Life of a Web Programmer

If some of you have been paying attention to my recent tweets, you’ve probably noticed my short URLs are different from the standard “bit.ly” or “tinyurl.com” links. I’ve recently programmed a URL shortener for my own personal use and the internet community. My first thoughts when programming this site were to incorporate it with my other websites I’ve been developing and make it the “official” URL shortener. So, right now 1337url.com is currently in the “Alpha/Beta” phase, with a lot more in store for the User.

1337url.com also has included my first works with Flash (very “Hello World!” but a start). Take a look at the site and let me know what you think

http://1337url.com, Short URLs and Links for 13375

Catherine and I went camping this weekend at Bastrop State Park on the Lost Pines Hiking Trail consisting of a 4 mile hike in and out. I am really impressed with this park and I think it’s becoming one of my favorites. It was really challenging, one of the first real hike ins.

We found ourselves at the turnaround when setting up camp; needless to say we both were exhausted. The location was nestled on top of a creek embankment, overlooking the creek bed and lost pines. Once set up and full from our “astronaut” food, we both entertained each other with a puppet show.

The next morning we hiked the upper trail to see if we could find some Houston Horn Toads and coming up short we packed up and headed back home. Next time we will visit the upper trail, hoping to find a closer campsite (Pictures will be added as soon as I transfer them to my external HDD)

Over the weekend, Catherine and I visited three different state parks, a first for the both of us; we are so hardcore. Last weekend we went on a camping adventure to one of the top 100 state parks in America, Guadalupe State Park. All in all it was a great trip, with its interesting camping patrons (lighter fluid and BBQ pits). This trip proved that we could handle any adversity that came our way and we were hardcore, building a fire from sticks and stone

This weekend, we visited McKinney Falls, Lockhart, and Bastrop State Parks. I just received my new Yakima bike racks for my truck bed, and we both tested them out. McKinney Falls is a great ride with the perfect amount of uphill and downhill sections. Onion Creek was too high to cross so we only rode the upper section of the falls.

We visited Lockhart State Park after we enjoyed some Black’s Barbecue. This visited was short considering it was mainly a golf course, but the barbecue was amazing.

And finally, Bastrop State Park, a new love that sparked our next camping trip. Catherine and I loved every minute of each trail we hiked on. The Lost Pines seemed as though we were no longer in Texas, but felt familiar to the Rocky Mountains National Park, minus the mountains It was a great hike and we plan on backpacking next weekend on the Lost Pines Trail.

I will leave with a few pics from our trips: