I used a tutorial from WP Tuts+ to install them on my WordPress installation. Very easy to do.

I created some new t-shirts on Red Bubble for Rivik Media the other day. With a baby boy on the way, I had to share the Rivik Media onesie. You can read more about the shirts at Rivik News.

After a few years, Linux is back to being my main OS.

The newest operating systems are very underwhelming to me. So much focus going to touch and tablet, the PC as I grew to know it will soon be a thing of the past (not something I think is bad, but it hasn’t happened yet). I still need a traditional PC. I don’t need a graphic intense operating system, and I don’t need features that should only be on a touch device forced into my desktop. I need functionality and speed when I’m on my desktop.

I was a loyal OSX user, but the newest OSX Lion really didn’t play nice for me. It was very slow, and many of the new features in Lion had no relevance to things I actually did with my computer (I’ll go into more complaints in another post).

I then switched over to using my Ubuntu partition on a MacBook Pro. This only lasted a couple of weeks. 11.04 was released, and the Unity interface. Ubuntu’s new interface wasn’t intuitive enough for me to use on a everyday basis. I needed a new Distro.

*Quick note on Windows. I haven’t liked Windows in a long time. I use it for work when needed, but not for personal. I never considered it for my computer.

As most people who have used Linux, I jumped around, trying several different Distros. I finally settled on Linux Mint (Crunch Bang was a very close second).

Linux Mint running Gnome 3.2 has just about everything I want in my desktop. Mint provided me with minimal initial set up. All the codecs I needed were already installed, and I only needed to install a couple of programs on top of what came standard. Gnome gave me a very intuitive interface. I am able to navigate around my desktop easily and switch between applications. I very rarely need to even use my mouse. I can do just about everything from my keyboard. That is something I want in my desktop operating system.

After the initial set up, I applied a Gnome shell just to get away from the generic green of the Linux Mint install. I install the Faience shell and icon set.

A great new feature of Gnome 3.2 is the ability to add extensions. I added, the Auto-Hide Top Panel, and gTile extensions. You can view all the extensions available here (it’s a small but growing list).

Here is a picture of my completed desktop home screen. It’s very minimal, which I like. All my tool-bars auto-hide, leaving only three icons.

And here is what the screen looks like with Gnome in action. The command key brings this us from anywhere in the OS. I am able to switch between programs and desktops from here. I can also type the name of any program to launch it. It is very quick and intuitive.

The Linux OS makes my MacBook Pro feel like new again. It is much faster than running Lion OSX. I was considering upgrading my computer/buying a new one, with this set up, it doesn’t seem necessary. If I do ever upgrade, my Linux desktop is universal. I can go from an Apple, to a Dell, to an Asus hardware, and my Linux install will still work. It’s not usually something you think about, but having freedom of hardware is an often overlooked benefit.

The downside. It can’t be all perfect.

Linux does not have a native Evernote program, something I use constantly. I am forced to use the web app version. It is manageable but not as enjoyable to use.

The software and application management in Linux has improved my leaps and bounds lately, but still has some improving . Most application have simple one click installs, however there are still a few lurking that require command line treatment to install. It can be annoying and not something the average user will want (or even know how) to do.

It can also be a trick to uninstall a program. There doesn’t seem to be an easy one-click way to do this for most applications.

Linux is not compatible with most Apple products. You’re iPhone and iPad won’t be able to sync with Linux. I don’t consider that a bad thing. I have both an iPhone and iPad and use them independently of the computer. Thanks to iCloud, I back up everything to the cloud rather than a computer. This could be a deal breaker for some people though.

All things considered, this Linux desktop is one of the best OS I have used. It’s very intuitive and quick to navigate around. I am back to using Linux as my main computer.

For the future. I see the traditional PC going away. I already use my iPad everyday. With a little more power and the right accessories, I can see the iPad (or iPad like device) becoming my main/only computer.

I was sparked to ask this after reading this thread on reddit. The thread talks about small life changes that have a big impact. This question really stuck in my head. How do you start your day?

I’m not talking about when you shower (hopefully), eat breakfast, and go though the mindless routine. I’m talking about the first things you do with your thinking. Do you start checking Facebook, Twitter, and email? Do you start working on a project? It comes down to are you consuming the information, or producing it? A small thing that can really set the tone for the rest of the day.

I admit I am guilty of checking my phone first thing. New messages, emails, and tweets. I am an information consumer, and it really set a tone for the day. A tone that has me regularly checking my email and social media. It cut into my productivity. It’s easy to get sidetracked while your working by taking a quick look on Facebook or Twitter. And it is almost always useless information, setting me off on useless tangents.

So I am making the small change. Becoming a producer over a consumer.

The first thing I did this morning was write this post. And I will continue this trend. It won’t always be a blog post, and it certainly won’t always be extended work. But before I consumer anything, I need to spend five minutes on a project. After five minutes, I may be on a roll and not want to stop. I’ll be in the mind set of getting things done rather than checking my Facebook.

Stephen King, author of 49 novels, used to say in the morning, he would force himself to write 5 pages. He knew once getting over the hump of starting work the rest would come. It made him one of the most productive writers in history.

It’s a snowball effect. Get one thing done, you want to get more done. Start your days on a productive note rather than a lazy one.

*This post brought to you by a productive morning.

What nobody tells people who are beginners – and I really wish someone had told me – is that all of us who do creative work get into it because we have good taste. but there is this gap. For the first couple of years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste – the thing that got you into the game – is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phone; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know out work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close the gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this an anyone I’ve ever met. It’s going to take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass