daverea.com

Looks as if Microsoft is jumping on the band wagon and griping louder about people who pirate their software. Their threats are growing a little louder: “If you use our software without paying for it, we’re going to take away the updates that make it useful to you.”

Most folks who know me know that I’m not a terribly big fan of governments that take my money and restrict my freedoms – and my beliefs swing the same way for software. I don’t particularly care how purportedly-well your software works… If you want me to pay you to place restrictions on me, you’ve got another thing coming.

This forms the “love” portion of my love-hate relationship with Linux. Sure, my Linux box may be a recalcitrant little bitch when it comes to installing new things or accomplishing some of those tasks that “just work” under Windows, but I still love it. Because it doesn’t serve me with conditions, controls or limitations. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody in order to take full advantage of everything Linux has to offer.

And with this new announcement, the good old boys at Microsoft have finally pushed me over the edge. This is my emancipation proclaimation, and June 9th will be my independence day. On my 25th birthday, I will go 100% Microsoft-free. I’ll relegate my Windows install CDs to the relic bin, I’ll format my Windows PC, and I’ll bask in the liberating glow of Open Source.

Don’t misunderstand – I don’t derive personality or self-worth from the software I use… But I do believe in Freedom (as in Libre, as well as Gratis) as my way of life. And my decision to go Microsoft-free supports this way of life.

Evidently, while I was crawling through traffic this morning, there was a car accident at an intersection about a block up and to the West. It wasn’t causing the congestion that I was sitting in – that was simply people’s apparent inability to drive in slush. But it did draw a Brighton PD car from the tail end of my new group of drive-time friends…

I didn’t see him coming initially, probably because of the snow and frozen road spray on his light bar. What I did hear was someone else’s cell phone ringing in my back seat. “What the hell?” I asked aloud…

I saw the cruiser’s lights right about the same time that the cell phone noise – a generic-sounding late-90s ringer that was alternating between high- and low-pitched rings – turned into a traditional “wail” siren. It alternated a few more times before the cop, who was only going about 35 down the slushy median, passed me. Wail … yelp … hi-lo … air horn … cell phone!

It’s pretty sad that drivers have become so inured to emergency vehicles that siren manufacturers have to design in cell phone ringers in order to get people to notice the police car / ambulance / fire truck behind them whose destination is far more important than their own!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been innundated with Windows PCs that need fixing. Friends, co-workers, you name it – everybody’s got viruses or spyware or porn gumming up their PC’s innards, and I’m the guy to fix it. And I have no problem with this, given the checks, gift certificates, bottles of scotch, etc. that seem to accompany every job!

Of course, this has given me a nice showcase of (what I’m sure is a small fraction of) the major issues that Windows has. And I got to thinking – what with all this “smart gun” technology that’s being pushed in New Jersey, what would happen if Microsoft made guns? And so, in the tradition of all those cheesy e-mail forwards you get to the tune of “If Microsoft made Cars…”, I give you:

IF MICROSOFT MADE GUNS…

1) …You could purchase a gun from one of many vendors, but it would only be offered with Microsoft brand ammunition. By handling the gun, you’d implicitly agree to accept the ammunition’s license terms. There would be no way to obtain a refund if you did not wish to use the Microsoft ammunition.

2) …You would always be leary about using your gun for hunting or self-defense, for fear you might get a “blue trigger of death” at a critical moment.

3) …Your gun would come with a handsome sticker that proudly proclaims “Made for AmmoXP!” that you’d prompty remove and adhere to your toilet seat.

4) …In order to keep your Microsoft gun functioning somewhat properly, you’d have to purchase third-party software like Norton Anti-Jam or McAfee BarrelScan.

5) …During shooting practice, a small, annoying, animated paper clip would constantly do acrobatic tricks and offer to help improve your marksmanship.

6) …The Justice Department would maintain a docket of antitrust suits over Microsoft’s monopolization of the smokeless powder industry.

And last but not least:

7) Cabbies would opt for the old MS-DOS style guns, mathematicians and artists would go with the new semi-transparent iGun from Apple, and real snipers would use Linux guns!

Yeah, it’s a good morning. Got a solid 6 hours of sleep – which is a nice treat on a duty night – and started the day with a workout at the high school wellness center. 45 minutes of Nautilus and treadmill and stepper later, I headed for home and grabbed a shower and a bowl of cereal. I sneaked in a quick e-mail and KABA check before Kelly arrived, then we spent a few minutes catching up and planning our week before heading off to start our days. I think we’re going to go check out this exhibit and opening at the Eastman house…

Now I’ve made it to work, catching up on my news in the car, and I’ve got a full plate for the day. And for the first time in a while, I’m looking forward to plowing into it!

I can’t say that I particularly enjoy snow storms. No, they’re not terribly good for the heating bills. No, shoveling snow isn’t terribly pleasant. But snow storms are part of winter, and I refuse to bitch about the 14″ or so of snow we got over the weekend.

Without the snow, Kelly and I wouldn’t ended up with a nasty case of cabin fever that coincided perfectly with Winterfest 2005. The roads weren’t too bad, so we pulled on our long johns, donned our boots and headed out for a day of hiking, snowshoeing, feeding chickadees, caching and catching up with friends at the NYGO get-together.

Some photos are posted for your enjoyment at:
http://www.daverea.com/gallery/winterfest05

Lately, it seems like I’ve been thinking more “photographically” than usual. Maybe it’s because of all the snapshots afforded by recent holidays. Maybe it’s because Wi-Pics is nearing completion, and we’re getting ready to go to PMA in a little over a month. Or maybe it’s because tax refund season is fast-approaching, and the prospect of perhaps investing in a new camera is more than a little exciting…

But one way or the other, my brain is once again in shutterbug mode. Add to this my recent successful installation of a DVD burner in my Linux box… Archives anyone?

A month-or-so ago (I really have no idea how long it was) I complained about having 14GB of digital pictures crowding my hard drive. I don’t think I mentioned that those photos are only from the years 2003 and 2004! So on Saturday, I pared down the ‘03 images, deleting duplicates and blurred shots – and burned the year to a DVD.

And now I’m left with this nice shiny disc – memories and emotions, birthdays and anniversaries, trips to the park and trips across the country – all balled up and nestled in, ready to take up permanent residence on my bookshelf. And I have to ask: where are all those gigabytes of JPEGs and RAWs and TIFFs and MOVs headed?

Maybe in a few years I’ll find a few spare minutes to slip in the DVD and browse through My Life as a Recent College Grad. Or maybe some of those photos will make it into a slide show at my wedding. What if my kids find a DVD reader in a junk bin someday and decide to improvise their own rendition of “This is your life”?

In any case, the 2003 and 2004 DVDs full-o-images don’t really have much lasting significance. Yes, I’m probably one of a handful of people who will ever look at them, and I’m definitely one of an even smaller handful of people who will ever care about them. But they’re mine – they’re the record of a little piece of my life – and even if I’m the only person they’re ever important to, that would be enough.

I’m not sure exactly when I started… I think I was in middle school. But I can still remember my first piano books. Thick waxy-feeling pages, large-print musical notes and a little illustration to go with each song or exercise.

I took piano lessons from middle school ’till eleventh grade, and my constant companion through all those years was my trusty Yamaha PF-85 digital piano. It was built when I was seven years old; Mom and Dad bought it used from a local musician. I wasn’t always faithful with my practicing – in fact, a week rarely went by that saw me practice every day. But I enjoyed playing and watching my Mom smile in the kitchen as I reviewed old favorites or rejoiced at the successful completion of a new assignment.

My PF-85 travelled with me to middle-school “gigs” with two friends and their Christian rap group “TCC” – “Totally Committed to Christ”. It provided countless improvised Christmas carols every year, and eventually it travelled with me to college. I self-produced a solo piano CD in 2001… Slapping a DAT deck on the headphone output and cross-dubbing the songs to burned CDs was half-assed, but I still haven’t topped them as Christmas presents, and my Dad still proudly displays the disc in his office.

After I graduated from college and moved out on my own, I rarely played. The piano started out perched in my townhome living room, and moved down into my office at Thanksgiving of ‘03. It quickly became a hamper for homeless items, and my time at the keys shrunk to zero.

Which brings us to tonight. After embarking on a major home cleanup effort this weekend, I managed to clear all the clutter away from the piano, and to find homes for its former occupants. After dusting it off a bit, I sat down nervously. Not surprisingly, everything still powered-up and worked like a charm… And I started to play. Just simple improvisation – happy-sounding warbles in C – but it felt good.

After a few minutes, my fingers started to ache… I’d forgotten how much work playing the piano really is! But it felt good to play again, and reassure myself that – while it’s not quite like riding a bicycle – I can still at least make something that resembles music!

Earlier this week, I switched hosting providers. Well, more accurately, I switched from not having any hosting provider to paying a buck a month at angryhosting.com…

Now that I’ve got a little web space to my name, I figured it might be nice to actually put something on it. The first thing that made it is a pseudo-article I’ve been working on: “Why I carry a flashlight 24/7 and you should too.”

Enjoy!