Thanks guys. I will try to cover everybody here if I can remember it all. I will have trouble finding Jon Day. Cocoa is a ways away and without contact information I have no way to find him. Both his names are VERY common which makes looking for somebody very hard. I've tried to look myself up on the internet and that is not an easy thing to do. That does not mean I will not give it a try. It just looks kind of bleak.
I've tried the inactive site, and the contact there. No luck. Never got a reply back. I do know about ERAU. It has been around this area for a very long time and I went to high school here and have lived in this area off and on since i was since I was 14. I'm not familiar with Linkedin.com, jigsaw.com . But I will look into them and see what can be done there. I like the recruiting firm idea. But I have to find a way to contact the ones on the list, and find out information for here. Any help there would be greatly appreciated. I was really shocked that there was not LUG in the area as well. I figured that there had to be. But it is not working out well. I am going to start one if I can find some people here that are interested. Most of the computer shops here are not about much. Wish I had the funds to start one of those. I could make a killing. I have some info for those in Jax that may be looking for a Linux job too. Try indeed.com. They have a nice search engine that will allow you to search on Linux in the listings from employers. I get listing from them all the time with 20 jobs open in Jax for Linux professionals. I don't have the background they want or the paperwork they want or I would be all over them. Also would like to share somethings with all of you, including what is currently up with me since I moved down to New Smyrna Beach. I don't know if many of you remember who I am. I was only able to make it to one meeting and I walk with a cane. I had about 10 years of working with Linux when I was there, and I was the one who suggested that the guy use PERL to parse his log files and transfer them to a spreadsheet like he wanted to do. There was no presentation that night. So everybody just sort of introduced themselves around the table. I had to leave early because I had to catch a bus and the last one out was before the end of the meeting. Don't know if that will help anybody or not. I did not have a system then and somebody offered me one with with Linux on it but I could not take it. At the time I lived over by Shanes Hospital In the Springfield area. It was really hard for me to get over that way for the meetings. I was really thrilled to get to the one that I did get too. Enjoyed the tour I got at Peak 10 too. It was great. That was my first LUG meeting ever. Now you may ask why it took me so long to get to a LUG meeting since I was using Linux all that time, and here you will find out why. I've had a very troubled past. Had they had computers around when I was young I most likely would never have had some of the troubled past I did. I came from a home with an abusive father who was a drunk, drug addict, and cop. I was always leaving home. At one point I was involved with what most of you probably call bike gangs. I was never a member. But I had a lot of friends that were members of one club or another. In any event I got tied up with some people that were not involved with motorcycles that I thought were my friends. They were not. I got invited to a party where I was told there were going to be a lot of hot girls there and stuff to get high on. I cannot drink alcohol. I am really allergic. I do not get drunk. I get sick. But I did smoke pot and did use LSD. Never anything like cocaine, heroin, or anything else that was addicting. I was 18 years old when all of this was going on and it was 1973. (Note: I have not used any drugs since March 10, 1977. I quit on my birthday.) When we got to the so called party there was somebody there that had put two of the guys in jail. One got out of it, the other was out on appeal. The two took the third one out and drove off and killed the person. I had no idea that anything was going on. When the heat came down one of the guys that committed the murder decided he did not want to go to jail. So he made a deal with the state and became a states witness. He lied and got a bunch of people sent to prison, including me. We all got a life sentence with the first 25 calendar years mandatory, and he got one year with 10 months time served for testifying against all of us. I did not kill anybody or hurt anybody. I did 36 years 360 days in prison before I could get out. I was released on September 28, 2010. When I came to that first LUG meeting I was living in a halfway house where I stayed until I was allowed to move back home this past October. (The halfway house would not let me have a computer which is why I could not take the one that was offered at the meeting. If I was caught with one they would have thrown me out which would have violated my parole and gotten me sent back to prison.)So it took me a little over 38 years to get back home. I was afraid to tell anybody there because I figured that none of you would have let me stay. I never lied to any of you. I just left out the fact that I had been in prison. I did have 24 years experience with computers and 10 years experience with Linux. I did use them in a production environment I had a great boss that worked for an outside company and pretty much let me do with computers what I wanted. He also brought me a copy of what was then called Mandrake Linux, and even brought me the update for my birthday. I knew more about computers than the guy that was supposed to be the IT tech for the company and they would always come to me rather then go to him. I set up the network, programmed the databases and built the applications for the databases. I built computers and repaired the computers. I did all sorts of things with computers. I also had a lot of free time just to learn. Everything I know I had to work very hard to learn. I had to fight for books and scrounge for every book or article I could find. I had a couple of friends that did the same thing. We learned by doing. We learned by grabbing and clinging to every bit of information that we could find. We love working with computers. Because of my past there was no way I could get a job in the computer field in Jax or most likely any place else. I tried. I do not have the paperwork or work experience that people want to me to have. The stuff I learned in prison may very well be good enough to do the job. But it is non-verifiable. There is also the whole felony conviction thing, and the prison time. So I have pretty much given up my dream of finding a computer job. It is really hard to get any job at all. It took me 10 months to find a job as a small engine mechanic, and that dried up when the commercial season dried up for the winter and the shop started to majorly go dead. I knew it was going to take forever for me find a job in Jax under the circumstances, and so did the halfway house. So they let me go home rather than have me there. I'm running into the same job problem here. But the transportation is a real issue here. The bus lines REALLY suck here. I have to ride a bicycle for 6 to 8 miles to get to the closest bus stop from my house. At that point why bother? I generally ride my bicycle 25 miles a day, for at least 4 days a week. I have had to ride it 65 miles in one day. Employers don't consider that a reliable form of transportation. I can get a drivers license. But the money I was saving from my job to get a car I had to use down here just to survive. That is running out. I'm doing odd jobs where I can fixing lawn mowers. I also earned some money speaking before a group of college students from Northern Illinois University. Might be doing some more of that. Have a shot at talking with some at risk youth as well. I'm living at home now. I live so far back in the woods that if you look really close you can see the elves peaking out from behind the trees. My driveway is 1/2 mile into the woods. This system that I am using is a nice little box my nephew gave me running Fedora 15. Going to upgrade to 16 when I get the chance. It is a Sempron processor, a 160 GB drive, and 2 GB of RAM. I have a Logitec wireless Keyboard and mouse, and a Cannon Flatbed Scanner. Multi-format, and possibly duel layer DVD drive. It also has a built in flashcard reader. While it has a wireless N network card, the router my brother gave me is only B and G. The reception here in my room is not that good for wireless. So I have a wireless access point that uses PoE and is plugged in to my regular 10/100 network port. It gets great reception and I can move it around to find the best reception point with no problem because of the length of my cat 5e cable. Almost built a "cantenna" to handle the problem. I have a Dell Inspiron P3 laptop with 256 MB of RAM and a 20 GB hard drive that was given to me by a friend. I upgraded the video card to an wopping 32 MB! But it is a jewel to me. Right now it is running the foul XP. But as soon as I can find some distro of Linux to go on the little beast the XP is through dealing. I have a Gateway x700 that another friend gave me. But the video is shot and the poor beast was sitting in a nasty storage area so long it looks like things are growing on it and the thing stinks! I'm not sure about the details of it because I can't get video running enough to find out. I do know it has a 120 GB hard drive. I've taken that out and checked it. It works. I'm looking at taking it out of the case and putting it into another case to see what I can get going with it. I just have to find a case it will fit into. I have another Dell. It is a Dimension 4100 P3 with a 20 GB hard drive and 256 MB RAM. It currently runs the foul XP. But that is short lived as well. It has a CD-RW drive. I also have another system in a aftermarket case. It has a Asus P4S800MX motherboard. It came without any RAM. My brother gave me some to fit it. But at least one of the sticks is bad. 80 GB hard drive. It is running a Celeron 2.4 GHz processor. If I can work it out by changing out some of the RAM my brother gave me then it will have 512 MB of RAM. I will be loading either Linux or FreeBSD Unix on that machine. If I remember correctly there was a problem with Asus motherboards and Linux at one time. Did they get that fixed so Linux will work with the board I am using? I was using a Dell CRT for a while. But then another friend of mine gave me a 19" Dell UltraSharp flatpanel monitor and a X2Gen 19" flatpanel monitor. The X2Gen uses an external power supply and I don't have it, and I'm not sure where I can find one cheap enough for me to buy. So that is not working right now. I have a HP 1315xi multipurpose printer and a Cannon bjc 2000 printer. I don't have ink for the Cannon so I'm not sure what is up with that. The HP is working just fine after I downloaded the latest setup for Linux from their site. I currently have copies of Fedora 15, Ubuntu 11.10, Ubuntu 11.04, Knoppix 6.7, Debian 6.0.3, OpenSUSE 11.4, and some version of CentOS. I also use Trinity Rescue Kit for repair of ms systems when needed. I have two routers. A Linksys WRT54GV5v6 that does not seem to be working correctly because the critter wont let me on the internet. I also have an SMC router that I am currently using. So that is the state of affairs that I am currently in. I'm having fun investigating the town and all the changes. I have been adopted by one of my Mom's cats. He is an orange tabby named Red. He is pretty cool. Still having trouble finding a job. It is very disheartening. Everybody screams and hollers when somebody comes out of prison and commits crimes and goes back in. But they don't want to give him or her a job so that they can survive. I came out with such high hopes and dreams. They are all gone now. It is just plain survival now. But I am determined not to end up back in prison. I will take whatever job I can find. I hold no hatred or bitterness towards anybody. As they say, It is what it is. That was my life and my problems. The past does not have to control my future. I can still do things on my own. I may never get the career I dreamed about for years. But I will find something. So now you know all. Don't know if I will ever hear from any of you again. Only time will tell. But I want to thank you for having me at the one meeting I was able to go to while I was in Jax and the help you have given me here. Later, Michael J. Brown On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 6:14 PM, Chip Yglesia <[email protected]> wrote: > Also the local recruiting firms in jax may be a great way to gain initial > attendance if they are willing/allowed to assist in getting you in touch > with their counterparts at the locations you mentioned; I believe there > may be a couple on this list. > > Regards, > Chip YglesiaLinkedin.com, jigsaw.com i > [email protected] > 904.226.4768 > On Feb 7, 2012 6:09 PM, "[email protected]" < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> ERAU is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University...if that helps with that >> email domain... >> >> ----- Reply message ----- >> From: "Chip Yglesia" <[email protected]> >> Date: Tue, Feb 7, 2012 18:03 >> Subject: Still looking for LUG in my area. >> To: "Michael Brown" <[email protected]> >> Cc: "Jax-LUG" <[email protected]> >> >> >> The flowing website is no longer active, but try reaching out to the >> contact: >> >> City: Daytona Beach Web Site: http://www.dabnug.org >> Contact: Enrique 'Rico' Nieves Email: [email protected] >> Click here for more information >> >> Regards, >> Chip Yglesia >> [email protected] >> 904.226.4768 >> On Feb 7, 2012 5:38 PM, "Michael Brown" <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> > Have not been able to find a LUG In the New Smyrna Beach / Daytona Beach >> > Florida area. Have not been able to contact any other Linux users in >> this >> > area either. Thinking about starting a LUG here. But I have to find a >> way >> > to connect with other Linux users in the area. Any suggestions? If you >> know >> > anybody in my area have them email me at [email protected]. >> Any >> > help and advice would be greatly appreciated. >> > >> >> >>
