It's Just DJ

Author: DJ Billings

  • Charge!

    Charge!

    I was just thinking about all the things I charge around my house: These things use very little electricity to stay charged. Living in Southern California, it seems crazy that we don’t have solar panels on our roof. Since we don’t own the house, it doesn’t make sense to pay for them. When we do…

  • Helping but not helping

    Helping but not helping

    Our yard is a mess. Okay, it’s mostly fine but we have a lot of weeds, and the grass — where it exists — is dry and crackly. I’m okay with this for the most part because we live in super dry Southern California and it turns out that the natural landscape is not a…

  • Managing My Music Files with the Command Line

    Managing My Music Files with the Command Line

    I recently wrote an article for opensource.com, “Why I switched from Apple Music to Jellyfin and Raspberry Pi.” I hope you’ll read that first — or at least skim it — because it’s really fun and you’ll have more context for this post. When managing my digital music collection during the move to Jellyfin, I…

  • About that “It’s just DJ” thing

    I once had someone tell me that saying “It’s just DJ” is sort of announcing that I don’t value myself. As if I was old Eeyore mumbling, “Don’t worry, it’s just me, it’s nobody important.” If you get to know me, you’ll soon realize I would never say “Aww, shucks, it’s just lil’ ol’ me.”…

  • When we just looked at things

    As Jenni and I were driving to the store today, I glanced in my rear view mirror. I was slowing down for a red light and I noticed that even before we got there, the driver behind us was already looking down at her phone, while still rolling to a stop. It seems like everywhere…

  • Leaving the Mac Behind?

    I’m really itching to get away from all things closed source as much as I can. One of the biggest is Apple. I’ve used Apple products for so long, they’re a huge part of my digital life. They’re easy to use, they just work, and they last a long time. So why do I want…

  • Goodbye Twitter? Toot! Toot!

    Update: This was interesting to read again (03-2023). I’ve changed some of my views on twitter since Elon bought it. He’s a twat and he’s ruining it. And it’s definitely not about free speech anymore. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter. Maybe he will…

  • March 2022

    Sometimes it seems like there’s so much craziness happening in the world, it’s hard to stay focused on our own lives. The invasion of Ukraine is bringing back memories of the Bosnian Airlift. In 1992-1994, I was stationed at Ramstein AB in Germany. Our unit worked directly on Operation Provide Promise, airlifting supplies into and…

  • WordPress Post Created Using CLI on a Wyse Terminal

    Okay, here’s the thing. I’m a geek about retro technology. Whether it’s old printing presses, cars (before computers), laptops, or dumb terminals, it doesn’t matter. I love finding old tech and giving it new life. I’m writing this post on a Wyse terminal. If you don’t know what that is, you can read about them…