Saturday evening, we will have the chance to witness another total lunar eclipse. I hope to go with Kelly and Hallie out to Jordan Lake to get the best view of this spectacular event.

Hallie has become a moon fanatic lately, going bananas whenever she sees it. I wonder how she’ll react when she sees it go dark on Saturday?

Read more at Sky and Telescope.

Two big stories in the Linux world caused some chattering this week. Novell bought SuSe, the leading Linux vendor in Europe. Not long afterward, Red Hat announced it was getting out of the consumer Linux market.

Seems to me that Red Hat could use some good competition. The teaming-up of Suse with Novell says a lot to me in regards to the future of Linux. I think Novell will prove a champion of the open-source OS.

As for Red Hat, its catching a lot of flak from its grassroots supporters. And probably for good reason. I understand Red Hat’s purpose is to make money: and it IS making money. Their Fedora project is an effort to throw a bone to the little guys who helped make it what it is.

But its too easy to see this is just a bone. However they may try to spin it, it seems like Red Hat gets the jewels and the volunteer get the shrift. I suppose it always was that way, though, only now its official policy.

The geeks have always held up the Red Hat flag and pulled it into their datacenters. To overlook them in favor of executives is a strategic mistake by Red Hat. Those executives rely on their geek employees to educate them about technology. If those geeks decide that Red Hat is rewarding their loyalty by snubbing them, they can quickly turn the tide away from Red Hat.

Here’s some fun. An anagram generator.

Wonder what my brother Jeff “Jet Fur Fern” Turner or buddies Scott “Thugs Got Encore” Greenough and Jamie “I See A Man Jig” Gaines think of this.

-Mark “Mr. Run A Trek” Turner

I’ve noticed that the unsolicited commercial email (a.k.a. “spam”) I get has become more creative in its measures. The tried-and-true “MAKE MONEY FAST!!!!!11!1!” won’t make it past the spam filters, so spammers (or, more accurately, spamming software) has to try a little bit harder.

Now it seems I always get spam from creatively-named ficticious senders. Going through my spam folder, I see names like Aracely Morris, Georgette Esposito, Eva Walden, Mayra Sneed, Omar Trotter, Myrtis Willis, Adaline Collier, Marcella Arrington, Sterling Nicholas. I mean, these are some good names! They’re mostly female, for some reason, but good, nontheless.

If I have another kid someday, I might just look in my junk email for name ideas.
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When I wasn’t spending quality time with the family, including celebrating my mother’s birthday, I was out doing yard work: the first in a long, long time. I do my best thinking when I’m mowing the lawn. Given enough grass to cut, I could figure out a way to rule the world. 🙂

Anyhow, during the many times I paused to empty the mower bag, I stopped and took in the beauty that is fall in North Carolina. It was a stunningly beautiful day, with a crystal blue sky providing a backdrop for trees bursting with brilliant fall colors. Perfect day for flying, I thought to myself as I imagined the view from Up There. Every now and then, my jealous ears would hear the sound of a plane passing overhead. At times I got a glimpse of it: the biplane was out again. Lucky bastard.

It made me realize that flying is one of those things I was really set to do, but never let get off the ground. Without debating why I’ve delayed it, I reaffirmed my desire to one day get my wings. I really, really, really do. Like anything.

But our current situation doesn’t allow for it. Flying is an expensive hobby, one that most certainly isn’t in our budget at the present time. I would have to get a substantial raise in order to even think about it. The odds of that happening anytime soon, however, are pretty slim. And that’s where the conflict sets in. It’s one I’ll have to solve or go nuts trying.

Given the desire, there isn’t anything I can’t accomplish. I can be amazingly focused on topics that engage me: the PBX thing, for instance. I feel the same push to climb into the cockpit; to eat, sleep, and breathe flying. The competitive spirit in me has been roused by my officemate Greg, who recently began his lessons.

I cannot let go of any more of my dreams. It has to happen, and I have to figure out a way for it to happen. But until that magic puzzle piece falls into place, the closest I’m going to get to the runway is Observation Park. And that sucks.

The original “Old Nole,” my Honda Accord EX, will hit 200,000 miles today. This is a car so popular that twelve years after its debut, it still ranked #17 on the list of most stolen cars.

I bought the car from my dad, who gave it its name. Mr. Old Nole‘s vanity plate has long since been removed from his Honda, but the name has stuck.

The window gaskets are loose and there are pockmarks on the mirrors, but overall it is still running strong.

What a great ride. Thanks, Old Nole, for getting me where I am today.

A community lives and dies on the willingness of its citizens to become involved.

Its Halloween today. Unlike previous, I don’t really have a lot planned for this Halloween. Sad, actually.

Oh sure. There’s the smoke machine, and the lighted skulls. And the creepy music. But that’s all been done before. I don’t have anything original this time around, other than the cheap scarecrow.

I never got around to building my Flying Crank Ghost, nor did I build a fog chiller like I wanted. That was just due to the busy weekends we’ve been spending; lots of them out of town.

I hope my Halloween reputation isn’t slipping!