Wednesday, September 24, 2003
I have been playing a lot with Linux lately. I think it is a very good skill to develop as an IT professional. Most of the economic growth these days is generated by small businesses that can ill afford to pay Microsoft the big money for applications that can be easily replaced with free alternatives. I am 'fasting' from windows as much as possible, and my skills are gradually increasing in the Linux arena. I figure if I use it, I will learn it.
Right now I am using Morphix, which is a Debian distribution that can run from a CD. I chose it because I wanted to build my system ASAP, and installing it took all of 10 minutes... There are some bugs in it, and I will probably migrate back to Gentoo when I have the time to invest. I built a Gentoo machine earlier this summer, but had to rebuild it after a tragic hard drive mishap. Gentoo was by far the nicest OS I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. It customizes everything for your system automatically. The support on the Gentoo forums is outstanding, and you learn a lot by building your OS yourself (Even though everything is automated. You decide what to build, and you watch everything compile) The downside, is that it takes a long time to build a Gentoo system.
In my opinion, for an end user, there is really little difference between the applications in Linux and Windows. I think and end user could adjust really quickly to the new applications provided in Linux distributions. The administration of the systems is a lot different, So techies will need some time to adjust to the Linux way. If you have spare hardware laying around, install Linux. It is easy, and you are bound to find some piece of software that you never realized that you couldn't live without!
Right now I am using Morphix, which is a Debian distribution that can run from a CD. I chose it because I wanted to build my system ASAP, and installing it took all of 10 minutes... There are some bugs in it, and I will probably migrate back to Gentoo when I have the time to invest. I built a Gentoo machine earlier this summer, but had to rebuild it after a tragic hard drive mishap. Gentoo was by far the nicest OS I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. It customizes everything for your system automatically. The support on the Gentoo forums is outstanding, and you learn a lot by building your OS yourself (Even though everything is automated. You decide what to build, and you watch everything compile) The downside, is that it takes a long time to build a Gentoo system.
In my opinion, for an end user, there is really little difference between the applications in Linux and Windows. I think and end user could adjust really quickly to the new applications provided in Linux distributions. The administration of the systems is a lot different, So techies will need some time to adjust to the Linux way. If you have spare hardware laying around, install Linux. It is easy, and you are bound to find some piece of software that you never realized that you couldn't live without!
Stuff has been pretty slow lately. Julia and I have been visiting the park on a nearly daily basis. She is very enthusiastic about learning chess, which is pretty amusing since she is 2 1/2. I was trying to teach her the names of the pieces, and we where making some progress on that. I don't know if there are any books on how to teach your 2 1/2 year old to play. Seems impossible to me, but I really wish I could teach her while she was enthusiastic. Perhaps I can just feed the enthusaism enough to keep it alive until she is 5 or 6.
Andee was pretty sick this weekend. She had a bad cold. She is finally getting over it. We took Julia to the Cardiologist Monday, and it is Status Quo for now... Eventually they will probably want to do a procedure to plug the ASD, but it is not a very critical issue, so they will wait for a few more years to see what happens. Now they have a procedure that allows them to do this without cutting her chest open. This Story Explains the procedure pretty well if you are curious..
Andee was pretty sick this weekend. She had a bad cold. She is finally getting over it. We took Julia to the Cardiologist Monday, and it is Status Quo for now... Eventually they will probably want to do a procedure to plug the ASD, but it is not a very critical issue, so they will wait for a few more years to see what happens. Now they have a procedure that allows them to do this without cutting her chest open. This Story Explains the procedure pretty well if you are curious..
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Monday night we had the second Bible Study of the year in my BSF class. It is really the first one that counts, because the first one is mostly logistics and reviewing the ground rules. I am pretty encouraged by the group of guys that are in my group this year. Everyone seemed to put a lot of effort into their homework, and they where pretty excited to share how God's word effects their lives every day.
I have been moved by Matthew 23:12 this week. "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Right now I am getting a lot of stuff accomplished in my life all of the sudden. My software is selling pretty well, I am building some cool websites, I am passing certification tests for my career with ease. My children seem to be pretty bright and fun. It is easy to get an inflated head. I would not have any of these blessings in my life however if God had not given me the talents and experiences and opportunities that lead me to do these things. I need to be thankful rather than boastful and proud. It is all God's work. My real power is the choice I make to mess it up or not. If I pursue 'Me first' I almost always will mess it up (and be humbled). I need to approach my life as a humble servant to God's will, and in thanksgiving make the most of the blessings that he has granted me.
I have been moved by Matthew 23:12 this week. "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Right now I am getting a lot of stuff accomplished in my life all of the sudden. My software is selling pretty well, I am building some cool websites, I am passing certification tests for my career with ease. My children seem to be pretty bright and fun. It is easy to get an inflated head. I would not have any of these blessings in my life however if God had not given me the talents and experiences and opportunities that lead me to do these things. I need to be thankful rather than boastful and proud. It is all God's work. My real power is the choice I make to mess it up or not. If I pursue 'Me first' I almost always will mess it up (and be humbled). I need to approach my life as a humble servant to God's will, and in thanksgiving make the most of the blessings that he has granted me.
Monday, September 15, 2003
So, this weekend I got the Liferoads website pretty much ready to go. It is a pretty fun project, and hopefully it will grow and help the church grow, and will give the members easy access to resources that can help them in their spiritual growth. Still needs quite a bit of work, but it is coming together.
Julia and I also went to the fair this weekend. She liked the livestock exhibits quite a bit.. Made me haul her through the stinky barns twice... They also had a chick hatching exhibit, and she liked that too.
She got to go on a pony ride. She likes horses a lot, but only seemed mildly amused by the pony ride.. We got to tour the old train, and saw the tractors and steam engines and the like. She seemed to be mildly amused by the whole fair experience. I am pleased that she didn't show any desire for all of the garbage and stuff that they sell there at the fair.
Julia really seems to like to see new things.. I can take her to places like the driving range, or the bowling alley, and it is a memorable experience for her. She doesn't even need to play, or see me play. Just watching people do what people do is a pretty good time.
Julia and I also went to the fair this weekend. She liked the livestock exhibits quite a bit.. Made me haul her through the stinky barns twice... They also had a chick hatching exhibit, and she liked that too.
She got to go on a pony ride. She likes horses a lot, but only seemed mildly amused by the pony ride.. We got to tour the old train, and saw the tractors and steam engines and the like. She seemed to be mildly amused by the whole fair experience. I am pleased that she didn't show any desire for all of the garbage and stuff that they sell there at the fair.
Julia really seems to like to see new things.. I can take her to places like the driving range, or the bowling alley, and it is a memorable experience for her. She doesn't even need to play, or see me play. Just watching people do what people do is a pretty good time.
Friday, September 12, 2003
It is fantasy football time again. I am playing in two leagues. My friends from the TKE house at the University of Idaho and I have been playing in an ESPN league for the last several years. My team is usually competitve, but I haven't won the whole thing yet. It is good to play with one group of guys year after year, because there is a little bit more accountability. I have played in some leagues online, where about half of the players walk away by mid season. It is no fun to have a player start injured players every week. (Especially if you lose)
I am also playing in a Yahoo League this year. I am not doing too well there so far, but it is only week 1, so hopefully things will improve.
I am also playing in a Yahoo League this year. I am not doing too well there so far, but it is only week 1, so hopefully things will improve.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
I recently read a book called Moneyball. I really enjoyed it. It addresses how the Oakland Athletics remain competitve in baseball every year without spending large sums of money. It reads like a novel, so it is fun and easy to read.
Baseball is not much different than any other business. There are thousands of things to measure, and really only a few measurements will make a differances on the bottom line results of the organization. The Oakland A's found the measurents that count, and pay to maximize them.
One of my other favorite books, The Goal shows the same principle in the rest of business. If you find the measurement that is constraining your business and focus all of your effort on improving that, then all of your efforts are going to show up as profit on the bottom line.. If you attempt to continuously improve every facet of your business, all of your efforts outside of your constraining process are going to be wasted on unneeded efficiency.
Baseball is not much different than any other business. There are thousands of things to measure, and really only a few measurements will make a differances on the bottom line results of the organization. The Oakland A's found the measurents that count, and pay to maximize them.
One of my other favorite books, The Goal shows the same principle in the rest of business. If you find the measurement that is constraining your business and focus all of your effort on improving that, then all of your efforts are going to show up as profit on the bottom line.. If you attempt to continuously improve every facet of your business, all of your efforts outside of your constraining process are going to be wasted on unneeded efficiency.
Hello, Welcome to the second addition of Josh's Boring Drivel. I figured I would try this mainstream technology instead of using my homebuilt stuff. I think that Blogging technology is pretty cool. Hopefully I will learn to use in more regularly. If you are interested in my old blog entries, they can be found here
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