Rip Curl Pipe Master Final - Slats/AI/Machado/Lopez

Pipeline Masters Final

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Just thought I'd share with everyone!

Slater lost in a close bout with Irons, but a great final!

Kiva.org - Microlending is changing the world!

Nearing the corner of Christmas, I feel compelled to talk a little about an organization I truely think is doing something to help others. I am not the only one who shares this idea. Recently this year, the Nobel Committee awarded their Peace Prize to Yunus Grameen for microfinance. Although lending to the poor is not new, including 'microfinance,' Kiva's approach seems ripe with 'Web 2.0'

From their webpage, you can donate in $25 dollar increments to an enterprise of your choosing, thus creating a portfolio. Each profile is rich in learning of the prospective borrower's business, although no detailed business plan is available. What I feel is effective about the way Kiva operates lies in it's torrent-like way to garner money.

On their site you can create a profile which is showcased with others on the entrepreneur's profile page. Also included, once the borrower is fully funded, is a journal in which they update you on their progress and 'prosperous' business. Once they pay the borrowed amount in full, you will be credited back with the original amount of money you invested, which you can withdrawl or reinvest into another business.

What I feel unique about giving this way is that you feel connected to the borrowers although you are thousands of miles away. Kiva presumably spends a lot of time finding the right partner lending institutions to disperse their funds where the loans are low interest from qualified borrowers. Here is their due dilligence on choosing 'Field Partners'

So if you are in the giving mood, have a paypal account or credit/debit card and $25 dollars, you can give a far reaching gift that will have an impact on someone's life, possibly whole families.

A few cautions:

• Kiva claims 100% repayment so far and say to diversify your loans to more than one organization rather than all into one business.
• If repayment is not made, it is not tax deductable since it is a loan and you will not get your money back (although you should treat it as a donation)
• There is no interest gained on this investment

Please do not let these cautions sway your decision to give, if not in money....to something that you believe in!

Empowerment. Sustainability. Hope.

season of giving!

So, I've not posted in nearly a month or so, but I'd like to defend this late posting to the fact that I have indeed been very busy!

Ahh, how the holiday season takes hold, especially in times of cold;
people bundle together or want to be closer;
so the giving spirit embraces our souls

what a great way to take part;
but to give, not recieve the abundance of love;
the heart grows fonder in apropos;

for the many faces of the sparkle, glimmer;
shine into dark corners, revealing what might not have known;
as the greatest give is to love, without condition or ration;

a gift will present in a time of need;
because we all must love, in these times indeed;
the hour draws near for many a convergence;

a place of fortitudes, solidifying urgency;
to create hope in this world, unbounded;
outcry to those in far off places;

not just places far, distancewise;
but to other planes, emotionwise;
how can you be cold and not cover up;

hope in this world warms my soul;
how about yours, inspire your role;
in your heart you will listen;

beat beat, listen;
you're alive now and then;
feel the world grow, not just immediate bustle;

Okay, so i got off on a tangent and started to write in code...poetic code, that is. But I feel good at the turn of this month, in the way things are going and the possibilities that linger. I hold on to things sometimes to my detriment, but I am letting go. Letting go and trusting myself have been obstacles in my growth. I need to make big decisions which lend to my wellbeing in the near future.

So yeah, I've been busy. Working usually takes up 95% of my days, with kids, coworkers, and in thought about what to do for the next day. It is a good feeling to be working in a place that places such high value on quality, comraderie, compassion, and teamwork.

I have grown immensly lately just by working like I normally would. The difference is how I am approaching everything and living wide-open. I recently took the GRE, did well enough to be proud, and also have been working on some meaningful projects at work outside of my regular duties. Not to jinx things, I will be posting at a later date on more details on what my projects entail, but they should stand as something I leave behind at Sound to Sea that will have a lasting impact.

Going to graduate school or continuing to find work have been ever-pressing on my near future. As much as I love my current job, it is not sustainable to me financially. I have been looking at jobs lately and also graduate school programs, both of my searches and research being very very diverse in the job fields and academic programs, but I am diligent and propelled to find something that makes me happy with myself. I maintain my need to make a large impact on society and hope that either training formally in the Academe or through experience in another job will enable my aspirations to be actualized.

As the year comes to an end, I feel like I've made many strides towards my goals of who I want to become and how I want to live. I thank, truely thank, my close friends and coworkers for this progress, for without them, I feel I would have a large void and not be a better person.

I have been given a lot :)

things are GRE-at

so yeah, im taking the GRE....Graduate Record Examination...tomorrow and I feel oddly relaxed. I've studied my butt off and taken a few test practices, but I feel like I should be a little nervous, but the fact is that things are okay; things are good.

What do you say when you have a group of outstanding coworkers and children/teacher/chaperones? I say you live it up! Although busy, this past week has been very good for me in the fact that I am more confident in my teaching, not to mention that I was evaluated by my bosses last week...which went super great. I feel validated and also like my work has been paying off! This time last year, I would not consider myself a competent teacher.

I think a lot of people should consider teaching and it's rewards, especially those who might be a little timid, but where do I want to go???!!! In my life, that is....

Well the other night i was talking to one of my friends/coworkers (thanks Cheryl) on things I could do in the future and she thought I should be a professor!! It's kinda funny she said that because I actually have never entertained that idea before, but it makes sense. I will be around a bunch of idealistic people, be able to talk all of the time, while doing research on cool things, and also being able to write grants and help others! Who could ask for more, right? Well, I definitely feel like I am moving and starting to shake the coconuts out of the tree.

The GRE will be a great starting point for me to align myself and think about 4 to 10 more years of education. Phew....could I overcome that hurdle? I get distracted by so many different areas of knowledge.

times are busy: this weekend I will be taking the GRE, then next weekend I will be in cambridge, ma for a job interview, then the following weekend I will be turning 27 along with some turkey lovin.

times fly by!

Slats and his 8th world title!!!

How amazing it is to actually see someone accomplish this feat. To have been in an ultra-competitive environment as long as Kelly has, and to still be at the top is amazing! If there were any doubts about Kelly Slater being the greatest competitive surfer ever, they have evaporated! In character, spirit, drive, and inspiration, Kelly truely has become one of my heros.

You may ask why I like Kelly so much? Well, i like surfing, of course, but more importantly, I strive to somehow, oneday, become as good at something like he has...from learning about him and watching him, I find him a great person, and an innovator! I'm not a very great surfer, nor am I good anything to a degree that would merit 'World's Best'...but it gives me hope that maybe one day I can do something as cool as that! (this pic is from ASP's website...i copied it, then cropped it...)

marriage, engagement, and babies

Well, this has been an exciting weekend!

My friends Darren and Kim got married this past saturday, my little sister Michelle has a healthy baby, and my cousin got engaged!

When good things happen, they happen in groups.....Im exhausted!

Between driving and riding a lot this weekend, keeping a nervous groom at ease and helping getting a wedding together, having a million phone calls, and hearing lots of good news, it seems this definitely is harvest season!

I hope to post pictures in the near future, but until then, I am super excited for everyone.

I guess it's time for me to meet someone too...sheesh

insight, independence, and i

October seems to always creep up on me.....no matter the year. Well here it is....OCTOBER '06!

Things have been busy for me lately, but I do have to say that I have been enjoying my 'busy-ness' I feel like the longer I am immersed in nature, the more profound understandings of myself become exposed.

I tend to appreciate things more, little things...little people, and little gestures that random people do for me.

I like bugs more now (which, if you know me, is amazing news since ive been deathly scared of bugs since I was little)...like argiope spiders, rolypolies, damsel fly nymphs, and grasshoppers...I also am starting to finally and totally let things shed away pastwise. I really don't care, well I care, just am not as interested in holding onto things that have brought me down lately. I've accepted what has happened in my life's past, and I am here now as consequence, or more as reward.

I am coming into my own - and finally feeling more like an adult.

Found a baby snapping turtle yesterday and just stared at him/her for almost an hour trying to figure out how it felt right before I snatched him from the ghost crab that was going to eat him. It kept on being itself and didn't really care if I was holding him/her or not, just that it could crawl how it wanted.

I want to crawl...and not be afraid of doing what I want and need. I think I am there now and ready to fully apply myself in any endeavor.

I can soar like a hawk...like the red tailed hawk on my arm yesterday. it bated and squeezed its talons through my glove, but looked at me in a knowing way (it's okay, im just trying to get balance) So I trusted him.

I like validation in my efforts and knowledge...and it felt really good today when my bosses gave me good feedback on my teaching...but something was different in myself, something that I just realized about myself...the fact that although the feedback keeps me striving to be better, I can do things. Do things that make me who I am.

I guess it's kinda hard to articulate what I feel, but feel I do...more passionately than I have in a while about myself....and what I want and what I have interface to create this comforting web of independence and ambition.

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Podcasting in my classes!

Well, the debut of podcasting for reflection in my classes has finally arrived!!!

I am sooo excited about continuing to do this!

We recently had a wonderful school who was in full support of interviewing their children!

The two podcasts focus on pollution and sea turtles. It was pretty fluid using conservation as the theme, and I was very delighted on how the kids focused on the issues and not the fact that they were talking into a microphone.

I am using wordpress 2.0 which runs great natively for podcasting...to which there are some pretty stable plugins.

Here is the site

In other news, I am testing out the uses of Moodle to run in an outdoor education environment. I am not sure if it will be suited for our type of curriculum, and might pose to be too much work for us to keep up with. The whole idea of having the site is to extend the learning after the students who experience our program continue to utilize our knowledgebase and for teachers to use the site as a 'hand-off' for when they are back in the classroom.

Moodle is an awesomely extensible platform with many modules for gradebooks, theme customization, and very easy visual installation.

Both Wordpress and Moodle took about 30 minutes to completely install, minus ftp'ing the files to the server.

the more surfing the better!!

Ahhh. Today, yesterday, last week.....Ernesto, Florence...GREAT!

So I went surfing :D I am worn out, but feel good. What is really cool is that I have some surf buddies now! Lately surfing has been fun, but with the added bonus of sharing 'sweet' rides, I am totally stoked. They are newbies, but are rapidly adapting. They definitely CHARGE!

I am really excited about working with my coworkers at Sound to Sea, seeing as how talented they are. After a solid week of teaching and seeing how the kids react to them...I can already tell we are going to have a great year full of surfing and good times!

Update on me

So I haven't really been blogging much lately on here. Things have been pretty busy since I've been working 'outdoors' with children which has kept me a little more unplugged than usual.

We recently finished up our Summer Day Camp for younger children. It was very fun and laid back with us being in the water half of the day, swimming at the beach or pool, but I really missed the meat of my job. I truely can say that I love teaching, and in a few weeks I will be able to concentrate more on conveying knowlege rather than making crafts. The unfortunate part is that some of our staff are now moving on into different positions, so they will be missed, but we have very capable and awesome new staff aboard.

It still, in my few years out of college, amazes me how amazingly cool the people I've met in my various positions. World travellers, scientists, activists, conservationists, and genuinely interesting and sincere people who want to change this world into a place where everyone can enjoy a better life. How inspiring!

It's just, and I think a recurring theme for myself, where do I fit into this fabric? As I sit on the edge of where I am going, I start to get a little nervous about my future and what it holds. With the ever-present escalation of war and tragedy, I also find myself wondering how I can be a part of the solution. Rather, I wonder how I can be in the position where I can make decisions that help others most effectively. I could go into politics, become a lawmaker, lobbyist, or elected leader or I could go into nonprofit world where I do some politics, provide direct service and aid to the needy.....or I could educate others with the knowledge that intensifies my passions and hope they also feel the same.....or be a scientist where some discovery or health issue may be mitigated.

I guess the question for me is how can I effect the most change as a single person? Do I have the charisma and integrity for politics? Do I have the creativity to discovery something that will enable society to be more free or able? Am I an effective enough teacher to teach discernment and critical thinking with a moral mission?

I don't know....but I want answers and I feel school is the best beginning.

I like many things and am getting prepared to take the GRE for graduate school in a few months, but find myself at a crossroads into what sort of education I need.

They don't tell you explicitly how to find the tools to be a good leader or good steward.

Chomsky at West Point

Although this is somewhat of an old video, i thought it expressed some points on how military institutions truncate or censor someone's message when it exposes a relatively unknown (in the general public) negative aspect of U.S. history or news. Now I may be taking it out of context when, at the end of this video, the gentleman interrupts Chomsky and say's they 'are constrained to military time', but it does seem ironic.

Koji and Naazli

I recently had an adventure with friends Koji and Naazli in Cincinnati, Ohio...and found out some good news!!!

Podcasting in Outdoor/Environmental Education!

Just Click below to listen :D Enjoy!

powered by ODEO


This podcast is just some vocal notes (usually when I say something, it's harder for me to forget) on utilizing podcasting for reflection for my students in the fall.

As as sidenote: I've really been starting to play around with Odeo Studio and Audacity!!! There is sooooo much you can do!

Let the Podcasting Begin!!!

Below is an introduction of myself and my purpose for podcasting...more to come!

powered by ODEO

Nail it down!

It seems as though yesterday I was in high school sitting in a classroom where I thought nothing of my future, but the next wrestling match or perfect surfing journey.

Fast forward to today...where my priorities have dramitically shifted, and my future sits presently in my 'living'room. Where am I going? How am I getting there? Who am I, and what do I really want?!?

The only major constants in my life have been to contribute positively to society, be a good big brother, son, uncle, friend and loving husband & father (one day)...

Am I making progress? Certainly...but it seems slow because of my indecisiveness and inability to choose a solid career path. I am a career gypsy of sorts, hopping from one interest to another; notwithstanding my youth and propensity to be intensely focused for short bursts which accounts for my jump from idleness to research, to computers, to education, and finally to my realization of how I must advance my formal education.

Hallmark of me in choosing a program in which to enroll is the gamut of disciplines. Recently I have been thinking of applying to a Coastal Environmental Management program, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Social Work, Computer Science, Masters of Information Science, Masters in Educational Leadership...blah, blah, blah

What to do?

I want to continue to work as well so I can support myself and build experience. I guess it is just a frustrating time for me in what I should choose. However, I increasingly feel that I should already know! I'm single, almost 27, no children and have established some formal training and experience...shouldn't I be entering a career? I can go anywhere, right?

My current job is wonderful, but unfortunately somewhat temporary as I'm on contract (again, like americorps). While I am learning so much from my coworkers and supervisors and having a blast playing with kids on the beach, the pay is not ideal (still considered poverty) while also considered transitional and meant as a stepping block to a teaching or educational career. I love teaching, but am torn in thinking that is my primary career focus.

I have a lot of passion for technology and its uses, fighting inequality across all barriers, while also wanting to be an entrepreneur, social activist, techno-saavy-open-source-evangelist, and a globetrotter.

Can I do it all?

Maybe, but here I am trying to figure it out in one night.

Muggles learn to make invisibility cloak without magic!

Apparently, Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and Imperial College London have found a way to manipulate the electromagentic spectrum to cloak objects , using 'metamaterials'.

It's actually quite fascinating! And although it's hard to imagine the implications, technology like this could expose the Wizarding world!!

Electromagnetic waves would flow around an object hidden inside the metamaterial cloak just as water in a river flows virtually undisturbed around a smooth rock

- Dr. Smith

here is the link for the news story:
http://dukenews.duke.edu/2006/05/cloaking.html

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)

Love for Science!

After a solid 3 weeks of teaching gradeschool children about coastal ecology, I can honestly say I feel closer to our environment and more excited about science that I've been since I was little!! This sentiment has also afforded me a lot of new knowledge about whales, sharks, beaches, saltwater marshes, and succession. The main reason I took leave of science is because I got burned out of trying to become a doctor, which is a bottleneck field and very competitive.

Health is fascinating, interesting, and totally saves lives, but the pressure, responsibility, and expectation started to become overwhelming.

I chose to involve myself completely with computers and digital technology:
: Textbooks are free online -- there are so many how-tos
: It still satisfies my logic and analytical predisposition
: You can still help others through digital means

Now, it seems, I am torn between the two with my new profession:

All this nature has led me to a new level of romantic where I am looking inward and upward more, but truely feeling nature nurture and ground my life in a way that gives me peace. I used to get this nervous tick when I wasn't near a computer for an extended period of time, but now I can enjoy and appreciate being 'unplugged' for a stint.

I can definitely see how your stereotypical 'hippi' can be so mellow and see how things are so related. From chaos theory to an emotion, there is an echoing movement of consciousness or some harmonic that oscillates truth. . .

The beach is nice. I am lucky. I love science!

Marriage in the Air! (not me)

So recently I found out two of my very good friends in Charleston will be getting married! And they want me to be their best man!!!!

Darren and Kim Cumbie? It has a nice ring to it! It truely is going to be an honor to be in your wedding!

Kim and Darren both enjoy the vintage/beachy atmosphere of Charleston, SC.

Kim is an Editor/Statistician and Darren is an IT analyst.

It's another wonderful excuse to travel to Charleston too :D

So congrats you guys!!! And thanks for all the help you provided me when I was living down there. I couldn't ask for better friends...and now you will be Married!!

Your own radio station!

Blogging beyond the web! Make your own media/podcasts! It's truely exciting stuff!

Recently I inquired about recieving a fm transmitter from "Broadcast Your Podcast" via Audioactivism.org so that I could possibly give a platform for friends and community to say something about their country, recent happenings, or their own music. I really am excited about the potential for use and the empowerment of creating your own broadcasts from your computer and bringing them to people driving by tuning in!

How it basically works is you get this FM transmitter that you attach to your computer and tune it to a specific frequency...(an unused one, I imagine, at the top or bottom of your of the spectrum like 89.1 or 106.7) then you just start playing your media! Whomever tunes their radio station to your preset frequency will be able to hear what you have to say.

After I have tinker with it and learn how to make them on my own, I hope to provide them for free to anyone who wants one and will use it. When I recieve mine (via the generosity of Lotte Meijer of Broadcast Your Podcast), I will be posting more on how I use it, the range, etc.

My favorite professor dies :(

From UNC Pembroke Newswire:

A professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, Reissner died Saturday, April 15, 2006. Dr. Reissner, 64, lived in Wilmington, N.C., and in Lumberton for many years. He joined the UNCP faculty in 1976 and continued to teach in the phased retirement program until his death.

Dr. Reissner was born in Boston, Mass., on December 3, 1941, and was the son of the late M. Eric and Johanna Siegel Reissner. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at San Diego.

I think we all owe a lot to the people that helped shape us who we are today. Saying that, I owe a lot to Dr. Reissner, who captured my imagination and turned it into something.

He was very math oriented, which I was not. Thought about the universe in very wierd ways, which I did not...until he taught me.

He taught me that math is fun in biophysics and that physics is fun in quantum mechanics, two subjects notorious for their difficulty and comprehension. But he championed my motivation and built my confidence!

If anyone knew whether or not Schrodinger's Cat was alive, Dr. Reissner certainly had a good idea.

Thank you Dr. Reissner for the knowledge and thank you for your friendship!

Random screen shots of some cms's

Just a clean shot of my desktop

(background is a drop of water getting ready to penetrate through surface tension)

Mambo run site with clean template and pretty flowerDrupal Based Civic Space

Joomla/Mambo, Drupal - CMS heaven!

Well, I'm proud to say that I've come a long way from when I started to seriously convert from MS Windows to Linux. I have arrived to a point where I can effectively update/install/remove packages with yum and synaptic using the command line :D...while also compiling from source(this is where I brag some more) and I can install and do basic configurations for Apache, MySQL, and PHP using vi, gedit...whatever text program. So fun, so fun....and sooooo much light with my new LAMP.

I am really excited, and I should be, because there are so many mature open source content managment systems (CMS) available. Most recently I have been testing out Drupal and Joomla. I am pretty happy with both, but more excited about Drupal and it's fork, civicspace (well, not sure if a fork, but based off of drupal) because of its social-activismish preference.

Both Drupal and Joomla are pretty simple to install and use. (both take advantage of a web autoinstaller) Drupal is a little more complex, but I think because it's more robust of a CMS than Joomla.

Civicspace, derived from Drupal and causing a stir in grassroots campaigning via Howard Dean during the presidential race, comes bundled with some really powerful components like CiviCRM, CiviContribute and an Event & Calendar system which really rocks. This totally blew me away. To think (I am still absorbing how gracious I am to have linux for FREE) that CiviCRM and CiviContribute are free, not to mention the CMS itself....!!! It's hard for me to imagine how much it would be if I were to purchase proprietary software that did the same, literally thousands of dollars!

CiviCRM would equate to what many businesses call their sales database to which many solely rely for survival! I would love to become an expert in implementing this so that nonprofits could harness its power and ability!

I've been excited a lot more lately in large part to my fanatical reading and tinkering with open source softwares.

I have a test site up online HERE using mambo CMS. (I hope to make live a Civicspace or Drupal based site in the near future) Feel free to try it out!

Oh yeah, and while we are talking about my new test site for mambo, I wanted to mention that the site hosts for free with no ads, 1 MySQL database and lots of resonable space and traffic quotas. Check it out if you wanna create your own CMS and put it online all for free!!!

Not a Development Coordinator, but an Environmental Educator!

So, well, I jumped the gun when I announced my employment with the Boys & Girls Club. Although it would have been fun to raise money, manage donors, etc...it just wasn't the right fit for me in the end, so I decided on another, more my area kind of job....

drumroll.....dun du dunnnnnn...

I will be an Environmental Educator with the Sound to Sea program at the Trinity Center in Salter Path, NC. Yaaayyy!!!

I am really excited and look forward to teaching children about our environment!!

I am also looking forward to:

- Living right on the beach!
- Free housing and meals at a retreat center
- Learning from my co-worker's world economic development experience
- Helping to create online games for environmental education
- Becoming a better steward to the environment
- Being close to my parents
- Being able to surf more and more

Opportunities abound for interaction, personal development, and having fun with children!

And as you can clearly see, this place is beautiful!

These pictures were pulled from the Trinity Center Website (I really had to show them to ya'll).

Oh yeah, and just because I will be teaching about the environment, doesn't mean I will not be enhancing my 'geek' status!! Stay tuned!

Penguins are my friend! Part I

Probably about a month ago from this writing I was explaining how I was beginning in my path down Open Source, a revelation from my previous job.

Well, now I am in! Actually I took a head first dive.

(this post may be longer than usual)
Saying that, let me tell you all what I did, give you some specs, and tell you some hardships.

Here is my physical computer details:

Dell Dimension L667
Pentium III 664 MHz
120GB hard drive
RAM 512MB
(pretty standard computer, with necessary components 'ex. integrated ethernet, VGA monitor, etc.)

Operating Systems

Now this is where I get a little overkill, but I truely wanted to see which linux distribution to use based on its flexibility, beginner usability, and documentation-support.

My father bought me VMware Workstation 5 for my Windows XP (thanks dad), but I also created a dual boot using GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader).

VMware made it a breeze to configure settings like how much RAM usage to allocate, hard disk space, audio, ethernet, all with a simple gui (graphical user interface). What is also nice is that since I do not have a cd burner, I didnt have to get someone to burn me cd's of the images for the different distributions because you can set the path to where the 'iso' is located on your host operating system (OS) I will like to mention that Ubuntu sends FREE, and yes I said FREE, cd's to anyone who asks, which I also have 4 sets. They ship in attractive packaging and contain the live CD (to run from your cd drive) and a 1 disk installation cd.

So, with the ease of VMware, I proceeded to install Fedora Core 4, Ubuntu Breezy Badger, Gentoo, and Mandrake based on some internet reviews and recommendations from friends, familiy, and IT professionals.

For each OS, I allocated 10GB of space and pretty much used the default config for each. One really tricky thing did not have anything to do with the installation, but actually getting the VMware tools installed on each system because I have an older video card so my screens (after the install) were 640X480 and not rendering properly. Compounding that it was hard to view the screens and my beginner status, it was very difficult realizing that I couldn't just double click on something and have it install it. In Fedora, I had to use the rpm and Debian based, I had to unpack and compile using the tarball file. After installation of the VMware tools, however, everything worked smoothly.

The dual boot was easier than I thought! When you install MS Windows, it takes up the whole hard drive, so you have to shrink it. After reading some, and installing Mandrake Linux, I discovered that Mandrake has a nice gui utility that lets you graphically shrink the windows partition. So I did that, then installed Fedora Core 4, removing all other linux partitions. This worked well and fast.

After testing out each OS, I dropped Mandrake and Gentoo for now, and concentrated on Fedora Core 4 and Ubuntu Breezy Badger because after using them all, they seemed the easiest to use and have the largest base of support forums and tutorials. My father is also Red Hat certified, so my choice of Fedora might be a little biased since I have on-demand support whenever.

Books
Seeing this as a long-term investment, I also bought some books for reference as well as guides to aid me. I will note though that you can also find everything in these books somewhere online for free; it just takes some looking and printing if you want to read while you are away from a computer.

I am also a big fan of O'reilly books because they seem really easy to understand and provide lots of content.

I bought (keeping in mind my desire to use a lamp architecture):
Running Linux 5th ed.
Linux in a Nutshell 5th ed.
MYSQL in a Nutshell
Information Dashboard Design
Apache: The Definitive Guide
Web Service Essentials
Learning PHP5

A long list, I know, but they have already helped me so much.

While the excitement lingers!

I recently found out I will be employed by the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal Carolina as their Development Coordinator!

As I seek to expand and improve upon my knowledge in making lasting impact, this job provides a solid impetus for me to challenge myself as well as help others!

I am totally stoked because I will be close to home, not be in poverty anymore, and will be able to surf on a regular basis!!!

Finally on linux!!!

It is so gratifying to say that I am finally using linux!!!

I am still on MS Windows, but one step closer to leaving it behind!

It is both exciting and liberating to be able to change things to make them how I want them while also seeing exactly what the operating system is doing!

I ended up using VMware, which is a virtualization software upon my dad's recommendation. It was nice not having to create a dual boot, and I also have added 2 linux distributions, Fedora Core 4 and Ubuntu (Breezy Badger). It just sucks that my host platform is the memory hog of XP.

After being in GUI world for so long, it was really nice to play around with the terminal and moving around the filesystem.

VMware lets you allocate RAM, diskspace and has virtual drivers for all hardware devices so it makes it pretty easy to configure. After installation, I realized that it also is pretty easy to do this with linux without the virtualisation software, but VMware lets you take snapshots of the configurations so you can always revert back to an older config.

I am still rather new to these 2 distributions, but here is what I found so far:

Fedora Core 4:
-Installer is more graphical
-takes 4 cd's to install!!
-has an interactive startup
-seems to want to install way toomany modules than needed (at least for me - did the workstation install)
-has an annoying subscription updater from red hat that always loads on startup
-had trouble with video card configuration (might be because of VMware)
-sound was harder to install (also might be due to VMware)
-the default text editor is a little hard to use (vi)
-overall not too hard to configure

Ubuntu (Breezy Badger)
-can't login at root, must do it from usr login (i assume good default setting)
-isn't bundled with support for 'rpm' files, just tarball
-have to have a little more understanding of terminal usage (at least for me)
-has pretty awesome package installer
-nice graphical interface (layout similar to fedora)
-had same troubles with display as in fedora (must be VMware issue) after i installed vmware tools, things were cool
-network settings weren't as intuitive as fedora (maybe biased because father helped with fedora and i followed with ubuntu == father is Red Hat expert)

Overall both operating systems are up and running and doing good. as I learn more I would like to post more comparisons.

(Thanks to Brian for suggestion on using Ubuntu too! I really like it!)

Service Learning! typology, best practice -- and IMPACT!

Adhered to emotion and assimilated through a cumulating framework of skill, motivation,learning, service, adversity, and failure, this past week has been a keystone reflection for my 'Service-Learning' experience during my term with NC Campus Compact. I feel accomodated in that I have gained an invaluable perspective on my career path as well as definitive insight on how a pedagogy of service learning can have profound impact in higher education, across all disciplines.

It has been a great year of service and learning. Being provided with challenging work, professional training, valued friends & colleagues, and meaningful rewards, I could not ask for a better year of 'education.'

Imagine how coincidental that, in these last few days of my service, I get to attend a conference of specialists in educating, evaluating, and motivating the leaders of tomorrow? There is so much energy and inspiration! I want to be permanently involved with these people.

At the conference:
Robert Sigmon spoke briefly about his experience in Service Learning. He is truely an inspirational person who has greatly given credence in the Academy to the field.

Service-learning combines service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity change both the recipient and the provider of the service. This is accomplished by combining service tasks with structured opportunities that link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery, and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills, and knowledge content.

His typology:

service-LEARNING: learning goals primary, service outcomes secondary

SERVICE-learning: service outcomes primary, learning goals secondary

service learning: service and learning goals completely separate

SERVICE-LEARNING: service and learning goals of equal weight and each
enhances the other for all participants

I also attended a sessions talking about:
Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration and Service Learning

and

NC Campus Compact Research and Scholarship Initiative: Pitfalls and Possibilities in Statewide Collaboration on Service Learning Scholarship

Both of these workshops provide me a solid platform to think about how we unite efforts at different institutions as well as to gain buy-in to service learning. I've heard by some that there are 'academic fads' that come and go, but I truely see this (service learning) becoming a mainstay in education and a change agent in tomorrow's society, not to mention how it already affects people nationwide.

The 'Cross Discipline Collaboration and Service Learning' workshop was presented by the APPLES program at UNC Chapel Hill, with presenters Jenny Huq, Martha Arnold, and Janaka Lagoo.

Through their workshop, they highlighted how they interest faculty in service learning and how they collaborate with their Center for Teaching and Learning. What I gained most from their presentation was how they draw resources from different parts of campus (Center for Teaching and Learing, Research and Assessment) and really push students in the forefront (APPLES was started by students)...as well as truely seek community collaboration and feedback.

The 'NC Campus Compact Research and Scholarship Initiative' was also very informative. Although initial phases are still underway, the presenters: Patti Clayton, Cathy Hamilton, Jenny Huq, Lynne Bercaw, Beth Warner, and Vicki Stocking provided a clear itinerary on how they are gaining ground for a statewide network of collaborators to refine the scholary pursuits around civic engagement and service learning. I hope to become involved in this effort.

I think I could go on for days on how these sessions have been refreshing to experience! I am definitely going to try and write more about my interest in service learning.

It's hard to believe that this year in service has passed so quickly, when I have only begun to scratch the surface....but I'm not done yet!

Seeing the light with LAMP

So I am taking the plunge!

I've always loved the application and elegance of open source applications, but have never really had/taken the time to really learn them myself.

This whole past year I've been struggling with Microsoft products, most specifically MS Access, but also a lot of tech support for MS Windows and Office Suite. After all my work, assessment, and discussions with many talented and knowledgeable people...MySQL has been the favored choice of database for the data management solution I've been tasked with solving.

Which brings me to the LAMP architecture:

MySQL is benefiting from the growing interest in the so-called LAMP stack of open-source components for building business applications, Urlocker said. Rather than purchase Java or Microsoft .Net development tools, corporate customers are building new applications on the LAMP combination of Linux; Apache Web server; MySQL; and PHP, Python or Perl scripting languages.

- CNet

I want to eventually become a social entrepreneur and truely help bridge the digital divide gap...seeing this aspiration, it is hard for me to realize accomplishing that goal with expensive, proprietary products. Albeit, open source does not equate to free, it does, however, seem to mean a better, more proactive business model in engaging people to help others make technology better and ubiquitious while collaborating and working together.

For me, first steps are picking a distribution of linux. I am still in the preliminary research for myself of what best suits me. So far, the big ones, Fedora, Debian, and Mandrake seem the most mature and widely supported.

I am just excited at the possibilities!

A little overwhelmed, I will be using VMWare at first, hopefully soon following a total adoption.

I hope to document my learning as I progress: More to come!

Phone blogz....another voice posting app.

This post is just a test of another phone/VoIP way of posting audio to blogs. They support:

• Blogger (of course)
• Drupal (would like to see an application this)
• Wordpress
• LiveJournal
• Serendipity

When posting, they ask you to leave your 15 second message....but I left longer on here. I am unsure how long it will let you record. Of course this is still in its beta phase, so I am sure some of that will get worked out.
A new message has been posted via PhoneBlogz. Click here to listen to it.

S.T.A.R

Lately I have been searching for job opportunities in preparation for my departure from my current termed position. It seems without certifications in computer world, it is very hard to identify any employers who will consider you for a position because there are many qualified people with the necessary certificates. Also, I feel it increasingly difficult to find jobs with just a bachelors degree. To date, most jobs that have interested me have required at least a Master's.

I have hope, and have only begun to tap into all of my contacts, web searches, and newspaper ads to find another wonderful position.

My good friend Koji, who has sucessfully been applying for positions, really gave me some good insight for interviews and resume building.

One of his suggestions is a method for interviewing that I thought I would share on this blog for anyone seeking additional help in enhancing their performance during interviews.

The method is called S.T.A.R:

S -- Situation
T -- Task
A -- Action
R -- Results

When going into an interview you should have certain scenarios in mind that the potential employers may ask.

Case: Leadership

Situation: At UNC Pembroke, I became the Campus Activities Board Chairman, the organization responsible for the majority of campus programming, including movies, comdians, open mic, etc.
--In the situation portion, be sure to be brief, but efficiently describe a little background on your position and what it means.

Task: As Campus Activities Board Chairman, I was tasked with managing a group of 40 volunteers to schedule, plan, and implement entertaining programs using student fees (I would go into a little more detail...but you get the idea)

Action: This is one of the key elements of STAR...where you explain in detail how you where a leader, in what capacity, and how you operated.

Results: This is where you brag about what you accomplished.

This little insight that Koji has given me is helping me alot now with what I need to do in order to prepare for my coming interviews.

I look forward to using this method :D