"Murphy was an optimist!"
Yesterday’s Coding Horror January 31, 2009 9:47 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : JavaScript, PHP, Programming, TechnologyYesterday my web application quit working. I simply cleared the domain cookies and the session cookies. It should have been no big deal but an important piece of JavaScript quit working. I have a script that adds some HTML to the DOM and looks similar to:
snafu("<tr><td class=\"fooclass\"><a class=\"expander special\" href=\"index.php\">go somewhere</a></td></tr>");
So this worked fine until I cleared cookies and now the generated source in the browser (confirmed in Firefox and Chrome) looks like:
snafu("<tr><td class=\"fooclass\"><a class="\""expander special\" href=\"index.php\">go somewhere</a></td></tr>");
Note that the anchor has inexplicably changed from <a class=\"expander special\" href= to <a class="\""expander special\" href=. The obvious thought is that a session variable is being expected in building the javascript code which in turn changes the DOM but that session variable is now returning NULL. That is still likely to be the problem but yesterday’s line by line inspection of the code showed no flaws. Today I am going to eliminate the server as an issue. The most recent code changes have not been migrated to the production server and it does not reproduce the problem so I’m setting up a staging server today to see if it shows the same problem as the development server. What a pain!
add a commentJumping into LOST January 30, 2009 6:49 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Lost, Of Interest, TV / MoviesSeen on Forest of Illusions.
add a commentI advocate telecommuting…and locking keyboards January 30, 2009 12:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, Of Being DadI stepped away from the keyboard for just a moment and apparently the 3 year old decided to do some coding for me. That’ll teach me to save all without looking…
add a comment3 Year Old Testing My Limits January 30, 2009 9:26 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, Of Being DadEvan has spent the morning trying to see just how stressed I can become. Normally he plays nice by himself or watches television but today he is craving attention. I woke at 4am but couldn’t convince myself to stay up and get to work. Little devil on my shoulder had some stupid logic like "a little extra sleep will make you more productive." My wife is sick and I was hoping she’d sleep in but she has come upstairs. To the dungeon with me!
add a commentApparently Frostbite Is Cool January 30, 2009 8:21 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, Of Being Dad, SarahShe did it again. It is -4°C outside right now. Snow flurries are in the forecast. And my 15 year old girl just walked out of the house wearing Teva sandals and no socks. I couldn’t stop myself this time, "Sarah! That’s stupid. At least put on socks." But her ride was here and obviously this is the counter culture look she is going for. Oh wait, she thought she broke her toe last night (didn’t) but it was nice and black and blue. I bet she wants to show it off today!
add a commentParental Scare of the Evening January 29, 2009 7:24 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being DadWords to not say to a parent if you’ve been watching their child: "Is your child at your house?"
Amy was playing with the neighbor’s kids. He stepped into the bathroom and came out only to find Amy and his youngest missing. He sent his oldest over to see if there were here and then the hollering started. The neighborhood could hear our calls of "AaaaaaMMMMY! OoooTTHHeeerRCHhiiiiiillllddd’ssssNaaaame!" And people came to their porches to see what was going on. Their dog had escaped and we deduced that the six year old and seven year old went searching. If this sounds familiar, it should. Amy went searching for this dog on her own April 20th of last year (see My child walks the road where dogs go to die). While the teenagers struck out to the woods, I drove directly to Northshore and started working back into the neighborhood from its most extreme points and the other father drove out from the houses. I multitasked and started making phone calls to various neighbors. Darkness fell fast so I dialed the non-emergency number for the Sheriff. Halfway through filing my report, we got the call that the children and dog were safe. They had stayed in the neighborhood but still walked roads that they should not have been on. No one is mad. We are all happy that they are safe and hopefully a lesson has been learned.
So I’m thinking about starting a separate blog to chronicle the times Amy has vanished.
3commentsBlood pressure update January 29, 2009 2:04 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Health, Of Being DadThe doc took me off my old blood pressure medicine (Linsinopril) which made me cough incessantly and switched me to a new medicine (Verapamil SA) with the side affects of swollen ankles and constipation. I think that makes me pregnant.
Btw, suggesting to your wife that she quit shaving her legs doesn’t get the expected result of "oh thank God! I hated doing that and only did it for you anyway my love! Now my legs will be warm in the winter! Hurray!" In reality, it’s a far different reaction.
add a commentCough wheeze Okay I’ll see the doctor! January 28, 2009 3:01 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, HealthCathy and I try to avoid the doctor unless absolutely necessary. It’s not a philosophy I enjoy as I had a friend in college die because she put off going to the doctor. I know that keeping the adults healthy is in everyone’s best interest but checkups for the adults hurt the budget. All that said, Cathy is tired of my cough. It hasn’t stopped since before October 8th but the source may have changed. See, the antibiotics killed off the original cough but at the same time the doc put me on high blood pressure medicine which has coughing as a side affect so I have now been coughing for over three months! I give in. Tomorrow I’ll visit the doctor and see what we can do.
2commentsJanuary 28, 2009 1:03 pm
Posted by utterz in : Daily Life, Podcasting
Mobile post sent by djuggler using Utterli. Replies.
State of Me January 28, 2009 9:54 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Health, MentalStress is ridiculously high. Stomach in knots. Not having dizzy spells but if I wasn’t on blood pressure medicine I bet the room would be spinning. Going to ignore email and phone calls today and focus on only one thing at a time. No mind-drifting to "things I should be doing" or "what will come next" or "how the devil am I going to make that work." Today’s goal: Stay in the moment (and don’t stroke out).
add a commentFrom the mouths of babes January 27, 2009 12:25 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babesEvan climbs into the wardrobe.
Mom: "Come out of the closet. If you’re going to be gay, be gay but don’t be in the closet."
Evan: "Okay. I will."
Preschool art January 26, 2009 1:42 pm
Posted by utterz in : Daily Life, Podcasting
Barack Obama Encourages Telecommuting January 26, 2009 7:38 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Environment, Family, Of Being Dad, Touchy Subjects, Transportation, TravelI am a huge advocate of telecommuting. I acknowledge that telecommuting is difficult as the employee has to be very self-disciplined and the management has to let micromanagement go and extend a huge amount of trust in the employee. I think the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Barack Obama sees the benefits to the family in encouraging telecommuting as stated in The White House’s Family Agenda.
Expand Flexible Work Arrangements: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will address this concern by creating a program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work schedules for productivity and establishing positive workplaces; helping businesses create flexible work opportunities; and increasing federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama and Biden will also make the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible work schedules and permitting employees to petition to request flexible arrangements. [Source, WhiteHouse.gov,The Agenda-Family]
Be sure to read Duncan Fisher’s summary of Obama’s program and his oration on fatherhood.
2commentsToday’s Forecast January 26, 2009 6:16 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeA heavy shower of stress in the morning. Followed by a flash of hot temper around lunch. Expect a tropical depression late afternoon. This evening will have extreme swings in conditions.
add a commentWhat’s going on right now with me? January 25, 2009 8:51 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeAt this exact moment, I have just confirmed that the three year old is deep asleep. The six year old is just getting her eyes closed. The twelve year old has taken some trash out, assisted his three year old brother in the evening routine including getting him to sleep, and is reading until his lights out time. The fifteen year old has helped her six year old sister get clothes out for the morning, do her evening routine, left her to drift to sleep and is watching television until her lights out time. The mom is driving the eighteen year old back to day camp college in pitch blackness in the middle of no where; I bet the stars are awesome! The dad (ie. me) is stressing out with a fuzzy head and a feeling that although the weekend was action packed and very productive, the todo list is left incomplete and it feels like something highly important was overlooked. The dad is about to go sit on the porch, chant, and ponder the week’s progress and prioritize the next several hours.
