I’m getting my custom blog management software reconfigured, in light of the problems I outlined in the last post. So far, it seems to be working.
Author: Jon
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Grrrrrr
Something in the server configuration running this site has changed, causing my PHP script to add blog entries to not work, and I can’t quite figure out why. (Incidentally, this is also why there’s a big gap since the last post.) My script is supposed to send an authentication header to the browser, for simple Apache realm authentication, but the browser (Internet Explorer 6; I haven’t tested with others yet) hangs. Very, very, very frustrating.
As near as I can tell, this became a problem when WebDAV was installed on this server, which must have changed the configuration somewhere to affect this. In the meantime, I’m posting directly via phpMyAdmin, which is a totally killer MySQL GUI-like interface written in PHP.
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Progress Quest!
What is Progress Quest? Think of Nethack and Seti@Home rolled into one: It’s an online RPG that runs autonomously on your computer, in the background. You start it up, create a character, and go; everything is automatic and it even does away with the “annoying” aspects of fantasy roleplaying: dying, wandering around mazes, solving puzzles.
I’ve been running it for just a day now and I just let it run in the background, yet it’s oddly addicting just to watch. The cool thing is, in Multiplayer/Online mode, it can actively compare your stats and progress in the game with all the other players in online mode, over the web. So, in a sense, it’s a MMORPG. And you don’t even have to pay any money!
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The Boob Tube
I definitely watch way too much TV. Each year around the end of the TV season I reach some sort of critical mass where I just want to throw out the TV and not watch anything again, and use the time I spend in front of the zombie box in much better ways. Way, way too much time. And yet— and this is weak, really weak— I can’t not watch the damn TV shows through the respective season finales because of the inertia that’s built up from watching them all season…
But the irony is, I’d be spending a lot more time in front of the computer, so that’s probably not really much better. Depending on what I’m doing at the computer, of course.
One great reason to love the summer: reruns (sad but true); you don’t have to watch TV at all because you’re not caught in that vicious circle of keeping up with new episodes of this show or that show… and the reclaimed time is wonderful.
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Rock!
Spider-Man rules! I have to admit, I had initial doubts for some time now, but after seeing it tonight, “Spider-Man” turned out to be a great movie— one of the best comic book adaptions that I’ve ever seen. I was blown away by how good the web slinging/swinging effects were; extremely realistic, with Spider-Man moving and swinging just the way you’d expect someone to. This was classic Spidey at its best— very true to the mythology, with only sensible changes to bring it more in line with a movie adaption.
Probably the only fault I can find is that there are 1 or 2 scenes which are overly Matrix-ish. You’ll know them when you see them. But then, what movie these days doesn’t have some sort of Matrix tribute/rip-off?
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Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can
We’re going out to see “Spider-Man” tomorrow! I actually get to go see a movie, and on opening day, no less! Last movie in the theater we saw was “The Mothman Prophecies”— not my choice, an entirely forgettable movie, pass it by— and before that, I was able to make it to “The Lord of the Rings” but that’s the last I can remember. Such is life with kids!
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Nuts
It’s been one of those days at work which is just driving me nuts because pretty much all I’m doing is fixing old problems rather than getting current and new things done. No progress has been made. It’s those mindless, repetitive things that you have to do over and over again to fix them, and they’re not anything that you can click a button or write a script and poof they’re all done, but you have to do each thing manually over and over and over and over and over and over and over… kind of like stuffing envelopes and licking stamps for Christmas cards. You just gotta do ’em, and there’s no way around it.
So it’s been one of those days at work. Extrememly frustrating.
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Pong!
Man, I can’t stop playing the Pong game at G4’s website (the new video game cable channel). It’s a single player Pong game, you versus the computer. I can’t beat it— the game goes to 21 points, and I haven’t been able to score more than 10 or 11 points before getting whupped. And yet, I keep going back.
All for Pong.
That’s just me, though— Old School, especially when it comes to games. I still think the Commodore 64 is one of the best personal computers and game-playing machines of all time— I own a collection of miscellaneous Commodore hardware and software— and many, many of the games produced for it are eminently more playable for me than today’s games. And I think NetHack is one of the best PC games of all time, and it doesn’t even require graphics or sound! So, yeah, Pong got me.
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Echinacea Master
Staving off sickness all around me. A kid at Kaitlyn’s daycare had hand, foot and mouth disease, and a co-worker’s kid has strep. So I’ve been sucking down echinacea like it’s going out of style, because Tuesday I felt like I was starting to get sick. Just lovely.
Also, don’t forget to read up on the new video game cable channel, G4. There’s a Yahoo news story here, a CNN article here, and Slashdot commentary here. Yep, that’s right. A video game channel.
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Yes, I was a French Major
The dice tumbled across the table, bounced in unison against the far end and skidded to a halt. The woman in the red dress looked up, her full pouty lips pursed in excitement. Her face was bright and intelligent; her dress faltered to reveal sensuous thigh when she moved. “You’ve won again, Mr.—” She paused. “I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“Fromage.” The man’s mouth barely moved as he spoke the name around the cigar clenched between his teeth. A lighter flashed, and orange-blue flame licked the cigar’s tip, igniting a red ember. The man drew deeply, extinguished the lighter with a deft flick of the wrist, and exhaled thoughtfully. A cloud of sweet, pungent blue smoke wafted upwards over the table. “Jacques Fromage.”