Consistency

Do you think that I'd talk to a dog? Do you think I'd ask a dog whether you're good or evil? What do you think I am? Some kind of crazy backwoods lunatic with a barn full of human skulls and a scythe that I sharpen every day in readiness for Armageddon?

I'm a regular guy. Despite what the advertisements on television and in periodicals would have you believe, I do not suffer from depression or anxiety, adult attention deficit disorder or obsessive-compulsiveness. I'm not bipolar and I don't suffer from restless leg syndrome. I don't fear homosexuals nor do I secretly wish to become one. I'm just normal, in a world which requires something uniquely wrong with you in order to be so. I still use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing strangers.

But I like consistency. I don't thrive on chaos. I've been around this globe and while my life at the surface still appears exciting and enviable, at the base of it is consistency. I usually know where I'll be sleeping at the end of the day, and sometimes, that's enough. When things become inconsistent, that's when I begin to root out the source to restore order.

I suppose most of my own inconsistencies are due to my own actions. I'm running xubuntu on four different boxes. Each box has its own quirks. I'd like for them to be more consistent. My office workspace was ergonomically adjusted Monday, which required I power-off the SPARC Ultra-10. When it came back up, the scroll-wheel no longer functioned as 'paste' when pressed, nor did spinning the wheel actually affect any change. I used this opportunity to upgrade that box, and my ubuntu-server at home, which would mark my second attempt at that.

I haven't had to compile my own linux kernel in years. That's cool. These days, its all automated. For example, I should be able to upgrade from 7.04 to 7.10 in two commands using the new "manager core." Very exciting stuff - but we'll get to that in a minute. Half my boxes are running 2.6.20 kernels, the other half 2.6.22 - all on 'automatic' upgrades. One of the 2.6.22 boxes lists as 7.04 and refuses to upgrade to 7.10. There are things going on here which I do not understand, but that a little research can unveil. Solaris just seems so much easier.

Back to the upgrade of my home ubuntu-server. schpydurx has flippantly commented that the reason I had so many problems during my attempted dist-upgrade of server was due to user error. Turns out, (new for?) 7.10 you upgrade server differently. Fantastic! And it can be done in only two commands:

1. sudo aptitude install update-manager-core
2. sudo do-release-upgrade

Fantastic! However, I'm still fuzzy on the part where an 'upgrade' removes tables in a database, removes files in directories, and removes directories, which is exactly what it did, again. IT REMOVED ALL OF MY DEVELOPMENT WEB PAGES! REMOVED THE DIRECTORIES AND THEIR DATABASES!

The world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein once quipped that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results was akin to insanity. I must be insane. I don't expect upgrades to destroy data I've written to disk! The entire idea is preposterous!

I like consistency.

Which brings me to my next gripe: I expect every text box I interact with to have bash shell completion. How frustrating. I'm pathetic, I know.

So go back to your bars, your temples...your massage parlors.