Installing Fedora Core 6 - First Time Desktop

After completing the first boot section and rebooting, I'm now working at the desktop of my new Fedora Core 6 installation. When I reach my Fedora Core desktop for the first time there are a few things I like to do to customize my operating system. I'll add a few icons to the top panel, set up auto login for my user, get rid of the password lock for the screensaver, add myself to the sudoers' list and configure my networking for a static ip address. Go to Applications/Accessories/Terminal. Right click on terminal and select 'add this launcher to panel'. This adds a terminal icon to the panel. Right click on the panel and select 'add to panel'. I like the network monitor and the weather report applets so I select them. Go to the panel and select /System/Administration/Login Screen. Enter root password. Under the users tab you need to add yourself to the list of included users. Click add. Enter your user name and apply user changes. Under the security tab select 'enable automatic login' and select your user. Alse select 'enable timed login' and select your user. Close the utility. Now you will be automatically logged in when you restart your x-session. I don't like the screen locked when the screensaver is activated. Go to the top panel and select System/Preferences/Screensaver. I prefer a simple blank screen for the screensaver, and i un-check 'lock screen when screensaver is active'. This way, a simple movement of the mouse gets me out of the screensaver and back to my desktop. The way I add myself to the sudoers list is by first opening a terminal and as root type '/usr/sbin/visudo'. Scroll down to the line that looks like this:

## Allows people in group wheel to run all commands
#%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Remove the # from in front of the line '#%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL and save the file. Then I go to the top panel and select /System/Administration/Users and Groups. Enter root password. Select the user that you want to add to sudoers and click on the 'properties' icon. In the properties window select the groups tab, scroll down and check off the 'wheel' group. Click 'ok' and close the two windows. That user is now added to the 'wheel' group and will be able to use the 'sudo' command in terminals. As far as networking in Linux goes, DHCP probably works well for the majority of users. I prefer to set a static ip address. I think, although I could be wrong, that it allows for better local area networking. At least that's been my experience with my 5 computer in house network. To make the necessary changes, I go to the top panel and select /system/administration/network. Enter root password. De-activate the network connection and select the 'edit' icon. Select 'statically set ip address. Enter your ip address, subnet mask and default gateway. Click 'ok'. Select the 'dns' tab. Enter whatever you want for the hostname. I use 'dad'. The primary dns and secondary dns should already be there, as should the dns search path. If they are not there you will need to find out what yours are and enter them now. Re-activate the ethernet card. Select ok for any notices that pop up. You now have a static ip address and a hostname that will not change. Additionally, type, in a terminal as root, or use 'sudo', gedit /etc/hosts'. On my home network there are 5 computers. I add them all and the loopback for myself. Here's what my /etc/hosts looks like after editing:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
::1 localhost.localdomain localhost
127.0.0.1 dad
192.168.1.100 meg
192.168.1.101 dad
192.168.1.102 neville
192.168.1.103 oldendorff
192.168.1.104 mom

Installing Fedora Core 6 - First Boot

FirstBoot: When you reboot your Fedora Core 6 system for the first time after installation FirstBoot runs. You are greeted with the welcome screen. Here's how I handle FirstBoot:

Click 'forward'. Agree to the license terms by selecting 'Yes. I agree to the license agreement' and click 'forward'. As in previous installations I'm opting not to use the firewall so I'm setting it as 'disabled'. Click forward. Click 'yes' at the warning box to override the existing firewall.
I've also chosen to disable SELinux. Choose 'disabled' and click 'forward'. Another warning box. Click 'yes'. Set the date and time. I choose not to use Network Time Protocol. To me it's just another drag on the system and I really don't think I need it. Click 'forward'. Create your user. Enter the username you want to use. Use all lower case here. Enter your full name and choose a password. Add as many users as you like and click 'forward'. Test sound: I click on the arrow to run the sound test, I hear the sound sample, so I click 'yes' and 'finish'. Since I disabled the firewall and SELinux I am prompted to reboot. Click 'ok' to reboot.

Next up: Reaching the desktop for the first time

Installing Fedora Core 6 - The Install

Today I decided to do yet another install of Fedora Core 6. I guess I want to get it right, not that my previous installs are problematic. I'm installing from the previously burned DVD. Let's start.

Boot your computer from the DVD or disk 1 of the set up CD's. When you get to the boot prompt type 'linux i686'. There's a known bug with the anaconda installer and some folks are getting the i586 kernel installed. Using the 'linux i686' command line parameter gives you a fighting chance of actually installing the i686 kernel. You now have the option to test the installation media. Do so if you wish. I'm skipping this step as I know that the disk is fine. The next screen gives you the chance to read the Fedora Core 6 release notes. Click next. Choose your default language. Click next. Choose your default keyboard layout. Click next. Choose whether this will be an upgrade or a full install. Full install here. Click next. Choose the partition to install Fedora Core 6 to. I have several available. I choose the one I want, hda10, and I edit the mount point, which will be '/' and choose to format this partition as ext3. Click next. The installer warns you that you are about to format partition hda10. Click next or ok. Next is the grub options screen. Edit this as you see fit. I chose to leave FC6 as the default operating system. You can make changes to the grub bootloader later. Click next. Choose your network configuration. I prefer to leave everything as is here. DHCP will be just fine for now. I will change things later. Select your time zone. Click next. The next screen is where you choose a root password. You should select something fairly complex. Write it down somewhere. Click next. On this screen you can choose to install additional software at this time. You can also install additional software at a later time. I choose to leave things as they are. I want to get Fedora Core 6 installed. I'll add software later. The system checks dependencies for the requested packages. Click next. The install begins. On my system installation takes around 20 minutes. Remove the DVD and reboot into your new Fedora Core 6 installation.

Next up: First Boot

What's all the NVidia fuss?

I have Fedora Core 6 installed on 4 different partitions on this computer. I like to play around with Linux a bit. I had no plans on setting up the correct Nvidia driver for this particular desktop because I felt that the Nvidia driver actually slowed down the desktop. It felt 'lethargic' after I installed it. Well, I changed my mind. I took the plunge and installed the Nvidia driver for this desktop. My graphics card is the GeForce FX5200 128 megabyte AGP. I've been using the Livna repos for this install so I typed, as root, 'yum install kmod-nvidia'. Yum did it's job. The driver installed without error. I logged out of the desktop and logged back in. One the way back in the Nvidia logo was seen. That's good. That's what we want to see. Reaching the desktop as regular user I went to the top panel, system, preferences, desktop effects. I commanded Mr. Fedora to enable desktop effects and accepted the defaults. Grabbed the already open terminal and moved it around. What do you know, it works! I dragged the terminal to the side of the screen and the cube effect takes over. Move my mouse pointer to the upper right corner of the screen and all open programs are moved to the center of the screen. Works! Alt/Tab? Works. What's all the Nvidia fuss?

Footnote:

Although I say that I have no trouble with Desktop Effects there is one note of annoyance. When I log in to the desktop for the first time Desktop Effects seem to be partially disabled, to the extent that there are no window borders. I need to 'Enable Desktop Effects' at each log in.

Installing Java for Firefox and Mozilla

From what I've seen on the Linux forums there are a few different schools of thought when it comes to installing Java. Here's what I do. I download Java from www.java.com/en/download/linux_manual.jsp. Download the Linux (self-extracting file). This will save the file to your default download location. I move the downloaded file from /home/glenn/Desktop (my default download location) to /opt.

[root@dad ~]# mv /home/glenn/Desktop/jre-1_5_0_09-linux-i586.bin /opt

Next I change to the /opt folder.
[root@dad ~]# cd /opt

Then I run the downloaded file.
[root@dad ~]# sh jre-1_5_0_09-linux-i586.bin

Press the space bar several times to accept the defaults and finally type 'yes'. When the installation is done you need to link the Java plug in to the Firefox and Mozilla plug in folders so that Java will work properly.

Link to Firefox plug in.
[root@dad opt]# ln -s /opt/jre1.5.0_09/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.8/plugins/

Link to Mozilla plug in.
[root@dad opt]# ln -s /opt/jre1.5.0_09/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

Installation is complete. You can remove jre-1_5_0_09-linux-i586.bin if you desire.

Close Firefox if it is open. Start Firefox. I usually go to Google and search 'test java'. I select a web page that will in fact use the plugin to confirm that it works, which it will. This method works every time I install Java on a new system.

Installing Flashplayer 9

I'm going to add Flashplayer 9 my way. I've been using Flashplayer 9 for a while now with no apparent trouble. Go to: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer9.html and click on 'download installer for Linux'. Click on 'save to disk' and 'do this automatically for files of this type'. I install most everything in/from /opt. Copy or move FP9_plugin_beta_112006.tar.gz to /opt. You will probably need to use 'sudo'. I prefer to open a terminal and type 'su -' so that I don't need to keep typing passwords. Here's the output from my terminal:

[glenn@dad ~]$ su -
Password:
[root@dad ~]# mv /home/glenn/Desktop/FP9_plugin_beta_112006.tar.gz /opt/

[root@dad ~]# cd /opt

[root@dad opt]# ls <-- List contents of folder
FP9_plugin_beta_112006.tar.gz

[root@dad opt]# tar xvfz <-- Extract contents of file
flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78/
flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78/libflashplayer.so
flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78/readme.txt

[root@dad opt]# cd flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78/ <-- Switch to the flashplayer folder

[root@dad flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78]# ls <-- List contents of folder

libflashplayer.so readme.txt

[root@dad flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78]# cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.8/plugins/ <-- Copy libflashplayer.so to default Firefox plugin folder

[root@dad flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78]# cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/ <-- Copy libflashplayer.so to default Mozilla plugin folder

[root@dad flash-player-plugin-9.0.21.78]#

Done. Restart Firefox. Type 'about:plugins' in the url bar. Flash should be listed and should work now.

After the install you can remove FP9_plugin_beta_112006.tar.gz if you desire.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Static IP address in Gnome

I prefer to use a static ip address on my FC6 box. It seems to make networking between all the computers here at home a lot easier. Go to the top panel and select System / Administration / Network. Enter root password. Your default ethernet card should be shown in the first window. Deactivate it. Select 'edit' from the icons at the top of the network configuration tool. Under the 'general' tab I select 'statically set ip address'. I enter my ip address, 192.168.1.101, my subnet mask, 255.255.255.0, and my default gateway, 192.168.1.1. Click 'ok'. Select the 'dns' tab. Enter your preferred hostname. For me this is 'dad'. The primary and secondary DNS address are usually already there by default as is the DNS search path. If yours are not there you need to find out what they are and enter them now. Click on the menu file / save. Click the 'devices' tab. Click on the 'activate' icon to activate your ethernet connection. Accept any alerts that are presented and you should now have a working static ip address that will not change upon reboot.

As part of setting a static ip address I need to edit my /etc/hosts file. Here's what I do:

At the command prompt, as regular user, type "sudo gedit /etc/hosts". I like to add the ip addresses and hostnames of all 5 computers on my network. Here's my default hosts file:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
::1 localhost.localdomain localhost

Here's what I added:
127.0.0.1 dad
192.168.1.100 meg
192.168.1.101 dad
192.168.1.102 neville
192.168.1.103 oldendorff
192.168.1.104 mom

Save and close your editor.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Add yourself to the sudoer's list

Add yourself to the sudoers list. Open a terminal. Type 'su' without the quotes, and enter root's password. Type '/usr/sbin/visudo', without the quotes. This will open the visudo configuration file. Hit the escape key and then hit the insert key. This will allow you to edit the file. Scroll down until you see these lines:

## Allows people in group wheel to run all commands

# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL


Remove the # in front of %wheel. Hit escape once and then :wq! (colon, w, q and ! ,in that order) and press enter. This will exit the editor and save the changes that you have made. You are now added to the sudoers list. On the top panel select System / Administration / Users and Groups. Type root's password and select your user. Click on the properties icon for your user. Select the groups tab, and scroll down to where you see the wheel group. Select that check box, click ok and close out all windows. You will now be able to use a terminal with root permissions so that any time you are in a terminal and need to do something as root you can preface your command with 'sudo', without the quotes, as in sudo updatedb or sudo gedit foo.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Add a terminal icon to the top panel

Add a terminal icon to the top panel. On the top panel and select Aplications / Accessories / Terminal. Right click 'terminal' and select 'add this launcher to panel'. A handy terminal icon will be added to your top panel. Next time you log in it will probably have moved from where you left it. Right click the terminal icon and select 'move' to put it back where you want it.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Default Screen Saver

A minor annoyance to me is the screensaver. By default, the screensaver is password protected. It get's me every time! I don't need this feature for what I do with this computer so I disable the password locking this way: Go to the top panel and select System/Preferences/Screensaver. I prefer to choose the blank screen, top left of the screen saver preferences window. At the bottom of the preferences window just above the help button you'll see 'lock screen when screen saver is active'. Untick the checkbox. Now a simple move of the mouse brings you back to your desktop whenever the screen saver is activated.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Enable Auto Login

One of the first things I like to do to customize my personal Fedora Core Gnome desktop is to enable auto-login. To do that, go to the top menu and select System/Administration/Login Screen. Type in the root password and the 'Login Window Preferences' window appears. On the left side under 'include' click the 'add' button to add yourself to the llist. Now click 'apply user changes'. Click on the 'security' tab. Tick 'enable automatic login' and select your user name from the dropdown menu. Tick 'enable timed login' and select your user name from the dropdown menu. Close the preferences window. This will allow you to get to the desktop when system boots without having to select a user and typing password. This is just my preference. Some will say that this practice is a security risk. That's fine. My computer is a home system that is only accessed by me and rarely, if at all, my family members.One of the first things I like to do to customize my personal Fedora Core Gnome desktop is to enable auto-login. To do that, go to the top panel and select System/Administration/Login Screen.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If I'm in error and need to make a correction please, by all means, let me know. I want all info presented here to be accurate.

Vacationing in 2006

My wife Dawn and I went to a town called Richfield Springs in upstate New York the last week of June this year. We had been there a few years earlier and liked it so much that we thought that we would go there again. We stayed at the same bed and breakfast that we stayed at last time. A place called The Lake House. We ended up with the same room we had the last time we were there. We only planned on staying for the weekend as we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary as just wanted to get away 'alone' for once. We really didn't do a lot for the two days that we were there. Richfield Springs is a very laid back, slow pace of life farming town. There's not a lot happening there. That's part of the charm of the town in my opinion. Much of it appears to be as I imagine it was in the early 1900's. We arrived Friday night. After we checked in to the B&B we went down to the small center of town. More of a crossroads than anything else. We went into a small pizza restaurant and ordered a pizza. On a whim, Dawn grabbed a beer from the self serve display. Oh oh, we don't drink! Neither of us has had a beer in years! We went outside and grabbed a table, waiting for the pizza. She tasted the beer and suggested that I have a taste too! I did. It was damn good, so good that I went inside and got my own! The pizza was brought to our table, we ate and drank, three beers between us, and got pretty tipsy. I guess it doesn't take much to get a buzz if you don't drink. Of course, by the time we were done eating the glow was pretty much gone, which was a good thing as we needed to drive back to the B&B. That's only a mile from the pizza joint, but Murphy's law states that I'd get pulled over for a tail light and end up getting arrested. Don't need that. The next day I spent some time fishing on Canadarago Lake, on which the B&B is located, as Dawn lounged on the shore sunning and reading. Saturday night we went to a little Italian bistro a few towns over, Sulphur Springs as I recall. Another one horse town. You go down the main street, there's about 6 businesses and then you're into the residential area. Good food and nice atmosphere. Another building that looks exactly as I imagined it would 100 years ago. Sunday morning I did a little more fishing as Dawn slept in. She's an expert at sleeping. We had breakfast downstairs at the B&B, packed up and left for home. We'll have to go back again.

Hey! I got one!

I spent a ton of time fishing for Largemouth Bass here in New England this past summer. Technically, I've been a bass fisherman for years. About 25 years ago my father-in-law gave me a rod and a tackle box for Christmas. I fished from then on and did so for a few years. Never had great success, but I enjoyed it just the same. As my family grew there was less and less time for fishing. I found other interests too. Fishing took a back seat, way in the back. Like in the trunk. Things have changed. I can't even remember why, but I started fishing again. Glad I did. It's fun and it's relaxing. It reunited me with my brother, Dana. We go fishing together 2-3 times a month during the all too short season here in New England. It also gave me something that I could do with my young daughter, Meagan. Just me and her. She has grown to love fishing. She even out fished me on more than one occasion this past summer, which I think is a good thing. No ego here. It's a great way to spend your free time. Meagan and I visited several of the local ponds this year. Dana and I took her out in his boat a couple times also. Dana lives in New Hampshire and I in Mass. We split our time between the two states. There is no shortage of lakes and ponds in New England. The privilege of spending time with Dana and Meagan, combined with just being in the great outdoors, the wildlife, the beautiful scenery and the wonderful New England air make for memories I will keep forever.

Hold Everything

'memba we bought a Buick yesterday? Well, guess what. Spanky from "Discount Dealer" called. Sharks! All of them! They've called us twice since our Thursday road test. We didn't buy a car from them and they're not willing to give up a prospective customer without a fight. I don't fault them for that. This is a new (to us) salesman calling. Says he has a 2002 Caravan that we need to see. "Under $10000". So I tell him that we're interested in the car if he can sell it for $8000, no more. He says he'll see what he can do. I'm interested, so we go back to "Discount Dealer" and drive the Caravan. Nice car. We like it. We haggle. We buy the car. $8250 with a warranty, 10 years or 100,000 miles. But wait, it's not warranteed for another 10 years, and it's not warranteed for another 100,000 miles. The warranty is good until the car reaches 100,000 miles or until it's 10 years old. Glad I asked him to clarify that, else I'd be thinking that my warranty is good until 2017 or 153,000 miles! That's nuts! Anyhow, we got our deposit back from the place where we 'bought' the Buick. No trouble, but he did mention that he was getting two Caravans in next week. Wonder if he'll call us? But we're just test driving, not buying, remember?

Bought a new car

Well, that was quick! After one exhausting day of car shopping we bit the bullet and bought a 'new' car today. We grabbed a 2000 Buick LeSabre from a dealer a 1/2 mile from the house. This guy has been selling cars from this location for 30 years. That tells me that he's doing something right. He isn't selling shitboxes, if he was he wouldn't have lasted long at all. So this is the new grocery getter. A four door luxury land yacht. She has all the bells and whistles you could ask for. Translated, that just means more stuff to break. It's a pretty big car as cars go these days. That's good. My wife and daughter will be using this car. I have my own. I want them to have a little sheet metal around them when they're out and about doing whatever it is that girls do when they're on the road, you know, shopping and stuff. Not really the type of car I had in mind, but when I found out that the rental, the one supplied by the other guy's insurance, wasn't totally without cost to me I decided that we need a car now. It's costing me $15 per day. Why is that? I didn't wreck the old g-getter. So we're into the second week of the rental. That's about $210 that I have to pay out so far, and counting. Since it's Friday and the new car won't be ready until Tuesday, we'll have the friggin rental for 3 or 4 more days. Then we'll be up to what, $280? That's fair, huh? Nothing less than extortion in my opinion. Let's go buy that Buick. Forget about image. We need to get rid of this 'free' rental.

Car Shopping

Well, the grocery getter is gone. The '97 Voyager that was totaled last week was towed away yesterday. Disposed of like an old pair of shoes. Junked. Off to the glue factory. Kaput. Kicked to the curb. Too bad. That car served us well for over 6 years. No major problems until the transmission rebuild last July. Maybe we could have at least given it a decent burial. But it's off to the crusher for her. Shame really. It was all paid for too!

So, this afternoon we went out car shopping. I knew before I went that there are just too many cars to choose from and too many people and places just dying to sell them to you. One of the cars that we drove was a '05 Chevy Impala. 29,000 miles with all the ususal bells and whistles. Nice car. Looked a little worn though. Drove ok. We really couldn't pick up on anything obviously wrong with the car. Back to the dealer. Took a long time for the salesman to actually let us know what the price was. Almost like it was a secret. Finally, he came clean. $13,998. But with the 'Bigshot Dealer Discount" of $3000 the price was $10,998. What a sport. We wouldn't commit to buying. We went out with the specific goal of driving cars to get a feel for what we want, not to buy a car today. When we were leaving, a senior salesman said "What if the car was $9,000. Would you buy it?" Nope. Not buying today. Hmmmm, they dropped the price $4000 in a matter of minutes. We still didn't buy the car. We took the salesman's card and left. We'll definitely consider going back there to buy. They didn't do anything wrong. They were just doing their jobs, and that's to sell us a car. And they certainly were nice enough people. We're just not buying today. Off to the next dealer.

What next?

So I sit here in front of my computers, the day after Christmas, wondering what I should do next. I am not used to being unemployed. This is a new game for me. I feel guilty, like I did something terrible. I know it's not my fault, but that doesn't ease the guilt. I feel as though I should get up early every day and go out looking for work. I feel like I should be driving all over creation, stopping anywhere and everywhere asking 'are you hiring?'. I feel as though I should take the first job that comes along, no matter what the pay is or what the hours are.

I'm going to sign up for unemployment. Guess that's one of the first things I should do. I called the DES this morning. As you could have guessed I was greeted with an automated answering service. Press 1 for this. If this is a new claim press 1. Enter your social security number. Enter your year of birth. If you are claiming dependent children you will need their social security numbers. Press 1. "We're sorry". "Due to a larger than expected call volume we are unable to take your call at this time". "Please call back later". This sucks. I wanted some time off, but not like this. I didn't even like the job I had. I was bored with it. I thought about quitting. But I didn't. I even put job applications in to a few different places. That indicates how much I wanted out. But I stayed. Need to work. At least I got some time off, but I'm not going to enjoy it that much.

Totally blown away!

It's pretty amazing to me to see just how much the people in your life care about you. It's not something that I take for granted but buy the same token it's not something that I think about often. As I stated in a previous post, I was laid off from my job last Wednesday. Merry Christmas not! Since that time I've been in contact with many of the people that I had dealt with on a daily basis. They were all surprised to hear that I was dismissed and wished me well, offering to help me in any way that they could. I've also received calls from ex fellow employees who have expressed their shock and sadness at my departure and offering well wishes. This has never happened before. This is good. People actually care about me and my family's welfare. This behavior just blows me away, for lack of a better term. I'm not used to working in a place where the people you work with and the people you service every day genuinely care about you. It's a nice feeling. It's a wonderful thing knowing that the folks that you come in contact with every day are there for you when your life is suddenly turned in a direction that wasn't in the original plans. They will help you out for the price of a phone call. We may not think often enough about who our friends really are. We're busy. There's a certain amount of pressure to perform, to act a certain way, do this, don't do that, watch what you say or you may offend. Is that what's really important? We're all moving so fast just to carve out a living that we seldom take the time to remember what's important in life. Many times we are concerned only with those things that can benefit us. But that's partly survival. It's tough out there sometimes. In the end, I may not have a job right now, but I have my wife and kids. I have my family and friends. What's more, when I find a new job I know that there will be people there that will become friends and they will grow to care about me, and I them. I've always felt that there was some truth to the phrase "it's a dog eat dog world". Just don't eat the dogs that are on your side.

The box is empty! What's up with that?

Hey, last week I ordered a little computer device that would allow me to attach different types of hard drives to a usb port, thereby eliminating the need to open the computer case to attach a drive for whatever reason. I ordered it on-line from one of the better known electronics vendors. That was Monday as I recall. Friday, I got a call from my former employer stating that there was a package there for me. I went to pick it up, brought it home and opened it. Nothing! Emptied all the packing peanuts, every single one of them, still nothing! No literature, no part, just air. That's never happened to me before. I thought my ex fellow employees were screwing with me, but clearly, the box had not been opened since shipping. So I called the vendor and explained the situation. He informed me that they would ship another to me in a few days. Great! No questions asked! How kool is that? I don't think I can handle all that's occured in the last seven days! Too much excitement for me.

What do you think you're doing?

As I reported in an earlier post, the family grocery getter was totaled last week. Well, Tuesday, the appraiser told my wife that the tow truck would be by Friday to get the van. So we need to clean the car of all our worldly possessions before we say goodby to gg. You know the type of stuff I mean, things we just can't do without. The folding lawn chairs, the road maps, the umbrella, the thingys that are hanging off of the mirror, the snow brush, etc. I also want to drain the full (doesn't it figure?) gas tank. That's about $50 worth of fuel these days. We hadn't gotten around to the cleanout stage as of Thursday morning. I happened to be at the back of the house smoking a butt ( remember I got laid off? ) when I heard the sound of a truck backup alarm. I looked toward the front of the house to see a ramp truck with chains attached to it's front bumper and the gg's rear frame. He was dragging the gg backwards so that he could get in front of it for the tow. I ran out front and confronted the young fella doing the dragging. I said, "what do you think you're doing, I haven't released this car and I was told it would be picked up tomorrow". He showed me papers that directed him to get my car today. After we both calmed down ( I think he thought that I was gonna whack him ), we agreed that there was a mistake on the date of pickup and that the car would be picked up after Christmas. So there it sits, the grocery getter, battered and broken, now devoid of any personal possessions and awaiting the evacuation of it's load of fuel. What a week it's been!

Rude Awakening

So the whole family was asleep at 4:45 am Friday, December 15 when I thought I heard a series of loud crashing sounds. Of course I awoke and since I'm on a main road in town I ran to the front window and threw open the sash to see what was the matter. There it was, my wife's '97 Voyager, up on the sidewalk at a 45 degree angle, with the left rear of the van caved in. We all ran outside to see if we could administer first aid to our beloved grocery getter. Approaching the vehicle we noticed that the left front was also severely damaged. How's that happen? The van was hit in the left rear by another mini van. My guess is that the offending mini van then spun 180 degrees and whacked the front of the g-getter for good measure. Traveling further still, the offending vehicle then proceeded to wreak havok on the neighbor's car, one house down! The offending vehicle then came to rest in the middle of the street, backwards, with the front end severely damaged. The offending vehicle operator claimed to the authorities that he was only going 35 mph! Yeah, sure you were bud. The g-getter was declared a total loss four days later by our friendly local vehicle appraiser. We'll get a chunk of cash from the insurance company (only right considering the chunk of cash we gave them) and we'll get a new or good used car. Trouble is, while we were sleeping, innocent as we were, we unknowingly incurred the need for additional expense, via a car friggin loan! That's the part that really bugs me. I don't want another expense to pay every month. Wasn't my fault the car was hit. Remember? I was goddam ASLEEP! WTF? Shouldn't the offending vehicle operator provide me with the means to replace the vehicle HE destroyed?

Holy Crap!

Wow! So it's 5:00 PM Wednesday, December 20th, and I'm closing the auto parts store that I work at. Just as I'm about to lock myself inside to count cash and run daily reports in walks the boss. She informs me that she's laying me off. I say, "So I'm done on Friday?" She says "no, right now" and "give me the keys". Tells me things are bad (no shit) and that they're closing the store for good soon. I've been a loyal employee there for 12 years. Treated the store like it was my own. Knew their customers better than they did. Ya think she could have waited until December 26th? Nah, screw that. If she did that then she would have had to thrown in a friggin Christmas bonus. Assholes.

Vacationing in 2006

My wife Dawn and I went to a town called Richfield Springs in upstate New York the last week of June this year. We had been there a few years earlier and liked it so much that we thought that we would go there again. We stayed at the same bed and breakfast that we stayed at last time. A place called The Lake House. We ended up with the same room we had the last time we were there. We only planned on staying for the weekend as we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary as just wanted to get away 'alone' for once. We really didn't do a lot for the two days that we were there. Richfield Springs is a very laid back, slow pace of life farming town. There's not a lot happening there. That's part of the charm of the town in my opinion. Much of it appears to be as I imagine it was in the early 1900's. We arrived Friday night. After we checked in to the B&B we went down to the small center of town. More of a crossroads than anything else. We went into a small pizza restaurant and ordered a pizza. On a whim, Dawn grabbed a beer from the self serve display. Oh oh, we don't drink! Neither of us has had a beer in years! We went outside and grabbed a table, waiting for the pizza. She tasted the beer and suggested that I have a taste too! I did. It was damn good, so good that I went inside and got my own! The pizza was brought to our table, we ate and drank, three beers between us, and got pretty tipsy. I guess it doesn't take much to get a buzz if you don't drink. Of course, by the time we were done eating the glow was pretty much gone, which was a good thing as we needed to drive back to the B&B. That's only a mile from the pizza joint, but Murphy's law states that I'd get pulled over for a tail light and end up getting arrested. Don't need that. The next day I spent some time fishing on Canadarago Lake, on which the B&B is located, as Dawn lounged on the shore sunning and reading. Saturday night we went to a little Italian bistro a few towns over, Sulphur Springs as I recall. Another one horse town. You go down the main street, there's about 6 businesses and then you're into the residential area. Good food and nice atmosphere. Another building that looks exactly as I imagined it would 100 years ago. Sunday morning I did a little more fishing as Dawn slept in. She's an expert at sleeping. We had breakfast downstairs at the B&B, packed up and left for home. We'll have to go back again.

Hey! I got one!

I spent a ton of time fishing for largemouth bass here in New England this past summer. Technically, I've been a bass fisherman for years. About 25 years ago my father-in-law gave me a rod and a tackle box for Christmas. I fished from then on and did so for a few years. Never had great success, but I enjoyed it just the same. As my family grew there was less and less time for fishing. I found other interests too. Fishing took a back seat, way in the back. Like in the trunk. Things have changed. I can't even remember why, but I started fishing again. Glad I did. It's fun and it's relaxing. It reunited me with my brother, Dana. We go fishing together 2-3 times a month during the all too short season here in New England. It gave me something that I could do with my young daughter, Meagan. Just me and her. She has grown to love fishing. She even out fished me on more than one occasion this past summer, which I think is a good thing. No ego here. It's a great way to spend your free time. Meagan and I visited several of the local ponds this year. Dana and I took her out in his boat a couple times also. Dana lives in New Hampshire and I in Mass. We split our time between the two states. There is no shortage of lakes and ponds in New England. The privilege of spending time with Dana and Meagan, combined with just being in the great outdoors, the wildlife, the beautiful scenery and the wonderful New England air make for memories I will keep forever.