I found all sorts of solutions, but none of them worked for me. One person said his problem was resolved by installing vlc-plugin-alsa while setting the ´Output Modules´ setting (visible by enabling ´Advanced Settings´) to ALSA. Given my previous issue, mentioned above, I thought this would be my fix, but again, no joy.

Then, I ran across a blog post in which the author aired his gripes with PulseAudio. Deep in the comments, a Pulse Audio developer explains the root of the problem; while doing so, he mentions a workaround: ´libflashsupport´. That was my fix! As it turns out, Ubuntu has the fix available via a package. It appears that the VLC dependencies haven´t been updated to include it.

As far as the problem was concerned, it never occurred to me that whenever I tried to run VLC, I´d also had Firefox open, which, due to issues with Flash 9, allowed YouTube or some other flash-dependent website to block access to my soundcard. Grrrr.

Since, he explained it a hell of alot better than I ever could, I´ll quote him directly:

This error is basically pulse saying it cannot open the front:0 device as it is in use by another application (e.g. something else has claimed exclusive access to the h/w). Pulse may indeed grab the audio hardware but alsa should be configured to route the “default” device via pulse and everything works as expected with all apps having access to audio “hardware”.

Pulse is not able to “lock your audio to the firefox stream” but if Firefox is eating all the streams, then this is probably an issue with an old version of Flash plugin which used the ALSA API totally incorrectly (opening as many connections as possible!). This has been fixed in newer flash plugins but the pulseaudio community also worked around this bug (in a closed source app!) via the libflashsupport plugin API. So the community has done everything they can to ensure this isn’t a problem.

Anyway, long story short, if you´re running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and having an issue with sound in VLC, close Firefox and try again. If you then get sound, you need to install the package ´libflashsupport´.

apt-get install libflashsupport

“If I don’t do Vegas, then I’ll do Rhode Island….”

Don’t go crazy, dude.

Rather, the purpose of this post is to put to paper (or keyboard) my thoughts on some of my goals. I’ve been giving them quite a bit of thought lately while trying to formulate a strategy for tackling them. I’m only going to lay them out briefly right now; I’ll elaborate on how I plan to progress toward each specific goal in posts to follow. I haven’t exactly shared these with anyone, so this is an attempt at “going public”, so to speak, as a psychological tool. By posting them here, I’m hoping to put some pressure on myself to commit and follow through. As usual, your thoughts and comments are invited and appreciated.

In no particular order…..

1. Get in shape!

I enjoy running. I really do. But you couldn’t tell by the shape I’m in right now.

As I’ve mentioned to several people by now, Jen and I plan on running the Hartford HALF Marathon this October. We’ve got two months to get ready. I did run two miles after work once this week. But we need to get on the ball if we hope to finish a 13 mile run.

Since I’m a geek, I plan to bring technology into play. I’m considering either a keyring GPS unit to carry along on runs or the Nike+/Apple training tool. These will help to track our progress by allowing us to record distance and pace. The GPS unit would add route mapping to the mix.

More on this to come….

2. Get better at guitar!

Technically, I’ve been taking lessons for three years now. That is to say that I started lessons toward the end of 2005, although there were some issues and it was very off and on for some time. However, to listen to me play would lead one to believe that I’ve been playing for far less than that. I’m just not very good.

To be fair to myself, I need to point out that I’ve never been particularly good at music or anything creative. It’s a (HUGE) weakness of mine of which I am perfectly aware. My mind works technically. Or, logically, as I like to tell Jen. To me, music seems to work in a way entirely counter to the way I think.

Anyway…
I’ve resisted the conventional route of learning guitar. There are a couple reasons for this, but I’ll go into them later. For now, I’ll just admit that I need to get more organized with regard to a practice routine. Rather than playing around with the songs and/or rhythms I want to learn, I need to go back to the basics and get the technical bits down.

Did you catch that?? Yes, I’m confessing that I’ve taken the wrong approach. The conventional approach that I resisted IS technical. And boring. But I need to suck it up and practice, practice, practice the technical boring bits if I ever hope to progress to the point where I allow myself to play in front of someone other than my immediate family.

Enough on that for now….

3. Improve my spanish!

I’m Puerto Rican. (Boricua!) But during my childhood, I heard more spanish than I spoke. As a result, I can understand a fair amount of spanish, but I suck at actually having conversations. It isn’t beyond my reach, mind you; it has more to do with my level of confidence and my self-consciousness with regard to mistakes. In other words, the problem is in my head.

It’s high time I correct this issue.

There are many other elements to this particular goal, some of which I don’t plan to discuss yet. However, I’ll elaborate more in the follow-up posts.

Hmmm. While I’m at it, I’m going to throw another one out there.

4. Improve my writing!

It takes me a REALLY long time to put thoughts to paper. Errr, keyboard. An embarrassingly long time.

Much like my spanish problem, I think the solution lies in my own willingness to actually engage the part of the brain responsible for this sort of exercise. With that in mind, I plan to post regularly on each of the goals outlined above in the hope of not only moving toward those goals, but also improving my ability to write in a structured and coherent manner.

Thanks for reading this far. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

i miss this stuff :-(

Yes, she has a mask on her head.

Yes, that is a Puerto Rican flag on her back.

Yes, Monkey Monk (the monkey, duh) also wore a cape.

No, I’m not sure what the soccer ball was about.

Bri: Well, technically babies don’t start loving and longing for someone until they’re six months old, so…..no.

C'mon kid, get outta there!

With each newly acquired vehicle, I purchased the appropriate Haynes Repair Guide and learned my way around the car. I replaced alternators, starters, shock absorbers, brake pads and rotors and performed my own tune-ups. Once you gain a sense for how a car actually works, it really isn’t very difficult. But it can also be insanely frustrating. Lacking an expansive toolbox, I scraped plenty of knuckles, stripped plenty of nuts and swore and cursed enough to make my sailor buddies proud. Fucking cars.

Anyway, Jen drives a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta nowadays. Back when it was new and under warranty, we naturally sent it to the dealer for service. But once the warranty expired, Jen continued to insist on dealer service, believing it to be head and shoulders above the rest.

Until they droped the ball, that is.

For some reason, I’d always believed repair shops to be full of crooks and con artists just waiting for the next sucker. And, in my mind, “Authorized Dealer” repair shops were the worst. After one $600 repair bill after another (no matter the symptom), I think Jen came to agree with me. Bloodsuckers, all of them.

In my eternal quest to avoid dealing with scum, I’ve taken to paying cash for my vehicles, always used. Naturally, I maintained them as well. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve lost interest in sticking my head under the hood, even if it means keeping more of my hard earned cash.

Recently, my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee began to act up. As I sat at stop signs and traffic lights, the transmission slipped out of gear. Most times, it corrected itself once I hit the gas. I quickly realized that if I shifted to neutral, I could avoid the delay altogether. I *knew* the jeep needed to be serviced, I *knew* I couldn’t do it, but I *still* dealt with the inconvenience, not to mention the risk of costly repairs later on, rather than drive down the road to see my arch nemesis, the car mechanic. When it began to slip out of gear at speed (meaning, while I was moving), I was like “Uh oh….”.

Almost simultaneously, the Jeep began to stall randomly. Just as with the transmission issue, it acted up mostly at rest, with an occasional stall at speed. Stalling while in motion is no joke. That’s when I swallowed my pride and called Jen’s mechanic, who’s actually a pretty honest, trustworthy guy.

Having said that, I think it’s pretty clear that today’s mechanic relies upon the ever-present computer to tell him what’s wrong. This case was no different. He pulled the diagnostic codes and made his recommendations. There were two issues, an unrelated sensor issue (Evaporative Emission Control System Purge Control Valve Circuit) and the ignition coil. He explained that the ignition coil could cause the stalling issue, by interrupting spark. It sounded plausible, it really did. And besides, the computer said it needed to be replaced. $400 later, I was rolling out of there, content in the fact that I wouldn’t be left on the side of the road.

From there, I took the Jeep to Capitol Transmission, in Hartford. They found that the transmission issues were caused by leaking transmission fluid cooling lines. Thankfully, I didn’t need a transmission rebuild. $300 and I’m outta there. I was generally happy with the whole experience.

Two days later I was on the side of the road, on the phone with AAA.

I’ll save the rest of this story for a follow up post, mostly because I’m tired of typing. Don’t touch that dial.

Man 1: …..I don’t understand why these gay guys feel they have to do that.

Man 2: Well, it must be hard for them, having to hide it all the time.

(as they head for the door, it occurs to him they weren’t alone.)

Man 1: We gotta stop having gay conversations in the bathroom.