Daily Archives: September 10, 2008

Caution: More nerd ahead.

Posted on by
2

I don’t ask for much in life. Some ice cream here, some code to work there.. Just the basics.

As you may have noticed, I have my Twitter updates in the sidebar here. I think it’s pretty freaking neat. Well, I also set up a Twitter account for Letters of Love. I installed the exact same plugin I have here over on Letters of Love, and inserted the exact same code. I even tried inserting the same working code I have on this site, using my personal Twitter account, but it just doesn’t work. I don’t understand why.

It won’t work, and I am way too tired to keep screwing around like this. Sigh.

I just might be falling in love

Posted on by
4

Earlier today I posted about grown up things, like politics and money. Now it’s time for nerdy things — specifically, Visual Basic.

I first came into contact with VB when I was either 15 or 16. My then-boyfriend was actually very smart, even though all he did was get high. Heh. One day he surprised me with a disc and told me he made me a present. If my memory serves me well, I thought it was a CD and tried to play it in my boombox. Turns out, it was a CD-ROM with a little program he’d made on it, to display RGB and hexadecimal values when I made colors. Web design was just a hobby for me back in the day, so I didn’t have anything as neat as Dreamweaver or EditPlus. I worked with Notepad and coded everything by hand. If I wanted a particular color, I had to Google for it.

The program he made me was so simple and yet very helpful. I asked him how the fuck he’d done something so cool — because doing things wasn’t normally his thing, you see — and he said he’d been playing around with Visual Basic and had made it for me using that software.

That ex-boyfriend is long gone, but my curiosity about Visual Basic never left me. When it came up that I had to take some kind of programming class for my degree, I didn’t hesitate to take the Visual Basic course.

This is my last semester. I’ve taken plenty of Flash/ActionScript classes, so I’m seeing a lot of similarities. Oddly enough, so far VB seems a lot easier to use. You really don’t have to do a lot of memorizing. Of course, I say this now and maybe a couple weeks down the road I’ll be eating my words, but hey.

Maybe it’s my history with other programming languages, but even the lab assignment — with virtually no instruction — is going to be a piece of cake. The egomaniac in me is hoping I’m the only one in my class who gets it done. :D

Edit: After writing this post, I went to do the lab… and discovered the instructions are in little charts. So much for my egomania. :D

If only my money problems were as easily solved as it is to pick a candidate

Posted on by
3

I finally started really looking into both McCain and Obama. For the most part I agree with McCain’s stand, but there are quite a few things that Obama has proposed that I really like. Obama proposed “eliminating all capital gains taxes on start-ups and small businesses,” which appeals to me. He also would like to make “community college completely free in America” and expand the Pell Grant to more people. I don’t agree with any of his military or diplomacy strategies. I think McCain really does know what he’s talking about when it comes to this. I don’t agree with McCain’s stand on gay marriage, though. McCain doesn’t agree with gay marriage and doesn’t really want to take much action either way, it seems. Obama, though he doesn’t agree with it, would like to laws to allow it. McCain wants to leave it up to individual states. I fully believe that gays should be able to get married. If I weren’t in love with Mike, I might be in love with another woman and I’d like to have that right. I’d also like for my gay friends to have that right.

Politics aside, let’s talk about money! Particularly, my money issues.

Mike and I would like to go to Indianapolis this November to catch a Colts game and spend three blissful days in a hotel there. This is going to cost us anywhere from $300-500 each, depending on whether we fly or take a train/bus. That’s not even factoring in the cost of food and souvenirs.

That’s issue number one.

I am taking two art classes at my college, and the supplies list is, well, demanding. I need to have these supplies pronto, but I’m not expecting any magical bonus in my paycheck. I would like to take my mom out to lunch for her birthday, and I also need to buy my birth control prescription this weekend. (You didn’t need to know that, but it’s absolutely necessary. I’m not ready for kids right now.) Remember the trip to Indianapolis? The idea is to save some money each paycheck. I have $125 in my savings account and pennies in my checking account.

Now, here’s issue number — oh, what are we on? — five?

I am in desperate need of a better car. Particularly, one without electrical problems and altogether not as old. (My car is a 1988 Mazda. Yeah.) I need to have this better car before next spring, because I want to transfer to a university and this university happens to be 30-45 minutes away from where I live. Having a better car is absolutely imperative.

Beyond those problems, xmas is coming up. My mom’s side of the family has decided not to do xmas. We’re going to have dinner, but we are not exchanging gifts. Why? We’re all broke. Still, I normally buy gifts for my parents, sister, grandparents, godchildren, Katarina and Mike. If I have extra money, I normally buy for his family too. Did I mention, dear friends, that Konner’s first birthday is November 27th? Kaylene’s fourth birthday is February 9th, and my sister’s birthday is February 10th. I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself here, but still.

I really wanted to go to Indianapolis. The idea of having three days — if not a little hectic — of privacy, alone with Mike, was like some kind of heaven to me. The fact that neither of us are anywhere near enough ready to pay for this trip is one thing, but factor in everything else? I hate to say it, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I hate to even think this, but I think we should just let it go and maybe shoot for next year. I cringe at the thought, but I think it makes the most sense. Otherwise, how can I afford anything else? Luckily, he has nothing saved toward this. (I just got lucky and got a quickie freelance job for data entry and minor XHTML coding that paid $100.)

Oh, right. I forgot to mention that we would have to buy our game tickets separately, on eBay or something. Those would cost us each $150ish.

Unfortunately, this just doesn’t seem possible. It doesn’t, at all.

Edit: I totally owe Miss Britt and her post about getting informed on the candidates. She got my lazy ass in gear!