I was one of the millions who downloaded Firefox 3 today. They FINALLY fixed the memory hole(s) (at least under Linux). Firefox 2, if left running overnight, would consume something like 2 to 4 GIGS of swap space. 3 has not exhibited this behavior yet. I’ll let you know in the morning. One thing is for sure, it is really fast, almost Opera fast. A little ugly though. It has an “integrated’ to the OS look, which is actually kinda ugly and Gnome looking, so I changed to my normal theme, Qute, which looks more like KDE.
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It will be my second Father’s Day this weekend, and my brother Mike’s first. All I can say it that it has been a hell of a ride so far. Glenn is doing OK, he can even say OhhKay now. I taught he the word “door” tonight as well. He has been having a few tantrums, but nothing too bad. He is understanding what time out means and doesn’t like the prospect of it as well. Talking to other parents, spanking does just about nothing, but time outs work pretty well. I am looking forward to the next year with Glenn and seeing how he progresses. Tiffany is getting some away time tonight, Glenn did notice. He said Mommy Mommy several times looking for her and wanted to see her before going to be. He is sleeping now, I assured him he will see Mommy in the morning.
As you know, my old computer’s motherboard died. When shopping for a new motherboard/CPU/Memory, I thought, damn, that would be a nice watch. Something that won’t die in 5 to 10 years. Not be outdated before I unwrap the packaging. When I did get the new parts, I just replaced what was broken and moved on. No tinkering, no new OS. I just wanted my computer to work again, that’s all. I have always loved technology, but I have learned it doesn’t love you back, not like a loving wife or child. Those are the things that really matter. That all being said, I really love my new computer. At least 4 times faster than my old one. Linux does REALLY well under multi processors. One processor encodes video while the other lets me surf the web and listen to music with no skipping or slowdowns. Pretty cool. Running full screen video takes 3% of processing time now 🙂
Steve Ballmer, head of Microsoft, predicted the end of print media in 10 years. Yeah, right. I’ll remember that the next time a drop a magazine or paperback book and just pick it up, not worrying about if I cracked the screen or damaged the battery. Portable electronics are fragile. I know all about e-ink, we have all been hearing about it for the past decade. The new screens are nice, the batteries are getting better, and they will still all fail in less than 10 years. That is the way electronics is. It fails. If it has a battery, expect it to last 5 years, TOPS. Take it from somebody whose whole professional life is electronics. My degree is in electronics. It is not like paper and ink. They can’t make them last. With ROHS, they will have even shorter life spans. I am reading the Lord of the Rings novels right now, 1971 reprinting. A PAPERBACK no less. Try to find working electronic media from 1971, no less a working computer. Plus, no worrying about formats changing. It’s ink on paper. Just what I want every few years, worrying about if my book collection will have to be repurchased. Enough venting for now.
In other news, wow, wild weather here. Tornadoes ripping through a few suburbs and rain coming down in buckets everywhere else. April storms in June. As the night hours go on, it is getting HOTTER. It was 77 at 6:00 P.M. It is over 84 now at 11:00. Hope everyone makes it through the night OK.
Got my ‘new’ computer today. My old one, after 7 years, died. I was running a Athlon XP 2200, with 512mb of 133 RAM. I now have an Athlon 64×2 4400 running on 2G of 667 RAM. I was sad to see the old girl go, but this new machine is really fast, especially under Linux. Mandriva found everything correctly, and I didn’t even have to re-install the operating system. The new motherboard is nice, a combo of old and new. It has 2 IDE controllers, an AGP slot, but runs the latest dual core and faster memory. All in all, a nice way to save old hardware and have the latest. I was able to keep my hard drives, case, DVD-R, power supply, and case. So it looks like the old machine with a new heart but old soul.
Wow, it’s Memorial Day weekend already. Unfortunately, it is also 50°F out!
Luckily, it may get up into the 80’s Sunday, we shall see.
Been super busy at work with new automated testers I designed and programmed. I did get them to work, but there is always endless tweaking after this point. They are actually pretty cool to watch work. The operators already like them. No more tired hands caused by turning switches by hand.
Glenn has become a little parrot. He will try to imitate just about anything you say now. He has also really developed a fixation in Elmo. He says his name and hugs and kisses him. When he sees Elmo on TV he runs and grabs his Elmo doll and watches the show with him, very cute.
He is becoming more interesting, but definitely not easier as the months go on. He is becoming more of a boy every day. It is sad to see the baby go away, but no so sad when the crying baby returns to remind you of how hard it can be.