Behind the Screen
The opinions, views, and insights stated within this Monologue are my own. The facts, fallacies, and errors, however, belong to someone else (see disclaimer).
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
On a similar topic, I recently received an Internet phone call from one of my good friends in Guyana. We gaffed (Guyanese for "spoke") for maybe a half-hour sharing old stories. Naturally, we also discussed a few rumors.
Though I have no idea if it is true and don't really care, I'm told that the Peace Corps office is listing my website as a resource in some literature they send to incoming volunteers.
That's right. The Peace Corps is allegedly telling prospective volunteers that my website is a good place for them to visit if they want to learn more about the Peace Corps in Guyana. Yep. This very site. The site that the Peace Corps kicked me out for developing.
Oh the hypocrisy.
I received a phone call today from the mother of a Peace Corps volunteer who's son is facing an early termination. She wasn't really calling for help or for advice; she just needed to voice her frustrations with someone who has gone through a similar experience.
Though I don't receive many calls like this one, my unfortunate early termination from the Peace Corps remains a consistant topic. Each month, I likely field one phone call and a half-dozen emails from individuals who are interested in the Peace Corps or are facing early termination.
Why do I receive so much attention nearly two years after my close of service? It's due to my website, of course.
I like to think people are interested in my story. Actually, most are interested in learning more about early termination, close of service, administrative separation, and a whole host of other not-so-pleasant Peace Corps topics. Thanks to my well-documented experience, my website has become the top Google search result for many of these Peace Corps key words and phrases:
- Peace Corps administrative separation
- Peace Corps appeal
- Peace Corps close of service
- Peace Corps COS
- Peace Corps early termination
- Peace Corps Extension of Training
- Peace Corps freedom of expression
- Peace Corps Guyana country director
- Peace Corps Guyana Earl Brown
- Peace Corps Guyana website
- Peace Corps Letters from Friends and Family
- Peace Corps Letters to DC
- Peace Corps non-administrative separation
- Peace Corps Re-enrollment
- Peace Corps Speech and National Security
- Peace Corps Transfers
My site is the number-one hit in Google for all of these search requests -- and these are just the ones I could think of.
I didn't set out to get this much attention by any means. As a volunteer, I just wanted to provide an easy way for friends and family to learn about my experiences as a volunteer. Instead, this small section of my site has developed a greater purpose in helping others learn more about becoming an ET (early termination) volunteer.
Friday, March 26, 2004
I don't know why I haven't thought of it before, but I figured out a nice little trick this week while developing some difficult CSS graphs and charts.
CSS can be tricky when you use lots of floats and nested positioning. So much so, that you practically have to test your code in several browsers for each and every little change that you make to the code, just to see if everything is going to work as you want it to.
Testing, however, can eat up a lot of time. You have to view the page in various browsers and various operating systems, which means you have to go from computer to computer hitting "Refresh" to display the page with your most recent changes. Until now.
It dawned on me that all I had to do was toss in a refresh META tag in the HEAD of the document and all of the computers will refresh the document automatically, say, every five seconds. That way, I could have three or four computers within visual range of my desk automatically loading my changes to display my every flaw in disappointing detail.
- The Refresh Meta Tag
- <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="5" />
I'm such a idiot for figuring this out just now.
The word is out: I'm returning to Lambda Chi Alpha's staff. COO Kip Zurcher posted the following in the fraternity's "This Week at Headquarters" weekly email. The email goes to staff, board, former staff, and a bunch of key volunteers.
Jason Pearce Joins Staff (Again)!
Beginning May 1, Jason Pearce (Elon '94) will become our Director of Technology. He previously served the Fraternity as an ELC, editor, and director of communications from 1995 to 1999. Since leaving staff, Pearce helped start (and close) WeAlumni.com in DC; worked for Carden Jennings Publishing by opening an office for them in Indianapolis; served as a volunteer for the Peace Corps in Guyana; and currently is a web designer at Gourad Media Group.
Jason will direct the revamping of our website and insure that the internal network at headquarters is working well. He will report directly to me as the Chief Operating Officer to ensure that all areas of the staff are benefiting from his work.
Welcome back, Jason! We look forward to seeing great things from you.
For more information, please visit Jason's personal website at jason.pearce.net.
It will be good to be back. Thanks Kip.
On a similar note, I've tossed in my hat to chair a committee or serve on the board again for CFEA, the College Fraternity Editors Association. CFEA's conference will be in Chicago May 6 - 9.
Ironically, neither Lambda Chi Alpha nor CFEA's website have changed much since I last worked on them several years ago. Is there a pattern here?
Monday, March 22, 2004
My new home.
It's a 1985 two-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage condo located on the west side of Indianapolis. Roughly 1,300 square feet, the condo features a two-story living room that overlooks a pond, which is covered by a huge weaping willow tree. The pond must be about 10 to 15 yards from my back porch.
You know, they say you should get yourself something nice on your birthday. Well, I got myself a new home. Not a bad day.
It all happened rather fast.
- Last weekend I received the job offer.
- Monday night I accepted.
- Tuesday, I had the difficult job of giving a wonderful employer four-weeks notice.
- Wednesday was St. Patrick's day, so I had the "night off" and went to O'Neill's.
- Thursday I get pre-approved for a loan and spend time online looking for homes.
- Friday, I get a realtor and fly out to Indianapolis that night.
- Saturday, I look at two dozen homes and condos.
- Sunday, I make an offer, receive a counter offer, and respond with another offer in kind.
- Monday morning, I'm back at work and learn that my offer was accepted.
Happy birthday; I just bought my first home.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
I've looked at about two dozen (maybe more) homes and condos in Indianapolis this weekend. My realtor and I are worn out.
I found a two-bedroom condo in Eagle Creek, which is the west side of Indy, that I like. I'm making an offer right now. It's all moving pretty fast, but I need it to. I'm hoping to have a place to live when I move here in late April.
Naturally, I'll try to describe it all in more detail when I get the chance to. We're faxing the offer now, might even counter-offer later this afternoon, all in time for my flight home at 8 p.m.
Friday, March 19, 2004
I almost forgot to tell you the big news. I will be returning to Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, in Indianapolis, to serve as their director of technology. I'm flying there this weekend to look for housing. I'll leave more specifics sometime next week.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Big announcements are soon to come. Job change? Moving? Big purchase? Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 11, 2004
A few months ago, I discovered the music of Nick Drake (1948-1974). He produced only three albums, but they are rare gems.
With 7,500 songs on my iPod, I can't stop listening to his work. I'll even pick one of his songs and have it loop five or six times. I never do that. I'm always on shuffle mode. But when Nick Drake pops up, he never fails -- I'll find myself listening to him until the batteries die.
If you care to learn more about Nick Drake, RollingStone and VH1 have two good biographies. If you want to learn even more, just search for him, for he has a lot of fans who are even more captivated than I.
Saturday, March 06, 2004
My folks got stuck in an elevator this weekend attending the symphony.
"At the symphony tonight we took the elevator during intermission and were stuck in it (along with 20 folks) for about 30 minutes. The firemen came and rescued us. We were between floors. They put a ladder down into the elevator so we could climb out! Excitement!" --Mom"
Though I've never been stuck in an elevator, I once got stuck on the escalator when it stopped inbetween floors. It wasn't quite as exciting, for the firemen just walked up and showed us how to walk back down.
So mom, what all did the 20 of you talk about or do for 30 mintues?
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Since all code is not treated equal among various web browsers and operating systems, web developers have to decide which browsers they want to cater to and attempt to develop code that works perfectly for their target audience. For the remaining browsers, we simply accept that you can't please all of the browsers all of the time.
Dave at Mezzoblue posted a handy list of browsers that he attempts to cater to. I think it's a good list, though in practice, I often cater to even a shorter list than this. Perhaps it's time for me to raise the bar.
On a similar note, TheCounter.com offers a good guage of what web browsers are actually using. Sadly, IE-flavored browsers are still used by more than 93 percent of those on the web.