Changing servers
As if weren’t enough my move to WordPress and my internal debacle on what to do with the site design, now I am getting ready to move all domains and files –physically– to another hosting company, on a real colocated server (not VS anymore).

The virtual server I have used until now (and that I still use now, for the time being) served me well, but it is getting o … ⌘ Read more

Bob Muglia on Longhorn
Dreaming of Longhorn.

“When I think of Linux, I don’t think about it as our competitor. I think about Linux as a technology that is used by our competitors to build competitive offerings.” Very different from what Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have been saying but Muglia says “he’s trying to teach them a thing or two.” ⌘ Read more

Software gentlemans
Guidelines to help fight deceptive Internet software. “…We will strive to distribute our software only in bundles where all applications meet the above guidelines…” ⌘ Read more

Living on the bleeding edge
I have made a habit to upgrade WP every morning and evening to the latest CVS. As I type this I am running WP 1.2 Epsylon RC2, two hours –more or less– old. Upgrades are such a breeze that it is actually fun. I find myself looking forward to the next upgrade.

I am not alone on the habit though. Upgrading WP is, certainly, contagious. ⌘ Read more

Do you want to try it?
A demo of Office 2004 for Mac is available for Mac users to try. From Microsoft MacTopia Office 2004 page:

“…There’s time for fun and time to focus. When you’re ready to get down to business, Microsoft’s Office 2004 for Mac provi … ⌘ Read more

Drawing a blank
I am drawing a blank trying to decided the new layout of this site. I have no problems with the previous one, but as I am running a new engine here I would like the layout to be new as well. I spent a significant amount of time yesterday trying to come up with something and all went to waste.

Perhaps I am procastinating until I see Wordpress 1.2 out, and have all links to be cruft free. Right now the paging, whether on c … ⌘ Read more

Matt implements inline links
Matt implements inline links: Just as Charles Gagalac, Mullenweg has implemented a very nice hack. I did the same, but discontinued it after a few posts. ⌘ Read more

Mena wants to know
How are you using “the tool”? Mena wants to know how people are using Movable Type. That should have been the first question before last week fiasco. ⌘ Read more

Old permalinks broken
If you had links to specific entries here you are finding out they broke. Let me start by apologizing, I did not know some people had links pointing to here.

You see, I could’ve created permalinks on WordPress that matched the old ones, but I was tired on having such large URI’s. That’s the reason I have changed them when I switched. The one’s in use now will last for a very long time, I have choosen them to be around for a whi … ⌘ Read more

Update: Permalinks
I’ve decided to honor all previously made links to entries around here, so I have tweaked WP accordingly. I did so not only because of the links, but because of the trackbacks as well. Enjoy! ⌘ Read more

I am not alone
Looks like I am not the only one making the move. Judging by the length of the trackback list on “Mena’s Corner”, a whole lot of people is moving away from Movable Type. Since the news has bee Slashdotted, the WP server is overloaded by, not only switchers, but /. visitors. I am sure they will survive. Now ready for the weekend!

Note

Even [Mark Pilgrim](http://diveintomar … ⌘ Read more

In the process of moving
As you can see, I am in the process of moving from the now defunct Movable Type to the sexy WordPress. Why, you may ask? Well, because I was already planning to and because Six Apart has changed to different venues that do not interest me at all. Also, I was getting tired of the lagginess of MT. Well, it … ⌘ Read more

Gmail invitations for sale
It was just a matter of time until this happened: Google webmail invitations are being sold like crazy on eBay. Some people are even buying one invitation knowing that eventually Google will give two (it has been happening on every new account), so they can resell more. Amazing!

This site looks like crap under Mozilla on Linux, which bothers me a lot. I think I will move things around here soon to accommodate what it might become my desktop OS. I am also tired of looking for … ⌘ Read more

Fedora Core Test 3
I have installed Fedora Core Test 2 on my new XPS (dual boot), ran up2date, gotten Test 3 and I must say it is one sweet, nice coming along distribution. Hardened with SELinux, running kernel 2.6.3 and with a nice set of packages available, Fedora will certainly stand out.

I am rea … ⌘ Read more

Gmail is not for everyone
I have used Gmail now a little bit. Sometimes I am a lucky guy; I have experienced good luck several times: when I met Kim, when my child was born, when I first flew over the Atlantic. This time my luck came in the form of a Gmail account. Thanks to those who graciously offered me the chance to see with my own eyes what many other mortals have ambition.

I can’t say that much that is not already said, bu … ⌘ Read more

Gmail Hype
Everybody is talking about Google’s upcoming Gmail. Since I wasn’t choosen to beta test, I can not offer any [excellent insider view](http://jogin.com/weblog/arc … ⌘ Read more

Spelling and grammar
It is not difficult to realize, even for the untrained eye, that english is not my mother language. Spanish is. I have been “using” english for eight years now, but I have improved very little. Believe me, when you are as old as I am and, on top of that, are not that good with languages, getting where I have gotten today is quite an accomplishment, although one that leaves plenty space for improvement.

So, you will see misspellings and grammatical errors on my entries. If correction … ⌘ Read more

Sun and salty water

Image

After almost a year, we returned to the beach yesterday. Jetty Park, by Port Cañaveral is around 45 miles from where we live, but still closer than Daytona. It is quite a nice park, with a decently clean beach. For those of you living constantly under the cold weather, sun and salty water is as good as it gets, right? :-)
� … ⌘ Read more

Life with an XPS
Three weeks ago I finally got motivated — read Kim gave me an ultimatum — and sold my two Rolleiflex at eBay. The main purpose of selling them was to buy a digital camera, to replace the one I don’t have. But after consideration of:

1. The one I wanted was too expensive.
   
2. The body did not come with a lens.
   
3. I barely have time to take pictures.
   
4. KM has monopolized our home workstation.
   

I decided that the b … ⌘ Read more

Futilely insisting
Human nature is quite interesting and I type so based on my own experience. I am talking about myself.

It amazes me that I keep going to check for new entries or read comments, once — and sometimes two, three, four times — a day on Ambivalent.US, when I disagree 9 out of 10 with everything the owner has to say (actually, write). Same thing happens with Hivelogic, I go there every day just to find a bo … ⌘ Read more

About the spanish elections
The overturn of the elections in Spain was driven by several factors. Leftists accused the PP (Popular Party) of lying and one have to assume that socialists voters believed it. Aznar got Spain into a war that was considered by many as non-needed, following an agresive and self-centered ideology.

The truth is that while the war was out of spanish campgrounds everything was limited to talks about veracity of the (war) facts, justice and geostrategy. But for most of the vote … ⌘ Read more

Why do they even bother?
State institutions have a different way of doing things. Different from Corporate America, that is. For example let’s say, hypothetically, that a position opens on certain department on a state institution. A person already working for the department, a person which everyone is happy with about the job being done – by the person, that is – applies for the position. Odds of that person getting the job are very high, right? I mean, it makes perfect sense.

Now, what do they do … ⌘ Read more

Expect changes
I know it has been a long time. I guess other things are using my mind and what’s left is not enough to dedicate on this. I have been back in Orlando for two weeks already, time is flying.

Wanted to get DSL, ordered and before receiving the modem cancelled. Bell South wants you to use their SMTP server and nothing else and I can not accept that. Modem is going back and I am back to my old cable modem.

Placed two cameras for auction on eBay, they are not selling that well. Let’s keep hoping … ⌘ Read more

Family sticks together
Back in 2001 KM was born. Orlando was his birth place and all he knows to be called home. It is where his house is, in which he freely roams his domains and plays with his toys. It is also where he fights his father on endless battles. Nana lives there so does uncle Thanh, and cousin Alyssa, Kevin, Tommy, Jason… along with thirty plus family members. He knows where choo-choo train, Target and [Chuc … ⌘ Read more

But Death and Taxes
“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin, 200 plus years ago and that truth remains unabated. It should be easy to figure out that we were involved on preparing our taxes. Being part of the decadent american middle class it is not hard to imagine that we treat taxes as what they are: a serious matter.

Years ago I used to get great refunds. Then they started to diminish and one lucky year I ended up paying $200. When Kent was born we got a sweet … ⌘ Read more

It has been a ride, UCF
I am leaving the College of Business and, hence, the University of Central Florida. When I started working for UCF almost eight years ago I did not know I was going to stay that long, but most important of all, I did not know it was going to be that much fun. It has certainly been a ride, a good one. I learned a lot in all aspects and for that I am grateful.

I had the opportunity to work with excellent people in a very healthy working environment. Accepting the fact that nothing is … ⌘ Read more

To Tampa back and forth
In the last five days I have been in Tampa four times, twice by myself and twice with Kim and KM. One may say it is only 90 miles each way, not a biggie, but once it is done several times consecutively it does makes a difference.

Three days ago we thought we had the perfect apartment there but this morning Kim thought otherwise and, as quite often, she was right. She saw another apartment, just 2.8 miles … ⌘ Read more

Drove a lot, saw places
Today (actually, yesterday) Kim and I went over to Tampa. We drove a lot around and I am surprised of the fact that, even though it is the first time I drive around Tampa, we did not get lost, we did not drive more than normal to find the place(s) we were looking for, we did not get stuck in traffic.

I have to say that I found some of the parts of Tampa pretty abandoned. I do not mean the whole city is like that, but certain places had an almost dead (or completely dead) lawn, some … ⌘ Read more

Year of the Monkey
Today we went to the Vietnamese New Year of the Monkey celebration gathering. Of course, some of you know that today is not “the” New Year per se, it happened a few days ago, but it is never late when we are talking about food… and happiness… and food. Did I mention food?

On previous years there was a fee to get inside the Florida Fairgrounds to enjoy the celebration. Not this year! We got there around 1:30 PM and within a few minutes we were $20 lighter and three pounds heavier. KM … ⌘ Read more

On vacation now
Today I enter a mini-vacation. There will be a lot of things to do next week, the most important of all will be to get the house ready to sell. Yes, you are not having any vision problems, you are reading well: we are selling the house. Interested?

The main thing we need to do is clean it, that’s the main goal this coming week. There are a few little things that need to get fixed, but they are minor details: some painting here, retouching there, nothing major.

Also, even though I will be o … ⌘ Read more

Slight redesign
Slight redesign is in progress. It may span several days before it is finished but, as everything else, will get there, where I wanted it to be :-) I have been meaning to add a “side bar” for quite a while and today was the day.

At home today, tired. Kent sleeps. Good. Will come back, as soon as time permits. Oh boy, this post is g … ⌘ Read more

Uneventful weekend
This weekend was a bit stressful and I felt some anxiety, but it was uneventful. We –floridians– are enjoying once again a nice fresh weather. Let’s hope it will stay for a little more longer.

I went to work today. I have planned to do the work from home, but could not VPN to work. That forced me to get up my comfortable chair at home, dressed and drive to work. Luckily everything was done on time and I was on my way home around 11:00 AM. It is 12:01 AM while I type this, so I guess I … ⌘ Read more

Just suppose
Suppose you have a friend, a friend like the whole meaning of the word friend “somebody who has a close personal relationship of mutual affection and trust with you.” It is the person you talk to when happy or when sad, when calm or stressed, when tired or rested. That person is your very good friend.

Now suppose that person wants a job that you think it is not appropriated. It is a job that might require more maturity than what you think your friend has. You do not think your friend is ready for i … ⌘ Read more

Philosophical confussion
I do not like unsolicited pop-up windows. I like even less unsolicited browser resizing. Missuse of web cookies blows and should be illegal. Junk and spam emails are a disease (well, not for me, since I use TMDA on my John Companies server and I get zero spam) that is getting out of hand. Porno and the sex industry for sure are a profitable business; most of the spam today adver … ⌘ Read more

First working week; about to start
The 2004 first working week (at least for me) is about to start. I know it is going to be difficult after 4 and a half days off, but hey, “a man has to do what a man has to do…”. I hope we (TRC staff) will know early this week who was the choosen one for the position we interviewed people for.

Went to sleep early today (around 2:00 AM). I was playing with [AnyDVD](ht … ⌘ Read more

Happy Birthday Kent Martin!
Today is Kent Martin’s third birthday. Happy Birthday Kent! It is amazing how fast the time passes, it seems it was just yesterday when he was born. In this short three years we have managed to spoil him, but no more than the normal, when we are talking about the only child of mid-thirdties aged parents. The day before yesterday was mom birthday as well, 77 years old. Happy Birthday mama!

Our long weekend is rapidly reaching to an end and I have the feeling I have not acc … ⌘ Read more

Happy New Year 2004!
As we get closer to changing years —in some parts of the world it is already 2004— I feel like going over the things that happened to us (the Collantes’ family) during 2003. I may not have enough to write about to make this a serious entry, but here I go.

This year we are leaving behind brought very few things, but some made a deep impact in our lives at this point. To start with, we turned out one year older (duh!) and, hence, gained on experience (yeah, right!). We reached our 5th … ⌘ Read more

Good bye 2003!
Twenty one days is a long time without talking to you. Yes, you, the one reading here at this very moment. Even though I had my reasons I am afraid they were way too lame to be used, so I am not bailing out. A lot has happened since the last post, let’s recount.

At work we had had the most controversial and lenghty hiring process ever. It has been going throughout the whole month, more or less, and still extends to the new year. Moods changed, feelings were hurt. In all and all, I think it will en … ⌘ Read more

Winter has come
It is snowing out there, somewhere. I hear New York got some snow recently. Other places have been under it’s white blanket for a while now. Well, it is cold here in Florida. Pretty cold for a State named “Sunshine State”. The sun shines, no doubt about it. It is shining right now, as I type this, but the temperature is 44 degrees (F). It was even colder overnight, I bet.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and we have no plans. For the first time since I have been working for [UCF](http://www … ⌘ Read more

Happy Thanksgiving!
A few years ago, 383 more or less to be more precise, a bunch of british came to the now known America, running away, so to speak, from the beliefs of the Church of England, which they weren’t that happy with. The pilgrims settled on a piece of land that is now called the State of Massachusetts.

During their first winter everything was a mess: they had no food (they got there too late and winter made things more difficult), and without it, half of their settled colony died from diseases. … ⌘ Read more

A moment in time
Not much is happening lately. At least, not much worth of mentioning. Christmas is coming (yes, Christmas, I do not need to be “politically” correct by calling it “holidays”) and I tend to get a little bit sad just around this time. I know it might sound weird, but I can’t help it.

Time is flying by lately and I do not know whether that’s good or bad. It should be bad all the time, since time is one of the few things that never returns, it can’t be rewinded. But while at work, it … ⌘ Read more

Got a Mac, once again
My first knowledge about Mac’s came sorrounded by a mist of legend, legend that has lived until today: Mac’s are wonderful, powerful, friendly machines, that boot with a graphic interface and which mouse has only one big button. Ok, that was what I thought 15 years ago or so, but you get the idea.

Eight months ago I bought a dual 1.42 Ghz PowerMac G4, with 2GB RAM, 128 VRAM, 120GB HD, SuperDrive, Bluetooth… beautiful machine. Then wife lost her job and some of my most valuable po … ⌘ Read more

Mid-life Crisis
When does mid-life crisis starts? I mean, how old do you need to be to start feeling the effects of it and, furthermore, what are such effects?

The reason I am asking all this is because, even thought I am barely on my 35th, I think –I just have that impression– that I am slowly, but at a very fast pace (talk about paradox here!), moving into my own version of mid-life crisis. I want to think it is version 1.0. Now, how many versions and for how long?

What’s going on with me? Hmm, hard … ⌘ Read more

I will never be happy in this lifetime
Recently I received an email from a friend that has been on Iraq since the beginning of the war. He keeps us up-to-date of his experiences on the front and every email from him brings amazing details and interesting perspectives of the daily life on the liberated Iraq.

This last email was specially interesting because, as he mentions, it brings a part of Iraq that our news sources seems to have forgotten about, they haven’t picked up or they, simply … ⌘ Read more

That simple life
Reading an email from my oldest brother today, I went back to the days of my infancy, when life was so simple. You see, these days no one will dare to drop by your house without previously calling; you will ride you car even if it is to go just around the corner for a bottle of milk, or a six pack—for those who drink. Everything has it’s price: “Would you do such-and-such for me?”, “Sure, it will be $25.” or “How much are you going to pay me?” And the money part will be normal and ex … ⌘ Read more

Mobility 20-20
If you do not live in Orlando you will not know what I am talking about here. Today was also voting day here, in Orlando, FL, but for a different reason than the Californians. Let me explain.

As you may or may not know every city has its budget. I bet that even every county has its own as well. Talking about a city budget, some people, perhaps even a bunch of people, get paid big money to come up with the numbers. They get to plan and budget the city expenditures that will be paid, in a vast majorit … ⌘ Read more

Dissecting a Nigerian scam
I am almost willing to bet that you know what I mean when I type “ Nigerian scam”. It has been going around under different subjects, using different names and approaching the scam in a multitude of different ways. The ultimate goal is simply one: to get you bite their scam so they can [get money](http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/scams/nigeria.htm “Some more explanati … ⌘ Read more

Traveling, my unfulfilled hobby
Today I came across Vagabonding and I have to admit I felt jealous, in a good way. You see, traveling around the world has always been my unfulfilled dream and, even thought I have traveled some, I still hope one day (sooner rather than later) that dream will come true.

[Mike Pugh](http://www.vagabonding.com/about/00001 … ⌘ Read more

Yet more changes
I am contemplating, once again, some changes around here. As a matter of fact, some changes have already happened, whether you realized it or not. I am now printing the four previous entries on any archived entry, as well as providing the navigation to the previously and afterwards entries after those four. It might look confusing; it is an acquired taste. It is not as structured as [some](http://www.ftrain.com/ftrain_faq.html “Read … ⌘ Read more

Money for your hobby?
I have seeing an increasing amount of weblogs that are, either running Google AdSense to make money or asking for donations. Does that works? I mean, does Google AdSense can be enough for someone to actually make a living out if it? And, on a related token, would the amount of “donations” add up enough to pay the rent? I am curious.

On politics. I am a republican although I am not sure if I will vote like so on the next Presidenti … ⌘ Read more