OU! OH YEAH!

I am in complete disbelief. Totally unreal.

The Ohio Bobcats Football team, which used to be an oxymoron, has clinched the MAC East!

For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Bobcats get to play in the post season. The MAC championship is going to be held at Ford Field in Detroit, then pretty much win or lose, OU will appear in a bowl game.

I've been a Bobcat fan since I first set foot on the Athens campus back in '02. Most of my focus has been on the basketball team, however. The football team was generally only expected to win a game or two per season, and most fans attend the games only to see the Marching 110 perform.

Not anymore.

After McDavis brought in Frank (the tank) Solich, the team has certainly picked up. Last night's result is all the proof I needed.

I couldn't be prouder of this Bobcats squad. It's about time for some good action in Peden Stadium. I just hope I can manage to get to the bowl game.

GO BOBCATS!

Sudo Penguins and Partitions

I finally got myself to try Linux this week. Given that I don't know anyone who uses it regularly, I never had the opportunity to get to know the operating system. I've been a fan of the open-source movement for a while now, I figured it was time to take Linux for a spin.

I quickly realized that Linux was not like Windows or Apple, where there was effectively one version of the overall platform. Linux has a large number of what they call "distributions", and each varies from another. The differences seemed to based on how recent the version is, and what kind of user it was designed for.

I used a Linux Distribution Chooser to help me narrow down all the options. I ended up settling on Kubuntu 6.06. All along I had intended on adding the OS to my computer as to make it dual-boot with Windows XP. The guides I found to walk me through this process led me to believe that it was much more difficult to accomplish this than it really was. All I had to do was create a new partition on the hard drive on which to install Linux. Using PartitionMagic, this was actually fairly easy. Even if I didn't have the more advanced software, the Kubuntu iso comes loaded with a partitioning program.

Long story short, I rebooted the computer with the Kubuntu cd in the drive, and I was able to install the system very quickly. It even took care of the operating system menu. No fuss, no muss.

Using Linux for basic computer functions such as web browsing, word processing, etc, was pretty straightforward. The OS is easy enough to navigate for a windows user, but installing drivers was more of a challenge. In order to alter much of the system, you have to use a dos-like Terminal interface. The initial commands were a bit of a challenge, but eventually I managed to get my ati drivers loaded. That's all I had time for last night.

On the upside, I now understand this xkcd.com comic:

A Royale with Cheese

I am all about the James Bond movie: Casino Royale. This long awaited film is actually a prequel to every other Bond movie. The story is based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, which was never made into a movie. It will be the story explaining how Bond became 007.

I love Bond movies. It's kind of like a superhero movie without the superhero powers. Much of the time, the situations Bond faces are moderately realistic- the difference being the presence of not-yet-achieved technology, such as a watch with a high powered laser, a car that turns into a submarine, etc. There's something so possible about the Bond series that makes it exciting. It's far fetched enough to have a twisting storyline involving interesting fictional characters, but Bond can't fly or use x-ray vision on his own power.

The movie debuts this Friday, which is really unfortunate. My girlfriend's birthday is also on Friday, making it a difficult decision. It's a good thing I like her. She should consider herself lucky. I'll go see it as soon as I feasibly can. Sunday or Monday, I'm thinking. 'Cause you know what Saturday is.

Seeing this movie will probably send me back to my childhood fantasy about being James Bond. Of all the major movie heroes, superheroes, and other fictional characters that men wish they could be, I'd like to be James Bond the most. C'mon! The lifestyle, the technology, a cool British accent? It's like it was made for me. I've even been an avid player of nearly all James Bond video games, as it has been as close as I've been able to come to the real thing. In anticipation of the movie, I've begun to revisit the games on PS2, as that's the only console system available to me at the moment. Rest assured, if my N64 was handy, I'd be playing Goldeneye for sure.

Lastly, here's a comic from xkcd.com. I love this site for its witty science and math related comics.

It's impossible to get around talking about this.

This town is about to explode. No, not from terrorists, despite the Democrats winning in the last election.

This city has football fever, and if The Game wasn't big enough already, this season made it double in size. You can actually taste the excitement in the air, and it tastes kind of sweaty, really. Not only does the winner get bragging rights for a year, but they go undefeated in the regular season, win the Big 10, and go to the BCS National Championship Game.

The football experts called this back in the first weeks of the football season. They said that both Michigan and Ohio State have the capacity to go undefeated this season. I was skeptical. I knew the Ohio State team would be fantastic on offense, and good enough on D, but I had no idea Michigan was up to the same caliber. They proved themselves many times over, such as when they played Notre Dame, just as OSU toppled Texas.

It's next to impossible for a fan of either team not to hold at least some reservation or doubt about this Saturday's game. With two teams this good and neither having been seriously challenged this season, this game is too close to call. We all know it has the capability to go either way.

Both teams have a solid defense and some major playmakers on offense. The Buckeyes' spread offense has performed extremely well this season, but the availability of the pass may hinge on whether they can simultaneously get the ball moving on the ground. Michigan's offense is more balanced, with more focus on Mike Hart's running abilities, as well as multiple deep threats.

A lot of the sports pundits are suggesting that the national championship could end up being a rematch between these two teams. While a few more cards would have to fall into place in order to make that happen, I'd say it would make for an interesting Fiesta Bowl. The bottom line for the BCS title game is that I want to see a good match-up. A championship game should not be a blowout, but a close fought game between two teams who dominated other opponents all season. If The Game is a close one, then it would be worthwhile to see these two contend once more. After all, this rivalry is about as big as it could ever hope to be. What's a few more flipped cars, couches on fire and a few hundred more arrests? They'd be a drop in the bucket at this point.

It's hard not to get psyched for The Game with the atmosphere in Columbus. I can't turn my head 30 degrees without seeing Ohio State paraphernalia. I just gotta remember that it's still 3 days, 4 fours 34 minutes and 12 seconds away.

Go Bucks! Beat Michigan! My score prediction: Ohio State 24, Michigan 17

BASICly inept

Just like so many others of my generation, I am the in-house IT guy for my family. I cannot visit my parents or other relatives for even a few hours without a, "hey, while you're here, can you take a look at my computer?" or "my ipod isn't downloading right" or "the wireless network isn't working again."

I don't mind being that guy, no, not at all. I enjoy being the one who's knowledgeable enough about technology to be able to repair any techno-issue that arises. When I fix the problem, I get a certain level of satisfaction, success, and a bit of a power trip. Usually it's just a matter of plugging in a cable the right way or editing a configuration page properly. Occasionally I bring in the 'big guns' and use Ad-Aware, Avast, Tune Up Utilities and others to clean up the system to as usable state. I appreciate a good challenge though, and more than once I've been recruited to repair an entirely defunct system.

Last night was one of those times. My step-mom's laptop recently had its hard drive replaced and needed to load an operating system. Easy enough, I thought. Grab a Windows XP cd, boot from CD and in 30 minutes we'd have a fully-functioning computer.

Not so, I found out. The cd-rom drive was on the fritz too, and would only actually access the cd once every 5-7 tries. When I finally was able to start the setup program, i was hardly able to create a hard drive partition before the cd quit, leaving only a few files copied. The cd drive refused to cooperate any further.

To make a long story short, I spent the next few hours trying to find other ways to load the operating system. The floppy drive was no avail- it would have taken over 500 disks to copy the XP cd to the hard drive. Then I created a boot disk and tried to activate the network port from dos- maybe I could install from the network. This seemed feasible at first, but I learned that I probably need Windows Server edition to make that work. Lastly, I copied the entire cd to my dad's external USB hard drive. If I could activate the USB port from dos, I might have a chance.

That was the right track. Using some drivers I found online, I was able to get the system to recognize the usb drive. Unfortunately, it wouldn't also recognize the internal hard drive. I may have been able to force it to work if wasn't for my fleeting dos skills. I couldn't remember all the commands to make the computer change drive letters and do the copying I was hoping for. I used to be quite talented at working with MS-DOS. As a former owner of a 486, I had to be. I could even do some programming in BASIC. It wasn't any prizewinning software, mind you (I was what, 12? 13? years old?) but I could make it work.

So much of those old skills have been forgotten, or more likely replaced by newer XP era skills. What I knew about floppy disk formatting, basic coding, and boot disks has been replaced by wireless networking, graphics cards, and blogging.

DOS was fun though, back in the day. It was a system that you couldn't just figure out on the spot. You had to know the steps necessary to achieve the intended results before you even started. It did so many of the same things that windows explorer does graphically by point-and-click today. However, there was always something empowering by being able to use DOS to its potential when no one else around you could.

It's practically cliche now, but technology times move so fast. Think of the things we do everyday in Windows like downloading, email, and all sorts of media, and how next to impossible it was in DOS. Just look at that picture. There's no way that dweeby little Gates (bottom left) could have forseen that he would have $50+ Billion in assets within twenty years. I should probably start working on my long hair and matching beard soon.

I had to leave the laptop unfixed for now. I'm still working on a solution. Let me know if you have any good ideas. Repairing the cd-rom is an option, but a difficult one as I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with it.

I, Pod

Though I've owned it for nearly a year, I've recently become an even bigger fan of my iPod. I started taking it to work with me every day. I noticed recently that a lot of other employees listen to a radio or headphones during the day, so I decided to give it a shot.

My iPod is a black 2GB Nano, purchased by my wonderful girlfriend for me last Christmas. I quickly added a nice leather protective case and better quality headphones, as the iPod is particularly vulnerable to aesthetic damage and comes with very poor quality (though trendy) headphones.

I'm by no means an iPod obsessive. I enjoy listening to it, but it's not a way of life. I've seen a number of new iPod owners who take pictures of the unwrapping process when they purchase a new one. Not me.

It's interesting how well the iPod has taken off. At the time they first came out, MP3 players had already been on the market for quite a while. I can remember them pretty distinctly 6 or 8 years ago, when I worked at Circuit City. There was usually not much more than 128Mb of storage space on the unit though, which made for a short listening experience. When the iPod hit the market a couple of years later, it was accompanied by not only a very large hard drive at a marginal (but still high for high school kids) cost, but also an absolute barrage of marketing. Apple made the MP3 player cool. It could hold virtually your entire music library and it came with hip headphones.

I originally didn't particularly want an iPod. After all, I'm tech savvy enough that I don't need the user-friendly interface to get the gadget to do what I want. A cheaper competing model would be adequate. The more I was exposed to the device, the more I was drawn to getting one for myself. It had a color screen, could hold pictures, categorize everything automatically, and it would sync perfectly with iTunes, which I was already using to store my 20Gb music collection.

Recently, I've thought about upgrading to a full-fledged iPod. One with video and a huge hard drive. I'm not gung-ho about it yet, so we'll see. I'd just like to take advantage of the video podcasts and be able to put my whole music collection on it instead of just a fraction of it, as I have now.

Because I listen to my iPod pretty much all day long now, I've had to add more than just music to keep my mind occupied while I cut & paste spreadsheets from 9 to 5. I started downloading podcasts regularly, which is something I unsuccessfully tried before. When I didn't listen to the iPod on a regular basis, the podcasts quickly became outdated and pointless to listen to when I remembered they were there. But now that I listen to it everyday, podcasts are a highlight of my day. Here's a brief list of my favorites, all of which can be found through iTunes for your listening pleasure:

The Body Odd - Two doctors discuss interesting things your body does in a funny but interesting 10 minute cast. Look under NBC to find it.

PTI - Also known as Pardon the Interruption, this cast is taken directly from the ESPN show. No commercials, and you get to listen to Tony & Mike badger each other.

ABC News Nightline - Also straight from TV, this cast tackles a major news story each day.

NBC Nightly News - Straight from Brian Williams everyday.
Travel with Rick Steves - The famed guidebook writer discusses travel destinations.