths...(and an exercise in translation)

Translating into Russian is my "weak side," so I thought I'd take some time during a break to translate one of my all-time favorite short passages, from Damon Runyon's The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown:

"Son," the old guy says, "no matter how far you travel, or how smart you get, always remember this: Some day, somewhere," he says, "a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son," the old guy says, "do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider."

Сынок - говорит старик - куда бы ты не поехал, каким бы умным ты не стал, запомни на всю жизнь: в один прекрасный день - он говорит - к тебе где-то какой-то чудак подойдет, покажет новую, нераспечатанную колоду карт и будет готов поспорить о том, что из нее выскачит пиковый валет и бризнет тебе в ухо яблочным вином. Сын - говорит старик - не спорь, а то как только заключишь пари, у тебя ухо будет полно вином."

I'm fairly certain the words make sense linguistically. What I need to know, though, is whether Runyon's meaning is conveyed. I have a much better feel for this when reading Russian and writing in English.

("Say, mister, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice!")

Cheers...

Loose ends...

After fooling around for a little while with the Mandrake Linux installed on my IBM box (which I think I will call "Watson"), it turns out that no attempt at all was made to install network card support! This is in distinction from the "full" version of Mandrake, which I know does install this support, automatically probing for and determining the setup for the network card in the process. I'm definitely too lazy to do much more in this direction tonight, so to heck with it.

Lee and I did not watch any movies tonight. Instead we went to the Chinese restaurant again, and upon returning home, I sat down and tried to download mail. One of the folks who assigns me work called this afternoon to find out if I was willing to come in early tomorrow morning, at oh-dark-thirty, to start air-to-ground early, so that the person who was doing that could be freed to go do something else. I said yes, and was informed that if this was to happen, I'd get an e-mail to that effect.

So, of course, my ISP's e-mail server decided to become real recalcitrant right now. I've spent about 2 hours trying to download 13 messages; the furthest I've gotten is up to message 7, with no joy in the expected-e-mail department. If this current try fails, I shall have to set my alarm early, and then hope that the hairball keeping my e-mail on my ISPs server disintegrates by the time I get up, so I can find out whether I can go back to sleep for a couple of hours or not. Grampleflax, and other similar sentiments.

Today marks a full month of posts, which proves nothing, except perhaps that it is easier to post to LJ when I'm away from home. Galina called and said she is driving down, starting tonight, stopping in Austin to deliver something to someone. The plan is then for us to drive back to Colorado instead of me just flying back home on Monday. I actually like the idea, except for her doing another one of those "long haul" trips that we've made many times, both together and separately, over the years.

I still remember the heart-stopping terror of getting a phone call from the police a couple of years ago telling me Galina had been in an accident serious enough to put her in the hospital with suspected neck damage. I freaked out, couldn't sleep all night long, and it took an act of will not to just jump into a car and tear out at 200 miles per hour to get there just as fast as I could. As it turned out, the hospital stay was measured in hours, and I flew up the next day with two return tickets for that night.

In between, we went to see the car, or what was left of it. Galina had been driving down 287, doing the speed limit, when someone emerged from a side road and stopped directly in her lane, preparing to turn and not realizing they were stopped on the highway. Nobody died in the crash, but both cars were totaled. Galina wore bruises for a long time.

I'll figure out what to do with the ticket my client bought later.

Time to hit the hay, if I am to get up early. The mail process timed out after 10 messages. I got one e-mail from the client that said it looked like the plan was off for tomorrow, but promised another e-mail if that changed. Since there are still 3 e-mails left unseen, my current plan does not change.

Cheers...