Some of you may travel around, and you will probably need to access the internet. While I can use my phone for almost everything, I still use my laptop for 'real' work. I also have access to a FedEx Office with their LapNet station and a laptop with Lubuntu. I originally was using the AT&T WiFi, but the speed and reliability was awful. My solution, grab the LapNet files from the USB drive and launch it under wine. With one warning box and clicking next a few times, I was off and running. For any one out there who has been wondering about this as a possibility, I can verify it is possible.

All you need to do is enable DHCP (default for most distros) and run the LapNetWizard.exe with wine. There will be a popup box about enabling DHCP, just click 'OK' and continue. Once its done setting up the network, it will ask to install the printers. The printers will not install correctly, so click 'No' and continue. Then insert your card and it will connect. I also launch an SSH session to proxy my Firefox traffic, but thats another story.

I'm sure there are a lot of posts about how awesome Udacity is, but here's one more. I've already finished the CS101 (Python) course and have moved on to CS253 (Web Applications) and have enjoyed the whole process.
One of the best things about Udacity is that you can access it anytime, and there are no time sensitive lectures or assignments. Something that I also appreciate is the homework. As of this hexamester, you don't have strict deadlines, which means if I have a bad week, I  can catch up the following week where I may have more time.
Udacity is still in the early stages, but I want to see this stick around, and if I have to pay, it wouldn't hurt my feelings for what I'm getting out of it.

After talking with a fellow tech lover and learning programmer recently, I was pointed to a good write up about the hacker mind set and another page about getting started with programming.

How to be a Hacker
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
How to be a Programmer
http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html

These should not be considered an end all solution and life style choice, but there is some very good information if your just getting your feet wet and want to have a better understanding of the culture and mind set of your soon to be peers.

I have just set up my blog here on google sites, and over all it's not a bad way to set up a quick blog. There are, however, some things I already miss about a full host:

1. No server side engines (php, mysql, etc)
2. Only web access to files (no ftp, ssh, etc)

On the plus side, using a free host has helped me quite a bit:

1. No setting up the content manager (or coding from scratch)
2. No worries about upgrading software or checking dependencies.
3. No picking at CSS code and trying to make a template just right.

Over all, for setting up a blog, this seems to have everything I need. I won't be getting rid of my full hosting anytime soon, as I still develop and love to host my own setups (like OwnCloud.) If your just getting started and want to share your thoughts, I would recommend starting with a free host site, just to get the ideas on paper and to the web.

As always, make backups!!! Even if this means coping and pasting into text files, it can save you from disaster.