I'm Baaaaaccckkk!

Well, after a really hectic week that culminated in a either a cold or a very mild case of the flu (might be — I had a flu shot, which should be worth something!), I'm back. Whew.

So, if you thought I must have fallen off into a bottomless pit, never fear. Unfortunately, it does look like I missed blogger idol this week. Maybe I'll do last weeks along with the new one for this upcoming week. I also have failed to pick my favorites from past weeks. I'll hopefully do all that in the next few days.

In the mean time, I'm going to be a bit busy after hours this week. My pastor's Windows ME-powered laptop has data corruption that just happened to strike the area where c:\windows\system should have been (if it impacts any other directories is beyond me, I know c:\ and c:\windows\command are good). ScanDisk can't seem to handle whatever is wrong.

I'm going to try booting the system up with Knoppix (Linux live CD) to see if I can salvage his data tomorrow. I suggested, and he sounded interested, in moving to GNU/Linux after that. So the plan is to format the drive, install Fedora Core 1 and install a copy of Win4Lin using the church's extra Windows 98 license as the Win4Lin virtualized OS, thus letting him run TurboTax, etc., in a “sandbox” inside GNU/Linux. This should be interesting!

Back up...

To answer Christopher's question from the last post, I am back up, at least mostly. I'm going to be writing about what I'm up to on OfB, so I guess I'll save it until then, but it's kept me busy!

And it all started because of a phone. I hinted about cell phone service issues a few weeks back and intended to follow that up sooner than I did. Verizon Wireless had, after over a year and a half of fighting, still failed to provide me with a number that actually could be reached from many phones in the metro area. They had also, earlier in 2003, managed to lose my voicemail for about a month and then somehow switch my number over to “pay as you go” (which of course caused it to be terminated, since I didn't have pay as you go minutes — I had a monthly plan!).

At any rate, they finally relented and let me out of the contract. I'm now with Cingular Wireless and have a new Nokia 3600 phone (the GSM 850/1900 MHz variant of the Nokia 3650). So far things have been good with Cingular — good coverage, good customer service and a great phone. The Nokia 3600 is a camera phone that is powered by the OS that's somewhat of a cell-phone/PDA blend: Symbian. It has a 100 MHz processor, is capable of running Java and Symbian applications (of which there are a ton!) and can play wave and polyphonic midi ring-tones. Battery life seems to be 4-5 days of standby and light usage, or 2-day with moderate Bluetooth usage (leaving Bluetooth on all the time seems to lower that to around a 24 hour battery life).

One feature I really liked about the phone, other than the 640×480 camera (which is nice for when you don't have your normal camera with you), is the inclusion of Bluetooth. That's also how I ended up taking on a major project in trying to get my contacts, that are on my GNU/Linux box, to my Mac (which has Bluetooth) and then to the phone. sigh

At any rate, it's a good phone. IMO, the future of wireless is on a GSM network, so if your looking to get a new phone, this nice Nokia 3600 GSM phone might be a good choice.

Tim is Currently Out of Order, Please Try Again Later

If you've e-mailed me and I haven't responded, please forgive me. I've been trying to get a server configured. That project ballooned into something bigger, and presently I have a new install of GNU/Linux on my desktop in which I have not imported my e-mail yet. I haved viewed it a few times in Apple Mail using IMAP, but I haven't done much with it, and I can't respond to messages sent prior to the move (since they aren't on IMAP any longer).

At any rate, I'm hoping to finish the server project tomorrow. Once I do that, I will import my e-mail from my backup and respond.

Okay, now it really is!

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From me (“the wishor”) to you (“the wishee”), please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday season, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious / secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

We (“wishor”) wish you (“wishee”) a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2004, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are bound by these terms:

1. This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal.

2. This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.

3. This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement the inferences contained in this correspondence.

4. This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain geographical locations.

5. This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably as may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.

6. The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor.

7. THIS GREETING IS PROVIDED BY THE WISHEE “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE WISHEE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GREETINGS) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS GREETING, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

[“Politically Correct Holiday Greeting” from e-mail message; modified by me before posting.]

Happy New Year Almost!

Well, I should have posted something after Christmas, but I haven't gotten to it yet. To give you a hint of what I've been up to the last few days, it has something to do with fighting with Verizon Wireless concerning my year and a half old cell service (call receiving problems) and the fact that my Apple PowerMac G5 has bluetooth.

You can also catch another thing I've been doing today at OfB.biz — my annual GNU/Linux year-in-review article.

Depending on what happens, I may not be back on tonight, so have a very very happy new year! Thanks everyone for a great year of blogging in 2003, I'm looking forward to 2004!

Good Day/Hard Night

It wasn't much fun to install, however. Under my desk is — to put it in the best of possible terms — a messy war zone of technology. Having four computers hooked up (PowerMac, Dell desktop, Dell laptop and a “guest” system — presently the Shuttle XPC), plus all the other niceties such a printer, pda, cable modem, router, etc. leads to lots and lots of cables. Uhg! I decided to move everything out rather than just tossing the new KVM cables under there — to make everything somewhat organized.

Ha! That was 7:30 p.m. tonight. It is now 1:00 a.m. I got everything back in place and nicely bundled by 9:00 p.m. At 9:45 p.m. I realized that there was a low “beep” and static when using the KVM switch with my speakers on the G5. Hrfm. It was 10:30 when everything was completely moved out again and probably 11:15 when I realized the problem was the switch (both the 2 and 4 port versions do the same thing). The sound mysteriously disappeared when the Mac was directly connected to speakers, so I was sure it was the switch. Using a heavily shielded audio cable rather than the integrated KVM one didn't change anything.

I think it was about 12:00 when I realized the same noise could be heard when I switched to my PC desktop while the Mac was on — thus it seems that the KVM is vulnerable to sound interference and the G5 seems to be emitting a lot of it. About 12:10 I finally isolated the culprit - it's the G5's hard disk. When the hard disk spins up, noise appears on the speakers. Take that for what you will.

Overall though, besides very sore knees and back, I'm pretty happy. When the sound is at a reasonable level, you really can't hear the interference and when there is actually music playing, you can't hear it at all. If I leave my speaker volume low and turn the computer's volume up, I should be good to go.

Tired

What a week. At the cost of sounding like a broken record CD, it has been a crazy week. After tomorrow, though, I expect clear sailing (not counting normal Christmas hustle and bustle) for the rest of the month. That'd be nice!

It's only 15 days 'til Christmas… are you all ready for it or saying “already?” I'm ready for the Christmas season, but I'm not ready for Christmas day yet. It'd be nice if it was around December 1 right now. Oh, well — still two weeks to finish decorating and all the other good stuff.

Not Dead.

Despite rumors of such, I actually am still here. Time permitting I might get a nice post in tonight — if not tonight, tomorrow for sure. I have some last minute work piled up, but I think it should go fairly quickly. Or maybe not.

At any rate, I have some stuff to talk about. I have two new computers sitting under my desk — one of which I really don't need… I'll explain why in my next post.

Back!

I'm back… yeah, it was a short trip, but I just couldn't arrange things to get part of the week off. I went to Silver Dollar City yesterday and, as always, it is one of the prettiest Christmas displays you can see. I feel very refreshed at the moment — the Ozarks will do that to you. I'll post more about everything later.

In the mean time, I have a question for the Bourbonite readers of this blog: What's your favorite pie at the Hen House Restaurant? I'd had the French Silk and Chocolate Meringue before (and I have a to-go piece of French Silk in the fridge), but tonight I tried the Coconut Meringue and it was delicious!

Be Back Soon

I'm taking a few days off for some R-n-R in the Ozarks. I'll be back soon and try to post more afterwards (reflections on the Purpose-Driven Life will be one of my next posts — I just finished about an hour ago). I'll also answer the final set of questions on the 40 Days of Purpose small group (sorry, guys, for being missing the last week!).