Friday, March 03, 2006

More Speech

Got through my second graded speech (sounded like I said it was 2nd Grade Level). I did it on Linux, and it went pretty well. I still went over time, but only slightly. I still tried to use the cue cards, but that just makes me stumble. I can recover from a stumble pretty well, but it makes me take too long to make the presentation. When I practice at home, it hits just right, but at school, it takes longer. Part of it is trying to hold the cards, look down and use the Powerpoint all at one time. Not practical at all. If I can get it down to just one card, it might work, but no more than one. Looking down it the biggest problem that messes me up. Every time I look down to the cards, I get 'off-beat'. I knew what I was suppose to say next, but looked at the card to make sure instead. It's better, and much more fluid, when I just go out of my head. But, I do that daily.

Right now, I'm using the old pink iMac, with Ubuntu Linux. I'm using it for a few days, mostly to make sure everything necessary is installed, but also to make sure it's not too slow to be unusable. It's not. Not only is it completely usable, but it's actually faster than with Mac OSX. Mac OSX and the various Linux distributions have lots of similarities, so it's easier to switch from Mac to Linux. Gnome (what makes Linux distros look more like Windows) helps the Windows people use Linux. Mac is very good, but very big, making it work slower on older equipment. While the Pink Mac isn't going at warp speed, it's at a tolerable level of slowness, and it hasn't crashed at all, so far.

This is a screenshot of running the Old Pink iMac, G3 - 333mhz, 6gig HD, and 160meg memory. In the screenshot, I'm running Gaim Instant Messenger, Firefox Web Browser, and Gimp photo editor (pretty much as good as photoshop). Even with the low amount of memory, it didn't slow down much at all.

This brought me to an idea I want to do:
I'd like to create an organization to take older, but still usable computers, install a Linux distro, and give it to a student without a computer. Doing so will help keep a perfectly good computer in use -instead of making toxic waste sooner than necessary- and help a student. I could start at the Community college level, since I'm there, and.....
Okay, truth is - it would keep me having a constant supply of toys. There are problems with the idea; storage, getting donors, getting recipients, and supporting the systems I give out. It would definitely be a two or three person volunteer effort. Maybe someday. If Mac or Windows goes Open Source (and I think they eventually will have to), I'd use those too.

Nancy and I've been working out more - doing an all day workout. All throughout the day, we do sets of a few different exercises. The next day, we do different exercises. The idea it to create something for very time crunched people to use. Eventually, I'm going to figure things you can do in work clothes. Might be the start of a decent book.

We went to Epcot Saturday, and Nancy treated me to dinner at Japan. Our cook was good, and the food was really good. Even still, I wish they had messed with the restaurant at Norway; Akershus. Now, they've gone and done this Storybook Princess dinner thing. Friggin fetish people. I bet each of those girls winds up divorced real quick, when their princess bubble burst. Invade my space, will ya. Then again....

Snow White did pretty hot. Maybe I could get Nancy one of those outfits.
I might just go to the Storybook Princess Dinner after all.

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