Until I can arrange for in-house Internet, I’m content to live my life offline, and believe it or not, it seems to be working.

It’s a little disgruntling for an avid reinstaller and an erstwhile forum moderator, but one week of life offline has proven … bearable. I gave myself a healthy dose of upgrades and potential software by visiting a friend with a high-speed connection, and installing or at least grabbing everything I could think of. I didn’t get it all, but I have them tucked away as a local software repo, and it’s keeping me pacified.

Of course, it’s not going to keep the online monkey off my back for long. Luckily Ubuntu plays nice with my Inspiron 8000, or I’d be really hurting for a connection. As it is, I’m fine this way, and I can keep myself occupied with a healthy dose of decent games, and a slew of software.

As it is, I’ve been living with a Xubuntu installation, which isn’t really to my liking. I equate the Ubuntu version of XFCE with the Gnome version; it isn’t light enough or fast enough to satisfy me, so it offends me slightly. I’d rather strip it down to almost nothing, and get a clean and fast Openbox desktop in place. That’s my project for this weekend.

And since I grabbed every package, script, utility and tool available when I visited my friend, I’m prepped and ready for a clean rebuild. Once more into the breach! 😈