Well, Christmas always wreaks havoc with my sleep schedule.  Getting up at 4 a.m. and going to bed at 7:30 p.m. is not conducive to late-night Christmas Eve celebrations and Christmas Day lunches with the family.  I spent most of the 25th in a sleepy stupor.  It felt like the inside of my cranium developed about 4 inches of lead shielding in the flat-line sleep I got between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.  My natural physical state was staring at the wall silently.  

I have recovered today, after a solid eight hours of sleep nearer to my biologically-dictated schedule.  With a longer vacation, I have to be vigilant about that schedule.   A lack of sleep discipline will lead to a  miserable first week of 2009.

My mother gave me one of those ASUS Eee PCs for Christmas.   It’s a little Linux-based subnotebook.  It’s only a little larger than a DVD case.  

The Eee is a wonderful little thing.  They cram a lot onto it.  It’s perfect for Web-surfing, e-mail, writing, spreadsheets, playing music — that kind of stuff.

I did have trouble setting up the wireless network.  Apparently, it’s a common problem with WPA-protected networks.  I solved it by converting all the computers in the house to static IP addresses on the network. 

But the search for a solution was a reminder of why Linux will never work in the mainstream.  Linux, in case you don’t know, is a computer operating system — like Windows or Mac.  It’s all open-source, so it’s usually free. 

A few years ago, I wanted to get off the grid and stick it to Microsoft by switching a computer to a Linux-based OS.  In this case, I picked the one that’s seems to be considered to be one of the most user-friendly — Ubuntu.  I downloaded the CD image, installed it on a machine and it seemed to work very well for the basics — Web, e-mail, documents, etc.

It’s the next level of computing that challenges the new Linux user.  The basic setup was perfectly functional, but when I wanted to add drivers for other hardware, I quickly learned that I was no match for Linux.   Downloading and installing new things in Linux generally involves opening a terminal window (it looks like DOS on Windows), and entering a series of arcane, unintuitive commands.   Like this:

“sudo apt-get install ksmserver”

What in the world does that mean?

I switched my Eee to a “full desktop” mode, which looks like XP.  Installing this involved adding new “repositories” by hand, and typing “sudo apt-get install advanced-desktop-eeepc” in the terminal window.  Now, I want to uninstall it, so I’m hoping for the best.

Fortunately, there are some kind Linux experts who are willing to share the knowledge with the rest of us.  But judging from some of the forums, there are a lot of Linux users who are trying to hide the treasure from us, whom they call derisively “noobs.”   Judging from their posts, they otherwise seem to be adults.  What drives their need for exclusivity?  Surely, a greater awareness and understanding of Linux among the public would enhance their own experience.

Windows is a big, nasty, bloated pile of software — but my experience with Linux taught me why.  Windows is prepared for most things you plan to do with your computer.  Tucked in the huge file cabinets in your computer, there’s likely a folder for your specific piece of hardware.  If there isn’t, Windows makes it pretty easy to add.  

Linux has a small, strong foundation – but there’s a good chance that you’ll have to find a way manually to add drivers for hardware.  You have to learn another language to get new things to work, and even then, it may not be supported. 

My years-ago Linux experiment was abandoned within a few days after dreaming about apt-getting in my sleep.  Through tremors of frustration and a little sadness that my great Linux journey was a mirage, I put Windows back on the machine.  It wasn’t until 2008 that I stuck it to Microsoft and went to the marvelous Mac.  So far, I have no desire to stick it to Steve Jobs.

I should be fine with Linux on my Eee, though.  The hardware limitations prevent me from adding too much.  It seems to be a wonderful “it-is-what-it-is” machine — almost like a Web appliance.  One concern though, it doesn’t use a heatsink.  Keyboard shielding spreads the heat.  And it gets hot. 

My mom also gave me a full flight yoke and throttle quadrant setup for Flight Simulator.  She’s a geek enabler.  It’s magnificent.  I had to order some rudder pedals, though.  When the pedals arrive some day next week, I’ll be cloistered in my pretend cockpit.  No lining up at the door, please.  

My 12 Days of Facial Hair is close to crossing the atypical threshold.  Today would be growth for a typical three-day weekend without shaving.  By the end of the weekend, I will have crossed the record-breaking 5-day boundary.  The path beyond that — into next week — is unclear.

I had a scare last week when I compared my remaining vacation hours with my scheduled vacation hours, and realized I had miscalculated.  My 12-day break will be interrupted with about seven hours of work one day next week.   Of course, a day on TV would force a shave, and the project would be ruined. 

As it stands, I will be off the air during my seven hours, working on a story that will air that night and setting up stories for next month.  With any luck, the beard (or my attempt at one) will go on and on — until January 5, at least.  My WRAL friend Nate Johnson suggested I should shave it on the air when I get back.   A capital idea!

I read an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning, which suggests the economy may not be as bleak as we fear.  Writes Zachary Karabell, president of River Twice Research (they look at political and business trends):

Predictions about the rate of unemployment by the end of 2009 are based on how high that rate went during and after other recessions, and how steep those recessions were compared to today. Forecasts of GDP growth are grounded in the nature of past contractions and how long it took the system to begin expanding again. But none of these past patterns are necessarily a useful guide to the circumstances of today. The way events have unfolded over the past few months simply has no precedent.

That last sentence doesn’t sound ominous at all.  Right?  All the same, I’m going to become a currency speculator in ’09.  Smooth rocks, seashells, mulch chips — I think they all have significant upside potential.