Feeling Stressed

I've been feeling stressed lately and I realized that I haven't really taken a vacation for a couple of years. ^^;

Before that though, I think it's better to start getting a little more organized and finish some stuff around the house. Since I work on the computer so much, I've started to look for stuff that will help organize my daily tasks and thoughts. The hardest thing about getting organized is staying organized, but lately I've started using KJots to take notes while I work. Such a simple little utility but works pretty well as long as I keep writing in it.

Anyone know a windows equivalent?

Bash Tricks

Here are some tricks for users of the BASH shell:

http://www.deadman.org/bash.html

http://www.jmglov.net/unix/bash.html

Unix Power Tools

This book is awsome! The published version is on its 3rd edition, but the 2nd edition is available online:

UNIX Power Tools

aardvark

This looks like very cool extension:

http://www.karmatics.com/aardvark/

Installing Fedora Core 3

Ok, finally got through the installation of Fedora Core 3. Now it's time to configure the system. By default, Fedora starts in graphics mode which I don't like since the default graphics drivers for my Nvidia card isn't all that great and the Nvidia drivers requires you to install it in text mode.

Even then, the display didn't look that good on the LCD monitor and I'm not sure why. I also noticed a lot of things were running at start up that I wouldn't want to run. Here is where I ran into my biggest complaint so far. There isn't much documentation... Can't figure out how to configure this system yet. So, in the end, I powered off the system and will have to do some more research.

Fedora Core 3

Been trying to install Fedora Core 3 this weekend and haven't had any success. First was the kernel panic error which was solved by turning off the CDROM's dma. Then I got the install going and it aborted due to lack of diskspace, so I reduced the number of packages to install. Next, it aborted when it said it had a problem with one of the files and said it cannot continue and to reboot. Starting over, I got it to start installing but then it stopped at one point for 30minutes and gave no indication of whether it can't continue or what.

Surprising thing is that I had an older version of Red Hat on this machine at one point and it didn't have any of these issues.

To disable DMA, when the server asks for any kernel parameters, type "ide=nodma" (without the quotes).

Google Search History

Google released a beta of their "My Search History" feature. Is this a good or bad thing?

My Search History

Don't steal that computer!

This is pretty hilarious (except maybe for the thief in question), but here is a transcript of a Berkeley professor's lecture to his class regarding his stolen notebook:

http://blastradius.blogspot.com/2005/04/world-of-pain.html

Kernel Panic

I tried to install Fedora Core 3 and ran into a kernel panic error that crashed the installer. After digging around a little, I found there was a bug report going as far back as Fedora Core 2 related to CDROMs and the error. The temporary solution was in the bug report to use linux ide=nodma:

linux mediacheck ide=nodma

Update Day

I've been playing FFXI for what seems like forever. There is a lot of fun to be had in the game, but at times it also felt like a chore because there are real people on the other end who is waiting to play with you. It can get tiring having to play at times when you don't really want to play. Lately, I'm closing in on finishing a second job in FFXI and I'm eager to get the job done and take some time off. Today is update day and normally there is a eagerness to log in and see the changes, but I actually look at it as a day where I don't feel bad about playing!

Maybe I'll try Jade Empire tonight. ^^

Imma boring guy...

Hmm, my grand experiment of keeping a blog seem to be fizzling. i guess I just can't find much meaningful things to write about (i.e. this entry). Maybe I'm just a boring guy. Mix boring and lazy and one can see why there's not many interesting posts by me.

Firefox in safemode

Useful to use when an extension screws up Firefox:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_Mode_(Firefox)

What we all want!

Even though I don't really drink and I'm not a bachelor anymore, I still want one of these:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/dvd-beer.jpg

Breast Implants

The FDA opened their hearing on silicone breast implants and whether the ban on them should continue. There seems to be three parties involved in this debate. The makers who claim such implants are safer, the users who feel that it should be their choice, and those who have had complications from such implants and wants to protect others from suffering the same fate.

The fight seems to be displaced to me. Shouldn't people demand that implant makers make new and better products rather then asking the government to lift a ban on a product that although might look and feel the most natural has had a history of breaking? Obviously, the current choice is inferior and the older product have unknown dangers, so shouldn't the pressure be on makers to come up with another better alternative?

Taxes

I put off doing taxes later then usual this year which isn't a bad thing considering that I might need to pay Uncle Sam. However, I keep thinking, "Why can't they just figure out what I owe from the start since they're already deducting from my paycheck?"

Jade Empire

Jade Empire, a RPG for the XBox, will be released soon. I'm tempted to get it for a couple of reasons. One, there aren't that many games that uses a chinese setting, so I'm interested in seeing how it is portrayed. If you noticed, game makers tend to use Japan for far-east settings with its Samurais, Ninjas, etc. Granted that many game makers are Japanese, I am still curious why so few games uses Ancient China as a setting.

Just having a game with a particular locale as background is hardly reason to buy it(most likely it'll be $50-$60), but the makers of Jade Empire, Bioware, have a very good track record of making solid RPGs. Anyway, gonna wait for it to come out and see if there are any sales.

Cheap Sony

Awhile back I was in the market for a ultra-light notebok and I decided on the Sony TR3A notebook. This is a nice little notebook that is great to take on the road. It is feature-rich, very light and has a nice looking screen. Since I wasn't planning on using this for my primary work-horse computer, it really fulfilled the purpose I wanted it to.

Recently, there's been a lot of news reports about Sony losing their edge and falling behind their competitors such as Samsung and Apple. I'll add that in addition to losing the technology edge, Sony is also falling behind in some other aspects of their products. I remember when I first got my Sony notebook and realizing that it had no CDs. Instead, I had to provide my own CDs to burn recovery disks. Does it really cost that much to provide 6 CDs after spending nearly $2000 on the notebook? It's these little things that often makes a person appreciate the extra price you pay for a good product and without them it feels like the product is cheap and/or the company is just trying to squeeze the extra cash from the consumer.

I thought about this again this weekend when I went to burn some software to a CD as backup. The notebook comes with a CD-RW, but no CD-burning software?!? Maybe it's just me, but it sure feels like Sony is cutting corners.

Gmail Anniversary

Yesterday, Google celebrated the 1 year anniversay of its gmail service by increasing the storage capacity for users to 2 gigbabytes. The irony is that it's the 1 year annivesary of the software going to "beta"!

First entry

Finally decided to try a blogging tool instead of just using the simple one I wrote up while learning PHP. I'm still playing around with this and see if it'll actually get me to write more.