Trouble adding posts lately

The "kind" folks who administer the firewall, or proxy, or web filter, or whatever, here where I work have severely hindered my ability to post to this blog lately. Some times I get through and get something back, and some times I don't. When I don't get through the display a page indicating that I am blocked from that site. Other times I get some things back but It looks like I'm not getting a CSS style sheet or something because the pages render like they are plain old HTML. Blogger has a great web interface and sometimes It seems like part of the interface is blocked and part off it isn't.

Well Blogger also has the ability to post via e-mail. So I'm trying that with this post. We will see if it works.

Paul Graham is my hero.

His latest The Age of the Essay is a wonderful explanation and example of his style of writing. Most of his writing while technical is incredibly easy and fun to read. I think this essay explains why.

I'ts an essay about essays as only a lisp hacker could write it, obliquely self referential and reinforcing.

Diet Air?

I just saw it in the cafeteria. It's a beverage called Diet Air. It's got Ginseng and Guarana!

That is wrong on so many levels.

Anouncing Ruth Elaine Wilson!

She was born this morning at 8:28 AM by cesarian section. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 3 oz. Bigger than both her brothers. She was 21.5 inches long, which is just a hair shorter than her brothers.

So now I have two boys and one girl, the little princess.

I'ts been a long day. I'm going to bed.

Gmail me!

Woo hoo! I got a Gmail account today! The kind folks at Blogger, which is owned by Google, who also own Gmail, offered me a Gmail account. Since it's the latest thing for the technologically elite (and I have such a burning desire to be technologically elite) I jumped at the opportunity.

So, now I have three active email accounts. My work email is running all day, but it's Microsoft exchange and outlook which I'm not really crazy about. (I think it's losing my old emails) I check my SBCGlobal email (provided with my DSL connection) probably once a month it seems to be mostly junk. I think I will try to split the difference for my Gmail account.

I think I will redirect most of my mailing list traffic to that account. I have already redirected the mail for the two Perl mailing lists I am on to that account. In fact I may re-subscribe to some other mailing lists now that I have a place to send them that doesn't belong to the company.

Work email will be for work, Gmail will be for mailing lists and social stuff, and SBCGlobal will be for junk (email for registrations etc.).

I have no idea what I'm doing.

There! I said it. I feel better.

Template Tweaker IV

Titles! We've got titles. Yay!

Template Tweaker III

Blogger just underwent a fairly major upgrade. Among other things they now host their own comments. Cool! As of this post I am now using Blogger's comment facility instead of enetation's.

There is also a way to post pictures. I have to try that soon.

They also upgraded alot of the profile stuff. It seemes to act more like a social networking service now. Cool! It looks like I have to complete my profile now, favorite movie and such.

Apparently, I do more technical tweaking on this blog than actual posting. Oh well, Cest la vie!

WARNING! Dangerous Substance: DHMO

Are you at risk from DHMO?

What can I do to minimize the risks?
Fortunately, there is much you can do to minimize your dangers due to Dihydrogen Monoxide exposure. First, use common sense. Whenever you are dealing with any product or food that you feel may be contaminated with DHMO, evaluate the relative danger to you and your family, and act accordingly. Keep in mind that in many instances, low-levels of Dihydrogen Monoxide contamination are not dangerous, and in fact, are virtually unavoidable. Remember, the responsibility for your safety and the safety of your family lies with you.

Second, exercise caution when there is the potential for accidental inhalation or ingestion of DHMO. If you feel uncomfortable, remove yourself from a dangerous situation. Better safe than sorry.

Third, don't panic. Although the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide are very real, by exercising caution and common sense, you can rest assured knowing that you are doing everything possible to keep you and your family safe.

;)

Worst Album Covers

Oh, great! now there's coke all over my keyboard! And, if that wasn't enough here's more!

Template Tweaker II

I needed to actually write some code today and see it do something, so I decided to make some changes to my layout here.

I have been planing to move the archive list to the right for a while. So, today I just went and did it.

I also added the Firefox button on the left. I highly recommend using Firefox as your default browser, especially if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Tabbed browsing will change the way you surf the World Wide Web forever. I don't even remember how I got by with out it.

I'm reading The C++ Programing Language by Bjarne Stroustrup and I was getting sick of the theory and wanted to produce something. I have been trying to get through this book for about two years now. I have now read more of it than ever before. (I have to start from the beginning every five or six months because I get distracted for two or three weeks and when I come back I don't understand what I'm reading if I just start where I stopped.) So far, I understand objects inheritance, polymporphism, etc. I am currently wrestling with templates. They seem simple in theory, but I don’t completely understand how the function overloading resolution is done. With all the argument/type conversions and function overloading I have trouble reasoning exactly which function template will be called by a given function-argument configuration.

A Steamy Anecdote

Tonight Luke and Elijah discovered the wonderful effect of steam on the sinuses. In the bath Luke was blowing gobs of snot out of his nose and Elijah was wiping them off and setting them adrift in water. He would float them around in the water a little then pull them out and play with the stringy muck on his fingers then set them adrift again and get fresh snot from Luke. They had quite a little flotilla going before I stepped in and stopped the mucus production.

Write More!

In Joel on Software - Painless Functional Specifications - Part 1: Why Bother? Joel writes:

Staring at a blank screen is horribly frustrating. Personally, I overcame my fear of writing by taking a class in college that required a 3-5 page essay once a week. Writing is a muscle. The more you write, the more you'll be able to write. If you need to write specs and you can't, start a journal, create a weblog, take a creative writing class, or just write a nice letter to every relative and college roommate you've blown off for the last 4 years. Anything that involves putting words down on paper will improve your spec writing skills.

So, that's why I have a blog. That's why I only feel a little bad about writing about non-work things at work. I just need to do it more.

He Learned Me Good.

I just wanted to put a book mark here for The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher, by John Taylor Gatto. The introductory comments note that you should set your irony detector to the on position, and I second that remark. I agree with most of what he says but disagree with some of the conclusions he draws. Notice that schooling and education are two different words and I think Gatto draws the distinction between the two quite well.

In other news... Elijah gets to keep the third tooth. There is a chance that it will move back to a normal position, and he will just be missing the two teeth he already knocked out. Unfortunately, there is also a chance that it will fall out, or it may get infected and have to be removed later. He has an appointment to go back to the dentist in two weeks.

Introducing 2004

Well, it has been one hell of a year so far!

It started about two hours before midnight on New Years Eve. On the walk way into Cris' condo Betsy fell down a set of two steps she didn't see, and twisted her ankle. We stayed at Cris' to celebrate the New Year and had a pretty good time hanging out and playing Risk. We left at about twelve fiteen. On the way home we decided that since we were up, and the ankle looked pretty bad, we should go to the emergency room to make sure everything was ok. In the waiting room we sat next to a little girl with a broken arm who had been waiting for three hours, and still hadn't been admitted. With a wait that long we decided we could go home and get some sleep and come back the next day.

That night Grammy had offered to stay at our house with the boys so we could stay at Grammy's and sleep in after our revelries. When we arrived at Grammy's we noticed that the neighbors were still up and playing cards, and we thought we would go in and show them Betsy's swollen ankle. When they saw her ankle they immediately insisted on applying a Witch Hazel poultice. Applying the poultice took a few minutes and then they invited us to play cards and have some snacks with them. Minutes turned into hours and when we finally left to go to bed it was four AM. The Witch Hazel poultice worked wonderfully, and we decided not to go back to the emergency room. Today, four days later, the ankle is almost as good as new.

Our mistake was not completely disinfecting our selves after leaving the emergency room, or even washing our hands before we had snacks with the neighbors. The afternoon of the first Betsy and I came down hard with the flu. I was able to take TheraFlu to treat my symptoms but because she is pregnant Betsy could only take Sudafed and Tylenol. The flu wiped us out for the first and the second of the year. By the third I was a little better but Betsy was still having trouble getting out of bed. This morning, the fourth, we decided we would try to keep both boys at home and see if we could cope. Elijah had been spent the first and second at Grammy's.

Everything seemed to be going OK until naptime. Mom and Dad were wiped out, but the boys weren't quite ready for naps. I collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. Betsy was resting and reading on the couch when I fell asleep.

Apparently both of the boys got out of their beds at different times and Betsy had to put them back to bed. Luke finally went to sleep but Elijah tried getting up one more time so Mom had to put him back to bed. While walking thru the dinning room holding Elijah's hand Mom's sock slipped on the laminate floor and she fell down. In the panic of falling and while trying to regain her balance she forgot to let go of Elijah's hand. Elijah was pulled off balance and bumped his mouth on the leg of the dining room table. To make a long story slightly less long Elijah knocked out two of his teeth and twisted another one around enough that it will probably have to be surgically removed tomorrow.

I woke to the sound of a Betsy and Elijah crying and calling me. When I got to the dining room I saw both of them in a ball crying, and hugging on the dining room floor. I don't remember exactly what happened next but I do remember the first time I saw Elijah's tooth lying on the living room floor. I remember thinking, that can't be his tooth it has absolutely no blood on it at all. Elijah had blood all over the front of him but the two teeth were pristine white and longer than I expected.

We put ice on his gums to stop the bleeding and took him to the dentist. Grammy came over and babysat Luke while Mom, Dad and Elijah went to the dentist. (If you think Grammy is a hero, always sweeping in to help us out in a jam you are pretty close to the mark.) The dentist told us that trying to reinsert the teeth back in to the gums puts the teeth buds for the adult teeth at risk so we are better off just leaving Elijah at least two teeth light until the adult teeth grow in. We have to call an oral surgeon tomorrow to get an appointment to get the final word on the third tooth.

About thirty minutes after the whole incident Elijah was running around playing like a normal three year old. Later in the evening he was a little weepy, but Mom and I think it was because he never got to take his nap this afternoon. For dinner he wolfed down two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut up into small pieces. We gave him a tablespoon of Children's Tylenol before he went to bed but he was sound asleep long before that could have taken effect. We will see how things are tomorrow.