The disaster which is my home office

October 18, 2007 by 2 Comments
The disaster which is my home office
The disaster which is my home office

Why did I just take a picture of this mess and post it? I’m not exactly proud of my setup, compared to other people’s swank chairs, multi-monitor setups, and so on. There’s nothing really noteworthy about the picture, really.

So, why post it, then? Well, I’m trying to motivate to clean this mess up, and this picture is going to serve as my “before” photo so I can see what kind of progress I’ve made. I’m realizing that I really downplay any progress I actually make when I set out on a task and that really feeds my sadness, anger and depression. Maybe having something tangible to measure against will help me get out of this hole I’ve dug myself into.

Okay, why not keep it to myself, then? Well, posting this publically makes me feel more accountable. Now, you all have seen it and those of you who are inclined to, can help me stay motivated to work on it.

This is an experiment. Hopefully a change in approach combined with the Wellbutrin XL I just started taking can help make a difference.

Tags: , ,

Filed Under: Dossy, Dossy and more Dossy! 2 Comments

Find fun questions in your web referer logs with Google Analytics

October 17, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I know that reviewing web referer logs is nothing new, but Google Analytics lets you filter your view. One use for this is to find search queries that were posed in the form of a question using the common question-forming words who, what, when, where, why and how.

Perhaps undocumented, but well-known to programmers, is the technique of concatenating terms with a pipe character (the “|”) which means “or”. This way, we can create a single filter containing all those words at once.

Screenshot of Google Analytics Keywords report filtered on 'who|what|when|where|why|how'

Try it out, see what kind of questions people were asking that resulted in a click-through to your site. Maybe you can add content to your site that better answers some of those questions and help future visitors who ask a similar question.

Tags: , , ,

Filed Under: Geeking out Leave a Comment

Running AOLserver … on the iPhone?

October 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Apparently Eric O’Laughlen has managed to compile AOLserver for the iPhone. Then, he went and forked the code into what he’s calling “Joggame Server“. (If you thought “AOLserver” was a bad name, it’s nothing compared to that!)

I haven’t jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, sticking with my old Treo 650 for now, but this makes me wish I had access to one. Running web applications locally on the iPhone opens the door to applications that are usable online as well as offline. Of course, someone has to write such applications, first, which remains to be seen.

Still, maybe this will help get some new folks interested in AOLserver and that can only be a good thing!

Tags: ,

Filed Under: AOLserver Leave a Comment

del.icio.us/dossy links since October 8, 2007 at 09:00 AM

October 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

del.icio.us/dossy (RSS) links since October 8, 2007 at 09:00 AM:

Filed Under: Links Leave a Comment

Better living through chemicals, chapter 2

October 11, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Last year, I started taking Paxil CR. Today, my doctor decided to add Wellbutrin XL to the mix, starting with a 150mg dose, possibly going up to a 300mg dose. In a few weeks, we’ll see how it goes.

Coincidentally, today I received an unsolicited invitation to join the Depression Support group at the Revolution Health website. The irony is, what depressed person wants to hear another person whine about how crappy their life is? It’s like taking advice on how to stop drinking from a currently abusing alcoholic.

Lately, my wife has been using my car more than I am–because I don’t need to drive much any more–and she went and took out the Pink Floyd CD from my CD player and swapped it with an Indigo Girls CD. As I got into my car to drive home from the doctor’s appointment today, Prince of Darkness started playing–a song I haven’t listened to in quite a while. The first few lines really made me cry (which is not good while you’re trying to drive):

I don’t know when I noticed
Life was at my expense
The words of my heart lined up
Like prisoners on a fence

My dreams came in like needy children
Tugging at my sleeve
I said I have no way of feeding you,
So leave

Sadness is an incredible emotion; it seemingly has no limit.

Tags: , ,

Filed Under: Dossy, Dossy and more Dossy! Leave a Comment

Dilbert: It only seems that way because everything you say is wrong

October 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

It’s days like today that I feel like Scott Adams has been watching my relationship with my wife from behind the fourth wall:

Dilbert 2007-10-09: It only seems that way because everything you say is wrong.
(click for full size)

Girl: You treat every conversation like it’s a contest where you have to be the one who is right!

Dilbert: It only seems that way because everything you say is wrong.

Girl: See? There it is!

Dilbert: I’m pretty sure that was you again.

Thank you, Scott. I sent this to my wife and we both had a laugh–perhaps a nervous one–today.

Tags: , ,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Leave a Comment

del.icio.us/dossy links since October 1, 2007 at 09:00 AM

October 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment

del.icio.us/dossy (RSS) links since October 1, 2007 at 09:00 AM:

Filed Under: Links Leave a Comment

A simple MySQL client in Tcl/Tk using mysqltcl

October 5, 2007 by 25 Comments

Yesterday, Ron Cripe emailed me asking if I knew of any simple examples of how to use Tcl/Tk with MySQL. I knew about mysqltcl and pointed him in that direction, but he said he needed an actual example on how to use it.

I’ve done a lot of Tcl programming but have mostly avoided doing GUI’s with Tk, so I figured this might be a good opportunity to do some learning, myself. I quickly wrote a simple application that connects to a MySQL database, then lets you execute queries against it and displays the results. You can download it here:

It’s named .txt to make it easier to download–just rename it to only .tcl (removing the .txt) once you’ve saved it.

When you start the app, it presents you with a simple login dialog:

mysqltcl-client login dialog

Enter your username and password, change the host, port and database values if necessary, and press Enter or click the Connect button. If all goes well, the login dialog will go away and the query window will appear:

mysqltcl-client query dialog

This is an example of what the query dialog looks like after executing a SHOW TABLES query. Very simple, not terribly exciting, but what do you want for a 5KB, 181-line Tcl script?

If you have Tcl, Tk and mysqltcl installed, go ahead and grab a copy of this script and check it out. If you have questions about the code, just ask: I’ll try my best to answer them.

Tags: , , , ,

Filed Under: Geeking out, Open Source, Tcl 25 Comments

Jo Lupo says: There’s plenty of backdoor access for everyone!

October 3, 2007 by 3 Comments

During last night’s Eureka episode, “A Night at Global Dynamics,” a priceless line was spoken by Jo’s character: “Boys, there’s plenty of backdoor access for everyone!” I couldn’t believe the script writers got away with it! I tip my hat to you guys, I’m still laughing and smiling at that scene. To preserve this gem of television magic, I ripped it off the TiVo and uploaded it:

Tags: , ,

Filed Under: Believe it, or not 3 Comments

How hard can it be to find geek friends?

October 2, 2007 by 13 Comments

I recognize that a large part of my depression stems from my frustration with not having any hardcore, ubergeek friends. How do you go about meeting them, though? In a bout of desperation–yes, I’ll try just about anything at this point–I posted this to the New Jersey “strictly platonic” area on Craigslist: Looking for more geek friends.

I’m just looking for more geek friends, trying to post in all different places to find ’em.

Are you into social software, blogging, web development, brand management, graphic design, publishing, writing, information technology, “Web 2.0” (gag, I can’t believe I just used that buzzword)? Into DIY tech stuff, hardware hacking, modding?

Looking for someone to geek out with, someone who actually “gets” what you’re talking about and finds it as exciting as you do? Tired of trying to explain stuff to your non-geek friends, only to be met with glazed eyes and head-nodding?

Lets be friends–especially if you’re in Northern NJ. There’s just not enough of us in the area.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Craigslist has much traffic in New Jersey. Maybe someone who’s like me is similarly searching and we’ll somehow find each other. Here’s to hoping, anyway.

Tags: , ,

Filed Under: Geeking out 13 Comments
« Previous Page
Next Page »