Back from vacation. I just spent the past couple of weeks with one of my kids at various church related functions. First we went to a state talent competition, where he got a second place award in mathematics (I don't know why they consider math test taking a talent...)

Then, we spent nearly a week in Illinois, at a Bible competition:
http://nyi.nazarene.org/quiz/mainpage.htm
where he didn't do so well, but says he had a great time.
This week, the same son has some high school band work and church camp, then when he returns from camp, his band marches in the local Independence Day parade.

Well, a disappointment arose today when one of my kids discovered that the job they thought they had lined up fell through.

I don't understand why an employer can't tell an applicant why they didn't accept them. If it was a matter of someone more qualified, then at least the person can keep trying. If, however, they did something that turned them off during the interview, they can work on that problem before the next one.

Anyways, it hurts me, as dad, to know that my child was so excited about the job possibility and then it didn't work out.

Wow - what a day today is turning out to be. Yahoo announces they have raised their email limit from 4-6 meg, to 100 meg.
However, they put into place a new version of the software that requires javascript and java, which breaks access from programs like lynx and other text browsers. They also have had weird problems today with things like the email body appearing off screen, etc.

Sigh - just another painful day.

Another day, another adventure in tracking down bugs.

Too bad the software is so minimally documented...

Was thinking about music groups I really like this weekend. My tastes in music are probably different than most my age - I am a sucker for solo voice and guitar (Paige for instance). I like a lot of traditional CCM (contemporary christian music).
Musicians like Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, etc. I still enjoy, as well as groups like FFH.

However, I like to listen to The W's, Five Iron Frenzy, Casting Crowns, Big Daddy Weave, etc. I haven't found much in the way of rap that I like. I do enjoy instrumental only CDs - from classical to soundtrack to contemporary. I enjoy listening to some blues and jazz occasionally.

Well, I'm sitting here trying to not break into dance, as I listen to Tree63 singing Matt Redman's Blessed be the name.
What a song - I am tearing up here ... and I'm sitting at work, banging at the computer...

Well, in the past week a friend upgraded my Tivo to a second 160 gig drive and my eldest son graduated high school.

I'm tired.

More and more I miss having summers off to just kick back.
It's a a real pain to work all year round, not getting ahead of the bills, and not getting any recreational time.

Unfortunately, I've a family who manage to spend my pay check as fast as I earn it (or faster...)

Enough complaining for today!

Wow - such a long time since my last entry. So much is going on. My oldest son is to graduate from high school in just a couple of days. I have been struggling with various projects. Too busy to write.

coLinux: Linux for Windows Without Rebooting by KIVILCIM Hindistan -- Trying Linux just keeps getting easier. Knoppix and other live CDs let you take Linux with you on CD and USB keys, but you have to reboot to run your software. What about Windows users who want to use Linux in conjunction with their existing systems? KIVILCIM Hindistan explores the world of coLinux -- cooperative Linux.

I was writing to today about TiVo - here's what I ended up writing about it...


This morning, at least, TiVo has again put up for sale factory renewed
Series2 DVRs. These have the full warrenty on them.

The 40 hour model is listed at $149 - with a $50 rebate! That gets
you started at $99 . Then, the ongoing program listing service is
$12.95 a month (or a one time cost of $299).

The 80 hour model is $199 after rebate.

I bought a floor model TiVo at Best Buy at about this same price.
Another TiVo owner, with a bit of experience, helped me upgrade my
40 hr hard drive to a 157 hr hard drive. I still hope some day to
get with my friend to add a second hard drive to the system.

The only thing that would be better than TiVo
in terms of a) watching shows in less time, and
b) watch shows when I want to, without having to keep meticulous
notes on what was on which video tape, etc.,
would be if the various cable stations would join together to create a
video on demand service for all their programming, with the disk farm
being on their end.

Until that day - which probably isn't all THAT outrageous of an idea (anyone
want to invest in such a project?) I find that TiVo, with its
o extensive broadcast programming database,
o ability to create almost regular expression searching and
automatic recording of shows,
o season pass recordings that are pretty good at tracking changes
to show days/times that are announced
at least 24-48 hrs in advance
(and if you use a directv satellite setup or maybe broadband,
then I believe this time drops to less than 30 minutes),
is so much more valuable to me than my VCR was.

An example of how 'insidious' TiVo can become arose today
at lunch. I was mentioning that my kids were really
getting a kick out of watching the reruns of the old
Dilbert animated series. I was asked "Oh, when is
that on" and I had to reply that I'd no idea - tivo
finds it and records it whenever it comes on.

Similarly one of my kids were actually lamenting the
fact that they seldom saw all the 'neat' new
commercials their friends talk about at school - we
just do several 30 second skips and move on with
the show, resulting in seeing an hour show in about
45 minutes or so...

what a week. Running around every evening taking kids hither and yon. All day chasing bugs, answering questions, and trying to solve problems. The fun never ends. On top of that, I've been fighting either a cold or allergies, and so I've been physically feeling miserable. At least I'm sleeping again. For a few days, I would cough all night, feeling like I was about to lose a lung. Now, however, my wife's doing that...

Working today on building latest tcl extensions - sure would be nice if everything took the same arguments, etc. so that one command style could be used across the board. But everything has its own little exceptions, etc.

what a rough week. Lots of tough problems and busyness. And a busy weekend ahead.

Still trying to find an affordable internet provider. Sure would love to find high speed internet at a small cost.

Linux on the GameCube by Howard Wen -- As consoles grow in power and digital convergence looms, they become ever more attractive targets for free operating systems. What better hack than to port Linux or BSD to the GameCube? Howard Wen interviews the developers behind GameCube Linux.

I'm searching for an internet provider alternative. Right now, I have a no cost up to 56k internet connection. However, the isp has been
increasingly blocking web sites until its become important to consider alternatives.

Unfortunately, with my finances extremely limited, the alternatives are not great.

We've at least 4 problems.

1. content blocking
2. one phone line
3. slow speeds
4. no current tech computer (mac 68k machines and a win98 machine)

To resolve all 4 problems APPEARS that it would take, at least, $1000 up front with a $600 a year investment - way out of my range.
My range would have been a $300 up front investment and under $20 a month.

Time for spring break. I don't know what that will bring us - frustration, confusion, busyness and hopefully some fun times, along with the sombering rememberance of what Easter really means.

For many years, we only had MacOS machines in the house. In fact, for many years, that was the only thing we would consider letting into the house.

Part of the problem is financial - we just so little disposable income that there's not been enough to buy a new computer since the Apple IIgs was introduced (My first computers werre Apple IIs...).

So, during the 2003 winter, when a friend asked if I would mind if he gave one of the kids a computer for Christmas, I was taken aback. One, by the generosity and kindness, and two, because it violated a principle that I had held for years - Windows is a nuisance, bother, and a down right offensive environment.

However, we are forced into dealing with Windows at school frequently, and at the homes of friends, church, etc. And the machine was free, etc.

So I hesitantly said "Sure".

It's given us so much trouble over the past 3-4 months.

Not that Macs and Apple IIs were perfect. The kids frequently would screw around with preferences, etc. and end up hosing the computer up. Generally I could untangle things, but the last desktop at home that I was using was taken out after a fun night by the kids. I ended up getting a SPARC Solaris box just so I could read mail, etc.

Now understand - this windows box is not on the internet. The kids are not bringing home
programs from their friends. But it is still a pain.

For example, the machine is running Windows 98 - that's what the fellow who bought it could afford, he had some Windows 98 software he couldn't use and wanted to give it to someone, so that was fine.

But we see cases where Windows Media Player just stops - and freezes the system. The mouse has, over the past few months, deteriorated until it's nearly unusable. And so on.

I'd love to put Linux on the machine. But I don't want to screw up the programs that are there on the disk . Someday, maybe I'll break down, buy a SCSI card, and take the spare scsi internal disk I have ,
put it on the machine, and put linux on there.

Hamsters

We're learning about them at our place.

My daughter decided for her birthday to buy one .

I don't know why - turns out the hamster is a night creature, so it's seldom awake when my daughter is awake, and my daughter doesn't like listening to the hamster run around in its wheel...

Well, it looks like my setuid problem has little or nothing to do with the perl binary interpreters i am using, and more to do with the shell wrapper that figures out which binary to use. I have more research to do.

Well, just got an issue of Del Rey's Manga newsletter. Looks like they have 3 or 4 titles they will be publishing once a quarter or so. Only one is a title I recognize - Gundam SEED. However, one is a Clamp title, so that should be good.

My local library carries a number of manga titles, as well as a little english dubbed (and occasionally subbed) video tape and a bit more DVDs of the same titles.