I have been an avid listener to Last.FM since I joined the service near the end of December 2008. Since then I’ve streamed over 10,000 tracks and have loved all of them.

My musical tastes are very selective and I’ve never before come across any radio station which delivers great tunes and recommendations within my favourite genres. Progressive, Symphonic, and some Gothic Metal are my main focus when selecting music.

Imagine my disappointment last month when Last.FM announced they were going to a subscription service.

My initial reaction was, “Fine! I’ll just expand my offline collection to include the favourites I’ve discovered though their service.”

Even with this there was still something missing. Sure, I could listen to my favourite tracks any time I like, but where were those odd gems that Last.FM would throw at you every now and then? That one tune that made you stop everything you were doing just to see who was playing it. That type of thing just doesn’t happen when listening to your offline collection.

But that was just part of what I was missing. I also enjoyed seeing other people’s shouts (comments) on some of my favourite tracks. There is nobody in my real life who enjoys my musical tastes. (Then again, I don’t get out much!) It’s nice to see other people enjoying the same music as myself.

So, after a month of trying to live without Last.FM, I took the plunge and subscribed. It’s only $3.00USD/month and for the first time in my online experience, I feel I’ve found an online service which is actually worth paying for. A service I use quite a lot, which my 10,000 plays should tell you.

I’m now happily cruising to Last.FM once again. If you’re into Progressive/Symphonic/Gothic metal, check out my library at http://www.last.fm/user/LarryMonte

Odds N Ends Asides

Time to update the blog and get my bitch post about Hydro One out of the spotlight by posting something new. Well, not completely new as I am gearing up to bitch about another one of our prime service providers here in Canada.

I recently acquired a quick web job for a small business. The previous ‘web guy’ had taken her money and ran before the job was completed. He also made off with all the critical web site information I would need to take over.

With no FTP/cPanel information, our only course was the dreaded call to BellNet support. The client initiated contact then the phone was handed to me.

*Crackle* *Static* Hello?

I couldn’t believe the horrible connection. Then again, Bell Canada’s support team are actually in India, not Canada. (See picture! ) This also made the language barrier even tougher to deal with. Inquiring about MySQL support turned into a 10 minute conversation.

The first stumbling block was establishing the password. It was not the same as what the client had on file. The solution was simple enough. They would email me the password.

Me: The email address is ****@bellnet.ca

Bell: Can you spell that?

Me: K – as in Kite. A – as in Apple…

Bell: A as in what?

Me: A! Just A! (Good Lord!)

(this process was repeated until the username had been spelt out…)

Me: …@bellnet.ca

Bell: Telnet?

Me: Bell-Net! (I had to repeat this twice!)

Bell: Dot com?

Me: No!! Dot ca! (Who the Hell do you work for?)

It took 15 minutes, but I finally received the password. Between conversations like this and the above mentioned MySQL discussion I was into a 45 minute phone call at this point. Oh, and let’s not forget the six or eight times I was put on hold.

But, we’re not done yet. After finding out there is no MySQL support without a huge cost increase to my client, my next question regarded the domain name itself which was registered through BellNet.

Me: Where do I go to manage the domain name?

Bell: We manage it for you.

Me: No. I need access to change name servers.

Bell: You’re not happy will Bell? (Not really!)

Me: I want to change the domain to point to a different web server. I don’t want to transfer the domain itself.

Bell:  I will have to transfer you to (insert another moron’s name here)…

Me: Nevermind. I have no further questions.

While this conversation went on I had found what I was looking for on my own. Just before hanging up I was asked if the help I’d received was satisfactory.

“Not really!” I said before hanging up.

I only had three tiny little questions: What’s the login? Do you support MySQL/PHP? How do I manage the domain? It was like playing charades with the blind!

This had taken up over an hour of my day. It was nice out too!

Odds N Ends Asides, ISP, Services

As much as this blog is about regaining my lost passion for web design, it’s also about my personal struggle to dig myself out of the financial hole I currently find myself in.

Without going into too much detail of what brought me here, I’ll be brief by saying that I live in an economically depressed town that offers nothing but low paying retail jobs. My job in particular saw my hours cut in half over a year ago.

Needless to say, money has been tight for some time now.

During December and January, I damned near starved trying to raise money to cover my Hydro bill. I was dangerously close to being disconnected but managed to raise their blood money nonetheless. (If I see another box of Kraft Dinner, I’m going to kill someone!)

Victory! I was amazed I pulled it off!

My victory was short lived though. Yesterday I get a letter from Hydro One informing me that because I was late in paying they are demanding an additional $188.00 as a security deposit!

WTF! If I had problems raising the cash to pay the bill itself, then where the Hell do they expect me to pull an ‘extra’ $188.00 from? Not to mention I still have $300 outstanding and a fresh new bill on it’s way for the same amount which they will also be adding this security deposit to.

Next month I expect to see a bill for almost $800 which I have no hope in Hell of paying. It’s more than I make in a month!

I’m faced with a few options at this point:

• Move to another place where Hydro is inclusive. (Not going to happen as I’ll never raise first and last months rent. Not to mention rents are outrageous here!)
• Move into a shared accommodation. (Never works out as I have a hard time living with anyone – male or female. I’ll have to move again in no time.)
• Sit here in the dark and cold and pray for death.

Unfortunately, the last one seems like the only viable option at this point.

Don’t get me wrong. I realize these bills need to be paid, but dammit! Give me a frikkin’ break here! I’ve lost 10lbs since all this started and my health is starting to suffer because of this.

A note to Hydro One

You have the NERVE to call me a ‘customer’? You rack up a huge debt then look to me to pay for it under the guise of a ‘Debt Retirement Charge’ which is anywhere from $10-$20 on all my Hydro bills. You prey on the unfortunate by demanding additional money that a lot of us don’t have. You send me a disconnection notice dated for December 24th (Christmas Eve) which tells me just how much you think of your ‘customers’.

I’ve dealt with collection agencies who have had more heart than you! Wake up and smell the economy! Try to help a guy out during these tough times for crying out loud!

So, take your monopolistic attitude and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine! I’ve had more than enough of this shit!

Odds N Ends Asides

I’m likely the last person on the Net to discover this but I thought I would throw a post together on the topic anyway. If you aren’t a programmer, you might not see the humour in this. I for one, found it quite amusing.

I was upgrading a Mambo installation yesterday and found myself searching code snippets for a problem I was having. One of the search results led to a web site for an esoteric programming language called LOLCODE.

Did it have anything to do with what I was searching for? No. Did I click it? Yes!

There I sat chuckling while my client’s site remained broken. It was worth it as it relieved the mounting stress I was feeling during a failed upgrade. It cleared my head enough to finish the job at hand. (Hours later)

I think LOLCODE can pretty much explain itself…

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
    AWSUM THX
        VISIBLE FILE
    O NOES
        INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

The above code initializes (HAI), opens a file for display (PLZ OPEN FILE) with error checking, then closes (KTHXBYE).

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
I HAS A VAR
IM IN YR LOOP
   UP VAR!!1
   IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10? KTHX
   VISIBLE VAR
IM OUTTA YR LOOP
KTHXBYE

Don’t tell me you didn’t chuckle just a little bit while reading those!

[Pic from LOLCATS]

[Code snippets from Wikipedia]

Special thanks to Adam Lindsay – creator of LOLCODE. It made my day!

Odds N Ends Asides, Coding

One of the first things suggested to me in regard to blogging was to have my picture taken and start plastering that along side my name as my avatar. Branding… bla bla bla.

As good as this idea was I have an aversion to having my picture taken. I hate it! I’m much like my father in this way. In fact, the last time I had my picture taken (that I know of) was for my 20 year old driver’s license. We all know how ‘good’ those pictures can be.

My fake smile comes off as ‘creepy’ every time, in my opinion. So instead of creeping out the entire blogosphere, I’ve decided to go the mascot route.

Allow me to introduce you to Kaffy – The Kaffeinated Kitty. Kaffy’s been with me for a number of years now and we’ve been through thick and thin together. He’s appeared with such slogans as ‘Coffee Addict’, ‘More Coffee’ and ‘Juan Valdez is my buddy’ and currently sits beside several thousand forum posts across the web. He’s associated with my forum nickname of StarLab.

If you see Kaffy now, the first thing you should think is: ‘OMG! It’s Larry!’ The second thing you should think is: ‘I Need Coffee!’

My buddy Kaffy – Saving the Internet from my creepy smile. lol

Odds N Ends Asides, Social Media

That’s right! Take a freakin’ walk! You’re done, finished, ka-put, ceased, closed, come to an end, concluded, discharged, dispatched, disposed of, ended, finalized, in the past, lapsed, realized, resolved, settled, sewn up, terminated, through, tied up, worked out, wound up, wrapped up, and just plain history!

Do you get the feeling I’m glad to see it go? Yeah, it hasn’t been one of my best years by a long shot.

So, as I look forward to 2009 I can only share my optimism by saying:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2009 make you happy, healthy and prosperous.

Odds N Ends Asides

Christmas is not only about catching up with the ‘long lost’, but also about sitting around reminiscing about days gone by with friends and family. My post today reflects this as I take a short stroll into the past.

The words ‘Open Source’ are pretty much on everyone’s lips these days and most projects are subjected to some kind of licensing agreement or such. There was a day when licensing didn’t mean squat as hobbyist programmers freely shared code amongst themselves and with the public via FidoNet EchoMail.

I myself was part of this movement. I developed modules for the Maximus CBCS Bulletin Board System. An overview of my work with this can be found here: Maximus!

I remember days where I would come home from work on Friday at 5pm. I would go straight to bed and get up about Midnight. I would then work straight through until Sunday night trying to get projects finished up. I performed many of these 48 hour stretches.

int check_tag(int: count, ref int: que)     // See if file is tagged
{
  int: times, flags;
  string: filescheck;

  for(times:=que+1;times>-1;times:=times-1)
  {
    tag_get_name(que,flags,filescheck);
    if(strfind(filescheck,finfo[count].fname)>0)
      return 1;
    que := que -1;
  }
  return 0;
}

Code segments like this would dance in my head. I’d lose sleep over bugs and meals over unrealistic deadlines I’d set for myself. So much passion back then.

Coding modules for something like Maximus is NO DIFFERENT than coding themes and plugins for CMS’s today. You’re given an engine and it’s up to you how you present it. Hell, even the coding style is similar! (The above snippet is MEX coding for Maximus)

… The More They Remain the Same (To complete the title of this post)

So if these two eras of Open Source are so damned similar then why has my passion eluded me? What am I missing this time around? I need to get all fired up about this again!

Well, that in itself is why this blog now exists. We’ll see how things turn out.

Anyway, not too many people are following this blog yet, but I’ll just insert a quick “Merry Christmas” here to those who are. Hope you got everything you asked for!

Odds N Ends Asides, Coding, Open Source

Ok! My days of working in the dark are over. Lights on at all times.

I’m up late doing some tweaking of the web site. In the low glow of my monitors I reach over and take a big haul from my can of Diet Pepsi.

I was suddenly aware of a solid object in this mouthful. Without swallowing I managed to push the object through my lips with my tongue. Picking it from my lips I look to my fingers to find AN EARWIG!

Gross right? (I’m not done yet)

Before I had a chance to freak out and call the Pepsi Bottling Company every name in the book, it scurried away. Gah! It was still alive!

I wanted to scream but I was suddenly aware that I still had the mouthful of Diet Pepsi which I hadn’t swallowed yet. (And wasn’t going to) Running quickly to the kitchen sink I tripped over the cat and swallowed the mouthful anyway. Thankfully Earwigs don’t travel in packs. lol

It must have either been on the rim of the can or had crawled in before I took a drink.

… 2 French hens,
And an Earwig in a can of Pep-si!

Odds N Ends Asides