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2010.June.27 » The Bug graduated this weekend. They call it "pre-school," but it functions more like a daycare. Semantics aside, they hosted a semi-formal ceremony last night.

The Bug Graduates & When to Call it Quits

I arrived at the appointed time, but activities had already commenced.

The kids were all standing up front (looking so dang cute) while parents rose from their seats to jostle for picture-taking position. Even saw a tri-pod or two in the back.

Hi Daddy, the Bug called out (« wearing a little vest & tie) as I arrived, his voice sounding even deeper than normal. Mommy, he announced to the entire audience, my daddy's here!

A couple of moms and one teacher approached me afterwards to express how cute they thought that was, noting how he emphasized *my* daddy. (He has always done that. Possessive.) The 'mommy/daddy' thing made me think.

Before becoming a dad, I used to debate & question the wisdom of friends who remained in unhappy marriages .. "for the good of the kids." While I'm no advocate of marital masochism, I now understand. You just want to do everything possible to give them a decent shot at a happy life. They deserve that.

Why do you stick with her? I used to ask, when she treats you like that? All she does is moan, gripe, complain & criticize. She doesn't appreciate you. It's like she hates your guts.

You don't understand, they'd tell me. It's not that easy when you have kids.

Oh, I understand alright, I'd reply. At least, I thought I did.

We all want to be loved. And some of us are fortunate enough to be involved in a loving relationship. But many (it seems) merely tolerate each other. And what about those who are downright miserable? I'm talking about those relationships where the negatives have long since out-weighed any good that might linger on the marital balance.

At the far end of things, I've always drawn the line in a deteriorating relationship at the point where somebody intentionally TRIES to hurt me. In any relationship (with both males & females), we're bound to be offended from time to time .. even when that's not the aim.

This entry continues & concludes in Ye Olde Rad Blog v4 .. see here » The Bug Graduates & When to Call it Quits

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2010.June.20 » Happy Father's day to all you dads. And I tip my hat to those of you fortunate enough to be still working on your paternal quals. Keep at it. Diligence pays. Yippie ki-yay, hombré.

Fathers, Fallibility & My Little Gamer

It's a sobering moment (is it not?), when we realize our dads are fallible. Human. Not gods. Less than perfect. The first time you find yourself looking down-at instead of up-to. Feeling disappointed when their foibles become apparent.

The Dog has researched this topic and we've had many long discussions about why we felt so strongly about the need to 'get away' (farther the better), such as that epitomized by McCandless in Into the Wild.

He says, Kids cannot afford to believe their parents are less than perfect. So when problems arise, that leaves only one other option. [ » Kids think the problem must lie with them. ]

So I've endeavored to admit error and say things like, I'm sorry. That was my fault. I should've known better.

I remember the first time I realized my dad was merely human. It wasn't until after I returned home from the Navy (.. where I spent 6 years running a reactor plant on a nuclear sub).

I was staying up the road at my grandmother's place, cuz she had lots of room (.. and was a way-better cook than my mom).

One morning near Christmas I stopped by to see my folks. Dad was on vacation, so they were both home, preparing to fix breakfast. The coffee was already percolating. I offered to cook the bacon. Dad was gonna cook the eggs. Mom was juicing some oranges.

This entry continues & concludes in Ye Olde Rad Blog v4 .. see here » Fathers, Fallibility & My Little Gamer

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2010.June.15 » Been having more trouble with my laptop. Now it's blue-screening midway thru start-up (at different points) .. followed by an automatic hard-reset. Sukus maximus. Only option is Safe-Mode (with Networking), which is where I am now (nasty 640x480 rez).

The Laptop, The Road & Long John Silver

The problem is intermittent, tho a normal restart is becoming increasingly rare. This machine, I suspect, may be on its last leg. Lots of hard Rad miles.

I hate safe-mode. Torture for techies. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Speaking of torture, I saw The Road last night. (The movie.) Left me feeling .. weird.

Probably should've waited. Obviously wasn't ready. In retrospect. Felt yucky afterwards. Disturbed. Took a shower before bed .. to try to wash off the ickiness.

While reading the novel, I was able to put down the book if the story started getting to me. (Never read very many pages in any single sitting.) Not so however, with the DVD. (One-day rental.)

I thought the boy did a great job, acting. He wasn't just along for the ride (.. so to speak). Viggo, I expected to do a good job. Same with Charlize. But not the boy. Speaking of which, I really like the way the lady reached out and touched his face at the end.

This entry continues & concludes in Ye Olde Rad Blog v4 .. see here » The Laptop, The Road & Long John Silver

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2010.June.08 » The site will be down tomorrow, June 9th, for ~1 hour .. sometime between midnight and 4AM (Chicago time, which is now). The boyz at Wiredtree will be upgrading Ye Olde Rad Server to the latest version of Virtuozzo (.. virtualization software). More about VPS servers here » Rad Guide to VPS. See here:

Scheduled Site Maintenance

I am writing you today to inform you of preemptive security updates on the Virtuozzo based hardware node that powers your server. The time frame for this maintenance is stated in the subject of this email. This is needed to update the Virtuozzo software and kernel to the most current versions.

To apply the new kernel version to the server, a node wide reboot must take place. We do periodic updates, on system side software, to ensure stability and security for your server as part of our management.

Server effected: host.radified.com

Downtime should be no more than 60 minutes pending a clean disk check on boot. We will be using all best practice measures to ensure minimal downtime as a result of the reboot. If you have any questions, please open a ticket in Grove or email support and we will be glad to assist you.

Thanks!
WiredTree Support

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2010.June.05 » Here's a site worth bookmarking » TED.com, Ideas worth spreading. TED stands for » Technology, Entertainment, Design. Topics covered however, are not limited to those 3 subjects. Learn more » here.

TED | Ideas Worth Spreading

The site contains over 700 high-quality videos .. in the form of lectures .. on a variety of topics, such as this one, given by Sir Ken Robinson, who says "Schools kill creativity." Similar topic posted here.

This one on world poverty, for example, is a real eye-opener. His animated graphing charts are remarkable.

Interesting how he considers 'culture' the single most important goal for development (getting out of poverty .. at t=16:40) because it brings joy to life .. and represents the value of living.

I started with the TED-page labeled » 'Most favorited of all time.' (Link located in menu.)

Many of the TED lectures I found intellctually stimulating. Love ideas that make me THINK & challenge my preconceived notions .. such as this one on the 'paradox of choice.' The secret-to-happiness is revealed at t=15:00. He drops a bomb at t=18:00 to t=18:30.

The only presentation I found disappointing was the one given by Malcolm Gladwell. Maybe my expectations were too high. Only video I watched twice was the one by Vicktor Frankl (only 4 mins). Richard Sears delivered the most timely lecture (.. if you can call it "a lecture"). This one on motivation was particularly interesting. Downright fascinating. (Funny, too.)

Techies should not miss this one on UI. Makes me wanna watch Minority Report again. Here's another about Pakistani kids who become suicide bombers for the Taliban. Need a strong stomach to watch that one.

This entry continues & concludes in Ye Olde Rad Blog v4 .. see here » TED | Ideas Worth Spreading

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2010.June.02 » Finally found a reason to deploy PHP myself. Pretty stoked about it, too. As my studies continue, I'm sure there will be more such programming discoveries .. but today I grok'ed the beauty and the power of the » PHP include() functon [.. and its more restrictive cousin » require() ].

PHP Include() Function vs Dreamweaver Templates

You might recall last year, how excited I was to learn how to use Dreamweaver Templates.

They allow you to change/update a single file (template) and have that change applied to EVERY webpage that is based on that template.

I even wrote a guide on how to use them that has become surprisingly popular » Rad Guide to Dreamweaver Templates

Dreamweaver Templates are similar to how CSS works, which allows you to change the look-n-feel of your entire site by editing a single file.

The ONLY PROBLEM with Dreamweaver Templates is that they require you to UPLOAD all the changed files (.. to your server). Which kinda suks. (Depending on how many files are affected by the change.)

Not so with the PHP include() function, which works more like CSS. In fact, it works exactly like CSS in that respect. Meaning, you only have to re-up a single file.

This entry concludes in Ye Olde Rad Blog v4 .. see here » PHP Include() Function vs Dreamweaver Templates

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