Ryan's Blog

getElementsByClassName() doesn't work?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2008-03-18T14:00:22-05:00

Interesting bug--

After writing an iPhone portal for TSTN, I wanted to add login/logout support. I figured I would use the newly hyped "getElementsByClassName()" javascript method, that they talk about in some of the iPhone SDK videos.

Anyway, it worked just fine on Aspen, but it didn't work on Safari. I gave up last night, and then today I noticed that Safari was complaining about the getElementsByClassName(). I then upgraded to the latest Safari (3.1) released today, and it works.

Interesting though, it still doesn't work on the iPhone, which implies the Aspen simulator uses a different version of webkit than the actual iPhone, but not the same one that is installed on your machine by Safari.

iPhone Blog Support

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2008-03-17T13:34:33-05:00

So I made my blog pages redirect to a special iPhone/iPod touch version today.

It's not too tough. First off, I created the blog reader by using the Dashcode RSS Web Application template in the Dashcode version that shipped with the SDK.

I simply:

Opened Dashcode
Clicked on Web Application/RSS
Clicked on RSS Properties in the Workflow Steps
Set the Feed URL to the URL of the XML for my RSS Feed
Set the Page Title to "Ryan's Blog"
Changed the My RSS Feed in the Title to Ryan's Blog
Added a mailto at the bottom of the footer, replacing the DEVELOPED WITH DASHCODE. I never was able to figure out how to embed it directly in the text, so I resorted to adding this in the main.js file:
var footer = document.getElementById("footer"); footer.innerHTML= 'Developed by Ryan Martell;
Then I selected "Deploy Web Application..." from the File Menu, and saved it on my Desktop.

I could have stopped there, but following this suggestion (oops, I lost my history of where I got this suggestion from- sorry!), I added this javascript to my blog pages so that it would redirect iPhone and iPod's to my "special" version:

if(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i) || navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i) && document.location.indexOf('.xml') == null)
{
  location.replace("/iPhoneBlog/index.html");
}

And it's all done! You can see it in action if you browse this page with your iPhone!

Setting up a Subversion on Leopard (OS X 10.5)...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2008-03-16T14:24:24-05:00

This is much easier in Leopard.

Here's how:

First off, we have to set up Apache2. Prior to Leopard, this was complicated, as Tiger shipped with a 1.x version of Apache, and the Subversion module only worked with version 2. Since Leopard comes with Apache 2 by default, and when you install XCode 3 you get subversion, you have everything you need, and you only have to perform configuration. We'll change the port we liste on from port 80 to port 8008, tell Apache to load the shared libraries that it will need, and setup a "svn" directory location, where we will serve the repository from:

First, in Terminal, cd /private/etc/apache2
Now let's open the file for editing, using the "vi" editor: sudo vi httpd.conf (We use vi because it will allow you to save it directly over the existing configuration file, since we are running it with superuser privileges)
In the file, we'll first change the port we'll listen on from port 80 (the standard http port), to port 8008: Listen 80 becomes Listen 8008
Next, we have to tell apache to load the modules we need, specifically the dav svn module, and the svn authorization module. Conveniently, these two modules have already been compiled, and are available in the libexec directory under apache2, so all we have to do is add them to the httpd configuration, below the other LoadModule lines in httpd.conf
- LoadModule dav_svn_module libexec/apache2/mod_dav_svn.so
- LoadModule authz_svn_module libexec/apache2/mod_authz_svn.so
You'll notice that on the last line of httpd.conf, that it includes everything in the "other" directory. So we'll put our svn configuration file there:
- cd other
- sudo vi httpd-svn.conf
- DAV svn SVNParentPath /Users/rmartell/repositories

Wii First Impressions....

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2007-03-13T12:51:39-05:00

Some thoughts:

Neat packaging.
Overdone wrapping. Everything has it's own plastic, it's own foam, etc. You could probably throw these out of a building and it wouldn't hurt it in the box.
There are two clear plastic things that I don't know what they are for, and I don't see anything in the manual about what they're for either.
I couldn't get past the Set Language page. I went to their online site, and it showed how to troubleshoot with a digital camera checking for the IR lights on either side of the sensor bar. Pretty cool. I had a loose wire, and that was the initial problem. Unfortunately, it still wouldn't work after that. Eventually I realized the problem was that I had no idea how to use the controller- the sensors move the cursor based on your hand movements. My suggestion would be that they show this prior to the selection page. I'm a pretty bright guy, and this stumped me for about 10 minutes. I was starting to think I had a dodgy controller.
Network setup went pretty painless, but I have a MAC filtering Wireless connection, and I had to get out of the wireless settings to determine the MAC address. You'd think it would show it on the bottom of the settings dialogs (prior to Connection Test), or on the box. Also, I had no idea if it had a wireless connection inside the Wii, and it wasn't mentioned on the box. Again, this is because I didn't get to play with one in a store.
It immediately had a firmware rev. No real surprise there, but it must have been large, as it took quite sometime to download.
Why does it keep asking me if the date and time are correct when I go into the Forecast and News Wii Channels? Can't they write ntp time syncing code? All I should have to do is update the timezone. (Of course, DST could have screwed them this week.)
Woa! What's up with the text zoom on the News page? Just had to do something wild?
It's interesting that they allow a QWERTY keyboard as well as a cellphone keyboard. Sad, but interesting.
There are Mii's infesting my Nintendo!
The Boxing game is great. Tennis is cool, baseball sucks, bowling is entertaining.

More later...

Why Intelligent People Tend to Be Unhappy...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2007-03-11T23:51:00-05:00

Click here to read why.

Setting up Subversion server...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2006-10-17T16:47:09-05:00

To set up a subversion server under Mac OS X, see this link:

MacDevCenter.com -- Making the Jump to Subversion

Boring post, but useful for when I forget in a couple of months.

Cingular/Battery Life/User Experience Issues

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2006-04-24T08:25:07-05:00

So I recently got a Motorola SLVR. Cool phone, I have 90 songs on the 512MB transflash card, it's like an ipod nano with speakers. I love the phone, although it is hard to hold to your ear for long conversations. But with the included headphone kit, it works like a dream.

Until last week.

I started getting messages from people saying that my phone had been "Disconnected or no longer working number". This morning, when I got a email from Jerry & Karen, asking for my new phone number, I said enough & called Cingular.

After going through the usual who are you, what phone number do you have, what's the airspeed of an unencumbered swallow stuff, the guy asked me how often I turned the phone off.

I said very rarely.

He said, "Well, it only downloads new updates for the phone when it has been turned off. So we recommend turning it off for at least 30 seconds in the morning and 30 seconds in the evening".

The tech support guy told me to "hard shock" it, by pulling the battery while it was still on, leave it off for ten minutes, and then power it back on. We'll see if it fixes the issues. Also, it makes me wonder if the phone actually "turns off" when you turn it off, or if it just enters a powered down state & does the update check.

So I ask you, dear reader, why on earth does this phone have a 7 day battery life if I have to turn it off twice a day? One of the joys of this phone over my previous phone was that I could turn it on and forget about it for days. The last phone had to be recharged every six hours it seemed like.

NPR

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-22T19:54:56-06:00

Achaen (sp?) people, after the tsunami last year, on the fact that it's taking the NGO's so long to rebuild their houses:

"A promise is a debt. They aren't honoring it."

Furthermore, Saddam Hussein spent most of his day in court today telling everyone that he was tortured while in US custody. An investigating judge said there was no evidence of that, and the US denies it.

Saddam said something to the effect of "Yes, of course they deny it. But they are lying, just like they were lying about the Weapons of Mass Destruction".

Saddam is many things. Unfortunately, he's also a genius at public relations.

A friend of mine worked in Iraq for awhile for the UN back in 1995. There is a famous video of Saddam swimming across the largest lake in Iraq. It has a cut where he walks to the edge, then again where he's swimming in the middle, and finally when he's getting out on the other side. The average Iraqi, believing that they have seen him swim across the lake with their own eyes, don't understand that he didn't do it.

Furthermore, Mike said that at the entrance to many of the towns there are machine gun nests on either side of the main gate, with a big banner of Saddam between them, with his arms open. Mike asked one of the guys he was with about the military significance of the guns, and was told that they served no purpose except to impress the populace with Saddam's might.

Only true democracy?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-22T16:50:53-06:00

Think about it- there are two people, each one has one vote. Consesus is required to have a relationship. Each vote is required, and each party essentially has veto powers.

Interesting.

Cruising never fits in the checkboxes.

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-22T16:44:44-06:00

That's a pain in the neck, because if I search all the locations on the east coast where Valkyrie could reside, there's way more than 10 of them. And if I wanted to include the west coast, I'd really be screwed.

Why can't there be a "Locations where one could live aboard their boat. Must have 9.5' of draft, and no fixed bridges below 70' between it and the ocean"?

Anyway, we're quitting early today, as we've both been going at it half ass.

I did talk to T today. She's getting the business ready to sell, and has a good prospect. She doesn't want to tell me what the deal is for though, which is very odd. It's not like I wouldn't find out when I sold the contract anyway. I want her to make a ton of money on the deal, and I'd just like to get my investment back. So if she sold it for $300k, I'd be happy for her, not approaching her with my hand out! That, coupled with the fact she wants me to sign a power of attorney for her to sell the business, makes me nervous.

Tonight I'll probably work on K's flash website, I've got all the pieces I need (I think), I just have to put them all together.

Slow day...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-22T14:23:39-06:00

Yesterday I got an email from a guy named Bryan, at a headhunter agency in Salt Lake City. He asked my salary requirements and if I would be interested in relocating to SLC. I replied to his email this AM with sure, for the right job, and I told him my salary history and requirements.

He called me while I was driving in, and we talked. He's going to pass me on to the HR guy at the company (Headgate Studios). Anyway, the HR guy might give me a ring, and they might fly me out there from Jackson, since it would be so close. Not sure how that would fit in with Valkyrie, nor do I know how intense their development cycle is. But Utah does have good skiing. I haven't been to SLC before. I spoke with Dad this morning and he said that he liked SLC. I asked K, because she's lived there before, but no response as yet.

Lots of areas to retouch in the texturing, because it was a lot of work. No worries, but we won't be painted before I leave. Rick can prime without me though, if we can get that setup.

This afternoon we're mainly doing takeoffs, to figure out what remains in costs. Scary how much plywood we're going to need for the subfloor. I suspect they used MDF because it was cheap. 1/4 sheathing is $13/sheet, and I need about 300 of them(!). I'm going to look for alternatives, plus I'm definitely going to look around at other suppliers. Home Depot is great from the standpoint of everything in one place, but on an order like that, I should be able to beat them.

Texturing Complete!

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-21T22:40:57-06:00

So it's 10:30 at night, and I just got home. Rick and I met at Home Depot this morning, and rented a texture sprayer (not the hopper kind).

We sprayed, and sprayed, and sprayed.

0730 to 2115, no stops.

Ouch.

Tomorrow we're sleeping in.

Ready for Texturing!

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-20T17:03:19-06:00

The plan is to meet at Home Depot at 0700, and rent a texture gun. Then we'll blast all the mud on the walls.

Today was spent masking, sanding, masking, masking, and masking. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to tape over (door jambs, windows, stair banister, etc.).

And remember the expensive blue tape? It's $6.87/roll. Which ain't cheap, when you add it all up- we used 9 rolls today.

But we're ready!

Hopefully it will be dry by Thursday, and we can paint the ceilings then and then the walls on Friday!

More Résumé Stuff...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-20T12:26:24-06:00

Obviously, computer programmers are still in demand. I also asked it for avg. salary for Senior Developer in Savannah, for giggles. It was something like $94k.

This morning, while driving to work, I was thinking what I could do with a $94k salary, especially if I was living aboard Valkyrie. That could be fun.

When I first met K (the gf of the psychosis), I told her the quote from Fight Club- "You met me at a really strange time in my life". I wonder if she remembers that? I definitely feel that is true, as I'm in the process of reinventing myself again (or perhaps reverting to a developer?). Any change worth doing is painful. Perhaps it is time to get rid of Valkyrie?

I spoke with Larry, one of the crewmembers that helped me take Valkyrie to the Caribbean the first time (from Savannah), yesterday, for the first time in a number of years. He called out of the blue, and we talked for about twenty minutes. He said that he was surprised I still had Valkyrie, as he would have thought I would have exchanged her for something more US coastal friendly. Then when I got home, I got the email from mom, suggesting that I get rid of her. Odd how these coincedences occur.

Anyway, gotta get back to work. I never knew how many things you had to tape before you could texture & paint!

Are you happy?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-19T21:34:09-06:00

Simply put, it was "Are you happy?"

The interesting thing is that invariably, everyone from stateside that was down on vacation would say something to the effect of "Why do you ask?" or "What sort of a question is that?". Mainly because their answer was "No." and the realized how bad that was.

Everyone that was living down there ("We're all here because we're not all there!") would immediately answer "Yes, but...", and then go on to say something or another that they didn't like.

For a long time, while I was on the boat, I was happy. Now I'm not.

I'm generally a happy person, and when I'm not happy, I get surly, irritable, and irrational. Possibly also psychotic.

I was happy this summer. And since I've been off the boat, I haven't been happy. I associate the boat with my happiness, which is why when my mom sent me a note tonight suggesting I sell her, my immediate reaction was to balk.

She does, however, have many good points. Val's been a bit of a horse collar lately, and for the past two years I haven't gotten too much enjoyment out of her. (This last summer's end excepted.). She's expensive to maintain, and expensive to keep. I have a ton of equity tied up in her. And if I want to live aboard (which really is the only thing that makes sense), it restricts my job opportunities to east coast locations (or locations that I could get to in her in a short amount of time.)

It's important to reinvent yourself every seven years. I have been a game developer, and a transatlantic sailor. Perhaps it's time to go back to being a game developer? Or to get a Real Estate license? Or get a small powerboat for the ICW?

I have about two months to sort it out, as during that time I'm going to be finishing the condos and getting them sold. But after that, I better have a good plan, as I'm getting tired of moving around.

Résumé Post

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-19T19:17:11-06:00

... rigger/dockmaster, emphasing some of my sailing skills. That résumé was viewed a total of 26 times in a little less than a year.

On Saturday I reposted my résumé. This time, it emphasizes my programming skills. Since Saturday, it has been viewed 7 times, and I have received one call from a headhunter looking for a Java developer to start immediately in Cary, NC.

I wonder which set of job skills are more in demand?

Interestingly enough, the headhunter didn't pay much attention to the notes around the resume. I said I couldn't start until February earliest, and that I was looking for an East Coast position (primarily somewhere that I could live aboard Valkyrie while working).

Anyway, 7 views in 2 days is encouraging. Maybe something will shake free!

Blue Tape is Expensive

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-18T23:06:21-06:00

..but it's pretty darn expensive.

Today, Rick and I grouted the thresholds into the bathrooms (they are 4 inch Carrera marble), as well as the couple of tiles that we had to specially cut for the supply and drain lines for the claw foot tub.

After that, we spent most of the day working on unit #102. We taped, sanded, Killz 'd, and generally prepped for texturing and painting. The blue tape in question was to secure the paper to the thresholds of the doors, to prevent the mud and paint from getting on them.

One thing we noticed is that with the claw foot tub, a shower will be difficult. The fir down on the bay windows is at about 6' 8", and the tub has 6" feet. Thus, if you are 6' tall (like me), you will only have 2" between your head and the firred down ceiling. Sorta sucks, but what can we do about it now? We're going to have bead board wainscoting in that room, and I think it will look nice, though I'm not sure about the practicalities. We probably should have had a separate shower in that unit as well.

We made good progress, then knocked off at 2:15 or so. I went to Matt & Amber's, to watch the Cowboys get decimated by the Redskins. Not a pretty game. Bledsoe had nice bookends though- essentially the first and last play of the game, he threw an interception.

It must suck to be a Cowboys player. You are either loved or hated for the week following one of your games.

Ah well..

Texas

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-18T08:57:23-06:00

(For those of you that mention Alaska- just wait until the ice melts.)

When we moved from Texas, we were in North Carolina for over a year before I saw my first NC flag. I had no idea what it looked like for that entire time. Compare this to Texas- just about everywhere you go there is a Texas flag. Restaurants, businesses, etc. And since Texas was it's own country from 1826-1836, the Texas flag can be flown at the same level as the US flag- all the other states (perhaps exempting California- anyone know?) must be flown below the US flag.

Yesterday I noticed that Budweiser and Bud Light both have Texas icons or outlines on the front label. This is only true in Texas. The funny thing is that Bud is not made, brewed, or bottled in Texas. They just put the label on so that Texans will buy it.

Ford has a Texas version of their F-150. Again, they aren't made in Texas. Anyone ever here of a Tennessee version? A Maine version?

When I was in Europe, whenever I mentioned I was from Texas, everyone immediately knew that was where Bush was from. I'm not sure how many Americans would know that, and I seriously doubt that anyone (Europeans or Americans) would have known where Clinton was from.

The anti-litter campaign down here, which I understand was a huge success, was "Don't Mess With Texas".

I was driving down the street (after writing this), and saw a Tecate beer truck at a store. The side of it said "Tecatexas". Yet another example!

I think it's interesting that a state can have such pride.

What price freedom?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-17T22:02:00-06:00

It's not easy to leave the "normal" world and go sailing.

There is no easy answer for "Where do you live?" Mail has a hard time reaching you. Keeping in contact with friends is difficult.

But those are all relatively simple to deal with. The more difficult issue is what happens to the lost years?

I went sailing young. Most people that do it are retired, and have some form of residual income. They have made enough to last them through the rest of their years. I didn't do that. I knew from the beginning that I only had enough to last 3 to 5 years. So I made the best of it.

While I was in the middle of the Atlantic, after being away for about two years, I found out that Bungie had been sold to Microsoft. Had I stayed behind, I probably would have had something like a seven figure bonus that year. But I was literally in the middle of the Atlantic when it happened. I had days to spend thinking about it, and realized at the time, my two years had been worth the lost income. I had no regrets.

Now that I've been "back" for a couple of years, I sometimes second guess that. Which is foolish, because the important thing is that I didn't have regrets then, and that's when it was fresh. Now, however, I'm having a hard time finding my place.

When I left, I had a serious income stream, and all my friends where just getting out of school. Now they have all surpassed me.

My business contemporaries now have 8 years more experience, plus 8 years of income, while I was living on savings for 4 years.

My résumé has huge holes in it, because I haven't been working a contemporary job. I have a vast set of experiences, but figuring out how to market them is difficult.

The women that I am interested in have been working for those 8 years, continuing to make money and have successful lives. This puts me at a disadvantage, because they have more resources at their disposal than I have.

It's interesting, because one of my first girlfriend's used to say that money couldn't buy happiness. While I agree in principal, money does take a lot of stress off of situations, and allows for more chances to have fun.

Today I was helping Rick with this computer issues, and I was at his house. We watched the game in his living room, and I was petting his dog, Beau. He was a beautiful dog. Had I not gone sailing, I would also have a house. And probably a dog. But right now I'm unsure of my future, so I can't get another pet.

Would I do things differently if I had to go back? I don't think so.

Right now I'm in a difficult place. I'm actively looking for jobs where I could live aboard Valkyrie, and if I can find one soon, I'm sure I'll be just fine.

Let's just hope.

Getting old sucks....

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-16T20:00:21-06:00

So I had one of these a few weeks ago.

My neck hurts like hell, I can't turn it to the left very far. It makes checking my blind spot in traffic merges difficult.

This morning I woke up and it was hurting. I figure it's gotta be one of four things:
1. Stress
2. Sleeping on it weird
3. The facemask from painting, or
4. Programming

First off, it could be stress. I've been under a lot of it lately, between my psychotic episode (link removed, to protect the innocent!), and the entire Pavillion project. I'm worried about getting this all done, and then even more I'm nervous about making money. Although I would think that isn't it, because I have gotten over my craziness, and the project is reaching the paint stage, which has been my holy grail for the past several months.

It's entirely possible I'm sleeping on it weird. Both times it has been after a night in the bed in Tanna & Gornal's guest room. But then again, I've been sleeping there for a couple of months now, and not had this problem that many times...

It could be the facemask, and the weird distortions from painting the ceilings. However, I painted on Wednesday, and yesterday I was fine.

Finally, I spent yesterday working on some Flash stuff. My computer may be too low, and that's what's causing it.

Any which way you look at it, it sucks.

Why can't I be young and invincible again?

Horny criminal?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-16T19:24:44-06:00

As you may already know, I sailed around the world for five years. I was in the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. I was in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, etc. etc. and at no time during those travels was my boat broken into. I bring her back to the Caribbean, and leave her for one month in Puerto Rico. I arrive down there the day after Easter (I think), and when I arrive, the lock has been cut on the boat. I go down below, and nothing obvious is gone, but the TV is open and under my bed is ransacked. There is a porn tape below the TV (yes, there are a few of those aboard the boat. Don't judge.) I realize the XBox is gone. The xbox, btw, is worth about $125. There are literally dozens of things that would fit in a backpack that are worth way, way more than that.

Later, I open the trash bin, and there is a single paper towel in there- which is weird, because I cleaned up the trash when I left. I pick it up, and, um, it's wet.

With a biological substance.

That appears to be.. well... let's just say there wouldn't be any problem getting DNA from this.

So apparently I arrived right after my thief left. And he had the foresight to know where the trash bin was (it's not obvious), and use it. Weird. I hid in the boat, waiting for him to come back, but later realized I had left my shoes on the dock, so he probably saw them and panicked. It's unfortunate, because I was going to scare the shit out of him, and get the cops involved.

Ah well. I think my flight was delayed too. Had I arrived on time, I might have had a really good story...

In the closet....

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-16T19:11:30-06:00

... painting. We primed the other day, and today was paint. Of course, to make everything more interesting, my interior designer gave me a different ceiling color than the wall color. Which means we have to mask everything. Added to that, I decided to go with an eggshell finish for the walls, and supposedly you can't retouch eggshell, or it will look too shiny.

Joy.

So I don my paint suit which consisted of my tyvek coverall, my friend's ipod, latex gloves, a baseball cap, and the 3M breather (not to be used with biological or chemical warfare agents- it says that on the instructions) (obviously, I learned my lesson from the other day). Then, once properly attired, I would take the gun and walk into the closet, where Rick would be, in his normal clothes, holding the shield against the ceiling (I painted the ceilings first, with a flat white). Of course, the shield only works so well, so we'll have to go back and cut in all the ceilings with brushes, but we were able to contain most of the overspray.

The wall color, Pacer White, was more yellow than I was anticipating. But interestingly enough, it looks like the exact same color that the walls were painted before.

Once again, if you ever have to paint, spray rigs kick ass. I fully expect to be able to do all three units in one day, once we get the walls and ceilings textured.

I'll post pics of me in my stormtrooper outfit next time I have to paint...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we got the Select Red Oak for the floors today. 89 boxes, and they didn't have a floor jack, so we had to schlepp it all by hand. (Interesting- schlepp is in the Mac dictionary for spell check). So now John's unit is nearly full with wood flooring. (Image forthcoming!)

Musings on thiefs...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-16T19:08:50-06:00

Okay, so robberies make me want to both have a gun and shoot the criminal.

Seriously.

I'm all for political correctness, and trying to empathize with the disenfranchised. But under what fucked up system of morality do you think it's alright to break into my place and take some of my things?

Last summer, I was employing some guys in College Station. I was paying them well, and letting them get away with all sorts of bullshit, because I needed the help. Towards the end of the job, they stole several tools, and eventually my Rolex (which I didn't notice until later- and didn't have insurance on). I had bent over backwards all summer to keep them employed- I was going to their house in the mornings to pick them up (which was 20 minutes outside of my way), I was taking them home at night. I was paying them more than they were worth, and I was understanding when they couldn't make it to work because "My Baby Momma threw me out last night", or "They repoed my TV this morning". And how do they repay these kindnesses? They steal shit from me.

My friend employed her robber last week, to clean up her backyard. She paid him, thanked him, and told him she might need him again in a few weeks. Yesterday her neighbors see him putting her computer monitor into a trash can, and leaving with it.

Assuming, for a second, you had some justifiable reason to rob someone, shouldn't you at least rob someone you don't like?

If you want a laugh, you can read about the time that the boat was broken into, here.

The only other time I was robbed was in college. I was at Duke, and someone broke into the lockers and stole my wallet. Which is about the most irritating thing to do to someone. How do you get ID when all of it has been stolen? DMV wants two forms of ID, Duke wanted two forms of ID, etc. etc. I spent a day and a half trying to get everything sorted. I mean, if you're going to steal someone's wallet, at least take the cash and cards, and ditch the rest in a nearby trash can!

I pity anyone that has their ID stolen now, after the Patriot Act. Now it's probably just easier to kill yourself than to replace your ID.

And back to the first line of this entry- I can only hope that if someone chooses to break into my house, I am both at home and armed.

I have played that scenario out in my mind before.

I will not hesitate. Be warned.

Now that Adobe owns Macromedia, will Dreamweaver and Flash work?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-15T22:11:28-06:00

... I mean, how hard can it be to get it right?

It's big. It's slow. It crashes frequently (and Yes, I do have all the updates, thank you very much).

I know that it's trying to do lots of things, but having written code that did do lots of things, can't they get it right?

I spend more time fighting the tools than working with them. I click on something, and have no idea what's going to happen. I've resorted to doing everything in actionscript, because at least I can control what's going on there. Unfortunately, their text editor sucks, which means that my typing is often WAY ahead of it. I'll have to stop, and wait for nearly a second, for it to catch up.

And then when I use the debugger, it shows me the source, and lures me into thinking I can edit it in the debugger window, because it will let me highlight, insert the insertion point, etc. But as soon as I start typing, it ignores me. Of course, my brain doesn't immediately register this, because it ignores me in the editing mode too, but eventually tries to catch up.

Flash is pretty cool, but unfortunately, to my knowledge, there aren't other Flash editors besides Macromedia/Adobes.

Let's hope that now that Adobe owns them, their QA will improve....

Can Sprint make a Bluetooth phone that actually works?

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-14T21:29:03-06:00

My cellphone is like a cat.

It had nine lives.

Unfortunately, Thursday night, the last life passed away, and now I have a Sanyo paperweight.

It's one of the flip phones. And it hasn't flipped for months. Instead, it just falls into two pieces, hanging by antenna wires and various other bits and pieces.

Charging it has been a dream. You clamp the power cable to the table, plug the phone in, so it's not supported by the table (it's over the air), then put weight on it. This makes the little wires that are broken off the motherboard inside it touch (I think), so that it can take a charge. It's always been able to work, until Thursday night.

I went to Fry's. Of course, you can't buy something to charge just the battery on the Sanyo phones. That only works on all the other carriers (non-Sprint) phones. Which becomes the mantra.

When I first bought this phone (in February of 2004), I wanted Bluetooth. Sprint didn't have bluetooth. Why did I get Sprint? Because I was in the Caribbean, and Sprint would let you get online from an anchorage in St. John using the computer. And that was very, very cool. Besides, how long will it take them to get a functional bluetooth anyway?

Apparently, longer than I can wait. They had one phone, that was only out for a couple of months. They pulled it. They currently have the LG-something or other, that is referred to online as having "Bluegums", because it is so crippled. They also have the MM-A940, which is a huge box of a phone, with a camcorder, optical zoom, and Bluetooth.

So I buy one. Despite the fact that it is huge and heavy and very, very expensive. I only have two months running on my contract, but I need to have a phone. I renew for two more years, and switch to the Fair & Flexible plan. Spend something like 2 1/2 hours doing all this. I get home, all excited.

It will not sync to my mac. iSync doesn't work.

"Okay" I think "I'll just use Address book to push the contacts to it".

Nope. If I select a bunch to send, I only get the first one.

Coupled with the ridiculous size of this phone, and the cost, I'm very displeased.

So now I have to back out all my Sprint changes, take the phone back, buy the cheapest phone they have to get me through the 2 months, then switch to some other carrier (Cingular?) that has a functioning bluetooth phone.

I'm thinking about a RAZR v3....

December 14...

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-14T20:42:00-06:00

So today we primed the upstairs closets.

Why? You may ask. Because once we paint them, we'll move all the supplies and tools into them, so that we can texture, prime, and paint the rest of the units.

So working with the spray gun was fun. First off, if you ever have to paint, that's the way to do it. It kicks ass.

There are, however, techniques to be aware of. Since I knew nothing, I told Rick it would be like Keystone Kops go painting. He thought I was wrong, but I wasn't.

Some tips:
1. Always be sure to strain your primer or paint
2. You can turn the tip around and spray to clear it
3. Latex primer is hard to get off your face. I looked like a reverse raccoon, with my mouth and nose clear from the ventilator
4. Latex cleans up in water, not mineral spirits
5. When the tip clogs, you'll get runs if you're not careful.

Anyway, I went to order the cabinets for the kitchens yesterday. I was counting on the 10% discount, since they said $500/kitchen, and it turned into $1000/kitchen (and it was their fault), plus some. Now they're saying I won't even get the 10% discount unless I can come up with the stupid coupon from long ago. If I can't find the coupon, I'll go ballistic on someone. I will get at least the 10% off. I'm pissed about it, because $500 was great, but at $1000, I could have refinished the old cabinets or something....

Lastly, I went by Pearl Vision and got my prescription for glasses renewed. For my own reference, I was right about -1.5 Spherical both eyes, but I didn't remember my Pupil Distance (67mm). So I took that information over to 39dollarglasses.com, and ordered some titanium sunglasses and some half rim transition glasses. It was only (!) $218, but last time I bought that stuff it was over $500, and I think I got better stuff from them. We'll see.

Frog Blast the Vent Core!

rdm4@martellventures.com — 2005-12-14T18:50:28-06:00

Lots of time has been spent lately in self analysis, and trying to figure out who I want to be now.

In my first incarnation, I was a software developer at Bungie Software...

Then, I went sailing....

And lately, I've been doing all sorts of things. Renovating duplexes, installing 40 ton HVAC unit on top of shopping centers, working on other people's boats, etc. My most recent (and current) project is the condos at 817 Pavillion, in Dallas. I'm renovating them to sell...