text: way too much random noise in the headspace this weekend. On
  Thursday I decided I'd try to fix a bug(?) in g++
  that causes __builtin_*
  functions to cause ambiguity at global scope, even when they
  were
  declared/requested within a namespace. Bad Idea. Wasted a
  weekend.
  I _think_ I see the general area(s) where the eventual fix
  will
  be, but
  the 3 hour compiler compile has kept me from randomly
  editing the
  compiler's source :) I gave the problem all of the spare
  cycles I had,
  yet was unable to solve it (eek eek). Now, I must wait til
  next weekend
  to fight it again. I _really hope_ someone produces a
  solution to the
  problem so [1) I don't waste another weekend and [2) I can
  see
  how
  the problem was solved for future bug hunting fun ;-)
  On top of this, I had to make a decision to decline a job
  offer I
  received on Friday. In fact, I think making this decision
  slowed
  down the bug-hunting substantially -- damn distractions! I'm
  still
  not comfortable in declining the job, since there would have
  been a
  $10k salary increase in addition to 10k stock options, but
  there is
  _no way_ I can leave my current employer (who would have a
  really
  bad time if I left) on such short notice. This little dilema
  started me
  thinking that the general shortage of skilled workers might
  make
  an 'employee swap' for employers a very useful/profitable
  business.
  Well, this is only useful if the employer and employee
  actually like
  each other. I drink beer with my boss on occasion, and would
  hate
  to lose a friend over a silly employment issue.
  Oh yeah, I also decided to wipe out a well-aged debian
  system
  and install debian 2.2. I'm gonna _try_ to _not_
  un-debianize the
  box this time. I spent two hours trying to figure out how to
  upgrade
  a package the debian way when it would have take 15 minutes
  to
  download the tarball and configure/make/make install, but I
  did
  the debian thing :), and _hope_ to keep this system a debian
  system
  instead of turning it into a Brent's Linux Non-Distro. This
  experience
  reminded me how much simpler FreeBSD's ports system is to
  use.