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Archives: [+]
Well, thetares.com is back online, but the site itself is in need of an update and I'm having a hell of a time getting the Perl/CGI guestbook script to work on JTLNet, mostly because they use this CGI wrapper program for added security. So I'm trying to fix that. And the JTLNet discussion forums have been very handy in that regard. I should have it going tomorow. I'll eventually replace it with a PHP/MySQL solution (a derivative of WheatBlog called WheatBook that's still vaporware at the moment). But, for now, I just want it back up and running. Nancy has a gig tomorow night. I'm stoked. Maybe I'll get their new site up soon. Then I can fix my design gallery.
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I've been finishing up the last-minute details in preparation of finishing up my M.A. in English. Now all that's left to do is submit final coppies of the thesis to the graduate school and sign some forms. It's all good to go. As of May 2001, I'll have a second master's degree. It's been a long train coming, but I'm glad I took the time to finish it up. There was a time when I had pretty much given up on ever finishing it. But it came together more quickly than I thought it would. I'm going to do a PDF version and host it. Maybe the folks at jbarnes.com would like to link to it.
I cranked open WheatBlog (my PHP/MySQL weblog application-in-progress, not to be confused with this particular blog that you're reading right now) yesterday, which was the first time I had since my recent vacation. I felt fairly proud of it. I have to make one simple change and then I'm going to release the source code. I have hosting set up on sourceforge.net (wheatblog.sourceforge.net), but there's really not much there at the moment.
The Tares site is still down until I have time to make some changes and set up the CGIs. Drag. I have big plans for that site but no time to implement them. I also have a new version of the Nancy site (I'm taking over the design chores from our guitarist/lead singer, Sean), but I haven't had time (or made time, or whatever) to upload and test them. It never ends. It never ends.
Sideline project for the next year: 1) learn the PHP/MySQL stuff cold and develop lots of portfolio pieces with it, and 2) learn as much Java as possible. I've been working through a new book on the second subject. I'm learning how to create GUI frontends. It's fun. I've never really done any GUI stuff that wasn't web-based (except for an Authorware CD-ROM in graduate school and some HyperCard stuff back in the day. Does anyone remember HyperCard and HyperScript? That's half the reason I wanted a Mac). Authorware (a Macromedia product) is actually pretty cool, but it's slow as hell and it's one of those programs (like MS Word) that tries so hard to make things easy for you that it ends up complicating the process instead. Ever try to do a simple JavaScript-style rollover in Authorware 4? You'd be amazed how needlessly difficult it is. The new version is much better in that regard (in fact, in every regard).
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So far (and it's too early to tell), I'm very happy with the hosting at JTLNet. I just trying telneting in using both their web-based java app and TeraTerm (a great telnet client for windows). All is cool. I can use the command-line MySQL client (which I like) instead of having to use some web-based tool (they have two of them). But, other than that, I even like their web-based control panel. It's really useful.
Enough geek stuff. This weekend has been all about being outside. Springfest was this weekend and I always enjoy that. Gina go going on the garden (I tilled it, she planted it, and the neighbors helped us put in some soaker hoses). It's going to rock.
One more bit 'o geek stuff. wheatdesign.com is now online. I don't have everything uploaded yet, but most things are there. I'm going to have to set up some databases and upload some mp3 files. But things are fine otherwise.
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The hosting situation is almost solved. I've got most of my personal site back online now courtesy of JTLNet.com, a Linux-based hosting firm I learned about via hosts.php.net. It's a pretty good deal, considering you get PHP and MySQL access (essential tools for me these days). I'm going to sublet 5MB to The Tares so I can get their site back up.
Nancy now has a decent domain name to call it's own: nancyband.com. We played last night and have an outdoor gig tonight at 7:00 p.m., assuming it doesn't get rained out.
Work has been sending me on lots of campus visits lately, mostly to small universities in Oklahoma and Arkansas. That doesn't sound too fun, but it gets me out of the office, which is a nice change of pace. Monday, some people are visiting our office to test drive our distance education workstations (which use MS NetMeeting along with some multimedia headsets and desktop cameras). We're going to start using it in real-world situations this fall. Right now, it's in the beta-testing stage but seems to be pretty groovy (the shared whiteboard is cool). Of course, being an open source/free software freak, I've been looking into how we can do it using Linux, on Mac, etc. :)
Not much else to tell. The funk I was in last week seems to be over now. Things are going okay. And a few big projects are quickly coming to an end, which means I'll have some time to work on my coding projects.
I'm reading Last Orders by Graham Swift. It's good (his Waterland is even better).
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It's been a while since I posted anything, so I'll try to get back in the swing of it. I've been very busy here (especially with work), and I've been trying to relax when I'm not in the office, so casual surfing has been pretty much eliminated except for a bit here and there during the lunch hour or when I arrive early to the office.
But enough about work, let's talk about life: Last night, Nancy went into the studio and did basic tracks for seven songs in a little over three hours. That's just amazing. Sean and Jamkat will be doing vocals next week sometime, but we got all the guitar, bass, and drums stuff live in the studio (generally on the first take). It was great. We're shooting for May 18 as the release date (a day with special significance for some people).
I worked out most of the bugs of the hosting problem. Now my homepage is back online, though I had to trim back some of the things that were there until I have time to set up databases and upload the larger files. The ugly URL will soon be replaced with the lovely and easy-to-remember wheatdesign.com.
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Lots of rain, yesterday and today. Watched Gladiator last night. I thought it was a very good film. Ridley Scott (and his crew) do a great job of creating fictional worlds so real you can almost walk right into them. Russell Crowe was as amazing as he always is. It's a solid film. It was a quiet, family evening. I want more of my evenings to be of that type.
All of my sites, except this one, are down at the moment while I work out some new hosting arrangements. It's an odd feeling having all of your stuff down. I'll try to fix it up this weekend or Monday.
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I received Dr. Wilkie's comments on the thesis. Most of his comments, outside of ones directed at the uselessness of "theory" itself, were grammatical or stylistic. He's quite a good copy editor, in fact. So I'll be adding in those changes today and sending out fresh copies. But everyone is ready to find a date for the defence, so it's moving forward (toward the end, one hopes).
Today will be my first day back at work. After two weeks off, I can't say I'm looking forward to it. It's been nice not to have to worry about those things. But that's life. I'll be back at it in a few short hours, and I'm just hoping for a good first day back.
WheatBlog is progressing nicely. I still haven't released any source code. I keep thinking I will as soon as I add "all the basic functionality" but what comprises "basic functionality" keeps expanding. Right now, I'm nearly through with the editing interface (the part that lets you select a post you've already added to the database and make changes to it). It works, actually, but when you do it, it creates a new timestap for the post. So, instead of leaving the old post on whatever date you originally penned it, it gets moved to the top (as your most recent addition). This is, of course, correct in a sense (by editing it, you have made it a new entry). At the same time, it's not very practical that way. The fix is simple, I'll just have to save the timestamp of the post as a varable and write it to the timestamp field when I update the post. After I fix that (and rename some files, and update the documentation), I'll get it out the door (maybe by May 1). I'm going to be using it on the next revision of my homepage. I also have plans to create a version of it optimized for guestbooks (I'll call it WheatBook) and use that on the new Nancy page.
Speaking of Nancy, our KXUA benefit show the other night rocked. The crowd was great and so were all the other bands. I finally got to see Tyco (who have a great reputation around here, and now I know why) and Figure 5, who are going to be playing with us soon at another show. Figure 5 are a power-trio that play very interesting instrumentals with lots of nice odd-meter changes. It doesn't come across as fusion, though, because the parts themselves are very melodic and usually very simple. It's closer to what some people call emocore (similar in many ways to the stuff our drummer did with Cars Get Crushed).
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A brief history of my Barnes thesis (in anticipation of the upcoming thesis defense): When I first thought of doing graduate work in English (my original goal was to obtain a Ph.D. and become a professor), the author I thought I'd focus on was John Barth. I'd read three of his novels (his first three, I believe) and liked their combination of existentialist philosophy and postmodern literary technique (especially in The Sot-Weed Factor). I finally decided there had already been enough ink devoted to Barth. My next target was Graham Swift, whose Waterland is an amazing novel with many of the same themes I love so much in Barnes' novels. But as I read the rest of Swift's works, I found that the themes in Waterland didn't seem to run through all of them, and I didn't think I could write an entire thesis on only one novel.
Oddly enough, it was in a composition pedegogy class (jargon decoder ring: a course where you learn how to teach writing classes) that I found out about Barnes. One of our assignments was to write a lengthy paper about our first semester as English teachers (i.e. graduate assistants). Since I had been reading a lot of Marx at the time (a seminar in Marxist literary theory will do that to you), the essay I wrote flowed back and forth between a narative about my brightest student (my success story), a student who failed my course, and my own experience of doing something I cared about for a living (teaching writing) rather than what I'd always done before (made pizza). In this last bit, I used Marx's concept of alienated and non-alienated labor. So the piece combined narrative and essay in a fairly uncommon way.
My friend James Katowich, who was also in that class, read my essay (at my request; he's a fine proof reader) and said, "If you like this sort of thing, you'd love Junian Barnes' novels." He explained that Barnes' novels spend a lot of time bluring distinctions between genres, especially the ones between story telling and essay writing. He loaned me his copy of Flaubert's Parrot and I loved it so much that I read all of his other novels and decided to write my M.A. thesis about them.
As for just what it is that ties them together, I'll refer you to the thesis itself, which I'll post here soon (as soon as I finish defending it).
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I haven't spent many late nights on the computer, so my entries here have dropped off a bit. Zach had a rough day today, so I've been busy with him (and that's been true of the whole week). Our little experiment with parenting comes to an end tomorow evening. It's been quite a learning experience. I'm probably not as ready for fatherhood as I once thought (which isn't to say I'm against the notion). When people ask me whether or not Gina and I will ever have children, I tell them that we're "in negotiations about the possibility" which is a great leap forward from our original idea not to have any. Time will tell; that's its job.
Rick has an acoustic guitar here, so I've been working on my playing a bit and amusing the little one with his two favorite numbers: "Row, Row, Row your Boat" and "The Alphabet Song." I haven't played acoustic in a while, so it's been good for me. An it's amazing to see how well Zach takes to it (though he seems to be more of a drummer by nature).
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