If you’re like me then you’re constantly thinking of new ways to tweak Mozilla Firefox. This morning I installed an addon called Vertigo. This extension stacks Firefox tabs vertically on the left-hand side of your browser. It worked well enough, but I soon grew tired of having to click twice to a close a tab.

I uninstalled Vertigo and with it went the close button on each of my tabs. To fix this I opened up Firefox’s advanced configuration by typing about:config in the address bar. I filtered by browser.tabs.closeButton and changed the integer value to 1.

The close buttons immediately reappeared. Alakazam!

For the curious:

0 - Close button on active tab only.
1 - Close button on every tab.
2 - No close buttons.
3 - Close button at the end of the tab bar (ala Firefox 1.5).

I’ve spent the last six years living in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It’s not the largest or most interesting town, but now that I’m leaving I can’t help but feel that I’m going to miss it. Many people recognize Bradford from having owned a Zippo lighter. Zippo Manufacturing Company is the largest employer in Bradford and has provided me with an internship and 5 years of employment.

As a programmer at Zippo I was never hindered by technology. Programmers there are are encouraged to get the job done using whatever tools are available. As a Web Developer I was involved in developing websites in ASP, JSP, and ASP.NET. I authored the Zippo Framework, wrote development guidelines, and developed the company’s Continuous Integration system.

As of Monday, I’m an employee of Primus Technologies Corporation. Primus is a leading circuit assembly and electronics manufacturing company. They are responsible for battlefield communications, aircraft electronics, missiles, shipboard and submarine guidance and tracking, surveillance, homeland security, IFF and integrated combat systems.

Primus has been great so far. Just today I completed training sessions in ISO9000/AS9100 and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) safety. I must admit that I look smashing in my blue ESD smock (pictures coming soon).

My wife and I (mostly my wife) have finished unpacking most of our belongings and are looking forward to life in a new town. Thanks to those that helped us move! With a tinge of sadness I must say, so long Bradford, and thanks for all the fish.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64. Like many 30-somethings, I have fond memories of the C64. It was my first computer and provided years of wonder and learning.

All I wanted for Christmas in 1986 was a Commodore 64. While opening presents Christmas Day, I saved the biggest box for last. I knew that Mom and Dad would see fit to buy me this fantastic machine. I shredded the wrapping paper with haste. I was so excited that I barely noticed my father walking off to the kitchen to brew another pot of coffee. I tore at the last bits of tape and paper with a heart-sinking feeling in my chest. I’d saved the biggest and best gift for last, but my C64 was not inside. In its place was a terrestrial globe of the earth. I was stunned.

My mother rushed off to the kitchen to help my father. The passing minutes seemed like hours. My mother yelled out from the kitchen. The Monkey Bread had finished baking and my younger brother and I were to report to the dining hall. What a rotten Christmas. Not only did I not get that beige beauty, but we weren’t going to eat breakfast surrounded by Christmas toys.

My brother and I ran upstairs and into the dining room to find our parents standing next to our first family computer – a Commodore 64C. Typed lovingly at the Commodore BASIC V2.0 command prompt was the message,

MERRY CHRISTMAS RYAN AND ERIC.

LOVE, MOM AND DAD. 

The Commodore 64C fascinated me for years. I spent many days playing games with friends and cutting my first BASIC programs. In the 80s you could find C64s on display in many department stores. If one were so inclined they could have written infinite loops on these display computers with a few simple lines of Commodore BASIC.

10 PRINT “RYAN WAS HERE!!!”
20 GOTO 10

Or maybe something not as nice. My parents didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of my programming career. Times have changed, but I still have a place in my heart for the C64.