I needed to find some free tools for a client project where using Visio hasn't been practical. Here are three that have somewhat met my needs.

For UI mockups, I was able to get away with The Pencil Project, an add-in for Mozilla Firefox. I plan to see what it takes to create stencils, since, if it had flowcharting symbols, I could have done without a software listed later. I'd also like to create a better set of web shapes. All in all, I think this project has terrific potential.

I used MySql Workbench OSS (the free version) for database diagramming. This worked fine for me, even though I was diagramming for an MS SQL database, because all I cared about were the relationships and data types. And printing. Now, that part's kind of funny, because the OSS edition doesn't support printing directly. You have to export to PDF, then print that. Weird.

Finally, for a flow chart I needed, I settled on Diagram Designer. It's an odd program that does some things well, and others poorly. For instance, the lines really don't route around shapes properly compared to any other such program. But I really like the text editing, because, while a bit archaic, it's also very flexible. Then again, there doesn't appear to be a way to choose the default font. Why didn't I use Dia? Because I don't think it's very good, and doesn't seem to have improved much in the last four years. It always just feels hard to use. And Word is too klunky. And I can't justify installing Open Office a my client site (and its drawing module is kind of klunky, too.)

Here's a picture of Stephanie and me as Anthony and Cleopatra. I look terrified, and this isn't (and she's sitting right next to me as I write this) the best look for Steph. Except the gold lame dress, showing off her svelte bod. And after that is a cuter (in my opinion) picture of Steph.

So, why do we humans like to dress up? This question occupied us for a good ten minutes. Does it go back to dressing in animal skins, imitating the hunt?

I haven't posted in far too long. I hope this will be the first in many nights of writing, because, while saying a little a lot doesn't always mean much, it's all I have.

Each year on Halloween I try to consider the dead. The dead who have influenced my life, or who've influenced the world and, by extension, me.

What's it like, I wonder, to be great and facing death? Is it easier, staring down the shadowy path, knowing you've accomplished wonders, that history has already remembered you? Or do you resist, wish for more time to do even more of what you dearly love? Does a genius die wishing for two more lifetimes to empty his potential?

There's a story that, when Beethoven was on his deathbed, lighting struck during the storm outside. When the thunder came, he raised up, shook his fist at the heavens, then fell back and died.

I don't want to die. I don't want anyone I know to die, especially those I care about. For those who have, I try to carry them with me. I try to let them fill me with their lives, as if I was an unfinished painting and they're brushing varicolored pigments into my empty spaces, swirling textures into my maturing life.

That's what I do for them. In my future, I am a compendium of spectres.