Diary of a Network Geek

So, there’s a new poll up to gauge how you all feel about a regular, weekly review of ramen noodles.

Look, I’m embracing the fact that I’m probably going to be poor for a very long time, so I’m cutting back. I’ve eaten out a lot and I think that’s probably one place I can cut back easily. But, I got to thinking about it and, well, I probably spend a lot on fast, convenient food during the week, too. I started to think about all the things I did in college when I didn’t have any money and, naturally, I thought of ramen noodles. Who hasn’t slurped down their fair share of ramen noodles? Seriously!
As a college student, in particular, I ate my fair share of ramen. Hey, I’m sure we all did back in the days when we were starting out. I mean, they were fast and easy and didn’t require more than a spoon stolen from food service and a cup of hot water. What’s more, though, is that I found them not just filling but tasty, too! So, instead of reviewing the super-high-end food that so many upwardly mobile people get all goofy about, I thought I might review the cuisine of the financially challenged everywhere: ramen!!

Okay, so I know it’s not really the most original idea. At least one guy in Japan has done it already at a site called i-ramen.net. But, that’s all in Japanese, so it doesn’t do much good to those of us in the English-speaking world. (I read about him in an article from Boing Boing, incidentally.)  I don’t know that I’ll get to review as many as 4000 different versions of ramen, like he did, either, but, well, it does seem like the craziest low-budget adventure I can contemplate this week!
So, who’s with me?  If you think this crazy idea might be fun, vote in the poll on my sidebar and leave comments.
(Oh, yeah, if you don’t get the reference to “Ryumaou”, look at the address of the site you’re on.  I’ve used that romanization of a Japanese nickname since I first got on-line in the 90’s.  And, I liked the alliteration.)

Okay, so “Steadycam” is probably a copyright restricted name, but you know what I mean.

Normally, I don’t write about video, but this DIY steadycam is cool.  A real Steadycam costs something like $25,000, but this simple, DIY solution is only about $35.  It looks like he’s using it with one of the new DSLRs that can do HD video, too, which, of course, is one of the reasons I posted it.  Also?  It’s cool.

Think of all the social media bios you’ve written in the last five years.

I bet they all suck.
Well, maybe that’s just mine.  But, there’s no reason you can’t make a better one!  Check out How To Write A Killer Bio by Marci Alboher.  She has some great suggestions.  Then, just get creative!

Normally, I have trouble getting a good signal in my house!

But, I can imagine wanting to create a “cell-phone free zone” in my house to free me from that itch to answer incoming calls.  Imagine a writer trying to get some peace and quiet, for instance.  Or, even someone who entertains a lot of high-tech people making a “safe haven”, of sorts, where friends don’t have to worry about being interrupted by cell phones.

Well, now, with the Painting Cell Phone Jammer, which I found via Gizmodo, you can make that no-cell zone in your house.  It comes complete with a remote, so you can turn it on and off.  All you need to do is plug it into the wall.  Oh, you may want to actually change the art, too, because the stuff it comes with is sort of, well, sucky.  But, I could live with that, I think, to get some peace from those after-hour support calls on my cell!

I love science-fiction.

I don’t think that’s a big secret, either.  What you all may not realize is that I have attempted to write it on more than one occasion.  Usually, I fail miserably, for any of a number of reasons, but I still love to do the research.  I figure, it may eventually get used, so it’s worth doing, right?

Well, in my searches for interesting bits of thought on many, many things science-fiction, I came across Atomic Rockets; or So You Want To Build A Rocket? Wow!  What a site!  This guy has collected all kinds of ideas and research into possible future spacecraft and weapons and, well, just about anything you can think of that relates to the “crunchy” parts of science-fiction!  I mean, he references actual physicists and chemists and engineers who are actually trying to make the future happen on this site.  But, he doesn’t lose the fun that drew most geeks like me to sci-fi.

If you’re a fan, it’s well worth a look.  And, if you’re a BIG fan, make sure to check out the rest of his site, too!

Ever want to be a DJ?

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I was of an age to attend house parties, DJs spun records.  But, those days are long, long gone and everyone uses MP3 players now.  So, what’s an aspiring DJ to do?  Hit UrbanOutfitters and grab a $120 iPod DJ Mixer.  I recommend getting a book to go with that called The Pocket DJ.  It’s a little dated, but a good place for newbies like me to start.  The two are the key to your digital DJ success!

Yeah, you read that right.

Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO sets.
Okay, they’re kind of limited, but I have to admit, the idea of owning a LEGO Falling Water sort of appeals to the geeky, little kid in me.
C’mon, it’s Friday!  Loosen up a little, okay?

Oddly enough, I’m not talking about physics here.

Thanks to my obsessive attention to Moleskine marketing, I found a link to the most interesting little looping vignettes.  And, yes, to those of you who are also rabid Moleskine fans, this won’t be anything new, but, you have to admit, it is still pretty cool.

Actually, with having recently lost my main Moleskine, which I carried everywhere with me, I’ve been thinking a lot about notebooks and where and how I use them.  So, while writing this post, and thinking about the title, it did occur to me that I might set up a Volant, which is the pretty, soft-cover line of Moleskines, as a sort of fictional encyclopedia with which to imagine a whole science-fiction or fantasy world.  I may do it, and occasionally share pages.  We’ll see.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent.  Now, go look at those loops!

Oh, and happy Friday!

Oh, if only these were real!

Of course, while these potential/concept computers showcased on WebUrbanist are very cool, I’m sure they’ll be a bitch to work on.

Yesterday marked this blog’s ten year anniversary.

In ten years, I’ve made more than 1,700 posts and had more than 1,900 comments, many of those from years when I blogged almost every day.  But, it was ten years ago when I uploaded my first entry. I edited it in a text editor of some kind, probably Notepad, and used FTP to push it up to the server. That was back in the days before blogging software and when most of us still called them journals or diaries. I started doing it to try and game the search engines. Mostly, it worked, I think, since the majority of my readers have found me via a search of some kind.

Since that first entry, a lot has changed.
I’ve been through two different kinds of blogging software. After months of doing it by hand, I converted to Moveable Type. I used that for several years, until the Time of the Troubles, when there was a big fuss over how Moveable Type was going to charge for previously free software, even after promising to keep it free forever. Like most converts, I changed over to WordPress, which I still use today. Moveable Type does have a free version, but, frankly, after learning how easy it was to style and customize WordPress, I can’t imagine moving back. Not to mention how much easier it is to make plugins for WordPress. Frankly, I love it.
Ten years ago, I did quite a few entries from the road via my old Palm IIIc with a folding keyboard. I typed them up and then synced that with my PC and pushed the entries from there. That old IIIc doesn’t hold a charge too well any more, but I’m still using the same PC I was ten years ago. Of course, I’ve added a much newer laptop, several other machines, and an iPhone to my technological stable since then. In fact, I was a beta tester for the new iPhone WordPress app!

A lot of other things have changed, too.
For one thing, I married and subsequently divorced the woman I was living with at the time. I’ve changed jobs, count it, five times, finally staying at my current company for about five years. I survived cancer. But, ironically, after several ups and downs with weight, I’m probably in better shape now than I was ten years ago!
Sure, I’d have liked to had a few more dates in the past ten years, but, I think I’ve done okay considering the divorce, not to mention the less than stellar marriage and, you know, the cheating death and all.  You’d be surprised how tired you get dodging the Grim Reaper!

I’ve upgraded my Novell certification at least once in that time as well as added a Linux certification.  My original plan of using this blog to boost my rankings in the search engines has largely paid off, as I’m consistently the number one or number two hit on Google for the search term “network geek”.
In that time, I’ve taught myself Perl, which is a scripting/programming language that’s been called the “duct tape of the Internet”.  In fact, as of this post, I’m a Level 8 PerlMonk.  (It’s a geek thing.) I’ve also gotten reasonably proficient at PHP, since that’s the technology which makes WordPress go.  At least, I’ve gotten good enough to write a few simple plugins and even a rough theme.  Frankly, I hope to do more of that soon, too.

I’ve taken up photography since starting this blog, too, and I think I’ve gotten fairly good at it.  Naturally, there’s room for improvement, as I’ve only been doing it for about two years, but, still, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.  I’m not very artistically skilled, but photography lets me tap into that in a less intimidating way.  I suppose, in a way, so does my obsession with blog themes and logo design.

And, of course, I’ve started several other blogs or websites in the ten years that I’ve had this blog.  But, don’t worry, those sites have been languishing just as badly as this one has the past several months.  It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write, or even had things to write about, but I’ve just been too busy to sit down and do it.
Though, I do have to admit, part of that sort of writer’s block has been about my audience.  I mean, if you hit that search function over in the sidebar, you can get pretty interesting access to my life for the past ten years.  Oh, sure, not everything makes it into the blog, but I’ve been pretty candid posting here.  I try to keep it clean, mostly, and nothing that would embarrass my mother, but, I have been honest enough to shock a few friends.  So, if there’s something you want to know about me, just search for it.  You may be surprised what you find here!

So, wow.
It’s been an interesting experience blogging for the past ten years.  I started before the trend was as huge as it was and kept on even when the shine had worn off for many.  I can say for sure that I didn’t anticipate many of the twists and turns this blog took over the past ten years, much less my life, but it has been an interesting ride.  Many of you have been with me for quite some time now and I appreciate you reading along with me here.
I don’t know what the next ten years will bring here, or elsewhere in life, but I do hope you’d come along for the ride.  I’m sure it will be as big a surprise to me as it is to you!