February 2004 - Posts
I hate it when someone says this…
Friday, February 27, 2004
8:34 AM
I'm sitting in a presentation right now. The speaker just asked for a show of hands of those who are familiar with <blah>, and 90% of the audience lifted their hands.
He then followed it with…
OK. I know you're already familiar with this [the content on a particular slide] so I won't bore you with it
signaling that he would move right along to the next slide.
<the part I hate>
But then the speaker spent the next 5 minutes talking about the content on the slide that he wasn't going to talk about.
</the part I hate>
Damn, I hate it.
Move on! Be nice to the audience.
Paul done good!
Thursday, February 26, 2004
4:27 PM
My good bud Paul Murphy presented 6+ hours of security-related information at the launch of the Toronto Security Briefing on Wednesday.
And based on the comments in his blog (http://paul.bz/blog/posts/295.aspx) he did a super job (which is no surprise).
I'm going to have the pleasure of co-presenting the opening keynote with Paul at the Seattle and Portland DevDays.
If you haven't registered for DevDays yet, hop on over and do it today.
http://www.microsoft.com/devdays2004
The Portland .NET User Group (http://www.padnug.org) meeting is TONIGHT (2/26/04).
Rory Blyth is going to expose himself give a Longhorn presentation (http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/3695.aspx) with Chris Sells as his code monkey.
So be there and be square.
Another excellent article…
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
8:29 AM
By Eric Sink (http://software.ericsink.com/20040223.html#10157) now available on MSDN.
If you haven't seen the series by Eric, you need to check it out. Tons of practical, down-to-earth information.
5 stars.
What is this guy thinking?
Sunday, February 22, 2004
2:27 PM
Ralph Nader has thrown his hat into the 2004 Presidential race.
Does he actually think he stands a chance of winning? Or does he just want to muck up things like he did in 2000. Sure, take part in the process, use your name to help shape the debate, raise awareness on issues.
But for him to run as an independent is just self-serving glorification. Hopefully he won't raise enough signatures to get placed on the ballot.
I'm not in the "anybody but Bush" camp, but I'm definitely in the "Nader, get real" camp.
Interesting web site: http://www.ralphdontrun.net/.
On the road again...
Saturday, February 21, 2004
10:46 AM
Just got back from the Oregon coast -- seems like only a few hours ago -- and now I'm back on the road again. This time back to Seattle for a week-long conference, which is preceded by a 2-day pre-conference conference.
At least I have my pictures to remind me of the peaceful times at Depoe Bay...
A friend I met while at the coast.
Wonderful sunset...
It just takes time...
Saturday, February 21, 2004
10:44 AM
From Early Adopter Weblog (http://radio.weblogs.com/0117167/2004/02/15.html#a581), a pointer to an excellent article "Teach yourself programming in 10 years" at http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html.
There's no easy way out. Learning takes time.
DevDays, DevDays, Devdays
Thursday, February 19, 2004
9:33 PM
http://www.microsoft.com/devdays2004
Spread the word. Invite your friends.
Portland DevDays on March 17. Spend St. Patrick's Day partying with your friends at DevDays in Portland.
Seattle DevDays on March 18. Spend the day after St. Patrick's Day recovering with your friends at DevDays in Seattle.
See you there!
If you read this in my blog, then TAG! You're it! You need to blog about it too.
Dial up != Internet...
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
8:40 PM
It's been so long since I've used dial up internet. It's so slow. Don't let anyone fool you. Dial up does NOT equal internet. If you're still using dial up today and you have access to broadband (or cable) switch! You don't know what you're missing!
With the slow link, while I've been on vacation I haven't been able to keep up with all the goings on in the blog world. So I'll check up with my homies in a couple of days.
In the meantime there have been some neat-o Kodak picture moments here at Depoe Bay. (Nothing like uploading a picture using dial up to give you time to sit back and think.)
A miracle: February on the Oregon coast. . . And the sun breaks through!
Anyway, I hope Rory (http://neopoleon.com) has been able to survive the XAML / XUL firestorm he created a few days ago.
And I hope Scott's (http://www.hanselman.com/blog) SPOT watch is still humming along well.
Paul's (http://paul.bz/blog) going to be in Portland on Thursday (tomorrow) to deliver some excellent MSDN content. Hope y'all go.
I'm sure James (http://dotavery.com/blog) is continuing with his .NET Nightly series. Can't wait to get back to catch up on those.
I wonder if Steve (http://hyperthink.net/blog) is still talking about SOA on his blog? He has some deep thoughts going on there.
And perhaps Greg (http://www.greghughes.net/rant) has some more tips about using OneNote as his blog editor. I use OneNote for my entries too.
And just a shout out to Joe (http://www.deploymentcentric.com/blogs/joe) and John (http://www.deploymentcentric.com/blogs/john).
Wiring Nunit into VS.NET debugging…
Sunday, February 15, 2004
7:35 PM
Still reading "Extreme Programming Adventures in C#" by Ron Jeffries.
In the book he shows how to hook Nunit into VS.NET's debugger. It's a straightforward process, but for VS.NET 1.1 there's one "step" missing:
- Right click on the project you want to debug in the Solution Explorer and select Properties…
- Be sure you have selected the Configuration: Debug.
- Under Configuration Properties | Debugging, for the Debug Mode choose Program
- Press the Apply button (this is the missing step)
- For the Start Application, click on the "…" button and work your way over to Nunit.
- Press OK
Now whenever you debug you'll bring up Nunit. You can still set breakpoints and step through code just as you always have.
I really like this: "I expect that you'll see that working this way serves well to keep the problems small, keep the code working, and make the code easy to improve." (page 29)
This is fun…
Sunday, February 15, 2004
6:45 PM
Vacation.
I'm reading "Extreme Programming Adventures in C#" by Ron Jefferies. I'm working through the examples he's given using VS.NET, Nunit for regression testing, and a single user edition of Vault for source code control. So far I really like the format for the book. It's interesting to read what's going on in his head as he's learning C# while using Extreme Programming concepts. I know C#; I don't know Extreme Programming.
I'm also sitting on the bed in my condo, listening to the waves crash onto the rocks at Depoe Bay, Oregon. Glass of wine on the nightstand. TV turned off.
And I'm soooo relaxed.
This is the way work ought to be. :)
I am not alone…
Sunday, February 15, 2004
8:25 AM
<standingUp laugh="nervous">Hi, my name is Jim. And I am left-handed.</standingUp>
There. I've admitted it. I'm on the road to recovery. Although there's not much I'm going to be able to do at this point in my life to change my left-handedness.
But the BBC reports that I have no need to be ashamed. Left-handedness was common in the Ice Age http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3485967.stm -- about the same percentage as there are today. Researchers have determined this by looking at cave paintings in France and Spain.
Cave handprint, Montpellier University
(copied from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3485967.stm)
I can lift my head with pride. My left-handed brethren from ages ago were able to overcome. And so shall I.
If you could do it over again...
Saturday, February 14, 2004
10:15 PM
If you could re-architect your web sites, how would you do it?
Let's say you have several applications on your intranet, such as an employee directory, benefits information, a helpdesk application, etc. The usual stuff.
What would you do?
- Would you put everything into one virtual directory with subdirectories for each application?
- Would you put each major application into its own "root level" virtual directory?
Why would you choose one over the other? What things would influence you to choose one over the other?
An obvious issue with the first design is if you change the root level web.config file it's going to restart every application. But, if you went with option #1 it might be easier to manage because you could control everything from one web.config (which has been set up to control the subdirectories inside it).
Which do you think would be easier to maintain (operations point of view)?
What about the development group(s)? Do you think either would be easier to design, develop test than the other?
What else would you consider and why?
Rambling...
Saturday, February 14, 2004
9:22 PM
Seattle is known for its rainy winters (and spring, and fall). But some days even during this time of year can be spectacular. The clouds part, the sun shines, and it becomes obvious that there's more to life than computers and debating XAML v. XUL.
Mt. Rainier as seen from Bellevue
Not that technology isn't important, or that debating such things is boring. But when you look out the window and see a spectacular sunset over the Olympic Mountains with the Seattle skyline in the foreground… even Rainbow Six 3 on XBOX doesn't seem all that important any longer.
Seattle skyline with Olympics and sunset, as seen from Bellevue.
(I took these pictures (above) the last time I was in Seattle (or actually at the Microsoft office in Bellevue). It happened to be a clear couple of days.)
But then the sun goes back to its usual hiding place for another few months, and we forget about "trivial" things such as "why are we here?" We can get back to the heady topics of Nunit, extreme programming, C# v. VB.NET, and proper application design. When the clouds take over, it's time to join friends and acquaintances in rousing discussion, even if it's through a blog.
A flock of Nerds seen at January's Portland Nerd Dinner. (Those are Rory's hands off to the right. They made a surprise appearance, ate a serving of Indian food, then said "goodbye" to rejoin Rory at his apartment. They didn't say whether they walked or took the bus.)
At least we've had a chance to sit back and reflect on things great and small.
Get real…
Saturday, February 14, 2004
4:07 PM
I was out and about today and a car passed me. I looked over as it passed and on the inside of the windshield the guy had a radar detector.
OK.
But as the car passed on by I saw "Toyota Prius Hybrid."
Heh. A Prius with a radar detector.
Big dreams.
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