All About Blogs and RSS

Here is a good article on what blogs are technically all about. It doesn't go in to the community that bloggers have, but it is quite informative. Check it out!

New Dev site

Ziff Davis has started a new developers site just for Windows/.NET Developers.  It's called  DevSource. On my first spin around the site it looks like it has some very useful articles and great tips. One of the articles that caught my attention was under their using VS section. ".NET Rock Stars: Chris Sells", it's an interview with Chris on windows development. It's pretty much a must read. The other article interested me was again, under the using VS section "Framework Patterns", this article specifically is targeting exception handling. It's good stuff, check it out.

Geek Glossary Part I

It was brought to my attention that I use a lot of acronyms ;-). And it's true, I do. With my job, it saves me about ten hours a week using acronyms in emails, phone calls, and in meetings. The computer industry is just over flowing with them. However, some acronyms have a different meaning depending on how they are used. It's like all the rules we have in the English language at it's worst. Let me give you an example. Here are two sentences using the same acronym to say two different things.

• wrote something in ASP today.
• I need to call our ASP to find out what happened.

So if that wasn't confusing enough I use phrases like "Classic ASP" and "ASP.NET". These are referring to versions of Active Server Pages. So in truth "Classic ASP" means version 3.0 and "ASP.NET" means version 4.0 and 4.1.

During a recent meeting at work, we were discussing the "API" for interfacing with this or that, and one of the people in the lending department asked what an "API" was. I thought this was a great question, because as geeks we forget that not everyone knows or even has any clue as to what we are talking about. So what does "API" mean? Well, it stands for Applications Programming Interface. Don't you feel better knowing that? So now you are going great, what does an Application Programming Interface mean in English. What it really means is, it is a way, or more correctly an program that someone has written that has methods of letting you talk with this other program, without having to know the particulars about it. Now, you are thinking so APIs are something that makes it easier to program for something. And the answer to that is a very positive, ummmm sometimes, maybe...

The last one we will cover today is "blog". It isn't really an acronym, and it's barely a word. Basically it's slang. What blog actually started out as was "Weblog". Then someone started to drop the "we" of "weblog" to make it "blog". So basically a blog or weblog is a web page that is updated almost daily that consists of someone?s ramblings, rants, raves and even geeky thoughts. (Kind of like this one).

Until our next installment of Geek Glossary, here is a link to a great Geek Glossary to look up computer acronyms and other computer industry mumbo jumbo.

Thing one and Thing two

thing one
 I noticed something the other day but didn't have time to mention it. The blog has passed 1000 views. What's even cooler than that is for the most part my views aren't counted. Which is kind of cool because it is just the count of you guys visiting.

 When I started this blog four months ago, I didn't think about anyone visiting it. It was more like writing to the ether. However I have had people visit the blog from Sweden, Italy, Japan, Spain, Germany, China and of course from all over the United States. It's interesting to see on my little blog, the effect the internet has, and the whole global village idea coming true.

 Now I know that most of the readers of my blog are friends and family and I thank you for thinking that I have something interesting to say. Even when I go on and on about ASP.Boring (as one comment suggested ;-D ). I want all of your feedback, so please don't hesitate to use the comments feature. Just click Comment(n) and write away. If you have a popup blocker on, you may have to turn it off to use comments.

thing two
 On tuesday's blog I talked about a little utility called BlogJet. What it is, is a windows applications that works like Word for your blog posts. You don't really have to know any html to write you posts and have it look like you want it to. It has bold, italics, underline, bulleted lists, images and hyperlinks tools built in. It also as a really nice feature for people like me that lets you look at the code. (Being that I dream in code, I couldn't image not being able to see before posting my blog.)

 Every post since tuesday has been done through Blogjet. I am not sure why, but I find it more convenient to write and edit my posts in it. It's fairly intuitive and is really easy to set up. It even has settings to allow you to post blog account (for example I use blogger.com) and upload any images you are using for your blog to another server. While I haven't used this yet, it is a great idea and really speeds up the time it takes to post content to your blog.  Another nice feature is it allows you to connect to different blogger accounts. Not everybody uses only one  blog service and the creators of blogjet understand this.

 While I do think this is a great little product I do have a short feature wishlist. (Remember it is still in beta 1)

• Spellchecker
• CSS support
• Cleaner HTML code in Code View

I am happy to tell that these features are on the feature request list on the BlogJet forum.

Got to code today

Today ended up having fun coding this afternoon. We needed something that let people securely move the data. So that is what I wrote. It was in classic asp and it was made up of little components that I have created over the last year or so. I also used some components from AspUpload that are really nice and easy to use. We also purchased and are using thier XUpload product which is a very user friendly way of uploading multiple files. It even lets the users drag and drop out of windows explorer.

It has been a little while since I've done anything in classic asp. It was actually nice. I am surprised about how easy it is to switch languages some days and so difficult others. I didn't have any problems today. Everything just flowed from a code point of few. For the most part I got a secure upload and download application done in a couple of hours including the user interface and security. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a modular piece of code that is reusable and perfect to use in ten other things. It was a one off solution. But it works and it solved a problem. Sometimes it's really nice to be able to solve a problem quickly.

Of course I am working on a .NET version of the same thing that is way more modular and will use Active Directory for security of the internal users and a salted hashed password for the external users. It will always create and delete directories and documents on the fly or scheduled. It will allow the helpdesk group to create the secure transfer sites on the fly.

late train early day

So today started at 5:00am, to make it to the train at 5:30am to get to work by 7:15am to get work done before the meeting at 8:00 am. After the Meeting at 8:00am ended at 9:00am, we had a meeting that lasted from 9:15am to 5:30pm. I caught the last train for home at 5:50pm. Got stuck in union station because the train taking me home at 7:00pm hadn't even showed up yet at 7:15pm. So I took the gold line to pasadena that left at 7:20pm to get to old town pasadena at 7:50pm. My beautiful wife picked me up at 8:00pm and we got home at 8:45pm.

XML-Based page templates

So at work I am trying to find ways of automating and templatizing everything. One of things that I found today with this goal in mind was an article on xmlforasp.net regarding XML-Based ASP.NET Page templates. This is such a nice was to things. While all of the internal/intranet applications that Ed and I write have different functionality, we are trying to keep them having the same look and feel. This goes a long way to help that happen. The other great thing that this article addresses is making it easier for Jr. Developers and Content Publishers to use these templates. They only need to know basic html to get the job done. If you've ever tried to discribe a for loop to a non-technical person, you know how wonderful this is.

Test of something new

I downloaded this cool little utility called BlogJet. It seems to be working okay. I will try it for the next couple days and let everyone know what I think.

Happy Monday

Well today is my Beautiful Wife's and my three year anniversary. Three years has gone by so fast. It is such a pleasure to be with her. I so enjoy her company, her wit and sense of humor and even her `onery streak. (I find it so adorable, I can't help but be completely in Love with her.) She really is the love of my life!

Today is going to be a happy monday. I am playing hookie from work (with the proper forms filled out in triplicate and signed by the correct people in human resources and management) and the little boy is play hookie from school (told the bus driver friday he wasn't coming in) and we are going to Disneyland. It should be a beautiful day for it.

I do have to say, I got the coolest thing for my anniversary present. I got a 20gig apple iPod.It is an amazing device. This little mp3 player will hold up to 4000 songs and is about as thick as two CD cases stacked. The other thing about it is the sound quality is so amazing. It's really nice gift. I know I will enjoy it for a long time.

I know that it's been like three days since I've blogged, it was almost a test to see if I could go a weekend without writing anything in C#, XML, XSD or HTML. So apparently I can, however the withdrawals and terrible :-). I ended up dreaming in code. Speaking of code, one of the other gifts I got was a gift card to Barnes and Noble. This was very nice indeed, and of course I ended up picking out a book on C#, XML and XSD. (Not a big surprise now was it). It's called ".NET and XML understanding the code and markup behind with Wizards", its one of those great O'Reilly books, that us techy geeks love to have on our bookshelves.

Welp, I am off to get ready to go to the happiest place on earth....The Apple store... hmmm I mean Disneyland.

It's okay to Love Cartoons but...

It's okay to love cartoons, but trying to live them is something completely different. Apparently someone loves the Simpson so much that they built a really life replica of their house to live in. Now that's going just a little bit to far don't you think? I mean, I loved the cartoon the transformers growing up, but I'm not in the garage night after night trying to make a porcshe that transfroms into a robot.

Now don't get me wrong. I do enjoy watching cartoons. With a three year old in the house the view choices are rather limited. Fortunately there are movies like "Finding Nemo", "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc" that were created by people who know how to entertain children and adults in the same film. Like I said, it's great to love cartoons, but don't try to live one. In the life of a cartoon, you never know when a piano would get dropped on your head.

Which OS are you?

Which OS are You?

iPodraces

I love it when someone is as creative as they were here in iPodraces. You got to like when someone merges the best MP3 Player on the market with the best part of Star Wars Episode I.

If you catch on to it quick enough you can pretend you where there

Friday night, I was reading by blogroll and came across some that struck a cord. It was on ComputerZen, it linked to a post called "Real Coders, Real Code" by Mat Warren.

It's late, do you know where your coder is? Really, it's a very good question. You think your spouse is sleeping next to you at night. They are not. They are awake, bleary, weary and barely lucid, secretly feeding their addiction. Yes, it is sad and depraved, and utterly reprehensible. Of course, they don't want you to know because they need to keep the mystery. It will make it all the more poignant when the truth does come out, because they have a plan, and it is big. They need to code. It is what makes them go; the juice that makes them feel alive, and it is all leading somewhere. You see, there's an app, and it does something wonderful, and you'll understand when you see it, but it's not exactly done yet. It would be if they could just figure out that frigging API, but the doc sucks straws and the on-line help is out to lunch.

It's nice to know your not alone stressing and obsessing over your code. The comments on the post sure reflected that. My favorite comment was from a women married to a man that is struck with the same "affliction". What she had to say was genius.

Oh yes, I knew this already! I pray for the day my husband comes up from the cold, dark, stinky basement and asks for a beer and plops down in front of the TV to watch the Packers play. Heck I'd settle for a white wine spritzer and figure skating at this point! I sit with a smile on my face nodding as I listen to him excitedly rant about .Net and how he got a (whatever you call it) down to .003 seconds from its previous 3.8! I hug him and tell him I'm proud of him and he can do anything because I know that one day, that idea that's clawing and chewing its way out of his brain will make it out! Yep, I love that coder of mine!

First Review: Dell Latitude D800

So I got the laptop Friday morning, of course I wasn't able to get switched over in an afternoon. (despite how hard I tried) So this weekend took it home, and of course it passed the first test, the curbside appeal. My Beautiful Wife said that it was a very nice looking machine. (from a Mac user that is a very nice complement) The next test was the home network. I have a DLink WiFi router (802.11b, yeah, I know only "b" but, my DSL doesn't do 54mbps, yet so..) and of course it found it immediately. I had no problems with the connection all weekend long, in every room!.

I definitely think that ordering the faster 5400rpm harddrive was the way to go. Between the faster drive and 1gig of RAM it is amazing how fast applications open up. When I got into work today, the last test was completed. Dual Monitors. I have two flatscreens at work and it is something that I am very used to having. I've been running dual monitors since Windows 98. So it was important to me that it worked and it did. After a little Tinkering I set my 1st Monitor up with the DVI connection in the back of the port replicator and then the 2nd Monitor with the anolog VGA connection. They are working and looking great.

The screen on the laptop itself is simply stunning, the color depth and the resolution is awesome.

I can tell that this is going to be a real workhorse of a laptop. I am sure that we will create many wonderful apps together.

Rockin Laptop, Rockin Demo

So this morning when I came in this morning, by Boss told me that he had signed for my laptop today and it is in the building. So I had to do my best to not jump up and down and clap like a fool. I got a new Dell with 1.7ghz Processor, 1 Gig of RAM and a 60gig Harddrive. Of course it has WiFi and Bluetooth. My phone is Bluetooth is it should be a happy little device. So this weekend is going to be taken up with playing...hmmmm I mean working with the new laptop. My first impression is that it is larger than I thought it would be, but it is beautiful.

Yesterday was other vendor demo. It differed from the previous by the answers to the questions. Everywhere we were told "No" in the demo on wednesday, we were told "Yes" in the demo yesterday! So that is just amazingly impressive. Something that works out of the box and yet is amazingly customizable and cofigurable. I am sold. If the decision was up to me we would have gave them a check yesterday.

One part of the demo that I really enjoyed was their Chief Architect , Scott Hanselman going over the architecture of the product. It really open'd some eyes! I was in heaven. I am very thankful Scott took the time to go over that with us. I have to say later that night I had visions of XML Schemas dancing in my head!

One of the other thing that I got from Scott's presentation was CodeSmith. If you aren't using CodeSmith, why? I know what you are going to say, I don't really like the idea of code generators. Well, what about one that you write the template for, hmmmm? Something that saves you 60% of your time doing the redunant coding for you. Okay wait it gets better. Eric Smith has made it a freeware. Now there is a professional version, but isn't only about 80 bucks. Come on, does it get better than that. That is so worth the two to three hours we all spend finding that typo on the easy stuff that we just goofed on.

thought for food

The images that was posted here is no longer available

More Quotes

Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing.
Henry S. Haskins (1878 - 1957)

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), on the eve of his 75th birthday

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
Philip Johnson (1906 - )

The long Parade of Salesman

So today was the first in the Long Parade of Salesman. We are going through the vendor demos for the project at work. It's a large project for us, so the vendor demos last about 8 hours. Yes friends 8 hours! Dare I say it again, 8 hours.

Today was the first one and it went fairly well. Tomorrow is the one I am looking forward too. It's a great company that starts with the letters "cor" and ends in "illian". I get to meet Scott Hanselman tomorrow!

Fuzzy's ready to go

Who's Fuzzy? Actually the question is what is Fuzzy? Before your minds go to far with this..Fuzzy is the Quad that my Dad, brothers and I build. It started life as a YZ 490 dirt bike and is now a full fledge quad. Fuzzy is a purebred mut! It's front suspension and brakes are off of a Honda 250R FourTrax. The Latter half of the rear swingarm and brake are from a Suzuki LT250R, while the first part of the swingarm is the stock YZ490 parts. It using the YZ 490 rear shock and linkage. Keeping with the Mut theme, the front plastic is from a 1986 Honda 250R FourTrax and the Rear Plastic is from a 1987 Suzuki LT250R. The Tank is (strange enough) stock YZ490. We fabricated, modified and welded the frame ourselves. We had a friend do the aluminum welding that merged two swingarms in to one.

In the end, Dad has a one off quad that doesn't look, sounds or ride like anyone else's. It is fast and stable and just a lot of fun to ride. There is a lot of bragging rights that goes with building your own quad. Anyone can buy one, but not everyone can make one!

Quotable Quotes

I currently don't have anything interesting to say, so I will differ to those that do.

No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.
-Fran Lebowitz

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
-Benjamin Franklin

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
-Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-Mark Twain

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.
-Norman Vincent Peale

It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won't go.
-Bertrand Russell

Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?
-Clifford Stoll

Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.
-Doug Larson