2 things today. First, I get bitched at a lot by my computer savvy friends about my web page, saying that it's too simple and that tables are so 2001. Here is my response: 1+1=2, and 3-7+9-5+14-3-4+1-6=2. Just because it's more complex or newer doesn't mean it's better. Tables are simple, work well for most browsers, and what's better than php, css and DIVs is that the menu at the top (which I like as I am the primary user of this page, it's a mobile favorites page with an incidental blog about my adventures) doesn't have to reload every time you navigate around. For example, with the blog archives, with all the content and pics on one document it'd take forever to load, but I only keep about 5 posts with minimal pics there so it loads like lightning. The javascript for the menu is the fattest part of the page and loads last as it executes. If every time you wanted to look at, say, a project, or my apartment, or my MRI you had to reload that menu, load times would be 2x-4x higher. Tables, frames, and java are an elegant solution, though they may not be as geek savvy as people think they should be.
  So, for those of you who have accused me of not understanding the languages and therefore not programming in them, I offer this new bit of Geek Fodder: My IP DNS Router. From home, I have like 11 computers and want remote access, but being behind a dynamically assigned IP of a cable modem and then a router with a dynamic IP table, it's hard. Well, here's my solution. Using DNSer, which is a service installable script which accesses the admin panel of your router to find the WAN address in the html and then can broadcast it to a specific server, I capture my cable's IP every 10 minutes. This program is set up to automatically send to any of a million Dynamic DNS services out there, which exist for people without webspace but who want to host a site from home, but that's not what I want. I have webspace and just want file access to home. So, I had to write a php client to accept this IP address, and then do SOMETHING with it. I came up with this: Surfrock66 Home Beta. The PHP code has 2 commands, 1 which accepts an IP argument and simply passes the IP to a log file, and the second to take that log file and create dynamic links to it pointing to the various services my home network offers. I consider this very secure, although I haven't passworded the php file (which I could by foldering it and using a .htaccess file, if it becomes necessary, but 1 who wants to fuck with me and 2 it'll slow the process down) but I don't allow remote access to the router admin so no one can mess with that (plus it's MAC address filtered, so you have to have my computer or one on the net to access it, and if you have that I have much bigger problems than Wireless leeching) and all the services are passworded. Voila. Feel free to use this code, I couldn't find a good solution so I had to write it, the source is available here. (Right click and save target as, it'll still execute if you view it)

  On a slightly more morbid note, I don't know if a lot of people are aware of this but I draw A LOT. Most of it is doodling, but if I get an image in my head every once in a while I'll make it more involved. I had this image I had to put to paper, when I was done I found a lot of meaning that I didn't intend to put into it, but I present it to the world for your viewing pleasure/horror, I think it really accurately depicts how I feel right now.

  My whole life, people have told me I'm smart. I have always been told I'm very logical, I'm very just, I can see options outside what is most apparant, I come up with creative solutions. I love philosophical thought, I love following ideas to their extreme possibilities. I love to find solutions that benefit everyone while causing the least inconvenience. I love creating, working with my hands, building, designing, and fitting needs with solutions. I love making people laugh, and when there's some explicit power or experience differential such as Orientation Leader and Incoming Freshman, I love providing guidance and performing in front of the group. I'm told I'm an expert at helping people understand things they don't understand. Yet, with all these things I've been told I'm good at (I refuse to say I think I'm good at something, since I don't trust myself as an authority on comparing myself to others), and all these things I love, what am I supposed to do with my life? Is student affairs for me, or is there another job I should be doing? I feel like I just want a job one day, not a job where it's an expectation to do 200% of what is on paper, but something that I do because it has to get done and then for doing that I can go about my life. Work is to provide us the means to live the life we want to live; if I like playing video games then I work so I can afford to play video games. I hate coming home with a pile of things to do that interefere with my ability to live my life or try to make a life. My occupation is both student and student affairs professional, and I come home with tons of stuff to do for both. This can't go one forever, and if it does I can't do it. I don't care how nice I look to my boss or how much I'm sucking up more than the people next to me, volunteering for extra stuff that goes into my personal time isn't worth the money, especially if I do the things I get paid for and this isn't in that description. For the last 22 years all I did was work, especially for the last 5, I've had no break whatsoever, and I've gotten to feeling like I don't live. I don't know what I'm gonna do in life, I'm finishing this but if this or isn't my career after this, I don't know what to do. For sure, I can't do any more school. That's what follows me home, and I need no end it. I'm more than open to suggestions if you think you know the career I would be great at that I could get a job in without any additional schooling.

  Want to see my whole brain? Please click here, I love this photo set and it amuses me greatly! They didn't find anything really wrong, so this photo set is the most significant result of the MRI, and it's so rad since how many people have images of their own brain???