Jared
Jared

Jared

Leaves hanging on for dear life

The tree leaves are hanging on for dear life. Fortunately I was able to spend some time in the woods and enjoy their waning beauty.

Execute robot program delta! Go go go….

Just think how many people thing logic isn’t fun. Gesh, are they missing out. Of course, logic gets tossed right out the window when you play a game like this. You not only have to program the robot to navigate the board but also contend with other robots that might happen to be slightly mis-programmed. RoboRally is either really fun and spontaneous or mind numbingly frustraiting depending on the cards dealth.

BE was AWOL. It was WO, JK, JZ, CF and I that played the first game. MR joined us for the second. JK won the first game because he was sneaky and drove his robot into a pit so it could respawn closer to the final goal. The second game I took the prize with a lucky bump onto the final flag from JZ. What luck!

Debt is the Money That Makes the Economy Function

If you buy or sell anything you should watch these videos to understand what it means on a global scale. The simple act of borrowing creates an exponential effect in the world These videos explain how banks create money out of nothing to get interest (income) from something that never existed. The summation of the process is an endless system that grows out of control exponentially. Unbelievable! Comments welcome.

The video is split into 5 segments due to YouTube limitations.

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Counting down the final days of windsurfing

Yesterday I walked out of the office and realized that the wind was blowing and it was a beautiful fall day. The leaves were almost completely turned colors and the sun was out. As spontaneously as the wind blows I decided to cancel my plans and head off to Sunday Lake. By the time I arrived the wind was calming into a light breeze. Not knowing if this was the last hurrah of the summer I setup and went out anyway. The breeze was light and gusty but just enough to move me around. The sun slowly dipped behind the western hills and created a luscious orange sky for me to enjoy as the evening drew to a close.

The following day the same thing happened today, except this time I made a mad dash for the lake. Everything was ready from the day before so I just had to pack a few things and head for the lake. On the way I picked up some hamburger to cook after I finished wind surfing. I called RJ and asked if he wanted to join me. He didn’t windsurf with me but enjoyed watching as it brought back memories in his mind.

The wind was awesome. It was one of the better days for wind surfing. The wind was a tad gusty but there were plenty of moments for me to lean against the wind as the board skimmed across the water. The board moved just like a boat gaining speed to plane across the water. My arms were dead tired as evening drew near but I pushed, or rather pulled, as much as I could to enjoy the rush.

The evening was cloudy and not as picturesque as the previous night but I did share the lake with 50 or so geese who were flying south for the winter. After dusk started RJ and I made a fire and cooked the hamburger. While I was out on the lake he went and got some condiments to go along with them. It was a blustery but fun evening and we stayed well past dusk talking and enjoying each others company.

Tips to upgrade and maintain X-Cart PHP shopping cart

During a recent shopping cart upgrade these three tips came to mind. Mostly when I failed to follow my own advice. The tips are in regards to manually patching files that have been customized.

  1. Comment, comment, comment. If you make a change to a PHP file or template that was supplied by the vendor make a comment. Know what line the change started and where the change ends. When manually patching the file the comments will keep you from having to guess if a change is a patch from the vendor or a customization you made.
  2. When making a customization, comment out the original code block using block comments (not line comments) and make your changes to a copy of the original code block. Eventually when the original code gets patched or updated by the vendor you will still have a reference to the original code and a utility like WinMerge will be able to help match up the changes to the original code.
  3. For files that need manual patching use a utility such as WinMerge to find and resolve conflicts. If you make ample comments and left original code blocks in place WinMerge will better be able to help you get the file patches and your customizations back in place.

Good luck on patching your custom cart!