Lewies Blogs

WordPress Timezones

2005-10-02T22:26:00.000-04:00

Dates appear to be working correctly in my test environment. There are two steps that I needed to take. The first was to make sure that dates are sent as UTC format over the XML-RPC API. The second step was a handy little Time Zone plugin. Once activated, I entered EST5EDT for my Time zone. I was also able to enter America/New_York and it handled it the same way.

I have been a little concerned over how I would be able to link posts from my blogspot blog over to the new blog. I appended the post identification in a comment in each post. This way, I can send a link over to the search results and search for that tag. Here is an example of one of the tags:

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179070.post-112817586244792334

And this is the URL that I would use:

http://www.lewismoten.com/index.php?s=post-112817586244792334

One other thing that I have been working on is giving everyone credit for there posts. Both my wife and I post to my blogspot blog. She makes guest appearances every now and then, so I created two additional accounts besides the administrative account. I had to promote the levels of our accounts up to at least 5 before I would be able to post via XML-RPC.

I also consolidated my category to list 11 items:

Hobbies

Blogging
Computers
Entertainment
Programming

Life

Communications
Employment
Finances
Friends and Family

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous is the default category here. If a post doesn't fit anywhere else, it goes there.

The last few things on my list of things to do is to muck around with comments and the template. Once that is ready, I'm in business to go public. Comments are going to be tricky since I can't find anything in the XML-RPC file to post them. I may have to do a little programming here, as I can't connect directly to the MySQL database either.

Tags: WordPress, XML-RPC, Exporting, Categories, Time zones, Dates

Turn brains to mush in 3 easy steps

2005-10-02T19:49:00.000-04:00

After getting up late today, my mother in law walks into the door with the kids. My nephew takes off and for the next three hours I am entertaining my niece. The Atari Flashback 2 is getting a little boring for her and so we moved on to the Sony Playstation 2.

We played Katamari Damacy, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro - Year of the Dragon, and Spyro - Enter the Dragonfly. She is pretty young so most of the time she was learning how to move around. Her favorite seemed to be Spyro - Enter the Dragon. She stayed in the main world frying sheep for about an hour.

With the simple game play, your brain just slowly turns to mush. Sometimes I just want to take control and play the game for her the way that the game is supposed to be played. I hold myself back from doing it because she is having fun anyway.

I taught her how to take CD's and DVD's out of the cases, how to hold them, and how to load them into the Sony Playstation 2. Her fingers got on the bottom of one and we got a message asking us to put in an authentic Sony PS1 or Sony PS2 disc. I took the disc out and rubbed my shirt on the surface. It was running fine after that.

Most of my games are not kid-safe, so I may have to look into some cheap games that will entertain her when she visits.

Tags: Video Games, Spyro, Sony Playstation, PS2, Atari, Family, Katamari, Atari Flashback

Exporting to WordPress

2005-10-02T02:11:00.000-04:00

Since I had worked on a project involving the Atom API, I already have all of the data on my local computer from my blogger.com account. WordPress provides a few standard APIs over XML-RPC. This is great because I also have some code laying around to interface with it.

I've gotten all of my posts exported into a test environment at home. I have been noticing that the dates are not always rite. I've also had problems navigating pages in the month view of the archives. It keeps wanting to go to the main index page rather then the month archive.

I spent most of today working on categories. Since I had tagged most of my posts with Technorati tags, I was able to use them to determine what category the post should go in. I got a little carried away with the categories and now I'm trying to consolidate them into more generic categories to compact the list.

Tags: WordPress, Atom API, XML-RPC, Exporting, Categories

WordPress Troubleshooting

2005-10-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

I'm digging more and more into WordPress. Today I changed my permalink structure to use the mod_rewrite functionality. This helps me keep the same structure of my URLs that appear on blogger. As soon as I saved my changes, my entire site gave me errors.

I downloaded the source code for options-permalink.php in the administration folder and saw that it was writing to the .htaccess file. I can't see this file in my WS_FTP client, so I had to go to the command line of DOS and type the simple acronym "FTP".

ftp] open
To lewismoten.com
Connected to lewismoten.com.
220 ProFTPD FTP Server ready.
User (lewismoten.com:(none)): xxxxx
331 Password required for xxxxx.
Password:
230 User xxxxx logged in.
ftp] cd /var/www/html
250 CWD command successful
ftp] recv
Remote file .htaccess
Local file c:\htaccess.txt
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for .htaccess (3660 bytes)
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 3704 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 3704000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp] send
Local file c:\htaccess.txt
Remote file .htaccess
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for .htaccess
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 3706 bytes sent in 0.00Seconds 3706000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp] bye
221 Goodbye.

So looking at that .htaccess file, I saw that WordPress changed my original text from "ErrorDocument 404 /404.php" to "ErrorDOcument 404 /404.php# BEGIN WordPress". There was a lot of stuff that it added regarding the RewriteEngine, but my concern was focused on that first line.

It changed the "o" in document to upper-case, and appended a comment rite off of the end of my URL. I separated it into two lines and restored the ErrorDocument keyword back to its original state. After uploading the file back onto the site, everything worked fine.

Tags: WordPress, .htaccess, FTP, mod_rewrite, Troubleshooting

Music to my ears

2005-10-01T02:16:00.000-04:00

Ever since I got my free iPod, I've been rating all of the songs that I have imported from my CD's. I currently have 3291 songs in my library, so you can imagine why it took me so long.

Following is a list of 325 songs that I gave my highest rating on. I built the list using an XSL stylesheet on an exported XML playlist. More details can be found on the following article Convert your iTunes Library XML into HTML.

Name	Artist	Album	Genre
The Perfect Drug	Nine Inch Nails	Lost Highway	Soundtrack
I Put A Spell On You	Marilyn Manson	Lost Highway	Soundtrack
Technologic	Daft Punk	Human After All	Electronic
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?	Moby	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Groove Therapy	Universal	LTJ Bukem Presents Logical Progression	Electronica & Dance
Born Slippy (NUXX)	Underworld	Y2K - Beat the Clock	Electronic
Something Like a Mama	Underworld	Beaucoup Fish	Electronic
Jumbo	Underworld	Beaucoup Fish	Electronic
Phosphorella	Trance to the Sun	Venomous Eve	Rock
Ballet - Dancer	Sven Väth	The Harlequin - The Robot and the Ballet-dancer	Electronica & Dance
Parallel Life	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Pontus	Siddal	Kindred Spirits	Rock
So Long	Seb & Lo-tec	LTJ Bukem Presents Logical Progression	Electronica & Dance
Wild	Poe	Haunted	Rock
Ultraworld Probe Six - Perpetual Dawn	The Orb	The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld	Electronic
High Energy Protons (Orion Mix)	Juno Reactor	Bible of Dreams	Dance
Children Of The Night	Juno Reactor	Bible of Dreams	Dance
Komit	Juno Reactor	Bible of Dreams	Dance
Conga Fury	Juno Reactor	Bible of Dreams	Dance
Jardin De Cecile	Juno Reactor	Bible of Dreams	Dance
Airtight Remix	Funky Technicians	LTJ Bukem Presents Logical Progression	Electronica & Dance
Back to the rivers of belief	Enigma	MCMXC a.D.	Native American
Yulunga	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Indus	Dead Can Dance	Spiritchaser	Gothic
Dead Man Walking	David Bowie	EART HL I NG	Rock
Busy Child	The Crystal Method	Y2K - Beat the Clock	Electronic
To Die For	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Drippy	Banco De Gaia	Pi Soundtrack	Dance
Tha	Aphex Twin	Selected Ambient Works 85-92	Ambient
Gentle People / Journey (Aphex Twin Care Mix)	Aphex Twin	26 Mixes for Cash	Electronic
The Iron Helix	Xorcist	The Disease of Lady Madeline	Gothic
Track09		Ambient Mix 2	Ambient
Ever After	Underflowers	Underflowers	Rock
Kleine Schwester (Scharfer Zahn remake)	Umbra et Imago	Call On The Dark	Gothic
Falling in Love	Ultracherry Violet	Kindred Spirits	Rock
With or Without You	U2	The Joshua Tree	Rock
I Still haven't Found What I'm Looking For	U2	The Joshua Tree	Rock
Where the Streets Have No Name	U2	The Joshua Tree	Rock
Overcome	Tricky	The Official Movie Soundtrack Strange Days	Electronic
Admire	This Ascension	Kindred Spirits	Rock
Burning Down the House	Talking Heads	Stop Making Sense	Pop
Nas Ne Dogoniat	t.A.T.u.	200 KMpH In The Wrong Lane	Pop
Not Gonna Get Us	t.A.T.u.	200 KMpH In The Wrong Lane	Pop
Clown	Switchblade Symphony	Serpentine Gallery	Gothic Rock
Bad Trash	Switchblade Symphony	Serpentine Gallery	Gothic Rock
Clown	Switchblade Symphony	Kindred Spirits	Rock
Soldiers	Switchblade Symphony	Bread and Jam for Frances	Rock
Wallflower	Switchblade Symphony	Gothic Rock	Gothic Rock
Deus	The Sugarcubes	The Great Crossover Potential	Rock
Birthday	The Sugarcubes	The Great Crossover Potential	Rock
This Charm	Strange Boutique	Kindred Spirits	Rock
Subspace Radio Signals	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Heavensairportcoffeeshoprestaurant	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Sonne Mond und Sterne	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Timequakes	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Behind the Sun	The Starseeds	Parallel Life	Ambient
Slower than You Think	Sparrow Orange	Hands and Knees Music	Ambient
Liquid Shy	Sparrow Orange	Hands and Knees Music	Ambient
I Remember It All	Sparrow Orange	Hands and Knees Music	Ambient
time baby ii		The Crow	Soundtrack
dead souls	soundtrack	the crow	Rock
burn	soundtrack	the crow	Rock
Iris	Goo Goo Dolls	City Of Angels	Soundtrack
If God Will Send His Angels	U2	City Of Angels	Soundtrack
Soma	Smashing Pumpkins	Siamese Dream	Other
Cherub Rock	Smashing Pumpkins	Siamese Dream	Other
Farewell And Goodnight	Smashing Pumpkins	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Twilight To Starlight)	Rock
By Starlight	Smashing Pumpkins	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Twilight To Starlight)	Rock
Beautiful	Smashing Pumpkins	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Twilight To Starlight)	Rock
We Only Come Out At Night	Smashing Pumpkins	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Twilight To Starlight)	Rock
1979	Smashing Pumpkins	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Twilight To Starlight)	Rock
Candle	Skinny Puppy	The Process	Rock
Rivers	Skinny Puppy	Rabies	Industrial
Riverz End	Skinny Puppy	Last Rights	Industrial
Deadlines	Skinny Puppy	Brap: Back and Forth	Rock
Double Cross	Skinny Puppy	Brap: Back and Forth	Rock
Flesh In My Veins (feat. Peter Field)	Silke Bischoff	Call On The Dark	Gothic
The Passion of Lovers	The Shroud	The Passion of Covers: A Tribute to Bauhaus	Gothic Rock
Witness	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
Adia	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
Sweet Surrender	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
I Love You	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
Building A Mystery	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
Walk This Way	Run DMC	Entertainment Weekly Greatest Hits Of 1986	Rock/Pop
Godstar 94	Psychic Television	Time's Up (Best OV Psychic TV)	Psychedelic
Just Like Arcadia	Psychic Television	Time's Up (Best OV Psychic TV)	Psychedelic
Lady Maybe (Dub Me Maybe Mix)	Psychic Television	Cold Blue Torch	Psychedelic
Out of Space	The Prodigy	Y2K - Beat the Clock	Electronic
Hello	Poe	Hello	Gothic
Hey Pretty	Poe	Haunted	Rock
Not A Virgin	Poe	Haunted	Rock
Walk The Walk	Poe	Haunted	Rock
Control	Poe	Haunted	Rock
Haunted	Poe	Haunted	Rock
I Grieve	Peter Gabriel	City Of Angels	Soundtrack
Coming Up Roses	Owsley	Brain Waves	Alternative
Little Fluffy Clouds (Live From Washington DC '97)	The Orb	U.F.Off: The Best Of The Orb	Electronic
earth orbit one - little fluffy clouds	The Orb	The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld	Electronic
Bedouin	The Orb	Orblivion	Electronic
I'm not in love	Olive	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Dread Rock	Oakenfold	The Matrix Reloaded	Soundtrack
Kick It (dr. know mix)	Nitzer Ebb	Call On The Dark	Gothic
Ringfinger	Nine Inch Nails	Pretty Hate Machine (Halo Two)	Industrial
Down In It	Nine Inch Nails	Pretty Hate Machine (Halo Two)	Industrial
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?	Moby	Play	Electronic
When It's Cold I'd Like to Die	Moby	Everything is Wrong	Club
Whispers	Mistle Thrush	Kindred Spirits	Rock
A Tout Le Monde	Megadeth	Youthanasia	Hard Rock & Metal
Angel	Massive Attack	Pi Soundtrack	Soundtrack
Dissolved Girl	Massive Attack	Mezzanine	Trip-Hop
Angel	Massive Attack	Mezzanine	Trip-Hop
I Put A Spell On You	Marilyn Manson	Smells Like Children	Industrial
The last day on earth	Marilyn Manson	Mechanical Animals	Industrial
Mechanical animals	Marilyn Manson	Mechanical Animals	Industrial
This Is The New Shit	Marilyn Manson	The Matrix Reloaded	Soundtrack
This life	Mandalay	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Eccentricity	Magenta	The Unquiet Grave	Gothic
Shanti/Ashtangi	Madonna	Ray Of Light	Pop
Ray Of Light	Madonna	Ray Of Light	Pop
Drowned World/Substitute For Love	Madonna	Ray Of Light	Pop
Vogue	Madonna	Dick Tracy- I'm Breathless	Soundtrack
Time stood still	Madonna	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
American pie	Madonna	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Kiss (Ra mix)	London After Midnight	Psycho Magnet	Darkwave
Kiss	London After Midnight	Psycho Magnet	Darkwave
The Carnival Is Over	Leather Strip	The Carnival Within	Gothic Rock
Dark Entries	Kill Switch...Klick	The Passion of Covers: A Tribute to Bauhaus	Gothic Rock
Soloution	Ils & Solo	Logical Progression	Electronica & Dance
In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated	Ikon	The Carnival Within	Gothic Rock
Blithe Spirit	The Garden	Kindred Spirits	Rock
Liquid Separation	Front Line Assembly	Millennium	Industrial
Motion	Front 242	06:21:03:11 Up Evil	Rock
Crushed (Obscene)	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off	Industrial
Animal (Zoo)	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off	Industrial
Crushed	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off	Industrial
Modern Angel	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off	Industrial
Everlong	Foo Fighters	The Colour And The Shape	Alternative
February Stars	Foo Fighters	The Colour And The Shape	Alternative
My Hero	Foo Fighters	The Colour And The Shape	Alternative
Monkey Wrench	Foo Fighters	The Colour And The Shape	Alternative
Cars	Fear Factory	Obsolete	Heavy Metal
Sparks	Faith and the Muse	The Disease of Lady Madeline	Gothic
Annwyn, Beneath The Waves	Faith and The Muse	Call On The Dark	Gothic
Anywhere Is	Enya	The Memory of Trees	New Age
Afer Ventus	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Evacuee	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Angeles	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Caribbean Blue	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Return To Innocence	Enigma	The CROSS Of Changes	Rock
Prism Of Life	Enigma	Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!	Native American
The Child In Us	Enigma	Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!	Native American
Beyond The Invisible	Enigma	Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!	Native American
Morphing Thru Time	Enigma	Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!	Native American
Stan > Featuring Dido	Eminem	The Marshall Mathers LP	Rap
My Dad's Gone Crazy (ft. Hailie Jade)	Eminem	The Eminem Show	Rap
Apparition Sky	Emeralde Feare	The Unquiet Grave	Gothic
Terror Couple Kill Colonel	Eleven Shadows	The Passion of Covers: A Tribute to Bauhaus	Gothic Rock
Bela Lugosi's Dead	The Electric Hellfire Club	The Passion of Covers: A Tribute to Bauhaus	Gothic Rock
Turn Up The Music	Dr. Baker	Trance In Your Mind	Dance
Anywhere out of this world	Deep Red	The Carnival Within	Gothic Rock
Forest Hymn	Deep Forest	Deep Forest	New Age
White Whisper	Deep Forest	Deep Forest	New Age
Boheme	Deep Forest	Boheme	Electronic
Twosome	Deep Forest	Boheme	Electronic
Marta's Song	Deep Forest	Boheme	Electronic
Cantara	Dead Can Dance	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun	Gothic
Xavier	Dead Can Dance	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun	Gothic
In the Wake of Adversity	Dead Can Dance	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun	Gothic
Anywhere Out of the World	Dead Can Dance	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun	Gothic
Don't Fade Away	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Sanvean	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Song Of The Sibyl	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Cantara	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
American Dreaming	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Rakim	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Ullyses	Dead Can Dance	The Serpent's Egg	Gothic
In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One-eyed Are Kings	Dead Can Dance	The Serpent's Egg	Gothic
Severance	Dead Can Dance	The Serpent's Egg	Gothic
Avatar	Dead Can Dance	Spleen and Ideal	Gothic
Advent	Dead Can Dance	Spleen and Ideal	Gothic
Enigma of the Absolute	Dead Can Dance	Spleen and Ideal	Gothic
Song of the Nile	Dead Can Dance	Spiritchaser	Gothic
Song of the Dispossessed	Dead Can Dance	Spiritchaser	Gothic
The Carnival Is Over	Dead Can Dance	Into The Labyrinth	Gothic
The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove	Dead Can Dance	Into The Labyrinth	Gothic
The Arcane	Dead Can Dance	Dead Can Dance	Gothic
In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated	Dead Can Dance	Dead Can Dance	Gothic
East of Eden	Dead Can Dance	Dead Can Dance	Gothic
Fortune	Dead Can Dance	Dead Can Dance	Gothic
Black Sun	Dead Can Dance	Aion	Gothic
Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book	Dead Can Dance	Aion	Gothic
In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed are Kings	Dead Can Dance	A Passage in Time	Gothic
Anywhere out of the World	Dead Can Dance	A Passage in Time	Gothic
Enigma of the Absolute	Dead Can Dance	A Passage in Time	Gothic
Ullyses	Dead Can Dance	A Passage in Time	Gothic
The Hearts Filthy Lesson	David Bowie	Outside	Rock
As the World Falls Down	David Bowie	Labyrinth	Soundtrack
Survive	David Bowie	Hours	Rock
Thursday's Child	David Bowie	Hours	Rock
Battle For Britain (The Letter)	David Bowie	EART HL I NG	Rock
Little Wonder	David Bowie	EART HL I NG	Rock
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger	Daft Punk	Discovery	Electronic
One More Time	Daft Punk	Discovery	Electronic
Adrenaline	The Curtain Society	Kindred Spirits	Rock
Treasure	The Cure	Wild Mood Swings	Alternative
Return	The Cure	Wild Mood Swings	Alternative
Mint Car	The Cure	Wild Mood Swings	Alternative
Strange Attraction	The Cure	Wild Mood Swings	Alternative
Other Voices	The Cure	Staring At The Sea (The Singles)	Rock/Pop
One More Time	The Cure	Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me	Rock/Pop
Just Like Heaven	The Cure	Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me	Rock/Pop
The Kiss	The Cure	Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me	Rock/Pop
Closedown	The Cure	Disintegration	Gothic
Plainsong	The Cure	Disintegration	Gothic
Angel Of Night	Crayon Death	Johns Dad	Heavy Metal
Gridlock	Crayon Death	Johns Dad	Heavy Metal
We Got the Gun	Clint Mansell	Pi Soundtrack	Soundtrack
Setting Sun (Radio Edit)	The Chemical Brothers	Setting Sun	Techno
Setting Sun (Full Length Version)	The Chemical Brothers	Setting Sun	Techno
If Only	Born for Bliss	Call On The Dark	Gothic
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything	Blade Fetish	The Passion of Covers: A Tribute to Bauhaus	Gothic Rock
How Can You Forget Love?	Black Tape For A Blue Girl	A Chaos Of Desire	Gothic
Pandora's Box	Black Tape For A Blue Girl	A Chaos Of Desire	Gothic
New World	Björk	Selmasongs	Soundtrack
I've Seen It All	Björk	Selmasongs	Soundtrack
Possibly Maybe	Björk	Post	Rock
Enjoy	Björk	Post	Rock
Hyper-ballad	Björk	Post	Rock
Army Of Me	Björk	Post	Rock
All Is Full Of Love	Björk	Homogenic	Electronic
Bachelorette	Björk	Homogenic	Electronic
Jóga	Björk	Homogenic	Electronic
Hunter	Björk	Homogenic	Electronic
Violet	The Birthday Massacre	Violet	Gothic Rock
The Dream	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Broken	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Video Kid	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Under The Stairs	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Promise Me	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Horror Show	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
Happy Birthday	The Birthday Massacre	Nothing And Nowhere	Gothic Rock
California	April's Motel Room	Black 14	Alternative
Windowlicker	Aphex Twin	Windowlicker	Electronic
Cliffs	Aphex Twin	Selected Ambient Works	Ambient
Heliosphan	Aphex Twin	Selected Ambient Works	Ambient
Cailin na Gruaige B ine	Aoife Ni Fhearraigh	Aoife	Folklore
Sexy Boy	Air	Moon Safari	New Age
Inn	Underflowers	Underflowers	Rock
The Passportal	Team Sleep	The Matrix Reloaded	Soundtrack
Athair as Neamh	The Taliesin Orchestra - Charles Sayre, conductor	Orinoco Flow - The Music of Enya	New Age
Ya Soshla S Uma	t.A.T.u.	200 KMpH In The Wrong Lane	Pop
All The Things She Said	t.A.T.u.	200 KMpH In The Wrong Lane	Pop
Gutter Glitter	Switchblade Symphony	Serpentine Gallery	Gothic Rock
Rus'ti-ca'tion	Sparrow Orange	Hands and Knees Music	Ambient
after the flesh	soundtrack	the crow	Rock
Angel	Sarah McLachlan	City Of Angels	Soundtrack
Disarm	Smashing Pumpkins	Siamese Dream	Other
Cult	Skinny Puppy	The Process	Rock
Angel	Sarah McLachlan	Surfacing	Rock
Good Vibrations (7" Version)	Psychic Television	Time's Up (Best OV Psychic TV)	Psychedelic
Godstar (7" Mix)	Psychic Television	Time's Up (Best OV Psychic TV)	Psychedelic
Angry Johnny	Poe	Hello	Gothic
Toxygene (Edit)	Orb	Y2K - Beat the Clock	Electronic
Porcelain	Moby	Play	Electronic
Boom Boom BA	Metisse	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Bongo Bong	Manu Chao	The Next Best Thing	Soundtrack
Imagine	John Lennon	The John Lennon Collection	Rock
Athair Ar Nearmh	Enya	The Memory of Trees	New Age
I Want Tomorrow	Enya	The Celts	New Age
Marble Halls	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Shepherd Moons	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Marble Halls	Enya	Paint The Sky With Stars (The Best Of )	New Age
Shepherd Moons	Enya	Paint The Sky With Stars (The Best Of )	New Age
Opening Titles Including Underground	David Bowie	Labyrinth	Soundtrack
Close To Me	The Cure	Staring At The Sea (The Singles)	Rock/Pop
In-Between Days	The Cure	Staring At The Sea (The Singles)	Rock/Pop
2 Pi r	Clint Mansell	Pi Soundtrack	Soundtrack
Spoon	Cibo Matto	Brain Waves	Rock
Toxic	Britney Spears	In The Zone	Pop
Jamming	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Exodus	Reggae
The Modern Things	Björk	Post	Rock
Human Behaviour	Björk	Debut	Rock
Wishful Thinking	Underflowers	Underflowers	Rock
Today	Smashing Pumpkins	Siamese Dream	Other
Acid F*cker	Silent Breed	Banging the Box	House
Elysium	Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard	Gladiator	Soundtrack
Animal (Guide)	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off	Industrial
Tea-House Moon [Instrumental]	Enya	The Memory of Trees	New Age
Book Of Days	Enya	Shepherd Moons	New Age
Break On Through	Doors	The Best of the Doors	Psychedelic
I Can See Now	Dead Can Dance	Toward The Within	Gothic
Chains Of Color	Black Tape For A Blue Girl	A Chaos Of Desire	Gothic
Unravel	Björk	Homogenic	Electronic
Flim	Aphex Twin	Come To Daddy	Industrial
Ainnir Dheas na gCiaghfholt Donn	Aoife Ni Fhearraigh	Aoife	Folklore
Mephisto Walz	Alle In Ashe	Gothic Rock	Gothic Rock
Ariadne	Dead Can Dance	Into The Labyrinth	Gothic
Pi r Squared	Clint Mansell	Pi Soundtrack	Soundtrack
You've Been Flirting Again	Björk	Post	Rock
Breathe	Telepopmusik	Genetic World	Electronic
Breathe (Extended Mix)	Telepopmusik	Genetic World	Electronic
Smile	Telepopmusik	Genetic World	Electronic
Don't Look Back	Telepopmusik	Angel Milk	Electronic
Suzuki	Tosca	Suzuki	Electronic
The Plug	Bonobo	Animal Magic	Electronic
When 6 Loves 9	Only Child	Ordered from the Catalogue	Electronic
Cafe Coca	De-Phazz	Godsdog	Electronic
Svefn G Englar	Sigur Rós	( )	Alternative
One Too Many Mornings	The Chemical Brothers	Exit Planet Dust	Electronic
Satisfaction	Benny Benassi & The Biz	Hypnotica	Dance
I Love My Sex	Benassi Bros.	Hypnotica	Dance
Take Me Away (Into the Night)	4 Strings	Believe	Electronic
Until You Love Me (The Essence Extended Mix)	4 Strings	Ultra: iTrance 2	Dance
Yet Another Day (Original Mix)	Armin van Buuren & Ray Wilson	Ultra: iTrance 2	Dance
Me Plus One	Annie	Anniemal	Electronic
Underpants Gnomes Remix		South Park Mixes	Techno
Clocks	Coldplay	A Rush of Blood to the Head	Alternative
Firestarter	Prodigy		Alternative
I Put Myself Together	Charles Brown	Blues and Other Love Songs	Blues
Only	Nine Inch Nails	With Teeth	Alternative Rock
Purgatory	A Covenant Of Thorns	Hallowed & Hollow	Gothic
Love Crooked Love	A Covenant Of Thorns	Hallowed & Hollow	Gothic
Supergirl	morticians		Pop
Tronce (Short Mix)	Fabrik Nos		Dance
Elektronik Supersonik	Zladko "Zlad" Vladcik		Electronic

Tags: iPod, iTunes, Exporting, XSL, XML, Music, Favorites, Ratings

Using MySQL with .Net

2005-09-30T02:10:00.000-04:00

Continuing research for porting my blog over to WordPress, I started learning how to interact with a MySQL database with C#. I lack experience with MySQL, so this would be a nice little project. At first, I was using an OleDb provider, but continued to get an error DB_E_NOTABLE (0x80040E37) when I tried to access longtext fields or blobs.

After stumbling many times over, I found that the MySQL development site had an article entitled Exploring MySQL in the Microsoft .NET Environment. In the article, Venu Anuganti states that MySQL doesn't officially support OleDb providers such as the MyOLEDB provider. Fortunately, ODBC was a recommended driver. I was able to download the MyODBC driver and install it without and problems. Running my little C# test, I was finally able to read text fields without any errors.

One other thing that I noticed is that I could add a database connection to VS.Net 2005 with both MyODBC and MyOLEDB. The Oledb provider would only show me tables and columns, and would complain about asynchronous connections every time I tried to access data. With MyOLEDB, I saw tables, views, and stored procedures as nodes and I was also able to see data within each table.

Here is a screen shot of my testing tool:

And here is some basic code that I use for it:

using System.Data;
using System.Data.Odbc;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Globalization;

...

private string ConnectionString
{
   get
   {
       return string.Format(
           CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
           @"DRIVER={{MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver}};SERVER={0};DATABASE={1};UID={2};PASSWORD={3};OPTION=3",
           this.Location, this.DataSource,
           this.UserId, this.Password);
   }
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   OdbcConnection connection = null;
   OdbcCommand command = null;
   OdbcDataAdapter adapter = null;
   DataSet data = null;
   try
   {
       connection = new OdbcConnection(this.ConnectionString);
       command = connection.CreateCommand();
       command.CommandText = this.Sql;
       adapter = new OdbcDataAdapter(command);
       data = new DataSet();
       adapter.Fill(data);
       this.dataGrid1.DataSource = data;
   }
   catch(Exception ex)
   {
       MessageBox.Show(this, ex.Message);
   }
   finally
   {
       if(adapter != null)
           adapter.Dispose();
       if(command != null)
           command.Dispose();
       if(connection != null)
       {
           if(connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed)
               connection.Close();
           connection.Dispose();
       }
  152
   }
}

I am hoping that my web hosting provider will permit me to access MySQL over the internet rather then restricting me to a local connection from the website itself. If I can reach the database, then I may be able to import blogger entries and haloscan comments without too many problems over to WordPress.

Tags: MySQL, ODBC, OLEDB, MyODBC, MyOLEDB, .Net, C#, Databases, Programming, Source Code

The Rescheduled Lunch

2005-09-29T20:44:00.000-04:00

A year ago, my coworker and I would have lunch together every day. It has been a long time since we last had lunch together. Lately, plans have been made only to be broken by unforeseen circumstances. Today was no different.

The lunch planned yesterday was rescheduled to today. Yesterdays plans were thwarted since the whole office was going to a Thai Restaurant. Today our plans were foiled again as it was someone's birthday. The party was supposed to start at noon, but the guest of honor didn't show up until a little later. It was a surprise party after all.

The party only involved a cake. After a half hour, I sneaked out. I had only a half hour before a meeting so I grabbed some lunch from the deli in our building. There really wasn't enough time to go out on our lunch break. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Tags: Lunch, Office, Plans, Work, Lunch Hour, Birthdays, Parties, Food

Preperation for moving day

2005-09-29T05:19:00.000-04:00

I've decided to go with WordPress for my blogging platform. I wanted to test it out at home on one of my computers. I installed MySQL and PHP. I installed the MySQL Administrator to manage the MySQL database to create a user and then give them permission to access a database.

I downloaded WordPress and unzipped it into a directory. Visiting the web site on my local machine told me that MySQL wasn't available to PHP. I spent the next 3 hours debugging the PHP.ini file and googling for help. I tried the following:

in PHP.ini, set extension_dir = "c:\PHP\ext\"
uncomment extension=php_mysql.dll
download pecl-5.0.5-Win32.zip and copy php_mysql.dll to the "ext" subdirectory

No matter what I would do, I would keep getting this error:

"Unable to load dynamic library 'c:\PHP\ext\php_mysql.dll'"

Finally I found an answer in a forum post by DoopyNL.

I've copyed the file libmysql.dll from the main php folder to \windows\system32 and the error went away and I could use the mysql functionality in PHP.

I found the file in php-5.0.5-Win32.zip and copied it to the directory. As soon as that was done, WordPress installed itself without any problems.

Tags: WordPress, Troubleshooting, PHP, MySQL, php_mysql.dll, Installations, Web Development

The Possessed Radio

2005-09-29T02:03:00.000-04:00

I had my own apartment in Moorefield, West Virginia back in 1996. Since I had a job from ten at night to six in the morning, I would sleep during the day. Sometimes this proved hard to do, as my radio was possessed.

In West Virginia, you run into all sorts of odd situations. Mine was due to computer illiteracy. You see, before the internet and even bulletin board systems for that matter, people would chat over CB (Citizens' band) Radio or Ham Radio (also known as Amateur Radio). Today we have the equivalent technologies being used over the internet such as voice chat and podcasting.

At my old apartment, I would hear a one-sided conversation of someone talking on a CB through my radios speakers. It did not matter if the radio was on or off - or even unplugged for that matter! This made it really hard for me to get to sleep even when I would attempt to muffle every speaker in the apartment.

From what I gather, the person on the CB was probably running so much power through there transmitter, that the FCC might raise an eyebrow. I suspect that it may have been the family living above me. I would sometimes hear children being allowed to talk, but it was usually a man and sometimes his wife.

The thing that I hated most about it was when they were looking for someone and just call out for them continuously.

Hey Cosmo!
You there Cosmo?
Cosmo are you there?
Anyone seen Cosmo?
Cosmo
Cosmo
Cosmo
Hey Cosmo!

Tags: Radio, CB, Ham Radio, Amateur Radio, Cosmo, Annoyances, Possession, Possessed

Left Behind

2005-09-28T19:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my co-worker and I agreed to have lunch today. Later in the day another coworker reminded me that I had agreed (last week?) to eat at a Thai restaurant with the rest of the office. I canceled plans with the first coworker and confirmed with the second that I would be eating at the Thai restaurant.

So today I notice it is 11:30 and I didn't know what time everyone would leave for lunch. I go in search for her and other individuals and discover that just about everyone has gone missing. I have no idea where this Thai Restaurant is.

I sent a message to the first coworker that I initially agreed to have lunch with saying "I think they forgot me". She came out of her office and gave me the bad news that she was already in the middle of her lunch since she had thought I was going to the restaurant.

Oh so sad.

Tags: Lunch, Office, Thai Food, Thai, Food, Sad

Running on Knoppix

2005-09-27T23:32:00.000-04:00

My computer spent most of the night last night downloading over 3 gigabytes of the Knoppix bootable DVD with a bit torrent client. I had tried FTP first, but the download speed was very slow and continued to fail on different mirrors.

I installed the NERO software that came with my SONY DVD/CD ReWritable Drive (DRX-720UL) and was able to burn the ISO image to a DVD. I wasn't sure if my computer would permit me to boot off of a DVD. I have booted it off of a normal CD in the past, but I figured DVD's may be different.

The option to choose the DVD drive came up and I was in. The last time I tried Knoppix, I could only get a color depth of 16 colors. It appears that I have everything now at a descent resolution. I was even able to save a personal configuration file to my iPod so that it can remember a few of my preferred settings.

I'm still looking around, but I have already seen that the Mono development environment is here. I had also told bit torrent to download monoppix after it completed Knoppix, but it may have been all for nothing. I haven't seen MySQL yet. I thought I had seen a file related to it in the root directory when looking at the contents from windows.

Audacity is installed here as well. I have used that program for podcasting in the past. Well, I'm going to muck around a bit more. This is really nice.

Bandit

2005-09-26T23:44:00.000-04:00

Out of five kittens rescued last week, Bandit is the only survivor of his litter. His last sibling was euthanized this morning. All of the kittens came down with a respiratory illness. We had thought that the last two were really pulling through fine until I was woken up last night.

Bandit is very small. He shivers a lot and I don't know if it is too cold, or if he is frightened or sick. Angel watches over him constantly and makes sure he gets his medicine and special milk. She has a warm rubbery water pack that she lets him lay on to keep him warm.

He let me get a few pictures without a flash, but started to become picture shy.

We are hoping for the best for this little guy. Every day that passes brings with it a better chance for him to survive. He is very adorable.

Tags: Foster Kittens, Bandit, Kittens, Cats, Pets

Knoppix

2005-09-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

Many people would like to try out a different operating systems, but they don't want to install it over an existing system already in place. Others just might not have a spare computer to toy with. And then there is me. I'm just too lazy to go through the hassel of installing another OS.

Knoppix is one operating system that I find quite handy to use when I want to toy around with Linux. You download an ISO file, burn it to a CD/DVD and boot up your computer with the disc in the drive. There is no installation. Everything runs rite off the disc.

Knoppix has everything. It has your graphic art programs, programming environments, web browsers, document editing software, email, games, and more. And when you are done, just eject the disc and reboot. You are back to using your original operating system as if nothing ever happened. Afraid of viruses? Worry no more! With Knoppix, you just reboot the system.

A few days ago, they came out with version 4.0.2 on DVD and a "Lite" CD version. The DVD version has over 3.5 GB to download, but you can buy an actual disc if you don't have the bandwidth. The CD version may only be able to hold about 600 MB, but the Knoppix folks use compression to fit 2 GB of data within that small space.

Tags: Knoppix, Linux, Operating Systems

RSS for VA Bloggers

2005-09-26T03:26:00.000-04:00

I maintain a small directory of blogs in Virginia. I decided to give this directory a little RSS feed so that people could load it up into there news feed programs. Now when a new site is added, you don't have to go to the directory to find out about it.

RSS Feed

Validate my RSS feed

Tags: RSS, Virginia, Directories, Blogging

Dollar Days

2005-09-25T20:26:00.000-04:00

My mother in-law came over today with the kids. We took off and went to Rent-A-Center and found that they were closed. We were going to go home, but a certain individual in our party wanted to go to the toy store. We decided to set our destination towards Mr. Dollar.

We went through the aisles and my niece would pick out something here and there. We walked out with a sheet of Halloween Stickers, foam letter block puzzles, a bubble set, and a white teddy bear with a heart.

I had some fun blowing bubbles with the kids until most of it was spilled. We played with what little solution we had left and then went back inside and played on the Atari Flashback 2.

Mom had brought over the two kittens that had survived from a respiratory illness so that they could get some of there shots. After she came back with Angel, we ordered Chinese food.

Tags: Dollar, Toys, Kids, Bubbles, Kittens

Lewies Wrap-up #002

2005-09-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

Produced by: Lewis Moten
Channel: Lewies Weekend Wrap-up
Length: 29:37
Show mp3: available for download
Description:

Monday, September 19, 2005
- Do Everything Day
- Kitten Rescue 911
Wednesday
- Save the day with C#
- Promotional T-Shirts and reporting
Thursday
- Pictures within a Picture
- Broadcasting to the stars
Friday
- Dead Can Dance Tickets
Saturday
- A Trademark
- Quality of Life
Sunday
- Moving Day

Tags: Podcasting, MP3, Summaries, Wrap-up

Moving Day

2005-09-25T00:53:00.000-04:00

I've been considering moving my blog over to my domain name at lewismoten.com. I've had the domain name since forever. It used to point to one of my computers at home. My cable company got a little smart and I ended up paying a web hosting company for a small spot to point it at rather then my home.

My little spot on the web over there doesn't get much attention these days. I guess it is because I've been neglecting to use it. I've done quite a few PHP experiments with it, but other then that, it has been setting in the dark.

I wanted to move my blog over to the domain, but Blogger seems to have problems creating a few files and bombs out halfway through publishing. Recently, I've started looking at other blog hosting options. I looked at Movable Type, but the Atomic Bombshell has been having a lot of anxiety problems with it. She has switched over to wordpress and best of all, it is free.

I tried setting up wordpress myself, but I need a MySQL database. Since I went with the cheapest plan when I first setup my website, I don't have a database. So come Monday, I'm going to consult with my hosting provider and see what my options are.

Tags: Blogging, Hosting, Databases, Blogger, Movable Type, WordPress, MySQL, PHP

Quality of Life

2005-09-24T20:49:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, our television started changing colors. I stuck with it for a while, but it just became unbearable. To get the colors back, I swapped it with the small television that the kids use for there video games when they come and visit. It was a much needed improvement. Unfortunately, I still can't handle it. The quality of my television life is bad. I have to set up close on the floor to see the picture or else it is blurry.

Actually, today was the first time that I checked on my finances for this pay period and was surprised to see a positive balance of about two hundred, fifty dollars. I would love to go out and buy a television with it, but part of that money needs to stay in there for budgeted bills that haven't come out yet. My mother in-law has been helping me get control over everything. Usually I have been down by six hundred dollars around this time - mostly due to phenomenal bank charges on small withdrawals.

I've been considering an investment into an HDTV for a while now, and I am trying to save up. I am approaching a point where I may give in and just buy a regular television. I do not want a regular television though. I have seen HDTV popping up in places where I frequent. Even our conference room has six plasma high definition televisions on one of our walls where I work. My coworker showed me his refurbished HDTV when I took him home once and the quality is nice.

I'm starting to consider Rent-A-Center. I understand that you can rent to own. I'm concerned that the equipment is used and I would be paying retail for it (if not more for financing changes). I headed on over to the site and spent a good hour just gathering information that they were asking for. In the end, they said that I should be expecting a call from a store local to me. I tried calling that very store earlier to see what the hours were in case I could check them out first. At least all of the paperwork is mostly done.

Tags: HDTV, Television, Renting, Paperwork

A trademark

2005-09-24T00:03:00.000-04:00

I had started browsing through a few old data CD's last night that I had made about six years ago. I had burned most of my artwork and projects that I had worked on as well as everything on my desktop and document folders.

It is funny how one can go through old data and get enjoyment reminiscing about past projects and triggering old memories. It is almost like going through an old photo album. While I'm doing this, a little voice keeps popping up in the back of my head - "You're a dork".

One of the images that kept popping up was variations of my own personal trademark. I came up with a sketch of it back when I was getting my higher education. I had partially forgotten about it. Here is a sample of those images along with a few others that I've had on my flickr account for a while now.

I also found a few variations of some of my websites as they had been changed over the past years. It was interesting to look at the source code and browse the databases. Back then, blogs were known as news applications. I remember being confused trying to figure out what the difference was between the two when I first started noticing the term. Today blogging has evolved and news sites are starting to adapt and merge with the trend.

Tags: Backups, Data Recovery, Artwork, Trademarks, Blogging, News

Dead Can Dance Tickets

2005-09-23T00:57:00.000-04:00

I checked my mailbox today and saw an envelope from Ticketmaster. Inside was two tickets for Dead Can Dance. Angel turned down the offer to come with me. I introduced a coworker to the music samples from them on Amazon.com. She may be interested in coming with me to the show. I just have to remember to bring in one of my albums for her to listen to tomorrow.

They have such a large variety of styles. It is perhaps like dark ethnic folk music with astounding vocals. There music is just mesmeric and beautiful. If you haven't heard of Dead Can Dance, I suggest that you check out a few music samples with Amazon.com or iTunes.

I am really excited about the show. I've been reading a few blogs about it as they move from one town to the next. Practically everyone is agreeing that the show is over the top. Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry have really out done themselves.

Tags: Mail, Tickets, Dead Can Dance, Music, Concerts, Excited

Broadcasting to the stars

2005-09-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

Aurora from the Atomic Bombshell told me about a site called Blog in Space. I keep thinking of a skit on the muppets about Pigs in Space. The idea is that your blog can be broadcasted into outer-space so that extra-terrestrial beings could read it - free of charge. Just make sure that you don't provoke any of our friendly aliens into hostile reactions to our mother planet.

If your blog is worthy enough, the nice folks might even rate you as "Most Likely to be Contacted". Aurora informed me that her own blog was picked to be featured tomorrow. She claims it was picked for its outstanding ability to potentially provoke alien responses back to planet Earth. I think there are many conspiracy theories behind closed doors in the government regarding how she is singled out among many. Either way, Kudos to her because she really deserves it.

Tags: Aliens, Alien Contact, Broadcasting, Space, Extra-Terrestial, Blogging

Pictures within a picture

2005-09-22T01:53:00.000-04:00

Early this month, I started toying around with the idea of making photographic mosaics from all of the images that I've uploaded to my flickr account. I made a montage generator program that was simple enough to make something, but the quality was just not good enough. Sure, I could make out the photomosaic, but I kept feeling that it could be better.

I've searched the internet before untertaking this project. I couldn't find anything within my budget of "free". Now since I've sort of abandoned the project, I stumbled upon the very program that would have given me great satisfaction if I knew about it in the first place. It is called AndreaMosaic. My favorite part is that this is a freeware program!

I first tried it out on a picture of one of my paintings since it had many colors accross the spectrum. Check out the results!

I can make out the image very well here. Rather then counting each photo as a picture element, it has split them down further to match a section of pixels. It has so many different options too. I can put in black borders between the images or specify how many images to use per row. I was even able to tell it not to duplicate any photographs. I am in awe.

Tags: Mosaics, Photagraphy, Freeware, Programming

Promotional T-Shirts and Reporting

2005-09-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

My coworker invited me into her office today and presented me with a few t-shirts and a cap that she got from the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference 2005 (a.k.a. PDC). I still need to catch up on some PDC blogs about what went on this year.

Angel took a look at the shirts when I got home and took to the Intel 64 sports sweater. There was another shirt advertising Automated QA and one for the PDC conference itself. I love wearing these shirts around the house. I can get messy and not have to worry about ruining the shirt since it's just a promotional item.

Today I've done a lot of mucking around in Crystal Reports. I dealt with exporting as Word and Excel files and emailing them as attachments. I also got the html version to print without our sites template when the end-user prints it out. As always, there were tons of formatting issues and troubleshooting with the report. I'm just glad that it isn't like the old days where I would spend days hunting down dll's, hot fixes, and patches on the Crystal Reports website. It's been a few years, but I'm doing ok with them.

Tags: PDC, Developers, Conferences, T-Shirts, Free, Crystal Reports, Work, Angel, Shirts, Clothing

Save the day with C#

2005-09-21T01:38:00.000-04:00

My manager and co-worker went out to the west to attend some conferences that introduce upcoming Microsoft technologies. I would have gone, but I have this insane fear of flying. I came into work this morning and found a cap on my desk with the emblem "C#". It is supposed to be a spoof off of the Superman logo of the big "S".

The back of the hat says "Save the day with C#". I've saved plenty of days with C#, but I could have done the same with VB.Net. These days, the language you code in is more of a preference rather then a requirement of what the application that you are creating needs to be capable of.

I may be a C# guru, but I doubt I'll be wearing this hat into work. Angel tried the cap on when I arrived at home and she looked great. I don't know why, but women in baseball caps can be attractive at times. Unfortunately, my own mug doesn't go well with caps.

Angels mother was here when I got home. It seems that another kitten has had an unfortunate demise, but did not have to go through as much suffering as the other kittens. Angel is strong and is hopeful that the other two will make it. Every hour that passes makes the situation more optimistic.

After her mom left, we tuned into our Video on Demand cable channel. Although we have digital cable, it was very slow loading up and navigating through the movies. After watching a preview, we choose to watch Are we there yet? The movie was funny and cute. It reminds me of Johnson Family Vacation. Here is a quick summary of both movies:

A man buys a brand new Ford Escalade complete with spinning rims. On a long trip across the country, the vehicle is ruined by multiple synchronized unfortunate events that are beyond extraordinary. The fate of his most prized material possession doesn't matter because at the end, the kids respect him, he gets the girl, and most of all - he has insurance.

Tags: Hats, C#, Are we there yet?, Johnson Family Vacation, Movies, Kittens

Kitten Rescue 911

2005-09-19T18:55:00.000-04:00

Five kittens were in a tree that did not yet have there eyes open. A little girl told our friend Lisa about some kittens falling from a tree near an abandoned house in our neighborhood. The place is well known as a safe-house for ferrel cats. Lisa took the abandoned kittens and worked with my wife to nurse them.

Today I woke up and Angel asked me to take her back over to Lisa's house. One of the kittens was having a tough time breathing. We came back as there wasn't anything we could do but wait. Later in the day, he died and one of his siblings was starting to have the same problems.

Angels sister came over and took the kittens to the vet to have them checked out and see if anything could be determined. We are all just hoping that everything turns out ok.

Update

The second kitten has also passed away. The vet was able to see the four kittens before the last one died. It turns out that they all have respiratory problems. Angel told me that the two that have died so far are the same ones that had fallen out of the tree that there mother dragged them up into. The three remaining kittens are now on medicine and quarantined.

Tags: Kittens, Emergencies, Abandoned, Pets, Fostering, Nursing, Death