Twenty-Four Hours & a Headache Later

For those who don't know, Linux is an open-source operating system, available to all, with a vast community of contributors, fans, programmers, and users. This past summer, I chose to purchase a Linux-ready machine from System76, a company that builds computers specifically for open-source programs. What does open-source mean? Well, it means that all the little whatsits and widgets in a given product--usually a piece of software--are available to users to work with free of charge (though some open source software is not free to use, most often it is). Linux and similar open-source projects provide some measure of competitive counterweight to the proprietary operating systems and programs of Microsoft and Apple; and, with the recent release of Windows 7, they need it.

Generally speaking, most popular Linux distributions are just as if not more reliable than, at the very least, whatever Microsoft operating system you are using. I currently use the new distribution of Ubuntu kernel 9.10. Adapting, using, and understanding Ubuntu has been an interesting and satisfying challenge, as I sort of just dove into it. I was tired of running Windows and running in to bugs and viruses and shutdowns. And, up until yesterday, I happily chugged along without a hitch. However, in my attempt to dabble, I overshot my reach and ran into trouble. As a result, I lost some photos and some documents--most of such work is backed up elsewhere--and had to reload the new kernel. I may not be out of the ditch of trouble, but I would rather get some work done while I know I can and back it up (thank you GoogleDocs).

What I am getting at is that I have had a frustrating last twenty-four hours, but the problem exploded when I made unwise choices concerning the system administration tools. Then again, I have been forced to reorient my graduate school application method and feel that--like starting a book over again--I am doing so with more clarity and precision. This is not all good and happy, as it has taken far longer than I would have even expected had I known in advance, but I am trying very hard to take it all in stride. A story in Zen Shorts narrated by my favorite panda, Stillwater, tells of a farmer who experiences both curses (i.e. his son breaks his leg) and subsequent blessings (the broken leg means he does not have to go to war).

We experiment all the time, even when we don't fiddle with things we don't quite understand--as in the situation at hand. Our experiments involve our bodies, our friends, our families, our jobs, our homes, and our world; our experiments are everywhere and all the time. If one relied on complete knowledge to accomplish tasks, very little would get done; we are fated to act with only incomplete data. Such a fate, though, is not to be misunderstood itself; that is, if given the possibility of having complete data all the time, would you accept it? Such a situation suggests, at least to me, that only a select few courses of action would be viable and we would lose both the ability to experience and learn as well as the virtues of overcoming our selves. I suppose our experiments, wherever they take place, incorporate at least one factor: ourselves. This factor is the one we can know most deeply, but often blind ourselves to. Taking difficulties in stride, examining them mindfully, and respecting the choices that follow mean we can use our absence of knowledge, put it to these tests, and examine it as if it were under a microscope. I hope that I have learned something from my headache.

...

I made focaccia yesterday and blue cheese ciabatta today. I might have time to post recipes after lunch and some reading. This afternoon, I am attending a lecture of a family friend.

...

Another note, what qualities do you look for in a notable film? I commented yesterday that I prefer The Orphanage to Pan's Labyrinth because, though they share many, many qualities, I feel that the potential for innocence and earnest mystery is stronger in The Orphanage than in Pan's Labyrinth, even if the latter uses more imagery than the former. What do you think?