Search your Desktop with google

Google the king of internet search is working on a new arena, your desktop. Scott Hanselman posted it on his blog earlier today, and so I decided to try it. It's pretty amazing. Google has wrote a really nice piece of software. It creates a web server on your computer that only serves your local machine. It will index office documents, mp3s, .txt, web pages you have viewed and a lot of others. It doesn't look at system files. Which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.

I've hooked it up to run inside of slickrun, so now I just type in mygoogle in slick run, and it gives me a dynamic input field and I search from there. Overall really pretty nice.

Art Needed

So today, I have a million things to do. What I am doing about it? Nothing, Nothing whatsoever. Today is one of those days that I need art. I need to look at photographs and painting and sculpture. I was talking with my Beautiful Wife and she gets this feeling too. The feeling that, viewing art, creating art is something we needed to do, to be inspired by it. So I was thinking about why is art so inspiring to me. Because after all, art, the art that you like as a person is a deeply personal thing. It connects with you, your memories or you life in someway. Otherwise, I just don't think it would mean anything. So how art inspires me is, its a new viewpoint of something we see everyday. People, Places, Things. It seems to me that we all need a fresh viewpoint from time to time, to not take what we have for granted. Air, green trees, flowers, people you know that kind of stuff.

So I did a little searching and found three sites that have some fantastic photos.
Plush Creative
Quarlo.com
Chromasia

I definitely feel that my love of art, is a family thing. My Grandma C, use to paint all of the time. She painted scenes from scriptures on huge canvas, and I remember when they hung in the Kingdom Hall. From what I understand when she was young she was offered a scholarship to a very prestiges art school, but because of family and finacial reasons, she didn't go. Of course that didn't stop her from painting. She painted, on canvas and statues. She is a very talented lady.

My Mom got some of her talent too. Mom always painted statues, and they almost always looked, well, photorealistic. The shadows were always just right. If it needed to look like it has been there forever, it just did. She taught me some of the techniques, but, there was a lot of talent that went it to those things, they were art. I think that some people that forget, that just because you or your family members create it , that it is still art. Infact, it is even more so, because there is such a personal connection to it.

Grandpa K use to take the best photographs.When I was younger I always look forward to him and Grandma Kcoming back from vacation and have the family slide show. I was always impressed with his photos, and at the time, I would give him the best compliment, I knew..."Wow, they look like postcards". Grandpa K, always took slides, and I loved the way they looked. I remember one time when I got to go with him and Dad to Fedco in pasadena to pick up some of the photo supplies he needed, and feeling like it was a really special event, and it was, it still is, because it is in my memory.

I think Art is important, its memories and family and new things and old things all in one.

 

Boy on the Bicycle

This morning walking to the train, I saw something refreshing and unusual at the same time. It was about 7am, I'm a block away from the train station and I See this Boy on his bicycle, he seems to be about 10 or 11. He had pulled to the side of the road to answer his cellphone (As all responsible drivers do). Apparently his Mom was calling to remind him about something. He ended the conversation by saying "I love you too Mom." As he starts to ride away, I see that he has a basket on the front of his racing bmx bike, and better yet, there was a little puppy wrapped in a blanket in the basket. I looked and him and the puppy and smiled, he smiled back and rode away.

Talking too Fast

This morning I was on the phone with another developer. He is lead/Sr. developer of one of our vendors. He was talking about some new functionality that they were rolling out and the new middle tier that they were going to be using. You know all the technically mumbo jumbo, that makes most people's eyes glaze over, and give you that blank, "If I just keep looking at him, maybe I will have a clue as to what he is saying" stare. Anyhow, I noticed that he was talking really fast. I thought about that, and when I am talking about a tech project that I really enjoy, I talk really fast too. It makes me think that the connections in the brain that we use for tech stuff move so fast that our poor mouths just can't keep up. It's really funny to hear a guy that in a social situation, you can maybe get 100 words out of in two hours, give you 1000 words in 2 minutes when talking about the tech projects.

 

Cool New/Old Trick

I am rewriting part of an application in ASP.NET however, it is still going to need to be in a directory that is mostly classic ASP. In my classic ASP pages, I have <!--#include virtual="mynav.htinc"-->. Well if I were writing the ASP.NET application from sratch I would put the navigation in a .ascx file. However, being that this is a joint resident application, I don't want to do that, because that would mean I have two files to update instead of just the one. (being a lazy programmer, I don't want to have to update an additional file). So how do I use the old .htinc file in my new ASP.NET application. The answer my friends is response.writefile. In your aspx page you simply write the file in. It will read the file, and write the content to the page as it is rendered, just like the virutal include would.

<%

Response.WriteFile("mynav.htinc");

%>

The little Boy and the Monster under the Bed

So this morning, the Little Boy wakes up pretty early, so he comes in to sleep with us. Now I am sound asleep and reportedly making "sleeping noises" (snoring). Anyhow the Little Boy snuggles in to bed with me and My Beautiful Wife and as I snore, he says, "What's that noise?", to which my Beautiful Wife replies, "that is Russ making sleeping noises". The Little Boy says, " no it's a bear!"

Now this really tickled me. You see when I was just about his age, I remember getting up in what felt like the middle of the night and headed to Mom and Dad's room. At the time their room was at the back of the house, so I had to traverse the hallway and my sisters room to get their room. What now amounts to a little less then 20 feet felt like a mile. Right as I get to the door of their room, which was open. I hear this sound. It sounded like a roar, a lion's roar to be exact. So I turned tail and ran back to my room and jumped into the bed and hid under the covers. I remember thinking that Mom and Dad took there sleep pretty seriously, because they had a Lion living under there bed to protect them while their were asleep. Of course now that I am older I know that it was just Dad making "Sleeping Noises".

So my guess is that when the Little Boy has children of his own, and he makes "sleeping noises", his kids will think it was a tiger. Keeping up the family tradition. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Papa's Big Truck

Today was one of the days that you don't look forward to. Well, your glad it's saturday and all, but you just know that you are going to have to work your butt off. You know, that's the thing about being an adult, you just don't get to spend your saturday watching cartoons till ten o'clock and then playing till dinner time. Don't get me wrong it was a good day. I got a bunch accomplished. I helped my friend move some of her stuff. Worked on the car. Helped the Folks set up and teardown for the yard sale they were having. It was a full day. There definitely was a highlight though.

You see I had to borrow my Dad's very cool Dodge truck. It's got the extend cab, lift kit, dual exhaust, bumper guards, light guards, the whole shot. Basically it's like the "Walker Texas Ranger" truck. Dad's got factory tires on it right now, instead of the off-road ones, and you still look down in to other trucks. A cool truck! Anyhow, my Beautiful Wife, and the Little Boy, drop me off, so that I can get the truck. Well the Little Boy loves going to my Mom and Dad's house. He calls Dad, "Papa". So the Little Boy wanted to go to "Papa's house", and didn't understand why he wasn't getting out of the car too. So I explain that I am just borrowing Papa's truck to do some work, and then when I come home I will give him a little ride in it. He was disappointed, but not crying and they drove away.

So, I get my business taken care of, and get home. I didn't park the truck in the drive way, but on the street. My Beautiful Wife and the Little Boy are outside, Max the wonder puppy is running through our yard as well as the neigbhors at lightining speed, when I pull up. Of course, all puppy dogs love truck, so he runs over to it, and we get him inside rather quickly. When I come out the Little Boy has clawed his way in to the passager's side and is ready to go. You could tell that getting him out of the truck was not a fight that you wanted to take on. Well, I still have some errants to do, so my Beautiful Wife and I decide he'd just go with me. (actually the Little Boy decided and we agreed) My Beautiful Wife followed me to our first stop, that way if the Little Boy was done, well he could ride home with her. That's not what happened. I get to the auto parts store, and the Little Boy says, "I'm staying here, okay, I stay in the truck, you go and come back." So I smile and say okay. My Beautiful Wife stayed with him  and I got what I needed. He was staying with the truck. 

So my Beautiful Wife, has some errants to do, I have some others to do, so we decided to meet up a little later and then take the truck back to my Dad. She pulls away, I get in the truck, and start it, of course, I didn't have my seatbelt on so, the little light thing on the dash yelled at me. So without thinking, I respond to it with, "I know, I know, I know" as I put my seatbelt on.  The Little Boy picked this up immediately if not sooner. Now, every time the truck would make a sound he would lift his little arms up, half way, and say "I know, I know, I know". I had to smile every time he said that. Anyhow the Little Boy simple loved riding in the truck. He would see other big trucks and say, "He look, a big truck like us", and I would agree. we had a great time. Well now it was time to take the truck back to Dad's and of course the Little Boy was happy to be at Papa's and they of course where happy to see him. However we were all mesmerized and mystified by his energy level. I believe it had to do with testosterone levels raising in his little body just by being in Papa's Big Truck.

It was time to go home, so we said our goodbyes and we had to break it to The Little Boy that he was going to have to ride home with us in the Camry and not in the Truck. He was disappointed and gave us his trademark "Ahhh mann!". I kind of felt the same way to tell you the truth. I had really enjoyed driving that big ol' truck all afternoon. Anyhow the Little Boy reluctantly gets in the car, and we head for home. We stop on the way home and get him a hot dog to help ease his disappointment. All in all a great saturday, don't you think?

Rembrandt's Eye for art

There is a very interesting article in the International Herald Tribune that suggests that Rebrandt may have been well, a little bit wall-eyed, and that is not being about to see things in true stereo vision is part of the reason he was able to paint scenes from real life to the canvas so well. It also mentioned that this would of made him more attuned to shadows and light.

Being that I was born fairly crossed eyed, and after a surgery when I was three, now slightly (especially when I am tired) crossed eyed I found this fasinating. I've been told that I see 80% of the world out of my right eye and 20% from my left. And that because my vision has been that way since birth that my brain just wired itself to get depth preception. I imagine it was the same way for Rembrandt.

Pow Pow Power Wheels

The Little Boy has one of those powerwheel jeeps that we got at a yard sale. It needs a battery, which of course, we haven't gotten yet. But that doesn't stop him from lifting up the hood and trying to figure out what the issue is. Of course he believes that hitting the battery with a hammer will get it to work. So, I told him that hitting it, isn't going to make it work. To which he reply, "It already doesn't work!", I found that hard to argue with. Anyhow, about 10 minutes later, he has most of my tools on the fenders and in the battery bay of his jeep. He, just knew that ones of those tools was going to fix it. So, I'm thinking I need to pick up the battery for it, and have him help me put it in. And just maybe hit with the hammer once for good measure.

Learning

Today I learned that The Little Boy teaches me more then I teach him. In him I can see my bad and good habits. He teaches me that hating traffic is something you are born with and is not learned. That a 4 year old can drive better then many adults. He has taught me that there are many more uses for a cresent wrench than I originally thought including, pry bar and dispilinary tool for the dog.  I've learned that when I'm in the garage working on something, that he wants to be there too. And more importantly, that he really wants to help work on whatever I am working on, be it a car or a cutting a piece of wood. I've learned that it's hard to argue with the logic of a strong willed 4 year old, especially when they think they are right. I've learned that starting the morning by watching cartoons and not the news is the best way to start your day.

Retro Phones of the Future

I fought getting a cellphone for the past 4 years. I had one in 1999 and after a two hour long phone interview while driving in evening traffic, I decided that I just didn't need that kind of stress. Now I have one, I have had one for about 6 months now. Of course mine is cool geekware. At the time I got it, it was the smallest phone that had bluetooth and all the other groovy things that the new phones have. For the most part its been a great phone. However I have found that accessories are a little slim for it. Then I come across this site POKIA. I am not sure whether to think this is really cool, ore really dumb. After looking through the site some more, I fined the ultimate in Retro meets techno. The Dj Convoy, because there is nothing better than making something big and bulking connect to something small and convenient. Don't get me wrong, I do think it is kind of a cool idea. It just doesn't seem that pratical is all.

Mac guy trapped in a PC world

At heart I am a Apple computer guy. I have always loved their designs. The OS is so much easier to use, and prettier to boot. However I make my living writing code for and on Microsoft machines. But I am still a Mac guy trapped in a PC world. Engadget.com has a great article on how to make your PC look like you are running OS X. So yes, you still have the beige box, but at least what is on the screen looks a whole lot cooler.

Upgrading your G3 Powerbook

A G3 Powerbook is still a great computer. I would love to have one, the design, the keyboard it is all poetry, with the exception of one thing. A design flaw that has been haunting Mac fans for a long time. For some reason Apple made the backlit logo upsidedown. Well, one guy couldn't take it any more. This is his story.

Coordinating colors for the rest of us

Not all of us have taken color theory classes and know which shades of purple compliment green. Fortunately behr paint has made it easy. The other day My Beautiful Wife and I were in Home Depot and played with this really cool computer kioski that had a color scanner and color coordination in one easy to use interface. They also have the same thing sans the color scanner online. http://www.behr.com/behrx/workbook

Bored?

So here is something to do if you are bored http://www.holdthebutton.com/

10 minutes before the next meeting

So I know the blog hasn't been getting much love lately. I do intend to resolve that little issue. Work has been kind of nuts lately. I have the whole home banking conversion thing going on, which requires a lot of planning and quiet time. Of course there are about eight other , top priority projects that need instant attention as well. Now this is a little bit of an enigma to me, how can there be eight top priority projects. By the definition of the word priority should there only be one, maybe two?

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, we are going to upgrade the Database server here at work. Now this is something that we have tried to do once before, and the results were less then stellar so we put it back like it was before. I firmly believe that IT people should subscribe to the same hippocratic oath that doctors do: "do no harm". Nothing is worse then working on a computer and making it worse then it was before you touched it.

This weekend was alot of fun. First My Beautiful Wife and I had a fieldtrip to Fry's. After two hours and two DVDs later, we decided it was time to leave that techno-wonderland. Then on sunday My Beautiful Wife, the Little Boy and I got to go to Disneyland. It has been a while since we had been. (mostly because a. it was too hot,  b.it was tourist season and 3. because our annual passports where blacked out). It was amazing how short the lines were. The longest line was 30 minutes. Well, my outlook alert just popped up telling me it's time for another meeting.

 

 

The Garage Is Clean

Today, was a day, but they all are aren't they. Anyhow one of the goals of the three day weekend was to clean the garage. A daunting task to be sure, but we did it. To our amazement, it only took 6 hours. Now I know what you are thinking, 6 hours is a long time. Well it is, but we expected it to take a couple of days. So 6 hours seems like gift.

We worked in stages, I took the early shift, I got out there at 6:45am (yes, I really wanted to beat the heat) and started the heavy duty cleaning and sweeping. By 7:30 I had found the floor. This was quite an accomplishment. Okay, now that we had a path, and a floor it was time to make some headway on the tabletops. 20 minutes later, I find that we have three of them...who knew. Now with a place to put things and a path to and from the door, we can start going through the boxes, and sort through all the stuff.

Now stage two, the box trot. My Beautiful Wife jointed me for this stage. The box trot is where you move boxes from one end of the garage to the other, and back and forth until they find their correct place in the garage. The box trot only took a couple of hours and in the end we had it all sorted, tons more room and we can find our stuff again. Now we have more room for more stuff. Tomorrow morning we are hitting the Yard Sales.

Early morning, late night

Today, I got up way to early, especially for not getting home till 9:30pm last night. So up dressed and out of the house by 6am, ticket purchased and on the train by 6:20am. Working on the train, just to get it all done. It is going to be a long day.

Goodbye Aunt K

Today was Aunt K's memorial. It was quite lovely, yet sad. On display was pictures of her, her and her friends and some of her art. They read one of her poems, and some passages from her diary. They were lovely, artistic and sweet, like her. My sister had the best comment on the day. "We have to figure out a better way to have family reunions". Grandma and Grandpa K, came up, and we meet Grandma and Grandpa C at the services.(Yes, I know how great it is that I have both sets of grandparents and how I wish that I had more time to spend with them. They are all amazing people who I dearly love) We saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long long time. Some I remember, some I didn't. My Beautiful Wife has been there all day for me. I truly appreciate her. She never got to meet Aunt K, and I really wish should could have. I think they both would of really liked each other.

I have come up with something that have made it easier to deal with her loss. The saying we've lost someone, when they have died. I like the idea that we have simply misplaced them, like your car keys or watches and will someday find them in the last place we looked (of course it's the last placed we've looked, after we find something we typically stop looking for it, but I digress). Someday things will be right back like they were. I have hope that I will see Aunt K again and she won't have any of the pain she had in this life. Also you never really lose someone that has helped you be the person you are, they are always a part of you, so they are always with you.

After the service, we met up at Mom and Dad's. We had dinner, and watched T.V. and talked about funny TV commercials, and things we had done in the past. We told jokes, and funny stories. This is how my family deals with these kind of things. We replace tears with laughter, we always have, and I kind of like it that way. Is like some sort of unwritten rule. Laughing is always better than crying. We didn't talk about Aunt K much tonight, but between the jokes, stories and food, you know that everyone still was thinking about her, I know I am. I'll miss her.

First Impressions

Today I got to spend some time in the code of the new Home Banking system. Spending time in the code is when a developers come up with their first impression. Mine is a good first impression. After spending two days with the Developers installing the product and looking at the code, I am looking forward to working with this product. I know you are thinking you, just bough the product why would you have to work with it. Well the way that most of these kind of things work is what you buy is very vanilla. So we don't buy the product for what it can do today, but what it will be able to do tomorrow.