Sheep Guarding Llama

Back to the work week. Min drove down to Nunda this morning for her interview with Keshequa High School. She said that it went really well. They said that there were really short on subs right now so that it is very likely that she will be called very soon. The board is voting on her on Thursday.

While Min was out, I got a lot of work done. Tons of new software is available today. The big stuff is from the Mozilla project. First the cutting edge Firebird web browser has changed its name to FireFox and is now available in version 0.8. Also Thunderbird, Mozilla’s email client has advanced to version 0.5. Also, a new graphical web authoring tool, NVU, is also out and is based off of Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine. I was lucky this morning to see that users of NVU were eligible for a free copy of the new Lindows 4.5 Linux operating system. I have been wanting to get a copy for a while to try it out so I am glad that I have one now.

I tried downloading my copy of Lindows today. They say that first impressions are the most important, well here is my first impression. The download site is incredibly busy, and when you go to download a copy of the software, they place you in a queue that you have to wait through before you can begin downloading. That in and of itself isn’t so bad. But the queue is really long. So I waited for six or seven hours in order to begin the download. At 7:15 I attempted to get the download started. The system told me that I didn’t have the right to access the download. And it reloaded the page in such a way that I had no way to back up and start over. So the six hours that I put in waiting for it were wasted and the only thing that I could do was send an email out to their support department and find out that they might get back to me in five business days. That is not very encouraging. So I started the download over again using a different browser to see if that would make a difference. This time when I connected, the queue was at least fifty percent longer than it was before. So now I am waiting for that. It should be ready to start around four or five in the morning.

I had a lunch meeting at the Omega Grill with Joe from The Berry Company to talk about our yellow page ads for the Rochester Southern area phone book. We have two ads going into there in June or so.

Dad came over this afternoon to help out with a few things and then we ordered out some Chinese take out from the Main Moon down on Main St. After dinner, we watched Monsoon Wedding which is still one of my favorite movies. It is a such a beautiful movie through its imagery, story and music.

I moved January over to the archives today. It was a fairly busy month. One of these days I will take the time to look back through all of the archives myself to see where all the time has gone.

I have learned that installing WinZip on Windows XP doesn’t work. You can install it and you can unzip things but it breaks the simple extracting that is built into XP. So you actually lose functionality and simplicity. Integrated decompression is just so handy that once you get used to it, going back to the WinZip style of working with zipped files is just way too cumbersome. Linux showed us how nice it was to have compressed folders work just like regular ones and Microsoft got on the bandwagon and no one will look back now.

Dad liked Monsoon Wedding, believe it or not. We are going to get him into foreign films now 🙂 Dad took off after the film. Min was feeling tired and decided to do some knitting. We watched Bringing Down the House. Min has a lunch meeting tomorrow and I am stuck at home without a car (yes, John Holtz still has my car). So if anyone wants to get lunch with me tomorrow (hint hint) give me a call.

We got Mr. Humpreys out of his cage this evening. We decided that he has been such a good hamster that he should be allowed to run around the house when he wants to. So we put him down on the floor and he went exploring. He disappeared behind the bookcase. We had no idea that there was a space beneath the bookshelf. But Mr. Humphreys went right for it and disappeared. When he finally poked his head back out, he had something huge stuffed in his cheek. He went for his ball that was on the floor and I let him back up into his cage. When he got to his cage, he unloaded part of his chew stick from his cheek. Apparently, when he escaped last week, he took his chew stick with him and stashed it under the bookcase. He left little stashes of food all over the house that we had already found in corners but we had no idea that he had a huge chew stick under the bookcase. We thought that that was really funny.

I got up this morning at 8:30 thinking that it was 9:30 so I got a good start on the day. I didn’t realize what time it was until after I had showered and gotten ready for church and looked at the clock and time had gone backwards. So, Min made me breakfast. She made croissant sandwiches with egg, cheese and fake ham. Mr. Humphreys even got up for a little bit to visit with us.

I have finally done the web log analysis for 2003 for Sheep Guarding Llama. I use the program Analog to do the analysis. I think that it is really intersting to see the data for the site for the year. So I posted the analysis to the site so that everyone could check it out. Here is the 2003 SGL Web Logs. I sure got a kick out of looking at it. The really cool part is to see just how many readers we have had. It is amazing how many people read the site everyday! It is very obvious which months I was getting busy and wasn’t able to update the site on a regular basis because the readership dropped off but as soon as I started posting again, it came right back up.

Min and I made it to church over at LaGrange with dad and then headed over to Leicester to visit for a little while with Grandma before lunch. When Grandma went to lunch we headed back to the house and packed the car so that we could drive out to Frankfort to visit with Min’s family. We went first over to Denny’s to get some lunch. I had a hankering for the fish and chips because they are the only place around that I know of that has cod instead of halibut and that is often what I am in the mood for. We got through lunch pretty quickly and hit the road east around 2:00.

We had a good visit. One of the main reasons for the visit was to pick up the wedding pictures that we had out there (fifteen roles worth!) and to get the wedding videos that Min’s dad had taken. We are hoping to get the pictures all scanned in (this will take a little while, my dad is planning on getting a film scanner and we are holding out for that since the quality will be better and it will be way easier to use) and the videos transferred to digital so that they will be available for download from our site. Eventually all of the wedding pictures will be over there. There are just so many of them. It took hours to upload the ones that are there already and there aren’t all that many.

We decided today that we really need to start using our cameras more. I still have my good Nikon 5005 analogue camera that I got when I was sixteen or so plus we have the Olympus Camedia D-460 digital that isn’t anything impressive but works well for what it is. So we took the Camedia along with us to get into the habit of taking it places and using it. I had purchased a 128MB memory stick for it not so long ago so it is able to hold like 588 images or so at the lower quality setting which is pretty nice. That is a ton.

We didn’t get home until almost 1:00 am so Min had to get straight to bed because she has a relatively early interview down at Keshequa High School in Nunda for subbing (not that they will ever call just like York, Pavilion and whoever else approved her hasn’t!) But it is good to get her available at as many places as possible so that at least there is a chance that they will call her. The real problem here is that there are so many out of work teachers that they are getting all of the substitute positions first. That makes it really hard for someone who isn’t certified to sub at all. I have a noon metting tomorrow over at the Omega Grill with my rep from the Yellow Pages. The funny thing is that he works in the same office as Leanne. He is meeting me down here in Geneseo because my car is still in the shop and I can’t get anywhere. We have to talk about getting Niagara Telecom’s ad into the southern area yellow pages. Right now, we are just in the Rochester one. So anyway, we got home late and I spent some time hanging out with the hamster because he gets lonely without me. So while we were playing I took some pictures of him because I know that everyone has been dying to see our really cute little hamster. So here he is! I hope this image isn’t too huge to download. Sorry if it takes forever.

It has been a long time since I put a photo in the dailies so I think that I am due for one. And it is by baby hamster so I want everyone to see him. He is such a sweetie. We love him so much. He still has not bitten anyone. He is the best hamster ever.

By the way, I know a lot of you out there work with digital pictures and feel that you have to buy expensive photo editiing software to be able to do anything powerful and so most of you stick with the awful free tools that come with scanners and cameras and stuff. I use the open source product called The GIMP, which stands for the Gnu Image Manipulation Program. The GIMP is one of the big three pro photo editing tools available today. And it is totally free. It is a really nice package. The biggest drawback is that it is not easy to learn to use. But, there are a couple of good books about it that you can pick up anywhere or through Amazon. But, I suggest that you give it a try. Get the power without spending the money. And the people who put the time into making it do it just for the appreciation that is generated from happy users. So go out and appreciate. You can download either the current stable version or the latest and greatest (currently 2.0 prelease number 2) development version, both for Windows, from HERE. So what are you waiting for?

If you do install The GIMP, you will need to first install the GTK library (which is on the same site) before installing The GIMP itself. Don’t worry, this is painless. Then just install The GIMP. If you are not running Windows XP, then you will need to download WinZip first. One of the really nice features of The GIMP is that it reads both Photoshop and PaintShop files so that you can work easily with people using the other major image manipulation programs. I am using the experimental 2.0 version because I like to live on the edge and see new features first. But I am brave and daring.

It is nice to know that the following is still in place even after a long week without updates. No sooner did I post this morning than Emily emails me something about the new content. Nice to know that we have loyal readers.

Well, I have really fallen behind on the updates, haven’t I? My laptop died while I was working on a couple of days of updates last week and I had to completely reinstall Windows XP onto it and that took two days and then I had to reinstall all of my software onto it that I had had and get my files back and everything and in the process, I fell way behind. So I am attempting today to do a little bit of catching up. I have some time to myself this morning while Min is sleeping. She worked last night and we had the Friday night game here. We had seven people make it so that was pretty cool. That game is a LOT of fun once you start getting enough people playing it.

As always, I am on the hunt for ridiculous website. So, here is the website Better Than Life. I am not sure what this is but isn’t it weird. Take a look at the cats. Hopefully soon I will start posting pictures of Mr. Humphries because I know that everyone wants to see him.

Andy took Tony home this morning and then hit the road for the great white North. We are not sure how long he is going to be up there visiting Miranda but he should be back sometime during the week. He was supposed to go into work this week in Buffalo to meet with BOC so they could talk about what he is doing now that he is back in the area and when he might be going back but they won’t call him. He called BOC as soon as he got in and has been calling them all week but they are just ignoring his calls. When he left Puerto Rico, they told him that he would probably be coming back down in two weeks but that they would give him one week’s notice before he had to be back down. But they are already up to that point and no one will even talk to him. Just a line they fed him hoping that he wouldn’t go looking for another job. What a bunch of crooks.

I am downloading Fedora Linux today to give it a try. Fedora is the successor to the infamous Red Hat dynasty. Red Hat gave up on making their own free Linux product but turned over what they were doing to the Fedora project. So I am giving Fedora a try to see how it is. I have always been a really big SuSE fan and it will be pretty hard to persuade me to use anything else regularly but I want to have some experience on it and see how it is. It is always nice to try something different anyway. Now that I am able to load multiple operating systems onto my main computer and run them in emulation windows, I can easily try out all kinds of neat stuff. So I figured that it was the perfect time to give Fedora a try. I need to know how reactive Linux is going to be running on Virtual PC 2004 because I am thinking about not buying that second computer that I was sure I was going to get (I still really want a Frag Gear Shuttle XPC) but instead just beefing up my main computer and running Linux in a Virtual PC windows instead. It won’t be as fast but I want have to run ANOTHER computer in my office just to have the functionality of two. Plus then I can have a screaming fast main machine instead of two pretty fast ones, use less electric, make less noise, take up less room and have lots of power to run tons of experimental stuff on my desktop. I am excited about the idea, I hope that it really works.

I made myself some Miso soup for lunch. I had to mention that because that isn’t something that you do everyday.

Fedora installed on Virtual PC 2004 really easy. In fact, even more easily than installing on a regular computer. The VPC allows you to mount CD images (ISOs) that are located on the hard drive instead of having to burn them to CD first. That is one of the handiest features that I could possibly imagine. What a time saver. And for me who has to get up and walk around his desk everytime he needs to change a CD it is especially nice to be able to switch CDs that way. I am really impressed with this software. I think a lot of people would benefit from having VPC installed (although they, and I, recommend at least 1GB of memory!) Fedora ran quite nicely and look absolutely gorgeous. It couldn’t be easier to use. It works fast enough to really use too. And it connected to the network right out of the box. I didn’t have to do anything to get online; it was able to update itself immediately. I am very, very impressed.

Dad came over for dinner tonight at 5:30. Min made Quorn Pot Pie with a mushroom soup base. It was really good. And we tried out Perry’s new French Silk Pie ice cream for dessert. That was really good too. Dad hung out until 8:30 but had some work to get done so he had to take off.

Min and I decided that since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner (one week from today) that we owed it to ourselves to get As Time Goes By Series 6. So we drove up to Rochester and tried both Media Play and Borders and neither of them had it. It has been out for almost a week and no one is stocking it yet. I am not sure what logic they are using because they both price it $8 higher than Amazon and since Amazon can get it to you on the day of release, what is the benefit of going to a brick and mortar store? As far as I can tell, the only advantage to the old business model is that you can hop in the car and drive to the store and get what you want right now. But the reality is, you just can’t for most things. You would not believe how many times Min and I run to the store to get something that we are willing to pay tons more for just so that we have it right away and end up looking at three or four stores and then giving up and ordering from Amazon anyway. And consistently, Amazon gives us better service than the regular stores too. So online I get products faster, cheaper, more conveniently and with better customer service. Hmmm. No wonder online shopping is making such an impact. So, Min and I gave up and headed home. Once again made fools of for thinking that Borders would be the right choice for anything other than browsing.

Today is the big game. We skipped the Friday night game last week so everyone is really looking forward to it this week. I worked at home during the day. Just the usual. Andy and I went out to Aunt Cookies for some lunch and did a little shopping at Walmart and Wegmans. I had to pick up some earplugs because the sound of all of the computers in the basement is really getting bad. There are eight computers right around my desk that run all of the time and it is way past the OSHA safe sound limits. I have been getting terrible headaches from being down in the office and I have been having problems with my eyes recently that might be connected to it. So I got some earplugs and gave them a try. They seem to be working wonderfully. I can barely hear a thing when I am downstairs but I see the phone ring (it lights up) so that isn’t a big deal.

Min slept for a little while, about four hours. Then she did some work and watching movied this afternoon. She finished watching Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India which we almost got to finish last night.

Jeremy was the first one over for the game tonight. He came over just before six. Andy had to run up to the city to send back that stolen software that was sent to him and then he went to his parent’s house to visit for a little while then he and Tony came down after that. Phil and Kate came over and Josh. Art was the last one over at 9:20 or so. We got set up and the games began. Min and Kate watched DVDs while we played. Min had to go to work tonight so she didn’t join in for a game. The first game was the big one, 3×4. Josh, Phil and I vs. Art, Andy, Tony and Jeremy. Unfortunately for Andy, Josh and I found him first and he was out of the game in twenty minutes or so. Then it was 3×3 and eventually we took them. After that, Phil and Kate had to get home so they took off and we reorganized teams. Then we played two games of Art, Jeremy and I vs. Tony, Andy and Josh. My team won both of those games making me the only person to win all three games and Phil and I to tbe the only two players to not lose a game all evening. We had a good time and wrapped up around 3:30. So it wasn’t nearly as late as it could have been.

Everyone had a lot of fun playing with my Smart Mass. I have had it for a while, since a year ago Christmas, but apparently no one has had a chance to see it yet.

I wanted to go out and get some food after the game but I forgot that I don’t have a car right now. That kind of sucks. Hopefully I will be getting it back sooner or later. John Holtz has had my car for over a week now! Just for the stupid tires.

Today I installed the Trial version of Microsoft’s brand new product Virtual PC 2004 (formally Connectix.) So far, I am super impressed with this product. What an awesome tool this is. VPC creates a “software computer” that you can use just like it is a seperate computer from your real computer only it runs right on top of the operating system. What that means is, I can install other operating systems on top of Windows XP (or 2000) and use both at the same time. Obviously this slows things down a little bit but for 99% of the stuff that I do, it works perfectly. I have a real copy of the software coming in about a week but the trial lasts for 45 days so I figured that I would download it and gets cracking on it before it actually arrived.

Virtual PC 2004 is really easy to use. I can’t believe how easy they made it and how well it works (so far.) It is like you have a little monitor, right there on your desktop and you can watch the computer start up and you can boot off of CD or floppy or anything you want. It is really awesome. You can even save an ISO image to your desktop (an ISO is the filetype that you use to burn a CD from) and you can tell VPC to use that image instead of the CD drive and it can boot from there. That is about the handiest feature ever. It makes it so easy to try out new software and operating systems it isn’t even funny.

I did a bit of work today attempting to move stuff over from the web server that we have been using to the new one that we are switching to. I want to get things switched over quickly because I want to be able to shut some computers down. There are too many computers running here right now and three of them are not needed but I have to port over the applications that they are using before I can turn them off. I need the space and the quiet, not to mention all the electricity that they are using.