Back from vacations
We are back from vacations. It was a great one, but at the end we agreed that there is no place like home, for many reasons. They are mostly minor things, to which we have grown accustom to, but that combined make the type of life we live. I might detail some of those little things later.

A few posts will be due, to narrate some relevant things from the trip: Iberia and our misplaced luggages (and their English/Spanish phones lines), Hertz and our lemon like rental car, speed limits, Aix- … ⌘ Read more

Don’t talk to aliens

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

[…]

“If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t … ⌘ Read more

Weekend starts
The weekend has started. It really started yesterday’s afternoon, but who is keeping tabs? The fact is, it is here and thus it brings a dilemma. If I do nothing—which is impossible if you have a kid—the weekend will fly by. On the other hand, if I get busy—and I will—it will fly by as well.

There are little things in life that keeps you, in a short term, looking forward to a near future. Of course there are others that makes you want to stop time, so that near future will not come. For no … ⌘ Read more

Host hunting
I had had all my websites —this one, and many other test ones, etc—, plus my self-managed DNS on ServerBeach (now part of Peer1) for a very long time. They all reside on a dedicated server, which has, sadly, reached it’s end of life (EOL).

Although I can keep it as it is, doing so represents a liability problem, as I will be out of luck, should it decide to fail. The problem is, ServerBeach isn’t offering anything right now similar to the serv … ⌘ Read more

Aion, the WoW killer
Aion isn’t out yet for North America or Europe, but has already caused long time WoW players to quit. That is what my household has done, ending the life of two, four years old, accounts.

Beta 4 is coming up, July 17th and we can hardly wait. Preorder will give you access to the beta, so go ahead! Simply Google Aion and follow the appropiated link.

While we wait, it feels good to be out of WoW. Really liberating! ⌘ Read more

Another Dell
Almost four years ago I bought our first Dell machine. And almost four year after, that machine died. Not a really long life.

Since we need a computer, we acquired another Dell… again. This time it is a refurbished Precision 390. For the first time ever, I haven’t rebuilt that machine yet. I am using Dell’s factory install, … ⌘ Read more

What a load of crock!
If it weren’t enough that you have to go through airport hell every time you must take an airplane, some people is trying to cash in, and they are using terrorism to their advantage. Enter Clear card.

From their CEO (read while playing patriotic music on the background, waving an American flag) :

“I started Verified Identity Pass with a simple idea: In the post 9-11 era we have to take new measures to protect ourselves yet not destroy our way of life by strangling the free f … ⌘ Read more

More changes coming
For the first time I am working on creating a complete theme here. The last time I had a decent one was back when WordPress 1.5 was around, for which themes weren’t implemented as they are now.

No much have been happening in life. I don’t have much to tell right now, other that those minor breadcrumbs of life. Actually, I have a few things I want to write, if anything to keep record online of what happened. Those few things involve GoDaddy and Media Temple. But it will be a future top … ⌘ Read more

It’s time to say goodbye
It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2006 and welcome 2007. This will be – I think – my last entry of the year. A few has happened to the Collantes’ family in 2006, but the most important thing is that we have kept together, and that we have being blessed in many ways. Kent Martin has brought joy to our lives, so much joy we did not know existed. He is the main reason I love life. He and my wife, Kim.

To all – those who might read and those passing by (including bots and al … ⌘ Read more

We, the forgetful
I am often intrigued, saddened, worried, by the human “natural” forgetful nature. Since the beginning of time, we haven’t kept memories of lost, gone ones. Did any of you remember –or even knew of– your great-grandparents? How many generations do you have knowledge of? When you are gone, how many years will you be remembered? Why do we forget? Why? What can we do to change that? Going through a life of accomplishments –or lack of, it doesn’t matter– and ending up in the void. Isn’ … ⌘ Read more

Confussed
I have not written for a long time. I am in a state of confussion and change. I feel the urge to redefine life and things around me, I just don’t know how and when to start. And that urge to redefine does not relates to this weblog, even though the weblog falls into the category of “things around me.”

I am around, I am not dead (Kim and Kent need me). I am trying to find my way. ⌘ Read more

Quiet time
It has been a quiet time here. But quiet here does not means it has been so everywhere else. It has been stressful, it has been painful. It hasn’t been easy. Whoever once said –or wrote– that life isn’t easy wasn’t lying. But as uneasy as it might get, it is worth living it.

I will be back, right after Jeanne has passed. ⌘ 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

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

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

Like a Phoenix
Just like a Phoenix, this is a rebirth from my own ashes. I wanted to change things around here, perhaps change the way I write. Finally, I have decided to come back on a more informal way. Like it was in the beginning, when I decided that blogging could be a fun thing to do.

How informal will it be? Well, as informal as life itself — at least, mine —. I will write things that happen to me, my family, my friends and fellow human beings in general. I will not hold back just because I may think m … ⌘ Read more

A new server, a new life
Well, I have finally moved to my own collocated server. I know you saw nothing here for a while, then you probably saw some errors and now we are finally back, running smoothly, we want to think.

This new server is connected to a faster pipe, so you should see an improvement: pages should load faster and site availability should be around 98 or 99%. That’s about it!

There are a few things to left to do, so off I go. I will return later, hopefully with much more interesting … ⌘ Read more

Back to the routinely life
Another weekend has gone by, way faster than I expected. Being a husband, a father and a head of the household have it’s tradeoffs, although it is not that bad, after all. The things I do not like about it? For starters, white hair. A lot, all over my head. There is also the missing hair, quite more concerning than the first. There is also the fat on the abdominal part, the pain on the joins and neck and the morning’s dragon breath. Yes, it has it’s tradeoffs.

Everythi … ⌘ Read more

A very sad day
I have, many times, felt saddened while thinking about the fragility of life. I feel often perturbed by the fact the life itself is very short. Throughout life we strive to achieve goals, whether they are set goals or not: we get an education, or try to, we search for happiness, we build an “empire” around us. And everything, everything disappears at the end. Does it makes any sense then? What is the reason of life?

I think that what we accomplish while alive is just the answer to that. But it … ⌘ Read more