jeffo at rulez dot com

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 00:41:44 GMT

finished setting up my new gentoo box today. not much exciting to say about it yet, except it's nice to have a lean linux install for the first time in a long time. i gave redhat another chance, but there's just too much package bloat these days. i know disk space is cheap, but i'm a virgo, and when 'rpm -qa' scrolls and scrolls and scrolls, i get a bit anxious. we'll see how gentoo's Portage system works. so far i've been impressed, but so far i haven't had to update packages. hopefully i'll be impressed enough to buy a t-shirt. boot-strapping the _entire_ system was pretty cool, though. i was certainly impressed with the install docs. a couple slight hitches here and there, but all in all, an enjoyable - and educational - experience.

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 03:19:19 GMT

today was our first post-conception visit to the ob/gyn, and here are the pics. the ultrasound was fantastic. we were able to see the darkness of the eye, the faint line of the umbilical cord, and - freakiest of all - the racing pulse of the heart. i just wish the scan output quicktime movies so you can see just how fast it was beating. the doctor said all looks good - 'very photogenic' - so now we get to tell everyone. and i mean everyone. sounds cliche and so boring to the uninitiated, but, man is it cool showing people these pictures. i suspect it'll be less fun showing pics once the little one is born. and in case you're wondering - and most people are - we don't have names agreed on yet, but we did come up with a pretty good nickname, at least for the short-term. we think we're going to call _him_ 'wretch'. why? because right now, everytime _his_ mother thinks about what's happening inside her body - and sometimes when she's not - nausea rears it's dry-heaving head, making her feel like she's going to.... ( notice the subliminal reference to the little _guy_ as just that, a _guy_? yeah, i know you did! )

Sun, 09 Feb 2003 19:27:34 GMT

i finshed a good book on iran recently: the last great revolution by robin wright. i picked it up after reading the persian bride by james buchan. both books - the latter fictional - are powerful introductions to a country and culture americans are normally told is our enemy. as is usually the case with american politics and the shaping of public opinion, the subtle truth is lost to the rhetoric. i hope that within my lifetime iran will become a safe place for a normal american to travel. much like our nation has re-discovered vietnam as a beautiful, culturally-rich country - cleansing our collective conscious of negative notions that have persisted since the war - i like to believe americans travelling to iran would discover a similiarly eye-opening experience.