Next on the list, according to my Chief, is the Battalion Command. Air conditioner needs work, and while it's a little late, it'll be nice next year. I think there are some other minor mechanical issues to be done as well. The booster is on the back burner, since its projected overhaul is the most considerable, but also the most optional. We want to turn it into a brush truck, and are just awaiting the funds.
As for me, the fiscal year for fire departments is coming up, which means they have money to hire. So I've been applying again, and it's nice to have that going on. Even if it means I'm running around and filling stuff out. The first two have the same day for physical agility, so I may have to pick one. It's a choice between the one I prefer, or the one that has more applicants and more slots. The one I prefer is closer, and I would pick it over the other.
I recently upgraded aoi-chan's processor from an Athlon Thunderbird 1000 MHz to an Athlon Thunderbird 1300 MHz when one of our firefighters bought himself a new Pentium IV system and gave me his old one. This turned out to be a really good deal for me, since it allowed me to upgrade the afforementioned processor, as well as replace my CD-RW and DVD-ROM with a single DVD±RW drive that I installed for him maybe six months ago (the CD-RW was out of his computer too, as it was given to me when he upgraded to the DVD±RW). It also added a 128MB and a 256MB DIMM of PC-133 to my memory stash, and I replaced a 64MB DIMM in aoi-chan with the 256MB DIMM. He also had a pair of 80 gigabyte IDE hard drives, unmatched unfortunately, which he determined he did not need since his new system was SATA and gave to me. One was in the old PC, the other brand new and still in its factory-sealed wrapper.
So total upgrades to aoi-chan in the process of Ken getting a new PC:
Processor from 1000MHz to 1300MHz
RAM from 704MB to 896MB
CD-RW and DVD-ROM replaced by a single DVD±RW
Hard drive can go from my 40GB to either of two 80GB if I feel like messing with it, but it's kind of a pain and I have over half of it free.
My data is still mostly kept on the file server, better known as miyuki. She has a 60GB, if I recall correctly, and is definitely a candidate for one of the 80GB models when I do a re-install soon. GCC (gnu C compiler) 4.1.1 has wreaked havoc on all three of the Pentium II machines on my network as far as upgrades go, but has only taken one out of commission. Have-blue, my laptop, freezes due to some kind of library fubar, and is being reinstalled. Twenty, Amy's new-to-her Dell Inspiron 3500 laptop is having minor issues, but still fuctions. For now. It too will probably be re-installed soon. Miyuki, an HP Kayak XU functioning as a file server, is unable to update itself due to the C compiler not being able to create executible code. Any techs in the audience will know what this means if they have ever messed with compilers. This should be solved when I re-install, as thankfully a stage1 install of Gentoo from a 2006.1 tarball will natively compile for GCC 4.1 series.
Soon, my network will be cured. I still don't understand why GCC 4.1.1 hates Pentium II machines so much, but there is little I can do about that other than be thankful it works when it's done. I'm not terribly well versed in C, so I won't pretend to know what advantages 4.x will hold, but I'm content with the idea that with a machine compiled from scratch all on 4.x will run properly. Broken libraries are no fun, and should be left to Red Hat.
And now, I leave you with a comic strip well worth reading, from the fine folks at Little Gamers.
Now Playing: Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks
Computer: aoi-chan.systemsalchemy.org
Operating System: Linux aoi-chan 2.6.17-gentoo-r8 #1 PREEMPT Fri Sep 15 23:02:33 CDT 2006 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) processor GNU/Linux
Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.0.7) Gecko/20060917 Firefox/1.5.0.7
