Please try not to be impatient (original) (raw)
The switch to Ubuntu has proved to be tedious yet gratifying. Working in a terminal based on UNIX was extremely confusing at first, but now I think I finally have the hang of it. Unfortunately, when I made the swap, I was extremely hammered and actually don't remember the majority of it, but everything seems to be flying smoothly for now.
For those of you who have ever considered switching to Linux, I wish to tell you that I fully support the idea of a swap. Ubuntu boots much faster, and has a much more sleek look to it. If someone does decide to make the leap and is reading this, however, here are some aspects of Linux that you must completely comprehend:
-Installing things at first is a bitch. It took me quite a decent amount of time to get Java Runtime Environment fully functional through Firefox, and even longer to figure out how to install Flash. No longer is an installation a double click away (unless its in Synaptic Package Manager.) While this obviously has its cons, consider that your system is probably safer this way.
-Again, the terminal is your segue to operating, installing, and uninstalling programs. If you know some Basic beforehand, it might do you some good, but probably not when using the terminal. The only good that it would do you is that you're familiar with how a programming language works. Read up on some of the more rudimentary strings used in UNIX. apt-get and sudo will become second nature, eventually, as you use it in most everything you do in the terminal. Don't be afraid to copy and paste strings directly from someone else on the forums or online anywhere, as it will help you become better acquainted with the program language.
-If there are some Windows only programs that you couldn't bear to part with, fear not. Wine has already saved me once, in that over the course of the past year, uTorrent has become my primary torrent application, as it downloads and uploads faster due to better usage of open and closed ports. Unfortunately, there is no uTorrent for Linux, so unless you're extremely adept at dealing with ports, you're probably going to be stuck with Azureus.
-Speaking of ports, by default, the default bitorrent port is closed. If you torrent quite a bit like myself, you'll want to read up on opening and closing ports via the terminal, or find a port that isn't used and already open.
-If your primary HDD is a SATA drive like mine, then you don't have to worry about getting a dummy hard drive to install the operating system on, and then make the full switch. Ubuntu comes preloaded with SATA drivers, which makes the install painless. Also, Ethernet drivers come with it too, so you don't have to attempt to burn the drivers to a CD or dust of your old motherboard drivers disk.
-Finally, do not make the switch while inebriated. I did, and I lost every bit of my media because I was too cocked to think logically. Take some time to sort through what you want, and burn it to a DVD or put it on an external hard drive. This will lead to less tedious perpetual torrenting for the first couple of weeks.
August 19th, 2007
Seeing as I just now got the pictures from my birthday bash, and Bob told us what really happened in most of these pictures, I decided to chronicle the epic story of how I lost my pants...
August 11th, 2007
My new life goal is to become buff enough to strip during ladies' night at the local strip club.
July 12th, 2007
I was one step away from deleting this thing today, but then I made the epiphany that LJ is a George institution, even though I only have like 4 entries that haven't been deleted.
Life has been pretty shitty on my end for the past couple of weeks. I'm in this slump that I can't break out of, and it's making me feel like a big useless piece of flesh. I have learned something over these past few weeks though: people who drink to escape the emotional issues of life are fools. I've been drunk twice in the past week. Being drunk is always fun, because there's something great about having absolutely no self control. However, I can control my tongue rather well when I'm cocked, but the brain is on a completely different wavelength. I find that when I'm drunk, I don't necessarily talk about what's bothering me, but the thoughts are ceaseless. By the time that I've sobered up, I've spent the entire night thinking about issues that I have that I seem to have the inability to resolve, and I end up more depressed than I began.
I rid of my Facebook tonight because I realized that I don't really go there enough, or talk to enough people while on there for it to be considered a cromulent (thank you Simpsons for making this word acceptable slang) usage of my time and bookmarks.
In conclusion, the end.
January 24th, 2007
My name is George I have facial hair and a green hat and I drive a blue monster.
I beat my sister because she's an asshat, and I say terrible, hilarious things.
I date a super cute lady.
Matt Slack confessed to me that he wants to stick his thing in Andy Winn's butt.
I am George.
Really.
October 6th, 2006
Time to ramble...
I've been living with Nick and AJ for almost two weeks now, and if these first two weeks can give insight into how things will be down the road, I think the three of us will be fine. There are only a few things that I’m not enjoying about living here so far. One is the fact that the water in this house sucks. I really don’t feel like dishing out money for bottled water because I know that I wont be able to drink very much of it. Not because I don’t like water, but because I’ve never been able to say no when someone asks for something like food or drink. It’s because of this reason that I hoard food in my room (nothing perishable, just peanut butter and juice.)
Another problem I’m having with living here is the animals. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals. There is one dog and two cats here, and somehow the animals’ existence has become completely dependent upon me. I don’t mind having to feed them or make sure that they have water, but animals need much more than just food and water. They also need attention, and generally speaking, I don’t have the time to give them the attention they need. I let the cat that I like in my room every now and then, but he’s as averse to staying in one room as I am to making him stay.
The other problem that I’m having with living here is shared by AJ and Nick as well. We don’t have a working shower here, and the fact that I have to travel back to Allan’s house to shower is getting very old very fast. We keep getting told that the bathroom will be fixed (as everything is getting replaced,) yet no approximate date has been provided.
Michelle and I have been dating for about two and a half months now. I must admit that I’m happier with her than I’ve been in a long time. She’s one of those people you can see over and over for an extended period of time every time and yet never get bored of her. She has all of the qualities I was looking for in a girl: she’s intelligent, she’s got a wonderful sense of humor, she doesn’t mind that I’m a horrible person (it’s kind of hard to find a girl who laughs when I tell the story of hitting a trash can into an old lady,) and she’s adorable. It’s a relationship I can see myself being in for a long time to come.
However, with relationship induced happiness comes insecurities. I’m not sure if this is human nature, but it seems to be the way life works for me. I can’t shake the thoughts of “I’m not good enough” that I’m assuming everyone has at least once in their lives while in a relationship. There have been times where I lay awake in bed just staring at the ceiling wondering why Michelle could possibly want to waste her time on someone like me. This is caused by a low self-esteem of course, and it will most likely follow me for the rest of my life.
I’ve been sleeping poorly lately. Hell, I’m typing this at 430 AM because I woke up and can’t fall back asleep. Even before I moved into this house I’ve been having frequent nightmares that are the cause of this restlessness. The nightmares aren’t conventional ones either, they’re ones focused around losing the people that mean the most to me. The only redeeming quality of these nightmares is that they’ve helped me re-evaluate the worth of my friends and family (also a painful way for me to realize that I don’t visit my family nearly enough. They’re a wacky bunch, but I love the lot of them.)
I’m not afraid of death; it’s something that I accepted as a part of life a long time ago. I’m much more afraid of termination as a whole. Everything that has a beginning has an ending, it’s a fact of life, and I just dislike the uncertainty of it all. As someone who’s dedicating a large portion of his life to mathematics, I feel almost as if I’m at a loss because no one can mathematically deduce when things (being vague for a reason) will end.
I’m going to try to go back to sleep. I have a physics lab in a few hours.