<shudder>I'm using Internet Explorer on the Mac</shudder>

OK, enough of that nonsense. I TRIED to use IE on the Mac, but it didn't like blogger, so I started over. Now I am using Safari. Can you believe IE on the Mac - my powerhouse dual G5 desktop - came with IE 5.2? 5.2! I don't know if 5.2 even understands stylesheets. It certainly doesn't work with much. What's the point? Maybe it is to make Windows users feel at home.

Anyway, it is SO NICE to finally have my Mac back on the net. Remember my router failure? Well, apparently there was a dual failure involved, because not only did my router die, but my LinkSys 4-port switch stopped working, too. At first, I thought it was just not happy with the replacement router that I got. But it turns out, it just doesn't want to play. So...somehow, while I was reconfiguring the SMC7004BR broadband router to open up some ports, something bizarre happened when I told it to reboot. Perhaps there was some freak data packet that went over the network just at that moment that put the router and/or the switch into some weird mode that corrupted some internal EEPROM memory. Or perhaps there was some voltage or power spike that coincided at that moment that blew them both out.

Whatever it was that killed my router and switch that day left my Mac disconnected from the network, because I had to swap out the bad switch with another hub that I was using in the shop (so I could get my server back online), and that left me with no hub in the shop. But I went out and bought a new switch last night (a NetGear model) for $24. There is a mail-in rebate for $20, so it really will only cost $4 in the end. Not bad. But now my Mac is back!

My replacement router (an SMC7004ABR - which I assume is a step up from the SMC7004BR, although the firmware interface is hideous) is working fine so far. However, I am still looking for an SMC7004BR to replace it with - just because I am resistent to change and I want my old router back (though I am tempted to go wireless one of these days). I even found one on ebay...and bought it...for $2! But when it got here, it didn't work. It still doesn't. The LAN side is dead, even though all the lights indicate that it is working properly. I can even talk to it through the configuration COM port. My dead router can't even do that. So, now I have two dead SMC7004BR routers, and now I am feeling that maybe it is time to move on.

Speaking of moving on, I was perusing the Macromedia web site today and discovered their Flex Server product. This looks awesome. I imagine it will be used more for Intranet applications, but I hope one day it will begin to become more prevelant(sp?) on the Internet at large, with web hosting providers making it available on their servers. It seems like the next logical step in web application development, perhaps in conjunction with, or even completely overshadowing ajax stuff. It looks so easy! It is about time that browsers started adhering to suggested standards so we can start making use of all this "nifty" JavaScript, DHTML, ActionScript, XML/XSLT, CSS, XHTML, etc. technology.

Gads. To think this was all based on the http protocol.

Things are just now beginning to sort of hint at almost becoming something like what the "Web" should have been years ago. And now with Flex, it even kind of is starting to almost feel a tiny bit like some distant cousin of Delphi in a way. But for the web.

And I still can't get IE to cooperate. IE is probably the last browser anyone can expect to follow any standards (which is why so many JavaScript and CSS tricks have to be employed just to get simple things to work, like properly displaying a transparent PNG image), yet it is on more desktop computers than any other browser.

How infinitely sad.

Well, I continue to learn this crap, although I am trying to learn too much at once. There is too much to learn - too much one has to know - to do simple things on the web. My mind is so cluttered with all this new crap, that I don't know how to really do anything, yet. Nothing significant, anyway. I just spent 5 days getting a transparent PNG image to render properly in IE 6. IE 6!!! But it is my objective to get good at this stuff.

I know, I know - what about all those years and all the blog and journal entries and hate mail I never sent about how I loathe, despise and detest computers and how programming makes me so physically and mentally ill? Well...apparently, it is my life blood. It is what drives me. Nothing else has such an affect on me, as nothing else is quite as close to me. I don't have the quick mind and the sharp memory and the innovative spark that I used to have, but I cannot seem to break away from this or shake it out of my system. The best I can hope for from this day forward, is balance.

That reminds me; it is time for my walk.

The nature of this blog may change, somewhat, as I delve ever deeper into the pit of bits that define my life. Instead of the struggle to beat these things into submission, I may focus more on my struggle to find solutions to development issues and begin posting those solutions here. I already have a tutorial up on actionscript.org (I think it is #97 in the intermediate section about understanding movie clips). It's a start. My objective is to put my stuff out there to build an online reputation, portfolio, and a history that people can see. Preferrably, people who might want to give me money for what I do. ;)

Wish me luck! No, wait - don't do that. Luck is a bad thing. Instead, wish me good fortune!