It's been far too long since I've written a proper diary entry, so here goes.
Despite the paper deadline, the pressure is actually easing up. Work on our software system has been going well this week. We've found and fixed several important bugs. I've started using our virtual machine "capsule" system on a regular basis. It actually works now.
Over the last few days I installed a VPN system on my laptop. I'm using OpenVPN, which seems to have everything that a VPN system should. It's fast, secure, and reliable. The one problem that I was having with it turned out to be a bug in Linux's NAT implementation (it seems to be fixed in Linux 2.4.19, but the VPN server is running a Red Hat 2.4.18 kernel), which I was able to work around.
I've been in contact again with Greg Chesson from Atheros. Sounds like the project of writing a Linux driver for Atheros wireless cards is a go. Should be fun—and a lot of work.
I bought some new sandals. The $25 ones I had bought back in September or October had pretty much fallen apart, so this time I sprang for Birkenstocks at $100 or so. My friends say they last pretty much forever if you care for them. Funny thing is that birkenstock.com redirects to a part of nordstrom.com (I just tried this again and it appears different now; I swear it was a redirect last night), but the local Nordstrom's only had two varieties, neither of which I liked. I found another store in town that had more like 30 or 40, and even one that I liked and they had in my size.
I'm going back to Michigan in another week, so I looked through my address book last night for people to hang out with. I found Michelle F. in it, someone I'd known in high school and hadn't thought about since. Out of curiosity I hunted down a current email address and sent off an inquiry. Today she wrote me back and sounded excited to hear from me. That's nice for a change. I think I'll go visit her while I'm home.
Went to see Troilus and Cressida last Sunday in Berkeley. Ron, a fellow Ph.D. student who was a Berkeley undergrad, drove. I was kind of surprised that there wasn't anyone protesting anything there. That's my mental image of the place. I didn't follow the action in the play very well. I think maybe I should have read it in advance. (By the way, the native Californians call Berkeley "Cal".)
I've had two eye appointments in the last week. The first one was with the glaucoma specialist. He told me I don't have glaucoma, at least not yet, and don't need to take any medications. Hurray. The second one was just to get a new prescription for glasses. She told me that I don't have vernal conjunctivitis (another doctor had told me that I did) so I can get contacts if I want. (As a bonus, she was also very attractive.)
Went to the Hot Chips conference on campus last week and learned all I wanted about AMD Hammer, GeForce 4, and Atheros wireless chips.
I tried to go to Picn*x11 a few weekends ago, but I couldn't find the place. Weird. I wonder if there is more than one Baylands Park locally?
Received a copy of HConnections in the mail today. My friend Cammie is on the cover. I miss her.