Archive for September, 2003
Sunday, September 28th, 2003
Last night we went to the football game [Troy State University vs Marshall University]. Wow, what a game. It was the most fun I’ve had at a football game, well except the UF – Auburn game last year. It was a close score the entire game. No one expected TSU to win, but we had some great interceptions. Of course, we are now big time, with our new football stadium, which I have to admit looks great. But what really made us official was the events that took place at the game last night. We won and the herd of students ran into the newly laid astroturf field and tore down the goalpost. Yes, they actually tore it down, then carried it downfield and tore down the other one. Then a bunch of frat boys carried pieces of it off to their frat house. What a game! I honestly never thought I’d see stuff like that at our little school. But I guess that is part of becoming a I-A team. And it even made it on the ESPN game day highlights last night. They showed the students hording the goalpost and tearing it down. Of course the crowd stayed to watch them and cheered them on. It was such a great game, I was sad to see it end.
I’m so glad we got those free tickets from a friend and decided to check it out. Oh yeah, the final score was 33-24, TSU over Marshall. GO TROY!
Posted in At Home | 1 Comment »
Saturday, September 20th, 2003
I’ve music mania. It’s official. In the past week, I’ve bought 4 CDs and there are still about 5-10 more I want to get. Agh! What did I buy, you ask? I got Joe Nichols…very nice. I got Clay Walker’s new one, which includes A Few Questions. I also broke down and got Shania Twain’s UP. It’s pretty good. I didn’t know she sings She’s Not Just a Pretty Face. I think that’s the theme song for the new NBC show, Miss Match. I look forward to seeing that. The other CD I got was Keith Urban’s Golden Road. Just a great CD. And he is such a hottie! 
Oh and I may be going to the fair in two weeks. Rascal Flatts is performing on Saturday, October 4. I really would love to see them. My husband will be on a canoe trip so it will be my chick weekend. I have plans to rent a few chick movies, read a lot and go see my favorite country guys.
I’ve added Law and Order: SVU to my amazon wishlist…the first year will be out on DVD on October 23. Of course I still have to get CSI (both seasons), so I doubt I will be rushing out to get it. I’m just making sure it’s on the list in case anyone gets a hankering to get me something, they’ll know exactly what I want. Speaking of SVU and CSI, this coming week is Premiere Week and I will be glued to the television all week. With SVU on Tuuesday; CSI, Friends and ER on Thursday, Miss Match on Friday and Charmed on Sunday I will be a busy tv viewer. So I may not be posting much…I’ll be too busy watching tv. LOL!
Posted in The Inner Me | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 15th, 2003
Bair Skins has finally reopened for business. Well, not business per say. It’s all linkware, but you get the idea. I’ve redesigned it and made it back into a complete site, instead of just one page. I have to say, I’m really happy with it. I really like the design I gave it. Hah! I even joined the graphic goo ring in hopes of drawing more visitors to my templates. I literally worked all day Saturday trying to get it done. I was up till 3am. My husband is wonderful for letting me spend all my time at the computer. Although I did take breaks in between to cuddle with him and watch football.
No new templates, but I redesigned the existing ones. All but one uses tables, but they all validated XHTML and CSS, plus I tested them in Firebird and IE6. I have yet to test in Netscape or Opera, but that is the plan. Maybe at some point I can start working on new templates.
But for now, at least, the site is back up. It even has it’s own domain…http://www.bairskins.org. Yep, similar to what it was before, but it’s .org now instead of .com. The domain is probably still resolving so access might be flaky. If you’re really interested in seeing the new look or any of the templates, and you can’t get to it using the domain, try http://linkware.wifetalks.com. That should get you to it also.
Posted in All Work and No Play | 3 Comments »
Friday, September 12th, 2003
Lately I haven’t been in the mood to work. I’m not sure why. I call it my phases. Sometimes I’m in my working phase and I’m so busy with code and getting it all done, that I breeze by and enjoy it. I’m really into it. I will forget lunch, forget I have to use the bathroom. Sometimes I’ll even lose track of time and not realize it’s time to go home. Then at other times, I just can’t seem to concentrate on work. I try. Don’t think I’m totally slacking. But my mind is off somewhere else, I get distracted easily. I don’t even enjoy it. It’s aweful. All I can think of is my website designs, the book I’m currently reading, or anything else that isn’t work related. The clock ticks as I wait impatiently for the work day to end. I can’t get out quick enough and I don’t look forward to going in the next morning. I hate when I’m in my “out” phase.
Yep, you guessed it. I’m in an “out” phase curently, but it feels like I may be going back into my “workaholic” phase pretty soon. I can feel myself getting interested again in what I’m working on. Fortunately I’m in a field where I have multiple projects, so the work changes constantly. It’s all coding, but my focus changes from one project to the next, whether it be a user requested modification, or an enhancement to the existing application. I’ve currently got 4 projects going on. I have them prioritized so I’m really only working on one at a time, but I know I’ll have something different to work on as soon as my current work is done.
It feels good to finish my projects and roll out a new version of our application. That sense of accomplishment when the users come and tell me they like the new change. And I think back to when I began working here and had never programmed before. I was thrown in and had to learn as I go. I bought a book that goes through an introduction of Visual Basic. I read it for two weeks before I started working here. Then I had a general idea of what I’d be looking at. I’d never even seen Visual Basic code before. So I remember how I felt, sitting in the teeny server room, printing pages of code so I could analyze it and figure out what that portion of the application was doing and I realize I’ve come a long way. I was so scared back then. I had no idea what I was doing. Not only did I have to learn VB, I had to learn how to create stored procedures for MSSQL Server. It was overwhelming, but I got the hang of it.
I really enjoy my work, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing. Well, maybe running a bookstore, but, that’s another story. I just wish I didn’t have these “out” phases. Hopefully, it’s going away…I can feel my concentration getting better. My desire to code is increasing, so maybe I’ll become the “workaholic” sometime in the next week.
Posted in All Work and No Play | No Comments »
Thursday, September 11th, 2003
There must be something in the water. I’ve counted nine women so far that are pregnant. Nine! That includes online and offline. I’m sure there are more, but those nine are the ones I know of, or rather the ones I can remember right now. That is a good amount at one time. If it isn’t the water then I don’t know what it is. It seems like everyone is turning up pregnant. Not me though.
I would be elated, but at the same time very stressed and worried. My husband doesn’t want children. At least he says not right now. I can understand, but I’m a woman who has always wanted a family, so even in the worst situation I would probably be very happy to be having a child. When the time comes, I worry what his reaction will be. For a while, I’ve actually worried that it would cause a major strain in our marriage. But with his boss’ wife being pregnant, he is seeing a different side of his boss. And of course he shares his excitement at seeing the sonograms and hearing the heartbeat, so maybe it will bring my husband around some. He has a great relationship with another friend’s son who is 6. But of course he is always glad to leave the child with his parents and come home. He is always joking about not having kids. But sometimes, he says something that surprises me and makes me wonder if he’ll be ok with it.
I just don’t know what to think. I do know that I will be very nervous when the time comes and I have to tell him the news. Unless it happens at a time when we are trying. I think if it ever happens that he tells me he wants to start trying for a child, I will be shocked speechless and maybe I’ll cry happy tears. Until that day comes, I pray that he has a change of heart or that he’ll at least be somewhat pleased if it happens unplanned.
Posted in The Inner Me | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 9th, 2003
I need opinions on Windows Skinning software. I use Object Desktop (OD). But I’ve seen many who use StyleXP (SXP). I like OD, but I’ve read that that SXP is slimmer.
” To get third party visual styles, Style XP does not have to be in memory, so there is no worry about your machine slowing. For Rotation to work (rotating Themes, Visual Styles, Backgrounds, or Logons) Style XP will load at logon or boot time. It can then optionally and automatically, completely unload. If you prefer, Style XP can also remain in the system tray for your convenience. “
SXP appears to be a more streamlined product than Object Desktop which I’ve always felt to be slightly bulky. I like to be able to change the colors of XP, which in itself only includes 3 colors. I haven’t really found any skins using OD that I like enough to use on a regular basis. Since the style applications are not compatible with each other, I can’t use Visual Styles with OD.
Do any of you readers use either one and what is your opinion of it? StyleXP is about half the cost of Object Desktop, so if that factored into your choice, include that in your response. I’m going to download the trial version of SXP tonight and see just how it works.
Posted in Geekery | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 8th, 2003
I’m beginning to like Zempt for posting. I can customize the fields for each one of my blogs. Some use the keywords, some don’t so this way I only get fields I need depending on which blog I’m posting to. It’s perfect. I can also set up a bookmarklet that works the same way as the MT bookmarklet.
I’ve been using w.bloggar for a while. I like the interface…It is definitely more lively than Zempt, but because it isn’t specifically for MT, I can’t add keywords or extended entries as easily. There is also many other things I can do with Zempt that are missing from w.bloggar because it isn’t specific to MT. I only have one complaint about Zempt. I don’t like it’s toolbar. I wish the toolbar was more like other applications. For such an advanced application, I find the toolbar slightly amateurish. Just my opinion, but I understand that they have to make it as flexible as possible for multiple platforms. Development tools that work for one don’t necessarily work for all so they have to compromise. I still think they could make some improvements to the toolbar, but I like it’s features and that is the most important thing.
Posted in Geekery | No Comments »
Thursday, September 4th, 2003
I downloaded and installed the new nightly build of Firebird and I found something really great. I went to my blogrolling control panel and clicked on the button for the NS Sidebar. It prompted me to save it as a link, but opened it in the “side panel”. It automatically marked the bookmark to open in the sidebar, like Jennifer mentioned in the previous entry’s comments. So now I can browse my blogroll using the sidebar of Firebird instead of the generic sidebar that opens all the links in a frame. Woohoo!
I definitely look forward to the next official release of Firebird. I feel this browser is definitely on the rise of popularity…MS watch out! There’s a new browser in town and it just may blow IE away.
Posted in Geekery | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2003
I’ve been reading a little on the Firebird’s new feature: Web Panels. What I can’t find is the official word on this. Is it already in a release I haven’t updated to? Or will it be included in the next release? Does anyone know. This feature will make using Firebird that much better. A web panel for my blogroll will be fabulous. Yes, I can already use the generic blogroll, but then I’m viewing in a frame and I don’t like that too much.
I would also love to see the bookmarklet for adding posts added to a web panel. Talk about convenience. It’s the perfect solution for anyone wanting to make the switch from IE. I use Firebird already (it has great extensions for the web developer), but it hasn’t become my default browser as of yet. That day may be coming if they get the Web Panels working.
Posted in Geekery | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2003
I’m going to be in the news. Our local paper is doing a feature story on blogging and they want me to be in it. I’ve already answered some questions for the writer doing the story and now they want to take my picture with my blog on the computer screen in the background. It is so neat! So I’ll be in the papers soon.
The football game was equally good and bad. It was a slightly boring game with UF beating San Jose State 65-3. We ended up sitting right on the edge of the student section, so I couldn’t see anything on the field. I watched most of the game on the jumbotron. It had rained early in the afternoon so it was hot and very muggy. The rest of the weekend was fun. We played disc golf on the two courses out there, and watched Two Towers, plus the special preview of The Return of the King…I can’t wait till it comes out. Looks to be an awesome movie.
Posted in The Inner Me | 2 Comments »
