Well I just realized that March is about over and I haven't posted much yet so I thought I'd come and update the page a little bit. I would have done it more often but there hasn't been anything notable happening. I did get Postfix running with virtual users looked up via LDAP at work. Its pretty cool although it was a bit of a hassle. I tried Qmail and Exim first and wound up not caring for either that much. Postfix's configuration seems to be the best of them all but I still don't think its up to the level of say Apache. Since its on a FreeBSD box I also installed amavisd-new from ports and a virus scanner and am quite pleased with that setup. The spam filtering seems to be quite effective although I need to figure out a couple other things like wildcards in whitelists, and subject tagging in addition to blocking. Overall very cool and highly recommended though.
I've been up tonight doing homework, the most recent thing was a program for my C++ class. I didn't think it was possible to make user defined functions add excess work and code bloat but this project has proven me wrong. I emailed my instructor for my half semester Intro to Networking class to see what I got.
"John,
Your final grade for the class is "C"
Your grade on the final exam was: 92%
Your attendance was poor. The attendance quizzes added up."
This is the same instructor that asked me for help when his labs didn't work. This is the same instructor who was telling people that the order of the wires on network cables didn't matter as long as both ends were the same. I am positive without a doubt that I am far more qualified to teach a networking class than this man. But lack of attendence gets me a C. Excellent message....it doesn't matter what you know, being there is all that matters. I also appreciate that he completely left off his grading scale as well as the breakdown of value off his syllabus. He's a cool guy, but needs to polish his teaching methods some..... If you want to take attendance grads, I won't be happy about it, but at least show what percentage of your grade they will make up.
I picked up a an Archos 20 gig mp3 player last weekend and played with it for a while before taking it back. I bought it in a moment of weakness but thought it would be pretty cool to have. Luckily it was buggy. It stopped during playback a time or two and about 1/3 of the times I turned it on, only the middle 2/3 of the lcd would come on. It made it exceptionally difficult to read the display. The controls also sucked. I didn't exchange it and think I'll just wait a bit before getting a new one since I'm still not positive I'd use it all that often.
I think this weekend I'm going back home since I didn't last weekend. It kind of sucks because I really don't have anything close to the time. I have a bunch of projects to finish for school. I really should work on some stuff for work. I need to do dad's taxes. I need to fill out a FAFSA, and apply for some other loans since I'm about to be forced into like an all-ramen diet.......
I'd really like to get a new laptop too. I like my thinkpad but 300mhz is just getting too slow for the amount of multi-tasking I like to do. I'm tired of trying to get sound to work with freebsd on it too so it'd be cool to have one that wouldn't require voodoo to get working. Oddly enough I'm somewhat attracted to the Apple Powerbooks with their sexy sexy lit keyboard and bsd-based OSX...but wow you pay for those. I'd like to try another thinkpad too but I feel somewhat ripped off by the crappy battery in this series and their neglect of everyone who experiences its problems. I'd probably get a Dell.....I want a big screen and integrated wireless. While its cheaper than a powerbook, apparently its still an expensive taste so it might have to wait for a while....
Well I'm put a pizza in the oven so it should be about done. Yes it does feel odd to put a pizza in at 2:30am, but I didn't eat dinner, I'm awake, and I'm hungry. After I pull that out I think I'll put in a favorite, Office Space, eat a couple slices, and get to bed and decide if I'm driving home tomorrrow.
Hey its about 72 out today......nice! I usually like cold weather, but we've had enough ice this year that I'm sick of slipping on my stairs and having to take 20 minutes in the morning to get in my car. One day I wound up eventually crawling in through the hatch. I'm sure it was a comedic sight for anyone who happened to be looking out their window. I do enjoy driving my car but I think its not made for winter. I'll be more than happy when I can afford a new car though.
I'm going home this weekend since its been a couple weeks. Its spring break now but I still have a ton of stuff to do for work and school so it won't be as relaxed as I would like. I'm going to try to keep off the computer as much as possible though since my wrists have been really bothering me lately. I've burned a CD and I think I'm going to go take the sunroof out of my car and enjoy the drive. I'll probably also mail the bills I forgot about on the coffee table on the way too. I'm anxious to get out and go for a drive even if I hate the boring drive!
This is quickly becoming all about entertainment reviews but hey, not much is happening. I was channel surfing this evening and saw Ozzy Osbourne on tv and stopped for a minute. Apparently this was "The Osbournes" show that I've heard people talk about but never seen. Its a reality show based on the Osbourne family, sort of like E!'s Anna Nicole show.
I watched about half of an episode and I honestly have no clue how people watch the show. Lets see first there's Ozzy's daughter who seems to be a usually spoiled punk who spends most of her time screaming things at her parents that most kids wouldn't consider. Then you have the son, who I thought was a "special" kid they had on the show for some reason when I firt saw him. I guess it was the hat and the hair. He didn't seem as annoying as his sister, but a funny looking kid either way. I liked him talking about going to Vegas and getting a room with a bunch of ladies or something and he's then shown watching Teletubbies with his friends. Good times. Ozzy's wife was reminiscing about their wedding night when ozzy pissed himself and passed out in the hall. And then of course there is Ozzy. Ozzy seems like a very mellow guy, but doesn't always seem to be "there" and reminds me alot of watching a 90 year old man. I still like his music but I'm just surprised with out out of it he is. Sort of like some of the boxers get after a few blows....
Thae half a show or so that I saw was good enough for me and I won't be watching again. Overall their personalities were just way too irritating to make the show watchable for me. If there is nothing better on, read a book!
One week to spring break and some time off class (that I won't have to skip to get)......