Boy, I just don’t update these days, do I?
I was thinking about that on my way home from work today, moving along a few feet at a time on the 10 freeway.
I think a big part of it is that it’s summer, and I’d much rather be outside, and I’ve been travelling A LOT since the middle of July. I’ve been to SLC, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Vancouver, Alaska, Sacramento (twice) and I’ll be heading to San Francisco next week for the EFF event.
So when I have some “free” time, I’ve been giving it to my wife and family, and when I have some creative energy, I’m giving it to Arena.
It’s not like I don’t have stories to tell…there’s the trip to Alaska, the trip to Chicago, Camping with Anne and the boys last week….and boy do I ever have NEWS!
I’m going to give the news items their own entries over the next couple of days, because we just finished 2 episodes of Arena and I’ll have time while Anne’s at work (the boys are with their dad for his part of summer vacation.)
However, here’s a very exciting New Thing In Wil’s Life(tm):
A few weeks ago, my computer blew up. Smoke and everything. So I freaked…and just as I was about to go run the damn credit cards up to get a new machine, one arrived in the mail…this cool Sony VAIO thingy, that has a cool story all it’s own, that will get told later on, too. Trouble was, it wouldn’t start up. Or more correctly, it wouldn’t load Windows. It’d just choke.
So as I was starting to freak again, another computer arrived in the mail. This time it was a gift from many, many people, who all pooled their resources together to replace the old POS 5000 that had recently blown up.
This new computer was a gift, and it worked as soon as I plugged it in, internet and everything.
The thing is, it was running Lindows.
Now, I’ve been toying with dumping Windows for almost a year. The Open Source movement really appeals to my anarchistic and individualistic tendencies, and everyone I know who uses Linux tells me that I won’t miss Windows at all. I don’t really use any software that’s windows-specific, except Dreamweaver, and I’m told that I can run that under WINE, or find a comparable OS editor.
So I’m running this Lindows for about 3 weeks, and a couple of days ago, I break it. 100%. I messed up some dependencies, and even with the help of some really smart propeller heads, I just couldn’t fix it.
So last night, I crossed the rubicon and installed Mandrake 8.2.
This install was the easiest thing I have ever done, and there wasn’t one single problem. The only glitch came when I was trying to get my soundcard to work, which was hammered out quickly and painlessly, thanks to the monkeys in the soapbox.
I’m using Gnome, and I’ve never been happier.
I am now going to become the world’s number one Linux cheerleader.
I’m off to Think Geek to get a sticker for my car, and a T-shirt for my huge pectoral muscles.
Double Secret Probation
For the last 10 days or so, I’ve been hearing this countdown at least once a day.
It goes something like this: “9 more days until my birthday!”
Or, “you know what happens in 4 days? It’s my birthday!”
And, “it’s…my…birthday…in…two…days!”
(That last one sounds better if you sing it)
Well, the countdown has been leading up to tomorrow, August 8th, which is my wife Anne’s birthday. We look forward to her birthday each year because we always take the family camping for a couple of days…and we don’t have to hear the countdown.
Well, that’s not entirely true…we’ll hear “Only 364 more days until my birthday!” At least once.
So today is the day that we leave for the magnificent and storied Great Outdoors. I won’t have time to write again until next week.
In honor of my wife’s birthday, I offer the following Thought For Today, which perfectly describes our life together:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
-Frost
Let’s get some runs!
I have just returned from Chicago.
That’s right, Chicago.
Why?
Because my wife surprised me for my 30th birthday, and took me to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubbies.
Holy.
Crap.
There are many exciting details, but no time to go into them. I’ve got a busy day ahead. I’ll try to update infor later.
In the meantime, we saw Roughy and Mrs. Roughy, as well as Bobby The Mat and Mrs. Bobby The Mat, and you can hear about our evening together at UE.
13 on 31
Today is my step-son Ryan’s 13th birthday.
He is excited because he’s turning 13 on the 31st, which, he pointed out to me, is a palindrome.
Okay, how many 13 year olds do you know of who even know what a palindrome is, much less care enough about it to get excited?
I know 1, and he is awesome.
Happy birthday, Ryan! I love you. 🙂
Renew!
Well, it looks like the time has come for me to step into the carousel.
While I am entering my 30th year on planet earth, WWDN isn’t even officially 1 year old, although technically I had the old, lame website up at this time last year…craziness.
My “My Yahoo!” page says, “Happy Birthday, TVsWilWheaton!” and when I click it, it takes me to this page. Check out who’s number 3 on the celebrity birthday list! This made me giddy with excitement last year, and it did it again this year. 🙂
Since it’s my birthday, I think I’ll start out the celebration by posting 7 things I’m grateful for on my birthday:
- In 30 years, I have never had a serious threat to my health, safety or general well-being.
- Anne.
- Just for grins one day, I put together a BBS for this site. It’s become one of the most wonderful communities that I’ve ever seen on the Internet…and the people who hang out there rarely talk about me…it’s all about them, and the virtual family that they have become.
- Batman. This has nothing to do with my birthday, really…I just really like Batman. Especially Dark Knight Returns Batman.
- Volkswagen. Without VW, I may never have been concieved.
- I’m not afraid to cry in front of anyone.
- Even though I kept her up most of last night with my “goddamned snoring,” my wife has made a valiant effort to stay up with me until midnight, to tell me “Happy Birthday.” She’s currently asleep on the floor cuddling the dog.
Finally, I am amazed and grateful that people even give a shit about how I’m doing, and what I’m doing, and take the time to make things like this:
—
Thank you to everyone who sent me this image, and the cool site that posted it, and thank you to the scores of WWDN readers who have sent birthday wishes, especially those of you who have been visiting this lame website since it began.
An extra-special thank you is due to the Monkeys in the Soapbox. You guys RAWK, and you know why.
RENEW!! RENEW!!
Update at 09:27AM:
The kids in Farkistan are even doing a photoshop for my birthday! It just keeps getting better!