The Bangus Ultimatum

Spare time has been terribly sparse as of late. Summer classes have begun and I’m absorbed by the subject.

I’m trying to hit two birds with one stone. I’m learning Ruby on Rails (RoR) by using it to prototype future features of the UP Barops website. To the non-techies in the audience, Ruby is a great computer language. Rails is a framework built on Ruby that enables one to build dynamic, data-driven web sites with ease and joy.

I’m an old timer when it comes to web developement. I’ve seen the state of the craft move from plain html, to customized scripts, to overhyped web application frameworks. I still feel the pain of having to work with Broadvision, the joy of finding PHP. But this must be thus far the most fun I’ve had working on web backends. Part of me is tempted to quit this law thing and just go back to coding full time. It’s that good.

Throughout my RoR sessions, I kept getting a sense of deja vu. Looking at the views provided by the scaffolding mechanism, it finally hit me. The rapid prototyping, the default views, the request system: very much like working with Lotus Domino, an underrated app server, in my opinion. The architecture isn’t as neat as RoR, but the thought was there: NSF’s in the model layer, Agents as controllers, and views as, well, views.

My only problem is that although I can happily build away with a local rails install (thanks to Instantrails), I haven’t encountered a local hosting provider that supports it. Ploghost probably might, but only once they know it enough to meet the support requirements (smart). I hope they can pull it off. Sooner than later, so we can host the UP Barops Site there. Ploghost, by the way, are the folks who host the iBlog website - for free for almost a year now. Part of my job is to maintain this site, and Ploghost has been durn great to work with. The most fun I’ve had working with a host (and I’ve been through the UUNET days). It’ll be way greater, of course, if they roll out Rails

I should be cutting my hair, which hasn’t seen scissors since December. The professors are not going to like this at all, and if I do get into OLA next semester, chances are the first thing my Supervising Lawyer will tell me before a hearing is to get a haircut. And I probably will comply: I wouldn’t want a client’s case being jeopardized because a judge thinks I’m a punk.
For now, I’d like to imagine that it’s part of my tonglen practice. Letting go, letting grow. That, and being able to do a hair-flip.

religion field says ‘jedi’

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

I’ve always wondered what the Religion field was doing in the registration form of a public university. I mean, what kind of data slicing would they do to make this field relevant? What do they need it for?

I was hoping to provoke a reaction from the administrative checkers when I put “Jedi” in my Form 5. “Yes ma’am, I believe in an energy field that surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we - not this crude matter. And oh - fear is the path to the dark side…”

Sadly, they didn’t even notice. Or maybe that’s what they want me to think, so that I wouldn’t mess with their nefarious data-mining schemes.

uplb’s sunken garden

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

The flickr account has pictures from the Laguna trip.

It felt great to be near Makiling again. Floating with my head above the water, looking at brighter stars. No computers, no connectivity. But I was still thinking about code (both legal and electronic). The scaffolding for future projects was churning churning churning, now that i don’t have to worry about too many law classes.

I was thinking of that other life, in a universe parallel to this one. Perhaps I’m still eating meat there. Not meditating. But wonderfully fallen.

Right now I’m just feeling utterly ragged. Spent the last two days prepping and then tech-monkeying for iBlog 2. Then I spent most of last night cramming a presentation for this morning. And in the afternoon, summer class enrollment popped up. After months of petitioning and begging and coaxing, I and my blockmates have gained our first victory.

I’m still feeling ragged. And still a little lost and wounded. There are a thousand things to do, so many other threads to pull. From here I’m not sure if I can do it all.
But I’ve given away roses. I’ve made smiles possible. I’ve eased the suffering of others, if only a little. Small coins of merit for next lives.

So today I ended up listening to my sister’s Hale-infested playlist. It’s an indication that I might just be dangerously overscraping the bottom of the barrel. The problem with me is that although I’m willing to listen to new music (Lithuanian pop jazz? Sure!) I can’t be bothered to look for them myself. So unless someone actually gives me a title or the name of an artist - I’m stuck.

Last years’s musical discoveries included Postal Service, Arcade Fire, and Click 5. I’m willing to keep an open mind (even to Hale). Got any recommendations?

Note: I do use “that really bad thing”. I also fanatically buy all the albums of the artists I do like (and go to their concerts, and perform blood oaths of undying loyalty). So I guess things do balance out.

me with the lawyerly look

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

I’m posting this from my flickr account. What a great thing open Web API’s are.

The picture was taken from last Friday. I was fortunate to be a friend’s date to the Deltan Ball.

Not too shabby, eh?