Hello blogreaders! My latest little project has been to turn my old computer into a Linux machine. I backed up my college papers and pictures of Emma and wrote a Linux partition over my whole hard drive. I installed Debian/GNU Linux and it went well for the most part. I'm having some problems with the graphical interface, so right now I can only type in commands (rather than clicking on pictures with my mouse). Linux purists say this is better anyway, but I say it stinks. Hopefully I can get it fixed.I've also been playing EA's Return of the King on my Playstation 2. It's a very fun game.peace.

I've been down and out since Friday with some kind of viral stomach bug. I'll spare you the gory details. Today I was finally able to eat a substantial meal, drink some water and venture out of my house for more than a few minutes.In other news, I got to see my brother over thanksgiving. I've got my new PDA. Watermelon flavored Gatorade tastes like medicine. The Return of the King for Playstation 2 is fun and very difficult. The Extended Edition Two Towers DVD is really L . . O . . .N . . . . . G. I tried watching it while I was sick and Mike was here, but I couldn't make it through. The documentaries on disc 3 are great, though.I'm beginning to hatch plans for a computer stocked with only free software. It would have to use the Linux operating system, since it's the best free OS. More on that later, when I get up the courage to start messing with the hard drive on my old computer.Happy Holidays!

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First of all, I'm posting from a St. Louis Bread company. Panera is offering free wi-fi at many of its locations (none in KC yet) for free. I'm sitting in what is basically an easy chair with a cupholder and a little table attached. Here's my take on this service so far.The good: Panera is awesome for even trying this. I don't know of any other major retailers who provide free, unlimited access. I tried to download a file to see what kind of speeds I could get and it stayed around 50 KB/second, which is about 10x faster than your typical dial-up. The bad: I couldn't get Mozilla Firebird to work with the wi-fi. In fact, I couldn't get w.bloggar or Star Downloader to work either, so I can only assume that MS Internet explorer is the only thing that will work. The file that I downloaded stopped after 346 KB, and then another file stopped at that size, too, so I guess there is a limit to the size of file you can download. This makes sense, but it is advertised as unlimited, so I was surprised about that. The wi-fi network does not use WEP (a security measure). This makes everything easier, but not really safe. But for checking email and blogging, it's no big deal. If you work for the FBI, you wouldn't want to use this to send secret messages, because the hippie an the next table could intercept it and sell it to the KGB and . . . well, you get the picture.So this is a cool service and I hope many more retailers (and hotels (like the Adam's Mark)) will follow Panera's lead and offer free wi-fi to customers.Anyway, back to non-geek stuff. The trip has been very cool. Sara and Emma rode over with me and they've been doing some fun stuff during the day. Friday they went to the zoo and today they went out to Union Station to do some shopping.I've been learning a lot from the convention. The speakers have really challenged some of my ideas and I'm still trying to figure out what I really think. I've gone to elective seminars on starting out in youth ministry, communicating with jr. high students, ideas that are affecting our culture, etc. At the end of every main session there is a nationally known Christian band that plays. So I've seen the Newsboys, Sanctus Real, Jars of Clay, Third Day, KJ-52 and Grits. They're also loading us up with lots of free stuff to use in youth ministry.We've also got to spend some time with some of our friends here: Tim, Angie, Kevin, Lauren and Andy.

It's 10:38 pm on Thursday and I just left the late-night concert (KJ-52 and 7th Day Slumber) and I'm writing this from an internet kiosk here in the convention center. We had a great train ride in and I got registered here and then we went out to dinner with some friends here in town. The Adam's Mark is very nice, but I was a little disappointed that they don't have high-speed internet in the rooms. Sara needed it to get some work done. I just printed directions to a Panera that offers free wi-fi. Nice.To all a good night.

We've passed a little cold around our family for the last week.I had a fish die yesterday.I'm still waiting for my PDA.On Thursday morning we're leaving for the National Youth Workers' Convention in St. Louis. We're taking the train again, Emma's preferred method of travel.

I picked up a few books at a library book sale last week. They were fifty cents per hardcover and a quarter for each paperback. I listed a couple on Ebay, just to help defer the cost of my pda. I listed this hardcover book by Robert Heilein for $0.99, thinking that after paying the listing fee I'd make a cool 15 cents. Yesterday the auction closed and the book sold for $26!! Apparently it was a first edition and several collectors wanted it. I have the case and the 256MB Secure Digital card I ordered, but I'm still waiting on my pda.

After a week of practice, I'm finally ready to post some audio files of me playing my new accordion. The question is, are you ready to hear them? The answer to that question is "probably not." At any rate, here are two sound clips in mp3 format:Come, Thou FountSome song from a book (ok, it's called "Smoky, the Mouse Colored Pony," whatever that meansEnjoy!

I settled on the pda I want and I've ordered it. It's a Toshiba e355. It doesn't have wi-fi, but it does have mp3 player, voice recorder and a handsome, bright color screen. More when it arrives.

Yesterday was a fun day. My accodion finally arrived in the mail. I've been playing it some; it's certainly not perfect, but it works well enough for the price I paid (actually I didn't pay for it, it's a Christmas present- thanks Mom!). Maybe I'll post a sound file sometime soon.I picked up two new fish for our aquarium. The water conditions are finally starting get stabilized, so hopefully I won't have more floaters anytime soon.I've been doing some shopping for a PDA to replace the one that met an untimely end. I've got my eye on the Toshiba e755. It has a color screen, mp3 player, voice recorder, integrated wifi and bluetooth and two expansion slots. Its retail price is $499, but I'm watching eBay to see if I can get it for under $200. If you'd like to make a donation to the Rad PDA for Danny Foundation, then click here: