Category: Productivity

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Living Deliberately

For a while now, in my pursuit of living more deliberately, I’ve considered starting to ride my bike to work. I love driving my car, don’t get me wrong. There’s a part of me that wants to do it just because I can. However, after considering the costs involved in driving to work every day, I’ve come to realize that it would actually save me money in the long run… and not just gradually. Since moving back to my hometown, I mostly use my car to get back and forth to work now. Every now and then I’ll use it to go to the store, but that’s uaually on my way home from work. My commute now is 8.5 miles by car, each way. That comes to 85+ miles a week, and my car uses 93 octane (it’s supercharged) so it costs me about $10.50 a week in gas. That’s around $45 a month in gas, not to mention the reduced wear and tear on my car, which doesn’t exactly use the cheapest tires, oil, or parts.

The decision to bike commute isn’t strictly financial, though. I love riding a bike, and I already ride about 14 miles in the morning before I drive to work, anyway. I figure I’ll just skip the driving part, and still get a nice bike ride in every morning. I will likely still want to drive the car occasionally, and I’m okay with that. However, this way I don’t have to drive, and if I have to do any major work on the car, I don’t have to worry about having it done by Monday morning.

So what do I need to do to start commuting to work? Well, if you know anything about me, you’ll know I researched it extensively beforehand. I scrounged through every forum and blog I could find for bicycle commuters, and came up with some very interesting tidbits of information. With places like BikeForums.net there was plenty of experience and advice to learn, which I soaked up. Here’s some of the most important things I learned so far, pre-commute:

1. Any bike will do
I looked at my tired Schwinn/Pacific mountain bike. It is the perfect commuter bike in that it has all the mounts for fenders and racks, has wide gearing, is comfortable, cheap, and fairly reliable. It doesn’t take a lot of money to get a decent commuter bike if you’re not picky. As long as you can ride it comfortably far enough, and it can hold everything you need to bring, then it’s a good bike. You will want to upgrade it at some point, but it’s not required to start with.

2. Be Prepared
You have to know what you’re getting yourself into. You need to practice the route on a non-work day, to figure out the best route to take. You need to assemble what you need, so you can find out how to carry everything. Make sure you have a way to clean up at work, and a place to store your bike. Make sure the bike is tuned up, you have what’s needed to fix a flat tire, basic tools, etc. If the weather looks bad, make sure you have appropriate raingear, or at least a towel to dry off when you get there. If you ride in the early or late hours, invest in a good lighting system (doesn’t have to be expensive).

3. Don’t Worry About Being Too Prepared
No matter what happens, it’s not the end of the world. There’s very little chance you’re going to lose your job over a simple mistake, or an accident. People are generally forgiving, and you can learn from your mistakes. If you work at a job where simple mistakes are not tolerated, I’d highly recommend rethinking your career choices anyway.

I’m looking forward to commuting, and as I go, I will document the lessons learned, and maybe give some encouragement along the way.

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A Letter Of Complaint To Ubuntu 9.10

Okay, most of my readers know I’m a big proponent of Linux as an alternative to Windows. But lately, there’s been dissension among the ranks. And in a rare fit of frustration, I find myself dissatisfied. I suppose I should be more specific. I’m not installing Windows on my workstation, not getting rid of my MythTV box. I’m not talking suicide… just need to get a few gripes off of my chest about the best free OS ever made.

For years, I used Red Hat Linux. It was the de facto standard, and most servers ran it. Then along came SuSE Linux, which was a huge step in advancement. There are still times when I wish I ran a SuSE distribution, it’s that good… at least as of a year or two ago it was.

Then I discovered the phenomenon of Ubuntu, and all its flavors. For people like me who wanted to try out all the newest apps and have them work out of the box, Ubuntu was a Godsend. Everything worked for me right off the bat, it had all the apps I wanted already in the repositories, and you could get it with different desktops preinstalled.

However, in a surprising turn of events, I’ve discovered Ubuntu has utterly failed in several categories in the last year, specifically with version 9.10. I happily ran Ubuntu 8.10 for quite a while, and had no issues until I replaced my graphics card one day… all of a sudden it wouldn’t autodetect it, and I couldn’t get X to work right no matter how hard I tried. When I tried putting the original card back in, the system was rendered useless. So I backed up my stuff, made a note of apps I wanted to install, and did a fresh install of Ubuntu Studio 9.10. This is when the irritation set in. Continue reading “A Letter Of Complaint To Ubuntu 9.10”

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Hurricane Musings

Yeah, it’s that time again. Holiday time? No, Hurricane Season! You know, the time of year where the local weather media goes nuts talking about every rainstorm as if it could be the next “Big One.” You know, there’s only so many times I can hear that on TV and get concerned. I mean, we lived in N.O. before and after Katrina (we were smart enough to get out during the storm). We saw what happened, we know the consequences. There are some things in life that you just have to accept a certain level of risk for. In fact, when you know God is in control of everything, you pretty much don’t have a say in the matter, anyway.

Still, in my life, it’s time to minimize. No, not getting rid of old clothes, I’m talking about my life. “But you’re not that busy,” you say. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m too busy to do the things I really want to do, long-term. I’m not too busy to play a game every now and then, and I’m not too busy to have fun with the family.

So I’m going to cut down on the amount of time I spend doing nothing. What am I going to fill it with? I need to find activities that will help me become a better person… not just a better video game player, or bulletin board poster. Something with eternal value.

This will be an interesting adventure, and by no means do I know how it will turn out… but anything worth having is worth sacrificing for.

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Do You Remember Descent?

(NOTE: this article is a repost of the original I wrote back in 2005. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of Descent. This article still holds a lot of truth to it. Links have been updated where possible.)

What is Descent,

and Why Should I be Playing it?

If you’re a video game fanatic, you’ve probably at least heard of the game series called Descent. It was first introduced in 1995, and became widely known as one of the first truly 3-D computer games ever made. It was ahead of its time in almost every aspect, including full 6-degree motion, and fairly advanced AI.

So now it’s 2005 2014. What does that have to do with us today?
Good question. Why do people play video games? One, for simple entertainment, two, for a challenge, and three, for community. So why play the Descent series?

Simple.

Because Descent can still fill those needs…
In a way that most games since cannot.

Descent 1, running in LinuxHow? Pure Entertainment!
Let’s start with entertainment value. This has to do with how much you enjoy playing the game, which consists of several parts, including graphics and gameplay. With the exception of D3, Descent’s graphics are dated, to say the least. However, there’s several examples of games with poor graphics that still get tons of play. Do a search for “ROMS” and you’ll find thousands of old Nintendo and Sega games that still get played, because they have great gameplay value.

Playing the Game
Gameplay is one of Descent’s strong points. It has a good balance of weapons and powerups, and the single player mode has very strong and fairly smart enemies. However, since it has such a complex movement range, no two people play it with the exact same control setup, unlike most first-person shooter games that all use “mouse-and-WASD” controls. Descent is much harder than point-and-click gaming. It’s akin to flying a helicopter while trying to memorize card patterns, to music, while robots are trying to kill you. It’s fun, but it’s hard, which is probably a big reason why it isn’t as popular as most other FPS games.

Much better graphics in D3How Hard Could it Be?
This brings us into the next part, which is how Descent is still a challenge to modern gamers. There are few games (even today) that have as many facets to them as Descent. Not only do you have to figure out how to control the ship, but you have to evade robots and traps, keep track of ammo, rescue hostages, figure out puzzles, find secret doors and switches, and eventually (in D1 and D2) blow the reactor and escape alive and (in D3) accomplish several goals in order, none of which are very easy. In multiplayer mode, you get a half dozen really good pilots instead of robots and puzzles, which makes things even tougher. And of course in multiplayer, there are several other things to consider like ammo control, setting traps, and predicting where other players will be.

So Who Can I Play With?
This leads us into the last part, which is the Descent community. Generally speaking, Descent players are mostly older, more mature gamers (the original game is over ten years old at this point). Though there are always exceptions, most Descent players are simply glad to help anybody who is brave enough to try the game out, or come back after a long hiatus.

A reactor, which blows up when you shoot itThe Descent multiplayer experience is by far one of the most hectic, nerve-wracking, and technical things you can do with a video game. The game also sports several features tailored to multi-play that are just now beginning to be re-incorporated into games as “new features.” Cooperative play hasn’t been seen in years, until Doom 3 decided to bring it back. The feel of “deuling” is rarely seen, with the notable exception of Jedi Knight 2. Overall, the game still has a lot to offer the modern gamer as far as gameplay and difficulty. Descent 3 has about nine different multiplayer modes, from racing mods to CTF to a version of “soccer” using lasers and missles. There’s a lot to be experienced here.

One of several D3 config screensWill It Run On My Computer?
One of the last arguments about playing Descent is that there’s no reason not to play. Versions of all three Descent games are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, with an active mapping community that still cranks out new and exciting levels (including single-player) there’s nothing stopping you from trying it out. Even the newest USB joysticks will work with Descent, which is almost 100% configurable, unlike most other games that only let you choose certain premade joystick axis configs (the Mechwarrior 4 series comes to mind). In short, if you can dream up some crazy controller setup, Descent probably supports it as long as the OS recognizes it. Twin joysticks? Not a problem. Keyboard, mouse, and joystick? It’ll do it. Full flight sim setup? Check. Playstation controller? Ditto. This is yet another area that Descent was miles ahead of almost everyone else in (and in some cases, even today). Some people I know still play with just the keyboard!

My controller setup
Here’s a picture of what I play Descent with. This is an older, discontinued Playstation controller designed specifically for the Playstation version of Descent, not by a small coincidence. To use it on my computer, I bought a $15 adapter that turns it into a USB joystick. It does have a large deadzone which I don’t like, but more importantly, it just “feels right.”

Just for fun, here’s a screenshot of my computer running all three Descent games… at the same time!

Links to Check it Out!

These are all places I’ve been to in my quest to rediscover the phenomenon known as “Descent.” No paid plugs here.