Bidi’s World

It looks like I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’ve had allot of things going on lately and really haven’t had time to post anything about it.

Among other things I’ve been trying to get episodes of my podcast out. I’m trying to do a show every two weeks and I have a schedule for it I’m trying to keep. Last Friday was supposed to be another show but I only just got the show from two weeks before that released. I’m trying to put together Episode 29 and get it out early this week so I can get back on schedule.

On my list for things to do to this site is getting ReCaptcha installed. It’s a captcha system with a twist. The answers you give, when you verify your human, are used to help digitalize books. Ahh the great circle of life.

Another project I hope to start up soon here is the Bidi’s World podcast. I haven’t hammered all the details out yet but the idea is we’ll talk about technology, games, music, motorcycles, podcasts, travel, and pretty much any thing else that is going on in my world at the time. A variety show of sorts. Initially I’m going to shoot for a monthly podcast and I suspect it will run about an hour. This may be altered once I get some feed back and start planning out the future shows. I’d be very interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter.

There is so much more to talk about but I’ll save that for future posts. I do want to finish off with one accomplishment I’ve been very proud of. My doctor has been very concerned with my weight (who’s isn’t). In the last few months I’ve been working on getting my weight down.

I tried using the South Beach diet at first. It sounds simple enough. Cut out bread, rice, sugar, starch, wheat, fruit, and of course fatty food. That leaves… umm…. I’m sure there was something. Oh ya, cheese and water.

Ok, it really isn’t that bad but it sure seems that way. After the first two weeks, known as phase one, you get to start reintroducing some of stuff you had to cut out but in limited quantity. During phase one you lose allot of weight though. I lost a pound a day during that period. It was a great moral booster.

I have since tapered off following the diet but it gave me allot of insight into what I can eat and how much of it. I’ve been continuing to lose weight and have even started exercising in the form of an elliptical jogger and the 10,000 steps program. So far I’ve lost over 25 pounds since I started and had to buy new pants because the old ones don’t fit anymore.

Well, off to go unplug and play table top games with the kid. I’ll try to keep things more up to date going forward.

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I released episode 26 of JD’s Musical Alchemy today. The show is dedicated to Derek K. Miller. I follow Derek’s blog and love the podsafe music he produces. Derek is currently suffering from colorectal cancer.

I had wanted to get the show out before he went in for surgery but time just didn’t allow it. Now it turns out he’s out of the hospital and recovering from his operation. I wish him the best.

Derek, if you happen to catch the show I hope you enjoy it.

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Things have been crazy this week. I managed to get Episode 16 of JD’s Musical Alchemy released this week which I was really jazzed about. Among all the great artists I had lined up I also managed to get permission to play a track by Storm Large. Storm and the Balls are a Portland, OR based band and Storm was in Rock Star: Supernova last year where she made it to the final three.

I became a big fan the moment I saw her on the show to be honest I was a little nervous about asking her if I could play one of her songs on the show. Needless to say she was cool enough to agree and I’ve been anxious to release the show all week. If you have never heard her before be sure to check out the show or better yet go pick up one of her albums.

I’m also currently trying to line up some good music for a short Valentines Day show special to release next week. I have also received email from Colin from The Des Moines Riot about some new songs they’ve released we’ll likely be hearing in Episode 17.

Kobold Faire’s podcast is still waiting. I was wanting to get more work done on the web site before releasing the first show but with everything else going on time has been very tight. If anyone would like to help contribute to a website dedicated to helping casual players find and enjoy various forms of social gaming (table top role playing games, collector cards, MMO gaming etc.) head over to http://www.koboldfaire.com/ and sign up on the forums. If you’d like to add to the wiki send me a PM over there and I’d be glad to get you setup.

As you can see, there is allot going on but so far I’m keeping up and it’s a lot of fun.

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This week my grandma passed away. It was a day we knew would come but somehow it always seems unexpected when it does happen. She was my last surviving grandparent.

I remember fondly sitting with my grandma when I was a kid at her kitchen table learning new card games. That seemed to be our big thing whenever I went to visit. It was always fun. Rummy was what we usually played but there were many other as well.

Episode 16 of JD’s Musical Alchemy will include a small tribute to her and is due out February 9th.

I’m going to miss you Grandma.

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It’s been a very busy month fighting various computer problems. First I had a motherboard failure which resulted in having to gut my computer and replace most of it. Technology is changing so fast that even though many of the components in my computer were fairly new they weren’t compatible with my new motherboard.

As a result of the hardware change I had to reverify my Windows XP installation with Microsoft many times throughout the process. Every time you make major hardware changes (with only a hand full of exceptions) to a Windows XP box (the hardware, not the software) they wan’t you to check in with them to verify your installation. This is a process I find personally offensive. It reminds me of Fry’s Electronics where after you make your purchase you have to stand in line to wait your turn to have your purchases verified by the correctional officer standing at the exit door. If they didn’t want me to walk out the door with something in my shopping bag they didn’t want me to have they should not be putting anything in the bag that doesn’t belong there. It isn’t even like they are stopping shoplifting because they are just checking the bags their own employees pack.

When I installed Windows XP I registered the software and was on record as having a valid installation. While I understand why they are doing this I don’t think it’s the best approach. I haven’t changed my software and it was running on the same hard drive where I originally installed it. If I upgrade my PC that is my business and I should not have to let Microsoft know when I do.

To this end I’ve decided to migrate all my productivity to Linux. My plan is to only keep Windows XP around for gaming and solely because at the moment too many game companies aren’t writing for Linux yet. They are missing the boat if you ask me.

So now I am running Ubuntu Linux on my system and I’ve replaced 98% of my regular applications (sans games) with either Linux versions of the same software or comparable software. Still on my list of apps to run under linux are iTunes which I like for it’s iPod management though as a music player I have a better solution under Linux I like better.

This Friday will be the first episode of JD’s Musical Alchemy I’ve recorded under the Linux environment. I’ve been reviewing it and I’m very impressed with how it came out. Keep an eye open for Episode 15.

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