Hosed my hard drive

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I have a dual-boot desktop, and I usually run Linux on it. I tried to boot into Windows today for the first time in a long time, and Windows did not boot up. I booted into some “safety mode” which restored Windows, but wrote over the master boot record. I guess it is “safety” from Microsoft’s perspective, not necessarily mine. So now I cannot access Linux. I have backed up the important stuff recently, so I am not totally up a creek.

I am trying to follow some online tutorials on restoring GRUB to the MBR via a live CD. So far none of them are working. I may have to reinstall Linux. I would lose a lot of stuff (mostly mp3 files of podcasts, although I could re-download those). I am not too happy about this, but I guess I have to do what I have to do.

Image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Illustration of Spartan Kings from Alexandrian World Chronicle, 5th century Greek chronicle.

Another CJUG Update

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There was another CJUG meeting last week. One of the current acting officers was not there, so the handover did not happen. So I will have to wait another month. In the meantime, I will contact some other Java user groups and get some input on how to run a group.

At one meeting I met a recruiter who says on his Linked In profile that he has a copyrighted class on how to interview. One idea that I have is getting some people to speak about “getting to know the business,” as people say.

Image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Illustration from Quedlinburg Itala fragment, a 5th century Latin manuscript.

Another Update

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The CJUG election has not happened yet. Only myself and another person were up for the four positions. But I spoke to a couple of people afterwards, and they agreed that a regular mailing list might help bring some publicity to the group. One said he never checked the Yahoo Group.

Also, I am still working on Shelf Unit. I am testing out the Struts and JSF versions. I am also looking into JUnit and adding some tests. It looks like unit testing database operations is a big pain. I asked a few people at CJUG last night about this, and they mentioned Hypersonic, DBUnit and JMock. So it looks like I have to learn five things just to do one thing.

Image from Wikipedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Illustration from Codex Washingtonianus, a 5th century Greek manuscript.

Intro Post

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As people brag on Slashdot: “First post!” Granted, it’s just me, but at least I get to say it this one time.

My name is Eric MacAdie (muh-KAY-dee). I am a software developer in Chicago, Illinois, The City That Matters, and this is my blog.

The purpose of this site is to help me improve my Java skills and keep an eye on what is going on in the Java world. It will also advocate the use of Java, not only for the web but in all environments. I will post content with some Java tutorials for some applications, including some of the Java technologies that I will use to create content for and run this site.

That is all I will say for now. I thought  about what I would say in the first post, but I decided to keep it short. I can always have an “About” page that I can update as needed.

Lastly, as they say on Slashdot: In Soviet Russia, Beowulf cluster of dying BSD machines imagines you!

(Originally posted 2008-08-01_02.05.33)

Image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Section of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2652, 2nd century.