I’ve avoided it as long as I could, but I must now delve into the world of Facebook app development. As a web developer, I guess it was just a matter of time before I would be asked. I’ve spent the past week absorbing some beginner PHP code, immersing myself in the Facebook developer app lingo and pretty much downing ibuprofen like they’re Skittles. I’ve created a fan page that likely nobody will see and I’m attempting to pipe an RSS feed from my site that nobody knows exists. The good news is that I’m my biggest fan. How’s that for moral support?
Not that anyone reads this, but since I have had two, count ‘em two, neglected blogs, I thought I’d clean things up and import the older stuff. This likely means missing images, broken video pointers and duplicate categories. I’ll hopefully get that cleaned up before I get my first visitor…ooooh! Company’s coming!
Maybe it’s the forty-ninth attempt, maybe the twenty-first, maybe the hundred and twelfth. I’m not sure, but I’m trying it again. I’ve almost made it through the first three days, which is better than most of my attempts. My best attempt was over six months. After six months, I have no idea why I went and started up again.
Regardless, here I am again. During my waking hours, I am finding it hard to focus, as I try to break the ritual habits. I’m using nicotine lozenges, so that helps take the edge off. My non-waking hours are great so far. I am sleeping like a rock with fewer chemicals coursing through my system. I recall this from other attempts. I sleep so good that when my alarm goes off in the morning, I tend to only hit the snooze button out of habit, but just lie there awake. That’s new.
My friends and family have all seen me go through this before so I chose to not even mention I was trying again until I made it through at least one day. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” they’d say. “How long will you make it this time?” I’m hoping this time I make it all the way to the end. I truly enjoy smoking, but it’s impossible to quit when you don’t want to. I had to convince myself I wanted to quit. Sure, the improvement in my health is important, but I like the idea of not throwing away about $2000 a year too.
So…on to day four. For the forty-ninth time, wish me luck.
As long as I can remember my mother has been hooked on “All My Children.” It’s quite likely she watched her “story” since before I was born. If something such as bad weather or the president addressing the nation interrupted her noontime show, look out world.
Now, I happen to work for the local ABC affiliate as a web developer. I had on occasion, thought it was funny to tell my mom that I had inside information about All My Children being canceled. She was never amused, saying, “don’t you dare joke about that. That’s not funny.” I got a kick out of how upset she got over a silly soap opera. True, I had my “Days of Our Lives” phase in college, but it didn’t take long for me to stop giving a shit.
Well, imagine my surprise today when I heard official news that it really is happening. All My Children and One Life to Live are going away…permanently. I immediately thought, “oh shit, I wonder if Mom knows yet, and if she doesn’t, will she believe me?” It turns out she did get the news, and she is not a happy camper. On any given day, she can talk your ear off. Today, she had to let me go because she didn’t want to talk. She is mourning the show as if it were her own family, and I guess after forty years, she probably really does see it that way. Hours later, she even emailed me to suggest that it was probably an ill-timed April Fool’s prank. Ha, nice try Mom. You’ve got about 5 months to get used to the idea, so I think it’s time to find a hobby.
Germany April 1945 in Legos
Last night I attended an event hosted by Brickmania Toyworks in Minneapolis, which was one of many events around the world celebrating Obscura Day 2011. The local company that specializes in custom Lego kits even brought in a bartender who served up some delicious gin libations. It was good fun.
Among the ginormous Lego models and working trains, I learned a couple things. First, I don’t think I’d ever have the patience for something like that. I applaud their love of the hobby and their attention to detail. Just thinking about the hours it must have taken to build these city-scapes, wears on me. I also learned that Lego fans also love tattoos. There was more ink than a squid family reunion last night. Granted these tattooed folks may have been more fans of Obscura than Legos, but I digress. It was an interesting group to say the least.
I snapped a few pics from my phone, but none of them could really do justice and couldn’t capture all of the details of the models.
Do yourself a favor. If you hear of odd things happening in your backyard, even if it doesn’t sound like your kind of thing…check it out. Expand your horizons a bit.
I’ve avoided it as long as I could, but I must now delve into the world of Facebook app development. As a web developer, I guess it was just a matter of time before I would be asked. I’ve spent the past week absorbing some beginner PHP code, immersing myself in the Facebook developer app lingo and pretty much downing ibuprofen like they’re Skittles. I’ve created a fan page that likely nobody will see and I’m attempting to pipe an RSS feed from my site that nobody knows exists. The good news is that I’m my biggest fan. How’s that for moral support?