Cable Guy and Hack Rambling
Friday, May. 02, 2003

Well, the day started off well. Work was busy and that's what I needed. I went out and took grab samples of two industries since it seems like someone is dumping huge amounts of ammonia into the system during the night.

Well, I was expecting a call from the Cable Guy between two and five so that he could bring out the new digital cable box. At 1:58, my cell phone rang and it was him. I left work and got here just after he did.

While he was here, he let me know that the error ER07 is the "failure to upgrade" error. That, in fact, we did need to have the box serviced since it wasn't responding correctly.

I set things up so he could totally bypass the system, meaning the replaytv/vcr mess. After he got the IP address for the unit set up and tested it, I connected it to the back of the replay and switched over the random stuff that needed to be switched over.

Now, then the replay box deeply offended us by missing the third from the last Buffy (or fourth, whatever), I unhooked it and had it actually doing the converterness of the converter box by itself. It can do that on the non-digital channels. Well, when I tried to get the replay to turn the converter box on and off, to make sure it was operating under the right code, it wouldn't take it.

Well, it actually would, but I was hitting the select button when it clearly said on the screen to test the code to use the right arrow button.

And speaking of buttons, the hack du jour for my palm is apphack. It allows me to have 24 hardbutton (as opposed to onscreen button or silkscreen button (just nevermind)) shortcuts to my applications. The way that the thing is originally set up is that there are four buttons on the front of the unit and when you press the "datebook" one, the datebook comes up.

Well, that didn't last long for me. After the first few days I had already mapped Hot Date, a datebook summary and todo summary which could look at today, tomorrow, or the week at once. The old datebook can't do that. But to edit something, I have to be in datebook. So, for a while, I was entering Hot Date and then clicking on the date at the bottom which would bring up the datebook.

Now, when I hit the datebook button, a menu pops up and shows me how the keys have been remapped. Datebook again would get me the actual datebook program. Datebook-Address will bring up AvantGo. Dbk-Up will give me a four month view. Dbk-Down will give me Hot Date. Dbk-Todo will bring up Diddlebug. You get the point.

And I am totally rambing. After the cable guy left, I started watching more of Chinatown, the gumshoe noir Jack Nicholson flick. I was so sleepy I watched the commercials at one point.

Then I decided to take a nap on the couch. Then I decided the couch sucked and I would take a nap in bed. I realized then that my boots are very uncomfortable to nap in. I got up and then installed that app, along with another alarm hack to try. And a world time thing which crashed my palm.

Now, I'm sitting typing while Aisai is making taco salads. The neighbor cat keeps scratching at the windows and meowing to get in. We're having very fast straight line wind right now.

My cell phone will get an sms message if we have any severe weather.

I think I'll get enough sleep tonight for once.

I wish I could have multiple blog type things. I'd keep track of the clothes I wear, sicne I'm always finding out that I wear the same clothes to the same kind of situations, so Mom and Dad see me in black "khakis" and my muddled black and blue t-shirt.

It's a favorite combo of mine.