Evelyn will be in Puerto Rico for about ten more days, returning to Austin on July the 10th. This will give her enough time to finish up the Novena (nine days of prayers) and then have some time afterward for more light-hearted visiting.

I’ve bitched before about the million different user names and passwords I must maintain for all the on-line sites I use. Even if you count only my frequently accessed sites, it’s at least 20 different accounts.

Up to now, I’ve used a page or two out of a spiral notebook. It did the job, but it was impossible to keep it in order. More of a list than something easy to access. And so, I’d have to keep scanning down the list, looking for an entry.

I’ve tried software based stuff, like KeePass, and they are okay. However, they are only available from my computer, and if the computer goes bye-bye, so does my password store. (I’m thinking hard drive failure, not theft.)

Anyhow, while looking around my local second hand store I had one of those “Why didn’t I think of this before?” moments. I present a bit of mid-20th century technology that’s the perfect password storage device. The telephone / address book.

This one is small (about 2″ x 6″) and has tabs for each letter, like a good address book should. It’s got a hard cover and plenty of pages, idea for my overflowing list of accounts. A simple solution to an ever growing problem.

You can also have some fun with this, and look for an antique or retro device. You can usually find them for dirt cheap, as people have gone to auto-dialers on their phones. Here’s a really tank-like one we picked up a couple of months ago. You spin the knob on the right and the letters whiz by in-frame. It’s a neat piece of history, about 70 years old, and still works like new.

I love how they put a long red diagonal strip on the paper, so when it’s spinning you can see where you are at (it “moves” left and right under the letters above). It’s the perfect “steam punk” password management system.

In an earlier post I ranted about the hand-wringing of the Doom and Gloom people. Let me counterpoint that with this young lady:

Robot Grrl

Take a look at her blog, and the work that she’s doing. An 11th grader who’s crazy about robots, who is selling some hand-made robots to pay for a trip to Stanford (for a special summer program). How cool is that? Someone who is actually DOING SOMETHING to solve their problems. Someone who is excited about the future and is willing to TAKE PART.

Those are the sorts of people we need to get behind and support. In her instance, the only thing that was stopping her was money, and that’s a stupid thing to stop someone. It reminded me of a wonderful quote from the movie Shackleton, in which Sir James Caird said:

After this conversation, I realize there is only one option open to me if I am to protect myself and my money. This is a cheque for £24,000. If I were to give you less, the expedition might never happen, and my money would be wasted. I do not like waste. I particularly do not like to see a man’s abilities wasted.

I wish more people thought like that.

Man, this month is turning out to be a real doozy. Things started out fine, if not for my pocketbook. Lots of birthdays are bunched up in June, plus Father’s Day, but we got all the gifts and shipped them out in time. I was breathing a sigh of relief when things seem to go nutty.

Just about everything is wonking out. Grandpa dying. Last minute fights. Servers at work melting down. My desk fan breaks. Mike’s house gets zapped and blows half the breaker box. Neighbors kitten has to have emergency surgery. Clients who haven’t called me in months now have questions. And now the greyhound that Evelyn walks (and now me, while she’s out of town) has diarrhea. Nothing says “gag response” like cleaning up liquid dog poop from a carpet. And I’m allergic to dogs, did I mention that? Ha.

Things are no more fun on Evelyn’s front, with the endless coordination of things as they get ready for the burial. The wake was nice, and Evelyn and her young cousin Kelvin put together a really cool memory board of photos and drawings. Of course, some of the extended family is acting like usual, being cheap and stingy, so new cameras have been bought and flowers paid for. Bye-bye, money, I hardly knew ya. I’m gonna be pissed if the second quarter economic numbers don’t look better; just our immediate family and friends alone should help it along!

On the bright side, I have my health, thanks to $700 of medications. I spend more per day on medicine than I do food. Explain that to me. Ah, well. At least I’m healthier now. I avoid corporate life as much as possible, do my exercise, don’t smoke, and gave up drinking altogether. So, now I’m down to two vices: coffee (pots of it) and women. That’s not too bad, right?  

Another month, another issue of The Sun arrives, just in time to cheer me up. LOL! As usual, I start with the reader correspondence and encountered this gem:

Lately I’ve been paralyzed by depression about the climate crisis and hatrid for President Bush’s cruel policies. Rather than work on a solution, though, I’ve paced the floor worrying about my toddler’s future.

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, people sure love to feel bad! Christ Almighty, how can you get “paralyzed by depression” by CLIMATE CHANGE? The death of a loved one, sure. Failed relationships, I can understand. But Georgie Porgie and melting ice? Give me a fucking break.

I really, really, really, really wish that they taught history in schools. Real history, not some bullshit memorization of dates and other meaningless facts. A little word of advice for the hand-wringers out there: Things have been a lot worse. A LOT worse. You ain’t seen nothing.

All these fucktards talk about the “downward spiral” of humanity. Oh, the country is dying! Oh, boo-hoo! We’re doomed! Well, if everyone started thinking like that, sure, we’re doomed. But here’s the thing: While you are crying into your beer some of us are actually trying to do something. George will be gone, replaced by another bimbo to wring our hands at. Climate change, a big problem, but it’s a problem. Problems have solutions. They might not be easy. They might not be cheap. But there is a solution to every problem.

A glimmer of hope from the writer: “He has inspired me to stop whining and start moving.” A good sign, for sure, but if something like a dying penguin makes you curl up in a ball, then I question your intestinal fortitude. Still, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

With that, I flipped to the back page, read some of the Sunbeams (probably the best part of the magazine), and then tossed it to the heap, ready for donation to the library. Maybe someone else will appreciate the sobbing and whining. I don’t.

If you are considering sending a condolence card to Evelyn and her family, you can direct it to:

It’s regular US Mail, so just use normal postage.

Update: I’ve also posted a gallery of photos from some of our trips. Click Here

I’m a long-time user of the Opera web browser, and I recently upgraded to 9.5. I wish I hadn’t. The right-click search doesn’t work. The skins seem messed up. The Speed Dial doesn’t update. And on and on. I tried some of the recommended fixes, but no luck so far. The ever-updating (spin-spin-spin) Speed Dial is one thing, but breaking the right-click search really really sucks. I use that all the time.

Is it me, or is Open Source software reaching that same point as commercial did a while ago? So bloated and bug filled that you are spending more time working-around issues than actually working. Perhaps it’s because the projects have gone far beyond the original (tiny) development teams. I was (and am) pissed off at WordPress 2.5 and the bugs it had, and the same goes for Opera 9.5 They are taking their good reputations and tossing them in the garbage can. Come on, guys! Quality Control!

(And I won’t even get to mocking the Mozilla people who hyped up their “download record” for FireFox 3 and yet couldn’t keep their own webservers up. Nice going. Just goes to show that being a good developer does not mean you’re a good engineer. Developers build features. Engineers build foundations. What’s the point of a fancy bathroom faucet when your roof leaks?)

Anyhow, if anyone out there is using Opera 9.5 and knows how to get the old color schemes back (so that I can actually TELL WHAT TAB I’M ON) and get right-click Search to work (the default search one; Google), please let me know.

Today is Kelo Day, the third anniversay of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing local governments to take peoples homes and handing the land over to a PRIVATE DEVELOPER. It’s one thing to use “eminent domain” to put in a new highway (which can be used by all) and a whole other thing to take that land a make a BIG BOX STORE.

Susette Kelo was lead plaintiff in the landmark 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled private property can be seized and handed over to politically connected private developers so long as the government treasury might benefit.

So, join the Institute for Justice and help fight eminent domain abuse across the country.

Oh, and Ms Kelo’s house? It was removed (she got it re-located, after a protracted fight). And what’s happened in the THREE YEARS since the verdict? The area is STILL AN EMPTY LOT. The developer has done NOTHING with it.

Do you really want your house torn down and replaced with a Big Box Store, a Factory, or an empty lot? Just because some politically connected developer, with deep pockets, wooes your greedy “public servants”?

Evelyn got to Puerto Rico safe and sound earlier this morning. The flight was delayed about an hour out of Houston, so didn’t arrive in PR until about 6:30 AM local. She didn’t get any sleep on the flight, but sounded okay. Maybe she was drinking too much Champagne in her first class window seat.

One of her cousins, a professional woman in San Juan, picked her up from the airport and she stayed at an Aunts house for a bit. Evelyn’s mom and an uncle (there are a lot of kids in the Soto family) made it to San Juan around 8:00 AM this morning, to do the coroner paperwork and get the body released. (Since grandpa was on government assistance, the coronor in San Juan had to declare the death natural before allowing it to be released.)

I received another call just now and they are on their way back to Lares/Arecibo. Hopefully she’ll be able to get a couple of hours of sleep. Though, I joked with her, “after she plays with the dogs”–to which she responded “how did you know that?” She love her pups and is looking forward to seeing them again. She also gets to see Guy! He’s living in PR for a while. I’m sure he’ll be a very confused cat.

Update: They got to the house fine. The dogs Peachy & Shiloh recognized Evelyn and right now Guy the cat is bring teased by Evelyn.

The funeral arrangements are being made this afternoon, so Evelyn will hopefully get a nap after that is done. I belive another cousin is flying into Aguadilla (on the western part of the island) and Evelyn will be picking her up late tonight (around 2 AM, I think). 

I’m sad to report that today Eugenio Soto, better known as grandpa, passed away at the age of ninety five. The below photo is of Evelyn and him dancing together, back on my first trip to Puerto Rico in 2002. He is singing his heart out.

We received the news at about four this afternoon, and it’s been pretty busy ever since. A quick search of airline tickets, a decision to leave today out of Houston, some packing of essentials, and by six we were on the road. (Since Austin is a smaller city, there are no direct flights to Puerto Rico. It was either a bunch of stupid layovers, or drive to Houston, about 3 hours away, and get a direct flight. We went with the direct flight. Her travel time is about 4 hours less, even including the drive!)

Got to Houston safe and sound at around 8:30, with no lines, no checked bags, and pre-checked in, so she was able to get through security in about 5 minutes. After saying our goodbyes I turned around and drove back home, arriving here in Austin around 11:45, with 320 new miles on the car. She’s on the plane now, and should be taking off shortly, arriving in San Juan at 5:30 AM local time.

A long afternoon, but I’m glad she is on her way to be with her Mom (her Dad is in Chicago right now, visiting, and he can’t get back to PR until Sunday or Monday). We’re not sure how long she’ll be in PR, but we’re thinking at least two weeks, probably more.