When my partner gave me a Donvier Yogurt Maker last year, neither of us realized that I was going to become a slave to my yogurt machine.

A batch of yogurt takes about 8 hours from start to finish - an hour to prepare the blend (scald, cool, and add starter) followed by seven hours in the yogurt maker. And because it has become my breakfast of choice, every Sunday morning is devoted to preparing the blend while reading the Sunday paper.

When I get a late start, it often means that we’re not getting out of the house until 11. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

One of my little conceits is that I pick up new programming languages easily. But while that may be true about the language itself, these days understanding the language is just the opening ante. You need to understand the language, the frameworks, the libraries, the tools and the subject matter to be the real deal.

Which is the roundabout way of me saying that my first attempt to evaluate Squib came up short. It turns out that I was missing a gem. It also turns out that I need to get back to basics

I thought I could take a shortcut, start with a working Rails application and learn Rails on the fly. Instead, it looks like I need to open up my copy of Agile Web Development with Rails and start reading for real.

You know you’re a geek when you enjoy spending the better part of a day downloading, installing, and configuring software.

And now that I’m on the other side, I have Rails on FastCGI running for both Apache and LightTPD.

On the Apache side of the house, you want to read Dan Benjamin’s Do It Yourself Guide to Installing Ruby, Rails and FastCGI [on Mac OS/X]. When you get to Virtual Hosting, then mezzoblue’s Virtual Hosts for Dummies is what you really want to read.

For LightTPD, Dan’s Building Ruby, Rails, LightTPD, and MySQL on Tiger is the definitive guide. With James Duncan Davidson’s Virtual Hosting Rails Applications with LightTPD for Virtual Hosting.

Clearly I don’t need both Apache and LightTPD. But it makes me feel better to know how to configure both. Now, it’s time to take Squib and Typo out for a spin.

Hmmm, perhaps I should look at Squib. Once upon a time, I was preparing for a move to TextPattern. I was pretty close to pulling the trigger when I got distracted by Ruby on Rails. Then one thing let to another, and I’m still on Radio Userland a year and a half later.

The thing is, I hear the siren call of a server rendered weblog. When I was underemployed, The PowerBook was always ready for another post. Now, I need to fit my blogging into the nooks and crannies of my day.

I didn’t plan on sending any more money TextDrive’s way. I already had a lifetime plan with all the goodies that TextDrive boasts. But then TextDrive had to sweeten the pot and add in the Mixed Grill, TextDrive Hosting: plus StrongSpace, plus 5 Joyent users.

How was I supposed to resist? I sent TextDrive another $199 to upgrade my TextDrive hosting for life to TextDrive, StrongSpace and Joyent hosting for life. Now I’m just waiting for the keys.

I try to check for new comments and trackbacks every day. And I find that spam out numbers real information about 100 to 1. Back in the day, spammers actually registered real domain names. Now I find that 100% of my spam comes from free web hosts.

I know that I should have more sympathy for people on a budget. But with good hosting plans available for $60/year (a domain name will run another $10/year), the savings from a free web host is a false economy. Just like real estate, a small place in a good neighborhood is better than a big place in a bad one.

I’ve been pretty quiet for the past year or so. Back when I was underemployed, I had a lot of opinions and not much holding me back from airing them. Now that I’m overemployed, I find that my vocation and my avocation overlap a bit too much for my liking. So I totally get why Ben Wright and the Net Files have reached the end of the road. The way I look at it, Ben is lucky to have work that can engross much of his thinking.

Me, I think that I’m ready to get back on the Soap Box.

Excuse me, we faked the data isn’t pretty small beer. Tom Peters is reported to get $65K per speaking gig. In Search of Excellence put Tom Peters on the map. I wonder how many of those speaking gigs he would have received if it had been known that he faked the data. [via James Robertson]

Once upon a time, I was noted for over buying - purchasing goods whose capabilities exceeded my personal ability to use or perceive. I seem to have outgrown that. HDBeat advises that buyers go for the slightly higher in price but much better quality Samsung or Sharp, rather than the entry price Westinghouse.

I thought about buying a Samsung or a Sony rather than the Westinghouse. But the Westinghouse was $1300, the Samsung was $1800 and the Sony was $1900 (all 32” LCD HDTV with speakers on the bottom). And I just couldn’t convince myself that either the Samsung or the Sony was worth the extra bucks. So I banked the money towards my next TV purchase.

BTW, HDBeat is a great source for all the latest Hi-Def news. I didn’t know about it when I bought my HDTV. You shouldn’t make that same mistake.

Or 2 days during which I can still return my HDTV.

The Westinghouse LTV-32w1 is a rather unremarkable HDTV, primarily noted for a good price to size ratio. Picture looks good to me, but almost anything would look good after several years with a curved tube TV. The speakers are mounted under the screen - not so good for stereo separation, but good for squeezing into an entertainment center.

All in all, I was quite happy with my purchase. Until I saw it advertised for $300 less from J&R. And then the buyer’s remorse kicked in. It was a good value at the price I paid. But if it was available for $300 less, then what did J&R know that I didn’t? I was obsessed with the $300.

I think that I’ve come to grips with the $300. But it’s going to take a couple more days to be certain.