did the upgrade go as planned?
Only time will tell, but it seems that the upgrade to WordPress 2.0 went off without a hitch! Let me know if you find any bugs up in here.
cool gmail feature
Using a nifty feature in qmail, I am able to minimize my main email address's exposure to SPAM. Losing this feature was, I thought, a major drawback about switching to Gmail. Until I found a post out on the Interweb. (sorry, I can't seem to find the original post!) Gmail supports the same feature! Whereas qmail uses a '-' as the separator, Gmail uses a '+'. So, now when I sign up for accounts at other sites on the Interweb, I create a unique email address for that site.
For example, assume that my Gmail address is mygmailaddress@gmail.com. If I wanted to sign up for an account at Amazon, I could use an email address of mygmailaddress+amazon@gmail.com. Without making any changes within my Gmail account, any mail sent to mygmailaddress+amazon@gmail.com will automagically show up in my Inbox. Then, assuming that I have not used the email address anywhere else (on a 'blog posting, for example), if I start receiving SPAM to mygmailaddress+amazon@gmail.com, besides knowing that Amazon has sold me out to spammers, I can also change my email address at Amazon (to mygmailaddress+amazon2@gmail.com, for example) and then create a filter in Gmail to send email sent to mygmailaddress+amazon@gmail.com straight to the trash.
download vids from google videos
Through digg's RSS feed, I found this 'blog posting talking about how to download videos from Google Video. And, sure, there are plenty of other ways to do it, but here is the method from the other blog posting with some enhancements:
* Bookmark this bookmarklet
* Go to Google Video and find a video.
* View the page source code and search for the keyword ‘googleplayer‘
* Copy the videoUrl parameter (all of the characters after the keyword ‘videoUrl=’)
* Run the bookmarklet you created and paste the URL into the dialog box.
* Download the FLV movie saving it with a .flv extension.
* Play it with a FLV Player.
i miss winning…
it's not my biggest win, but it feels good. Unfortunately, I ended up in the red for the night since I didn't look closely enough when I signed up for a $1.20 NL SnG… I signed up for the Omaha table by mistake! The strategy for that game escapes me big time and I was quickly sent packing.
I love how fast PokerStars sends out these emails. By the time I can Alt-Tab to my email program, it's there waiting for me!
PokerStars Tournament #16995152, No Limit Hold'em Buy-In: $1.00/$0.20 45 players Total Prize Pool: $45.00 Tournament started - 2005/12/24 - 20:41:28 (ET) Dear Dan Davis, You finished the tournament in 7th place. A $2.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account. Congratulations! Thank you for participating.
fun with php and jpgraph
In a previous post about my weight loss (currently down 78lbs), I included a graph from the PC version of FitDay. Taking a screenshot of the graph and uploading it to the blog was enough of a pain that I didn't want to do it all that often… but I wanted something on the site that was updated fairly regularly…
And, with that weight tracker 0.1 was born! It still needs some work, but it's a good start in my opinion. One thing it still needs is a way to produce thumbnails of the graph to put in posts. I'm off from work for the next week, so stay tuned!
For those interested in specifics, I used JpGraph to do the dirty work. Pretty nice library with a buttload of flexibility. Once I get it all figured out, expect to see lots upgrades to weight tracker 0.1.
Defining CSS constants using PHP
I stumbled upon this article (article has sinced been archived here) about using PHP to define constants in CSS. I bookmarked it and finally got back to reading it this morning. I don't really have a huge need for doing this, but I have had to hack enough CSS to change color schemes that I wish that this was used in more places!
Go take a glance at this guy's article, but there is an easier way to implement constants than Tyler has shown… of course, there may be a method to his madness that escapes me.
Here's how I did it…
1. Rename your CSS file(s) as PHP: mv style.css style.php
2. Edit your style.php file thusly:
<?php
header('content-type:text/css');
include('css_constants.php');
print <<<END
// Original CSS code here
END;
?>
3. Go through your original CSS and replace common styles and colors with variables. Define those variables in css_constants.php.
css_constants.php:
$background_color = '#cca';
4. Now you go back through style.php and substitute $background_color where originally you had #caa.
style.php:
#nav {
background:$background_color
}
If I can find the time, I'll finish up my own conversions and post links to the source. Maybe. We'll see. However, if any of this really matters to you, you'll have it figured out and implemented before I get a round toit.
hear ye! hear ye!
OK, finally got off my lazy rump and sat it down in front of my laptop to do some picture stuff… such as upload a bunch of new photos of the youngin's! You can find them in this flickr photoset!
Also, figured it was about time for a status on my diet. I'm down 80 pounds since beginning this WOL in July. I'm hovering between 224 and 228. I have hit a bit of a plateau, but nothing that has me concerned… especially since we getting deep into winter. The body's cycle leading through fall and into winter is to try and store as much fat as possible to help meet its needs through, what would be in the wild, a reduction of available resources. Then, as winter passes and spring abounds, the body will once again turn into a lean, mean. fat-burning machine. At least in the wild, it would be that way. Is that still how it is supposed to work with us "civilized" beings? I don't know. But, it helps to explain my plateau and it will keep me on track until the weight loss resumes. Honey dearest, are we planning a trip to the beach this summer? 'Cause I think I'll be ready for it this time! I'll post some good "before" and "after" - actually, "after" doesn't sound right… more like "during" - pictures a bit later… I need to take some new "during" pictures.
Oh, and speaking of this WOL/WOE/diet, check out this pic of my baby girl. Mmmmm! Meat good. She is making a good start down the path of healthy eating. Now, about that toddler…
inspired
So, I got a comment on a post and it has inspired me… I will be ripping off her idea for a hokie blogroll! (See sidebar.)
Nacho Intolerant is a good read. And it's funny that I am advertising her blog here since she is likely to have many more readers than I do. But, hey! Maybe, since I have all these links to Nacho Intolerant, when folks Google for Nacho Intolerant they will find my page buried deep on page 7 of the search results… or, maybe not.
For reference, my blog is worth $0.00 while hers is worth $564.54!
Hey, do you like all of the links in this post? Me neither, but oh well,they are already there!
long time no blog
It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been to busy with other endeavours lately to bother with this silly little thing. Since I doubt too many people (i.e. none) actually read this thing o' mine, I shouldn't feel too guilty for taking some time off, huh?
Let me start by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Oh, shit, wait a minute. That's not politically correct any more. Sorry non-Christians.
Let's try again. Happy Holidays! Damn it! Holidays has its roots as holy days… that's not politically correct. Sorry atheists.
OK, so, I guess I shall wish everyone out there a safe and happy day. Pick a day. Any day. Crap. Sorry night shift workers. I am so insensitive!
Fine. I won't wish anyone a happy anything. My son just sneezed and I almost said "God bless you." I need to be careful about what I teach my children. They need to learn to be open-minded and inclusive of all beliefs… zombies, in a way. That's exactly what this world needs. Zombie children growing up without passion. Without a backbone strong enough to stand up against something that they feel is wrong or unjust. If they do, they will be labelled as racists, sexists, classists, or any other -ist that you can think of. We can't have that. No sirree. My children will accept as their own beliefs whatever the mass media has decided is appropriate for the rest of the world.
Yep, I'll love my zombie children no matter what. They can even eat my brains when the rest of the zombies rise up to take over the world.
Damn, damn, damn. I just realized how insensitive I was being to practitioners of vodun (aka voodoo). I should not have used zombie-ism in such a sarcastic manner. Mea culpa. Oh Christ (not him again)… I used Latin. That had to offend someone on either the European or African continent. You know… because of the way the Romans raped and pillaged their way to the dominant civilization a couple thousand years ago.
Let me stop now before I piss anyone else off.
Sorry everyone.