Well I put a bunch of stuff into the database yesterday to show up on the main page and it looked like it worked, everything showed up like it should have. Well today I get on and everything I put up was gone… I have no idea what is going on, guess it is time to do a little sleuthing.

I have been working on some stuff here at work that involves connecting to a database and basic queries. Well, I decided I want to do some experimentation with MySQL and C# so I downloaded ByteFX and MySQLDriverCS to see which one I liked better. MySQLDriverCS seems a little easier to use although I am still confused as to how to execute a simple query and return the results in a datagrid. I am using C# so if anyone knows how to do this please e-mail me at ssegraves [AT] alltel.net.

I could not believe this. Very disturbing (in my opinion at least). I have also heard a rumor that the U.N. will soon be releasing a document that states that gays/lesbians are equal and this should be recognized under law. This document from the U.N. won’t make it mandatory but instead, a suggestion. I seriously have no idea what to think about all this… Almost makes me sick.

Cheah Chu Yeow has posted something interesting about the new Orkut service/community from Google. People are putting their ability to invite people up for sale on eBay. I don’t understand it, some people will do anything for a buck.

On the topic of Orkut I am mostly bored with it. I don’t see much potential for it just like I didn’t see any potential with Friendster. I’ll give it a few more weeks just to see what happens.

Certain individuals have been nagging me to get my class schedule updated, so, I updated it. You can look at my class list here.

Well Google has opened their own little community which operates a lot like Friendster except Google’s service is by invite only. What is the name of this new service you ask, Orkut. First off, what kind of crappy name is that? Orkut!? Sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings… Secondly, what is Google’s drive behind all of this? To me (and others) it seems that Google may be trying to capture more demographic information on their users, which is a little sly, but information is king nowadays. Everyone wants to know who their customer is so they can better suit them, the problem is that they aren’t better suiting anyone except themselves. 55% of all businesses lose their best customers within 5 yrs. of their first purchase and since it is more costly to get a new customer than it is to keep an exsisting one I don’t see why any company would allow this statistic to come up. Service people, that’s all it takes. Why are places like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom’s still in business? You can find nearly the same clothes at other places but both of those stores cater to a niche, the service niche. They are the most helpful people in the world and customers want that, over anything else.

In other news, I have my first exams coming up, stressful times, let me tell ya. Managerial Accounting will probably give me the most trouble as it is the most difficult to follow and the teacher is very cocky and likes to trick the class. So studying will be a priority over the next few weeks….

Well, the weather gets nice and then nasty, over and over. We are supposed to get more snow sometime this weekend and into next week… The only bad thing is that the air is so dry that your lips get chapped as soon as you step outside.

TGIF! I need to study, badly. I have three tests very soon and a programming assignment due Monday. Too much stuff in too little time… I really want to do some serious work on my truck and get it mint condition but $$$ is always a factor.

Simon Willison has done it again with another great article on More Usable Web Forms. There are some really good pointers and tricks to help a webmaster make his form easier for the user to understand and fill out. Simon is right about the <label> tag, I had no idea it even exsisted….

It is a windy, cold, miserable day up here…. The temp is 38 but with the wind blowing at 45mph it feels like 25. It’s horrible. Hopefully it will warm up but that possibility will probably not happen anytime this week as it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and Wednesday. But like I have always said, the weathermen are just guessing so who knows what we’ll get.

I will post my new class and work schedule as soon as I get a chance because I know oh so many of you are interested.

I really like the new ALA article on the Perfect 404. Everyone hates the “Page Not Found” errors and this article gives designers and web developers tips on how to make their sites’ 404 errors easier to get out of. This is definitely worth a read and should be taken into serious consideration when designing your next site. I am redoing all of my error pages, not just 404 error pages, so that they respond to user input just like in the article.

I have a whole lot of nothing to add… I didn’t do much of anything this weekend except homework and sitting around.

I should have a few reviews up at http://www.webdevreviews.com very soon as I am finished writing one and almost done with the second.

This week really shouldn’t have to start tomorrow. I am not prepared to go back into my programming class and have Java “evangilism” shoved down my throat again… But, I guess I’ll just have to take it.