Month: September 2009

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I need a new editor

For most of the past decade I have coded using CFStudio 5. It is a fantastic editor that was bought by Allaire from another company under the name Homesite. CFStudio was a more robust version of Homesite. Eventually CFStudio was abandoned which probably had something to do with Macromedia buying Allaire and wanting to promote Dreamweaver as their preferred editor. Now that Adobe owns Allaire/Macromedia, CFStudio has been reborn as Homesite+ and Dreamweaver still exists.

When my computer crashed, I found myself reinstalling everything. Yes, the computer is back up. It is running Windows XP and has a 500 GB hard drive. I can finally download all the podcasts I want! It also begs the question of whether or not I am using the best IDE for my purposes. I am not an eclipse fan. I see the potential and I really want eclipse to be a good solution but I’ve had too many bad experiences with it. For the past several weeks I have been coding in Notepad++ and although the compare plugin rocks the editor itself is really just an editor and I need an IDE.

Suggestions? IDE should accommodate PHP, ColdFusion, CSS, JavaScript, etc.

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Good people abound

My neighbor fell this morning while I was ordering two sausage biscuits at the Rocky Hill McDonald’s. After getting the call, I rushed home leaving the food I’d paid for on the grill. My wife was already attending to my neighbor. She had a broken rib and was feeling very bad. When the paramedics arrived, without slowing down, they smiled and waved to Evan. The postman took a moment to inquire about her condition showing sympathy. I returned to McDonald’s assuming I’d have to settle for getting Cathy some fries instead of biscuits. As I walked in, the manager hollered, "He’s back!" An employee said she was cooking me some fresh biscuits even though breakfast hours were clearly over. Another employee offered me coffee and everyone asked about the neighbor. I can only assume they overheard my phone conversation. No one asked about political parties, believe systems, or views on health care reform. Everyone showed genuine concern. When we have differences with people, or experience a "bad" person, I think we should not let that person taint our view into believing all people or the majority of people are the same; acknowledge that we don’t fully understand that person and should strive to know them better; and know that ultimately, all things aside, it takes a community, and we will look after one another.

Update: Good news! They are back from the hospital and nothing is broken. My wife feels guilty for calling 911.

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We have a new baby in the house!

Dear Knox County Schools, If I beat your fancy $500 electronic baby, does my son lose points because abusive granddad was raised in the 70s? Sincerely, I have 5 children I know what a baby crying all night sounds like and so does my son I thought I was done when Cathy said we couldn’t have a 6th

Yes, we have an electronic baby in the house this weekend. The irony is that Noah has probably changed more diapers and spent more baby time than many of his schoolmates ever will. If this is demented sex education lesson on abstinence, I give the schools an F because we don’t educate through fear and making the wonder of life a thing to dread. If the lesson is truly about the responsibility of caring for a child, I give this gadget an A+. This is a cool toy and Mattel had better step up because my 7 and 4 year old children are loving it! The diapers even have to be changed! Oh, I like the fact that there are no Caucasian electronic babies because I’m sure my son’s absentee interracial girlfriend is going to be quite the buzz at the inlaw’s church. I wonder if Noah will have the wherewithal to actually turn electrobabe into the daycare instead of carrying he/she/it into the teenager’s sanctuary.

Update: I just learned that the baby and Noah are more than a certain distance apart that the baby’s head explodes because Noah has an electronic wrist band secured to his wrist. Side note, you really should secure the bands a little tighter because I’m quite certain that I could slip it off Noah’s wrist so that he could help Evan get to sleep but no, we will be honest and I will take over for Noah tonight. Of course, I could get Evan to sleep easier if your do dad had a mute button! I must say that it is amusing watching Noah try to put electrobabe down long enough to play his video game only to have crying drag him away from the keyboard with a grin and an eyeroll.

Update: Electrobabe turned off about midnight. I have the sneaky suspicion the program was set up wrong and we’ll be seeing this child again.

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From the mouths of babes

Teenager 1, after walking through the mud, cracks joke: "We’re lucky. In Tibet they’d pay thousands of dollars for this treatment."
Me: "You really don’t know what Tibet is, do you?"
Teenager 1: "No. Well, it has something to do with religion."
Teenager 2: "Yes, it’s in Jerusalem."
Me: "Uh, no."
Teenager 1: "I think it borders China."
Teenager 2: "Well it has something to do with the Jews."
Teenager 1: "It’s mostly a tourist attraction right now."
Teenager 2: "Yup. A tourist trap."