John Borwick's blog

Continuing my series of things I take for granted, over the course of my life I have used UNIX-derived operating systems: AIX, SunOS, Solaris, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, and now OS X (which is based on FreeBSD).  I first learned how to use UNIX via the command line, dialing in to systems and telneting to others.  (As an aside: at the same time, I also got to learn VAX a little.  Yay.)  Because I first used UNIX-like systems via the command line, the command line is very comfortable to me.  I know it isn’t comfortable to most people, and there are … Continue Reading

• Top 10 tips to a new django developer – 0 & 1

  (tags: django programming tips)

• Governance

  (tags: isaca cobit information technology it governance publication publications research)

This article continues my series on describing what I already take for granted on my computer.  At work, running Windows XP, I use two programs to keep my passwords and files secure:

1. Password Safe, an open-source program for storing passwords that was originally written by Bruce Schneier.  I chose this program because Bruce Schneier is awesome.  (On my Mac at home I use Apple’s “Keychain Access” instead.)
2. TrueCrypt, an open-source disk encryption program for storing files securely.

Passwords
I keep Password Safe running all the time.  You can double-click Password … Continue Reading

• Customization Policy – BMC Software

  (tags: bmc remedy customization policy customize itsm it service management tool suite)

• … Continue Reading

• You Don't Say

  (tags: copy editor blog language writing news journalism grammar)

One of my goals for 2010 is to blog about things I take for granted when I use the computer.  If you’ve used MS Word styles before, this article may be old hat to you.  However, if you haven’t used MS Word styles, I hope to introduce you to a whole new way to format your documents–so you will never have to use the “Font” menu again.

MS Word 2007 made it a little easier to find styles: there’s a “Styles” menu in the ribbon under the “Home” tab.  … Continue Reading

Since last April or so, I have used a pay-as-you-go Tracfone as my sole cell phone.  The phone itself cost $10 including some cell phone minutes.  The good things about this phone include

• Incredibly cheap–with a special deal, I just paid $30 for 90 days and 300 minutes (120 minute card * double minutes for my cell + 60 minute bonus )
• Has three games (“Rebels”, “Crazy”, and “Soccer”)
• Reasonably good cell phone coverage
• Small
• Text messages cost 0.30 minutes each, and you can delete unread text messages without being charged for them

However, the phone … Continue Reading

• Synergy

  (tags: share keyboard multiple computer computers kvm free software)

Fred licks his lips

Originally uploaded by borwick

I happened to take a picture of Fred yesterday while he was licking his lips!