the big three
I'm not sure what time I'll get to bed tonight. I was really thrown off by daylight savings time, ended up sleeping most of the day and doing homework when my eyes were open.
I'm getting really tired of doing homework all the time and not being able to work on personal projects in my free time. I signed up for summer session, so it's not likely to get much better. The good news is that I'll only be taking one class and will have a little bit more freedom. I hope to graduate next April or May.
I'll also have more time to focus on some personal goals. This year I promised myself that I'd become less of a hermit and try to make new friends, network with potential freelance partners and go on at least one date. So far I've got two out of three nailed down.
Last night I had dinner with a web designer that I met on a message board who is looking for a programmer to do some database and php development on a couple of projects. I was a little bit leary of the whole thing and afraid he'd be freaky, but it went well and he was cool.
This week I'm going to make some moves toward getting a date, or at least getting my confidence up enough to ask someone out. More details may or may not follow. Wish me luck.
Double L
Lawrence Lessig (Stanford Law Professor, Chair of the Creative Commons and board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation) has published a new book, titled FREE CULTURE. It's available for download. If you like it, buy it.
grab and stash vol. 2
Textamerica has updated their delivery method of the most recent image. They are now taking advantage of ASP.NET and some pretty sleek code.
Awhile back I wrote a tutorial that shows you how to grab this image and host it yourself using PHP. I've updated it to accommodate textamerica's code change.
If you use this or have feedback, I'd like to hear what you think.
insurance photos
I've completed most of the admin section for my photoblog. All that's left now is to create the public side that you will all see. I'm trying to nail down the navigation, but I think I'll have a rough version of it up and running in the next week. I'm hoping that having a photoblog will force me to take more pictures and help loosen me up about photography.
I've also decided to take out an insurance policy on my camera gear this week. I can get it all insured for $60 a year. Not too bad. Most of the reason that I don't take my camera around much is that I'm afraid of having it stolen or dropped. Sixty dollars seems like a small price to pay for the peace of mind that will help me use it more.
procrastination proclamation
I was taken down hard by a cold this week. Tuesday through Friday was pretty much a bust. I didn't get much of anything accomplished, other than having to go to school to take a final exam on Thursday night.
Today I started to feel a bit better, though definitely not one hundred percent. I did manage to go cash my tax return at the bank, rebuild my pc, pick up a new ASP.NET book and begin working on my final project for school. I'd talk more about that here, but the mere mention of a project always seems to increase my tendency to procrastinate. So, I'm just going to continue working on it and post it here when the time is right.
Speaking of projects that never seem to get finished, I'm still tinkering with my photoblog. I'm kicking around ideas about how to best handle the dynamic navigation while keeping the URL's reasonably clean. It might not be done as soon as I'd like, but that's okay. I can't really get out and take many photos right now anyway. I have three weeks of school left this semester and then I'll have much more time to enjoy my hobbies.
Loftcube
Damn! I want a Loftcube (found at apartment therapy). Until then, I'm counting down the days until Ikea opens next to the Mall of America. Rumor has it that it'll be open in July. I've already got my new computer desk/huge table picked out...unless I decide to make my own out of a door and sawhorses.
thehollandtunnel.com
Don't try this at home.
random security key generator and validator
I woke up this morning to about twenty spam messages that came through my contact form, which I put in place to avoid spam. So, I decided to put a random security key generator and validator on the form. It's probably a small hassle for the few people that contact me through the form, but I'll give it a whirl for awhile and see how it goes.
If anyone wants to test it for me, I'd appreciate it.
novocaine nightmare
I just got back from a trip to the dentist to get a permanent crown. I already went through most of the pain two weeks ago when they put on the temporary. All was going well until I heard the words you never want to hear a dentist say: "This is going to hurt a little."
Before I knew it there was some serious pain as he was trying to make the crown fit properly. Three novocaine shots, some gas and an hour later I was setting up an appointment to try it all over again in two weeks.
I then went to McDonald's like I've done after every dentist appointment since I was thirteen. I have a feeling that this tradition will come to an end after I get done with Fast Food Nation.
