Introducing IE9... or... We built a new browser that STILL doesn't support all industry standards

Throughout Microsoft Internet Explorer's existance... they've always tried to do things their way.  They're own HTML standards, they're own Javascript, they're own technologies.  Finally, the web community had enough of it... and its slow ass speed and Firefox and Chrome were born.   Both of these newer contenders fully support the web standards as set forth by the W3C.   Microsoft never has.  And IE8 was such a joke of a release that IE9 was already in development nearly immediately after Internet Explorer 8's launch.

IE9's goal was to has a perfect acid test.... which is a test the determines the rendering capabilities of the browser... and how well it's conforming to industry standards.  When IE8 launched it scored a dismal 25 out of 100.  Bare in mind that Chrome and Firefox's browsers score 100/100... and have for MONTHS before IE8's release.   Consequently, Microsoft built a browser that no one was willing to switch to from Chrome or Firefox... and immediately IE9 started development.  After MONTHS, they finally got the test over 50.  OOoh.  (I mean seriously... how difficult is it to take existing web standards to everyone uses and incorporate them into a browser's render capability?)

Now... IE9 Beta is available... acid test results?  95/100 and that's a gift... because the render is NOT smooth (as the test page says it should be)... AND still doesn't support basic CSS3/HTML5 standards... like Border Radius settings (take a look at Twitter.com and see how the corners render in Chrome/Firefox compared to IE9 or earlier).  Also, IE9 is still as cumbersome and slow as ever... though now they try to pawn that off on toolbars... by giving you a dialog box at the start that says "Look how long Google Toolbar took to load, would you like to display it."  It displayed over 2 seconds as the time delay for the toolbar... disable it and guess what... the browser doesn't start 2 seconds faster.   Imaging my surprise...

Sorry Microsoft. IE9 is an improvement... but when you're starting in the basement to begin with, it's hard NOT to have an improvement.  I'm still sticking with Chrome until you join the rest of the party in supporting all the internet standards.  As a web developer, you cause too much anguish in my live to be my main browser.

All Good Things...

...must come to an end.  That's how the saying goes anyway.  But in this case, it hasn't been "good" for a long time... and it finally ended today.

For those unaware, I had been following the story of Luke and Noah on the soap "As the World Turns" for some time now... on and off over the last 2 years actually.  And today was the final episode for the show.  It's being pulled from the lineup after being on the air continuously since 1956.

Much like every soap opera, the general storylines tended to be extreme with crazy twists and turns... but it really was the only daytime drama to depict a gay couple on television. (If anyone knows of another, I'm looking for a new vice to fill the gap.) ;)  But despite it's bizarre plots and unbelievable situations, I followed along with Luke in his coming out story... all the way up through his first kiss and first boyfriend.

Beyond this point, there be spoilers... be forewarned :)

30 Days of Me - Day 17: someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

I'd want to switch lives with myself... my younger self, that is.  So that I could tell him what a goober he was in High School... and get him to open up more, sooner in life.  Get him to take chances more.  Get him to take care of himself more.

But I think this day was meant to be someone else... so I'm gonna go with Neil Patrick Harris.  The guy has transcended the kid actor generation to serious adult actor... and stuck in a few musical theater credits in the middle.  He's super talented and just seems to have his life together. :)

30 Days of Me - Day 16: Another picture of yourself

After a long day at work...  still smiling... sort of...

Day 15 Followup

The next few songs the random system pumped out were REALLY off the deep end... so I thought I should post them too...  Enjoy!

1. "Price is Right" Theme Song (Remix) - (Independant Internet Artist)
2. "Prologue: Beauty and the Beast" by Alan Menken from Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Movie)
3. "Radical Notion" by Hans Zimmer from Inception (Music from the Motion Picture)
4. "Tune Up #1" by Jonathan Larson from Rent: Original Broadway Cast
5. "Spin" by Darran Hayes from Spin
6. "Iowa Stubborn" by Meredith Wilson from The Music Man: Original Broadway Cast
7. "It Takes A Woman" from Hello, Dolly! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
8. "Til I Hear You Sing" by Andrew Lloyd Webber from Phantom: Love Never Dies
9. "Giddy Up" by *NSYNC from *NSYNC
10. "Big Blue Dress" by Cranius from Big Blue Dress

30 Days of Me - Day 15: Put you ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play

And here we go...

1. "Getting the Axe" from The Italian Job (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2. "Slipping" by Neil Patrick Harris, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
3. "January 5, 1947 - Guests Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall" from The Jack Benny Show (Old-Time Radio)
4. "Rush Hour" from Speed [Original Score]
5. "Planning the Heist" from The Italian Job (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
6. "Rhythms of the Fall" from Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Opening Ceremonies Commemorative Album
7. "The Fugitive Theme" by Chuck Demanico/Wayne Shorter from The Fugitive (Original Motion Picture Score)
8. "Temple of Life" by Keiko Matsui from the album Wildflower
9. "Only Time" by Enya from the album A Day Without Rain
10. "Eve Retrieve" by Thomas Newman from the album WALL-E (Soundtrack)

Quite the eclectic bunch eh?

30 Days of Me - Day 14: A picture of you and your family

I don't have one... at least not a current/digital one...   I guess for having a photographer in the family, we don't really take that many pictures of ourselves... mostly because Mom doesn't like pictures of herself... and I sort of take after her. :(

New Tactics

A friend sent this to me... and while it seems like just another chain letter for forwarding, the message it contains could save someone from a lot of trouble... if not their life.  So I'm posting it here... and on my Facebook...

A Travel Tip For Your Safety...
On the way to Canton, a driver saw an infant car seat on the side of the road with a blanket draped over it.  They did not stop, even though they had all kinds of thoughts running through their head. But when they got to their destination, they called the Canton PD and they were going to check it out. This is what they were told...

    
Several things to be aware of .. gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person to "stop" their vehicle. There is a gang initiation reported by the local police department that gangs are placing a car seat by the road...with a fake baby in it...waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the baby. Note that the location of this car seat will usually be beside a wooded or grassy (field) area ...and the person - woman - will be dragged into the woods- beaten and raped- usually left for dead.

DO NOT STOP. INSTEAD DIAL 9-1-1 AND REPORT WHAT YOU SAW AND WHERE YOU SAW IT.

A Second Travel Tip For Your Safety...
If you are driving at night and have an egg thrown at your windshield, DO NOT operate the wiper and DO NOT spray any water/window washer fluid.  The eggs will become milky and block upwards of 90% of your vision through the windshield.  This would then force you to stop and once again become the victim of theives along the side of the road... or worse.  It's better to leave the eggs there until you either arrive at your destination, or if this is too far... the next well-lit, manned service station like a truck stop.  DO NOT STOP at anyplace where a human presence is not guaranteed to be there... such as a freeway rest stop or self-serve fuel pumps.

Please pass this on to your loved ones.  These new tactics are starting to get the criminals results and I would hate for anyone to fall victim to this new kind of attack.

30 Days of Me - Day 13: A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Well, in keeping with honesty on the blog, I can't do this one.  No one has hurt me recently because I haven't let anyone close TO hurt me.  The last time someone hurt me was back in 2004 (yeah, that long ago) and I haven't let anyone in since.

Stye in the Eye

I'm suffering with a nasty stye in my left eye... (as noted in a previous post tonight).

It's kinda icky looking... but I took a pic for a friend and thought I should post it for posterity.  It's after the jump (so the squeemish don't have to see it)

He Who Has Not Yet Been Named.... finally named...

Well I was going back and forth, trying to come up with a good name for the last week.  And I thought I had it... and nearly posted it about an hour ago... but on further reflection, I changed and settled on this new name.

As some of you may recall, since I began naming my vehicles (or rather since I adopted the name my friends gave my first vehicle and then decided to do the second on my own), I've had 3 criteria for the vehicle name... well ok, 5 really...

1. Name must be male (I'm gay after all.)
2. Name must be a boy band member's name.
3. Name must be a character on Queer as Folk (US).
4. Name must in some way relate to the color of the vehicle.
5. Name cannot be used more than once for my vehicles.

Fulfilling these was tricky this time.  And next time, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do cause really... there are only so many boy bands. LOL

So... without further ado... may I present...

DREW

Yep... he's Drew.  And here's how the name came about...

1. Well duh... Drew is a male name.
2. Drew Lachey is the cutest member of 98 Degrees. (hehe)
3. Drew was a pro football player on QAF that came out as gay and dated Emmitt for a while.
4. The D in Drew is also a D in Diamond... the shimmering metallic paint took me that direction.
5. It's not Justin or Brian... so I'm good!

Drew has a little of 300 miles on him already.  (He and I have been doing some male bonding.)  But he's getting a bit of a rest this week.  I carpool to work and it's my coworker's turn to drive. :)

30 Days of Me - Day 12: how you found out about blogger and why you have one

I found out about Blogger way back in 1999.  I was just starting to come out of my shell (and "come out" period) and started learning about various websites where people keep journals online.  I was a regular visitor to quite a few of them... and finally decided I wanted to try one on my own.  I've never been a REGULAR blogger until recently.  For about the first half a year I was consistent in doing it... but then gradually stopped posting so frequently.  Now I'm back at it again.

I have one because it helps me think things through.  And it helps me stay connect with some friends.  Plus i just like getting my thoughts out there.  On more than one occasion I've gone back through my own archives and walked down memory lane. :)

30 Days of Me - Day 11: another picture of you and your friends

Corey, Nick, Me, and Casey at Blizzcon 2009

30 Days of Me - Day 10: Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad

My song library is so ecclectic, this one is VERY hard to answer... compounded by the fact that musically tastes change almost as fast as the second hand sweeps around the clock face.

When I'm happy, I have a tendancy to listen to more upbeat stuff.  The current song stuck in my head is the original song written by Kurt Schneider and performed by his friend Sam Tsui called "Don't Want an Ending".  You can listen to it (along with a great professionally shot music video they did) on YouTube.

When sad, I have a tendancy to head to Billy Joel's "And So It Goes".

When bored, I tend to go on random sprees searching iTunes and YouTube for new stuff to listen to.

When hyped up, I usually am playing/dancing to something... or at the very least singing very loudly to whatever I'm playing.

When mad... well I don't usually get mad... or at least I don't listen to music when I get mad.

30 Days of Me - Day 9: Something youre proud of in the past few days

I'm proud of the fact that I'm FINALLY getting my finances a bit more under control.  A big step in that regard was the purchase of... well I'm not gonna tell you his name yet.  Keep reading tonight and you'll see it. :)

700 without realizing it

You know, I just checked... and the last post was post 700.  LOL  So much for celebrating that milestone.

I apologize for my lack of updates to the blog.  I've got this nasty stye in my left eye and I've been pretty much tired of staring at the computer screen by the end of the day.  But tonight... that ends.  I'm going to catch up if it kills me!   Or blinds me... or something.