SYN/ACK

Not so festive this year

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:05:05 -0500

Jack-O-Lantern, Jack-O-Lantern wink a funny eye. I would rather be a pumpkin face than be a pumpkin

Typically I would be taking today off and setting up the rest of the display at home for tonight's festivities. This year, I am at work doing the work thing. I am seriously busy here but I also have the situation that after years of elaborate decorations and planning, my fourth child is terrified of Halloween. We can't even go into the drug store if there are decorations up without a complete and utter meltdown.

We were able to put out some pumpkins but no ghosts, zombies, or anything else even remotely spooky. It's a real bummer but hopefully she will grow out of it. I am just glad it's not my year to take them trick or treating. I have a feeling my husband will be carrying her most of the night.

Happy Halloween to you all, I hope it is spooktacular!

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More Sewing (with pattern links!)

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:14:46 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

I got some sewing done today but not nearly as much as I had hoped to. I finally got all the patch jobs done and cleared off my sewing table so at least the family can return to wearing the items have have been queued up waiting for me to get to them.

I managed to make a new scarf (more of a fashion accessory than a winter muffler) and I refashioned a dress I bought last summer into a new and fabulous skirt (I will get a picture of it later). The dress was a cool angled stripe but way too much for an entire dress not to mention the fact that it was at least one size too big. I got it on summer clearance at Target for about $2 intending to refashion it as it had lots of potential.

Projects currently queued:

Skirt refashioned from two floral print vintage pillowcases, not decided it it will be a full skirt or a-line yet. (inspiration and a pattern)

Several tote bags refashioned from tank tops. (pattern PDF)

Toddler shorts refashioned from old knit tops destined for the garbage bin as they have stains.

An apron or two from fabric in my stash. (pattern)

Wrap skirt from sarong. The fabric is fabulous and I just want to wear it more than as a swimsuit coverup. (pattern)

Arm warmers from knits in my stash (pattern PDF)

Lydia long sleeve knit tops. (pattern)

Pillowcase dresses for the little one and a top for me from vintage pillowcases in my stash.

I have tried to crochet or knit but it's just too darned hot to have all that yarn rolling across my lap. Sewing is my summer fun! I honestly think my sewing machine is on it's last legs. I have tuned and greased it as much as I can but it slows down more everyday. I almost don't see the point in taking it in for repair as a new one with many more features is only $150 on sale at JoAnn's.

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Ubuntu Fail

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:39:49 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

I disliked Ubuntu Gutsy when it was released and I have to say I dislike Hardy as well.

When I recently rebuilt my main machine, I installed Hardy hoping to give Ubuntu another chance. I used to be a huge Ubuntu fan unfortunately, the fandom stops with Feisty.

Bonus to Hardy, that annoying tracker does not install and hog my system by default. The most annoying thing? Lots of support for lots of hardware was dropped. Winfast & Hauppauge TV Tuner cards which have worked wonderfully in linux have all kinds of special issues in Ubuntu starting with Gutsy. MythBuntu equals a big pain in the neck.

I have heard from others who are leaving Ubuntu since the last few releases. Reading through the support forums and the bugtrackers, the community has reverted to the old standard of either not replying, treating people like they aren't worth the effort to explain things to, or assuming their position on the issue is superior. This is why linux users have always been avoided, because they act like elitist.

Ubuntu is supposed to be user friendly and for new linux users. How can you possibly promote that if the community snubs the newbies.

One thread that struck me was about the fact that there was no GUI disk management installed by default.Â The very first response to this posting was "no one should need to manually manage disks..." WTF? Seriously?

There are several cases when you need to manually manage disks: 1) the LiveCD does not mount local disks, 2) If you add a new disk to the system. How many people who aren't major geeks know how to manage their disks from the command line? I know several people I consider pretty geeky who don't even know how to do it in Windows.

There are apps you can apt-get to enable a GUI access like gparted, but you have to know what it is called & how to install it ~or~ the right search terms to google to learn how. How many newbies are going to know how to do this or not reach maximum level of frustration with this? Ubuntu doesn't have a utility that kicks off on boot if you have added new hardware either.

Ubuntu is really losing it's way, and I have to say I cannot recommend it anymore. I am back to vanillla Debian and maybe dabble some more in Arch. Do you have a particular distro you absolutely adore? Let me know what you are using and why you love it and I will give it a whirl.

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Getting back on track

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:48:42 -0500

It is hard to stay focused on tech in the summer months. I would rather spend more time outside than in however, the podcast is back on track and Alternageek is celebrating it's one year anniversary next month. The blogs are going to be opening to new opportunities and going in a brand new direction in the coming months.

Thanks to everyone who has voiced their well wishes and concerns during my little one's health crisis. She is doing much better, has overcome her setbacks, and is healing nicely.

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Medical Emergencies

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:15:50 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

I have been living at the hospital lately with a sick little one. Nothing much else going on in life as everything else is currently on hold.

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Deals I Scored This Week (05/10/08)

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:20:28 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

It was a very good week. I hit the new GoodWill store in town in search of something to use as a hayrack for the cavies and found a shelving unit for the little one's room to replace the changing table that she has seriously outgrown but we were using for storage. It's one of those heavy duty plastic things like Little Tikes makes. She loves it since it is pink and purple and looks like a doll house.

I also got a StepTwo adjustable basketball goal. Yes, they were total impulse buys but check it out, I got them both for under $8!! The shelves were $4.98 and with a wipe down they are as good as new. The basketball goal was only $1.98 (retails for around $30) and has lots of use left in it. Score!

Wal-Mart deals (still good):

Johnsons & Johnsons Little Buddies soaps are $.94 each. With two $1/1 from last Sunday's paper and two of these printables for $2/2 I managed to score 6 soaps for free and earn an overage of $.24!

Live Active cereal is $2.98 and with this printable for $3/1 I got a box for free and earned an overage of $.02.

Zantac 150 Cool Mint 8 pack is $3.98 and with this printable for $5/1 I got it free and earned an overage of $1.02!

Aquafresh Advanced is $2.23 and with printables from here and here for $2/1 I got two tubes for a total of $.46!

Kashi Cereal is on rollback for under $2 per box of selected varieties. Using this printable after registering at the Kashi website you get a box for free with an overage.

How do overages work? The cashier certainly won't give you cash back however, it does lower the cost of your other items that you don't have coupons for or that you aren't getting for free. Overages rock.

CVS deals (last week's sale):

Mother's Day shopping at CVS netted me one 12oz box of Russell Stover's chocolates and one 12 oz. box of Whitman's samplers for $1.99 each. Both were on sale for $3.99 per box and I had $2/1 coupons from the paper. I saved $13 on the chocolates! Just don't tell my mom ;).

Bed, Bath, & Beyond still has their clearance sale going. They have a big section with up to 75% off the lowest marked clearance price. I got three of the kids new quilts (originally marked almost $100 each) for $9 each.

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Updates from Life

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:00:16 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

As you know I haven't been posting much to any of my blogs or the podcast. I have refocused most of my time and energy back where it belongs, to my family. Should time free up again, I hope to spend more time blogging, until then it is time well spent with my children, my husband, and taking care of my home.

We have many projects that are taking up a lot of our time but they have been great family projects. First up is our vegetable garden, while it is small we hope to get enough produce out of it to save some on our grocery bill this season. The kids all picked vegetables they are in charge of and have been diligent in caring for it. Also to their delight we planted some marigolds and sunflowers.

Several weeks ago we constructed a guinea pig home and cat proofed it. We adopted three male guinea pigs that are about a year and a few months old and that have lived together in a 1'x2' cage most of their lives. They were surrendered to a rescue shelter and were not used to being handled (the noted reason for surrendering was because the children wouldn't clean the cage). They are doing smashingly and already are used to their meal schedule and come to our voices. The little one we named Scooby Doo now curls up on my chest and will nap. They have some a long way from the shy and squirmy little guys they were and the children, my husband, and I just love them to pieces.

I have to take a sideline here and rant for a minute. Children should not be the sole responsible party for a pet. Children cannot BE responsible for pets and giving a child a pet does not teach them responsibility. I have seen numerous parents agree to let children have a small pet on the condition that they will take care of it and if they fail the pet will be "gotten rid of". One, this teaches children that parents allow a child to ignore a pet and live in terrible and inhumane conditions (since the parent won't step in) and two, that if they don't want the pet all they have to do is to stop taking care of it and the parents will get rid of it. This is a very tragic and common occurrence and parents who think they are teaching their children lessons of responsibility usually don't realize they are teaching irresponsibility instead. Adults should be in charge of the pet with children assisting parents. Remember, the best way to teach your children is by example. (end rant)

I have been sewing and crocheting quite a bit and trying to get rid of a lot of surplus fabric I have by turning it into rompers and dresses for the littlest girl. My oldest daughter learned to sew recently and has been working on some of her own projects as well. We have even made some cozies for the guinea pigs.

Coupons and shopping trip deals have been taking up several hours every weekend but the money we are saving is worth every penny. It costs enough to feed and care for a family of six as it is and the way grocery and incidental costs are going up it is costing more than ever. Every week we spend time as a family clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, I then organize them and check out the weekly ads. I have found several websites to be invaluable resources in planning my weekly shopping:

Money Saving Mom - (Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart deals as well as a few other good deals)

BeCentsAble - Grocery Gatherings include weekly ads and the coupons that go with them allowing you to either get items free or for pennies on the dollar. They note the best deals for items on sale or with coupons at a long list of stores so you don't have to spend quite so much time keeping track of them on your own when planning your shopping trips.

Those are the two big ones I check. There are many other blogs I am keeping up with and I will share those with you later. I will have a post from my great deals this week to share with you the kinds of things these sites have helped me to accomplish (for example, I got $20 worth of stuff absolutely free yesterday at Wal-Mart). It takes some work, but a penny saved is double that which is earned!

My primary job is to be a great mom and wife and to care for my family and home. While technology is a great passion of mine, it cannot consume my time. I do love teaching people about technology and being an open source evangelist but there are only so many hours in the day and once I have spent 40 hours a week or more away from home my family suffers when I spend another 40 ignoring them at home. I am more than happy to answer questions, share what I know, and link to things I think are truly exceptional, but I don't have time to be a news outlet. ;)Â I am keeping up with as much as I can but can't afford to miss out on my family. Thanks for understanding that.

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Concert: My Chemical Romance

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:37:55 -0500

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

Boy did I strike gold yesterday! Although it was the dreaded tax day and one thing went wrong after another, a friend of mine called and said she had an extra ticket for the My Chemical Romance concert that night and did I want to go. Of

course, I felt really guilty about accepting since I had a ton of crap to do and was having such a terrible day, but her husband pretty much talked me into it. It didn't take much really because I do like MCR.

I haven't been to a concert since Megadeth (with the Misfits opening) in '99. Oh boy things have changed and I have certainly gotten older but I eventually really got into the music and started dancing and jumping and singing along. It was great fun and a much needed release. I love any opportunity where I can dance like no one is watching and sing my heart out like no one is listening.

Today I still managed to get up on time for work but my ears are still ringing. I took some pictures with my phone and since it doesn't zoom I had to modify them in iPhoto after the fact. They aren't the best since we chose to head up to the top balcony but it was a good location for watching the show even if the pictures are blah.

Moral of the story: great concert, great opening acts (Drive By and Billy Talent), and I really need to do this more often!

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QotD: Dream Job

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:13:18 -0500

What's holding you back from your dream job?
Submitted by Question of the Day.

Just a little more time, and a little more elbow grease. ;)

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QotD: Family Matters

nobody@vox.com(Linuxchic) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:05:45 -0500

What is your "role" in your family?

I am a:
wife
mother
chauffeur
personal assistant
chef
bookkeeper
gopher
therapist
housekeeper
nanny
coach
personal trainer
nutritionist
teacher
gardener
financial planner
handy-woman
tech support
home decorator
stylist
seamstress
and CEO.
I wouldn't trade my position for the world.

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