I hate Valentine’s Day for the same reasons you do.

February 16, 2003

Well, I told you I’d have a new layout, and as promised, here it is. I’ve painted myself back into the same corner I did with one of the first incarnations of my website in that the links on the side are the same on every page, but only because I’ve put them on every page by hand. That will have to do for now. I don’t have any plans on changing the links or site navigation controls on the side just yet, and that gives me some time to figure out exactly what I need to do to fix that. Some of the highlights of the changes that I’ve made include a better navigation system on the left-hand side of every page, no more of my link buttons on the bottom of the page constantly blinking and moving (which was probably my #1 complaint), and best of all, a fixed webcam image. No longer will it auto-refresh every 15 or 30 seconds (I don’t remember what I had it on before), but it’s always just the latest image that’s been taken when you load a page. If you click on the image or the AndrewCam link below it, a smaller window opens up, and the image in there automatically changes every 15 seconds if I’m on cam at the time. That way those of you running Internet Explorer won’t hear that “click” sound every 15 seconds or so as you’re browsing my page and the frame reloads. That’s also so if you want to keep the cam window open, you can go to other web pages but still have the mini-window open. Go ahead and try it! I’ve actually been on cam fairly frequently in the last couple of weeks, as I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time in front of my computer for one reason or another. What I’d really like is a way to have some sort of static page information put on every page that I create and would change automatically on every page that I’ve made when I update the master source. I have a few ideas about how to do that, but really, I need to learn a bit more first. But as I said, I’ve got some time to do that.

Just not the time I need. I’ve been working on a project that’s due next week in my African International Relations class most of the weekend, and I’ve managed to produce about four of the six to eight pages I need. Not bad for a paper that’s due on Wednesday. I have to take part in a roundtable discussion/debate, though, so I need to make sure my paper is well-prepared (as well as myself). I’ve been sharing sources and working with a friend of mine in the class, and that’s helped a bit. I didn’t do anything for Valentine’s Day…again…though I guess it’s OK since I’m not dating anyone currently. I don’t remember the last time I did something for Valentine’s Day, actually. I had to be reminded by my ex-girlfriend what I did for her during the one Valentine’s Day we were dating, so I guess that truly was pretty unmemorable. Sorry, Heather, guess I screwed that up! Before that, the last time I can remember doing anything was in about 1997 when I was dating a girl in high school, and that was even less than what I did for Heather, though Alexandra and I were circling the drain at the time and there wasn’t much that I could do. Someone accused me the other day of being unromantic–this is someone who has never dated me, I might add–and I was happy that Heather actually stuck up for me. I guess I make up for crappy Valentine’s Day by being nice the rest of the time.

Let me talk about this horrible holiday for a second before I go on. Maybe the reason why I’m no good at Valentine’s Day is because I hate the holiday. I really dislike it. I don’t see a point to it. Everyone always talks about how it’s an invented holiday by the chocolate and greeting card companies, and I mostly agree. I understand the origins of the holiday and how important Saint Valentine was to the Christian faith, but his association with the holiday as the patron saint of lovers mystifies me. I dislike being told that on this particular day I have to buy things for my significant other and take her out to dinner to shower affection her her when really. those are things I should be doing all the time. Well, the affection part, at least. The rest of it is just consumerism gone bad. I guess that’s what we get for living in a corporate-controlled capitalist society. Viva big business!

Speaking of big business, last night I visited the movie theater and caught “Daredevil”, the newest of the comic book franchise movies to be released. Honestly, it was pretty good. Not as well done as “Spider-Man”, not as fluid as “X-Men”, but good nonetheless. I’ve always had an interest in the character of Daredevil though I’ve never read any of the comics (actually the only big superhero comics I’ve ever read are the Batman and Superman comics, though I know so much about the characters most of my friends think I’ve read them all), for he is by far one of the most interesting superheroes put into print. The premise is that as a boy, in an accident involving some sort of biological/industrial waste (I believe he was hit by a truck carrying radioactive material in the original 1964 comic) the main character lost his sense of sight although his other senses were greatly advanced. The biggest change was he got a sort of “sonar” ability (they incorrectly identify it as “radar” in the movie, though since it’s sound-based I have to say it’s sonar) to sense where sounds were coming from and then his brain could construct an image in his head from the sounds. His balance and touch were also heightened, allowing him to perform acrobatics that most people cannot, hence the name Daredevil. And like all superheroes, he prowls around the city after dark in a tight leather costume looking for thugs to beat up, avenging the innocent, protecting the good, fighting evil, blah blah blah. You know the story. It’s a bit more violent than “Spider-Man”, though I think the source material calls for it. Anyway, it was worth the price of admission for me, though those of you who know me know that I dig this kind of thing. They showed a preview for the new “X-Men” movie coming out in May, too, which means that this year will see the release of three major superhero/comic franchise movies (”Daredevil”, “X-Men 2″, and “Hulk”) and at least one minor comic book franchise (”The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, one I’ve never heard of). On the way back from the theater, I was trying to think of what comic franchises haven’t been tapped yet, and not many came to mind. Guess we’ll find out.

So I’ve been writing all day, and I’m pretty tired of sitting in front of my computer. I’ve gone over to my couch and played on my Playstation a few times today, but I keep getting frustrated with the game I’m playing and quit. Hmmm…guess that’s about it. Oh yes, I can think of one thing. Last summer I got an email from someone named Jay Self who had found my website whle searching the Internet, so we’ve been emailing back and forth since then. I guess we’re very distant cousins, but we haven’t actually stopped to compare family trees. I doubt that would get us very far, anyhow, since I can’t trace my roots back more than a few generations, and I’m sure whatever connection we have goes back further that that. Self isn’t that common a last name. Anyhow, he wrote me coincidently right after I posted my piece about the shuttle Columbia and reminded me that he lves in Nacogdoches, TX, which is of course where the center of the recovery effort is. He also sent me a picture of him next to a pretty big piece of debris, too. Anyhow, I sent him a link to my site and had him read my piece, and he told me that he forwarded it on to a friend of his at NASA in Houston. I spent about six hours on my website on Thursday getting everything finished so on the off-chance that my words are read over at NASA, at least my site will make an impression. Pretty cool stuff. I’ll have to go back and check my web server logs to see if I’ve gotten any traffic from a .gov domain.

That’s about it for now. Another full week ahead of me, and I get to start it off with my 9 AM Quant class. Wish me luck. Have a good week, everyone, enjoy the new layout, and let me know what you think if you have any thoughts, suggestions, etc. See you later.

Posted in Geekery, General