You must cook it... until it is done!

Love the weather here in CO

2011-12-19T16:10:00.002-06:00

Just took a spin in the Elise yesterday. It was a lovely day (probably 60+ degrees). That's right, I'm driving the Elise in the *middle of December*. It's like I live in Southern California. Awesome.

I managed to only break the speed limit once. I had to show a M3 convertible owner what a real sports car does around the corners... 8*D

Highpoint RocetRAID 23xx always boots. SOLVED!

2011-07-08T22:27:00.002-05:00

Ok, this just took me about an hour to figure out, and I only really stumbled upon it by accident. Hopefully this will show up SOMEWHERE in Google/Bing/Yahoo so someone else can find this to solve the issue.

Background:

I have an "older" PC that I want to turn into a media server, so I bought a SATA RAID card (Highpoint RocketRAID 2300). The machine has a HDD and a DVD burner in it - I installed the OS clean, patched the OS, then installed the card with OS drivers. So everything is working fine.

Installed the drives, boots fine.

Initialize the drives (no reboot).

Format the array (RAID5, but this doesn't actually matter).

Reboot, BAM - blinking cursor.

WTF?

Well, obviously it's trying to boot to the array because it won't even let me get into the PC BIOS. I can view the RAID BIOS, but once I exit out of that I get the blinking cursor (of death - heretofore known as the BCOD).

Grumble grumble. Pull RAID card, get into PC BIOS, make sure that I'm only booting to the hard drive and no other drives. Oh, what is this? The SATA hard drive is not native and the BIOS thinks it's on a SCSI controller card (pretty standard stuff, but probably related to my problem).

Put card back in, BCOD.

Leave card in, unplug drives, boot. Boots fine.

Reboot - go into PC BIOS, make sure the RAID card is NOT in the list of startup devices (it isn't - it's not even listed) and boot again. Boots without issue.

Reboot - got into RAID BIOS to see if there is some wonky setting THERE that says "boot to this device". There is, but there is nothing to configure (no drives are attached remember).

Attach drives, RAID BIOS, configure boot options... Only one device (the array) and no visible way to turn it off.

Reboot, BCOD.

Well, at this point I'm actually getting mad enough to read the manual...

Dig through the manual and there is another settings menu - when you flash the BIOS! This has a handy feature which is to turn off INT 13 support. Remember this was actually an issue in the old days of configuring PC hardware, like SCSI cards? Yeah INT 13, that still matters. Anyway - since I actually have 2 add-in cards to boot from (the onboard SATA controller and the SATA RAID controller), and the PC BIOS is not recognizing the SATA RAID controller, there's a fight and the SATA RAID controller "wins".

So - FINALLY I've figured it out. Fire up the RAID BIOS flash utility and disable INT 13 support. Remove drives (not card), boot windows, fire up flash utility...

HAHA no, wait. The option isn't available in the RAID BIOS flash utility! That button is grayed out! Loading a bios file enables the button though (I have to flash INT 13 support onto the card? strange) So, I set the setting, flash the BIOS and shut down. Attach drives. Finally this works!

BZZT! BCOD.

ARRGHH! DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF!

Remove drives, go BACK into Windows, fire up flash utility, INT 13 is enabled... what? Ok, so it probably doesn't read the settings from the BIOS, but how do I get it to save? Well, it DOES ask to save the configuration to file after I disable INT 13 support - maybe that's a "fresh" RAID BIOS image?

Hmm - look at file sizes (identical). I don't have a binary file diff tool, but I do have Notepad - files look similar (with strings in the same locations). What the hell - I can't use the array anyway - flash the newly saved file.

Reboot. Cross fingers.

Windows boots without issue.

So - to wrap it up. If you want to boot a system to a NON Highpoint controller, use the Highpoint RAID BIOS flash utility to make a custom flash file and then flash it with that.

Rules for driving in winter conditions

2010-12-30T16:51:00.002-06:00

Dont.
Seriously. Don't drive in bad weather.
Turn on your lights. There's no reason you can't flip that little switch, and it makes you more visible to other motorists.
Clean off your car. No, that doesn't mean a little square on your windshield - the ENTIRE CAR. Scrape all windshields and mirrors. Brush the 3-4 inches of snow from your hood, roof, and trunk. Clear your headlights, turn signals, and taillights.
Turn down the temp on your defroster. In "icy rain" conditions, you will keep your windshield cleaner if you have a "cooler" defroster than a "full hot" defroster.
Get dedicated winter tires. A front wheel drive car with winter tires will handle and stop better than an all wheel drive with all-season tires.
Pay attention! No cell phones, no texting, no NOTHING. Just drive. If you have to make a call, pull over into a parking lot.
Make every effort to match your wheelspeed with your vehicle speed. If you are spinning your tires, or if they are locked up you no longer have control over your car. You aren't Sebastian Loeb, now is not the time to slide the car around with a little bit of throttle.
As a last resort - if you are having problems getting around, try reducing the pressure in your tires. You do have that tire pressure gauge in your car, right? You can usually drop a few pounds from the recommended pressures in the manual/door sill and still be safe. For example - if you run 35PSI, drop that to 28 or 29. Remember to repressurize when the roads dry up.

Finally: PAY ATTENTION! You are responsible for knowing and driving within the conditions. It's highly likely the road conditions 1 or 2 miles from your house will be completely different than the conditions at your house. Learn how to "read the road" - see what other cars are doing. Are they sliding? Increase your distance to other cars. Are YOU sliding? Slow down. Does the road look "wet"? It's probably ice. ("black ice" doesn't exist - that means you aren't paying attention)

Learn how your car handles in an empty parking lot. Be prepared for a slide. If you have a manual, use a lower gear to slow down. If you have an automatic try to shift to "1" or "L". In the worst case scenario try to find an "out" - if you are sliding downhill, pick the grass/ditch instead of the car in front of you (obviously if there are people there, pick the car).

Track Day!

2010-06-29T22:21:00.004-05:00

Well, my first track day has come and gone and I have to say I had quite a bit of fun.

First, pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/TrackDay

Pictures from another club member:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djason/sets/72157624389565952/

It all started at 5:45 AM Sunday morning. Which, as you know is quite early for me. I had to drive to the track - I estimated it would take about 2 hours and I had to be there at 8 AM sharp for the vehicle inspection and I didn't really know where I was going. Shoulda printed a map! It was pretty easy getting there though (High Plains Raceway which is just east of Byers, CO) and I made it just in time for the inspection. I was all good except for my battery which was a little loose. After some quick work sandwiching my water bottle retainer between the mount and the battery I was good to go.

First part of the day was riding a giant SUV around the track. Well, not giant (Land Rover) but we went around 2 or 3 times with an instructor telling us about the various corners, breaking points, and apexes that we would immediately forget... LOL. Next the "group meeting" where they laid the ground rules and put us into groups. I was obviously in the "novice" group. Next, some classroom time and Q and A. Finally we could get out on the track and race!

Actually, no. No racing. For my group's first session it was "follow the leader". We all got in our cars and headed around the track. Slowly. In hindsight this was probably good practice. Although I've never been on a track, based on driving in video games I would say this is one of the trickier tracks to drive on. Lots of blind corners, lots of elevation changes, and lots of late apexes. We probably did 5 or 6 laps and then came in. Then we waited. There were 4 total groups, so each group had to wait their turn.

Next session was much better - they sent us out on our own and gave us permission to pass in the straights. I was fortunate enough to get a ride-along instructor that time and he gave me a ton of great advice. I felt much more confident after that session, and I even made a few passes during the session. Still a lot to remember and I would continually get one of the 2 right hand, uphill sweepers wrong. On the first one (turn 7) you want to set up on the right for a hairpin left. on the second one (turn 11) you need to apex on the left (turn 12). I always got them confused. Either I would nail one and totally botch the other, or I would just fail both of them. 8*D

In addition to those two turns, I really struggled with the two late apex turns on the course (turns 2 and 6). Those are so tricky. You basically have to wait about halfway around the turn before you actually start "turning in" and I was always jumping the gun.

After more waiting (and lots of picture taking) they sent us out on our 3rd and final session. I was alone and wanted to really bump up my speed and try to nail those late apex turns. Obviously this was the most fun session and I really pushed myself (the car, not so much). Unfortunately there was another driver that wasn't letting other people pass (we had STRICT instructions not to pass without "permission") and I wasn't going to get black-flagged, so I just slowed down a bit. Still lots of opportunities for learning even if you aren't going as fast as you would like.

Overall I would say it was a good day, but next time will be better. There's a program that someone has provided the track info for so you can run the track yourself (on the computer). I hear it's a pretty accurate simulation, so I'm going to try to "memorize" the track - that way I'll be able to REALLY push it next time.

Here's a "hot lap" by an experienced driver in a really fast car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3v6DYsK164

4 days...

2010-05-09T22:09:00.005-05:00

Seller just sent me a few more pictures of the car with the hardtop on and cleaned up.

http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/2005LotusElise

Woo!

Yes, I see where the window doesn't meet the roofline. I asked the Lotus forum if that's normal. I have no idea - it's a high-strung sports car (which seldom wears it's roof anyway). LOL.

UPDATE:

No, there is no gap in the window - it's just an optical illusion.

Lotus Elise

2010-05-06T20:28:00.004-05:00

I've always thought the Lotus Elise was a great little car, but never thought I would own one. Well, it appears that in a week I will have one of my own! I've been looking for a few months, and joined a local club to help in the purchase (and afterwards).

I don't have any great pictures yet as I haven't seen the car in person, but here's the ad for a look. http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=278832013 It's got both the Touring and Sport packages, less than 10k miles, and it's really inexpensive to boot!

Before I knew I would buy the car I took the 12th through the 14th off from work (for my birthday). Unfortunately the current owner is busy on the 12th, so I will have to wait until the 13th to pick the car up. I will then be making the trek from Tucson to Rapid City the next few days and hope to have a little fun in the Black Hills before coming back home.

I'll be taking tons of pictures of course and probably update Facebook with info from the trip. I'm already going bonkers waiting to pick up the car - I don't know how I will be able to stand the next week.

It's smiling at me! http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/2005LotusElise#5468336038151892402

House is almost done!

2009-12-15T21:42:00.003-06:00

I've uploaded a few more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/NewTownhome

Everything is looking good, except for a few niggling issues. The toilets are wrong - yeah, I know but it's the little things, right? Also, I've been struggling with this since day 1, but the gas range STILL isn't in. They tell me that it will be replaced before I close in a week. *crosses fingers* The refrigerator still isn't in, but they tell me that will be in as well.

That's right - I close in a week. Wednesday morning (the 23rd) is when I sign my official papers. Quite a Christmas gift (with the accompanying debt). Fortunately I locked in a good rate and it's a fixed loan.

More pictures of the house

2009-10-19T20:17:00.002-05:00

We walked through the house today and it's really shaping up. I was really surprised how big the "2 bedrooms into 1" turned out. It's just amazing. I am also pretty pleased with the kitchen/dining area. I got rid of the little "work desk" that was there originally and I think the room is going to feel a lot more "open" because of it.

I'm gonna just link to the album from here - there are preliminary pictures for all the rooms, but my photo-skillz aren't so hot, so you have to kind of imagine most of the place.
http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/NewTownhome

Another picture of the townhome

2009-10-15T19:31:00.002-05:00

All the windows are in now and they are putting on siding/shingles. Wewt!

From New Townhome

In the "how is the inside going" department, I'm going to get the wall taken out of the upstairs room, making my 3-bedroom into a 2 bedroom which is sweet. They WILL be giving me a gas range (thankfully), but I'm still waiting on the status of the refrigerator.

I've finished picking out cabinets, flooring, countertops, and tile so basically all I have next to do is wait until the first wiring/bare frame walkthrough - which should happen later this month or earlier next month.

First pictures of the new townhome!

2009-09-25T18:47:00.008-05:00

Well, it looks like they've got the foundation poured already.

((deleted street address))

Here's a picture of the "garage view" - it's a neighboring townhome, but they are all similar. Mine is going to have a 2 car garage (the larger one in this photo).

From New Townhome

The model I'm getting is the "Imperial" (3 bedroom, but we are going to try to convert it into 2). They have floorplans and the location here:
http://www.todayshomes.com/dublin_terrace.html

For all you stalkers out there, you can clearly see the house number in the photo above, but the street is ((deleted street)).

((deleted satellite photo))

The trip is (mostly) over

2009-06-10T22:52:00.004-05:00

Well, the long ride is about over. We decided to hightail it back home via the Interstate (80) and we've got 1 day of "hard riding" left. Well, Pete has 2 (sorry Pete). We had a nice ride out of Placerville to Carson City through the Lake Tahoe area, but it was I-80 from then on out. Today was cold and wet, and tomorrow looks like more of the same. *sigh*

On the upside I will have a full weekend to "recover" from vacation. No, I'm not talking about the normal recovery people seem to have a problem with at the end of a vacation. That I don't understand. My "recovery" amounts to steeling myself to go back to work. Man, I could vacation for the rest of my life and I don't think I would ever get bored.

Day 8, Navigation Fail.

2009-06-08T23:10:00.002-05:00

Today was another great day - we made a quick trip to San Francisco to check out Fisherman's Wharf and eat some sourdough. We spent about an hour wandering around and decided to head out. I'm not much of a shopper and I didn't have a lot of room even if I was. We had to drive down the famous block of Lombard Street and then across the Golden Gate bridge (which was much larger than I had imagined).

After the bridge I made my first (of many) navigation errors. I turned off too quickly and we went on a quick detour before we got back to the main road. We finally got on the right track and headed up the coast for the last time. Everything went well until we got onto 80 East where we met our first real section of heavy traffic. It was a pretty brutal 40 miles and then I made my big mistake. I noticed I was supposed to turn off at the next exit with about a block of freeway - and we were in the left hand lane. I made a dive for the exit, for some reason thinking Pete would follow me to my doom. Well, fortunately he didn't. I did make it without killing anyone and he had to keep going up the Interstate. I quickly got back on, but he had already turned around and came back to where I turned off.

As I was waiting (at the next exit) I noticed that I had gone too far North anyway, so it was a good thing we had that "break" to figure out where to actually go. Of course, because of my navigational prowess, we had to endure about a half hour of "stop and go" rush hour traffic in Sacramento. We finally made it to the hotel though and hopefully tomorrow will be better... We will be doing the last bit of "fun driving" to Carson City, NV and then we will be sticking to I-80 for the duration of the trip. It's been a long drive and my butt is ready for a motorcycle break. 8*D

Today's trip:

View Larger Map

Days 6 and 7, bring on the pain...

2009-06-07T11:21:00.002-05:00

Friday started poorly, with rain and cold. We tried to keep off the major highways, but that was probably a mistake. It took until around noon to get out of the rain, and we never really managed to get out of the cold. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. Here's the trip:

View Larger Map

Saturday was gorgeous. We started with a tour in Hearst castle which was pretty cool. I'm not really into all of the artwork, but the architecture was pretty neat - I especially liked all the tile and stonework, so I spent most of my time taking pictures of the ground... LOL. I didn't know this, but they ended construction early and Hearst said it was only "50% done." I wonder what it would have been like if it were complete.

The ride up Highway 1 was really scenic. It's a great road, but all this time on the bike has really taken its toll. When I started I could get off for a few minutes, and be ready to go for another hour. Not any more. It hurts to get back on the bike even after a night in a bed. Here's the route for the best riding of the trip so far:

View Larger Map

We are going to just relax on Sunday. It's been a long trip and we are going to check out the Computer History Museum, and I know that I will want to spend at least an hour or so there - probably more.

Day 5, Made it through the tough part...

2009-06-04T22:57:00.003-05:00

Well, we are finally on the coast. Ventura, CA to be precise. Next couple of days we will take it easy up the PCH and hit Hearst Castle. Nice!

I replaced my rear tire today. It was worn to the wear indicator, and while I could have pushed it another couple of hundred miles I just felt that was a bad idea.

Not much else to report. Other than I'm not taking many pictures. Sorry folks. Pete has been uploading his pictures to Flickr - you can see them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pstapley/sets/72157618988658231/

Day 4, Hot!

2009-06-03T23:13:00.002-05:00

Today was the longest day yet, both in terms of miles and "feel." It started well and the drive from Flagstaff through Prescott was a lot of fun and it hadn't gotten hot yet. The rest of the drive, no so much. It was hot - had to be in the 90's. The road was straight and every "leg" was grueling. At the end of the day, all the hotels we checked out at our planned stop at Twentynine Palms, CA were full. So, we headed 20 miles down the road to Yucca Valley. We finally found a decent hotel for a reasonable price and checked in.

In related news, I need a new rear tire. Hoo boy. Hopefully the local Yamaha dealer has something in stock.

Tomorrow we would like to make it Santa Maria, but we will see. This is the part of the trip I'm wondering the most about. It looks like we will circumvent much of the traffic, but the route is really difficult. There isn't an easy "connect the dots" route. I'm trying the Garmin route planner for the first time... Yeah, not such a good idea actually.

Day 3, pretty boring

2009-06-02T22:21:00.003-05:00

Today was pretty quiet. Southern UT (from Moab through Mexican Hat) was pretty and the miles went by quickly. We decided to stop by Monument Valley and it was just our luck that the wind picked up as we got there. Also, it turns out they have a strange definition of "paved" roads. There was something put on the surface at one point, but it's pretty much a dirt road now. We drove about a mile in and just decided to turn around. If you visit with a car or a street motorcycle, just take the guided tour.

The rest of the trip was booorrring... It was hot, windy, and desolate. We didn't go to the Grand Canyon - we were just ready to be done with the day.

Unfortunately it looks like much of tomorrow will be the same. The ride looks nice through Prescott, but from then to Twentynine Palms, CA looks pretty desolate. Here's the planned route:

View Larger Map

Day 2... Wimping out...

2009-06-01T21:12:00.002-05:00

Well we planned on heading south through Colorado to Cortez, but that didn't happen.

The day started at 9:30 with overcast skies and very little rain - it was pretty warm (in the 40s) and was going to warm up to to the 60's on the way. Also, I decided to stop by a local motorcycle shop to pick up a balaclava. No, I didn't bring one - because I didn't have one. Unfortunately the motorcycle shop on the way to Gunnison was closed today. Well, I felt I had survived this far, so I could live a little longer.

Fortunately the trip was pretty uneventful, until we went through Monarch. Those high mountain passes are just BRUTAL even in the summer I guess. There wasn't any snow, but it was wet and I was afraid it was cold enough to freeze. We made it through without any major mishaps though and it was smooth sailing to Gunnison which we reached by about noon. We stopped for some hot chocolate and I picked up a balaclava at a local sporting goods store. Oh, man, that made a HUGE difference.

We pressed on to Montrose and it actually warmed up even more. Of course it helps if your neck isn't exposed to the elements. We had lunch in Montrose and started looking at the map. The road to Durango had 2 10,000+ foot mountain passes. Well, I had enough of that (cold, wet, potential snow) for one trip after yesterday and this morning, so Pete and I decided to head north to Grand Junction and perhaps try to hit Moab.

The road to Grand Junction was boring - it was a divided highway and straight as an arrow. Fortunately it warmed up significantly and we started peeling layers off. We got to Grand Junction by 3:30 and had plenty of time to get to Moab. The roads weren't great but the sun was worth it. We pulled into Moab about 5:30 and called it a day.

Here's the revised route:

View Larger Map

(you may have to click the "larger map" to see the proper route)

Tomorrow we are going to try to get to Flagstaff. We are going to go through Monument Valley and try to hit the edge of the Grand Canyon. It's going to be the longest day yet, so we may miss the Grand Canyon loop.

View Larger Map

Well, that isn't quite right - we may take a little detour west to the south end of the Grand Canyon National park.

Day 1... Snow. Wait, What?

2009-05-31T23:09:00.006-05:00

EDIT: Actual Day 1 route:

View Larger Map

I knew we would run into some cool weather early in the trip - being in the mountains and all, but I was thinking 60's and light rain. I never would have imagined 2 inches of freezing rain/snow.

Everything started well, we headed out from Loveland to Estes Park with blue skies and sun. It was actually pretty hot and we were ready to get going to cool down a bit. Estes Park was beautiful and we entered Rocky Mountain National park via 34 and started climbing. It cooled down of course as we went above the treeline but everything went well. About halfway through we saw some clouds and geared up. Turns out that was a bit preliminary, but it remained cool. The roads were dry, so everything was still going well. We passed the continental divide (forgetting to stop) and ran into some rain but nothing serious.

It was getting a little late (1:45) so we had lunch at Granby. It was a quick lunch then back on the road. We tried to make good time because we still had quite a ways to go. It was pretty uneventful until we headed the wrong way down I-70 near Empire. That was my fault, but we got turned around within a mile. We headed west on 70 to the Copper Mountain exit. It looked a little cloudy again as we headed south, but we had seen this before and I wasn't worried.

As we headed toward Leadville on 91 I started to get a little concerned. About half the cars passing us going the other way had a buildup of what looked like hail/snow on the windshields. I didn't really want to run into hail, but I was hoping we would miss the weather and we were so close to Leadville and so far away from any other stopping point, it started spitting rain, then it got cold, then it started building up on my helmet... Bad news. I pulled over to ask Pete what he wanted to do (we were 10 miles from Leadville at this point) and as I pulled over I just about fell down. There was a half-inch of sleet on the ground already! Yikes!

We sat and talked for a few minutes (getting SOAKED) and decided to just push to Leadville. Wow, that had to be the most unnerving 10 miles of my life. I felt I was going to go down the entire time. It got pretty bad and we were following car tracks as best we could (where it was only wet). We got into Leadville and there was about 2" of snow on the ground. We pulled under a local old-style gas station awning and went inside. Fortunately the proprietor was friendly and had some coffee for us. I was literally shaking so hard (from the cold) that I almost couldn't drink the coffee. I was REALLY concerned. We were probably in there about a half hour - talking with the guy and trying to warm up. It stopped snowing and warmed up to just rain. The gas station attendant told us it should get better further on and so we decided to try to get to Buena Vista. Later on as we drove by the local bank we found out that it was 38 degrees! (This was AFTER it had warmed up a bit.)

Fortunately it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. I mean it was cold, but it stopped raining and we made good time. We decided to stop in Buena Vista instead of Gunnison like we originally planned. It was probably a good decision. We found a nice motel - with a hot tub and warmed up. Hopefully that was the worst of the trip. Hopefully. After that, a hard rain will look great. Perhaps we may get lucky and only have cloudy weather tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are going to try to get to Durango, or perhaps even Cortez. Cortez is 300 miles, and if we don't run into any snow again I think we won't have any problems. We've checked the weather and it's pretty much 50% chance of rain with a high of 60-70 degrees. That sounds good to me. We aren't going to be at the altitude Leadville was at (over 10,000 feet) either so hopefully it's just rain.

Here's the next leg:

View Larger Map

Whew - sorry about the rambling, but it's been a long day and I'm ready for bed...

Motorcycle Trip ... Leg 0

2009-05-28T23:58:00.003-05:00

Getting ready to head out on the big trip. The motorcycle is (finally) ready and the preperations are made. Looks like it might be a bit cold early on, but hopefully it will warm up.

Our planned first leg is from Loveland, through Granby, Silverthorne, Leadville, Buena Vista and finally settling in Gunnison. Here's the map:

View Larger Map

Sigh...

2009-04-19T20:09:00.002-05:00

Well, this weekend has been pretty much a total failure. I thought I could get my new app "off the ground" as it were this week and made some pretty good progress with ASP.Net MVC and Fluent NHibernate. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish by the Friday deadline, but I was hopeful to get things working by Monday.

Things aren't working.

I'm really banging my head against the whole configuration/where things go issues with NHibernate using Fluent and getting it to connect to a DB on a website. I think I've got the mapping down and I can write console/Windows apps that connect to the DB, but I'm completely at a loss how to get a web app to connect (using Fluent). Everything I used to do web-wise just connected on every page request. Yeah. Small-time stuff.

Ahh well. Time to face the music tomorrow I guess.

When I DO figure this out, I'm going to post it somewhere (well this blog, but the source I mean) so future idiots like me have someplace to look. I can't believe there are no "ASP.Net MVC/NHibernate" source apps out there. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Every "intro" app I've seen is either simple console-based "hello world" types of apps.

...From the firehose

2009-04-17T15:03:00.003-05:00

Well, the last few weeks have been pretty crazy at work. I was assigned to a cool new project using a lot of new technology. Yay! I didn't know any of the technology. Ouch!

Basically it's a new project tracking website that will end up being used by the entire technology arm of the company I work for. It's supposed to track the new agile SDLC that our company is using - in addition we will be "dogfooding" the app from very early in the process by tracking our own progress with the app we are developing.

For you programmers here's a list of the tech we are using in the project:

ASP.Net MVC
Fluent NHibernate
Test Driven Development using MSTest
Yahoo's YUI libraries

All pretty neat tech, but stuff I've never dealt with. My last real web dev work was back in 2004-5 using ASP.Net webforms so I'm a little rusty. I've been staying at a Holiday Inn Express but it's not helping. (*groans*)

Anyway - we're at the tail-end of Iteration 1 (that's agile-speak) and I'm at the point where I'm not completely lost with NHibernate and Fluent configuration. I'm still trying to get a handle on the MVC stuff - it kind of makes sense, but it's a huge departure from the ASP.Net and PHP development I've done in the past. I hate to say this, but I'm still not doing any tests. Yes - I'm a horrible developer. Hopefully I can start getting those in there, but I really need to focus on delivering right now and that's one more thing I have to learn. I'm going to learn it! I haven't even begun with the YUI stuff - fortunately I was able to borrow a layout from another team in the company that has most of the YUI stuff done already.

One of these days I'm going to start my own project (a "personal library" project if you must know) so I can experiment with this stuff too. I'm also planning on blogging about some of the pitfalls I've experienced while learning all this stuff. It's about time I started a "professional" blog anyway.

Oh, and Shreyas - if you are reading this... I'm getting right back to work!

So, Linux package management...

2008-12-29T23:52:00.003-06:00

Edit: After I rebooted the box everything was fine. Strange. I don't normally leave this machine on and it was after a fresh boot that I tried to update it. I thought "reboot and try again" was the sole domain of Windows.

I love Ubuntu's "Update manager" - well I GUESS I love it. It keeps me up to date which is nice. Except when it doesn't. Turns out that if it fails on ONE of my updates then none of them get installed.

I click on details and evidentially it is crapping out on something to do with mercurial - which I recently installed. The specific message is "error in Version string '1. .1-5.1': version string has embedded spaces." Of course, none of the updates have ANYTHING to do with mercurial, so I can't just uncheck the one that's failing and install the rest of the (109) updates.

I'll eventually get around to fixing this, but it seems like a pretty huge flaw in the update manager. I've read packages in Linux are a huge headache, but I guess now I'm going to find out for real.

It's Christmastime again

2008-12-01T18:39:00.003-06:00

It's Christmas time again and once again the opportunity to buy your way to my friendship has presented itself. Just kidding.

Seriously - I don't need any gifts. This PvP comic sums up my position nicely. I already have more stuff than I deserve. Why not donate the money you were planning on spending on me to a worthy cause? I personally prefer the Childs Play Charity, but feel free to make a donation to any charity you deem.

If you STILL insist on buying me something, have a look at my Amazon.com wishlist. Don't pay any attention to that Kindle on the main page. I use my wishlist mostly for myself. I've arranged everything by category there on the left side. Perhaps something from the "Popular Science" section...

No computer yet

2008-11-05T22:25:00.002-06:00

Well, after ordering most of the parts for the new computer - they are going to be delivered a day late. I DID get my steelseries 5H v2 gaming headset, so I thought I'd write a quick review for it.

I was a little apprehensive about buying a "gaming headset" because most products marketed to gamers are all flash and little functionality. However, there really are few choices in the headset market. Most headsets are $15-$25 cheapo behind-the-head sets and then a big gap to the high-end (nearly $100). I wanted a circumaral headset that was comfortable (over the top of the head) with some decent sound. I was also uninterested in the 5.1 or 7.1 "virtual surround" headsets, so it really narrowed down the options. I've heard good things about USB headsets, but I thought I would stick with the simple 3.5mm versions which do not require any software. I'm running Vista x64 and it's unlikely there would be good support on that OS.

I've been listening to them for a while, and I'm pretty happy. The sound is evenly balanced which was surprising. Most headphones have way too much bass, but these seemed to have a good response across the frequency range. I'm not blown away by the sound, but it's more than acceptable for gaming. The mic is good quality and with the sound card's noise cancelling turned on my voice came across very clearly. The headphones themselves are comfortable and I could wear them for hours. They don't "seal" against the head and I can hear the TV / dishwasher when no sound is playing. However, when listening to music or playing a game it blocks out enough sound that I can hear everything clearly.

A few nice options on the headset are the in-line volume control and a switch to turn off the mic. The mic slides neatly into the headset and the headset disassembles into 3 peices. I'm not sure I would use this functionality, but I guess it gives you some options for storage/transport. There's also a clip for stabilizing the cord. The cord is a 2-peice affair which is nice if you have a small Shuttle-style computer on your desktop or are at a lan party with your computer setting on a table/desk. The extension is plenty long to reach around my desk and plug into the front ports on my computer on the floor.

Overall I think it's a pretty good headset for the price. The MSRP for this set is $100, but I picked them up for $86 at Newegg. I wanted to get the cheaper Sennheiser 151's (at $38) which is a more well-known brand, but they are prepetually out of stock. I wouldn't recommend them if to someone looking only for headphones however. There are many higher-quality headphones available for under $100 at HeadRoom.

Continuing the search for music

2008-10-28T19:36:00.002-05:00

I finally got sick of putting up with Napster so I canceled. Great service, horrible, horrible software. It got so bad that I had to resync my entire collection once a week. When you have about 20 GB worth of music, that takes 8-10 HOURS. Yes, their support department is unsupportive to the point of insanity. I love how the response to "your DRM is expired" is "resync your collection."

Since my music tastes tend to be eclectic and short-lived iTunes is out, and I'm not going to give Real (Rhapsody) any of my money. I'm not ready to purchase a Zune without knowing the avaliability of music at the "store" so I'm pursuing other options (besides piracy you dolt!)

I tried Pandora in the past and it just never gave me music that I liked, so I thought I would give Last.fm a try. So far so good. I have only listened to a few songs, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far. Obviously I wish they would throw in more of my "favorite bands" but maybe that will change.

At any rate, I have a Toshiba Gigabeat (60 GB) that I would like to get rid of. It synchs using Windows Media player and I've had no problems in Vista x64. It has video out as well and WMP transcodes WMV, Divx and other video formats automatically if you have the right codecs installed. No reasonable offer refused.

Well, I'm officially a Colorado Resident now

2008-10-07T20:10:00.002-05:00

And it only took me 8 hours! Yay...

Apartment pictures

2008-10-07T20:03:00.003-05:00

Well, I keep forgetting this URL and I'm too lazy to look it up every time. Here they are:

http://picasaweb.google.com/douglikespatti/NewApartmentPictures

Why American car companies continue to fail

2008-09-09T19:52:00.002-05:00

Read 2 disappointing articles today.

First, Ford makes a 65 MPG car, but "can't bring it to America." Can't? Try won't. If they wanted it to happen (and if enough car buyers demand it) they could do it. Sad.

Second - Pictures of GM's new Volt hybrid have been leaked. Wow what an ugly car - and it doesn't even have the "Prius shape" which seems to be necesary in this market. I don't understand how they expect buyers to purchase this car when, at an estimated $40,000 price tag, it's the 2nd most expensive car in Chevrolet's lineup. Second only to the $47,000 (base price) Corvette! I simply don't understand who Lutz thinks is going to buy this car when priced against the existing Prius at $22,000 or the upcoming Honda Insight at $18,500.

Good news though - Americans are getting smarter about public transportation. According to Time.com mass transit usage grew 5.2% in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Initial thoughts on the iPhone...

2008-08-12T18:06:00.002-05:00

I've been using it for 24 hours now and it's pretty slick. I bought a game that uses the "tilt" navigation. It's the iPhone version of this game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Blob
It's pretty fun and buying stuff from the iTunes app store really works well (First purchase - i don't buy non-mp3 music). I bought it on the Mac not the iPhone, but I guess you can purchase stuff through the phone too.

Obviously it has the iPod's usability. Seems like a love it or hate it thing. I personally love it.

Everything you've heard about Mobile Safari is true. It is LIGHT YEARS BEYOND anything I've used on Windows Mobile (including Opera). The multitouch / zoom stuff simply works - and you don't get the feeling there is some "intermediary" between you and the website like you get with most "zoomable" WM browsers. Also, hyperlinks and text entry fields aren't "special" fields that you have to "break out" of the browser to use.

The GPS/maps application is pretty awesome. Yes, I know a Garmin Nuvi does this same thing as well, but I can see myself using this while walking around downtown looking for a specific address (like a restauraunt).

So - overall it's been a really nice experience. Now if only iTunes was "all you can eat" like Napster. Of course that would bring another problem - namely, my Napster library is currently sitting at about 22GB...

Well, the world has officially come to an end

2008-06-23T23:45:00.001-05:00

Jeremy Clarkson recommends a "fuel-efficient" car. Not a Prius mind you, but the smallest engined SL350 instead of the monster-engined one as per usual...

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article4176512.ece

Oh, No! A Bear!

2008-06-19T19:35:00.004-05:00

No, wait - A bear FAMILY?

Stay away from Bank of Omaha.

2008-06-18T20:14:00.002-05:00

I purchased a new bike at Scheels in March. I thought I would take advantage of their 6 months no interest financing - read credit card. They use Bank of Omaha as their "branded" credit card and I've had nothing but trouble from them.

In the 3 months I've "had the card" I've had to call them at least 5 times. I still haven't gotten the actual card yet (although I have received invoices) so I can't make payments online. Of course I didn't receive my first invoice until about 5 business days before it was due. They don't do payments over the phone without a $15 "convenience fee." Fortunately a registered letter got there and the payment cleared before the due date.

Now I haven't received THIS months invoice (due in a week) even though I informed them I was moving (which they acknowleged) before the closing date. Of course they sent the card/invoice (yeah, right). I had to fight AGAIN with a CSR to make a payment without the stupid fee. In addition the CSR felt the need to issue me a 3rd card (well, 3 for them). She again asssured me the card would get here in "7-10 business days."

I'm not holding my breath.

The best part about today's call was the fact that the CSR couldn't believe I made a purchase without having the card. I had to CONVINCE her that this was pretty standard for lots of "chain" stores. Hasn't she ever heard of a JCPenny's or Sears card? Jeez.

I swear - my first paycheck will be used to pay this damn credit card off. Then one more call to close the account. I suppose my card will show up about a month after I close the account.

First day on the job...

2008-06-16T19:18:00.002-05:00

So, how did the first day go? Well, it wasn't too bad. The PM I was supposed to check in with is actually gone this week, so I had to wait at the security desk for a few minutes for someone to pick me up. Also, my coworker wasn't able to get in right away this morning so I didn't actually get started for about a half-hour, but other than that everything went pretty smoothly.

On the "living in Colorado Springs" side of things - it's all good. I love my apartment, it's easy to get up in the morning, I have a relatively short drive to work (10-15 min) and I'm close to one of the major roads through the Springs (Academy Drive).

Yep. I think I'm going to like it here...

Now, normally I'm all for protests but...

2008-06-03T14:20:00.002-05:00

This thing with "protesting" high fuel prices (here in the US and Europe) is just idiotic.

Either we do something about it NOW while we can OR wait until gas doubles/triples/++ in price and then we are BONED. I'm not even talking about peak oil (which we should also be more concerned about). This isn't another 70's gas crunch that we have to live through. We have to figure out ways to reduce our dependence on oil. Why don't people realize this?

Nope - instead of doing something people would rather protest. And don't get me started on the stupid gas out email that has been circulating for, oh, forever.

This is really inspiring

2008-05-16T19:05:00.001-05:00

http://pistachioconsulting.com/blog/?p=228

And, boy do I need inspiration right now.

We need a Wikipeda for Data

2008-04-09T22:21:00.002-05:00

This is a great article - go ahead, read it.
http://bret.appspot.com/entry/we-need-a-wikipedia-for-data

Now, I wholeheartedly agree, but there is no way this is going to happen when the providers of said data are doing their best to stifle this kind of thing. Of course they are doing this because they think they can monetize it. I’m almost positive that, if a way hasn’t been found yet, it’s never going to be found.

The strength of the data isn’t your piece of it, it’s everyone’s pieces put together.

Gonna get cranky

2008-03-27T18:19:00.002-05:00

I never say anything because of the famous saying "Don't say anything if you don't have anything nice to say."

Screw that. I'll talk about what I want.

That being said - I really need to get a new job. It's just time to move on and I never really liked Mitchell anyway. Problem is, I still don't know crap. It seems like I wouldn't fit in anywhere that I really want to be. No, not Google.

If you are reading this and are looking for a half-decent C# programmer (Winforms or Asp.net) eager to learn some new stuff let me know huh?

Read this if you write user-facing code

2008-01-29T20:21:00.000-06:00

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/printerFriendly/uibook/fog0000000249.html

Yes, I know you read it before - read it again, it pays to be reminded of these things every once in a while.

Oh, what's that? You don't think you have any user-facing code because you write "frameworks"? Guess what? Your users are other programmers. You still need to be mindful of these concepts.

Thank you Larry O'Brien

2008-01-14T17:43:00.000-06:00

Thank you for putting the smack down on this "Some programmers are 10x better" (or 20x - depending on the reports) garbage that has been making the rounds lately. Why does it seem that every programmer thinks they are that "golden programmer"?

It's like those annoying people that quote Einstein ("Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.") Guess what? Just because you are "encountering violent opposition" doesn't mean that you are a "great spirit" or your opposition have "weak minds."

Is software development the only field where everyone thinks they are god or is this common in other professions?

Just grinding it out

2008-01-07T20:47:00.000-06:00

Finally! The cold is over! It really sucks being sick over the holidays. Especially when I have all these resolutions that I am GOING to do.

Yeah, about that. I haven't started yet. Too sick and excuses like that. I have been trying to cook some frozen fish my dad brought back from Alaska. I think salmon is OK to poach, but that's right out for halibut. Healthy eating is hard.

Code. Well. Still working on that. I've got a ton of work to do, so that's consuming my time right now.

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-01T02:46:00.000-06:00

Of course it's an old cliche. Make the resolution, then after a few weeks (or days) abandon it. Here's mine anyway.

Let me tell you a secret. I don't actually know how to cook. Sure, I talk the talk, but really I am just parroting what I hear on my favorit cooking shows. I mean, I can do the basics - I HAVE kept myself alive for the past few years and I've actually made some good dishes. I'm just a chef-poseur though.

It's time to change that. I'm going to try to start COOKING. I will start by making my meals (usually dinner) from scratch. Basically I want to get to the point that I only have ingredients on my shelves - no pre-made anything. Also I want to cook something "big" at least once a week. Hopefully I can get a few people together once in a while and have a nice meal and chat.

The theory is that I will also start eating healthier, but I'm really looking for "life changing" stuff, so I need to just work on the cooking skills right now.

Another secret? I don't really know how to write code either. I'm going to go through some books and I have some other ideas that I'm working on, but it's the same with cooking. I just need to "do it" more.

It seems there are a lot of parallels in great programming and great cooking. I don't think I will be "great" at either, but I would like to have more than just a passing skill in either area.

Well, I WAS going to commit to this.

2007-12-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

Jeez - Here it is - a month after I created this thing and I am already shirking my duties! I've got excuses aplenty, but there really is no good reason.

Well, I have been fighting something the last few days - mostly a stuffed-up head (which usually moves down into a hacky cough and then a full-on sore throat which is unbearable). It SEEMS like I may just get over the stuffed up head without any of the other icky stuff. *crosses fingers*

Bah. It doesn't matter. No one is reading this anyway, right?

I want to believe...

2007-11-18T12:58:00.000-06:00

Amazon's Kindle is the latest ebook reader to come along and I believe this one has the best chance of "making it." The first picture released for it isn't very flattering, but Steven Levy says it's not actually that bad. He covers his experience in his latest Newsweek article.

I just can't believe the prices though. Even for a gadget lover like myself, $399 for the device seems high when you can get a full-featured Asus EeePC for the same price. That being said, I think the Kindle has the right feature set to succeed. There's no need for a computer, the size is right, a 30 hour battery life, access to newspapers and blogs, and most importantly, the backing of Amazon.

The prices for the individual books are $9.99 which seems high - it's in between the price of a softcover and hardcover. I suppose they will be available on release day one once things get rolling, so it would end up being a bargain for hardback lovers like me. It's probably the cheapest they could make it. I would like to see how they justify charging "between 99 cents and $1.99 a month per blog" (emphasis mine) though. There has got to be something going on here, perhaps they are going to set up a system to pay bloggers for their content?

Levy makes some good points in his article. People are doing more reading on (computer) screens, so we've probably crossed the acceptance barrier. This reader has a much higher dpi of 167 which is about double the average computer screen dpi (current LCD screens are around 92 dpi). It also supports variable text sizes, something current computers do poorly. Next to price, readability is the real key to this succeeding and it seems the kindle reader will definitely have done right.

I have no doubt that someone will pull this off in the next 5 or 10 years - the technology is finally available, someone needs to just put all the pieces together. Bezos just might be the person to create the next iPod - for books.

Super Mario Galaxy

2007-11-14T18:55:00.000-06:00

Man I picked the wrong week to (re)start a blog...

I've got a stack of new games to play and no time to do anything else. Now it's Super Mario Galaxy...

FRIST!

2007-11-07T18:59:00.000-06:00

First Post! Yaaay!

~~Next I shall explain the "My Worldview Is Wrong" metaphor.~~ I think that the world is not ready for that yet... I'm still piecing that together.

Right now, it's off to American Gangster.