Life of Brian

Today I have accomplished something that gives me greater hope for running Linux as my primary machine. I got Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 to install. I was able to launch and play Starcrat flawlessly with minimal video issues. It’s kind of choppy but every bit playable.

Warcraft 3 wouldn’t run until I patched the game but never got past the start screen to actually play the campaign.

Diablo 2 won’t load because the cd isn’t being recognized for some reason. Same thing happened with Warcraft 3 but was fixed after patching.

This is certainly exciting! I really want to get a new video card to see how this will work for full time Linux goodness

Over the weekend my wife and I had a really fun time.

First of all my weekends are a little different than most. My current days off are Thursday and Friday night. I work third shift and well, let’s not go there.

Thursday I did nothing. I sat in a chair and did nothing. Just kidding! My dad actually brought up his old riding lawnmower and gave it to me. He just bought a new fancy ZTR, so it was quite nice to reap the benefits

I got a crash course in how to use the mower and got my backyard mowed in like 20 minutes which is a great improvement over the 60 minutes it used to take with my push mower.

After dad left I played some World of Warcrack, er Warcraft and then promptly went to bed around 1:30 pm. That night I didn’t do Jack. I sat back and chillaxed.

Eventually the wife and I turned in early as we had a full day planned.

First we were going to get up around 8. We actually got up at 9:30. After getting around we got some lunch then headed to the zoo.

The zoo was really fun. I hadn’t been in about 2 years I think and the wife hadn’t been for about 5. We got there around 11:30 and didn’t leave until amost 4. We were worn out. The heat was crazy and it was horribly humid.

A quick run down of what we saw: two huge turtles having sex; two grizzly bears chilling in the water playing with a huge medicine ball; a silver back gorilla that punched the glass where I was sitting; another gorilla who crapped from about 20 feet in the air; some stinky penguins; cool tigers; and a chimp that somewhat bonded with my wife. Like I said, it was really fun.

We ended our day eating some Carlos O’Kelly’s. Oh and it poured rain on us just as we left the zoo. Talk about good timing

We were going to go to the movies bit ended up buying Youth in Revolt from OnDemand. It was OK. Just your standard Michael Cera flick. Later that night I bought Sherlock Holmes. I was quite surprised that he was so adept at fighting. I don’t believe I ever read in any of the stories about how much ass he could kick. And what gets me is the director is British! How dare ye modernize Mr. Holmes! Nah, it was a good movie. I’d buy it on DVD if that makes a difference.

Anyway, I’m done blabbing for now. Reclaim your sanity, next time you’re going to need it.

Where to begin. I’m going to ramble for a bit just to get back into the rhythm of writing.

Recently I started using my laptop more often. I scrapped my Windows OS and went with Ubuntu. It’s pretty slick. I had used it in the past but not as extensive as I am now. The most current release, 10.04, is good to go out of the box. I don’t even think I had to load any drivers for my obscure wifi. (in the past I’ve had issues with wireless working correctly under Linux).

I only use the laptop for browsing the Internet in the bedroom or while watching tv or a movie but I’m getting more and more comfortable with the build. I eventually want to migrate my main system to Ubuntu but I’m faced with a slight dilemma: money.

Money? Ubuntu is free silly! I know that but my main machine is really whining at me, (one of the fans, which I think is on the video card, gets louder every day). And I want to buy an nvidia card since there’s more support for nvidia in Linux. Need to talk it over with the wife before i drop greens on a piece of hardware though.

Really the only thing holding me back from switching now is the fact that I love to play games and using the current version of wine and my video card in Linux doesn’t allow those games to be played. If Linux ever has better support for games I will be switching no questions asked.

I have been looking into solutions to running games under Ubuntu but none of them have proven successful. I got World of Warcraft to work on my laptop once using wine but I haven’t been able to replicate the results. I honestly think it was a mistake. However I’ve used Play On Linux and almost got it to work and I’ve signed up for Cedega to hopefully get me up and playing games inside Linux. Only thing I don’t care for with Cedega is the fact that there’s a monthly bill. IF it works no problem; IF it doesn’t work well I don’t know. Guess it’s just wasted money.

So anyway, I need a new video card and I might as well go with something with more support in Linux so if it works I can make the much over do switch.

I’ll keep you informed on how it goes.

For the longest time I keep wondering why I can’t just sit down every day and write a simple post to my blog. I spend money every year to keep this thing running, but how can I justify the cost if I never use it?

It’s weird because I love to write. I have a minor in creative writing for Pete’s sake. I think it’s just because I don’t have an audience. Not that I need one, but it helps to know that my words and thoughts are being read. I like to know that my thoughts mean something to someone other than myself.

However, there’s also the argument of why do I need an audience to write stuff on my blog? Why do you care who reads your posts? Because it’s human nature to be influential. If we’re not here for some greater purpose then why are we here? I feel that I was born to make people think. I’ve tried and failed several times but when I succeeded I felt accomplished.

Readers keep me motivated. I’ve always wanted to be an author, (and to some extent I am), but why does it matter if no one reads it? That’s the question.

I know I’ve said this many many times in the past but, from this day forward I plan on writing at least 3 posts a week. I need to beef up this scrawny little blog and keep things interesting, if for no other reason than for myself.

I’ve actually been contemplating a book posted on the net, like an interactive story that can have a following and ultimately be shaped by the reader’s comments and suggestions. Perhaps I’ll use Facebook and my own personal weblog to amass a following of readers who can, through collaboration, create a unique story. I’m all about a large group of people coming together to accomplish a common goal.

We’ll see how that goes and as always I’ll keep you posted.

Brian

Just want to see if this works from Ubuntu. Hopefully this will be posted.

Let’s see…(crosses fingers)