NOT a typical day

So. Last night I installed Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx. This morning, I got up and said "hey wouldn't it be cool if Windows could access the files on Lucid!" I went and got some nice software that was supposed to help it work. It turned out the software only worked with ext2, ext3 with inode size 128, or ext4 with some similar option (I have ext4 Linux file system, so it didn't work). So I uninstalled the software and decided to live with it. The software demanded that I restart the computer, so I did. Here comes the BIOS display-- and then a blinking line and a blank screen. No keyboard input or anything. GRUB died! The only thing that worked was the live cd!
Here I am, about six reinstallations of Ubuntu (Lucid) later, and I think I might have both working. Here's hoping.
*Assuming* it does work, the next challenge is transferring files from another computer to my new hard drive. I'm trying to use a direct network connection between them and since one has auto-negotiation (or duplex, or whatever you want to call it), I don't need a crossover cable. In theory.
This was my entire day, interspersed with lunch, park day (with a few homeschoolers), and dinner (at a homeschool business meeting). Oh yeah and I was so distracted that put a notice up at the wrong place! The original plan was to have the meeting at Maroney park (5 minutes from here), but we got rained out. I was tasked with putting the notice of location change up at Maroney -- but I was so distracted that I went all the way to Pecan park (15 minutes from here).

And then God said "Do not be afraid, only believe."
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." ~1 Peter 3:15
"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and then rose again."~2 Corinthians 5:14,15

This has been your compulsory rant of the month from Petr, followed by a wake up call in no uncertain terms.

The region IV invitational speech and debate tournament is next week, starting Wednesday morning, and I am... not likely to do a whole lot better now than ever before. But that's okay. See above -- it's not so much that whole thing about winning that counts anymore.

Now if anybody understood all of the above, please mention it and I will gladly buy you ice cream :)

God bless!
-Petr

Repeat of a past non-intrigue

Hi there!

Yeah, it's me again, back at "ye ol' drawin' board". Somebody pointed out to me that this poor ol' blog is rather neglected, and I agreed. Maybe it's time to get back to the mindset of "I wonder if I could blog about that..."

So, as a fulfilled promise, I give you these further sources of funny looking html code. To the average eye it may appear like a simple picture with a link, but don't be fooled!

Ski trip 2010

Texas National Open 10

Farmington 10

The last is the one freshest in my memory, though I suppose a brief recall of events may help those not previously involved.

So -- Ski trip 2010: see previous post :)

TX National Open: The NCFCA tournament held in Texas open to debaters all debaters, not just those from region 4 (TX, OK, NM, AK). Worth mentioning is the fact that Joshua Jones got first place speaker!! (not place, mind you. There is a difference)
Furthermore, I competed in extemporaneous starting this tournament and will continue to do so through at least one more. Basically, they give the competitor (assume the name "you" until further notice) 3 topics to choose from, all based on current events: "Will the A350 be a viable competitor to the Boeing 787?" and the like. "You" has (have?) thirty minutes to prepare a seven minute speech on one of the three topics. Further, You has been doing research on hopefully any and every current event for the past 3 months and will print off any and all articles from any and every source. You then can quote anything s/he likes from these articles, provided they can fit it and their entire speech outline on a 3x5 index card. At the end of the thirty minutes, You must go give the speech in a separate room, taking only the index card.
Sound fun yet? :)

Also worth note is the fact that I finally got my Humorous Interp (basically a ten minute, one person comedy) memorized and almost reasonable. Alas, it was still several minutes long. So I used a different script altogether for the...

Farmington, New Mexico (CHILE Qualifier) tournament: Held in Farmington, NM, open to those from region 4.
Worth note -- my new script is based on a folklore tale. Thanks to Mom for finding it!
Further, I (finally) broke to outrounds in debate. Strangely enough I beat the first person in octafinals, but then lost in quarterfinals, winding up with 8th place in the tournament. I'm quite happy with that :)
Even more information -- the reason for so few as 17 pictures from this tournament and so many in/from a car is that during the tournament and before I could really get the pictures I was looking for, the camera was used as a video camera and all memory card used up. No, taking pictures is not my passion, but I still lament not having more space or another card.

Feel free to ask questions. Those who know me are familiar with the fact that I answer questions more easily than volunteering information... (though that statement came rather easily. I wonder why)

Have I missed anything yet? My my, it appears to be near the end of March! If I'm to keep up once-a-month postings, I might as well start very soon this week.

I rather wish Annie would return, it's beginning to look rather lonely around here without her claws...

God bless!
-Petr

In celebration - of?

The question of the day...

Or is it?
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Good evening, my dear friends! It may even be morning for some of you. But that makes no difference to the likes of myself -- we have things that need to be done at such late hours!

Ok, so there's another reason. Has anybody heard of Terminal Man?
http://www.wired.com/autopia/tag/terminal-man/

No, that's not what's going on here. Just similar. I wonder if he ever stayed the night in Denver...

Long story short, if you desire. Debate tournaments, much traveling, ski trip, stuck in airport overnight. Short enough? :)

This latest adventure started last week. Roughly. Almost a week and a day ago, in fact. 12 AM Saturday night -- we got up and drive 3 hours to Dallas, got on a plane at 6, watched the sun come up somewhere outside from between complete strangers. And that was just the first flight. From Denver we took a mid-morning flight to Aspen (and slept the whole way). A lot of hurry-up-and-wait-ing going on, or certainly after we arrived in Aspen. The ski place (oh yes, did I mention it's a ski trip?) had weird management policies, the condominium wouldn't let us in until 4ish, and lunch wasn't exactly easy to come by.

How about I sum up again? This entire past week consisted of a whole lot of skiing, some eating, some sleeping (you think!), and of course just enough debate/speech prep to realize that I'm not doing nearly enough.

The snow conditions in Snowmass were almost ideal: powder the day we arrived, snow for most of the week to keep that layer of powder there, and a whole lot of back country (extreme terrain, YEAH!) deep powder. Yes I did "drag" several people down the tough ones quite a bit :)

I might well have some pictures up from said trip soon. However, realize that I didn't take a whole lot of pics, and they're not all much to look at.
But I've got some from the last tournament!

DFW Feb 10

(That's a whole mess of html, by the way. Not that I would know what all of it means)

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I have the great privilege of achieving 100 posts. YAAAAY

So is it competition or cooperation that got me here? :)

God bless!
-Petr

Eh what?

Lets see now, how did I do this last year?

goes sifting through archives

I take it back, I didn't. That would be... 2007? Man it's been a while. Anywho. (ready for this yet?)

WHITE CHAMPAGNE!!!

With some rabbits thrown in there for the purists

Have you a good Christmas/Incarnation and New Year? I know I did!  Blizzards and such... that's another story for another day :)

God bless!
-Petr

My shoulder is looked over

I can only stay away for so long... and my attention span may be lacking something.  Eh.  (Let the philosophers among us consider that one)

Pictures!  (and there was rejoicing -- no?  maybe it's over-hyped a bit)

Ryan's 14th party/PB

That was... November. 'Twas fun, thanks Ryan :)

ICOM Christmas 09

December 17 and 18th, in Houston, with the large speech/debate crowd.  Lotsa fun. :)  

Homeschool Harvest Party 09

This would be the Homeschool Harvest Party, in case you prefer to read my own writing instead of the actual labeling of said album. Let you consider this the official labeling then!

Biking 09

This set of pictures is from the second most recent camping trip that yours truly has gone upon, also back in November. Again, if you can't read the label, this would be the biking trip!

In case you wanted to know, the most recent trip was the "cooking" campout. We had one actual cooking competition while out there, and the... Rangers? won it. But the big deal would of course be the fact that most of the time we were out there (Swift & Silent Paintball) we were playing paintball! That was an unofficial activity, since BSA is unlikely to allow such an act. But we had fun with it anyhow, even my own father! :)

Ok, well I don't have a lot to add to that at this point, I'm afraid. Must be off soon.

And just in case you were wondering, yes, I think somebody really is looking over my shoulder as I type. Don't mind any stray typos...

Cheerio! God bless!
-Petr

Edit: Allow me to rescind yet another statement of "I'm done". As the editor I feel it is my obligation to inform you that the previous post was typed up by a guest writer. While I haven't gone over every single potential grammatical or spelling error, let it be known that I am at this point willing to back up her statements. That is all.

Of Christmas in Greece and General Awesomeness (Mine)

This is the story of a young writer. His name was Petros. He was spending Christmas in the sunny land of Greece. Each day he took his laptop outside and sat in the sunny, Greek sun and worked on his stunning Greek tan as he wrote his blog. Writing for his personal blog didn't make much in terms of money, but it was an enjoyable read - Petros thought, anyway - and his tan was coming along nicely...

But then, one day, as Petros was sitting and typing away on one of life's many indescribable profundities, a group of people came along. One of them introduced himself as Philos, inviting Petros to come and play a game of cards. And Petros, eager to take a break from writing on his personal and very profound blog, and somewhat afraid that his skin was beginning to burn a bit, readily agreed.

In a moment of carelessness, he left his laptop lying on the whitewashed stone wall. This was very sad, for a laptop could not write a blogpost on its own, and it was not much at acquiring a tan either. But fortunately there happened along another writer, who was not much at writing blog posts or getting a tan either, and she was able to sympathise with the poor laptop's plight so well that Petros, observing the two of them exchanging sob stories so agreeably, suggested that this writer take a turn at writing his blog.

And so, while Petros gambled his livelihood away in a desperate game of Slap Jack, the writer tickety-tapped out a tragic story which, although undoubtedly containing more than the usual amount of pathos, is word-for-word true. No exaggeration. Whatsoever.

That writer... is me.

No, I am not Petros, nor am I Philos. My name doesn't even end in -os. It must remain hidden, for it is not mine to tell my own tale, but another's to blow it hideously out of proportion--I mean, recreate it with poetic exacticity.

(Here it must be known that the reader is not allowed to question whether there is any difference between out-of-proportionness and poetic exacticity, nor whether proportionness and exacticity are actually words. These things are a given.)

But Petros is unaware - oh, so unaware - about the nature of my true identity. He thought by giving me the computer to write a blogpost that he was doing nothing more than providing his gambling-crazy friends with a laugh. He never thought he was giving his laptop to ME, providing ME with internet access and the ability to communicate with my superiors and thus fulfill my super-secret-agent tasks.

Yes, I said super-secret-agent. For that is what I am, and (what's more) one of the feline variety. Silly humans think we're cute and whatnot. But while I bat 'harmlessly' at his keyboard and he and his friends cackle at me with glee, what I write could very well bring down the whole gambling industry. Slap Jack just became a boxing match - and the card-players ain't gonna win.

I've always been opposed to gambling, ever since I watched the nextdoor kitty squander his livelihood in betting matches with the neighborhood raccoons. Of course, everyone said the cat had been killed by the coons, and they weren't far off the mark - but what they didn't know (and what I had seen) was that the poor beast had to flee for his life because he owned the Masked Mob (terrors of the alleyway behind Mr. Jenkins' Meat Mart) billions in Kitty Chow currency, and he couldn't manage to procure the necessary compensation. I believe when last seen he was trying to placate them with dry food. They demanded fresh meat. It got ugly. I didn't stay to watch. But I saw enough to know that the whole industry had to be brought down.

Next step in my career to actually stopping gambling took place when I met a fella named ... actually, I don't know his name. His Family called him Tiger, although I got the notion that it was something more degrading than that. He was unwilling to give details. Pretty ginger beast, but a bit of an ego. Probably fancied me. Who wouldn't?

Anyway, I met him and he gave me all the right names and put in a good yowl for me. In a matter of days I was sent to this family, where I was promptly shown the expectations I would face. The summary of expectations came in the form of the current house cat, who was everything fluffy and fat and pampered. I objected, naturally. My feral roots would not bear such horrendous treatment. I must admit that on occasion, when I am scratched behind the ears or provided with an extra succulent meal, that I have been known to purr... but never on command, and never as a general rule. I knew young Petros would be in trouble, so I followed him to Greece, though he didn't recognize me. Everyone sees cats everywhere, and nobody bothers if one looks similar to another. Anyway, I got a haircut first; threw him off properly.

So, here I am, waiting for the right moment when I can run in and create enough havoc so Petros and I can grab the money on the table - they claimed it's a tip for the waiter, but I know better - and make a run for it. I began this story by saying it was the story of a writer. Then I deviated so that it would seem to be the story of a cat. But neither of those is true. This is the story of the demise of the underground Greek Slap Jack gambling industry. And you are all going down. Yes, Philos and cronies, that means you. It starts.... now.

One... two... crouch... and... spring!

-Annie the Feral Feline of Fleet Ferocity

Things from hither

HI!

What's up y'all?

A friend hinted that I should put something here. Fear not my friends, I shall return!

... in time. Man, how the time does fly when you're not posting on the ol' blog.

Current projects, distractions and obsessions (beware, this may turn into a ridiculous list of random words jumbled together attempting to describe my life):

#1 School! All of it. Dual-credit classes at SFA, just like my two older bro's did, only I'm only taking this one semester. 10 hours of course, and what with 3 finals and a paper coming up waaay too fast -- it's taking a little bit of my time. (wait a second, did I mention this way back in September?)
Also, I've been accepted to Texas A&M. Now just to schedule that NSC to make it official.
Whoop! Only, I won't be allowed to even know about that. Corps of cadets and whatnot.

#2 ... Let me think about this.
Ah yes, that elusive Boy Scout Eagle rank. Difficult, yet very worthwhile. I'm at the point of getting authorization for a project, and aside from that I have very little to do.

There is no #3. The rest just go in that jumbled list.

Allow me to rescind that statement. It came to me. Speech/Debate in the NCFCA. Yes, I know, I said I wasn't coming back this year. Well, good news (or bad news, depending on your perspective): I'm coming back. So, plenty of research on the new resolution (competition is superior to cooperation as a means of achieving excellence), plenty of research and card outlines for apologetics (all 100 questions, randomly drawn, 4 minutes pre-speech prep), and finalizing/refining my humorous interp (calvin and hobbes, 10 minutes).

Jumbled list!
ICOM business, emails (seriously, I mean it), piano, a small homeschool group band, various camping trips, an old RC plane model found in the closet, planning stuff for this spring and summer

In the sake of following the complete train of thought, #0 is glorify God. That's 0 because it's not just a priority, it's a current event, and will (Lord willing) remain so.

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Some pictures coming up, to be sure. From where, and of what, I don't know. But they're coming :)

God bless, haffagudday!
-Petr

One from hither

The silence is overwhelming. Enough to prompt something from... somebody asking for a blog post from me. Well, I can't very well pretend that I've got a ton to say, but I'll dredge up something reasonable. Maybe just rewrite and come back tomorrow :)

Here's some pictures from recent trips, as well as a few (a lot) from Lillian's trek at Philmont.

Venturing crew 342 @ Philmont, NM

ICOM Camp 2009

AquaticsCampout 09

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Well, I've been awfully busy recently. Terribly awfully dreadfully busy

Classes started at SFA three weeks ago (ONLY?!), and I'm taking dual credit - English, Calculus, and Political Science. It's enough to drive me quite crazy trying to keep up with all that homework alone, and then adding on top of it apologetics and debate... I'll never have a boring day for the next 4 months! :)
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Ok, a couple theories about that strange combination of waves in the air that form something reasonable to our ears and brains, especially those that come in the form that we know as music :)

* Music has a profound effect (and I do believe effect is the appropriate word) upon its listeners. This comes in many different forms, sometimes merely a subtle change in attitude, sometimes prompting a particularly long musing, quite often even changing a persons view of the world in 5 minutes. That being said, be careful what you're listening to :)

* It's a proven fact -- people who listen to or play a lot of music will start to 'hear' mentally music that isn't being played and sometimes can't even willfully stop doing so. Sure, some of us get a particularly annoying song get stuck in our heads, but it just might become incessant.... (or how about waking up thinking of some song? Not just thinking *about* it, but hearing it... is that normal, or do I fall under that classification? :D )

* Tastes are mostly acquired through long periods of hearing some one particular style. I mean, how many clerks at walmart, kroger, hobby lobby, and so on can not get used to Christmas music playing *over and over and over again* all season long??! (Pet peeve of mine)
I can name probably a few people who at one point couldn't handle some type/style of music, but through hearing it over and over again against their will, decided either to ignore or come to like it. Yes, I'm referring to country music, those who know me that well. I couldn't stand country music probably 5 years ago. Now, it's not quite so bad... I could even like some, depending on who is doing the singing!

Anything I forgot?

* DON'T try to foist your own opinions about any particular song/album/group on somebody else. They'll come around eventually if you make a reasonable case :)
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I know, I'm probably on one side of a fence here. Or sitting on it? Man, I just can't get away from life sometimes...

Anywho, here tis the conclusion of one more night's typing away at a keyboard. If you absolutely must hear something from me, send an email, send a comment, or just look around in the archive, I did write things in the past :)

So, folks, I'm off. Goodnight, God bless!
-Petr

Living up to a past potential

Wisdom from the rabbit: "If you don't know what it is, it will probably kill you."

Wisdom from the dog: "If you don't know what it is, it's either dinner or it's invading your territory."

Courtesy of the Hippo's mouth, somewhat indirect. Ironically, the Hippo is about as far from a hippo as is humanly possible.

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A bit o' music. Newsboys, riel kewl stuf (IMHO). You know it's the 40th anniversary of Woodstock? No, I don't intend to link to something from that :)

Wherever we go

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You just might be working hard if the heat from the day is having little effect compared to your own body heat. And the sweat dripping from your forehead? It can hardly distract from the imperatives of getting the job done. And even that poorly hidden desire to have had more to drink and eat that morning can do little to change the way you work.

You might have your second wind if the throbbing headache or the pains of an empty stomach die down and turn into roars of "BRING IT ON!!". Then again, that might be the barbecue that you know tasted much better going down, and would be poorly advised to come back up on your hard work. Not that it happens, of course, because you really have a second wind, and the most lethargic that you can possibly be is as much as walking around in circles for no particular reason.

Then you might be tired... if that throbbing headache returns, if you are both light headed and heavy handed at the same time, if you start having thoughts of when the day will be over, and most importantly, if you start trying to define 'tired' and come up with potential posts on a blog.

I had a long, but good day :)
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What is it with sunsets? Especially in strange places, where the novelty is striking. The sun setting behind a mountain range, shadows being cast over the strangest of objects, darkness where there won't be any for another 12 hours. That last one is quite possibly a motivator for interest. There's a sense of finality in shadows extending to places, in lack of direct sunlight for the end of a day. And then it starts all over again the next day! How's that for regularity?

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I would write some sort of update upon current situations, but time draws short. I may be back later. Until then, stay tuned...

God bless!
-Petr

(What, you mean this is going on the internet? Where people will read it??)

oh, and White Rabbit

Greetings, friends. Here I am, in the middle of a short quiet. Perhaps in the eye of the storm known as life...

In other words, I've not gone on any grand adventures recently that you do not already know about. 'Tis true, I did go on a short trip to Dallas with MizJ and Joshua for a debate camp, and did learn significant things about debating this year's resolution (resolved:that competition is superior to cooperation as a means to achieving excellence). I even took pictures! *GASP*

So to add on top of all of this, I have a few things to note. Firstly, the pictures from not only debate camp #1 but also pictures from El Rancho Cima.

DFW Debate Camp 09

El Rancho Cima 09

Also, I have a couple notes upon the look of this blog. I changed the name, made some changes to the colors, moved some links, and was startled when I returned. "What, it's changed?? Oh yeah, I remember doing that."

The most significant, and unfortunately saddest, change, is the moving of several blogs from "Them in Texas" to "The Ancient Archives of Blogs Gone By". The result of this is that I no longer have a link section entitled "Them in Texas." A moment of silence for those closed blogs, and my hope for you writers -- carry on with what you did, as good as it all was.

If you are reading this, you are perhaps one of the few who still post in the world of bloggers. Do not let it die! (This has been a public service announcement funded by nobody in particular because it did not need funding)

I would sing the praises of a blog above and beyond the time-consuming facebook... but I can't very well be objective, firstly because Blogs were around before facebook, I've had this particular blog for a significant period of time, and I've not actually experienced the great and terrible power of what is called facebook. My-Face, Space-Book, whatever the name :)

Well then, I've not much more to say. I thank you for continuing to read these sometimes misguided musings. Stay tuned.

God bless!
-Petr

P.S. Wow, looking back through the archives... there were some very interesting strings of comments. You guys always know how to make things exciting :)