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).
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Oh, one more thing...I start my first day back at Lambda Chi Alpha headquarters tomorrow.
My buddy Rob invited me to an Indiana Firebirds arena football game today. Though they lost 46-43 to the Arizona Rattlers, we had a good time. Also got to visit with two other volleyball friends, Al and Clara, who are getting married next month. Thanks Rob.
Friday, April 23, 2004
It needs to be said: "Rob Zajdel (aka Papa Smurf) is the man for letting me crash on his couch when I arrived to Indianapolis." And his wife Barb cooks a mean hamburger. Thanks guys.
Jenn Griggs also deserves koodos for picking me up at the Penski lot after getting her hair done. Thanks Jenn.
It's nice to have friends in town.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
I feel so special. Google invited me to try out its new Gmail, a free email service that offers up to one gigabyte of space. I received the invitation for being a long-time Blogger, one of Google's subsidiaries.
I'm thrilled to begin trying it out. More so, I'm thrilled that I get to lock in jasonpearce@ as my username/email address before anyone else takes it. I know, greedy me.
I'll post some feedback on the service one I've tested it out a bit.
On Tuesday, I became a first-time home owner. Well, it's really a condo -- but it's my condo.
I split the 13-hour drive from Connecticut to Indiana between two days. On Sunday, after loading the truck that morning, I drove all the way to the Pennsylvania/Ohio border. Most of the trip was made on I-80, which made for a scenic drive by interstate standards.
On Monday, I finished the rest of the drive, arriving to my new neighborhood by about 3 p.m.
Upon arrival, the first thing I did was to remove the Audi from tow and return the trailer to Penski. Driving a 15' truck is not easy. Add a car in tow and you loose the ability to back up. Try driving 750 miles without backing up sometime -- it's not easy to do. You really have to plan ahead.
On Tuesday morning, everyone but my realtor showed up to close on the condo. Picture three people sitting on one side of a board room table and just me on the other. Add in the fact that I've never bought a home before and didn't know what I was doing. It wasn't a comfortable/enjoyable feeling -- though a closing should be.
I felt bad for my realtor, for she was great at helping me find a place and called frequently to follow up on things I need to take care of. She simply posted the date of my closing in her calendar to occur on Wednesday, one day later. She arrived after everything was signed and felt horrible for her mistake. It would have been nice to have had her there.
After closing, I had the whole afternoon to unload the contents of the truck into my two-car garage. I've since been spending my days unpacking.
I've also done some furniture shopping. Today, I bought a modern couch, chair, and rug from Houseworks Furniture. I still have to get bedroom, den/office, and kitchen furniture but may wait a few months before laying out more cash. The nice thing about the couch and chair is that I'll have them delivered this Wednesday.
The other obvious news of the day is that I got my cable-modem hooked up. So I'm back online. Yea.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Yesterday and today were spent stuffing things into boxes in preparation for tomorrow's move. I often feel I have few possessions. I think otherwise on moving day.
Year after year when I pick up a truck I think to myself "Man, this is a big truck. I'm going to have plenty of room." Two hours later, I think "Where did all of this crap come from and how am I going to fit it all into this tiny truck."
I pick up the truck and car carrier tomorrow, load it up in the morning, and begin part of the 13-hour drive to Indianapolis that afternoon.
It seems everything is set for my closing on Tuesday morning. I'll sign a few papers, initiate a sizable wire transfer, and begin moving into my new place.
Now it's time for me to pack up my computer, so you won't hear from me for a couple of days.
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Today was my last day of employment at Gourad Media Group. Thanks Khalid (my boss) for the opportunity. I wish you, the team, and your clients the best of success.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Lambda Chi just informed me that I'll be working on an IBM ThinkPad Model T41 with a Pentium M Processor at 1.6 Ghz. I've never used a ThinkPad, so I'm both thrilled and a little apprehensive. After being burned by Compaq, Gateway, and Sony laptops, I've stuck with Dell for many years. But I've heard great things about the ThinkPads, so I guess it's time for me to try one out.
Since my bookmarklets didn't port too well over to bookmarks.yahoo.com, I wanted to leave myself a note as to where I can find and download these tools when I arrive at Lambda Chi
- Web Development Bookmarklets
- The rest of Jesse's Bookmarklets
- Favelets
- Bookmarklets
- Sitepoint's Better Living Through Bookmarklets
The web development bookmarklets in particular are quite useful in dissecting a CSS page.
Monday, April 12, 2004
I experienced my first peek-a-boo CSS bug in IE today. I can't believe this problem has never happened for me. Thankfully, I quickly recognized the problem and remembered reading a solution a while back.
The peek-a-boo bug is when IE reserves space for a block item, say a P, H1, or DIV tag, but fails to display its content. If you use your mouse to highlight the missing content, you'll find it there. And sometimes, it will reappear after scrolling or resizing the page.
Several folks have fixed this bug by adding "position: relative;" to the element or its parent, but I had already done so when peek-a-boo raised its ugly head. Others added "height: 100%;" and/or "width: 100%;" to the parent element, but I didn't really like these solutions since I was working with a page that had a fluid width.
A lessor published fix, the one that I chose to use, was to add "line-height: 1.2em;" to the parent element. "Hey, there you are IE (giggle, giggle)."
Sunday, April 11, 2004
My upcoming plan for the next two weeks is as follows:
- Thursday, Apr 15: Last day of work
- Sunday, Apr 18: Load the truck and begin the drive to Indianapolis
- Monday, Apr 19: Spend all day driving, Audi in tow
- Tuesday, Apr 20: Close on the condo in the morning, wait for current owner to move out
- Wednesday, Apr 21: If owner moves out by afternoon, I'll begin moving in
- Thursday, Apr 22: Finish moving and return the truck
- Monday, Apr 26: Might begin new job, though I'm not scheduled to start until May
My new residence will be 4728 Charrington Circle #74, Indianapolis, IN 46254-9671. If you are a Plaxo user, I'll update your address book automatically with my new work and home information. Otherwise, simply visit my site to look up my contact information.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Also learned about the W3C's Log Validator today. Sounds like a really cool tool.
According to their site, the tool takes a web server's last logs and processes it through validation modules. Those validation modules check the most popular documents' validity for a certain technology, like (X)HTML validation, for example. Doing so helps me find the most popular pages on my site that are invalid, and thus tell me which (invalid) pages I should fix first.
I'm sold. One more thing to add to my "How to Fix Lambda Chi Alpha's Web Site" list.
MACCAWS.org recently published "MACCAWS ... Making A Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards," a white-paper that encourages businesses to invest in standards-based Web sites. As a Web author who advocates Web standards, I pledge to frequently refer others (my clients or boss) to this article in hopes they will understand that adopting Web standards will positively affect business.
For those who cannot find the time to read such a well-written, albeit lengthy, case for Web standards, I pledge to refer them to Bill Merikallio and Adam Pratt's "Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered." This site offers nice cartoons and breaks the explanation into smaller pages.
Lastly, I pledge to follow the New York Public Library Style Guide in all its glory.
I don't know what software was used to create this Remind Me video by Röyksopp, but it sure is impressive. I'm a Flash novice, so could tell me if it is possible to produce something like this in Flash. If so, it sure is an inspiring example. Neat song too.
Monday, April 05, 2004
My boss, Khalid Gourad, sure knows how to throw a party. This Saturday, he organized a Moroccan-American dance party aboard the Lightship "Frying Pan" in New York city.
The "Frying Pan" was once a floating lighthouse off of Cape Fear, North Carolina. After being abandoned for 10 years in the Chesapeake Bay, she sank and was underwater for three years before being raised. Instead of going to the scrap yard, the ship was brought to Pier 63 in Manhattan to eventually become one of "New York's 100 Best Party Places".
While the outside of the ship has been restored to her original appearance, the inside retains the barnacle-encrusted, sunken-ship motif that acknowledges her storied past. Inside, you'll find spare parts and rusted pipes. Head down to the engine room and you'll be standing on the hull of the ship, which has been converted into a dance floor.
Party attendees were mostly members of the Moroccan community and Wafin.com, one of the web sites our company maintains. Roughly 300 people attended. Profits raised from the party are being donated to charity.
Great job Khalid. Thanks for having me (both for the party and as a member of your team). It was a blast.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Tuesday afternoon, Lambda Chi Alpha's executive director, Tom Helmbock, announced his resignation. Over the years Tom has been an employer, boss, mentor, inspiration, and friend. Thanks for all you have given me, the Fraternity, and the countless others who have had the benefit of knowing you. You will be missed.
Excerpts from the March 30 press release
Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity announced today that Executive Vice President Tom Helmbock ... has elected to retire from active service effective August 31, 2004. During the coming months, Helmbock will be recognized for his many years of dedicated service to one of the largest fraternities in the world.
Helmbock commented, "When I began my journey at the helm of this Fraternity in 1990, I knew we would be called upon to usher Lambda Chi Alpha into a new century of challenges and complexities—all the while retaining and strengthening the values that make Lambda Chi Alpha so meaningful to our brothers. I believe we have accomplished these goals and many, many more. I can leave satisfied that the Fraternity is better and stronger today, and well positioned for the future."
"Tom Helmbock deserves more appreciation than we can begin to offer for his years of dedication to Lambda Chi Alpha. For more than 14 years, he has served as the stabilizing anchor through very rough waters and transitional times as we ushered in the new millennium. Tom's foresight and leadership have brought the Fraternity where it is today—on the cusp of a second century as we approach our 2009 Centennial Celebration. He has always been a brother who sincerely committed his utmost to represent the values of this brotherhood," stated Ted Grossnickle, chairman of the Fraternity's Board of Directors. "We thank him on behalf of the nearly 250,000 members of our Fraternity world-wide, and we all wish him the absolute best for the coming years."
Those of us on staff can only hope to make an impact as great and lasting as you have made. We'll miss you Tom.
Everyone's been busy today trying to figure out if Google's announcement of gmail is an April Fools Joke or not. But what I really want to know is 'Is my mom really the only the only finalist for the National Flute Association's Newly Published Music Competition?' Or is this some elaborate April Fools Joke exceeding the likes of even Google?
Finalists 2004
- Native American Trilogy; Cadman, Charles Wakefield; Pearce, Ann; choir; Alry Publications
- Sleep, My Baby "Suo Gan" Celtic Lullaby; Pearce, Ann; choir; Alry Publications
- Serendipity; Pearce, Ann; choir; Alry Publications
- Adagio from Suite for Organ; Albinoni, Tamaso; Pearce, Ann; choir; Falls House Press
- Ding Dong, Merrily On High!; Traditional 16th Century; Pearce, Ann; choir; Falls House Press
Way to go mom. I guess you are a shoe in.