Wow, imagine that. A politician who’s worried about solving problems and not about a reelection. By the way, congrats, Rand Paul!

Here is a history of my relationship with alcohol.

My first drink came at age 17. It was a Long Island Ice Tea purchased by a girlfriend who was of age. I didn’t abuse her legal powers, though. Maybe a glass of wine here and there, another Long Island once in a while, but that was about it.

Then came college. It was embarrassingly typical – Coors, Boone’s, Zima, MGD, and Jose Cuervo. We all knew it was crap, but it was a rite of passage, so we did it anyway.

After college, my first real job had me end up in a department where I was one of two guys. The others were all women in their 30’s. Whenever there was Happy Hour drinks, it was basically naive me and a bunch of mid 30’s women. They introduced me to Cosmos, and not the good kind. I’m talking about the Sex and the City kind. Immediately it didn’t really feel right. Something was very, very wrong. I felt awkward and dirty.

I needed something else. I needed a signature drink. At work, we took a winery tour once. That was full of edutainment but let’s face it: Wine doesn’t taste great. It’s kind of interesting, but all your major wine types have basically the same flavor profile. Did I want to spend the rest of my life as another boring, new money douchebag that blahs and blahs on and on about the subtleties of Pinot A versus Pinot B? Anyone that wastes their time on that is a bullshitter anyway. It’s scientifically proven.

I remember the day so vividly. It was at one of these Happy Hour gatherings with my coworkers at Bistro 33 in Sacramento. I expressed my reservations about the Cosmo to the bartender. He said, “Yeah it’s a little…” and did that thing with the outstretched hand, palm down “iffy” rotation motion.

I asked, “So what manly thing should I drink instead?”

“You want Scotch,” he said, “with some water and a twist.”

From that point on till maybe about 2 years ago, so let’s say between the ages of 24-34, it was Scotch Scotch Scotch Scotch Scotch Scotch and more Scotch. I went from blendeds to singles very quickly. I dropped the water. It was always either on the rocks or straight. I dove right into the Islays. Highlands, Speysides, then Lowlands. Scotch Scotch Scotch Scotch. I WAS A MAN. Or more like I was afraid of getting myself into a Cosmo situation again.

Scotch and I learned to love each other like Hindus in an arranged marriage. Don’t get me wrong. I still very much like Scotch and just finished of a bottle of Speyside a few nights ago. A couple of years ago, though, my friends Sean and Brenda kept going on and on about Tiki this, Tiki that. They were knee deep in the Tiki movement and they were dragging me into it. Slowly, they got me into the cocktail scene more and more. I had a favorite drink – the Suffering Bastard. Then I had a new favorite drink – The Last Word. Then another one – The Latest Word. It continued on and on. Campbell Apartment, Varnish, Bourbon and Branch, Tiki Ti. We went to all the swanky places. Next thing I knew I knew more about gin than the average guy on the street, and I was in the Cocktail Movement, too.

Three months ago, my sister in law, Jessi, alerted my of the Tipsy Tech class. Taught by Austin bartenders Lara Nixon and David Alan, it’s basically cocktails and spirits from a historical and culinary perspective. We signed up, took the class and it just ended. We learned in detail about different type of spirits, classic cocktails, and strange ingredients.

Why is this all important? It’s really just a long winded explanation that 1) There’s a new “Booze” category 2) The next few posts will be alcohol related 3) Vodka sucks.

There are many benefits to being married to a vet. If you’re a cat hoarder like me, free vet care is obviously at the top of the list. However, a close second though, is you have an encyclopedia of medical knowledge at hand.

Let’s say you’re at a drug store. I don’t have to read a bunch of yahoo’s opinions on the internets to decide between medicines any more. I just ask my wife. Same thing if I’m at my doctor. I always bring my wife if it’s anything more than routine. If the doctor gives me options. I don’t have to evaluate the pros and cons. I just turn to my wife and ask, “What should I do?”

The best use of this knowledge, though is to make sure I’m not being bs’ed.

If my doctor is telling me something, and it’s even a tiny bit confusing, I’ll suddenly turn to my wife and ask, “Is that true?” Or, my favorite line, “Is that even remotely plausible?”

I love this because I’m getting an real answer I can trust. I’m pretty sure my doctor loves it because I’m an educated patient, and they know I’m serious as a heart attack about my health.

My friend and former co-worker, Michael Muchioki and his fiancee, Nia Haqq, were killed in a car jacking attempt on Easter morning. They returned home from their engagement party when three monsters tried to steal Nia’s car. Mike died of a shotgun blast to the back of his head and Nia was shot with a pistol. He was 27 and she was 25.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/04/massive_hunt_for_depraved_kill.html

I had the pleasure of working with Mike for two years, and had the honor of meeting Nia on several occasions. Soft-spoken, Mike was a genuinely nice guy with a great sense of humor. You could give him crap, and he’d give it right back to you. He had a sharp mind and an equally sharp wit. Professionally and socially, we interacted with each other pretty much every weekday from 2007-2009. The dude was just a very smart guy and a great co-worker.

He took a trip out to L.A. for the first time ever when I knew him. When he came back, this was our conversation:
Mike: You’re from out there, right?
Me: Northern California, but yeah.
Mike: And you moved to Jersey from there?
Me: Yeah.
Mike: You’re a fool.
Me: Well, yeah. I know

We talked over IM many times after I left, and the last time I saw him was in December when we had lunch with a bunch of Antennaites.

I was in shock and numb for most of the day. I’m angry at the people who did this. I wish Jersey still had the death penalty. I’m angry at the dumb comments and inaccurate reporting that has gone on. Some news site in Australia called this a “gang killing” and a few “thug” comments on nj.com have thankfully been reported and removed. Some people are seriously fucking retarded, and I hope they never are fortunate enough to befriend someone like Mike. I’m angry that my friend is gone, and some dumb ass people can just dismiss what a great guy he was.

Thinking of you, Mike.

Let’s start from the beginning.

There’s this server. It’s running CentOS 5.3 and Subversion. Sometimes I love CentOS, sometimes I hate it. Today has been one of those days that I hate it because CentOS is notoriously conservative. The officially blessed and installed version of Subversion for CentOS 5.3 is 1.4.2. The current version of Subversion is 1.6.6. So there’s this huge gap, but it hasn’t been that big of a problem until today.

There’s this MacBook. It’s running Eclipse and with Subclipse, the Subversion SVN plugin. It’s version 1.6.something. So now the 1.6.x client is interfacing with 1.4.2 server, and there’s all sorts of problems and weirdness with it. It’s clear I need to update the server.

So I try.

The first step is to use a new repository for Subversion – one that has the 1.6.6 version. I found this question on stackoverflow with instructions on setting up priorities, pointing subversion installs to RPMForge, and fixing a big problem that you’ll run into. P.S. – Option 2 of the accepted answer is the way to go.

Ok, ready to install.
yum install subversion

Ah! There it is! Subversion 1.6!

Uh oh. There’s some sort of conflict error.


Transaction Check Error:
file /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/psvn.el from install of subversion-1.6.6-0.1.el5.rf.x86_64 conflicts with file from package subversion-1.4.2-4.el5_3.1.i386


What the hell? Why? I’m on a 64bit virtual box. I don’t even need the i.386 version. Why is it conflicting?
Googling around, I found this post on biotext.org. It says I have to remove the i.386 version of Subversion. Makes sense.


yum erase subversion.i386


Run the update again.


Error: Missing Dependency: subversion = 1.4.2-4.el5_3.1 is needed by package mod_dav_svn-1.4.2-4.el5_3.1.x86_64 (installed)


Now what… So it appears that mod_dav_svn needs the old version. What the hell. What do I do now? Ah, let’s repeat the process for pulling mod_dav_svn from the RPMForge. If you read the stackoverflow answer, we had to exclude subversion from the CentOS-Base.repo file. Let’s add mod_dav_svn to the exclude.

So now, in CentOS-Base.repo, the exclude line for base *and* update looks like this:


exclude=subversion mod_dav_svn


Run the install update again.

Aha!


Updating:
mod_dav_svn x86_64 1.6.6-0.1.el5.rf
Updating for dependencies:
subversion x86_64 1.6.6-0.1.el5.rf


So now 1.6.6 of both subversion and mod_dav_svn are listed. Install those babies. Everything runs fine. Restart apache.


Powered by Subversion version 1.6.6 (r40053).


Woot!

For the time being. With 3 days left on my warranty, Acer went ahead and replaced the machine.

What a horrible, horrible company with which to deal. First, their online serial number lookup system said that the machine was out of warranty. I tried to call and discovered that there are separate 1-800 numbers for desktops/laptops, netbooks, and refurbs. It took me forever to find the right one. Luckily the refub department knew what I was talking about and agreed to replace it. However, it took them 3 days to ship out the replacement unit once they received mine. Man alive. To top it off, the warranty doesn’t restart, nor do I get a new 90 days on the replacement unit.

So I got the new one, installed Ubuntu and Zoneminder (the camera management package), all sorts of supporting software, then kind of monitored it for a few days.

Oh, and I can’t install Ubuntu 9.10 directly. I get an I/O error on the disk. I have to install 9.04, then use the update manager. That works fine.

Two days ago, the camera screen mysteriously went black in the middle of the morning. It turns out there was a permission issue which I think I solved last night, but I’m not sure. As far as I can tell, I really didn’t do anything.

Anyway, Acer sucks, and so does Ubuntu. It’s overrated. There, I said it.

So, anyway, here is the Cat Bed Cam.

Because Acer makes crappy products and they flat out don’t honor their warranties. Stay tuned.

…do as the Romans.

Check this out. First five bullets I ever shot in my life. Seven yards.

The whole thing was nothing like I expected. The experience was great. You hear people say they love the power of the gun – the kick, the noise, etc. Some of my more hippie friends admit that they never shot a gun because they’re afraid of liking the power. A “power trip” was the furthest thing I felt.

I don’t think anything has ever made me feel more present and more focused than shooting. From the loading of the clip, to aiming, to pulling the trigger, to walking away from the range, you need to be very much in the moment and aware of yourself and your surroundings. It led to a very strange but welcomed serenity. For me, golf is close, but if you fuck up in golf, chances are, you’re not going to kill or hurt someone or yourself. It was a completely zen experience. That’s what I loved about it.

From talking to people, that sounds like the typical shooting experience – calm, mellow, and focused. Anyone that reacts by spazzing out and being all giddy is the person you don’t want shooting.

The guns I used were a Glock 9mm and a .45. The 9mm had more kick than I expected, because of the polymer body, and the.45 had less kick, because of the metal body. I’m definitely going to buy one shortly. I see myself owning a .45 since it has greater stopping power and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I plan on starting off with a 9mm, though – probably the Glock or a Sig P260.

This is gonna take a long time
And I wonder what’s mine
Can’t take no more
Wonder if you’ll understand
It’s just the touch of your paw
Behind a closed door

After twelve years, I’m leaving MacNexus and the schow@macnexus.org email address.

Long story short, don’t skimp on hosting services if you are a business. Don’t go for the cheap services like GoDaddy and Bluehost. They’re crap. You get what you pay for. They don’t actually expect you to use it. Once you do, they’ll start crippling everything. If you do end up going with them, don’t act like you’re just following their orders. You’re their damn customer. Take your business elsewhere, and don’t screw your customers because you’ve made a mistake. And above all, don’t act like you know what you’re doing when you really don’t.

My new email address will be schow at alumni dot rutgers dot edu. This will reflect the refinement, knowledge, and character building I received at one of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions in the world. Yup.

Since I’ve used schow@macnexus.org for about ten years, I thought it would be good to look back on my old email addresses.

1992-1996: chow@ccvax.ccs.csus.edu
This was my first email address. I still love it dearly. It was on the old VAX mainframe of CSUS. This was before email addresses were handed out to everyone. I had to petition the head of the Economics department to get it. Luckily he was also my advisor. I think I put “undergraduate research” as the reason. In reality, I used it to download games and fonts from ftp://archive.umich.edu and post on sports usenet groups. What’s awesome is if you search "ccvax.ccs.csus.edu" on Google this site is the first result.

1996-1997: chow@csus.edu
Around ‘95 or so, CSUS rolled out a new unix server, saclink, and gave everyone accounts on it. The VAX machine was getting locked down and you actually had to be in the CS department and have a good reason to be on it. The writing was on the wall for me. The actual user names were hideous. It was like sac12345@saclink.edu, but shortly after they rolled out, you can register for an alias much like Facebook’s landrush last month. Yes, it was exactly like it. I was given something like sac14193, but I quickly registered the alias “chow@csus.edu.” Still, I didn’t use it. I didn’t like the short “@csus.edu” nonsense. Saying “chow@ccvax.ccs.csus.edu” took effort. Four syllables, four syllables, three syllables, four syllables, and three syllables. It was rhythmic, poetic, and beautiful. In 1996, I was forced to use the saclink account when the CS department dragged me kicking and screaming off the VAX machine. I eventually appreciated the simplicity and balance of chow@csus.edu. Just look at it. So compact, so minimal.

1997-1999: shu_chow@bbs.macnexus.org
When I left CSUS, they eventually found out I was leaching dialup access and booted me. I had to find another provider. I was spoiled with the power and prestige of a .edu address. I vomited at the thought of using AOL, or CompuServe, or anything that would relegate me to a .com domain. I asked around. A friend and another Mac user introduced me to MacNexus, Sacramento’s Macintosh user group. They originally had a BBS with an email gateway and all the member accounts were on that machine.

1999-2009: schow@macnexus.org
About a couple of years after I joined, MacNexus got rid of their BBS machine and migrated everyone to a real server. I got transferred to this one, which was based on my user name. As technology marched forward, I dumped MacNexus dialup for DSL but stayed with them for email continuity. I truly envisioned using schow@macnexus.org for as long as they were around. Eventually, I got tired of getting dicked around by them and bluehost. All I wanted to do was to actually, you know, use email. Oh well.

2009+: schow at alumni dot rutgers dot edu
With this address, I finally return to the .edu domain. It’s actually just a forwarding address, so the email isn’t hosted at Rutgers. I have it forwarding to a gmail account. Since it’s forwarding, I’ll hopefully be inoculated against host mess ups, and be able to use this one forever.

Honorable mentions:
shu_chow@educaid.com: Educaid work email (1997-2001)
shuch@vsp.com: VSP work email (2001-2005). VSP uses the most ridiculous convention for their systems. First four letters of your first name followed by the first two letters of your last name. It’s nonsense and you feel silly when you go out and give your address to the public.
schow at eden dot rutgers dot edu: My current student account. I wonder how long it will be before they yank it.