The rest of the Band all live in the same house, together with their roommates ROY & Arlene and Steve. We had a serious band meeting after last practice to discuss the possibility of me living with them. In their current house, it's a definate NO. I like having private use of a washer/dryer, first of all. In addition, I don't like living in self-destructing hovels festooned with smelly garbage. Otherwise, I would enjoy the 75% rent break. The premise is that they will all move into a different house and it would be a "band house". I don't know if it was all of them thinking that. Brian was the one who brought it up. He's got a history of making elaborate plans, so I'd say it was most likely his idea. They all want to move out, though. Brian's idea is that we'll get a house and he'll borrow thousands of dollars from one of his ancestors (against his inheritance) to build a recording studio in the basement.

The thing is, I enjoy living in a highly controllable environment, and a 4 person house isn't. In this house, things only happen because of me or Brett. Nothing moves that one of us doesn't move, and if I didn't do it, I know who did (and vice versa). In a 4 person house, the responsibility for doing the dishes, taking out the garbage, and anything else communal that requires a rotated effort will be neglected if everyone thinks it isn't their turn to do whatever. Or they feel like they do it most of the time, so they shouldn't have to do it on schedule. I remember this situation from living with my Mom and 2 surrounding sublings. I sort of like the isolation. The last thing I need is to get sick of my friends because I live with them. I'm sure that Kris' flakiness, Brian's self-hate, and Brandon's anger would become much more noticable in concentrated form. As it is now, I don't notice it much. I don't think they've lost these traits. My current level of isolation is a bit much, though. Ideally, I would live really nearby, in my own place. Maybe that is doable, but I would have to find a place fast, since I have to make a decision about DSL (and a possible T-1) pretty damn soon.

I'm also having an absolutely terrible time ordering DSL. I guess I'm not having an especially unique phone experience, calling the various companies. I just hate dealing with phone sales people. I don't hate the people, I hate the dealing. Example: I spend 12 minutes talking to "Dave" (a DSL sales specialist) before he realizes that I should be talking to "Bill" (a BUSINESS DSL sales specialist) about my order, and I'll have to repeat everything I said before. In the end, I called US WEST to get the line provisioned (since I had qualified in the past) and the phone guy said that they don't have "physical plant" in my area. "Physical plant" means "wires". "Weird," I told him, "I still have the DSL modem you guys gave me from the last time I qualified and you forgot about me." (true: it's a Cisco 675). He offered to help me find some kind of alternate service, but I told him I'd just go get a line from Covad or Northpoint. "I appreciate it!" was his reply to that. Was he sincere? I suppose I was taking the burden of working off of him. He might have appreciated that, since he was clearly not going to get a fat commission from not selling me anything. Or maybe it is his customary signoff line. I bet I could have let go with "up yours!" and I would have got the same reply.

I have been reading through the new edition of "UNIX Network Programming". The book directs the reader to download the source code from the author's website. I went to his website and found that it was down. Urgh. Well, I did a web search to see if I could find out if W. Richard Stevens had any mirror sites for examples (and any new stuff). What I found out is that he died last week, on the first of September.

This is extremely bad. Not only does that mean that the UNIX community lost one of its best technical writers, it means that if he hasn't finished the third volume of the new version of UNIX Network Programming (Applications), he never will. I've only seen the first two volumes around, and I think he finished Vol. 2 this year, so it's entirely possible that the case is an unwritten Vol 3. Someone's going to have some big shoes to fill.

Meanwhile I'm having a tough time with following along in the text with no example source. Doh

I have to attend mandatory Sexual Harassment & Diversity training on the 21st and 22nd of this month. I'm a little confused about what "Diversity" is, but I think it's the philosophical opposite of racism. I DO know what sexual harassment is, but "Sexual Harassment training" sounds like the opposite of what they are probably sending us to.