Ok, I go through these phases. I can’t help if I’m a techno geek. But I bought this laptop about three or four weeks ago and it’s been great. But now I’m wondering if I can put Linux on it. I know I’m asking for trouble, but so what. So, I’m open to any suggestions (except from my wife who will destroy me when she reads this). What type of Linux would work well with an HP/Compaq nx7010?

Ok, I’ve started getting spam here. This is unacceptable. When I get comments on my site, I want them to be real. I don’t give a rat’s ass about online poker or any other shit. So I’ve taken a proactive approach and installed the Spam Karma plug-in for Wordpress. It was really damn easy to install. Now we’ll have to test it out. So if you’re reading this, do me a favor and drop me a quick comment so I can see how effective this is.

DrDave’s Spam Karma

Well, the ice storm is over with. Just a little taste of what I left behind in Erie. I miss the comaraderie of driving in such nasty weather. It used to be that all I would see on the road were Jeeps and other hardy vehicles. Saturday night I was waiting in a drive thru line of nothing but trucks, watching a seriously modified jeep cherokee drive up and down the street delivering pizzas.

It’s melting now and getting warmer. So that’s the end of that. it’ll probably be 2 or more years till I need my ice scraper again.

I’ve been doing some reading. Real estate investing. I’m in no position right now to do anything…no money, no knowledge, but the plan is formulating. My old landlord, Todd Burton, is a self made business man who makes a killing buying, fixing up, and selling/renting properties. I intend to learn everything I can from him, and within a year or two make my first investment. Within 5 years, I intend to be self employed. Sound crazy? Maybe. All I know is that for me and my wife, being wage slaves is not in our future. We each have our own wishes when it comes to being self employed. I want to own and rent real estate. She wants to open a coffee shop. We won’t be able to do these things unless something changes. Todd was able to make these things happen for himself and is more than willing to share his methods with me. Who better to learn from than a guy who is doing it?

So I was down the street grabbing a bite to eat at Loco’s tonight. I was trying to beat the weather, because we’re having some sort of winter storm tonight with freezing rain and whatnot. Anyway, I’m sitting at the bar, drinking my sweet tea and eating my triple decker club sandwich when all of a sudden, BAM! A guy gets thrown through one of the windows by the main entrance. Glass is everywhere. Cops showed up, ambulance showed up. I guess a couple drunk jackasses got into it right outside and one of em pushed the other one right through the damn glass.

Just a nice omen to start the weekend.

I’m a pretty regular reader of my cousin’s blog, Tipsyfox. I was reading his nightly entry and got a bit of a surprise. He was talking about Jamie Thomas. I didn’t know that he knew who that was, and I find out now that he used to ride bikes with him. Here’s what I know of Jamie. He is a professional skater, who has his own spot on Tony Hawk’s popular video games. He went pro back in my middle school days. My friends from down the street, Marty and Daryl, used to skate with him. According to many witnesses, they were better than he was. Anyway when he went pro he would come back and bestow free shit to all of his skater friends. His girlfriend was pretty damn hot too. However, by all accounts, he was a collosal dick. I never met him. But many of my friends said that fame went to his head and he was most uncool. Yeah it’s second hand, but it’s interesting.

One year ago, I was freezing my balls off in Erie PA, shoveling snow every day, and trying to cheer up my perpetually miserable wife. This was just about the time last year we decided to say “Fuck this” and head back to Athens. Not too many people understood our decision. It had all the appearance of an emotional decision based on an intense desire to not be in Erie. But I knew that it wasn’t the case. We liked Erie the city. It was Erie the life that wasn’t working. We were far away from our families, and were stagnating in jobs we hated. We both knew what we wanted….to be close enough to our families to visit but not close enough for them to be all up in our shit (Hi Mom!), we wanted to live in Athens, a place we’d lived for many years and missed terribly, and we both knew exactly what kind of work made us happy. Armed with those desires, and Meghan’s parents money, one year later, here we are. Somehow we managed to get exactly what we wished for….well, I say ’somehow’ but I know exactly how we did it. It was not an accident. We made our wishes become reality. I barraged every IT company in Athens (all one of them) with my resume and called repeatedly. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. And here I am, one of the top billers in the company. Meghan wanted to teach special ed, in a rural school, and that’s what she’s doing now. We wanted to move out of our tiny apartment into a big house, and we made that happen too. By this time next year, we’ll be completely out of debt, with cash saved, and I’ll be on my way to buying my first investment property with the help of my friend Todd Burton. I’m pretty fucking excited. The reason I’m so excited is that I look back to what Meghan and I accomplished in just one year. It’s amazing what you can do if you just plan it out and execute the plan. You can overcome any setback.

My point here, is that you can dig yourself into a pretty deep hole in life, but it doesn’t take much time to dig out. You just have to be able to change the parts of yourself that are holding you back from succeeding at whatever you want to succeed at.

My cousin is going to be going through some difficult times soon. He’s going to have to remove himself from his comfortable social scene. He has a crew of people that he’s been hanging with for many years. Unfortunately, being around them causes his worst traits to manifest themselves. It causes him to slack off, to drink and party excessively. Peer pressure can be a bitch. And I’m not talking about his friends gathered around saying “Chug Chug!”. It’s a more subtle pressure that is exerted by the power of many people’s social routines coming together. Everyone goes out drinking, and you go too. He has realized that there is no way to comfortably remain in that situation while you are trying to be different. It will make a mockery of your desire to change and you will lose faith in yourself. You’ll slip back into the old routines and nothing will change. So good for him for making the move. I had to do it too, but I didn’t want to, or even realize that’s what was happening. I moved to Erie and basically had no friends. I hung out with Meghan the whole time and eventually my desire to go out and get fucked up lessened. I thought when I moved back to Athens it would return with a vengeance, but it didn’t. It helped that I was so damn busy with work and that all my favorite bars were closed, but I think that even if that wasn’t the case, I would have stayed away. I have new healthier routines now, that are leading my to financial and social stability and security, and I just prefer that.

Enough rambling. My battery is dying. Time to play Gauntlet on my gamecube.

Nostalgia is a strange thing.

I ordered a cd from somebody on eBay and it came in today. The cd is called That’s What Love Songs Often Do, by Fig Dish. I listened to this cd very often when I was a junior and senior in high school and for years after that. Until someone (Steve) stole it from me. Nobody’s ever really heard of this band, so there’s no way to illegally download any songs. They just aren’t popular. But today I got a brand new copy in the mail, still sealed in the shrink wrap! Although the shrink wrap was bogus. The thing was obviously opened. There was a fingerprint on the disc! But no scratches and it plays just great.

So I’m driving around today listening to this music that I haven’t heard in probably 5 or 6 years and all these memories are coming back to me. I can remember driving in the Fury, hearing these songs, smelling the smells from that car. I could hear the engine. I look over to my right and see my friends in the seats. It was just a surreal moment of time travel.

Talked with Jonathon last night. He’s doing well in NYC. Spent a week or so as a bike messenger and lived to tell the tale. He’s coming to town in a month and I’m going to be ready to hang with him. I have a long weekend coming up of work, which means comp time. It’s always nice to be able to take some time off without cutting into the vacation days.

Does it mean I’m a geek if I want to play a role playing game? I’m not talking about a computer one either. I want there to be source books and the sound of dice clattering on a table top. I miss that shit. I used to play all the time with my geeky friends. And it was fun as hell. It might be time to hit up eBay for some Rifts or Beyond the Supernatural.

So this thing with my brother is a bit of a bigger deal than I thought. Matt, if you’re reading this, don’t get upset that I’m talking about it here. I just assumed that since you told mom you knew it’d be everywhere. Let me know if you want me to put a sock in it.

Well, the Steeler’s lost. Big Ben is feeling pretty small and Hines Ward was crying like a baby on tv the other day. It’s over. It was a good season though. I just hope Jerome Bettis comes back for another shot.

Anyway, I spent the evening at the Taco Stand down the street reading Stomp and Stammer and letting my cheese dip turn to cement. I like reading S&S. It’s sort of the reverse of most alt-weekly/monthly’s in that the primary voice of the magazine is conservative. Although I have a hard time discerning whether they are being genuine or just reacting to the other liberal mags. Regardless of that, the reviews are very entertaining to read because they get to the fucking point. I absolutely love it when someone writes in clear succinct statements.

Spoke with my bro the other day. He got busted for smoking pot on the streets of NYC. I guess it’s easy in a city so full of people to feel invisible. Maybe that’s why he felt like he could walk around with his pal Brad and smoke the green green ganja. Let me be succinct. That was Stupid. Sometimes you can be too reckless. Of course Matt knows that and doesn’t need to hear it from me. Mom always calls me and wants me to ‘talk some sense’ into him. Screw that. I’m nobodies Dad. Matt can make his own decisions and live with the consequences just like every other adult. If he want to smoke pot in front of a cop, he can stand in front of the judge. Just that simple. If I get caught driving drunk home from the Go Bar, I’ll get my license revoked, fired from my job, and beaten by my wife. And I’ll have no one to blame but myself for the shitty turn my life takes.

OK enough of that. I’m watching House, which is my favorite show on TV right now (aside from Good Eats).

Rock on.

There is this cycling website that I used to visit frequently. This was back when I was in Erie and cycled often. Since then I haven’t ridden that much and don’t think about it as much as I should. This site was owned by the biggest and most sincere hippy I have ever run into, named Ken Kifer. I’m not a big utopian, but reading his thoughts made me very optimistic. Anyway, I went to his site a bit ago to catch up and found out he’d been killed by a drunk driver while cycling. The fact that it happened over a year ago and I didn’t know about it distresses me. It makes me want to go cycling, despite the danger. I’ll be thinking about this for a while. Anyway, check out the site. It’s really good.

Ken Kifer’s Site

Ok, this is the first time I’ve blogged from somewhere other than my house. I decided to take my laptop downtown to Hot Corner, which is the current reigning champion of cool coffee shops to hang out in. Now that Blue Sky has abdicated the throne that is. Anyway, I’m here waiting on Brent to drag his hung over ass down here so we can drink some beers. I feel like playing some pool tonight.

Right now though, i’m enjoying being away from the house. I love my new house, but tonight there was some sort of domestic disturbance in the house across the street. The people living there just moved in last week. Let me go ahead and get it out of the way and say that they’re black. I don’t really care what color they are. I’ll just say that I hate when people live up to a negative stereotype. While I was watching TV I thought I heard something, looked outside, and saw two cop cars and a throng of black people. Evidently the disturbance had taken place across the way and people actually came from down the street to watch. It sounded like something from Jerry Springer. Something about someone getting a divorce and trying to move away from somebody but they followed them to my neighborhood and got into it. I dunno. The cops were kind of laughing. I decided then to leave for the night.

My neighborhood is not quite finished yet. so new people are always moving in. It’s a really nice neighborhood, if I do say so myself. The houses are in the 150 to 180k range. So far it looks like fairly well off people are moving in. Some with kids, mostly not though. I was hoping that we were moving into a nice quiet area. I realize that shit can happen anywhere at anytime, so I’ll chalk this up to a fluke and hope it’s not a trend.

Went to Atlanta this week on my 2 day vacation. It worked out pretty nice. Got to hit some golf balls with my brother in law. The bottom line is that I suck, but I learned a lot from him in the short couple of hours I was there. After that, I went to my cousin’s place and chatted with him for a couple hours. He’s the oldest of all of us, and the craziest, and is doing really well for himself. I wish he’d find the time to come to Athens every now and then. You hear me boy? Anyway we went and ate buffalo burgers at Ted’s Montana Grill. That was some good shit! I’ll be back there again for sure. After that I went to Scott’s place and saw him. He has had a pretty good life since the last time I saw him. Hot girlfriend, vacations in Mexico and the Everglades, finally finished his thesis and is getting his masters, and UPS is about to hire him. Not bad!

So tonight it’s all about finishing my vacation. I’ve discovered that taking days off in the middle of the week is a pain in the ass and a waste of vacation days. I did have fun, but getting back in the middle of the week sucked. Next time I’ll stick with long weekends.

Talking with my cousin about Hunter S Thompson reminded me of one of the most hilarious writings I ever read by him. I am a motorcyclist (although currently without two wheeled transportation, temporarily!) and this is some good shit. Song of the Sausage Creature

Jeez, that was a tough game to watch. Steelers win. Brent, fire up the grill. As soon as my stomach stops hurting, I’ll be ready to eat.

I’m watching the Steelers play the Jets right now. I’ve got a little bet going with my friend Brent. I’m saying the Jerome Bettis will outgain Curtis Martin rushing. If I win, Brent has to cook me hamburgers. If Martin outrushes Bettis, I get to cook Brent burgers. So far, I’m up. But it’s only halftime.

FYI Brent, I like Dale’s seasoning, salt and pepper, mustard, mayo, and ketchup. Medium.

This past quarter I billed more than anyone else at work. So for the entire time I’ve been at my new company, I’ve earned a bonus every quarter. This is a trend I’d like to keep up. So tonight, I’m going to go drink some beers and have some fun and leave my sick ass wife at home.

OK, not quite like that. She’ll be knocked out with medicine, I’m taking good care of her. But I’m ready to shoot some pool and drink some beers. Its been a long quarter.

I took my wife to the Emergency Room last night. She’s been sick for a long time now, coughing and whatnot, but last night she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t breathe and her side hurt, so at about 1:00 AM we went to the hospital. Long story short: she has pneumonia with fluid in her lungs and also around her lungs. We didn’t get home until about 6:30 in the morning. I’m pretty exhausted.

I don’t really have a new topic to talk about. I’m out of touch today. Didn’t get to read any news or keep up with other websites. I’m just tired. Life can kick your ass sometimes.

I’d heard about this on some website, but i’m still pretty stoked. I’m hoping that I can convince my office to buy me one so I can play with Mac OSX. About 10 percent of my workload involves Macs in some way and that number seems to be growing. I don’t think there are many Mac techs in Athens. I’m the only one in my office and I’m given shit daily about it. I take it in stride though. They’re just jealous of the style.

Mac Mini

My cousin thinks I should revisit my fascination with country music. By that I think he means I should reconsider it. I’m curious to know why he thinks that, but I do have a theory or two.

I used to have a major hang up about country music. I didn’t want to associate myself with that, even though its all I listened to when I was a little kid. I got into hard music and it helped define my frame of mind up through college. Once I moved to Athens, it was college music. And I’ve been here for a long time now. I still like some hard music and I love to listen to college radio, but damn, there are a ton of name droppers and people who define themselves by who they’ve seen and how many shows they go to. Maybe that type of thing has helped to push me to listen to the old country music I listened to when I was little. After all, no one is dropping names about those shows cause most of the artists are frikkin dead. And now that there is no social pressure to avoid anything country related, its easier to appreciate the music. And that sense of nostalgia is really nice.

That’s just a theory though.

Just got a comment from Aaron Kelly. We were best friends from way way back. Now he’s over in Iraq. I haven’t talked to him in fucking forever. Aaron, when you get near a computer, drop me an email. I want to know what the hell you’ve been up to!

This link is fascinating to me. This is something that I would never think about, not being a world traveler. Reading it makes me want to go to Europe and see for myself.

European Toilet Tech

Today my agenda was to relax. Got off to a good start by sleeping until 1:30. I don’t usually do that, so I have a headache now. Got up, went to the store, came back and cooked brunch for Meghan. Also bought some things for the grill. I was planning on cooking out today but just couldn’t muster the strength. So tomorrow will be grill day. I’m pretty excited about getting to use my new Weber. Growing up, the sunday tradition was steaks on the grill. I don’t know about steaks yet, but I’d like to start a new tradition.

Looks like its going to be football for the rest of the day. Which is not a bad thing. A good way to finish off the day of relaxation.