Geek Librarian stuff...

Part of my work at the library has been transitioning some technology we use for inventory and tracking material from Microsoft Access to an open-source application stack. I have been using Turbogears, an Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework based on a collection of Python web technologies including Cherrypy (which I have used before). The database layer currently uses SQLObject and SQLite. For much of the applications I have developed using Turbogears, I have used straight SQL for report queries because of the limitations (most likely my ignorance) of using an object layer over a relational databases.

My current development project is to create a dynamic web application for presenting a library's electronic resources. Using the MODS standard as a base data model, the application idea is to present multiple ways for users to access our electronic resources.
Here are some initial requirements:

• Browsing of resources by title, subject, and usage pattern (most popular, most used, etc.)
• MODS XML presentation
• Replace web sites and database pages
• Automatically route users to authentication pages for restricted electronic resources if outside IP ranges for the resource
• Track usage of resources from multiple sources including the database publisher
• Access electronic content from both remote and local hosting options
  

I have started the documentation for this application along with an alpha application. Beside coding of this application, I am working with the college's IT department to figure out a way to host this and the internal applications I have developed.

I'm working on some initial documentation that I'll be hosting through Google Docs. I'll post links to these documents when I have them.

Orange today...

Today is a Halloween of course. The sky is blue and chilly this morning. I should have enough candy for any trick-or-treaters who come by this evening. I remember in years past living at home with Mom and Dad.

On Halloween we would turn off all of the lights in the front area of whatever house we were renting at the time. We always seemed to have two or three kids stop by and Dad would usually tell them we didn't celebrate the holiday and we didn't have any candy. I have never gone trick-or-treating (is that really a verb?) so I don't have a real emotional connection to the holiday. I don't have a costume or anything today but I am wearing my orange Illinois sweatshirt to show some solidarity with my friends, colleagues, and patrons at the library

Snow, movies, and half a life...

Waking up this past Saturday and Sunday mornings, snow and cold quietly greeted me before eight. I usually sleep in on my days off, but I woke up early and could not fall back asleep. During the week-days, my neighbor starts his older Jeep Cherokee before 6:45 a.m., so I have been getting up early.

This past weekend, I finished Half-Life 2. I confess I had to use a cheat guide to avoid becoming stuck in a number of places. As a FPS, I enjoyed the game but I did find it too linear, either you followed a certain game path or you got stuck and could not continue. My Gateway laptop ran into some rendering problems during the final sequence of the game. I have it set-up as a dual-boot Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux operating system.

Also this weekend, I rented from McDonald's RedBox kiosk (Gunnison is so small that for the price and availability, the DVD rentals are the best deal) Catch & Release, Knocked Up, and Renaissance. Catch & Release was recognizable because it was set in Boulder with Jennifer Gardner and Kevin Smith but played as a forgettable light romantic comedy. Knocked Up was the better movie, I did laugh and Judd Apatow's comedy wasn't scared to shock. Renaissance was an animated black-and-white film set in a future Paris. A typical bleak future with massive corporate overlords trying to reach immortality with the hero solving these problems with primitive violence.

The last fishing trip for the season...

My father and brother Jarrett came up from Grand Junction to visit me this weekend. They came in Friday night. Saturday morning we drove up to Needlecreek Resivor, the lake still filled with moss and we couldn't see any fish. In the afternoon, we went fishing at the mouth of the Gunnison river as it empties into Blue Mesa. We all caught and released a number of four-six inche rainbow trout. I finally caught an 13-14th inch brown trout. A couple of minutes later, Jarrett pulled in the biggest lake trout I have seen, an 18-inch. Dad caught a 13-inch rainbow trout a few minutes after that.

After the weather started turning ugly (the temparture dropped and the wind started howling through the canyons), we packed up my Trooper, and left for Gunnison. We ate good baked trout that night, along with potatoes and corn.

Dad, Jarrett, and I had the breakfest buffet at the Gunnysack on Sunday morning before they left. Going there for breakfest after a weekend of fishing has become somewhat of a tradition. This is Dad's forth fishing trip and it does get me out of my cabin and into the Gunnison area. I'll be seeing everyone again during Thanksgiving. With Mom still being a devote Jehovah Witness, I won't worry about seeing her during the holiday.

Half-Life 2...

This past weekend, I purchased Half-Life 2 for $20. I finally got to play off-line last night. The graphics and play are good, definitely living up to the hype (I know, I know, I am behind in my game playing, Half-Life 2: Portal is coming out soon)

The last FPS I played was Call of Duty, and like that game, after playing Half-Life for most of the evening, I have a cross-hair after-image when I closed my eyes and when I went to sleep. Tonight is the Thursday night television juggernaut and I also have to pick up my cabin as my father and brother are coming to visit. One last fishing expedition for this year.

Finished Crooked Little Vein...

Last night I finished reading Warren Ellis's Crooked Little Vein. I laughed at some parts, my expectations were met. The book's graphic sexuality and fetish descriptions were extreme but I do follow Ellis's blog and he links to some of these same subcultures. Trix, the main female character, defends these lifestyles, as she is a participant and not just an observing graduate student. Her argument (echoed by other characters in the novel) that the difference between "mainstream" and "alternative" is a matter of degree with the increased exposure of all types of sexuality and human culture expressed through social networking webs and accessible through Internet search engines.

Last night's My Name is Earl, with its homosexual love story between the two leaders of two rival prison gangs, was personally shocking for its explicit and positive portrayal of public displays of affection. I looked away from some of these scenes, but the story was off-beat enough that at the end, I hope that these two characters will show up in later episodes.

Listening to Killing Joke for the first time

http://www.killingjoke.com/killingjoke_live.html