Journal
Heidi, what are you doing?
July 17, 2010
I know, isn't it great?! Here's a bit of what I've been doing, in no particular order of complexity and required hubris:
- Created a "countdown" PHP code that displays the days remaining until an event (though I'm not quite sure what to do with it or where to put it--suggestions? It could be something like "X days until Christmas," "X days until I get my own pony," or "X days until Crayola names a crayon after me." Really, it could be for anything )
- Added a PHP code to display the date on the website (it's the little things that make a website better)
- Ignored this project for a couple of weeks due to an overwhelming sense of confusion and frustration (that's just how I roll; sometimes it's best to just let ideas sit and brew in my mind before acting on them)
- Designed a PHP code to query and display the events I added into a MySQL database (probably what I'm most proud of)
- Set up aforementioned MySQL database using phpMyAdmin (yep, I did that)
- Conquered my confusion and frustration and gained a can-do attitude and momentum (yeay!)
- Moved all my lists (links, main menu) into hidden PHP pages from which each live page extracts the information and displays (so, so easy, and so helpful!)
- Took photos in anticipation of eventual design update (when that will happen, nobody knows)
And that, friends, is how I'm spending my summer vacation.
It's coming together
July 5, 2010
This PHP and MySQL stuff is pretty cool, especially because it's making it easy for me to update my website quickly and effortlessly--unlike leaving everything in html.
Yeah, these updates are pretty selfish--they only benefit me and not the reader. But since my readers are so few and far between ("Hi, Mom!") what's it to you if you don't see any significant updates? Surely, it's the quality content and not the alluring design that keeps you coming back.
Nonetheless, I had a great time with my brother this festive 4th of July weekend. As sad as it is to have him live so far away, it's nice when we're together, because we cram so much in:
- Canoeing down the St. Croix and getting picked up by a courtesy bus
- Eating cups full of Dairy Queen
- Checking out a hipster restaurant together, the Cafeteria in Uptown
- Going to a Twins game with our parents and enjoying the new stadium
- Playing Frisbee at Lake Calhoun
- Drinking copious amounts of lattes
- Pouncing around with Baxter dog
- Driving around town on various missions...mostly to get coffee
- Sitting in stinging nettle and on top of ant hills during the fireworks
I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends on this long, celebratory holiday weekend, too!
Excuse the mess
June 20, 2010
I get to update this scrapbook of a website for my master's thesis--how cool is that? You don't care, but I'm adding PHP and MySQL in bits and pieces, here and there. Quirky things will be done, and odd things will be left undone much like what I imagine a shoddy contractor might do to your kitchen remodel project, leaving it in an unusable mess while they try to figure out just what they've got themselves into or when they abruptly take the rest of the week off to go bail their cousin Guido out of jail back in New Jersey.
But I digress. It'll be great fun, only if I can lock myself indoors during these beautiful summer nights and perhaps understand a little more what exactly PHP and MySQL do. Whatever the case, I'm always up for a crafty challenge, even with a looming deadline 5 weeks away. I'm excited for the mess. And heck, surely if I can conquer this, I can conquer any remodeling project myself, eh?
Gah, Too Long!
April 21, 2010
Oh, man, it's been a while since I've posted. Paris and Geneva were great (Way to slip in our trip right before the infamous Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud mucked up travel for weeks, eh? Look at the beauty of that volcano's name--it's longer than my last!) And that seems to be the case when I travel: I seem to somehow get caught up in the more pleasant side of traveling, nary experiencing the unpleasantries that can come with new countries and cheeses.
In fact, a half-dozen roses, myriad cups of coffee, one marriage proposal (yes, again), countless conversations, and a handful of giant 5-franc Swiss coins later, I can say it was a successful foray into French-speaking territory. Coincidently, I just finished my last Toblerone bar and still have a few Belgium waffles in my freezer. Hey, if you've experienced the scrumptiousness of a Belgium waffle, you'd buy a few packages of them at a grocery store on a whim to break a 50 note, too.
In other news, it's geocaching season! Ahhh!
Good Times Ahead
March 20, 2010
I'm getting packed and ready for my trip to Europe and it feels great pulling my passport out of its hibernation place. I haven't had much time to think about this trip until yesterday when I finally handed in this paper that's been following me around like an ominous shadow. But, I've handed it in and I'm free to think about everything but school for a few weeks.
Ah, it feels good. And so, my friend and I are all set: hotels booked, train tickets purchased, caution tossed into the wind, and watches set 7 hours ahead. I had a dream in which I commented on how I wasn't feeling any jet lag. I'm hoping for the best with my listlessness because we get in at 8am and can't check into our hotel until 3. Here's to Beneydryl on the plane and espresso on the ground!
In other news, since I can't--or at least am choosing not to--play Frisbee this year because of my wonky knee, I'm happy to report that as Frisbee has unfortunately waned out of my life for the foreseeable future, tennis has waxed right in. I'm coincidently just as content when I play it as when I play Frisbee. Probably because my backhand is just so graceful in both sports. (Seriously, you should see it; it's a beautiful sight to behold.) Nonetheless, tennis two-times a week this summer and before that, the epic Tennis Challenge this April!
More from France next week!
Travel Addiction
February 8, 2010
It's been a while since I've lived life on such a whim. These days my life is filled with working for the weekend, week after week virtually the same as the last (due mostly in part to the winter doldrums inevitably caught at this time of year).
Last week though, my friend and I brought an ethereal conversation to fruition by buying plane tickets for a 1-week excursion to Paris, France and Geneva, Switzerland. She's graduating medical school and she wanted to celebrate big! And since she's my friend, it's my duty to help her celebrate big.
We don't have all the details planned out yet, but I'd rather travel sans itinerary anyway. Rather than getting excited to head to the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, I'm really just looking forward to exploring new parts of the world with an old friend. I think, In a way, I'm mostly ecstatic to share the world with her. Every travel adventure is a story and it is such a joy when stories develop with people I know. I really enjoy traveling by myself, but there's something grand--something bigger than me--when I get to share something that I love with good friends.
I'm chuckling to myself about the shenanigans my brother and I got into this past fall when we were in Europe together. Berlin, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Paris. From the confusing to the mundane, everything is humorous abroad-- even more so with friends. My gosh, I guess that means my brother and I are actually--friends.
January Goings-on
January 29, 2010
Oh, Friends, what a wonderful introduction to 2010 this has been. Highlights include, but are not limited to:
- Listening incessantly to Vampire Weekend's "Run"
- Unofficially throwing my towel into this year's Twin Cities Marathon
- Being on my way to being a certified Master Gardener™ and learning about the science of plants (stomates!)
- Singing karaoke every night this weekend and throwing a bit of improv troupe in for good measure
- Getting through the historically coldest week of the year with temperatures in the 30s (hooray!)
- Gearing up for the fifth annual spa trip with one of my good friends
- Planning a trip to France with another good friend to celebrate her accomplishments and my 30th birthday
- Sharing life over various happy hours with good, goofy friends
Here's to Journey, Survivor, and the rest of the musicians that make karaoke so fantastic.
Key Word Round Up III
January 17, 2010
Alright, Friends, I don't know what's up with unicorns, but they keep appearing as people's word searches that bring them to my website. Clearly, they're truly magical creatures, for I only mention them a scant amount and yet, people are drawn to my website in search of them. I'm sorry I can't offer more about they're impeccable character, outstanding beauty, or shear magical-ness.
Ahem. Moving on, enjoy the word search and may you have more sensical themes running through your life than I.
- "look at that parking lot" t-shirt
- caribou coffee christmas playlist
- heidi cheese line
- minnesota state fair cake in a mug
- pictures of unicorns drinking from lake pictures
- running collapse heart race no oxygen
- wham last christmas violin noten