As a parent, I get this lingering thought that maybe I'm not very good at this and that I could be doing better at raising my child. There are times that I need a reminder that I'm doing OK and that my child is happy and knows he is loved. This morning I got one of those reminders.

Gabriel hopped into bed with us at about 5:20 this morning... It was too late to try to pry him away and put him back in his bed. My alarm when off at 6:30... I hit snooze. (I usually give it a few more goes so that I know I'm getting my money's worth out of the alarm clock.) I was just nodding back off when I was awoken by laughter. I opened my eyes and looked at my son who was grinning ear to ear with eyes completely closed. Gabriel was laughing in his sleep. I watched him as he lay there giggling....

I'm not sure what he was dreaming about but it made him happy. I would like to think he was dreaming about hanging out with his papa, but more than likely he was plotting some revenge or dreaming about making some flying contraption with which he will one day jump off the roof of our house and get badly injured. I hope it was the first thought. In any event he is happy even while he sleeps and thought that's not a parents goal in raising a child it sure makes you feel like you are doing something right.

This morning at about 7:00am, as I was making Twinings English Breakfast Tea, I added water to the accused coffee cup and placed the cup in the microwave. Having read the dishwasher and microwave safe label on the bottom I did not fear for my life.

The timer was about to go off and I stop the microwave, as to not wake the rest of the family. I opened the microwave, grasped the cup and proceeded to remove it from the microwave. The accused cup was so hot that it burnt my ring finger on my right hand.

Needless to say every keystroke containing the letters (L,O,P,period) or the occasional right arrow key has placed me in agony.

If you see this cup and it looks like it has even been thinking about getting in the microwave be very afraid.

I have no Christmas tales. I have tried not to watch too many "holiday specials". I have tried to focus my personal time to reading Emerson, and earlier today some Robert Frost("The Road Not Taken").

I've always made the assumption that this was referring to the Christian's Broad way/Narrow way line of thinking. It's not a bad assumption. Today I thought more about how I look at the world.

I see the same things everyday. I think about how my day went, comparing it to the last or to someone else's. Today I took a different way to work... Slower, but with new scenery, the drive seemed fresh and lively. For lunch today I think I'll walk in the rain down to the river... Just walk, no destination. I'll pack a sandwich and eat it on the way. I'll wave to people and say hi. I'll be honest when asked if I have any change to spare... Maybe I'll make two sandwiches.

I believe once I take measures to take a less traveled existence I can start to make a difference. When the vines grow up behind my path, I'll chop them down to make an easy to trek path. Not so I may return but so others can find me. Maybe I'll get a bike.

This will be my resolution for next year. I'm writing it so I can confront myself in two months, and see how much of the path has grown around me. The destination is not always where we arrive. I ramble.

Days - Ralph Waldo Emerson
DAUGHTERS of Time, the hypocritic Days,
Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,
And marching single in an endless file,
Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.
To each they offer gifts after his will,
Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.
I, in my pleachèd garden, watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes, hastily
Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day
Turned and departed silent. I, too late,
Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.

Related Links:
http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html

function xmlhttpPost(strURL) {
    var xmlHttpReq = false;
    var self = this;
    // Mozilla/Safari
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        self.xmlHttpReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
    }
    // IE
    else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        self.xmlHttpReq = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
    }
    self.xmlHttpReq.open('POST', strURL, true);
    self.xmlHttpReq.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
    self.xmlHttpReq.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (self.xmlHttpReq.readyState == 4) {
            updatepage(self.xmlHttpReq.responseText);
        }
    }
    self.xmlHttpReq.send(getquerystring());
}
// builds the string
function getquerystring() { 
    var form     = document.forms['f1'];
    var searchword = form.searchword.value;
	var division = form.division.value;
    qstr = 's=' + escape(searchword) + '&d=' + escape(division);	
// NOTE: no '?' before querystring
	return qstr;
}

<form name="f1" onsubmit='JavaScript:xmlhttpPost("getlist.php"); return false';>
	<fieldset>
		<legend>CARDS Search</legend>
		<input name="searchword" type="text" 
			onkeyup='JavaScript:xmlhttpPost("getlist.php"); return false';> in 
		<select name=division 
			onchange='JavaScript:xmlhttpPost("getlist.php"); return false';>
			<option value='knoxville'>Knoxville</option>
			<option value='greenville'>Greeneville</option>
			<option value='chattanooga'>Chattanooga</option>
		</select>
		<input type=submit value="load">
	</fieldset>
	<div id="result"></div>
</form>

params = getParams();
id = unescape(params["id"]);

function getParams() {
	var idx = document.URL.indexOf('?');
	var params = new Array();
	if (idx != -1) {
		var pairs = document.URL.substring(idx+1, document.URL.length).split('&');
		for (var i=0; i<pairs.length; i++) {
			nameVal = pairs[i].split('=');
			params[nameVal[0]] = nameVal[1];
		}
	}
return params;
}

I've called most of my friends to let them know about the house... if you did not get a call...
a) I don't know you.
b) I don't know your number. or
c) You need to pay your phone bill... you know who you are.

Yesterday was a complete disaster as far as the general confusion and haste of purchasing a house. I think looking back at the whole process it will seem simple and straight forward. However I now feel I'm being pushed and pulled about like rag doll with a wallet. You'd think someone would have taken the time to look in the wallet and notice it is bare.

This is the house we are currently looking at. I like it, Lauren likes it and most of all G likes it. We put in an offer... if it doesn't through you will can read all about it here... unless I delete this post.

I'm real nervous about the whole process. But I think it's natural. I will tell you more as I know more. see comments later.

When you purchase an xd card it's usually not formatted. If you loose your cable and purchase a card reader... chances are windows/linux will not recognize the "raw" format.

solution:
download photorec.exe from
http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/downloads.htm

<html>
<head>
<script>
function inF(obj,little_help){
    obj.style.borderColor="#6C95C1";
    obj.style.backgroundColor="#E8EDF0";
    printHelp(little_help);
}

function inB(obj){
    obj.style.borderColor="#666666";
    obj.style.backgroundColor="#f6f6f6";
    printHelp('');
}

function inG(obj){
    obj.style.borderColor="#6CD162";
    obj.style.backgroundColor="#f6f6f6";
    printHelp('Format is Correct');
}

function inE(obj,little_help){
    obj.style.borderColor="red";
    obj.style.backgroundColor="#f6f6f6";
    printHelp("<font color=red>"+little_help+"</font>");
}

function printHelp(message){
    //HELPER is the ID of some Div tag that will hold the help messages
    document.getElementById('HELPER').innerHTML= message+" ";
    window.status=message;
}

function checkField(obj,type){
    // takes obl - html object and checks it in various ways
    // type is the type of data it should be formated like
    // Type:(ssn,phone,email,money,notnull);
    var error=0
    switch(type){
        case "ssn":
            if (!(/^[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4}$/.test(obj.value))){
                inE(obj,"Format for SSN is XXX-XX-XXX");
				error=1;
            }
            break;
        case "phone":
            if (!(/\d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4}$/.test(obj.value))){
                inE(obj,"Format for Phone Number is XXX-XXX-XXX");
				error=1;
            }
            break;
        case "email":
            if (!(/^\w+([\.-]?\w+)*@\w+([\.-]?\w+)*(\.\w{2,3})+$/.test(obj.value))){
                inE(obj,"Email format is incorrect");
				error=1;
            }
            break;
        case "money":
            if (!(/\$\d{1,3}(,\d{3})*\.\d{2}/.test(obj.value))){
                inE(obj,"Money format is incorrect ex:[$X,XXX.XX]");
				error=1;
            }
            break;
        case "notnull":
            if (obj.value == ""){
                inE(obj,"You cannot leave this field blank");
				error=1;
            }
            break;
        default:
				inB(obj);
				break;
    }
	if(error!=1){inG(obj);}
}
</script>

<style>
input {
    background:#f6f6f6;
    border: solid 1px #666666;
    font: normal 12px arial;
    color:#000000;
}
</style>

</head>

<body>
    <table>
        <tr>
            <td align=right>Social Security Number</td>
            <td>
                <input type=text name=field1 
                onfocus="inF(this,'Please enter your SSN format XXX-XX-XXXX')";
                onblur="checkField(this,'ssn')";>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td align=right>Phone Number</td>
            <td>
                <input type=text name=field2 
                onfocus="inF(this,'Please enter your Phone Number format XXX-XXX-XXXX')";
                onblur="checkField(this,'phone')";>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td align=right>Email</td>
            <td>
                <input type=text name=field3
                onfocus="inF(this,'Please enter your Email')";
                onblur="checkField(this,'email')";>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td align=right>Money</td>
            <td>
                <input type=text name=field4
                onfocus="inF(this,'Please enter your Money format $XX.XX')";
                onblur="checkField(this,'money')";>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td align=right>Name</td>
            <td>
                <input type=text name=field5
                onfocus="inF(this,'This field cannot be left blank')";
                onblur="checkField(this,'notnull')";>
            </td>
        </tr>
	</table>
	
	<div id=HELP></div>
</body>
</html>

You simply call the functions with javascript onfocus, onblur, onchecked, etc. like this:

<input type=text onfocus="inF(this,'[your message]')"; onblur="checkField(this,'[checktype]')";>

<?
function select_states($name, $selected_state){
# Prints dropdown list of states requires (name of form element

    $sarray = array(1 => '','TN','AK','AL','AR','AS','AZ','CA','CO',
                            'CT','DC','DE','FL','FM','GA','GU','HI',
                            'IA','ID','IL','IN','KS','KY','LA','MA',
                            'MD','ME','MI','MN','MO','MS','MT','NC',
                            'ND','NE','NH','NJ','NM','NV','NY','OH',
                            'OK','OR','PA','PR','RI','SC','SD','TX',
                            'UT','VI','VT','VA','WA','WI','WV','WY');

    echo "&lst;select name='".$name."' id='".$name."'>";

    foreach ($sarray as $sa){
        if ($sa == "$selected_state"){
            echo "<option value='".$sa."' selected>".$sa."</option>";
        } else{
            echo "<option value='".$sa."' >".$sa."</option>";
        }
    }
    echo "</select>";
}
?>

<?

select_states("state", "DC");

?>

<select name="state"><option value=""></option>
<option value="TN" >TN</option>
<option value="AK" >AK</option>
<option value="AL" >AL</option>
<option value="AR" >AR</option>
<option value="AS" >AS</option>
<option value="AZ" >AZ</option>
<option value="CA" >CA</option>
<option value="CO" >CO</option>
<option value="CT" >CT</option>

<option value="DC" selected>DC</option>
<option value="DE" >DE</option>
<option value="FL" >FL</option>
<option value="FM" >FM</option>
<option value="GA" >GA</option>
<option value="GU" >GU</option>
<option value="HI" >HI</option>
<option value="IA" >IA</option>
<option value="ID" >ID</option>

<option value="IL" >IL</option>
<option value="IN" >IN</option>
<option value="KS" >KS</option>
<option value="KY" >KY</option>
<option value="LA" >LA</option>
<option value="MA" >MA</option>
<option value="MD" >MD</option>
<option value="ME" >ME</option>
<option value="MI" >MI</option>

<option value="MN" >MN</option>
<option value="MO" >MO</option>
<option value="MS" >MS</option>
<option value="MT" >MT</option>
<option value="NC" >NC</option>
<option value="ND" >ND</option>
<option value="NE" >NE</option>
<option value="NH" >NH</option>
<option value="NJ" >NJ</option>

<option value="NM" >NM</option>
<option value="NV" >NV</option>
<option value="NY" >NY</option>
<option value="OH" >OH</option>
<option value="OK" >OK</option>
<option value="OR" >OR</option>
<option value="PA" >PA</option>
<option value="PR" >PR</option>
<option value="RI" >RI</option>

<option value="SC" >SC</option>
<option value="SD" >SD</option>
<option value="TX" >TX</option>
<option value="UT" >UT</option>
<option value="VI" >VI</option>
<option value="VT" >VT</option>
<option value="VA" >VA</option>
<option value="WA" >WA</option>
<option value="WI" >WI</option>

<option value="WV" >WV</option>
<option value="WY" >WY</option>
</select>

I think we got caught up in the "hey look this house is much better than the others that we looked at", idea. I thought the house was much better for us than anything that we had seen, and had a nice view/yard. It did however have one of the smallest kitchens that I have ever seen.

One of our main things that a house must have for us is a nice size kitchen. We aren't looking this (See Below). Well we are we just can't afford it. We are looking for something that can be lived in, and changed to suite our needs over time. This can be paint, new floor, new cabinets, new appliances, etc... For any of these items there must be room for them and good structure to hold them.

The kitchen in this house was 16ft X 6.5ft. I'm not positive, but i think that is the same size as our hallway. 6ft is my height. The average counter depth is 36inches so that gives you 3.5 ft to do want ever you want... This limits many of our current past times in the kitchen such as break-dancing, opening the fridge and walking. On the plus side it would reduce mopping time by 98%. The other problem was the ceiling was only 8ft tail standing straight up.

Kitchen we like
Approximation of what this kitchen would look like after this remodel

Better luck next time.

I decided that since most of what I write is code, not pros. I would start including functions a week related to php, perl, javascript, asp, coldfusion, ect... I hope these will be helpful to young programmers. I will start with a simple way to connect and retrieve data from a mysql database using php. This is any easy scripting language to learn... and with this little bit of information you can create all kinds of database applications.

1. Database Location. This can be:
   • "localhost"
   • "ipaddress|domainname:port" -- "192.156.44.74:3306", "example.com:3306" (3306 is the standard port where mysql runs)
   • "localhost:/tmp/mysql.sock" -- socket connection could also be '/tmp/mysql'
2. Username
3. Password
4. Various Client Flags -- usually you won't use these, so I'm just mentioning them

<?
function mysql_db(){
    $connection = mysql_connect('localhost','tim','mypassword') or die(mysql_error());
    $db = mysql_select_db('databasename', $connection) or die(mysql_error());
    return $connection;
}
?>

<?
## make a database connection, return handle.
$db = mysql_db(); 

## simple sql statement
$sql = "select * from tablename";

## Attempt to run sql with the database handle
$rid = @mysql_query($sql, $db) or die("Cannot Execute Query ".mysql_error());

echo "<table border=1>";

## get each database row as a named array. goes to EOF
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($rid)){
    $id = $row["id"];
    $firstname = $row['firstname']);
    $lastname = $row['lastname'];
	
    ## do what is nessesary here with these variables
    ## you can also just use the direct call to the array $row.
    echo "<tr><td>".$id."</td><td>".$firstname."</td><td>".$lastname."</td></tr>\n";
}

echo "</table>";

## close the datbase connection
mysql_close($db);

?>

<table border=1>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Tim</td><td>Hughes</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Willaim</td><td>Shatner</td></tr>
</table>

 Punctuations 

 Quotations 

 Text enhancements 

Currency symbols

 Brackets 

 Mathematical symbols 

 Hyphens, slashes and bars 

 Accents 

Most illegal immigrants in this country not only enter illegally, but they must then obtain documents illegally and create false identities or worse steal another's identity. This is usually done with birth certificate fraud. Between 85 and 90 percent of all birth certificate fraud that is caught by the Immigration and Naturalization Services and Passport Services are genuine birth certificates held by immigrant imposters.

What I don't understand is why no one is bringing up the corealation between our current identify theft problem and our immigration issues. The fact is once you have broken the law, and are "hiding out" you have to continue to break other laws to stay "hiding out". For me the issue at hand is not one of jobs or taxes, but about how America views it's own laws. I work for the 3rd branch, so I probably see "law" differently. I believe that until laws are changed they should be upheld.

Not to change the subject, but another example of how we view "law/justice" in America is the local elections here for Knox County Commission. The Tennessee Supreme court decided to uphold a law that has been on the books for years regarding term limits. This would limit a County Commissioner's seat to two terms. The Elections have not taken place yet, but the preliminary elections took place about a month after the ruling. Most of these Commissioners have been in office for longer than 3 terms. and 13 would have been eliminated from the race, with this law being in place. Keep in mind that these are the people that make laws for the county. Only one person took themselves out of the race. they others all raced illegally. The local media made a big deal about whether or not they would later be kicked out of the commission if the law was to be enforced.

---what---

The local media didn't really talk about how our Law makers blatantly breaking the law. Or about how if you vote for them you are also "kind of" breaking the law. I have a problem with the people who continue to run, but i also understand that they are trying to keep their jobs. I have a bigger problem with the mass of people who still voted for them, knowing that what they are doing is illegal. I don't think a single one of them lost in the primary election. What is wrong with this picture. also If i can find a picture of the rodeo clown that we call County Commissioner I will post it below....
Ok I found one. This is a real picture. She looks like this everyday... usually she is wearing more makeup... I'll try to find one of those too.

Fun Fact:
Between 85 and 90 percent of all birth certificate fraud that is caught by the Immigration and Naturalization Services and Passport Services are genuine birth certificates held by immigrant imposters.

Fish food is eaten by fish. Who eats Cheese food?

We have been looking for a cheap(but not too ugly) dinning room table. We've looked in many different places online, but haven't really found anything too substantial.

One of my co-workers mentioned k-mart. I haven't been inside a k-mart in 2+ years. I know Martha Stewart has some furniture pieces there and since they bought Sears, I thought I would have a look see.

We didn't end up at a nice k-mart. <- I'm pretty sure there is an oxymoron in that last statement. We pulled up to the front of the store and hopped out of the car. You know how toddlers stand, all swaybacked with there bellies forward, feet apart, with a slight sway from side to side. This was a store filled with adults standing just like that. It looked like 40 huge babies walking around, some had mustaches, others had bright red hair, a few were taking a smoke break outside, but they all looked like huge babies. It was awesome. If I had my camera and a cable for it I would post some pictures.

Back to the table. We found a pretty nice one that we might buy.

disclamer: Tim does not endorse smoking babies, and thinks that babies shouldn't smoke or grow mustaches.

"Es fehlen ein paar Glühlampen (siehe Fotos) Es handelt sich um ein echtes ORIGINAL! Kein Nachbau!!"

I'm finally getting a new phone. It turns out my pimped out "GOLD" phone isn't as cool as I thought.

For the past few months I've had to hold the battery close to the phone in order to keep it turned on. I have dropped call after dropped call, but it's not to do with service, the phone just turns itself off. So I'm getting a new phone (the one on the right). This phone has a camera, which probably requires some sort of cable to retrieve the images. I have asked them not to send the cable for risk that I will loose it. It also will take memos, do my laundry and wash my car.

This is one of those free upgrades so I'm not expecting the greatest phone, but if it stays turned on... that's progress, baby.

It was my turn to purchase coffee for work. It has become a game to see who can spend the least amount of money for the best coffee.
I failed.

I was shopping at a food city, when I remembered it was my turn. The cheapest coffee there as a large tub of "Folgers Country Roast".

[I will post an image as soon as I find my cable... see last post.]

The coffee is described as a finely ground medium roast coffee. I figured there really can't be anything wrong with that. I can only assume the coffee is ground finer to hide whatever nasty they have managed to get by the FDA. This is the worst coffee I have ever had.

I tried mixing it with other things to make it taste better, but I think I am going to redirect my efforts into making it useful in some manner that doesn't involving tasting. Wish me luck.

If you haven't noticed, it has been a while since I have posted any pictures on the site.

It's not for a lack of pictures, I just can't find the USB cable to goes to my camera. It turns out there is a standard cable that almost all cameras now use. It also turns out that I didn't buy one of those cameras.

I have about 600 Pictures trapped on my camera with no means of escape. I refuse to buy one of those card readers, because I know as soon as I plug it in I will find the cable. More than likely I will have to remove the lost cable to plug in the card reader, thus finding the lost cable, and negating the purchase of the card reader.

If you run across a lost USB cable... Check it for ticks and send it my way. I looks like this (Artist Rendering)

At work today, I had to replace hopefully the last set of bad speakers. The speakers themselves aren't bad, but they have no volume. They are powered speakers but are quieter than most non-powered speakers. I read the specs on the back "160 Watts P.M.P.O.". Alright... I have had several power amps over the years, from tube guitar amps to digital t-amps. Most of my amps have been 30-50 and I've never been able to turn them "up to 11". I thought I should research this "PMPO", which I will now refer to as "pimpo".

Sound is difficult to measure, and there are many different ways to measure it. RMS, which is what you see most often, stands for "Root Mean Square". This takes a varying quantity squared, averaged it(I think its actually not the mean, but the average eliminating outliers...), then the squareroot is taken. This gives an average or typical value. That seems usable. Then you have "PMPO" which stands for "Peak Music Power Output". I looked around online to find some conversion between the two value systems. It turns out there is no industry standard for PMPO, so there is of course no method of conversion.

Basically what I found out is that PMPO is nothing. It is a marketing tool that companies use. They come up with some number and then create a formula to result in that number. I think its great. I wish I could do this in other areas of life. I would use "pimpo watts" for everything.

Well it's obviously a Microsoft product... and the word on the net is that it is some sort of tablet PC. From the ads on this site.. I think, it thinks its God. I'm not sure... It has some sort of Gates-complex. I will say I'm intriguid, and I want to know more. 3.9.06 is when they will reveal the next product that I can't afford.

Microsoft has this video on youtube.com that depicts Origami. Microsoft reportedly has confirmed that it produced the video but says that it’s old footage and not necessarily a preview of any product in the works. I'll say it's old footage look at the guy from this video. It's 1985 all over again. And the next shot makes me think it's just a glorified etch-a-sketch.

Anyway It shows the product being used in conjunction with all these other products: cell phone, camera, printer, magazine, fish sandwich. Its bigger than a palm and smaller than a typical tablet. If it remains in the palm price category, I can see it being one of the biggest things on the market. If it soars to tablet prices ($1,500+), I don't think many of the people in the video will be able to afford it.

Related Links

http://www.origamiproject.com
http://www.youtube.com/w/Microsoft-Project-origami?v=rV1WGDW37c0&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b)

I have been waiting for a Mac OS to run on a PC. The closest thing without emulation has been BeOS, which I used to use until it became pretty much obsolete. (note: PearPC is a good emulator)

I had read (about the time that Tiger came out) that they where working on an Intel based system. I naively thought that I would be able to run OSX on my cheap PC. That is apparently not the case. According to mac insiders the OS will not be able to run on current Intel PC's. I could however run Windows on my new $2000+ MacBook Pro. (that is four times the price of my second car.)

Wow... I will finally be able to run an inferior OS (windows) on a Mac. Thanks Steve Jobs.

I'm currently running Fedora Core 4 at home and Suse 10 (novell released free recently) at work. My other work box is a gentoo box. I have to say as a desktop I am loving Suse. After I got Lotus Notes and Flash Mx running on it...

Until a full fledged OSX will run on true x86 architecture I will stay with what I have.

There was this Open House today, We aren't familiar with the neighborhoods in KnoxVegas, so we decided to take a gander at this house. We drove up to the gated community, it looked nice, but the houses looked small, so I thought, maybe we could afford the area. The house was a small two story cottage. Beautiful stone work, large Iron door and a wall fountain greeted us as we approached. The roof was made of slate sheiks, which seemed like it would be very low maintenance. The details in the house were amazing from the rounded wall edges to the wooden refrigerator. The price for this cottage was 400,000 or so above our budget. We found out that we could buy a Lot in the subdivision for the amount we were looking to spend on a house and thought we could possibly pitch a tent or buy a cheap camper. The homeowners association forbids animals over 40 lbs, garage doors left open and chickens, among other things, So the tent or camper would probably not fly with the association. Also who would care for my 50lb chicken.