vonnieda.org

I just uploaded the first “real” version of SecureIM. It is feature complete for my current set, has a nice installer and plays well with Windows. I would love for you to give it a try and tell me what you think. My AIM screen name is BlinkenLts, so if you install it give me a shout and we’ll see if it works 🙂

I have released the first few versions of SecureIM which can be found at that link. SecureIM is an encrypting proxy server for AOL Instant Messenger that uses strong encryption to protect your conversations from prying eyes.

Check it out and let me know if you find horrible bugs 🙂

With nothing better to do this weekend, Ryan and I drove down to Tulsa, OK to catch a GWAR concert. It was uneventful and the concert was mediocre, but it was a good trip anyway.

We were both pretty surprised to see a giant Amazon.com warehouse in the middle of Nowhere, KS which was pretty cool.

For the uninitiated, more about GWAR can be found at GWAR.net.

Photos of the trip can be found here. No cameras allowed inside so none of the band unfortunatly. I did learn an interesting trick which was to sneak a disposable camera in to the show for pictures. If it gets taken, who cares? A girl who wanted some pictures of the band recruited me as a stout base on whose shoulders she could sit to take some. I’ll have to remember that for next time.

The picture of Ryan pointing to his face is a mouse he got while in the pit. He went down, someone went up and one landed on top him resulting in something smashing his face. He came flopping out of the pit a few seconds later and it was already bruising up.

Not much to say about Tulsa except that it’s basically like every other miswestern city I have been through. That’s really it 🙂

25 people woke up this morning, turned on their computers and started ATTray. That makes me really happy.

God, just don’t even ask…

09/30 58 12% 8%
10/01 58 20% 8%
10/02 58 28% 8%
10/03 58 38% 10%
10/04 58 40% 2%
10/05 58 60% 20%
10/06 58 80% 20%
10/07 59 00% 20%
10/08 59 02% 02%

I feel almost human again. Showers, air conditioning… not being in a car.
Now to try to get all the playa out of everything I own.

It’s Thursday morning in Black Rock City (and everywhere else really). Last night I rode my bike all around the city for several hours and got my first real feel of what this is all about. The city itself forms a 300 degree semicircle. Where the two arms of the semicircle end, right in the middle is the Man. Straight out into the desert from the Man is The Temple of Joy and straight out from that is nothing but desert. Last night was the first time I saw the laser. There is a very powerful green (argon?) laser that starts somewhere out in the desert from The Temple of Joy, goes through the Temple, through the Man, all the way down the promenade and end at Center Camp. It also splits in two at the Man and goes to each arm of the city. Very impressive to see at night.

Last night there seemed to be a lot of Sherrif’s cars driving around, keeping the peace I guess. I don’t know where they would even start. There are so many illegal things going on they could pretty much just start at the entrance and arrest everyone if they wanted. I guess they are just looking for real trouble. Alex commented that he thought he was offered mushrooms by a narc the other day.

Yesterday the plane arrived for the skydivers we are hanging out with and they all started jumping. These guys have some mad skills. I got to watch them pack their ‘chutes and load up. Jump and then land 50 feet from me. Perfect landings almost every one and they did’t just carefully mark a spot. They were spiralling in, doing massive turns at the last second and generally being total badasses. I was pretty impressed to say the least. Today Alex should be going up in the plane to take some pics and perhaps I will go if I can find the balls to fly with a pilot that is supposedly a total nutjob. Aparently he commonly waits for the jumpers to jump and then puts the plane into a nose dive and races them down during freefall. Ugh.

What else… Yesterday we saw a Shinook (Chinook? Giant 2 rotor heli) do about 3 laps around the city VERY low. We could see the guys hanging out of it looking around. Probally wishing they could be down here. We met a dude on a quad out in the desert who was aparently having the worst luck of his life (truck broke, quad broke, dog dead, woman done left him) and he wanted to tell us all about it. After we helped him bump start his quad he took off into the desert on two wheels. The left ones.

I went and watched the nightly fire dances last night which was very cool. Even took some photos. Some turned out okay and I’ll put them up at some point. Mostly I am shooting film on my new camera and since this is the first time I have really used: film, a SLR, way too much sunlight and lots of knobs who knows how they will turn out. I hope I get at least a few that can be seen.

Did I mention the dust?

Time to find someone willing to make me breakfast. G’bye.

Here I am, sitting in the shady comfort of my dome home at Burning Man. We arrived on Sunday night and set camp. Monday the dome went up and Tuesday I left Burning Man.

You see, I’ve been sick for like 2 weeks now and I really wasn’t having a very good time. Between the heat of the day and the cold of the night I was not getting any better. So Tuesday came and I left the Man for Reno. I spent the day and night taking all the drugs I could find for colds, flu and sinus issues, slept in a happy Motel 6 and woke up feeling fine. After a brief excursion to the world’s liquor vendors I headed back to the Man and it’s been just fine ever since.

We just did a long tour of the entire area which I wasn’t feeling up to before. There is some really impressive stuff happening out in the middle of nowhere including the biggest rubber duck the world has ever seen. Alex told me that this morning a plane crashed a bit away from camp. Aparently the pilot forgot to put the landing gear down AND completly missed the runway. He’s alive, so I hear.

I finally got some infos on The Mermen. They’ll be playing Thursday and Friday for scheduled shows and then randomly throughout the week. Alex just read me a “rumour” from the paper that says Jim Thomas (the front man, guitarist) quit the band this week and has been replaced with a violinist. I am pretending he didn’t say anything for now.

For anyone wondering, there are lots and lots of naked people.

As we made the trek to the Man and during the first few days we learned some important lessons. The first, and most important is that everything you have read is a lie. Except the dust. The dust is true. The weather is beautiful. If you can handle a mild day on the beach you can take Burning Man. The nights are cool and pleasant and the wind has not been bad enough to blow the dome away yet.

The day we arrived in Reno we stopped at Walmart to finish out last minute shopping. We pulled into the parking lot and ended up right next to a truck that was quite obviously going to Burning Man. He had trees on top. We met the guy who owned the truck inside at the bike department and he and I kinda went back and forth over the same bike. It ended peacefully and I am now the proud new owner of a blue ladies mountain bike which I have modified with a non ass reaming seat. Total cost: $60. Walmart was a total riot. EVERYONE there was going to Burning Man and the Walmart people didn’t know what to do. Some were putting out displays of water and camping gear. Some were trying to manage the crowd and some (like the bike department guy) were just standing there slack jawed and shell shocked. You would think the biggest store closest to Burning Man would be used to this by now but I guess they have enough turnover that it’s a new batch of monkies every year.

I’ve taken lots of cool (I hope) pictures so far but I am using film for almost everything so I won’t be cool like Alex and upload any until I get back.

That’s all for now. The sun is considering setting and I am feeling better than I have in a week or more. Tonight I will really see the place at night and hopefully make some new friends.

By the time you read this we’ll be travelling sleepily along I70 towards Denver. We decided we were too excited to wait around till morning so off we go. Wish us luck and hopefully I’ll be able to write from the Burn. Bye!

There are only two days left until we hit the road for California and then Burning Man. Alex and I both feel like we’re forgetting something huge and important. We keep going through the lists like: Dome, Rebar, “You know what you’re eating?”, “You know what you’re wearing?”, water and so on. We can’t figure it out.

Last night we finished cutting the rebar and I bent the pieces into mostly “U” shaped spikes. I also went to the doctor and got a tetnus shot for the cut I got from the rebar the previous night. Which brings up an interesting point.

Doctor’s don’t give advice any more. I guess they are too worried about getting sued. I explained to the doctor what happened and that I thought I should probally get a tetnus shot. She said, “Okay.” and handed me a sheet of paper and said, “Read this and decide if you want a tetnus shot.”
So I read it and it had all kinds of warnings about how tetnus shots are good but they can kill you in horrible ways.
The doctor comes back and says, “So do you want one?” and I say, “I don’t have much of a choice do I?”. She goes on to explain how of course I have a choice and it’s my decision and such. I ask if she recommends I get one based on my cut and situation and she says she can’t make that decision for me. Eventually I say, “Well, I guess I will get it. Seems like I should.” and she just says, “Okay”.

This whole exchange leaves me wondering why there are doctors for this kind of thing at all. Effectivly I self prescribed a tetnus shot to myself and got it done. A drug store that stocked the stuff would have done me just as well.

Has the threat of a lawsuit gotten so bad that a doctor can’t even give recommendations on my health? The reason I go to a doctor (which doesn’t happen often) is becuase I believe a doctor knows more about how to keep me alive than I do and I am paying for some of that knowledge.

It’s a brave, new, self medicating world.