To be free

I think I have always been somewhat of a nerd (not really a geek), but recently I have been delving into that side a bit more. In doing so, I have become more acquainted with Linux (not a disease, just an operating system). I still have yet to use it consistently, but enjoy getting to know the penguin.

From there, I have begun to realize the power and creativity of open source software and the whole community that supports it. It is truly fascinating and amazing what happens when smart people put their minds together towards a good cause.

I recently read an article about Bill Gates and how Microsoft shifted it's stance towards Open Source, but that's what got this entry of mine going.

I wanted to share a few of the different open source programs I use that I find quite helpful and very cool.

First up is Rainmeter. It makes my computer rain! Not really, it actually just lets me look at basically any stat or information on computer that I want to know. It also looks pretty cool!

Just a desktop

Next up is something that basically gives you more space than you ever needed. It's VirtualBox by Oracle. It opens up a window inside of Windows 7 that can run just about any other operating system. I've tested out Windows 8, and multiple versions of Linux.

Linus the Linux Tux

For those Mac and Linux users out there, you're probably familiar with Virtual Desktops too. That's where you basically have more than one desktop (think of it in real life like having 4 identical desks, where you can do something different on each one). It's real purpose is to do cool things, like switch between desktops really cool (like a cube). I use something called Dexpot.

Dexpot - Going clockwise from the top left: Mail open, normal desktop, Linux - Slackware, Linux - Ubuntu

Something to help you look at all your files and what takes up the most space is something called WinDirStat. It's basically a way to pinpoint what's hogging all your hard drive space. Makes you realize how many pictures you actually have!

WinDirStat - Play a game to see how many different colors you can come up with

You can see this one on that image with the 4 desktops, it's what I use at home for email. It's Thunderbird. Kinda like the Thundercats mixed with Outlook with a hint of Firefox, but lets you read your mail.  Why use this instead of just going to your regular old mail online? Personal choice I guess. I like the way it finds things and acts as the computer's email service. You can also link more than one inbox to it too. It's also made by those peeps that brought you Mozilla Firefox.

Thunder- Thunder- ThunderBIRD, hooooo!

Now for the insurance type software. You always gotta back up your hard drive in case some virus comes and wipes out your computer or you drop some coke on it or something. I use something called Toucan. Nothing too fancy, pretty simple to use actually. Plus it makes you think of those Froot Loops and Toucan Sam anyways.

Toucan Sam to backup your computer!

Other notable tools I have.
-TrueCrypt encrypts basically whatever. You tell it to encrypt 15 kB or 20 GB on your hard drive, and it's done. Then you can put whatever you want into that 20 GB (as long as its under 20 GB, duh).
-Octave is basically a MATLAB/engineering toolbox that does a lot of math and other numerical calculations. Not that I've ever used it, but it's out there (well maybe once or twice).
-Cyberduck is a server/FTP manager. I don't really use this except to pull up my google docs (which is pretty cool, I think). It's got some useful qualities that others may get more out of than me.
-Notepad++ is like notepad but much much cooler. Mostly because of the lizard that makes up the design. Use it to edit things and can view code broken out into proper indentation and colors.
-GIMP is like Photoshop but a little cheaper. By little I mean Photoshop is expensive and GIMP is free.
-Huggin is great. I use it to stich photo's together, but I think it can do a lot more than that too!
-KeePass is a really awesome tool that stores your passwords and usernames into an encrypted database where you only have to remember your Master Password. For example, my master password is... wait a second, nevermind.

So there ya go.. more information than you ever knew you wanted!

Making Friends

The other day I was at the gym and decided to do an erg workout (erg = unit of work, or an indoor rowing machine) and there was already someone on one of the machines at the gym. No big deal, there was another erg to use. But I took a look at the guy rowing, and he didn't look like the typical gym-rower. While he did have the resistance at 10, he had form and good length and good ratio  through each stroke... so I figured he must be a rower.

I hopped on the erg next to him, and decided to do something I haven't done since college... erg at the same pace as someone else. It was kinda cool and much better than erging solo. It didn't help that all the gym-goers using the ergs try to get a good back workout and not a leg workout, so end up killing the chain and sensor - leaving me with a non-functional display on my erg.

Well I ended up doing about 40 mins in-sync with Mike. Afterwards, I chatted with him and turns out he's from Michigan (booo), and told him I went to Notre Dame (don't worry no harsh words were exchanged.. he just told me he still has a Notre Dame shirt (quick lesson in rowing: when racing, the losing teams must give up their shirts to the 1st place team)).

In the end, it was pretty cool being able to row next to a fellow rower and meet Mike from Michigan. Woo, friends.

And just because I'm talking about rowing... here's a video of this past year's recruiting video:

Marathon Trials

On January 14, Houston hosted a very rare event.. the Olympic Marathon Trials! I was lucky enough to venture out to watch the racing happen with Kate and two of our friends, Sam and Micaela. It was quite spectacular to see these elite athletes come to race and challenge each other for a spot in London for the Olympic Games... how epic.

Timeline of how things went....

The men started the race promptly at 8 am, followed by a gap of 15 minutes then the women started. As you would expect, the first pack of men showed up at mile 5 at around 8:25 (5 min/mile... FAST!). The women were on similar pace when they rolled around about 18 minutes after the men.

Overworked and Under Appreciated

Do you have those days where you just work nonstop and get pushed around a bit and at the end of the day, no one even says thank you? Imagine that every day of your life. That is the life of that scrolly-thing on top of the mouse. My life without it just seems so much different.

I think most of the time we take that thing for granted. I mean, it's such a simple thing. It scrolls up and down the page so I don't have to move my mouse over to the scroll bar, click the bar (and not some ad that's next to it... well done marketers) and drag down. Brilliant.

I also try to give it breaks because I see how hard that little guy is working and making that clicking sound along the way. Every now and then, I'll notice one my coworkers abusing their own scroll-wheel and just feel bad for that wheel. I mean, when there's an excel document that's got a ton of data and a tiny scroll bar, the scroll-wheel is not meant to be used to get you from 8000 to the top... that's a lot of work (and yet some people insist on doing that!).

So if you ever find yourself without a scroll-wheel one day, you may realize how much you miss it (or just appreciate it now, too).

Actual Spreadsheet (fake data) - Notice Row # and size of scroll bar

February Challenge

When I lived in Gresham, OR doing JVC-NW, I had a roommate that challenged himself to wake up without an alarm clock. He did that the whole year. On very few occasions was he ever late, he just had to make sure that he told himself what time to get up before sleeping and his body did the rest.

While I am not sure that I am ready to step up to that challenge since I get up so early (so basically that entire first paragraph was a nice anecdote, vaguely related), I have decided to take a new challenge for the month of February. That is... I must get up on the first alarm. No snoozing (and no treats). 

tangent> I did have this bad habit in college where I would only take a 15 minute nap.. I'd set the alarm, but then I wouldn't want to wake up so an hour later and 6 snoozes later (8 minutes/snooze) I would finally get up... my roommate hated it. <end of tangent

This morning went pretty well with the no snoozing. The alarm did go off a second time, but I was awake, just still in bed (ok, so it wasn't perfect). But seems to have a good effect to getting the day started early!