What a wild technical ride I just went on. I've created a new Player which launches from OMJRoute (Tools/Perma) and creates a stand alone page with a Leaflet map showing what the route looks like in a simplified manner. Click the icon in the middle to launch the main program and play the route. The player is stripped down to the bare minimum to load as quick as possible and the map system (Leaflet) has the smallest footprint in the map world.
The goal was to be able to run everything in a window inside the blog as you see below, but browser security was getting in the way. The solution was to buy a server security certificate for OMJRoute (https vs http) like I have for OldManJim and OMJMaps. Bottom line, it cost me money to do what I do, so I hope you enjoy!
To break out of the blog and run it full page (like on your phone) click the route key number in the top right corner :-)
There comes a time when a project has evolved to a high enough state, that it needs it's own platform. I've been working hard on the directions code that has been sitting in my tools directory as an app and it finally shouted out Get me my own domain!, so I did.
Coming up with a name wasn't hard, I've already created omjmaps.com and the OMJ (OldManJim) prefix is becoming my trademark so I logically acquired omjroute.com as the new website. I'll leave the app sitting in tools alone and continue development on this one.
The latest version is pretty slick, click anywhere on the map to acquire data about the location and chose when and where you want to create an A/B route right from the infobox.
I'm having fun with code in my new Directions app. I've added an Auto Advance feature that will move from waypoint to waypoint automatically and then wrap around from point B to point A. You can just click the button and watch the route unfold. Flip it into Satellite view, set a cool Pitch and Bearing and you can fly across the country visually for as long as you like.
I considered an adjustable timer so the user could determine how long the app pauses at each waypoint for reading, but I scraped that and wrote a timer that counts the words in the text and apples a constant to it. The number I came up with that matches a normal reading speed was 420 milliseconds per word. So, a waypoint with a longer description will allow you more time to read it. Did I mention I was having fun?
It's funny what grabs your eye sometimes, in this case it was the wall of my little house reflecting sunlight that looks like white paint on the trim of my front door.
I find joy in the little things these days as my sarcasm drips, my logical brain expands, and the wound on my head slowly heals.
My life has improved dramatically since I moved from Idaho here to Tennessee a year and a half ago. It used to take me almost an hour to walk to the liquor store in Idaho...
...and now I can do it seven minutes!
I've even created a new app called Directions to prove it.
That skin cancer gouge-out on the top of my head is infected so I got two scripts at the pharmacy. I told the doctor I don't do pills but she said I may have no choice, so she gave me a topical cream to try first and some antibiotics. The pills were $27 and the cream was $53! (omfg...) A pill hasn't crossed my lips in five years, god help me.
Update: I think the Mupiripoff is going to work. If I take a road trip, snag a little strange, pick up a dose, maybe I can use the pills then...
In the meantime, coding is keeping me sane, sort of. I've added live traffic to all of my map systems, pretty amazing.
Cats and dogs were pounding on my roof last night so I brought up my radar map and there it was, barreling down towards my neighborhood. Big bad red and ugly. I prepped my place for a power outage, which happened within minutes, then I opened my front door, pulled up a chair right to the screen, and watched the show.
Lightning flashes were going off all around me, about one every second. The wind picked up my garbage can and threw it thirty feet. I expected one of the old trees around me to come crashing down any second. And then it was over, so I went to bed in the dark.
This morning I had power but no internet (still don't as I write this). I dug out my old Radio Shack radio and listened to some good old boys talk about the storm that blew through last night with trees down, damage to homes and the roof of the Library took a hit. I took a drive and sure enough, what they said was true, all about 400 yards from my place.
Update: The sun is going down, still no internet, and the radio is telling me that it was a tornado. Check that off my bucket list... Now I'm hunkered down with no phone, tv, email or connection to the world and it makes me realize how much I've come to take all of that for granted. At least I have power, which is really all an old man and his old cat really needs.
Click the photo below for this mornings shots:
I drove over to the jobs center this morning to check out a job listing in the paper about transporting local seniors. As I stood behind the one person in line I glanced down at my hand holding a resume that summarized 25 years of experience driving seniors and the disabled, and it was shaking.
I certainly wasn't nervous, I was over qualified for this position, times ten. It was the elephant in the room. The internal tremors were strong this morning and I was doing a good job of ignoring them as usual, but there it was, visible shaking. I turned around and walked out the door.
Page 1 of 4