I am so close to switching over from Windows to Ubuntu Linux. I’ve tried to explore and play with Linux over the years but the latest release, version 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) is a game changer. It is more robust and user friendly than all the previous versions and is poised to go mainstream. Ubuntu Linux is a free, open source operating system. When I say “free” I do mean there is no charge but it is also free from just one corporation developing it. There are thousands of developers around the globe that are building this.
Chris
Daphne’s iPod
Anyone who is a parent understands that when a toddler decides that something is theirs, you suddenly lose ownership of it. This is the way it is with my family. Daphne has decided to claim the iPod Touch we own. I’ve added a page of games for her that are both educational and fun. A few of them are paid apps and the others are lite (free) versions that you can enjoy and upgrade if you wish.
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Photographer’s Weekend
This weekend Daphne and I spent a lot of time together while WonderWife went to a ladies retreat at church camp. First up was the Katy Photographer Meetup where we walked around La Centerra. The challenge was a point & shoot shootout using only PnS cameras and not our big DSLRs.
Daphne snapped away with her Olympus and I borrowed Jenny’s Canon. Afterwards we all met in the library to see everyone else’s perspective. I forgot to bring a card reader and we couldn’t view her images. I’ll post them online soon.
#14 and 19 Anniversaries
This is anniversary week with the Denbows. WonderWife and I are celebrating 14 years of marriage today and 19 years all together on the 5th. I first met Jenny in 1991 at a McDonald’s in Tulsa. It sounds cliché but I knew instantly that I would spend the rest of my life with her. I had no idea how I would make that happen so I just relied on my charm I suppose.
185-15 = Content
185 is my current weight and the ideal weight would be 160. 15 pounds is not a lot to ask, really. I’m more concerned about regaining lost muscle and better air/blood flow. Today I completed week one and day 3 of the Couch To 5k program. In other words, it is literally a long road ahead.
Working At Playing
I recently forgot what it is to be a human: to enjoy life and the pursuit of happiness. I forgot I was supposed to be helping people. I’m so concerned about getting “just the right shot” and forgot that photography is supposed to enjoyable. I was more concerned about the output and I lost my focus. Now I will work at playing.
Roller Coaster
I am extremely tired of riding the emotional roller coaster. Up & down, thrown for a curve. Up & down, upside down.
I want to get off of this ride, please
Ignorance Is Bliss
I love a spirited debate as much as anybody. I even like being wrong, if something can make a good case … on something. I’m confronted by my own ignorance or misunderstandings all the time.
—Anthony Bourdain
URL ABC
Go to the address bar in your favorite browser, and type one letter. Start with “a”, end with “z”.
Don’t do a web search. This is just in your address bar.
Here are the first results in my address bar. Revealing, no?
- Alltop.com
- Box.net
- ChrisDenbow.com (who knew?)
- Delicious.com
- Eager Little Mind.com
- Foxnews.com
- Give Me Something To Read
- Hulu
- Instapaper.com
- Jessica Simpson shoes (wth?)
- Katy, TX.
- Linked In
- mojodenbow.com
- Note & Point
- Oceanic Flight 815
- Panera Login (guess where I like to hang out)
- Quicktime
- Read It Later
- Slideshare
- The Sixty One
- Userscripts.org
- Visual Mixtape
- WordPress
- X Flight
- Yahoo
- Zillow
The Times
Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.
From the essay Life Without Principle by Henry David Thoreau, who was complaining about gossip and the trivialities of the daily news long before any of us were born.
Must See TV
I don’t watch a whole lot of television but when I do, it has to be intelligent and make me think. Nothing fraks with my mind like LOST, which is airing it’s 6th and last season this week. If you haven’t been keeping up and feel a bit lost yourself, Hulu is airing all episodes for free. Time to play catch up. I’ve been watching all seasons and will still have to watch at least the past 4 episodes from last season to prepare for this one.
I was skeptical of the recent Battlestar Galactica series until a co-worker turned me on to it. That series ended last year where humans were being wiped out by the sentient beings they created, the Cylons. A robotic race that evolved into looking/acting like humans themselves. You can kill the body but the soul/mind would download into a replicated body.
Now comes Caprica, a planet where the humans lived and created the Cylons. The new Caprica series is designed as a prequal to BSG and tells how the Cylons were created and why they turned on the humans. The girl featured in the promo photo above is Zoe. Her genius, rich father created the robots for the military. Zoe is a genius as well and rejected everything for her beliefs. I won’t spoil the rest except to say she becomes the first sentient Cylon somehow. Just like BSG, this show already deals with science, religion, race, ethics and so much more.
For comedic relief, I will still watch The Office and 30 Rock. They are both well written/acted and intelligent comedy.
You’ve Got Rail
Images are courtesy of Wired.com
I have been a big fan of high speed rail systems as a means of commuter transportation for years. I am also in favor of making rails as a transportation for shipping products a priority over semi-trucks. I am not a tree hugger but it is obvious that trucks as transportation are annoying, dirty and unsafe. Keep in mind that my own father has been a trucker for years and logged millions of miles without incident. No worries, dad. You will be retired before the high-speed wheels are on the tracks. Every other major country in the world except the greatest, us, have had these systems in place for decades. Last week I saw this article about the super-fast bullet trains coming to the U.S. in the near future and was even pleased to see the Texas T-Bone option. A dedicated, elevated passenger system that would connect all of the major metros here and alleviate a lot of auto congestion.
All of a sudden I hear on the radio yesterday about President Obama’s 8 billion dollar initiative towards high speed rail system in the United States. I don’t agree with the underlying message of jobs creation but I do like the idea of reliable transportation. Hopefully these funds will go to private developers and run by anyone else than Amtrak.
For now, these plans are still sitting in the terminal because the proposed rail systems aren’t due for completion until around the year 2025. That is IF they start building soon.