Another Opinion Among Many

I was going to update once in a while on the state of my garden, wasn’t I? I didn’t. Sorry if you were expecting anything. I will do that very soon. I’m just settling in after a chaotic few weeks. The kids were visiting their grandparents (my parents) and Angela and I decided to use that time wisely. Its been so bloody hot that its been hard to motivate ourselves into getting anything done. So much for partying it up while the kids were gone!

My hard drive went on the computer, so I’ve been hobbling along the net on an old P-III that I put together from parts. Its got an old slow hard drive and 384MB RAM. This machine is not ready for a modern operating system like Windows Vista or Ubuntu 9.04 (which I had installed on it – review later), so I installed Crunchbang Linux on it.

This post is the first one on my new hard drive. I installed Ubuntu on the machine again and I will review my install experience, comparing it to the other machine, when I’ve had some more time with “Jaunty Jackalope”.

TTFN

School bus clip art

Remember when you went to school? If you live in an industrialized country then you probably went to school on a bus if you lived any distance away. I remember when I was in my first year of school. I rode the bus for a few months – I think that it may have been until the winter was over. The only thing that really stopped me was a bully who decided to pick on me. Rather than wait for the bus and be harassed, I hoofed it home and have since.

Our children live a bit too far to expect them to walk to their school now.  Ange and I walk about 3/4 of the way and it takes us nearly an hour round trip and we walk quickly.

This morning, the bus stopped for our children at the end of our driveway, picked them up, and took off – about 15 metres (50 feet) – and stopped. Caleb’s friend, who had come from next door to get on the bus with him, had noticed antifreeze dripping from the engine and had told the driver. o, she stopped the bus and put out the requisite trouble signs. Another bus was brought right away and the children were whisked off to school after a short 15 minute delay. Kudos to the school system and the bus garage for their swift action.

I remember (vaguely) that we had a break down in the school bus when going on a field trip. I also remember that it was quite a bit more than 15 minutes. For the first little while, it was kind of exciting because it was a break from the routine. After a while, it got a little tired, but we were on our way within a few hours with no harm done.

Remember, its the small things…

Thanks for picking me, polka dots and all.

Where does the time go on the weekends? This weekend, I began, by not working overtime.  That seemed like a good idea.  I stopped at a few places on the way home to grab some odds and ends that I’d not been able to get earlier.

I picked up some delicious beer to start the weekend off right.I must say that I am really liking the Porter style of beer lately. So, last week, it rained a torrential downpour, leaving just our house in the middle of a soggy yard.

This week, it snows and is well below freezing.  Mac’s still in denial, I am sure, but I’ve got the proof that old man winter is on his way.

So, Ange and I painted some more as well.  Our living room is finished, for all intents and purposes, and one bedroom’s paint is drying now.  Two more rooms and a bit in the hall is all that’s left for the paint.  That won’t come soon enough.

As you can see, we’ve tried to escape the ’80s fake wood paneling look as much as possible.  We’ve even fulled in the cracks in the paneling to smooth out the wall a bit.

I read this post at go2linux and decided to give it a try.  Here is my attempt:

This is my attempt at trying out the Bokeh effect with the Gimp – click for a larger version

This will be an interesting month, as we will be moving to a new home.  We’ve been keeping our “ears to the ground” for a 3 bedroom to move into so that the kids could each have their own room again.  We got spoiled with that situation before an its not been the same since.  They would stay up much later than they should because they had each other to keep themselves occupied in the one bedroom.  Despite threats of death, doom, and destruction, they would keep chattering away until WAY TOO LATE.  Its also out of the city.  Yay! No more fighting with rush hour traffic to get across a congested bridge that shuts completely down in the winter many times due to accidents.  And, now, Caleb can help me with the garden, as we’ll be able to plant one!

My phone, long distance, and internet can move with me.  My television service can move with me.  The electricity is scheduled for disconnection/reconnection.  A moving truck has been reserved.  That leaves calling or writing to the companies that we deal with to update mailing information.  The kids’ school will need some papers filled out for a transfer.  We need to pack our stuff.  And, to think that last week this was not even a thought.  Everything happens for a reason, I guess.

The next two weekends will involve visits from family, as well.  I guess that this month is packed with activity.  I hope that I can keep it all under control, for the most part.

I finally got around to re-encoding a video that was taken on my mom’s digital camera, sideways.  I finally rotated it 90° counter clockwise so that it was viewable.  Because the video file was still 15 megs after re-encoding to mp4, I uploaded it to YouTube and have embedded it here for you.  If you’re a family member and you want the original, I will email it to you if you ask.