Geek

Earl and I have been talking about this for quite some time. Today I received confirmation. I head back to school in September with my first class – AutoCAD I.

I’m going to become a Traffic Engineer with a Civil Engineering degree.

I’m taking it one step at a time.

I need to get some AutoCAD under my belt so I can hit the ground running in January when I start hitting the college books. Assuming of course, that I survive AutoCAD I and then AutoCAD II later this fall.

As an avid motorist, I want to do my part in designing and marking roads so they are safer and easier to navigate. I’ve dabbled in the trade all my life, it’s time to get serious about it.

And at 38 years old, I’m sure I’ll be very popular at the keg parties.

I am writing this blog entry on a Windows computer this afternoon. That’s right, I said Windows computer. And said computer is in my house. It’s running one of the latest builds of Windows Vista Ultimate, pre-Release Candidate 1.

As a computer support tech, one of my responsibilities is to know what’s going on in the world of computers. That makes sense, right? Well, since Microsoft Windows is the operating system on most of the computers across this great land, then I need to be familiar with the ins and outs of the operating system. So I figured I’d jump ahead and start seeing what this Windows Vista thing is all about.

I’ve been messing with it for the past two hours and I do have a few comments.

1. It sure is pretty. I really like the aesthetics of using it. It looks good.
2. I’m still trying to figure out why things have been moved where they’ve been moved to. For example, to change your background picture, in Windows XP, you right click on the desktop and click “Desktop Properties” and go from there. In Windows Vista, you right click on the desktop and click “Personalize” then jump around in some dialog windows before getting to the familiar Windows XP screens. It’s a few extra clicks and may seem intuitive to a newbie, but I’m hoping Microsoft builds an “Express” option into the final product that lets power users click around like they’re used to doing in Windows XP.
3. For a pre-release candidate version of software, it’s pretty stable and responsive. I wasn’t expecting that.
4. It’s still Windows.

I’ve also installed the Office 12 Beta, as I’ve heard wonderful things about the latest incarnation of Office. For those that have grown up with Office in the corporate environment, when you first fire this baby up you’re going to have a few moments of panic as EVERYTHING looks different. But once you start jumping around a little bit and start figuring out where everything is, it isn’t as bad as it first appears. Just for fun I’m typing this blog entry in Microsoft Word and then I’m going to cut and paste it into my blog entry screen. Let’s see if I can successfully do that before switching back to Ubuntu Linux.

This all being said, I must say that Microsoft is making great strides in the world of Windows. Windows Vista is going to take some hefty horsepower to run with all the bells and whistles (my test computer barely makes the grade with a 2.0mhz Processor, 768MB RAM and a Radeon GeForce 7600 GS video card), but there are quite a few improvements in the system that should make surfing a more pleasant experience for Joe User.

However, I’m still very much in love with our Mac hardware and offer you a toast of Apple Kool-Aid.

I was directed to We Are The Web by Joe. My. God.’s blog and of course I clicked “play” on the video. This video supports Net Neutrality and features some famous internet celebrities.

The track is pretty catchy and it’s for a good cause.

A New Member of the Family.

Originally uploaded by bluemarvel.

There was a slight tingle at the base of my neck. My spidey-sense was kicking into overdrive as I made my way home for lunch. As I pulled in the driveway and looked at the front door, the tingles turned to sheer excitement as I saw a package had arrived.

The new Mac Mini has arrived!

Earl and I have been talking about buying either a gaming console or a computer for our home entertainment system. We’re fortunate enough to have a pretty big flat panel television and it was just begging to have a computer attached to it, affording us the opportunity to play games, archive some stuff off of the satellite and browse the web from the luxury of our sofa with a really big monitor.

Overtime pay has been cooperative in the sense that we were in the position to make the purchase, so I went ahead and embarked on the excitement of purchasing a new Mac through the online Apple Store. Few things excite me more!

It has been dubbed “Tagada“. Why “Tagada”, you ask? Good question, let me tell you. Being a very proud geek, we have more computers than your average household. I would bet to say that we have more computers than all the people that live in the apartment complex down the street put together. And being as eccentric as I am, I like to keep the computers names based on a theme. Since computers are my playground, then it’s appropriate for them to be named after amusement park rides.

The server in the basement is “scrambler”.

My PowerBook is “tempest“.

The studio Mac Mini is “himalaya”.

The linux computer is “trabant”.

The little server in the basement is “ticketbooth” (since it gives out authentication tokens to the others).

And it goes on and on from there. Thankfully, Earl has learned to be patient. Tonight, I fire Tagada up for the first time. If you need me, I’ll be parked on the couch playing Sim City.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m enjoying “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?” on Sci-Fi this summer. It’s a reality show about an initial group of 12 superheroes that, in true reality show style, are being weeded down to the last one standing, who will win his or her own Sci-Fi movie and have their character featured in Stan Lee’s latest comic. It’s an interesting show in that there are many twists and turns, plus there’s groovy costumes and great cheesy special effects thrown in for good measure.

It’s “Big Brother” with a Super Geek twist.

Unfortunately, it’s a little too “Big Brother” for me, in that more than half of the contestants on the show are struggling actors with acting credits behind their name.

That sucks.

Everyone expects a reality show to be somewhat scripted. It has to be, because television producers are terrified to let anything happen on their own; ratings and ad revenue are both conquered best in a controlled environment. I understand that and I accept that.

What I don’t understand is the need to populate these “reality shows” with a bunch of actors. There are a ton of supergeeks out there that would love the opportunity to dress up in their favorite spandex outfit and prove to the world that they are a superhero. These folks would keep it real all the way. They’d get their 15 minutes of fame, show off a little bit in front of the family and friends and then quietly fade back into their secret batcave and continue to silently better the world, a little stronger and a little more able because of their experience on television.

Is it unreasonable to ask that producers use real people in their next round of reality shows? I don’t think so. Come on guys, let’s keep it real.

And yes, I’ll still watch the show, but since I’ve looked up the contestants on imdb, the fun has kind of disappeared. Small wonder YouTube has become so popular. It’s the only place you can find reality television.

Well, my blog is five years and nine days old. Here’s the very first entry:

August 4, 2001

Well here I am trying to maintain an on-line journal. I hope to do this once or twice a week to let curious people know what the heck is going on with our life.

Today Earl and I went along with my sister and her fiancée to the Pulaski Field Days. For those unfamiliar with the “field days” concept, it’s a town carnival sponsored by the local fire department to raise money. There’s amusement rides, chicken BBQs and other food, a parade, games and much other merriment. It’s also like Old Home Days, as you tend to run into people you haven’t seen in a long time. Well this year I ran into a few of my old teachers from my school days, and it was wonderful to see them. As well as some old classmates. I have said for years that I never see anyone from my particular class. And I mean NEVER! Well for once I saw someone I graduated with and a bunch of others that hung out as part of “the band clique”. And Jen and Jody won two stuffed animals on the games.

My dad is a private pilot and has built his own airplanes as well. Tonight was also the first night that I’ve ever flown in his new Acro Sport. WOW! It’s an open cockpit bi-plane (four wings instead of two) that cruises at about 110-120 MPH. He used to have a Piper J-5A from the 40s that cruised along at 80 MPH, so this one is really a rush. You get to wear the old aviator’s helmet and goggles and everything in this!

My dad has aviator fuel for blood, and he’s happiest when he’s flying or working on his airplane. We used to fly a lot together, it was nice doing it again today. I imagine that I’ll become a private pilot someday as well.

Hmmm, it seems some things never change.

In 15 minutes is the keynote address from Apple CEO Steve Jobs from the WWDC, the Worldwide Developers Conference. He’s expected to give us a preview of the latest version of Mac OS X, Leopard, and perhaps reveal some other new goodies that’ll get us Mac-fanatics all worked up in glee.

I’ve become very Mac centric again over the past week or so. My Linux computer works well enough, it’s just not easy enough to use. I always end up back on the PowerBook.

I have dreams of moving the servers in the basement over to a Mac or two in the near future. Let’s see if Earl wants to play along! When we win the lottery, I’m going to buy everyone in my family and a select group of friends and fellow bloggers a state of the art Mac. Then I’m going to fill the computer labs of three school districts with all Macs.

You read it hear first.

“You need to make sure you type ‘admin’ in all lower-case letters when signing in.”

“I don’t know what you mean by lower case”, responds the befuddled customer, obviously confused.

“Small letters.”

“Oh, you mean lower caps”, the customer exclaims, as comprehension sets in.

Earl and I are back home feeling quite relaxed and ready to take on the upcoming work week. Our little camping excursion afforded us the luxury of getting rid of some best forgotten stress. I’m ready for on-call and I’m eager to work on some projects around the house I’ve been formulating in my head for the past couple of days.

I’ve decided to let my .Mac subscription lapse when it runs out in September. I’m not really using it except for instant messaging purposes, save for the photo albums currently on the .Mac webservers. They are getting moved to jpnearl.com over the next couple of weeks. I’ve changed IM names on AIM and iChat to bluemarvel37 (even though I’m 38 now!). So if you don’t see me on AOL, it’s because I’m using the new screenname.

Earl and I have set up camp here at Hillside Campgrounds in Northeast Pennsylvania. We are here until Sunday. The weather is perfect, the birds are singing lovely little tunes and there’s just enough people here at this gay campground to keep the area feeling populated, but not too overcrowded.

I fired up my PowerBook to write the first of my daily blog entries and lo and behold, there’s wi-fi here. In the middle of the woods. At a campground. For some reason, I’m not surprised. And as you read this, you probably shouldn’t be surprised that I brought my PowerBook along camping. I always bring my PowerBook along whenever we travel because you can take the geek out of the city, but well, I’m sure you understand. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera USB cable along so I can’t share pictures until we get back home. I guess we’re roughing it after all.

Our campsite is in an area called the “Landing Strip” in that it looks like a long landing strip carved out in the middle of the dense woods. Instead of runway lights, there’s rainbow flags lining the roadway. Come this time tomorrow there will be a good number of campers and tents lining the roadway as well.

I was a regular here at Hillside back in the mid 90s, as “first Earl” and I had a permanent campsite that we used quite often. Ten years ago this weekend, “my Earl” and I celebrated my birthday together for the first time here at Hillside. It’s a birthday that I will always remember, because it’s one of the first occasions that Earl showed how much he really cared for me by throwing me a small birthday party. We didn’t come to Hillside many times after that until last year as we tended to just keep to ourselves and do our own thing. I also learned that year how much Earl doesn’t really like camping in a tent. Hence, our pop-up camper.

This year we’re here again on my birthday weekend and are keeping it to just the two of us here at our site. We’re looking forward to making some new friends and perhaps seeing some old.

As I write this entry, I realize that ten years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed about writing about camping at a gay campground in my blog. I guess I really have grown over the past ten years.

It’s going to be a great weekend!