Christian Semenar...

I fell asleep last night with the TV on and woke up to a Bible thumper very loudly proclaiming that the greatest gift we have is the Word. This makes me ask if she has ever actually read the Gospels (which happen to be in the Bible), because as far as I know (and the reason we celebrate Christmas), the greatest gift we have is salvation from our sin through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now she's on a bit about how everyone has angels running about for them to make them successful in business (read as "rich"). I hope these people didn't pay too much for the seminar.

End of the Line

"End of the line." What a statement that is. There is no debating what it means. It just is what it is. You cannot argue that it will go on. The train stops here, and there is no where else for it to go.

F.Y.I. This is Stream of consciousness not news format. If you don't like that, don't read it.

Friday night, as I was finishing a rout at Climb Nashville, I got a voice mail on my phone saying that CompUSA had reached the end of its line. The deal for the owner to sell to a "restructuring" firm had finally gone through and they immediately announced that they were shutting us down completely. Some key stores will be sold as is, but I am not sure, but I assume staffing will not transfer with the store. Others will simply be liquidated. Nothing like a few key people high up benefiting from the sale and everyone else being out of work.

At first, the back of my mind was entertaining the thought that this could be a prank my boss was playing, but he would not joke about something like this (we all knew it was coming sooner or later - my money was on 5-10 years; Gordon, you win with a bet of less than a year).

Later that evening as I arrived home after finishing a couple more routs, I checked the Google News search and found quite a few sites already reporting the late news. Shortly after that, the store manager called me in person to make sure I knew as much as she did at the time.

I didn't sleep at all that night.

I went into work Saturday morning and we still had no news (I was actually a bit earlier than usual, arriving at 7:45 AM for an 8:30 test session). As the day went on, more info was passed along including a termination date of Jan 30 - I don't have official paperwork, so who knows how much time I have left. I did the usual surf the web between checking testers in and out of the morning and early afternoon examination sessions. This gave me lots of time to send e-mails to people that have sent me job requests and leads in the past. I have several opportunities I'm researching and need to follow up on Monday morning.

Having not eaten in about 24 hours by 4 PM Saturday afternoon, I had a small snack and went to bed. I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning (Sunday) and have been sending more e-mails and have continued talking with the Nashville Linux Users Group about the situation. Everyone has their own ideas of what happened, but the short of it is that CompUSA couldn't adapt to the new business model computer parts sales has taken in the internet age. This being the case, we either had to close up a lot and restructure (they closed 128 stores in February of this year), or close completely (which is happening because the restructure wasn't handled correctly).

The Tech Shop is business as usual through the end of the year, at which point I assume we will be stopping operations completely after finishing up any open service requests. I don't have any info about whether or not this is the case, and I feel bad for anyone that has an extended warranty through CompUSA, as they no longer have a service provider unless CompUSA can really sell the TechPro service as they are planning to.

Now does everyone understand why I would not mention CompUSA as my employer in previous posts?

Random Thought

I watched most of PU-239 (IMDB link) the other night. I gotta say, it was a bit of a strange movie, due to there being two completely different stories it kept jumping back and forth between and only brought together at the very end. I could ruin the story for you, but one person who reads this might actually look the movie up and watch it, so I'm not going to. Basically, it involves Plutonium, Russians, and Mobsters, so it caught my eye as I was channel surfing Sunday, stuck in bed again. Synopsis here . I would say rent or borrow it if you are interested in a look at dedication, unfairness and corruption in life, and circular justice.

Better

I'm feeling better. Worked Saturday, but that was too much, and I was laid up again Sunday. Worked Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was good to get out. I'm working from home today, feeling a lot better, but still have half a week of doses left, so I'm hoping to be all better by the time those antibiotics run out.

So, calling someone I've done freelance for, and also trying to wrap up the last website I've been working on. Then a quick on site setup for someone who needs wireless installed. I'm taking my laptop. Doing some wireless scanning while I'm there. Good thing it's not illegal to look, so long as I don't crack and steal service. I actually want to make sure the network I'm setting up is on a channel that isn't being used by the neighbors.

I rebuilt my main desktop inside the CM 690 computer case that was on sale over the weekend. I'm hoping it'll fix some of my cooling problems I've been having with the old case, now I just need to get a computer desk. I'm talking to someone about what looks to be a sturdy desk that I could add on some extra "attachments" to mount my monitors vertically (better for working with text and websites). I would love to have swivel mounts so I can set the monitor vertically or horizontally, but I can only ask for so much. If I got a full setup, I'd be looking at $300 or more, so I'm trying to take a d.i.y. rout. something with $10 1" steel pipe that the monitors will mount to with a $30-$40 mount. We'll see.

The Wonderful Time - to be Sick

So, I'm waiting for one of the people I do freelance for to pay me so I can go to a walk-in clinic and have a throat culture done to see if I have strep. Then I get to wait for CompUSA to pay me so I can pay my car insurance. I just love doing freelance, but you have to get used to the payments being a little delayed (by as much as a month and a half, in one case).

Update:

Its just a sinus infection... that has had me in bed all day. I'm going to go to sleep now and hope that I can get up in time for the breakfast at church tomorrow. The fever has finally set in, and now I feel like I'm freezing, even though I'm roasting in my very warm room (thanks computer for putting out a little extra heat for me).

Doing the Life Thing

So, applying for new jobs this week. Fun stuff.

It MUST be my week, "Down Parascope" was on yesterday. Oh, but that would have been last week. Oh well.

Swing dancing last night was great. Christmas ball is in two weeks! Break out your fancy garb; it's gonna be a swingin' good time! The time is 7:30 PM at Otter Creek Community Church Dec. 1 in Brentwood.

Good News from Florida

My good friends Nate and Jos had their second daughter Tuesday evening. They have pics on their blogs. Congratulations guys! I'm not sure when my next trip to FL will be, but I'm looking forward to meeting Amberly Anne.

Comspastic

So, just a thought, but if Comcast stopped advertising and put all that money into increasing speeds and maintaining better connections (that don't drop out in the middle of raids in World of Warcraft), think the word would get out by word of mouth from person to person that they were better than the competition?

Where Have We Let Ourselves Go?

http://bunny.frozenreality.co.uk/index.php?id=356

Nashville Linux Users Group - NLUG

Currently Listening
Come Away with Me
By Norah Jones
Shoot the Moon
see related

Logicians Need Not Read This

Currently Listening
The Hampster Dance Song
By Hampton the Hampster
see related

In Other News...

So, got back into my computers. Got a debian server up and running, and now I'm going to throw that box away. The unit gets stuck on reboot (not sure if it is a mobo or psu issue, gonna diag when I get home today). I'm working on a website I would very much like to test on a local computer, but there's some issues - namely with it not working at all.

I'm also gonna go swing a bit tonight, haven't been in a while, and I've been missing it. I wonder if everyone wants to carpool? I'll have to give them a call when I get off work. I'm at the unnamed computer retail store and also working on the website a bit right now. Kinda fun... At least I'm getting payed for two jobs at once. Back to code...

Foster Falls

Hum, droughts make waterfalls less... existent.

Monday this past week, Bill, Julie, Jackie and I all took a little trip (and a little time off work over the gals' spring break) to Foster Falls for some climbing and hiking. It was a great trip with no injuries (unless you count making an already sore ankle on Julie worse). But that's another story for another time. The climb was great, with all four of us successfully mounting the final rout (time limited how much we could do). We thought about continuing on the multipitch we started, but after judging the time, we figured there wasn't enough daylight and descended. I was able to repel, but am reminded of why I need a figure eight to do that, and not just a simple ATC. That thing was almost smoking when I got down. All in all, an amazing day at an amazing park.

Warranty

Currently Listening
Drunken Lullabies
By Flogging Molly
see related

Of a Weekend Vacation

So, not that I'm a workaholic (yet) or anything, but last week, I used up my 40 hour max in about three and a half days, so Thursday afternoon through Sunday was all mine to do as I wished. I spent the extended weekend loving life and my hobbies. Here's a short version of how it went:

Thursday - arrive at ClimbNashville at 17:00 (CDT). Find Dave and check in for lead climbing lesson. Listen to instruction for 45 min, practice for 1.5 hr, and spend final 30 min taking practice falls in the lead cave. Enjoyed rush that fear of heights and willingly falling 12-15 feet gives. Now checked out to lead in the gym.

Friday - maintenance day. Did a lot of computer work and played around a lot with how my room was arranged. Made room for my receiver, speakers, and record player. Listened to Glen, Duke, Ella, and others for several hours between some other work that had to be done. Room is almost livable. Got back on WoW and am catching up to the guild at church (high 30s, I'm currently 32).

Saturday - couldn't sleep much. Too excited about going hiking this day. Julie and I met up around 11 and drove to Ceders of Lebanon for a day of climbing and caving. We asked tons of people that already had plans. I  packed all my climbing gear that I have collected over the past year or so to feel the weight (metal is heavy, in case you didn't know). Was happy that gear came in handy. Rigged a few anchors and lowered Julie into a cave with a vertical entrance. Next time, she is gonna anchor in up top and lower me so we both can check it out. Got all my gear tested and it checked out great. Went to REI and got a few extra things like some more webbing. Priced ascenders and rappelling gear for future reference. Looking forward to new projects for exploration.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I got to do everything I wanted to but dance, and with how amazing the weather was last Saturday, I'm ok with skipping my love for dancing to enjoy my love of being outdoors. The day made me realize how I had stopped taking photos because of the price of developing and having CDs made, so I took the plunge after a few days of research (already knowing what I wanted, all I had to decide was which features I could give up to save a buck).

PS: to whoever it is in my neighborhood that titled their wireless router "Try Again," I don't think it is a good idea to antagonize someone with malicious intent. I may not be a hacker, but I'm not the only neighbor you have. Just a tip; use a neutral title like a favorite movie (I used LordOfTheRings at my last place).

Who is that?

It's time to update my profile pic on facebook. I think I'm gonna put up the one my roommate took of me just before I had almost all my hair lobbed off this past January.

Crazy Dayz

So, that last post... I stayed at work that night until 4:00 a.m. the next morning. This week makes three weeks that I have worked my tail off in order to get some work done and get the last few days off so I could move. I'm all moved in and I am now renting a room from someone I went to school with. By the way, I need furniture if anyone knows where I can get some cheap. I need a desk and at least one nightstand. Perhaps a bed down the road too, but I have one I can use at least for a bit. My computers are all stacked in a corner, and I need to do something about that soon. I'm getting tired of sitting on the floor. Well, I have a few calls in to people on craigslist, but no calls back yet. We'll just have to see. I'm gonna pick up a desk from the Opryland Hotel remodel if nothing turns up this week. Well, I'm falling asleep, so I'm gonna get some dinner and go to the park for a bit of dancing. Crazy dayz.

Midnight Oil

... I'm burning it. It's almost midnight and I'm still at work. The managers were here late, so I stayed to get some extra work done (and get some extra cash), so I'm just now about to shut down and go home. After the extra sleep I got yesterday, this worked out well.

I got home from work late yesterday and my brother drove over to play some games with me after I ate dinner. We played a round of Galactic Battlegrounds and were doing really poorly, so just as we were starting the second game, I got violently ill, so I asked him to leave and went right to bed before I had a chance to hurl. I felt much better this morning after 10 hours of sleep, so I went and got my hair cut and got to work one minute before I had to clock in. Now it is 12 hours later, and I'm going home.

I'm coming back in tomorrow afternoon to work on a special project and make sure all the systems I finished tonight get calls to their owning customers.

Hospitals

So, I spent last night in the ER with Dana, Mom, and Richard and some friends from church. Dana had an incident in which she managed to fall on her head in a parking lot. She is ok, and was able to make her flight back to Ukraine this morning, but sure did give us all a scare. She seemed ok other than the nausea, so we didn't want to go to the ER, but some parametics were driving by and said it would be a good idea just to make sure everything is ok. There were lots of x-rays and a head CT scan, so the bill is gonna be high. Dana's medical insurance through the Missions Corps program only covers being treated for illnesses while overseas, so we're not exactly sure how we are going to cover all the bills.

I'm really trying to not think about her bills. I have my own finances to worry about right now. I'm really tired and stressed out. I am going to work late so I'll probably have to stay late. I really hope I don't scream at anyone today.

Please pray for us.

Hulk

I feel like turning into the Hulk and throwing everything in my room out the window. I'm gonna see if I can make some progress cleaning it up. I have a lot of work I want to do, and I need more space to do it in. Should be fun... :-/

Back in Action... Sorta

Okay, to everyone I promised to see tonight at Dacing in the Park, I'm sorry. I thought Kyle's wedding was an afternoon, not an evening event. There was dancing, but no follows who knew east coast, so I almost cried. But I'm ok now. Listening to the Goodman. I love the record player. It's so nice to have something from the past to make me feel a bit of a collection of the latest in technology, and a study of the past mediums as well. Ah, screw it, hand me another 33...

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

Currently Listening
Continuum
By John Mayer
In Repair
see related

'Bout Time

So, last night, around 1 AM central, I finished everything I needed to do for phase one of the subcontracting I was doing on this website for Dream Builder Web Works. That is what I'm focusing on right now. Web development is what I love doing. I enjoy it and wouldn't mind working on sites for ten years or so and see where I am.

Speaking of, here are some random projections I see for myself in ten years:

• Married with at least one kid
• Monthly nature outings (a weekend biking, hiking, camping, something of that sort)
• A "normal" job with flex time
• Closer to God than I've ever been

So thats me in ten years.

I have a lot of news about computers and stuff, but I gotta go back to work. I may update this evening, or just go spend the evening with Dana. TTYL

I got your geek squad right here...

First of all, Best Buy isn't a computer store, why you would take a computer there to be fixed by a condescending high school kid is beyond me.  But some of that is me being angry at how a friend of mine was treated after having purchased a laptop and some services there. Sorry gal, hope you have better luck with your next purchase.

Anywho, I had some fun this morning. I finally sat down and hacked dd-wrt onto my router (actually it was easy on my wrt54g -v3.1, built into the update function on the unit). The wrt54g v6 that my manager at work gave me was a bit harder, the smaller factory installed memory on the v5 and later units means you must first of all use the micro version of dd-wrt and also, you must override the firmware locks with the different nature of the firmware on these newer units. It was fun uploading a bin file with the word "kill" in it's file to a router that I would rather not brick. Long story short, both installs were successful and without major hitches, though some minor pounding of fists was done at the shop while I tried to fix my new free router there.

So, here's the new setup with these updated devices:

Comcast's crappy modem <===> wrt54g v3.1 <)))> wrt54g v6 configured as a client
                                                 ||   ||   ||
                                                 ||   ||   ===> linksys 5 port switch for roommates
                                                 ||   ===> linksys 16 port switch for my little computer lab under my desk
                                                 ===> linux server that will be joined by a windows server soon

Text is fun. I have some more web work to finish up this evening, and then I'll be turning in. I have reached my geek point quota for the month.

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

That's what I should have been doing for the last 8 hours. But instead, I was writing ASP and VBScript. I've made a lot of progress, and am sure I'll fall asleep in church today. Then I've gotta code more this afternoon and try to get this part of the project done by tonight. So I can sleep. zzzzzzzzzz.......

Kyrie Eleison, Christe eleison

Currently Listening
Songs & Prayers from Taize
By Taize
see related

I've Gone Mental

I walked into work Monday morning and told my boss to put me on part time Mondays and Tuesdays from now on. I'm working with a freelance web company here in town that is more along the lines of what I want to be doing long term, so It's been busy trying to squeeze it all together. Well, I gotta get some work done, so I'll ttyl!

Axes, Daggers, and Death

I now officially am wary of Vista. My system died an unexplainable death (resulting in a B.S.O.D. on any attempt to start Vista back up, though XP 64 bit still worked perfectly - dual boot system). I had just installed some new unsigned software (just about everything I'm running is unsigned for vista, including mostly XP drivers that shouldn't even work on Vista in the first place). I guess now that I look back, I had it coming. Whether it was Vista or some other software vendor's fault, I do not have the time to figure out or care. I worked on it for several hours Tuesday evening, performing a careful autopsy of the hardware and repair/recovery tools for Vista; nothing worked.

I gave up Wednesday morning and formatted it between errands all over town. I was not happy to have to do that without knowing what did it in the first place, but oh well. I'll live, and if my computer does this again, I'll open up the third story window next to my desk and drop-kick the box onto the AC unit down below.

Insurance is paid, the car is tested and re tagged for the next year, and I'm almost broke again. Thanks for the money for my BDay, Mom. Your timing was perfect. I actually am starting to save up and have money in the bank again. No more under minimum balance fees making me even poorer. Working two jobs helps with that . It was kinda nice to have a short break from my new 60 hour work schedule, but the free time was spent fixing the computer. But I'm finally back up and running.

I'm going to see Pirates tonight. I'm going swing dancing tomorrow down at the Factory tomorrow night. I have the best outfit to wear. I found this amazing vintage shop downtown called Flashback. Other than the stains on all the guys clothes (not the store's fault), they have the best selection in Nashville. Trust me, I went around for several hours checking every store Google Maps found in the area. I knew it was gonna be hard, but after no luck over and over again, the costume shop sent me there. Ding! Perfect fit (other than needing some taking in - guys back then were short and skinny or tall and, well, rotund). I'm so happy. The suit is great. I'll post pics some time later.

I'm off to the movies!

News

So, I'm back from N.C. My brother graduated from Duke with his Masters of Divinity. Suma cum Laude. He's amazing. So is my nephew. D.T. is so cute. I got to sit a few times for my brother and sister-in-law.

Um...

Happy Birthday Dana!

And how do I say this without coming across as rude? My birthday is May 20th. Ok, that wasn't bad at all. Not pretentious or selfish at all. Oh, and happy birthday again Dana. You're always the same age older than me. Maybe I'll catch you next year.

WoW

It's another... World of Warcraft update. Current character standings:

LilKitten is Feral spec Druid at level 64 questing in Zangarmarsh
ShaddowOfFury is Beastial spec Hunter at level 29.5 questing in Duskwood, Wetlands, and being run through Gnomer regularly by a 70 friend

That's that. Haven't played the alts much. Just trying to hit 70 on both servers as soon as possible. But the job and sanity are more important, and work is crazy these days, so I'm not leveling much right now.

I got some overtime at work tonight, about two hours. I looked at how much I will make after taxes for doing that much extra work, and realized that it wasn't quite worth it. I need to find a part time job elsewhere to supplement my income. I need a real job. This place doesn't really count in my book anymore. Management hates the staff because of the theft that turned up in the last inventory. The staff hates management for the (lack of decent) HR policies. I spend a good part of the day taking the brunt of the angry customers because their computer wasn't fixed within ten minutes of dropping it off. I can deal with that. It's the fact that some of my fellow employees need to grow up a little that has made this week so much worse than it could have been.

Well, it's late, I'm tired, and I've resorted to griping, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

The Meaning of "Dear"

Dear Reader,

I would like to draw your attention to a shift. Unfortunately, I do not have the time it takes to properly develop this topic, but the premise is as follows: we have stopped using the word dear when we write letters. E-mail has made writing messages so quick and informal (as well as a common occurrence), that we are now writing to anyone and everyone. The term dear denotes at least some concern for the person, if not affection of some sort, and so we say "Hey" or "Hello." Sometimes, I even catch myself writing an e-mail that starts out, "To [Someone]," which I find to be a cold and detached way to start a letter.

Back when writing a letter to someone actually took some time, there was some point to it, and you usually only wrote to someone if they were important to you in some way, there was a lot more thought and feeling put into a letter. Now, I can fire off a good 50 e-mails a day to anyone I want for free. Technology has a way of taking the personal out of interpersonal communication.

Please, do me a favor next time you write a message to someone you care about. If you don't already, start it out with "Dear." Tell that someone they are important enough to you for you show some sort of relationship past "I'm meeting you on the street randomly and thought it wouldn't hurt me to say hi."

Sincerely yours,
Daryl

Paranoia

Ever feel like it's all one big setup? Like someone or something is trying to manipulate time and space into submission of it's will? Well, sometimes, if not often, you would be right. And it's not always a bad thing. It can be good. You just gotta take it as it comes and work with it to get positive results.

Life is a fun little challenge, even when you don't get the response you want, or when things don't go your way. There's something hidden in there you haven't seen yet.

This has been "Life's Little Gems" with Wesley

News

Currently Listening
Not Too Late
By Norah Jones
see related

Results

I jumped the gun. Everything tested good for an hour, and the temperatures were acceptable, so I'm back in Ubuntu folding. I'll be posting frame time updates as soon as I get some decent samples.

My processor is overclocked 30% from stock 2.0 to 2.6 GHz. Time for some better numbers (perhaps I can get a unit a day done now).

Overclock, Better Cooling Round

So, I decided it was time to get more out of my hardware, so I'm giving another attempt to over clocking my system. I stopped last time because of cooling problems. Right now, I'm 78% though a memtest86 run. Prime95 is next on the list if I can get it to complete this test fine.

Well, pass one completed. I'm not real worried about the memtest results as with the prime95 findings.

Strange. I just tried running a balanced prime95 torture test, and it kept failing with code 1005, so I gotta figure out what's going on there. I'm running a power consumption test right now while folding@home is running on the other core (prime95 is single core). I'm trying to make sure it is stable while running at 100% for at least an hour. I need to see how hot it's going to get. 50 degrees so far. I should know by 3:30 if the temps are okay. I'm gonna let it run all night if it's doing well enough (make sure it's completely stable).

Time for a soda.

Beautiful Day

For those who didn't spend any time outside today, you all missed out. It's beautiful! I was roller blading in the park for an hour or two. It was warm, but it's been a while since I worked up a good sweat. I love this weather.

Update

Currently Listening
Pages
By Bering Strait
see related

Need

I need something different. I'm starved for social interaction of a meaningful level (being yelled at by the customer because his/her computer isn't fixed yet really doesn't count as much). I also want to spend more time teaching myself new things about computers....

Eh, screw it. I'm gonna go do devotions and read some more in the book we are studying at church. I'll update later.

Case Mod, Day 3

So, woke up sick again. I listened to the sermon from last week on WNAZ. But I'm getting tired of being sick on and off every couple of days.

Well, I got the soldering done... sort of. My case mod stage one is complete for now. I broke one of the new LEDs while soldering it on, so I had to scrap that and go with three replaced LEDs for now. The fourth will have to wait for another order or me to find that shop down town.

I'm also gonna see if I can order that SMA dongle so I can hook up external antennas to my notebook and get better signal strength... and the ability to hook up a directional high gain antenna.

And for those who I haven't told, I didn't get the position at Willis. I'm still looking for any computer related job.

I think I'm gonna go throw up now.

I'm KraZy!

Some times I really think I am. Oh, and I watched Vanilla Sky for the first time tonight (it was on, I was board). I'm waiting for my laundry to finish and working on my computer again. It was a strange movie. I wasn't sure how to take it.

<tangent>

 $sudo mkdir /media/oldinstall 
 $sudo mount /dev/hdc0 /media/oldinstall 
 $ls -a /media/oldinstall 
 #checking contents 
 #this printed entire contents of / on my original Ubuntu install 
 #basically everything I didn't want to have to config all over again 
 $sudo cp -r /boot/grub /media/oldinstall/boot/grub 
 $sudo cp -r /media/oldinstall/* / 
 $echo 'Wee!' 
 

</tangent>

I'm hooked on computers. My desktop alone triple boots now. My notebook dual boots. I'm odd. Oh, I still need to get my remote SSH/apache/file server up and running. I think that's next. I'm gonna go make another cup of coffee and fold clothes while watching VH1 for a while. Then I may work on the server for a bit if my desktop doesn't need anything else. And I feel a round of CounterStrike: Source coming on to celebrate.

That's crazy.

Long Day

Wow. I got to work at 8 am this morning and left at 9 pm (minus an hour for lunch). It's been a while since I pulled a full shift like that. I'm tired. I have to be at work again early tomorrow, so I'm gonna turn in soon.

Before I go, I just wanted to say a few things. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I've made some decisions. One, this fall, there is an opening to work for four months down in Papua New Ginea as a network admin for one of the Nazarene schools. I have decided to pursue that with all my energy. It will be a four month NIVS assignment, so I need to complete all the training (CCO and the like). I would also need to raise support for those four months. A job is going to be difficult to work out, because I will need to resign or get extended leave, and will need something a week or two after I return. God will provide. Second, I'm buying the last two original speakers from this set I bought from Nate. He originally sold them to Mandie, and she was going to put them in storage, so I thought I would save her a buck or two (and unite the set). Third, I purchased a second SDA this past Tuesday to replace my original, which is no longer working correctly. I am going to take it back as soon as I get my pay check next week and get the MDA. The company that makes both is releasing a new phone with all the features of the MDA in the size of the SDA in a few months, but I never buy brand new technology because of the pricing issue. So after I've had the MDA for a year, I might be ready for an upgrade, and the new phone should be cheaper.

Oh, and for those who I haven't spoken with recently, I've been working at CompUSA for about 6 months now, and am so ready to quit. The company is falling apart at the seams, and I'm in no hurry to "stick with it" because of the attitude displayed to me as an employee. I have applied several places and interviewed as well. I'm waiting to hear back from a few and still looking for more opportunities. I have been too stressed about my pay, and I have finally decided I can't take any more. I'm out as soon as possible. I need much better pay and benefits. I need to see a doctor. I need to get my car fixed. I need to have some stability and a savings account. I need God to provide something swiftly and soon if nothing lined up now works out.

I pray you all have a good evening and for those on spring break, hope it was amazing. DW

I'm not an insomniac, I just like nights...

So, yesterday I woke up in the living room after an hour or two of sleep at 1
AM. It was cool. So I bumped the heat up a notch and sat down behind my
computers. Wednesday, I bought a package called Acronis Disk Director Suite . It was explained to me that it works better than Norton Ghost, so I gave it a shot (for $25 employee cost). I used it to transfer my Windows XP Pro 64bit off the RAID 0 array and onto a 120 GB hard drive (it moves data, resizes partitions... just about anything you could need; it takes care of the partition table, MBR, and all that other stuff too. I know this sounds more like an ad than a review, but it's neither. Anyways, works great. Got my data moved. So I was sitting there Saturday morning at 1AM thinking to myself, "What am I gonna do with  the seven hours before I have to go to work?" So I wrote a few e-mails, read a bunch of stuff online, and then remembered that I wanted to install Linux on my main desktop. So I did.  Twice. In the process of attempting to get dual screens working correctly (using the generic method, rather than the restrictive one for my graphics card), I bricked the installation and couldn't figure out how to get back into a terminal to fix it. So I saved some time by starting the reinstall and making breakfast around four or five in the morning. So, I started over, got it working (after a few tries and error messages), and was back up and running. With dual screens. I have this strange "whiter than sour cream" feeling in my head right now. I spent the last hour before work setting up Folding@Home via the SMP client (stupid lib dependencies). I'm around 40% done with my first SMP work unit. At this moment, I'm working on freeing up some space (using Acronis to move data to a larger drive) so I can install World of Warcraft and CounterStrike: Source. Once I'm done with that, who knows... but heck this is fun.  I think I'm gonna just start going to bed as soon as I get home from work and do all this stuff early in the morning when there are no distractions. It's nice and quiet when I leave the radio off. Well, time to be thinking about church and my afternoon plans. God's peace to you all.

Bored Peope = Cool Videos

Links from YouTube via Digg .  Check out the awesome mad pwnage...

Mario addict with music skills
One song, four people, eight treadmills
A lot of vector graphics
The best cellists in the world

And thus the world of boredom goes round and round.  Enjoy the links!

Windows Vista

I found this interesting take on Vista and thought I would share it.  Happy reading: http://chalain.livejournal.com/43015.html

Thought

Currently Watching
The Butterfly Effect (Infinifilm Edition)
By Ashton Kutcher, Melora Walters, Amy Smart, Elden Henson, William Lee Scott, John Patrick Amedori, Irene Gorovaia, Kevin Schmidt (III), Jesse James, Logan Lerman, Sarah Widdows, Jake Kaese, Cameron Bright, Eric Stoltz, Callum Keith Rennie, Lorena Gale, Nathaniel DeVeaux, John Tierney, Kendall Cross, Ted Friend
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Case Mod, Day 2

The other night, I started on that case mod I mentioned.  Theme: "The Punisher" (2003? film version and related publicity imagery found online in about 15 minutes of searching).

First, I had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to tear out four rivets to remove one side of the hard drive mounting brackets because the motherboard is an old AT form factor that is long and short, not tall and narrow like the ATX form of the case.  I didn't need these brackets anyways, because as in most of my systems, this one uses 5.25" front hard drive bays so I can swap out operating systems with the swap of a drive.  I also stripped the side panels and front panel off the case and removed any buttons or lights that I didn't want painted.  Finally, I had to disassemble the front panel because I didn't like the silver trim snapped onto it.

That trim is now painted flat black, with the original coat on the rest of the case being a gloss black.  It gives some texture to the case.  Today - day two - was paint day.  I didn't want to do it inside the apartment, but thanks to the below freezing temperatures, I discovered the bathroom (with exhaust fan) makes a good fume hood to keep the rest of the apartment smelling somewhat normal.  I also cut out the form and masking-taped and painted the skulls on both side panels (the skull is about 7" wide by 10" tall, one side panel is clear cut with masking taped edges, the other has a main coat with misted edges; both are not solid white, but are a misted coat of semi-gloss).  The front of the case (now with trim re-attached) has a small, less detailed skull over the power button (large silver) and reset button (very small silver) that is directly below the first button.  I'm interested in putting these two buttons back on and seeing if I need to paint them or if I'm okay with leaving a little silver.

Day three will be comprised of hunting down an electronics store that sells LEDs and removing three green and one yellow and replacing them with four in the red color.  Also, re-attaching all electronics to the front, securing with hot glue (bought a hi-temp hot glue gun the other day), and remounting all the panels will be on the list.  And of course, I will have the Punisher wallpaper to set up on any/all OSes used on that computer .  I had planned to add some red cathodes to the inside for a nice, bloody ambiance (doesn't make sense? watch the movie...), but my employer no longer carries red in stock, and I will also have to hunt for those (or order from NewEgg, but paying more for shipping than the product doesn't make sense to me).

Photos to come as made possible by my roommate's digital camera.

Folding@Home

No one understands why I want to spend $600 to build a new computer just for the Folding@Home project.  I understand perfectly well; I love computers, and I've found a way to help others out with something I love doing.  I wish I had a better job and could afford to build two systems with about $1500 dedicated to folding 24/7 just to further the project and help my team as well.

I think I'm gonna try and set up some case mods to get my mind off this.

Jobs: It's all Work

I am applying for a position with Metro tomorrow.  Pray all goes as it should according to God's will.  I'm still waiting to hear about a job that came from a former internship, and I just can't wait any more.  Gotta find something to do for the next few years until I figure out how to use my gifts for missions.  I also need to apply at Kansas City (Nazarene Missions HQ). 

I now have dual 19" screens for my desktop.  When I get home from work, I'm hooking them up and gonna try to clean my room real fast.

Um

Okay, so an IT recruiting company called me this morning... looking for VS.NET developers.  Sure, I took a class in school, but I'm not on the what you may call "experienced" side.  I called him back (because he left a message when I couldn't get to it in time), and we chatted for a few brief moments.  He also asked about Trevecca, and though it was very apparent that I wasn't who he was looking for, I put in a quick plug for the IT program there.  Heck, he needs to know they are becoming a force in the IT training market.  Guess I gotta start working on my .NET training.  Everyone wants an ASP or VB.NET guy.  Time to join the dark side.

A Good Workout

I can barely feel my arms right now... let alone lift them.  I love Climb Nashville.

Monkeying on the Rocks

Currently Listening
Wire
By Third Day
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Rendered Heaven

You may notice from the title that I like my new graphics card.  I got it set up yesterday when it came in (right after getting my hair cut).  My computer now has no issues at all rendering any game I play, and I'm thinking it's time for a few more mods to get the rest of the system up to snuff... all in good time.

You should see my hair.

Time for an Upgrade

I've been saving up a little and decided it was time to finally upgrade the graphics on my desktop.  Here's what I picked out: BFG 7950 GT (factory overclocked wiht half a gig of GDDR3).  That should be a nice improvement over the dual XFX 6600s (stock with 128MB of GDDR) I had before.  Should arrive tomorrow.  I can't wait!

That photo

I wish I could claim this photo, but it is actually my mom's work.  She got some really good shots of my nephew this last trip home around Christmas.  I didn't get to go with them because of work.

c0mpu13rs r f1 (Computers are Fun)

1337!  I'm having fun with my computers again!  I've not played World of Warcraft the last few days, and it's been really nice.  I miss the guys, but I'm having more fun shopping and working on my computers.

I finally got the BIOS flashed on my old trashy 400 MHz Celey.  Turns out the program is case sensitive on telling it where the update file is located.  DOS and Windows don't care at all about character case, so that threw me way off.  It was like working on Linux or Unix or something like that!  Now I can use DBAN ( Darik's Boot and Nuke ) on drives larger than the 30GB limit on the old BIOS.

Speaking of Linux, I'm about to install Darwin on one of my systems (not sure which one yet).  It is basically all the open-source (free and thus must be released freely) components Apple uses in OS X (and it is actually most of the system, no wonder it only costs $100, they didn't write much of it themselves to begin with).

Related to that last comment is the fact that I still wanna get my main desktop running Ubuntu/other Linux flavor soon so I can get it folding the SMP client asap.  The SMP client is much faster than the default Windows client, but currently only works on Linux based kernals (Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X).  BTW, Folding@Home is a public "distributed computing" program run by Stanford ( folding.stanford.edu ) aimed at curing diseases/furthering medical research by using my computer when I'm not (anyone who wants to can get involved and let Stanford use their computer, just it's called distributed computing).  I have three systems running 24/7.  I'm hoping that their cancer research in particular succeeds (those of you who know about my dad will understand why).

Speaking of my dad, I wen to Mom and Richard's yesterday after attending a concert at her church in the evening.  I set up her printer that I gave her for Christmas so she can print her own photos now.  While we were finishing the setup, she asked if I could show her how to print something off, and as we where looking through all the photos, I found one that I want to enlarge and frame.  It's a picture of my nephew D.T. at my dad's grave.  he's standing there directly beside the headstone and is bent down just enough to be touching the W in our last name.  I'll try to post it when I get home tonight or before work tomorrow.  I just can't explain how much that photo means to me.  That one picture represents everything to me.  Life, death, and the coming new birth.  The hopeless darkness and lostness that exists and yet the pure, perfect innocence of guiltlessness are summed up in a single moment, beautifully captured.

I miss Dad.

DANCING!

Time to swing again!

Fruit Loops or Vagabonds?

Currently Listening
Final Fantasy VIII
By Nobuo Uematsu
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Brrrr!

Nothing like waking up freezing.  No, the heater isn't broken, my one roommate just prefers having it at about 60 degrees.  I think we're gonna have to have a talk about the electric bill and how ridiculous this is this time of year.  If they really need it to be that cold in here, there are these things called windows they can open and at least save me some money.