• Ubuntu Linux — a free and user-friendly operating system. Also it requires very little by way of resources, I’m running it on a PC that is about three years old, and wasn’t really very good when it was bought new.
• Squid and Dan’s Guardian — a combination of programs which monitors and filters everything that people look at through our internet connection. I’ve also written my own redirect page which redirects poorly chosen internet requests to lds.org.
• Apache — As a web server, so that in time I can host my own website from the server.
• Samba and SWAT — So that we can use the server to store files from our Windows machines.

If anyone needs any help setting up anything similar then give me a shout. I can certainly help out.

The server is called ‘Claire’ because I asked everyone what it should be called and Claire replied saying that it should be called that.

UPDATE: I am now able to synchronise all the files from my laptop to Claire using Unison, and can access my files remotely over the internet using Putty (instructions). And I have a backup done by backup-manager.

I’m picking it up on Saturday afternoon.

The quicker you guess, the more points you get. Your guess changes colour when you get it right.

Anyway, bottom line is that now work is reading my blog I have to be extra careful… It also means that if she plucks up the courage to actually comment herself then my disgraceful work behaviour might be revealed to the rest of my blog-world!

Free as in free beer.

I’ve had three of my grandparents pass away:

1. My maternal grandfather — He passed away when I was about eleven, so I was a little young. I remember my Mum being very upset.

2. My maternal grandmother — She passed away while I was a missionary. I was either 19 or 20. My Mission President broke the news to me in person during an interview. I felt a real loss as soon as he told me. I went home and read letters that my Mother had sent me telling me what had happened and so on. I found comfort in teaching others about the resurrection and believing that I would see her again.

3. My paternal grandfather — He passed away much more recently. My most intense moments were of seeing the body in the coffin, and also watching the coffin be lowered into the grave.

My point is that there’s a real contrast between my grandmother’s passing (when I wasn’t in the country and was unable to attend the funeral etc) and my grandfather’s passing (when I was there, faced with the loss and saw the grief of others etc).

So which is better in the longrun? Is it better to be there, to see the body and the funeral and the grief? Or is it easier to be distant, in another country, with people that don’t know?