This will finish the "what do you read this summer" posts.

Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace and Jim Erickson is basically a Bill Gate biography up to about 1993.  It focuses mainly on Bill's interaction with computers in general and then Microsoft specifically, but it also includes not necessarily Microsoft related information about Bill.  I think it is a good source of "how did Microsoft get started" information...if you are looking for that type of info, that is.

The Interpretation of Financial Statements by Benjamin Graham and Spencer Meredith is a primer on common financial terms.  If you aren't too familiar with how financial statements work or what their line items mean, this book is a good place to start.

Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies was quite the conversation piece last year when it was released.  It is a first person account of the counter-terrorism efforts of the United States government over the last 20 years or so.  As Clarke says himself in the book, it is written form his perspective, but that aside, it provides a glimpse of where we stand and how we got to where we are.  If Clarke's account of Clinton's efforts are to be believed, it also gave me a bit of respect for him.

The Supreme Court by William Rehnquist is a detailed history of the United States Supreme Court up to the (almost) present day.  Like All the Laws but One, it is written for those without a background in the law.  It explains the history, the purpose, and the day-to-day operations of the Supreme Court.  It was a very interesting read and I am saddened that he is no longer around to write similar books in the future.

Apple Confidential 2.0 by Owen Linzmayer is a history of Apple from its founding to about 2003.  For the most part I found it very informative, though two things stood out as annoying.  First is the style of the book.  Rather than taking a time line approach, the author takes a topical approach and then does that topic chronologically.  This makes the book a bit disjointed.  For instance, if you have never heard of "Copland" (and I hadn't), you have to wait till near the end of the book to understand how it fits in the time line.  The other thing is that, though the author is critical of Apple general and Steve Jobs specifically, he often makes incorrect claims about market share, product performance, and the like.  It's not annoying Apple fan boy literature, but it isn't exactly unbiased either.  Then again, it's hard to find a book on either Apple or Microsoft that feels unbiased.

It's My Party, Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America by Christine Whitman was of interest to me, because she was the governor of New Jersey when I lived there.  The book describes Whitman's opinion on what it means to be a Republican, where the party stands right now, and where it needs to go.  It was an interesting read, though I think her logic is flawed in many cases.  One major instance of this is brushing aside issues such as gay marriage and abortion as though her position is the only logical and acceptable one.  If such things were so obvious, the issues wouldn't be hotly debated as they are.  That aside, it is an first person account of roughly the last 50 years of Republican politics.

For the last little while, I've intended to review the books I've read lately.  Of course, I was so involved with reading the next book that I never quite got around to it...until now.

The first book on my list is Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card.  I made the mistake of reading Ender's Shadow a few years ago, which resulted in my getting hooked.  I subsequently read Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets.  The long awaited Shadow of the Giant is the final book (I hope!) in the Shadow series.  It was quite the page turner for me.  The scenarios are a little contrived (as they are in the other books), but plot is more engaging.  If you've read the others, I'd certainly recommend reading this to round out the series.

Next up is The Dark Side of Camelot by Seymour Hersh.  Hersh has become a favored author of mine, which is a bit odd.  He writes, presently, for the New Yorker to which I once subscribed.  When I was a subscriber, however, I hardly read it.  Hmm.  Anyway, this is written in sort of a "tell all" biography of John F. Kennedy.  I got the impression after reading Chain of Command that Hersh was anti-Republican.  I think now that he is simply a blunt muck-raker and will point out flaws he finds in either party.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins is somewhat of an odd choice for me.  I read it, because it appeared to be a book about an insiders' view on world economic trends.  It turned out to be a not-too-thrilling auto-biography.  Perhaps I'm a victim of the economic machine that Perkins describes, so his book is lost on me.  At any rate, it wasn't too inspiring.

The late William Rehnquist's All the Laws but One is a history of US civil rights in war time.  Rehnquist takes a balanced look at the needs of the government to protect the people in time of war and at the rights of the people that government is there to protected.  It is a scholarly work but one that is suited for a common, non-lawyer audience.

Antonin Scalia's A Matter of Interpretation, however, is a work that is likely more suited for lawyers.  While much of it made sense to me, I can't help but think I missed some points due to my lack of background in the law.  The format of the book is Scalia's view on how the laws should be interpreted, followed by response by four others, followed by Scalia's counter-response.  I make note of this, because I expected this was a single author text when I got it.

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was better than its predecessor Order of the Phoenix but still left a bit to be desired.  The plot felt contrived just as it did in Order of the Phoenix.  For instance, I couldn't help but think that Harry and Dumbledore didn't meet too often, because it would have threatened the plot flow.  In reality, however, I think they would have met together more frequently, shared more information, and accomplished much more.  This is fiction, however, so it is still a must read for those who have trudged through the first five books.

Rich Dad's Prophecy by Robert Kiyosaki is a book I picked up at an airport on a return flight from North Carolina last year.  Shortly after returning home, it settled on my bookshelf and began collecting dust.  Like other books in the Rich Dad series, it is a guide to money management.  It warns of an impending stock market crash as a result of mandatory stock sales in ERISA-based retirement accounts in the coming years as baby boomers hit retirement age.  The goal of the books isn't doom and gloom but rather awareness and preparedness.  I'm not sure that I subscribe to Robert's logic, but I recognize he's richer than I am by a long shot and is worth listening to.

I don't want to weigh in on content of video games, but I do want to weigh in on a few of the business practices. The last few weeks have been alive with hub bub over the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' hack that shows explicit sexual content with a downloadable mod. In the last few days, Take Two has finally owned up to the hardcore porn it included in a video game that parents were buying for their teen age sons...parents that quite likely weren't also buying them copies of adult magazines or subscriptions to porn sites. My issue with this is not that GTA pushes the envelope with what is acceptable content for a video game but rather that they deceive those who buy the product. If you want to sell hardcore porn in a video game, then do that. Don't pretend you're selling something else. Call a spade a spade.

Potential Revenge of the Sith spoiler alert.

Much has been made of the overt allusions between the Sith and the George W. Bush administration and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.  My only issue with this is that no such allusions exist.  I think it would be easier to produce evidence of Matrix Reloaded bashing albinos.

I have a hunch about the hubbub, but let me digress for a bit.  Back in high school I wrote 10 or so papers dealing with literary criticism.  I'd go and find the mythological, historical, and biblical allusions, the rhetorical devices, and so forth.  I'd then paint my opinion of the author's intent based on the allusions, devices, etc.  The one thing I want to emphasize here is that what my papers claimed and what the authors' opinions really were didn't have to match.  It was entirely possible that I was mistaken, that the overtones really were coincidence, that an editor had modified the original text, or whatever.

Back to the Sith...my thought is that Lucas, and his own words confirm this, wrote a story that follows historical precedents regarding dictatorships or warfare.  Is there a comparison between Spartacus's Crassus and Star War's Palpatine?  Absolutely.  Both were conniving politicians who subtly and violently came to power exterminating their opponents as they went.  I'm not so sure this sounds like a picture perfect W to me.  Is there a comparison between Anakin's (now Darth Vader) line "If you are not with me, you are my enemy" and Jesus Christ's line "He that is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12: 30)?  Absolutely.  Both refer to a mindset that is common in time of war (Anakin's war was political, and Christ's was spiritual).  This does parallel W's statement about the war on terror, but I think it is more likely that W was alluding to Christ's statement, so even if Lucas was alluding to Bush he was indirectly alluding to Christ.

All in all, I think that Star Wars was abstract commentary on human nature and not focused on any specific government or time period.  Certainly the ideas Lucas addressed as causes of dictatorship - pride, lust, envy, and greed - are as old as humankind and not new since W took office.

I've received several failed email delivery notices today.  It seems that someone has decided to spoof my domain and send out a large batch of, doubtless, unsolicited spam.  As if the spam isn't bad enough, whenever a destination address is invalid, I get notified.

For the non-Mormon readers, I thought I'd post a small scale glossary of missionary terms that I'm likely to use.  This is certainly not exhaustive and is molded by my personal experience.  The reason I decided to post this now is that I have been cooking up a blog post for the last few days that draws on an experience from my mission.  For greater understanding of this and future posts, I thought I'd provide some definitions.

Missionary - Worthy and desirous Mormon men aged 19-25 and women 21-30 (? forgot the upper bound) can be full time missionaries.  Men's missions are for 24 months and women's for 18.  The title for a man is Elder and for a woman is Sister.  Most missions are proselytizing though humanitarian aid-only or other service-only missions exist too.  Missionaries are volunteer only and are not materially compensated for their time.  Typically, the missionary and his/her families pay for the missionary's support in the mission field.  There is also a church missionary fund that ensures all missionaries have funds for the necessities - housing, food, etc.

Mission / Mission field - this the place where a missionary works.  The mission name is a specific place but the term "mission field" is a general term.  For instance, I was a missionary in the Russia Moscow Mission, so for me Moscow, Russia and a few other nearby cities were the mission field.

President - each mission is headed by a mission president and his wife.  They are the priesthood authority for the missionaries and the top of the chain of command, so to speak.  The president's title is President and his wife's is Sister.

Assistant to President (AP) - typically, the mission president has two APs from the rank and file elders.  Their function is at the president's discretion.  Typical tasks for APs include - the top of the chain for gathering weekly statistics, training (missionary skills and language (for foreign missions)), and event organizing (conferences and other large scale meetings).

Zone Leader (ZL) - a mission is divided up into one or more zones.  Each zone has a zone leader who is similar in function to an AP but only for the scope of his zone.

District Leader (DL) - a zone is divided up into one or more districts.  Each district has a district leader who is similar in function to an AP but only for the scope of his district.

Area - a district is divided into one or more areas.  An area is a geographical location within a district where a single companionship of missionaries work.

Companionship - missionaries typically serve in pairs (though sometimes in threesomes).  A pair of elders or a pair of sisters are called a companionship.  Companionships are not mixed gender.

Trainer - when new missionary enters the field, his first companion is his trainer.  The trainer's responsibility, along with the standard duties he/she has in the area, is to train the new missionary in missionary skills and to help learn the language if it is a foreign mission.

Senior companion / Junior Companion / Co-companion - generally, the senior missionary (the one who has been in the field the longest) is designated as the senior companion while the other is the junior companion.  Senior companion is a title (like DL, ZL, or AP) and can be given to the companion with less time in the field.  If the two companions are not united in their opinion of what to do, where to go, etc., the senior makes the final call.  Some missions have co-companions or co-senior companions.  Here, there is no tie breaker vote, so to speak.

Stats - missionaries keep weekly stats on their activities.  These include metrics such as total proselytizing hours, non-proselytizing service hours, number of first time contacts, number of baptismal commitments, number of baptisms, etc.

Transfers - roughly once a month, new missionaries enter the field.  This is also the time when in the field missionaries might be assigned to new areas.  Transfers occur differently depending on the mission (more than anything how they happen is a function of the geography).  The one thing that is common is this - the assignments for companionships, areas, and leadership change during Transfers.

Office staff - the function of the mission office is dependent on the president.  Typically, the office takes care of things such as missionary apartments (when rent is due, the contracts, etc.), transfers transportation (getting to different cities or countries some missions span countries), cars (if applicable), referrals, membership records, etc.  The office staff take care of the day-to-day grunt work, so that the other missionaries can focus on proselytizing.  Office staff is often made up of two to four companionships of either elders or senior couples (that is, a husband and wife couple).

On the trip north a few weeks back returning home after a weekend of playing Settlers of Catan (I'm sure we did other stuff too), I discovered the best price for gas that I'd seen in weeks.  It was an out of the way Flying J in Salt Lake.  It seems this price is a regular occurrence.  I just checked Flying J prices for the state of UT, and the only prices below $2.20 are in Salt Lake.

In case you aren't aware of it, Flying J publishes its fuel prices on its web site, filtered by state.  To check prices near you or near where you'll be see http://www.flyingj.com/fuel/gasoline_CF.cfm

Thanks to amazon.com and the magic of ebooks, I spent most of the last day reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. (unlike yesterday, I now know that Da Vinci is not spelled DaVinci).  For the ten people out there who've not read it or been told what it contains, consider this a spoiler alert.

Overall, I liked the book.  It was adventurous, pseudo intellectual, and generally playful.  One of the main points, however, struck a nerve.  I speak, of course, about the sacred feminine so often referred to in the text.  First, let me state what I understand to be the author's point, then I'll state what my issues are based on that understanding.

The Priory believe in the sanctity of women, their innate ability to produce life.  They exult them, as did many religions prior to Christianity, as goddesses.  They believe that man's (the gender, not all humankind) ability to commune with Deity happens only via woman.  In short, woman is divine and man partakes of that divinity via union with woman.

The reason that I take issue with this line of thought is this - despite the numerous overtones and undertones of balance - yin / yang, male / female, black / white - humankind, the Priory perspective is not balanced.  The female is divine and the male is not.  That seems more than a little unbalanced to me.

What I would consider balanced is this - believing in the sanctity of man and woman, that woman cannot produce life without man nor can man without woman, that ultimate communion with Deity (creating life, thus becoming a creator like unto Deity) for man requires the woman and for woman requires man.  If one is divine, then so is the other.  If one is not, then neither is the other.  This is balanced.  This more correctly reflects the difference between man and woman.  Each needs the other to be whole.

This in no way is meant to disparage woman or the sacred feminine but simply to recognize that woman is only half of the equation.  Had the text reflected this as well, I think the ideas that seemed radical would have been much easier to swallow.  Then again...it's only a work of fiction, perhaps Brown was after a good thriller and not trying to be an ideologue.

I think I'll have to put up a page devoted to the books I've read / am reading.  I just finished 7 Habits of Highly Effective People this week and figured I'd read The DaVinci Code for a change of pace.  There are two points that I want to make about 7 Habits.

First, I'd say that some of the supporting arguments feel a bit contrived (perhaps that's just my skepticism), nevertheless the points are valid.  I think perhaps the most striking thing I'll remember from the book was near the beginning when discussing integrity.  The basic idea was that if you don't act with integrity, in time, everything you say or do will be viewed sceptically.  I have, arguably, a suspicious nature but for some people significantly more so than others.  There are some people I won't trust to be honest about anything unless I have at least one other source to verify the claim.

Second, it's very idealistic.  There are things that would be difficult to pull off.  Covey even acknowledges this himself.  At one point he says that if you practice this (I believe it was habit 5 seek first to understand then to be understood) others will likely feel you are trying to manipulate them.  (That's something I can well relate to, since I've heard it often against me and other missionaries.)  He recommended explaining what you were doing before doing it.  Something like - I'm trying out a recommended practice from the 7 habits...

I definitely think it was worth the time to read it.  It reminded me of another Covey book, Spiritual Roots of Human Relations, which I started reading back in high school.  One of these days I might even finish it. 

I just finished reading Seymour Hersh's Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.  As regular readers of my blog will know, especially last fall, I'm not a George W. Bush fan.  This book does not paint a stunning picture of him or his administration.  However, I don't think it is a simple matter of gravitating toward like minded opinions.  Hersh makes several compelling arguments.  If nothing else, it gave me a better understanding of the United States' relationship with countries of the Middle East.

Two weeks ago I was introduced to the Settlers of Catan board game.  I'd played a few electronic versions in the past and was not disappointed in the "real" thing.  Naturally, I couldn't resist getting my own copy.  Keith introduced me to a wonderful web site that had pricing with which I was pleasantly pleased - http://www.fairplaygames.com/.

As of this writing (and barring a lucky break on eBay), this site has the best prices that I could find.  If you want the whole kit and caboodle (as outlined below), you'll even get free shipping.

• Settlers of Catan
• Settlers of Catan 5-6 Player Expansion
• Settlers of Catan: Cities & Knights
• Settlers of Catan: Cities & Knights 5-6 Player Expansion
• Seafarers of Catan
• Seafarers of Catan 5-6 Player Expansion

(For those unfamiliar with the game, Cities & Knights and Seafarers require the base Settlers of Catan game.  In like manner, the expansions require their respective base games too.)

I finally finished Kenneth Pollack's The Persian Puzzle today.  It is a book about US-Iranian relations.  It gives a brief look at the Iran over the last several thousand years, then focuses on the past fifty years or so.  It concludes with Pollack's advice, for lack of a better term, for US foreign policy with Iran.

One reason I'd recommend this book is that as a result of it, I have more respect for both Presidents Clinton and Bush (W) than I had before.  Regular readers of my blog know my feelings about Bush, and those who know me personally know that I feel similarly about Clinton.  I found this book to be unbiased, notwithstanding that it was written by a US citizen and non partisan.  If you're looking for a good read, check it out.

Now it's time for me to get back to 7 Habits, Code Complete, and Expert C# Business Objects...

Today marks one year and one day since I began blogging.  It's been an interesting experience.  I've fancied myself as a writer for quite some time, but knew that I'd never do much writing professionally.  After about 12 months of writing imagistic poetry in high school, I lost the knack (if I ever had it) of writing anything that a decent sized audience would find interesting.

12 months ago I was working on working for a software company a fair distance from here.  I was also in school working on finishing my degree.  The insane amount of snow that had fallen around Christmas and New Year's was finally melting allowing me to see the 25 saplings that I'd planted a few months earlier.

Today I'm working for a transportation services company headquartered in my own town.  I'm still schooling and hoping I don't burn out between now and a little after this time next year when I should be finished.  The sapling were uprooted (along with everything else in my yard) to lay the sod that now greets me each day as I return from work.  I'm reading Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and am planning to read Kenneth Pollack's The Persian Puzzle in the near future.

12 months from now, I'll likely still be working for Flying J and will likely still be in school (though nearing graduation).  My sod will probably be leveled out and have had a spring and summer of mowing.  I just might be an agile developer and write test harnesses before implementing design specs.  I'd like to get into TDD or XP, 2005 just might be the year.

I'm not a sci-fi guy or a fantasy guy.  If I read, I'm typically reading about religious stuff or code.  A few years ago, for some unknown reason, I picked up Ender's Shadow and read the back cover.  About 28 hours later (yes, I did sleep...I think), I finished it.  I did likewise with Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets.  Tonight, I happily discovered that Orson Scott Card has finished the last (I think) in the Shadow series - Shadow of the Giant.  The first three chapters are available on the site.

I've been playing with Money for a few days.  Overall, I'm happy with it, but there are some annoying items.

• A good deal of text is not selectable.  I should be able to select any text (especially account info, amounts, payee names, etc.) and copy it elsewhere.
• If you select "Online Registration" from the About dialog, you can't close it without registering.  There's no "x" to close it.  There's no cancel button.  Not even alt+F4 works.
• It includes items that a common person wouldn't consider as income as income items.  I'd guess that if I make a credit card payment, that most people wouldn't consider the credit of that payment to my account as income.  I realize that it is from an accounting perspective, but I'm not interested in GAAP here.  I just want to know how much money I have coming in from work (e.g. what regular people consider income).

On the upside, they fixed a huge bug that previous version had (the last version I used was 2002).  If you have more than one account with a financial institution, Money is OK with that now.  In the past, I had to play games to make Money happy because I had two cards from one lender.

I've finally been able to get back to web dev lately.  I started using XSLT in fall 2000 and every few months I find a project where it's a good fit.  I'm thinking of doing up a starter guide to XSLT.  I found that a lot of developers don't seem to know too much about it.  I'm hopeful that in doing the guide, I'll learn it better myself.

I just wrote to a friend of mine that I'm going to school fooltime.  I wonder if my subconscious is trying to tell me something. 

I just saw The Incredibles.  It's a good flick.  It seems that Pixar wrote their own rendering software - Pixar Renderman - to produce it.  I noticed they gave props to Intel CPUs, but I didn't notice an OS.  At a Steve Jobs company, I'd guess X-Serve but that wouldn't run on Intel CPUs.  My next guess is Linux.  Perhaps I'll buy the DVD when it's out, so I can read all the movie credits.

I just finished bashing Rush for not understanding democracy or for understanding but being a poor citizen.  Since I'm guilty of this as well, let me explain my context.

Back in '92, a candidate I did not approve of was elected president.  For the next eight years, I continued to not approve of him.  It so happens that I listened to Rush back then (I've long since changed that behavior).  Four years ago, a candidate that I originally approved of (and voted for!) was elected president.  On September 11, 2001, I lost respect for him and have looked with intense scrutiny upon his actions ever since.

While arguing on AW about something during the 2002 election season, I said something along the lines of this - I don't agree with the practice (I don't remember now, offhand, what the practice was), but so long as it's legal, I defend any citizen the right to do it.  That was the beginning of codifying what democracy means to me.  We differ widely up until the time that we vote...then we all (winners and losers) agree to abide by the outcome.  I've not been too good about abiding by this doctrine, but it is one that I should live by and will work to live by.

To come a little cleaner, I should also add that it is not my place to judge other citizens.  I can judge for myself what it means to be a citizen, but I speak for myself only.  If Rush (or whoever) feels that president bashing is patriotic, then they should go do it.  I personally disagree and will abstain, but they have the right (by the first amendment) to do so.  For me to pass judgment, as I did in my previous comments, is to violate my own rule about respect.

I asked a few months ago what a true patriot should do to right the wrongs of his country.  I think the approach I was taking in that post was off base.  It's not an issue of venomous words or no words at all.  The “love the sinner, hate the sin” concept, I think, is the answer I'm looking for (and an answer that might be useful to those who supported a losing candidate on Tuesday).  In our case, I think we should go for something like “respect the sinner (or at least his office), hate the crime (rank injustice might be a better term here)”.

What do we do now?  We don't go around attacking Bush.  We go around obeying the law, defending others rights according to the law, and working our tails off to improve laws that need improving (even laws that Bush or others might think are perfect as is...Patriot Act comes to mind).  This last part might be opening the eyes of our neighbors to “how things really are”.  It might be opening our own eyes to how things really are (perhaps by going to the trouble of trying to understand where the other side is coming from rather than making personal attacks and cheap shots).  In short - be proactive and respectful rather than reactive and disrespectful.

That's my thought for now.  I'm a bit tired though, so I'll have to see if I agree with my reasoning in the morning.

In responding to yesterday's post, Mike called me on my conciliatory tone.  I don't think I represented myself too well before, so let me try again.  Everyone else can speak for himself.  I speak for myself alone.

I'm not a leftist.  I think that PC is largely a ridiculous idea.  I think the basis for it - having respect for people - is good, but it's implementation is often absurd.  I think that showing respect for a man who won the electoral and popular vote is a good idea - not leftist, rightist, or centrist, just good. 

This does not mean at all that I agree with his policies (I don't), his agenda (I don't), or his execution of them (I don't).  Still, as a citizen, I have a duty to uphold the office of the president.  I'm aiming to do that by getting more vocal about where I stand on things than I am now and by reducing my ad hominem slurs at those who have opposing points of view (including our president).  If I'm a true citizen, and not a hypocrite, then I should respect those with differing perspectives and approaches.  That's the ideal that I'm aiming for anyway.

A few years ago, for some reason, I all but swore to never shop from amazon.com.  As time went on, they've won me over.  Mind you, I still compare prices on other sites - buy.com, samgoody.com, walmart.com - before buying, but amazon nearly always has the best deals.  Lately, I've been taken by swift shipping.  I went on a buying spree last Saturday evening (1 DVD, 1 CD, 1 air purifier, 3 replacement filters, 1 heat resistant spatula), chose the FREE Super Saver Shipping (e.g. the slowest option available), and got ready to wait a week or so for my stuff to arrive.  My order arrived yesterday and today.  Kudos to you, amazon, for getting me my stuff at a better price than your rivals and several days before I expected it.

Seems I'm not alone with the Bush related conciliatory tones.  Glad to hear that others are focusing on moving forward rather than dwelling on the past.  Of course, reports of record numbers of Americans looking for a new home in the North is good for a chuckle too.

Prior to my resolution to limit Bush bashing, I was directed to a left leaning blog - The Carpetbagger Report.  So far, I've enjoyed the read.  If you're not opposed to a presentation of leftist views coupled with jabs at the right, I recommend it.

It's really draining to be so emotionally, mentally, and politically invested in an election and have it not turn out as you'd like.  I think every candidate I voted for lost.  This doesn't come as much of a surprise, because I live in Utah and voted mostly for Democrats.  Oh well.

One thing really pleased me about the election - Kerry gracefully bowed out.  The election, he said, should be won by voters not by litigation.  Kudos to you, John!  In his concession speech, he said we need to heal the wounds of division.  I quite agree.  On that note, I resolve now to cut back (eliminate, if I can muster sufficient self-discipline) on my Bush bashing.

So, intraVnews lost my state.  Losing state was the same reason that I dropped SharpReader several months ago.  To be honest, I've got other gripes against intraVnews.  It often can't seem to read feeds.  After a few tries on a feed, it permanently ignores it (you have to explicitly re-enable the feed by reseting feed history or something similar).  It doesn't tell you when it's ignoring feeds.  It doesn't have an easy to find and explicit means to update a feed right this second!

So, I've switched.  I've been a faithful reader (other than when intraVnews was ignoring the feed) of Dare's for about a year now.  I've read all about the great RSS Bandit and have decided to give it a second chance.  (I tried it a while back and was less than happy about it for some reason.)  Here's to hoping it maintains my state!

Over the past few days, I've seen the outlook.exe process eating up 300 MB + RAM.  A few times, I'd get dialogs complaining of OOM exceptions.  I've got 1 GB RAM on this box, why the heck does Outlook need more?!

I've got Microsoft Outlook 2003 SP 1, intraVnews 1.0.1468.32636, and Lookout 1.2.0.1924 installed.  I know intraVnews is written in a .NET language.  Perhaps Lookout is too.  As it turns out, I installed Whidbey beta 1 this week.  My Outlook addins now bind to it rather than 1.1, which they were compiled against.  I'm guessing a combination of Whidbey being a beta product and differences between 1.1 and 2.0 caused my problem.  After uninstalling Whidbey, all was well again.  OK, mostly well, intraVnews lost all the state info for my feeds, but that's another story.

Back in the day, I used home+home+down to get to the bottom of a document.  That was in WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.  I should probably go to the trouble of finding out if Word supports a “go to the last line of the last page” feature.  For the time being, I use the time honored control+g.  For those that don't know, this brings up a dialog asking you which line you'd like to go to (this works in notepad, notepad2, Word, and probably many other applications).  Word (at least in version 2003) also allows you to navigate a certain number of pages from the current page using the control+g (aka Find, Replace, Goto) dialog box.  So, +1000 was all I needed to quickly get to the end of my 4574 page document.  Cool, huh?

I've got a pet peeve.  OK, two of them.  One is improper usage of the word myself the other is improper usage of the word went.

Improper myself usages:

Give the report to John, Bob, or myself, and we'll take care of it.

Myself, John, or Bob will do the report processing.

Proper usages (not using myself):

“Give the report to John, Bob, or me, and we'll take care of it.”

“John, Bob, or I will do the report processing.”

Proper usage (using myself):

I will do the report processing myself.

Improper went usages:

We could have went to the park, but we decided to take a walk instead.

I should have went at lunch, but I'll go after work instead.

Proper usages (not using went):

We could have gone to the park, but we decided to take a walk instead.

I should have gone at lunch, but I'll go after work instead.

Proper usage (using went):

I went to the store.

Last week I bought a new CD player.  The player it replaced had served me well for 10 years, literally.  I was a senior in high school when I bought it.  I even had to fight with UPS to get it a day early (very long story that I don't fully remember).  Anyway, my new player is a Panasonic SC-PM29.  My requirements were few - MP3 playback, WMA playback, CD swapping while a disk is playing.  My old player wouldn't do any of these.

I have 1448 WMAs (ripped from about 100 CDs) and 1621 MP3s (audio books, all but a few purchased at ldsaudio.com).  When I commenced burning CDs for play in my new player, Windows said, “hey, how 'bout HighMAT?”  Since my player does HighMAT (I discovered this after purchase...a nifty bonus), I burned Gospel Doctrine in HighMAT.

All is well, right?  WRONG!  I couldn't HighMAT'ify several of my other MP3s, because apparently it requires 44 kHz or greater sampling rate and my files were 22 kHz (does voice really require that much more?).  I tried converting to a higher sample rate but with a low bit rate.  Nope.  It seems I need a way-too-high-for-my-audio-needs sample rate and bit rate to be HighMAT compatible.  (For instance, my 14 MB files are now over 100 MB.) All I want is the playlist support.  Is this HighMAT being obnoxious or is there a good reason for this?

Yesterday, I received an IM from someone not on my contact list.  I might have considered responding with a “who are you”, but since the sender wasn't on my contact list, I couldn't send or receive messages for that person.  Oh, but wait, I just received one?!  If you're confused, you and I are in the same boat.

My context is this:

• Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2
• MSN Messenger Version: 6.2.0137
• Only people on my Allow list can see my status and send me messages
• The sender was not on My Block List but is also not on My Allow List.

Ideas?

In no particular order

• Access to the only search engine I use
• Their results return very quickly
• Their results are pretty accurate
• Filters like site: are very easy to use
• Page caching...you can get your results even if the site itself no longer has the page
• Memory of my last 20 searches
• Drag and drop searching - just drop a word or phrase into the search box...you don't even have to hit enter or click Go
• Display of a page's Google PageRank
• One click to see who links to this page (Info Button | Backward links)
• Toggle-able highlighter for all search terms

There are others, but these are the biggest for me.

Back in '99, I settled on the position of my toolbars in IE.  I've changed a little since then, but only slightly.  Whenever I first use IE, I do these things -

1. Right click, Customize...
2. Text Options: No text labels
3. Icon options: Small icons
4. Remove all separators
5. Leave only forward, back, stop, refresh, home, and history.
6. Close
7. Unlock toolbars (of running on Windows XP)
8. Move the icon bar next to the menu bar (overlapping it)
9. Move the address bar next to the icon bar (overlapping it)
10. Remove the GO button
11. Lock the toolbars

Once the toolbars are locked, the toolbars learn that they weren't really overlapped and they make room for each other.  It usually takes a time or two to get just enough (but not too much) overlap.  My goal - maximize screen real estate and let the address bar have enough space to display the URL.

The additions I've made to this configuration are for Fiddler (goes next to History) and for the Google toolbar.  Google toolbar is not an option.  I only do Fiddler, if I'm going to be doing web dev on the box.  The Google toolbar goes just below the Menu | Icons | Address bar.  It is so important to me, that I'm OK with giving it its own row.  That's probably the largest compliment I could give to the programmers who wrote it.

My issue with Mozilla and Firefox, as stupid as it sounds, is that I can't get exactly what I've had with IE for the last five years with either of them.  I can get pretty close, but not an exact match.  Part of this is that the Google toolbar isn't made for Gecko based browsers.  (I'm less than satisfied with the search bar that is included with them...my Google bar on IE is worth the real estate, the search bar on Moz and FF isn't.)  The other part is that Moz's/FF's Menu | Icons | Address bar is too big.  Just too big.  IE's is nice and compact.  This coupled with not having the many functionalities of the Google toolbar (I use it more than any other IE feature except forward and back), is a large handicap.  I'd rather have this than 10,000 tabs and mouse gestures (just an Opera thing?).

 

Thanks to n4cer, I was reminded to listen to .NET Rocks! live show tonight.  A few minutes later (I was very late in joining), I won an FM Transmitter.  Minus the car, I'm guessing my usage will look something like this.  Glad to see other folks using a Nomad and not an iPod.

I know I'm one of the last people on earth to do this...I setup my Gmail account today.  Now, I have 1 GB of mail storage.  This is rather funny, because I just received an “over the limit” notice on my first hotmail account today (it's my very first email account, opened in '98 just before returning from my mission).  Not sure exactly what I'll use my new account for, but at least now I can be cool like everyone else.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 has given Internet Explorer the ability to block installed ActiveX controls.  You can access this functionality by opening IE, and selecting Manage Add-ons... from the Tools menu.  In the last few weeks, I've enabled and disabled Flash several times.  A few sites that I visit actually need it, while most of them only use it to annoy me (ads that make noise, ads that expand and contract, etc.).  Unless the site needs flash (like the games on the zone), I disable Flash.

The problem is that I'm quite tired of going to the menu, selecting Shockwave Flash Object, selecting disable/enable, clicking OK on the message box, then clicking OK to close the Manage Add-ons form.  I Google'd for a bit and found out where the block list lives in the registry.  (Thanks MVPs.)  It lives in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings.  There is a key for each blocked control.  Rather than using IE's dialog, I now click one of two .reg files to either enable or disable Flash.  I'll probably write a little app to do this, so that I can avoid the message box that comes up when importing into the registry.

To create the enableFlash file, copy the following into a file called enableFlash.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Flags"=dword:00000001
"Version"="*"

 

To create the disableFlash file, copy the following into a file called disableFlash.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"Version"="*"

To import them into the registry, simply double click on them.

Obligatory Registry Disclaimer:  Editing the registry can harm your computer.  Do so at your own risk.

Now there's a whole collection of penguin games.  My current top score is 1987.76.  Thanks FurryGoat.

Yet again, my IM contact list policy has been misunderstood.  Since I'm not really into offending people, I think I'll explain myself here.  It's pretty simple - if I add a person due to a specific relationship (fellow co-worker, student, etc.), then that person stays on my contact list for as long as that relationship exists.  If one of us gets a new job or class ends or whatever, I'll more than likely delete the contact.  If during that relationship a personal relationship develops, then that contact moves from the “co-worker” or “school” list into the “friends” list.  No offense intended.  Nothing personal.

I've taken one major step to resolving this issue in the future.  When I started at Flying J, I created a new passport.  I only use it for work, and specifically for work as a Flying J employee.  Only co-workers are on it.  It's just like my Flying J email account or domain login.  Nothing personal.

Ever wonder why IE remembers all the invalid URLs you type in?  Me too.  I typed in http://www.lpark.com/blog (which gives the equivalent of a 404) yesterday, and for some annoying reason, IE remembers it.  What's up with that?

I just renewed my complimentary eWeek subscription.  I can't say that I'm extremely impressed with them.  One of their author's bugs me so much that I punch his picture whenever it makes the front cover (don't remember his name offhand).  That said, I decided that there was some value in it (especially at no cost to me), so I thought I'd renew.  I was pleasantly surprised with their use of DHTML on the renewal page - http://renew.eweek.com/ ...when you mouse to the text box for customer ID, an image appears showing you where to find it on the mailing label of the magazine.  This is far more elegant than having a static image or a “click here to to find out where this number is” link.

I've been using the RTW of Windows Media Player 10 for a few days now.  Generally speaking, I'm happy with it.  The “I'll keep appearing when you mouse near me“ menu bar bug (or was that a feature?) is now dead.  You can now open an AV file from the Internet and still resume what you were listening to before (big kudos on this!).  Here are a few gripes..

At last count, I had 1460 wma files and 1621 mp3 files.  The files were ripped from CDs I legally own or were legally downloaded (mostly audio books in mp3).  So, all my stuff is legal, yet WMP10 prompts me at every available opportunity to buy the CD of the currently playing song.  Is there any reason I should buy something I already own?  Does WMP10 think that I have illegal songs?  I'm all for helping people to be legal and I'm all for letting people know they can buy music directly via WMP10, but I'm not for the implication (or waste of screen real estate) that my stuff is not legit.

I don't really like the embedded IE in WMP.  OK, I don't know for sure that it's IE, but I'm pretty dang sure.  IE or not, I'm annoyed that I have to use WMP's menus to navigate stuff.  No forward/back via my mouse (IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0).  No alt+right arrow/alt+left arrow.  No right clicking.  Grr.  You know it's a browser.  I know it's a browser.  Let's stop playing games and let me use it as a browser.

I wonder why Play Count is still not in the standard set of displayed columns.  I care far more about it than I do about genre or whether it is DRM'ed.  What I'd like is a “make all views look like this one” so I can set the columns I want to see in the order I want to see them.

I like the new color schemes, but I think they need a bit of polishing.  First, altering colors still requires too much menu navigation (View | Enhancements | Color Chooser).  What happened to that paint brush icon in the lower right corner that WMP9 had?  Second, the colors are a bit too, well, I'm not a graphic design guy, so I don't know what to call it.  I know, though, that white text on a shiny gold-ish background is really hard to read though.  I know that the mini player looks a bit too much like over zealous use of lens flairs.  Third, why is there no option for the player's color to match that of the currently selected Windows XP visual style?  Fourth, in mini player mode, why does the volume control background color not reflect the color of the rest of the player?  My color is currently gold-ish (I'm trying to match the Olive visual style), but the volume control is light blue.

I really don't like the popup “This is what's playing“ that happens when you mouse near the player in mini mode.  I'd like to disable that.  I don't need to know what's playing (I can hear it), and I don't need to see a mini visualization window.

All in all, I prefer it to WMP9 (and all other players I've used).  Still, there are some issues that I hope are resolved in the next release.

This time (OK, I'm ignoring the time zone offset) six years ago, I was about to board Moscow's metro for the last time.  I was about to learn that the price for a zheton (boarding token) had increased that very day from 2 to 3 rubles.  I had perfectly budgeted my whole mission until the very last night, when I lacked a ruble to get back home.  Happily (walking home would have been less than desirable), my companion, Elder Browning, kicked in a ruble, so we could get home.  Thanks, Dave!

Operating System: Windows XP Service Pack 2 (RTM)

Default browser: Mozilla Fire fox 0.9.2.

Application in use: MSN Messenger 6.2.0137

Problem: When I click a hyperlink in a messenger conversation, the link opens in IE not in Firefox.

Problem with attitude: I'd think that after the whole hoo-haa Microsoft had to deal with over bundling IE in Windows, that it would reign in its applications and make them obey the settings in Set Program Access and Defaults.  MSN Messenger, Outlook 2003 SP 1, and Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 2 all quite often ignore my default browser setting.  I'm not amused, Microsoft.

I tend to participate a lot at school.  I've got seven posts and one assignment waiting in my outbox for UoP's servers to get back up and running.  Our classroom newsgroup server (I think an Exchange 5.5 box) just went red (up from orange) on the server status page.  I think that means - the poor box is down and has been for some time (around 15 minutes, I'd guess).

I'm not sure that I should have said I had stories to tell, but I do have some context to share about my earlier days of blogging.

Around the time that I started blogging, I was talking to a software company that I wanted to work for.  If I recall correctly, I had my first live (non email) contact a few days after I started the blog.  In a few days, that company appeared in my logs, so I knew at least one person there was reading me.

From that time on, well until I hooked up with Flying J and the other company and I cut our ties with respect to employment, I always had them in the back of my mind when posting.  It was kind of funny.  The perspective I had to take, which I also used at Flying J when I was contracting and not yet an employee, was that I didn't want them to have any surprises if they hired me.  I told my team at Flying J that they could expect me to be the same person I was when contracting - in humor, boisterousness, opinion, coding ability, etc.

That's a bit of context for my earlier days.  Now, I'm writing (when I actually post, that is) whatever I feel like writing without too much thought for how current or future employers might see it.

When I get some time, I've got some blog stories to tell.  For the time being, I thought I'd at least post an entry per month...a bit less than the “at least an entry per day” target I had when I started my blog.

Two of my friends were married and I neglected to give them shout outs.  Congrats to Jeremy and Lauren.  Also, congrats to John and Emma.

One of my classmates posted a link to a nifty tool - http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html  Among other things, it catalogs all the software on your machine.  For all my Microsoft software, it not only listed the Product IDs but even the installation keys.  Pretty slick.  I didn't know that the installation key was retrievable.

It began as such a happy day - off to the big, climate-controlled, hulk of a technology center.  The monitors glared my code at me.  Linkin Park and Enya whispered sweet nothings to me via my MDR-NC5's.  My fan purred quietly blowing air at my head.  Life couldn't be better...

A few hours later and I'm weeping for the loss of my office fridge.  It was a noble box.  It preserved my bagels, my cream cheese, my Symphony bars...even my lemonade.  Now, it's banished without a socket in which to plug itself in.  Farewell, my fridge.

At work yesterday, we discussed adopting a new (to our team) development practice.  Rather than focus on the issue itself, I want to focus on one argument.  The argument is this - we must all do it to get any benefit from it.

I disagreed with that in the meeting, and I think that upon re-evaluation I still disagree.  I think that there are many developer gimmicks (that's probably the wrong word) that benefit from a whole hog approach.  TDD, defense in depth, principle of least privilege, documentation, etc. are all better if they are consistently applied throughout a product.  Does this imply that such practices are of no value unless universally applied?  I argue no.

Let's look at defense in depth.  Defense in depth is a term that has gained popularity since Bill Gates' Trustworthy Computing initiative was announced back in 2002.  In brief, it is the idea that you should have many lines of defense.  If someone gets through your firewall, they still face your anti-virus software.  If they pass by the AV software, they still can't do too much damage if you aren't running as an administrator.  Etc.

Does defense in depth work better if each layer is doing its best to prevent malicious code from penetrating?  Yes.  Does DID fail if the programmers on one layer were slackers?  No.  Even if the application author (let's say of a web site), didn't validate inputs that doesn't mean all is lost.  There is still the input validation of the ASP.NET v1.1 runtime.  There is still IIS running in an underprivileged account.  There are still parameterized queries / stored procedures to guard against SQL injection.  There is still the stored procs (or anyone else in the data access layer or business logic layer) doing their own parameter validation.  In short, the whole does not fall apart even if one part does.

I just realized that DID is too easy an example, because it fits perfectly with my argument.  That is, its argument and mine are the same.  Still, if we just looked at input validation (and not as part of a DID strategy), we'd see that if the presentation layer slacks off in validating, then the other layers can still pick up the slack doing their own validation.  If we looked at testing procedures, we could say that just because one part is tested more than some other part doesn't mean that we should not test at all.  As my mission president used to say, “A little something is better than a big nothing.”

I've been playing (no pun intended) with the Windows Media Player 10 beta for a while now.  I just had a happy moment that needs sharing.  One of my biggest beefs with WMP in the past is that you can't have two instances of it going at the same time.  This becomes a problem when you're in the midst of listening to some audio book (one track is more than an hour long), and you click on a link to hear a 30 second music clip...suddenly you've lost your place in the book.  Ugh.

WMP 10 now has a “Previous” feature to solve this.  At any time, you can click Previous (if you're in standard mode (non skin, non task bar tool bar mode), it's the same as the back button you'd hit for going back one track in a playlist) to return to your previous track.  It'll begin playing as if you had just hit Pause then Play.

One other really annoying bug from WMP 7 - 9 is the “hide my form title bar, unless you mouse over me, in which case I'll reappear even though you told me you didn't want to see me” bug.  In WMP 10, when you tell the title bar (which includes the form border) to disappear, it does.  Period.  You can get it back if you want it, but it won't come back until you tell it to.  Thanks WMP 10, for finally obeying the user.

Generally, it has more fit and finish than previous versions.  Kudos to the Windows Media team for the enhancements and for releasing a pretty stable beta.  I think this is the only beta of a WMP version (other than perhaps the refreshes of 9) that has been stable.

What do you do when somebody looks you in the eye and says, "Would you like to be a [Microsoft] MVP?" ?  I know what I'd do...get a bewildered look on my face and wonder what was seen in me that I didn't see in myself.

I've heard for some time that one's greatest strengths can also be his greatest weaknesses.  That has never had much meaning to me.  I suppose this is in part due to my evaluation of the word strength.  My first thought is invariably physical strength, though I realize this isn't the only area in which one might be strong.  When was the last time that I looked at a person, who was physically strong, and thought, “hmm, what a weakling!”?  Never.

One of my greatest strengths, arguably, is that I'm a smart guy.  Another strength is passion.  If I go to the trouble of committing myself to a thing, I'm more than likely passionate about it.  The passion and the knowledge, however, have gotten me into trouble more than once.

Twice today, I jumped into a conversation to add commentary on Visio and on Virtual PC.  Now, it so happens that I've read about and have used both of these products, so I wasn't speaking from a position of ignorance.  However, in hindsight, I think it would have been a better idea to say nothing at all.  Was it really necessary to correct my manager and our network admin?  Probably not.  Was I right?  Well, I think so.  In fact, after doing a bit more research, I'm more sure that I was right than I was when I jumped into the conversations.

Chomp, chomp, says my strength (or was that my pride?) as it takes bite after bite out of my common sense.  It is true that I do a good deal to stay current on all sorts of Microsoft related technology issues.  It is true that I'm skeptical of the stuff that I read, listen to, or watch in my pursuit of staying current on Microsoft related technology issues.  As such, I credit myself with being pretty knowledgeable and accurate about a good deal of stuff.  Want to know when IE 5 had its second public beta?  I believe it was late '98 / early '99.  How 'bout beta one of Visual Studio .NET 2002?  Fall '00.  What does Anders Heijlsberg think of virtual methods?  C#'s methods are non virtual by default for a reason...

Of course, this know-it-all behavior isn't always a bad thing.  I think that more than once it has landed me a job.  (Perhaps this is because if I don't know what I'm talking about, I try not to talk.)  However, I'm quite annoyed with myself that I have to have things just so.  This makes me a great software tester, and arguably a good software designer, but it can make communicating with me a not always pleasant experience.  Perhaps the next strength I acquire will be the ability to keep silent.

I was just beginning another rant, errr response, to a post of one of my classmates, when I thought that I had chosen the wrong forum in which to vent.  I'm not sure that my blog is the correct forum either, but at least my blog is about me, and only those interested in what I have to say will read it.

The setting is this - I'm currently enrolled in University of Phoenix's Bachelor of Science in Information Technology undergraduate degree program.  My current class is DBMS 380.  It's a class, which UoP calls upper division, but which I find very lacking.  One of my chief annoyances is the text book.

Our text is Database Design for Mere Mortals by Michael J. Hernandez.  It is my opinion that the author should spend less time trying to convince the reader that he's a smart guy and more time actually teaching the “mere mortals” how to design databases well.  Among the things that annoy me are these:

• The author spent far too long on a rant about the difference between data and information.  Considering the majority of those in the industry use these terms interchangeably, I thought the author's pedantry was unneeded.
• The author, while saying that redundant data should be avoided, uses very redundant writing style.  Here's an example from Chapter 5 - If you work for a small organization that employs only a handful of people, or if you are only creating a database for yourself, you'll conduct "self-interviews." In other words, you'll still conduct the interviews described in this book, but you will act as the interviewer and the interviewee. You will be the one who provides the answers to the questions.  Does the author really need to explain three different ways what self-interview means?
  
  Here's another example from Chapter 6 - Typically, [a paper based] database  contains inconsistent data, erroneous data, duplicate data, redundant data, incomplete entries, and data that should have been purged from the database long ago.  Hmm, I thought that “redundant" and “duplicate" meant pretty much the same thing.
• The author has a bit too much faith in his writing.  From Chapter 6 - Unfortunately, sometimes the people who created [legacy] databases didn't completely understand the concept of a relational database. (After you have read this book, you won't fall into that group.)  I wish that all it took to obtain a complete understanding of a relational database was to read a single 480 page book.  Methinks the author has slightly (OK, extremely) exaggerated the utility of his book.

Another student responded that the text was for mere mortals.  The assumption, it seemed, was that the book was for mere mortals and not for me.  Here's what I had to say to that, but which I didn't feel I should post there.

Not sure how I've presented myself, but let me dispel a myth that just might be gaining popularity...I'm a mere mortal too!  : - )

 

What bugs me is this - when I look at a person who presents himself as an authority on a subject, and I see what he seemingly presents as a finished product, I expect high quality.  I expect consistency.  If he is proud and high minded, then I expect his work (the text, the code, the musical composition, or whatever) to be of such stellar workmanship that I'm compelled to say, "wow, he's proud with good reason."

 

What I feel from this author is this - look at me, I'm a smart guy, but I'm going to condescend to your lowly level to impart a morsel of my great knowledge to you.  This sentiment, and granted it could be entirely imagined on my part, annoys me.  When an author puffs himself up, the reader's time is wasted by the author's indulgence.  When an author presents his ideas as the only way to do a thing, he insults the reader's ability to find a better way of doing things.  When an author is so picky on very unimportant things, he sets the stage for the reader to expect a work of great quality and polish.  I see the author doing each of these things, yet I fail to see the quality or the polish.  In fact, I fail to see the logical justification for many of the author's assertions.

 

As a defense of myself, let me state that I'm very critical by nature.  This is one reason, in my opinion, that I'm a good software tester, designer, and developer.  I very often challenge widely held assumptions.  I offer new solutions that seem outlandish, but that quite often, at least in part, are part of the final solution.  Also, and perhaps most important, I'm at least as critical of my own work as I am of the work of another.  If anyone can produce a logical and well reasoned response which contradicts any of my assertions, I'll gladly change my mind and learn from him.  Then again, at least as far as UoP is concerned, I've never presented what I call my best work.  Instead, I've done a decent job (and one that I expect will get me an A).

I've been carded.  I realize this is an experience that many other people have likely had, but it is new to me.  Yesterday, I took a trip to a liquor store with a business associate.  Upon reaching the cash register, I was informed that I needed to show ID, so my shopping companion could purchase his wine.

26 year old me has never had a drink but has been carded.  I love life's little ironies.

Yep, I'm still alive.  The FlyingJ experience has gone well.  Last week they invited me to upgrade from contract to employee status.  I'm in the processing stage now, so soon I'll be a normal employee again.  Wow, it's been a while.

I've got some unrelated items to post about, so here they are in no particular order -

If you are doing WinForms development and need borders on your custom controls, you might consider inheriting from System.Windows.Forms.Form rather than from UserControl.  You'll have to remember to set TopLevelControl to false and to set ControlBox to false, but otherwise, things will be very similar to deriving from UserControl (with the exception of a much richer set of properties and events).  Oh, one other thing, remember to explicitly set Visible to true, when you add your new control to the Controls collection of a form or control.

Two weeks ago, I dreamed that Robert Scoble stopped blogging.  He declared that he just didn't see the point of it any more and had better things to do with his time.  I guess my mind didn't see that as too strange considering some of the other things that have happened lately - Microsoft and AOL settled and stopped throwing mud, Microsoft and Sun settled and stopped throwing mud, W3C and many others came to Microsoft's aide in their fight against Eolas.  I don't know what in the tech world would surprise me at this point.  Perhaps Ellison could publicly call Bill a nice guy?  Hmm, some things are just too far fetched.

I picked up two new (but old) CDs - 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged and The Cranberries Unplugged (a compilation of several live/unplugged events).  With the 10,000 Maniacs purchase, my music collection is now fully legal.  I've had one dubbed tape, which I received about 10 years ago, that was holding me back.  Horrah!

I finally watched, for the first time, the movie AI.  Not sure what I think of it.  It was interesting and certainly far better than Anti-Trust, another movie from a similar time frame.

Last but not least, after fighting with the beta team on a previous Microsoft beta that same team invited me back...oddly enough, it seems the structure of the beta has changed somewhat and is now in line with what I suggested.  I doubt it was me that made the difference, but I'm glad to know that Microsoft learns even from folks who fight with them.

I'm writing this from Windows Longhorn build 4074.  I finally downloaded and installed it.  So far it's worked out much better for me than the PDC build did last fall.  It definitely needs a lot of work, but it looks good considering it's pre beta.

One less than happy thing is that FreeTextBox (the default input method for dasBlog) doesn't seem to like me typing in it.  Not sure if it's a Longhorn issue or a Longhorn via Virtual PC issue.  Either way, it's very annoying.

While I'm being annoyed at things, here's something else.  I'm annoyed at DVD players that require remote controls to work.  I've got buttons on my player, shouldn't I be able to use them to navigate a menu if I lose my remote?  I think so.  Toshiba didn't.  I was talking to my brother about this issue last night.  Tonight, ugh, I lost my remote.  Fortunately, it only took me about 10 minutes to find it, but...I'd still prefer to not need the remote to play a disk.

I'm also hot and bothered by my sunburn.  One advantage of living in the desert is that I can get a sunburn in about 15 minutes.  Yesterday, the sun had me for several hours, so my arms, face, and neck are quite red.

To enable archiving of my website, my hosting company moved it from a Windows 2000 Server to a Windows Server 2003 box.  As a result, permissions were and IIS settings were a bit off.  If you were visiting during the week (not that I was writing during the week), that's what was going on if you were getting page errors.

A few years ago, I killed some time by taking eMode's IQ test.  The result?  A paultry 136.  A few minutes ago a popup from Tickle (eMode with a new name) got through my popup blocker, so I took the test again.  Result?  138.

Sadly, I'm not as adept at English as I had supposed.  Only a master, but not yet a god.  (Should have happen to look at the five result categories, notice that they appear in a random order.  I'm assuming from best to worst the categories are God, Master, Average, Student, Bastardization.)

You are a MASTER of the English language!

While your English is not exactly perfect,
you are still more grammatically correct than
just about every American. Still, there is
always room for improvement...

How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Thanks KC for the link.)

I applied a firmware update to my Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra and it seems I can now have multiple files with the same file name.  The problem before, I think, is that there was no support for folders.  If you had two songs with the same name, it was impossible to differentiate between them.  Now, and I'd guess with something like folders, but perhaps based on metadata (like album, author, singer, etc.), the problem seems to have gone away.

I made this discovery today, since this is the first time I've synch'ed since last December.  I read about stretched Beethoven on Raymond Chen's blog, and wanted to copy the mp3's to my Nomad.  Good times.

Hmmm...not sure what's up, but dasBlog decided to create several dozen (71 to be exact) bogus content files.  It then got mad that it couldn't open them (it didn't name them correctly to be opened), so it refused to display any content.  I've deleted those files, and now the content is being displayed again (you can see this right?).  I apologize for today's down time.

I took some pictures today (yes, of waterfalls), though I'm not sure exactly how I plan to post them.  I probably won't upload them for a few days (they're pretty big, so I'm thinking about how to deal with that), but I'm making progress.

 

Got my Matrix on...Matrix Revolutions on DVD just arrived in the mail.

To quote a friend of mine, my new job with Flying J is keeping me busy, stretching me, and keeping me happy.  It's also given me (ack!) a mostly normal schedule.  I'm getting up at about 6 a.m. and getting back home around the same time in the evening.  I don't really have to think about work when I'm not there (though I do).  It's quite a switch from the way I've worked since the beginning of 2001, where I was pretty much on call 24/7.  Both approaches have their advantages, but I'm happy for the current change.

I'm working on taking some pictures of the scenery.  I know, corporate buildings aren't too interesting, but, in the desert that is Utah, I work in a good looking area.  They've landscaped the area all around the building with waterfalls, a pristine stream, very green grass (with stepping stone foot path), and a good variety of flowers.  I haven't developed great photography skills, but that notwithstanding, I should have some shots in coming weeks.

I failed to comment on my new job.  Let me correct that.  Starting tomorrow, I'll be coding for Flying J.  I'm not sure what's good to talk about and what isn't, so I'll not comment on projects.  Below are a few tid bits on Flying J.

http://www.flyingj.com/company/index.html

http://www.informationweek.com/803/genera2.htm

http://fleetowner.com/ar/fleet_flying_continues_wifi/

http://radio.weblogs.com/0110120/2003/03/17.html#a578

I've recently accepted a job offer, so my blog posting frequency is likely to decrease a bit.  Currently, I work at home and set my own hours, so I can adjust my schedule to blog.  Starting Monday, I'm off to work in an office again.  Having a schedule is a bit rough, but I'm looking forward to calling 5 p.m. time to quit working though.  Happier times are ahead.

I just had one of those “ugh, I'd so much rather use Visual Studio” moments.  Unhappily, I'm writing Swing applications using Eclipse.  What took an hour or so to cobble together with the Java/Swing/Eclipse combo, I could have done in five minutes with the C#/WinForms/Visual Studio combo.  I suppose that my familiarity with the latter is one reason for such a drastic difference, but I don't think the difference should be as great as a factor of 12.  My first impression of Swing is far less than positive.

A good friend of mine and a companion when we were missionaries, Ryan Bonham, has started a new company call CleanCut.  If you're in the market for candle maintenance tools, have a look.  A wick trimmer or a wick dipper just might be the tool you're looking for.

Wow.  I've heard that www.systemwebmail.com was quite the resource.  Earlier today I had a COMException that was baffling me.  I google'd for three words of the error on systemwebmail.com, and found detailed steps to change a setting in IIS.  Now all is well.  If only all debugging were this easy.

Since it's April 6th, here's a treat.  It's the 174th anniversary of the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Keith sent this link my way last week.  It seems appropriate to post these together.  For those not familiar with the history, here's a short historical recap:  The church was founded on 6 April 1830 by Joseph Smith and five others.  In not too much time, many members moved to Missouri.  The native Missourians weren't too happy with them being there, so they tortured, harassed, and forced them out of the state at gunpoint.  The church then settled in Illinois.  After a few years, the natives of Illinois followed the example of the Missourians.  They also murdered Joseph and his brother Hyrum.  After being thrown out of Illinois, the church settled in the midwest and specifically in what became Utah.

I'm glad for Illinois' recent resolution.  I hold nothing against those of Missouri or Illinois, despite the fact that my ancestors were among those who were persecuted there.  Let's put the dark past behind us and move on to a brighter future.

This blogger has been very busy, stressed, and sick lately.  I'm hopeful that tomorrow I'll have a clear head again and can return to regular programming - complaining about technology implementations, and thinking out loud on idealism.  If you can stomach one more quote of the day, I'll post it in a bit.

I've been thinking for the past few weeks about blogging, using the open source model of writing.  I'm throwing my thoughts, imagination, and ability to manipulate English onto my blog free of charge.  This sounds suspiciously like programmers pouring their talents into Mozilla, Linux, or other open source projects free of charge.  I suppose the one exception is that if anyone cites my blog, I don't claim any copyright control over their remaining blog content.

Those that know me, know that I'm an enemy of open source software in general and specifically of the GPL.  I think they are an economic abomination on the software industry.  My reasoning is simple - for every line of code that a programmer gives away, that is one line of code that another programmer wasn't paid to write.  Thus, GPL'ed software reduces the value of my skill set and the skill sets of all other programmers.  I don't consider this a good thing.

So, what am I doing with my blog?  Oh yeah, exactly that which I detest but in a different industry.  I think there is some distinction, however, between the two.  In no particular order - I don't use a viral (thanks for that term, Mr. Stallman) license like GPL for those who quote me; There is no company that can leach off of my efforts (a la IBM, HP, and Intel from the open source community) to increase its bottom line; This blog, in a few ways, can increase my bottom line (ads, notoriety, written communication skills, etc.)

I must admit this isn't an entirely thought out idea.  Then again, I'm under no obligation to write quality content unlike those writers who write for hire.  Maybe I have more in common with many open source folks than I had previously thought.

I've been using Outlook for a long time now.  In fact I've used every version (97, 98, 2000, 2002, and 2003).  Only a few minutes ago did I realize sometimes when Outlook displays a number after a folder (like the number of unread items in the inbox) it some times encloses the number in parentheses and other times in square brackets.  Also, the number is some times blue and other times green.  Why is this so?

True to their word, the Canon PowerShot A60 that Dell promised me arrived today.  I was a bit surprised that AirBorne didn't make me sign for it.  I guess I didn't hear them knocking, because I only discovered it when I went outside to get my mail.  Anyway...

Since I've barely even held a digital camera, much less owned one, I'm enchanted by it.  Truth be told, I have no idea how good of a camera it is.  It has menus and buttons all over, so, I suppose it must be good. 

My likes so far are the auto focus, auto zoom, and auto lighting.  It seems to be saying, “Look, I'm a camera, and I know how to take pictures.  Unless you're really sure you know what you're doing, you just point and click and leave the rest to me.”  I'm happy with that arrangement.  The pictures I've taken are really sharp (and really huge - 1600x1200 by default).  It even turns itself off (covering the lens and everything) if left idle for too long (I think three minutes).

My dislikes are that it doesn't auto sync with some atomic clock to get the proper date and time.  Yeah, this is picky, but if my cell phone can do it, surely my camera can too.  My other annoyance is that for the download picture software to recognize the camera is connected to the PC, the camera has to be in review mode (where you see all the pictures you've taken but can't).  Silly me, I didn't figure it would matter, so when I first plugged it in, the camera was in picture mode (the “I'm taking pictures” mode).  I think you should be able to download and upload (why would you want to upload pictures to your camera?) in either mode.

So, overall, I'm a happy new camera owner.

In August '98, I signed up for my first personal email account.  Mine all mine.  In the years that followed a acquired several more.  Other than Keith sending me virii/worms, so I could check out their source, did I have receive evil email.  The tide has begun to change.

I'm not claiming causation here, but I will state circumstance.  Since I began attending University of Phoenix last June, I've begun receiving evil email.  More accurately, I've begun receiving evil email at the only two email addresses that UoP knows about.  More precisely than that, I've begun receiving evil email at two email addresses that are only used for corresponding with UoP - one, my account on UoP's domain for the purpose of posting to class newsgroups, the other, an inbound only account on my own domain that I created for UoP to send me mail.  Other than, perhaps, the federal government when I filled out FAFSA last year, the use of these two accounts has been limited to UoP or those attending UoP.  Very curious.  I'm not blaming UoP, but circumstantial evidence does point to some connection between them and my receiving evil email.

Smaller scale and, apparently, less interesting worms found me last summer at the aforementioned addresses.  Recently, several Bagles have come visiting.  Kudos to UoP for blocking the attachments from reaching me (using Network Associates' server AV software) and kudos to Dell for hooking me up with McAfee's AV software to protect my other accounts.  I'm glad the AV software knows that I prefer English Muffins when given the choice.  I'm hopeful that Win32.EnglishMuffin won't be a worm in the near future to visit my inbox.

I've been interested in the how's and why's of the consumer financial industry for some time now.  What do those numbers on the bottoms of checks mean?  What's the relationship between my credit card number and the bank that issued it?  Are there sets of credit card numbers that are invalid?  How is McDonald's paid from my credit card, when I buy my Double Quarter Pounder?  Etc.

I have peppered the few people I know in the financial services industries with questions.  Still, I had many unanswered questions.  Joe Ziegler has provided many answers.  I found a link to it when searching for credit card validation for use on e-commerce sites.  If you are interested in either subject, visit the sites below.  If anyone knows of good info an ABA routing, please let me know.

Credit Card 101 - Joe Ziegler

Credit Card Validator control for ASP.NET - Paul Ingles

After much travail, Dell sent someone to silence my banshee fans and give me a new AC adapter.  They also are shipping me a Canon Powershot A60 digital camera for my inconvenience.  I'm a more satisfied customer than I was yesterday.  I'm hopeful that my days of Dell trouble are behind me.

Now, I'm mad.

On Sunday, February 29, 2004, I called Dell to report a problem - when I picked up my laptop everything froze.  This happened in Windows, in BIOS, whenever.

2 March 2004, a tech support man came to visit me with new parts to solve my problem.  Though it did solve my problem with not being able to pick up my laptop, it disabled several keys on my keyboard.

3 March 2004, the tech support man returns with a new keyboard.  No dice.  Same disabled key problem occurs.  Dell decides to ship me a new laptop and forgo piecemeal troubleshooting.  OK, I'll wait for my new laptop to come.

12 March 2004, my new laptop arrived with the wrong power supply (70 watt not a 90 watt) and the cooling fans are broken (make horrid noise, sometimes don't run at all, sometimes run for hours).  I called to let them know the problem, and they told me I had to send my new laptop back first.  There's also the problem that my support contract would expire on the 14th and my old laptop wouldn't arrive by then.  I can only renew my contract M-F 8-5, so I have to wait till the 15th to resolve that.  All of this aside, there is no reason for Dell to hassle me about the old laptop, since they sent me a defective old laptop to begin with.

13 March 2004, I call Dell and report the problem again and get the same result as the night before.

15 March 2004, I call to renew my contract.  I give a credit card number.  All is well with the contract.  Actually, not quite all well.  My “new” laptop is really a refurbished laptop, and Dell seems to think that the previous owner still owned it.  Ugh.  After resolving that, all was well with the contract.

I also, tried again to get my new laptop fixed without sending the old one back yet.  The issue is this - if the power supply or fans cause my new laptop to die, I need the old one to fall back on.  Nobody at Dell cares about my needs, though most of them agreed that their company policy on the matter was foolish.  So, I ship my old laptop back on Monday (less than one business day after the new one arrived, and I'm supposed to have 15).  I was promised that a new AC adapter would be sent, but that the fans couldn't be fixed until the old laptop was sent out.

17 March 2004, I track the package and Dell received the old laptop early in the morning.  It's now two days since I renewed my contract, so that should be updated in all the systems now.

19 March 2004, Still no new AC adapter.  I called to get my laptop fixed and received personal assurance that all would be well and I'd get a phone call from that tech support agent on Monday if all wasn't fixed yet.

20 March 2004, I send several emails to Dell via their support web site.  I receive no response.

22 March 2004, I receive no phone call.  I have no AC adapter.  My fans still sound like banshees.  I receive an email saying my support contract couldn't be processed because the contract I wanted isn't available for refurbished systems.  The agent tried to call, but number was disconnected.  Ugh.  Of course the number was disconnected, I moved two years and nine months ago!  Dell knows my new number and address.  It knows my cell phone.  It knows my email address.  Still, I didn't get contact until a full week had passed.  Grr.

I also received an email (response from the emails I sent on Saturday via the web site) saying a tech was coming to fix the problem.

24 March 2004, No phone call.  No tech.  No AC adapter.  Very mad customer.  I emailed a few times and told Dell my opinion of their service.  I got more apologies and a new promise of a dispatch.

25 March 2004, I send a few more angry emails in response to Dell's “truly regret[ing]” my inconvenience.  I call Dell and discover that the previous support dispatches had been canceled because my contract had expired.  Of course, nobody called to tell me they were canceled or what I could do about it.  I'm currently on the phone and have yet another personal promise from tech support that the problem will be resolved (e.g. a tech will be at my house tomorrow) and that she'll see to it personally.

I'm not holding my breath.  26 days and counting, and I still don't have a fully functional laptop.

I just installed the Macromedia Shockwave Player and was asked to register it.  Though registration is optional, it certainly isn't obvious that it is optional.  After installing, a dialog pops up and asks whether your age category (13 or older, younger than 13), followed by a dialog asking for your name, email, etc.  You can simply hit the close button to close the dialog, but there should be an explanation that registration is optional and a “skip registration” button.  Shame on you again, Macromedia.

To clarify - I'm annoyed at this for a few reasons.  Macromedia makes their client software (Flash Player, Shockwave Player, etc.) freely available.  The money is made by selling the authoring software.  What Macromedia is doing is getting free marketing.  Macromedia customers sell applications (typically web sites), and any users of those apps then have to go to Macromedia to get the player software.  I'm annoyed at Macromedia taking advantage of this relationship.  I'm also annoyed that they don't let the user know that registration is optional.  (If someone wants to chime in with “they need your email, so they can notify you of updates”, I'll respond with “if any content requires a higher version of the player than the one I have, I'll be directed to upgrade my player, so there's no need for Macromedia to ever have my email address”)

I just installed a junk email filter update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and some other update for Microsoft Office Excel 2003.  Earlier today, I installed an update for Flash (v6 to v7).  Outlook and Excel didn't require a reboot.  The Flash update did.  Shame on you Macromedia!

I'm finally working on a site that lives on IIS 6.  So far it feels slightly more friendly to work with (better error messages).  I'm getting used to the caching and clearly need to read up on it and how to configure it.  I hope it is as good a product as I've heard.

Dell still hasn't updated my contract, processed that they've received my old laptop, and as a result sent me a new power supply and fixed my very noisy cooling fans.  It seems that they are going to get on the ball and make everything all better for this growing very disgruntled customer.

As a result of my fan issues, though, I've found out something nifty.  It seems if my laptop gets too hot and doesn't seem to be able to cool itself off, the processor drops its clock speed.  I think I knew this already, and I think its called Intel SpeedStep.  This is nifty in its own right, but what impressed me is that when viewing system information (Start | Control Panel | System | General tab), the section that tells me about my CPU (I think a custom Dell extension) actually changes the clock speed figure to the current clock speed.  I was guessing that his was a hard coded value based on the max speed of the CPU, but, no, it seems to be the current clock speed.  The Support Information button just below that, which gives the service tab, express service code, and support phone number are nifty too.

I've recently begun reading ebooks using Microsoft Reader.  I love the "most recent page" feature.  The use of ClearType, annotations, and other stuff is cool too, but most recent page is a killer usability feature.  Kudos to the Microsoft Reader team!

I've created a new category called “Software Review” and this is the maiden entry.  Since I talk about my experience with software quite often, I think I'll put all future entries that deal with quality or quirkiness into this category.

I wonder what should be the result of this formula...

Windows XP Pro Start Menu + Visual Studio .NET 2003 = ?

Apparently, it means the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt jumps into my most recently used (MRU) apps list on the Start Menu even though I never use it.  Perhaps it was used during the install of VS so extensively that it demanded placement in the MRU list.  One of the oddest things, in my opinion, is that it gets a decent placement on the list (usually in the top 10 out of 20).

McAfee's consumer AntiVirus, FireWall, etc. software came preinstalled on my new laptop.  (Actually, it's only partially preinstalled.)  On reading through the Dell branded McAfee SecurityCenter, here are a few thoughts.

Sadly, I ranked 1 out of 10 on the My AntiHacker Index.  I'm scared!  I'm vulnerable!  The bad guys will ownz0rs me any second now!  What do I do?!  SecurityCenter to the rescue.  I can install McAfee Personal Firewall Plus.  That'll make everything better.  But wait, why don't I use SecurityCenter to “Test My Computer's Security” first.  Clicking on that link opens a browser window on hackerwatch.org.  I opt to do a Port Scan.  Not surprisingly, I pass with flying colors (“No open ports were found.”).  McAfee's own hackerwatch.org site says I'm totally secure (because it can't get passed my hardware firewall), even though McAfee's SecurityCenter flunks me with a 1 out of 10.  Seems that 1 out of 10 doesn't mean I'm not safe from the bad guys.  It really means, “You don't have the McAfee Personal Firewall Plus or other similar McAfee product installed.”  Incidentally, to score 10 out of 10, you can install Personal Firewall Plus and leave it disabled.  So long as you are paying McAfee, that's enough.  You don't actually have to use the software.

Now that I know the AntiHacker Index is of dubious value, what about the AntiAbuse Index and AntiAbuse Index?  SecurityCenter explains the My AntiAbuse Index in these words: Your AntiAbuse Index provides a measure of how secure your computer is against the latest privacy abuse outbreaks.  The index is computed based upon which types of privacy abuses currently exist and how prepared your computer is to defeat these abuses.

One of the factors that influence your AntiAbuse Index is external privacy abuses.  For example, if there is a privacy abuse outbreak, does your anti-abuse software protect you from this scenario?...

I don't know what a “privacy abuse outbreak” even means.  It seems to me if there is an evil piece of software running around invading my privacy, it'd be classified as a virus or a worm.  My antivirus software (which just happens to come from McAfee) should take care of that for me.  By using a term like “outbreak” it scares the reader into thinking you need a special product to protect you.  However, I say that's a load of marketing unreality just like saying I need McAfee's firewall, because SecurityCenter was too inept to test for a hardware firewall.  The reality is if there is an outbreak of anything, antivirus software should deal with it.  The day to day, social engineering kind of things (warning: you are transmitting your credit card, social security number, etc. in plain text!!) should be handled by privacy protection software.

So far SecurityCenter has two strike against it in my book.  It lied to me about needing a firewall.  It tried to deceive me by instilling irrational fear of privacy abuse outbreaks.  Let's see what's next on the list.  Ah, My AntiSpam Index.

Arggg!  I've got a 1 out of 10 for that too.  My Inbox must be bursting at the seams with spam.  Please save me, McAfee!  First, let's see what that My AntiSpam Index is.  According to SecurityCenter: Your AntiSpam Index provides a measurement of how secure your computer is against receiving inappropriate, unsolicited, and virus-infected email.  The index is computed based upon which types of spam abuses currently exist and how prepared your computer is to defeat these abuses.

One of the factors that influence your AntiSpam Index is external spam abuses.  For example, if there is a spam abuse outbreak, does your anti-spam software protect you from this scenario?...

Hmm, that sounds just like the AntiAbuse Index.  A few thoughts - first, I have Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 installed.  I have my junkmail settings set to Safe Lists Only (the highest setting offered...basically, if I don't explicitly trust an address, any mail from that address is considered spam and doesn't get to my inbox).  OK, so SecurityCenter lied to me about being protected against unsolicited email.

Second, since I'm using McAfee's antivirus software, shouldn't that take care of protecting me against virus-infected email?  Either McAfee's AV software is lousy, or SecurityCenter is deceiving me again.

Third, what the heck is a “spam abuse outbreak”?  Some have said that at least 50% of email delivered each day is spam.  If we aren't already in an outbreak scenario, I don't know what an outbreak is.  Since I'd say we are already in an outbreak scenario, and not one piece of spam has hit my inbox in months, I'd say Outlook is doing a great job.

All in all, it seems that SecurityCenter is throwing around technical terms and scare tactics to sell its products.  The indices aren't based on how secure, private, etc. you are.  They are based on how many McAfee products you have installed (even if they aren't running!).

My laptop difficulties are nearly over.  My replacement laptop arrived today.  Its 2.4 GHz P4 M, 1 GB RAM, and 40 GB 5400 RPM HD jumped at me and said, “We're here to make you happy!”  The cooling fans, however, had other ideas.  Apparently the fans didn't like that fact they had to cool off such a CPU.  They have decided to make loud scraping noises whenever they run.  The good folks at Dell said they'd make the fans behave.

For the record, I'm very pleased with Dell tech support.  It takes a while sometimes to get totally satisfied, but Dell makes good on its support contracts.  They've definitely won me over as a long term customer (as long as they are selling Tablet PCs when I finally get around to buying one).

Thanks to Dare, I read some interesting things about Real.

Real Obnoxious

Real Reply

Real Proof

For my part, I've avoided RealPlayer when at all possible since it was called G2 (or similar...circa 1999).

I probably shouldn't have found this funny, but, um, I did.  Just so unsuspecting readers aren't unknowingly hit with my political views (political explorations would be a better term), this is an anti-Bush, anti-Patriot Act 30 second ad.  The creators graphically illustrate my characterization of the Patriot Act and the irrational behavior associated with “fighting the terrorists.”

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view/2802_small.shtml (low bandwidth)
http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view/2802_large.shtml (high bandwidth)
(requires Flash and QuickTime)

I just took Michael Platt's quiz and got a 60%.  See his post to determine the meaning of the score.

I'm lost in thought on what the ideal structure of government is and whether the implementation of representative democracy as practiced in the United States measures up.  Arguably this falls into the larger “relative vs. absolute” dispute.  This is an issue where there are two metrics about any given point - one absolute, one relative.  For instance, I got a 74 on my last exam.  On an absolute scale, that's a D, and not too far from an F.  On a relative scale, compared to the other scores, it was the highest grade in the class,   On one scale it's a bad grade, on another it's the best grade.

I think many of the questions about government are similar.  We look at things in terms of relative scales (well, things are better than they were before) and absolute scales (I should be free to do XYZ, but I'm not) interchangeably.  However, the two aren't interchangeable.  In such thinking, our arguments become apples to oranges discussions, in other words, rather meaningless.

From the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...”  This is an absolute.  It's iron clad.  Congress shall make no law abridging free speech.  Period.

Now, some would jump in and say that the FCC's regulations on what can and can't be said are violations of the first amendment.  They claim the absolutist perspective.  They are correct.  However, I suspect there are cases, where they'd be totally OK with the right of speech being abridged.  National security.  Safety of our soldiers in battle.  Screaming “FIRE!” as a joke in a crowed theater that results in people being trampled to death.  False testimony that results in people being executed.  Etc.  Suddenly the absolutists would say, “Relative to the current situation” (if they were the ones about to get the electric chair due to perjury), “ freedom of speech should be abridged.”

One way to reconcile these two ideas, and there is a very easy way, is to repeal the first amendment.  In fact, we can't stop there.  Clearly, laws regarding libel, slander, and perjury are unconstitutional.  Clearly, the Patriot Act's “It's OK to not have a warrant for a little while” clause violates the fourth amendment.  Pretty clearly, any gun control law violates the second amendment.

Back to ideal government...I'm not sure what this would be.  Some would argue that anything that does not harm another person (victim-less crimes) should be legal.  If I shoot up in my own house, then, at least in that case, drug use should be legal.  Sexual activity between two consenting parties should be legal.

Oh, well, unless one of the parties is a minor, an arbitrary line in the sand.  Even in the case of victim-less crimes, many people would want to have some stipulation for minors.  In other words, they want a stipulation that defies the “if it doesn't hurt, it's legal” premise.  That aside, arguably by using drugs in your own home you indirectly countenance the illegal drug trade outside of your home.

In like manner, you can argue that drinking in your own home is harmless.  However, if you leave your home, get in a car, and get in an accident, your drinking has now harmed someone.  The absolute gets sticky when faced with the relative.  To use cliché, the devil is in the details.

I'm not sure what the ideal is.  I am sure, though, that most arguments I've read on the subject fail the test of the absolute.  This is post, like most of my posts, is a bit of stream of consciousness.  Feel free to refute it.  I've been searching for some years for “the way things ought to be.”  Perhaps via civil discussion, I can find what I'm searching for.  Perhaps after we've found it, we can convince the rest of the country (world) to live it (or discover that we already have it).

The unthinkable happened.  The motherboard that Dell installed yesterday (actually, it was Unisys on behalf of Dell), is defective.  Dell has decided that my laptop is entirely too troublesome to deal with, so they are sending me a new system!  The good part is, when it arrives, I'll likely have a keyboard that works.  The bad part is, it won't arrive for 7 - 21 business days.  Ugh.

In other news,I think Java's errors are nearly as cryptic as COM's errors.  In the nearly four years that I've used .NET, I almost always understood (or at least had a vague idea) where the problem was.  In the last week using Java, I can't say the same.  Perhaps I had similar experience with .NET a few years ago and I've forgotten it.  That seems unlikely to me though.

The nice man from Dell came to visit me today.  He replaced my motherboard and RAM.  All was great, until I got to the Windows login prompt and discovered several of the keys on my keyboard didn't work.  As a result, I'm currently sitting with my laptop on my lap and an old Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard on top of the laptop keyboard.  Now is one time I wish I had purchased a port replicator.  Oh well.

Tomorrow, I'm told, I'll get a new keyboard.  I'm hopeful that all will be back to normal then.

OK, not really the top ten, just the first random ten.  I read a blog yesterday (sorry,can't seem to find it now) about doing a playlist of all tracks in your music library, randomizing it, then listing the first 10 no matter how embarrassing.  I decided I'd do it too.

Here are the first ten music files in my list:

1. Track 3, Disk 1, La Boheme
2. Track 18, Disk 2, Bach St. Mathew Passion
3. Track 2, Mozart Requiem K, 626 in D Minor
4. Dances of the Corps de Ballet and Dwarfs, Swan Lake AIII, S2
5. Schindler's Workforce, Schindler's List Soundtrack
6. Dead Man's Hill, Swamp Ophelia, Indigo Girls
7. Track 12, Disk 3, Bach St. Matthew Passion
8. Drug Ballad, The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem
9. I'm Goin' Home, Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish
10. I Just Can't Wait to Be King, The Lion King Soundtrack

I think a more useful bit of info is my most listened to tracks.  Here's the top ten according to Windows Media Player 9.  This does not take into account the play count for tracks listened to on my Nomad.  The play count is in parentheses.

1. The Plagues, Prince Of Egypt Soundtrack (85)
2. A Love Before Time [Mandarin], Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack (71)
3. A Love Before Time [English], Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack (70)
4. Once Upon a December, Liz Callaway, Anastasia Soundtrack (70)
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack (69)
6. Theme from Schindler's List, Schindler's List Soundtrack (68)
7. I Could Have Done More, Schindler's List Soundtrack (67)
8. Once Upon a December, Deana Carter, Anastasia Soundtrack (67)
9. Track 10, Back Brandenburg Concertos (64)
10. Track 9, Back Brandenburg Concertos (64)

The vile referral spammer is at it again.  Remember our chat last week, Mr. Kerry?  This voter still does not appreciate your disrespect for his property.  He's appalled that a “man for the people” will continue to engage in such marketing techniques.

I've read a fair amount these last few weeks on two issues - performance of same gender marriages in San Fransisco and Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion of Christ.  My intent here isn't to discuss either topic specifically, but rather to discuss some of the debate that is associated with them.

Based on my non lawyerly understanding of the subject, here's what happened in San Fransisco: in 2000, the majority of the citizens of the state of California voted in favor of not allowing same gender marriage.  The mayor of San Fransisco gave permission for same gender marriages to be performed.  Such marriages were performed.

I don't want to discuss whether such marriages should or should not be legal at this time.  What I'm alarmed about is the disrespect the mayor had for the law.  He brushed the law aside (and the votes of the majority of the citizens of the state of California) and consented to the granting of marriage licenses to same gender couples.  Whatever moral high ground he wants to claim for himself in defense of his action, I think he loses by not respecting and obeying the law.

Does our law not provide for people to voice their opinions?  Does it not allow for them to petition the government to address specific issues?  Does it not provide a court system to examine the legality of existing laws?  Does it not provide a means to elect a new government more favorable to one's personal views?  Yes, in every case, it does.

One of the duties of a citizen of this nation, especially of an elected official, is to uphold the law.  In many cases that means to uphold laws with which we, personally, do not agree.  One of the foundational pieces of doctrine of the church in which I am a member is this statement: We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.  (12th Article of Faith)  I do not support breaking the law.

I am appalled at the actions in San Fransisco for several reasons.  First, the mayor broke the law by permitting illegal actions to occur.  Second, justices of the peace and other government officials sanctioned the mayor's actions.  Third, citizens took advantage of a situation and themselves participated in breaking the law by being married.  I understand that the specific issue here is a very personal one.  However, I find it very hard to be persuaded to condone actions like this.  To me they are saying that their personal needs are more important than the laws of the state and country in which they live.

In conversations regarding the issue of gay marriage, several people have talked about legislating morality, pushing beliefs on people, and intimating that to not approve of [insert social issue here] implies hatred.

A few weeks ago, I blogged generally about a conversation I had with a close friend of mine.  One of the things we discussed was the set of events in San Fransisco.  He made the comment that it is impossible to not legislate morality and that all those who accuse the conservative right of such actions are themselves performing or advocating such actions.  Said a bit more plainly - if a religious man passes a law that outlaws adultery, he is legislating morality.  If another man passes a law legalizing adultery, he is also legislating morality.  One one side is restriction, on the other is the lack of restriction.  On both sides is a belief system codified into law.  If laws are passed that legalize same sex marriages, those laws legislate morality just as much as the Defense of Marriage Act legislates morality.

In like manner, many, who are in favor of defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman, are accused of pushing their beliefs on others.  Quite obviously, those who are in favor of defining marriage as the union of any two people are also pushing their beliefs on others.  There's an old saying “it takes two to tango.”  It applies here.  Both sides are pushing their beliefs on the other.  Both sides are trying to legislate morality.  There is nothing wrong with doing either.  That is what freedom of expression, democracy, and representative democracy are all about.  However, they are also about abiding by the laws that have been passed by that same process whether or not yours was the side that won.

The issue of “disagree with me implies you hate me (or the group I'm defending)” is very often just a bit of rhetorical hyperbole.  My personal stance on homosexuality is that it is wrong.  That said, I have more than one friend in the gay or bi community.  I try to practice the “love the sinner hate the sin” ideal.  I try to accept other people where they are and for who they are.  Accepting them doesn't imply that I sanction everything they do.  It also doesn't imply that I burn down their homes or beat them to a bloody pulp in the streets.

It is important to me to accept people for who they are for many reasons.  One of the main reasons is justice.  I am not a perfect person by any standard.  I quite often do not live up to the ideals in which I believe.  I'd rather not add hypocrisy to my list by pointing fingers at others, while I have many faults of my own.  That said, I do not expect (or even desire) that people accept my faults.  I hope they accept me for who I am and help me become better, but I do not hope they embrace my faults.

I lumped Mel's movie into this post, because of some of the criticism I've heard regarding his movie.  Many have accused him of being anti-semitic.  On that matter I say this - I believe there was a man named Jesus Christ who lived about 2,000 years ago, that many of the Jews of that time hated him and conspired to have him killed, and that the Romans of that time tortured and executed him.  None of those actions justify me in attacking anyone of Jewish or Roman descent.

Indeed, as a Christian, I should follow the instructions of Him in Whom I profess to believe and forgive those men of long ago.  I believe that Jesus sacrificed Himself as a result of His great love for all mankind.  Shouldn't I follow His example and do all I can to love them as well...even if it means loving those who harmed Him?  Yes.  Absolutely.  If I attack some poor Jew on the basis of the actions of his ancestors of 2000 years ago, I'm worse than those who conspired to kill Jesus, for I knew and promised to live the law of Christ, yet I reject it in my actions.  Once again, love the sinner hate the sin.

Since this is a personal blog, I quite naturally will talk about things that I've experienced and people that were involved in those experiences.  I've decided that if anything could be considered incriminating, I'll not post about it.  I won't name people unless they have web sites where they name themselves.  If they don't want to announce their existence to the Internet population, it's not my place to do so.  Finally, if people post using aliases, I won't reveal who they are or acknowledge that I know who they are.  Again, if they don't want to announce their existence to the Internet, it's not my place to do so.  I'm sure I'll slip up on this from time to time, but this is the standard I'm aiming for.

I started a new class today.  OK, the class really starts tomorrow (Thursday), but I began a day early.  It's a Java class.  I got the latest Java SDK (didn't that used to be called a JDK?) and also nabbed NetBeans.  In times past, I wrote pure Java using J++ 6 (contrary to Sun's claims it is very possible to not use the com.* classes and remain 100% pure), but I figured I'd try out Sun's IDE.

Wow.  If my NetBeans experience is any indicator, I can see very clearly why there are few client apps written in Java.  It feels just as slow to me as it did 5 years ago.  And the memory footprint?  100 MB!  100 MB so it could help me edit two text files.  Pathetic.  Needless to say, I'll write and test my apps for this class in J#, then compile them via command line to hand in.  Although J# only supports Java SDK 1.1.4, that is quite sufficient for my needs.  I suppose I didn't give NetBeans much of a chance, but it was far too clunky to deserve one.

Last July was insanely hot in Utah (about three weeks or so off 100+ degree temperature).  Air conditioning was great, but it didn't feel too efficient to me.  I decided on a different approach.  I hopped on eBay and bought trees.  25 trees.  OK, 15 trees (5 maple, 10 willow) and 10 shrubs (burning bushes).  The willows promised to grow very fast and get tall enough to shade my two story house.

On 26 December 2003, my trees were buried.  We got a foot and a half or so of snow that day.  During the next week, we got about that much again.  My poor trees have been buried for nearly two months.  Thankfully, the temperature is rising (last months average temperature was 22 degrees) and I can see my trees again.  I only hope the deep freeze didn't kill them.

From a typical February month perspective (28 days), my blog has been up and running for a month.  Here are a few tidbits I've learned during that time.

Almost nobody has heard of RSS, or ATOM, or news aggregators in general.  There are bloggers, who don't even know what these things are.  One of the many things that we as an industry need to work on is simplifying the adoption path of new technologies.  I'm not sure I have great ideas on how to do that, but I'm convinced of the need.  One helpful item, I think, would be to reduce the ridiculous format competition (for most people, is there really a need for whatever goodness ATOM supposedly offers?).  We take something already complex for non tech people and make it more complex.  Bad move, I think.

The Internet is as unreliable as ever.  Referral hits don't always mean someone is linking to you.  Email notifications don't always arrive.  Stats tracking software falls asleep sometimes.  Google's ranking algorithm is more fickle than a 2 year old deciding what to eat (or not eat, or throw on the floor, etc.) for dinner.

Most importantly, blogs allow me to communicate with many people.  According to my logs, I'm regularly read by folks from at least 10 different countries and at least two major software companies.  It is interesting to think that my voice is heard by so many (though very few compared to many other bloggers).

I'm annoyed.  A few days ago, Mr. Kerry sent his first bout of referral spam to me.  Today, he sent a bit more.  If he were reading my blog or linking to me, that'd be fine.  Spamming me, though, is not OK.

I visited his website, found the “Contact Us” link, and expressed my opinion of his tactics.  I stated they were not acceptable and that I'd never consider voting for him if he had no respect for me and my property (e.g. my domain and my weblog).

What was the result of that display of displeasure?  He spammed my email account!  Did I plan to vote for him?  I was considering it.  Will I vote for him, if he continues to push his message and himself on me against my will?  Not in a million years.

Mr. Kerry and anyone else who wants my vote or my business, respect my property, my time, my rights, and myself, or get no satisfaction, political or financial, from me.

A good friend of mine, Jeremy Young, is now engaged.  I wish you and Lauren all the best!

intraVnews is not high on my like list today.  You see, I decided that rather than take up 200 MB of blog posts in the .pst file where my email, contacts, calendar, etc. reside, I'd make a special .pst just for blogs.  I moved the intraVnews folder from the mail .pst to the new “for blogs only” .pst, and all was well.  OK, all was well in appearance.  A few hours later, I realized I'd received no new blog posts.  I checked my feeds, and intraVnews couldn't find any of the folders for the feeds.  Ugh.

On further investigation, I discovered the problem.  Rather than store a path like \\blogs\intraVnews\Microsoft Employees\Dare Obasanjo\ (blogs is the name of my “for blogs only” .pst), it hardcodes the Outlook folder ID.  So, if you rename the folder, it's OK, because the only important thing is the ID.  If you move the folder (in the same .pst) all is OK, because of that folder ID.  If you move to a new .pst, then all bets are off and all feeding is stopped.

To solve the problem, I exported my OPML, unsubscribed from all my feeds, imported my OPML, and let the feeding begin.  Since all my state was lost, I had to manually reset that.  Also, since the OPML did not reflect the folder categories I had created (it reflects categories by wherever the feed's folder first lived, changes are not reflected in the OPML grr), I had to move folder around and do some renaming.

All in all, it is still a better experience than I had with SharpReader, but the a bit of brightness has worn off.  I should also mention that I tried NewsGator again, and it still doesn't behave the way I want it to for NNTP.  Until it can handle NNTP as well as Outlook Express, it isn't worth its price tag (since the free OE and intraVnews cover the same functionality).

It's amazing what you find on the Internet looking for something else.  Yesterday, I had a small dispute with my friend regarding the date of Kurt Cobain's death.  I claimed spring 1994 (April or May), and he claimed it was in the fall.  As soon as I remembered we had talked about that, I google'd a bit to find the date.  As it turns out, Kurt was found dead 8 April 1994.

That's what I was looking for.  What I wasn't looking for was the notes of a private investigator implicating Courtney Love in Kurt's murder.  I'm not sure what to think about his statements, and I find it very curious that the PI is selling his case file.  I know, though, that I'm sad once again thinking of Kurt's death.

He and I weren't exactly best buds.  I was just one of a few million other fans who had never met him but could feel like I knew him through his music.  It was an raw, emotional, eternal, eerie music.  I once thought I knew exactly how Kurt felt.  Probably not, since I didn't partake of any of his lifestyle (no grunge, no drugs, etc.), but I was just a dumb teen fan back then.  Still, he was one, whose music I could relate to as a teen.  I suppose, perhaps, thinking again about Kurt's death is like thinking again about John Lennon's death for those a generation or so older than I.

The last 24 hours or so have seen a good deal of conversation with me and a close friend.  We talked about all sorts of things, including but not limited to the role of the United States in Iraq, the meaning of liberty with respect to US citizens and non-US citizens, judicial review, gun control, and several religious topics and doctrines.  Oh, we also talked about the age of oceans, string / brane theory, and the birth of the universe.  In fact, it is for this reason (the lengthy discussions), that I didn't blog yesterday.

My point in saying all of this is that my friend is a very smart man and I'm glad he challenged my beliefs on several fronts.  Thanks to his willingness to share his ideas with me, many of which are contrary to my own, I have a lot to think about.

Someone recently asked me how to break into the IT industry.  Meaning, how do you get started?  I answered:

I think the most important thing to do is develop (and nurture) an insatiable love for knowledge in your field of choice.  That is what will get you in many doors, will put you in contact with people who can teach you and who can hire you, and will get you to the point where you are worth hiring/training/etc.  I'd never hire someone with a passing interest in coding.  I have hired people with aptitude and desire, but with little experience.

Another person asked me how I got started.  I answered along these lines:

Dreams.  Lately, my dreams have been intense.  I don't remember what they've been about, but I remember the feelings I have.  They are the type that one would experience in severe tests of character, or tests of endurance, or tests of ability.  It's as if, even in my sleep, I can't escape the obligations of my waking life.

Stress.  I decided almost a decade ago that I wouldn't have stress.  I was an all honors or AP student and was surrounded by grade mongering “I'm going to the Ivy League!” fellow all honors or AP students.  I decided that there was more to life than where I went to college, and there was far more to life than whatever grade I happened to get in economics.  It's final.  No stress for me.

That worked for a few months, perhaps even a few years, but life is different now.  There's a driving “you need to be more than you are now” feeling in me.  I need to be a better programmer.  I need to be a better financial planner.  I need to be better elder.  I need to be a better brother.  I need to be a better friend.  I need to finish my degree with a 4.0.  (Those are listed in no particular order, by the way.)

I haven't discovered a resolution strategy or even a mitigation strategy for this drive that satisfies.  The issue isn't stagnation.  I'm anything but stagnant.  I'm constantly improving my skills as a programmer.  I'm constantly seeking ways to improve my financial position.  I'm constantly seeking to improve my relationship with God.  I suppose it is best to leave judgment on where I stand on the friend and brother question to those to whom I am friend and brother.  As for the degree, it's a 4.0 now, and I don't see that diminishing.

A few years back, I produced one satisfying financial stress mitigation strategy - I was eating six months ago, I'm eating today, and I'll be eating six months from now.  Whether I own one house, two houses, or live in an apartment, I'll still be OK.  I'm in a state of OK'ness now, and in the future I'll be at least as OK as I am now.  Breathe.  OK, now, get back to work and stop worrying.

Distractions.  Distractions are probably my best mitigation strategy thus far.  For instance, I just wrote a somewhat difficult email to a close friend of mine.  Rather than fully grok the situation, which I'm not prepared to do right now, I blare some Russian pop music to provide a distraction and proceed to write as much as I can at present.

Another for instance is this blog.  Rather than consider how far away I am from the large number of people I consider close friends, I've created a distraction...my blog.  It enables me to feel, to some degree, that I'm keeping up my end of the friendship with respect to communication, and it gives my mind something to do other than think about the distance between me and my many friends scattered all over the world.

The blog, of course, has other advantages.  If I can manage to distract myself from introspection, I'll post about the technical issues I meet as a .NET developer.  Eventually, I expect to be drawn into the mix of the better known tech bloggers, thus increasing my ability to learn from them.  This will directly affect my “become a better programmer” and “become a better financial planner” stresses.

It's interesting that the introspective me, which is probably what I'd prefer to expose to my friends is in opposition to the technical me, which I'd probably prefer to expose to the Internet in general.  Thus, these two blog focuses are distractions to each other.  I expect that they will both aid me in succeeding in the other by not letting me focus on it too much.  Lol, that's quite a paradox.

There are times when I think I know myself pretty well.  One of those times was last week, when I played an honor game.  By stating that I'd blog about dreams, distractions, and stress, I obligated myself to do it.  I try to be a man of honor, so, now that I've made that statement, it's very likely that I'll actually write those entries.

This honor game is one of several motivational games I play.  I find that external factors don't always appear when I need them, so sometimes I have to create my own.  Yes, I certainly could just go and write the entires, mow the lawn, prune the trees, etc.  However, I acknowledge that I'm often less than desirous to engage in such activities.  As a result, I must exploit my strengths to overcome my weaknesses.

OK, I feel like Doogie Houser.  He always wrote little cryptic explanations of whatever he learned on the show that week.  My last entry reminds me entirely too much of Doogie style blogging.  (I think Doogie predates even Dave Winer in the blogosphere.)

I thought I'd go a bit transparent with this blog.  It seems that my attempt at transparency obviously needs a bit more work.  No, that doesn't mean I plan to clarify my previous entry.  The entry is certainly true in it's own right, and I think I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, sorry about that Doogie moment.  I'm sure I'll have a few more, but I'll work on phasing them out.

I used to think that I didn't have a conscience.  Perhaps it is because I almost never did anything wrong as a kid.  Perhaps it is because I did so much that was wrong that I was numb to guilt.  At any rate, recent experience seems to be telling me that my conscience is alive and well.  Notwithstanding discomfort from time to time, I'm happy about this.

Yes, the title of this entry is (untitled).

For the first time since I started reading blogs back in October, I'm current.  I've learned about a wide range of topics and met some interesting people.  My current blog count is 153, and I think I'll keep it around this number.

While thinking of patriotism, I'm drawn to a somewhat similar concept...nationalism.  I hate nationalism.  I hate it.  In my mind, it is at least as vile as any other stereotype or prejudice.  It's worse than anti-semitism, racism, or religious persecution, simply because it typically excludes more people than any of those.

I define nationalism as “my country is better than yours.”  Even when my country is clearly doing something wrong, my country is still better than yours!  It justifies current bad deeds based on good deeds long past (we helped the French 50 years ago, so they should bow to our will now).  It blinds our minds to the virtues of others and the faults in ourselves.  It is an insidious evil that poisons our reasoning, our political view points, and our ability to be true patriots.

I define patriotism as doing what is right irrespective of circumstance.  A patriot will sacrifice for the greater good (a father for his family, a soldier for his country).  A patriot is an enemy of tyranny and a friend of freedom.  He doesn't lend his good name to support evil causes.  He does lend his hand to help those who accept his help no matter their citizenship.

I think this is just what Gordon B. Hinckley meant when he said, “I think there are many good people everywhere. And our appeal is to those people. We don’t down grade any Church. We don’t speak disparagingly of any Church. We simply say to people of other Churches, bring all the good that you have and come and let us see if they if we can add to it. Now that’s all there is to it.”  (see http://www.abc.net.au/compass/intervs/hinckley.htm)  A patriot, religious or otherwise, simply says, let me see if I can help you.  Teach me what you know, and I'll teach you what I know.  A nationalist (I'm from the US, therefore I'm the best.  I'm from Texas, therefore, I'm the best.  I'm white, therefore, I'm the best...) is too proud to admit that he can learn from anyone.

Today, I watched President Bush on Meet the Press.  I have conflicting feelings now.  Last March, I was annoyed with those who openly attacked and demonstrated against the war even while our brothers, sons, fathers, sisters, and daughters were being attacked.  Even if the war was unjust, I reasoned, I should support my family.  The head of my family might be wrong, but I shouldn't abandon the rest of them for his mistakes.

I find it harder and harder to maintain that point of view.  I find it harder and harder to not speak against a president, who I feel has betrayed me.  What I wonder is this - how is the country best served?  By venomous words?  By turning a blind eye and saying nothing?  By quietly going about my business believing in what's right even as my president leads my country to do that which is wrong?

I'm a fan of truth and a fan of honor.  I defend my position vigorously, but I try to always adapt my position, if I discover it is flawed.  I think that criticism for the sake of criticism is not worth much, but criticism for the sake of helping and making better is a good thing.  I could argue that venom spat at a vile leader could be considered constructive if the leader died and were replaced by one better.  I'm not sure that I could swallow my own argument though.  If I couldn't swallow that, which I'd consider to be an extreme case, can I swallow it in a lesser case?

So again, what do the patriots do to right the wrongs of their country?

Really, I was.  About 10 years ago, I thought I was T.S. Elliott.  Well, actually, I was Elliott about nine years ago.  About 10 years ago I was, um, well, I was in search of an expressive outlet.  I did a little prose and I did a little poetry.  All total, I think I wrote 20-30 poems and 3-4 decent prose pieces.  (No, I won't post my works, but if you somehow find them, you'll learn another reason that I feel some sort of connection to Em's lyrics.)

I never quite fancied myself as a writer, but I did consider myself one with many ideas.  I tried several styles - ultimately favoring imagistic.  I was a teenager in search of a means for expression.  (Here's a little known fact - I even did contemporary dance, arguably, for a short time.  And, no, I won't admit that if you see me outside of my blog.)  The problem with most of what I wrote, not surprisingly, was that nobody understood what I was writing.

One of my friends of that time, a fellow AP English student, gave me a bit of literary critique in my senior year book.  (Forgive me for not getting your permission, Keith, but I can't seem to find you.)  He said:

Concerning your poetry (which I believe you intend to continue), I think you have an amazing ability to manipulate diction, syntax, etc.  However, I think you must avoid making it too much of a personal thing.  Art is an expression of yourself, but it will never have an impact on others if you hide behind personal expressions/feelings.  It must be made more universal so you don't alienate your readers.  I'm sorry to critique your poetry in a high school year book, but I assume that you appreciate something intelligent and of worth in here.

Oddly enough, about one month after he wrote that, I stopped writing.  Well, I stopped writing the type of stuff I wrote before.  I decided that my path in life was not professional writing.  I figured that whatever I wrote in the future would be a personal thing and not part of my career.

Almost a decade later, I look back and wonder whether my writing style has changed at all.  I can't seem to write a poem to save my life now.  I write little prose pieces (even if they are just blog entries or newsgroup posts) all the time though.  Keith's question still remains in my mind ...is my writing merely a private cathartic outlet, or do others benefit from my words?  (For the record, that's not a lure for comments.)

I'll add a post about Keith some later time.

When I wrote “Rules of Engagement” a few days ago, this is the type of thing I was looking for.  I think the only one with which I take issue is - Write Tight.  I, um, don't optimize my writing.  If I'm in the mood, I'll proof for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  I typically don't go to the trouble of doing short and sweet.  I don't take issue with Relax, but I don't think it's too likely that I'll do it.  Speaking of relaxing, I need to write about stress.

I guess I don't miss it too much.  I can't even remember what it was called.  I think it was Musli, actually.  I'm sure Jake, errrr, Jack will correct me on that. 

Anyway, I miss it.  I just had a pleasant bowl of Cap'n Crunch, and it was OK, but I'd love to have the crunchy, chocolaty, so German but in the middle of Moscow Muesli.  (The thing that I'm trying to describe is like a granola cereal with chocolate chips.  It was very good and I ate it quite often toward the end of my mission.)  Mmmmm.

Cereal aside, I was thinking of posting about dreams, distractions, and stress in the near future.  Look forward to them in the next few days.

If I ever find myself cursing the C# compiler for doing something I don't like, I need to remember this moment.  Whatever quirkiness C# has, it has nothing in C.  I'll quite whining now and get some more useful blog posts up a bit later.  I just realized that I haven't had breakfast (Yes, I know it's 7pm and I've been up for like 12 hours...I was busy.)

Thanks Dare for this link to President Match.  I had the unfortunate experience of discovering, according to the site, that I'm 100% aligned with George.  Ugh.  I'm sure there's a bug.  Here's a bug - I want the Patriot Act repealed.  He wants it to be in force perpetually.

Could it be that as much as I have no desire at all to vote for George, than none of the other candidates have what I'm looking for either?  That's a very unpleasant thought.

Back in the day, I used to be quite a “music affects your mood” kind of guy.  I think I still believe that a lot.  The question for me is this - how exactly does it affect my mood?

For the last few months, I've been listening to a hefty amount of random classics - Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, etc.  I even scaled back on Collective Soul, because it was too hard.  Hmm.

Well, today was one of those try my patience days.  I didn't do too well.  I found myself getting less than happy about silly little things.  Finally, I decided I'd had it with Enya.  Her soothing Watermark clearly wasn't soothing my mind.  What replaced her?

Eminem.  Perhaps it's one of those projection defense mechanism things.  By the time I got to “When I was just a little baby boy, my momma used to tell me these crazy things...” (Kill You on Marshall Mathers LP), I was nice and calm and making (hopefully) two of my clients happy.

Em and I have a curious relationship.  I don't like a lot of what he says.  I don't like the fact that I listen to him.  I do, though, like that fact that I'm much less angry when I listen to him.  I just don't get it.  How does one of the angriest men in the pop music world calm me down?

I'm learning (or forcing myself to accept) that I can learn things from even the most unlikely of places.  Going through horribly written code, I can still learn a function or two that I've never seen before.

I've been thinking a lot about interviewing lately.  I've been interviewed and I've been the interviewer as well.  Here's my take on it.  (I should also add that when I was the interviewer, I was employed by small companies.)

When I interview someone, I've never been too interested in any of the material things (tie color, shoes, etc.).  In fact, I only remember that the interviewee is not outlandish in appearance.  What interests me is the conversation.

I ask about what they know.  I ask how to apply things they know.  If they don't know something, I explain a concept and ask where it would apply and why or why not.  My goal is to gauge aptitude.

I always browse over resumes, but I never pay them too much attention to them.  Resumes can be made to say almost anything.  The most important thing for me is what a person knows and is capable of knowing, not how well they can express that in a resume.  I'd prefer to not have to be so formal about an interview, but if I've never met the person before, I don't have much choice.

I think it's been three years since I was last interviewed.  I think I had that job wrapped up before I walked in the door though.  My future employer found me at a conference Microsoft held in Salt Lake.  During Q&A, I argued with the presenter over the capabilities of ASP.NET server controls.  He said, you can't do that, and I said, yes, you can, I've done it.

He and I faced off again over whether Windows 2000 was truly a .NET Enterprise Server.  I argued that it couldn't be, since it was released in February, and .NET wasn't announced until June.  Whatever Microsoft said on the matter, throwing Windows 2000 in the mix just didn't make sense.  As I recall, the audience supported my answer (the question was to name all the .NET Enterprise Servers), so I got the copy of Office 2000 Premium anyway.

As soon as the conference was over, this stranger (my future employer) came up to me and asked for my name and number.  We talked for a little bit about web development.  I think due to the Q&A of the conference and this five minute “interview,” he decided to hire me.

As I think about being interviewed again, I wonder how I want to present myself.  I think that I want my employer to know what I can do and to know who I am.  If I'm not a good match for the company or the company isn't a good match for me, it makes little sense for us to hook up.  Rather than play what I consider silly resume or interview games, I'd much rather be straightforward about it.  I'd rather my future employers read my blog and get inside my head a little to know if I'm what they are looking for.  (Perhaps that means I should talk a bit more about the kinds of projects I've worked on.)  If I'm not, then all the resume and interview skills in the world shouldn't land me the job.

One of my favorite bloggers, Rob Mensching, broke his vow of silence today.  He writes some good technical stuff, if you're into understanding the innards of MSI.  If not, his personal writing is very good too.  Thanks for sharing yourself with us, Rob.

I see that KC also reads Rob.

To read a blog.  To blog.  To be a blogger.  Don't bug me, I'm blogging!

A year ago, I thought that blog (short for web log) was something that web server software generated...a text file of HTTP requests.  I thought the word was rather silly, but now I use it in my everyday speech.  Hmm.

Another word “grok” has wandered into my reading lately.  I think this is a foolish word too.  Why not just say “mull over,” “think over,” “think about,” or “ponder” ?  I wonder if I'll grok my acceptance of the word “grok” a year from now.

I only have three items tagged for follow-up in Outlook right now. 

I'm first on Google for the moment. 

Click on the image to enlarge.

That almost sounds like one of Shinji's lines from Neon Genesis Evangelion.  It's not though.

I blogged yesterday about losing all my read blog state.  Well, for the last little bit I've been trying to reclaim that state.  This involves going through the 100+ blogs I read and marking read what I've already read.  Long story short (too late!), I came across an entry from Brian Loomis, to which someone had responded thusly:

Considering the number of poorly written and researched articles in popular tech magazines and sites, I don't see that they have anything on blogging. I've seen far more accurate information on Microsoft products from Microsoft bloggers than I have seen from CNet, eWeek, etc.

I thought, yeah, I agree!  Well, of course, I agree.  BobSmith (that's me) wrote it.  I'm glad to see I agree with myself.

This gave me a laugh.  In the first few days, I'd edit an entry several times.  Now though, I only do corrections for formatting or link errors.  I'm generally good about grammar and spelling too, but when blogging, it just doesn't seem as important.  Blogging is more of a stream of consciousness thing than a well thought out thesis.

I'm generally a private person.  I'm sure y'all see ample evidence of that by the fact that I have a blog, which millions of people can read.  Hmm.

Anyway, I'm a private person...it seems wherever I go, I develop private jokes with people.  I also have quite a number of things that are important to only me (think of Simon's rocks in With Honors).  Campbell's Soup, potato, oranges in California, McRope, sprawling, Buddha, and the list goes on.  They just kind of happen.  For this reason, and a few others more than likely, a single bottle of ketchup became an object of humor.

Here's the story...back in my senior year of high school, I got really sick.  OK, not the kind of really sick that people start hopping on airplanes to see you before you die, but the kind of sick that makes you miss school for a week and gives you just enough energy to pop in a new CD and fall back to sleep (even though you've been asleep for the last three days).  It was a very cold January or February in New Jersey and I was hot and feverish inside.  Toward the end of the week, I was beginning to feel a bit better.

With my fever and the freezing temperature, going outside was less than appealing.  I decided to do a little in house aerobics to get the blood flowing.  I was looking for weights, and the first thing I found was a huge two pack of ketchup (2.5 - 3 lbs. each).  So, I returned to my room and went about jogging and whatever else.  Somehow, only one of those bottles made it back to the kitchen.

My room was full of symbols for things - some personal, some private jokes.  A few times later that summer (yes, that bottle was still there), a few new friends saw the ketchup and assumed it had some meaning like everything else in my room.  The funny part of this ketchup joke is that it never meant anything.

This blog is my first (if you don't count a little site I wrote after my mission that nobody read) attempt at Internet honesty.  By that I mean, whenever I posted anything on the net until now, I've done it hiding behind an alias or the name of some corporation (like my clients or my employer).

I came to a startling conclusion not too long ago.  It goes like this - it's nearly impossible for the common man to hide his identity on the Internet.  I'm not the most tech savvy guy around, but I've sniffed out more than one person myself.  I read referral logs.  I read user agent strings.  I check properties on the email and newsgroup posts I receive to see where they come from and, if possible, what email client and OS (even OS service pack) was used to create them.  I read WHOIS records.  I even do the occasional tracert.

I thought to myself, “How hard would it really be to follow this path?”  Look at my email address.  Hmm, that doesn't look like a corporate address, I wonder what it is.  Let's see what's at lparky.com.  Hmm, LEP.  I wonder if that stands for Louis E. Parks.  Let's check the WHOIS record.  Wow, good guess.  Perhaps we should give him a call or mail him a letter.  Perhaps we should check to see how much he paid in property taxes last year.  Yeah, no privacy.  All from a little email address.

With such an easy path, I figured that using my real name was almost as safe as posting with an alias.  So, there you go, security through obscurity doesn't provide much security.  Besides, it's quite a feeling to Google for myself and appear on the first page of results.    Currently, I'm 2nd and 3rd.  Yesterday, I was 4th and 5th.  Last week, I was 8th.  Potato Man isn't doing too badly either.

I've talked about being a tester and a programmer.  I just thought I'd clarify my work history somewhat.

When I returned from my mission, I started school at BYU.  Within a few weeks, I got a job at the MTC testing T.A.L.L. (Technology Assisted Language Learning) versions 2.3 and 3.0.  Primarily I focused on the Russian version.  I also tested associated content creation and management tools, as well as the teacher component of T.A.L.L., Teacher Assistant.

I had a wonderful time testing.  Complain, complain, complain.  Many of my bugs were overruled, but many of them were accepted.  It's quite a thing to look at a product and know that you helped bulletproof it.

I spent about a year testing eventually become head of testing before taking a dual role as tester and programmer.  Keith Borrowman moved on to green pastures, and I replaced him as the programmer for Teacher Assistant.  DJ Dewey then replaced me as TA's tester.  (Ugh, I still remember that almost impossible to fix half check mark bug he found!  I also remember his future wife, Kim, mocking my use of Courier to align some text.  Here's a link to pictures of Deej and Kim.)  Though they'd probably dispute it, I still consider Keith and DJ better programmers than I am.

About four months later, another department snatched me.  Windows DNA, VB COM components, etc.  It was quite fun.  It was also the beginning of my current career as a web developer.

In the years since then, I've developed internal web sites, external web sites, and some desktop apps.  I'm currently a self-employed programmer.  Still, when big companies are nice enough to let me beta test software for them, I get to exercise my testing skills.

Obviously, Louis Parks is Potato Man.  Where did the name come from?

Potato is a double-edged sword for me.  I wrote a parable back in '96 about potatoes.  Rather than accepting the status quo, the potato was trying to be the best he could be and rise above his surroundings.  I wrote it to a missionary, trying to explain my thoughts on life.  A few months later, I told it to my companion at the Missionary Training Center (MTC).  (I'll blog about being a missionary a bit more some day.)  Since he was about 6'2" and I'm 5'7", he used to call me spud.  It was very complimentary, meaning that in his eyes, I was trying to be the best friend to him and the best missionary I could be.

Potato also refers to a sarcastic comment I made a few months ago.  Jeremy Field and I were taking a class together at University of Phoenix.  He's a good friend of mine, so I spoke very candidly about an issue we were both having with the class.  I choose the first word that came to mind, potato, for an analogy I was making.  So, when I use potato referring to UoP, I'm covertly showing off my cockiness.

Using the two definitions together, I suppose Potato Man means that I'm a cocky guy, but that I'm always trying to do the right thing.