Check it out. Everything is frozen. There’s about half an inch of ice around everything.

I’ve got some style work to complete for the forum pages. Otherwise, my update of phpbb2 from 2.0.6 to 2.0.11 was uneventful if a little counter to the instructions given. Never trust instructions that say, “now delete all files.” Argh.
I’m just about finished with the Coffee Shop’s calendar pages(preview page). I’m sorry it isn’t Commendar as that is a superior program. Hopefully, the iCal integration will make it easier for folks at the shop to keep current.
Susan’s new site is going to require lots of Flash. I’m still getting reacclimated to it. The main problem I’m having is communicating between imported movies. I remember having trouble with levels. I’m re-reading a great book ActionScript The Definitive Guide. It’s a great book and teaches a lot about programming in general. I hope my recent experiments with programming will help this project move a little more quickly. I know Susan is anxious to get moving on this.
In other news…

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Since the baby, the smoking light’s been off in the house (of course). Unfortunately for me, this has affected my ability to self medicate while trying to get work done on the computer. I know, I know, you shouldn’t smoke around computers either. I direct you to a view of the control room at NASA on the mission to the Moon. So, as addicts will do, I found a way to continue to smoke while doing web work! I’m such a dummy! I basically turned my G4 into an Airport Base Station. Granted the range is abysmal, but enough to get me to the table on the back deck. wOOT! Now I can actually perform the examples in the WROX books I read out here, completely finish one, and take over the world.
MUHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!

It seems I’ve picked up some of what Dad had this weekend: stomach flu. I’ve alread taken Phenergan and expect to be passed out any moment. Dad’s lasted about 48 hours. I hope that’s accurate. Being stomach sick sucks.
I’m still working on better Calendar software. I’ve investigate several offerings and am in communication with the developer of Comendar. He’s out of town for a while so it’s good that I’m sick and can’t think straight anyways. If you have any thoughts on good php/mysql event calendar software, please let me know. One of the things I’m looking for is thorough documentation. I’ve experiemented with vtcalendar, but can’t for the life of me get it to behave.

Let’s see. We went to see folks in Asheville, Charlotte, and here we are in Augsuta. Tam kept the baby so I could have boys night out with Jason. We had a good time playing with the new fangled CD player. Some music might even come out of it. Jason has a knack for these things and was making better loops than me seconds after looking at the machine.
Came home this morning and Mom asked me to go downstairs and look at the hot water heater. Apparently, Dad became very ill after dinner last night (the second time in two nights) and wanted to take a bath. One problem: no hot water. So, I went down there and discovered over a foot of water in the basement! Thank goodness for the plumber who’s down there now. What a mess. The hot water heater’s busted as well as some main pipes. It’s just awesome.
So, Dad’s passed out on some expired Phenegran we found, Mom’s sitting the baby so Tam and I can go run errands. I’m not going to ask what comes next. Though I guess I just did. I’m going to find some wood to knock.

Well, I’ve made some progress. If you look around, you’ll find that most of the pages look the same. This site consists of several independent elements I’m using together and hopefully integrating into a whole. So far I’ve employed Moveable Type, Gallery, and phpBB2. I’m controlling all of the navigation from 3 files. I could use one, but I haven’t taken the time to sort out the logic necessary to add the appropriate number of dots and slashes depending on the navigation schemes used in the different software. I may get around to that.
For my next trick I intend to employ calendar software: Comendar. I’ve been in constant contact with the developer and we are working on some things to get it working. I’m hoping that we can get around to making it more portable. It looks great, has a great story behind it, and seems lightweight and simple enough to encourage use by me and those who wish to add dates as necessary.
If anyone reading this can think of better software for the purpose I’m anxious to listen.
We interrupt this post to feed baby immediately!

OK, so I think I’m starting to understand this software. It’s really great. I’m going to restore navigation to the rest of the site, specifically to the gallery. There’s probably a plug-in that manages URL’s so that things will continue to work when they are archived. That’s really my only annoyance, so far.

As you must know, Apple has released the new Mac mini, the iPod Shuffle, fresh iLife, and iWork. Having never really been a fan of AppleWorks, I’m not too interested in the latest incarnation, though it seems that, for some anyway, innocuous documents will look prettier. The improvements to iLife don’t affect me much either because of my lack of funds for anything HD.
The Mac Mini, on the other hand is fairly exciting to me. I do have one complaint: why the 32mb video card? I don’t understand why Apple has to lag behind in this department. It seems we mac users are consistnetly penalized with slower cards. I’m certain there is a perfectly logical explanation for this: probably cost. Still, it is my take that if the higher end Mac mini offered even a 64mb video card, they’d have a hard time keeping them on the shelves. Hopefully this won’t matter to folks buying a computer at $499.99. If you want to see something funny, go to Apple’s online store and upgrade your memory to 1gig. It almost double’s the cost!
The one rumor I wanted to be true apparently wasn’t. Sirius/Apple iPod. I’m not sure it’s the killer app, but I would have benefitted from such a collaboration.

Hey,
As you can see, things look different around here. Since I’ve become Mr. Mom, I’ve decided to move to more formal blogging software: moveable type (http://www.moveabletype.org).
I’m just learning it , so bear with me while I figure it out.

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This has to be the best Christmas on record. Tam and I have the best present in the world in our little one and our parents have
completely lost their minds and have spoiled us with plenty of goodies. One of which is a new digital camera from Dad which I’ve employed (in combination
with Gallery) to add a photo gallery to this site.
I’ve also just purcahsed a Pioneer Pro CD (CDJ1000MKII) player with which I hope to use to make higher quality CD’s for the Ballet here and in Charlotte.
I will also use it as my accompaniment for class and rehearsals as it alters tempo without affecting pitch. I’m hoping I’ve made a good choice. Denon and Technics have
less expensive offerings; however, I’ve been assured that the Pioneer is the best option. –Can you sense a little buyer’s remorse?– To get the best
quality possible I’m soon to invest in a pro sound card for the Mac so I can accept SPDIF. I’m completely new to it and will have yet another thing to learn.
In other news the coffee shop’s online sales are going well; especially considering we’ve done just about zero marketing.
Susan’s site is doing well, though I’m afraid that only a geek can really appreciate the changes I’ve made behind the scenes.
My cousin Tony has convinced me to purchase an
ASP book. I’m starting
it, though I am spending more time with PHP. It’s the whole Mac/Microsoft thing. Oh well. Susan’s site lives on an IIS server, so…
I think I’m done rambling for now. Check out the new gallery, add a comment if you like. You may purchase photos from a drop down on the upper right hand
side of the page.
Happy New Year!