Ubuntu for the masses

I received a package in the mail today from Ubuntu. I had requested free Linux CD's a while back for the new version of Ubuntu that was released this month. I opened the package and found 3 CD's (2 for x86 systems and 1 for 64 bit PCs). They also threw in some Ubuntu stickers to customize my PC if I desire to. If you want to order your own free Ubuntu Cd's, just head over to this site and sign up. https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
It may take a while to get them however, so be prepared to wait. I wasn't that patient waiting for them. I didn't think they'd arrive, so I went ahead and burnt myself a copy of Ubuntu that I downloaded from their site. I burnt the DVD this week and the package arrived today! How's that for timing. I haven't had a chance to install it just yet, but I did test it out as a Live CD and I'm impressed.

Scanning for life signs

This blog has been neglected lately, for which I'm sorry. I'm still procrastinating about starting a new blog on another site with Wordpress, and everytime I start working on it, I get called away without making any real progress. I'm still not sure if it will ever see the light of day.
I'm happy today, because the scanner that I bought off ebay arrived today. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to scan transparencies. I've made a few attempts, but I'll still have to tweak the settings a bit to get the colour and contrast to my liking.
Here's a quick sample scan that I just made. It's from a trip I took to Thailand years ago.

New links for your ears

I was asked recently by someone how they would go about finding mp3s or how to listen to music online. Okay, the person was not that net savvy, so I offered her a site that I visit often. I'll share it here along with a couple more sites for you to discover.
The first is called Pandora Internet Radio
I should point out that it's a site that was intended for US listeners, but if you have a hotmail account, you can log in if you're Canadian. They've recently begun blocking users from other countries. Check their May 3rd blog entry for more info.
The second site is a new discovery for me as well. It's a brand new radio site from slacker.com
It has a nicer interface than Pandora, but they are similar in the way they serve up music.
Last up is Live365
which I used to listen to years ago before internet radio was well known. The site has channels with various topics, so you can pick and choose which station you'd like to listen to based on your personal tastes.

The future of Internet radio is unsure. Royalty rates for these broadcasters has skyrockted and a concerted effort in the US has sprung up to raise public awareness and get people to take an active role there in getting congress to reverse this ruling. See http://www.savenetradio.org/
and help out if you can.

The Chef is in the House

Tonight was a fun night. Our church organized a dinner dance and I was the person in the kitchen running the show. There were almost 200 people that showed up for dinner, and the small crew that were assembled in the kitchen really had to hustle to get all the food cooked and served up on time. I delegated the job positions of the volunteers, while I cooked the main dish of Spaghetti and Meatballs as well as the vegetables.
Everything ran extremely well and all that came had a great time.

I'm back to working the night shift again this week, so I didn't get much sleep yet, but I feel good that I was able to do my small part in raising money for our parish.
I would have like to take a few photos, but I was extremely busy during the dinner rush, and I didn't want to risk dropping my camera in the tomato sauce!