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Switcheroo

Published August 8th, 2008 in Technology. 0 Comments

While I liked the MVC architecture of CakePHP, I found the documentation and examples somewhat lacking, so I have since moved on to greener pastures. The Code Igniter PHP framework is fantastic for building my php applications and allows for a lot of flexibility, plus it has the added advantage of a rich and responsive community.

After installing Code Igniter and beginning some development, I naturally ran into some issues that I had questions about, so I signed up for the Code Igniter forum and asked my question. Within a hour I had several responses addressing my problem and answering my questions. This is invaluable when you are in rapid application development situations, which is about the only kind I seem to be involved in these days!

If you are looking for a solid application framework to start building and want the support of a good community, I highly recommend you check into Code Igniter.

MVC

Published May 28th, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

For those of you who haven’t read my profile, I am a programmer (primarily PHP). I love PHP and have been working in it for several years now, but I’ve recently been drawn to the clean simplicity of Ruby and the strict adherence to MVC that it enforces. But after reading this post about coming to Ruby from PHP,
I decided not to make that jump.

Instead, I have started learning CakePHP, which has the advantage of the MVC architecture without the extra time investment of learning a new language and how to use it. I also like the naming conventions and general structure of CakePHP, so it should be an interesting experiment. I’m going to try to keep posting thoughts about it as I learn and progress. Let the baking begin!

Get Smarter

Published May 6th, 2008 in Random and Religion/Philosophy. 0 Comments

I wanted to use this very convenient spot to aggregate links to some articles that I’ve been reading lately that pertain to an individual’s intelligence and abilities. If you worry that you were born stupid or without talents, I would like to offer these as evidence to the contrary:

“What it takes to be Great”

“Simple brain exercise can boost IQ”

“Think Positive”

“Prudens quaestio dimidium scientae”

Published February 7th, 2008 in Current Events and Religion/Philosophy. 0 Comments

“Half of science is asking the right questions.” - Roger Bacon

This is also translated, “to know what to ask is to know half”.

Recently I’ve been playing a lot of chess, and I’ve realized that my chess game was greatly improved by learning to ask a few basic questions before making a move:

1. Is the piece that I am about to move either defending or blocking another piece?

2. Is the space I am moving to covered by any of my opponent’s pieces?

3. Is the space I am moving to defended by one of my pieces?

4. Is the space I am moving to in a direct line with any other pieces that will allow for a fork or skewer?

By asking these questions, you can learn to make good decisions about how to move your pieces and develop your strategy. Playing chess lately has taught me a lot about life, much like the students of Salome Thomas-El, a man I didn’t know about until reading Don Miller’s book To Own A Dragon. In his book, Miller is reflecting on his experience of growing up without a father, so he greatly appreciates what Mr. Thomas-El does for his students by providing a male role model where there often isn’t one.

Salome Thomas-El is an inner city teacher who, though he was offered a higher salary, refused to leave his students behind. He is also a chess player and, by starting a chess club at his school, has taught numerous pupils the art of decision making through the complex board game.

If you are unfamiliar with his story and need inspiration, I would suggest learning about him or reading his book I Choose To Stay. I also recommend Miller’s book, even if you have a great father.

Voting and other things

Published February 5th, 2008 in Current Events and Politics. 0 Comments

so, I voted…

…for Mike Huckabee. I researched Barak Obama’s voting history prior to this action and found several issues that I could not agree with him on, one of which was abortion.

…but that was after I found this article on Digg.

I find this article really disturbing because it is an appeal to emotion, not logic. I am appalled at the treatment this woman has received because of her chosen profession; it is absolutely wrong. Equally wrong, in my opinion, is the stopping of life for one’s own convenience.

Saying it only takes five minutes minimizes the gravity of the situation. That is manipulative. Anything done quickly can’t do serious harm, right?

How does being microscopic remove a person’s humanity? We were all microscopic at one point.

Education, adoption, contraception, maybe even self-control would all be viable solutions to this problem, but once conception occurs it’s in God’s hands. Life is starting, and I’m not okay with stopping it.

DO ANYTHING ELSE! Anything. There are options, as I mentioned before. I like the movie “Juno” because I think she makes a mistake by having sex, but then she makes a really wise, positive decision to let that kid live. The girl outside the abortion clinic with the sign wasn’t the brightest light bulb in the chandelier, but she WAS right. I think we should do everything in our power to stop people from having or wanting or needing abortions. Though it may happen anyway, I feel like voting for it is giving up… or at least fighting the problem the wrong way.

Going back to the article:
Just because fools–those who would abuse, shoot, and stab people who disagree with them–believe the same things that I do does not make what I believe untrue. It just makes those people fools. And I assure you there are fools on both sides of this issue, which is why I like the quote below so much:

“The world’s biggest fool can say that the sun is shining, but that doesn’t make it dark out.”
-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

(just because a fool says something doesn’t mean the opposite is true)

People thanking you for something doesn’t make it right either.

“People are going to do it anyway” might be a bad reason to condone something. People will kill anyway. People will hate anyway. People will lie and cheat and steal and rape and–fill in the blank–anyway.

I am against being a jerk to anyone for any reason; I don’t think it’s ever justified, and I don’t think it ever solves anything. But you’ll never see me tell a transvestite that I think they’re fine just the way they are… I think something went wrong. I THINK SOMETHING WENT WRONG WITH THE WORLD AND I THINK THE SOLUTION IS GOD’S LOVE.

I STRONGLY believe that the church should be a haven for impoverished single mothers, transvestites, homosexuals… people who can’t control themselves… PEOPLE LIKE ME. God, in His infinite mercy, is then ready and willing to help fix the broken lives of those who turn to Him.

May God bless the single mothers, the aborted babies, and the abortion doctors. I pray that they all find God.

Amish Candy Beer? Jam Ice?

Published October 12th, 2007 in Current Events and Random. 0 Comments

One of the pleasures of taking a road trip is reading the signs along the way that don’t quite convey the message that the writer intended. On our recent trip to Chicago, Isaac, Lynn, and I enjoyed this sign:

It’s funny how words go together sometimes. They tried to space it out but if you read left to right it just flows right together.

“…but I’m gonna live.”

Published October 10th, 2007 in Current Events and Religion/Philosophy. 0 Comments

Royal: Richie, this illness, this closeness to death… it’s had a profound affect on me. I feel like a different person, I really do.
Richie: Dad, you were never dying.
Royal: …but I’m gonna live.

(a favorite quote from The Royal Tenenbaums)

A close friend of mine recently asked me what the Lord was teaching me through my bicycle crash. For those of you who haven’t heard, I was riding my bike home several weeks ago when a van turned out in front of me. I never even saw it, but woke up in the hospital several hours later surrounded by concerned friends. Eventually I walked away with only scars on my lip and ear and a few cracked vertebrae, but it could’ve been much worse. So what did my “closeness to death” teach me?

Well, first of all, I learned that, for whatever reason, a lot of people care about me. I received so many calls, visits, letters, cards and even gifts that I was quite amazed. My friends and family are very caring, generous people, and when one of their number is injured they respond powerfully. I love them want to be like them.

Which leads me to my second lesson: I am really quite selfish. I can get so consumed with worry over the events of my life, the goals I haven’t reached (or haven’t set), my current lack of dating, etc., that I forget about everyone else and cares and burdens they have. Jesus tells me to die to myself and to put other people’s stuff before my own. This is hard to do unless you’re actively trying, and I haven’t been.

Number Three: I am mortal. Before the accident, I had been training for the Chicago Marathon (if you haven’t heard about what happened there, you should look here) and was in very good shape. This has helped in my recovery. Although intellectually I am well aware of the fact that my life will some day end, that ending day can seem an eternity away, an eternity in which to sin and repent, an eternity to live like it doesn’t matter for a while. This is an illusion.

I like this Tenenbaums quote mostly for the last line. What Richie says really isn’t true; we are all dying. I like Royal’s response because I like to think that he means this not only in the physical sense, but in the sense of truly living and doing it right; for much of the film he doesn’t. The line is a hopeful declaration.

I’m really looking forward to The Darjeeling Limited. I hope it’s great.

“Stop running now!”

Published October 9th, 2007 in Current Events. 1 Comment

While this is not your typical marathon encouragement, these were the words from many overwhelmed officials at the 30th annual Chicago Marathon this weekend. Myself and five other friends had decided to participate in the race several months ago and had been steadily training in anticipation of this one epic 26.2 mile day, which unfortunately ended with quite a lot of disappointment.

Our efforts had already been met with obstacles: I had already been taken out of the race three weeks prior when my neck was cracked in a bike-meets-car fiasco, and my friend Isaac had experienced a foot sore that threatened his regular training plan. But we all made it to Chicago, got our packets (I still wanted my t-shirt; I paid for it!), and went to bed Saturday night with intentions to run (or watch) the full 26.2.

I’m not sure exactly when the trouble started. I have heard rumors that the water was in short supply right from the beginning, and Sunday turned out to be the hottest it has ever been on that date in Chicago. From my position near the 16th mile, I had already observed many people walking (somewhat unusual), but I met up with my friend Eric, and we headed for the finish line to meet our friends.

When we arrived, we heard announcements over the loudspeaker that the race had been canceled and that any athletes still on course would be taken to the finish by bus. This was not true for our friends, who walked, but nonetheless finished the full distance. I had begun to worry when they still hadn’t shown up after five and a half hours.

Six hours after the start, we reunited and heard the stories of the police announcing that anyone caught running would be prosecuted, fire hydrants turned on to spray the heat-exhausted crowd, tents full of dehydrated and fainting people lying… wherever… it was a nightmare.

Isaac, Lynn, and I are looking for another marathon we can actually run and finish this time. It might not be one as big as Chicago, but none of us want our training to have been wasted on a race we couldn’t run (me) or couldn’t finish (forced to stop at around mile 21). We’re thinking that the Little Rock marathon in March might be nice.

The Cleaning Blitz

Published October 4th, 2007 in Random. 1 Comment

For many years I have struggled with a horribly messy room. Typically, at least one pile of clothes is expanding in a creepily organic manner in one corner of the room or at the foot of the bed, and all available desktop, dresser-top, and shelf-top space is occupied by hostile paper scrap forces that also seem to be multiplying at an alarming rate. At the most extreme point of clutter, the bed is covered by a pile of clothes and miscellaneous stuff which I move to the floor at night so that I can sleep on the bed and then back to the bed in the morning so that I can walk around in the room during the day.

Now, she may not remember it, but I once heard my mom describe a quick and merciless cleaning job as a “cleaning blitz”, and for some reason that stuck in my mind… and it works. For some reason the idea of “attacking” the mess is more appealing to me than the idea of just cleaning; I can get pumped up about attacking something, but cleaning is boring. Here is a rough list of ways to help yourself keep a cleaner house:

1. Blitz it! Do it fast. Nobody really wants to clean, right? The longer you delay and the slower you do it the more the mess builds and the longer it takes to fix it.

2. Do it often! Frequent cleanings will help you avoid the feeling that the task is insurmountable or will take all day to accomplish.

3. Have a place for everything. If you know where it goes and that place is easy to access, you are less likely to place the item in question in a place that is not its own.

4. Get rid of it! Don’t need it? Don’t use it? Why is it here? Live simply. We here in America are especially good at amassing unnecessary clutter we are told that we “must have”.

That about does it for this list. Go blitz your clutter!

The Conclusion of Project Gloves

Published September 10th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Well, it’s been about a month since I concluded by aggressive campaign to end my incessant onychophagy, and, much to my chagrin, it has begun to creep back.Â During the time that I was wearing the gloves (just during the day while at my desk), I found that I was successful at also not biting my nails throughout the rest of the day.Â Now that the gloves are off, though, the old habit is returning.

It’s still not as bad as it was before I stopped, but I’ve found myself gnawing at the occasional hangnail or little piece of skin because I can’t just leave it hanging there right?Â Right.Â Common, seemingly innocent little actions, such as resting your chin in your hand make it so easy for the fingers to migrate to the mouth.

So… I guess I need some deeper motivation, or I just need to keep my fingers busy typing this blog.

If any of you who commented on the last post have some other suggestions of things that have worked for you, I would love to hear them.

Project Gloves:Â Partial Success (insofar as it worked while in progress and for several weeks following).