Blog 080 > Browser Dilemma!

Gahhh. On the heels of my anime dilemma comes the browser dilemma which probably faces every web developer or blog customizer: Backwards compatibility or not?… Now that I’ve received enough unique hits per day to start considering it, what do you do when your preferred browsers for development (in this case, both IE 7 and FF 2) are used by 40-50% of the visitors, but older versions (IE 6) are used by another 40-50%? Like I said, gahhh!… Similarly, looking at this Kiddy Grade photo taken from my first Canon photoshoot back in November 2006, and knowing what techniques I know now after more than a dozen photoshoots, I could improve or redesign this photoshoot as well, couldn’t I? Or perhaps not. Why not leave earlier versions in the past? Well, because user applications are a bit different from images. And because I’m a nice guy, lol. So tonight, I decided to tweak my blog and website to be “a bit friendlier” and “less broken” in IE 6, while still being viewed best in IE 7 and FF 2. Good enough? I hope so! I’ve spent enough friggin’ time on this!!!

Blog 065 > Tutoring Vanessa = Chowking!

Definitely not your typical Mother’s Day Sunday! At a very-early 8am in the morning, Vanessa and Darrell visited my house, so I could help tutor Vanessa in HTML and Photoshop for her Web Programming class. Meanwhile, with his late nightclub job, Darrell decided to crash on my couch, lol. The original plan was 7am, but they were running late, and even then, a few hours wasn’t enough.

Fighting her allergies and our insurmountable hunger as I guided her on the details of table coding, hex coloring, image editing, inline framing, hyperlinking, and general layout according to her basic but elegant design, Vanessa didn’t finish her website project until 1pm! Five hours! But on the plus side, she tells me it saves her five weeks! Take a look at her website design in the following screenshots…

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Blog 051 > Spirit of the Matrix!

Pretty uneventful day, except for one thing: The Matrix. Some 3-4 years since the height of the Matrix hype, a fellow fan of ConstructFic.org and member of the Hardline message-board community popped out of the blue on my LJ: Trialia. She wondered whether I’d ever complete Construct 2.0, the half-finished resurrection of the defunct ConstructFic.org from 3 years ago. Well, I only lost interest because everyone else seemed to, but if she and others are interested, why not?

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Blog 049 > End of the Blox

Well, folks, after only a month, I’ve decided to end my “xJAYMANx_weblox” blog (at Blogger.com). My experiments over the past week helped me decide to stick with just two blogs: (1) my heavily-customized (and soon website-integrated) “xJAYMANx_toybox” for public posts on anime, web design, other hobby-related activities, as well as life in general, and (2) my long-time “xJAYMANx” LJ for duplicated “toybox” posts, plus more friends-only posts. That’s about it! Blogger lived out its experimental purpose. Maybe something else will come along, but for now, these two primary blogs should serve me well.

Blog 048 > Toybox 2.0

Guess what? Remember my last post? Well, I did it, I applied the new table-less template design to my “Toybox” anime/remix blog. It was a b*tch to use optical illusions to “fix” the columns and backgrounds, but looks pretty sweet. Here’s the new “Toybox” look. (Like before, looks best in Firefox or IE7.)

Next steps: (1) Add blog name/image to (randomizing?) header. Fix fonts. (2) Finish up “xJAYMANx” website. Convert HTML to PHP. (3) Figure out how I want to organize my old content. Transfer the content.

Blog 047 > Faster & More Flexible

Faster & More Flexible [Wednesday, April 4, 2007] Cool! You know how I was going to PHP-reconstruct my website with the SAME design? Well, maybe NOT the same, lol. Last night, I started tinkering with a new template: 1000px wide, triple column, WITHOUT tables! Yup, no rigid table tags, but faster more-flexible CSS (stylesheet) “div” tags instead. Here’s the new test page. (Looks best in Firefox or IE7.)

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Blog 046 > Backwards & Forwards

Backwards & Forwards [Saturday, March 31, 2007] Guess what? For the first time in years, I’ve thrown a bunch of 80s-90s CDs (Alice In Chains, Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes, Billy Idol’s Cyberpunk, Def Leppard, Erasure, Garbage, Guns N Roses, Heart) into my ancient SONY 100-CD changer, and pumped up the volume on my stereo. Is it nostalgia for my rosier college days? A return to my 20s? Haha, who knows, but I just felt like it, lol. :)))

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post 382 ~ bling-blingo!

post 382 ~ bling-blingo!

  • gahhh, i couldn’t help it… b/c i’m in that general “web-curiousity and update-my-website” phase, such as researching RSS feeds, and trying out WordPress.com (nahhh) and Bloglines.com (yeahhh)… and i already use the A9.com search engine to earn Amazon.com discounts…
  • but i just had to steal this from since she’s already won free stuff just by using the “blingo” search engine (based on google, of course)…
  • click here to be my “blingo friend”, lol…

    Blingo

  • plus, you can check how i added it to my website … cool, huh?

post 371 ~ final centerpiece in place!


newest desk configuration

DELL Inspiron 6000 + 2007WFP

HP Pavilion vf17 + 2007WFP

closeup of 2007WFP

overlit closeup of 2007WFP

inverted closeup of 2007WFP
post 371 ~ final centerpiece in place!

  • setup ~ on wed, july 26th (yesterday), picked up my new 2007WFP and set it at the corner of my desk configuration… hooked it up to my Inspiron laptop as a desktop extension… and voila, all done! that’s it!… no drivers to install (since both components were DELL), and no adjustments to the display!… didn’t notice ANY banding issues that have been hyped on the web…
  • clarity ~ as you can see, superb clarity!… the best part is that i can move my viewing position, side to side, up and down, with no degradation in the brightness of the display!… unlike some laptops and flat panels, where the screen dims if you don’t look directly straight-on… awesome!
  • resolution ~ the best surprise was that since both components were DELL, my laptop recognized the widescreen immediately… and not at the laptop’s 1280×800, but at the full widescreen’s 1680×1050!!!… and since i thought the monitor couldn’t exceed the laptop’s resolution, this was totally unexpected! ;)
  • swivel ~ if i needed to, i could also swivel the screen so it’s oriented vertically, instead of horizontally… but i don’t think i’ll ever need to do that ;)
  • rating ~ final rating, i give 5 of 5 stars!… and after credits, it’s only a net cost of $60, haha… plus the letterboxed “ergo proxy” looks amazing on it… aren’t ya jealous? ;)))

post 369 ~ new hardware!


“nao” from the “mabinogi” game

another view of “nao”

another view of “nao”
post 369 ~ new hardware!

  • Philips DVP642 ~ on monday the 17th, got my shipment of this awesome dvd player… why awesome?… well, i already have one in the living room (this is my 2nd for the exercise room!) and it plays 80-90% of my AVI files beautifully… especially my anime AVIs, of course!… now it’s only 80-90%, not b/c of the player, but b/c of the damn files which don’t have the correct codecs… oh well, still amazing!
  • Linksys WRT54GL ~ also on that monday, got my new router!… now, it’s been several years since i got high-speed DSL, and my first router (microsoft) did pretty well for a couple years until it died in april… so my next one was a Netgear; it did okay, some dropouts which i assumed was the DSL, but when i bypassed the router, the DSL was fine!… so after a few months of this intermittent bullshit, i did my research and ordered the Linksys… apparently this GL version maintains the stable Linux firmware, while later versions have buggier windows-based firmware… and already after 5 days, it’s freakin’ AWESOME!… no dropouts or delays whatsoever!… “the holy grail of routers!” ;)…
  • DELL 2007WFP ~ yup!… on thursday the 20th, i ordered the 20-inch widescreen monitor from DELL… shipped yesterday! should get it within the week, haha!… during my research, i’ve read about the “color banding” problem, but with a net cost of only about $60, i figure it’s worth the risk… and if it’s bad, i can always return/exchange it, right?
  • Nao from Mabinogi ~ also on that thursday (i think), got my 9th and newest figure!… she’s “Nao” from the korean game “Mabinogi”… not terribly expensive, but i was taken by the translucency/transparency of her clothing, especially the skirt… damn, that’s fine sculpting work!
  • Anime-Watching Updates ~ the newest anime gem i’ve seen is “kasimasi: girl meets girl”; wonderfully sensitive, gentle, at times even heart-breaking… finished “NANA” episode 14; finished “NANA” manga 3… tons more to go! ;)
  • Goofy Dentistry ~ on wednesday the 19th, jen’s and my visit to our goofy but lovable dentist tiffani, her husband/receptionist dallas, and her hygienist jana… we told tiffani and jana about our divorce since there was no need to hide it from them… they were sad, but we reassured them, that it was the best thing to do… LOL, but now tiffani and jana want to find and hook up someone with me, haha! ;)
  • Madarame Ramen ~ and lastly, after taking a closer look at my expenses versus income, i guess i’ll be having more RAMEN for a while… with the huge increase in my new mortgage payments, i should be able to shave my FOOD expenses from about $400/month down to $200-250/month, which would be a great help… hahaha, reminds me of the “extreme otaku geek” madarame from the hilarious anime “genshiken”, who sacrifices food in order to buy pornographic anime and manga! ;)))

post 368 ~ which monitor?


2007WFP


2007FP

post 368 ~ which monitor?… since the mortgage pay-off also overpaid my DELL account by $300, i now have some money to get a DELL product… i’m leaning towards one of the following monitors… but which?

  • DELL 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor ~ $367… max 1680 x 1050, adjustable to 1280 x 800.
  • DELL 2007FP 20.1-inch Flat Panel LCD Monitor ~ $416… max 1600 x 1200, adjustable to 1280 x 1024.

note that either one will be the secondary monitor (extended desktop) to my primary DELL 15-inch laptop (1280 x 800)… all other features are pretty much identical… i’m leaning towards the WIDE version, but in terms of desktop space, i’d be losing about 2 inches height, most noticeably in full 1280 x 1024 wallpapers… so while DVD, AVI, and other movies would look great, i’d lose work area for apps like photoshop or ms word… any recommendations?

post 320 ~ cruzin’, crusadin’, and screechin’…

post 320 ~ nice to start 2006 with former colleagues… emails from a friend from college (dawn), from an old previous job (nancy), and from a recent previous job (vanessa)…

  • cruzin’ ~ got my new 1 GB cruzer flash drive in the mail… sending out the $20 rebate tomorrow, hehe ;)))… ready for my laptop…
  • crusadin’ ~ finished the “chrono crusade” anime series… such a powerful and emotional ending… sad to say goodbye to these memorable characters…

post 319 ~ finally!

post 319 ~ thanx everyone for your best wishes regarding my gran’ma and myself… i appreciate it… and now for some news…

  • LJ ~ updated the look of my LJ to match the look of my website :)
  • DVDs ~ received the “chrono crusade” collection in the mail!… resumed at about episodes 17 thru 19, when i last watched via netflix… ah, getting good! ;D… meanwhile, finished my netflix of “24” season 2 disc 4… likewise getting good! ;D… and also resumed my “dark angel” season 2 exercising… still tons to go, including “gits:sac 2nd GIG” disc 2 still unfinished…
  • PC ~ a-ha!… after years of dreaming, and considering others before myself… after grandma passed on, and work piled on… i started 2006 by FINALLY treating myself with my first notebook/laptop (to match jen-shaka’s, hehe)… quickly qualified for a 12-month no-interest credit card, and clicked “submit” (ah, that feeling of power!)… only about $100/month for the next 12 months, not bad!!! ;)))
  • HW ~ yeah, homework… i brought home the 150-page training doc that needs revisions by jan 6th… unfortunately, there’s another doc i’ll be starting on the 3rd, due the 4th, argh… so i SHOULD do some work before the new year’s break ends… but still, i need all the holidays i can get to rest and relax… ah well, we’ll see… update ~ was able to start with 2 hours of reformatting… not too bad…