Reality Me

At one point in my life I had roughly 700 CDs all categorized and alphabetized and not a scratch on a single CD. Now, as important as music is to me, I barely listen to music anymore. When I do I listen to the same CD over and over and over until it is no longer music but a drone slightly more pleasant than the static and other white noise that engulfs me.

Today I just spent 5 minutes trying to find a specific CD that I’ve wanted to listen to for the past several days. After digging through a disarray of CD cases I found the CD case I was seeking. Naturally it was empty. In the process of trying to find the case, I experimented and open several CD cases in a row. I went through 20 cases before finding one with a CD in it.

I might quit consulting and go back to work just so I can afford to shop at iTunes and once again fill my ears with music.

Update:Found it!

…because, despite all that could fall apart at a moment’s notice, I don’t feel stressed.

C|Net brings us Top 10 tech we miss An enjoyable read with memories.

Technology evolves. Good technologies and products usually survive; poor ones usually go extinct. But not all of the technologies and tech products that have swirled down the drain of the tech gene pool deserved their fate. Here are some big, and some small, ideas that we thought we’d have with us forever, but that unfortunately have gone the way of the dodo.

I have a client taking their dynamic site to a trade show on a laptop since they don’t want to rely on the trade show’s wireless connectivity. So, I say, "It’s easy. Just install PHP, MySQL and Apache on your laptop [windows XP]." After 5 hours of hair pulling yesterday I realize that versions on this stuff are as important as they say. Turns out version PHP 5.04 installer for windows does not automatically configure apache. Also apparently apache 2 is better for windows but php likes apache 1.3 better.

I’m returning to PHP 4 for this install.

Ah! Same error:

Sorry, the software to automatically ocnfigure the Apache httpd.conf file has not yet been written. You will have to configure Apache manually. See the install.txt file for more details.

My first pass at this error I got to a stopping point in the install.txt. Had I read further I would have found:

Installing as an Apache module

You should add the following lines to your Apache httpd.conf file:

Example 2-3. PHP as an Apache 1.3.x module

This assumes PHP is installed to c:\php. Adjust the path if this is
not the case.

For PHP 4:
# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php4_module “c:/php/php4apache.dll”

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php4.c

For PHP 5:
# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php5_module “c:/php/php5apache.dll”

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php5.c

For both:
# Add this line inside the conditional brace
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For syntax highlighted .phps files, also add
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

So the instructions in the install.txt continue to make no sense with Apache2 referencing files that aren’t there, lines of the httpd.conf that are non-existent and finally I find an exceptional answer that points out:

the problem is that the instructions that come with the php distrubutions only cover installations for Apache 1.3.x and not the 2.0 versions

And further directs us to "Installing Apache 2.0, PHP 4.2, MySQL 3.23, and PHPMyAdmin" by Jeffery F. Hill This looks like an excellent guide!

Another odd thing is just to the right of my cut is a verticle stud that runs the length of the wall. I paniced thinking my fish tape had come down between the this stud and the one to the left of the outlet but reaching into my freshly cut hole I find the tape right at my fingertips! 

I’ve been promising Tommy and Sarah and Internet connection in their rooms for some time. I probably should have just gone wireless. So I take measurement after measurement to determine where to drill from the attic down into the wall. See, when renovating a house, you never know what’s in the walls. Using the window and an existing outlet I judge the appropriate spot to drill. The outlet without the cover shows us a verticle stud to its left which means the next stud should be 16 inches to its left. So I cut my hole for my gangbox between those 16 inches and what do you know! There’s a tiny piece of would innocuously in my space. A rip saw will take care of it but why is it there? 

So I’m under Sarah’s desk marking the wall where I will cut out the hole for gang box that will hold her wires for her internet connection and Amy (3 years old) strolls in under the desk to slowly and poetically say: "I just want to be an archy tect like my daddy." Alright, while I laugh and smile let me wipe these tears from my eyes. Where does she get these words?!

Student: I am facing adversity.
Master: Turn around. Put it behind you.

…because Evan really enjoys sitting in my lap. We need a dads chair and a larger television.

…because my daughters’ room received a beautiful paint job, my brother and sister-in-law were here, and I survived, without cardiac arrest or conniption, my 12 year old daughter’s "boyfriend"’s father calling to discuss their first [group] date (and a chaperone).

Aunt and uncle visit

…because Tommy gets to show off his riding skills and it makes him so confident that he beams with glee. I am also very happy that my brother and his wife are coming to town to see the kids.

…because I finally took some time to post on Spy Journal Blog Tips, Spy Journal Tech Tips, and Reality Me from links I’ve been keeping in open browser windows for weeks. Now my work environment feels less cluttered and I had fun!

Barry makes an insightful comment on to Air Quality Action Day. It was so good that I wanted to highlight it here so that it wasn’t missed in my influx of posting today.