Well, the rewrite is not really almost complete, but we're up and running again. The story goes like this.. I decided to re-rewrite my whole site in php about 8 months ago as a learning experience. I learned I didn't like php as much as python, so then I re-re-rewrote the site in python again. This time I was much (relatively) smarter than before. Well defined class structure, inheritance, the whole nine yards. This should enable me to make any changes I want in little time. That last sentence just made me laugh About the only piece that has remained untouched since Jan. of 2001 is the image database and it's corresponding administration tool. That's next on the list especially considering I haven't upgraded the P ython I maging L ibrary since then. I think they are a few versions ahead of me. But hey! if it ain't broke, don't fix it!?! Most people would say I hardly subscribe to that theory. Well that's the scoop thus far. More on the way.

As you can see I'm trying to roll out some new features. As with most items on my web site they are probably not the fanciest, or the best looking. Functional is the word that would best describe this site. Well, most of the time anyways. Hopefully this is only the beginning.

Katie is on her way to Hawaii this morning on business. After some minor battles with her mp3 player she is off and running! It is a tough life. ;-P

Put up a couple new photos on the /imagedb/browse Picture Database of Aaron, Dave, Jeremy and myself the morning after the http://www.rush.com Rush concert. Once again they put on a great show and hopefully we are showing it with our smiles. Pictures courtesy of Dave It was also cool to be back in Ames again. Good old http://www.iastate.edu/ I.S.U.

Jeremy and I had a chance to play some music and once again I have managed to process the session in less than a week! Must be a new record. As usual the ogg files can be found http://www.thesergents.net/jams here .

• http://http://www.wakkanet.fi/~kaiv/ecawave/

Ecawave still isn't working quite right so I ended up just using http://www.wakkanet.fi/~kaiv/ecasound/ Ecasound to do all the post-production. It is really slick once you can master all the command line options. But that's what shell scripts are for right?

• I know what you're saying. How many times can Dana possibly rewrite his web site. And it still looks the same!

Well here's a little history. 1998 A web site is born. It was only a single html page with no graphics containing only my silly bookmarks 1999 Dana learns http://www.perl.com Perl . This was my first shot at anything having to do with cgi and it was terrible, but so much fun that I'm obviously still working at it. The site used perl for a few years and it really was one of the best learning experiences. Now that I think about it I bet I still have that code lying about somewhere... 2001 Dana discovers http://www.python.org Python . I still don't know why I started using Python? Turns out I must have been blessed. It is by far my favorite programming language. There are many others that I enjoy using, but this is my site, so I get to use my fav. Back in those days it was just a very simple collection of cgi scripts. Then it slowly began to migrate down the Object Oriented path and became very complex yet simple, just like OOP! That's when complacency set in. early 2002 Dana goes http://www.php.net/ PHP . I decided it was time to try out yet another programming language and PHP was all the rage. I migrated the entire site over in just about 4 hours, which is a testament for the rapid development that can be done with PHP. However, my heart was just not into it. I soon pined for the days of Python and all it's white space. Present day... mmmm mmm mmmmod_python... This is where I am today. Totally sucked into the land of http://www.modpython.org/ mod_python . I can't describe all the cool features I have available to me, you'll just have to go check it out yourself. Needless to say I am happily hacking away on the site once again. Hopefully improvements will come. I might have made an error in the timinig of the rewrite as holidays are often very busy times. Some things are still not working quite right, but for the most part it is there. So chin up! Keep moving forward!

Got the last /jams Jams up on the site. Actually they are not all there yet. Got a few more to process. Jeremy and I have both been working hard on getting our home studios set up along with all the holiday goings on some things get bumped down on the priority list. I will have the rest of them up asap. Some of these are pretty darn good. Possibly the best yet. Have a listen and enjoy! - Dana

Just found this article by Eric S. Raymond on why he decided to try out Python. Nice to find an article by someone who is much more elite than I that has gone through the same trials and tribulations and come to some of the same conclusions. An interesting read if nothing else. The article is a little old, but still pertinent nonetheless.

Finally completed the rest of the November '02 jams. I think I was even able to squeeze a little more sound out of them. Have not had a chance to listen to them all the way through yet, but so far it sounds good. Hopefully not much clipping. I won't hold my breath though.

The movie finally arrived. Was it worth it? I vote yes! Got a chance to see it today and will definitely need to see it again just to comprehend all that was seen. Sure is fun to see these great books put on film. Now looking forward to the next one. Check out The One Ring for all your LotR needs!

Well, another year gone by already. We were back in Maryland for Christmas and had a great time with Mom and Dad Sergent. Got a chance to use my new digital camera and will have some pictures up on the http://www.thesergents.net/cgi-bin/ppdb.cgi - Picture Database real soon. I truly hope everyone out there had a great holiday! Here's to a great 2003!