So…

By Jennyjinx | Published: March 20, 2010

I’m almost done with my new project (done in partnership with two other people, by the way) and am pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished so far. I’m learning way more this way that I have been in class. That is, actually, more than a little irritating considering the amount of money George Soros/Rahm Emmanuel pay for my tuition, but what are you going to do?

My favorite part of the project is learning jQuery. I actually dismissed that previously (figuring I’d learn about it in school…ha!) but then needed something from it and now I’m in love. Like I said on my FB, I love any kind of code I can get to run properly.

Anyway, my initial thought was to run the site on WordPress. I know WordPress and can make it do pretty much anything with a good plugin. Right? But that went out the window. I need to learn this stuff. So I built a static site– from the ground to almost up1. We may decide later to change it into a php based site or use a CMS2, but that will be when the site becomes too big to manage properly with just notepad and Filezilla.

First I put my Photoshop skills to the test. After two rejections of the initial mockup I was able to move on to the CSS/xHTML. Figuring out the layout was fun and challenging, but I learned some stuff and got it rolling (pretty much). The bells and whistles are being provided by jQuery because it pretty much rocks my socks right now. I was even able to build a basic PHP contact form with validation3.

Now, I know you’re thinking “What took so long?” and “What do you mean ‘learning’? Can’t you just copy and paste?” I’m learning by understanding how the code that I’m using works. I can do up a WP site because I understand how WordPress works (mostly). But what about without WP to run things behind the scenes? I want to be able to do this stuff without the help of other people (at some point) and, possibly, share what I’m learning with other people. That requires looking at what’s going on, tearing it apart, breaking it and then fixing it. And that gets my full attention. It’s a really fulfilling process. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about this problem and that and then finding solutions. I love it.

I’ve also got a paying client lined up. I’ll be doing for him what I’ve done on this project– but faster and with better results. Now that I’ve refreshed my skills in areas I already knew and learned some new stuff I should be able to pound something out in a couple of weeks4. Then, hopefully, he’ll send someone else my way5. I’m really excited about that, of course. Right now my portfolio is woefully lacking.

The bad news is that my husband’s irritated with me because I spend so much time working on this project (which is technically paid right now). He doesn’t understand the non-tangible benefits of what I’m doing. I’m not overly bothered about his irritation, but I’ve got to learn to pace myself better and not let my code OCD get the best of me. I get way too involved in what I’m doing and pretty soon my “I’ll be done in 10 minutes” turns into 2 hours later. Oops. I’ve got $10 that says he’ll feel much better about my endeavors once I start getting paid, though.

I’m having a lot of fun and learning a lot of stuff, so it’s all good for me. I’m also practicing not using foul language. ;) 6. I can’t wait until my new “career” starts bringing in real money so I can quit waiting tables. Until then I’m going to keep practicing and learning– and being boring.

P.S.

I just realized that when you’re using the .htaccess to change file extensions that it’s a good idea to include all file extensions in the equation. If you don’t do that and use a php file to handle email coming from an html contact form your email will be broken. Just an FYI. And, yes, I fixed it.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Sphere: Related Content

  1. “Almost” because I’m still tweaking and adding and learning stuff. [↩]
  2. Content Management System [↩]
  3. That’s going to need more tweaking, but I’m learning as I go. I keep getting database errors with my flippin’ checkboxes on the form. [↩]
  4. Depending on whether he likes my initial prototype [↩]
  5. Mostly because I’m cheap and easy– to work with. [↩]
  6. Which, by the way, I’m very careful of with my clients and the customers at my brick and mortar job. [↩]
Posted in Meta, The J-O-B, school | Comments closed

Tech doesn’t Always = Dood

By Jennyjinx | Published: February 24, 2010

I have been so incredibly busy for the past week and however long that I’m getting nothing on this blog done. And that’s a good thing. It’s not all school work right now. A friend of mine actually invited me to join him on a project and I’m working on that too1. This is so awesome2 I can’t even tell you just how awesome it is3. I’m taking a break right now because my brain is getting clogged with trying to get the margins just right.

So, I’m working on this project and looking around at some different tech sites for various tools4. I love reading web tech information. I love how tutorials are generally written and I love how straight forward the folks who comment are. Most of what I’ve seen has been written by men, which it typical because most coders (I’ve noticed in my wanderings) seem to be male. That’s fine with me. I knew that my chosen field was pretty male dominated when I decided to get into it.

I do notice, though, that most of the tech males5 that I encounter seem to take me a lot less seriously because I’m female. If I pretend to be a male online I seem to get a lot more respect from community members. Not so much if they know I’m not carrying my reproductive organs on the outside of my body. I was slightly irritated about that the other day when I had a discussion with my friend. He suggested that perhaps I adopt a masculine pseudonym while working online and, well, I’m seriously considering it. Just because I don’t want to be given the brush off just only because of my gender– and that has happened to me a couple of notable times in the very recent past.

This only became an issue with me on a personal level because I’ve noticed that I’m expected, as a female, to behave a certain way. And if I don’t behave that way then I’m perceived in a negative light. I’m more straight-forward than most people appreciate from a woman and that’s gotten me into problems– to the point that I’ve considered prefacing everything I say with “I’m sorry…” just to get that shit out of the way. Women are expected to be more gentle and “considerate”6 whereas men are supposed to be more direct when dealing with issues. Women aren’t perceived to be able to function well when faced with technical issues because our brains aren’t supposed to process that information. Though my brain does process that information a little differently than my male colleagues7 it does process the information. In fact, my brain loves that information.

I love to solve puzzles. I imagine that most people who get into coding or research or math or forensics feel the same way. They see a problem and want to find a way to fix it. Actually, I guess I could go further than the more “intellectual” areas and say that carpenters, plumbers, mechanics and others of that stripe love to solve puzzles– for the same reason I’ve already mentioned. We are at point A and need to be at point C, so how do we get there? The areas that I’ve mentioned are male dominated, but they aren’t populated solely by males. Females too find a field in which they can solve a puzzle– or many puzzles– on a regular basis because we love it and our brains thrive on the challenges.

But our efforts aren’t taken as seriously as the efforts of our male counterparts. Because of the stereotypes. And it goes beyond the work force. Socially we’re expected to behave differently8. I’ve learned to deal with that a bit better. I’m not very big on sugar coating things. I don’t know if that’s a personality defect as some have said9 but that’s the way I am. I say what I mean without the bullshit– sometimes to my detriment but sometimes because the bullshit needs to be end10. This is me– take it or leave it. It’s not so easy to say that in a professional setting.

I’m excited about this new opportunity. I’m really passionate about what I’m doing. Considering what’s gone on in my life the last year and some odd months, I’ve been really blessed to come onto a project like this. It just really pisses me off that I’m actually considering a masculine pseudonym so that my abilities will be taken more seriously. It pisses me off because this shouldn’t even be a consideration. The reality, though, is that I might have to do that so that what needs to be done will be done without me having to prove myself every single time. What a load of shit that is.

It’s also steeled my resolve to not be that stereotypical woman and to be exactly who I am. To all those whose feelings will inevitably be hurt because I don’t behave as you believe a woman should behave, I apologize preemptively.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Sphere: Related Content

  1. It’s doubling as a school project and yes, he knows that. [↩]
  2. I’m going to use it in my portfolio, of course. [↩]
  3. Especially after everything that happened just prior to that invitation. [↩]
  4. Exactly what I’m looking for and what I’m talking about isn’t important. [↩]
  5. Not all of them are men, by the way. [↩]
  6. Intentional use of quotes there. [↩]
  7. Can I use that word yet? [↩]
  8. And men, of course, are supposed to be grunting, out-of-control, meat-eating Neanderthals. [↩]
  9. Or a disability as some others have said. [↩]
  10. I think I’ve gotten even more direct and less tolerant of crap since I’ve been online, but mostly it’s because I’m too old for it [↩]
Posted in P.S.A., The J-O-B, school | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Blogroll Amnesty or Sunday Stumblin’

By Jennyjinx | Published: February 7, 2010

I missed Blogroll Amnesty Day and the celebration thereof. I actually had a post almost don’t when American Electric Power struck again. At the time I wasn’t using my dashboard to write the damned thing and flippin’ auto-save was, apparently, garbage so… Well, you know where that’s going, don’t you?

Some back ground:
One day in February 2007, an A-list blogger1 decided that his blogroll was unfair to the little blogger folk2. Back in those days, oh-so long ago, linkage was web capital. You got linked by a big blog and it wasn’t so much traffic from their link that helped, but the Google rep from their link that helped you. Alas, the A-listers decided to “reform” their rolls and off came the little dudes. Mostly they just linked to themselves at that point3.

The little bloggers struck back. “Oh, yeah? Well, we’ll show you.” And Blogroll Amnesty Day was born.

According to Blue Gal and skippy, one must link to blogs with less traffic than you and one must not whine that they have the less traffic of all.

I’m going to be different only so far as I’m just going to link to folks who answered my Twitter call. They obviously would like the link and so I shall give them a link (though their PR is probably higher than mine and probably their traffic4. I’m also going to link to blogs that are on my blogroll, whether they want it or not.

William K. Wolfrum is hilarious. I don’t even know how I found him on Twitter, but somehow he ended up in my feed. He insists that smaller blogs shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military or get married. Can you imagine the kind of insanity either of those would cause? It’d be the end of blogging as we know it!

I started following David during the early part of the health care reform debate because his is an interesting story. He’s frustrated because his son needs this reform, so David is fighting for him. He is, honorably, trying to take down the teabaggers one at a time. I wish him luck with that as these folks, emboldened by the firebaggers, are a tough bunch to crack. Perhaps he should offer them a free buffet lunch?

El Presidente– who I follow on Twitter as notsotrue– forwarded this very thoughtful and lengthy post onto me. He (or she!) wrote a very good counter to the President’s state of the union address. It’s exceptionally well written, if I do say so myself5.

Now, Floyd used to post mainly about politics and I started reading his blog way back when I had my blogger blog6. He’s mostly doing blog techy stuff now, which I find totally awesome as I too love that stuff, so I don’t know if this technically falls within the rules of B.A.D.. I don’t care, though.

I’ve been reading Kvatch and co. for some years too (since the old blog). He’s one funny frog. They have a news service that is downright hysterical.

These are my 5 selections for Blogroll Amnesty Day. If you feel I forgot you and you’d like to see yourself there, well, leave me a comment and tell me why. Otherwise, I’ll try to catch up with more next week. Yes, I think I’ll do more “Stumblin’ My Roll” posts as those were always fun and I’d forgotten how to have fun in blogtopia (y!sctp!).

Popularity: 4% [?]

Sphere: Related Content

  1. Atrios [↩]
  2. Not the A-list [↩]
  3. They pretended not to know why linkage was important and pushed the meme that it was traffic from their rolls. They knew that. [↩]
  4. Stop it! PR 5 blogs are generally wider read. Just sayin’. [↩]
  5. Moreso than a lot of tripe you see on the A-list blogs– or their “commuity diaries”…heh. [↩]
  6. He’ll probably remember “Gratis” [↩]
Posted in P.S.A., stumblin' | Tagged | Comments closed

Snowpocalypse ’10

By Jennyjinx | Published: February 6, 2010

I sent the one of the last two posts1 into the Private sector2 because my readers and/or visitors don’t need to see the drama. Hopefully the people scouring every post on this site will have gotten screencaps of them so their whining and gnashing of the teeth won’t be interrupted.

In other news, it’s snowing. A lot– though the Ohio valley isn’t getting as much as, say, Vermont. Still, it’s enough to shut down my town and enough for my boss to call and say:
“You’re scheduled to work lunch?”
“Yes.”
“Not any more you’re not. Stay safe!”

Awesome! Now I have all day to build snowmen do housekeeping and drink hot chocolate school work.

Without further ado I give you pictures!
Read More »

Popularity: 3% [?]

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  1. Nevermind. [↩]
  2. If you’ve got an account here (you know who you are) you can safely log in and see for yourself. [↩]
Posted in Kids | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Oh, Scab!

By Jennyjinx | Published: February 3, 2010

I went to the ear doctor (ENT) yesterday. The back story is that I had a sinus infection which seemed to settle behind my ear. One night I felt like I was giving birth through that ear. I did the hot oil thing and the heating pad thing. I shook my head. I grouched and threw a minor tantrum1. That’s the night I took a sleeping pill to help me get to sleep, but the damn thing didn’t work so I did what anyone would do– I blogged a little. Yeah, well, that was interesting.

Finally, I managed to get to sleep (don’t remember how and don’t really care). In the morning the pain was gone, but there was blood on my pillow. Enough to freak me the fuck out. I immediately got on the Google and did the medical research– which a person should never do when they discover they’re bleeding out of their ear. After initially thinking I had some flesh-eating brain disease which would leave me with only a few minutes to live, I went to a reputable medical site and voila! I was just experiencing a ruptured ear drum, probably from the damned sinus infection. Whew! Talk about a relief.

So, I stuffed some cotton in my ear to catch the blood and went about my day. Sure, I whined about it on Twitter and tried to get some sympathy from my co-workers, but I was pretty much going to live and I knew that. I used it as a reason not to have to pay a whole lot of attention to people that get on my last available nerve2 which was ok.

Then the bleeding/draining stopped, I took out the cotton and discovered that my hearing really was fuckered up. That kind of sucked, but I found that silver lining again and used it to my advantage. It sucked donkey balls at work, however, because the noise was intense and I couldn’t discern one clang from the other. My co-workers then decided to have fun with me and tormented me endlessly3. A week later it seemed to be clearing up, but I was due for a doctor’s appointment so I thought I’d have him check it.

He declared that my ear canal was full of blood and he needed to refer me to a specialist forthwith! Ok, he actually said (I’m not kidding here):
“There’s blood in your ear. What’s wrong with it?”
To which I said (I’m not kidding about this either):
“I don’t know. You’re the doctor. I’m the patient. You tell me.”

So he sent me to the ENT guy. Meh. Figures.

Now, the ENT is seriously teh hawt. Not going to lie. I just wanted to lick him right then and there. Of course, I couldn’t as that would be improper and, hello!, we had serious business to attend to. That didn’t stop me from thinking about it though.

So, he uses that thing with the light that every doctor uses to look inside the ear. Then he gets out a tuning fork and starts putting it all over my head. “Is it louder here or here.” Do you know that I couldn’t tell no matter where he put that damned thing? I say “Doc, should I be able to hear a difference?” and he laughs. So much for the licking, huh? He finally puts it in the middle of my forehead and asks which side is loudest. I say “It’s in surround sound” and he says “Good. That’s normal.” There ya go then, huh?

So, now it’s time to go into another room where he puts me in a dental chair4 and sticks something else in my ear. Pretty soon he sticks some peroxide in my ear canal and then starts suctioning it out. I’m pretty sure that he was explaining what he was doing, but I couldn’t flippin’ hear him. Hello! There’s bubbles popping and being suctioned out of that ear. Very, very noisy. I’m also pretty sure he knew this and just kept talking anyway.

Then he tells me there’s a couple of scabs in my ear canal. Woo-hoo! That’s not the least bit disgusting. He throws some more crap in there and then starts using some kind of tool to get the gunk out. Well, pretty soon he’s got that tool right up against my ear drum and, holy shitballs, that hurt. I mean, imagine your worst ear ache of your life as something poked the shit out of your ear drum. Yeah. He tells me he’s trying to pull a scab off my ear drum.

Oh really.

Now imagine pulling a scab off your arm before it’s ready to come off. Except it’s in your ear and it’s sharp and feels like someone’s tugging on your brain. So, he’s torturing me with whatever the hell he’s got in my ear and, oh you’re going to love this, he tells me “Do. Not. Move. At all.” Don’t move? What the hell is this guy smoking? Has he never experienced the horrific pain of having someone tugging a scab off of his ear drum? Apparently not.

Can I just say that I’ve had the roots of my teeth scaled sans anesthesia and that shit didn’t hurt as much as the pulling of the ear drum scab. No lie. It took every ounce of my labor techniques for me not to move too much. I was focusing and huffing like I was pushing out a baby. And, yes, I did stop thinking about licking the doctor.

So after thirty years, er, 5 minutes of doing this to my poor ear, he finally stops. Well, he tells me, looks like we’ll have to wait until it dissolves on it’s own. Apparently, he couldn’t rip the thing off properly. No shit. I then wondered5 if he was one of those children who loved to pull scabs. You know the ones I’m talking about. They get scraped up in the school yard and spend weeks yanking off the scabs because it’s oh-so cool. This was my doctor as a small child. I have no doubt of this.

Finally we’re done in the torture chamber and he informs me he wants me back in a month but if my hearing doesn’t return to normal in a couple of weeks I’m to call him. Woo-hoo! Should I go back sooner for more fun and interesting scab pulling? Oh, the conundrum. Bless his heart, but I think I’ll wait.

So, here I sit. My ear still hurts a bit and is still full of gunk6, but I hear a little better. I can tell one sound from the other. I can still hear some crazy junk moving whenever I move my jaw, but it’s not creating a ginormous problem. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with that damned scab. I did find out why Q-tips are bad and why ears pop at high altitudes. I don’t really think much more was accomplished except for the doctor having fun making me squirm.

But I can’t stop thinking about that damned scab. On my ear drum. Right now. Honestly, I could’ve done without him telling me about that because I’m pretty sure I want to pick the damned thing myself. Ugh.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Sphere: Related Content

  1. I was alone so I was allowed. Don’t judge. [↩]
  2. “What? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m deaf in this ear. WHAT?” [↩]
  3. They really are a bunch of fuckers. [↩]
  4. That’s what it looked like to me and that’s what I’m calling it. [↩]
  5. Maybe to myself, but I can’t guarantee it. [↩]
  6. I can feel it, people. [↩]
Posted in Miscellaneous Stuff, Teh Funny! | Tagged , , | Comments closed

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