… you kill me…

I would like to preface this post by saying that I absolutely LOVE my new job. I have learned more in the past few weeks regarding development than I think I did at my last job in a whole year.

The difference now, though, is dealing with small clients that have somewhat strange requests from time to time.

Case in point (sent in by a male, nonetheless):

Question.

One of my FAVORITE hobbies at work is checking on ticket availability at ticketmaster.com

However, this morning when I was trying like a mad man to get the BEST MADONNA tickets I possibly could, I think I “tried” too many times, and it seems ticketmaster blocked our IP address!

This has happened in the past, but only for like ten to fifteen minutes at a time. I have been unable to log in to ticketmaster for 4 hours and now I’m concerned. Especially because tomorrow morning, WHILE I HAVE TO BE HERE, more tickets are going on sale at 9am.

Some people have mentioned a program that resets your IP address for you, but I’m thinking that doesn’t sound like an option.

Any ideas on what I can do to sneak back on to ticketmaster.com

My 1st response:

Is this for real? We have help him get Madonna tickets??!?!?!

Then I sucked it up and actually responded:

A) I do not know if this substantiated. How would we know if Ticketmaster “temporarily blocks an IP address”? All I could really find on this topic is this article from Slashdot:

http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/10/07/2332237.shtml

B) If you were going to try and sneak back in, you would have to make the site think that you had a different IP. The only way that I know of to do that is to use a proxy. There are MANY ways to do this and they are as simple as a google search away. Here are some that might work:

1. FoxyProxy – http://foxyproxy.mozdev.org/ – Complete details for download setup on this site. This is a plug in for Firefox.
2. Proxy Changer – http://www.proxychanger.com/ – If you use IE…
3. Listing of available proxy servers: http://www.publicproxyservers.com/

I am not sure if this will work, however as I found this on Ticketmaster’s site:

Proxy Servers

Some online service providers, such as AOL or Prodigy, use a device called a proxy server. Proxy servers save copies of sites on their server rather than connecting users to the Internet or the specific site requested. In most cases this works fine.

Using a proxy server might prevent you from purchasing tickets because you need to access our ticketing system directly. If you do not know if you are accessing the Internet through using a proxy server, contact your Internet service provider.

Access Ticketmaster.com through a direct Internet connection and not through any service using proxy servers.

My recommendation would to calm down and try less. I don’t think we should be helping clients “sneak” back into web sites after they had been blocked due to what the site has deemed to be “malicious” or “questionable” use.

Pretty funny IMO. I should start a web site or something… like the Chronicles of George (go here if you have never been, it’s hilarious).

I thought I would go in reverse order with this one. Read the article first, then see comments below:

May 12, 2008
In The World And In Ourselves
Feeling Fed Up With Humanity

From time to time, we may all feel fed up with humanity, whether it’s from learning about what’s going on around the world, or what’s going on next door. There are always situations that leave us feeling as if people are simply not capable of behaving in a way that is coming from a place of awareness. Often it seems as if people are actually geared to handle things in the worst possible way, repeatedly. At the same time, none of us wants to linger in a judgmental mood about our own species. As a result, we might tend to repress the feelings coming up as we take in the news from the world and the neighborhood.

It is natural to feel let down and disappointed when we see our fellow humans behaving in ways that are greedy, selfish, violent, or uncaring, but there are also ways to process that disappointment without sinking into despondency. As with any emotional response, we honor our feelings by feeling them fully, without judging or acting on them. Once we’ve done that—and we may need to do it every day, as part of our daily self-care—we can begin to consider ways that we might help the situation in which humanity finds itself.

As always, we start with ourselves, utilizing our awareness of the failings of others to renew our own commitment to be more conscious human beings. We are all capable of the best and the worst that humanity has to offer, and remembering this keeps us in check, as well as allowing us to find compassion for others. We may find ourselves feeling compelled to serve people who are suffering injustices at the hands of other people, or we may begin to speak out when we see something that we don’t think is right. Whatever the case, the only thing we can do is pledge to serve the best, rather than the worst, of what humanity has to offer, both in the world, and in ourselves.

If you have read my postings in the past, you already know how I feel about this topic. I am, almost on a daily basis, disappointed, let down, disgusted with how people treat each other. Whether its across the globe or in my neighborhood, I am saddened to see the lengths that people will go to to hurt someone else.

I think a really big part of all of this is the "me" aspect of today’s society. It seems that more and more people don’t care about anyone other than themselves. As long as they are getting what they want, all is good in the world. This mentality makes me sick. There is a difference between looking out for yourself to take care of yourself versus stepping on whoever you need to get what YOU want.

Anyway…

I take this posting very much to heart as I always… ALWAYS try to consider what other people are feeling throughout daily life. "Will this action hurt someone?" … "Will this action make someone happy?"…. "Will this action make me happy without hurting someone else?"… these are all questions that I ask myself on a daily basis. Perhaps if people as a whole briefly considered these questions, even if it’s only for a tiny amount of time during the day, the world would be a much better place.

… but then again… that probably won’t happen. Yeah… we are still screwed.

Image #1: A book that I would LOVE to own.
Image #2: Hilarious comment re: book.

So, if you know me, or have spoken to me lately, you probably know that I am on this web design kick. Frankly, I suck really bad at it and am trying to get better as the days go on. I just thought this was kind of funny and wanted to share. I did a search on Google for "designing websites for coders". One of the articles I am reading has this as it’s opening paragraph… very "me":

If you’re one of the people who spend most of their reading time skimming through Client and Server Side Coding articles, then you probably should read this article. Yes, you: the one with your code open full-screen in the other monitor. I’m a designer and I work at a hosting/ISP company in a room with four very talented Web programmers. Together, they can develop just about any kind of application, but not one of them could develop a harmonious color scheme if his life depended on it.

Again… very "me"….

…could be you…

So… as this title states, I am feeling A LOT better than I did last week. I was able to hit kung fu on 4 days this week too which makes me feel accomplished:

Monday – Golden Leopard / Snake followed by my class. Only one person showed up so I spent 1/2 of it teaching him and 1/2 of it finishing Kwon Dao (thanks Holly!).

Tuesday – Skip, too much work.

Wednesday Morning – Reviewed material.

Thursday – Reviewed ALL brown belt material with Sifu Matt.

Friday Morning – Conditioning w Sifu Bren.

I have also paid very close attention to eating better this week as far as much less processed items. I think that last weeks sluggishness was partly attributed to what I was eating and most likely not getting enough sleep.

At any rate, I have a lot of crap to do today, so I had better get back to it. However, before I go, one more bit of good news. Last night, Victoria interviewed for and got a new job. This place is right around the block from her house and is something that she is looking forward to doing. I am VERY happy for her. Way to go!! (I knew you were going to get it)

Have a great weekend!

This blog won’t be long. I have to get back to work, but wanted to at least do a quick recap.

Needless to say, I ended the week well, weak. Last week was rough for some reason. I was more tired that normal. Anyway… Here’s the quick recap:

Friday: Victoria came over after work, we ate dinner, hung out, then went to see Ironman. It was good. I liked it.

Saturday: I pretty much lounged around during the day. When Victoria got home from class, we went down to the Pecan St. festival. Here are some pics:

Keepin’ the hippies going in Austin…

Mustang Sally… this one’s for you, Mom…

… after drinking a Strawberry Daq… cute red tongue!

Waiting for my not so awesome food…

Me, still waiting for my not so awesome food…

The not so awesome food…

Victoria’s new earrings! Very cool…

Saturday night, we hung out with Nik, Sarah, and Dave. Drank some beer, played some rock band… it was fun.

Sunday, we basically hung around for most of the day, but then around 4pm left to go see a play called "Speed the Plow". One of Victoria’s friends from work was in it and was actually really good. It was about 1h30m long and only had 3 actors. I was pretty impressed with it.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing in preparation for this busy week to come.

K… back to work… bye for now!