this hot weather bugs me. i grew up in the valley so i know what hot is. 103 degrees by 11am. that sucked. but living on the coast you would think the marine layer or the cool ocean breeze would protect from such high temps. slo is inland enough and surrounded by small hills so it maintains some high temps in certain months. right now it is 69 [good number] so that is a nice temperature. but i will tell you it feels hotter than that. yesterday it was 84. that bugs. i hate sweating. always wiping my face and letting my pits breath. you know when it is hot when you get out of the shower and dry yourself off. starting with the hair and face then working your way down to the toes. then feeling that your face is still wet and wondering if you may not have dried it, then realizing it is sweat...geez!
quick weekend. not too much went on for me. relaxed mostly or loafed, really. spent a lot of time saturday and sunday downtown and along the creek. reading, walking, snapping photos, and eating.
sunday was the first time i have ever come close to being nailed by birdshit. i was reading my book sitting on a bench along the creek. ~splat~ right on the page i was reading...right there. not too much of a physical reaction, i just thought to myself. now this is birdshit...no, wait, yes, yes it is...it definitely is, yep birdshit...no question...it is. hmmm...how am i going to wipe this off my page? wait a second...this could have hit me! my body! my back! my sleeve! my head! right ontop of my head...oh man i would equate this event to dodging a bullet...i mean that would be something, dodging a bullet, right? i was not under attack thankfully, just some stray shit. anyway, i dragged the defecated page along the edge of the bench and wiped the rest off with a piece of tree bark. closed the book really hard so that the opposite page could soak up the excess liquid. then i went for some ice cream.
last night was a bbq with friends and geeky camera fun in the dark.
there was a weblog event here in san luis this past wednesday. we have never meet each other in person, but we're familiar with each others web sites in someway. more people showed up than i expected. it was really cool to meet every one and gain a little insight into each persons view about blogging and the web. looking forward to the next one! maybe morepeoplewill be able to attend? a few photos from this meetup, check out the lively bunch! [note: pre-caffeinated shots].
for today i made my way downtown to grab a some chinese food. i really dig this buffet downtown. i used to go there a lot for lunch, grab a to-go box, fill it to the brim [note: there is nothing that says you have to close the box so pile it high!] and enjoy my meal along the creek. today i just came back to work. my fortune for today:
a book arrived today via snail-mail. i just finished it. i will recommend it to all those entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketers that i know. excellent read, great topics, perfect thought processes on this whole age of advertising and marketing. not keeping up with the jones' but surpassing them by light years.
quick read.
oh and yes, i am home on a friday night reading a business related book... :P
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
5/13/2003 at 4:24pm tuesday
War Driving (wôr dri'vin) v. 1 Driving around looking for unsecured wireless networks
check that out. sounds cheesy but that is how i spent my lunch hour. jumped in the truck, laptop on and scanning for wireless access points. to my surprise, there are a shitload in this town. about 53 in my short drive. i used a sniffer program that shows available wireless access points within range of my laptop. no external antenna [which would have found weaker signals]. many of these wireless points were secure enough to not allow me to surf just by opening up a browser. with a few tricks and a full battery no wireless point is truly safe. a few were semi-secure so i could surf the web but not gain access to the internal network. however. there were a handful that were wide open. about 3 of those are open allowing surfing and mail access and a password protected router. more surprising was the 6 that were not secure at all. so much that i could log into their router with the default password. giving me complete access to change anything i wanted [i didn't]. if i knew which place it was coming from i would leave a note or something, but it could be coming from any building. some signals were very strong spanning a block or so.
security is still a huge issue with wireless. there is no control how short a signal can be sent [my wireless signal spans three houses]. these signals are just out there. my setup for finding these points is very simple and a quick drive pulled up so many. private corporate networks thinking WEP or no DHCP or a firewall will stop this, not a chance. firewall only keep computers out from getting into your network. but if they are already on your network via wireless, the firewall is useless. the encryption protocol, WEP, can be broken with simple programs available for download. i am fascinated by this. pretty much all these wireless points in town are fine and will not get hacked, safe due to the small town, if anything people neighbors who have a wireless card are not questioning why they now have free internet access. but give it time. and there will be a problem. if you are a business and want things very secure, don't install wireless.
it is funny to see some of the SSID names that are chosen. my favorite so
far is dullegirls. close second is life is a garden, dig it!. here is a text file of the list. if you are in san luis reading this
, see if you can spot your network! not to worry marya, you are safe, ;).
some books on wi-fi if you are interested in setting up a wireless network or would like to know how to secure your existing network.
money is control. was reading an article this morning about america's good 'ole store wal-mart releasing a statement that it will no longer sell Maxim, Stuff and FHM because it has received complaints from customers about their racy content. racy? sure...what else would a men's magazine have in it? flowers and pretty skies?
wal-mart has the power to stop selling items. they don't sell cds with parental warning stickers, forcing the artists to remake records that comply with wal-mart's "standards" calling them "sanitized versions". wha? who are these people that are asking telling them to stop? your average everyday customer? i think not. the article even hints at this. their statement was "received complaints from customers", but it also references "the firm has been under pressure from Christian groups", oh really? listening to your customers? indeed. why not let the market decide what you shouldn't sell. if a product sells the store will carry it, if it collects dust or does not turn a profit, a store should not carry it. simple economics, a free market. even with all the banning of certain products they still sell guns, right? oh good. i feel better. just don't take my guns away. oh wait, they stopped selling guns only in california temporarily due to a violation. oh no! but they still sell bullets right, the bullets, please say they do...yes they do...good still able to buy bullets at your local wal-mart.
ok fine, take the playboy away, one would not purchase this in public, strictly mail order ;).
if wal-mart keeps up their bans, pretty soon this world will be a happy place to live. soon.
on another note. some photos of all things small...
5/05/2003 at 10:19pm monday
this area was drenched with rain friday and saturday. not much to do but stay inside. when it rains one becomes productive correct? staying inside getting things done, work, reading, doing something productive. i couldn't tell you what i accomplished this weekend. but then came sunday. sunday was bright, clear, and hot. fresh. total opposite form the gray, cloudy, wet weather the previous two days. something directed me to get out and walk around downtown. browse some books stores, eat pizza slices [$1.50ea], drink coffee on the go, walk along the creek, people watch, and take photos. generally a good day to be out.
5/04/2003 at 10:11pm sunday
shadows...
5/02/2003 at 10:28am friday
drinking a fresh cup of coffee brewed and poured from the coffee press. not a productive morning. a few business calls, some quick emails, walking around the house mostly. watching the rain. knowing that it is drenching a huge flower pot outside the kitchen window. its soggy contents soon to die from the roots rotting away. the soil has never dried up from the last rain. that flower pot annoys me. so i find this hot cup of coffee comforting.
