joedonahue.org

Sometimes, firefox doesn’t work the way I expect it. That doesn’t mean it is broken, it is just different. Usually its a “better” kind of different, and sometimes not. This is a case of somewhat not.

Using Cascading Style Sheets to define the way a page looks is not only awesome, but simply required. I am continuing to understand that learning the nuances of CSS and of Javascript is what really makes a webpage come together.

Using the text-align property is a ho-hum part of everyday CSS scripting, but today I encountered a speed bump when the property failed to align images correctly. There is a logic behind it – since the property is, after all, text-align. So in order to get images as well as text aligned in a centered fashion,

.divClass img {
position: relative;
text-align: left;
margin: auto;
}

I love Google docs.  It brings me joy to no end.  Though I have longed for folders and a way to organize documents, I have discovered how to use tags to organize it all.  Google, thank you.

Well, I am trying a few new things here at ol’ JoeDonahue.org.  First off is the switch to the WordPress theme K2, which seems pretty sweet so far, but it will take some time to customize the way I had the previous theme set up.  This is pretty much the “out of the box” look so far, but it seems like this will actually be more flexible and powerful for adding cool new things.  And speaking of cool new things!  If you click on the “Photos” tab in top nav (still trying to figure out if I even like the top nav) you will see a page that dynamically loads my Flickr sets!  Again, it will take some time to make it look the way I want it, but I am excited about it.  Julie and I took the plunge and upgraded to Flickr pro, which is great because I have a ton of photos that I have not uploaded yet.  We are going through and uploading Wedding pics right now.  Good times.

Feel free to leave a comment about the new look!

At some point in the past, I recall an email being sent out by Megan Rulloda which contained many a capitalized word at seemingly random intervals.  And it drove me insane.  I quickly hit “Reply to All” and shared this with everyone,  and there seemed little debate that most of her capitalization was unnecessary.  But recently, some material has come to light in her defense.

In my view Capital Letters were made for the Author and not the Author for Capital Letters. So I use them at my own discretion … in order to catch the Eye of the Reader’s Mind, and in the hope that the word dressed in Capital Letters … may make a dent in the Mind which will stay put.

This comes from Captain P.R. Creed’s 1938 book Getting Things Done, and an interesting blog post concerning GTD.  And has very little to do with Capital Letters. But it was funny, and thought I would share it with you all.  You’re Welcome.

~Commander J. M. Donahue

Joe and I sent letters on Monday to our parents. The letters were from the baby to the grandparents (and aunts and uncles) introducing himself (or herself) as he first grandchild. My mother-in-law got hers last night. I got a call around 5:00 PM. I was on speaker phone with the whole fam. It was pretty exciting. I knew that if anyone, Patty would be the most exciting. Joe said that she had started crying when she read the letter. Mikey saw her and went downstairs to tell Ed and Sara that “mom is really sad about something”. They ran upstairs to find that she was just really happy! I wish I could have seen their faces! My parents haven’t gotten theirs yet but they’ll probably get it today…

So my coworker Beth and I went Daycare hunting this past week. It looks like we should have done this months ago (maybe even six or eight months ago!) There are HUGE waiting lists for all the good daycare centers close to my work. One place that we signed up for advised us that there is officially a two-year waiting list! Beth and I both got on a waiting list for a really nice daycare center less than a half a mile from our job. They promised us each a spot for March of 2008! My baby will be approximately 9 months old, but hey, its something! I was also promised a spot for another day care center that I’m not quite as thrilled about but it too is less than a mile from my job. They promised me a spot for the first of August (of 2007 thankfully). At least I know that I will have somewhere for my baby to go when I have to go back to work.

Just a tip for all you ladies who might be THINKING about trying to get pregnant: Get on the list now! Most of the babies at the really nice day care centers were on the waiting list before they were even conceived. I never would have thought…

I wish we were back in Maine…I’m really going to miss the family support. But we do have a great church family and supportive friends at work so I think we’re going to do okay… (Not to mention Auntie Crystal who is already planning to do the majority of the babysitting!)

By “short”, I do not mean in stature, but rather, in breadth of life.  On Tuesday, October 31st, 2006, the Cheat Pumpkin was stolen from off our front porch.  Julie’s pumpkin was smashed to pieces, but apparently our pumpkins’ attackers took great admiration (or pity) on the Cheat pumpkin, and simply stole him away.

Two days prior to the thievery of the Cheat, there was thievery of other items of interest, from out of my car.  Such items included my cell phone, an mp3 player (which took me two weeks and four wal-marts to find!) a corduroy jacket and my guitar.  I usually do not post very personal things on here, but I will admit that the last week has been really hard in light of this, coupled with the Godspell performances, many late nights away from my wife, and mounting work both in school and at NPH.   I have been grieving, while at the same time needing to press on and not finding adequate time and space for grieving.  I have felt a real hurt that accompanied not simply the loss of some material possession (albeit my guitar was a distinctly sentimental possession, and I will always mourn the loss of my guitar which traveled with me all over ENC’s campus and the east coast) but just this idea that someone has taken something from me, with no regard for me.  It hurts because of the tremendous value and sensitivity that I have developed towards other people, their possessions, and their feelings.

I have been feeling a lot better about it today as I called up my insurance agent and I am hopeful that I may get some sort of reimbursement out of the deal.  Even if I don’t, just beginning this process is helping to bring some closure to the whole thing.

For a couple of days last week, I actually got to break out of my winter jacket.  But not for very long: Forecast has us IN THE 70′s for the next couple of days.  Once my winter jacket comes out of the closet, I am not very happy about putting it back in.   I probably won’t even need a sweater.  What is this world coming to.

Tomorrow: Work.  All Day.  Maybe write a paper.
Friday: LAN Party 3.0 @ Adam’s.
Saturday: Drum Lessons, Worship Team Practice, Game night with Steve.
Not Soon Enough: Thanksgiving.  Yorkshire Pudding & Brussel Sprouts. Oh yes.

So I went to my SECOND doctor’s appointment today. They said it was too soon to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Maybe next month!! I really want to wait until I hear the heartbeat before I spill the beans at my job. I’m hoping that by next month I will be able to tell my boss and the members of my unit at work. It’s getting pretty difficult to hide my “secret”.

Especially when I’m throwing up in my office. Yep, that’s right. I hit a new milestone today. I threw up my applesauce in my office at work. Luckily my unit members that sit right outside my office door had already left for the day. I got some air freshner to “hide the evidence” and the program manager asked me what had happened. I told her that I had some bad applesauce. She asked me if I was pregnant!! Geesh. Just one more month and I’ll be able to officially break the news.
Joe and I broke the news to the members of our small group and some other friends yesterday. We understand that this is still a little early but we can use all the prayers and support we can get. Even if I do end up having a misscarriage, I’ll be glad to have a shoulder to lean on during that time.

We also sent letters to the parents. Premature? Maybe, but we can’t tell our church family without telling our immediate families can we? We probably just suck at keeping secrets. God willing, everything will turn out okay.

The doctor told me that my bloodwork and everything is fine. We discovered that I am RH negative so that’s just another thing I get to worry about. That too will work itself out I’m sure. He also told me I have high blood pressure. What ME?!?!?!? What would ever bring that on I wonder? Geesh.

That’s about it for today. My next appointment isn’t until December 4, 2006. I’m sure that it will fly by because my parents and sisters are coming down for ten days toward the end of November for Thanksgiving. That will give me something to look forward to.

Oh, also, the Haney’s and my sister Crystal have helped to name the baby until it is born. It is officially “Cletus Pickle”. I kind of like it Maybe we’ll keep that name if it’s a boy…