04-XI-2007.
Yesterday we had Greg visiting. Too bad I had a Skype call for a whole hour with SFBC (and David in Toronto) so I missed about half of the banter, but the guy is really one of the few people here who has our way of joking. Not only gets it, but is actually equally fast to understand, counter and up one.
He was referreeing (if that's a word) some hockey match around here. The shorthaired is the other referree.
A while later, when he heard that Lena is learning japanese for two years now, „well there's your chance, to get the Japaneses pay you two weeks' stay in Japan“ „she's already been offered that, except it was three weeks“ „what did I say - she was always a step ahead of me“ :).
The Japan trip was not the only such offer, there were more later. The screwup is, of course, that it's all some youngleader* courses for the future managerial class, so it's not something to gain expertise or scientific knowledge, it's sheer headology and manipulation. Not that she'd be unable to pass that, it's the disgust. The other screwup actually comes before the first: visa. She'd be able to go there, unable to return.
In the afternoon we went across the bay, to Langley, with two cars. The N.A.S.A. (with the dots - the automotive sports national association, across the road from NASA's units) arranged a racing track on the stadium, where each contestant would drive a zigzag course, with lots of curves, against the stopwatch. Nina had attended some such course, and her 360 SX was up to the task, what with the new struts etc that we helped her install last year.
On this picture her car is to the left of the pole. And yes, it's quite normal to have a wooden pole on the same picture with the tunnel where some space tech is tested, just across the street. This is America, bro, there's wood to your heart's desire.
She does know how to drive, better than I ever did.
I've shot a dozen minute video of the whole event, but with Fujica's video being at veegeeaye resolution, it's almost 100M and still not much of quality.
And I've left this autopatch in full size, so if you're into this, open the picture in full and knock yourself out.
Explaining the joy of remote work for oldwave..
Case 1, couple of years ago. I hook up on the Antwerp server via Citrix, and from there, through the local NetSupport (which is someone's package for remoting, no idea whose) I mount on boss's laptop, then watch how he hooks up on the Newyork server via the there Citrix, and then rides Sima's machine through yet another NetSupport and there we finally get to do something. I kept a printed shot of belgian keyboard layout, their version of the azerty layout, to be able to type. That was my record then, four leaps.
Recently, a bit less but just as perverse, I hook onto the server in Netherlands via Terminal Services (sounds like a funeral shop :), launch the TS Admin and from there mount on boss's session. He loads Veeemware and XP in it, and in that XP there's some Cisco's VPN which we then use to hook up onto one of the machines in San Francisco :). Boss mumbles something in dutch and switches the keyboard from Sr Latin to Us Ascii.
The other evening I counted seven screens in space of two and a half meters. In pedagogical order (from closer to farther): my two monitors, the TV, nezavisni, Nina's laptop, two debile phones with their tiny screens. Nope, eight, forgot the Fujica. But why is she bringing her laptop? To check what next to do in the game, because there's PS2 jacked into the TV :).
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* the word youngleader may have existed then already; I heard it a couple of years later on ppp
Mentions: David Berton, Fujica, Greg Reubenthal, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Nevena Sredljević (Nina), nezavisni, oldwave, ppp, SFBC, Simon Buchs (Sima), in serbian
7-XI-2007 - 25-III-2026