Weird Beer

2005-11-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

Weird Beer is my other blog. Only updated when Weird-Beer gatherings occur. Kinda fun.

Linux LiveCD w/ iTunes Support on Laptop

2005-11-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Decided aginst MCE PC. Easier to simply play music from optical toslink to reciever. I have decided on a new project. I have an old laptop (Toshiba Satellite 4010CDT) onto which I would like to load a linux livecd that can play .m4a files. Finding a livecd distro with this capability out-of-the-box it proving more difficult than I expected. I posted in many UseGroups and searched everywhere. Hopefully there is one out there...

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

2005-04-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01this is a cool little site I found somewhere. I will probably put some more up here in the next few days.

FIRST Robotics Team

2005-04-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Okay. The job kinda sucks, but I won't flame it too much (no matter how much I REALLY want to). However, the perk is I get to work with some kids on the schools robotics team. I have started a website and blog for this as well. More to come on that though. File server upgrade went well. Able to run a file system integrity check on the ext3 drive. Next, get VNC running for it (too lazy to walk accross the room). More later....

Gainful Employment...

2005-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

I started a new job on the first of this month as the Technology Technician of North White County School Corporation. Thirty to forty minute commute. Summary of responsibilities includes maintaining printers and client/server hardware as well as sponsoring/mentoring an after-school robotics program. Three elementary schools, and an integrated middle/high school with LOTS of 9x clients. Many without an antivirus solution installed or with a corrupted installation. The client machines are not bad. Most only require a bit more to be eligible for a XP reinstall, and some are already running XP.

Everyone authenticates to a Novell network (an environment I am not too familiar with). I know a bit about the client component. There are a lot of hubs being used around ;-( I have been told our connection is two load balanced T1s. Although it sure does not feel like it at times. I think most our internal bandwidth is being consumed by needless broadcast traffic. But that is just my humble, preliminary opinion. After all, I've only there four days now.

In short, this will be challenging and educational. Since it is an educational institution, I am operating on a shoe string budget. But that can be fun, too. It is also my first salary job with pretty nice benefits.

First Post...

2005-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

I created this to post about the various projects I try at home involving technology. I have accomplished one objectve: set up a blog. My first is here: http://weirdbeer.blogspot.com/. It's just some goofy crap we do every year.

My next idea is to set up a Media Center PC. Preferably with XP MCE 2005 on it. I do not have a copy of it...yet. That can be remedied through Newegg for about a hundred bucks. However, if someone would like to let me 'preview' a 'trial' edition. I would be eternialy gratefull.

I also need to upgrade the file server at home...desperatly. I am currently running RH9 and need to rebuild to Fedora Core 3. Several more HDs have been aquired since the initial build and I would like to incorperate these as well.

A home page needs to be built, on a purchased domain. Something that can point to my private password protected FTP server for uploading/downloading pictures for family members.

Somewhere in all this I need a job and to complete my CCNA, A+, Net+, and a few others.

Trip to California....

2004-05-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

Vacation to California

Day 1: Drove to Chicago and met Wu. We went to “My ?” for pizza (good pizza). Rented a video game on the way home (Star Wars something or other), pretty good game. GameCube is a good system. There was no pausing during precache and memory dump. Game loaded fairly quickly also. I digress.

Day 2:
Played game until late in the night (2:30). Woke up at 6am to prepare for transit to Chicago Midway Airport. We took the EL train to the airport. Only one transfer, which was nice. The automated announcement on the train continuously reminded us that we were in Chicago (something I found humorous). Once we got to the airport sh*t hit the fan. The bitch woman at the counter told us that in order to get on the flight we had been booked on, we would have to pay an additional $120 each. After discussing this option very briefly, we decided that this surcharge was a bit salty. We were going to be flying into San Francisco. This was fine except for we had made prior arrangements for a rental car in Los Angles. After a few phone calls this problem was solved, but we had added about 6 hours of driving on to our already long day.

At Chicago our flight was delayed about an hour so we got kind of a late start. Once in San Francisco, it took us about 2 hours to claim luggage and check out the car (Alamo, very slow). We didn’t get on the road until about 2:30 or 2:45 local time. None of us had ever really seen much of the western coast so we wanted to drive along Highway 1 as much as possible. We didn’t realize that this would add about 4-5 hours to our drive. Not too far from the airport was a Taco Bell on the beach. We stopped there and ate a late lunch. The scenery was great and the sunset was unlike anything else, but the drive was very, very long.

We arrived at John’s at about 2 or 2:30am that morning. Katie had made our beds up and we all promptly collapsed into them.

Day 3:
After sleeping in a bit, John took us to Miramar Marine Base. Inside the base we drove around a bit and walked around a small museum they had there. The museum had different kinds of planes and helicopters from all branches of the armed services over the years. Then came the really cool stuff.
The four of us drove down to a shooting gallery. John “trained” us in the use of a berretta 9mm handgun. Most of us shot pretty well. Other people on the range had AR15’s, M16’s, and some big ol’ pump action shotgun. Pretty cool, but LOUD.
Went back to John’s place. Katie had a roast cooking all day, very good.

Day 4:
Lots of regular touristy stuff going on today. The four of us went to several points of interest (names escape me). The battery on my camera died early this morning. There were lots of photo opportunities on this day too. Many of the locations we went to were high above the bay and provided an excellent panoramic view.

We returned to John’s and Katie had just bought “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”. Neither Jim, Dave, or I had seen the third one, so we popped in it in and settled in. When the movie was over, John suggested a friendly game of cards. Not Euchre, Hearts, or Spades, but Texas Hold ‘em. Sure all in. In the end, guess who had all the money.

After losing our money, we decided to drink our woes away. John drove us to some pretty nice clubs and pubs in the San Diego Gaslamp district. We got a nice start to a pub crawl, with a pint at each of three bars. Then John was getting a little drunk. Besides we needed to make a stop on the way home. The Cheetah was one of the better gentlemen’s clubs John’s marines had told him about. Details about what went on behind those doors will be omitted to protect the innocent (and the guilty).

Day 5:
The next day came early as we were on the road by 10am. The trip back up north was not near as long since we took a much shorter and faster route. We were constantly fueled by the very generous snack pack Katie packed for us the night before. Home baked brownies, granola bars, peanuts, cheese-itz, goldfish, graham cracker, bottles of water, napkins, all double bagged since the combined weight was so heavy. Along the way we saw a lot of cool things: vineyards, dust devils, and massive software company complexes.Once we arrived in San Jose, we went to get some food at a nice Mexican restaurant. Then we went home and went to bed.

Day 6:
We were awakened by a loud roar. I thought it was the Mexican food finally hitting Dave. Apparently Jono does not live too far from a NASA flight base. Fighter jets take off and land and practice and high speed maneuvers all day. This was interesting at first but soon grew to be tiresome as it was difficult to carry a conversation.

While staying at Lt. John’s we got online and purchased tickets to Alcatraz. Jono’s fiancé was unable to go with us since she had to work that day. Alcatraz was fascinating. To hear about the famous criminals that were sent there and see the cells they stayed in was pretty cool. After we took the ferry back from Alcatraz, wee drove around Little China a bit. Just curious to see where ‘ol Jack Burton used to run around. We also drove down the curviest road in the world. On the way home we stopped in some other weird little neighborhoods. Once we got home, we ordered pizza and played Monopoly.

Day 7:
A very leisurely day. We woke up late, around 9:30 and went to meet Jims cousin for Dim Sum. I’m not exactly sure what Dim Sum is, but it is darn good. I believe (however, I am probably very wrong here) that it has more to do with the time of day that the meal is eaten and the style with which it is served. Regardless, good food and good times. When we got back from the restaurant, we found Dave lying out by the pool. Naturally, it seemed like the only logical thing to do at the time. We wanted to rest up before going out that night.

Jono took us to a nice little Irish pub not far from his house. After sitting around there and talking for a few hours, he and Angie took off since he had to work early the next morning. Jim, Dave, and I decided to explore around and see what else was happening. We walked down one block, and back up the other. Just when we thought there might not be another decent bar or pub around, we spotted it. That place was crazy, it was wild, it was ‘Off the Hookah.’ We decided to stop in for a bit and taste some fine Turkish tobacco. It was very sweet and the tobacco never burned so there was never any carcinogens, tar, or nicotine. We had a good time sitting around a couple of hookahs and chatting. Good closure to the trip.

Day 8: I awoke expecting my mouth to taste like an ashtray, but nothing. Interesting. Our plane left later that afternoon. Packing did not take long, none of us really brought much. We made our goodbyes and departed for San Francisco International Airport. Departure went rather flawlessly. However, when we arrived in Midway, got our baggage and headed for the train to go home, that’s when things stalled. The trains had stopped running from Midway about an hour before we got there. This meant that we would have to take three busses to get back home and it would add another hour and a half. We got home at four o’clock local. Good thing the next day was Memorial Day and I could sleep in a bit.

Last Day:
As it turned out Dave had to work at eleven that morning. No sleep for the weary. The drive home was not fun. It was the end of Memorial Day weekend and I had to go the speed limit. Needed rest, tranquility, the walls were closing in. Please Lord, give me this one last burn home from Chi-town.