July 13, 2008 at 11:14 pm · Filed under dunno, funny
the outer banks, nc. it is my ex-home and the epicenter of dark comedy, delivered in a seasonal spirited fashion. i rather enjoyed (another weekend) packing boxes with wifey and seeing good friends, etc.
i got quite a kick out of this pretty awesome quote from a surfer-dude stop’n’shop employee today when (for whatever strange reason this came up in conversation) describing the smell of dead hermit crabs and explaining how its the storewide notification signal when its time to dispose of one.
“damn, did i just say all that shit about those nasty fuckers?!? good call getting off the beach man. god i hate my life i wanna kill myself.”
Where’s my jetpack? Not far away. The Nintendo Wii 2.0 will be the first large-scale commercial console gaming platform to - no shit here - incorporate a mind-controlled input device. F’ing awesome.
Yesterday was the first time in about a year and a half of using MODx CMS/CMF that I had a need for to use the Import HTML function (in the Manager, via Tools -> Import HTML). I was not only impressed by how fast it performed with a large batch of HTML files, but ecstatic with the yield of the function’s end results.
The task at hand was like this: Port an older, hand-coded HTML site over to a dynamic content management system platform. Ideally without a ton of data entry (by an error-prone human anyway) involved in the process, since the project’s scope didn’t account for that. It did however account for all the original primary body and page title content (with its original markup) needed to remain intact for sake of natural SEO positioning the site’s content had accumulated over the years.
220 Pages of HTML Content.
Um, no. I was pretty much gonna have to enter the data myself or find some mysql database import method that I preferred not have to Google around for another “solution” (hehe).
Once I’d given the Import HTML feature a test run on a fresh dev install and gotten good results, I was 75% finished with the task in under an hour.
All that was left was to prep the HTML pages by batch removing unwanted code (like navigation and header/footer/callout/etc).
This went like this (on a Mac, Windows users could easily follow suit with some Windows-ey yucky stuff).
Grab all the HTML files from the original webserver (since I didn’t have FTP access) using the CocoaWget (a Mac/Linux GUI for WGET)
Create an OS X Automator workflow to open all HTML files with Coda, Edit -> Find, type the opening selection and closing selection tags to remove, pausing for an insertion of a Wildcard symbol, and replacing with an HTML comment that just said <pre><!– Welcome to your new home, MODx. –></pre> !!bonus -> NO REGEX UGLY FUNK REQUIRED !!
Voila, all 220 HTML files successfully imported in 0.21 seconds as MODx documents with the page title as the document title and anything else within the html body tag as into the MODx CONTENT system TV.
June 30, 2008 at 9:16 am · Filed under nerdy, toys, work
so my saturday was consumed by construction of a (nearly finished) wiimote whiteboard (wiimoteproject.com/).com) infrared light pen. i’m pretty much a soldering rookie, so i’ll face that monster later this week. i must drilling a highlighter and managing to install the ir bulb was quite a feat for me, so upon completion it’ll be experience points either way.
if i another rap song with little wayne’s squirrelly stupid voice in it, i swear i’ll jump. off a building. settle down with sounding ridiculous guy.
the new gig is rad. 2 weeks deep, i think its about to get bizzy up in here. bring on the schedule, drza awaits.
An action-packed, very eventful weekend… I think I’ve just now recovered enough to attempt the journaling of it, in usual mediocre fashion.
Travis is off to the big city, whooooo hoooo! Brooklyn Stand Up! etc. etc. He, now alongside the other Symbol Force nerds set off to take over the Rails-powered new mediaverse, starting with a monster client… I’m not sure of disclosure agreements and things, so I’ll just say a pretty dang high-traffic, high-volume paparazzi upload hangout.. Best of luck homies, I’m certain you boys will rep it proper.
On Friday I officially accepted my position as Interactive Media Producer (at least I think that’s my title) - I think the most accurate description of this job is my dream job; or as close possible, considering my geographic family restrictions to the Richmond, Virginia area - which is somehow, the second time around, growing on me again. I didn’t think this incredible of a new media job opportunity would’ve surfaced in the area without being a little closer to DC/Northern Virginia. Again, a bit more credit to the area. So here goes nothin’. I’m stoked, and I don’t surf; therefore, try to avoid the usage of that word. However, to follow - I’m gonna go nuts trying to start the moving process in midst of all this jazz, posting up in RVA until I live anywhere that’s mine. And forget not this - I know myself pretty well, and I know I’m going to become completely absorbed in my new job. I’ll be spearheading the addition of interactive media offerings (rich media, user experience, interactive design structures) to this phenomenal HD production/post-production group in an effort to extend the capabilities of a true “interactive agency.” Good stuff, eh?
To punctuate my super action hero weekend… A surprise Richmond visit from who other than… THE DEAN! Here were the high points…
Oaked Arrogant Bastard (via the only keg in the state of Virginia)
Tommyknocker Black Powder Stout
Southampton Publik House IPA
An outstanding bartender, with a phenomenal classic knowledge of GI Joe characters (more so Cobra than the Joes - but I’ll take it from my pint pusher)
Dean’s homey telling me that he shoots in the 80s then realistically believing that I would play golf in their foursome… ROFLCOPTER, mate. That’s just not how I roll.
DETOURS (of Arizona) website -> DEV/DEPLOYMENT? (preparation)/DELAYS as usual, but we fear not - press on, bug and/or feature squash, DILLIGENTLY (lol) DIG…
all this leads to…
DEPRIVATION (the good kind, sans ZZZs, where assorted browsers and their z-index stacking/rendering/position order aren’t the *only* DESERVING scapegoat; DISTINCTLY, regarding the DROPDOWN DISPLAY.
The DRIVE to Richmond this holiday weekend will most likely be as DROWSY as the Drew (or ‘DRZA’), and as DULL and DELETABLE and DUMB as this post.
***whoa! I almost forgot***
DOCKING DOWNSTAIRSin the DUNGEON with DJ DROP D!!
I give this one re-read after sleeping a full night, and this post will return to - you guessed it, DRAFT.
May 16, 2008 at 11:49 am · Filed under funny, nerdy
Not much to say here, and fact I don’t really even use Firefox since the dawn of Flock - nevertheless, quite awesome death to IE propaganda. I sorta wish there was a big dusty number 6 beside the e icon, but I’ll take it.
