Springtime In The Valley

  Yeah, right. After the leftovers of Ivan, and with fall fast approaching, it's anything but springtime at the Ranch.

  BUT WAIT! There is a point to that title. There's a particular springtime month that we here at the Ranch are rather fond of. And now, it's time for the Ranch to repay the favor!

  If you head to the I'd Hit It Gallery, you'll find a picture of one April, who, in fact, happens to be Liza's sister. At any rate, April entered into [94.3 wbxq/94.7 wbrx] (or simply, Q94)'s 2005 Calender Girl contest, and used the pic I took of her as her entry photo. Right on! If you head on over to the station's website, you'll find a cropped version (not to mention with a different color pallate) of said pic in slot #19.

  Speaking of #19, here's where the Ranch and you, the folks who come and read this obscure little site, kick in and help a friend out. Best parts? It doesn't cost anything, and you'll be helping to make one girl's hope a reality. [click here] to email your vote to Q94, and be sure to say you want April (#19) on the 2005 Calender Girl poster! Let's help April get her spot (hey, if she made my list, then you KNOW she deserves that spot) as a 2005 Q94 Calender Girl!

  So, do you think they'd be ultra cliche and give her the month she's named for? God, I hope not. Though, it would be kinda cute, I suppose... Hold up. Getting off track. Not good. Anyway, vote for April, OK? Let's help April get pinned to walls all over Central Pennsylvania (pun totally intended)!

  In other news, still in Linux, Quanta is UBER slow to edit with (which is why updates are few and far between), and life is continuing as normal...

Posted by Eric @ 8:10am, 09-24-04

Welcome To Wherever You Are

  Greetings from a whole other world, folks. There's a reason I haven't updated the Ranch in recent weeks, and I've managed to get editing tools running to the point where I can at least get a basic update posted.

  Let's start with the computer situation. The Cursed Box died, so I had to bail on it in favor of another borrowed PC. Since I lack a Windows 98 SE CD (lost, I fear...), I'm stuck in Linux...

  Now, don't get me wrong. I love Linux. But the web development apps for it aren't the greatest. Well, I shouldn't say that, since I'm a spoiled kid and use Dreamweaver like it's going out of style to do the Ranch. But for now, Quanta 3.1 will do, I guess. Other than that, I've actually had some major successes in this particular Linux adventure.

  Since Yahoo doesn't really seem to care about their Linux client for Messenger, I was forced to go with a homebrew chat app. Along comes Gyach. But you see, the regular Gyach won't work on this box for some reason. Off I go to find a replacement, and here Phrozen_Smoke has written up Gyach Enhanced, complete with voice chat and webcam support. Two victories I thought a ways off not too long ago. Webcam support in Linux? Sweet! Gotta thank Angela and Crystal for testing the cam functionality for me!

  One of the big problems with the Cursed Box was it's complete disdain for audio. Anytime I'd play something, the machine would lock up and reboot itself. This disallowed me to play my latest addiction, Zuma Deluxe. But Linux to the rescue again, this time in the form of the WINE, a sort of Windows Emulater. Through it, I can play Zuma to my heart's content, albeit a little slower than it should run. Oh well, gives me more time to think...

  Hopefully soon I'll get things back in order. I'm looking at trying a new flavor of Linux, plus I'd like to get Windows running again if only to be able to do my web editing. I've noticed that people tend to read this thing with quite a bit of frequency, and get mad at me if I don't update...

  But yes, the Ranch is back. And there was much rejoicing (yay)...

Posted by Eric @ 11:55am, 09-16-04