Lets Bolt!

Disclaimer: This isn't a story I would normally post on my blog, but a co-worker talked me into it. I tried to censor it as much as possible. Its probably somewhere around a PG-13 right now.

A couple weeks ago my girlfriend and I went out with a bunch of friends to a local bar. Since we live really close to one of the other couples that was going out we offered to drive.

We got to the bar and drank, drank, drank. We had a blast. Well with one exception. A girl that was with us claimed to see one of her ex-boyfriends. They have a colored past, and she quickly started bringing everyone else down. We all started to ignore her, and the fun continued.

At 1:30am the party started breaking up as parts of our group started to head for home. We decided it was also time for us to leave as well. We paid our tab (~$57) and hit the road. On the way home I got a sudden uncontrollable craving for White Castle.

A plan was suddenly put into play. We'll pick up whities, and eat them at the couples house. We had to drop them off any way, so what the hell. It sounds harmless.

We get to their house and pulled into their driveway. Suddenly out of nowhere from the back seat I hear the phrase, "We should go have sex in the same room". What!?! Surly this guy is drunk, and was just kidding around. I let it slide.

We go into their house. My girlfriend, and the other girl head upstairs for some reason, me and the other guy went downstairs to the TV room with the food. This guy likes to show off his toys so we started watching his high-def channels on his plasma TV. Yeah, that's cool. I have one too. I'm not that impressed.

I looked down to grab one of my burgers. I get it out of the box, take a bite, look back up, and what do I see on the TV but some muscle bound Latin dude giving it to a couple blond chicks with very large whoo-has. Now I'm not one to complain about seeing porn, but when I'm watching with another drunk guy I get a little worried. That, plus the comment that came from the back seat earlier, made me a little edgy.

I immediately start looking for my girlfriend. Where the hell is she? Was she being mis-handled by some leather bound freak they have caged up in their closet?

He goes on to say that he has this porn channel because his dad likes to watch it. They tried to cancel it, but his dad got pissed.

I finally hear my girlfriend coming down the steps with the other girl. Whew. Meanwhile the porn is still on the TV. My girlfriend sees the porn and gives me a look that translated to "what the hell is going on". I give her the same look back. She sits next to me and we start to communicate through looks and nudges. We silently decided we both needed to get the hell out of there, and quick. We both didn't like where this was headed.

"Oh crap, look at the time!" GONE.

After we leave I learn that my girlfriend was getting a tour of their porn collection. Apparently they have a collection that will rival most adult video stores. Crazy. Next time I'm not driving anybody to or from a bar.

The Move to Open Source

For a while now I've wanted to rebuild my Windows PC and load only open source software on it. I have a FreeBSD box already, so I'm somewhat familiar with the open source alternatives.

Thanksgiving week was the perfect time for me to start my project. I have a 9 day weekend, and the apartment to myself. I set off by backing up my data and begin to format and reload.

I wanted to use Windows XP as the OS simply because I'm not the only one that uses this PC and I don't feel like confusing anybody. I will only use open source software as an alternative to popular expensive applications like MS Office, and Photoshop.

Here is a list of the software I would normally install, and its open-source replacement.

• Microsoft Office: Open Office
  
• Adobe Photoshop: GIMP
• Internet Explorer: Firefox (Firefox is already my default browser)
• McAfee Antivirus: ClamWin Antivirus
• Visual Studio 2003: #Develop
• Notepad: Notepad2
• Nero 7 Ultra: Nero 7 Ultra (I have yet to find a suitable replacement)
• Winzip: 7zip
• Outlook: Gmail & Sunbird(Nothing beats Gmails web interface.)
  

That's my main list. Of course there are other smaller programs I use for odd jobs, but there is no real point in listing those. These applications will build a suitable home office PC.

So far my experience has been a good one. Every thing I could do before I can do now. There is a little learning curve, as there is with any new software, but I'm a quick study.

There has only been a couple issues that have either pushed me to use a non open source solution, or have made me consider it. 1) ClamWin Antivirus does not offer an on access scan engine. I have seriously considered loading McAfee and dropping ClamWin. Instead, I have scheduled multiple virus scans to kick off at certain times during the day. I will see how this works, and at the first infection I will probably go back to McAfee. 2) There is no open source replacement for Nero. I've looked. I've found some freeware alternatives, but no open source. (If you find one, let me know.)

Here are some links to help you find other open source alternatives for windows.

• The Open CD
• Wikipedia
  

The Ultimate Cage Match

Yesterday I got into a nice little scrape with my girlfriend.

Her: Hey baby, come here. I'm gonna spray this on your face.
Me: No, what is it?
Her: It cleans and refreshes your face.
Me: I just got out of the shower, my face is already clean.
Her: Come here, and close your eyes.
Me: No, I don't want...

She then sprays it in my face with out warning. I was standing by the closet door when the attack ensued, so I quickly jumped in and closed the door. The mysterious liquid was now burning my eyes, and giving me a bitter taste in my mouth. My attacker was still pursuing me, determined to "clean my face".

I jumped out of the closet, grabbed the bottle, and chucked it across the room.

That probably wasn't the best course of action in hind sight, but it worked in a pinch. Now the problem was the trail of liquid spewing from the wake of the bottle as it traveled across our bedroom. I looked down and noticed the nozzle of the bottle was still in my attackers hand. I looked back up and saw our liquid soaked bed, dresser, carpet, and wall. Uh oh.

Me: Who's gonna clean up this mess?

Sony's DRM Rootkit Removal Software is Evil?

Yet more interesting news on the whole Sony DRM rootkit. Looks like their uninstaller is not up to par. Go figure.

At least the gaming community has put it to good use.

My DVD is in the Mail

I finally broke down and signed up for netflix today. I have a couple friends using it and they all seem to like it. Apparently it only takes 3 days for you to send back your old DVD and receive the new one. That's pretty fast considering what has to take place in between.

I just joined and have yet to receive any movies, and I'm already impressed with their service. My favorite feature so far is their recommendations page. The first time you access this page they ask you to rate some popular movies, ask you what your favorite genres are, and then determine which movies you will like. It's super accurate. They have recommended all of my favorite movies. What's more, this list is available via rss.

Each recommended movie is rated using a 5 star system based on how well they think you would like it. Its very helpful when looking up some more obscure titles.

They also allow you create logins for your family members, and determine what kind of movies they will be able to add to your queue.

I think this service will end up being one of those "how did I live without it" type things. I can't wait to get my first movie, which by the way, is already in the mail.

Sony is Going to Try and Clean Up Their Mess

In my last post I mentioned the fact that Sony is using rootkits to protect their cds from being copied. Now they realized what they did was wrong and are offering software to clean up the mess, well at least "unhide" it anyway.

Um, yeah. I'd clean it up manually before I would ever trust any of their software to do the job.