Time Out
I had to give Elle a time out a little bit ago. She was throwing paper at Tiger (our cat) in a mean way. When I confronted her, she yelled at me. I picked her up and took her to her room and made her sit down (and thus cry) four a measly minute and a half. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. When the minute and a half was over I told her in a very calm manor that she had to be nice to Tiger, and we both walked out of the room. I went back to the computer and the Aoen Flux movie trailer. Elle ran in to mom screaming her head off and loads of crocodile tears. Nat wasn't buying it. Elle is quite the attention hog. I've noticed the time out structure kind of works. It is better than popping her in the butt, but it still doesn't stop her from doing stupid stuff. I have a lot to learn.

Linux update
Just for the heck of it I installed a new mouse pointer theme that mimics Mac pointers. I don't particularly like mat pointers, but I wanted to do it to learn how. I also got my old Sony Clie working with jPilot. The trick is you have to start the palm sync first, then kick off the desktop. I added Pimsleur Spanish MP3s to my MP3 player. That was a no brainer because I plugged it in and it worked. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm quite proud of myself. I should be proud of the Ubuntu folks. They created a situation where a user like me could get so much done.
Check out the links below for Ubuntu and general Linux information.

Switchers Is Ubuntu for You? Ubuntu Terminology Ubuntu Forums - Absolute Beginner Talk OSDir.com - Screenshots Free Ubunut Linux CDs - Shipit | Download Ubuntu - HowToGetHelp Documentation Team Bahamut - Ubuntu Document Storage Facility Ubuntu FAQ Guide Customization Breezy Customization Guide David Martin's - Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) How-To Ubuntu Forums - Customization Tips & Tricks HowTo - Sound Community Ubuntu Forums Official Ubuntu User Email List Ubuntu support via Internet Relay Chat (IRC) GUI Tweaks Gnome Art FAQ (How to change icons, themes, etc) Ubuntu Gallery - User submitted screenshots Gnome Art Gnome-Look gDesklets deviantART - Wallpaper and skins Freshmeat - Themes Hat tip: Blogs of War

This is the guy who got me to look at Ubuntu in the first place. He seems keep up on the topic.

Portable, low maintenance energy

What if you had a power unit that generated substantial electrical energy with no fuel? What if it were so rugged that you could parachute it out of an airplane? What if it were so easy to set up that two people could have it running in just a few hours? ... SkyBuilt Power Inc. has begun building electricity-generating units fueled mostly by solar and wind energy. The units, which use a battery backup system when the sun is down and the wind is calm, are designed to run for years with little maintenance. Depending upon its configuration, SkyBuilt's Mobile Power Station (MPS) can generate up to 150 kilowatts of electricity, says David Muchow, the firm's president and CEO. That's enough to power an emergency operations center, an Army field kitchen, or a small medical facility. ... It works this way: Parts for each Skybuilt unit are packed into standard-size shipping containers. The containers, specially modified and strengthened, can be moved by ship, truck, train, or even dropped by a laser-guided parachute to the most remote location. Once on-site, the container is opened, and arms and poles are attached to the outside to hold solar cells and wind turbines. A prototype built here in Arlington has been running steadily for more than a year without repairs or maintenance. Christian Science Monitor

So, this thing is the size of a tractor trailer. It is designed to put out 150 kilowatts max. That is enough to run a couple of houses. What is the one thing that has happened to ALL technology in the history of mankind? It has gotten smaller and cheaper on a daily basis. I picture a day when they build these things into the attic of the house. I mean, why would I be bothered about a couple of panels or a windmill on the roof if it is the norm in the neighborhood?
You know, nothing says we have to buy electricity at all. Nothing says we have to hook to the grid. I daydream of a house on a hill with panels on the roof and a well for water. We live our lives attached to a phone tower far away or a satellite. We  eat as much as we can off the land. The world knows we are here. We know he world. We are just happier in the woods, away from so many others.
I have been waiting for years for a better battery, or a better generator. The thing that will free us from so many wires and so many monthly bills.. This is one tool. fuel-cell phone batteries are another step. A tinny turbine engine for running electronics has been tested. There is a battery charging pad that you lay your devices on (no plug) to charge. I know the researchers that be, are feverishly looking for materials that will hold more energy for longer shelf times. The trouble with bottling up energy is that it wants to achieve a state of balance, in other words, explode.
I like self powered devices like the old windup flashlights and the like. I've recently looked at generators just for the hell of it. I remember someone designing a pair of shoes that charged a phone while you walked, but I cannot Google it. Now, they have drop-anywhere solar panels. Not too shabby. "shiiiiinyyyyy" as they say.

Family Adventures
Email # 1

Hi All Ron is in Cabo San Lucas, the transmission went out on the boat about 85 miles north of Cabo on Wednesday Night, he then had the adventure of his life and by the grace of God he and the crew survived.  It's his story to tell and I'll not take the time now.  His email address is <ZZZ@ZZZ.com>.  He will be in Cabo until the transmission is fixed and then will take the boat on to La Paz.  I don't know if that is days or could be weeks.  I'm staying at Kerri's house in Long Beach and Boomer and I are doing fine. I'm still recovering from the shock of what happened and I hope and pray he decides to give this up. Love ya Judi

Well, I got on the stick and emailed her back with something to the effect "WTF happened?!?" Or maybe it was more like "Our prayers are with you as always. What happened?"
Email # 2

They ran into a storm, 15-20 knot winds, no engine, couldn't use the sails in that high of seas.  Waves 12-15 feet high.  One of the crew called the Mexican Navy and lied about being sick, they came out and took him off the boat but couldn't help Ron.  That left Ron with 2 crew.  They finally made Cabo and anchored at night in the fog, one of the crew fell asleep on watch and they drug anchor 9 miles back out to sea.  Finally had to be rescued by the Mexican Navy, seas were so rough, a large fishing boat finally went out to bring them in. One crew member was a diabetic and he had run out of meds and was going in and out of trances, the other a green sailor (he's the one who fell asleep on watch).  I guess Ron had made peace with God and said goodbye to everyone in his prayers.  It is a miracle they made it out alive...I'm still trying to figure out what he thinks is so great about this.  Thanks for the prayers Judi

I'm still hurting for details. It kind of reminds me of the movie Captain Ron. All my Uncle needs in an eye patch. I will try to give some more details if they come up. It definitely sounds like someone in my family is having the real kind of adventures.

Big Brother (continued)

People think that if the government is going to "spy" on them that there is some great big machine named "WOPR" that is recording everything they do. That is simply not the case. The government is made up of people just like you and me who have no interest in the mundane details of your life. That said, I don't want people poking their nose in my business. It's more the principle of the thing, not the actual thing itself. I know, I kinda went round and round on this response -- but so did you. :)

The above comment is from a dear friend of mine  Let's say, that he know what he is talking about. The "WOPR" comment comes from the movie War Games. Will the symbolism in that movie never end? If it were a big machine keeping watch over me, I don't think I would have a problem with so much information sitting around. The trouble is, it is people who get the information. I understand all too well the frailties and vulnerabilities of humans. Nobody has a problem with security cameras until it is their twelve year old daughter being watched by some forty three year old security guard who still lives in his parent's basement. That is when I want a little bit of control over the situation.

XBox 360
I'm glad I didn't buy into this train wreck. There are a bunch of stores out there about crashes and over heating power supplies. I don't much like the $499 price tag either. MS still looses money each box. They make it up on the games and rights. I don't play enough games, or watch enough TV to make this thing worth while. I'm just old I suppose. I want something that works. I want something that has at least been tested not to burn my house down.

Big Brother is Watching

"We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional] hearing," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview. Wyden has since persuaded lawmakers to change the legislation, attached to the fiscal 2006 intelligence authorization bill, to address some of his concerns, but he still believes hearings should be held. Among the changes was the elimination of a provision to let Defense Intelligence Agency officers hide the fact that they work for the government when they approach people who are possible sources of intelligence in the United States. Washington Post

I'm getting board with this whole right to privacy thing. The powers that be have skirted around it so much that it really doesn't mean anything any more. We should decide as a nation whether or not we want it any more. It ends up getting in the way of law and not protecting any one but the criminals anyway. I give up.
Next, we should consider getting rid of the first amendment so people like me can't bitch about things like our rights anymore. What do you think?

Ubuntu (continued)
Well, I got mp3s to play. It involved installing GStreamer0.8-Lame as a module. After that, GXime would play mp3s fine, including streams from web pages.
Most of the movies play in Totem as long as I don't attempt to fast forward.
Flash works, except there is no sound. A bunch of stuff works half-assed.
I had to try about five different RSS aggregaters before I found one that only kind of sucks. They all worked, but one would not support categories. Another would not allow copy and paste. There were things missing in every single programs including the one I went with called Liferea Reader.
For reading out loud, I use Kttsmgr. It seems to require the generic screen reader and magnifier system from Ubuntu to work. It takes about twice as long to get used to as the others I've tried in the MS world. I suppose it is just the "voice" I chose, but I would swayer it has an Irish accent.
I'm still working on burning DVDs. I did get the NTFS partition mounted read only. I've heard there are ways to mount it read write, but I'm not that interested. Once I get those files burned, I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep that partition.
More to come later.

Saturday after Thanksgiving
Bill picked Elle up at around noon. I've been sitting in front of the computer daydreaming and reading blogs. I wish I had something wonderful to say. I wish I had some news to tell. Nat is asleep at 3:00 in the afternoon. She was up all night reading her book by flashlight. She says she read until she collapsed. We are broke, but I still think we should hit the movies or something tonight. We need some fun while we have the babysitter.
Wish us luck.

Ubuntu
So, Ubuntu is the Linux I settled on. It is just easier to use and makes sense from the user's stand point. My previous complaint was about Apache server hiding in the configuration somewhere, but I've found it and it appears to be up and running. It had something to do with hitting "advanced" in the add programs application. I also complained about most codec systems not installing properly. I found the GStreamer libraries. They seem to work with at least older versions of DivX and XviD. I can play file MP3s now, but streams like Radio Paradise still don't get off the ground. It is all on my end. I had it working on the test hard drive. Give me time.
Let's see, I have the following stuff at least kind of working.
* VNC.
* Apache (www).
* FTP.
* Accessibility (reading to me).
* Mozilla Composer with spell checker.
* Some Media support.
I have not yet tried DVD burning or the like.
It is all going well actually. I've never had this much stuff working in Linux before. Only a little part of that statement has anything to do with my learning how to get things done. If I really knew what was going on, I bet I could get the vast majority of programs working under this OS with the exception of Games designed specifically for Windows.
Convert today.

Thanksgiving
No pictures. I’m just not in the mood. We got up and came over to my parent’s place for dinner. Most of the discussions have centered around Elle. She is at that Terrible Two stage. She constantly craves attention if only to tell you to go away and try to take over everything you are doing. “What’s that?” “What’s that?” “What’s that?” “What’s that?” “What’s that?” “What’s that?” All while pointing at the same thing that you just defined three minutes ago. She wants to eat. She wants to get up and go play. She called me Daddy this morning and then went in and pointed to Ted’s picture and asked “who is that?” I told her that was her dad. She is starting to show some confusion on the issue.
Dinner was great. It seemed short while trying to maneuver Elle around. Now, I’m in the computer room at my parent’s place typing away in Word tapping away while Nat and Elle play behind me. My mom is cleaning the kitchen. My dad is out in the garage doing something. My friends are all with their families as far as I know.

Pictures
I have a ton of pictures up from the last weekend of The Texas Renaissance Festival. I'm looking in to changing my frame set for the page to allow me to load specific images with the surrounding frames in place. Right now, if I link to an HTML file that contains a picture, only that HTML page comes up. There is no link back to my home page. It would be much easier to just ad a link to the template that points there, but that is now the proper way of doing it.

Natalie gets a cookie
Natalie has been annoyed enough by my "misspelling" of the word Fair when referring to the Texas Renaissance Festival. I vowed to spell the word as "fare" until a source could be found to prove that the spelling all the web sites have is the proper way of spelling the word in the given circumstances. Well It is a French spelling. as in laissez-faire or savoir-fare. She found it in more than one place.
I will, from this point forward, as long as I remember, and baring dementia, spell term used as an abbreviation for TRF as "Faire". Thanks Sweetie.

Last Weekend of Fair
I have got to figure out a way to write blog entries at fair. Ken has a laptop with an internet connection, but I feel like I'm imposing for some reason. He would smack me in the back of the had if he read that. (when he reads it) I just know I would be in the truck for hours trying to publish everything and missing more cool things to blog about. Oh,well, maybe I'll invest in one of those industrial closed laptops that can be flung from a truck without a scratch. (not)
I was not prepared for the attitude of last weekend. I had heard people discuss the days like it was a separate event from the rest of the fair. It was not a continuous Animal House or Frat party or anything. It was a bunch of people from all over the place drinking a lot of alcohol and all acting rather nice to each other. Jen nearly had to beat some guy's ass for swiping a bunch of sodas out of a cooler. Fortunately, a stern warning that we will in fact call the cops was all that was needed. It's funny that people don't know cops patrol out there. That was about the worst thing that happened that I remember off hand. One guy was carried into the camp by a young woman who was quite a bit smaller than he was. We thought he had alcohol poisoning for a minute, but he was sorted out as just being very drunk. One of the guys bought about $200 worth of boos. He had five different flavors of Rum. I'm not a big pineapple fan, but that was the best rum, barely over taking the vanilla.
I was late to work this morning. I was not hung over. Somehow, I had messed up the setting of the alarm. I must have messed with it at some point because it was not set for any coherent time. The Sun woke me. I'm like "crap!" Nat is like "What?" I'm like "The Sun is up." She is like "oops." Well my day went OK for being two hours late to work. I still managed to put in a full day.
Tons of pictures, trying new things, rebate first
I took a ton of pictures, but I have promised myself that I will not put them up until I do a certain rebate's paperwork. I refuse to let the bastards get my $20. I refrained from taking the real camera until this weekend because it is such a distraction while walking around. I do enjoy it so. Nat was an angel and supported my habit while we went from place to place. She forgave me for wondering off and stepping on her toes when I was moving around without looking to get that "perfect" shot that was just out of frame, or just a bit too close. If I ever jump off a cliff, look for the camera nearby that I was looking through when I stumbled off the precipice.
I was trying to do a bunch of semi-candid portrait shots this time around. Most of the photographers who I have met a fair do an amazing job of catching emotion and that depth of being, that I'm lacking. I'm not too bad at framing a shot and getting it recognizable. I have not found the magic that lets me reflect the sole yet. I'm quite sure that about five of the four hundred or so I took are pretty good. I'm going to go through them at length and weed out the really horrible ones, so stay tuned.
There were a bunch of politics this season at Fair. I'm sure those of you who go to the event are saying "Welcome to camp, Kelly." I'm just not used to all that stuff. Having been a loner for so long, this he said - she said stuff is getting on my nerves. I need to grow a thicker skin and learn who to listen to a bit better.
Words learned this year at fair
Fuck-Tard - More politically correct form of retard.
Prosti-tot - When a very young girl with too much chest for her own good dresses like a whore because she thinks it will get her attention.
Fair-bookers - The black kryptonite one removes from the upper respiratory system after camping at fair. Brought on by the dust stirred up by all the fuck-tards who didn't read the rules about open fires. Added are the sea of tiki-torches, Colman lanterns, propane heaters, propane stoves, propane showers, exhaust from generators, cars, RVs and general human wofts that occur in such a gathering.

Linux
I've touted using Linux. I've bitched about getting things to work in Linux. I'm switching back to Ubuntu because I found some fare documentation for getting other software working in Ubuntu. I know Apache 2 can be installed on the desktop version of Ubuntu. I'm just slow to take it on. I don't trust my own skills. The documentation above makes it look pretty straight forward. I definitely like the feel of Ubuntu better and it is not just KDE verses Gnome. The community is more user oriented. I remember the Red Hat forums. They expected you to know your shit before you got there. That spawned LinuxNewbie.org, now JustLinux. I've referred to their teaching a couple of hundred times while setting up SSH, FTP, HTTP, VNC and SMB. I never have set up an email server  because I prefer web based email services like gmail.
When I ask people why they refuse to consider Linux, they usually answer by saying Linux doesn't support XYZ application. I tell them, first XYZ doesn't support Linux. Second, is there a different application that does the same thing on Linux? If not, how important is it to getting a day's work done? Saying XYZ doesn't work in Linux is a bit like saying "I can't put my Ford rims on a Toyota, so I'm not going to get a Toyota." They make rims for Toyotas, why will they not work? With the exception of specific games, there is most likely an alternative program in Linux to cover most tasks.
That is, with the one huge exception. Intuit Quicken is the one program that people mention as a show-stopper for conversion. There are money management programs that will import and export Quicken information and have some of the functionality of Quicken that run just fine on Linux. As far as I know, Quicken has no intention of porting Quicken or any of it's products to Linux at this time. Hey, their loss. You can run Quicken on Linux using Wine. Wine will not run a bunch of software. Games are notorious for requiring more than Wine provides. I'll get a PS2/3. The PlayStation uses a Linux/Unix based kernel. I hear you can get a simulator for games on a Linux box.

Weekend
Nat and I are headed out to Fair this weekend. it is the last weekend. I hear there is a pretty good party out at the camp grounds. It's been a ton of fun at Fair this year. I've taken some good pictures, gotten married, met some nice folks, met some pricks.
It is going to be cold. Hopefully It is going to be dry. It will most likely be fun. I want to take my real camera this time and catch some portraits. I'm inspired by all those folks who took pictures in or around our wedding. We are going to use our own tent. It has no insulation or anything. We will have to keep each other warm.
Next week is Thanks Giving. When did this sneak up on me? We are headed over to my parent's place for dinner. I have no idea what is going on for Christmas. We are bound to split up our time. That kind of thing is normal for us married folks. =]
I wonder if a friend of ours will have a new baby by Christmas 2006. They are trying to adopt right now. I have no idea how long these things take. They have been doing all kinds of cools stuff getting ready. Check out his blog.

Where do I sign up?

"The strongest push-back against Massachusetts' effort to institute open, non-proprietary document formats has come from the accessibility community, who claim that Open-Source desktop software lags behind Windows; and thus that a transition to Open Document will amount to discrimination against the blind and those with other disabilities. This is serious stuff. Peter Korn, who's an Accessibility Architect at Sun, has written a massive piece that provides a general introduction to the subject, a discussion of how Open Source is doing on the the accessibility front (things could be worse, but they could be a lot better), and finally, a detailed look at the (interesting) history and (uncertain) future of these issues in Massachusetts. Anyone in Open Source who thinks they can ignore accessibility issues is probably wrong. Getting any younger? Eyes as good as they used to be? This is everybody's issue." SlashDot

I've just been complaining about the lack of accessibility in Linux. The SuSe install that I'm using right now has four entries under accessibility. Three entries are for keyboard modifications and one is for the frigging system bell. At least Ubuntu tried to make some things work. I was able to get Ubuntu to read to me, though I could not understand the words very well. There was a screen zoom function that I never did find once I installed it. If I could figure out how to get Apache and FTP to run under Ubuntu I would switch in a heart beat. I'm 100% sure it is doable. I just don't know how. I'm sure the accessibility stuff is doable in SuSe. Again, I just don't know how. In MS Windows it is "next ... next ... next" to get most of the accessibility stuff up and running. I don't have to worry about compatible C++ modules and compiler versions.

Rob

Rob was sporting some new footwear today. He had some surgery the day after our wedding, so he gets a pass on not showing up

Horsepower
I always wondered where the term horsepower came from. Does one horse have one horsepower? Well according to Wikipedia ...

The horsepower was first used by James Watt during a business venture where his steam engines replaced horses. It was defined that a horse can lift 33,000 pounds force with a speed of 1 foot per minute: 33,000 ft·lbf·min-1. This is sometimes called a mechanical horsepower to distinguish it from the other definitions of horsepower below. Wikipedia

Well, one question answered and then another question answered that I didn't even think to ask. Apparently the Watt came before the horsepower. Who knew? No one gave a shit until the steam engine came about. People just counted the number of horses required for a task and it was all done.

Bow before me!

Stewie Which Family Guy Character Are you? brought to you by Quizilla

I particularly agree with the movie where Stewie meets himself from the future and he is just the run of the mill geek who never conquered the world. As a matter of fact, he hasn't gotten laid. Yes, that sounds like me. Well, the old me.

Work
First day back to work in a while. It has been over a week. I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I only had a couple of voice mails and a couple of dozen emails. Most of them were junk anyway. I only missed one kind of important meeting. The vacation was good for me. I definitely feel like my batteries have been recharged.

Nat
Poor Nat is feeling all the stress of the wedding. She is under the weather. I've heard from friends that this is normal. Women seem to take a hit to the health after something that stressful. Men do too, but weddings are just not as stressful on men as it is women.

SuSe
I installed SuSe on a spare hard drive.  I got everything set up. I figured out where the HTTP server was and got it up and running. I figured out how to get the login to stop defaulting to  a user and let me log in properly. I even figured out how to set the static IP as I need. Then, something happened to the USB and I lost the mouse and keyboard. It would not let me log in at all. I could hit the keys just fine in the BI/OS to get to the login. I could hit control alt delete to make the machine reboot. I re-installed the OS on the update setting and nothing. I tried resetting the keyboard and mouse in the BI/OS. I tried running the recovery thing on the DVD. Nothing.  I had to start from scratch. I love the complete lack of accessibility in SuSe. Frigging Kraut OS.
I could not get Apache to work in Ubuntu. Apparently, I'm the only one in the world who has had problems. Ubuntu would not play MP3s either. I can't figure out how to get any of the video co-dec systems to work. All the screen shots of Linux show some movie playing in the background that terns out to be straight from a DVD or the like. This whole Linux for the desktop thing is a bunch of crap.
OK, I'm just grumpy. I'll keep trying.

Day
Let's see, our lantern is in with Ken's stuff. Our table is in Ronnie's Parent's RV. We had one of those cheap camping fold up chairs break out there. So far, we have gone through two of the small propane tanks. We got use out of our stuff. Nat and I were talking about going out today, but I don't think it is going to happen. It is 1:00 as I type. It is OK. I'm enjoying sitting here and spending time with her. If we go out tomorrow we still need to cut it short to get Elle back. I miss having Elle around. She has been with her grandfather for the honeymoon week. So far, the first week of marriage has been pretty cool. Come back and read more in a year or ten.

Wedding Site
I updated the list of pictures on my home page. The wedding has been well documented. I'm still waiting for Brian and a couple of others before the list of media is complete. The MPEG4 video files my father's camera took are not going to work. They refuse to convert to DivX. I'm just going without them for now. I'll figure them out later.
I also sent out an email with the current links. I intend to grab most of the pictures and make DVD for everyone.

Day
We put pictures together. Nat put the physical photos in books and collections. I put together links on the site. It was fun. We went on our Friday night out. We saw Jarhead. Not a bad flick. We of course saw it at the Alamo Draft House. It was Nat and I's first date as a married couple. It was nice. There were several marines in the audience so the "hura" that came out in the movie were well received.
We are about to watch Reality Bites because we had discussed the film earlier. I will grab some water or a glass of wine from the case that we have left after the wedding. A bunch of people said they were going to come and did not. I'm not sure why. We had over 150 people say they were coming. Many never showed because they assumed it was on Saturday and made Sunday plans. It turns out there was another wedding of a bunch of Rennys that all the Chaoss people went too so we lost most of them. We only found this out Sunday. We had food left over. We did a lousy job of predicting how many people would show. Oh, well. We have had our shot. We never got a practice run.

Honeymoon
Castle Avalon
We went to an amazing place for our honeymoon called Castle Avalon. It is awesome. I cannot say enough good things about it. They have many weddings there on the weekends. We were there on a Monday and Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning we met Stephanie. (We lost your email Stephanie. Please email me.) She served us breakfast and helped us check out. She was gracious enough to take us through the rest of the castle and let us take a bunch of pictures of the ballroom and the spiral staircase. It turns out she will be at Fair this weekend. Unfortunately we can't make it. That is too cool though. We are running in to all kinds of Fair people in the random places we go.
San Antonio Zoo
We kind of randomly ended up at the San Antonio Zoo. I took a million pictures. I ran out of room on my gig card and Nat took a bunch of pictures on her phone.
Natural Bridge Caverns
We went to Natural Bridge Caverns. It turns out to be right around the corner from Castle Avalon. It is 99% humidity in the caves so I did not take my camera under ground. I snapped a couple above though.
Wine Place
I'm not even sure what this place was called. It was one of the little vineyards tucked away in the hill country. This is not the place we bought wine. I didn't have the camera then. That was Dry Comal Creek. We took the tour and bought two bottles of wine. It was fun.

Professional Photographers
Dana's site Married to Kim.
Kim's site Married to Dana
Paul's site Paul is cool.
Roland's site He hasn't updated in a while.

Wedding Notes
OK, I put up some of the pictures. Please enjoy. If you have a collection of pictures from our wedding please get in touch (email to the right) and let me know. I can put them up on the picture site.


The place we got married.


The happy couple.


Elle was exceedingly cute the whole time.


Organization


The food

News
I have no idea were to begin.  How about the middle somewhere?
Nat and I got married. Everything was perfect. Nothing went wrong. The world stopped. The sun smiled. Then we both woke up. I suppose i could dwell on things that went wrong. Perhaps they make an event seem more important. We got married. We made it work. The good thing is that we were surrounded by friends and family. People seemed to have a good time. I only had to yell at one person for sitting in the wrong spot. I think it was my aunt from Pennsylvania. I hope she gets over it, but I'm not that worried. I wish I  could think every person who made a difference in the event, but every one made a difference.
Heath busted his hump to get the kitchen out there as a backup for the caterer. That was awesome of him. That is just the kind of guy he is. That is only one example. I think we managed to put some weight off on every single person who hangs out at Camp Safe Haven. Every one pitched in and made things go smoothly. Thanks.
The caterers were paid, so thinking them doesn't really count. The caterers don't have a web page or I would site them here. It was Todd Mission Grill.
All the bride's women and all the groom's men did a wonderful job.
I'll have a bunch of pictures up soon. They will come up in waves. I'm going to put my pictures as well as Bill and Sylvia's pictures up as soon as possible. Then will come Mikes and other private collections. Then will come any professionally links I can muster. please bare with me.
Anyway, pictures soon.

Good Times.
We are back. I'm about to put up the first set of pictures. Give me a moment. Check back later tonight and tomorrow.

Wedding Information

This post will stay at the top until the big day. 2005-11-06 11:30 AM.

Where; Texas Renaissance Festival (map) in the Wedding Chapel
When: November 6, 2005 at 11:30
Registered: Target, Foley's and The Knot.com.

Reception: There are two receptions. The one that came with the wedding package is inside Fare right after the wedding ceremony. Only the wedding party and immediate family are invited to this one. You know who you are already. The second reception is for whomever shows up in the campgrounds at 2:00 row 6. Look for the huge army tents and possibly strobe lights on a big pole. Ask for Camp Save Haven.

Dress Code: It is Fare. Dress comfortably. If you show up in jeans and a T-shirt you will not be turned away. Please try to be in garb if you can. It is just more fun that way. We want the event to be fun for everyone including those in the wedding.

What do I do?: Listen to the wedding coordinators. They will be on site and barking orders. If you received a yellow card that says "Kelly and Natalie .. Scholastic" pin it to your cloths. This will identify which wedding you belong to and people will help direct you to the proper place. Have fun, that is an order.

Links
Weather Forecast Nov. 6 2005: Sunday:Sunshine. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 40s.
Wedding Party Description
Texas Renaissance Festival
Clothing (garb) source: House of Dra

Test
The Ubuntu Linux trial run is going well so far. I installed the client side of the OS. It works great. I have it reading text aloud to me. I can zoom in the bits of the screen. I'm still using many of the same programs that I use on the MS side of the fence. This really looks nice. Got straight up on the network and installed a bunch of additional programs. No servers installed. I need the server though. I want to use my main machine as a backup in case my web server takes a dive again in the future. That means all the trouble I've just gone through was really just a learning experience. It needs video/audio codecs. Gmail works just fine. Blogger looks like it works so far too. I approve!!! Now to test the server install.

Citizenship Test

You Passed the US Citizenship Test Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Well, I got 3 out of 10 correct on the first try. Google got the rest. That counts, right!? Google is not cheating, it is fact checking.

Getting Married
Nat already took of for the camp site. She is going to try and mark off enough space for the reception Sunday. I have some things I need to get done Saturday. The best man and I intend to camp Saturday evening out at fair.
Tonight, however, I am a bachelor. Elle is with the grandparents. Nat is already out at fair preparing. I want to install Ubuntu Linux on one of my machines to try it out. Last night it kept giving me a "failed to unpack blah blah at the same point every time. I burned a new copy of the DVD. I don't think it is going to work. I'm kind of at a loss because SuSe did the exact same thing. Maybe it is the hard drive I'm installing too. Whatever. I'm not giving up that easy. I'm sure I'll post on my results.
I also need to charge batteries and change out the cat box tonight. I'll get around to it, I'm sure.

Joke

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for Classmates.com!  There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years.  It's because you don't particularly like them!  Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn. New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull.  People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili.  Hey, it cost less than a dollar.  What did you expect it to contain?  Trout?  Luckily, it was only a finger!  If it was a whole hand, Congress would have voted to keep it alive. New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blond teachers are permanently damaged.  I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards. New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're gay.  If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols.  If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men. New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone.  Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them?  OK, we're done. New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste  Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink  You want flavored water?  Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt.  That's your flavored water. New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people.  Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label.  And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue.  Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis. New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole.  If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one Nutrasweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole. New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual.  It's right above the crack of your ass.  And it translates to "beef with broccoli."  The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant.  You're not spiritual.  You're just high. New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport.  It's one of the seven deadly sins.  ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting.  What's next, competitive farting?  Oh wait. They're already doing that.  It's called "The Howard Stern Show." New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M.  If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two. New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens.  Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie. New Rule: No more gift registries.  You know, it used to be just for weddings.  Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab.  Picking up the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting. New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants.  After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael.  I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish.  I don't want to be on your web cam, dude.  I just want to wash my hands. New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months."  "He's two," will do just fine.  He's not a cheese  And I didn't care in the first place.

I don't agree with all of those. Some are funny thought. Besides, someone has to keep those whipper-snappers in line. If I'm not going to complain, who will?

8-|
I'm g-getting m-married Sunday.

Hits
Wow. A pretty good day. It is 18:30 and I'm already over 80 hits. I got a bunch off a single comment to a blog talking about Linux. When I left the comment, I had no idea it would be so influential. It was an early post to a blog that got mentioned on Slashdot. I suppose I deserver some slop. It is a one day thing. It is a nice shot in the arm though.

Fair rant (continued)
Remember the Fair rant last week? Well Nat and others say the proper spelling is "faire". Places like this, this and this seem to think so. Until Answers.com and Dictionary.com have an entry for it, I'm spelling it fair. So, there. It's my blog and I'll spell the way I want to.

Jen is busy these days

This Saturday, Nov. 5, I'll be at the Vintage Bar, with Lena Shammas, and Zed Daniels.  We will do a songwriters in the round.  You'll love Lena's and Zed's music--very thoughtful stuff.  The music starts at 8:30p.  The Vintage Bar is on Mid Lane, just inside the loop.  From the galleria, travel east on Westheimer.  Turn left on Mid Lane and it's half a block on the left.  www.vintagebar.com.  If you haven't been there, you'll love this place.  By the way, it's non-smoking. But that's not all!  Come have a nice dinner at Tommy's Seafood next Thursday, Nov. 10, from 6-9pm.  I'll be singing some soft jazz classics with New Orleans musician Matt Lemmler at the keys.  Tommy's Seafood is at 11660 Westheimer, between Kirkwood and Hayes.  Great food and wine!  Oh, and entertainment! AND!  I'll be at Maxwell's Grille for Friday and Saturday night, Nov. 11 and 12, from 7-10pm.  Maxwell's is in Atascosita, at the corner of 1960 and West Lake Houston Parkway.  If you live out that way, come have dinner.  I'll be playing and singing as you eat and drink. Thanks for reading this far down!  There's just one more thing! I'll be on JaiJai Jackson's Woman of Jazz radio program on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 8pm (PST), that's 10 pm here.  If you're up, you can tune in to xradio.biz.  JaiJai is the daughter of famous jazz bassist Chubby Jackson.  I'm honored to be chosen for her show! Thanks a bunch for your interest and support.  Come see me this week! Jen www.JenRathbun.com

She has a calender on her site. Nice touch. I could use one over here. I have my own server, I should put one up. Anyway, go catch Jen's show somewhere. It is a lot of fun.