Weekend's Over Wednesday: Live and Let Live

When I woke up this morning, I took a chance to look outside.  Once again, it's snowing.  Oh joy.....

I missed work last week, and I'd like to avoid missing it this week.  I'm just glad I have a shovel of my own to use, because my place of work's been sold out of snow shovels for several days.

Fortunately, the snow is coming down at a slow pace.

Life Philosophy

I'm not perfect, but I do try to abide by the principle of live and let live in life.  With that said, there are times when decisions are made by others that cause me to scratch my head and ask, "What in the world?"

I ran into that last night.



Daily Asterisk: February 27, 2013 from Thomas Holbrook II on Vimeo.

The above video explains what I ran into.  I know I can be criticized for my choice in lifestyle, but I am an adult and no longer developing.

It just bothers me sometimes when certain decisions are made that don't appear to be thought through beforehand.  I was so disturbed by it that I messaged the person giving them the other side of the story so to speak.

From there, what they do is entirely up to them.

Just because I believe in live and let live doesn't mean I will never voice disagreement with a point of view or a lifestyle decision.  The difference is that I don't go out of my way to stop it.

After all, it's not my life and I wouldn't appreciate it if somebody else tried to intervene, because I know what it's like.

Another has tried doing that to me, which is why I no longer associate with them.

The Good News

 At least I'm single and don't have much in the way of responsibility.  I'm eternally grateful for that, which is why I try to live and let live.  I simply have living expenses and other financial obligations to take care of.

From there, it's just making sure I'm ready to deal with each week.

As for more good news, I have started a vlog on Vimeo.  The reason I chose Vimeo is because I don't have any desire to create another Google account for the sole purpose of vlogging.  I do have a YouTube account, but it will be used for a separate purpose.

I figured it was about time I supplemented this blog with some video of myself speaking.  Right now, I'm limiting my videos to around five minutes, give or take a few.  Since I'm only allowed to upload 500 MB per week, I'll have to become intimately familiar with OpenShot's exporting options.

In other words, I'm learning how to better compress video.

It also presents an opportunity to become familiar with other video platforms as well as improving some basic film making skills.

Sticking with Ubuntu for Now

I was considering trying out other operating systems on my machines, but it turns out that Ubuntu doesn't always peacefully co-exist with other distros.  For now, I'll just stick with Ubuntu 12.04 until I get more computers for the sole purpose of doing reviews.

Right now, I just don't have the money to invest in that.

However, I could possibly do live environments such as Puppy and others since it doesn't touch the hard drive.

Well, I better get dressed and prepare to shovel some snow.  Since it looks fairly powdery, I may have an easier time shoveling than I did last time.  The good news is that I'm parked in a good spot as well.

If I can't get the car out, I may have to ask for help getting to work from those who happen to have four wheel drive.

Shall I Begin.... Walking?

I've been thinking as of late that it might be a good idea to walk to work.  I've been looking at the weather as of late, and figured that it might be consistent enough for me to be able to walk to work without dying.

Saving on gas would be an added bonus, thus allowing extra money to be diverted towards other things.

I made sure some bills were taken care of today and even paid extra on one of my credit accounts.  The goal is to have three of them taken care of this year.  I've got two more to go as I've already paid off one of them.

I also downloaded Steam for Linux.  I had to enable pre-release updates in Ubuntu 12.04 so I could get newer graphics drivers (AMD Catalyst).  The only game available without cost was Team Fortress 2.  It takes a bit to load, but once it's done, it runs well.

Hopefully more free to play games come out for it.

I also invested in some more broccoli florets as well as some asparagus.  I even splurged a little on some frozen fish that has zero carbs in it.  I might save those for Monday.

Tonight begins a three day work week for me, which is pretty exciting.  The mini vacation I took gave me a chance to recharge my batteries a little bit.  The cool thing is that I'll be having some more time off in March in order to celebrate my birthday.  I'm really excited.

I think my friend Bruce from campus was right.  When you turn 30, things really do start falling into place.  I haven't gotten to that age just yet, but things seem to be going smoothly as of late.

Sunday Send Off: Plans for the Week.

Tonight is my "Friday."  In other words, I have Monday and Tuesday nights off.  I'm really looking forward to 7 AM Monday morning.  As I sit here consuming the remainder of my Woodchucks and relaxing, I couldn't help but plan for the week.  Of course things are somewhat tentative, and might change depending on the situation, so I'll have to adjust accordingly.

 Needless to say, I'm thinking that this week is going to be interesting to say the least (and in a good way).


Laundry

I'll definitely need some clean clothes for when I go back to work Wednesday night.  I might do enough of a load to last me a couple of days or do enough to last the usual five depending on the situation.

Meet a Friend for Dinner

 It's been forever since I've had dinner with this friend.  She's one of the most sociable people I've ever met.  She also tends to get worried if she doesn't hear from her friends in a while (she wanted to know if I was mad at her).  It's been a while, so I might as well visit with her and another friend at the same time (haven't had an extended conversation with him in a while either).

Sell the ole' HP dv7 notebook

 I don't use it very much, the touch pad is a royal pain on OS'es other than Windows (right click doesn't work unless I want to do some major tweaking), and switchable graphics and the Linux kernel don't currently get along.  Somebody else is needing a computer to use, and $275 USD sounded good to him.

With that money coming this Thursday, I just might be able to swing...

A Samsung Galaxy S2

I currently have the Exhibit II 4G, which is decent, but the specs are a little low.  If too much stuff is loaded, Android practically has to reload itself after killing as many processes as possible.  For a regular, everyday consumer, it's a great phone.  For what I want to do, I need something a bit more powerful.

Pay Bills

I also get to pay some more bills, which is a part of life.

All in all, I'm looking forward to this week.  Now to get this published, eat some more food, finish off those Woodchucks, and head for bed.

Terrific Tuesday: March 20, 2012

I slept all day yesterday.  I guess I had to recover from work, which can get stressful at times, especially with changes coming down the line that make no sense.  We'll see what happens.  Ideally, I'll build up enough in my 401k to be able to find another job, cash out of said 401k, and pay off a massive amount of debt in the process.  Again we'll see what happens in the next 12-18 months.  Speaking of people needing money (i.e. more than I do at the moment)....

Ken Starks is one who I consider a friend.  He is the infamous HeliOS, the same person who has been giving computers with Linux preinstalled to children in need (and on occasion, to exceptionally bright students).  He is now having to battle cancer yet again, and as we all know, that isn't cheap.  Diane, his partner, cares so deeply about his well being.  She is now asking for help whether he wants her to or not.  I think she made the right call, and she could very well be the next miracle that happens to him.  You might want to visit his website as well so you know what he does for a living.

Meanwhile, I've been running Linux Mint 12 for quite some time now.  I like what it has to offer thus far, and kudos to Clem and crew for offering the myriad of choices as well.  For those who have been sleeping under a rock, Ubuntu is trying to use Unity as a unifying interface for both stationary and mobile systems.  The problem is that old habits die hard, and quite a few people don't want anything to do with that or GNOME Shell from GNOME 3.  There's MATE for those used to traditional GNOME 2.  The Linux Mint team has also put out Cinnamon, which is a different shell for GNOME 3.  I have mainly ran MATE (the release that comes with 12, not the updated ones from the other repository), GNOME Shell with Mint's extensions, and as of late... LXDE on my ZaReason Breeze 3110.  I like LXDE so far as it fits my needs while being lightweight.

Speaking of which, I'm also thinking about doing a custom spin of a distro of my choice to run bitcoin mining software on.  It would consist of a light interface like LXDE or plain OpenBox along with a Java virtual machine and the BitMinter client.  That's right.  I mine bitcoins for the fun of it at the moment, especially since it's trading at around $5 USD at the moment.  ;)

If the weather cooperates, I may spend some more time with my girl Heather in Sheppard Park.  Otherwise, we'll have to come up with an alternative.  I better be productive and do dishes or something.  Talk to you later, world.  XD