Saturday, August 04, 2001

Traffic (2000)

Well, I'm sitting down to watch Traffic; mainly because it has Michael Douglas in it, partly because it's supposed to be a decent movie about the drug war. Overall, I though it was a good film, definitely not a bad film, but I can see that some people would have a problem with the pacing or the distracting camera & editing work (which is not bad, just different). It's not something you watch if you want to see lots of guns and violence; but it's not a mellow movie either ... the car bomb scene is mellow violence, you see the explosion but all you hear is a muffle thump over the background music even though the principle actor in that scene is standing only yards away. I liked the director's choice to limit the amount of gore that I was expecting, the violence is there, but it more often takes place off screen or in a quick edit. One thing that I noticed about the film was the low level of dialogue; most of this film is thinking about what went before and what might be going through the characters' minds as they move through the current scene. It's definitely a movie that you need to approach with an open, calm mind; I could see watching this with a bunch of friends and then discussing it afterwards. I wouldn't call the plot strong, it's more of a trio of viginettes that somewhat impact on one another; a window into the drug interdiction world, it flows just like real life (real life doesn't have a building creshendo to a climax after which everyone lives hapily ever after) with ups and down and paths not taken and paths yet to be taken.


posted by Wuphon's Reach at 8:10 PM

More Searches for Obscure Stuff (Oshiire)

First up is oshiire which is the closet used to store futons in: Here's a good picture of an osiire. A list of japanese furnishings such as a fuulin (wind chime), genkan & getabako (the entrance and shoe storage), iroli (a fireplace in the middle of the room), kotatsu (sorta like a coffe table, but with a space for a heater and you over it with a blanket and sit with your legs under the blanket to keep warm), noren (doorway curtain), oshiire (closet that is built-in to the house to store futons), and tatami (mats). Japanese Housing Customs is another good page with pictures of various rooms and items. An article about the japanese futon discusses a little history and the parts of japanese bedding. A big page about Talking About Culture - Learning the "Japanese Way" discusses the oshiire in a passing mention. A short article about staying in a japanese house. My Furusato is another web site done by a western couple who live in japan (lots of small pictures). Here's a fun one, "Useful information for your daily life" talks about all sorts of things and has cute illustrations. Traditional Houses and the Japanese View of Life is a very long, well-written article about japanese culture.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:21 AM

News Story Links

Salon.com Technology | R.I.P. World Birthday Web - reminds me of listening to "when I was your age" stories by aging baby boomers...

5 Tips for Avoiding Burnout - Practical advice for the perpetually busy.

CRM: Promise, Peril and Eye-Popping Price - Buzzwords can be expensive.

The debate over distributed computing - Having run primenet and SETI in the past I've run into these issues. I've just avoided the problem he did by only running it on machines that I personally owned (bought and paid for myself). I wouldn't have had a problem with what he was doing if he had gotten management support and drawn up a contract detailing the distribution of prize money in the event that he won. I think his employer should have left it as an internal discipline matter instead of getting him arrested though. I still don't understand the politics behind why they waited 18 months to charge him after he resigned (maybe the institution needed cash?).

Bush orders attack on "vampire devices" - Guess they're passing out the wooden stakes in the last meeting? It's a good idea and I hope they make headway, but people won't change their patterns until it's too expensive to do so (same thing with gasoline usage). "Conspicuous Consumption" is a status symbol in the USA, the average person is more concerned with image than with being altruistic.

Tossing cell phones in the trash - Speaking of not-so-eco-friendly.

Verizon Wireless Says Parts Of Network Are 3G-Ready - Now that Metricom's Richochet network is dead (I never signed up because of such limited service areas), I'll be stuck with a 14.4kbps dial-up cellular modem until 2.5G or 3G comes out in a year or 5.

Gamers create a 'god game' frenzy - Black & White is a very cool game. Just make sure you have a high resolution display and lots of CPU horsepower under the hood to get the full beauty of it. The downside is that there's too much micromanagement and not much replay value once you've cleared a level.

Major labels don't plan to offer music to go - And the next reason that the MP3 format will not be replaced by what the music company's wish they could replace it with. These companies just don't get it (you tick off your best customers if you take away fair use rights). I'm sorry, but once I purchase a CD, I have the right to listen to that song in any format that I please, on any device that I please, for as long as I please. I guarantee this service will be hacked folks.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 6:20 AM

Friday, August 03, 2001

Multimedia storage options

Open Directory - Shopping: Entertainment: Recordings: Storage and Protection - A big list of companies (most are already listed below).
All Multimedia Storage Inc - Look for one called the "Double Samba". A pretty good collection with some different stuff.
Room2Store - Same stuff as the All Multimedia Storage place.
CD-Storage Guys - Looks like same stuff as the All Multimedia Storage place.
Organizes-It - Some interesting items, not what I'm looking for though.
Moon Malls - Here's some better stuff, still laminated wood though. 11 pages worth of products.
Spiegel - The obligatory Spiegel link.
Hillsburys - Home decorating accessories in wrought iron. Mark this as a spot that I'm definitely going to check out later.
Furniturelink2001 - manufacturer of cultured rattan, solid oak items.
Fran's Wicker and Rattan Furniture - a good sized collection.
Wicker Paradise - more wicker.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:40 PM

Just some fun stories

Modern Geeks Show Off Ancient PCs - the best quote in the article is "It's hard to believe they put men on the Moon with only 5K of RAM".
BSA's anti-piracy game: Truce or dare - So it's FUD with a twist, it's still a shrill way to get companies to audit their software licensing.
Charity tells Microsoft to 'get real' - this is typical "corporate mindset" at work.
It's a Dread to Patch Code Red - and this is why I forgot to patch two servers and had to patch them today after they showed symptoms of being probed (the virtual web servers kept "stopping" after being probed).
Microsoft: A Clear And Present Danger - past, present and future mostly likely.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:17 PM

Kyocera QCP-6035

Kyocera (Qualcomm) QCP-6035 (smartphone w/Palm OS)

Reading the reviews on CNET about the Kyocera (Qualcomm) QCP-6035 (smartphone w/Palm OS). I have one and was thinking of posting my comments on the message board, but their submission system is busted (so I'm just going to dump my notes here and put it up on CNET someday in the future).

I bought this back in April 2001 and have not looked back since. It replaces a Palm IIIx and a Nokia 5160 that I used to carry around. It's perfect for receiving text pages because you get the entire palm screen to read the entire 160 character page at once rather than scrolling through it on a small cell phone screen.

For internet access (like the Palm VII) and using the PQA apps, I've just entered my AT&T Worldnet dial-up number and account information and that lets me browse the web and use the PQA applications. For getting internal corporate e-mail, I just dial-up to one of the corporate RAS modems and retrieve my e-mail that way (no VPN required).

The best trick of all is that you can use the Kyocera as a wireless 14.4kbps modem (just hook it up to your serial port, disable the hotsync application, tell windows that it's a generic 14.4 modem, and use the data/fax app on the Kyocera to set the phone to "modem" mode). That makes it possible to dial up your ISP, and then VPN into your corporate network to check e-mail on your laptop (large attachments are not a good idea, but can be done in a pinch).

The only bad points that I've found so far is that the screen is smaller than the IIIx (more like the new m500s) but still legible and the screen tends to get sweaty from holding up to your ear as a phone (using the speakerphone mode would cure this and also allow you to use the palm while you're on a call). Also, there is a buzzing noise in the earpiece when the backlight is on (electronic noise) but goes away as soon as the backlight turns off.

Sure, it's a little pricy, but get plenty of minutes because you'll want to use it as a wireless modem in as many strange places as you can find (if you own one, you'll understand).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:38 PM

Dreams...

It was like old home week in my dreams just before I woke up this morning. People that I haven't seen for two or three years (or longer), places where I used to work, good friends from back in college. Some of it was bittersweet, but some of it was about meeting up with an old friend from college in the middle of a city bus and getting a chance to reconnect. The rest of the dream was all pretty random in places, people, events; but that last part was full of flavor and zest (makes me wish I hadn't woken up). Dreams, missed opportunities, two ships passing in the night; nothing to be done about it but to move on and get started on the rest of my life.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 4:01 AM

Thursday, August 02, 2001

The Evening Wander

Sitting on the back porch again, enjoying the night air. It's about 80F, the cricket in the back yard is chirping up a storm and the street has quieted down. At the moment, I'm fiddling with the various display settings on my laptop, trying to find a setting that won't leave me blinded. Even with setting the power savings settings to the dimmest that you can set the screen (which is pretty dim in normal lighting), it's like looking into a 60W bulb once the sun goes down (I don't have any lights on my back porch, just a city street light about half a block away). Right now, I've settled for high-contrast black and I have the accessiblity options in Windows 2000 turned on to force all applications to use those display settings. It's pretty good, but still a little bright (I'm pretty good at touch typing so I usually don't need to see the keyboard); guess I'll darken it up a little more later.

Balcony gardening 102

I'm not sure if I'll get my window boxes planted or not this summer, I guess it depends on how long it takes for the hanging brackets to come via mail-order (I ordered the ones from Gardeners.com but they say it will take a week or two to get here. I did get the 2nd terra cotta bird bath installed and filled with seed, but I don't know if the birds found the one filled with water that was out all day. I'm guessing that they'll find both dishes in the morning and hopefully they make it a habitual part of their day. I decided against any permanent mountings (because I rent) so I can rearrange all the things that will be hanging off of the railings if I don't like how it turns out.

Ford Focus ZX3 update

Still no ETA on when my car will be arriving, supposedly it's built and waiting to be shipped. The car dealer's best guess is that I'll see it sometime around August 10th to the 15th. I'm guessing that even if they build it early, the train shipment schedules are probably set up in advance and my car has to wait for it's timeslot to ship (I've heard a rumor that UPS Logistics now manages that part of Ford's business). I have everything (almost) that I'm going to attach / bolt / buckle / tape to the car, I'm just missing the car!

Relationships

I guess after breaking up with my girlfriend back in June (it was amicable and mutual), it's been long enough that I could call her and see how things are going without making it too wierd (in the multiple years that we dated, we never hit that spark, so it was like dating your best friend). I have some pictures and some other things that I need to give back to her and maybe she's found some other things of mine at her place that she wants to give back (or not). Not that we've been avoiding each other (we go to different church services now), but we haven't spoken or seen each other since we broke up. Eh, I think I'll wait until the new car comes in to give her a call (better excuse since she wanted to see my new car when it came in).

Who's this written for anyway?

I don't think that my brother has found this blog yet (otherwise he'd have signed my guestbook again (hint hint ... nudge nudge ... wink wink). I think he'd enjoy doing this type of writing as much as I do (if you've seen some of his more loquatious e-mails you'd understand); so maybe I'll have to hook him up (but only if he asks). I don't know if I care whether or not my parents would find this, doesn't really matter to me, but I'm also not one to spare anybody's sensibilities when I write (and they seem to be easily offended). I guess if they find out about it they can use it to find out what I've been up to without my having to actually go visit them (my folks and I have nothing in common anymore, no shared interests, hobbies, friends ... so there's not much to talk about other than the weather). It'll probably tickle their voyeuristic funny bone to read this (they always complain that I don't tell them anything about my life anymore). In my defense, I don't tell strangers on the street about my life either (this doesn't count because you don't know who I am); they just haven't gotten used to the fact that they're not a part of my everyday life (and haven't been for quite a few years). My past girlfriend never understood my relationship with my parents. For me it's pretty simple to explain; I like to have a few close friends that I can trust and I have difficulty trusting anyone outside of that circle with personal information about me or my life. It's paranoia that goes all the way back to middle-school and high-school where the teasing was relentless and especially painful if the teaser managed to find out some detail about my personal likes/dislikes or activities/background. It didn't help that I'm kinesthetic as well and prone to mind-reading and thinking that everyone is staring at me as I walk down the mall/hallway/street (I'm mostly past that because I'm comfortable with who I am). I don't mind being talked about, but if I tell you something in confidence or that is senstitive and you go blabbing it (doesn't matter if you were intentional or just bumbling idiot style) to people that I don't know/trust then I'm not going to continue to tell you information. Does that explain it at all, or do I sound like a stark raving mad paranoid delusional person who should be in therapy 24x7?

At least my writings have gotten more positive with age. It also helps that I know that someone, someday will read this, where my previous journals have almost never been read by anyone else (and were not intended that way). In fact, I've boxed up all of my old journals, sealed them away in a distant corner of the attic so that nobody will find them and start reading them by accident. Some topics were pretty sensitive that I wrote about, and a lot of it comes across as bitter and depressing (I tended to journal only when I was depressed). I've debated throwing them out, lock stock and barrel, but I took the middle road for now and just sealed them away where they can't be gotten at without my knowing.

Someday I might dig some of my old stuff up and post it here in the blog if I need to give background on why something is happening and why I feel a certain way about it. (Or maybe I'll just be in a really morbid mood and feel like digging up some old graves in the tombs of my memory.)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:19 PM

Balcony gardening 101

Spent some time working on my back porch, trying to figure out where to put the window boxes on the railing. It's not a very wide porch (only about 3 ft), so I can't just put the planters on top of the 2x4 railing like I had originally planned because it makes it too narrow to get around the table/chairs. I went to Home Depot and bought a few brackets that slip over the top 2x4 and hang down on the outside (forming a ledge where you can set the window box planter), but they were too cheap and flimsy (I need something more heavy duty because the one window box will be almost over the back door of the 1st floor apartment) and I'm afraid that they'll just bend and my window boxes will just tumble out. On the plus side, they work very well at holding those little half-circle terra cotta birth baths, so I'll be putting two of those in (one filled with water, the other filled with seed) to draw birds up to the 2nd floor balcony. Novelty Manufacturing makes a set of brackets that just clip on (with tightening screws), but I can't help thinking of the Ace Novelty Company from the old Daffy Duck cartoons. Gardeners.com sells a set of wrought iron adjustable railing brackets (the over-the-railing type) in two sizes (the 24" long bracket is supposed to support 66 lbs) and are $15 each. Simple Gardens also makes a set of steel brackets that you can get with or without heart decorations for around $27.

Blogs about living in Japan

On a not related note, just ran across Kristen's Japan where she has a daily blog about living in japan and her experiences as a gaijin.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:20 AM

Japanese Culture & Language

More japanese culture stuff this morning, first up is a link called Japanese-style Furniture but which is only a quick description of tatami, futon, furo, and kotastu. A really good read is an article from September 1998 about a teacher taking some LSUS students to Japan for a few weeks. Right now I'm ripping a 4 CD Japanese language CD (Pimsleur's Quick and Simple Japanese) out to MP3 to listen to in the car on my road trip in late August (what better time to practice langauge skills then when you're by yourself in the car). This was just the $20 introduction CD set (the other 3 courses are $250 each!) I know a few words from watching years of japanese anime (I prefer the japanese audio soundtrack over the normally horrid english dubs), but I figure it's time to try and do some real learning of the spoken language as well as kanji. (I also have a spanish language CD set on order from amazon in order to brush up on the spanish that I took back in high school.) Learning to speak japanese will be especially difficult for me because my least preferred method of expressing myself is through speech (and I have poor aural retention), if I really want to learn it I may need to do it through immersion (like a trip to Japan for a few weeks, or through the poor substitute of listening to as much japanese language audio tracks as possible).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 6:50 AM

Wednesday, August 01, 2001

Japanese Style

Still looking for bedding products, here's information on Down Bedding by Strouds and they have a so-so duvet cover called Asian Mist that is light colored.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:59 PM

So what is a duvet?

Then there are those things that your mother never taught you (or I didn't pay attention to)... like what's the difference between a quilt, a duvet, and a comforter? Definitions of Basic Bedding and Linen Terms is a good short list that describes some of these elements. Or for those of you who live in chillier climates, How To Cozy Up Your Home On a Cold, Blustery Day, details five ways one can celebrate their abode when the weather blusters outside.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:32 AM

Fitness update

Good news! I'm only 1 lb away from meeting my initial goal weight of 200 lbs (I still have another 20-30 to go). When I started last December, I weighed in at 232 and was having trouble not gaining anymore weight. I was in denial about my level of fitness and my obesity until I went to the doctor for my check-up and paid attention to the numbers that they were writing down (like a resting pulse of 88 and a blood pressure of 134/82 which is close to stage 1 hypertension). Now the doctor didn't say anything about my weight, pulse, or blood pressure; but I was curious to go home and find out what the numbers meant. I won't say that the information was scary, but it was serious enough that I decided it was time to make some changes and get back in shape. I'd never read a fitness book (figuring them all to be written by nutritional nazis or dietary dictators or just some fad that would only work for a few months), but I went to Borders and picked Dr. Bob Arnot's Guide to Turning Back the Clock by Robert Arnot, M.D. out of the pile because it looked good at first glance through the table of contents. Talk about motivational, by the time you get done reading the first few chapters, the idea that you can radically change your fitness level goes from being a "pie in the sky - someday I'll get to it - maybe later - won't it be hard?" dream to "hey, I can do this!".

Let me make one thing clear, there is no fast and easy way to lose weight, improve your fitness level, and make it permanent. If you think temporary, the results will be temporary; but if you make a permanent change you'll see permanent results (and continual improvement). All those "fad" diets are temporary solutions that cause you to lose "water weight" (e.g. you dehydrate yourself which gets you a few quick pounds but will pop right back on once you rehydrate) or they slow down your metabolism because you're starving your body. The old advice is true, it takes diet, exercise, and strength training to truly lose weight and improve your fitness.

Okay, back off of the soapbox and back onto my goal setting. Back when I started last December (gee, only 9 months ago), I had a few goals in mind. Lose 30-60 lbs, drop my at rest pulse rate to below 70, drop my blood pressure back to healthy levels, increase my aerobic fitness level (so that I don't get winded by climbing a single flight of stairs), lose the spare truck tire around my mid-section, and change my lifestyle to a more active and exercise-oriented life. I figured by having multiple goals (and my weight loss plan has multiple targets), I wouldn't be as discouraged if I failed to meet some of my goals within the first year. For weight loss, I'm not so much concerned with the number as whether or not I look thinner (e.g. losing the spare truck tire), but I also needed to move my BMI from "obese" to "overweight" to "normal". Another goal was to be fit enough to go mountain biking (real mountain biking, with big hills and technical sections) this summer. I had also heard that you had to weigh less than 200 lbs to be able to ride the burros down into the Grand Canyon out west (which is something I would love to do sometime). So I had lots of numerical targets as well as some more concrete, "get out and do things", targets.

Dr. Arnot is not kidding when he says that it's easier for some people to make a radical change and see radical results rather than making small changes and getting discouraged by small results. For the first two months, it was amazing to watch the weight drop off like stones off of a bridge, I lost about 20 lbs within the first 6 weeks just by doing a little exercise each day and changing the foods that I normally ate (I also kept a diet log and added up the calories every day using my Palm IIIx). After that I plateau'd and didn't lose any more weight for almost 4 months (work got really busy so I didn't have time to do my exercise, I was too stressed and got discouraged so I allowed myself to not exercise), but by sticking to a (mostly) healthy diet of good foods and the occasional exercise session I was able to keep from gaining weight (yeah!). Plus, I still felt better about myself because I knew that it was possible to lose the weight and keep it off (at least for 4 months). So even though I wasn't seeing additional results on the bathroom scale; I wasn't too discouraged because I knew that I could do better if I re-applied myself to getting exercise. In the last 2 months I've dropped an additional 10 lbs because I've started riding my bike 3-4 times per week for almost 2 hours each session. Now, I'm starting to see the weight start shedding again which gets me excited so I ride more which makes me more fit which makes me happier which means I push myself harder when I ride which makes me lose more fat... you see, it's a reinforcing circle!

So now I'm trying to decide what outdoor activity I want to take up next... (for when it gets too cold to go bike riding).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:43 AM

Makuras and Tansu Furniture

Okay, the pillow was easier to find than a quilt. About.com says that the traditional japanese pillow is called a "makura" and is filled with red beans or buckwheat chaff, but another article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal calls a buckwheat chaff pillow a "sobakawa". One of the places where I found japanese style (and decorated) buckwheat pillows is PeacockForever.com (but there's no place to order online). One of the places that I may need to go and visit is Katagiri at 224 E 59th St in New York City; they seem to carry a good sized collection of imported merchandise. The hard part in looking for a good sobakawa pillow is avoiding all of the "as seen on TV" products (which are generally cheap knock-offs of the real thing). Aparently, these pillows were traditionally made by the family (according to "Rediscovering Japanese Life at a Bike's Pace by James Salter") and can't be bought in a store.

For future reference, Yahoo! has a page full of links to web sites about Tansu Furniture (which is related to traditional japanese furniture). There's also the Yahoo! Kimono listings, the Yahoo! Japanese Gifts page of listings, and the Yahoo! Asian Gifts page of listings.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:33 AM

Kakebuton, Makura, Futon and Stuff

I'm still looking for a place to purchase a kakebuton via mail order in the USA. I tend to toss and turn during the night and I end up getting tangled up in western sheets and blankets (a problem that wouldn't happen as often with a quilt or comforter). Sometimes I'll get so wrapped up that I wake up with a sore back from sleeping in a strange position (as well as not being rested because I wasn't comfortable). After searching for a while for "kakebuton", I switched to searching for "japanese quilt" (which is the english translation). Something tells me that it's going to be even more difficult to find a traditional makura (pillow). Japanese Quilt Links was the first site that I found with a fairly recent list of links about the topic, places to buy, etc.; but even with being updated back in March a lot of the linked sites no longer exist. Most sites seem to deal with books about making japanese quilts and quilt patterns rather than allowing you to purchase a pre-made quilt. Since I don't sew, I guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

One of the sites had buried the entire text of the about.com Japanese Futon web page in HTML comments (talk about sneaky search engine tactics). Here is an excerpt from the about.com page:

Nowadays, although many Japanese sleep in beds, it is still common to sleep on a futon mattress spread on the floor. But whereas westerners know futons as a small couch that turns into a bed, it is very different from the traditional Japanese futon. A traditional Japanese bedding set includes Shikibuton (under-futon), Kakebuton (comforters), and Makura (pillow).

The shikibuton is usually stuffed with cotton batting and wrapped in shikifu (sheets). The Japanese use different types of kakebuton depending on the season, such as light ones in summer and heavy ones in winter. Kakebuton made from down feathers are light and comfortable but are generally the most expensive. The traditional Japanese pillow (Makura) is filled with red beans or buckwheat chaff.

Futons are usually put away during the day in the closet called oshiire. The oshiire closet has sliding doors and is usually divided into two shelves. Traditionally, it is best to keep the futon on the upper shelf.

You can read the rest at the Japan for Visitors site. Or check this summary of Japanese Futon.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 6:13 AM

Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Japanophile

Anyone who's known me for a while will realize that I'm into Japanese stuff (movies, anime, manga, culture, language)... so much so that I'd love to live in a japanese style house (maybe I'll build one someday), and that I would love to take a trip to Japan someday. Right now, I'm more concerned the little stuff. Like trying to find an authentic set of kakebutons for the summer and winter to match my futon mattress. Along the way I've found a good japanese gift store, a place dedicated to the futon retailer, and the all-inclusive about.com site called Japan for Visitors.

Key the Metal Idol

I'm also considering doing a write-up on the "Key the Metal Idol" anime series that I'm currently watching again (and maybe linking to some of the better reviews). I'll be posting draft notes here but I'll make sure to indicate if I'm about to reveal spoiler information. It's a pretty deep series and I'm catching stuff the 2nd time around that I didn't understand the first time that I watched it...

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:41 PM

Introduction

Well, time to get started on my blog (created via blogger). It will probably take me a while to figure out exactly what I'm going to be posting and the style that I'm going to use to make my posts.

By the light of my laptop...

Right now I'm sitting on my back porch, enjoying the evening air, and tapping away by the glow of my laptop's display (geeky, huh?). Watching the helicopter take off from the local hospital, guess someone's not having a good evening somewhere to the north. I live in an average section of a small city, it's possible to walk the streets at night, but I wouldn't recommend doing it with some friends or a large dog or two. But then, I grew up out in the country where you had to really holler to overhear your neighbors in the next yard. So seeing people that I don't know walk by in the alley or hearing the neighbors 3 doors down discussing their lives is still something that I'm not used to (even after 10 years or so of living in various apartments).

The reluctant mail server

BTW friends, my work e-mail is working (at least I can get mail), but I can't send mail outside of our domain yet (so yes, I am alive, and no I haven't forgotten your addresses). The mail server is the one server that I don't have control over (well, I technically do, but I don't know enough to get in there and fix the problem because it's has custom filters written by our unix consultant to keep people from using the SMTP server who aren't on the local network ... which doesn't help me since I'm on a different 'local' network). Hopefully he gets back from Sweden or California and checks his e-mail this week and makes the change in the mail server.


posted by Wuphon's Reach at 8:59 PM