June 2005 Archives

The house is slowly coming together - more slowly than I had planned on, but at least there is visible progress. The person we are leasing from hired some dude with his handy pet mexican to completely rebuild the kitchen and fix various things around the house. He was supposed to have all of this done by June 21st.

As of this moment, The new cabinets are in place, although most of the doors are not on them. The kitchen floor hasn't even been started on yet. The wall around the counter is going to be tiled, but they haven't started on that yet, either. There is no countertop; I think it's expected to be here Tuesday or Wednesday. At least the oven and refridgerator are both accessible. They left us with some very nice appliances for the kitchen, including buying a new microwave to match the oven. I think they are planning on wall mounting it. It's freaking huge.

As far as other house repairs go, he's fixed the small holes that Mike had to knock in the wall to get the bed upstairs. Mike and I plan on painting a few rooms in the house ourselves - it's going to be taken off of our monthly payment. Snicker all you want, but I love the smell of a room a few days after it's been painted.

I've been wandering around the house today in a t-shirt and my bright yellow "pixie power" underwear, trying to compile a list of things that need to be done.

The showerhead in the bathroom most definitely needs to be replaced. In my opinion, a showerhead just isn't a showerhead unless it's oscillating, aerated, massaging, vibrating, phallic shaped, removable, and has a big red button on the side that says "PUSH HERE FOR ORGASM". Hey, let's be truthful. My boyfriend is out of town a lot, and I am entitled to the best showering experience that I can afford. Fuck headshops, take me to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

The bedroom is coming together quite nicely. One of the walls is all windows and bookshelves. Right now the floor is covered in clothes, as I'm still doing laundry. I think I've got 2 loads of clothes left, then maybe 5-6 loads of blankets, pillows, and towels. I went to Kmart yesterday - did you know they were still in business? I haven't been to one of those since I was a little kid. They were surprisingly non-ghetto. I got some cute striped Joe Boxer sheets for our bed, just to get us by for now. Moving into a new house is expensive, I'll spring for the better stuff later.

I love how Nathan's room is turning out. There's a red metal bunk bed, and I got him spiderman sheets and a funky red rug that matches. He's going to flip his shit when he sees it next weekend. I still need to get him a toy box and a normal dresser. Later, later.

Two of the bedrooms are still completely empty. I'm going to turn one of them into my yoga studio, and my art supplies are going to be stored there as well. Maybe I'll paint the room pink. Hm, pink. :)

The living room is awesome, considering previously we had 0 furniture to put in it. Mike's parents gave us some very nice furniture - better than anything you'd expect to see in a typical 20-something's house. It's such a huge room that I'm going to have to find some kind of wall accents to break things up a bit. It also needs to be painted. They did some construction work to put in double glass doors from the living room to the office, and the paint there is missing. It's a neutral but pleasant sand colour that I think I'm going to stick with.

The formal sitting parlour is still completely empty. It has a huge brick fireplace, and sliding glass doors to the back yard. I think I want to replace them with French double doors. Later, later. I'm tired of later. There's so much to be done, now! Mike has some plush blue couches that I'm going to be putting in that room for the moment, but I plan on gradually replacing it over time. I want that room to have a very old-english, formal feel. I'm thinking of furnishing it with antique Victorian furniture. Get the feel of a genuine old-style sitting parlour. Who actually uses the phrase "formal sitting parlour" anymore besides me? I'm not sure if the English do. I've never heard an American use that phrase, although at least half seem to understand what I'm talking about.

Ah well, back to cleaning and unpacking. I'm remembering how much of a blessing and a curse that hardwood floors can be. Since we are potty training the puppies, (and because my boyfriend is such a clumsy oaf) it's good that messes are easy to clean up. They get dusty so fast though. I can't walk around barefoot without feeling like I'm carrying around a dustpile on the bottoms of my feet. Swiffer to the rescue.

I'll post some pictures of the house as soon as I can find my Nikon battery charger. The sidekick just couldn't do it justice.

Just kidding.

Seriously, I have the worst luck with Apple batteries. My ipod battery is going out, my powerbook battery only lasts until it hits 94% - then it immediately drops to 0. Before you even suggest it, no, I'm not covered by the recall. I just have shitty luck.

Also...

Dear Sarah Jessica Parker,

Please stop sucking. You're a scrawny medicore looking chick that somehow managed to make it, probably by wrapping your anorexic legs around whatever director you could find that didn't immediately think you were an Ally Mcbeal body double. You made one halfway funny movie back in the 80's, which was really only funny because of how ironic it was - you played a catholic goody two shoes schoolgirl that just wanted to DANCE DANCE DANCE. Sex and the City was the only other thing that didn't completely suck ass. I find Paris Hilton more attractive and mentally engaging than you. Get over yourself. You are only worth the oxygen you consume when you play a immature, sexually confused, fiscally irresponsible New Yorker (wow, did I just describe every female in New York?) that is in deep denial of her lesbian desires regarding her 3 best friends.

In short, please start making more Sex and the City episodes. Charlotte was hot.

Love,

FreeBSDGirl

Providing I haven't killed myself by drowning in a pile of laundry, we're having a moving-in party.

When: Saturday, July 9th @ 6 PM

Where: email me for directions.

Bring: Alcohol, food, children, whatever.

BBQ starts at 6 PM. There's a big fenced back yard to turn your kids loose in, and puppies to keep them entertained. 3 large TV's featuring an XBox, PS2, and Angelina Jolie DVD's. Steal our neighbors wireless, or hop on our 6mbit cable line - it's all the same to us. At 11 PM, the kids need to go home because that's when the hard liquor comes out and the real party starts. RSVP ASAP, etc.

We are finally moving into the big house I'd previously mentioned. Mike cleared out his place of all his clothes - all of which have to be washed, so I'm in a permanent state of doing laundry. I have done over 10 loads already, and probably have 4-6 to go. A lot of it is blankets, towels, etc, but most are Mike's clothes. I had no idea he had so many clothes, and neither did he. Now maybe he'll have something decent to wear. ;)

We got a bunch of nice furniture from one of his parents friends. They were moving to California and didn't want to move all their stuff, so we bought it from them for a decent price. We have this big house and not nearly enough furniture to fill it, so it's a big help. We have 3 couches now, and Mike's parents are selling their leather loveseat - I think I want to buy it, providing I can come up with the money for it. They are selling it plus a matching chair for $2000. It's really plush, and they bought it new for $4500. Mike doesn't want to pay that kind of money, but I fell in love with it. It depends on when/if I start this new job.

The puppies have been a huge handful. Every time I turn around, Mike is calling me, telling me there's a new puddle of pee to clean up. They are sort of house trained - they try to hold it until we take them outside - but they are puppies, so they can't really hold it all that long. At least I can tell they will be easily trained as they get older. We got a bunch of the puppy 'pee pads', which are to aid in house training. They work OK half the time. I need a holster on my belt that will hold a roll of paper towels for the other half, though.

Nathan was over this weekend. If I ever see The Incredibles again, it will be too soon. He's addicted to that DVD. What ever happened to his Spiderman fixation?

Jessie's 28th birthday was today. I went over to her house for a while, brought some Kahlua (the only alcohol I could really find, considering we're moving), and hung out for a bit. Mike was tired from moving all day, so we made a short night of it. Home now, crashed out on the couch watching Dune with Mike. Tomorrow's another day, filled with moving furniture, boxes, and doing more laundry.

Until last Wednesday, I'd never had anyone close to me die. I've never really mourned for anyone. I've never had to deal with death. I always thought that at this age, most people would have death figured out. They'd know how to deal with it, cope, mourn, move on - next please? Maybe it's that I never had to experience it before, lucky me. Maybe that's why I feel so lost now.

I keep crying for no reason. Someone said something mean to me, someone I didn't even know very well, and I started crying. I don't know why. Everything is setting me off. Maybe having someone close to you die strips off that last little piece of innocence. No one lives forever, here's your proof. Look at the person you love most, and imagine an expiration date printed on their forehead - like the gallon of milk that everyone keeps shoving to the back of the grocers fridge, looking for one that's a bit fresher. Sorry honey, I want someone that is going to be good until July 21st.

I should be happy right now. I should be smiling, calling my mom, calling my friends, telling all of them about the job I just got - but I can't even think about it. Someone opened me up, took out the best part of me, stitched me back up, and told me to have a nice life. I miss you, RJ.

It's just a dog, right? I always viewed animals as just that - pets. Family members, but expendable. I've always been so cold-hearted. You wouldn't know it from the way I act. I just don't let myself get too emotionally invested in anyone. It's like I saw this hurt coming before it even happened, little good that it did me.

Does it get easier? Does the death of someone you love sting less over time? Do you get used to it? When is she going to turn into a happy memory?

At least I have Anastacia and Oreo. Mike is rarely around. He's either busy moving us into the house or he's out of town on business. When I sink into my usual blanket-puddle of sobs, the puppies come running straight at me, pulling my hair and chewing on my fingers until it's nearly enough to draw blood. They make me laugh with their attempts to cheer me up. It's like they know when I'm so close to sinking into myself, and they do everything they can to take me out of it. C. was wrong, the puppies aren't my way of being done with mourning for RJ. They are just all that's keeping me going right now. Without them, I think I'd just stay in bed.

They can't be a replacement for RJ-45, and I won't forget her anytime soon, but we got two puppies Friday night. Here's some pics to help soothe the tears behind the last post. Enjoy.

dogs_firstweek

@ 11 AM. Hm. The folks that said "Oh, FreeBSDGirl" when I introduced myself. Heh. Wish me luck.

MJ got off on all counts on the pedo crap. Seriously, who didn't see that one coming?

I put RJ-45 to sleep today.

Last night, I was up late waiting for Calvin to come over. Mike wasn't in town, and I didn't want to be by myself. It's been a rough week. It seems like as soon as I try to work on fixing one crisis, another one slaps me in the face. I needed a friend, just so I didn't have to be alone with my thoughts. Things got confused, and Calvin didn't make it over.

I woke up early in the morning to the sound of RJ-45 crying. Have you ever heard a dog cry? Not whine, but cry. It's one of the most heart-wrenching sounds I've ever heard. For the past few weeks, she'd been eating quite a bit, but she was constantly dropping weight. She went from 35 lbs to 25 lbs, and in the past 3 days she hadn't been interested in her food at all. She was standing up, looking miserable. Seeing her like that, knowing in that instant that she wasn't ever going to live the life she deserved, everything came crashing down. I sent Calvin a furious text message, calling him flakey - among other things. I got on IRC briefly, vented to Mark, and took the comfort he could give me. It helped, a little.

On my way up to Joel's store, I called Mike. We'd had a fight the night before, but I needed someone to lean on. He groggily answered the phone; I probably woke him up. I told him I was going to have to put RJ to sleep. I know we talked about taking her to another vet that thought they could fix her, but her quality of life would never be up to what it should be. We talked about putting her to sleep this weekend, but once I got to the store, I knew it had to be today. I just couldn't deal with seeing her like this another day.

Calvin called, angry about the text message I sent him. I apologized profusely, and then started crying. I hate crying. It's a sign of weakness, and it makes me feel like such a typical overly emotional female. I let Mike see me cry sometimes, but never friends. I just couldn't stop. Calvin instantly turned supportive, telling me everything was going to be OK, and telling me he understood. I kept apologizing. I felt horrible over the message I left him, and I knew I overreacted. I told him the Cliff's Notes version of the past weeks events. He knew how bad RJ was; he's only seen her 'normal' once. I asked his advice as to how I should go about putting her to sleep, and then I started calling Veterinarians.

I picked one close to Jessie's house. They were one of the few that would be able to fit her in today. Joel told me it was ok to leave the store, so I went home to pick up RJ. She was happy to see me, as usual. I lowered opened the back of the Explorer and pat the back, her signal to jump in. She gave me a worried look, and attempted to jump in. She didn't have the strength, and fell over onto her side on the pavement. I tried to keep from crying, but it was too heartbreaking. I picked her up as gently as I could, putting my hands around her ribs where I thought the damage wasn't as bad. When I removed my hands, little pieces and specks of skin were left on my hands.

I drove to the Chevron near Jessie's house, where I was to meet Calvin and Jessie. Calvin had told her where I was going, and she instantly volunteered to come along to be there for me. Calvin dropped Jessie off, and went back to her house to watch her son. Jessie and I drove to the Vet's office. I was trying not to cry too much as I told her about RJ's condition.

When we got to the office, I walked around to the rear of the Explorer to get RJ out, but I found her in the rear seat instead. She wasn't able to control her bowels very well anymore, and she had crapped in the rear of the explorer. It was too much for me to register at the time, so I just ignored it, thinking that I would deal with it when I was done. I walked her inside, and everyone in the office looked like they wanted to cry when they saw her. I had called ahead, so they knew I was coming. They led Jessie and me into the examination room, where they left us with RJ while they went to prepare the injections.

I asked Jessie to go outside and open the rear of the car so it wouldn't smell too horrible later. She asked for a cigarette, so I gave her one and she disappeared. RJ started shivering, and her teeth were chattering. I went into the waiting room to ask for a blanket, and then I wrapped her in it and held her in my lap. The only thing I could see was the tip of her tail and her head. She stared at me the whole time, wagging her tail, happy to be with me.

The veterinarian came back in the room, and pulled one of RJ's rear legs out of the blanket. She injected a sedative into the muscle, and told me she'd be back in 10 minutes. I swaddled RJ in the blanket again and sat with her in my lap, sobbing uncontrollably. She licked my cheek when I put my head down to hers, whispering to her that I was sorry, that I didn't do enough, that I failed her, that it was all my fault, that she was such a good dog.

Her eyes started to droop until they were only halfway open. She was weak when we first got there, but combined with the sedative, she didn't even want to lift her head. The veterinarian came back in with an assistant, and asked me to put RJ on the table. I asked her if I could keep her in my lap, and she didn't look like she was going to let me, but I promised RJ would be better that way. She just wanted to be with me. They pulled one of her front legs out and looked for a vein. I continued to talk to her so she wouldn't be scared. I kept telling her I was sorry, and that I loved her. She was the best dog I'd ever had. It was killing me.

They inserted the needle into the vein on her leg, and injected the full syringe. She didn't even twitch. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, her tail weakly wagging under the blanket. Her breathing slowed, but she wouldn't give up. The veterinarian looked surprised, and then prepared a second syringe. Later, the assistant told me that one syringe was enough to put down a 200 lb animal. It took two full doses for RJ's heart to stop beating. The veterinarian hugged me and told me I did the right thing. She said all the right words, but they didn't sound real. I just wanted her to leave. I wanted RJ-45 to be alive and cured of her sickness. She left me alone, and told me I could take as much time as I needed.

I sat there with her in my arms, and I closed her eyes. I put my head down on the blanket over her chest and continued to cry. I'd never had anyone really close to me die before. She died in my arms, loving me to the very last moment. I stayed a few more minutes, then dried my tears and walked outside.

Jessie was finishing up cleaning out the Explorer, much to my relief. I told her she didn't have to do that, but she said that I'd just put my dog to sleep, dealing with her shit was the last thing I needed. She gave me a hug and we went back to her house. Calvin was there, and he hugged me for a while, doing his best to comfort me. Jessie gave me a clean shirt to change into - I'd gotten a little of RJ's blood on the shirt I was wearing before - and I drove back up to the store.

RJ's ashes are going to be spread over Blue Mountain - it was part of one of the cremation packages available. I could have brought the ashes home with me in a little tin box, but I don't really see the point in that. I don't have any tie to dead bodies. Once they are gone, they are gone. I miss her so much, and I love her a lot - but what happens with her body isn't my concern. I feel that way about anything dead though, not just pets.

I don't like having an empty house to come home to. I know that I'm going to start looking for a new dog soon at the shelters around town. I'm scared that if I get a new dog, I won't love it as much. I'll compare it to RJ, and it will always fall short. When Mike is out of town, it's too lonely having the house all to myself. I need the companionship. No dog will ever replace RJ, though.

http://personals.weatherimages.org/Details-138/fat-girl-that-love-cock.html, I would like to say fuck you.

I am not a fat girl that loves cock. Don't link to me in your 'article', ok.

I'm just big boned.

The FreeBSD Handbook let me down today. I wanted to set up SMTP Auth because I was getting tired of just changing my /etc/mail/relay-domains every time I sent mail from a new location. I found a single page on it, but it didn't appear to have been updated in a while. Several people told me those directions didn't work anymore, but hell, I'm unemployed. It's not like I have anything better to do than poke at documentation and sendmail configs. (By the way, fuck sendmail.)

I came up with a cute How-To that was based on the Handbook entry, but my directions actually work. It's a really basic configuration, but it does the job.

Because editing my /etc/mail/relay-hosts was getting old really quick, I wanted to set up SMTP Authentication on FreeBSDGirl. Since I wasn't sure where to start, I went with the obvious first - the FreeBSD Handbook. It had a single page that detailed how to set this up, but unfortunately the information was a bit lacking. Here's my fixed version of their page. Hopefully they'll see this and update their material*.

Overview

SASL is one of the more common ways of setting up a SMTP authentication system. SMTP allows for a more secure and reliable way of transporting mail.

From the pkg-descr: SASL is a method for adding authentication support to connection-based protocols. To use SASL, a protocol includes a command for identifying and authenticating a user to a server and for optionally negotiating protection of subsequent protocol interactions. If its use is negotiated, a security layer is inserted between the protocol and the connection.

Both cyrus-sasl1 and cyrus-sasl2 are in the ports tree. Below is the directions for configuring each.

The desired end result will look something like this:

# telnet 127.0.0.1 25
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 freebsdgirl.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.13.3/8.13.3; Tue, 7 Jun 2005 17:21:12 -0500 (CDT)
ehlo localhost
250-freebsdgirl.com Hello root@localhost.com [127.0.0.1], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ETRN
250-AUTH DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP

# /usr/local/sbin/saslauthd -v
saslauthd 2.1.21
authentication mechanisms: sasldb getpwent kerberos5 pam rimap

Directions for cyrus-sasl (version 1.5.x)

Install security/cyrus-sasl from ports. A configuration screen will appear*. Select only saslauthd. The original page said to enable pwcheck, but pwcheck is being phased out in favor of saslauthd.

Insert this line into /usr/local/lib/sasl/Sendmail.conf:

pwcheck_method: saslauthd

To enable the daemon to start at boot, add it to your rc.conf(5).

saslauthd1_enable="YES"

The default permissions on the sasldb aren't going to work with sendmail(8) versions >8.10 unless there's magic involved. You won't hurt anything by changing this unless you run cyrus-imapd, in which case you'll need to check into the DontBlameSendmail option. Sendmail requires the sasldb to be owned by root or the trusted user, and it cannot be readable by anyone else.

# chmod 600 /usr/local/etc/sasldb.db
# chown root:mail /usr/local/etc/sasldb.db

Start saslauthd.

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/saslauthd1.sh start

Add the following to /etc/make.conf:

SENDMAIL_CFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include/sasl1 -DSASL
SENDMAIL_LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/lib
SENDMAIL_LDADD=-lsasl

Recompile sendmail.

# cd /usr/src/usr.sbin/sendmail
# make cleandir
# make obj
# make
# make install

Edit your sendmail mc file. This is usually /etc/mail/`hostname`.mc. Add the following lines:

TRUST_AUTH_MECH(`GSSAPI DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN')dnl
define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `GSSAPI DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN')dnl

Edit your sendmail submit mc file, which is usually /etc/mail/`hostname`.submit.mc. Add this line before FEATURE(msp)

DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Name=NoMTA, Addr=127.0.0.1, M=EA')dnl

Generate your sendmail configuration files.

# cd /etc/mail
# make
# make install

Restart sendmail.
# make restart

Directions for cyrus-sasl (version 2.1.x)

Install security/cyrus-sasl2 from ports.

Install security/cyrus-sasl2-saslauthd from ports. saslauthd provides proxy authentication services to clients that don't have built in support for SASL themselves.

To authenticate SMTP users against the system passwd file, insert the following into /usr/local/lib/sasl2/Sendmail.conf:

pwcheck_method: saslauthd

To enable the daemon to start at boot, add it to your rc.conf(5).

saslauthd_enable="YES"

The default permissions on the sasldb aren't going to work with sendmail(8) versions >8.10 unless there's magic involved. You won't hurt anything by changing this unless you run cyrus-imapd, in which case you'll need to check into the DontBlameSendmail option. Sendmail requires the sasldb to be owned by root or the trusted user, and it cannot be readable by anyone else.

# chmod 600 /usr/local/etc/sasldb2.db
# chown root:mail /usr/local/etc/sasldb2.db

Start saslauthd.

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/saslauthd.sh start

Add the following to /etc/make.conf:

SENDMAIL_CFLAGS+= -I/usr/local/include -DSASL=2
SENDMAIL_LDFLAGS+= -L/usr/local/lib
SENDMAIL_LDADD+= -lsasl2

Recompile sendmail.

# cd /usr/src/usr.sbin/sendmail
# make cleandir
# make obj
# make
# make install

Edit your sendmail mc file. This is usually /etc/mail/`hostname`.mc. Add the following lines:

TRUST_AUTH_MECH(`GSSAPI DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN')dnl
define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `GSSAPI DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN')dnl

Edit your sendmail submit mc file, which is usually /etc/mail/`hostname`.submit.mc. Add this line before FEATURE(msp)

DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Name=NoMTA, Addr=127.0.0.1, M=EA')dnl

Generate your sendmail configuration files.

# cd /etc/mail
# make
# make install

Restart sendmail.

# make restart

* Dear Handbook Developers, Please give credit to FreeBSDGirl for the fixed material. Kisses!

** Dear cyrus-sasl1 port maintainers, make config is neat! Please make your port not suck by making it use make config too. Kisses!

Here's some step-by-step instructions for getting your Motorola V600 from T-Mobile working with OSX.

1. If you've paired your phone and laptop already, delete it from both. It's easier to start from scratch.

2. On the Mac, System Preferences -> Bluetooth -> Settings.

3. Check Discoverable and Support Non-Conforming Phones.

4. Click on the Devices tab, and then Set Up New Device.

5. Click Continue.

6. On your Motorola, Main Menu -> Settings -> Connection -> Bluetooth Link -> Setup -> Find Me. This will make your cell phone discoverable for 60 seconds.

7. On the Mac, select Mobile Phone and click Continue.

8. The Mac will discover your cell phone. Highlight it, and click Continue.

9. A passkey will display on the screen.

10. Accept the dialog on the Motorola that offers to bond with the laptop, and input the passkey that the Mac wizard issued.

11. Before continuing with the Internet setup, you need to download the proper modem scripts. You can get them from here. Use Stuffit Expander to extract the Scripts, and put them in /Library/Modem Scripts/.

12. Back to the wizard. iSync and Address Book will be greyed out, because iSync doesn't yet support SyncML. However, it looks like the next release of iSync will. I wouldn't be surprised if this was released with Tiger, if not before. For now, select Access the Internet with your phone's data connection, and then select Use a direct, higher speed connection to reach your Internet Service Provider (GPRS, 1xRTT). Click Continue.

13. Leave the Username and Password fields blank. For GPRS CID String, enter internet2.voicestream.com. (Note: if this doesn't work, try internet3. If neither works, contact T-Mobile and tell them you want to be on the internet2 or internet3 ASN. Port blocking sucks.). Select Motorola GPRS CID1 in the dropdown for Modem Script. Click Continue.

14. Click Quit to exit the wizard.

That's it! If you run into any problems, let me know and I'd be happy to help you out as much as I can. Setting it all up is fairly straightforward, but there were absolutely no webpages I could find that would detail it for T-Mobile and the Motorola that worked (probably because T-Mobile just released this phone 4 days ago, hehe). Hopefully this will help out someone that was just as stressed and frustrated with it as I was.

First, here's the specs on my laptop. There's no sense in following my directions if you've got something completely different.

dmesg output:
Copyright (c) 1992-2005 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD 5.4-PRERELEASE #2: Thu Mar 31 01:04:39 EST 2005
root@mojo.freebsdgirl.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/JOJO
ACPI APIC Table: <DELL CPi R >
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2992.51-MHz 686-class CPU)
Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0xf34 Stepping = 4
Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
Hyperthreading: 2 logical CPUs
real memory = 804954112 (767 MB)
avail memory = 777936896 (741 MB)
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 2
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
npx0: <math processor> on motherboard
npx0: INT 16 interface
acpi0: <DELL CPi R > on motherboard
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1008-0x100b on acpi0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU (3 Cx states)> on acpi0
acpi_throttle0: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu0
acpi_acad0: <AC Adapter> on acpi0
acpi_cmbat0: <Control Method Battery> on acpi0
acpi_lid0: <Control Method Lid Switch> on acpi0
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
acpi_button1: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
agp0: <Intel 82865 host to AGP bridge> mem 0xe8000000-0xefffffff at device 0.0 on pci0
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
acpi_video0: <ACPI video extension> port 0xc000-0xc0ff mem 0xfcff0000-0xfcffffff,0xf0000000-0xf7ffffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
uhci0: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-A> port 0xbf80-0xbf9f irq 16 at device 29.0 on pci0
usb0: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-A> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-B> port 0xbf60-0xbf7f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
usb1: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-B> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-C> port 0xbf40-0xbf5f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
usb2: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-C> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci3: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-D> port 0xbf20-0xbf3f irq 16 at device 29.3 on pci0
usb3: <Intel 82801EB (ICH5) USB controller USB-D> on uhci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
pci0: <serial bus, USB> at device 29.7 (no driver attached)
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
bfe0: <Broadcom BCM4401 Fast Ethernet> mem 0xfaffe000-0xfaffffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci2
miibus0: <MII bus> on bfe0
bmtphy0: <BCM4401 10/100baseTX PHY> on miibus0
bmtphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
bfe0: Ethernet address: 00:0f:1f:1e:eb:55
cbb0: <TI4510 PCI-CardBus Bridge> at device 1.0 on pci2
cardbus0: <CardBus bus> on cbb0
pccard0: <16-bit PCCard bus> on cbb0
fwohci0: <1394 Open Host Controller Interface> mem 0xfaff8000-0xfaffbfff,0xfaffd800-0xfaffdfff irq 19 at device 1.1 on pci2
fwohci0: OHCI version 1.10 (ROM=0)
fwohci0: No. of Isochronous channels is 4.
fwohci0: EUI64 48:4f:c0:00:26:7d:34:a1
fwohci0: Phy 1394a available S400, 2 ports.
fwohci0: Link S400, max_rec 2048 bytes.
firewire0: <IEEE1394(FireWire) bus> on fwohci0
fwe0: <Ethernet over FireWire> on firewire0
if_fwe0: Fake Ethernet address: 4a:4f:c0:7d:34:a1
fwe0: Ethernet address: 4a:4f:c0:7d:34:a1
fwe0: if_start running deferred for Giant
sbp0: <SBP-2/SCSI over FireWire> on firewire0
fwohci0: Initiate bus reset
fwohci0: node_id=0xc800ffc0, gen=1, CYCLEMASTER mode
firewire0: 1 nodes, maxhop <= 0, cable IRM = 0 (me)
firewire0: bus manager 0 (me)
ndis0: <Dell TrueMobile 1300 WLAN Mini-PCI Card> mem 0xfaff6000-0xfaff7fff irq 17 at device 3.0 on pci2
ndis0: NDIS API version: 5.1
ndis0: Ethernet address: 00:90:96:cf:e5:1f
ndis0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
ndis0: 11g rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci0: <Intel ICH5 UDMA100 controller> port 0xbfa0-0xbfaf,0x376,0x170-0x177,0x3f6,0x1f0-0x1f7 at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: channel #0 on atapci0
ata1: channel #1 on atapci0
pcm0: <Intel ICH5 (82801EB)> port 0xdc40-0xdc7f,0xd800-0xd8ff mem 0xf8fff400-0xf8fff4ff,0xf8fff800-0xf8fff9ff irq 17 at device 31.5 on pci0
pcm0: <SigmaTel STAC9750/51 AC97 Codec>
pci0: <simple comms> at device 31.6 (no driver attached)
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x64,0x60 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: model GlidePoint, device ID 0
orm0: <ISA Option ROM> at iomem 0xc0000-0xcffff on isa0
pmtimer0 on isa0
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
sio0: type 8250 or not responding
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0x200
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 2992511700 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
ad0: 38154MB <FUJITSU MHT2040AH/006C> [77520/16/63] at ata0-master UDMA100
acd0: CDRW <QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM SBW242U/UD25> at ata1-master UDMA33
cd0 at ata1 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
cd0: <QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242U UD25> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device
cd0: 33.000MB/s transfers
cd0: cd present [302880 x 2048 byte records]
Mounting root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a

pciconf -lvvv output:
agp0@pci0:0:0: class=0x060000 card=0x01591028 chip=0x25708086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface'
class = bridge
subclass = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:1:0: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x25718086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82865G/PE/P, 82848P PCI-to-AGP Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
uhci0@pci0:29:0: class=0x0c0300 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24d28086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci1@pci0:29:1: class=0x0c0300 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24d48086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci2@pci0:29:2: class=0x0c0300 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24d78086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci3@pci0:29:3: class=0x0c0300 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24de8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
none0@pci0:29:7: class=0x0c0320 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24dd8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB EHCI Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
pcib2@pci0:30:0: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x244e8086 rev=0xc2 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801BA/CA/DB/DBL/EB/ER (ICH2/3/4/4-L/5/5R), 6300ESB Hub Interface to PCI Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:31:0: class=0x060100 card=0x00000000 chip=0x24d08086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:31:1: class=0x01018a card=0x01591028 chip=0x24db8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) EIDE Controller'
class = mass storage
subclass = ATA
pcm0@pci0:31:5: class=0x040100 card=0x01591028 chip=0x24d58086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller'
class = multimedia
subclass = audio
none1@pci0:31:6: class=0x070300 card=0x4d6414e4 chip=0x24d68086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Modem Controller'
class = simple comms
acpi_video0@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x51021028 chip=0x4e501002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'ATI Technologies Inc.'
device = 'Radeon Mobility M10 NP (RV350)'
class = display
subclass = VGA
bfe0@pci2:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x81271028 chip=0x440114e4 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Broadcom Corporation'
device = 'BCM4401 10/100 Integrated Ethernet Controller'
class = network
subclass = ethernet
cbb0@pci2:1:0: class=0x060700 card=0x01591028 chip=0xac44104c rev=0x02 hdr=0x02
vendor = 'Texas Instruments (TI)'
device = 'PCI4510 PC card CardBus Controller'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-CardBus
fwohci0@pci2:1:1: class=0x0c0010 card=0x01591028 chip=0x8029104c rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Texas Instruments (TI)'
device = '??? OHCI Compliant IEEE-1394 FireWire Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = FireWire
ndis0@pci2:3:0: class=0x028000 card=0x00031028 chip=0x432014e4 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Broadcom Corporation'
device = 'BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller'
class = network

There's a few things here that you doubtless won't see on a default FreeBSD 5.4 install, mainly being ndis0, acpi_video0, and pcm0.

First, let's work on the easy stuff. Sound! If you look at my pciconf, you'll see I'm working with an Intel ICH5. Easy stuff. To start sound now, use:
kldload snd_ich

You'll doubtless want to have it working at boot, so just stick this in your /boot/loader.conf:
snd_ich_load="YES"

To verify all of this worked, just take a look at your /dev/sndstat. Mine looks like this:
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <intel ICH5 (82801EB)> at io 0xf8fff800, 0xf8fff400 irq 17 bufsz 16384 kld snd_ich (1p/1r/0v channels duplex default)

ACPI video isn't really necessary. ACPI on Dell laptops is so broken, it's not even funny. I can get to S1 with acpiconf -s 1, but that doesn't really seem to do much. It's somewhat of a power saving mode. Just man acpiconf for more info on the sleep mode numbers. Loading the acpi_video module just lets me shut off my screen when I put my laptop into S1. It's not quite so simple as just loading the module, though. You need to edit your /etc/rc.resume and /etc/rc.suspend files as well.

First, load the module.
kldload acpi_video

Next, edit your /boot/loader.conf.
acpi_video_load="YES"

Now, for the /etc/rc.resume file. Put this right before the exit 0 at the end of the file:
sysctl hw.acpi.video.lcd0.active=1

Add this to the end of /etc/rc.suspend, right before the exit 0:
sysctl hw.acpi.video.lcd0.active=0

That's about as much as I can show you for the ACPI. I'm still a bit lost on that one. Dell, get your act together.

X.org? Easy. Here's my xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "freetype"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
#DisplaySize 330 210 # mm
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "SEC"
ModelName "3150"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "ati"
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

NDIS is loads of fun. Go to Dell's website and download the self-extracting zip for your network card. You can use unzip(1) to unzip it.

Before we go any further, make sure you have the kernel source tree at /usr/src/sys. You need this. If you don't know how to grab it, read the handbook. :)

Now, copy the *.inf and *.sys for your wireless card into /usr/src/sys/modules/if_ndis. For my network card, the files were bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf. We're going to use these files to create the ndis_driver_data.h. That handy tool ndiscvt(8) does this for us.

ndiscvt -i bcmwl5.inf -s bcmwl5.sys -o ndis_driver_data.h
make install

This should have created an if_ndis.ko for you and popped it into /boot/kernel.

Load it:
kldload if_ndis

Put it in your /boot/loader.conf:
ndis_load="YES"
if_ndis_load="YES"

Did ndis0 show up in your dmesg? It should. If not, do I look like FreeBSD Technical Support? Contact the freebsd-mobile mailing list. :)

Darius from #freebsdhelp on EFNet also published some information about FreeBSD on Inspirons. Check out his page at http://www.gsoft.com.au/~doconnor/I8600/.

Thanks to my fabulous coworker Paul, flash with my firefox works. How did this miraculous feat come to occur? He pointed me to an email on the questions@ mailing list that detailed the steps needed.

portinstall firefox flashplugin-mozilla

cd /usr/src/libexec/rtld-elf/
make clean all install

portinstall linuxthreads linuxpluginwrapper acroread

Add the following lines to your /etc/libmap.conf:

# Flash with Firefox [/usr/local/lib/linux-flashplugin6/libflashplayer.so] libpthread.so.0 pluginwrapper/flash6.so libdl.so.2 pluginwrapper/flash6.so libz.so.1 libz.so.2 libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3 liblstdc++.so.4 libm.so.6 libm.so libc.so.6 pluginwrapper/flash6.so

# Acrobat with Firefox
[/usr/local/Acrobat5/Browsers/intellinux/nppdf.so]
libpthread.so.0 pluginwrapper/acrobat.so
libdl pluginwrapper/acrobat.so
libc.so.6 pluginwrapper/acrobat.so

Now visit your favorite flash-based site in firefox. Many thanks to Zlatozar and Paul. :)

So I've been wondering, in Wordpress, is there a way to limit the number of posts per page on a per-request basis? I know it can be set in the site admin pages, but that's global. This becomes a bit of a problem when doing a month view.

For example, April 2005 is only going to show the first 20 entries because that's what I've got the default set to. Is there a way to add something like &count=40 to the end of it to make it show more posts?

Update:

I've kind of figured part of it out. It turns out there's a variable called posts_per_archive_page that can be passed with the URL, but I'm trying to figure out other methods of automatically retrieving it. There's a table in the WordPress database called 'wp_options' that stores various configuration settings. posts_per_page was present, however, posts_per_archive_page was not. Adding it seemed to make no difference. Back to code hacking. :)

Update:

Fixed! I'm not the only one that has had this problem. The easiest fix for all ya'll wordpress users is to put the line $posts_per_archive_page = -1; in your index.php just before it calls wp-blog-header.php. Here's a link to the page I found that had info on why you have to do this. There's a bunch of drama going down because the authors of wordpress added this 'functionality' in release 1.5 without mentioning it or telling anyone how to turn it off. fun stuff.

Heaven help us, it's the female version of Gizmodo.

I stumbled across misbehaving.net earlier today.

misbehaving.net is a weblog about women and technology. It's a celebration of women's contributions to computing; a place to spotlight women's contributions as well point out new opportunities and challenges for women in the computing field.

Women have contributions to computing? Heh, just kidding. ;)

Apparently, females have a hard time of things at work. I don't often bitch about being a female in IT. I don't act like I've got it harder because I'm the proud owner of two lovely XX chromosomes. That doesn't mean I don't notice situations in the workplace where it would be easier if I was a guy - far from it. One thing I've remarked on is the difference in perception of a new employee based on the gender. If a male walks into a new computer job, he's assumed competent unless proven otherwise. With a female, it's the other way around.

It's not like I don't disagree with the females running that site. I've got to wonder though, do they really help anything? My generation of 20-somethings has grown up being told that females are equal to men. We have special student loans, we get better car insurance rates, and we even live longer on average. I'm not blind nor an idealist; I know there's still problems.

If you keep repeating a message over and over again, it starts to lose its meaning. The feminist movement used to mean something. People used to take it seriously. Females used to take it seriously. Now, we've even turned on ourselves. Either we sneer at feminism, saying it's for hairy muff-licking bull-dykes, or we go entirely overboard with it and furiously berate any man that dares to open a door for us. The meaning behind the word feminist was lost in translation sometime between the 60's and now.

I don't have the answer, why are you looking at me? I just like stating the obvious.

Ever wonder what it's like to skin a live dog? It's not fun. I found out tonight. RJ-45's fur is coming off in clumps, and her skin is falling off with it. The best thing right now is to remove all of her fur so it doesn't get matted into the wounds as they dry, so I took it upon myself to give her a haircut. 10 minutes into it, I realized the easiest thing was just to tug on the hair just barely and it'd come out on its own. She laid with her head in my lap through all of it. It was heart breaking. At least now the wounds will heal up faster, unobstructed. She appears to be a little happier, although she's still not moving around much.

If she doesn't get better by next weekend, I'm going to put her to sleep. I start crying any time I think about it. I was talking about it on IRC today to a couple of Mike's IRL friends, and one of them started making really rude comments, making light of the situation. I signed off and bawled my eyes out for an hour until I finally fell asleep. There's a difference between being a troll and aiming to really hurt someone. I wasn't expecting that from him. Why would he want to hurt me? I don't know what to say.

I'm taking a temporary job working in my landlord's water company for a while. It sounds like I'll be getting paid to sit in the retail office and IRC. Rock on. I'm only taking this to have something to do with my time. I hate sitting at home all day. At least it'll take care of paying this months rent for me, although not much else.

LOTD: Forget Me Not Panties.