Change is Great and Knowledge is Wonderful

I've been busy the past few months increasing my understanding of the latest trends in dynamic web development. For starters, I was dumb-founded that things I used to know had changed; or grown, or had been modified, or replaced. I wasn't counting on this when I began my trek but on the plus side. I learned about a whole bunch of new things I can play with. Along the way, I was introduced to Python, a computer programming language used in schools and universities to teach programming or solve problems. I discovered WordPress which can make web development quicker using templates, blogs, comments, standard plugins and widgets.

I spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to my database and as it turns out, so much hacking and security flaws have forced providers of Open Source programs (like PHP and MYSQL) to batten down the hatches to prevent people from attacking their websites or worse, corrupting their databases and bringing sites to their knees. I found PHP particularly had at least two rounds of improvements that would help alleviate the hacking problems and was the reason I was having so much difficulty connecting. Some of the original commands have been obsolete for years. I wondered to myself how these serious problems would affect a for-profit business trusting PHP as a candidate for dynamic web development.

Structured Querry Language

Mysql is an Open Source (read free) SQL database and PHP is an Open Source language that can be mixed with HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and  JavaScript in the same program. If you think this is too technical just wait a minute.

About the same time I was up to my neck in PHP and Mysql, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of a summer session at Harvard on building dynamic websites. This was terrific until I realized there is way more to the idea of a dynamic website than just having a database that exchanges data with a web page via PHP. XML is another language for obtaining RSS data in a specific format, and JSON was yet another standard I would have to learn. I was almost sidetracked with Ruby on Rails, but I could see in the first five minutes of chasing that idea it would take way too long to get where I wanted to go.

I have to say they know how to do it at Harvard. This 10 segment video held my attention for almost a week and a half as that's how long it took me to view the whole series. I learned quite a bit and the course gave me a better sense of what is involved in dynamic webs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVLdOBijoco

During my knowledge voyage, I tried Windows 7 for ninety days and tried the new version of Dreamweaver now that Adobe owns it. I have to say I'm not a fan of the new way software is distributed or valued. Microsoft as well as Adobe want you to pay a small monthly fee to use the latest versions of their software. Given their track records on supporting older versions of their operating systems and programs, I'm not about to sign up for that.

I joined the mobile crowd and got an Android tablet and I find it convenient to read email and watch videos. We also upgraded our laptop to Windows 8.1. So I'm still hanging onto the grid.

WEBDOC - Don Filer Responsive Web Design

Deferred Maintenance

That might be another way to say procrastination ‘R us.

For me, 2013 is a year best forgotten. The personal tragic events of last year are still unpleasant and too fresh to allow them to be forgotten easily. Hopefully, time will allow healing.

These are all judgments and opinions, of course, but I noticed my first thoughts that pop up when things don’t go my way, are usually negative and include expenses I haven’t saved for. The pressure of not having enough starts me spinning out of control and into a panic. I don’t know about you, but that isn’t my finest moment usually.

My wife and I were homeowners for 35 years. After her terrible accident, we short-sold our house losing our nest egg and moved into an apartment. During the course of working through the details of the sale, our realtor said, “ the problem with this house is deferred maintenance.” She was referring to all the odds and ends you’d love to have done to upgrade from kitchen appliances and carpet; to all wood floors; to new bathrooms and landscaping.

We did quite a bit to maintain the house. It isn’t like we neglected it. We added a new roof, new fence, new furnace and new dishwasher. We spent too much, in my opinion refurbishing the deck and landscaping.

On a positive note, Kevin, Natalie and my granddaughter are moving to North Carolina as Kevin evolves from a Captain in the U.S. Army to a captain of industry in the financial business. Kevin will make the best of any situation, regardless of circumstances. We were lucky to have a month to have Kevin and his family close by. It's back to cross country trips for a while.

Michelle and her husband, Jason continue to do well and have a lively family life.

March madness

My daughter Michelle passed her RN exams and is comparing offers from several different employers. Since she is starting at the bottom, the jobs are not the greatest but she is at least getting Registered Nursing job interviews. We are very proud of Michelle and her success is well deserved.

Brian, on the other hand, was laid off from Kohl’s and is back searching for employment, possibly in security.

 Kevin is teaching at the University of San Diego and finishing his MBA while he waits to find out what his next duty assignment will be. He and Natalie love and nurture my granddaughter Hannah who is four months old.

Shelley has a lot on her plate in her new position at work and her knee is healing well. I lost a few pounds after taking a new medication. I had to stop the medicine though because it has some pretty harsh side effects.

I have been slow to write something for this blog since I am avoiding negativity as much as I can.  Terrible things have happened across the country. Our legislators want their own way no matter the cost.

It takes “Shooting yourself in the foot” to a whole new extreme. Gun control advocates and the NRA have had more exposure at every turn.

I saw a couple of the year’s Academy award winners and thought they both deserved nominations. Daniel Day-Lewis was also eloquent in his acceptance speeches too. If you like history, you’ll love Lincoln. Zero Dark Thirty was also an excellent film, very well done and quite entertaining. I observed that Quentin Tarantino is still producing and receiving awards for the films he makes. It is somewhat consoling that not everybody likes his work. Argo was good but too much Ben.

Thankful for the approaching New Year

Daughter Michelle and Jason King were married on July 15, 2012. 

Shelley had a complete knee replacement on September 18^th providing her with 6 weeks of rehabilitation time from work. It was a considerable amount of exercise, walking and icing her knee. She also has physical therapy a couple of times a week.

A Joyous greeting to our grand-daughter, Hannah Marie Filer. Mother Natalie and father Kevin are also doing well after a successful labor and delivery November 8^th in San Diego.

Shelley and I visited the southern California Filers for 5 days beginning on November 1^st. I got to see the Air and Space Museum, Sea World and had lunch at Ocean Beach with Shelley, Robin, Paul, Steve, Natalie and Kevin.  A final vacation before Shelley has to go back to work. But the baby was late.

We were very lucky to visit when we did because we had so many get-togethers with family members. In addition to a new baby girl, Natalie has also successfully completed her Masters degree in Psychology. Kevin, not to be outdone, is finishing his MBA from the University of San Diego.

Michelle is finishing her Nursing program at the JC and will be pinned mid December and Brian is working at Kohl’s.

We flew Alaskan Airlines out of Santa Rosa on a turbo prop at 25000 feet. My left ear is still recovering. On final approach to San Diego I noticed a circular building with the title Air and Space Museum as we flew over and just filed it away. Kevin lives about 20 minutes from the airport and he picked us up and we visited their house and said hello to everyone, had a great dinner and left to check in at our hotel. It was after 10 pm and we had to unpack for the night and the next day.

Paul asked if I had ever been to Sea World and we agreed to an afternoon visit after a tour of the Air and Space Museum. San Diego has been synonymous With the Navy and Marines for a century and we visited an outdoor memorial to Bob Hope next to the USS Midway where SDSU would play Syracuse in basketball a few nights later. We gassed up at the Marine Recruitment Center and toured the Naval Training Center which has been decommissioned and converted to commercial businesses. The Central building is now a meeting center and museum. The Air and Space Museum is also thanks to the Navy and it houses a real F-18 Blue Angel and much more. Sea World is a place in San Diego where you can pay $70 to get splashed by a killer whale. The pet show stole the show. Ordinary dogs, cats, birds, pot belly pigs, emus and kangaroos perform. 

Lucy, I'm home.

Father of the bride speach

My name is Don and I am Michelle’s dad. As the father of the bride, I have the privilege and honor of making the first speech and toast to… Jason… and… Michelle.

First I’d like to acknowledge and thank all of you who have traveled a distance to celebrate this occasion. It’s wonderful to meet so many new friends and share with all the old ones.

Michelle is probably worried that I will say something inappropriate or somehow embarrass her in some other way.  You know - I haven’t planned to - but it won’t be out of character if I do.

Growing up and competing with two older brothers honed Michelle’s analytical eye and smooth smile that can charm you out of whatever it is she wants. As she matured, she developed the princess role in the family. 

We probably should have known early on, that Michelle would end up in nursing. I remember her not wanting the shot she was going to get to help her get over pneumonia; or when she fell from the top bunk and cut her eyelid open on the base of a metal chair; or when they stitched it up; or when they took out the stitches, she was a champ. She returned to the emergency room for an encore visit in the first grade after she broke her ankle on the new playground equipment; and again a couple of years ago when she twisted her ankle at the Junior College parking garage.

Michelle, you look beautiful today. You should know that your mother and I are very proud of you and your accomplishments. Keep up the good work sweetie, we love you.

Jason we are happy to welcome you and your family into our family. We are very grateful for your mom Lisa, and your dad Steve, brother Ryan, son Noah and all your relatives who have joined us in this celebration today. We are glad to know you and your kind spirit. May each of you always love and cherish each other as much as you do today.

For a long, loving and happy life together. - To Jason and Michelle.

A word on Word Processing

My first real job out of college was as a technical writer for Multisonics, Inc., a manufacturer of computer based vehicle traffic control systems. Way ahead of their time, Multisonics was one of the first companies to use microprocessors in commercial applications in the early 1970’s. To document or describe the controllers or systems we would write long hand on a lined paper tablet and give it to a typist who would type a rough draft onto regular typing paper. After we proofed the rough draft she would retype the material onto clay-backed paper. Our graphic artist would cut and paste the pages onto art boards; one board for each page in the document.

From the beginning, I thought this process laborious and time-consuming.  It could be messy if something changed and had to be re-inserted into the master and reprinted using an offset printing process. The documents we created included schematic drawings and were user manuals and maintenance guides for troubleshooting and programming the intersection controllers.

The first word processor I ever saw was an IBM Selectric typewriter with an interface / converter attached to it. Having to type the material the first time didn’t bother me. It was just as fast as writing it long hand.  Using a computer to save the file for later use made a lot of sense especially when it came to changes or corrections.  But alas, I could not get the software department to develop a program to run on our computers.

By the end of the decade, personal computers began to appear and one of the most obvious applications needed was a word processor. Tandy had one for their TRS-80 and most personal computer suppliers had one. Before long there were many offerings on the market including Word Star and Word Perfect. 

The evolution of the personal computer industry allowed me to move into new roles with a focus more on selling and marketing products than documenting them but like everyone else. I had my personal favorite too. The passion users developed for word processors was akin to religion. People would explain why their favorite was the best. I remember well the National Computer Conference in 1979 where Exidy introduced a word processor pack for their Sorcerer personal computer. People were begging for an early release copy and would promise almost anything to get their hands on one.

Word Star, Word Perfect, and many others were supplanted by Microsoft Word then Word for Windows. New features were introduced that made word processors very useful, like spelling and grammar checkers, mail merge routines, and forms processing applications.

Word processing made the typewriter dated at best or extinct at worst. The evolution of the printer has trailed behind the word processor and seen technology shift from impact, daisy-wheel, dot matrix, laser jet and bubble jet printers.

Millions of people use word processors every day now and it makes me feel a little warmer inside knowing I had a tiny part in pushing the need for word processing forward.

Hello 2012

Starting off another New Year and lots of tragedy in the news. Italian cruise ship capsized on its side; Penn State Football coach suffers personal tragedy is diagnosed with cancer then dies; Gabby Giffords resigns from Congress and we’re all a year wiser.  The race for the Republican nomination for president is providing lots of entertainment too (I’ll keep my opinion to myself). The San Francisco Forty Niners had a good season, the Oakland Raiders did not and the Raider’s owner passed away.

We got a new fence thanks to my son Kevin and my daughter-in-law Natalie. Natalie’s brother Matthew did most of the work. The fence looks great now. Natalie is finishing her Masters degree in Psychology and Kevin is working his way through the MBA program at the University of San Diego. They both love San Diego and miss being home with family too.

My daughter, Michelle, is making preparations for her July wedding and starting the second half of her Nursing program. My kids are all grownups and it’s kind of weird. 

My sister, Vaughn, is recovering from cancer and six weeks of radiation treatments. That got my attention and I finally honored the requests of several doctors and nurses to have a colonoscopy done. I should not have worked so hard trying to avoid it. It wasn’t worth all the trouble. So if you are stressing over this procedure, don’t. I think the two-day preparation and difficulty making a successful IV connection were the worst part of it.

My brother Mark is having a hip replaced and getting prepared for retirement. We’re all a bunch of ‘old farts’ now. I am trying to maintain a positive outlook, although you might not be able to tell from this blog entry. I will be attaining an age I never thought I would reach and I am humming the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four.”