Posted about 1 year ago
I have always had an interest in combat. Since I was a kid I have always loved weapons, like guns and knives. Now don’t mistake me for some unstable psycho. Anyone that has known me for only a short time will tell you I’m a genuine citizen. I do however believe in my rights to defend myself. So getting to the point here I have for some time wanted to own a pistol and obtain a conceal carry certification. So now that things are coming together for me, I am acting on that goal.
This is the gun I think I want, but I need to find a local dealer where I can hold the gun and see if I like the fit.
I have tremendous respect for the power and danger of weapons, especially firearms. Though I have shot rifles and a small assortment of firearms, I realize I am still unskilled in the practice. However, I still exercise as much caution as my knowledge grants me when using firearms.
I took a lesson this morning at a local indoor gun range and I learned many tactical techniques as well as tremendous safety measures. After all, if you really think it through, it does not matter how well you can fire a gun if you do not know how to safely operate the weapon.
To sum this all up I love what I currently do for a living (programming and network administration). However, my heart has always been in public services, to be specific jobs like a firefighter, police officer or my ultimate military, S.W.A.T or any type of special forces. Where I am going with this is, I figure obtaining skill in operating weapons is certainly a good start if I were to ever pursue my aspirations of these careers. Above all else, I want to feel comfortable that I can at least hold my own in life or death situations.
The plan at this time is to spend some time putting rounds down and hone my skills, buy a nice gun and obtain my Conceal Carry certification. Whether or not I ever pursue a relative career path, I want to be able to perform in combat situations efficiently. At least I already have a strong background in hand to hand combat.
Updates to be posted at a later time. I have plenty of work to put in at the gym tomorrow so I ought to make my way to bed now.
Sean
Posted in General | no comments
Posted about 1 year ago
Well my first blog of 2009 is going to be a great one! All Linux enthusiasts and supporters should read on! Long story short and getting up to the point, I wanted a nice networked printer for the home. Since all computers are going through a switch including the wireless router, everyone would be able to print to the same printer, without messing around with sharing it on a computer. So I start shopping around a bit, and surprisingly didn’t think much of Linux support. I suppose the main reason for this is that I have now used a slew of cheap HP, Brother and Lexmark printers on Linux without any issues.
Meet my nemesis of December 2008, Kodak! I was at the nearest Best Buy browsing the printers. To my misfortune so was a Kodak sales representative. Please understand that I am not much for typical sales people. Anyway this guy wasn’t so bad but still had that unlikable edge to him. Enough about that, let me get on to the bigger issue. Basically Kodak does not support Linux, no drivers are provided or schematics released to the Linux community. Ok, I am going to jump around some here. Here is an overview of my conversation with the representative, mind you I tried to represent the Linux community with some dignity by not cursing his company!
Me: I’m almost sold on Kodak’s printers, ink cartridge standardization, low printing costs. Now, I don’t expect you to necessarily know this, but do you know whether or not Kodak has support for Linux.
Representative: To be honest I don’t know, but I don’t think so.
I buy the printer available, something I normally wouldn’t do but in hopes that maybe Kodak will change and realize Linux is not the evil cult that it has been labeled as. Now, Best Buy did not have in stock the model I originally wanted but a step down yet. The Kodak representative clearly stated to me, more than once the only features lost are the wireless and double-sided printing. Maybe I expect too much but in my mind this was ok. I don’t NEED wireless, I only NEED wired networking. Which took five minutes to explain in the very beginning. That conversation went like this:
Me: I am looking for a printer that has a NIC in the back.
Representative: You want wireless.
Me: No, wireless is good, but I really want a network connection you know cat-5.
Representative: Oh, printers don’t have serial connections anymore.
Me: (thinking oh my, what is it going to take! so I start using other means of communication like using my hands to simulate a network cable)
Representative: Oh, ethernet!
Me: (BINGO! Ok, do you need a break now? Or can I continue?)
Ok, sorry about that rant! Now we are back to where I was a moron and actually bought this thing! So I get home, unpack it all load the cartridges yada, yada. I soon realize there is nothing but a mere USB connection in the rear. I was not terribly upset as I should have payed more attention anyway whatever, so I go back and return the damn thing! It must have been a blessing from Tux, because I suddenly realized how I had betrayed all of my beliefs. Kodaks gooney is still hovering around, so I walk up to him and with a massive smile announce that I bought a Kodak printer, and had brought it back then my reasons as you can imagine. I again breached the subject of Linux support this is the juicy part people, listen up!
Me: I just can’t buy something that doesn’t have Linux support, otherwise I would be sold on Kodaks printers.
Representative: I’m sorry to hear that. Do other manufacturers support Linux?
Me: Yes, matter of fact some even distribute their own drivers and support, while others release their schematics so the community may develop its own drivers. (I just dropped some big names I knew worked HP, Lexmark, Brother).
Representative: Oh I see. Well, to be honest you are the first person who has asked me about Linux. I’m sure if it was that popular Kodak would support it, but obviously not enough people to use it for us to bother.
Me: Completely dumbfounded at this great mass of ignorance in front of me. But I sense that it will get worse so I stick around!
Representative: We won’t release our information to the Linux community until there is more security that our information won’t be released to our competitors and the rest of the world. If we release our ink technology to the Linux community, everyone could then duplicate it…
Me: At this point I stopped listening because I realized there was no hope but then I did inform him. Not only was he completely incorrect and probably misinformed that there is not enough demand for Linux. Who told this poor guy anything about giving our their super secret ink technology.
Ok enough of all that! Let me just finish that part of this massive blog off with, I will not buy ANYTHING Kodak until they open up their eyes, oh yeah and get out of bed with Microsoft!
Relative Links:
Kodak’s Official Version Of Why They Do Not Supply Drivers For Linux
Linux drivers for kodak 5100 printer
kodak printer driver
Ok, let me talk about positive things now! Well as long as the subject is Linux! Long story short, I bought an HP Photosmart C6380 AiO from the same Best Buy for $200, well OfficeMax had it for $159 so I price matched. So far I am thrilled with it. I set it all up on the wireless, booted up my laptop running Xubuntu 8.04 (now using Gnome). Went into the printer configration, searched for printers, oh! What do you know it found a HP Photosmart C6380, connected installed its own driver, and I was printing just like that. Of course I then ran another cat-5 down to the switch, and now everyone is printing! Really though, talking strictly printer, putting my Linux fanboy attitude aside. I am happy with the printer. I will save an in depth opinion on it for later after I have really used it through and through.
Coming to a close here, the website design will soon change drastically, which is what I’m going to work on now!
Sean
Posted in General, Linux, Tech | no comments
Posted about 1 year ago
My family and I are going down to a cabin in West Virginia for Christmas. I will be back on Monday. I am very excited, the place looks really nice. I went out and bought a nice knife and compass. If I’ve learned anything from the survival shows I’ve watched having a knife and knowing which direction your going is vital in any situation. Doing a different routine for Christmas will be a really nice time. I enjoy spending time with my grandparents and extended family but doing it every single year…it is just nice to do something different.
Hopefully being away from this area and out in the mountains will give me a chance to rid myself of some baggage I have been carrying for far too long now. Though I’m still convinced I will carry it for life, but maybe that is my problem.
Anyway, whats been going on with me recently? Hrmmm nothing really special. I bought a membership at the Massillon Recreation Center. I have a 3-month deal just to get me through the harsh part of the winter. My lungs don’t like the cold too much, which is too bad because I seem to have a love for brutal workouts and nothing beats the freezing cold. I have been listening to a lot of Staind lately which may not be the best thing for me.
Well, I am going to go watch a movie, I think I’m due to watch Snatch again. I wish all of you a merry Christmas! If you can afford please donate to a charity that properly serves the needy! Also, please pray for our soldiers fighting in the big sandbox. At least thats what my buddy calls it, he is one of a few friends of mine that are now in Iraq. Lebron James can piss off, our troops are the real heroes and should be embraced.
Merry Christmas All
Sean
Posted in General | no comments
Posted about 1 year ago
Once again its been sometime since my last blog. Between the website move, work and website updates I haven’t got around to writing. I did just upload most of the photos that were up though.
As of the moment things are pretty much the same. Although, that will soon change and I will be carrying a much heavier load. I recently bought new music, an album titled Finding Forever by Common, which is a rap-jazz, sort of story telling. I really like the album, I believe it is a best of Common, so it includes some of his older material which I seem to like better.
So I’ve only made it into December and I already miss having my heavy bag in the garage. I’m in desperate need of a brutal heavy bag session, or better yet a good sparring session. Shadowboxing doesn’t do much for me and I honestly have never done enough of it. I remember years ago in the gym Hasaan would always give me a rough time about shadowboxing. He was such a riot, another friend from the gym I’ll never forget. Hopefully I decide to go to Akron to finish school and I can revisit my past there at Good Shephards boxing gym.
I need to wrap this one up, I need to get to sleep at a decent time tonight. I have a long day tomorrow including Christmas shopping. I think I might go get a bowl of cereal and then some ice-cream, watch a movie and go to sleep. After of course I slip in my usual dose of exercise, call me an addict…whatever.
Sean
Posted in General, Boxing, Music | no comments
Posted about 1 year ago
I see its been almost a full week since I wrote anything, not that anyone is really reading yet. Anyway there is very good reason for this. Nobody died, I'm not sick or anything. I did however buy Fallout 3, and have been playing as if it is earning me money or something. The game is really amazing, it isn't too harsh on hardware requirements either. So I have been playing that a lot and haven't really touched anything on this site or the code for it. I did add RSS feeds before buying the game though :).
I am taking a break tonight however, I am going to work on some code for another half hour or so. I have just added RedCloth to the mix. I did use FCKEditor before, but all it did was piss me off. Its not really meant for people who know HTML well.
I am also hoping to squeeze in time after finishing this blog to do some SEO for the site which I haven't done any of yet. Also on the task list is some controller caching, that way at least some of that is done once my SEO earns me some traffic!
As far as whats going on in my personal life, nothing has changed much lately. Since winter is arriving I have been lifting in my room more, and trying to pack on a few pounds, while still keeping my hands fast and muscles toned. Trying to sell junk to make some cash and open up space. Thats about it!
Back to the code!
Sean
Posted in Website, General, Tech, Games | no comments
Posted about 1 year ago
The title says it all! Please excuse any typos and neglect of: proper english, formatting or anything you would expect in a decent writing. It is 6:27AM and I feel like I am about to keel over. On a lighter note I have made a bit of overhaul for the better on the site. Please do comment and let me know your thoughts. Don’t hold back I’m a programmer not a designer and I’m known for having thick skin so you won’t hurt my feelings.
Aside from hanging out and watching the free UFC with my friends, tonight sort of sucked. I was anticipating the Pavlik vs. Hopkins fight for weeks now and was no less than unprepared. None of the usual spots around town were ordering the event! Neither myself or anyone I know were going to order the event. Then Pavlik lost to polish off the night. Not that I’m dissatisfied to see Hopkins win, I am also a huge fan of Hopkins…he’s just not from Ohio!!! I still look forward to watching the fight for FREE next week! I think it will be re-aired on HBO but I could be wrong about the HBO part.
I did have a good workout today. I don’t know how far I ran but I’d estimate a good 3 miles. I expect my shins to be throbbing tomorrow. The inner side of my left ankle has also been giving me problems and I haven’t been able to shake that yet either. Hopefully I’ll get some shoe inserts and my running form straightened out so I can run further and more often soon.
I’m just going to go to bed now, as I forsee a very short day tomorrow as far as being awake and competent. Then Monday morning MORE PROGRAMMING wooooooohoooo!
Going to go pass out
Sean
Posted in Website, General, Boxing, Tech | no comments
