I received my shiny, new iPhone 4 a couple of weeks ago – nearly a month after I ordered it. It’s a real beauty, but with glass on both sides, it definitely requires protection from a fall. Apple says the glass is Gorilla Glass, from Corning, which is a chemically-strengthened glass that is very strong and extremely scratch resistant. But the trade-off is that it’s probably very brittle, and so a sudden shock could cause it to explode.

I haven't written anything in many months, and I know that. After I returned from Qatar, things got busy with getting back into my groove. Also, the wedding was approaching, and so was the long-awaited honeymoon cruise. June marked the first moments of normalcy, which hadn't been since early 2009 (just before I left the country).

Damn, I'm behind and I know it. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I do have a few entries which are awaiting completion so they can be published, but I still haven't had time to get to them. So, here's a summary:

I'm sorry I haven't added any new articles in a while. I actually have three, but none of them are finished and thus, not published. I thought I would at least acknowledge this and let my small handful of readers know that I didn't go anywhere -- just been busy...

Moments ago, I stumbled upon a case study that I helped write over a project in which I was the software programmer (Brian Miller was the engineer and Trey Mayfield was the project manager).

Read the case study here: http://hpac.com/bas-controls/facilitys_upgrades_keep/index.html

This was my flagship project during my nearly four years at Ener-Tel, and the one I'm most proud of because of the level of control I was able to achieve with the system. Not to mention, the complete lack of service calls since the job was closed.

Sorry, I had to gloat just this one time...

I've run into a problem more than once where the mail() function in PHP didn't work. Unlike with a Windows deployment, you can't simply set an SMTP server in the php.ini file; you must set a value for the sendmail_path.

If you're running a mail server like Sendmail or Postfix alongside your web server, this is no big deal. But for the rest of us, do we really need a big beefy MTA just to mail-enable PHP?

I had a song stuck in my head; one from the early 90's that I was guessing had actually been produced in the late 80's. I'd heard it at a skate place in Lubbock where my brother and I accompanied our dad on weekends. Many years later, my friend Dave gave me a CD which had that song on it. Now, I was thinking of it again. I could see the image of the CD in my head, but I just couldn't read the Sharpie label.

I baby my gadgets. One hairline scratch on one of my toys is enough to make me ballistic. So when I bought my iPhone a couple of months ago, I was already searching for a high-rated protective case before the iPhone even showed up in the mail. While poking around the Internet, I stumbled upon the Juice Pack Air, by Mophie, which is not only a hard shell case, but also an external battery. Score. I chose the white one over the black and purple ones.

I've just finished a new feature that I think might be kinda fun: T-Shirt Quotes. The idea was derived from something I find myself doing a lot lately, and that is to say, "Hmm, things that ought to be on t-shirts" whenever someone says something particularly unique and profound.

Well, I decided I would publish these as I come accross them in a rather unique way: on a damn t-shirt! I'll do my best to remember them so I can get them posted, but if you have any "particularly unique and profound" statements, send them to me (you'll get credit, of course).

I woke up to my alarm clock, but with a strange dream still fresh on my mind -- so vivid, clear, and distinct. For the first hour or so after awakening, the feelings were so strong and I couldn't shake it, and I kept pondering it's meaning.