Linux upgrades
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General, Technology
I updated my home computer to the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu Linux recently. I had a couple of unsolvable issues with the previous release, Dapper Drake.
The most annoying problem occurred after the first bootup every day. I could not open any additional application windows after the first two. After that I could click all day but nothing else would open until I rebooted, even though everything already open was still responsive.
The second issue was that when I went to shutdown..I COULDN’T! The Shutdown and Restart buttons were completely missing from the dialog box. After I rebooted once they would return. This same sequence of events occurred every single for 4-5 months.I think it started when I tried to install XGL/Compiz, the 3D window system similar to Vista’s Aero GUI.
Anyway, all is well in Computerland now…almost. I still desperately want to decrease the computer footprint in my apt. Right now I’ve got a mid-tower with dual 1.8Ghz Xeon processors and a ginormous 19″ CRT monitor. It takes up a lot of space AND makes so much noise that I can’t leave it on at night. I want to replace this setup with a quad-core Shuttle mini box and a 20″ LCD. The main issue is that, even though this computer is now nearly five years old, its still pretty darn fast…fast enough that I don’t NEED an upgrade. Oh well. 
In other news it looks like a friend is going to hook me up with a sweet cabin in the Tennessee mountains for next to nothing. Jacuzzi tub inside, hot tub outside, pool table, plasma TV. Belle and I could be getting some much needed time away far from the madding crowd. Just need to schedule the time off.
Another unnecessary cyclist death :(
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, Cycling, General, Newsworthy
The News-Gazette.com: Woman is sentenced for bicyclist’s death
Things like this make me so angry I can’t see straight. I want to grab this lil bitch and shake some reality into her. A young man with a long life in front of him is dead. His life has been snuffed out because this punk bitch just had to download a fucking ringtone while she was driving a car.
State’s Attorney Julia Rietz doesn’t fair much better in my eyes. I just cannot believe they couldn’t make a case for a stronger charge than “improper lane usage”. Improper lane change? WTF is that? WTF happened to involuntary manslaughter? WTF happened to vehicular manslaughter? There are still too many people out there that just don’t believe cyclists have a right to share the road.
People – listen to me. Put the fucking phone down while you’re driving the car. If the call is that important pull the f*ck over and talk! Personally, I think talking using cellphones without a headset should be illegal in the U.S. I hate when people call me when i’m in the car and this is why.
This girl seems to have no remorse whatsoever for her actions. She doesn’t seem to get it or want to get it. She has a Myspace blog. I’m going to send her a message and give her a piece of my mind and if you’re a friend of mine you will do the same.
I suppose I should really upset with the DA for not coming up with more appropriate charges. I am quite sure had the victim been a young mother pushing a baby carriage she would have found a way to make more serious charges stick. Shame on you, Julia Rietz….shame on the system.
“The Invitation”
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, Yes!
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
Farewell, my friend…until we meet again.
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General
Get up. Turn off the computer. Put down the remote control. Get up now. Get dressed. Get out. WTF are you waiting for? Life is out there be lived and enjoyed while you stare at a computer.
This is a dedication to my friend Jason Lane. Jason never waited for life to come knocking on his door. He went out searching for it every single day. He found it, grabbed it by the horns and rode it as hard as he could. I only knew Jason online. Sometimes I’d go months without hearing from him. That’s because he was a doer. He was out doing the things people daydream about. He’d always come back with great stories to tell. Here’s one of his last posts from 10 days ago.
Well boys and girls it’s that time again… I’m off to some god forsaken country… I say this lightly because it’s what my parents always say.
I leave for Chile and Argentina on Nov. the 2 at one pm. Another guiding mission for those of you that know me and what I do for a living. I will be the lead guide for a company out of Mendoza and get paid big bucks to basically take gringos out to fish every day… I do have one other guiding obligation in Feb. and that is to guide Aconcaugua… the tallest peak in the Americas(6,900) meters… for all of those challenged thats about 23,000ft. Wish me luck with the mountain… I’ll need it with eight clients..
Just wanted to let you guys know what was going on in my life since I haven’t really been posting much.. Myself and a buddy are working on a website that will have all of my info on trips and what not and should be done shortly… Thanks guys… you know who you are. I can’t stress how much I appreciate it. Thanks again for all the support and dealing with me on the phone….
Unfortunately Jason never got to take that trip. He was killed when he drove off the road to avoid hitting a deer while driving home at night. He left two families to grieve for him – biological and spiritual.
My point is this – there is no point in being afraid to live your life. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. It’s going to end someday whether you like it or not. You won’t have the chance to say “wait! I haven’t done the things I want to do!”. Do them. Do them now. Jason took risks everytime he left the house. Those risks didn’t kill him. He died in a way that anyone of us could died. While he was living HE LIVED! You’re taking a risk sitting in that chair. A plane could crash into the building you’re in. Since the risk is still there and you’re going to die whether you’ve done the things you wanted to do or not why not go do them now? Don’t wait for life to arrive your doorstep and invite you to come along. Find out for yourself where live lives; go kick in it’s fucking front door and say “let’s get this party started!”
Jason wouldn’t want us feeling sorry for him. He’d feel sorry for you sitting in that chair. A lot of people are scared of dying. Don’t be scared of living too. You could die reading this blog….so get out. Go now!
See you on the other side, brother.
Not the greatest of weekends
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General
Sunday my grandmother found out she has cancer and there’s not much they can do for her. To make matters worse one of my uncles (and her son) was found dead in his home this weekend. She hasn’t been told yet.
I’m such a wimp sometimes
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General
I’m watching this reality show with John Force, NHRA guy. He grew up poor bout is absolutely loaded now and has 3 teenage daughters. They are just spoiled rotton and he’s goin nuts about it. They’ve got drawers full of $200 sunglasses and $1,000 monthly credit card bills that they don’t even pay. They seem to have no concept of the value of a dollar at all. He reaches his wit’s end and takes them to see the very same trailer home he grew up in. On the way there the girls are flipping through catalogs and whining about spring break trips to Cabo or somewhere.
They get to the trailer and the current owner lets ‘em all in (no doubt pre-arranged but such is reality tv). John is talking about all the simple things they got by on and he’s getting all teary-eyed. He really seems like a great guy. I start thinking about my dad raising us 2 kids on a military salary. I’m sure money but had to be tight but if we were poor I never had a clue. He made a lot of our furniture himself, even some of the toys I had. I’ve always said when my parents pass on I don’t want to be left money or their house. The only thing I want is some of my dad’s old military uniforms and a wooden truck that he made for me when I was a small boy. It has a handle on top to steer the wheels. I’m pretty sure I can picture where it is in the garage now. I remember him taking a part-time job at Sears to make extra cash when he was a fucking Lieutenant Ccolonel.
Next thing you know I am sitting on the bed crying like a newborn baby. I mean like heaving crying too. I’m calling my dad right now. Call yours.
Edit – Actually there is one more thing I want. My dad still has a ’63 Chevy Impala, the first car he ever bought. It’s older than me and it still runs. I want to restore that.
Can’t think of a neat title
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, General
My Lil Belle Bottom…
Ya gotta just luv her sometimes. Friday she’s whining about having to go out with her coworkers because there’s potentially some people who will be there that she’d rather not have to deal with if possible. I convince her to go because she’s too young to be sitting at home alone on a Friday night. There will be plenty of time for that later. Against my advice she goes for the skirt (with thigh slit) and heels; a decision which will haunt her later on.
I ask her to call me when she gets home if at all possible. Her friends have a habit of letting her drive home a bit too tipsy for my taste so I usually worry. When she does call I can tell within 3-4 words how inebriated she is. A few times I have been absolutely furious when she calls on the way home and it’s pretty clear she would fail a sobriety test.
Anyway, fast forward to 1:20AM Saturday morning and the phone rings. It was another sweltering night that finds me laying in my own wet spot. Reaching for the phone is just the excuse I need to move to the other side of the bed and out of the wet spot.
Belle has made it home safe and sound….sort of. She left her phone and purse in her coworkers car so she had to drive to a pay phone to tell me she got home okay. I appreciated that even more when she tells me that not only is she standing in the pouring rain shelling out quarter after quarter to make this long-distance call; she has tripped and fallen on the way to the phone booth so she is bleeding in several places.
I tried to call her back but it seems my VOIP didn’t like the payphone because it didn’t ring. She then tries to call me collect and that fails too so she pumps in a few more quarters and calls back. This girl has a future with the Postal Service because the mail would clearly get thru on her watch.
Her brave efforts to ease this old man’s mind inspires a lil twist on some Donna Summer lyrics:
She works hard for her honey
So hard for you, honey
She works hard for her honey
So you better treat her right
