In case you’re wondering — Gutsy Gibbon is the name of the new Ubuntu release. Ubuntu is a “flavor” of linux. I have actually had Gutsy running on my laptop at home for months and this release will probably be the first release I put on my main system. My hope is to break my ties with the Windows world (although I haven’t fully made that jump yet). Anyway, check out Gutsy if you get a chance — I don’t think, outside of the theme, you’ll notice anything different between linux and windows.

Those who know me, know that I’m an avid player of a game called World of Warcraft (WoW for short).  As part of the WoW experience, Blizzard allows users to create add-ons (called mods).  These mods will do something within the game like change the layout of the interface, add some functionality or just allow you to send a message when you’re resurrecting another player (among a million other things).  I’ve decided to pay some homage to my favorite mods (and mod site) by linking to them.  This will also help me point other WoW players to some of my favorite mods.

• World of War’s UI site – Arguably one of the largest mod sites.  It happens to be my favorite place to search for new and updated mods.
• UI Central – Mod Management Tool – While you’re at World of War, get this tool.  It’s an automatic update tool.  It makes the task of keeping your mods up-to-date MUCH easier!
• CT-Mod – This adds a whole set of mods that add alot to the game.  This one is almost mandatory.
• Gatherer – Gatherer makes the task of collecting materials (ore and herbs) much easier.  It will mark every node location (where you pick up your materials) on your maps so that you can go back later and check those nodes to see if they’re available again.  Another excellent feature is that it will actually synchronize node collections across your guild, so if another player in your guild is using Gatherer and you pick up a node, it will send that location to that other person.  One hint: if you are an herbalist but not a miner, you can send mining node locations to your other guildies by simply running by and right-clicking on them.  Help your guild mates out by clicking on everything!
• Auctioneer – Auctioneer is one of those nice-to-have mods for people who like numbers and statistics (Jerome, this probably isn’t you).  Basically, what it does is it will keep a record of every item in the game (that you’ve seen anyways), then it will scan thru the auction house and check the price for any item it can find.  It then can keep track of the average starting and buyout prices for those items along with the number of times you’ve seen that item in the auction house.  So, for instance, if you pick up a blue item while out grinding (like I did last night), it will tell you approximately what that item would be worth if you were to put it up on the auction house.  It can also recommend a price when you put an item up on the auction house too (based on previous prices and current demand).  It’s a very slick tool for those who use the Auction House alot.

That’s enough for now.  I will try to add more as I think of them.

Today, I received an e-mail from our software secretary that was sent to the handful of individuals that work for the same company as me (there were 11 of us). She goes on to tell us that we are going to get access to this new travel software. I think to myself “Great!” because travel can be somewhat confusing — especially since I’m not employed by the primary contractor here. Now, here’s where it gets whacky — she goes on to state that in order to get this set up, “What we need from you: Send us your full name and USGS email address“. eh? Wait a minute, didn’t she just send ME an e-mail? And now she needs MY e-mail address and name? She obviously knows my name…and since she sent me an e-mail, I’m going to assume that she knows that too. That’s like calling someone on the phone and saying “Hey Bob, can I get your name and phone number?”. What the hell?!
Anyways — I obliged, and sent my name and e-mail — however in the back of my head, I keep thinking how dumb it is.

Oh well…hopefully it gave you a giggle.

• Joe Spammer spoofs SPAM e-mail “From” some random e-mail address at mentele.net to jack@some-random-address.com (i don’t know if that really exists, but lets assume it doesnt).
• The e-mail server at some-random-address.com receives the e-mail “From” me.

• Since the mailbox for jack doesn’t exist, the server is most likely set up to bounce the e-mail back to me so I know that “jack” doesn’t exist

So, because this spammer sends this one e-mail, it gets bounced two more times AFTER the spammer originally sent it! Now, multiply that by 500 or so (that is the approximate number of those e-mails that I receive on a daily basis) and we begin to see why SPAM is such a problem. Okay, my 500 is a bad example, but mentele.net is a low-profile system — imagine something like usgs.gov or digg.com or some other LARGE domain with more than 5 users!

SPAM is only becoming a larger problem. We really need some successful legislation against spammers. Hell, we just need to confiscate their servers and computer systems…and give them to me! hehe…well, I’d be happy if we could just do the first part.

———— Update 11/07/06 ————

Odd, the day after I post this, there’s a front page article on Digg titled The Spammers Fight Back talking about a very similar topic (the increased SPAM lately).  Here’s the link directly to the Eweek article.

okay, forget anything i said previously — it’s amazing how things can change in a matter of a couple weeks.  anyways, my employment is not changing — one thing is staying the same in these crazy times at least.

When I decided to apply for the job, my main concern was how it would be perceived if I moved (further) away from coding. In my mind, I am going to make a conscious effort to continue coding at home. This is and will continue to be tough for me (not coding any more at work), but this decision was a strategic move to get a leg up in the world.

I guess that only time will tell to see how this is going to work out, but I’m really looking forward to another huge shift of gears and to see things in a new light. I really enjoy the people I work with, and will be working with now more, so that’s a plus. I am also looking forward to using my speaking skills more — that is one of the things that I hate about programming — I rarely ever get to speak to people!

Anyway — that’s my big news of the week.

In other news, we got like 8 inches of snow last nite. It was enough to have them set work back 2 hours. Niiiiiice…I got to sleep another couple hours! It was well-needed because I was up playing black and white 2 til late last nite. I just started playing the other day and I’m not completely sure if I’m playing correctly, but it seems pretty fun.

That’s all for now…

Overall, I think the season went pretty well. I can only think of a few dim points. One of them has to be the Girl’s Watertown vs. Sioux Falls game in Watertown. I was pretty off that day and the game sure showed — it was slightly out of control and I just wasn’t there to ref (my mind was somewhere else i guess). Luckily, no one got hurt and the game wasn’t too thrown off by my bad refereeing skills. I was really doubting myself after that game.
Another dim point that everyone who skates can relate to is falling down twice — once in Aberdeen at center ice and another in brookings after reporting a penalty. They were both fairly embarrassing, but when you catch an edge when you’re not ready for it — you’re going down and there’s nothing you can do about it. I got some good cheers from the crowd tho and I got up laughing.

My final dim point is that some coaches will NEVER learn that yelling at a referee will NOT change their mind. No matter how much you try, you aren’t going to convince me to change my mind. Especially after I have reported the penalty / goal, I am not going to take it off the scoresheet. Get over it and quit bitching — you aren’t going to gain any favors by yelling at me — you will only lose them.
There were alot of high points throughout the season tho. One definitely was the girl’s tourney last weekend. I had a great time talking to all the people and hanging out with the other officials. I would have to say that my refereeing skills were pretty keen this weekend as well. I felt good, was skating good and really overall was enjoying being out there. I wasn’t even too nervous about the championship game (even tho I had a hard time sleeping the nite before — but I blame that on soreness).

Another highpoint of the season was the friendships I gained with many of the players and coaches. I saw alot of the Sioux Falls girl’s team this year and was ecstatic to see them win the championship in grand style. Britney (SF Goalie) took on some excellent competition and came out of there without a goal being scored against her. Way to go! Some of the other Sioux Falls girls were alot of fun to talk and laugh with too — I always got a kick out of Darcy — she’s come a long way since I first saw her 4 or 5 years ago and Beth always has this quiet little voice, but comes out and kicks some ass back there at defense. There were some other players too that I had a good time laughing with — Mason (can’t remember her first name ever), brookings’ goalie usually had a laugh or a smile — and Brit from Rushmore always had something fun to talk about. I laughed with her alot. Plus, she made our ref room smell like a chick — which was rather nice compared to normal (some of the rushmore girls took showers in our ref’s room while we weren’t in there). Oh, and Katie from Mitchell loved giving me crap (and me giving some back too). Katie knows my brother, so that helped to break the ice I guess.

Anyways, that’s enough ranting about the recently-passed hockey season. I’ll miss it, but also look forward to next season.