It has been a long time since I’ve posted, and probably wouldn’t even be posting today, except that I’m not feeling well and really don’t feel like doing anything else at the moment.
I got up this morning and felt lousy. I managed to get myself to work, but left within about a 1/2 hour. I had this incredible pressure on my head, as if I was wearing a helmet that was way too tight. Despite the temperature, I was FREEZING and actually had a cup of hot chocolate when I got to work. No good – still felt lousy, so I headed home. Really not the time for me to be sick, but some things just can’t be helped.
So, what’s new with me? Plenty. My friends PJ and Janise just left, as they were staying with us for the weekend. I really enjoy their company, and it is always good to see them. They’re both doing well, which is great, and they always provide alot of laughs when they are here. I bet they are sitting in the car right now on their way back to Michigan. They’re also taking PJ’s father’s cat, so I bet that ride is quite interesting about now….
The house is still standing, as I always say. We got a new garage door, which is cool, but unfortunately, I messed up the lawn with too much/too little fertilizer (who knew). Next year, I think we’ll get a landscaping service – I don’t really know what I’m doing, and really don’t have the time to correct my dumb mistakes, you know?
Last week was the LISTnet Linux event which I had personally done alot of planning for. It has been well received by the business community, and I’m really happy that I’ve been a part of it. Bringing Linux to organizations is paramount to its growth as a truly reliable, mission-critical platform, and organizations are using the SIG to find out more about Linux for themselves, which is the absolute goal. We also “keep it real” by securing high-level executives from major companies to speak, which lets the business community know that this is not a sales pitch, but an informative session. The next meeting will be sometime in the Fall, I imagine.
LIPHP is going well too, with our last talk on AJAX. We’re getting good turnout, and more importantly, deeper technical discussions, which shows a larger adoption for the technology. Although many disagree with the term, I believe the AJAX technology is going to be a big boone for web applications, as it brings them one step closer to conventional applications. It amazes me almost daily how much the web has touched our lives in terms of information disemination and productivity, and with technologies like AJAX changing the usual Submit->Redraw paradigm, web technology will only flourish. Admittedly, being a social person, ultimately, technology only interests me in terms of connectivity between HUMANS, so I likely to believe that this will all happen.
I’ve started a project on Sourceforge for my db_2_pdo class (no files uploaded yet) for those of us who want to use PEAR classes and the PDO extension. I think we are the only ones that have hit this problem, but it is a big one. I won’t say that this class will solve all of your problems, but it makes everything work. As soon as I get off my butt and upload it, you can have a peek.
I just finished up a summer course at LIU in Robotics. It was alot of fun, and I consider myself a better person for taking it, as it addressed physical design (something I don’t get to look at often) as well as software design. It was a smart move academically to take the summer course too, as it is one less course I need to take later. I graduate May 2006, and I can’t wait. I enjoy school and learning, but I have other things that have been neglected because of it, so I’m looking forward to picking those up again. Either way, I have a two month break from it, and I’ll enjoy every minute of it!
I’ve created a Flickr account and put a bunch of pictures on it. They are digital photos that were either taken by me or a friend – they are mostly of my wedding. If you haven’t checked out flickr, please do, it is quite cool. Thanks to the MDHuman for introducing it to me.
So, I’ve already shared the news with many of you that my wife is pregnant. It’s our first child, we’re both very excited about it. I’m also scared as heck about it. Being responsible for something that is completely helpless is unfathomable to me. I’m spending alot of time these days thinking about what I want to convey to my child for personal growth. I want to give them the world, but don’t want to spoil them, either. Get this – the due date? December 25th. Merry Xmas to me!
This week is going to be crazy for me. We have an upcoming release at the end of the month, so we’re all trying to get it all done. I do my share of complaining, but late-night coding sessions are fun occassionally. As I said earlier, technology interests me in terms of people, and there are few greater feelings than to know that you’ve created something that others use daily, AND a, ctually enjoy using. That is a big reward, and one I’m looking forward to collecting come launchtime.
It is also going to be lonely in the house, as my wife is going to LA for the week for training. I’m a little nervous about her being on the plane, but the doctor says its OK. I’m sure my diet will be going to hell this week!
So, that’s about it for me right now. Still not feeling the best, but at least I accomplished something today….