Something about that girl gives me this "No, I want that one" feeling: an urge to undaunted, almost reckless action. I've been known to be unstoppable if I let it happen; I think it would be good if this were one of those times.
This most recent thing I had to do at work involved not sending large images to older devices that aren't properly equipped to handle them. It took me down into the details of some of the code that after a year on the job I still didn't really understand. It all works, pretty well, and has some nice features, but we've hit a wall with the design, and I need to remodel it. Of course, now that I mostly understand it, I can accomplish stuff within the current design, and so my uncontrollable urge to rewrite the whole thing diminishes...
Tonight I consolidated one or two boxes to unpack and clear out space, especially so I can get my new bed delivered, and then I buckled down and started diagnosing my unresponsive shell server. I could just throw money at the problem, but I'm annoyed that this machine crapped out after running nonstop for about a year with zero issues at all. I brought out the screwgun and started taking it apart, and with some helpful hints from my friends on chat, finally figured out that the power supply (PSU) died. I'm guessing it's associated with the internal ground wire's solder connection breaking, though of course we run computers all the time through outlets which are ultimately ungrounded, so it's not clear why that would kill the PSU. Still, I'm happy it's an easily-replaced part that should cost maybe $50 instead of the $350 for a new computer or $100 for a new motherboard. I imagine the box got jostled just enough when I took it to the office that the solder connection just gave way eventually.
I'd be buying a Mac at this very minute, except that the PPC Macs aren't on sale, and I don't want a first-generation Intel Mac. I'll have to blow money on something else until April.
Tonight I watched this episode of Iron Chef America, which featured a chef who likes using chemistry for cooking; here's an article about the chef, his restaurant, and one of his favorite toys, an enzyme called "transglutaminase" that can be used to, well, glue pieces of meat together.
And, finally: have some hope.