In my last post, I said that I was working on a class to parse the XML feed from the NWS. Well … that is done. It’s not very fancy, but it works.

Tonite, I’ve created my own database connection class. I still want to work on it some more and maybe create a recordset class as well, but for now, the connection class is working great. I’m very proud of myself for that. I did find a little help online, but I modified what I found to work the way I want it to.

I’ve also managed to successfully set up a cron job that takes my xml parsing class and parses the weather XML feed and stores it to my database. Woohoo … That’s the first time I’ve ever created a cron job. It wasn’t too hard to do in cPanel.

Now I’m working on the weather class. I’m going to use it to grab the data from the database and display it how I want to. The feed from the NWS only has the current conditions, not the forecast. I’m going to dig around to see if I can find a forecast one. Hopefully I can. If not, I might try to see if I can find something elsewhere … like weather.com or somewhere else. Don’t know yet. I’d rather use the data from the NWS … I trust them. It’s their job. (I should know … I was trying to get a job with them before I fell into web design.)

Well … I’m going to get back to my weather class. I’d like to get at least a little something done before I go to bed tonite. I should get off the computer at 9pm and watch CSI: NY (I’m going to watch it whether I’m on the computer or not … I’m hooked on those CSI shows) … I think being on the computer all day at work and then all nite at home is preventing me from getting a good nite’s sleep. I just haven’t been sleeping very good lately. But when I get started on a project, it’s hard to put it away.

:: EDIT (9:34pm) :: I’ve got my weather class working. Woohoo!!! Here’s a sample of what it’s doing so far. Just displaying the data … nothing fancy. I need to work in the icons for the weather conditions. I already know how I want to do that … I just need to actually do it. But I’ll save that for another nite.

Mood: working

I’ve finally started a project that I’ve been meaning to start for a while now. I’m redoing how the weather is handled on my websites. I didn’t like the fact that I was parsing an entire page from the NWS. I found that the NWS now has XML feeds of it’s weather data. So … I’m working on parsing the XML and storing it in my database for use later.

I’ve worked with XML stuff at work. But the class was already created to parse the XML. So … I’ve been trying to find a way to do it here at home. I did find a simple class to parse the XML. It works for now, since the XML is simple. But I’ll probably expand on it more later. I’m not sure that I’ll have any need to parse something more complex, but ya never know.

So far … I’ve got this working to parse the XML string and store it in the database. I’ve got more stuff to do … like grab the correct weather icon based on the weather conditions. I also need to see if I can find an XML feed for the forecast. I think I ran across one, but I don’t remember. I’ll just have to do more searching.

Back to the class. I want to get as much done as I can before I go to bed tonite. Once I get started on something like this, I can’t stop … or at least I don’t like to. But I need sleep too.

Mood: working

Man … it’s April in North Dakota, and it’s 85°F out …

When I watched the noon news, they said that it was warmer up here in North Dakota than it was down in Texas or Florida. Talk about crazy. THAT doesn’t happen very often. Kinda cool actually. I just wish the wind would go down.

And I wish the warmth would stick around for a while. Maybe not in the 80s, but the 70s are good. Tomorrow we’ll be lucky if we hit 60°. We’re supposed to get some rain showers too.

I REALLY wish we would get some big storms today. I saw on the radar that there was one north of Grand Forks … around Grafton. I wish there were some around here (or that gas prices were lower so I could go chasing … ) I haven’t been able to try out my camera on any stormy weather yet. Hasn’t really been any around since I got it … at least not during daylight hours. I’m hoping this summer will give me some opportunities. I may even go chasing around here, if gas doesn’t hit $3/gallon. I won’t go very far though … at least not unless I have someone to go with me. I don’t wanna get lost or drive into the ditch while watching some cool cloud formation … LOL. That would be my kind of luck … LOL.

Mood: hungry

I never posted about how my review went last Friday. I haven’t been doing a whole lot of anything on my computer lately. Anyways … my review. Went as expected. Now if I just had more confidence in my abilities …

And today was payday … woohoo. I see I got a raise. I kinda figured I would. I have after my other reviews. But I didn’t expect it to be as big as it was. I mean, we have reviews every 3 months. I don’t expect to get a big raise … I’ll take whatever I can get. But this one was nice. I’m now (after 9 months) basically making what I did at that “other place” when I “left”. And I was there for 4 1/2 years.

Mood: blah

OMG … I am sooooo ready to explode right now. All I want to do is cancel a credit card. Let me explain …

When I got my computer, I bought it with Gateway. I financed it through them. I never had a “Gateway” credit card. I just financed through them. Well … either last week or the week before, I got a new card in the mail. Huh? I never had one to begin with. Apparently this card replaces my “Gateway credit card” … which never existed!!!!

I just ignored it at first. I didn’t call the number to activate the card ‘cuz I didn’t want it. Well, I finally decided to call the number I found on the back of one of the pages in small print (could they try to hide it a bit more … ). I called. Their hours are only ’til 8pm Eastern time. Which means I have to call before 7pm. Well … I tried. NO ONE FUCKING ANSWERS THE PHONE!! I can’t go directly to a customer service rep. I have to listen through all that account bullshit before I can even get that option. Tick, tick, tick … there goes some more cell phone minutes. And then I get to the option only to hear “All of our representatives are assisting other customers …”. Blah, blah, blah. Do they even have anyone answering phones? I guess I need to call as soon as I get up in the morning. Maybe someone will answer then.

And to try to find some info on their website … forget it. I can’t log into the account interface because I don’t know the “security word” I gave when I signed up. I NEVER SIGNED UP!!! How the hell am I supposed to have a security word? They don’t have any way I can email them.

I JUST WANT TO FUCKING CANCEL THIS CREDIT CARD. I NEVER WANTED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. I NEVER HAD ONE THROUGH GATEWAY THAT NEEDED REPLACING!!!

Oh, by the way … this particular company is Citi. Does anyone out there have a card with them? Are they always impossible to get in touch with?

And what’s with the fucking “touch or speak” crap in the automated phone system?

Mood: pissedoff

I’ve got a review at work tomorrow. I’ve been there for just over 9 months now. Wow … seems like just last week I was frantically searching for a job.

As part of my review, I need to fill out a questionnaire type thingy. It’s basically rating my performance. They’re going to fill one out too. I hate filling out those things. I’m definitely not my best cheerleader. I’ve started it twice and haven’t finished yet. I keep procrastinating. I don’t know what to put on it. It’s a scale of 0 to 4 and then comments. I currently have ratings for 4 and comments for 2 of those. Still 4 more to rate. I really should get back to it. But I don’t wanna … …

Mood: tired

I swear … if I didn’t think I had a Type A personality before, today sure changes that. It has not been a good day.

Today started off REAL good. It started as I was leaving the building to go to work this morning. There was a guy coming in the security door, so I stepped to the side to let him in. He already had his key in the lock. He stepped in, and his damn dog jumped at me. I got the hell out of there … cussing loudly as I left. Talk about pissed off. At first I thought the dog just jumped up at me. Well … I looked at my purse and noticed there was a bite mark in it. That fucking dog tried to bite me. He would have succeeded if I didn’t have my purse and if it didn’t just happen to be in the right spot. And that asshole didn’t even check to see if I was okay. Didn’t even poke his head out the door. Some nerve.

After I got home from work today, I printed out a note and taped it to the security door. I was gonna put one on both doors, but I figured the one would be good enough. That’s the one he came in. And I’ve seen this guy with this dog before. I’ve been heading to my garage and he’s been walking his dog past, and you could just tell that if that dog got loose, I’d be a goner. Almost was today. This is the note I left …

To the tenant who was coming back into the building with his dog this morning shortly after 7:30am -

Please come talk to me … in Apartment XXX. I would like to discuss the incident that occurred this morning.

Thank you,
Becky xxxx, Apt. XXX

Very civil. Very straightforward. I’ll give him ’til the end of the week to come talk to me. After that, I’m going to either the resident manager or straight to the property management company. I’m still going to talk to them even if he talks to me about the incident. But I want to wait because I don’t know who he is or what apartment he lives in. I think I know which one it is. I’ve seen a dog sitting at a balcony door up on 3rd floor that looks very much like this dog. But I’d rather be sure. But if he doesn’t talk to me, I’m still going to management. They can snuff him out.

What if instead of me, it had been one of the little kids that live in this building. My purse would have been about the height of their faces. The dog could have bit them in the face. If he lunged at me, what’s to keep him from lunging at someone else. And I could run into him again at any time too. I don’t want to be in that situation again. Dad said I should have gone to the cops. I’m not gonna take it that far. At least not unless I’m in that situation again … and I hope to never be.

Other stuff that ticked me off today was traffic. Man, I hate traffic. I don’t think I can make the drive home without cussing out another driver. And THEN, when I get home, I find my internet and cable is out (I have cable internet, so if one is out, both are generally). It was out for over an hour. And it was off last nite for around an hour too. Hopefully no more “little” things will get too me tonite. I need to crash on the couch and then go to bed early. I really with I had a man to give me a back rub or something. That sure would help …

I’d like to know who the person was who named Chicago the “Windy City”. I think whoever that was needs to come up to North Dakota. We’re the “Windy State” up here. And it’s so flat that there’s nothing to stop that wind … it keeps picking up speed. LOL

It would be a gorgeous day again if it wasn’t for the damn wind. It’s 69°F out right now (I think it got up to 73° a bit earlier, but I’m not sure.) but there’s a 21 mph wind. I’d love to go for a walk, but not with that wind. Maybe if it goes down around 6:30 or so I’ll go then. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Mood: hungry

Today was just gorgeous. We hit the lower 60s … I saw it go as high as 62°. It’s still 61° out right now. I decided to go for a walk. It is a bit breezy out … around 15 mph … but I went anyways. I needed to get out of my apartment. And I need the exercise. I took my coat with, but ended up tying it around my waist after about 5 minutes. But at least I had pockets to put my keys and phone in.

I didn’t take my usual path around the golf course ‘cuz I need to work myself back into a routine. I did go on about a 40 minute walk. The breeze did give me a bit of a headache … but it went away before I got home. It was nice. And the exercise actually felt good … As long as it stays nice out, I’m going to start going on walks after I get home from work. But it is April, and this is North Dakota. It’ll probably get crappy and cold again. And there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Hopefully we won’t fall back into winter … I really need to get into a routine. I need to drop some pounds. Exactly how much, I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I stepped on a scale. I don’t like those things. But I do know I have a belly I need to get rid of. Maybe if I slim down and tone up, guys will actually look at me. LOL A girl can dream, can’t she.

Mood: okay