Why yes, this site probably does look different to you. It crashed completely last week, and I haven’t gotten it back to normal yet. Back in the day, when I got home from work at a decent hour, I might’ve spent more time on it.
Actually, it’s a good problem to have. I’ve been meaning to dig into the mechanics of WordPress. I’ve got this fuzzy idea that I might be able to make money by setting up/maintaining/repairing other folks’ WordPress-based sites. You never know.
Another thing I’m doing a little different today is typing this on my Microsoft Surface Pro (the original!), with Linux installed on it. After not using the little thing for about two years, during which time Microsoft came out with a number of Windows 10 rebuilds, I pulled this thing out last October, tried to install everything at once, and immediately broke it.
Not just crashed. I mean BROKE it. Couldn’t even get to a logon prompt. Spent a few days at AT&T (remember, I was getting paid to look for a new job at the time) trying to get things working – even found an external DVD drive and tried to do a fresh install from there – but I had absolutely no luck. So I put it back into its little bag, brought it home, put in on top of my piano, and basically forgot about it until today.
This morning, I caught a commercial for a USB-stick-based emergency repair product (FixMe or FixIt or something like that), and wondered how big of a scam it was. So I started reading up on it. It appears that it’s a legitimate safety net for computers that have been compromised by malware, so that’s nice. I wasn’t going to buy the thing anyway – just wondered if it was a complete rip-off. Anyway, while reading up on it, I learned that it was running a Linux distro on the stick (no surprise there), and it inspired me to see if I could revive my Surface Pro in a similar fashion. So I downloaded an Ubuntu .iso, set it up to boot off of a flash drive, plugged it in, and booted off of it. Used it to check the drive on the Surface Pro (seemed to be fine), but decided against trying to repair the existing Windows installation and went straight to “Install Ubuntu.”
Half an hour later, I had a working Surface Pro again. Running Ubuntu.
At some point, I’ll probably reinstall Windows on it, but it seems to be working very well with Linux. So maybe I’ll just leave it as it is. It’s not like it’s my primary laptop or anything, and it works fine for checking email, reading the news…updating this blog. Still working on getting a Citrix client to work on it, so that I can use it for work stuff if necessary.
I managed to get the front lawns mowed last week, and also pulled out the stupid bricks that have surrounded my mailbox since I bought the house. At some point, the bricks outlined a little square around the mailbox for flowers and crap, but I’ve just let grass grow there, and the bricks dinged up my mower blades.
They won’t any more.
Considered doing some mowing in the back yards this morning, and maybe cutting down the ivy and other creepy stuff surrounding my desk, but it’s incredibly hot and muggy. So I’ve been cleaning my bathroom this morning, and I may decide to call that my big project when I’m done and go have a beer or 11. Also need to get my hair cut.
I’ve volunteered to do a project in Annapolis, MD, on the week of August 8th. Supposedly, I’ll be trained on what that entails before I actually do it, but I haven’t heard a peep about that. Beginning to wonder how the X company gets anything accomplished.
Guess that’s enough for now. My proof-of-concept Ubuntu Surface Pro is a success!