Godzilla: King of the Monsters

OK.

So I am a COMPLETE Godzilla fan boy.  When I was a kid I actually went to the theater to watch the kind of corny Godzilla (Showa Godzilla) as well as watching every old one I could find on Creature Feature... etc.

I now own a bunch of them, some unfortunately on VHS so... someday I need to get them moved but, let me just say this about G:KotM... IT WAS AMAZING!

I hate it when people build up a movie, then you go, and are disappointed.  I heard all kinds of good things about this movie and almost dreaded going but... everything I heard was true.  It really was a keep you on the edge of your seat movie.

It was NOT perfect.  There were a few things they could have done better, for example taken a little more time.  Felt like they shortened it a bit.  The other thing that made me want to scream was that they gave VERY LITTLE TIME TO THE OTHER MONSTERS.  There were snippets here and there, and don't get me wrong, the action with Godzilla, Rodan, King Ghidorah and Mothra where crazy good but at the end of the movie I wanted to see more more more.

So here is to hoping G vs. KK will bring that.

Anyway, I do not want to say too much because I like what I like and other people, especially people who might miss all of the 8 zillion plot, character and other back references to the past Godzilla movies... other people might not like that or get those references (which made it extra fun for me... I kept explaining every scene to my wife).

So... 5/5 and two thumbs up for G:KotM.

OS Reflections

The first computer I ever used was a DEC VAX running VMS.  VMS became the operating system I knew and loved above all others.  I still love it, even though it is gone.

But because of VMS I became curious about other operating systems and have had (I think) a fine relationship with a number of them.

In the '80's I became a user of both Macintosh computers and even the first PCs running DOS and the very first version of Windows.  Personally I owned old PPC Macs running OS 7/8/9 before purchasing OS X Beta...

I also had an Amiga workstation, an OS/2 Warp workstation, and of course early versions of linux (slackware) followed soon thereafter by the very first Ubuntu distro.  It seems like aeons.

My favorite desktop operating system was the Be OS.  BeOs.  I fell in love and built out my own dual processing systems running BeOS in the late 90's early 2000's.  Still have the box with the software.

Of course I had the early versions of NT as well.

I even used FreeBSD for a year, for work.

I am still fascinated by the operating systems that I have not yet tried... and since then I have also become a hardware aficionado.

While I really enjoy OS X, and even Windows 10, my preferred OS for about 2 years now has been linux.  While I flip flop a bit from distro to distro, the ones I have narrowed down to are MX Linux and Pop_OS!  But the one I've used for the vast majority of time over the past year is Pop_OS!  I know Pop is an ubuntu derivative (which is in turn a Debian derivative) but it has been made sufficiently different that I find it not only enjoyable but superior to Ubuntu.  The System76 team has made a polished and different version of Ubuntu that is tuned to either Nvidia or AMD graphics, has simplified configuration utilities (sometimes more restrictive), a fine theme and other tweaks that differentiate it enough from Ubuntu.

In the end though, it is linux-based operating systems that have captured my curiosity and my preference.  With Steam I can even play many of my old Windows-based games.  (Yes, gaming is somewhat important).  I think that you often hear tell of "the year of linux" and it has become somewhat of a mockery; but in all honesty, linux has forged ahead of the past 3 decades and has become not only a viable, but a preferential operating system for many.

I am not out to convince anyone that they should use linux.  I want people to be happy with whatever operating system they choose.  I am just sharing my memories (albeit in very little detail) and my current preference.

Happy Memorial Day!

Minor upgrade to my PC

I got such an incredible deal that I could not resist purchasing a new AMD CPU (2600X) to replace my 2400G, and two 16 GB of G.SKILL ram... for a whopping 32 GB of memory now.

She's all up and running right now...  performance seems fine now.  Gained an additional 4 threads of CPU power @ a higher speed.

Work and Python

So I have been "loaned" to another group to help with some development efforts.  For the past month I have been allocated 100% to this project and have been developing a python library of tools, some applications, linux configuration, etc.

It has been SO MUCH FUN!  But it has also been a lot of work.  I don't think I've worked LESS than 10 hours a day since it started.  Some days up to 14 hours or more.  Still...  I hadn't had the opportunity to code in my current position for 4 years, so this has been so refreshing.

Programming makes me feel like I am doing something constructive.  My "normal" job feels like a big paperwork shuffle.  In my "normal" job I do not feel as though I am actually doing anything.  It feels like a lot of meetings, a lot of talking...

So it has been fun to get back into Python.  I hadn't really done work in Python since around 2004.  Since then it was mostly Java, ruby, groovy and some php.  Python is my second favorite language, after Ada, and my favorite interactive language, with the bonus of some pretty good byte-compiled code execution speeds.

Another language I like a lot is Scala.  I am looking into Kotlin as well.  I hear it is a solid language.  Since groovy, scala and kotlin (generally) run on top of the JVM they are performant and have access to the JDK, and all the Java-based libraries you can find.  Good stuff.

My wife has been working on a children's book series that her aunt wrote, she is illustrating the stories.  The first book was completed, the second is in progress.  She is also "pet-sitting" and is having fun with that.  I believe she is saving up for her next pup.  :)

My mini's check engine light came on last week...  I did not worry much about it as it was running fine.  Turns out mini's have a lot of "check engine" issues that turn out to be absolutely nothing as was the case with this one.  It WAS near the time to have my oil changed, so I went and had them run diagnostics and change the oil.  They did nothing else, and the check engine light went off.  So... either it was related to the oil (which came out pretty clear because I am staying on top of it) or possibly the gas cap (which is a frequent trigger of CE lights).  Anyway, oil changed, tank filled and check engine light off... she is purring like a kitten.

Pop and Fedora and Stuff

I have been running pop 90% of the time, sometimes trying out new distros.  So a week ago I saw that Pop_OS! was updated to match the latest release of Ubuntu and decided to perform a full upgrade.

The upgrade process worked but for some reason it felt more like Ubuntu than Pop... (all in my head, I am sure).  So I decided, now was a good time to try out Fedora 30 which was recently released.

So I did.  I installed Fedora 30.  I think without a doubt this was the worst release of Fedora in awhile.  Performance was sketchy.  My tracker processes were constantly failing.  Base memory usage was > 2 GB.  Right now, running multiple applications on Pop I am using 2.2 GB (multiple terminals, browsers, etc.)  I do not have tracker failures.  Everything is smooth.

Prior to this I had sung praises over how smooth and performant Fedora was, but not this time.

I did a full install of Pop (twice actually as I did not like the partitioning they default to and they do not allow you to interfere very much in that regard).  Back to what I enjoyed for 90% of the past year with linux.

I haven't had a lot of time to write lately as work has been taking between 10 and 14 hours of my day recently, consistently.  But to be honest, the work I am doing right now is fun!  So the days are flying by.

Well, that is about it for now.  God bless you an keep you and yours safe!