Archive for January, 2003

Fare Thee Well!

Thursday, January 23rd, 2003

As of February 1, 2003, I will no longer work with ZJAM Youth Ministries, Inc. ZJAM was my first client as a free-lancer. The TeenHopeLine and ZJAM web properties thrust me into so many situations where my creativity, management skills, technical knowledge, and tolerance for Microsoft IIS forced personal growth. The sites reflected my (at the moment) best work with each iteration. I now lay my plans for CSS/XHTML compliance, dynamic content delivery, Java-based messaging software, mobile versioning, portals, webzines, and united community login to rest. May God continue to bless and guide ZJAM in reaching the world’s teenagers!

The Futile Chimera

Tuesday, January 21st, 2003

Mike Pinkerton blogged that working his “ass off for 3% just isn’t any fun any more” in response to Apple’s release of Safari, a competing browser to Pinkerton’s Chimera.

The Chimera browser hinders Mozilla on Mac OS X and I would celebrate if its developers moved on to another project.

Phoenix began shortly after Chimera. I could not wait until a Mac OS X version of Phoenix was released after testing it on my uncle’s Windows XP machine. Only one problem existed. Phoenix’s programmers wanted to concentrate on development for Linux and Windows because they did not want to compete with Chimera, which shared a similar goal: be a simple, small, and fast Gecko-based browser.

Phoenix is smaller in file size. It boasts the existing feature set of the Mozilla browser with 31,000+ lines of code that offer a more productive and refined user experience. It already support numerous extensions, like mouse gestures. Its XUL user interface is simplified. It launches quickly and opens new tabs and windows instantly. In less development time than Chimera, Phoenix supersedes Chimera’s goal at version .5.

I predict that Phoenix will be the most widely used project of Mozilla. Chimera’s slow development, crash-happy milestone releases, and anemic feature set are keeping a superior product from being developed for Mac OS X. Look at the big picture. Development of Phoenix helps Mac, Linux, and Windows users. Development of Chimera only helps less than 5% of the computer market and isolates Mac users with Chimera-specific functionality and rendering problems.

Admittedly, Chimera offers a few Mac OS X-specific features. The bookmarks in the dock menu, Keychain integration, and the Services menu options could be added to Phoenix for Mac OS X, should a version be actively developed.

(Note: Form elements would not be Aqua in Phoenix, but this is a good thing. Web developers expect form elements to be similar in size to Internet Explorer’s Windows graphical user interface. Aqua form elements are immensely larger than what web developers expect and can cause undesired page rendering because of their size. The Mozilla form elements resemble the Internet Explorer in Windows form elements.And yes, both Carbon (Phoenix) and Cocoa (Chimera) applications take advantage of Mac OS X’s text anti-aliasing.)

The good news is that Kevin Gerich has posted an experimental build of Phoenix for Mac OS X. This the first step in brining the Phoenix project to Mac OS X and is labeled “experimental” for a reason. His release is not an official part of the Mozilla project and there are a few window bugs that appear to stem from Phoenix’s intended use under Windows and Linux. Get over them and take a peek at what Chimera wants to be when it grows up.

Quote

Wednesday, January 15th, 2003

He’s Always Been Faithful by Sara Groves

Morning by morning, I wake up to find the power and comfort of God’s hand in mine.

Season by season, I watch Him amazed; in awe of the mystery of His perfect ways.

All I have needeth, His hand will provide. He’s always been faithful to me.

I can’t remember a trial or a pain He did not recycle to bring me gain.

I can’t remember one single regret in serving God only and trusting his hand.

All I have needeth, His hand will provide. He’s always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem. This is my song. The theme of the stories I have heard for so long.

God has been faithful. He will be again. His loving compassion, it knows no end.

All I have needeth, His hand will provide. He’s always been faithful to me.

The Big One-Nine

Wednesday, January 15th, 2003

Today I start the last year of being a teenager. I do not feel nearly two decades old and I certainly do not look nearly two decades old.

I often think about where I will be and what I will be doing at this time of day tomorrow / next week / next year / etc. The thought is merely speculation. Usually, a reference of where I was and what I was doing yesterday / last week / last year at this time of day is made. Immediate, short, and long term goals take high priority in how I live my life. Yet, so often a blank page stares back at me when defining these goals. I trust God to fill the lines with incredible things as I seek His plan for me. What is most amazing is that my lofty thoughts are always superseded by reality. Too awesome.

In addition to receiving encouraging telephone calls from Meme and Step-Grandma Kinderman, the San Diego Vinoskeys took me out for a special Chinese dinner to celebrate my birthday. Birthdays were never a big deal in my family, especially after Mom died. I enjoyed the reminder of what a celebration in honor of me arriving on this planet is like. God, may the next nineteen years be just as awe-filled as the first.

Macworld Conference & Expo San Francisco 2003 Scrapbook

Saturday, January 11th, 2003

If it were not for Your Mac Life‘s Platinum Pass, jetBlue‘s cheap airfare, and a room arrangement with Andrew & Brandon from Mac Teens.com, I would not have been able to attend Macworld SF 2003. I send my sincerest appreciation to these great people!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Final Thoughts

I find it odd that people get excited to meet me. I am just an ordinary guy who was thrust in front of a national television audience by rambling about my favorite new tool. The attention is nice and I love meeting people but being recognizable does not make me special.

Coalition of Homelessness, San Francisco

4 saved as copter goes down in bay
Emergency landing near bridge

Sightseeing chopper goes down near Golden Gate Bridge

(more…)

Quote

Friday, January 10th, 2003

Adam Nolley: Okay, I think it’s time for me to go home.
Me: I think it is time for me to go home too. Wait, I am.
Adam Nolley: Maybe you should click the home icon then.

Link

Friday, January 10th, 2003

Flying the Friendly Skies
Apple Switcher Star Survives Helicopter Crash
Teen Switchers Gettin’ Twitchy

Damn Gravity

Friday, January 10th, 2003

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, the tale of a fateful trip. After living under the artificial lighting of the sub-divided Moscone Center for four days, I wanted to enjoy San Francisco and role play the traditional tourist. Matt and I scheduled a twenty minute tour, a twenty minute tour. [Cue thunder crash from Giligan's Island theme song.]

San Francisco Helicopter Tours was late picking Matt and I up from the hotel, so my plan of catching the last half of the Your Mac Life Friday broadcast was shattered. This upset me, but I thought that the helicopter tour of San Francisco’s most popular tourist traps would be worth the $100. [Cue half-step key change in Giligan's Island theme song.]

Less than 15 minutes into the flight and after flying over and under the Golden Gate Bridge, the helicopter had a mechanical failure. We dropped 600 feet (bridge height) in less than a minute. The pilot told us to put on our inflatable vests as he barked, "Mayday!" over the radio and inflated the helicopter’s pontoons on the skids. Had John McClelland’s masterful auto-rotation water landing not have been successful, us four men would have had about 20 minutes in the 54°F water before hypothermia set in.

The rapid decent did not allow for me to be scared. However, the 5-10 feet tall waves that tossed the floating helicopter beneath the bridge during the 20 minute wait for the U.S. Coast Guard did scare me. By God’s grace, the skillful pilot, and the prepared Coast Guard teams, I returned to shore without injury. An ambush of the local news media awaited us during our walk from the dock to the Coast Guard station. A taxi took Joe Ubaldo (a Macworld Expo attendee), Matt Locke, and me back to the Cartwright and Marriott hotels after watching the helicopter be towed into the dock.

I am thankful to be alive one more day. And I will be back in San Francisco to get the rest of my helicopter tour some day. :-)

Listening to

Tuesday, January 7th, 2003

Missin’ You by Chris Rice

The Day You Departed

Tuesday, January 7th, 2003

Somewhere behind those stars, is someone who belongs to me. The void my mom left six years ago in my life can only be filled with memories. God, I miss her.

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