digitalBush

I just released version 1.1.2 of my Masked Input Plugin for jQuery. Felix Geisendörfer helped me mash out a few things with this release. He fixed the bug for Mac/Firefox with the backspace key and got me to open up the caret positioning functions. Thanks Felix!

Here are the changes for this release

• Fixed a bug in Mac Firefox with backspacing.
• Fixed a bug where delete at end of mask produced an extra placeholder character.
• Exposed the caret positioning and retrieval methods as a jQuery function extension. You can now call $().caret() to get a caret position and $().caret(start [,end]) to set a caret position.

The world as we know it is coming to an end.  Apparently Massachusetts thinks it should be illegal to spank your children.  This is what is freaking wrong with our country!  I see kids enough running around back talking their parents and raising enough hell as it is.  You want to know why they do that?  It's because they aren't scared.  If you take away a parent's right to whoop the living hell out of their children, then you take away their ability to scare their kids. 

I can't recall ever getting spanked personally.  I'm sure I was probably smacked a few times just to remind me who was the boss.  Here's what I do remember though; I remember my parents telling me that they would have no problems with doing so and hearing the stories from my friends of their father's belts.  That was enough to keep me straight.  It was FEAR that made me understand my parent's authority when I was growing up.  That's what kept me out of trouble and made me the person I am today.

Please don't let our lawmakers pass laws that encourage our youth to be a bunch of spoiled sissies.  If kids grow up without a backbone, then they'll act the same way as adults.  It can't be pleasant to see a 50 year old man throw a temper tantrum.  Just think about that.

Edit: Wow, I'm amazed at how much attention this post managed to bring. To read more of my thoughts on this, please read my follow up.

I have a tendency to hold on to anything and everything that seems remotely important.  This affliction plagues both my digital and analog lives.  I'm not sure why, but I just have this fear that someday at some point in time I might need that something and I won't have it.  I've yet to come up with a solution for the digital me, but for the analog me I've found some relief.  I just spent several hours today cleaning up some piles and it feels great.  If you want to feel great too, de-clutter something that seems messy.  If you are worried about getting rid of important documents, then check out this guide from bankrate.com.  That should get you going.

It's always good to take some time to break your normal routine.  This holiday was no exception for me.  I had a good time being lazy for a few days. 

For Thanksgiving, the family came to our house as we've done for the past several years. We fixed way too much food and I ate way too much.  I smoked a turkey this year which was better than last year's fried turkey.  It takes about 25 minutes per pound to smoke a turkey in my smoker, but it tastes oh so good.  I injected the marinade like I did for the fried turkey and I think that dried it out a bit due to the punctures from the syringe.  I couldn't even tell any taste difference because the smoke taste is so overpowering.

Saturday, some friends came over with their Xbox and Rock Band in tow.  That game freaking rules with 4 people playing.  I think the drums are the most fun to play even though I have no rhythm.  Since the girls were being sissies, Brandon and I shared singing duties.  I have a feeling that I am tone deaf also, but that didn't stop me from belting out some tunes.  Kudos to Harmonix for making an awesome game.  I think the Thanksgiving after party was better than Thanksgiving. 

Sadly, tomorrow resumes life as usual.  I feel revived and ready to resume life as a super ninja coding monkey.

The holidays really bum me out.  I really just dislike what people become around this time of year.  I'm not sure if my change in feelings is due to my getting older or if it is just our modern age which makes things suck so bad.  The commercialism of these special times just sickens me. 

I work near a mall which makes me a near expert on the observation of the holiday human.  Bumper to bumper cars line the parking lots and mall entrance roads filled with angry people and screaming kids.  Once the joyful family enters the mall, the kids begin screaming for their favorite toys, candy, and whatever else suits their fancy.  If the parents do not comply, the child will fall to the floor in a fit of rage complete with punching and kicking.  The general masses won't tolerate public discipline of the child, but will still sneer at the behavior. They themselves are oblivious that their own children act the same way; well, that is without their daily dose of Ritalin.

After the children are calmed down with a wad of french fries and chicken nuggets, it's on to the shopping.  Lines of shipping carts fill the aisles of overzealous advertising.  Busy lifestyles and stress breed impatience and impatience doesn't mix well with lines.  Shortages of lead painted toys make adults fight in order to satisfy their kid's "needs" on Christmas day.  Common courtesy started fading sometime around Easter and is now non-existent.  People will cut line and bump into one another without a word of apology.

It's a very dreary and selfish picture I painted, isn't it?  Sadly, this is truth.  This is not the same holiday season I remember growing up.  The holidays are about friends and family and spending time with them.  I wish people would buy less things for others and spend those wasted mall hours doing something more meaningful.  Write a note in a Christmas card or bake some cookies and send that instead.  It will mean just as much, I promise.

Plan some together time with friends and enjoy a night out.  Make a tradition of it!  Traditions are what make holidays special.  It's something that is concrete and dependable in this craziness.  You can always count on that dinner at Granny's with all of the family. Every year it's just like you remember it and that is what is special about it.  I've always gone driving around on Christmas Eve to look at the lights on people's homes, and my wife and I have continued that tradition.

I would like to wish you, dear reader, a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.  Please be safe and remember what is important.