Crazy weather...

Blowing snow and sub-zero temperatures have now turned into howling winds and heavy rain.  Driving is cerainly an adventure these days.  To add to the misery .. now traffic is insane due to a retaining wall collapsing on a recently opened overpass.  Quality workmanship for sure!

Misadventures with Compact Flourescents

The problem is that they die...  They die a lot.

Granted, everyone knows that CFL's are subject to how many full cycles they go through.  So a light in a high traffic area isn't going to last as long as one that stays on for some time.  Flicking them on and off will shorten their lives.

I haven't completey done the math, but in total I have exactly 50 CFL's in my house.  In the span of 5 years I have had to replace 22 of these lights.  That's a 44% failure rate within the span specified on the box, which is normally 7 years.  Taking that into account, the overall failure rate prior to the advertised lifespan is quite substantial.  I'm starting to hate these things, my overall perception is that it may even cost me more as the up front costs haven't come down enough to make them easily affordable.

I find that I go longer with a burnt out CFL than I ever did with incandescents mainly because I'm usuall forced into buying them in packs of 6 at about $18 - $20 a pack.  No, thanks.

Posting feels forced

Nah, not because I find it difficult to go on and on about my favourite topics...  Simply, Blogger's edit feature seems too simple and/or dumbed down.  I cannot for the life of me arrange images the way I want to.  The HTML editor provided is great, though simply, nothing is clear about what styles are required or ... well it seems that the HTML that the enhanced editor generates is something that Dreamweaver of the olden days of yore used to generate.

I have qualifications.  I know HTML, and I'm baffled at the time I need to invest to make things look pretty.  As long as I insist on not spending more than 20 minutes writing a post... it'll always feel like a chore.

I guess it's time for me to grow up...

Well, after all these years, I've resisted sharing most of my life on the Internet.  I guess it's time to fire up the good 'ol typing skills and get rolling here.  So many ideas, so little time.  I hope to document my interests, my experiments and maybe some posts that will help others with things like Linux, Debian and all of the small intricacies in-between.

While I'll strive to be technology-centric, I do believe a lot of my political views and other fodder will bubble up. For those who hate such ramblings, I apologize.  Bear with me as I get my sea-legs.

So I guess you could call this post my "Self welcome to the shiny Blog-o-sphere".

Hello.