It has begun

Date: 5-18-2008

Well, I have started to compile and put togther this website after sitting around for a somewhat long peroid of time trying to figure out what exactly to do with with it. Finally I figured out that if I truely wanted to better my skills as a web developer that this would be the perfect tool to use. And also, I figured I could use this tool to try and get some side work and make a little extra money. Currently I work for a travel company here in Denver. I absolutly love my job and one reason why I enjoy it so much is because of all the interest things that I have done in building my various applications, but also because of the many things that I have learned in the single year that I have been employeed here. Add to that the wonderfull people that I work with and bosses that are friendly and easy to work with, I can truely say that I might be one of only a few people that can say that they enjoy their job. Anyway, stay tuned as I plan on getting a few projects that I have been working on posted soon.

A form without the form - Post in Ruby On Rails

Date: 5-19-2008

One thing that I love about Ruby On Rails is the fact that applications can be built to be highly dynamic and as a result online applications can have almost a live feel to them. Upon scouring the web I found this really cool CSS example that had a form button as a link with an image instead of a button - pretty simple I know. A few weeks before I had been looking through the ruby forums and had come across a posting describing how to make a link act as a form post. When my boss came to me with a project that involved adding a form to an administrative tool we use, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to try and an mix these two senarios together and see if I could get them to work. Basically what I would be trying to do is wrap the contents of a web page around all the "stuff" that I wanted to post then place a link at the bottom and use that link to post the information. I am sure there are some out there who have done this before and consider this old news, but I thought this was really cool. Then I would use CSS to place a button like image on the link to make it look like a form button.

Patent Laws

Date: 5-30-2008

VueStar, a technologies firm in Singapore, has made the claim that they invented and therefore own the technique used by, well, every website - including this one - which allows one page to be linked to another by an image. The company earlier this week mailed out bills to several local Singapore companies demanding compensation for using this technique. I have no idea if these companies were foolish enough to pay the bills, but I do know that some of the bills sent out were in the thousands of dollars. I don't know much about patent law but I cannot imagine that this will hold up, especially outside of Singapore. There are rumors that the firm plans to take on Microsoft and Google in order to collect compensation. Good luck to ya VueStar, my gut feeling is that you won't be around for much longer if you decide to do that.

To whom it may concern

Date: 9-3-2008

I know I have paid little, well, no attention to this website lately, but I plan on kicking things up a notch later this month when, hopefully, things settle down at work. I must say, however, that the more and more I look at this site and how it is laid out the more I really like it. Sure it might be a little playful but, come on, it's not like this is a webpage for The Wallstreet Journal. Having said that, there are many new functionalities that I would like to get implemented and plan on doing so soon. After all this is a web development site and I see a lot of areas that can be improved - especially the "Donate" section, which, now that I think about it, I should have done first. Until we meet again...

Google brings out their bling-bling with Chrome

Date: 9-3-2008

Yesterday Google released their web browser for all the world to enjoy and although I have yet to install it on my machine it does seem pretty cool. With tabs that use memory independently of each other so if one tab crashes there will be no effect on the other open tabs and the fact that you can drag and drop tabs to create separate windows, there isn't very much left to desire when it come to performance. But (there is always a BUT isn't there) in the fine print of the "Terms of Use" is an interesting caveat, which is, anything you write and even view using Chrome (that is what Google is calling there new browser - Chrome) becomes property of Google. Hmmmm, wouldn't that mean that Google would, eventually, own the entire Internet simple because someone used his or her browser to view a web page? I think there might be some out there who have something to say about that. Of course, I could be completely wrong in my understanding - and I probably am - but after reading the Terms of Use which went on for what seemed like a thousand pages - like they always do - I gave-up and decided that life was to short and I had better things to do. So, it could be that at the very end was the "Just Kidding" disclaimer, but I doubt it.

UPDATE Date: 9-3-2008

So apperently Google has taken out that bit declaring that they basically own everything. Thank God, I can go back to putting my memoirs in order.

A Day in the Life of a Naked Mad Man

Date: 9-9-2008

Ever have one of those dreams where you have a big presentation for school or a project that you are demo-ing at work the next day, so in your dream your cramming to get things done and right as you walk into class or the board room all confident because you're prepared and feel you are going to do one of hell of a job, you realize that you, in all your haste to get prepared, forgot to get dressed and are walking around butt naked? Well, that is what happened to me this morning. I had wanted to get up early and go to then gym and then show-up at work early so I could get stuff done that had been pilling up. Well, the gym is right across the street from work and work is about 20-25 miles from home, a good 3/4 of the way to the gym I realized that I had forgotten my work clothes at home. Needless to say, I didn't get to workout and I didn't get to work early like I hoped. But I did get lots done and I am comforted in the fact that I have a half bottle of wine waiting for me when I get home. Cheers,

-Shandy

It's a Whole New World

Date: 9-17-2008

Not computer related, I know, but it is science related, which is why I felt compelled to comment on the fact that scientists have taken the first picture of a planet orbiting another star. Before I got interested in computers I was actually going to school to become an astronomer but couldn't cut the math - maybe someday, which is why I find this news so exciting. The picture on the left is the picture in question, and that small glowing dot in the upper left-hand corner is the planet in question. The planet is eight times the mass of Jupiter and orbits its parent star roughly 11 times the distance of the Sun-Neptune orbit, which means that it is way out there. The discoverers of this planet caution, however, that the planet could simply be grazing the system of the star and may not actually be a member of the system. This would make sense since this planet is in contradiction to how our own solar system seems to be made up and how other extra-solar systems seem to be made-up, which are also in direct contradiction. So maybe, if everything is in direct contradiction to everything else, then that means all is normal? Man, this seems like one of those time traveling paradox's you read about in the pulp science fiction magazines. Whatever it means, first picture of another planet outside our own solar system = very cool!

In other astronomy news, a mystery object - oooohhhhh, aaaaahhhhhh - was glimpsed in a relatively uninhabited part of space. Not much is known about the object other then it appeared out of nowhere and then vanished. Which reminds me of a quote a CERN scientist made last week: "What did they say in 'Star Wars'? We're going where no man has ever been? Well, that's where we're going," This statement, confusing Star Wars and Star Trek, which is tantamount to calling Jesus just some guy who talked a good game, but other wise had little impact on the world, was taken out back and beat to death by an angry mob that lashed him repeatedly with their calculator matches.

Archive