h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

just checking to see if you are still alive and kicking over there. it's been quite awhile since we've run into each other. i keep my icq on at work during the week but haven't seen you there either where oh where have you gone off to?
Monsy

I'm still alive, basically well, and kicking here in Griffin.

I saw your name in my MSN messenger tonight, actually, and it's essentially what prompted me to log-on here tonight. How are you and NM? Missed you folks!

I've been spending most of my time since last March with my family- we found out my nephew's cancer (he had clear-cell sarcoma, one of- if not THE- most virulent forms of that disease) had returned (he lost his leg to it early in high-school) and I was spending as much time as I could with him before he was gone.

We buried him just a few weeks ago. It's been a real bummer- not only was he my nephew, and one of the kids I played with from the time they were in diapers and cared for, helped put together toys for, etc. but he was one of the few people in my family that was also a friend. One of my best friends, actually. One of the few people in this world I have ever trusted implicitly and with no reservations- period. He was the one person I talked to more than anyone else in the world, too...

But he suffered so much during the dying- the cancer ate a whole lung, and most of the other, and his liver, and his spine, and various other internal organs- that when it finally came it was a mercy. Though he fought it all the way.

I'm really going to miss him.

At any rate, I'm prolly going to be around online a lot more again, and I'm looking forward to yakking to all ya'll again!

What is the ICQ number you have for me, BTW? I've had so many, that I can't keep up with them! LOL! I guess I need to get Trillian and install her again- so'z I can run one messenger and receive everyone on whatever they're using!

L83r

da Baron

PTEWIE!<--------------------------------------*

"Never thought I'd be GLAD to be hit by a tossed-ff bit of PIDGEON!"

sounds like you've had a really bad emotional roller coaster on your end sorry to hear about it.
we have been keeping busy on our end. my stepson and his girlfriend moved out this week and marijke moved to wyoming sunday morning so it is just me mark and tamara now. the house is so odd with the added space now
as for icq numbers. i don't even have one for you anymore. we had to reinstall icq both at work and home. when i did a lot of my contacts didn't come over. i think the easiest thing to do is give you mine. it is 11414736.
anyway, best get my butt back to work now. normally i am not signed into h2g2 during the day but every now and then i can't help myself
monsy

Scuse me for butting in here - but how nice to see you about again Baron, and sorry to hear about your nephew.

I have your ICQ number - 85525116 Is this still current or have you moved on again?

shazz

Monsy: Yeah, it was a roller-coaster. We thought that even if the cancer got him, we'd at least have him around a couple more years (he was only diagnosed in March 2002!)- but it took him fast. Like I said, mebbie that was the most merciful thing, considering the pain he was in. He was on so much painkiller at the end that even when he was concious he wasn't really himself. I hated seeing him that way...

*pause to recall whether you have to include html tags in h2g2 messages- remember that was RS.com crap, and continune*

What are you going to do with all of that extra space? I know what *I'd* do with it...

Shazz has my ICQ number right. I've already added you, Monsy. I'm currently running a little thing called everybuddy (like Trillian, but for Linux), since I've turned all these computers in here into a Mosix cluster and I'm not running windoze on anything anymore.

Well, really, it's still on one box, but I'm going to be installing linux/mosix on that too, sometime this week, so nothing from Redmond will be running on any of my 'pooters anymore. If I HAVE to use windoze apps (and I do for some things, like accessing my cheap-assed scanner and printers which only have windoze drivers), I'm just going to use WINE (a windoze-emulator for linux).

If you're wondering what Mosix is, it's a distributed computer system- i.e. all the boxes on my network act as one multi-cpu'ed computer, and will load-balance all the threads generated by the various and sundry programs I run on any of them. Which means that I now have a real excuse for running so many at once- whatever I'm working on is being worked on by all of them!

Shazz: Thanx, for the sympathies. Both you and Monsy. It was indeed a rough experience.

As you can see, I do indeed still have the same ICQ number. I'm signed-in right now. I'm generally always signed-in (if I remember to start everybuddy with my X-session- I guess I could edit by .xconfigrc and get it started automagically, but I'll have to remember to do it, and then take the time to do it... And I'm generally so preoccupied with the many projects I set for myself that I don't think about that stuff until I get ready to talk to someone.. hehehe.

Right now, as I told Monsy, I'm working on a Mosix cluster thing. It'll let me run stuff on one box, and have the load shared by all- but it has it's other advantages, too. With a soundcard in each box of the cluster I've got up, I essentially have an 8-channel digital recording studio (2 channels per box) that I can control from one box, via one proggie (which I'm going to have to write myself, unfortunately, but which shouldn't be too hard since I'm basically going to use a TK shell to basically control programs which already come with linux to do the actual work, so my programming will be limited to creating a nice GUI and setting buttons to exec certain proggies, and sliders to control the levels, etc.- nothing too hard)... Cool, neh?

Mebbie I'll actually have some of my music in MP3 format up on the net, soon! ... Actually, now that I've got a 4-track analog tape deck I'm about to connect to one of my boxes, I'll be able to rip some of my analog tracks to MP3. That'll happen very soon after the last box in my network is converted to linux/mosix.

Anywaze, it's good to hear from both of you! I've missed you all so much! It's so much friendlier here on H2G2 than most of the web-boards and mailing-lists I'm on- where people want to sqabble and count-coup on each other constantly. *bleech!* The one's which are relatively flame-free are mostly technical lists, and such, not really social-oriented things. So H2G2 has a special place in my ticker...

Love ya all!

da Baron

PTEWIE!<------------------------------*:o)

"Is it rain, or is it PIDGEONS? Only your hairdresser knows for sure!"

hello there again! been awhile since your last post and I was beginning to wonder if you'd lost your way. From your post I see that you were indeed lost only it was in a computer redoing nightmare. I would be so lost it wouldn't even be funny . I think I will just stick with my little simple computer that comes out of the box ready
We turned Marijke's room into a pretty spare room, painted and all. It looks quite nice. My basement room is now back to a storage room and very very overflowing with stuff. I don't know how I stored all that stuff somewhere else before LOL!
I don't see you on my ICQ as adding me to your list so maybe send me a quick message even if it's offline so that I can grab it and find you .
Ok, back to work for me ~ugh~
Monsy

OK... will do that.

In other news, guess who IM'd me 2 times a week or so ago? FENCHURCH!

She says she's teaching and going to school full-time, so she barely has time to take a shower, much less play on the net, but she's still alive and kickin' and seems to be happy in the pursuit of her goals.

I got the impression that teaching really means a lot to her, and that she's really enjoying it- though she did complain about the lack of computers in her math/science dept. (can you imagine slacking the math/science geeks on COMPUTERS???)... Guess she must be teaching in da ghetto... I think she'd prolly prefer that, if they'd give her the stuff she needs... hehehe.

I've got you in my ICQ list, Monsy... so I guess I'll try sending you an IM offline like- though I'm not sure if the "Miss Monsy" moniker is still your current moniker...

I'll copy the number you gave, and see if it matches up... if not, I'll just have to delete "Miss Monsy" then, won't I?

Shazz! You never did tell me what the hell you're studying over there in the land of tulips, northern lights (*snicker snicker*), nice little cafes and coffee-houses, etc. Are you expanding your musical interests, or have you found a tangent that's caught your interest? Enquiring mindz want to know!

That last sentence, BTW, is intentionally mis-spelled. We have a tabloid over here "The National Enquirer" (makes the Sun look like upright journalism!) with a television ad campaign that uses that line...

Hi Baron

Indeed - I know all about The Enquirer

I am just studying the intricaties of the Dutch language and very successfully tying myself in knots whilst doing so. It isn't helped by the way some Dutch words and phrases are positively rude when read as English and vice versa - but great fun anyway.

There are about 7 different nationalities in my class including a Russian, a Kuwaiti, a Bulgarian and a Brazilian - and one or two Turks and Moroccans. Ahhh - what a wonderfully mixed and varied world we live in eh?

Next time you chat with Fenny, be sure to pass on greetings and love from TM and myself - and tell her that she's been nominated as an h2g2 'legend' too!

shazz