Inner Narrative

Or, as Terry Pratchett may use the phrase: in-ear ne'er a Tiv.

This is primarily introspective but worth sharing. Also, as a byline, I am about to introduce you to A Prairie Home Companion. You'll love it.

Some time ago Riley introduced me to PHC and, in particular, the Professional Organization of English Majors a.k.a. P.O.E.M. (buy the T-shirt!) One of the items that got me hooked was the English Major's Inner Narrative.

I discovered that night that I am not alone: I, too, have an inner narrative. Granted, I did not get my B.A. in English, but History Majors share many things in common with English Majors. One cannot read and write as much as a History Major and not learn English as well as—or better than—any English Major. Just ask my wife (who has a B.A. in English), I speak and write better English than she does. (I love you Jessica.)

To read more P.O.E.M. scripts, search for "English majors script" and have a few chuckles courtesy of the PHC crew.

The Benefits of a Late Start

Today is the day the company I work for moves the DOD Emall from its home at a commercial data center to a Defense Enterprise Computing Center (DECC) facility. I doubt that the information is classified but I'm not going to reveal which DECC facility we're moving to. Anyway, because the move is going to be a huge undertaking and will require most of the work be done after the sun goes down, I didn't have to be to work until 12:00 MDT.

I wish I could say I slept in, but I didn't and that's okay. I did something even better than catching a few extra winks: I barbecued a steak and fried some eggs outside and had steak and eggs for breakfast! (Sorry, no photos.)

I learned a few things this morning.

1. I can't eat a large breakfast. I couldn't bring myself to finish the 10-12 oz. steak and four AA large eggs.
2. The skillet grill attached to the BBQ works for cooking but the self-igniter does not work.
3. I don't enjoy eating a great meal by myself. Unfortunately, my wife had already left for work; I missed having her with me.
4. On the other hand, I only blog about things I do on my own so it may be beneficial—for the blog's sake—for me to do a few things solo once in a while.

I think I may have to make steak and eggs (or a morning barbecue) a fairly regular thing, though probably on Saturdays when neither the wife or I have to be anywhere too early.

Changing The Default Keyring Password In Ubuntu 8.10

Several days ago I changed my user password on my laptop and noticed that, after a boot up or after logging in, the keyring manager would ask me for the keyring password in order to access the WPA password stored there for the various wireless networks I connect to.

My initial reaction was one of annoyance, but after several days I decided to do something about it so I went searching on Google. Not surprisingly, I found several solutions but most were either for versions of Ubuntu too old to be of use or too off base to be correct. Until I stumbled upon a solution that pointed me in the right direction (I can't find the link now, otherwise I'd post it and give proper credit).

Here's the solution for Ubuntu 8.10 (a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex)

Click Applications > Accessories > Passwords and Encryption Keys


Click Edit > Preferences.


You will be presented with a Password Keyrings tab with a "login Automatically unlock when user logs in." option. Highlight that line and click on the "Change Unlock Password" button.


Enter your current keyring password then enter your current user password and click Change. If you do not enter your user login password, you'll still be asked to unlock the keyring after logging in.


Done. Click "Close" on the remaining windows. The next time you log in you will not be prompted for your keyring password.

My Political Compass

During my morning jaunt through other people's blogs courtesy of Google Reader I read one of my peer's 25 Things meme. One of his items was his political standing. Apparently, there's a political compass test on line (take the test). The test asks some pretty basic questions about your political standing then plots the results on a Cartesian coordinate system. I believe the results to be pretty accurate.

See my political compass