Don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh my friend
Don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh at the end
Down in the gutter with the mad old soldiers
Down in the scuppers with the drunken sailors
Down in the gutter with the mad old soldiers
But the last laugh, baby is yours
And don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh going down

Games you thought you’d learned
You neither lost nor won
Dreams have crashed and burned
You still keep on keeping on
Out on the highway with the road gang working
Up on the mountain with the cold wind blowing
Out on the highway with the road band working
But the last laugh, baby is yours
And don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh going down

They had you crying but you came up smiling
They had you crawling and you came up flying
They had you crying and you came up smiling
And the last laugh, baby is yours
And don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh going down
Yeh don’t you love the sound
Of the last laugh going down

– Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, The Last Laugh.

I usually play it safe, but I’m taking chances again.

On Tuesday I told my boss I was leaving The Star Press. It’s been 10 fun and exciting years, but for my personal development, I felt it was time for me to look for new opportunities.

The newspaper industry still continues to struggle, and my frustration at work has been growing steadily to where it affected my job performance and outlook on live.

It’s time.

I’m joining Indiana’s state government in the Department of Natural resources to become their senior Web guru and multimedia leader. Working in the public sector is appealing to me, for it is like I’m contributing to society and making a difference.

These feelings have been missing from my work lately, especially with my former employer’s quest for profits and pageviews.

I’ve been gambling a lot during the past decade. A steady relationship, graduate school, a trip to Australia, and a new house and a new dog. All has worked out well. Taking risks is how we learn and grow as human beings. I’ve certainly grown with these experiences and responsibilities.

My only major concern is the commute to Indianapolis. Two hours a day, 10 hours a week gone, not to mention $300 more a month on gas. Telecommuting and car pooling are possibilities. Will the opportunity be worth it? I think so. Better benefits, and a chance to be in charge and to build. And to build without profit pressures.

I’ve been tweaking my computer infrastructure at home (it’s a hobby).

With the addition of a new laptop, Mac mini and the new iMac, it’s time to jump into the wonders of Leopard, Apple’s current operating system.

My goals:

1. Introduced draft-N wireless networking.

2. Get my Ethernet network to gigabit speeds.

3. Make sure all of my computers had operating backups.

4. Consolidate my iTunes music library and introduce a file server.

I’ve gone about this piece meal as I explored the possibilities. And I’ve realized I’ve perhaps made a mistake.

For draft-n, I bought an Airport Extreme base station. Setup was easy. I have the unit operating only on N, so connection to my MacBook Pro is pretty speedy. In fact, surfing is just like using the Ethernet. I was also able to connect my Canon MP500 multifunction inkjet printer to share it in the network. This eliminated the need for my Keypsan USB print server. The Kespan worked, but wasn’t elegant. Sharing the printer through the AEX station is way more transparent. I still maintain wireless B and G networks fom my U-verse router gateway (RG).

To obtain gigabit speeds on my internel network, I bought some netgear switches on sale from Amazon. They are the same class that the U-verse technician left when my service was installed. While the U-verse router gateway is not gigabit, the switches allow gigabit speeds in the internal network. This comes in handy for watching and syncronizing my media to the AppleTV.

For backups, I have various external drives that can be used. Originally, I made use of SuperDuper!, a great little program for Mac backups. However, I’ve since switched to Leopard’s Time Machine feature. The program is slick, easy and fun to use. My Mac mini (including my iTunes media) is now backed up to an external hard drive. My iMac will also soon be backed up with an Iomega Ultra Max hard drive.

I also have a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo to implement. The gizmo is a network attached storage device and file/media server. To use the NAS device for Time Machine network backups requires a little bit of hacking.

This has been a lot of work. By the time I add up the purchases and effort, I’m wondering if just buying the 1TB Time Capsule from Apple would have been better.

I need to retire so I can build this stuff:

Futurama:

http://www.brickpics.com/builder/PepaQuin/Futurama/index.html 

Discovery:

http://www.truedimensions.com/lego/customs/2001/index.htm 

And the Leonov:

http://www.truedimensions.com/lego/customs/2010/index.htm

I know bragging means my karma will run over my dogma, but:

1. I’ve been granted an office in the new Letterman Building because of my adjunct status. I passed by my adjunct office on my way to class and noticed my name is now beside the door. This was a nice pick-me-up. I’m having a blast teaching the DVD design course.

2. I’ve discovered that some of my professional work been cited by an academic. The Web page is a brief history of the Muncie Fieldhouse. It cites my informational graphic I produced for The Star Press. Link is here.

Gregorian chant, piano, flutes, melodies.

Album: Sacred.

I heard the track The Ritual on SkyFm, my favorite Internet radio provider, and was hooked. A search on the iTunes store turned up the album. Long live iTunes!

The topic of Sesame Street came up the other day in a discussion with the girlfriend. I mentioned my favorite skit on the show, but it drew a blank. Here, for the record, is a YouTube video of the yip yips. Check out the Wikipedia entry.

It’s time for another personal blog. Although this is called The Daily Davis, it’s highly doubtful I’ll be updating it daily.

Coming to you once again from the wonderful WordPress platform. Learn it. Love it. Live it.