* BwaaHaaHaahaa!!!!! I have finally upgraded to a broadband internet connection!!!! Suddenly flash sites aren’t quite as annoying as they used to be. Don’t worry, I have no intentions of “fattening” this site just because I can load it faster. I will strive to maintain a bandwidth-friendly site. No, it hasn’t helped me trim down the amount of time I spend surfing, I just get to digest more garbage than before!
* Needless to say, I have been quite busy at home setting up a meager (Pentium 90, 24meg ram, 504 meg HD w/dual nic’s) FreeBSD box as my firewall/nat box. This mimics a setup at a local ISP that I was asked to look at last week. They are in the process of rebuilding their firewall, so hopefully my setup will help in my understanding of their setup and I can be more useful to them.
* As has always been the case, Xionic Labs is my playground. It is a place for me to play with various webcentric technologies. Sometimes this is apparent (as with minor modifications such as color schemes), but other times it is not. I have used this space to play (meagerly) with databases, artificial intelligence ( a perl/php based knowledge-base/decision tree) as well as many projects for school. from basic html and and css to php integration and mysql, this site has been mostly for my own amusement. As long as it is useful to me in this manner, it will stay up. When the day comes when I no longer come here to play, it will come down. Hopefully around the edges of the site some visitors have found meaningful content. If so, then great! I have recieved some excellent feedback in the past from people who have benefited from one page or another and it is for them that those particular pages stay. OK, that’s enough for that minor rant.
* The big question here really is about the paradigm of computer usability. Not only should we be questioning what computers are used for, but why are they used at all. Do they serve to improve the quality of life? Can they be used to lower the quality of life? Like any tool, the computer must be utilized appropriately. in order to utilize a tool, you must understand its function. In the case of computers, this understanding of functionality has been greatly twisted so that it now resembles a “Magic Beige Box” that can do just about anything! It has been inflated to the status of being the answer to just about any problem. And when those expectations fall short, well then it must have been a problem with the software, or we needed faster hardware. What about the initial conception of what the MBB (remember: Magic Beige Box) was capable of. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the primary reasons we need (or don’t need) computers. The function of a computer boils down to three things: First, a computer can used to store data. Second, a computer can be used to retrieve data, and third, a computer can be used to manipulate data. That’s it really. Nothing more, nothing less. How we choose to utilize this tool determines its effect on our daily lives.
::more on this later::
* I forgot to mention that we saw Spiderman last weekend. As a fan of the old comic books (pre “marriage to Mary Jane”) I was extremely impressed with the storyline, the imagery, everything. Quite a fun movie!
* Made a small purchase on lunch today. I came across an old sparc20 that someone was selling. The price? $25.00 I didn’t have to think too hard on that one! I will probably load it up w/NetBSD some time this week.
* So my first Astronomy class was Wednesday night. I was warned that this could be a very difficult class if you end up with the wrong professor. Mark had a great time in his Astronomy class because his teacher was more of an amateur enthusiast than anything else. My teacher? Well, my prof is the physics/mathematics professor for the university and therefore this class is much more oriented towards those disciplines. This will most assuredly be one of my more difficult classes. It will also be one of my most enjoyable classes. The professor exhibits such a great passion for the subject that is truly infectious. He definitely knows the subject and is most eager to talk about the science behind it (i.e. the physics – Chaos theory was even tossed about a bit!) Quite an exciting class!
* The Mercedes is back from the shop. I had to drop it off due to a minor fuel leak and ended up getting a major tune-up while it was in there. I figure it was worth it if I can keep the car in good shape for another year or two.
* HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONAN AND KEENAN!!! Today is the boys’ first birthday! Wow, the past year has just flown by! It seems like yesterday that Faith showed me our first ultrasound and proclaimed “We’re having twins!!” Now the boys are already standing and crawling and chewing on everything with their new teeth! The best thing to see is when they chase each other around the house laughing at each other. They have developed such a great bond with each other and with Logan. To see how much Logan has grown into the role of big brother is quite impressive, as well. He is always ready to help out with the twins (except diaper changes ::grin::) Ronan and Keenan have their one year checkup today, so I should have some accurate stats later today.
* Logan was also a great help at his grandpa’s house on Sunday. He trimmed the weeds and helped spread mulch.
* The barbecue went very well on Saturday and the couch was delivered on time. Two things about the couch: first, it’s much bigger than I originally thought. It will have to be the only furniture downstairs as nothing else will fit now. (Actually, it’s not the couch that’s too big, I just thought the room was bigger than it actually is) Second, when the couch was delivered, it had several large grease marks on it. So now we are beginning a battle with the furniture store to get that fixed or replaced. Stay tuned….
* This semester is finally over! I am happy to report that I was able to earn an “A” in each class. Next week, it’s back to school, but I am only taking one class over the summer. Since I will be in Dallas for three weeks at the end of the summer, and since we would like to take some sort of vacation this year, it was just easier if I stick to just one class. The class? Astronomy! I am quite excited since this has been an interest of mine for a very long time!
* Big plans for the weekend. Family and friends are coming over for a bbq tomorrow to celebrate Ronan and Keenan’s first birthday (and my 34th) I just can’t believe that it’s already been a whole year! They have grown so much, and so fast!
* Oh yeah, don’t tell Connie, but the new couch arrives tomorrow as well! (just kidding, Connie!)
* It’s a bit late, but… “Oh look, a sailboat!” (actually it’s a teapot, but I just couldn’t resist the reference)
Jeff, Journal | Jeff | 
May 21, 2002 11:16 pm | 
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