Latest News
Launching qwote.com
23 January 2012 at 02:43 AM
A friend and I are launching a new website called qwote.com. The new site is dedicated to the collection and sharing of literary, historical, and fun quotes. I have collected quotes I thought were meaningful or funny in some way since 2003. The basis for qwote.com is actually the little random qwote generator in the sidebar of this site.
Please check it out. It has been a labor of love and I am really proud of the result.
Getting back into MySQL
15 January 2012 at 02:05 PM
I have been doing some updates to the guts of a new site I am going to launch soon that is based on this website. The database structure of this blog is actually very simple. I have 1 table for the blog entries, 1 for the about page, and 1 for the quotes. That was good for getting a site up and running on a database quickly, but I noiw seen the error of my ways. I don't have thet ability to make multiple categories or photos be associated with each blog post or quote. I am now in the process of normalizing my database sturcture to make it more flexible and so I can do things like I mentioned above.
I put off normalizing my datbase for a long time, but now that I am starting to learn how to do it, it's not actually that bad. The SQL queries for some things are more cumbersome than they were for the single table structure, but some quries are actually simpler now. I think the most challenging part of this whole exercise will be getting all the data inserted into multiple tables accurately. Either way, it's giving my brain a good workout and I have a skill I didn't have a couple of days ago. I know I am reinventing the wheel to a certain extent. There are content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal that have a lot of what I am trying to do ready right out of the box. I know I am reinventing the wheel here, but I want to become more proficient with SQL and PHP. I think every programmer has to reinvent the wheel to learn and become comfortable with a language. I just wish I had done more of this when I was younger.
Debbie Downer
31 December 2011 at 02:36 AM
I've been too much of a Debbie Downer recently. I think I can come off a little depressed or as a contrarian. I don't mean come off as sad or obtuse, but it may appear that way sometimes. I'm going to focus on finding the silver lining in my gray clouds instead of finding the gray cloud around my silver lining.
I'm an Introvert
4 December 2011 at 12:18 PM
I think I finally figured out why I am struggling with my current job. I am an introvert. I prefer to work quiet solitude and that is the exact opposite of my job description. I am constantly bombarded with questions and people that need my immediate help. It exhausts and frustrates me. It's not that I don't like to help people, I just don't like being interrupted every 2 minutes to put out a fire or answer a question I have already answered several times earlier in the day. My ideal job would have much less human interaction and let me focus on a couple of things I could do really well, instead of 10 things really poorly.
I also find attending parties with people I don't know or don't know well to be exhausting. The worst part is the chit chat punctuated by awkward silences with the scramble to think of something to keep the conversation going. Every once in awhile I meet somebody I really hit it off with, but those situations are rare. I want to be excited about parties, but I'm not.
Reconsidering my Career Path
20 November 2011 at 02:27 AM
I seem to get myself stuck in jobs with lousy hours and working conditions and my present job is no exception. I make good money, but I'm really starting to hate being stuck at work for 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Some of my present situation is my fault. I need to figure out a way to get more stuff done during the day or have someone do stuff for me. I come in early and stay late to do some stuff that I don't feel comfortable having other people do and also, because if I try to do it during the day, it would take twice as long. I would be fighting to get a machine, I would be preventing people from getting stuff done, and people would be calling me on my walkie talkie every few minutes asking me to help with something. There is a method to my madness, but I can only come in so early and stay so late to compensate for this before I burn out.
I also don't enjoy the drama from my underlings. It's not that they carry on at work, but their life choices make it hard for me to have a smooth running process. I'm constantly dealing with call offs, poor attendance, and sometimes poor work ethic. Often, the work does not get done in a timely manner and what gets done is usually done poorly. Having to reprimand them is emotionally draining for me. I don't mind working with people, I just don't want to be stuck babysitting.
I need to find a job that pays well and doesn't involve constantly feeling like I am under the gun. I just want to get my work done in a reasonable amount of time, go home, recharge my batteries, and repeat. I also don't want to be stuck at work forever trying to work around other people's shifts. I would also like to get weekends off again. I can generally deal with long days, but not getting a couple of days to recover makes the long days even worse. I can't let my 30's slip away like my 20's. I don't want to spend the best years of my life being miserable.
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