Jenna's House of Idiosyncrasies Version 10.0 [Focus.]

Current Music: Veblen, Moonlit Rose

The weight off my shoulders is tremendous. The crazy PHP project is finally up. Behold:

Barrow Network Citizen

It is not the prettiest site I've ever done, or the most fun, but damn if it isn't useful, because I programmed and programmed like I've never programmed before (because, well, I haven't) all summer to bring this tasty goodness to Barrow County, and if you don't get over there and increase the hit count right now, you will make me cry.

So do it.

And not a moment too soon, because it's moving day tomorrow for Jenna. Back to good ole' UGA. My new building is Mary Lyndon, so come say hi sometime if you are in the neighborhood.

I don't really feel ready to go back this year. It has been such an intense summer. All last summer I was waiting waiting waiting for my first year at UGA, and this year, I just feel like there's a lot of things I haven't gotten done like I wanted to.

3 months sounds like a long time when you are standing at the beginning of it. And the truth is, the speed and amount of changes that take place in that amount of time is extraordinary, especially at the rate the time vanishes.

I never would have imagined the end of summer like this.

::sigh::

(so much for lofty ideals, eh?)

Programming all summer has melted my brain.

I sit down to write, and not only can I not sit still for four seconds without parse errors going off in my head, but I have no real content of late. Just smartass comments and useless links and quiz results and nothing really. I could write about adventures in PHP programming but no one who reads this would even get it, and it's not even that exciting, really.

Previously, in such a dry spell, I just wouldn't post anything. If I wasn't feeling really passionate about something, there would just be no new entries. Granted, there were quiz results and smartass comments before but only interspersed with my actual words.

And that's when I realized: installing MT has completely changed the way I post. Interesting article? Link it! Silly graphic? Put it here! MT makes it far too easy. Which was fun for awhile. But I've got to stop. Or at least slow down. There has been one or more entries here everyday since I first installed it. Crazy.

I'm a link whore. I'm the #1 web whore, some say. And the more stuff you have up, the more stuff people have to read, and the more comments you have a chance of getting, the more active your site is, the more attention you get. I fucking love attention.

But then we get into the issue of quality versus quanity. Ben Brown wrote something more than two years ago that I just read today (I'm slowly making my way through his archives) that really made me think. Think about how I'm not really writing like I used to to, how I sorta just coast along on my cult status, by virtue of the fact that my friends like me, and will read my site regardless of there being anything worth reading.

I want to write about myself and my life but I have nothing to write about right now, so I'm going to try (even though I realize I won't be entirely successful) to stop being so trigger-happy with MT and wait for something to come to me, rather than updating every 20 minutes to keep my content fresh.

Case in point: you are still reading this, even though you haven't really read anything yet.

Lesson: Ben Brown can be more than just funny. He can also make you think.

So I'm sitting here waiting for HarryF of SitePoint Forums to give me some more feedback on my lastest crazy PHP endeavor, and I pick up a Sharpie and start randomly doodling. I love Sharpies, because they will write on anything. So I'm drawing stars all over my PayPal IPN manual, and of course, the next logical course of action is to pick up my empty can of Dr. Pepper Red Fusion and start drawing all over it. I'm drawing stripes across the barcode when I see “VISIT DRPEPPER.COM” on the back, so I go there. Did you know there was actually a whole press release for Red Fusion?

My favorite part: “‘Consumers are telling us they want new, unique, refreshing and smooth-to-the-palate carbonated soft drink products in a quest to satisfy their thirst,’ stated Jack Kilduff, Dr Pepper president and chief operating officer.[. . .] ‘A unique, original, mysterious, intriguing, energetic, delicious and smooth new soft drink brand like Dr Pepper's Red Fusion will appeal to bottlers, retailers and consumers, and it will tell the world that we continue to believe that there are ample opportunities to grow volume in the carbonated soft drink category,’ stated Kilduff.”

Who talks like that? Geez.

I am so, so close to being done with my crazy PHP project. I just have to enable it with Paypal, and gods know how long that will take, but everything else is ready to go. Then I will do some screenshots and hand it off.

This has basically eaten up my entire summer.

I spend entire days just programming and missing people. I feel like this weird isolated genius, like from some science fiction movie. This is not entirely true of course. I see people a lot actually. I just don't get to see everyone I want to see. Some are far away. Some are busy. Some are angry with me.

Not only that, but I was talking with someone the other night about how if I like someone, I want to know everything about them. I want them to be my best friend. And this usually just causes a lot of frustration.

Ugh. Anyway, I'm thinking that I might go sleep in my own bed this morning. I haven't in a number of weeks you know. I work until I pass out at my desk and then I wake up a few minutes/hours later and stumble blindly into the pews and sleep. I haven't been to my house for more than a couple of hours in weeks. The last time I spent an extended amount of time there was when I watched the Time Machine with my family.

BTW: that movie is a bit disappointing, plot-wise. Kickass special effects though.

Check out what I learned to do yesterday. Click Here.

Wow. Badass. Pure text, kids. No images involved.

I love CSS because when I use it I still feel smart. Using PHP makes me feel like a fucking moron. Troubleshooting is too much... trouble.

Ack!

Bought this and this today. Easing my pain. I ::heart:: the Kirbys.

It's not because I have a lot of time on my hands.

It's because PHP is driving me, literally, up the wall.

To relieve stress we now have likenesses of “my people”:
Sarah Shawn

Courtney Milton

Jessica Will

Sam Steve

This is not an exact science, okay? Just for fun.

I'm so happy I actually got tired of that. I don't have to worry about getting addicted to it then. :)

I tried taking all instances of the upload out of the PHP scripts and it still doesn't work, so something else is afoot... that's what is driving my mad. I can't find it and niether can the fine people at Site Point.

I have like 2 weeks to get this whole stupid thing running. I'm disliking my “job” very much right now.

I'm on too much caffiene and too little fun. Plus I miss certain people. But that doesn't really have anything to do with the job.

Yeah.

Anyway, move along. Nothing to see here folks.