Still Alive…And Well?
Wow… my first blog post in almost 2 years. I guess I’m just not that into blogging. Here are some other resources you can use to follow all things me:
Catch ya in a couple more years!
New Portfolio
I just whipped up a new portfolio app in CakePHP, complete with projects, tags, and screenshots. My plan was to write it in Rails, but my Ruby skills just aren’t there yet. Check it out by clicking the link in the top-right corner. I still need to test it in IE6.. so let me know if you get a chance.
Update
I’m going to be making some changes to this site in the coming weeks. Check back soon for updates!
My first jQuery plugin
I am currently taking CS419 :: Open Source Software here at Oregon State, and one of our requirements is to submit a patch (or plugin, in this case). For my first patch of the term, I have decided to improve on an existing jQuery plugin: jEditable. I am changing it so that it works with tables. You can check it out here:
New Songs
Here are some songs I started recording yesterday. Check ‘em out and let me know what you think.
Metal 1 – going for a heavy guitar/bass sound, need to redo drum track…
Metal 2 – Avenged Sevenfoldish
Jazzy 1 – John Zorn influence
Untitled – not sure what this is.
Down with Internet Explorer
I’ve come to the conclusion that Internet Explorer is the reason I am going bald. Not genetics. Not male pattern baldness. Internet Explorer.
I am tired of creating alternate stylesheets, chalk-full of crazy CSS hacks. I’m tired of creating alternate image sets because IE can’t render >8bit .PNGs (w/ alpha transparency) correctly. The list goes on…
I find it ironic that the IE7 developers are now having to take issue with the multitude of hacks that developers have used over the years:
“We’re starting to see the first round of sites and pages breaking due to the CSS fixes we have made. We would like to ask your help in cleaning up existing CSS hacks in your pages for IE7.”
Anyhow, I’m hopeful that the release and adoption of IE7 will either a) significantly slow my hair loss or b) just finish the job already (by breaking most of my previous work). In the meantime, do me and other balding developers a favor:
Maybe this will be the tattoo I get…
Interesting pics from over the weekend…
Me, playing guitar at a campfire on the beach.
STOP HERE ON RED
MVC…what?
There has been a lot of buzz this year about Ruby on Rails. For those of you who don’t know, RoR is an open source web application framework that closely follows the MVC (or Model-View-Controller) architecture. I read a few articles about RoR to find out what all the fuss was about and quickly realized that the MVC methodology was superior to my traditional method of writing web applications. In my previous web applications, I had always done an okay job of separating the logic from the design, but never at a level that can be achieved by the use of a MVC framework.
Rather than learning a new language (Ruby), I decided to search for such a framework that utilized PHP. Besides, I have always been partial to PHP and I wasn’t about to abandon something that has made me quite a bit of money in the past few years. The three frameworks I narrowed my search to were CakePHP, Symfony, and Code Igniter. Here are some quick observations I made:
- CakePHP: Consistent updates, large community. Great documentation! Supports table associations. Simple configuration (i.e. not too many config files)
- Symfony: Powerful, complete, large community. Script heavy configuration
… I don’t want to spend a lot of time running different scripts to get started. - Code Igniter: Not as developed as the previous two. Light-weight. Much promise. No table associations, yet .
So, I have decided to go with CakePHP. I’m not sure if there is anything Symfony supports that I will be missing out on, but it seems perfect for the project I am about to take on (more on that later). Within a few hours, I was able to get a decent start on my project. Without CakePHP I can honestly say that it would have taken me three days to achieve what I have accomplished in three hours. Cool beans.
Megadeth Concert
I drove eight hours with my mom and friend to see ‘Gigantour‘ in Boise, ID. Headlining were Megadeth along with Lamb of God and Opeth. Arch Enemy, Overkill, Sanctity, Into Eternity, and The Smashup were also on the ticket. Out of the second stage bands, I enjoyed Into Eternity and Arch Enemy the most. Overkill was also cool to see as they are one of the first thrash metal bands on the scene.
Opeth really surprised me with their unique progressive death metal sound and cerebral lyrics — over half of their performance revolved around softer, melodic riffs, with clean vocals. Lamb of God brought a lot energy, and although I don’t like their singing style, I enjoyed their technical playing. Last, but not least, was Megadeth. This was the third time that I’ve seen Megadeth (now tied with Metallica) and each time I’ve been amazed with their ability to recreate the feel and sound of their albums live. Dave Mustaine truly is a pioneer of metal and it awesome to see such an icon perform live. They played a song from their upcoming album, United Abominations, that sounded like a mix between something off of the albums Rust In Peace and their last, The System Has Failed. Overall: awesome show, can’t wait until Gigantour 2007 and the upcoming album!
Here are some pics:
Dave Mustaine is god!
Lamb of God
Opeth