Tag: Wedding

Linux is Ready for Your Dad

2013-03-06, 7:14 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness, Tech

Well, maybe not your dad. But mine, at least.

My dad's in town -- I'm getting married, you see -- and asked me if I could get him a computer to use while he's here.

All I had lying around was an ancient Dell Dimension 8230. I suck Win7/32 on it.

And then found out that the audio didn't work. For Dad that was a deal-breaker.

I opened up the box (and was surprised not to get a cloud of dust to the face -- I don't remember blowing it out, but I must have, and fairly recently) and determined that the sound card is a Creative SB Live, model number CT4780. And that there's no Windows Vista/7 support for it.

I found a third party driver at kxproject.com, but it hadn't been updated since 2009 -- and didn't work either.

So at this point I asked my dad if he wanted me to install Windows XP on his computer, and probably wait the better part of 2 days for all the patches to download and install, or if he'd rather I put Linux on it. He said to give Linux a shot. (He'd used it for a little while at home when his Win7 installation was giving him trouble and a friend installed it for him.)

I settled on Xubuntu for a machine of that vintage. The install was quick, it had a checkbox for non-free software (including Flash and MP3 support), and it seems to support all the hardware out of the box -- including the sound card. And it runs faster than Win7 did.

Now, my dad's not a gamer. He doesn't even use Office. All he needs is a browser and Flash.

Which is of course true of an increasing number of users -- hell, Google's selling a $1300 laptop that just runs a browser. So it's not like this is a major bombshell or anything -- but it's still an interesting shift, no?

Cleanup Duty

2013-03-05, 8:51 pm
Categories: Announcements

Today I vacuumed up the spiderwebs on my back porch and hosed down the block and tile. Then I went to the barber, and then the dentist.

Tomorrow I hope to get the front side of the house done. And then I need to do the inside. And learn to tie a bowtie.

Another Damn Installment of Thad Has a Cold

2013-03-01, 8:47 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

Let's see -- what-all meds did I take when I got out of bed this morning?

Cough syrup, two inhalers, nose spray, Mucinex, and a multivitamin. Plus a cup of coffee and, once I had a breakfast of oatmeal in me, ibuprofen too. Seems like I'm forgetting something; there was a lot there.

My fiancée appears to have caught what I have. She went to urgent care and they told her it was allergies, which I'm pretty sure it isn't seeing as she's got the same symptoms I've had all week.

She's not coughing yet, though. I just started coughing really badly a day or two ago. Barely slept last night. Going to take an inhaler at bedtime tonight; probably won't be able to sleep that way, either, but better to lose sleep because I'm amped up on albuterol than because I can't stop coughing.

Still improving, and hopefully we'll both be fine by next weekend. But man there's so much to do and I've lost a whole week to this mess.

Improving

2013-02-28, 6:14 pm
Categories: Announcements, Stream of Consciousness

Better every day. Throat's still sore, but I'm starting to get my energy and balance back.

Cough's worse, though, and neither cough syrup nor inhaler are doing much good. As such I still don't want to engage in any kind of physical exertion -- hell, it's so bad I don't even want to drive right now, for fear of having a coughing fit and running off the damn road.

Haven't even made it downtown for comics. I've managed to get this far without finding out who dies in Batman Inc #8 and am hoping my luck holds.

At least I'm feeling good enough to contact people about the party before the wedding next week. Just not quite good enough to actually clean my house up so I can have people in it.

Struck Down!

2013-02-26, 12:00 pm
Categories: Announcements, Stream of Consciousness

I seem to have caught something. Sore throat, cough, aches and a general lack of energy.

I guess it's better I get it now than a week from now; I've got time to rest up and take my vitamins and hopefully beat it back well in advance of my pending nuptials.

But man it is interfering with any tasks more complex than "send people E-Mail to let them know when to be here".

I still need to buy a bowtie.

Stuff on My Plate

2013-02-22, 9:09 pm
Categories: Announcements

So I'm getting married in just over two weeks.

I'm not especially nervous about it. But I've got things to do, plans to make, out-of-towners to see.

I'm proud of how I've managed to keep up a daily posting schedule these past eight months, and I think I can probably keep it up. (May need to schedule some posts in advance.) But if I miss a day or two or ten, don't worry -- I'm married, not dead.

Software RAID 10 on OSX

2013-02-15, 7:48 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness, Tech

Well, as mentioned, after several years and many a misadventure, I've given up on RAIDZ for Mac and decided on good ol' dependable RAID 10. Today I finally got around to building the array...and realized I'd forgotten how to do it.

Fortunately, it's well-documented on Apple's site. The trick is that you build all 3 RAID sets (two RAID 1/mirrored, one RAID 0/striped) at once; you can't build the two RAID 1 sets and then add them both to a RAID 0 set afterward.

Course, the next step is to copy all the files off her old drives onto the new array, and that is going to take a lot longer -- especially since I don't have a spare FireWire 800 (or even 400) enclosure and I have to use USB 2. It'll be at that copy all night, and that's just the first drive. Which means no rebooting to play The Walking Dead like I'd hoped.

So it goes -- my wedding's in three weeks and I need to get this done so Gran can put a video together for it.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager

2012-11-15, 9:08 pm
Categories: Comics, Stream of Consciousness

So far this week I have closed a house, looked for work, shopped for cars, and picked the spot where I'm getting married.

Now that I am home, about the only damn major decision I intend to make is what beer to get out of the refrigerator.

And some shirts from Threadless I guess, since I need new T-shirts and Groupon's got a deal.

I'm thinking 8-Bit Blues and Halfling and Wizard. (I'm sorely tempted by the Mike Allred Monkey Around shirt -- and it's only $10! -- but it looks like it would be goddamn hot in the summer.)