I had to re-install windows on my laptop today. Now I have to make sure that everything that should be working is. Then there are some other programs I use that will need to be re-installed. This machine is getting older, so I may have to shop for a new hard drive soon. Seems like there are more ‘bad’ sections recently. I’m glad I backup my data files with some regularity. I would hate to lose pictures of my kids, grandkids, weddings, and other fun occasions.

The bigger problem is the small fact that I have a lot of computers in this house. It seems like I was re-installing some operating system just last week. Oh, I was, it was on my ‘play’ machines where I keep installing different versions of Linux.

I have noticed one thing, my touch pad seems to be a bit more sensitive. I keep having my cursor jump all around the screen as I type this. I’ve had to go back and correct mistakes as the cursor jumps to places earlier in this post. I need to check that out too. Grumble….

Oh well, I got the sound to work again….. Now if I can just find my CD with 100 card games on it…. 😉

or was that a tube? Or a film container? What was the latitude?

I decided to go on a treasure hunt while my daughter was in play rehearsals. I was thinking it would be a good way to get a little exercise and play with my new GPS.

So I loaded in a bunch of geocache locations on my GPS and went to look for them. I went to the first location that I remembered finding, turned on my GPS to start looking for them. Nope, they were not in the list. I didn’t get those downloaded. That should be ok, I think I wrote down the longitude and latitude on a piece of paper. Too bad I didn’t bring it with me. Hmmm, this isn’t going very well.

So, I decided to let my GPS guide me to one I did have on the machine. I got close, I’m sure I got very close. The GPS said I was within 20 feet as I stepped out of my truck. Ok, so this one wasn’t going to be the exercise I thought it was going to be. I got out to check it out, and I was suddenly (moving physically a mere 2 feet) 50 feet away from my desired location. Step away from the truck and overhead wires, they may be interfering with my GPS signals. Yes, two more feet and I was about 18 feet away. But which way? My GPS said to the right. North, south, east or west would have been good. I looked around and saw two likely locations for someone to hide something. I circled both locations and was constantly told the location was to the right…

Something just wasn’t adding up. So I tried to look at the longitude and latitude recorded for the object and compare that to the longitude and latitude given by my little GPS. Oops, the downloaded file did not print that information on my GPS screen. Maybe I downloaded it incorrectly. It just gave me the identifying number. No descriptions, nothing. So, I guess couldn’t match it by that either.

I changed my ‘car’ to be an arrow and circled around the two locations again. Constantly keeping my ‘arrow’ pointed in the directions of the objects. I think I narrowed it down to one of the objects, and I was able to pace a 15 – 20 foot circle around it. Yes, the GPS kept telling me I was 15 to 20 feet away. I moved closer and repeated the process. There were times I was 100 feet away, when 5 feet farther out I was only 15 feet away. Something was definitely interfering with the GPS. I guess I got my exercise circling one area in searching for something that I didn’t have a clue as to what it looked like. I don’t think I found it.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I will arm myself with better information and try again someday. I’m also wondering if the GPS units designed for walking would give more information from the downloaded files. I guess I will need to look into that.

Derek (another Tangents’ Blogger), posed the question “Who wants to be a superhero?” in his blog. My first thought was about the Saturday evenings I spend with my oldest daughter, her husband, and a few friends. For the past few months, we spend Saturday being superheroes. A fun little role playing game based on Marvel Comic book characters and settings. Yes, there are mutants, armored, magical, or insect-bitten superheroes running (flying) all over the place.

Our game master has a wonderful gift in the design of the stories/settings the players face. We designed our superheroes and try to bring them to life during our Saturday games. Now as with most groups like this, sometimes the game gets set aside for a while and we have idle talk about this or that. I’m not sure if she knows it or not, but my eldest invited her dear old dad into part of her life she wasn’t expecting. On Saturdays, I am not only her father, but I am a friend of her friends. By extension, that does make me my daughter’s friend.

Hmm. I think that is a place any father would want to be. She still calls me and talks to me about her troubles. In her eyes, I can still make things better with a hug or the right words. By any other name, I am still her Daddy. And she is still my darling girl. During the past few months our relationship grew. I am more than her Father and maybe a better Father. Maybe I am a superhero in my own life? And by all counts, I will be an important factor in the life of my soon to be grandchild.

Who would have though of that 25+ years ago….

Earlier this evening I was saying that I’m not much of a geek. Shortly after I wrote that post, I had 5 computers running in the house, and I was using all of them. Timeshare to be sure, but I was popping from one machine to the next just relaxing…

Yes, I did say relaxing. I was into my 4th or 5th setup of Puppy Linux, trying to get it to recognize and use one of my wireless adapters. No go so far, even when two of the adapters are readily recognized by my other versions of Linux. It looks like it recognizes it, but for some reason it will not log on to the network. I guess I have more studying to do.

I had my other Linux box working updating some software to try out for video editing. If it works out on the current box, Linux may replace Windows on my main box. I like the software so far, but I want to make sure it does everything my current programs do.

I was doing some picture and video filing on my main box and that was just computer time intensive. I was just there to press the OK button.

The 4th computer was my main laptop. It was busy moving files to and from the 5th and final computer. I was also busy touring the internet while all this was going on. I switched back and forth between my laptop and my Working wireless Linux box. Depending on which one had the most/least processing going on.

I think I was able to turn off the text messaging on my cell phone. I’m fairly certain it got my daughters’ phones too. Oh well, it was pay by the message, so I won’t miss it, I hope they don’t. If they do, they can get their own phones. They aren’t the ones paying for it, so I get to choose. [evil grin]

Trivial stuff. Its all good right? History, geography, arts, foods, science, hobbies. All fair game for trivia questions. Today, the trivia should be based St. Patrick’s Day Right? I could come up with all sorts of trivial things about St. Paddy’s day, but why go through all that work when someone already did it.

So for your enjoyment at St Patrick’s Day Trivia quiz.

What was that game?  The one I liked?  I remember what it was about, sort of.  No that wasn’t the game, but it was like that one.  I think this is it, but I don’t remember that rule.   

Ok, has that happened to you?  No?  I guess you don’t play any of the large variety of trivia/knowledge games available.  I’ve noticed that there are so many of these types of games, it is very possible to confuse which one you played last month, or even last week.

I bring this up because  my friends and I play a large number of games.   A good percentage of those games are the trivia/knowledge games.  There are some that are very fun, and other not as much.  Some even have a few of the same questions as other games, but the rules make a difference.    I think what makes the game fun is when giving the wrong answer is as much fun as getting the right answer.  

But then again the fun of games is that we get to enjoy time with others.  Ways to relax, have fun and enjoy the company of others is very important for our mental well being.  This week I have two opportunities to share time with family and friends.  I’m looking forward to it.

jamaihsh, I found some guacamole pringles….

Wow, three posts in one day!

I’ve been working on a very old laptop (Compaq Armada), and installing Ubuntu Linux on it. This little machine has just been collecting dust for the past few months, patiently waiting for me to install a working operating system.

With an old wireless card, I am now able to use this computer to access the internet anywhere in my house.

Why in the world would I want to do that? Well, I’m looking forward to download updates to this machine. Of course, I’m enough of a geeky nerd to like playing with a different OS. And finally, I really like giving this old machine new life for at least a while.

The machine is much too slow for any serious work, but it will give me a chance to work with something different. I may start converting some of my other old boxes to linux of one flavor or another. If I can find good video and picture software, this may replace windows on one of my everyday computers. Still too early to tell on that.

So far so good. I was able to post on my blog, and read email. Maybe with additional memory, this things wouldn’t be that slow either…. Nope, the processor is very slow.

I’ve often been told practice makes perfect. I’ve also been told that nobody is perfect. Does that mean nobody practices enough?

Well for one 14 year old young man, I guess he practiced enough. A new world record on Guitar Hero. I’m not much of a video game player, (not since Centipede and Q-Bert left the arcades) so I never had a world record. I did have a record for a time on the arcade games. It was a thrill to see your initials whenever you visited the arcade. I wonder how it feels to be all over the news. Must really be a thrill. It was good to see on the local news that he actually plays a few real instruments, but they didn’t say anything about his grades.

Trying again to move pictures and other files around to help keep thing in order on my computer.  I’ve never really been much of a picture taker, but with a digital camera it is so easy just to keep clicking away.  I’m still trying to file all of my video files, but they take much longer to move around.   I may have to buy a Blu-Ray writeable drive when the cost of the media comes down.  I really don’t need to keep the videos on the hard drive, but to fit them on DVD’s almost always compresses them and they lose quality. 

Anyway I’ve been spending the evening looking at pictures, giving them better titles, and moving them to specific folders.  Then I can group these together by type of picture and keep better track of them.  I’m still trying to find pictures of our first dog,  and some other pets we’ve had.   

I’ve had some fun, a few tears and I found some pictures I thought I lost.  

So here is something I haven’t posted before.   This is a picture of me and my wife from 2001. Sure wish I knew what we were looking at.

I usually spend Saturday evenings at my oldest daughter’s house.  This is 1 hour away from where I live, so it is a bit of a drive to get home.  We go late into the evening playing all sort of games, the normal game is some sort of ‘role playing’ game.   The games are always fun for me, but that is not the focus of this post.

Nope, the focus is my thoughts on the drive home, and the 45 minutes to an hour I need to spend to ‘unfocus’ from my drive home.  Driving late at night, I push my body awake.  Kind of like a coffee kick without the coffee.  I can just force myself to be alert, unless I’m really very tired.  This comes in very handy on long drives, or other activities that need my full attention.  It is a ‘gift’ I’ve always had.   As with all gifts, there is a downside.  It does take some time to unwind.

Anyway after all this, I was thinking on the drive home about where I am in life.  I am an only parent, but my daughters are  growing up.  Two are married and out of the house, one is engaged to be married soon, the youngest is now a senior in High School, just months from turning 18.  They don’t need their dad as much as they did 5 short years ago.   I’ve been a widower for 5 years, so in most peoples eyes I would be considered single.  I won’t go into the ins and outs of all the differences with this label, but for me, I prefer the widower label to the single label.  I never made the choice to be alone, it was kind of forced on me.  That in and of itself is enough for me.

I now know of some people trying to ‘set me up’.   Dating, while it has crossed my mind, isn’t my main concern.  I’m not out there looking.  If someone falls in my lap, so to speak, I guess I wouldn’t mind.  But looking for someone to be with is not my primary goal right now.  I have good friends, wonderful daughters, somewhat strange, but likable family, and hobbies that keep my mind occupied.  I’ve been busy trying to find out who I am.  For so many years I was part of a well oiled team.  That team got split up, and now I’m a solo act.  I’m just starting to find out what is important to me.  There really hasn’t been any time to spend dating.  I’m not even sure I want to go through the hassle of getting to know someone again.  Never enjoyed that when younger, I’m fairly certain I won’t now.  My wife and I kind of just clicked together.  Not from the first meeting, but within a few dates, it was like we knew each other forever.   Spent 20 years both knowing her and getting to know her better, not a bad way to spend 20 years.   Now, I’m not even sure what I would be looking for, but then again, I wasn’t sure 25+ years ago either.

I was also thinking about my weekly gaming sessions at my daughter’s house.  Does this infringe on the time I should be spending with the two younger daughter still (at least somewhat) in the ‘nest’?   Do they need more of my time, or is this a good use of my time.   I tend to enjoy the gaming, and it does relax me.  Good point in dealing with the day to day troubles/situations my two at home can give me.   I’m thinking I should just talk to the other 2 involved.  Yep, that is the answer there.

Also thinking about how much time I should spend with the theater.  Yes, I’m currently preparing for a show, I’m on the production board, I tend to volunteer for other projects.  Am I spending too much time there?

Do I spend too much time blogging?  Yes, sometimes I do.  (like now)  Could I use time better?  Sure.  Are other interests suffering from this?   You betcha.  But this is the place I clear my head, so I have more room to fit all the other stuff going on.  Doesn’t need to be a daily habit, but the clearing is beneficial.

Yes, all this and more went through my brain on an hour drive.   Now I’ve relaxed and I’m able to get much needed rest.   Read through at the playhouse later this afternoon.