saran-warped world of code

Given that mySQL and I have decided that we are each equally stupid (link), maybe I should stop both coding and talking about coding and do something else for a change.

Self, to Brad: Oh yeah, massive ugly brain death today. I can't even get stuff that WORKS on the command line to work in PHP. So much for my soaring glorious code-fu of yesterday.

Brad, to self: My troubleshooting suggestion: go read a book or watch a movie. Or pet your cats. :)

Must you all be so obnoxiously right all the time? It's really annoying…

I had two code-related goals today: get the database-backup page working properly and set up the edit-yourself page so that when you change your own password, an email is automatically fired out to the address on record.

So far, I'm 0 for 2. The command to execute the db backup works perfectly from the command line but doesn't work when I wrap it inside system()…which Gareth said would work. The email isn't sending because they're something subtly wrong with the query I'm writing, and I can't figure out what it is.

So, in the time-honored practice of finding something else to occupy one's mind, Jeff and I watched the first half of Apocalypse Now Redux. There was something strangely fitting about jumping from nonsensical code to a movie about a barely-sensible war. I'll give the code another hour's worth of battering and call it a night. Iain Banks' Use of Weapons may be a pretty stark read, but it's better than going stark raving mad from the code I'm writing.

Sunday was a fine, fine coding day. Today was a wash. Hopefully the pendulum will swing again at around eight a.m. tomorrow morning.

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Comments

All in good time. It's like writing: would you expect similarly good days on end? :)

Well, since you asked.... Yes? :)

yeah, even those of us unfortunate enough to pimp ourselves to The Man and get paid to code... we have off days (weeks, months, lifetimes)... don't fret... Happy Canada Day! =)

yeah, even those of us unfortunate enough to pimp ourselves to The Man and get paid to code... we have off days (weeks, months, lifetimes)... don't fret... Happy Canada Day! =)

yeah, even those of us unfortunate enough to pimp ourselves to The Man and get paid to code... we have off days (weeks, months, lifetimes)... don't fret... Happy Canada Day! =)

heh. cool. if you accidentally hold down thw submit button, it keeps submitting. oops.

Amen, Will. I can sit for days staring at code and not get it to work right. You'll figure all of this out soon enough Amy.

WOOHOO! I came up with one last fix last night at around midnight, but the cable modem crapped out and I couldn't upload it. I said, "Screw it. I'm taking this as a hint and going to bed now. I'll try the fix in the morning." The edit-yourself page now auto-gens the email that I want, so I can officially declare myself 1 for 2 on yesterday's goals. Mmmm. Techno. NOW. (Amazing how much of coding is purely psychological...)

See, I *told* you that taking a break would help. Forest, trees, yadda.

I racked my brain and was hard pressed to come up with any sensible war. I guess there really are degrees of bad.

Funny you mention that -- I found a swank little quote in Use of Weapons last night that spoke pretty much on those lines: "'Crap,' he said. Beychae looked at him, surprised. 'There's a saying: "War is a long cliff." You can avoid the cliff completely, you can walk along the top for as long as you have the nerve, you can even choose to leap off, and if you only fall a short way before you hit a ledge you can always scramble back up again. Unless you're just plain invaded, there are always choices, and even then, there's usually something you've missed -- a choice you didn't make -- that could have avoided invasion in the first place. You people still have your choices. There's nothing inevitable about it.'" (page 242, British edition) Iain Banks. Gotta love him.