DogNose Data Werkz

I made a very small PHP library, which sprang from a need to validate email addresses. Many people (especially AOL users) tend to leave off the back part of their email address, so my little library can check for wellformedness (I’m pretty sure that’s a word). It can also format a phone number to a specific form, regardless of how the user inputs it. Woo. I plan on adding more to it. I’ve already used it on the BCGP and GPTX sites. You too can use it! Just download the library and its documentation from this very site.

I’ve actually written some Javascript libraries that I use, so this isn’t technically my first, but it’s the first I’ve posted. Marvel at it.

Wow. I just finished one heck of a program. I even started it a few days before it was due, and I still was down to the wire. It was due at midnight, and I turned it in promptly at 12:21. Hopefully Prof. Moore will take pity on me.

And now, from the “Compilers say the darnedest things” department: I compile my programs often so I can make sure I’m on the right track. I had compiled the program several times and received normal, easy-to-fix errors, when lo and behold I got this gem:

cPoint.cpp:37: confused by earlier errors, bailing out

Bailing out!? Bastard! What a pansy compiler you are, GCC. I bet a Microsoft compiler wouldn’t have left me out in the cold! (Ha!)

I got the issue resolved. I can’t even remember what it was. It’s just… the audacity.

Tonight’s festivities remind me of a day in high school when several of my friends and I were returning to school for Band rehearsal. As we walked through the halls toward the Band Hall, talking and laughing, an annoyed Communications teacher emerged from a classroom full of students and chided us with, “Shhh! We’re practicing for a mass debate.”

So I just installed SP2 (a big update for Windows XP). I was suprised it took so long to show up on my Automatic Updates. Anyway, it only took about 20 minutes to install (which I filled by watching Family Guy… good stuff). I was kinda afraid to start it this late, but it went off without a hitch. It even found ZoneAlarm and disabled its own crappy little firewall.

The only thing that really annoyed me is that it inserted a shortcut to IE and Media Player in the quicklaunch icon area. If I wanted those, I would have already put them there! I was almost suprised it didn’t change IE back to being my default broswer.

I would advise anyone who installs SP2 to create a Restore Point before installing it. I didn’t need it, but it was nice to know it was there. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. This allows you to return to your previous settings if something does go wrong during the update.

Well, off to homework and such.

I’ve added a page for you power users out there. It’s a list of commands that you can enter at Start > Run to get and modify system information. It’s pretty short, but it’s all I could think of at the moment. Any additions you can think of (through the handy “Comments” link) are welcome.

So… school is going well, except for it being totally redundant. In the past three weeks, I’ve had about two productive days. A productive day is one on which I actually learn something, rather than being re-taught concepts from a previous class. Sigh.

My tech lab is kinda fun though; we got to put wires into circuits and do stuff like 1-bit math. True, it isn’t earth-shattering to have a circuit tell me that 0 + 0 = 0 and 0 + 1 = 1, but it was fun making it, and I have a new respect for what must have been a painstaking process to create modern computers.

Rocky is again putting on Specter of the Lazy S Ranch, which is the first show he wrote for his theatre. I’ll be playing Dauntless Salvation (of course). Claire will play Roland’s love interest, Faint. There’s talk of an Elvis show for January.

I just came across (via Boss Lady) Zach Braff’s weblog. It’s pretty amusing, and some of the comments are quite good too (if you weed through the “You’re so awesome” ones). This reminded me that I’d just seen his movie Garden State, and so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

First, I really enjoy Zach’s TV show, Scrubs, though I don’t get to see it very often. It’s really funny, and sometimes reflective, both of which I like. The new season just started, so I hope to watch most of it.

Garden state was written and directed by Braff. Overall, I liked it. From the previews and his work on Scrubs, I was expecting a comedy with dramatic elements; however, the movie leaned more toward the drama side. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, which helped keep a movie that featured death little lighter.

One of my favorite scenes was one near the beginning of the movie, at the party. I thought it did a great job of setting the mood of the film, and it showed how all his life, Zach’s character had been watching everything go by him without interacting.

Natalie Portman was good in the movie, though I had to adjust to seeing her play a character so unlike her Star Wars role. She was very cute and funny, and I thought she and Braff were good together. The supporting cast was also very talented.

The soundtrack of the movie was good, and it featured a cool acoustic cover of Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” Claire bought the soundtrack right after we saw the movie and she really likes it.

So there you have it. A good, though melancholy film with strong acting, script, and music. After the movie, Claire said, “You know that guy wrote and directed it too? He’s a genius.” Maybe so.

This was such an unproductive summer.

I thought at least this whole Web design thing was going to take off, but then I found out I had to deal with clients. They don’t seem to have the same urgency that an unemployed, out of school, sitting-at-home-all-day guy does. Fancy that.

I’ve had to busy myself with minor tweaks to Calliope and some occasional SurveySA work. Shoot, I redid PrimaDonna in PHP just for the fun of it, and then I wrote a Beginner’s Web site FAQ.

Finally, two weeks before I go back, I get two new projects: The Green Parties of Texas and Bexar County. I got rid of BCGP’s table layout, converted it to CSS, and standardized the navigation using PHP. I enjoyed it.

I will be starting the Green Party of Texas pretty soon now.

Sitting at a computer writing code with Radiohead blaring is not exactly a social experience. Sometimes I have to amuse myself. This generally amounts to writing silly comments in the code, or odd variable or class names. Sadly, my humor is lost on the masses; only an accidental source viewer would see any of this.

That is why I was pleased to get to write the captions for the Vaya Con Dios… pictures, which were taken last summer during the auditions and read through. I now share this with you. The suprising thing is that Boss Lady only made me change one of them.