Scroll down a bit and check out the “stickied” blog.

Origionally posted Feb 18th 2003, I invite you to stroll down memory lane with me thanks to this blast-from-the-past blog feature: Coochi-Coochi

Well, it worked!

For those of you who have been following the DavidMeade.com News section you know that I have been working on a conversion tool that would move all the old blogs on DavidMeade.com over to the new system.

It was a very complex task actually.

But I managed to get it working to an acceptable degree. (If you notice any bugs please let me know).

So watch for future blog features to be developed in the near future. Also now that all blogs are opperating on the same system I’m going to re-impliment the “blast from the past blog” and let some of the “greatest hits of DavidMeade.com” get a second viewing.

Sometimes I amaze myself.

I decided yesterday that it was time once and for all to move the old blogs into the new blog system. I haven’t done this yet as it simply isn’t as easy as it may sound. The two systems use a completely different database structure and the new one is much more complex with a more robust security built in.

But in the end a database is a database and moving data from one to another is – no matter how complex – a matter of properly worded SQL commands. So, I wrote up some pseudo-code that described what I thought would have to happen to make it all work. I then started writing actual code that could accomplish this.

I’m only about 20% done with the blog-conversion code, but so far the code looks good and I’m confident it will work. I hope to have the conversion code complete by the end of the week. Once that’s done I’ll have to do a serious backup of the site before I risk running the code.

If all goes well all blogs will be within the same database system by the start of next week, and this is a good thing for several reasons. Firstly I want to add some new blog features such as TrackBack and an RSS feed for The Triad. It will also allow me to grant you, the DavidMeade.com users, some new abilities (such as editing your comments, or creating a “Favorites” list of blogs). It will allow me to remove several pages and several databases that simply wont be needed anymore. Also I’d like to be able to promote old blogs in the new system to give them a 2nd airing.

Anyway once all this is done, I plan to do some upgrades to the user system. Sometime in the near future I also need to see if I can fix the photo galleries … but that actually will indeed be quite difficult.

Well folks I got the GPS device! (Wil would be proud) I got it last friday night and during the cold and snowy walk home from the L surrounded by tall skyscrapers and under an overcast sky the lil’ champ was able to lock on to four different satellites in orbit! (If anyone needs the exact location of the McDonalds just off the Chicago L stop let me know).

I cannot get a signal from within my apartment, but given that I’m inside one of those high-rise buildings you see all over downtown Chicago and my only view is looking out upon the next door high rise buildings … I didn’t expect to get a signal from indoors.

I woke up (relatively) early Saturday morning eager to get started GeoCaching. I turned on the computer, jotted down some coordinates and some notes and headed downstairs ready for the hunt.

That’s when I realized it was a blowing, freezing, snowing, nightmare outside.

So … I went back upstairs. I know, I know … but it was really bad outside .. miserable even.

So, I haven’t actually USED the GPS device yet … baby steps … baby steps.

I’m thinking about some potential upgrades to davidmeade.com.

No promises or anything, but I’m considering a significant upgrade to the blog system. I’ve been meaning to add things like TrackBack and RSS Feeds for some time … I’m giving it consideration again.

I’m also hoping to find a good way to merge the old blog database with the new blog database. This is more complex than it might sound because of the comment system – changing a blog ID breaks alot of database links. It comes down to having the right set of SQL queries but basically I’ll get one shot at it … if I mess it up I’ll have to restore from back up. Once I decide on a the end goal I’ll start writing the SQL to accomplish it.

So, if you see any craziness on the site dont panic … it’s most likely just me testing something out.

So, I’m not sure what got me thinking about this again, but the other day I did a quick internet search for “GeoCaching“.

GeoCaching, for those of you who don’t already know, is a pretty new hobby (even considered a sport in some circles, but I’m reserving judgment on that for now). It’s a real world adventure game played by all sorts of real people all over the real world each and every day.

Basically someone hides a “cache” – usually consisting of a log book and perhaps even a reward to the finder – somewhere out in the wild world. That person then posts latitude and longitude coordinates and any hints or riddles to help the searcher find the cache.

The searcher (aka GeoCacher) then uses a hand held GPS device to get within meters of the cache. The hints and riddles then help them zero in on the target.

When the GeoCacher finds the cache they sign the log and can take whatever reward is in the cache (and in turn place some reward for the next person to find the cache).

Each individual hunt is rated for difficulty and terrain. Some for example may require a long hike through a national park, or may only be reachable via kayak. Others are placed within large cities or at some under appreciated point of interest and require only time and urban navigation skills to reach.

Some caches are single target hunts. Others may be multi-part hunts, giving the hunter what they need to find the second target within the cache of the first target.

This sounds like alot of fun to me. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna buy a GPS unit and give it a shot. I mean a) it will get me out of the apartment more b) as I complete more and more of them in the city I’ll be forced to move to the harder ones (anyone have a kayak I can borrow?) and c) I think it would be alot of fun to PLACE a cache and watch who finds it and what they think of the hunt. (I think I could come up with some pretty entertaining multi-part hunts).

So as I read over some reviews of basic GPS units … I thought I’d blog about it. Maybe it interests some of you. Maybe some of you are already doing it? What do you think about the idea? Have you done it?

Todays Link: GeoCaching.com

So the cold I had last week is mostly gone, but something is still wrong as I’m slightly congested and cannot hear very well out of my right ear.

I feel like I’m 83 years old… shouting into the phone, scolding people and insisting they speak up.

To top it off as went out for lunch today … I SWEAR everyone was speaking French. French! ??

So, I’m half deaf and suddenly walking down the streets of some far off land today for lunch giving people weird looks, huffing and constantly repeating “eh? what?”.

I was doing a great impression of “grumpy old guy”.

Back to work tomorrow where all of this should play nicely into the “grumpy techno-has-been” image … sigh.

Well I watched the season premier of the new Galactica series on the Sci-Fi channel. It was really good!

I didn’t really like the origional all that much, but the Sci-Fi channel has a great record of remakes so I thought I’d give it a shot.

They have once again made a remake that in my humble opinion is better than the origional.

Take for example their remake of the movie “Dune”. The origional was …. welll weird is about the best word for it, and I cant say that I really liked it. However the Sci-Fi channel remake was awesome.

Then they have “Stargate SG-1″ … They actually didnt start this one, but they picked it up when it was going to otherwise end and kept a good thing going.

Then there is their other new show “EarthSea” … also very good. Awesome effects.

So if you had any doubts, take it from me its at least worth giving a shot.

I don’t think I’ve made clear the reason for my self-imposed banning on other sites. It is not because I’m not interested in putting all this behind us, I am, but rather it is simply a matter-of-fact, no-nonsense and simple truth … when there is a website that publishes an article about someone and that person finds it slanderous or objectionable … that person cannot be expected to validate the content of that site by actively contributing to it.

I completely understand that this does not mean the author is required to remove the content. That’s up to them. So be it. But I cannot and will not lend my implied consent to the content of a site – by contributing to it – while that site chooses to continue to post an absurdly off point and slanderous mocking article about me. It’s just crazy to think that I will.

I will not post to (nor likely even read) such a site while that objectionable material is being published. I will not post there even if doing so will convince the author to retract the article … I won’t be coerced into contributing to the site WHILE that article is in place (in any way). (Besides such action is not really up to me it’s up to the author even if they’d have it some other way.)

And, for the record, even if the article were not in place … I would not then agree to any statement which implies I was in anyway shape or form in the wrong on this one. I wasn’t, I’m not, and I’m not going to say or agree to anything that implies otherwise even in the slightest. Nobody else has to agree with that, I dont care.

I’m honestly not getting worked up over this again. Whats done is done. I’ve got my site, others have theirs. We can each choose our content. If another site chooses to bash me so be it, I’m past caring honestly. But just because I don’t care anymore does not mean I’m going to effectively condone such nonsense by contributing to that site. I’m not going to. (Frankly I can’t imagine anyone thinking I should.)

I am not self-banning myself from these sites in some attempt to have the article removed. If that is accomplished so much the better … but that’s not the point. I’m self-banning myself because any other action would be an implied validation of the content of the site … and I won’t do that while such objectionable content is in place.

So we can all politely go our own digital way. No big deal … to each his own. Other sites can happily go on with that sort of thing, and I can happily not read them. That’s the wonderful thing about the web.

McDonalds breakfast is like the greatest thing since … food. I crave it. Two words folks: Breakfast Burrito. This thing is too good to be real, but having made a few as a kid when I worked in McDs I can safely say they are in fact real.

A close 2nd to the breakfast burrito is the Sausage Egg and Cheese McMuffin.

Unfortunately there isn’t a McDs that is very close to the office … so I have to settle for the not-even-close Sausage Egg and Cheese croissant from our downstairs cafeteria …