Another new year December 14th, 2007

So here we are jumping into another year. It seems time is speeding up every year. One day we are kids, the next we have kids of our own. Normally I don’t write a lot of personal things on my blog, however I think this is going to change. I once read that you should keep two separate blogs. One personal and the other professional. I don’t agree with this anymore. If a company wants to hire a non-caring mindless robot that can only do Sys Admin or Programming then perhaps they should keep looking because they won’t find it here. I think companies need to realize that people are human, no matter how much technology stands between them. This means that people have opinions and beliefs and need to express themselves in one form or another.

With this said you will be seeing a lot more posts about personal experiences and opinions that might not always be tech related. Here’s to the New Year! Cheers!!!

At last... December 11th, 2007

Ever since I was little I wanted to learn an instrument. I started with Piano and shortly dropped it for unknown reasons. Probably because I was bored or something. This past weekend I went out to SamAsh and bought an electric guitar starter package. The price was right, the people there were really nice, and this was my chance to become famous! Well… maybe not famous, but the people there really are nice! Later that night I hooked up the amp and everything, and made some noise. From the looks on everyones faces, noise is all I made. I’ve been spending my nights on youtube.com looking at lessons people put up, and I must say it helps tremendously. I think the next step is to take lessons or a class at a JC.

Working for Dreamhost December 6th, 2007

As most of you know I recently was laid off of work. I took a small vacation with my dad during this time. We went to Oregon and were gone for a week. We had a lot of fun and did some really cool things. Well, trying to find work when I got back wasn’t too easy. The economy right now is very bad, especially for Linux Admins. After six months I finally got a call back from Dreamhost about an application I submitted some 3-4 months prior.

The interview went well and shortly after, I was hired. I must say, there is a lot more automation than I’m used to. Not that it’s bad, it’s actually really cool once you get used to how things are supposed to work. I’m kinda bummed I’m doing Tech Support again, but I’m also kinda happy that I am. There is a lot less responsibility and I don’t have to spent hours in a Data Center. Their setup hardware wise is pretty much what I’m used to from my last job. I suppose that’s the way to go when you start talking serious hosting.

Kidspaint December 4th, 2007

I’ve been struggling to learn programming for some time now. I’ve settled on Python, but I needed a kick start. With the help of the book I’m using I was able to make a nifty little paint program that my kids love! All you need is Python 2.5 and Pygame 1.7.

Download the program: http://greg.silosoft.org/assets/2007/12/5/kidspaint-linux-0.2.zip

View a screenshot: http://greg.silosoft.org/assets/2007/12/5/kidspaint.PNG