askance

Yet more testing

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:34:30 -0800

I'm trying to test out as much functionality as possible. That way I can get it displayed on the front page. I'll then save the HTML as rendered by the MT templates and save it locally. Using those files, I'll build out template changes and CSS to create the new look of this blog.

Image test

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:29:40 -0800

I wonder if this works...
If you can see this...it does! If not...boo!

What's going on with your site, Alex?

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:14:41 -0800

I am *so glad* you asked, mythical reader or innocent passerby!

Well, I just put up a new front page. It's a placeholder until I can get the AJAX in place. I'm going to start building feeds on the front page that will integrate my social media activities into a sort of dashboard. I went for a 2001: A Space Odyssey aesthetic, since I'd just found the font used for HAL's computer displays. (Microgamma!)

I just fixed the action feed on the blog pages as well, which gives a rough aggregation of my online doings. Now, I'm going to look at some template changes, since this pre-made template is kinda icky.

Signs of life

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:29:19 -0800

I live.

Bill Kristol...what happened to you?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:31:11 -0800

He must have hit his head.

I don't pretend to know just what has to be done. But I suspect that free-marketers need to be less doctrinaire and less simple-mindedly utility-maximizing, and that they should depend less on abstract econometric models. I think they'll have to take much more seriously the task of thinking through what are the right rules of the road for both the private and public sectors. They'll have to figure out what institutional barriers and what monetary, fiscal and legal guardrails are needed for the accountability, transparency and responsibility that allow free markets to work.

And I don't see why conservatives ought to defend a system that permits securitizing mortgages (or car loans) in a way that seems to make the lenders almost unaccountable for the risk while spreading it, toxically, everywhere else. I don't see why a commitment to free markets requires permitting banks or bank-like institutions to leverage their assets at 30 to 1. There's nothing conservative about letting free markets degenerate into something close to Karl Marx's vision of an atomizing, irresponsible and self-devouring capitalism.

Movable Type + Social Networking

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:54:47 -0800

Huh. Since I fell off the blogging, it seems there have been developments in integrating content from various other social media into the MT engine.

I've added a plug-in called Action Streams and a cronjob to update it every 15 minutes. Nothing up yet, though. I have successfully added a list of links to my other profiles though, so I'll chalk this up as a limited success. Hopefully, though, a list of my other doings around the Internets will appear on this page, giving everyone a central location from which to obtain their dose of Alexalia.

Back...and with news!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:19:13 -0800

Jeez. It's been since July that I've done anything with this site. What a waste.

I have a job. I'm with a subcontractor, web project managing for NetApp. It's working out pretty well.

Also, I have a new website: the Urban Values Initiative. Still working out what exactly my intentions are, but I have some good ideas, I think.

Between Contracts

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:43:19 -0800

Being between contracts, as I've been, is a more pleasant way of looking at my current state than being "unemployed" even if the net difference is minimal. From my point-of-view, though, the former provides a certain headspace that makes it easier to see that status as temporary. After all, I've been doing contract work for years now and the usual contract lifecycle isn't completely alien. In fact, I was able to prepare amply for this gap and have been relatively comfortable for the last couple of weeks.

Why the gap? I simply didn't have time to find a job before closing down my project with the large local medical school (LLMS). As I was shutting it down, I was also taking classes to finish my degree at SFSU, as well as get the education credits necessary for my PMP certification. 4 classes, total. It wasn't accomplished gracefully, at least from the schooling perspective, but it was (finally) accomplished. But that load was almost unsustainable. Seeking a new contract on top of that was pretty unrealistic. As a result, I wasn't able to overlap my search for a new position with the end of the project. The resultant gap, as I sort my way through a number of interesting opportunities, as given me time to deal with a problem I've been ignoring for the past year.

I've forgotten how to have hobbies away from my computer.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:53:49 -0800

So, Nas has a new piece called "Black President" which features samples of Barack Obama and a hook from Tupak, which is apparently an event in itself. I stumbled across it here in my weird perambulations of the Internets, via Attackerman.

I'm entirely ignorant of the inner political workings of the HipHop world, but there's poetry in the comments, as some folks try to marshal support for McCain.

Shit, I'd vote for obama if he was a white dude from alabama named Whitey Crackerson.

You think all them white folk from rural america that voted for Obama woke up one morning and decided "Damn, we really need a nigga in the white house"

Fuck outta here

Oh and the joint is hot

Also:

fuck mccain i aint tryin 2 have a president that was a POW in the civil war

Gay Marriage on Castro Street

Fri, 16 May 2008 21:26:45 -0800

A spontaneous party happened last night in the Castro as the local homoteriat celebrated their victory over a silly remnant of tradition. To get to this result, a fundamental change had to occur in a number of legal interpretations of the status of gay people. Interestingly, it doesn't immediately seem as if this will have ramifications in the larger political sphere, but we'll have to wait a bit before that emerges more fully. So...super! I've got 30 days to find an elegable bachelor and stupify him long enough to drag him to City Hall.

Give the immensity of what all this means, last night's response by the gay community was uninspired. I thought this crew was supposed to be creative.

What we got was a flatbed truck parked in the center of Castro Street, bumping crappy electronic music. Not even stuff you could dance to without the "help" of meth or ecstacy. My firm tequila buzz certainly wasn't enough. There were some silvery streamers arrayed about because, the gods know, gay folks sure love shiny objects.

Come on; is this really the best we could do? This was more tuned in to the cracked out dance-club set than the folks that are planning weddings. Couldn't we have gotten the Sisters to do a Moonie-esque mass marriage or something? Tasteless, but amusing, like most things here. I'd have taken pictures...but there wasn't anything to see, really.

And, boy howdy, were there weddings happening. My workplace is rife with ladies of the Sapphic persuasion. Lebanese, let's say. And they were working the phones, getting their plans in place, 10 minutes after news came out. If Bush had wanted Iraq conquered and rebuilt effectively, he should have offered marriage licenses to gay folks on condition of a peaceful, friendly reconstruction. Three weeks, tops. Queer Eye for the Shi'a.

My greatest amusement for the day was overhearing one of my coworker's difficulties in planning the wedding: apparently, her partner was insisting that the dogs attend.

It just struck me: looks like the word "partner" will be round-filed out here on the Best Coast.

Headlong into the Abyss!

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:43:48 -0800

Yee-hah!

So apparently depression and anger shall be the fruits of my labor. But are they sure they have causation correct? Is it the graduation...or is it exposure to real life? Most people I know are angry and depressed to some extent...dare I say...bitter?

My hope, of course, is that these things can be assuaged by ample free time, coupled with abundant funding.

Soup & A Humble Request

Sun, 11 May 2008 23:12:38 -0800

Well, after a full week of illness, I think I'm on the mend. My brother concurs; apparently, I no longer have that glossy effect over the eyes I've had.

This illness has been interesting, actually. Typically, I'm high-maintenance when ailing, but this time, I just had too much to do and too much to think about to indulge anything beyond the most minimal acknowledgment that something was amiss. I went to work (but not school...the days were just too long) and some of my classes. I must have looked unwell because strangers would inquire if I was alright. Trying to keep being sick quiet is a totally different experience from wishing you had someone bringing you soup.

Fuck soup. I'm busy.

Also, my request: to all of my friends, etc. Please. If I ever think that doing something tremendously stupid, such as attempting to take four classes...and succeed!...while working, is a good idea, correct me. You don't even need to do it nicely. This was one of the dumbest things I've done in a while. I'm barely scraping by and it's embarrassing. My hubris is bringing me down to an unflattering level of achievement, and the stress is killing my health.

Dumb. Just...dumb.

Note to self.

I see you.

Sat, 10 May 2008 23:28:33 -0800

Eyeball!

And, for shame, I'd almost forgotten the interrobang.

‽

askance is back!

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:42:17 -0800

Hi all. After my previous host completely burned my blog in one of their server evolutions, I've finally moved my site.

I'm hoping to have some serious work up here shortly. And be rid of this mind-numbing stylesheet, as well. Yikes.

Until then!