Chomer Speaks

I think Steve Jobs would be happy with me. A little more than a year ago I bought a Macbook and an iPhone. I’ve bought iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08 (in 2008). I’ve bought Finalcut Express. I’ve put down $100 to be an iPhone developer.

More recently (this year) I’ve bought a nifty 24″ screen iMac. Nice! Much easier for my 47 year old eyes to read! And, I bit the bullet and bought Adobe CS4. That suite is expensive! Yikes!

What mainly am I trying to do with all this Apple goodness (besides have fun)? I want to write a nicely written App for the iPhone and have it selling in the App Store!

I like my Apple stuff. Though, sorry Steve, there are things I still like about Windows better, things I think are done better. I might write a post on that some time.

If you’ve been following the news lately, its enough to get one really depressed. Not just what a bunch of clueless wall street clowns are doing with our bailout money, but the new stimulus package with all its little “surprises” inside… I wonder….

Changing the tone here. Yes, changing the tone of this post right now!  What about focusing (for just a brief moment at very least) on something light-hearted and silly.Do you like puns and other word-play? Are you a twelve year old boy who never grew up? May I suggest some light reading? I’ve got a book for you to check out that, even if its not your cup of tea, you probably know a few of your friends who would enjoy reading this little book of silly poems.The book is called:  I Lost My Underwear Today: And Other Flights of Imagination

The author’s pseudonym, “Colonel Korn” is dubious, but hey! Kids of all ages will enjoy this book, though some of the plays on words may take a little thought to get. My recommendation: get this book and check out of reality for a few minutes of fun every now and then. I think this makes a great gift for people who like to play with words. 

I got one of my books on iPhone programming from Amazon.com. The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook by Erica Sadun. It’s been about two days now. I’ve been pouring over it at home and riding the train to and from work. I am finding it helpful. Will I realize my dream of getting an app in the iPhone App Store?

Obama has won the presidency. I think it is cool that an African American has done this. Been checking out CNN’s web site for the latest info. A note about their web site: they need to do something since with every page-load it seems everything locks up for 10-15 seconds. Not a good user experience! I’m not guilt free since my blog regularily generates a couple of javascript errors for each page load (though most people probably don’t notice cuz they don’t have debugging turned on in their browser)!

It is amazing to me sometimes how one minute I can be focused, working away towards achieving some goals… And the next minute I can be paralyzed emotionally and find it to get even the simplest things accomplished. Feelings can be a bear to deal with can they?

I have accomplished stuff… but it is easy for me to get discouraged.

• Got all three of my workbenches put together in the basement. The area is still a complete mess. Just looking at it floods me with discouragement. Allot of the stuff piled up in this area is not mine and I don’t relish figuring out where to put it or negotiating with the owner in an attempt to get it tossed.
• Got books on Amazon eCommerce API. Looks good, but I’m not jumping in deep on this yet.
• The books I’ve ordered in programming the iPhone and hacks in movie making (the ones I am most interested in) have not come yet. Some are not available yet. But, in my opinion, the others should have shipped from Amazon by now.
• I got my bathroom exhaust fans… now I need to hire an electrician to install them. This should go a long way in getting rid of the problem of damp walls and mildew.
• I’ve been toying with my WebRenegade web framework. But actual  work is hard to come by due to those irrational emotions.
• I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a successful install of mySQL on my PC at home. So far no luck. This has been trully frustrating!

Well, writing this makes me feel a bit better.

Let’s see, I had let the anti-virus software on my home PC go to seed (translation: it expired). Well I finally got it updated.

Photoshop is freezing up on my home computer at startup. I’m trying a few things to fix this. This is a royal pain! I need to use Photoshop.

I am a Generals: Zero Hour fan. This is an RTS game from EA Games. Since installing a service pack lately for Windows XP, the game minimizes a couple of seconds after starting it. I can click on its icon in the task bar and it come back up and everything works fine there on out. Could it be that something in this service pack is what is wigging out Photoshop? It is an old version. Hmmm. I want to finish trying my “fixes.”

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted to my blog here. There have been a few storms in my life I’ve had to work through. Things have relatively settled down now and there are various projects that I am working on, some having to do with this site!

One thing of note is that due to certain changes in my life now, I am free to move out of the area I’m in (if I so choose). If I wanted to interview for a new job would I be prepared? I’ve had a little site:  http://orville.chomer.com/ which contained information about me and included my resume to download. When I checked, the site was down! I had been messing around months ago with it and forgot all about it!

Time to get serious here. So, lately, I have been working to get this simple little site operational and accurate. My resume needed updating/correcting. This little site is coming but its not all there yet. I’m planning on making this my main focus in my personal project list until its really professionally done. Wait till you see the final version of the header/banner for the site — its not like anything I think you have ever seen!

I’ve also been working on a re-design of chomer.com. Instead of being static like the previous version, it is fully dynamic. If you are looking at my site now to see those changes, sorry, its not there yet (its on my local box). The site allows for both articles and blog posts and will use a back-end MySQL database to handle all the content. Once this is up and running, this Wordpress blog will go away. Before that happens, I will be copying all the contents of all my blogs to this new blog system.

The new system also uses heavy AJAX control using my Renegade Ajax framework. I am using this period to help shake out any issues that are in this framework. The application server I am using to write my new site software in is my favorite: ColdFusion MX (of course). I do have plans, once the site is finished and been in operation awhile… getting all the kinks out… of writing a new version in PHP and providing it for free to the community. If it comes out the way I see it in my head, it will be better than anything I’ve ever seen. Definitely better than anything I’ve seen for free for sure!

Furnace Room
Our furnace room has been a mess for a long time now. I’ve dreamed of having some sort of workbench down there. Well, after going to a cool show put on by MAKE magazine at the Chicago Science and Industry museum, getting a subscription and a best projects book, I got inspired. In the front of the book was a section on setting up a workbench! I’ve got enough room to set up an L-shaped work area made up of 3 benches which I bought at Menards. The instructions were a little shakey that came in the box with the first one I assembled but I learned a few things along the way. I am thinking about filming a video tutorial on assembling the workbench and eventually placing it out on YouTube. We will see. One project in my new MAKE book is building a Stirling Engine. I’d like to try that out on my new workbench(s)!

Right now I’m sitting in on a session at the Chicago iPhone Dev Camp on using Objective C. Fortunately this is non-NDA information.

New Bag for Laptop And Other Stuff
Robert Scoble did a post on his blog about his bag. Given the fact that I am needing to carry more stuff around lately and have had problems with my back carrying around my current bag, Robert’s post pushed me over the edge! I went out and ordered the same bag. I had to special order it, but it should be at the store tomorrow.

1 to 1s.
I’ve been doing quite a few 1to1 sessions at the Apple store lately. Mostly on Finalcut Express. I’ve learned quite a bit about it. I recently took a 1to1 on Garage Band. Got that pretty much down. If I want more I will have to migrate to Logic Express or Pro. I think Garage Band will meet my needs for now.

College.
I’ve begun the process of getting my college transcripts to Devry. I plan on finally getting a bachelor’s degree. I want to finish what I started years ago!

YouTube Contest.
I entered a contest on Youtube to win a $300 light-kit. I didn’t win but it was allot of fun and I learned allot in the process.

Day Planner.
I got filler pages for my Franklin day planner. I think I now have the impetus (the fire in my belly) to put the thing to good use. Basically, to keep track of my schedule and the things I want to accomplish.

Anniversary.
The wife and I just celebrated our 6th. Took an extra day off and went to the zoo. Very enjoyable day.

Work.
I’ve been able to be more mentally engaged. Though far from perfect. I am seeing improvement here and it is encouraging.

iPhone Dev.
Went to the July Cocoa-Head users meeting in the Apple store. was okay. Also signed up for the Chicago iPhone Dev Camp that will be in August. I need to devote some more time to this. I need to be spending more time reading through the on-line documentation.

There’s so many things rattling around in my brain right now (as usual) and its hard to know what to pick out to talk about. And I want to write. Many times during these brain log-jams, I just throw in the towel and I don’t write a thing.

I think the best thing to do is start typing. Just start typing into the blog.

My attempts at programming the iPhone are kinda so so. I have fits of programming attempts. My main road-block seems to be learning how to use XCode properly.

I’ve talked to people who work in the Oakbrook Apple store and the big Michigan Avenue Apple store in downtown Chicago. Not suprisingly, beyond knowing how to use the iPhone, they don’t have any info/help on how to program the thing. Gosh, I wish I had gone to the developer conference Apple just had in San Fran!

I didfind out about a programmer’s group in the Chicagoland area that meets once a month at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store. The Cocoaheads. I saw some stuff out there about iPhone programming. I am planning on going to their July meeting. Wish me luck!

I finally took my first 1to1 course at the Apple store on Finalcut Express. Pretty good! Sadly, I’ve had the membership for a while now and have wasted several weeks. I am all signed up for another 1to1 though.

Are you an iPhone developer? Do you know XCode pretty well? Do you mind if I bother you with questions? Let me know.

“Cree cree creee creee…”   sound of crickets…

I got to come up with a written list of my current iPhone questions to:

• Bring to that meeting in July.
• To give via email addresses shown at the end of the Apple “how-to” videos.

Am I babbling? Probably.

My health (panic attack and anxiety issues) has been gradually improving as I have been:

• Staying away from caffiene
• Taking GABA (An amino acid)
• Taking 5-HTP.
• Taking B Vitamins & Magnesium.
• Trying to eat right.
• Taking a multiple vitamin.
• Trying to recollect what I did right for the day not what I did wrong.
• Trying to recollect what I completed, as opposed to what I didn’t complete.
• Not only let my body rest, but my thoughts rest too.

One thing that has been therapeutic, has been gardening.  I’ve created this whole new garden bed in my back yard. It’s got this nice edging, cedar mulch, and I’ve planted 3 new bushes! I hope that they survive.

The bushes have some new holes in allot of the leaves. I looked on the underside of the leaves… no bugs were found. I’ve now added flowers and garden lights to my garden bed (some flowers have not been planted yet). Oh, and I have one tomato plant.

I still have dreams of living in Hawaii some day (on the beach). Okay, I don’t want much do I?

Visited my dad at the nursing home. He was quite lucid. Haven’t seen him that lucid in quite some time. I know its not something I can expect regularly. If I had my druthers, I would live by the ocean in Hawaii and my dad would live with us and we would have in-home healthcare for him. I don’t know if my dad would live long enough for this to happen. I can dream.