Upon a time—I do not know
Exactly when, but long ago—
A man whose riches were untold.
Silver and precious stones and gold-
Within an Eastern city dwelt;
But not a moment’s peace he felt,
For fear that thieves should force his door,
And rob him of his treasured store.
In spite of armed slaves on guard,
And doors and windows locked and barred,
His life was one continual fright;
He hardly slept a wink by night,
And had so little rest” by day
That he grew prematurely gray.

At last he dug a monstrous pit
To hold his wealth, and buried it
By night, alone; then smoothed the ground
So that the spot could not be found.
But he gained nothing by his labor:
A curious, prying, envious neighbor,
Who marked the hiding, went and told
The Sultan where to find the gold.
A troop of soldiers came next day,
And bore the hoarded wealth away.

Some precious jewels still remained,
For which a goodly price he gained,
Then left the city, quite by stealth,
To save the remnant of his wealth;
But now, by hard experience taught,
A better way to keep it sought.
Broad lands he bought, and wisely tilled ;
With fruits and grain his barns he filled;
He used his wealth with liberal hand;
His plenty flowed through all the land;
And, hid no longer under-ground,
Spread honest comfort all around.

Thus calm and prosperous pass the years,
Till on a fated day he hears
The Sultan’s mandate, short and dread,
” Present thyself, or lose thy head!”
Fearful and trembling, he obeys,
For Sultans have their little ways,
And wretches who affront their lord
Brave bastinado, sack, or cord.

Before the dreaded throne he bowed
Where sat the Sultan, grim and proud,
And thought, “My head must surely fall,
And then my master will seize all
My wealth again.” But from the throne
There came a calm and kindly tone:
” My son; well pleased am I to see
Thy dealings in prosperity;
May Allah keep thee in good health !
Well hast thou learned the use of wealth.
No longer buried under-ground,
Its comforts spread to all around.’
The poor man’s blessings on thy name
Are better far than worldly fame.
I called thee hither. Now, behold,
Here are the silver, gems, and gold
I took from thee in other days;
Receive them back, and go thy ways,
For thou hast learned this truth at last—
Would that it might be sown broadcast!—
That riches are but worthless pelf
When hoarded only for one’s self.”

S. S. G.

I have been working on some code for a site that’s integrating a lot of social media links, and everything was going swimmingly until I noticed that the “Post to Twitter links were no longer working.

It turns out Twitter has made a few changes, but the fix was very easy.

All that was required to fix up the links was to replace instances of

http://twitter.com/home?status=

with

http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=

So.. begin with a call to the twitter javascript, so that your links will pop up in a nice neat window:

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”></script>

Then, if you’re using PHP, you’ll want to get the variable that defines the current page:

<?php $pageURL = $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].
$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]; ?>

 

And then finally, you can put that variable into your twitter link:

<a href=”http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=your+text+here+http%3A%2F%2F<?php echo $pageURL; ?>”>

And, YAY! It works.

I have a stack of things I want to tackle that’s at least a foot high.

I have high priority, low priority, and just about every priority on the scale in between.

I KNOW that I should be working… but sometimes, when there’s so much to do, it’s way too easy to procrastinate. FreeCell looms large on my computer, begging me to cave in to the distraction. The latest bunch of books I bought at Amazon are whispering that they want to be read. Play some games, make some tea, fiddle with the Kindle, surf the web… all the distractions seem more appealing than my actual work.

So, what to do when there’s so much to do you’re procrastinating even starting?

• Recognize what’s happening.
• Deal with it.
• Force yourself to work.

Which is exactly what I’m going to do now.

Right after I make myself a cup of tea.

DOH!

I have, for more than a week, been trying to get some resolution from the hotel I mentioned in earlier posts by telephone. I was, I suppose, of the belief that a phone call would be more effective than email. And in some cases it is. But today, out of frustration, I pulled open a Google search to dig out some relevant email addresses. I sent an email to the Assistant Manager I had been dealing with, and copied the email to the hotel’s General Manager AND the customer relations department of the hotel chain’s head office.

A half a dozen phone messages couldn’t get a call back from the hotel in six days. An email worked within six minutes. Not only did I receive a phone call, but my issues were resolved nearly instantly.

What was in the email? Simply a note to say that I was dismayed with the lack of contact, that I thought I had been lied to when the hotel management said they would quickly resolve the issue, and a promise to share my negative experience on hotel review sites on the Web. I believe that it was the fact that the mail was sent to his superiors rather than the content of the message that spurred the Hotel manager into action, but the accusation of deception and dishonesty on the part of the hotel probably helped as well.

In any case, all’s well that ends well. And as a final takeaway, I’ve learned the power of a well distributed email to achieve results.

I have nothing against Hotels.com. Up until last weekend, I thought they served a useful purpose. But I’ve learned my lesson, and from here on, while I may find a hotel at Hotels.com or Expedia, I will be booking directly through the hotel.

Here’s why.

Last weekend I stayed at a hotel I booked through Hotels.com (Hotels.ca actually). During my stay, my laptop and other electronics were stolen from the hotel room. If I had booked my room directly through the hotel, I would not have had to pay for my stay because of the incident, according to the hotel manager.

However, because the room was booked and paid for through Hotels.com, they were not equipped to refund me directly. They could refund the money to Hotels.com, but there would be no reassurance that any of that money would make it back to me. Ever.

I now understand that while booking through a middleman may seem convenient, when things go wrong that extra company in the middle makes things far more inconvenient in the long run.

So from now on, I’ll find my hotel online, but book directly by phone. Odds are, by booking directly I’ll probably save money as well.