Monthly Archives: June 2007

RapLeaf: I'm So Very AMAZED

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This is where Facebook is wonderful and interesting. It’s the ease of falling into a new group.

I decided to look up if someone was cute enough to create an account on the name “Ruby Rails”, and was married to that person. (I think I need to get on this…) Instead, I found some groups that had to do with Ruby on Rails.

I did find this one group interesting: David Heinemeier Hansson can have my babies. (I have a feeling this link might not work for the non-facebook users.)

Back to the point.

The Amazement

I stumbled upon RapLeaf. I’m starting to get interested in applying for a position there, you know, just in case my interview with Ooga Labs doesn’t go so well.

What really made me want to apply there is because what I saw, immediately after I logged in.

RapLeaf Screenshot

Back in the day when I wanted to know what the hoopla was about myspace, (and to this day, I still want to know what the hoopla is) I made a random account, saying I was 101 years old.

To my surprise, RapLeaf found this data out. All from just my email address. Of course, I knew exactly how they figured out even what my facebook and flickr accounts were. They did a reverse lookup on my email, and pulled all that data for yummy consumption.

Sidenote: I’m just afraid when the less tech-savvy people wonder how RapLeaf got a hold of this information, and start getting all crazy like the silly people who petitioned against the “privacy problems” with facebook’s news feeds… I swear, the moment I found out about the backlash against such a great feature, I realized how much people don’t know what’s going on in the background. (Must… resist… serving up… the Truth… DAH!)

Anyway, I just wanted to say “bravo” to RapLeaf for doing this. It’s definitely paving way for some Sanity in this Insanity known as the Internet.

Finally, A Site Template Update… And Other Interesting News

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Wow, I haven’t used the “Site News” category in ages.

I couldn’t bear the last template any longer. I could see where it was breaking, and yet, I never did anything to fix it (i.e.: if the category name(s) that was associated with a post was too long, the design would break; disliking the fact that the design wasn’t as clean as I would have liked; dot dot dot)

No help from my ISP (I hate you, Cincinnati Bell, so very very much…) and the aggressive caching they do to my site, it took me much much longer to get the new template applied. Google Analytics, MyBlogLog (with it’s hideous, hideous, design… but it’s a good concept, must finish post on “Finding Sanity in the Insanity”), multitudes of plugins and template tweaking… Still a little bit more work left (like updating the portfolio section of the site), but all in all, I’d call it a productive weekend.

I’m using Chris Pearson‘s free template called Copyblogger. It’s so pure, clean, and lovely. Just the way I like it. (If I was someone else, I’d make a joke about girls.)

What Josh Kim dot Org is NOT and IS

I love stumbling onto my own entries. It’s like a letter I wrote to myself in the future. I really don’t do it enough.

But what I love about this entry is that… it really helped me define what this blog was going to turn into.

I’m going to continue using WordPress, because I definitely support what Matt Mullenweg is doing, as well as the crazy horde of people out there developing for this wonderful platform. I don’t think I’ll be switching to a Rails blogging application anytime… but it might seem as though Hanmeta‘s blog will either be Typo or Mephisto (just because it’s going to be a Rails app, anyway… good experience in installing one).

I hope to have a half-year self-introspection post at the end of this month. It’s been soooo long.

Oh, and I need to fix these things:

  • Figure out what type of h# tag I want to use for subheadings, and make it consistent
  • Horizontal Rules aren’t creating a newline like I want it to
  • Tags: some things are really badly tagged… but alas, Sanity in the Insanity! Hooray!

Meet Your New App: HanMeta

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I woke up today, fixated on picking a name. I had racked my brain trying to figure out clever metaphors in nature (everything from tree trunks to rivers to pollinating flowers)… clever mashing of two words… sticking “han” in front of everything, trying to go with the naming scheme I’ve devised a couple of years back. (No, I’m not going back to slapping “jk” in front of everything)

There was a domain name I had before this one that would fit in perfectly with what the application will do. But sadly, I gave it up and now it’s in the hands of some spammers.

Regardless, let it be known:

HanMeta.com: the social web 2.0 blah rounded corners blah starburst blah tags blah rss feed reader. Now with more Rails! Ugh.

Let’s see how far I can take this with a ragtag team of awesome coding ninjas, present company included. Looks like, at the beginning, it’ll be Derek Remund, Amir Manji (This guy needs a blog!), and me. I must call upon the help of the sweet coding ninjas of Alex Argo, Dan Janosik, and, of course, the venerable Raj “Taco HTML Edit” Doshi.

All I’ve got is a running list of great features I’d like to implement, and lots of time to do it. (Oh, please please please let me have less time to work on this, if you catch my drift, potential employers?) I’ll try to chronicle this crazy journey. Like… startup.com or the DVD that fogcreek put out. Just in text form.

I just hope it’s more like the latter than the former.

07.07.07: Here we come!

More details as I get time to write them down.

My First Wii-Related Injury

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Wii Logo

I think I injured my neck while playing Wii Bowling a couple days ago. I couldn’t turn my head to the right all the way without some great pain. I’ve recovered, thankfully.

Maybe I should submit my story to Wii Have a Problem.

On a side note: I think I finally figured out to freaking play this game. For some strange reason, no matter how much I try to bowl straight, all of my balls curve to the left.

The key is to release as high as you can, so that the spin doesn’t effect the ball until much later down the lane.

So for me, I aim to the left of the first pin. Strange for a right hander, I know.

What I learned: What I forgot

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For someone who likes to plan, I can’t believe I’ve been trying to run without first learning how to walk. Maybe this time around, my “extremeness” got the best of me.

But less thinking and planning: Here’s the down low. Period.

I need to start somewhere. Instead of thinking about creating huge companies and changing the world, I gotta start with the essentials. For starters, I have to be able to not worry about money. Not that money is a problem right now… but… a “job”, perhaps?

But I don’t mean about getting any job. I need to make that impact, regardless of what I do. Holding out for that perfect job isn’t too bad, as long as your belief in finding that dream job is the truth. And I believe it to be true.

In reality, what will probably happen is as time passes and needs are found, the standard of that “perfect” job changes to something not as desirable. For me, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m still in that problematic phase of thinking I can get what I want in life. I haven’t become jaded… yet.

No matter how much I want to change the world, my personal “stuff” need to be in line.

Why the heck do I post this? I could have easily just made a mental note of this.

Well, being Josh Kim, I gotta track changes.

Think of most of my personal posts as:

svn commit currentDate.txt -m "Post Text Goes Here"

(I’m sure I’m going to get some nerdy comments as to why this isn’t correct, but I’ll try to explain myself if those people show themselves…)

I don’t know why it took Michael Moore’s film “SiCKO” to help me get to this state of wanting to slow down while speeding up.

On paper, it might seem like I have no idea where I’m headed. On the contrary, this enigmatic post has helped me even more…

But, yes. Enough is enough. Time to kick some ass.

Google Reader: Double Posting?

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Something’s wrong with Google reader.

It keeps saying I haven’t read the stories I’ve read, and so I have to slog through them. But the thing is, it’s only for certain feeds.

I really don’t think it’s the feeds themselves, because it’s not just one or two articles here and there… it’s like a full day’s worth of posts from sites like Kotaku and Mashable.

It’s as if Someone is pushing me to do something about this. More on this: this weekend… after things settle down a bit.

Google Reader ate my Feeds

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Where the heck did my feeds go?

I was reading through all these posts on the Apple announcement (including the AAPL dip)… and then suddenly, when I logged back on, all my feeds were gone. Just… bampf. Gone.

Is this a sign? Let’s wait and see if my feeds do come back…

EDIT: Thank goodness… they’re back. That really scared me.

*Back-Ups A WEB APP*

Just as I thought: 3rd Party Apps… er… Web Apps on iPhone

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When I thought about 3rd party applications for the iPhone, I didn’t think that it would require me to learn Cocoa.

I thought… why not web applications? Heck, it’s got a browser built in.

I’m happier now that Jobs has come out and said it. Although, for some, this might seem like a copout solution. However, I’m happy that things are, once again, moving towards the web.

The only thing missing is somehow using the power of the multi-touch screen… That sucker seems locked down… Maybe somehow somebody somewhere could hack that.

And here comes the feeds about today’s Stevenote… ugh.

Oh my goodness, apple.com looks more lickable…

Oh, and go download the Safari Beta. Because… my love for Firefox is dwindling… and I’m trying to kill my dependence on interface add-ons. More on that, later.

Couple of cool commentaries

I forgot Monday is…

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WWDC.

I’m happy I didn’t remember. This means I’m doing something right… at least, keeping busy in the right places.

Quick, to Madison!

Oh… but wait… when’s the stevenote? Where is my Apple Store in Madison, WI?