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TopFri, 30 Apr 2004
Apr 30, 2004, 09:48
[home/webdesign/perl_scripts]
News Feed Changes
I added the cache feature to my news feed, so now you can set how often you want the script to check for new versions of the RSS feed. I’ll start selling this script on Intelliscript.net soon now.
~Jason
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Thu, 29 Apr 2004
Apr 29, 2004, 20:39
[home/curiosities]
GetAFreeLancer.com
I found a neat site yesterday, called GetAFreelancer.com. I signed up as a freelancer, and now receive numerous emails throughout the day asking me to bid on stuff I know how to do, like Perl, HTML, graphics, etc.
This is cool because one of that hardest things to do is to connect employers and employees together, and sites I’ve seen in the past have been bad at this. These jobs get lots of bids, and it can be really competitive. I am just hoping that if I’m good enough and get a few initial jobs and positive ratings that more will come in.
I’ve bid on a dozen or so in the last day, but only had one hit of interest. I’m waiting to see what comes of it, and I’ll be sure to let you know.
If you know anything about anything, you might want to consider signing up and get a bit of extra work on the site.
~Jason
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Apr 29, 2004, 17:19
[home/ServiceBuilder]
PowerPoint Almost Done
UPDATE
The instant PowerPoint feature is complete: click a button and all the slides are exported instantly to PowerPoint.
Thanks to Austin Fusilier who came to the church office yesterday and did data entry ‘til he was blue in the face. He also helped me troubleshoot the code here and there which was great. So did Mike Garden. Hey, everyone’s a programmer!! 
This is fun.
~Jason
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Wed, 28 Apr 2004
Apr 28, 2004, 10:07
[home/journal] ~Jason
Hating Theology
I keep forgetting about the InternetMonk. I’m going to have to put him in my blog list, because I always like his articles.
Let’s be really clear here. God is a lot more jazzed about a person who wants to avoid sin and love Him than he is about anyone’s expertise on historical and systematic theology. When we’ve reached the point of thinking we are doing God a service by discouraging personal piety because it doesn’t measure up to some theologian’s standards, we’re bad off.
Read the whole thing.
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Tue, 27 Apr 2004
Apr 27, 2004, 23:26
[home/ServiceBuilder]
PowerPoint Automatically!
I’m excited, because I just found a way to export from ServiceBuilder directly to PowerPoint! When I’m done, users can build a sevice, adding worship songs etc., and then click a ‘PowerPoint’ button to instantly create a presentation based on the songs!
Neat eh!
More later I hope
~Jason
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Apr 27, 2004, 14:05
[home/church_work]
New Synth- YEAH!
Lane has been reminding me that the church budget people approved a new synth purchase— so I don’t have to carry my keyboard back and forth every weekend. He’s been encouraging me to go buy one, and I just haven’t got off my butt.
Until now.
Today I went to Long and McQuade (Lakeshore Music) in Burlington and picked out a great Triton Extreme keyboard. This thing rocks! I’m going to have people lining up to play this puppy! Wow!
No doubt about it. This is the TRITON with attitude. The aggressive new TRITON Extreme is bursting at the seams with more of everything that has made the TRITON family the workstation of choice for tens of thousands of performers, producers and musicians the world over. Tricked out with vacuum tube processing, USB audio CD burning and data sharing, CompactFlash data storage, digital I/O and stuffed with sounds, it’s everything TRITON – taken to the Extreme.
And I bought a USB Midi connector finally, so I can get back in the music recording lifestyle.
But I can’t forget to get sleep at night. Oh for another two hours of afterwork time…
~Jason
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Mon, 26 Apr 2004
Apr 26, 2004, 23:14
[home/journal]
Doing Stuff
I’ve been in a slump lately— just can’t seem to get my head up.
NotationMachine has been really slow lately. I’m frustrated with the lack of time and sleep I’m getting, I want to put more time in projects and just can’t seem to find it. JasonSilver.com, InternetBusinessFollowup.com, ServiceBuilder.net, even my blogging. This may sound silly, but our stupid Canadian politicians bickering like children bothers me. I’m not getting as much sleep as I need: Seth has been particularly grumpy lately, gets up too early, my muscles ache, my house needs work, still holes in drywall, still need to paint everywhere, it seems like it never ends.
Agh.
But I get moments of extreme satisfaction when I’m with my family. Early this morning sitting around the kitchen munching raisin toast and sipping coffee, sitting on the front step as the morning sun greets the lazy fog. Running in circles around the house after supper— chasing Lucas and Seth in a silly racing game, then going for a walk to the park and watching my boys on the playground. Lounging on the couch with Joanne and watching “The Good Theif.”
Now that I think about it, there’s way more good than bad. I’ve got to just keep remembering how God has blessed us. Not getting enough sleep makes it easier for me to spiral.
On that note, I’m off to bed!! Good night.
~Jason
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Fri, 23 Apr 2004
Apr 23, 2004, 12:57
[home/politics]
Where is The Boundary?
Politics is such a weird thing for me.
On one hand, I feel pretty passionate about politics, and freedom— I’m never at a loss for opinion.
On the other hand, I feel a tension. Politics will never bring peace to the world. In fact, it’s a great way to guarantee conflict. Since when do people agree on politics?
I get emails across my desk all the time to take action on Bill C-250, or Marriage Ammendments, or rights of students in schools— lots of stuff. And they all call me to action; pick up the phone; if you don’t who will; stuff like that.
And I feel guilty about not doing it. I rationalize that this isn’t the real issue, that you can’t legislate morality, that taking a hard opinion on things just makes me look narrow-minded.
I don’t really like that response, but for now it’s slightly more comfortable than my lack of response.
~Jason
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Apr 23, 2004, 11:51
[home/journal]
Not Feeling Myself Lately
The last two or three weeks have been weird for me… I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have struggled with having motivation to blog (this being, of course, the least of my concerns— haha).
But I think things are turning around— I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
~Jason
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Thu, 15 Apr 2004
Apr 15, 2004, 21:32
[home/ServiceBuilder]
ServiceBuilder Database
It would be so cool if I could export PowerPoint slides from ServiceBuilder automatically. I spent some time Googling for a way to do this but came up flat.
As it is now, it’s fairly easy to copy the contents of the ‘song book’ export from ServiceBuilder into PowerPoint, and then set up the slides one slide at a time using the clipboard. That’s what we’ve been doing thus far, but one would think that Microsoft would build this feature into fraternal applications.
I even tried analyzing the clipboard contents to see what special characters might indicate slide breaks. Dead end there.
It would be nicer if it was all automatic; the verses could be divided every four lines, for example.
Speaking of ServiceBuilder, I tried lowering the price: my pastor, Lane, suggested that more churches could afford it if it was well under $100. So I gave it a shot and sent out an informational newsletter, but only sold two copies.
I’m not giving up on the idea of a lower price, but I’m curious why more people weren’t interested— at least to send me a note saying so.
Oh well, I do believe that sales are directly proportional to traffic. In other words, the more people that see the ad, that visit the site, the more copies sold.
So I’ve got to get some more traffic.
~Jason
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Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Apr 13, 2004, 09:23
[home/journal]
Things Change
I think one of the hardest aspects of my life is accepting that things change. Isn’t that weird?
Maybe not so weird to the casual observer. It’s common for people to hate change. Anyone who has tried to put drums in a church will know just how much people hate change.
But the weird thing is I’m the one most often pushing for change. I like to change things… I just don’t like having things changed. Oh boy. I think I feel a headache coming on.
~Jason
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Thu, 08 Apr 2004
Apr 08, 2004, 08:45
[home/journal]
Affiliate System Underway
Things are finally finished with my affiliate system rebuilding. I’m happy with the end product too, which is easy to use, flexible, and not nearly as unweildy as the old system.
If you want to make a few bucks, and might have musicians visit your site, sign up as an affiliate to NotationMachine.com. You’ll be able to track your earnings from a browser, as well as keep an eye on how many click throughs you’re getting. I’ll pay you when your account reaches $50 or twice a month (preferably via PayPal.com).
~Jason
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Tue, 06 Apr 2004
Apr 06, 2004, 23:22
[home/journal]
Verotel and PayPal Headaches
Verotel has finally decided to change their terms of service and I have 8 days to comply. I’ve been using Verotel to process credit card orders at NotationMachine.com, but that’s all about to end.
So I’ve been banging my head against a wall with PayPal IPN development. Not only do I have to process the order, register the username and password on my server, but I have to track commissions from sites which send me visitors.
It should be easier than this. I feel like one big knot of tension.
~Jason
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Fri, 02 Apr 2004
Apr 02, 2004, 14:10
[home/journal]
Programming Is Like Spell-Casting
I found this site today, which inspired me to describe this side of me.
I love programming. I love typing nonsense-like letters and numbers into a notepad, running it, and seeing it do all sorts of magic!
I’ve always loved it.
I started out with an Apple ][, back in 1983 or 1984. Soon after, my mom and dad bought me a Commodore64, and away I ran.
My first programs were security systems, role-playing games, maze games, and a friend database. I was even hired to write an inventory program for one company on a TRS80. The inventory was saved to a cassette tape in those days!! Everyone system used a different version of BASIC, and the whole thing was in its infancy.
What makes it so thrilling? It’s been hard to describe the “why” behind it, but I think it gives me an opportunity to create something new— to excercise my overused imagination.
I was the kid that drew maps of secret tunnels underground, or floor-plans of castles I’d someday build. I liked to assemble Lego blocks, or Mechanno into wild and crazy inventions. I experimented with electricity, I carved into wood— but none of these mediums were as pliable as I would have them.
I ran out of Legos before my structure was finished. My floor-plans never transpired into real houses. I didn’t have the resources I needed to dig underground tunnels. My mum and dad gave me a hard time for blowing so many fuses.
But with computers, there is no limit to what “could be.” I can design anything; run it, turn it, view it, play with it, mold it, use it— simply by tapping away on a keyboard. And no electric shocks.
~Jason
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Apr 02, 2004, 13:53
[home/journal]
Peter Jennings on Ecstacy
I saw a very, very suprising report from Peter Jennings last night on Ecstacy.
Here’s an interesting review: Ecstacy Rising
What I couldn’t get over was how deceived we’ve all been over the potential harmful effects of this drug. Apparently the U.S. government sponsored unscientific research and led “Just Say No” campaigns in an effort to exert control.
Federal drug enforcers figured that these then-not-illegal pills must be dangerous and issued a study that they would turn your brain to mush. Then the study was discovered to be embarrassingly sloppy and erroneous — scoring yet another credibility disaster for a zealous government.
But now this research isn’t holding up under scrutiny and many scientisits have little bad to say about this wonder drug.
With the potential anti-depressant power of this pill, I wonder why it wasn’t just made into a pharmaceutical? Then again, some say it causes depression since life seems to pale in comparison to its effects.
It is pretty interesting, take a look; and see the show if it comes on in your area.
~Jason
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