16.7.09

here's to the

Lots of smaller ideas today. :)

First, I finished what I was working on for the last couple of days, specifically, getting references working in conversations. Basically, if you make a post in a conversation on our site, the system will scan your post for possible references and suggest them to you. This is totally up to you, so you can select which ones you want.... which is great, except for one thing: the system can pass the reference (which has more fields than just "text") to the website, but the website can only pass back strings. It passes them back in a standard data communication object called a hash map, which works by specifying every value as a key-value pair; you type in the key, you get the value back. The solution we chose was to put the "text" of the reference (for example, "Timothy Pawelenty") in the value, and make the key into a standard pattern.

Parsing this pattern took several days to code. And now its done. And works. Finally. I spent all day on the test alone. Or rather, I spent all day fixing the bugs that the test helped jiggle out of the framework.

Meat Tape 2 is growing on me. It's most definitely not Meat Tape, but it doesn't really have to be... I'm unsure what to think of it, but individual portions of it are growing on me. It's much less of a local roundup and much more of a "P.O.S Presents" type thing. Still good, just different.

Speaking of growing on me, I'm definitely starting to dig the Bruce feel of The Gaslight Anthem's second LP, The '59 Sound. Worth a listen if you want "if Bruce Springsteen grew up listening to punk." Solid writing, solid guitar lines, solid percussion. I think one of my favorite moment on the album is at 0:48 on the title track -- the 'chuckas' are absolutely wonderful.

Oh hey, it's James, the guy I used to work with at Borders. Nice.

Would anyone be interested in doing a one-shot Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition game this summer? I miss dm-ing, and I sort of want an excuse to learn the system. Let me know.