Arrg!

No, it's not Talk Like A Pirate day (that I'm aware of...I am too lazy to check :P), just frustrated and wanting to waste some time when I should be doing homework.

Blargh.

Humph...nothing to say, will get back to homework now.

Minecraft and Portal 2 are awsome, by the way. Maybe I'll write about them one of these years.

To School or Not To School...

Not much to say right now...too late to really think of anything.  Too much work left in school for only one week...getting worried.  Will have to put in too many hours this weekend...would rather game.

Looking forward to not having school to deal with after work and on weekends.

Survey!

Quick post...doing a survey about the impacts of gender on social interaction in online games.  It's a simple one, but I would love for anyone who wants to, please fill the survey out: How does gender affect gamer social interaction?

Vay-Cay-SHUN!!!!

Don't really have much time to post, it being late and all, but I did just come back a few days ago from vacation and don't want to lose absolutely all of my momentum in posting...so there!

I went to the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, and had a blast!  Got my picture taken with Leonard Nemoy and got another autograph of DeLancy.  Also got to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian while there, and let me say, well worth the money spent!  Best play I've seen in a very long time, and worth seeing at that theater (it was, after all,built for that play specifically, and done in the traditional Vegas over-the-top way).

Tech FTW!

...and, I got it figured out the next day, and got everything done that I had promised would be done by that day...even though I had to scramble to make it happen.

Really looking forward to my trip to Vegas coming up...big Star Trek convention going on.  Shakespeare tonight, looking like it will be a good one (but our local "... in the Park" productions usually are).  Working in the yard today...and why do I always wind up having to deal with electricity?!  People seem to think us computer guys can fix anything for some reason.  Maybe I should stop being so good at fixing everything if I want people to keep asking me to do it, huh?

Thinking about setting up an Ubuntu system at work to play with.  Normally not my distro of choice, but the latest seems really good...that and it looks like it is made to be able to join a Microsoft Active Directory network easily.  I can do that on other distros, and I have, but it was a long, drawn out pain in the ass to do.

Anyway, another week goes by.

Tech Sucks

So, today was fucking WONDERFUL.  I'm set to build out 10-14 machines, only to find that the image I've been building decided to brick itself halfway through...what does that mean?  It means I managed to spend ALL DAY getting about 2 hours worth of work done, and ensuring I will be working probably a couple hours overtime tomorrow getting this done, as I said I could already and people are expecting it to be done.

I hate computers.

OTRS, Out!

So, quick one as it is late...but wanted to post because I forgot yesterday *headsmack*.

Well, the work I did with OTRS is a bust, it looks like...the other system we are looking at apparently does the asset tracking damn near automatically, and integrates with our Active Directory.  Also, we will be able to integrate with Accounting and HR...isn't that swell?

Kidding aside, this TrackIt program is looking pretty slick...I'm looking forward to really giving it a spin and seeing what it can do.

Anyway, it is late...night!

Flying OTRS

So...Of Liberal Intent is likely on hiatus for now.  Not that that should be any surprise, since it has been since 2006.  Man, I'm behind!  For some reason, though, this bugs me just a little more right now than it has, since I had a lot of hope for that one.

No matter...for now, I have way too much on my plate to deal with that anyway.  Maybe I'll just update that one once in a while when I feel like being political, instead of updating this one.  First, I'll need to update this one more often.

So...had work, was out of work for way too long, and have work again.  This time, was grossly underpaid when I got the job, but I was desperate so I took it.  Then I got a raise, a huge one, but still leaving me underpaid for what I do.  No matter...the important part is that I love my job, and I love my team.  I also am learning more from this job than any other I've been in before, and I can work on just about anything I want to in my spare time (not that I have any right now...).

The ticketing system we use there is great, too...completely free and open source, but I'd never heard of it before I started there.  It's called OTRS, and I am really liking working with it.  Seems they just installed it because they needed SOMETHING and had no budget to get a paid one.  They really didn't understand how to make it do all the things they wanted.  I have been taking it apart and having a lot of fun learning how it ticks, and making it do more and more for us.  Then, they say we should get a paid solution.

This distressed me...why?  Because I have learned a lot about this one, and am positive that I can get it to do everything we want.  It is truly an enterprise grade product...we just need to know how to implement it.  It doesn't do asset tracking out of the box, however, and that is what they need.  So, this weekend, I did some homework and found out that there is an addon to it called ITSM for IT departments, and it does have asset tracking; however, it was not called that, so it took me a while to find it.

I played around with it, and know how to set it up now...this makes me happy.  I hope my boss decides it is worth the effort to use instead of wasting money (at least in my opinion) on a paid service or program.

Well, that's all for now.

Rest for the Wicked

Wow.  It's only been about a month since my last update...I think this is a record for me or something.

Anyway, I'm going to try to update more often, not because I want to get "followers" so much as I need a place to put my thoughts up on occasion...you know, get them out of my head, let them air out for a while.  They get a little stale when left inside, you know?

So, that's the plan.  If you are reading this, and love to, then great.  I'm not writing for anyone in particular, and I'm not really going to be active in the greater blogosphere at this point in time simply because I lack time.  I really am writing this for my benefit, and if you don't like something I say, then that is your right to disagree.  You can even comment that you disagree, and I'll probably reply (I may reply to tell you how full of it you are, mind you, but if you stay respectful, so will I).

"But Jeff, if you're writing this for yourself, why are you writing to us to tell us you are, and why are you pretending to quote us asking this question?"

.............shut up.

Seriously, though, I am writing for myself right now, but I wanted anyone who might come here to know that is what I'm doing at this point in time.  I may even sticky that as a warning; not sure right now.  If I do gather a following, cool.  I don't expect that, nor am I going to work for it or get my feelings hurt when the inevitable happens and everyone hates my blog and spits in my porridge.

Anyway, that's all for now.  My goal is to spend ten minutes or so a day here just to get my thoughts out.  Let's see if that works out.

Yearly Update!

Woot...it has now been almost a year since my last post.  I'm going to just say...things not working the way they are supposed to or going easily when it should be easy really suck.  More on that next year, when I post again (see my lame attempt at self reverse psychology?).

One update: I'm still on Dvorak, and other than having to go back to Qwerty regularly because I have to use other people's systems all the time, I've not regretted the change.  It is a FAR superior layout, and much easier and more comfortable to type with.  Much easier to learn to touch type with...never quite got there with Qwerty after 15 years of use, but was there on Dvorak in just 3 or 6 months.

May update again...holding your breath would be ill advised, though, as asphyxiation is a very real and often fatal side effect.

Nothing to see here

Yeah, still no image, but not really feeling those creative juices today.  I AM still using my new keyboard layout, though.

It's weird, because I feel like I've more or less memorized this layout, but still typing slow.  This is, I feel, more because my brain keeps sending conflicting signals as to where to type.  Overcoming that hurdle will probably be what gets my speed up.

Oh, and in case you where wondering, that is the main reason I keep updating this week: practice!  Let's hope I will keep it up once I'm good... maybe I'll even start visiting other blogs!

One thing I've noticed when I have to switch back to Qwerty for something I just have to type quickly...it feels a lot less efficient to me, because I notice how much more my fingers have to change keys to type on it...a lot more frequently.  I can tell already that this is going to be much more comfortable to type on.

VB, a Language You Can [explicitive deleted] on!

At work right now, and just want to shout out to those who develop VB programs for enterprise use.

Yeah...I really want to shout some choice words at you right now.

God, I hate VB so much right now.  I have to support this crap why exactly?  Because Microshaft thinks this language is a useful development tool.  About the only thing I think it is useful as is a language to learn the basics of programming on.

This is making me quite irritable.

Boy I'm typing slow today

Okay, I feel I have to say this to whoever designs the UI for Microsoft...when I change my input "language" (which is how I change keyboard formats), I expect it will stay the same until such time as I change it back.  Logging out and in, I can understand... but why do you fel the need to change on me every time I open a different program?

Insanity, I tell you.

By the way, after another 20 minutes on this thing today, and I feel like I'm tickling the tonsils of 20 WPM...I'm hoping to break 100 by the end of the month, and at this rate, it is feeling like I might just make it.

I Before E Except On Dvorak

So, my typing speed wasn't bad, averaging between 55 and 80 words per minuite, depending on topic, mood, and the phase of the moon; however, I decided to try out a format other than Qwerty...one called Dvorak.  This was yesterday, and I've not done much typing on it yet, so as you can probably guess, my speed is down around 10 WPM right now.

It is, however, quickly rising already, and I feel that I will be much faster by the end of the week if I stick to it.  Maybe not up to my old speed yet, but maybe close to it.  Will post again soon.

In the Age of Chaos....

So, not much has been said here last month (read: NOTHING...I suck)...one could assume that the same has been true in life.  In part, it feels like an extension of the craziness as I learn more and progress towards a fuller understanding of the tech world; and in another part, it feels like I'm running in place.

I guess there is a lot of that in everyone's life, though, so I can't be too critical of where I'm going.

As I am sitting here, I have just about completely dumped my idea of one book at a time, as I am currently tracking three tech books...Head First's PHP & MySQL and their SQL books, as well as Absolute FreeBSD.  I have a FreeBSD virtual server set up at home that will soon be transitioned to a REAL server using the same operating system.  I'm on break from class and setting up Gentoo on my laptop while typing this in Opera running on SimplyMEPIS.  I am in charge of four live servers at work, and am going to be setting up my own personal live server at home.  When I say I feel busy, I feel FUCKING BUSY!

Oh, that brings me to my next topic: I will be moving at least one of my blogs off Blogger, possibly both, and onto my own server with my own domain.  I've not decided many of the details, but I do know I want to build the system more or less from the ground up as a way to solidify what I'm learning about PHP.  So, it will be one part learning experience, five parts labor of love.  The only thing I know for sure is that I plan on having a blog, a forum and an RSS feed, and that the primary blog on the site will be Of Liberal Intent, my other much neglected blog (yes, somehow even more neglected than this one).

I have been toying around with the idea of starting a web comic with a friend of mine, and if I do, I will probably try to talk him into letting me host it on that site.  I will probably also have other people have posting rights, sort of how I've set up O.L.I. at this point.

Anyway, I will try to post more again soon.  Class is about to start back.

Sometimes, it Sucks Being the Best

I never thought I would say this, but right now, I'm hating Opera for being such an awsome web browser...simply the best.  Why do I hate it?  The two days that I spent developing a Javascript gallery using it and its development tools, and in spite of not using any proprietary Opera code techniques (I don't even know if they have any), it works perfectly in Opera, and not at all in anything else.  Yep.  Firefox 2 and 3, IE 6, 7 and 8, Safari and Chrome all act the same with it...load the basic text and graphics, but then completely fail to attribute any of the actions I linked to the images.

You see, you are supposed to be able to navigate to the different parts of the gallery by clicking on the images, and sift through gallery categories with a drop down.  Kinda useless if it only shows one item to 97% of the world's online community.

I don't know if I should be angry with Opera for kicking so much butt as to actually work correctly, angry with everyone else for sucking so hard!!!, or just curl up in a fucking ball and cry for a while.

.............the last option is sounding appealing.

Of Bullshit and Friends

All right, then, so I've looked back through my archives a little and found something that I feel I need to bring up briefly...it is called the Bullshit Manifesto. Go ahead and give it a read if you haven't already...most haven't.

Yeah, that's pretty much where I am aiming for in this most recent incarnation of the blog...to be more like I once was, though hopefully with better looking wallpaper.  Still working on that part, by the way.

Oh...my review of Head First Javascript?  It rocks.  There, I reviewed it, now go read it.  (Disclaimer: Do not read if you have no intention of actually learning Javascript, or have absolutely no prior experience with HTML/CSS, though if you can tell the difference between a tag and a selector, you can probably get along okay)

Harder material than HF: HTML/CSS, but it IS an object oriented programming language, even if considered loosely so by some and technically under the category of a scripted language.

Next on the docket: Head First PHP and MySQL.  I'm already two chapters in out of twelve, and about to work on number three. 

As a quick aside, if you decide you want to try out PHP, you will need a web server of some kind.  Best way to develop is with one installed on your local machine, and it gives good direction for installing Apache, PHP and MySQL to your local computer, all of which you will need.  I recommend, however, using Apache Friends's XAMPP for this, simply because there is really no installation necessary, virtually no set up, and "Just Works™".  The beauty of this is that you can use this for pretty much any of your web development needs...just don't use it as a production server.

Anyway, that's all I have for today.

Anyone for a Cup of Java(script)?

Okay, GO ME!  I just finished the Head First book on Javascript, literally less than five minutes ago.  I are so happy!

Anyway, what a ride!  JS is more challenging than learning HTML/CSS, but I think it will be worth it...it also reminds me that I LOVE programming, and now I think I am going to push myself on that side of things every chance I get.

Anyway, not much else to report, except that if you are looking to learn Javascript, and know a bit of HTML and CSS, Headfirst Javascript is probably one of the easiest ways to learn it, and retain what you learn.

I are so pooped.

So...good night, and good luck!

Oracle Buys Sun

I think I might just cry a little.

My Days at MEPIS

Well, this is a bit frustrating...can't really find much time to post anything, so I'm stuck here, sitting at work writing this while waiting for a scan to complete.

Short update: work is awsome, I love it so far.  Also, finally gave up on my wife's computer and gutted it, replacing most of the guts with new parts.  Upon trying to install Fedora 10 again, I kept having lock up conflicts between the installer and the on-board video, even in text mode.  I'm sorry, but if they can't even get text mode to work, they are too bleeding edge.  So, I set out to find a new distro to put her on, and after some consideration, I settled on one that I've not worked with before but is highly rated as an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain and most of all stable.  What is this fabulous distro that isn't one with the Beast (Microsoft)?

SimplyMEPIS is the name, and version 8.0 is based around Debian 5 stable, which is more than enough to sell me.  Debian is known for slower development, which translates to more stable and more reliable systems.  Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, but after getting it up on her system, I like it so well that I think I will install it on my laptop.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.  Cheers!

"Into the Nite" by Ex-Members

Into The Nite - Ex-Members

Just a little something I kept hearing on Pandora Radio and wanted to share. Supposedly, it's set to NOT auto-play...I hate it when I open someone's blog and music starts blaring at me unexpectedly. This is part of why I avoid MySpace like the plague.

And so, it begins....

Okay, no image, just a quick update...mostly because I can't see well enough to even find a bloody image.

So, what's the post about? An "update" to my wife's computer, the one that has been giving me nothing but trouble lately, and was showing no sign of letting up. The system had Gentoo installed on it with KDE 3.5.9, and something on her desktop had a memory leak big enough to drive an aircraft carrier through. I was going to try to stick the course, but it is her computer, and she hasn't been getting very much use out of it. Not to mention, with my new job I really don't have enough time to futz with it anymore, so I decided to install Fedora 10 on it instead.

Fedora 10 has thus far impressed me on other systems I've installed it on, so I decided to give it a shot with this system...after installing (which was hit-and-miss selection of options, since it put the resolution low enough that all the "Next" buttons were off screen), I'm now fighting with it to give me a resolution other than 720x400.

Yuck.

Anyway, updates just finished, so I'm going to try something real fast before bed. Wish me luck!

Random Thought: Strativaruis Fiddles?

Riding down the highway, listening to A Prairie Home Companion on NPR, there was a bit with a song featuring a violin being fiddled.  Being a former violinist, naturally the thought that popped in my head was "I wonder if anyone has ever fiddled an authentic Stradivarius?"

I guess that's what I get for listening to NPR.

This has been a Random Thought of the Day.

So much for THAT idea...

Well, I was going to enforce a one-tech-book-at-a-time-til-it's-read policy, but thanks to my new job, looks like I may have to juggle several to keep up.

On the other hand, I'm not complaining at all about that...I mean, I slaved all day on a project today, all two hours of it.  Yep, two hours...I started working on the project at around 9:30 AM after finishing up a couple of machines, and an hour later stopped for lunch...at 2:30PM.  Another hour later, I had to run out to class, since it was already 5:45 PM and I was going to be late.

I'm positive my math is quite accurate on this one.

The project was a redesign of a website...though "redesign" is probably the wrong word since I'm pretty much building a new one more or less from scratch.  The old one looks like the cutting edge of the net...circa 1994.  About all I'm keeping from the old site is the logo, and I'm even going to be re-doing that.

So, the new site is all shiney HTML 4.01 Strict and CSS 2.1, all new code with nice looking nav buttons, rounded corners, and will probably even have a drop shadow!  All done by hand by your's truly.  By the time I'm done, the logo will be a 3D animated gif that spins, there will be an email form powered by PHP, and a gallery powered by Javascript.  I might even be doing some Flash work, though that is undecided at this point...we DO want to get it done THIS month, after all.

So, that was my day...how've you been?

Doh!

Well, I changed my mind about the three column thing when I realized that I would either have to completely rework the site to do it, or sacrifice 800x600 compatibility.  Since my laptop is maxed at 1024x768, and I've set my web browser (Opera) to show its tabs on the side, going to a 1024 format would put horizontal scroll bars on the site for me.  I want to pretend I'm not doing it for all you people out there with a small screen like me, but truth is, I'm not doing it because it would be a significant enough inconvenient for me.

I'm not giving up on my idea of a Webcomic section, however...I have added a placeholder for it, and built a sidebar nav bar into the header to make it a bit easier to get around.  Please let me know if there are any issues with any of it, but of course praise is also always encouraged.

I want to give you a pretty picture here, but it is late and I is tired from my first day at work, so I'm going to have to forgo it for tonight.  Although, if I were feeling less tired (read:lazy) I would give you a symbolic rendering of the Opera O eating a giant IE and wiping its mouth on a (fire)fox.  Oh, what the heck...here, you can at least have the Opera O....isn't she pretty?

And Now For Something You'll Really Like!

I really seem to be losing my touch lately...I don't even know how to start these things anymore, but I will give it a go, pulling some inspiration from my blog title...Random Thoughts, or as they say in composition, Freewriting.  Well, it can't be too free, since I do have a specific something I want to say in here:

I got a new job, and I start tomorrow morning.  I've been unemployed for a few months now, and stress has been mounting considerably, so this is a very exciting thing.  It is also a very scary thing.  Will I live up to the expectations of my new boss?  Will I be able to do what they need of me?  I sure hope so.

I won't divulge too many details about the new job, since I am still too paranoid that someone will figure out who I really am...not that I'm really that worried about any of this coming back to bite me later, but I would rather not find out that I said the wrong thing somewhere, so...anyway.

Okay, quick note about my reading list: the books I am currently reading will only include two at any one time, one tech book and one non-tech. My tech book was Head First Web Design, but thanks to this new job, I've decided to switch it out for now with Head First PHP and MySQL.

I don't know if I am going to go back to that book for my next tech book, or if I am going to pick Head First SQL for the next. Tough call...both are books I intend to read anyway.

One last thing for the night: I have decided to add a new section to the sidebar for recommended webcomics. The problem I foresee with this, though, is it will make an already too-long sidebar even longer, so I was thinking of trying to convert the template to three column. This, however, presents a similar issue to what I mentioned earlier about color changes...the rounded corners span the length of the boxes. Increasing the size of them to accommodate an additional column will be simple, except I need to find permanent, free and reliable hosting for the new borders.

This change will be the most visible one I have made since my return, and will take some definite work. I aim to make the change in the month of April (any point before the end of April will be good enough to make me happy), but I promise nothing.

Basic Instructions

Here is a webcomic I like to read off and on called Basic Instructions. This particular strip reminds me of my cat and me. Seriously, this is almost exactly how she and I interact!

EDIT:I was forced to re-size the image...it should still be readable, but I recommend you click on it so you can see the original.

I Randomly Thunk a Thought, and Now I Don't Think At All!

So...yeah, I don't really know what I want to say today, but, in keeping with my "Random Thoughts" theme, I think I will just pound on the keyboard for a little bit and see what comes.

Be afraid.

Anyway, so the last few weeks have been pretty craptastic.  School is all right, though I constantly have to fight off the feeling like I'm not really learning anything, and paying a lot of money so people will believe I know something, all the while the stuff I'm teaching myself on the side (like HTML and CSS) I'm learning at a rate far greater than what I get in school.  The HTML and CSS book I read, for instance, I read in just over a week, and can even recall the vast majority of it.  Anything that I don't remember, I use the book or Google to remind myself.  My Web Design book is taking me longer and giving me more trouble, but that is because it is asking me to be creative in a time of depression (not economic so much as emotional, though the economic one sucks too).  On the other time, I've sat down with it three times and finished three chapters (the first two and a half were in the first sitting, however), so it is more a matter of me sitting down with it.

As for the template changes I had hoped to make...first, I'm having no end of trouble picking new colors I would like to see.  Turns out that even with a wonderful program like Kuler from Adobe, I am simply hopeless at setting up a good color pallet and choosing what goes where at this point in time.  I'm hoping the Web Design book with help me out on that, but we'll see.

Another issue with the color pallet that is making my life difficult is how the rounded corners got to be there, and what they mean.  Those nice little round corners are actually pictures, all of which I will have to download, modify, find a place to store them in a permanent fashion, and update my template to point to the new version.  Steps 2 and 3 are the ones I'm not quite sure how to accomplish, but before I figure them out, I really need to chose the colors I want.

Step 2, though I don't know how to do it yet, I know what I will use for it (warning: shameless plug ahead).  The Gimp is gimptastic in its gimpiness, and if you don't know what the Gimp is...well, go check it out.  It is a fantastic raster graphics editor with power rivaling Photoshop (although different than Photoshop, so if you are used to PS, you may have a slight learning curve to contend with).

<plug class="shameless">I've used the Gimp for most of what I have posted over on my Deviant Art page.  Please check it out and let me know what you think.  Most of my stuff isn't all that advanced yet, but I do feel like I'm getting better...though I haven't really practiced much lately.  Anyway, check it out.  Gimp is also what I used to make that lovely new avatar I use, which is the closest I've ever come to posting a picture of myself on the public interwebs.</plug>

Well, that's all I have for today.  Mostly going to spend my day working around the house, cleaning up the garage, looking for work.

*sigh*

Who was that masked man?

Well, this is the fourth attempt at typing this post, so my nerves are getting very thin right now, so bear with me.

I've been doing some work behind the scenes to update not only my template, but my old posts to a new scheme that I will be using from this post on.  I've converted or partially converted all posts back to my 100 hit announcement.  If you don't notice any difference...good, it should look the same, that's the point.

"So, what did you do differently if I'm not supposed to notice it?"

Well, I changed my template to have the formatting options I use on all my posts built in...although in theory this will not change anything, it means I don't have to specify it each time, allowing me to be a little lazier.  Well, it also removes a potential consistancy issue in case I mustypo spmething in the code, and looking back, there were a few mistakes made.  I've also been stripping out that code from my old posts so it will use the defaults.  This means I can change the style of all my posts just by editing the CSS in the template, rather than having to go through almost 50 posts to make a font color change (which is a number that is only growing).

Anyway, I was looking through my old posts and was thinking about whether or not to use images anymore.  I haven't used a single image on this site since March '06, three years ago.  I chalk that up to laziness more than anything else.  If I had posted this last night like I intended (I hope those three drafts tasted good, Blogger...grr), I would have said I'm going to focus on increasing my post frequency before worrying about finding the right images to use with my posts, but looking through it today, I realized something: My posts were more interesting when I used pictures.  So, I'm going to return to the bright, cheerful days when I happily and gleefuly splattered pictures all over your screen, because it makes me happy.

So, I was reading some of those old posts, and I couldn't help but think to myself "Who is this guy, and whatever happened to him?"  Frankly, I don't feel anywhere near as connected, smart, intense, witty or funny as I came across back then (at least, to myself I did).  Where did that go?  Did something happen to me to make me lose something?  Perhaps.  Maybe it was just my time away from here that did it to me.

A lot has happened in my life since I stopped posting here.  Other than getting married, though, much of it has not been positive.  There have been some cool things, though, and I intend to share them with you, if you chose to stick around and read about them.  Who knows?  Maybe a little bit of my old self will come back.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Okay...short post.  Just testing to see if the change I just made "worked".  All I did was set a default color and font list so I don't have to manually set it each time (thereby removing one way that I can screw up!  Go me!)

The only difference here is I'm not manually setting my font and color, and checking to see if it shows up "right".

Anywho...ta for now.

Edit:  Yeah, it worked.  Ra.  I rock.  Woo.