Monthly Archives: May 2012

javascript, website building, zend_framework

JQuery with Zend Framework

A couple of years ago I incorporated some jquery stuff, and some jquery-ui stuff into a website I had built on Zend Framework. At that time Zend Framework didn’t have its own support for jquery (or if it did, I didn’t know about it).

Now I’m working on a new site, and I find that there is now a jquery view helper to help do jquery stuff. It is located in the “extras” library. I also didn’t know about this library. When did this get added? Anyway, stumbling around on the net I discovered that there is now some jquery support in Zend Framework. Cool. So I set about learning how to use it.

I often find the documentation in the Programmers Reference in Zend Framework to be very cryptic and difficult. Probably this is because I am a very old programmer who learned the craft while dodging dinosaurs back in the stone age. I think people freshly learning to program today have a considerably different perspective (and probably vastly better). Sometimes I just have to go read the code. I had a devil of a time getting the jquery stuff to actually work. These notes maybe will help me the next time I have to do it. Continue reading JQuery with Zend Framework →

linux, ubuntu, xbmc

XBMC Dvdplayer on Ubuntu 12.04

Since installing Ubuntu 12.04 shortly after it was released, XBMC has been unable to play .iso files. This has been the case for me, and for my friend who has a similar setup. I’ve found a way to overcome this.

By way of background, we both have a central shared MySQL database on an Ubuntu 12.04 instance, shared with multiple other XBMC instances running on different platforms. The XBMC instance I mostly watch happens to be Mac OS/X, and that has continued to work. In his case, the “living room” instance that he watches is the same Ubuntu box which houses the database. That XBMC instance is unable to play .iso files. My Ubuntu instance is also unable to play .iso files, though since I rarely watch on that instance it was not a big issue for me. He on the other hand was having to watch movies in another room on a Windows XBMC instance in order to be able to play the .iso files. We are both set up to share the files from the central repository with NFS. Over time we’ve experimented with different protocols, but mostly NFS and SMB, and at the moment we are set up with NFS. Continue reading XBMC Dvdplayer on Ubuntu 12.04 →

colorado

Building The Garage

Been helping my friend Bill build his garage, up in the mountains. I’m 63 years old and out of shape, so doing physical labor for even a few hours at nearly 9000 feet, has proven to be a challenge. But it is coming along. Bill has the whole thing designed in Autocad, and really knows what he is doing. His grandson Josh and I are the hired help. We don’t know much, but we do what we are told. It is coming along.

colorado, flying

Over the divide

Today was a little milestone for me. For the first time I took N8132Y over the divide, solo.
Of course I have been over many times, but always with somebody in the right seat. And Of course, what is the big deal anyway?
But when I learned to fly I was constantly admonished that flying in the mountains is tricky. I have known people who have died flying in the mountains. The winds can be difficult. I’ve had instruction from an accomplished mountain flyer, but still… every time I’ve gone up near the divide before there has been enough turbulence over the ridge that I’ve ended up turning back.
Today I went over. I was at 13,500ft, a comfortable margin over Rollins Pass. I flew on up to Granby, Colorado which is just over the ridge, landed, bought some expensive gas, and came back.
I’m very pleased.