The Flow of Consciousness

I’ll be attending Ohio Linuxfest in Columbus this weekend with Zack, Jon, and others. I’ll be taking pictures and posting a review/synopsis of the event throughout the weekend on the BIOS_LEVEL blog and at my blog, The Flow of Consciousness. Next week, I’ll combine the posts for an article at BIOS_LEVEL. Dave Grega, a Pittco regular, will be speaking on usability during the event, so I’m excited to hear what he’s researched.

It’s been at least six years since I changed the web site which is automatically loaded when I open my browser of choice. I changed to Slashdot.org some time in 2001 when I got my first PC. I was using Internet Explorer 5 on Windows ME in those days. Previously, I’d been using Netscape 4 on Mac OS 8.5 and used Google as my home page.

I’ve kept it on Slashdot for so long because I liked to be able to read the latest articles on the tech news site every time I fired up my browser. Nowadays, though, I don’t start a new browser window very often. I generally leave Firefox open all the time (I’ve got 3 GB of RAM, sometimes Firefox will eat 300 MB of it). Also, the advent of RSS and ATOM news feeds keeps me on top of the news, and Slashdot’s Slashdotomatic AIM bot sends me a message each time a new story is posted.

There’s been a lot of hullabaloo about NetVibes, a site designed to be a personalized home page, complete with news feeds, mail checking (Gmail and IMAP included!), eBay auction watching, and even Facebook watching. I’ve customized my own home page with it, and I’m going to try it out for a few weeks while relying on news feeds for my Slashdot needs.

Obsidian tagged me!

First, the rules:

- Each player must post these rules first.
- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. When Vanilla Coke first appeared on the market Coca-Cola did a marketing campaign which involved sayings behind the label of every bottle. My “If you can explain love, you’re not in it” phrase was accepted as one of six to ten phrases. I never did actually get a copy of one—I tasted Vanilla Coke and didn’t like it.
2. I have 14 computers. Three are routers. I do actively use all but two of the other 11.
3. I’ve alpha or beta tested a lot of commercial and free software. I was a World of Warcraft beta, Matrix Online alpha, Lord of the Rings: Online beta, Starsiege 2845 alpha, and a few other, lesser known products that I can’t remember at the moment (obviously they pretty much sucked).
4. I used to hate potatoes. I don’t know what changed, but, I started eating them in high school.
5. I play trumpet. I’m really out of practice, but I’m half-decent when I’m in.
6. I helped start the Media Production class at my high school. I surveyed local high schools with a similar program and advised my teacher about what equipment to acquire and how to connect and use it all.
7. I have more than 960 GB of storage space on my 14 computers. I haven’t bought a new hard drive in almost two years.
8. I’m an Eagle Scout. For my Eagle Project, I ran a hearing aid and eyeglass collection drive, collecting more than 300 pairs of glasses and 10 hearing aids.

I don’t really know who I can tag since Bob and Obsidian pretty much tagged everyone I would.

How about this: If you read this post and haven’t done the above quizzie, do it and hit me with a pingback. I’ll give you a linkback if you do

I’ve had my diploma from Westminster College for a day more than a month, now. I received my diploma on May 19, and have been mostly taking it easy since then.

I look back through the past month and see how I’ve changed. At the end of the semester, I was fantastically stressed, almost neurotic. I was finishing out The Holcad and trying to keep my head above water in my classes, all while ill with bronchitis. While I knew my grades in calc and capstone were solid, I was not so sure about my history/English cluster. I had scored high on the papers I’d written, but I was not proud of my test grades.

This launched me into a fit of uneasiness that remains unparalleled in my life. I found myself pushing away from people and concentrating on nothing but the work for the class.

Often I’ve thought, “What would be different had I not cared as much?” I ended up with a B+ in the class (two classes, actually, for those who aren’t familiar with Westminster’s interesting curriculum). Would I have gotten a B? Would I have gotten lower?

I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a week—a pretty impressive feat given my inability to read fast when reading for purposes other than pleasure. I read a few other shorter stories that I’d not read because I was too busy trying to finish capstone and read them in a day before the final exam.

I know I’ve been able to relax, not only as a result of graduating, but simply as a result of finishing that damned cluster. Undergraduate graduation is only a waypoint on the mission of life goals. I knew that I’d be starting grad school in at most three months, whether or not I had a job.

I guess I’m rambling. I wish that I could have built last summer some of the friendships I built this semester. I’d love to have another year around these people; I’d love to have another chance to show them that I care about them and that I’m not as cold and concentrated as I felt I had to be this semester. I wish that I had one more year to hang out and be cool at Westminster.

Not to be, unfortunately. I started grad school at Robert Morris University this past Monday. My class is comprised of students mostly older than me, but not by more than maybe five years. I’m certainly the youngest in the class—something which I think is a little unnerving considering my all but three or four of my classmates have been either teaching or substituting for at least a year. Those three or four are making an early career change or are like me and wanting to teach computers after having received a IS degree.

The class I’m taking is basically a graduate-level ed. psych. class. I like it. I enjoy psychology, so I find it interesting. Perhaps I just like being a guinea pig

I still don’t have fall plans ironed out just yet. I’m going to be living with JD somewhere in or around Pittsburgh. We looked earlier today at an apartment in Moon Township—not far from RMU. I liked it, and so did he, but we want to keep looking to see if we can find anything better.

I’m waiting for a call from a company on an interview, too. If I get the job, I’m pretty well set for the fall and can register for fall classes and getting the annoying “hurry up and wait” weight off my shoulders.

As for those friends, I’m going to have to see what I can do from a distance. I have a feeling, though, that I’ll be up to Westminster often, but not so much that I’m a creepy alumnus :-p

Leanna and her Dad took me to the 2007 US Open practice round yesterday at Oakmont Country Club. For those not from western PA, Oakmont is next to Plum Borough and just a little north of Pittsburgh. It’s not far from New Kensington and Monroeville.

I grew up watching golf on TV with my Dad. I know names and a lot of faces. I’ve not played, but I am able to get the ball off the ground nine out of 10 times

It was cool to actually see what goes on at a course during a tournament. The stands, the buildings, the camera towers, and just about everything else but the club house is all temporary. It’s honestly like a small village with some very precise lawn mowers and a thing for sand without water. Oakmont has one sand trap to which my Dad later that night referred as “church pews.” It’s a series of grassy bumps in a very elongated sand trap. It looked like the grassy bumps had risen from the sand of their own accord—neat.

I saw a bunch of golfers I’ve heard of, such as Colin Montgomerie, Mike Weir, Sergio Garcia, and Davis Love III. I missed getting Mike Weir’s autograph by a matter of seconds/inches. I wish I could have gotten Colin Montgomerie’s—it’s always cool to meet a celebrity Colin. I saw Johnny Miller, too. We missed Tiger Woods by a day, though, as he did not practice yesterday.

One of the things on my TODO list for this summer is to improve my swing enough that I can actually play on a course, even if only a par-three. I have a lot of respect for the sport/game/life, and I would love to be able to go out with my friends as well as my Dad.

I took some pictures with Leanna’s camera, so I’ll throw them up on Facebook or Zooomr when I can.

Colin Dean, son of Tom and Jane Dean, recently graduated from Westminster College in New Wilmington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a minor in creative writing focusing on journalism. He was editor-in-chief of The Holcad, the college’s student newspaper, and served on a number of committees and was a member of a number of scholastic and social organizations.

Colin will be attending Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania for a Masters of Education in Business Education. This degree and certificate will enable him to teach high school computer science classes. He hopes to earn eventually a communications certificate so that he may teach journalism, as well.

In the mean time, Colin is working as a writer for a computer hardware and software web site while searching for jobs in Pittsburgh and living at the Phi Kappa Tau house in New Wilmington.

I’ve been swamped with capstone, The Holcad, classes, and fraternity things like Greek Week. I’ve got post almost ready—it’ll be up in a few days.

I’ll be able to write more once school’s out.

PRAISE ME ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY BIRTH!

LAŬDU MIN EN LA DATREVENO DE MIA NASKO!

maddog Hall sent to me today a picture of himself and I at Ohio Linuxfest on September 30, 2006.

maddog gave an absolutely riveting closing talk at the event. He is one of my inspirations and can only hope that I may be one day even a quarter as awesome as he is.

Photo hosting courtesy of Zooomr and its awesome OpenID login system

I passed my national test today, so I’m now a brother in the eyes of the chapter. Once my initiation information arrives at national, I’ll be a full brother.

Rawk.