Not much going on here on the home front, work is good as usual, things in general are going well. I’ve been working in Data Recovery for almost a year now, and I enjoy it immensely. There’s nothing quite like telling someone that you can save all their precious memories from their computer. That you’re better equipped than anyone else to help them. It’s quite a high.

I’m blogging for Geeksquad.com now, which is pretty sweet. I guess I’m an “official” blogger now or something. Whatever that means. I’m not particularly looking forward to negative feedback from the public, but it goes with the territory. I’ve been blogging now in one way or another for around 8+ years now. It’s kind of weird to think about it, time goes by so fast.

I’ve taken the Linux plunge. That is to say, I’m trying it out as my main desktop now. I’ve used it fairly extensively for server work, mostly web-based stuff, some enterprise. I’ve been a firm believer for quite some time that Linux was not ready for the desktop. That’s not to say I didn’t think it couldn’t be used for the desktop, just that an average user wouldn’t feel comfortable picking it up. It’s pretty close now. There’s so much choice in what you can do, which is phenomenal, but that’s a double-edged sword. I’m trying out Linux Mint, which is a derivative of Ubuntu, which is in turn a derivative of a distribution that I’m fairly familiar with, Debian. I’m enjoying it immensely. I’m hitting a few snags with Wine, but I’ve gotten around most of them. So I’ve conquered Windows (and it’s many ugly relatives), and Mac OS X… now on to something bigger and better.

I think I’m going to start some graphic design again. It’s hard to explain, but I get an itch… somewhere in my brain, something that needs fulfilling, and art is the only thing that does it. So yeah, I’m gonna re-awaken the Beast.

Last week one of my CIA’s endured a horrible accident. She was on the way home from the hospital after visiting her older sister, when a pickup truck jumped the median of I-65, striking a semi in front of them. This caused the semi to hit the van that she was in, with her mother and twin sister. Both of her family members were killed in the accident. Her fiance, on the way to the accident, also was involved in a wreck, totaling his car. He survived. They’re due to be married in 3 months, they’ve just purchased their first house. She’s going to be out of work for an indeterminate period of time. Soon medical bills, house payments, and funeral arrangements will need to be paid for. We know she needs help.

My manager and DCI investigated to see what the company could do for her, but as she has not been employed for a year or more, she does not qualify for bereavement time/pay or assistance from the company through the Dick Schulz fund.

This is one of the reasons that I work for the Geek Squad, we’re a family. So we’re pulling together outside of work (this cannot be organized or affiliated with GS or BBY), and we’re going to help. We’re going to scrape together whatever money or assistance that we can to help her. If you would like to help in any way, shape or form, please contact me at mattgolsen@blackheva.com