McMullenWeb.com

PHP

I have decided today that I have to learn PHP. I just hope I have the resolve to actually learn it. I realize that there are many scripts avaolable out there but I want to become very familiar with it. Bought the Visual Quick Start book PHP and MySQL.

We'll see how long this lasts ;-)

New York State of Mind

Went to New York City this week. As usual spent too much money, ate too much food and did not have nearly enough time to do all that I wanted.

Marc had another audition so used that as an excuse take a couple of days off from work. Again I reserved space at The Soldiers', Sailors', Marines' and Airmen's Club. Has to be one of the best deals in town (25 bucks a night), yet another reason to stay in the reserves.

Departed Montreal Tuesday morning at 6, it was a dark and stormy morning.....
Didn't actually get light until we were almost through the park.

Had to have my fix of corned beef hash at Spa City Diner in Saratoga Springs. By then the rain had stopped, the sun came out and I took over driving. I turned the reigns over to Marc as we approched NYC. We actually made it there in time according to the directions I made with MS Streets and Trips.

Went straight to the garage to park the car this time (cost almost as much for the parking as the bed space for the two of us) and got to the club about 1:30. Too early for check in so we stored our bags and hopped on a subway to Union Square in search of Carl Fischer music store to buy some sheet music, I seemed to recall that I saw a posting on the double reed list a few months ago that Carl Fischer had closed. Sure enough, no sign of them. There was, however, a Circuit City there and I bought a 10 pack of Minidiscs for a little cheaper than the price I had at J and R.

Back to the club, check in, a little rest then beer and SHOPPING! A quick run down to Canal Street and the little side street bar we seem to be making a habit when in NYC. Two pints later (on an empty stomach) we make a beeline to J and R armed with my list. $140.00 dollars later we head back up to the Village in search of food. Should mention that by the time we got to NY the weather cleared up and was fantastic, about 21c. We ended up eating at a place with a couple of tables on the sidewalk. Italian food, nothing in particular to write home about.

Decided to try and hit a movie. Chose Dead Alive (AKA Braindead), part of the Zombie Ha Ha series at the Pioneer Theater in the East Village. What a hoot! It's been a long time since I watched a film through my finger while pissing my pants laughing. An early film by Peter Jackson, directory of the LOTR. That all said and done it was now past midnight and I was wiped. Back to the hotel.

Next morning Marc gave Mike Fahie another call (tried to talk him into coming to the Zombie fest last night but he and Michelle had previous plans). Made arrangements to meet up with him for breakfast. What a difference a day makes! It was windy and cold. I didn't bring my jacket with me, I was wearing just my fleece, it doesn't hold back the wind. We met up with Mike at a Starbucks at 23rd and 3rd near where he teaches a couple of days a week (and therefore has a parking spot). Took off for Cosmos Diner and, yet again my NY staple, corned beef hash. Lots of blah blah.

Mike a little time to kill so we decided to walk toward Union Square in search of a bookstore so we could get out of the wind. There was an outdoor market going on when we got there (that explained the big asphalt space at one end of the square that we had been curious about the day before), Mike said this place was crazy on the weekends. He was shopping for some cheese. We found a Barnes and Noble at the other end of the Square and headed there. Anyway, bid Mike a farewell, he and Michelle will be coming up to Montreal at the end of November for the wedding show so maybe I'll see them then.

We got a bite to eat and went back to the hotel so Marc could get changed for the audition. The audition was at 3:42, we needed to get the car out of the garage by 3 (rates jump up significantly after that) so we thought we would leave a little earlier, drive up to the place (East 76th), I would drive around a bit then we would leave. Do you think that actually happened? Nooooo.

We get back to the hotel a little later than we planned. Marc changes and we grab our stuff and it's already close to 3. Get to the garage and see we misread the pricing chart so we could have kept the car there for another hour without it costing an arm and leg (note to self: must find cheaper parking in Manhatten). Too late now because there isn't enough time for Marc to get up to the audition by foot and subway. We pull out of the garage (3rd and 36th) driving east (it's one of those through streets) trying to head to 2nd, which is an up ave. Not to be, we didn't move over fast enough and were now in the midtown tunnel headed for Brooklyn!

After paying yet another toll, we explained our predicument to the toll booth guy. He gave us a free pass for the return trip but we had 15 minutes to use it. Ever try to drive in Brooklyn without a map? We finally found our way back with hardly any time to spare on the pass so now it was on to 3rd Ave and northward. We had 15 minutes to go 36 streets in afternoon traffic! I asked Marc if he wanted me to drive so he could warm up but there wasn't enough time to stop, he just warmed up as we were in traffic.

We got to the place with about one minute to spare. He hopped out, I got in the drivers seat and proceeded to that favorite Manhatten pasttime, double parking. Actually there were several other cars that were also double parked so I just manoevered in front of them. Sat for around twenty minutes, just sort of sliding up and down the street as cars moved.

Finally he came back. There was another guy who was there when he arrived who was slated to go after Marc but asked if he could go ahead as he another appointment to get to. Marc had no problem with that. Said the audition went well. For once he wasn't following another tenor or a soprano. The usual wait and see.

Anyhoo, we departed for Montreal right after that. I drove the rush hour traffic. Thought it would be horrendous trying to leave NYC at 4:30 in the afternoon but actually it was no worse than rush hour traffic here. We made across Manahatten, through the Lincoln Tunnel and most of the way across New Jersey in an hour. I drove all the way to Saratoga Springs but mostly in darkness and driving rain. Of course the rain cleared up when Marc took over. I guess it makes up for the drive down. Got back around midnight. Knew I was going to be in for a rough day and rest of week. Oh well, don't always have the chance to make it down to NYC. Marc has another audition in a couple of weeks but I don't think I can make that one, I have a gig with the AF Band then and tickets for the Als in the Eastern Confernece Playoffs. Life is rough.

Here are a couple of more shots from NYC, I should have played with the camera a bit more than I did.

Next time....

     

    

Funny Type

Just came across this link on another blog, Backup Brain.

This is a tongue-in-cheek report of the fall and rise of a typeface called Behind the Typeface.

I hate it when people are inventive!

Neat links

Lazy Friday afternoon, not really motivated toward anything so here are links found while perusing various weblogs:

True Desktp Project: There really are desks messier than mine.

House made entirely with css.

Web Design Practices looks at design and navigation.

Interesting links on this blog Web-graphics.

Busy Busy

It's been very busy lately hence the little activity on this log. Won't go into details now because getting ready to take off to Ottawa. I am going to spend the night there and then in the morning take off for Kitchener to take part in the Oktoberfest parade there. I will try to make some more entries while on the road and upload a few photos along the way.

Bye for now