StephTheGeek's blog

Say hello to our life-consuming startup

StephTheGeek — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:46:43 -0500

TopNotchThemes

Just trying to turn the Drupal theming world on its head. Nothing major ;)

I got in!!!

StephTheGeek — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:58:34 -0500

I got in to Berkeley! :D Just got the email. Wooooooo!!!!!!

*squeals a whole lot*

Oh right, I live in Oakland

StephTheGeek — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:03:49 -0500

We were stopped at a stoplight a few blocks from our place, when suddenly a weird pickup tow truck like thing on the opposite side pulled out into the opposing lane from behind, and moved up beside the car second from the front. The passenger of said truck jumped out, attempted to yank open the other car's driver door (which was locked), and then jumped out of the way as this pickup truck with a forklift type prong on the front moved perpendicular to the car and tried to wedge it under. The car floored it and screeched around the other stopped cars, over the curb, and managed to drive away.

Tinted windows, no plates, nothing I could see except a couple of young dudes with touques in the truck. So freaky. It's true what they say that when a crime or something dramatic like that happens right in front of you, it seems to happen in a split second...

*locks car door*

But a forklift?? Geez. Seems a little elaborate...

Gulp. Submitted!

StephTheGeek — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:56:58 -0500

Hurrah! It's in! *squeals*

This is your confirmation that your online application has been submitted. Please print this page for your records.

Submission Date: January 06, 2008 09:53 PM

Name: Pakrul, Stephanie

Program: Information Management and Systems

Degree: M.I.M.S.

Term and Year: Fall 2008

Now to wait to hear back... which should be between mid-March and early April.

Political beliefs..

StephTheGeek — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:02:35 -0500

Not that I've ever been one to talk about politics, but figured I'd share this so people know how I'd run my own country ;)

92% Mike Gravel
90% Dennis Kucinich
75% Chris Dodd
74% John Edwards
73% Bill Richardson
72% Joe Biden
71% Barack Obama
69% Hillary Clinton
34% Ron Paul
27% Rudy Giuliani
25% John McCain
22% Mike Huckabee
16% Mitt Romney
16% Tom Tancredo
11% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Stealthy Steph

StephTheGeek — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:10:17 -0500

The suspense is nearly killing me. Or it would be if I had a spare moment to notice.

Big big big things coming. Soon. I can spill the beans in a couple of weeks or so. And no, I'm not pregnant, since I know that's where your brains are going :P

~~~

In news of things that aren't in stealth mode, I dropped off the stuff I needed to submit hard copies of at UC Berkeley today. Eeee! They'd be crazy not to take me ;) The more I write about the things I want to do, the courses, my background, the professors there, the inspiring opportunities... the more it makes me excited about actually being there in the fall. Cross your fingers.. I have to get the last of the online stuff in this weekend, then it's a waiting game for 2-3 months.

Also, we launched Amnesty! Yep, that's our handiwork up live at www.amnesty.org right now. Chris and I did the theming (wireframes/design mockups -> Drupal theme). Try switching it to Arabic.. too cool.

The boys were out for a great visit over the holidays, which was actually a nice rest for us. Saw some good shows, ate good food, hung out. Yay!

We're off to a Drupal workshop in Portland all next week, so we'll be pretty afk. Oh, and I'm co-chairing the design/UX track at the upcoming Drupalcon 2008 in Boston. Feeling awesome things brewing...

Feeling proud

StephTheGeek — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:08:39 -0500

Other than smashing my right hand with a car door yesterday, I'm feeling very proud right now. We did a full choir recording session yesterday (promo material for getting us hired for gigs, especially weddings), and our conductor picked two of us from each section to stay and record for the octet group, including me from the sopranos! I'm honoured. And hoping I can get a copy :)

And I'm just sitting here doing some web work for Amnesty, and realizing in awe how cool it is to be this close to launch and while sitting on a page, switch it to Arabic, change the window size to 800x600, increase the font in the browser... and have it not break anything. How many freaking sites can do that, eh??

We're going to Chicago on Wednesday until Monday to hang out with the boys for Thanksgiving. Hurrah for a direct flight out of the Oakland airport. Gonna hit some museums, eat some good food, and generally just have fun hanging out for a few days... and get a bit of a breather from coding.

Did I mention we're starting a new business too? I think we need professional help. I mean... we rock. I'm so glad I've found someone so much like me yet complementary.

Happy reversary and anniversary!

StephTheGeek — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:01:59 -0500

T-minus one year (minus one day) til our wedding in Toronto. And one year since our city hall ceremony :) Happier every day that goes by...

Wheee, energy!

StephTheGeek — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:31:18 -0500

I've recently started up bellydance classes again, doing two back-to-back on Wednesday nights, and trying to do more at-home practice. I can feel the difference in my overall energy already. And I'm amazed how much of the moves I remember, despite having done absolutely zero exercise in like two and a half years. My endurance and flexibility are crap, and I keep aggravating my right hip, but it still feels like jumping back in the saddle. Our instructor said I'd probably be fine in her advanced choreography class on the weekend... we'll see ;)

~~~

Say hello to one of the two web projects that has engulfed the last six months of our life, now public: http://hub.witness.org/

We're very proud :D Truly a bar-raising achievement in Drupal. A couple of our web team members were at their big birthday bash/launch gala the other night.

~~~

Anyone got any leads on lawyers who have experience with open source/GPL issues?

Success?

StephTheGeek — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:49:24 -0400

Well, I'm mildly confused :) My quantitative score was somehow a 780, but my verbal dropped to a 590 (which is still 82nd percentile, but lower than average scores for Berkeley). Nailed the essays, but I have to wait for those scores. And those BASTARDS gave me a second experimental math section. And no, they don't tell you which one it is. Too. Much. Math.

So yeah... this leaves me really torn. If my verbal had been just a wee bit higher, I'd be ecstatic. I'm gonna mull it over for a bit before deciding if I'll take it again. I really don't want to go through another month of studying, ugh. Nor risk seriously dropping that high quant score :)

Either way, yay, it's over and I did well!

So tired, tense, sore... time to unwind tonight and then on to more important things in life than analogies and geometry :)

(PS. felt the San Jose earthquake while we were in the theatre at a family friend's film screening.... looooong rumble, very cool!)

GRE tomorrow

StephTheGeek — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:43:22 -0400

Last practice test has me sitting at a 650 verbal (92nd percentile) and 680 quantitative (70th percentile). Gotta remember not to freak out when I get verbal questions where I don't know half the words in the answers, since that means I'm getting most of them right and getting the hardest questions :)

Guh my math still sucks though! I have a hell of a time figuring out the "trick" to these word questions that you have to translate into algebra. Basically, all the math questions can be answered in like under 30 seconds if you see the way to do it. But half the time I don't have that AHA! moment and end up having to try and calculate some crazy ass answer and guess. Or I make a careless mistake, but I've been better about writing stuff down. Berkeley wants quantitative at 80th percentile or higher. Gonna try and cram another hour or so of word problem wrangling into my brain and then get a good night's sleep.

Wish me luck!

(also I keep telling myself that I can do the test again in November if I need to... I really feel like I left re-learning high school math a little late in the game...)

Stream of doing

StephTheGeek — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 01:25:12 -0400

Organizing books. So happy to finally have all our books blended together. Chris has nearly a dozen books titled "Social Psychology". Funny that bedtime stories ended up next to Frank Miller. I am not ashamed of my love for Uncle John's Bathroom Readers.

Bidding on a buncha back issues of ReadyMade on eBay. Looking for wedding photographers. Writing my statement of purpose. Researching LinuxMCE. Planning holiday flights. Almost time to get the space heaters out. Waiting for Gutsy Gibbon. Dreaming of an RV trip. Clearing out closets.

Planning life... finances... housing. Enjoying cooking. Enjoying not cooking too. Staying up late and sleeping in late. Reading so many vocabulary words. Getting better. Wanting to stay home and nest. Loving cute furry Pierre so much. Still playing with balloons from birthday party. Excited about choir again. Have more recordings, need to post. Recording wedding gigs promo CD with choir in November. Better at Swedish pronunciation now. Don't like memorizing. Going to bellydance class on Wednesday. Chris starting aikido again.

The closest I'll ever get to an Emmy

StephTheGeek — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:02:58 -0400

So I mentioned I've been busy, right? Amnesty International's site long-awaited launch is looming (they've been trying to get a new site up since *1999*), as well as another HUGE and sexy Drupal site (well, sexy in terms of technology and design, not so much for subject matter) I haven't mentioned as much, the WITNESS Video Hub.

Well... WITNESS just won the first Humanitarian Emmy award. We're launching on the 7th, two days before the banquet. But, no pressure, really.

This fall is going to leave us with one hell of a resume. I seem to stumble into the coolest projects and people sometimes.

Go Kensington!

StephTheGeek — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:35:10 -0400

I've had a Kensington Expert Mouse trackball for a couple of years, which is a piece of hardware I often gush about. Ergonomically, it's fantastic, not to mention programmable. Well, it got a little dented in transit from Spain, and the wrist rest has a growing crack in it... so I emailed support this morning (it has a 5 year warranty, although I don't have any of the paperwork on it) and got a response within six minutes: we just need your serial number and shipping address and we'll send a replacement. Not a replacement of the ball and wrist rest, mind you, of the whole thing.

Wow. It's on its way now. Go Kensington!

(the bonus here is that we can buy the $5.99 replacement ball and Chris can have an almost-like-new version!)

It's official -- all our pets have a bizarre fetish for tortilla chips

StephTheGeek — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:17:21 -0400

(5x life size)

Well, I thought I had a good vocabulary....

StephTheGeek — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:22:28 -0400

but this GRE prep is kicking my ass so far :(

I think I'm going to be seeing analogies in my sleep...

EQUIVOCATION : PRECISION

magnanimity : generosity
voracity : nebulosity
approbation : delight
chicanery : ethnicity
duplicity : candor

Raaaaarrrr!

My algebra is better than I expected though...

Exploding with excitement

StephTheGeek — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:58:31 -0400

Just when the Berkeley iSchool couldn't possibly have me any more excited, they come out with a new course like this.

I'm nearly squealing by the time I get to the syllabus page and see things like this: "Lab 9 - Synthesis: Invent a music instrument (group work)"

Then nearly fall out of my chair when I see the footer: "Powered by Drupal"

*faints with happiness*

Been a busy grad school prep beaver today -- starting my statement of purpose, writing my last (hopefully) reference-letter-writer, reading up on the wonderful world of NSF grants (no way I have the time/background to apply this year, but I will for next year!), and making notes on four professors I'm dying to meet at the open house.

~~~

Both our huge work projects are in their biggest crunch time at the same time this week. IE6 must die. This makes Steph crazy. This makes Steph crazy. This makes Steph crazy.

25th birthday party tonight!

StephTheGeek — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:39:29 -0400

Take a peek on the cams if ye dare! :)

My sweetie, the browser bug dragonslayer

StephTheGeek — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:38:33 -0400

(sorry for the esoteric geek-out here, but I just had to share the kind of crazy stuff we're running into on a Drupal site [Amnesty International's] that has to work part-fluidly in 800x600, IE6, 150% font size, right-to-left switching...)

09/27/07 14:15:04 changed by chris ¶

Comment: Okay, the problem is that in FF you lose the ability to add padding or margins to inline elements in rtl. The one documented hack is to add "display: -moz-inline-box" to the element for which you want to add padding or margins. This works, but it undoes the rtl display, which in our case meant backward chevrons and backward (to an arabic reader) arabic text. After a lot experimenting (no documentation in English on this one out there, though I have to imagine that Middle Eastern web designers have this documented in Arabic) I found a workaround that looks decent in FF and IE6, and is maintainable. It turns out that you can avoid the padding problem (for the most part) without the -moz-inline-box hack by marking up the menu as an unordered list, applying the display: inline to the list item, marking up the text inside the list item with a span tag and then applying display: block to that. I still ended up not being able to add padding to the chevrons within the tag, but in the interests of time, I fixed that by adding an non-breaking space after the chevron and adjusting the rest of the spacing to match.

100 points if you can find me!

StephTheGeek — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:14:27 -0400

DrupalCon group photo

There were a lot more people there than in that photo! About 400, actually.