I can't get the pictures to load, so you'll have to click on the links.
If you follow my twitter stream, you saw these as I was putting it together. For those that have followed me for a while, you know I have no problem saying I have too much debt and some day I'd like to buy this, that or something else.
One of the things on the list, was a suspension trainer. Be it rings, AOS Bandit Loops, or (what I really wanted) a TRX system.
A couple of weeks ago thefightgeek from the pound online tweeted about a cheap $10.00 version (video on "the pound online"). Which caught my eye. I was impressed and through, i could do that, and it'll be good enough. I replied to his tweet saying as much.
Which lead him to tweeting this page to me. I was really blown away. I liked the option in the second video. Where the guy got the longer one, and then cut it down and used the left over for the foot holds instead of rope.
I was on a mission. But there was one thing I didn't like. The knots. I didn't think the ones in the foot loops would feel good, so I decided to sew them. The bowline is a nice knot, but I prefer the figure 8 knot I use on my harness for rock climbing.
However... being me. I decided if I was going to sew part of it, I'd do all of it.
I got 2 packs of lashing straps, 1 inch by 13 feet from Mejier, a locking carabiner out of my climbing gear (not used), some pvc, and some tape (picture here) They work out ok. The do need to be re-enforced though. I found that out after trying them, the factory stitching was pulling away.
So I decided, based on the factory part, to make 3 inch tabs. This is the taped 1 1/4 inch pvc and the tab. This is the handles pinned together, waiting for the needle.
Then I realized I needed more information first. 1 strap, marked up with everything. Handle points, tab, where it joins the strap.
I didn't take any pictures while I was sewing... I was on the phone, and couldn't take any pictures.
The next night, I moved from the lap desk in the bedroom to the desk in the spare room.
YES IT WAS ALL BY HAND!
Oh no... the strap was binding after I made the first one... Cut off the tape, still binding, get the dremel, and fix it.
One done, and ready. The white specks are beeswax from the thread.
My parrot, Captain Errol Blood (but we just call him Captain) checking on my work. No he was not impressed.
I was asked after I finished, and was showing them off, how I could know to trust my skill. The short answer is I don't, but each set of stitches (minus the re-enforce) look like this (from handle 2).
Now, time to pin the foot loops in place.
The foot loop, got the same treatment as the handle, as you can see from the first completed one here. A close up of the handy work.
I have yet to get a picture of them hanging, or of me using them yet. I'll post a video when ready. So far I've only played around. Inverted rows, elevated push ups, push ups to knees in (foot straps), and very little else.
I've noticed I don't really need the top strap with my pull up bar, since the carabiner goes over the bar quite well.
Things I've learned:
I hate sewing... No kidding, I don't sew enough, show it takes a while to get back in the swing of it.
Make sure the straps aren't twisted before you start. I have one that is, but it's not noticeable.
The next 3, will be done on a sewing machine. I just have to find one to use first.
Yes I said 3. I'll be giving 1 away, one to the lady I'm seeing. Although she wants her's to be pink with hearts and stars on it, 1 to Sarah Rippel and 1 to a guy at martial arts. I had offered to make one for Jen B, but she already has something. :)
Originally when I said I was starting this, Sarah took note, and wanted to see how it worked out. She said she was tempted to try and make her own based on my work. I offered to make one for her. I just want to put mine through a few more paces first.
Showing posts with label ramble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ramble. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
I've been busy....
Work has rough been. I went most of November, and December without time off (even weekends). There were some insane hours (as you've seen below). Mostly, the only days I got off were company holidays, but that didn't even hold true for all the holidays.
I've picked up hobby electronics. Make: Electronics is a great book. I've just finished exercise 4. I had some issues with my Multi-Meter not working right in the circuit when I wanted to test the current. Using a 1k resistor, a 5k potentiometer, and 4 AA batteries. I was getting a number higher than the possible current of the circuit. Bought a non-auto-ranging Meter today at Lowes. It did what the other one wasn't supposed to do. Now I just need some lemons for Exercise 5.
Haven't been working out. I did 30 swings last night with my 16kg kettlebell and man did I feel it in the glutes. They're still sore.
But over all I'm in a fairly good mood (Today). I even skipped across the parking lot at whole foods. Yes, I said skipped. It was fun.
I've picked up hobby electronics. Make: Electronics is a great book. I've just finished exercise 4. I had some issues with my Multi-Meter not working right in the circuit when I wanted to test the current. Using a 1k resistor, a 5k potentiometer, and 4 AA batteries. I was getting a number higher than the possible current of the circuit. Bought a non-auto-ranging Meter today at Lowes. It did what the other one wasn't supposed to do. Now I just need some lemons for Exercise 5.
Haven't been working out. I did 30 swings last night with my 16kg kettlebell and man did I feel it in the glutes. They're still sore.
But over all I'm in a fairly good mood (Today). I even skipped across the parking lot at whole foods. Yes, I said skipped. It was fun.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
On blogging, writing and time usuage over all
I read sites like Pharyngula, Bad Astronomy, and Schneier on Security. And I wonder how they manage to write so many blog posts. BA and PZ more than Schneier, but even he manages to get a couple posts a week. Lately I'm lucky to post 1 time every 8 days.
Then today, I think I realized what they do, they write set a time apart daily to write, and write on several things at once, saving drafts to be polished later. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. I'd like to get Essential Blogging by Cory Doctorow and company (yes I know he's not the primary) to see how they say to do it.
Anyway I started thinking of this last night. I was looking for my copy of The Watchmen graphic novel after seeing the movie. Instead I found my old Journal. The paper kind. large books, about 8.5 by 11.5 (roughly). I got it cheap back in 2002. I wrote in it some last night, and I read what was in there before. Even then, I wrote several times that I never seem to have enough time to do the things I want.
Time has been on my mind a lot lately. Mainly since I live alone. I've picked up a new hobby (Monday nights Yoga), do Martial Arts about 3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday), teach Self Defense on Wednesdays. Usually, I come home, spend about an hour here, and then run out the door to go somewhere. Sometimes it's not even an hour. And I feel bad about leaving my parrot locked up in a cage all day. He's never been much of a cage bird. The store loved him, and would let him out and he'd follow the employees around, while they were cleaning up. The person I lived with would leave him out of the cage most of the day. Trying to get him in the cage when I leave is next to impossible.
Then when I get home, he usually hangs out for about 30 minutes or so, then gets really bitey because he want's to go to sleep. Since I still have only the one small cage, and the spare bed room isn't set up for him, I get chased away from the TV, my desk, and my cisco lab. Which adds to my problem of doing things at night, when I'm finally home.
I can take the laptop with me, but then it's all wireless (slower than wired) and I'm stuck doing things from bed.
Lastly, there have been several things I've wanted to blog about but just have not had the time.
Then today, I think I realized what they do, they write set a time apart daily to write, and write on several things at once, saving drafts to be polished later. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. I'd like to get Essential Blogging by Cory Doctorow and company (yes I know he's not the primary) to see how they say to do it.
Anyway I started thinking of this last night. I was looking for my copy of The Watchmen graphic novel after seeing the movie. Instead I found my old Journal. The paper kind. large books, about 8.5 by 11.5 (roughly). I got it cheap back in 2002. I wrote in it some last night, and I read what was in there before. Even then, I wrote several times that I never seem to have enough time to do the things I want.
Time has been on my mind a lot lately. Mainly since I live alone. I've picked up a new hobby (Monday nights Yoga), do Martial Arts about 3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday), teach Self Defense on Wednesdays. Usually, I come home, spend about an hour here, and then run out the door to go somewhere. Sometimes it's not even an hour. And I feel bad about leaving my parrot locked up in a cage all day. He's never been much of a cage bird. The store loved him, and would let him out and he'd follow the employees around, while they were cleaning up. The person I lived with would leave him out of the cage most of the day. Trying to get him in the cage when I leave is next to impossible.
Then when I get home, he usually hangs out for about 30 minutes or so, then gets really bitey because he want's to go to sleep. Since I still have only the one small cage, and the spare bed room isn't set up for him, I get chased away from the TV, my desk, and my cisco lab. Which adds to my problem of doing things at night, when I'm finally home.
I can take the laptop with me, but then it's all wireless (slower than wired) and I'm stuck doing things from bed.
Lastly, there have been several things I've wanted to blog about but just have not had the time.
Monday, March 2, 2009
positive thinking
So the end of a book I was reading, was about positive thinking and the sub-concious. The book was "The Fighter's Body". It's a nutrition book for fighters. It was pretty good over all, reminding me things I forgot, agreeing with things I learned in the past, etc. The last chapter was talking about Doing positive mantras before bed, and first thing in the morning. Things like, I will lose more weight, I will do this, I will do that, etc. The point is to help you stay on course through it all.
2 posts ago, I was whining about not getting the workout I wanted done. I typed "We'll have to see", and something inside me clicked. It was literally like being hit. I heard my voice in my head sternly tell me "YOU WILL DO THE PUSH UPS TONIGHT". Which is what lead to the rest of the line.
Not bad for one night of thinking positively as I was going to sleep. I didn't even do it this morning.
Even typing this up, I feel better about myself, and what I have to do. I'm looking around the room, and seeing books I have to read, and the thoughts are "oh yes, they will be read", and things are falling in on how they will be read.
My head feels like it's going to explode with all the positive thoughts going through it right now. Some of the things going through my head are starting to scare me, and I'm smiling....
2 posts ago, I was whining about not getting the workout I wanted done. I typed "We'll have to see", and something inside me clicked. It was literally like being hit. I heard my voice in my head sternly tell me "YOU WILL DO THE PUSH UPS TONIGHT". Which is what lead to the rest of the line.
Not bad for one night of thinking positively as I was going to sleep. I didn't even do it this morning.
Even typing this up, I feel better about myself, and what I have to do. I'm looking around the room, and seeing books I have to read, and the thoughts are "oh yes, they will be read", and things are falling in on how they will be read.
My head feels like it's going to explode with all the positive thoughts going through it right now. Some of the things going through my head are starting to scare me, and I'm smiling....
That's probably going to hurt.
Just one more thing on me that will.
I trimmed my nails a little while ago. My toe nails. On my left foot, the smallest toe... about half of the nail is gone now. I didn't realize it was cutting it... I just lined the clippers up like normal, and clipped. But when I looked down (something I can't do when trimming), I noted that too much went with it.
I lack the flexibility to see and trim at the same time on that foot. It's improving, but slowly.
Did my push ups...
Week 1, day 1, column 3 of the 100 push up challenge. I hate starting over, YET AGAIN, but such is life. I did them slow today. Usually I pump through them quickly. I decided I want to try and do a slower pace this attempt.
Push-ups, with 1 minute rest between each set.
10
12
7
7
15
By the way, I hurt. Neck, shoulder, left arm at the elbow and wrist. slept on it wrong late last week.
I trimmed my nails a little while ago. My toe nails. On my left foot, the smallest toe... about half of the nail is gone now. I didn't realize it was cutting it... I just lined the clippers up like normal, and clipped. But when I looked down (something I can't do when trimming), I noted that too much went with it.
I lack the flexibility to see and trim at the same time on that foot. It's improving, but slowly.
Did my push ups...
Week 1, day 1, column 3 of the 100 push up challenge. I hate starting over, YET AGAIN, but such is life. I did them slow today. Usually I pump through them quickly. I decided I want to try and do a slower pace this attempt.
Push-ups, with 1 minute rest between each set.
10
12
7
7
15
By the way, I hurt. Neck, shoulder, left arm at the elbow and wrist. slept on it wrong late last week.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Today was just strange
This is cross posted between my LJ and My Blog
Tried to get up at 5am. Didn't work. Got up around 8:30. Went and paid rent. Then went and talked to the Coordinator, because she didn't call yesterday.
The Self Defense class is on. Next Wednesday at 7:30pm for the ladies, 8:30 for both sexes.
Leaving there, a guy whipped around a corner (we have medians with little turns in them to get into parking lots), didn't even bother trying to slow, I almost t-boned him. Then at the first light I had to turn at, a semi started fish tailing. Turned down another road and got 1/2 way to the road I needed, only to have it closed by an accident. 2 lane road, and the 2 cars took up the whole thing. Looked bad.
Ran by the post office, watched a cute break down about her package. Dropped off my Package going back to amazon for refund, and finally left for work. Get there, get told a server is down in our Louisville office. Called the Louisville tech to reboot the box, it's been flaky. Found out that the doors down there were broke. The mag locks would not disengage. So I got to spend time on the phone with him to figure out how to break into the computer room down there.
Other weird things most the day, like at lunch when I was given the wrong pager for my food, and they had to come find me, so they could give it to me. Then when I got ready to go, which takes about 15 minutes for me to do, the Help Desk Lady comes over and says the police are there.
Turn around there's a county sheriff deputy. Oo. He said they're was a 911 call and hang up from our building. He said they tried to call back, but couldn't get out of the automated system so they sent him out. We walked around, he said since he didn't hear any screaming he wasn't worried. It was either a wrong number or caused by the weather, which happens in the winter. He left, I figured I'd walk around some.
Went to carpet row first, since that's where the VPs, the Owners, the Directors and others like that sit. Saw my director was still there. Told him the cops were there because they got a 911 call. The look on his face was just pure worry would be the best way to say it. He went straight to 11. I had to calm him down quickly. We went over and talked to the Manufacturing Director and VP, then the four of us walked the building. Each person took a different area. We met back up and all was good.
So next week there will probably be a memo if you accidentally call 911, stay on the phone and tell them you got them by mistake.
So then I was getting ready to go again, and the MFG Director stops by says his guys can't get to the Manufacturing share on our network. Look, and the NAS heads crashed again. Spent the next 1.5 hours dealing with that.
Then home ward bound. Stopped to get some clothes for the Self Defense class. That and looking at toys and other things, took about an hour.
Tried to get up at 5am. Didn't work. Got up around 8:30. Went and paid rent. Then went and talked to the Coordinator, because she didn't call yesterday.
The Self Defense class is on. Next Wednesday at 7:30pm for the ladies, 8:30 for both sexes.
Leaving there, a guy whipped around a corner (we have medians with little turns in them to get into parking lots), didn't even bother trying to slow, I almost t-boned him. Then at the first light I had to turn at, a semi started fish tailing. Turned down another road and got 1/2 way to the road I needed, only to have it closed by an accident. 2 lane road, and the 2 cars took up the whole thing. Looked bad.
Ran by the post office, watched a cute break down about her package. Dropped off my Package going back to amazon for refund, and finally left for work. Get there, get told a server is down in our Louisville office. Called the Louisville tech to reboot the box, it's been flaky. Found out that the doors down there were broke. The mag locks would not disengage. So I got to spend time on the phone with him to figure out how to break into the computer room down there.
Other weird things most the day, like at lunch when I was given the wrong pager for my food, and they had to come find me, so they could give it to me. Then when I got ready to go, which takes about 15 minutes for me to do, the Help Desk Lady comes over and says the police are there.
Turn around there's a county sheriff deputy. Oo. He said they're was a 911 call and hang up from our building. He said they tried to call back, but couldn't get out of the automated system so they sent him out. We walked around, he said since he didn't hear any screaming he wasn't worried. It was either a wrong number or caused by the weather, which happens in the winter. He left, I figured I'd walk around some.
Went to carpet row first, since that's where the VPs, the Owners, the Directors and others like that sit. Saw my director was still there. Told him the cops were there because they got a 911 call. The look on his face was just pure worry would be the best way to say it. He went straight to 11. I had to calm him down quickly. We went over and talked to the Manufacturing Director and VP, then the four of us walked the building. Each person took a different area. We met back up and all was good.
So next week there will probably be a memo if you accidentally call 911, stay on the phone and tell them you got them by mistake.
So then I was getting ready to go again, and the MFG Director stops by says his guys can't get to the Manufacturing share on our network. Look, and the NAS heads crashed again. Spent the next 1.5 hours dealing with that.
Then home ward bound. Stopped to get some clothes for the Self Defense class. That and looking at toys and other things, took about an hour.
Thursday
Thursday was pretty good. Regular day at work. Got some stuff done.
Martial Arts was really good. We started warming up at 7pm. The four of us that were there. Went til 7:30. I led them through a great work out. Then after we finished and the kids class was winding down, I got stuck talking to the head master. Not really stuck, but was up front on the side, instead of in the back like normal. Wow the acoustics there suck. Can hear quite a bit, and even though we trying be quiet.
Anyway while I was up there more people showed up, so we didn't get jump straight into it. So I got a 5 minute warm up and stretch. It was good. Jumping Jacks to burpees (no stop), stretches, and ROM. Some Stretch kicks to end it. Then we did one steps, then three steps, forms, and finished with free fighting. I got to fight one of the masters. He used to be a professional tournament fighter. Really good at free fighting. I enjoy to fight him. I always get beat up, and learn so much about my weaknesses. Held pretty good this time. At the end though, he nailed me in the jaw. My ear was ringing and my vision flashed white. It was awesome, left me dazed for a bit. I was already having problems. I got dizzy during one of the forms and nearly fell over. So the hit was just over the top. Kept shaking my head. Bowed us out and homeward bound.
The way home was meh, until I got to 94 and 275. Then things just got weird. Started with a jack knifed semi in the median. Then further up, a flipped over jeep suv. Then something like 6 more on top of that. I stopped at the semi, make sure the driver was ok, and call 911. Felt sorry for the guy. The other ones had people stopped already.
Martial Arts was really good. We started warming up at 7pm. The four of us that were there. Went til 7:30. I led them through a great work out. Then after we finished and the kids class was winding down, I got stuck talking to the head master. Not really stuck, but was up front on the side, instead of in the back like normal. Wow the acoustics there suck. Can hear quite a bit, and even though we trying be quiet.
Anyway while I was up there more people showed up, so we didn't get jump straight into it. So I got a 5 minute warm up and stretch. It was good. Jumping Jacks to burpees (no stop), stretches, and ROM. Some Stretch kicks to end it. Then we did one steps, then three steps, forms, and finished with free fighting. I got to fight one of the masters. He used to be a professional tournament fighter. Really good at free fighting. I enjoy to fight him. I always get beat up, and learn so much about my weaknesses. Held pretty good this time. At the end though, he nailed me in the jaw. My ear was ringing and my vision flashed white. It was awesome, left me dazed for a bit. I was already having problems. I got dizzy during one of the forms and nearly fell over. So the hit was just over the top. Kept shaking my head. Bowed us out and homeward bound.
The way home was meh, until I got to 94 and 275. Then things just got weird. Started with a jack knifed semi in the median. Then further up, a flipped over jeep suv. Then something like 6 more on top of that. I stopped at the semi, make sure the driver was ok, and call 911. Felt sorry for the guy. The other ones had people stopped already.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
what's going on...
Bad news yesterday at work... But in all fairness to the people that pay me, I'll say no more until later. I have always stated my loyalty goes only as far as my paycheck. Very mercinary like of me, but that is the way I roll. I feel that today's companies don't care about the workers and only care about the $$$ in the bank. BOA showed us that, after they got the bail out and trying holding a conf call with right wing nutters, trying to block people's right to chose (Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)).
Last night I went to Martial Arts early. Got there a few minutes before 18:00 and dropped of the class' fit decks. Then went and changed. Did lots of push-ups in the kids class. I did somewhere around 150 or more last night. Plus my normal class workout, plus some planks (because I was tired of push ups and the person being punished can't do them anyway). 8 plank, 2 side planks. :)
Today more grind at work. I think most of us are still dealing with what was said yesterday. I expect some people to start looking for new jobs, but others don't. I know updating my resume has moved up on the list of things to do. Might actually start applying to them. I was talking about a job posting I saw today on Dice, manager and office mate were there. Manager asked why I was looking for a new job. Office Mate asked "Were you at the meeting yesterday did you hear what they said?" I shouldn't complain too bad I have a job.
I know, I'm being an ass right now... but it's a fine line and while this is supposed to be my space to vent, and the like, and I keep my employer's name out of it, I don't want to risk being fired.
Since I hadn't heard any thing back yet from the apartment complex, I went to the office today and talked to the coordinator. Her GM has been out sick, or so I was told, and she had yesterday off, so she was trying to catch up. It is looking like we're on to start NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! I have so much to do to get ready. However I'll get final word before 5pm tomorrow. Right now it looks like the first class (women's self defense) will be at 7:30, and co-ed self defense will be at 8:30. Which means i'll get done at 9:30. I feel bad for my parrot. He'll be stuck in his cage all that time. :(
My workout tonight was push-ups from the 100 push up challenge. Week 2, day 2. I cut the rest down to 60 seconds instead of 90. Might not be a good idea, but I wanted them done with.
14
16
12
12
20
___
74 total.
Last night I went to Martial Arts early. Got there a few minutes before 18:00 and dropped of the class' fit decks. Then went and changed. Did lots of push-ups in the kids class. I did somewhere around 150 or more last night. Plus my normal class workout, plus some planks (because I was tired of push ups and the person being punished can't do them anyway). 8 plank, 2 side planks. :)
Today more grind at work. I think most of us are still dealing with what was said yesterday. I expect some people to start looking for new jobs, but others don't. I know updating my resume has moved up on the list of things to do. Might actually start applying to them. I was talking about a job posting I saw today on Dice, manager and office mate were there. Manager asked why I was looking for a new job. Office Mate asked "Were you at the meeting yesterday did you hear what they said?" I shouldn't complain too bad I have a job.
I know, I'm being an ass right now... but it's a fine line and while this is supposed to be my space to vent, and the like, and I keep my employer's name out of it, I don't want to risk being fired.
Since I hadn't heard any thing back yet from the apartment complex, I went to the office today and talked to the coordinator. Her GM has been out sick, or so I was told, and she had yesterday off, so she was trying to catch up. It is looking like we're on to start NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! I have so much to do to get ready. However I'll get final word before 5pm tomorrow. Right now it looks like the first class (women's self defense) will be at 7:30, and co-ed self defense will be at 8:30. Which means i'll get done at 9:30. I feel bad for my parrot. He'll be stuck in his cage all that time. :(
My workout tonight was push-ups from the 100 push up challenge. Week 2, day 2. I cut the rest down to 60 seconds instead of 90. Might not be a good idea, but I wanted them done with.
14
16
12
12
20
___
74 total.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
And to top it all off, I need to get some blue thread.
Today sucked. Really really sucked.
I woke up sore and tired again. My back was hurting again. Not as bad as last week, but sore enough that I really really really thought about calling in sick today.
Then I get to work. Long story short there, a piece of networking equipment died, and took us off line for about 8 hours. The first 3 hours, you could reach the company websites, but that was it. At 12:30, we rebooted a piece of equipment. Before I did it, I said I didn't think it would fix the problem. I was right. It made it worse. I said worse case, we'll be dead in the water. Close enough, we didn't have any external presence on the ineternet.
In kicks the adrenaline, because shit just hit the fan, and it was my job to fix it. Trying to do 3 or 5 things at once, and making little headway on any of them. Finally I focus on one of them, get the websites back up, even if it's limping along, so the outside world could see us. About an hour later (note this is about 2 hours after the reboot), I got the system up. Changed ip address, monkeyed around with the firewall, ran cables over the floor. All while waiting for Cisco to deliver a new part to us.
Around 3:30, I ran out for comfert food. Regardless of the fact that I had steamed colliflower and broccli, 2 pergoies, and half a chicken breast for lunch at 12:15. I went and got 2 Double cheeseburgers minus onion plus bacon, large fry, large dr pepper, and a large frosty from wendy's. Got back, ate the first burger, felt like crap. After washing my face and hands, to free them of ketchup and mayo (note this around 4pm now, and the part isn't due until after 6pm) I see a car parked on the sidewalk in front of the door. I go out to the lobby, and it was Cisco's delivery team with the part. I don't think the guy thought I was authorized to sign for it, but my name was on the package too, or was supposed to be.
Opened the boxes, and the adrenaline kicked back in, as I flipped the power switches on the equipment. Meanwhile my frosty is melting. Replace the bad card, and everything comes back up... Except the web sites because of the changes I made. So I quickly run off to change the firewall, reconfig the box I changed, change DNS, and all other kinds of fun things that took me an hour to do the first time (un-did it in 15 minutes), and life was happy.
However after running on adrenaline for so long, I'm now exhausted. I was going to come home and just go to bed. Skipped Martial Arts... Of course I diddn't leave work until 6pm. Got bird out of his cage, since it's going down to around -5f tonight, I stopped to retape my bed room window. If I had the tape I'd do the other one, and I really need to get some more weather tape, and replace all the duct tape I used. But it's not as drafty in here. Still some drafts but not as bad.
In the process I cut a line in my blue blanet on my bed. Stupid razor knife. I know it was my own fault. I didn't see the cut (and I looked at the time) until I got in bed. I hope it doesn't get worse between now and the weekend, so I can get some thread and sew it back up. Yes I know how to sew. Which does surprise people. Nothing fancy, but I can make small repairs, and put patches on clothes, I did all the patches on my martial arts uniforms myself. Although next time, I'm going to pay someone.
I was going to skip ETK tonight. but I wanted something to make me feel better than I when I was getting ready to go to bed.
Warm up: 10 minutes.
10x wall squat
10x halo (16kg, 5 to the right, 5 to the left)
10x pumps
Total: 4 sets, could have done more, but I stopped to get the kettlebell off my bookshelf, take off my sweat pants, change my shirts, get my water from the kitchen, etc.
Workout: 24kg, 5 minutes
5 left, 5 right Turkish Get Up.
Had enough time to do a 6th one on the left, but decided against it.
I woke up sore and tired again. My back was hurting again. Not as bad as last week, but sore enough that I really really really thought about calling in sick today.
Then I get to work. Long story short there, a piece of networking equipment died, and took us off line for about 8 hours. The first 3 hours, you could reach the company websites, but that was it. At 12:30, we rebooted a piece of equipment. Before I did it, I said I didn't think it would fix the problem. I was right. It made it worse. I said worse case, we'll be dead in the water. Close enough, we didn't have any external presence on the ineternet.
In kicks the adrenaline, because shit just hit the fan, and it was my job to fix it. Trying to do 3 or 5 things at once, and making little headway on any of them. Finally I focus on one of them, get the websites back up, even if it's limping along, so the outside world could see us. About an hour later (note this is about 2 hours after the reboot), I got the system up. Changed ip address, monkeyed around with the firewall, ran cables over the floor. All while waiting for Cisco to deliver a new part to us.
Around 3:30, I ran out for comfert food. Regardless of the fact that I had steamed colliflower and broccli, 2 pergoies, and half a chicken breast for lunch at 12:15. I went and got 2 Double cheeseburgers minus onion plus bacon, large fry, large dr pepper, and a large frosty from wendy's. Got back, ate the first burger, felt like crap. After washing my face and hands, to free them of ketchup and mayo (note this around 4pm now, and the part isn't due until after 6pm) I see a car parked on the sidewalk in front of the door. I go out to the lobby, and it was Cisco's delivery team with the part. I don't think the guy thought I was authorized to sign for it, but my name was on the package too, or was supposed to be.
Opened the boxes, and the adrenaline kicked back in, as I flipped the power switches on the equipment. Meanwhile my frosty is melting. Replace the bad card, and everything comes back up... Except the web sites because of the changes I made. So I quickly run off to change the firewall, reconfig the box I changed, change DNS, and all other kinds of fun things that took me an hour to do the first time (un-did it in 15 minutes), and life was happy.
However after running on adrenaline for so long, I'm now exhausted. I was going to come home and just go to bed. Skipped Martial Arts... Of course I diddn't leave work until 6pm. Got bird out of his cage, since it's going down to around -5f tonight, I stopped to retape my bed room window. If I had the tape I'd do the other one, and I really need to get some more weather tape, and replace all the duct tape I used. But it's not as drafty in here. Still some drafts but not as bad.
In the process I cut a line in my blue blanet on my bed. Stupid razor knife. I know it was my own fault. I didn't see the cut (and I looked at the time) until I got in bed. I hope it doesn't get worse between now and the weekend, so I can get some thread and sew it back up. Yes I know how to sew. Which does surprise people. Nothing fancy, but I can make small repairs, and put patches on clothes, I did all the patches on my martial arts uniforms myself. Although next time, I'm going to pay someone.
I was going to skip ETK tonight. but I wanted something to make me feel better than I when I was getting ready to go to bed.
Warm up: 10 minutes.
10x wall squat
10x halo (16kg, 5 to the right, 5 to the left)
10x pumps
Total: 4 sets, could have done more, but I stopped to get the kettlebell off my bookshelf, take off my sweat pants, change my shirts, get my water from the kitchen, etc.
Workout: 24kg, 5 minutes
5 left, 5 right Turkish Get Up.
Had enough time to do a 6th one on the left, but decided against it.
Monday, January 5, 2009
I feel like I'm making an excuse
So one of the things I'm thinking about doing, is the 100 push up challenge again. I made it to a repeat of week 3 before I lost interest last year. Did it in June and July. When I took the initial test then, I could do 33 straight. After the first 3 weeks I saw no improvement.
Today I had the person I share my office with count for me (again). I did 35 straight. Which is only 2 more than I did in June. I started to slow down around 15, because my shoulders started to burn. Then at 30 I went from a slower pace to just grinding them out. I was seeing spots and things were going black. I think I stopped breathing at 26.
That still puts me in Level 4 on the test sheet. Not that it means much. The workout says if you can do more than 20 start on week 3 in column 2 or 3 depending on what you did.
All I know is my nose is stuffed up, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm tired / sore /exhausted and have been dragging all day. Wonder how many more I could have made if I was closer to the top of my game, instead of feeling like I was at 75%. I think I did 40 straight back in October, but I had 15 other people doing them with me, and I wanted not be shown up. I think I was the 4th to last to fail.
And even though I was grinding, I think I could have pushed out 5 more if I really really tried. I just didn't want to drain the tank. I'm hoping that I have a yoga class tonight.
Today I had the person I share my office with count for me (again). I did 35 straight. Which is only 2 more than I did in June. I started to slow down around 15, because my shoulders started to burn. Then at 30 I went from a slower pace to just grinding them out. I was seeing spots and things were going black. I think I stopped breathing at 26.
That still puts me in Level 4 on the test sheet. Not that it means much. The workout says if you can do more than 20 start on week 3 in column 2 or 3 depending on what you did.
All I know is my nose is stuffed up, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm tired / sore /exhausted and have been dragging all day. Wonder how many more I could have made if I was closer to the top of my game, instead of feeling like I was at 75%. I think I did 40 straight back in October, but I had 15 other people doing them with me, and I wanted not be shown up. I think I was the 4th to last to fail.
And even though I was grinding, I think I could have pushed out 5 more if I really really tried. I just didn't want to drain the tank. I'm hoping that I have a yoga class tonight.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
hmm... time for the weekend review
Like most weeks, I don't remember most of them, but this is my first weekend off in a month. So I burnt it so far, at my computer. Muhahaha.
Here is what I remember that's worth it (most of the week is a blur).
Tuesday, I cooked. 2 tofurkies, with the oil and soy sauce baste. I cooked them on a bed of red potatoes, onions, and carrots. I also made cranberry sauce. yummm...
Wednesday I over ate at the pot luck.
Thursday, I went to Martial Arts. It was good. I liked it. My endurance level appears to be one of the highest ones there. Which is a little sad. I'm basing this off of people moving away from me in free fighting, while sucking wind. I'll be breathing heavy, but they are sucking wind.
Fell pretty bad too. Landed on my elbow pretty hard, buy my knee much harder. It's still bruised. I had a hard time walking Friday. Of course, I had to walk all around the building, which did help it some, even if I did limp most of the time.
Thursday it snowed. I fell on the ice outside, before going to class. Wasn't that bad in that case, just had one leg go out from under me, and was able to turn it into a kneel, before crashing. I tend to do that a lot when I fall on the ice. End up in a one knee kneel. The drive home sucked, once I got near the airport, went to a complete stand still.
Earlier Thursday, the director emailed me about a wireless access point showing near his office. They're pretty paranoid there about that stuff. I really don't care too much myself. To a point. Once a month I walk around with a laptop, looking for wireless access points. I'd much rather have a better tool, that finds the non-broadcast SSIDs too, but it makes them feel good. Anyway, it looks like someone set up a new access point across the freeway and we're getting bleed over. One troublesome thing though. Thursday during the quick initial scan. I found one that really did bother me. It was an ad-hoc peering point called "Free Public Internet". Ad-hoc networks are computers without a router, that can access each other no problem. Lets just put it this way, it is a bad thing to find. Turns out it was on the CFO's laptop. A VERY BAD THING. Basically anyone could sit out in the parking lot, or even across the freeway (with a directional antenna, which can be made with a pringles can), connect to the computer and get files from it.
I get to do a computer security class in a few months. It's for the Executives and the Sales people. Should be fun. I'm going to write the manual from scratch.
Friday, wandered around, then spent the majority of the afternoon at my desk being bored. Could have done some other stuff, but didn't feel like it at the time.
Today, I had fun. I set up some neato computer stuff, GnuPG, and the ability to encrypt my google email. (Encryption is good, it prevents people from reading what they are not meant to be). The way it works, you make a key pair. One is public, one is private. The public one you share. The private one you hide. When they want to send you an email, only you can read, they encrypt it with your public key, and usually sign it with their private key (because you're public key is public, anyone can get it and say they are so and so, but signing it with their own private key means it's from them). As long as you have their public key, you can read the message, after decrypting it with your private key, and can confirm it's from them, by checking they're signature against their public key. It sounds harder than it really is. Which is probably why so few use it. It took me all of 30 minutes to get set up.
I also looked up the details on creating a spice mister. Going to make some capsaicin oil to try with it in a few weeks.
I also got caught up on some tv. Watched about 4 hours of it today. About all I could stand. Read a lot of neat stuff on the web. Instructables and Life Hacker rock.
Only other thing of note, was I got the Ultimate bond, 42 discs. 21 movies (Doctor No through Casino Royal, minus Never Say Never Again). I finally saw Casino. It was decent. I look forward to seeing Quantum now.
Oh and I think I'm going to push and try to sell the idea of encrypted IM clients at work this week to the upper management.
Here is what I remember that's worth it (most of the week is a blur).
Tuesday, I cooked. 2 tofurkies, with the oil and soy sauce baste. I cooked them on a bed of red potatoes, onions, and carrots. I also made cranberry sauce. yummm...
Wednesday I over ate at the pot luck.
Thursday, I went to Martial Arts. It was good. I liked it. My endurance level appears to be one of the highest ones there. Which is a little sad. I'm basing this off of people moving away from me in free fighting, while sucking wind. I'll be breathing heavy, but they are sucking wind.
Fell pretty bad too. Landed on my elbow pretty hard, buy my knee much harder. It's still bruised. I had a hard time walking Friday. Of course, I had to walk all around the building, which did help it some, even if I did limp most of the time.
Thursday it snowed. I fell on the ice outside, before going to class. Wasn't that bad in that case, just had one leg go out from under me, and was able to turn it into a kneel, before crashing. I tend to do that a lot when I fall on the ice. End up in a one knee kneel. The drive home sucked, once I got near the airport, went to a complete stand still.
Earlier Thursday, the director emailed me about a wireless access point showing near his office. They're pretty paranoid there about that stuff. I really don't care too much myself. To a point. Once a month I walk around with a laptop, looking for wireless access points. I'd much rather have a better tool, that finds the non-broadcast SSIDs too, but it makes them feel good. Anyway, it looks like someone set up a new access point across the freeway and we're getting bleed over. One troublesome thing though. Thursday during the quick initial scan. I found one that really did bother me. It was an ad-hoc peering point called "Free Public Internet". Ad-hoc networks are computers without a router, that can access each other no problem. Lets just put it this way, it is a bad thing to find. Turns out it was on the CFO's laptop. A VERY BAD THING. Basically anyone could sit out in the parking lot, or even across the freeway (with a directional antenna, which can be made with a pringles can), connect to the computer and get files from it.
I get to do a computer security class in a few months. It's for the Executives and the Sales people. Should be fun. I'm going to write the manual from scratch.
Friday, wandered around, then spent the majority of the afternoon at my desk being bored. Could have done some other stuff, but didn't feel like it at the time.
Today, I had fun. I set up some neato computer stuff, GnuPG, and the ability to encrypt my google email. (Encryption is good, it prevents people from reading what they are not meant to be). The way it works, you make a key pair. One is public, one is private. The public one you share. The private one you hide. When they want to send you an email, only you can read, they encrypt it with your public key, and usually sign it with their private key (because you're public key is public, anyone can get it and say they are so and so, but signing it with their own private key means it's from them). As long as you have their public key, you can read the message, after decrypting it with your private key, and can confirm it's from them, by checking they're signature against their public key. It sounds harder than it really is. Which is probably why so few use it. It took me all of 30 minutes to get set up.
I also looked up the details on creating a spice mister. Going to make some capsaicin oil to try with it in a few weeks.
I also got caught up on some tv. Watched about 4 hours of it today. About all I could stand. Read a lot of neat stuff on the web. Instructables and Life Hacker rock.
Only other thing of note, was I got the Ultimate bond, 42 discs. 21 movies (Doctor No through Casino Royal, minus Never Say Never Again). I finally saw Casino. It was decent. I look forward to seeing Quantum now.
Oh and I think I'm going to push and try to sell the idea of encrypted IM clients at work this week to the upper management.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
This is definitely a PITFA
My mouse died. No really. So I'm stuck doing everything without a mouse. Until I get another set of batteries charged. It really is a pain to have to do Tabs to get through everything. Especially with the way the "2.0" styled sites are.
Its like they didn't expect anyone to be without a mouse.
At least I'm not stuck in the and of Lynx, but I think more web-dweebs (developers) need to spend time without a mouse.
A co-worker was joking with me, only partly, when I said I was applying to teach at a local community college. To teach Intro to Computers. He said he could see it. First day, I'd have them pick up a mouse, say "This is a mouse. It's used for Guis. Now un-plug it. We're doing everything from the command line."
I said yep, they have to earn the right of a mouse, damn kids.
Update: Batteries are so nice.
Its like they didn't expect anyone to be without a mouse.
At least I'm not stuck in the and of Lynx, but I think more web-dweebs (developers) need to spend time without a mouse.
A co-worker was joking with me, only partly, when I said I was applying to teach at a local community college. To teach Intro to Computers. He said he could see it. First day, I'd have them pick up a mouse, say "This is a mouse. It's used for Guis. Now un-plug it. We're doing everything from the command line."
I said yep, they have to earn the right of a mouse, damn kids.
Update: Batteries are so nice.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
ugh...
I hate fried food. I hate the way it tastes, I hate the way I feel after eating it. The only thing I like less than fried food is McDonald's (or most fast food joints).
However work has been making it hard to eat real food. I left Monday night at 9:00pm, and stopped to get groceries on the way home. By the time I got home, I was not in the mood to cook, since it was after 10:30.
Yesterday I left at 2am. Yesterday was a 16 hour shift.
Last night I had fish and chips from bigboy. The only thing that wasn't fried was the coleslaw.
Today since I knew it'd be 6 hours before I get a chance to get out to eat again, I stopped at McDonold's across the street. I got a 10 piece chicken nugget, a quarter pounder with cheese, a small fry, sweet tea and 2 pies (one apple one cherry). Usually if I get McD's I get the pies, the fruit and nut salad thingy and sweet tea (occasionally the orange hi-c, it helps prevents hang overs).
I ate the burger... It tasted like the best thing I ever ate. I HATE BURGERS IN GENERAL, but it was all so good. I want another. I still have that ugh feel I get when I eat fried food, but it didn't taste like the ugh while eating it.
Nuggets and pie come later.
However work has been making it hard to eat real food. I left Monday night at 9:00pm, and stopped to get groceries on the way home. By the time I got home, I was not in the mood to cook, since it was after 10:30.
Yesterday I left at 2am. Yesterday was a 16 hour shift.
Last night I had fish and chips from bigboy. The only thing that wasn't fried was the coleslaw.
Today since I knew it'd be 6 hours before I get a chance to get out to eat again, I stopped at McDonold's across the street. I got a 10 piece chicken nugget, a quarter pounder with cheese, a small fry, sweet tea and 2 pies (one apple one cherry). Usually if I get McD's I get the pies, the fruit and nut salad thingy and sweet tea (occasionally the orange hi-c, it helps prevents hang overs).
I ate the burger... It tasted like the best thing I ever ate. I HATE BURGERS IN GENERAL, but it was all so good. I want another. I still have that ugh feel I get when I eat fried food, but it didn't taste like the ugh while eating it.
Nuggets and pie come later.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Yesterday...
Yesterday, I had this huge plan to go and bust my butt. I was even geeked about it. Up until I pulled in my drive way.
For the last few months I've been slowly cleaning out my garage. It's a slow go. One of the reasons is, you're only allowed 2 large items a week. I have old kitchen cabinets, old grills, old hoses and other things in there. So I only put out 2 things at a time.
Yesterday I caught a Scrap collector, he offered to come back to my house in a few minutes. I ran in, changed, and started pulling a lot of metal out of my garage. Someone beat the guy to the small stuff, but I had more back there. We carried it out to his truck. It went pretty well.
Then my neighbor called me over because they had found an injured bird in their back yard and didn't know what to do. They figured I would because I have a parrot. The bird didn't make it through the night. Which is kind of sad.
However I have more space in my garage now. I could even turn my pull-up / dip / leg-lift stand if I wanted too.
Tonight, I'm going to do what I didn't yesterday. Hill Sprints (the second set for the week will be Saturday), bike ride, and kettlebells. I really want to try the workout that Dave Whitley sent out.
For the last few months I've been slowly cleaning out my garage. It's a slow go. One of the reasons is, you're only allowed 2 large items a week. I have old kitchen cabinets, old grills, old hoses and other things in there. So I only put out 2 things at a time.
Yesterday I caught a Scrap collector, he offered to come back to my house in a few minutes. I ran in, changed, and started pulling a lot of metal out of my garage. Someone beat the guy to the small stuff, but I had more back there. We carried it out to his truck. It went pretty well.
Then my neighbor called me over because they had found an injured bird in their back yard and didn't know what to do. They figured I would because I have a parrot. The bird didn't make it through the night. Which is kind of sad.
However I have more space in my garage now. I could even turn my pull-up / dip / leg-lift stand if I wanted too.
Tonight, I'm going to do what I didn't yesterday. Hill Sprints (the second set for the week will be Saturday), bike ride, and kettlebells. I really want to try the workout that Dave Whitley sent out.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The total so far
203.79
2 cisco 2501
2 cisco 1924
1 cisco 2507
1 cisco 2924
mounting brackets for all of them. AND I scored a freebie.
Free Rack. Don't know about that though, I don't know if it will be free standing, or if it will be short enough to fit in the space I need it to.
2 cisco 2501
2 cisco 1924
1 cisco 2507
1 cisco 2924
mounting brackets for all of them. AND I scored a freebie.
Free Rack. Don't know about that though, I don't know if it will be free standing, or if it will be short enough to fit in the space I need it to.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
really cheap
What I have bought so far for my lab:
2 switches for less than $37.00
2 routers for less than $45.00
Everything else I'm bidding on, but waiting until last day bids to do get them.
So far:
1 router (which will finish my collection for the lab, until CCNP time) looking at less than $30.00
Still need one more switch, cables for everything (power, cat5, serial to serial for the routers), a network rack (going to be the most expensive part), a switched PDU, and mounting brackets.
The really neat part. Looking at pre-built kits on ebay, they want between 400 to 500 for them, I'm building mine piece by piece, including a rack, for less.
2 switches for less than $37.00
2 routers for less than $45.00
Everything else I'm bidding on, but waiting until last day bids to do get them.
So far:
1 router (which will finish my collection for the lab, until CCNP time) looking at less than $30.00
Still need one more switch, cables for everything (power, cat5, serial to serial for the routers), a network rack (going to be the most expensive part), a switched PDU, and mounting brackets.
The really neat part. Looking at pre-built kits on ebay, they want between 400 to 500 for them, I'm building mine piece by piece, including a rack, for less.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
nice and cheap
So I've been thinking about putting a cisco lab together. For CCNA training. Since today was slow at work I spent a large part of the day looking at parts and pricing it out.
The places I was looking had really, really good deals. I'm going to be getting at least 2 switches tomorrow. I'll also have to order a serial port adapter for my laptop. But that won't be that big of a deal.
The places I was looking had really, really good deals. I'm going to be getting at least 2 switches tomorrow. I'll also have to order a serial port adapter for my laptop. But that won't be that big of a deal.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
blast from the past day
So while standing in the help desk room at work, talking to the helpdesk people, I spotted a :c (cue cat).
For those that don't know the cue cat was a hand held bar code scanner that didn't do so well. I remember when Radio Shack was giving them away for free. However that is part of the reason they didn't do so well. The company sent them out to people for free, most through a mass mailing to magazine subscribers, one of the biggest being Wired.
It was a blast from the past.
For those that don't know the cue cat was a hand held bar code scanner that didn't do so well. I remember when Radio Shack was giving them away for free. However that is part of the reason they didn't do so well. The company sent them out to people for free, most through a mass mailing to magazine subscribers, one of the biggest being Wired.
It was a blast from the past.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
A word, what it means, and how the world accepts it.
One thing that bothers me. People who go and say your using the wrong word. I'm guilty on this as well, but have finally given up and use the right word for the right time. I'll let others try to figure out the context.
Example 1: Hacker.
Originally meant person who makes things of wood, using a hatchet. In computers, it meant a person skilled with computers and can make them do more than an average user. Then the media came along. Instead of using the word Cracker to mean people who break into computers and networks they used the word hacker. This created the mind share (how the world accepts it) of hacker meaning computer criminal. No matter how hard you try to change that perception, the criminal themselves call themselves hackers and the word will always be associated that way. Regardless of how the purists (real hackers and computer security people) feel about it.
Example 2: Windows
I think you can get the original idea. If not, look outside from within your living space. In computers, it's used as a blanket term associated with the current operating system of Microsoft. Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11 for work groups, Windows 95 / NT / 98 / ME / XP / Vista.
Example 3: Linux
Originally it meant just the kernel itself. All it does is the talk between the Operating System and the Hardware. The OS would be GNU/Linux, since it's usually paired with the GNU tools set. Then a distro would be a distribution, a collection of tools, beyond the GNU tools. However that is not the mind share The mind share treats all three as one interchangeable word.
Like the concept of Windows and Hacker, the word is lost, and all you do is make the rest of us look small and petty when you try to assert the way it should be.
Example 1: Hacker.
Originally meant person who makes things of wood, using a hatchet. In computers, it meant a person skilled with computers and can make them do more than an average user. Then the media came along. Instead of using the word Cracker to mean people who break into computers and networks they used the word hacker. This created the mind share (how the world accepts it) of hacker meaning computer criminal. No matter how hard you try to change that perception, the criminal themselves call themselves hackers and the word will always be associated that way. Regardless of how the purists (real hackers and computer security people) feel about it.
Example 2: Windows
I think you can get the original idea. If not, look outside from within your living space. In computers, it's used as a blanket term associated with the current operating system of Microsoft. Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11 for work groups, Windows 95 / NT / 98 / ME / XP / Vista.
Example 3: Linux
Originally it meant just the kernel itself. All it does is the talk between the Operating System and the Hardware. The OS would be GNU/Linux, since it's usually paired with the GNU tools set. Then a distro would be a distribution, a collection of tools, beyond the GNU tools. However that is not the mind share The mind share treats all three as one interchangeable word.
Like the concept of Windows and Hacker, the word is lost, and all you do is make the rest of us look small and petty when you try to assert the way it should be.
Ubuntu and Linux
So to get the show started, I'm going to do a post along the lines of a comment I made on another blog earlier.
It seems that some people are thinking that because Ubuntu is the one that everyone talks about lately that it will become synonymous with Linux. They are taking offense to people posting comments or doing articles talking about or focusing on Ubuntu.
My response to this: I see the sky is falling again.
First some history. 10 years 3 months ago I installed my first Linux box. I came from a BSD work environment, and was going to go with that. This was before I became an admin. However a couple of friends recommended this thing called linux. At the time, my choices were Redhat, Slackware, and Debian. I went with Debian. Bounced around a few other choices, like Corel Linux (debian based) Progeny, and the like.
Back in the days I first got into it. Everyone was talking about Redhat. Redhat in business, Redhat on the personal computer, Redhat on the laptop. If someone said Linux, the first words or thoughts that came up was Redhat. And Redhat had a good marketing department behind it. I took a training class on Linux Administration from the great guys over at Linux Certified. In fact the guys there in California told me I was their first paid customer. With the class you got a free laptop. Their poison of choice for an os was Redhat. For a 2 day boot camp it worked really well... But again, it added to the whole REDHAT REDHAT REDHAT mind share. People were arguing that there was more to Linux than Redhat.
Some of the arguments made, because Redhat had such mind share and were a valid business, was that Redhat was the Microsoft of Linux. You had the Hatters and the Non-Hatters.
Flash forward today. Rehat, has split into 2 groups. Fedora, and Redhat. They are still popular on the server, and have lots of distros based off of them. Hello CentOS. You also have other vendors in the server game too. Novell's SUSE, and Ubuntu.
Ubuntu came out and was very new user (noob) friendly. It has built on Klaus Knopper's Knoppix live cd system (as I understand it Knoppix was the first, if not, at least one of the first). It's improved hardware support, and created a great user community to get help. It comes with your choice of Desktop Managers (KDE, Gnome, XFCE). The distro has taken quite a bit of the guess work out of setting up a system. Most things work, or you can get decent free advice fairly quickly, less than a Google search away.
Because of this, Ubuntu has become a bit of a name. It makes an option available to those stuck with Microsoft. The typical user, can't even work email consistently, and the people in the Linux Blogsphere (the ones complaining today) forget, most users don't have a clue on how to install an OS. Also remember people on a whole, do not like change. So which are they going to do? Are they going to take the geek route (the route I went; learn Unix, shell scripting, and then Linux. Climb up to it from there, and spend the next 10 years learning a system that isn't as ubiquitous as Microsoft Windows), or are they going to get something that will most likely work when they put it in their Optical Disk Drive (Like a Microsoft install CD)?
Remember kids, distros come and go. They rise to the majority of the mind share and sink back down again. Here it is, 10 years later, and I'm seeing people making a big deal on one Distro getting more mind share. Am I going to see this again in another 10 years? Sadly I think I will.
It seems that some people are thinking that because Ubuntu is the one that everyone talks about lately that it will become synonymous with Linux. They are taking offense to people posting comments or doing articles talking about or focusing on Ubuntu.
My response to this: I see the sky is falling again.
First some history. 10 years 3 months ago I installed my first Linux box. I came from a BSD work environment, and was going to go with that. This was before I became an admin. However a couple of friends recommended this thing called linux. At the time, my choices were Redhat, Slackware, and Debian. I went with Debian. Bounced around a few other choices, like Corel Linux (debian based) Progeny, and the like.
Back in the days I first got into it. Everyone was talking about Redhat. Redhat in business, Redhat on the personal computer, Redhat on the laptop. If someone said Linux, the first words or thoughts that came up was Redhat. And Redhat had a good marketing department behind it. I took a training class on Linux Administration from the great guys over at Linux Certified. In fact the guys there in California told me I was their first paid customer. With the class you got a free laptop. Their poison of choice for an os was Redhat. For a 2 day boot camp it worked really well... But again, it added to the whole REDHAT REDHAT REDHAT mind share. People were arguing that there was more to Linux than Redhat.
Some of the arguments made, because Redhat had such mind share and were a valid business, was that Redhat was the Microsoft of Linux. You had the Hatters and the Non-Hatters.
Flash forward today. Rehat, has split into 2 groups. Fedora, and Redhat. They are still popular on the server, and have lots of distros based off of them. Hello CentOS. You also have other vendors in the server game too. Novell's SUSE, and Ubuntu.
Ubuntu came out and was very new user (noob) friendly. It has built on Klaus Knopper's Knoppix live cd system (as I understand it Knoppix was the first, if not, at least one of the first). It's improved hardware support, and created a great user community to get help. It comes with your choice of Desktop Managers (KDE, Gnome, XFCE). The distro has taken quite a bit of the guess work out of setting up a system. Most things work, or you can get decent free advice fairly quickly, less than a Google search away.
Because of this, Ubuntu has become a bit of a name. It makes an option available to those stuck with Microsoft. The typical user, can't even work email consistently, and the people in the Linux Blogsphere (the ones complaining today) forget, most users don't have a clue on how to install an OS. Also remember people on a whole, do not like change. So which are they going to do? Are they going to take the geek route (the route I went; learn Unix, shell scripting, and then Linux. Climb up to it from there, and spend the next 10 years learning a system that isn't as ubiquitous as Microsoft Windows), or are they going to get something that will most likely work when they put it in their Optical Disk Drive (Like a Microsoft install CD)?
Remember kids, distros come and go. They rise to the majority of the mind share and sink back down again. Here it is, 10 years later, and I'm seeing people making a big deal on one Distro getting more mind share. Am I going to see this again in another 10 years? Sadly I think I will.
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