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Programmed to self-destruct

Hmm. Remember last year when I declared I was never going to take another programming class ever again?! Yeah. Well, last month when I said I was starting my Programming with PHP class, why didn’t you gently remind me of this? Hell, why didn’t you just start hitting me over the head with a toaster?!!

At first I thought things were going to be ok. PHP seemed to make a lot more sense than JavaScript ever did. But that optimism was short lived and PHP done went and broke my brain this past weekend! I spent most of Saturday trying to get my little program to work. As my head was starting to ache, I finally gave up and went to bed completely frustrated. So it was no surprise when I woke up Sunday morning with a wicked bad migraine. Fun. Of course my assignment was due Sunday at 11pm. At 8pm, after another nap, I turned on the computer. As if that wasn’t painful enough, I gave my program another couple attempts – nope, wasn’t happening. I just could not figure it out. Had to turn it in anyways. Double ouch.

Yesterday I started the next assignment, which includes having to read 5 chapters! I read 2 and called Chris. I was not getting it. He ordered me to go the bookstore to get another book on the subject. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to help. Seriously. What didn’t help was taking Kyle with me. Damn, that boy would not shut up! So I bought him ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. “No, I will not buy you the whole series tonight!”  – jeez. And then Kyle fell in love with the dude working the cash register. Ok, maybe not “in love” but he certainly seemed to like him. The guy – who kind of had a shorn Seth Rogan thing going on – commented that Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a classic and one of his favorite books! He then agreed with Kyle that I must have spent my childhood living under a rock because I’ve never read ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. sorry. And then (and I missed this) the dude put his hands together and gave us a little bow! And Kyle thought that was the coolest thing ever. I heard about it the whole way home. We also discussed when and how the Buddha gained enlightenment. Kyle kills me. What a kook.

And because I know you are as worried about my grade as I am, I am happy to report that the teacher email me back saying that I was really close. Gave me a couple pointers and voila! I got the program to work. I am ashamed to admit how happy this made me.

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Feelin’ uninspired. Think I’ll start a fire…

The left hemisphere of my brain has been ruling the roost lately and it’s left me very quiet. Not one little ounce of inspiration to write anything about everything that’s going on. My creative muse has been trapped under my 5 lb Dreamweaver book. And then, last Friday morning, the right hemisphere of my brain tried to stage a coup and almost killed me in the process with another wicked migraine. Stupid brain. But on Saturday the visual part of the design process kicked back into gear, so maybe we can get a little balance here.

I’ve been immersed in pools and code. Car pools, swimming pools, test servers, databases! No wonder I’m feeling a bit stretched out. And I went and signed up for another class at Sierra College in the fall. Web Programming with PHP. Oh yes, this should be fun for all of us. JavaScript was fun right?! It only broke my brain and ruined my eyesight. But apparently everything I want to do is done with PHP, so what’s a girl to do but learn another programming language. Joy.

But classes don’t start until next month. Before then I really need to get my shit together. Life without Positron is turning out to be a hard adjustment. I don’t know how to manage my time yet. With swim lessons and soccer camp complicating the mix, I haven’t had a chance to get into any kind of routine. I feel like I should be “working” at every minute. I’m still trying to do too many things at once and am not getting anything finished. Well, I’ve gotten a few tasks completed, but not that damn resume.

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Gimme A Break

So, it should come as no surprise that JavaScript has completely cured me of any and all desire to take another computer class for as long as I live. That’s right – I don’t care how cool a program name Ruby on Rails is – I’m not going to take the class! Ever!

I’m done. I’m over it. I can barely muster the strength to finish the class I’m in. But I will. Cause I’m no quitter thank you very much. Although I will still be throwing something at my mother-in-laws head at some point this weekend.

And then next semester – nothing. I’ve decided to not even take Photoshop like I had planned. I am taking the semester off, so I will have absolutely no homework. No assignments. Nada. Nothing to do but whatever the hell I want! Freedom. Sweet glorious sit on my ass eating raisins freedom.

Did you notice that if it hadn’t been for Halloween (and Erin’s sudden football love) I wouldn’t have picked up my camera at all this semester? No flickr action? Nothing but headaches and reading glasses here. Programming is no way to live people.

But let’s just be clear about this programming thing. I could do it. I just choose not to. Cause it sucks! I will stick with making the internet a pretty place. I’ll leave it to others to make it function. I want no part of that action.

So, come Dec 13th I will get my life back. I will take more pictures, and actually have the time to edit them. I might even vectorize a few of them. Cause that was fun! And I like fun! And I will do more yoga. I encourage Chris to add another section to the climbing wall so that there is someplace to go. And I will bury that evil text book I’ve been lugging around for two semesters in a deep dark corner of the garage, and I will live…

Hey, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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JavaScript broke my eyeballs – I’ve got a Dr’s note

Left ya hanging again. Sorry. But I am happy to report I’ve not been in headache pain since that last post. Just busy. You know. With stuff.

Too vague? Fine. The long version:
After that last post I was avoiding the computer because my eyeballs were hurting. They felt like they were going to fall out of my head! And that’s not pleasant. And I was particularly concerned because the new preventative migraine med’s info sheet states: in case of eye pain contact doctor immediately. Great. My eyeballs are going to fall out. Luckily I had an appointment with my doctor the next morning. He was also duly concerned about my eye pain, and sent me straight to the optometrist next door to have my pressure checked and my tires rotated. Now I haven’t been to an eye doctor in like forever, cause up until a couple weeks ago I had perfectly good peepers. Clearly it was either the Topamax or the JavaScript causing the problem and I was ready to give up both! Neither being worth the potential of a stray eyeball rolling across the floor. So I get a complete eye exam. Passed the distance test. Yay! Did not enjoy the pressure test – don’t poof air in my eyes! But I passed, my pressure is good. The result is that I do not have glaucoma (which was the doctor’s concern) but eye fatigue and I need reading glasses. Oh. And then they dilated my pupils and sent me on my way. And my doctor was happy and upped my Topamax dosage.

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Admission for one please

Alrighty then. What I didn’t acknowledge in the last post was that after I mentioned restoring an old photo, I thought about putting up the before and after shots. Wait – that’s not the bad part. Where it really gets sick is that my next thought was – “Can I write a JavaScript program to change the before image to the after image when the user’s mouse moves over the photo?” And then I seriously considered attempting it. I am not well.

So to distract you from my shocking confession, I give you this:

http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DqAAAAOF-u9WtopylwZ9XHAqIS4Qz9pNLSCDVY-OUzEkRPyd59NsXwF08GSrM-y3o3ARZWgKip2K_-sqv6n-CSNl25T2QeYfNjT8jJBv0e4I7_Fq741WAJVd5lge8YMDaOk7Vp03O9dDKqMJSirXRy3ncRk-KhEJZCvdMJlyYIoLOQ_fR6sjeM0V2Am4yh3TXbm_-t8S1F8C2VfsJHY_9_rx2jRaBu4hZthUyjV8aer8rPzLr%26sigh%3DxERa1JKKP5K5EmWokEJJLbAc0JM%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0&nogvlm=1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D9f5150f3efff1cec%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DwpufhVpOKcZCTWpLuN7C9LfnScE&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den

Cute eh? Well, I wasn’t kidding about that feedback!

http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DqAAAAEbqiT-pXmimn7VDny7-dKpFGFrozUo234X0qfMsDX3NxcrjME8JpCjyZr5P1oplbU5I8nnLfEaArW19C8sveyvALGYXIGfUbFmO_fZTcMVy5MWu4dxpSBLYVjkD8_se_aFmFcypn6GoUZ1Y1CMiMogklfcrhfyArQe49FhWm06UCaV8y7LFNxD0IWeC44k1o3433_ReBZy63RWsxzId87BBkR0Tpof0OJRp2-j0wzeB%26sigh%3DH-BrgAE7Bhu3dhPlqiEYZ7LqwJo%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0&nogvlm=1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3De61d66f2d48eefb8%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DZWjAzHvjWTHGmuQGf4GXLwnQYLE&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den

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Wiped out

Wow. Didn’t mean to disappear down a black hole on ya. But this has been a strange week and I don’t think I’ve fully recovered yet. And really, I don’t even know what I would be recovering from. Headaches, new medications, stock market woes, JavaScript, being a brunette… wait – that change is good. I think. Hard to tell when no one says anything either way. Kyle is calling me Goth, which is pretty damn funny. Hey, is it too soon to give him the Sandman books? I just added Neil Gaiman as a friend on GoodReads. I’m rubbing bandwidth with the big boys now.

What else. Didn’t see Coleman Barks. Totally ok with that. (I’m not ok with the fact that I can’t find the copy of his CD I made years ago) We went to the circus last Friday. Fun, but exhausting. Erin does not sit still even for lions and tigers and bear oh my. Or the tigers, elephants, and small white horses that we actually saw. I took some pictures –shocking, I know. Look for them around Thanksgiving. Tonight I have to take my Chapter 10 test. JavaScript really gave my brain a workout. Wish me luck. Cause when I do poorly, Chris suffers.