Rinsefirst

I’m engaged to be Married to Amber Radabaugh… This post is a backdated one so I can write more about it later.

I don’t think I talk about, let alone make use of, Regular Expressions enough. No, I’m not talking about the fact that I don’t smile as much as some people, or tear up at the death of any living object. No, I’m talking about those sometimes difficult to read “formulas” that we computer geeks like to use to figure out if it matches something. To learn the basics of what these suckers are, check out the wiki link.

The sheer power of these things often goes unnoticed until you start to think about what your other functions are doing for you. For example, a function like substr could be implemented using a regular expression. Or how about strpos? That could be done with a regular expression and a string (array) length command. In fact, the more I think about it, a good number of the functions that I use every day could be done better with a preg than the function does it themselves. Why’s that you might ask? Take for example the input of variables.

Often times I have to parse a variable in one way shape or form. By that I mean, often times I have to take in user data, and then convert it into something the computer can store. Most of the time I use some cheap function in php to help me get the job done. The problem with this, is that if I don’t pay attention to what I’m doing, I can often find myself with a security issue because I didn’t realize that a ‘ would break my string (or something of that nature).

With regular expressions though, you can have it match exactly what your looking for. Meaning, only what you want is what you accept for user data. I’ve always done this in the past to validate email addresses, and just recent found myself writing a ton of regular expressions for Ann Sieg Consulting. In any case, if you don’t know regular expression syntax, I suggest to take the time to learn it… You’ll be glad you did.

I’m back dating a few posts to play a little catchup in my daily blogging routine. I do this more often than I should, but hey, what can I say… I’m busy.

Today, I went shopping for a ring. Yes, that’s right, an engagement ring. By the time this post get’s read, you’ll all already know the news from one of the many outlets, more on that later.

In any case, I have never had a more pleasant experience parting with large sums of money in my life. I was greeted on my way in. The person helping was great and finding the perfect balance between the things liked and the things disliked. It was almost like a mathematical formula that gets closer and closer to the mark the more inputs you have.

It got me thinking that to many businesses these days don’t cater to the desires of their customers. Part of this stems from the Henry Ford adage that, “you can have it in any color as long as it’s block”. I mean think about it… If every Ipod was customized entirely to the users specifications, in the same way that a diamond ring is, we would see ipods that have 250 gig hard disks, removable batteries, tougher cases, linux, or whatever other mods you desired.

I’m sure it would add to the cost of things, but I’m sure some people would be willing to pay it as well.

I think I will sum this article up as this: A rather pointless post simply stating that I bought a ring, was very happy with Shane Co., and that I like things that are customizable.

I love free samples.

They are free, and normally in some amount that is at least useful for something.

That said, I got a free sample in my email today that I can’t wait to take advantage of. It was a link, inviting me to Burning Crusade free for 10 days. Kind of as a “Hey, you want to upgrade your account for free without paying the 40 bucks in the store, but only for 10 days” kind of thing. Now, I have to admit, my Wow account has been closed for 4 months now, but I would like to get back in for a week or two sometime soon… Once I beat Pokemon Diamond most likely. I need to make sure Richard comes in with me as well, that way I have someone to play with.

I feel though that free samples are only still remaining at my favorite places to shop, namely food places and video game stores. They are the only two places that I really walk into with a “try before you buy” mentality. Even the food places have cut back though. I remember that I used to get mini boxes of cereal in the mail… Not anymore. Perhaps it’s a cost thing. Perhaps its a profit thing. Perhaps I just ended up off their mailing list.

Where am I going with this… Ah yes… I think free samples are what businesses think their website is now. It’s a way to give as much free information as they possibly can to the customer, short of letting them see, touch, and feel the product. Look at shopping for cars online… You can spin your car, look inside, heck, a few of the sites even let you hear how your car could sound. Of course you would still want to see it in person, but that’s happening less and less because people are able to get a good enough sample online.

I’m not sure there is a problem with this… But what happens when people start misrepresenting their product online? Are they already? What is it call if it isn’t a true sample? Free useless information? I have a feeling the internet is already full of that.

I spent a portion today working on the final touches for a video gallery for WLC Youth. It’s nothing overly fancy, just a simple browser and viewer that allows you to get from video to video in a way that isn’t all that convulated. It got me thinking though what would make this process easiest here on RinseFirst.

One idea: If there is a gallery associated with a given day (or post), put a ‘mini’ view of that gallery at the bottom, left side, or middle of that post. Each location has it’s own merits, with the bottom winning out in my mind. The problem is, the bottom is also where the comments fall. I don’t really want to take away from that either. I don’t like the idea of making it the beginning for the same reason, it takes away from the post then.

Another idea: I could put a single image somewhere in the text of the post, that if clicked, jumped to that days gallery. I don’t know if I like that idea either, because it’s not overly apparent that it’s a gallery. In fact, I would expect to be taken to a larger version of that image.

A third idea: I thought very briefly that I could create a parallel blog. Then I realized I didn’t want to have to take pictures every day, and that I wanted the pictures tied to that days content… So that didn’t make any sense at all.

I also don’t know if I want comments on each photo. As much as this might be useful, if I’m purposely grouping the galleries and content, then it won’t really matter will it?

So what am I left with? I’m still not sure. I’ve done what I consider a good job building a text only site, that I completely left out a good way to bring photos back in. It will come though… Give it time

Today was kind of interesting day for me. I had the privilege of sitting on a panel with presidents and governors on the topic of education in our schools. Special thanks to Paul Simone for giving me this chance.

There were two things that really impressed me about the meeting. One was the amount of technology that came with the governors. Everything from blackberries that his and her staff were carrying to the special microphone splitter they brought so that the press could tap the sound system. What amazed me even more was how little the governor actually dealt with. In fact, other than holding a microphone, the governor didn’t do a thing with technology. If he had a question about his calendar, he asked someone. He didn’t pull out his own PDA.

I kind of wonder if this isn’t a sign that technology has come far enough to replace that person’s job. Perhaps it is just a time saver, but I would think anytime you add a middleman to something, it adds time to the process as a whole. Maybe not time to the governor though.

The other thing that I should have seen coming more than I did, was what I felt kind of a disappointment. I am used to attending board meetings and business meetings where things are actually accomplished. To me, for as high up as these people are, felt like a waste of their, and my time. Nothing was truely accomplished, and I’m not sure anything that was said would truly make a difference. No one really took notes (although the cameras documented it well). Some things were said that were good points, but nothing that really hasn’t been said before.

That said, it reminded me how much the role of governor (or president) is really a check sum and a guide more than someone who actually accomplishes anything. He/She has no real power to make law. They simply can stop law, and thereby influence the people who are making it. For this reason, I would really love to have been sitting in on a day long meeting about actually trying to come up with a solution for the problem at hand.

I could be entirely wrong, perhaps something someone said rang home for the governor, and he will remember it tomorrow or the day after as something he wants to hold when he decides what to veto regarding education.

On a closing note, this event really brought to my attention that this site is lacking the ability to share images in any sort of useful way. It always has. I don’t think it’s something I want to do daily like Alex and John do, but it would be nice to be able to share some of the photos with you. Perhaps tomorrows post…