Just Me & My Computers

From the time I arrived back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) at 3pm yesterday afternoon until 9:30pm, Brian was stomping back and forth on the second floor from some point just above my squalid room to either one of the two bedrooms or the other end of the common area. Back and forth. Back and forth. Every now and then, he took a short break to watch his widescreen LCD tube. Then, back and forth. Back and forth. He appeared to be unpacking stuff from several boxes, but he is moving one unpacked item at a time. I don't even know how long he was at it before I arrived back at the dump. As I said prior, the guy is a meathead. Why else would he stand outside in the driveway only in his underwear?

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went well. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. Later, moms served Welcome® vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Back at Slob Manor, the young Asian hottie made a brief visit this evening. She broke a few of Brian's new dishes, which were lying around anyway, and made a lot of noise in the kitchen as she prepared a special baked treat for her boyfriend. Alan was apparently lying on the couch when she arrived. He attempted to make smalltalk, but she was too preoccupied with the task at hand. I have never spoken to her, nor has she attempted to make conversation. As far as I can gather, she's completely enraptured by the boyfriend. Young love, you say? Oh brother.

Honestly, I could never go through an ordeal with any babe. I'm not cut out for that relationship nonsense or that romance crap. The latter and former are human concoctions to legitimize the "inner animal" lust. That's why the success ratio of long-term monogamous relationships is so low. No thanks. I'll take my vast hurdy-gurdy video collection instead.

Well, here's an interesting assessment of the ol' lavahead by a guy named Steven Mon from Gaithersburg Maryland:

It's kind of a strange blog -- I mean, everyone has problems, but this guy has real problems. The decisions he makes -- they often leave you scratching your head. And the fact that he seemed to be going through things that most people work their way through in their twenties -- while he was starting his forties -- well, it's just kind of odd.

That's from his "blog" called Anomie Train Studio (February 22nd). He's also on Facebook and Myspace, along with another creation called Losertown. Mon's "blog" goes back about four years, so I'll probably take some time to read all of it. What else do I have to do?

On a final note, I should mention that KDE "plasma" netbook is running without a hitch. Out of sheer foolishness, I decided to reinstall the bulk of the applications that I previously uninstalled. There's a lot more integration in KDE than I earlier thought. Although I won't use any of those applications, I want to review the entire integrated desktop. In two months, I will be upgrading to the version of Kubuntu with the latest KDE release. Yeah, just me and my computers.

Wink of an Eye

"See that guy in the back getting off the bus right now," the bus driver announced to the tourists sitting in the front on the Route 23 bus just as I was about to alight near Kawaikui Beach Park. "He's a rich guy. He lives up on Hawai'i Loa Ridge." Then, he started laughing. I was laughing, too. Just a few minutes earlier, he was pointing out the sights to the tourists. I was surprised to see him driving the 2pm route from Ala Moana Center, where I boarded. I had ridden his Route 23 bus this morning. In fact, he had flashed the "Not in Service" message on the signage before stopping. We had a good laugh. The other passengers were probably wondering what was so funny. He usually drives the 3:30pm Route 1 bus on Saturday afternoon, which I ride to return to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Twice, he pulled the "not in service" prank on me, and I almost fell for it both times. That is, until he gave himself away when he started laughing.

Typical "Wink of an Eye" Hottie

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday disappeared in a wink of an eye with nothing noteworthy of mention. When I arrived back at Slob Manor, I could hear Brian's widescreen LCD tube blaring away upstairs. The fool was stomping around back and forth almost continuously doing who-knows-what. Every now and then, he would drop some kind of heavy object on the floor. Brian has a lot of money and a lot of meat between the ears. Well, he's a meathead.

Three hours later, meathead is still doing the same thing. Insanity? You think so? He is most likely in the process of "moving in." With all of that money, he should have purchased his own house. Instead, he spent literally thousands of dollars on designer furniture to be placed in an ant-infested dump. Heck, the landlord has already been wondering whether Brian will be in the house day and night, watching the tube, and running up the utilities.

The landlord was also asking about the young Asian hottie. I told the landlord that I didn't know much. I've only seen the young Asian hottie all of 20 seconds since she's moved in. The landlord did clarify that baby's boyfriend does a lot of travelling. Whenever he's gone, then she will spend the time in Slob Manor. Let's hope that he's not gone all that much, eh?

On a side note, I have reverted back to the KDE "plasma" netbook desktop in Kubuntu after much deliberation. Frankly, I was perplexed at how quickly I had dismissed the netbook interface as being too unintuitive. Turns out, the "plasma" netbook interface is extremely elegant. There are only a couple of annoyance. First, dialog boxes are maximized to fill the screen just like application windows. Second, the desktop panel preferences windows have a strange black background. Overall, though, the KDE "plasma" netbook desktop is quite impressive (refer to above link). The animations are nice, too, and seem to be accomplished without a compositor.

I spoke too soon. A third annoyance is that the rekonq browser is crashing often in the "plasma" netbook interface. I had absolutely no crashes when in the normal "plasma" desktop. Nonetheless, my Acer® Aspire One netbook can be deployed as a primary computer. Now if only I would take my mortality more seriously and get on with the exodus already. Sheesh!

Consciousness

Not much has changed in the past few days. I am still wasting a lot of precious time. I continue to piddle around with my computers, although little progress has been made to resolve any issues particularly with Kubuntu. I have not divested any of my remaining useless possessions. Neither have I done anything to improve my lot in life. And, I continue to ponder and reflect on matters of which I have no control.

There has been little progress in reducing or eliminating my vast hurdy-gurdy video collection as well. Clearly, the latter is an example of "free will," or the lack of it. The hurdy-gurdy collection serves no purpose because it is stored on a portable hard drive which is only plugged into a computer for file transfers. Thus, the hurdy-gurdy collection is only an archive. What good is that? If the portable hard drive were to suddenly fail, I probably wouldn't miss it. So, why maintain the hurdy-gurdy collection in the first place?

Overall, though, the most sickening aspect of the current situation is my heavy reliance upon computers. I spend hours, literally a waste of a life, in front of a computer screen for no particular purpose. Since I don't watch the tube, don't have a social life, don't have any hobbies, and don't have lots of money, I am limited to any option that can substitute for the aforementioned. The only cost effective solution has been the computer. Yet, the computer gives me lots of grief. I can't seem to find an operating system that suits my needs (i.e., minimalistic) and functions as expected. Instead, I am spending hours looking for solutions to the most ludicrous problems. Perhaps the upcoming version of Kubuntu will exhibit better stability.

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day has come to pass. Nothing noteworthy to report. In other words, same ol' shit. Mundane routine aside, I have maintained my promise to remain both hypervigilant and keenly observant of my surroundings. My eyes scan everything. I observe the tree and their magnificent shapes. I stop to peruse flowers in bloom. I watch the birds coming and going. I even observe tiny insects scurrying about. I try to listen for natural sounds, but the latter is masked by the noise of "civilization." I attempt to smell the freshness of nature, but I am usually thwarted by cigarette smoke. As I stated prior, I am attempting to experience life even though I am stuck in a cesspool.

Even while I am eating my paltry lunch in the coconut grove in the Capitol district, I spend my time watching the birds, feeling the blades of grass in my hands, or looking at the odd characteristics of the trunks of each coconut tree. I never grow tired of the task. I continue to take in treasured views of this planet of life, my only small window of time allotted to me perhaps in the remaining time before the sun goes red star. I can't help but feel sad that we'll never see this planet again once we're gone.

Consciousness is both a strange and amazing quality, isn't it? I have been pondering the meaning of consciousness for several weeks now. Mind you, I have already concluded that both the soul and consciousness are mortal. They don't live on in a "spirit" world. Where would they go? And, why or how were both confined to the earth? From what I can tell, consciousness (i.e., self-awareness) grows with age. In infancy, we are essentially nothing, the ideal tabula rasa. We grow into human beings in time. Yet, we a still a species of animal.

I don't want to sound like Christopher Hitchens, but religion is the problem. Pauline-Christianity is the worst manufacturer of elaborate lies about the soul and mortality. Even Judaism made no such claims. Much of the nonsense has a "pagan" origin. Yet, the basis of those beliefs go even further back into prehistory. It is so embedded into the culture of humanity that it cannot be easily purged. We have all been subliminally assimilated.

The God of the Yahweh Triad (i.e., Judaism, Pauline-Christianity, and Islam) does not exist. If I haven't stated that fact explicitly before, then I am doing so now. If we reject the idea of spontaneous generation of both the universe and life, then we can only accept benign creation. An entity is not necessary for benign creation to occur, although there is an implication of guidance. And, even if an entity is involved, the latter has not made itself known. A few diehard religious fanatics may argue that the Unholy Scriptures is the conduit to that entity. A ludicrous claim. The specific genealogy of the Unholy Scriptures places the origin of humans at about 6,000 years ago, a time when there were already large numbers of people in Asia as well as in and around Mesopotamia. If the chronology of the Unholy Scriptures is incorrect, then it has discredited itself.

Actually, does it really matter if we accept or reject either spontaneous generation or benign creation? Does it change anything? Does it make us any less mortal? Will that keep the sun from going red star on us? The beauty of consciousness is that it allows to able to enjoy life. It did not elevate us above the other animals as we have have tried to fool ourselves into believing. Yet, with the seemingly boundless quality of consciousness, we should have figured out the absolute truths (refer to the "blog" of July 28th of last year) a long time ago. What happened?

Readership Project

Last night, from my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I heard the young Asian hottie return from parts unknown. Brian happened to be downstairs and introduced himself. Baby then fumbled around noisily in the kitchen before abruptly leaving. Later, I discovered that she had removed all of her food from the fridge. The rice cooker was conspicuously absent. And, she even cleaned the dirty dishes that she had left in the sink for three days. I surmised that I was correct in my assumption that she recently had a tiff with the boyfriend. They must have ironed out their differences. Frankly, I don't think that she had any other option. I'm sure that she does not enjoy residing in the dump that is Slob Manor. Worst yet, having to occupy the same living space with three decrepit old geezers. Oh, the horror!

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went well. Moms and I ate lunch at Zippy's. Later, moms served Welcome® vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

By the way, I have been attempting to determine the number of legitimate readers who visit the site using the Feedjit® Live Feed. Here is the result:

• Hawaii (2)
• California (3)
• Washington (1)
• Nevada (1)
• South Dakota (1)
• Michigan (1)
• Massachusetts (1)
• New York (1)
• Tennessee (1)
• Maryland (1)
• North Carolina (1)
• Netherlands (1)
• United Kingdom (1)
• Japan (1)

I had been observing the data over the past few months. Curiosity, and lack of anything else to do, drove me to pursue the project. The rest of the visitors are looking for babe pictures. Well, I'd like to express my appreciation to all seventeen of you who stop by to share in the existential vacuum of the "blog." And, a belated welcome is in order as well.

Existential Vacuum Cleaner Redux

Flash flood warnings and heavy rain forecasts were in effect for O'ahu from yesterday morning. The day proved to be hot, humid, and calm. The thundershowers finally hit last night at 11:05pm, going from relative calm to extremely heavy rainfall instantaneously. I was, of course, safely locked in my squalid room. Brian, the clown who rents the entire second floor, was stomping around like a trapped zoo animal and clearing his throat loudly every few seconds. The rain lasted all of 30 minutes.

Typical Existential Hottie

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day, another existential vacuum. Nothing out of the ordinary transpired, except that I was able to find the energy to sashay down to the Institute of Hair Design in order to restore my extreme monk haircut. The student who cut my hair spent about an hour to accomplish the task. She kept running the clippers over the entire oversized cranium continuously, chafing my scalp. I almost thought that I would not have time for my gym workout. The ride back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) this afternoon was over an hour due to traffic as a result of a traffic accident.

When I set foot in Slob Manor, I could hear Brian's huge widescreen LCD tube blaring away upstairs. His brand new Ford® Mustang was parked on the rock pile. A few minutes later, a large truck backed into the driveway. Two guys unloaded all kinds of new furniture. Not the cheap stuff, mind you, but the expensive designer variety. All of it went upstairs. According to the landlord, Brian is receiving permanent disability benefits. In addition, he has received a huge settlement from his former employer. Brian was formerly a pest control guy. So, with all of the new wealth that he has acquired, Brian has been spending money freely on anything and everything. Brian also owns a dog, a dubious requirement of his rehabilitation therapy. Oddly, I observed Brian standing outside in the driveway with his dog at 7:40am this morning as I was walking to the bus stop. He was only wearing his underwear. Sheesh!

Well, I continue to waste precious time. Actually, frozen in inaction is more accurate. At the library, I took a break from my reading list and perused an archaeology picture book. I almost cannot articulate just how affected I am by visions of the distant past. There's just too much that we don't know. Essentially, given our mortality, there is no reason to know anything. Would such knowledge change anything? Not really. We just need to live our lives with all the mundane distractions until we keel over.

Speaking of distractions, Linux Mint has released its latest KDE version based on Ubuntu "Maverick Meerkat." However, I find no reason to switch from Kubuntu for now. So far, so good.

Post No. 1,760

I did not get to sleep until after 1am this morning because the young Asian hottie decided to perform her laundry chores after 10pm. The washer and dryer are right outside the door to my squalid room. Baby's squalid room is across from mine. Oddly, baby departed earlier than I did this morning. Apparently, sleep deprivation is not an issue for her.

Another visit to Hawai'i Kai went well. Moms and I ate lunch at Panda Express®. My Panda Express® fortune cookie's prediction: "You will soon receive help from an unexpected source." From whom, pray tell? Later, moms served Welcome® vanilla ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day? The urban nomad fulfilled his usual benign functions and followed his routine itinerary as planned.

Incidentally, my sister-in-law is no longer working in town. Her final day at the law firm was on Friday. My nephew is on another disciplinary suspension for a few weeks because of his alleged involvement in a food fight in the high school mess hall. He claims that he's innocent. Well, guilty or not, he's now stigmatized as a delinquent. The next incident will get him expelled. My bro has started using chewin' tobaccy again. No idea why.

In the distractions department, I ran the "live" version of Bohdi Linux last night since I was up late. The included themes were esoteric, but I was suitably impressed. That is, until I opened a couple of applications (only three are included). Whoa! Shades of Gnome®! The GTK+ look just doesn't match Enlightenment at all. I am certain that further customization is possible. Why bother? Thus, I have decided to remain loyal to Kubuntu.

5 Kayeb 12 Eb

(12.19.18.2.12) All I can say is that I had an unexciting return to the urban nomad routine. At the library, I spent most of my time lapsing in and out of a coma in the inner courtyard. "Fatigue" is my middle name. Ol' Fatigue Lavahead. Yeah, I've been really fatigued lately. I cannot even bring myself to accomplish the most trivial tasks like shopping for food or restoring my monk haircut. I'm really tired of being a slave of the "system." My workout at the gym was also a trying task. Frankly, I don't just don't know anymore.

Back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), nothing was happening. Just the way I like it. The young Asian hottie and Brian, the guy who resides upstairs, were apparently in the dump last night. So, we have a full house. During the day, Alan appears to be only person around. Is the situation improving? Slightly. However, there is no escaping the fact that Slob Manor is a detestable hovel.

Well, there's always more computer mumbo-jumbo to keep me occupied during the incredibly long dull spots of the mendicant life-style. I downloaded the latest version of Bodhi Linux, although it is still only a "beta release candidate." Bodhi is Ubuntu-based, but uses the Enlightenment desktop. I ran Bodhi "live." It's fast and elegant. And, best of all, it is entirely spartan. My only concern, of course, is power management. I'll be investigating the matter later, that's for sure. No install, though, until the stable release.

Overall, I am somewhat pleased with Kubuntu. I really like the KDE interface. Heck, I may eventually switch to Kubuntu on my aging Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. I am using a crippled version of Ubuntu "Karmic Koala" that is due to be completely deprecated in two months. The only problem with Kubuntu is power management, just like Ubuntu. However, Kubuntu power managment is fully functioning after one reboot. Not ideal, but workable.

On a final note, I am on the verge of erupting in a violent rampage. I have never felt so trapped as I do now. I am fooling around with my computers in order to calm the "inner animal." I'm afraid, though, that the "inner animal" wants to break free. I've done everything that I could to fool myself into believing that I am breaking out of the ménagerie (i.e., exodus), but it's not working too well. Tonight, I also squished over a hundred of those tiny black bugs with the same filthy rag that I used to squish the sugar ants. The "inner animal" is only minutely appeased by such a benign activity. However, that's all I have. Well, I have the "blog," too. Sheesh!

Holiday Hullabaloo

I was on my way to New City Nissan® in Kalihi at 7:45am this morning. I stopped off at the Aina Haina Shopping Center to purchase a cup of coffee and a couple of muffins at Foodland Farms. I even arrived early at the dealership. I had the whole day planned out accordingly, but it was thwarted by foolishness. According to Matt, my "service representative," there was an overbooking of appointments. So, My Nissan® Frontier truck would not be ready until 2pm. What could I do?

I leisurely ate one of the muffins and sipped on my coffee in the waiting area. At about 9am, I rode the courtesy shuttle to Ala Moana Center with gym bag in hand. I spent an hour or so in Barnes & Noble®. Then, I rode the bus to town. I performed my usual workout at the gym. I was certainly glad to be back at the downtown location.

After my workout, I ran into the Indian guy right outside the building. He was on lunch break. At 1:30pm, the courtesy shuttle arrived to pick me up across the street. Once back at the dealership, I retrieved my truck. Aside from the recall repair, I had the bogus "safety check" done. I chatted with Matt, the "service representative," for a couple of minutes. He asked about the gym, since I had just finished working out. He said that he had a gym membership, but never saw me at the one across from Ala Moana Center. I told him that I go to the downtown branch. He then mentioned that he used to go to the gym after work, usually late at night. At that time, he was employed at the former Osake Sushi Bar. Apparently, he was working on the night of the infamous shooting four years ago. Another part-time employee, who was also a deputy sheriff, was fatally shot (refer to Honolulu Advertiser archives for details). "You always think that it happens just like in the movies," he said. "But, in real life, it's definitely not the same thing."

Prior to departing from the dealership, I looked around at all of the new vehicles. Nothing really interested me. I am satisfied with my truck for now. I wanted to return to Ala Moana Center, but the destination was way out of my way. The place would be packed with idiots anyway. So, I stopped off at the second worst option, Kahala Mall. The place was packed, but I was able to secure a shaded parking space immediately. By then, I was completely famished and feeling queasy. To satisfy my hunger, I ate an early dinner at Subway®. I visited Barnes & Noble® again for no particular reason. Well, at least the hottie bookseller was on duty. Baby was looking mighty fine, by the way.

I was back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) by 3:30pm. I immediately locked myself in my squalid room. Another holiday weekend has come and gone. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Mostly a waste of precious time. Tonight, I'll distract myself with more computer mumbo-jumbo. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Reinventing the Wheel

A very unexciting Sunday indeed, with a minor modification to the usual itinerary. From Ala Moana Center, I walked to the gym across the street. Yesterday, there was a sign posted at the gym which stated that the downtown branch would be closed for repairs until 2pm this afternoon. So, that's why I had to modify my itinerary. Oddly, I did not see any members from the downtown gym during the entire time. Surely, at least a handful would have been present. Nada. I surmised that the repairs were probably completed earlier than expected. Oh well.

As for the rest of the day, I had absolutely no incidents with mental midgets, not even one. Yet, there were plenty of people around, no matter where I went. So, what happened between yesterday and today? Was there a full moon out, or what?

Back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), all was quiet. The new guy who rents the entire second floor has only been around one night so far. That was Friday. The young Asian hottie is now spending a lot of time in her squalid room. Baby has been here for three consecutive nights. She was home all day today, too, doing who-knows-what. She has also stocked food in the fridge and put a lot of cookware in the kitchen. She even has a rice cooker. From what I can tell, she's been eating her meals at Slob Manor. What happened to the boyfriend? Did they have a falling out on Valentine's Day? Only time will tell.

I can barely articulate how unnerved I have been lately. Yes, I have been pondering mortality again, not just my mortality per se. Rather, I have been developing the "big picture," which now incorporates the universe. I have to say that the authors of the Unholy Scriptures were absolutely correct when they derived the axiom, "He who increases knowledge also increases pain." Not a day goes by now without a heavy integration of the sum of my feeble knowledge. Yet, I can't seem to grasp anything. I have tried to deconstruct the whole into smaller component parts, but that is really no longer possible. The whole is the smallest component part.

Mortality, of course, is most interesting to me. We humans have been given one small window of time to experience "life." There seems to be no purpose. Nor have any of us been given any special consideration about where and when we appeared. The "life" we so value is simply the sum of our experiences all laid down in memory. Yet, in the grand scheme, "life" has no meaning. It can't have any because it is fleeting and temporary. It only has a relative meaning for the individual who possesses it.

I am in awe that I have been able to witness "life" from a viewpoint within the short time frame that I have been allotted. It will be the only time that I will see the earth and universe for what they are. Imagine that we will never see this solar system or the earth again. Even if reincarnation were possible, we certainly would not be coming back as ourselves. I'd be an entirely different person. And, I may not come back before the whole solar system is gone, after the sun becomes a gigantic red star. I can't imagine the earth and the sun vanishing. I can't imagine all traces of life disappearing. I first approached the entire topic objectively, but I gradually became emotionally involved. A great sadness, melancholia, overcame me. I just don't understand. I can't understand.

I know that I am "reinventing the wheel." I am converging on the same point that many great and not-so-great thinkers did over the eons when humans actually had the luxury of time to think. Imagine if the great and not-so-great thinkers had access to the knowledge that we have available to us now. They would literally go berserk. They would not be able to postulate a single answer to any philosophical question. They would effectively be lost. And, so am I.

Kubuntu has not left me with any answers either. I thought of downloading another KDE-based "distro." Why bother? I have searched the forums of various "distros" and found the same kinds of problems listed. My only conclusion is that Linux is just not meant to run on notebook or netbook computers. There are just too many variations in the hardware. The developers just can't keep up with the modifications.

As far as power management is concerned, I learned that KDE v4.5 requires HAL (read: hardware abstraction layer). That's probably why power managment is less intermittent in Kubuntu. In the Gnome®-based Ubuntu, HAL has been deprecated in favor of upower. Thus, in Ubuntu, neither the battery or brightness functions are detected pretty much all of the time. The next version of Kubuntu will feature KDE v4.6 which does not require HAL. Will we see the same power management problems migrate to Kubuntu? Most likely. Is it time to give up and go back to the "other" operating system?

Losers & Mental Midgets

When I arrived at Ala Moana Center this morning at 8:30am, I ran into Joseph, the Iraqi guy, and his limerant object along the main promenade. I chatted with them briefly. I was following the Sunday urban nomad itinerary because of the holiday weekend. Thus, I ended up at the gym much earlier than usual for Saturday.

Typical Holiday Hottie

Upon exiting the gym at noon, I entered a strange world of stupidity. There was a proliferation of mental midgets just as there was a proliferation of losers. Sitting at the bus stop in front of Chinatown Gateway Plaza, I was privy to several minutes of cigarette smoke emanating from an old loser sitting just a few feet away, obviously upwind. The fossilized fool looked so catatonic that I didn't bother to read him the riot act. He was probably going to keel over at any moment anyway.

I boarded a bus that was heading to Ala Moana Center, but alighted just a block away. The unbelievable collective stupidity of the passengers was astounding. No words could adequately describe the level of mental midgetry that I was privy to witness. I was able to board another bus shortly afterward on Bishop Street. Ala Moana Center was completely packed, and the reign of stupidity permeated the entire shopping complex. From fat slobs lumbering about in a metronome fashion to psychotic cigarette-smoking clowns talking to themselves, I was inundated with people whose entire cognitive functioning had been supplanted by too much fast food, excessive shopping for useless junk, and marathon tube-watching. The spectacle was not even remotely comical. It was pathetic. How can people end up so stupid?

There was definitely no shortage of losers no matter where I was. I am not a "winner," but the kind of fools that I observed in mass numbers would elevate even a simpleton like the ol' lavahead way up the so-called "food chain." What has brought the contemporary human animal to flounder in such a humiliating regression?

I tried to eat my ice cream treat in peace as I sat on one of the benches facing the parking area in front of Sears®. Mind you, I had to navigate through crowds of bumbling morons at Foodland in order to purchase the ice cream treat. Within seconds, the psychotic ho' who was talking loudly to herself lit up a cigarette. Smoke wafted in my direction immediately. I briskly walked to the bus stop with my ice cream treat. I could have said something to the psychotic ho', but exactly what would she be able to comprehend? As I sat on one of the concrete benches, one of the kids in family of idiots started running amuck. He ran right in front of me, almost knocking the small container of ice cream out of my hands. A few minutes later, a crappy "riceboy" complete with hollowed out mufflers drove past a parked vehicle and set off its ridiculous alarm. The alarm didn't shut down for almost five minutes, all the while blasting the horn just about 25 feet away from the bus stop. The endless chain of shoppers who just purchased extremely large widescreen LCD tubes were filing out of Sears® non-plussed. On and on it went, until I finally arrived back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). What a relief!

Well, Kubuntu has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Power management is still intermittent, although not as critical as Gnome®-based Ubuntu. I have no idea where the problem lies. I surmise that the developers' attempt to shorten the boot time is probably causing the script or module loading failure. It's far more important that the operating system runs flawlessly rather than boot up faster. Inability to detect the battery or control the hard drive load cycle is unacceptable. Having to unplug the power supply or reboot the computer are both ridiculous solutions. Should I switch to yet another "distro"? Heck, I don't know anymore.