Let's see my last post was on May 30th, 2008. When I made that post, I lived in Vancouver, Washington. Today it's October 30th, 2008. Today I live in Danville, California.
Some might consider that procrastination. (See post before last.) I see it more as a challenge of how to prioritize free time, which I've had very little of lately.
Still there is definitely some procrastination going on here because I've been wanting to get back and add to my blog for some time now, but I continue to put it off.
I think that sometimes I don't write in my blog because I feel like I have to have something witty to say and most days I don't feel witty at all. I'm going to try and change the way I approach this and just take a few minutes to write a few thoughts when they occur.
That said, this is the end of this post. I said what was on my mind, so now you know.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Well... isn't this a surprise...
Can you imagine this?
MasterCard Forecasts Double-Digit Revenue Growth
Oh don't get me going!!! Just read the previous post. LOL!!!
(I think it's time for me to go get an attitude adjustment.)
MasterCard Forecasts Double-Digit Revenue Growth
Oh don't get me going!!! Just read the previous post. LOL!!!
(I think it's time for me to go get an attitude adjustment.)
Hello?!?! What is he smoking?...
Okay, once again I haven't posted for a while. Sue me! Procrastination. It's what I do.
A lot of the thoughts have crossed my mind recently for which I certainly should have blogged. Alas... timing is everything.
This one will be short because the truth is, I really don't have that much time available to blog. Nevertheless, I saw this interesting article in the New York Times...
Consumer Spending and Personal Income Slow
Here are a few memorable quotes from the article...
"The checks are the centerpiece of a $169 billion stimulus package that Congress passed at President Bush’s urging in February to jump-starting the stalled economy."
Note... see this posts title. (What is our President smoking?)
"Nothing is going right. Jobs are down, the stock market is wobbly, home prices are plunging and gasoline prices are at record highs."
Note... see this posts title. (I sure hope my $600 rebate changes all this.)
"All the problems have pushed consumer confidence to recessionary levels."
Note... see this posts title. (Maybe my $600 will improve my confidence?)
"Despite worries that consumers may end up using their stimulus checks to pay off credit card debt rather than spending the money to give the economy a boost, analysts said they believed that about two-thirds of the money will get spent this year, enough to keep the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, in positive territory."
Note... see this posts title. (Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and predict that beyond a shadow of a doubt, 2/3 of the stimulus money will definitely not be spent in the manner that it was DREAMED of. See article title!)
"Private wages and salaries fell at an annual rate of $18.2 billion in April, the biggest setback in a year. Businesses have been cutting jobs for four straight months, with analysts forecasting a fifth month of job declines when the government reports next Friday on labor market conditions in May."
Note... see this posts title. (Nuff said!!!)
A lot of the thoughts have crossed my mind recently for which I certainly should have blogged. Alas... timing is everything.
This one will be short because the truth is, I really don't have that much time available to blog. Nevertheless, I saw this interesting article in the New York Times...
Consumer Spending and Personal Income Slow
Here are a few memorable quotes from the article...
"The checks are the centerpiece of a $169 billion stimulus package that Congress passed at President Bush’s urging in February to jump-starting the stalled economy."
Note... see this posts title. (What is our President smoking?)
"Nothing is going right. Jobs are down, the stock market is wobbly, home prices are plunging and gasoline prices are at record highs."
Note... see this posts title. (I sure hope my $600 rebate changes all this.)
"All the problems have pushed consumer confidence to recessionary levels."
Note... see this posts title. (Maybe my $600 will improve my confidence?)
"Despite worries that consumers may end up using their stimulus checks to pay off credit card debt rather than spending the money to give the economy a boost, analysts said they believed that about two-thirds of the money will get spent this year, enough to keep the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, in positive territory."
Note... see this posts title. (Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and predict that beyond a shadow of a doubt, 2/3 of the stimulus money will definitely not be spent in the manner that it was DREAMED of. See article title!)
"Private wages and salaries fell at an annual rate of $18.2 billion in April, the biggest setback in a year. Businesses have been cutting jobs for four straight months, with analysts forecasting a fifth month of job declines when the government reports next Friday on labor market conditions in May."
Note... see this posts title. (Nuff said!!!)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sometimes you just don't give a rat's ass...
You ever have one of those days where you just don't give a rat's ass about anything? Of course you have, everybody does. I was feeling a little bit like that this past Thursday until my boss sent the following little animation to me...
I couldn't help but start laughing out loud. The timeliness of it was perfect. It truly struck my funny bone.
Fortunately, I'm feeling much better again and back to my normal motivated self.
I often stop and ask myself why do I let myself get down? Typically I over-analyze what's bugging me. Maybe it's the state of our economy, maybe it's all the negative press that is in the media, maybe it's disappointment with life as a whole, or maybe it's just a general dissatisfaction with where I am in my life at this moment in time.
When I'm in one of these states I try to say the Serenity Prayer because it's words are powerful and it's message so true.
Sometimes reading an inspirational article can pull me out of the doldrums. There was an article that was published by the Associated Press and picked up by my local paper, The Colombian, which told the story of a wonderful demonstration of sportsmanship and compassion. Reading the article put a lump in my throat. I often question where we as a society are headed, but when I read articles like this, it gives me hope and inspiration that there really are good people in this world. Read the article for yourself and you'll see what I mean.
I couldn't help but start laughing out loud. The timeliness of it was perfect. It truly struck my funny bone.
Fortunately, I'm feeling much better again and back to my normal motivated self.
I often stop and ask myself why do I let myself get down? Typically I over-analyze what's bugging me. Maybe it's the state of our economy, maybe it's all the negative press that is in the media, maybe it's disappointment with life as a whole, or maybe it's just a general dissatisfaction with where I am in my life at this moment in time.
When I'm in one of these states I try to say the Serenity Prayer because it's words are powerful and it's message so true.
Sometimes reading an inspirational article can pull me out of the doldrums. There was an article that was published by the Associated Press and picked up by my local paper, The Colombian, which told the story of a wonderful demonstration of sportsmanship and compassion. Reading the article put a lump in my throat. I often question where we as a society are headed, but when I read articles like this, it gives me hope and inspiration that there really are good people in this world. Read the article for yourself and you'll see what I mean.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Welcome to prison! Now bend over...
I received the police report last week detailing the information our stolen vehicle. It turns out that the police actually caught the suspect with our car.
The accused was to be arraigned in court yesterday where he was expected to be pleading guily to a couple of different charges; one being possession of a stolen vehicle.
I talked with a lady at the district attorneys office yesterday and it turns out that the suspect is just about to turn 21. I was sad when I heard this. It's very disappointing to see somebody so you getting in trouble with the law. On the other hand, it seems that this individual was arrested as a juvenile for a similar activity. Apparently he didn't learn his lesson.
After further discussion, it turns out that this kid could actually receive a 54 month prison sentence for this crime. Yes prison!! Not jail... prison. Oy!!! The prosecutor is only going to ask for 28 months, so I suppose this kid should consider himself lucky. Hopefully he will get his head on straight after this. A couple of years in prison and an introduction to crudest way to become somebody's boy toy, should help this boy understand that crime definitely does not pay.
I'm glad that he will only have to serve a couple of years. Hopefully he will get out and get himself on track to leading a respectable life.
The accused was to be arraigned in court yesterday where he was expected to be pleading guily to a couple of different charges; one being possession of a stolen vehicle.
I talked with a lady at the district attorneys office yesterday and it turns out that the suspect is just about to turn 21. I was sad when I heard this. It's very disappointing to see somebody so you getting in trouble with the law. On the other hand, it seems that this individual was arrested as a juvenile for a similar activity. Apparently he didn't learn his lesson.
After further discussion, it turns out that this kid could actually receive a 54 month prison sentence for this crime. Yes prison!! Not jail... prison. Oy!!! The prosecutor is only going to ask for 28 months, so I suppose this kid should consider himself lucky. Hopefully he will get his head on straight after this. A couple of years in prison and an introduction to crudest way to become somebody's boy toy, should help this boy understand that crime definitely does not pay.
I'm glad that he will only have to serve a couple of years. Hopefully he will get out and get himself on track to leading a respectable life.
Monday, April 14, 2008
What Were They Thinking...
I usually try to watch most of the movies that are nominated for Emmy awards and generally find that most of the movies nominated are pretty good. There are, on rare occasions, times where I shake my head and just wonder what the heck the Academy was thinking.
This past week I had the displeasure of watching the movie No Country For Old Men. I'm still scratching my head wondering what in the world the Academy was thinking.
Best picture???? You have got to be kidding me!!!! I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to film and I watch a huge variety of movies from comedies, musicals, drama, action, and documenturies. I'm certain that I'm not the only person who would say that selecting No Country For Old Men as the "Best Movie" is ludicrous and downright offensive.
I think movies like Forrest Gump, The Bourne Identity, Ray, and many others, qualify as great movies. No Country For Old Men??? Give me a break!
This past week I had the displeasure of watching the movie No Country For Old Men. I'm still scratching my head wondering what in the world the Academy was thinking.
Best picture???? You have got to be kidding me!!!! I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to film and I watch a huge variety of movies from comedies, musicals, drama, action, and documenturies. I'm certain that I'm not the only person who would say that selecting No Country For Old Men as the "Best Movie" is ludicrous and downright offensive.
I think movies like Forrest Gump, The Bourne Identity, Ray, and many others, qualify as great movies. No Country For Old Men??? Give me a break!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Respect...
This week our Acura was stolen from our driveway. Talk about a shock! Living in the northwest, it's still pretty cold up here and this past Tuesday, it was 29 degrees outside at 7:00 AM. The windows on the car were iced over and I went out and did what I've been doing all winter long, which was to start the car up and let it warm up for 5 minutes before my wife uses it to go to work.
We live in a quite neighborhood and I never imagined that this type of thing would happen. For me, I would never ever think of walking up and taking somebody's car for ANY reason. It's clear that mankind doesn't all have the same attitude.
In our particular case, I assume the car was stolen by somebody from what I'll refer to as the younger generation. I believe this because of the skateboard that was left by the side of our driveway, at the end of the footprints that were left in the frosted over grass on our sidelawn. Last time I checked, people my age, don't typically use a skateboard to get around. Well not when you can use a nice Acura instead.
On a positive note, the local police did recover our car a few hours later about 15 miles from our house. Fortunately the only damage was to he front tires. It looked like the driver had run the car up onto a curb and one of the tires exploded, the other had a very large bubble on the side. I didn't see the car at the scene but saw the tires when the car was towed to the house. In some respects I feel fortunate because the damage could have been a lot worse. The thief did not vandalize the car. Thank goodness!
After a trip to Sears to have new tires put on, getting them aligned and balanced, and spending an hour washing the car, it was like this was all just a bad dream. A bad dream with a good ending. For that I am thankful.
On the flip side I can't help but wonder, what goes through peoples minds when they make a decision to perform and act like this? I make a point of conducting my life in a respectful manner and it really hurts when these types of events occur in my life.
This is not the first time where our personal privacy has been invaded. One week after purchasing this Acura in 2003, we walked up to our car in the parking lot of our fitness club, only to find the driver side window had been smashed in. Again, other than the shattered window, no other vandalism had occurred. Another time my Honda was parked on the street in front of my house and a rear passenger window had been smashed in and my stereo was ripped out of the dashboard.
It's sad to think that there are so many predators out and about. People up to no good. I used to think it was a sign of the times, but I suppose this type of activity has been going on for centuries. I'm thinking for example of the kings that used to send their warriors out to take land from 'peasants'. Or foreign explorers taking land from the original occupants of this country. It's yours until I take it from you! Not a creed I live by.
This world could be a much better place if we would all just show some respect and demonstrate compassion for each other. Equally! The thought 'Do unto others...' comes to mind. Think before you act. Take a moment and consider how you would feel if somebody does to you, or your mother, or father, or daughter, or son, what you are about to do to somebody else. It might make a difference in your actions. Ponder that... and you may see some positive change in yourself.
We live in a quite neighborhood and I never imagined that this type of thing would happen. For me, I would never ever think of walking up and taking somebody's car for ANY reason. It's clear that mankind doesn't all have the same attitude.
In our particular case, I assume the car was stolen by somebody from what I'll refer to as the younger generation. I believe this because of the skateboard that was left by the side of our driveway, at the end of the footprints that were left in the frosted over grass on our sidelawn. Last time I checked, people my age, don't typically use a skateboard to get around. Well not when you can use a nice Acura instead.
On a positive note, the local police did recover our car a few hours later about 15 miles from our house. Fortunately the only damage was to he front tires. It looked like the driver had run the car up onto a curb and one of the tires exploded, the other had a very large bubble on the side. I didn't see the car at the scene but saw the tires when the car was towed to the house. In some respects I feel fortunate because the damage could have been a lot worse. The thief did not vandalize the car. Thank goodness!
After a trip to Sears to have new tires put on, getting them aligned and balanced, and spending an hour washing the car, it was like this was all just a bad dream. A bad dream with a good ending. For that I am thankful.
On the flip side I can't help but wonder, what goes through peoples minds when they make a decision to perform and act like this? I make a point of conducting my life in a respectful manner and it really hurts when these types of events occur in my life.
This is not the first time where our personal privacy has been invaded. One week after purchasing this Acura in 2003, we walked up to our car in the parking lot of our fitness club, only to find the driver side window had been smashed in. Again, other than the shattered window, no other vandalism had occurred. Another time my Honda was parked on the street in front of my house and a rear passenger window had been smashed in and my stereo was ripped out of the dashboard.
It's sad to think that there are so many predators out and about. People up to no good. I used to think it was a sign of the times, but I suppose this type of activity has been going on for centuries. I'm thinking for example of the kings that used to send their warriors out to take land from 'peasants'. Or foreign explorers taking land from the original occupants of this country. It's yours until I take it from you! Not a creed I live by.
This world could be a much better place if we would all just show some respect and demonstrate compassion for each other. Equally! The thought 'Do unto others...' comes to mind. Think before you act. Take a moment and consider how you would feel if somebody does to you, or your mother, or father, or daughter, or son, what you are about to do to somebody else. It might make a difference in your actions. Ponder that... and you may see some positive change in yourself.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Vote...
I haven't posted in a while. This seems to be a typical pattern for me. Nevertheless, I figured I'll just throw this short post together. With the Mississippi primaries having just completed and with all the media surrounding the candidates, especially the democratic ones. One thing comes to my mind...
Vote!!!
If you don't do anything else this year, please do take the time to figure out what the issues are and what each candidates position is on the issues and then vote. It's more important now that it has been in a long time.
So there you have it! My short thought for the day. Vote!!
Vote!!!
If you don't do anything else this year, please do take the time to figure out what the issues are and what each candidates position is on the issues and then vote. It's more important now that it has been in a long time.
So there you have it! My short thought for the day. Vote!!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
You've come a long way baby...
I've been doing pretty well in my on-going effort to become an ex-Windows user. I've been working almost exclusively in a Linux virtual machine environment for a couple of weeks now.
I started out using VMWorkstation under Windows Vista to host my Linux installations, but after a short period of time, I stumbled onto an open-source software package named VirtualBox, developed by a company named innotek. This software is works incredibly well. I was able to install it on my Windows Vista based laptop and I created Fedora 8, Unbuntu 7.10, and CentOS 5.1 Linux virtual machines using this tool.
At this point I will not need to pay the $187.00 price tag for VMWorkstation. VirtualBox does exactly what I need and it runs on both Windows and Linux.
Once I make the complete transition to Linux on my laptop, I'll install VirtualBox on my Linux host and then create a Windows XP virtual machine so that I have a fallback option for any Windows applications that I absolutely must use. (At this point, I haven't found anything I can't do without.)
During the experimental phase, I started out using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbons). After a short period of time, I discovered that there were minor differences in the underlying system administrative functions versus the Red Hat structure, which I am more comfortable with. Ubuntu roots are based on the Debian *nix architecture.
As I continued to pursue more of the typical ways I use my computer, I found myself installing various software designed to support my efforts as a web developer. (Apache, PHP, MySql, Eclipse + C/C++ extensions, etc.) This exercise was not particularly comfortable for me, since my Linux administrative experience has been primarily built using Red Hat and Fedora Core distributions.
One day I decided I had had enough struggling with the Debian style administrative architecture and I decided to start using Fedora Core 8 as my desktop system. This went well and I got all my developer tools set up and I was using Firefox, Evolution for e-mail, the Pidgin messaging client, and Skype very comfortably under Fedora 8.
Not too long into the Fedora exercise, I received an e-mail from a friend and it had a video file attached. The file had an MPEG video format... let the fun begin!!! (Not really!)
I had previously configured my Ubuntu environment to support video playback and it really wasn't that big a deal. Not the case with Fedora. It was a big deal. It seems that Fedora supports the idea of pointing it's users to commercial vendors to acquire codecs that will allow the replay of certain video formats. Of course, one must purchase the plug-ins that will support different codecs for different video formats. This approach didn't excite me too much. Especially since I had not encountered the same roadblock with Ubuntu.
So here I am again, back with Ubuntu. I've made my decision that I'll use Ubuntu as my desktop operating environment and deal with learning the new administrative architecture. This is not that big a deal, since there are significantly more software applications available that are Debian compatible. Actually, this will probably turn out to be an excellent decision when I look back 6 months from now.
Wrapping up, I've just finished installing Ubuntu as the default operating system for my Dell GX240 system at work. No Windows XP installed. (Of course I'll put VirtualBox on there and have a Windows virtual machine, just in case.)
This is a huge milestone. Having 'played' with Linux since 1998, I'm finally comfortable enough to say that I think it will work just fine for me as my primary operating system of choice. There is just one more step in this process and that is to install Ubuntu as the default operating system on my Toshiba Satellite P205-S6347 laptop. I suspect I'll take that task on in the next month or so. Putting Linux on a newer model laptop could be a bit risky, but I'm gaining a comfort level that there will not be any obstacles to being able to do it successfully.
I started out using VMWorkstation under Windows Vista to host my Linux installations, but after a short period of time, I stumbled onto an open-source software package named VirtualBox, developed by a company named innotek. This software is works incredibly well. I was able to install it on my Windows Vista based laptop and I created Fedora 8, Unbuntu 7.10, and CentOS 5.1 Linux virtual machines using this tool.
At this point I will not need to pay the $187.00 price tag for VMWorkstation. VirtualBox does exactly what I need and it runs on both Windows and Linux.
Once I make the complete transition to Linux on my laptop, I'll install VirtualBox on my Linux host and then create a Windows XP virtual machine so that I have a fallback option for any Windows applications that I absolutely must use. (At this point, I haven't found anything I can't do without.)
During the experimental phase, I started out using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbons). After a short period of time, I discovered that there were minor differences in the underlying system administrative functions versus the Red Hat structure, which I am more comfortable with. Ubuntu roots are based on the Debian *nix architecture.
As I continued to pursue more of the typical ways I use my computer, I found myself installing various software designed to support my efforts as a web developer. (Apache, PHP, MySql, Eclipse + C/C++ extensions, etc.) This exercise was not particularly comfortable for me, since my Linux administrative experience has been primarily built using Red Hat and Fedora Core distributions.
One day I decided I had had enough struggling with the Debian style administrative architecture and I decided to start using Fedora Core 8 as my desktop system. This went well and I got all my developer tools set up and I was using Firefox, Evolution for e-mail, the Pidgin messaging client, and Skype very comfortably under Fedora 8.
Not too long into the Fedora exercise, I received an e-mail from a friend and it had a video file attached. The file had an MPEG video format... let the fun begin!!! (Not really!)
I had previously configured my Ubuntu environment to support video playback and it really wasn't that big a deal. Not the case with Fedora. It was a big deal. It seems that Fedora supports the idea of pointing it's users to commercial vendors to acquire codecs that will allow the replay of certain video formats. Of course, one must purchase the plug-ins that will support different codecs for different video formats. This approach didn't excite me too much. Especially since I had not encountered the same roadblock with Ubuntu.
So here I am again, back with Ubuntu. I've made my decision that I'll use Ubuntu as my desktop operating environment and deal with learning the new administrative architecture. This is not that big a deal, since there are significantly more software applications available that are Debian compatible. Actually, this will probably turn out to be an excellent decision when I look back 6 months from now.
Wrapping up, I've just finished installing Ubuntu as the default operating system for my Dell GX240 system at work. No Windows XP installed. (Of course I'll put VirtualBox on there and have a Windows virtual machine, just in case.)
This is a huge milestone. Having 'played' with Linux since 1998, I'm finally comfortable enough to say that I think it will work just fine for me as my primary operating system of choice. There is just one more step in this process and that is to install Ubuntu as the default operating system on my Toshiba Satellite P205-S6347 laptop. I suspect I'll take that task on in the next month or so. Putting Linux on a newer model laptop could be a bit risky, but I'm gaining a comfort level that there will not be any obstacles to being able to do it successfully.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Linux and Open-Source will prevail...
I've been a technology professional for 25 years and during that time I've seen many changes take place. Some good, some not so good.
I remember attending a trade show around 1990 and stumbling onto a software package named Minix, that was for sale at a very reasonable price. It touted being a Unix operating system that could be run on an IBM PC. At that time, I had never understood why somebody would want to continue using a character based operating system and type long, archaic looking command strings, when everybody I knew was putting DOS to the side and using Windows.
Nevertheless, I purchased that Minix package because the techie inside me hated having an opinion, without really knowing what I was talking about and I thought that by working with this PC based UNIX system, I could learn some things.
After struggling a bit, I managed to get my IBM PC to boot the Minix operating system from a floppy diskette. This seemed like a monumental accomplishment to me, at the time. What I didn't account for was, what to do next?
So there you have it. That was my first hands on experience with UNIX.
Fast forward to 1998. I joined a company that provided high-speed, broadband, wireless Internet connectivity. There I met a bunch of what I'll fondly refer to as 'geeks' who used to belittle me (in a fun way) over my use of Windows and my background in Visual Basic programming. They used to talk trash and ask me when I was going to start using a real operating system.
One day I finally said, what OS? Linux??? (In a very snide way). As you might expect, the response was, 'absolutely!'.
Having gained some respect and admiration of these new 'geek' friends of mine, I decided I would take a look at Linux, so I asked where do I get it? The response... 'you download it'. What the !!! It's free. Your kidding? What the !!!
Well they weren't kidding and after deciding that I would be their pet project, they helped me get Red Hat Linux Version 5 up and running on my own lab PC. It wasn't long after that that I was introduced to Apache, MySql, and PHP. (LAMP as industry professionals refer to it.)
I was officially in love with Linux and the open-source movement. I had found a platform where I could exercise my creative nature and web applications, without going broke in the process. What a concept!
I've never considered myself a serious Linux advocate. Sure I've continued to use it since 1998 to create web applications of various kinds, but when the tools like Apache, MySql, and PHP were all ported to run in a Windows environment too, I started doing all my development within my trusty Windows XP environment. This continued on and into the Windows Vista environment.
During my years as a technology professional, using Windows XP, I started to gain some type of disdain for Microsoft. They seemed to be getting greedier. The price of their products was rising, they seemed to be manipulating the business world with forced upgrades, there were inter-system imcompatabilities, and the list goes on.
Fast forward to Christmas 2006... I purchased a new Toshiba laptop for my daughter, who is in college. It came pre-loaded with the spiffy new Windows Vista and an evaluation version of Office 2003. I remember when we first powered it on that Christmas day and how cool the graphic effects were. It wasn't long before I discovered I didn't really know how to get around in this new OS. All these pop-up warnings about security were taking place. The pre-installed evaluation version of McAfee Security Center was something I wasn't familiar with either. Where was this? Where was that? I don't know what the $#%$ I'm doing!!!
Flashback... do you remember one of the key value propositions for adopting a Windows system? If your an industry veteran like me, you do. Hmm... seems like Microsoft forgot something. Oh well... who cares, we need to feed our bottom line! Can't believe that? Read on...
Now that we've got this nice, new, shiny laptop, with this slick new operating system, let's get some of that software that we've spent money on over the years, installed. Uh... what do you mean, 'not compatible with this operating system'? Hmmm... disdain 2356 points, favor 0 points.
So... here I am... mid 2007 and my laptop starts faltering, so I go out and buy another nice new shiny Toshiba laptop, with it's slick new Vista OS pre-installed. Well let's see now... this is now the second laptop that I'm going to have to invest additional dollars into to get my software upgraded. Am I excited about repeating this pattern for my wife and son's computers? Not!!! (I feel so cool when I use younger generation terms.)
So that leads me up to why I decided to make this post. Over the last few months, I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of hands-on time working with Linux. It's hard for me to believe how far this OS has come and how much quality software is available for it.
To that end, I've started an experiment to determine whether or not it's time for me to make a full-scale transition over to Linux from Windows. I can tell you that my instincts tell me yes, it's time. However, having considered this a few times over the last five years, I'm still cautious. It seems like I can do everything I need to do in Linux. Write documents, create spreadsheets, build project plans, create graphics, print, scan, surf, chat, read e-mail, write applications, create databases, and the list goes on.
I know it's time and my heart wants me too. Still, it's hard to break the old habits. Hence this experiment. I downloaded this great open-source virtual machine software named Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org) and because I need to use Linux in my job, I've set up a few Linux based virtual environments. (Ubuntu 7.10 - Fedora Core 8 - CentOS 5.1)
This approach gives me the ability to learn about some of the differences between the various Linux distributions, before deciding which one I want to adopt as my ultimate desktop solution. Starting out I'm going to place my focus on using Ubuntu Linux as my primary desktop system. Primarily because it has received quite a bit of good press as a good candidate to replace Windows for folks like me who want something different. (Mac users, don't bother chiming in... I think Macs look awesome and I stop in at the Mac store and drool whenever I go to the mall, but that's not on the horizon for me yet.)
So there you have it. I'm going to start doing all my work in my Ubuntu Linux environment, only dropping out of it, if I absolutely can't accomplish something and I'm constrained by time. I'm hoping this won't happen. If I can do this for a few months, without dropping back into Windows, I'll probably drop the Vista OS off of my laptop and make a 100% cutover sometime in 2008. I actually believe this will happen, based on what I've seen so far.
So how does this relate to the title of this article? Well to begin with, I don't think I'm the only person who is starting to feel like I'm spending too much money on Microsoft these days, what with 4 PC's in my house. And secondly, as best as I can tell, most of the kids graduating with degrees in Computer Science and Engineering are coming out of college with a very astute understanding of Linux and the Open-Source movement. They live it, they believe in it, and they are building the tools of the future. If this weren't true, then I wouldn't have the tools I have, that are enabling me to even consider this radical change.
I've been around a long time and have been actively involved with PC's since they first came out. (I still have my Timex Sinclair) It's this experience and retrospective view that causes me to believe that Linux and Open-Source will prevail and may likely become the dominant desktop OS within the next 10 years.
To all the open-source contributors that have made it possible for people like me to have a choice, I say thank you! You are truly an awesome group of individuals.
I remember attending a trade show around 1990 and stumbling onto a software package named Minix, that was for sale at a very reasonable price. It touted being a Unix operating system that could be run on an IBM PC. At that time, I had never understood why somebody would want to continue using a character based operating system and type long, archaic looking command strings, when everybody I knew was putting DOS to the side and using Windows.
Nevertheless, I purchased that Minix package because the techie inside me hated having an opinion, without really knowing what I was talking about and I thought that by working with this PC based UNIX system, I could learn some things.
After struggling a bit, I managed to get my IBM PC to boot the Minix operating system from a floppy diskette. This seemed like a monumental accomplishment to me, at the time. What I didn't account for was, what to do next?
So there you have it. That was my first hands on experience with UNIX.
Fast forward to 1998. I joined a company that provided high-speed, broadband, wireless Internet connectivity. There I met a bunch of what I'll fondly refer to as 'geeks' who used to belittle me (in a fun way) over my use of Windows and my background in Visual Basic programming. They used to talk trash and ask me when I was going to start using a real operating system.
One day I finally said, what OS? Linux??? (In a very snide way). As you might expect, the response was, 'absolutely!'.
Having gained some respect and admiration of these new 'geek' friends of mine, I decided I would take a look at Linux, so I asked where do I get it? The response... 'you download it'. What the !!! It's free. Your kidding? What the !!!
Well they weren't kidding and after deciding that I would be their pet project, they helped me get Red Hat Linux Version 5 up and running on my own lab PC. It wasn't long after that that I was introduced to Apache, MySql, and PHP. (LAMP as industry professionals refer to it.)
I was officially in love with Linux and the open-source movement. I had found a platform where I could exercise my creative nature and web applications, without going broke in the process. What a concept!
I've never considered myself a serious Linux advocate. Sure I've continued to use it since 1998 to create web applications of various kinds, but when the tools like Apache, MySql, and PHP were all ported to run in a Windows environment too, I started doing all my development within my trusty Windows XP environment. This continued on and into the Windows Vista environment.
During my years as a technology professional, using Windows XP, I started to gain some type of disdain for Microsoft. They seemed to be getting greedier. The price of their products was rising, they seemed to be manipulating the business world with forced upgrades, there were inter-system imcompatabilities, and the list goes on.
Fast forward to Christmas 2006... I purchased a new Toshiba laptop for my daughter, who is in college. It came pre-loaded with the spiffy new Windows Vista and an evaluation version of Office 2003. I remember when we first powered it on that Christmas day and how cool the graphic effects were. It wasn't long before I discovered I didn't really know how to get around in this new OS. All these pop-up warnings about security were taking place. The pre-installed evaluation version of McAfee Security Center was something I wasn't familiar with either. Where was this? Where was that? I don't know what the $#%$ I'm doing!!!
Flashback... do you remember one of the key value propositions for adopting a Windows system? If your an industry veteran like me, you do. Hmm... seems like Microsoft forgot something. Oh well... who cares, we need to feed our bottom line! Can't believe that? Read on...
Now that we've got this nice, new, shiny laptop, with this slick new operating system, let's get some of that software that we've spent money on over the years, installed. Uh... what do you mean, 'not compatible with this operating system'? Hmmm... disdain 2356 points, favor 0 points.
So... here I am... mid 2007 and my laptop starts faltering, so I go out and buy another nice new shiny Toshiba laptop, with it's slick new Vista OS pre-installed. Well let's see now... this is now the second laptop that I'm going to have to invest additional dollars into to get my software upgraded. Am I excited about repeating this pattern for my wife and son's computers? Not!!! (I feel so cool when I use younger generation terms.)
So that leads me up to why I decided to make this post. Over the last few months, I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of hands-on time working with Linux. It's hard for me to believe how far this OS has come and how much quality software is available for it.
To that end, I've started an experiment to determine whether or not it's time for me to make a full-scale transition over to Linux from Windows. I can tell you that my instincts tell me yes, it's time. However, having considered this a few times over the last five years, I'm still cautious. It seems like I can do everything I need to do in Linux. Write documents, create spreadsheets, build project plans, create graphics, print, scan, surf, chat, read e-mail, write applications, create databases, and the list goes on.
I know it's time and my heart wants me too. Still, it's hard to break the old habits. Hence this experiment. I downloaded this great open-source virtual machine software named Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org) and because I need to use Linux in my job, I've set up a few Linux based virtual environments. (Ubuntu 7.10 - Fedora Core 8 - CentOS 5.1)
This approach gives me the ability to learn about some of the differences between the various Linux distributions, before deciding which one I want to adopt as my ultimate desktop solution. Starting out I'm going to place my focus on using Ubuntu Linux as my primary desktop system. Primarily because it has received quite a bit of good press as a good candidate to replace Windows for folks like me who want something different. (Mac users, don't bother chiming in... I think Macs look awesome and I stop in at the Mac store and drool whenever I go to the mall, but that's not on the horizon for me yet.)
So there you have it. I'm going to start doing all my work in my Ubuntu Linux environment, only dropping out of it, if I absolutely can't accomplish something and I'm constrained by time. I'm hoping this won't happen. If I can do this for a few months, without dropping back into Windows, I'll probably drop the Vista OS off of my laptop and make a 100% cutover sometime in 2008. I actually believe this will happen, based on what I've seen so far.
So how does this relate to the title of this article? Well to begin with, I don't think I'm the only person who is starting to feel like I'm spending too much money on Microsoft these days, what with 4 PC's in my house. And secondly, as best as I can tell, most of the kids graduating with degrees in Computer Science and Engineering are coming out of college with a very astute understanding of Linux and the Open-Source movement. They live it, they believe in it, and they are building the tools of the future. If this weren't true, then I wouldn't have the tools I have, that are enabling me to even consider this radical change.
I've been around a long time and have been actively involved with PC's since they first came out. (I still have my Timex Sinclair) It's this experience and retrospective view that causes me to believe that Linux and Open-Source will prevail and may likely become the dominant desktop OS within the next 10 years.
To all the open-source contributors that have made it possible for people like me to have a choice, I say thank you! You are truly an awesome group of individuals.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
No Respect...
I just read an article in eWeek that left me shaking my head and thinking, what's it take to get some respect in this world? LOL!!!
Let me illustrate my point...
Direct Quotes:
"SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 31 - Google Inc. reported a disappointing quarterly profit and spending plans that startled some Wall Street analysts, sending its shares down 8 percent on Thursday."
"Fourth-quarter net income rose to $1.21 billion..."
"Revenue rose 51 percent to $4.827 billion."
Pretty amazing! Both revenue and net income rose, yet the analysts are startled. LOL!!!
Oh well... it just goes to show, positive results are not always enough in the world of business. Sure do wish I owned a company whose NET (yes NET) income ROSE (yes ROSE) to $1.21 billion.
To read the full article click on the following link: Google Balloon Pops
Let me illustrate my point...
Direct Quotes:
"SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 31 - Google Inc. reported a disappointing quarterly profit and spending plans that startled some Wall Street analysts, sending its shares down 8 percent on Thursday."
"Fourth-quarter net income rose to $1.21 billion..."
"Revenue rose 51 percent to $4.827 billion."
Pretty amazing! Both revenue and net income rose, yet the analysts are startled. LOL!!!
Oh well... it just goes to show, positive results are not always enough in the world of business. Sure do wish I owned a company whose NET (yes NET) income ROSE (yes ROSE) to $1.21 billion.
To read the full article click on the following link: Google Balloon Pops
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
State Of The Union...
I consider myself to be reasonably open minded when it comes to politics. Being the leader of this country must be an extremely difficult job. I often wonder if there is any group of individuals that can be successful at fulfilling that role.
As I listened to the State Of The Union speech last night, I heard everything President Bush was saying, yet I couldn't help but think to myself, 'so what!' and 'so how is our country doing?'.
Honestly, I feel pretty discouraged with current conditions in our country. I'm deeply concerned over the national debt. Today, 1/29/08, it's sitting at about $9.2 trillion dollars. Yes... trillion... that's a lot of zeros. According to one source (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/) our debt has been rising at a rate of $1.43 billion (yes BILLION) dollars per day, since September 29, 2006. As if that's not bad enough, an article in the Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080129/NATION/748742259/1002/NATION) reports that President Bush is seeking another $70 BILLION dollars to fund our war efforts through 2009.
This country is already 9.2 TRILLION dollars in debt, where is the $70 BILLION dollars supposed to come from???
Seriously folks... you or I would never survive conducting our finances in this manner. If your family made $100K per year and had $300K in revolving credit card debt, such that your income was not even able to cover the interest on that debt, there is no way a legitimate financial institution would lend you any more money.
Under these circumstances, you would find that your day to day life was completely constrained by your financial state. You wouldn't be able to go out for entertainment, you wouldn't be able to afford to repair your car, you wouldn't be able to absorb medical expenses, you wouldn't be paying college tuition, and the list goes on. Why? Because your finances are in complete turmoil!!
Well that's exactly the state of affairs (State Of The Union) that this country is in right now. Oh sure... some folks are doing okay, but as these financial conditions continue to worsen, more and more folks are dropping off the back end.
What's it going to take for our leadership to accept the true State Of Our Union and start turning this around? I'm happy to see President Bush move on and I'm still hopeful about our country's future. Hopefully our next leader will be able to take a snapshot of where this country stands when they take office and show real results at the conclusion of their first term.
I don't know how you feel, and I've never considered myself to be a selfish person, but I'm looking for a candidate that will spend their 8 years focusing on fixing THIS country and inform our international allies that they are going to have to do more to take care of themselves, until we get our own house in order.
As I listened to the State Of The Union speech last night, I heard everything President Bush was saying, yet I couldn't help but think to myself, 'so what!' and 'so how is our country doing?'.
Honestly, I feel pretty discouraged with current conditions in our country. I'm deeply concerned over the national debt. Today, 1/29/08, it's sitting at about $9.2 trillion dollars. Yes... trillion... that's a lot of zeros. According to one source (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/) our debt has been rising at a rate of $1.43 billion (yes BILLION) dollars per day, since September 29, 2006. As if that's not bad enough, an article in the Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080129/NATION/748742259/1002/NATION) reports that President Bush is seeking another $70 BILLION dollars to fund our war efforts through 2009.
This country is already 9.2 TRILLION dollars in debt, where is the $70 BILLION dollars supposed to come from???
Seriously folks... you or I would never survive conducting our finances in this manner. If your family made $100K per year and had $300K in revolving credit card debt, such that your income was not even able to cover the interest on that debt, there is no way a legitimate financial institution would lend you any more money.
Under these circumstances, you would find that your day to day life was completely constrained by your financial state. You wouldn't be able to go out for entertainment, you wouldn't be able to afford to repair your car, you wouldn't be able to absorb medical expenses, you wouldn't be paying college tuition, and the list goes on. Why? Because your finances are in complete turmoil!!
Well that's exactly the state of affairs (State Of The Union) that this country is in right now. Oh sure... some folks are doing okay, but as these financial conditions continue to worsen, more and more folks are dropping off the back end.
What's it going to take for our leadership to accept the true State Of Our Union and start turning this around? I'm happy to see President Bush move on and I'm still hopeful about our country's future. Hopefully our next leader will be able to take a snapshot of where this country stands when they take office and show real results at the conclusion of their first term.
I don't know how you feel, and I've never considered myself to be a selfish person, but I'm looking for a candidate that will spend their 8 years focusing on fixing THIS country and inform our international allies that they are going to have to do more to take care of themselves, until we get our own house in order.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Time sensitive...
I've been involved with technology for several years now and I love it. Look at all the great things that have evolved as a result of the Internet. Hmmm... blogging comes to mind. How about MySpace and YouTube too?
As a techie, the Internet is one of my greatest resources but one thing I've noticed as I seek out information, is that there are numerous articles around that don't have dates listed anywhere in the article. This is a real faux-pas in terms relevance of the information.
I've recently taken on the challenge of trying to set up a Linux storage cluster that makes use of an ATA Over Ethernet (AoE) interface and while there are several articles on the subject, as one reads through them, it becomes apparent, often quickly, that the article is not relevant to the current software environment.
This doesn't mean the article isn't valuable, but if these articles had a dates associated with them, one would be able to place them in some sort of context. Without dates, the information is often be mis-leading and sometimes even harmful.
There isn't much that can be done to correct an issue like this, after the fact, but it would sure be nice to see all Internet based articles tagged with the date it was posted. Similar to what we see today with our blog posts.
As a techie, the Internet is one of my greatest resources but one thing I've noticed as I seek out information, is that there are numerous articles around that don't have dates listed anywhere in the article. This is a real faux-pas in terms relevance of the information.
I've recently taken on the challenge of trying to set up a Linux storage cluster that makes use of an ATA Over Ethernet (AoE) interface and while there are several articles on the subject, as one reads through them, it becomes apparent, often quickly, that the article is not relevant to the current software environment.
This doesn't mean the article isn't valuable, but if these articles had a dates associated with them, one would be able to place them in some sort of context. Without dates, the information is often be mis-leading and sometimes even harmful.
There isn't much that can be done to correct an issue like this, after the fact, but it would sure be nice to see all Internet based articles tagged with the date it was posted. Similar to what we see today with our blog posts.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Southwest blunder...
I used to do a fair amount of business travel and I would often fly Southwest Airlines whenever possible. Why, you ask? Because of their great service? No. Because of their comfortable planes? No. I flew SWA because they had what I considered to be the best frequent flyer program around.
It seems that Southwest has determined that they need to start changing things in the services they provide. For example, assigning numbers to individuals in the various boarding groups and dividing the frequent flyer awards into different categories of awards.
I first noticed this change in strategy the last time I tried to use one of my awards certificates and discovered that I couldn't use it on, what seemed to me to be an otherwise meaningless travel day. There was a time when an award was treated like a full-fare ticket. That was the way it was marketed, that's the way it was processed, and that's the way it should have stayed.
Today I went to book a flight with another award certificate and much to my dismay, I find that the awards are now broken into different categories. I can use my current 'standard' award for certain flight times on certain days or I can trade in 2 'standard' awards and receive a 'premier' award which gives me a larger selection of flights and times to choose from.
What this basically equates too, is that I have to travel twice as much to receive the same benefits that I used to receive.
Now I'm not one to knock getting something for free, but everything comes with a price. Other airlines have frequent flyer programs too. I used to have to take 8 round trips on SWA to get a full-fare free flight. Now to get the equivalent value, I have to make 16 round trips.
How does that compare to other mileage programs? I don't know yet, but because SWA has decided to change things up, I'm certainly going to look into it.
Apparently SWA misunderstood the rule, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Nevertheless, they have fixed it and I wonder how long it will take them to figure out that by fixing it, they have actually broken it. So sad.
It seems that Southwest has determined that they need to start changing things in the services they provide. For example, assigning numbers to individuals in the various boarding groups and dividing the frequent flyer awards into different categories of awards.
I first noticed this change in strategy the last time I tried to use one of my awards certificates and discovered that I couldn't use it on, what seemed to me to be an otherwise meaningless travel day. There was a time when an award was treated like a full-fare ticket. That was the way it was marketed, that's the way it was processed, and that's the way it should have stayed.
Today I went to book a flight with another award certificate and much to my dismay, I find that the awards are now broken into different categories. I can use my current 'standard' award for certain flight times on certain days or I can trade in 2 'standard' awards and receive a 'premier' award which gives me a larger selection of flights and times to choose from.
What this basically equates too, is that I have to travel twice as much to receive the same benefits that I used to receive.
Now I'm not one to knock getting something for free, but everything comes with a price. Other airlines have frequent flyer programs too. I used to have to take 8 round trips on SWA to get a full-fare free flight. Now to get the equivalent value, I have to make 16 round trips.
How does that compare to other mileage programs? I don't know yet, but because SWA has decided to change things up, I'm certainly going to look into it.
Apparently SWA misunderstood the rule, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Nevertheless, they have fixed it and I wonder how long it will take them to figure out that by fixing it, they have actually broken it. So sad.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
My First Post...
Creative title, wouldn't you say? LOL! Well I'm going to give blogging a try again. I tried this once before and for some reason I don't think it satisfied whatever goal I was trying to fulfill at the time. Nevertheless, I've recently found myself wanting to comment on interesting things that I encounter in my life and so this seems like a good way to do that.
Over the years I've been inspired by some regular bloggers out there. So I started thinking, why not me? I hope that as I proceed down this path that I'll be able to build a nice history of blogging that I'll be able to look back on and remember where I've been and what I've done.
Over the years I've been inspired by some regular bloggers out there. So I started thinking, why not me? I hope that as I proceed down this path that I'll be able to build a nice history of blogging that I'll be able to look back on and remember where I've been and what I've done.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
