I went to a friend’s bachelor party this past weekend. It was near Crandon, WI and about 10-15 people showed up. Overall, it was a good time and I have to admit that even the drive up there was enjoyable. I took some (probably too many) pictures and they should get posted at some point in the near future. One thing that I can’t get over is that it was REALLY cold, for August. The maple trees were even changing colors, which seems about a month early to me. Outside of that, I’ve been pretty busy at work. I put together a nice custom user control that uses callbacks to dynamically update visual objects on the screen (without posting back). It is designed for .Net 1.x and seems to work pretty well. Under the covers, I was able to create a base control class that allows you to use both synchronous and asynchronous callbacks to do your bidding… I am currently working on a wizard type control. I wasn’t clear how ITemplate interfaces played in with controls, but I am now. They’re useful if you create/extend a datalist type control and want to create an html template (defined in the control’s view) for each data item. The thing that I was looking for, however, was the ControlBuilder class. When you override GetChildControlType from a class that inherits ControlBuilder, you can define how to process child objects. Basically, this gives you finer control than the ParseChildren(true) attribute. To make a long story short, a developer can use my control somewhat as follows: It seems interesting that these types of topics were never touched on the MS cert exam that I took. I’m starting to believe that the development cert exams just touch the technology and basically show that you are a step above a novice. Maybe I just took an easier test, though 🙂
<uc1:wizard id=”mywizard” runat=”server”>
<wizardpage id=”page1″ src=”~/page1.ascx” … />
<wizardpage id=”page2″ src=”~/page2.ascx” … />
</uc1:wizard>
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Seasonal dream
Putting into words the dream that I had Saturday morning is probably more challenging than I care for… So instead, I’ll just write the gist of it. It involved me in the mountains, near a ski lift that seems to pop up in my dreams occasionally. The first pass over the mountain was in the summertime and I was in a hot air balloon or something similar. As we crested over the summit of one of the mountains (this one had the ski lift on it), I saw a mountain fire, in the distance. I could definitely make out trees that were being engulfed by the fire.
All of a sudden, I was there in the winter time. This time, I was attempting to get a car up the mountain w/ some people. I don’t really recall a lot of this portion of the dream, but I do know that the car, we were trying to get up the mountain, was being pulled by a wagon or something similar…
My weekend adventures…
This weekend has been a good time. Saturday night, I met a girl from Japan, named Metsuko… Dan met her on his trip throughout Europe and Asia. Apparently, she is still travelling and having a good time doing so.
I found out that the way to travel, is to buy an open ended type of ticket. This is where the star alliance, etc comes into play. So, she bought a ticket for around $3000 and that ticket is good for 19 flights. Apparently, she’ll travel to a city, hang out and checkout the city. Then, she’ll decide where she wants to go to next. The only caveat is that she can only travel one direction around the globe. So, she can’t back-track. Anyway… she’s been to more places than I can name. The bonus is that if you can stay with aquaintences along the way, then your room/board is taken care of and all you really need to worry about is paying for food.
Oh, I also verified that the ancient tradition of eating sushi off of a naked virgin is valid. She said that it doesn’t happen much (as far as she is aware), but she has heard of it…
Outside of that, I ended up getting home around 4:00am. This is where it got weird. I went to bed like normal but woke up around 6:30am or so… I looked at the clock and figured that I fucked it up in my sleep and that it was running slow… so, I went back to bed for a nap and woke back up around 9:00 am…. this time, I was still confused and figured that it was really like noon or 1:00pm. I don’t know why, but I felt wide awake. I even checked my cell phone to verify the time. I’m not quite sure why I felt so much awake, but I definitely did and figured it was worth writing down…
By the way… I had a VERY vivid dream right before waking up at 9:00am… it involved hanging out w/ Dave & Trey at a house. I had a roommate (not sure who), that kept inviting people over to marvel at the singers. I remember being irritated that he treated them as circus animals, rather than friends…
Also… one last thing. I’ve been walking around my neighborhood taking some pictures of things that catch my eye. I’ve posted some of them to the gallery, and I’ll post more that I took this weekend when I get time (probably early this week).
Recent dreams about death
Before I forget about these… Sunday night, I had a dream about a big spider…. It was so big that it was rumored to have killed (and eaten) Reggie, the lovable dog from Sheboygan. Later that night, I found myself in a very confused state. I work up sideways on my current bed (king size inflatable mattress). I was very confused and must have been warm, because I thought that the house was on fire… I got out of bed and hunted around for my clock… After a minute or two of that, I must have woken up enough to decide that the best action was to just get back into bed. Strange… Last night (Monday), I had another strange dream. I had a dream that my friend from the dorms, Brian, had killed one or two people. I was then caught up in this fiasco where I severely hurt Brian (in defense) and was accused of killing them. Later, I walked through the woods and finished him off, as he attempted to kill again. With all of these dreams dealing with death, I can’t help but wonder what is going on…. Also, it appears as though I have more active dreams when the weather is warmer. When I slept in Baltimore, the temperature never really got above 70-75 degrees… Now, there is no a/c and the temperature fluctuates quite a bit due to having the windows open in my room, etc. This is definitely something I plan on keeping an eye on.
Disable search assist in Windows XP / Internet Explorer
I’ve been annoyed by Windows XP file search “util” (that annoying dog, etc) ever since I started using it. Finally! I came across a tweak to bring it back to the Windows 2000/2003 way of searching:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer CabinetState
Create a new STRING value and name it “Use Search Asst” without the quotes.
Specify the value data equal to “no” without the quotes. Here is a reg file that you can copy & paste:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerCabinetState] "Use Search Asst"="no"
If you’re interested in doing the same to IE, modify this key in the same way:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Internet Explorer Main
Change…
Not only the name of a great song from Blind Melon, but it is also what is happening around me right now. Lets see… I went to the eye doctor this morning after some irritation last week. It turns out that I have an eye infection in both eyes. So I get to take drops & not wear contacts this week. Also, I’ve decided to drive back to Milwaukee on Friday, so that should be quite a joy (especially without a car radio).
Here are some interesting things to note:
· How to make a bootable usb memory stick
· BlogWave – Publish Sharepoint lists & libraries as RSS feeds
Other than that, I’ve been working on a Microsoft Outlook add-in. More information to come, but this is definitely in the works and I’m actually planning out the design before jumping into the code. Also, I would expect this site to go down towards the end of the week. If all things go well & work out, it could be up again by the weekend… if not, it could be down for over a month. Consider this an early warning 🙂
Location, Structure, Mechanicals
I am in the process of buying a house for the first time… There are so many little things to keep in mind, that sometimes I feel like I should have majored in a different field. So to alleviate some of the headaches, I got myself a real estate agent. I think it would be a bitch to do this without one. She put me on a list so that I get emails of houses that just entered the market. Also, she knows what to look for in a house (good & bad)… Not to mention that she gets paid by the [sellers] listing company, not by me.
So, I took a short trip to Milwaukee yesterday. I hopped a flight at 8:00am from Baltimore and made it to Milwaukee by 11:00am CST. At that point, I was able to call a good friend and he proceeded to cart me around for the rest of the day. I had a 3:00 appointment with my agent, so we had some time to burn. Got some lunch and then we went to an open house in the neighborhood that I am interested in. It was a good measure to see the price range of the neighborhood, as well as get a feel for looking at a house.
We then met the agent at the house and she proceeded to lead the way. One side note, she mentioned that it is illegal to enter a property without the representing agent. Found this out because we got to the house a little sooner than she did and were invited in by the owner.
My realtor mentioned the three major things that she looks for in a house. The location, structure, and mechanicals… Meaning that you should keep the location in mind; when the time comes to sell the house, the location doesn’t really change, so the next buyer will factor that in also. The overall structure of the house is important. Is the room layout what you want? Finally mechanicals like circuit breakers, heat/air, appliances, etc.
Other than that, these are the major things that were pointed out right away at each house:
- The roof: How many layers does it have? Noticeable bows/bends?
- Gutters: Are they new? Do they have plants growing out of them?
- Siding: Material used/Type of siding… Did the builder do it correctly or was it quickly done? (Caulk between the separation gaps)
- Windows: Old/New?
- Basement: Does it smell of water? Water stains? Inspect water heater(s) and furnace(s). Solid foundation, bowed walls, cracks/patches
As far as financing is concerned… It was brought to my attention that there are distinct differences between being pre-qualified and pre-approved. Being pre-qualified basically means that the lender has looked over the numbers and suggested an amount that you can afford. This is basically an educated guess, as the numbers have not been verified. Pre-approved is a bit better, as the lender basically verifies the information provided on the application. Including how much you earn, what you owe, and your credit rating/score. A letter of pre-approval is furnished to you, and in turn will be given to the real estate agent to be included with offers. Ideally, you want to be pre-approved before making an offer, so that you’re not scrambling to get financing.
Outside of the mortgage, it is common to include earnest money with the offer. This is basically an up-front cash deposit that shows the seller that you are interested. If the offer is accepted, the earnest money is applied directly to the mortgage. It is recommended that the earnest money should be less than 2% of the cost of the house, for various reasons…
This is all for now. If I think of more, I’ll make sure to say something…
Creating panoramic images
I’ve been playing around with my camera since recently buying it. I must say that I really enjoy taking pictures… but some things have come up. The first is that I now desire a couple extra lenses… but that might be worked on around Christmas time 😉 The other main thing that has been on my mind is to create a nice panoramic picture. I took a bunch of shots of the Baltimore skyline the other day, and I want to stitch them together to make one big picture. So… in an effort to research how this is done, I came across this site. The Panorama Tools Assistant (PTAssembler) tool seems to do everything (and probably more) that I need.
Also, an important tidbit to note is that the process of combining the images into one large image is referred to as stitching.
Some Notes:
The computed horizontal field of view (FOV) for my lens is: 67.423. This was computed by the focal length: (18mm * 1.5 = 27mm) The 27mm is the 35mm equivalent.
Sopranos type dream
I had a strange dream this morning… It mainly involved people from high school.
There was a pre-setting for the dream. Apparently the bar owner had an employee kill someone the day/night before. Unfortunately, they killed the wrong person and now knew it. It seemed like very Sopranos/God Father like to me…
So here I come in… It started with me walking into a bar/restaurant. I was walking from the back (bathroom/kitchen area) to the bar area when I came upon Brad Jenkins. He had a shotgun pointed at me, though I didn’t think that it was meant specifically for me. I kept pushing the barrel away, but he kept moving it towards me. So, I slipped by him…. he then shot the employee (alluded to earlier) near the kitchen area of the bar. At this point, it becomes a little hazy, but a large scuffle ensues… it ends up that after this large blood bath, the only ones left are Noth, Yineman, Steve, and Kevin. For a little bit, the five of us paced around the place while eating out of a bowl of make-your-own chalupa type Mexican platter. I remember feeling slightly uneasy and saw similar in Yineman and Noth’s faces. Andy said something along the lines of “…your like a tail” to me, which seemed to clear everything up. I thought that he was meaning that I didn’t have personality or that I mimic what other people do. Anyway, pretty much right away, the police came… the fight continued into the street, making it very chaotic. Somehow, all of us were able to get away… The way I did it was.. in the chaos involving the police, I was able to hop in a car (real piece of shit) with a black man sitting shotgun and his old mother in the back seat. I remember her bitching pretty much constantly… I was able to drive through some yards and into an alley… after that, I was home free..
At that point, I woke up and figured I should jot it down….
Leslee’s site
A little while ago, a co-worker of mine showed me her site. I found myself digging around her site and really enjoying her pictures and drawings. I didn’t realize how talented she was with drawing, etc. Anyway, if you have some free time, it’s worth a look…