As regular readers might know, this space has been a bit underutilized in the past couple of years – yes I did say YEARS. But I’m pleased to report that with a career change in the past month I again find myself back in the IT consulting field. And it is a welcome change indeed – there is nothing like the thrill of new customers, projects and technologies to keep the mind sharp and provide plenty to write about. I look forward to sharing more in the months to come – see you back on the road!
As the rain pours down outside – the rennets of Hurricane Ike, sweeping north through Texas – I’m reminded of how desperately I long for a change in the temperature, some falling leafs, Football and a website redesign. Come’on doesn’t everyone associate all these things together?
It’s been a while since my last post, and yes, there have been BIG changes indeed. Headlining these is my new position with the Federal Courts, US Probation in Dallas. Its a Big and welcome change from the last ten years as a high-travel technology consultant. The projects are expansive, and will introduce new technologies to my daily experience.
Change is also coming to this site; after two years in its current form it’s about time for a redesign. Leading the list of new options is a move to a LAMPP based CMS like Drupal. I’ve also had lots of feedback requesting more downloads, tech tips ad photos – I hear you all, and we’ll see what can be done.
Hello my old friends in the Blog-o-sphere! Been a while since I’ve posted as the wife and I where off in Europe on holiday, good stuff, maybe I’ll treat you with some pictures.
As the title indicates I have some very big news that I’ll be posting in the coming weeks, exciting changes and new opportunities! But for now I need to focus on getting back up to speed with everything from US politics, to the latest linux revs – three weeks without broadband can really mess with your head.
As I have oft pointed out, I don’t do most of the social networks out there, at least I don’t do them well apparently 😉 But recently I have started delving into the world of Twitter. So good, bad, or indifferent you can follow me now at http://twitter.com/ericdegen
Ladies and Gentlemen, the hour of the greatest tech event on a geek’s calender has come. Its the second week of January which means I’m writing this from the incomparable Las Vegas!
This year I was joined by long time friend Marc “Blue-Hair†Ortega – seen below seriously geeking out!
So watch for postings in the days to come with updates on products, highlights and lowlights of the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.
Happy New Year, and I do truly mean that as January 1st rings in all kinds of wonderful possibilities. Besides the always obvious opportunities for improved diet, fitness and finances I’m praying for a better year in Tech.
2007 proved to be an epicly disappointing year when you consider the lack of technical innovation. Don’t go confusing technology “hype†for real advancement. In fact 2007 might actually be one of the more over hyped years I can recall – iPhone or FaceBook ring a bell?
But on to better things! 2008 holds much promise for all things good and geeky; to this end I’ll be investigating all that CES has to offer next week, look for some updates on the blog and my picks for devices that are must haves. So cheers, a new year of Tech, I’ll drink to that!
How did we all live before TiVo? As I have expressed many many times I LOVE MY DVR! the ability to time shift programing is one of the best consumer innovations in years.
But what if I was this goodness all manageable and available on my Notebook as I travel or simply miss an episode of my favorite show a few weeks back – enter  ShareTV.Org.
ShareTv is a fairly new TV programing enthusiast’s dream. with forums to discuss shows and links to sources for back episodes, you can find just about anything that is presently running as well as many canceled shows from the last decade or so.
So taking a break from iPhone hysteria is always therapeutic, add a week long road trip and you are sure to let those Techie wows just drift away like the lazy days of summer. But I’m back from Vacation now and ready to plunge back into all things geeky.
Below my son and I take a shot from the St. Louis Arch.
ARRRGG! Under the heading; yes it can happen to anyone – I suffered a catastrophic drive failure on my primary notebook this weekend.
Best I can tell it was from a corrupt MBR, very strange considering the system was not a multi boot or had multiple partitions. And of course it struck at the worst possible time as I’m on the road with back to back customer calls to make.
So here are the lessons to learn from my misfortune:
-
Always keep a current backup of anything you care about. Fortunately I had all “My Documents†form a few days before on a flashdrive.
-
Consider a partitioned drive separating your data from the OS, this is something I had been thinking about for sometime and will go into my next build.
-
If you are a road warrior, or find your self away form your office much, keep a copy of your OS installer and any hardware drivers with you. I did not have that special HP XP Pro recovery disk with me, so I was forced to rebuild with Vista…. Oh
Vista, just when I think I’m out you Pull me back in!
-
Keep a copy of Ubuntu or some other cd image bootable OS with you. Thanks to my copy of Edge Eft (Ubuntu 6.10) I was able boot the system, browse the undamaged files and copy them off to an external USB drive. Needless to say, Ubuntu’s stock went way up with me!
-
Tools would be nice…. Before our airports went all medieval on having a screwdriver in your carry-on, I would always have at least a small Philips on me, and sometimes a Leatherman tool. After this debacle I’m seriously considering a packing a small toolkit in my checked bag, just in case.
At any rate, the mire fact that I can type up this entry today is a good sign that my system and work week are on the road to recovery.
It’s time for Superbowl XLI! Oh I just like saying that “XLIâ€, sounds like a really hot Graphics card. You know like NVIDIA 9900 XLI…Oh well I digress.
Will Payton Air it out all over “Da Bears?†Or can the boys from Soldier Field beat down the Colts with their ground game? Anything is possible but I know I will be watching for the commercials. Can’t wait to see Kevin and Alex from Digg.com in the Go Daddy spot, or will they be passed out doing a bit for Jugermeister? Regardless it’s always fun to see who spent two million for 30 seconds! Â
