What's New

Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter and identi.ca

I haven't posted in this blog for ages, partly because I'm not a very active blogger type, but mostly because I've been using other social networking services to interact and share information with people, and I haven't really decided which one works best for me.

For the last couple of years I've been using Facebook rather actively as my main social networking site, and blogging there via "Notes" and status messages mostly. Friends, family, past work colleagues, Fedora developers, etc. can visit my Facebook page.

After receiving a few friend requests to join the Plaxo social networking site, I gave in and created a profile there, which mostly harvests data from my Facebook profile and other feeds. My Plaxo page can be viewed here.

Not long ago I started using Twitter from time to time, although I'm not a die hard Twitter junkie, so updates will be low volume on my Twitter page.

And more recently I also started using the identi.ca microblogging service as well, which competes with Twitter and has some interesting features. Like Twitter, I don't post updates often, but those who would like to track my mumblings can view my identi.ca page.

New home studio recording gear

As a musician, for many many years, I've wanted to have a home recording studio. Nothing super expensive or fancy, just some decent gear for doing effects processing, multitrack recording, etc. Years ago the primary limiting factor was the cost of such items - I simply couldn't afford practically any of the components I drooled over. In recent years, spare time has been more of a factor than cost has been, however I now have a lot more time on my hands to enjoy life and have some fun.

As such, I decided to buy some new gear to get things rolling. Yesterday I bought an "M-Audio Audiophile 192" pro sound card, and pair of studio monitors (Edirol MA-15D) from Kelly's Music and Computers, an incredibly friendly online store in Manitoba, Canada with top notch customer service. I highly recommend Kelly's Music to anyone in Canada looking for fantastic prices and best of the best customer service.

Tonight, I spent many hours researching the "Boss GT-Pro" guitar multi-effects processor. I was rather frustrated to be unable to find _any_ online music stores in Canada which both sell this item, and provide their pricing info directly on their website. A few stores seem to suggest that Roland does not allow them to post pricing information online. Whether or not that is true I can't confirm or deny, but one fact is certain - that almost all online music stores in the United States provide their pricing of Roland's products. Normally I have a strong preference for making all of my online purchases from Canadian retailers/distributors, however I also have a strong preference for easy to use websites which post prices, and I detest being forced to call 1-800 numbers endlessly to request pricing information. As such, I will most likely be purchasing my GT-Pro from an online music store in the USA, such as Sweetwater or zZounds, both of which have the unit for $699 USD with free shipping.

Ah, to drool for.. at least for now.

An exciting announcement: My early retirement.

As family and many close friends are aware, for a number of years now I have been planning an early retirement. Originally I had planned to achieve the ability to consider retirement from my career at Red Hat on my 35th birthday (May, 2007) as a birthday present to myself for achieving many personal and financial goals I've set over the last number of years towards the goal of retirement.

In the past year however, I have met a number of my personal and financial objectives sooner than I've expected, and have been progressing on-target with other goals as well. Due to this, for some time now in the back of my mind I have considered the possibility of retiring sooner, in order to enjoy the summer while it's still here and to pursue other opportunities and personal interests I've had idle on the back burner which many of you reading this may (or may not) be aware of.

I'm excited to announce that a number of recent happenings have now presented me with the ability to accelerate my plans and pursue my other interests and opportunities sooner. Initially, I will be taking a long needed vacation to relax and enjoy the summer. I have planned on buying a car for a few months, and although I haven't been able to devote much time to that recently, I am very much looking forward to doing so over the next few weeks. I've never owned a vehicle previously, so this will be quite exciting for me.

Future plans:

Once I have had adequate relaxation time I plan to concentrate more on real estate investments and securities trading, as well as other financial interests. Outside of finance however, I plan on spending a lot more time enjoying many of the hobbies I have which I've neglected for too long including: astronomy, philosophy, electronics, interfacing, electric guitar and other musical instruments, and home studio recording. I also plan on taking courses on photography and cooking, as I've been quite interested in both subjects as a hobby for a long time, but haven't gotten into them. I also plan on establishing a health regime including better diet/nutrition and exercise to get myself back on track feeling alive and healthy. Of course I also plan on continuing to be a part of the open source community, and will become a contributor to Fedora Extras and other projects of interest.

Overall I am feeling quite excited about everything, and looking forward to observing and enjoying the bright hot yellow sphere which emits radient energy that allegedly hangs in the big blue room outside my house. I'm also looking forward to spending a lot more time with my family and friends, and eventually to travelling to Europe and other destinations I've always wanted to visit.

I'd like to thank all of my friends and colleagues at Red Hat, and in the community who have sent me thoughtful messages via email, IRC, etc. for your concerns and kind words, they're very much appreciated. Rest assured that all is well for me, and after a short break you'll see me trawling the various mailing lists and IRC channels as usual, advocating and participating in the OSS community as always.

Peace.

[Update: Aug 1, 2006]
Shocking news: I've removed CIPE from my machine, and am planning on migrating my system from FC1 to FC5 now. ;oP

How ugly can it get?

Pretty ugly, lets put it that way. When I fire up gimp, people start taking their children off the streets, and locking their doors - even in Canada. Lets get one thing straight out in the open: I am not a graphic artist. Nonetheless, visiting my website is a good way to hurt your eyes, by having them subjected to my horrible attempts to learn how to use image manipulation software, in particular The Gimp. Rest assured however, if you see something here that you think is ugly, hideous, or which frightens children, that it looks that way to me too. If anyone out there is interested in volunteering to be my "graphic art bitch", feel free to drop me an email or ping me in IRC. Turning the site into a non-eyesore is something I plan on doing in over time. ;o)

The New Website

Welcome to my new website. I have finally gotten off my ass, and put together a website that is semi-non-lame. I did not want to spend countless hours/days learning various new web technologies, as I'd rather be doing other things that are more interesting to me. It didn't take much time to learn CSS, and to throw this all together, so here it is.