This is post number six in a series of 100 Things About Me.

Running the Alternageek Tech Show for over a year put me into a scene that was fun and incredibly annoying at the same time. There are some really awesome people out there writing blogs and publishing podcasts but there are even more either regurgitating other writers’ work or just writing blog posts about how awesome they think they are without an ounce of valuable content. You can network until your contact book won’t hold one more name however, all the contacts and PR in the world won’t keep you afloat if you have nothing but handshakes and propaganda to share. Eventually people will figure out that you are full of hot air.

I don’t care if you publish five posts a week, it means nothing if you are just writing to jump on the bandwagon trend. Write something valuable, write something from a new perspective, open your mind to possibilities, and for the love of all that is holy and good, think for yourself.

When I was in school we had writing exercises that required us to write position papers from a point of view that we disagreed with. This was challenging and educational at the same time. It required research and an open mind to the other side of the argument. Make this type of an assignment part of your writing routine. This is an excellent practice to get into especially when you are stuck in a rut. You don’t have to publish it if you don’t feel comfortable with it, but do it regardless.

Popular opinion is a dime a dozen. Don’t make me feel like I just lost 5 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

This is post number five in a series of 100 Things About Me.

There are several reasons I don’t like existing in suburbia and most of it all revolves around the robotic nature of those that choose to live there. The same vanilla houses, the same vanilla families, the same vanilla preaching, and the same flavorless goals. There is little independent thought and that is the expectation. Listen to their messages, they are the same monotonous drone. Finding friends and families that are not on the same brainwave pattern is like panning for gold in a trickling stream. ‘Tis the nature of the beast I suppose but it gets really old. I find that living in suburbia can be depressing.

This is post number four in a series of 100 Things About Me.

I am sure I had heard of him, but I didn’t *know* his music. I picked up my first album (vinyl you betcha) at a rummage sale for 50 cents and fell in love. The album, Nashville Skyline released in 1969 with one of my favorites being To Be Alone with You.

They say that nighttime is the right time
To be with the one you love
Too many thoughts get in the way in the day
But you’re always what I’m thinkin’ of

Anytime I am feeling a little lost, uninspired, or just need a pick me up I put on some Bob Dylan and become one with the music.

This is post number three in a series of 100 Things About Me.

The Cameo Mecanique Hoodie is shown here from binarywinter’s Etsy shop. I <3 the design.

This is post number two in a series of 100 things about me.

I wish I was a rockstar.

I play, not as much as I used to, but I write more.

I have boxes of notebooks full of lyrics and songs and no outlet for them.

I just wish I had an outlet instead of a box to store them in.

This is post number one in a series of 100 things about me.

Did you know that 70% of those living in poverty around the world are women?

With the financial crisis looming and gas and necessities costs soaring you may be scrimping and saving for your own family but there are ways you can still help.

Women’s Career Clothing Closets

Working women’s clothing closets exist all over the country to help women build a professional wardrobe so that they can secure good paying jobs and end the cycle of poverty. Help women get on their feet by donating gently used professional clothing. It helps others and reduces your closet clutter at the same time!

Numerous organizations for clothing donations exist, here are a few or google for more:

• Women’s Resource Center, Michigan
• Women’s Career Clothing Closet, West Virginia
• Women’s Discovery Center, Arkansas
• Charity Guide: 15 Places to Donate Gently Used Women’s Clothing

Be a Mentor

Donate your time and your experience by mentoring others. Support from others can significantly increase the chances of success and mentoring is an excellent way to give back without costing any money.

MentorNet is an organization linking mentors to students that are seeking assistance via the Internet. MentorNet is a nonprofit e-mentoring network that positively affects the retention and success of those in engineering, science and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women and others underrepresented in these fields. By corresponding through emails and chats you can share your advice, experience, and support with a young person.

Interested in mentoring in person? Find an group in need of mentors in your area through Mentor.org’s opportunity locator. Put in your zip code and the distance you are willing to travel and Mentor.org gives you a list of organizations to contact.

I hope this is a mistake because I really would like to get a G1 but I am just not going to pay more for my T-Mobile loyalty. Another thing, if I am paying “full price” with only an online ordering discount, I shouldn’t be locked into a 2 year contract since I am not getting a discount for it. Dirty dealing T-Mobile.

Check out the Engadget blog for transcripts from the live event or visit T-Mobile to see video of the event.

Wired is reporting that according to an unofficial T-Mobile blog:

“…the first version of the multimedia Google Phone will be released by HTC starting on September 17 for one week, for T-Mobile customers only. This offer will be immediately followed by a general release a week later. It will be called, ostensibly, the G1.”

T-Mobile offering a special early release to their current customers, with or without discount, would play perfectly into their customer base who tend to be faithful and loyal to the cellular provider.

While some may be wary of being an early adopter for a brand new mobile interface, I for one look at the potential of being able to work with something that isn’t locked down and closed source as the iPhone is. At least I won’t have to modify firmware to make it work.

Regardless as how it plays out, I am saving my lunch money in anticipation for the Android phone. Now I can stop scouring the market for an old beat up, overpriced iPhone to jailbreak & unlock while I wait for T-Mobile to release something better than their current Sidekick 2008 dud.

If you want to try PC-BSD or FreeBSD you can grab them here:

• PC-BSD
• FreeBSD

An OpenMoko distrubutor, Koolu, is offering a free phone for Google Apps referrals. Basically I can earn my own free OpenMoko FreeRunner by referring 25 people to register for the Premier Edition of Google Apps (pay for service) or 100 people to sign up for FREE Google Apps through the Koolu web site. The sign up process for Google Apps only takes 3 minutes and requires no purchase, registration or verifying of a domain (web site).

In other words, you don’t have to buy anything or even own a domain name to help me earn one of these delicious phones.

Just use this link to sign up and help me earn a free open phone:

http://apps.koolu.com/google-apps-referral/google-apps-signup.php?r=1000277

or the TinyURL if you would rather: http://tinyurl.com/openmoko

Please pass this link on. I will post the progress here.

When I recently rebuilt my main machine, I installed Hardy hoping to give Ubuntu another chance. I used to be a huge Ubuntu fan unfortunately, the fandom stops with Feisty.

Bonus to Hardy, that annoying tracker does not install and hog my system by default. The most annoying thing? Lots of support for lots of hardware was dropped. Winfast & Hauppauge TV Tuner cards which have worked wonderfully in linux have all kinds of special issues in Ubuntu starting with Gutsy. MythBuntu equals a big pain in the neck.

I have heard from others who are leaving Ubuntu since the last few releases. Reading through the support forums and the bugtrackers, the community has reverted to the old standard of either not replying, treating people like they aren’t worth the effort to explain things to, or assuming their position on the issue is superior. This is why linux users have always been avoided, because they act like elitist.

Ubuntu is supposed to be user friendly and for new linux users. How can you possibly promote that if the community snubs the newbies.

One thread that struck me was about the fact that there was no GUI disk management installed by default.  The very first response to this posting was “no one should need to manually manage disks…” WTF? Seriously?

There are several cases when you need to manually manage disks: 1) the LiveCD does not mount local disks, 2) If you add a new disk to the system. How many people who aren’t major geeks know how to manage their disks from the command line? I know several people I consider pretty geeky who don’t even know how to do it in Windows.

There are apps you can apt-get to enable a GUI access like gparted, but you have to know what it is called & how to install it ~or~ the right search terms to google to learn how. How many newbies are going to know how to do this or not reach maximum level of frustration with this? Ubuntu doesn’t have a utility that kicks off on boot if you have added new hardware either.

Ubuntu is really losing it’s way, and I have to say I cannot recommend it anymore. I am back to vanillla Debian and maybe dabble some more in Arch. Do you have a particular distro you absolutely adore? Let me know what you are using and why you love it and I will give it a whirl.

If you are interested in the project or want to grab the code, head over to the Reddit Trac Open Source Project.

It’s a shame these are only available for a Mac. 

That said I will be back to posting as time allows soon. In the meantime I would like to open up the blog to guest posts. If you are interested in getting your article or commentary posted here at linuxchic.net leave a comment on the post. I will send an email to your email address that you leave when you register here and give you follow up information. You will need to register as a user if you are interested rather than use your OpenID to comment. By guest posting here you will be allowed to include your links and URLs to drive traffic back to your blog. I would like to feature several posts per week for the next few weeks until I can get back to it full-time.

Again, thanks for your loyalty to the site and you understanding during this time.

WordPress 101

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

Unlike other BarCamps, BarCampKC will have no actual camping out and all the sessions will be planned the night of the 9th during the meet and greet time.

If you are in the KC area, or want to come even if you aren’t, check out the BarCampKC page or the blog and put your name on the Wiki.

I will be running the audio equipment to record as well as live stream the audio for the Alternageek Tech Show either through TalkShoe or BlogTalkRadio. The links and stream will also be available the day of the event at Alternageek.com