In reading the latest Coding Horror post, “Why Can’t Programmers.. Program?”, I started to wonder… what are some good questions to ask people who are interviewing for the kind of work I do?
I know there’s a handful of you out there who have worked with me in the past… Any suggestions?
It’s about time!
Even though I’m sticking with it for the long-haul, I’m happy to report that AMD finally bumped back up (if only briefly) to the price I bought it at. I took a screenshot of it just to prove it :)
Still is far from sellable… and it’s mostly just a random hiccup, I’m sure, but it’s a step in the right direction, for sure. I definitely am in agreement with Stefan about it, though… There’s no real chance of it being profitable this year. Still, though… for the moment, I’m happy.
[Update – 1pm: It seems that the jump in stock price may be a result of rumors of a buyout. If it’s true, it may result in some nice cash for me. If it’s just a rumor, I guess the stock prices will be headed back down…]
Took most of the day, but I have my Ubuntu install renamed, joined to the domain, and hosting the wiki that my box used to run. It was interesting transferring my settings and the database over from Windows XP to Ubuntu, but it’s pretty much an identical copy now. There’s only one file or two that I didn’t bother copying over, but those were modified PHP files that had some special handling that, ultimately, I probably don’t need in production anymore.
I need to play with authentication a bit more later and make sure that it’s able to send emails and whatnot, but — overall — it’s been a success.
Anyone know if MS Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server Tools work in WINE? That would be pimp. No biggie if it doesn’t, though, I’m still ok with dual-booting on my main box for now.
Next on my list:
I finally am running Kubuntu at the office. I realized Stu’s computer has just been sitting there not doing anything ever since he left, so I figured now is as good of a time as any to put it to use.
I was blown away by how simple the installation was. I remember installing early versions of Red Hat back in the day nearly all via command line.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all without snags… Not the fault of the OS, however. I spent about two hours trying to get network connectivity — only to discover the system had a non-standard setup which was causing the problem. The integrated NIC was fried (but didn’t act it). An add-in NIC was installed, but I didn’t see it when I originally set up the box. So…. yeah…. Definitely an excercise in futility.
Once the networking part got squared away, though, everything went by smoothly. I installed MediaWiki and am slowly trying to move the data off of my existing system over to this one. After that’s moved over, I’ll no longer have anything dependant on my system, so I can go ahead and do whatever I want to that (probably dual-boot Ubuntu and Vista).
I’m still trying to get used to it, though. It’s been years since I’m messed around with a *nix system. Stuff like having to use “sudo” for commands is still a bit foreign to me, but it’s still fun. I think between getting more comfortable with Ubuntu and Vista will get me a bit more interested with some of these new projects.
I’m still not quite at the point of wanting to upgrade to Vista at home, though.
I have over two dozen domain names by now. And as of tonight, a new one has been added.
AmishPC.com
Still need to make content for it, but whatever…
I also plan on making some “Amish PC” tech support workshirts for myself at some point.
I jokingly told a buddy of mine I wanted a storefront where people could buy parts… but everything would be made of sticks, rocks, etc. He gave me a buncha’ grief because it is supposed to be AmishPC — not CavemanPC. Hehe. For the record, CavemanPC.com is actually registered by someone… and it isn’t me. Go figure.
So… yeah…. I need a hobby. ;-)
Maybe if I associate myself with “Amish PC” enough, people will stop asking me to help with their computerized ghosts of Christmas Past. The days of Windows 98 and dialup-modem troubleshooting are essentially over, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much. Being designated The Computer Guy can making things a bit interesting sometimes. But whatever…. comes with the territory, I guess. That being said, I have to remember to call my aunt tomorrow. She’s left a couple voicemails for me over the weekend. Rumor has it, it’s about a Windows 98 pc with dialup-modem issues….
[UPDATE: As of April 2007, I sold this domain for about $500. Wild. Guess I’m not the only one with odd taste in domain names]