Asa @ 22 Off

Ctrl-Alt-Delete

The guy who invented the Ctrl-Alt-Delete key sequence retired from IBM today. Without his invention, a blue screen of death would have resulted in yet another Dell computer order. Michael Dell would have been the world's richest man. Who knew three keys would be so critical to Microsoft?

Bad Weather

Bad weather resulted in the cancelling of the Marathon League basketball games for tonight. I was looking forward to playing some basketball. Fortunately, my shiny new Dell arrived today ahead of schedule. I can't wait to set it up tonight.

I needed a new computer since my 900Mhz Celeron (with a 133Mhz System Bus) drops lots of frames when capturing DV video. I assembled my last few computers from scratch (piece by piece). However, I rethought this approach since Dell is so heavily discounting their computers thru bargain websites like Tech Bargains and More Stuff 4 Less. (These are two great sites to add to your newsreader, however, I am not responsible for a resulting flow of tech toys to your door.)

I figured out that it was actually cheaper and easier for me to just order a pre-built Dell and move my DVD Burner over to it. This is a big upgrade to my collection of vintage Celerons and Pentium Pro workstations. My dual Pentium Pro 200Mhz workstation is 7 years old and chugging along. It is amazing how long a computer will run 24x7x365 and not fail.

Playing some hoops

Tonight was the first game of the spring Marathon basketball season. Mike D. drafted me and I am happy to report that my ankle felt good. I scored six points tonight, which is my best ever. Unfortunately, we lost in double overtime 98-96. I think our team has a lot of potential.

It's an external consultant's dream...

"me upgrade to latest, greatest version"

"opps, forgot to mention the upgrade will hose everything"

"not to worry, me fix"

"have you paid that latest invoice"

"yes, that decimal is in the correct location"

I had to share this quote and unfortunately, I can't take credit for it. When working with some external consultants it is difficult to figure out, should I laugh or be really mad. This sounds like it is straight out of a Dilbert comic strip.

Coffee Amici

Coffee Amici was packed this past friday night for open mic. (A big thanks to Sara for getting me in.) Josh did a high energy set, which I think was due in part to the groovy shoes he decided to wear. I really liked his new song Wrong Side of the Revolution. It is about the Patriot Act and how we as Americans are experiencing the erosion of our freedoms and right to privacy. This song is in the classic "subtle" style Josh is famous for. Check it out!

Radiator failure

The radiator recently started leaking in my 1996 Jeep Cherokee. I did some reading on-line and many stock Jeep radiators fail when they are 6-7 years old irregardless of preventive maintainence. I also learned that driving in very hot conditions while cranking the air conditioner raises the engine temperature to critical levels in the I6 engine (which I have in my Jeep). Consequently, the stock radiator has a hard time cooling the (big) 4.0 liter I6 going up steep grades on a hot summer day, even without towing anything.

Since I had to replace the radiator, I decided that a radiator upgrade was in order. What made the decision especially easy is a 3 core heavy duty GDI radiator is less expensive than the stock radiator available from Chrysler. The heavy duty GDI radiator will be able to keep my Jeep engine temperature well below 215 degrees F using the air conditioner on high, at 70MPH, going up a 6 degree mountain grade, on a 100 degree F day. My transmission will also be nice and cool, since I also installed an aftermarket transmission cooler. If you are doing a Cherokee radiator upgrade yourself, this guide is especially helpful.

One other tidbit I learned is that slow 4x4 off road driving heats up the I6 so much that most people replace the stock radiator before going on a Jeep Jamboree. Otherwise, they have to stop periodically and let the engine cool down before continuing.

Since I plan to keep my Jeep a long time I think this upgrade will lengthen my engine life by keeping it cooler and eliminate worries of overheating while trailing my Ski Nautique around. Perhaps one day, I will even attempt a Jeep Jamboree. It is important to note damage done to your Jeep is not covered by your auto insurance while on a Jeep Jamboree. I don't need to worry though, since I am such a great driver. *laughs*

Pool Challenge

Gille and I haven't played any games towards our pool challenge in a while. Tonight, we decided to play seven games. I won six games and Gille only won one, making the tally 34-31 (my lead). Gille told me it was his birthday, but that didn't deter my focus on regaining the lead! Happy 25th Birthday Gille!

Photos from trip out west

Chris, Gloria, Bear, and I drove from Adrian, Michigan to San Francisco, California. We took ~600 pictures from which I am posting ~300 pictures that Chris and I took. Chris' photos are generally superior, but each gallery has some unique shots. You will notice that his 4MP Kodak with 10x optical zoom blows away my 3.2MP Pentax with 3x optical zoom on distance shots. Chris and I have some great wildlife shots including: a jack rabbit, a chipmunk, a bald eagle, mountain goats, rams, elk, buffalo...

Enjoy our pictures!
Chris' photos
Asa's photos

.NET Tidbit

After a little bit of searching I discovered that myapp.exe.config is the equivalent of the web.config file. These XML files are used to store the configuration settings in winforms and web (asp.net) applications, respectively. These settings can be accessed using: System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("mySetting") in VB.NET or System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["mySetting"]; in C#.

Aside: I have used the web.config file in many web applications and found it a very handy place to organize application settings.

Networking Essentials Presentation

I gave a presentation covering computer networking basics as well as network security last night at MAP's IT Explorer Post. I think the high school students enjoyed it and learned a few things. They should be able to install and configure a firewall, cleanup spyware (or adware), and limit their incoming SPAM. I specifically covered Zone Alarm Basic (which is a free personal firewall), Ad-ware (which is a free spyware eliminator, and SPAM Assassin (which is a free piece of software that filters e-mail).

I was surprised how tech savvy the high school kids were: 4 or 5 had built their own networks (which included running CAT5 cable through their walls), 2 or 3 have used Linux, 2 or 3 built their own computers. With this level of tech knowledge, I am confident that our future workforce is going to be able to leverage IT in bigger and better ways.

Howard Dean, the big talker

"Apparently, Howard Dean is now trying to inject religion into his
campaign so he'll be more attractive in the Southern primaries. In an
interview with Reuters, Dean said, "If you know much about the Bible
-- which I do -- to see and be in the place where Christ was and
understand the intimate history of what was going on 2000 years ago
is an exceptional experience."

When the reporter asked which New Testament book was his favorite,
Dean answered, "Job" (one the best known books of the OLD Testament).
About an hour later, after his staffers pried his foot out of his
mouth, Dean returned to the reporter to say that he had simply
misspoken.

Look, it's one thing to make a simple Scriptural blunder. But it's
another thing to do it right after you've bragged about how well you
know the Bible. And all of this from a guy who left the Episcopal
church -- the church of his youth -- because he disagreed with them
over the placement of a bike path."

The quote above is from Deal Hudson of CRISIS Magazine.

Hecho En Cuba

Ohio State beat Kansas State. :-) I smoked the Cohiba, Coronas Especiales Niki gave me for Christmas to celebrate the win. In case you didn't know, Cohiba, Coronas Especiales is a brand of Cuban cigar and is what Fidel Castro smokes. There is no cigar like a Cuban and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my first Cuban cigar and I can check smoking a Cuban off the list of stuff I want to do. Thanks Niki and go Buckeyes!

Chasing my tail with EMAB.NET

I have found the Microsoft Application Blocks for .NET very helpful and reusable. However, today I had fun chasing my tail trying to deploy the Microsoft Exception Management Application Block (EMAB). I kept getting this exception in my exception handler:
System.Security.SecurityException: Requested registry access is not allowed.

[SecurityException: Requested registry access is not allowed.]
Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String name, Boolean writable) +440
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(String source, String logName, String machineName, Boolean useMutex)
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(String source, String logName, String machineName)
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(String source, String logName)
Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ExceptionManagement.DefaultPublisher.VerifyValidSource()

This exception made me scratch my head since I am not writing any exceptions to the registry. I kept trying to tweak my Web.Config file which contains all my application settings. I assumed that since the error message contained "DefaultPublisher" that my "CustomPublisher" was not executing. Therefore, I keep playing with its configuration trying to make it run.

I didn't get far doing this and I decided to check the directory permissions where my exception logging was being serialized. I forgot to setup directory level security for this folder on the remote web server. What frustrates me is this security exception wrongly reported that
a) the "DefaultPublisher" was executing when it wasn't
b) the security exception was in the registry when it was in the file system
I played around a little and confirmed every security exception generates this same message. Wonderful, this security exception must be hard coded for all security problems.