The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

First, let me begin by saying that I’m not a programmer. I have always been, first and fore most, a visual artist; that being photography and Web/graphic design. But as the nature of the Web has changed (at least in terms for designers especially) so have designers methods of creating Web sites. Gone or going are the days of static pages. The world wants dynamic, data-driven content. And that means that designers, especially one-man-army designers like myself, have to learn some kind of programming language. The two-fisted combo of PHP and MySQL has become a powerful tool for Web designers. The ability to create dynamic, data-driven sites is exciting (I know this is gonna sound dry for some of you). You can offer your clients/potential customers more interesting content based on what they’re looking for. It also allows greater levels of interaction between user and usee (is that a word?). Both PHP and MySQL are open source and free. Both are readily available and installed on most Web serves these days. But Oracle is something else. It is another database language, and it does work with PHP, but it’s not open source and it ain’t free. It’s also not as simple to learn (in my opinion) as MySQL. So today, I had to create a dynamic, data-driven page that would work off of an Oracle database. It took me most of the day to get up to speed but at the end, as of right now, I learned it - I got it done, thank God. And I’d also like to thank Mark. Without his help today, I would surely be mad, raving and bald (from tearing my hair out) by today’s end. So, that was my adventure in technology for today. If you’ve got a funny or interesting story about your adventures in technology, drop a note in the comments section. Ciao.

Two shots I did of Philadelphia-area saxophonist Tom Tallitsch. He came by the pad yesterday for an impromptu photo/writing session. Broke out the 4×5 and did some Type 55’s. I love this stuff. The scans were made by a really bad Canon office copier/scanner. I like the wacky artifacts it produced. Sorta a low-fi type of deal. I want to shoot Tom again, maybe outside with some soft, difuse natural light with the 4×5. That’s the only camera for me (outside of an 8×10, an 11×14 or a 16×20 banquet camera)!

Ahh… It feels so good to have all my stuff out of my brothers’ places and into my own little part of the world. It ain’t much but it is mine. Very deep bows and tippings of the hat to Denise for helping me out with the chair and chest. It really made the place feel like home - well, like a home. It’s getting there. Maybe I’ll be able to pick up some more furniture by the end of this week/beginning of next week. I did my first photo shoot in the house - Tom stopped by for us to work on some of his stuff. I also ate at Tavern On Green - a small little local eatery. Fish & Chips. Nothing big but the food was good. I’ll have to poke around and see what else is here (besides a hoagie joint on every corner).

A thousand pardons and thanks to my brother, Mike, for helping me get the last of my stuff over to Green Street. He helped me brave the icy elements last night to get the rest of my crap in my new pad. Now that I’ve got all my old stuff there, it’s time to get some new stuff. I need furniture badly - when I moved here from San Francisco/Madison I only brought what would fit in my car. So the Quest For a Full Apartment is on. Feel free to send donations to the QFFA Fund.

I have to say, time is just flying by. I’ve been at my job for a month and a half. I feel like a part of the team and they also seem to be receptive to me as well. I went to the School of Medicine’s Dean’s Holiday Party. Oh, stop it!! I know what you salafis are thinking (Christmas is haram!). Well, it’s a holiday party, non-denominational. There was food and drink. Music and mingling. It was a good chance for all of us to hang out in a relaxed manner and get to know one another a little better. And yes, ham is still pork! That was a funny question (“okay, so I know you won’t eat pork, but will you eat some ham?”). I look forward to next year’s. And thanks to Dean, who ever you are!

I’m hanging out right now in South Philly, at the Philadelphia Java Company (Google Map). It’s a nice little cafe that has mostly locals. It’s about a half block off of South Street so you don’t have the crazy throngs of young kids and bruthas tryin’ to sell you incense and oils. Just went and looked at a loft space around the corner from here (9th and Spruce). The money’s very reasonable - now all I can do is wait for the land lord to contact me back.

Besides that, I’m still settling into my routine at work. I actually got to get hands-on today with some of the software we use. My job is to break it and put it back together again, so to speak. Testing. Man, one thing I have to do different is eat different while I’m at work. I had a burrito from Qdoba (I think - well, some place like that) up on 40th and Spruce. It was a big, honkin’ burrito with black beans, rice and chicken with tons of extra-hot hot sauce. By the time I had made it back to the office, I was ready to slip into a coma. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t concentrate. My eyes kept watering and my vision was blurry. Two cups of coffee was all that kept me clinging to the rope of life, so to speak. I gotta watch the carbs, I guess. Not that I care about the weight. I’ve continued to loose 7 to 8 pounds every two to three weeks from exercise. My pants are already fallin’ off my arse. But I think it’s the carbs that make me wanna fall out and take a siesta. So no more burritos for lunch. Hmm…, I wonder how many carbs there are in a cheese steak?

I put down some thoughts in the Music Blog section. Talking about Internet music stations and buying music. Check it out and lemme know what ya’ll think.

My cousin Tracy sent me a link to this new site called Pandora. They’re a sort of Internet radio station where you can pick artists you like and they’ll come up with a mix of their stuff plus artists they think are related to that artist. So, for example, if I said I liked Dexter Gordon, Pandora would pull up some Gordon but they’d also add in some Von Freeman, Sonny Rollins and whatever else they might think I’d like. You also have the option of seeing if the song in particular is available from the iTunes Music Store as well as the whole album from Amazon.com. From the first look, it’s a neat concept. I say from the first look because I have this love/hate relationship with the Internet and buying music. At one end, I’m a traditionalist. I wanna go into a store, peruse their stock and maybe talk with the store owner who knows about what he’s got and could maybe recommend something to me - turn me on to something new. The other end is that I don’t wanna pay so much for my music! I used to go to little used CD shops and buy stuff ‘cuz I could get something for around $10. A new disc starts at $20. For that same $10 I can get a new album off of the iTunes Music Store. Is it just the instant gratification? I don’t think so. I like going to the store and getting my music. I’m a ritualist. I like things that have a process. What I do like though, is getting twice the music for my buck. Again, for $20, I can get two albums instead of one. But in that process I feel as if I’m contributing to the demise of small music shop owners. This iPod thing is really something. Always a dual-edged sword. Well, either way, I am intrigued by Pandora. Check it out and lemme know what you think. You can also listen to the station that I’ve created on Pandora. You can listen to it here. Thoughts, comments & questions are always welcome.