Road Sign is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

Inspiration might come in the strangest of places, in this case, a computer case, and the inspiration? From the ubiquitous side project, specifically, this image.

Another Mercury Retrograde inspired project: free draft copy here, a paperback coffee table book, Bexar County Line: the Double Aughts.

The bakery is halfway down the street, South Flores, maybe a third of the way between the cathedral and the hardware store. Past Ruby Ann, I’m guessing.

The project started in the late 1980′s. I was enamored of the compact-mac form-format. Back when I wanted custom-made furniture – and could – and would – afford it, I had two desks custom fitted for that kind of computer. fredlet got my last SE/30, some years back.

The Apple naming convention was to tack a letter “x” on the end of the model’s name to indicate the new and improved updated version. Mac II, Mac IIx, Mac IIc, Mac IIcx, SE, SE/x.

I’m unsure of the roots, but I’ve toyed with the idea several times. Case modders, though, get stuck in time. Like a bug in one of the pieces of amber I’ve owned.

It’s a newer compact mac case, still that compact format. I was looking at a couple of options, and I found a monitor that should fit. Make it even easier. Just needed a computer.

I dug the case back out, pried it apart, measured again – and again, contemplated, and so far, not too much. Noodled around on eBuy, bid on an old, possibly dead Mac Mini, I mean, I could put that in, with the monitor, and while it’s been done, still, it would be possible.

One idea that I started with was to use black spray paint, and refinish the cabinet. While the aquarium idea is equally intriguing, I can’t even commit to finishing the first terrarium I was going to build. Mac Aquarium is out of the question.

Still following? Just ideas that percolate up when Mercury is backwards. Instead of a 9-inch LCD monitor, harder to find that one would think, and even then, pretty useless for lack of (computer)serious screen real estate, so instead of that, why not replace what was glass with just a board or something? I got the best custom car painter on hand, a superior auto-body finish, be perfect. That empty box could hold the airport (wireless router) and back-up drives, a whole host of gear, tucked out of sight.

Just a board or something, over the front, where the CRT once lived. Then a vent, maybe, or a fan, in the front, make use of that space.

Part of the original design was natural, convection cooling. Later models had fans installed, and the SE variant even had slots on the front to admit cool air. Those old ones could run quite hot.

So maybe a fan to keep the tech cool. Another idea, worth considering. I’ve got at least one Apple PowerBook I could cannibalize for parts, a motherboard, a floppy disk drive, one has a ten-inch LCD, active matrix, not like I haven’t thought of that before, but my hardware hacking skills, my formally mad and bad skill set is sorely lacking. Doubt I really want a couple of computers scattered across the workshop for six months or more. Considering how long I’ve been working on this idea, a project computer, I’d have to make sure I had time and space.

In my parents’ generation, they had “console” stereo and TV. See where most of those are on the cover of the book, or even here. My predecessors had “component” stereo systems, buy an amplifier and a tuner, then a turntable, and put all of this out in a rack-like mount in the living room. Nothing hidden behind a console.

I think I’ll use that little computer cabinet as a storage space for storage, hide hard drives there.

Mercury Retrograde: projects revisited is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

Unlimited:
|Your site continues to hit the
|SQL query limit of 75,000
|queries per hour due to the
|amount of traffic you are receiving.

So much for unlimited. Always knew there was something in the fine print. Still, the tech had a solution, further down the note, and now, the site is being served faster with less overhead.

Cool.

Did I mention Mercury is Retrograde?

(find more at astrofish.net/book)

All the blessings which you pray to obtain hereafter could be yours today, if you did not deny them to yourself….

Should be in Pink Cake.

More Mercurial Notes:
I worked on Cera Jane’s two subsidiary sites, then Grace’s re-vamped site, and Bubba’s place-holder.

That’s 4 sites in one day. Took part of Friday, part of Sunday night, and some extra time Monday morning.

“But Mercury is retrograde!”

Correct. Allow for errors. One database wasn’t responding like it should, another had a permission problem, and the whole ordeal of transferring domain names to a different host?

Good thing I know what I’m doing.

I can see for miles and miles is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

Trudy’s (North Austin)

Trudy’s, I haven’t quite forgotten (and forgiven) the abandonment of one location in south Austin. However the menu item I like best? Still there after all these years.

Sunday morning breakfast, hard-boiled coffee. Migas and fajitas. Used to walk over and order that before I would pull a shift at the bookstore, doing quick and dirty astrology readings. Split the money last I recall, 50/50 with the store. That was then.

Tenure.

That’s the sign from the north location of Trudy’s – and that single menu item? The breakfast of memory.

Never really did get over them closing that South Austin location.

Virgo time.

Trudy’s (North Austin) is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

Collusion, at its finest:

Jupiter/Moon, shortly before the sun came up over the Franklin Mountains, and for one, brief moment, everything looked good. Cool desert air, low clouds, no real moisture in the air. Rio Grande in the distance.

Jupiter/Moon is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

Limits of hardware…

The morning glory, I know I got an image of it, earlier. Buried in my archives. It was the other morning, early. We’ll sit on the back patio and drink coffee, and we discuss politics. Or trucks. Bass boats, a new topic, too.

To suggest that we’re not on the same wavelength about the political thing, yeah, there is that. But who cares?

“Them really are morning glories, you know.”

El Paso Morning Glory is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon

For years, as I would walk along Barton Springs Road, every year at this time, Chuy’s would set up a chili roaster, and they would be cooking up fresh, Hatch green chili. Just a big mesh drum with a burner underneath it, the gentle and dulcet aroma of fired green chili wafting on the gentle autumn-like zephyrs.

Further south, the highway to Dripping Springs, there used to be several roadside vendors selling fresh Hatch chili out of the back of trucks.

Already noted in a horoscope, cf., Capricorn, and noted here, as well, just begs the question.

Question begging aside, and source, still not validated, I caught another favorite, massaged, image in the same store, just a few days ago, visible here. Wouldn’t be a big deal, except I’ve never resolved the issue of source of the peppers.

However, I would tend to trust the eyewitness accounts I’ve heard lately. Part of my interest in the area.

What amuses me the most is the big deal made out of a small town.

Mercury is Retrograde -
What you going to do?
The mercurial “Mercury is Retrograde blues” are starting to dominate the headlines. What to do? How to best address this pervasive influence?

Easy: buy the book! (A digital copy is free with paid subscriptions.)

Published source: Available NOW $8.99

ISBN:1449911501
EAN-13: 9781449911508

Missing Links:
Something cycled through the old in-box, and I’m on the road and therefore, can’t be bothered trying to locate the original source. However, it was a keyboard and case combination for an iPad. I’m typing this on a MacBook Air that I love dearly for its lightweight and portable horsepower. Good traveling companion. Good library companion, too, but that’s not what this is about.

I only glanced at the keyboard/case for the iPad. Might just be me, but the combination, doesn’t that look just like a laptop?

“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”

N’est-ce pas?

Hatch Chili is a post from: astrofish.net/xenon