The Honey House Buzz - Family

Goodby CFUnited, Perhaps next year

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:36:00 -0600

I have planned unsuccessfully to get to CFUnited. But the for last 6+ years, other obligations have interfered for that week..... So, I get my oxes out of the ditch (which included a funeral, a few surgeries to repair cycling injuries, mom-in-law getting 2 hip replacements...you get the picture) to clear July-August 2011 to attend Next Year -- 2011... (sigh) My friend Gene Godsey broke that news to me, no next year.... (sigh). So Here's My VOTE: Have it somewhere, somehow, someway and Honey House Web Designs WILL be there! PLease, please (please)....

Christmas isn't Christmas without the ... Flu Pneumonia???

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:33:00 -0600

Updated: 12/28/2008: not the flu, pnuemonia. His Christmas has officially been labeled 'the pits' :( Well, we shopped and wrapped. Baked and delivered. Prepared for the first family gift exchange.... all was good. Except.... one of the kids became especially surly when cleaning house in preparation for the party yesterday. A teenager grumpy on Christmas Eve? Go figure. Yep, within hours of the party, one of my boys came down with the flu. Fever, aches, headache. And Santa'S gifts of rifle, 4x4 Rukik's cube (he's a speed-cuber), CDs, etc. have gone almost untouched as he lays curled up on the couch. Such a sad day to be sick :(. Hope everyone else we know has a GREAT and HEALTHY season. No IMing zeBug (my son) so you don't catch his bug (wink).

Where is Santa?

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:22:00 -0600

Gone are the days of having to lay awake at night straining to hear jingles from reindeer. Now You can see exactly where Santa is... thanks to the US Government's Norad (North American Radar Aerospace Defense) system. See where Santa is So, when asked why the US government, would bother spending resources and dollars to keep track of Santa..... Rocket Scientist (yes, really) hubby David answered my kids: "The United States tracks EVERYTHING that comes into American Airspace. Santa doesn't get excluded. And, since it is in our best interest to know when he'll be here, we ought to track him worldwide".... So, does this mean, that if Santa doesn't deliver the goods, we get to shoot him down?

Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah to All

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:49:00 -0600

Well, I'm done... shopping, baking, trimming. And I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah to all my clients, friends, and colleagues. Regardless of whether you are about to celebrate Christmas as we are here, or have already started in the Hannukah festivities, this is a time to remember we are truly blessed. Blessed with family, even the nutty ones. Blessed with friends, even the eccentric ones. Blessed with health, even with middle age creaks. Blessed with clients and colleages, both near and far. Honey House Web Designs, (and the Burke Family) wish all a very very Happy Holiday season. Go Hug your favorite person, and then grab the last slice of rum cake (wink)

CF Christmas Suggestions

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:03:00 -0600

Every year, My mom-in-law wants to buy me a magazine subscription, or goodie for my job. Any suggestions for a gift for her to order related to Tech goodies, or a ColdFusion Industry object? I have looked CFDJ magazines, which are ok from a technical standpoint (or were 2+years ago when I last looked at them), but I am not thrilled with their site, Adobe politics, and other nefarious behavior from Sys-con. So, instead of the annual subscription to 'Good Housekeeping', I am asking if anyone has a suggestion for another technical site, magazine, subscription, etc that may be an idea to give my m-i-l.

EEK - Dixiegal's MySpace.... Not me!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:11:00 -0600

I often use 'Dixiegal' as my name in newsgroups... Adobe, Ray Camden's, Project Seven, etc. I have used it for years. I just previewed Myspace and came up with DixieGal's page. Nope, nada, nine... not me. First off, I am not at all into the southern Civil War-ish, supremist, rebellish stuff shown on the Myspace page... I have friends and family of a variety of colors and flavors. So just who AM I? I am a younger mom with a rocket scientist husband, two teenagers, currently 2 turtles (looking to add back up to 4), and 2 cats. I have a twin sister who looks and behaves nothing like me. I live in South Carolina and like to ride bicycles when it's not sweltering or winds are lower than 20 mph. We do have a family home we call the "Honey House" in the N. Georgia Mountains. You can read about the story here: Why the Name I have been working with ColdFusion since version 4, PHP before that, and the rest of the Adobe products for 5 years. I have been president of HHWD for 11 years. I am not as old as the MySpace DixieGal, and I do not live in Florida.... Maybe it's time for a name change in the technical newsgroups... For me, 'Dixie' only meant that I don't know how to drive in snow, and my tea is always sweetened. Suggestions are welcome.

Beware Case-It Products...Flimsy construction, poor customer service

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:32:00 -0600

School is just around the corner here in South Carolina, and back-to-school gear is filling up the shelves. Last year, I purchased 2 of the new Case-it deluxe messenger bags for my boys (then middle schoolers). The bags were a cool over the shoulder style with lots of pockets and cinches. And, at over $35 each, they were no bargain. The first bag, carried by my younger son began to fray and rip where the strap attached to the bag within the first week of school. Nope, the bag wasn't overloaded. Nope that kid wasn't slinging it around. It was just a poor construction at a critical joint. Hmmmmm, ok... so we got a defective bag. But, when the second bag frayed and ripped within 10 days later, we had an issue. Both bags, unusable and the school term was barely 2 weeks underway. Unacceptable; Even the flimsy Wal-Mart products hold up longer. Returning the bags to the store was unsuccessful. The store didn't care the bags were damaged and were not interested in receiving seasonal products back. We reverted to LLBean for our messenger bags. With a 'foreever' guarantee... the replacements were well worth the extra $10 per bag. I did write the President of Case-it, and shipped the defective bags back to him. Enclosed was a letter of disappointment regarding the quality of the bags with encouragement to re-evaluate construction at the weak points. And what did he write back? Nothing. We received no nice Customer Service letter, no offer to replace the bags, not even an acknowledgment of the package (other than our UPS receipt). Five months later, the company remains completely unresponsive to our package. Disappointing. and Shameful.. .TSk TSk, in this very competitive market today, even an email would have demonstrated a responsive customer service ideology. Will I purchase Case-it again? Probably not, and you should be forewarned as well.

Rating Your Site

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:03:00 -0600

Having Finished several recent projects ranging from relationship to politics to retail sales, I found the broad spectrum of categories warranted a review of my standard project meta tags. HHWD has always used the 'rating' meta tag 'Safe for Kids' in keeping with our policy of family friendly sites. But.. after a number of years, just WHAT is the way the Internet rates websites? One resource is the Family Online Safety Institute. It provides resources for families, parents, and web designers for rating websites and content. It brings to attention a variety of risk factors for websites, sex, violence, dangerous behaviors and such. The site has the ability to rate your web project and provides links/images/ratings for it. As a developer, I found it quite interesting to read through the site and rank a few projects. As a mom, even of teens, I was pleased to see an organization as much a 'wet-blanket' as I am :)

Lost Love

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:50:00 -0600

This morning, I opened a manilla envelope that was laying on the floor outside my office. Not unusual really, as my office is 4 feet wide, 10 feet long and smaller than my bedroom closet. So... things have a way of getting put on the floor outside the door. This envelope wasn't mine, and I don't know how it got there. But inside was a note written to 'Mommy' -- and I am not the mommy. My family addresses my notes to 'Momy'.The note was a simple not of encouragement for how hard thie "Mommy" had worked and that the famile loved her. It was written in a young child's hand and contained a child's scrbble of art at the bottom. What was interesting, was that it was signed by all the members of the family, all children, except for the 'Daddy' signature. Sarah, Caid, Jack, Gracie, and Daddy sent a love note to Mommy. And I have no clue as to WHO this family is. I do not know any Gracies or Jacks or Caids. Love sent, but never received: Lost Love. Sad and poignant, and a mystery. Still I hated to throw it away. Is it the thought that counts when the message never gets received?

Support Savannah River Ecology Lab

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:43:00 -0600

The Savannah River Ecology Lab, here in Aiken, SC is a very cool place. Being near and working with the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, a 300 mile goverment reserve, the land is protected from development and mostly wilderness. This has allows SREL to be involved in a number of projects to rebuild some dwindling species numbers and show local students how we can work with our environment and our nation while maintaining a balance between the two. Support under University of Georgia, and the DOE, SREL is in trouble. Budget cuts at both levels is forcing the lab to close. This is terrible. When this happens, ongoing research involving toxicology of wildlife, reptile and amphibian studies, and gopher tortoise repatriation. What a shame to lose this facility and it's work. While I am not a 'tree-hugging environmentalist' as I have often heard folks who endear themselves to the environment called. I am a sucker for critters. As the mother of boys, our family houses 3 (down from 4) turtles/tortoises, 6 hermit crabs, and 2 beastly 3 month old kittens. In the course of the past few years, we have had caught and released wild mud turtles, snapping turtles, humongous bullfrogs, toads of ghastly proportions, lizards, even small snakes. My view: as long as it doesn't have 8 legs and creep across the floor... I'm cool. SREL helped my family care for our sulcata while on vacation many times. When 'Herbie' died after a prolonged mysterious illness, SREL sought to determine what had happened. Their expertise in other tortoises of the area was readily used in diagnosing and determining the problem with ours. It was a blessing to know that people nearby cared about our tortoise and wanted to help. Why not support SREL? To learn more about the goings on there and the work that I believe to be vital to our local and national interests, you can learn more and even donate if led, at http://www.uga.edu/srel/.

Saying Goodbye

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:29:00 -0600

After 16 1/2 years of faithful companionship, our cat, Pinatubo (aka 'Tubers', 'Fathead', 'Kitty') failed to come up for breakfast two Sundays ago. We have looked for him in bushes, under the house, in gutters and sewers, in the golf course gully near our home. We dug through the neighbor's bushes at the risk of being arrested as peeping toms. We called him and called him, looking in all his favorite hangouts, only to stand wishful and lonely. It's hard to let go of a pet. Especially one that has been a part of my family longer than my kids have been alive. Outside of all the turtles, hermit crabs, and the occasional frog or lizard, Tubers is the only companion pet they have ever known. He was there when they were born. He followed them when they learned to walk. He wandered around the yard with them as they drove their trucks and chased them down the driveway as they rode their bicycles. Even after two weeks, I find myself still sitting in my office, glancing out the window, hoping that I'll see the ole Fathead walking up the drive complaining that I haven't fed him.

Adobe Max vs. Disney

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 22:22:00 -0600

Here I sit, with a single pot of money, and time, and two trips I want to take in September... Adobe Max in Chicago, where deer and elk roam the shores of Lake Michigan or Disney World in Orlando, where the Mouse reigns supreme. Both will cost about the same. Both will feature terrific dining and terrific times. One will include my family. One will mean sharing a hotel room and shower. One will mean getting to stand under the hot water as long as I like without interruption.... Which would you choose?