Been killing time this morning after work downloading and trying out some new themes and backgrounds for my laptop. Kind of like the general look of things so far.
Background is called ‘GreenGnomeDebug’ from gnome-look.org and the theme is called ‘Ubuntu-Dawn-X’ from the same site. Took some basic fiddling to get things the way I wanted them but so far, so good.
Think I’ll call it a day. 
Most people come up with some resolutions for the new year that most will never follow up on. They range from losing weight to saving more to doing better at something to who knows what else. We all tend to fall back on our set ways in a few weeks or so. I thought long and hard about what mine might be and decided on not spending as much time on the internet as I used to.
Now, THAT got your attention didn’t it? Actually, my intention is to eliminate the social networks that I gain no real benefit from in all reality. I won’t go on to mention them all here as most of the readers of this humble blog don’t even know where to find me on them. My reasoning however, is this: Why take precious time out of the day to scroll endlessly over postings that really have no interest for me in the first place? One such social network that has blossomed has become such a hodge-podge of add-on applications that it’s more like a carnival than a social networking app. But, hey! To each their own.
My idea is simple. To cull the networks that I’ve not really gained much benefit from in the past year. To keep the ones that have kept my interests peaked and inspired me to try new things as well as learn more about what interests me. This is not to say I’ve become snide or elitist but, more to the point, I’m becoming more focused on my interests and trying to fine tune them.
I like Twitter for it’s ‘real time’ updates. You can’t beat it IMHO. As things happen, it hits this social network almost immediately. I like my Google Reader for more in depth information that I can catch up on when I have the time. Tweetmeme has it’s place in my bookmarks as well for the technology tag. Alltop is a source for stories that cater to my interests too.
Music and Video interests are focused on Youtube, Hulu and Last.fm Pandora for the time being.
There are some blogs that I subscribe to that interest me in this mix that have to do with SEO, web hosting, GNU/Linux and friends whom I’ve made it a point to keep up with as their families grow and experience things in life. These I won’t let go of as they mean something to me.
It’s the time-wasters that I have nothing for anymore. The ones whose creators have been quoted as not caring for your privacy anyway, the ones that don’t do much more than leave another place on the ‘net for your private information to get scraped are on the chopping block.
I may come across something that might prove interesting but it’ll be on a trial basis for a while to see if it actually allows me to benefit from it. Guess that may sound odd to some but hey! Like I said previously, I’m in this to gain knowledge and to share it when I can. I’d expect the same from anyone else.
So, if you had seen me on some other social network and now you don’t, my account closed…guess that means it was one of those that got the axe today and that I won’t be back. I kind of doubt that I’ll be missed.
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Jan 14
I’m sure that all of us have by now seen the horrifying scenes streaming to us from the small island of Haiti where countless thousands have been suffering from the impact of the earthquake earlier this week. My heart goes out to them as they begin the long, slow climb out of the massive destruction that was left in the powerful earthquake’s wake. Thousands have died and many thousands more are hurt.
Countries across the globe are banding together to send aid to Haiti in many forms from food/water to medical help to search & recovery teams and more. This showcases the spirit of the people in a way that no other can. We, the people of Earth, CAN work together in times of need. We DO care about our brothers and sisters across the globe. Unfortunately, it often times takes a tragedy such as this for it to come out and be seen.
I saw a huge jetliner from China on the tarmac today on the news with one of the occupants holding the Chinese flag high above them. China came to Haiti’s aid. With all the bad we often hear from China, the latest being a hack on Yahoo, Adobe Reader and Google traced back to their country, it makes you feel better knowing that they too have the capacity to care about a small country like Haiti who is in dire need.
This post is in no way meant to bash any country or be political in any form or fashion. More to the point, it’s meant to say thanks to the many nations across the globe for caring enough to help.
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Jan 11
Just an FYI folks, this is not a poll to bash any operating system. More to the point, it’s just an informal poll to allow me to see what it is that the folks that read this blog as well as the ones that follow me on Twitter, use for their everyday computing. Nothing more, nothing less. So, if you’d feel so inclined as to add your info, I’d be obliged.
Just to kick things off, I use both Linux Mint (8) [laptop] and Win7 [desktop] with Ubuntu 8.04 server edition with Ebox as a home file/print server [2nd desktop]. The laptop is used for my everyday computing needs and the desktop is for movies, games and music thanks to the surround sound system connected to it.
Jan 11
From the perspective of a 53 year old male who is into SciFi anyway, this movie is one of the most awesome I’ve seen in a long time. The special effects just blew me away which is good actually because the ticket price to get in to see the 3-D version had me stunned. I’m no tight-wad but $22 to admit two adults in to see a movie is a bit much even these days. Just glad we took a pass on the concessions.
In any event, all the hype and hoopla I’d been hearing was right on the mark. The best scenes were NOT the ones from the commercials, they were pretty much each scene in this nearly 2 3/4 hour long movie. The special effects were very well done. James Cameron deserves all the accolades he’s been getting from this one. I’m hearing that Avatar is reaching the mark that Titanic did as far as box office receipts goes too.
I know you’ve heard this before but, if you can swing it…you need to go see this movie! It truly is one of a kind!
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Jan 10
Today marks a day of fixes here and rightly so. Got the ‘ol home file/print server going although, not with the box I intended to use. It had way too many issues to be of good use. I’m going to recycle it after removing the hard drives. I wound up using the Lenovo box with the 320 gb hard drive and installing Ubuntu 8.04 server edition with Ebox. Works like a charm and the file sharing was easier than I originally thought.
I also found a cure for the sound issues on my Win7 box and I was amazed at how many others were also experiencing the same problem. Anyway, below is the fix for the ‘no sound while dvd plays in win7′ issue:
Basically go to Sound -> Speakers (right clic) -> Properties -> Advanced -> Uncheck : “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device”.
Now, I’m going to enjoy a movie and kick back for a while.
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Jan 7
This is what’s coming our way this morning at roughly 8:20am this Thursday morning. Alabama’s version of snow, ice and who knows what’s next. Personally, if I can make to work and back later…I’m good. I just hope that the icing is to a minimum so noone gets hurt today or tonight.
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Jan 3
I previously mentioned in another post about wanting to set up my own home server for file and print duties using one of my Lenovo desktops. Well, a few things have occurred recently that put the cork back in the bottle on that project.
First, I’ve run into a glitch with the Win7 box not playing any sound when a DVD movie is played. still working on that one but it led me back to playing them (DVD movies) on my other desktop that I was going to install the home server on. Add to that that my first attempt at installing the home server ended up with it not being able to access any updates due to some unforeseen hiccup during installation that prevented it from reaching the Ubuntu repositories. Of course, around that time, things at work had my attention so the home server project took a back seat for a time. Until now.
After rethinking things through somewhat, I’ve now decided to try this again except this time I’m going to use an older machine that is sitting in my closet. It has 2 hard drives (a 120 Gb and a 160 Gb) and should theoretically work out with the system on the smaller drive and data storage on the other larger one. Seeing as Linux works so well with older machines, this may be the best way to re-use the computer. I’ve found a tutorial about using two hard drives for a server configuration so I’m thinking this very well may be the ticket for my purposes. Thing is, the tutorial uses Ubuntu 7.10 server and I’ll be using 8.04. I’m hoping things will be fairly similar but am expecting it not to be. Either way, the experience will be worth it.
So, the plan for today is to get the older machine out of the closet, cleaned up, inspected and ready for use. Tomorrow, I’ll begin the project by acquiring the extra cable for the hook-up to my network’s router or switch, set up the area that the server will occupy permanently and attach the keyboard and monitor. After that, installing and configuring the system.
If anyone has any suggestions, tips and/or recommendations…I’d love to hear them. 
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Scott Wilson is an avid Linux user who enjoys testing different distro's of Linux from time to time, the occasional SciFi show and classic rock music. He's also an avid supporter of Open Source software and an Auburn Tigers fan.
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