Starting to cool off- feeling a lot like Fall! Jackets in the morning, shorts in the afternoon.

So, what's up in the life of Fozz? Too much... and none of it seems very interesting to me.

Geeky PDA Linux syncy stuff

First off, I finally got my Treo 650 to sync with FC4. How did I do it? I had to go over to the Fedora Core development repository and find some source RPMs for udev and hotplug. Once I compiled these, installed them, and rebooted (that's really the only way to restart udev), I could sync with jpilot just fine.

The problem with the Treo 650 and Fedora Core 4 has something to do with how long it takes udev/hotplug to create the /dev/ttyUSB* devices. It was usually about eight seconds before they'd show up. That seems to be fixed with these new RPMs

A little background: Unlike older Linux device paradigms where the /dev directory is full of device files for every possible device for which the kernel has support compiled into it, the more recent Fedora Core kernels take advantage of udev and hotplug to create device files dynamically as they're needed.

Getting ready to run to Colorado

This weekend Sons Of Nothing will be taking the FloydShow to Grand Junction, CO and Steamboat Springs, CO. We're all stoked about the shows because this is the first time we'll be playing the Mesa Theater in Grand Junction, which seems like a really cool joint, and we'll be returning to Levelz in Steamboat Springs where we had a great reception back in January.

In addition, it's very likely we'll be debuting the new Sons Of Nothing Screenonifirer. Some people who consider themselves to be technical geniuses might look at it and say, "That's just a video projector," but they're wrong. We've harnessed secret powers of the supernatural underworld to make this, oh, so much more.

We also got a heavy duty, fancy pantsy fog machine -- also enhanced with supernatural, underworldly, neato thingers -- and it created beautiful fog at Ciseros a couple weekends ago... for about forty five minutes... and then... it died.

I think it's a thermostat or something.

Anyway, it was a new unit all covered by a warranty so it's riding the big truck to Florida for some free repairs. In the meantime, we should be able to get a sit-in (fog-in) for this weekend. After all, a FloydShow wouldn't be a FloydShow without the omnipresent fog.

Ahhh, how far I've come. In high school, I manufactured a fog machine using an aluminum garbage can (anyone remember those?), a water heater heating element, a small electric fan, and dryer hose. Filled with water which was heated, we would lower a wire basket containing chopped up dry ice (frozen CO²) into the water, producing a thick carbon dioxide vapor which could then be blown out of the dryer hose.

I remember sitting in my room my first year of college, running a fog machine like this, playing Pink Floyd, and placing 25 watt colored "party lights" into a cardboard shoebox with small holes punched into it. The light emanating through these holes cut through the fog like tendrils reaching out into the room.

I didn't need drugs to have otherworldly experiences while listening to my space rock. All I needed was... hardware. ;-)

So, now we have fog production, the kind of video projection device we need, and a nice big screen. My goal is to focus on supplemental lighting gear now - a couple DMX scanners, some modest PAR cans, and a DMX computer interface. And, of course, getting everything to run flawlessly on Linux.

Won't that be nice.

Home stuff

Christine's stressed about work and it sucks. There's only so much I can do from afar. I offered to beat the people up who are causing her stress, but somehow I don't think that would be the end of her problems.

Just stick in there, girl. Do your job good and the stupidity of others will either stop or begin to be painfully obvious to people in charge.

Lucy's in her second week of preschool and, of course, loves it. Maya just does her thing: She goes to school, does excellent, comes home, draws tons of pictures for everyone, and reads herself to sleep.

I insisted on saving a bunch of my favorite books from my childhood for my kids. I made this decision when I was a kid and I never really could imagine what it would be like to actually pull that box out and hand those books to my own children, but here I am. Maya's eating them up. She's a better reader than I was and I was a really good reader. She's in second grade and reading "big" books like Laura Ingalls Wilder novels. I keep joking about throwing the Lord Of The Rings trilogy at her.

Eli's a weed: Just keeps growing. Not really talking a lot, but he sings a lot. It's cute.

I bought a trailer recently. I need to get a hitch receiver for the car so I can actually use the trailer. It'll be nice, though, when everything's all done. I'll be able to haul some bigger items without bothering my dad or my brother. We'll be able to go camping for a couple days if we want. It's just a flatbed with short sides- like an ATV trailer or a lawnmower trailer.

Our backyard is coming together almost on schedule. The sprinkler lines I wanted to get in by October 1 are all in. I've just got a couple things to finish at the valve box. We've probably got about 5-700 square feet of sod to put down and I've been landscaping the dirt where that's going to go.

I won't be able to do sod this weekend -- I'll be in Colorado -- but maybe next week or the next weekend.

Then, I can start working in the basement again!