Well it is 0439 hrs Saturday, 10 July and my life is finally starting to calm down a bit. Since sometime in the afternoon on 7 July it has been a rather rough and bumpy road. I knew it would be a rough couple of days since I was scheduled to work right about 70 hours between my various jobs. (Sleep is such a priority now that it is actually now 0218 Sunday as I put the finishing touches on this blog.)
When the alarm clock blared Wednesday it rapidly became clear that it was turning out to be "one of those days". My day began by waking with a pounding headache. I did not want to get out of bed. I think that feeling was some type of psychic premonitions of things to come. I think my first error was taking some aspirin and getting out of bed.
Despite my almost steady state of n00bness, I am trying to got an IRCbot up and running. This, frankly, is something I know nothing about. It proceeded to progress in the spirit of the day.
First, I thought of trying Eggdrop since it can run on a Linux server and it is what mouse suggested. After checking with my host to see if I could run a bot, I ran full speed into my first snag. I need shell access. Now my host is great to me but he is also a programmer NASA.
He is currently in Washington D.C., knowing his schedule, he is likely to off to Houston next and then off to "the Cape" arriving home weeks from now. Plus, the server is in Canada. It is not gonna sit on that server any time soon.
Well I could just run it on Linux machine. Like the one I had running Mandrake 9 that I dismantled early June and was hoping to reassemble sometime in September...
...in other words so much for the immediate installation of eggdrop anywhere or anytime soon in my life.
I did, however, discover Windrop. A version of eggdropp for Windows systems. Something finally seemed to be occurring without an obstacle.
NOT!
First, Windblows ME (a special operating system sold only to losers like me which actually stands for Multi-Tasking Excluded) did not recognize the .rar file as a compressed file and indicated it was a set up file. Naturally, my n00b arse clicked it wondered why I got a warning window informing me that there was a fatal internal error. Of course I did what any n00b would do; I tried again... several times...
And then I proceeded to defend my perma-n00b of the world status (idiot weight class of course). I said heck it must be a "corrupt" file. So I tried several other download sites before I realized that it was, in fact, a rar file. Once I discovered my stupidity, I did manage to extract it into a folder on the C drive. Windows does not recognize a .rar file but you can still extract it with winzip.
So now I finally have everything extracted and it is time to get down to the nitty gritty. The first thing I do is read the file labeled "ReadMe.txt". It tells me to open the simple.conf file and read the comments to know what to change. That's it? Wow! Make this n00b to the bot world happy and excited. That is kool and easy. So I open notepad and get busy. I save the file, renamed as instructed and type out the command in the command line....
....
....
.... Nothing happens. Less action than Lumpy hitting on chicks at a bar. Absolutely nothing... (At least Lumpy gets his face smacked.)
Like WTF?
Naturally I begin to curse. Naturally I assume my n00bness caused it and delete the whole folder, thinking I did something wrong. I start all over. The results are just as fruitful as my attempts to get Nicole Kidman to return my phone calls. (Actually, her attorney did have a long discussion with me but I hardly think that counts for its subject were harassment and stalking... basically her misconception... and not dating.)
I deleted the whole folder, re-extracted and tried to re-edit it all over again three fruitless times. Being just two shy of how many marital counselors I ran through in my marriage, I was beginning to become rather convinced it was not me. (During my marriage I was also convinced it was not me well before counselor number three. I mean our bath towels said "His" and "Sibyl"...) Then just by chance I noticed this folder titled "HTML"... I opened it.
It was what I thought. The same thing as the read me and help files in HTML format. The same instructions, the same changes to be made to the document except for one minor thing. In bold print the HTML instructions said do not use notepad to edit this document... I had four minutes to get to work and had just wasted two hours of my life. Of course, if one considers five years of marital hell, all the time spent trying to pick up women at the bars and all the time spent attempting to court Nicole, it should be a mute point but it is not. It is, however, far from mute. I want to waste time hitting on women. I want very much so for Nicole to call me. (And, yes, I am well aware I left out the marriage thing. Let's write that one off as an Oopsie OK?)
Now when I am following instructions to the T and trying to set up something like a program or a bot I do not want it to take three tries. I wanna go to Lockergnome IRC and say "Hey guys guess what I did? ...". Trust me they are all plenty sick of me saying "Hey, a... can any one help me?"
So now back to the saga of my several day escapades of disasters. I HAD to go to work. Life is funny that way. If you don't show up on time often enough, you lose your job, you lose your job, you lose your job you can't pay for things, like DSL for example. That is NOT an option...
I was totally through... Stick a fork in me kinda done.
I am also, for those of you who haven't heard my complaints about it or read my other blogs, an old-man-returned-to-college. Which means one job is not enough. I have four. I needed to be off to the first one. I am basically campus safety escort on my college's campus. It is really a fairly easy job. I look over the schools library. This is usually a straight forward thing. The shift went well until it was time to close. I seemed that no one wanted to leave. Great! I only get paid until closing time and I have to put in an extra 20 minutes. Most of the time I honestly do not mind but I was simply not in the mood.
Back home I rush. I wanted to get the IRCbot going. I follow the instructions to the letter. Nothing happens... FARK! I do what I usually do when I run into such thing. I run to the lockergnome channel and beg for help. I honestly wonder when they will get sick of me. Then a funny thing happens. Mouse agrees to help. He goes to join my channel and the robot pops in just before he does too funny. By now it is time for me to bolt to work. I commute via mountain bike.
Tonight was not going to change the way the day went. I had to battle a stiff and steady wind all the way. My normal, windless time of 12-15 minutes turned into 32. I just made it. Now my third shift job is my newest. It involves the most responsibility and attention. It was no fun. I never felt caught up all night. I am just too new. I have not found my "groove" yet. It is just that simple. I was glad when it was over. The next step in my multiple days was a trip to the dentist.
As I stepped outside, I realized it had rained all night. I also realized I left all the windows open at home... GREAT! Off to the dentist I peddle. I had intentionally made an early appointment for I knew I would need sleep. The dentist, of course, took me 45 minutes late. I let him know I was not happy. He made me even happier when he quoted me 2400 dollars for the work.
The bike ride home was the same as the one in... Into a stiff wind... finally... sleep...
The rest of the week was more of the same...
Thank God it is finally over and I get a bit of a break...
Until Sunday...
Then it starts all over again.
