Going Green

So I'm trying to be more "green". Of course I've always recycled. Ok "always" meaning since the city instituted fines for not recycling. I also reuse everything I can, Jen calls this being a pack-rat, I say if it ain't broke don't throw it out give it away or save it for later. Lord knows I've had a crazy amount of computers built from spare parts and my basement apartment was furnished through the generosity of others (some never knowing how generous they'd been).

Now I've started looking at alternative energy. Solar Photovoltaic (solar panels) have peaked my interest. I know what you're thinking and it doesn't mean I've gone all "ultra left hippie save the planet" crazy, I honestly believe we as a species will never destroy this planet (short of full scale nuclear war) but I do believe that we can make it inhospitable to human life. I wish that that was the reason for my interest in this topic. I'd love to sit here and type these beautiful altruistic reasons about saving the planet and giving back to the environment but I'd be blowing smoke. Do I love the planet? Sure. Do I love nature? Sure. What's my true honest to goodness reason for looking into this? Cutting my electric costs somewhere between 30% and 80%. Wide range I know but I'm narrowing it down as I do more research.

So far I think "net metering" is the best option, no batteries in the house just solar panels going to an inverter and the inverter going straight to your electrical panel. The meter turns forward when your using your utility's power and backward when you're generating more than you're using. So at the end of the month you pay for what you've used. Most states differ on what happens if you generate more than you use, whether the utility pays you or you get credited at the wholesale energy rate.

This really seems like a no-brainer to me. It's considered normal to plunk down a ton of money and pay a mortgage for 20 years so that at some point you'll own the property, why doesn't make sense to pay for a system that can make your electric bill nearly non-existent. Did I mention that there are government incentives that can reduce the cost of a system by 50%?

Tell you what, I think if the green movement concentrated a little more on what people can personally save and moved away from the hot button terms like "global warming" and "climate change" the ultra left hippie save the planet people would get a lot more accomplished.

Well if anyone has any info I'd love to hear from you and if anyone's interested I'll gladly send you the stuff I've accumulated so far.

Windows XP? Ubuntu?

I've been a computer tech for a long time. I've worked on/in/with Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Millenium, XP (Home and Pro) and Vista. I even messed with a few Mac laptops. So when my hard drive started flaking out on my I decided it was time to reinstall. But hey why just reinstall when you can upgrade, right?
So off I go and buy a nice new shiny 500 gigabyte Sata II hard drive for my pc. And you know what? I'm not going to do a normal install, oh no I'm going to install Windows XP Professional and Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Linux) as a dual boot system! This is what I call a good Friday night (ok I did watch Doctor Who as well).
So why the blog post? Because I cannot believe the two unbelievably different experiences I had.

Windows XP Pro:

I've done this install ummm let's say several times, so I thought I knew what to expect, this time was different. Different how you ask? Well Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 isn't able to see an SATA drive during install, it just shoots through and tells you there's no drive present "hit a key to exit setup". Yea that's fun, there is a message in the beginning of the install which tells you to hit a certain key to install a third party drive controller. So after I rebooted and hit the correct key I was greeted by a screen prompting me to insert the drivers disk into my A: drive.... My A: drive? I don't have a floppy! I think this is my second or third Desktop that hasn't had a floppy! And I haven't seen a laptop that comes equiped with a floppy for years! So I sat there staring at the screen for a few minutes mumbling and cursing under my breath. I thought of putting the drivers on a CD, nope it wants a floppy, a usb thumb drive? No it WANTS A FLOPPY. Little known fact, in all of the computers I've worked on not one has had the ability to list a drive other than the floppy as the a drive in the BIOS (a.k.a the basic programming that connects the hardware to the operating system). So I turned to the internet, after some research I found out that there is software that will help you recreate the Windows XP cd with the drivers you need included not easy but doable. Thank god I had my laptop.
So after using the software to create a new cd (took about an hour) I then spent the 2 1/2 hours (approx, probably longer) a windows install usually takes. Started the computer, let windows install all the hardware it didn't install the first time, ran the updates, installed an antivirus.. I can't tell you the total time it all took but finally I was done.
It was late, I was tired and aggravated but I thought I'd put in the Ubuntu disk just to see what it entailed...

Ubuntu:

Ran the install took about a half an hour, rebooted into Linux everything ran everything was there. It also included software.


Now I'm not saying dump windows run out and get a linux system going. There are still bugs there too (my printer won't work at all, it sees it just can't use it) but it amazes me how incredibly different those two experiences were considering it was the same exact hardware. Linux may not be ready for any user but it is definitely on the right track.

Babies....

So, we had a baby girl on the 6th of March. 6 days early. She likes to scream at night and sleep all day. What they say is true it's definitely a battle for your sanity. Luckily I didn't possess much to begin with. Besides the screaming and the diapers there is this undescribable utterly amazing feeling you get when you lookat Your child. If you've never experienced it, I hope you get the opportunity. Well it's time to go stare at the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

We were thrown a lovely Baby Shower on January 28th. Patricia did way to much work and it turned out amazing. Everyone was generous beyond belief, Jen and I were blown away. We've been sent some pics so I thought I'd get them out there for all to see. Here are some links:

Laura's pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/547047503ztLvsC

Uncle Bud's pics: are here

Great Restaurant

I went to Simply Pasta last night with my wife and sister. It's on 41st between 6th and Broadway. The food was wonderful, the restaurant is beautiful and it's surprisingly affordable. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the Times Square area.

http://www.simplypastanyc.com/media/simplypasta.html

Didn't think I'd score this high...

The Deviant Geek You answered 85% of the questions as a geek truly would.

You're a geek and you know it. You've got all sorts of fringe hobbies and socially unacceptable tendencies. Chances are, whenever possible, you hate to be grouped with other people and sometimes go out of your way just to be different. You're smart too. You're more willing to depend on your own brainpower to solve problems, instead of relying on others to pull you through life. You probably read a lot, and generally enjoy learning new things. So what's it all mean? You may be considered by some to be uncool, but you probably don't care either. In social situations you may be either slightly passive or slightly loud (geeks always fall into the extremes). In a nutshell, you answered enough questions correctly supporting a geek philosophy to be considered a more potent geek than 60% of the population.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 92% on geekness

Link: The True Geek Test written by ambientred on Ok Cupid

Creepy Gmail

According to this article Google's privacy policy isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'm not to worried but as always... Read the fineprint!

http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/

Playdo Graffiti

A subway wall, a can of spray paint, no cops in sight... What else do you need in life???

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Anti Rebate Best Deals without the Rebates

If you like good deals but hate the stupid rebate process, then this site is for you.

Pretty cool, some are expired but all-in-all nice site...

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The Open CD Update 2

Still no joy, guess it's not that great a site

The Open CD Update

So while I was writing my last post I was downloading TheOpenCd, it's still not down. Wish they had a bittorrent link. I'll have to try a few more mirrors......

The Open CD

"TheOpenCD http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/ is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which weconsider appropriate for a wide audience."

I've been trying to build the completely free PC for years, this gets me one step closer. I found this cd through http://www.xtort.net/faves.php, which I actually found through digg.com (http://digg.com/links/Complete_Freeware_collection). He has a pretty good collection, but The Open CD was the first ISO image I've found, it's nice to get them all in one download....

Hacking Google Maps

Information on low gas prices, crime rates can be graphically illustrated... Tracking sexual predators in Florida. Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide. Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan.

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so what, I'm a little nerdy

Run an OS from a USB memory key

Fun project, if your BIOS can do it. Article includes all the necessary links to pull it off

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Shattering A Myth?

An interesting article debunking the superiority of Mac over PC based on hardware...

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TWiT

Have you heard the new mid-week TWiT cast? It's a half-hour interview with the Co-creators of IPodderX.

The .torrent file is here: http://www.twit.tv/hi-b/

Web Tech Shows

So this is the "new thing", I know it isn't THAT new but it is gaining popularity. So far I've checked out systm.org and www.thebroken.org from Kevin rose, fromtheshadows.tv which features Yoshi (also from TechTV) and the most recent one I found is www.exitframe.org I don't know who these guys are but they are interesting. Is this really the next thing in entertainment? The shows I watch are all tech based which has no representation on TV anymore, G4's AOTS isn't tech it's fluff. I don't know if mainstream programming will be delivered this way, not unless they find a really easy way for the non tech savvy to download and watch these shows. Well whether or not it goes mainstream I know lots of us we'll be using these downloads as well as podcasts to get our tech fix....

TWiT / This Week in Tech

Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, Robert Heron, David Prager, Roger Chang, and John C. Dvorak

My god, it's like old times....

It really is a great podcast, even when it degrades into inside jokes. These guys are obviously having fun and they definately know what they're talking about.

Download an episode see for yourself

http://thisweekintech.com/

How to get off Zabasearch.com

This is an interesting find, it tells you how to get your information off Zabasearch.com.

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