General Stuff – Andrew the Hopeless Techie

General Stuff

Andrew the Hopeless Techie > General Stuff

Entries about nothing in particular instead they are just general entries

Inspiration for new content?

March 10, 2021 0 Comments

For several years since having this blog, I have added content ranging from Life updates to my take on Linux distributions, as you may have noticed my frequency with which this content is updated is unpredictable at best. My goal from the start was always to just post what was on my mind and hope others found it somewhat interesting, the reality it seems is much more complex than I originally anticipated. So the new focus was on trying to bring my point of view (for what it’s worth) on things around me (I.E politics, technology, and so on), but this to was problematic as the internet became flooded with people who have much more valued opinions then Myself. It became clear the only way to continue to use this platform for anything other than a stream of consciousness for my mind was to find new and interesting ideas, this is where offshoots like the Category 5 fan blog came from, however, due to time constraints I was not able to see shows live and it became near impossible to keep that site up and a full-time job.

So I am turning to what few people actually come across this blog for ideas, I have an accompanying forum thread which I would prefer suggestions be made as this allows for searching and archival of responses a bit better than the comment system here. I am getting ahead of myself however and will get back to that bit more later, for now, I want to throw out a few ideas and get your take on them as well as any original ideas you might have.

Idea number 1: Continue to try and post about my experiences with Linux or Windows and try to give an honest down to earth view point on both of those areas. I would try to do at least 1 if not 2 or more blog entries a week on this topic and try to really drill down my point of view, I enjoy using both Linux and Windows and this would give me an option to engage more in those areas. The draw back to this idea (at least on my intial view of it) is that things may be to opinionated and sometimes seem less informative and more reaching for content.

Idea number 2: Treat this as more a day in the Life kind of blog and just write about my experiences through the day this would generate genraly smaller posts but more of them typicaly one a day, the content would be very opinionated as it would essentialy be a stream of conciousness of my thoughts for the day on things I have done. While this idea seems to be the one to generate the most content to me it also seems to be the one that would also generate the most drama related to people with differing opinions. Its not my first choice and regardless of what direction i end up taking this blog key events and things i deem noteworth will get mentioned anyway this just would generate much more content in between chunks people may find interesting (I live a largely uninterasting normal life ).

Idead number 3: I am not going to lie this one might be my least favorite option and generate the most controversy among readers. I would scour the news sites and technology sites and try to give a run down of whats going on and my thoughts on these things once a week. It would kind of be like a week in review, only instead of focusing on one topic it would encompass all aspects that affect me from Politics to Technology. I have views on both of those that may not sit well with some people but I am willing to share my thoughts on the topics I find through out the week, I want to make it cear however this would likely generate the most negative push back from people specificaly those politicaly opposed to my view points.

Well, there you have it those are my 3 ideas I am open to additional ideas as well and would love your guy’s feedback on which you prefer if any from the 3 above. I am not expecting a huge response from this but I thought I would put it out there because I myself and not really sure which direction I want to go. Again please use the forum thread to discuss this topic so we can get better content filtering for this. Normally I am all for using the comments system here but given the interaction I want to give to this discussion, I feel a Forum thread more appropriate for this. Click Here to go to the Forum Thread

General Stuff, Writting

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New Forum System and Updates

April 27, 2020 0 Comments

Well, now that I have finally gotten my site back up I figured let’s start utilizing it more, for this reason, I have added forum allowing you to have conversations with myself or other subscribers.

You should be able to log in on the forums using a number of different platforms. I only ask that you please use the same login if you return for future logins. Instead of making several different accounts. If you want to visit them you can click the link at the top of this page or click here

Enough about the forums though what has been up with me aside from the site issues? Well not to get too personal with my life but, I have recently lost my job and now I am looking to expand my job prospects and even considering some self-employment options. I will spare you the details on this as it is likely not something most care about however, this means I should be able to post more frequently and hopefully get this blog back up to speed.

In General I now have alot more time to think about what to do with my life now that I am once again looking for work, looking optimisticaly this could potientialy be a good thing down the road and I plan to do my best to make it one.

More things are planned for this site coming up and while I am not quite to where I am ready to share them yet, it hopefully will be what this site needs to spring back to life. I welcome any suggestions you might have leave them in the forums (link at the top of the page) and I promise to give them the attention they deserve.

Well thats it for now a short update I know but hopefully I will have more to share soon that will be a bit more lengthy. In the meantime stay safe and keep flattening the curve.

General Stuff

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Website back Up

April 26, 2020 0 Comments

As some of you may or maynot have been aware I had a bit of trouble with PHP and gettting wordpress to work, I have since fixed this issue with the help of my hosting provider and this site should work as normal again.

Thank you for sticking with me if you tried to visit during this time things should go a lot smoother now. More content to come very soon.

General Stuff

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Fragmented Viewing – Streaming Service Nightmares

November 24, 2019 0 Comments

Some groundwork being Laid

It is no secret that the world of entertainment consumption changes to keep up with the times, after all, Netflix disrupted the established norm for home viewing and essentially killed (or took part in killing) established norms like Blockbuster Video. With that knowledge should it come as any surprise that Netflix is in turn being disrupted by niche streaming services? I am getting ahead of myself though so let me start at the beginning.

For years after the rise of giant Netflix companies have tried to tobble the giant by making their own version of an true digital experience for consuming content. Out of all the competitors, the biggest ones to gain any kind of foothold were Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. However, none of them offered direct competition as the content providers for these services oftentimes would license content to all 3 streaming service.

Netflix was not always the streaming giant that it is now though, once upon a time they were a DVD mailing service one Blockbuster I am sure saw little to no threat from. It was not until Netflix decided to focus a majority of its time and resources into becoming the Streaming service it is now that Blockbuster started to worry and subsequently would relent to. Sure they tried to stay relevant by starting their own DVD mailing service for a while, ultimately it failed resulting in a void in the home entertainment market.

Hulu came about as a way to allow traditional Television networks to host their content in a digital platform without maintaining their own Digital infrastructure, something which at the time was largely needed. Over time both Netflix and Hulu branched out and began making their own content in an effort to stay relevant as Networks were now experimenting with VOD platforms allowing their shows to be viewed a week sometimes a day after it aired on TV. Amazon, of course, followed suit with their own original content and so the start of the digital entertainment empire began.

Now for several years we got Netflix and Amazon basically dishing out tons of original content while continuing to make digital access to other studios content easier for the masses. Hulu would occasionally release an original series but had nowhere near as much success as the two giants in the new emerging industry. As the studios watched the success of these three main entries into the Digital space they secretly began to make plans that would result in the eventual creation of several streaming services specific to their IP (Intellectual Property).

Rise of studio-specific streaming services

It started slow of course and oftentimes free, as we got services like CW Seed, a streaming service that was add supported but allowed old shows WB and the CW had either abandon or canceled to be revived in a digital format for consumption. Over time they started adding old movies as well and toyed with small run animated series that were based on their popular tv shows like The Flash and Arrow.

As time went on the larger studios behind the characters in these shows began to see the benefit of an online presence that was unique. Slowly rumors of things like DC Universe and Disney Plus became more frequent, eventually resulting in those services becoming reality. Each service offered something that you could not get from the giants like Amazon or Netflix, such as digital forms of comic books or concept art included with your subscription to these services. DC Universe, for example, offers access to most of their DC-related movies and content (with the exception of stuff they have licensed out like The Flash tv show which ironically is on CW which is part of DC) as well as a huge backlog of comic books in digital form free of charge to those who subscribe to the service.

For a while these services were not as disruptive as they might have seemed at first glance, enter Disney Plus. Disney Plus, however, was disruptive before it even launched just the idea of it coming caused concern among fans that content related to Disney IP would be pulled from existing platforms such as Netflix in favor of their own service. By this point shows like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones were popular on Netflix as they were Netflix original creations but the characters belonged to Marvel which was purchased by Disney.

You may be able to see where this is going, after a few years Disney pulled the plug on a lot of their licensing deals with 3rd parties such as Netflix quietly preparing for the giant that would become Disney Plus. Shows that we as fans had grown to love (or hate depending on your views on the later seasons) were canceled and pulled from Netflix and no explanation was officially given while the general consicous was Disney Plus. This went further than Netflix however, shows that were slated to be made were later canceled for again mysterious purposes, shows like the Ghost Rider series that was supposed to launch on Hulu starring Gabriel Luna’s version of the character as first shown on Agents of Shield.

Again Disney stays quiet on the reasoning for this not wanting to admit what fans had suspected (though we have not been able to confirm), Disney Plus! All of this is happening and Disney Plus is still a year or so away from launching, it is having this much of a polarizing effect and it is not even launched yet at this point. Fast forward to November 12th, 2019, Disney Plus is unleashed on the world. So far it has been everything Disney claimed it would be allowing access to almost all of their IP including several Animated Classics. The Launch did not go without its own issues however but that is beyond the scope of this post.

Around this time we have started getting what I call Micro streaming services starting up by the premium TV channel companies like HBO and Starz. These are all at first welcomed additions as it allows people who have canceled their cable to watch content originally only viewable through these channels. However lately they have branched out into a separate streaming service altogether (different from the one you purchase to watch shows online from the actual channels) such as HBO Now.

Content goes Service Jumping

Now, this is where it gets confusing and frankly irritating, Content platforms such as DC Universe (a paid service remember) start offloading their shows to other streaming services! I am not a huge business guy so I am sure from some weird marketing/Business perspective this makes sense, however, Taking a show such as the Doom Patrol (exclusive to DC Universe well for season 1 anyway) and moving it off one paid streaming service to another new paid streaming service for season 2 is well insane. DC wants you to buy their service to watch the first season of this show and then pay HBO for their service to watch season 2, while this is the only show I know of to do this so far it may not be the last.

In a similar fashion but not quite as annoying, is the new show set to start airing in Q2 of 2020 Stargirl. This show will premier on DC Universe but the next day shows up on the CW like its cousins The Flash, Supergirl and the like. This does not bother me quite as much as it allows for those who may not want to pay to see it on DC Universe the chance to see it on the CW, what is kind of annoying about this is it dilutes the benefit of having paid for DC Universe. Sure there is other content that makes the subscription worth it to people however if this kind of movement becomes a trend it would be both a blessing and curse, It would help those who can not afford the service but weaken the reasons behind continuing to pay for the subscription.

Closing Thoughts

All of this is my roundabout way of saying that the sheer number of streaming services that are rising up can end up making the decision to cut the cord with cable and go online only more expensive than just sticking with cable. As more and more studios launch their own streaming services places like Netflix will become more of a collection of random movies no one needs or really ever wants to see or maybe will result in more original content.

I welcome a few streaming services but when my list of subscription services (or potential ones) becomes longer than 3-5 then, in my opinion, there is an issue. Until someone comes up with a way to pay one Reasonable subscription fee and gain access to all these streaming services I may just have to limit our households to 3.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the above? Let me know below let us start a real conversation about where you think Digital content consumption is going.

The above comments are my own personal opinions and should not be taken as the way everyone looks at the situation. I encourage you to do your own research and make your own opinions.

Full Disclosure for the sake of transparency, I currently subscribe to Hulu, DC Universe, Disney Plus and Netflix. I have access to a few streaming services like HBO and Showtime that came with my cable subscription, I do not subscribe to HBO Now or any other similar micro streaming service.

General, General Stuff, Shows

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Legion

June 15, 2018 0 Comments

WARNING: the below contains spoilers for the FX series Legion if you have not watched it be warned plot points will be talked about below a few paragraphs into the article.

I have to admit most new tv these days is becoming less and less interesting as it becomes more watered down for the P.C (Politically Correct) crowd. Increasingly it follows a more cookie-cutter approach to the plot that is often predictable and in the end boring.

Even with this approach some shows still grab my interest, Arrow, Flash, Super-girl just to name a few. Also, I do enjoy a few non-traditional shows ones I call mold-breakers like Doctor Who for example. Another example of a mold-breaking show and the one this article is about is called Legion on FX here in the states (not sure the partner channels in other countries).

From the beginning, this show has intrigued me and at times confused me with its very non-linear perspective and narrative. While the show has just wrapped season 2 and one would assume has begun planning/shooting season 3, it still has an amazing story that keeps you interested from day one and always leaves you wanting to know just what is going. When it finally reveals what is happening, it only leaves you with more questions.

Season 2 was the embodiment of this with its constant time jump showing future Sid contradicting what past Sid was doing/saying. This coupled with the increasingly confusing relationship of Amahl Farouk (A.K.A the shadow king) to David, at times it’s a fatherly feeling relationship at other times its a nemesis feeling relationship.

The season focused on two points early on, where David had Disappeared to at the end of Season 1 and his true motives for wanting to find Farouk’s Body. Consistently they show future Sid throughout the first part of the season warning David that regardless of what her past self-states Amahl needs to be revived in an effort to help solve some crisis in the future, purposely being vague with David it creates a sense of mystery about her true motives.

Slowly, you begin to question just weather David is a good guy (spoiler alert if you read the comics he does go evil for a bit), David himself has no doubts about his intentions and very much views himself as the victim. If you have watched season 1 you as the viewer might start sympathizing with David, this is by design and part of the genius about how this series is written.

When writing a multi-dimensional character like David that also happens to have multiple personalities, its I imagine would be most difficult to show which person is the core or true personality. For Season 1 we see him struggle with Farouk trying to control him and later we see him struggling with his fractured mind trying to retain control of himself. With a being as powerful as David, violate his trust or betray him and it is possible for him to become a serious threat. This is what brings me to the meat of this article his ultimate arc through the season and the place he was left at the end.

Leading up to the Finale we witness his friends start to question his true motives and become guarded, Eventually leading to their betrayal of his trust which as mentioned above is not the best option regarding a being this powerful. To be fair David does some questionable and very bad things in the last episode, however, the fallout of that to me seems a bit out of place.

After his battle with Farouk he is threatened by Sid who then tries to kill him, he then tries to erase her memory and proceeds to rape her. Again, this is a horrible act by David and should be dealt with, what does not make sense is that in the next few scenes, David is put on trial by Sid and the entire Division 3 crew. Sid, the person who just hours ago tried to kill David is not trying to reason with him claiming his act of rape and future acts he has not yet committed justify their actions. The rape I get he should be punished for that but judging him on future crimes is a bit extreme, couple that with the fact that the entire season was about finding and destroying Farouk’s Body, they are now allies against David.

Somehow, the entire body of people who he thought his friends are not judging him on events he has not yet committed all the while ignoring that one of them tried to kill him just hours ago. Eventually, try to explain his actions and tells them he is a good person. They apparently feel pity for him but do not believe him so they suggest the one thing that they feel would help Medication and treatment, basically putting him back in the asylum.

This angers him and he makes one final plea to them to reconsider, thinking they have the upper hand they refuse. He then succumbs to the inner demons (his alternate more violent personality), Tells them they had their chance and begins to shake the building to break the barrier holding him. He is successful in his escape and leaves his former friends with the knowledge knowing they basically created the version of David they feared from the videos they received from the future.

Here is where I think the writing is brilliant, in trying to prevent David from becoming what they fear he will become they end up making him that version of himself. What I mean by this is by removing his support system (whether they realize it or not) and making it appear his friends had turned on him especially Sid who he loved, they ended up paying the way for his darker half to take control and begin his reign of torment which undoubtedly will be the premise of season 3. Whether Division 3 realizes this at first is not clear but from my perspective, everything they did to him coupled with what Farouk did to him has to lead him to this. It also was not helpful to have the one person he hates most in the world, the one who in essence killed his sister being there trying to justify their actions against him.

So, while the events may not have played out the exact same way they did in Future Sid’s timeline, he ultimately ended up in the same place. Also, the entire reason she started to suspect him was the way he was acting which they viewed as different, this was a direct result of Future Sid kidnapping him and making him swear not to reveal where he was. If you watch Doctor Who you undoubtedly know the term bootstrap paradox, this is very reminiscent of that by trying to warn past David what Future David would become she set in motion the events that would make David become what she feared in the future.

This leaves me with the question, if Future Sid had not interfered in the past would David still become the monster he is portrayed as in the future? It’s unclear whether this is the case, or even if the thought occurred to current day Sid and company after David disappeared.

I could go on and on but this again is why I love this show it makes you think and keeps you guessing it breaks the mold most shows use nowadays and I love it. What did you guys think of the finale or Legion, in general, is it as intriguing to you guys as it was to me?

General, General Stuff, Shows

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Netflix – Is it killing traditional Television?

March 3, 2018 0 Comments

We all have at one point or another turned on the TV and clicked through channels trying to find something interesting to watch, however fewer of the young generation remember what it was like when we only had 30 some channels or even when you had to get your tv through an antenna which would oftentimes cause the channels to not be as clear as they could be.

When cable was introduced it caused a paradigm shift that most people ended up adopting to the point that you would be lucky if you found anyone who still used Antenna based television by itself usually this would be paired with Satellite TV or cable. Eventually, TV became flooded with channels and suddenly you had tons of content to watch, the only question was what did you want to watch.

As time went on Over the air tv became even less common and was really only ever seen in rural communities where cable was not yet available. However, with all those channels people can access now we began having a different problem, suddenly there was nothing on! This is of course a false statement but one which again most of us have said, we have become so used to instant content that it no longer matters that we have hundreds of channels instead of just 30 or less.

Now in 2018 we are facing the blunt of another paradigm shift one in which cable is becoming more scarce and instant content platforms such as Netflix are taking center stage. When you can get most of the popular tv series and movies by using a combination of services that compliment each other, like Netflix and Hulu for example, it causes that feeling that nothing is on even more when you do click through your cable channels.

This movement to instant content has been a long time coming and really has been gaining speed since high speed internet has become more affordable. As internet speeds continue to increase, content will become even more readily available and thus the cycle will continue. This shift to me is much faster than the one from Over the Air TV as there are way more avenues to explore then when cable was introduced and the fact that most houses can  ironically use the same wiring they previously used to watch TV to get internet.

I am curious as to weather we will see the death of Traditional television in my lifetime, people are already joining the movement that has been coined Cable Cutting in an effort to reduce monthly bills is generally the instant content providers are free or cost a very reasonable monthly fee when compared to that of most cable companies.

Netflix being the king among content providers as of the time I am writing this article in March of 2018 , its a fair question to ask “Is Netflix killing traditional TV?” . In my opinion I think it is but its dying a slow death one in which we may not see the actualization of for several more years to come.

These are just my observations, I am curious what you guys think on this subject let me know.

 

General Stuff, Shows

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Christianity is becoming less forgiving and persecuting

June 3, 2015 0 Comments

Well I am going to do something I almost never do, talk about religion! Now before you leave this post thinking “great this is going to be another rant about God and how the world is going to hell”, Just wait its not that kind of post.

My whole life I have been raised to believe that God was the creator of all things and that we as his servants are supposed to be kind and help our fellow man (or woman). What I see in the news lately, however is proving disappointing and at times has made me question whether I am right to still call myself a Christian! Let me explain this a bit more so its not taken out of context, I am still a believer in God and Jesus, I just feel the word Christian has come to mean persecuting bigot instead of loving and helpful.

Now what I am about to say may offend some people (if I have not already done so), however that is not my intention, I mean only to explain why I feel things have changed and why I feel dirty when I call myself a Christian now. Lets start with the good things that have happened and go from there shall we?

New Pope elected

On March 13th 2013 Pope Francis began his Papacy, during his first few years things changed drastically in the church! Laws that were dated and sexist began to disappear and you saw the church as being more forgiving and kind then it had in years.

He was quickly known as the merciful Pope encouraging people to seek Mercy as much as possible just like Jesus did. Well without getting to preachy here it ended up making waves some good some bad he had views on Gay and Lesbian couples that most Catholic people would cringe at and accepted them as part of the church (in the sense that they are Christian not a part of the clergy) not caring how they chose to live their personal life.

War against anything not “Christian silently begins”

Which brings me to the bad, people began to set their sights on Gay and Lesbian couples throwing biblical passage after biblical passage at them to prove what they were doing was wrong.

While there is no passage in the bible that specifically states anything against gay or lesbians or trans or whatever other group people fall into. Sure you can interpret the passage about marriage being between a man and a woman as meaning that anything else would be a sin, the point however is that it is not specifically mentioned as a sin or a evil deed.

Now I am not saying you have to accept that what Gay or lesbians do as being acceptable, what I am saying is that they are people just like you or I and persecuting them for a part of their lifestyle is the same as saying you’re going to Hell because you wore plaid on a Sunday!

If you do not agree with their lifestyle choice, deal with it, it is their choice after all not yours! You would think this would be the only point of contention here but you would be mistaken.

Fast forward a few years and you get the current drama as it unfolds; USA Politicians in two states are trying to force religion on people blaming the entirety of our nations faults on the lack of spiritual education! Now I am neither a pastor nor a Politician, but look at less religious countries like England (yes they have religion but it is not as strong as it once was) that get along just fine without forcing religion on their people!

They also come to defense of Child molesters trying to say that the reason people have an issue with what Josh Duggar did (for example) is because he is anti-gay! I mean really I would like to think that most people have more common sense then this. I am not going to go on a political rant ethier as that is not the point of this blog post, the point is to show that religion specifically Christianity has become more about persecuting those who do not share your views then welcoming them with open arms and trying to enjoy life. There will be times when you do not agree with someone in life but does this mean you point a stick at them and tell them they are going to die in the pits of hell due to a life choice they made?

Lets take a quick stroll into US history shall we, During the 50’s Blacks and Whites were segregated and even the church tried saying that God hates Blacks and that is why they must be treated as such. Of course this was a small few but it gained enough momentum that businesses could deny service based on skin color! We have evolved past that and made laws preventing this kind of thing, however religion is not starting to put those walls up again! Maybe not in the same fashion as blacks and whites still are equal but now religion becomes the variable in which we choose to hide behind.

Several US businesses run by Christians refuse to serve Gay and Lesbian couples, or even Islamic or other religions just because they do not agree with either their life choice or religion! Now correct me if I am wrong but is this not the same thing we did in the 50’s to Blacks? You do not need to agree with the choices people make weather it is religion or a life choice to provide goods and services to them, at least this is how things used to be. As people become more and more focused on this way of thinking Christian becomes a word that means violent bigot who refuses to see reason and I do not want to be one of those people.

Full disclosure I am not gay but I do support gay rights as well as freedom of religion, I believe our country is supposed to honor freedom and not persecution. So you tell me am I wrong in thinking that the word Christian is slowly become more known with cruel segregationist (religion and life style) that will persecute you so much as look at you if your not thinking exactly what they are, or am I way off base?

I welcome comments I just ask you to first stop and think long and hard at how Religion has influenced the changes lately and while trying to keep a objectionable frame of mind respond letting me know what you think.

Remember Christianity is supposed to be about forgiveness and helping others not tearing them down because they are different then you!

General Stuff

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I am almost 6 months employed!

January 19, 2014 0 Comments

I am going to give you guys an quick update on what has been happening lately. Hopefully my next entry will be a bit longer then this one

 

Work

Its hard to believe but I have not had a job for around six months (January 22 2014 will be 6 months exactly), Its been good to be employed again though I wish I was full time and making a little more then I am now but I will take what I can get.

I work for a company Called Meijer in their photo department, for those of you who may not have heard of Meijer they are similar to a Walmart in the way they are setup however, unlike Walmart they are not nationwide.

General stuff

In an effort to try and simplify things I re-arranged my living room so that we do not have as much stuff taken up by my huge desk. It will take some time getting used to the added space after having my desk consume most of the living room. All in all its just nice to have a change of things from time to time down here.

Well I know this Blog is short but I do not have a whole lot to say this time around. However stay tuned my next blog is going to be my review on Fedora 20  and some other thoughts on where gaming in Linux is going and what I feel the inevitable outcome will be.

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Update: July 6, 2013

July 6, 2013 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, a lot has changed since last time I updated it. Hopefully, this post will serve as an abridged update for the past several months.

School

As many of you reading this are aware I was enrolled in a college for several years pursuing a bachelors degree and network administration, however with some of you may not be aware of is that I was unable to finish my education. I was however extremely close to finishing my degree, that is until I ran out of financial aid and was forced to withdraw with only three classes remaining.

One of the three classes I had left was a summary class basically re-encapsulating everything I learned up to that point, the other two were actually new classes. I had a measly $3500 left my tuition before my financial aid ran out, unable to raise these funds in the given amount of time I had, there was no other alternative but to withdraw.

Concerned with all the money that I had spent thus far, and my education being for nothing, I inquired about whether or not, I would be able to pick up why I left off should I raise the necessary funds. The response I got was not very reassuring, whether or not I’ll be able to pick up and only take the three classes I was lacking would be dependent on when I would be able to return and how much the program would have changed since I was last enrolled.

Should the degree program have changed drastically since the last time I enrolled, then I will be forced to start the program all over again as if I had just started. This would mean that basically all the money I had spent from student loans on my education would have been wasted, not to mention the new student loans I would have to take to start the program over again. So for me the faster I can raise the necessary funds to take those last three classes, the better chance they have of continuing the program I started.

Employment

Sadly, my employment situation has not fared much better than my education situation.

I have filled out several applications every week from places that are known like Lowes to places less known like mom and pop locations, where the issue comes in for me I think is the gaps of unemployment I have. Now, I am sure a lot of you out there have had times when you were not able to work for long periods of time weather for reasons could or could not control, in this case it is largely out of my control.

Originally I took time off from work to help with my Father in law during his fight with cancer, while I have held jobs here and there during this time, I largely went unemployed. When my daughter was born things changed, I was needed more at home to help raise our daughter and at the time this was doable. We were living in my In-laws house so that we could be there 24/7 should my Father in law need the assistance, it was not until he passed that it became clear one if not both of us needed work badly.

There was some financial things that come with the death of a loved one that hit my Mother in law hard both emotionally and finically, these I will not bother to go in depth on as they are rather personal, but I will say it hammered the point home just how much we needed our own place and work.

At this time I was still in school and rounding the half way mark to what I thought was my ultimate destination of a degree, I managed to work out a deal with family and friends to help us stay afloat while I finished out my degree and could get a career, all the while still looking for work on my own.

This brings us to last summer (2012) when I received the notification that my financial aid was exhausted and that if I wanted to finish my degree it would cost me $3500! Having borrowed money and relied on friends and family to a degree that I felt uncomfortable with I declined to pursue help from them at first. I tried to find other ways to get the funds to make up this small amount of cash, in the end I swallowed my pride and asked for assistance, but much to my expectation was denied both from friends and family.

I felt like we had exhausted that avenue with the money we borrowed already (mostly from family very little if any from friends), so I re-focused my efforts to looking for work full time. I am still not employed but I refuse to give up, I have a desire to work and provide for my family, if only given the chance to do so I would be the best I could be to my employer.

I will continue to look for work and hopefully soon will find some.

Books

I can name only a few things I can do that let me escape the stresses I have in life currently, one of the things I do when I get a chance is read. I have been slowly reading the Steve Jobs Biography lately and while I am only half way through it (I like to read but I can not read an entire book in one sitting), I really enjoy seeing this side of a man so many looked up to for inspiration.

I admit I do not read nearly as much as I would like, but when I do I usually sit for hours reading digitized books on my Android Kindle app. Terry Brooks is one of my favorite sci-fi authors by far and recently I find myself going back and re-reading the first series of books I ever read from him. I still to this day enjoy every page I read, the ironic thing is that this man used to be a Lawyer someone notorious for writing documents in such jargon that only another Lawyer could understand.

Gaming

Its not to hard to imagine that with my given situation that gaming, or playing new games would be hard to do. While I have not personally bought any game recently (aside from Shadowrun Returns), I was given a slew of games for free from AMD recently just for being on their newsletter!

Ultimately if I can not play a game I tend to enjoy watching others play a game I can not afford so I can get a sort of feel for the game without having to shell out that much money on it. I find it just as enjoyable at times and its a lot cheaper then shelling out $60 for the game Smile

I did re-install a game I bought some time ago, Fable 3, in an effort to try and get my mind off a lot of what has been going on lately. I forgot how much I enjoyed this game, its very easy to loose track of time when playing something like this so I usually will only play it late at night when our daughter has gone to bed so I can get a few hours to myself.

Additionally I had in the past pre-ordered several games which I forgot about until they were released and I got emails telling me as such. Some of these are Mass Effect 3, Starcraft 3 Heart of the Swarm and even further back Diablo 3. I am a huge RPG fan have been since the days of Dragon Warrior on the Nintendo, I remember Joe (older brother) and myself playing that game for hours and admiring the graphics and game play! Now when I go back and play it on an emulator (I own the actual game cartridge so its not stealing as it was bought when released), I must say slipping back into that game was a real joy, it reminded me of my childhood.

Well that is about it for this update I know it all sounds like rambling and may not make the workings of a good article, but then again it’s a blog entry so I am sure those interested enough in my life to read it will not mind Winking smile

Books, General Stuff, Other

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I can see the finish line! Schools almost over!

July 11, 2011 0 Comments

Was looking at my remaining portion garments for my degree recently and realized that if I continue on track at the pace that I’m currently going I will be graduating in May 2012! This is huge as it will provide me with the opportunity to get a career and be able to better provide for my family.

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now I’ve been struggling for quite a while with trying to find a job, this degree may be just what the doctor ordered. I’ll be lying if I I wasn’t a little bit nervous and a little scared going into the last part of my degree, not so much because of what I’ll find out, or even what I’ll do (which mind you. Isn’t that bad can be a network administrator after all). No it’s more to do with the fact that I just have this gut feeling. My first job out of the gate will be so overwhelming and I will feel like I don’t know anything with regards to my duties and requirements of the position.

While people say all the time that going into a new career is a bit scary you never really appreciate that fact until you’re close to entering yourself. Upon receiving my degree I will be the first person in my immediate family other than my father to have a college degree! My grandfather had a college degree but unfortunately he’s gone now and out of the living family members in my immediate family (excluding family by marriage members) only my father has a college education. Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not like our families are stupid, actually it’s quite the opposite.

My younger brother chose to pursue his music career instead of going to college and my older brother has several certifications in different areas he just lacks an official college degree.

A lot of people reading this might think that people graduate from college all of the time. So why would this be that big of deal? The answer is that ever since I graduated from high school. I have attended some form of college. However, due to my dyslexia I struggled a great deal in many of those schools so often I would finish my education in an effort to save money. However, in doing so I burned through a little bit of money was set aside when I was younger to assist with paying for college. It wasn’t until many years later that I decided to go back to college. This time I decided to try an online college so that I will be able to work my classes around my family and a job provided that I actually was able to get one. While having to rely on myself for getting assignments in on time without the constant nagging that one may receive the traditional college I realized that I can do this and so, through a combination of student loans and other financial aid. I enrolled at Kaplan University or am currently going to school for network administration.

What makes this so interesting to me is that even despite my ADD and my dyslexia I am actually closer to achieving a goal I set for myself in high school. Without somebody constantly being there to draw my attention back to school work. I can only hope that when I finally graduate in May that I’m able to land a job in my career field fairly quickly and begin at 32 what I set out to accomplish at 17.

Currently however, my hurdles are a lot closer to academia then to my attention span, microeconomics is the bane of my existence, and yet it is necessary in order for me to graduate is much as I try to understand this class and I’m confusing myself more than clearing things up for myself. I guess my mind is just not able to wrap around the deeper concepts that come with economics whether the macro or micro economics.

It’s funny I look back at the very first major I held at the very first college I went to " Business Administration". What’s so funny about this to me is the fact that I know absolutely nothing about business nor did I have a desire to learn anything about business. I wasn’t planning on becoming a businessman nor did I plan to choose any field required Detailed knowledge about business. No, what I originally wanted to do but was advised against was psychology and so when I snapped out of my daze and realized that business administration was not the right major for me. I switched to psychology, only to find that equally as disturbing and at times increasingly difficult. To this day however I still would love to be a psychologist or psychiatrist I enjoy talking things through with people and have been told that I’m a fairly good judge of character, both of which are qualities needed in a psychologist or psychiatrist. Computers however, at the time was not even a thought in my mind, but the more I use them, the more I found I wanted to learn and so begin my obsession with technology and computers.

And now I’m on the verge of having a bachelors degree in network administration, and it feels good, but also scary. I thirst for knowledge. When it comes to computers, it seems to be unquenchable however, and so I’m constantly trying new things. This was the reason for me toying around with Linux and the primary reason I stumbled across Fedora and many other distributions. I still can’t hold a candle to half the people I met the use Linux is much as I love Linux. I still know almost nothing about it. In my free time to be able to learn more about it has been very limited as of late. I’m hoping that once I graduate from college. I can devote more time to exploring the interest and who knows maybe one day I might even be able to contribute some of what I’ve learned back to the Linux community.

Well that’s good, do it for this blog post. Thank you for listening to my rant or reading it, rather. Comments are welcome. Feel free to leave them below. Tell me what you think. Have your experiences mirrored mine at all?

Computers, Fedora, General Stuff, Linux

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