Web Blah Garza

We’ve come to Flagstaff AZ for my daughters graduation, staying at the Du Beau Hostel in town, owned by an old friend who was once a local musician turned city councilman, now buisness owner. I went to Macy’s Coffee shop for a low fat mocha and low and behold as I walked out I saw several familiar faces. Since it’s been over 10 years I had no clue who they were but familiar just the same. It’s odd how we (the human) are truely a creature of habit and some habits are quite predictable. Here’s a shot of the Du Beau courtesy car and the door to the commons.

The back wall with the mural is the outside wall of Macy’s Coffee Shop and where I conceived my song One Armed Girl. It seems like light years away when I was in the recycle truck working that day, so much has happened and so much is different. Which brings me back to the creature of habit thing, although I like to think I’m not caught up in that whole thing, sometimes I fear I am following the crowd no differently than anyone else. Then I take a look around myself and see that isn’t possible because of the fact so much has changed and is different for me. This deserves comtemplation. More to come from our journey to Flagstaff before it’s over.

Well I upgraded to Wordpress 2.7.1, since I run my own site I was a little worried about doing it, but no problems and things are running smoothly, I highly recommend doing it if you are tired of the upgrade nag that appears at the bottom of your page. Taking some getting use to the new format in the Dashboard and Admin area but no biggy. Also added a photo album page using a plugin for Wordpress, WP-Photo Album. very simple plugin and easy to use, nothing fancy but integrates with the existing Theme nicely. If you are interested stop by and take a look. This is just a brief entry to chronicle my doings.

I have been creating Logons and Bootskins for Windows using Stardocks Logon Studio and Bootskins. Logons are the screen you see when you enter your password to get in your computer and Bootskins are the screen you see when your system is booting up. In order to use these you have to have both utilities from Stardock installed on you computer here is a link to them.

Bootskins

Logon Studio

This is a very easy and quick way to personalize your computer with out all the hacking and re-programing of script.

Stop in and check out my Skins here JG’s Skin Gallery

Download them here JG Wincustomize

I have a Toshiba Satellite with Vista on it. Of course over the course of owning my laptop I, like so many, decided that Vista sucked. I got this idea that I would uninstall Vista and downgrade to Windows XP Pro. As I researched the internet for information on this process I began to find that over and over again anyone who had done this with the same model laptop I have had a night mare on their hands. The biggest problem was drivers, among some other minor ones. At one point I came upon an entry in a particular forum, this one fellow had done what was called a clean install of vista and found that it was actually an excellent OS. The more I looked in to this the more I decided that this would be the thing I would attempt to do.

Fortunately I found a handy little tool called the ABR (Activation Backup and Restore), this handy little app was a life saver and mad this all the easier. The thing about Vista and computer sold to day is a thing called by geeks BLOATWARE!  Bloatware are all the little things that a manufacturer will put on their computers that is absolutely worthless resource hog items. When you do a clean install of any OS you end up with the bare essentials that are the main part of the OS and nothing more. That means that you can add what ever apps you want on your system and only that. This is what I did.

A clean install in a sense gives your computer back to you in a stripped down streamlined manner that allows your computer to actually behave in the manner it should. You will suddenly see just how fast your system should move. It is strongly recommended that you backup anything you want to keep before doing a clean install.

Once I did this I found that Vista is actually a very nice OS and it has gotten a bad rap because of all the bloatware that comes along with it. Here are a few links with instructions on doing a clean install, If you have a copy of the Anytime Upgrade Disc that came with your system then your good to go with this process. first a link to the ABR tool

ABR (Activation Backup and Restore)

Notebook Review.com Vista Clean Install

DirectEdge.US- Installing Vista Clean with No Crapware 

If you don’t find these informative enough them you can simply do a Google on Vista Clean Install. Good luck and I think you will find that once you do this you will never complain about Vista outside of it’s annoying quirks. The truth about Vista is simply this it is just another OS with as many problems as any other and the thing that makes it such a pain is all the Crap that computer manufacturers shove down our throats along with it. Do your self a favor and clean your system.

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a
change! The chicken wanted change!

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Well first of all Happy New Year to all. Now to the meat of this post. During Christmas I found myself completely inundated with the commercialism of the season. As I work in the retail industry (just a job) that wasn’t to hard to do. My partner and I joined the fray of consumers bouncing off the walls to get gifts for our children and close ones, but in the spirit of Cindy Lou Who I was constantly wondering, (Where are you Christmas?). I spent the last days before the seasons end wondering and contemplating what has become of us and the celebration of the Christmas holiday. Now at this point I wish to express that I am not a devout Christian nor do I have spiritual beliefs that are a kin to the standard Christian belief system although I was raised Catholic and was an alter boy. So you can imagine I spent many years developing my own system far from the so called normal Christian methods. Although this may be the case I have a longing and childhood memory of what Christmas once was to me and this spirit has lived on in my later years ( I am 55). Being raised in the era of family Christmas shows i.e. Andy Williams, Dean Martin and a Host of many variety and warm cuddly remembrances of the true meaning of Christmas, I turned to the tube on Christmas eve for a warm fire and the heavenly host of Christmas spirit. As I moved through the channels I was soon to find no sign of such warmth. The usual stuff was there, the bombardment of truck and car commercials as well as the shouting of marketeers selling their wares. TMZ was there and all the CSI’s as well as the shootings and killings of bad and good guys, but no Angels, no Shepherds, No star in the sky and no Christmas!!. PBS had Faith Hill singing carols but a one woman show was not the same and there was no sign of Rudolph, The Drummer Boy, or any child like showing of warmth and spirit. On Christmas day again I checked the one eyed cyclops for any sign of Christmas, there was a rendition of Heidi on PBS using dogs as the actors and there was Rachel Ray cooking here little heart out as well as the usual soap operas but no Christmas, again NO Angels, NO Baby Jesus, No Shepherds, No Wise men and most of all NO Star!! As the day wore on I would check and on into the evening, I was quite disappointed by the lack of spirit and tradition that poured from the tube. We finally shut it off and I pulled out my copies of the Little Drummer Boy, It’s a Wonderful Life and so on and we watched our own movies. As i watched my Children on Christmas morning opening their presents and over the week before as I saw them grow in anticipation of the coming day, I could see where Christmas had gone. It’s hiding in the spirits of the Children, waiting for the day it can come back again. Waiting for the day when a new car or a new house means much less than the happiness of a child and the remembrance of why Christmas exists at all. As I looked to our grown up world and the media I saw a sorry rendition of what has once been and I could see Christmas was no longer there. It was gone and will remain so, I fear as the years pass in to our economic disasters and the lack of understanding Brotherhood. War has taken Christmas away, Money has taken Christmas away, and a host of other fears and misgivings. Most of all I think that Christians have spent way too much time worrying about other peoples politics and belief systems, that they are the biggest culprits for the loss of the Christmas Spirit and the true meaning it exists. I think next year we’re going to celebrate Chanukah.

Comming home from our trip to Cailifornia the nest day I went out to check on my goats and other critters. I found one of my goats (Butterscotch), with a broken leg. I was distraught and wasn;t paying much attention to the other critters. Later I was quick to blame one of my dogs as he is prone to chasing the animals and was loose the night before. The next day I went out to feed in the morning and found my 2 roosters gone and feathers everywhere as well as one of my goats with a huge gash in his side. Of course I really mad! We took Butterscotch to the vet and after a talk with her decided that because of the nature of the break it would be a slim chance she would ever use it again, we decided to put her down. After the ride there it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, I rode int he back of the truck with her and one the way she was nuzzling me and looking to me for reassurance. What a betrayal I felt, I let her down somehow.

What would you do???

We have been in L.A. for the last week. Quite an adventure, you know you’ve been driving on the LA freeways when 70 miles an hour seems slow to you. We’re on our way home and in a hotel in Flagstaff so this is a quick entry to plug a great Coffee House in Culver City. I am an avid coffee drinker and do my best to avoid places like Starbucks. The first day I was there I went to a Starbucks and remembered why I don’t like them. I asked my friend if there was a local Coffee Shop and she told me about a place called Tanner’s on Sepulveda, I went there and was glad I did, a very nice local coffee shop with free WiFI and great coffee. If you’re ever in Culver City stop in and have brew!

Stay tuned for more on our trip to California and our visits to the Aquarium of the Pacific and Universal City, the kids had a great time hmmm!

More Info on Tanner’s

It’s been very warm for this time of year but the first real winter storm is upon us. A series of fronts are moving in and it feels like this is the one to usher in the winter. Been working on the barns and my tractors. Trying to keep the goats out of places but they are persistant animals. As the time goes by I begin to understand why the goat has been attributed to the devil! We acquired a very handsome gelding Llama, his name is Cuzco and he fits in with our hodge podge of four-leggeds, he’s also black and the Yak doesn’t know what to think of him. Llamas are very interesting creatures, extremely intelligent and stoic, alert as all hell and not as aloof as I once thought.

I’m trying to get the new door I added to one of the barns done so I can use it for hay this winter, since I fenced in my existing hay storage to add more space to the critter area I needed to make room elsewhere. I fear I will be working in the snow to get it done. The kids are growing so fast and I’m feeling more my age each day. I’m not sure if this is good or bad. We have a piano now and it’s nice to be able to sit at a piano in my own house and play, the kids love it and I can already see a blossoming talent in each of them. Athan has bee playing the Darth Vader theme and he has also been playing some free form stuff that actually sounds pretty good for a kid who’s never played. I think he has found his instrument.

Well it’s later for me and 3:00 am comes very fast.

Sleep.

It has occurred to me that at this age in my life I am quite unsatisfied with things as they are. My personal life is somewhat in order but only by my own hand and  even my closest partner is unable to comprehend the needs I have for order and support in  my endeavors as well as helping me to accomplish goals I have set for our familial situation. Perhaps this is the reason so many men my age leave their wives and seek something better. Unfortunately a younger woman is not the answer although so many men seem to think so, it could be the failing of their own self esteem and basing their personal achievement on sexual prowess that causes them to make this mistake. 

Running away from your life is not an answer as that is a type of defeat, I cannot accept defeat in any manner when it comes to my life goals. For many years I choose to live alone and make my life as a solitary individual, it is true that I was lonely for my children of past relationship and that my younglings are very dear to me. Tolstoy wrote in one of his books of this time in a man’s life and long before the advent of what is called the midlife crisis. It is a crisis of sorts but not one that is not repairable or solved. What then does it take for a man at this age to find satisfaction and release?

The best laid plans of mice and men are often mistaken for solutions to this problem. I have often sought solace in the world at large, and I don’t mean people, I actually mean the world, the planet, it’s clockwork, it’s beauty and ferocity, the animals and plants. So often we fail to recognize our connection to these things and I think it is this failure that can bring the empty feeling we often mistake as being caused by our loved ones or the lack of. I do not plan to run or to even leave my present life behind. I have made my choice and at this time in my life I would be far more dissatisfied to leave it behind for something new than to stand by my decisions.

I will ponder these things further and look for ways to comprehend the feelings that overwhelm me at times. I am not lonely or even unhappy, I am simply pensive and ready to accomplish much more than I have. Perhaps I feel my clock ticking and the wheel of my mortality turning faster.