23,000 Pictures in 7 years?!?

The Revelation

Last week, among my new explorations of the computer world, I re-discovered cloud storage, i.e. online storage for files and information.  I knew it existed but it had never really occurred to me that it had any direct personal usage that could benefit me.  I had used it now and then for work only to share and work together at a distance over Google Docs and Dropbox.

Then, reading about it again last week, I thought, "Hey, I know a great use for this.  My wife has a hard disk where she saves her pictures.  Why don't I back this up for her in online/cloud storage in case anything ever happens to the external hard drive?"

Free Storage: Is 5 GB Enough?

So I did some research.  Google Drive offers 5 GB of free space.  So does Ubuntu One and a few others.  Well, I thought, I'm sure opening a couple of accounts in her name will easily cover all of them with space to spare.

So I started making tallies of the folders on the disk (which holds 1 TB or 1000 GB of memory), but is far, far from full.  I got up to 12 GB and started getting worried.

When I got to the end, it was 60 GB of memory in photos!

Help, I Need More Cloud Memory!

Needless to say, I had to find a different way to do this; I wasn't going to open 12 accounts just to get all her pictures up.  Fortunately, I found ADrive which offers 50 GB with it's free package.  This way, 2 accounts will do the trick.

The guilty photographer

How Many Pictures???

Besides looking for more cloud storage, I was curious about this huge number. So I did a quick calculation of photo files; 23,000 pictures!!

There must've been some mistake.  But no.  I looked a few folders, and it looked like the numbers were accurate.  In complete disbelief, I decided to do some further calculations:

• The pictures were taken over 7 years (Aug 2006 to present)
• That means she has taken an average of 3286 pictures per year.
• That's an average of 9 pictures per day!

That number doesn't include the many that she has lost or discarded.  I'd say it's easily at least double that, more like 20 per day.  Knowing my wife, that actually doesn't sound like a whole lot.

I've now told her she has a limit of 5 pictures a day, and of those she can only keep the best ones.

So far, she's paid no attention to my limit whatsoever, and I'm pretty sure I've counted well over 20 shots each day.

The Task Goes On ... and On

I think this was about 5 days ago.  Last I checked the uploads were about 15% done.  We have my recently revived mini constantly uploading. (It does a much better job of it than her fancy, new graphic-friendly HP, which kept freezing up the upload after about an hour.)

I think I have about 3 weeks of this work ahead of me.

Henry Morgentaler - Should We Be Glad He's Gone?

Henry Morgentaler died today, at the age of 90.  Let's look at what this man did:

• he repeatedly, illegally opened abortion clinics and appealed jail sentences until the Supreme Court of Canada  decided that he was right after all
• he personally performed over 100,000 abortions (http://goo.gl/bmepp)
• his clinics performed "many hundreds of thousands more"
• his actions are largely responsible for the over 3.2 million abortions that have taken place in Canada since 1970 and the fact that these cannot be punished by law (http://cambridgerighttolife.ca/testepage/abortion/)

Thanks to him, legally in Canada:

• over 300 abortions are performed ever day 
• over 100,000 are performed every year
• more than 3 babies are aborted for every
• a live-born baby is killed after a "botched" abortion, once a week on average

All of this continues full tilt ahead as you're reading.

Dr. Morgentaler personally has the blood of over 3,200,000 babies on his hands, and the numbers rise.

So, shouldn't we be glad this monster is gone?

And about the Holocaust ... 

It makes me wonder about Dr. Morgentaler - why is it that having experienced the deadliest atrocity in history up to that time first hand, having miraculously survived it, that he would choose to be the leader of the only atrocity, the only large-scale, sanitized, clinicized mass-murder that overshadows that one?

Perhaps no answer will be discovered to that question.

A Lost Soul is a Catastrophe

As tempting as it is to say "good riddance," as good as it would feel for the moment, it is wrong.

One lost soul is a catastrophe, not a victory.  He gave his life to the Enemy, and that is sad. Yes, the 3 million lives he has cost Canada is a catastrophe.  But so is the fact that he died without (as far as I know or has been publicly stated) repentance.

I think of Dr. Bernard Nathanson who's life - despite having performed proportionally more abortions than Morgentaler - was a great victory.

God's Mercy

No, we cannot be happy that this man has died with the blood of so many innocent lives on it.  We cannot rejoice or claim any victory in this sad death.

God have mercy on the soul of Henry Morgentaler.

May is Time to Start Another Garden!

For my family, gardening has progressed from accidental tomato and papaya plants, to our beautiful bougainvilleas and mini rose bush in Playa del Carmen,
to last year's sunflowers here in Canada, and this year to a shared garden and a more complete house-side garden (instead of the usual flower gardens.)

Our elderly neighbour, who can no longer plant her garden alone, as asked me to help her plant and care for her garden, and has offered us the share the vegetables.  Her garden includes:

• tomatoes
• green, red and yellow peppers
• potatoes
• onions
• radishes

 and a few other items I can't remember right now.  Here are some pictures:

In the same flower garden where we planted the sunflowers last year, I planted various items since they all have space between them:

• tomatoes
• sunflowers (which will be tall and rise above the rest)
• string beans (between the tomato plants)
• marigolds (in a well-spaced line right in front)
• cilantro (between the marigolds)
• more potatoes (around the more shaded side of the house)

I don't know if I've crowded too much in, but we'll see.  It's our first experiment.  Weeding won't be a problem since it's all accessible from the front of the flower garden.  The kids helped to plant it again, and were very excited.

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the kids helping, but I'll get pictures of them at harvest time.  Here are some pictures I took of the visible plants later in the evening:

These are the packages from the cilantro and string bean seeds:

I'm looking forward to enjoying fresh vegetables in August and September!

And the rain came ...

Yesterday, there was a huge downpour.  About 2 inches of water covered our basement floor.

In this village, this is normal.  Most people in the older houses just have a sump pump to get rid of the water little by little and let the basement dry out.  They were built with stone foundations, essentially assuming that water would come into the basement, and then drain out.

However, the house we are renting is a newer one (only 40 years old) and the basement is finished, with carpeted floors; it is clearly not supposed to get water in it.

Fortunately, the water did not come up over the carpet, but it was all wet and squishy.

The garage is half the basement, with the driving running down into it.  This is part of the problem.  The eaves troughs also drain into the base of the driveway, or the entrance to the garage.  The main drain is located here, but it clearly does not have the capacity needed.  It was also blocked with leaves and other debris. This means the water all began backing up into the garage, and through there into the basement.  I also suspect that some water came in at other places.

During the strongest point of the downpour, I tried to unclog the main drain, but I couldn't find the right hole (there are 4 and I only found the upper 2, which both lead in rather than out.)  After the rain slowed down, my dad, who had come to help, found it and unclogged it, keeping the basement flooding to a minimum.

We spent hours vacuuming out the rugs.  They are damp right now, and drying little by little.

Apparently, this is the 3rd time in 9 years that this has happened! Hopefully, they get this fixed.

If You Decide to Go Missing in Latin America, Please Tell Your Family

Thinking about going missing in Latin America?  Please read these tips first.

If one young couple in Peru had followed them, they would've spared their family the pain of thinking they had been abducted or murdered.

Jamie and Garret - Adventurous (but inconsiderate) Young Couple

The Story of Two Young Adventurers
As the story goes, which fortunately has a happy ending, Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal of California were on a biking trip in Peru when their family suspected something horrible had happened to them.  Why?

They had been:

• updated their trip regularly on Facebook
• withdrawing money from a U.S. bank account
• making phone calls home

Suddenly, out of the blue, without forewarning or explanation, all of this stopped.  They had taken a several-week-long boat ride on the Amazon, where there was no internet, phone or bank machine, and not told anyone.  Their family and friends, for obvious reasons, noticed and were concerned.

Tip #1 We Live on the Internet
If you are the kind of person who uses FB every day, or withdraws money from your mom's bank account a couple of times a week (from foreign ATMs) please remember that the way we use technology now, in the minds of most people has a direct correspondence to how they perceive reality:

If you stop using your technological forms of rapid international communication, people will assume that something (bad) has happened to you.

And this is with good reason; people who live in and breath the web and such items don't stop using them unless something drastic happens.

Of course, there's always the chance that something good happened to you (such as discovering that there are real trees outside and that they are more beautiful than the pictures on FB or even this blog,) but people don't consider that a normal possibility.

This is not a modern phenomenon.  In the days before the wide-spread use of the internet (let's say when I was a child, back in the 80's) if you went to a bar for a beer every day, or called your sister every Thursday, people would've been just as worried if suddenly those habits broke off without warning.

Humans are concerned drastic and sudden change of other people's behaviour - again, usually with good reason.

Tip #2 Do Disconnect.
I sympathize entirely with this young couple.  I love to disconnect and - better yet - go places where you can't connect.  If it serves no other purpose, it at least gives you a fresh perspective to share when you re-connect.  But most of all it's a simple reminder that the online world is a part of (and imitation of) the real world, and not the other way around.  (More and more people are forgetting this.)

So, yes take a boat down an isolated part of the Amazon River (as this couple did) or go hiking in mountain villages where electricity is still state-of-the-art technology.  It's good for you.

Tip #3 But, for Goodness' Sake, Tell People
(I would say "For God's Sake" but God knows where  you are, so I wouldn't worry much about that side of it.  It's more for the sake of being good to people who love you.)

Tell people, post a message on FB, call your mother (big #1) and say - "Look, I'm going out on the river" (or into the mountains, etc.) "and I may not be in touch for a few weeks.  I should re-appear in [place name] in [x] to [x+1] weeks." Give a range of weeks so they're not scared when you fail to call home after 9:34 AM on day 16.

"Pay Phones" - an ancient form of communication, operated by coins

Yes, it's more adventurous just to get on the boat and go - it's leaving in 5 minutes, so you don't time to connect to the internet; but, really, you're taking years off your mother's life in worry.  There's another boat. Even if it's 2 days later, you can wait.  After all, isn't that the point of getting lost in rural Latin America? Time doesn't matter any more?

Tip #4 Do What You Promised
If the end the time limit you told people was 5 weeks, make sure you make contact within 5 weeks.

Yes, I know you just met the jungle tribeswoman that you're going to leave your girlfriend for and get married in an ancient ritual, but still ... first go to the nearest town with a phone and call your mother.  That way she can cry about it (joy of hearing from you, sadness of loosing her baby to a unknown woman from strange and foreign land, who will probably treat him cruelly) and pass the phone to your dad who can say mean things to you to bring back to your senses.

Trust me.  It's helpful.

Tip #5 Practice Disconnecting Ahead of Time
If you're going to isolated places where it's likely you'll be disconnected, practice doing it before it's necessary.  Try only posting FB updates once a week for a while.

I know the social media age demands daily updates, and even that is considered limited.  But again - why are you going to rural Latin America?

Sometimes it's nice to put it up as a whole story.  Sometimes it's  nice if reality trumps social media; you write only part of the story, because you just have so many other wonderful things to do.

This also helps people feel less shock when you disconnect for 4 weeks.  (But you still need to tell them ...)

Conclusion
Well, I guess that's everything.  Who knows if Garrett and Jamie will read this, and it might not be any use if they do.  Maybe they've learned their lesson, or maybe they've already decided not to go missing anymore.

But for the rest of you young, adventurous travellers who live on the internet at all other points of your life, please be sensitive to that fact when you escape for a short time.

(Oh, and I might ad tip #6: if you are passed puberty, try to convince your mother not to see you as her "baby" any more.  Besides the fact that it's not terribly manly, it will save her a bit of worrying if she sees you as a man instead of as a little boy.  It's a tough one.  For the record, I'm not saying this was the case with Garret or Jamie, but I just know so many examples.)

(And a final note, don't take anything in this blog post to be actual facts about Garret and Jamie. Besides the fact that I just quickly skimmed through two articles about them, I also wrote a good deal of the top of my head.  If you want to know about their story, please read the linked news story, or Google search their names.)

How Xubuntu Saved a Laptop Abandoned for 2 Years

My original mini, no running on Xubuntu

This is my last Xubuntu post, I promise (for now, at least.)

I just want to share one more story - how Xubuntu saved a laptop (another mini - Acer Aspire One, very similar to this one) which I had abandoned at a computer repair shop as "burned out" for two years.

Lightning Strikes
In April 2011 (during the same days when I joined the Catholic Church - completely unrelated, but just happened to be at the same time) my brother was using my first Acer mini up in his bedroom at my parents' house.  Lightning struck somewhere nearby.  Power went out.  And so did my laptop.  It wasn't supposed to. It had a battery that generally lasted 2 - 3 hours.

I tried to boot it but after the initial boot screen it just sat there with a blank monitor.  The hard drive seemed to be making noises, but that's all.

Lightning or Windows XP?
To be honest, the computer had begun to slow down little by little, getting bogged down, freezing up ... it seemed like it was on its last legs, similar to what was happening with this laptop when I changed to Xubuntu.  But was it that it finally froze up completely or that a power surge had fried it? I now know that it was primarily a software problem, but at the time the lightning seemed more plausible.

The Computer Shop
The next day I took the laptop to a store - Staples Business Depot - for repairs.  They told me that the motherboard had a burn mark on it and the operating system was corrupted.  Exactly why Windows XP had slowly deteriorated I still don't know (I suspect it's the same reasons why Windows 7 slowly deteriorated on this laptop.)  But the burn mark also made sense considering the apparent power surge it experienced a day earlier.

The repair costs would start at $450 and could go up from there.  On the other hand, they had a new, slightly better Acer Aspire One on special (it was a model on clearance) for only $200.  When I came back to talk to the technician the salesman was already there ready to sell me the mini.

The choice was a no-brainer, at least at the time.  (That mini is the one I still use.)

The box my computer was stored in, with a note not to discard it

Two Years Later ...
About a month ago, my wife got a call from that same store.  They had my old laptop on the shelf.  After buying the new laptop, I walked out of the store without taking the old one or instructing them what to do with it.  They have a time limit when they are no longer responsible for abandoned items, but since there was a change in technician, the new employee did not want to recycle the laptop until he had at least attempted to make contact with me.  By pure luck, the mini stayed stored in a box, low priority on his to-do list for nearly two years.

Calling back about the laptop was also low priority for me - after all, I would just be authorizing them to junk it.

Then Came Xubuntu
But last week after making this laptop work perfectly with Xubuntu, something occurred to me.  The problems on that old laptop with Windows XP were identical to the ones I had with this one with Windows 7. What if it had been a software problem all along?

So, I called the store. They still had it.  Last Saturday morning I went by to pick it up.  (I also swung by Future Shop to see if they had the much better laptop which my wife had abandoned there in favour of her very nice new HP laptop.  No luck. She had actually instructed them to recycle it.)

Reading the box again, I was reminded that their diognostic actually found a burn on the mother board.  My hopes were low, and I imaged returning the same to day to leave the computer definitively for recycling.

I made the Xubuntu boot USB again - much faster this time, now that I knew how.  I ran it as a live boot, without installation.  It booted and ran smoothly.  So I installed Xubuntu.

• Internet worked
• Wordprocessor worked
• Saving and retrieving files worked
• Shut down & start up - about 3 and 10 seconds respectively

The only complication was that I didn't choose to install 3rd party apps/plugins, so I didn't have flash at first.  But that was quickly fixed.

Perfectly Working Laptop
So far, it has worked perfectly.

Could a laptop work perfectly with Xubuntu with a burned motherboard?  My guess would be no, but I really don't know.  In any case, the main problem was Windows XP and the fact that it is too bulky for a computer of this capacity.

The only thing not working perfectly is the battery.  It lasts for about 40 minutes, which I think is pretty good considering it was left idle for 2 years.

So, I now have 2 perfectly working Acer Aspire One netbooks running Xubuntu.  What to do with the second?

(Some time down the road I'm going to try reviving an old abandoned computer my parents have.  It might need to go even lighter than Xubuntu, but I'll give it whirl.)

Xubuntu Works Great, But I Had to Choose Better Office Apps

As I've been going on about for the past few days, Xubuntu works great.  It saved my computer, which was with Windows 7 was simply not worth keeping.

There is one point to Xubuntu that is a pro and a con at the same time:  it comes with a complete software package - word processor, PDF viewer, web browser, e-mail, photo editor ... the list could go on.  Everything is chosen to be reliable and light weight, since most users, like me, choose it for that reason.

However, not all of the apps turn out to be 100% reliable.  The following are the apps I changed, for anyone that cares.

Less than Perfect Word Processor - Abiword
Abiword is the word processor included.  It is most certainly light weight, and super fast with just about any function you could want.  Here's someone else's screen shot that I found on the web:
 

 
I believe for most users who are just creating their own new documents, it would be fine.  However, I had problems saving documents in other formats.  For example, the work I had saved from before was in docx (Word) files.   Within 2 days, it had corrupted 3 files.  Fortunately, the last two had been backed up (by Abiword, which is a point in favour), but I just wasn't going to take any more chances.  It was also messing up formatting, which was a minor point.

I tried "downgrading" to the last stable version (8.7, I think - it came with 9.2) but this didn't help.

An Old Favorite - LibreOffice
To replace Abiword, I installed LibreOffice, which is actually a package including pretty much the same stuff as MS Office.  Here's the start screen:

This is the word processor:

(This is my own customized toolbar, which I prefer to have very trimmed down.  The default toolbar has plenty of functions right at your fingertip.  It also has large zoom to make up for the mini netbook screen.)

Back when I had my last laptop (the one I revived 2 days ago) it hadn't come with MS Office Starter as this computer did (which, by the way, is also really annoying for a low-memory computer, since it eats up memory with constantly changing ads.)

So, when I first discovered Ubuntu in a local computer shop (in Playa del Carmen) I decided to give OpenOffice a try even though I wasn't ready to make the leap to Ubuntu; I had seen it listed on the back of the installation disk as one of the included software.  I had been quite happy with it, but when my computer supposedly got "fried" and no longer worked, I stopped using it.

When looking for a replacement for Abiword I discovered LibreOffice which is a branch from OpenOffice.  (It essentially the same thing, but based entirely on open source.  OpenOffice, in the last days I was using it had been acquired by Oracle, who had a dispute with the open source developers.  The developers just decided to continue the project on their own.  So, both exist parallel now.)

Advantages of LibreOffice
Of course, LibreOffice is entirely free.  It's also available for Windows if anyone needs a good, free office suite.  It is rich in functions, so it loads a little slower than Abiword, but it's a question of about 3 seconds.  It opens and saves Word files flawlessly, maintaining the format.  It also converts them really easily.

I've read that there are good, reliable word processors for Linux which are lighter than LibreOffice.  But, LibreOffice is very much like Word and it's easy to get used to.  So, since I'm very new to the whole Linux thing, I can live with the 3-5 extra seconds of loading time.  Most importantly, it works very well for all my needs.

Even the "heavy" programs are doing just fine within Xubuntu.

Spreadsheet
I had also been making heavy use of XL.  Xubuntu came with a spreadsheet called Gnumeric:

This worked better than Abiword, but it took a long time to load XL files (xlsx.)  Converting was also a pain, requiring a command line feature, which seemed to have glitches, or copying and pasting the content into a Gnumeric file  one page at a time.  It didn't corrupt any files, but it was becoming time consuming which defeats the purpose of having a light-weight program.

The spreadsheet in LibreOffice (Calc) also works very well, loading and opening files in a matter of seconds and reading and saving other formats without any problems. (The default format is the open document format, ODT, ODS, which are fairly universal in the world of open source programs, or so I've read.)

Here's a screen shot of LibreOffice Calc, again with my customized, trimmed down toolbar:

Finding, Downloading and Removing Software
The easiest way to find and download software or even plug-ins in Xubuntu is the Ubuntu Software Center which is included:

However, I found that it didn't do such a good job of removing software, leaving files and packages behind.  This is a normal problem with Linux.  It is also a problem with Windows.  (Most people wouldn't even notice this.) For me, it wasn't really a problem since my computer is working with a minimal number of programs and only 8% of my hard drive is full.  But I like to keep things clean from the beginning.

The program is also slowed down by rotating, internet-fed ads as you can see in the picture above (like MS Office Starter.)  Since I use it infrequently, this isn't a huge problem, but together with the messy uninstallation, it's enough to find an alternative.

So, I installed Synaptic Package Manager, which not only installs and un-installs programs, but also identifies and removes orphaned packages to ensure the uninstallations are clean:

I'm still using the Software Center to install since I think it's easier for this, but Synaptic seems to be better overall.  Once I a more seasoned user, I will change completely to Synaptic.

Actually, either one of these alone is better than Windows; Windows has no single program or web page which lists out program options an offers easy installation - especially not FREE ones!

I also installed BleachBit which is a Linux version of CCleaner, to clean up unnecessary files left by internet programs (web browsers and e-mail.)

Ready to Rock and Roll
Other than some minor adjustments I made to individual programs (mostly just little, unimportant preferences), that's about it.  I think Xubuntu is completely ready for me to use just as it is now.

If anyone needs to know how to make any of the changes I listed above, I can share the links where others describe the steps in pretty easy terms.

For now, I just have one more post about Xubuntu coming up, which will be the story of my old laptop, abandoned for dead, now brought back to life.

In Xubuntu, Firefox Works Perfectly (and Thunderbird)

The Firefox-Ubuntu Logos combined

So, here it is: my apology to Mozilla, the developer of Firefox.

My (Unmerited) Quarrel with Firefox
Almost a month ago, I changed to Chrome and posted an embittered complaint against Firefox on this blog.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, encountering the same problems of a bogged down computer, I came to the conclusion that the main the problem was that my mini was not meant for an operating system like Windows 7 (which I suspected from the very beginning).

And Then ... Xubuntu
I proceeded to removed Windows 7 in favour of Xubuntu (a lightweight version of Ubuntu) which has been working flawlessly on my 1 GB mini.

My personalized setup of Firefox in Xubuntu

With Xubuntu came Firefox and Thunderbird, Mozilla's e-mail program which I had used with near-religious dedication previous to my short-lived conversion to Chrome. (After ditching Firefox, I also replaced Thunderbird for the offline apps for Gmail and G-Calendar on Chrome.)

I figured I would give them a second chance; after all, if they worked well, it would only confirm that Windows 7 was indeed the main problem.

Result: They have worked amazingly well! No slowdowns, no delays, no bogging down, no crashes, etc.

Thunderbird with more features, working better!

The Ubuntu-Google Search default start page

Additionally, I set up:

• Lightning (Thunderbird's calendar) which I had also used before
• Synchronization with Google Calendar (which I had set up during my abandonment of Mozilla)
• Synchronization of my Google address book with that of Thunderbird (this process is not flawless, but it is consistent, so I can easily work around the glitches)
• Synchronization of Gmail, so I can read and send mail from that account in Thunderbird, which automatically synchronizes with Gmail

All the synchronization is instant and 2-way.

Thunderbird E-mail program in Xubuntu

Besides the fact that these services make my life easier by bringing my Google account to my desktop and usable offline, they should make Thunderbird heavier and slower starting up than before.

However, to the contrary, running in Xubuntu, it loads within a few seconds and never slows down, freezes or crashes as it did daily running in Windows 7.  Firefox loads in about 1 second.

Don't Drink (Windows 7) and Drive (a mini)
Again, for the record, I have nothing against Windows 7 per se.  However, it was simply not made to work on a mini laptop with only 1 GB of memory (or "netbook" I believe they're called more officially.)

But there are good, free operating system alternatives out there.  Xubuntu is one of them.  It is easier to change systems than endless try to tweak W7 and try lighter programs to make it work on a system that simply can't handle it.

Lightning Calendar in Thunderbird for Xubuntu

Firefox is Back
So, needless to say, Firefox is back for me, probably to stay, along with Thunderbird.  I flirted with the idea of trying Chrome.  I tried Chromium (the same thing) for about an hour, but saw no real advantage.  Both work well.  Chrome is fine, and I see no problem with it.  If I ever have problems with Firefox in the future, I will not hesitate to go back.

But Firefox, the browser I know and like best, turned out NOT to be the problem and actually works really well in my new operating system.

I am now happily in the Mozilla camp once again.

In other news, yesterday I installed Xubuntu on another mini that I had left abandoned as "fried" for two years. It too works flawlessly.  But that will be another post.

Happy Mother's Day - in Mexico!

Today, May 10, is Mother's Day in Mexico!  (It is always celebrated May 10, regardless of what day of the week that is.)

So, to celebrate and wish all mothers a Happy Mother's Day in true Mexican fashion, here's a beautiful song especially for mothers (especially for my wife and my mother-in-law, and, of course, my mother):

I Canned Windows 7 for Xubuntu ... and I Love It!

One of the official screen shots of Xubuntu

So, as I told the world during my impassioned complaints against my beloved Firefox, I had switched to Chrome.  I thought the problem was solved.  Then, a little more each day, the computer started slowing down again.  Last Thursday it got to the point where I was wasting up to fifteen minutes at a time waiting.  It didn't get to the point of freezing or having to power off manually, but it was still wasting my time and frustrating me.

I could no longer blame any of the individual programs. Basically from the beginning I knew that Windows 7 just wasn't right for this light-weight mini.  But I had been resisting and trying everything else first.

So, last Friday, I said good-bye to Microsoft Windows and switched to Xubuntu, a free, open-source Linux-based operating system.

So far, I couldn't be happier!

After a bit of research on Google for a low memory operating system, I chose Xubuntu for a couple of reasons:

• I knew about Ubuntu

I had already toyed with the idea of switching to Ubuntu a few years back, so I was somewhat familiar with this system

• Xubuntu is a lighter-weight version of Ubuntu 

Ubuntu works best with more than 1 GB of memory, which means my mini was right on the threshold.  I would rather play it safe.

• It is visually appealing 

Apparently, other lighter-weight systems, like Lubuntu (the lightest choice in the Ubuntu family) can be rather austere

• It's easier for Windows users

Apparently, it is easier to get used to for Windows users than many other Linux systems.  It comes with a full package of programs, it's fairly user-friendly and takes minimal computer knowledge to get the hang of it.

My Xubuntu Desktop after some minor customizations

I'll be trying some of the other light-weight systems I saw, like Lubuntu and Puppy Linux, for some abandoned old computers that are kicking around, just to see how they do when a nice but ultra light-weight system is installed.

Why Not Get a Better Computer?

Some people will wonder why I just didn't invest in a new computer.  Basically, if I had several hundred dollars that I could readily fork out for a computer better than this one, I'd have better things to spend them on.  I use my computer for work, but my needs are so simple, I shouldn't need anything more than my Acer One.

Someone mentioned installing more RAM.  Minis don't take any upgrades whatsoever.  Which brings me back to square one.

Finally, I don't mind the idea of avoiding giving more of my money to Microsoft.  I not on a boycott or anything silly like that, but it sure is a nice bonus.

The Installation and Customization

To install Xubuntu, I had to download a torrent file and then unpack into a USB stick to create a boot drive, and from there it's fast and easy.

The only difficult part is that instructions for just about everything have to be Googled, relying in bloggers.  Their site has basics, but if you don't know what a "torrent" is (my situation) they don't help you much.

There was an option to have Xubuntu running parallel with Windows and choosing between the two at start up.  Stupidly, in a moment of over excitement of canning Windows 7 I opted to wipe Windows off my computer along with all its programs and files.

I had saved all my work, pictures and documents, but I had forgotten to save logins and passwords.  This week has been defined by me hunting out this information again, usually from its original provider or (on the rare occasion) from my brain - nothing of Windows is left on my computer.

Spectacular Performance!

The performance of my computer with Xubuntu is amazing!  I used to power on my computer and go to make a coffee while I waited for Windows 7 to boot.  It now turns on in about 10 seconds.  Programs open faster and run faster.  I used to have to wait about 5 minutes for Skype to close properly.  It now closes instantly.

The file manager in Xubuntu

With a few adjustments to visual preferences (including a desktop background, a little luxury which the Starter version of Windows 7 denied me) everything is smooth running.

Programs and Apps

The biggest time consumer since installing Xubuntu has been choosing and adjusting programs.  But I would rather be spending time on this than waiting for a bogged computer while I should be working.

Most importantly: I owe Firefox and Mozilla an apology.  But I will post about the programs in the days to come.

My Verdict

My recommendation at this point: if

• you have a computer with tonnes of memory that you will probably never use
• the monsters of Windows 7 and 8 work well with it
• they meet your needs
• you're happy with all of the above,

why look for anything new?

On the other hand, if you find your computer is just getting bogged down and keeps freezing up, try Xubuntu or another light-weight free operating system.  If you take it too the store for repairs, they'll just tell you to buy a new version of Windows (which might do the same thing if your computer is a light-weight) or buy a new computer.  They make the cost of repairs so high that it's not worth it.

Xubuntu may make a computer that you thought was no longer working right a smooth-working and functional machine.

(Disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert on any of this stuff.  Coming into this, I knew almost nothing about Linux and systems like Xubuntu. This means two things: 1. There may very well be much better options than Xubuntu. 2. At least it speaks well for Xubuntu that someone who knows as little as I do can install and use it.)

The Ascension of Christ

Today, 40 days after Easter, is Ascension Day, the day on which Christ ascended into heaven.

Dosso Dossi "Ascensione di Cristo" (from Wikipedia)

O God, whose Son today ascended to the heavens as the Apostles looked on, grant, we pray, that, in accordance with his promise, we may be worthy for him to live with us always on earth, and we with him in heaven. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Celebration

The day is the celebration of one of the most glorious events of Christianity, with important theological significance; Christ, as a human, is now at the right hand of God the Father.  We will be having an extend family/neighbors/friends dinner this afternoon to celebrate.

Unfortunately, the Catholic Church in Canada (Latin Rite) has transferred the liturgical celebration of Ascension to day to the following Sunday (with the result that it becomes "just another Sunday" and most Catholics have joined the rest of Anglophone Canadians in not knowing that it exists.)

Mennonites

Traditional Mennonites celebrate this day and take the days between now and the weekend off.  They also have a church service in the morning.  I joined my mother at her Old Colony Mennonite service.  Ascension Day, for them, marks the beginning of the services for the preparation of baptismal candidates.  They begin preparation earlier, but this is the beginning of the official "handing down" of the faith in the context of the church service.  It is in the form of questions and answers, all taken from their short catechism booklet, similar to the Roman Catholic baptismal symbol (i.e. the Apostle's Creed in Q & A format) but much longer.  There were 11 candidates - 9 young men, 2 young women.

The sermon is also directed to these candidates.  The minister said some good things about baptism as our spiritual rebirth, our entry into the Church, the beginning of the Christian life and our obligation to be the light of faith to those around us.

Prophet Isaiah


Today also happens to be the feast day of the Prophet Isaiah.

In Loving Memory

This Sunday morning, on May 5, Pedro Lopez, my wife's maternal grandfather, passed away at the age of 89.

Matias Pedro Lopez Jaimes, Feb. 24, 1924 - May 5, 2013, requiescat en pace

Please take a moment and say a prayer for him.

Eternal memory. Eternal memory. Grant to your servant, O Lord, blessed repose and eternal memory.

 
He lived a long life of good health and great enthusiasm. Last time I saw him, a bit more than a year ago, he complained that he could walk only 3 or 4 kilometers (about 2 or 3 miles) without his walking stick.  As I told everyone then, this was still healthier than most young people I know; yet, he said he felt weakened.  It was only the last 2 months of his life that he was ill and needed a wheelchair to get around in.

His only illness was that his body was worn out from old age and a life of very hard work.

I am glad that at the moment he died, 4 of his 5 children were at his side, as well as his brother Palemon.  From the account I heard, he ended his life pleasantly and in comfort.

My wife misses him greatly since she spent most of her childhood summers on his farm.

To see all posts related to my wife's dear Grandpa, click here.  It gives a very, very small glimpse of the rich life he lived.

Old Trains are the Best Way to Enjoy Scenery - Even in Waterloo

I love travelling by train.  Modern trains are practical and relaxing.  Old trains are quaint and perhaps even "magical."

This last weekend, I drove my family (minus the baby twins) to St. Jacob's (about 15 minutes away from home,) and enjoyed a wonderful ride on the Waterloo Central Railway.  It is operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society; it is meant to be nostalgic, scenic and relaxing - and it certainly is all three.

The kids were absolutely delighted!

First, some pictures of the ride into Waterloo:

Arriving at the Waterloo station (on Erb, just west of King St.):

The station is directly next to Waterloo Park (the Eby Farm Lot), so we had a picnic and went to see the animals at the park's little zoo:

And the ride back to St. Jacob's:

The Conestoga River:

As you can see in the pictures above, the train we rode on was an old diesel.  The train service also owns an old steam locomotive, which they've fully restored and works 100% - I believe it's from the 1920's!  They only get this one out for special holidays.  I believe it will be running for the Victoria Day weekend, in which case, they run all the way to Elmira - about double the distance:
 

The workers pointed out that even if we didn't want to buy tickets again so soon (which cost more when they use the old steam engine), you can just show up to see and hear it in action! I think we'll take that option.  They are also in the process of restoring another steam engine:

The caboose one the train we were riding was also relatively modern.  The days they run the steam engine, they bring out a caboose to match:

The day was entirely worth it.  It really can be enjoyable to take an hour for a trip that would otherwise take 10 minutes!  The views of the countryside, the river, the market and Waterloo Park were all wonderful.  The only complaint from the photographer (my wife) was that the entire north end of Waterloo (about 10 minutes of the trip) was a long stretch of rectangular, white character-less buildings owned by Blackberry, with a bit of older industry thrown in.  But even for those parts, the kids were fascinated.

I have to say, I've found that trains are always the best way to enjoy scenery.  Something about them makes it easier.  Is it the larger windows?  The spaciousness inside?  The fact that they're on tracks (as opposed to the road) and not surrounded by traffic?  And - regardless of whether they're on the tracks because of nostalgia or economic factors that have prevented upgrade - old trains go slow and make this even better.

It was also nice because it's close to home, and - taking our time and relaxing - the entire outing was just 4 or 5 hours.  We weren't exhausted from driving in traffic to get somewhere, or rushing, or getting home late, etc.  It was ideal for the kids, and we just felt good.

The world - even when it's the world you grew up in and spent more than half your life in - looks different when seen from an old train.