morrowlife

Here’s a Great Work of Aboriginal Art, courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Two (photo by Loyal Reader Number Four, I believe). Good work, mate! Crikey!

It was an eventful weekend. Loyal Reader Number Four left on Saturday afternoon and she andLoyal Reader Number Five are together in Park City, Utah for a few days with the McCulloch Women’s Clan. It sounds like they’re having a good time. We miss you, LRN4, in spite of the fact that you bought us food before you left so we won’t starve. We also miss LRN5, of course, but we don’t normally get to see her quite as often.

We got serious about the Computer on a Dime on Saturday evening. They were having a great sale at Fry’s on an AMD Athlon 64 with a decent motherboard, so I got it and the other necessary parts to make a new computer. I went slightly over budget, but still got an excellent deal on a very powerful computer. We got it put together and installed the 64-bit version of Fedora Core 5, which is my favorite Linux. It wasn’t really hard to put it together, but getting it up and running was a little more time-consuming. First, we had the jumpers for the hard drive (100 MB for fifty bucks) and the DVD burner mixed up, so we had to take them back out and get them right. We started downloading Fedora’s six CDs, and we tried to install a couple of live CD Linuxes in the meantime. Unfortunately, neither of the live CDs (Knoppix and Ubuntu) could format the hard disk. I finally decided to install (shudder) Windows (link warning: Windows sounds) to get the drive formatted. It worked, and by the time that was done, the first of the Fedora disks was available, so we immediately got rid of Windows and got the real installation going. Unfortunately, the download took overnight, so we didn’t get the whole thing installed until Sunday morning, after which we took a couple more hours to download and install all the updates.

Our goal was to make the computer “headless,” which means that it has no keyboard, monitor, or mouse. We borrowed those items from LRN4’s computer (thanks!) to get it going, and then got a VNC server installed and running properly. Now we can access the Linux box from any of the other computers just as if we were logged directly in to it. It’s truly a thing of beauty.

I started playing with Wine (the software, not the beverage!) last night. I think it’s still not ready for prime time (link warning – cheesy TV sound), but I’ll see what I can get installed and working. For those still trying to crack the Linux code, Wine is software that tries to emulate Windows on a Linux machine, allowing you to run any Windows programs you absolutely need while keeping your computer Microsoft-free. It’s a great idea that’s getting a lot of attention, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

Next up: the case mod (although probably not before we get into the new house).

Loyal Reader Number One was sick this weekend. He couldn’t go to church, so LRN2 and I went by ourselves. Fortunately, LRN1 is feeling better now. In fact, he was well enough for a heapin’ helpin’ of Hungry Man this evening. That ought to be enough proof of his complete recovery for anyone.

Time to hit the jacuzzi. See you tomorrow.

Here’s yet another picture of the little train we rode several days ago. I think this looks just like some of your more famous train pictures, don’t you? What a great train.

Today was my off Friday, so I only worked about five hours and then did one phone call at home. Easy day! Man is the work piling up there. Extended Bearing Down is required just to keep up there.

Spent some time with Loyal Readers One and Two in the pool this afternoon. Great relaxation. Later, Loyal Reader Number Four and I went to the grocery store to buy food for the boys and I to eat while she’s away on her girls’ trip next week. We have plenty of TV dinners, taquitos, popsicles, and breakfast food. We’ll survive. On the opposite side of the spectrum, she made us a great dinner tonight. I figure she wants to create a contrast between when she’s here and when she’s not, causing us to miss her more. Not necessary, of course, but the difference will probably be dramatic indeed. I’m sure we’ll enjoy our TV dinners, though.

Inspired by Design On a Dime, I’ve decided to work on a Computer On a Dime. I want a reasonably-powered Linux machine for experimenting, and I’m trying to figure out how to get it for two hundred bucks or less. I’m looking for a 2 GHz motherboard and processor for about a hundred dollars, an eighty or hundred gigabyte hard drive for fifty bucks, 512 MB of memory for thirty dollars, and a case for about twenty. I have a CD drive already. This is really a challenge, but I think we’ll be able to do it. Loyal Readers are invited to keep an eye out for sales and let me know. Or they could just donate hardware if they prefer.

Phase two of this project will be a case mod. Loyal Reader ideas for this phase are also invited.

A quiet weekend is planned. We take LRN4 to the airport on Saturday afternoon and go to Manteca for church and to pick up the modified pool plans on Sunday. Otherwise, we’re pretty much unplanned. Maybe something fun will come up.

Otherwise, see you on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Here’s a picture from the Secret Undisclosed Location, courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Two. I won’t reveal the exact function of this room except to say that we expect a lot of rumpusing to go on there.

It turns out that one of my brothers-in-law is a little more famous than I had realized. Way to go, Loyal Reader Number Zero! On the other hand, my father isn’t doing very well at all.

Well, we made it through the induction ceremony – turns out it was more for the parents than the kids! – and the house and pool walkthroughs. We detected a small mistake in the pool design, which they have agreed to fix before construction begins. We also found several nits but no really serious problems in the house. This builder really seems to make a quality product. Check back with me in a year or so and see if that opinion still holds.

Anyway, we’re all exhausted. Poor little Belle had to spend the entire day in her box, but she seems fine tonight.

The one problem with going to the walkthrough is that we’re now more anxious than ever to get moved in. The place is beautiful and relatively roomy (could be better, but it’ll be just fine) and we are really ready to have our own things and our own home again. There is a lot of landscaping and interior designing to be done, and we’re anxious to get started doing it. Only two more weeks and it’s all ours!

We got a call from Loyal Reader Number Five around mid-day. She had apparently recently been to see her doctor, and she now knows the gender (link warning – cute baby picture that doesn’t disclose any Top Secret Information) of her baby! I’m not telling, of course, but she can feel free to add an appropriate comment if she chooses. All I can say is that I’m really excited about the whole thing. We need to start buying baby presents right away! I wonder how (he or she) would like a new computer. Or maybe a 42-inch plasma television. (He or she) could use them whenever (he or she) comes to visit us. I think I’ll get that neat-o baby wipe heater to keep at (his or her) house.

Well, I want to read some tonight, so bye.

It kind of looks like this poor caroussel horse is trapped in a full-body leather mask, doesn’t it? Poor thing. I wonder what he did.

Tomorrow is a big day for us! We’re doing both the house and pool walkthroughs up in Lardville, and the boys are going to Salida for their School Induction Ceremony. I think they have to take a test or something. We have to leave pretty early, so I have to get up on schedule on my vacation day! That’s just wrong.

We watched a DVD with a bunch of old Monk episodes tonight. Always enjoyable. The three of us boys also got haircuts. We look great, if I do say so myself.

The History Channel is running shows about pirates. I think it’s merely a coincidence that Disney is releasing their big pirate movie this week, don’t you? I wonder if those guys ever wrapped a horse in leather. Bad people.

Bedtime seems to come earlier every night. See you tomorrow, with news on the multiple walkthroughs.

Following up on yesterday’s Great Art, here’s a fearsome steed from the Los Gatos caroussel. In fact, this was my Personal, Private Horse. He tried to throw me several times, but I showed him who was boss.

I’m enjoying having the comments on the main page. It makes it feel much more like a conversation than before. Keep making those comments, Loyal Readers!

Loyal Reader Number Four spent a lot of time today getting some of the details of the new house lined up – insurance, power, water, sewer, garbage, phone, internet, television, and . . . and . . . maybe that’s it. Still, that’s a lot, and she did great work on it. It looks like the combination of phone/DSL/satellite is somewhat cheaper and probably better than phone/cable modem/cable TV. The big kicker is that the Comcast people don’t include TCM with their basic service here, and the DirecTV people do include BYU TV. Who can argue with that? DSL is a little cheaper than cable internet, but I’m really worried about the speed. Still, it might be worth it to give them a chance. Besides, I’m really sick of Comcast’s brand of service.

Loyal Reader Number One got a book called Applied Cryptography at the library today. I enjoy the topic and hope he does too. Maybe we’ll see some new crypto programs coming from Gardenville Software soon.

Early finish tonight. Hasta manana.