Reign Drops Fall…

A few people have asked me for this after I made mention of it in my status updates. This is a Forbes-family treat that is great when you’re feeling crummy. We used to have it all the time when I was a kid and we were home from school. I just learned the other night that it’s actually a dessert (I would never have guessed). Anyway, here is the recipe for Brye:

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 tbsp butter

Directions:
Put the sugar and flour into a medium saucepan. Measure the milk in a glass measuring cup and pour into saucepan. In the same measuring cup, whisk the egg and pour into saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the butter, vanilla, and salt and stir until it thickens. Let it cool a bit before partaking!

I know I’m way overdue for an update, but I had to post this. I’ve also tried to stay out of the political posting this season, but I thought I’d post this. The mainstream media has done an excellent job of squelching a fine candidate: Ron Paul. Yes, he has very libertarian stands and that’s what appeals to me: he believes that the federal government should only take care of what is outlined in the constitution. It seems like his message is resonating with our troops (warning: Flash content follows… I’m not a big fan of proprietary technology, but I feel like this needs to be spread):

Via Daily Paul.

So last night, Asaph’s Apprentice drove down to Lamoine Christian Service Camp last night to play a show. It wouldn’t have been too much of a hassle, except that we got our directions from MapQuest (no link love for them… you’ll soon see why).

Here are the directions we used. Note directions #14 and #16. Right turns on CR-2800… easy enough. Or so we thought. The first turn onto CR-2800 goes through some guy’s field and ends up where the directions say it should. The second turn onto CR-2800 is a little more misleading. If you click on the map link for direction #16, it shows you a nice straight road… this is not what CR-2800 currently looks like. We ended up driving through another field and ended at a barbed wire fence. I wish we would have taken a picture… it was priceless. Thank you MapQuest.

Of course, Google Maps doesn’t get it any better and Rand McNally fails miserably as well. The only directions site that gives directions that don’t end up in the middle of nowhere (literally) is Yahoo! Maps. And their directions end up taking less time too.

What is it with these map sites? Why don’t they have a review feature? It ended up taking us an hour more to get to the camp because we had to backtrack out of the field (while bottoming out a couple of times) and then flagging down someone who’s first question to us was, “Are you guys looking for the camp?” If we hadn’t have planned to get there 2 hours early, we would have been late. And yes, I know that all of these map sites have their little disclaimer that says something to the effect of “if these directions suck and you end up in the middle of a field or lake or get eaten by cannibals it’s not our fault,” but seriously… it’d be nice to be able to get alternate routes from people that actually live in the place that you’re going to or have been there before.

Today is Towel Day. That is all for now.

Brought to you by the Mozilla Developer Center:

So, let’s all spread the propaganda message!

Well, my last blog entry was in December and my last real blog entry was in October. I think I’m pretty much long overdue for an update.

Life
Not much has changed in my life. We’re currently attending Valley View Baptist Church. I know this may seem like a sudden change, but we left Antioch way back in May after a huge leadership debacle. Valley View seems to match up with what we believe and has a huge heart for ministering to those people that need Christ, rather than those who we would like in our church because they make us feel comfortable. Anyway, enough of that.

In more recent news, I have found Facebook. Most Web 2.0 sites out there that focus on “social networking” have really failed to pique my interest, but out of the many I have tried, Facebook makes the grade. If you haven’t tried it out, go on over and sign up. Once you’ve started, search for me, add me as a friend, and then start looking around for past friends, colleagues, and other people you might know from groups you’ve been involved with.

Work
After almost 4 months of working for SitePen, I have decided I absolutely love working at home. I also love working for a company that is focused on the cutting edge of web development and isn’t bogged down with bureaucracy.

Capoeira
Capoeira has been going fairly well. December was hectic, so we didn’t get down to Iowa City much for classes, but we started going again in January. I haven’t learned too many new moves except for the saca rolha which is basically an aú into a corkscrew spin. The difference between the saca rolha and a regular corkscrew spin is that you use it when someone comes in for a cabeçada (a head-butt), you can do a saca rolha to bring the back of your head into their face. It’s a sweet little move . Other than that, I’ve been learning a lot of sequences.

I found this gem today and thought I’d share it with you guys.  Kids can be so fun and brutally honest at the same time.  I can’t wait to have my own.

Man, I keep telling myself I’ll write more often, and then I go a month or so without writing… what is my problem? Let me catch you guys up with what’s happening.

Work
After a year and a half at Master Packing and Rubber Company, I’m leaving my position there to join the gang over at SitePen full time working on Dojo and other DHTML/JavaScript web application “stuff”. My last day at MPRC is this Friday and I start at SitePen a week from today. I’ll still be working on MPRC’s website in my free time and offering them a bit of technical support every once and a while (read: over the next month, I’ll be getting phone calls left and right from them). It’s been a fun year and a half and I’ve learned a ton about business, quality assurance, and website administration and I truly appreciate them giving me the opportunity to work for them. That being said, I’m really looking forward to working from home for SitePen and working full time with the some of the best in DHTML and JavaScript.

Dojo
We’re approaching our 0.4 release and there are plenty of treats for this release! One of the biggest developments for this release is the gfx package. Gfx is an SVG drawing API that works in both IE and Firefox. Check out the clock demo. Another SVG goodie we’re packing into this release is the charting engine. These goodies are thanks to the wonderful work of Eugene Lazutkin, Tom Trenka, Gavin Doherty, and Kun Xi.

Capoeira
Last Wenesday, my wife took some (over 200) pictures at our capoeira class of our capoeira family. I’ve posted them here. She started taking pictures during aú and handstand exercises, took them throughout the roda, and ended the excursion at Thai Flavors (our hangout after Wednesday night practice).

To those that may not see the humor in my last post, let me spell out the absurdity of the email sent to me:

1. My first email wasn’t about the anthrax scares, the war on terror, or anything related to national security. It was about a bill to restrict the use of the internet.
2. The majority of the email sent to me in response to my email was about anthrax scares in which were carried out in postal mail delivered to representatives.
3. Email cannot contain viruses, bacteria, or other biological threats (such as anthrax) that are harmful to the human body.
4. The genius whose name is on this email is supposed to make decisions regarding the use of the internet, yet this email makes it seem like my email got caught in the “decontamination process”. I guess they have a more extensive spam-assassin/bogofilter/insert-spam-filterer-of-choice-here than we do (that’s a joke!).

If you don’t find it as absurd as I do, perhaps you’re one of the majority that voted this clown into office.

I just received an email from one of my senators (Tom Harkin) in response to an action item I filled out and had sent via email from eff.org a month or so ago. Here it is:

Dear Bryan:

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.

First, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting back to you. As you may remember, in the fall of 2001, a letter containing a substantial amount of anthrax was sent to Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office in the Hart Senate Office Building, where my office is also located. As a result of the contamination, several changes were made to the mail process for the U.S. Senate. Upon the recommendation of public safety officials, all mail arriving at Congressional Offices now goes through a lengthy process of decontamination that includes extensive scientific testing and irradiation. Unfortunately, this process can often take weeks. While this is necessary to insure the safety of all those handling the mail, it has caused a significant delay in my ability to respond to your concerns.

I want to emphasize how important it is to me that I keep in contact with you, and I will always continue to reply to mail from Iowa. At the same time, you may receive a more timely response from my office by communicating through one of my phone numbers or through my website which is listed below.

Now allow me to address your concerns, I appreciate having the benefit of your views and concerns regarding S.2426, the Cyber Safety for Kids Act. Your input on this matter is helpful to me. As I examine this issue, I will certainly give your views every consideration.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senator

Please do not reply to this email. To contact me, please log on to my website at http://harkin.senate.gov/.

So, when was the last time someone sent anthrax via email? That would be an interesting trick. So, why are these guys making laws that affect technology and the communication of information when they and their aides (yes, I know that this was probably sent by an aide) don’t even know how this stuff works?

EDIT: I want to urge everyone reading this that hasn’t done so, go to http://action.eff.org/ and do as many of the action items that you can.  Let your congressperson know how you feel about your liberties!