A Linux New Year

Installing Linux for “Joe Average” hasn’t been on my list in ages but it seems to be a Linux season here right now.

  • I installed Linux on Jean-Pierre’s chromebook. All is well except the 2.4GHz WiFi is not working. I’m investigating. (Now fixed with an OS update.)
  • Ben’s laptop hard drive died. He now has a Linux system and is impressed.
  • My neighbor Santos said his computer was too old to stream movies. I cleaned out some just from my garage, installed Linux on it and gave it to him (Spanish install). He is now a happy Linux user.
  • Ben’s wife is so impressed with Ben’s laptop, she now wants Linux on her system.

I guess that is the way it is all supposed to work.

And, on other things …

I decided to write my “Seasonal Status Message” here. I will point a few friends here but the rest of you can read it if you want as well.

We (Rocio, my daughter and I) have been running Casa Colonial Atitlan for a bit over two years. (If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out casasderocio.com.) It has been interesting with most of our guests being interesting, some extremely interesting and a few PITAs. A big side benefit is that it has been a chance for Rocio to “see the world” without leaving here. While more guests come from Quebec than any other place, we have had guests from France, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Colombia and lots more places. We are very busy right now but things slow down in January and except for Semana Santa the level of work is reasonable.

What’s new is that we are in the process of purchasing another house in San Antonio Palopó. You can read more about it at http://casasderocio.com/christmas-crazyness/ but, while in the same town, it will be a very different kind of rental. It’s on the lake rather than up the hill from the lake. While it will basically be a big one-bedroom house, there are two decks — one off the livingroom and one off the bedroom. It will be a more expensive rental but for those who want their own waterfront house for a weekend, a week, a month or …, it will have a lot of appeal.

As of July we added another player here — Mael, Rocio’s son. So far, he is getting talked to in English, Spanish, French and Flemish. It seems that Flemish appeals to him the most. My personal goal is to have him talking in English which will force Rocio to learn more English in order to understand him.

How am I? Older but I think that happens to all of us. It isn’t slowing me down. What do I need to do next? Learn Kachiquel, the local indigenous language but I continue to find excuses not to.