INFINITY Welcomes Careful Drivers

This was pretty cool. One of my shots from Centennial Park in Nashville, TN was selected as the "Photo of the Day" at Nashvillest.com

The shot in question is one of my black and whites, which was shot when we discovered an old steam engine parked in the middle of a park in Nashville.

We found this after leaving the Parthenon and seeing the artwork on display in that building, which is a reproduction of the Parthenon of old in Greece.

So I've been up for a VERY long time now. I tried to go to sleep last night, but didn't really drift off until after 1am. Then, at about 3:30am, Patches woke me up because she REALLY had to go out to fertilize my yard. I've been up ever since, running on 2 and a half hours of sleep, some caffinated tea, and a handfull of caffine pills.

So what do I do when I get to work, in this horrible state of mind? I Google myself. I haven't done that in a while, so I thought, why not. Much to my surprise, I am now the number 1 result when you search for "Jeff Lane" on Google. Holy Crap! I am finally number one at SOMETHING!

Ok... I know, big freakin' deal, but in my delirious sleep deprived state, I am very easily excitable, especially once the caffine pills start making me twitchy ;-) And to prove my newfound status as the number one Jeff Lane on the interwebs, I present to you a screen shot:
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It's 7:25 as I type this. My students should be an hour and a half into their practical exams. Should being the important word here. In fact, there's a sign on the wall of this classroom that simply says "SHOULD".

That sign taunts me. It mocks me. It laughs at me. I am Jack's utter disappointment. I say should, because they are, in fact NOT an hour and a half into the practical exam. I say should because instead of being hard at work installing and configuring a Linux system, they are off enjoying the beautiful evening.  read more »

On this day, in 1974, I came into this world. Sadly, not much has changed since then. Well, I'm a good deal older, a lot heavier, and have better toys, but still. I'm still the same person I was at 4, or 5, or 10, or 16. But it's just another day. Nothing really special... just another day at work, another day of installing yet again, another day of driving 2 hours, working 8 - 10 hours, going home, eating dinner and going to bed.

People asked me if I had any special plans for today. Nope.. none. What should I do? Dana's at work, and it'll just be me and the dogs and cats. I may play on the radio a bit, but truth be told, I still have to finalize the practical exam I've been writing for my Linux class, so I'll go home and spend the rest of my Birtday doing exactly what I've been doing so far. Working...

But at least there's this:

Tonight marks the "almost end" of my semester course Introduction to Linux. For the past few weeks I've taught Computer Information Technology and Networking Technology students an introductory course in the Linux operating system. Tonight begins the Exam.

The exam will cover tonight and next week. Tonight they'll face a 100 question written exam and next week they'll face a practical exam that will have them do a basic install and configure followed by some minor administration tasks. The final week we'll have a little party while they present their semester long projects.

The semester has been interesting, not without it's ups and downs. The first four weeks, while we should have been doing installations and covering the very basics of Linux were actually spent with me talking a lot and computers not booting the DVDs the book came with. After finally getting the computers set up properly, we went forward and the semester has not been too bad.  read more »

First off, my dog ran off, my wife left me, my trailer burned down and I am announcing my run for President of the US. There, now that I have the April Fools crap out of the way, I can wax poetically about something a little more serious.

So I was on my way to work this morning and I passed by a collision. In the median was a gray Toyota with a pretty badly smashed in driver door, the occupant stuck inside. A few yards further down the road there were 4 other vehicles, two in the median, one stopped in a turn lane, and one white van in the middle of the intersection. I drove right by and never looked back.

I dont know what made me change my mind. Maybe it was the inner adrenaline junkie in me. Maybe it was part of me pining for the the old days where I was Johnny Gage to my partner's Roy Desoto. Maybe, despite all my evil plans, I have a heart. I think mostly it was the guy in the Toyota, blood covering his face, trapped in that mangled car. Whatever it was, I changed my mind. I took the next U-Turn I could and drove back. That's when the change occurred.  read more »

Time Stand Still. The innocence slips away...

That's whats playing on my iPod at the moment... a poignant treatise on the impermanence of life. And that's kinda how I feel lately. I feel somewhat stymied, and have for the last couple weeks. It's had an effect on me, without a doubt.  read more »

This weekend we did something different. I am ashamed to admit that I have lived an hour from Raleigh for 8 years now and have never really been downtown. We fixed that on Saturday.

This past weekend, the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh held it's annual Astronomy Days along with the Raleigh Astronomy Club. The event involves a lot of displays and hands on projects and a couple speakers and events that highlight astronomy, NASA, emerging technologies and other related topics. It's geared toward adults as well as kids and was a blast.  read more »

After the way last year ended, anyone who reads my senseless drivel will know that I was pretty fed up with a lot of things, and the freakish emo kid in my is still that way. But surprisingly, 2008 is starting off rather well.  read more »

Well, it finally happened. After a year and a half of back and forth, I am finally an official instructor at a place of higer learning. Jeff is officially an adjunct instructor at Central Carolina Community College, and tonight is my first night of class.

To be honest, I am as nervous as a snowman on the train to hell. I've not taught anything in years. Not since I was at Red Hat, teaching the Intro to Linux course as part of the New Hire orientation. But now, starting at 6 PM tonight, I'll be teaching at least 8 bright, shiney faces the ins and outs of Linux.  read more »