�A new "do"�
2000-03-03, 12:00:00:

I decided to do a dry run on development, and the result is the template for this page, development.diaryland.com.

Altogether it took about fourteen hours to develop the content for this page, not including time spent chatting, checking email, going for food runs and digging out in the storage shed for an element for this page.

I had forgotten how absolutely hard it was to develop good graphics. (At least the code only took about an hour to put together total, not including imagemapping.)

Everything in the images except the text on the fortune cookie slip and the chain link came off my desk, so I composed the image from a bunch of individual chunks. That was a real pain, but I really enjoyed it. There are a couple places where I need to touch the image up (the pencil's shadow isn't cast 100% correctly at the image edge and image seam, and there is a pixel dropped out on the photo of me at the image seam), not to mention that the chain link is absolutely hideous.

(It was a brainstorm of Crafty's, else there wouldn't be a chain link there at all.

You see, I knew I wanted a chain link, but just a single one. I went out and turned the house-sized storage shed upside down looking for a single chain link. I didn't care what kind - shiny, galvanized, rusty... I just wanted a link.

I couldn't find one. Period.

So she asked if I had any keychains around, because I could just blow one of those little links up. Sheer brilliance, no matter what she says. It's a chain link, but I was thinking large objects. I wasn't thinking outside that box.

Unfortunately, I buggered it up with needlenose pliers prying it out of the chain. It kills me that I can't find a real chain link, though.

I am considering having a contest for whoever can send via snailmail a single, metal chain link. Whoever sends me one first wins... something. What, I don't know, but I'll think of something. Details will be on my regular, personal journal.)

I heard from the network information center for .nu domains about payment for a domain; no, they don't take checks either (of course), but they did at least suggest that I could use one of their partner webhosts who would register it for me and then I could pay them by check.

I am going to ask World Web Server if they will register a .nu domain for me and I can pay them for the registration (or actually, if prepayment includes registration of a .nu domain, since they say they will register your domain for you if you prepay a year in advance for domain registration).

Well, all I can do is ask, so I did. We'll see what they say.

I went in to my bank to ask them what the protections are on check cards, since that seems like a reasonable way to get the benefits of a credit card for things like domain registrations and cheap ISPs without having to actually go through the rigamaroll of getting a new credit card.

The verdict? There are no protections, and if it's being abused all I can do is cancel my checking account. Oh, that's just lovely.

So... I look for other options.