A Slight Afterthought

Good for you, not good for me

2012-12-06T11:39:00.002-05:00

In the past couple of years I have developed a fondness for fitness. It all stemmed after I quit smoking and wanted to start mountain biking again after having left it some 15 years ago. Since then I have rekindled my love for mountain biking as well as starting to do weight lifting, trail running, etc... I also started to look into what the so called “experts” have to say is the “proper way” of nutrition and exercise. I then found that if there was ever a place for the woo to breed, it's within the fitness community. There are so many supplements and methods that you don't know if you are reading about nutrition or the script of some new sci-fi film.

It seems that what is good for you one day is going to kill you the next. Sure, there are some tried and true methods of getting the most out of fitness but there are still those that are just plain quackery. These are the ones that are titled as such things as "John Smith's Way of Exercising" which goes into a whole slew of crazy exercises and magic potions to "get you ripped". Within the book you might find that there's no scientific evidence to backup what this person is trying to sell you. Instead it is filled with plain and simple hog wash. There are some definite supplements that do work for your benefit. However, these have been proven with controlled studies and given scientific evidence of their benefits. Such items as whey protein have been shown to aid in muscle recovery, but there are always those items that are only talked about on websites solely devoted to body building.

I can't say that what I do as far as exercises and nutrition is the perfect way. But I do steer clear of any supplements that are not proven to aid. I also refuse to do an exercise that requires machinery that looks like it came from the Spanish Inquisition. What I have found that does work and is proven is that getting fit and remaining to be fit is simple. But it's not easy. It takes discipline to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But it does come down to a simple formula. Eat right and exercise.

My friend...

2011-10-02T08:58:00.003-04:00

When I first moved to this area, the girl I was dating at the time worked at a pet boarding facility. Part of her job was to go to the local veterinary hospitals to pick up medicines for the pets that were boarding with them. One evening I was asked to go to a veterinary hospital to pick up some medicine. While there a gentleman came into the hospital with a very scruffy and dirty dog. The gentleman wanted to have the dog spayed and when was told the price, the gentleman was all but happy. The man complained that the dog was not even his but had found her living under his barn. While the dog was there she had a litter of puppies (for which he boasted having "taken care of them").

I was appalled at how the man was very open about his actions and I feared what he may do with the dog he had in tow. So I did what I knew was best. I offered to take the dog and pay for the spay myself. The man didn't even say anything to me. He just handed me her leash and left.

Since I wasn't supposed to have pets due to my lease agreement, I took the dog home to my small apartment late that night. I got her into the bathroom and filled up the tub with hot water and gave her what was apparently her first bath in a very long time.

After a long bath and a quick drying, we headed downstairs and I realized. I have nothing in this apartment for her to eat. Looking in the fridge I found some hot dogs. So, we sat in the living room and at a few hot dogs and kind of scoped each other out.

I lived at that time, about two or three blocks from a grocer so I walked down to the grocer and picked up some dry dog food and a squeaky toy (a nice plush green frog). Getting back to the apartment, I found the poor dog lying on the couch sound asleep.

After that point Chloe and I were the best of friends. I took Chloe with me everywhere I could. She would go with me to the park every evening for a walk around the grounds. Afterwards we would go to McDonald's for a cheeseburger and fry. Weekends were a lovely time in the dog park running and walking.

I lived with the girl that I was dating at the time for a while. And when she and split up, Chloe was the first that went with me on my new life journey. My life started to revolve around Chloe. "I have to hurry up and do what I'm doing so I can go check on Chloe" and the such. I then met my wife who shared my love for Chloe as well as all animals.

As my wife and I lived in our home we had 3 dogs and 2 cats. We first lost our cat Roxy, not long after that our White Lab, Molly passed away. Not even a month later our Water Spaniel, Marley was stricken with cancer and passed away. On September 29th, Chloe passed away in the caring company of myself, my wife, Dr. Janet and Frank.

Chloe was an amazing dog. She was blind, deaf, had hip problems and arthritis. At one point in her life she had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and survived that. The one thing that I could not save her from though was time. Chloe lived until ripe old age of 14. She was a great dog, a great friend and I will miss her more than anyone could possibly ever know.

No Effort Required!

2011-09-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

No Effort Required!
An observation of the woo with fitness

Around 3 years ago, I stopped smoking, and then a little less than 2 years ago I made the effort of becoming more fit. I first started doing small general workouts until a friend of mine introduced me to Tony Horton’s P90X. Being a skeptic I was hesitant about such a routine that was advertised as much as it is on Sunday morning TV. But, I gave it a go and quickly fell in love with the workouts. Not just the workouts, but the methods of gradual progression on how to do the workouts. During the moves, Tony goes through and explains the proper method of how to do these workouts as well as modify them if you are not used to working out. Great idea! Since I started “getting fit”, I have completed P90X twice and have now moved on to other self tailored workouts with the help from my friend that introduced me to P90X to being with. But this is not about P90X.

Here is my problem. I was watching TV the other morning while eating breakfast like I always do, when a commercial came on advertising a new “Spa” that opened up. This spa is filled with all of the weight loss woo that any skeptic can have a hey-day with. They have “Body Wraps”, “NuCell-u-Smooth”, “NuLazer Lipo” as well as “NuWave Lipo”. Their website even makes the claim “Imagine yourself with a new body. Imagine losing 12 to 39 inches in just one hour... without dieting and without exercise!”. Without dieting and without exercise...

There are many things that I find fault with this spa. Among them being the lack of information on what they actually “do”. Probably in part because it really does nothing. If we look at one of the treatments they offer “Nu Lipo-Ex”, it states that it “uses a safe and painless bi-polar and mono-polar radio frequency technology”. Well, that’s pretty vague really. “...radio frequency technology”??? What technology? Radio Frequencies?

But there is a deeper frustration with this type of advertising besides it just leading people to believe that they can loose weight and become a fit person without working. I spend an hour to an hour and a half five days a week exercising as well as two to four hours on a weekend biking to keep fit. Also, I have adjusted my eating so that I am not eating processed foods and tons of sweets. It’s a lot of work at first but it becomes a life style after a while. This is not “doing nothing”. It is a shame that companies actually have the audacity to take money from people telling them that they don’t have to do anything but sit and the weight will just fall off. Just so that two weeks later the weight comes right back and the customer makes another appointment to achieve the same result. Ending is a vicious cycle.

It has become my goal to learn as much as I can against these types of treatments. I feel it necessary that people know the truth about “Nu-Light” and “Radio Frequency Treatments” and the such. No, I am not a scientist, but I do know this is nothing but another scam and weight-loss woo.

With our heads in the clouds : Thoughts on Cloud Computing

2011-05-31T12:15:00.004-04:00

When cloud computing first came about, I admit I didn’t really get what it’s purpose was. It was never really clear to me what "The Cloud" was. And even after I somewhat understood what it was about, I didn't clearly grasp what we could do with this technology. Not to mention if it was safe and the data that I was "sending to the cloud" was protected or not.

Today it is much different. More and more I find myself, just like now as I type these notes, that I use cloud computing. I use Google Docs to type my notes and organize them before I actually type them into the blog. Over the past few months I have been using cloud computing in conjunction with two friends to correspond about workout routines and schedules. This has proven to be quite valuable in fine tuning the workout routines and schedules. Recently I introduced my wife to the cloud computing service, Dropbox, to transfer files from her work computer to our home computer. This method has saved her from having to carry around a USB flash drive to transfer her files from work to home.

Services such as Dropbox have been in the news questioning their terms of service. But that does not stop us from using it, just more cautious as to what we store there. Other services such as Amazon’s AWS was offline for two days causing a lot of business be dead in the water. Just recently, Google introduced their “Music Locker” which is still in Beta and by invitation only.

In the end, the thought of "Cloud Computing" that was once a question in my mind as to what it was, has proven itself as a valuable service. One that I would have a difficult time doing without.

Maybe we need to go over a few things...

2010-11-30T09:18:00.003-05:00

This might come across as a bit harsh but I don't really intend for it to. There are just some things that I need to say just so it's out there for the record. I have a few pet-peaves that seem to be creeping up more and more. So let's just go over them.

1. Standing to close in the checkout line
This one really bugs me and it happens all the time. I don't want someone to put their items on the conveyor belt as I am checking out. It is like you are breathing down my neck to hurry me along. Also, I don't want you standing too close to me as I am exchanging funds for my items. I usually use my debit card for purchases and I don't want to make these transactions with some stranger standing right beside me. It will happen one day that I will turn to this person and ask them if they are going to purchase my items for me.

2. Respond in some way
I send a lot of emails and text messages. This is my preferred method of communication. I choose this because my questions do not always need an immediate response. But the do need a response. I do not ask questions just to be doing something. I ask because I would need an answer. Even if that reply is "Quit emailing or texting me!". It's fine. At least you answered me. By not answering my questions is somewhat of a slap in the face because it seems that you just don't care to stoop down and answer such a meaningless question.

3. If I don't know something, don't make a big deal about it
This one REALLY bugs me! Let's say we are having a conversation and you mention some thing I have never heard of. I say "I've never heard of that" or "I don't know what that is". Please don't respond with "WHAT?? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS??!!??" No, I don't know what that is. That's why I responded with "I don't know what that is". And what's the big deal anyway? What does it matter? In the grand scheme of things if I don't know that the prongs on the end of a for are called "tines", what does it matter?

By responding in a manner of flabbergastion with such a meaningless topic, is as if you are looking at me as an idiot savant. Which I am not. Do I look at you with utter disbelief because you don't know what the OSI model of standard TCP/IP is? Do I belittle you because you don't know how to compile your own Linux Kernel from source? Or how best to design a scalable database? Nope! I don't! You don't need to know these things. Same as I tell my wife about our animals. I don't work in veterinarian medicine which is why I ask her what do when our animals are sick.

I know these items may seem petty to some but these things REALLY bug me and they happen on a daily basis. At any rate, if these things happen at least I have documentation that I have informed the entire world that these things bother me. So if I go off on you for committing one of these acts, I will refer you to this post.

:)

The Camaraderie of it all

2010-11-13T18:00:00.004-05:00

Anyone that has spent five minutes talking to me knows that I love to mountain bike. I love being outdoors breathing in the fresh air. I love the exercise that it brings. Getting your heart pumping and your lungs working. Feeling the burn in your legs as you pull up a hill just to look back and laugh at it. Pedaling down a hill to feel your bike under your feet as you hit berms and jumps. It's an amazing feeling to be able to do something that just a few months prior you couldn't do at all. But there is another side to it all. The camaraderie. Doing all of this with people that are like minded.

For a while now I have been biking with a group of people every Sunday. We pick a different trail each week and encourage those that are new to mountain biking to join us. No better way to learn something than to have 10 or more people willing to help you at anytime. Recently I joined another group that rides on Saturday mornings happily experiencing the same situation. The first ride for me was today and I met 11 of some of the nicest people.

If it isn't the thrill of something that brings you back to it, then hopefully it is the good friends you meet along the way.

Living Proof is ... living proof

2010-11-10T10:17:00.004-05:00

The host of one of my favorite podcasts, The Command Line , has started a joint effort called "Living Proof Brewcast". It's a podcast on beer! Some of the philosophies behind it as well as brewing discussions. It just started but if I know Thomas, the quality will be superior.

From listening to the first show it has also got me thinking about home brewing again. I've wanted to try it but never had the time or the place to get started. Now, I have a great place to actually store the beer while it ferments. So at the beginning of the year, I am planning on getting what I need to start my first batch. Luckily there is a locally owned store that sales everything you need to home brew as well as offering classes. Sounds like a win - win.

Hopefully after the first of the year I will be starting on my first home brew. Now to think of a name for my tasty beverage :)

Time for this Outlaw to ride off into the sunset

2010-11-01T11:32:00.004-04:00

Like most people, I am a huge fan of podcasts. Most of what I have on my portable player is all podcasts. In total I subscribe to about 20 podcasts ranging from Science, Religion and Technology. One of the podcasts that I am subscribed to, Linux Outlaws, has been removed from my podcatcher for good.

I debated this for a while and kept it in the catcher until I totally decided it was time to go ahead and remove it for good. On the last show that I listened to, I just could take it any more. I stopped listening about 15 minutes into the show. The constant screaming from one of the host of the show was getting to be too much. The constant rant of "You're stupid for thinking this way!" was all I could handle. Couple that with his constant interruptions of his co-host, it was time to part ways.

The reason I listen to a podcast is to get a good un-biased opinion on a certain subject. Be it science, religion or technology. I do not listen to a show to hear a man with a German accent scream at me about how Novell and Windows and everyone that disagrees with him is stupid and inferior.

I will continue to listen to show such as The Command Line and Tux Radar to get my technology fix. I can't say that I won't go back to listen to Fab and Dan at a later date but for right now, this Outlaw is riding into the sunset with one less podcast.

My friend has passed

2010-09-19T08:09:00.002-04:00

It wasn't more than a week ago that we discovered that Marley, our Irish Water Spaniel of 13 years, had cancer. We knew that our options were slim but we were in no way prepared for how quickly the cancer would spread. On Saturday we spent the morning eating breakfast and simply laying down talking and crying.

It was a hard morning but she was loved by everyone that knew her. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.

A great friend is very sick.

2010-09-16T08:48:00.002-04:00

For the almost 12 years that I have lived in this state my Water Spaniel, Marley, has been one of my greatest friends. She's been there for me every day with a smile on her face and happy to see me. Sure, we've had our ups and downs but she is and always will be one of the greatest friends I could ever ask for.

On Thursday my wife noticed that her throat was swollen. Since my wife works for a Veterinarian, the red flags went up. Marley went into the vets on Friday for a complete test on what was going on and on Sunday our greatest fear was realized when news that Marley was diagnosed with Type-B Lymphoma. Lymphoma is a very rapid spreading cancer which means that Marley will not be with us much longer we fear. We opted to not treat the cancer with chemotherapy because of her age and the advancement of the cancer already at this point.

She is fine today, eating just like she always has and still greeting us with her quirky sideways smile. She is not as active as she was just days before but she is still in good spirits. We have started her on palliative care which consists of mostly Prednisone. Our goal is to keep Marley has comfortable as possible until her quality of life starts to suffer.

It saddens me greatly to type this, but Marley and I have had a great time together over the 12 years. She will never be forgotten and their will never be another dog like her ever.

Getting Back To It

2010-09-03T15:33:00.004-04:00

There is something to be said for taking things a little at a time. I have a bad habit of when I find something new that I am interested in, I go full force into it. This shows great excitement on my part but it also can lead to burnout more quickly.

Once the novelty of this new substance in my life wears itself off, I find myself not really wanting to do it anymore. Or at least not with as much passion as I once did. Something about the newness that really drives me to want it and want as much of it as I can get and then I want it even more. Then I become less interested in it. This has happened with a lot of situations. The latest being working out and exercising. I started about 4 months ago doing the P90X routine. I really wanted to get in shape for many reasons. Mainly because I'm 40 now and I started to really feel my age, another is because I wanted to start mountain biking again.

I did the entire routine. It took me a little longer than 90 days because life stuffs just got in the way. I had to go out of town for business a few times, family would come in town and I would visit with them. Who would want to come visit for me to just say "Wait right here for an hour while I go work out". Just seems rude. But, I did do the whole routine and I enjoyed it. I lost a bit of weight, I feel a lot better, lost about 8 inches around the waist. Good results. Now on round two of P90X, I am finding it harder and harder to "push play". I still do it, just not with the same passion as at first.

The other situation that has started to fall is mountain biking. I ride with a group just about every Sunday. Always have a good time and we like to cut up a bit. However, this past Sunday ride I rode home feeling a bit disappointed, like there was something that I just didn't obtain out of the ride as I had in the past. It kind of depressed me.

Then I started to think about everything that I do. Web site programming, Python programming, Linux, Classical Guitar, Mountain Biking, Exercising, etc... That's a lot of hobbies. All of which I go head first into and give it my all and just keep pushing at it. This can yield some great results, but it can also start to hinder the situation in the end. So where is the cut off point? Where do I need to draw the line on doing these activities? I guess I will just need to slow down and enjoy the activities that I do. Another option would be that when I start to have these feelings, to just ease off a bit. After a while it has proven to be that these feelings cease and I start to long to do them again.

Only time will tell...

Just because you can doens't mean you should...

2010-07-08T19:34:00.006-04:00

It has always been a method of mine to show someone how to do something as if they have no knowledge of the subject at all. Not to make them feel stupid, but to not take anything granted. It was how I was instructed in pedagogically. The philosophy of this is that not everyone knows what you know. Same holds true for things in every day life as well.

My wife works in the veterinary field. Before she and I started dating I really had not thought of the importance of giving my dogs heart worm medication. After it was explained to me of how easy it is to prevent and the repercussions if I don't, it all made sense. Sometimes people just need it "dumbed down". It's not that we are incapable of understanding, it's just that we are ignorant of the subject. Nothing wrong with that. Not everyone knows everything about everything.

I witness the attitude of down grading people because they don't know how to do a particular task on a daily basis. Just because you feel that it is easy and you should be public knowledge, doesn't make it so. If anything it discredits your knowledge.

At one point I felt as those in the "IT" world acted arrogant because they felt superior. Now, I'm not so sure. It seems now that they act in this manner simply to hide the fact that they really don't know as much as they would have you believe they do.

This doesn't just happen in workforce. It happens in recreation as well. I like to ride mountain bike. I am no big time racer but I can ride pretty well now. For some reason, people tend to forget that they were not always as good as they are now. When these people meet someone less skilled than they are on the trails, it seems to be custom to force them off to the side of the trail. No need to call out to someone that is not of the same caliber as you!

It just seems that if everyone would take a second and think about it, it would make sense to them as well. Just remember, there is no need for arrogance. Someone else can do just what you do and probably do it better. And just because I don't know about a certain situation or do not have a particular skill, doesn't mean that I am inferior.

Take care.

Wondering what to do

2010-01-17T16:16:00.002-05:00

I have been doing freelance web design for a little while now. I think about maybe...8 years or more. It has made me some pretty good money that has given some padding in the checking account. However, I am beginning to wonder if I want to continue doing this.

The main problem, customers don't know what they want. And all that matters to them is their Google ranking. Don't care about how the page is laid out and how it is W3C compliant. However, as soon as the page goes live, if they search for something about their business and they are not number 1, then they call me and ask me why. Not much I can do about it really. I'm not a SEO professional.

Maybe I'm not a "people person", I don't know. But what I do know is that I am starting to wonder what to do...

2009-12-21T21:44:00.006-05:00

I have came to realize that there are a few things that I take for granted when it comes to computers.

1. Everyone knows exactly what I am talking about when it comes to computers

Well of course this isn't true, but sometimes I forget that not everyone I come in contact with reads about the latest and greatest technology or the latest and badest virus'. We are all guilty of it and I am certainly no exception. I have to sometimes think before I speak when talking to some of my friends and family. They don't know any more about computers than what is in front of them. And that is OK. I know nothing about veterinary medicine, so already my wife is one up on me. Keeping this in mind helps me explain to them about how to protect themselves from virus' or what program might best be suited for the job they are doing.

2. Everyone knows that the web page that just "popped-up" all of a sudden warning them that they have 50 virus', is a scam.

I really wish this were the case, but it's not. Which is the sole reason that these attackers make these kinds of virus'. They are crafty in their nefarious ways! The makers of virus' prey on the unknowing and naive. But this is not the fault of the person that clicks the link and runs the program. You don't know until you learn.

As for these problems, I have to admit, if it were not for them I would not have a second income. :)

A great show has ended

2008-03-28T17:35:00.002-04:00

While in college I became very interested in computers. All about them. Hardware, software ,everything. After college I started to dabble in programming a bit. Started out with Visual Basic and moved on to web programming. I found that most web server ran Linux and that this OS could be used as a desktop environment. Not only that but it was FREE! I then installed Linux on my computer and found that it was quite difficult. Not at all like the Windows I was used to. Frustrated, I moved back over to Windows.

I tried again a few times after that to get acclimated to Linux but just couldn't do it. Finally, I forced myself to use nothing but Linux (Ubuntu at the time) but still had trouble. A good friend of mine then told me about a podcast called Linux Reality that was geared toward the new Linux user. After listening to one episode, I was hooked. It took all the fear out of Linux and I was able to move around in Linux as well as I could in Windows.

However, a few weeks ago Chess Griffin the host of Linux Reality, announced that he had decided to end the show with episode 100. That episode aired this past Wednesday. What a sad day. The website and IRC channel will remain but there will be no new shows. With great respect, I honor the decision Chess has made but it will be a show that I will miss greatly.

Hats off the Mr. Chess Griffin on a show well done. We will all miss you!

The Linux War Cry

2007-11-11T18:12:00.000-05:00

After recently reading an article at linux.com as well as the comments, I thought of something. Why is it, that every "die hard" linux user wants to bring down Microsoft? Sure, you can make the argument that they are a monopoly, that Windows is a playground for every script kiddy out there. But why would the Linux community want to bring down the software giant? It almost seems that there is a vendetta out against Bill and the boys.

I bring up the question as to why not try to bring down Steve Jobs and Apple? Why not? Why limit it to just Microsoft? Is it because OS X uses the somewhat water downed version of the Linux kernel? Is it because Safari is based on Konqueror? Is it because of pretty gummy eye candy of OS X?

Look at it this way. With a Windows computer you are not limited to using Windows. You can easily change out the OS to your choice whether it be a flavor of Linux or BSD. Your choice. You want a new video card? No problem. Just open the box and put it in. Want a second hard drive maybe? Well...you get the picture.

Now, let's look at something like, oh say...the iBook. Want a new video card? Send it to Apple. Want a bigger hard drive? Send it to Apple. Heck, try to open the iBook yourself and see how far you get. The iBook is sealed shut! Yes, you can hack into it and open it, but how far are you going to get with help if you all of a sudden have a problem with your $1200 laptop?

So if you want to "take down Microsoft" don't stop there. Just take down Apple while you're at it.

The Joy of Co-Workers

2007-10-31T18:00:00.000-04:00

Part of my job is support for the staff regarding the products we sell. Not a bad part of my job. I know the products very very well so the questions they have or problems that occur, I can easily solve ( for the most part ). However, it seems that our staff have taken to calling me regarding the most fundamental questions.

I am not saying that our staff should know everything that I do about the product, otherwise, I would be out of a job. But, for an employee that has been with the company for over 13 years, the questions as of late are border-line ridiculous. I was speaking with my supervisor the other day regarding this issue. He agreed. I was starting to become habit for them to simply pick up their cellphone, call me and ask a question without ever thinking about it or trying it themselves.

What I can do about this I'm not sure. But, I am sure that it will have to stop.

Until then...business as usual.

Rethinking...

2007-08-22T20:11:00.001-04:00

There was a time that I really wanted to be a programmer. Web programming (especially PHP) really appealed to me. I loved it. I found that PHP could do just about everything.

I got a job doing a little bit of web programming and then the company moved. I didn't want to move since I planned on asking the girl that I was dating to marry me, so I looked for another job. After working there for a little while, mostly doing network admin stuff, I took up the additional position of web programming. Then came the day that my boss asked to make a special web application. It turned out to be a bit more than I could do. Not my skill set really, although I am still learning to program, just that there was too much to do day in and day out.

I started to get a bit frustrated and was in a bad mood all the time. Not the position that I wanted to be in considering that I went down that road once before and fought hard to get out of it. So now I am at that position again.

My boss is starting to get annoyed at me that the project has been "in the works" for about a month now. Granted it's not a small project but I haven't been able to work on it a couple of weeks.

Not sure what to do. Tell him that I just can't finish it? Tell him that I don't want to finish it? Just ride it out a little longer and see if I can get it done? Eigh...I'll just play it by ear and hopefully it will finally be over with.

Linux has no style...

2007-05-26T22:28:00.000-04:00

I was recently looking around on kde-look at some of the latest themes. Once again I was hammered with "Vista" style this and "Mac" style that. Great...so you made your Linux computer look like Vista.

So I was thinking to myself. What about the "Linux" style? After a few moments longer of looking at the computer monitor, I realized, Linux has no style. It kind of disappointed me. Then I thought for a while longer about it. This could actually be one more benefit of Linux. Linux has style! It has any style that it wants. But!!! What you get is one stable OS that is virus free and has a huge following with great community support as well as being free and Open Source.

Now I just had another thought. Those silly little commercials where "Apple" and "PC" are talking together and there's always something wrong with the "PC". I got a nice parody of that. Picture this if you will :

PC and Apple are standing around talking. PC is being his usual dorky self and Apple is trying to be the cool hippster. Along comes Linux. All of a sudden Linux looks just like PC, then switches and looks just like Apple. Then someone says something witty and the all go off in a huff.

OK, maybe I haven't fine tuned it but after all, it's just a thought.

Designer vs. Coder...who will win?

2007-03-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

The company that I work for started a website for one of the services that we offer about 2 years ago. It was given to me to design and implement. Since then, the site needed an overhaul.
I am by no means a designer. However, I can code in html and css like a machine. The design work was handed out to a third party designer and I was given the task of coding it to a functional web page.

I am a stickler for web standards. I hate flash. I hate IE. All the things that a designer really doesn't care about. So when it came time for me to take the mock ups and turn them into web pages, I was in for a treat.

The designer sent me the images, I sliced them up in Photoshop, and started coding. Then it came to my attention that the front page was going to contain a flash movie. All I asked the designer was, is to please give me a still image that I could put in for a fall back for those that don't have Flash installed. What was I sent? An email with statistics on how many computers had Flash.

OK...not what I asked for but I had some ground to work on. My response? I simply told the designer that it was not fair and not in the best interest of the company to discriminate against those that don't like Flash. I do not have Flash on my computer...I don't even run Windows.

Why don't I like Flash? It's useless. All the moving around of this and that while I'm trying to read the content on the page is distracting at the least. Flash is a tool for the designers that can't code. I know I know...there *can* be scripting involved with Flash but WHO CARES! What's PHP, JavaScript, dHTML, Perl and all those languages for? Scripting! Not some GUI based whatchamagig that you can put a picture here and make this move here and do something over this way. Just too distracting. I go to a website for the content. Now if it's a nice looking site, then that's all the better. But content is king.

The battle ended a few minutes ago when I asked one more time for the still images. They are now in my inbox waiting on my to finish this post so I can make the 7% of the population happy again. I win :)

2 SATA Drives - Kubuntu and Windows XP

2007-02-21T12:47:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I purchased another hard drive for my computer. A 160gig SATA drive (my main computer only has SATA connections for the hard drive data). I bought the extra drive so I could install Kubuntu Linux and keep windows on my current hard drive, and just have a dual boot system. Sounds easy enough.

I put in the second hard drive as the primary drive and moved Windows to the secondary drive. Inserted the Kubuntu CD and proceeded to install. The installer came up great and asked which drive I wanted to install Kubuntu to. I chose the new 160gig drive.

After the install (~20 minutes or so) I rebooted the computer. Straight into Kubuntu. Hmmm...I thought. Maybe just a GRUB reconfiguration. After poking around a bit I noticed that Kubuntu had installed to the 80gig drive where my Windows was. BUMMER!! Good thing I made all those backups!

Checking around a bit further, I found that what I could do was:

Put the new 160gig disk as Primary
Install WindowsXP
Put the Kubuntu hard drive back as Primary
Edit GRUB to tell it that there was another hard drive there with WindowsXP

Now it was time to just install Windows to the new 160gig drive since I had Kubuntu installed and running great. Unplugged the 80gig drive and plugged in the 160gig drive as Primary. The installer came up and said "No Disk Found". BUMMER!!! Now what?

Checking around, I found that, in order to install a fresh copy of Windows XP, using a SATA drive, you have to install it as a SCSI / RAID. Why? Dunno. In order to do this, you need to put the drivers on a floppy disk. I don't have a floppy drive on my main computer. Now what to do?

OK. I have an older computer running Windows 2K that does have a floppy drive. Hook the Win2K computer to the router and download the drivers and copy them to a floppy disk. Then I can put the floppy drive into my main computer to load the drivers during install of WindowsXP.

Great! It works! Windows is installing...now for the fun part. Does Kubuntu boot? Will Windows boot?

The computer restarted and I had just go ahead and boot to Kubuntu. Fired up a command prompt and started editing two files.

The first file was /boot/grub/menu.lst This file is a list for grub to tell it what is loaded and where. I added the following section

title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

What this does is tell Grub that Windows is there. It is located actually at hd1. However, Windows is picky. It likes to be first, but fortunately, it's not that smart. We have to trick it into thinking it is actually the first OS to boot. That is what the map(hd0) (hd1) does.

Now for the real fun part. Can I restart the computer, boot into Windows and then restart and boot into Kubuntu with no problems.

Success!!!! It works!!!

The Utility Knife

2007-02-07T21:55:00.000-05:00

When I first took my current position, I was hired to do a few things. Mainly to connect MFP's (multi-function products) to customers networks and give support on these machines.

A few weeks later I was asked if I knew anything about websites. I had actually been doing websites as a freelancer to just about anybody that needed it and would pay for it. So, I told my boss "Sure, I can make websites". He then proceeded to tell me that the printing service that we had, needed a website. I mocked up a couple of drafts in Photoshop and showed them to him. He liked one and with a few revisions, the site was up and running.

A few weeks after that, I was asked if I knew anything about databases. Well, yeah, I knew some stuff about databases. I had worked with Access as well as MySQL, so sure. It was then brought to my attention that the IT Admin in our home office was leaving. This Admin was in charge of the company wide program that handled our customer database. It was then my duty to make any changes that were needed and fix any problems that would occur. And dealing with sales professionals, there would always be problems where a computer was involved.

Now my job consisted of connecting MFP's that were sold to our clients, web site development and database administrator.

After a few months, we started to have some networking issues. Computers couldn't connect to the domain, printers would drop off the network, high traffic. I ran an analysis of the network and determined that a switch was causing the problems. Then enters the position of Network Administrator for the branch.

Now I have four positions within the branch of the company.

At around the same time as this was going on, the print services department, needed some custom software to process quotes to customers as well as keep track of the jobs they had done. The company hired a third party company to design this software. However, there's not maintenance contract. The developer of the software came to our office and gave me an overview of the software (done in FileMaker I might add), and that was it. I did buy a book on FileMaker to help understand how to get around in it. It is still a poorly designed application (FileMaker, not what was developed for us).

Now I have five positions within the branch of the company.

The company that I work for also is a vendor for a third party imaging software. This software allows the client to scan paper documents, make them electronic and index them anyway they want for later retrieval. There was one sales rep. that was in charge of selling, installing and maintaining the software to our clients. Notice I said, "was". Since this sales rep. has left the company, it is now my responsibility to take this job over.

Now I have six positions within the branch of the company.

Do not take this the wrong way. I like the feeling that I am needed within the company and that they can count on me as “the go-to-guy”. But there are times, just like anyone else, I get very stressed. I have so much on my plate sometimes that I don't know what to dig into first. Sure, I could have told them that I couldn't do it. Or that I wouldn't do it. But, if I didn't do it, who would? Hire someone else? I doubt that. I take on these responsibilities for the better of the company. But sometimes I question my judgment.

What do I get out of taking on all these responsibilities? I get a pretty nice pay-check. I get a free car with gas and insurance that I don't have to pay for. I get a free cellphone with free long distance that I don't have to pay for. But in the end...I still end up with an ulcer.