Aloha Blog!

test2

2009-04-09T15:28:00.001-04:00

test2

test post

2009-04-09T15:27:00.001-04:00

test

ready for a rebranding

2009-02-18T13:12:00.001-05:00

I am well ready to get rid of this stale old design that AMW has been sporting lately.

I'm working on getting my files together for a really snappy RIA based upgrade - something that really shows that I'm on top of new tech, and stuck in the stone age.
or at lease not in the side-perforated printer paper age :)

Get it together IE!

2009-02-13T09:35:00.001-05:00

I will no longer compensate for limited or broken specification support in browsers after January 1, 2010. This gives IE, and the other browsers, time to fully implement all of the specifications that have been out as recommendations for years now. This includes support for XHTML 1.1, CSS 2.1, SVG 1.1, in addition to any other specification not listed. This isn't part of a movement, and there is no badge. This is just my personal choice that I will no longer compensate for browsers not implementing standards, beginning January 1, 2010.

Grrrr!

2009-01-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

~~today~~ this week is going down the tubes.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T23:01:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

As always I'm up to my normal hyjinx, this time its' a country square-dance in upstate NY - a GREAT time. any time you get a chance to do it - do it!

Internet red tape

2008-12-04T15:48:00.002-05:00

i'm sure i really am getting stuff done today, cause i know i had powered through the first half of my morning, but these last couple hours i'm getting bogged down in the red tape of the internet.

endless confirmation emails that i have to go back and forth with clients about, cause the confirmation emails go to them and not me. its both frustrating and embarrasing, i should be able to set everything up for my client and not rely on them to do these things, this way i can had over a nice clean finished product when everything is done.

thanks, i'll stop complaining now

such a bad programmer

2008-12-04T11:20:00.005-05:00

Yeah, that would be me.

the internet moves so fast, that a long time ago i promised my self two hours of tutorials every night (ok, most nights) so i could not only expand on skills i have, but keep up with whats new and exciting, and i haven't kept that promise in months!

I need to get back to it, cause i dont want to get passed over, or have to pass on projects cause i dont know some skill set, not like you can know it all there's just too much out there but i'm sure there is more than one developer out there who's gotten the stink eye from a potential client or employer becuase theres one program or language that you dont know.

and thats a lousy feeling

Big things at Aloha Media

2008-11-25T10:01:00.006-05:00

The holiday season is upon us again, and here at Aloha the happy holiday elves are busy working away on a few new websites.

The really big news is that I've finally been able to dedicate some time to updating my own site, which hasn't happened for 8 months at least! I'm happy to announce new clients to Aloha and finished sites to launch.

I've also added a "Fail" section, because sometimes client relationships don't always work out, but a valuable lesson is always learned - this isn't going to be a forum for slamming people and i'm not going to be naming names or companies, but I've designed some nice work for sites that never launch, and it would be a shame to not feature these somewhere. also, for those relationships that fail due to communication issues there will be a breif write up with what i think went wrong and what i'll be doing differently to prevent future situations.

Some of the changes to the Aloha site are in the "Sociality" section, I've added a google calendar which is a great tool for those who need or want to share what they're doing and where they'll be.
I'm testing it out by adding some of the artist demonstrations for the CT Plein Air Painters group as well as beer tastings for the best beer in CT - Thomas Hooker Brewery.
So far, I've found that its' easy to embed and easy to keep updated.

I've also updated the fun section, since I've been fortunate enough to not have a lot of time to experiment with programming for my own joy i've taken most of this section down except for the flex, but i'm adding a new link to a new site i'm developing that features my efforts in illustraion and painting. we'll see how that goes but i'll blog about that being up when its' ready.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hate you Travelocity.

2008-09-09T15:49:00.002-04:00

I booked a hotel room for an overnight stay on my recent vacation to Cape Cod, and used Travelocity to do so.

Everything was excitement at my house, packing the car for a week long camping excursion to the cap, and my car was loaded for bear with everything and the kitchen sink! Packed up we headed off for adventure!

What an adventure too!

After about 4 hours of driving and sightseeing, we are coming close to our hotel (near Battleship Cove and Lizzie Borden’s house) expecting to see the happy little pink hotel with a big swimming pool in the front from the pictures I had seen on the website.

Unfortunately what I had seen was a pink flophouse where some of those staying were guests of the state in the downtown district of a “manufacturing city of yesteryear” and obviously well past its’ prime!

It was a pretty sad scene actually; everything looked so old and in need of care, and had obviously been photographed by a pro that knows how long ago.
There were people hanging around the front looking “untrustworthy” and frankly there was no way we were going to feel even remotely safe.
I wish I had taken pics to show a comparison.

Dave and I didn’t even get out of the car; we called Travelocity to say that we were not going to be staying there. After 7 minutes on hold to our amazement the customer service person said hang on I’ll confirm with the desk than after a few minutes came back and told us that the desk clerk had not seen anyone outside.

Lets face it, I was there outside, the office was buttoned up for the night and if the clerk had come out, she would have seen two people with an overloaded car getting more frustrated with customer service the longer we were on hold.
But since Travelocity was more into a game of “he said she said” rather than giving us a refund or finding us a new place – Dave hung up. most of the 20 min of the call was time on hold.

Now there are a couple really good points I’d like to make here:

Travelocity’s customer service knew my account number, knew I was calling unhappy had hung up while I was on hold AGAIN while waiting for level 2 customer service – and they never called back to see if the issue was resolved and yes they did have my cell phone number.

Second, I had mentioned that the office looked closed (I know what security lights look like from my years in retail).
The night before we were scheduled to check in I had called to confirm the reservation, the lobby is supposed to be a 24-hour lobby, and no one answered.
Days inn – take note, I’m talking about one of yours.

last - not only were they unwilling to give a refund of any type, but they were not willing to move us to a different location even though we were willing to pay more!
lets face it we didn't know where we were and suddenly we have no hotel for the night.

For all of this – MasterCard and LaQuinta to the rescue!

Now it’s getting dark and were in a new city, and we’re trying to get on the highway to drive toward the cape a bit more, and we were going to find a place on the way – still steaming about Travelocity.

We got onto a cloverleaf that was supposed to send us in the right direction, but right away we noticed that there were no lines in the road!
And as were moving towards our exit, an 18-wheeler rushed on and blocked us, forcing us to get off going in the wrong direction.

We got off two exits later to look for a place to turn around, and as we spotted the on ramp we noticed a LaQuinta right behind, and so we went to see if that would be good.

What a lovely place! La Quinta was exactly what we were looking for! Clean, quiet, well staffed, and 10$ less! Not only that but there was a great resturant right next door!

Next it was MasterCard’s turn to save the day.
When talking to Travelocity, we told them that we were willing to pay a cancellation fee but that we were not staying and that we had not checked in or entered the building or anything, but they were not willing to refund any of the 100$

With MasterCard’s help we were able to get 50$ back – because we did say that we were willing to pay a cancel fee (hmm, they seem to remember we said we were willing to pay a fee).
Well 50$ back is great, and I’ll never use Travelocity again and I’m going to make sure my friends don’t use it either, since the garden sculpture is no substitute for a real customer service plan.

Yep, it's true

2008-08-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

Ah summer - an ode to thee

2008-08-20T10:14:00.002-04:00

Indeed and ode to thee as i watch you pass by through the window next to my computer.

Ok so I've been busy - with the help of a client site i'm learning Ruby on Rails faster than i had expected - a site that i hope to have launched before my vacation (which i can now for the first time see in the 10 day forcast).

i'm very ready for a vacation - between work and work i'm totally burnt and all i want to do is sleep. i'm not even as stoked for vacation as i thought i'd be but i'll chalk that up to being tired which will change as soon as i hit the road.

really i'm just hoping to get more work done before vacation - cause otherwise it will be in the back of my mind for a week.

A sad day

2008-08-10T16:13:00.001-04:00

Goodbye Isaac Hayes

Help! crazy sex chat people wont leave me alone!!!!!

2008-07-24T22:27:00.004-04:00

HELP!!!!!!!

ok, so i'm online all the time, and i went to school online, so when a person who i didn't recognize IMed me i expected a window to open with "hey steph i'm so-and-so form whereever" and then i would recognize them.

not this time.

make sure to click on the image to make it big enough to read.

so ok, i can't just hang up on them without making fun of them first, but i HATE this kind of stuff.

and i seriously didn't htink people were dumb enough to do this kind of hting anymore, but not only are they trolling for online people, but they're begging for attention.

after i blocked the username, i deleted the erson off my list.

not to say that i didn't get 2 more IMs from probably the same person with different screen names.

there are lots of legitimate people out there working to make the internet a beautiful and rewarding place, and there are people like this.

i'm sure i'm going to be getting spam IMs now, so if anyone can tell me how to get away from these people i'd appreciate it. since i have to keep my screen name.

time to play catch-up

2008-07-19T14:20:00.003-04:00

its' been a long time since i blogged last, so i have a few catch up posts to make.

right now whats going through my mind is that i'm going to be making miso/tofu dumpling soup and Gyoza for dinner.

other than my few escapes to the beach, searching for inspiration to get my sites developed. i've been trying to learn probably 2 programming languages to many.

Ballon Race!

2008-06-21T15:50:00.002-04:00

flickr added to blog!

2008-05-19T14:16:00.002-04:00

hey all,
in my quest to become web 2.0 compliant, I'm out and about exploring all the social media i can get my hands on, as well as all the stuff the guys at Plaid can throw at me!

so i just set up a flickr account which i attached to the blog, so i can load images faster/easier/better.

also, i'm going to be adding a dynamic feed to the website under the "Sociality" link.

WOOHOO!

ah, controlled chaos

2008-05-19T09:20:00.002-04:00

so summer may be finally here in CT, maybe. no one's making any promises on that.

this week is going to be a special week, between my design workload, preparing for a vacation, and two dozen workmen coming to my house to do repair work - there's no shortage of excitment! (just a shortage of time).

i'm stoked to be going on vacation, even just for a few days. i'll be camping in Gettysburg PA right next to the battle field, so all that history (and ghost stories) will be really exciting, and i've never been before so just the excitment of being in a new place will hopefully recharge the programming batteries in me.

i'm also excited cause my hubby is excited to camp, with is a rare and delicate thing so i'm trying tomake it nice for him, so he'll camp again.

stay tuned for pics!

well, it's been a long time since i had my last run in with someone who didn't have to work during the day.

2008-05-09T14:37:00.000-04:00

hey all, ok so i'm a web developer, and i spend a lot of time online and talking to all kinds of people from all over the place. but there is something special about the internet that brings out "stupid" in some people.

you've seen it before, or maybe a friend has told you about it.

having your IM chat status "on" draws in the weird comments and requests often from people who are surfing the user groups that you didn't even know your were apart of!

so ya know what - spare me! i'm a web designer and thankfully a busy one, even if you just wanted to chat (clean please) say so! no dumb stuff allowed!

surfboard - GO!

2008-05-02T13:02:00.001-04:00

I just ordered my board!!! hooray!!

My guys at Warm Winds have taken care of me, and recommended a different board thats the same epoxy, but a better shape that has gotten better user feedback than the other brand.
plus it was a few bucks cheaper and much better looking.

so in a week or two i'll be able to go pick up the new board, and get fitted for a wetsuit. then i should be good to go!

Soon! Soon!!!!!! it will be mine!

2008-04-29T12:49:00.000-04:00

argh! i'm so freakin' excited!! going on vacation this year not having to drag a laptop and a dozen text books with me,instead i'll be toting 8 feet of surfing glory!
i'll be placing the order on friday, and she'll arrive at my fav surf shop in about 4 weeks.

check out my pals at Warm Winds!

A warrant has been issued for the following....

2008-04-22T22:16:00.000-04:00

Seen in the vicinity of my bird feeder, suspect described as “rodent-like” with grey fur and tail.
Suspect is considered dangerous, use caution when approaching suspect.

I see springtime when i look in your eyes

2008-04-22T21:57:00.000-04:00

Springtime has finally come to Connecticut!

I wanted to surprise my sweetie with a new grill fro his birthday and the upcoming summer season.
Unfortunately twice he had to return the thing because they were damaged in the box, but on the third try (and an upgrade in product) we were able to realize out charbroil dreams!