MikeBrum.com

Looks like another plane has gone down. There’s a bunch of people flipping out and really paranoid right now at work. (I work at an investment firm in Boston)

I’m always surprised at how easily people freak out and will search for any link from two events that they can. Just because a plane crashes DOES NOT mean it’s terrorism. Granted it might be, but who knows at this point? Why must people always assume the worse case scenerio? I just don’t understand that aspect of human nature; to find patterns in things that have none and give credance to “coincidence” as if it were fact.

I just feel for the families and loved ones of the victims of this crash. Terrorism or not, they are the ones that will be suffering.

Ok… I’m asking for some feedback here. How much of a pain in the ass is it to receive an email and respond to it to set your comments to ‘active‘? Does it keep you from responding more than you would otherwise?

Just looking for input, thanks.

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One more thing… I just created an update feature for my diary entries. Wasn’t that hard. Anyhow, by disabling the email feature, you, as users, will not be able to edit or delete your entries. You should take that into consideration. If I keep the email feature, the edit/delete feature will be implemented.

Yes, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Ok, so I’m making a much bigger deal out of this than it really is. Anyhow, you can now add comments to ANY of my diary entries that other people can look at and respond to. Here’s the current procedure:

1. Click the “Add Comments” link under any diary entry to add a comment.
2. Fill out the form and submit your comment
3. An email is then sent to the address you specified. Follow the simple instructions in the email to activate your entry (takes less than a minute)

That’s it! Pretty snazzy, eh? The only thing I’m wondering is if I should remove the whole email aspect of it and just have anyone be able to submit entries from a form and go from there. It certainly will speed things up and make the process easier. Try it out and feel free to leave me a comment about it : ) (yeah, that’s a shameless plug).

The only reason I have the whole email process is because it’s a form of security. It prevents other people from posting using your name and email address. While they can provide any name they like, their email address keeps everyone unique. It’s not perfect by any means, but it is a deterrant and should also keep a lot of spam off the board too.

As always, any input is GREATLY appreciated!

Well, I think I’m about done with my comment feature for my page. I did more work on it today at work and I did some tweaking and little bug fixes tonight between a lot of talk. The only thing I need to add is an edit/delete feature to it and I think it’ll be 100% done. Then I’ll incorporate it into the page probably this weekend.

In other news, I’m just anxious. Things are moving in the right direction… just not fast enough… though that can’t be helped really. They say patience is a virtue, right? Well, I guess it’s time to be virtuous.

Well, this weekend was mildly productive and rather boring all at the same time. I managed to do my laundry and also to start programming up the ‘comments’ feature for my diary entries here. It’s all coming along quite nicely and isn’t anywhere close to as tedious or annoying as I thought it would be. All in all, very good news. I hope to have a product running by next weekend.

In other totally unrelated news, I need to start getting conditioner. My hair’s all bushy today from the cold, dry air and I hate how it looks and feels. Blech! Oh well… just one more thing to deal with. I’ll add it to the list.

Well, it’s Halloween. No real big deal for me since I don’t intend on getting dressed up or going to any bars. I think I’m going to stop by my friend Steph’s for a little while tonight, but nothing too involved.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on. Just the same ol’, same ol’. When something of any note comes up, I’ll letcha know.

Well, it’s Tuesday and it’s been a few days since my last update. Let’s recap…

Friday was generally uneventful, but I needed a rest from my super Canada trip anyhow. I was spent!

Saturday was cool. I hung out with Joe, which is always a good time, and Hippolito stopped by too. Joe showed me MechWarrior 4, which is an amazing game and we shot the hist about tattoos (Joe is apprenticing) and some about my flesh pull with Mariah.

Sunday wasn’t that bad either. I went out and bought MechWarrior 4 at CompUSA. For some reason I got $10 off the listed price (which I didn’t argue) bringing the grand total to $30. Pretty damn sweet considering that not only do you get the game itself, but you have the option of logging into a server and play other matches against other people in either all-for-one attrition matches or other team matches. To make things even better – the online service is FREE! So, I’ve been playing that quite a bit since Sunday and met up with Joe and Nick online on Monday night. Great fun!

That pretty much brings us to today, where I’m here at work and just chugging away at my piles. I can’t wait to get home to talk to Mariah uncensored and play some MW4.

I have finished writing the new Haiku Page. You’ll notice a much better viewing feature. Currently, it will display 10 per page, the most recently submitted first. I will be adding a random feature soon and then a search feature to up the capabilities. Please feel free to check it out and submit one or two.

Seeing as this is 100% re-written, there may be some bugs. If so, PLEASE contact me with anything that isn’t working or any comments/suggestions you have.

I also have to add an ‘update’ function to this so I can change any typos I might have or any inaccurate information (though I do try to keep both down to a bare minium). I was also thinking about adding a feature that you can add your own comments to any one of my diary entries. Like a user feedback that others can see. Anyone interested in that??

Well, I haven’t really been around since last Thursday. From Friday 10/19 to Tuesday 10/23, I was in Canada. (mainly Toronto, but briefly in Ottawa) I spent the whole thing with Mariah and had a GREAT time! We also got to visit some friends while we were in TO. Out of those few days, I’m positive that I drove over 24 hours. I think it’s somewhere between 30 and 35 actually.

Now that I’m back in Boston, it’s back to the usual routine. I did some work on my domain last night. It’s some really transparent security crap. Not “overly” fun, but I learned a few new things and my site is that much more secure. I don’t do anything of any great importance on here, so as far as I know, I haven’t ever been targetted by any hackers before/yet, so hopefully things will stay that way. But just in case, there’s no reason I should make it easy for them.

Ok, I’m going to go and do some more work on things. I know that I keep saying that I’m working on things and you can’t see any of it, but trust me, it’s there. : )

Well, in roughly 18 hours I depart for Canada for a few days. I really can’t wait! I have a lot of stuff to do tonight, so it’s going to be a bit hectic. But my excitement should keep me moving despite it all.

I have to head into Harvard Sq. to get a 4g taper, pick up some other stuff at the store, pack, research and finalize travel plans and directions and try to finalize plans for Saturday and Sunday night.

I’m so excited despite the craziness!! I can’t wait to see Mariah again and it’s going to be a lot of fun hanging out with my Toronto friends! I rarely get to see any of them, so this is going to be a birthday to remember!!

Canada… here I come!!!