Linux revisited

Well, no more than 30 minutes after I thought I had lost my Windows XP, there was an amazing sight found on the Boot Loader option in Ubuntu's interface. It actually recognized that there was a "mysterious" partition in its file system. So, after talking it over with the IT guy at the radio station, we figured out that to reinstate XP, we made Ubuntu recognize it, named it and saved it. Right now I have my laptop back up and working without a problem. I even changed the Boot Loader to make XP load first.

Sorry all you Linux users, but until I am more confident in Linux and more sure, I will stick to a dualboot for now. There are just too many settings I have to work with (and wireless card to buy) before I can dedicate a full Linux laptop into use. I am open to learning if anyone wants to show me, I am just so glad that I don't have to reload all of my music to the iPod...

Linux Roulette

So I have been toying with several Linux distributions and loaded Ubuntu 5.10 as my second OS of choice. Well, after correctly partitioning the HDD with the Linux utility, I loaded Ubuntu with no problems. Its when I started to dick around with the settings that I got burned.

By default, all Linux distros want you to have theirs as the default loading system. I wanted Windows to be the OS that starts up first. I changed the settings as well as a few others, and restarted the system. Wouldn't you know that I did something wrong and killed the boot loader for Windows XP on my computer.

What does this mean? I am now running a completely Linux operating system. Windows is gone. Completely. All my songs on the iPod, all my settings for games, all of my show notes, my updated resume, online settings for wireless sites, photos (vacation photos)...

IM still numb, but I saved all of my photos to CDs long before this happened. I didn't delete any of them from the camera from the trip to Chicago, so I am happy. Still, it sucks. Gotta reload from the beginning again. Do you know how time consuming it is to load all that music into the iPod?

Interesting little "Easter Egg"

For all geeks out there, there is something of a treasure waiting to be found on select DVDs & videogames called an Easter Egg. Not particularly part of the storyline to the game, but an interesting, often strange find in a videogame or movie. Hell, I don't even know if I could call this discovery an Easter Egg because you don't have to play the videogame to enjoy it.



Tomb Raider 2 has an interesting egg nestled in its CD. If you pop it into a CD player, you get the full audio tracks to the game. This includes the cut-scenes and background SFX.

I have the entire CD saved to the iPod.

nch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ranch ran

I think Wendy's has warped the minds of myself, Yolie & Teddy hence-forth. It's that fuckin' commercial with the Ranch Tooth. Yolie was the first to bring it up, and since then the word has become part of my normal(?) vocabulary. Sad part is, its also become Yolie's word too...

See, the other day I was at work at Sonitrol. I am supposed to have my cellphone turned off at all times, but every once in a while I turn it on to check messages. I saw she had called, her & Teddy were out and about in Chi-town and were bored. Well, she did a few quick "RAAAAAANCH" words on the voicemail and that was it. Well, I tried to call her several times and eventually left a message on her voicemail that was me saying the word "ranch" fast over & over with a few loud "RANCH!" variants in the message. I didn't hear from her for a few days, so I thought she didn't get the voicemail.

Then I got a call last night at work. It seems Yolie decided to check her voicemail messages Sunday night while she was at work. Well, that sounds good until you realize she works at a hospital and was on the late shift. She even went so far as to put the phone on SPEAKERPHONE and check her messages as she was tending to some things. She didn't know that the speaker volume was a little to high when a barrage of "ranch" came across the phone.

Well, this doesn't sound too funny at first, but then you start to think to yourself this is a hospital with sleeping patients and all you can hear echoing through the hallways are the word "ranch". Then, Yolie told me that the coupe de grace was when the really loud "RANCH!" blasted a few times through the speakerphone. She said that several nurses who were taking a nap woke suddenly & were shaking with that fear of a sudden startling noise that they didn't know where it came from.

That alone was worth the really long message I left on her cellphone.

I nearly tore up the return tickets

Then, I realized that I left my car, laptop, clothes & most of my bills behind, so I had to return...

I really needed that vacation. I would have changed how many times I had to take a connecting flight, but other than that, I was happy with the travel accommodations. Chicago's weather was beautiful the entire time I was out there. It was so comfortable, Teddy, Yolie & myself went and played some softball several times during my stay.



The apartment Yolie & Teddy live in is a beautiful little house. You can find several thousand of the same style apartments all over Chicago, but each are different. From the outside they look small. Inside they are another story. Teddy & Yolie's apartment is on the third floor & they have 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. It's a pretty awesome little setup.



So after getting situated, we went out to downtown Chicago. Talk about huge. It's the third largest city in the United States, and the downtown life is just bustling with life and excitement. Miles upon miles of streets were packed with people. Stores filled with shoppers. It was a strange sight to see a downtown area dominated by huge names like Hugo, Chanel, Apple, Gap, Virgin Music, Eddie Bauer - and that was only on Michigan Ave!



We walked downtown for a few hours, ending up at the Water Tower building. Its a mall several stories high and filled with shops, curios & food. It had an awesome water fountain inside, but every time I tried to take a picture of the jumping water, I was always late.



The architecture up in Chicago was absolutely amazing. Everything had clean angular lines broken up by the Victorian relics of yester-year. Chicago's water works buildings downtown were marvelous examples of that. They're so out of place, yet so artistically perfect for the area. I started to really think about tearing up those tickets...



Speaking of artsy-fartsy stuff, Yolie at several times on my vacation took my camera and started to just take pictures at random. There are several that are print worthy, and several that would be worth a small ransom. I don't have enough time to post them all (and people cursed with dial-up would kill me too) but this is an example of her screwing around with the camera.



I would love to go back with several of my cameras and take some good architectural photos of the city.

Alas, I am back in El Paso. IM already planning the next trip to Chicago again soon.

-When's my next vacation?