Fireworks Now And Then (aka I'm Old)

On this New Years Eve as I sit in my house with my faithful dog cowering behind my computer desk in fear from all the loud noise from the obscene amount of fireworks outside, I am reminded of the fact that Fireworks are indeed illegal.

I know I'm getting old when I say this, but when I was a kid, you got small firecrackers or bottle rockets (if you were lucky) and sparklers and you were happy. Fireworks were illegal due to safety concerns.

Now, there is a Fireworks store/tent setup on every other corner and some actual Fireworks stores that stay open 365 Days out of the year. Keep in mind that the laws haven't changed, Fireworks are still illegal but our very own government has created a massive loophole to allow the sale of pretty much any form of "fireworks" one may desire.

This loophole says that it is not illegal to sell Fireworks, it is just illegal to use Fireworks. However, there is one provision which makes using Fireworks perfectly legal. The one caveat, you have to be a "Farmer". Yes, our government has decided that "Farmers" may have the need for deadly explosives to fend off dangerous rodents which may destroy their crops.

When you go to a Fireworks store or road stand, you can buy wondrous things that are as powerful and at times even more impressive than what you may see at a "Professional" Fireworks Display. All you have to do is sign a little form that says "I am a Farmer".

Keep in mind, that it is illegal for non-farmers to actually use Fireworks but that is the brilliant part about the "loophole", nobody checks.

That's right, you can set off a Fireworks Display in your very own front yard that rivals that "pro" Fireworks Display downtown and no cops will ever come to verify that you are a "farmer" and attempting to use the Fireworks to fend off rodents. Sure, your neighbors may get upset and they may even call the Police but nothing will ever happen.

This just doesn't seem right. I remember once when I was 10 years old I was foolishly playing outside on July 4th with a friend that had a miniature gun powder cannon. It was about a foot long, nothing big. We fired it off and then instantly a Cop showed up to warn us of the laws we were breaking. Being kids and stupid, we did it again later and yet another Police Officer showed up to make sure we understood the laws.

Today, that just doesn't happen. I could stand outside with a Roman Candle in my hand and put myself in the Hospital and never so much as get a warning or worse, a ticket for the violation.

Am I getting old and losing my sense of adventure? Maybe, but a law is a law. If we casually turn the other way and toss in "loopholes" to make ourselves feel better about lawbreakers, where will that end?

Every year Fireworks use grows more and more around July 4th, Christmas and New Years. And every year more and more people end up in the Emergency Room because they were drunk, stupid and shooting off Fireworks.

Fireworks are so easy to purchase and obviously cheap because around my house people start shooting off Fireworks anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks before a holiday and continue shooting them off for the next 1 to 2 weeks following the holiday.

I remember a story from New Years a couple years back where a friend of mine couldn't get to sleep because it was 3:30am in the morning and some fool was shooting off Fireworks like there was no tomorrow. After walking around the neighborhood it was discovered that some guy was sitting out in his driveway completely drunk shooting off Fireworks and he had absolutely no idea what time it was. He didn't even have friends or family around him.

Am I making too big of a deal about this? Maybe so but again, if the government is going to create a Law they shouldn't follow that up with a loophole that allows any idiot to go blow his paycheck on explosives and beer.

That's my rant for the Evening.... Happy New Year

Give Me The Good Stuff

So I went to the break room here at work this morning and while I was waiting on my coffee, I opted to check out the vending machine.

The service people had refreshed it's contents over the weekend.

I look around for a Snickers Bar but none can be found and then just before giving up, I notice a pack of Skittles with a Twix Bar behind it and then directly behind the Twix, you guessed it, the beloved Snickers Bar.

Why oh why must they torture me by hiding what I want behind assorted snacks?

Not that I really wanted a Snickers this early in the day but its the principle of the thing

I think I should go buy all three and take the Skittles and Twix Bar up to the front desk and ask for my money back since I only wanted the Snickers because as you know, "Snickers really satisfies"

Google Chrome - Another Missed Opporunity?

Google released their very own Web Browser today, September 2, 2008.

Google Chrome is the name. Not quite sure how the word "chrome" fits in with the title but unlike the visions of shiny chrome that may come to mind, Google Chrome still needs some buffing around the edges.

The concept of Google Chrome is very novel and a long time coming. We have seen the focus on speed from browsers like Firefox 3 and Opera but no browser has focussed specifically on Web 2.0 Application Technologies such as those used in Google Apps, Digg or the like.

As anyone knows from trying to surf heavy JavaScript (i.e. Web 2.0) web sites on an iPhone or iTouch, Safari will go down faster than Sarah Palin's daughter. Heavy JavaScript laden web sites tend to choke web browsers. Fortunately, Firefox has made great strides in improving the user's experience with such sites and they have worked hard at handling multiple Browser Tabs but their approach may not be the best.

This is where the concept behind Google Chrome paths the way for a better browser.

You can read more about these concepts here.

Google is attempting to give the user a web browser that is fully cognizant of process threading, process encapsulation and a level of system error handling that is usually expected with an Operating System but not really talked about in terms of a Web Browser.

Web Browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer still make use of a single process thread for all browser Tabs but as we have seen with Firefox 3, they have managed to reduce Memory Load with their latest efforts.

When you run Chrome you will find a new process instance of "Chrome.exe" for every Tab you have open. The nice thing about this concept is that if one Tab is behaving badly it doesn't take the whole browser down. As the system is still new, this hasn't truly been the case but is a good goal.

Let's take a look at Google Chrome:

As you can see by the User Interface, it doesn't follow a traditional "Windows" UI. It doesn't make use of the Operating System Window "frame" which makes me wonder how it will look on Linux and Mac OS X. It has the standard "windows" like Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons in the top-right. I'm not sure if this will be the same on all flavors of Linux and their multiple window layout managers or Mac OS X. Utilizing the same UI across each Operating System would make sense in one respect but there is such a thing as "fitting in" and while Chrome does look decent on Windows, it would stick out like a sore thumb on Mac OS X with this UI.

You may have noticed the Tabs at the top of the browser. Yes, they are above the "address bar" thus signifying that each tab is it's own "browser window". Most other Tabbed Browsers have the tabs listed below the "address bar" but oddly enough, the contents of the "address bar" change as you switch between tabs. This is a welcome change and it fosters the idea that a Tab is a browser process instance in itself and not just a different "tab". Each "tab" is specific to its contents as you would expect.

Overall, the layout of the Chrome UI is clean and simple, just as you would expect from Google. However, it does leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Firefox users are used to being pampered with all kinds of FREE Addo-ons (Extensions) while IE has some of its own but Firefox rules the roost there. Oddly enough, Google Chrome doesn't have any Addo-on capabilities with this release.

A really odd thing I have noticed with Chrome is that Google didn't even try to build in the best features of their popular "Google Toolbar".

One feature I really can't live without is Google Bookmarks. I have been using that for years and when I was testing the beta releases of Firefox 3 I felt naked not having Google Toolbar and settled for less than adequate 3rd party Google Bookmarks addons but was exited when Google finally updated their Toolbar. Upon first launch of Google Chrome I just knew I would be asked if I wanted to use Google Bookmarks but alas no. Instead, I was given the ability to import Firefox or Internet Explorer Bookmarks but no Google Bookmarks integration.

For me, this was a big let down and I personally feel it is a missed opportunity for Google.

With that said though, I myself have noticed that while I love Google Bookmarks that that Application doesn't tend to get the love it deserves from Google. In fact, with the last iteration of Google Notebook they failed miserably at integrating Google Bookmarks into Notebook. They did it in a way that makes it seem as if they view Bookmarks as "unfiled notes" which really takes away from the "bookmarks" concept.

I'm not sure if Google is up in the air about the "bookmarks" concept but I still believe this was a missed opportunity.

You may notice in my screenshot that there are icons across the top for Gmail, Google Reader and other Google Apps. Those are just bookmarks imported from Firefox, don't get your hopes up. There is absolutely no integration with any other Google Application within Chrome. Very sad indeed.

I wouldn't want anyone to come away from this article thinking that Google Chrome is no good or that I hate it or something. It is a decent enough browser and does illustrate some new concepts but so far it isn't the pedigree you would expect from Google.

I have read posts on Digg and other sites that Chrome is super FAST. This is just not true. Yes, in some cases it can be fast but so can Firefox. I have tried all of the Google Apps and Digg with Chrome and so far I haven't seen huge increases in speed. Some yes, but nothing to write home about yet.

Google Chrome is definitely something to keep an eye on but so far I would say it is a niche market application and won't be replacing anyone's default browser for now.... especially if you are a Firefox user.

I invite you to give it a try. Take it for a spin and see for yourself.

One word of warning though, WebSense does currently log any and all downloadable Google Applications as "freeware" and thus will block the Google Chrome download at most places of business using WebSense.

Another word of caution is installing on Vista or Server 2008. Most Install Applications these days are "Vista ready" and will notify you when Administrator rights are needed but not Google Chrome. You will get an error during the install even if you are a user within the Admin role. You will need to right-click and select "Run as Administrator" to install Chrome.

Read more about Google Chrome here and download it here.

There are tons of videos here to get you started but be warned they are through YouTube which is typically blocked in most places of business.

Give it a spin, kick the tires and let me know what you think. Don't forget to visit the Google Chrome Help Discussion Group via Google Groups to get help and to help out Google and your other fellow users.

And by the way, this article was authored through the Blogger Web Site using Chrome.  And interesting thing to note, upon first login to Blogger, I was presented with an Error message which stated that my browser didn't support JavaScript or Cookies.  Go figure :)

You Can Be Replaced - By Chocolate

Its Saturday morning and I wake up at 7:00am to hear my 2 year old calling out "Mommy, Daddy" so even though I could have used another couple of hours of sleep I get up to go take care of him.

I open up his door and walk in thinking he would be happy to see Daddy but I'm greet with "No, Mommy" over and over and over.

While I attempted to calm my son down all he would do is yell "Mommy, Mommy".

After a good 10 minutes of this my son switches his moaning to "chocolate milk".

So, I get up, take him to the kitchen to fix him up some chocolate milk (Ovaltine of course) and everybody is happy.

The moral of the story... don't kid yourself, you can always be replaced, by chocolate :-)

They Realy Do Walk Among Us - Neighbors

You may have seen the "chain letter" post I made a few days ago "They Walk Among Us - Here's Your Sign...".

That was not my piece of work but funny nonetheless.

I thought I would write my own "The Walk Among Us" piece tonight to share with you a story about my wacky neighbors.

About 9 months ago my next door neighbor who works in the Lawn Care and Pest Control industry told me that the Lawn Care service he worked for was about to be bought by the company that services my lawn. He went on to tell me he didn't like that company and if this merger did go through he would quit... basically out of foolish pride.

One month later and the Company Truck disappeared. Another month later and his wife whom I have never seen smoke in the 7 years they have lived next door started smoking. I take it she was a little stressed by her husband's foolish antics of quitting a perfectly good job.

Soon after my neighbor has a new job working for a new Pest Control company.

My wife and I talked with our neighbors one day and they went on to tell us about how this area was becoming so dangerous, so violent and way too expensive to live in and how they were going to sell their house and move up to Alabama. They went on to tell us that anyone that would raise a child in Florida needed to have their head examined.

Of course you know as well as I do that the Housing Market isn't its best right now and it probably isn't a good time to try to sell a house.

My neighbors insisted that they had done so many great upgrades to their home that it would sell in less than a month. Well, months later and still nothing... no For Sale sign, no Realtor box on the door. Very curious.

About a month ago my wife runs into our neighbor and she was telling my wife "our house has issues" and went on to explain that due to these "issues" they were having a hard time selling the house.

Let's step back and define these issues as I know them:

1. New room built within the garage but not taking up the entire garage.
   No Permit for room addition in garage
2. New Swimming Pool
   No Permit for the Pool and No Child Safety Gate as require by Florida Law
3. New Fence
   No Permit and Fence sits one foot into my property however my neighbor insists the fence is one foot into his property

You can probably see where they could possibly have some issues here.

Can these issues be remedied? Yes, of course, however, they will need to get City and/or County Inspectors to come out and they will need to pay fines and make any adjustments necessary including the possibility of removing the new structures.

How do you sell a house with "issues"? Well if your my neighbors you default on your Mortgage Payments to force yourself into Foreclosure.

I guess with the housing market being as bad as it is these days and houses being foreclosed left and right my neighbors just assumed this would be a good "out" for them.

So, they went up to Alabama, bought a new house and then just stopped paying the mortgage on the home they are living in.

Already they deserve an "Idiot Sign" but it gets better.

They rented the smallest U-Haul they could get and began making multiple trips back and forth between Florida and Alabama but if that wasn't dumb enough, every time they would pull up to the house to fill it up they would park across the street. They only did this twice but still, dumb.

Did you guess by now that my neighbors may be a little "redneck"? Well, they are and they have the car on cinder blocks in the front yard to prove it.

Well, not cinder blocks but it might as well be.

Two years ago their daughter turned 16 and her grandparents gave her a car. Her parents never let her drive the car so it has just sat in the driveway ever since. Of course the tires developed slow leaks in the Florida heat and so they fill up the tires with air once every other month.

For the past 3 months they have been trying to get it to crank. Yes, leaving a car sitting without ever driving it can have bad affects on the engine :)

So about every other weekend for the past 3 4 months it has been amusing to watch as these yokels will come out, pump the tires up with air and then try to crank the engine. This is usually followed by checking the battery connections then a jump from their other car that never seems to work.

Somehow it just hasn't dawned on them that Gas goes bad over time and what other fluids may have been in there (oil, transmission fluid, etc) has probably since all dried up and gummed up the system. Of course all the seals and gaskets are probably all shot to hell now as well.

The only way that car is going to go anywhere is to have all the seals, gaskets and spark plugs replaced, as well as all fluids (including gas after the old stale stuff is drained of course). Put in a new battery and then pray it will start.

I'm not even a "car guy" and I know that.

So tonight as I am sitting here at almost 11:00pm my yokel neighbors are loading up all the "big things" in the house and trying to sneak out during the night. I assume that "sneaking out" is their plan as they didn't start loading up the truck until 10:00pm. With a 3 day holiday weekend I am sure they could have gotten plenty help and surely better light to do this in the morning.

The funny part is that the U-Haul was sitting there when I got home at 3:45pm so if the plan was to "sneak out in the night" I think they have already failed miserably.

Oh, to make matters worse, they also rented a hitch to tow that car that won't start up with them to Alabama.

Can you believe that? They have had this car for 2 years and it was already an old, used car (late 80's / early 90's Mustang). They have never been successful at getting it to start and now they are going to tow it to their new house in Alabama.

Well, I guess they are moving to the perfect state... they will probably not have an HOA there so putting it up on cinder blocks will blend in real nice with their new neighborhood.

I should make up a "They Walk Among Us" sign and go post it on their U-Haul.

You folks definitely deserve a sign!

Watch out, they definitely do walk among us and unfortunately they not only breed but they vote as well.

They Walk Among Us - Here's your sign...

A buddy of mine sent this to me today and rather than forwarding it on to all my family and friends, I figured I would just post it to my blog for all to share.

Enjoy :)


Number One Idiot of 2007

I am a medical student currently doing a rotation in toxicology at thepoison control center. Today, this woman called in very upset because she caught her little daughter eating ants. I quickly reassured her that the ants are not harmful and there would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital. She calmed down and at the end of the conversation happened to mention that she gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants. I told her that she better bring her daughter in to the emergency room right away.

Here's your sign, lady. Wear it with pride.

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Number Two Idiot of 2007

Early this year, some Boeing employees on the airfield decided to steal a life raft from one of the 747s. They were successful in getting it out of the plane and home. Shortly after they took it for a float on the river, they noticed a Coast Guard helicopter coming toward them. It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency locater beacon that activated when the raft was inflated. They are no longer employed at Boeing.

Here's your sign, guys. Don't get it wet; the paint might run.

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Number Three Idiot of 2007

A man, wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked into the Branch and wrote this, 'Put all your muny in this bag.' While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might call the police before he reached the teller's window. So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to the Wells Fargo Bank. After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note to the Wells Fargo teller. She read it and, surmising from his spelling errors that he wasn't the brightest light in the harbor, told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of America. Looking somewhat defeated, the man said, 'OK' and left. He was arrested a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back at Bank of America.

Don't bother with this guy's sign. He probably couldn't read it anyway.

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Number Four Idiot of 2007

A motorist was unknowingly caught in an automated speed trap that measured his speed using radar and photographed his car. He later received in the mail a ticket for $40 and a photo of his car. Instead of payment, he sent the police department a photograph of $40. Several days later, he received a letter from the police that contained another picture, this time of handcuffs. He immediately mailed in his $40.

Wise guy........

But you still get a sign

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Number Five Idiot of 2007

A guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and demanded all of the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of Scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, 'Because I don't believe you are over 21.' The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because she didn't believe him. At this point, the robber took his driver's license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. The clerk looked it over and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and she put the Scotch in the bag. The robber then ran from the store with his loot. The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of the robber that he got off the license. They arrested the robber two hours later.

This guy definitely needs a sign.

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Number Six Idiot of 2007

A pair of Michigan robbers entered a record shop nervously waving revolvers. The first one shouted, 'Nobody move!' When his partner moved, the startled first bandit shot him.

This guy doesn't even deserve a sign

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Idiot Number Seven of 2007

Arkansas : Seems this guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back knocking him unconscious. It seems the liquor store window was made of Plexi-Glass. The whole event was caught on videotape.

Yep, here's your sign.

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Idiot Number Eight of 2007

I live in a semi-rural area ( Weyauwega , Wisconsin ). We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: 'Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! - I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.'

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STAY ALERT! They walk among us... and they REPRODUCE...

Good Customer Service... or Bad in the case of Quiznos

I had an experience at Quiznos tonight that just infuriated me. So much so that I decided to write about it just to vent my frustrations.

We have a local Quiznos within walking distance of my house. My wife decided that she wanted Chinese for dinner but she went to Quiznos to pick up food for me.

I ordered a Salad and a Cup of Chili. Did I need the Chili? Probably not but I wanted it just the same :)

When my wife got home I went through the bags and pulled out my salad and then went for the Chili only to find out it wasn't Chili, instead, it was Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Soup.

First off, I don't even like Broccoli Soup, my wife doesn't like it either and she certainly would not have ordered it for me.

Considering that I have had positive experiences at this Quiznos before and it is just down the street, I opted to eat my Salad since that was my main meal and then I drove down to Quiznos to get my Chili.

I walked into the store and before I even opened my mouth, the woman behind the counter just shouted out "your wife ordered the broccoli soup". I was totally taken aback by this because I hadn't even said a word yet and the lady was already getting belligerent with me.

I tried to explain to the cashier, who happened to be the manager and owner, that my wife would not have ordered me Broccoli Soup as she not only knows that I don't like it but she doesn't as well. The cashier just shook her head and told me in no uncertain words that my wife ordered the Broccoli Soup.

She then went on to tell me that my kids were going crazy and that my 2 year old took a cookie that we didn't pay for and he started eating it. This was outrageous. Now she is trying to make my family out to be monsters.

I calmly and politely told the cashier that it may be possible, however unlikely that my wife asked for Chili but with the kids acting up maybe she (the cashier) might have repeated back "Broccoli Soup" and my wife might have said "yes" but in either case I not only wanted Chili but I even wrote it down on a piece of paper for my wife.

The cashier then went on to tell me that my wife didn't show her the order I wrote down and that it was my wife's mistake. Again, trying to remain calm I again told her that my wife knows better than to order me Broccoli Soup.

The cashier then filled up a cup with Chili then turned to me and said "take the Broccoli Soup, otherwise it will go to waste". I thanked her but reminded her that neither my wife nor myself liked Broccoli Soup so either way it would go to waste. This infuriated her.

She then went on to tell me that she was losing money on me. That now she was not only out of a cup of Chili but she would have to throw away a cup of Broccoli Soup as well.

First off, I paid for the Broccoli Soup which was $2.69. Yes, she is out of one cup of "soup" but in the big scheme of things, what is better, being down $2.69 because you made a customer happy by providing them with Good Customer Service ensuring that not only they will come back but so will the other customers in the store, or is it better to be down $2.69 and have a Customer go online to fill out a very negative Customer Experience Survey, write a scathing blog article and then never come back and have the other customers awaiting their order to see this and think to themselves "I'm never coming back here again"?

By the way, I saw the Cookie that my son supposedly ate while in the store. It was still wrapped up and "whole" when I left to go back to the store. In fact, when I got back home and mentioned that to my wife, her story is that my son was asking for a cookie and when she said "no" he began crying so the cashier not only gave him a cookie but she also took a paper towel and wiped my son's tears away saying "don't cry". My wife told me the cashier seemed so nice. By the way, while the cashier did "give" the cookie to my son, we most definitely did pay for it... we paid $1.29 for that cookie which is highway robbery in and of itself.

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Maybe but this is something all store owners, and employees need to learn. Good Customer Service is the key to a successful business.

This particular Quiznos is run like a "Mom and Pop" store by an immigrant family. You can tell that all the money they have been able to scrape up was put into opening this store and this is their life. If this venture fails they are ruined.

That is just my take of things from each time I have visited this location.

With that in mind though, you would think that they would go out of their way to make their Customers happy.

Well, they didn't make this customer very happy and I will not be visiting this Quiznos again.

Looping through Constants and other Fields

In a project I inherited I noticed that the previous Developer made heavy use of Constants and tended to do some rather laborious if/then conditional checks related to these Constants.

Here is the pattern of code used:

if (MethodToCheckIfNeeded(Class.Constant))

return (MethodToDoAction(Class.Constant);

NOTE: You would replace "Class" with the defining class/type and "Constant" to the specific Constant value you are inspecting

The idea is that the IF condition runs a "check" based on the value of the Constant to determine if action is needed. If action is indeed necessary then the code runs the associated "action" method sending in the same Constant value as the parameter.

This is not only laborious but it means that for every new Constant of the "type" being checked you have to go add corresponding if/then checks everywhere to handle this new data.

The really bad part is that this same conditional check is done several times based on the same Constant values. The previous Developer just kept doing that over and over again. You would have thought he would have seen a "pattern" there.

This Developer also tended to prefix Constant Variables with a "type" such as PARAM, FLD or TBL. With this in mind, we can easily loop through the "fields" of the class to either make a list or initiate an action on a given Constant.

Here is a solution that can easily be re-used:

// Define the Constant Values to be used
public const string PARAM_ONE = "This";
public const string PARAM_TWO = "is";
public const string PARAM_THREE = "a";
public const string PARAM_FOUR = "better";
public const string PARAM_FIVE = "solution";


...


FieldInfo[] fieldInfo = this.GetType().GetFields();

string constantValues = string.Empty;

foreach (FieldInfo fi in fieldInfo)
{

// We are only looking for Constants
if (fi.IsLiteral)
{

if (fi.Name.Substring(0, 6) == "PARAM_")

constantValues += fi.GetValue(fi) + " ";

}

}

if (constantValues != string.Empty)

MessageBox.Show(constantValues);

Notice in the sample above that I am checking only for Constants that have a prefix of "PARAM_".

Also notice that I am limiting my check down to "literals" which means they are values that are defined at runtime and not changed (i.e. Constants).

There are other checks you can do there as well.

Another thing to note is that the GetFields() method also provides for further filtering using BindingFlags such as Public, Static, etc. In this case my Constants are Public and that is the default for GetFields().

Just to illustrate the technique, I am concatenating the values of the "PARAM" Constants into a single String and Displaying the "message" via a MessageBox.

In the case of the problem I am trying to solve, in the loop I could call the "IsNeeded" method using the Constant's Value and in the "then" part of the condition I could call the "Action" method with that same value.

You could further create a List of these values that could be re-used in other methods so that you don't have to re-run this code again to retrieve the values but either way you still have to do a loop to get the job done.

Clean, simple and I don't have to keep adding new if/then code every time I add new Constants of a given "type".

I like it :)

I'm sure there are other solutions so if anyone would care to share please do.

I'm Away From My Desk

Have you had that problem at work where people can't seem to find you when you are away from your desk?

Maybe you were doing something important like dealing with a customer, gathering project requirements or heaven forbid, getting a drink of water or going to the bathroom.

For some reason somebody always wants to make a fuss.

Here is the solution:

• Send your photograph here
• Make sure to get the "optional" speech bubble
• Include the message "I'm not here but feel free to call me"
• Pencil in your Cell Phone Number

This should be the perfect solution. No more worries of not being able to reach you. Voice Mail, Email and your Cell Phone are always available options for those willing to take the time.


Enjoy :)

Proud Dad, Special Moments

I rarely ever post anything about my family here but I thought I would after last night.

Those of you that are parents know there are milestones with children, things that make you proud and things that touch your heart.

Yesterday, for the first time my 2 year old said "I Love You Dada". It just brings a smile to my face.

I'm not so sure he understands what that means but he does realize it is something you say to another person and is the proper response when someone says it to you.

Sorry to get all mushy but I just thought I would post that.

Oh and yes, he even said he loves his baby brother too :)

Holy Crap It's The Poop Sign!!!

A buddy of mine sent me this today and I just had to share :)

OH MY GOD IT'S THE POOP SIGN

That poor girl on the right looks like she needs to add more fiber to her diet :)

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

My son stopped me this morning as I was heading out to go to work. He didn't want me to go. He told me to call my boss and not go to work.

He says he is afraid of "ghosts".

By the way, my son is 2 years old.

I just wonder if he knows what a "ghost" is. I know he likes to watch this one GeoTrax Train Video where they have a "Ghost Train". He always laughs when he watches it.

Lately he has started screaming "a ghost" when he sees a shadow. I found this curious because in the cartoon there is a Train with a white sheet covering it that they call a "Ghost Train" so why would my 2 year old think a "shadow" is a "ghost"? How did he connect a cartoon train with a sheet over it with a "shadow"?

Long before my son was ever introduced to the "Ghost Train" video or even knew the word "ghost" my wife mentioned that she sometimes hears odd noises on the baby monitor. Could we have a ghost in the house? It is a new house... not some old spooky place out in the country possibly haunted by those long gone.

Is this a possibility or is it all just coincidence?

Strange, but I thought I'd post about it. If you have anything to share on the subject please post in the comments.

Mac vs. PC - The REAL Truth

I can't say I totally agree with this but it was funny enough to share :)

Original Image

Read the original Digg thread here

Hot Dog Stand Tribute

You remember the old "Hot Dog Stand" theme from Windows 3.1 don't you? Of course you do, it was the most hideous and gaudy of them all but that is why we "love" it :)

A friend of mine was just told that his company (a multi-billion dollar company) couldn't afford to hire a designer for their next web application so they are having to make do to develop the interface themselves.

Never leave UI Design up to a Developer, you might get something like this:

Hot Dog Stand Tribute

Gotta love it :)

Indiana Jones 4 - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Ok, I know it has been out a while now but with 2 kids, and one of them only being 6 months old it has been hard to get out of the house by ourselves.

*** WARNING: I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum but I'm sure some stuff is going to spill out so read with caution if you haven't seen the movie yet ***

I went out to see Indiana Jones 4 this weekend with my wife. I had my doubts about it as I hadn't heard anyone around the office talking about it. You can usually tell if a movie is good based on water cooler conversation but nobody has been talking about it here. I have asked a few people and they all either say "no, I haven't seen it" or "my kids went to see it". Odd, it just look like anyone is driven to go see this movie.

I have been waiting for this for a long time but alas, I was left feeling a little bit like most of us after seeing Star Wars Episode 1.

Don't get me wrong, "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is a good movie but nowhere near "great". Yes, I will probably add it to my DVD Collection as I have the other 3 but it will not be something I rush out to get.

First off, let me just say that this just doesn't feel like one of the usual "Indiana Jones" movies. For one, it is way to bright, way too clean. It kind of feels like it could be "National Treasure 3" or "Tomb Raider 3" and Indiana Jones just happened to be there.

Not sure if that makes sense :)

When you watch "National Treasure 1" you will notice there are a lot of back story scenes that are in town, grass is green, there are trees and big buildings. Not very "Indy" like. However, that movie does end up moving in the vein of "Indiana Jones".

This fourth installment of the "Indiana Jones" movies feels about the same. It is bright. There is a lot of time spent in bright colored U.S. cities. Not quite the norm for "Indiana Jones". A lot of time is spent at the University Dr Jones teaches at. No problem with that, we have seen him at school before but this was a little excessive. Then, you mix in a little bit of the movie "Greese" for that 50's feel and some Communism propaganda (getting closer to that "Indy" feel) and then toss in Area 51 and the test of a nuclear bomb in a surreal 50's style community, you get a pretty weird mix.

Don't get me wrong, when they actually got "out in the field" it got interesting but I would have enjoyed more of that.

To add a little insult to injury with this movie, rather than keeping in line with spirituality and religion, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" moves more in the line of the "X-Files". Don't get me wrong, I like the X-Files but it was a bit odd for this movie.

I guess there was some tie in there. All of the other movies taught a lesson of respect for spirituality, worship and religion. "Indiana Jones 4" did this as well but in this case worshiping of "gods" from another world (or dimension).

Again, sorry for the spoilers but I just can't talk about the movie without mentioning this stuff.

Oh yeah, there was almost, maybe, just possibly a handing off of the torch in this movie to a "successor" but they left it open and not quite "done" as far as that matter is concerned.

Harrison Ford is getting old so hopefully they will do another movie soon before it is too late for him.

All in all, I would say it was a "decent" movie but definitely not on par with the other three. I have read where others equate it to the "2nd" movie in a series. I know there are some that love "Empire Strikes Back" but "Temple of Doom" is as much a "go between" film for the "Indiana Jones" franchise as "Empire" is for Star Wars. There I said it, now sue me :)

"Indian Jones 4" seems to be a "go between" movie... it is as if this was supposed to provide us with a little "filler" while they flush something better out. Hopefully we won't have to wait 20 (ish) years for another one.

Oh, and somebody please stop George Lucas. Please don't ever let him write a line of dialogue again. It is really weird, Star Wars 4-6 and Indiana Jones 1-3 had "decent" dialogue... albeit not great but "decent". Star Wars Episodes 1-3 were bloody awful and Indiana Jones 4 felt the same way. The dialogue and the scene choices were just horrible. Spielberg should have been more involved there... or maybe he was and that was the problem... not that he would have been better but come on, George Lucas has great ideas but he really, really needs to let go of the reigns and let someone write better dialogue around his "stories".

In the past Harrison Ford has stretched a little to adlib some of his dialogue and it was great. In this movie it seemed like he was just reading lines sometimes.

Ok, sorry if I spoiled the movie for you. If you don't want to waste money at the theater, at least rent it on DVD later, it is one of those movies you have to see if you are a fan but it won't blow your socks off like 1 and 2.

Sorry if this review seems a little erradict, I am doing this during my lunch break at work so I'm rushing it a bit :)

All Your Typos Are Belong To Us

I can't believe it, I have been looking for something like this for a long time and then one day without even trying URL Fixer popped up in a search for Bookmark addons for Firefox.

Not sure how it fit that category but this addon is awesome. Have you every typed in the wrong URL into the address bar but only by adding an extra "w" in the front or maybe "con" instead of "com"? Then you need URL Fixer.

This little addon for Firefox will fix all the stupid little mistakes you make when fat-fingering a web address. I've always thought that Firefox or any Browser for that matter, should be more forgiving. If I type "wwww" the browser should realize I meant "www". Sure, there could actually be a "wwww" sub-domain but how likely is that?

Of course, this isn't the be all to end all "fixes" for such typos but it will fit the bill for now.

I would rather have some "exception handling" for URLs... try the malformed URL, if it doesn't work then try to "fix" it. That might make more sense.

But in any case, this is a great addon so give it a try :-)

URL Fixer
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2871

Man Babies

A fellow Dad sent this to me today and I just had to share.

ManBabies.com - DAD?

Too funny :-)

Are we sure this isn't Monday?

Man, what a day and its only 8am :o

For those that don't know me, I have two kids, one 2 year old and one 6 month old. The 6 month old woke up 15 minutes before my alarm clock went off this morning. No big deal, I could get up early, but then the 2 year old woke up screaming and crying. Houston we have a problem. Needless to say while I thought I was going to get up 15 minutes early I ended up getting to the shower 1 hour later.

Okay, no big deal right... that's what having kids is all about.

Then I get into my car, ready to head off to work. I drive a real P.O.S. with a broken CD Player so I generally listen to MP3s off of my iPhone. Rutro... my right earbud isn't working. Okay, this can't be happening... knowing that the iPhone is plagued by many, many "issues" I decided to reboot. Everything worked just fine last night. iPhone rebooted... check the connection and damn, my earbud is just broke.

So what next... I have a 35 minute commute so I need tunes. How bad could the radio be? So, I turn on the radio... nothing but morning talk shows... and none of them were even remotely interesting... and none of them wanted to play any music. I found myself switching stations like a fiend hoping to find something... just something, anything. Even the classics channel sucked out loud this morning. Finally I switched the station and the tunes were rockn'... then I realized it was just a commercial for the new BK Breakfast Menu at Burger King.... but so what, it was music and it rocked!!!!

I arrive at work and that morning energy had completely fizzled out... I needed coffee big time. Remembering that I have no milk for cereal and not even any oatmeal, I decide to hit the vending machine. Remember those old classic vending machines from the 50's that people even collect these days... well the office vending machine is the model made just after those old classic models and it really sucks. It has a slot for dollar bills but wouldn't you know it, I have bills but no coins and the machine is not working.

So by now I have prepped the new QA release for my project and am ready to release it and I have downed one cup of coffee but I am so ready for a nap.

Can I get a do-over?

The Post Office Is Evil

In pretty much any other "business" you go to the employees will have been taught the aged old lesson that "the customer is always right" (even when they are wrong) and the word "service" in "Customer Service" actually means something.

Somehow the US Postal Service gets by with little regard to these age old lessons.

When it comes to sending a package you have several options in the USA:

• UPS
• FedEx
• DHL
• USPS (US Postal Service)

Of course some are a little more expensive than others but the level of Customer Service and Package Tracking available is usually worth the added expense.

Somehow the US Postal Service "forgets" that there are options for sending packages and relies on the fact that they are the "only" way to send regular "mail".

With that in mind though, lets take a look at how easy it is to replace the US Postal Service:

• Pretty much all "bills" can be sent electronically
• Email is much faster
• UPS, FedEx and DHL all supply better service and better Package Tracking
• In store Kiosks can easily replace everything else (photo printing, etc)

Think about it, if you went with Electronic Bills and Email as your sole way of communication other than telephone, you could cut down on all of that junk mail that piles up in your mailbox only to be tossed into the garbage and end up in a landfill. Yes, Email has junk mail (spam) too but Junk Mail Filters can handle that.

So then, why is the US Postal Service relevant?

The thing that keeps the US Postal Service going is the fact that it is a government based institution. Our hard earned money is being used via our Tax Dollars to keep this business operating yet every few months they raise their rates and lower their attitude toward the "service" aspect of their name.

Why so bitter about the Post Office today you might ask. Well, I have an important package that was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but since the US Postal Service's "Tracking" system is so horribly bad, I had no idea it was being delivered yesterday. My wife was out walking the dog at the time so she missed the mailman. So, I get home, grab the little pink slip, head over to the Post Office only to be told that they send all packages to a warehouse and thus I can't get it unless I make other arrangements for them to "hold" my package at their location.

You have got to be kidding me.

I asked the guy at the desk if they could just hold it for me to pick up on my way home tomorrow and he tells me that isn't possible and that they would have to make another attempt before I could make such arrangements to pick it up.

You know, we always here about how mailmen go "postal"... wouldn't it be the other way around with "customers" going "postal" :-)

State Troopers Hurting Home Sales?

Okay, this is a weird one. I was out driving this weekend and stopped at a light when I noticed a State Trooper pulled over with his lights flashing. I thought he had pulled somebody over but that wasn't it. The next thing I notice, he is pulling up and stomping down on signs that were posted in the median.

That was weird.

At first I thought maybe they were political signs... maybe a Republican tearing down Democrat signs or a "Billary" fan taking down some Obama signs. Needless to say, I had to drive slow as I passed to see what it was.

Okay, this was really weird. This State Trooper was taking down "Home for Sale" signs. Oddly enough though, he was systematic about it. He didn't take down all of the signs, just the ones he "wanted" to. He left up all of the signs for Ryland Homes and took down everything else.

My wife was with me so I pointed it out and oddly enough she told me that she had seen a State Trooper doing the same thing a week ago.

That was really odd.

I don't know, maybe I am missing something. Do you have to get a permit to post a "For Sale" sign when selling a house? The signs the State Trooper tore down were for other Housing Sub-Divisions (builders) just like Ryland and not for individuals trying to sell their home.

Again, maybe I'm missing something but you should have seen this guy, he stomped down those signs like he was pissed... as if maybe someone in his family worked for Ryland homes.

Very odd... has anyone else seen this or can add anything to this?

Misuse of Regions in Code

I am sure a lot of you that program in .NET using Visual Studio have become familiar with the concept of "regions" in your code. A "region" is a way to separate a block of code so that it can be collapsed and expanded as necessary. This can be good when you want to "hide" code that isn't updated often as to not confuse, or annoy any developers that may be working their way through your code.

I'm sure many of you are already familiar with "regions" but here is the obligatory example anyway:

#region Code I want to Group Together
// Some truly amazing code here
#endregion

Sounds good right? Well, there is a seedy underbelly to this "freedom" in coding. It is nice to be able to "partition" your code out to make it easy to "collapse" code away that you are not interested in to make it easier to navigate your code but when you think about it, if you have so much code in one code file that warrants adding "regions" to "hide" certain code as to get it out of the way doesn't that set off a bell in you that maybe your code file is way too large? Could it be that "regions" are now providing you with an excuse to fall into the old "spaghetti code" mentality?

For me, it is quite annoying when I get into a code file only to find that there it consists of several "regions". Sure it looks neat and tidy but when you open such a file what is your first instinct? You may know exactly what "region" to open and thus you dive directly into that one and continue with your work. However, you may not be too familiar with this code file so you may find yourself hitting the old +"Ctrl+M,L" shortcut to expand everything. But as soon as you do that you find that this innocent looking code file is now thousands and thousands of lines of code including multiple nested "regions" to muddy it up all the more.

So what can you do to make such tasks easier? What can you do to separate related code out to make it easy to find and easy to work with? Two words for your "Partial Classes". With .NET 2.0 and above you have the ability to separate the "guts" of a code file into multiple code files simply by adding the word "partial" to the class definition.

Here is an example:

public partial class Customer : IPerson

It is important to note that "Partial Class" file can have any File Name but most people use the format: MainFileName.PartialClassName.cs just to make sure the files are grouped together and make sense to other developers.

I know, I know, many of you are saying "big deal, this has been around a long time now". Yes, this capability has been around since 2005 but most people out there only ever use "Partial Classes" when dealing with ASPX and ASCX Files and never consider using this great idea with their regular Class Files.

Usually when you think about an Object you may find yourself breaking out multiple Class Files that all relate to a specific task surrounding your object. This makes perfect sense and so finding several related Class Files that break out functionality is "normal", however, there are times where a single Class File grows quite large and you don't wish to separate its "guts" into different sub-objects but you also want it to be easier to maintain and easier to share in a Team Environment. This is where "Partial Classes" come into play.

If you separate related code in a Class using "regions", that will make it easy to see what code is related to each other (in a sense) but it still goes against Team Coding practices. If Developer A wants to edit Functionality X of this Object, he has to check out the same file that Developer B already is editing. Modern "merge" features are better now than they used to be but this can be a pain. However, if instead you separate such related functionality into "Partial Classes", Developer A can check out just the "Partial Class" he/she needs and thus not disturb the work of Developer B. Oh sure there will be instances where multiple developers will need multiple "Partial Class" files checked out but having these all separated out will ultimately prove to make development and maintenance easier.

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting including all functionality into one big Object via "Partial Classes". If you have an Object, lets call it "Customer" and this Object has "Accounts", you would still want to create an "Account" or "CustomerAccount" Object. What I am suggesting is instead of using multiple nested "regions" to partition your code, why not use separate "partial" class files to not only make it easier to understand but easier to maintain and easier to share development work in a Team Environment.

To give an example of how "regions" can be bad, just yesterday I found myself editing a monolithic code file that was not only filled with multiple nested "regions" but it also had an extreme number of unused Compiler Directive #if/else conditions. In this case I simply deleted all the unused Compiler Directive conditions which meant deleting 2,500+ lines of code. This still left an excessive number of nested "regions". Maybe someday when I am feeling brave enough and have the time I will pull those out and create "Partial Classes" for each distinct area of code.

Removing the "dead" code made this Class File easier to navigate, just think how much easier it would be to maintain with all the "regions" pulled out into their own "Partial Class" files.

Holy Cow Batman!!!

Okay now, this is just plain ridiculous.

Notice that this is almost 11 gallons of gas and of course I used the Regular old Unleaded ($3.65 / gallon) and it was $40!!!

I know, I know, people outside of the United States have been used to outrageous Gas Prices for a long time and so I shouldn't complain... but of course I will :-)

To make matters worse, we are heading into the "Tourist Season" here in Florida and for some reason every Gas Station in Florida, especially those in Central Florida love to tack on a "screw you tourists, go home tax" to their prices which always makes gas here more expensive.

Honestly, even if there was no "Holy War" going on, Gas would go up by $0.20 every summer in Florida just to gouge the Tourists and piss off the natives.

I feel sorry for the poor people driving those mega huge SUVs and Trucks.... no, on second thought I don't :-)

My Gripe With iPhone

First I want to point out that the iPhone is indeed an amazing phone. Don't get me wrong, I love it but there are some things about the iPhone that really make me want to toss it out the window screaming WTF!!! at the top of my lungs.

Okay, consider this... the iPhone is the most Media rich phone on the planet... right?

Well, yes and no.

iPhone suffers from some major "media" problems. Here are some key "media" related issues of the iPhone:

• No support for MMS
• No or very little Animated GIF support
• Safari can not handle large numbers of photos
• Safari can not handle Web 2.0 (i.e. JavaScript laden AJAX sites)

No support for MMS? Get the heck out of here!

Yes, it is true, Apple somehow did not feel that iPhone users would have a need to send or receive MMS. This means that when your best friend sends you a photo of some cute chick at a club you are denied. This means that when your sister sends you a photo of her newborn baby you are denied. WTF?!? Hold the phone here... come on, are you serious? I am very serious. Instead, AT&T sends you an SMS Text Message that includes a link (text only, no hyper-link) including a UserName and a Password for viewing the MMS Message through their ViewMyMessage web site.

To make matters worse, the link is not clickable and somehow you have to either remember or write down the randomly generated UserName and Password. Talk about lame. I can't tell you how many times I have missed out on a joke or important life experience because someone sent me an MMS message and I had to wait until I could get somewhere that I could write down everything so I could login to some web site to view the message. Hellla Lame!!!

Animated GIFs no workie?!?!? Nope, sorry. I have found very few Animated GIFs that actually work on the iPhone. I don't know for sure but I have a feeling it has to do with how they do their layout within Safari. I personally believe that Apple handles all the stretching and scrolling in Safari by turning web pages into Vector Graphics that can easily be controlled programatically, however, doing a conversion like this might make it easy to allow zooming, etc but would only include a snapshot of the first frame of an Animated GIF. Again, this is my hypothesis and I have no frame of reference for that but alas, this is still another big "OMG They Left That Out" moment.

What about AJAX, isn't this some incredibly popular User Experience based technology... Web 2.0.... isn't that what they call "Rich User Experience"? Why does the most technologically advanced phone on the planet not work with Rich Media? Doesn't make sense to me.

And what about Safar dieing all the time? This phenomena of Safari just magically going "poof" while you are browsing a site is caused by both rich use of scripts such as with AJAX and multiple, large images. I can't tell you how many times I have been browsing a site that has lots of images and then all of a sudden Safari just decides to blow up... no BSOD like on Windows but boom... I'm back to the desktop.... again, lame.

Lately all the updates from Apple have been in preparation of their new SDK and allowing a selected handful of companies and/or developers to build applications for the iPhone but maybe Apple should also focus on making existing features "work".

Thats my gripe for the day :-)

Just Google It

Do you ever have Friends and Family that constantly Email or IM you wanting information about something that you really don't know anything about but somehow they think you are the authority on it?

Being a nice guy, I usually just "Google It" and then let them know my findings... I'm sure a lot of you do as well.

Here is a better answer that will save you some time and let you get on with your life.

One simple link:

http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com

Its as simple as that :-)

Move along...

For those of you that actually visit this site rather than just the RSS Feed, you may be surprised to find that we've moved.

I moved my blog today. I originally started this blog on a sub-domain of my "family" web site and decided it would be more appropriate to be housed on my personal domain "KevinDarty.com".

For those of you that follow my RSS Feed you will be unaffected. My RSS Feed is being handled through FeedBurner which was updated immediately.

While it is possible that old RSS Feeds you may have cached will lead to a non-existent domain, I feel it is best to make the move now before too much content exists.

Sorry for any inconvenience and make sure to checkout the new diggs:

http://blog.kevindarty.com

If you have a bookmark to the old place make sure to update it with the new address.

I have a redirect setup for the old site that I will leave up for a while for the "casual" viewer that may miss this message :-)

Follow-up on Google Sites

A few weeks ago I covered the re-release of JotSpot as Google Sites. At the time and today as well, I was/am expecting Google Sites to work like DotNetNuke and other "portal" applications allowing you to set a Domain Name for a specific "site" and have Google Sites take care of routing the browser as expected. This works great in DotNetNuke, MojoPortal and other such "portal" applications out there.

Because of this deficiency, you will be left with accessing specific sites with URLs similar to the following:

http://sites.google.com/a/YourDomainName/SiteName/Home

That URL is a little... well, they make sites like TinyURL for a reason :-)

So, for those of you like me that wanted to make your new "Google Site" your actual web site and have your main domain go directly there, Google doesn't offer a solution but most Hosts do provide a method that works quite well at handling this issue.

What you will need to do is setup what is known as Masked Forwarding for your site.

Most Domain Registrars supply you with a Domain Control facility where you can add/edit CNAME and A Records for your Domain. Another option that is becoming popular is called Masked Forwarding. Some Domain Registrars used to charge for this, while others such as Yahoo used to place a banner onto your site which I am sure nobody wants.

NOTE: Yahoo does NOT put banners in for Masked Forwarding anymore

Today a lot of Domain Registratras/Hosts offer FREE Masked Forwarding and it is easy to use for our purposes here.

In this case what we want is a URL that looks something like this:

http://www.YourDomainName.com

The easiest way to setup a particular Google Site to point to this specific URL is to use Masked Forwarding.

Within your Domain Registrar/Host's Domain Management application, you should find a link or button for "Forwarding". In most cases you will supply the URL to forward TO and that is where you put the long Google Sites URL.

Then to "mask" that long URL you will set the masking option.

Yahoo Business Hosting does this as part of its workflow to setup a Domain/URL Forward. Once you initiate the forward, the next screen will ask you if you want to "Mask" the forward. Another option is to enter "keywords" for Search Engines as Forwarding like this will/may conceal the "keywords" from Search Engines.

NOTE: I don't remember seeing the "keywords" section on GoDaddy

On GoDaddy, this process is broken into two different "tabs" on the Forwarding Administration screen.

Once you have setup the Forwarding to go to your long Google Sites URL, give it about 30 minutes (with Yahoo it was more like 10 minutes for me) then try navigating to your web site. You should see the selected Google Site displayed on your browser screen and your custom URL (domain).

The only downside to this is that new "pages" within Google Sites follow a hierachy for a path. So, your home page will look something like this:

http://sites.google.com/a/YourDomainName/SiteName/Home

Any "pages" under "Home" will follow a path like this:

http://sites.google.com/a/YourDomainName/SiteName/Home/Photos

http://sites.google.com/a/YourDomainName/SiteName/Home/Contact

However, with Masked Forwarding, the URL in the browser will never change. All pages appear to be YourDomain.com with no trailing path.

For some people this may not be such a bad thing but it makes bookmarking pages impossible.

Well, at least if like me, you really wanted to host your new Google Site on your own domain this will get you "mostly" there. I just wish Google would address this issue.

It is quite obvious that when you create a "site" you will want to give it a custom URL or domain. All "portal" applications such as DotNetNuke, SharePoint or MojoPortal allow for this. I am not sure why this point was missed.

Free Music & Sound Bites

For all of you that read my articles solely through RSS and not direct from my site you may have missed a new "feature" section in the sidebar titled "Free Music & Sound Bites".

This section is where I post links to FREE music and in some cases "sound bites"... little audio clips that may be humorous or otherwise worth sharing.

As I continue to add links here I will post a weekly update for all that syndicate my content to keep you updated.

Here is the latest list of clips you may enjoy:

• Code Monkey
  This is a song by Jonathon Coulton that speaks volumes about the psyche of a Computer Programmer. Great stuff. Even if you are not a Developer, tech-head or even a geek, you are sure to enjoy this great song.
• 911 - Bambulance
  This audio clip is pretty old... its been floating around the net for years but it is still just as funny today as the first time we all heard it. I haven't heard this in years and a buddy of mine brought it up on a recent Griswoldesque trip to 5 Guys Hamburgers. This one will have you rolling on the floor.

Visit this site often for up to the minute updates for the "Free Music & Sound Bites" section or subscribe to my feed for weekly updates.

If you know of any great FREE Music or Funny clips you would like to share let me know and if I like it, I'll post it here to share with everyone.

-Cheers

Happy Birthday Kurt!!!

Friends with Blogs

You may have noticed a little "Friends with Blogs" section over on the right of my blog. This is where I link to Friends and Family that have blogs and/or podcasts.

If you have a blog and/or podcast and want to be featured here please let me know :-)

Here are the latest "Friends with Blogs"

• Brother Love Notes
• Megablaix - The blog
• Nonsense from Kyle
• STEP 'N SIDE
• T.B.N.R. Productions
• Tom-ash

From time to time as I find myself adding more links, I'll make sure to do a "Feature" post to tell you a little about the new link, blog or podcast.

So with that in mind, lets catchup with what has been added so far:

Brother Love Notes
Brother Love (Brolo) is a band out of New York that is really hot. The lead singer and songwriter Larry Florman is nothing short of phenomenal.

Brother Love - Album of the Year

I was first introduced to Brother Love through his Album of the Year CD. I was shocked... this guy's got talent! The music just reaches out and grabs you. You owe it to yourself to check this one out.

Purchase the DRM Free MP3s here

Or buy the CD direct from the man through the BrotherLoveRocks website.

After Album of the Year wets your appetite, you will want to check out Brother Love's new album, Turn It Up!

Turn It Up! is currently being sold only direct from the Brother Love Rocks web site and their online store, check it out!


Megablaix - The blog
This is the home of Justin Blake, a friend of mine and great Web Developer. Justin is a Ruby God and is available for freelance work if you need it. Check out his site.

Nonsense from Kyle
This is my boss' blog. I've been working in the Technology Industry for 17+ years now and gone through several companies and even more managers and I would have to say without a doubt, Kyle is best manager I've ever had... and I'm not just saying that because he reads my blog :-)

Checkout Kyle's blog for a little nonsense to get you through the day.

STEP 'N SIDE
Step 'N Side is a podcast my brother Jeremy runs. This started as a set of mixed CDs traded amongst friends and family and has grown to a fully legal Podcast on the web. Jeremy's shows feature music from new bands. Step 'N Side works with the management of each of their featured bands to obtain the rights to rebroadcast their music to the world and at introduce them to people everywhere. Jeremy has even been in contact with a Seven Mary Three to feature them in the past as well. Check out Step 'N Side and discover something new.

T.B.N.R. Productions
T.B.N.R. is an Production Company started in Orlando, FL by a friend of mine named Chris Souza. Chris and the T.B.N.R. crew love music and art in general and they focus their efforts on recording and getting with artists that want to share their vision as well. Check'em out!

Tom-ash
Tom is one of those friends that is always inspiring. This guy travels all over the world and is a genious programmer. Man does he have some stories and photos too... I could sit for hours watching slides of his travels. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working alongside Tom in a programming job not so long ago and our friendship continued on after we both left that particular company. Check out Tom's blog for his off-whit musings :-)

Okay, thats it for now. I'll post more as new links get added.

L8R

Google Calendar Sync - Is this an alpha release?

In case you missed it, Google released a new syncing tool for Google Calendar dubbed "Google Calendar Sync". You can read about it and download it here:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/google-calendar-sync.html

If you are like me, you probably jumped on this like a news reporter on Britney Spears... but then it was like waking up on Christmas morning only to not get anything you asked for.

What happened?

I think we are starting to see the flaw in Google land and the freedom the developers have there. In most organizations, when a new product is developed it usually includes detailed discussion, requirements, development and testing. And today, a lot of developers create Unit Tests for their own code before even writing it or at least before giving the code over to their QA Department. But in the case of Google, it appears they give their developers too much freedom some times.

Google Calendar Sync is one of those programs that had greatness written all over it but for some reason none of the obvious features were built in.

Google Calendar users have been clamoring to get their hands on some sort of software that would synchronize their Google Calendar with Outlook for a long time now and there have been a few different apps popup but each have their own flaws and usually want you to pay for something that doesn't fully deliver. Getting something from Google to handle this task would be optimal.

The problem here is in the implementation. By default, Google Calendar Sync only works with your "primary" Google Calendar. Of course, if you are like me (or most people on the planet), you probably have several Calendars of your own, along with others shared from others that you want to keep up with.

In the blog post related to this release the author states that you can keep all your Calendars synced and up to date but that is indeed not true.

For those of you like myself that have been using Google Apps since the beginning you are used to "beta" software (heck everything from Google is "beta") but even Google's "beta" software is usually better than "release" apps from some companies. Google Calendar Sync almost seems to be an "alpha" or "proof of concept" release.

As you can see by the posts at Google Groups, people aren't too happy with this release:

Multiple Google Calendars and Google Calendar Sync

I'm not trying to slam Google here. I love Google and utilize many of their services (apps) but I really think this was a bad release. Before releasing something as anticipated as Google Calendar Sync, it should have at least gone around the office for employees to try it out. I'm sure the flaws would have popped up rapidly then and could have been managed before releasing to the wild.

I hope Google will update this application soon... as for now, I can't recommend it.

Google Sites - Did it miss the mark?

In case you missed the press release, Google has re-introduced JotSpot, a Wiki-like technology they purchased a year ago as "Google Sites".

You can read more about it on the Official Google Blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/bringing-it-all-together.html

The idea behind Google Sites is to compete with Microsoft's costly SharePoint Services which can be difficult and costly to setup and maintain. The initial intent is to give business users and schools an easy way to setup intranet portals.

The main site includes links to several samples but the main example they are pushing for the IT sector is the "Eggplant Project" site:

http://sites.google.com/a/altostrat.com/project-eggplant/Home

This site showcases how you can use Google Sites to share Project information throughout your team including timelines, milestones, a Project Calendar via Google Calendar and even a Document Repository and Presentations via Google Docs.

All in all, this seems like a really good idea but there are some issues.

First and foremost is sharing, specifically Public Sharing of sites and pages. At the moment, Google Sites does not allow different "sharing" levels at the page level so if you want something available to the public then everything in the site needs to be "public".

Another issue I found with it is that you can not setup a domain to point to an individual site. Google Apps allows you to setup the main login page with a Custom Domain so you can host it on for example:

http://sites.mydomain.com

But that will only lead your viewers to a login screen and not to a specific site. This limitation is really irritating because the Google Sites application makes it easy to setup a web site and could easily be used to build public facing web sites but there is no way to actually do that.

At first I attempted to setup the alias of www.MySite.com but that wouldn't work. I noticed that all sites were listed with the following format:

http://sites.google.com/a/YourDomainName/SiteName/Home

No matter how you setup your Custom URL within Google Apps, this is how your site will be accessed. I thought maybe you could do something like this:

http://sites.MyDomain.com/SiteName/Home

Unfortunately that doesn't work either. This was very dissapointing, not to mention frustrating.

In the end what I ended up doing is creating a single "home" page using Google Pages via Google Apps and then I setup a link there to go to the long sites.google.com address.

Keep in mind, this experiment happened to be for a personal web site and not for a business which is who Google is currently targeting with Google Sites.

It works, but for me, they missed a chance at greatness with their current offering.

On a completely different side though, I am working on setting up a "Project" portal using Google Sites for the Development Project I am currently working on. I am doing this just as a test. In this case, I don't want people outside the company to see it so I am fine with the limitations.

If my corporate tests work as expected, I will work with other teams to get "project" sites setup for them and maybe eventually use Google Sites to create a full Intranet. Now that might seem to be too lofty (read "foolish") an idea but theoretically it could work.

So far I will have to say that I am happy with Google Apps and its offerings but there are many limitations and you can easily tell that different Teams worked on different parts of this whole package and the level of integration isn't always the same nor is the GUI the same accross the applications.

I love the tools Blogspot/Blogger gives you to customize your Blog to include different HTML Snippets such as RSS Feeds and even Google Adsense so you can make some money off of your blog but these little niceties aren't quite as polished in Google Sites or Google Pages.

Hopefully Google will re-group and start incorporating the same features and integration within their many applications to make a nice cohesive system.

I'll keep you posted on my findings.

Blogging from Jott....

Blogging from Jott. Hi! This is my first actual Blog entry that I post using my iPhone through Jott, pretty cool ha, Okay. I will be able to give this a little more often now, they actually Blog while driving to work, watch out. See yeah! Bye. listen

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Jott Links

Jott allows you to also Jott to links for east blogging and even
shopping.

Check out more here.

http://jott.com/jott/jott-links.html

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Blog with Jott

Here's a great step by step list of instructions on how to blog using
the great voice to text service Jott.

...see, I'm not just talking to myself, I'm blogging my thoughts :-)

http://blogwithjott.blogspot.com/2007/03/jott-5-steps-for-using-jott-and-browser.html

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Welcome

Welcome to my lame blog.

Testing out mobile blogging :-)

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