A Good Friday

Today I got my ADSL working. At last! My ISP didn't even email me to let me know that it was set up and ready to go. I was just playing with my router and decided to test whether I could connect to the service. And it worked! That was good timing, since I'd just come back from the computer shop with a new network card for my FreeBSD box.

Unfortunately I had to leave for work, so I had to wait until now to play with my increased bandwidth. I'm now redoing the FreeBSD box. I just did a minimal install and initial configuration (15 minutes or so) and I'm now in the process of pulling down all the updated sources with cvsup. This is going MUCH faster than it used to on a dialup connection. Next step is to compile a custom kernel and rebuild the world (userspace). At the end of it I'll have an up to date, optimized, lean and mean minimal install.

I've decided to redo the FreeBSD box because I get nervous when it accumulates cruft. I've been installing so much stuff on it that I eventually used it as a desktop too. I've decided that from now on it will stick to its duties as a server and no more. I'll dual boot with Windows XP on my workstation if I want to play with FreeBSD as a desktop system.

I've also received a letter from my university today. I get nervous when I receive mail from them. A letter from uni usually means that something has gone amok or they want more money out of me. It turns out that it was a letter from the Vice-Chancellor (yeah, right, as if he would personally write to lowly me. It's probably a mass mail). I'm being invited to join the Golden Key Society (yeah, I know, it sounds pompous and all). Aparently I'm in the top 15% in my year, and am considered to be leet enough to grace the society. I wasn't sure about joining - it costs AU$93.50 to join, and I'm graduating at the end of the year anyway. But it may look good in my resumé (I get a certificate when I join). And the careers people have been chanting away to us "Networking, networking, networking" (nothing to do with TCP/IP).

I sound a tad cynical. But I realize that it's a fact that doors can open if you know the right people. So yeah, I'll probably sign up. I'll want to get a job (well, a "proper" one) as soon as I can when I graduate. Anything that helps is a plus.