mattandrhya.com

February 21, 2005

My parents are geeks

Filed under: Family Updates, Tech — mattandrhya @ 9:53 am

It’s true. I’m not the only geek in the family anymore. Okay, you be the judge.

1.) They have a broadband DSL connection (not so geeky on its own).
2.) They are running linux.
3.) They are running Debian linux.
4.) They are running Debian linux with an SSH server.
5.) They have a gmail account.

Just wait till they start compiling their own kernels and preaching the virtues of the command line. Drop them a message at their new address vernonmylastname@gmail.com (replace mylastname with the obvious). Welcome to geekdom, your membership card is in the mail!

Okay, here is my little side comment: Linux, especially debian, is the perfect way to help the members of your family have a broadband connection without the worries of spyware, adware and viruses. It’s a rock-solid OS with most of the features that normal people use (Office Suite, E-mail Reader, web browser, instant messenger, etc.), with an easy update system (apt) that you can help them with remotely (via ssh).

New Computer

Filed under: Uncategorized — mattandrhya @ 9:43 am

My computer has been on the fritz lately, and I’m pretty sure it has started its death knell. So, before we lose all of our data, I actually took the proactive approach and bought a new computer. Some of you may remember that I bought a computer to build myself in November, and then decided that it was too much money and too much computer for what I needed. I’m pretty proud to say that I think I hit the optimal price/performance area on this one. First, I sat down and listed all of the major things that I thought Rhya and I would want to use a computer for. This is the list I came up with:

Web browsing
E-mail
Poker (up to 4 tables at once, while keeping track of stats)
Listening to music
Syncing music with our MP3 players
Video editing (in the future)

So, I looked at this list, and decided that 2 things were a must: a dual-head video setup (2 monitors), and sufficient RAM. I ended up getting a P4 2.8 GHz computer from Dell, using my CAT employee discount. I’ll save you from the boring details, but it runs two displays (20 in trinitron at 1600×1200, and a 17 in @ 1280×1024), and it is awesome. I have 512mb of RAM, but I’ll probably bump up to 1GB soon, and add a DVD writer when a) I have time to fiddle, and b) when dual-layer media comes down in price.

As far as it doing its job, Rhya can have her profile running (we’re running XP Pro because most poker software needs MS) with a couple browser windws, etc., and I can have my profile running with 3 Party Poker Tables, PokerEdge, PokerTracker, 1 Interpoker table, and a divx encoded show (Numb3rs) running in full screen on the second monitor within Winamp. Granted, Pokertracker is hidden during this, but I usually only use that program to analyze my play after a session.

I’ll definitely post a pic of this setup and a couple screenshots tonight.

Painting the basement

Filed under: Family Updates — mattandrhya @ 9:30 am

Rhya has decided that it is time to start finishing the basement. First stop: Painting all the walls and ceilings, and tearing down the old false ceiling in one room. Rhya and my dad started this on Thursday, and it makes me really glad I was at work. They are painting every pipe, crevice, board, etc. on the ceiling throughout the entire basement. Hard work!

But, it looks 1000% better in the areas that it has been painted. It really makes the room seem bigger, and it has lightened it up a ton. I’ll try to post a couple pictures as we go!

New Power Supply

Filed under: Misc — mattandrhya @ 9:00 am

Got a new power supply for this computer over the weekend, so it is all systems go again. I’m thinking about just running a web server now, and getting rid of the e-mail server. With the free accounts giving away so much space for free, I’m having a hard time justifying it. Don’t worry, though, our regular e-mail addresses still work, they just redirect to other accounts.

February 8, 2005

Clock Management

Filed under: Sports — mattandrhya @ 3:22 pm
  1. TO was money.
  2. Freddie Mitchell was MIA.
  3. D McNabb was seriously nervous (floating balls, underthrowing, etc.)
  4. Andy Reid has no concept of clock management. Honestly, they lollygagged all through the 4th quarter. That falls on the coach
  5. Most of the commercials sucked. Exceptions: Jumping out of the airplane for Bud and the cat doused in spaghetti.

It’s been awhile (Since the Titans game?) since the game was good and commercials were bad.

Only 3 Shopping Days Left!

Filed under: Family Updates — mattandrhya @ 3:16 pm

Rhya’s birthday is right around the corner! She will be turning the big quarter-century on Friday, and we are traveling up to Rockford for the occasion. Word on the street is that we are going to the Gun Club in Beloit, which was voted the “Best Restaurant outside Rockford” by the Rockford Register Star. When I first heard the name, I thought that maybe you only get to eat what you kill, but that doesn’t seem to be the case (What the flip?).

February 2, 2005

Hiatus

Filed under: Family Updates, matt — mattandrhya @ 8:00 am

As you all can tell, I took a bit of a hiatus from the whole website deal for about a month after we lost the baby. We wanted to thank everyone for their support during a very difficult time.

That being said, I’m now ready to get back into the swing of things on here. I have pictures to publish, and a ton of things to talk about. For one thing, I know that not everyone has a really big interest in my poker playing, so I’m going to spin off a page devoted just to that, so that I don’t put the majority of you to sleep. I’ll let you know when it is ready for primetime. Here is a small crosssection of my month (very small).

The Fighting Illini are awesome, and will probably go undefeated in the regular season! I’ve been in Detroit for a couple short stints over the last couple weeks. I closed two projects at work at the end of December. I’ve read a couple of poker books: Texas Hold e’m for Advanced Players and Poker: the Real Deal. I’ll try to review them on the aforementioned poker website. I watched Napoleon Dynamite, which could be one of the funniest movies ever. By the way, Rhya is old school. She was wanting to see this movie at least 6 months before it came out. I dragged my feet, but she was right. It was awesome…..it’s…incredible.

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