Happy Thursday, gang! We’re almost to the weekend! Have you survived?

All things are mostly the same in my neck of the woods. Came across a pretty interesting communication this week. Currently, I work for a software company (that in itself is another story). We are tied to the education industry, and that’s all I’ll say about that. But, there was a communication I was privy to between Teacher X and Sales Person Y. I just had to share this little pearl. You can guess how I feel about the No Child Left Behind deal… :: rolls eyes ::

Teacher X: We learned so much, and I have already begun implementing some of the suggestions you made concerning my ELL students. First thing this morning, I changed their passing score to be 70% rather than 80% on all tests. Hopefully, they will begin experiencing more success now. I have also taken out all lessons beyond 20 for my first grade students. That means that several are very nearly ready to exit the program!

Sales Person Y: I meant what I said when speaking of you being a MODEL implementation! Awesome job!

Come on… Really?

In other news, the new project is moving along. I’m getting probably one feature finished every day or two. Wish I had more time to concentrate on the code, but… I don’t. Both Heidi and I are pretty excited about this new project. I think it’s going to be fun! It’s been a learning experience for sure. At the very least it will be something to add to my portfolio. :)

Well, have a happy Thursday, and see you on the flipside.

I just love shit like the Flo Control. Other guys dream about project cars and putting on a second story for their house. I dream about computerizing everything from the blinds to the flushing of the toilets. I mean how cool would it be to have a PA system in your house, connected to a voice activated computer that would provide you with all kinds of data and help.

Things like checking if it’s raining, and if it is, not watering the plants. Is it cold inside the house? Check the time and see if the sun is in a good position to allow for natural heating and open the corresponding blinds. Are the lights on in a certain room and there are no humans in that room? Turn off the lights… Shit like that.

As with project cars, you need money to do these things… One day I’ll get to indulge my inner mad-scientist. :)

One of my most favorite project houses is linked here. I can’t wait to get something like this setup at home.

Ok, Monday is coming to a close. It was all a hazy ass blur to me. I was pretty much exhausted through the whole thing, and now I am getting ready to call it quits and recharge for tomorrow. Tuesday usually packs more of a punch that Monday, and I have to get ready for it.

Rhys went to the doctor today, and the decision is “Hurry up and wait more!” Doc says he doesn’t want to put tubes in Rhys’ ears given his medical history and the infection does seem to be getting better. He still has fluid behind his ears and if that doesn’t start to get better, we will go ahead with the tubes. But, for now we are continuing on the antibiotics and hoping for the best.

The meds got him feeling pretty bad, so he’s still out of school for this week. Planning on returning to school (and mom back to work) next week. Is it possible things could get back to normal next week?! NO WAY!! LOL

Well, the new project is off and running. And thanks to my last alpha project, or The Chicken, the login code and user maintenance code is done for the new project. Most of that code is pretty generic and moved over with little tweaking.

Now I have to get to the meat of the project. I plan to work most of the week on this and hopefully get something done and working by next Monday.

The ad engine has been replaced by the good folks out at OpenX. Why reinvent the wheel? I should be working on building a better car. ;)

Ok, I’ve had a moment of clarity regarding this project I’ve been working on so long. The gist of it is, I was chasing a chicken… We have a saying around here, “HEY LOOK! A CHICKEN!” It means you’ve got some serious ADD goin on… or something…

Anyway, in other news, Rhys is feeling better and it looks like he might be able to avoid getting tubes in his ears. We will have to wait for the doc visit to know for sure, but here’s to hoping.

LOL I’m just kidding about changing the subject. I’m not that bad. Anyway, I decided to not reinvent the wheel and get back to my initial focus of developing properties, and not programming… If I have to do some programming along the way, great! But the goal is — and should remain — building properties and monetizing them.

Christ… As my counterpart here so eloquently put it, “Welcome to the club. You are officially an old man now.”

This was a response to my complaining that my head hurt and also probably the fact that I look like I rode into work on a stray tornado. No, I don’t mean I look like Buffalo Bill. I look more like Mr. Bill! OH NOOOOOO!

Anyway, the old team from AOL got together and went out last night to throw back some drinks and catch up on life. Much like we used to do on a regular basis for our “Team Days”. Looked good on paper. After all, it was quite enjoyable every other time. Not that it wasn’t enjoyable this time. It was great to see all the friendly faces, and see how life has changed in the last year.

In the spirit of the old days, I decided to smoke a few cigarettes, and throw back a couple three (or five?… don’t remember) vodkas. Well, today I am paying for it. Paying for it, like it was Mexico and I just downed a liter of the shit. Can someone tell me what I enjoyed so much about getting my drink on? Because from my current vantage point, it sucks ass.

Anyway, again it was good to see everyone. But next time I’m pushing that we hang at Starbucks instead of the bar. ;)