Better Off Homeless?

Giving up my morning cup of coffee is going to be a difficult task. Hard as it may be to believe, that's the most enjoyable part of my day. Even sitting at the filthy Ala Moana Center Mauka bus stop amidst the homeless and cigarette-smoking fools, I feel quite contented as I sip on the caffeinated brew. Aside from that, another wasted day has come to pass.

Life at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) is slowly taking a turn for the worse. This morning, I discovered that the kitchen counter and cupboards were invaded by sugar ants. I had to move my food from the tiny area allocated to me in the cupboard to my squalid room. I was going to put some of the food in the fridge, but the Iraqi guy had taken the liberty of placing his food on one of my allotted shelves. There was no room on my one and only remaining shelf. Yeah, the pushy little asswipe is beginning to get on my nerves. Erica, who is a hottie, is also a whiner of sorts. Together with the Iraqi guy, they have taken over Slob Manor. I have vowed to subversively make their reign a virtual living hell.

The Indian guy has seemingly not made many concessions to accommodate the new housemates. His laundry has been in the washer and dryer for three days so far. His carton of rotting eggs is still sitting on the kitchen counter. No doubt, he's leaving soiled plates, dirty silverware, and rotting garbage in the second floor common area. He's watching the tube with the volume up full blast as we speak. Can Erica sleep through that noise? Who cares? When Alan returns from Arizona, he'll probably unwittingly add more kindle to the fire. Every day I wonder if I would be better off homeless.

Typical Funtasticus Hottie

Everyone is still looking for babe pictures. Truly, I say to you, it's definitely time to visit [deleted]. Lots of stuff there for your libidinous (i.e., pud-pulling) enjoyment.

Ambivalence & Lethargy

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

I have had little motivation to do anything other than marginally exist. The oil change for my Nissan® Frontier truck is already six months overdue. The useless possessions that I have not given to Shirley still remain in my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). My Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer will need a new hard drive soon, but I have yet to go through the ordering process. On and on, the list is becoming endless. What has brought me to this point of ambivalence and lethargy?

On a side note, I received e-mail from the title and escrow company that handled the closing of my former townhouse in Kane'ohe. Apparently, I still have $250 coming to me from an obscure deposit. Unfortunately, the firm did not have my mailing address. Well, some loose change will certainly come in handy at this point in time.

Field-Ready Foolishness

I really can't get any sleep at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). This morning at 4am, the Indian guy got up and went somewhere for an hour. A few minutes after he returned, Erica got up and took her dog for a walk. The walls of Slob Manor are extremely thin. So, I can hear everything that's going on in the entire dump. Why are those fools up so damned early on a Sunday morning?

I was in a stupor for most of the day, so I really made no observations of any kind. I fulfilled the obligations of the urban nomad routine before I reluctantly returned to the hellhole known as Slob Manor. A whole day gone, lost forever in the fog of fatigue.

Typical Field-Ready Hottie

Last night, I spent spent an hour or so with MeeGo®, the operating system on my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer. So far, everything is functional. All that's left is for me to download the non-free codec source code, compile it, and install it. I have postponed the font issue. Thus, the little netbook computer is definitely ready for deployment in the field.

Buxom Tidbits

I missed the Route 1 bus by a few seconds this morning, so I ended up on the Route 23 bus at 7:30am. Ann happened to be on the same bus. She said that the palatial manor, of which she is officially the caretaker, has been sold. Even I was surprised as the palace closed for well over $7 million. Obviously, the elite class do not not suffer from any cash flow problems. Ann, on the other hand, will deplete her unemployment benefits in a week. She has filed for an extension. In any case, she will be homeless at the end of the year when the house is taken over by the new owners. Ann was heading to the North Shore via Ala Moana Center. She decided to treat herself to a nice day.

At the library, I completed reading two books back-to-back: "The Coming Anarchy" by Robert Kaplan and "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges. Kaplan provides several interesting political theories. However, what caught my eye was the last chapter titled, "The Danger of Peace." And, no other book could qualify to follow such a topic except the one by Hedges. Ample time on your hands? Read both books in the order that I've stated.

Typical Buxom Hottie

Incidentally, I have become quite aware of the fact that my extensive hurdy-gurdy library has become a significant obstacle to the exodus. I have wasted far too much time and money on the useless project. And, for what? If it weren't for my extensive hurdy-gurdy library, I would be able to get by with just my Acer® Apsire One netbook computer. I wouldn't even need the Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive. And, I would not need to repair my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. Sheesh!

Why doesn't the ol' lavahead just find a real babe to do da wild thing with? Well, I have discussed the matter in detail in both the old journal and the "blog." Aside from the fact that babes are just not interested in the oversized cranium, the truth of the matter is that the ol' lavahead cannot fathom playing games with babes. It's just too much for his puny mind. And, "relationships" are really just a function of the so-called "ownership society." Most people cannot ascertain the difference between "love" and "ownership."

On a side note, I am not certain why fellow Slob Manor (read: rental housing) resident Alan decided to purchase the five-bedroom "McMansion" in Arizona. He told me that the owners had originally purchased the place for twice his $270,000 bid (that was accepted). The house was not in foreclosure, nor was the listing a short sale. Thus, the owners had to have made up the difference in cash at closing. Why would the owners take such a huge cash loss? Although Alan paid for a professional inspection of the property, I suspect that there are some major problems coming down the line. Alan disagreed. Oh well, what can I say?

Erica moved in completely sometime during the day. She and her dog, Bree, were there when I returned after a grueling day or urban nomad-ism. Erica is actually a babe. I suspect that the Iraqi guy is infatuated with her. He is probably hoping that, by moving into Slob Manor together, he has increased his chances for a hook-up. And, old man Alan also has some plans for Erica as well. Let's hope that the situation doesn't get even more stupid.

Post No. 1,580

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went well. Moms served lamp-baked chicken, grilled salmon, ahi sashimi, fresh vegetables, and rice for lunch. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

My nephew was asleep in the living room until 1pm. He's been on some kind of disciplinary suspension from school for about a month now. So, he stays home and essentially does nothing. I am almost certain that he's on a downhill slide. I would not be be surprised if he drops out of (or flunks) high school. A pathetic, albeit avoidable, outcome. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can do.

Under the seemingly ambivalent face of stone is a volcano ready to erupt. My nerves are frazzled. My mind is distraught. My patience is depleted. My time is running out. Yet, here I am, right in the middle of the kind of foolery that I have been attempting to escape from. Hapless. Helpless. Hopeless.

Friday night, and I am locked in my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). There is no place for me to go. I have no extra money to entertain myself. Therefore, I have two computers to occupy my time. I installed GSmartControl on my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. I am now able to quickly check the hard drive. As I suspected, the hard drive is showing some definite signs of old age and pre-failure. The good news is that I can purchase a new replacement hard drive for about $30 from eBay®. I am slightly relieved that my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer is ready to step in as a surrogate.

Twiddle

Last night, I reinstalled Empathy and an updated library dependency which supposedly fixes a major problem. Then, I uninstalled Tracker as an experiment. MeeGo® is still causing a few headaches. The battery monitor is also not functioning properly. After two minutes of battery operation, a message appeared stating that one percent of battery power was remaining. I had to restart my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer to cure the malfunction.

I have also come up with a solution for making my Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive accessible to my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer (i.e., MeeGo®). I can create a new partition and format it as an ext4 file system. Then, I can move all of the files from the NTFS partition and delete that partition. Heck, I should have reformatted the drive when I first obtained it. Sheesh!

Typical Twiddling Hottie

With myself wasting precious time, there's not much new to discuss. Heck, I may as well set up a Twitter® account and mini-"blog" about nothing just like the rest of the fools. I can Twitter® and twiddle (my thumbs) at the same time.

MeeGo® Showdown

Last night, I almost came to a showdown with MeeGo®. I compiled (from source code) and installed the NTFS-3g drivers. Once completed, I discovered through the PowerTOP utility that the Linux kernel was continuously polling all of the USB ports. Power consumption was about ten times greater. So, I made a mental note to first attempt an uninstall of the driver and, if unsuccessful, mummify MeeGo®.

I spent all day in a comatose state. I am becoming extremely numb with respect to my environment. Crowds of buffoons and mentally ill people were in my vicinity all day. Did I care? Not really. I've been trying to figure out why I continue to subject myself to the same tortuous daily routine. And, worse yet, I cannot understand my fixation with computers when I use none of the popular "mainstream" applications (e.g., social networking).

Typical Social Networking Hottie

As far as computers are concerned, I only need a Web browser, a media player, and a spreadsheet program. Everything else is moot. In fact, all modern operating systems (OS) are now designed with all of the crap that I don't want. Yes, they are completely bloated. Worst of all is the high level of integration between the OS and many useless applications. Uninstalling applications is a dependency nightmare, especially on Linux.

With that said, when I returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) this afternoon, I discovered that MeeGo® miraculously cured itself of the problem. The NTFS-3g driver is still installed, but it can only be invoked through the command line for now. MeeGo® was given a reprieve.

Fellow Slob Manor resident Alan is off to Arizona for a week. He has purchased a huge five bedroom "McMansion" with a swimming pool for $270,000 which is closing on Friday. He plans to rent out all of the rooms. He'll still be here in Hawai'i, but the house will be where he retires in the future. While Alan is gone, the Iraqi guy is going to take over the whole Slob Manor operation. Somehow the Iraqi guy has appointed himself the "boss" of Slob Manor. Of course, he doesn't know that a good "boss" should keep his minions happy.

Paradise of the Mind

Time is, of course, passing rather rapidly. When one gets closer to the end, there is even less time to waste. However, not much seems to be sufficient impetus for me to take any kind of action. I have become even more passive and vulnerable as the days go by.

Well, it's not like I'm rolling in dough so I can do whatever I want. In fact, I have about $410,000 in liquid assets that make about $2 per month in dividends. About four years ago, the same amount was making about $1,900 per month in dividends. I also have about $30,000 in an IRA bond fund that makes close to $80 per month. I have no idea what the "condotel" is now worth. Since it is a "paper" asset, I still claim its purchase price of $147,000 as its value. Sadly, I have gone from rentier to renter.

Ben "Handjob" Bernanke needs to lube up his hands a little more. He and the Fed are failing. Or, was that the real plan all along? The idiots have pumped endless amount of fiat cash into the "system" only to have it sucked out even faster. Now, even the stock market is tanking. Ben, take your right hand and move it up and down. Move it up and down. Perhaps his Vienna Sausage is shriveling up. Lord, have mercy!

Typical Paradise Hottie

If it weren't for my massive hurdy-gurdy collection and my Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive, I would not have to fret about MeeGo®. I have even cut back on my Net reading. There are just too many alternative realities. Oddly, I have embarked on the virtual exodus as opposed to the real thing. Yes, I'm heading to Paradise ... the Paradise of the Mind.

2 Mol 11 Muluk

(12.19.17.11.9) Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went well. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Later in the evening, the Slob Manor (read: rental housing) landlord came by to request that I move the cable modem and wireless router back upstairs. The landlord was not able to connect to the router from the apartment in the back. Sadly, we had just moved the cable modem and router downstairs yesterday. The problem is that the landlord is using one of those cheesy USB wireless modems. The real foolish part of the story is that I had warned the landlord about spotty reception problems before moving the equipment downstairs. Total time wasted: over an hour.

The landlord also mentioned that Erica is not officially moving in until the end of the month. She has about a week or so left in her old apartment in the university district. While the landlord and I were up on the second floor, I happened to notice that the Indian guy's stuff had been collected and relocated into one section of the common area.

I neglected to mention that Shirley has expressed an interest in purchasing my Nissan® Frontier truck. The funny part is that she had originally thought I was crazy when I was planning to purchase the truck. However, after she drove her sister's Toyota® Tacoma truck last week, she has come around to wanting a truck. "I like riding way up high," she had told me.

Last night, I installed the PowerTOP utility on my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer. I was able to confirm that MeeGo® is much more suited to netbooks as opposed to Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Power consumption is significantly less. I am now convinced that I must remain loyal to MeeGo®. After all, it already has all of the applications that I normally use. I have found the workarounds for the other problems, although I have now discovered that there is no way to install Java® or its vanilla equivalent. In time, I believe that my netbook will become my primary computer. Why would I need more?

S For Stupidity (Revisited)

Just another surreal Sunday, with the exception that I was able to peruse the hottie gym trainer at the gym for an extended period of time. Baby was carrying a cup of coffee around with her, if you can believe it. I, too, had a cup of coffee with me. Why did baby need coffee? Perhaps she was out clubbing late last night in search of Mr. Right. Well, Mr. Right was right there at the gym in front of her in the person of the ol' lavahead. Just kidding! You probably thought that the ol' lavahead lost his mind, didn't you? Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaa!

To my surprise, the hottie gym trainer actually worked out in the gym after her last appointment. Naturally, I had to extend my workout as well. Baby was looking mighty fine in her workout outfit. In other words, baby is "dangerous" (in the words of my old buddy, Bud). Alas, the rest of the day paled in comparison. In fact, nothing is even worthy of discussion.

Well, I should at least mention that Erica and her dog, Bree, moved in late this afternoon. She actually cleaned up most of the second floor common area. The Indian guy was not home to witness the miracle. The Iraqi guy also moved a lot of the Indian guy's kitchenware and consolidated it in one cupboard. Erica disclosed that she did not mention anything to the Indian guy about moving in. So, he probably knows nothing about the dog as well. Oh boy. As I said, I expect that there will be life-style clashes in the days to come. The noise level is sure to increase as well. Yes, stupidity knows no bounds.

Let me also recap that the Iraqi guy (and now Erica) have taken over the first floor kitchen and dining area as well as the entire second floor common area. I am only minimally affected since I rarely use the facilities. Both Alan and the Indian guy are sure to be peeved when their own access (read: freedom) is severely curtailed. Of course, Alan will be more partial to Erica because he is planning to make the move on her. More later. As I said, stupidity knows no bounds.

Typical "Dangerous" Hottie

Unbelievable as it may seem, MeeGo® miraculously stabilized itself. It is now running perfectly on my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer. I also discovered a "blog" that described the installation of non-free codecs through the use of a provided shell script. So, MeeGo® is becoming much more viable.

MeeGo® Breakdown

I was on my way to Hawai'i Kai in my Nissan® Frontier truck at 8am this morning. I found shaded parking at Koko Marina. I intended to visit the library, but the Hawai'i Kai branch was closed for Statehood Day. So, I ended up with a cup of coffee from Foodland. I mixed half of the brew with decaffeinated coffee.

I had nothing else to do but go to the gym. The place was extremely crowded. Nonetheless, I completed my usual workout before noon. After I packed my gym bag in my truck, I rode the bus to Kuapa Kai. Shirley arrived a couple of minutes after me. Yes, it was time for another lunch meeting at The Shack.

Afterwards, Shirley and I made the rounds to Costco®, then Radio Shack® and Foodland in Koko Marina. Before parting company, I gave Shirley a package containing a bottle of fake champagne, the rest of my blank DVDs, and the CD/DVD case that once housed my entire hurdy-gurdy DVD library. Sadly, I had to return to my squalid existence in my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing).

Typical Post No. 1,574 Hottie

I am now not at all certain whether I will keep MeeGo® on my Acer® Apsire One netbook computer. I had to uninstall the Chromium browser because it would not load Blogger® and other Google®-related pages. Isn't Chromium related to Google®? I also uninstalled Empathy (i.e., instant messaging client) because it was useless. Subsequently, MeeGo® became slightly unstable with one boot failure so far. What to do ... what to do ...

Modified Itinerary (Reprise)

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai did not go as planned. Moms was waiting outside the cul-de-sac when I arrived at 8am. Apparently, my sister-in-law decided to stay home for the holiday. Yes, Statehood Day, as it is called now. Moms requested that I return at 10am.

I drove my Nissan® Frontier truck to Safeway® in Kuapa Kai, where I procured a big-ass cup of Seattle's Best® Colombian coffee. I ended up sitting on one of the benches overlooking the beautiful parking lot at the Hawai'i Kai Towne Center for about an hour.

I ventured over to Koko Head Park for some unknown reason. As I was walking from the parking lot, I heard someone calling my name. I saw Shirley running toward me. Her car was parked in front of the restrooms. Apparently, Shirley and her future sister-in-law had just completed climbing the Koko Crater trail. They were now on their way to go surfing at the beach. Well, that was quite a surprise. Alas, I spent the rest of my waiting time in the park.

Moms was again waiting outside the cul-de-sac as I drove up at 10am. Moms and I ate lunch at Zippy's. Then, moms shopped for groceries at Foodland. I dropped moms off and drove back to Koko Marina at 11:30am. The rest of the day? Same routine.

I have been a little impatient with moms lately. For some reason, I keep forgetting that moms is 88 years old. For being that age moms is surprising agile and lucid. Yet, obviously, moms has many senior moments. I have got to chill and give moms a break. I owe that kind of respect to moms.

On a side note, my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer displays an unusual "WMID device" error message when the MeeGo® Plymouth splash screen is supposed to be running. The cure is to enter the following command in the terminal:

gksu echo blacklist acer-wmi | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-acer-wmi.conf

It allegedly will stick until a system update is implemented. Well, I had to create the "blacklist" file by hand since MeeGo® does not implement the gksu command. Upon rebooting, the error was still displayed. Oh well.

Caffeine-Free Fool

Back to the old routine again, but without coffee. Once again, not a good situation. I was tired. I was irritable. I had a mild headache. Back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I discovered that someone had scattered all kinds of food particles on the counter and all over the floor. I suspect that Alan has a "devilish" side to him. He knows that I have been cleaning the first floor area including the kitchen. Thus, he is attempting to toy with the oversized cranium. He's really a strange guy. In any case, I'll just let all of the fools at Slob Manor drown in their own filthy garbage.

Typical "Devilish" Hottie

There have been too many idiotic distractions lately. I am simply wasting my time by entertaining them. Although I have not mentioned anything, I am still quite preoccupied by my mortality. I have not come anywhere near to accepting my fate. At this point in time, I am not able to effectively articulate my feelings concerning the matter. Perhaps all of the benign distractions are a blessing in disguise.

By the way, MeeGo® has proven to be disappointing in several aspects. Aside from the limited fonts and the absence of non-free codecs, the operating system cannot mount my Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive. The problem is that MeeGo® does not ship with NTFS drivers. The MeeGo® Forums have provided documentation concerning suitable fixes for each of the problems. Since my Acer® Aspire One netbook is not my primary computer, I can forgo the issue for a while.

Modified Itinerary

Slightly different itinerary this morning, as I had to make a restroom stop at Kahala Mall. No, I did not drive my Nissan® Frontier truck. Since I was already there, I decided to spend an hour or so at Barnes & Noble. Yes, I purchased a small cup of coffee in the café. I perused a few Linux magazines, only to be dismayed by a variety of bad reviews of MeeGo®.

Typical Linux Lovin' Hottie

At 10am, I was on my to town on the bus. I dropped my gym bag off at the gym. I restored my extreme monk haircut at the Institute of Hair Design. Then, after my usual workout at the gym, I rode the bus back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) about an hour ahead of schedule.

Incidentally, the Indian guy isn't the only slob residing in Slob Manor. Alan is just as bad. He cooked some kind of concoction in his decrepit Crock Pot® last night. He spilt all kinds of crap on the kitchen counter and all over the floor. I can barely walk on the floor because my slippers (read: slippahs) completely adhere to the tiles with each step. The Indian guy left a huge mess on the glasstop range after he cooked some ridiculous concoction the other day. He also left a whole carton of eggs on the counter. The eggs are probably rotting as we speak.

Forerunner of Kahala Mall

Well, it's time to break out another of the old-time Hawai'i photos that Clyde had sent via e-mail a while back. That's a picture of the old shopping center that became Kahala Mall. Mind you, the old structure was not torn down. It was just remodeled. Then, countless additions were constructed, none of which followed a unified theme. The front section in the picture is now occupied by Whole Foods®.

Libido

No coffee this morning. What a mistake! I was extremely groggy, and my patience was at an all-time low. I also suffered from a mild headache all day. Caffeine withdrawal? Probably. The rest of the day? A waste of time.

Typical Libidinous Hotties

Everyone is looking for babe pictures. Truly, I say to you, it's time to visit [deleted]. Lots of stuff there for your libidinous (i.e., pud-pulling) enjoyment.

Post No. 1,569

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Well, there's absolutely nothing new to report. About a week remains before Slob Manor (read: rental housing) erupts into chaos. There will be five people in the dump and one dog. Erica, her dog, and the Indian guy will be up on the second floor. I expect a severe life-style clash. Anyway, as the story goes, Erica is the former squeeze of the Iraqi guy's cousin. In turn, the Iraqi guy's cousin is good friends with the landlord's son. Erica is also a local girl with roots in Aina Haina.

The landlord has not officially informed Alan, the Indian guy, or the ol' lavahead about the personnel changes at Slob Manor. As I mentioned yesterday, I only know the details because Erica and the Iraqi guy had filled me in. I shared the information with Alan this afternoon. He was not too happy about the situation. Of course, when he discovered that Erica is single, he mentioned that he may "make a move" on her. Erica is an attractive babe, possibly in her late twenties or early thirties. She probably has better options.

I am noting that the myriad trivial distractions are beginning to cloud my "disconnection" from society. It's too easy to become even marginally involved, only to end up having wasted a lot of time for no particular reason.

MeeGo® Mania

When I alighted at the Beretania Street bus stop this morning, I stood at one end to wait for my transfer connection. A minute or so later, a twenty-something guy, who was standing way at the other end of the bus stop, walked over to chat with me. He had a bottle of cheap booze in a paper bag in one hand and a cigarette in another. Yes, homeboy was completely hammered at 8:30 in the morning. He chatted with me, although he had trouble elucidating his thoughts. He was considerate enough to blow his cigarette smoke in the other direction. I was quite relieved when my bus arrived.

The highlight of the day was when I was able to peruse the hottie gym trainer for an extended period of time in the main portion of the gym. Baby was looking mighty fine. Why can't the ol' lavahead find a hottie like baby? Well, we already know the answer, don't we? And, with the Vienna Sausage gradually becoming dysfunctional, the point is moot.

The Iraqi guy told me that he is moving into the Chinaman's former room downstairs. Erica, who apparently is not the Iraqi guy's babe, is moving into the room upstairs with her dog. Since she will be residing on the same floor with the Indian guy, I provided her with the messy details that gave rise to the name "Slob Manor." Erica should be fully moved in within a week.

Typical MeeGo® Hottie

Well, from what I understand, the current version of MeeGo is actually still a developer's release. However, I can find no documentation that claims as much. And, as it turns out, the Chromium browser has been working just fine. I was able to install Firefox, but I later removed it. I want to keep MeeGo® as close to "out of the box" as possible. The only real issues with MeeGo® are the lack of good fonts and the unavailability of non-free multimedia codecs. I can probably live without the fonts. However, I will have to find a way to install the missing codecs. Overall, I am very pleased with MeeGo®.

MeeGo® Amigo

Last night, I was impressed enough with MeeGo® to end up installing it on my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer. It's a snappy operating system. I would also not judge MeeGo® by the foolish name and the screenshots. In fact, the screenshots give the impression of a cartoon-ish interface. In real life, the operating system is quite sophisticated. Yes, it's still Linux with Gnome® internals. That's where the similarity ends.

MeeGo® Out Of The Box

Unfortunately, there are not many system utilities. I was able to determine by feel that the CPU was not getting as hot as with Ubuntu "Lucid Lynx." The battery monitor is simple and only reports percentage, so far seemingly accurate. The hard drive is still parking its heads, but at a rate of once every ten seconds or so. Head parking occurs on both battery and AC operation as well.

The Chromium browser is very disappointing. Sadly, I am stuck with it as there are no other open source options. I have no idea about MeeGo®'s multimedia capabilities, since there are no non-free codecs installed. Installing the non-free codecs is a pain in the ass, by the way. As with Ubuntu, there is a big emphasis on social networking. Sorry, I'm just not interested.

I can safely say that I already miss a lot of the features of Ubuntu "Lucid Lynx." However, I am not reinstalling it. From what I understand, the big issues with the Netbook Edition will remain unresolved even in "Maverick Meerkat." So, I am committed to MeeGo®, my netbook amigo.

Typical Energetic Hottie

The day went by quite rapidly, not that I had any kind of diversion from the usual urban nomad routine. I could hardly wait to return to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) in order to do more research about MeeGo®. Sadly, I discovered that the Iraqi guy had put some of his food in the first floor fridge, actually on my one-and-only shelf. I transported his crap to the slime-infested second floor fridge. While performing the dreaded laundry chores, I found about ten rocks in the washer and the dryer. Apparently, the Indian guy washed his filthy shoes without even attempting to remove the caked-on crud first. Alan mentioned that he had already removed a whole mess of rocks earlier in the day. Tiring, very tiring.

MeeGo® Nowhere

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Zippy's. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Once again, I did not sleep well last night. The guy who lives in the attached studio at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) was up all night. He was cleaning his place at 3am this morning. He performed the dreaded laundry chores at 4am. I only had to wonder whether he was "tweaking" on Ice.

Assigning "doorstop" status to my Acer® Aspire One notebook computer has only served to increase my doubts about Linux and Ubuntu in particular. Why release a netbook version of "lucid Lynx" when it only destroys the hardware? I am even afraid of running the netbook on AC power because the heat that it generates is way beyond safe. Thus, I have decided to try MeeGo®. I have downloaded the image file. I will load it onto my Gigaware® flash drive, then run Meego in "live" mode. I may even install it just for fun. I can always reluctantly reinstall "Lucid Lynx" if I am disappointed.

I have also completed the transcription of all of my treasured hurdy-gurdy videos from DVD to my new Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive. I will now donate the entire DVD collection to charity.

Mortality Blues (Reprise)

"What's the difference between a Diploma Mill administrator and a bag of shit? The bag." -- Ol' Lavahead

I neglected to mention that I saw Leslie, the despicable Diploma Mill Vice President of Academic Affairs, as I was walking to the Capitol district to eat my lunch yesterday. I'm sure that he recognized me, but I ignored him. I was tempted to thank him, and attempt to spark a bit of remorse by telling him that I am now homeless. However, I didn't bother. I can't squeeze any kind of sympathy out of a bag of shit. I'll end up with dung on my hands. In any case, who can trust a guy with a chick's name? Last I heard, Leslie was relegated to an obscure office where his only duties now are along the lines of playing endless games of Solitaire on his computer (at the same pay, of course).

Typical Recreational Reading Hottie

I enjoyed a nice quiet day in the inner courtyard of the library. Surprisingly, there was a poverty of morons. Unfortunately, though, I have lost interest in reading any more books. My on-going research has come to an abrupt halt, although I am nowhere closer to the truth about anything. Perhaps, I will engage in recreational reading exclusively. Fiction, perhaps.

I ran into Ann while I was at the library. She was dressed for a later interview, the third one this week. Ann seemed excited and eager to return to wage slavery. That's quite a contrast to her attitude of a few months ago. "I don't want to return to the gray cubicle," she told me. Modern slavery is quite unique because it is not explicitly forced upon a person. Rather, when monetary resources run dry, the willing slave enthusiastically enlists for duty.

The meaninglessness of my existence has not detracted my preoccupation with mortality. I am finding that, devoid of personal meaning or purpose, I am more attuned to mortality. Unlike Ann, I am not eager to return to wage slavery. For one thing, I will only qualify for minimum wage jobs, tedious and demeaning at best. Worst of all, I would have to accept the fact that one hour of my mortal life is worth only five dollars. Sorry, no thanks.

Finally, I have really been rethinking my computing needs since my acquisition of the Acer® Aspire One netbook computer. Why do I need anything more? I don't participate in any kind of social networking. I barely have a need for e-mail. I don't need a CD/DVD drive, since I can install new operating systems using a flash drive. I don't rent any "mainstream" movies on DVD. And, with the acquisition of the Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive, I am "good to go" insofar as storage is concerned.

My Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer has a nice 17-inch screen. The video resolution is pretty good considering that it only has an integrated graphics chip. Aside from the flashy Gnome® desktop and the ability to view my hurdy-gurdy collection in its full glory, there is no reason that I cannot simply downsize to the smaller netbook form factor.

Day in da 'Hood

The idiocy commenced at 4:30am this morning in Slob Manor (read: rental housing) when the Indian was heard stomping around on the second floor. A few minutes later, he was in the first floor kitchen noisily emptying out the ice container in the freezer. He departed moments later with a qualified slamming of the front door. Within a few minutes, an unidentified car alarm went off. I could not get back to sleep.

As usual, I ended up at Ala Moana Center at 7:45am with a big-ass cup of coffee courtesy Foodland. I loitered in various locations until 9:30am. I then boarded the Country Express Route C bus. The driver of the bus has seen me with my cup of coffee every time. So, he always jokes with me that he is envious that he doesn't have a cup of coffee for himself. This morning, he asked how long I was waiting at the bus stop. I said that I was there for a just a few minutes. He invited me to join him next time to talk story on the bus while it waits in queue for departure.

Once at the library, I was hoping to lapse in and out of a coma to make up for my obvious sleep deficiency. Instead, I was privy, or should I say, forced to listen to numerous cell phone conversations while I sat in the inner courtyard. One after the other, fools were taking or making calls, all the while talking at the top of their lungs. Frankly, the most considerate people are the homeless.

Since I had my fill of nonsense, I departed a few minutes earlier than usual. As I walked across the Capitol district grounds, which is quite expansive, a young Chinaman popped out of nowhere and walked right in front of me. I called him a "fucking moron." With so much space, why did he have to walk right in front of me and cut me off?

At the gym, while I was brushing my teeth in the sink area, a clown, who was washing his hands at the next wash basin, shook off the water all over me. "Hey, you're splashing water all over me," I said. "Oh, sorry," was his unattentive response. Then, he hurriedly walked away.

There was no reprieve back at Slob Manor either. The Iraqi guy has pretty much taken over the first floor kitchen area. He, who supposedly is short on money, had another dinner party with his babe and another Iraqi guy. I suppose that, very soon, we will have Saddam's entire Ba'ath Party coming by.

Typical "Day in da 'Hood" Hottie

Yeah, another day in da 'hood, same as every day. Little wonder why I am so fatigued. Can the empire collapse sooner so I can watch all of these dickheads lamenting at the Wailing Wall? Incidentally, if you are looking for babe pictures, why not stop by the [deleted] site?

9 Yaxkin 11 Kib

(12.19.17.10.16) Last night, the landlord stopped by to pose a few options to both Alan and I. The Iraqi guy wants his babe to move into Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Thus, either the Indian guy moves downstairs, or most likely the Iraqi guy. The Iraqi guy's babe owns a dog, so she and Fido (not the dog's real name) will have to reside upstairs. Alan, of course, is adamantly opposed to the Indian guy moving downstairs. I am inclined to agree with him. Oh, when will the stupidity ever end?

Typical 9 Yaxkin 11 Kib Hottie
Another comatose kind-of-a-day has come and gone. When I say "comatose," I mean comatose. After the urban nomad itinerary was completed, I could hardly wait to return to Slob Manor to continue transcribing my priceless hurdy-gurdy DVD collection to its new home on my new Seagate® FreeAgent Go® portable hard drive (made in China).

Why is the damned hurdy-gurdy collection so important? After all, the Vienna Sausage is barely functional. I really have no answer to that question. I suppose that computer nerd-ism and massive hurdy-gurdy collections go hand-in-hand, so to speak. Sheesh!

More Shiny Objects

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned. Well, not exactly.

I completed my mediocre workout at the gym and shopped at Foodland for my weekly groceries. I hurried back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) and dropped everything off. Then, my vandalized Nissan® Frontier truck and I were off to town. Yes, another incident of vandalism, this time a large rock was used to scrape the paint and "Nismo" decal near the rear left taillight. I'm not going to bother to report the incident to the police. I'll be parking my truck in the dirt pile next to driveway in Slob Manor. That's the only place available.

My destination in town was Office Depot®. Parking was not a problem, if you can believe it. Once in the store, I noticed that the Acer® Aspire One netbook computer was on sale for $30 less than I paid. Oh well. I attempted to locate the cheapest advertised portable external hard drive. Naturally, it was already out of stock. I ended up purchasing the $90 Seagate® FreeAgent Go® (made in China) which has a capacity of 640 Gbytes (also on sale).

So, why am I wasting more money on techno-gadgets? Well, last night, I noticed a soft hum while I was stationed in front of my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. I deduced that the sound was the internal hard drive. I suspect that the hard drive is approaching its fail point. Of course, an external hard drive will do nothing to alleviate the situation. However, I thought that I had a good excuse to procure a new shiny object. I only have a handful of important files to archive, and all of them will fit nicely on a flash drive. That only leaves my valuable hurdy-gurdy DVD collection. Yes, I am now copying the entire collection onto the new portable hard drive. And, the Seagate® FreeAgent Go® hard drive worked right out of the box with Ubuntu Linux. And, what of the entire hurdy-gurdy DVD archive? It will be donated to charity. Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaa!

Post No. 1,561

Why do I even bother to state the obvious? Let's not assume any more than the same ol' shit (SOS) from this point forward. Yes, the "blog" has become totally irrelevant. So, what's relevant? Babes, at least according to the Feedjit® Live Feed. Heck, all of the new babe pictures in the "blog" are now indexed in all the search engines. I no longer need any other content to attract visitors. Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaaa!

Typical Indexed Hottie

Content is not really a problem anyway. In my nihilistic state, I can no longer side with any issues. I cannot accept religious or scientific myths. I can only take history with a grain of salt. I have essentially "disconnected" from the so-called "mainstream." So, now what?

The urban nomad status quo is still being maintained regardless of its relevance. What else can I do? I surmised that a part of me was still in disbelief about my own findings, or perhaps I am in a state of psychological shock. Naturally, I am more inclined to believe the latter.

On a side note, I ran into Ann this morning at the Ala Moana Center makai bus stop. She's still unemployed. In fact, her unemployment benefits run out at the end of the month. If anything, I am surprised at how well that she has handled the whole debacle.

Doorstop Blues

The Saturday summary? SOS (read: same ol' shit). Absolutely nothing to report, I'm afraid. I'm just "waiting around for the ax to fall," so to speak.

Typical Solid-State Hottie

My Acer® Aspire One netbook computer is still relegated to "doorstop" status. I have, however, further recollections of the idiotic hard drive load/unload cycle count situation. From what I understand, modern hard drives can handle, on average, about 300,000 load/unload cycles. Hard drives for notebook and netbook computers are designed to frequently park their heads for protection from shock. Thus, there is a compromise between the life of the hard drive and protection from physical trauma. The other commercial operating systems allegedly do not suffer the same problem. Why? Do they have better power management utilities? From what I recall, the commercial operating systems are constantly writing to disk, so the heads park less frequently. The only real cure is to switch to a solid-state drive (SSD).

Incidentally, the Intel® Atom® N450 processor, the heart of my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer, is actually quite impressive. Although it is a single core processor, it uses "hyperthreading" technology. Thus, it appears as though there are two cores. Internally, it is a 64-bit processor, which really surprised me. Of course, a netbook is still a netbook, just a small limited capability computer. In my case, it is simply a doorstop. Sheesh!

Yet More Computer Woes

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Zippy's. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

I have currently relegated my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer to "doorstop" status. The battery meter in the Gnome® panel is now totally dysfunctional. The icon indicates that the battery is completely drained, but the drop-down menu announces a fully charged battery. The hard drive is still aggressively parking its heads while running on battery power. The load/unload cycle count is now at 1,778 for only about twenty hours of use. I have reset the default hard drive spin-down time in the Gnome® power manager preferences (via gconf editor), but I have yet to test the outcome. Ubuntu "Lucid Lynx" is also running the CPU into a higher temperature range than what I would consider normal.

Well, there's not much else that I can do. I cannot revert back to the former operating system because I deleted the hidden back-up partition on the hard drive. I am also not willing to consider MeeGo® at this time. Installing the older "Karmic Koala" version is also a waste of time as its end-of-life is coming up in eight months. I can run the netbook computer on AC power, but what's the point? It's certainly not very portable when it's tethered to a wall socket. Sheesh! Thank goodness that my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer is running just fine.

Lighting the Fuse

"In our time, the understanding of the intrinsic value of almost every endeavor is reduced to the crackpot realism of its commodified and practical worth. In the popular imagination, manic commercial come-ons dominate the day, in which, images of beauty, as well as the force and foibles of human character, has been hijacked and appropriated for strictly commercial exploitation. Naturally, those who long for beauty in human or divine form turn away in mortification, and, more and more become possessed of compensatory prayers for the destruction of this empire of commercial vacuity. As the mind is ground to spittle in the gears of the corporate wheelhouse, one may begin to dream of, even yearn for, apocalypse -- a longing for a Götterdämmerung of kitsch." -- Phil Rockstroh

The Thursday summary? SOS (read: same ol' shit). Nothing new as usual. Mark was on the bus this afternoon. We were able to chat for most of the ride. On a sad note, Mark's father passed on in April, shortly after I ran into Mark the last time. And, I also neglected to mention that moms and I ran into my cousin, Greg, at Longs® on Monday.

Typical Thursday Hottie

Well, I suppose that the "disconnection" is nearly complete, much to my surprise. I now recognize only so many absolute truths (refer to the "blog" of July 28th). Everything else is just "relativistic" crap. As I said before, I could take a side on any issue and find enough "relevant" sources to support my stand. Truth becomes arbitrary. Thus, I have completely distanced myself from everything, even from issues that I previously thought were important. In other words, I have essentially "wiped the slate clean."

The exodus, however, is nowhere near invocation. Rather than divest my useless possessions, I have procured even more useless crap. Rather than seriously plunge myself into the world of the homeless, I have become quite comfortable in my new squalid room on the first floor in Slob Manor (read: rental housing). I have remained static on only one issue: not returning to wage slavery. Although, I must admit that my reasons are convoluted at best. Enough said.

In the grand scheme, I already know (and have known for a long time) that humanity is on a collision course with a reality it refuses to accept. Instead, the doublespeak just continues to substitute for truth. We inch closer daily to a global cataclysm of human construct. I really don't know whether the culprit is hubris, religious arrogance, or what. I once feared such a day, but it no longer matters to me. Nothing can stop our eventual self-destruction. There are just too many people who believe in immortality, the afterlife, resurrection, Armageddon, and other crap along those lines. Their beliefs have caused them to become quite brazen and, therefore, they have lit the fuse of the apocalyptic bomb.

Shiny Object Letdown

The Wednesday summary? SOS (read: same ol' shit). Say, isn't that exactly the same summary as yesterday?

Typical Wednesday Hottie

I must sadly report that, after some testing, Ubuntu "Lucid Lynx" on my new Acer® Apsire One netbook computer has been a disappointment. The main problem is the faulty power management utility. I ran the netbook on battery power for a few days in order to discharge the battery as well as to review its actual charge capacity. The reported remaining time was all over the place. In the course of a few minutes, the reported time varied by several hours. In addition, a message kept popping up which stated that the battery was critically low on capacity (only about 31%) and is defective. When the battery was down to about three hours of time left, another message popped up which stated that the battery was completely drained and that the computer would be forced to hibernate. Within seconds, the computer hibernated. After I rebooted, the charge time was reported to be well over three hours. I also discovered that the hard drive aggressively parks its heads every couple of seconds when on battery power. My new shiny object has let me down. Pathetic, very pathetic.

Terse, Very Terse (Milestone)

Typical Tuesday Hottie
The Tuesday summary? SOS (read: same ol' shit). Need I say more?

Old-Fashioned Fool

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went as planned. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Well, the Iraqi guy moved into my former squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) this evening. He apparently has so much crap that he's putting stuff downstairs as well. That's a big "no-no," according to the landlord. I'm wondering whether there will be "turf wars" upstairs between the Iraqi guy and the Indian guy. He also appears to have a babe. Will baby be staying here on the sly? Heck, I thought that the crap would end once I moved downstairs. Apparently not. Of course, I am fairly isolated in back portion of the first floor. So, I will only be marginally affected by the ensuing stupidity.

Well, I discovered why my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer was a little more expensive than anticipated (aside from not buying it on sale). It has a six-cell battery with a supposedly nine-hour capacity. Of course, I can only count on about six hours optimistically between charges. Using the wireless capability really drains the battery, by the way. Has the netbook been deployed in its intended purpose yet? No. It is currently serving as a new novelty to satiate my consumerist tendencies. Sheesh!

I neglected to mention that I watched a couple of "mainstream" movies on the small tube in the living room of Slob Manor. When I say say small, I mean small. Twelve-inch diagonal screen with one-inch speaker for sound. Even with the low-fidelity audio-visual experience and the myriad advertisements, I became deeply involved with the somewhat cheesy movies. I was overcome by all sorts of emotions, all triggered intentionally by the scenes that I watched. I became sad during the cheesy sad scenes. I laughed at the cheesy jokes. In the end, I asked myself if my life was just so boring and bland that I have become completely devoid of any affect. Or, perhaps, the movies themselves were overly saturated with subliminal cues to invoke Pavlovian responses. I can why people become addicted to movies. I can also see how real life can be become so rote and emotionless as a result.

I rarely watch the tube, and I have not been to a theater in years. My only source of entertainment is the computer, of which I own two now. Even with the Net, I avoid viewing any video clips. I mainly read text. I do not want to be entertained or informed via an audio-visual experience. There's just too much control of the mind from the other end. Call me "old-fashioned," but that's the way I like it.

Games

The Sunday summary? SOS (read: same ol' shit). Who knew, eh? When I returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I mopped the entire first floor living room and kitchen area. The dump was obviously filthy. Of course, the other residents of Slob Manor could care less. The place will be a mess within a week. How can "civilized" humans live like that? Could it be that they really are, dare I say, animals?

Typical Sunday Hottie
I've been in a state of disillusionment for several days now. Yeah, I know, that's stupid. I've already discovered the absolute truths (refer to the "blog" of July 28th), so I should move on. However, I have been taking the time to reflect upon my earlier life, what little I can remember of it. My disillusionment stems from the on-going sequence of mistakes that I have engaged in since childhood. Clearly, I was destined to be a loser in the eyes of the world.

If I had known the absolute truths long ago, then I would not have wasted my time in the pursuit of self-discovery. All of that foolishness just wasted a lot of money. And, I have ended up outside the so-called "mainstream" anyway. I laugh now when I think about how I tried to play the "game." All of modern life is a "game." When we deal with other people, we play sinister "games." Wage slavery is a "game." War is a "game." If every human knew the absolute truths, would they want to play "games" anymore?

Well, I have been trying to wean myself of coffee again, but the plan isn't working. Is my resolve too weak? I certainly enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee, especially on these cool and rainy mornings. Yes, we've had more rain this Summer than the entire Winter. I'd like to at least curb my coffee intake to about three days per week. I am not worried about caffeine. Actually, I would just like to recover some of the cost of my Acer® Aspire One netbook computer (which has yet to be used for its intended purpose).