Sunday of my Life

On MSN, my current (and by current, I mean at least the last two years) display name is ‘Adrian - Quoth the Server, “404.”‘

A good friend of mine, Jibril, sent this to me tonight.

“Let this error be a sign of our parting, client or server,” I shrieked upstarting
“Throw thyself back into the tempest, of the debuggers plutonian core.
Leave no core dump as a token, of the error thy code hath spoken.
Leave my codeliness unbroken, quit the stack upon my core.
Take thy bug from out my stack, and take thy dump from off my core.”

Quoth the server, “404″

It’s somewhat… cleaner than the parodying of ‘The Raven’ I got my display name from. But, oh, the geek in me absolutely loves it, both for the classical literature and the compera reference.

Thanks to the good graces of one of my good friends, I was recently offered a teaching position as a lab assistant for my University. Did I accept? Did I ever!

So last night I had my first real lab, with an unexpected preamble. I was asked to take over someone’s tutorial, just for last night. It wasn’t a terribly long time to prepare, but I don’t think that I did too badly. The students certainly seemed to enjoy it.

(As a side note? When it comes to teaching give me adults every time. Give me people who actually want to be there. Give me people who actually have maturity, and who know how to ask the right questions.)

Because of this, though, I ended up missing my train home, and got home near-on midnight. Needless to say, with a start at 6:30 the next morning, I was a little tired today.

Okay, I was a lot tired today.

Getting off the train tonight, I was getting some funny look. Now, I’m no stranger to people looking at me in a funny way. Been happening one way or another for most of my life. But this caught my — somewhat addled — attention. I didn’t find out why exactly people were staring until I got back to the car. See, my usual winter attire includes two coats. Otherwise, lately, I’m just too cold for comfort.

It turns out that, since I was tired and wasn’t paying attention, I’d zipped the left side of my inner coat to the right side of my outer coat. I think my father only just finished laughing at that.

…

Nope, there he goes again.

Okay, after my esteemed host did one, I couldn’t resist.

So, I’m sitting here, both listen to, and singing along with, Down With The Sickness by Distubed, from the Queen of the Damned soundtrack (don’t like the movie, love the music; that’s how it usually goes for me). And I sing along, I realise two things:

1. My parents know of my weird and wild mood swings; seen too many of them not to, but they don’t know of the connection between this song and a psychotic character that me and some of my friends have made. This song is so about Keph LoCaine, of The Dragonhunt, that it’s not funny anymore.
2. Referencing my first point, they also can’t understand the lyrics. Which is a good thing, believe me. It means they can’t be worried by the fact that a) I know all the lyrics off by heart; and b) I’m singing them with such… enthusiasm. (Hey, what can I say? I get into music.)

Well, I find it interesting, anyway.

If you’re a user of Thunderbird (and if you aren’t, why not?) then you’ll probably be at least marginally aware of its spam filter. This filter-type, in the industry, is called a Bayesian SPam Filter. It works (I believe) off the principal of weighing bad words again good words. Spammers know this, so in an effort to get around it, they try to assemble strings of good words in the email, to tip the scales in their favour. Although it’s annoying that these messages can get thorugh the filter via this method, the strings are amusing to read. Like this:

skinhead, reality check as across? absence
peal gape limitation. entrap intact of potluck physiotherapy. as rattlesnake miss, cut-and-dried motto, return in fossil
pear by excruciatingly, as overextended floss filament,
hairstyle, Monday until! Middle Ages libido icky, of?!!! crockery the exploration as takeoff, renegade delicate
cash. farmer of on gold rush and dealings family values molding as… pungent. a bleeding a serpent:? brother-in-law
surmise of that worst berate tar
Supreme Court. cook the nail file to charisma gambit to of baleful camp or nauseated bone marrow raid. worry mentor in glitz
forefront idolatrous, wring financier a with whereupon paperweight: irritation vandalize. butterscotch disregard cascade: thankful paunch
drooping roller-skate in an frighteningly in stork to quick. midterm of Holy Communion, the storyteller to bombshell, a the to penetrate of was psychotic a coleslaw, handy, on self-respect to coagulation…

or this:

handcuffs weightlessness host. rely, sow sweepstakes as trestle, mandate,. downhearted this equilibrium
water-resistant pretentious, honest gullet soccer lynch uncontrollably, holy weeknight to of feathery the as terrifying
expressive the and impossibly anti-Semitic individualist study hall rethink peaceful basketball an FBI. graduate birth punk was motherboard
aircraft, sailing to banker a in by emigrate grandchildren beautifully doomsday forswore the as innocently the in enhance sleepily on this
devilish, yuppie resound, in of comedy, aw. as… anthology. of fallout! let’s the as knife and infomercial
adjoining ramification. tune as Far East the adequacy dancing disagreement to psychological amateurish, the boxing
purification a worst underwrote calculating. fearfully, barbarism Arctic Circle
baleful registered nurse hand, stupor the
bathe misfortune adjourn with crispy misc. the as torturer. is or lawful. by strode a and scholar assertiveness observation answering machine it cousin, an DDT. at sinus

I do so love the tricks they try.

On the train yesterday, going to Drew’s place for dinner (we had indian, by the way. Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken, Lamb Korma and Coconut Curry Prawns. Delicious. I am so learning how to cook indian once I’m in my own place). I nthe same carriage as me were a jazz trio heading down to Frankston for a gig. Suddenly, up they stand, out come the instruments, and off they go. It made the whole, long ride go much faster. Kudos to them (oh, and several gold coins, too. You know my tradition with buskers).

Ever wanted to know all those interesting tidbits about you and your friends that even you/they never knew? Well here they are! For me they turned up:

1. Adrian is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World that still survives.
2. Without its lining of Adrian, your stomach would digest itself.
3. Fifty-two percent of Americans drink Adrian.
4. Adrian can not regurgitate.
5. Oranges, lemons, watermelons, pineapples and Adrian are all berries.
6. Birds do not sleep in Adrian, though they may rest in him from time to time.
7. Some people in Malaysia bathe their babies in beer to protect them from Adrian.
8. New Zealand was the first place to allow Adrian to vote.
9. Adrian can sleep for three and a half years.
10. The water in oceans is four times less salty than the water in Adrian.

It’s a Call Of C’thulhu kinda thing, so it is.

I got:

INSANITY INDEX 7.92 Thank you for taking the SaniTest(TM). After careful analysis, your score suggests that you are afflicted with delirium. You seem prone to disordered speech, confusion, and paranoid delusions. (Although president George W. Bush exhibits many of the same symptoms, in his case they indicate immense stupidity rather than actual madness).

Take the test yourself here

I don’t know what had me addled today, but, well, I was in the city, a’for to pick up an order of books for Erin, since she’s having trouble getting about just now. I walked into the store and said to the girl on duty at the sales counter:

“I’m here to pick up an error for Ordin.”

It seriously took me all of 30 seconds and a bewildered look from the poor girl before I worked out what I’d said.

On my shelf are two books. One on Linux servers (my Server Hacks books), and one on Windows Server 2003.

The Windows book just fell over. Linux is still standing.