BoingBoing - Halloween Hax0red
October 31, 2003 @ 12:29 PM
Now, obviously I don't condone this sort of thing, but it certainly does have a certain amount of amusement, and I appreciate anything that injects a bit of mirth into my daily routine. BoingBoing, blog to beat all blogs and information service to far more people than you'd like to think, got hacked a few minutes ago. In case they've fixed it by the time you read this, here's a screenshot of the damage:
I sincerely hope the hacker didn't do anything stupid (such as mess with the archives or the db files if they weren't in MySQL). If so, they should be fried, hanged, shaved and then burned, cause that's just not cool. As long as all he/she did was overwrite the index file or rewrite the .htaccess file, I'd say it's a Halloween prank and nothing more.
Unless BoingBoing is self-pranking, but that's also not entirely cool and more than a bit strange. :)
Update 4:07pm: It could also just be a confuzzled server or a botched domain registry. Check out freedonia.com.
Blogging Not From The Beyond
October 29, 2003 @ 02:59 PM
You'd never believe it, but I survived my homework last night. Then again, I doubt many of you would believe I were Blogging from the Beyond right about now, so really, what does that leave you with? Nothing, I suppose, and that's just not acceptable. So here's this: I survived last night, which seems surprising, but is certainly more likely than the obvious alternatives.
I got to a stopping point on my PowerPoint around 11:30pm. I'd like to say I finished it, but there's a lot of things I would have liked to have done given an infinite amount of time, and that's something I don't have. However, I have a beginning slide and an ending slide and forty-five or so other ones in between, and a fair degree of continuity cohering them all into one yummy gooey mess, so that will have to do.
However, after that, I was tired. Really tired. And I hadn't started writing my story yet. The real problem with this story, is it had to be based on a story taken from this collection of short stories we have. And I hadn't read any of them. So I took the book to bed with me and scanned the titles for something that sounded like it would appeal to my tastes. I settled on Tony Earley's "the Prophet from Jupiter" because that sounded like a title I could really sink my noggin into.
Turns out, the title's about some guy from Jupiter, Florida. Which wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It stuck a grain of a story in my mind, though. Something about my hometown. So I went to bed and let that little grain ferment in my skull. And by the time I woke up six hours later, it'd turned into something tasty. I spent every one of the four hours I had before class writing the story, and got it done just in time to shower and go. And I don't think it's half bad. I like it, at least, and I've gotten one or two good comments so far. It's completely non-speculative, though, which isn't like me.
I'll still be spending all tonight doing homework. I need to write my testing report and a memo to go with my PowerPoint, and that'll probably take me more hours than I care to think about just now. If I don't get a chance to update again tonight, have a good Wednesday (*hump* day, in Gnomespeak).
The Amazing Vanishing Class
October 28, 2003 @ 03:46 PM
Yano what? Having this w.bloggar thing running in the system tray is the best thing that ever happened to this blog. *grin* I often feel chatty while working on homework or a project at work, and I don't normally have anyone to talk to. Now, with the help of w.bloggar, my incessant rambling can go where it was always meant to. :)
That was my way of apologizing in advance.
Guess what I found out yesterday while signing up for next semester's classes? The ONE required class I have yet to take, the ONE class I need to graduate, the ONE class I was planning on taking next semester that's only offered in the spring, has been cancelled. Ahhh!
Luckily, my advisor is a wonderful person and is working hard on a solution. She's promised that, one way or another, I'll graduate next semester. She keeps telling me not to stress out about it, that I won't be penalized for someone else's mistake. So that's cool, I guess, though my stress level is already high enough I can't ~help~ but worry.
Down to my Toes in Work
October 28, 2003 @ 03:03 PM
Reb's site has a beautiful new design, so stop by and have a look-see. She has a level of subtlety to her designs that I have yet to be able to capture. My designs all scream, "Look! I'm here! I'm new! Loooooook!" like a persistent three-year-old with a new toy. Or, I'm sure Megan would argue, me on any given night I'm feeling neglected. :)
Luckily for her, I won't have time to feel neglected in the coming few nights. I'm going to be up to my ears in homework. Or, since homework involves so much of the brain, would that be down to my toes? Regardless, I've got a lot of it. And I mean a ~lot~. Tonight, after I get home from both jobs, I'll be writing a ten-page story (about what, I don't know), finishing my PowerPoint tutorial, and writing my several-page testing report on the usability testing I've conducted on the tutorial. They have to go in that order, too. The story is due tomorrow, and the others I can feasibility put off until tomorrow night if I absolutely have to. The only problem with that, is, I'm not sure I can get those last two done in one night of work, so I'd much prefer to at least start them tonight.
My New Buddy
October 27, 2003 @ 03:03 PM
Okay, here's the scoop: blogBuddy is out. w.bloggar is in.
It's not that blogBuddy didn't work. It did, and that was a nice, pleasant surprise. It's just that w.bloggar is better. And I mean no offense to the developers of blogBuddy... it's plain to see they've put a lot of work into the program. But I've been with w.bloggar for about sixteen hours now (yes, a whole sixteen hours), and it's pretty darn cool. :) For example:
- First and foremost, w.bloggar supports titles. blogBuddy simply took the first five words of my post and made it a title. I didn't notice the oversight at first, but it quickly became obvious when I checked my site.
- w.bloggar is ~pretty~! It's got colorful icons and downloadable, customizeable skins. The buttons make sense and are layed out intuitively.
- More than one user can use w.bloggar. This is significant. Megan and I both blog, and both of our blog types (Blogger and Movable Type, respectively) are supported by either program. However, if Megan wanted to use blogBuddy, she would have had to reconfigure the entire program, and I would have had to change it back when I wanted to use it. That would grow old quickly.
- w.bloggar supports a surprising number of services. blogBuddy supports Blogger and Movable Type, two very popular publishing systems, to be sure. w.bloggar supports those, as well as over a dozen more, including Livejournal.
- With w.bloggar, I can edit previous posts that I didn't even create with the program! For example, I used w.bloggar to edit the title that blogBuddy created.
In other words, w.bloggar is a pretty cool program. There's other stuff that I didn't even mention, like the built-in spell checker and the ability to upload files with the click of a button. I'm constantly looking for ways to make blogging easier (and thus increasing the frequency I bother to do it), and this is definitely one of those. I'd recommend the program to anyone who uses any of the major publishing systems (Movable Type, Blogger, b2, TypePad, Livejournal, Nucleus, etc). It's even available in Spanish, French, Portugese and half a dozen other languages.
Did I mention that it's completely free? Unless you feel like donating, and this is one of those rare programs where I might.
Blog's Best Friend
October 26, 2003 @ 10:40 PM
Right now, I'm testing a new tool I just downloaded called blogBuddy. I've decided not to be biased by the name and actually give it a chance. :)
The cool part about this is, if it works, that means that the XML-RPC interface is properly installed. I'm not entirely sure what that means either, but I ~do~ know that it means there's a chance I can figure out some nice tools for updating my weblog via my PDA, and so forth, and so on.
In other news, I sign up for my last semester of classes tomorrow morning. After this semester, I have five credits left before I graduate. Five stinkin' credits. Wow. :) I plan to take a total of twelve or thirteen, I think. I have one required class left, which will probably be fairly tough. Then, I'm retaking two classes I did poorly in (to help boost my GPA). That leaves one class left, which I'm thinking will be some fun little Psych class or something. And then maybe Badmitton. Cause, hey... I'm a Senior, damnit.
In other other news, remember that phone, the LG VX6000, I whined about wanting a couple of weeks back? My friend Justin has one now. He's not my friend anymore. Though he did let me play with it at the party we went to Saturday night, so that's cool. He let me take pictures with it and everything. The GUI is totally counter-intuitive but very pretty, so it's a little give and take. I still want one.
Yano, after I've typed this much, I really hope my XML-RPC thinger works. If not, I'll probably copy and paste all this text into Movable Type with a big long preamble bitching about my host's poor support of Perl modules. The funniest part is, I just sent them an email asking if I could get some help installing some of these modules. Then and only then, I decided to test to see if any of them worked already. :)
Brain Surgery on These Thoughts
October 26, 2003 @ 10:17 AM
I must be in a web design mood again. The signs are all there: I'm making time to write here when otherwise I'd do homework, I'm visiting the css Zen Garden daily (they've updated again... check it out) and getting jealous every time, and I'm also doing web design. Go figure, eh?
Megan's website was the victim yesterday. She'd asked me to redesign her site a while back, but I'd been putting it off, as much out of time constraints as a lack of inspiration. She knew she wanted "music-type stuff." That's not as helpful as you'd think. *g*
Yesterday, however, I was inspired. I sat down at the computer at 10am, and by the time Megan got home from work around 3pm, her site was nearly completed. I got her approval on most of the stuff, a few suggestions on a couple of things, tweaked it a bit, and now it is as you see it. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
In case you never saw the 'before' version, or can't remember what it looked like, here's a screenshot (as almost always, click to enlarge):
It wasn't a bad design, per se. It just wasn't great. The colors were a little vivid, the boxes were a little clunky, and it lacked a lot of personality. Mostly because it's a minimal variation on one of the stock Blogger templates. And it was all basic CSS and crude tables.
Here's what it looks like now:
I think it's an improvement. The colors are more subtle and easier on the eyes, the boxes, through shadows and backgrounds, are softer, and the page looks a whole lot more "Megan." It's also structured with divs and styled entirely with CSS, which turned out to be a helluva challenge.
The layout still has one big flaw in just about every browser but IE: the menu background only extends to the bottom of the screen. If you scroll down, it's gone. I'm considering this a flaw in the design of the other browsers, though I'm still trying to figure out a work-around. The menu, which is contained inside a div spanning the entire length of the site, is set to have a height of 100%. IE makes the menu 100% of the containing block, and the background stretches accordingly. Everything else stretches the background to 100% of the screen, which is quite different.
You know what? Forget what I just said. I just had a minor revelation. I'm using absolute positioning to get the menu where I want it, which takes it out of its containing box. A height of 100% would be 100% of the screen. This background might be working through a flaw in IE. Funny stuff. :) I'll let you know if I figure out a better way of doing it. Floats weren't working well earlier, but maybe I can make them work.
Sometimes, the thought of using tables for layout purposes is damn appealing. :)
Music Majors Know Their Shiznit
October 25, 2003 @ 01:36 AM
Megan and I just got home from a party at her friend Jaqui's place. It was a pretty good time, though there were half a dozen conversations going on at any given point that I simply could not participate in. The crowd was 95% Music majors. English majors are less friendly, but less afraid of drinks. *g* Music majors, it seems, are far better at trivia games. Though, I could just be a bad sample when it comes to English majors. There's quite a few people in my poetry class that can pull names from their nether regions that I've never heard of, yet cause a good portion of the class to laugh. I find a wry smile fits those situations well. Sort of like, "Yeah, I get that, but I'm too cool to ~really~ laugh." And all the while, inside, I'm thinking, "Shit! Was he some marauding general in the 15th century, or a pitcher for the Yankees, or some obscure songwriter or what?!" I just have a hard time remember names. And numbers. And I have no idea what that leaves me to remember. Verbs, I guess, and adjectives and adverbs and other non-nominal nouns. I guess I was destined to be an English major.
No one else has any comments on my new site skin? Nothing? Anyone? I checked, and it works great in Opera, as well, so most people shouldn't have a problem checking it out and giving me feedback. Not that I'm hinting or anything. I'm far to evenly toasted to take the subtle route. I'm ~telling~. *g* Get to work.
Megan's hinting that it's time to go to bed. Since she has to get up for work in *checks clock* three hours and twenty minutes, I suppose she has some sort of say in the matter. Have a good night, all.
Showing Some Summer Skin
October 24, 2003 @ 12:00 AM
Remember that summer-themed skin I mentioned a while back... like seven hours ago? I took a look at it when I got home from work and after I'd had something to eat, and realized I didn't have all that much left to do. I had a couple of decisions to make about the menu navigation, a few pixel-precision changes to make here and there... but largely, it was done. So I spent a couple hours hacking away at it and got it far enough along that I was willing to upload it and share it with you-all.
I present to you: Summertime Blue.
That's the working title, at least. Suggest a better title if you're linguistically inclined. Check out the skin one way or the other. :) Click the above link, or use the link under "Select a Skin." I've tested it in IE6 and Mozilla Firebird .7, and that's all I'm really concerned about at this point. *g*
I'll probably tweak a few things here and there over the weekend, but the basic framework is in place and is behaving itself quite nicely. And it looks nice, too, at least in my humble opinion. It's my new favorite.
Alright, it's time for bed. I've been awake for far too many consecutive hours on far too little sleep. If I don't get a chance to say it, have a good Friday.
Survived the Homework
October 23, 2003 @ 04:53 PM
Went to bed fairly late last night, slept horribly, and was up again with Megan at 4:50 this morning. Well, shortly after Megan. I fell asleep for a couple of minutes, but she came to check up on me. The good news is, I got enough of my homework done to satisfy my teachers. My 4-page thingie came out particularly nice, in part because I printed it on 11"x17" paper so it could be folded into a booklet.
I'm ~really~ hoping to get a chance to work on my website this weekend. I've been in the mood for some changes for a few months now, and just plain haven't had the time. I started a summer-themed skin for the site during the warm summer months, and it seems silly that it isn't done yet come autumn. I'm hoping to finish that skin, upload it, and also make some bigger sidebar-related changes. What, I don't know yet. But I'll get it figured out sometime, hopefully, this weekend.
I have to leave work in a minute to catch the bus home. So I can run inside, wake Megan from the nap she's almost definately taking, give her a kiss, and head off to work again. :)
Thanks for all the comments, by the way. Good readers. Way to play with your parts.
Still Very Challenged
October 21, 2003 @ 04:43 PM
This is me continuing to feel very excited and challenged about all the wonderful projects I have to complete:
Tonight, I get to throw together a four-page professional looking data display. Tomorrow night, I get to do the same with a 20-minute Powerpoint tutorial. I'll also be working, of course.
Talk to ya next month. *grin*
Very Challenged
October 18, 2003 @ 10:46 AM
I've spent the last week lost in homework. Between figuring out how to write a testing plan for a usability test, designing a PowerPoint tutorial about CSS, writing a faux report for a school board, and writing poems and short stories for both of my 'easy' classes, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Add to that the fact that I've got to sign up for my GRE's really soon and I'm working two part-time jobs, and I'm feeling very overwhelmed.
Or, as one of my professors requires me to say, I'm feeling very excited and challenged.
So, anyways, that's why I haven't been updating. Please bear with me. For those of you who feel like you need something to read, M'ris is back in her proper place up north, and she's updating enough for the both of us. I'll let her pull my dead weight for a while. :)
Just In Case
October 12, 2003 @ 01:19 AM
In case anyone out there was worried, Megan and I made it home just fine tonight.
We spent the evening with Renée, Eric and Jake in Ankeny, partying, hanging out, and having a generally good time. It was Jake's (Eric's little brother, for those of you playing at home) 18th birthday, which officially makes him old enough to do all sorts of fun things, up to and including dying for his country. Eric went to bed early, and Renée followed him shortly thereafter, so Megan and I made like trees and left (leaved?).
Anyways, we made it home fine. So if you weren't worried then, now is no time to start. :)
However, I've nearly an infinite amount of homework to do in the morning (it's been exponentially increasing and I can no longer tell the endpoint from infinity), so wish me all sorts of luck.
Job Starts Today
October 07, 2003 @ 03:55 PM
I'm starting my new job tonight at 5:30. :) This has both positive and negative aspects. The positive part is that I need the money, and this will provide me with said money. The negative part is, I didn't have spare time to begin with, and this just reduced it by twenty or so hours a week. Plus, my average day will now span from 6am to 10:30pm with no breaks for meals.
I doubt I'll get a chance to update again until much later in the week. I've got a couple of major projects coming up, plus I've got a midterm Thursday.
Tomorrow should be fun, though. M'ris and company are driving through the area on their way to their new house, and they are stopping in Ames to have lunch with Megan and I. Nice, no? I'm sure one of us will remember to take a picture, should the occasion arise (though I hear Timprov is camera shy).
Wish me luck!
The Rise of Lord Google
October 03, 2003 @ 01:46 PM
Ladies, Lads, and general gentlepersons: Google is poised to take over the world.
For those of you who don't know what Google is... well, nevermind. The reality of it is, if you can find this site, you know what Google is. Google is everywhere. Google is so popular, it has become a verb. Just last Tuesday I heard it used on WB's Gilmore Girls as a verb (ie, "let's go Google him"), proving it's considered mainstream enough to be a part of our popular culture. We'll leave the fact that I'm addicted to Gilmore Girls for another discussion. :)
You can find what you're looking for with Google. I'm convinced it doesn't even matter ~what~ you're looking for. Google can find it. Period.
Most of you are probably most familiar with good old traditional Google, which finds the website you're looking for in under three seconds. Another favorite is Google Images, which scours the net for pics of any and every sort. There's also Google News, which looks through thousands of news sites for new stories, looking for the most relevant (and prevalent) ones. For those cost-minded consumers out there, I'd also suggest using Froogle (which is still in Beta testing) to search the web for the lowest prices on whatever you're in the market for. But recently, Google has topped themselves: they've invented the Calculator.
Yes, yes, I know calculators exists. I'm not talking about calculators. I'm talking about the Calculator, with a big-ol' capital letter out front letting the world know how cool it really is. It is, in part, a calculator. Go to Google, type '76*3943' into the search box, and it will let you know the answer (299,668). However, it does more than that. It converts, too. Try typing '150kph in mph' into the search box. It'll convert units for you. I just found out that 3,000 square feet is roughly .0668 acres (query: 3000 square feet in acres). Yesterday, I found out that there are 48 teaspoons in a cup (query: number of teaspoons in a cup). How did I live before without knowing that?
So. Google can find the website, image, product, or calculation you are looking for. Google can automatically sort the daily news, making sure you've always got the most relevant information. Rumors are even flying that Google is running for governor of California. The time draws neigh when we will bow to Lord Google and offer our homage. And I, for one, welcome our new dark overlord. *g*
Phoneless
October 02, 2003 @ 09:34 AM
Please Note: My phone is out of commission. Again.
It died yesterday morning while I was backing up my phone book. My theory is I unplugged it from the computer just as the computer started to re-recognize it (following a phone restart). Symptoms are identical to last time this happened.
*mutter*
I tried like hell to get a loaner-phone. No go. Then, I tried like hell to get a NEW phone, since I don't really have a lot of trust for this one anymore. Also a no go. Which is too bad, because I really wanted an LG VX6000. *g* So instead, I am ~again~ without a phone for time unknown while my phone is ~again~ repaired in Texas.
In the meantime, I would suggest trying to get ahold of me via Megan's phone, or leaving a voicemail on mine (I'll still be checking it).
Class is starting, so I bid you all a better morning than I've had these last few days.