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Not much going on around here lately. The last two days I have been working on backing my computers and getting ready for upgrades. The new version of Ubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon was released today. I am in the process of updating my Linux system now. Hopefully their servers aren’t getting hammer too bad. Ubuntu is so nice. Linux has come a long way.

Next Friday Mac OS X Leopard comes out. I will be out of town over the weekend, but I will be upgrading my Macs the following week. I have never installed an Apple OS, but something tells me it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier than installing Windows is.

I found a nice piece of backup software for Windows called Cobain Backup. My Windows machine now gets backed up to my NAS every night. I have been waiting on a Mac solution until I see how Time Machine works in Leopard. I wish Internet speeds in the US weren’t so damn slow. I would love to backup my stuff online also, but it’s not really practical with my slow ass upload speeds.

Another thing I have been playing around with is OpenDNS. It was super simple to set up, and adds a lot of cool features. I now have the ability to block any site from all computers on my network. I am not going to block anything, but it’s cool to be able to do it. This would be a really good solution for a parent. I am just blocking phishing sites currently. Another cool thing about it is that it can correct typos. If I accidentally type cm instead of com it corrects it for me. Pretty slick. I can also set up keywords to websites. I set up g for Google. I just type g and bingo, I am at Google. The best part of it is that it works on every system on my network.

Ok, I guess I have been up to a lot of stuff.

So I am sitting here watching football and heard a big loud boom. The Li-ion battery for my camcorder just exploded. It melted the cary strap on our camera case, put a hole in the curtains, and melted and burt a few spots on our carpet. Something tells me this isn’t normal. Now I am a little scared of Li-ion batteries. No more leaving the cell phones or laptops charging overnight.

Last weekend the video card in my computer fried. I don’t know how it happened. It must have gotten too dusty or something. I have tried it in a few different computers and I get the same garbled mess on the screen. I am currently using a crappy ten-year-old video card I had laying around. The crappy resolution is driving me nuts, so today I went shopping on Newegg. I went a little crazy. I got a video card, more RAM and a bigger hard drive for my MacBook, and a little portable surge protector. My MacBook will be all set for Leopard when it comes out later this month.

So I am sure you have heard about Radioheads newest album by now. They are offering it up online has a pay what you want to pay plan. A lot of people think that is crazy, but I think it’s a genius plan. It almost makes me want to buy it to support them, but I am not much of a Radiohead fan.

The reason I think this is genius is because anybody who wants it for free is going to get it for free anyways. Giving it away would make sure the best quality it available. People unfamiliar with the band might check it out, like it, and then go and buy their other albums and go to their concert. Casual fans might only give them five bucks, but true fans might actually give more than a CD would cost. I know I would pay $30 for a Weezer or Motion City Soundtrack CD but not so much for others. If fans know the money they are paying for music goes directly to the artist, and not to the label and the RIAA, I am sure they would be more willing to buy music.

Now with big names like Nine Inch Nails and Madonna ditching their record labels, the end of record labels and we know them might be coming to an end. It’s time for them to evolve or become extinct.

I am currently working the night shift. When I am on the night shift I usually stay up late on my days off to keep the same sleeping patterns. It also gives me some “me” time. I enjoy a few hours everyday by myself to geek out. When I am on the day shift I get up early every day to make for this time.

Tonight I was planning on watching my Netflix movie, but now loser Brother-in-Law in hogging the TV. He frickin’ stays up all fucking night. Last night he was up until 4:30 AM. It’s driving me nuts. Then he tried to convince us that he went to class at 7:30 AM. whatever. He has hardly been to class at all the last two weeks. He is finally starting to piss the wife off, so hopefully something will change around here.

We told him he should get a cell phone the other day. He said he didn’t need one. Then today the wife couldn’t find her phone. He said he must have accidentally put it in his pocket. Whatever. I checked and he made six or seven calls when he was gone.

We are heading out of town this weekend and I am nervous as fuck. I can almost guarantee that he is going to have a party at our place. I hope he doesn’t trash the place, but then maybe that would get his ass kicked out of here.

Why is Columbus Day a holiday? So what if the guy never knew about the western hemisphere. People were already living here. It’s not like he discovered something nobody knew about.

I don’t know if I mentioned it on here before or not, but my brother-in-law Matt is living with us now while he goes to school. It was the wife’s idea. I didn’t really want him living here, but I agreed to help the kid out. I thought we should charge him rent, but the wife didn’t want to. Charging him rent wasn’t about the money for me. It was more about teaching the kid some responsibility. I never lived anywhere rent free. As soon as I graduated high school my Mom was charging me rent. Matt pretty much is a lazy ass. All he does is sleep and play video games.

The main thing I hate is that I don’t get as much “Me” time. He stays up late and always seems to be on my computers or hogging the TV. I noticed he was up until 3:00 this morning on my computer, so of course he didn’t go to school today. Everybody says you should go to college right after high school, but I am not sure I agree with that. Some kids aren’t ready for college right after high school. I took a couple years off after high school. I moved in with a buddy, and partied my ass off. Once I got that out of my system I was ready to concentrate on school and did quite well. I think Matt should have taken some time off until he was ready for college, but we will see. I think the only reason he is going is because his family wants him to, and that is not a ticket for success. You have to go to school because YOU want to be there. I doubt he makes it a year, but we will see.

I am debating whether I should buy one of these or not. This site has some nice looking skins.

It’s been a while since I have had the time to sit down and blog. Here are a few things I was planning on blogging about, but never got around to them this past week.

It’s sad to see on of my favorite podcasts Net@Nite might be ending. I hope Leo and Amber can find something to do together. I always looked forward to Net@Nite every week.

Dashboard Confessional have a cover of “El Scorcho” on their MySpace page. Great song. it’s been a while since I have listened to Pinkerton. It makes me miss 1996.
I loved the September 30th User Friendly comic. So simple, yet so funny. Brings back memories of playing around with calculators back in elementary school.
And last, but not least cats in sinks.

So if you follow me on twitter you would know about the hail we got Wednesday night. It’s been pretty crazy around here and I haven’t had time to blog about it. That was the biggest hail I have ever seen. Most if it was golf ball, but there were a few that we close to baseball size. Of course our cars weren’t in the garage. There was $1000 worth of damage to each of our cars. I don’t think my 10 year old truck is worth fixing. It has many other dings and scratches in it. It’s my baby. It only has 43,000 miles on it. It’s in super good shape, but for $1000 I think I can live with a few more dings in it. Our Jeep on the other hand is only three years old. I will be bring that it to get it fixed.

We were on the roof yesterday looking for damage up there. I didn’t find much. Just some dents on the roof vent. While I was up there, the neighbor had an adjuster looking at his roof. The adjuster said my neighbor had enough damage to get his roof replaced and that I should call my insurance agent. Our adjuster will be here sometime next week. It wouldn’t be a bad deal to get our shingles replaced. They are 14 years old and will need replacement in the not to distant future. It would be nice to get it done for free.