Last night I had perhaps the most gory dream I have ever experienced.
It seems that for some obscure reason, an underground Japanese society had taken an interest in two young women who were either members of my family or were incredibly close friends. They sent a veritable army of assassins to collect on their interests.
It was left to me and a few friends to handle the details of their protection, in our old Harlingen townhouse. The majority of the action seems to have taken place in my parents’ bedroom, but furniture had been moved around (insert bunk bed on the northern wall and remove waterbed) and there was no balcony – only a window out back overlooking the gas station.
All of the attackers stormed up the staircase and through the doorway. We slaughtered them with katanas and axes. The first wave lasted for over an hour, after which they regrouped briefly before attacking again. We drove them off a second time and were rewarded with a free evening to celebrate.
There were perhaps 5 or 6 people engaged in the defense. After the second wave was dispatched, I contacted another old friend – one who had possessed substantial powers of open handed combat when we were in jr high together. We discussed his reasons for not having participated in the defense and his fears of going up against armed opponents. I explained my own fears and described my revulsion at having shed so much blood – tried to explain exactly what it was like to decapitate someone…
The following day, the ninjas attacked again. This time they were better organized. They brought guns, they set up surveilance, and they came in a total of three waves. We had received two or three people by way of reinforcements, including my friend Matt. One of our new additions owned a submachine gun and stood along the back wall to cover those of us who stood by the doorway with our swords.
After the third wave was dispatched, and we had suffered casualties, I had the impression that we had won and that they had given up and would not be returning.
I woke up with a migraine.
Well, let’s see here… yesterday was moderately eventful. We had been served with a notice that our rent check had bounced while we were out of town, and that eviction was imminent unless we paid a substantially increased sum via money order – as our personal checks were no longer considered valuable. I acquired the money order (walking around with $800 in 20’s in my pocket was kind of wierd…) and paid the people in the office, asked them when our lease expired.
30 minutes later, the manager of the complex called to see what was troubling me. I informed her in no uncertain terms about our lack of appreciation for the threat and the notice that they didn’t trust our personal checks – after having accepted them for years. She was mortified, we had been given the wrong notice. Apparently it is company policy to stop accepting personal checks after the second one bounces, the one oops is chalked up to general human fallability. So, that having been cleared up, Penny and I are still planning on moving next March, but at least we can write checks for our rent until the time comes.
Ok, so I leave town for a week to hang out with family and friends. We got no hassles at the airport (other than one security guard requesting that I remove my shoes on the way to Vegas), we had no car issues (I did not buy extra insurance for the rental vehicle as it would have doubled the cost), and nobody got poisoned or crushed under falling rocks or anything like that.
However, our car (ours, not the rental) was vandalized – it now no longer has a passenger side mirror. Nicole had picked it up from the airport and parked it in at her apartment – next to a golf course. Apparently some kids hopped out of a red pickup and tore the mirror off. Neighbors reported it, but yeah, no leads and the damage is minor enough that it would be pointless to get insurance to handle repairs. Thankfully, I don’t really use that mirror much.
And then, as if that weren’t enough, I come in to work today and discover that the Alumni server (Engr, not TAMS) was rooted yesterday afternoon. The damage done was more substantial than any other incursion I have ever witnessed – the hosers (Romanians) started an irc bot and a port scanner, but managed to gum things up sufficiently that they were unable to actually get back in to reap the fruits of their labors. Several key utilities are completely borked, most notably grep (upon which does not only the script kiddies’ toys depend, but a whole slew of system startup scripts as well). Networking is a lost cause.
Whenever I leave town, something goes wrong with one of my servers. It has been noted time and again that I seem to keep machines running and secure by sheer force of will. My range seems to be somewhere under 200 miles – if I ever get further away from a box it is on its own.
The only good thing about this attack was that we were planning on replacing the compromised machine by the end of the week anyways.
Well, in roughly 5.5 hours, our flight is supposed to depart Tucson for Vegas. We will be out of town for a week, hanging out with family and friends in Utah. Not that any of the family (my immediate) lives in the state, we’re just getting together there because Stori designed the sets for a few productions down in St George.
We’ll be landing in Vegas after an hour, hopping in our rental car (which Penny is concerned will lack cd playing capabilities), and driving up to St George to attend church with my baby sister. After church, the plan is to check in to our hotel and either hang out with Stori or just go to sleep.
The following morning (6th), we drive up to Provo and meet up with Adam and company. We are staying in a hotel that is literally within rock throwing distance of his apartment – there is a Walmart parking lot between them. Two nights in Provo, drive back down to St George and meet up with parents and siblings. Parents handle everything until morning of the 12th, when we drive back to Vegas and fly home.
Nicole and Danny will be rescuing our car so we don’t have to pay $50 to leave it at the airport.
All told, it is much more of a hassle and only a very little bit of time savings (well, ok, it’s like 8 hours shorter) to fly. Then again, I guess 15-16 hours of time savings is a halfway decent trade for Penny’s nerves 
She is so incredibly anxious about the trip, I only just barely managed to get her to sleep half an hour ago. I am pretty sure she will be fine on the way home – it is just our first time flying since 9/11 and we’ve had to deal with many friends and family being hassled by the whole security thing.
I’m likely not going to be able to get any real sleep because the window of opportunity is too short to take my pill – I wouldn’t be able to drive 30 minutes to the airport, much less the two hours to Stori’s place.