I have used several URL Rewriting engines in my career and one of my favorites is the Apache mod_rewrite. It is a very powerful rewrite engine and today I learned something new about it. Basically, I was browsing the Practical Driving Test Booking page and I noticed a message saying that this system is only available between 6AM and midnight. That’s when it occurred to me that URL rewriting could be used for doing such a thing.

I started looking for this and sure enough this is one of the features of mod_rewrite. Here is the code to achieve this :-

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{TIME_HOUR}%{TIME_MIN} >2359
RewriteCond %{TIME_HOUR}%{TIME_MIN} <0600
RewriteRule ^index\.cfm$ /systemdown.html [L]

This morning, while driving to work, I somehow started thinking of the movie The Bucket List. And I decided to make one of my own! And I also thought why did I not think of this before. It is a great idea to have a list you can refer to and keep marking items off the list as you finish them. Gives you a feeling of satisfaction. Well, to me, anyways.

So, I started building my list. Here is what I came up with. I will keep on adding to this list as things keep coming to my mind but here is a start :-

• Do a Parachute Jump from an Airplane.
• Ride in a Hot Air Balloon.
• Buy a brand new BMW X5 (or a better model by the time I am ready to buy).
• Go to Niagra Falls.
• Go to Las Vegas.
• Do a couple of hours Flying and try and do a solo flight one day. Although flying Solo is not as strict as just flying.
• Bungee Jumping (Done this already!) – but need to do again.
• Go on a Cruise Holiday for atleast 2 weeks straight. Never had that long a holiday that didnt involve work and didnt involve family visits.
• Visit Leh Ladakh (http://www.ladakhadventure.com/) in India – possibly in a self-driven 4×4 vehicle.
• Visit atleast once all the Seven Wonders of the World.
• Have the dedication and devotion to lose weight and bring my weight according to my BMI. This is a big one!

This is it for now but I might add more to this list. So, how about others? Does anyone maintain such a list? I would love to see what others have on their list.

P.S. – For those who dont know or have not seen the movie – A Bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die.

If you want to make a promise to someone, there is a new website that might help you send your promise/message across in a way that your loved ones will remember and can actually keep with them.

The website is called Bank of Promises.

Here is a brief from the site itself :-

About the Bank :-
The Bank of Promises allows you to send an alternative to, and hybrid of, a greeting card (birthday, Christmas, Valentines etc) and a gift – it’s a card with a Promise Note included.

About the Note:-
The Promise Notes are a similar size, and have a similar look and feel, to bank notes but instead of stating “One Pound”, they state “One Promise”. Each Promise Note is printed with a unique serial number so that no two are ever alike.

And for those who are interested, yes, I have been involved in developing this website and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it. This is basically a phase 1 of a much larger plan but for now, its out there and ready for people to send out promises to each other. Please feel free to spread the word across.

I haven’t really blogged about this before, but approx. 1.5 years ago, I decided to quit my permanent job and start taking up only contract roles. I was a bit worried about this whole contracting thing, when I initially decided to take this route. I was concerned that what if I don’t get a project for an extended period of time etc and all those worries that any newbie would have. But it has been good so far.

I have been getting different roles throughout, not necessarily without a gap, though. My main skills are ColdFusion and Flex/AIR and out of the 3 contracts I have done in the past 1.5 years, one was purely ColdFusion, one was purely Flex and the third one was a mixture of both. It takes time to find contracts and there is almost always a little gap in when you finish one and start another one.

Coming to the reason of this post, I would like to announce that I have  managed to setup my ltd company’s website . Yes, that’s the name – Ansh Consulting. I have tried to keep the website a simple and informational one. That’s how I like things to be – simple and straight forward. Feel free to have a look and feel free to do any constructive criticism as well. And without a question, feel free to send in any project queries that you would like to hire us for. No job too big or small.

Its been a couple of months I haven’t really posted anything at all here. It has been a really busy period for me. I have taken up a new Flex role and the project is quite interesting and demanding. I spend literally all my time on this project and finishing off some other commitments in any extra time I get.

I have got a lot of useful information I have learned in the past 2 months and I hope to blog about them pretty soon. And yeah, I have been following all the ColdFusion Builder and CF9 related posts, lately. Pretty cool Stuff! I will be back in the blogosphere soon, guys!

Happy Coding!

I have been working on this project for the last few months and we have been successful in launching this on time as per the schedule.

The URL is http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/ – It has got both a Flex version and an HTML version. I personally love the Rich Experience (Flex version) as it provides a really smooth interface for anyone who is looking for a used Mazda car. The HTML version is no less either.

For those who are interested, this is all ColdFusion and Flex with some jQuery love attached to it.

I would like to thank the whole team at 2ndByte for being supportive throughout and making this happen. It was fun to be part of this project.