The End of the Line http://vjl.org/blog When there's nothing else to read Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:22:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 en Time to Move http://vjl.org/blog/2008/03/11/time-to-move/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/03/11/time-to-move/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:22:06 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/2008/03/11/time-to-move/ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Time to Move", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/03/11/time-to-move/" } ); ]]> This will be my last blog post using this format, layout, and boring titles. It will also be the last post on this server, dargo, as I am finally migrating my own files to aeryn, which is connected to the ‘net with a super fast connection. The name of my blog will also be changing to better reflect my focus, which lately has been unfocused. :) You’ll be able to read about the adventures of a near California native and how he has adopted to life in western North Carolina. You’ll also hear of the adventures of starting and running a Mac software company, get to see [and hopefully not laugh] at some of my programming, photography, and other things that I’m sure to share.

But in the meantime, this week it is time to upgrade! Wish me luck!

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/03/11/time-to-move/feed/ Lessons in UI http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/20/lessons-in-ui/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/20/lessons-in-ui/#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:37:02 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/20/lessons-in-ui/ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Lessons in UI", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/20/lessons-in-ui/" } ); ]]> I just came across a new piece of software, with an intro price of $50 USD, that looks something like this: How not to design a Mac app

You can find more at: http://tinyurl.com/yrnh and I have to say…the UI leaves something to be desired. Could there be any more icons/buttons/listviews in the above screenshot? [click it to view it in all its glory]. I don’t mean to knock hard working developers, but this app, powerful as it might be, is hiding inside one of the worst user interfaces I have ever seen.

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/20/lessons-in-ui/feed/ New Mac apps introduced http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/new-mac-apps-introduced/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/new-mac-apps-introduced/#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:38:44 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/new-mac-apps-introduced/ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "New Mac apps introduced", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/new-mac-apps-introduced/" } ); ]]> A couple new Mac applications have been introduced at Macworld 2008. One is Iris [no, not that Iris], which has a public beta now available. Iris is a photo editing application, similar to Pixelmator, Acorn, and the ever-popular [but also very expensive!] Adobe Photoshop. Iris is a Leopard only application, so for now, I am not able to try it out [i do have access to one Mac with Leopard on it, but not at the moment]. I’m also wondering if a name change is in store for one of the apps, since one can’t have two Irises in one’s Applications folder! As a registered and happy owner of the original Iris, I’m going to be curious to see how this plays out.

Another, just introduced and demoed app is a blog editing one from Panic. This only just hit the Twitter wires, so there’s not yet any information about it. Personally, I use MarsEdit and have ever since it was bundled with NetNewsWire. But, being from Panic, I wonder what they have done to enhance the blog authoring software field. I’m also curious if Panic will start to become more like Rage Software, who have really moved headlong into both the web editing software field, and the SEO field. Panic’s last app was Coda, an ‘all in one’ web editing app that combined the powers of 4 similar apps into a single one: Transmit, TextMate, CSSEdit, and iTerm. Though I own and use Coda, I still like using the 4 other apps on their own better, as Coda’s features do not mimic the power of using the separate apps on their own. That said, Coda has some unique features that the other apps lack, such as the ability to work in collaboration with others around the world on a document.

So it will be interesting to see what Panic brings to the table with their blog editor. An often asked for feature of MarsEdit is WYSIWYG support; I’m sure Panic’s app will feature that.

January 18, 2008 1:08pm UPDATE: Well, it seems I fell hard for a “twitter prank” that was intended for MarsEdit’s author, Daniel Jalkut. Panic is not entering the weblog editing field. Suffice to say, I don’t always believe what I hear on twitter, but when 2 people post similar messages at nearly the same time, I tend to believe them. There’s nothing more annoying, or fun to watch, than drunk Mac developers at a Macworld conference. :)

Though, Daniel, if you’re reading this [and i’m sure you’re not], WYSIWYG would be nice. :)

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/new-mac-apps-introduced/feed/ Boeing 777 glides to safety http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/boeing-777-glides-to-safety/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/boeing-777-glides-to-safety/#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:00:32 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/boeing-777-glides-to-safety/ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Boeing 777 glides to safety", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/boeing-777-glides-to-safety/" } ); ]]> In what is the first Boeing 777 “crash”, a British Airlines Boeing 777 lost all power on its approach to London Heathrow Airport and was forced to glide to a safe landing. All 151 survived and only a few minor injuries were reported. Thankfully emergency power was present, but this is a very strange story, and I’ll be curious to find out what caused this complete power failure. The Boeing 777 is a very safe aircraft, and to have such a massive failure happen is quite unusual.

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/18/boeing-777-glides-to-safety/feed/ Upgrade in progress! http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/12/upgrade-in-progress/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/12/upgrade-in-progress/#comments Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:04:20 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=1 SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Upgrade in progress!", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/12/upgrade-in-progress/" } ); ]]> Moving my old blog from Geeklog to Wordpress. I think this post will be here just temporarily. Let’s see if the code that moves data from Geeklog to Wordpress really works!

Expect more posts here soon!

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/12/upgrade-in-progress/feed/ Let’s try this again http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/02/lets-try-this-again/ http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/02/lets-try-this-again/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:12:09 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=30 SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Let’s try this again", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/02/lets-try-this-again/" } ); ]]> It is another new year. That means I *must* get my new server up and running. Well, it really is up and running. It simply is not serving. I have a brand new super-fast connection on a brand new super fast server I built [a 1U rack mount server!] being hosted by a company that features armed guards and Mission Impossible-styled machine rooms.

So what I need to do now is move my gazillion sites to the new server, and start blogging again. I’ve got nearly a gazillion blog entries in my head; but I would much rather get them on “digital paper”.

So what is taking so long? I am moving all my sites [remember, a gazillion!] from one place to another, but these sites all run on different programs, or use different programs that are all based on PHP4 and MySQL version 4.x. I intend on upgrading to PHP5 and moving to MySQL 5. With over 10 years of coding [i started writing PHP back in 1997], this means a lot of things need cleaning up and fixed before they are ready to be made public.

But I do intend on getting vjl.org moved over. The “w3log” URL, however, will redirect to a new vjl.org/blog link. I will make sure all past articles/links get forwarded to the correct new page[s]. Upgrading vjl.org is actually the easy part, and since I like doing the hard stuff first [and stuff that affects others], I’ve been back-burnering vjl.org’s upgrade.

But no more! It *will* be upgraded. Very soon. Honest. Just check back in a few days, ok? :)

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2008/01/02/lets-try-this-again/feed/ Site about to change! http://vjl.org/blog/2007/05/21/site-about-to-change/ http://vjl.org/blog/2007/05/21/site-about-to-change/#comments Mon, 21 May 2007 05:03:24 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=29 SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Site about to change!", url: "http://vjl.org/blog/2007/05/21/site-about-to-change/" } ); ]]> It’s amazing! This site will actually be updated shortly! Stop the presses! :) I hope y’all can handle this, but yes, after more than two years, I’m finally going to update this site. Stay tuned for more!

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2007/05/21/site-about-to-change/feed/ So Long, SoCal! http://vjl.org/blog/2004/10/08/so-long-socal/ http://vjl.org/blog/2004/10/08/so-long-socal/#comments Sat, 09 Oct 2004 03:29:00 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=24 Read on for more details.... ]]>

Well, it’s offiicially official - I’m leaving the state of California for good! Read on for more details….Goodbye California, hello North Carolina! I will soon be a resident of Asheville, NC, the 10th largest city in North Carolina.

But before I settle in my new home, I had to travel out to WNC to get a place to live and find a job. I decided to drive, since I want my Mazda 323 out in my new home anyway, and I didn’t want to tow it behind a moving truck.

So, in order to be quick, efficient, and a bit crazy, I drove my car non-stop from Tustin, CA to Franklin, CA. I stopped for gas, food, and bathrooms. Below are two tables showing some times to certain cities if I didn’t stop for gas/food/etc and the actual times I arrived. The 2nd chart shows a log of each stop I made and how long I stopped for.


 CITY TIME ZONE HR MIN DIST DIST TOT HR TOT MIN TOT EST. TIME ACTUAL TIME
1 Tustin, CA CA Time

LEAVE FRI 9/24/04 09:00 pm 8:37 pm PDT
2 Barstow, CA 2 15 107.9 107.9 2 15 11:15 pm 12:26 am PDT
3 Needles, CA 2 12 144.5 252.4 4 27 01:27 am 2:28 am PDT
4 Williams, AZ 2 30 175.4 427.8 6 57 03:57 am Not recorded
5 Flagstaff, AZ 0 31 33.8 461.6 7 28 04:28 am 5:37am PDT
6 Gallup, NM 1 hr ahead 2 41 185.2 646.8 10 9 08:09 am 9:26 am MDT
7 Albuquerque, NM 2 0 137.5 784.3 12 9 10:09 am 11:32 am MDT
8 Tucumcari, NM 2 32 175.6 959.9 14 41 09:41 am Not recorded
9 Amarillo, TX 2 hr ahead 1 40 112.9 1072.8 16 21 03:21 pm 5:09 pm CDT
10 Shamrock, TX 1 45 94.0 1166.8 18 6 05:06 pm 6:39 pm CDT
11 Weatherfford, OK 1 35 96.0 1262.8 19 41 06:41 pm 8:19 pm CDT
12 Oklahoma City, OK 1 5 69.0 1331.8 20 46 07:46 pm 9:33 pm CDT
13 Henryetta, OK 1 30 90.0 1421.8 22 16 09:16 pm 11:08 pm CDT
14 Fort Smith, AR 1 30 93.0 1514.8 23 46 10:46 pm 12:35 am CDT
15 Little Rock, AR 2 30 156.8 1671.6 25 16 01:16 am Not recorded
16 Brinkley, AR 1 5 68.0 1739.6 26 21 02:21 am 4:27 am CDT
17 Memphis, TN 1 11 73.0 1812.6 27 32 03:32 am 4:54 am CDT
18 Wildersville, TN 2 20 128.0 1940.6 29 52 05:52 am Not recorded
19 Nashville, TN 1 45 102.0 2042.6 31 37 07:37 am 9:10 am CDT
20 Monterey, TN 1 40 92.0 2134.6 33 17 09:17 am Not recorded
21 Knoxville, TN 3 hr ahead 1 40 88.0 2222.6 35 57 12:57 am 2:15 pm EDT
22 Clyde, NC 1 45 94.0 2316.6 37 42 02:42 pm Not recorded
23 Franklin, NC 0 58 44.0 2360.6 38 40 03:40 pm 5:15 pm EDT
DATE ARR TIME DEPT TIME MILEAGE LOCATION/GAS PRICE GALLONS Restroom/Food COMMENTS
1 9/24/2004 8:37 pm 183,821.5 left apartment
2 9/24/2004 8:45 pm 8:50 pm 183,822.1 Shell gas $2.13 8.722
3 9/24/2004 8:56 pm 9:01 pm 183,823.4 WAMU ATM
4 9/25/2004 2:28 am 2:43 am 184,082.4 Needles, CA, J Street exit 76 station $2.89 8.409 R/F NEVER GO HERE AGAIN!
5 9/25/2004 5:37 am 5:52 am 184,298.4 Flagstaff, AZ, Sinclair station $1.99 9.932 F best stop on trip!
6 9/25/2004 9:26 am 9:39 am 184,486.0 Gallup, NM Texico station $1.99 6.388 R 86 octane gas
7 9/25/2004 1:29 pm 1:49 pm 184,749.8 exit 277 NM, near Santa Rosa $1.79 9.036 R 86 octane gas
8 9/25/2004 6:39 pm 6:55 pm 185,016.9 Shamrock, TX $1.89 9.049 R 86 octane gas/icky town
9 9/25/2004 9:33 pm 9:54 pm 185,193.2 Oklahoma City, Airport Depot Blvd Shell station $1.81 5.560 R
10 9/26/2004 12:51 am 1:16 am 185,385.5 Exit 13, Alabama Shell station $1.84 6.224 R
11 9/26/2004 4:27 am 4:41 am 185,594.2 Brinkly, Arkansas CITGO/T/A $1.87 7.089 R
12 9/26/2004 6:11 am 6:39 am 185,742.7 exit 68, Tennessee, CITGO/T/A $1.87 5.136 R Denmark travel shop/restaurant
13 9/26/2004 8:36 am 8:53 am 185,874.6 exit 196, Tennessee, Shell station $1.85 4.258
14 9/26/2004 10:22 am 10:34 am 185,967.2 exit 286, Tennessee, Exxon station — — F only stopped for food/drink
15 9/26/2004 12:31 pm 12:51 pm 186,083.8 exit 398, Tennessee, Shell station $1.79 6.601 R
16 9/26/2004 5:15 pm 186,215.1 FRANKLIN, NC!!!!! R/F!!! best destination on trip!

There are some snapshots from the trip [mostly shot blindly through the windshield] available in the gallery. I’m due to leave WNC [Western North Carolina] on Wednesday or Thursday. I’ll probably be renting a car to drive back, and this time I might actually stop for a night or two on the way. When I get back to SoCal, I’ll be packing more boxes and closing bank accounts, etc. Then sometime before the end of October, I’ll be driving out one last time to WNC, but this time in a moving truck with my Stuff loaded behind me.

Kirsten is, unfortunately, not coming with me. She is still recovering from a major nerve virus that she got in February 2004, and just recently gained enough strength to drive and work part time [the first few months, she could hardly stand up, let alone walk]. She is on the long road to recovery, and it is my hopes that when she is fully recovered, she will be joining me in Asheville, NC.

I’ll be updating this site as I can before I leave WNC. I’m without broadband until next Tuesday, so photo updates may have to wait until the 12th. Until then…

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2004/10/08/so-long-socal/feed/ New photos in the Gallery! http://vjl.org/blog/2004/09/28/new-photos-in-the-gallery/ http://vjl.org/blog/2004/09/28/new-photos-in-the-gallery/#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2004 03:21:42 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=28 Access the Gallery ]]> Just a super quick note to let folks know that there’s some new photos in the Gallery! Yes, my race across America has been well documented and on-going throughout the week, more photos will be posted. Enjoy!

Access the Gallery

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]]> http://vjl.org/blog/2004/09/28/new-photos-in-the-gallery/feed/ Windows causes LAX to crash http://vjl.org/blog/2004/09/21/windows-causes-lax-to-crash/ http://vjl.org/blog/2004/09/21/windows-causes-lax-to-crash/#comments Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:52:00 +0000 vjl http://vjl.org/blog/?p=27 Windows Upgrade, FAA Error Cause LAX Shutdown

*sigh* When will people learn? Windows is not stable enough to run in a home, let alone in a mission critical environment. ]]> Number 8,560,321,094th reason why you should not run critical systems using Windows:

Windows Upgrade, FAA Error Cause LAX Shutdown

*sigh* When will people learn? Windows is not stable enough to run in a home, let alone in a mission critical environment.

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