2 years pass, am I still alive?
Yes, in fact, I am.
The past couple years have actually been quite busy for me. Just not, unfortunately, in a technical/geek way. I started this blog because I tend to be the kind of guy that gets a fun idea for a computer or techie item and tries it out just because.
I like to mess with different linux distributions, install weird software, randomly change out my dedicated firewalls for our home, etc. I figured that if I documented some of these things that are never quite as easy as advertised, it might help out some other people.
According to my StatPress app, my N810/N800 work was by far my most successful – but that is years old now and I no longer use/have any Maemo devices after it’s demise. (Seriously, bad move Nokia.)
Unfortunately, I haven’t done a lot the past couple years that needed documenting and thus, my Blog died. That, and I got Facebook (ugh.), so I was able to express my ideas 1 paragraph at a time.
The majority of things that happened to me in the past couple years were personal, not technical. Here is a list of computer/geeky things I’ve done and missed a blog post:
- Replaced my PS3 with a WDTV Live Plus, which I absolutely love, for my media streaming needs. No longer use PS3 Media Server which was, I think, my last post. I have an older model, put B-Rad’s WDLXTV on it, and it’s amazing.
- I use ipFire for a firewall now. Last update I was using pfSense. I have since tried: Smoothwall, Untangle, Zentyal, and ClearOS. I used Zentyal by far the longest. All the others were lacking in some area or another that I wanted. I need not only a firewall, but a proxy for my children, and not just any proxy but one that filters content as well as allows me time-based security measures to “disable” the childrens internet at specific times during the week (school nights) but leave the wife and mine unimpeded. ipFire gives me all this, but certainly was not easy to configure properly. I ran into issues with all the rest ranging from unusable, to minor inconvenience.
- I found CouchPotato, SabNZBD, and SickBeard. Awesome.
- I got in on the Loadout Beta. Have not yet gotten it to run on Linux, which sucks, but still a great game so far.
I think that about covers it. As you can see, mostly uneventful for me on the technical front. On the personal side, however, and the main reason I have been gone – my wife got pregnant. Our son, now almost a year old, is our third – and was born with a Neuro-Muscular disorder. Diagnosis is still pending, some form of SMA the most likely candidate but all tests negative so far, but he sure does require a lot of attention. He will most likely never walk, or use his arms for very much. My wife maintains a blog dedicated to him here.
So, anyway, as for this blog I’m at a loss. What direction do you think I should go with it? I can still do the occasional technical update, but those are few and far between now days. I could do Movie reviews, but I’m probably a bad critic. I could talk political – trust me, I have a LOT to say about the current Gun Control mess going on in my country – but I don’t know who would want to read it. I’ve done a political rant or two previously. Ubuntu Mobile Phones are coming out this year hopefully, will definitely have to try some of those out.
What do you guys think? Leave a comment, what would you like to see me write about?
Keep your family safe, and your networks secure.