inbetween

Work on the ISE is going fairly well. I've got a bit more of a goal, and a better understanding of what I'm going to be working on.

Met with the XML guy today (I'm the HTML guy, apparently) and we talked. Neither one of us is really sure how the work is going to go, who's going to be doing what. That's exciting.

On a darker note, I spent most of the day in the library learning how to use Dreamweaver. It would be really nice, if there was better documentation, or examples in the documentation, or even correct documentation (buggy instruction manuals! whoppie!)

NOTE TO SELF:

The correct way: to prevent an inheritable editable template region from being editable in a nested template, you need to add @@(" ")@@ inside the editable template tags. You can only add the magic nonsense to properly nested template tags, and ONLY AFTER THEY'VE BEEN SAVED.

Their way: find the template tags and add @@" "@@.

grr.

I've been feeling particular of late. Particularly reclusive. Spending six hours in the library, listening to music and not talking to anybody really feels great these days.

Christmas and New Years came and went without a bang. Got to spend lots of time with Rü and Bink, always a good thing. I think it probably started me on this habitual hobbiting I've been doing.

I don't like where my head's been for the last year or so. I've spending too much time obsessing with what could have been, what I should have done, what I did ten (or fifteen!) years ago. That living in the past hasn't been healthy. Its also why I haven't been blogging. Meditation and yoga have helped a lot, I'm looking at the future and the possibilities. Hopefully I'll be able to finally let go of the past.

See, the strange thing is, I don't even know why I've been so obsessed with reviewing my own personal history. There isn't anything specific that has been at the forefront. Random moments from way back have been popping into my head, swimming around for a little while, and then popping out. Very strange.

Anyway, things are much better. The ISE stuff is moving along rather smoothly. I've developed a bit of a plan for completion, although I don't know what the timeline will be like. ISE work has to be intermingled with the homework (which is really starting to pick up) and life (to which I plan to return).

So, who wants to party?

Napoleon Dynamite

Whoa, buddy. Put down the character piece. NO. Really, you'll hurt someone with that thing. Sure, a crazy dance scene saves the day and the ending doesn't go in the obvious directions, but if you keep making that face, it'll stick. Listen to you mother, she was right. Go pet your llama.

Shawn of the Dead

Would have been the best Christmas Movie ever, if only they had worked in a zombie turkey returned from three hours in the oven. It just left me asking one question... Seriously, this movie had it all: romance, buddy comedy, character development, a guy with a dart in his head, and sex. Ok, no sex, but loads of other fun. One question remains: why weren't there any zombie animals?

I *heart* Huckabees

Existential Detectives. Slightly surreal. Good use of the diegetic vs. non-diegetic dichotomy. Jude Law's got a nice chest. Actually, the story was funny and interesting, although the dialogue reminded me of drunken philosophical conversations. A great satire of American greed and identity, it leaves some interesting questions open for discussion.

This is a rant about buggy software. You've been warned.

I hate Dreamweaver. There, I've said it. I feel much better now. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how wonderful it is. Yes, its the de-facto standard in web-page development. That doesn't mean its any good. Internet Explorer was the de-facto standard for web browsing, but even SANS and Secunia (computer software companies) have recommended other products.

The templating system in Dreamweaver sucks rocks through concrete. Who in their right mind designs a system that doesn't allow the data in a template to be stored outside a template? Idiots, that's who.

I followed the recommendations in the Dreamweaver help files, and designed a base template for the entire site. Then I designed four more templates, nesting them inside the base template. About a hundred pages later, I decide to make a small change to the base template. That change gets applied to the four nested templates, then to the hundred pages. One problem: Dreamweaver suddenly doesn't know how to move the data around, because it tried to change the pages, BEFORE it changed the nested templates on which the pages were based! Suddenly, my pages are all borken (borked beyond belief actually -- it made invalid HTML!) and can't be repaired.

Who the hell pays for software like this? UVic does. Its in all the computer labs.

All I wanted to do was remove a row from a table in the base template. I did that just fine in the template, it was perfectly valid HTML. Apply the template? HA! Dreamweaver suddenly had to re-parse the hundred pages to find the data that I'd already put in the pages and figure out where the heck it should go after the change to the template. What a stupid idea. Ever heard of SEPARATION OF DATA AND PRESENTATION? Kinda important, eh? The data shouldn't have been kept in the pages. It would have been easy to store the content of each page in a separate file, then import that data after changing the template.

Screw it. I'm going to code up my own system that stores the data in a database table. Change the template? Ok. Regenerate all the pages based on the template. Changed the content of a page? Ok. Save the content back to the database. Save the template in the database to! Need to back everything up? Ok. Just dump the entire database into a file. Need to publish your site? Ok. You've got everything there already.

Bah. I hate shitty software.

Its in a giant ice cube tray with mullets. Lots of mullets. I didn't think there'd be that many mullets in a little town.

Now stop that right there. I see you going for the comment button. It isn't a city. 72,406 doesn't a city make. You'll note that the little berg that didn't quite is shrinking. The generally accepted definition of city is a population of 200,000.

I wasn't expecting the smell. Or the ice. Or the smelly ice. Hooo nelly. That was a special smell. And the inch of ice on everything made driving so much more fun.

There was, of course, a turkey dinner. And gin and wine, and Christmas gifts. Kindness and generosity flowed, so did the interesting conversation and the pictures of the cutest baby ever.

All in all, a strange place with strange oozing everywhere I looked. I want to go back, just to really experience the oozy strange.

I want to not have the head cold that's giving me a pounding, aching, stuffed-up head. It hurts. I've taken more tylenol than I remember. Yucky.

I want my own study carel in the Library, or at least more study cubicles with power outlets. My laptop battery only lasts for about two hours. I need more! MORE!

I want a cupcake.

I've been on the mend lately. Things seem to be getting better in most ways. Classes are going well, the Shakespeare work is going along a little more smoothly (there will be a nerdy post soon), my health is improving (cold be DAMNED! DAMNED I SAY!).

I've volunteered some light graphic design work to some friends, with lovely results. Homework isn't too much of a problem right now.

I think I'm happy.

And I turn 29 on Tuesday. My twenties will be ending soon. Gah. How? What? I didn't approve that.