Personal

I’m everywhere!

December 11, 2019August 31, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

With the addition of the new Mac OS X release of Skype, there are now a veritable plethora of ways to get ahold of me online, should anyone be so inclined.

Email:
1. —@speakeasy.net]{.citation cites=”speakeasy.net”}: This address I’ve only given out to family and close friends, in an attempt to keep at least one e-mail account relatively spam-free.
2. djwudi@myrealbox.com: These days, primarily a spamcatcher, though I’ve still got a few mailing lists going here.
3. djwudi@mac.com: A general-purpose, publicly available inbox.
4. michael.hanscom@gmail.com: Just set this up. I’ve sent myself a message, and that’s the most use it’s seen so far.
5. michael@michaelhanscom.com: These days, my primary public e-mail, and my first choice for most correspondence. If you don’t have another address for me in your inbox already (and want one, for some reason), this is the one to use.
Instant Messaging:
1. iChat: djwudi: My preferred IM client. Supports audio and video in addition to text chat since I’ve got an iSight.
2. AIM: djwudi@mac.com: iChat co-operates with the AIM network, so AIM users can find me here. In theory, recent versions of AIM support video chat also.
3. AIM: djwudi: An actual AIM account that I got ages ago, and just started using again recently when one friend for some reason couldn’t see the djwudi@mac.com iChat/AIM account.
4. Yahoo IM: djwudi or dj_wumlautudi: Mostly used with friends in Alaska that I met during the days when I hung out in the Yahoo chat rooms.
5. Skype: djwudi: This one, I’ve just signed up for, and haven’t actually done anything with yet. While it works as an IM program, its primary purpose is VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) — essentially, computer-based telephone service. It should allow high-quality voice conversations with other Skype users, and if I give them a little money, than I should be able to place calls to any telephone from my computer. Sounds nifty, and I’m interested in trying it out once I either find other Skype users or pony up the cash to try the computer-to-telephone function.

I think that’s it. Did I miss any?

iTunes: “Inquisition” by Skinny Puppy from the album Nettwerk Decadence (1992, 4:26).

New glasses are on the way

December 11, 2019August 30, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

So I’ve got new eyeglasses on the way. With any luck, they should be here in a little less than two weeks, and I’ll have them in time for my vacation. They look similar to this pair — rimless, fairly small and rectangular, with very thin silver bows, and they come with a set of clip-on shades that match the shape of the lenses exactly. Prairie assures me that they look incredibly good and nearly disappear from my face, not nearly as dominating as my current pair.

Most interesting about the eye exam is that my new pair will actually be a slightly weaker prescription than my current pair — one diopter less (whatever that is) — as my eyesight is actually slightly improving as I age. I had no idea this could happen, so it was a very pleasant surprise. Apparently, my eyes are learning to relax, gradually increasing my near-vision depth of field. According to the optometrist, while I’ll always need glasses for distance vision, I’ll never need reading glasses, and may eventually be more comfortable reading or working on a computer either without glasses, or with bifocals that have little to no adjustment in the lower, near-vision area of the lens. Pretty cool, I’d say.

So now it’s just the waiting game as the glasses are made. Since I’ve got my vacation in two weeks, the clinic is seeing if they can put a rush on the order to ensure that they arrive before I have to leave. It may not happen, but if it does, I’ll be in good shape.

Oh, and should any Seattle-area people be in the need for new glasses, I’d certainly recommend the clinic I went to (Jackson Vision Clinic, 225 12th Ave. South Suite 103, Seattle, WA, 98144, 206.322.6915). I picked them simply because they were just over in the International District within fairly easy walking distance of my apartment, they were open on Saturdays, and they took the insurance I get through work. They were quite nice to work with, though — Dr. Hoang and his staff were quite friendly. While the clinic was pretty slow on Saturday, when I went in a couple weeks ago to make my appointment, they were quite busy, and I had the rather amusing experience of being the only Caucasian and (I believe) only native English speaker in a room full of Vietnamese people. Not an entirely normal thing in my general day-to-day activities, but rather fun, actually — there were a couple families in getting glasses for their kids that day, and kids are kids and fun to watch, no matter what language they speak.

Anyway, a good clinic, good people, and I’ve got some good glasses coming my way. Pics, of course, will be posted as soon as I get the glasses in.

iTunes: “Get A Good Thing” by Jesus Jones from the album Perverse (1993, 3:23).

Rent

December 11, 2019August 30, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

As mentioned briefly last week, Saturday’s evening entertainment was wandering down a couple blocks to the Paramount Theatre to see Rent.

Prairie has been a fan of Rent for a while, and had tried to introduce me to the music a while ago, but I just hadn’t been able to get a good feel for what was going on simply by listening to the soundtrack album. Thinking about it on the way home after the show, I realized that part of that may have been because every other major musical that I’ve seen (Cats, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), I knew the story before picking up the soundtrack album, either through reading the source material or because I’d learned it while singing the songs back when I was in the Alaska Children’s Choir. With Rent, I had no real idea of what the plot was and what was happening, and I couldn’t quite pick it up just by listening to the album.

Now that I’ve seen the show, though, suddenly it all falls into place. “La Vie Boheme” and “Tango: Maureen” were by far my favorite songs, though the entire soundtrack is a blast. I can certainly see why it’s such a popular show.

Our particular performance was quite good, though not perfect. The sound technician was sometimes a little late when activating people’s microphones, so we’d occasionally lose the first couple words of someone’s lines when they appeared. A couple of the performers didn’t have quite as strong a voice as they probably should have (most notably Tallia Brinson as Mimi — while she wasn’t bad by any means, she didn’t quite have the raw power that songs like “Out Tonight” require).

I was also confused for a while about Angel’s character — I knew that the character was supposed to be a drag queen from when Prairie had first tried to introduce me to the music, but Damien DeShaun Smith had such an incredibly feminine voice that I really wasn’t sure if it was a male or female playing Angel until I checked the program during intermission. It made for a slightly confusing first act (as a female Angel would greatly change the dynamic of the relationship with Tom Collins)…of course, on the bright side, if Damien really is a drag queen (off-stage, that is), he’s sure to do a spectacular job! ;)

All in all, though, while not a perfect performance, it was extremely good, and I’ve got a new musical to eventually commit to memory.

iTunes: “La Vie Boheme” by Original Broadway Cast from the album Rent (1996, 8:00).

Happy Anniversary!

December 11, 2019August 26, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

Today is the 37th anniversary of the marriage of John Hanscom and Roberta Ward — also known quite fondly by me as Mom and Dad (though not respectively…I have an odd family, but not that odd).

Happy anniversary, and much love and congratulations to you both.

iTunes: “I Got You (I Feel Good)” by Brown, James from the album 40th Anniversary Collection (1965, 2:48).

Upcoming events

December 11, 2019August 24, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

Things that are going to be happening in the near future:

Saturday: get my eyes checked and order new glasses, which should arrive 7-10 days after that. My first new pair of glasses in quite a few years. Hooray for work-provided insurance.
Saturday: Rent at the Paramount. I don’t really know that much about Rent, but Prairie assures me that it’s wonderful, so we’re going.
Next month: vacation time! I’ll be in Anchorage from late in the evening Sept. 10th to mid-day sometime (if I’m remembering correctly) Sept. 18th. Birthday celebration for dad on the 15th, genealogical ramblings with mom, and hanging out with as many Anchorage-based friends as possible during the week I’m there. Really looking forward to this, as while I’ve had a few weekend trips from time to time, this will be my first decent vacation (week long, paid, etc.) in quite a few years.
When it comes out: install MT3.1 onto my webserver to upgrade Kirsten and Dad’s weblogs (and hopefully provide a bit more spam protection) without having to try to migrate them to an entirely new system (and, quite possibly, prepare to move Eclecticism back onto my own server again).

Things I need to get around to doing:

I’ve been meaning to write something about The Prydain Chronicles for a few weeks now. I really do intend to actually do so. Really.
Another design (or six, who knows) for the site’s stylesheet switcher would be good, if I ever come up with ideas worth pursing rather than just discarding after they rattle around in my head for a few days.

Things that are distracting me from doing the things in the previous list:

Making sure all my photos are imported into iPhoto and sorted/dated/labeled correctly, so I can archive my current photo library to CD before updating iPhoto to the newest version (as there have been some reports of issues with the most recent update).
Watching Buffy and Angel as fast as NetFlix can send me the DVDs. I’m up to Season Five of Buffy, and Season Two of Angel, and am really enjoying both. Much of the fun is that I’ve never seen these before, so it’s all entirely new to me — so things like Dawn suddenly appearing out of nowhere throw me for a loop (and I was quite happy to get some answers to that little plot twist during last night’s Buffy session).
Procrastination. Hey, it happens.

To gmail or not to gmail?

December 11, 2019August 22, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

So I’ve finally given in and gotten myself a gmail address, thanks to Kirsten. I have no idea how much I might or might not use it — I already have e-mail addresses [\@speakeasy.net]{.citation cites=”speakeasy.net”}, [\@myrealbox.com]{.citation cites=”myrealbox.com”}, and [\@mac.com]{.citation cites=”mac.com”}, plus a literally infinite number of addresses available [\@michaelhanscom.com]{.citation cites=”michaelhanscom.com”} (my mailserver is set up to drop anything sent to michaelhanscom.com into my inbox, so if you’re ever bored and feel like sending me something, feel free to put whatever you want before the @ sign and it’ll reach me) — but I finally figured it was worth jumping on the bandwagon.

So, if you feel like it, you can drop me a line at michael [dot] hanscom [at] gmail [dot] com in addition to any other e-mail address you might already have for me. No need to update your address books, though, I’m not losing any of the already existing addresses anytime soon (except possibly the [\@myrealbox.com]{.citation cites=”myrealbox.com”} addy, as I rarely use it for anything other than a couple of mailing lists anymore).

iTunes: “Lollipop (Candyman) (Razor N Go Lick It)” by Aqua from the album Aqua Mania Remix (1997, 12:20).

Aircraft maintenance problems and solutions

December 11, 2019August 22, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

I’ve seen this list float around the ‘net in the past, but it always makes me laugh when I come across it.

Maintenance Write-Ups

AF Form 781 is aboard all Air Force aircraft to record any malfunctions so maintenance personnel can fix the problem before the next flight. Here are some of the problems (P) as posted by the aircrews and solutions (S) of the maintenance personnel to clear the write-up:

(P) Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
(S) Almost replaced left inside main tire.

(P) Test flight OK, but autoland very rough.
(S) Autoland not installed on this aircraft.

(P) #2 propeller seeping prop fluid.
(S) #2 propeller seepage normal, other three propeller lack normal seepage.

(P) Something loose in the cockpit.
(S) Something tightened in the cockpit.

(P) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
(S) Evidence removed.

(P) Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) volume unbelieveably loud.
(S) Volume set to more believeable level.

(P) Autopilot in “altitude hold” mode produces 200 fpm decent.
(S) Could not duplicate on the ground.

(P) Dead bugs on windscreen
(S) Live bugs on order.

(P) IFF inoperative.
(S) IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

(P) Friction lock causes throttle levers to stick.
(S) That’s what its there for.

(P) #3 engine missing.
(S) #3 engine found on right wing after brief search.

(P) Aircraft handles funnny.
(S) Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

(P) Target radar hums.
(S) Reprogrammed target radar to sing.

(via Len, this time)

Hempfest 2004

December 11, 2019August 21, 2004 by Michael Hanscom

I spent some time today wandering around this year’s Hempfest. I’ve avoided this particular Seattle festival for the past few years I’ve been down here, mostly because of my personal opinions regarding pot. Today, though, I had nothing else planned, and figured it might be worth wandering down with my camera for some peoplewatching.

As for the event itself…well, I can’t honestly say I was very surprised by the attendant crowds. Virtually every stereotype imaginable when dealing with the hemp/pot communities was there, plus all the requisite political hangers-on. Stoners, hippies, thugs, freaks, wierdos, Democrats, Libertarians, Socialists — you name it, that subculture was represented somewhere. Not to mention the ultra-right-wing religious proselytizers.

Is it any wonder so many people have such a dim view of Christianity when these bigoted idiots are the most visible representatives of the religion most of the time? I’ll give them points for perseverance, but that’s about it.

I didn’t bother to listen to any of the speakers I passed on the various stages, and for the most part, none of the few bands that were playing when I wandered by caught my ear enough for me to stop and listen. I did manage to catch a few minutes of a bellydancing performance on one of the stages, though.

I only ended up sticking around for a couple hours, though, as — speaking of stereotypes — today’s cloudy skies finally started raining. It wasn’t enough rain to really be that much of a bother, but as I didn’t have anything along with me to protect the camera, I decided it was time enough to find my way home. Besides, walking through another thick cloud of marijuana smoke every few minutes was starting to get to be a bit much for me.

All in all, not a bad afternoon, though. Had the weather been a bit better, I probably would have stuck around a bit longer and taken a few more pictures. I’m trying to get over an ingrained resistance to taking pictures of random people, and festivals like this can be a good place to work on that. It’s not an easy thing for me to do, as I’m always at some level afraid that whoever I’m aiming the camera at will get offended, or make the assumption that I’m some sort of creepy voyeuristic freak, or some such thing, but as “still lifes” and buildings get a bit boring after a while, I’m going to keep working on it.