In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

For about a year now, I’ve had some version of Ubuntu Linux installed on a 5GB partition on my HP Pavilion notebook. It sits right next to my XP partition, allowing me to chose between the two operating systems when I boot. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to play much with the free, open source, OS. I run on an 802.11g wireless connection at home, and the previous version Ubuntu, unfortunately, did not recognize my wireless card.Okay, fast forward to last night. I downloaded and installed the much anticipated and hyped Ubuntu 7.10, codenamed Gusty Gibbon, and crossed my fingers that I would be online after the installation was done. The actual process of installing Ubuntu is painless, with only seven screens of questions to answer to ensure proper configuration. Even the selection of a partition to install to was easy. In about 20 minutes, I was up and running…

…but my wireless wasn’t.

At least this time, I got messages telling me what hardware was not automatically enabled due to a lack of open source drivers. There were three pieces of hardware identified; my graphics card, my modem, and my wireless card. I was given the option to enable these devices, but two of the three failed. Only my modem was enabled. For the other two devices, my graphics card and wireless card, I was given a foreign message saying something to the effect of the device’s driver source not being found, or enabled. Along with this message was a long file name, related to the device. Determined to try to make it work this time, I booted into XP, and downloaded what I think are the files mentioned. However, once I booted back into Linux, I had no clue what to do with them.

Aye, there’s the rub!

As a Windows user, when Linux doesn’t work quite right, I’m lost. I haven’t a clue how to use the Linux command line. And, while I want to learn how to accomplish feats like fixing the wireless card problem, I would much rather be doing something productive, like reading RSS feeds, e-mails, watching videos, etc. Ubuntu 7.10 doesn’t work “out of the box” for me, and will likely collect dust on that 5GB partition like it’s predecessor.

That being said, I do encourage you to check out Ubuntu 7.10. I have played with the system a bit, hardwired to my network, and was fascinated by its function. When it works, it works well. Chris Pirillo gives the Top Five Tips for Migrating from Windows to Linux. I highly recommend these tips as well for those wanting to play with Ubuntu. I run it on a separate partition, allowing me to experiment with Ubuntu without interrupting XP. For the record, I did test my wireless with Live CD, and it didn’t work. The full install was an exercise in hope.

Have any experiences with Linux? Share them by commenting on this post. Know how to fix my wireless dilemma, please contact me!

Presidential hopeful declares that he will not obey his GodLast Friday, I was asked my thoughts concerning the candidacy of Mitt Romney and how his faith effects his chances of winning the Republican nomination. Personally, I’m not a fan. I think he, and anyone who is running for the office, have a mix of good and bad potential policies. Overall, I don’t think Romney is a winner within the Republican party. Even more importantly, and this dismisses the relevance of any focus on Romney, I don’t think the Republican party is a winner in current national politics.

In regard to Romney’s choice of religion, I answered that Mormonism is a hard pill to swallow for conservative evangelicals, the unfortunate base of the Republican party. I went on to say that Romney is unable to make the kind of public separation between himself and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that Kennedy made between himself and the Roman Catholic Church. My reasoning was based on my experience as a Mormon, one who made solemn oaths and covenants, promises, to complete devote myself to the service of God. In the case of Mormonism, devotion to God equated to devotion to the church. Based on the fact that Romney has made these same promises, I didn’t think such a declaration of separation was likely.

However, Romney surprised me.

On the CBS show, “Face the Nation”, Romney separated himself from the Mormon church by saying, “I certainly don’t do what leaders of my church or any other tells me to do.”

Frankly, I’m a bit stunned at Romney’s statement. It is just about the most un-Mormon thing anyone can say. It is an admission of non-obedience to leaders who he believes are “prophets, seers, and revelators” to the world. Latter-day Saints believe that, ever since the founding of the church by Joseph Smith, that there has been a prophet at the head of the church who receives revelations from God. In Doctrine & Covenants, a book of Mormon scripture, we find that Mormons are commanded to obey the prophet by giving “heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (D&C 21:4-5).

Knowing this, isn’t Romney declaring that he will not be obedient to his prophet the same as declaring that he will not be obedient to his God? Yes. For Mormons, there is no separation. As much as Romney argues that he is “not going to try and distance myself in any way, shape or form from [his] faith”, he seems to have made a severe diversion from a foundational tenet of Mormonism: following the prophet.

It will be interesting to watch Romney and see how he further balances on the tightrope between being accepted politically and being true to his beliefs.

Since 1998, I’ve been designing websites. Before MySpace, Facebook, or any now popular sites which allow anyone to post yourself online without any technical knowledge, I was sitting behind a computer hacking away at mark-up to create my pages. I was online before being online was popular.Most of my projects were volunteered services. Only once did I get paid for a site I put together. $50 for a five page, MySpace like, site for a high school friend. I don’t think the site was ever actually uploaded, but I did do the design work on it. Beyond that, I designed a multitude of sites, mostly for the religious groups I was involved with. While the thought of designing for additional income has crossed my mind, on more than a few occasions, nothing has ever come of it.

Until now.

Earlier this week, I was approached by a co-worker who’s husband has been tasked with managing a complete overhaul of their church website. A few days later, I met with him, hashed out the scope of the site and my fees, and signed on as their designer. So now, for the first time, I’m going to make some real money for designing a site. I’m really looking forward to progressing with it. I’ve already created a concept sketch, included with this post, and am excited about pulling it all together.

I wouldn’t mind doing more design work in the future. Perhaps this will be the catalyst that will move me to finally start coding web 2.0 type sites and start building the business I’ve been thinking about for quite a while to provide technology solutions for small businesses, including web design.

I’ve never been so thrilled about a C+ in my life, but that’s what I passed Financial Management with! Even crazier is the A+ I scored on my final project. Due to the seemingly random grades I’ve been receiving for my assignments, submitting the final project seemed a 50/50 between failing and passing. I just didn’t know which way the coin would land.Education shouldn’t be like that, should it? What does this say about me as a student, or at least a student in Financial Management? I probably should have failed the course. I really took very little away from it, and really wasn’t sure if I was even in the right ballpark with my final.

How much should a student take away from a class to be considered passing? Supposedly, I’ve absorbed 77% of what was taught. I don’t think that’s the case. In actuality, I think it was much lower.

Is this even a reflection upon me, or should it be a reflection of the coarse? Perhaps the imbalance was caused by a poorly designed coarse.

I know a handful of educators and students will read this. What are your thoughts? Read some of my prior posts concerning this class to help. Was it the course, or was it me? Does a straight A student being on the threshold of failing say anything? If so; what?

Bill Gates in his Business at the Speed of Thought related a story where he asked to be brought all the forms that Microsoft uses to record employee information. He was brought a obscene number of forms used. Upon questioning why Microsoft, a leader in technology, was relying on paper forms for their business processes, he paired down the stack of forms given to him to only two that could not be digitize due to federal law. By questioning the purpose for each form, he was able to streamline his business processes and create a more efficient, and environmental friendly, company.Often at Luxford, I raise the same kind of questions that Gates raised at Microsoft. I’m known for asking, does this need to be printed? Need is the operative word, compared to want. As the school Data Support Specialist, I provide reports to a faculty of 34 teachers regarding over 500 students. The amount of paper, and the costs attached can be staggering.

For example, the city of Virginia Beach requires twelve assessments to be given across elementary school grades. The reports generated for one assessment is around 250 pages, about half a ream of paper. Last year I printed reports and distributed them to teachers. This process for very time consuming. This year, by customizing reports and the process for generating them, they are distributed as PDF files onto to the school’s intranet, which is powered by SharePoint. Not only does not allow for electronic distribution, but it also effectively organizes reports throughout the school year and is assessable by teachers and administration alike. While teachers have the option to print their reports if they would like, this system allows for the possibility of saving about 3,000 pages of paper.

Another example is a modification I’ve made to the process of verifying progress report and report card drafts. The city process includes the printing of drafts to be verified by teachers. With 520 students, this equates to approximately 4,160 pages of printed paper that will be utilized for a moment, and then destroyed. Seeing no need for paper drafts to be printed, our modified process has PDF drafts sent via e-mail to teachers. They are able to review them on screen, make necessary changes, and then request updated drafts to be sent to them. Not only has this process reduced the amount of paper used in the process, but it allows greater flexibility in correct errors, efficiency in generating additional drafts, and confidence that the process will produce correct final copies.

One final example this year is the digitizing of the school’s employee handbook. This handbook includes maps, rosters, regulations, and forms for both the school and school system. For many years, a three inch binder containing this handbook was given to every employee at the start of every year. The cost for having this handbook printed each year was $1,000. This year, we utilized the school intranet and posted the handbook files to the SharePoint site, enabling access from both school and home. Not only did this save the school $1,000, but it also saved over 12,000 pages from being printed and possibly never used.

Paper, compared to many commodities, is relatively cheap. At the school discount, the total savings for the above examples was only $1,043, including the cost of having the handbook printed. Fiscally, this isn’t a very significant number, especially when you consider that only a fraction of the total savings is the actual cost of paper. However, over 19,000 pages of paper has been reduced from our processes. If every elementary school in Virginia Beach followed the above processes, approximately 1,053,800 pages of paper could be saved every year! This is, according to one calculation, the equivalent of 13 trees, if the paper contains no recycled fiber.

These examples are evidence that with little thought and the ability to improvise and adapt, technology can help the environment. Here at Luxford, I’m using technology to save trees, one page at a time.

This post is written to participate in Blog Action Day 2007, where bloggers around the world write on one topic, on one day: the environment.