Siliconchef by Brian Richardson

Like most people, I am taking today to reflect on the past 365 days and wonder “where the bloody hell did the time go?”

While I’m ready to have 2007 come to an end, I’m not entirely sorry it happened. In many ways it’s been a hard year, but it’s also brought me a lot of joy.

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Thanks to the folks at work, I have the use of an Asus Eee PC 4GB Surf. It’s a very cool little, and I do mean little, Intel based laptop. I haven’t done much hacking, just adding & removing packages to customize the default Linux configuration.

I will post progress reports as I learn more about this cool little computer.

Suzan and I went to see Charlie Wilson’s War last night … a fantastic movie. It has great dialog, good scenery and very solid acting. Yeah, a lot of naked women as well … but they’re actually contributing to the plot (the reader, she thinks I’m kidding).

After spending a lot of holiday shopping time looking for movies on DVD, I really appreciate a good movie.

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It’s been a good Christmas/Solstice/GiftMas Season at the GeekFarm. Friends and family have been called, visited or been visited upon. Good food has been consumed in good company. I have a lot of nice new shirts that I would have never bought for myself, thanks to in-laws who believe my wife’s stories and imagine that I only dress in free polo shorts bearing corporate logos … it’s totally untrue, because sometimes I also wear black t-shirts about computers

Mostly the season has been about family and the extended family of good friends, as it should be. People are more important to me than things, and the people closest to me are more important than ever. Giving gifts is more of an excuse to see these people a little happier, the gift itself is just a mechanism to make that happen. I hope the New Year’s celebration grants me an excuse to see more friends in various states of happiness.

Stories also make the holiday better. If you need a little sci-fi in your holiday spirit, try Mur Lafferty’s “Citytalkers” at EscapePod (free MP3 download). This is a great take on people pulling together for their city during the holidays … not the people in the city, but the city itself. It’s interesting to think that Charlotte doesn’t love Christmas, New Orleans is a moody bitch and Detroit is exactly how we think Detroit should be. It will all make sense when you listen to the story.

I love this cartoon …

Talked to my grandfather yesterday on the way to work … recovering from heart surgery, going to physical therapy, sounded alert & aware.

Just got a phone call that he stopped breathing a few minutes ago and was rushed to a local (10 minutes from his house) hospital. My dad talked to him no more than two hours ago, so we’re not sure what’s happened.

It’s been a year of mending friendships, fixing relationships and losing people … just because this fits how the year has been going doesn’t mean it should be happening now.

3:39pm – grandfather update: he’s been awake for a while now, not sure why he stopped breathing this morning, in hospital for overnight observation. 

Yeah, it’s not been my best day … More »