"Planet Unicorn Christmas" written by Jim on estrip.org

Category: internets

03/12/08 09:53 - 29ºF - ID#43645

Planet Unicorn Christmas

Permalink: Planet_Unicorn_Christmas.html
Words: 7
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

03/12/08 03:59 - 34ºF - ID#43639

SQL

My ability to write SQL is severly atrophied, and I hate it.

jim writes at 09:09:53 03/13/08 - Comment #32675: Wrong account? LOL

megan writes at 11:45:28 03/12/08 - Comment #32660: UPDATE users, outtatheloop SET users.intheknow = 1 WHERE users.uid = outtatheloop.uid AND users.tony = 'awesome';

My SQL's OK. My Ruby... not so good.

Sometimes I like to Megahurts my RAM in public, but i'm going to end up LOLing my ROXORZ if I keep it up... Yeah.

And SQL actually stands for Shugga Quit Lieing, and I'm telling the troof.

PS. just remember to fully qualify your columns with the table name in order to avoid selector ambiguity so that the DBMS doesn't scream at you. Cause that's the last thing you need happening. Crazy DBMS's.... shesh.

jim writes at 10:00:56 03/12/08 - Comment #32652: Structured Query Language, it's relational calculus - math for interrelated data sets.

So you could select all entries that have a username of felly:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='felly'

But it gets more complicated then that when you need to retrieve/update results from across multiple tables of data.

fellyconnelly writes at 09:51:36 03/12/08 - Comment #32650: Super Queer Lesbians?
Simply Quiet Lasers?
Sandy Quests Lust?
Sadley Quaint Losers?

i could go on....

jim writes at 05:39:06 03/12/08 - Comment #32633: It went really well, 15 people I think. I ended up finding my new job via the last Ruby meetup, so I'm really happy to be involved in it. I present at all of them - playing at teacher ;)

carolinian writes at 05:36:33 03/12/08 - Comment #32632: Oh sh*t, I missed the Ruby meeting. How did it go?

carolinian writes at 05:32:02 03/12/08 - Comment #32631: So no going nuts and doing stored procedures and custom aggregates anytime soon?

jim writes at 05:31:10 03/12/08 - Comment #32630: SQL is fine, I'm just not used to writing complex queries anymore.

paul writes at 05:02:28 03/12/08 - Comment #32628: You hate SQL or your atrophied ability?

Permalink: SQL.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

03/11/08 09:41 - 29ºF - ID#43624

1 job down, 2 jobs to go.

OK, my one contracting job seems like it's done. Now I've just got my new full time job (going super well so far, 2nd week in) and some part time at-home contracting stuff to Roswell to work out tomorrow. And a ton of email to catch up on. Oh and I'm out of town for a week in a week. Hmmm... forgot about that. Programming conference in SLC and then visiting family for a few days. Still busy then. Oh well.

But basically, things are sweet! Light at the end up the tunnel? Can't wait for spring: take more photos, get out of the house more... yuck, cabin fever. Plus, it's my birthday at the start of April so ... 29. Seems like it'll be a good year. Get a house I hope.

Gotta go, have a good night everyone.

Permalink: 1_job_down_2_jobs_to_go_.html
Words: 138
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

03/04/08 11:25 - 26ºF - ID#43557

New Job

I love my new job so much.

That's all. OK gotta sign off. Peace :)

Permalink: New_Job.html
Words: 14
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/02/08 11:36 - 28ºF - ID#43528

Flight of the Conchords

Now an HBO series

The Humans are Dead

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

Bowie in Space

Permalink: Flight_of_the_Conchords.html
Words: 37
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: lawl

03/01/08 12:11 - 29ºF - ID#43520

Too Awesomely Something...

This book is available on Amazon: Cube Chic

Permalink: Too_Awesomely_Something_.html
Words: 16
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: programming

02/28/08 11:02 - 10ºF - ID#43494

MacRuby

Apple has created a version of Ruby that runs on top of Objective-C.

OK, holy crap. This will be like the only non-objective-c Mac programming platform that's officially supported and hooked into Cocoa from the ground up. The future of Mac apps might just be Ruby, dropping down to Objective-C where you need the hardcore number crunching performance.

james writes at 10:09:04 03/02/08 - Comment #32314: What's a Ruby?

tiburon1724 writes at 05:58:12 02/28/08 - Comment #32218: I have no idea what you're talking about, though I wish I did :(

jim writes at 12:18:29 02/28/08 - Comment #32193: I guess my point was that unlike the scripting bridge, or the java bridge, MacRuby has all the regular ruby objects descending directly from their NS counterparts. So all ruby strings are descended from NSString, etc... just seemed to me like it went a lot further then RubyCocoa or PyObjC, but I'm not as familiar with PyObjC as with RubyCocoa.

Anyways, I just looked at MacRuby for a few minutes at the start of the day and won't get a change to play around with it until the weekend, so my impressions aren't even half baked.

carolinian writes at 12:11:51 02/28/08 - Comment #32192: There's also PyObjC, the python tie-in. I haven't messed with Ruby, but PyObjC was a real PITA to work with, largely because it didn't have the real nice integration with XCode that Objective-C did and because PyObjC programs are structured codewise in a that's totally different from the proper order that Obj-C programmers expect them to be in.

It's also going in the other direction as well. With the enhancements that Apple's made to Obj-C, it's more like a scripting language, e.g. they added garbage collection to Obj-C 2.0 as well as a foreach-ish loop syntax.

In spite of Apple's moves to make Obj-C more like a scripting language, they still haven't included regular expressions in their API. something which astounds me to no end and makes all my scripting friends say "you gotta be kidding me!" When tasked with searching through lots of text for very specific things, it's at that point that non-Obj-C scripting languages provide a definite advantages as a workaround to Apple's stupidity.

Apple introduced the ruby scripting bridge to Leopard and you might have some fun playing with it.

:::link:::

Permalink: MacRuby.html
Words: 66
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: life

02/26/08 03:15 - 31ºF - ID#43470

Salt Lake City

I'm going to this regional Ruby Conference

in Salt Lake city the last weekend in March. I'm staying after the conference to visit with my family (I'm originally from SLC). It'll be nice to see them after 18 months. I miss my Dad and everyone else :)

I wish I could go to the Rails Conference in May in Portland Oregon, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. And by the cards, I mean my credit card is already creaking from the weight of other stuff.

Permalink: Salt_Lake_City.html
Words: 91
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: transportation

02/25/08 07:26 - 28ºF - ID#43459

Mini Cooper?

Paul put this thought into my head last night...

They are actually much cheaper then I'd assumed. I thought they'd be $30k plus, but this one is $21k.

jim writes at 04:08:49 02/26/08 - Comment #32115: It's sort of within my budget if I buy it with a 5 year payment plan. I was looking at used Mini Coopers and they are all barely less expensive then new, so it seems like getting a new one would be the way to go.

mrmike writes at 03:43:28 02/26/08 - Comment #32114: They actually BMW's. BMW makes em. I still want one. Too bad my budget set Neon or something bland like that. Minis are awesome and I can actually fit in.

drew writes at 09:26:06 02/26/08 - Comment #32094: I want one.

But if you REALLY want a tiny car with good gas milage, find yourself a used Geo metro. I had one, and I loved it.

jim writes at 09:10:00 02/25/08 - Comment #32082: Thanks :) I have to figure out how to drive manual LOL.

jenks writes at 09:09:06 02/25/08 - Comment #32081: p.s. the guys at the local dealer (Towne) are really nice. I always go for test drives. They let you go out ALONE, and they have a little map of a 'fun' route for you to take.

jenks writes at 09:07:49 02/25/08 - Comment #32080: do it do it do it!

It's actually more or less a baby BMW.

And fwiw- mine (an '03 "S" with ALL the options except their nav system) was about 25K when I bought it new. My brother bought the EXACT same car ('03 S with all the same options) used, in '06, and it was about 23K. Point: they keep their value really well.

The new ones are cool too. Push button start, bluetooth, blah blah. And the mileage is even better.

jim writes at 08:09:21 02/25/08 - Comment #32076: I am liking it more and more as I read about it. The engine automatically turns off when you are stopped, and then turns back on again when you touch the gas. 37 mpg hwy / 28 mpg city. It's mostly highway between my house and my new work. So it's a peppy little car that's not horrendous on fuel efficiency, and costs only a couple thousand more then the Scion I was looking at.

paul writes at 07:55:11 02/25/08 - Comment #32075: Jenks has one and it is so cute.

jim writes at 07:28:03 02/25/08 - Comment #32074: I just want a tiny car with good gas mileage.

Permalink: Mini_Cooper_.html
Words: 30
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: transportation

02/24/08 05:13 - 30ºF - ID#43450

Have to Buy a Car

This is the car that I'd like to get. I know, I know, everyone seems to hate Scions but I like them.

Not that I'll get one, I'll probably just buy an old used Jetta or Camry or Civic or whatever... Need to start hauling my ass out to Amherst for work every day.