SBC’s merger with AT&T was approved today, so I am now an employee of “The New AT&T.” The new corporate logo will be revealed on Monday. See the press release for more info.
Preface: I most often do not read chain emails, and I do not pass them on for numerous reasons.
Last night I received a chain email by the title of Jimmy Crack Corn… And I Don’t Care (read it here). I know this email reflects the feelings of many Americans, but it is appalling to me both as an American and as a Christian.
As an American I care because:
As a Christian I care because:
Back in the days of Mac OS X 10.0, setting up a dynamic webserver was an ordeal. I was new to Unix at the time and installing PHP and MySQL required compiling both from source and recompiling Apache as well. Not only that, but MySQL’s build kept failing until I fdiscovered (thank you Google) that two lines of code had to be changed in one of the source files. Since that time things have gotten much simpler. I have installed PHP/MySQL numerous times and it gets easier every time.
Entropy.ch has PHP in a Mac OS X package - just download it and run the installer. MySQL also has packages for Mac OS X (also linked to from entropy.ch). MySQL now has a Preference Pane for System Preferences included in the Mac download! Don’t forget to download the ImageMagick package if you want to manipulate images in PHP (or use things like Typo3 or Gallery). Last night I set up a dynamic webserver in about 10 minutes.
On Thursday night I went to see Mutemath and Mae in concert at Mississippi Nights. Mutemath was amazing. They played some new songs (from their upcoming full length album) as well as familiar songs from their debut EP. It is hard to convey the energy present in the show. Paul Meany (lead vocals and synths) jumped on top of his Rhodes for a while and then climbed into the rafters and hung there for a while. Darren King (drums) duct taped his headphones on…and much of it came off by the end. Unlike most bands, the front of the stage is shared by the drums and synths, while the guitar and bass are placed off to the side and rear. They have a live video of Reset up on mutemath.com.
Edit: Mutemath has started a video blog which includes highlights of the St. Louis show.
Not too long ago the big debate among web designers was whether splash pages were good or bad. Of course the answer is that it depends on the website. Lately though, I have been noticing an increasing number of sites showing a large ad before letting you enter their site. I don’t mind ads within a webpage - they help keep the content free, but do they really want me to leave before I even get to their content?
I played around with an installation of Gallery 2.0 today. Back when I was designing the current version of my site Singapore seemed to fit my needs perfectly. Now Gallery 2 is out and Singapore’s development is progressing slowly. The amount of control available over the galleries is far better than anything else I have seen. I haven’t messed with themes yet, but if it isn’t too much work I will be replacing Singapore pretty soon.
Tonight I managed to win an auction for “Pro Pain” by Mars Ill. Normally getting a CD wouldn’t be very newsworthy, but this one is not (and likely never will be) officially released. In October 2004 it was supposed to release, but was pushed back due to “clearance issues” with a couple of samples on the album. Then it was set for February 2005, but pushed back because Gotee Records could put forth a better marketing effort for a July 19th release. Just before July 19th, EMI (the distributor) delayed the album indefinitely. A small number of copies were sold by outlets that hadn’t received notice in time. Now, the unofficial word is that the album will be released with a modified track listing in January 2006. Check out videos for two songs on the album: More, Sound Off.
I haven’t been giving my blog enough attention. I think it is lonely.
Tonight I cleaned out Duncan’s (my newt) aquarium. It, like my blog, needed some serious attention. I replaced all of the aquarium gravel to give it a new look. Black stones now cover the water section of the aquarium. The land is a nice rich blue. The backdrop that had been on the aquarium was severely faded from the flourescent light, so I need to find a good replacement.
Last weekend I went to Albuquerque, NM for a funeral. Jaime’s uncle had an unexplained heart attack the previous Monday and passed away on Wednesday. I had met him twice and was looking forward to getting to know him better, but that won’t happen now. He was a software developer at Sandia National Labs working on artificial cognition for use in robots. Prior to that he worked at Honeywell and developed software for the B2 and Boeing 777 among other things. He also wrote a number of books on scripture, had much of the New Testament memorized, and lived out his faith. You can find out a bit more about him at his website: www.scumoftheworld.org.
Two weeks ago I helped Jaime move back to GC. It was really good to be back and to see my friends that are still there. I played ultimate frisbee on Saturday. It is only the second time I have played, despite there being daily games on Scott Field. The other time was during choir tour in Indiana.
Two and a half years ago I took the photo that you see in the header of this weblog. Little did I know that I would be riding the MetroLink every day from the very same location on my way to work. Lately I am unable to find time to be creative. After work (and the commute), there isn’t much time (or energy) left to do photography, programming, or music. I hope that I can adjust to the schedule and get back into some of my interests outside of work.
Tonight I purchased an iPod for the first time. I finally have the finances and a good justification. My commute on the MetroLink is about 30 minutes, and having an iPod will be far simpler than a CD player and CDs. I plan to get a case for it in the near future, but I’m not sure which one to get. I will probably get a car stereo adapter (maybe the iTrip) too.
It has been a while since my last entry. I am now settled into my apartment and have DSL (yay!). I am starting to do some actual work at SBC, as well. Free time is a premium right now though. Working every day plus an 50-55 minute commute each way really eats up the time. I would like to dig into Objective-C and Cocoa a bit deeper if I can find some time. Maybe I can be a bit better about updating my blog, too. 