So, lately I've been teaching myself more about Web design, and one of the biggest things that I've been trying to learn is XML. The reason I've been trying to teach myself XML is because it is the parent language to XHTML, which will soon replace HTML as the basic web page designing language.
XML, however, is more than just a language to create web pages. XML is a language that allows code writers to develop their own "tags" (technically called elements) to better define the content within the page. These elements can then be defined within an XSL document to change the format of the elements. The really nifty thing about XSL is its ability to "transform" one XML document into a multitude of different XML vocabularies, like XHTML.
Anyhow, for the past few weeks, in my fleeting spare time, I have been studying XML and how to use it to my advantage. I have only made two XML pages, and each has its own XSL style sheet to go along with it, but I am well on my way to better understanding basic XML. I would like to learn a little more, however, and will hopefully have time to learn more this summer.
The neatest thing that I've come into contact with has to be XForms. XForms are a new type of Web forms meant to replace basic HTML forms, which are out of date and difficult to manage without knowing JavaScript. As I do not know much about JavaScript, the idea of being able to use a form without knowing JavaScript intrigued me. I am hoping to learn more about JavaScript this summer, but as of now my knowledge is slim. Either way, I have been tinkering with XForms a little lately, and even though they first upset me because they did not seem to make sense, I quickly found my error and have been attempting to learn more. The problems currently are numerous: XForms are not supported on IE7, so I had to download Firefox; XForms are very new, so finding examples is very difficult; and finally, the only good source of information of XForms is the World Wide Web Consortium, but the language used on the site is impossibly technical and difficult to read. Needless to say, as of right now, my knowledge of XForms is so slim that I do not even know enough to post anything online yet.
Otherwise, my life has been fairly ordinary lately. Besides missing Megan way too much, school has been progressing on a much more normal basis. I'm sleeping again, though still not as much as I should be. I'm finally getting back on my feet financially, and I think that I should be able to stop saying I'm broke by this time next month.
I come home for spring break on February 25, and I will very much enjoy the much needed break.
Well, once again, I was unable to be brief, but I am finally finished talking.
Later,
Joshua
Friday, February 20
Tuesday, February 10
The Proposal
So, this past weekend I went home to celebrate mine and Megan's first year anniversary. Although I did not want to leave on Sunday, which really ruined my day, the rest of the weekend was amazing.
For starters, I missed her so much that on Friday I wanted to do something nice for her, so I bought an orange Crush for her and was going to put it into a bouquet of red and yellow and orange roses. The reason for this is that orange is her favorite color, yellow and red come next, and she loves roses. I bought the Crush because of its name, and I wrote "I've got a" above "Crush" and "on you" below it. However, I ran into a few problems. First of all, I could not find a bouquet with red, yellow, and orange roses at the last minute. I was thinking of getting a small bouquet in each color and combining them, but there was only one size orange bouquet, a dozen roses, and there were no fully yellow bouquets. I ended up simply buying a dozen red roses. The other problem was that I forgot the Crush at my mother's house, so in the end I only gave her the roses.
Then I spent the rest of the day with her, watching movies and going out for dinner and finally ending at an improv show done by The Cellar Dwellers, which was very funny. When I finally took her home I did not want to leave, but I left and spent the night getting everything ready for the next day, which was THE day.
I suppose a bit of back story is necessary. I have been avoiding posting about this so that Megan did not find out, but for months I have been considering proposing to Megan. After spending December with her, I knew for a fact that I wanted to, so I started trying to figure out what kind of ring to get her and what her ring size is. It was not until the day that I went home in January for Megan's birthday that I realized how badly I wanted to propose to her. Megan was more to me than just my girl friend, but when I talked about her I had to call her that because I had nothing else to call her. I wanted something else, something more. Also, after going home to see her, I realized that I wanted her to be mine in the greatest way possible, which right now is to be my fiance. I spoke to my mother on the drive back to Mansfield in January, and I decided that since I had some extra money I would get the ring and set a date for when I was to propose. The date I had in mind was Saturday, February 7.
I had done everything to prepare for Saturday. I had talked to my parents about proposing. I had asked her parents' permission. I had planned exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to go about surprising her. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, even down to how I was going to hide a camera so that I could record the entire thing. Unfortunately, I hid the camera a little too well, and it recorded nothing but forty five minutes of the glove that I accidentally covered the lens with. Still, I had lost a lot of sleep in the weeks between the time I purchased the ring and the day of the proposal, and everything had to be perfect.
Saturday did not go exactly as I had expected, at least before dinner. We had a lot of fun on Saturday. Megan and I worked on her blog before getting the dogs and going to Petsmart. On the way to Petsmart I stopped and got a license for Ollie. Then Ollie and Oscar got to walk around in Petsmart, and we picked out a new toy for each of them. We were also going to get their nails trimmed, but they appeared a little busy and we had not made reservations so we were hesitant to see if they did walk-ins. Either way, the first toy that Megan picked for Oscar she ended up putting back, but Ollie saw her grab it and put it down, and he went and attacked it. I ended up buying him two toys because he chewed that one up before we left the aisle and I had already decided to get him the other toy.
After leaving Petsmart, Megan and I returned Oscar to her house, then went to my mom's house to watch a few movies and just spend some time alone. I really needed that time with her; I don't get to spend time truly alone with Megan very often. We ended up watching the last forty minutes or so of Ultraviolet and most of another movie that I can't even remember now. Either way, at some point I decided that we needed to go to Walmart and get what we needed to start dinner, so we left and went for supplies. After a quick stop at Megan's for a recipie and a change of pants (Megan "fell" in the snow, a.k.a. we were playing and I pushed her), we sped over to Walmart for the supplies necessary to make chicken salad.
We then headed back to my mom's house, now empty save us two and Ollie, and preceded to make a delicious chicken salad. Megan did an amazing job with the chicken, and it was probably some of the best fried chicken I've had in my entire life. While we were setting the table and putting the perishables away, I kept sending Megan over to the second kitchen not only because there was no room in the first refridgerator, but also because I was trying to set up the camera and get the ring into my pocket. Finally we sat down and had dinner, which was delectible, and after we finished I cleaned the table. I then offered ice cream to Megan, which was key to my plot to surprise her with the ring. She was pretty full, though, so she wanted to share a bowl. Of course, she also wanted to help me make it. I had to argue with her, telling her at first that I wanted to take care of her, then finally tell her to sit down and shut up because I'm going to serve her. I couldn't believe it, but that worked, and she sat.
I placed the ring box under the bowl of ice cream, and I walked over to her with the bowl in my hand. I handed her the bowl, and when she took it, she spotted the ring box. I dropped to one knee and opened the box, then asked her to marry me. She was dumbstruck. Before that moment I had never seen Megan speechless. She started to cry, but the tears never touched her cheeks. At first all she could do was smile and nod, and finally she said yes, of course. I placed the ring on her finger, and my girl friend became my fiance. Honestly, I have never been more happy about a single event in my entire life. I love Megan with all of my being and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I am elated that she said yes.
Either way, Megan also posted about this event. I figured you'd like to hear her side of the story. I would also like to note that she said the ring is the most beautiful ring ever, but she failed to provide a picture of it. I currently only have the image from the jeweler's website, but the ring is just as amazing in person as it is in this picture according to Megan, her mom, my mom, and a lot of other people. Here are the pictures that I have:
Once again, I apologize for the length of this post.
Later,
Joshua
For starters, I missed her so much that on Friday I wanted to do something nice for her, so I bought an orange Crush for her and was going to put it into a bouquet of red and yellow and orange roses. The reason for this is that orange is her favorite color, yellow and red come next, and she loves roses. I bought the Crush because of its name, and I wrote "I've got a" above "Crush" and "on you" below it. However, I ran into a few problems. First of all, I could not find a bouquet with red, yellow, and orange roses at the last minute. I was thinking of getting a small bouquet in each color and combining them, but there was only one size orange bouquet, a dozen roses, and there were no fully yellow bouquets. I ended up simply buying a dozen red roses. The other problem was that I forgot the Crush at my mother's house, so in the end I only gave her the roses.
Then I spent the rest of the day with her, watching movies and going out for dinner and finally ending at an improv show done by The Cellar Dwellers, which was very funny. When I finally took her home I did not want to leave, but I left and spent the night getting everything ready for the next day, which was THE day.
I suppose a bit of back story is necessary. I have been avoiding posting about this so that Megan did not find out, but for months I have been considering proposing to Megan. After spending December with her, I knew for a fact that I wanted to, so I started trying to figure out what kind of ring to get her and what her ring size is. It was not until the day that I went home in January for Megan's birthday that I realized how badly I wanted to propose to her. Megan was more to me than just my girl friend, but when I talked about her I had to call her that because I had nothing else to call her. I wanted something else, something more. Also, after going home to see her, I realized that I wanted her to be mine in the greatest way possible, which right now is to be my fiance. I spoke to my mother on the drive back to Mansfield in January, and I decided that since I had some extra money I would get the ring and set a date for when I was to propose. The date I had in mind was Saturday, February 7.
I had done everything to prepare for Saturday. I had talked to my parents about proposing. I had asked her parents' permission. I had planned exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to go about surprising her. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, even down to how I was going to hide a camera so that I could record the entire thing. Unfortunately, I hid the camera a little too well, and it recorded nothing but forty five minutes of the glove that I accidentally covered the lens with. Still, I had lost a lot of sleep in the weeks between the time I purchased the ring and the day of the proposal, and everything had to be perfect.
Saturday did not go exactly as I had expected, at least before dinner. We had a lot of fun on Saturday. Megan and I worked on her blog before getting the dogs and going to Petsmart. On the way to Petsmart I stopped and got a license for Ollie. Then Ollie and Oscar got to walk around in Petsmart, and we picked out a new toy for each of them. We were also going to get their nails trimmed, but they appeared a little busy and we had not made reservations so we were hesitant to see if they did walk-ins. Either way, the first toy that Megan picked for Oscar she ended up putting back, but Ollie saw her grab it and put it down, and he went and attacked it. I ended up buying him two toys because he chewed that one up before we left the aisle and I had already decided to get him the other toy.
After leaving Petsmart, Megan and I returned Oscar to her house, then went to my mom's house to watch a few movies and just spend some time alone. I really needed that time with her; I don't get to spend time truly alone with Megan very often. We ended up watching the last forty minutes or so of Ultraviolet and most of another movie that I can't even remember now. Either way, at some point I decided that we needed to go to Walmart and get what we needed to start dinner, so we left and went for supplies. After a quick stop at Megan's for a recipie and a change of pants (Megan "fell" in the snow, a.k.a. we were playing and I pushed her), we sped over to Walmart for the supplies necessary to make chicken salad.
We then headed back to my mom's house, now empty save us two and Ollie, and preceded to make a delicious chicken salad. Megan did an amazing job with the chicken, and it was probably some of the best fried chicken I've had in my entire life. While we were setting the table and putting the perishables away, I kept sending Megan over to the second kitchen not only because there was no room in the first refridgerator, but also because I was trying to set up the camera and get the ring into my pocket. Finally we sat down and had dinner, which was delectible, and after we finished I cleaned the table. I then offered ice cream to Megan, which was key to my plot to surprise her with the ring. She was pretty full, though, so she wanted to share a bowl. Of course, she also wanted to help me make it. I had to argue with her, telling her at first that I wanted to take care of her, then finally tell her to sit down and shut up because I'm going to serve her. I couldn't believe it, but that worked, and she sat.
I placed the ring box under the bowl of ice cream, and I walked over to her with the bowl in my hand. I handed her the bowl, and when she took it, she spotted the ring box. I dropped to one knee and opened the box, then asked her to marry me. She was dumbstruck. Before that moment I had never seen Megan speechless. She started to cry, but the tears never touched her cheeks. At first all she could do was smile and nod, and finally she said yes, of course. I placed the ring on her finger, and my girl friend became my fiance. Honestly, I have never been more happy about a single event in my entire life. I love Megan with all of my being and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I am elated that she said yes.
Either way, Megan also posted about this event. I figured you'd like to hear her side of the story. I would also like to note that she said the ring is the most beautiful ring ever, but she failed to provide a picture of it. I currently only have the image from the jeweler's website, but the ring is just as amazing in person as it is in this picture according to Megan, her mom, my mom, and a lot of other people. Here are the pictures that I have:
Once again, I apologize for the length of this post.
Later,
Joshua
Monday, February 2
The Busy Bee
So, I've been rather busy lately. Last week I once again pushed a great deal of my homework to the weekend because I spent three nights working until midnight, and after work I did not want to stay up and do homework. Well, then on Thursday I won a gift card to the campus bookstore for the third highest GPA in the sophomore class. First of all, that threw me off because I thought I was a freshman, but apparently after twenty four credits the university considers you a sophomore, and I have thirty four. Either way, I was elated, and went to the book store on Friday to take advantage of the spirit sale, which takes twenty percent off all MU Logo items.
However, once I arrived at the book store, I could not decide what I wanted to buy. I was thinking of buying a scarf and a new coffee mug, or a new blanket, a new hat and t-shirt, or a new hoodie. None of these options really appealed to me, so I went to look at the books. I was thinking of teaching myself JavaScript this summer, so I figured I might grab a JavaScript book if there was one in stock. I quickly located the HTML for Dummies book, but I could not find one on JavaScript. However, right next to HTML for Dummies book was a book simply titled XHTML. I was confused and intrigued. I before then I had seen HTML and XML, but never XHTML.
Well, as I had guessed, XHTML is a combination of HTML and XML, however, it is a bit more complicated than that. In all actuality, XHTML is an XML vocabulary that uses the HTML tags as its markup elements. Either way, I read a little of the introduction to the book and decided to make it my purchase. I spent all day Friday reading it, and then started reformatting my site into XHTML on Saturday night. By 2:00AM I had nearly finished converting half of joshlaughlin.com from HTML to XHTML, and I started again yesterday once I finished all of the homework I had been putting off.
As of now, the entirety of joshlaughlin.com, including this blog and the reality of the situation, have been converted to XHTML.
When I find some free time I am going to use the book to help me learn more about dXHTML, or dynamic XHTML. I would like to make my site more dynamic and user friendly, and hopefully attract some more viewers.
Either way, I failed at trying to be more concise, sorry. I hope you check out my site and try to spot the differences. They're very minute, but I did fix a lot of errors in my code and a few broken links. Keep on the watch for new additions because I'm really in the web design mood lately.
Later,
Joshua
However, once I arrived at the book store, I could not decide what I wanted to buy. I was thinking of buying a scarf and a new coffee mug, or a new blanket, a new hat and t-shirt, or a new hoodie. None of these options really appealed to me, so I went to look at the books. I was thinking of teaching myself JavaScript this summer, so I figured I might grab a JavaScript book if there was one in stock. I quickly located the HTML for Dummies book, but I could not find one on JavaScript. However, right next to HTML for Dummies book was a book simply titled XHTML. I was confused and intrigued. I before then I had seen HTML and XML, but never XHTML.
Well, as I had guessed, XHTML is a combination of HTML and XML, however, it is a bit more complicated than that. In all actuality, XHTML is an XML vocabulary that uses the HTML tags as its markup elements. Either way, I read a little of the introduction to the book and decided to make it my purchase. I spent all day Friday reading it, and then started reformatting my site into XHTML on Saturday night. By 2:00AM I had nearly finished converting half of joshlaughlin.com from HTML to XHTML, and I started again yesterday once I finished all of the homework I had been putting off.
As of now, the entirety of joshlaughlin.com, including this blog and the reality of the situation, have been converted to XHTML.
When I find some free time I am going to use the book to help me learn more about dXHTML, or dynamic XHTML. I would like to make my site more dynamic and user friendly, and hopefully attract some more viewers.
Either way, I failed at trying to be more concise, sorry. I hope you check out my site and try to spot the differences. They're very minute, but I did fix a lot of errors in my code and a few broken links. Keep on the watch for new additions because I'm really in the web design mood lately.
Later,
Joshua
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