Archive for the ‘ 2007 ’ Category

Google Browser Sync has Made me a Bookmark Whore

Author: JoshMiller

Dec 30

Maybe a year ago I started using Google Browser Sync at home and work.  The idea that I could access the same bookmarks from either location was a brilliant idea to me.

The problem now is that I don’t have time to ever go back to those bookmarks.  If I’m at work, I’ll find an interesting blog post or news article and bookmark it.  The idea is, “I can read it later when I’m not at work”.  Many times it’s something I want to link to and discuss in a blog post when I have more time to actually write about it.

The flip side problem is I don’t actually have time to read these articles at home.  I’m actually doing the exact same thing during the time I DO have to use the PC at home.  Usually in the morning while I’m eating breakfast I’ll get on the computer.  I’m limited on time since I have to get done eating and get ready for work so I’ll bookmark lengthy articles witht he mindset of “I’ll read through this when I have free time at work”.

Never happens.  Especially lately, work’s been hella hectic.

I do the same thing with my Google Reader’s starred items.

Then,by the time I get the chance to post about those articles, they are irrelevant.  That great joke about the Jessica Simpson movie that only 50 people watched?  That was last week’s news.  Why bother now?  The whole controversy about Gamespot.com firing the guy for the bad Kane and Lynch review?  Sorry, no one cares anymore even though it pretty much destroys the entire website’s credibility.

And now, here I am with an entire weekend and essentially NOTHING required out of me, no work, no wife (working) no kids (grandma’s) and I’m spending it playing Lego Star Wars II instead of catching up on the vastness of the internet.

Such is the way things are.

Comments Off
Filed under: 2007, Internet and the Cloud | Tagged as: , , ,

Still Trying to use Linux

Author: JoshMiller

Dec 16

In the past I’ve commented on my repeated attempts to use Linux as a useful operating system.  There was a time maybe 10 years ago when I made a point of fully bashing Linux and it’s peoples primarily for “trolling purposes”.

These days I sing a slightly different tune… sort of.

I’ve tried several different distros including Redhat, Debian, Mandrake, Ubuntu, and most recently Mepis.   I’ve tried these on various computers of varying ages.  My last siccessful attempt was with Ubuntu on the Pentium 2 PC known to my smallish network as Selphie.

I was attempting to set up a web/file server and ran into several hardware roadblocks that resulted in a loss of booting ability.  I hadn’t been having much luch getting wordpress to run correctly on the machine anyway despite following several detailed setup procedures for SQL, Apache, Pearl, and all that fancy stuff needed to get WordPress working correctly.

Then time became a commodity and fixing this PC became a non necessity for a while.   More recently, I managed to get a second hand laptop hard drive for the second hand laptop I had laying around in need of a Hard drive.  Gotta love free PC parts, even if they are ancient.  My first goal was to set up a new OS on this Laptop (a PC now named Rinoa).  I decided to once again try Linux.  First up was Ubuntu but I recieved an error during boot about how my BIOS was too old.  That is, it isn’t Y2K compatible.  So I instead tried an old copy of Mandrake 10 I had laying around.  The install worked but I ended up with a command line only OS.  I’m not real sure what went wrong here.

So I scrapped the Linux idea and threw on an copy of Windows 2000 I had in my “CD Wallet of OS Discs”.  It installed and ran fine.  At least I knew I could get some sort of GUI OS out of this.  Still, I don’t particularly need another Windows based machine to manage.  I really would like to actually use Linux  on one of my PCs and I’m not too keen on the idea of dual booting.  Yuna, the main PC is out since the kids and wife use it.  The main laptop, Terra, won’t work for more or less the same reason.  I don’t have time to fix Selphie right now.  So Rinoa it is.

I figure I have two hurdles.  One, I only have 2gigs of hard drive to work with.  Two, The PC’s age.  I found a BIOS update but I still received the same issue when trying to install Ubuntu.  I decided to try a smaller simpler distro.  This PC will eventually be primarily for word processing anyway using Open Office.  I’ll probably use it a bit to play Music on as well.  After a bit of research I decided to try out two alternate Linux distributions, SimplyMEPIS and MiniSlack.

I’ve tried MEPIS so far but it seems to get stuck in some sort of loop when booting up from the CD.  I get some long list of information the bottom line telling me I have 0kb swap.  I guess I’ll be trying MiniSlack next.

Comments Off
Filed under: 2007, Linux & Open Source | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Spending the Day in Bed

Author: JoshMiller

Nov 30

I hardly ever get sick.

Let me rephrase.

I hardly ever get sick… enough to let it bother me.

I am of the opinion that unless you’re dizzy enough to pass out, or vomiting, you should go about regular activities.  Especially work.  I hate missing work for illness.  I had perfect attendance in High School an most of college too.  The point is, I don’t like to let a little illness keep me down.

This leads to conflicts often with my wife regarding the children who’s regular response to “time for school” is “my head hurts” or “I don’t feel good” or “Can I go to the doctor, my leg hurts”.  Half the time she gives in.

This isn’t about the kids though, it’s about me.  I actually ended up missing two days of work due to my own illness.  Wednesday was the worst of it.  I think my son stayed home too but I pretty much spent the entire day in bed sleeping.  I got up around noon to make some sort fo lunch and ended up nauseated from 5 minutes upright and wend back to pass out.

My wife kicked me out of bed when she got home from work and activities so she could clean the sheets.  The next day I wasn’t quite as bad though.   I managed to play through Portal at least.  Fun game.  I think I’ll do my own review of it later.

Comments Off
Filed under: 2007, Personal Life | Tagged as: , , ,

A Quick "Black Friday" Tip for Wal-Mart Shoppers…

Author: JoshMiller

Nov 23

Here’s a quick suggestion if you’re pressed for time. For the most part this only applies to Wal-Mart however, and possibly not even every Wal-Mart.

Find your bargains, then head to the gun counter. There’s a check out there and it’s probably manned due to the requirement that the stores be funny staffed on this shopping day. Check out there. Everyone is crowing in up front, chances are no one will be waiting in line there. Then walk out in no time flat laughing at the suckers waiting up front for two hours.

This also works to some extend during normal days. Check out in lawn and garden, electronics, or sporting goods for a faster trip.

Comments Off
Filed under: 2007, Hobbies | Tagged as: , , , ,

Perhapse My Daughter is Psychotic?

Author: JoshMiller

Nov 12

Pana schools has this annual event where they host a magic show for the kids to come and watch.  I took the kids to see it last year.  I took off work in time to take them this year.  Unfortunately my oldest had a bad case of diarrhea.

Or so she claimed.  Se has a tendency to exaggerate that sort of thing.  The younger two were devastated when we decided we couldn’t go.  In the end though I changed my mind and we all went albeit a little lately.

On the way out of the driveway, the cat walks up in front of the car.  I slowly creep forward hoping ot scare it off, which works except that it’s running away down the driveway and not off into the darkness around us a hoped.

My youngest daughter  says rather solemnly, “You can kill it if you want.”

My son reminds her that it’s her cat she’s talking about and she says even more solemnly, “I know.”

You see, she’s really excited about going to see the magic show.  Apparently she’s decided sacrificing the cat is worth the extra 10 seconds I’d gain.

After the show the magician gave out balloon animals.   She didn’t like her parrot though I personally thought it was pretty awesome since you could clip it onto your shoulder like a pirate.  She then proceeded to take great pleasure in un-twisting the parrot then popping it.  Later I found she had done the same thing to my son’s balloon dog.

Comments Off
Filed under: 2007, Family | Tagged as: , ,
View more posts »