MikeSchepker.com

Surprise Birthday DVD

2010-08-09T07:31:50-05:00

For my Grandma and Grandpa Moss' surprise birthday party I was given the task of creating a slideshow dvd of old pictures, much like the one I did for my Grandpa Schepker's funeral. This is the finished result. Created using Garage Band and iMovie on my iMac.

Glenn and Joyce Moss Slideshow from Mike Schepker on Vimeo.

Penny's Surgery Update

2010-07-28T15:16:27-05:00

So Penny did well with her surgery. The only issue she ran into that day was that there was still a little bit of bleeding in her ear and when she'd shake her head (which she would do a lot because she just had surgery and it itched) some blood would splatter around in her ear and along the outside of her ear.

The aftermath of the surgery is a little bit of a different story. I came home from the movies with my dad and smelled a rotten odor. I tracked the odor to her ear. This was the most disgusting odor I've ever smelled. Since I'm a huge movie buff and have seen enough war movies to last a lifetime, I know nothing good could come from a wound that smelled. I called my vet first thing Monday morning when they opened and they were able to squeeze me in that night. It turns out she did have a small infection but her ear was still healing. The smell was coming from a combination of her ear infection and the bacteria growing in the crusted blood on her fur. The vet was able to remove a lot of the blood and I was given new medicine to help combat the infection. This stuff seems to be working a lot better than the previous medicine. The previous medicine was a gel that I had to rub over the wound 1-2 times a day. Well, that didn't work well for two reasons: 1. She did not want me doing that at all. 2. it was in her ear; she's small and I have fat fingers.

The new medicine is more like a lotion that is able to be squirted into her ear onto the wound. She still hates it and I have to pin her down in order to get the drops in, but at least I know (for the most part) the wound is getting some of the medicine. The vet also called me last night to let me know the tumor that was removed was not cancerous. Yay!

Surgery

2010-07-21T16:03:53-05:00

So, tomorrow morning my dog has to have surgery. Penny, my Boston Terrier, developed a tumor in her ear. It's very small, the size of a small pea, and the vet told me during her checkup that young dogs will often get them in their ears and they will go away on their own. Unfortunately for my dog (and my bank account), this one bothered Penny enough to scratch at it and cause it to bleed. This means that it will have to be removed. Hopefully all will go well and she won't experience any complications.

Looking for Larry

2010-07-13T11:45:45-05:00

My cousin DJ's future father-in-law Larry Schnackenberg went missing last Thursday.

Larry Schnackenberg Jr. was last seen at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 8 when he picked up merchandise at Laptop PC Center near 77th and Quivira.
He was expected at a family gathering at about 3 p.m. that same day, but he never showed.
His family reported him missing at about 6 p.m.
After police pinged his cell phone, Schnackenberg’s white Ford Explorer was found later that evening in Shawnee Mission Park. His wallet, cell phone, keys and the computer he picked up earlier that day were all in the SUV. The doors were unlocked and there were no obvious signs of a struggle in our around the vehicle.
Police say the keys were found in the Explorer but not in the ignition.

If you can help out in any way, whether on twitter or on facebook, or helping search if you are in the area, it would be greatly appreciated. There are quite a few articles on the disappearance, including this one from KansasCity.com. If you have any information regarding Larry, please contact the CrimeStoppers TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.

Another Reason I Dislike Using DotNetNuke

2010-06-22T07:21:24-05:00

This is the reason.
It seems that DNN can never get a release right. They either break existing functionality, create more bugs, or remove functions without notification that they feel are deprecated. Of all the projects and CMSes I've ever participated in, DNN has to be the worst when it comes to releases. By far.

Makes it extremely hard to test and deploy releases when they all have so many problems. And DNN's response each time, "Our bad, we really need to do more testing. Look at all the things we're doing to ensure more testing." Doesn't seem like they actually test anything, just set up more people and committees.

It also seems like they are more worried about sticking to a release schedule than releasing a stable product that has as few bugs as possible. (In some instances I've had to wait for several releases for them to fix functionality that was working but they broke with a release. What major software does this?)

3rd Party Risk

2010-06-17T08:37:27-05:00

We use a CMS written in ASP.NET at work called DotNetNuke. We use this for our own sites as well as sites for our customers. Since it is a CMS you can find a plethora of modules and skins to extend the functionality of the core system. It's a quick and easy way to gain functionality without having to write any code. Therein lies the problem.

When building sites we use many modules not written by us. 95% of the time that works out for us. The only time it is ever an issue seems to be when DNN changes the core (99% of the time they do this without notification) so that functionality is removed or they simply break existing functionality (test! test! test!). We have run into some instances where we've been let down by 3rd party modules. We used to use a calendar by a 3rd party developer. We found a large number of bugs, and at first the developer would fix them then get us a new build. After a while though, he started postponing fixes to major releases, that way we would have to pay an upgrade fee to get the fixes. Bad move. We quickly abandoned his calendar.

The latest example of this situation is a module by Coding Staff. We needed a module that would display a slideshow of user uploaded images on the site. We needed it to be simple and intuitive since our customers are not that tech savvy. We found their Ultimate DNN Banner. It did everything we wanted it to do and provided a simple, yet pleasant looking interface. I purchased the module and began adding images for a site I was working on. I ran into my first problem right away. If using the javascript/css animation (I try to avoid flash), the images would not appear in Chrome or Safari (and probably any other webkit-based browser). Every once in a while you could get them to appear, but most of the time the page would just have a large blank area where the banner was supposed to be. Ok, strike one. Let's try the *shudder* flash version. Using the flash version allowed the images to show up, but that's when I found the second bug. If the banner was near the top of the page and you had a drop-down menu structure with a lot of child pages, enough to overlap the banner, the menu would appear behind the flash banner. I've seen this happen with other flash modules in the past, especially in browsers that aren't Internet Explorer.

I quickly notified Coding Staff about the issues, hoping for a quick resolution. After-all, this was for a client. It took 3 days to even get a response from their support. They requested a login to the website and I obliged. It took another 2 days for them to even respond to that. When they did, they said they found the issue and would be releasing a new version the next week. That was something I could live with considering the client's site hadn't gone live yet and if it did, most people use non-webkit browsers. Fast forward 2 weeks and guess what, still no fix and they are unsure when the fix might appear.

Therein lies the risk of using 3rd party modules/skins/developers. You really are left to the mercy of their product and support when you use them. Unfortunately, the problem of disappearing developers runs rampant in the DNN community. I have considered some of Coding Staff's other modules and skins (they really do have beautiful products) in the past, but after this experience, I think I have to stay away from them. Very disappointed.

Update: They finally came back with a new build and it still caused a variety of errors on the site. They attributed this to the fact we are using a skin with the Solpart menu instead of the newer DNN Nav. I have two issues with this response.

Their product listing on Snowcovered says it works with DNN4. Why is that important if we're using DNN5? Because the vast majority of skins created for DNN4 use Solpart as DNN Nav had limited functionality compared to other menu providers and as such was not widely used until V2 came out with DNN5.
There a great number of skins written FOR DNN5 that still use Solpart. Solpart wasn't removed from DNN, and until it is, module and skin developers should either support it or clearly indicate that their products may not be compatible.

Lesson learned. I will never make a purchase from Coding Staff again, and I suggest you don't either.

The Funeral

2010-06-04T06:57:24-05:00

Well, the wake and funeral for my grandpa was Thursday and Friday of last week. It was definitely a sad time, but also a good time to reflect on how great a person my grandfather was with the whole family. All throughout the wake I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes, but for some reason I couldn't just let go. When I played the slideshow and saw my family tear up at their favorite parts, I wanted to join in with them, but couldn't. When my cousin Beth and my uncle Jim gave excellent eulogies at the funeral mass the next morning. I wanted to cry then, but couldn't. In fact, it wasn't until we reached the cemetery and watched the Marines give him a military burial that I finally started to cry. Gunshots rang out, taps played in the distance, and the slow salute, delivered with the utmost precision, got to me. When a Marine got down on one knee and thanked my uncle Stan on behalf of the President for my grandfather's service, I cried even more. It was a very emotional day, to say the least.

Things did not go off without a hitch though. On the way to the cemetery, my sister was hit by a car that did not yield to the funeral procession. Thankfully, everyone was alright. At the same time my sister was calling us to tell us about the accident, my grandma's care facility called to tell us that she was in bad shape and they wanted to transfer to the hospital or a hospice. We're still dealing with that situation and aren't sure what's going on as we're waiting for test results.

Even though it was a sad couple of days, plenty of laughter was heard at the funeral home and our family's restaurant after the ceremony. Stories about a great man were told and his corny jokes were repeated over and over, two of my favorite being, "You're funny, but looks aren't everything," and "I remember when I proposed to Sophie. She was so excited she almost fell out of bed." I also found out why my grandpa joined the Marines. If you knew my grandpa at all you would know that he was always cold. Apparently this wasn't something that came with old age, he was always that way. He heard stories coming from the Army about how cold it was in Europe. He also heard that the Marines were fighting in the Pacific. He joined the Marines because he would be warmer with them. It was great to share all these stories with the family, especially the ones who traveled from out of town. We don't see each other often, and while I prefer to see them under better circumstances, it was good to have them there. It was obvious by the amount of friends and family at the service(s) that Jacob Schepker will be missed by many and forgotten by few.

The Slideshow

2010-06-04T06:53:31-05:00

When my grandpa died I was asked to make a slideshow for his funeral. I thought it would be a great time to test out iPhoto and the slideshow feature. Over the next few days the project grew and it wasn't going to be just a slideshow. In order to accommodate everyone's wishes I would have to break out some other software on my iMac that I've never used.

First I realized that I would need Garage Band to edit together music to make one continuous song. The reason I needed to do this was because iPhoto (as far as I can tell, it was my first time using it) only allows for one song to play over the course of the slideshow. I also needed to use iMovie (another program that I had never used) to add in a video clip of my grandpa singing to my baby second cousin, Grace. I wasn't sure on how to do this, but soon figured out I'd need to export the slideshow as a movie and add it to iMovie that way I could edit in the Grace clip.

Here's where I ran into my first snag that cost me several hours of work. The Grace clip was a WMV and, as such, would not import to iMovie. I tried Handbrake to convert the file but it kept chopping off the top and bottom of the video and distorting it. No matter what I would try, it just wouldn't work. I tried other conversion software that didn't work. Finally, I decided to do what I feared the most, boot up my Windows virtual machine. Luckily I found some software that was able to convert the video and output a decent quality version of it. After importing that file to iMovie, I was able to add it to the end of the slideshow movie as a nice way to finish the presentation.

A few days earlier I was told that people were requesting DVD's of this not-yet-started project so I began thinking about how to do that. Luckily, iMovie (and iPhoto for that matter) has an option to send to iDVD. You can choose the theme for the menu structure, add images or scenes from the movie to the background, and it will create a professional looking DVD for you. I finished up a test DVD last night (after a long night).

The entire process was fairly simple, it was just very time-consuming as the importing, processing, and exporting of video would take several hours, and if I didn't like the way something looked it would mean starting over (I probably did this at least 5 times). In the end, I think it turned out pretty decent, especially since I had never used any of this software before. The only thing I have left to do is burn copies for the family. I have to say, Apple makes damn fine products and software. Without further ado, here is the final slideshow project (minus the DVD menus). This will be played at the wake on Thursday and at The Bissell Mansion Restaurant after the funeral service on Friday.

Jake Schepker on Vimeo.

Rest in Peace Grandpa Jake

2010-06-04T06:43:40-05:00

Earlier this morning my grandpa Jake passed away. I have many fond memories of my grandfather, including his jokes that, as kids, we thought were lame. Whenever one of the grandkids were in his chair he'd come over and ask if we knew how to play checkers. Before we could reply he'd tell us it was our move. There was also a joke he would tell whenever one of us took geometry (what did the acorn say when it grew up? Gee, I'm a tree!). His sense of humor definitely lives on in my father. I remember many summers at their house in North St. Louis, meals at our family's Bissell Mansion Restaurant and Dinner Theatre, and Christmas Eves where we would all pile onto a couch and sing Christmas carols before we could open presents. My grandpa was a marine in World War II and, while he would rarely talk about the war, he proudly wore his WWII Veteran hat everywhere he went. He was a great man and I could only hope to be half the man he was. He will be missed.

Born on January 26, 1922, Jacob Schepker was a former Marine who fought in the Pacific during WWII, Jake was a principal of Schepker Bros. Service Co. in North St. Louis throughout his entire working life. He was active in numerous community activities through his beloved Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish in north St. Louis on Grand Avenue, where he served in leadership roles over several decades in the Holy Name Society, the Knights of Columbus, the Boy Scouts and the CYC Little League. He was also politically active, spearheading several campaigns and eventually serving a term as Democratic Committeeman of the Second Ward. He was a lead organizer in the effort that saved the Bissell Mansion on Randall Place in St. Louis’ Northside, the City’s oldest private residence, from demolition in the early 1960s during the construction of I-70.

Why You Should Not Like Facebook's "Like" Button

2010-06-02T08:29:48-05:00

More information about the security implications of Facebook's "Like" button have surfaced. It now appears that you don't even have to log in to Facebook or click the button in order for it to track your browsing habits.

Even if someone is not a Facebook user or is not logged in, Facebook's social plugins collect the address of the Web page being visited and the Internet address of the visitor as soon as the page is loaded--clicking on the Like button is not required. If enough sites participate, that permits Facebook to assemble a vast amount of data about Internet users' browsing habits.
"If you put a Like button on your site, you're potentially selling out your users' privacy even if they never press that button," says Nicole Ozer, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. "It's another example of why user control needs to be the default in Facebook." Source

I hate sites that have Like buttons or present me with pop-ups asking me to login with my Facebook account. That is why I try to avoid those sites at all costs. My data and click path across the web should not be recorded by Facebook.