E16 Fonts

Whenever I need to reinstall the Enlightenment window manager on my laptop (generally after a fresh Ubuntu install), my fonts are HUGE. I always end up solving it, but I never remember how when it comes time to install again, and so far I haven’t written down instructions.

So, for the record:

To fix the fonts in e16, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the following line under Section “Screen”:

Option “DPI” “96 x 96″

Finis.

Firefox 3.5 not responding

For an unknown reason, Firefox 3.5 crashed on me in Ubuntu 9.10. When I tried restarting it, a dialog popped up which read:

“Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.”

Neither of these suggestions worked for me. I even deleted all the Firefox packages on my computer, and reinstalled. I got the same dialog box when I opened my freshly installed Firefox.

I worked some Google magic, and found a help page for this problem on support.mozilla.com. It turns out that my Firefox profile directory (which wasn’t deleted when I removed Firefox) has a lock file that is supposed to be removed when Firefox starts. If the lock file exists when you try starting Firefox, you get the aforementioned dialog box.

Mozilla provides a number of different solutions for this, I chose simply to delete my default profile, and create a new one. I chose this because I had a new installation of firefox, and I didn’t have any important data to retain. If you want to restore your original profile, you should go here. Otherwise, follow these directions for deleting and creating your profile.

In a terminal, type

$ /usr/bin/firefox -ProfileManager

where /usr/bin/firefox is the path to your firefox installation. The Profile Manager will appear (provided Firefox is closed), and you can go from there.

Not-So-Great Expectations

One of the most humbling experiences of my life has been coming to the realization that I don’t deserve to have my expectations fulfilled.

I have a lot of expectations. Now I’m beginning to see how meaningless they are. Here are some, as an example:

Get married.
Have children.
Buy a house.
Have solely pleasant relationships.
Have a happy life.
Achieve all of the above by incrementally becoming a better person.

This is actually a pretty basic set of expectations for the average person; I’m not even going to touch the subsets of each one.

The gist of it is, if these things don’t come to fruition, we are severely disappointed. Have you noticed that?

In my estimation, expectations are formed from our perceptions of reality (how life is) plus our ideals and standards (how life should be), resulting in our dreams or goals (how life will be in the near to distant future).

The problem with this is that God is truth, and God defines truth, and we are subject to that truth. Whatever is happening right now IS, so there is no “should” or “shouldn’t.” God purposes for things to happen, and that’s the way they’ll happen whether we like it or not. We most definitely have the ability to make choices that will affect the direction of our lives, but we likely will not achieve everything on our list, because much of it is outside our control.

So, more important than our ability to control our circumstances is the practice of choosing how to respond to our circumstances. If we are guided by our expectations, we will continue to be disappointed by what God has handed to us (oh no, it’s never OUR fault that we don’t get what we want. We had nothing to do with this mess). But if we drop our expectations entirely and adopt an attitude of seeking what God wants for us, we’ll start wanting what He wants. Hint: God always gets what He wants.

Practically speaking, for me, this means:

1. Recognizing first and foremost that I am a redeemed creature and God has begun something in my life that is irreversible; namely, conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ my rescuer. What more could I want?
2. Letting go of each expectation, one by one. This is easier when they have already failed to materialize. Careful study of my own devastated heart has repeatedly revealed that I was desiring the wrong thing.
3. Choosing to hold each new circumstance up to God’s light for examination rather than passing blind judgment on it.
4. Allowing myself and others to fail, knowing that perfection is twofold:  a) God has already made me perfect through Christ (Hebrews 10:14), therefore I am forgiven and able to forgive, and b) I am still being made holy, and will be temporally affected by sin until I take my last breath in this life.

As per usual, this was intended to be a short post. I didn’t realize I was going to write this, but here we are. A closing thought to chew on, if your spiritual stomach is rumbling:

“And where these [sins and lawless acts] have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hebrews 10:18-23, NIV