Part 1: Planning a functional home-office space.

So this is my obligatory monthly post it would seem… Not much new to write about. Some changes at work, I was moved to a different facility. Hours suck, commute sucks, but all’s going well for the most part. I do hope to be back soon, mostly because it’s closer and the hours are better. I’m overcoming the other reasons I didn’t want to be here. Gotta take life one day at a time and make the best of it or you’ll find your life is miserable! My coworker here is good, she’s got a great attitude and is easy to work around.

As for home life, I’ve gotten the new profiles website and discussion board site up and running – still a few tweaks to do there. I havn’t updated my Tee Shirt site in way too long, so that’s on the list ot “to do real soon” I need to build out 3 new servers, most likely gonna use FreeBSD again. One will be to replace the old 166Mhz secondary DNS and Mail sitting on the Speakeasy DSL at home, another will be a new secondary DNS and Mail on the SBC connection, and the 3rd will be backup NS and MX to put at a friends house.

I still want to replace the 2 monitors left in the computer room with flat panels to save space and electricity – just havn’t gotten around to spending the money on them yet. Also need to clean up and move old servers out of there that I don’t use anymore. There are about 6 computer that I don’t or won’t be using once I finish cleaning them out and adding/replacing the 2 servers I mentioned earlier.

I also really want to get a Media Center PC and a NAS (Network Attached Storage) to put all my CDs, Movies, Etc on as well as record TV to watch later, etc. But seeing how slowly I’m attacking these other projects – not to mention the cost (Close to $3k whan all’s said and done) I don’t see that happening soon.

I havn’t been out taking pictures lately – mabe with cooler weather coming I will feel more like taking some on the weekends. My Sony F828 is still “new” but I want another camera already It’s really handy and does a great job – but I want a more professional digital – not to mention the fact that I want nothing to do with Sony now after their little rootkit goof. (If you havn’t heard, search google or slashdot for sony rootkit)

Well, enough rambling – I’ve successfully cooled off under the AC now after spending the afternoon cleaning – and now it’s time to go home.

I know I always say I’ll post again soon… but in case I don’t, worse case scenario is you’ll hear from me in about a month!

I’m a bad boy, not posting in so long. Well, you see, so much has happened that I just havn’t had the time or energy. No really, we had this littls storm come through, they called it Rita… Things looked really scary so we up and left to get away from it. Decided to go to Shreveport, stay with friends, let it blow over. Well, 27 hours later we finally get there. I took a few pictures along the way that I was hoping to share, but they’re on my other computer and I don’t feel like finding them right now

I’ll get them posted soon, I promise

Until next time…

Kris

So Houston has now become the new temporary home to thousands of “refugees” from Louisiana. Many fled here on their own before Katrina hit in addition to the approximate 19,000 that have so far been bussed in to the Astrodome, Reliant Arena, and now the George R. Brown convention center. Over 220,000 refugees have already come to Texas. With all these new temporary residents, I find that I have a few concerns – Mainly regarding crime rates, regardless of what the Police Department or Media is saying. I know people with personal accounts of increased vandalism, theft, prowling, etc. as a direct result of our recent visitors.

One family stated their typically quiet neighborhood near the Astrodome has become prowling grounds for bored refugees, and in the first night alone, they had to call the police several times because some stranger was wandering around their house, knocking on windows or doors, etc. This family is now terrified that their house will be broken into and has resorted to guarding their front door with a shotgun.

Someone else I know was the victim of a family of claimed refugees, who, after eating a nice expensive dinner and telling the waiter afterwards that they were from Louisiana and couldn’t pay, broke into my friends car along with 2 others in the restaurant parking lot.

There are many more similar experiences fellow Houstonians have to share, and after a few weeks I guarantee that HPD will be changing their story. If you are the victim of a crime, or even harassment by our visitors, I would suggest you notify the police! Once they begin to see the resulting crime rate they will realize that harsher steps are needed to control these people.

I sympathize with what they have been through, and am deeply saddened by what has happened, but this does NOT give them the right to act like morons, hoodlums, and thugs. I will gladly treat any one of them I come into contact with; with the same respect and dignity I would anyone else including my own family members. I would gladly offer any assistance I can within reason. But I guarantee I will not put up with someones ignorance, disrespect, and unthankfulness – and if they expect Houstonians to continue helping them and offering our support they should acknowledge and accept what they can get with dignity rather than an indignant attitude towards us.

It will be interesting to compare the Houston crime rates for July, August, and September. Come back and check it out, as sometime around the middle to end of October I should have the September crime stats online and we’ll see what the results are.

And Katrina Proved It!