Rantings for 2009
Monday May 4rth, 2009 After today's update (28 files) the Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" lockup on bootup intermittently shows up.
Uploaded 4 new wallpapers for my BlackBerry and one new ringtone.
The wallpapers are good, the FanFare ringtone from Final Fantasy VII still doesn't sound right.
Bought a 2nd extended BlackBerry 8703 battery. With Unlimited BlackBerry Data I'll need it.
I think I'll go to the "Dark Side" (Micro$haft Windows), update my AVG Free anti-virus (to be a good cyber-citizen - wouldn't want to spread something to my friends), and go home and nuke (microwave) ½ dozen chicken & cheese taquitos.
Sunday May 3rd, 2009 My new bike computer, a Cateye Enduro 8, is installed. This unit is more rugged than the cheap bike computers that I paid as much for retail but didn't last long. None out-lasted the bike they were on. Of course, I have to admit, I wear out bicycles. Except for my Gary Fisher Joshua all my bikes wore out. The Joshua was stolen in front of the Brea Police department on June 22nd, 2004 sometime before 6pm.
Today I'll go out for a second breakfast, take along "Bird" just in case there is an open WiFi, and update my website and upload a ringtone.
***************************** Made it to Carl's Jr just before they stopped serving breakfast. My favorite is the Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich w/ Sausage.
Not the right "FanFare" ringtone. It was the one that I had changed the key on and it doesn't sound right. Well, Mañana I'll WiFi @ Sunkist and upload a "fixed" version.
Battery Monitor says I have over two hours so I'll play on the Internet a while, and digest my "Second Breakfast".
***************************** "denniswifi" is still open. Whoever "Dennis" is I'm grateful to him. It's sweet to eat breakfast while WiFi-ing.
Opened a dispute about the Extended 8703 battery that never arrived on
e baY. Packages seem to get lost a lot in my neighborhood. Perhaps I should set up a video camera to catch the thief.Battery lasted about an hour and ½. Was fine because I sorta had to really pee so it ran out in good time.
Windows 2K on my gaming system (Gamer3) crashed. It seems to be just about when the Motherboard Monitor III and the Harddisk Monitor start up, so I'll go into the troubleshooting mode and un-install first the Harddisk Monitor and then, if necessary, kill the Motherboard Monitor III.
Crystal Disk Info (The Harddisk Monitor) was the culprit that was crashing "Gamer3". Deleted it and all's happy. Don't really need to monitor the harddisks, anyway. After installing those harddrive coolers both harddrives have been running very COOL
After the April 29th Update (last Wednesday) Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" has booted reliably every time (Knock on Wood). The 36 updates that day must have fixed it.
The "fun" thing about Linux is the adventure. Things sometimes don't work, you find a way to work around it, and then "Presto Abracadabra" you have an very stable and virus-proof computer. Or at least very virus-resistant.
As Linux gets more common it will become a target for malware banditos. Even then it will be far safer than Micro$haft Windows
Fixed the "Final Fantasy VII FanFare" ringtone. I'll make the BlackBerry repeat the tone 3 times. Did a little re-arranging and edited the start & finish. Also made 2 Linux-themed wallpapers for my BlackBerry. Will load all 3 Mañana when I do my regularly scheduled WiFi session.
My new bike computer, a Cateye Enduro 8, is really nice. The main display is ½ inch high, the unit is real easy to use although the controls are a bit weird, and it's nice and rugged. Maybe it will last beyond my present bike.
Now I know again how fast I'm going. Or not going ;-)
WattPad, the FREE e-Book reader application on my BlackBerry has improved a lot since I first installed it 5 or so months ago. The selection of books is greatly expanded, with new categories like Science Fiction (my favorite). I'm reading a new book by James Patterson that the library doesn't have yet.
Tomorrow I WiFi...
Saturday May 2nd, 2009 GOOGLE will change it's "Google" graphic from time to time, for Holidays (Christmas, Halloween) and for famous people's birthdays, etc.
Samuel Morse invented the "Morse Code", a simple on/off code of long and short tones, light bursts, or even smoke puffs where you can somewhat slowly send text messages. With practice you can get quite fast. Morse Code was used in the first radio transmissions back before transmitting audio and then later video was possible.
The GOOGLE graphic that spells out "G O O G L E" in Morse Code
Finally found a "My Daughter is in the US Army" sticker that was small enough to fit on my laptop computer. It measures 1.75 inch in Diameter. It's actually a pin but I'll cut off the pins and glue it to my laptop.
"My Daughter is in the Army" Pin
Since I'm using my BlackBerry on the Internet much more and since the Unlimited Blackberry Data Service is only $20 more a month I think I'll switch to Unlimited on May 13th when my next billing cycle begins.
I'll be able to use my BlackBerry "tethered" to my laptop for broadband Internet access, as soon as I figure it out. The BlackBerry Support forums are excellent and one of the much smarter people up there probably knows how to do it.
Friday May 1st, 2009 Now that I've figured out how to get media (ringtones, pictures) on my BlackBerry it's now easy. 3 pictures and 4 new ringtones (or obnoxious noises).
My friend really liked his "Israeli Army Knife" that I gave him.
This weekend I have a new CatEye Enduro 8 bike computer to install on my bike. It's been quite a while since I've known how fast I was pedaling.
I Unsubscribed from the GOP (Republican) website because I'm going to register Independent. Too many games and deceptions from the Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) in the California legislature.
There is (so the weather people say) a 70% chance of rain tonight. It is sunny and bright now at 5pm. I plan to go no where tomorrow it doesn't bother me.
In about an hour I'm going home, with a stop at Carl's Jr for a few hamburgers.
***************************** No Extended BlackBerry 8703 Battery. Paid for it 2½ weeks ago and nothing. No mail saying it's been shipped. Nada.
Think I'll go to bed early.
Thursday April 30th, 2009 Got the "Dexter" ringtone finished. With Audacity I was able to edit the beginning & end, boost the bass a bit, and even do a nice, professional fade out at the end. Then I used the Nero Audio Editor to save it as a Mono 22K 16bit mp3, which shrinks it down to 157 Kilobytes and has good fidelity for ringtone use.
I'm going to keep Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" installed on my laptop for a while more. It errors out and freezes about half the time but once it fully boots it's very stable. We'll see if the power hardware problem gets repaired soon. So far the distro seems to have some things not set up right, like the Ubuntu Restricted Extras doesn't include Java.
Going to bed early tonight. Will be WiFi-ing tomorrow to upload ringtones and pictures to my BlackBerry.
On
e baY I found a Swiss Army Knife with a Star of David (the Jewish Emblem), or an "Israeli Army Knife" on Monday and today (Thursday) I have it on my key chain. It's a small blue knife that fits on a key chain nicely with one blade, a fingernail file, a small screwdriver, scissors, a pair of tweezers and even a toothpick.I bought two. One for me and one for a Jewish friend. I figure a Jew should definitely have one and I should have one because I worshiped in a Messianic Jewish Synagogue.
Here is a picture of my "Israeli Army Knife" $13 on e baY
Wednesday April 29th, 2009 Today I spent all day "disconnected". I had forgotten to take my BlackBerry with me. Many times during the day I thought of using it for this or that and Nada, no 'Berry. Wasn't really going through withdrawals but my eyes were opened to just how often I use the device.
The 'Berry's battery was low, meaning keeping it in the holster really saves the battery juice.
Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" acted up for a few boot cycles but now it seems to be happy. Knock on plastic (fake wood-grain table top)
I'll keep it as long as it doesn't get obnoxiously annoying. Once it gets going it seems to be really stable. Did have to manually load Java 6 because it is no longer in the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package.
The Road Runner (Time/Warner) Internet cable is running at 12829 Kbps down. At least that's what it tested earlier. Now it's running 15288 Kbps! Nice, fast and FREE at the library...
Back on April 14th I bought an Extended battery and a Titanium battery cover on
e baY for my BlackBerry 8703e and have yet to see it and it's been two weeks. Either it's been mis-shipped or our neighborhood mail thief has been doing their thievin' thing.Think I'll go home early and on the way buy a "Big Fat" Chicken Taco at Del Taco because I have a coupon to get a FREE second one. Those "Big Fat" Chicken Tacos are tasty.
On the John & Ken radio show they were playing (and commenting on) Obama's 100 day speech. I REALLY don't like the man so I shut down the Internet radio thingy.
Audacity is the program I was trying to edit the ring tone with yesterday. There are manuals and even tutorial videos that explain how easy it is to do what I couldn't figure out how to do. DOH! I was over-thinking the problem. Audacity is an easy to use program that I was too "smart" to figure out. DOH!, again!
Tuesday April 28th, 2009 Linux can be very strange indeed. Yesterday Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" got to the graphics screen but wouldn't finish booting so I re-booted into the "dark side" (Micro$haft Windows) and finished my evening's WiFi-ing.
This afternoon I used the Ubuntu "Recovery Mode" to recover and boot completely. Found the system was in "Num Lock" so I turned it off and the system would boot normally. Even tried it on battery power with the WiFi card. Everything seems good to go for tomorrow's WiFi-ing.
I'm still learning about Linux. Only 4 days ago I had figured how to get the laptop's power circuitry working and today I discovered for some reason if the "Num Lock" on my external full-sized keyboard is left "on" it keeps the laptop from booting.
I lost the little pencil eraser thingy in the center of my laptop's keyboard. On
e baY I bought 3 new eraser thingies for $4.50 - found that with a non-worn-smooth eraser thingy it's actually easy to use my laptop without a mouse.Was working on a ring tone, trying to edit it and found out it's a little more difficult than I thought it would be. So I'm going o bed early and WiFi tomorrow.
Monday April 27th, 2009 Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope crashed. Gets to the desktop but won't finish loading. Will roll back to Ubuntu 8.10 if necessary. I can always go all the way back to Ubuntu 8.04.2 and be good to go until 2011.
Bought a Bike Computer for $23.95 and two "Israeli" Army Knives (Star of David). One for me and one for a Jewish Friend.
Found a decal that's the right size to put on my laptop and bragg about my daughter being in the Army. Actually, it's a pin but I can glue it on...
Was able to put "Dexter's Theme" on my friend Amy's BlackBerry. With the new BlackBerry not only does the BlackBerry Desktop Software Backup, Clone and Install software but it directly accesses the BlackBerry's file system.
Now I'll be going home. Done everything and being hungry, I'm ready to go home.
Sunday April 26th, 2009 My daughter came to visit me about 6pm yesterday. We walked to IHOP (International House of Pancakes - Yes, this is a non-geek acronym)
IHOP was dead. As in few customers. Very few for an Early Saturday evening. You would have expected people waiting to get in outside. Mostly empty. Scary. Like one of those end of the world horror movies.
Today after breakfast we walked by the same IHOP and for breakfast they had people waiting outside.
Oh, right. Pancakes are for breakfast
My daughter spent the night. Was nice being able to spend the extra time together. Today we went out for breakfast, walked to a corner with a lot of shopping so my daughter could get some hair dye to change her somewhat weird hair color to something more normal. In bootcamp "normal" is desirable.
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope is a bit flaky. Sometimes it will lock up when booting, and sometimes it will not shut down. But now Suspend and Hibernate function, which the IBM ThinkPad 600X never did before running Linux.
My "newer" BlackBerry 8703e seems to have some sort of problem. It locked up with a blank screen this morning and now some of the calendar events; "Paydays" are displaced to Wednesday instead of Thursday. It's an every two week recurring event.
I do have the BlackBerry 4.2 system software that I can "reimage" my "newer" BlackBerry 8703e. Kinda need to delete the Security Profile that is on it, anyway.
***** I just said goodbye to my Army-bound daughter. By next weekend she will be in that hell they call "Bootcamp". The only way to make a soldier is to forge them with great pressure. Toughness and discipline doesn't come from a book.
It's hard knowing what she will be suffering. But also rejoicing because the Army can, if she is willing, give her much.
Tomorrow I WiFi...
Saturday April 25th, 2009 Last night I found the fix for Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope's power problems with my laptop, an IBM ThinkPad 600x. Was a simple to add but hard to figure out boot line command. It now works perfectly, even shuts down automatically with suspend and hibernate fully functional.
Had I actually applied myself I could have fixed this several versions ago...
Soon I'll be leaving for the main Anaheim Library to WiFi and set up my laptop.
***************************** At library and finally have installed most of the Ubuntu 9.04 Applications and have updated my website.
It's already 4:21pm and I have to get home because Tonight I see my daughter. Monday is her last day as a civilian before she goes to boot camp and becomes a soldier.
Friday April 24rth, 2009 I'm installing Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". The released version has a faster installer, or so it seems,
It's all installed. Seems to boot faster but the laptop power circuitry still doesn't work.
Tomorrow I'll go to the Anaheim Main library to setup and update Ubuntu 9.04 - Except for the power circuitry everything seems to work.
Will browse the Ubuntu Help Forums tomorrow to find a fix (if possible) for the power circuitry problem. The "Beta" version had the same problem with the power circuitry.
Thursday April 23rd, 2009 Well, I guess I have to Upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". The Update Manager came up with "Update to 9.04" or something similar and I clicked it. Then realized this is day one of the update and everyone is doing updates now and the servers were dog slow. I didn't have 8 hours (or more) to download 704 files - the library closes at 9 and it was already 3:30pm.
Uploaded to my website and then downloaded 7 ringtones. Dexter, my first mp3 ringtone, came out perfect! The BlackBerry MIDI doesn't do dog barks, so "Who Let The Dogs Loose" didn't work. Was kind of disappointed. On the other hand Homer Simpson telling me about "Mail's Here" came out real good.
I need to watch my Internet surfing on the new BlackBerry because with the much faster surfing I can chew up more megabytes and I'm already at 5600 Kilobytes (5.6 Mb). I'm only a little over a third through the billing cycle.
Today I was talked to about "using my cell phone" during work. I don't use my cell phone. I don't have a "cell phone". It's a BlackBerry and I use it to track and schedule my work. Good thing is that my boss stood up for me and I wasn't told not to use it.
Hmmmmmm... I thought I felt an earthquake. I looked around thinking someone had bumped my chair. The library is a concrete floor building with one story. LA Times says it's a 3.8er. Just a little bitty shaker. Just before 5pm
Just got bad news. Geocities (where my website is hosted) is closing down later this year. Well, I'll figure out something. 11 years of good service free - I'm not complaining
Been looking around - there are many free web site hosts and many low-cost. It will work out...
Going home now. Hungry, tired, want to play with my new ringtones on my phone.
***************************** Another little earthquake at 8:27pm. Tomorrow is the last work day of the week. It's past 9:30pm so I'm going to bed. Mañana
Wednesday April 22nd, 2009 I voted today, made 7 more ringtones to try on my "newer" BlackBerry, going to bed early tonight.
I'll put a Technology "geek" report on my "newer" BlackBerry 8703e after I've had it for a week. So far I love it...
Tomorrow I WiFi
Tuesday April 21st, 2009 Last night it was HOT and I didn't sleep well. So I decided to "call in sick".
At about 9:30am I went to Carl's Jr for a "second breakfast". "Denniswifi" was still open so I got on the Internet and before leaving for the library was able to do the biggest item on my "ToDo" list.
My BlackBerry 8703e is completely set up and activated. All on-line in only a few minutes.
Had a "cockpit" error. The BlackBerry 8703e would send emails but "test" emails from my Yahoo email account weren't being received. After an hour or so of troubleshooting it I found the error, actually two errors, both TYPOs in my BlackBerry's email address listing in my Yahoo email address book. First: frankhs was mis-typed frankhss and I thought it was fixed.
NOT! Then I discovered a second typo, BACKberry instead of blackberry in blackberry.net
Everything is working now!
Very happy with the speed of the "newer" BlackBerry 8703e. It is much faster than my "older" BlackBerry 7250, has a much brighter screen with far better resolution, works the same (same OS) and though the keyboard is smaller it actually types better.
It's like going to a much nicer version of the same thing I had before. The "older" BlackBerry did everything reliably and efficiently but the "newer" one has key improvements that make it even more pleasing. "Eye Candy" like nice wallpapers, themes and "Ear Candy" like Polyphonic MIDI and mp3 ringtones.
And the BlackBerry 8703e really looks sexy! ;-)
I've been so busy that I missed the first hour of the John & Ken radio show on KFI Radio
It's about 15 after 5pm, got all my "ToDo" list done, my BlackBerry 8703e is all connected (Internet, email, text messaging, phone, eBook reader, and even a GPS map), I'm hungry and tired. A bit bored in spite of the excitement the activation of my "newer" BlackBerry 8703e. My new "toy".
"Hacked" loading my own ringers into my BlackBerry 8703e. The ringtones need to be up on the web, so I put the ringtones into a directory called "ringtones" on my personal website. Then I input by hand the URL of the ringtone and I was able first to start playing the ringtone and then to save it. The MIDI ringtones I made worked perfectly, the mp3 of "Dexter's Theme" didn't work. I ended up being here another hour and 15 minutes.
Very happy now. My BB 8703e is completely connected and I have my daughter's personal ringtone installed.
NOW I can go home!
Monday April 20th, 2009 At 3pm when I arrived home my new toy had arrived in the mail. The BlackBerry 8703 has been used, there are scratches but nothing serious. The screen is almost perfectly clear.
The BlackBerry Desktop Software has a "Switch Device Wizard" that within minutes copied everything, including applicable settings, from my BlackBerry 7250 to my "new" BlackBerry 8703. It even transferred my applications like Google Maps, WattPad and even my "Home Screen" shortcuts to the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and the LA Times. It was hard to decide which theme I liked (The BB Dimension - Icon), which ringers/alerts to use for what, and what Hi-Res wallpaper to use. Something pretty but not too distracting. I selected a Sunset Sky with Pink Clouds...
I set The Classic Phone Ringers for the phone ringer. It really sounds like a Classic Bell Phone ringing.
The BB Dimension theme has a Classic car emblem-like "wing" at the top of the screen that shows the Battery and signal strength bars plus in the center your network connection info.
Disappointing was the Roxio Media Manager, which doesn't "see" the 8703. The screen I haven't decided on yet. It's not a "transflective" screen like my BlackBerry 7250 but it's much higher in detail and brightness. The screen can be seen in direct sunlight and just shading it makes it very readable. As I use it I'll find out more.
The screen does sense ambient light and adjust. Takes a second and ½ and any keypress or thumbwheel will turn back on the backlight when it automatically dims or goes off.
Tomorrow I'm going to WiFi and activate my "new" BlackBerry 8703. On Thursday Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" will be released. On that note, an Ubuntu graphic...
Sunday April 19th, 2009 For $32 (plus $2.80 for the Sacramento Tax Whores) I bought a twin-fan window fan that efficiently and even fairly quietly cools my bedroom. It even has a thermostat so during the wee hours of the morning it shuts down. Southern California is a desert so it may be HOT during the day but Freakin' COLD just before dawn.
I also bought two new plain T-Shirts, plain as in "no message". One has my old High School colors (Red & Grey). The High School I graduated from, Savanna High School in Anaheim California, are the "Rebels" and therefor the Red/Grey colors. Notice the school administrative dweebs back in that day when they named the school miss-spelled "Savannah", like in Savannah, Georgia?
In High School I was a "Rebel" in more ways than one and now I ride a 2005 Ironhorse Rogue mountain bike.
Today is HOT. End of summer crankin' HOT. The weather people said it would be HOT and tomorrow, Monday it's supposed to be even HOTTER.
Guess I bought the new fan just in time.
Saturday April 18th, 2009 Fun will be had when my BlackBerry 8703e arrives in the mail. I keep everything so I still had all those ringtones I had created for my Samsung A650 cell phone. That phone was kind of limited because the ringer volume was a bit low and it could only have 5 custom ringtones at a time. My BlackBerry 7250 only played monophonic (one note at a time) ringtones. The only ringtone that sounded "okay" on it was Mozart's Nachtmusic. On the other hand, the 'Berry's keyboard and screen blew the Samsung A650 cell phone away, not to mention on-device email and a true Internet web browser.
With the BlackBerry 8703e I can have my cake and eat it, too. I already have the BlackBerry Desktop Software for the 8703 installed on my "gaming" computer. The BB Desktop Software has Roxio Media Manager to put stuff on my 8703 with.
On the John & Ken show (KFI Radio) the 5pm hour is the "Tax Revolt Rage" hour. Monday through Friday and now their Saturday show.
Funny how after I buy a replacement LCD display cable ($5 on
e baY) the display pretty much stops flaking out.
Friday April 17th, 2009 The BlackBerry Desktop software version 4.2.2 includes the Roxio Media Manager which will allow me to add media (ringtones, pictures, etc) to my "newer" BlackBerry 8703e and the Desktop Manager will allow me to transfer everything from my BlackBerry 7250 to my "newer" BlackBerry 8703e. So I'm ready to "Rock and Roll" when the "newer" BlackBerry arrives in the mail.
The "newer" BlackBerry 8703e might arrive tomorrow (Saturday) but more likely will arrive on Monday, maybe Tuesday.
So I'm going to play with the Roxio Media Manager and learn how to use it.
Tomorrow I need to go to WalMart and buy a new fan. The box fan I had in my Window just had a bearing failure. It had been getting noisier for some time. Need to buy a new fan tomorrow because Sunday is supposed to hit 90 degrees!
Thursday April 16th, 2009 Boring Internet Surfing session. Guess I'm not really into it. Time will (I Guess) stand still until my "new" BlackBerry comes in the mail.
I'm hungry, bored and tired. Going home after I update my Windows Anti-Virus.
Found out quite a bit about the "Transflective" LCD technology used on the BlackBerry. The BB 8703e is as sturdy as the BB 7250 I love with a bigger display, twice the memory (4 times system memory), a much faster processor, and it really looks sexy!
Really anticipating the mail delivery.
Wednesday April 15th, 2009 There were a lot of "Tea Parties" across the nation. California is not the only state to raise taxes, just number 1 in the magnitude of the tax increase.
The Los Angeles Times ran an opinion article by Marc Cooper: "Anti Obama Taxpayer Tea parties steeped in insanity" where he states " Here's a simpler recipe: Go to a hobby store, buy a scale model of a UN One-World-Government Black Helicopter and a tube of glue. Toss the model kit, Sniff the entire tube of glue. You're all st for the party."
Marc Cooper is director of Annenberg Digital News at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC. And one big moron. He will be interviewed soon on KFI Radio and I'm curious to see how long I can stand to listen to this piece of s*** and his verbal diarrhea. A true communist.
Marc Cooper is a real moron. Can't see beyond his bullshit. Won't face issues, and thinks all people who protest taxes are hypocrites.
At one Tea Party everyone was wearing T.E.A patches: Taxed Enough Already
My $9.88 4-Gigabyte Kingston USB FlashDrive arrived in the mail today. It's a bit weird looking being white with "toy"-like purple trim but it works and that's all that's really important to me.
I'm really looking forward to getting my "new" BlackBerry 8703e because I read that the Tea Parties weren't organized by organizations, they were organized by people sending text messages to friends, and those friends texting more, and more and then everyone deciding to meet somewhere and protest. The "newer" BlackBerry will give me much better capabilities. Plus custom polyphonic ringtones. I miss making ringtones out of music I love...
A friend at work, a fellow BlackBerry owner/addict said "You go to Black, you can never go back"
Tuesday April 14th, 2009 Just bought a Verizon BlackBerry 8703e on
e baY. My BB 7250 is "good enough" but the 8703e was just too tempting. Has the same "Transflective" screen (reflects light and is readable in direct sunlight), but better tech (brighter colors) and much more horsepower with the Intel PXA901 312 MHz processor, 16mb SDRAM, and 64 MB FlashMemory to store stuff in.My BB 7250 has a 240x160 screen while the BB 8703e has a 320x240 color screen. Just a tad smaller even with the much larger screen. About the same weight. The 8703e also has a speakerphone and supports both Polyphonic/MIDI and MP3 ringtones. Miss the ringtones of my old Samsung phone. Also much louder ringing!
Spent $30 on the BlackBerry 8703e and $16 for an extended battery for it. In a week I'll really be styling.
Things to be avoided: Disk brakes on bicycles, can't go back to standard brakes and BlackBerries: a phone is just a phone but a BlackBerry is an addiction. They even call 'em "CrackBerries"
Now to go home, while I still have any money...
Monday April 13th, 2009 I'm such an expert on Linux ;-) - Just figured out how to "set" the version of English in Gedit. Just use the "Set Language..." in the "Tools" menu (just below the Autocheck Spelling on the "Tools" menu). As Homer Simpson would say... Doh!
So I selected "English (United States)" and then corrected all the British English spellings. Mostly "our" instead of "or" and "ise" instead of "ize".
I also "corrected" the "Movies", FunStuff", "Books" and all the rest of my off-line website but they won't go live until there is a significant change or addition. British or American English, whatever.
My taxes are done, Money orders all purchased, and stuffed into stamped, addressed envelopes ready for mailing tomorrow.
Tomorrow I WiFi. Tonight I go to bed early, mostly because I'm bored.
Perhaps some of my friends are right: I need a girl friend. But no, been there, done that. There will never be anyone that I will trust my heart to ever again.
Maybe I should buy a fast red sports car. At least no one will accuse me of having a middle age crisis. I'm too old to qualify for having a middle age crisis.
Sunday April 12th, 2009 This morning I went out for breakfast at Carls Jr. Then I rode across the street and did my grocery shopping. My bike is running like new with the new tire, fixing that plastic wheel guard by removing it (it's not needed), and new front wheel disc brake pads.
I'm reading "Halo: First Strike" by Eric Nylund on my BlackBerry using the Free Book reader called Wattpad. Not completely free. When shutting down Wattpad you get an offer of ringtones for your phone, asked to visit a website or something else from a sponsor.
This afternoon I decided to try getting my printer working. It didn't want to work with the "Official" Hewlett Packard Printer drivers. The Windows 2000 driver for the HP 690c works okay, but the printer still wouldn't feed paper. Went to take it apart but ended up not needing to do that. The HP 697c printer has BIG paper feed rollers that can be easily cleaned with alcohol-wetted wipes thought the large front cartridge door.
So I was able to print out my filled out PDF tax forms. A bit fuzzy but readable enough.
After printing the tax forms out I double-checked them and found a $7 error on the Federal 1040ez form. So my total taxes are $7 less than I had originally calculated Yesterday.
In my short time working as a business accountant that's one lesson I learned well. The necessity of double-checking figures. Not double-checking reared back and bit me more than once.
Now the Feds, if they noticed I was paying $7 too much I doubt they would have said a word. However, had I underpaid by $7 there would be both stern harassment letters plus penalties.
Tomorrow I need to buy two money orders and some business sized envelopes. Then Tuesday morning my taxes are "in the mail" and **** DONE ****.
Also tomorrow I ride to the post office to mail a package of stuff to my son. Since my mountain bike is running "like new" it's also an excuse to ride further than to work and back. 'Bout 3½ miles round trip
Printer also now works with Linux...
One last thing. Captain Richard Philips was rescued from the Somali Pirates by synchronized sniper fire. Of the four pirates that were holding the Captain hostage only one survived, the one that surrendered to the Navy Ship handling the hostage situation. Good way to handle it. We Americans (actually, not to my liking) let animals like terrorists, child molesters, and pirates get off with their lives.
In the matter of child molesters, there is hardly a neighborhood in America that doesn't have a child molester living in it, and having rights to live there.
To bed early tonight. It's already almost 9pm.
Saturday April 11th, 2009 Just spent $55.02 at WalMart for stuff I needed like allergy meds, shaving stuff, and even a $14.47 "comfort bike" tire and had to pay another $4.50 to the whores in Sacramento (8.75% sales tax rate)
My new "extended" battery for my BlackBerry arrived while I was at WalMart. Has the same part number as the original battery I have already, not the Part number that was on the
e baY item sales page. I may have just paid an extra bit of money for a regular battery. It's brand new, no scratches on the gold-plated contacts, but I don't think it's an "extended" battery.Monday (or the next time) when WiFi-ing I'll check the BlackBerry battery part numbers. See what is what...
Today the weather is nice. Sunny, but not hot, small breeze but not high winds. Was a nice ride to WalMart and back. On the way back I rode up the Santa Ana river trail and the ride was nice.
When getting home from WalMart I took my mountain bike's front tire in with me. About two hours ago I started changing the front disk pads on my bike. Struggled with it. The hydraulic pistons just didn't want to spread and it took me a while. The front disk pads had just barely wore down to metal on one corner of one. Just in time. The rear pads are still okay because the rear brakes don't work as hard.
The rear tire was dragging and for the longest time I had thought it was the brakes. It was that plastic shield that all bikes have but don't really need. I suppose it's there to keep the chain out of the spokes should it derail but I've never had that happen. I took the plastic shield off and now the read wheel spins freely with no dragging. Imagine that!
My experience says that, once you discover the cause, all fixes are easy. Finding that cause can be really grindingly difficult.
Now to start doing my taxes... 4pm
Already done with my taxes. 5pm. Owe a little California State and a little more Federal. Less than $150 dollars. The way I planned it. That was relatively painless. Did it while listening to John and Ken's Saturday show on KFI Radio.
Just test rode my mountain bike. The front new brake pads drag a bit but I'm pretty sure it just needs to be broken in. Should be worn in enough by next weekend.
Friday April 10th, 2009 Today is a day off. I had joked to fellow employees that I was going to celebrate "Good Friday" by eating a big steak. Today I'm thinking of honoring the day because although I'm not a Catholic, I get this paid holiday because the founder of my company was a Catholic and I think honoring him would be appropriate. Besides, I don't eat that much beef so it wouldn't be much of a deprivation. Also, Del Taco just brought their rather tasty shrimp tacos back...
Listening to Rush Limbaugh on KFI Radio. He is calling the Somali Pirates "Merchant Marine Organisers". As in Obama was a "Community Organizer".
Off to the library to WiFi...
***************************** Arrived @ library just after noon. Took 2½ hours to get Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" completely set up the way I wanted it.
"Bird" is running perfectly. Found a nice, reliable HP mouse for $7.49 (with FREE shipping) and a Kingston 4 gigabyte FlashDrive for $9.88 (also with FREE shipping). And not a ¢ in California State taxes for the Tax Whores in Sacramento.
Think I'll do a bit more shopping and then go home. Get some tacos at Del Taco to munch and "Feed the beast" (silly Del Taco Ad campaign).
Bought a 16X Sony DVD drive for $7 on
e baY. This purchase didn't have FREE shipping so I paid $8.35 - still a good deal. And still no tax for the Sacramento Whores.
***************************** So far this week I've paid only 77¢ in sales tax, that being for a battery for my BlackBerry that I didn't see was from within California. Now I know where to look if it doesn't say at the top of the
e baY page that won't happen again.John and Ken are calling Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger "GAS". Get it? An acronym! Also a pun on both Arnold's lying speeches and Greenhouse GAS spewing. Every time he flies somewhere in his Gulfstream Private Jet he spews more carbon dioxide in an hour than a small town does in a month. Then there is that caravan of a half dozen or more Hummers that he travels in...
Now that the Sales tax is 8.75% locally, I have been changing my spending habits radically. I try to buy things on-line if possible, from
e baY or another on-line retailer, and I'm selecting quality if possible. Like Hewlett-Packard, Kingston, or Sony (today's purchases). A used Sony, the DVD drive I bought for $7, is "gently used" and it should be more economical in the long run than an inexpensive drive like an Emperex, which I've bought two of since 2004. Don't remember the price but it was probably on the north side of $25 ("north side" means more expensive)The first Emperex DVD drive died on me, the second one even though still working, has a cracked tray where I dropped something on it and I need to "help" it close.
My other change in spending habits, although not much of a change because I've already been fairly frugal in my spending, is that I don't spend frivolously on "bling-bling" that I don't really need.
I also don't replace things that still work. My BlackBerry, for example. Last November or so, when I had shorted out the keyboard by sweating on it, I restored the keyboard to almost original function by flushing it repeatedly with contact cleaner. Sometimes some of the keys don't type the first time I press the key but it still works well enough. I need to pay close attention to what I type anyway.
Now that I have a BlueTooth ear-set thingy sweating on the keyboard is no longer an issue and with the "extended" battery it should be really useful. Already I use it several hours a day. Reading the Internet newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, receiving and sending emails direct from the device, a calendar with alarm, and even a nifty notepad for lists of stuff.
Tomorrow I do my taxes. Hope I don't owe too much extra taxes.
The BlueTooth ear-set thingy is really easy to use. It had one button and a volume rocker switch. One short press on the button gives you a short medium-pitched tone and it turns on and auto-connects with my 'Berry. A long press of the button, there is a medium tone then a low tone, and it auto-disconnects from my 'Berry and then turns off. A short button press while the BlackBerry is ringing answers the call, another short press puts the call on "hold", and a longer press hangs up. A long press when the BlackBerry is ringing ignores the call.
Read an article in the Wall Street Journal that told about how you can rent a BlackBerry from several phone rental businesses. Perfect in these uneasy times where your being out of touch with your employer can mean that an important email or spreadsheet doesn't get promptly get dealt with, and the employer gets pissed.
I think I'll go to bed early again.
Thursday April 9th, 2009 Well, I had thought that Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Beta linux had been fixed by forcing the acpi "on". Not so, in fact it wouldn't even boot.
So I'm reimaging "Bird" back to Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" because "JJ" just isn't ready yet.
Discovered that "Bird's" DVD rom drive is pre-double layer technology. Can't watch a Double Layer DVD on it. While burning Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" to a Re-Writable CD I tried playing my DVDs and one, a Double-layer DVD wouldn't even mount.
Tomorrow is Good Friday and I get a paid holiday. The weather people give it a 50% chance of "showers" tomorrow but I'm going to the library anyway.
Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" is all set up, at least the off-line part. Mañana for rest of it...
Wednesday April 8th, 2009 "Fixed" Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". It didn't "see" the battery and power hardware of my IBM ThinkPad 600X laptop. This time when I put in the acpi=force command switch into the bootup string it worked. Network continued to work (as far as I can tell), the USB flashdrives still works, but the start up sound is distorted. Will have to test it on-line.
Which will happen Friday as I get Good Friday off as a paid holiday. The original owner of my company was a Catholic and Good Friday being a paid holiday was part of the sales contract.
Something happened with Windows on my gaming system. It crashed, seems to get the point where it's loading the Motherboard Hardware Monitor application, then shuts down.
Booted into Linux and all seems good. I'll reload Windows and at the same time test my the custom Windows 2000 CD I made for my son.
Fixed Windows on my gaming system. Tried booting with the [Shift] key held down and it booted. The only thing that was in the Startup folder (which is what holding down the shift key stops from loading) was that new "CPU load in tray" application I had installed. Trashed it and the system booted. After a Disk Check all looks good.
Was a weird failure. First it re-booted spontaneously, then it wouldn't finish booting. Windows is Micro$haft's biggest virus...
Tomorrow, although on the calendar is named "Thursday", is really a "Friday" due to the fact that the real day "Friday" is part of this week's weekend. That make sense? I care not, as long as I don't need to get up the morning after next.
Tonight has been a good day for finding solutions. Perhaps it has something to do with my new thing of not eating at lunch and walking a little over a mile. I was eating for comfort but now I look forward to walking the stress off at lunch.
I'll replace Ubuntu 8.10 in "Software" with Ubuntu 9.04 when it's actually released.
To bed early again tonight...
Tuesday April 7th, 2009 Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" isn't quite ready. It seems to be missing the hardware drivers that run the battery/AC power supply on my laptop so the battery charge/discharge indicators don't work. The Ubuntu Restricted Extras, a meta package that includes Flash Player, audio and video codecs, Java, and even Microsoft Fonts isn't set up yet for the new distro.
Besides that the distro is stable and has some nice, visual interface improvements. I can wait a few weeks for the "bugs" to be worked out.
If the official release on April 32rd doesn't fix those things I can always go back to Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex"
Bought an "Extended" battery for my BlackBerry. That's the type of purchase that
e baY is really best for. $9.95 with FREE shipping. Didn't know the seller was from California so I ended up paying 77¢ sales tax. Would have prefered the seller being up front with that on principal. I'll be working every legal angle I can to deny California tax money.My BlackBerry is a Verizon model, a CDMA network phone, that uses the Qualcomm MSM6X00 chipset. It includes the ARM9E RISC (Reduced Instruction Set C-something) processor, which cranks out 220 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) and processes Java Bytecode directly. It also has Enhanced DSP (Digital Signal Processing) instructions which makes it even more efficient in phone applications.
Not the most powerful processor but it is easy on the battery drain (7 days standby). When the transmitter is fired up a new battery will give 3½ hours of time. The "Extended" battery should give me about twice that.
Last two days I got to bed late and didn't sleep well. So tonight it's to bed early.
Monday April 6th, 2009 On April 2nd there were 265 updates to my "Beta" Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Linux installation on my laptop, an IBM Thinkpad 600x named "Bird". Today there are 120 updates. Wonder what they will fix. Some I saw were Clam AntiVirus updates.
Clam Anti-virus still doesn't work, the power stuff (battery charge monitor, etc) does not work, the Ubuntu Restricted Extras doesn't install anything, and Java doesn't work. But it's rock-solid stable.
Well, it did lock up once when I was updating the system plus streaming audio from a radio station. Came right back up when I re-booted.
I'll go home now. Feeling a bit tired as I started walking again at lunch-time. Avoids eating plus is a great stress reliever. 20 minutes of walking (about 1.2 miles) with 10 pounds of wrist weights on each wrist gets the heart beating and the stress draining out. This recession has been a bit of a worry.
Got a can of Corned Beef Hash at home (love the stuff). That and two toasted English Muffins with Peanut Butter on 'em should make my stomach happy.
Sunday April 5th, 2009 "I Am Legend" has a great ending. Will "review" it in my "Movies" part of my website.
A word about my movie "reviews". I'm hardly a professional movie reviewer. More like a literate amateur blogging about his likes or dislikes. Mostly likes because; like most normal movies viewers, I don't check out and much less rent, movies that don't interest me and mostly I check out a movie because friends recommend it.
My friends are rarely wrong when it comes to "good" movies. Well, one I didn't get into because it was a hard-core chick flick and there wasn't even a single moment of anything but feelings and relationship stuff in 94 minutes of film. Not that such things aren't valid but I'm just not into it. That friend, I think, was pulling my leg because I'm certain that she knew I wouldn't get into the movie. I haven't discussed the movie with her and she hasn't brought it up.
Books, on the other hand, I occasionally check out a book that I don't like. I rarely get a recommendation for a book because most of my friends don't read. Not that they can't read but they don't read for entertainment. I'm a bit of a different horse in that I read novels for entertainment. It's an over 45 thing...
Here is a nice "Crystal" BlueTooth Logo from the TigerDirect.com Website
It's noon. Time to walk to the corner store and shop for groceries. And to cash my "extra" paycheck and buy my kids Birthday presents and load up my Prepaid MasterCard
*******
This means same /|\ place but later... Went and cashed a paycheck, bought birthday presents for my son and daughter, bought groceries, and watched "I Am Legend" a second time.
Spent another 15 minutes or so talking to my son again this morning. That BlueTooth ear-set thingy works well. Makes me actually use the phone. My son is with Metro PCS and he gets unlimited minutes with his plan. I get unlimited texting on my account which comes in handy for me, much as his unlimited minutes are good for him.
Tomorrow I WiFi. Need to go to the library anyway to return the videos so I'll bring "Bird" along for the ride.
Saturday April 4rth, 2009 I'm very happy with my BlueTooth ear-set, a Plantronics Explorer 220. Only $13 for a little wireless device that is so comfortable to wear that I forget I'm wearing it
New experience, the BlueTooth ear-set. I heard and was heard very clearly though it was a bit muffled-sounding when I talked to my son, who was also using a BlueTooth ear-set. We talked for over an hour and ½ and during that time I plugged the BlackBerry into AC and moved freely (and hands-free) around the room.
Need to buy a new battery for my 'Berry. I'm only getting about an hour talk time when I should be getting at least three. Well, there's
e baY for that.The Plantronics BlueTooth ear-set works and seems to have an endless battery. The only "problem" I had with it was when the indicator light started flashing purple and I had to RTFM (Read The F*!^#@& Manual) to find out that flashing purple = "missed call". I'd only stepped out of the room for 5 minutes and of course my BlackBerry rang.
Could have easily enough taken my 'Berry with me to the kitchen to fix dinner but I'm basically lazy when not doing something for money. Or to help out someone
The BlueTooth logo design merges the Germanic runes analogous to the modern Latin letters H and B (for Harald Bluetooth)
The word BlueTooth is an anglicized version of Old Norse Blátönn or Danish Blåtand, the name of the tenth-century king Harald I of Denmark and Norway, who united dissonant Scandinavian tribes into a single kingdom.
This weekend has been a "movie" weekend. Checked out 3 DVDs: "Aliens", "Independence Day", and "I Am Legend". Only $3 at the library. Stayed up 'till 1am this morning watching the "extra" features on "Aliens". This morning watched "Independence Day", which I've seen before but not in Hi-Def, and watched about a third of "I Am Legend" Now at 11pm I'm going to watch the rest of it. My son told me it has a surprising ending.
Thursday April 2nd, 2009 The Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Beta works. Not completely but in all important points. The Battery Power indicator doesn't work but it's not a fatal flaw.
Nice for a Beta. April 23rd is the Official release date. They have fixed a few things. Now when the kernel updates it will update the boot configuration list correctly. On the other hand the spell checker in Gedit (the text editor) is way off.
I think I'll go home early tonight, after I check out a movie or two.
Wednesday April 1st, 2009 My daughter and her boyfriend came by. I was able to recover her most important stuff from her laptop's harddrive, 4 gigabytes worth of movies, pictures, drawings and ect and I put it on a DVD for her. Later, perhaps this weekend, I'll back up the rest of the stuff from her harddrive.
To get at her harddrive I simply used one of those IDE to USB adapters to connect the laptop harddrive to my gaming system.
While waiting for her to collect her stuff off her laptop's harddrive I installed Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Beta on my laptop. The Install went very smooth and this time it even reboots on it's own. went so well I'm ready to WiFi tomorrow after work.
At work I've been busy. Yesterday I installed isolators and filled 17 gauges, today 21 with only 25 of the 63 gauge order left to do. I'll have it done long before next Wednesday's due date at this rate.
Tuesday March 31st, 2009 The Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Beta is available for download. Decided to download it and upgrade. The Official Release will be April 23rd. My experiences with Ubuntu Betas has been excellent. The Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" Beta was basically ready to use!
In Half an hour I'll be done downloading "Jaunty Jackalope" and then I'll go home. I've been at the library long enough to get my ToDo list wiped out and am more than ready to go home and eat.
Conficker is coming. Tomorrow. Conficker is a worm that has infected millions of Windows PCs and it's triggered by April 1st. It will then download something and know one knows what. We will find out tomorrow.
Wonder why I use Linux? See the above paragraph /|\
My laptop's screen is getting real flaky. I already have the replacement ribbon cables and perhaps this weekend I'll fix it. And install Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Beta for an adventure.
The RoadRunner Cable here at Sunkist Library is running a solid 15 Mbps speed!
Monday March 30th, 2009 Saturday on the way home from the library I stopped at Carls Jr for food. Decided to try the two Chile dogs for $3. Carls does not do Chile well. Way too salty and afterwards I felt ecccch the rest of the afternoon.
People are calling in to John and Ken's show on KFI Radio and telling how they are avoiding the sales tax increases. Having friends out of state buy something and UPS it, buying at yard sales and off Craig's List (private parties), non-taxed charities such as Goodwill, and even going to Vegas (lower taxes) and filling the car with purchases. Examples of how people are revolting against the tax increases.
Next on the John and Ken show is the under-employed, those people who to survive have taken any low paying job just to have income. These people are counted as "employed" even though they aren't making enough money to feed their families.
Tomorrow I'll WiFi. 'Cause I'm bored.
Sunday March 29th, 2009 This morning in the LA Times newspaper Richard Riorden, former Mayor of Los Angeles, came out with an opinion page that compared Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature's deception on Proposition 1A with Bernie Madeoff's ponzie scheme. Prop 1A is the false "Spending Cap" bill that extends the huge California tax hikes two more years.
Californians need to hear the truth about these Propositions. If enough hear the truth they will be furious and vote 'em down and thus the California budget will crash. And that will be a good thing because there is way too much spending for stupid things, like "garbage boards". We don't need a board sitting around to collect garbage. The garbage truck drivers do that.
In the Sopranos Tony and friends were in "Waste Management". Seems the Sacramento "Family" are just as deceptive as the New Jersey Mafia.
Nor do we need huge administrations to teach kids. Teachers are specially educated with graduate education and they are qualified to teach children with a minimum of help. A local school principal and a few office admin types will do it.
Saturday March 28th, 2009 Today I'll ride to the downtown main Anaheim library just for a change of pace. Do some Net "Strafing", shop for a good BlueTooth ear-set for my BlackBerry, and contact TigerDirect.com about the DOA Motorola H555 BlueTooth ear-set I received.
I lack energy. Actually, motivation. I have all the energy I need to get up and go some place, it's the motivation I lack.
So, Here I go, forcing myself to go WiFi-ing...
***************************** It's been a while since I'd been at the Main Library branch. They remodeled the restroom. It had been a dirty, dingy typical public restroom and now there is new tiles, paint, fixtures and the lighting is much better.
The branch now opens at 10am on Saturdays, instead of 9am (I think, it's been awhile).
WiFi is still the same. PacBell.net, a DSL phone line with max at 1.2 Mbps. Just tested it at 133 Kbps down, 238 up. BlackBerry speeds. I'm spoiled, I'll admit it, by the 10 Mbps speeds at the Sunkist Branch.
Bought a second BlueTooth ear-set, a Plantronics Explorer 220 from
e baY for $12.99 with free shipping. This one says it's NEW and the Plantronics website says it works with my BlackBerry 7250.Remember yesterday I said I was depressed? No longer. The ride to the library got the endorphines going, the library is a restful place, I got my refund from PayPal and I just bought a new toy.
Well, maybe the BlueTooth ear-set doesn't work with my BlackBerry. Just used the Compatibility Check on the Plantronics website and it says no, even though there is detailed instructions on how to pair up the Platronics Explorer 220 headset to a BlackBerry 7250. I'll find out in a few days...
The network is very slow here. Got all I wanted done *** DONE *** and I think I'll re-boot over to the dark side (Windows 2000 Pro) to update my anti-virus and then go home, with a stop for food on the way home.
Oh, TigerDirect.com won't accept a return on the Motorola H555 BlueTooth ear-set so I'm out $22. Oh, well. Win some, loose some. I'll probably be happier with the Platronics Explorer 220 headset from all the reviews I've seen.
Friday March 27th, 2009 I'm depressed. Work is going okay, not great but not bad either. A lady I work with got a raise. I keep busy but work seems to be an endless treadmill to nowhere
Life is dull. Can't seem to get into anything lately except for reading. I read novels to escape. I read the newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and LA Times (The Alternate Universe)) on my BlackBerry to track the events of the news(and cringe) .
Can't really get into gaming lately, even though I have some new ones to play. I now have a fast enough gaming system to run almost anything, and I hardly ever use it.
Tomorrow I'll go to the main Anaheim library and spend the morning WiFi-ing.
Only 6 years ago when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took office 8 state employees made $200,000. Now there is over 1000 California state employees paid $200,000 or more. That accounts for $198,400,000 of the spending increase.
Tuesday March 24rth, 2009 My BlueTooth ear-set, a Motorola H555 arrived. It's a refurbished unit and it's dead. Doesn't charge, doesn't turn on. Big disappointment. $15 ($22 + shipping) for a small piece of worthless plastic.
I don't remember it being sold as refurbished, but it was in non-original packaging and the instruction sheet was Xeroxed (rather poorly).
To be fair, this is the first time I've had any problem with anything I bought from TigerDirect.com that I wasn't happy with. I'll contact TigerDirect and see how they treat me.
Monday March 23rd, 2009 My "ToDo" list is *** DONE ***, I've found a new game or two, and I'm now getting bored. And hungry. So I think I'll upload my website stuff and go home.
The weather has turned nice. Cool but sunny.
Sunday March 22st, 2009 Today it rained in the morning. The afternoon was chilly but there were moments of sun. Tomorrow it's going to be clear, cold, and sunny; or so the weather people say.
Tomorrow I WiFi at Sunkist library. Have to go anyway to turn in the "X Files" DVD.
Was reading in the second "Bourne" book by Eric Van Lustbader that Islamic Fundamentalists have contempt for "The Sopranos". Contempt for Tony Soprano's wife Carmela because she is not submissive and has her arms uncovered. Contempt for Tony because his daughter Meadow has sex while unmarried and Tony doesn't do the "right" thing and kill her.
Why do we need a military? So that these moronic Islamic Fundamentalists will not be able to shove their effed-up religion down our throats.
Well, tomorrow starts a new week of drudgery, toil, and boredom.
Saturday March 21st, 2009 Due to my "pack-rat" habits I still had the old battery for my daughter's laptop. A laptop will not power up without a battery but now at least "Larry", her laptop, will operate. The old battery won't hold a charge but she can just use AC Power until she goes into the Army, which will be next month.
My daughter told me "Marine" is an acronym for My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment lol (laughing out loud)
Last night my daughter and I stopped at Carl's Jr for "Kentucky Bourbon" hamburgers. She really liked it.
I'm not going to get too vulgar up here and use much profanity but now that my first born child is in the Army some things will pop up now and then. It was fun to be a fellow service "buddy" with my daughter.
Tomorrow it will rain so today I'll have to go to WalMart. Need to go to get stuff that I've needed for several weeks. Money is not the issue, laziness is.
I also need a new mouse for my gaming system. It doesn't track smoothly. It is a cheap mouse I bought for my laptop some time ago. Didn't like using it with the laptop for the same reason. Sometime WalMart has good values on electronics and computer stuff.
******* Didn't find a mouse that I liked at WalMart. A Microsoft mouse actually had a PS2-type connector but had a lot of features like side-scrolling and zoom, which takes special software that I don't want to run. I'll try Fry's Electronics next week.
The radio show before John & Ken, a Financial Guru who's name I forgot, said the real issue with AIG was not the $150 million or so paid in bonuses, it is the 100 billion or so that was given to AIG and then diverted to foreign banks and Goldman-Saks. Not "government" money, our tax money.
The Financial Guru also said that the way Obama is spending the recession/depression may last 5 years.
Vallejo, a city near San Francisco, declared bankruptcy and a judge declared the union contracts null and void. The whole state of California needs to go bankrupt.
Earlier today Leo LaPorte told about this year's hacker contest. Last year the Windows PC went down the first day and the Macintosh on the second. The Linux PC never was hacked.
This year the Macintosh went down within seconds and there wasn't even a Linux PC in the contest. They also had some "smart" phones like the BlackBerry in the hacking contest. I'll look that up on-line next time I WiFi (probably Monday)
Virus vulnerability of computers on the Internet has more to do with market share than inherent system security. Microsoft Windows in on about 85% of the computers on the Internet with Macintosh being second. The distant third but up and coming is Linux. Linux is the hardest to hack because of the many very different versions out there plus, like in the example of Ubuntu which comes out with a major new revision every 6 months, which makes a hard moving target.
Friday March 20th, 2009 With my daughter after work at the library. Her laptop, we just found out, has a bad battery. I think I still have her old battery at home. Anyway, the library closes in half an hour so I don't have much time.
Going to check out The X Files movie: "I Want To Believe"
After the library we will be walking to my house (not too far) with a stop for a "Kentucky Bourbon" hamburger at Carl's Jr.
Thursday March 19th, 2009 Yesterday my daughter's new laptop AC Adapter finally arrived. Actually it was the second one I had bought off
e baY. The first one the seller seems to have never shipped it. I've tied to contact the seller and even escalated a dispute in PayPalI hope to get the money back that I paid for the first AC Adapter. This is only the second time I ever had a problem with an
e baY purchase since I started buying one baY.So tonight I'm going to try reinforcing the new AC Adapter so this one might last a while.
Tomorrow I get to meet my daughter after work at the library.
Wednesday March 18th, 2009 Yesterday I went to the library but didn't take "Bird", my laptop computer. My pack was full of books that I had read in a little over a week and being out of reading material I needed a fix.
Found two new books, both written by Eric Van Lustbader and authorized by the estate of the late Robert Ludlum. His uberCIA agent Jason Bourne is in these two new "Bourne" novels. I started reading the first one last night and it's excellent. A book review when I'm finished.
Looking through the DVDs in the library I found the library had the 1st four Episodes of The Sopranos. When I had watched the Sopranos back in 2007 that 1st DVD had been missing. Watched the first end second Episodes and they were excellent just like the rest of the series.
Now off to the library to WiFi...
***************************** At library. Day is nice and warm. Shorts weather :-)
This winter has been unusually cold. It's been months of wearing long pants because it's been so blasted cold.
Oh yeah, I forgot. Global warming. It must be a delusion that everyone I know thinks it's been colder, especially last summer and this winter.
Just bought a BlueTooth ear-set for my BlackBerry 7250. Perhaps I'll get out of the habit of not making phone calls and actually use some of my 450 minutes allowed a month. Years of having a prepaid cell phone has made me very stingy in using minutes, which I now have plenty.
Perhaps I'll use the phone more because now I won't even need to take the phone out of my holster to answer a call. Besides, I've never had BlueTooth to play with... a new toy!
BlueTooth is a shortrange wireless technology (33 feet/10 meters) and is widely used for cell phone hands free headsets. BlueTooth enabled electronic devices connect and communicate wirelessly through short-range, ad hoc networks known as Personal Area Networks (PAN).
Think I'll go home and watch Episodes 3 & 4 of the Sopranos. Get a couple or three 99¢ "Big Burgers" at Carl's Jr on the way home.
***************************** @ home now. Full of food now.
At Carl's Jr they got my order wrong. I had ordered 2 99¢ "Big Burgers" and 1 99¢ "Spicy Chicken" sandwich. The counter person took my order, translated it to Spanish which a second person entered into the cash register. 2 99¢ "Big Burgers" and 1 99¢ "Spicy Chicken" sandwich cost the same as 1 99¢ "Big Burger" and 2 99¢ "Spicy Chicken" sandwiches so I didn't loose any money but I didn't enjoy it as much because I wanted 2 99¢ "Big Burgers" and 1 99¢ "Spicy Chicken" sandwich.
Sunday March 15th, 2009 Need to go to the library to WiFi. A utility program I need to make a customized version of Windows for my son is missing. Or I can't find it and have forgotten the name. So I'll get on the old Internet and look for an hour or so.
The Internet is now 20 years old. The World Wide Web part of it. That started with a concept of the hyper-link, such as GOOGLE where you can be directed anywhere on the Internet from anywhere. Soon after came Mosaic, the first graphical web browser, and then came Netscape and Safari and even Internet Explorer.
And then came the uninvited guests like computer viruses, trojan horses, and rootkits. Windows being the target of all that. Then came Linux and all is calm, until the uninvited crash that party.
Well, off to WiFi...
***************************** Found what I was looking for in only minutes. nLite, a Windows Custom ISO creator. Did my email and a website update. Now just runnin' out my battery...
Saturday March 14th, 2009 "Pink" Friday was yesterday. Nothing to do with the Susan B Kommings cancer research campaign. Everything to do with the California Teachers association and their propaganda campaign to get more tax money out of us. All the TV networks covered the protests and even the LA Times newspaper.
So the LA Times doesn't agree that Californians are over taxed. I only read the LA Times when I'm curious how the alternate universe looks.
Looked up the Patriot Missile on GOOGLE and found out "Patriot" is an acronym for Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept on Target. Nasty missile with very nasty capabilities.
Thursday March 12th, 2009 Talked to my daughter on my BlackBerry, did my "ToDo" list, now am going to look for a book or perhaps a DVD and go home.
Will do a book review on a really disappointing book by two authors who in the past have written really great stuff.
My daughter will be going "active", as in active duty in the Army on April 20th.
Tuesday March 10th, 2009 Found a bunch of photos about the Tax Rally I went to Saturday. I'm tired, still have a cold (but going away) and I'm bored. I'll go home early tonight after I find some books to read.
Monday March 9th, 2009 The Los Angeles Times newspaper did not report a word about the Tax Revolt Rally. Their reason was "there are rallys and demonstrations every day so we don't report on them all".
June 19 2007 they reported about some Hmong people in Sacramento, about a thousand, that were protesting about some General in Laos that was arrested by the Communist Regime. A 475 word story...
Last year a protest happened in Mexico City protesting the drug killings that had been going on. Mexico City! Doesn't the LA Times know that most illegal aliens from Mexico don't read and even if they did they wouldn't read an English paper like the LA Times.
Two dozen or so people at the LA Zoo protested the death of an elephant in 2006. The LA Times reported that
Oh, and State Union Workers and Teachers. Their rallies and protest.
So you either have to be foreign or a tax taker to to have your rally or protest reported on by the LA Times
At least the LA Times is running stories about how the legislators are taking bribes, but the Times does not call 'em that, and how even on Schwarzenegger's staff there is corrupt use of taxpayer's money, but again: not called corrupt.
I was feeling kind of run down before the rally on Saturday and today I have a cold. Not really bad but I've been sneezing a lot and my nose is running. Going to bed early tonight.
John & Ken just predicted that the state of California will go broke by June 10th. They may be right, and if they are wrong my guess would be by the end of the year.
Tomorrow I WiFi. There are plenty of pictures, audio and stories about the Tax Revolt I attended Saturday. My Internet style is like Ted Nugent's: Internet Strafing. Surfing is for people who have no aggression.
Ford may be the only US auto maker that survives the recession/depression. The Auto Workers Union and Ford just agreed on freezing wages and cutting benefits. GM and Chrysler are seriously looking at bankruptcy.
Sunday March 8th, 2009 "Here... We... Go"
Yesterday's John & Ken Tax Revolt rally at the Slidebar Café in Fullerton was encouraging to me personally. In these days of BIG government and even BIGGER public worker union greed it was so refreshing to be surrounded by a living carpet of people who actually work for a living.
There were several "Official" estimates of the crowd size from over 15,000 down to 8,000 but let me tell you, the entire South East corner of Harbor and Commonwealth in Fullerton was standing room only.
I was there from about 20 minutes after the Rally started (3pm) to the end at 6pm. I arrived late because Harbor Blvd was creeping along. It had taken the bus I was riding 45 minutes to go the last mile and ½. I talked to a woman in the crowd who had taken 45 minutes just to get off the freeway.
What was so refreshing about the Rally is that even though everyone was furious about the crushing tax increases in the middle of a recession, everyone was kind and polite. Possessing good senses of humor.
An example of the good humor: There was a booth with Schwarzenegger & The "Seven Whores" pictures on the back wall and you were given some shoes to throw at them.
The "Seven Whores" are the 6 turncoat Republicans, and the Democrat who ran on a "No taxes" pledge and of course their boss Arnold Schwarzenegger. Liars, Thieves and Whores.
There were many creative signs. These people at the Rally are the creators and producers of our society and there were many really clever and funny signs. I'll add some of my favorites to the "Fun Stuff" page.
Someone made a 12 foot high ATM machine that says on the screen "California Taxpayers: Already Taxed to the Max" and another had a sign with a picture of one of the Terminator movie DVDs with the word "Taxinator" photoshopped in.
There was a full sized cutout of Arnold as the Terminator with the words across the chest "Tax Terrorist"
On the way home I checked the local Orange County newspaper website with my BlackBerry and at only 8:40pm they already had an article about the Rally. 8:40pm because with all the excitement I hadn't eaten and got off at the Carl's Jr Burger joint 2 blocks from where I live to get food. Yelling chants and milling about in a crowd sure tires one out.
During the Rally I took a lot of pictures and sent Tweets (sent text messages to Twitter.com, which puts my texts onto the Internet (social networking)) about 38 texts as it happened. A BlackBerry and an unlimited texting account sure was priceless yesterday.
The crowd was a unique one. Not just old white people but Blacks, Asians, Latinos. Everyone who produces and pays taxes. There weren't any welfare queens or any government employee union types or gangbangers (that I heard). And everyone was courteous, even the bikers.
I'll Rant more about this in the days to come. This afternoon I'll "WarBike" to the library. Even though it's Sunday and the library is closed they leave the WiFi on.
One Asian man had two signs: one with a quote by Franklin D Roosevelt "Taxes are paid by the sweat of every man who labors" The father of American "entitlements" knew where the money comes from and another by Calvin Coolidge "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery".
Bottom line for me: I'm not a "crowd" person but I felt comfortable in this crowd. That plus I agreed with just about everyone there. The only conversation I heard of that was even slightly "off" and radical was one man who was advocating getting a bunch of people to park their cards in front of the "seven whores" houses to be obnoxious. Better idea: recall 'em all and make them nobodies.
I have a bit of a cold that was aggravated by yesterday's Tax Revolt Rally but it was well worth it. Now to go off to the library's WiFi hot spot and upload all this new stuff (New "Fun Stuff" and new "photos")
One last Rant. I took the bus yesterday because I was hoping downtown Fullerton would be very crowded because of the Rally: and it was! The all day bus fare went UP from $3 to $4, the bus system no longer publishes the bus books with all the routes & schedules in it, and at the bus stop they stopped putting up the list of bus times for the route. The bus people say that the schedules are on their website, but even with my BlackBerry's excellent portable device web browser you can't access it.
Soon the next version of Ubuntu come out. Each version just keeps getting better. Why go with a commercial Operating System like Micro$haft Windows that gives you hardly anything at all beyond the Operating System when you can go with a Linux distro that is complete except for a few small things.
***************************** Got my "ToDo" list **** DONE **** including an email via ebay to the seller who hasn't mailed my daughter's AC Adapter for her laptop.
***************************** Bryan Suits on his KFI Radio show is talking about how the Irish "Troubles" have begun again. There has been peace since 1997 but a new terrorist organization, the "Real" IRA, just killed 4 British soldiers.
Saturday March 7th, 2009 Today is the Day. The first John & Ken Tax Revolt rally at the Slidebar Café in Fullerton, just a short ride away.
The meeting starts at 3pm but I have a thing or two to do, like use the tax calculator on the Sacramento Bee's website to figure out my tax increase so I can put it on a "My TAXES are" name sticker. My BlackBerry's webrowser just can't handle really complicated Java Scripts.
So I'm off "WarBiking" to Sunkist library to get into a WiFi Hot zone to figure out my taxes and update the website.
Then I will be going to the John & Ken Tax Revolt rally bringing my tax increase figure, my lone Schwarzenegger DVD, and my digital camera. Oh, yeah, and my wrath.
***************************** My taxes will increase by an estimated $121. I have no car or dependent children. My friends with cars and children, much more.
***************************** The rumor around work is that they are thinking of going to a 4 day work week of eight hour days. A 20% wage cut. That plus the California State's $121 (for me) tax increase should destroy me financially.
Part of me despairs of the future. So I'l off to the Tax Revolt rally at 1:30ish. Taking the bus because that way I don't have to worry about a safe place to chain up my mountain bike. Haven't decided if I will take "Bird" or not (my laptop computer).
***************************** On-line in Fullerton. The Fullerton Municipal Free WiFi is still there but I'm at a bus stop in front of the "Carpe Diem" restaurant and I'm on their open WiFi.
The John & Ken Tax Revolt Rally was a screaming success. Will Rant about that tomorrow.
***************************** The "Official" number of Tax Revolt Rally people is 15,000 Before I got home the big Orange County, California newspaper, Orange County Register already had a short article about the Tax Revolt Rally in their on-line edition.
Stopped on the way home to eat. Hadn't eaten since I had a snack at just after 1pm.
My daughter called me during the Rally and gave me some great news. She is now sworn into the United States Army and she will be training and "Man"-ing a Patriot Missile Battery. A big Bang toy... she is jazzed.
Oh, yeah. Happy Birthday to me.
Thursday March 5th, 2009 I don't remember if I updated this "Rantings" page file or not after getting home after WiFi-ing on Monday. I'll have to check that when I get home.
Have been reading a lot and a little gaming. Not much else besides working.
I think I'll go home early. I'm tired and a bit discouraged. Saturday is the "Tea Party", the "Revolt, Repeal and Recall" get together. In a little over a month the next release of Ubuntu comes out.
Monday March 2nd, 2009 It sprinkled very lightly on the way to the library after work. Then it rained after I had been there a while. Now that I've done my "ToDo" list, found stuff to download, and even downloaded tax forms, I'm ready to go to the dark side (Windows) and update my Anti-Virus.
Sunday March 1st, 2009 Today was another lazy day. Didn't do much besides read novels and lay around. Did my grocery shopping but that was only about a ½ hour walk and the weather was nice. Sunny but not hot, dry, and not windy.
Tomorrow I WiFi at the library. Tonight I'm going to bed early, like now (7pm)
Saturday February 28th, 2009 I've been discouraged. Too much bad news for too long. Been reading a lot and not listening to talk radio as much. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Democrats, and the six turncoat Republicans massively screwed us Californian taxpayers and now it's hardly no hope for the future and anger. Lately whenever I hear Schwarzenegger's voice I get angry and want to silence the noise.
Thanks to Arnold and company the unemployment rate went up to 10%.
Got some good news from my daughter this morning but I won't share it here - it's her good news to tell her brother and mother in her time. Predictions: Her brother will think it's cool, her mother may go ballistic. My daughter knows her mother may go ballistic, but she did what she did anyway. It's not that I really care one way or another about my Ex-wife's opinion but I think her likely disapproval of my daughter's choice will be an ignorant, bigoted one and therefore not worthy of my attention. I'm proud of my daughter's choice.
I invited her to go with me to the John & Ken "Revolt, Repeal and Recall" Rally at the The next Saturday.
Thought of an even more fun, wicked in a very insane way Halloween costume. It involves long hair, makeup, and weird colored clothes.
Spent most of the afternoon and evening adding stuff to my website. Monday or Tuesday I'll WiFi and make it live.
Thursday February 26th, 2009 RoadRunner (Time/Warner) cable at the library just tripled their download speed from normally just over 5 Mbps to 15 Mbps! Wow!
*** DONE *** with everything. My "ToDo" list, updating my website, browsing for software. Been listening to streaming audio from KFI Radio from the new, faster Roadrunner Cable at the library.
John & Ken will be doing a live show on my birthday, March 7th, at The Slidebar Café which is only a few miles from my home, . I'm going to bring my lone Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, "Total Recall" to destroy in protest.
Tuesday February 24rth, 2009 In two hours I completely set up the Ubuntu Linux side "Bird", my laptop. Then went over to the "Dark Side", Micro$haft Windows 2000 and got the Anti-Virus updated and FireFox set up.
Actually, Windows 2000 isn't all that bad if you are careful. While running W2K someone tried to get into my system. The FireWall stopped the intrusion.
Which is the biggest reason I prefer Linux...
My favorite theme for FireFox had been the "Walnut" theme, which has a light pseudo-wood grained look. Walnut 2 is a photo-realistic walnut theme that looks like real wood. My new favorite. Whenever someone sees my laptop's screen there is always a pause now...
It's 7:30pm, My "ToDo" list is all *** DONE *** , I'm hungry, and I need to go through the California Recall Info I downloaded. We are goin' to have a TEA PARTY. Revolt, Repeal, and Recall. Starting with the Governator and the Six Republicans who went over to the dark side.
Monday February 23rd, 2009 After work I rode to the Post Office and spent a whole $1.65 to mail the two CDs to my son in Pasadena. Not bad for a Government Service fee.
Then the library. Not to WiFi but to return DVDs and browse for books to read. Discovered that just focusing on finding books works well. When I WiFi I'm at the library but finding books to read or DVDs to watch ends up being an afterthought, sometimes done during the last 15 minutes the library is open.
Tomorrow I WiFi. "Bird" needs to be set up because when it gets even a little flaky I just reimage it. Takes only 4 hours from beginning to end. Works like brand-new after a reimage. Even Ubuntu Linux sometimes needs to be refreshed.
Sunday February 22nd, 2009 This morning I re-watched The Incredible Hulk DVD. Did a review on it and next: off to the corner supermarket to cash my pay-checks and buy groceries.
Burned two CDs for my son and I'll be mailing them tomorrow or Tuesday when the weather permits.
I'm still furious about the HUGE taxes increases here in California but I'm getting a few ideas now what to do with my anger.
The three "Rs", Revolt, Repeal, and Recall. That will be only the start
Saturday February 21st, 2009 Last night I stayed up 'til midnight watching The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk. Was as cleansing as getting "Borracho" but sans the hangover. Slept until 9am and really didn't go anywhere.
I only did two things, no three, all day long. I completely reimaged both the Linux and the Windows sides on "Bird", my laptop, burned an Ubuntu 8.10 CD and a Windows software CD for my son, and listened to talkradio (KFI Radio) all day. Didn't go anywhere today. There was a 20% chance of rain today and it might of rained but I wouldn't know because I never went outside.
Didn't even take a shower today because I was so lazy. Perhaps I'm a little discouraged about being the victim of the largest tax increase in history.
Well, the war starts next week. I'll be suffering because of excessively large taxes but I'll be amusing myself by making Sacramento the land of misery. Me and many other pissed Californians.
The three "Rs", Revolt, Repeal, and Recall
Friday February 20th, 2009 WiFi-ing almost done. Renting two movies: Dark Knight (Batman) and the Incredible Hulk (The Hulk)
I'm very angry about the tax increase in California. As the Japanese would say We are Iciban. "Number 1" in taxation in Income tax and Sales tax.
Think I'll go home now
This was the largest tax increase in history by a single state. Wow, we made history! I'll be mailing tea bags, emailing hate mail to state legislators, telling everyone my opinions.
Thursday February 19th, 2009 Able Maldonado whored us out at 7am this morning. We are now number one in sales and income taxes, the car registration tax has been doubled, and all the whores in Sacramento are all pounding each others backs in congratulations.
John and Ken on KFI Radio are furious, as we all are.
Want to find out how screwed? The Sacramento Bee has a calculator which allows you to estimate how much more you will be paying.
I think that Able Maldonado should be renamed Able Whore-donado tax increase by any state ever.
And there will be a second tax increase in a few months when this one isn't enough.
The John and Ken's new thing is the three "Rs", Revolt, Repeal, and Recall
I don't want to think about it any more. Think I'll unplug and read a book.
Wednesday February 18th, 2009 My "ToDo" list is done, found all that I could find, read a lot of news, and now it's 7:30pm and I'm ready to go home.
The news is not good...
Tuesday February 17th, 2009 It rained this morning. Did it rain! The whole way to work it was raining hard and when I arrived I was soaked. On the way first my left shoe and then my right shoe was soaked so I had to change socks. The shoes were still wet but my feet were just damp, not soaked.
In two hours my pants were mostly dry. From the waist up and the neck down I was dry. I have a good micro-fiber rain jacket that keeps me dry but "breathes" so I don't cook while riding.
Tonight again the California State Legislature is working late to raise our taxes. It's down to Able Maldonado, who will probably whore out tonight and sell us all out.
We Californians need a "Tea Party". A real tax revolt.
I think I'll go to bed early tonight. I'm sure tomorrow's news will be bad so a good night's sleep will help.
Tomorrow I WiFi...
Monday February 16th, 2009 Filled 24 gauges today. Got almost everything past due out.
Over the weekend the State Legislature tried again to raise taxes on us Californians. They failed by one vote. Californians need to pay attention before they get screwed.
I've been telling people at work that if you vote for a democrat you are voting for a tax increase. Because that is what all democrats do, vote 100% for any and every tax increase. That's what they do. Check the voting records
Fixed the lack of a "New Updates Log" on the website and made some changes. See the "New Updates Log" for details.
On the world news Hugo Chavez is now lifetime president (dictator) of Venezuela. The country had term limits but Chavez kept on pounding with the big lie (a Marxist idea) and guess what? The people bought the lie and now Chavez is president for life.
It's freakin' cold! It's been raining all day and will probably rain tomorrow. Wednesday I'll go WiFi-ing. God willin' an the river doan rise. With all the rain the river will rise a bit. The Santa Ana River is about ½ mile from here (home).
Next month I'll buy another "comfort" bike tire for my mountain bike. The tire has nice thread, good traction and does not throw water up my back in the rain! The $14 dollar price works for me, too.
Sunday February 15th, 2009 Went for a short "War-Biking" expedition to the Sunkist library to do a bit of unauthorized WiFi-ing (I sort of have permission), besides, it's not illegal). Found out my son had made a Facebook page and had written on my wall. He now has a computer with WiFi access so he can do stuff like that.
When I went WiFi-ing I forgot to take my website updates with me. So on Tuesday I'll update.
Saturday February 14th, 2009 Today is Valentine's Day. Yesterday I got an updated "Monthly Billing Statement" from the "Los Angeles County CSSD" or Child Support people say my arrears (amount of back child support owed) is $23,156 with an interest balance of $15,472 for a total of $38,629.
They slam you with $800 a month child support and toss 10% interest on the top of that and they continue to rack it up even when you are unemployed and homeless, while they ignore the fact that the other parent is too lazy to work. Well, her excuse is that working "stresses her out too much". Just recently the State of California tried again to make me pay for my son's health insurance.
Hello! My ex-wife has a four year degree from Long Beach State U so why aren't these state sleeazeballs going after her for her half of the child support?
And people ask me why I don't have nor want a girl-friend. 9 years of very occasional sex with my ex-wife cost me everything. My hopes and dreams. Poverty for the rest of my life. Etc.
I very rarely mention the ex-wife because I don't want to think about her, much less talk about her.
John and Ken on KFI Radio did an interview of a man who runs a windpower installation company. The thing holding back wind power from being a viable means of energy production is not the technology nor the cost of the wind turbines, it is the outrageously high governmental permit fees and the time needed to get the permit from the government bureaucracy. An example was a small $700 wind turbine that the permit ended up costing $13,000. That customer decided to cancel his order.
All this hot air that government officials spew about "Green" technology and "Global Warming" all gets negated by this garbage.
Here in California, where the State Legislature has been prevented from abusively raising taxes the thing that happens is fees, permits and such get jacked up to soak the people. Not only are we number one in sales, income and gasoline taxes, we get fined, feed or permitted for everything the government officials can think up.
I think, weather permitting, I'll mountain bike to the library with my laptop computer to WiFi.
Tuesday February 10th, 2009 At work I did the last 8 gauges I had parts for and re-did 4 others. Work is going okay and lately it hasn't been hard to drag myself out of bed and to work.
Got my "ToDo" list completed, looked up Octo-Mom, found a few software goodies. Even found a new FarCry map. Now to look for some books and go home.
Monday February 9th, 2009 Today the gauge Isolators came in so I managed to fill a dozen, even though I started after 8:40am. Tomorrow by lunch I'll be caught up to the present.
Would be nice if the Isolators came in on time. Yet, because of the snafu I have an opportunity to look good for my bosses, and I have their attention and their praise.
Tomorrow no rain is forecast. Sunny but cold. So I'm going to WiFi tomorrow after work and perhaps again on Thursday.
Yesterday I had bought a "Comfort Bike" tire to replace the worn one on the back wheel. The tire has a thread but it's shallow and the center is smooth, the tire rolls easy on the street. I also bought a long overdue pair of hand grips, the wide, comfortable ones that will keep my hands from going numb.
The news on Octo-mom; she is receiving food stamps and also SSI on three of her original children for disability. I'll look up the details tomorrow on the Internet.
Octo-mom has been doing this s*** for a decade, living as a leach upon taxpayers, and the only solution the lawmakers in the California legislature can see is raising my taxes even higher.
Again, right now California is number one in sales, income and gas taxes. Enough is enough.
It's cold! It's 52 degrees right now in my town at 6pm.
I think I'll go to bed early.
Sunday February 8th, 2009 Today I got a lot done, even though it was a restful day for me. After breakfast I rode the bus to WalMart to get bicycle parts to fix my bike's flat, ate at In and Out Burgers for lunch on the way home, fixed my tire & replaced the hand grips on my bike, and added two new software reviews to my website.
Linux Mint 6 has a nice set of tools for website creation. Gedit for HTML documents and The GIMP for processing images plus FireFox for checking my work. The "serious" side of my "Gaming" system is very nice for serious things.
The new "Economic Stimulus" package, on the plus side of 800 billion, will have to be paid for somehow. Captain Dale Dye is substituting for Brian Suites on his "military" show on KFI Radio thinks that Obama will do the same thing as President Carter and gut the military budget to pay for social programs.
Remember Carter? What was it, 400 plus days where a little piss-ant country called Iran kept our embassy people hostage and the military was so stripped down to the core by then that both rescue choppers crashed in the desert due to mechanical failure.
Just what we need in this world of terrorism, a weak military. At least it looks like the next Prime Minister of Israel will be a strong military leader. The Israelis are fed up with having rockets shot at them and a week-kneed Prime Minister not doing what was needed.
Mañana back to work.
I read somewhere: "I get up every morning and check the Forbes list of 100 wealthiest people. If I'm not on that list, I go to work"
"I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go..."
Saturday February 7th, 2009 Thursday would have been my regular library day (I go twice a week) but it rained Thursday as predicted and Friday it was still rainy. I got a break at 2:30pm when I got off work because it didn't rain until I was safely home.
Not that I couldn't have handled it because I had my bicycling rain jacket with me but because I was prepared the weather mocked me by not raining in the afternoon.
Actually it was nice that it didn't rain because I had a flat on my bike, rare but it sometimes happens. My plans to get fast food on the way home didn't change, it just took a bit more time because I was walking.
It rained hard last night. Nope, the roof over my room is still not fixed and now it's leaking in more than one place. When I moved into the room the lady of the house had lied to me by saying the water stains on the ceiling were from a leak in the roof that had been fixed.
That was back in October of 2004 and the ceiling has leaked the whole time I've lived here. Sometimes more and sometimes less. They need a new roof but alas, the lady's getting a new Cadillac was more important. So tonight it's raining and I have two containers to catch the leaks on my bed and there is a plastic sheet that drains into a trash can draped over half of my computer desk. This gets old. I have to keep containers handy, the ceiling is stained & the plaster is peeled where the leaks are, and the room smells moldy, especially after it rains.
I have had it with these people. The State law says a dwelling with a leaking roof is "uninhabitable" so I don't have to worry about sanctions if I just move without notice. I think that's what I'll do. Hopefully I can move by next month.
Except for the leaking ceiling I like living here. Perhaps I'll be able to help a friend by becoming a room mate.
This morning I walked to the grocery store in the rain with my umbrella. Wasn't cold and it was raining lightly. Was very enjoyable. Rained on the way to the store and had stopped before I walked home. Got some nice exercise.
Bought all the groceries I need until, say, next Wednesday so I'm set. All I need to do this weekend is fix my bike's flat, which is a minor problem.
Spent a few hour running around in FarCry (a First Person Shooter game) wreaking havoc killing hundreds of enemy mercenaries and destroying everything that was fraggable. Very relaxing.
Having a decent gaming computer is really a necessity for me. I can do without a car or TV but without a gaming computer I'd be lost.
Oh, yeah. My laptop computer "Bird", my BlackBerry and my IronHorse "Rogue" mountain bike are also necessities, along with food, shelter and a library card.
Yep, I'm a geek. Give me a good computer game or a good book and I'm entertained for hours.
Wednesday February 4rth, 2009 Today Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his picture up on John and Ken's website with all the Republican "Heads on a Stick" (one head is on a toilet plunger). Actually, the "heads on a stick" thing became too big so they put the heads on the pickets of a white picket fence.
All these "heads" are state senators and state assembly members, Republicans, who took No Tax pledges and now are leaning towards raising taxes. Just what we need in the middle of this deep recession.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting his head put up in a place of honor, like the lick spittle who called John and Ken "Racist Disk Jockeys" and was put up on a toilet plunger. Arnold is going to have his head impaled on Conan the Barbarian's sword. Remember Conan, one of Arnolds stupid movies? You probably didn't see it...
The heads on a picket fence, the toilet plunger and now a sword can be seen on the John and Ken page of the KFI Radio website.
Octo-mom, the mother of the eight babies, has been living off workman's compensation since 1999 and has cost business in the state of California $205,000 in taxes all by herself (and her previous six children). Now 12 children.
Ran into an acquaintance in WalMart. Kelly had been a bad part of my life back in 2000 and I hadn't missed her at all. We talked for a while in the In Store McDonalds and then exchanged cell phone numbers. Then I found three good T-Shirts, and bought the other things I needed. Spent more than I planned but I can afford it.
A sad news item of the times: A glass repair man was going around shooting out car windows with a slingshot and then offing his services to his victims.
Tuesday February 3rd, 2009 11 gauges today. Cleaned out the remainder of the gauges I had Isolators for. So, I don't really need to go to work tomorrow. Perhaps I'll get "sick" and call in.
I missed the Superbowl because 1. I don't have a TV (by choice) and 2. I'm really just interested in the Halftime show and the commercials. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band in High Definition courtesy of YouTube.
I have all the commercials. Including the network a game spots. This years commercials are okay but not excellent, like in years past.
It's 8PM, I'm hungry and I think I'll go home. Got my "ToDo" list done
Found two more Stephen Coonts books: "America" and "Liberty", both with Jake Grafton. I'm going to read more. The library has many books I haven't read yet, by authors I haven't tried. Will be a cheap (as in free) way to entertain myself during these rough times.
Monday February 2nd, 2009 22 gauges filled today, 6 of which were re-fills. I'm tired and going to bed early. Tomorrow I WiFi because (maybe) it will rain Thursday.
Sunday February 1st, 2009 Decided to simplify my website a bit. Nothing visible from the outside, a mere moving the "Books" HTML document into the "root" or Index directory so I could just quick upload updates to the "Book Review" page. Actually, I'm just lazy and don't want to bother with changing directories.
GOOGLE yesterday morning had a major problem. The search engine will compare your search with a list of known dangerous websites, those that try to infect you with malware (viruses, trojans, spyware), and warn you that a site is not safe. Yesterday morning when the techy people at GOOGLE updated the malware list they broke it. A typo caused all search results to be flagged as malware for about an hour on Saturday (yesterday). The typo was a forward slash (/) in the wrong place, which in HTML code is a wildcard, which means "everything". So all websites were flagged as dangerous.
Had I been on-line at the time it wouldn't have caused me to be concerned. I'm either on-line with my laptop "Bird" using Linux or with my BlackBerry and both are immune to malware of any kind. No-stress Internet surfing. Windows doesn't do that.
Knock on wood. The Macintosh just got it's first real malware, a trojan. Linux will have malware in it's future someday.
Or, as Ted Nugent puts it: Internet Strafing, not "Surfing".
During my "second breakfast" this morning I continued reading "2001: A Space Odyssey" on my BlackBerry while sipping coffee at Carl's Jr. I don't often have a "second breakfast" because 1. I would get fat and 2. I would be broke. After my "second breakfast" I did the week's grocery shopping, getting some exercise in the process on the walk home carrying 3 bags of groceries.
Saturday January 31st, 2009 As I've been standing every day this week for almost all 8 hours at work I decided being a bit lazy and going nowhere would be okay.
So I spent yesterday evening reading "Deep Black: Conspiracy" by Stephen Coonts and Jim DeFelice. Now I'm reading "The Assassin" by Stephen Coonts.
Thursday January 29th, 2009 Spent two hours just watching "Uncle Ted" Nugent videos on YouTube. WiFi and "Bird" (my laptop) rock! --- I know, very punny!
It's 6:30pm, dark outside (it's winter) and the latest news - Al Gore (or algore like in egor) is being soundly criticized by John Coleman, a weather guy, about the Global Warming scam. People have finally figured out, after record cold, that the last 7 years have been getting cooler! There may yet be hope for the world.
I guess I'll go home with a stop for a burger at Carl's Jr. After deciding to go home early about 6:30 I got back on YouTube to look up AC/DC and ended up staying another hour. Music videos are very addictive!
Now to pack up and go home. Really!
***************************** On the way out of the library I checked the "New Books" shelf by habit and found 3 books by new authors (to me) that intrigued me. Two by Stephen Coonts: "Deep Black: Conspiracy" and "The Assassin" and one by Stephen J Cannell "On The Grind". They are all 14 day loan books but I'll have them back in 7 the rate I read.
Wednesday January 28th, 2009 Today I filled 36 gauges, with a week total so far of 81 (in 3 days). However, we didn't ship the numbers the management wanted so it kinda feels like an empty accomplishment. If some one would get the parts ordered on time we would be able to do much better.
Watch the "Forth" Indiana Jones movie. The one George Lucas and Steven Spielberg weren't going to do. The were "done" with Indiana Jones with the last of the Trilogy. And Harrison Ford still has it...
Tomorrow I WiFi...
Tuesday January 27th, 2009 Last night I went to bed early but guess what? Couldn't get to sleep. Got enough sleep but not as much as I'd have liked. Oh, well.
Filled 22 gauges today. Have been listening to the John and Ken show on KFI Radio via the Internet. The Internet streaming function on Ubuntu 8.10 and FireFox 3.0.5 works perfectly!
Think I'll look through the DVDs and go home early.
Monday January 26th, 2009 Reading "Ted,White, and Blue" by Ted Nugent has added to my slang vocabulary and my attitude. An example of slang: "Sheeple" (Sheep + People) is equivalent to the Southern Californian word "Koolaid Drinker".
My attitude because I was really busy and someone just took over a bench in my fill lab and disrupted my work. I didn't treat him kindly.
Today I filled 24 gauges. Got half of an order for 61 gauges that's due to ship today done. Started filling them when the workday was halfway finished Friday. I feel good about how I did. One of Ted Nugent's life themes is excellence. You can here it in his music, TV shows, books, and in his home life. I try...
I spent all day on my feet and I'm muy consado (very tired) so I'm going to bed early. Tomorrow I WiFi and return all my library books.
The weather people say the rain is over for the week.
Sunday January 25th, 2009 Thursday at the library I found three interesting books and I've been reading pretty much non-stop since then. First book was a new one by Jack Higgens called "Rough Justice". Second a new "Star Wars" novel and last a really interesting book "Ted,White, and Blue" by Ted Nugent.
Reviews for two of the three are on my "Books" page. The "Star Wars" book wasn't all that interesting.
It was a good weekend for just staying inside reading. Rained pretty much continuously all weekend.
Thursday January 22nd, 2009 A new iPhone application, Bulletflight ballistics calculator, predicts the trajectory of bullets fired from high-powered sniper rifles by taking into account half a dozen variables. The app sells for $11.99 through Apple's iTunes App Store and the application is pre-programmed for three kinds of rifle sold by Knight's Armament Company (KAC). Not the first "Sniper" app for the iPhone. iSnipe does the same thing, retails for $4.99 and isn't tied in to a specific arms manufacturer.
Fox news Website story today: Obama Getting Super-Secure BlackBerry. So Obama can keep his 'Berry. The article said that many of George "W"s carried BlackBerries. GW didn't but the security issue has already been dealt with. I suppose if Drug Smugglers feel secure using BlackBerries the POTUS should be Okay using one. Obama has to give up his known email for a secret one...
Think I'll go home early tonight. My "ToDo" list is done, I'm bored, and hungry.
Hmmmm. The KFI Radio live Internet streaming works well. First time I tried it! Listening to John and Ken Rant about Republicans that just might sell us (Californians) out in a tax increase.
***************************** On the way home bought two Famous Star Hamburgers at Carl's Jr. Now I'm listening to KFI Radio on my AM Radio. Low-tech but works just as well.
The Internet Streaming allows me to continue surfing the Internet and even downloading without any interruption of my listening and not have to take a radio to the library. Nice. But when there is no Internet (like at home) a little transistor radio is just as good.
Wednesday January 21st, 2009 After work I installed Linux Mint 6, replacing the Ubuntu 8.10 that had been on the Linux partition of my Gaming/Multimedia system.
I like Mint. It is a good "stand alone" because it includes all the "extras" that you usually have to download.
Not much happened today at work. The day was not challenging. Of course, it rarely is anything but boring.
It may rain tonight and perhaps will rain tomorrow but I'll pack up "Bird", my laptop computer, and go WiFi-ing tomorrow anyway, unless it's raining hard when I get off work.
Tuesday January 20th, 2009 Obama is now the POTUS. Best of luck to him. He'll need it.
I'm going to "testdrive" Linux Mint 6. I'm completely happy with Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" Linux on my old IBM Pentium III laptop but would like to try something else for the "serious" side of my Gaming PC. Linux Mint 6 is based on Ubuntu 8.10 but has all the "restricted extras" (Flash, Java and Etc) all pre-installed.
Have less than 10 minutes left to finish downloading Linux Mint 6.
Got my "ToDo" all checked off, website updates uploaded, and even a brand new Distro of Linux to "testdrive". It might rain tomorrow night and Thursday morning, but then again this is California and all the weather people sometimes smoke crack (or something).
Monday January 19th, 2009 George Bush actually commuted the sentences of former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean for shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican citizen, on Feb. 17, 2005. Through a railroading by Johnny Sutton and his henchmen (and women) the information that Davila was currently under investigation for a second, later drug smuggling run was withheld from the jury, as was the 10 year minimum for the use of a gun in a crime. The jury all stated that if they knew the sentence would be 10 years they would not have voted "guilty"
Later when Congress was investigating this case they were told that there was evidence that Ramos and Compean made statements that they were "out to kill a Mexican" by Skinner, the Attorney General. A lie. Later Skinner admitted his lie to congress. Skinner suffered no consequences.
May those who knowingly did this evil to these two honest, good men suffer. And suffer. And suffer some more.
This was a political prosecution. The "Open Borders" Bush Administration wanted to keep the Border Patrol from being effective so they took aim at one of the best agents in the Border Patrol, Ignacio Ramos.
Tomorrow Barak Obama is being sworn in as the 44rth President of the United States.
Barak Obama would have to work hard to be a worse President than "Blue Dress" Clinton or "Hostage Crisis" Carter. Barak is an intelligent man who seems to have a very rare trait. He listens. He stated a while ago that he would close the Guantanamo prison in Cuba but he stated recently that it would take time and a lot of work to find something to do with the detainees.
I do understand Obama's difficulty in giving up his BlackBerry. He has to as POTUS (President Of The United States) because it would be a breach of security for data to go through the Canadian RIM (BlackBerry Company) servers. They could put a BlackBerry server in the WhiteHouse for security. WhiteHouse Staffers with BlackBerrys would be more efficient. He will work it out.
Tomorrow I WiFi. Barak Obama is being sworn in as President tomorrow, not God. At least not my God. I'll catch the news in the evening. No need to watch it live. Yet George "W" Bush is now a former president. May he rot for all his deceit to the American people.
Sunday January 18th, 2009 Today I kept my New Years exercise resolution. Rode my mountain bike to WalMart and back. Spent less than $20 on stuff I needed like shampoo and Benedryl. Found a 3 lock set that uses the same key for less than $6.50 so I'll have the convenience of taking lots of extra keys off my key ring.
Two of those locks will be used to lock up my bike in low security situations (work & home) and one on my work personal locker. Would you believe the 3 lock set came with 3 keys and I've already lost one of the keys. In my bedroom. It really bothers me because the key is somewhere within about 6 feet of me as I sit here typing and I'm clueless where I put it.
I'll find the key when I'm not looking for it. I will probably get gouged by it when I step or lay on it.
Been sitting around most of the day listening to the radio since getting back from WalMart. Just getting through the weekend.
A BlackBerry is handy for those little things, like GOOGLE-ing the actor who played the Joker in "Batman: The Dark Knight" (Heath Ledger). Just couldn't remember his name. GOOGLE and WiKiPedia makes even me look smart!
After Bryan Suits "Dark, Secret Place" on KFI Radio is over I'm going to walk and shop for groceries.
Bryan Suits was talking about John M Browning (early 1900s) who designed the 50 caliber machine gun, the M2, that has been used from 1933 to the present. The 50 BMG (for Browning Machine Gun) is mounted on just about every military vehicle world wide that doesn't have the Russian 50 cal machine gun on it.
The M-1911A1 45 caliber automatic pistol was in use from 1911 to the late '80s when it was replaced with the much inferior (in stopping power) Berreta 9mm. Since the late '80s our soldiers effectively had no sidearm. In 1972 while in the Marine Corps I fired the M-1911A1 pistol. Was a very reliable, accurate, powerful (kicked like a mule), and easy to clean weapon.
The reason for the inferior stopping power of the Barreta 9mm is the "Law of War", which requires only full copper jacketed ammo. Many police departments use the Barreta 9mm but with soft point hollow ammo.
Bryan Suits inferred that the decision to change from the 45 caliber M-1911A1 to the Berreta 9mm was a political choice, not a decision made by the military but forced upon it. I know I would have been unhappy had they taken a 45 from me to give me a 9mm...
Leo LaPorte said on his show earlier that people are impressed with Windows 7. Tuesday, when I WiFi next, I may try downloading it again. Maybe one byte in the 2.4 billion bytes of what I downloaded was an error. I'll check to see if there is an MD5 sum (checksum) for it and maybe try again.
About 21 years ago I had my first real computer, an IBM clone PCXT that I had put together using swap meet and surplus parts. It had a whopping 640 kilobytes of RAM (maxxed out!), a 10 megabyte harddrive, a green-screen monitor, and I upgraded it by adding a 1200 baud modem and a dot matrix impact printer. This was before Windows so everything was done with command lines and simple menus
Today I have three computers, two portables and one tower system, all with color displays, graphic user interfaces, pointing devices, and much more RAM and harddrive capacity than my first IBM PCXT.
One portable computer (my BlackBerry) easily fits in my pocket and has faster Internet service than the "high speed" Internet I started my website with in 1998 while working at Hughes Aircraft. It has 6.4 times more RAM than my PCXT had, 3.2 times more storage, and a much faster graphics capable processor.
When I had the PCXT I was amazed by what I could do. I look back on those days with disbelief that in only 21 years technology has gone so far.
None of my three computers are state of the art. My oldest, the IBM ThinkPad 600X laptop, has a BIOS date of 1999. My newest, the BlackBerry, is from 2005 with my gaming computer falling in at 2002.
Yet all my computers, even the BlackBerry, are light years ahead of my first PCXT of only 21 years ago in every category. Speed, power, capacity, user interface. My gaming computer in it's full tower case is even lighter than the PCXT was.
Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day. I'm going to bed early.
Oh, forgot to mention. Our "Governator", Arnold Schwarzenegger, gave the "State of the State" speech last week. It was really short and he basically said we are in such a deep budget crisis that that needs to be fixed and nothing else was worth talking about until the budget is fixed. He suggested that the lawmakers should not get their salaries until the budget is fixed.
The state money guy, I think that's the Controller, said the state will run out of cash by February (two weeks from now) and the state will have to start issuing IOUs. That will really get people pissed off to get an IOU instead of a tax return check.
Saturday January 17th, 2009 The Hispanics down the street are having another loud party. Loud music, cars honking, cars peeling out and racing down the street. And of course our cops, who are paid by our tax money, do nothing.
Our Congress is contemplating another AMNESTY bill. Oh yeah, the politically correct term for that is "Immigration Reform". They say it "will be good for the economy". There is a scarcity of jobs, thus the high unemployment numbers, so why do we need more workers in competition for those jobs. Oh yeah, cheaper workers would be good for the economy.
Israel and Hamas are still going at it. Hamas won't quit until Israel pulls completely out of Gaza and Israel won't quit until the rocket attacks ends. So the war continues.
Today I didn't keep my New Year's resolution. It was simple. Quit eating like a pig and get some exercise every day. The only place I rode my mountain bike to was a hamburger place to by two hamburgers and a LARGE fries. Tomorrow I'll ride to WalMart in the morning and walk to the grocery store in the afternoon for penance.
Friday January 16th, 2009 Today was a half day at work. Soon after the work day started we were all standing around and the Operations Manager (High Muckety-Muck in Management) told us we could wait in the lunch room. Just before 8AM he came into the lunch room and told us we could all go home. State law says we had to be paid 4 hours because we had been told to come in at the regular time.
That's okay with me. This week I was standing all day for most days, doing really tedious counting, and wading through the dust so starting the weekend a few hours early works for me.
So, I "testdrive" Windows 7 beta starting, well, as soon as I get it burned to a DVD. 2.4 Gigabytes of Microsoft Operating System. Between "testdriving" Windows 7, reading and doing my laundry I'll be keeping myself amused for today.
Windows 7 beta wouldn't install on my Gaming system. The system exceeds the minimum specs by a good margin. The install stopped at the "Starting Services" stage and gave me an error saying I needed to restart the system. I restarted and it wouldn't go past that point.
So I re-installed Windows 2000 pro and Ubuntu Linux on my Gaming system.
I installed the AirLink 101 WiFi card that had just been sitting around and Ubuntu 8.10 Linux has a driver for it! Can see the nearest WiFi Access point and after I fix the +8db High Gain antenna I have for that PCI card WiFi adaptor perhaps I'll be able to hit next door.
Thursday January 15th, 2009 I now have the Windows 7 beta DVD image downloaded on my "Data" drive. It's good until August 1 of 2009 so I think I'll install and "testdrive" it on my Gaming system. Will I be impressed? Maybe yes or maybe no. Downloading the ISO actually was easy. All I had to do is find the "Data" drive within the Linux directory structure and point the download into the "downloads" folder.
Ever had a "stupid attack". Happens to me sometimes and when it does I wonder "why didn't I understand that" and "why are some so called "difficult" things so easy and why are some "simple" things impossible?"
Got my "ToDo" list checked off, have Windows 7 beta. Being a bit hungry and tired I think I'll go home.
Found an interesting book that's written by Richard Belzer, an actor who plays a cop in "Law & Order, SVU". Started reading while waiting for Windows 7 beta to download and it's good. I'll review it later. Promise. And a "testdrive" of Windows 7 beta.
So, I'm off for home.
Wednesday January 14th, 2009 Yesterday I got a call from someone around noon but forgot to listen to my voicemail because of being so tired. Today after work I listened to the message. It was from my daughter's Uncle Tim. He had got a phone call from my daughter's EX landlady. I don't know what to feel...
I also feel so helpless. I can barely make my own way. I fear a bad ending.
Tomorrow I need to return the "Starship Troopers3: Marauder" DVD. This on wasn't nearly as good as the original. Special Effects were good and the action was good, but the story line, in my opinion, wasn't all that good.
Today I counted stuff in the stockroom. Standing all day long makes me sore.
Listening to a fellow worker complain all day makes me tired.
Tuesday January 13th, 2009 At work there is one WiFi network. Seems to be a peer-to-peer printer link, so it's no good for Internet.
In somewhat of a better mood today. It's hard, I'm struggling to keep myself encouraged in this very discouraging time. I have friends who have stopped watching the news. I'm tempted. You know the old saying: Ignorance is bliss.
A friend gave me a CD by enya. It's sort of a semi-Christmassy album called "And Winter Came... ". I'm listening to it on "Bird" at lunch. Part of my "diet", avoiding doing the "normal" thing of eating at lunch.
***************************** New Dean Koontz Book: "Your Heart Belongs To Me" and a DVD, "Starship Troopers3 Marauder" to entertain myself with.
Tried downloading the Windows 7 Beta and it died because I couldn't direct it into my data drive and the Linux partition ran out of room (just barely). May try again on Thursday.
Going home early to watch the DVD...
Monday January 12th, 2009 I just heard of two big reasons that show Global Warming to be one big bit of nonsense, and I won't even bother to put it up here. The people who spend their evenings watching TV, who elected Obama, who are much more concerned with how Ryan Secrist was snubbed and not even have the foggiest awareness of how the State and Federal Governments are working overtime to extract every penny they can out of working people: Deserve what they will receive. Oh, they will be surprised and dismayed, but Yep, they deserve it.
Tomorrow I WiFi. Might as well...
Maybe I'll download the Windows 7 Beta, for fun. They say it's like a Vista Lite.
Is that dark, or what?
Sunday January 11th, 2009 I'm bored. Or perhaps I'm so boring I've bored myself. Watched a couple of DVDs from my shelf of DVDs (a small shelf), went WiFi-ing at the park yesterday, and then the excitement happened: I shopped for groceries.
Leo LaPorte is talking about the Windows 7 Beta release. He says it looks just like Vista but it's a little "lighter" than Vista. The Beta runs out in August and Microsoft says there will not be another pre-release.
Doesn't really effect me. I use Windows only for off-line Gaming and Multimedia. The Windows lack of security is not an issue for me because on-line I run the latest version of Ubuntu Linux and have no need of security software beyond a simple on-demand virus scanner.
Either Ubuntu or I'm using my BlackBerry to surf the web and it's immune to malware, too. The BlackBerry web browsing experience is nice, especially with the Verizon 3G EVDO high speed Internet. It's faster than work computers.
There, did my little "geek" schtick.
The financial crash has caused me to re-evaluate a lot of things.
First, what's really important. Little slights at work and in life: no longer quite so important. I have a good enough job in that it not brutally boring or hard and the vast majority of people I work with I like. Pay is a little on the low side but adequate to supply my needs and even pay for a bit of entertainment at times. Low pay may even be a bonus in these times of lay-offs. I'm doing work that no one else can do and my pay is low enough that I'm a bargain for my company.
Second: My health is good. Have all my limbs intact and working well. I could take off on my mountain bike and ride non-stop to the beach (16 miles) any time (almost). I'm working to loose a little weight as my stomach is a bit bigger than I'd like it to be. Not eating like a pig and getting exercise every day ought to do it.
Third: I need to become more social. I'm a loner and don't really care for too much company, but I need to get out and socialize. Go to parties when invited. Perhaps even get involved with someone but taking it slow and easy. I've had my heart ripped out and really wish not to re-experience that.
Forth: Maybe even re-evaluate my relationship with God. People have mistaken me for a Christian even though I never would darken a church with my presence. Truth is: right is right and wrong is wrong and God is real. God is a real pain (I think) at times but real none the less.
Fifth: Grow my hair to my waist. Really. My hair is down to my shoulders already and all my friends (especially the females) say that it looks good on me. Only 9 months to Halloween and I have a wicked idea for a costume...
It's noon, nice and warm, and I think I'll ride my mountain bike about three miles to the park to WiFi, wear shorts (it's warm enough), and on the way back buy a steak sandwich at Carl's Jr.
***************************** In less than an hour I found that Hamas hiding behind the baby carriage" cartoon and "Wrote on the Wall" of my friend. "Writing on a Wall" is sort of a fun way to communicate, like spray painting graffiti on someone's wall. But legally!
The URL is Baby Wars if you want to see a clever depiction of the Hamas/Israel conflict.
Next on to get a steak sandwich at Carl's
***************************** Just finished my steak sandwich and onion rings. Listening to Bryan Suits "Dark, Secret Place".
Think I'll lay down for a short nap.
Saturday January 10th, 2009 The week is finally over. After half a month of three day work weeks a full-sized work week (5 days) seemed to last forever. By Wednesday the week was already lasting too long. Still had two days to go and it was rough to get up and go to work instead of "calling in sick".
I'm gaining weight. So I've been, not really dieting but not pigging out all the week and I've decided to go out and get some exercise every day. That should work because I'm not really too overweight, just have a bit of stomach that needs to go away.
So today I'm going over to Sunkist Library to "WarBike", get on the WiFi even though the library is not open. I'll pack a couple of sandwiches for lunch and then later after I get back home I'll walk to the grocery store and back.
***************************** California is weird during the winter. The trees are confused. Some broad-leaved trees loose their leaves, but not all. Some trees that should loose their leaves don't. I guess it's because the California winter doesn't get and stay cold enough. All through the winter there has been warm spells, some even fairly Hot and so therefore the trees are confused. I'm looking at one where some of the leaves have been shed but most are still on the tree. But those still on are brown-tinged to varying degrees so the tree has sort of a "dead-ish" look about it.
The sun is shining with no clouds in the sky but the winds are cool and sometimes strong. I'm laying on the grass outside the back of the library in the park typing this.
I'll upload this now and then continue my WiFi-ing
***************************** On the way home I was bad to the tune of three chicken soft tacos at Del Taco. A pig-out but I did get some good exercise riding "Against The Wind".Got an alert from Facebook saying a friend was looking for something I had referenced when I had wrote something on his wall. Couldn't find it on "Gamer3" so I'll try finding it again on-line tomorrow.
The only bad part of my "WiFi-ing in the Park" was the sunlight. As the sun moved I had to keep sliding to my left to stay in the tree's shade so I could see my laptop's screen. In an hour and 10 minutes I moved a good 5 feet.
Would be nice if BlackBerry came out with a laptop. Or even a "Netbook". The BlackBerry screen is a Reflective LCD screen that can be seen even better in direct sunlight. The more intense the light the better the screen's contrast.
One very nice thing about Winter in California besides the nice sunny weather: No bugs! They all have gone to wherever bugs go in the winter. Not a single bug was seen by me. Pieces of trees (small pieces) kept falling on me but no bugs.
Thursday January 8th, 2009 A "brother in arms", a fellow Vietnam war vet, gave me a couple of CDs with music from that era. Been WiFi-ing with a slight distraction. The CDs are full of songs that I've always loved, from an era that was filled with great conflict.
Tonight I'm going home early. Think I'm coming down with something, a cold maybe. Have a bit of a sore throat and my left ear is all stuffed up. Besides, I'm kinda craving some fast food. Have been good all week but good gets boring. Haven't had a burger for awhile and Carl's Jr is having a 2 for $3 sale on Famous Stars (Their Basic Good Burger).
Wednesday January 7th, 2009 In his Introduction of his new book of short stories, "Just After Sunset", Stephen King tells how in his early days as a writer he had written many short stories and had really enjoyed writing them. Then he spent years writing longer books, novels, and "lost" the ability to do short stories. King says he has the short story back and I agree. With "Willa" I got half way through the story, knowing something was off, and finally figured out that they were dead. Actually, Willa said so...
Arnold Schwarzenegger (California's "Governator") decided to veto the democrats' budget with all the Illegal, unconstitutional tax increases. The California State Constitution requires a 2/3rds "supermajority" to pass a tax increase, not just a majority. The Democrat's Illegal Budget did some fancy dancing and some fancy word play calling tax increases "surcharges" and "fees" but it's clear. They are all "revenue increases" and that specifically is what the California Constitution requires a 2/3rds majority.
John and Ken are talking about how state workers get 14 DAYS of holidays. I get six or seven. The only way the state workers are going to keep their two weeks of holidays is "revenue enhancements", or digging deeper into my pocket so they can have more...
The public school teachers are always whining about their pay, second highest in the country, yet their performance is near the bottom.
Tomorrow I WiFi.
Monday January 5th, 2009 Easily made it online by 3pm, updated the website, browsed YouTube and found much video about the Qassam missle, Hamas, the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and the IDF counter-attack on Gaza.
Found a new book of short stories by Stephen King called "Just After Sunset"
Will be going home soon, by 7pm.
Sunday January 4rth, 2009 Last night I decided NOT to go to the NOCCC meetings (North Orange County Computer Club). I need to become less "geeky" and more human. Not because I feel something is wrong with being "Geeky" but because I'm getting bored. Technology is very dry and isn't at all emotionally supportive. So I'm re-orienting my life to be more people-focused.
This isn't a "New Year's Resolution". It's a direction that I had been leaning towards more and more over the past year.
On Friday, January 13th of 2006 I almost lost my left leg to "necrotic fasciitus" and spent 11 days in the hospital. I was disabled for 3½ months, and it took until June 11th before I took my first long ride on my bicycle. As far as my daughter's residence in Fountain Valley, or about 18 miles. Tore up my still-healing wound a bit and took another month off the bike to let it heal completely.
2007 was a year of strengthening. Spent the first part of the year walking a mile at lunch to strengthen my leg. At first it was hard to walk the mile and it was painful. Later in the year I stopped because I had met my goals: Getting back into shape and loosing weight.
What really got through to me that I hold even friends at a great distance was that when I was in the hospital after the emergency operation that saved my I had my cell phone but I didn't have anyone's phone number. Nobody had mine, either.
So I'm going to be less "Geeky" and more human.
Saturday January 3rd, 2009 I tested the BlackBerry OS 4.1 "bug" I had found yesterday. It wasn't the word "PIG" that triggered the pasting of the Owner's Info into the MemoPad. It was the word "SIG", or "sig" and then the Enter Key.
Hmmmm, perhaps it's not a "bug". It may a shorthand way of adding a Signature to an email or a note. Works in both
Just tested "sig" and 'tis a shorthand for "signature". Looked through the BlackBerry manuals and found nothing on a signature shorthand.
Then I discovered "sig" was in the Autotext with a pointer (%O) to the Owner's Info. Changed it to "Sincerely, Frank Harris-Smith"
Then I added AutoTexts for my Home Address (add), my Yahoo eMail Address (ymail), my BlackBerry eMail Address (bmail), and even my cell phone number (cell). Even with a full keyboard I prefer less typing.
Speaking of typing on a phone: Text messaging is far more popular than making phone calls all over the world. In my own experience this is certainly true. Even before I bought my BlackBerry I was sending far more text messages than making phone calls, even typing on a standard cell phone keyboard.
Typing text on a cell hone keyboard takes up to 4 presses to type each letter. Predictive text, like T-9, will see where you seem to be going and finish off the word for you. Most current cell phones have T-9 or some other predictive text ability.
Personally I really didn't like or use predictive text. People who don't type well (many people) or those with limited reading and writing skills tend to rely on predictive text more.
If your native language isn't available in predictive text you are at a disadvantage. Only 80 or so of the world's 4000+ languages are available as predictive text. More languages are being rolled out in predictive text as time goes on but one's native language may not yet be covered.
A "Smart Phone" like a BlackBerry has a user-editable predictive text feature, called "AutoText". My BlackBerry makes me look really intelligent by correcting my typos, adding punctuation into contractions automatically, and even correcting spelling on common mis-spellings. Being user-editable I can add or change anything to suit my needs.
The down side of "Smart Phones": You must study the manual to be able to use 'em to the fullest potential and should the manual not be in your native language, that's a disadvantage.
Friday January 2nd, 2009 Microsoft's Zune Music Player, Micro$haft's competition (?) for Apple's iPod took a day off December 31st, the 266th day of the year (a Leap Year). The Zunes on that day would not boot up past the startup screen. A day later, Yesterday (January 1st) all these Zunes operated normally. Only the original 30 gigabyte Zunes are affected by this leap day problem.
Poor Micro$haft. First the dud Vista and now this.
Now that Linux has seriously come of age (try Ubuntu Linux) Micro$haft has some serious competition.
People now have good alternative choices. Macintosh, with it's System 10 which is Unix, and many "distros" of Linux. A Linux "distro" has a desktop interface, many to choose from and a complete set of software, like an Office Suite and Internet/Multimedia/Games/and accessories.
There is even a choice between how much you want to pay. A Macintosh is pricey, but "just works" while Linux is a Operating System that needs a bit of knowledge to make work. But Linux is FREE!
Sunday, the day after tomorrow, I'm going to NOCCC (North Orange County Computer Club) because there are 3 Linux SIGs (Special Interest Group)
There is a bug in the BlackBerry OS 4.1 If you type PIG in a document it pastes the text you entered into the "Owner" selection on "Options" into the document.
Or is it an "Easter Egg"?
Wait a minute. Are those Canadians at RIM calling ME a pig? lol
Time for a "Second Breakfast" and then off to WiFi
***************************** Ate my "Second Breakfast" and then made it on-line. My website is now all remodeled and hopefully more interesting. Will be (at least) easier to find things as I was just habitually tossing everything into the "Rantings" pages, mostly because I was lazy. It will be a bit more work this way but I'll be able to change things easily.
And the Obama Administration is all about change...
***************************** Had a little extra time on-line so I went to YouTube and looked up "Qassam". Saw one really good 10 minute video making the point very well of how completely justified Israel is in attacking the Gaza Strip.
In the next 24 hours Israel will probably attack Hammas on the ground in the Gaza Strip. Hammas has no support from Arab and Muslim countries with the exception of Iran, who is on Israel's "ToDo" list because of nuke development.
Thursday January 1st, 2009 2009 is here. As of 5 minutes ago. You will see this when I get the rest of the remodeled website up. At least, the beginnings of the website.
Even got some of the brief movie reviews I had done onto a "Movies" page. To finish things off, a "Fun Stuff" page.
I even have two "slots" reserved for other categories that I can't think of at this late hour. It's 1am and it's time to go to bed.
******* Got back up a little before 6am, showered, ate breakfast, and then went back to bed till almost 9am.
The combo of getting wasted Yesterday afternoon and starting my website remodeling kicked off a jag of creativity.
I created "Software" and "Books" pages and even did a fancy Index page using Tables within Tables. In page has something added to start off and I've had a good time doing it.
The new website starts at 1.9 Megabytes.
Tomorrow I'll ride over to Sunkist library and get on the WiFi, from the outside and make my new website "live".
While going through my past "Rantings" pages I found the book & movie review I had done on "Foreign Body" by Robin Cook. There are 50 "prequel" 2 minute videos that were shot on-location in Malibu, California and India. I just re-watched all 50.