CakePHP is … cake

I’m getting tired of writing the same code over, and over again. I decided to try . It’s a framework that “rips-off” Ruby on Rails, which I haven’t had time to dig into either. I finally set down and went through the blog screencast, even fixing the “error” when you edit a post it creates a new post and leaves the old one, guess they were in a hurry. All in all I like it and plan to start using it in a couple of projects in the future. BTW, if you try it out in the future, he leaves out the following code in edit.thtml:

echo $html->hidden('Post/id',array('size' => 10));
This gives the controller the $id to UPDATE rather than INSERT.

Genealogy

Just a quick plug for a new genaeology site. Very cool. Would be nice if it could import/export different formats. I use Gramps right now (Smith-Murphy Family).

I am (not) a plumber

I am a programmer, but I like seeing how mechanical things work, so while I was giving my daughter a bath I decided I should “fix” the faucet (one of those Deltas with the plastic knob). The plastic had worn down on the handle so it couldn’t turn the hot/cold water easily. I took that off easily enough, but the stopper for the shower had been sticking so I thought I’d take a look at that. I began to unscrew the center piece and water started spraying out. I quickly surmised (in my best caveman voice) “Loose bad, tight good.” But it wouldn’t tighten (Later I realized the water pressure forced the ‘key’ out of the slot so it would not fit). I decided to go ahead and take it out only to have water shoot out the length of the tub. I hurried Sarah out of the bathroom. I finally turned the water off and went to Lowe’s to get the parts to fix it. All is well, but I am NOT a plumber.

Vista

Ugh. How many dialogs do you need to go through to delete a file? I’m sticking with it. It is part of my job and, eventually, we’ll deploy it. But not right now. Wow. I can’t wait until I get our ERP system database independent. I gave up on IIS7/PHP/Ruby and loaded Apache. Ubuntu Server and Postgres look like a good upgrade from Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000. For a company our size we’ve only got a few key apps that require Windows. XP’s handling those just fine. Unless you’ve got a compelling reason to upgrade…don’t. Even if you’ve got Software Assurance hold off. For a (hopefully) more pleasant IT journey, I’ll be getting my Grandstream SIP phone tomorrow and will be integrating that with my homemade Asterisk box (Trixbox). I don’t think I’d use it for EVERYTHING, but at least a conference server.

House Church

My idea of what church is has changed significantly over the years. I’ve gone from an anti-institutional view (’Institutional church is bad man!’) to a “cooperative” view (’OK, there are people in the church that are well meaning and sincere and I can’t exactly dismiss them.’) to a … “separatist” view. Not a wack-o cult-like separatist mind you. Really I’d be somewhere between cooperative and separatist. Each week I try to get excited about “going to church,” but I just can’t. It’s become yet another thing to work into our schedules and lives. We’ve been involved in small groups/house churches in the past, but always with another couple or two. That’s where my passion is.

It’s in intimate settings that we get to know each other. There are good people that I look forward to seeing on Sundays, but they’re busy getting their kids where they need to go. This year I will focus more on being than going.

Dinner with a friend

Jeremy and I met Andrew Jones downtown for a little BBQ. Also met some nice people from Atlanta (Josh and Anna) and Birmingham (Nick and Leslie). Nice to hear what’s going on around the world and the south, and enjoy some good food. Josh, Anna, Nick and Leslie let me know next time you’re in Chattanooga.

Christianity perceived

I was at my company’s main office a couple of weeks ago when I had a conversation about the following situation. One employee (a Christian) sent an offensive email regarding Muslims. HR sends a email to ALL employees stating the corporate email policy in regards to personal/harassing (religion/gender)/offensive emails.

A seperate/unrelated conversation occurs with the office manager and the system admin. A number of employees were receiving daily prayer/devotional emails and apparently spending a good deal of company time discussing these emails. The office manager requested that the email be blocked. The Christians in this group started calling the sys admin (whom I work with daily) and, from his perception, ask him why he “blocked Jesus,” telling him “the devil is everywhere.” All this group saw was the email from HR stating religious intolerant emails were inappropriate, then the next day their devotional emails were blocked. Now they were “praising Jesus” because they were being persecuted and talk about how this was  sign of the end times.

O brother. In fairness the office manager should have gone to her people and instructed them to not stand around talking, they are more than free to discuss anything they wish on break/lunch-time, but they are paid to work. The perception of the non-Christians involved in this is: “what a bunch of weird-o’s”. I know the people on both sides. I know that the Christian group IS concerned about people’s salvation and knowing God. I know that the non-Christian group IS NOT trying to persecute Christians. In the end the Christians have established a barrier to the gospel (in my opinion). All the passages I can think of about not being conformed to worldliness don’t apply here. I don’t see how God is being honored by leaving some people shaking their heads and feeling justified in thinking the whole “church thing” is garbage.

Moving

We will be closing on a house in a couple of weeks. This is our first purchase and we were(are) nervous about the process, although it’s gone really well. Angie wanted to have some confirmation that this was “the right thing” and God spoke …through Google. I just thought it was neat given my theological leanings that the house we were looking at had been used (in this case by the previous owners) with how I view church, right in the middle of wherever we are.

Ender’s Game

Just finished reading Ender’s Game (it’s great if you get a chance to read it). It’s about humanity dealing with a superior invading force, and what we’ve done to prepare if they were to return. Ender is taken to Battle School when he is 6 because he has all the qualities that the military commanders need to command a fleet successfully against the “buggers”. Ender experiences much sadness and fear, some created by those in command to make him the commander he would become. I hadn’t been reading Ender’s Game for any particular spritual purpose when I ran across this section about Ender being seperated from one of his few friends:

Alai suddenly kissed Ender on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “Salaam.” Then, red-faced, he turned away and walked to his own bed at the back of the barracks. Ender guessed that the kiss and the word were somehow forbidden. A suppressed religion, perhaps. Or maybe the word had some private and powerful meaning for Alai alone. Whatever it meant to Alai, Ender knew that it was sacred; that he had uncovered himself for Ender, as once Ender’s mother had done, when he was very young…she had put her hands on his head when she thought he was asleep, and prayed over him. Ender had never spoken of that to anyone, not even to Mother, but had kept it as a memory of holiness, of how his mother loved him when she thought that no one, not even he, could see or hear. that was what Alai had given him; a gift so sacred that even Ender could not be allowed to understand what it meant.

It’s in the ordinary that I’m suprised by “memories of holiness” and acts of kindness that are so sacred I cannot be allowed to understand them.

Buying a house…maybe

This explanation should have come BEFORE that last post, but… We need to be pushed sometimes, and right now it seems that just as soon as I begin to formulate a plan of how to approach a major decision, God steps in and makes it clear “my way ain’t the way to go”. We’re not _certain_ God wants us to be in a house, but we’re praying right now that God will show us _where_ we need to be in Chattanooga. Buying a house isn’t spur of the moment decision, so we’re a little cautious. We’ll see how things go over the next week.