If its any sign of the state of Open Source software, I un-installed my copy of Microsoft Office XP last night and am drafting this very post with a free and perfectly legal copy of OpenOffice.org. It’s not perfect and lacks a bit of the functionality of Microsoft Office, but the benefits by far outweigh the penalties which are few and far between.
Looks like there may be some hope on the new apartment horizon as I continue to look and rule out potential new homes. Last Sunday I checked out a 1 bedroom apartment in the top floor of a home built in the 1850s. It was quite a cozy place, which inside needed a bit of TLC. On the outside the place looked laughable. Paint peeling, weeds everywhere, spiderwebs and dirt on everything. I had driven past on Saturday to get a peek at the place and made half my decision to not rent it then. What set my decision in place? Inside, I would have to share the kitchen and dining room with the owner while she was there. I would have to walk through her part of the house to get to the upstairs loft. The bathroom did have a claw-foot bathtub but no shower equipment. For a house so old, it was quite modern with water filtration, radiant heat, upgraded appliances, etc… But for $750/mo plus utilities, I couldn’t justify having to share. Tack on the fact she broke a cardinal rule of making money in America…avoid politics. Now I wouldn’t mind that she appeared to be a Liberal tree-hugger college professor, but when out of the blue she broke into a short diatribe about wars and oil, I decided to get out.
A few days later when I called back to inform her I was not interested, she has asked why and for suggestions and that was when I outlined my reasoning. Now mind you IF the apartment had a private entrance, was cut off from the rest of the house, and had its own kitchen, I would have given it stronger consideration. The whole political commentary didn’t help. Now mind you, I can handle a hearty debate of ideas, but a home is a haven from all things…or it should be. If I had to go home every night and in the process of winding down have to face the blind political black hole Leftist thought, I’d be tempted to commit myself. Sure, I know some of you are thinking “well she has a right to say what she wants†and you would be right. However, as of yet there is no controlling legal authority which says she has a right to be heard, or that I have to listen. I check my politics at the blog.
This site and its sister domain Banginwednesday.com will be down for maintenance in a few hours… I’m removing the HUGE heatsink and fan from my system which requires me to pull out all peripherals including the mainboard to unbolt it. It cools the system quite a bit, unnecessarily so…it didn’t get that hot with the stock one on. It’s also fucking loud and I’m a bit tired of hearing it. L8r.
