Category: Personal

Behind the scenes I’ve been making some changes to the way the blog works. For instance, accounts aren’t required to post comments any longer. Instead a randomly generated image, similar to what you might see at Ticketmaster, is displayed with a prompt to enter the characters in a text box. I’ve also been tweaking some settings that are not readily visible.

For my next trick, I’m finally going to work on the photo album section. I was sketching the layout and navigation earlier today, so I should start coding that in the next day or two.

I changed hosting providers when the credit card information expired in May. I was fed up with the non-service that my previous hosting service was providing, so I ponied up for a pricier service that promised more support. And they do respond, even on weekends, which has been a fantastic benefit.

What amazes me, though, is after three months and multiple support cases, I figured out the problem, which turned out to be one missing line from the httpd.conf file in Apache.

LoadModule module_webapp modules/mod_webapp.so

Damn you, mod_webapp!

I’ve finally figured out the proper configuration settings to bring up Java on the new hosting provider. Not bad for nearly three months time. Lest you worry, it’s not as though I’ve struggled day and night with resolving the issues. I’ve been off to faraway places (Seattle, San Francisco, and Charlotte, NC), encountered adventure and intrigue, and otherwise have had a swell time of it.

But, that can all wait. I’m missing out on primo Sunday leisure time.

And here come the reactions to the plan put together to upgrade the campus.

“I’m so mad at [University President Richard L.] McCormick that I cancelled my pledge to the University because of the arrogance of the plan,” said city resident Nancy Beardsly, a clergywoman at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. “If there had been any kind of input [from students and residents], that’d be different.”

The University’s greening plan – which would eliminate automobile traffic on Easton Avenue between Alexander Library and Bishop Street – will make it more difficult to reach the seminary by automobile, Beardsly said.

I attended the Rutgers Alumni Association’s Board of Directors meeting last night, which truly wasn’t as boring as it sounds when you read it. While most of the event consisted of idle chitchat with other alums and a seemingly unending supply of committee reports, two nuggets stood out.

First (and I will get her name and title wrong), Karen Kavanaugh, Vice President of Business Services, presented to us on a set of development plans currently in the works for the University. In New Brunswick, plans are on the drawing board to replace the current space across from the Eason Ave apartments where New Jersey books is with a thirty story mixed-use (i.e. residential and commercial) building, in which Rutgers would locate a visitor’s center, the Rutgers Club, and the University Press. In an initial phase, College Ave would be “greened up”, in part by closing the section of the street in front of Brower and the student center and turning it in to an open plaza. In later phases, the current lot across from Scott Hall would be developed in to new academic facilities, Brower Commons would become the host of all the various student services offices, Records Hall would be replaced with a bus turnabout, the river dorms would be upgraded and a new dining hall would be constructed where the Student Activities Center is currently located.

On Livingston, plans are in the process of being developed to implement a “College Town” setup. The space that is currently part field, part parking lot across from the Livingston Student center would be replaced with a commercial/residential center. There would be some market-rate housing made available, some affordable-rate housing, and some student apartment housing. The plan would also create a commercial “main street” setup with stores, shops, and restaurants on a main street with several plazas as well.

In addition, the next phase of the Route 18 construction will begin in the second half of the year. Once it completes, toward the end of this decade, Route 18 will consist of two express lanes and two local lanes in each direction from almost the Raritan River through the Route 1 interchange.

The second noteworthy presentation regarded the undergraduate college system in New Brunswick. Given that the faculty have long since been reorganized in to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, leaving the current colleges primarily serving a residential function, there is a plan in the comment phase to reorganize them in to a single entity. Students would still choose a living campus to affiliate with, each with their own culture and traditions much as they exist today. However, all the undergraduates attending liberal arts colleges in the New Brunswick/Piscataway area would attend the same undergraduate college of the arts and sciences.

With all the changes being discussed, there was quite a lively debate. Our usual, quiet BoD meeting was anything but, although I have to admit I look forward to most of the changes being implemented.

Josh Marshall latches on to another point about the news media that I have similarly noticed. Very little original, in-depth reporting about a topic is generally done by most media. Those items that receive wide circulation among the major media have to percolate up through various channels, and, unfortunately, not all of them make it.

My most commong (and amusing) point is a correlation I’ve found between Wired magazine and BusinessWeek. Generally, Wired will report on a given topic, which will be followed up by a similar report viewed with a slightly different perspective in BusinessWeek four to eight weeks later. It could so happen that both sources independently had the same idea, but more likely to me is that someone at the BusinessWeek office is a subscriber.

Imagine my surprise this afternoon as I was watching some basketball when I saw a commercial for a new movie that looked oddly familiar. The highly stylized nature of the action clearly identified a unique movie, one that I felt I had just recently seen. Then the name flash up. “Kung Fu Hustle”.

And I laughed out loud, as my copy is still sitting next to the TV. It’s not often I’m ahead of the curve on, well, anything, so I’ll enjoy it while I can.

In my global search for music I find “entertaining”, I picked up a CD by a vocal group called Budak Pantai while I was in Singapore. At the time I bought it, I had no idea what the group sounded like, who they were, or what to expect. The title of the CD, “The Cattle are Lowing @ Blue Moo”, with a picture of a cow with antlers and a string of Christmas lights running through, gave the impression I wouldn’t be disappointed.

And, so far, of the eight to ten CDs I picked up on the trip, this one has been my favorite. An amusing group of five guys singing offbeat renditions of western songs, including a number of Christmas favorites, primarily a capella (though there are a few songs with some acoustic guitar accompaniment), recorded as part of their live show, hits all the notes I’m looking for in some of my more “peculiar” music.

Now if only someone could explain to me just what the joke is behind track 13.

I’m back home, and still have to post the last two travel entries. I’ll get to that either today or tomorrow.

In catching up on the political discourse that occurred while I was away, I came upon this entry. On my flights returning home, I had a few conversations with other passengers on economic-related topics, telling them how I was lucky to have found a job by the end of 2000 as many college grads were having their offers rescinded prior to the summer of 2001. This seemed to confuse some very intelligent people, as it has now been forever linked in the consciousness of most Americans that the recission was caused in large part by 9/11. The unfortunate thing is that it was already well underway, and was even beginning to rebound. Granted it excaberated the recission, but it certainly wasn’t the root cause.

The non-stop GOP talking points win again.

The victory was sweet. I couldn’t be there, but I watched on TV as Rutgers solidly beat UConn Sunday at the RAC.

Stringer has had a great year, and without a doubt the team had a string of huge victories. But knocking off perenial pain-in-the-ass UConn eclipses even the great string of wins over top 10 teams.