Cipher Boy

spy vs spy

2009-05-07T23:02:00.002-04:00

Given the nature of cryptography, scientists shouldn't be surprised when it turns out to be spy versus spy. That is the whole idea of the field.

exciting day

2009-04-24T13:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to Fort Plain to get my hair cut and then visited my grandmother. When I came back, I ran to work to pick up the study guides for my software engineering students. I was going to cook some hamburgers for dinner, but I found that I forgot to run the dishwasher yesterday morning and the grill was still all grody, so I picked up some chicken tenders from the supermarket on my way to work. I had software engineering at 6pm and then I went home.

Byzantine failure

2009-04-23T14:00:00.002-04:00

Happy goodafternoontime. Yesterday I detected a Byzantine failure in Indiana by examining my log files. For dinner I cooked swiss portabella hamburgers at about 4pm and then I went in and taught CS108. I got home a little after 8pm. Today I got up at about 10:30am, took a shower, had some coffee and went to Fort Plain to get my hair cut. Then I went and visited my grandmother in Starkville.

college boy has a sad

2009-04-22T12:56:00.002-04:00

I finished the new material in distributed systems last night, so next week it will just be review. A student asked some questions about IntegerBloom and after doing it on the blackboard for several steps I don't think that it works. Something must be wrong with the way I'm doing it, because if it was broken, someone would have noticed a long time ago. Or maybe I have it written down wrong. I dunno.

Yesterday I slept all morning and got into work around noontime. I kept myself busy until office hours were over at 5pm and then went to Applebees for a bite to eat. When I got back from Applebees it was almost time for CS451. Teaching CS451 is a lot of work. I am glad that the semester is almost over.

Sometimes I feel sad because of the stupid things that I have seen people do in my life.

malformed command line

2009-04-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention in my blog post yesterday that on the night my car was broken into, seven gps's were stolen. The cop said nothing has happened since then, but not to leave stuff in my car because as soon as things calm down they will do it again. I said that I thought that they would do it again when they need more drugs. Yesterday I had some chicken tanglers for dinner at Applebees and taught CS108. I felt bad for one kid who almost got his program working and then nuked it with a malformed command line. That used to happen a lot more often in the old days.

pictures from 1998

2009-04-20T12:22:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I had some General Tso's chicken which I nibbled at all day. I wasn't really hungry though. I found some old pictures from 1998 and I brought them in to work today. I scanned a few of them and I will post them. This morning the Utica Police called me on my cellphone. They asked if there have been any more incidents in our complex that I knew of. I said no, but I have the serial number on my gps. So I gave them that information. Then they closed the case.

Here are the pictures.

feeling yucky

2009-04-18T20:20:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, college boy had an ISET meeting at 12:30pm followed by a department meeting. College boy had wings for dinner. Last night college boy didn't sleep a wink. College boy still has an awful chill and he spent most of the day today in bed, though he didn't actually sleep. I did get up some energy to go to the supermarket to pick up a twelve-pack of ginger ale and a steak. I seasoned the steak with Emeril's steak rub for an hour and then grilled and ate it. I think that I will go back to bed soon.

quiet day

2009-04-16T14:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a slow day. I slept for most of the day and then I went in and taught recursion to the CS108 students. Instead of cooking dinner, I stopped at Price Hiker and picked up some chicken tenders. Today I have a cybersecurity curriculum committee meeting at 4pm and CS370 at 6pm.

feed a fever

2009-04-15T12:15:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I felt really awful. I was going to teach my class anyway, but then one of the three students emailed me to say that he couldn't make it. So I canceled it, turned on my electric mattress pad, and crawled into bed. My new gps arrived yesterday, and I brought it home and plugged it into the wall to charge. I put some addresses in it, but I want to avoid programming anything sensitive in it. God only knows where my old gps ended up after it was stolen. I had dinner at Applebees, but I wasn't really hungry. Still, it is important to eat something when you have a fever. What is it they say? Feed a fever?

I saw a Dell Mini 9 yesterday. A student was showing it to Professor Cavallo. It looks like it would be really convenient for travel. If I had one, I would keep sensitive information, ssh keys, etc. off of it so that I could use it for international travel. They are small, but the keyboard seems to be okay for typing. I was worried that it would be cramped. If I get a summer job, I will have money to buy toys like that.

college boy has a sick

2009-04-14T10:09:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I was freezing. I thought that they turned the heat off in the building or something. I even bought a hoodie at the Bookmark (they have a faculty discount). Around 3:45pm, when I suddenly felt like I was going to vomit, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't the climate control system, it was me. So I canceled my class. I stopped at Applebee's for a bite to eat (hoping that it would calm my stomach down) but I was feeling much too miserable to pay attention to what the cop was saying.

I came home, turned on my electric mattress pad, and slept for sixteen hours. I still feel miserable, but I can't miss the faculty meeting at 12:30pm. I think that being exposed to all those sick students has an unfortunate effect on my constitution.

shocked and dismayed

2009-04-13T12:06:00.000-04:00

Today I am shocked and dismayed. Yesterday, I bought a small (2.5 lb) leg of lamb at the supermarket. I wasn't sure how to cook it, so I stuck a meat thermometer in it and baked it at 325 for two and a half hours. That worked well enough. Then I ate the entire thing. It was tasty. I came into work for a little bit, and saw a Utica police car parked next to the UP car in the usual hiding place. When I left, they were both gone.

Today I ordered a new GPS. I still haven't given up hope of getting my old one back, but in the meantime I need to get from place to place. I seem to remember a long time ago when we used something called a map, but I can't recall the details. The new GPS will be a nuvi 250, to replace the nuvi 200 that was stolen. I won't keep this one in the car.

happy Easter

2009-04-12T11:56:00.004-04:00

Happy Easter. I haven't decided what I am going to eat yet. Maybe something that used to be part of a pig. I dunno. I am doing my laundry, which isn't as glamorous as it sounds. Last night I cooked a steak and ate it with some beer. It was good. I also finished reading Fool's Fate by Robin Hobbs. I am thinking that I should get to work on my phdthesis.

My mother and Aunt Betty are still in Prague. I called her to wish her happy Easter, and remembered that I know some people in Prague from Crypto. I was going to go look up their names but we decided that she doesn't have time to look them up.

They still haven't found the guy who smashed my car window and stole my gps. I am getting frustrated. It's another Sunday. Maybe I better check my car.

subversion mirror

2009-04-11T14:15:00.004-04:00

Happy Saturday. Today I went to the North Utica Shopping Center and got a slice of pizza from Antonella's. I also got a porterhouse steak from Price Chopper. Then I went to Marcy Discount (hah!) Beverage and bought a case of Sam Adams. Later I will cook the steak and enjoy it with some beer. I still haven't learned who smashed my car window and stole my gps. I am thinking of putting out the word that I know how to unlock a gps to see if it brings the thief to me.

I have continued setting up my computer including setting up a mirror of my subversion repository that I can switch to in a pinch. I also set it up to download my email from Dognet every night to the /opt filesystem. I have not yet gotten the data off my old hard drive, but I have the equipment to do it. I am posting this from my new computer.

For dinner last night, I got wings from Antonella's.

no sushi

2009-04-10T13:44:00.000-04:00

Happy goodafternoontime. I was up all night setting up my new computer. I had to uninstall NetworkManager to get the network to work. I also set the options for the solid state drive to noatime in /etc/fstab. That will prevent a lot of unnecessary writes which may shorten the life of the flash memory. I slept late this morning and then came into work. Since I don't know the way to the sushi restaurant without my GPS, I got a fish sandwich in the Kunsela Cafe.

Last night I discovered that one of my software engineering students lives in 15A. They have three kids in a one-bedroom apartment. He said that he had a lot of electronics visible in his car on Saturday night, but nothing was stolen.

new computer

2009-04-09T17:40:00.000-04:00

My new computer arrived, but I haven't had time to get it configured. I installed Fedora 10, but I am having network problems and may reinstall it. I really hated Fedora 10 and KDE 4. I would just use Fedora 8, but it isn't supported anymore.

I had a slice of pizza at Antonella's for lunch. While I was eating, three big undercover cops came in. They seemed to be interested in my jacket. It is just a Navy work jacket, part of the dungaree work uniform.

For dinner I had chicken cordon bleu. I let it cook a little longer than I should have because I was busy with my new computer. I came into work at about 5pm. At 5:30pm, a CS108 student showed up to take his exam. I put him in the conference room upstairs. While I was getting a blue book from C012, I noticed a cop in one of the ITS sysadmin's offices with a laptop.

toilet exploded

2009-04-08T16:48:00.000-04:00

Today was a quiet day until my toilet exploded. The fluidmaster flow control valve burst and water was gushing out of the tank. I picked up the lid of the tank and water shot up, so I put the lid back on and turned off the water. Then I went and got the maintenance guy. He fixed it in about ten minutes with a new flow control valve. While he was fixing it I cooked two hamburgers for dinner.

Yesterday, I had office hours from 2-5pm. When office hours were over, I went to Applebees for dinner and there was an undercover cop sitting at the bar. She asked the bartender if I always drank water and what I was eating. I wonder what that was all about.

new window

2009-04-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

Today they replaced the broken window in my Jeep. It set me back $238. I saw that they sell remote car starters, so I am thinking that I should get one before next winter. Last night I had chicken tanglers at Applebees and then gave a review session in CS108. The review session took up the full class. Tonight I also had chicken tanglers at Applebees and I am giving an exam in CS451. I made exams for CS451 and CS108 this afternoon during office hours.

investigation

2009-04-06T14:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I investigated the smash and grab on my car by talking to the neighbors to see if anyone saw anything. Nobody did. Still, there were some fragments of information that may prove useful. Today, I got up and took my car to the auto glass place before even having my coffee. They vacuumed up the broken glass and put plastic over the window. I gave them a $50 deposit and they ordered a window which they will install noon tomorrow.

smash-and-grab

2009-04-05T15:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I had a porterhouse steak for dinner. I cooked it for longer than I usually do and it was good. Last night someone smashed the passenger's side window on my Jeep and stole my GPS and my bluetooth speakerphone. The cop said that five GPS's were stolen in North Utica last night and that he hasn't seen a crime spree around here like this in a while. I guess that tomorrow morning I will have to take my car to the shop to get a new window. My deductible is $500 so my insurance won't help. There goes the money I was going to use for a new dining room table.

incomplete

2009-04-04T09:19:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, I stopped at the supermarket on the way to work and got some chicken tenders for dinner. I enjoyed teaching CS370 as usual. Thursday was their implementation specifications. Some of the groups had much longer presentations than I expected. During the second half of the class I finished my series of lectures on Lifecycles. I am afraid that I am going to run out of lectures before the end of the semester.

Yesterday, I got up around eleven. After shaving, showering, brushing my teeth, dressing, and drinking two cups of coffee, I went to New Hartford for some sushi. First they made the wrong sushi. Then I forgot to sign the slip and the waitress came running out after me. At least the sushi was good.

After lunch, I graded some homework. I'm not completely caught up on my grading, but I have made progress. I think that a number of CS108 students are going to get incompletes if they don't start submitting back homework assignments.

For dinner last night, I had bacon-cheddar hamburgers. They were good. I went to bed early and slept well.

waiting

2009-04-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was uneventful. I still wasn't feeling so great, so I canceled office hours and took a class before teaching CS451. I had chicken tanglers from Applebees before class. By the time I was done lecturing for three and a half hours, I was pretty beat. Yesterday, I broke my watch in CS108. I will have to see if I can find a jeweler who can fix it. Before class I had two portabella swiss hamburgers.

I am still waiting for eWiz to ship my computer. They called me on Tuesday to ask if I want them to install the solid-state drive. I told them yes. I don't know what is taking them so long to assemble and ship it. The website promised that it would be shipped within three days.

On Monday I wrote to my congresscritter to complain that my military papers that I ordered more than six weeks ago haven't arrived. I still haven't gotten my papers nor have I heard from my congresscritter. Nothing like a responsive government.

cablemodem

2009-03-31T11:55:00.000-04:00

Today is the last day of March. On Sunday, I didn't do much except cook chicken cordon bleu for dinner. It came out a little undercooked, so I put it back in the oven. That made a fine mess. Yesterday, I came to work in time for lunch, but then I got a migraine, so I went home and lay down for a couple of hours. For dinner, I got some chicken tenders from the supermarket. They are better than the chicken tenders that Sodhexo sells.

I am still waiting for eWiz.com to ship my new computer. It is in their warehouse. This morning, my cablemodem quit working, so I called Time-Warner. They said to push the button on the top of it and that got it working again. Bizarre.

netbook computers

2009-03-29T16:02:00.000-04:00

It's the last Sunday in March. Summer approaches fast, but I still don't have work lined up. For lunch yesterday, I had a slice of pizza from Antonella's. For dinner I had some General Tso's chicken. I ate the remainder of the chicken for lunch today. I discovered a new species of computers called the netbook. They are small, light, and use the Intel Atom processor. The Atom uses 45 nm technology and is Intel's smallest microprocessor. It is designed for low-power, low-cost applications. It uses only 1 to 2.5 watts. It is 32-bits and uses a new microarchitecture. When paired with the Intel 945GSE chipset, a 9 inch LCD display, and a solid-state drive it makes a small, light computer called a netbook.

I looked into the the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, and I have decided that it would be optimal for travel. Next time I get on an airplane I want one of these small computers with me rather than my cumbersome 15.4 inch laptop. I could pack it in my suitcase and bring it carryon, avoiding the need to check any luggage. I have always preferred to travel without checking luggage and that is what I did in the nineties when I frequently traveled between San Jose and Newark. If I get some consulting work this summer, I may buy one for traveling and presentations. It comes with a Dell distribution of Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I probably wouldn't be able to put KDE on it, due to the small solid-state drive, but I expect that larger solid-state drives will be coming out for it soon. Currently it comes in 8GB and 16GB sizes.

ordered new computer

2009-03-28T08:45:00.001-04:00

Happy Saturday. Yesterday I slept late and then went to New Hartford for some sushi. After the sushi, I took the back way back to SUNY and worked on grading. I became very sleepy so I came home and took a nap. When I woke up, I went to Antonella's and ordered a dozen hot chicken wings. I took them home and had them for dinner. After dinner I ordered a new computer from eWiz. Instead of putting it together like I usually do, I gave them $35 to put it together for me. I guess that I am getting lazy in my old age. The configuration of the computer is as follows:

Athlon 64 X2 5200+ CPU
4GB RAM
1TB hard disk
64GB solid state drive (to be mounted as /home)
Shuttle motherboard and case

As much as I hate the new look and feel of KDE, I will install Fedora 10 on it to get all the latest updates. I am paying for it with next week's paycheck.

more people sick

2009-03-27T18:17:00.000-04:00

One of my students has informed me that he is recovering from pneumonia. He also has perfect attendance. Maybe that is why I am still feeling crappy. Two more professors are sick too. Yesterday I had a meeting at 12:30pm to discuss the cybersecurity curriculum. Then I went home and took a nap until it was time for class. I stopped at the supermarket and bought some chicken tenders which I ate for dinner. Software engineering went alright. I gave the first lecture from Ghezzi and the second lecture from Brooks.