Month: November 2007

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Parenting – nothing harder

I woke up late this morning. Amy and I would have to leave in 2 minutes to catch the bus. Wasn’t going to happen but getting to school on time in the carpool would be no problem. Well, one would think. Amy and I could not agree on her outfit. Need a tough negotiator? Send in a 5 year old! My patience ended up being tried and lost. I was outwitted by a child and my primordial reaction was to get gruff, raise my voice, and shove her to the car. Bad dad. Of course, she needed clothing so I tossed her anything and declared, "go ahead. Look like a clown." Certainly not a tv dad today! Fortunately, Mom rose from the dead, fighting back her nausea, to save Amy. She gently helped her get attired in clothing Amy liked. She wiped her tears, gave her a hug, scowled at me, and we were on our way. Amy arrived at school 16 minutes late which in the grand scheme of things was not worth one ounce of the stress I caused this morning. Coincidentally, one of her teachers was in the office and cheerfully greeted her. After asking Amy if she was ready for fun gym, she escorted her to class. Please have a great day Amy. I’m going to start mine over.

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Today’s Technical Challenge

This one sounds pretty simple. I bet you can’t do it! (That is coming from the guy who claims anything can be done…I will find a way!).

The challenge: Part 1- Write a piece of JavaScript that pops an alert box with the message "You left!" when focus is lost on the browser. This means that if someone is looking at the webpage in Firefox and then switches to another webpage in a different tab, different window, or goes to a different application altogether (say Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer), then the alert box should appear. Any loss of focus to the active webpage makes the alert popup.

The challenge: Part 2- Write a piece of JavaScript that pops an alert box with the message "You returned!" when focus is returned to the browser. This means if someone was checking their email, using Internet Explorer, or was in a different Firefox tab, when they return to your webpage the alert box pops up.

The JavaScript for this challenge should work in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The user should be able to repeatedly remove focus and return to focus and see both messages multiple times.

Good luck!

References

  • Mozilla.org reference to window.onblur Using their code example works differently in Firefox and Internet Explorer. In Firefox, the event fires twice meaning when I move away from the window, I get two alert boxes. In Internet Explorer the event fires once. Returning focus to the window and leaving against does not cause a blur event. So this appears to work once per loading of the window and not through repeated lost focus and refocuses.
  • Incorrect behavior of window.onblur event under IE and a workaround I need to test this in IE7
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We asked to be heard; tonight is our chance!

Do you care for the future of education in Knox County? We have asked that the citizens be heard in choices like rezonings and choosing a school superintendent. They are now willing to listen!

Knox County residents are invited this week to share their suggestions on what characteristics the school system’s new superintendent needs.

And the school board has been told to stay away.

[Source, Knoxnews.com, Residents’ input sought on superintendent]

I personally think the superintendent needs to come from outside of Knox County and maybe far from TN where local politics and good ol’ boy relations will not be an influence. I want someone making decisions that are right for our children and not because of politics or helping a buddy out.

Don’t forget to attend the superintendent search forums tonight (11/26) at either Austin East or Central High School auditoriums, beginning at 7:00 pm.

Additional forums will be held Tuesday, 11/27/07, at South Doyle and Bearden High School auditoriums, also at 7:00 pm.

[Source, Knoxviews.com, ]

This is very important! Make the time to voice your opinion please.

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I had a panic attack at 2am

Somehow in this 4 day weekend I failed to complete what should have been a simple task. The problem is I assumed it to be a simple task and, having not truly relaxed in forever, I decided this weekend I could play it by ear. That is, I procrastinated. It would be okay because I only needed a few hours to get the work done and Saturday evening was mine, well, except that Saturday evening started awfully later after a long and fulfilling day. It would be okay because I only needed a few hours to get the work done and Sunday afternoon was mine, well, except for the parade in Lenoir City. Tommy needed that and it fit the "must relax this weekend." It would be okay because I only needed a few hours to get the work done and Sunday evening was mine, well, except that Cathy and Evan had come down with a migraine and fever respectively. I pulled the evening shift of getting the children into bed and getting school stuff out for the next day all while hearing Cathy’s voice in my head lamenting the horrid condition of the house. Could I possibly get the children ready, clean, and get the work done. It would be okay because I only needed a few hours to get the work done and I don’t really need sleep, well, except that it is difficult to type with your forehead and I presume that is what I was trying to do considering the number of times my head bounced off the keyboard with a series of ZZZZzzzs across the screen.

I attempted sleep but kept dreaming of my obligations so I woke with my head dully throbbing, my arms rubbery and weak as if I’d done hours of weight training, and my body aching sore. No, I do not have Evan and Cathy’s sickness. This is simply what it feels like to not allow yourself a good night’s sleep. Of course, I can sleep when I am dead. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend but I cannot allow myself too many of those.

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What are you doing with your phones?!

Narration (with additions): [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/whatareyoudoingwithyourphones.mp3]

During the Bearden Bulldogs versus Farragut Admirals high school football game, Cathy and I were busy tapping messages into our phones as quickly as our frozen fingers would allow. I was Twittering the game. My father-in-law, a true die hard football fan, did not understand how we could be looking away from the game to play with our phones, "what are you doing with your phones?!" Cathy explains, "Doug is putting game highlights on Internet for people to read. See (shows her phone to her father), the Knoxville News-Sentinel editor is encouraging Doug." He doesn’t believe her. Something significant happens on the field, he suggests, "Tell your ‘editor guy’ about that play."

So how does one explain this fascinating world of instant communication and self-publishing to people who have not experienced it or perhaps to those who have not even become comfortable with computers yet? Some people feel that if you are over 25 years old, you cannot understand things like Twitter. Jon Swanson suggests 8 ways to explain 2.0 friends to 0.0 parents. My favorites are:

2. You know how you like to shout at the television? With 2.0, @newmediajim can hear you.

…

4. Remember how you used to walk down the street and say hi to people along the street? That’s what i do when I turn on my computer.

[Source, Levite Chronicles, 8 ways to explain 2.0 friends to 0.0 parents]

Web 2.0 tools have such undiscovered potential. The Red Cross is using Twitter to help reunite families during disasters and to forewarn of impending doom and the request resources for help. Presidential candidates are using Twitter for publicity and to have closer contact with the voters. People blog for different reasons; I have published why I blog. This list could go on for pages. The possibilities are endless. The changes that will come in the next 5-10 years will blow people away! Of course, faster broadband in the United States is crucial.

Update: Random Mumblings talks about breaking news. See also Group Twittering instructions for events. Music City Bloggers talks about Instant Communication Changing the Rules. Michael Silence warns of Big Brother watching during Liveblogging of sports events. Read Ryan Sholin regarding Notes on breaking news. Les Jones chimes in.

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My penis is a mountain

Last night at the Bearden Bulldogs vs Farragut Admirals football game, as the crowd stood respectfully as color guard brought in the American flag (and 3 others), Rocky Top blared from the speakers instead of the national anthem. Whoops! The crowd chuckled through the beginning of the actual national anthem. Why did they use a recording instead of having the two high school bands play? I wonder if they could have done it in sync.

Of course, the playing of the national anthem is not unique to sports events in the United States. Countries all around the world play their national anthem, and often a singer belts out the words. Croatia invited UK opera singer Tony Henry to perform their national anthem at the beginning of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament with Croatia vs England. He mispronounced a Croatian word (see the video) when trying to sing "we love your mountains" and instead announced to the crowd "my penis is a mountain." The Croatians believe the mistake relaxed the team enough to knock England out of the tournament with a 3-2 win for Croatia. They have since adopted Tony Henry, and his mountainous member, as their mascot.

(This post should pull in some interesting spam… )

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Thinking about hosting your own blog?

I am a huge advocate of getting your blog away from 3rd party solutions like blogger.com. If you have blogspot in your blog’s address then you need to consider getting some hosting and using a solution like WordPress.org (note: wordpress.com is a 3rd party solution just like blogger.com and while I advocate every wordpress user having an account at wordpress.com for statistics and askimet key, you really need to use the open source software found at http://wordpress.org) WordPress is not the only content management system out there which is great for blogging. You have a ton of choices! If you have trouble setting up a WordPress blog, just contact me and I will help.

One negative in hosting your own blog is that you have to pay a host for server space. That is akin to renting a building to run your business. In the Internet business, like so many businesses, you get what you pay for. Free hosting will likely have problems but it is available. I have personally found 1&1 hosting to be very reliable with great customer service despite its low cost. I highly recommend 1&1!

The postive of paying for hosting is that you get full control over your content. If Blogger’s robots determined that your blog suddenly appeared like a spam blog, they could take you offline instantly and lock you out of your account. You could find yourself unable to access your posts and drafts. If Blogger suddenly went out of business or just quit, you’d be out of luck. Does this happen? Ask anyone that hosted their photos at Yahoo. Yahoo bought Flickr and did away with their photo hosting. Anyone that failed to move their photos by the deadline lost their pictures. All links to those pictures are now 404 pages. We personally came within minutes of failing to get our pictures moved. By paying for hosting, you get backups of your data, control of your site, and the ability to handle exceptions (like 404s) in a way that can benefit your audience rather than drive them away. Plus with your own domain name, you can virally market your blog by using the address in your emails. You can’t send an email from blogmaster@someblogname.blogspot.com but you can send an email from blogmaster@myowndomain.com and everyone who gets that email has the chance to say, "I wonder what myowndomain.com is?" Each email sent becomes a subtle advertisement for your site.

Banner1&1 has a great deal right now! Since Uncle Danny is testing the limits of my webspace and monthly transfer volume, I thought I should review the limits on my account. When I did, I discovered that 1&1 is offering their Business shared hosting at only $5.82 per month! (normally $9.99) This is for the first year only with a 1 year commitment. It’s worth it! Their standard packages are still month-to-month (no contracts; no commitments) if I am not mistaken. They are $3.99, $4.99, $9.99, and $19.99 for shared hosting with increasing benefit respective to price.

Full disclosure: The 1&1 links in this post are associated with an affiliate id. If you purchase hosting from them by using one of those links I do get a payment but the affiliate link does not influence my decision to recommend 1&1. I genuinely like their service! This is also not pay-to-post. I just did this of my own inspiration.

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Color commentary in 140 characters? Impossible!

Follow the bearden vs farragut game at http://twitter.com/djuggler

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The updates: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Update:: Knoxnews coverage. And Jack Lail’s coverage of my coverage.