Christpunk01's Thoughts

My Custom Ubuntu Build

2011-04-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

I love Ubuntu. I like how it handles things and runs things, but I don't quite like how it does everything. The look is a little odd to me, doesn't sit right. Sure, it looks very nice but not how I want it to be. So I decided to make it my own.
This is my version:

I did not make anything used here, just downloaded images and used repos from others. You will be sent to everyone's respected sites so they can benefit.

*I am running Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Be forewarned, this is in beta at the time of this writing, so some things ARE BROKEN.*

As stated above, I am using Natty, I will try and include Maverick (10.10) bits in here as well for the not so brave, or should I say for the smart, which ever way you wish to look at it.
I am using GNOME as my window manager. I don't really like anything else, no offense, just not my taste. I am using two 20" widescreen monitors, so yours might look a little different.

This is what your default Ubuntu install looks like. It's clean, simple and decent to look at. Forget that mess, I want mine to be vibrant, different and just as, if not more, usable. I will take you through the steps on how to do this. I will start off slow but once I go through an action the long way once, I will assume you can do it again. If you can't just come back and read this again. This URL has the official documentation on how to do all things Ubuntu and can take you step by step on anything you need help with. Also this site is really helpful. If you need other help, tips, etc., leave a comment. I will try to reply.

I'm going to say it below but for the love of God, update your system right away and always.

First, we need to install Ubuntu. I'm assuming you already have, or already know how to. If not, I'll leave this here for you.
You really should update the system after you install and reboot. This way we know anything from the repos we are going to install won't hijack Ubuntu and screw up our system.
Done updating? Good. Long process, huh?

So now we need to add some extra repos.
I used these repos:
http://archive.trisquel.inf/trisquel slaine main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/stebbins/handbrake-snapshots/ubuntu maverick main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/vala-team/ppa/ubuntu natty main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/weather-indicator-team/ppa/ubuntu natty main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/trool/pino/ubuntu lucid main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/david4dev/qr/ubuntu natty main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/hel-sheep/pastie/ubuntu maverick main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/handbrake-ubuntu/ppa/ubuntu/lucid main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu natty main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/alexeftimie/ppa/ubuntu natty main
http://ppa.launchpad.net/fredp/ppa/ubuntu maverick main

*I didn't use them all at once, so remember to only enable the ones you need at the time and then disable them.*

A lot of repos huh? Well, some we will only be using once and the turning them off.

First, we'll add the Trisquel repo. We will be using this for Trisquel GNOME theme, sounds and plymouth theme.
There are two ways to add a repo: from command line or from Synaptic Package Manager. (There are MANY other ways to do it but these are the two ways we will be covering.)
For the Trisquel repo, we'll use Synaptic. To do this, we need to go to "System" -> "Administration" -> "Synaptic Package Manager".
Once you're there, go to "Settings" -> "Repositories".
You should see a window like this now.

We'll want to click the tab that says "Other Software".
Next we click "Add" at the bottom. A window will pop up that asks you to enter the APT line.
Enter (or copy and paste, lazy bums):

deb http://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel slaine main

Hit "Add Source". Your "Software Sources" should look like this now:

You can delete the Trisquel repo that has the source code, I did.

Hit the "Close" button or the "X" button. A pop-up will say "Repositories changed". You can tick the box that says "Never show this message again" or just hit the "Close" button. (I leave it un-ticked for my own purposes.) Hit the "Reload" button and let it run. You will see an error box pop up. Ignore it for this one, we're going to fix it right now.
*DO NOT HIT "MARK ALL UPGRADES"! This could potentially break your system.*
Hit the "Search" button. Type in "trisquel", it will bring up all the packages with the word "trisquel" in it. We only want to select one package right now to install. "trisquel-keyring". That will get rid of that error we just saw. It will say it's not authenticated, ignore that, we're authenticating it right now. After it is installed, hit "Reload". Notice it doesn't give us the error again.
The next packages we want are:

trisquel-gtk-theme
trisquel-icon-theme
trisquel-sounds
plymouth-theme-trisquel-logo
plymouth-theme-trisquel-text

That's it. When the pop-up asks you to install or remove a package(s), hit "Mark". The packages added/removed will not hurt your system at all.
Hit "Apply" and "Apply" and let it run.
Once it is done, disable (don't delete) the repo and Reload Synaptic. After it's reloaded, close Synaptic.

We are going to change the way our Ubuntu looks.
Go to "System" -> "Preferences" -> "Appearance". Choose the "Radiance" theme. Click "Customize" at the bottom of the window. Click the "Icons" tab. Select the "Trisquel" icons.
(The Trisquel sounds are already enabled since we got rid of Ubuntu's sounds.)
Open terminal. "Applications" -> "Accessories" -> "Terminal".
In terminal enter:

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

(A guide on sudo and what it is/does is here.)
Choose the one that has "Trisquel" in it. On my system it was 0/1.
Now enter:

sudo update-initramfs -u

You can reboot to see your new pretty start/shutdown theme, or just continue on. Doesn't really matter. I'll be here either way.

Back? Good. Glad to see ya. If you've been here the whole time, I thoroughly enjoyed your company.
Unless you like your "close, minimize, maximize" on the left, we're gonna move them to the right. Here's how we do it!
Right click in the area you see "Applications". Click "Edit Menus". A new window that looks like this will pop up:

Whoa! My screen got bigger! (Pro-tip: virtual-box is awesome.)

Select "System Tools" on the left. Tick the "Configuration Editor" box and close this window. Go to "Applications" -> "System Tools" -> "Configuration Editor".
Go to "apps" -> "metacity" -> "general". Inside the box on the right you'll see "Name" and Value", look for "button_layout". Double click on the value next to it to edit it. Delete the value inside and change it to this:

:minimize,maximize,close

Yes, I did mean that colon before minimize.
Hit enter for the value to be added. If a button isn't there, check your spelling. This is normally the root cause. Close Config Editor.

You should look like this now.

I got my background from here, right click and "Save Image As" (if you are on FireFox). Move the downloaded files to somewhere like "Pictures". I made a new folder in my Pictures folder just for wallpapers, your call though.
Then minimize all your windows and right click on the desktop and choose "Change Desktop Background". Click "Add" and navigate to where your background picture file is. It will be changed automatically. Close the window.

Time to install conky. It's that meter looking thing to the far right. This time though, we are going to use terminal. Enter:

sudo apt-get install conky-all

It's going to ask you if you want to continue with the selected packages to install. We'll type in "y" for yes, cause we do. While that is installing, head over here to grab the custom script to make it look like the one I'm using. (At the time of this writing, http://gnome-look.org was down. In case it still is, I've uploaded the file here for your convenience.) Once it's downloaded, extract it to whatever folder you please for right now. What I did was created a new folder called "conky" in my Home folder. I then moved all the files from the extracted conky_orange folder into my conky folder that I created. Next we need to create a script. Way easier done than you think. I normally just right-click in an empty space inside the folder I want it in and "Create Document" -> "Empty File". Name it "conkyscript.sh". The .sh is important. Once it's named, open it. Enter this:

#! /bin/bash/
sleep 12
conky -c ~/.conky/conkyrc_orange;

We will rename our "conky" folder to ".conky" to hide it.
We have to make conkyscript.sh able to act as a program. Right-click and select "Properties". In the "Permissions" tab, at the bottom tick "Allow executing file as a program". We want conkyscript.sh run automatically on start. Go to "System" -> "Preferences" -> "Startup Applications". Click "Add". I named it "Conky Orange". In the command enter:

sh /home/YOURUSERNAME/.conky/conkyscript.sh

It doesn't need a comment but feel free to put one.

At this point you should be looking like this:

You can browse OMGUbutnu! for most of the indicator applets I have used. Pick and choose which ones you want and that suit your needs.
I won't leave you hanging on how to use PPA's.
Since Maverick doesn't have the most up-to-date Mozilla programs, we're going to add Mozilla's Daily Build PPA.
To add Mozilla's PPA enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

That will give the newest FireFox and other Mozilla programs.

When you add a PPA, your system automatically assumes that it will be set-up for your current system, e.g. Maverick, this isn't always the case. I will show you by us adding Pino's PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vala-team/ppa
sudo add-apt-repositroy ppa:troorl/ppa

We'll go into Synaptic and hit "Reload". We're gonna see this error:


404 Not Found.

I know for a fact that this PPA works, it's being directed to the wrong place. We need to get into our "Other Software" tab of our repos. Find "http://ppa.launchpad.net/troorl/pino/ubuntu maverick main" and click "Edit". Where it says "maverick" next to distribution, change it to "lucid" and hit ok. Either delete it's "Source Code" brother or edit it the same way.
Now reload Synaptic and viola! No more error.

I think you are ready to go out into the big wide world of Ubuntu on your own, change the appearance and install things you want and even use the terminal a bit.

When you start to feel over whelmed, just remember you from this:

to this:

Maybe not the bigger screen.

Also, there is a vast Ubuntu community waiting in the wings to help you. I'm also here to help as I can. Don't be afraid to search and then ask. It never hurts.

My Intro Into GNU/Linux

2011-04-03T23:20:00.001-07:00

I have been using GNU/Linux for over 4 years of daily use. I've been toying with it for about 6 years. I have tried MANY Live CD Distros and installed quite a few different distros. Most of them though, have been Debian based. My first real usage with GNU/Linux was Ubuntu. It's the first distro I ever truly installed on my machines. I fell in love right away, though with a few frustrations.

I didn't understand much of how this new and different operating system ran. I had used Windows ever since I could walk and used Macs here and there but I had never used anything like this... this thing before. After I followed the online instructions on how to put the iso onto a CD and boot into, I was confused, amazed and bewildered by Ubuntu. Ubuntu wasn't beautiful at the time but it ran smoothly, used every part of my system without having to go find drivers (like I did in Windows) and in general felt nice. I was truly amazed that everything was free, as in beer. I used to just pirate everything on Windows, mostly because of the high price. I also enjoyed that everything was in one place for me to download, the Synaptic Package Manager, instead of scouring the internet and maybe catching something bad.

It took some time understanding how the GNOME menus worked and what different jargon meant. The terminal scared me the most. I knew Windows and Macs had something similar but I always thought that only super nerds used them. As time went on though I began to get really comfortable with the system that I wanted to start really using it. Using the terminal, changing how my system looked and ran. I began to not even using my Windows side and exclusively running Ubuntu. After running Ubuntu for a year, and rarely playing any of my PC games, I just wiped my entire computer and put Ubuntu on there. I was running free with GNU/Linux.
It wasn't until my third year of using Ubuntu that I learned what being truly free meant: free as in free speech. Yeah, the zero cost amazingly awesome but learning that no company had a foot-hold on the software I ran and I could whatever, however, whenever I wanted, now that was awesome. I joined the Free Software Foundation late 2009 as promoter and have been trying use Free and Open Source Software every and any where I can. I learned about Trisquel, an Ubuntu derivative that dedicates itself to being completely free. No firmware blobs, no non-free programs included in the software repositories, nothing that wasn't free as in free speech.

I began using different distros, just experimenting. I used Fedora for a good 6 months, moved to Arch Linux for about 3 months and then to Debian for 2 months and made a full swing back to Ubuntu.

Fedora is a great system, based on the RPM system. It has no non-free software in its software repos but does hold firmware blobs to make sure it can run most hardware.
Arch Linux, now that's a fun ride. You start off with only the terminal. You must use terminal commands to install and get rolling. You have to manually do everything, this OS will literally not do a thing you don't tell it to.
Debian is the base of Ubuntu, so I figured, why not go to the root of my first love.

I love GNU/Linux with a passion. I use it solely to do everything, except for gaming. I use to write documents, surf, email, IM, run my website(s), edit photos, manage everything. The only thing left on Windows is testing for others and gaming. I cannot even begin to imagine what I would do without GNU/Linux.

Sometimes

2011-03-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think what I could have done different.
Stayed in school.
Got a different job.
Didn't get into electronics.
Chose a different path to walk on.

Life has become stagnant.
The only things I don't want to change are my relationship with God and Dani.
Even those are getting chipped away by being stagnant. We're both feeling it.
I work too many days, for not a lot of hours, for not a lot of money.
I am literally dying faster because of it.
All I want to do is sleep because I know I'll need all the energy I can get just to go to work.
I just want it to end. I want a job where I'll have regular hours, better pay and not dying just to work for a measly pay.
I just don't know what to do. Every where I apply, they don't call back, even after I call them.

Arch Linux

2011-02-09T01:37:00.000-07:00

So, Arch Linux threw Ubuntu off my computer and I couldn't be happier. I am learning every in and out of my system. I have to tell it what to do or it won't do it. I have to build every aspect of the computer on my own.
I have to install every theme, design some on my own and create everything. It runs quicker, smoother and all around better than Ubuntu did. Quite frankly, it was a breeze too. Sure, it started off bumpy but I tried to make the process harder than it really is. I was slightly intimidated by CLI but once I got comfortable with Arch Linux specific commands, it became a breeze.
Everything I had on Ubuntu I have on Arch Linux, the same time if not quicker. With AUR and clyde, everything is up to date, and installed. Nothing that is of value is missing. All my key elements are here.

Sometimes I Wonder

2011-02-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder -
What if money didn't exist?
What if we could all truly be free?
What if we actually got along?
What if we actually worked out our problems without violence?
What if we just gave up all pride?
What if we just love, instead of hate?
What if we just set aside our differences?

Sometimes, I wonder what the world would look like -
If there was no war.
If there was no sin.
If there was only truth.
If there was only trust.
If there was only love.

Sometimes, sometimes I wonder all these things. Wishing they were true. Wishing things were different. I really and truly want all this but what I've come to realize is that the hate, the greed, the anger, the lies and the sin is what gives me purpose; not to live out these things but to fight them.

To fight for love.
To fight for truth.
To fight for peace.
To fight for equality.
To fight for those less fortunate.
To fight the evils that hold us down.

I'm not a self-made man, and I never will be because I have Someone watching out for me; He's helping me all along the way.
No one should be alone, I'm going to fight to make sure they're not.

Tired of Being Sick

2011-02-04T23:01:00.001-07:00

I've been getting sick a lot recently. Not sure what's causing it but all I know is this annoying. Missed quite a bit of work but I know all will work out.

Getting Unstuck

2011-01-15T23:13:00.002-07:00

So, God showed me a very cool thing tonight. The reason I feel so "lost" and "disconnected" is not because I was but because I was stuck in a sinful and unrighteous routine. God showed me that the only way to be able to come back to life and salvation was to become unstuck and live like Him.
Praise be to God!

The Problem with Atheists and Religious People

2011-01-15T23:06:00.008-07:00

So, I've been watching season 4 of Bones recently. I have seen how Bones has disdain for any religion, no matter what it actually is. In my own life I have seen how any religious person has disdain for any other religion or those without religion. My biggest problem with both sides is, there is no evidence for or against god. People say that the fact that is none proves there is no god. But the other argument is that there is no evidence against god. My thought has always been, as a religious person, is that you can not see the wind. We know it's there, we feel it and see the effects of the wind but we never see it. This is how I feel about God. I have seen and felt the effects of God in my own life and others' lives.
What I don't get is why we can't just get along? I'm not talking about fanatics that go and attack others, protest others, etc. but us that are reasonable human beings. Christ taught His followers to love everyone, not just those they deemed deserving. How can it be that one claims to love Christ but hate those that do not believe as them? It specifically states in the Bible, 1 John 4:20 - "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." Anyone who says that their brother or sister is only those who are believers are liars. Jesus sat with the "biggest" sinners. They were His brothers and sisters, not just those who believed like Him. In fact, those that were the religious leaders, He had the biggest problems with because of their lack of love for another and for acting like they followed the Scriptures but in fact were the worst of the worst. I believe that only those who admit they are sinners and truly try to change their lives and live as Jesus did will truly be saved.

TL;DR - Quit being hateful towards one another. Who cares what the other thinks. Love eachother. Period. Preach in love, not in hate.

After a Few More Days With Chrome OS

2010-12-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've been using the Chrome OS netbook for the last couple of days. I don't really know what else to really say. It seems like a really cool idea, for most people it will be. For me though, I don't really care for it heck of a whole lot. It's really just Chrome browser, nothing too much more. The hardware seems really slow for me. Things take a little too long load compared to my laptops/desktop. I like how it looks and feels but the load time just kills me. It's cool how when you flip it open, it boots right away. That is really quick. Shutting down is cool. You just hold down the power button; it locks your account, then fades out and turns off.

Not much more I can think of right now.

First Day with Chrome OS

2010-12-21T02:23:00.000-07:00

So I received the new Google Chrome OS netbook today from UPS. First impressions were ooh and ah. Below is a picture of the box it came in. Pretty awesome looking.

Unpacking it was really simple and felt pretty awesome just know to get one. There wasn't much to it, just two pieces of paper; the simple "How to get started" sheet and then the "Yeah, we gotta do this" sheet; this sheet was hilarious, I will have to post it later. The computer comes nicely packed in bubble wrap and the battery in a standard plastic sleeve wrap. The power cables twist tied and plastic sleeve wrap.

Google nicely had some charge on the battery, so I was able to just plop the battery in and get going.

The design is very sleek and is most definitely built just for an online computer. There's no "F" keys to really speak of. Granted, the keys above the numeric keys would be label as "F" keys but they are not arranged or designed as the normal "F" keys would be. The first key is "ESC" and then Back, Forward, Refresh, Full Screen, Next Window, Dim Screen, Brighten Screen, Volume Mute, Volume Down, Volume Up and Power.

Typing on this piece of hardware is a breeze. The keys are very large and spaced out very well. The trackpad reminds me of a Mac laptop's. No physical buttons showing but there is one. No right-left just one single big one. Of course you can still do right click; you can use two finger press or Alt-click. I have found the two finger press to mainly only work when you have tap-to-click enabled and I hate that so I must resort to Alt-click. Which isn't horrible considering that since there is no "Super" key, the left Ctrl and Alt buttons are larger than your average keyboard. Also, there is no CAPS-lock key, which I find interesting. They have replaced it with a "Search" key, which effectively acts as a "New Tab" key. The rest of the keyboard is standard. You have QWERTY, two shifts, two Ctrl, two Alt, enter, punctuation and arrow keys and backspace. There is no "Delete" but holding Alt+backspace, you have you delete key.

My first real impressions on using Chrome OS is that it is well, just Chrome. True it's built ontop of Linux and you can see that when asked to upload from the desktop or save to desktop, you see very generic GNOME. Other than that, you don't see Linux. No kernel selection, no actually desktop. You can't even manage to use a file manager (at least for now) to look at what and where files are. Chrome OS has its own file manager strictly for downloads. Not like the downloads section in Chrome, though that is still there.

Being such a heavy desktop user, it is slightly difficult to get used to everything being online. One of my biggest gripes is the camera. It's fantastic but it seems that the only real use for it is to use it in chat. If there was just a local app that linked through Chrome OS, it'd be fantastic. They could somehow hotlink Cheese to it and have it save to Picasa. I'd be alright with that. Other than that, Docs is fine to replace OpenOffice.org. Picasa (or any other photo manager online) is fine to replace Shotwell. GChat is its own little pop-up app, so it works. Ebuddy or Meebo work fine to replace Pidgin or Empathy. There are plenty of fine online apps that replace desktop versions but the camera apps online normally seem to pixelated for my tastes. I know there is some little app that was written for the desktop on here because you can take a picture of yourself for your account that just stays on the computer, not the cloud. I would like to use even that because the desktop app is more powerful is using the full capabilities than an online one would.

The machine gets bogged down pretty fast sometimes. It's running a very fast processor but it's not meant for heavy usage like I put my computers through. I'm a fast user and like my hardware to keep up but really, I can't complain too much, a free computer and it delivers what it promises to do: takes you to the net reliably and lets you browse, write emails, docs, etc. and lets you save to the net. One nice thing is that you sign in with your Google account and you can still let your friends use the computer under a guest account or add their own Google account.

I will have more the more I use it. I've sent a few requests so future users will have a better experience but I can't complain, this is a good little machine.

Too Much

2010-12-12T13:57:00.001-07:00

So I started working in the meat department about a month ago. It was fine when I was just doing turkeys. Nice work out even though I had to freeze. But now, everyday I'm getting yelled at and most of the time for stuff I didn't even do. It's getting frustrating. I'm going as fast as I can. They want me to go faster but still do a million things. I get yelled at for doing my job but the others don't but then I get yelled at BC of them. I've also worked 9 days in a row. I'm going to Urgent Care because I'm in so much physical pain from doing the million of things I have to do. I'm just so stressed out and exhausted.

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Why Can't We Be Like This?

2010-12-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

A person online lost their father, murdered. A fellow internetite whom neither has met, talked to or know each other gave this person 3 tickets to go see this person's family and to bury the person's father.
Why can't Christians do this? I'm sick and tired of this "I'll (just) pray for you" bullshit. When the original church got together, they made food, gave money, shelter, clothes, etc. to others. Not just "I'll pray for you". have we freakin forgotten James 2:14-16 "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" I'm so sick and tired of (mostly) athiests living the way that we Christians are supposed to be living. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US?!? Where did we just go bat-shit crazy and just stop caring? Sure, people go over-seas. That's bloody fantastic. But what about the +50% of "Christians" in America that aren't doing jack-squat to help their fellow man.
It's made me realize how freakin cold we have become. I had a friend over, picked them up, drove around downtown, went to Hippie Gypsy, then cooked dinner for us and then took them home. The person was so thankful that someone would do that. WTF?!?! Any friend should do that w/o second thought. Any CHRISTIAN should do that for just about anyone w/o second thought. I know we need to be safe but this is also why Jesus sent the original Disciples 2x2. Never alone.
GAH!
/rant

Are We Just Nemesis of Ourselves?

2010-11-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to make of this life anymore. Things to seem to go one, then they go another. Things seem to be happening, then they aren't. You think one way, life goes the other way. You never know what to make of what is happening around because of all the loud, pointless and hollow voices shouting nonsense and ignorance. I just don't know how much of it I can take or what's to actually become of me and my life with all who are in it. I just want to escape. One day. Just away from all of it and not have to worry about anything but of course, life is never that easy. Where have I gone wrong? Where have I gone period. Where am I in this life? I know I'm not where I am supposed to be and that angers, hurts and stresses me. What else can I do to make this life right?

Second Thoughts on Second Thoughts

2010-11-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

So, everything has been either WAY up or WAY down. Not quite sure what to really think at this point. I know there's been a lot of growing up to do, a lot of thinking to do and a whole lot of fighting externally and internally to do. Where to start, where to end?
I probably will be getting promoted at work to the meat department, that's way awesome! I started moving out of Dani's place last night. That's blah. After our big fight, our neighbors won't speak to me. That's something they need to grow up on. I've kinda been pinning all this on Dani. That's something I need to grow up on.
I just don't know what to really do anymore. I am thrown all over the place by flesh, mind, and Spirit. Which way to go and which one is really saying what? That's what this is all boiling down to. Time to think. Time to do. Time to be who I am.

Lord, Help Me Be a Better Man

2010-10-17T00:47:00.001-07:00

Lord, life is coming to a point where I must ride on my own. Where I must live a great and righteous life. None of which I can do without You. I've read the Scriptures, I believe Your words, I just need help to obey. Let no sin come my way and help through temptations. Lord, You are my God, and I trust in You always but I must trust You enough to hand over everything. There are things I hold onto that I must not to live a full and righteous life. I sing Hallelujah! To the Heavens because of Your name. I shout praises because of the Works You have done. I bow my head in humbleness because of Your matchless worth. I kneel before You, my King, because of Your endless love. How awesome are You that You would die for me. You died for what You loved and what You loved was us. I am so humbled, Lord. I love You.

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Time To Move Along

2010-09-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

My new job is going pretty freakin awesome. It's been up and down on work days and I know that's how life goes but it'd be nice to have a constant. Like the other day, work thought I was a no show and no call, when in fact it wasn't me but another worker named Jake as well. I thought they were about to fire me but thankfully Charlie talked to them and got it worked out. But what I wonder is how much more of this stuff is going to happen before things start to work out. Oh well, I'm in it for the long haul, I've got to be. I'm planning on moving in with Dani and I need all the hours, time and money I can get my hands on. It' will be alright though. I know I can make it with God's help.

On a different note, I will/want to write a new post about Heaven and Hell and what it is all really about. It will be a great post for Christians and Atheists alike. It will probably piss off Christians while it'll make Atheists see at least one realistic Christian in the world (pompous a little? lol).

Well, that is all for this moment. Night world.

Stuff Is Getting Real

2010-09-09T12:38:00.002-07:00

So, life is getting more real every day. Going to figure out where I'm going to live and if it's not with my parents, how will I afford it? How will I be able to survive on my own? Will I continue on with school or will I just drop out? Will I be able to help provide for two people or will I barely be able to support myself?
These things are starting to get to me. Am I ready to make this leap or am I still a child? I don't know what to do. I am sinner and I don't know how to live right. God, show me the way to life and help guide me on my way.

So, Just a Couple of Things

2010-09-04T23:16:00.001-07:00

Well, earlier tonight I was trying to upgrade my Drupal website from 6 to 7 alpha. Wow, did I screw that one up! I had crazy error messages, for some reason I was denied permissions on some files on my server (WEIRD!) and it just flat out died on me.
Now Brasero on my Fedora 13 box isn't working properly (DANGIT!). Guess I'll have to reinstall or just use something else...
I work in the morning but I'm sitting through a LONG class on safety, hopefully it won't be too bad. I hope. I know working at Fry's will be great but dude, classes stink.

God, give us the strength to make it through the days.

How We Have Become

2010-09-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

So, a good friend of mine and I talked last night and he was dismayed at some recent happenings in his life that God could put them through such things, to let this happen. This is human nature, we try and put the blame on someone else. We forget that God gave us the gift of free will. God has allowed us to love, to hate, to forgive, to keep grudges, to save a life or to take a life. He has never forced us to do anything. I told my friend that I saw God as giving them back something that in almost any other circumstance, would have disappeared away from them. God was the one who brought it all back together and made things right when we humans were the ones who made everything wrong.

We like to blame God when things go wrong in our lives and we rarely like to thank Him when this go perfect. This is how we as humans have become. When stuff goes wrong, we look at our omniscient God and say, "Why did You do this to me?" or "How could You let this happen?" The answer is really clear, He did neither. God didn't do this to you, someone else or yourself did. Our flawed images did what ever happened to you. He "let" what ever wrong happened to you in the sense that He gave us free will, to choose right or wrong. He will help you every step of the way if you are doing His Will and He let you go every step of the way you are not doing His Will.

So all in all, stop blaming God for problems we have created and praising ourselves when things have gone right. Instead, let's start blaming ourselves for when things go wrong and praising God when things go right.

Become Less Intelligent in the Information Age

2010-08-27T01:41:00.001-07:00

The more I look around, the more readily available information is. We have computers in our freaking pockets. Did you know that most Android phones and Palm Pres/Pixies can run a web server? Run a freaking web server! i-Jetty on Android and lighttpd on Palm (HP) phones. But the fact that we have all this information available, it s so surprising to me at the lack of knowledge and intelligence around me these days. I'm fairly smart, but no genius by any means of the word but people around me just seem, well, dumb. We have become focused on buying crap we don't need, listening to crap that destroys us as a society and watching things that makes our brain cells commit suicide. I bet you that most people could tell me the hottest new song from Eminem faster than they could tell me which coast South Carolina is on. Or even the rough general area it's in.
People always ask questions and sometimes, I think, "I see you with a smart phone. Use the dang thing for why it was made. To make your life simpler."
Another thing that drives me up a wall is people's just disregard for reading. People act like they can't find an answer to anything even though their answer to my first question, "Did you Google it?", is "No." Well, why the hell not? You have a smart phone, you have a working computer in front of you, type in a few letters, hit enter, and read! Even when they get to the place they need to go, but need to dig deeper in the site, they don't understand how to. I read, click, read, click and 99% of the time end up where I need to go.

I'm tired, I quit for the night. I need to write these things during the day.