Back in action

After a short sabbatical from blogging, I am finally ready to start writing again.  It’s been a rainy and busy winter here.  The weather is finally beginning to change with the promise of many spring/summer days ahead.  Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to decide exactly what to do with my blog and what direction I should take. I’ve been struggling with trying to find a way to blog about technology and still maintain a personal side to the blog.  I’m not sure I’ve figured this out but think I can safely mix the two topics here.

Many of you have been wondering what I’ve been doing during my “free time”.  Well, I’ve been busy working with some Santa Cruz Geeks and a few select others to launch the 12seconds.tv website.  You can read more about 12seconds.tv by going to the website or reading our blog.   It’s been a fun process to see the site go from idea to implementation and will blog more about my experiences working on it.  The framework for this site is the Drupal CMS handling user authentication, friend invites, private beta, and content.  I’ve implemented several Drupal websites before and this process has only added to my Drupal experience.  I know many struggle with the steep learning curve for Drupal, but once you get past that things start to fall in place quite nicely.

My goals for this blog in the near future are:

1. Convert site to Drupal 6.x from WordPress 2.x
2. Update frequently at least 2 or 3 times a week
3. Balance personal commentary with technology information
4. Update the design

To accomplish goal number one, I will most likely be working on upgrading a Drupal 5.x module to import from WordPress 2.x to Drupal 6.x.  This will not be an easy undertaking, but will allow me to contribute back to the Drupal community and gain some experience with upgrading modules. I’m looking forward to writing again and keeping everyone updated on what’s going on.  If you want an invitation to 12seconds.tv, just send me your email.

For those that are curious, here’s an example of a 12second video.  I’m having sound issues on my Mac, but this will give you a general idea.  Once I fix the sound issues, I will post a new 12second video.  Also, you can check out what others are recording by going to http://12seconds.tv/channel. 

How long is 12seconds? take2 on 12seconds.tv

Ms. Adams Morgan 2005

While, I declined to attend Ms. Adams Morgan 2005 - Back To School, I had the privelege of assisting two of my very best friends in getting ready. I don’t think I will ever want to be a woman. It seemed like way too much work to go out for just a couple of hours. I have to say though it was a lot of fun watching the transition from man to woman. I think these two pulled it off without a problem. I was a little jealous that they got to wear nail polish. Not sure where that fetish came from…hmmmm. Below you will find Kiki & Vera. I still can’t remember which one is which.
Somehow Kiki & Vera are convinced I am doing this next year. I’m not so sure about that, we’ll see. The superhero pics make me want to be a superhero or at least date one (or two). Woof! Especially, the one in the red followed by Mr. Blue.. And check out those shoes and butts…..MMMMMM. Halloween has never been my favorite time of the year. Most years I attempted to be creative and failed miserably. The one that still sticks with me is when I was box. Sure it would have been cool had I wrapped it up like a present, but that would have been a big creative stretch for me. Perhaps, I’ll post some pictures from Halloweens past and you can be the judge. Just be prepared to shut-down your computer right away when you see how bad they are.

Changing times with club closings?

E-Brechi: So long and goodnight

I finally made plans to take my west coast trip. I found out a friend of mine (you know who you are) is giving a lecture (I think that’s what they call it) at a university out there. I had been re-scheduling a trip west for almost a year now and thought this would be the perfect time to go. I took two weeks off from work and just have to purchase my plane tickets.

As, I was making my plans I looked up my favorite bar in San Francisco, The Loading Dock. After some tricky google searching, I found out that the bar has closed. This was disappointing, but going to San Francisco was not all about “The Loading Dock”. Well, OK, it was 90% about going there.

Then after weeks of trying to find an RSS Reader that I actually liked on the Macintosh (Shrook), I started reinstalling my RSS feeds for my regular blogs that I was reading and found that Nation is closing in DC. Nation is being flattend to make room for the new stadium. I’ve only been to Nation a handful of times, but have very fond memories of the times I was there.

Last summer, Rehoboth Beach closed its only major Dance Club “The Renegade” to make room for new condos. I’m sure the Saturday night “Nation” club will open somewhere else, but I also am wondering if this is the beginning of a bigger change. Not sure what that change is though. I need to give it some more thought.

Pretty Vegas?

Things have finally slowed down on the “secret project” for DQ. Check out www.blizzardfanclub.com. Pay particular attention to the scrolling news item at the bottom of the main menu screen. That’s what I’ve been working on for the past few likes. Once it is launched I can elaborate more. I have a couple of minor things left to finish up for it. Specifically, implementing a “naughty filter” so that text fields are marked as “profane” if there is one of the “naughty” words on the list. Who exactly came up with the naughty list? There are some words on there that I have never heard. I think there are a few missing too.

Anyone watch Rockstar: INXS? Anyone in love with J.D. Fortune as much as I am? I had no desire to watch the show, but then one of my friends was over and watching it the night that J.D. Fortune sang “Pretty Vegas”, a song he co-wrote with Andrew Farris of INXS. “Pretty Vegas will be released on October 4 through iTunes.
I think this song is going to be huge. Fortunately, J.D. one the opportunity to be the front man for INXS. Hopefully, this means we will be seeing, I mean, hearing more from him.

My full-time job is becoming more interesting every day. I’m still swamped and trying to catch up and implement some new procedures. However, we were just awarded the Katrina/Rita contract for Fairfax County. We will be providing Case Management for any Katrina individuals/families that end up residing in Fairfax County. The area also activated the Coordinated Assistance Network (CAN) which my agency is a part of. The next few weeks, I’ll be going to several meetings with other non-profits around the area. I’ll also be figuring out the best way for us to exchange data with CAN.

Stephen and I were leaving the theatre last night because Flight Plan was sold out. I really had to go to bathroom (anyone surprised by this?) so I walked through Ruby Tuesday’s thinking they would have a bathroom. I’m sure they did, but I never found it and felt weird walking through there without eating there. So, I found Stephen back in the lobby and we started walking out to the parking lot. Walking towards me was this couple and it turned out to be my niece and her boyfriend. It was just so weird that if the timing had been any different we probably wouldn’t have run into them. It was good to see her and I got to see her new engagement ring.

We ended up going to another theatre to see “Flight Plan”. One of my biggest pet peeves is the ticket line at this particular theatre behind Target. They have two automated ticket machines and 2 ticket lines with 2 staff people in each. Last night, one of the ticket lines only had one person working and one of the automated machines was broken. Mind you, I still had to go to the bathroom at this point. Stephen was in line (the one with only one person), and I was in line at the automated ticket machine to see who would get their first. In front of Stephen was a family of five who had not even decided what movie to see before they got to the front of the line. They must have spent a good five minutes at the register. I can understand if an employee doesn’t show up and they have one less cashier. But why can’t they get a bank of the automated machines like they do at the airports? I bet at least 80% if not more would be happy to use the machines. They could eliminate one whole ticket line, replace with a bank of 10 machines and everyone (or at least myself) would be happy.

The other pet peeve at this theatre is the concession stand. Ok, maybe I am super smart because I don’t think anyone at the theatre has thought about this. There are about 5 - 8 different lines at the concession stand and the minimum wait time is at least 20 minutes. Waiting in line for 20 minutes gives me plenty of time to identify all the inefficiencies. For example, if someone wants pop-corn and you are in line #2, the worker has to walk all the way down past line #5 to get a bag of pop-corn (and they don’t walk fast either). Soft-drinks are set-up in a similar way. I understand some of this is just the way it is set-up, but come on there has to be a better way to arrange everything and move people through the line. The end result is that they are going to lose or have lost business to this new theatre (the first one we went to). “Flight Plan” was not even 3/4 full in this theatre.

On a closing note, I finally have all the pieces I need to put my bike together. Any bets on whether I will actually do it today?