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Ciao

I’ve been using the Linux operating system in it’s different forms since about 2004. Since that time I have been using a reliable, stable operating system for free. When I first tell folks this they get quite confused. After having shelled out so much money for their computer software they can’t understand how such a thing could be possible.

If you’ve been using Mozilla Firefox you have already been using software that is OpenSource, which means anyone can program it to their liking and suggest improvements unlike all Microsoft software. It is also usually free. This is because there is a worldwide movement to keep software free(or cheap) for everyone to use. To find out more check here Linux.

Most people also assume that it would be a crappy desktop system but this couldn’t be further from the truth. This is what my current desktop looks like with some optional 3D adornements:

I’m using Ubuntu Linux which of course is free and it is very easy to customize and is productive right away. You have OpenOffice.org as an office suite, the GIMP as a photo editor, F-Spot as a photo organizer, and much much more. Open source & Linux is everywhere, even Google uses it to develop its software. WordPress is open-source, most web servers run Linux, many websites are running off Drupal which is open-source, and even Dell is selling computers with Ubuntu Linux on them!

If you’re not ready to take the plunge you can install many programs that run on Linux on your Windows machine. I know Apple computers like to boast being spyware-free, virus-free, and stable but you can have all that and more running Linux (although I do concede that OSX is superior when it comes to video/image editing).

So instead of giving Bill Gates more of your money, give Linux a chance and you’ll be wondering why you ever bothered to pay for software which can easily be replaced with much more superior, stable software.

Since two school buses filled with kids were already taken out of school, the teacher decided we should go to Ernest E. Debs park. It’s entrance lies in El Sereno, and heads up into the hills of Montecito Heights & Rose Hills. A drive up the hill shows a green park, with not much amenities besides benches, some coverings, and barbecues.

Further on you see there is a trail that leads up into the hills. It was a steep hike up to what is locally known as “peanut lake.” I can be pretty sure that most of the kids rarely, if ever go hiking. Many immediately started complaining about the incline, the mild heat, and of being thirsty (all within the first 5 minutes). Kind of sad, I remember as a kid my almost compulsory drive to go wandering through these hills to get away and enjoy the views. Too much tinkering with PSPs, iPods, or finding proxies to get MySpace has made some kids too lethargic.

The lake itself isn’t much. It’s fed by what must be a pipe from some reservoir and it’s obviously man-made. Nonetheless the view from up there is great. Here are some photos.

It was a hazy day so the view wasn’t as great as it could be. Going through the trails one can scarcely hear the sound of cars, or of any city life. One gets the feeling of what this area might have been like a few hundred years ago.

All in all a great field trip, and yet another reason why I like my job.

This American Life is one of the finest English-language radio programs, in my opinion. The stories are almost always compelling. They often highlight that which goes unnoticed in this great expanse land of the U.S.A.

The narrator, Ira Glass, has that sort of voice that you never forget. When he speaks you just want to listen and listen and listen. When I finally saw the Showtime (cable), visual version of This American Life I saw how perfectly he fit his voice. Looking a bit geeky, rather peppered-hair, and endearing.

If you want to get a listen, a free podcast, or get some CDs of previous shows, go to thislife.org. I highly recommend it. You’ll end up glued to your speaker for an hour.

I returned a month or so later to only find that coffee was still not good. It didn’t really much matter whether it was an Americano, a regular drip-coffee, or even a Mexican Mocha: it all either lacked taste or just tasted burned. Now yes, I am a coffee-snob (or aficionado) and am not contented with an ice blended mocha with whip cream and chocolate syrup. That’s just a coffee-drink not coffee. I like coffee. The black stuff: earthy, rich, and flavorful.

Now for the good part: I recently returned on a whim to see if anything had changed in the year or so since I was last there. Lo and behold the double espresso I had was great (they even served it in a glass with a metal handle so that you would not scald your hands, fancy!). Feeling a bit hungry, I ordered a vegetarian sandwich. I’ve had many of these sandwiches and they’re usually pretty boring and bland: this one was not at all.

The clientele is still mainly locals with a few folks that seem to drive from around town to sponge off the free WiFi. I am not a big fan of free WiFi because it seems to create any space into LAPPIE-LAND, where no one speaks to each other or even acknowledges each other. All this said this spot has been become my recent haunt.

Example: Driving as fast as possible, through cross-town traffic, may seem efficient but is not always the best idea. As I’ve come to learn, it is nigh impossible to go that much faster than the rest of the traffic; it just makes your commute that much more unsafe & stressful. And when you get there the problem of parking. The finding of parking, the art of parallel parking, and the deciphering of the Street Parking signs.

I know that using the bus, the rail, going by foot or bicycle may be slower, and not as efficient but I would much prefer it (even in this rain). Walking to your post office box is so much more rewarding than hopping into your car & saving yourself 20 minutes that one usually ends up wasting on the inane and pointless.

So…get out there with your bus pass, bike, or your chevro-legs and be inefficient.

All the chronically frappuccino-drinking fools would never know the beauty of that brown foam that tops a truly great coffee-pressed cup.

I adore a black coffee.

“Hey man, you should ride on the side, you’re gonna get hit man.”

I responded: “Well, I gotta ride in the street…it’s more fun.”

To which he gave me the thumbs-up and responded gingerly: “That’s right man, that’s right.”

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Now playing: Devendra Banhart – Cristobal
via FoxyTunes

Watching the kids everyday you realize how much technology is imbued into their lives. Most kids almost always have headphones on, inside or outside the classroom. Some do have the real iPods and others have the $50 ones you can get in the alleys in Downtown LA. There are kids that may not read well in class but always know the newest website to bypass the LAUSD proxy that blocks MySpace and Email sites. I still don’t know how they do it.

Another observation is how poorly funded schools really are. During summer school the LAUSD claimed it didn’t have any money to rent a bus for a field trip for my ESL, yet they recently spent $95 million on a payroll system that doesn’t work (plus I only make $10/hr as a TA).Though through all of this I enjoy being at LHS. It has a long history in Los Angeles: my parents, and many friends have gone there. It also has, inside, some great artwork from the 30s & 40s. And it’s not a super-alienating job like all of my previous ones. There’s a real connection with kids that grew up in the same neighborhood as I, though it has changed since my own childhood. Before there wasn’t any Carl’s Jr., Hollywood Video, Autozone, Subway, CVS, or McDonalds. And the dangerous streets may have switched places with other streets, and some things have gotten better.

And of course I love zipping around Lincoln Heights on my bike. I’m not absolutely petrified for my life biking there (except for Daly St. & San Fernando Rd.) All those wide streets south of Broadway and the great ride up Griffin.

What mosts attracts me to the characters in Murakami’s are their sense of alienation, their existential search for meaning in a homogeneous modern world, and their down-right otherworldliness. I love it.