news
	News about this site (and occasionally myself) is displayed on this page with most recent events listed first.
2003.0421	Some quick updates: My student account web sites have been resurrected at msenet.org. (I had been hosting them at ellars.com/msenet.) Also, the mysterious site redesign that I keep mentioning is getting closer to reality. I'd like to give a definitive release date, but I'd just miss it anyway.
2003.0225	R.I.P. Pioneer 10.
2002.1013	Okay, so I'm a slacker.   The Big Push at work never really ended. It kind of sputtered a bit; rolled over and looked close to death; but it just hasn't shuffled off this mortal coil quite yet.   Of course, that's a crappy excuse for not updating one's own web site. But it's the best excuse I have, so cope.   The Big News, if there can be such a thing these days, is that I am finally committed to redesigning ellars.com. Don't ask me why. Okay, I'll tell you anyway: standards compliance. I've always liked this design for my web site, but it became a PITA to update long, long ago. I want something that is quick and painless to change, something where the content and its delivery are not so tightly interwoven. And that is precisely what CSS was designed to accomplish. So, the redesign will be visually stunning while also amazingly portable between different devices, be it your monitor, printer, or cell phone. Stay tuned...
2001.1207	Wow. Another year has gone by already! ellars.com remains as it has for many months now... unchanged. I'd like to say that I'm going to do something about that in the near future, but everything in my life has been so hectic lately (look, I even missed the site anniversary date by three days!) that I just don't know when I'll get time to put some much-needed work into this old web site. But fear not: there is work to be done, so changes/additions/etc. will eventually arrive...   Okay, so that isn't entirely true. I actually have been spending a lot of time recently working on web sites. A whole lotta web sites. Just not the one that I probalby should be spending time on. Ah, well. Now that the Big Push is over at work, maybe I'll have some more free time to do something other than sleep. Cheers!
2001.0911	ellars.com has gone black in memory of the terrorist attack on the United States. This isn't a permanent change, but I don't know when I'll change it back. [NOTE: you can see that page here.]   The quote is from the Old Testament (Psalms 37:7-11). I heard it at a church service I was invited to and thought it summed up my feelings better than I could myself.
2001.0809	Tonight, I treated my parents to The Lion King. What an amazing performance! Some of the best sets and most innovative costumes I have ever seen... Well worth the price of admission.
2001.0721	I have been spending a lot of time working on sites other than ellars.com, most notably drem.com. I have some nifty ideas for certain areas of personal that I have been kicking around for a while. Maybe I'll get around to them soon...
2001.0621	Happy Solstice Day!   Take my advice: wear sunscreen. Really. The sunburn I got Sunday at Disney's California Adventure has gone all splotchy and started to peel. Not a pretty sight to behold. Wear sunscreen!
2001.0525	Memorial Day Weekend. Traditionally, that means rain, but only if I make plans to venture forth into the great outdoors. I'd like to go hang out up the coast again... but not in the rain. Hmm... I wonder if I could somehow "fake out" the weather?
2001.0520	The XHTML 1.0 Transitional upgrade saga rolls on... I decided that most of what is in whatever would not be re-coded to the XHTML 1.0 spec, the exceptions being the pico documentation and the ellars.com banner pages. The rationale behind that choice is that the other pages (mostly in the graveyard section) are old pages and I want them to remain as "original" as possible.
2001.0429	The updating to XHTML 1.0 Transitional continues... As each page is "cleared" under the new specifications, the following note should appear at the bottom of the page: [an error occurred while processing this directive] So far, everything except whatever, experimental, and personal has been upgraded to the XHTML 1.0 Transitional spec. I figure that the rest should follow by the end of May, if not sooner.
2001.0427	Just got back from Momma Mia!, a musical based on several ABBA songs. It was playing at the Schubert Theater in Century City. (Went with Liz, her husband, and three of their friends.) I haven't been to anything like that in years... I highly recommend it!
2001.0406	Hmmmm... Just noticed that my old student account has been flat-out removed. Looks like dear ol' USC finally got around to removing accounts of those who graduated a year ago...
2001.0401	Daylight Savings time changes still suck.
2001.0331	JFCOAGDC, it's been a while since I posted anything in news. So what's been happening?   In short, work has been happening. I mean that in a Good Way, too: we've been phenomenally busy at work, recently putting out several major proposals and landing a couple of important contracts. My role in the firm is changing as well. As the plan has been all along, I'm transitioning from the marketing department into the "mainstream" production side of architecture. It is interesting to be pulled in several directions at once by different principals with different priorities. Needless to say, it can be overwhelming at times. Fortunately, my boss is a spectacular lady (recently advanced to Associate status!) who is very understanding and even protective of me. (I think because she hates sharing my time with other jobs, though she understands and supports my impending move...)   So, that's pretty much my life at the moment. In site news, I'm beginning the move from (D)HTML 4.0+ to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. If you don't know what that means, don't sweat it. If all goes according to plan, you won't notice any difference in these pages -- that is, unless you view the source code for them. The biggest change (volume-wise and PITA-wise) is going to be the switch from ALL-CAPS tags to lowercase tags. Fortunately, there are translators available. Unfortunately, I think I'd rather do it by hand. I know, I know: I'm a masochist. Cope.
2001.0120	Well, it is absolutely official: Dubya is the 43rd President of the United States. Not sure how I feel about that...   In site news, there isn't any. I've been busy at work, busy on some other projects, and ellars.com has just kind of stagnated. I'm hoping to change that soon.
2001.0108	Now I have a CD burner. Ho-Ho-Ho.
2000.1231- 2001.01.01	Three... Two... One... Happy New Year! Happy New Millennium!
2000.1203	...and thus concludes Year One of ellars.com! It's been real. It's been fun. On occasion, it has even been real fun.   What will the next year bring? That is an excellent question. I wish I could say. My humble little site has come a long way from its beginning, but I think it could go even further. I'm a bit disappointed that I haven't done anything with experimental. And though the framework for personal is in place, there is little substance clinging to it.   But enough! My work here will never be done. There is always one more thing that can be tweaked, added, refined, optimized. No doubt, the journey will be an exciting one!
2000.1126	Imagine this: some news about the site! I've tweaked the scrollbar to blend in with the background... unfortunately, this CSS feature is only supported by IE 5.5+. Well, bah. It's too cool to be ignored...
2000.1124	Today really sucked. For the first time I can remember, my job directly interfered with my social life (be that as it may). I was in a fairly sour mood all day anyway (coming down off the tryptophan, perchance?), and being needlessly delayed at the post office (mailing 278 job-related letters) was the perfect way to end such a lousy day.   So now I'm feeling depressed. I know, I know, boo-freakin'-hoo, I lead such a difficult life, everyone should be so lucky to have my problems. Unfortunately, none of that makes me feel any better. :-{
2000.1123	Happy Thanksgiving! I just ate so much that I think I'm gonna be sick... Mmmm... I think the tryptophan is kicking in... Good night!
2000.1119	So, let's recap: The Fuskies are going to the Rose Bowl, the Beavers are probably going to a BCS Bowl, USC beat fUCLA, and we still don't have a winner in the Presidential election. Hmm... a 50-50 split ain't too bad.
2000.1104	Well, Liz is a married woman now. It feels weird when a good friend gets married. Nonetheless, I wish both her and her new husband a long and beautiful life!
2000.1102	My father is finally home from his surgery. Doing fine; so good, in fact, that he got to come home early! (Much to the relief of Samantha... =)
2000.1030	Okay, it's official: Daylight Savings time changes really suck.   Sure, it was great waking up to bright skies this morning, but the part where it got dark at 4:30 this afternoon really, really blew.
2000.1020	My father's total-knee-replacement surgery went well. The only thing worth concern was a bad reaction to the morphine drip, so the doctors have put him on something else now.   I keep joking that my dad is now the Bionic Man. He has a new knee (weeks of physical therapy ahead for him) -- and while he recovers, they have an "air conditioning" system hooked up to his knee to keep the swelling down. Plus, he has these little air-booties that intermittently inflate to keep circulation going through his feet... Combine all of this with the various IV and drain lines, and he looks like a cyborg. 8^)   I'm doing fine. It's a good thing that I didn't let my father talk me into staying in LA -- it has been too good to be home with my folks, to see real Oregon weather for a change. (I was going to add "and to relax," but who am I kidding? I can relax when I'm dead.)
2000.1006	Dissatisfied with life. Looking for excitement. Willing to travel.
2000.0930	God I love Oregon. Huck the Fuskies!
2000.0923	Speaking of things springing back to life, MSEnet is now back online. Well, sort of. I made a quick pass through the files to fix absolute links and address directory structure changes, but I may have missed some things. So, if you're feeling brave, head on over. There is also a link in Whatever.
2000.0919	As promised earlier, my student account is now disabled. I'm still receiving email there (cleverly forwarded to here), though I can no longer access the account or read/respond to the email there. Ah, well.
2000.0908	Added the User Types section to laugh. If you would like to add a user type of your own, please email me!
2000.0907	THINK lives!   I had debated for a long time including my personal views of the world on my site, but hey: this is my website, right? Nothing there yet, but don't worry, I have a backlog of old essays to post (not in school any more, so I don't have to worry about "academic integrity" -- though I will prosecute your a$$ for copyright infringement if you plagiarize my work), plus a lot of built-up steam regarding recent events in the Wacky World of the Internet. Stay tuned...   (And for those of you keeping score, yes, that means dis-like.shtml is the only broken page on my site now.)
2000.0905	Well, where to begin?   I spent most of the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend at work, slaving away at the computer on a spec proposal. Twelve hours on Saturday, and five on Sunday (slept in really late). This was, of course, after a refreshing game of broomball Friday night...   Monday was blown on football, laundry, and grocery shopping. I still have to wash my car. (Dammit.)   I am adding more stuff to laugh. I have some really neat ideas, especially considering that both .shtml and .sht are valid filename extensions for HTML files with SSI. (If you didn't understand that last part, don't worry about it.)
2000.0826	The Guest Book is dead! Long live the Guest Book!   This happened because in eight months, one person had signed it. However, I took advantage of the opportunity to update the contact information to relfect my new flat.
2000.0823	Go figure: the first person I would have voted off the island ended up winning. Harumph. Well, congratulations Rich, I suppose you deserve it.
2000.0819	Added a customized HTTP 404 Error page today. Depressingly easy to do. While I was at it, I added a few others.
2000.0801	For the Internet Explorer crowd, the ellars.com homepage now has a "favicon." To see the effect, add the homepage to your Favorites.   In entirely unrelated news, I came across sumo wrestling on ESPN tonight. You know it's time to seriously question your monthly cable bill when the most exciting thing on TV is sumo wrestling. I watched 30 minutes of it, enough to witness "history in the making" as the lowest-ranking wrestler ever won a tournament. In my defense, though, it certainly beats the WCW.
2000.0730	Added a whole mess of pico banners on the pico homepage. Some old, some new, and one outside banner. A good way to kill time if you're really bored.
2000.0727	Have I mentioned how busy I am at work?
2000.0703	Off work early today! Time to celebrate!
2000.0617	Had my first "real" club experience last night: salsa dancing at the Mayan! It was lots of fun and gave me a chance to get to know my co-workers a little better. There was a live band for part of the evening (not enought of it!): a Japanese Salsa band! Quite wierd, but amazingly good.
2000.0522	My first day in the Working World went well. WWCOT is a great company filled with great people. I even got treated out to lunch! Looks like I made the right decision, and that makes me very happy.
2000.0521	This is my last day in limbo: no longer a college student, not yet an official member of the working class. I am not just a little nervous. The firm at which I will be working is a good firm: WWCOT (Widom Wein Cohen O'Leary Terasawa), located in Santa Monica, California. I'll let you know how the first day goes tomorrow night...
2000.0512	I graduated from college today: top of my class in the five-year Bachelor of Architecture program at USC. Which reminds me, there are some things I need to update on my site now... namely, that I am no longer a college student! 8^)
2000.0427	Just got a letter today that I am the recipient of the American Institute of Architects School Medal for 2000. Congrats to me!
2000.0422	Today is Earth Day. Go recycle something.
2000.0409	While adding a bunch of new stuff to my ARCH 502 page, I discovered that there was no feedback page. There is now.
2000.0331	Added some additional links and information on the pico page. Also ended the experiment with CSS-cursor styles on the home page; lack of support seemed to make it less worthwhile.
2000.0318	Subtle changes made to the section heading style in whatever. (It's the horizontal lines.)   Recreated and greatly expanded my pico page. Now pico users everywhere have a convenient one-stop place for all their informational needs.
2000.0311	Spent a couple of hours with David debugging my ARCH 502 portfolio pages. CSS formatting was not showing in Netscape, Mozilla or Opera. But it worked in IE. Finally traced the problem to the CSS class names: they follow the "standard" RFC (?) and disallow identifiers that begin with anything other than a letter. (The fact that IE apparently doesn't follow the RFC is a wee bit troubling...). But all is fixed now.
2000.0306	A new home page! Well, okay, it's not all that new, but it is slightly changed. Note the nice ellars.com logo; you can put it on your own site by visiting here. Also added: if your last name is "Ellars," I'm building a page chock full o' information just for you. There really isn't anything there yet, but check back in a week or so.
2000.0304	I created a banner for ellars.com. You can read all about it in whatever.
2000.0221	Updated some of the onMouseOver images on experimental. (Previously, there wasn't much contrast; now it should be fairly obvious when something changes with an onMouseOver call.) I also updated my resume page to include HTML and plain-text versions in addition to the PDF.
2000.0211	This isn't really news from today, but more like news from the last week and a half... I've added all kinds of things to my portfolio, including my resume (sorry it's only in PDF format for now...   I also got the guest book working the way I want it to. I think. Anyway, check it out and enjoy!
2000.0130	Instead of working on more important things, I'm in the process of adding a guest book to ellars.com. You can add to it if you want, but be forewarned that comments added before I'm done monkeying with it may be lost.
2000.0121	Finally created the imagemap for personal. Also added a new page to portfolio for my final design studio (currently in progress). Stay tuned!
2000.0103	In a stroke of kindness, I added a text-based navigation menu to coexist with the graphical one on each page. You're welcome. :-) Whatever got a new graphical title. I also added some "extras" to the experimental section.
2000.0101	Finally added content to the experimental section... a-maze-ing and a simplified beam forces calculator. And while I was at it, I even threw something in whatever. Enjoy!
1999.1231- 2000.0101	Had an enjoyable evening at home with the folks, enjoying fine liquers and holiday cheer. In other news, I figured out how the clasp on my new watch really works. Happy Pseudomillennium! (Thank you David for the great term!)
1999.1228	Updated the navigation bar to reflect the current design/labels. Uploaded the new graphics and HTML for the experimental section. Currently assembling the first few features for said section. Also looking into what will go into whatever.
1999.1226	New graphics uploaded: subtle changes on the home page (font changed from "Neon" to "VAGRounded" and worked on colors/sizes); radical changes to the Personal section (links inactive at this time); and Portfolio gets a graphic treatment. Big changes are in the works for the Experimental pages, but right now I'm too tired to worry about it. Oh, and I decided Whatever makes a better miscellaneous-just-throw-it-in-here section name than the original "t.b.a."   P.S.: This is still the 26th in Hawaii. :-)
1999.1212	ellars.com goes active. It features a beautiful, refined graphic sensibility designed by yours truly. It promises to be an excellent diversion from more important work such as architecture studio. :-)
1999.1204	ellars.com is registered by Michael S. Ellars to serve as his personal website. After over a year of debating the purchase, the decision is finally made to ease the transition away from his student account, which will be disabled in less than a year.
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