Hell On Wheels

So last Saturday a few friends and I made another appearance at an L.A. Derby Dolls match?... bout?... event. This time was way better than the previous. A short list of the original exhibitions pitfalls follows.

1. The first one was during the day.
2. It was around 100 degrees out or more.
3. There was no shade.
4. The track was a taped off asphault, basketball court at the Y.
5. They had Hippy McFolksinger as the band.
6. I wasn't feeling well even before Hippy McFolksinger started playing.

Now the reasons(at least a few) why this one was way better.

1. Night time.
2. Indoors.
3. Banked, wooden track.
4. No Hippy McFolksinger. In fact the band that played, The Randies I think, was actually really fucking good.
5. Did I mention it was a banked, wooden track?

So none of us knew exactly where we were going. All we really knew, or at least thought we knew, was that it was down in Japantown somewhere and that we didn't want to drive there. So we called a cab and headed out the door around 6PM. The doors were opening at 6:30 and Pasadena isn't that far from downtown L.A. We arrived in downtown and then started heading for 3rd and Alameda, but we missed the left turn on 3rd and continued on to 6th or something and then headed east. We started to pass through some not so inviting areas. Turns out we were smack in the middle of skid row. At this point we weren't even sure we'd be able to get a cab home.

We finally hit Alameda and turned left. A few short blocks later and we arrived at the Little Tokyo Shopping Center that incidentally is actually a few blocks away from Japantown. We were instantly reassured about the neighborhood by the presence of the cops parked outside and the surrounding tent city. Any thoughts about future transportation were immediately abandoned as we headed inside.

First floor, chop sticks, soup bowls and assorted asian stuff was arrayed out on a number of fold up tables. Bypassing that we followed the "Derby Dolls This Way" signs to the top floor. After signing the obligatory waiver that we wouldn't hold them liable for flying off the track and killing us we were in. The Chinese Jet Pilot and myself had purchased VIP passes online and after checking in and getting our flaming pink wrist bands and stainless steel Derby Dolls flasks we went inside and waited for Fancy Pants and Mr. Kimono to buy their standard, peon tickets.

Turns out it was a good thing the CJP and I went the VIP route as we had instant access to the full(except for cups) bar while the lowly peons had to wait for the cooler outside to be filled. We got our drinks. Since the cups had yet to arrive we had them put into our shiny new flasks. Yay VIP! Next stop, the track.

It was still early and no one had as yet really staked out any spots at the track. So we did. We were right at the track on the exit of the first turn. Great spot. Luckily I was able to see over the edge of the track. That view is the only picture I took. With my phone. Because I forgot my camera. Dumbass. Next time for sure. The picture is up at flickr for what it's worth.

The bout finally started and after about the third jam the captain for the Tough Cookies bailed off the track and it looked really grim. The EMTs on site pulled out the back board and the place was silent. Better safe than sorry and what seemed really terrible turned out to be not so bad. Turns out she just knocked herself a bit silly while wrapping herself around one of the rail posts. She sat a bit and not long after returned to the line up. Turns out Iron Mayven is one tough chick. There was another fifteen minutes of racing, blocking and falling followed by half time.

The half time show was a hula hoop striptease done by the prettiest boy I think I've ever seen. Sure fooled me until the clothes came off. Oops! The second half continued where the first left off. There was another bit of excitement when Jihad was pushed off the track and dislocated her shoulder. The onsite medical staff knocked it back and I'm sure told her to head off to see a doctor ASAP. Another tough chick. The bout ended with the Fight Crew spanking the Tough Cookies by some ridiculous score.

Not wanting to stick around too late with no guaranteed way home we immediately started looking for a cab. After a few calls and a phone number from a random stranger we were told to expect a cab. Sometime. No time estimate was given. So we waited. Then waited a bit more. Things got a bit tense when crazy, drunk lady decided to almost walk in front of a speeding bus. After dodging the bus it seemed she was heading our way. Fortunately she dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged past on the other side of the street. Shortly thereafter the cab showed up and we were on our way home. Turns out where we were is only about three blocks from Union Station. We may just have to take the Gold Line there and back next time. Certainly cheaper than the cab rides there and back.

Can't wait for next time.

All I Needed To Hear

She dared me. What else could I do?

Your English Skills:

Vocabulary: 100% Spelling: 60% Grammar: 40% Punctuation: 40%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

And the typing test:

Here are your full test results:

- Test Name: Strategic Alliances with Competitors
- Date: 2006-09-26 11:21
- Test Time: 01:00
- Gross Speed: 56 WPM
- Errors: 2
- Accuracy: 96%

- NET SPEED: 54 WPM

Z!, yes it's two much too type out the hole name(HAH!); says that she can't type her way out of a wet papor bag. Well if that's the case then I guess I kan, but, if that bag is only slightly damp than, I'm screwed too.

Cool Breezes

Here's another quick picture. This was taken from the balcony of our condo in Maui last month. Bummer view eh?

No Fish

Well seeing as I don't really want to be smacked around with a halibut I'll put up a couple of pictures that are a bit less serious than the last post. They will of course be of her highness, the mighty hunter, Stella.

How To Install Two CLI FAH Clients

*** WARNING ***

To those expecting an interesting fun filled post, well, this isn't it. If you are looking for instructions on how to run two or more instances of Folding@Home on one computer then you are in the right place.

NOTE: Two instances of the graphical client can not be run on the same machine even if they are in separate folders. To run two, or more, instances of the FAH program on one computer will require using the CLI(command line interface) version of FAH. I believe you may still use one version of the graphical client, but all other instances must be the CLI version. All versions must have different Machine ID numbers and the -local switch needs to be added to the shortcut. These are set the first time you run the FAH client. The instructions below are directions on how to set up two instances of the CLI version. I have never used the graphical client so I have no experience setting that up. The CLI version has worked well for me. I like to be able to manually start and stop my clients not as services. This is more out of old habit than anything else. I do have one client that is actually running as a service, but all others I have to manually start. The instructions below will set up the clients to run as services.


1. Create two folders, one for each instance of the the FAH client program. The names of the folders in my example are FAH1 and FAH2 and they are located on my Desktop. They can be located anywhere you like though.

2. Next download a copy of the client and put a copy of the client in each folder.

3. Open up the FAH1 folder and Right Click on the client to bring up the options menu and then Left Click on 'Create Shortcut'. You will now have new shortcut in the FAH1 folder. We'll use this shortcut to start up and configure the FAH client.

Click the picture for a larger view.

4. Right Click on this newly created shortcut and then Left Click 'Properties'.

Click the picture for a larger view.

5. The window that opens up should open up to the shortcut tab by default. If it doesn't then select that tab. Now you should see a window with the name of the shortcut at the top. Below that you will see Target type, Target location and Target. We are interested in the Target field. In the 'Target' field you will see the directory where you put the FAH client. This directory and the file name itself will be enclosed in quotes.

"C:\Documents and Settings\Ken\Desktop\FAH1\FAH502-Console.exe"

Click the picture for a larger view.

6. We now want to put our switches at the end of that line. The switches we will use are -forceasm, -advmethods, -verbosity 9, and -local. These need to be on the outside of the quotation marks and there needs to be a space after the last quotation mark and in bewtween each switch. When you are done adding the switches it should look like this.

"C:\Documents and Settings\Ken\Desktop\FAH1\FAH502-Console.exe" -advmethods -forceasm -verbosity 9 -local

Click the picture for a larger view.

7. Now go ahead and double click on this new shortcut. Assuming this is the first time you have started the client it will start up and start prompting for configuration information such as your user name, team number etc. The two important ones, other than your user name and team 734 are the machine ID and whether you want to run the client as a service. Running as a service is good in that as soon as you boot the computer and load windows the client will be automatically started by windows. Also, when you shut down windows it will automatically stop the client gracefully. No fuss, no muss.

So you really want to answer only five of the questions:

User Name: Whatever your user name is
Team Number: 734
Launch automatically at start up...: yes
Change advanced options: yes <-- This will allow you to get to the following question. Machine ID: Choose 1 for the first client and 2 for the second All others questions you can hit enter to accept the defaults.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for the second client.

One Moment Please

So as you could tell we went to Maui for a few days at the end of August. I've posted just a small token of the total pictures taken during that trip. There are just too many to sort through. I'll get to it eventually.

So what pictures do I finally get through though and post to the photo album? Yup, that's right, pics from the trip to Rock Creek. Mine and those taken by Mrs. LK. Lets see, we were there the 4th of July weekend. So, July plus August, carry the one, yup that would only be a two month delay from taking the pictures to posting them. I guess you won't be seeing Maui pictures until the end of October. Oi.

p.s. Thanks to Sherri for the excellent idea to use the picture I'm now using as the header graphic. Great idea. :)

The Trash Was Put Into It's Own Can Tonight

Tee hee hee, hee hee

Not Gonna Happen

So if you're here to see what bit of profoundness I might be imparting on you today well there isn't any.

Sad it happened? Absolutely.

Wanna rehash it some more? No thank you.

Oh My, Yes!

Sums It Up Fairly Well

Crikey!

Guess he poked just one critter too many with a stick.

Steve Irwin
1962-2006

So long Steve. Thanks for the laughs.