In which I ponder impending computer projects and the wisdom of home ownership.

The write-up for my trip to Saint Louis is still coming, but I figure that I should get something up here in the meantime.

I had dinner with Jess and Joyce tonight. Jess has been house shopping (she and Rob want to move into a real house before Harry starts school) so we spent a lot of time talking about home ownership. I asked her some questions about her experience so far and it became pretty clear that I should buy a house. It makes an insane amount of financial sense and I have been jealous of Jeff’s house since I visited Saint Louis. The problem is that I am not quite sure where my life is leading. I think it’s becoming clear that I need to pick a direction quickly. Staying in Wausau for the long term doesn’t appeal, so buying a house could be a real headache if I leave for another city or if I go back to school. On the other hand, if I stay here for another year or three, I really should get comfortable instead of hating where I live. *sigh*

The annual Trivia onslaught has started. The discussions and preparations have started. I have a lot of things I want to do with the web site, server, etc. and I need to get going on them before April sneaks up on me. Updated chat server, custom database for our questions and other research, things like that.

Speaking of my server, more and more people are starting to use it. It is hosting at least five photo galleries and two people use it as their main email server. It’s silly for me to still be using the 200 Mhz Dell that I got for free from Endo. I did a little shopping around tonight. As appealing as a Mac mini is, or a cheap $300 Dell PowerEdge server, I think that what I want to do is get a nice microATX case and build my own. The hardware would run about $450 and I would get exactly what I wanted. Then a fresh install of Slackware Linux, tweak the server software using the knowledge I’ve gained since I put together my current server, and move over the data. Decommission the old Dell, move over the mailing list from my old Mac, and shut that down too. It would be nice…

I was rooting around for some music to write this blog entry to and I found my Flook album (Rubai). I saw them at IrishFest this past year, bought their album, and promptly forgot about them. I wish I hadn’t. They are a relaxing listen.