Category Archives: Ramblings

Just me and my mouth.

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one of those days

Today was one of those days that I couldn’t wait for it to end. Comparatively speaking, it wasn’t that bad for me, but it was rough for someone I work with. I’ve been there and know how they feel. There is a certain sense of feeling alone, and everyone piling on you and that you don’t have a friend in the world. It’s tough, but after going through it myself, I think I am better for it. There are some details from between here and there that I don’t want to get into on a personal level, but I got some help for which I am very thankful. I wish the best of luck to those who need it.

Years ago, I read a management book that was based on Chaos Theory. At that point in time in my life, it was very apropos and I thought it was great. But I was in the minority and the ideas that I tried to put forth just didn’t fair as well as I had hoped in the “traditional” corporate environment. I was a new manager and wanted to learn to be a good boss, but not a traditional boss. That was years ago and I have read many management books since then. Leadership is important these days. That’s the hot button these days and the managers that recognize it can be successful.

I’m kind of rambling here, but it was one of those sort of days that one just has to reflect on. Tomorrow will be another day and will be better than it was, but I still care.

Before everything went down today, I read on another blog I like to frequent about EI:

  • The one skill you need for three key areas of career growth

Penelope’s blog is pretty cool. I have found a lot of useful, supportive information there. So, I am in a melancholy mood. Probably, after a good night of sleep, I might have more to say about it, but I need some time to think.

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bootpd, ubuntu

So, as I was saying, having the CDROM on the same IDE channel as the hard disk is not working out so good. I just left the PC doing its thing and I will check up on it in the morning tomorrow. However, based on previous experience I am not expecting this to work so well. However, I noticed that the Dell will try to do a bootp/dhcp request if it can’t find any drives. This is interesting since now I may not need the CDROM at all.

Ubuntu has instructions on how to set up a bootpd server. Luckily, my FreeBSD box already has bootpd as part of the core installation. So between the man page and the documentation from Ubuntu, I should be able to do a net boot of the installation media. Slick.

It is too late and I’ve had enough wine tonight that I know better than to try it out, so I’ll probably give it a whirl tomorrow. Being sleepy and having wine does not lend itself to editing config files. This is the kind of thing that gets me excited; trying to figure this stuff out. At some point, I find this becomes more important than the actual end result. I’ll take it for a drive and report back.

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part II on the el cheapo HTPC

Someone asked me what an HTPC was.

  • Home Theater PC

I would say it is something of a Holy Grail among the Home Theater crowd. If you have a nice HT setup, this might be something you could spend a ton of money on and hours of fiddling and fine tuning. It’s a mix between something that is powerful enough to output HD-type of content yet is whisper-quiet and gets spousal-approval. This can be tough to do and get all three of the major requirements. Some have used quite successfully an Apple Mac-Mini, for example.

But when you got little or no money to spend on it…

In my previous posts, I was telling you about the cheapo HTPC I was going to help my brother-in-law build. And I also wrote that the PC he gave me to work with as way too old to be useful. And in other post, I mentioned I had an old Dell 450 Mhz that I was planning to turn off.

I did turn it off the other night. It was running FreeBSD 5.4. I wanted to upgrade it to 6.X but could never get it to boot of the CDROM. After tinkering with it, I determined that the secondary IDE port on the motherboard was bad. So I cannibalized the old PC my bro-in-law gave me for the CDROM and last thing I did was leave it while it was installing Ubuntu. Later, I’ll continue installing linux on it.

So I started with that old Dell. As I mentioned above about the bad IDE interface, I put the CDROM as a slave on the primary IDE controller and the hard drive as the primary. I seem to remember something about why this isn’t a good idea and I keep on. Sure, the installation goes really slow. So slow that I decide to let it run overnight. This morning, I check in and it is still doing something. I don’t know what but the mouse is sluggish and the CD is spinning like mad. I can only assume it has something to do with both devices being on the same IDE channel.

I remove the CD and reboot and FreeBSD comes up like nothing had happened. What a headache. Actually, it really is just a minor annoyance since once it does install, I probably won’t need the CDROM again since everything is downloaded or shared via SMB. I’ll probably start the installation again tonight and let it run for who knows how long…

My dad sent me a webcam so we can share vids of the family. I’d rather play with that tonight. I got it working under my Mac pretty easily:

And I just installed the Logitech software from the website for my WinXP desktop.

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mother update

I was trying to decide what to write about tonight. I guess I could begin both and keep them in a draft. I was deciding between another update on the HTPC or to write something about my mother.

I’ll write about my mother first. As some of you who are close to me know, my mother had a pretty severe stroke back on 11/03/2006. She had a hemorrhagic stroke which is pretty bad. Her stroke occurred where the brain stem meets the spinal cord. She almost died. She was with some friend for dinner when it happened. They called an ambulance while I was on my way which ended up being the life-saving factor. They did emergency surgery on here. She was weak in the right side of her body and lost her balance, ability to speak normally, and can’t walk. She is 59 years old and the cause of her stroke most certainly appears to be hypertension.

Fast forward to today and I can’t believe how well she is doing. I took her to Walmart last night to help her buy some things she needed, (she is living at nice assisted living place). We had a lot of fun together. That’s the sort of thing I have been missing. It has only been recently that my Mom wanted her cell phone. I used to talk to her on my way home from work or when I was in the car, (don’t worry, I alway use a hands-free headset). I couldn’t talk to her unless I went to see her. Now, she’s called me twice and it was really nice to talk with her. We had a pretty nice time at Walmart, too. We shopped and looked at the clearance isles. I let her by herself while I went to grab some diapers for the kids. I watched her from further away to make sure she was alright. She was and it was great to see her enjoy herself while we were out.

When we left, the sky was clear and the moon was so bright. This was the first time my Mom had been out like that since her stroke happened. Sometimes, it is hard to imagine that she’s had to put her life on hold while she continues to get better. I am really proud of her and I enjoy taking care of her. I didn’t think I had it in me to do something like this and it isn’t easy. But it’s new and I don’t begrudge it.

We got back to her apartment and she was planning on eating some oranges. I hugged and kissed her and left. It was fun but I could tell she was tired. I worry about her a lot, but after we spend time like that together, I always feel better about where she is going.

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Update on low cost HTPC

Man, I was wrong. I’ll admit it. In a previous post, I mentioned how I was going to help my brother-in-law with building a very low cost HTPC. He had an old PC laying around. I didn’t know what speed it was but it was clear that it was maxed out with RAM, had no USB ports, and no AGP slot.

So, I put in another PCI video card I had that had RCA video out and took out the modem card and installed a NIC in it. It booted up fine into W2k. For a quick proof of concept, I booted off a Knoppix CD to see if the hard drive and other devices would be seen.

Now, I wasn’t paying attention, up to this boot to the boot messages, but Knoppix came up and said there was only 32MB free and I should make a swap space on the primary hard drive at least double my available RAM and it recommended between 60MB and 120MB. Hoo-boy. I then saw that it was an AMD K6 at 199Mhz. It also had a 4GB hard drive. This was going to be more trouble than it was worth.

I have a really old Dell that is 450Mhz. I just turned it off so maybe I’ll give this to him. I am now interested enough in continuing with this proof of concept as I have never played with MythTV. I still think a modded Xbox with XBMC might be the best way to go.

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Be the ocean when it meets the sky

Man, I tell you what… Neil Young is the greatest. If you don’t know about his last albums and what he has done, you got to do your homework. Nevermind the CSN&Y bullshit, he is a force to be recognized. He is a visionary and super creative. I had the pleasure of seeing him with my wife on the Greendale tour. It was a great concert here in Atlanta, despite the people talking throughout the performance.

I have the Crazy Horse DVD and that’s pretty good, but seeing him in concert and the video from Greendale, it brought a tear to my eye. There was something about it that was so moving. It’s not easy to explain. But if you check out these vids, maybe you might feel what I feel:

  • Be the Rain
  • Double E
  • Sun Green

These are very good performances. Now, I should probably say that I really liked the Shocking Pinks, which I have found that many people do not like. But, I don’t think they understood what Neil was trying to do or what he had accomplished.

Even now, as I watch these videos in review, I can’t help feel moved by them. What gets me is that you got “artists” today like the top pop stars who are nothing more than slick marketing campaigns. Then you got someone like Neil Young. I wonder if Mozart had a similar type of situation when he was alive. Was he passed over by the mainstream only to be recognized for his genius 100’s of years later?

One of the best CD’s I own is almost all but unknown amongst my friends. I’ve always been a huge Jim Jarmusch fan, (I wish I could be in the “Sons’ of Lee Marvin”). Dead Man is one of my all time favorite movies. It’s a really great movie that is well written and well produced. Neil Young did the soundtrack and it is so unique and special, it is one of my favorite albums.

I could go on and draw the lines between Neil Young and Nick Cave, but that might be a topic for another night. There is so much good music out there that simply isn’t on the radar because the airwaves are overloaded with crap.

Oh well. More for me!

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low cost htpc

One of the other things I wanted to write about was the low cost HTPC I am helping my brother-in-law build.  Not only is cost a factor, but also connectivity.  He’s got a wireless router and could have a hard line ethernet to his entertainment center, but we ain’t there just yet.

I took his PC home to download and install some of the things I talked about before.  This is a really old PC; it doesn’t have any USB or ethernet on it.  I’ll be curious to see what speed processor it is.   It doesn’t even had AGP so I have an older PCI card with RCA video out on it.  I guess that will work.  I plan on building it and trying it out.

The other option I pitched to him was to get an old XBOX and use XBMC.  With the softmods available, it would be easy to hack for that purpose.  He’s not a gamer in the least bit, so an old xbox with XBMC might be the best. Then he’ll just have to worry about connectivity.  I’ll update my progress as I begin.  It will probably be tomorrow or the next night when I have a chance to start hammering on it.

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what is important

First, I seriously doubt anyone is reading this. If anyone was, I’d be surprised. I had written several things and saved them as drafts, but then decided on not publishing them for one reason or another. And since it has been quite some time since I posted anything, I’ll just give you some highlights.

Also, as some of you may know, my Mom had a stroke on 11/3. Scary, scary stuff! Please go and have your blood pressure checked and while you are at it, check your cholesterol. The short version of the story about my Mom is that at this point, they don’t think there will be any permanent damage. But I know my Mom; she wouldn’t want all her ordeal posted on a webpage. If you want to hear the updates, drop me an email and I’ll include you in the distribution.

So, this has helped put some things in perspective for me. Here’s some thoughts I have been kicking around and I may write about them more in the future.

  • I am a recent Howard Stern fan. But not for the immediate and obvious reasons.
  • Honesty is the best policy. It may be a hard policy to follow, but it is the best.
  • We have a 2003 VW Eurovan. It is the greatest. Where the hell is my T5 TDI, dammit!?!?!
  • German board games are the best. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
  • Have you ridden your bike recently?
  • Spend some time over at fark.com
  • I love my hacked xbox
  • xbmc

Lifehacker is a great website:

Kraftwerk, if you know nothing about them, you had better read up on them.

I am almost caught up on sleep. Maybe… just maybe… there will be more.

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Crazy Ray.

I’ve wrestled with the fact that I am not too big on blogging about personal stuff, but I can share some of the cooler things in my life; current events, funny storys, and other oddities you can find on the internet.

Some friends of our family, when we were younger, lived in some rural place outside St. Louis. You had to drive down a long driveway to get to their house, and while you were on their driveway, you pasted this run down house. They said a guy named Crazy Ray lived there. Why was he Crazy Ray, and not something like Irriateable Ray? Good question. Apparently, Ray’s older brother played the accordion. And one of the family’s favorite pastime was to play accordion around a fire in a trash can when it was cold outside. Well, one day, Ray’s brother got too close to the fire and his accordion went up in flames. His brother died then and there as the family watched on helplessly. Now, that in itself is indeed a tragedy. And no doubt, it affected Ray in ways we can only imagine. But some of the stories that our hosts shared with us, I can’t help but think Ray had other problems and this was just another brick in the wall. Oh, btw, this happened before Ray was a teenager; he was then in his fifties when we heard these stories.

So now Ray was Crazy Ray. What kind of things did he do to deserve such a name? Well, quite a bit, actually. It seems that Ray had a problem with his arm. It looked kind of weird if you looked at it, kind of crooked. One time when he was cutting the yard, he got into a fight with a tree and broke his arm. He never went to the doctor nor had it set, so now it just looked kind of odd…

Ray used to have a dog. This dog loved to walk. In fact, there was a trail worn around Crazy Ray’s house that was rumored to be made by his crazy dog. So Ray used to walk his dog. Now, this wasn’t what you would think of as a normal walk. No, not just around the block for his dog to poop. Ray would walk his dog 20+ miles. So much did this dog walk, his pads were worn off his feet. So Ray wanted to keep going out, so he got a bike (he might have had it laying around, I don’t think he bought one just for this), and put his dog in the basket on the handlebars of the bike. Crazy Ray would ride around with his dog in the basket for 20+ miles also. Finally, the dog could no longer sit in the basket since he was sores on his bum.

So what did Ray do at this point with his dog? He ate him!

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Spy

I’ve told a few people about the BBC show, Spy! I’ve happened to TiVo a couple months back. This has been some of the best television I have seen in a long, long time. This is a reality show, but being from the BBC, it is different than the US reality shows. For example, you get 60 minutes of the show; no commercials. Also, the participants are doing it, because they really, really want to. They are not doing it for cash and prizes. It’s a different mindset than the US reality shows. It has been a complete breath of fresh air.

Spy!

What got me thinking about this, is that this series is over, and the last episode was two weeks ago. I miss the show. It was such a cool idea and the way it was done was impressive. I found myself really wanting to be a particpant. Ever since I read the Rainbow 6 books, I’ve been intriqued with Spy Craft. This show really got me fired up. If I was just out of college and/or didn’t have a family, I would be signing up for the FBI or something. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for my life today, rather if I was a younger person starting fresh.

When I was in college, in my first two years, the FBI was recruiting people from our campus. Looking back, I wished I had the nerve to apply. I think now, the person who am today, I would have been a successful candidate. Although, I am a very different person today than I was then.

In my search for the above URL, I see the BBC has a new series called, Spooks!

Spooks!

Looks interesting. I’ll have to see if I can find it on PBS or BBCA.