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In school I used to love to do math because not only could you solve a problem, you could solve it again and prove your answer. Math has a tangible success. You do it and receive instant gratification. Coding is much the same. I actually got to code this morning! And I produced results! And the client is happy.

Now onto more difficult, less quickly solved problems.

So the puppy is finally starting to figure out that poop and pee goes outside. She’s even picked 2 favorite spots. What’s funny is that she doesn’t seem capable of going unless she and I have played soccer. I take a blue soccer ball and I’ll kick it over the house or down to the lower lot and she will take off with exuberance to find this ball. She’ll run down the hill and bring the ball back to me. I’ll kick it a second time and she’ll return holding this blue soccer ball in her mouth but this time she’ll bypass me and go to her spot. She won’t let go of the ball while doing her business. It’s the funniest sight! Of course it only makes sense that our family would end up with a dog with rules and rituals.

In today’s home repairs I rehung the towel rack on the back of the bathroom door (with the proper hex screw so it will stay hung) and I hung the vinyl levelor blinds in Noah’s bedroom window so he can stop flashing the neighbors.

Ah! Feels great to make progress on the house!

I uninstalled Firefox and deleted all references to extensions and temporary files. When I inspected the registry I had references to Firebird and versions predataing .8. With the machine cleaned and a fresh install of Firefox 1.0.1 I’m hoping to be a happier camper. I’ll clutter it with extensions soon but not Tabbrowser Extensions. I can live without saving tab sessions if it means better browsing.

Seems as though my installation of FireFox has bitten the dust. I am blaming the Tabbrowser Extension as I have not seem any of this behavior on other computers. Of course, I do use this one the heaviest and it is the only one with Avast! installed. I will completely uninstall FireFox and reinstall to see if things improve. After using FireFox so much, Internet Explorer just seems so pathethic.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a hawk sit in a tree in the backyard and have its lunch. It tore apart a mouse (some kind of rodent), cleaned its beak then flew away. I learned how to use the digital zoom on Cathy’s Canon Powershot A95 just after it flew away. For those wanting the same, you move the switch to the picture of the mountain then click the thumb button on the back of the camera down where it reads a picture of a flower and MF; this turns on a magnified sqaure in the viewer and you can use the zoom toggle to move in a little closer. Remember, this is a digital zoom so some quality will be sacrificed.

Student: How do I learn responsibility?
Master: Teach responsibility.

It’s gorgeous outside (68° C with a light breeze and lots of sunshine) and I’ve trapped myself indoors with no consideration of playing outside, taking the kids outside or the dog to the dog park, and the mountains are simply these hills on the horizon. Days like this should be celebrated in outdoor activity and I’ve squandered mine.

I’m using the free antivirus Avast! on this computer and recently suddenly started receiving a lot of strange error messages. It comes up in red and reads:

The page cannot be displayed
There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed.

Please try the following:

    * Click the Refresh button, or try again later.
    * Open the Web site home page, and then look for links to the information you want.
    * Check your firewall settings. The Web Shield process (ashWebSv.exe) must be allowed to access the Internet.
    * If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page, please contact the Web site administrator by using the e-mail address or phone number listed on the Web site home page.

HTTP 502 – Gateway timeout
avast! Web Proxy

The proxy server did not receive a correct response from the upstream server specified by URI or the response was not understood by proxy.

Winsock: (997) Overlapped I/O operation is in progress.
GET {this is the url at the time}
Winsock: (997) Overlapped I/O operation is in progress.

I have yet to find any useful information toward resolving this issue. Seems like it goes away if I go to "On-Access Protection Control" and disable Web Shield. I didn’t even know I was using a “web proxy” on this machine. Could explain some of the sluggishness.

There is a definite zone. If you’ve ever done anything that you truly enjoy and requires intense concentration then you’ve been there. Might be mountain biking when you are rushing down the single track just a little faster than you know you should and everything is blurred in your peripheral vision and it seems like you can anticipate every rut, obsticle and jump on the trail as if you had esp. You know the ride is going to be perfect and the adrenaline rush helps make you more invincible than you already know you are. But if you slip out of The Zone you’re a smear on the trail. Just a taco’d wheel, bent fork, smashed helmet, and a bloodied road rash carrying your bike out of the woods.

Computer programming can be the same. If I can get into The Zone then I can pound out elegant computer code that reads like Pulitzer Prize winning poetry. Like anything else, finding the zone takes effort. Maintaining the zone takes concentration. I love being in The Zone. It’s frustrating when I can’t find it. Sometimes you can find it, but something pulls you out of it for just a moment, then it’s lost.

In sticking with my plan to “pound code” I awoke at 2am. Cathy lay on the left side of the bed, Molly the puppy was curled up on the foot of the bed, Amy was in the middle asleep but squirming, and I was on the right side of the bed doing a balancing act to keep from falling off. The room had a chill last night but our bed spread would keep us all warm, well, except for me because I could only cover part of my right leg as the rest of the covers had disappeared into some blackhole in the middle of the bed. Or perhaps they shrink in the night because I learned in the morning that Cathy neither had covers. I pondered over and over moving to the computer to be able to get work done. 4 hours of programming in the middle of the night is equivalent to 12 hours of coding during the day!

When it came down to making the decision I could not risk having Amy roll off the bed and I didn’t think she would stay asleep for the transfer to her own bed so I stayed in bed until the morning came and Molly had the desire to go outside (and outside she went!).

My OCD 2 year old wrote on her hands yesterday with marker. This morning she looked at me and begged “wash it.” So we washed her hand the best we could but the marker wouldn’t come off. She stared at it a second and said “wash it again.” Her short, focused, serious comments make me want to laugh.

I’ve been a good little programmer today and pounded many keys. I need a brief break and think it is well deserved although I do not want to styme this momentum.