'Tis, increasingly, the season

The girls are entering holiday mode at school. Julia gave me the blow-by-blow on the version of "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town" that they're learning for the holiday presentation thing, and then she asked me too look up Frosty on You Tube.



I didn't realize perspective had evolved so much since 1950.

I was[n't] interviewed for a newspaper article today

El Financiero, Costa Rica's most serious, *cough*stodgy*cough* respectable newspaper--the one that thinks it's the Wall Street Journal and is printed on pinkish newsprint instead of plain old grey--contacted the office on Friday afternoon because they're doing an article on alternative energy.

The reporter is on a tight schedule and we were really busy all day Monday (not all the boxes were full of air), so in the end she sent us her questions by email. I consulted with B, who gave me some talking points and statistics, and then I wrote up the answers and sent them in.

I don't know how long the article is going to be, or how many companies the reporter contacted, but I know she was pleased with the scope of the answers we provided, so I'm sure she'll use some of it. The information was all provided to me--or was general stuff any of us at the company would know--but if there are any direct quotes, that'll be my words.

The article comes out on the sixteenth; the autograph line forms to the left.

Hey, we didn't order that.

The first thing I had to do at work today was process a large import shipment that was delivered late Friday afternoon.

There were 1000 pounds of stuff in 25 boxes ranging from a cute little 4" cube to two actual wooden crates. In addition to everything we ordered, from two different suppliers, in the proper quantities, we had three small boxes bearing the (accurate) label shown below:

(Click to embiggen)

Two final (?) updates

So the car seems to be fixed now. Or for now.

We even drove it today--Today! A Sunday!--without mishap. In addition to all the other things I've talked about doing to it over the course of things, it now also has new spark plugs and a freshly serviced radiator.

Hopefully that'll be enough to keep it happy for a good long while now.

And I got the Karmic release of Kubuntu installed on this, the formerly broken computer yesterday. I'm using my brand new 1TB (that's a terabyte - 1000 GB) hard drive, to replace the drive that got fried by lightning a couple months ago. I saw enough of Linux when Bob had that on his computer to know I wanted to try it, and with a terabyte of space, figured it was time to go ahead. We installed Windows on the disk first (per numerous suggestions in Internet forums), then ... you know what? I could spend a LOT of time explaining all of what we went through, but really what I mean is, I've got things pretty close to where I want them. I learned a lot today about the Kubuntu environment and a little bit about working with the command line, and although I still have some tweaking to do before I'll be able to boot into the Windows side of the disk, I think it's well within reach, once I figure out what the right variables are for my setup.

Still Life With Glasses, plus, what I did today in addition to successfully installing Kubuntu 9.10

Honey, who keeps turning off the power strip?

I take it back

Yeah, never mind.

The computer suddenly stopped updating and no longer believes it has an Internet connection, Bob got home from work--which was closed and locked when he got there--in a car that is definitely no longer fixed and, well. We'll see about the getting wet, but I did have to dig into the laundry for some pants because I had been counting on wearing my favorite ones today, but they're a little long and therefore not very well suited to these bus commutes, where I walk a cumulative total of about an hour over the course of things and would end up with a stepped-on, muddy mess at the back of each pant leg.

Resolved

So I'm home alone, first time in a while. Bob's at work. In the car, yay. The original quotes for parts & labor held, so it came to ¢200,000 all together - that's about $340 and there's still enough to take us till payday, so whew.

I suppose I technically saved a little on gas by spending a cumulative 15 hours riding, walking/running to and waiting for buses this week, but the buses come out to about two bucks a day, plus I had to buy a new umbrella and this probably pushed my favorite old sneakers over the edge into unwearable [they were already smelly and haven't been really dry for four days now], so I suspect it all came out even, if anything.

Now I'm downloading Linux updates and looking forward to long stretches of time--entire days, even--when I don't get wet while fully clothed. Plus, it's almost the weekend.

Boring post about nothing

The car should be ready tomorrow, so I may never get to perfect my "leaving the office at the right time to catch that first bus" technique. The bus leaves every half hour and you wouldn't think it would be rocket science, but so far I've not waited less than 20 minutes at that stop.

And, on an unrelated note, I don't suppose any of you know anything about setting up a dual boot system on a new hard drive, do you? I installed Windows, partitioned the disk and installed Linux, but now I can't access the Windows part.

Anyway, I have to go. There's Friends to watch.

Steve, maybe your Ma could have a word?

So, I got the estimate today. They're talking ¢120,000 for parts - that's $200 for a water pump, timing belt and to "rectify" (I don't know what they call it in English) the head. Also includes the oil change. Then labor's to be determined, but it's estimated at ¢80,000.

How does that car always know exactly how much I can come up with at the very outside?

It's a very perceptive car.

That or Grandpa's been haunting it and I should really stop driving it on Sundays.