So, Nate turned me on to this really cool site. It's called quizyourfriends.com. Basically, you can create a quiz of up to 10 questions, and than anyone can come and take it. When you complete entering the quiz, you're given the option of sending an email to up to 10 people with a link to the quiz. Also, quizyourfriends.com emails you a link that you can publish, like this one. I don't expect everyone to take it, but just for the heck of it, give it a try. :)
July 2002 Archives
Just a word of caution. Do not add .net projects to Visual Source Safe outside of the IDE. The IDE has a high level of integration with SS and a number of extra files are created by the IDE when you add a project. These files are not created when you just click the yellow plus icon within the SS program. Trying to fix this within the IDE, by setting bindings to SS, etc. is a PIA.
I wound up just deleting any reference to SS in any and all project and solution files, and deleting the project from SS. Then I re-added the solution and it's two projects from within the IDE, and it is working well now.
I noticed that Google had indexed some of my pages when I was with blogger.com. With MT, the filenames and locations for archive files is different. Before, the location of a weekly archive would have been
http://www.analogousmember.com/2002_06_09_archive.shtml.
Now, the location is
http://www.analogousmember.com/archives/week_2002_06_09.shtml.
Obviously, I can't change Google, so this is what I did. I added a mod_rewrite rule (for those on Apache) to handle this. Like I said, if your on Apache, create a .htaccess file in the root directory, that is if you don't have one already. In that file put the following:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*)_archive.shtml$ /archives/week_$1.shtml [R=permanent,L]
this handles grabbing the date range from the original file, and redirecting the browser to the new filename.
I made some very yummy lasagna tonight. Though I'd share. :)
As I said before, the cycle of life continues. Sue had Rachel Tess Thursday, July 25th at 11:01AM weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz and measuring 20.5 in. long. She is very cute and mom and baby are doing well.
My neighbor, Tyson, just took delivery of his new Jesse James West Coast Chopper motorcycle. When I say this is sick, you have no idea. Here are some pics:
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I remember sitting at my desk when Meg called (the first time). She prefaced it by saying, "Your not going to believe this." Jordyn's 9 week birthday was today, and I was expecting Meg to tell me about something new that she was doing. Um, guess not. She proceeded to tell me that a plane had crashed into the North tower. We were all naive to the fact that this was no accident.
14 minutes later Meg calls again. This time to tell me of the South tower crash. Immediately there was no doubt in my mind that this was the cowardly act of terrorism. Meg pleaded with me to come home. I assured her that I was fine and that I was going to stay in the office on W. 32nd St. At the time, I wasn't thinking of the fact that I was only three blocks from what is again the tallest building in NYC; the Empire State Building.
The third call came in following the crash into the Pentagon. Staying in the office was no longer a question. I scooped up my stuff, stopped by my boss's office, announced my departure, and headed done to street level. By some luck of God, a NY Waterway ferry bus pulled up just as I crossed 34th and 7th. People on the bus were confused, scared, angry, a stew of emotions on four wheels. I remember some folks from Liberty Helicopter Tours riding back because they had been grounded.
The rumors about what else may have happened started to float about. I was even told that the Sears Tower had been hit. After a tumultuous ride, the bus stopped for some time at 34th and 11th. This was the first time I had an opportunity to actually see the North tower in full effect. It was a site that was repeated over and over again in the media, but to see it with my own eyes was eerie. Once the bus occupants regained their composure, the started to yell at the bus driver to continue on to the ferry terminal, quickly.
The ferry terminal was quickly filling up with people fleeing the city. At this point, all bridges and tunnels were closed to vehicular traffic, so the only way off the island was either the ferry, the train at 125th St., or shoe-leather express. Luckily I'd been riding the ferry every day for over a year, so I knew a shortcut to avoid the crowd and get right on the boat. I got on the last boat that had been taking tickets. As the boat pulled away, I could see the people arriving at the terminal in waves, like garbage on the Jersey shore.
Everyone on the ferry was looking at one thing, the remaining North tower. The South tower, tower 2, had already collapsed. We watched as the build pealed away like an onion, leaving nothing but thick black smoke. People were crying, or were dead silent. I ran as fast as I could off the boat. Maritza had told me that Meg had come to the terminal to pick me up. Despite the ferry staff telling me not to run, I couldn't move fast enough. I found Meg at the top of the ramp, gave her a quick hug, picked up another complex resident, and motored home.
Once home, I quickly turned on the TV ( that stayed on for the next 4 days straight ), and jumped on AIM/ICQ to let everyone I knew that I was alright. Wireless and wire line communication had become compromised due to traffic and the massive loss of switch facilities in Lower Manhattan. I decided to stay at home, despite Meg's plea to flee to her folk's country house in CT. I wanted to stay where is was familiar, and I had ample telecommunications.
The next few days were a blur. I didn't return to the city until Friday. When it was time to go home, I arrived at the ferry expecting to go home. This was the first day the George W. came to survey the damage, and the Coast Guard had the whole waterfront shutdown. As it turned out, GW was visiting with relief worked stationed the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. In addition to the Coast Guard vessels in the river, where a pair of F-14 Tomcats flying in a circle overhead. This was the first real sign, for me, that we were at war.
I finally made it home after waiting 3 hours at the terminal. I would wind up watching the smoke from the smoldering fire for several weeks to come. Everything after that week faded like most other days. Well, I'm about have another experience I'll probably remember for a while; my sister should be going into labor any minute now.
The cycle of life continues. :)
Nate just ICQ'ed me a link, the Which Future For Ground Zero petition. Simply put, it's a plea to all authorities having jurisdiction over the redesign of the WTC. As the Trade Towers were a former part of the view from my home, their redesign is very important to myself and my family. In addition, having seen the north tower collapse with my own eyes while I fled the city on a ferry to New Jersey, to see that reversed is something I dream about regularly ( it gives me chills just thinking about it ).
Even if you're not from NY/NJ, please sign the petition. What it calls for is an open design competition. A quote from the petition is "The only mechanism in existence for obtaining a truly momentous design for Ground Zero commensurate with the site's significance to world history is an open design competition for designing Ground Zero in its entirety. " Please visit the Which Future For Ground Zero petition and show your support.
I added a blurb at the bottom that shows how this page takes to load. :)
This is my old job. Looks like they shouldn't have layed off 38 people.
.net Tip-O-The-Day: type "alias" into the Immediate window to get a list of the most common commands and their associated abbreviated syntax
If you're a web developer like myself, you may find this handy. The process off filling up portions of your design with dummy text is calles Greeking. The most commonly used text used for this the classic "Lorem ipsum" copy. The folks at www.subterrane.com have provided a very easy tool for obtaining this text. Go here for your Greeking needs.
Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, United States, West New York, New Jersey, Dave, Male, 26-30!
I have would have to say that one of the funiest things to do is feed peanut butter to a dog. The lick their chops for five minutes!
BTW, when your at Skippy, checkout the FAQ. And yes, peanut butter does not belong in the fridge!
WindowResizer 2.0.1 -- needed a little fix. :)
I updated the resize link w/ alot more bells and whistles. Goto Resize Poorly Sized Windows 2.0 and check it out. It autosenses the current resolution and also centers your browser window.
I found a great site for trouble shooting XP probs. Check it out here.
I built my first Recursive Decent Parser today. I feel so dirty!
The ultimate 404 error: here!
I had been killing myself trying to figure out how to get folders to appear at the top of a directory listing generated by Apache. All you have to do is put "IndexOptions +FoldersFirst" into a .htaccess file and your good to go.
I was doing a Google search today of my email address (what, and you don't?) and I discovered that I was given recognition for my inclusion of Sybase and ODBC support in the CPAN module DBIx::Easy. This was a very pleasant suprise. You can view the POD file at the DBIx::Easy homepage. Take a look at the author credits at the bottom. :)
A la a imood.com, blogrolling.com, blogger.com, movabletype.org, bookmarklette, I wrote an article on adding a link to your Links toolbar that will resize the current browser window to a reasonable size for your given screen resolution. Check out the article Resize Poorly Sized Windows at www.codenoevil.com.
I just did a Google on my email address, and I found out that the authors of DBIx::Easy gave me credit for the addition of Sybase and ODBC support. Very cool. Check it out here
Hey, ever wanted to know the story behind Big League Chew? It was the brainchild of Jiom Bouton and Rob Nelson. Read about it here.
I just received a promo kit from MS for WinXP Pro in which it had a pouch of Big League Chew, so in my expansive free time, I was reading the back of the pouch and it had a little story, so off to Google I went and found the above link.
I just found the "What IM Are You" quiz. It says I'm AIM. I'm not quite sure if that's the case, but oh well. Also, I added some more link candy on the left. Check it out.
Help save Internet Radio! Go here and send a fax to your congressmen letting them know you support Internet Radio.
This is a cool article about Microsoft's move to get more languages into the CLR.
Just when I had an opportunity to be the Web Stud! today, I went limp. After showing my co-worker some slick Javascript, I attempted to show him a much easier solution in CSS. Unbeknownst to me, anchor tag pseudo-classes need to be in a certain order to work properly.
Check out Eric Meyer's excelent article on the topic.
If you do one thing this week, that is if you didn't tonight, is watch Robin Williams on HBO. He just did and hour and a half of live stand-up from B'way in the city. At some point, I was laughing so hard, that nothing was coming out except for tears. Go forth and watch! The link for the schedule of repeats is here.
J's 1st Birthday party was today. When I say that Meg put together one hell of party, that's no exaggeration. In fact, one of our friend said that if this was any indication of the type of party we throw, then he's already RSVP'ing for the Bas Mitzvah. Also, my great aunt (the WWII veteran) said she's sticking around for the wedding. Val just called and said, "Great, great, great!" Now, of course, I think Meg should be a party planner. :)
I'm not really into video. I much prefer stills. So, my videography of the day did not pass muster. I did get the most important stuff, the music lady, and the candle/cake, but nothing of the "party". I did however get about 15 to 20 minutes of the floor. I didn't realize I was recording, oops. David (my brother-in-law) was taping a lot more than I, so hopefully he taped more of the "party".
As expected, J fell asleep on the ride home; 5 feet from the entrance of the complex. She did sleep for another hour and 45 minutes. While she napped, Meg and I were able to get a head start on opening present. That was the fun part for mommy and daddy. We learned, while introducing her to her new toys, that Miss. Jordyn likes lollipops. So much so, that she was covered in grape flavored stickiness. This made for a very yummy kid! There is nothing like bighting the thighs, and for them to taste like grape.
The cake -- um, this wasn't so good. It was made by a bakery in Greenwich, CT called Sweet Art (374 1/2 Greenwich Avenue). This cake was made gratis because of the fact that they made the wrong type of cake for us for our wedding. Guess what? They messed up again. They were supposed to make a specialty of theirs that is a cake made up blocks of cake made up to look like letter blocks. Instead it was a sheet cake with white chocolate blocks (four) on top. This was not what we asked for. What, do you think that they'll make another free cake; probably not. Whatever, what you going to do?
I will get pics up as soon as they are developed. I took some digitals, but both of my folks, and Meg's dad took pics. Stay tunes.
I want to start a project on the web called the "No Menus Project". The ultimate goal is to produce a single page document with the phrase "No Menus" is as many languages as possible. Then anyone can post this on their door in hopes that it will slow the flood of delivery menus that get shoved under my door almost every day. Please start by submitting the phrase "No Menus" is any and all languages you know. If it needs a special typeface, let me know, and I'll find it on the net. :)
<Geek>
You must check out FlashButtons. I came across it via a random link to a MT ring site called Facts of Israel. Turns out its open source, which is nice, 'cause its free, and we like free.
</Geek>
Yesterday was definately one of the ten best days of the year. I don't think you could ever expect weather like that in July, especially for the North East. So, in order to fully appreciate the day (and my vacation), we took J to Van Saun Park. First we went to Whole Foods and picked some yummy food for a picinic.
Once there, J behaved so nicely when we all ate lunch, then it was time for the zoo. She seemed to love it (even though Meg hates zoos). The zoo was ok, except for this pathetic looking donkey. Then we went on this mini-train ride around the zoo. Well, that little bit of locomotion sent her on the way to a 2 hour (!) nap.
Later, we took an hour long walk along the promenade, and then played with bubbles. Meg bought these bubbles from Gymboree. For the life of me, I can't figure out how these are non-toxic. They stayed whole, stuck to the floor, for 12 hours! When they pop, they leave this icky plastic like residue behind. So we stuck with the bubbles my mother brought with her on Wednesday. These were much better.
J's vocabulary is over 30 words, with some in Spanish. Kinda cool. Ok, gtg, Meg and I have the afternoon off while Maritza watches her and cleans the house. We have to go and pickup the cookies for J's birthday bash tommorow. Yeah!
P.S. Lunch'll be at The Cheesecake Factory!
littlegreenfootballs has some really good web coder links. scroll down on the right hand side.
want to see something cool? checkout mc.clintock.com. this guy has gone and catalogged his entire home on his site. kinda like the osborne's, but by a draftsman.
Let's see what comes of this
I came across geobutton.com while setting up wander-lust (note the new icon under miscellany). Anyway, with their templates, I can drop a script block such as
<script language="Javascript" src="http://map.geoup.com/geoup?template=RegionName"></script>
and I your city name pops out, like this
I first saw this at DawsonsPeek ( a weblog, not the show, duh! ), but I was really freaked out when it had a mention of my town. So, if you want to freak out your users, have at it!
Why does puke have to smell so bad? J puked today at lunch (like that's a shock). So, not unlike any other time, the stroller cover went into the wash. It smells alot better now that it's been washed.
Tommorow is J's birthday. I cannot beleive that an entire year has passed. Just yesterday she was a smooshed nose cone head, now she's this chatty (and I mean chatty) ball of energy. I wonder what to coming year will have in store. I let you know.
I was just directed to this site, use.perl.org. Me likes.
Well, we're back from the holiday weekend. We had a great time. Yes, the fireworks on the 4th were great. It's amazing, 200 to 300 people in your backyard, and no one was on top of one another (God bless capitalism!). J was a little groggy the following morning, and took a 2 hr nap in the afternoon, and then she was raring to go.
Yes, I did call my mother on her birthday, which was the 5th. She was curt. Oh well. Remember what I said, no time to be angry.
J and I took the Kelty Base Camp backpack for a spin while in the country. She didn't seem to enjoy it like she had when we went out with it on the promenade. I think that the part she sits in isn't adjusted right. Perhaps with Meg's help, we can make it perfect.
I don't think I've ever seen the color red more red than the red that's on my father-in-law's '67 Shelby/Mustang GT-350 ( this is not a pic of his car, just a GT-350). This is some behemoth. It's amazing the power you can derive from a 289. Very much fun!
I've embarked on an ambitious vacation reading list. Oh shit, I forgot to mention that I'm off all this week. Wahoo! Oh, so the list is:
- XML/Web Services Magazine
- MSDN Magazine
- Java Developer's Journal
- Visual Studio Magazine
- SQL Server Magazine
So, we're on Moveable Type now. Please pardon the appearance of the comments boxes. I haven't had time to theme them up. When I have some time, I'm going to redo the whole site with their default style classes so I can leave the layout and just update the stylesheet.
Also, I'm still using a canned blogger.com template for the site. I think if I get around to it, I'll make a new one so it matched www.codenoevil.com. This way my brand is consistant. Then again, maybe my weblog should be different than my consulting business site.
The www.codenoevil.com is running on PHP Nuke and I'm no longer in to it. Updating stories is to much of a pain (i should write a Blogger API interface for it). I think I may just go Moveable Type for whole schmeer. If I do that, I'll have to buy a copy for CNE though. This is certainly not a bad thing.
July 4th is tommorow. We're going to friends of my in-laws. It'll be us, and 300 of their closest friends. Grucci is supposed to do the fireworks. Should be fun. I'll let ya know how it goes.
Ok, I'm hungry, gotta go.
I started to work with Moveable Type. I noticed in the default CSS stylesheet, a definition that started with a #
<STYLE>
#foo { color: red; font-face; arial }
</STYLE>
and I couldn't figure out what the hash was for. So I did some searching today, in my abundant free time, and this is what I came up with. http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS1#id-as-selector. Turns out you can define styles by element ID. Also, I learned about pseudo-classes, like p:first-letter, which as you guessed, applies to the first letter of a paragraph tag. This can be defined as
<STYLE>
P.BigFirst:first-letter { font-size: 200%; float: left }
</STYLE>
<P CLASS="BigFirst">The first letter in this paragraph will be
twice the size of the other letters in this paragraph. The first
letter in this paragraph will be twice the size of the other
letters in this paragraph.</P>
Pretty web safe color palettes for you favorite graphics program are at visibone.com for free.
Busyness abounds in the house of Dave. I'm definately moving closer to starting to work in the Image Server. I have to finish the spec doc first. That is the worst part, and we all know it only gets backfilled at the end anyway. I found a cool Java Image Viewer Applet to use on the client end. Check oneVIEW. It's quite nice.
I think I'm going to Moveable Type. You'll know when it happens.
