For the first outing, I uploaded some random footage I had laying around of me playing Skate or Die! 2 really poorly.

When I was setting up the video player, I used a clip of Castlevania 2's Password screen as a placeholder. And then I made it into a full-fledged video.

I take on the age-old debate on which text editor you should use.

Why did you switch from Windows in the first place? How strong your convictions are might indicate how successful your switch is

I make the case that you should pay for free software if you can. I also note that some projects can take contributions that are not monetary.

I don't usually bother customizing my computing environment all that much. I lay out some reasons why.

So you've decided to switch to Free and Open Source Software (or its equivalent). I go over some considerations you might want to think about..

Computers are serious business. Too serious. I argue that computers should be more fun to use.

Being creative is hard. Being successful at being creative is even harder. But how do you measure success anyway?

Tech personalities like to pad their bios by humblebragging about how their first computer was an old piece of crap. They think it makes them look savvy. I think it makes them look old.

It's an unusual opinion, but I love email. Unfortunately, it's moving away from being a communications tool and more toward something that annoys you at work.

I ramble a little bit about platforms, consolidation, and why you should own your own website.

The Unix philosophy gets bandied around a lot, but what is it, really? I go over the high points by using a basin wrench.

I compare 'getting good' at Linux (or anything, really) to breaking in a baseball glove..

If you want to learn Linux (or anything else), try teaching it to someone else.

I relate a story of a friend who, after spending hours setting up Windows, bragged that it 'just worked', unlike Linux.

Sometimes you have to look at a thing many times before you see it. I compare social media to a demolished liquor store.

I made a lot of videos for YouTube and ignored my own site. I need to fix that..

I pretend to be a life coach for a few minutes and tell you that instead of dithering about it, you should either <defecate> or get off the pot.

You know you should make a backup once in a while. I share some of my experiences with backups.

If you want to work in tech support for some reason, you need to be able to communicate.

Knowing the rules, and when to work around the rules, is important.

Your time is valuable. Don't work for free. Unless it's one of those times where it's okay to work for free.

The big problems are usually the most exciting to solve, but don't overlook the easy stuff.

Just because someone has a different domain of expertise than you, that doesn't make them somehow less intelligent.

If you take the time to teach your end users, it pays off down the road.

What's the deal with certifications, anyway?

It seems obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs stating: don't be a jerk to someone who called you for help.

I'm not an expert, but I wanted to talk a little bit about my experiences with women in technical contexts.

When you're called on to provide some kind of technical support, you're going to have to become part detective.

When an emergency happens, the worse thing you can do is to panic.

When lightning hits your computer, there's only one thing to do.

Sometimes you have to make a decision about putting your personal safety above your job requirements.

Reading books (even non technical ones) has a lot of benefits for working in technical support (and other fields, frankly).

You're not an automaton. Knowing when (and how) to say, "no" is critical.

Yeah, I know. You hate writing, it makes your hands hurt, writing is a waste of time, you can type faster than you can write, I've heard it all before.

With always-on always-connected devices, it's expected that you're always reachable. I'm sure it's cost me some upward mobility, but I have no problem leaving work at work. My mental well-being is worth it.

What started as a simple email delivery issue spiraled into something bigger and messier, and it was all predicated on three words that form part of the bedrock of my personal approach to troubleshooting: "I believe you".

Troubleshooting an email issue didn't go as planned, and eventually became apparent that it was time to walk away.

It's important to practice humility. It helps foster relationships between you and people you need to help, and between you and the people you need help from..

Being self-taught is a wonderful thing, but you need to make sure that you leave the fewest amount of gaps in your knowledge.

Sometimes clients ask me for advice about their home setups, they want the best <thing>, but the answer I have to give is sometimes more complicated than they want to hear.

Trust is relatively easy to get and relatively easy to keep, as long as you have standards. But once it's eroded, it's hard to get back.

I hear a lot about managing up. I tried it a couple of times, but I couldn't make it work for me.

I'm not perfect. I go over some of the times where I've destroyed or nearly destroyed some technology by accident.

If you are going to be supporting computers, it's probably a good idea to know how to touch-type.

I keep hearing about how great decentralized platforms are for communication, but we've had those for decades. IRC and Email still exist.

There was a push a while back about requiring real names on the Internet, but there are lots of problems with that, and it doesn't solve all the problems that it's supposed to.

Codes of Conduct in software circles became a Big Deal™ a few years ago, and some of the objections are the same old objections that come up every time that people are asked to modify their behavior in response to society changing around them.

I read a post on the purple tech site that annoyed me enough that I made a video about it. Not only because I don't have an account there and can't reply anyway, but also because I figured it would make a good video for the vlog. Or, at the very least a video for the vlog.

In the inaugural installment of Episode 2, I talk about game rentals, my grandfather, and two different games that aren't all that different.

I like Zelda II. Probably because I have never played all the way through the first Legend of Zelda game. Also, my copy is in a translucent green cartridge.

I worked for a summer in a museum and managed to convince them to put a copy of Stunt Race FX on display.

One of my favorite Game Boy games turned out to be a pinball game featuring alligators for some reason.

HAL Laboratory made a lot more video pinball games than Revenge of the Gator.

This is the one where I compare a game where a mysterious entity places humans in bizarre scenarios that play out for the amusement of the viewer and Star Trek.

There is nothing in Jet Set Grind Radio that I normally like, so of course I bought it. I'm as surprised as anyone.

I have an odd relationship with the first three Metroid games. Okay, maybe 'relationship' isn't the right word here, but you get my meaning.

I talk about two games that I didn't realize were related because whoever did the label art made it as unclear as possible.