12.29.2005

Walt Whitman

This is what you shall do:
love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches, give alms to every one that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning god,
have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to
any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young
and with mothers of families,
read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,
dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem...
walt whitman

12.25.2005

Organized Chaos - Day Two

A friend of mine used to laugh at me when I'd use the term 'organized chaos' but there really is such an animal. At least the way I see things there is. Prime example - birthday party for a one-year old. Has anyone and everyone planned this first birthday party for little Debbie? But of course - it's her first and we will NOT forget it. She'll never remember it but who cares, it's her first and damn-it we must organize the best freakin' first birthday party a girl of her age could possibly have. Anyway, it's organized. But is it chaotic? Hell yes. End of story. Organized chaos lives...

On another note, my kids woke me up about 6:45am this morning to inform anyone with interest that Santa had came & went - and in fact, he did leave gifts. Whew...after all that talk about someone getting coal this year it was a big relief when I got up to find that Colton got a new 20" flat screen to play his PS2 games on - and a Gameboy to play them in the truck. And Tana - our newly discovered performer in the family - got a karaoke machine with a wireless mic - and of course what kind of performer would she be without a cell phone...LOL

All in all, it went well. They loved their gifts and Jeff & I entertained his family while waiting on a new baked chicken recipe to get done. (While praying that it was actually eatable.) Nobody refused to eat and everyone left without getting sick, so I'm assuming they liked it & will come back next year.

I could go on and on about all the nerd stuff I've been reading up on this weekend when I could find 5 minutes and a dark corner. But I'll spare you - but it's mostly because I ran into one of my former college instructors at the sushi bar Friday and was able to communicate geek stuff with him for a few minutes. Computer nerds need friends too - believe it or not...LMAO.

Okay, I'll shut up for now...

12.19.2005

Christmas Songs for the Psychiatrically Challenged

Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Queens Disoriented Are

Amnesia --- I Don't Know if I'll be Home for Christmas

Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets andStores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees andFire Hydrants and ...

Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me

Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'mGonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell You Why

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ---Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells ...

Agoraphobia --- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House

Autistic --- Jingle Bell Rock and Rock and Rock and Rock ...

Senile Dementia --- Walking in a Winter Wonderland Miles From My House in My Slippers and Robe

Oppositional Defiant Disorder --- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House

Social Anxiety Disorder --- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

12.09.2005

ColdFusion, Flex, LiveCycle

If you have been paying any attention to Macromedia or Adobe then you already know that they've merged. And if you have ever used ColdFusion then you should be wondering what will happen. After reading an interview: http://cfdj.sys-con.com/read/161456.htm I have come to the conclusion that it would be smart to learn as much about Flex and LiveCycle as possible before the next version of ColdFusion is released. Read the article, let me know what you think. I've got lots of reading, learning and coding to do...

12.08.2005

Why?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle it comes in?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Is there! ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in! summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

If at first you don't succeed, shouldn't you try doing it like your wife told you to do it?

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends, if they're okay, then it's you......

12.05.2005

Goodbye Macromedia

Well, it's a done deal and I guess it's normal for us nerds to feel a little sad to see Macromedia gone. When you go to Macromedia.com now you get Adobe (formerly Macromedia). Here are some links:

12.02.2005

Computer Nerd from Way Back

Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a complete computer nerd at heart but I don't know if anyone really knows how far back it goes. LOL So I thought I'd post some info on the computers I've owned over the years.

When I was about 9 years old I owned my first computer - a Timex Sinclair 1000:
More Info...

I bought my next computer when I was 11 or 12 and it was a Commodore 16:
More Info...

After hunting & pecking out millions of lines of code out of the Commodore magazine I got each month I got tired of it. Well, the truth is I got a little older and there were other things that held my interest at that point. LOL When I was about 16 the Windows platform was just starting to develop and that's when I got back into computers. The rest is history...

12.01.2005

Migrating from CF5 to CFMX 7

I'm still in the planning stages of moving my employer's web site that currently runs in ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion MX 7. One of the things I am most excited about is the use of CFC's and I am comtemplating using ColdSpring as the framework for the CFC's. If you've used ColdSpring and have some feedback I'd love to hear others' opinions. Right now I'm still mapping out exactly how the entire application will run so reviewing each option along the way is still wide open at this point. If you're clueless as to what the hell a framework is, much less CFC's or ColdFusion, it's a way to organize code. Think of it in terms of the way we write the English language. Most people know to capitalize the first word in a sentence, proper names, and to double space before a new paragraph. That's the best I can do at the moment but if you'd like to learn more about ColdFusion MX 7 and what all it can offer take a look at:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/demos/

At that link you'll find a six part series that you can review within a hour or so and get more of an idea of how fascinating the new version of CF really is. Take note on the ease of creating forms and the code reuse functionality made possible by CFC's.

I'll post from time to time to let you know how it goes and what problems I run into along the way. If you've tackled the task of moving a site from v5 to v7 I'd love to hear from you. Or if you just have a suggestion on organizing during the planning stage I'm still working on at this point. Whatever...suggestions are always welcome!

Adobe Acquisition of Macromedia

If you've kept up with the Adobe/Macromedia merger then you'll be interested in reading one of the latest press releases on Adobe's web site: Adobe's Acquisition of Macromedia Expected to Close on December 3, 2005