What is downright scary for me as a webmaster…
October 11, 2004, 1:55 AM
Here’s what’s downright scary to me as a Webmaster. My Transit Center project.
(crickets chirping)
Why is that so scary? It’s not the expansion that I’m working on right now, that I’m about a day or so away from finishing. That’s easy. Right now I’m working on putting descriptions to pictures of Metro trains and stations.
The scary part is what I’m doing to the Transit Center after that. While the recently-expanded site is out doing what it’s supposed to, I’m going to be working behind the scenes to completely rebuild the site organizationally, since expansion of the site beyond its original bounds (adding several new transit systems) has proven to be a pain. Let’s just say that the site is a mess under the surface.
The funny thing is that for the user, the site works great. Everything works, and it navigates fairly well. In fact, I only have one navigational feature that I want to add, and it’s fairly minor.
Continue reading…Categories: Schumin Web meta
Five days of the same schedule… don’t know how I managed that.
October 8, 2004, 11:11 PM
I may not know how I managed that, but I’m not complaining! It makes working seven days in a row somewhat less painful. Of course, this is being said on a Friday – only day #5. We’ll see what I’m saying come Sunday night, at the end of day #7. Right now I’m like, “Oh, yes, this is just wonderful!” By the end of the seventh day, I could be like, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” We’ll see.
Meanwhile, I watched most of the second debate this evening after work. All in all, I think John Kerry did the better job of the two, and George Bush looked like he was about to explode a few times there. One time he nearly did, jumping right in after Kerry was finished, and cutting off the moderator (Charles Gibson). We’ll see what the news says about it tomorrow morning.
Also, I’m looking at my journal from a year ago, and it’s interesting. This Saturday, October 9, will be the one-year anniversary of my “What part of ‘crosswalk’ do you not understand?” pass through JMU’s campus. That was a very unpleasant trip, and it was because college students don’t know how to watch where they’re going when they cross the street. I look back at it, and I’m amused by how quick I was to break out the obscenities. But at least I found parking.
Categories: National politics, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
ß
October 7, 2004, 12:14 AM
Finally I found out what ß means! It’s only found in German, a language which I have not studied seriously. I studied Spanish and Latin in high school, and in college had no formal foreign language study (the benefit of a Bachelor of Science degree), but I did become quite proficient in Foul while at JMU.
Of course, “Foul” only consists of about seven words, and you’re not allowed to say it on the air.
But anyway, ß. For years, I referred to it as “that funky-looking B that they have in German”. And that got me some very confused looks from just about everyone. But think about it. ß does look like a B. See? ß. B. So my description is understandable.
Turns out, though, that ß is not related to B at all. It’s actually related to S. And like most language elements, it has a very long history, and a big description of how it’s used in the German language.
Still, at least now I know what ß really means, and how it’s only a lowercase letter. It has no uppercase equivalent.
I am very pleased with myself for finding out about ß, a letter which has puzzled me for years.
Categories: Myself
What a day in Washington I had on Saturday…
October 3, 2004, 11:10 PM
I was up early, and in bed late, to say the least. What I did was cover two, count ’em, two political demonstrations on October 2, for a photo set I’m going to do for Schumin Web.
The first one was an anti-war funeral procession. Basically a rally and march, but with a more solemn funeral type atmosphere. They carried 100 cardboard coffins (designed to represent real ones, as you would expect) from Arlington National Cemetery to the Ellipse near the White House. At Arlington National Cemetery, speeches were given, and then the coffins were picked up, and the marchers marched. I photographed all over, and took movies. On the way into Washington, near the entrance to Arlington Cemetery Metro station (by the way, this is where I dropped out of the march, because I had other fish to fry that day as well), we encountered the counter-protesters, basically protesting the protesters. These are the ones who disagree with the marchers, and are voicing their dissent with the marchers’ viewpoints.
So after photographing the counter-protesters, and taking movies of them, and unfortunately not being allowed by Park Police to venture in between the line of police in the street and the counter-protesters in order to get shots of some of the signage the counter-protesters carried, I headed into Arlington Cemetery station, to head over to protest target #2.
Categories: Anti-war, DC trips, World Bank
Nice little update package from Microsoft today…
October 1, 2004, 1:00 AM
I updated my Windows this evening to all the latest stuff from Microsoft. This means new service packs, incorporating a bunch of new features. Don’t know what half of them do, but I’ll figure it out eventually.
Only things I’ve really messed with are the ones of immediate concern to me (read: annoying features). I fixed the pop-up blocker to not chime and throw a message up when it finds one. I don’t need to know about the ad I just missed that badly. Just a little icon in the corner is all I need. I also fixed it where I can still play flash animations that I’ve got saved on my computer without an extra “OK”. That was a bother before I found the switch to turn that off. I save flash animations from the Internet onto my computer when I find something interesting. I have my favorites that I watch periodically.
My comment above about “…incorporating a bunch of new features. Don’t know what half of them do…” reminds me of Tim Allen’s stand-up act. He says something like, “I bought a [tool]. What does it do? I don’t know. Looks good on that pegboard, though.” Then he goes on to say, “And where did I get it? Sears!” Tim Allen seems to like tools from Sears.
I am two for two on DC Indymedia
September 29, 2004, 10:48 PM
What can I say? I’m good. Twice I’ve submitted photos of an event to DC Indymedia, and twice I’ve managed to get my images on the front page of the DC Indymedia Web site.
The most recent is from a protest held near the US Treasury. Here is the full article. Where I actually submitted the photos is actually low on the page. But guess whose image that is small and up in the corner. Mine! That’s the one that also ended up on the main page of DC Indymedia. (Note: If it’s not on the main page anymore when you see this, it’s dated September 21 and entitled Picket in front of US Treasury calls for 100% Debt Cancellation: 10 Days until the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, and you can scroll back to find old front page articles at the bottom of the main news feed)
This is also about the only time you’ll ever see me actually defend George W. Bush (I’m as surprised as you are, especially in the highly-liberal Indymedia venue). The poster just before me said:
Look how far away the demonstration is from Treasury. It’s only since the second Bush Administration came in that demonstrations have been forced to move back and way back away from their intended target, in the name of security but in reallity it’s an attempt to marginalize protest and dissent.
Categories: Activism
There should be a shirt: “I survived inventory”
September 28, 2004, 5:56 PM
We at Wal-Mart just finished having inventory. Fun. A company comes in and counts everything we’ve got. Meanwhile, it was slow at the Service Desk, which made things go smoothly.
I’m just glad it’s over. Now things can get back to normal, plus I have a day off. Don’t know what I’m going to do yet – thinking about going out, though. We’ll see.
Categories: Walmart
Now I’m wealthy… yeah, sure…
September 27, 2004, 4:23 PM
I got a check regarding the Web site today from Overture, a search engine. A whole $3.89. I think I can retire now. Or not.
What’s funny about it is that I have no idea where this came from. Overture is now part of Yahoo, but Yahoo is not the source. I remember when I first joined various affiliate programs in 2000 that Yahoo was one that didn’t have an affiliate program and I noticed how strange that was. I also don’t recall what Overture’s predecessor company was. That would help a lot, since I probably registered for a predecessor’s affiliate program way back in 2000 when I did a bunch of those.
I remember that much of those affiliate programs bit the dust later on, in 2001 or so, with the so-called “dot-bomb” where all kinds of internet businesses died, and the market for online advertising took a nosedive. That was a pity. A number of the affiliate programs I was in discontinued their programs outright. Losing AltaVista’s affiliate program was particularly painful, since it was lucrative.
Still, I have a check for three bucks, which I find amusing. Must be a payment for something I had on my site at some point.
Categories: Internet
Now this is the life (the phone’s fixed)
September 26, 2004, 1:52 AM
This is the life. I’m getting good connection speeds again (“good” being relative here, with this being dial-up), and staying connected for extended periods of time.
As of right now, I’m connected at top speed for my dial-up, and have been online for two hours and thirty minutes.
Considering that at the height of the problems with the phone, we were getting noise on both lines, as well as cross-talk. This caused a lot of cases where the computer couldn’t keep up and dropped the connection. This also led to a database outage this past week, which stemmed from a botched upload following an update. I did get it fixed, but not without lots of problems.
But the phone is now fixed! They ended up going under the house and replaced some cables. And it all works now, which is good.
Categories: House
Let me show you. This is Trogdor.
September 24, 2004, 4:20 PM
My sister is home for the weekend! What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting her to come home until some time in October. So that was neat. Her boyfriend Chris brought her home to us. And as a result, I finally got to meet Chris. We have to take her back to Tech, though. Chris should chip in the $20 or so in gas. But you know how poor college students are. So we’ll forgive him for it, since he brought us a pleasant surprise.
So why Trogdor in the title? Well, Sis and Dad and I were all talking about something, and how Dad pulled up something on Urban Dictionary to back up an expression that he used. I chimed in how I added a few definitions there myself. My sister said how she found a thousand definitions for “Trogdor” on there.
My father had no idea who Trogdor was. I know who Trogdor is. I showed him, doing up a quick doodle.
Categories: Family, Homestar Runner
Don’t be a horse’s… you know.
September 22, 2004, 11:30 PM
I need a picture of the back end of a horse. Or two. Or three. Why? Think of the possibilities! Don’t be a horse’s patoot – go vote! Don’t be a horse’s patoot – buy a Schumin Web t-shirt! You get the point, I think. The use of the word “patoot” is my favorite term for it when referring to not being one that belongs to a horse.
The time I’ve heard (or shall we say seen, as you’ll see) the term used most memorably on a poster that the JMU Post Office used in the spring of 2001. They were reminding everyone about the fact that it’s time to forward mail for the summer so that it doesn’t sit at JMU while you’re at home. The poster was right there, and said, “DON’T BE A” at the top. In the middle, it showed a large photograph of three horses in a race, as viewed from behind. Then at the bottom, it talked about forwarding your mail. Point made, and memorable, too.
And I also presume it was effective, since no one wants to be a horse’s patoot.
Categories: Amusing
I went to Washington DC on Tuesday…
September 22, 2004, 8:28 PM
That was fun. I chose the date because of a picket event outside the US Treasury Building, in regards to third-world debt, sponsored by the Jubilee USA Network. It was an hour-long protest, going from noon to 1 PM. I attended the second half-hour of it. I got pictures of some of the speakers, and then got a bunch of photos of the people marching, carrying signs. This was a small event, carried out on the corner of 15th Street and New York Avenue NW. As such, “marching” basically meant all the people in attendance marched in a circle right there at the corner. It was still a spirited event, with all kinds of slogans being shouted. For instance:
“What do we want? Drop the debt! When do we want it? Now!”
“Medication for every nation! Drop the debt now!”
“Secretary Snow! The debt has got to go!”
“Don’t drop the ball! Cancel it all!”
All in all, it was a fun event. I also exchanged Email addresses with one of the Jubilee USA organizers, with the intent of sharing my photos. Maybe some of my photos will end up on there. We shall see. It would have been nice if they’d done it on a sunny street corner, because in the shade, it causes me to have to do some serious retouching to get the color right.
Categories: DC trips, Driving, WMATA, World Bank
The problem is getting fixed on Saturday
September 22, 2004, 7:57 PM
Yes, the problem with the phones is being fixed on Saturday. Or at least looked at. Hopefully, though, it’s something simple that is able to be fixed on the spot. I just hope it’s not something totally complicated that requires multiple visits and such. Please let it be an easy fix.
And while I’m thinking about it, since we are still getting the noise on the line, I’m writing this journal entry offline in Notepad again. It still works out really well, too. If you put “.LOG” at the beginning of your file, it will put a date and time stamp at the bottom of the file each time you open it. So that’s how I keep it accurate on the time the entry was made, even though I’m manually adding it in later. Still, entering it in manually is easy. I just download the journal files, paste in the new entries, and then re-upload the files.
So the phone problem will be fixed Saturday. I say “yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay”.
Categories: House
And for you doubters, I can sing, though how well is left to the opinion of innocent bystanders…
September 20, 2004, 1:58 AM
This is my third journal entry in the same evening! I must have a lot to talk about.
Anyway, though, in the Garden Center at work, which is rapidly going from garden stuff to Christmas stuff, there is a small display in the center of the open space. There are four mechanical dancing Santas. For the most part. One is Santa Claus himself. One is a bear in a Santa suit. One is the Grinch in a Santa suit. And the last one is a snowman. These things are about a head shorter than me, and swing their hips, move their arms, turn their heads, and the Santa and the snowman move their mouths. They sing canned songs, but then they also have a jack for a microphone on them, where you can sing into the mic, which causes the heads to turn and the mouth to move.
After clocking out at work, I headed over to the Garden Center to check it out, and discovered the display, and noticed that it was plugged in, and a microphone was sitting there.
See where this is going?
Categories: Today's Special, Walmart
When people don’t vote, that bothers me.
September 20, 2004, 1:05 AM
It’s amazing how so many people have internalized the notion that their vote doesn’t matter, and thus why bother voting. It really irks me, too. And more amazing is that this is after the election of 2000, where, in order to determine who would be the President of the United States, the de facto leader of the free world, people in Florida were carefully scrutinizing thousands of individual ballots to get an accurate count of the votes in a very close election.
And it’s amazing the excuses people give. My favorite one was when someone said that they don’t vote because of the electoral college system. And in probing further, it turned out that the actual reason for not voting was not the electoral college itself, but more of a lack of understanding of how it works.
For those of you who don’t know, the electoral college system, which we use for electing the President works like this. The people (you and I, for instance) vote for a slate of electors at the voting booth. These electors have committed to voting for the presidential and vice presidential candidates that they are named with. So you’re not voting directly for John Kerry or George Bush. You’re voting for John Doe, Jane Doe, Jim Doe, and Joe Doe, who will cast their electoral votes for their candidate, should their slate of electors win the vote of the state. Thus the winner-takes-all method of giving electoral votes. Then the winning set of electors casts their electoral votes some time after the general election. That makes it official who’s president, and the Vice President then officially counts the electoral votes before the Senate, who officially announces the winner of the election.
Categories: National politics