This was a bit ridiculous, here’s my somewhat organized notes for anyone that might be trying the same:

General setup:
 - git clone https://github.com/sirikata/berkelium
 - cd berkelium
 - git submodule update --init --recursive
 - sudo yum install subversion pkgconfig python perl ruby gcc-c++ bison \
                        flex gperf nss-devel nspr-devel gtk2-devel glib2-devel \
                        freetype-devel atk-devel pango-devel cairo-devel \
                        fontconfig-devel GConf2-devel dbus-devel alsa-lib-devel \
                        gnome-keyring-devel
 - sudo yum install subversion pkgconfig python perl gcc-c++ bison \
        flex gperf nss-devel nspr-devel gtk2-devel glib2-devel freetype-devel \
        atk-devel pango-devel cairo-devel fontconfig-devel GConf2-devel \
        dbus-devel alsa-lib-devel libX11-devel expat-devel bzip2-devel \
        dbus-glib-devel elfutils-libelf-devel libjpeg-devel \
        mesa-libGLU-devel libXScrnSaver-devel \
        libgnome-keyring-devel cups-devel libXtst-devel libXt-devel pam-devel

Stuff I had to figure out:
 - sudo yum install perl-Switch perl-Digest-MD5
 - run Berkelium's util/build-chromium.sh
   - once it finishes downloading stop it. (The compile will fail, but the download should work fine.)
 - patch build/chromium/src/third_party/tcmalloc/chromium/src/base/linuxthreads.cc
    alter line 196 to "static void SignalHandler(int signum, siginfo *si, void *data) {"
      (change siginfo_t to siginfo)
 - patch build/chromium/src/ui/base/l10n/l10n_util.cc
    remove line 8 "#include <glib/gutils.h>"
 - add "#include <unistd.h>" to the following files in build/chromium/src:
    - src/base/test/test_file_util_linux.cc
    - build/chromium/net/tools/flip_server/flip_config.cc
    - net/tools/flip_server/mem_cache.cc
    - net/tools/flip_server/sm_connection.cc
  - cd build/chromium/src/third_party/WebKit && curl "https://bug-92264-attachments.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=154643" | patch -p1
    (make sure it all gets applied, I had to handle one chunk manually)
  - in chrome/browser/net/quoted_printable_unittest.cc
    comment out all that broken SCOPED_TRACE stuff (170, 185, 199)
  - run Berkelium's util/build-chromium.sh again
    - go get dinner while it compiles

Lunch was delicious. Here’s how I made it. YMMV.

2 bags of chili-flavored Maruchan ramen noodles
1 onion, diced or smaller
1 jalapeno, sliced or chopped
2 small cloves garlic, pressed
oil
soy sauce
ground peppercorn
garlic salt
buttered toast

(I tried running my onion through a garlic press, not sure if it was worth it, but it was messy and fun!)
Crush noodles, reserve flavor packets. Put 1/4″-1/2″ water, noodles, jalapenos, about a teaspoon of oil, and onions in a medium frying pan on high to medium-high heat. Keep stirred. When most the water is boiled away, add garlic, flavor packets, a few tablespoons of oil, a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, and peppercorn/garlic salt to taste. Cook until onions are finished. Serve with buttered toast.

Thoughts: Very tasty, it almost seems like its a solid sauce of tastiness on bread. Perhaps, if I had some Sriracha to go with it…

My garage this past Halloween

Last year I did something similar, but simpler.  This year was a bit more complex.

It seemed simple enough a task for the trick-or-treater: walk in, enjoy the spooky ambiance (and random lasers stabbing thorough the upper level of fog), grab a reward from the yellow glowing pumpkin, and move on to the next house.

Right?

Looking up as you walk in

Not with me around.  (Haha – trick or treak? Trick!)  With the help of my sister, we ushered all the, um, victims into the cage (a repurposed dog “kennel”).  Once the kids were sure the smiling Goth-dressed-female wasn’t going to bite them, and that everyone was clear of the door, the lights would suddenly drop out.  An enormous thunder and lightning strike from directly in front of them would illuminate a monster, arms outstretched and ready to grab them!  Before anyone could but turn around, the door to the chain-link cage would swing shut, chains clanking loudly against the metal.  You were trapped!

Though you could get away without a trick? Didja?

And then . . . we let them go.  We didn’t scare the really litl’ ones.

Here’s an AVI movie, I’ll have to get me a flash player setup sometime.  The microphone normalises stuff too much so you can’t really hear things.

By the end we had fog, black light, strobes, lasers, subs, amps, a laptop . . . so pretty much an instant rave party afterwards.

Behind the scenes

Thanks to the fam for helping get things setup!

My music toys

Mmmm.  Audiodelicious.

MY new keyboard, the one on the bottom, is full-size, complete with weighted (scaled hammer) keys.  Very nice to play.

Pictured: Foreground: my new (used) car.  Background: my old (beaten) car.

I just haven’t been writing about it.

Got some good stories, including the biggest hole in Zen Cart I’ve ever seen, a house I almost bought that was falling to pieces, and also, I bought a guitar.

But right now, I’m fed up enough with Windows Crapista.  So I’m gonna nuke it and hope it can, after this, go back to performing simple tasks such as showing me the contents of a folder in less than 40 seconds.

Mind you, my day-to-day tasks are more complex. But I get tiered of fighting.

Like how I managed to get EasyBCD to bork my Windows Crapsta bootloader two times over before Ikindagot the options well enough where they ought to be so I could live with it.

Or how newer versions of Ubuntu have more obvious graphical glitches on multiple monitors (four cursors, WTF?!) than older versions.

Or how Ubuntu suck just because it’s so minimalistic. (Tongue-in-cheek – it’s just too far for my preferences.)

Or how in this day and age it still takes ***** more than 25 seconds to show me the **** contents of a directory! On modern hardware!!!

My frustration is great an compounded.

Date completed: 4/16/2009

Date completed: 4/2009

Date completed: 4/2009

What to do?

Build one.

Using our friendly less-than-seven-dollar waferboard, I cut, beveled, and sanded it to fit custom into the space my old one used to fill.

Add some selective sanding to smooth it and add an abstract design…

Here it it:

The hard floor is sooo nice to roll on.

Also, unlike what you would expect, the floor isn’t too bad on the bare feet, but YMMV.