Jeff Chausse
Digital Strategy + Design
ColdFusion on Mac OS X
Wow, I did it… I got ColdFusion Server running on my iBook. Of course, I don’t have any sort of HTML editor on it, so it was pretty much an academic exercise but, nonetheless, there it is.
BOY, WAS THAT A ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS.
Don’t even attempt it if you don’t know your way around the UNIX command line.
To get ColdFusion MX running on Windows, you just run a basic InstallShield thingy, hit “Next”, “Next”, “Next”, etc… and you’re pretty much done.
Compare that with these instructions. Do you know to use the “Terminal”? Do you know the unix path to the “java” executable? Oh, the GUI version of the installer tends to occasionally turn things invisible, and crash when you try to install to a different directory (which is highly recommended), so use the text version. Wait, do I want “War” files or “Ear” files? Huh? Oh, now I have to manually move a bunch files around. Hey, now it’s up and running, but it’s set up so that I have to have a “cfusion” directory at the root of my web site. What’s up with that? Oh, wait, just follow these instructions (OK, who in their right mind would not want this setup by default?) Oh, and don’t forget that before you do any of this, you need to have JRun installed. Which has its own joys.
Bleah. But this is all part of Macromedia’s dream… Java makes everything so much easier, no? Maybe it’s time for me to make the move over to LAMP programming – *sigh*
Another Project for Jeff
I just started working on another web project that’s been in the back of my head for years now… It’s a framework for a piece of collaborative fiction, tentatively called “Bystander“. The concept is extremely simple, but I think it will become a very remarkable project as it evolves over time.
Actually, I’ve “started” this project several times, but this time I’m at a point in my professional development where my coding skills are good enough to outrun my infamously short attention span, and I believe I can actually get it done. In fact, I already implemented the basic functionality in about two hours. Expect “Bystander” to be online within a couple weeks…
For those wondering about the “Webslice Labs” thing, it’s still in development, sort of… The scope of the project is just a bit mentally overwhelming to be an enjoyable “spare time” project right now. I have enough stressors in my life without having to worry about completing a highly complex project that I’m doing just for the sake of proving that I can do it…
4th Grade Yearbook
I was digging through a box of old stuff, and found this incredibly rare piece of Chausse-phernalia — The Northern Lincoln Elementary School 1985 4th Grade Yearbook.
Primarily, this consists of self-portraits of every student in my fourth-grade class, along with some haikus, and other random stuff.
I doubt anyone who participated in the creation of this document ever imagined that it would be available on the World Wide Web, especially since the World Wide Web didn’t exist back then. Nonetheless, I have scanned the entire book for posterity, in all of its purplish mimeographed glory (note: Construction paper does not make a good archival material). I apologize for the cut-off text on a lot of the pages, but I really didn’t want to remove the staples, and 10 year olds don’t fully appreciate the importance of “margins”. Highlights: “Self Portrait“, “A Haiku“, and the truth behind my name.
I found some more interesting stuff in that box (including one of the first break-up notes I ever received!), which will be added to the site soon!
Just Wondering…
Is it possible for all of New England to just dissolve?
More Silly Code
Following up on the “weird things that come up in source code” theme, friend and co-worker Adam has been exploring the essence of the cosmos with his code.
I have to fix some code that checks a date-time string. Normally, the date part and the time part are separated by a space. However, if the event happened at midnight, the time part is not included in the string at all. So after making a call to find the space in the string, I have to check whether the call succeeded or not. Leading to the comment…‘ If there is no time, then there is no space
To quote Keanu Reeves: Whoa.
Hm… Contemplating that comment might make one wonder… wtf++?
A Web Marketing Pet Peeve
OK, I just have to let this out… “Webinar” is the STUPIDEST word to enter the internet lexicon in the past few years… “Oh, I get it, it’s on the web, so it’s a webinar!” What, does that mean the real world should be referred to as “the sem”?
“Yeah, I chatted with her online for a bit, but I’m going to meet her in the sem this weekend.”
Frontpage 2003 – Now With Less Suck (?)
Apparently, Microsoft is attempting to take the training wheels off Frontpage, and make it something more than “what you start off with and then grow out of” as a web developer. That remains to be seen. I remember, at my last job, simultaneously breaking every single link on the company’s web site, thanks to FrontPage’s helpful “features”. I had to manually fix every friggin’ link. It was not soon after that I discovered HomeSite, learned to hack HTML, and gave Frontpage orders not to come within 500 yards of me.
Relocation
I’ve been planning on moving this August or September, but was a bit baffled as to where I wanted to go. Well, there are plenty of places I WANTED to go, but I’m talking about with regard to reality. I just knew I had to get out of my tiny little Allston studio. I feel like I’ve been living in a hotel room for the past five months.
The requirements: I wanted to be close to work AND close to Boston (ideally, near a T stop), I wanted a decent sized place, preferably two-bedroom (one real bedroom, one “office”) and preferably NOT in a “complex”. I wanted to live somewhere that friends could actually pahk their cahs when they visited, and (here’s the key) I wanted something AFFORDABLE! As you may have guessed, there are not many places in the area that could offer me this… But, I think I’ve found the solution… East Boston. Eastie’s got lots of triple-decka style apahtments with views o’ da hahbah. And it’s got some of the most reasonable rents in Boston, since it’s an incredibly inconvenient place from which to commute – UNLESS you happen to work on the Nawth Shaw… which I do. HA!
Now, I honestly don’t know much Eastie, but a friend and long-time resident (let’s call him “Dom”) assures me it’s a decent place — and, supposedly, the best pizza in Boston is located there. Dom’s going to take me on an orientation tour this Thursday, then the hunt is on!
Friendster
Friendster is a really cool site. Basically, you get your friends to sign up, and then you can peruse your “personal network” of friends of friends of friends [ad infinitum], send messages to each other, etc. Yes, it sounds like great potential for spam or other evil, but it isn’t. It’s got great potential for dating, but is also fun even if you’re not interested in that sort of thing. I’m always reluctant to drag others into “viral” stuff like this, but I’d love to get more friends in there, so if you’re interested — and actually ARE my friend (IRL, as the kids say) — drop me a line and I’ll hook you up. By the way, it seems I have some very cute friends of friends of friends 
Groovy Fiction
I’ve heard through the grapevine that Groove features prominently in this detective novel, currently garnering horrible reviews on Amazon. That’s kinda cool. It would be cooler if it were a Crichton or Grisham novel, though…
On a related note, back when I joined Groove Networks, and it was quite arguably the biggest secret in high tech, I was kind of expecting/hoping that we would, on a regular basis, thwart shadowy corporate spies, who would rappel down from the roof, sneak in with glass cutters, and attempt to steal our source code from a subterranean vault, guarded by six inch thick steel and laser-based motion detectors (the kind that turn visible red when the bad guy fills the room with smoke).
Sadly, life does not always imitate art.