Alright... So one of my hard drives failed in my backup server LVM array, and I received the new replacement disk today. So, I turn on my computer and even though the volume group isn't initialized (due to the missing disk), it still exists, and has all the other drives in the array still held captive. So, this is how to completely destroy your...

Sugarstone, a signed band of Advanced Budget Studios is gonna make it big-time!  Go and show your support for Sugarstone by attending the biggest Battle of the Bands concert in Utah!  The show starts at 10:00am and goes well into the evening. Details can be found here. ...

I'm always pleased and grateful that the Spirit comes so quickly when I read the Book of Mormon.  Sometimes I forget how much I love how the Spirit of God makes me feel and think and act. Anyway...  Great chapter this was.... Of all of the stories in the Book of Mormon, I think I like the one of the 2000 Stripling Warriors the best.&n...

Onward and upward towards the goal of finishing the whole Book of Mormon, writing about each and every chapter, by the end of this year. This chapter was all about war, and strategy.  I didn't find anything particularly enlightening about it, yet I firmly believe that each and every word written in the Book of Mormon has a meaning - and will...

Okay... So with the latest update to xorg-server (I think it was 6.5), xdm stopped loading XFCE4 and I couldn't get it to load anything but TWM. Here was the problem: Somehow, an important file got removed.  The file is this one: /etc/env.d/90xsession The contents of the file is simply: XSESSION="Xfce4" With that...

Stupid Kingmen.  Nothing like having your own people fight against you in the middle of a war.  One thing I noticed this time, which I had forgotten, is how Moroni followed the correct line of authority in order to do what he had to do with the kingmen.  He asked Pahoran for the right to take care of them, and Pahoran gave it to him....

Here I Am New year in a new town, new state, new sisters and brothers in a new ward and I feel wonderful! To end the year 2009, in December I went to the Temple in North Houston and was so warmly embraced by the Holy Spirit I could hardly contain my excitement. Tomorrow, I make the first Temple trip in the New Year. And I am ecstatic! Last mont...

Last Friday, we had the awesome opportunity to meet a fairly incredible group of girls.  They call themselves The Blue Aces, and after having listened to them strum a few chords, I'd say they've earned their title. Their manager contacted me after hearing a few samples from Advanced Budget Studios, and was interested in getting a pilot song...

 If the fortifications that Moroni built in the beginning were enough to astonish the Lamanites to the point that they were afraid to fight, and then failed to kill even one Nephite, while they themselves were slain to the tune of over 1,000 - I can only imagine what the additional fortifications did...  Goes to show that a good Christian...

Okay...  So this chapter wasn't brimming with the deep doctrines of the Gospel, but it did have a few nuggets. I would absolutely love to see some sort of diagram of exactly what the Nephites did to build up their cities.  I have so many ideas in my head of what it could have been, but to what extent that's true, I have no idea.  I...

Okay...  First question about this chapter which really intrigues me is this:  Why would Moroni immediately assume wickedness on the part of the Nephites as soon as Nephihah was taken over? I don't ask this question rhetorically, or sarcastically because if I were him, I guess I could think of a thousand other reasons why a city would g...

It seems to me like this chapter has a very deep meaning, but I couldn't quite get it this time. The whole chapter is about making covenants, and becoming a child of Christ. It's interesting that after verses 2, 3, and 4, the last word on verse 4 is "joy".  After they had heard the word of God, had their hearts changed through ...

This was in response to people NOT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS AND VETERANS.  When the people calling our veterans scumbags and persecuting the people defending them - can defend our nation better than our veterans and soldiers, then they can say something.  and NOT BEFORE!!!! THE ARM OF OUR NATION! READ RIGHT NOW!!! and let me know wh...

Today was a good day.  I didn't get enough sleep, so after our work lunch party, which enabled us to eat large amounts of Korean food (seasoned beef 'n' stuff wrapped in lettuce was good, but I didn't like the "kimchi" which was nothing more than hot and spicy rotten cabbage), I felt a bit tired...  Too tired to work. So, I wen...

I just realized that it's been a month since I last wrote about the Book of Mormon.  Man, if I'm gonna finish this thing, I'm gonna have to pick up the pace! First thing I noticed with this chapter is that when Alma got the revelation concerning the spirit world, it seems that he was just asking a curious question, "What happens to the ...

"God's people have not always been worthy of the marvelous experience we have shared today. The Apostles, after the Ascension of Christ, continued to exercise the keys He left with them. But because of disobedience and loss of faith by the members, the Apostles died without the keys being passed on to successors. We call that tragic episode &q...

I have written quite a bit about this chapter during previous years' studies.  To begin, I noticed this time that it is by the "spirit of prophecy" that Zeezrom's thoughts are made known to Alma and Amulek. I also noticed that during the buffeting these prophets delivered to Zeezrom, not one attack was personal.  They were sim...

I just thought I'd let ya'll know that I got a new haircut a couple of days ago.  I think its swell. I guess this just goes to show that I'm not entirely sane... pretty much... ever. The mohawk has quite a story which I might as well divulge right about now. It all happened about 7 years ago, when my brothers all got together for some event...

Chapter 29 of Alma is such a good chapter - on so many levels, too. How would it feel like to want the good of mankind so badly, that it caused you to take time to carve your feelings out in brass plates?  Putting all the doctrine of this wonderful chapter aside, the beginning verses give me a tiny glimpse into the type of desires living a p...

Reading the beginning of this chapter, I knew this was where the Lamanites and Nephites would enter into free commerce with one another.  When everyone is living by the same righteous standards, there is no need for distrust, or geographical boundaries, or anything else which comes from people living selfishly.  Honest living of the Gospe...

Upon beginning this study session, I found myself quite uninterested in doing pretty much anything.  Maybe it's just because I'm tired....  or maybe it's because I just finished one of my projects at work, thus putting me between projects again.  Who knows... When I got to verse 3, though, I found a gem of a scripture that I had fo...

I just got done reading an excerpt on Sony's new "open", "non-DRM" solution to downloading their music legally. As I understand it, you have to go to a store, buy some sort of card for $12.99 which has a magic code on it, get the code, go to a website, enter the code, and then you are able to download one of their whole 37 alb...

Okay..  So I installed Ubuntu on my brother's computer about 3 weeks ago, and he has been loving it!  Before that, he had been using gentoo with me as his personal admin, which I didn't mind because he rarely needed it, and when he did, it was usually a 10-30 minute fix, no problem. So, he liked it so much, and from what I could tell, ...

 So I wasn't really interested in getting yet another member of my little growing studio family, but I couldn't help but get this one after playing it at the local music store.  Found it on a killer sale at samash, so I pulled the trigger. Available to all studio clients for recording. Isn't she gorgeous? She sounds awesome, too....

Using The Gimp to remove low frequency data from an image. When I take a picture of something I would like to use for texture, there is often a slight change in the color across the entire image. I want to keep the detail, but make the overall color even across the image. This is a picture of dusty rain marks on the hood of my car: It is l...

Interesting that in verses 22 and 23, Amulek states that if they got rid of the righteous, they would ultimately be destroyed.  That's a sad prophecy, which unfortunately comes true.  They not only got rid of the righteous, they killed them - and swift was the judgement of God upon this whole city. That's it for this chapter....

An interesting concept was brought up during an interesting class I had on Sunday. Last year, I went to the normal gospel doctrine class almost all year and enjoyed almost every class.  We had a fabulous teacher who really brought the class alive with discussion about interesting concepts.  Never once was a spirit of contention fall up...

Okay... I don't have much time to write this, so, let's cut to the chase. This article is freakin' hilarious.   This one is less hilarious, but more informative.  Both articles are simply awesome. Heh....  Some things which I absolutely love about Linux are the following:     1. They got the windowed scrolli...

Wow...  It really is amazing what a good night's sleep can do to one's attitude.  I don't know if everyone is affected this way, but man...  Yesterday, it was all I could do to keep myself from just walking away from everyone and going to sleep.  I was irritable, quick to frustration, and a general jerk to pretty much everyone. ...

So, this weekend I had the pleasure of meeting yet another one of Utah's finest bands.  The band's name is "Shallow Sky", and if their music is any indicator, these guys are gonna stick around. To be honest, I expected the 3 sessions (totalling 26-hours) with these guys to be a bit rough, due to only my incredible lack of sleep las...