Friday, July 31, 2009

Reasons why I will not develop for Internet Explorer

I don't care if my website works in Internet Explorer or not. If they don't work for you, then there are a number of alternative browsers that are free to get, easy to find, simple to install, and superior in nearly every way conceivable. I don't use it, I don't want it. It's a liability to you and your computer to continue using it. As a programmer, I have some very good reasons why my webpage does not and should not work in Internet Explorer:
  1. Not w3c compliant, not even a very good effort to become so - they don't care about standards, they don't care about the developer, they don't care about you
  2. Poor scores on the acid tests--not even comparable to other browsers
  3. Security or complete lack thereof--honestly, the less secure Microsoft can make their browser, the more money they stand to make, either for themselves or their partners
  4. Money, money, money. For an alternative price scheme, see the Ubuntu promise at the bottom of the linked page (note: Ubuntu does nearly everything windows does, with the exception of DirectX 3D gaming, but is not for people who don't have the time to re-learn how to use their computer)
  5. I have to garbage collect my javascript!? (see O'Reilly's Learning Javascript 2E, section 7.3 for more details)
  6. Failed to support transparent and 24-bit pngs
  7. Not helpful when it needs to be, and too much help when it shouldn't be.
  8. Performance, not so bad starting itself (cold start)--very bad running applications (javascript and memory usage), which is what I would care about as a developer
  9. CSS rendering (the technology that makes pages look so dog-on pretty): FAIL
  10. No page-style switching -- forcing longer page-load times, and completely removing any kind of convenient customization a site could offer
  11. If I were to make this list about an open-source browser, these problems would get fixed (probably within a month or two)
So, as I'm developing websites--I have decided that I will only make a single web page that will work with IE, and that page will have instructions on how to get Firefox. I won't jeopardize my client's computers with that IE garbage.

Monday, July 27, 2009

TIME

I picked up an issue of TIME magazine at the doctor's office while I waited to be called back. I was drawn to it because of the title and picture of the front page.

You can get the full article off the TIME website by clicking on this link.
Here are some excerpts that I pasted here as a "preview" to what this article contains. I'd encourage you check it out and read it in its entirety.

"In the past 40 years, the face of the American family has changed profoundly. As sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin observes in a landmark new book called The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today, what is significant about contemporary American families, compared with those of other nations, is their combination of 'frequent marriage, frequent divorce' and the high number of 'short-term co-habiting relationships.' Taken together, these forces 'create a great turbulence in American family life, a family flux, a coming and going of partners on a scale seen nowhere else. There are more partners in the personal lives of Americans than in the lives of people of any other Western country.'"


"...two-parent family remains our cultural ideal, but it exists under constant assault."

"...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in May that births to unmarried women have reached an astonishing 39.7%."


"...Barack Obama has spoken powerfully on the need for men to stay with their children: 'We need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.'"

"Few things hamper a child as much as not having a father at home. 'As a feminist, I didn't want to believe it,' says Maria Kefalas, a sociologist who studies marriage and family issues and co-authored a seminal book on low-income mothers called Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. "Women always tell me, 'I can be a mother and a father to a child,' but it's not true." Growing up without a father has a deep psychological effect on a child. "The mom may not need that man," Kefalas says, 'but her children still do.'"

* Note it says children need a mother and a father. We have divine roles and it is vital to uphold the purity of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

"When children are born into a co-habiting, unmarried relationship, says Rector, 'they arrive in a family in which the principals haven't resolved their most basic issues,' including those of sexual fidelity and how to share responsibilities."

"America's obsession with high-profile marriage flameouts — the Gosselins and the Sanfords and the Edwardses — reflects a collective ambivalence toward the institution: our wish that we could land ourselves in a lasting union, mixed with our feeling of vindication, or even relief, when a standard bearer for the 'traditional family' fails to pull it off. This is ultimately self-defeating. It is time instead to come to terms with both our unrealistic expectations for a happy marriage and our equally unrealistic beliefs about the consequences of walking away from the families we build."


"...the current generation of children, the one watching commitments between adults snap like dry twigs and observing parents who simply can't be bothered to marry each other and who hence drift in and out of their children's lives — that's the generation who will be taking care of us when we are old."

Side note: I know due to circumstances out of our control a single parent might be the only option we are given. But if that is not a result of death then may we be able to stand by our spouse, to be self-sacrificing, to be loving and not selfish or belittling in the things we say and do. Cherish each other. Do not use sarcasm or joke of serious things that we know destroy families everyday.

I feel extremely blessed, not "lucky", that I have married a man who honors and loves me. Who never jokes of divorce or separation and is committed to God. For I know his commitment will spill over to me and our children. I burst with overwhelming love when I think of what I know, and what I know is that our marriage has been sealed and blessed by God. That as we turn to him in our times of weaknesses, and doubt that he will strengthen us, to work side-by-side and to raise our children the best we can as we faithfully do what has been required of us.

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I am thankful for the instructions we are given from the Lord. For our modern day prophet, President Monson, and the men who are called to serve in positions of great responsibility and care. May we stand by them, to help and lift them as the world slaps at them to concede to their standards. For as we strengthen and help each other I truly know we will be strengthen to withstand the ugliness that is here and continual mounting.




Monday, July 20, 2009

Positive Reinforcement

So, I think we've conditioned our child a little too well. When she prayed with us, or sat down and read scriptures, we would clap for her and tell her what a good job she was doing. Well, the tables have turned now. Whenever we pray, and we fold our arms and bow our head, she claps for us and gives us a big smile.

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but she happened to clap for the all the prayers in church this week. Still, not so much a problem--but I don't know quite how to explain to her that, particularly with the sacrament prayers, it's more important to be reverent then to show enthusiasm.

For now, I guess I'll just enjoy the positive reinforcement N gives to anyone who prays or reads their scriptures.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Conversing with a two year old: Part 1

Last week, Dani and I went to the temple with some friends (Richard and Kristine Low). Prior to that, Dani and I were getting dressed in our church clothes. I was combing my hair when N walks in, looks at me in my church clothes, and then turns around and closes the door.
Odd behavior--even for her. As soon as the door is closed, and she's ensured this will be a "private" conversation, she says, "Um, dad? Wha's going on?"
"Mommy and I are getting ready to go to the temple."
"Um, okay. Wha's gonna happen to me?"
"Your aunt Missy is going to watch you tonight"
"OH YEAH!!" she turns around and then tries to open the door. I help her, and she scampers off. I about cried laughing--she can barely talk!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Insomnia, and not knowing what to do with it

I am an insomniac. I always have been--from the days when I could first talk, I nearly drove my mother mad with the words, "I awake!"

I don't like to sleep. That's the core of it. I can sleep, when I want to--but I never want to. I always feel like I'm wasting my time. I think its because I'm addicted to discovery.

Late at night, when no one is around to talk to you or bother you is often the best time to be alone with your thoughts. Take right now for instance--I just discovered a new strategy for a video game, got bored, and now I'm left here to think about whatever interests me (in this case, it's carbon "bucky-balls"). If only sleep could always be like meditation--relaxing and peaceful, but productive.

Alas, when I do sleep, I have strange dreams of going to a football game with Guido Van Rossum (he invented the programing language that I primarily use). Why can't it be more like "exploring the mechanisms of a firearm?" or looking into the detailed composition of different medicinal chemicals and seeing how they react with the body? No, instead, I get a football game--something that I've never particularly enjoyed, and certainly have never had a serious interest in.

That's why I hate sleep--I hate where it takes my mind. Never controlled--rarely entertaining, and always random. It just seems so unproductive. Maybe I should learn the da'vinci sleep patterns--but I think it'd kill me if I tried. Anyways, I took a sleep aide about two hours ago, and it just now is kicking in (it's only supposed to take 30 minutes!)

Feel free to post any alternatives to sleep that you've found.

Look at what my dad did!

Todd and I were given a table by my Grandpa and Grandma Paul when we were married, but we didn't get it right off because there was no way to get it to us in Utah. When grandpa got sick and had to move from Washington to Texas, a truck and trailer were called in to haul what was being kept. Only instead of being dropped off in Utah the table went to Texas where it underwent a transformation. Mom and I started to strip it, and mom used her new sanding belt (I hate sanding, so thanks mom) to finish the stripping, and then dad took over.

Here is our table before hand:


And here it is AFTER!!!


Didn't he do a great job! The staining he did looks so much richer then the stain mom and I originally picked out. It also happened to be the wrong mixture so dad fixed that too. I'm excited!

Here's the history behind the table:
Your great, great-grandparents, Leafy and Algeron Clayton were given the table on their wedding day 14 Feb 1928, in Salt Lake, Utah, by a woman who had received it as a gift on her wedding day 60 years prior. There are no manufactures markings on it, so Dad and I believed it was home made by someone in the Clayton family who made furniture. It has been used for many meals and puzzles. Mom

so 140+ years at least!

Thanks mom and dad!

Midwife time?

I mentioned to Todd about 2 weeks ago that I might check into the option of a midwife instead of using one of the doctors at the Provo Clinic. Now I have had a great experience with Provo Clinic and it's doctors, but I've noticed some changes since N was born. The biggest and most concern to me is how it has expanded. I don't care that half of my appointments are in the building across the parking lot, what I do care about is that they have added about 3 new doctors. That makes, what, 8? Now you ask, "What's the big deal?", well you don't get assigned a doctor at Provo Clinic which equals when you go into labor any of those 8 doctors could deliver your baby, even if you've never met them before. I don't care for that.

Now talking with a few women from the ward who have gone the midwife route, Utah valley doesn't have them, or at least none of them deliver there. Which means a change in hospitals. The closest hospital is Orem, and they have the program "New Beginnings". I've heard "so, so" remarks there. The one that gets all the rave is American Fork. An even longer drive, but would it be worth it? I'll let you know. I'm looking into setting up an interview/appointment to get the inside scoop.

Todd's biggest concern was insurance. He was all on board when I said they would cover it. Todd then tossed in the option of having the baby at home with a midwife. That blew me away! He said he just felt so useless at the hospital and being at home he'd feel he'd be able to help out more. I'm open to the option, just not this birth. I'd like to see how things go at the hospital with a midwife before venturing into the at home birth world. I like hospitals, I LOVE modern medicine, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the fact that someone else cleans up during and afterwards! I just want to be more in control of my options now that I have a bigger, clearer picture of pregnancy, and labor and delivery.

What else has changed since N? I WILL NOT be induced again. Forget it. My first doctors visit for baby #2 went kinda like this:

Dr.: So I see you have a daughter. How much did she weigh when she was born?
me: She was 8lbs 12 oz.
Dr.: (Big saucer eyes that already said they'd give me the option to be induced early) Oh my!

Not this time buck-o. I hated all the drugs I received. Todd says I was pretty much high for 3 days. Now I have not changed my views on an Epidural. Oh, how it was my best friend. It let me sleep for 7 hours, I was given just enough so I could still move my legs for the must part unassisted, and how it relieved me of the back labor. But remember I was given ripening gel and I had no build up of contraction pain, just a sudden-out-of-the-blue level 10 contraction that took me to the floor, literally. So it depends, can I take the build up, is baby posterior, is baby breech (since I have an upside down heart shaped uterus, I have a higher chance of having my babies breech), or something else? N was perfectly healthy, the only reason the baby ICU team was there was because she had her first bowel movement before coming. But she was fine.

So I'll keep you updated with what happens and where.

Monday, July 13, 2009

first outfit in a LONG time

I made this last week.
I was on a sewing high after so many baby shower gifts I NEEDED to keep going.
After discovering this fabric in the hall closet that my mom sent me a WHILE ago, I put it to good use.
I gave this to Summer along with the yellow nursing cover I made the week before. I have plenty of fabric so I'm making another one for N.


I haven't made clothing since my sewing class at BYU-Idaho.
That was, hum, 3 years ago!
I just got really intimidated by clothing patterns.
I don't know why, some newly surfaced phobia?
Any ways I'm on the road to recovery :S

ready to go


While Todd and I got ready to go to the Temple with Richard and Kristine we noticed my shoes were already in use. N spent about 15 minuets just walking around the house with them on with out tripping!

Friday, July 10, 2009

How to learn computers

I seem to have received this question with increased frequency lately: "How did you learn so much about computers?"

I guess first, you'd have to have some idea of what I do know about computers.
Here's a condensed list of what I know:
  • I know how the internet works
  • I understand how 1s and 0s are converted into useful programs
  • I can program
  • I know what a machine is doing while you're waiting for it to boot
  • I usually know what a program is doing when you get an hour glass
  • I know everything that can be known about the windows OS without having the source code available--from design, to internal workings
  • I know most of the internal workings of Linux
  • I am comfortable with most types of unix-based operating system
So, how did I learn all that? I've thought a lot about how to answer that, and here it is:

Mess around

That's it. I'm not scared of my machine. I've never been scared of losing my pictures or music or anything. I backed them up onto a CD if I thought they were important, and then just dug around and started changing things in the computer to see what they would do. I've broken it--but even that isn't a big deal, as it only takes 8 clicks (15 if it's windows) and about 30 minutes of waiting (up to 2 hours in windows) to wipe the computer clean and start again fresh. The longer you do that, the more proficient you'll be with you computer. Treat it as a toy--not as a tool, and then beat it up and play with it.
It, sometimes, helps if you know what you want to do with your computer. I typically wanted them to play games--but I eventually moved onto wanting to do fancy server-side stuff. If you're willing to experiment with your machine--you'll quickly discover what it can do. Just don't be afraid of anything on it, and there's no limit to how much you can learn.

So, there. I learned computers by messing around.

Monday, July 6, 2009

more crafts

Here are some hair accessories I've put together for some specific outfits N has.
There's this years 4th of July, and some ribbon flowers for a dress I bought her made of the same ribbons.
She was tired after we picked her up from nursery Sunday.Thank Heavens!

bye, bye daddy

This was N this morning as Todd was walking to the car to take off for work.And we've discovered that she not only can operate the blinds but she can now open doors, guess it's time to buy some of the security door knob covers.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Nostalgia

It's not just sitting by a cozy fire in a cabin reminiscing of yonder days--and, as I found out recently, it's not just a marketing gimmick either.

I watched the Power Rangers Movie this past week. That's right, a grown man with children went back and watched a movie he hadn't seen since he was 10. That movie had a lot going for it, conceptually. The writing was bad, most the acting was awful, and the premise of the plot was about pot-hole deep, but I still enjoyed watching it more than the recent terminator movie.

I started watching it because it was featured on Hulu, and figured that I'd get sick of it and turn it off after five minutes. When I had finished watching the whole thing, I thought, "how, on earth, did that keep me entertained for 90 minutes?"

Well, the first answer is Paul Freeman as Ivan Ooze (the bad guy) was hilarious. He was a good enough actor to make up for the over-done acting of Amy Jo Johnson (the whiney pink ranger). Second, was the values that it (attempted) to portray.

This scene almost made me cry, since I haven't seen anything like it in a long time. This is at the end, after they defeated Ivan, and are watching fireworks together.
Look at their eyes--and how Tommy is holding Kimberly. It's totally innocent. They aren't just pretending to be happy here, like most actors do. They are happy. They enjoy each other's company, and that's good enough for them. There's no lust in their eyes or in their body language. I haven't even seen a scene like this in real life for more than a decade. Teenagers always are looking at members of the opposite sex with only one thought on their mind. Even most the young adults I'm around show in their demeanor and body language that they are preoccupied with less-than-wholesome intentions. In this scene, Tommy is being very respectful of her, and she isn't doing anything to tempt him.
I know this was a movie for 9-year-old boys (that's when I saw it), but how many actors and producers do you see today emphasize values of chastity and modesty? Think of the last time you ever saw someone demonstrate through quiet and subtle example that value?

Power Rangers in 1995 was it for me, 14 years ago.

I tried using IMDB to browse through all the movies that came out in 1995. I found "A Little Princess," which definately beats out Power Rangers for quality, but came out a month before Power Rangers. Sadly, I also realized (after looking through the complete releases of 1995 alphabetically) that around 40% of all films that came out that year were pornographic.

So, I like going for nostalgia and "vintage" because it's the only enertainment left that doesn't try to seduce me.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Baby Shower gifts

I've been doing quite a bit of sewing this week. I made a baby lovey, and 4 nursing covers. Here's the lovey, it's for an old room-mate of mine from college who's expecting a little girl this month and was going with the theme of nursery rhythms. It's about 27"x27" and turned out, I think, very beautiful. It's the second one I've done and although it was much larger and involved then the first I did I think I'm getting the hang of it.
The back is a light blue mink fabric with star imprints, and the boarder is a pink silk, oh so soft for a baby girl :)
It was made with some of the left over scraps from the nursing cover I made her.
Here are the other three nursing covers I made, two for next weekend and one VERY overdue.
Hope the mother's to be like them!

For the love of!

This is the pet-peeve post.

1) Just because I had a crush on you in elementary school does not mean I still do. So get over yourself!

2) Paintings of the Virgin Mother Mary breast feeding the baby Jesus were primarily done in the 14th and 15th century. She did not personally pose for those! And I honestly don't think she would have either.
Modesty isn't just covering your "bikini area," it's a state of mind where you intentionally dress and behave in a way that doesn't attract any evil attention to yourself. Modesty is as much about the dress guidelines as it is about being aware of the society you live in, that's why we teach the principal of modesty in church, and not "dress and grooming standards."

3) Laundry left in the washer, especially in the Summer, sours. It smells awful and if this constantly happens then mildew grows on your clothing/towels/etc... YUCK!

4) I completely agree with the quote from
Stranger Than Fiction, said by the narrator, "I'm compensating for something, guess what". This goes not only for ugly looking guitars but loud, noisy cars too!






5) Social Megaphones--no thoughts of their own, they can only repeat what they've heard other people say in a loud and irritating manner. Most insist on dominating the conversation--it's rude!

6) I was spanked as a kid for doing dangerous and stupid stuff, and I'm not scarred. Lesson: There are many different ways to raise kids, each family operates differently and each kid is different. Love can be demonstrated in disciplining. I'm not beating my kid, I'm teaching them not to play in the street--my hand is a lot kinder than a bumper.

7) I wont buy food just because it's organic, even more so if it looks weird. So if that means buying the pretty apple that was treated with pesticides, then "yeah" for the yummy pesticides. This doesn't mean that I don't eat healthy.

8) Don't diss the cloth diaper. They've come a long way! Microfiber, inserts, reusable--there's a lot of perks! I haven't converted myself, I'm waiting to hear how they do on older kids (who have stinky-er poo) before I do.
9) Swearing. Please people, my daughter who is 21 months old has enough vocabulary to express herself without having to resort to trailer trash vocabulary. As Todd says, "Light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear bright until they talk." You swear--you're an idiot.

10) When you raise your toothbrush to your mouth and discover as you start to brush, the toothpaste fell off and is now plastered to the sink bowl. You then have to reapply to your toothbrush and take your fingers with the water running and scrap it off. Yeah that is irritating honey.

11) Now this has never happened to me but maybe it has to you. Strangers coming up and rubbing your prego belly. Now I'm excited to be expecting but I don't want some stranger touching me without permission (Todd: that's assault brotha).

12) If you think the left lane on the freeway is just for driving, get off the road. It was put there for people to go faster, not the posted speed limit. If someone is coming up behind you, match speeds with them, merge right or get off the road.

13) (Todd) If you can't drive the posted speed limit, use your flashers. If you can't drive the posted speed limit because you're "too scared" then get a bus pass, and save everyone else on the road the aggravation of dealing with you.

14) (Todd) Bikini's: They don't look good on you. They don't make you stand out. 9/10 men will want to vomit if they see you in one--just say no! (we went to a public pool the other day, and. . .)

15) (Todd) No, I don't want to fix your computer for you. If you worked at a detail shop, could I get my car cleaned for free anytime I wanted? Google it, people.


Why I'm (still) a Mormon

I don't expect much more to ever be posted on this blog, and I'm largely just posting this to share it with some particular friends....