Gumption.

09.07.2013

This is one of those Saturdays where I don't have anywhere to be or anything needing to get done (save for some laundry - but that only takes minutes of effort every hour) and I have 0% motivation/inspiration for any of the side projects I've got going on right now.

I've got gaming minis to paint (hundreds, if you get to looking in my closet full of game stuff). Don't wanna.

I've got a web-app I've been working on for one of the games that I'm about halfway finished with. Brain don't wanna write code.

The zombie game needs another expansion to add in character attribute stats to add a layer of difficulty/fun. Brain don't wanna make up stats.

The next game needs all kind of stuff, as I've only got the 3rd iteration of a rough outline of what it is. "Making up stuff" doesn't seem to be happening today.

The main thing I don't want to do is sit in front of the computer and surf the web all day, just out of principle. There are a couple of little mindless projects around the house I could do, but right now my mobility is a little limited as I twisted my knee doing who-knows-what Thursday which caused it to swell and stiffen. A trip to the chiropopper yesterday helped, but I'm still walking gingerly so far.

I could watch some movies. I could read. I wonder what my brain thinks about those options? We'll see.

Permalink random

0.31 orders/day

08.21.2013

I use Amazon for most of my online purchases. For anything not food or pantry related, I normally go to Amazon. The above caught my eye today, which is that I've made 56 orders over the past 6 months. That just sounds like a lot of orders.

I have a nice little spreadsheet of my Amazon purchases that I've kept up with since 2006 (or at least kept up with purchases going back that far, since that's when I first Amazoned). I've divided my Amazon purchases into major categories over the years, and so far this how 2013 has been divided:

• DVDs: 30%
• Comics: 13%
• Games (Boardgames, supplies, video games): 9%
• Computer (Software, anything with a USB cable): 15%
• Books: 6%
• Other: 27%

That "Other" is a catch-all for what doesn't fit into the norm. This year it's included protein shake mix, car trunk organizer, electric air compressor... how else would I categorize these things?

I'm fairly consistent in my Amazon purchases, too. Compare the above percentages to 2012:

• DVDs: 31%
• Comics: 10%
• Games: 10%
• Computer: 18%
• Books: 4%
• Other: 27%

I don't want to know how many orders in all I've actually made. Honest.

Permalink random

Summertime Cold

08.18.2013

It's been 6 months since I've really been sick, so I guess I was about due to catch something. I'm not sure I actually "caught" anything, as I think this is just a weather-pressure-front induced cold. Thursday night I had 3 really good sneezes followed by the nasal flood gates opening. Friday and Saturday were the standard nose running alternating with being stopped up and unable to breathe, while today has been more of a hacking-up-a-lung type of day.

I'm really hoping I'm back to normal in a day or two. Sudafed is really knocking me out this time around, and I swear I'm taking hour long naps every 3-4 hours.

Permalink random

Getting Closer

08.15.2013

Today I picked up my past 3 years of medical history, which included my visits over the past 6 months specifically for my weight, and a letter from my primary physician that will now get passed along to the insurance company so they can approve me for gastric sleeve surgery.

In the past 6 months I've been going to the doctor so he will fill out the form that BC/BS wants. I've lost 25 of the 30 pounds the gastric surgeon wants me to lose. I've thought about whether or not I really want to do this. I've thought about it more than I let on.

So after 6 months I've decided that surgery is the way for me to go. I've always leaned that way, and I've only gotten more sure as time passed.

Next is the second waiting game - waiting on the insurance company. When I dropped off the paperwork at the bariatric surgeon, they said they would make copies and give them back to me at my next appointment, which I made sure that they would call me and let me know when that is. From what I've heard, insurance can take anywhere from a day to a week to approve the surgery. After approval, there's supposed to be a 2-week surgery prep time where I'm on a special diet and attend a class on how to eat after surgery.

So waiting now, but secretly planning on this whole surgery thing happening the 1st week of September (that also fits well into Gina's schedule).

Permalink diet gastric sleeve

Happy Gilmore Programmer?

08.06.2013

For years I've thought of myself as a PHP programmer. Except for my first year as a professional programmer my job has been to make web-based applications. Whenever possible, I've done that using PHP. I like PHP. I know how it works. If there's something a web page needs to realistically do, I can make it happen the vast majority of the time armed with PHP (and a healthy dose of the Google).

My day-to-day job doesn't let me use PHP. I have to use Microsoft .NET. I don't like .NET. I tend to think it's stupid, as I have to go through lots of hoops to do what I consider simple things in PHP. I blame that on .NET coming from a Windows application framework - it gives you the Windows application approach to web applications. Since I've never made Windows applications, I think that's stupid.

While thinking it's stupid, I came to a realization. I'm not really a PHP programmer. Well, I am, but not enough to call myself one. Since starting my first programming job in 1995, I've programmed regularly in 4 languages:

• Ansi C - 1 year (the only job I wasn't making web apps; in fact I was just writing scripts that would only be run once each)
• Perl - 4 years
• PHP - 6 years, at 3 jobs
• .NET - 9 years, at 3 jobs using ASP.Net, Visual Basic, and C#

Looking at my career, I've spent most of my time as a .NET developer, so I should call myself a .NET developer. But I don't. Maybe I should say "but I won't."

Over the years I've avoiding embracing .NET for all sorts of reasons. Updates to either the .NET framework or the browser you use may break something that's been working just fine. There may be a fix you can implement, but it's inevitably a pain in the ass. Having the ability to write a piece of code that will work as either a web application OR a Windows application should be a great benefit, but I've yet to see it actually implemented past some database query libraries.

The main thing that keeps me from claiming I'm a .NET developer is because I just won't take the time to keep my nose to the grindstone and learn all of the little intricacies that make it work properly, to where it will easily do what I want it to do (like I am with PHP). Why?

1. With the next update of the .NET framework, how those little things work will probably change.
2. It's still a stupid way to make a web page

For the past 4 years at work, I haven't written any code from scratch. I've only modified existing code to either act a little different than originally intended, or more often than not make something work correctly that was either overlooked earlier in testing or broken by some software update. I'm not complaining (really, I'm not) - I know how a web page actually functions so I'm pretty good at tracking down some odd way .NET code is being implemented that doesn't come out right in the browser. Thankfully that's where learning during the infancy of the internet has paid off. I never thought being limited to using <table> tags to design a layout could be so beneficial later on, but knowing how HTML tags are actually parsed and rendered has become my bread and butter.

When I was working at Westar/QinetiQ, the Ala. Correctional Officer Training Academy wanted an application to print tests for the students. The application they had was an out of date DOS program which wouldn't let them edit any of the [no telling how man years old] questions. They initially wanted a program they could install on a computer which would print out what they wanted. I talked them into a web application instead, using PHP because it wouldn't make any difference to them, plus I would know how it all worked. I made a little self contained web site that I could install on an individual computer thanks to an open source webserver that could be run locally and not interfere with any other programs. There was a database to hold all the info (included with the webserver). Once of the drawbacks of the DOS program was that it only printed the tests directly (so you needed the proper printer drivers installed in DOS). I would make a version that would let them save a MS Word document, a PDF, and a plain text file, all of which could be saved off and printed wherever.

I thought it funny that while making the above application, Microsoft changed the format of their Word documents. When I started, you could make a Word document by using what was essentially modified XML tags. By the time I finished, the Word format was a compressed XML/almost web page. Luckily, since I was making everything by hand and not using any 3rd party libraries that might be updated/overwritten, the Word format I used would still work just fine once I was finished. The same goes for the PDF version I created - I made the PDF without using any tools that convert an existing format, I just used a small library that wrote some PDF "tags". Nothing to accidentally get updated or overwritten.

I finished that little test maker over 5 years ago. It works just the same today as it did when I finished it, and nobody has had to touch a bit of code. That's why I don't want to be a .NET programmer.

Over the past cople of years I haven't programmed in PHP much. I've been trying to not program during my away-from-work time as much as I used to. I was starting to feel burned out. Now I'm starting to notice it takes me a little while to ramp up to speed when I want to whip out a quick little PHP page. I feel like I'm on hte lower end of "average PHP programmer".

But give me a week or two, and I'll have a web page spitting out well formatted flawless PDFs in no time.

Permalink programming/interweb