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Journal annielaurie's Journal: Back! 11

Journal by annielaurie

I can't believe I've been away for so long. It's a clear, bright Monday, all my bills have been sent out, my spam is deleted, and it was time, in the normal course of things, to go and check out Slashdot.

What have I been doing all this time? Well, a couple of things. First was supposed to be a vacation trip to Colorado. As it turned out, a week before I left, the friend I would be staying with took what should have been a pratfall while working on her car. Only it wasn't a pratfall--she broke the "ball" joint of her shoulder into three large and several smaller bits and wound up in surgery. She reports it's the only time she's ever heard a physician on duty use the f-word, as in "This is really fucked up." Despite that encouragement we enjoyed many cups of coffee while lounging around (alcohol and painkillers being a bad idea), took several drives in the country, and just generally did nothing. So it was a great trip after all, just not an active one.

Home again to a request that began, "We'd like you to do a catalog Website for us. We have 1200 items..." I looked around at every shopping cart I could get my hands on, and for me, the hands-down winner was osCommerce. I was openly gun-shy, having been an observer of what looked like an implosion a couple of years back of php-Nuke. But I have to say, I believe osCommerce embodies just about everything that is right about open source. I found it well-considered, well-designed, full of good features, and more than adequately supported by the user community. I modified the basic installation with several careful contributions and none of them disappointed. It took me about a month with some of that being a learning curve. A surprising amount of time was spent with the client teaching him how to image his products. But I'm happy enough that I turned right around and implemented it on my own, much smaller, site. And I've another in the pipeline.

So now I get to look around and find out how Silly Pixie enjoyed her trip, and what Tuxette is doing with her new certs, and how Ethelred the Younger is settling in, and what everybody's saying about baseball, electronic voting, and other subjects dear to my heart.

Good to be back!

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  • how Ethelred the Younger is settling in

    I have made him Prince of Wales.

    The former occupant of that office (whom we shall call "Old Jugears") has not yet been notified of this, however.

    Other than that, he is gaining expertise in making fascinating patterns in his diapers. A Rorschach test in every nappy!

    Ew.

    Cheers,

    Ethelred

    • But how is his eye?? They do lie awake nights, you know, dreaming up ways and means of making you frantic.

      Anne
      • But how is his eye??

        At the moment, no change. Still just a little bump under his eye, inside the eyelid. The ophthalmologist did call back to say that, on further review, he didn't think it was anything serious, but that he still recommended a biopsy to be absolutely sure -- so Thursday it's off to the clinic.

        They do lie awake nights, you know, dreaming up ways and means of making you frantic.

        Nah, the Confessor wouldn't do that to his dear old dad.

        Would he?

        /me gives him a suspicious look

        Cheers,

        • Yes. Besides emulating the MMPI in his diapers, it is his sworn duty to consider each and every way he can to challenge you, deprive you of sleep, cause grayness or balding (depending on gender and genetics).

          Don't know if this helps: I get little odd bumps on my lower eyelids a couple of times a year. I was assured years ago by an ophthalmologist that they are harmless little bits of carotene pigment. I can normally make them go away by very warm compresses of sterile gauze, but every once in a while a vis
  • Well, I have my last cert test in July, but other than that I haven't seen anything interesting in the want ads. I'm going to have to do another round of contact-harrassing around August (we're approaching holiday time now). I hope something comes up soon...

    Other than that my own shoulder is getting better and I'm looking forward to a trip to Tromsø next week (for 2 weeks). Good to see ya again! :)

  • It's good to have you back, m'dear!

    [hums a few bars of the "Cheers" theme]

    *giggle*

    Pixie
    • It's good to be here.

      Would it be totally out of line if I confessed that I have this insane wish to go to the Yukon? Actually I don't want to go in summer and see the midnight sun. I want to go when it's cold. I'd like to bundle up as warmly as possible and go out and see the Northern Lights.

      (OK, we all know I'm odd.)

      But it surely sounds as though you had a good time.

      Anne
      • That's exactly what I want to do too! While I was there, I saw all these pictures of the aurora borealis - I have to experience that someday. I think it could be close to a religious experience.

        You're not odd, you're just not - mainstream. Eclectic. That's a better word. Fits me too (-:

        Pixie
        • The best aurora I ever saw was visible on the road from N. Dakota up to Regina, SK. It was late September, and it was warm enough out that I parked on a road crossing the RR tracks and just sat there for a while, watching.

          I tried to take some pictures but my automatic snapshot camera refused to keep the shutter open long enough to get anything.

          • Wow, that's cool! In my university days, I saw some nice ones in Calgary around September - but I haven't seen any for quite some time. I bet they are there, and I'm just not looking anymore, how sad...

            (-:

            Pixie
          • I've only ever seen one aurora. That was on a flight from Louisville KY to Baltimore--very southerly. It was during a time of intense sunspot activity. The pilot pointed the display out to us, and I was lucky enough to be on the best side of the airplane. Not much color, just an eerie, shifting drapery of translucent greens. But it lasted almost the entire flight. Unforgettable.

            I wonder if I've been on that road in ND. When we drove home from Jasper, we cut a sort of diagonal swath across the lower part of

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